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Author: Luke Carthy Product descriptions are one of the most debated components of eCommerce SEO, as creating and maintaining them can be hugely resource intensive, particularly if you sell thousands of products. One of the most common questions when it comes to product descriptions is, “Should I invest in writing quality and unique product descriptions for all of my products?” Now, as with all good SEO questions, the answer to this one is, “it depends.” In a perfect world, the answer to that question is always going to be “yes!” However, we also must juggle time restrictions, maximize budgets, and invest energy into the aspects of eCommerce SEO that are likely to deliver the greatest returns. Let’s dig into that question a little deeper and determine which situations are most advantageous for investing in quality, unique product descriptions. In this guide, we’ll cover: Why an unoriginal product description is better than no description How to gauge your investment in unique product descriptions Designing your descriptions to highlight key information Defining content frameworks by researching your business vertical Reviewing and improving your product description performance An unoriginal product description is better than no description Before we dive in, though, let me just make this one point very clear… Regardless of whether you invest heavily into your product descriptions, having no description at all is absolutely the worst option—especially if you’re serious about growing sales and optimizing for conversions. Having no production descriptions at all is a red flag for visitors potentially looking to buy from you. Sure, in some cases (particularly when your visitors are at the end of the purchase funnel) a product’s description may not be hugely influential to their purchase decision. In fact, they may add to cart or even purchase without reading the description at all. That being said, the absence of a product description is generally intrusive and can send a clear and off-putting message to potential customers. Additionally, most site search solutions (particularly the native systems you get with Wix, Magento, Shopify, etc.) will look at product descriptions when searching for relevant content. Not having descriptions at all can potentially make your product(s) much less discoverable—even for returning customers that you may already have built a relationship with. Let’s now dive back into the question of whether you should invest in creating unique and well-written product descriptions. How to gauge your investment in descriptions Are you reselling products from established brands or are you selling products/items from lesser known brands (possibly including your own)? Let’s take a look at a few examples. 01. Selling branded TVs Let’s say you’re a retailer that sells the latest TVs and home entertainment from household brands such as LG, Sony, and Samsung. As a reseller of these particular goods, visitors that are planning on purchasing from you are most likely at the end of the purchase funnel; meaning that they may have already watched videos, read reviews, compared and shortlisted TV models, and visited the manufacturer’s websites to understand more about the item(s) they’re looking to purchase. My point here is, by the time these visitors have made it to you (the retailer), they’re usually already well versed in the specific TV they’re looking to buy. For cases like the example above, this means the quality and informativeness of your product description isn’t always as crucial. To be clear, I’m not recommending that you skimp on product descriptions at all in these cases, but where budgets are squeezed and priorities are each fighting for attention, always take your ROI (return on investment) into consideration. Many of the biggest retailers, with seemingly limitless budgets and teams, such as Currys, Best Buy, and so on, will often invest in creating unique product descriptions with a brand-specific tone of voice. They may even take it a step further by summarizing key features, highlighting what they like about a specific item, and/or offering expert perspectives. Investing in unique and quality product descriptions would be ideal here (and lots of retailers do it). However, a well-written product description here is going to have less of an impact on conversion than in the next example. 02. Selling your own range of premium candles If you’re selling your own items (or reselling goods from lesser-known brands) then potential customers are more dependent on product descriptions to get the information they need. In cases like this, there will be fewer product reviews or comparisons for audiences to reference. Manufacturer websites (if any) will likely be less informative and there will be much less external content in general. This is when creating informative product descriptions that educate the customer can provide the most value for your business. Even if the products you’re selling are relatively niche, you shouldn’t take shortcuts by, for example, copy/pasting the description from the manufacturer or writing generic descriptions that could apply to multiple products in that category. Your product descriptions need to be comprehensive, engaging, and, of course, informative to allow potential customers to feel confident when making their purchase. Now that you have a better idea of how much to invest in your product descriptions, let’s get into optimizing them. Design your descriptions to highlight key information for customers Your product description content could be well written and super informative, but visitors will often skip it if it’s simply a wall of text or the design makes it difficult for them to jump to the information they’re looking for. It might sound obvious, but be sure to break up content using headings (H2s, H3s, etc). It can also be helpful to leverage tabs on the product page to break down the description into sections/topics (as shown in the example below). I’m a fan of this content breakdown over at Fanstereo (shown above). Not only does it include a lightweight summary of the product, they also use accordions to organize the content and make it more digestible for potential customers. In particular, the key features and the “what’s in the box” information tabs do a nice job of keeping the page (and user experience) clean while making important information readily available. Doing this can really break up content (particularly when it’s fairly comprehensive) and it allows visitors to quickly jump to and focus on what’s important to them. Another reason accordions/tabs/sections work well (particularly on mobile devices) is they prevent the content from dominating the page and forcing other potentially conversion-boosting elements out of view (e.g., product recommendations or merchandising elements). Research your vertical to define content frameworks Creating informative, engaging content that helps increase conversions starts with doing research specific to your vertical. You can perform this research manually or use keyword tools, if you have access to them. The manual approach If you don’t have SEO tools at your disposal, no problem! You can easily surface the same data albeit on a smaller scale. Simply searching on Google for the brands/products you sell can surface many insightful questions. One valuable place to look is the “People also ask” box (shown above), which frequently appears for informational and commercial queries. As you search more queries, you’ll surface more questions and potentially begin to identify patterns and questions that frequently appear. Take note of these details, as they’re likely to come in handy when you’re working on your descriptions. Researching with tools For this, I like to use Ahrefs’ keyword explorer to identify important questions that people are asking/looking for in your specific industry. Additionally, Semrush has a similar keyword tool that you could use. In this example, let’s assume I’m working with a retailer that sells running shoes. Simply throwing “running shoes” and close variant keywords (keywords that are closely related or are synonyms) into Ahrefs, then selecting ”Questions” (in the Ahrefs interface), we start to surface all of the important questions that people ask and search for within the running shoes vertical. We can then use this search data to define the sections of content to focus on for all our running shoes. Some pull-out examples include: How to clean / care for running shoes? What foot shapes are they suitable for? (There’s healthy search volume for people looking for shoes for flat feet and other conditions so this would be particularly helpful content) How many miles should these running shoes be expected to last? Are these shoes suitable for men, women or both? If all of your product descriptions for running shoes at least cover these four questions, they’ll be informative and address considerations that people are likely to need answers to before making a purchase. You could even take this a step further by targeting actual keywords with unique product descriptions for each item. This way, you’re also likely to maximize organic traffic and rankings for product-specific search queries, too. Review your product description performance and reiterate Heatmap tools like HotJar, CrazyEgg, Microsoft Clarity (which is free), etc. allow you to look at visual representations of how customers behave on a group of URLs instead of just individual pages. This allows you to review many more data points at once and build a much clearer picture. In this specific case, consolidating all clicks and scroll behavior on every single product page into a single heatmap can be a powerful way to see how visitors and customers are engaging with your product content at scale. Additionally, the more you segment your heatmaps, the more granular you’re able to get with your insights. For example, you can segment by device, country, and view data for people that have made purchases to identify the elements of your product description that are working and the ones that need improvement. These additional ways of reviewing and filtering the data can really help you uncover more opportunities and learn more about your audience’s needs. I recommended reviewing heatmaps before and after optimizing descriptions so that you can get an accurate indication of the results of your work. Lastly and as a final bonus, optimizing your product descriptions can pay dividends when helping your visitors find products via your site search too. The more informative your descriptions, the more helpful your site search can be for your customers. Informative product descriptions help you educate customers and stay on top of the competition Chances are you’re not the only retailer selling your product. That’s why it’s important to differentiate and add value where you can—the product description being a prime piece of real estate for that purpose. Even if you’re the only retailer that offers a given product, you’re likely competing for potential customers on a Google results page that contains various search features. You never know when your product description might be used in one of those SERP features. If that happens, a well-written description can invite users to your site, or the lack thereof can cause Google to point those users towards one of your competitors. Luke Carthy - eCommerce Consultant Luke is a well-seasoned eCommerce SEO & CRO consultant, online store founder and international speaker with years of hands-on and strategic experience. Luke delivers double / triple-digit growth for global eCommerce brands and growth-hungry startups. Twitter | Linkedin

Author: Jonas Sickler I’m obsessed with full-funnel content marketing because it combines all my favorite SEO concepts: search intent, customer journeys, and topic clusters. But it’s also much bigger than SEO. It’s about solving puzzles, understanding customer behavior, and delivering exceptional value wherever your audience is. But, few companies truly take a full-funnel marketing approach to content creation. Their efforts are generally scattered, siloed, unfocused, or too narrow. It’s easy to see why, though. Small businesses don’t always have the resources to create massive content hubs which attract a broad audience, but take longer to convert. So, they prioritize narrowly focused content that converts faster but neglects the top and middle of the funnel. On the other end of the spectrum, enterprise companies create flashy, story-driven campaigns that are entertaining and create brand awareness, but they don’t address their audience’s real concerns. Then, they pour money into low-converting PPC campaigns at the bottom of the funnel. See the problem? They completely ignore the consideration stage, where consumers gather information that influences their behavior. If you neglect entire sections of the content marketing funnel, then you won’t be present during key moments when decisions are made. This creates a fragmented customer journey, diminishes brand trust, and weakens your sales pipeline. Let’s pull back the curtain on full-funnel marketing so you can develop a future-proof strategy without any leaks in your sales funnel. What exactly is full-funnel content marketing? Full-funnel content marketing is the process of creating unique, valuable content in the right format(s) that align with each stage of the customer journey: awareness, consideration, purchase, and retention. Regardless of how you label the stages of your funnel, they should describe broader intent at the top, to more narrow and decisive intent at the bottom. Value should always be your primary goal with content marketing, regardless of the channel. But, it’s even more important for organic search considering how it literally drives Google’s algorithms. SEO is obviously a vital tool to increase visibility, but your strategy must extend beyond your website, and even beyond organic search. To be successful, you’ll need to take a multi-channel approach to content marketing that meets users where they’re most likely to engage with your brand, with content formats that will satisfy their needs. Think about how to reach your audience before they’re aware of their problem, when they’re seeking answers, and when they’re ready to act. Those opportunities won't just happen on Google, they might also pop up on forums, in social media platforms, on review sites, or on third-party websites. Why full-funnel content marketing is important Full-funnel content marketing ensures brands are present throughout the buyer’s journey. It guides discovery, expands brand awareness, shapes buying decisions, and controls messaging. The result? Greater customer value, deeper relationships, and stronger brand loyalty. Think about it: Consumers don’t just wake up and realize they must have your product. First, they realize they have a problem. Then, they ask themselves questions, seek information, and make decisions. The answers they uncover determine whether or not they move to the next stage of the funnel. Therefore, brands that influence the decisions at the top of the funnel influence purchase decisions at the bottom. Let’s look at an example. Why is it so hard to buy a pillow? Pillows are the simplest products in the world, yet they’re incredibly hard to shop for. Don’t believe me? Go to any local retailer and you’ll find a squishy wall of fluff with no helpful information to answer your questions. Websites aren’t much better. Target (the American retailer) provides a single sentence about each type of pillow before presenting you with a digital version of that pillow wall. There’s no buying guide, blog, or side-by-side comparisons to address the millions of questions consumers ask each year. I’m not knocking Target. Most retailers are bottom-heavy marketers (meaning that they primarily focus their marketing efforts on the bottom of the customer funnel), and it really sticks out when you analyze the SERPs. Nearly 228K people search for information about “morning neck pain” each year in the US, according to organic traffic data from Semrush. None of the top-10 ranking websites for this query sell pillows, yet every single one of them mentions pillows as a cause of neck pain within their content. Towards the middle of the sales funnel, each year 822K Americans search for answers about the “best pillows for side sleepers,” based on organic search data from Semrush. That’s a staggering number of potential customers looking for recommendations, and there isn't a single pillow retailer in the top 10 results. You get the idea. There’s a massive opportunity to get in front of customers when they realize they have a problem and begin to narrow down options. You can introduce content that addresses their issues through social media posts, bylines, PR placements, graphics, videos and blog posts. Here’s how to get started. How to create a full-funnel marketing strategy Full-funnel marketing isn’t the same as cross-channel marketing or even multi-format content marketing. It’s about knowing your audience, how they think, and what they want. 01. Develop buyer personas The first step towards creating a full-funnel content strategy is to define your audience. In your buyer persona(s), include the basic demographics, such as age and gender, as well as their motivations, fears, needs, and frustrations. But also research how your audience makes decisions, how they search for information, and who they trust to answer their questions. In other words, what are the digital watering holes where you can influence them? Do they seek out national news websites, or do they read niche blogs? Which brands and hashtags do they follow and engage with on social media? Do they passively listen to podcasts and videos, or do they prefer to jump into Reddit conversations? Also, research how your personas feel about social, environmental, or regulatory events. Think beyond traditional demographic traits and consider how your ideal customer interacts with their environment. These two pieces will determine how your audience acts in key moments. 02. Create customer journey maps The second step is to map the customer journey. To do so, consider the following: What questions does your audience ask as they move through the stages of the marketing funnel from awareness to decision? When are the most important moments your brand needs to step forward in order to influence your audience? How can you reach them at different stages across different marketing channels, so your brand is always present when they’re ready to act? Think about the best types of content to answer specific questions at each touchpoint. Here’s a graphic from a recent slide show I presented about full-funnel content marketing which shows how you can map content formats to questions throughout the funnel. 03. Perform keyword research to uncover questions When you do keyword research for full-funnel content marketing, look beyond typical SEO tools. Although they’re a vital part of this strategy, they don’t give you the whole picture. You should also interview sales representatives, customer service teams, and customers directly to reveal the questions potential customers ask at all stages of the journey. Remember to consider the pain points from our example above (such as neck pain, snoring, or sleeping hot). As you identify these questions, map them to the appropriate journey stage and assign several content formats to each one. 04. Inventory existing content formats and themes Next, think about all the existing pieces of content you already have. Evaluate whether: They need to be updated or completely recreated You have major gaps in your customer funnel You’re neglecting an important channel Do a full content audit to determine the scope of what you need. Make sure the audit document is organized and actionable. It should be more akin to a roadmap than a list of content, so it must also contain decisions for next steps as well as who will be responsible and accountable to ensure the work is prioritized and executed. 05. Determine your content distribution channels At this point, you need to begin thinking about organizing your content into marketing campaigns. How can you put your inventory in front of your audience in as many places as possible? Atomize long-form blog posts into bite-sized lists and graphics to share on social media. Make micro videos for TikTok and Instagram—YouTube now offers Clips that can also be used to promote or strengthen content, particularly how-to’s and tutorials. If you’re in the B2B space, create downloadable content like white papers and e-books to grow your email list. Explore strategic partnerships through webinars and podcasts. You can also take advantage of proprietary data to land media mentions or bylines. This is where your strategy must come together. You can plant the seeds of pain points through social media and sponsored content before your target audience becomes aware of their problem. Then, leverage SEO to reach them as they search throughout the funnel on Google by creating optimized landing pages and refining your solutions content to improve conversion rates. In other words, be everywhere. 06. Amplify efficiency with automation The final step is to boost efficiency and engagement across your marketing efforts via automation. As marketers, we have access to so much technology it can make our heads spin. But, if we use it correctly, we can deliver more personalized experiences that efficiently move potential customers down the funnel. Here’s how the Terakeet marketing team deploys automation throughout the funnel: At the top of the funnel, we use OptinMonster to trigger CTAs on relevant blog posts based on user behavior. For example, if you scroll 40% of the way down our content strategy blog post, or you remain on the page for 40 seconds, then you’ll see a pop-up to download our Content Playbook. Then, we use Marketo to deliver a customized email sequence to everyone who downloaded the playbook. The emails include topics such as amplifying content with SEO, choosing the right content distribution channels, and measuring content marketing ROI. The final email entices subscribers to get a free organic search market share report to see how their content performs against competitors. Marketing automation goes way beyond CTAs and email marketing, though. You can also use it to regularly share top-of-funnel blog posts on social media, or assign scores to leads based on how they interact with your content. Go boldly and sleep soundly Nothing is certain in this world. We don’t know if there’ll be another global event that shifts consumer behavior, or if virtual reality will take over the internet. But we do know that people are curious and cautious. We will always have questions, and we’ll always turn to trusted sources for answers. So, whether your audience searches for answers on a laptop, a phone, a VR headset, or a holographic interface, they’ll still follow the worn pathways of the customer journey. And a full-funnel content marketing strategy will give you better rest than any pillow ever could. Jonas Sickler - Digital Marketing Analyst Jonas Sickler is an accomplished author and SEO manager at Terakeet. He helps marketers unpack the customer journey to deliver more authentic brand experiences through the organic search channel. His advice has appeared in Forbes, CMI, and Search Engine Watch. Twitter

Author: Jonas Sickler One of the greatest benefits of search engine optimization is efficiency: SEO can drive more website traffic and conversions than paid media at a lower acquisition cost. It’s also highly sustainable, continuing to deliver results even if you decrease or turn off the budget. However, SEO can also be expensive and ineffective if you make the wrong investments. How do you maximize the efficiency of your SEO strategy to transform your website into an inbound marketing flywheel? Deploy topic clusters and pillar pages. Topic clusters fuse your content strategy with your SEO strategy to help you rank better on Google with fewer backlinks. That means newer brands with smaller marketing teams and leaner budgets can use them to punch above their weight. In this article, I’ll get you up to speed on everything you need to know to approach this strategy with confidence, including: What are topic clusters and pillar pages? Why you should use pillar pages and topic clusters How to create topic clusters and pillar pages 01. Determine your pillar and cluster strategy 02. Research keywords 03. Group keywords into hierarchical buckets 04. Analyze the SERP 05. Analyze competitor content 06. Publish cluster pages before pillar pages 07. Add internal links Potential issues to avoid What are topic clusters and pillar pages? The topic cluster model is a content framework based on hubs of related themes. It’s a method of grouping keywords and pages into hierarchical buckets that reinforce topical relevance and relationships between different pages on your website. The framework includes three main elements: Pillar pages — High-level articles that cover a broad topic Cluster pages — In-depth articles that dive deeper into subtopics Internal links — Hyperlinks between related cluster and pillar content Here’s an illustration of topic clusters from Terakeet that offers a blueprint for how they work. As you can see, the model is fairly simple. However, most folks struggle to implement a topic cluster strategy because it requires advanced knowledge of several SEO concepts, including internal linking, anchor text, search intent, and keyword grouping. If you need to freshen up your skills on some of those topics, here are a few resources to explore: Internal linking strategies for SEO success Keyword intent: What you need to know about how customers search Why you should use pillar pages and topic clusters A topic cluster strategy offers many advantages that extend beyond better search rankings and more organic traffic. Let’s break down the benefits into two categories: SEO performance and user experience. Topic clusters improve SEO performance Google’s algorithm is constantly evolving. Older signals like backlinks and keywords are still vital. However, they now share the stage with other factors like search intent and credibility (experience, expertise, authority, and trust). Google’s primary goal is to understand what searchers want and surface content that provides the best answer. Topic clusters and pillar pages help Google achieve that goal in several ways: Context Search engines must understand what your website is about in order to rank your content properly. What subjects do you cover and how are they related to each other? The topic cluster model reinforces your site architecture by linking related themes together and adding context. For example, when a pillar page that covers a main topic links to a cluster page about a related subtopic using descriptive anchor text, this sends a signal to Google about how these pieces of content are connected and which one might be the best answer for a specific search query. Furthermore, if you do this across dozens of web pages within a content cluster, then you’ll develop a clear roadmap for search engines to understand and rank your content. Comprehensiveness The true power of SEO comes from understanding all the ways your audience searches so you can be first in line with the best answer. The topic cluster framework forces you to think about the entire customer journey, and the nuance of search intent, so you don’t leave any opportunities on the table. Sometimes, search queries are very similar, like “types of content marketing” and “examples of content marketing.” However, when you Google those terms, you’ll find they have different intent, and therefore require different pieces of content. By publishing those pieces separately, you can address the more granular intent while ranking better. Credibility Credibility is another huge benefit that topic clusters and pillar pages bring to an SEO strategy. The concept of experience, expertise, authority, and trust (E-E-A-T) shook up the SEO community when Google rolled out the infamous medic update in 2018. Although the update had the biggest impact on websites that publish financial and health information, it extends to all types of domains. In short, Google favors websites it considers to be trusted experts on subjects. Two important factors that support E-A-T are comprehensive, high-quality content, and backlinks from trusted domains. Content clusters help position you as a subject matter expert while also sharing backlink equity from trusted domains across a cluster. Topic clusters improve user experience In addition to their SEO benefits, topic clusters also help create a more intuitive user experience. Since topic clusters follow the natural arc of the customer journey, you can map each piece of content to a specific stage of the funnel (awareness, consideration, purchase). This allows you to anticipate your target audience’s next questions and include CTAs to related content pieces regardless of what stage they’re in when they land on your website. For example, if you offer a keyword research tool, you could write a series of articles like this: What are long tail keywords? How to do keyword research like a pro Best keyword research tools (free and paid) Semrush vs Ahrefs (pros, cons, and alternatives) In the cluster above, each article targets a specific keyword which is progressively deeper in the funnel. Through strategic internal links and CTAs, you can send users to related topics so they don’t need to return to Google to learn more. This reduces friction and shows your audience you understand their needs. How to create topic clusters and pillar pages There’s a good amount to learn when you get started with topic clusters, but don’t worry—I’ll walk you through the seven steps I use to create them, and I’ll help you avoid the most common mistakes folks make. 01. Determine your pillar and cluster strategy Before you do anything else, you need to make an important decision that will guide your content marketing strategy: When given a choice, will you create one ultimate guide that ranks on many different head terms, or will you create separate pieces of content for related keywords that have unique search intent? Let’s look at an example from AI chat company Drift. If you search demand generation and demand generation vs lead generation, then you’ll notice Drift published one piece of content that ranks on both of those queries (at the time of publication, positions 3 and 16, respectively). However, according to the search results, those queries have slightly different search intent. Although they both help users understand what demand gen is, one keyword is definitional while the other is comparative. So you’ll need to decide whether to publish one post (that provides a higher level overview of the subject) or two separate posts (explaining the subtopics in greater detail). Either approach can work, but there are advantages to publishing separate posts when you have the opportunity. For example, a more specific topic is better aligned with search intent, and it often has a stronger ROI because it’s easier to produce and can rank well without any backlinks. 02. Research keywords Keyword research plays a big role in the success of your topic clusters and pillar pages, so I split this process into two separate stages: discovery (covered here) and grouping (covered in the next section). In the discovery stage, your goal is to reveal the entire keyword universe for a topic. What are all the different questions people ask, and how do they phrase their queries? First, gather insights from customers, sales, and service teams to understand your buyer personas’ goals and challenges along the customer journey. Then, use traditional keyword research tools to expand your data set. I prefer Semrush, but you can use whatever tool fits your process or budget. I uncover as many queries as possible, then I filter out misspelled words, awkward phrases, old dates, and anything else that seems out of place. After you have your list, export the data into a spreadsheet and remove any columns you want to ignore. I keep things fairly simple and just use volume and difficulty. If you need a refresher on keyword research, Mordy Oberstein and Crystal Carter break it down in this podcast. 03. Group keywords into hierarchical buckets The second step in doing keyword research is to group all the search terms you discovered into a clear taxonomy of blog posts, clusters, and categories. These are the headings I use in Google Sheets, from narrow to broad: Keywords - All unique search terms in the list Blog Posts - Groups of long tail keywords around one head term Topic Clusters - Groups of blog posts around one pillar page Category - Groups of topic clusters around a very broad category Here’s one example of how you could group keywords into a digital marketing topic cluster: In the example above, the “Topic Cluster” column is the pillar page, and the “Blog Post” column represents the cluster pages. You can use whatever naming convention you want as long as you retain a hierarchical structure. You’re probably wondering how to actually group keywords: Should you use software, or a manual process? How do you decide whether to combine keywords into one article or publish separate blog posts? Let’s answer those questions! 04. Analyze the SERP No company knows more about search intent than Google. So, the most accurate way to group keywords is to analyze search engine results pages (SERPs) to see how Google interprets each query on your list. You can use keyword grouping software like Keyword Cupid or Serpstat which use preset rules to bucket keywords based on common URLs in the search results. Or, you can manually search each keyword and decide for yourself how you want to group them. I prefer manually searching and grouping keywords because it gives me perspective into the search landscape. Which brands rank the most and how many unique URLs do they have? Is there clear search intent or a hybrid of different types of intent? There’s no question that manual grouping takes longer. But, you can still chop through a few hundred keywords in an hour if you’re quick—especially if many of them have the same intent with slightly different phrasing. But in the end, I think the competitive insights you gain by seeing the SERP are worth the extra time. Besides, if you plan to invest several hours writing each piece of content, you probably want to make sure you’re targeting the right keywords first. 05. Analyze competitor content Competitor content analysis bridges the gap between keyword grouping and content creation. Think of it as a gut check on whether or not to address multiple search terms in one post. Your goal is to take what you learned from the SERP analysis and layer on more granular competitive insights to inform your strategy. For example, can you find any competitors that rank on similar keywords with different URLs? Or, as in the Drift example we looked at earlier, does the same URL show up for different queries? Before you begin to outline your content, answer the following questions: Does Google interpret these two keywords differently? Does any domain rank well with two different URLs for these queries? What is the search intent and content format I need to use? 06. Publish cluster pages before pillar pages This step is relatively straightforward. I recommend writing cluster pages before pillar content because that helps you understand each topic in-depth. Most folks want to dive into long-form pillar pages first because those keywords have higher search volume. But, that can cause you to elaborate too much on subtopics, which could make your cluster pages feel redundant. The goal is to create deep and comprehensive cluster pages, while publishing broad and concise pillar pages. 07. Add internal links The final step when creating topic clusters and pillar pages is to add internal links between relevant sections and pages. Internal linking is a vast and complicated subject, and something I’m deeply passionate about. To simplify it as much as possible, follow these simple rules: Link to related content from the most relevant sections in each article. Link to new posts from existing content as you publish more articles. Use descriptive anchor text that includes the keywords you want the linked page to rank for. Don’t generically link to different URLs with the same anchor text (keep it unique; avoid anchor text such as “click here”). Potential issues to avoid The three biggest mistakes folks make when creating clusters involve: Content bloat Silos Internal links Since we already discussed the internal links, let’s look at the other two issues. Content bloat occurs when brands publish a lot of content that’s very similar because they think it reinforces the topical authority on their website. But, topic clusters aren’t just about volume, they’re about value. If you publish 30 similar, thin pieces of content about the same subject, that creates other quality issues for your site. Furthermore, publishing redundant content wastes precious time and money, and most of it won’t drive traffic or revenue. Instead, publish unique content that users will find valuable—regardless of whether there is significant search volume. Silos are another problem that plagues topic clusters. This is when one topic cluster is intentionally walled off from others by removing all cross-cluster internal links. The idea stemmed from the old reasoning that it concentrates topical relevance. But, that’s not how Google (or users) think. You’ve heard of the six degrees of separation, right? Everything is interconnected and related, so it doesn’t make sense to segregate content. Instead, add internal links wherever they make sense for readers. Think beyond organic search Topic clusters and pillar pages are the best way to deploy a full-funnel content marketing strategy. Clusters ensure your brand shows up throughout the customer journey with the best answers to your audience’s questions. They also help you anticipate your audience’s needs around core topics as they read your content so you can guide them to more of your resources. Topic cluster data offers profound insights into the minds and moods of your customers at key moments, helping you connect with them across all your digital marketing efforts. As users engage with topic cluster content, you can leverage retargeting, social media marketing, and email automation to drive more traffic back to relevant content and landing pages on your website. In other words, clusters are more than a foundational SEO strategy. They’re a pillar of your marketing efforts. Jonas Sickler - Digital Marketing Analyst Jonas Sickler is an accomplished author and SEO manager at Terakeet. He helps marketers unpack the customer journey to deliver more authentic brand experiences through the organic search channel. His advice has appeared in Forbes, CMI, and Search Engine Watch. Twitter

Author: Eli Schwartz To some, the term “enterprise SEO” connotes something big and scary, but in truth, enterprise SEO was probably given its name by software vendors who wanted to charge a lot for the same tools that small businesses pay small monthly fees for. A better name for “enterprise SEO” is simply “SEO at large scale.” The actual levers that work for SEO in a much smaller business still work in a bigger one, it is just the scale at which changes are made and the impact the changes will have that is different. The size of the website means that change happens at a different pace, so while for a small website a change can occur with a simple publish button, on a larger website (and certainly one at a larger company) change requires significantly more coordination and effort. A small website or company might have one webmaster who manages all aspects of a web presence, while a big website and company will have entire teams dedicated to each component of the web presence (social, SEO, PPC, etc). When I presented internally to businesses that thought SEO at larger companies was a different beast entirely, I found it helpful to explain the differences using a transportation analogy: Both a truck and a train deliver goods, but only one of them takes a mile to stop and requires very specific guidelines (tracks and schedules) in order to operate. With that in mind, these are my top 10 tips to be successful with SEO at scale. 01. Use the right tools for the job Tools are generally popular with everyone but, oftentimes, SEO can be done without them. However, when it comes to SEO at scale, tools are absolutely critical for getting the job done. For a small website, you probably know every change made to the site, but on a larger site, things can happen without you ever knowing. Creating a way to monitor changes on a website is essential. You can set up alerts that tell you every time a page was changed, or use a content tracking tool, such as SEO Radar. You will also likely need a cloud-based crawling tool that can indicate the current health of a site relative to its performance. A desktop crawler (like Screaming Frog) will probably not cut it if you have a very large site. Consider automatically crawling the site on a monthly basis so you can track changes. At a large company, you will likely have to whitelist the crawling URL, so make sure you choose a tool that has that capability. Finally, if you read my book, Product-Led SEO, you would know that I am not a proponent of tracking rankings as a primary KPI for your SEO progress. However, you should be storing your Google Search Console data in an internal warehouse so you can deep-dive into larger visibility changes by query and URL. 02. Learn to manage up and down When it comes to SEO at scale, your people skills are more important than your technical chops. Your ability to manage up and down will be the difference between a great SEO career and one characterized by more (and possibly unnecessary) friction. The ability to show your manager and your manager’s manager what is effective in your daily activities will help you get raises and promotions. At the same time, if you have a team that reports to you, have them spend time on the most effective efforts, such as identifying content gaps that will help users progress towards a conversion, for example, rather than just best practices. Any effort that you can expend on connecting with the people you report to and those that report up to you will pay off quite handsomely when you need to get things done. Lastly, some larger organizations also use agencies to supplement their internal activities. Know how to extend your capabilities by maximizing the resources of the agency to achieve your longer term goals. Learn what is the best use of your time and outsource the rest. As an example, doing keyword research in Semrush might be something the agency can do, while putting together the content roadmap based on that research is something you should do. 03. Make friends with everyone In addition to managing up and down, you also will need friends across the entire company. This extends to all teams—not just the teams you directly work with. Everyone has priorities and they might conflict with your directive to generate the maximum amount of organic traffic/revenue. Having colleagues you can rely on will help you get things done even if you don’t have the authority to make requests of others. I have had many instances where I was able to get critical SEO tickets closed because I asked the product manager to do it for me as a favor. I am certain that, had I not called in the favor, I would still be waiting. 04. Establish yourself as an authority On that note, you should be building authority, so everyone knows that you are the expert and they shouldn’t be bringing in outside experts to override your opinions. It is worth putting in the effort to share on social media, publish on SEO websites, and speak at industry conferences because this will build your credibility within your own company. I can recall more than a few instances where I was able to end an SEO debate by showing an article with my opinion published on another site. The very fact that someone else was willing to publish it made it more than an opinion—at least internally. 05. Educate colleagues to create more SEO advocates Your day shouldn’t be filled with fixing 404’s, updating titles, and firing off tickets to fix canonicals. As someone working on SEO at scale, these kinds of one-off fixes might not even move the needle. Instead, dedicate your time to educating everyone in the company so that they can spend their resources effectively, implementing SEO best practices on anything they produce. You should create educational resources and white papers that will live in the organization long after you leave. Take the time to present on SEO topics around the company—this will help more people get familiar with SEO while also bolstering your internal authority. (If you ever choose to go into consulting, those assets that you leave behind will become your marketing collateral to everyone in that company forever.) Remember, you are measured by the SEO progress of the entire company, so by educating as many of your colleagues as possible, you are turning them into agents of your goals. 06. Speak to business KPIs, not SEO metrics When other marketing teams share their wins, they use business KPIs. But, for some reason, SEO teams like to create their own metrics. Use the company’s primary business metrics to share successes and talk about business bottom lines. In most cases, this will be revenue but it could also be: Downloads MQLs Registrations Yes, it’s going to be hard to get attribution for all of your SEO work, but it is worth the effort to try and approximate something that makes sense and is widely understood by stakeholders as well as other teams. Don’t be shy—take as much credit as you can for all wins. This is your career on the line, so now is not the time to be too humble. You can caveat things (for example, you could say, “This is brand traffic so, it’s not entirely our doing,”) but there’s no reason not to at least highlight the brand traffic from SEO. 07. Learn to pitch for budget You need a budget if you are going to be successful, so use your business KPIs to ask for that budget. If more employees and tools are going to help you, ask for them and get them allocated to you, but be prepared to show how it will help the business succeed. Make friends with managers and teams that are successful at landing large budgets and learn how to do the same. The best way to be successful in your SEO role is to have as many resources as possible at your disposal, and all of those resources will cost money. Perfect the ability to pitch for and score budget and success will become a lot more attainable. 08. Plan to make plans “Planning” is the process that happens at least once per year (if not more often) where everyone talks about how successful they were the prior year and what their big plans are for next year. To be honest, it is one of the most boring things I ever did in a corporate setting, but it’s also the best way to share wins and goals. The reality is that many things that get planned in these sessions never make it to the light of day. However, participating in the planning process and projecting future growth helps build the internal authority you need. Don’t think too short term—think as long term as you can and you will score budget and visibility. You might think planning for a massive amount of growth in organic traffic is a waste of time because you don’t think the other teams will ever ship the changes you need. But, don’t shoot yourself in the foot by thinking small. Announce those big plans and, if you miss that target, you have a better story to tell about the need for resources the following year. 09. Report on business metrics, not just rankings In a small business, reporting can be very simple—it might even just be a quick note to the CEO. With SEO at scale, you likely have to build internal reports on whatever tools the company uses to report business metrics. In many companies, no one is even tracking search data because no one told them to. You may want to give up on just having a simple Google Analytics dashboard since it is probably missing critical information you need for your growth story. As the SEO at scale, you should take the time to build it and scope it well so your efforts are reflected in the best manner possible. Learn the internal reporting system, make friends with the data science team, and build the best report possible with the KPIs that the business uses to measure other channels, whether that is pages viewed, leads, signups or sales. 10. Experiment constantly If you have been doing SEO for a while, you may have learned that there’s no formulaic way to approach SEO. Large scale SEO is the most fertile ground for learning and it’s how you can develop your own methodologies as to what works vs. what doesn’t. Always have a list of experiments you can run: Do sitemaps help with ranking? Do you really need an H1? This is your time to learn and become an expert at your craft. Instead of saying “it depends,” use this as an opportunity to learn something new. Most SEO tests are going to end without any data, but that in itself is a learning. While an SEO at a smaller organization might run out of tasks to do if change isn’t happening, at a large one, you will have an infinite amount of work because there’s always a test you can run. Enterprise SEO is a team effort, and every team needs a leader Some people find that they thrive as the SEO changemaster in small organizations, while others love being a part of a larger organization where they can be seen as a subject matter expert (but aren’t able to enact as much direct change). If you’re making the switch to “enterprise SEO” (which is really just SEO at scale), these tips should make your new responsibilities much easier while helping to make SEO a part of the company culture. Not only will your organic presence benefit, but so too will your career. Eli Schwartz - Growth Advisor and SEO Consultant Eli Schwartz is the bestselling author of Product-Led SEO: The Why Behind Building Your Organic Growth Strategy. A growth advisor and consultant, his ability to demystify and craft organic marketing strategies has generated billions in value for some of the internet's top sites. Twitter | Linkedin

Author: Debbie Chew The link building process can play a huge role in helping your business increase its visibility to potential customers. For example, guest posting can introduce your product or solution to people who have never heard of your business. If your guest post is on an authoritative site and it includes a link to an important page on your site, this link can improve your rankings for certain keywords. Link building is the most misunderstood of the three pillars of SEO (the other two pillars being content and technical), which means it’s often overlooked as an opportunity to get more value from your content. In this article, I’ll address some of the most common myths and misconceptions about link building, including: You don’t need to build links Link building = spam Link building is as simple as paying for links DA/DR are the only metrics to look at when link prospecting Link building is the same as digital PR It’s bad to build links too quickly 01. You don’t need to build links This is the link building myth I see the most often. It exists because of the notion that if you write good content, links will naturally start flowing in. The reality is that good content, on its own, doesn’t always attract links. If you check a website’s backlink profile, you’ll typically find that most of their backlinks point to a small number of pages. Here’s what Dialpad’s backlink profile looks like: Website content can take many forms: videos, e-books, podcasts, blog posts, webinars, and more. Let’s look at blog posts, in particular, as there are many different types that you can write and some are more “link-worthy” than others. You might write: Content that targets a high volume keyword A post that addresses your customer’s pain point(s) A thought leadership article For the type of content listed above, your main goal usually isn’t to build links. Insead, it may be to increase traffic, drive conversions, or go viral. It’s generally going to be more difficult to naturally attract backlinks to those types of posts compared to the following types of content, which are much more link-worthy: A page that defines a technical term (e.g., this definition for “pogo sticking”) A collection of statistics for a topic An in-depth guide on how to do something (e.g., this explainer about the Wix site inspection tool) Suppose you own a business specializing in pastries for pets and publish content that ranks #1 for “dog cake recipes” without any active link building. A competitor then publishes content for the same keyword. Despite having similar content quality, Google decides your competitor’s page should now rank #1, and you see a loss in traffic. The search engine results pages (SERPs) change all the time and there’s nothing stopping your competitors from outranking you for the same keywords (just as there isn’t anything preventing you from outranking them). This is where link building can be extremely valuable. Assuming that you’re able to earn backlinks from sites that are trustworthy and relevant to your industry, these links can help defend your “content moat,” making it difficult for competing businesses to hinder your rankings. Remember, Google’s goal is to “return the results we believe are the highest quality and most relevant to the user.” To determine this, it looks at a variety of factors, including links to pages. When authoritative sites link to your content, these are positive signals to Google about your content’s quality. 02. Link building is spam One reason why link building has become increasingly difficult is because some link builders still send low-quality outreach emails. These are sent en masse in hopes that someone will say “yes” to their offer. Many in the SEO industry are fed up with getting these types of emails, and this has caused link building to become synonymous with spam. These solicitations often provide little to no value for the receiver—sometimes, they even get caught by the spam filter. Beyond spammy emails, there are spammy and manipulative link building tactics. Google describes these as link schemes, which are essentially trying to “fool” the algorithm into thinking that a website received legitimate backlinks. PBNs, or private blog networks, are a good example of this. This type of scheme involves a group of websites created to generate high volumes of backlinks that point to a specific site, in an effort to inflate that site’s rankings. Generally speaking, PBNs and their content are not made for humans, but to confuse search engines. Google actively tries to fight against this and other spammy tactics, like mass link exchanges, comment/forum spam, or any other link building tactic that makes a website seem like more of an authority than it really is. With that said, not all link building tactics are spam. There are ways to get links without begging for them or engaging in a link scheme. For example, you can sign up to be a source for free services like HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and Help a B2B Writer. Journalists and writers use these platforms to find business owners and subject matter experts to provide a story or quote. If what you submit gets included in a writer’s article, you may be able to get a backlink for providing your input. 03. Link building is as simple as paying for links Link building is becoming more competitive. One Twitter poll, conducted by Australian SEO consultant Brodie Clark, found that 58.7% of SEOs consider “link acquisition” to be the most challenging area of SEO. Since link building can be very time-consuming, it's tempting to just buy “100 links for $5” or a “dofollow link from [insert news publication here].” This is a very risky way of getting links—not to mention the quality of those links may be poor and have little to no impact on your rankings. If we refer to the Google guidelines mentioned earlier, “buying or selling links that pass PageRank” are another type of link scheme and are considered a violation. Link buying can result in a manual action, which refers to when Google decides that certain pages of your website (or the entire domain) aren’t compliant with its webmaster guidelines and will thus either rank the content poorly or not show it in the SERPs at all. The time and resources that it would take to recover from a manual action may end up being several times more than how much the paid backlinks cost you. For the most part, the best links out there can’t be bought—they need to be earned. Instead of buying links, use those funds to create link-worthy content for your business. 04. When link prospecting, DA/DR are the only metrics to look at Emails trying to sell you “high DA” or “high DR” links can make it seem like DA (Domain Authority) or DR (Domain Rating) are the main metrics to pay attention to when building links. So, what exactly are DA and DR? DA, or Domain Authority, is a score from 1–100 developed by Moz “that predicts how likely a website is to rank,” based on data from their Link Explorer web index. DR, or Domain Rating, ranges from 0–100 and is a metric that Ahrefs created that​​ can be used to compare the strength of different websites' backlink profiles. Metrics like these try to emulate how a search engine perceives a website’s authority. The key thing to remember here is that these are not metrics created, used, or endorsed by Google. “From my point of view, I would tend not to focus on the total number of links to your site, or the total number of domain links to your website, because we look at links in a very different way ... We try to understand what is relevant for a website, how much should we weigh these individual links, and the total number of links doesn’t matter at all.” — John Mueller, search advocate at Google (SEJ, Southern, 2021) These metrics are not perfect. There may be ways to manipulate DA/DR scores and they don’t factor in relevance. In essence, having high DA/DR doesn’t guarantee anything. Also, if you solely focus on links from “high DA/DR” sites, you’re going to miss out on lots of great link building opportunities. High authority sites already get tons of emails asking for links—just ask a journalist from any well-known publication. On the other hand, there are niche industry sites that may be more relevant to your business and customers. For example, if you’re a cycling brand, a backlink from an industry publication like Pinkbike might be more meaningful for your rankings and your traffic than a backlink from a more general hobby-focused publication. Not only might it be easier to get a backlink from them, their topical relevance is also a positive sign to Google. When prospecting your opportunities, keep in mind that DA/DR are only domain-level metrics. You should also check whether or not the site looks spammy (which may be a sign that it’s part of a PBN, but is also generally a red flag for users). Depending on the goal of your link building, you should also consider other metrics, such as: Traffic to site/page Relevance of the site/page Keywords the page ranks for Quality of links to the page 05. Link building is the same as digital PR Both link building and digital PR require email outreach and relationship building. Engaging in either activity can help you position your business as an authority or gain backlinks. However, while digital PR is one way of getting links, it’s not the same as link building. Link building is an important part of SEO, whereas digital PR (similar to traditional PR) is more focused on brand awareness. One of the biggest differentiators is how SEOs and digital PRs measure success. For SEO, the goal is to help pages rank well for certain keywords and drive traffic to the site, which should ultimately help the business generate revenue. Link building focuses on getting links that will help reach these goals, so building links to certain “money pages” on the website may be prioritized. On the other hand, digital PR focuses on increasing your business’s exposure. Getting featured in a high authority publication, even if the link is nofollow and doesn’t pass PageRank, is seen as a win. Also, link builders and digital PRs tend to outreach to different groups of people. Digital PRs focus more on pitching stories to journalists, whereas a lot of link building is focused on getting backlinks from relevant sites—this can include news publications but is not a top priority. 06. Building links too fast is bad for SEO Some (outdated) link building guides may talk about watching your link velocity (the speed at which you build links) and caution against building links too quickly to avoid a manual action or an eventual drop in rankings. This misconception is rooted in trying to make sure that Google doesn’t think that you’re engaging in shady link building tactics. But, what if your business hits the jackpot and publishes an amazing piece of link-worthy content that people can’t help but want to link to? Do you really need to worry about “getting on Google’s radar” for gaining a particular threshold of links in a short period of time? The answer is no, you don’t. “It is not so much the number of links that you’re building in the short period of time. It's really just a matter that you're probably building links in a way that would not align with our webmaster guidelines.” — John Mueller, search advocate at Google, (English Google Webmaster Central office-hours, November 1, 2019) So unless you created (or bought) a bunch of unnatural links, you don’t need to worry about building links too quickly—after all, it’s highly unlikely that publications like The New York Times worry about how many backlinks their articles attract when they go live. And, because link building is inherently difficult, it’s unlikely that you will build legitimate links “too quickly.” Separating fact from fiction To avoid falling victim to link building misconceptions, it’s essential that you understand how Google uses backlinks and what Google has said about them. At the end of the day, it may be tempting to seek an artificial advantage by buying links, for example. But, these illicit tactics don’t stand the test of time and, sooner or later, you’re likely to get caught, which can be a serious setback for your business. That having been said, link building is a powerful tool in your SEO toolkit, but many businesses don’t focus on this area of SEO at all. Don’t just rely on passively earning a few links—incorporate link building into your overall SEO strategy to build and maintain your competitiveness in the SERPs, especially for your revenue-driving keywords. Debbie Chew - Global SEO Manager Debbie Chew is an SEO Manager at Dialpad with over 8 years of experience in digital marketing. She specializes in content and link building, and is passionate about sharing her learnings with other marketers. Twitter | Linkedin

Author: Debbie Chew Writing content that fulfills search intent alone doesn’t necessarily mean that content will attract visitors. That’s only one of many signals that Google looks at. Another one is backlinks—but are they actually worth spending your time and budget on? You might hear people say that you don’t need to build links (or some other link building myth), which may be true for a select few entities, but is not the case for the vast majority of brands and publishers. In this post, I’ll explain why link building is important to your overall SEO strategy and how to get started with it for your website. This post will cover: Why you need to build links Link building in-house vs. outsourcing How to build links in-house What to keep in mind when outsourcing Why link building is important Within the realm of SEO, there are plenty of things you can do to improve your organic visibility, but not enough time (and resources) to be able to do everything. Link building is one of those areas of SEO that businesses may set aside without realizing how much opportunity they’re actually leaving behind. Content, technical SEO, and backlinks are the SEO trifecta Remember the story of the three little pigs? Three little pigs each build a house made from different materials. Then, the Big Bad Wolf comes by and blows down all but the brick house. Imagine that each house is, instead, a website. The first piggy, who only focuses on content creation for their website, is building a straw house. Your competition (the Big Bad Wolf) easily knocks down the straw house, as can be the case if a large brand enters your niche or you simply have a lot of competitors. The second piggy then decides to focus on content and technical SEO (or, alternatively, skipping technical SEO in favor of content and backlinks). The wooden house gets built but doesn’t last very long either. Content and technical SEO alone may not be enough for Google to recommend your website in search results if it has doubts about your authority (which I’ll talk about in the next section). Or, if you focus only on content and links but have technical SEO issues (like poor site structure, lots of orphan pages, and slow pages), the links you do receive won’t be as beneficial compared to a site with proper technical SEO. Now, in order to create a sturdy brick house, you’ll need to balance your SEO strategy so that it encompasses content, technical SEO, and backlinks. This is especially important for businesses in competitive niches where there are several Big Bad Wolves. You may even need backlinks to your pages in order for them to show up on the first page of Google’s search results. Even if you’re not in a competitive niche and have been publishing good content consistently, if you find that your site only shows up on the second or third page of search results, you can benefit from getting more backlinks (so long as your site doesn’t have any major technical issues). Links help convey E-A-T Let’s say your friend is feeling a bit under the weather and they’re not sure if they have a cold or flu, so they ask for your help. You’re not entirely sure either, so you read a few articles titled “Cold vs. Flu” on different websites. Since your friend is ill and fatigued, you need to decide which article your friend should read to understand if they have a cold or flu. How would you choose? You’ll probably select one that was written by a medical professional and recommended by other medical professionals, ideally published by an established company in the healthcare industry. Like you, Google also has to decide what pages to show based on which pages have the most expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness—or E-A-T. Google has said in the past that “E-A-T is largely based on links and mentions on authoritative sites,” so it’s really important to make a concerted effort to put your website in a position to attract these links and mentions. If you want to learn more about improving E-A-T for your website, read Marie Haynes’ article “According to Google: How to recover from a core update.” For now, let’s jump into link building. Getting started with link building Now that we understand why link building can be a crucial part of your SEO, how do we actually get links? To proactively earn links, you’ll need to engage in link building either in-house or by outsourcing it. Is building links in-house or outsourcing it better for your business? When choosing between these two options, your decision will largely be based on your website’s needs. Since I have experience with both link building in-house and outsourcing it, I created the following chart (based on my experience) to help you weigh your options. When deciding between building links in-house or outsourcing, there are four factors you should consider: 01. Domain and product expertise 02. Link quality 03. Link quantity 04. Budget Since the first one (domain and product expertise) has to do with how well your team understands your product and industry, I’ll focus on the remaining three. In the past, Google’s John Mueller has stated that it’s better to focus on link quality than quantity. This means that one link from a site that’s authoritative in your niche and relevant to your business is more beneficial than several links from a low quality, irrelevant website. A good, quality link is not only a positive signal to Google, but it can also drive traffic and conversions to your site. When link building in-house, focus on link quality even if it means that you’ll build fewer links overall. If you outsource, you’ll be able to build more backlinks but the quality may not be as high. As for link quantity, keep in mind that your site doesn’t need to have the highest number of backlinks or unique referring domains to be at the top of the search results. Compare your keyword rankings and backlink profile against competitors for a rough estimate of what you need. The last consideration is budget: If you have a marketing budget that allows you to hire an agency, you should probably outsource your link building in order to focus on higher impact tasks. But, if you’re a small team with little or no budget, it may be better to build links in-house. If you have the budget, you can either hire someone to join your team to build links in-house or work with an agency. Remember that you may also take a hybrid approach, such as hiring an in-house link building specialist while outsourcing certain tasks to a virtual assistant (e.g., email outreach or finding link opportunities). In-house link building: How to get started To start building links in-house, the first step is to establish your link building goals. Then, you can work backwards to decide what types of links you’ll want to go after and the link building tactics that you should try. Ask yourself: 01. Why do I want to build links? What do I want to achieve? 02. What pages do I want to build links to? 03. Who would potentially want to link to my page? This will help you build a list of prospects. 04. How can I make my existing/new page(s) more link-worthy? If you’re not sure where to start, you can also look at competitor pages that have a high volume of backlinks (this will require an SEO tool). Look at those pages and try to understand why other websites would link to them. Scenario 1: You want to drive traffic to your site If you want to drive traffic to specific pages on your site, you’ll need to decide on which group of pages those should be. As an example, let’s say you have a website that sells pet grooming supplies and you’ve written extensive guides on how to groom different types of dogs. When you think about who would potentially want to link to your guides, you might focus on getting links from niche industry publications like Petpedia.com (not a real site)—even if it isn’t the most authoritative site. The traffic you could potentially get would likely be people genuinely interested in learning how to groom their dogs, and that relevance positions visitors to start proceeding down your sales funnel. Scenario 2: You want to increase brand awareness or mentions In this case, you might want to explore doing digital PR and building connections with journalists. When it comes to brand awareness, you’re usually aiming to get links to your homepage or specific product pages. This means that it’s less about making those pages more link-worthy, and more about crafting the stories that you pitch to journalists. Scenario 3: You want to rank higher Similar to the first scenario, you’ll want to identify which pages on your website are your “money pages” to narrow down what pages to focus your efforts on. These are typically going to be pages that rank for bottom-of-the-funnel keywords and drive sign-ups and revenue for your business. They’re also generally harder to get backlinks to these pages though since the content tends to be more commercial—think of your product pages, for example. Making these pages more informational can help improve its chances of getting links, though you’ll need to find a balance between making it link-worthy and optimizing the page for conversions. Link building tactics to get started with I’ve shared my go-to link building tactics in the past, and in this section, I’ll narrow down which ones I’d recommend when you first begin building links for your site. Turning unlinked mentions into links If you have access to SEO tools like Semrush or Ahrefs, you can use them to create alerts so that you are notified whenever someone mentions your brand. After you receive an alert, check the page and evaluate whether or not it’d be appropriate to link to your website. If it is, reach out to the author (or site owner) to thank them for mentioning your brand and suggest what page they can consider linking to. Be friendly and remember that they’re not obligated to link to you. Creating link-worthy content Since you are probably already creating content on your site, note that there are some content types that are more link-worthy than others. As you build your content calendar, include one or more of the following content types. For each content type, I’ve included an example for our fictitious pet grooming supplies site to give you a better idea of what I mean: Guides: “How to groom a shiba inu” Glossary pages: “What is dematting” Statistics posts: “80 dog statistics that you should know” Research reports: “State of dog grooming” Guest posting Guest posting is when you write a blog post for another website and get a backlink to your website, which I’ve talked about on Episode 10 of Wix’s SERPs Up podcast. Before I go any further, please note that although Google doesn’t discourage guest posts, they can violate Google’s guidelines “when the main intent is to build links in a large-scale way.” To fight link spam, Google strongly recommends using the correct rel attributes to help Google understand your links. Also, you should also never publish content that contains spammy links—it’s not good for you or the website publishing your post. With the above guidelines in mind, I recommend reaching out to your partners to see if it’s possible to write a guest post for their blog. Before doing so, actually read their blog to familiarize yourself with their target audience and the topics they like to cover. Then, send out personalized pitches. The key to a good guest post is that whatever topic you end up writing about, the content needs to be genuinely helpful and relevant to their audience while leveraging your expertise. This means your post shouldn’t be too self-centered or promotional. Debbie Chew shares link building tips on the SERP's Up SEO Podcast. Outsourced link building: How to get started Before you start searching for a link building agency, take a step back and define your goals (which I’ve covered in the previous section). Also, have a budget in mind so that you can filter out agencies that are out of your price range. How to choose a link building agency Once your goals and budget are defined, here’s how I’d narrow down the list of potential agency partners. Understand how they build links The tactics that agencies use are one of the most important things to watch out for when you outsource your link building. Again, you want to avoid spammy link building at all costs. Some red flags include: Agencies that sell a high volume of links at a low cost Emails offering you the ability to purchase links from a list of sites Private blog network (PBN) links Guarantees (i.e., buy links from us and we guarantee that your site ranks #1 for a particular keyword) Vendors that are secretive about how they build links Many link building agencies specialize in guest posting and niche edits (which is when you convince an external site to link to you in an existing piece of content). Some agencies have a tiered system for guest posts, which means links from high authority sites are more expensive than medium authority ones. There’s also digital PR agencies, which will work with you to pitch stories about your brand/product to journalists. Unlike “traditional” link building agencies where you pay per link, digital PR agencies charge per project. Although it’s difficult for them to guarantee the number of links you’ll get, the link quality tends to be higher. Understand their past work Like any other agency you hire for your company, you should request to see samples of their past work. Check those references and gauge the quality of those pages: Do the sites seem spammy (i.e., would you click on a link from those sites)? Are there any noticeable spelling or grammatical errors that suggest the website publishes low quality content? If they aren’t able to provide any examples, you may be better off finding a different agency. You should also ask if the agency has helped other businesses in your industry or a similar industry. This can be a big plus as they may have a better idea of what works/doesn’t work in terms of link building for your industry, or have already established relationships that they can leverage on your behalf. After you hire Once you’ve hired an agency, the work doesn’t stop there. It’s important to regularly review the links that were built to make sure that the agency is hitting the targets that were originally set. Most agencies should provide you with some sort of reporting to help you keep track of their progress. Be sure to regularly audit what pages your backlinks are on. This means clicking on each link to: Confirm there is indeed a backlink to your site Evaluate whether or not the page/domain looks sketchy Check the quality of the content (i.e., does it make sense? Is it helpful?) Confirm whether or not the site advertises that you can pay to submit content If you find a number of low-quality content pieces, forum links, comment spam, profile page links (when someone creates an account on a website that allows them to create public profile pages, such as Product Hunt or social media sites), or links that anyone could easily create, then I’d highly recommend hiring a different agency since these features may be getting manipulated by others for link building purposes. Assuming that there aren’t any issues with link quality, keep an eye on which pages (on your site) the links point to and how those pages rank. For example, you might initially have the agency focus on building links to your guides. If the organic visibility of those pages improve, the agency can shift focus to a different section of your site. May the links be in your favor Link building is important, but don’t forget to also work on creating quality content and monitoring technical issues to improve your site’s user experience and ensure that search engines can properly crawl it. Again, all three areas are needed to help you build a sturdy brick house without being worried about the Big Bad Wolf (competition) or another Google algorithm update. When deciding on building links in-house or outsourcing it, you should choose the best option for your business. One isn’t better than the other. With this guide, I hope you are able to make a decision based on the quality of links you want, the number of links you’d like to receive, and the resources available to your team. Keep in mind that whatever you decide, you can always adjust along the way. You might do it in-house, see results, and decide to outsource in order to increase your link velocity—or vice versa. No matter what, it’s crucial to regularly monitor your link building efforts to make sure that you’re building a healthy backlink profile. Debbie Chew - Global SEO Manager Debbie Chew is an SEO Manager at Dialpad with over 8 years of experience in digital marketing. She specializes in content and link building, and is passionate about sharing her learnings with other marketers. Twitter | Linkedin

Author: Darren Shaw Imagine that you’re looking for a new dentist. You go to Google, search “dentist,” and are presented with a map pack with three results for local dentists. Wanting to see more options, you click the “More places” link and get a list that looks something like this: Take a quick scan through the dentists above and ask yourself: Which business stands out? Which business are you most compelled to click on and learn more about? I’m guessing that you were drawn to Azarko Dental Group with 858 reviews and the extra information of “Best experience highly recommended.” It’s the obvious, stand-out business in this example. When you click on Azarko Dental Group’s profile and read their reviews, you see hundreds of people sharing their excellent experiences with this dental clinic, and you notice that the business cares enough to respond to every patient that left a review. This looks like more than just a dental clinic, it looks like a community . You are a busy person and don’t want to spend hours researching local dentists. This one quick Google search delivered an excellent option for a new dentist and you are sold. You pick up the phone and book an appointment. Perhaps you didn’t even have to visit their website. This example demonstrates how powerful Google reviews are for driving new business, and why they are critically important for every business to work on. While it’s fairly obvious how reviews can have this impact on driving new leads from Google, there are many other benefits of Google reviews you might not know about. More Google reviews = Better local rankings According to local search experts, Google reviews play a significant role in the algorithm that ranks businesses in Google’s local results. Each year, I survey the top experts in local SEO and ask a series of questions about what they see as having the most impact on Google’s local rankings. I publish the results as the Local Search Ranking Factors . After signals from GBP ( Google Business Profile , which Google renamed from GMB —Google My Business—in 2021), review signals come in as the second most important area to focus on to improve your local rankings. And, the importance of reviews for rankings has been growing since 2015: Digging into more specific ranking factors, we see that review-related factors play a significant role in the top 20 local search ranking factors: While factors related to your reviews are not the only thing that will impact your rankings, getting more Google reviews will definitely help rank your business higher in the results. And, if you’re already the top result in your area, these reviews can help you maintain an advantage over your competitors. It’s a simple formula: More Google reviews = better rankings = more visibility on Google = more leads coming into your business. More Google reviews means more leads from Google Ranking at the top of Google’s local results doesn’t always mean you’ll get the customer. You need to be able to draw people into your listing to learn more about your business, and the more reviews you have, the better you will be able to do that. In the most recent Local Search Ranking Factors survey, local SEO experts were asked, “Which individual factors do you think have the biggest impact on conversions from Google?” Five of the top seven conversion factors are related to reviews: To fully take advantage of how compelling local reviews can be for your business, here are some tips to keep in mind: Keep those reviews coming in While it may seem obvious that having plenty of positive reviews will drive more clicks on your listing, “Recency of reviews” is a conversion factor that many businesses don’t think about. You may be able to draw someone into your listing with your average review rating and number of reviews, but if the majority of your reviews are from years ago, then that could raise questions about whether the experience will still be the same. This is why it’s important to continue asking every customer for a review on an ongoing basis. Note: Directly asking customers for reviews is fine on Google’s platform, but is prohibited on Yelp . If your local business has a presence on other platforms (i.e., Facebook, Tripadvisor, etc.), ensure that your local review strategy adheres to their respective policies. Respond to all reviews Another key, yet often overlooked, conversion factor is responding to all your reviews—even the positive ones. When searchers see that you take the time to respond to customer feedback, it puts a personal touch on your listing and shows them that you’re a business that cares. Build your “sales team” And finally, from a conversion perspective, what your customers say about your business is far more important than what you say about yourself. A Google Business Profile filled with glowing reviews can sell your business better than the best salesperson ever could. Look good when potential customers Google your business So, Google reviews will help your business rank better and convert more local searchers into customers, but perhaps you don’t care about local rankings. You might operate a national eCommerce business, or maybe you get all your business through referrals. Well, you will still want to work on improving your Google reviews, because you can guarantee that many would-be customers will “creep your profile” before deciding to do business with you. For instance, I might live down the street from an auto repair shop, so I could be inclined to take my car there for a tune-up because of their convenient location. But, when I look them up on Google and see their bad reviews, I would decide it’s worth looking a little further from home for my car maintenance needs: If you aren’t asking all your customers for reviews, then it is much more likely that your reviews will skew towards the negative. People aren’t usually inclined to leave a review without prompting if they had a good experience, but frustrated customers that had a bad experience often try to warn others through online reviews. So, even if you’re not concerned about local search rankings, it’s always valuable to put some effort into improving your reputation on Google so that your business looks good when people search your brand name. Stand out and drive conversions with local justifications Did you notice in the example above how Azarko Dental Group had that extra text on its search listing? That’s called a “local justification,” and Google pulls that text in from reviews on its platform. There are many different types of justifications that Google will display in the search results, but the review justification is the most common. One potentially beneficial thing about justifications is that they will change according to the search term. For example, a search for “wisdom teeth extraction” will pull a snippet from a review that mentions those terms (as shown below). Here’s another example for the search term “root canal”: Getting in and out in under an hour for a root canal is compelling, isn’t it? When justifications speak directly to what searchers are looking for, they can really help to drive more clicks to your profile and, ultimately, more customers to your business. The way to fuel these kinds of review justifications is—you guessed it—to get more Google reviews. Yet another reason why every business needs to spend time on a solid Google review strategy. Boost sales by leveraging your reviews Your Google reviews are valuable for attracting customers searching general keywords (such as your business’s industry) as well as branded searches (like your business name), but they can also benefit your business outside of Google’s ecosystem, too. They can be used as testimonials across all areas of your marketing. Many businesses will ask for testimonials separately from Google reviews, but there is no need. You can complete two tasks in one effort just by asking for Google reviews. Here are some examples of how you can leverage your reviews: 01. As testimonials on your website Showcasing your Google reviews as customer testimonials on your site can help provide social proof. This can be especially valuable if customers are likely to discover your site before they discover your GBP listing. 02. In your emails Within my email signature, I feature a customer review that is likely to be relevant to the leads that I’m exchanging emails with at that particular stage of the customer journey . 03. In your social media posts Sharing fresh reviews as text within an image (as shown below) can help you increase your relevance on social media, keep your business top of mind, and nudge your followers towards conversion. 04. On signs around your business Displaying your best reviews prominently in your business can provide social proof that customers made the right decision by choosing you. When people see that others are reviewing your business, it can encourage them to also write a review and provide some helpful inspiration for what to write about. 05. On the back of your business cards Once a potential customer has your business card, they have all the details they need to contact you—all that remains is a compelling reason to do so. Adding a Google review to the back of your business card (as a testimonial) can help nudge potential customers to get in touch with you. It can also encourage existing customers to write a review and provide inspiration on what to write. This tactic is especially useful if your existing customers or clients are likely to hand out your business card to people in their network as well. Grow your business with Google reviews Hopefully, I have convinced you that Google reviews are incredibly important and valuable for your business (for many different reasons), and worth investing your time in. If you’re not already asking every customer for a review, start now—not only can they help improve your search visibility, they can also help you improve your offerings, which can ultimately mean better reviews and even greater visibility. Darren Shaw - Founder and President at Whitespark Darren is the founder of Whitespark and has been teaching business owners, marketers, and agencies how to rank at the top of Google’s local map-pack for over 14 years through his extensive research, writing, and speaking on all things Local SEO. Twitter | Linkedin

Author: Crystal Ortiz Search volume can be a powerful predictive tool in a marketer’s arsenal. It can show you which topics are attainable as well as ones that may be more aspirational. It can guide your content strategy and help you reach the potential customers that are actively searching for the content you’re considering producing—thousands of them per year, even. With context, you can understand how to leverage this metric to build a powerful brand website that helps people buy, learn, find inspiration, and make decisions in their everyday lives. Let’s dive into the topic of search volume. Here’s what we’ll cover: What is search volume? Why search volume can be an important factor for content success How search volume can mislead How to find search volume Using search volume to find the right keyword opportunities What is search volume? Search volume measures the average number of times a keyword is searched in a given time frame (typically monthly). All search volume estimates vary in accuracy, especially for local search, seasonal, and trending searches. That said, search volume can provide valuable insight into how many people are searching for a given topic. By studying which search terms are relevant to your business, you can find opportunities for your website to appear in search results. Why search volume can be important for content success By studying which search terms people use and how often they search for those topics, you can make informed decisions about what to create, and write content that generates traffic and resonates with your target audience. For example, if you’re a brand catering to first-time parents, you might want to write content addressing common questions, like How often to bathe infant? or What is the best infant car seat? While researching these topics, you can see these questions and their variations have a search volume of 189K and 1.1M, respectively. This tells you that there are, on average, that many searches per month about those topics. By creating thorough content for those searchers, you can increase the likelihood that they’ll view your brand as trustworthy, which increases the chances that they’ll buy from you (or book a consultation, fill out a lead form, etc). On the other hand, a less common search, like Halloween baby wigs, may have little to no search volume. That might suggest the opposite scenario as the one above: Nobody (or almost nobody) is looking for that topic, content, product, etc., which means investing in that topic is akin to selling something nobody is looking to buy—not the best business model. While insightful, keep in mind that search volume isn’t the only factor to consider. And, conversely, just because the search volume for a particular keyword is low, you shouldn't necessarily rule it out just yet. We’ll discuss the other considerations to keep in mind a little later on in this article. How to find search volume Finding search volume is relatively easy, but you’ll need a keyword research tool. There are a wide variety of options, including: Free tools - Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, etc. Chrome extensions - Keyword Surfer, Keywords Everywhere, etc. SEO tools - Ahrefs, Mangools, Moz, Rank Ranger, Semrush, etc. Integrations - Wix’s Semrush integration, etc. Keyword research tools will typically show you an estimated search volume for either your target keyword or a list of keywords (Google Trends, however, shows relative search volume over time, instead of monthly average volume). Let’s explore specific options for validating and expanding your target keyword list. Google Keyword Planner Google Keyword Planner is a tool that’s free to use if you have a Google Ads account (which is also free to sign up for). It provides average monthly search volume as a range (e.g.,10-100, 100K-1M, etc). Google gives you the option to Discover new keywords or Get search volume and forecasts (as shown above): If you already have a list of keywords and just want their volume, select Get search volume and forecasts. However, if you are still researching keywords and haven’t created a list yet, select Discover new keywords. Going with the Discover new keywords option, you’ll enter any keyword you want to start with. In this example, we’re using dog groomer. As you can see, there are options to save, sort, and filter the data so that you can more quickly identify relevant keywords and use them in your content. You can also broaden your matches with similar keywords, or groups of keywords in the “grouped view” (accessible in the top-right corner drop-down menu). This option is helpful for understanding a group of keywords, such as “dog haircuts,” “salons near,” and “animal grooming” (shown below). Google Keyword Planner is a great free keyword research tool, but the data may not be as detailed as you’d like it to be. In that case, it’s best to check out some of the other tools available. Keyword Surfer SEO chrome extensions like Keyword Surfer and Keywords Everywhere are especially handy when you want to do a quick search volume check, since they show estimated volumes in the Google Search box and on the search engine results pages (SERPs). SEO browser extensions such as these allow you to assess SERP features you may be competing against (more on that below) while referencing how large the potential audience is, enabling you to better pick and choose your content battles. Ahrefs, Semrush, and other similar SEO tools SEO tools like Ahrefs, Moz, Rank Ranger, Semrush, etc. offer more of an “all-in-one” experience, which typically includes keyword research data as well as rank tracking and so on. You can search individual keywords for details about the search volume and related keywords, or a list of keywords for high-level information. More advanced tools such as these are great for professional digital marketers, in-house marketing teams, and dedicated SEOs. However, they may be overly complicated for an average business owner, depending on the involvement in everyday marketing efforts. Wix’s keyword research integration with Semrush For Wix users, the integration with Semrush provides another convenient option to find search volume. This integration allows Wix site owners to run 10 keyword searches per day (paid Semrush users have as much access as their subscription allows). To access the Semrush integration: Go to your Wix dashboard. In the left-hand navigation panel, select Marketing & SEO, then click on SEO Tools. Select Get Found on Google and click on the pencil icon next to your business or brand name (as shown below). In the window that pops up, select Find the best keywords with Semrush. Next, simply enter your chosen keyword in the search bar, select your target country, and select Analyze. This will populate the target keyword’s search volume, along with a trend graph, difficulty rating, and search intent (shown below). How search volume can mislead While it might be exciting to target keywords that receive 100,000+ searches per month, focusing purely on search volume would be a disastrous oversimplification. Below are some considerations that will help you contextualize search volume so that you can choose the right content to pursue for your brand and audience. Accuracy SEO tools should not be considered 100% accurate. They may exclude, inflate, or miscalculate search volume data, and every tool calculates search volume differently. This can result in different volume estimates across tools. For example, Keyword Surfer may tell you Brussel sprouts has a monthly search volume of 301,100, but Semrush’s estimate is 165,000 searches per month (about 55% of Keyword Surfer’s volume). So, why the discrepancy? Well, the data is collected either directly from Google or from clickstream data. But often, it’s a combination of both. Semrush sources its data from third-party data providers, according to its documentation, and then uses a proprietary algorithm to “examine live data and historical data about position changes and domains ranking in organic and paid search positions to create [a] suite of reports that show... every keyword’s search volume...” While search volume is not 100% accurate, that doesn’t mean it should be discounted completely. Search volume can still help you find which topics and keywords are more popular than others so you can focus on how you’ll grow traffic to your website. Local searches Another factor to consider is that keyword research tools break down search volume by country. While some tools can differentiate local search volume, it’s not the default. What you can do in that case is carry on with your keyword research, but remember that what’s important is to compile the list based on ratios. Top keywords in the United States are likely to be the same top keywords at the local level. One way to get around this is to add explicit search terms (search terms in which the user explicitly references their location; e.g., used bookstores in Coruscant) into your research and set up rank tracking. You can also add your local keywords to Google Keyword Planner and update the location to your market. This will give you more accurate search volume data compared to the wider country-level search volume estimates. Trends and seasonality Because search volume is a monthly average, the total volume can ignore fluctuations in seasonality and trends. So, if a keyword is trending, the search volume will be inaccurate, since it shows a 12-month average, not a real-time number. A keyword could have 10,000 searches in the last month, but 0 searches in the 11 months prior, bringing its monthly average to roughly 800 monthly search volume. Similarly, a monthly average won’t help you account for timing and seasonal changes, like winter coat searches peaking in November but looking absolutely hopeless in May. Low-volume, high-intent keywords One unfortunately popular myth is that keywords with high search volume are the best ones to target. This is not entirely true—as a matter of fact, in competitive industries, it is unrealistic for all but the most authoritative brands. If you’ve been doing SEO for a while and have built topical authority with lower volume keywords, you might want to try ranking for keywords with a higher volume. But, if you’re just starting in SEO, you’ll generally get more traction building content for topics with lower search volume. There are a couple of reasons for this: 01. These are usually keywords with lower competition, which means you might be able to rank for them more easily because fewer brands and businesses are trying to compete with you. 02. Keywords with low search volume can include long-tail keywords, which are typically search terms people use when they’re trying to find something specific. These terms can be considered “high-intent,” as the more specific a keyword is, the more likely it is that the searcher knows what they are looking for and are further down the marketing funnel (and closer to conversion). For example, the keyword Cats has a search volume of 550K and a 100% difficulty score, according to Semrush (side note, whoa, that’s a high score), while How long do fat cats live has a search volume of 320 and a 36% difficulty. So, if you sell healthy cat food or are in the pet industry, you would likely have a better chance of ranking for How long do fat cats live than Cats. Not to mention, behind one keyword are potentially thousands of people with potentially thousands of reasons for searching for Cats, while behind the other keyword are specific people looking for something in particular. Consequently, more search volume isn’t always better. The solution is to find a happy medium between search volume, intent, and difficulty. Keyword search volume is not search traffic An important point to consider is that keyword search volume is not the same thing as search traffic. If a keyword has 49,500 monthly searches, that does not mean your website will drive 49,500 visits. Nor does it mean your website will appear in the top search results or even at all for competitive search terms. Generally, the higher a page ranks in the search results, the more traffic it gets. That’s why so many marketers focus on getting the top spots on page one, because they know that’s where the majority of the traffic goes. Additionally, search volume has to be considered in the context of search intent, keyword position (your content’s ranking for a particular search term), competition, and SERP features. While a particular keyword might seem like a great opportunity to pursue, there are many factors that go into whether or not your website will rank for that keyword. So, how do you know when a keyword is worth pursuing? Sure, it sounds great to be on page one for a valuable keyword, but when is it possible? Using search volume to find the right keyword opportunities Layering your search volume data with knowledge of the types of content your audience is actually looking for, who you’re competing against in the SERPs, and whether you’re competing against the search engine itself, can help you spot the right topics to build visibility for your brand. Here’s what to keep in mind. Intent Your users’ search intent can influence whether or not your website might appear in search results, which means, even if a keyword has a high search volume, your website may not rank for it. For example, a transactional page is unlikely to rank for an informational keyword unless Google shows both result types in the search results. Let’s say you’re a salon looking to rank for Eyelash extensions. Well, you’re in luck: Eyelash extensions have a local map pack at the top of the search results, which indicates that Google views this keyword as carrying a local intent. This means your salon may be able to rank for the keyword. However, for a salon, it may be harder to rank in anything other than the local pack for this keyword. Why? Because the remaining top results are from highly authoritative publications like Cosmopolitan and Glamour.com (we’ll discuss competition in the section below). The keyword Eyelash extensions also has a difficulty score of 86% (according to Semrush), meaning it’s very hard to rank. So, even though this keyword has a search volume of 165,000, as a salon, your opportunity is limited to how many people in your area search for Eyelash extensions. Competition Like any competition, more websites competing for the same high-volume keywords mean it’s going to be harder to rank for those keywords. Competition is generally indicated as a percentage, number, or as a rating (“High,” “Medium,” or “Low”). As you’re deciding which keywords to pursue, consider how fierce the competition is. If a similar website is ranking for a keyword, you have a better shot at ranking for that keyword than if, for example, your competition was Wikipedia (as Wikipedia is an established, highly authoritative website). In the eyelash extensions example from above, the primary keyword may have a difficulty of 86%, but Eyelash extensions before and after only (shown above) has a difficulty of 23%. Looking at the search results, we can see that this keyword (which has 3,600 monthly searches) is a lot more attainable than its shorter, more generic variant. Consider the brand authority of your search competitors. Bigger brands typically have more links, more consumer trust, and more content. In the example above, the SERP isn’t dominated by authoritative brands, meaning that you don’t need to be one to rank for this term. The same is true even at the local level. For example, a big-name, multi-location ophthalmology practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico will likely need to do less than its smaller competitors to rank on page one for certain search terms. Depending on your brand and competition, some keywords will be harder to rank for than others, potentially at lower search volumes as well (such as in the medical industry). SERP features A simple way to evaluate a keyword opportunity is to look at the keyword’s SERP features. Depending on the keyword, there are many types of search results that can appear: FAQ, People also ask, recipes, local pack, Shopping results, Images results, etc. For illustrative purposes, let’s pick one SERP feature to zoom in on: FAQ rich results. If you’re looking at a keyword and think that it’s right for FAQ rich results, you could add FAQ schema to your product or blog page to accompany the content you’ve created answering those questions. Search engines, like Google, may pick up on that schema and decide to enhance your result with an expandable list of questions (like in the example above). In this particular instance, this would enable your brand to help potential customers before they even visit your page, which may entice them to click through. Examine the SERP features for your list of target keywords. Are there People also ask questions you could answer in a blog post? Are there images you could optimize to appear in the image pack? Conversely, the presence of SERP features may also suggest limited opportunity. For example, the presence of a featured snippet may indicate that you’re unlikely to get traffic from a particular search as the answer the user is looking for may be right there for them on the search results, without the need to click through to another site. Search volume can guide you, but don’t let it lead the way While search volume is an important piece to the puzzle, it’s just that—one piece. A wide variety of factors go into how people search and how search engines (especially Google) decide what to show in the top spots. What’s important is that you know which opportunities have the most potential, and how to leverage that information to create helpful pages and content for those already looking for it. Crystal Ortiz - SEO Consultant Crystal Ortiz is an SEO consultant with experience across fashion, health, travel, automotive, and fitness. She teaches digital marketing classes at various universities across the US. Crystal lives in Indiana with her husband, son, and dog. Twitter | Linkedin

Author: Dan Taylor During an economic recession, buyer behavior tends to become more conservative as prices increase but consumer disposable income doesn’t. As a result, some commerce sectors (e.g., one-off luxury purchases) tend to slow down, whereas eCommerce in general sees users shift their perception of “value.” In this article, I’ll explain how eCommerce businesses can utilize SEO and content to adapt to consumer behavior changes and maintain a presence (and sales) through the downturn. Table of contents: How to identify and define value propositions for eCommerce consumers How eCommerce SEO strategy needs to evolve during a recession Value proposition examples for changing buyer behaviors How to define value proposition triggers for eCommerce consumers A value proposition is a statement that defines the unique benefits a company offers its customers. It is a way of differentiating your product from those of your competitors. A good value proposition should be clear, concise, and easy to understand. Within eCommerce, many marketers take value propositions for granted, but during an uncertain economic period, they can become differentiators for decision making. This is especially the case when you can’t compete on price with other vendors of similar or alternative products. Differentiation in eCommerce can come from a number of places and functions within the business. Some will be more ingrained into wider processes and functions than others (such as your customer service approach or how your website handles personalized content), but this is where you should also understand the variables you can and can’t influence. Common value propositions that potential customers may prioritize include: Level of customer service and “on-hand” question answering Level of supporting content and product information, as well as social validation (of the company and product) Product and information personalization After-purchase considerations (delivery speed, return policy, etc.) These value propositions will vary in significance depending on the type of product and the user. Nobody expects next day delivery on a Steingraeber & Söhne piano, but they might on AAA batteries or groceries. When crafting your eCommerce value propositions, you should start by focusing on the customer and the most relevant direct need/value points. During an economic downturn, the weighting and importance of these value propositions may shift, and it’s important that you shift with them and recalibrate your content messaging. More often than not, this comes down to an economic concept known as price elasticity. How much you’re affected by changes in the economic climate often depends on your prices and how your products are regarded. For example, gas/fuel are purchased regardless of price, as they are a necessity (i.e., price inelastic), but high-end sports sneakers are not essentials, so they are more price elastic. Supply (i.e., competition) can also play a role. In a marketplace with multiple vendors, supply is elastic, and without strong differentiators cost becomes a more prominent factor. This is why your messaging is critical in preventing prospects from making incorrect assumptions. It’s the relative cost and value associated with your product versus the opportunity cost of not buying your product that ultimately leads to a sale (or not, if the calculus goes unfavorably for you). How eCommerce strategy needs to evolve during a recession eCommerce SEO typically starts off with two basic questions: What are you selling? Where are you selling it? Next, through understanding the product and business model, we can identify relevant modifiers (such as “cheap” and “free delivery”) to use to capture long tail demand. For the most part, this is where we focus on keywords and search volumes, and do the standard optimizing of category product pages, with supporting blog articles to aid potential customers with decision making. This isn’t necessarily the wrong approach (as it works for so many eCommerce stores), but during a recession, in my opinion, it is the wrong approach to be taking if you want to grow and secure your consumer base. During a recession, resources on both sides of the transaction are often stretched and I’d argue most marketers, agencies, and consultants have heard the words “bang for the buck” spoken in a meeting reviewing channel performance. As we know, this translates to “we need to see more ROI,” which either means increased consumer spend with maintained budgets or maintained consumer spend with decreased budgets. More often than not, it’s the latter, which is natural because that’s the lever you have direct control over. By moving away from the big marquee search volume queries, you’re free to focus on value propositions and customer feedback. You can then build your wider SEO strategy whilst achieving ROI and focusing on competitive advantages that you can use existing reviews and consumer feedback to socially validate. This doesn’t mean overhauling your existing personas or segmentations, but it does mean you need to understand how circumstances may have changed your audience’s value perceptions. A good example of this during economic downturns is a shift from wanting free shipping/next day delivery, to increased accessibility through pricing (e.g., bundling products and offers for increased value, or as a wider business decision, working with a vendor to enable installment-based payments). Value proposition examples for changing buyer behaviors You will primarily communicate your value propositions through content, some of which can be built into PLP (product listing page) or PDP (product detail page) templates, but others will require pages of their (own such as blogs, support guides, or resource pages). Not all of the value propositions I mention below will be relevant to your products, so bear that in mind and you may identify others unique to your market that your competitors aren’t communicating effectively, opening the door for you to do so. Availability and shipping Accurately communicating your stock level can be a major driving force for first-time and repeat customers. After all, the customer wants to know that they can get what they need in a timely manner. When you craft content to communicate product availability as a value proposition, use clear wording to appeal to customers and frame expectations: Fast and reliable delivery. Call out fast shipping options—including same-day, next-day, and express delivery. This helps customers feel confident that their item(s) will arrive quickly and safely (which can certainly be a consideration for businesses selling high-value products, like electronics or jewelry). Product range. Highlight your selection of products across different categories (e.g., clothing, beauty products, etc.) to assure shoppers that you have what they need and drive them to explore your site further. Stock level transparency. Accurately reflect how much of each product is available and remind customers of limited editions or seasonal items so they know what’s available before it runs out. Express shipping is a great way to add value to whatever you’re selling. Customers always appreciate discounts and free shipping, but they also value their time—that’s why fast delivery is important. Write copy that emphasizes the value of express shipping to draw attention to this benefit. Here are a few tips on how to highlight your expedited shipping options in your copy/content: 01. Be explicit about what's included: Clearly explain what comes with your express shipping service, including how quickly orders are fulfilled and the types of packaging options. You can also call out any other added benefits of the service, like tracking or signature confirmation. 02. Highlight customer testimonials: Feature positive customer reviews about your express shipping options to show how reliable and efficient your delivery times are. This is an effective way to communicate the value of fast delivery without directly talking about it yourself. 03. Focus on convenience: Stress the convenience of fast delivery—as long as customers can trust that their order will arrive in a timely manner, they're likely to place an order. This can be an especially important element to highlight to appeal to last-minute shoppers during your busiest seasons. Social validation via reviews and testimonials Reviews and testimonials offer social proof that a product is worth buying and that the business actively works to support its customers. Incorporating these into your content will give potential customers the confidence they need to make an informed decision. When customers are more discerning, reviews and testimonials can not only enforce the actual product quality, but also validate your other value propositions. You can gather reviews/testimonials specifically for this purpose by incorporating prompts and focused questions when you reach out to past customers to leave a review. What do you think of our product/service? How would you rate/describe your experience with us? Was our customer service helpful? Would you recommend us to your friends and family? What could we do better next time? Make sure to customize these questions to fit the specific products your business offers. When phrased correctly, they can give you valuable feedback that helps improve the customer experience and better inform marketing strategies, in addition to providing social validation for the value propositions you’re communicating. Product use cases/case studies Creating content around specific use cases can be so beneficial. Use cases are detailed stories that allow potential consumers to better understand the product and visualize how they would use it. Examples of this could include outlining any technical specifications, listing any special offers, or talking about any personalized customer service. You can even deploy an automated content experience to help potential customers make informed decisions. As an eCommerce store owner, you can do this by designing content in a way that allows customers to forecast their own experience with the product. The content experience you design can range from product knowledge hubs and advanced buying guides, efficiency and cost calculators, through to VR experiences for tangible products. To create effective product use cases for your eCommerce store, try the following tactics: 01. Make use of virtual assistants: This AI-powered technology can give customers personalized recommendations based on past interactions with the product or service. 02. Highlight customer reviews: Reviews from real customers give others an insight into how the product or service works and if it is suitable for them. 03. Offer video tutorials: Video tutorials can be extremely helpful for customers who want to gain a better understanding of how your product works before making a purchase. 04. Integrate chatbots: Chatbots provide customers with instant responses to their questions, allowing them to make faster purchasing decisions without having to wait for a human response. By integrating these automated content experiences, you can provide potential consumers with the knowledge they need to make the decision that best suits their situation, without a heavy need for content production resources. Adjusting your SEO strategy for a recession can help you come out on top Marketing is probably one of the most important things you should continue to do throughout a recession. You may find your competitors dialing back spend across multiple channels, leaving an opportunity for you to step in and fill the void. The key is to pivot your messaging and understand that the value that prospects once saw in your product might have changed as times got tougher. This change in messaging and brand portrayal can also work to improve retention as well as appeal to your SOM’s (serviceable obtainable markets) new, pressing pain points. Dan Taylor - Head of Technical SEO at SALT.agency Dan Taylor is an experienced SEO and has consulted for companies such as Cloudflare, Gitlab, and Proton. In 2018, he won the inaugural TechSEO Boost Research prize and has previously talked at BrightonSEO, TechSEO Boost (Boston, US), and Optimization (Moscow). Twitter | Linkedin

Author: Crystal Carter When we think about SEO, we generally prioritize the written word. Blogs and written copy make up a great deal of what site owners need to optimize. However, optimizing multimedia makes your content accessible to more users and can help your content appear on multiple parts of search engine results pages, which is why SEO strategies should also include tactics for images and videos. YouTube is the second-most popular search engine in the world and can play an important role in your strategy. With the continued increase in available video formats and sharing options, SEOs have multiple ways to make use of YouTube content to add value across their websites. Though they have been around since January 2021, YouTube Clips appear to be relatively underused. In this article, I’ll point out some of the potential opportunities for SEO and how YouTube Clips can be used to improve content by covering: What YouTube Clips are How to take a Clip from a YouTube video How YouTube Clips perform in social shares Why Clips work best as blog embeds How to use YouTube Clips for SEO What are YouTube Clips? YouTube Clips are simply extracts from a longer YouTube video. They can be between 5–60 seconds long and have their own URL. Clips are public and can be viewed by anyone with access to the Clip (and permission to view the underlying video the Clip is taken from). “They can also be seen on select search, discovery, and analytics surfaces available to viewers and creators on YouTube,” according to Google, and are viewable by the creator of the underlying video as well. How to take a Clip from a YouTube video To make a YouTube Clip, click the “Clip” button (with a scissor icon) above the YouTube video’s description. From here, you’re taken to an editing window where you’ll use a slider to select a continuous 5- to 60-second timeframe to extract. Before you can extract the Clip you must add a description of the Clip. Select “Share Clip” and you’ll be shown the same options to share or embed the Clip that you would with a full YouTube video. It took me about five minutes to make my first ever clip from a recent Wix webinar. Who can make a Clip on YouTube? Anyone with a YouTube channel can make a Clip. Though I tested a video from the Wix team, the video was not created on my YouTube account. Anyone could clip any section of any video that has clips enabled. YouTube creators can opt out of Clips of their content via their channel settings. So, if this is something that you are unsure of you can take a moment or regroup. How do YouTube Clips perform in social shares? Though they are clearly meant to be shared, one of the reasons why I think Clips are underused is that, when I tested them on a few different channels, the implementation was underwhelming—especially compared to the way TikTok embeds have been implemented. On one hand, views of the Clip are added to the overall view count of the underlying YouTube video, which is nice. And, speaking completely selfishly as someone who regularly participates in and organizes long-form SEO webinars, I think there are many opportunities here. The notion of extracting a particularly insightful segment of a one-hour conversation without needing to create a new video is very appealing. On the other hand, if the aim here is to create something that rivals search-share challenger TikTok, then I think Google has missed the mark. A key component to TikTok’s success is that TikTok videos look native on every platform they are viewed on. Social feeds for Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest are full of TikToks that play automatically without the user needing to download or visit the app. Wherever they are, the videos preroll (with an added watermark) and let the FOMO do the heavy lifting. When I tested YouTube Clips on Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Facebook, none of them had the native preroll capability that I’ve seen from TikTok. YouTube Clips on Twitter When shared on Twitter, for instance, the video does not display natively. This means that you have to click on it in order to see the video and, on mobile, it only shows as a link. When you click through, you are able to see the video but, in comparison to TikTik or even a standard YouTube video share, the window is very busy. Information about the source videos and the clip are crammed into the Twitter card. And, although you’re asked to add a YouTube Clip description of up to 140 characters, the Twitter card cuts it off after about 60 characters. And, if you click again, then you arrive on the YouTube landing page for the Clip rather than the video it was taken from. YouTube Clips on Pinterest On Pinterest, YouTube Clips are lacking in that they don’t preroll and the Pin thumbnail is the same for the main video as it is for the Clip. In contrast, pinned TikTok videos play on Pinterest. So, the emphasis is on showcasing the content, which in turn drives traffic to the app. YouTube Clips on LinkedIn On LinkedIn, YouTube Clips display with the thumbnail from the full video. And, when you click on one, you cannot watch the video on LinkedIn. Instead, you’re redirected to YouTube to view it. However, one thing that LinkedIn’s sharing settings do well is show a good amount of the description that I wrote in the YouTube Clip share card. The sharing experience was almost exactly the same on Facebook as it was on LinkedIn. Overall, the social implementation is limited, which is why I am convinced that this is an SEO tool. Clips work best as blog embeds It wasn’t until I embedded a Clip into a blog post that I realized the true potential of YouTube Clips. It works really well to enable you to extract the most important segments from your long-form videos and pop them into your blog (to provide additional context, cite source material, or supplement the written content, for example). This is not the same as sharing a YouTube video embed that starts at a given timestamp because you only extract 60 seconds of video per Clip. Even though you’re limited to one minute, you can make lots of them and all of them will contribute to the overall value of your source video. So, it’s essentially the video equivalent of a quote from a book or a sample of a most excellent guitar riff. YouTube Clips play in the same way that standard YouTube embeds play in a blog post and they include any subtitles from the original video as well. They also loop, making them easier for users to view a few times and process the content before moving on to the next step. They are ideal for blogs with written how-to’s supported by a video demonstration. How to use YouTube Clips for SEO In my opinion, SEOs should be paying attention to YouTtube Clips for a few reasons: They present a great opportunity to revisit written content and add relevant instructional segments, quotes, and context, allowing you to consolidate your video efforts for maximum user value. Clips are rankable and are impacting the search engine results page (SERP). Clips may be impacting Key Moments shown in the SERP. Here’s how you make the most of this for SEO. Update longer instructional content with step-by-step segments Refreshing content that is already ranking can add value for users. Recipe blogs, how-to guides, and tutorials could share multiple video steps in a blog post at the most relevant points, and then share the full video at the end. This could also be really useful in the age of Google’s Multitask Unified Model (MUM) technology. Create searchable YouTube Clips within your videos YouTube Clips and the associated descriptions are crawlable and can rank. In one example from a video of a Maha Shivaratri festival, I found a 60-second clip of a specific performance from a 10-hour live stream ranking for terms that were included in the Clip’s description but not in the source video transcript or description. This suggests that Clips provide an opportunity to associate relevant keywords and phrases with video content, which can then be searched on Google. This also means that anyone can find them online by searching for them in the usual way. Since the description for the Clip is a mandatory field, Google may potentially be able to gather and assess tags on every clip that is shared, which means that clips that include relevant keywords could add more optimization to the source video and the blog it's embedded in. Social proof for video Key Moments Because the clips are also shareable and indexable, there is an implication that Google could have more social proof for which Key Moments are most valuable to users. While this is not confirmed, this could mean that YouTube Clips enable Google to better refine or identify new Key Moments that show in the SERP. In the case of the Maha Shivratri video, we see that, though there were many performances in the livestream, the second key moment shown in the SERP corresponded with the content from the clip. Additionally, we may possibly see new Clips showing on their own in the SERP in the same way that YouTube Shorts have increased visibility during 2022. In any case, I think this new tool presents a number of interesting SEO opportunities. YouTube Clips align with Google’s evolving search results Over the last few years, many of Google’s advancements have centered around how it can provide more relevant information to users via a range of media. The integration of Google Lens and visual search elements into the search experience is part of this trend, and so too is the increase of videos and images on search engine results pages. With these developments as the backdrop, tools like YouTube Clips enable us to curate, tag, and distribute our videos in a way that can strengthen our content as well as our overall search visibility. Crystal Carter - Head of SEO Communications, Wix Crystal is an SEO & digital marketing professional with over 15 years of experience. Her global business clients have included Disney, McDonalds, and Tomy. An avid SEO communicator, her work has been featured at Google Search Central, Brighton SEO, Moz, DeepCrawl, Semrush, and more. Twitter | Linkedin

Updated: March 13, 2023 Author: Crystal Carter My general advice for managing Google algorithm updates is to “keep your nose clean.” By that, I mean consistently making content that is relevant to users and doing so on a technically sound website, using SEO best practices with high levels of demonstrable experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. I’ve worked on sites that follow this approach and they consistently fare better than sites that don’t during Google's algorithm updates. That said, sometimes (particularly when a core update negatively impacts your site) you need to explain what happened to clients and other stakeholders. Here are some steps that can help you understand how and why a Google algorithm update impacted your site. These can be crucial steps to help you make a plan to address changes in organic traffic or recover from negative impacts of a core update. Date the changes Many SEO monitoring and analytics tools will give you the option to add annotations to reports. These annotations let you take note of when the update started rolling out and when it finished. For many years, marketers have relied on Google’s Universal analytics for annotations, but (at time of writing) it is only possible to annotate GA4 using third-party tools. Some external tools will automatically annotate your reporting timeline with large scale update announcements, but these tend to be general rather than site specific. A Google core update can take months and impact individual sites and regions at different times. Typically, US domains are impacted first during core updates and other markets follow. So, if you are outside of the US, you might need to keep checking your data as the update rolls out. It is important to make note of any changes within your own account so that you can compare your data accurately. You want to make a note when you start seeing an impact but also add other significant activity to your notes so that you have context for additional variables that could impact your rankings. Site migrations, viral PR activity, new high-quality backlinks, and hosting changes can also have a sitewide impact. Having this information will be valuable when you are reporting later and will help you benchmark your data as you carry out your audits. Compare the impact on your competitors Comparing your site to others can help identify if ranking changes are specific to you or part of a wider trend for your business vertical. Algorithm changes may impact certain verticals more than others. For instance, during the Medic update in 2018, studies showed that the update significantly affected websites with medical and health-related content. Many sites with content that included information on “Your Money or Your Life” topics were evaluated on new criteria. Content that did not already satisfy that criteria saw reduced visibility while sites that met the new expectations fared better. If the update is focused on sites within a particular vertical, then you may see competitors experience similar changes in visibility after the update. If this is observed, then it may reflect that Google has changed how it understands and shows results for a topic or tactic you have in common. This means that it's unlikely that anything you, specifically, have done has influenced your ranking changes. If you do not see similar changes across your vertical, then it might be the case that some aspect of your strategy or approach isn’t aligning with the new algorithm criteria. In this instance, I would keep investigating before drawing any conclusions. How to check on your competitors Third-party SEO monitoring tools like Semrush, Sistrix, and others can offer actionable insights on competitor visibility changes for specific keywords and domains. In many cases, you will need to identify the keywords and businesses you’d like to track well ahead of time in order to build up the data you want to benchmark, but this data can be important for contextualizing your performance. How to check your industry There are a number of tools that track Google algorithm updates. During a core update, these tools offer insights into how different types of websites, keywords, and SERP features have been affected. Popular free tools for monitoring algorithm activity include: Mozcast by Moz Semrush Sensor Google Grump by Accuranker Rank Risk Index by Rank Ranger Cognitive SEO Signals Algoroo SERPmetrics SERP Fluctuations Advanced Web Rankings Tool Sistrix Google Update Checker Each tool uses different data sets and metrics so it is worth comparing multiple sources to get a full idea of the impact. Comparing this data with what you see on your site can help you give useful guidance to clients about what to do next. For instance, if you identify that a change in rankings has to do with a new SERP feature or rich result, then you can adjust your content accordingly. Isolate affected queries It is worth reviewing Google Search Console to identify any trends in the specific types of queries that were impacted by the update. It is important to understand which queries were impacted because not all keywords offer the same value. Over the last few years, myself and other SEOs have observed that, sometimes during Google’s updates, the keyword positions that decline are terms that were irrelevant to the domain in the first place. I have personally seen client sites rank for content like partner logos and other seemingly random or “junk” terms. When Google makes adjustments, sometimes it sends users to more relevant content or finetunes the intent of the content entirely so if you were previously ranking for irrelevant terms and you aren’t anymore, then you may see this reflected in your overall domain ranking and traffic after. However, it is likely that the quality of traffic that you receive after the algorithm update will be more aligned with the objectives of your brand marketing funnel. Mordy Oberstein, who has been tracking Google's updates carefully for years has often noted that you don't want to dilute your site's authority by creating content in areas outside of the site's identity. If you have seen a big shift in some of your core keywords, then you may need to review this further to understand the potential business impact. Assess the SERP The SERPs are constantly changing—both in format and content—so reviewing how content is being surfaced can help you understand changes from a user’s perspective. What are you looking for? Here are a few SERP changes that can cause sudden shifts in traffic. New content formats Google makes multiple algorithm adjustments throughout the year. Some of these changes result in content shifting in position. Sometimes, a Google update will change the SERP entirely. Job-related SERPs are a good example of this—the top of these SERPs almost exclusively includes content from Job Search on Google (as shown above) before you get to the plain blue links. When this change came, there were big swings in traffic patterns from users to recruitment websites. These don’t typically occur during a core update, but changes like this can result in substantial shifts in clicks and click-through rate. So, it’s worth checking the desktop and mobile SERP to see if there have been any significant changes in how content for your most relevant queries is being displayed. Prioritizing official sources As occurred during the initial Covid-19 outbreak for highly sensitive topics, Google will surface content from official topic authorities like the CDC or the World Health Organization. For topics like this, Google will often remove advertisements and curate the SERP so that the most authoritative sources are immediately visible. If this has affected relevant SERPs, then you should consider aligning any SEO activity with additional channels to manage your visibility and traffic overall. In the past, I have seen clients engage digital PR, PPC, and social to successfully drive traffic to a site after an algorithm update. Done well, this approach can make your traffic more resilient in the long term. Who is now in the top positions If you have seen volatility in some of your top positions, visit the live SERP for your most relevant keywords and have a look at the content that replaced yours. Examine the individual pages and the domain overall to see how it satisfies the query. Understanding your content’s relevance to the query is particularly important for core updates. When analyzing visibility changes following a 2021 algorithm update, Oberstein observed that Google has been “refining its ability to offer highly relevant content to new extremes” during recent core updates. “Highly relevant content means that the content is nuanced and substantially detailed in nature,” he explained. So, when you are assess the new top-ranking pages, consider the following: How does the publishing team demonstrate expertise and depth of knowledge? Which technical implementations is the page excelling on? Which media types is the site using? How does the domain demonstrate topic authority around the query? How relevant is the top content and domain for the query? Ask these same questions about your content to identify gaps, assess the quality of your content, and relevance for the keyword or topic. Keep calm and keep optimizing Don’t panic—this is an important point. Planning is fine. Panicking can mean that you act impulsively when you don’t have enough information, which could certainly worsen the situation. Take a moment to assess the impact, consider how you can address any changes in business-critical traffic, and then move forward. Crystal Carter - Head of SEO Communications, Wix Crystal is an SEO & digital marketing professional with over 15 years of experience. Her global business clients have included Disney, McDonalds, and Tomy. An avid SEO communicator, her work has been featured at Google Search Central, Brighton SEO, Moz, DeepCrawl, Semrush, and more. Twitter | Linkedin

Author: Colt Sliva You might’ve heard that content is king when it comes to SEO. While that is absolutely true, it is an open-ended directive. You could create content about anything, in any writing style, for any keyword. Keyword research can give you an idea of search demand, but you truly don’t know how content will perform until it's created. So, we have a classic chicken and egg problem: You don’t want to invest in content that won’t convert, but you don’t know if traffic will really convert until you’ve created the content. The brilliant thing about software is that it lets you do things at scale without huge costs. For this demo, we’re going to be using programmatic content to rapidly build out an eCommerce store. By spinning up a framework of content, we can prototype and test whether something is sticky enough to get traffic. The goal is not to produce a complete website. Rather, the framework should be used to scaffold out a set of products to test their traffic potential. Google has some rules against automatically generated content, so we’ll have to be cognizant about quality through the process. What’s covered This is going to be an advanced SEO strategy with some programming walkthroughs. We’re going to rely on Python for some data manipulation and we’re going to build an API endpoint with Wix’s Velo, which uses JavaScript. I would urge you to bookmark this resource because parts of this project can be adapted to many web projects. Here are some of the core skills we are going to work through: Scripting with Chrome’s Snippets feature Scraping a website with Puppeteer Cleaning up a file of messy data How to write strong a programmatic product description Recoloring product images on the fly Building an API with Wix Velo For those familiar with data engineering, this is a classic ETL process: We will extract product data, transform it into a format that we can use, and then load it into our Wix website with Velo. What you need to build a programmatic SEO eCommerce store eCommerce stores don’t need much to get started. You need a content management system (CMS), a brand, and a product. 01. CMS For this demo, we’ll be working with Wix as our eCommerce CMS. This is the CMS of choice because of its powerful Velo platform—it is a JavaScript IDE that runs NodeJS to interact with the frontend and backend, which will allow us to programmatically add content. 02. Brand Say hello to Candle Crafty, a boutique homemade candle store. We don’t yet know which candles we should make. Keyword research has been helpful, but doesn’t give us enough direction on which scents or colors will be popular. Instead, let’s programmatically build many variations of our product. Then, we can rely on search engines to send customers to the right products. 03. Product For our product (supplier) we will be using scents and colors from candlescience.com. They offer a large number of scents with naming ideas and color suggestions to help new candle businesses. We can use this to scaffold out. Scraping products with Chrome Getting all product pages For product extraction, we’ll need to discover all of the available scents. Luckily, the Candle Science product listing page has a complete list of URLs. There are tons of ways to scrape all tags from a given page. One of the fastest ways to prototype scripts is right in the browser. In Chrome: Right click “Inspect” > “Sources” tab > “New Snippet” button. From there, you can run JavaScript on the page. Here’s our script. let x = document.getElementsByClassName('products')[0] let links = x.getElementsByTagName("a"); let rows = ['Links']; for (link of links) { rows.push(link.href) } let csvContent = "data:text/csv;charset=utf-8," + rows.join("\n"); var encodedUri = encodeURI(csvContent); window.open(encodedUri); This script starts by getting the first element with the “products” class. Then, it gets all of the links within that class. Lines 3–5 put the links into an array, and then lines 6+ export that array into a CSV. Now we have a CSV file with all of their products! Scraping product pages with Puppeteer For this next section, I’ll be relying on Python. Normally, I would use the python requests library for scraping, but I quickly realized that the supplier’s website was built with Nuxt.js and the description portion of the product pages were not server-side-rendered. We can work around that with Pyppeteer, though. It’s a wrapper for Google’s headless Chrome product that allows you to render JavaScript websites. Looking at the page, there are a number of features we can extract that will be helpful to build our products: Product Title Product Description Top Notes Mid Notes Base Notes Blend Ideas Color Ideas First, let’s create a file called extract.py. At the top of that file, we import our necessary libraries. Pandas to read and write CSVs, BeautifulSoup to parse HTML, asyncio and Pyppeteer to launch our web browser. import pandas as pd from bs4 import BeautifulSoup import asyncio from pyppeteer import launch Our web browser needs a user agent. You can use the Chrome one or identify yourself in other ways. headers = { 'User-Agent': 'CandleCrafty 1.0', } Then, we need a parse function to look for CSS classes containing the text features we’re interested in. It will take HTML content, turn it into “soup” and then let us grab titles, scent notes, or product descriptions. We return that in list form, so it’s easy to add to a CSV. def parse(content): soup = BeautifulSoup(content, 'html.parser') #Title title = soup.find(class_="product-headline").text.strip() # Get Notes notes = soup.find(class_="fragrance-notes") txt = notes.findAll('span') res = [] [res.append(spans.getText().strip()) for spans in txt if spans.getText().strip() not in res] res = [i for i in res if i] try: top_notes = res[1] except: top_notes = '' try: mid_notes = res[3] except: mid_notes = '' try: base_notes = res[5] except: base_notes = '' notes_fallback = res # Get Product Description txt = soup.find(class_="text") description_p = txt.text.split('\n') blend_ideas = '' brand_ideas = '' color_ideas = '' note = '' complete_list = '' paragraphs = '' for p in description_p: if ':' in p and 'blend' in p.lower(): blend_ideas = p elif ':' in p and 'brand' in p.lower(): brand_ideas = p elif ':' in p and 'color' in p.lower(): color_ideas = p elif ':' in p and 'note' in p.lower(): note = p elif 'complete list' in p.lower(): complete_list = p else: paragraphs = paragraphs + '\n' + p return [title, top_notes, mid_notes, base_notes, notes_fallback, blend_ideas, brand_ideas, color_ideas, note, complete_list, paragraphs] Lastly, we run our main function. It reads the CSV of all our target URLs and loops through them, using a launched browser. The results of that are saved. async def main(): df = pd.read_csv("download.csv") urls = list(df['Links']) browser = await launch() page = await browser.newPage() data = [] for url in urls: await page.goto(url) content = await page.content() data.append(parse(content)) df = pd.DataFrame(data, columns=['Title', 'Top notes', 'Mid notes', 'Base notes', 'Notes Fallback', 'Blend ideas', 'Brand ideas', 'Color ideas', 'Note', 'Complete list', 'Paragraphs']) df.to_csv('save.csv') await browser.close() asyncio.get_event_loop().run_until_complete(main()) And with that, we’re done with our scraping script! Here’s our first row of data (slightly truncated). Data cleaning This isn’t the most fun topic, but it tends to be a large part of data or web projects. Taking abstract data off the web and making it orderly is a hugely helpful skill. Messy text Our data has started out a little bit messy. We can clean up the Blend ideas, Brand ideas, and Color ideas columns by removing some of the extra text and only returning the comma-separated values that are really helpful. Each of those has a colon separating the values, so we can grab all the text following that colon. Think something like this: Split at the string of characters at the colon. That will return an array that looks like this: [“Blend recommendations”, “Saffron Cedarwood, Fireside”] We can take the 2nd part of that and then strip out any whitespace. Wrap it in a try and except because we might end up with an empty row. def clean_pretext(data): try: return data.split(':')[1].strip() except: return data clean_pretext( row['Blend ideas'] ) We can also clean up several issues with the paragraphs: Whitespace before or after the content Multiline text Broken encoding that might look like “’” Cleaning those three action items would look like the example below. It's a lot to take in, but we are essentially breaking apart the content at broken sections and putting it back together with a join() function. s = row['Paragraphs'].strip() s = ' '.join(s.splitlines()) s = "".join([xiford(x) < 128else''forxins]) # This is a fancy way to fix any text encoding issues like ’ Transcribing color text to color hex codes In some cases, we need to turn text to data. Let’s map some color ideas to hex codes. Python has a cool library called Colour, which will help us find the right color for our text description. For this section of code, I set a default hex value (white). Then I pass in the text that has color ideas. The regex grabs only the words and turns it into an array. Then for each word, we loop through and look for a matching color. If we find one, we set the hex variable to the new results. Otherwise, we continue the loop. After the loop is complete, the result will either be a new hex code, or fallback to white. from colour import Color def get_color(data): hex = '#ffffff' if isinstance(data, str): arr = re.findall(r"[\w']+", data) #extract the words for item in arr: try: hex = Color(item).hex except: pass return hex get_color(row['Color ideas']) Putting it all together This script loops through every row, cleaning data and generating colors. Then, it saves two files: a new CSV with improved data and a new .txt file with each description on a single row. import pandas as pd import re from colour import Color df = pd.read_csv("../extract/data.csv") # Open csv df['hexcodes'] = '#ffffff' # Creates a new hexcodes column with the default value of white df['color_literal'] = 'white' txt = '' # Create a text variable which will eventually become our text file def clean_pretext(data): try: return data.split(':')[1].strip() except: return data def get_color(data): hex = '#ffffff' color_literal = 'white' if isinstance(data, str): arr = re.findall(r"[\w']+", data) #extract the words for item in arr: try: color_literal = Color(item) hex = color_literal.hex except: pass return {"color": color_literal, "hex": hex} for i, row in df.iterrows(): # Remove pretext df.at[i,'Blend ideas'] = clean_pretext( row['Blend ideas'] ) df.at[i,'Brand ideas'] = clean_pretext( row['Brand ideas'] ) df.at[i,'Color ideas'] = clean_pretext( row['Color ideas'] ) # Generate hexcodes color_data = get_color(row['Color ideas']) df.at[i,'hexcodes'] = color_data['hex'] df.at[i,'color_literal'] = color_data['color'] # Clean paragraph s = row['Paragraphs'].strip() s = ' '.join(s.splitlines()) s = "".join([x if ord(x) < 128 else '' for x in s]) # This is a fancy way to fix any text encoding issues like ’ df.at[i,'Paragraphs'] = s #Add cleaned paragraph to text file txt = txt + '\n' + s # Export new CSV df.to_csv("cleaned.csv") # Export new content text file with open('content.txt', 'w') as f: f.write(txt) How to write strong a programmatic product description You might remember that automatically generated content can result in a manual action. Specifically, Google highlighted “text generated using automated synonymizing or obfuscation techniques.” We also need to be mindful of the Helpful Content update. We’ll need to ensure the descriptions are helpful and useful in describing the products we create. The flip side of that is this explanation of how Google handles duplicate product descriptions: It picks the most relevant site out of all the pages that have the duplicate content. That means there’s a very good chance a new store cannot compete with the default text from a supplier. To deal with this, we meet Google half way: It wants to make sure the description is helpful to real humans. Google specifically calls out “human review or curation before publishing.” Basically, if you generate it, make sure it’s readable. This leads us to our two strategies for text generation: Text generated through machine learning Ad lib style text generation Machine learning has the power to be incredibly helpful for content writing, but it is as much an art as a science. For the purpose of this demo, the results from machine learning text generation were too poor and needed too much editorial work. It was the kind of content that Google doesn’t want. With the second strategy, we can make unique enough descriptions that are helpful to the reader and detail the product, so we’re going to use that. “Fill in the blank” strategy This strategy is very similar to Ad Lib-type games. We provide a basic template, add in a little variety, and then get back a description. A good product description can do a couple of things: Allows the consumer to picture themselves using the product Describe the product’s benefits Use sensory words Provide social proof Use numbers With that, we can prebuild some arrays of helpful text. verb = ['drifting', 'wafting', 'floating', 'whirling'] noun = ['treat', 'delight', 'joy'] adj = ['charming', 'delightful'] feeling = ['elated', 'happy', 'gratified', 'blissful', 'delighted'] craftsmanship = ['well-crafted', 'homemade', 'handpoured', 'designer', 'architected', 'tailored', 'curated'] benefits = ['Find you zen with', 'Design your happy place with', 'Entice your guests with', 'Relax and thrive with'] socialproof = ['One of our most popular scents, ', 'A fan favorite, ', 'Always getting rave reactions, '] cta = ['Get yours now!', 'Order today!', 'Come join the candle club and order now!', 'Order your ideal scent today!' 'Take this scent home today!'] numbers = ['These 8.5 ounce candles will last for an average of 60 hours.', 'Our 60 hour candles will fill your home time and time.', 'These long-lasting candles with provide scents for up to 60 hours.'] product = ['soy wax candle', 'soy candle', 'all-natural candle', 'scent'] For the description, we want to use some of the candle details. We have quite a few options to pull from: Color Title Parts of the supplier description Scent notes We’re going to loop through each row of the CSV and pull those details to build some randomized sentences. def getNotes(data): try: return re.findall(r"[\w']+", data) except: return [] for i, row in df.iterrows(): color = row['color_literal'] # Borrow the first sentence from the supplier sentence = tokenize.sent_tokenize(row['Paragraphs'])[0] title = row['Title'] # Grab all our scent notes top_notes = getNotes( row['Top notes'] ) mid_notes = getNotes( row['Mid notes'] ) base_notes = getNotes( row['Base notes'] ) # Merge them into a single array all_notes = [*top_notes, *mid_notes, *base_notes] # Format them into comma separated text. Add 'and' before the last note. notes_txt = '' for x in all_notes[:-1]: notes_txt = notes_txt + x + ', ' notes_txt = notes_txt + 'and ' + all_notes[-1] Next, we can take those variables and merge them into a list of sentences. #Build some sentences sentences = [ f'{title} is a {random.choice(craftsmanship)} {random.choice(product)} sure to be a {random.choice(noun)} in your home.', f'{random.choice(socialproof)} this {color} {random.choice(product)} will leave you feeling {random.choice(feeling)}.', f'{random.choice(benefits)} {title} - {random.choice(craftsmanship)} with notes of {notes_txt}.', sentence ] We can add another layer of randomization by shuffling those sentences into a random order. We wrote these so they would still make sense in any order. random.shuffle(sentences) #Shuffle the order to add some variety The last sentence should be a call to action. Let’s add that in. sentences.append( random.choice(cta) ) #Append a random Call to action to the end of our content. Finally, we can merge the array of sentences into a final description. description = ' '.join(sentences) Putting it all together And, here’s what the script looks like once it’s all put together. import pandas as pd from nltk import tokenize import random import re df = pd.read_csv("../../transform/cleaned.csv") df['adlib'] = df['Paragraphs'] verb = ['drifting', 'wafting', 'floating', 'whirling'] noun = ['treat', 'delight', 'joy'] adj = ['charming', 'delightful'] feeling = ['elated', 'happy', 'gratified', 'blissful', 'delighted'] craftsmanship = ['well-crafted', 'homemade', 'handpoured', 'designed', 'architected', 'tailored', 'curated'] benefits = ['Find your zen with', 'Design your happy place with', 'Entice your guests with', 'Relax and thrive with'] socialproof = ['One of our most popular, ', 'A fan favorite, ', 'Always getting rave reactions, '] cta = ['Get yours now!', 'Order today!', 'Come join the candle club and order now!', 'Order your ideal scent today!', 'Take this scent home today!'] numbers = ['These 8.5 ounce candles will last for an average of 60 hours.', 'Our 60 hour candles will fill your home time and time.', 'These long-lasting candles with provide scents for up to 60 hours.'] product = ['soy wax candle', 'soy candle', 'all-natural candle', 'scent'] def getNotes(data): try: return re.findall(r"[\w']+", data) except: return [] for i, row in df.iterrows(): color = row['color_literal'] # Borrow the first sentence from the supplier sentence = tokenize.sent_tokenize(row['Paragraphs'])[0] title = row['Title'] # Grab all our scent notes top_notes = getNotes( row['Top notes'] ) mid_notes = getNotes( row['Mid notes'] ) base_notes = getNotes( row['Base notes'] ) # Merge them into a single array all_notes = [*top_notes, *mid_notes, *base_notes] # Format them into comma separated text. Add 'and' before the last note. notes_txt = '' for x in all_notes[:-1]: notes_txt = notes_txt + x + ', ' notes_txt = notes_txt + 'and ' + all_notes[-1] #Build some sentences sentences = [ f'{title} is a {random.choice(craftsmanship)} {random.choice(product)} sure to be a {random.choice(noun)} in your home.', f'{random.choice(socialproof)} this {color} {random.choice(product)} will leave you feeling {random.choice(feeling)}.', f'{random.choice(benefits)} {title} - {random.choice(craftsmanship)} with notes of {notes_txt}.', sentence ] random.shuffle(sentences) #Shuffle the order to add some variety sentences.append( random.choice(cta) ) #Append a random Call to action to the end of our content. description = ' '.join(sentences) df.at[i,'adlib'] = description df.to_csv('adlib.csv') Generating product images on the fly With some base data, we can look to generate images. There are a few really incredible machine learning image-generation tool kits now available, like Google’s Imagen or OpenAI’s DALL·E 2, but we don’t need to be that fancy. I originally tried to use line art and Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs) to programmatically generate the images. It’s a good strategy because it’s very similar to HTML and you can even use CSS. All the elements of the image are programmable. However, the quality just wasn’t there. Maybe if you’re a better designer, this is a viable strategy, which is why it's still worth mentioning. Instead, let’s try using regular bitmap pixel images. The idea here will be to have two layers of PNGs. One will be our base layer (shown above), which will be a static background. The other image (shown below) we will tint with various RGB settings. Then, we can dynamically color our images. On the left, we have a base image that is fairly nice looking by itself. There’s room to change wax color or add text onto the jar. We can color/tint the layer on the right, and overlay it back onto the base layer. Let’s power up the Python Imaging Library (PIL) for this demo to dynamically generate the images. Start a new Python file and begin it with the following imports: from PIL import Image, ImageOps, ImageDraw, ImageFont We need to load in some preliminary assets, like our PNGs and some fonts. I’ve added the same font twice, just once at 28 pixels and once at 10 pixels. foreground = Image.open("image/Candle01.png") background = Image.open("image/Candle02.png") fnt = ImageFont.truetype("Shrikhand-Regular.ttf", 28) fnt_sml = ImageFont.truetype("Shrikhand-Regular.ttf", 10) Next, we need to define a magic function called tint_image. It’s going to take the image, copy its opacity, make it grayscale, pop in some color, and then put the opacity back. The result is a tinted image! Using that on the foreground dynamically generates our colored candle. We’ll make our demo orange. def tint_image(src, color="#FFFFFF"): src.load() r, g, b, alpha = src.split() gray = ImageOps.grayscale(src) result = ImageOps.colorize(gray, (0, 0, 0, 0), color) result.putalpha(alpha) return result color = "orange" foreground = tint_image(foreground, color) We can go ahead and merge the colored foreground into the background. background.paste(foreground, (0, 0), foreground) As a next step, we can add some text. Here I’m writing the name as “Apricot Grove.” The text is centered 330 pixels to the right and 400 pixels down (it was just trial and error to find the right location to place the text). We use the small text to fill out some white space. d = ImageDraw.Draw(background) d.multiline_text((330, 400), "Apricot\nGrove", font=fnt, fill=(100, 100, 100, 10), align='center', spacing=28, anchor="mm") d.multiline_text((330, 650), "Homemade soy wax candles", font=fnt_sml, fill=(80, 80, 80, 10), align='center', spacing=14, anchor="mm") background.show() Lastly, we save the complete image as a PNG. background.save("save.png") The result is radically better than the line drawing and creates a very predictable result. Loading the products Using all of the scripts we’ve written so far, we can connect our new product information to Velo. Building an API endpoint Velo is an extremely powerful platform that allows direct interaction of both the frontend and backend of a Wix website. Velo offers fine-tuned control across a spectrum of CMS features. Today, we are just expanding the functionality of our backend with a few Velo functions. This guide is just the first step into Velo and what could be built in the future. At the top of the Wix Editor, make sure you’ve enabled Dev mode. Next, we’ll want to hop into the Public & Backend section. Under Backend, you can select Expose site API, which will auto generate a file called http-functions.js. This opens up your Wix website as an API, enabling you to write custom functions or services as endpoints. Think of it like a backend with NodeJS, but with direct integrations into Wix. You can make GET or POST requests against these and access all of the Velo tooling. Functions just need to be prepended with get_funcName() or post_funcName() to define their purpose. With our script, here are the Velo libraries we’ll need: Import Wix Media Backend, Wix Stores Backend, and Wix HTTP Functions. import { mediaManager } from'wix-media-backend'; import wixStoresBackend from'wix-stores-backend'; import { ok, notFound, serverError } from'wix-http-functions'; The mediaManager library from wix-media-backend allows us to manipulate the product images we upload. The wix-store-backend is where we will upload products. Lastly, the wix-http-functions allows us to build our API responses. Here are the steps that we need to take in our Velo endpoint: 01. Accept a POST request with a payload containing product and image data. 02. Create a product with our product data. 03. Upload an image from our local PC to our Wix site. 04. Apply that image to the previously repeated product. To start, let’s create a new endpoint: export async function post_echo(request) { let response = { "headers": { "Content-Type": "application/json" } } response.body = 'This endpoint works!' ok(response) } After saving the file, this example function can be accessed at https://{my-username}.wixsite.com/{my-store-name}/_functions-dev/echo. Hitting it with a POST request should send back the message! Next, let’s write some code to create a product. So, we create a new promise to allow our function to run asynchronously. Modern JavaScript just makes life easier. Then, we use wixStoresBackend, which we imported earlier, and call createProduct with our product data that we pass in. Then we get back information from Velo, like the product ID or extra details about what was just created. That’s all we need for this step. functioncreateProduct(product){ returnnewPromise(resolve => { wixStoresBackend.createProduct(product).then(res => { resolve(res) }).catch(err => {console.error(err)}) }) } The next step is to upload an image from our local PC to the Wix site. We will need a base64 encoded image, a folder name, image filename, and a mimetype (like png). The Base64 encoded image gets turned into a buffer and streamed over to Wix. Then, we just give the Wix mediaManager all the info it needs and it will upload the image for us! function uploadImage(image_base64, image_folder, image_filename, image_mimeype) { return new Promise(resolve => { let buf = Buffer.from(image_base64, 'base64') mediaManager.upload( image_folder, buf, image_filename, { "mediaOptions": { "mimeType": image_mimeype, "mediaType": "image" }, "metadataOptions": { "isPrivate": false, "isVisitorUpload": false, } } ).then(res => { mediaManager.getDownloadUrl(res.fileUrl).then(url => { resolve(url) }) }); }) } For the last step, we need a function to put everything together. That looks something like this: Get the data from the post request. Upload the image. Create the product. Use the product ID we get back from the upload to map the image url to the product. Profit! export async function post_upload(request) { let response = { "headers": { "Content-Type": "application/json" } } let body = await request.body.text() let data = JSON.parse(body) let img_url = await uploadImage(data.image.base64, data.image.folder, data.image.filename, data.image.mimeype) let product = await createProduct(data.product) response.body = product.productPageUrl ok(response) wixStoresBackend.addProductMedia(product._id, [{'url':img_url}]) } In summary, here is that code all put together: import { mediaManager } from'wix-media-backend'; import wixStoresBackend from'wix-stores-backend'; import { ok, notFound, serverError } from'wix-http-functions'; exportasyncfunctionpost_upload(request) { let response = { "headers": { "Content-Type": "application/json" } } let body = await request.body.text() let data = JSON.parse(body) let img_url = await uploadImage(data.image.base64, data.image.folder, data.image.filename, data.image.mimeype) let product = await createProduct(data.product) response.body = product.productPageUrl ok(response) wixStoresBackend.addProductMedia(product._id, [{'url':img_url}]) } // Upload Image // Returns a URL which can be assigned to a product functionuploadImage(image_base64, image_folder, image_filename, image_mimeype) { returnnewPromise(resolve => { let buf = Buffer.from(image_base64, 'base64') mediaManager.upload( image_folder, buf, image_filename, { "mediaOptions": { "mimeType": image_mimeype, "mediaType": "image" }, "metadataOptions": { "isPrivate": false, "isVisitorUpload": false, } } ).then(res => { mediaManager.getDownloadUrl(res.fileUrl).then(url => { resolve(url) }) }); }) } functioncreateProduct(product){ returnnewPromise(resolve => { let productID = '' wixStoresBackend.createProduct(product).then(res => { resolve(res) }).catch(err => {console.error(err)}) }) } Using the API endpoint Now that we have somewhere to send out data, let’s create some products! First, create a new Python script called “load.py.” We’ll have a number of steps to build all of the information that makes up a product, including: A filename for the image A SKU for the product A high CTR meta description A rich, search-optimized title Something to open the image and convert it to base64 Here’s what all of those look like: def get_filename(name): return name.lower().replace(" ", "_") + '.png' def get_sku(name): return name.lower().replace(" ", "_") + '_g' def get_metadescription(color, name): year = date.today().year return f'{year} edition{color} soy wax candles - hand poured and hand crafted. CandleCraftys {name} best candles for living spaces and ambience. Buy now!' def get_image(name): filename = f'image/saves/save-{name}.png' with open(filename, "rb") as f: im_bytes = f.read() im_b64 = base64.b64encode(im_bytes).decode("utf8") return im_b64 def get_seotitle(row): name = row['Title'] notes = (row['Top notes'].split(', ') + row['Mid notes'].split(', ') + row['Base notes'].split(', ')) note = random.choice(notes) color = row['color_literal'] return f'{name} - {note} scented {color} soy candles' Next, we need to build the product and image object for every row in our CSV of product data. First, we open the CSV in pandas and loop through it. We can grab some common things we’ll need from that row like name and color. Then, I check to see if the product has “Discontinued” in the name as a final quality check. After that, we map our functions or variables to relevant fields in the big data object. This is the magic sauce that this whole guide has been building up to. df = pd.read_csv('data.csv') for i, row in df.iterrows(): name = row['Title'] color = row['color_literal'] if 'Discontinued' not in name: print(name) data = { 'image': { 'base64': get_image(name), 'folder': 'programmatic', 'filename': get_filename(name), 'mimetype': 'image/png' }, 'product': { 'name': name, 'description': row['adlib'], 'price': 20, 'sku': get_sku(name), 'visible': True, 'productType': 'physical', 'product_weight': 1, 'product_ribbon': '', "seoData": { "tags": [{ "type": "title", "children": get_seotitle(row), "custom": False, "disabled": False }, { "type": "meta", "props": { "name": "description", "content": get_metadescription(color, name) }, "custom": False, "disabled": False } ] } } } upload(data) The last line on that section of code is an upload() function, which we don’t have yet. Let’s go through that now. Get the product data and convert it to JSON that the Wix API can read. Then, send the payload off. def upload(data): url = 'https://username.wixsite.com/candle-crafty/_functions-dev/upload' headers = {'Content-type': 'application/json', 'Accept': 'text/plain'} payload = json.dumps(data) ## Pass in all product details at once response = requests.post(url, data=payload, headers=headers) try: data = response.json() print(data) except requests.exceptions.RequestException: print(response.text) Let the automated store run If the stars align and all our code works, we’ll have a fully functioning storefront piled high with dynamically built products. Occasionally refresh the page and watch as products appear. Enjoy the numerous products which you can now A/B test, optimize, and look for top-selling variations. Why content expansion works This entire strategy is centered around the idea of casting a wide net: SEO is already top-of-funnel-marketing. At the very top of the SEO funnel itself, is keywords. By creating many new diverse and keyword-driven pages, we are increasing impressions. Then through optimization strategies, we can increase clickthrough rate. The real secret to content expansion, though, is to collect data. If you don’t have data, you won’t be empowered to make informed decisions. By generating a broad range of keyword-relevant pages, you can begin to iterate. Build in high impact areas, and reduce or redirect low impact pages. Remember, content is king, but not all kingdoms are prosperous. Customize to fit your needs with Velo Velo is a powerful CMS IDE—this article is just the beginning of what you can accomplish with it. I would urge anyone to review the API Overview to see just how much can be achieved. Adding features to most content management systems feels hacky and leaves you wondering if the software might break at any time. Integrating with Velo was the opposite. It felt like the Wix website wanted me to customize it to fit any custom request I had. If you’ve ever needed more from your CMS, I would consider Wix and enabling Velo. It’s the best spectrum between no-code, low-code, and full-code sites. Colt Sliva - Senior Technical SEO Analyst Colt Sliva is a technical SEO who has experience working with SaaS, eCommerce, UGC Platforms, and News Publishers across the Fortune 500. His main area of study is SEO at scale, automations, and breaking things to see how they really work. Twitter | Linkedin