Fibre Marketing

Author: Chloe

Recent Events That Have Impacted SEO

Posted on by Chloe

The world of SEO is always changing. It’s developing and adapting to make sure that it keeps up-to-date with what’s going on in the world – ensuring that the public can get all the information they need as quickly and efficiently as possible. That is the point of search engines, after all!

It is important to know how the on and offline world interact with each other, and how this will affect your website’s traffic and conversions.

When events impact search engines, you must be prepared. Some of these changes can happen organically, over a long time, and some are reactions to more specific events. To be able to market your business properly, having a good understanding of SEO is vital, knowing how people search at different times and how it can help you attract customers.

Here are some examples of recent events that have impacted SEO and the way that the internet is – and will be – used.

Google SOS Alerts

One of Google’s features is known as an SOS Alert. When something happens in the world where information needs to be given out, Google creates special search results which help spread this information. Recent situations that have warranted Google SOS Alerts include the tornados in Tennessee and Coronavirus.

A typical SOS Alert features a red box at the top of the screen, followed by ‘top stories,’ then a series of useful links followed by either  local Twitter updates or the usual search results (pictured below), with authoritative sources taking the top rankings. They can also display information about how to donate to help to support relief efforts. All of this information is made clear, so that it’s easy to see and share with those also searching for the particular ‘SOS event.’

Coronavirus

Coronavirus is having a much more significant impact on the virtual world of SEO than you might have thought. This is due to how it’s affects on the outside world.

Some of the effects of Coronavirus on search and SEO include:

  • More people searching and buying online as people self-isolate, spending less time outside
  • Changes in what people are buying – face masks and hand sanitiser sales, for example, are going through the roof
  • More people looking into how to stream events and communicate with colleagues online, from home
  • An increase in people working from home
  • Predictions of a slump in the travel industry, with fewer people searching for travel information and people looking into travel insurance
  • The impact of a slower economy

All of this means that the trends of the search terms are different than usual, and you should try to take this into account when you are considering your content marketing strategy.

Elections and Political Advertising

In a world of fake news, micro-targeting and social media, political advertising can have a massive impact on society – especially in the outcome of elections and referendums. With the targeting of certain demographics of people, we have seen some political parties or viewpoints having a massive impact and the internet is really only just beginning to get to grips with this.

Media in its many forms has always played a big part in affecting how people see the world and ensuring that the media that we consume online is fair and true is vital.

In November 2019, for example, we saw Google announce that they were to ban political advertisers from targeting British voters except on characteristics of gender, age, and a rough geographical location in an attempt to create a balanced perspective for people.

Another way that elections have affected search trends is the nation’s quest for information. During the last election, for example, Google saw massive rises in searches for information about Jeremy Corbyn, party manifestos and what certain political parties stand for. It also saw surges in searches regarding how to leave the country after the election…

Changes in Copyright Law

The online use of content is an issue which the internet has never really got its head around. Whether it is a blatant forgery, the use of art and music without paying for it, or illegally downloading films, there is nowhere else in society where this is happening to such a level.

The EU has laid out a set of rules which are designed to help to prevent these – what many people consider to be – unethical practices, through their copyright reforms. The laws involve those who display snippets of material having to pay licensing fees, as well as forcing companies to police the content that they publish. It is important if you are carrying out any sort of content marketing, that you are fully up-to-date with these new laws.

Google had tested new SERPs to ‘try to understand what the impact of the proposed EU Copyright Directive would be to our users and publishing partners.’ The results looked sparse, like they hadn’t finished loading.

It’s predicted that the new laws will full roll out in 2021, meaning that next year will certainly be a memorable one for the internet.

As the world moves forward, we will always be coming up against new challenges. Whether it is a long or short term issue, it is important that for your business to succeed online, you keep updated on how these issues are impacting SEO.

How to Perform a Site Audit

Posted on by Chloe

How do you know when it’s time to perform a website audit? Well, if you’ve never done one before or even thought about it, the time is probably now. Even a very basic website can have many moving parts, which means there’s plenty to go wrong. If you’ve ever found a broken link or similar on another site, you know how frustrating it can be – but site issues can also undermine your SEO efforts and end up costing you money.

Firstly, realise that there are an endless number of optional steps, but we’ll be covering only the basics here. Here at Fibre we offer a free internet marketing audit and can also take a more detailed, technical audit of your site to see what’s working, and what isn’t. But if you’d like to have a go at it yourself, here’s a few key steps to get you started with your audit.

Is your design fresh and functional?

Yes, your design matters. Don’t put customers off with a dated looking site. Get an external opinion or try looking at your site in Google’s incognito mode to see what your customers are seeing. Kill popups, obnoxious ads, illegible fonts, and boring colours. Next, scan the copy. Are your CTAs clear, above the fold and repeated throughout? You need to be able to glean everything you need to know about your company from the images, colours and branding alone. Finally, double check that everything is looking as it should on mobile – there are now some apps available to help you do this quickly.

Is your navigation easy and logical?

Again, put on the perspective of a visitor and see how quickly you can navigate around the site. Your menu has to be visible, make sense, and preferably be quite minimal. Be honest about what your customer really wants to read (authentic reviews!) and potentially downplay things like blog posts, About Us sections or news.

Are you using HTTPS?

A site audit is also about safety – you need to make sure that potentially sensitive data going to and from your site is encrypted so it can’t be intercepted by others. Using HTTPS (or getting an SSL certificate) is a non-negotiable if you’re selling on your site or collecting customer info, but it will also result in better Google rankings.

Is your loading speed OK?

It’s not fair, but visitors have very little patience and will simply click away if made to wait too long for your page to load. Google’s PageSpeed Insights is free and can tell you how you’re faring, as well as give you recommendations for how to improve.

How good is your content?

After you’re happy with the overall design and user experience, making sure your content is performing well might take the bulk of your audit time. You’ll need to make sure your content fits your overall strategy (is it offering unique, genuine value?), that it’s structurally sound (grammar, spelling, formatting) and overall high quality (skimmable, with other media mixed in, at the right reading level). Add proper headings and be honest about how well-written and informative each piece is. Could you reuse the content in an updated format like a social media post or video instead? Perhaps it’s time for an edit.

Do you have any broken links?

Dead end links or error pages can make a site feel neglected. Do this manually if your website is small or try a professional service or specialised software to help you weed out broken pages.

Is your SEO up to scratch?

Doing a site audit necessarily means appraising the performance of your SEO strategy. Are your titles for each page descriptive, unique and optimised? Make sure you’re including your keywords here where possible. For a thorough SEO check, you might need the advice of an industry professional to help you examine your organic search ratings, your LSI, and any buggy code to see how you compare to your competitors. A more in-depth exploration can check on the health of your meta-descriptions, images, overall site architecture, URLs, tags and backlinks. You need to gain a comprehensive idea of exactly how “healthy” your site is, inside and outside, and how it’s performing out in the market.

You may be surprised by what a comprehensive audit turns up – some people are shocked at the hidden ways their rankings were being lowered, or how many ways they were losing customer interest. Maintaining smaller websites is not too difficult with a little know-how, but you can make the process even easier by scheduling regular automated site “crawls” to do the work for you, or getting some expert human eyes on the site once in a while.

Site Security: How to Keep Your WordPress Site Safe

Posted on by Chloe

It’s a sobering fact: Google blacklists tens of thousands of sites every single day for malware or phishing. Getting hacked is something many of us would like to believe can’t really happen. But if you own a website, it’s your responsibility to make sure you’re up to date with site security.

Why WordPress, specifically? Simply, it’s the biggest CMS (content management system), arguably the most popular (28% of all global websites are WordPress hosted, with 60% market share!) and the best platform we know of for optimising SEO.

But hackers can interfere and seriously damage your business reputation, jeopardising your revenue or even stealing customer information. Though WordPress is pretty secure already, you can always reduce risk, even if it seems a little intimidating and you’re not 100% tech-savvy. Here we’re sharing our 10 must-have safety tips as a great place to start.

Keep WordPress updated, and back up, back up, back up!

WordPress is open source and will automatically install smaller updates, but needs your say-so to go ahead with more major ones. Make a habit to install updates diligently, including any third-party plug-ins or themes.

And, as always, regularly do backups. There are free WordPress plugins that will help you backup to a remote cloud location such as Amazon or Dropbox on a (at minimum) daily basis.

Use strong passwords

Take the time to change to stronger passwords across the board. Limit who can access the account (think guest posters or freelancers) and if you must, use a password manager and commit to regularly refreshing passwords.

While you’re at it, change the default “admin” username!

Change your WordPress Admin URL

A simple but effective way to discourage minor hacking. If you’re worried about compatibility issues, you can always use a separate plugin to hide your login URL and convert it to a personalised one.

Rethink your WordPress hosting service

The right shared hosting provider can shield you from significant risk at the backend, on the server-level. Consider Bluehost, Kinsta or Siteground, which will continuously monitor activity, offer automatic updates and provide more sophisticated protection. A good host can detect attacks and automatically ban suspicious IPs, but also offer support in worst case scenarios.

Use a plugin

It’s not enough to rely on built-in WordPress security mechanisms. Yes, you’ll have to pay for these (sometimes quite a bit) but it’s worth taking the time to understand exactly the functionality you’ll get, and whether it’s appropriate for your site and business.

Security Ninja, Google Authenticator, Vaultpress and Jetpack are all popular options and will monitor your files, record failed logins, blocks bots and spam, or scan for malware. Sucuri is also a great option for those wanting a free plugin. Chat with your SEO team to hone in on what’s most important to you – easy to use interface, value for money, simplicity, two-factor authentication or an advanced, comprehensive solution?

Choose HTTPS

If this is not installed, then you run the risk of sharing your login details. When submitted on HTTP your sensitive information is simply passed to the server in plain text and so can be intercepted. Enable SSL encryption (Secure Sockets Layer) and use HTTPS when possible.

Enable WAF (Web Application Firewall)

A firewall blocks suspicious traffic before it can do any damage; there are two main types – DNS level or application level, the former being a little more robust. DNS firewalls send your site traffic through a cloud proxy server first so only genuine visitors land up at your site.

Disable file editing

WordPress has a default code-editor that lets anyone tweak the themes and plugins from the admin dashboard – an obvious risk when it comes to hacking. Disable it with a simple addition of code.

Limit failed login attempts to 3

WordPress default is unlimited failed logins, giving hackers endless time to guess. Instead, visit Settings > Login Lockdown and choose the retry number, the retry time period and the period your site will lock for after that. You could alternatively consider a plugin for this.

Also consider automatically logging out idle users, and add security questions to your login screen.

Change your WordPress database prefix

The default is “wp_” but change it to something that’s less easy for hackers to guess your table name.

For those starting out, or the self-confessed tech-phobes among us, tightening up online security can seem like an daunting prospect. Luckily, there’s plenty of support available and our experts at Fibre are always at hand to answer your questions. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Take it a step at a time and put yourself in the shoes of someone trying to get in – how can you make it as difficult as possible?

A Day In The Life Of Content Marketing Specialist, Chloe Price

Posted on by Chloe

Last month, we kickstarted our ‘A Day in The Life’ series with Search Performance Manager, Ed, taking centre stage. This month, we’re gaining an insight into the day of a Content Marketing Specialist.

Link building is one of the top three ranking factors and yet can be one of the hardest things to master. As more content marketers and webmasters work to improve their backlink profile, more and more barriers are installed, and so the need to adapt and create new strategies is essential in this role. Link building also requires a lot of time, something that not everyone has – which is why many businesses turn to SEO professionals.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at a day in the life of our Content Marketing Specialist, Chloe Price.

What Does Your Morning Routine Look Like?

The first thing I do is check my emails from both my primary accounts and outreach accounts. I reply to all that I can or note down what needs doing in order to move on to the next stage. I run our social media accounts, so I also schedule posts, join in with online discussions and see what’s trending. Following this, I’ll read SEO newsletters to see what’s happening in the industry.

What Are You Responsible For?

I manage our link building team, so I’m responsible for making sure that all clients meet their targets each month. This involves arranging their monthly outreach schedule, arranging brainstorming sessions for content, testing new strategies, and liaising with the rest of the team to make sure that we’re exceeding our clients’ targets.

As well as this, I manage our team of freelance writers, so I pay their invoices, check availabilities, edit content, and keep an eye on client budgets.

I’m also responsible for social media and our search marketing blog.

What Does A Typical Day Look Like for You?

I try to split my day into halves. I’m more awake in the morning, so I focus on link building. I could be pitching titles for guest blogs, useful link building, going through competitors’ backlinks, or pitching news-worthy titles to journalists. A lot of time goes into creating a natural link profile for a website, so it’s essential that I do this whenever I can.

In the afternoon, I work on a variety of tasks such as editing content, working on the Fibre Marketing blog, social media tasks, paying invoices, and responding to any emails that have come in over lunch. It changes every day.

What’s Your Memorable Work Moment?

When I first started, a team member saw on mobile that a SERP featured fourteen Ads on the first page. We posted this on Twitter, and it went viral! We even featured in Search Engine Journal and SERoundtable. As I was the only one working on social media, I had to spend a fair amount of time responding to comments and retweets. It was pretty exciting for my first month!

My other most memorable moment was building my first link from my trial shift – I wasn’t even working for the company at that point!

What Do You Get Up to After Work?

Alongside my work at Fibre, I also have a few ongoing projects. I read people’s novels, collaborating on edits before they send to literary agents, and review books for publishers and indie authors.

Alongside this, I take photos for my Instagram account, which involves me awkwardly posing with piles of books in public places and receiving quite a few stares in the process. I also run my own blog.

When I’m not doing any of the above, I like to take day trips with my family and friends, exploring different places throughout the country that I’ve never visited before.

What Do You Want to Achieve in Your Career?

I want to improve my link building – I’d love to get a client on the BBC one day!

I also want to expand on my knowledge of content marketing and try out new things, and even conduct my research into the world of digital marketing, seeing what businesses can do to build their brand.

What’s One Piece of Advice You’d Give to Someone Wanting to Work In SEO?

Follow as many social media accounts as you can. Most of my inspiration comes from trending topics and discussions, and it’s also where most of my SEO knowledge comes from. You learn what’s important and why, and the different tactics needed to conquer the many aspects of search engine marketing.

One of the reasons why I enjoy working in SEO is because it’s such a supportive community – everyone shares advice and quick tips, content that they’ve enjoyed reading or tools that make their lives easier, which really shows through social media. It’s what makes the SEO landscape an exciting environment to be a part of, as you can progress quickly and build strong relationships across the industry. 

If you’re interested in SEO and want to know more about working in the industry, follow us on Linkedin to see what we get up to here at Fibre. You can also find us on Twitter, where we share the latest updates within the search marketing industry. 

 

A Breakdown of Google’s Featured Snippet Deduplication

Posted on by Chloe

On the tail of their Core Update, the 22nd January 2020 saw Google make some rather large changes regarding featured snippet duplication, and, being rolled out without much warning, these updates have been met with some confusion, to say the least. Here we’re looking at what featured snippets are, what the new changes realistically mean for your SEO marketing strategies, and how best to respond.

What are featured snippets and how have they changed?

Simply, they’re the textboxes that show on Google search results above the result listings, answering users’ questions quickly; they’re now officially part of the main organic search results. Previously, if a site held a featured snippet, they would still be listed on the first page of search results as well. However, with the new change, sites can only gain either a featured snippet or a first page ranking, i.e. it’s been “deduplicated” so only one or the other appears. The regular listing will still appear along with a featured snippet, but it will now be on the second page, usually position 11.

What does this change mean for SEO?

Naturally, this has shaken a few things up, proving yet again that staying ahead amidst constantly evolving SEO trends is a skill that can no longer be underestimated. As more and more updates have followed, and Google’s Danny Sullivan answers concerned questions, people have begun to wonder which ultimately has more benefits for a webpage – a first page ranking or a featured snippet?

The answer is: it depends. If you’ve used snippets before, the change might mean a disadvantage since your URL will now only appear once instead of twice. If you haven’t used snippets, however, your competitors will essentially now have half the URL presence they had before.

Since the changes occurred, many studies have been published analysing the difference having a featured snippet can make, and if it’s worth it. Marie Haynes asked her non-SEO friends (who aren’t considered to be ‘tech savvy’) if they click on the featured snippet or if they scroll down – interestingly, many of the respondents stated that they avoided featured snippets as they thought it was an Ad.

Some more details


Google is overall attempting to declutter and streamline front page results, and the change makes sense for users, even if it has caused some upheaval for marketers. The updates now mean that snippets are counted as “position 1” in the ten positions on the SERP, and if a URL is in the featured snippets, Google actively prevents it from appearing elsewhere in the core search results. But it is possible to have a joint featured snippet and a front-page listing, so long as they both direct to different URLs.

Similarly, featured snippet images are not deduplicated, provided they have a URL different from the snippet text. Carousels, People Ask, Answers, top stories, local listings, Bubbles and other refined featured snippets are not deduplicated. Neither are vertical search integrations (these are not featured snippets), direct answers or knowledge panels. The updates will have no impact on your Search Console performance.

It gets a little tricky, however: right side featured snippets originally were deduplicated (reported as a bug) but as of this article they are not, and will eventually be positioned at the top left.

How to respond to the featured snippet deduplication

SEO marketers are no strangers to rapid changes like this one – after all, Google makes hundreds of updates a year. Skilfully keeping a close eye on traffic and performance will allow a swift response and the appropriate action, which will naturally need to be unique for every company. Featured snippets are a coveted “zero-click” spot and reach your audience even without them seeing your URL. However, there will be times when users actually prefer to click on a URL, and where a main listing would perform better than a featured snippet.

There’s no easy answer to predict which strategy will work best; as with any other SEO update, trial and error is inevitable, and experimentation will show your SEO team which position benefits you most. It’s not a given that a featured snippet will be valuable your site, and it’s not a foregone conclusion that Google’s new changes will damage your SEO marketing efforts. If you do decide to opt out of featured snippets, try to reduce the size of your snippet to prevent Google from displaying it. If you lose a featured snippet, you should be able to revert to a normal first page listing on the SERP.

Not including a few bugs and erroneous results as the updates were initially rolled out, the changes look set for now, with more likely to come regarding moving snippets from the right sidebar and into the main column. However, there’s no need for panic – SEO is all about creatively adapting to new challenges, and there are always intelligent ways to work around any limitation.

 

All You Need to Know About Google’s Jan 2020 Core Update

Posted on by Chloe

Google brings out around a thousand updates every year. Some of them, however, have more of an impact on the order of their search results than others.

Recently, a core algorithm updates, known as the January 2020 Core Update  was rolled out internationally and was ‘mostly done’ by the 16th. Known as a ‘broad update’, it’s an update that doesn’t apply specifically to any type of website, industry, region or language.

Reports have been coming in from many webmasters that saw a major impact on the rankings of their websites, and this is why here at Fibre we make it our business to fully understand Google updates and how they can affect our clients. Some of the industries which looked like they were seeing the biggest impact are arts & entertainment, finance, games and news & sports.

What Has Changed with the January 2020 Core Update?

Google’s main aim is to make it as easy as possible for its users to access the information that they are looking for and their updates to the search algorithms are mainly aligned to this. In the past few years, it has been mainly about content – following their E-A-T mantra: Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness.

The January 2020 update builds on their other updates to ensure that websites that offer relevant, insightful and expert information get rewarded with higher rankings. If your website has slipped down the rankings it doesn’t necessary mean that you have done something wrong – just that someone else might be doing it better than you.

What is interesting to note is that there were fewer changes than the previous core update, which rolled out in September 2019. These decreasing fluctuations indicate that Google is becoming confident in how they assess a site’s quality and therefore, will not deviate as much from previous updates – they’re just furthering the changes they’ve been making over the past few years.

YMYL

One of the most common speculations is that this update involved yet another reassessing of YMYL (Your Money Or Your Life) sites, as reports across Twitter suggest that websites belonging to this category were victimised, particularly if they had thin content. As mentioned earlier, sites operating within the finance industry were affected, along with those involved in the health sectors.

If Google was targeting sites with Trust issues, then it only makes sense for YMYL sites to be hit as hard as they were. There were mixed results across the board – some saw improvements while others did not. Either way, it’s highly likely that they’ll be impacted again by future updates that will undoubtedly occur sometime down the line.

What Can You Do to Improve your Google Ranking?

According to Google, “One way to think of how a core update operates is to imagine you made a list of the top 100 movies in 2015. A few years later in 2019, you refresh the list. It’s going to naturally change. Some new and wonderful movies that never existed before will now be candidates for inclusion. You might also reassess some films and realize they deserved a higher place on the list than they had before. The list will change, and films previously higher on the list that move down aren’t bad. There are simply more deserving films that are coming before them.”

This means that there isn’t much that you can do that is new to ensure that your website is ranked up there near to the top of Google’s all-important search ratings. However, the same principals apply as before and making sure that your website is optimised is vital. An SEO consultant can help you to make your website effective and easily found by your customers and potential customers.

Content

The main key to having a good google ranking in January 2020 is all about content. You need to make sure that your content is reliable, authoritative and that you know what you are talking about. To need to make sure that your content is accurate and information taken from expert sources.

You also need to make sure that your content is completely original and not a re-hash of other content that already exists. Try adding a new perspective, one which uses information taken from a range of reliable sources, with concise titles – and titles that are accurate in the description of the body of your content. It appears that those websites which have been the most affected by the algorithm changes are those with content that is lacking in quality.

Links

You should also consider links in your content. Try linking to your ‘About Us’ page – showing that you are an authority in your field – and make sure that you ‘About Us’ page clearly states how you have grown to be experts as well as any credentials that you have.

Furthermore, if you don’t have one already, it would be a good time to implement an external link building strategy.

Mobile

It is also important, of course, to ensure that your website is fully functional for those who are using mobile devices – both in its navigation and display of content.

Although these changes in algorithm might seem to be disruptive, they are just an extension of Google’s quest to give their customers the best experience that they can. With a good content strategy and attention placed on the quality of your website, you can make sure that you don’t suffer from these changes.

 

How to Effectively Track Your Organic Conversions

Posted on by Chloe

Any time a customer visits your site and carries out your desired call to action – make a purchase, sign up to a newsletter – it’s called a conversion. Organic conversions are those that come from traffic generated from search engines due to their relevance rather than paid advertising. Since this is the essence of your business, properly understanding your organic conversion rate is essential.

Google Analytics is one of the primary tools that SEO professionals use to track conversions. If you’ve previously found the idea intimidating, don’t worry, it’s not as complicated as it first seems, and gets much easier once you dive in and start experimenting. You can even play around with dummy data in a Demo Account so you don’t have to worry about making mistakes with real data.

The success of your campaign comes down to understanding the available data to track conversions, i.e. determine if your efforts are actually working. For example, if you’re experimenting with content marketing, you’ll need real insight into how often to publish new material, which articles are being read, by whom and at what time of day, and whether these readers ever progress to making a purchase or signup. Here’s how to get started using Analytics to get a handle on your conversions.

Google Analytics, step by step

Before you start, you’ll naturally need a Google account, and to sign up for Google Analytics (which is free and pretty easy to do). Once you know what your tracking ID is, the tracking code is embedded into the HTML of every page of your site so it can send information to Google.

You could essentially stop there and get a third-party tool to analyse your data for you. However, it’s worth taking the time to do what you can yourself, since every business is going to be unique, and a more tailored approach will yield a better result.

Create conversion goals

Before you can get started, you need to set up concise and realistic conversion goals. Think carefully about what you consider a conversion in the context of your site.

  1. Find the Admin tab and locate the “View” column, then click on “Goals.”
  2. Choose “New Goal.”
  3. Under “Goal Setup,” you’ll see plenty of options, but you want to scroll down and choose “Custom.”
  4. Next, you’ll be prompted to name and describe your goal – select “destination” as the type for now.

Add your tracking code to your web page headers

What you have to do next is link this to your “thank you” page – the page that appears to your customer after they’ve made a purchase, signed up or any other desirable call to action.

  1. After “Goal Setup” and “Description,” enter the URL of the page into “Goal Details.” You can optionally add how much each signup or purchase is worth to you (this requires a separate calculation using average customer lifetime value and customer acquisition rate).
  2. Remember that if you have multiple campaigns, you’ll need to set up separate goals for each of them, so take your time. Each should have its own thank you page (or equivalent) so you can separate them out when you analyse the data.
  3. Once you’re happy, turn the recording status to “on” and Google will start tracking!

View your data

  1. Select “Acquisition” > “Overview” > “Conversion,” and your new goal to take a look at the data – at first there won’t be anything. In time you’ll be able to see the channels that perform the best, and how many times someone has visited your site.
  2. Check the third column, “Conversion Rate,” to see which channels have the highest conversion rates – these are the channels you obviously want to focus on. The more data you collect over time and the more you fine-tune your methods, the more you’ll understand exactly how customers are behaving on your site and adjust accordingly.

Think in terms of customer journeys

Once you get a handle on your conversion data, you might start to become curious about more than just the very last click on your customer’s path to that final sale or signup. The Attribution tab on the left side will give you more insight into the different ways you can track and analyse the customer journey, so you can give credit for the conversion where it’s due. This allows you to focus your efforts where they really matter and optimise correctly.

If you’re new to using Google Analytics, the key is to start small and take your time. There’s plenty to wrap your head around, but thankfully you can get started right away with just a few principles in place. As most SEO experts will tell, the best way to learn how is to jump in and ‘trial-and-error’ it for yourself.

A Day In The Life of Search Performance Manager, Edward Ziubrzynski

Posted on by Chloe

It is now a well-known fact that SEO is essential if you want your business to be found online. But one of the biggest misconceptions about SEO is that it’s an easy job, when in fact, many professionals are working hard behind the scenes – to help their clients climb to the top results page, thus improving conversions and increasing organic traffic.

It is a never-ending task, as search engine optimisation means staying on top of the latest marketing trends, clients’ competitors, and the algorithm updates that threaten to push websites further down the page.

So, we’re putting members of our team into the spotlight to showcase what a career in the SEO industry is like – starting with our Search Performance Manager, Edward Ziubrzynski.

What does your morning routine look like?

The first thing I do each morning is check my emails for client queries, industry newsletters and respective tools for any algorithm updates. This helps me keep on top of the wider industry while also giving clients the attention they deserve.

Following this, I will review keyword ranking positions across my client portfolio. This helps me set priority for workload while indicating whether there’s an algorithm update or a change in the SERPs or not.

What are you responsible for?

I’m responsible for monitoring client performance and on-page SEO. This entails optimising web pages and content to ensure it is best set up to pursue keyword targets. This also allows me to set the direction for web pages, ensuring that Google can easily digest and index the page’s content through a range of SEO techniques, all while offering value to the website visitor.

What does a typical day at work look like for you?

The thing with SEO is that it’s all about finding the right tactics that reap the best results, creating and adjusting strategies so ensure our clients stand out in the SERPs. This means that no two days are the same.

Some frequent day-to-day tasks include: article optimisation, continuously reviewing and improving internal linking structures on websites and optimising existing page content.

Other days are usually more theory based and involve reading around certain industry topics. This helps me develop my knowledge and identify areas of improvement/differentiation for my clients’ SEO strategies.

What’s your most memorable work moment?

My most memorable work moment was reviewing my client’s performance following the August 1st Medic Update, an update that occurred just two weeks after I started!

Following this update, an e-commerce client I manage experienced a decline in both ranking and organic sessions, exceeding the seasonal trend (pictured below).

Following on from a multitude of strategies, including link disavows, building backlinks, on-page SEO and continued optimisation, the client has now recovered and exceeded the position they were in prior to the update (pictured below).

This client is now 58.32% up on the period (July – December) for organic sessions and 69.96% up for organic revenue.

What do you get up to after work?

After work I will usually go to the gym, as I’m a keen powerlifter – with deadlifts and squats being my favourite exercises.

After that or on my off days, I will be watching wrestling videos or reading around how to wrestle – aspiring to be a wrestler alongside working in SEO! 

If I’m not doing either of the above, I will find myself marathoning a series on Netflix/Amazon Prime Video – if somebody is looking for a laugh, I would strongly recommend Norsemen on Netflix.

What do you want to achieve in your career?

I want to continue growing within Fibre Marketing, hopefully leading my own team of on-page SEO’ers one day.

I also want to keep expanding my knowledge of SEO, ensuring that I am competent with all aspects, including technical SEO and furthering my knowledge of Google’s Quality Raters Guidelines alongside E-A-T.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone wanting to work in SEO?

Read everything you can on SEO.

I’m fortunate enough to work in a search agency that operates in both the B2B and B2C space, giving me an insight into SEO across all industries.

When algorithm updates occur or you find yourself generating strategy, utilising the resources available will help you better understand the SEO landscape and will give you the necessary insights to help determine why people succeeded or failed.

If you’re interested in SEO and want to know more about working in the industry, follow us on LinkedIn to see what we get up to here at Fibre. You can also find us on Twitter, where we share the latest updates within the search marketing industry. 

12 Days of Xmas: 12 Reasons Why We Love SEO

Posted on by Chloe

Days are getting colder and shorter, but Christmas time is the season of warmth, good cheer and being thankful for all the good things the year has brought. It’s times like these that we stop and appreciate our industry, and what it takes to really master search engine optimisation. We love bringing our clients tangible results again and again, and we love SEO because it’s simply the best way to do it.

This holiday season, we’re listing the 12 reasons why we love SEO.

It’s rewarding

SEO techniques can help webpages rank on the first page of Google. But this is easier said than done! However after creating content, building links, enhancing GMB listings and more, the wonderful thing is that it’s more than possible to see real results. Staying committed throughout this process means we get to see our clients’ brands becoming more visible, with measurable boosts to their business.

It’s creative

Search engine optimisation is now a key part of marketing spend, but not without significant ingenuity. We love that we get to be on the cutting edge and pioneer trends in the digital marketing world, improving the way we all use and understand technology.

It allows you to be flexible

Working in SEO is truly a job for the modern employee. Connected by the internet, we’re not forced to stick with outdated workplace conventions, and can work remotely, independently, or create a career path that’s 100% our own. The world of work is changing, and as we move into 2020, we like to think that those in SEO are leading the way with creative, flexible work schedules.

It’s a life skill

As the world grows more complex, we see the emergence of many increasingly niche job roles. But when it comes to SEO, you’re looking at a skillset that can be applied almost anywhere. Everyone is online so everyone uses search engines. Mastering this arena means we get to have life skills that we can use for almost anything.

You can specialise

With an SEO career, you have the opportunity to specialise if you want to. The world is your oyster, and we love the fact that you can pick and choose the areas of SEO – be it content strategy, technical or, digital PR – that you’re most passionate about.

It’s challenging

Did we mention it’s easier said than done? In the SEO industry, the rules are constantly shifting and the field is a dynamic one, to say the least. We’re grateful that we always get to learn something new, to evolve, and to create better solutions every day. The fact is that you cannot succeed in this field without a willingness to experiment, persevere and push yourself.

No two days are the same

Those working in SEO (or at least at Fibre Marketing) aren’t too familiar with the boring 9 to 5. On looking back at the past year, most of us are amazed at the immense diversity of the work we do.

It opens further career paths

There’s not only the opportunity to carry these proficiencies into other careers, but SEO skills are also crucial for those wanting to break away from the mainstream and start their own fledgling businesses. We love that SEO gives us a key insight into business operations – not to mention the sense of determination and hard work that comes with the territory!

It’s genuinely valuable

SEO marketers have an advantage over their more traditional counterparts – they get to devise campaigns that are bigger, more targeted and more intelligent than ever before. There’s a lot of optimism that comes from knowing that you’re helping business owners to achieve the goals they never thought possible.

It touches on many different marketing platforms

PR, social media, even coding… with such a board range of tools at your disposal, SEO marketers seldom feel hemmed in by their work! There’s always a new skill to acquire, and a new angle to optimise.

It builds character

Finally, on a more personal note, SEO is not just practically valuable and technically challenging. It’s also a field that demands only the best from its workers in terms of resilience, creativity and teamwork. Thriving in SEO asks a lot of you – but the rewards are worth it.

You’re never alone

The power of the internet is sometimes mind-blowing. One of the great things about a career in SEO is that you have access to a thriving Twitter community and online forums that are always there to help you troubleshoot, learn something new or sympathise with your challenges.

Back To Basics: A Guide To Keyword Research

Posted on by Chloe

Keyword research is an essential SEO technique used to drive traffic, increase visibility, and boost revenue potential.

In this guide, we’re going to cover everything keyword related – from how to find the best keywords, to how to use keyword tools effectively. We will also provide you with some valuable tips to enhance your keyword research and maximise the benefits.

What is keyword research?

Keyword research is a process that allows you to identify words and phrases that people use in search engines like Google. You can then use this information to optimise your content around those key terms.

The main aim of keyword research is to determine which words or phrases are most aligned with your business’ content. This allows you to tailor your content market strategy to increase visibility and improve search engine rankings. Businesses’ can use a number of tools to conduct effective keyword research. We will discuss these in more detail later in the guide.

Why is it important?

Keyword research has a significant impact on every SEO strategy within your business. It is an extremely powerful marketing tool that can be utilised to drive traffic, boost search rankings, and give you valuable insight into your target audience. Without keyword research, your marketing campaigns are likely to be ineffective and produce poor results. If people aren’t searching for your keywords, then they aren’t going to see your content, regardless of how good it is.

In short, to survive and thrive in the digital age, a business must be able to be found online. For that reason, keyword research should be one of the first steps in any SEO marketing campaign.

Step by step guide to keyword research

Now you know why keyword research is so important, we’re going to discuss how to conduct effective keyword research:

Step 1: Brainstorm a list of key topics

The first step is to brainstorm topics that users are likely to search within your niche.

Create a list of broad topics related to your business. For instance, if you run a finance business then you may consider topics like accounting, investing or the stock market.

Step 2: Use keyword tools to find specific phrases

Once you have a list of topics, you need to carry out keyword research to determine the best words and phrases within each topic. You can try typing the word into Google incognito and seeing what terms it suggests for you. This is a great way to identify keywords as Google only suggests terms that are searched frequently by users. You can also try checking the “searches related to” section at the bottom of Google’s search results for variation.

Keyword tools can be a highly effective way to identify the best keywords for your content. Here are three keyword tools that you can use to find specific phrases within each topic:

  • SEMRush – This tool offers both a free and premium paid version. The free version still offers plenty of valuable information, including a detailed list of search results for every individual keyword. The paid version provides a more in-depth analysis with 10,000 results generated on every report.
  • Ahrefs – The “Keyword Explorer” section of Ahrefs offers a huge selection of useful data on each keyword you input. This can help you decide whether a keyword is worth using.
  • Google Keyword Planner – If you have a Google Ads account, then you have access to Google’s free Keyword Planner. You simply log into your account and enter the “tools” bar on the top right.

Step 3: Consider search intent

It is essential that you consider search intent if you want to use keyword research effectively. You must understand why users search specific words and phrases and think carefully about what they are actually searching for. Knowing search intent plays a key role in successful keyword research and SEO marketing in general.

Tips for effective keyword research

Hopefully, you now have an idea about how to find keywords related to your business niche. Below, we are going to give you some useful tips on how to further enhance your keyword research:

  • Avoid using only high-volume keywords as these can be extremely competitive. Low-volume and long-tail keywords often generate much higher conversions.
  • Use Google search to check who ranks top for your individual keywords. If it’s major companies like eBay and Amazon, then it’s going to be incredibly hard to gain that top spot on Google. You should, therefore, consider choosing a different keyword that is less competitive.
  • Try to gain featured snippets on Google, as these can significantly boost visibility for your site. If there is one for a specific keyword you’re using, then look at what you need to do – Make a new page? Restructure content? Optimise?

Summary

Keyword research is an extremely valuable marketing tool that can be used to increase visibility, boost search engine rankings, and increase sales and profits. It should be the starting point of any successful SEO campaign. Hopefully, this guide has equipped you with the basic knowledge to find quality keywords and use them as part of an effective content marketing strategy.

The tips that we have provided can help get you started, but as keyword research can become more advanced or you find yourself falling deeper and deeper into the black hole of searches, an SEO expert will offer guidance and conduct research efficiently and quickly for your website.