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.
While you might think of Google as the trustiest internet search engine in the world, the tech company has seen its fair share of scandals. Most notably, many antitrust scandals have cast doubt on the tech company’s popular advertising services.
In 2017, a data report by the tech firm SEMrush revealed that Google had been using its own platform to promote its products. From thermostats to Google pixel smartphones, the report revealed that Google had been plugging several products sold via its parent company, Alphabet Inc, using their own Google ad space.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Google advertising model, it’s a PPC (pay-per-click) system that awards ad space via an automated auction. By advertising its own products on the Google platform, the tech company breached the EU’s guidelines on competitive advertising, and after an investigation conducted by the EU, was fined $2.8 billion for its malpractices.
So, what does this mean for the future of PPC advertising and online marketing? Let’s take a look.
It’s also important to note that Google Ads (previously Google Adwords) uses an automated auction – rather than a manual auction – to assign ad space. What this means is simple: whoever selects the top bid (provided that their product is considered ad-friendly) will bag the top spot for their chosen keyword. Typically, companies will have several keywords that they’re trying to target and monopolise on Google’s search engine.
For example, a tech company might want to target a highly competitive keyword such as “smartphone cheap.” For Google to suggest their product when users type this particular keyword into the search bar, the company would need to set an incredibly high maximum bid to outdo their competition.
As you can imagine, Google Ads is a highly competitive – and financially lucrative – platform for businesses.
In the analysis conducted by SEMrush, Google were found to be promoting products under their own brand name (such as their Google Home Speakers) while also giving top ad space to Nest Labs, a tech company acquired by Google back in 2014.
For highly competitive hardware keywords such as “laptops”, again Google appeared to be manipulating their own algorithm to direct users to Google-owned sites and products. What was more damning was just how frequent these manipulations appeared to occur:
While Google strongly denies any claims of ad manipulation, the company was nonetheless investigated by the EU for anticompetitive malpractice. In a statement, the EU claimed:
“Separately, the Commission has also informed Google in a Statement of Objections of its preliminary view that the company has abused its dominant position by artificially restricting the possibility of third party websites to display search advertisements from Google’s competitors.”
After a lengthy court process, Google was fined $2.8bn by the EU for violating the EU’s antitrust rules. According to the EU court proceedings, the company was found guilty of “relegating the results from competing comparison services” in order to direct users to Google products.
They were also fined for other various antitrust violations, including abusing the dominance of their Android services, as well as another $1.7billion for anti competitive behaviour in their AdSense programme. The cumulative fines on the company totalled $9.5 billion. While Google appealed this decision, their appeal was rejected.
While this news might strike a blow in trust between advertisers and the tech company, Google still remains the most popular advertising platform in the world, with 80% of businesses worldwide using Google to promote their products or services.
Not only is their advertising business highly lucrative for Google themselves (with billions of pounds generated every year) it’s also one of the most heavily-utilised platforms by companies trying to target their core demographics.
This is because Google users really do click on Google ads more than other forms of advertising. What makes Google Ads different from other advertising platforms is that they are able to target users who are already on the lookout for a particular service or product. Google Ads generated over $140 billion in profit in 2020 alone, and users are four times more likely to click on an advert on Google than on any other platform.
It’s for this reason that the company’s anti competitive behaviours were so damning: 91% of Google’s revenue comes from advertising, with the tech company making over $100million (or around £84m) per day.
With Google doing all it can to monopolise its own services and products on their platform, it’s not surprising that many are turning away from the PPC model. When it comes to marketing a business online, it’s difficult to compete with corporations who are willing to spend tens of thousands – or hundreds of thousands – on advertising per year.
While PPC advertising can generate quick results, high competition for keywords makes it difficult – and expensive – to get a high ROI. Plus, as soon as you stop paying, Google pulls your ads. When it comes to creating a sustainable, long-term advertising model, PPC isn’t particularly lucrative for young businesses.
For this reason, many are now opting for organic growth strategies rather than the expensive PPC model. Organic growth – also known as SEO – can offer a much higher ROI and be as effective as a PPC campaign.
SEO (search engine optimisation) is a marketing strategy designed to make your online content more appealing to Google’s algorithm. We all know already that only 1-2% of users click through to the second page of Google, so it’s important for your business to rank high if you want to avoid eye-watering advertising costs.
If you produce high-quality online content on your website (such as informative blogs, FAQs, and SEO-optimised product pages related to your business niche) Google will be more likely to rank your website high in organic search results. “Organic results” refer to the non-paid results that Google provides whenever you type in a specific keyword to their search engine.
PPC and SEO are both effective marketing strategies, but SEO has the edge when it comes to creating long-term sustainability. A high-ranking piece of online content is a bit like an eternal top slot in Google’s ad space – without the high costs.
The evidence also suggests that SEO is a more viable strategy when it comes to building consumer trust: in general, around 70-80% of users click through to organic search results and ignore paid and sponsored ads completely. The only downside to SEO is that it takes time; but with the help of an expert SEO consultancy in London, you can expect to see concrete results from a high-quality SEO campaign in anything from 3-12 months.
While Google has been found guilty of manipulating ad results on its platform, it can’t manipulate organic search results. While SEO is a competitive and often complex strategy, it’s also the most cost-effective marketing tool for maintaining steady and organic growth – provided that you have experts on-board to help.
When it comes to comparing SEO vs PPC, it’s simple: either you want fast results (and you have hundreds of thousands of pounds to keep your campaign rolling month-to-month) or you want to create an affordable, long-term strategy that can help to grow your business organically.
And as the old adage goes, slow and steady wins the race.
Are you a business owner who needs to stay current with every news update? While most people have succumbed to having to rely on social media updates, it could be tiring and less effective. This is where RSS feeds come in. It is a wonder why they are less spoken of.
Although RSS feeds are one of the effective ways to improve your brand’s SEO ranking; they are unfortunately, underrated.
This may be because most business owners have no idea about RSS feeds or they don’t understand how it works.
In this article, everything you need to know about RSS feeds including what they are, why they are important, and how they can be utilised to improve your SEO ranking will be discussed. Grab a jotter before you read on!
RSS feeds are recognized to be a handy way of keeping track of new content on websites you are interested in, without having to check them all the time, which in turn, helps you channel your energy and focus on more important things.
RSS, which stands for “Really Simple Syndication” is a format for delivering content from websites to readers. Despite being the most powerful tool to stay on track, it is pretty much a straightforward process.
All you need to do is subscribe to an RSS feed which automatically informs your reader to keep you regularly updated by sending you an alert (usually in the form of an email or a notification), this way, you never miss the chance to remain on the top.
It is typical for a professional SEO consultant to recommend utilising RSS feeds if you need to keep up with your favourite sites but don’t have the time to visit them all every day or if you are constantly on the go.
In the early days of the internet, keeping up with the ever-changing keyword was challenging for search engines. This issue became bigger, especially with website updates, which would often go unnoticed by the search engines.
To deal with this recurring problem, website owners and bloggers started using RSS Feeds. When a business signs up for RSS Feeds, it provides a way for websites to share their content automatically with other websites. When a website syndicates your RSS Feed, they are essentially saying “We trust this website enough and think you also should”.
It is this trust that helps improve and also determines how SEO rankings will be. By syndicating your content to high-quality websites, you are basically telling the search engine that your website is trustworthy and worth ranking higher than others.
Many people seem to be confused about RSS feed SEO benefits. They wonder if RSS feeds, in any way, will help improve their SEO rankings.
Well, now that you know what an RSS feed is, it is also good to know that RSS feeds offer many important SEO benefits not only for website owners but also for readers.
For website owners:
RSS feeds provide a simple way to syndicate content and increase traffic which is an RSS feed SEO benefit all businesses covet.
– When you provide an RSS feed for your content, you are making it relatively easy for readers to subscribe and automatically receive updates when new content is published from your end.
Doing this helps to increase your website traffic and automatically improve your SEO rankings.
For readers:
You don’t have to worry about visiting many websites just to stay current. RSS feeds offer a practical and convenient way to keep up with the latest news and updates from your favourite websites.
– You can stay up-to-date on the latest news and developments in your respective fields by using a variety of tools and readers to customise your RSS feeds to get only the information you are interested in.
A lot of small businesses want to rank top in search engines, but don’t know how to go about it. When it comes to SEO, there are a lot of factors to consider, but the most important ones are either the targeted keywords of keywords you are targeting and how you wield the use of brand vs non-brand keywords.
In this article, we will help you solve every bugging question you seem to have about brand vs non-brand keywords. Apart from discussing how to get branded and non-branded searches, we will also teach you how to track them for a better output.
If you have been trying to rank your website for a while, you must be familiar with brand vs non-brand search.
Branded keywords are those that are specifically related to your company or product while non-branded keywords, on the other hand, are keywords that are generic and can be applied to any business in a given industry.
For example:
When it comes to SEO, you not only want to use effective strategies but also consult an SEO Agency which is the fastest way to rank top as soon as possible.
The results are so versatile that sometimes a brand becomes so known that its associated keyword gains as much popularity as the non-branded keyword.
Whereas, there are times when a non-branded keyword becomes so relevant to a particular business that it performs way better than even the brand’s associated keywords.
However, you can effectively use these simple hacks:
1. First and foremost, start by checking the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). If the brand search of a word ranks more, then the word is likely to be branded.
2. The next hack is to use a tool like Google AdWords Keyword Planner or SEMrush to study the monthly search volume of a certain keyword. If the results for a branded search seem to be more, then, people are more likely to search for a specific company or product than they are for a general term.
3. Lastly, you should utilize Google Search results to take a look at the organic search results for a given keyword. The keyword in the first 3 brand results that show up is likely to be branded.
A lot of businesses would rather focus on ranking their brand name so they can control the search engine result page (SERP). This is so they can help their potential customers enjoy a seamless experience that ultimately leads to them clicking through to their business website.
However, focusing on this strategy implies that you will have to rely on how much people are aware of your brand and how often they type it into the search bar. This can be a huge challenge, as people often use different alterations of a keyword (or even misspell it) when they are searching.
Non-brand keywords are essentially any other keywords related to your business that you want to rank for. Here, you don’t have to rely on people knowing your brand or typing it into the search bar correctly. All you need to do is to target any relevant and related keywords you want and still rank high on the search engine results pages.
Although, the major drawback here is that you are likely to have more competition so you will have to put extra effort into your research and planning to ensure the right keywords are targeted.
Most business owners are stuck between using branded keywords and non-branded keywords. Now the question becomes, “Which approach is better for SEO ranking?”
Nonetheless, the answer to this question isn’t all black and white. This is because having your business show up as a brand or non-brand search heavily depends on a variety of factors, such as the uniqueness of your industry and how competitive your targeted keywords are.
Although, most times, branded keywords are often more effective than non-branded keywords.
Branded keywords are specific to your company or product and are easier to rank because there is less competition. Here, you are targeting people who are already conversant with your brand, are more likely to be interested in what you have to offer and are more likely to convert into customers but you will have to be limited to the number of people looking for your company or specific product.
Non-branded keywords, on the other hand, are less targeted and less effective because there’s more competition, and they’re less likely to generate traffic because they’re not specific to your business. Besides, your ranking is more likely to be affected by consistent changes in search engine algorithms.
As much as you want to rank top, you must also try not to use branded words as they can be classified as spammy which will, in turn, affect your SEO ranking. Rather, try sticking to one or two brand keywords for each page and augment them with non-brand keywords.
The strategy you end up using has to be dependent on what you are trying to achieve.
– If you need to drag traffic to your website and also increase your brand awareness, then targeting brand keywords is the way to go.
– If all you need is to rank higher for specific products or services, then targeting non-brand keywords is the better strategy.
Now that you have a better idea of how branded and non-branded searches work, you don’t have to be in a rush, trying to fix things.
You can use both the branded and non-branded keywords in your SEO strategy so you don’t have to choose one to forego the other.
Just pay attention to using the right keywords in the right places. For a better understanding, use these simplified steps as a guide:
1. Using a branded keyword as an anchor text for your website links is the fastest way to improve your website’s SEO ranking for those specific keywords.
2. Utilize non-branded keywords as the focus of your content marketing strategy, if you intend to keep attracting new visitors who are searching for information on those specific keywords.
3. Use a mix of brand and non-brand keywords in your paid search campaigns. This will help you to reach more people who are interested in both types of products or services via brand and non-brand search.
The most effective way to improve your SEO ranking is to use a combination of the aforementioned brand and non-brand strategies. Now that you understand the benefits and drawbacks of these strategies better, choosing the best option for your business may be more confusing. If you’re still not sure which strategy is right for you, our team of SEO experts are ready to review, analyze your data and provide solutions to help you rank top on search engines.
Google Autocomplete, sometimes called Google Suggest, is one of the oldest and most useful tools on the Google search engine for optimising organic rankings. It is said to reduce the search time of searchers by about 25% because it reduces the time used in typing characters.
Asides from aiding searchers in their search, Google Autocomplete is also an important marketing tool. It is used by SEO professionals, analysts and digital marketers to get keywords, find out potential problems that customers face, and the questions they ask.
All this information enables them to get informed answers that can be used in marketing and improving their services. We shall discuss how Google Autocomplete is used to achieve all these, but before that, let us go in-depth on what it is all about.
Google defines its Autocomplete tool as a tool “designed to make it faster to complete searches that you’re beginning to type”. Also known as Google search predictions or Google search suggestions, It is embedded in the Google search box and the Chrome address bar.
The main function of Autocomplete is to reduce the time used in typing by giving predictions and suggestions, which oftentimes are correct. It is estimated that these Google search suggestions cut back a whole 200 years of typing by users. Typically, it reduces the average user’s typing time by 25%.
Since 2004, it has been a feature on desktop devices. However, it is a more welcome advancement on mobile phones, as most people find it harder to type on mobile devices, as opposed to the big keyboards that desktop devices have. The Autocomplete feature saves time for many and makes Google searches easier.
As mentioned above, the Google search predictions provided by Google Autocomplete can be used to get content ideas, improve SEO strategies, get keyword suggestions, customer problems, and so on. This valuable feature can either be used by an SEO agency, digital marketer or business analyst.
When you start typing a query on the Google search bar and predictions start popping up, you might wonder, “how does Google autocomplete this query?”. Well, it does this using certain data. These data include;
Using these data, Google Autocomplete can then predict your search and show results that are unique to your location, e.g., breaking news.
Additionally, Google search predictions might also predict individual words and phrases based on data from other searchers, as well as word patterns found across the web.
To start analysing the Google search predictions for SEO, it is important to do these three things:
Keywords are the bedrock of every SEO campaign, and it is important to carry out a thorough search on them before beginning your campaign. It helps in understanding a brand’s contents, website’s strengths and weaknesses, etc.
While the Autocomplete tool may not do all the work involved in keyword researching, it is a great place to start when developing keyword lists and content calendars. Using it with other keyword research tools helps to get an idea of the right keywords for your niche by measuring factors like monthly search frequency, competition, and cost-per-click (CPC).
One unique advantage that Google Autocomplete provides is that it can produce quality long-tail keywords that are commonly searched. Since one of the search parameters is based on the ability to provide results based on previous searches, you can dig up those high-quality keywords if you search well enough. A simple way to get these long keywords is by doing the steps outlined below:
Using Google search predictions can provide you with different content ideas relating to your niche, especially when you are looking for content ideas for your content calendar. Content marketing is important in SEO, so by using the Google Autocomplete tool, you get to explore different keywords which will help you generate creative content for topics around your niche.
SEO specialists know that understanding user intent is essential because it helps in the website’s messaging, layout, and overall goals. When a web page fully satisfies user intent, they perform best. While it can be labour intensive using the Autocomplete tool to understand user intent better, the information is quite valuable.
Autocomplete helps you understand the intent surrounding different high-quality long-tail keywords and also helps you spot the long-tail keywords and intent stages that can be optimised for better results.
Imagine searching for your company name or something relating to your company, and having a negative word attached to it. Something like that is sure to dent your brand’s image. Google Autocomplete can be a threat to your brand image if you don’t realise it quickly. If you’re in a situation where your company is in a bad light and is exposed on Google Autocomplete, here are a few tips to handle it:
Address the problem— if the negative prediction refers to something true, address the problem. While it won’t solve it quickly, the search volume for that term will eventually reduce and disappear from the list of Google search predictions.
Improve your brand image— Good PR is one of the fastest ways to keep your brand in the good books of your customers. You can do this by doing giveaways, loyal customers’ recognition, organising a local event, blog features, customer interaction on social media etc. Doing this improves customer trust and loyalty.
It is essential to always keep up with Google search suggestions regarding your company to ensure that there is no negativity surrounding it. This helps in preventing further damage, and also solving the problem on time.
Google Autocomplete tool is helpful to not only searchers but digital marketers. It helps to keep updated with search trends, high-quality keywords and other essential online tools that improve SEO campaigns.
As a digital marketer, the Google Autocomplete tool should be one of the most important tools in your arsenal for creating quality content that adheres to search trends, so as to give the high engagement you need as a reward for your hard work.
Duplicate content refers to similar content appearing at multiple locations or URLs on the web. As a result, when a piece of information is searched for, search engines don’t know which URL to show in the search results. Duplicate content could appear on 2 or more URLs. Duplicate content is an issue as they conflict with search engines such as Google.
Similar to most issues, Duplicate contents have solutions. Ranging from the use of an SEO agency to utilizing unique page titles and meta descriptions in the HTML code of the page or sites. Specifically, we’ll discuss solving this issue on WordPress sites later on.
It might be of importance to note that there are two types of duplicate content.
Internal duplicate content is found on the same site. This is a result of multiple URLs leading to similar content on the same site.
Unlike the first, this occurs across different domains. It is therefore also referred to as cross-domain duplicates. Multiple domains have the same page copy indexed by the search engines.
Duplicate contents are strains on Search Engine Optimization and in turn your site’s ratings. This is a result of search engines being forced to choose one of the similar pages it should rate in the top search results. Following a decision on what site to pick and rank in the search result, other sites get rated lower.
Irrespective of the originality of the content or who produced the content, there is a high possibility that the original page will not be the one chosen for the top search results. As result, plagiarism of original content might not mean a thing. The search engine just chooses the sites with identical contents that it analyzed to be better.
Another issue is the filter from search engines. Take Google for instance. While there are no penalties imposed on duplicate content, Google tends to filter synonymous content on the websites. Consequently, this would cause a loss of content coupled with a lesser ranking of the web page in search results. Despite the intensity of this issue, solutions have been preferred.
One of the said solutions is the SEO agency. An SEO company offers services in form of search engine optimization to businesses to improve their online visibility. Search engine optimization simply means making your website more mesmerizing to the search engines. Consequently, the said website will get a higher ranking in top search results increasing visibility to online surfers and market targets.
Duplicate content is a major issue hurting SEO on WordPress. It’s a common reason as to why WordPress websites don’t get ranked. Duplicate contents can mostly be avoided by not directly copying the content. SEO is a major feature boosting the originality and visibility of WordPress sites. Duplicate content lowers the performance of sites with similar specific content descriptions.
Tags are features used on WordPress sites to help with the organization of the contents. Unlike categories, another feature, they are non-hierarchical. The issue with tag is when a user tag one of their articles, a page is established containing other relevant content. This page contains bits of articles or complete article contents which could be from the user’s main site. The establishment of this page on the user’s WordPress site has itself become a competition. Consequently, causes a content duplication issue.
Solving this issue requires one of two methods. The first is simple. You can remove the tags completely. The second is to add a meta robots no index no-follow. The no index dofollow tag will serve as an indication to the search engine that the tag is a lesser result in comparison to your main site. Your main site is, therefore, rated higher enhancing your SEO.
Categories just like tags are features used in WordPress. They contain contents organized more hierarchically. In some cases, some WordPress sites tend to sometimes make categories dedicated to channels and niches within a channel. This makes them worthy of being readily available for search engine results.
The issue would arise if neither the category nor the core website pages are designed to be rated more than the other. The search engine could then rate both lower and non-available on search results. To solve this, you add a meta robot index and dofollow tags. Likewise, peculiar or unique titles and copies should be incorporated into the category to introduce it. Ultimately, queries asked, better replied to by the contents of the categories will be referred to the categories as they are made available in search results.
Another common duplicate content issue is competing topics. Some WordPress sites with the same niche, food, nutrition, technology, and business, when creating content about similar topics bring about competition. Popular examples include specific recipes for a snack or the latest flagship phone or gadgets. Some contents can’t help but be similar creating competition and duplicate content. To solve this issue, adding a category or subcategory for the gadgets, snacks, etc. is advised. Modifiers also help fix the issue (e.g., for recipes, spicy, chewy etc.). Following this, use “copy” making sure to stay relevant to the topic and indicating why your category or subcategory is unique
In recognition of another way to boost ranking and SEO, SEO agencies have proven useful and effective. SEO agencies in a nutshell help sites or organizations and businesses to rank higher on Google. That way when online customers/ consumers or internet surfers search for content about your niche, your site or blog is one of the highest-ranked results available.
Relative to duplicate content issues on WordPress, an SEO agency helps your site to get an edge over other competitors in your niche. When it comes to SEO, knowledge is power and that is what SEO agencies offer.
That being said there are some things to look out for when researching SEO agencies of choice.
If you’re trying to grow your WordPress site organically by hiring an agency to do so for you, it’s only logical that said agency made its growth organically also.
Experience is needed. So be sure to check for agencies that have been at the job long enough to know the nooks and crannies of the job. High-volume keywords will be needed, so it’s best to be in business with big players in the game.
All the rave about ratings should give you an insight into searching for top rated SEO agencies. Reputation is everything in the SEO world, it will be efficient to work with agencies that have continued good long-term relationships and have received excellent reviews from other businesses and possibly even a 5-star rating from Google.
Solving duplicate content issues on sites such as WordPress and websites as a whole is important to enjoy the full benefits of SEO. Without SEO, there would be no point to your content as they are going to rarely grace the screens of internet consumers. While duplicate content is a nasty yet common issue, these solutions highlighted above should help keep it in check.
Without the help of statistical representation, we are aware that the internet contains billions of information spread over one billion websites.
With this, important pieces of information are easily obtained with just a tap on a device. A Google search, for example, will expose an inexhaustible list of web pages relevant to the search query. Usually, people find their answers on the first page of the SERP.
Most web pages derive 75% of their traffic through this process. With these facts, you might want to know how to ensure that your page ends up on the highly coveted first page of the SERP to enjoy massive traffic.
The messiah to this can be summed up in 3 words— Search Engine Optimization (SEO). One of the effective SEO techniques is the use of keywords, and using an SEO expert might come in handy.
Keywords are essential in SEO because they help your page ranking and relevance, thereby increasing web traffic. It is important to know how to cluster keywords effectively while creating SEO content for your webpage.
Before discussing how to use these keywords to your advantage effectively, a definition of SEO and how it operates would give a brief insight.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the technique involved in improving a web page to increase its visibility and discoverability by search engines and generate immense traffic through non-paid (organic) search engine results.
When we place a search on a search engine, we are provided with lists of websites ranked from most relevant to the least relevant, and the element that makes a web page the most relevant is nothing but an effective SEO. Although, with the right cash, you can get a high rank (through paid ads).
Google, Youtube, Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yandex, to mention a few, are search engines, a group of software systems designed to scour the World Wide Web to provide us with information relevant to our search.
Considering the billions of information on the internet, how this is possible must be a wonder to us. It is easy. Search engines operate in 3 main steps: crawling, indexing, and ranking.
First, the search engines deploy bots (known as crawlers or spiders) to crawl through all websites and every link to discover different kinds of content. This is called the discovery process.
On completion, the discovered contents are indexed and stored in a massive database which they can retrieve in the future consequent to a search query. In displaying the Search Engine Result Page (SERP), the search engine ranks the results from most relevant to least relevant.
Before considering where your keywords can be used optimally, the first step of the approach should be selecting the right words.
As easy and trivial as it may sound, this is, in fact, the most important aspect of keyword usage. Using keywords unrelated to your content, irrelevant, and with zero search volume will place your work in a different race entirely instead of what you intended.
Therefore, selecting the right words gives you a fighting chance. It usually involves rigorous research, and you have to answer questions like:
– What do you want to be ranked for?
– What does your audience want?
– What do people search for?
– How many people are searching for it?
There are Keyword Research Tools that help to provide keyword analysis. Some include Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, AnswerThePublic, etc. You have to select three categories of keywords for your content;
– Primary keyword— only one word will be required here because it is the main focus of your content. The title and content must reflect the primary keyword.
– Secondary keywords— several of these words will be required, and they will complement the primary words as words conveying the talking points and variations of the words.
When a search is carried out, the first thing that your audience gets to see is your meta description and the SEO title tag.
Whatever is contained in both of them becomes what the search engine displays on the result page. Hence, your ability to generate traffic is dependent on what your meta description and SEO title contain. The meta description summarises the page’s content, and the SEO title tag is not necessarily the title of the main article but the title that you wish to be displayed on the result page.
The SEO tag should be a 160-character-description, and the SEO tag should contain 30-60 characters which must succinctly reflect the page’s content.
Optimising your content title is essential, as it increases discoverability on the SERPs. You should include these keywords in the first 65 characters of the title to be more effective.
You should include the keywords and variations evenly and naturally while doing this. If the content is bombarded with keywords making readability difficult for readers, the user experience will be negatively affected.
Also, this prevents bots from being able to “crawl” effectively. An effective method of correcting it is by including one primary keyword in every 100 words, which depends on the length of the content.
Relevant keywords in the “alt” attribute for images will increase the visibility of images when related search queries are sent.
You might be thinking, “would it not be smart to avoid these formalities and input as many keywords as possible?”
Well, these search engines are smarter than we think. Google, for example, is evolving every day and, as such, making improvements to its systems.
Google can see through the excessive stuffing of words, leading to an eventual penalty. In this case, your page may not be indexed nor ranked, and this is certainly something we do not want.
With the rising competition by website owners to be on the first page of SERPs, it is important to know these tips to up your SEO content game.
Keyword clustering is essential if you want to rank higher and enjoy great traffic on your webpage.
However, when you do it wrong, the results could be disastrous due to crawler bots not being able to crawl your site to rank it effectively and readers not reading because the content is not comprehensive.
With this being said, you should know and learn how to use keywords to get the best results from SEO.
Email marketing has become increasingly popular and is one of the proven ways to get leads and nurture them into paying customers.
However, many brands are culprits for making certain mistakes during their email marketing campaigns. These mistakes might seem insignificant, but they might also hurt your entire email marketing campaign, and you do not want to waste your marketing and local SEO efforts doing something that won’t yield results.
We have created a list of common email marketing mistakes that brands make to guide you. This guide will protect you from making mistakes and improve your email marketing campaigns. Before diving into the guide, let us briefly define what email marketing is all about to give you a proper understanding.
Email marketing is a digital marketing strategy that uses emails in a personalised manner to drive a brand’s audience to make a purchase or nurture new leads to the point where they want to patronise the brand.
It is the most effective way of connecting with your leads, nurturing them and turning them into paying customers. It also helps increase the legitimacy of your business as it helps you connect with your customers better.
Email marketing is important for your business because it has a high lead conversion rate with an equally high ROI (about 4400%). This means that it can be a huge gold mine when used properly.
Aside from this, though, it is one of the most effective and private communication channels, and there is no danger of having a suspended account, unlike social media. This means that your leads are yours forever, as long as they don’t unsubscribe. The secret to preventing that is by employing the right email marketing strategies.
Unsubscriptions are the nightmare of any email marketer; however, it is sometimes inevitable. This is why it is important to know how to employ the right strategies to prevent unsubscriptions, maintain your leads and increase them.
This is a practice that many brands overlook. However, data gotten from Campaign Monitor affirms that marketers who segment their emails see as much as a 760% increase in revenue!
Segmenting your email campaigns simply means dividing your email lists into groups based on their similarities. For instance, segmenting based on their sales funnel position, location, gender, etc. Let’s say you have an email list with people that are yet to patronise you. You could send them content that will move them farther down the sales funnel, like coupons, promo codes, etc.
This segmentation helps create personalised and relevant emails, which leads to high engagements and conversions.
Spammy, impersonal emails are very annoying, and everyone tries to avoid them as much as possible. When people avoid your emails, it could hurt your email marketing campaign because the conversion rate would be very low.
Personalising your emails is important as it helps create a bond between you and your contacts, potentially leading to more conversions.
You can personalise your content using personalisation tokens when sending emails. These serve as placeholders for the name of the recipient. For example, instead of saying “hello, customer”, you could say “hello, Maria”. Doing this increases the interest of the recipient in opening the mail.
If, however, the email loses relevancy when it is personalised, it is advised to ignore this practice, as relevancy trumps personalisation.
Your audience’s interests should always be at the forefront of your mind when preparing email marketing campaigns. Discover their pain points, create content that offers solutions to those problems, and dish out the contents through your emails.
Even if you are not making sales, you should be consistent with it, as people need to know, like, and trust (KLT) your brand before patronising your services. Giving value is one way to hack the KLT process and convert your email leads to paying customers.
While it’s important to grow your mailing list, it’s also okay if subscribers want to unsubscribe from your mailing list. You should let them go and not make unsubscribing harder for them because it could hurt you. Your emails might be classified as spam, or you might get a high rate of hard bounces (when emails are unopened).
Also, don’t add manipulative copies on the unsubscribe page to trick the customer into staying. Just let them go, and work on getting more leads.
Setting a frequency for sending emails is vital for email marketing. The frequency of sending emails differs from business to business depending on what you specialise in. It is important not to send emails too often, as they could be considered spammy. Also, not sending emails often could lead to not being visible or relevant to your audience, and they could forget you.
Finding the right frequency is vital, especially if you’re just starting. Eventually, you can up the frequency, especially if you get a high engagement rate.
A content calendar is essential to help you stay on top of your email marketing game. It helps you stay organised, plan and know what type of content to dish out, and set the frequency for sending.
Every email content calendar is unique to your business, so ensure to plan what works for you and your audience, as they’re your priority.
Visuals are essential for email marketing. Bad visuals could make your audience lose interest in your emails, as nobody wants to struggle to read out your content.
Also, ensure that your emails are both desktop and mobile optimised to display cleanly on your recipient’s screen. Additionally, your visual aids (flyers, images, etc.) should all be high resolution and appeal to the recipient.
MailChimp’s data has shown that certain words trigger spam filters when included in your emails. If a mail ends up in the spam list, it is most likely to end up not being seen by anyone.
To avoid this, take note of the following when writing your email content, especially in the subject line;
– Don’t use all caps when typing the subject line
– Avoid exclamation points
– Use a clean mail list of people who have signed up to receive your emails
– Avoid using exclamation marks
– Be wary of using symbols like $ and %.
– Avoid words like “free”, “percent”, “help”, “apply”, etc.
Making these small changes might positively affect your entire email campaign and ensure that your email goes directly to your recipient’s inbox.
Having a unique signature at the end of your email adds to the personalisation needed to stand out to your subscriber.
Aside from just including your name, your email signature is a great way to include more info about your brand to promote it and build trust with your audience. Some interesting things to use as a unique signature include;
– Social media links
– Contact information
– Witty/motivational quotes
– Special offers/promotions
– Website info
These little changes can make a difference in boosting your brand’s visibility and credibility.
Email marketing is one of the most effective forms of marketing in the age of digital marketing. It is also one of the oldest forms of digital marketing, which makes it trusted by many marketers.
A good email marketing campaign needs to follow some of the best email marketing practices to ensure its success. Some of the tips might seem insignificant, but they make a lot of difference in your campaign.
As a business owner, it is essential to pay attention to these details, implement them, constantly review your strategy and make any changes that need to be made. Doing all these ensures easier and more productive marketing campaigns.
Online advertising has revolutionised the advertising industry in many ways. Before online adverts became a thing, traditional advert methods like billboards, television, newspapers, etc., were used. Now, online advert methods like social media ads, paid search ads, etc., have replaced them.
With this revolutionisation, small business owners can now compete in the same field as big companies, as long as they can play it right.
Online advertising coupled with effective SEO strategies by professionals is important for businesses these days, and it’s the first place to start when advertising in these modern times. Before diving into the intricacies of online advertising, let’s define it explicitly.
Online advertising is a type of paid marketing that uses internet-based platforms for advertising products/services to users.
This advertising strategy has become increasingly popular. Two out of three small businesses now use it to generate more leads and get more customers.
It is estimated that spending on online advertising will hit $646 billion by 2024. As of 2020, online advertising spending was estimated to be about $378 billion in 2020.
One key advantage of online advertising is that there are metrics you can keep track of. Unlike traditional advertising methods, online advertising methods allow you to keep track of your ads through the different channels where they’re advertised. This gives you access to beneficial data that helps monitor your spending and keep track of ROI. This data also serves as a guide to know better ad campaigns that work, keep track of the better-performing ads, etc.
Aside from keeping track of metrics, online advertising is also cost-effective. Small businesses can get new customers/prospects while spending way less than what you’d spend for a billboard ad.
Online advertising has become the order of the day, especially now that many of the world’s population own a mobile device, thus having access to the internet. As a small business owner, it is a chance to maximise it. Advertising your product and services online gives you a chance to increase your business’s visibility and boost sales.
Social media ads have become a huge market for adverts, especially since over half of the world’s population are users of different social media platforms.
About $153 billion is spent on social media adverts annually, though it might grow to $252.6 billion in 2026.
Examples of social media platforms include Facebook (Meta), LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Social media ads are done at a cost, depending on the platform used.
It is advisable to run adverts on social media due to its wide audience that promotes brand awareness when your brand is displayed. Other advantages of social media advertising are cost-effectiveness and crazy targeting reach.
Paid search ads target searchers who come to different search engines to search for products/services.
They are usually at the top of SERPs and offer a wide targeting reach. Currently, Google has the market with an 85% global market share, though other search engines also offer paid search ad services.
Paid search ads are fantastic because they have a huge reach that guarantees fast traffic and immediate results. However, they can be quite expensive and highly competitive.
They’re also a common form of online ads, and these come in many forms; in-content ads, side-bar ads, pop-up ads, etc. Different companies offer these services, e.g., Google and Taboola. Display ads are quite cheap; however, they usually have a low CTR.
Regardless of the brand or services offered, running ads online usually has a similar process. However, the intent is the same; to boost brand awareness and sales. These tips guide you on what to do when running an online ad.
Setting goals helps you have an idea of what you want from your online marketing campaign. They’re also important because they help you keep track of progress and know when something is wrong and how to rectify it.
Besides wanting to make sales, other goals include getting brand awareness, growing social media audience, etc., depending on what you want as a business owner. Ad goals should be realistic and specific. E.g., instead of saying you want to boost sales, you can say you want to boost sales by 10%. This helps you have a clear view of how to achieve the goal through your online ads.
After setting your goals, knowing your target audience is the next important thing. An advantage of online advertising is that you target your specific audience instead of just advertising to everyone. This reduces the amount spent on targeting audiences that are not yours and helps you focus on your target audience.
Budgeting is essential because it helps you determine how much is right to spend on your ads. There are usually some considerations to make when budgeting for your ads. Some of them include;
– Overall marketing budget
– Prices of products/services
– Goals
– Previous results
– Duration of the ads
It is essential to budget accurately because depending on the results obtained from the current one, you might have to increase the budget a bit to get more from it.
After ascertaining the above factors, picking out your online ad channel is the next thing to do. This might be a bit tricky, seeing as so many platforms offer ad services out there.
You might already have one in mind, but you need to know if it’s the right pick. You can’t be advertising on Twitter if most of your audience is on Instagram. Another thing is that the platform you’re choosing has to be budget-friendly, depending on your budget.
Overall, stick to one channel for your first online ad campaign. Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, you can branch out.
Depending on the method used, whether display or text-format ads, most work happens here to ensure the best ad experience. Writing a compelling ad copy is essential if you’re using a written format. If using display format, then using a high-resolution image is essential.
The bottom line is that your ads have to be of high quality to appeal to people and increase their interest in your brand.
Creating your ad campaigns gives you insight and a load of data, which you can optimise to your advantage.
Reviewing your ads every day is ideal for keeping track of changes or ways to improve them. You can also know if the ads didn’t work, change the campaign, or find another suitable ads channel.
Running ads is essential for every business, and online advertising has made things easier for everyone.
Keep in mind that your ads should be top-notch because when it’s not done well, it leads to a waste of resources which is detrimental to your business.
It is also important to take note of the channel used, monitor progress and make changes where necessary to get the best out of your ads.
Online adverts have become the lifeblood of every business that wishes to be more visible to their target audience, thus knowing how to manipulate it is best for you as a business owner because it encourages scaling, visibility and more sales.
Statistics show that 46% of Google searches seek information within their vicinity. If your business isn’t well optimised online, you could be missing out on potential clients who want to patronise the business.
Local SEO is essential, especially if you aim for longevity in your business. Since it’s essential, it is important to know how to apply the techniques to see desired results.
If you don’t know how to optimise your business using local SEO or simply need more tips to improve your existing SEO strategy, we have curated some vital tips to guide you in doing this. This guide will help you better understand how to optimise your business to reach your potential clients interested in your products.
Local SEO simply means improving the search engine visibility and optimising the online presence of your business to get organic customers within your locality.
Doing this helps you become more visible to your potential customers when they make relevant searches.
Search engines mostly use business information like social media pages, links, local content, etc., to provide accurate results to the users when they input related keywords. They (the search engines) also use users’ geolocation by tracking their IP addresses. Doing all these things ensures that the best and most relevant results are provided when users make their search.
For example, if a user searches for a product/service and location, e.g. “doughnuts in Birmingham”, the search engine results will show relevant doughnut shops in the Birmingham area.
However, suppose you just search for just the product without including the location, e.g. “doughnuts”. The search results will assume that the search is for local purposes and still show relevant doughnut shops in your particular location by tracking your IP address and geolocation to get your specific location.
Local SEO is very beneficial for your business. Studies show that the tendency to search for a product online before buying has increased. About 4 in 5 consumers search locally for a product online, and this information sends about 70% of consumers to a physical store.
With these results, you can see that local SEO is essential, as it improves your business visibility and serves as a cost-effective marketing solution. Asides from this, it generates huge traffic for your business through searches, and you tend to reach customers within your location that are ready to buy your product. When your products are within reach of its consumers, chances of buying are high.
An additional advantage is that you don’t have to waste your time with customers far away from your location and have a low chance of patronising you.
SEO generally means optimising your online presence to be easily visible on search engines. However, local SEO specialises in making you relevant to searchers within your locality.
In simpler terms, organic or traditional SEO ensures that your site is visible globally and doesn’t have any business with your location. In contrast, local SEO uses your location to connect you to searchers within your area.
As much as they have differences, they also complement each other in several ways, and both can have positive impacts on the other.
For instance, when you upload your business details on Google My Business or other local listing directories, you’re helping local search engines determine where you are. Simultaneously, you’re also adding a link back to your website, thus adding to your site’s backlink count. Search engines take this backlink count and rank your website higher on search results.
Another way local and organic SEO complement each other is when you upload locally-focused blog content. Doing this helps you rank higher on SERPs while also increasing your potential to reach locally-based searchers.
If these optimisations are not done correctly, they can hurt your marketing efforts, so paying close attention to them is essential to get the best results.
Additionally, adding accurate information like location, opening/closing hours, services provided, etc., make it easier for searchers and increases your chances of getting more customers.
Google My Business has undeniably become a vital tool for business owners, as it provides necessary information about your business that searchers need. To set up your Google My Business, do this;
– Create and verify your Google My Business page
– Use Google Posts in your account
– Ask for customer reviews on the page
– Respond to customers’ reviews politely
Doing this is essential because Google can authenticate your business as legit and give you the honour of having a sidebar space on Google local search, highly coveted by businesses.
Aside from updating your information for SEO purposes, it also helps in giving potential customers a deeper insight into what your business is all about and can boost chances of patronage.
Google values shared social media content, so after setting up your My Business profile, make sure to interlink your My Business page and social media profiles to each other. Doing this helps to improve visibility both on SEO and social media.
Business information like names, phone numbers(with area codes) and addresses should be consistent and written out in HTML text to make it crawlable by search engines.
Also, having accurate updates makes your business visible. Even as little as a typo error or wrong address/number could be problematic. Google will not display these details in the search results if they cannot verify that you’re authentic.
SEO is a continuous process, and as tempting as it is to stop once you start seeing results, you shouldn’t. Instead of stopping or changing strategies, it is important to run an audit to see how your website performs and what changes you should make to achieve your goals.
Here’s a guide for local SEO audits:
– Google My Business — to know how your business appears in SERPs and how accurate the information displayed is.
– Google Search Console— to know how crawlable your site is and if any errors make indexing ineffective.
– On-page SEO— to know if your site has all the features that enable higher ranking.
– Citation— to ensure the correctness of all information displayed.
– Competitor analysis— to know how you match your fellow competitors and note the necessary holes to fill if you don’t.
– Website— to check the overall function of the website.
External links are quite ideal; however, internal links help rank and navigate your site better. It is important to have an internal linking strategy to rank higher and ensure maximum visibility of all content on your page.
Whenever you want to put out content on your website, ensure that the content is optimised for search engines by adding high-volume keywords in the URLs, title, meta description, etc. Doing this gives you a higher opportunity of being found on the SERPs.
If you have one or more physical locations, you need to do this. Location pages contain all the essential information needed for your business in a particular geographical location. Information like addresses, phone numbers, opening/closing hours, reviews, etc., are included on the location page.
Avoid copying content across different location pages to avoid confusion. For a business with one location, it is ideal for creating an “About Us” page that is locally descriptive. You also gain a bonus if you add Google Maps on your location page, as it’ll help potential customers find you more easily.
Writing about general content might be more beneficial regarding traffic generation, but creating specific content for your particular region is also important. It helps you be the local authority in your industry, thus attracting more customers.
The searches on mobile devices have increased (about 61%). Having a mobile-friendly website makes it easier for users to find your business and navigate it.
Inbound links prove your legitimacy and can help you rank higher on local SEO. You can get them by hosting community events, partnering with influencers, guest blogging, providing resources, etc., helping you gain more traffic through inbound links, social media growth and reposts on social media.
Participating in local community events is a sure-fire way of getting more buzz around your business. Partnering with NGOs for charity outreaches, hosting events, scholarships within your industry, etc., are great ways of participating in your local community events. More people get to know about you when you do this, and you feel good too!
Local SEO is vital for your business, and it works together with organic SEO to ensure that your website stays high in ranking and continues getting traffic. Asides from that, it is essential to prove your business’s legitimacy and attract more customers to you.
When creating a local SEO strategy, it is vital to pay attention, as it may be fatal to your business when done wrongly. The tips provided are sure to help improve your local SEO, and also make sure to carry out periodic local SEO audits to ensure that you’re on the right track.
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