The post Digital Marketing News: Customer Expectation Study, Twitter Updates Lists, LinkedIn Objective-Based Brand Awareness Goals & More appeared first on Online Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

Source:: toprankblog.com

Video content impacts organic performance more than any other asset that can be displayed on a web page. In today’s online marketing world, videos have become an integral step in the user journey.

Yet for the large enterprises, video optimization is still not an essential part of their website optimization plan. Video content is still battling for recognition among the B2B marketer. Other industries, on the other hand, have already harnessed this power of video.

In the recent Google Marketing Live, Google mentioned that 80% of all online searches are followed by a video search. Some other stats to take into consideration, according to Smallbiztrends by 2019, global consumer Internet video traffic will account for 80% of all consumer Internet traffic. Furthermore, pages with videos are 53 times more likely to rank on Google’s first page.

I took a deeper look into video content and its impact on organic performance. My analysis started in the fall of 2018. Google had already started to display video thumbnails in the SERPs. According to research from BrightEdge, Google is now showing video thumbnails in 26% of search results.

Source: BrightEdge

Understanding the true influence of video SEO for your business will require some testing. I did four different sets of tests to arrive at the sweet spot for our pages.

The first test was to gauge if having video content on the page made any significant changes. I identified a page that ranked on page four of the SERP’s in spite of being well optimized. The team placed video content relevant to the textual content to the page. And the test result was loud and clear, having a video on the page increased relevance, resulting in increased rankings, and visibility in universal search. The Page started to rank on page one and the video thumbnail in the SERPs displayed the desired video and linked back to the page.

The next test was to understand the impact of the method of delivery. I measured what was the level of user engagement and organic performance when video contents are displayed/delivered on the page via different formats. The page was set up wherein users could get access to the video content either via a link that would take the user to YouTube or as a pop-up or as an embedded file that actually plays the video on the page itself. Results were very evident – every time the video was embedded on the page the user engagement increased, which decreased the bounce rate, and improved page ranking.

Taking a step further in our testing journey, I conducted a follow-up test to evaluate which category of video content performs better? Like any other SEO strategy, video optimization isn’t different. Skip the marketing fluff and go for product feature videos, “how-to” videos, or “what is” videos. We tested assorted video contents on the same page. Whenever the content of the video addressed a user need and was relevant to the page textual content the page rankings improved.

Lastly, I tested if Google prefers YouTube videos or domain hosted videos. On this subject, several of my business colleagues and I have budded heads. There is no universal truth. Google does display both YouTube and domain hosted videos in the thumbnails on the SERPs. Different sites will see different results. I tested the impacts of an embedded YouTube video on the page. What I found was something I had not even considered in my hypothesis. When the video was already present on YouTube and then embedded on the page, the URL improved in rankings and at the same time the thumbnails on the SERPs showed the YouTube video but when the user clicked on the video it took them to the product page and not to the YouTube video.

Key takeaway

Many enterprise SEO strategists failed to leverage the video content because they feel their products are not that B2C in nature. Remember that search engines like videos because searchers like videos.

Videos take the static image or textual content to experience content, wherein the user can actually view how to use the information. This brings in a much higher and stronger level of engagement that in turn improving the brand reputation.

What video content should you consider?

I recommend starting at square one – what is the user intend/need you are trying to address. Define the goals you want to achieve from this video marketing. Are you looking to drive conversions or spread brand awareness? Put some thought into whether the video is informative and engaging and whether it is relevant to the page that it is displayed in.

Don’t overlook how that message is conveyed as well. Take into account personas as that establishes your intended target audience, the overall tone that the video should take. What stage of the user journey is being targeted? Understanding the areas where video results are high can help provide insight and guidance for additional content strategy ideas.

Things to remember when starting to incorporate video content

More and more people are searching and viewing content on their handheld devices. Therefore, you have to optimize this content with a mobile-first approach.

The basic SEO principle still applies. Optimize title, description, tags, transcript. Matching these to the user intent can encourage click-throughs

• Ensure its page placement. Always surround your video with relevant content to tie it all together.
• Videos up to two minutes long get the most engagement. Keep them short and let your brand shine through.

Don’t just link to it, embed it onto your site and make sure the video image is compelling.

This is the critical time to incorporate video content and optimization into your content strategy for 2019. When quality videos are added to web pages, it gets recognized as rich content, a step up from the regular text-filled pages. Video content will only help your optimization strategy in expanding your reach to driving engaged site visits.

Tanu Javeri is Senior Global SEO Strategist at IBM.

The post Don’t underestimate the power of video appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

Source:: searchenginewatch.com

With Google releasing more information of when updates take place, you should see it as a good practice to highlight this information in your Google Analytics account.

With the use of annotations, you will now have a visual guide in Google Analytic’s reports to help understand if you have been affected negatively or positively from the updates made to Google algorithm. But you can also use this to mark other important events for when changes have been applied to your website.

^{Source: Google Analytics}

A four-step guide to creating an annotation

1. Click on the small down arrow pointing triangle of any graph type of report.

^{Source: Google Analytics}

2) Click on the “+Create new annotation”.

^{Source: Google Analytics}

3) Complete the small form, select the date of the Google update and a small note that makes it clear what update/change took place.

4) And last but not least hit “Save”.

You can set your annotations to be private or shared (only if you have collaboration-level access the Google Analytics account can you select shared annotations).

^{Source: Twitter.com}

When Google released the June core update in 2019, Google’s search liaison team pre-announced the update via Twitter, this is the first time they have ever done this. You can take advantage of this in the future by adding google annotations in advance so that you can see if there was a negative or positive effect on your organic traffic from google.

Having the ability to add annotations with a date set in the future can come in particularly handy if you know that there is an update about to go live from Google, or if your development team is about to upload their weekly change at 4.59 pm on a Friday.

How to add annotations for future Google updates

1. Go to the admin section of your Google Analytics account
2. Select the correct view in the far left-hand column
3. Under “Personal tools & Assets”, select “Annotations”
4. Click on “+ New Annotation” at the top of the table
5. Enter the date of the Google update/change you will see that you are now able to select a date in the future
6. Add some descriptive text about the change/update
7. Chose the type of visibility – private or shared
8. Click “Create Annotation”

^{Source: Google Analytics}

List of Google updates to add Google Analytics annotations

Site Diversity Update — June 6, 2019

June 2019 Core Update — June 3, 2019

Indexing Bugs — May 23, 2019

Deindexing Bug — April 5, 2019

March 2019 Core Update — March 12, 2019

19-result SERPs — March 1, 2019

March 1st Google Search Algorithm Ranking Update – Unconfirmed (SER)

Unnamed Update — November 29, 2018

Unnamed Update — October 15, 2018

Unnamed Update — September 10, 2018

Medic Core Update — August 1, 2018

Chrome Security Warnings (Full Site) — July 24, 2018

Unnamed Update — July 21, 2018

Mobile Speed Update — July 9, 2018

Video Carousels — June 14, 2018

Unnamed Update — May 23, 2018

Snippet Length Drop — May 13, 2018

Unnamed Core Update — April 17, 2018

Mobile-First Index Roll-out — March 26, 2018

Zero-result SERP Test — March 14, 2018

Brackets Core Update — March 8, 2018

Unnamed Update — February 20, 2018

Maccabees Update — December 14, 2017

Snippet Length Increase — November 30, 2017

Unnamed Update — November 14, 2017

Featured Snippet Drop — October 27, 2017

Chrome Security Warnings (Forms) — October 17, 2017

Unnamed Update — September 27, 2017

Google Jobs — June 20, 2017

Unnamed Update — May 17, 2017

Google Tops 50% HTTPS — April 16, 2017

Fred (Unconfirmed) — March 8, 2017

Unnamed Update — February 6, 2017

Unnamed Update — February 1, 2017

Intrusive Interstitial Penalty — January 10, 2017

Unnamed Update — December 14, 2016

Unnamed Update — November 10, 2016

Penguin 4.0, Phase 2 — October 6, 2016

Penguin 4.0, Phase 1 — September 27, 2016

Penguin 4.0 Announcement — September 23, 2016

Image/Universal Drop — September 13, 2016

Possum — September 1, 2016

Mobile-friendly 2 — May 12, 2016

Unnamed Update — May 10, 2016

AdWords Shake-up — February 23, 2016

Unnamed Update — January 8, 2016

RankBrain* — October 26, 2015

Panda 4.2 (#28) — July 17, 2015

The Quality Update — May 3, 2015

Mobile Update AKA “Mobilegeddon” — April 22, 2015

Unnamed Update — February 4, 2015

Pigeon Expands (UK, CA, AU) — December 22, 2014

Penguin Everflux — December 10, 2014

Pirate 2.0 — October 21, 2014

Penguin 3.0 — October 17, 2014

In The News Box — October 1, 2014

Panda 4.1 (#27) — September 23, 2014

Authorship Removed — August 28, 2014

HTTPS/SSL Update — August 6, 2014

Pigeon — July 24, 2014

Authorship Photo Drop — June 28, 2014

Payday Loan 3.0 — June 12, 2014

Panda 4.0 (#26) — May 19, 2014

Payday Loan 2.0 — May 16, 2014

Unnamed Update — March 24, 2014

Page Layout #3 — February 6, 2014

Authorship Shake-up — December 19, 2013

Unnamed Update — December 17, 2013

Unnamed Update — November 14, 2013

Penguin 2.1 (#5) — October 4, 2013

Hummingbird — August 20, 2013

In-depth Articles — August 6, 2013

Unnamed Update — July 26, 2013

Knowledge Graph Expansion — July 19, 2013

Panda Recovery — July 18, 2013

Multi-Week Update — June 27, 2013

Panda Dance — June 11, 2013

Penguin 2.0 (#4) — May 22, 2013

Domain Crowding — May 21, 2013

Phantom — May 9, 2013

Panda #25 — March 14, 2013

Panda #24 — January 22, 2013

Panda #23 — December 21, 2012

Knowledge Graph Expansion — December 4, 2012

Panda #22 — November 21, 2012

Panda #21 — November 5, 2012

Page Layout #2 — October 9, 2012

Penguin #3 — October 5, 2012

August/September 65-Pack — October 4, 2012

Panda #20 — September 27, 2012

Exact-Match Domain (EMD) Update — September 27, 2012

Panda 3.9.2 (#19) — September 18, 2012

Panda 3.9.1 (#18) — August 20, 2012

7-Result SERPs — August 14, 2012

June/July 86-Pack — August 10, 2012

DMCA Penalty (“Pirate”) — August 10, 2012

Panda 3.9 (#17) — July 24, 2012

Link Warnings — July 19, 2012

Panda 3.8 (#16) — June 25, 2012

Panda 3.7 (#15) — June 8, 2012

May 39-Pack — June 7, 2012

Penguin 1.1 (#2) — May 25, 2012

Knowledge Graph — May 16, 2012

April 52-Pack — May 4, 2012

Panda 3.6 (#14) — April 27, 2012

Penguin — April 24, 2012

Panda 3.5 (#13) — April 19, 2012

Parked Domain Bug — April 16, 2012

March 50-Pack — April 3, 2012

Panda 3.4 (#12) — March 23, 2012

Search Quality Video — March 12, 2012

Venice — February 27, 2012

February 40-Pack (2) — February 27, 2012

Panda 3.3 (#11) — February 27, 2012

February 17-Pack — February 3, 2012

Ads Above The Fold — January 19, 2012

Panda 3.2 (#10) — January 18, 2012

Search + Your World — January 10, 2012

January 30-Pack — January 5, 2012

December 10-Pack — December 1, 2011

Panda 3.1 (#9) — November 18, 2011

10-Pack of Updates — November 14, 2011

Freshness Update — November 3, 2011

Query Encryption — October 18, 2011

Panda “Flux” (#8) — October 5, 2011

“Minor” Google Panda Update On November 18th (SEL)

Panda 2.5 (#7) — September 28, 2011

516 Algo Updates — September 21, 2011

Pagination Elements — September 15, 2011

Expanded Sitelinks — August 16, 2011

Panda 2.4 (#6) — August 12, 2011

Panda 2.3 (#5) — July 23, 2011

Google+ — June 28, 2011

Panda 2.2 (#4) — June 21, 2011

Schema.org — June 2, 2011

Panda 2.1 (#3) — May 9, 2011

Panda 2.0 (#2) — April 11, 2011

The +1 Button — March 30, 2011

Panda/Farmer — February 23, 2011

Attribution Update — January 28, 2011

Overstock.com Penalty — January 1, 2011

Negative Reviews — December 1, 2010

Social Signals — December 1, 2010

Instant Previews — November 1, 2010

Google Instant — September 1, 2010

Brand Update — August 1, 2010

Caffeine (Rollout) — June 1, 2010

May Day — May 1, 2010

Google Places — April 1, 2010

Real-time Search — December 1, 2009

Caffeine (Preview) — August 1, 2009

Vince — February 1, 2009

Rel-canonical Tag — February 1, 2009

Google Suggest — August 1, 2008

Dewey — April 1, 2008

2007 Updates

Buffy — June 1, 2007

Universal Search — May 1, 2007

False Alarm — December 1, 2006

Supplemental Update — November 1, 2006

Big Daddy — December 1, 2005

Google Local/Maps — October 1, 2005

Jagger — October 1, 2005

Gilligan — September 1, 2005

XML Sitemaps — June 1, 2005

Personalized Search — June 1, 2005

Bourbon — May 1, 2005

Allegra — February 1, 2005

Nofollow — January 1, 2005

Google IPO — August 1, 2004

Brandy — February 1, 2004

Austin — January 1, 2004

Florida — November 1, 2003

Supplemental Index — September 1, 2003

Fritz — July 1, 2003

Esmeralda — June 1, 2003

Dominic — May 1, 2003

Cassandra — April 1, 2003

Boston — February 1, 2003

1st Documented Update — September 1, 2002

Google Toolbar — December 1, 2000

^{Source: moz.com}

And remember

Generally speaking by adding annotations to your Google Analytics account you will be able to see more clearly if you have been affected by any Google updates.

The post How to set up Google Analytics annotations to show Google updates appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

Source:: searchenginewatch.com

The high-pressure marketing budget and strategy planning season seems to kick-off earlier each year. It’s as if your boss is asking you to magically construct the perfect strategic and tactical mix at the right budget for 2020, without having enough of 2019 under your belt to predict the best approach. After all, you don’t know what the future holds, right?

As they say, hindsight is 20/20. So, why not leverage that to get some 20/20 foresight?

Like you, we at TopRank Marketing don’t have any magical crystal balls or employees with psychic powers. We don’t use witchcraft to brew mystical marketing love potions. And we certainly don’t engage in any sorcery with enchanted mirrors, but we’ve honed our craft over nearly 20 years and we do find plenty of value in reflecting.

Just a mystic or a wizard or an enchantress gathers their crystals, herbs, or sacred artifacts, you too have transcendent tools available to you. Read on to learn how you can cast your spell, summon your marketing spirit, or connect with marketing’s natural elements to create a strategic 2020 marketing plan—without relying on the supernatural.

Research: The Magic Ingredient for Concocting Any Marketing Strategy

As a marketer you don’t know what you don’t know. And, that’s okay. Clairvoyance is not part of the job description. Begin your brew with some thoughtful research.

• Keep up with the latest trends. Is there a new tactic or strategy you should be testing?
• Read case studies from other B2B businesses. What’s working for them?
• Re-research your audience. Are your assumptions correct? What has changed since last year? What hasn’t?
• Bonus. Learn like polymath Bill Gates and the likes, by dedicating 5+ hours per week to learning. Polymaths lead in their field by becoming competent in at least three diverse domains and integrating learnings into their current skill set.

via GIPHY

Now that you’re tuned up, use your knowledge to spark new ideas, strengthen your plan recommendations, and back up your recommendations with solid rationales.

Data: Unlocking Insight to Season Your Potion

Every wizard, witch, psychic, or gifted mystic has had to spend a great deal of time to unlock the power inside themselves, you too must devote time to understand one of your most powerful tools: data. Anyone can come up with a striking idea, but it takes a special marketer to use data and unlock the insights within. Try this approach to uncover what you need to know to inform your marketing plan:

Gather the Data and Dive In

Leverage your tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to pull data from all of your tactics in the past year, including campaigns and ongoing programs. You can also gather audience data and benchmarks from the research you’ve been doing.

Don’t be afraid to spend a little time diving down rabbit-holes. At this annual reflection point, what better time to dig into an unnoticed trend or insight?

[bctt tweet=“Don’t be afraid to spend a little time diving down rabbit-holes. At this annual reflection point, what better time to dig into an unnoticed trend or insight? – @ElizabethW1057 on 2020 #MarketingStrategy“ username=“toprank“]

Confirm Your Benchmarks

Look across your data to establish benchmarks fit to your brand that will be valuable in informing your decisions. Again, feel free to check out industry benchmarks, but remember your brand is a unique situation. For instance, are you a startup looking to create a demand for a new niche? Or are you an established enterprise looking to increase market share?

Unlock the Insights

Now it’s time to turn that data into something you can use. Look for trends, outliers, big successes and big failures. Each one can teach you something and guide your 2020 plan to be more strategic.

Here’s a simple example of how you can go from data, to benchmark, to insight, to 2020 tactics:

1. In your latest campaign, you saw 2,652 sessions to your asset 90-days post-launch.
2. Across your last 4 campaigns, you’ve averaged 2,002 sessions to your asset 90-days post-launch.
3. Nice! Your latest campaign drove 32% higher sessions. But why?
4. You used email as an additional promotional tactic this time. And, email accounted for 27% of your total sessions.
5. Let’s use email in all of our campaigns that target this audience, and explore a more robust, ongoing email program.
6. Bonus: 75% of your influencers amplified your asset, driving 22% of the total campaign traffic. But, did they have enough reach, with the right people, to make it worth it? Were there other benefits of including influencers? To understand the impact of your influencer work better, add researching new measurement techniques to your “to do” list.

via GIPHY

Yes, there are many more metrics, variables, and considerations than simply number of visitors or a single promotional tactic, but you can leverage this approach to unlock some actionable insights from your data. Harness the positive vibes you uncover to inform your marketing plan, and bring your findings to the table to back up your recommendations.

Partners: Adding Natural Elements to Bind the Brew

Now, it’s time to combine elements for a comprehensive strategy.

Stay Grounded: The Earth Element

To enable your success, you must stay grounded. It can be easy to go heads down in planning after one quick conversation, but avoid the temptation. There is nothing worse than presenting a complete marketing plan to a room full of confused faces because you missed the core objective or are suggesting using a new tactic that just failed in another business unit.

Chat with your budget stakeholders early and often about:

• Are we aligned on the objective of my work in relation to the company’s business goals?
• What are you looking for me to achieve in 2020?
• Do you have any marketing strategies or tactics in mind that I should be considering? Or avoiding?
• What does my 2020 budget look like?
• Are you expecting any cuts? (Budget prioritization tips here)
• What have senior leadership or other BUs been talking about that I should be aware of?

[bctt tweet=“When you go into 2020 planning mode, stay grounded by circling the wagons with stakeholders early and often. @ElizabethW1057 #MarketingStrategy“ username=“toprank“]

Seek Collaboration: The Water Element

The water element governs relationships, and it changes shape based on whatever vessel contains it. Use the people around you to gather and mold your ideas this planning season.

The information you gather from your internal teams can be an unmatched input for keyword research. It can also guide your influencer research, inform your tactical mix, or simply spark new ideas or ways of looking at problems.

• Your customer service team can tell you all the questions customers are asking about your product or service — what drives customers nuts and what they rave about.
• Your sales team will know every detail about what makes a customer want to buy versus what stands in the way of a sale. They also probably have competitive insights on the marketplace and know who influences their prospects. Just ask them!
• Your product team probably briefs with you ever so often, but have you talked to them lately? There might be a feature or benefit that you’ve yet to focus on, or not highlighted enough. With the insights you’ve gotten from customer service and sales, you’ll know just what to do with the product info.
• Though often difficult to get in front of, your senior leadership will have invaluable insights into the company’s direction. Keep up on any content they’re publishing or sharing on social. And, when you get the opportunity to connect, be prepared with thoughtful questions and discussion points.

Get Transformative: Fire Element

Transformation, passion, and action are the domain of the fire element. Your marketing agency should embody this completely.

Every fruitful client-agency partnership is rooted in a collaborative passion and drive for your success. So, who better to ask for help on your 2020 marketing plan?

Your agency should have its finger on the pulse of the latest marketing strategies, tactics, and measurement techniques. And, it should be a consultative partner, giving you what you need to make the case for your 2020 budget. Tap your agency for anything from an informal brainstorm to proposing new ideas and tactics, and from campaign extension ideas to full collaboration on your entire plan.

Seek Reflection: Wind Element

The final element is wind or air. Air is sometimes a harsh element. It cuts away the nonsense and gets us right down to the facts. This is where your plan comes together and you begin to shine.

Collect everything you’ve researched, studied and gathered, and reflect. Wipe away your emotions and what you feel like you should do. Give new ideas space to grow and be molded by your data and what you learned communing with your teams.

Unleash Your Mystical Marketing Strategy Planning Abilities

You started making your magic marketing potion with research, filled it to the top with data and sprinkled in all of the world’s natural elements. Now, the power is in your hands.

You’re ready to concoct your 2020 marketing plan. Don’t hesitate to check back in with your team while you brew. Gather their feedback and refine, because collaboration is how the magic happens.

Would an agency partner be helpful for your 2020 planning? We’d love to help. Get in touch today.

The post Setting Your Sights on 2020: How to Brew a Forward-Thinking Marketing Strategy appeared first on Online Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

Source:: toprankblog.com