# 5 Content Metrics You Need to Track for Blogging Success
Over <a href="https://www.demandsage.com/business-blogging-statistics/" target="blank">three quarters</a> of Fortune 500 companies (77%) have a dedicated blog. Does your business? If so, you may be enjoying the increased traffic, brand awareness, and leads that come with blogging for business. 

But, hold up. A whopping <a href="https://www.oberlo.com/blog/blogging-statistics" target="blank">31.7 million people</a> blog in the U.S. That’s a lot of noise to cut through. So, how do you know if your blog is getting the views, engagement, and conversions you need it to? 

You measure it—with the help of key content metrics used and trusted by content marketers. 
## 5 Content metrics to track
Writing articles for your business blog takes time, energy, and money. To avoid spinning your wheels, make sure you’re getting a healthy <a href="https://www.patriotsoftware.com/blog/accounting/what-is-roi/?utm_source=NOZ45&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=GBL&utm_content=content-metrics" target="blank">return on investment</a> (aka ROI).

Use common content metrics to see if blogging is worth your effort. Not to mention, metrics can help you make changes to your overall content strategy. 

Take a look at the following five metrics you can—and should—start tracking today. 
### 1. Pageviews 
__True or False__: You don’t care how many people read your blog articles as long as you get to do what you love—writing. 

__False!__ 

If you want to maximize your blog ROI, you need to care about how many people are reading your articles. Otherwise, you’re writing for a party of one. 

Pageviews show you the number of web pages your users see. You can find your total pageviews across all articles. Or, you can get more granular and see how many pageviews a specific article has. 

Use pageviews to determine your top articles and help plan your future content calendar with similar high-ranking articles. 
### 2. Engagement 
People are viewing your content in droves—great! But, are they reading your blog articles, or landing on the page and exiting out at the speed of light? To find out, look at your engagement metrics.

If you’ve already moved on to Google Analytics 4 (<a href="https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/11109416?hl=en" target="blank">GA4</a>), you know engagement metrics like “bounce rate” and “time on page” have been replaced with engagement metrics like “user engagement” and “average engagement time.”

Engagement metrics show you how long someone actively spends on your article before leaving the page, moving your article to the background, closing the tab, etc. 

For example, a four-minute session likely shows the person was engaged with your article—unlike a 10-second session.

The longer a user spends on—or engages with—your blog article, the better. You can track your engagement metrics using Google Analytics. 
### 3. Conversions  
Are people reading your blog article and bouncing without taking additional action? Or, are they hanging around and becoming a lead or customer? The only way to find out is to measure your blog conversions. 

Blog conversions can refer to people who:
- Sign up for your email newsletter
- Sign up for a whitepaper
- Buy a product or service
- Watch an interactive video
- Connect with you on social media 

…And so on. A conversion isn’t just someone who buys from you; conversions include those who take any one of your desired actions. 

How you measure your blog conversions depends on the types of goals you set. For example, you can measure email subscribers using your email marketing software. 

__Pro tip__: Make sure your blog articles are relevant to your brand and have compelling CTAs, or calls-to-action (e.g., email subscribe, whitepaper download, etc.). 
### 4. Position
When you write articles, you want them to rank for specific keywords. This means your article will display when someone types in certain keywords in the search engines. 

Done right, your article should rank for several (or several hundred) keywords relating to the topic. But that’s not all. You also want your articles to rank at the top of Google. 

To find out where your article ranks, look at its position. You can view the article’s position for particular keywords—aka “queries—” using tools like Google Search Console. Is it displayed first for that query (woohoo!)? Second? Fifth? Or, is it 47th (dun-dun-dun)? 

If you don’t want to spend time looking at the article’s position for each particular keyword, you can look at its average position. The average position adds up the position of every keyword the article ranks for and gives you the average. 

Let’s look at an example. Say you write an article on <a href="https://www.patriotsoftware.com/blog/payroll/what-are-payroll-taxes/?utm_source=NOZ45&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=GBL&utm_content=content-metrics" target="blank">payroll taxes</a>. It ranks for four keywords and has an average position of 4 [(3 + 8 + 2 + 3) / 4]:
- What are payroll taxes? (position 3)
- Payroll taxes (position 8)
- Types of payroll taxes (position 2)
- List of payroll taxes (position 3)

__What about “impressions?”__ Impressions are another popular content metric that may relate to position. The higher your article’s position, the more impressions it should garner. But, be careful not to put too much stock in impressions. Impressions aren’t the same as clicks (aka how often someone clicks your article link from the search engine). Impressions are simply how often someone saw a link to your site in the search engine results—not how often they did anything with it. 
### 5. Backlinks and social share
Sure, you want your content to get views and rank highly in Google. But, the work doesn’t end there. You also want people to like your articles so much that they reference and share them.

You can track backlinks and social shares to find out if your readers are talking about your business blog. 

A __backlink__ is a link from another website to your article. You can find backlinks through tools like Google Search Console or Semrush. 

__Social shares__ are the number of times people share your articles on social media. You can use social media platforms, social media management platforms (e.g., Buffer), or content management system plugins to monitor social shares.

So, why do backlinks and social shares matter? Backlinks and social shares can:
- Improve your website’s SEO
- Boost brand awareness
- Increase traffic to your website
- Help people see you and your business as a thought leader

## Quick tips to improve your blog’s success
If your content metrics are subpar, don’t panic. There are several ways to improve your blog’s performance. 

Use the following quick tips to get your blog up to snuff:
- Conduct a <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/top-5-things-to-look-at-when-doing-a-content-audit" target="blank">content audit</a> 
- Do keyword research 
- Use infographics 
- Optimize your article length (e.g., <a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-long-should-your-blog-posts-be-faq" target="blank">2,100 - 2,400 words</a>)
- Ask customers for future topic ideas
- Avoid solely using <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/brand-reputation-and-a-i-content" target="blank">A.I. generated content</a>

And, don’t forget to keep measuring along the way! Happy tracking, content marketers and bloggers. 


Blog content Metrics

Learn how to know if your blog is getting the views, engagement, and conversions you need it to by measuring it with the help of key content metrics used and trusted by content marketers. 

5 Content Metrics You Need to Track for Blogging Success

# Top 5 Things To Look at When Doing a Content Audit

If you’ve ever worked in a marketing department, you know that content audits are always faced with an array of emotions. 

While some content marketers view audits solely as a necessarily evil, others view them as the long-awaited kick-off to the annual content strategy. Once you’ve figured out the game of efficiency and prioritization, the latter is most likely to be true. 

In 2023, content audits are more important than ever as marketing teams are forced to stay away from populist trends and focus time on maximizing results with minimal efforts. It all starts with the audit. 

The stats agree. According to <a href="https://www.semrush.com/blog/content-marketing-statistics/?utm_source=thankyoupage&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=stateofCM22" target="blank">The State of Content Marketing 2022</a> published by Semrush, “46% of companies whose content marketing was unsuccessful never run content audits”. At the same time, “65% of companies that succeed in content marketing run content audits more than twice a year.” 

One can say that the content audit is the secret ingredient to an impactful content recipe. This article will jog your memory as to why that is, and highlight the top 5 things to consider when performing one. 

### Why are content audits crucial to overall strategy?

Performing a content audit is often perceived as ‘too time-consuming’ and is therefore done too hastily, or not at all, by busy marketers. When the reality is, content audits are an extremely incredibly valuable process for any business. Not only does it allow you to identify areas for improvement and make informed decisions about your <a href="https://asmarketingagency.com/en/blog/content-marketing-strategy/" target="blank">content strategy</a>, but it can also help you to get the most out of your existing assets.

All in all, a <a href="https://minuttia.com/content-audit/" target="blank">content audit</a> allows you to take a bird's eye view of your content while also examining each piece individually. This helps you identify what's working well, what's not performing as well as it could, and what gaps exist within your content. 

For example, it's possible that you have focused too heavily on thought leadership lately and neglected bottom-of-the-funnel (BoFu) content, or vice versa. A too focused approach leads to a monotone, unbalanced content strategy that risks losing the attention of your ideal customer profile (ICP) or signaling to search engines that you are not relevant for certain search queries. These are the kind of red flags to be on the lookout for in your audits. 

Let’s dive deeper into the most essential steps of how to identify these red flags. 

## 5 Important Steps You Cannot Miss in Your Content Audit

To ensure the success of your content audit, it's crucial to set clear goals, gather and organize your content, analyze it, make a plan, and take action based on your findings. 

By focusing on these top 5 things, you'll be able to tweak and ensure that all content on your site serves a higher purpose.

### 1: Gather Blogs in URLs and Categorize Them by Clusters
Start by extracting your blogs as URLs and categorize them into topic clusters. 

One of the easiest ways to do this is to use a tool like Screaming Frog to crawl and export your site. This will provide you with a list of URLs, as well as other helpful information like titles and descriptions. You can also connect other data sources like Ahrefs, Google Analytics, and Google Search Console to get a more complete picture of your content.

Once you have a list of all your URLs and other relevant information, it's time to start categorizing your content into clusters. According to this cluster (or pillar) framework, each page on your website should target a specific set of keywords.  

By answering all the important keywords related to a given set of keywords, you build topical authority, known as one of the most powerful ways to improve rankings across multiple verticals. Once you have your URLs organized in a sheet, make sure each page follow these two simple rules: 

1) Every page targets a set of keywords
2️) A cluster and its keywords are associated with one page and one page only

It should look something like this: 
![keyword cluster](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/23tv8KUz2hwatH332KgxrE/0289f7643dc242a034fe42998519e0fa/keyword_cluster.png)
## 2: Compare Target Metrics and Become a Content Detective

Once you have categorized your URLs into clusters, add the following data: 
![Compare Target Metrics](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/6XvjDt0gu8Hh2prBIvtVSo/bec20b20367623b2846822d08760d9ec/Compare_Target_Metrics.png)
At this point, mark those metrics below average. Can you see a particular pattern? Are there any trends among those performing well and those below average? This is the time to become a content detective. 

Some additional questions to ask:

Is the content adding value to my target audience?
Is the content optimized properly?
Is the content relevant to the SERP?
Is the content moving my ICP further down the funnel?
Is the content showcasing experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness?

## 3: Identify the ‘Oldies but Goldies’, the ‘Hidden Gems’ and the ‘Very Bad’’

Based on the answers identified, three different types of content optimizations will appear: 
![Content Audit](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/1fNebnudIAuriY1Lf288dX/4132a07a69989f9725cd4f81be72e2f9/Content_Audit.png)
→ The oldies but goldies - meaning older pieces that are still highly relevant but starting to lose traction. 
→ The hidden gems - the high-quality content pieces that never took off. 
→ The very bad - the content that adds no value whatsoever. Don’t waste your time on these. Delete and move on. 

The better the categorization, the easier the next step will be.
## 4: Create a Clear Plan of Action and Set Yourself Up for Smooth Sailing Ahead

Once you have categorized each blog post, it’s time to create your action plan. Some actions may include:

- __Keep as is__: If a blog post is already maximized (performing well and providing value to your audience), you can keep it as is.
- __Combine__: If you have two or more blog posts that are cannibalizing each other or are extremely similar, consider combining them into a single, more comprehensive piece of content.
- __Delete__: If a blog post no longer offers value to Google or your audience, it's best to delete it.
- __Update__: If a blog post has potential but just needs a few small changes to improve its performance, consider updating it.
- __Rewrite__: If a blog post requires significant changes to improve its performance, consider rewriting it.

As you conduct your content audit, be sure to look at more than just search rankings and traffic. Consider other metrics that are relevant to your business goals, such as conversion rates, engagement rates, purchases or signups. This will help you to make informed decisions about which content is worth keeping, updating, or deleting.

## 5: Rinse and Repeat but Don’t Drown

Be smart. Be ruthless. But don’t drown yourself trying to fix every detail identified in your content audit. While content audits affect 100% of your strategy, your action plan should not take up more than 25% of your time. 

Last but not least, don’t stress about making it perfect. Content will never be perfect. In fact, content should not be perfect. It is a living breathing work of art, and should be treated as such. Try something new and test it out. Didn’t work out? Then try something else. 

The beauty of digital marketing is that it’s not print.


auditing content

The top 5 things to consider when performing a content audit.

One can say that the content audit is the secret ingredient to an impactful content recipe. This article will jog your memory as to why that is, and highlight the top 5 things to consider when performing one.

Top 5 Things To Look at When Doing a Content Audit

Keyword clustering is a technique that can be used to improve your search engine optimization. By grouping keywords together, you can create content that is more focused and relevant to your target audience. Additionally, by using keywords in the right places, you can improve the visibility of your content on search engines.

But, how to actually do this in an efficient and useful way? Well, that's why we have written up this guide. Read the article below and find out how to make and use keyword clusters properly.
![keywords](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/4Xb0uQidjRXJ6d2oqseJkp/92adcbb73c70b9cbf4faa6c6615717f4/image.png)
# General Keyword Usage and Definition
Before we dive into keyword clusters, we need to be crystal clear on what keywords actually are.

Keywords are the words and phrases that people type into search engines to find what they're looking for. All of the <a href="https://www.designrush.com/agency/digital-marketing/inbound" target="blank">top inbound marketing agencies</a> will tell you it's an essential part of any good SEO strategy.

Now, there are a few different, broadly defined types of keywords:
-  __Broad keywords__ are general terms that describe your business or service. For example, if you sell shoes, some broad keywords might be "shoes," "footwear," or "sandals."
- __Modifiers__ are words that narrow down the focus of your broad keywords. For example, if you sell running shoes, some modifiers might be "men's," "women's," or "children's."
- __Long-tail keywords__ are more specific phrases that describe what someone is looking for. For example, if you sell running shoes, some long-tail keywords might be "best running shoes for beginners," "running shoes for flat feet," or "running shoes for men."

You should aim to use a mix of all three types of keywords on your website and in your content to make sure you're covering all your bases and attracting a wide range of customers.

Don't stuff your keywords in unnatural places or try to fool search engines. This will only hurt your chances of ranking high in search results, and it could get you penalized by Google. Just use them naturally throughout your content to make sure you're covering all your bases.

---

# What is Keyword Clustering?
Now let's talk about the meat of the article - __keyword clusters__.

Keyword clustering is a method of organizing keywords into groups, or "clusters," based on similarity. This helps SEM specialists and SEOs alike to better understand the relationship between different terms, and can be used to inform content strategy decisions. 

There are a few different ways to cluster keywords. The most common method is to use a keyword research tool like Google Keyword Planner or Moz Keyword Explorer, which will group together keywords that have similar search volume or competition level. This can help you to see which terms are often used together and can be a useful way to group keywords for content planning. 

One way to cluster your keywords is to group them by topic. For example, if you sell clothes, you might have a cluster of keywords that relate to summer clothes, and another cluster that relates to winter clothes. This can help you to focus your content marketing efforts on the right topics at the right time.

Another way to cluster your keywords is by semantic groupings. This means grouping together keywords that have similar meanings. For example, if you sell shoes, you might group together the keywords "shoes," "sandals," "flip flops," and "slippers." This can help you to create more targeted content that speaks to the needs of your audience.

---

# The Benefits of Keyword Clustering
You might be thinking - why go through all this trouble?

Not only does keyword clustering improve your website's visibility in SERPs, but it can also help you attract more targeted traffic. By grouping together related keywords, you can ensure that the people who click through to your website are actually interested in what you have to offer. This can lead to higher conversion rates and more sales.

So, what are the specific benefits of keyword clustering? Here are just a few:

### Improved Visibility in SERPs
As mentioned above, one of the biggest benefits of keyword clustering is that it can help improve your website's visibility on search engine results pages. By grouping together related keywords, you can ensure that your website appears for a variety of relevant queries. This can help you attract more traffic to your website and improve your chances of ranking high in <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/will-your-keywords-trigger-important-serp-features" target="blank">SERP's features</a>.
### More Targeted Traffic
Another benefit of keyword clustering is that it can help you attract more targeted traffic to your website. Using this system, you can ensure that the people who click through to your website are actually interested in what you have to offer. You can then expect higher conversion rates and more sales.
### Better Organization
Keyword clustering can also help you better organize your website's content. By grouping similar keywords, you can create a logical structure for your website's content. This can make it easier for visitors to find the information they're looking for and can help search engines index your website more effectively.
### Improved ROI
Finally, keyword clustering can also help you improve your return on investment (ROI). Targeting a variety of related keywords ensures that you're getting the most bang for your buck. This of course then leads to saving money on paid advertising and can help you generate more leads and sales.

---

# How To Create and Use Keyword Clusters
Finally, it's time to create clusters. The actual process greatly depends on how your team is structured, the niche your websites deal with, and the resources that are available to you. Perhaps you can delegate this task to an employee. Maybe you are proficient at using Google Sheets and can organize all of the data through date. 

Whatever the case may be, the below guide sticks to a general, all-around principle that will definitely help you make the most out of keyword clustering.

## Step One - Collecting Keywords
The first step in creating keyword clusters is to, of course, collect keywords. There are a few different ways to do this, but the most effective way is to use a keyword research tool. This could be something like Google AdWords Keyword Planner or Moz Keyword Explorer.

Once you have a keyword research tool, simply enter in a seed keyword that describes your topic. For example, if you were writing about dogs, you might enter in the word "dog." The results will show you a list of related keywords, as well as some metrics like search volume and competition level.

You can also check what the competition is doing, try to figure out the keywords they use (most often found in titles), and gather keywords like that.
From there, you can start to collect keywords that you think would be relevant to your topic. Make sure to add these keywords to a spreadsheet so you can keep track of them.

## Step Two - Analyze the Keywords
Now that you have a list of keywords, it's time to start analyzing them. The first thing you want to do is look at the search volume for each keyword. This will give you an idea of how popular the keyword is and how many people are searching for it.

You also want to take a look at the competition level for each keyword. This metric will tell you how difficult it would be to rank for a certain keyword. The higher the competition, the more difficult it will be to rank.

These metrics are shown through the usage of tools like Ahrefs, for example. It's very difficult to figure this out without dedicated keyword planning tools. Still, you can at least assume that if many popular and powerful sites have dealt with a topic centered on a specific keyword, that keyword will be difficult to rank for.

## Step Three - Prep Work
Once you have analyzed your keywords, it's time to start preparing them for grouping. The first thing you want to do is remove any keywords that are too similar to each other. For example, if you have the keywords "dog," "dogs," and "dog breeds," you would want to remove "dogs" and "dog breeds" from your list.

You also want to remove any keywords that are too general. For example, if you're writing about German Shepherds, you wouldn't want to include the keyword "dog" because it's too general.

Once you've removed any duplicate or too-general keywords, you should have a list of around 30-40 keywords that are relevant to your topic.

## Step Four - Keyword Cluster Grouping
Now it's time for the fun part: grouping your keywords! There are a few different ways to do this, but the most effective way is to group them by topic. So, for our example of German Shepherds, we might have groups like "Temperament," "Training," "Care," and "History."

Another way to group keywords is by intent. So, for our example, we might have groups like "Looking to Adopt a German Shepherd," "German Shepherd Training Tips," and "German Shepherd Care."

Once you have your groups, you can start to create your keyword clusters. Simply take each group of keywords and enter them into a spreadsheet, with each keyword in its own column. Then, give each cluster a name that describes the topic or intent of the keywords.

And that's it! You now know how to create keyword clusters that will help you organize your content and make it more effective.

---

# Applying Keyword Clusters and Creating New Content
To make sure you're getting the most from your website, it's important to optimize it for your keyword clusters. This means <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/3-underutilized-content-strategies" target="blank">creating content</a> that is relevant to the terms people are searching for.

Here's a step-by-step guide to optimizing your website for your clusters
## 1. Make a Plan
You should have already prepared your keyword clusters in advance (from the previous section) and got some ideas on which are best for your niche. Now it's time to choose the ones you want to focus on.

Choose one core keyword, like our German Shephard example, and then add a series of articles revolving around this topic (training tips, care, diet, etc).
Then, make a content plan. How many of these articles are you going to publish per week? When do you intend to publish them? This can take weeks or months, depending on your resources, the cluster, and your goals.

## 2. Create Content for your Target Keywords
Once you've identified and grouped your keywords, it's time to <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/content-marketing-for-small-businesses-and-coaches-2022-edition" target="blank">start creating content</a> around them. For each cluster, you should create at least one piece of content, such as a blog post or an infographic. Make sure to include the seed keyword in the title of your content and use the related keywords throughout the body.

This means creating blog posts, articles, and even product pages that are relevant to the keywords you're targeting.

Basically, applying the previous step into action.

Create content that is relevant and useful to your target audience. Make sure that your content is well-researched and informative, and provides value to your readers.

Optimize your title and meta tags for your keyword clusters. Include your target keywords in your title tag and meta description, so that search engines can easily identify your content as relevant to those keywords.

## 3. Keyword Clusters and Reoptimizing Old Content
Creating new content with kw clusters is not enough. If you want to maximize your results, you should also apply it to already existing content on your website. So, here is what you can do:
- Find your most important pages <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/your-guide-to-getting-started-with-google-analytics" target="blank"> using Google Analytics</a> or a similar tool. These are the pages that generate the most traffic and/or have the highest conversion rate.
- Take a look at the current content on these pages. Make a list of all of the keywords that you think are important to rank for these terms.
- Create a spreadsheet or document and start grouping these keywords together. You can group them by topic, product, service, etc.
- Once you have your groups, start brainstorming how you can further optimize your content to target these keywords. This may mean adding new sections, revising existing content, or even creating new pieces of content.
- Once you have a plan, implement it and track your results.

---

# Conclusion
Keyword clustering is a powerful SEO tool that can help you improve your website's visibility in SERPs, attract more targeted traffic, better organize your website's content, and improve your ROI. If you're not already using keyword clusters on your website, now is the time to start. Implementing a keyword clustering strategy can help you achieve all of your SEO goals.


keywords

How to make and use keyword clusters properly.

A Comprehensive Guide to Keyword Clustering

According to a study conducted by Crayon, <a href="https://smallbiztrends.com/2020/01/competitive-intelligence-statistics.html" target="blank">94% of businesses</a> invest in competitive intelligence. __Competitor analysis__ is the first step towards understanding the market and the gap your organization can capitalize on. This includes keeping track of your competitors’ websites and learning the strategies they use to improve their digital presence. 

The insight gained from this analysis can help improve on existing strategies and create new ones. This article will talk about the tools needed to monitor and track the performance of competitor websites.

# 5 Tools To Help You Track Your Competitors 
Many tools can analyze the state of your competitors’ websites and give you meaningful insight on aspects such as keyword mentions, backlinks, website changes, and even social media. The following are some examples of tools used to analyze your competitors and how they work towards helping you with insights for improving existing strategies.

## Fluxguard
Fluxguard is a tool that allows you to crawl a competitor's website, find certain web pages and monitor these pages for activity. The software can constantly crawl your competitors' websites and return meaningful insights. The data obtained from <a href="https://fluxguard.com/how-to-guides/monitor-website-changes-with-fluxguard" target="blank">monitoring website changes</a> can include cookies, headers, network activity, and the frequency of visits to the competitor's website.

This data can help you understand the types of keywords the competitor is using, the types of tracking software they have, and how they are being used to target customers. This insight can help you make specific changes to your website that will drive more traffic and result in better performance.
![Fluxguard](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/523eJpQgVyzl1kzNNeiLAo/6006256172509c5a43a680e432de5d62/Fluxguard.png)<div><center><a href="https://fluxguard.com/" target="blank">Source</a>
## Owletter
Owletter offers data about your __competitor's email marketing strategies__. It allows organizations to automatically capture emails sent to their mailing list from a website. The software then takes screenshots of this data, stores it, and analyzes it. 

The tool also alerts you about the email based on preset parameters. This process will help you learn about your competitors' email behavior and offer insight that can be used to improve your existing __email marketing strategy__.

Owletter can help you figure out the types of emails to be sent, the frequency of emails, and content ideas for future newsletters. All this data is constantly tracked to empower your email marketing campaign.
![Qwletter](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/2YP0sXs5MTinBxxpXj9gSr/81f671a09a3abfde8b84ea4574f5a999/Qwletter.png)<div><center><a href="https://www.owletter.com/" target="blank">Source</a>

## Social Blade
Social blade is free to use and mainly tracks your __competition's content__. If they have a YouTube channel, this tool will fetch data about subscribers, views, earnings, and growth. 

Moreover, it also allows you to search analytics on your competitor's Instagram, Twitch, and DailyMotion accounts. This data can serve as meaningful insight and set a benchmark to surpass your competition.
![Social Blade](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/55jXbcp2QdDeD2labbIgCk/cc92327ddd1020e4ae0c2e2890898e5f/Social_Blade.png)<div><center><a href="https://socialblade.com/" target="blank">Source</a> 

## Nozzle
Nozzle is a competitive analysis tool that lets you track the __top websites in the industry__, see any <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/featured-snippet-competitor-analysis" target="blank">featured snippets</a> your competitors may have, find who owns <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/google-local-rank-tracking" target="blank">local listings</a>, and even find <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/video-rank-tracker" target="blank">video content</a> that is performing well.

This is an effective tool to monitor competitor __keyword lists__ on a monthly and quarterly basis, <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/finding-your-top-serp-competitors-across-all-your-keyword-groups" target="blank">keeping track of organizations within your industry</a> and the global SERP landscape. It can also show you the highest-ranking URLs in your niche, so you can analyze them using SEO tools for on-site optimization and backlinks. This should allow you to focus on specific keywords and work accordingly to improve your ranking. 

![Number of Domains with Featured Snippets within a specific Keyword Group (2)](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/1EUKu30N1IqRd05WTCfgWK/befb0c9053d7c5323718315eefa446cd/Number_of_Domains_with_Featured_Snippets_within_a_specific_Keyword_Group__1_.jpeg)

## Semrush
SEMRush helps conduct a competitor analysis based on __search engine marketing strategies__. It allows you to track keywords used by your competitors and see how these keywords are ranked on global SERPs. 

Each keyword is accompanied by data such as domain authority, ranking difficulty, and the countries where it ranks the highest. If you are confused with your keyword research and want to look at some strategies that have produced results, SEMRush is your go-to tool.
![Semrush](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/1H6S1lZTpFZIfPIJrYMUGx/39067d85a53429afe7f69726e875d86d/Semrush.png)<div><center><a href="https://www.semrush.com/" target="blank">Source</a>  

# Importance Of Tracking Your Competitors' Websites
A competitor's website can give you a clear picture of how they are performing and the strategies and keywords they are using to improve their ranking on SERPs. Getting a strong ranking on search engine result pages is primary if you want to improve your traffic and customer base. Doing this can require several strategies that need to work in unison for the results to be successful and give you a favorable outcome. Creating a strategy from scratch might not always work, and even if you do put in extensive research, it is always good to analyze any data you can extract.

A competitor doing well in the market is a clear indication that whatever they are doing is working for them. Tracking the movement and changes of successful competitors can help you gain enough data to devise your own strategy or improve on your existing one.

Competitors can give you a clear picture of how the industry is functioning, and analyzing their data can offer the following benefits:

- Get competitive insights that can be incorporated into your strategies
- Find pricing and inventory gaps to capitalize on and capture the market
- Understand what types of strategies work in your niche
- Stay aware of industry trends
- Identify and plan for new competitive threats

## Wrapping up
Businesses worldwide are looking for ways to improve their marketing practices and get the word out to more people. According to a study, <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/17515631111106821/full/html" target="blank">90% of Fortune 500 companies</a> conduct competitor analysis to find out what others are doing to achieve these goals. The resulting data is then used to devise branding and marketing strategies that deliver results faster than shooting in the dark.

Experts believe that the best way to see if a strategy works is by seeing if someone else is doing it and how it is performing. Learning from the performance of your competitors can help you tweak your own strategies and eventually produce similar - if not better - results. Several tools in the market can track the competitor's website and precisely track each aspect of the competitor and how they are going about their daily operations.

When done right, competitor analysis can be a shortcut to explosive growth and lightning-fast sales for new businesses


Competitors

The following are tools used to analyze your competitors and how they work towards helping you with insights for improving existing strategies.

The tools needed to monitor and track the performance of competitor websites.

Get One Step Ahead Of Your Competitors - 5 Tools To Help You Track Their Movements

Most business owners understand the importance of ranking well in Google Maps. If you are in the SEO business, <a href="https://nozzle.io/features" target="blank">search enginge position analysis</a> isn't the only concern. Helping your clients to rank well in Google Maps is also what you do. Even if you understand the fundamentals of local SEO, Google is constantly updating its algorithm. Keeping up with these updates is the key to outranking your competition.

Google made several changes to local search this year, and some of them affect how a business ranks in Google Maps. If you want to know how to rank better in Google Maps in 2022, you need to know about these changes.

In 2016, Google introduced what SEOs call the “map pack”, “3-pack”, or “local pack”. The new design featured a map of just three business listings. This small change dramatically affected local SEO. There were no longer 7 spots, but only an elusive three. Getting your business to rank in the map pack became the main focus of local SEO.

## Why rank better in Google Maps?
It is not necessary for every business to be in Google Maps. However, for local businesses, ranking better in Google Maps is the best way to bring in more local customers and ultimately make more money. 

If someone is searching for your business on Google Maps, they will most likely search “local business near me”. So, if you own a pizza restaurant, for example, if someone is looking for pizza, they will most likely search for “pizza near me”.

This is what makes ranking well in Google Maps so important. If your business isn’t in the top 3 spots, your customers may never find you. The map pack shows up at the top of the page <a href="https://www.seoclarity.net/how-googles-local-pack-update-has-reshaped-the-organic-landscape-12952/" target="blank">in 93 percent of Google searches</a>, according to SEO Clarity, which makes ranking in the map pack the best way for small businesses to be found in Google.

Every business is trying to get into this coveted spot in Google Maps. With every business vying for it, how do you get there? And what’s changed in 2022?

If you want a competitive edge, keep reading. Here is how to rank better in Google Maps in 2022.
![google-maps](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/5Fno8XdXYYukJrtvKs5gci/960062999b80fdb274573c95a4deee05/google-maps.png)
## How does Google decide which businesses rank in Google Maps?

Understanding how Google picks which businesses they display in Google Maps will help you to understand how to rank better. Google Maps was created for local businesses - not so much for online businesses. 

It was mainly designed for brick-and-mortar businesses to help customers and clients locate them on the map. This is why proximity is such an important ranking factor. Google tries to show you the businesses that are closest to you in proximity.

However, just adding your business to Google Maps doesn’t automatically make your business show up first, even if you are the closest in proximity. Google uses numerous ranking factors to determine which business shows up on top. And, Google tells you exactly what they are looking for.

### These are the ranking <a href="https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091?hl=en#zippy=%2Center-complete-data%2Cadd-photos%2Crelevance%2Cdistance%2Cprominence" target="blank">factors Google looks for</a>: 

__Relevance__: This means how closely your business matches what someone is searching for when they do a Google search. They determine this based on your business name, description, and what people say in your Google Reviews.

__Distance__: How close your business is to the person searching. 

__Prominence__: According to Google, prominence is determined by information Google has about a business from links, articles, and directories. Google also looks at your Google reviews. Having a higher percentage of positive ratings will improve your prominence in Google.

Wonder why your reviews aren't showing up? Check out <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/why-arent-my-google-reviews-showing-up-10-possible-reasons-why" target="blank">this article</a>.

## Google Maps Ranking Factors

Ranking in Google Maps is similar to ranking in organic search. Google looks at on-page and off-page factors. However, unlike organic search, where on-page SEO is done on your website, in Google Maps the on-page SEO is done on your Google Business Profile. This is why a business can rank well in Google Maps even if they don’t have a website. Here are some of the on-page and off-page SEO factors Google uses to rank businesses in Google Maps.

__Google Business Profile SEO__

- GBP (Google Business Profile) Optimization
- Google Reviews
- GBP Updates
- Behavioral Signals

__Google Maps Off-Page SEO__

- Citations
- Website SEO
- Backlinks
- Social Signals

## How to Optimize Your GBP (Google Business Profile)
The first step to ranking on Google Maps is to claim your Google Business Profile. To create a Google Business Profile go to https://www.google.com/business/. Claim your listing and verify it. Once your listing is verified, optimize your profile. 

__Use your keywords in your GBP name__

Use your keywords in your profile name if possible. Make sure your profile name reflects what your business actually does. For example, if you own a fitness center, use a name like ABC Fitness Center instead of just ABC Company. Although including keywords in your profile name can help with SEO, Google is cracking down on business owners using keyword spam to rank well in Google Maps. Therefore, having keywords in your profile name may not be as beneficial in 2022 as it was before.

__Fill out your GBP completely__

Fill out every section of your GBP including your physical address, phone number, category, and attributes. Make sure to provide a description of your business using your keywords, location, and the products or services you offer. Also, add your hours of operation.

Select the best category for your business. If you are not sure which category to choose, do a search for your keyword and see what category your competitors are using. Add as many secondary categories to your profile as you can (but be sure they are relevant).

Select appropriate <a href="https://support.google.com/business/answer/9049526?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop" target="blank">attributes</a>, for example, identified as woman-owned or veteran-owned. Select a short name for your profile. And, make sure to create a free Google website, even if you have your own website. Your Google.business.site will display information about your business, your contact info, and all your GBP updates. 

__Add photos__

Adding photos to your profile helps more than you might think. “Businesses with photos receive 42% more requests for driving directions to their location from users on Google, and 35% more clicks through to their websites than businesses that don’t have photos”, according to a <a href="https://www.brightlocal.com/research/google-my-business-insights-study/" target="blank">Google insight study</a>.

__Post updates__

Post updates on your GBP regularly. Although this does not help directly with SEO, it may help with the click-through rate. It also adds content to your Google business website if you have added one.

__Ask clients and customers for Google Reviews__

Google Reviews are one of the ways Google decides how popular your business is and what people in your location have to say about your business. Having positive Google reviews will improve your prominence and ranking in Google Maps. 

Asking your clients and customers to leave a review for your business is one of the best ways to get more Google reviews. However, many business owners have noticed that Google is filtering more reviews, even from legitimate happy customers. Since Google knows reviews are an important ranking factor, they have tightened the ropes on fake Google reviews. If you are <a href="https://localu.org/unfilter-missing-google-reviews/" target="blank">missing Google reviews</a>, Google’s filtering system may be why.

Don’t just ask for reviews, reply to your customer's reviews. According to Google, this is one way to make your <a href="https://support.google.com/business/answer/6335804?hl=en" target="blank">Google Business Profile awesome</a>.

__GBP Behavioral Signals__ 

If you want to rank better in Google Maps in 2022, focus on improving interaction on your Google Business Profile. Google doesn’t just look at the information on your GBP. They also look at what your customers do when they find you. For example, do they call you? Do they visit your website? Do they search for directions? These actions show Google how customers feel about your business. 

## __Google Maps Off-Page SEO__

The truth is it’s possible to rank well in Google Maps just by having an optimized GBP and positive Google reviews. However, there are other important factors that can improve your position in Google Maps. These are off-page SEO signals such as information from your website, directories, social media, articles, and backlinks.

__Website Optimization__

Optimizing your website will improve both your organic search results and your ranking in Google Maps. This is because Google looks for information about your business across the web to determine how they rank you. This includes the information on your website.

__How to optimize your website for Google Maps__

Optimize your website for local keywords. For example, if you own a real estate business, you might optimize your website for “Atlanta realtor” or “best realtor in Atlanta” or “Atlanta real estate”. 

Also, add location pages or city pages for specific cities you service. This will tell Google you provide services in that city and provide more information about what services you provide for that location.

Include your name, address, and phone number on your website. Embed a Google map to your business as well. You can add this in the footer of your website or your contact page.

Add schema markup to your website. <a href="https://www.badasswebgoddess.com/schema-markup-for-seo-google-maps/" target="blank">Schema markup</a> is code that can be added to your website to tell Google more about your business. It provides information like where you are located, your phone number, your business hours, and what social media profiles are associated with your business.

__Citations listing your NAP (Name, Address, and Phone Number) __

One of the ways Google determines your prominence in Google Maps is based on the information it collects from links, articles, and directories. Mentions of your business’ name, address, and phone number are known as citations. Citations are generally considered listings in directories like Yellow Pages, Manta, Yelp, or Angie’s List. Local business directories or industry-specific directories are also a good way to build citations.

__Backlinks__

A lot of SEOs think <a href="https://www.badasswebgoddess.com/what-helps-more-with-local-seo-citations-or-backlinks/" target="blank">citations and backlinks</a> are the same things. While directories often include a link back to your website, which technically makes it a backlink, they are different. A citation is any mention of your business name, address, and phone number on another website. A backlink is a link from another website back to your website. 

A backlink doesn’t always include your name, address, or phone number. It can link to your website’s home page or internal pages or blog posts. Having more backlinks will help you to rank better in local searches. 

__Social Signals__

Having an active social media presence may improve your ranking in Google, although it may help more indirectly than directly. There is a lot of debate in the SEO community about how much social media helps with SEO or if it helps at all. However, having an active social media presence can help because it drives traffic to your website, can generate natural backlinks (from people who might not have otherwise seen your content), and encourages customers to visit your website. 

## What’s Changed with Google Maps and what to expect in 2022

In 2021, Google made quite a few changes to Google Maps, including making it easier for business owners to get listed in Google Maps, changing the name of Google My Business to Google Business Profile, changing the look of the map pack, and adding new features for business owners.

__Google changed the name of Google My Business to Google Business Profile__

On November 4, 2021, Google changed the name of its business profiles from <a href="https://support.google.com/business/thread/133876833/introducing-new-updates-to-business-profile?hl=en" target="blank">Google My Business to Google Business Profile</a> and made it easier for business owners to claim and verify their business information on Google Maps.

There are now two ways to get your business listed in Google Maps. You can go to https://www.google.com/business/ to create your Google Business Profile or you can simply search for your business name in Google Maps. If you don’t see it listed, search for your business address. Then click on Add your business. This will take you to the Google Business Profile page where you can set up your profile.

__Google added new features for business owners__

In addition, Google added <a href="https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/connect-local-holiday-shoppers/" target="blank">several new features for business owners</a>. You can now message your visitors directly from search, without having to log in to your business profile. You can also see your call history to see which visitors found you in Google Maps and called you from your profile.

Shop owners can now display their inventory directly from Google. Shoppers can now search for which stores have the item they are looking for in stock. This is a win for customers and shop owners as many customers check to see which stores have a product on hand before they shop there.

__Google added several new attributes__

There are now a wide range of attributes businesses can add to their profile, <a href="https://www.seroundtable.com/google-my-business-crowd-lgbtq-friendly-transgender-safespace-32287.html" target="blank">including LBTQ+ friendly</a>, and health and safety features like “staff wears masks”. In 2022, there may be more attributes added to GBP. Be sure to check for new attributes in the upcoming year.

__Google changed the way the map pack is displayed__
![map-pack-chicago](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/4VEnH5GSCZYra2CmvO286p/0eb015658fbe1f8f303cb23a17da15f8/map-pack-chicago.jpg)

In 2021, Google redesigned the map pack. Now when you search for a business on Google, the map is larger and more prominent than before. The businesses also appear on the left side of the map instead of underneath it.

__Google rolled out the “Vicinity Update”__

In 2021, Google started cracking down on spam. In the <a href="https://www.sterlingsky.ca/vicinity-algorithm-update/" target="blank">most recent Vicinity update</a>, businesses that were dominating local search simply because they had keywords in their business name noticed significant drops in their ranking in Google Maps. A keyword in your business name is no longer as important as your prominence and proximity.

Google confirmed the algorithm update in December. Although they did not specifically say that the latest algorithm places a heavier emphasis on proximity, they did say that the update “involved a rebalancing of various factors we consider in generating local search results.” 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Our November 2021 local search update has concluded. It began Nov 30 and ran through Dec 8. It involved a rebalancing of various factors we consider in generating local search results. General guidance for businesses remains the same as covered here: <a href="https://t.co/uyXFfmUEIR">https://t.co/uyXFfmUEIR</a></p>&mdash; Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) <a href="https://twitter.com/googlesearchc/status/1471546117125029889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

What the Vicinity update did, essentially, was bring proximity back as one of Google’s main ranking factors. Google has stated before that the three factors they look at are relevance, distance, and prominence. 

As 2022 moves forward there may be more changes in store for Google. Overall, Google’s aim is to improve user experience. This includes making Google Maps more useful to customers using their services.


map-pack-chicago

This is how to rank better in Google Maps in 2022.

How to rank better in Google Maps in 2022

# Content Marketing For Small Businesses And Coaches [2022 Edition]
The online coaching space is mutating faster than the coronavirus.

If your small online coaching business wants to make money in 2022 you need to market yourself differently.

Differently means standing out among the other <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/26/what-is-a-life-coach.html#:~:text=ICF%20estimates%20there%20are%2071%2C000,Global%20Coaching%20Study%20Final%20Report." target="blank">71,000 coaches</a> out there. To do so, you can't take any shortcuts.

The preferred shortcuts of so many other coaches involve paid ads and DMing on Instagram and LinkedIn.

But these marketing channels just don’t work for small businesses. 
How do I know? 

Because I've tried them and I've gotten burned.

You don't need to invest heavily and fail to realize that paid ads and cold calling don't work. 

Just think back to the last time that you responded to an email from a stranger or clicked on an ad on your Facebook feed. If you're struggling to recall a time in which you gave into disruptive advertising, then I've made my point.

Back in 2012 I started <a href="https://emlovz.com/" target="blank">emlovz.com</a> (a dating coaching site) and applied every shortcut I could.

We tried:

- Google AdWords
- YouTube Ads
- FB Ads
- Cold outreach

Nothing worked.

We were about to call it quits before I decided to try one last maneuver: <a href="https://thomasanthony.co/whats-the-difference-between-inbound-vs-outbound-marketing/" target="blank">inbound marketing</a>.

__Inbound marketing__ is all about attracting attention through high-value content. 

Think <a href="https://thomasanthony.co/articles/" target="blank">articles</a> that answer a searcher's burning questions, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHO8hSNDfi8" target="blank">YouTube videos</a> that potential clients can binge for hours, and a podcast that they're dying to listen to every morning on the way to work.
![Outbound vs inbound marketing](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/1o0DLeygQw7B8v1RRH1Q21/36b664bdaf79d72a2b7a42b73b3c2535/Outbound_vs_inbound_marketing.png)

We decided to invest heavily in creating unique content that addressed our ideal client's pain points.

Five years later and emlovz has experienced a sea change we could only dream of.

Nowadays emlovz.com is one of the largest coaching sites in the dating space.

In fact, emlovz.com sees enough traffic for me to claim we're a 1% website with regards to traffic.
![Inbound marketing](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/5Y5rdfHWwNrqvQVvkKaES4/3502a2a2a39663727386d7005ef40c30/Image_2.png)

As you can see from the screenshot above, we've racked up just under 3 million clicks from May to September of 2021.

But has this translated into earnings?

Yep.

emlovz is also in the top <a href="https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Online-Coaching-Salary#:~:text=While%20ZipRecruiter%20is%20seeing%20annual,annually%20across%20the%20United%20States." target="blank">5% percentile as far as online coaching revenues go</a>.
![top 5 percent](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/Oqtcp4pciQQmZ1WW6Og2Y/e8aca0bfc60ac8dc9b0885090c1737b3/top_5-.jpg)

*So how did we go from 0 traffic and 0 revenue to a top 5% coaching company?*

It was because I decided to stop skipping the line and we decided to start adding value to peoples' lives with evergreen lead funnels like high-quality articles and YouTube videos.

In this article, we'll break down everything you need to do to launch an effective content marketing strategy even if you’re a coach or small business. 

## Content Marketing For Small Businesses
"In this day and age, a big part of <a href="https://technerds.com/how-ai-can-transform-content-marketing-in-2022/" target="blank">content marketing</a> is connecting with the customer on a personal level. When done correctly, content marketing can go a long way in building brand trust and adding value to your business."

It doesn't matter if you're the personal finance messiah, if you don't have a quality marketing strategy to connect with people and spread the green word, no one will know you exist.

In the first portion of this article let's take a look at the vehicles you'll use to attract potential customers.

### Blogging Up The Traffic 

Blogging isn't an activity reserved for teenagers and soccer moms.

Creating high-quality written content is the best way B2B, B2C, and coaches like yourself can attract users to your website.

Google Search is where people go when they want to learn something and/or want to spend money.

With a market share of over 90%, it's no surprise that <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/18/how-does-google-make-money-advertising-business-breakdown-.html#:~:text=More%20than%2080%25%20of%20Alphabet's,ad%20spending%20globally%20in%202021." target="blank">Alphabet makes 80% of its earnings through ads</a>. 

With all eyes on Google, ranking on the first page (but specifically within the first three results) can bring serious traffic to your business.
![organic keyword research](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/39GAnFHdCUM2hpcxlfMO8u/da9bd93a30b4fdccb8495f3e4fd7fe1c/organic_keyword_research.png)

Getting to the top of Google means your website and brand is an authority.
Being an authority is exactly how to make money through content marketing in 2022.

By landing at the top of a <a href="https://www.wordstream.com/serp" target="blank">SERP</a> and providing a future client with helpful information, you're building trust, respect, interest, and ideally a following.

__This is something that paid ads just can't do.__

I should also mention that creating targeted content is also more pocket-friendly than throwing money at paid ads.

To generate the same traffic with paid ads (which we don't use at all) that we do through our blogs we'd have to spend $36,800 every month.
![organic research](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/4SpaZGpUDJ7j0fgHQYY4C5/bb58b66c9d00688306e64dad3908b04e/organic_research.jpg)

Instead, we spend just a fraction of creating viral pieces of content that thousands of people read every day.

### YouTube Videos That Are Binge-Worthy

Blogs aren't the only content strategy for small businesses. 

YouTube is the #2 best evergreen lead source you can find on the internet today. 

However, many experts think that <a href="https://quoracreative.com/article/video-vs-written-content" target="blank">video is the future of content marketing</a>. 

They say this because:

- Videos have higher engagement than written content
- The average consumer spends 100 minutes a day watching video
- <a href="https://blog.hootsuite.com/youtube-stats-marketers/" target="blank">YouTube is the world's second most visited website</a>
- Views increase as more people work from home

When you're blogging - you're catching an evergreen traffic funnel of "__readers__." 

When you're pumping out youtube videos - you're catching an evergreen funnel of "__viewers__."

Generally speaking, there are lots of people who consume content either/or.

For example, about <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/09/21/who-doesnt-read-books-in-america/" target="blank">25% of Americans haven't touched a book in the last year</a>.

You can bet the first $10k you make from online coaching that those same people prefer watching your content to reading it.

By only creating written content you're refusing to speak to a large portion of potential clients.

But hey, even if your ideal clients love reading, who doesn't like watching a video every once in a while.

Speaking of which…

At emlovz, before we meet with a new inbound client. we automatically email them a form to complete - and we ask them where they found us.

Many say <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHO8hSNDfi8" target="blank">YouTube</a>.
![keyword strategy session](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/FsjLun9ZC05SZaRjZUeJf/6e810c355d30e65d47ad81ea176027e4/keyword_strategy_session.png)

Only choosing a certain type of content means only speaking to certain customers.

Create evergreen written and video content to cast a wide net and speak to as many potential clients as possible.

### YouTube/TikTok Educational Shorts 

Nobody has time or patience to watch a 20-minute YouTube video anymore.

As we've seen with the rise of TikTok, YouTube Shorts, IG reels, and yes even Quibi, consumers are beginning to favor short-form video.

Refining your <a href="https://influno.com/content-marketing-examples" target="blank">content marketing</a> strategy means creating targeted short-form videos.

After you write a 2k-word blog post and then repurpose it for a long-form YouTube video, you now want to make bite-sized videos clips.

Here's an example of what a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpStGznWoLM&feature=emb_title" target="blank">YouTube short looks like</a>.

So how did this YouTube Short perform?

Take a look at the analytics provided by YouTube below.
![YouTube analytics](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/74tyX3QLJC2gwWu6RVicyi/670650efb26d1d7f09eb88592062011f/YouTube_analytics.png)

3 YouTube subscribers in just 287 views.

Think about that for a second - you take 1 minute to create a short, upload it to youtube, and 3 new subscribers in a matter of a day or two.

Remember, __one subscriber today could turn into a $5k client of yours in the coming months__ (after they follow you for a bit). 

### Guest Posting Boosts Perceived Value Of Your Website

Guest blogging, also called “guest posting” is the act of writing content for another company's website.

Generally, guest bloggers write for similar websites within their industry in order to attract traffic back to their website.

Guest posting needs to be a marketing tool you use -- not only will you be introduced to another company's audience, but any do-follow links that you embed in the guest post will <a href="https://moz.com/learn/seo/backlinks#:~:text=Backlinks%20are%20especially%20valuable%20for,from%20one%20site%20to%20another.&text=If%20many%20sites%20link%20to,worth%20surfacing%20on%20a%20SERP." target="blank">BOOST your domain authority</a> -- just make sure you're guest posting on sites with a higher domain authority or Alexa ranking.

You can use tools like SEMRUSH and AHREFS to confirm a website's domain authority.

## Think LONG TERM From The Start

Creating a quality content marketing strategy involves understanding who your target audience is and which areas of content creation are worth investing in.

All your content creation efforts won't be worth a thing if you don't first establish your ideal audience.

### Select A Niche!

There are over <a href="https://ilifecoachtraining.com/life-coaching-is-currently-a-2-billion-industry/#:~:text=There%20are%20currently%2020%2C000%20coaches,second%20only%20to%20Information%20Technology." target="blank">20,000 coaches in the USA</a>20,000 coaches in the USA.

Most are defined as __"life coaches."__

A life coach is pretty explanatory, it's a coach that helps someone get their life together.

The issue with this is that our lives are layered, nuanced, and all our problems can't be fixed by some life guru that magically has all the answers.

To stand out you must define your niche.

What kind of coach or small business are you?

You could label yourself as a generic "life coach" but what sets you apart from all the other coaches out there?

Either way, you'll need to define your niche.

Emyli for example isn't a life coach, she's a __dating coach. More specifically she's a dating coach for men that targets men in urban areas that are upper-middle class and between the ages of 30-50__.

You may think that by creating a super-defined niche you're turning your back on a large swath of people.

That's true, but it's only one way to think about refining who you are and your target audience.

I like to think that by creating a specific niche you're able to create more meaningful services and content for the audience that your coaching skills can best serve.

### Side Hustle Until You’re In The Green

Be sensible when starting off.

I understand your desire to ditch your corporate job and dive headfirst into the water - but not everyone knows how to swim and even fewer of us know how to swim using the correct technique.

Don't be afraid to build your small business and make money through online coaching as a side hustle to start.

Hell, Emyli didn't leave her corporate job until our revenue was close to $70k.
Take your time to learn the ropes and build a sustainable business before <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-lessons-from-alexander-great-hern%C3%A1n-cort%C3%A9s-jay-harrison/" target="blank">burning the ships</a>. 

### Delegate And Build A Small Army Of Creators

Being an entrepreneur is a lot like running a country - albeit an incredibly small one.

As the president of your newfound country, you can't possibly imagine doing everything yourself.

How are you supposed to run each branch of your country, build the infrastructure, and make diplomatic visits to other countries all by yourself?

The best entrepreneurs know how to delegate.

Your first appointments as an entrepreneur should be to hire a:

- Ghostwriter
- Social media intern

This is certainly the case if you're building your business as a side hustle and don't have 5-10 hours a week to create new content and execute an SM strategy.

## Research and Build Your Small Business Program BEFORE You Launch

Whether you’re a coach or small business owner you first need to understand your target audience before launching.

Jumping into the fire that is being a small business owner will only work if you first know what you’re getting yourself into.

Don’t get burned by refusing to do your due diligence in learning both about your competitors and target audience. 

Use SEO tools like SEM Rush and Ahrefs to figure out what type of content your ideal client is interested in learning about. 

During the nascent stage of your company, it’s important to identify your ideal client and understand their pain points. You can do this by interviewing those you think would be interested in your business. 

Understanding their psyche and pairing that with keywords they’re looking for is a recipe for creating amazing content. 

If you have more questions about content marketing for small businesses and coaches feel free to check out my website and <a href="https://thomasanthony.co/" target="blank">contact me for a brief strategy call</a>. 

content marketing for small business

A break down of everything you need to do to launch an effective content marketing strategy even if you’re a coach or small business.

Content Marketing For Small Businesses And Coaches [2022 Edition]

## What is a featured snippet?

Featured snippets are brief snippets of text that aim to answer the user's question more quickly when doing a google search. The content that is used in the featured snippet section is usually pulled from the website itself within google's index to quickly be accessible to the searchers.

![Featured Snippet example picture](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/SAxylakXiQpcmDIoZPP0f/8df97bc0bb4fa7c30b4a37233a410fd5/Screen_Shot_2021-01-17_at_11.02.25_AM.jpg)

## How does a featured snippet work?

Featured snippets can help to boost your brand's visibility. Usually, you will see an increase in your site's activity by organically showing up at the top of Google within the featured snippet section. Being in the featured snippet section can greatly put you ahead of your competitors.

## What does a featured snippet do?

The featured snippet is there to help assist the users in what they are searching for. For example, if someone is looking for information on how to build a greenhouse. You will see that Lowe's is at the top of the featured snippet section answering the user's question in a video with a step-by-step process on how to build a greenhouse. By Lowe's doing this it helps them get more eyeballs on their video and inevitably more clicks.

![Featured Snippet Google Search on How to Build a Greenhouse](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/6tFKhvgLNYfrOKucbM0qFF/e73c3b3d0bc51367ed5c5d13eb06f63b/Screen_Shot_2021-01-17_at_10.42.55_AM.jpg)

## Why is a featured snippet important?

Featured snippets are important because they're always in the number one position on google. The number one position will typically get more clicks to their site and conversions. Also, it takes up a lot of real estate on the page. This compels people to click on it because it's the first thing they see when searching for an answer to a question on google.

## What are the different types of featured snippets?

Generally, there are three commonly used feature snippet types.

  - __Paragraph__ (answers the question in a text format)

  - __Table__ (data is pulled for a structured answer in table format)

  - __List__ (Ex: answers are given in a step by step process)

## Use Nozzle to monitor all the featured snippets in your industry

Since Nozzle is a full SERP monitoring tool, our data can show you who owns every single featured snippet in your space.

![Domains that own featured snippets](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/3Qhf9zJ2ApgPzSnNOT3etk/ac026636c76755526cdba2a8086dbce1/Domains_that_own_featured_snippets.jpg)

![Featured Snippet filter for dog toys keywords on desktop](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/601thZKtTzKm1OkW9lRCza/6c5afbe35d44407b021bec306276ed1d/Featured_Snippet_filter_for_dog_toys_keywords_on_desktop.jpg)

Check out our <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/featured-snippet-competitor-analysis" target="blank">deep dive article</a> on this subject to learn how to do it.

Armed with this info, you can set an SEO strategy to overtake the featured snippets that you deem most important. Every month or quarter, you can showcase the efforts of your campaign from within Nozzle’s UI or by sending the data to Google Data Studio.


Google Search on Featured Snippets

Understanding the Power of Featured Snippets

Google Featured Snippets- The Importance of Ranking for Them 

People Also Ask boxes are becoming increasingly important in the world of SEO. In fact, PAA boxes now appear in the results for nearly half of all Google searches, according to studies by <a href="https://www.semrush.com/blog/how-to-maximize-people-also-ask-seo-opportunities-study/" target="blank">SEMrush</a> and <a href="https://ahrefs.com/blog/people-also-ask/" target="blank">Ahrefs</a>. This is interesting information, but how much does it really help you? The studies were conducted with a broad range of keywords, many of which are completely unrelated to your line of work.

When it comes to setting SEO strategy for your specific industry, you need to take a more personalized approach and look at how often PAA boxes appear in your keyword sets to determine where to focus your efforts. If they appear in 80% of the SERPs for your keywords, for example, you’ll want to spend a lot more time optimizing for PAA boxes than if they show up in, say, 30%.

That’s what we’re here to help you with. Let’s take a look at PAA frequency in several industries.

We analyzed 15 keyword sets from multiple different industries. Using Google’s Keyword Planner, we found hundreds of keywords for each of the following topics:

- Accounting software
- Auto repair
- Basketball training
- Couch
- Dog toys
- Drones
- Earbuds
- Health insurance
- How to Cook
- Mortgage
- Office leasing
- Potted plants
- Saving tips
- Sewing
- Ski equipment

And here’s the drill down:

![industry-specific people also ask data](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/1jhu22Viffu7gAU80BIcip/37800bef3a753e769856117bb6442424/Industry_Comparison.PNG)

As you can see, the number of PAA appearances ranged from about 32% to nearly 93%. That’s a whopping difference!

The percentages also varied by device, as shown in the graph below:

![industry-specific paa data device comparison](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/6a3ns4TqsQzzMdNxt7bJRB/65050f070651bbecb8d8e703b2337eb9/Device_Comparison.PNG)

When you do the deep dive analysis for your specific industry it becomes clear if you should spend more or less time optimizing for PAA questions. In this case, if you sell health insurance, make cooking tutorials, or offer accounting software, make optimizing for Google’s People Also Ask boxes a high priority. With office leasing, on the other hand, you should probably focus your efforts elsewhere.

What's more, Nozzle can analyze industry-specific PAA data over months to give you a magnified view of how important People Also Ask boxes are for your industry over time.

We tried this with keywords related to camping equipment over about 6 months. Check out the results:

![paa frequency over time for a specific industry](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/3JVKgjs8fK4roYSc9x0tV2/8e9515728d8f80e0fb902825e9535b24/PAA_over_time.PNG)

The PAA frequency varied by over 15%! But what exactly does this mean for the industry? If there's an increase in PAA box appearances, companies in that industry should <a href="https://nozzle.io/paa" target="blank">use Nozzle to extract the PAAs</a> again and get the new questions to send to their content team. If there's a drop, your SEO strategy might shift away from PAA optimization. Furthermore, you can look for seasonal trends and strategize accordingly.

Find more information about our keywords and data on our <a href="https://datastudio.google.com/reporting/de9a4331-ca52-4669-bd33-a8a8e058ce74" target="blank">interactive report</a>. 

If you’re interested in other industries for a future blog post, let us know in the comments.

Like what you saw above? Nozzle can generate <a href="https://nozzle.io/paa" target="blank">PAA data for your own keyword set</a>, including an extracted list of all the questions that Google serves up! It’s a highly targeted list of content ideas that your content team will appreciate.


Ian Campbell

Ian Campbell Profile Pic

PAA by Industry: Featured Image

It is important to analyze PAAs by industry and take a personalized approach when setting SEO strategy.

We analyzed 15 keyword sets to break down why analyzing People Also Asked frequency by industry matters.

The Importance of Analyzing PAAs by Industry

Use Industry-Specific People Also Ask Frequency to Help Set SEO Strategy

<a href="https://nozzle.io/paa" target="blank">Click Here to generate your free PAA Content Idea Report!</a>

Every SEO and content team knows that your website needs more content. But not just any content; content your targeted audience wants to know.

As a content marketer or SEO, you have probably asked yourself the something like the following:

How do I generate ideas for content creation?
Where can I find content ideas?
How do I get ideas for blog posts and articles?

The answer is: __WRITE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS "THE PEOPLE" WANT TO KNOW!__

What are those questions, you ask?

Introducing... 

## The PAA Content Idea Report

<a href="https://nozzle.io/paa" target="blank">Click Here to generate your free PAA Content Idea Report!</a>

Everyone has seen a "People also ask" box. Google shows them on almost half of all SERPs.

Here is one that appeared for the term "track the whole SERP":

![People also ask - track the whole SERP](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/1pRvKmjybb11FVQ8R1XFVQ/cb96aca6ea16ac15fbbeb5d979aa9752/People_also_ask_-_track_the_whole_SERP.png)

Google deems these questions to be very related to the searcher's intent which is why your website should be answering these questions for all of your keyword topics.

And yes, that could potentially be hundreds or thousands of questions depending on how many topics/categories/products/services you have on your website.

More importantly, you need to know which of these questions appeared the most across each of your keyword groups.

Using Nozzle's PAA Expansion Method, you can generate this very powerful list.

### First example:

In the first example below, an initial list of 250 phrases turned into 417 unique questions.

![PAA Expansion Method - 250 camping phrases](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/5VdZZyxy2bawDiS403IdGV/c8a94e55671f24c2b3e19e6690da4121/PAA_Expansion_Method_-_250_camping_phrases.JPG)

Then I took those 417 questions and put them in Nozzle and ran a one time pull to generate an even bigger list of related questions. The result being 1,131 unique questions.

![PAA Expansion Method - 2nd iteration for camping phrases](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/4QAT1iJuBjbbsP53YBsalw/23ce1cd9fd6979d24d0bf2cf57271eb2/PAA_Expansion_Method_-_2nd_iteration_for_camping_phrases.JPG)

You can play around with this specific <a href="https://datastudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/a7e49d0a-5478-45fb-ac8b-1f4ceff391f7" target="blank">REI Demo PAA Report here.</a> 

Use the filters to see questions specifically related to each keyword group or to pull up a list that only includes specific terms like "cooler", "chair", or "butane".

### Second Example:

In this example, I started with only 3 phrases and used the PAA Expansion Method 4 times to end up with a list of 1,033 unique questions related to Christmas.

![PAA Expansion Method - starting with 3 christmas phrases](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/6xJqpA8uUtLmrbNy6HjXsY/3b89df64bac8d08a6ebd6b5f76f5f22e/PAA_Expansion_Method_-_starting_with_3_christmas_phrases.JPG)

Play around with the <a href="https://datastudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/570ca191-1b12-4b4c-aac8-b630b99b02cf" target="blank">Christmas PAA Expansion here.</a>

Lets end with a quote from a happy PAA Deliverable recipient:

> You just gave me a year's worth of content ideas for this project!

To generate your very own PAA deliverable to give you the warm fuzzies, <a href="https://nozzle.io/paa">click here.</a>


PAA Expansion Method - 250 camping phrases

PAA Content Idea Report

The PAA Content Idea Report - Build A People Also Ask Question List

Once upon a time, the search engine was like a fishing rod that would pull content up based on how keyword-dense it was.

Website owners were more focused on writing content that included lots of keywords that they inserted everywhere they could. This meant that a reader was greeted with the same key phrase in the title of the article as well as in the first line, the first heading, and repeatedly throughout the content.

However, in the past few years, Google has made it increasingly clear that it has grown smarter with age. It no longer rewards a higher position based on how many keywords you’re sprinkling throughout your content.

Starting with Panda, Google takes into account content quality ranking factors to position your content in the search engine results pages (SERPs). For instance, content gets ranked based on how reader-friendly and useful it is.

The days of inserting a keyword that doesn’t make much grammatical sense are over. Writers have to make sure they write content that pleases humans to attract Google’s attention. And they also have to play smarter – insert relevant keywords more strategically than just follow a laid-out formula.

## What most websites get wrong

Consider John. He has recently created a new business website and has a blog page for it. John sets out to find writers who can write him SEO-friendly posts for his site with the hopes to attract more traffic to his business. But, because he’s so desperate for success and he’s not up to date with the latest Google guidelines, his focus is on creating keyword-rich posts.

Question is, even if John’s writer adds the correct keywords and uses them wisely throughout the content, do John’s blog posts have a chance of ranking immediately?

Not really. Even if John’s content contains a good load of keywords placed in a 2500-word guide, Google still wouldn’t tug it up to the first or even seventh page. 

This is because the algorithm also looks at other factors than just how detailed and keyword enriched a content piece is. You see, there are more than <a href="https://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors" target="blank">200 ranking factors</a> that Google looks at to determine where it should place your page in the results.

Majorly, it looks at the authority and credibility of a site. Therefore, if a website has <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/building-backlinks-should-be-building-your-brand" target="blank">more links from authoritative sites</a> pointing toward it, the higher its spot will be in the SERPs. Furthermore, you want as many links as possible to each piece of content on your site to build up your website’s authority.

Now, building authority and credibility takes time. And this process requires you to write unique, evidence-based, and worthy content that speaks to humans. After all, other high-quality sites will only give you backlinks when they find your content to be a helpful, educational resource.

Put simply, don’t merely focus on keywords when you start out. Write conversationally and provide value in your posts. Most importantly, have a proper, well-thought-out content plan to crawl your way up in the SERPs.

As for other ranking factors, here’s a look at the <a href="https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-ranking-factors/" target="blank">top 10 Google ranking factors</a> that you shouldn’t ignore.

## So, you should write for your readers. But how to go about that?

Think of it like this – how do you, as a reader, react to content that chokes your throat with its obvious keyword volume? You roll your eyes and leave the page to go to another that serves you with an in-depth solution to your query. Even better if the article packs in some additional tips.

If you understand what you, as a reader, expect from the content you come across on the web, then you’d be able to nail what Google (and your readers) want from it. But content that is filled with jargon, difficult words, and hasn’t been structured well repels you.

Google gets this which is why it positions content that is authoritative, valuable, and readable at the top. Put simply, your content should be:

-  __Well researched and full of value__ – readers should leave with actionable takeaways from what you’ve written.
-  __Easy to read__ – write in simple language and shorter paragraphs. Also, use bullet points + headings, and structure your content properly.
-   __Interesting__ – add relevant images such as graphics and screenshots to explain your point and make your content clearer and more interesting.
-   __Conversational__ – speak to your audience by addressing them and be natural in your writing.
-   __Properly edited__ – cut out fluff and make sure your piece <a href="https://alafiyamemon.com/2020/04/13/how-to-edit-your-writing/" target="blank">doesn’t include any grammatical or other errors.</a>

Look at how properly structured this Evernote blog post is. It has short paragraphs, uses heading tags, bullet points, and simple language:

![ Should you write for your readers or the search engine?](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/3pFD1BLQWYYOCW9tdqnjWX/82aa5009c151cbe0d1a5ff2198f7d0b8/PICTURE_1_Should_you_write_for_your_readers_or_the_search_engine)

<a href="https://evernote.com/blog/capture-ideas-accomplish-more/" target="blank">source</a>

## Don’t forget to optimize for the search engine too

Yes, you should write for humans and Google bots are adapting more to measuring your article based on how reader-friendly it is. But this doesn’t translate to completely forgetting about keywords and other algorithm-attracting guidelines.

Google wants you to write content that answers people’s queries in-depth, which is often better achieved with longer content. It also appreciates if you use relevant and applicable keywords at the right places. Moreover, you get brownie points for adding internal and high-quality external links.

So, along with writing for your readers, also make sure you pay heed to the following SEO factors:

- __Content length__ – as per HubSpot’s latest data, your blog post should ideally be 2,100 to 2,400 words long. The length of your article can vary depending on whether you are writing a how-to guide or a listicle. <a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-long-should-your-blog-posts-be-faq" target="blank">Here’s what HubSpot has to say</a> regarding the length of your blog post. 

- __Links__ – make your article more resourceful or evidence-based by adding outbound links to credible sources. Also, link internally to other relevant, informative blog posts you’ve written.

- __Focus keyword__ – use tools like <a href="https://www.semrush.com/" target="blank">SEMrush</a> or <a href="https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/" target="blank">Ubersuggest</a> to find your keywords and then <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/where-to-add-keywords-in-your-content-to-improve-your-ranking" target="blank">place these keywords naturally</a> in your title, image tags, URL, and meta description. Keep in mind finding the right keywords isn’t easy. Consider using long-tail keywords too and ponder over a reader’s search intent before finalizing which keywords to include.

Take a look at how strategically the focus keyword has been used in this Visme blog post that also happens to be conversational and easy-to-read.

![Choosing the right infographic for your blog post](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/n1dAJeIRmKbFtTLRqxxWp/246035f2211ccc63008c4206952ad9f2/PICTURE_3_Should_you_write_for_your_readers_or_the_search_engine)

<a href="https://visme.co/blog/infographic-dimensions/" target="blank">source</a>

## Summing Up – user and Google friendly writing practices can go hand in hand

Once you get the hang of it, it won’t be challenging to create content that is pleasing to both your readers and search engines. If anything, Google wants you to write for your readers, which is why it insists you use keywords intelligently rather than forcefully.

The only reason Google favors long-form content is that people want more detailed solutions when they enter a query. You’re unlikely to be able to jam in all the value and information that cover a topic within just 250 words, isn’t it? It also wants you to add links for offering further value to readers – they should be able to dive deeper into a topic with just a click. In short, write for both your readers and the search engine. 


Choosing the right infographic for your blog post

Once you get the hang of it, it won’t be challenging to create content that is pleasing to both your readers and search engines. If anything, Google wants you to write for your readers, which is why it insists you use keywords intelligently rather than forcefully.

Important tips on how to write an SEO optimized blog post.

Should You Write For Your Readers Or The Search Engines?

How to write an SEO optimized blog post

Backlinks, love them, or hate them, are a critical component to doing search engine optimization.

While there are a variety of methods that have changed over the years as Google rolls out more algorithm updates based on feathered and furry animals or Sesame Street characters, one thing is for certain—backlinks still remain an integral part of how a website ranks.

## Creating High-Quality Backlinks
One of the most common questions for most people in digital marketing is "how to create quality backlinks."

Unfortunately, for a lot of marketers, this is where things start to get confusing. 

After all, how do you create “quality links?”

Here are a few things I’ll be discussing in this article:
- [Common link building pitfalls](#pitfalls)
- [Why entities matter when building links](#buildYourBrand)
- [Actionable link building](#actionableLinkBuilding)
- [Content juicing](#contentJuicing)
- [Leveraging automation](#leveragingAutomation)
- [Link continuity and UX](#walkingAMile)

<a name="pitfalls"></a>
## Backlink Pitfalls
Typically, there are a couple of common pitfalls when people build backlinks.

### Pitfall 1: Content Only Strategy
It’s true, content is king. However, content without links is a lot like having a car without any fuel. Sure, it looks nice and may get the attention of a few people—but how far can that really get you? 

Even with the most experienced wordsmith at the helm, content without links may be overtaken by sites that are seen as more authoritative and trusted. 

So how the heck does a site become more trusted? 
In spite of all the advancements Google has made in its algorithm, links still provide one of the clearest signals that a website can be trusted. The more links from quality sources can equate into traffic increases and additional authority within a particular market.

### Pitfall 2: Link Only Strategy
If you’re relying on links alone to rank your site it’s probably not going to happen. 

That’s not to say you can’t brute force a website up in search results, there are plenty of case studies showing how this can be done. However, using this method, will most likely not stick without a lot of additional effort. Additionally, you’re probably going to be penalized depending on how aggressively you’re seeking those links. This approach is commonly classified as a black hat tactic.

The problem is that many people in this camp tend to have horrible content (looking at you lazy spinner). It's blasé and uninspired. In order to get a link from someone, you must have content worth linking to.

The sad reality is that, without quality content, links alone won't get you very far. You must have something worth linking to if you want a link from a quality site. 

To be truly effective, you need *both* content and links.

## Build Your Brand

Before building links, I cannot underscore the importance of getting your on-page SEO dialed in.

Making sure your on-page SEO is correctly implemented will help ease the process of backlink building. In fact, you’ll need far fewer backlinks to rank well.This means you’ll need to spend some time on your titles, descriptions and headings, adjusting site architecture, improving internal linking, and structured data. 

As Google moves from the web of strings (search queries) to the web of things (relationships) working on your entity becomes increasingly more important. Similarly, an understanding of natural language processing (NLP) and semantic search can provide a competitive edge.

Brand building, or building links around a brand is a fundamental part of marketing. If done properly, it can weather the storm in spite of algorithm updates. Wouldn’t that be nice—"worryless SEO?"

<a name ="buildYourBrand"></a>
## Building Your Brand Using Entity-Based SEO

In case you’re not familiar with what entities are and how they relate to SEO, I’d recommend checking out this article on <a href="https://www.searchenginejournal.com/entity-seo/277231/" target="blank">Search Engine Journal.</a> Entities are defined as, “A thing or concept that is singular, unique, well-defined and distinguishable.”

To illustrate this in something less abstract, entities often trigger knowledge panel results or additional SERP features. Unfortunately, Google doesn’t always get this correct. In most cases, this is due to multiple results that may be unclear.

As a simple example, the word “cars” could mean a lot of things. By itself (without any kind of clarification) you could be talking about any of the following:
●	An automobile
●	The Disney-Pixar movie
●	The 1970’s new wave band (You’re just what I needed…🎶)

![cars-image-carousel](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/6qaYVk8xREa34y9gsGB9Zh/c1207d10db4bbfae91b9c7551236c665/cars-image-carousel.jpg)

However, when we provide additional context and add keywords to the page like, “1964 Shelby Cobra,” “muffler,” or “transmission system” it becomes quite clear that the keyword “cars” is clearly talking about an automobile.

![cars-disambiguation-image](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/14Z67XgL9HrKudpGCVa0mW/a4d901a4791c0561aece4eb190125580/cars-disambiguation-image.jpg)

Disambiguation can be a powerful thing when paired with the implementation of structured data markup.

## Brand-Based Link Building

<a href="https://www.link-assistant.com/news/entity-case-study.html" target="blank">Using entity-based SEO</a> can have a significant impact on brand visibility. When you get your entity right, it only takes a few links to provide a decent amount of “push.”

So how is this done? Connecting relationships between your brand and other keywords that are so strong, you’re seen as the definitive result.

Think about brands like Kleenex or Google. You’d never say, “I’m going to get a facial tissue”—you’d say please get me a Kleenex. This is because Kleenex has become synonymous with the brand. Some could even argue that they are THE brand and others are the generic version.

The same could be said about Google. We rarely say “I’m going to run a search query” on a particular topic. We say, “I’m going to Google that.”

While this is an overly simplified way to look at brand building, the concept should be quite clear. You want to be the definitive brand that represents the entity.

To start brand building, obviously consider all of the profiles that any business should have. These can provide additional signals that validate your entity:
- Google My Business (if a local business)
- Facebook
- Instagram
- Twitter
- Linkedin
- YouTube
- Yelp
- Pinterest
- Vimeo
- Foursquare
- Crunchbase

Branded properties help provide signals that can serve as a foundation for your link building efforts. Like our example of Kleenex and Google, we want to be ubiquitous. You don’t need to be active on each of the platforms, but claiming these profiles increases your brand’s footprint as well as prevents your competitors from hijacking your brand.

Next consider places in which you can start building brand signals. These could be places in which you share photos, whitepapers, resources, or news. You could also consider building citations as long as the site isn’t too spammy. 

To get you started, consider the following:
- Press release news rooms
- Whatsapp
- Tumblr
- Flickr
- Blogger
- Slideshare
- Issuu
- Medium
- Alignable
- Upcity
- Paper.li

When building these additional profiles, remember that you’re creating signals about your business. At this point, I’m not too concerned with follow vs nofollow links—it’s simply getting your name out there.

<a name="actionableLinkBuilding"></a>
## Actionable Link Building

Before embarking on a link building campaign, take a moment to develop your plan. Having a blueprint in place can help you identify potential pitfalls.

A blueprint can also serve as an anchor point that you can refer back to. I’ve found this to be invaluable, especially when you’re in the middle of a campaign and things get crazy.

Sometimes, you need that reference to keep the campaign focused and on-track.

The key questions to ask when creating your plan are:
1.	__What do you hope to accomplish with the campaign?__ This should follow SMART goal setting (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-based)
2.	__Who do you want a link from?__ Before starting a link building campaign, ask yourself who/where you want a link from‒this could be another website, social shares, public relations or brand recognition.
3.	__Is this time-sensitive or evergreen?__ I almost always opt for links to evergreen content, since they’re easier to obtain when content juicing.

<a name="contentJuicing"></a>
## Content Juicing

One of my favorite link building techniques is a repurposing technique I refer to as “content juicing.” 

This method leverages off-page branded assets that can pass link equity back to your primary property.

When you have a piece of content, think of the various ways that you could repurpose and leverage it on as many mediums as possible.

![content juicing diagram - link building technique](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/5xdwzVnEAZhG97TRTHkBzY/585678e78e81b0da6559e43b63950193/content-juicing-diagram.png)

As an example, you might consider the following:
1.	Create a vlog or video interview
2.	Cut the vlog into short clips for snippets or social posts
3.	Separate the audio from the video and create a podcast
4.	Convert the audio to text using a service like Rev
5.	Add additional content to the text as necessary and use as a blog
6.	Create an infographic, incorporate visuals, and create a video thumbnail
7.	Create additional resources for your blog (Google slides can work very well for this purpose)
8.	Before publishing the blog, use the previous assets you’ve created to allow users to read, listen, or watch your blog—whichever happens to be their preferred medium

The key component of content juicing is to provide multiple platforms in which a user can engage with your content. Additionally, a call to action should assist in driving traffic back to your website. Ideally, this would be in the form of a link or call to action.

When considering this method, it’s important to run your properties through a link tracer, such as wheregoes.com or Link Redirect Trace Extension, to make sure that you’re getting value from the links you’re building.

<div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0;"><iframe src="https://www.loom.com/embed/c3ff8981a4174699a621ccd18096089b" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;"></iframe></div>

![link redirect trace Chrome Extension Example](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/3c8V1Ks0Jaqvf4GALNPePW/f888499256605459b980628bb04233b0/link-redirect-trace.png)

<a name="leveragingAutomation"></a>

## Leveraging Automation

This is more of a content syndication method, not necessarily a link-building strategy. Still, it can enhance your brand signals, which can have an effect on people linking to you.

It goes without saying, but consider the platform you’re publishing content to. Facebook users consume content in a different way than Instagram users. 

Also, it’s important to note there’s no substitute for personalized engagement. Using automation to schedule or promote your content can buy you a ton of time!

Whether you do this manually or through automated processes is irrelevant. The point is that you want to promote your content on several channels and create signals that point back to your primary entity. 

Another benefit of automation is that you can schedule many top-of-funnel activities, such as posting your content and focus on engagement. Imagine, spending 2-3 hours on developing the content for the entire month, then interacting with users—this allows you to spend more time cultivating meaningful relationships.

<a name="walkingAMile"></a>
## Walking A Mile In Your Customer’s Shoes

Be honest, when was the last time you did a top-to-bottom screenshot of your website or social media page and analyzed it. 

For that matter, when was the last time you’d evaluated the engagement of a page?

It doesn’t have to be a laborious process. I’m talking super-simple, knee-jerk analysis:
- Is there cohesiveness in the links and messaging?
- Does your content elicit a reaction from people? If so, what does that look like?
- Is your content and backlink strategy in-line with what other big players in your industry are doing?

Doing something this simple can uncover some opportunities.

Consider interlinking content together using traditional silos throughout your branded properties. This is one way to funnel authority to your primary pieces of content. It’s also a powerful link building method that you can control.

Also, just because you’ve promoted a piece of content once or twice, doesn’t mean you have to stop. Keep building links to your evergreen content on a monthly basis. This will help increase the relevancy and authority of not only the link, but also your entity.

### Conclusion

Link building doesn’t have to be difficult. By focusing on your entity, creating quality brand signals, repurposing content into multiple mediums, you can create quality links. 

Quit thinking of yourself as an SEO or link builder. Instead, think of yourself as a marketer and focus on places you can promote the brand. This can help uncover opportunities you may have previously overlooked.

Remember: create for humans, optimize for bots.


content juicing diagram - link building technique

Backlinks still remain an integral part of how a website ranks. Build your brand and your backlinks at the same time using the 'content juicing' method and more.

Backlinks, love them, or hate them, are a critical component to doing search engine optimization.

Building Backlinks Should Be Building Your Brand

Have you ever pondered the time disparity between how long it takes to build something versus destroy it?

For example:

- I spent dozens of hours over the course of five months putting together a 5,000 piece puzzle; it took only 2 minutes to destroy it and put it back into the box.
- A building takes months to construct and days to demolish.
- A great marriage takes years to nurture and develop but can be ruined in a matter of weeks, days, or even minutes.
- A wooden marble track I build with my kids takes minutes to construct but one accidental movement knocks it down in seconds.

The same fast-acting destruction can happen to all of your hard work and efforts in SEO. It takes weeks, months, and years to build up a well optimized site with tons of authority and backlinks and buttoned up technical SEO. In a matter of minutes, it can all be destroyed because of a simple mistake, oversight, or decision made by the upper brass.

Let's take a look at five destructive SEO tactics--er--mishaps that can ruin all your SEO progress before you finish reading this post.

## 1. Noindexing your whole site

![car crashing into garage door is like noindexing your website](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/3CEjn5gIFrO1Lna0DYpMao/0a90efcf44da1694285bd4e8ee904bd2/car_crashing_into_garage_door_is_like_noindexing_your_website.gif)

I've seen this happen several times over the years, mostly by accident.

One website I worked on a few years back launched some site updates with their robots.txt file disallowing their whole site. This company lost weeks of organic traffic before anyone realized this huge oversight. Unfortunately, this happened twice.

It makes sense to have your staging site disallow search engine indexing but you need to have a process in place to change that when you launch. Since this time, they have added an automated process that corrects the robots.txt file when moving from staging to launched.

## 2. Deleting all of your informational pages

![shooting a pole at a window pane is like deleting all of your informational and authoritative web pages](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/2qxfOayNOxVc4Ytv6LkM8X/e5c8a1ad426d0d07106a4adac23f9bfb/shooting_a_pole_at_a_window_pane_is_like_deleting_all_of_your_informational_and_authoritative_web_pages.gif)

Rankings and organic traffic can suffer as a result of business decisions. Eoghan Henn, co founder of <a href="https://www.searchviu.com/en/" target="blank">searchVIU</a>, shared a case study that showed the <a href="https://searchengineland.com/case-study-the-true-value-of-informational-content-for-e-commerce-seo-327692" target="blank">negative impact of deleting informational pages with link authority</a> from a website.

The homepage and category pages lost most of their top rankings for search queries responsible for generating revenue for the company resulting in a loss of about one-third of its overall visibility in the SERPs. Ouch! 

## 3. Failing to redirect an old domain to a new domain

![knocking down shelfs with a forklift is like not implementing 301 redirects properly](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/PWv0RVJUaC8A4qJJdb5oe/3d5942acf73dd3e91d514c2c411e01c0/knocking_down_shelfs_with_a_forklift_is_like_not_implementing_301_redirects_properly.gif)

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A disappointing few months on this one...client moving domains wouldn&#39;t redirect the previous domain. Even worse, they then let the old domain expire &amp; it&#39;s been grabbed by someone else. We gave them *plenty* of warnings...it had 1 million links pointing to it 😱 <a href="https://t.co/Zbd0hC44W2">pic.twitter.com/Zbd0hC44W2</a></p>&mdash; Will O&#39;Hara 👨🏽‍💻 (@willohara) <a href="https://twitter.com/willohara/status/1132750204661305351?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

This has to be one of the saddest SEO stories out there. Unfortunately, it happens way more than it should.

Here's another example from the same twitter thread. As you can see, we SEOs like to commiserate with each other.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Been there. Site&#39;s blog had 800k links, 10k pages of content, and back when we measured those things? A PR10. <br><br>They moved it to Tumblr, carried over none of content, and redirected none of the pages. <br><br>I nearly cried lol<br><br>So hard to save clients from themselves at times :)</p>&mdash; Kristine Schachinger (@schachin) <a href="https://twitter.com/schachin/status/1132952136730308608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


## 4. Removing a large quantity of valuable backlinks

![exploding a watermelon with rubberbands is like deleting your backlinks one by one](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/5FUWKi8EPbH76qBlTVXARV/ec96b5e5d586b0226393d63b70b191fc/exploding_a_watermelon_with_rubberbands_is_like_deleting_your_backlinks_one_by_one.gif)

One healthcare company, after an FDA inspection, decided to immediately ask hundreds of websites to remove the link pointing to their website until approved content could be verified.  As a result, a large quantity of their links disappeared over night.

Eventually, most of those links were reacquired once they could verify that all verbiage on each individual site was compliant with the FDA's approved messaging.

## 5. Not adding optimized content to every important page

![house falling into a river is like ignoring adding optimized content to your web pages](//images.ctfassets.net/z8uwv83tofbw/7LfeTRdr7tSLSLCMQPCwL2/f0dffbbf4ac70eecc3d23b798371cba9/house_falling_into_a_river_is_like_ignoring_adding_optimized_content_to_your_web_pages.gif)

Every important page on a website will fare better with optimized content. Choosing to not add more content to important pages can hurt your ability to rank for more keywords.

I recently wrote about the <a href="https://nozzle.io/blog/success-story-adding-content-to-ecommerce-category-pages" target="blank">results of one ecommerce site</a> that added a few paragraphs of content to all their ecommerce category landing pages. After it was all done, they ranked in the top ten for 800 more phrases than before they added the content.

__In Conclusion:__

Sometimes frustrating decisions are made that affect your job as an SEO. Do your best to communicate to the decision makers the ranking and organic traffic consequences and what that will mean to the bottom line. You can't win them all but you can come out looking like you know what you're talking about.

In the end, if you can avoid any of the above SEO disasters, then give yourself a pat on the back.


car crashing into garage door is like noindexing your website

In business, decisions sometimes are made that will impede or destroy all of your SEO progress. Look out for these and good luck.

Blog - Content Marketing