nach der weltweit beachteten Kampagne „Recht gegen Rechts” macht der Hamburger Verein Laut gegen Nazis e.V. in Zusammenarbeit mit Jung von Matt nun den nächsten Rundumschlag: Sie starten eine neue Online-Datenbank, um die Verbreitung codierter rechtsextremer Sprache und Symbole im Fashion-E-Commerce zu bekämpfen. Gemeinsam mit den Mitinitiatoren Zalando und der Spread Group hilft “Fashion against […]
Source:: designmadeingermany.de
The secret behind the LinkedIn algorithm, like the recipe of the original Coca-Cola, is safely guarded. And while we don’t know how either is formulated, we can safely draw conclusions on their components by conducting various experiments. Since this is a B2B marketing agency and not a competing soft drink company, we’ll look to decipher the former.
Unlike the recipe for one of America’s most celebrated soft drinks, the composition of the social network’s building blocks is ever-changing, making it difficult, but not impossible to uncover the strategy for success. To crack the code, the team at Just Connecting analyzed a staggering 1.5 million posts, from 34,000 individual profiles, and over 26,000 company pages, spanning over 50 countries and 25 languages. The results of their research revealed exactly what you need to break through the noise, capture new audiences, and reap all the benefits of being seen on the world’s epicenter for B2B professionals.
As anticipated, the report is comprehensive, covering topics ranging from the most effective formats to the nuances of commenting and everything in between. Here, we’ll delve into what we consider the most impactful data points and insights on crafting a hook, video posts, formatting, Text + Image posts, nurturing, and more.
Craft a unique hook to pull your audience in
Imagine writing something and no one reading it… ever. Unfortunately, this is an all too common occurrence for many brands and users of LinkedIn. Imagine if Jonas Salk, the man who developed the first safe and effective vaccine for polio, shared his initial findings on LinkedIn. Very few people would arrive at the point where he revealed his findings if he started his post with several mundane sentences.
While you may not spend years on your work like Jonas, you don’t want your efforts to go unnoticed; ensure the two to three sentences of your LinkedIn text post start strong and capture the reader’s attention – testing proves you can increase reader retention by 30% by doing so.
Take notes: Casey Borrero, Influencer Marketing Strategist at TopRank Marketing, shares the details on crafting an opening and conclusion that gives your audience a reason to keep reading, engaging, and clicking.
Draw viewers in by creating the perfect video post
Visualize this: It’s 2046, and you can create a social video projecting a hologram onto the viewer’s wall. Okay, that might sound invasive and overstimulating, so let’s revert to present day. Despite minimal evolution in video technology over the past decade, there are still innovative ways to engage your audience. Crafting the optimal video post ensures that your behind-the-scenes video production efforts don’t go to waste. Ensure your video is 1-2 minutes long, in vertical format, features an impactful hook, and is uploaded natively.
Need help visualizing the perfect video post? The video below featuring me, Alex White, Social – Influencer Lead at TopRank Marketing, serves as an excellent example of all the components coming together to create an effective piece of media.
Choosing the right format for your content
When will the next George R. R. Martin novel be released? What is the best format for sharing your LinkedIn content? Who closes the door after the bus driver departs? Unfortunately, we only have the answer to one of these questions. While various formats are available, including Text + Image, Text Only, Document (PDF), and Video Posts … Text + Image reigns supreme, promising higher engagement than all other options.
Which format is right for your content? Theresa Dorsey Meis, Content Marketing Manager at TopRank Marketing, shares how matching the post purpose with the right format can boost the amount of engagement you receive on the platform.
Increase reach with Text + Image posts
Do you want to get noticed by the LinkedIn algorithm? As mentioned previously, it’s very keen on Text + Image posts. Using the format to gain reach is akin to using an air horn to get the attention of the staff in a library. It’s called “The Default Post” for a reason, as it provides the best results. It’s no wonder 48% of posts on the platform fall into this category.
Now, you can’t just produce any text and expect great results; no, that would be way too easy. For best performance, your text should range from 900 to 1,200 characters, feature short sentences under twelve words, and avoid using language that comes off as too promotional.
On to images. Have you ever seen a stock image that stopped you in your tracks? Yeah, we haven’t either. There’s much to be gained by sharing personalized photos, including an increase in engagement by up to 45% and stronger authority. Be sure to incorporate brand colors and themes, too, doing so can help with a 15% increase in brand recall. Oh, and avoid screenshots when possible as they generally receive 15% fewer clicks.
Unlock the keys to a great Text + Image post: Josh Nite, Senior Content Marketing Manager at TopRank Marketing, shares the benefits of messaging and images that are unique, original, valuable, and meaningful.
Publish and nourish to see your LinkedIn posts flourish
Remember that rotisserie chicken commercial from the 90s? The one where the star would say “Set it and forget it.” This approach is precisely what you want to avoid with your LinkedIn posts. Far too often, brands and creators set their posts for publishing, only to forget about them, when they should be actively engaging on the platform. The publishing of the post is only the beginning of your journey. For optimal results, you must:
Nourishing tips in video format: Debbie Friez, Associate Director, Influencer & Social Media at TopRank Marketing, shares the insights you need to boost your engagement via thoughtful engagement of your own.
The Algorithm Insights 2024 report is just one of many resources you can dig into to improve engagement and reach, and achieve new heights of marketing excellence. But to truly unlock the algorithm, you must use these insights strategically and be sure to utilize all of the platform’s often-overlooked features.
And, let’s not forget the benefits of having a team of marketers who have 20+ years of experience on the platform. Contact us today to see how our social media marketing services can help you increase content reach, drive thought leadership, build an engaged community, and increase your brand’s share of voice.
The post LinkedIn B2B Marketing Tips from Top Experts and Insiders (New Data) appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.
Source:: toprankblog.com
If your organization has been publishing content for many years, chances are your website has more content than you can keep track of. This makes managing a content strategy harder than it needs to be. When you don’t know what content already exists — or the quality of that content — any efforts to create new content may actually work against your overall search performance.
To combat this, we recommend conducting an SEO content audit. This process will help you understand everything that has been published on your website so you can make an informed choice about how to use it more strategically.
Before you can start an SEO content audit, you need to know what you’re trying to accomplish. Without clearly articulated goals, the analysis derived from the audit is likely to lack focus and meaningful insights. Setting clear goals provides a framework for prioritizing tasks, evaluating the effectiveness of implemented changes, and demonstrating the impact of the SEO content audit on overall website performance.
When you define specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for your SEO content audit, you set yourself up to have direction, purpose, and measurable outcomes. Whether the aim is to improve keyword rankings, enhance user experience, increase organic traffic, or achieve a combination of these, well-defined goals are the key to a targeted and strategic approach.
The first step in the content audit itself is gathering a comprehensive list of all the content on your website, including blog posts, articles, product pages, and any other destinations where content is crawled. This inventory clarifies exactly what content lives on your site, where it’s located, and its performance data. This lays the groundwork for all the work that comes next.
Without this information, your audit could miss hidden opportunities or tackle irrelevant content, hindering your SEO efforts. But when you have a full picture of your content ecosystem, you can confidently understand what you have, what you need, and what you can improve.
Once you have an inventory, review the keywords associated with each piece of content. This process reveals whether your pages are targeting the right search terms, attracting the desired audience, and ranking where they should be.
Analyzing the keywords that your content targets and comparing them to search trends, competition, and user intent. Doing this will help identify missed opportunities, address keyword cannibalization, and guide your content optimization efforts.
For each piece of content on your website, evaluate the accuracy, readability, and how closely it maps to search intent. High-quality helpful content is more likely to perform well in search engine rankings, especially after Google’s 2022 helpful content update.
An abundance of content on your website that search engines deem “low quality” can have a significantly negative impact on overall search authority. An SEO content audit will help you identify your lowest-quality content, which you can either remove or enhance with a content refresh. Either way, addressing these pieces of content will help you improve your site’s overall search performance.
Another aspect of the content itself that should be audited is how other pages are linked within your content. Internal links guide users to relevant content and help search engines understand the relationships between different pages.
But internal linking is more than simply adding a list of additional resources at the bottom of the page (although that has its place). These should be relevant, contextual links embedded within the content itself. By optimizing internal linking, you enhance the overall SEO performance of your website and contribute to a more seamless user experience.
Google’s bots will penalize your search performance if it finds two pieces of content that cover the exact same topic. Not only that but creating duplicative content is a waste of resources.
Duplication analysis will help you identify instances of duplicate content within your website or across external sites. This isn’t so simple as identifying duplicate keywords, because sometimes different keywords are targeting the same user intent. Expert guidance will help you filter out these instances.
Now that you know what content you have, it’s time to figure out what’s missing. A content gap analysis helps you identify those missing pieces in your content ecosystem by comparing your existing content with the needs and interests of your target audience.
By understanding what your audience is searching for and comparing it against what you have already published, you can create a list of new relevant content to fill these gaps. This strategic approach ensures that your future content creation will align with user intent while targeting a more comprehensive and strategic range of keywords.
With your audit complete, it’s time to analyze the data and make a plan of action. A well-structured plan provides a roadmap for addressing specific issues identified in the content audit and implementing improvements strategically.
Your plan should include tasks such as refreshing content on low-quality pages, optimizing internal links, or totally removing duplicate content for each piece of content on your website. This will ensure that all your subsequent efforts adhere to the broader content strategy and are tailored to the unique needs of each piece of content.
An SEO content audit is one component of a broader SEO audit. To learn more about this more comprehensive approach, read our guide: Here’s Why You Should Conduct an SEO Audit, and What You Can Learn From It
The post Conducting an SEO Content Audit appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.
Source:: toprankblog.com
The latest update to Google’s algorithm has potentially major implications for brands and marketers who are focused on showing up for their audiences in search. As with many recent updates, this one is designed to surface genuinely helpful results that align with search intent.
The March 2024 update to Google’s algorithm primarily targets low-quality, AI-generated content and spammy SEO techniques. Read on to learn more about what this means and how it impacts your SEO content strategy. First, a quick overview on the state of the Google algorithm, and why it is valuable to stay in the loop.
“The March 2024 core update is a more complex update than our usual core updates, involving changes to multiple core systems. It also marks an evolution in how we identify the helpfulness of content.” – Google
When it comes to search, Google is the primary gatekeeper between your content and your potential buyers. As of last year, Google was still processing 8.5 billion searches per day and HubSpot reports that, “While close to one in three consumers use social search to find answers, traditional search engines are still dominant, used by 88% of people.”
The last few core algorithm updates have been all about promoting better content. Each one has caused a shakeup in rankings — brands that enjoyed unassailable top spots lost positions, and new, more relevant content rose up the search engine results page (SERP).
The March update is no different. If you’re seeing changes in your content performance, here’s what you need to know.
Algorithm updates are coming faster than ever. The last core update was in November, which was preceded by updates in October and August. These various enhancements from Google have openly shared a focus: increasing visibility of high-quality content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). The latest follows a similar theme, but is more geared toward penalizing content that fails to meet these standards.
Key Facts to Know:
The new update includes two main components: a spam update (completed as of March 20, 2024) and a core update (currently rolling out). These changes are designed to help searchers “see more useful information, and fewer results that feel made for search engines.”
The core update focuses on filtering out low-quality, inaccurate or unoriginal content, especially pages that are generated by AI or those with poor E-E-A-T scores. Google shared that they expect these and previous changes to collectively reduce “low-quality, unoriginal content” in search results by 40%.
The spam policies target three manipulative SEO techniques that Google is aiming to halt:
The big takeaway here is that if you’re trying to game the system, it’s a losing battle. With their wealth of resources and expertise, Google is constantly innovating their search engine to circumvent the new era of black hat SEO.
While incorporating AI into its own search experience, Google is taking active steps to ensure that unhelpful applications of the technology from others don’t diminish that experience.
As we often say, the secret to good SEO is quite simple: great content. Plenty of data and analysis should go into selecting the right keywords and how you approach them, but at the end of the day, quality is what matters most to rank. Focus on showcasing your brand’s expertise, building connections, and providing concrete value.
Do not use artificial intelligence to directly produce content. Generative AI can be helpful for content marketing in many ways, but only as a complement to human skill and perspective. Ultimately, this Google algorithm change should be good news for brands that place domain expertise at the heart of their content strategy. Your authentic and credible content will further differentiate you from competitors who might be drawn to the allure of spammy AI tactics.
The site reputation abuse and expired domain abuse updates are a bit more technical in nature, and could merit exploration if your brand posts content to third-party sites. If you’re concerned about how your website might be affected by these changes, you can get out in front of it with a thorough SEO audit.
At TopRank Marketing, we keep a close eye on the ever-changing Google algorithm so we can make sure our clients are in the loop. Here’s a rundown of the latest core updates and where they’ve focused.
November 2023
October 2023
Previous core updates
The path to performing better in search is two-fold: First, evaluate the content you have with an inventory and performance audit. Then develop a content strategy to create content that’s helpful to — and created by — humans.
Learn about TopRank’s SEO services and let our experts help you take the lead. We’ll get you started with a free SEO report card.
The post What Marketers Need to Know About the Latest Google Algorithm Update (March 2024) appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.
Source:: toprankblog.com
Are posters still surfaces that catch the eye? Can they tell a continuous story, a “Poster Novel,” as the original design working title was called? Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences looks back on a diverse and lively tradition of posters. Starting in 1968 with Uwe Loesch’s corrugated cardboard posters, through the outstanding typographic poster formats […]
Source:: designmadeingermany.de