Contrary to popular belief, SEO is not one size fits all. What works for one keyword group may not work for another. Why is that?
As we use search more in our daily lives, our behaviors change. The insights available to brands do too, in line with our real-time trends, preferences and intent.
Search is constantly evolving to better understand and meet current consumer demands.
The global pandemic has taught us that consumer behaviors and preferences can change massively in a single sweep. It is imperative for brands to pivot and adapt by using search data to spot potential opportunities and understand future trends.
To win in SEO, you must understand...
Out of thousands of potential ranking signals, there are several factors that impact your targeted keywords. The potential to improve your ranking signals is huge, especially when using a targeted keyword strategy.
For example, page speed correlation to rankings can vary across industries and factors such as Core Web Vital (CWV) and backlinks can be extremely important for Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) Categories.
Understanding these variations in how ranking factors impact your specific industry and category is essential.
Another factor is how your keywords stack up against your competitors.
By analyzing your competitor’s keywords, you can boost your organic search optimization while gaining a competitive edge in the search results. In addition, algorithm updates will impact your keyword targeting, so the next time there is a core update, be sure to read up on how it might impact your page rankings.
How search engines are adapting to consumer behavior
Over the past eighteen months, there has been an acceleration of digital development and transformation.
Businesses have scrambled to digitize, resulting in a drive for smarter optimizations and a focus on search insights into consumer behavior and intent. Search engines, in turn, have had to adapt to mirror consumer behavior.
Search-result enhancements such as rich snippets, People Also Ask, and video carousels take results from various channels and combine them into a single SERP, providing searchers with both choice and ease of use.
As businesses adapt to consumer trends, there is also an increase in more diversified and richer paid-search products, allowing wider reach to those who are actively searching for your brands, products or services.
Specific search algorithms such as QDD (Query Deserves Diversity) and QDF (Query Deserves Freshness) enable searchers to find broader match results by showcasing a more varied set of results to meet different needs, and to identify opportunities to discover new content.
Overall, there is a deepening personalization of the search experience and an intense focus on the user’s experience.
It’s no longer about being #1 in a set of 10 blue links. Understanding these broadening opportunities is essential for maximizing your visibility in search.
How to communicate SEO wins — the language of rank
How would you explain the importance of ranking to your CEO? How does rank translate to conversion and revenue?
As we know, SEO is made up of multiple elements that make your website more visible -- meaning more traffic, more opportunities, and more conversions.
Yet communicating SEO performance can be difficult. There are no foolproof tactics to guarantee SEO ranking, and KPIs on their own don’t tell the whole story.
When you see the correlating factors that determine ranking, you will also notice that the data will triangulate. So consider your content, users and search engines when coming up with an SEO ranking strategy.
Keep in mind that not all ranking factors are relevant to any given keyword, so be vigilant when conducting your keyword research and only optimize keywords by keywords.
Business leaders don’t want to be bogged down in the technical details. You must be able to translate search metrics to business outcomes, in order to demonstrate how search rankings impact the bottom line.
Future-proofing organic marketing
The old ways of tracking performance with ranking factors were unscalable and manually intensive. They involved repetitive processes that were time-consuming and ultimately a waste of resources. The data required for benchmarking also required a data scientist to analyze and activate.
What we need now for organic SEO performance is:
SEO continues to be a top digital channel that drives reliable revenue. As mindsets and search behavior evolves, marketers need a scalable way to understand how these changes impact the channel.
Your ability to track rank to revenue is key, and at its heart lies the necessity to intelligently automate rank tracking and data analysis.