What is Email Marketing?

What is email marketing? To start with, it is the most effective marketing channel out there. It performs better than social media, affiliate marketing, and even search engine optimization. 

Even though many people claim that email marketing is outdated and old, it has the highest return on investment. It is used by almost every big “business to business” and “business to consumer” company.  

So how does marketing through email continues to be one of the best places for digital marketers to invest their time and money? To answer that, we need to look at what email marketing is and what it has evolved over the years.

This article is just one of many from our email marketing series, which will help businesses understand the ins and outs of marketing with email and provide them with some tools and best strategies to help them succeed!

But before we get into the advanced practices and the best ways to automate your email marketing strategy, we need to know exactly what email marketing is.

What is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is the process of sending commercial-based messages directly to email subscribers in mass quantities. It is a marketing strategy that leverages a person’s prior interest in a company’s products and services to nurture them into buying something. More precisely, email marketing is a message that includes advertisements, a business request, or soliciting sales.

Email marketing is one component of the broader topic of internet marketing which includes marketing lines such as search engine optimization, content marketing, social media, search engine marketing, and pay-per-click advertising. These marketing lines all add up to your overall website traffic.

Since marketing through email is a permission-based technique – a user has trusted a business with their email and is allowing the company to send promotional, commercial-based, and sales emails to them. Moreover, by sending these emails, marketers can quickly evaluate the performance of their email marketing campaigns. The marketers can then see the return on investment (ROI), monitor the campaign’s effectiveness in real-time, and gather feedback on the performance and effectiveness of a certain email.

A History of Emails

Emails have come a long way since their inception in 1971. The first email was sent by Ray Tomlinson, a computer engineer, and consisted of a string of numbers and letters. However, sending the first email was not enough for Ray, as he wanted to leave his mark on emails even more. Tomlinson also introduced the idea of using the ‘@’ symbol in email addresses.

Fast forward to May 1, 1978, when Gary Thuerk, a marketing manager at Digital Equipment Corp, sent out the first mass email for marketing means. With a list of 400 subscribers, Gary proved how effective email marketing is in generating a great return on investment. Whereas, by sending out 400 marketing emails, Thuerk could generate $13 million in sales!

Well into the digital age, email has become available to everyone worldwide. With over 4 billion email users worldwide, it is estimated that 333.2 million emails are sent every day! However, improved direct communication mechanisms have resulted in the need for regulatory actions. Whereas marketers and automated email machines have generated billions of spam emails. This has provoked governments to take action and enforce spam laws such as the United States Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM) and the European Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.

That being said, spam laws should not detour businesses from engaging in email marketing. They should be careful, is all. A great way to avoid being considered spam is to send valuable information and do it periodically. Moreover, companies should avoid daily email blasts and only send transactional emails.

How Does Email Marketing Work?

Email marketing can be conducted by using different types of emails. Each type utilizes a different strategy to increase interest and nurture potential customers along their buying journey. Businesses will use customized and personalized messages to generate trust and credibility to facilitate this process. The two types of emails include:

1. Transactional emails: 

Transactional emails are typically triggered by a customer’s action. The email must have the primary purpose of facilitating, completing or confirming a sale. For example, a transactional email would be sent when a customer purchases a product on an e-commerce site. The email might include information such as confirmation of the purchase, shipping details and tracking information. 

In addition to sales-related transactions, transactional emails can also be used for password resets, account confirmation and other types of notifications. By definition, transactional emails are triggered by an action taken by the recipient. As such, they typically have high open and click-through rates. However, it is important to make sure that the content of the email is relevant and useful to the recipient, or else the message will be perceived as spam.

2. Direct emails: 

The email’s purpose is not to sell something to the receiver but to communicate with them to build trust, credibility, and brand awareness. In the world of business, relationships are key. Whether you’re trying to establish a new partnership or maintain an existing one, keeping the lines of communication open is essential. One way to do this is through direct emailing. By reaching out directly to your contact, you can keep them updated on your latest products or services, and remind them of your company’s existence. 

This keeps you top-of-mind, and increases the likelihood that they’ll think of you next time they need something in your area. Additionally, by taking the time to nurture your relationships, you show that you’re interested in more than just making a quick sale. This can help build trust and foster a lasting connection. So next time you’re looking to solidify a business relationship, don’t forget the power of a simple email.

Why is Email Marketing Important?

An email marketing strategy can be a cost-effective and easy way for businesses to engage with their existing customers and community. Targeted and personalized emails can foster interest and lead to future sales. One of the best reasons to use an email marketing campaign is to develop trust with the email subscribers. 

Email marketing is important because it allows businesses to reach their existing customers and community members cost-effectively. By sending targeted, personalized, and non spam emails, businesses can foster interest and develop trust with their subscribers. 

These email campaigns can lead to future sales and help businesses to build relationships with their customers. Additionally, email marketing can be a useful tool for customer retention. By regularly staying in touch with subscribers, businesses can keep them engaged and encourage them to continue doing business with the company. Email marketing is an essential part of any business’s marketing strategy.

How To Do Email Marketing?

Email marketing can seem like a challenging marketing channel to use if a business has never done it before. However, it can be a simple process if it is broken down into actionable steps. Below is a brief account of how to do email marketing. 

Step 1: Build an email list

To perform marketing with email, you need to have an email list. The easiest way to do this is by placing a banner on your website asking people to subscribe. Simply asking for it, will have a low conversion rate, however. Therefore, the best practice is to incentivize the transaction by providing something of value in return for the email. This could be an e-book, free audit, checklist, or template

By giving people something that they want or need, you increase the chances that they will give you their email address in exchange. Once you have a robust email list, you can begin planning your marketing campaigns. But remember, always get permission from people before adding them to your list, and always provide a way for them to opt out if they no longer wish to receive your emails.

Step 2: Provide great content

While sending emails, businesses need to provide their subscribers with valuable and unique content. Moreover, the content should meet the expectations of the email recipient, whereas if they expect timely updates and information, but the business misses this, trust and credibility will diminish.

Finally, make sure the emails are not all commercially and transactional based. If a company continues to spam its email list with ‘buy now’ and ‘buy this’ emails, it will quickly lose its subscribers. Focus on providing value and furthering the individual’s understanding of the topic.

Step 3: Email Marketing Analytics

After sending out emails to subscribers, it is important to monitor and evaluate the campaign’s performance. Using email analytics such as open and click-through rates can give valuable insights into how well the email strategy is working. 

If the open rates are low, it could be a sign that the subject line needs to be more appealing. If the click-through rates are low, it could be a sign that the call to action is not effective. By constantly monitoring and evaluating email analytics, a digital marketer can make necessary adjustments to improve the performance of future campaigns.

Key Takeaways 

Email marketing has evolved significantly since the first email of numbers and letters was sent in the early 1970s. Now, it is one of the best-performing marketing channels available to businesses. With a high return on investment, low-cost entry points, and easily scalable and automated, all companies should utilize email marketing.

Marketers and business owners can no longer claim to not know what email marketing is or to not understand why it is beneficial. 

It is a proven marketing mechanism that has produced tremendous monetary results, helped build substantial brand recognition, and generated new customers while increasing repeat customers. 

If you have a business and you’re not using email marketing, now is the best time to start! 

What is Click-Through Rate: Everything You Need to Know

Click-Through Rate or CTR refers to the percentage of visitors that click on a specific item that a website presents them to. In other words, it is a metric that measures the number of clicks advertisers receive on their ads per number of impressions. 

It is a known fact that search engines place a high value on a good CTR. For instance, in the pay-per-click model, the more clicks received, the more money search engines can generate. However, CTR is also essential to advertisers.

Visitors use search engines when they have a question and are looking for an answer. And as we know, search engines are so great that they tell what users are exactly looking for! Therefore, creating a relevant ad is the first step in fulfilling that need.  

This blog will explain what click-through rate is, what a good CTR is, how it impacts your ad rankings and when a low CTR is okay.

What is Click-Through Rate (CTR)?

CTR is the percentage of impressions that resulted in a click. For example, if there are 250 total clicks and 500 people saw it, that means you have a 50% click-through rate. Also, CTR helps show you how relevant your ads are for searchers. 

If you have a high CTR, that means searchers find your ad highly relevant, whereas a low CTR means less relevant. 

The goal of any PPC campaign is to get qualified leads to come to your website and take the desired action. For example, making a purchase, filling out a form, downloading a guide, etc.). CTR is the first step to improving the relevance of your ad and generating those desired results.

Examples of Click-Through Rate

Few common examples of where CTR can be used and measured include:

  • A call-to-action link in an email
  • A hyperlink on a landing page
  • A PPC ad on a search engine results page
  • An ad on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn

What is a Good CTR?

A good CTR depends:

  • on your industry
  • the set of keywords that you are using related to your niche
  • individual campaigns that run within a PPC account. 

Does CTR Impact Your Ad Rank?

Ad rank decides the position of your ad on the search results pages. Therefore, CTR also plays a part in your Ad rank in the search engine. PPC campaigns are not like auctions, where the top position goes to the highest bidder but to the advertiser with the highest AD rank. And CTR has a contributing factor in the Ad rank formula.

However, Ad rank is more complicated than we think it is. Google measures the expected CTR against your actual CTR. For instance, if you have run many ads with a low CTR, Google will assume that any new ads you add to your Google Ads will also have a low CTR and might rank them lower on the page. Therefore, it is essential to understand the role of CTR in your ads and try to improve them.

How Does CTR Impact Quality Score?

A Quality Score is a measure that helps you to understand how well your ad quality is compared to other advertisers. This can be related to your ad content, keywords, and landing pages. 

A Quality Score is high when your ads and landing pages are more relevant. It is calculated by the search engine’s measurement of expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience. Therefore, a good CTR will help you increase your Quality Score.

CTR and A/B Testing

CTR is an insightful tool when conducting A/B testing. If a website runs an A/B test for conversions on a product page, the conversion objective would be the number of product purchases completed by the customers. 

Another metric that can be monitored is the CTR of shipping information. If the shipping information has a high CTR, it shows potential customers are interested in the shipping process. In this instance, it is beneficial to research the shipping information process and page further to gain insights and improve and increase conversions.

CTR is also a handy metric in conversion optimization. It helps identify user behavior and interest and can be used to build insights during A/B testing. Therefore, CTR can help to give a holistic view of user behavior in A/B testing. 

So, When is a Low CTR Okay?

You could write “Free Macbook” and get you a great CTR, but unless it is a measure of business success for your company, such ads won’t help your business become profitable. Therefore, focusing on your business metrics first, then CTR is important. 

For example, if your goal is to sell many products as possible at the lowest cost, then you should optimize PPC campaigns for cost per sale. In the same way, if you want to generate more leads under a certain cost per lead, then optimize campaigns for cost per lead.

It is important to note that unless your goal is to drive a high volume of PPC traffic, CTR should not be your main KPI. Low CTR doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing. There are times when a low CTR is absolutely okay! For instance, when you are dealing with keywords that are ambiguous in nature. When you have an ambiguous keyword, break it down and make it more specific to your niche. 

Don’t let a low CTR stop your ad campaigns unless it is not bringing anything to the table. Despite a low CTR, if you are getting a high lead volume, let performance be your guide. Low CTR is absolutely okay if your ads and keywords perform well based on your business goals and objectives. 

Click-Through Rate Takeaways

Click-through rate is an important metric that should be monitored to understand how your campaign performs. Optimizing for CTR can lower your website’s bounce rate and increase conversions. While optimizing for CTR, don’t forget to optimize your business metrics to help lead a successful campaign.


What is Domain Authority and How To Increase It

Building a successful website isn’t easy, so is wanting to rank at the top of the search engine. Some organizations and companies use Domain Authority (DA) to observe and evaluate their brand’s performance in the digital world. 

But what does this metric really do? What does it mean to have a high domain authority? Does our company need to improve it? Will a good domain authority help us to rank better on Google?

Besides just using SEO strategies to increase rankings on search engines, domain authority is a very important metric that will help to know the status of a website in relation to similar competitors. But, it isn’t a ranking factor for Google. 

What is Domain Authority?

To create the right path for your digital strategy, it is important to understand what domain authority is and what it is not. 

First developed by Moz, Domain Authority (DA) is a metric that predicts how likely a domain appears in the search engine results compared to its competition. 

It’s important to note that Google does not use Domain Authority to decide how to rank a website. Therefore, it will not contribute to improving your website’s ranking in search engine results. However, domain authority can be used as a good indicator to assess the performance of your website in relation to your competitors. 

How is Domain Authority calculated?

Domain authority can be calculated by assessing various factors such as linking root domains and the total number of links into a single DA score. Then this score can be used to track your website’s ranking strength over time when compared with your competitors.

Since DA is based on machine learning calculations, your website’s score is likely to fluctuate sometimes more or less depending on different data points’ availability and incorporated into those calculations. For example, if twitter.com acquired a billion new links, then every other site’s DA would automatically be lower than Twitter’s. As more established and authoritative domains like Twitter will have larger link profiles, they acquire more of the high-DA position, leaving less room at the higher slots for other domains with less stronger link profiles. Therefore, it is easier to grow your website score from 10 to 20 than from 70 to 80. Hence, DA is rather used as a comparative metric rather than an absolute one.

What’s a Good Domain Authority Score?

Moz’s Domain Authority search engine ranks a website from 1 to 100 – the higher numbers indicate the probability of better results in the search engine results. And the metric considers both the quality and quantity of links that a webpage receives. 

A website with backlinks from a high authority page – such as governmental sites, renowned newspapers, or magazines – will have a higher probability of having a better score. It also depends on the type of industry or the attributes of the website; there will be higher chances, easier, and more useful to get some backlinks over others. 

For instance, a newspaper publication may seek links from government sites or academic articles. On the other hand, startups will probably prefer being linked to regional newspapers or industry-related magazines since those backlinks add more credibility to the startups’ target audience and goal, even if they don’t necessarily have the highest domain authority. 

Therefore, determining a good domain authority differs from industry to industry. However, it’s vital to analyze your industry competitors and develop solutions tailored to your website, based on your ranking and of your competitors. 

How Can I Check My Domain Authority?

Lately, DA is not only used by Moz, but SEMrush has also developed its authority metric. Therefore, go through any tool and check your website’s domain authority. For now, we will be using Moz’s free DA checker. You need to enter your domain’s main URL (like https://outpaceseo.com/), and your webpage’s domain authority score will appear automatically. 

This analysis tool will provide additional information such as unique external linking domains that are linking root domains, the total number of keywords the website is ranking for (within the top 50 positions on Google) and. In simple words, the spam score shows a number of meaningless and spammy backlinks that actually do more harm than good. 

Building A Domain Authority:

Now, taking into account all that we’ve learned: How do you build domain authority and rank better than your competitors?

Google has mentioned that it isn’t just about the number of links to your website but rather the quality of those links that are relevant to your site and easier to understand what your website is about. 

Here are a few tips you can use to build domain authority for your website:

Quality over quantity: Your priority should be focusing on quality and relevant backlinks instead of gathering hundreds of links that add no value to your website or content. 

Analyze your backlinks:

Check where your backlinks are coming from and ensure that all interesting and informative sites with backlinks have a do-follow.

Content is King:

Highlighting the importance of content is never enough and plays a key role in attracting your audience. Create quality content that will make it easier to get natural backlinks.

Audience-focused content:

As mentioned above, content is everything and is the easiest way to attract your audience. Generate content that your audience would love and go viral quickly!

Update your content:

If you don’t have time to produce new content, you can go back through your older content and update those pages. You can also focus on updating content on pages that have low page authority or pages with unindexed content. 

Identify your competitors and compare:

Checking for things that you do and don’t do can help you analyze your strategy, which leads to increasing your website’s visibility quickly. 

Study your competitor’s backlinks:

Where do your competitors get their backlinks from? Is there a way that you can get similar backlinks too?

Spread your web content:

Use different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok to create various content. You can also do guest posts and write a newsletter for different online publications. Don’t limit yourself to blogs, and create unique content to increase visibility.

Domain Authority single-handedly will not increase the quantity and quality of your leads; therefore, following the above actions will help you get better results. 

Building a good Domain Authority will take time; it is a long-term strategy, and you won’t see immediate results. However, consistency and following these guidelines will eventually help you increase your website’s visibility on search engine results to increase traffic to your website.

10 Proven Ways to Increase Website Traffic

It’s a fact that online businesses struggle to generate new and creative ways to increase website traffic. Adding more to it, there is numerous misinformation online about the best way to increase website traffic, which eventually leads to trying to implement the same strategies over and over without any benefits.

 

If you want to increase your website traffic by using both organic and paid methods, we have listed ten ways to yield results for your online business. 

 

1. Conduct Keyword Research

 

An essential thing that you should do is include relevant keywords in your content. Keywords play a major role in ranking your content and should be organically used throughout your content. Keywords should not be overused or “stuffed,” which may distract your readers. Moreover, the keywords must be used in your title tags, meta descriptions, headings, URLs, and throughout the actual piece of content.

 

In order to conduct keyword research, you can utilize tools like Ahrefs, Moz, SEMrush, or Ubersuggest. These tolls will provide valuable data regarding keywords that your competitors are ranking for, how often readers are searching for a particular keyword, keyword difficulty, related keywords, and the cost of keywords for pay-per-click ads.

 

Hiring an SEO agency is always an option as well. An SEO agency will provide you invaluable insights regarding your website and its performance and perform site audits that will help identify issues that might be blocking your content from being shown in search engines.

 

2. Create a Unique Content

 

Publishing content won’t do it by itself. Your content needs to be unique and offer valuable information that can cut through the clutter. Informative, relevant, and insightful content is an effective way to increase website traffic. 

 

People use search engines like Google to look for the best answer to their specific questions and locate accurate and trustworthy information. Therefore, it is imperative that your content can address various queries that are being asked in your niche.

 

One easy way to do this is by creating a blog for your website. In fact, websites that have blog content on them generate 434% more search engine indexed pages than websites that don’t have one. Additionally, websites that post at least 16 posts per month receive an outstanding 3.5 times more traffic than those that publish less than four blog posts per month.

 

The key takeaway is that if your website produces valuable content, is posted consistently and regularly, and has answers to queries your readers are searching for, your website traffic will significantly improve.

 

It is important to note that without content, it will be difficult to rank for anything. Therefore, content writing is essential for SEO and increasing website traffic.

 

3. Guest Blogging

 

Guest blogging for other websites in your niche helps develop new backlinks, boost referral traffic, and increase your overall search engine results page (SERP) ranking. However, before you take the giant leap into writing other blogs, you must thoroughly research the website to ensure that they are trustworthy and worth writing for. Remember that not all backlinks are made equal.

 

One of the first things to do is to check the website’s content and determine if it is high quality or not. You can also look at the website’s domain authority and conduct an overall audit to understand as much information as possible. If you think the website is trustworthy and credible and want to do a guest blog post for them, inquire if they will promote your blog on social media platforms and tag you in it.

 

4. Active Social Media Pages

 

Undoubtedly, social media plays a massive role in attracting traffic to your website. It is worth noting that while you track your traffic from social media, even though it is supposed to be referral traffic, it may get classified as direct traffic for several reasons. Ensure to be aware of this while you track your traffic sources in Google Analytics.

 

Social media pages can help build traffic and a strong brand identity. Therefore, you need to create engaging posts for Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn Platforms to increase social traffic. We want to highlight how social media can be utilized to increase traffic.

 

  • Publish content (blogs, ebooks, infographics, white papers, and videos) across all of your social media platforms
  • Interact with your audience by responding to them, reposting their content, and tagging them to increase engagement
  • Research and utilize relevant hashtags
  • Regularly updates your bio to contain links to your new content and promote it when it gets published
  • Use blurbs and important data from your content to influence to click on your content

 

5. Increase Website Traffic Through Advertisements

 

You can use paid advertising by developing tactics for search, social media, and display ads to pay dividends in increasing website traffic. However, each type has pros and cons to it. For instance, users can block display ads from showing up. Google Ads can be costly, with the cost per click ranging between $1 and $2 per click. To make the most of your campaigns and save money on ads, it is crucial to set a budget and realistic goals before partaking in an ad campaign.

 

When conducting a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign, you must start with only one campaign with a few different ad groups that will target various keywords and audiences. After the campaign begins, you can monitor it and see how your audience interacts with your ads and how they behave to multiple keywords. For example, one of your keywords only generated impressions but did not increase website traffic, while the other ad groups resulted in increased website traffic. For this, the best thing to do is engage in some A/B testing to help you pinpoint which ad and method are the most effective.

 

6. Email Newsletters

 

You can send newsletters to promote your recent content to increase website traffic. A few simple yet effective ways to use email marketing can be seen below:

 

  • Strategically place your enticing information from your content in the subject line and the body of your email
  • Insert a link to call to action (CTA) that subscribers can click to read more of the content
  • Emails should be mobile-friendly, with links that are easy to see and open! This is a crucial factor as 46% of all email opens are done on smartphones
  • Personalize emails by including the name of the subscriber in them
  • Make the email visually appealing and use well-designed templates
  • Conduct A/B testing to which email campaigns receive more opens and clicks

 

7. Influencer Outreach

 

When we say influencers, it doesn’t mean you reach out to every possible influencer you can get hold of. Reach out to industry influencers to get your content in front of a larger audience, especially in front of their followers, since they are already interested in your industry. Some ways a business can reach out to influencers include:

 

  • Tag the influencer in a social media post if your content references their research or content
  • Ask the influence if they’d be interested in an interview. This will help to get valuable information from them. After your content is ready, ensure to share it on social media, and don’t forget to tag them so that they can share it with their followers
  • Conduct online/events with multiple influencers, for instance, 10 Experts Share Simple Yet Effective Ways to Increase Website Traffic in 2022. Once more, after the content has been developed, ensure to post it on social media and tag all influencers that were involved
  • Pay influencers to run sponsored posts on their social media pages with your content in it

 

If you’re new to influencer outreach or not sure whom to reach out to or engage with, tools like HypeAuditor and BuzzSumo will help you find the right influencers for your business. You can also reach out to a digital marketing agency to help you. 

 

8. Provide a Tool or Piece of Content

 

It’s a known fact that allowing your visitors to receive something of substantial value can be a great way to drive more website traffic. One example is providing a free downloadable keyword research template or any other free relevant tools. And of course, you’ll need an email address in return, though!

 

These tools can significantly maximize your returns and find new leads through acquiring email addresses and other personal information. Ensure that you promote all of the tools on social media platforms, especially on industry-related groups, as like-minded people are already talking about related topics.

 

9. Submit Press Releases

 

When you produce any major piece of content like press releases, whether it’s for your business or client, it’s important to be proactive with its distribution. Therefore, it is essential to push the press release and distribute it to influential websites and publications in the specific industry.

 

To reiterate, whenever you have an important announcement to make or main content for your client, you must send it to industry-leading publications and blogs that your audience reads. Also, include contact details on the press release so you can collect new leads and boost referral traffic to your website. 

 

10. Exchange Backlinks

 

Online businesses are working consistently to increase their website traffic but miss that there are also many opportunities for backlink exchanges. You can search for other relevant websites in your niche and reach out to them to manually set up beneficial backlinks for both websites.

 

Backlinks significantly improve website authority and your overall SEO ranking in the eyes of Google. You can consider these backlinks as votes of confidence which will tell Google that your content is relevant, credible, trustworthy, and offers insightful content. Referral traffic can also be increased through the link, as many visitors can arrive on your website after seeing your link!

 

Key Takeaway

Though these ten steps look simple and easy, it is important to note that some methods can pay off immediately while others may take considerable time. However, the best thing is to be consistent with these methods and ensure that you make improvements every day. We believe that the best way to grow your website traffic is to work on small steps regularly, eventually build up to your goal, and ultimately gain sustainable website traffic for the long run.

 

Everything You Need To Know About Core Web Vitals

A website’s core web vitals are the essential elements that Google looks for when determining a site’s rank in search engine results pages (SERPs). If you want to improve your organic rankings, it is essential to ensure that your website’s core web vitals are in good shape. This blog post will discuss what these vital elements are and how you can optimize them to help your website rank higher in SERPs.

Why are core web vitals important?

In 2020, Google announced that it would be looking at a set of elements grouped as “core web vitals” to determine the organic rankings. These elements include loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability of a website. Marketers need to focus on these factors to rank higher on SERPs.

What are the core web vitals?

The three main core web vitals that Google will be looking at are Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

Largest Contentful Paint: measures how long it takes for your site’s main content to load. This can be an image or text block that appears above the fold when someone visits your page from a mobile device. The ideal score for this metric is less than two seconds, according to Google’s WebPageTest tool.

First Input Delay: measures how long it takes for a user to start typing in a search query after landing on your page. This metric is important because the faster someone can input information into your site, the more likely they are to stay on your page. The ideal score for this metric is less than 500 milliseconds (ms).

Cumulative Layout Shift: measures how much a website’s layout changes as a user scrolls down the page. This metric looks at scroll position, size of elements, and font sizes. According to Google’s Lighthouse tool, the ideal score is less than 0.50.

How to improve core web vitals?

With the newest announcement, businesses rushed to improve their core web vitals. But without concrete information on how to improve them, many struggled. Fortunately, we are two years into studying the newest update, and there are a few things to consider if you want to start improving your core web vitals.

Optimize your WordPress hosting

If your site is not loading fast enough for users, you may need to switch hosting providers. Some WordPress hosts claim that their servers are optimized specifically for the platform. Still, in reality, they’re just using shared hosting with little customization other than installing some plugins or changing settings within the wp-admin panel. We recommend using an SSD-based VPS server (such as DigitalOcean) instead of traditional web hosts such as GoDaddy or BlueHost. This allows more control over how resources are allocated on a per-site basis rather than sharing them amongst others on one large server, which can slow down everyone’s sites if there are traffic spikes due to another website’s popularity hosted by the same company.

Optimize images

Images often take up significant space on a website and can slow down the loading of your pages. You can optimize images by compressing them using TinyPNG or JPEGmini.

Reduce the number of scripts you’re calling

If you have too many scripts loading on a page, it can cause delays in page loading. You can use the Google PageSpeed Insights tool to identify which scripts are causing problems.

Use caching

Caching stores static versions of your pages, so they don’t need to be regenerated each time someone visits your site. This will speed up page load times for repeat visitors.

Minimize redirects

Redirects occur when a user clicks on a link but is taken to a different destination than expected. Too many redirects can slow down your page load times. You can use the Redirect Mapper tool to see how many redirects are happening on your site and where they’re going.

Use a content delivery network (CDN)

A CDN stores copies of your website’s static files on servers worldwide so that they can be delivered faster to users who are geographically far from your primary server.

There are several things that you can do to start improving the core web vitals of your website. Improving these factors will inevitably help you achieve better organic rankings. If you’re looking for more information on how to improve your website’s performance, we highly recommend using Google PageSpeed Insights and the Lighthouse tool. These tools will help you identify which aspects of your website need improvement and give you specific instructions on fixing them. Improving core web vitals will help with organic rankings. And if you don’t have a clear idea of how best to work with core web vitals, consider talking to a professional.

 

Search Engines: What Google, Bing and Yahoo Look for in a Website

Search engines are constantly changing, and new algorithms for ranking websites keep popping up. A website’s rank is significant because it affects how many people visit the site. If you want to know what search engines are looking for when evaluating a website, read on!

1. Relevancy

A search engine’s primary goal is to provide relevant results for a searcher. This means that if you type in “car,” the site should be related to cars and not about cats (unless this was your specific intent).

2. The quality of your content

Content plays a huge role in the success of your website. A site made up of low-quality content will not be successful, no matter how many times it was shared on social media or returned visitors there are.

3. The originality and usefulness of your content

It’s essential to add fresh, new information about your topic because search engines reward sites with unique material by ranking them higher than similar websites. You can also ensure you have valuable resources for readers when they click through from Google results pages (SERPs) by providing value-added elements like videos, infographics, tables, and other interactive features.

4. User experience

A website’s UX or user experience is another crucial factor that search engines consider. This includes how easy it is to navigate the site and understand what content appears on different pages.

5. Site speed

The speed of a website is also critical because it affects the user experience. A site with slow load times can impact your bounce rate, which in turn affects how Google ranks you for specific queries.

6. Cross-device compatibility

Not all users use the same device to access websites. Make sure your website can be viewed on desktops, tablets, and mobile devices by making it responsive.

7. Technical SEO

Your site’s technical structure should also meet search engine guidelines for a good user experience. If you have a WordPress or other CMS-based blog, look into how to optimize your content so that Google has an easier time crawling pages and indexing them in their database.

8. Internal linking

The internal linking structure of your site is crucial for SEO because it affects how much authority you have over specific topics. For example, if a page on your blog about “cars” links to other posts like “motorcycles,” this gives Google the signal that these are both relevant keyword searches and helps improve rankings.

9. The right keywords

There are specific words or phrases that companies should target when optimizing their website for search engines. These generally include one or more items from the following list: long-tail keywords (specific terms related to what products/services they offer), branded keywords (company name), and generic keywords (keywords with high monthly search volumes).

10. Authority

A website’s authority is determined by several factors, including the quality and quantity of inbound links, how frequently the site is updated, social media signals, and more.

11. Meta descriptions and title tags

Meta descriptions are the snippets of text that appear on search engine results pages, while title tags appear in your browser tab or at the top of a web page. These should be customized for every webpage, so you attract more clicks from searchers.

12. Schema markup

Schema is an HTML attribute intended to provide rich data about your website’s content. Search engines, including Google, have begun using this information to display infoboxes with star ratings and prices when they think it could help users better understand search results.

13. Properly tagged images

Optimizing images for search is essential because it can affect your click-through rate. Make sure you have correctly optimized image filenames and alt text so that Google knows what each picture contains.

14. Evergreen content

Evergreen content is material that continues to provide value over time and will still be relevant in the future. Search engines reward websites with evergreen content because it keeps visitors on-page, which helps improve rankings.

15. Domain names

Your domain name can also affect your rankings. It should include keywords related to the page and be easy for people to type into their browser or link to from other sites.

16. Headlines and permalinks

The headlines on your website and the permalinks used for posts, pages, or blog categories can affect how much authority you have over specific topics.

17. Google Analytics

Google has its own suite of analytics tools, but there are other options available. This is a crucial way to measure site performance because it provides insight into where visitors are coming from and what they’re doing once they get to your page.

18. Meta keywords tag

The meta keyword tag was previously considered necessary by search engines until around 2014 when most stopped using them altogether. It will not harm websites if companies still use this metadata so long as it contains relevant content with high-quality links back to their sites.

19. Local SEO

Businesses that want to improve their local SEO should have complete and accurate business information listed on directories like Google+, Yelp, and Bing Local.

20. Keyword research

Keywords are the heart of organic search engine optimization. The more relevant keywords a website targets, the higher it will rank when users search for those terms. Tools like SEMrush can help identify what people in your industry are searching for and how difficult (or easy) it may be to rank organically in top positions.

21. Negative SEO

Negative SEO refers to someone attempting to damage another site’s rankings by pointing bad links at them, which is why most modern link-building strategies focus on obtaining only high-quality, natural backlinks from related websites/blogs.

Search engines are constantly evolving, so staying up-to-date on the latest changes and best practices is essential. You can help your website rank higher on search engine results pages and attract more visitors by following these tips.

 

The Ultimate Guide to Always-On Marketing

The always-on marketing era has arrived. It is no longer enough to just post on social media sporadically or send an email blast every couple of months. Brands must be present and accounted for 24/7, 365 days a year if they want to have any hope of success in the marketplace. In this guide, you will learn all about how to execute an always-on marketing strategy that generates results for your business!

What is always on-marketing?

As the name suggests, always-on marketing, also referred to as continuous marketing, is the idea that marketing activities should continue for as long as the company exists. The idea focuses on trickling marketing campaigns continuously instead of using burst marketing practices. Always-on marketing is an evolution of the concept that it’s not enough to engage your customer just once.

How do you implement always-on marketing?

While there are many strategies, tools, and tactics available for brands who want to execute or improve their continuous marketing efforts, they all focus on three main goals:

Building relationships with existing customers:

This primarily focuses on building long-term relationships with customers, so they become repeat users. It includes:

-Develop a consistent cadence of messages tailored to the audience you are trying to reach.

-Create helpful content that your followers will want to share with their networks, which helps create brand awareness.

Creating brand awareness:

This deals with helping more people find your brand. It includes:

-Build an authoritative online presence through media relations and social media promotions.

-Increase customer engagement by providing unique experiences or incentives for users who engage with your business on various channels.

-Gather contact information from prospective customers so that you can communicate relevant messages at later dates via email marketing campaigns.

Engaging new prospects:

The idea behind always-on marketing hinges on the fact that a business dies if it does not search for new customers. 

-Identify potential leads by analyzing what topics interest them most in specific verticals.

-Monitor hashtags related to conversations around the brand and search for potential entryways into new markets.

Does this strategy work?

Yes! Companies like Amazon have been successfully using continuous marketing techniques for years now. Additionally, newer brands such as Netflix are also seeing massive profits from implementing a never-ending approach to marketing.

What do I need to get started?

While there are many tools available for marketers who wish to implement an always-on approach, here is a list of the top three that can help you get on your way:

Hootsuite: Manage social media profiles and schedule posts across various networks simultaneously. It also lets users monitor relevant hashtags in real-time, so they don’t miss any opportunities while engaging with their audience.

BufferApp: This tool works by allowing its users to manage all their content, including articles, blog posts, images, etc., which are then published automatically throughout the day at optimal times based on user data gathered through analytics.

Mailchimp: Create email campaigns and newsletters and gather contact information from prospective customers so you can continue to market your products or services to them.

Why do some brands find always-on marketing challenging?

If always-on marketing was as easy as some online tutorials make it seem, every brand would be successful by now. In an attempt to get on the hype train, many brands fail to recognize the pitfalls of always-on marketing. Here are some things that you should keep in mind before getting started with always-on marketing:

Lack of data will hurt your marketing practices:

Data is the backbone for any marketing campaign. Think about the volume of data that you require to execute a certain marketing campaign. Now, multiply the data by ten. That’s how much data you are going to need to start always-on marketing. From there on, it will be a constant process of gathering data, analyzing them to draw workable solutions, and implementing the said solutions to constantly improve your marketing practices. Companies that fail to recognize this drop out early on in the game.

Lack of content:

In the quest to create more content, many marketers forget that not all audiences are interested in every topic. This results in weak content that neither solves a problem nor adds value. While some brands have been able to get away with this by catering to niche markets, small businesses cannot deal with such a risk. And when it comes to always-on marketing, you cannot afford to slack with content. You are going to need content for as long as the business exists. So, if you don’t have content prepared, you better get those brains churning.

Lack of proper infrastructure:

As mentioned before, always-on marketing is a marathon and not a sprint. It requires adequate infrastructure to be in place since it will take some time for results to start showing up.

What can you do to be successful?

While there are early hardships in the path to always-on marketing, things will get easier down the road. Here are some tips to help you get some early success:

Start small:

Building a brand from scratch can be challenging, and that includes always-on marketing. Start small by focusing on the core market first. Once you’ve built some initial traction for your business, expand to other markets, such as secondary or tertiary demographics, with less competition but more potential customers.

Gather the data:

Always-on marketing demands a lot of information at every stage because it’s going to help refine campaigns to make them more effective over time. Other than gathering general social media statistics like the number of followers etc., think about what data would be relevant for improving specific aspects of an individual campaign. For example – if you’re selling running shoes online, then location-based analytics will be valuable for you.

Take action:

It’s easy to plan out what needs to be done, but it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to do the things laid down in the plans. The easiest way is not always the best way, so don’t shy away from stepping outside your comfort zone every once in a while because sometimes that will lead to better results than expected.

Plan for long-term success:

Always-on marketing is not something you can get right once and then sit back on your laurels. It requires constant maintenance, tweaking, and updating in accordance with the latest data for continued success.

Always-on marketing might seem like an impossible task at first glance, but execution can become much easier with proper planning. If you’re still struggling with getting started, then take some time off and come back refreshed – always-on marketing isn’t something that can be rushed into without putting serious thought into it!

 

14 Tools To Measure Core Web Vitals

If you’re running a website, it’s essential to measure its core vitals so that you can track and improve its performance. In this blog post, we’ll discuss some of the best tools to help you do just that. These tools will help you measure website traffic, page views, and unique visitors. By tracking these metrics, you’ll be able to see which areas of your website need improvement and make changes that will increase your conversion rate and overall revenue.

1. Google Pagespeed Insights

This tool measures how fast a web page loads on different devices. It provides information about the size of each element and whether or not it’s optimized for mobile use. You can see detailed reports based on device type and geographical location to know where your users are coming from.

2. Google Analytics

Google Analytics tracks everything that happens on your site, including visits per day or month by source (i.e., search engines). It also records conversions like signups for newsletters, purchases made through e-commerce stores, and more! The data provided here will give you valuable insight into what pages people visit most often when they’re browsing your website – which means there’ll be plenty to work with when optimizing SEO performance over time!

3. Google search console

Google’s search console is essential for website owners. It tells you how often your site has been indexed by Google and any errors that may have occurred when crawling it. The console also shows you how many people click on your site from search engine results pages (SERPs) and what keywords they used to find you.

4. Yahoo! Site Explorer

Yahoo!’s Site Explorer offers some of the same features as Google’s search console but with a different emphasis. For example, while Google will show you data about traffic from all sources, Yahoo! focuses specifically on links – both inbound and outbound. You can use this information to determine which sites link back to yours and whether or not those links are valuable enough to justify paying more attention.

5. Moz

Moz’s Open Site Explorer lets you see what competitors are up to with their link-building campaigns, so if they’re having success building links from high authority domains like The New York Times or Forbes, you’ll know it too! It also provides information about anchor text in incoming and outgoing links so that your marketing team can make informed decisions about how best to optimize SEO performance over time.

6. Chrome UX Report

The Chrome UX Report offers insights into how users experience your website on different devices and browsers. It can give you an idea of which areas need improvement, like font size or images that don’t load properly. And because it’s based on real-world user data rather than just lab tests, this tool will help make sure the changes you make to improve performance aren’t negatively impacting usability!

7. Lighthouse

Lighthouse is a free, open-source tool from Google that makes measuring web vitals easy. You can use it to get reports on speed metrics such as First Contentful Paint (FCP) and Time To Interactive (TTI). This means plenty of information will be available when optimizing SEO performance over time.

8. Chrome DevTools

Chrome DevTools is a comprehensive set of tools that help developers inspect, debug, and optimize websites. It includes features like network throttling, performance profiling, and CSS inspection so you can see how your website looks and behaves on different devices.

9. WebPagetest

WebPagetest is another excellent tool for measuring page speed. You can choose from various browsers and connection types to get accurate results. And if you need more detailed information about what’s slowing down your website, the Waterfall View lets you see exactly which resources are taking the longest to load.

10. Web.Dev

Web. Dev is a free online tool that lets you test your website’s security, performance, and accessibility. It includes reports on page size, load time, and the number of requests made to the server. You can also get tips on how to improve your score in each category!

11. GT Metrix

GT Metrix is an online tool for measuring website performance. It provides information about load time, page size, and more so you can see which areas of your site need improvement. You can also set up alerts that notify you when changes occur in these metrics over time.

12. TREO Site Speed

TREO Site Speed is a paid service that offers detailed website speed and performance reports. You can get insights into everything from the average load time to how well your site performs on different browsers and devices. They also have a TREO PageSpeed, which helps you optimize your website for speed.

13. Pingdom

Pingdom is another online tool for measuring website speed. It provides data about page size, load time, and the number of requests made to the server so you can see where improvements need to be made. And like GT Metrix, they offer an alert system so you can stay up-to-date on any changes in performance over time.

14. Dunplab Web Vitals Tester

Dunplab Web Vitals Tester is a free online tool that measures website speed and performance. It checks load time, page size, number of requests, and more. And it offers suggestions for improving your score in each category!

There are several great tools available for measuring the web vitals of your website. These tools can help you identify areas that need improvement and make changes that will improve performance over time. So if you’re looking to optimize your website for speed and performance, be sure to check out some of these tools!

 

Best SEO Agency in Oklahoma City 2022

Outpace Ranked Oklahoma’s #1 SEO company

As we enter 2022, more business is being conducted online than ever before. It’s an exciting time for the internet, and search engine optimization (SEO) has never been more critical. People are actively searching for your products and services. If they aren’t seeing your business at the top of the search results, your competitors are the ones reaping the profits.

At Outpace, we connect you with these same people searching for a business just like yours. We do this through SEO, but our approach differs from most digital agencies. We approach SEO from an ROI perspective. We aren’t just interested in ranking our clients at the top of Google; we ensure their website visitors convert. We do this by focusing on a multitude of variables that other companies aren’t even considering. Our process has worked so well that we have achieved recognition across popular review platforms such as Clutch and Expertise.

We are excited to announce two of our latest awards. Clutch has ranked us Oklahoma’s #1 SEO company, and Expertise has ranked us as one of the top SEO companies in Oklahoma. Our team is incredibly proud of these achievements, and we look forward to the continued success of our clients across these platforms.

Top Rated SEO AgencyOutpace Ranked Oklahoma's #1 SEO company

Common SEO Mistakes That Could Sabotage Your SEO Strategy

If you want to make your website more powerful and attractive, you need to focus on SEO. It’s not enough to create a good-looking site; it needs to be optimized for search engines as well. This blog post will discuss some common mistakes that could sabotage an SEO strategy and how you can avoid them.

Having no strategy

Everyone wants more traffic for cheaper, but you have to work hard at SEO for it to pay off. It’s all about creating a solid foundation with clear goals that can be measured against specific milestones. All of this starts with an actionable attack plan, so every aspect is covered, from content marketing strategies to competitor research updates.

Not knowing your audience

Your audience dictates every aspect of your SEO strategy. From content creation to marketing and everything else in between, understanding your audience is crucial to creating a successful SEO strategy. Knowing your audience means knowing what they want, how to get their attention, and where they are. Failure to understand them can doom your efforts before you even get started.

Not using the right keywords

Including the wrong keywords in your website content or titles can hurt your SEO ranking instead of helping it. Make sure to use keyword research to determine which words and phrases are most relevant to your business and target audience.

Targeting too many keywords

Focusing on too many keywords can also harm your SEO efforts. Target a couple of high-traffic, low-competition keywords closely related to your business instead of trying to rank for a bunch at once.

Not tracking progress: You need to track your progress if you want to know whether or not your SEO strategy is working. Use analytics tools like Google Analytics or Moz Pro Open Site Explorer to track your website’s search engine ranking, organic traffic, and other vital metrics.

Ignoring link building

Link building is an essential part of any SEO strategy. Get in touch with other bloggers and websites in your industry to exchange links and build up your site’s backlink profile.

Failing To Make Use Of Analytics Data

Google analytics will give you the insights needed on who visits your site and why; however, if not used properly, it can lead marketers astray without them even realizing it until it’s too late! That said, make sure you’re using UTM parameters to properly track campaign data (source, medium, and term), so you can attribute conversions back to the channels that are driving them.

Using duplicate content

Don’t plagiarize your content. It’s not only unethical, but it can hurt the credibility of your website and business as well. Copyscape is a free tool that will tell you if other sites have copied any text on your site or blog post so that you can reach out to them for proper attribution.

Using outdated SEO tactics

Don’t rely on link-building tactics from five years ago just because they used to work back then! If Google gets wise to specific techniques being overused, they’ll put an end to them in no time flat, which could leave you with a severely compromised web presence until new strategies are found!

Not using meta tags correctly

Meta keywords should be around ten words long, while descriptions should be between 150-160 characters long. Make sure to use your most important keywords in these areas while avoiding over-optimization, which can lead to penalties for spammy behavior.

Using incorrect title tags

Title tags are the titles of web pages that show up on search engine results and should be less than sixty characters, so they don’t get cut off by Google. Use your brand name and a few of the top keywords you’re targeting in this area without stuffing them since it won’t help SEO at all!

Not having an editorial or content plan

Consistency is vital for blogging; however, more isn’t always better if it doesn’t make sense with what you’ve already published (or haven’t). Having some editorial or content plan will help you stay on track and ensure that all of your published content is high quality, relevant to your target audience, and helpful in terms of SEO.

Forgetting technical details

Although Google has said that they don’t factor in site speed as a ranking signal, it should still be noted that having a slow website will hurt your SEO efforts. Make sure to check your server response time and load times using WebpageTest or Pingdom Tools for desktop browsers, mobile devices, and tablets so you know how fast (or slow) yours is compared to others.

Creating and using the wrong content

This is a big one! So many people mistake creating and using content that isn’t original, relevant, or helpful. Not only will this hurt your SEO efforts, but it could also damage the credibility of your website and business as a whole.

Creating and using the wrong content can sabotage your SEO strategy. Make sure you’re aware of these common mistakes so you can avoid them at all costs! If you want a detailed SEO strategy, consider talking to an SEO professional.

14 Steps to Create a Successful Content Strategy

Most people don’t care much about what goes on on their website, as long as they are updating it regularly. But stringing together a bunch of articles can help your business achieve better conversions and marketing results. So how do you write up a content strategy? How do you develop relevant themes that are not only trending but are also relevant to your website? And how does it impact your SEO? 

How does a successful content strategy help SEO?

A successful content strategy aligns with your overall SEO goals. When you have a clear plan for creating and publishing content, you can ensure that all of your efforts are working together to help improve your website’s search engine ranking. Additionally, a well-executed content strategy will keep your website fresh and up-to-date with the latest industry news, which can also improve your SEO rank.

If you want to create a successful content strategy for your business, start by following these 14 steps:

Step 01: Define Your Goals: 

Define what you want to achieve with your content marketing campaign. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Drive more traffic to your website? Increase leads or sales? Once you know your goals, you can create content that is relevant and aligned with those objectives.

Step 02: Research Your Target Audience:

It’s essential to understand who your target audience is so that you can create content that appeals to them. What are their interests? What do they care about? What type of content do they prefer? Do some market research and use this information to help guide your content strategy.

Step 03: Choose a Content Strategy Framework:

You can use various frameworks when creating a content strategy. Choose the one that best fits your business and its needs. Popular frameworks include the SMART goal framework, the AIDA model, and the PEST analysis.

Step 04: Develop Content Themes:

Once you have a framework in place, it’s time to develop content themes. These are the topics that your content will revolve around. Come up with a list of at least five themes, and make sure they are relevant to your target audience and the goals of your campaign.

Step 05: Create an Editorial Calendar:

An editorial calendar is a planning tool that helps you map out your content themes and publish dates. This will help ensure that all of your content is aligned with each other and that you are regularly putting out quality content. 

Step 06: Identify Keywords:

Before creating any content, it’s important to identify keywords you want to rank for. Use keyword research tools to help you find keywords with high search volume and ones that are relevant to your business. Then, incorporate these keywords into your content wherever possible.

Step 07: Create Engaging Content:

Once you have a good understanding of your target audience and the keywords you want to rank for, it’s time to start creating content. Make sure all of your content is high quality and engaging so that readers will want to stick around until the end.

Step 08: Optimize Your Content for SEO:

As mentioned earlier, a successful content strategy can help improve your website’s SEO ranking. So make sure you are optimizing all of your content for search engines by using keyword stuffing, header tags, meta descriptions, etc.

Step 09: Promote Your Content:

Once your content is published, it’s essential to promote it on social media and other channels. This will help get your content in front of more people and increase its exposure.

Step 10: Analyze the Results:

It’s essential to track the results of your content marketing campaign so that you can see how well it is performing. Use analytics tools to measure website traffic leads generated, sales conversions, etc. This information will help you determine which types of content work best for your business and what needs to be tweaked or improved.

Step 11: Iterate and Improve:

As with any marketing campaign, it’s essential to improve your content strategy continuously. You should constantly learn new things, test different types of content to see what resonates with your target audience, and make changes as needed.

Step 12: Plan Ahead for the Long-Term:

It’s also essential to think about where you want your business to be in a year or two from now. What are some big-picture goals? How will this affect future content strategy? Make sure that everything is aligned to help support long-term success.

Step 13: Offer Value When Promoting Your Content:

One of the most effective ways to promote your content is by offering value when doing so. This could include sharing other people’s work on social media, mentioning them in blog posts or interviews, etc.

Step 14: Keep Things Fresh and Engaging:

Finally, make sure you always keep things fresh and engaging for your readers. This means publishing new content regularly, experimenting with different types of content, and using storytelling techniques to keep people hooked.

By following these steps, you can create a successful content strategy that will help improve your website’s SEO ranking, generate leads and sales conversions, and increase brand awareness. And don’t forget to continue iterating and improving upon your strategy as needed!

What is content cannibalization and how can you avoid it?

Content cannibalization is when you have more than one piece of content on your site that targets the same audience. For example, if you post a blog about “How to Clean Your Kitchen” and write an article with ten kitchen cleaning tips, this can be considered content cannibalization. Many businesses do this unknowingly because they want their website visitors to see as many articles as possible for any given topic, but it can work against them.

Why should you care about content cannibalization?

When you have more than one piece of content targeting the same audience, it can hurt your SEO and confuse your readers. Duplicate content can be penalized by Google’s search engine rankings, and you could end up losing traffic to your site as a result. Additionally, if you have multiple pieces of content that are all saying the same thing, readers may not know which one to read, or they may get confused about what your company is trying to say.

Tips to Avoid Content Cannibalization

So how can you avoid content cannibalization? Here are a few tips:

Tip 1: Identify Keyword Cannibalization:

Keyword cannibalization is when you have more than one page on your site targeting the same keyword. This can be a significant issue for your SEO, and it’s essential to identify any pages competing for the same keywords. You can use Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool or Moz’s Keyword Explorer to help you find keywords that your site is targeting.

Once you’ve identified any pages with competing keywords, you’ll need to decide which page should target that particular keyword. It may make sense to keep both pages, but only if they offer different information or serve another purpose. If they’re essentially saying the same thing, then you’ll need to choose one page to focus on.

Tip 2: Identify potential content gaps:

You can identify any missing or lacking content on your site by looking at the topics you’re already covering. For example, if you have a blog post about “How to Clean Your Kitchen” but don’t mention cleaning appliances like your oven or microwave, this would be an issue.

Once you’ve identified gaps in coverage, look for ways to fill those gaps with additional articles. If none of these ideas seem viable to address the gap directly (it may not make sense for your business), then consider alternative ways to say the same. If you need to refresh your blog, it might be better to delete the content altogether and work with a new one. Just remember that it’s better to have fewer high-quality posts than many low-quality ones!

Tip 3: Avoid irrelevant on-page keywords and keyword stuffing:

If you’re targeting a particular keyword, make sure that it’s relevant to the page you’re trying to rank. Don’t include the keyword in every sentence or use so many keywords that your content becomes difficult to read. This is known as keyword stuffing, and it can hurt your SEO rather than help it. Targeting relevant keywords allows you to maintain content focus and avoid cannibalization. 

Tip 4: Avoid duplicate titles and meta descriptions:

Duplicate titles and meta descriptions can also cause issues with your SEO. Make sure each of your pages has unique titles and descriptions that accurately reflect the article’s topic. You can use Google’s Webmaster Tools to check for duplicate title tags and meta descriptions.

Tip 5: Use canonical tags to direct traffic to the most relevant URL:

If you have multiple versions of the same page (perhaps you have both a .html and .php version), you can use canonical tags to tell Google which one is the most relevant. This will help to prevent duplicate content issues and ensure that readers are directed to the correct page.

Tip 6: Use breadcrumb navigation for improved usability:

Breadcrumb navigation is a great way to help your readers find their way around your site. It provides a trail of links that shows the reader where they are on the website and how they got there. This can be especially helpful for more significant sites with lots of pages.

Top 7: Position content as per the relevance of topics:

When creating new content, think about how you can position it as relevant. You may want to consider using a blog post to promote a newly developed product page or position a video as the top result for a particular keyword. Thinking about its relevance can help you generate unique content over time. 

Tip 8: If you have two content that target similar keywords, merge them:

If you have two content pieces that target exact keywords but offer little value beyond their similarities, consider combining them. Try finding a central theme or idea that links both articles together, and use this as the basis for your new piece of content.

So, there you have it! By following these tips, you can avoid the problems associated with content cannibalization and create high-quality content that will help your SEO efforts. If you’re still having trouble avoiding content cannibalization, or if you’d like some additional help optimizing your website’s content, consider talking to a professional.