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SEO is an increasingly important tool when it comes to digital marketing; many companies are now turning away from expensive PPC advertising models and turning to durable, long-term SEO strategies instead.
But before you can implement an SEO strategy, you’ll need to have an SEO company perform what is known as an SEO audit on your website. An SEO audit is essentially just an inspection of your website when it comes to its ranking on Google; how well it ranks, where it can improve, and what strategies should be implemented to increase your search engine visibility.
So, how much does an SEO audit cost, and what does it entail? Let’s take a look.
On average, you can expect to pay anywhere between £400 and £10,000 for a full SEO audit on your website. Obviously, these costs will vary depending on a number of variable factors, and will depend on how long the audit takes.
As an award-winning SEO consultancy in London, we’ve performed countless audits on websites large and small. Typically, the following factors will play a role in the overall cost of an SEO audit:
Website size
The size of your website is going to play a determinative role in the overall cost of your SEO audit. If you have a large, sprawling website, it’s going to take longer for your hired SEO experts to work their way through the content. The complexity of your website will also play a role; for example, it’s much easier to perform an SEO audit (and implement key SEO strategies) on a website that uses a typical hosting service such as WordPress.
Website age
If you’re running a website that has only recently gone live, it’s much quicker to perform an SEO audit. If you’re just starting your business, it’s also easier to develop a winning SEO strategy both on-page and off-site. However, for older websites, an SEO audit can take slightly longer; all off-site content and on-site content will need to be evaluated, and this can take longer for the SEO team to complete.
Type of audit
Another factor that will influence your SEO audit price will be the type of audit your website needs. There are five different types of SEO audits: a technical audit, a content audit, a social audit, a link audit (or off-site audit) and a competitive audit. The type of audit you need – and the type of website you run – will naturally influence the final audit costs. For example, if you run a blog with hundreds of pages of long-form content, your content audit is going to cost more than a simple technical audit. You can also opt for a combination of all three types of audit; again, this will obviously play a role in the final audit price.
The overall purpose of an SEO audit is to find ways to optimise your website within your given niche. There’s really no “one size fits all” answer when it comes to SEO; every website and niche has different needs.
That being said, most SEO audits will include a basic inspection of key site elements, such as readability, technical performance, on-site and off-site content review, crawlability, indexation analysis, broken links, and images and text.
There are also different types of SEO audits, as mentioned above. In general, a complete SEO audit package will include the following elements:
A technical SEO audit is an inspection of your site from a logistical and user-friendly point of view. Your SEO experts will analyse factors such as page loading times, whether or not your site is mobile-friendly, and other technical factors that influence your site’s readability and usability, such as 404 error pages and duplicate content.
A content audit is an inspection of the written content on your website, in particular your service pages, landing pages, and your website’s blog. When it comes to SEO, content really is key: your SEO team will be able to identify target keywords that can help your website rank within your specific niche. SEO companies will usually first try to find “low-hanging fruit” keywords – these are search terms within your niche that combine high search volume with low competition.
A competitive audit will analyse your website’s performance and compare it to your main competitors. Your SEO team will report back on your site’s weak points, as well as your competitors’ strong points; this allows you to optimise your site for SEO, improve your content, while also making your site more competitive with your key rivals.
A social audit inspects your site’s presence on social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and other social media websites. A social audit will also inspect your site’s shareability factor: aka, how easy it is for users to share and disperse your content online (URL shorteners, readable content etc.)
Also known as an off-site audit, a link audit will inspect all the backlinks to your website. Backlinks (known as link-building to SEO experts) are incredibly important when it comes to SEO; a link audit will inspect the quality of your backlinks and give suggestions on where to improve your off-site visibility.
Depending on the size of your website – and depending on the type of SEO audit your website needs – a typical audit can take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks. If your website is very text-heavy, with lots of backlinks and off-site content, it may take even longer. You shouldn’t be discouraged by the length of time your SEO audit might take. SEO itself is a long process; we prefer to think of it as a marathon, not a sprint.
Even if you’re not planning on implementing a new SEO strategy, an SEO audit can be incredibly helpful when it comes to improving the user experience on your website. Here are just a few reasons why businesses should conduct regular SEO audits on their websites:
Durable, long-term results
If you’re looking to move away from pricey PPC campaigns, SEO is the easiest (and most durable) form of digital marketing. And unlike a PPC campaign, you don’t have to keep paying for an SEO audit every month. While you might pay for SEO services (this will typically include blog writing, keyword research and link-building) these services will help your website grow organically for years to come.
Enhanced user experience
Not only does an SEO audit help improve your Google ranking and conversions, it’s also great for enhancing the user experience on your website. There’s nothing more annoying than trying to navigate your way through a website with long page loading times, broken links, and poorly written content. An SEO audit will help clean up any missed website errors, and create a user-first experience that will encourage readers to stay on your site for longer.
Reach your target audience more easily
At its core, the principle of business is solving people’s problems for profit. And where do people typically search for solutions to their problems? Google! With 3.8 million searches per minute globally, you can reach your target customers easily with well-written, SEO-optimised content. Not only are you providing a service (aka your business), but with well-written, SEO-optimised content (such as a free blog post or informative article) you’re actually producing something of value to your customers.
Overall, the cost of your SEO audit will largely depend on the size of your website, the type of audit you’re looking for, and the complexity of your SEO needs. As already mentioned above, there’s no winning blueprint for SEO; every website will require a different type of audit, strategy, and overview.
If you have your own custom website, using a URL shortener is an effective way of making the links on your page appear more clean and aesthetically pleasing. Some URL shortener services also offer you ways to track your web pages when it comes to link sharing and online traffic.
With so many different URL shortener services available on the web, it can be difficult to choose the right one for your website. In this blog, I’m going to go over some of the best and most popular URL shortener services, what each provides, and how they can benefit your tracking and SEO efforts.
So, which URL shorteners to use in 2023? Let’s take a look.
A URL shortener is a service that allows you to shrink any long, messy URLs for your website into short, more aesthetically appealing URLS or ‘slugs’. Some URL shortening services also come with tracking tools, so you can easily monitor the amount of traffic or shares your links are getting on a daily basis.
A URL shortener is a service that allows you to shrink any long, messy URLs for your website into short, more aesthetically appealing URLS or ‘slugs’. Some URL shortening services also come with tracking tools, so you can easily monitor the amount of traffic or shares your links are getting on a daily basis.
Let’s face it, long, lengthy links full of numbers and symbols make us think of one thing: spam. Using a URL shortener is a great way to clean up your links and make your web pages seem more professional when they appear in the search bar. Shorter URLs are also easier for mobile users to access, and in general, they’re just more visually appealing than a big jumble of letters and numbers.
If you have a custom website, you’re probably tracking and monitoring traffic. Some URL shortening services allow you to monitor traffic for your website, so you can get an idea of how many people are sharing your links, and where. Having access to this information can help you improve your marketing strategies, by seeing where your content is most popular.
If your content is great, visitors are more likely to want to share your content with their social media audiences. However, are visitors going to feel compelled to share a link made up of thousands of characters? Most likely not. As I already said, long links connote spam and poor quality content. This is why a URL shortener is essential if you’re relying on organic traffic to boost your website hits. The more traffic you get to your site, the higher your Google ranking is likely to be.
Don’t forget that many sites also have character limits when it comes to sharing posts, such as Twitter, where the character limit is 280. You want to make your URL as compact as possible, so people can share your content organically without feeling like they’re promoting spam.
The answer to this question is slightly complicated. On the one hand, yes, URL shorteners are going to help your long-term SEO goals by making your content more shareable, and making your site more reader-friendly and easy to navigate. However, when used to disguise links and avoid nofollow tags, it can lead to spamming, which can lead to low user confidence.
A nofollow tag (typically seen in a URL as rel=”nofollow”) is a way for social media sites to indicate to Google not to consider the link authoritative when ranking pages. This is typically implemented to discourage the abuse of link sharing on social media, whereby users attempt to manipulate Google rankings by spamming on social media.
However, URL shorteners can often get past this, making it easier to redirect traffic to your website. While this can be used as a tactic to generate website traffic, it’s important not to forget that user trust is highly important when it comes to SEO. Promoting your content naturally – without spamming – is the best way to use URL shorteners.
If you’re looking for a URL shortener to use for your website, here are some of the most popular URL shortening services, and what they offer:
Bit.ly – One of the most popular URL shorteners, Bit.ly allows you to create short, custom URLs for your website easily using a custom domain name. Bit.ly also allows users to monitor and track your links when it comes to shares and clicks.
Geniuslink – allows you to track important data, while also customising and shortening your URLs to reflect your custom domain name.
Tinyurl – Tinyurl was one of the first-ever URL shorteners on the web, and can still be used to shorten longer links. You can also customise your links to reflect any custom domain name.
When it comes to seeing results from an SEO campaign, it’s important to note that URL shortening isn’t going to be the most determinative factor in increasing your ranking. In some cases, it might even simply be neutral. Successful SEO strategies need a combination of the following to truly be effective:
Backlinking is the backbone of SEO; backlinking shows that your page is an authoritative source when it comes to your keyword and website niche. Put simply, Google considers each backlink to your site to be a “vote of confidence” for your content. The more backlinks you have to your site (preferably from reputable sources), the higher your content is going to rank.
It’s simple: poor quality content isn’t going to rank well, and it certainly isn’t going to convert (if your intent is commercial). Whether it’s poorly written content, or bad SEO practice (keyword stuffing, spamming redirects) ignoring the user experience is bad for SEO. User confidence is an important factor in building trust and credibility, and this begins by creating high-value content that is relevant to your target keyword searches. When you actually provide something of value to your readers, they’re more likely to share your content, revisit your website, or explore your other content. All of this boosts your engagement and helps SEO.
If you’re new to SEO and trying to rank your online content, it’s not a good idea to try to tackle your online strategy without expert help. You can maximise your gains and reduce time wasted by hiring an ecommerce SEO agency to help you navigate the process. An SEO agency will be able to offer expert advice, design a personalised SEO strategy that works for your business, and increase your conversions and sales.
So, is URL shortening worth it? In general, yes. It’s always a good idea to make your content more readable, and URL shorteners can help you monitor and track your shares, impressions, and ranking. Just make sure that you’re also implementing a well-rounded, comprehensive SEO strategy to accompany it.
While longer URLs can still rank on Google, a shorter URL is more aesthetically appealing and is going to make your website appear more professional. When you use a URL shortener, you can also use target keywords as slugs, which can help make your content intentions clearer, making your site more user-friendly (and therefore improving your SEO by enhancing your site’s credibility).
It depends. In general, your URL isn’t going to be the most important factor that plays into your SEO ranking. However, clean URLS can enhance your website readability and make it easier for users to navigate your website. The longer a reader remains on your website, the more Google considers your content to be high quality.
The best way to make your URL SEO-friendly is to use a relevant keyword as the URL slug. This makes it easy to track and monitor the keyword ranking, and also enhances the user experience by making your site navigation easier.
Since its launch in 2007 as a novelty social media site, Twitter has since grown to be one of the most influential and popular news-sharing platforms in the world. As of 2022, the app now sits as the #1 download in the ‘News’ category on the app store.
Reports of Twitter’s decline in recent years has been driven primarily by the platform’s inability to capitalise on its large user base: from 2009 to 2018, Twitter was listing a net loss on the New York stock exchange. Despite having introduced several subscription-based features for top users, 85% of Twitter’s profits still come from ad revenue.
However, as a user base, Twitter is its own thriving ecosystem. It’s also now one of the most active social media sites in the world, with almost 230 million active monthly users.
But why is Twitter so popular, and why do traditional news sites find it difficult to compete?
While other social media sites such as Facebook (now Meta) and Instagram are constantly evolving to keep up with their competitors, Twitter remains as popular with users as ever, despite the original concept of the site remaining mostly unchanged. There are a few factors that can help explain Twitter’s popularity:
It comes as a shock to nobody that the internet struck a massive blow to the traditional print news model. Newspaper circulation has been in steady decline for years, and even fell under 1 million in 2020. To combat financial losses – and in an attempt to “digitise” the traditional print model – many British newspapers decided to implement paywalls, where readers have to subscribe or pay one-off fees to access long-form articles.
As of 2022, over two-thirds of leading online newspapers across Europe and the US operate an online paywall, while Twitter remains free to use. Not only does Twitter remain free to use, but newspapers are present and active on the site, allowing users to access headlines and news without having to pay monthly fees to access content.
Another reason Twitter is treated like a news site: it is largely populated by newspaper accounts and journalists. A majority of journalists use the platform to share their content with their readers, turning the platform into a news sharing site by default.
Issues such as Brexit divided Brits into warring camps, and much of these political battles were played out – and continue to be played out – online, especially on Twitter. This leads us onto perhaps Twitter’s key USP as a news site: it allows users to curate their own newsfeeds according to their own political and social sensibilities.
What’s worse is that Twitter’s algorithm actively encourages users to create their own political echo chambers. As research by UK think tank Demos confirmed, Twitter’s algorithm is most likely to recommend users, tweets, and other content based on content you’ve already positively engaged with. While this might create a more user-friendly experience for individuals, it can amplify social and political tensions on a wider scale.
In order to understand the breadth of Twitter’s influence, it’s important to first understand that the way we consume news has drastically evolved in the last fifteen to twenty years. In the pre-internet era, news stories typically broke in one of two ways: during TV or radio news bulletins, or on the front page of the daily newspaper.
Nowadays, internet users are bombarded with endless streams of information: news, current events, politics, scandals, and more. The online content-generation business is thriving, but what is often labelled as “news” isn’t actually newsworthy. In addition to this, Twitter even exists cross-platform: readers read tweeted news outside of Twitter; via Instagram, Facebook and other social media sites.
When trying to understand the Twitter phenomenon, it’s important not to leave out the commentary factor. Twitter isn’t just a platform for reading or sharing news, but a site where active commentary flourishes and thrives. Unlike your typical online newspaper comments section, Twitter users are able to debate and argue using fast technology, and are often rewarded with likes, retweets and followers for sharing their views.
Twitter creates something of a positive feedback loop, whereby users are more likely to engage with news stories in the hopes of kickstarting a debate, finding like-minded individuals or simply expressing their views and opinions. On Twitter, reading news isn’t a passive activity; it actively encourages users to engages and debate about current events and news.
While Twitter is a largely liberal social media website – in the sense that users can generally post what they wish – the platform carries a certain legitimacy and trust factor that its rival Facebook hasn’t yet managed to achieve. This can be perhaps explained by the presence of high-profile figures, newspapers, and institutions that use the site extensively; for politicians and celebrities, it’s stranger to not have a Twitter account than to be a known Tweeter. The second-last US President even preferred to consult his Twitter followers about policy decisions before his press team.
This trust factor is also due to Twitter taking misinformation perhaps more seriously than other social media sites. Twitter was the first social network to introduce fact-checking during the 2020 US Presidential election, and also implemented fact-checkers to monitor misinformation circulating around the COVID-19 pandemic and the COVID-19 vaccines.
Perhaps one of the most significant decisions taken by the company was the suspension of sitting US President Donald Trump in January 2021. Following the January 6th storming of the US capitol building by protestors, Twitter permanently suspended Trump’s account after he appeared to condone the protests. By suspending the most influential and powerful of its users, Twitter sent a strong message to its critics: that nobody was exempt from adhering to their code of conduct policies.
Decisions like these – along with their attempts at moderating user content – has helped Twitter foster a reputation for trustworthiness that other social media sites have been unable to achieve.
With the liberalisation of information – thanks in large part to Twitter and the internet – the influence of alternative news sites and highly partisan reporting is increasingly wide-reaching.
This has contributed to a significant decrease in media trust amongst Brits, which in recent years hadn’t been particularly strong to begin with. For example, in 2015, only 51% of Brits claimed to have trust in the mainstream media. As of 2022, this figure has plummeted to just 34%. Divisive matters such as Brexit and Coronavirus have driven users to engage with content that corresponds to their personal beliefs; in turn, “balanced” reporting appears untrustworthy.
While Twitter is now the most popular hub for news sharing, many advertisers are turning away from the site. For the most part, this is due to Twitter’s terrible pay-per-impression advertising model. When you advertise with Twitter, any interaction with a paid tweet – such as clicking the image or simply expanding the tweet – counts as an impression.
This flawed model can lead to high costs and a poor ROI rate, especially for new businesses. Plus, Twitter offers no real or concrete data about your campaign – you’ll be able to access data on impressions, but nothing else.
In 2022, the best way to grow your business online is via organic growth on Google. Not only is an SEO campaign more likely to help you reach your target audience, it’s the most viable long-term strategy for growth. Tweeting is fleeting; around 500 million tweets are posted per day on the app, making it easy for your campaign to get lost amongst the noise. With the help of an Ecommerce SEO agency London, you can achieve real-time growth and a long-term content strategy for your business.
Google Instant worked by offering popular search results to users based on their location and search history. For example, a user in France typing the letter ‘A’ into Google might be suggested the French health insurance service Amelie, while a user in the US might be suggested ‘Amazon.’ Again, these suggestions would depend on the user’s own search history and current trending topics.
If you’re running a business, Google is going to be a major resource when it comes to gaining new customers – and even retaining old ones. If you don’t yet know how to use Google to your advantage, you could be losing out on sales, income, and essential growth for your business.
There are two main ways that you can use Google for your business. You can opt for an SEO strategy, which involves optimising your website for various keywords, and providing informational content that can direct a customer to your products or services. Or, you can use Google Ads, the official advertising platform for Google and the number one source of revenue for the search engine.
While both these methods are highly valuable for any business either online or offline, in this blog we’re going to take a look at Google Ads: what they are, how they work, and whether they’ll be beneficial for your business.
Google Ads is Google’s official advertising platform. It operates via a PPC (pay-per-click) model, and it can be incredibly useful if you’re looking to get quick results and temporary gains.
Google Ads works by allowing you to bid on keywords and search terms that are relevant to your business, products, or services. With your own data, you’ll probably already have a number of search terms that you’d like to target: for example, a plumbing company in Leeds might want to target the search term “plumber Leeds”.
When you use Google Ads, you’re effectively paying the search engine to put your services at the top of Google’s results page: when users search for one of your targeted keywords or phrases, they’ll be presented with your services first.
When it comes to costs, you’ll only pay Google money when someone actually clicks on your paid ad. But before you pay anything, you’ll first need to win the bidding war: Google Ads functions via a second-price auction system, meaning that you’ll have to score the highest bid amongst your competitors in order to secure your place at the top of the results page.
(Note: a keyword is just a phrase or term that users put into Google when browsing for services, such as “hotel London” or “hairdresser Leeds.”)
There are a number of advantages when it comes to using Google Ads for your business, most notably the visibility factor. Google remains the most popular search engine in the world, with 5 billion daily searches. Other advantages include:
Quick gains
As mentioned above, Google Ads can help you get quick gains and quick sales. If you’re able to make a customer’s first experience overwhelmingly positive, you can even use Google Ads temporarily as a means to pull in new customers, and then focus your attention on retaining them (via promotions, discounts, loyalty rewards, etc.)
Targeted reach
People don’t always use Google for the same reasons, and user intent can be broken down into the following categories: informational, commercial, navigational, and transactional. It’s for this reason that social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are not the best places to advertise: you might be able to target your core demographic, but most people aren’t using social media for commercial purposes.
This is why Google is the perfect place to advertise your business: if you’re able to advertise your products or services under a targeted keyword, you’re literally directing customers right to your services for something they’re already looking for. This makes it more likely that those who click through will make a purchase.
Access to customer data
Google Ads allows you to monitor your customers’ shopping habits, and see what types of ads generate the highest number of clicks. With this information, you’ll be able to optimise the landing pages on your website to attract even more customers, and fix those that don’t pull in any viewers.
Like any marketing or advertising model, Google Ads isn’t perfect – and it certainly isn’t a one-way-ticket to business success and visibility. For one, digital advertising is extremely expensive:
High costs
Depending on the type of business you’re running, you can end up spending anything from £5000 to £30000 per month on Google Ads. For small businesses, this kind of investment is simply not sustainable – especially if it’s not returning any sales. (In general, Google Ads have a clickthrough rate of 2%.) While paid ads can temporarily boost your visibility, the return on your investment might not be substantial at the beginning.
It’s temporary
Your high place in Google’s search results will only be maintained so long as you keep paying Google for your campaign; as soon as you pull your paid ads, your content will be removed and placed organically within Google’s search results. If you don’t have the means to maintain Google Ads every month, this can lead to instability when it comes to revenue, impressions, and site growth. Rather than a linear upward scaling of your business, you might experience intermittent highs, followed by your impressions, sales, and overall engagement plummeting.
Paid vs. Organic content
Some studies have shown that Google users tend to skip over paid advertisements when searching. This might be linked to the trust factor: if users are searching on Google for informational purposes, they’re likely to avoid or ignore anything that appears commercial. Don’t forget that paid Google ads will be marked with a small ‘ad’ symbol, indicating that it isn’t part of their organic search results.
Despite the various drawbacks of Google Ads, it can still be a great way to increase your website’s visibility while winning quick gains and sales. If you want to get the best out of your Google Ads program, we’d recommend taking the following tips onboard:
Target achievable keywords
If you don’t want to spend a fortune on your ad campaign, don’t target the most popular keyword terms related to your business. Google ranks its keywords by price, with those that have the highest search volume costing the most. The best types of keywords to target are what we refer to in SEO as “low hanging fruit’ search terms – aka, easy gains. For a keyword to be considered “low hanging fruit,” it must combine low competition with a high search volume. This allows you to pay less upfront, and hopefully receive a better return on your investment. This also applies to long-tail keywords.
Combine Google Ads with SEO
While an ad campaign can help grow your business in a short time period, an SEO strategy will help to grow your business organically over time. Like Google Ads, an SEO campaign allows you to target relevant search terms, and direct users to high-value informational content on your website. SEO isn’t a temporary quick-fix: a good SEO strategy can set your business up for years of organic traffic. Even better, an SEO strategy means that your content ranks organically, giving your website that all-important trust factor.
Make your content great
As Bill Gates once said, content is king. There’s no use in spending money on a costly advertising campaign, only for users to immediately click off your site because it’s poorly-written, slow to load, or hasn’t been updated since 2015. The user experience is highly important when it comes to creating conversions, so hold off on any ad campaigns until your content is up to par. An SEO consultancy in London can help you optimise your onsite content and prepare your website for an ad campaign.
Google Ads can be a great way to gain quick sales and boost your business’ visibility. But it’s important to remember that it’s not a quick – nor easy – fix when looking at a long-term strategy for your business. To maximise your ROI, you’ll first want to ensure that your content, services, and customer experience is up to standard.
No matter what kind of business you have, it’s helpful to keep up-to-date on the latest trending topics and search queries on Google. Knowing what people are searching for is important if you want to keep your finger on the ever-changing pulse of the average consumer.
But what’s the best way to find popular search queries? In this comprehensive guide, we’ve covered all the ways you can find trending search queries and popular trending topics on Google: from social media sites, enlisting experts and digging for data on your own.
First of all – you might be wondering why it’s so important for businesses to understand search queries in 2022. It’s simple: having access to popular Google search queries allows you tap into the current needs and wants of the average consumer.
Google is the most heavily utilised online tool for finding data: the average person makes around 3-4 Google searches per day. If you have access to the most popular search queries, you can create engaging content that answers these questions while directing potential customers to your website and your business.
This process is part of what is called an SEO (Search engine optimisation) strategy. If you want your business to be competitive in the online market, an SEO strategy is essential
While we’re not finished with 2022 yet, here are some of the most highly-searched queries on Google so far:
So, where can you access that all-important search data and begin using it? Here are the top methods most widely used for finding popular search queries:
Google Trends is a great, free way to access popular search queries. Google Trends allows you to browse trending topics, search the popularity of chosen keywords and break down popular search queries by genre.
When you first open the Google Trends homepage, they’ll give you an immediate snapshot of the day’s trending topics.
If you want to find more precise data, you should click on the “Explore” tab. Using the search-engine feature in the Explore tab, you can search popular keywords that relate to your own business or interests, and you can measure their popularity by date, country, and time.
Google Trends offers you the ability to divide up information by the following filters:
For a beginner in keyword research, Google Trends is a great way to familiarise yourself with finding popular search queries and analysing keyword data. Most importantly, it’s free to use, making it an accessible alternative for those starting out in business.
Most social media sites have an in-built algorithm used to detect trending topics and popular searches on their apps and websites. For example, if lots of Twitter users are watching and tweeting about a live broadcast of an event (such as a royal wedding), you can expect the trending topics to relate to the live event.
Similarly, Reddit has a trending page where users can browse upward-trending topics, news stories and posts. Facebook has also recently tapped into this with their ‘What’s Trending’ page, where popular posts and local news stories are available in users’ feeds.
While social media can be helpful in finding popular news stories, they’re not the most useful for businesses. Social media sites do give you the added bonus of being able to read users’ responses to stories in real time, but this data isn’t necessarily reliable or easily optimisable.
However, social media can be a useful tool when it comes to identifying trends. TikTok is a recent example of this, with many companies using the “tik tok made me buy it” trend to identify market niches and popular products.
Another way to access search queries is by using a keyword research tool. These tools are typically very expensive, but will give you invaluable insight on trending search queries and popular keywords. You’ll also be able to search for popular keywords within your own business niche, and determine whether or not these search queries are competitive for your business.
Keyword research tools will also give you access to lots of valuable information surrounding each search query: whether users search certain keywords for commercial purposes, informational purposes or navigational purposes. Understanding these terms is important if you want to optimise your business using keyword research.
For beginners, amateurs or those new to keyword research, it’s important to note that paid keyword research tools should be considered an investment. Most keyword research tools cost hundreds of pounds a month for continued access, so don’t invest in one until you’re sure you know how to use it. To avoid wasting your money, you should be hiring a keyword specialist to use and optimise your data effectively.
Finally, the easiest way to optimise popular search queries to your advantage is by hiring an SEO agency to do it for you. SEO consultants will know how to manipulate Google’s algorithm and make your content competitive, and they’ll also know how to use search query data to help grow your business.
After all, simply being aware of popular trending topics isn’t enough to land a first-page result on Google. SEO can be a complex and tricky concept to harness effectively, and background SEO and SERP knowledge is a must.
Not only is SEO ranking more complicated than it seems, but businesses are now also fully aware of the power Google harnesses when it comes to generating organic website traffic. As a result, SEO ranking is more competitive than ever.
If you want your business to compete on Google, it might be a good idea to consider SEO training London. When it comes to understanding SEO strategy, it’s a good idea to have experts on your side to help you fully understand how to achieve organic growth.
With so much data available online, it’s easier than ever to access popular trending searches and queries. The key is being able to use this data to help scale your business. With the help of an SEO agency or SEO consulting services, growing your brand on Google is entirely possible.
Did you ever notice some businesses with relatively high traffic and you have ever wondered what seems to be the difference between yours and theirs? Their product or service always shows up at the top of your search results somehow, even when you are not actively looking for them.
Well, one of the obvious reasons for this traffic may be due to the optimization of Google Ads sitelink extensions.
What are sitelink extensions? Sitelink extensions are simply one of the additional links that show under the main title in your Google Ads. These links direct traffic to specific pages on your website, which could be a product page or your contact page.
Google offers a range of extensions including sitelink extensions, location extensions, call extensions and callout extensions, hence, Sitelink extensions are one of the many features of Google Ads.
A sitelink extension example is a link you create under a Google Ad to direct people to your sales page whenever you are having a special sale going on.
Overall, sitelink extensions are great options if you need to drive more traffic to your website and increase sales.
Google Ads Sitelink Extensions are a powerful way to improve the performance of your text ads on Google which is strongly recommended by any professional SEO Agency you consult.
Simply put, these Google Ads Sitelink Extensions are used to drive more traffic to your website, thereby, automatically increasing sales.
Every Google Ads sitelink extension should include a short, and catchy headline, a brief description of your business, and a link to your website which could be in the form of texts or images.
In addition, Google Ads Sitelink extensions allow you to indicate different ad campaigns for each link. Not only that, they allow you to showcase different aspects of your business, such as a promotion or a new product as well as help to create a user-friendly customer experience where they can easily click through to the page they need without necessarily having to search for it.
Here are some benefits enjoyed by businesses who leverage Google Ads Sitelink Extensions:
If you have not been utilizing the use of Google Ads sitelink Extension, it is highly recommended that you give it a try.
Now that you know that sitelink extensions are a type of ad extension that lets you add extra links to your ad, beyond the standard website link, you can use it to drive traffic to other parts of your site, including your blog or product pages.
Setting them up shouldn’t be stressful, all you need to do is follow these steps:
– The website URL of the page you want to link it to
– The text you want to show up as the link which can be up to 25 characters
One of the admirable benefits of utilizing Google Ads sitelink extensions is that they present the non-stop opportunity to direct traffic to specific pages on the website page you need. It is a great way for small businesses to boost traffic, redirect them to specific pages and ultimately increase conversions.
To get the most out of these google extensions, there are some practices to keep in mind when creating sitelink extensions,
Apart from the aforementioned practices, Google also has a few recommendations for optimizing sitelink extensions to get results.
If you’re an SEO marketer or simply interested in having your business rank on Google, it’s important to understand how Google Instant search works.
Google Instant, once known as Google autocomplete, is Google’s way of speeding up the user experience when typing queries into their search engine.
While Google Instant might make for faster searches, there’s also a wealth of opportunity when it comes to generating SEO-friendly content that can help businesses grow and rank on the search engine.
Google Instant was a feature implemented onto the search engine back in 2021. The aim of the feature was to speed up the user experience by offering search predictions based on the user’s location, global and local trending topics, and the user’s search history.
In short, it was an enhanced version of Google autocomplete, which was first launched on the search engine back in 2010. While Google autocomplete was once synonymous with generating bizarre and often downright offensive suggestions, Google Instant is markedly more intelligent. Google itself has put work into improving the feature, eliminating offensive search predictions.
Google’s key motivation for introducing this new feature was to increase the speed of a typical Google search, in doing so enhancing the user experience. By eliminating the manual work of clicking through to Google’s first page of search results, a typical search could take just 2-5 seconds, depending on the accuracy of the autocomplete suggestions.
Google Instant worked by offering popular search results to users based on their location and search history. For example, a user in France typing the letter ‘A’ into Google might be suggested the French health insurance service Amelie, while a user in the US might be suggested ‘Amazon.’ Again, these suggestions would depend on the user’s own search history and current trending topics.
So, why is Google Instant important for online marketing and SEO? Put simply, Google Instant makes it difficult for SEO marketers to make use of long-tail keywords, or “low hanging fruit” keywords in their SEO campaigns. (Long-tail keywords refer to search queries that are 3-5 words long, and tend to be much less competitive than short keywords. As they’re less competitive, they’re easier to rank for.)
When creating an SEO strategy for businesses, agencies often make use of long-tail keywords to help their client break onto the first few pages of Google, within their specific niche. With Google Instant redirecting users to generic keywords, this can become tricky.
Despite being less competitive, long tail keywords are actually more user-friendly. By searching for specific niches (without being immediately redirected to a generic keyword), users were more likely to find content relevant to their search queries.
Another reason Google Instant remains controversial is its impact on PPC and PPI advertising (pay-per-click/pay per impression.) Typically, Google’s revenues per ad were calculated by the number of individual clicks or views on one particular advertisement. However, with users actively discouraged from using the search function, what did this mean for the future of PPI and PPC?
In response to similar queries from advertisers, Google quickly amended the conditions of their PPC and PPI ads programme. Now, if Google suggests an ad when a user is typing out their search query without pausing, Google won’t consider it an impression. However, if a user stops and pauses while writing their search query (presumably to view the advertisement) Google considers it a valid impression.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom. In fact, many SEO experts use Google Instant as a free keyword research tool.
While nobody still truly understands Google’s predictive algorithm, the instant feature still allows users to gather information generated by Google, and in turn obtain key insight on popular long tail keywords related to their business niches. Here are just some of the ways Google Instant can be beneficial for SEO:
Given that Google’s suggestions are based on real data, SEO experts can study the suggestions generated by Google, and are able to see what users are searching for within their specific niche. While the algorithm isn’t 100% reliable, the data is useful in seeing where the search engine is redirecting its users.
When you Google a popular question and click through to the first page of search results, you’ll most likely find a “People also ask” section at the top of the page. This feature gives you some insight into variations of the question you’ve asked Google, as well as related topics.
When Google Instant was first rolled out, many predicted that impressions on misspelt or grammatically incorrect keywords would plummet. However, the ‘people also ask’ section seems to balance this out, as it often includes popular misspelt or grammatically incorrect phrases relating back to the original keyword or search query. You can make use of these questions by incorporating ‘FAQs’ into your on-site content, as this type of content is highly likely to rank on Google if answered correctly.
Anyone who knows SEO knows that Google loves cluster topics. If you want to rank highly for competitive content, it’s vital to create a high volume of relevant content on and around your chosen niche. The ‘around’ part is often the most difficult – how can you find hundreds of pages of on-site content about just one subject?
This is where Google Instant comes in. With their drop-down suggestions and “people also ask” feature, marketers can get a rough idea of cluster topics to add to their on-site content. They can also get a lot of location-based content, with phrases such as “near me” “in London” and “open on Sunday” proving to be popular tag-on search queries in certain locations.
While Google Instant does offer valuable information on long tail keywords, having access to these search queries alone is not enough. SEO is a complicated business, and is becoming more competitive than ever as more businesses move away from PPC and switch to organic growth strategies.
If you want to use keyword research to grow your business, you’ll also need the help of expert SEO consultancy services who can help you use the information that you gather in an efficient way.
It’s also important to not forget that not all Google users like to be redirected to generic content. Google’s algorithm isn’t always reliable, and it’s estimated that only around 20-24% of users click an automated suggestion.
Whether Google Instant is here to stay or not, it’s clear that organic growth is becoming the most popular way to grow new businesses online.
For SEO strategists, it’s better to consider Google Instant a free keyword research tool, rather than consider every new search feature a setback.
Like any technology, Google’s data isn’t always 100% reliable. And users aren’t always going to be swayed into searching for generic content – long form key words still create results. The best way to grow your business on Google is by creating the highest-quality content, understanding your business niche, and getting SEO experts on your side to do the hard work for you.
There are many downsides to the joys of the internet and social media, but one issue that doesn’t get the attention it deserves is online abuse.
Unfortunately, abuse on social media has become something of a social contagion: according to data from The Office for National Statistics, around 19% of UK children aged 10-15 have experienced some form of online abuse or bullying.
And the statistics aren’t great for adults either. According to a poll by Amnesty International in 2017, over a quarter of women aged 18-55 have experienced threats of physical or sexual assault online.
So, how can you report social media abuse, and does reporting abuse actually work? Let’s take a look.
Online abuse can take many forms, and doesn’t necessarily have to take place on social media. Online abuse can include the following:
Like any type of abuse, social media abuse exists on a spectrum. Certain incidents of online abuse are more serious than others: while some arguments or disputes might be resolved via a direct message, other cases go to the police.
If you experience any form of online abuse as outlined above, your first step should be to report the person, before blocking their profile to prevent them from interacting with you further. Here’s how you can report abuse on the most popular social media networks:
Twitter has become the ironically-named “face” of online abuse in recent years, with many MPs even looking to ban anonymous accounts on Twitter to help reduce targeted harassment.
To report someone for abuse on Twitter, you’ll have to click through to their profile and click the options setting on the right hand side of their profile. From the drop-down list, you should select the option “report user”. You’ll then be asked to identify the type of abuse you’re reporting (for example a user pretending to be you, abusive content, threats of violence, harmful content, illegal content, etc.)
Once you’ve reported the abuse, Twitter will review the content and decide whether or not to suspend the account entirely or temporarily suspend it from posting. Most serious violations will result in a permanent Twitter suspension.
When it comes to reporting abuse on Facebook, a user must violate Facebook’s “Community Standards” in order to receive an account suspension. Facebook’s Community Standards prohibit the following:
To report someone for abuse on Facebook, you can click the “report” option on a post. This sends the post to Facebook, who will check for community violations and decide whether or not to remove the post.
Once you’ve reported the account, unfriend and block the person to prevent them from messaging you further. You can also make it difficult for them to find you with a second account: tighten your privacy settings and turn off the “let people add me as a friend” feature.
If you encounter bullying, harassment or abuse on Instagram, there are a number of steps you can take when reporting the incident. Typically, online abuse and bullying via Instagram is carried out in three ways:
If somebody is pretending to be you on Instagram, you’ll need to fill in an online form to help take the account down.
For users who already have an Instagram account, you need to use this form. For non-Instagram users who have been alerted to fake profiles by friends, you need to use this form. Note: You cannot report an instance of impersonation on behalf of another person, as various ID checks will be made in order to suspend the false account.
To report other instances of abuse (such as harrassment, bullying, or intimidation) you need to head over to the account profile and click “report” on the available drop-down menu. You’ll be faced with a list of options, and you should select the option that best corresponds to the situation.
Online abuse and harassment isn’t just socially unacceptable, it can also be a violation of the law. If you’re experiencing repeated, targeted harassment, you should alert your local authorities and report the user to the police. It’s especially important to alert the police if the user perpetrating the abuse is threatening you with violence.
While most online threats won’t result in real-life consequences, there’s no way to know whether a threat is serious or not. Plus, violent threats are against the law, so perpetrators should be dealt with by law enforcement.
When you report abuse on social media, it isn’t going straight to Mark Zuckerberg’s desk. In fact, your incident of abuse will either go to a “content moderator”, who will analyse the situation and make a decision based on the evidence provided, or an algorithm, which can help determine whether or not the account is abusive.
Algorithms have been highly criticised in the past, as these technologies don’t yet possess the nuance necessary to determine whether content is abusive or not. In some cases, algorithms allowed abusive accounts to continue posting, despite multiple users reporting the content.
One of the most pernicious types of online harassment is impersonation. If somebody is creating a false social media profile and pretending to be you, it can be both irritating and downright scary. Impersonation can harm your reputation and get you into serious trouble – it’s best to act right away if somebody is impersonating you online.
On Twitter and Facebook, you can report impersonation directly from their website. You’ll need an account to report impersonation.
On Instagram, you can report abuse by filling in an online form. You’ll be asked to verify your identity using a government-issued ID, after which the false profile will be suspended.
You can also enlist the help of SEO consultancy services to help prevent false accounts operating under your name. SEO experts can use marketing techniques to ensure that your authentic social media profiles are the first results on Google when someone searches your name, rather than that of your impersonators.
If users on social media are using your content without permission, you should be able to file a copyright claim and attempt to get the content removed. However, do be aware that posting other people’s content on social media isn’t always considered a copyright infringement.
When you launch a copyright infringement request, don’t forget that you’re launching a legal process. It’s a good idea to read up on each social media site’s “fair use” policies before making a claim.
Here’s how to report copyright infringement on social media:
To report copyright infringement on Twitter, you can do so directly via the website or app. Head to the drop-down menu and report the post for copyright infringement.
To report copyright infringement on Youtube, you’ll need to submit a copyright claim via Google.
It’s fairly easy to report a copyright infringement on Instagram. You can report copyright infringement by filling out a form.
Online abuse on social media is a serious matter, and one that needs much greater attention and action in the UK. Reporting abusive accounts helps to make the internet a better place, so don’t hesitate to block and report when you encounter abuse.
If you’re a young person experiencing bullying or harassment on social media, make sure to speak to a teacher, parent or guardian and let them know what’s happening. Online bullying is never acceptable, and social media sites will remove any posts that violate their guidelines.
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