We know that Google is constantly experimenting with search results. For search engine optimizers, goals keep shifting. SEO earlier was about ranking against competitors in the same category. Now it has moved to a point where SEO is about having a sustained approach against Google’s changing algorithm. Ranking on position 1 is yesterday. SEO is now about ranking in position zero. What is position zero? Position zero is the ‘featured snippet’ that shows above the first search result. It looks different as it is highlighted in a grey outline box and features the answer in the first few lines. For a typical query, you are highly likely to find your answer in this snippet, so much so, that you may not go beyond if the snippet gives you the answer you need. You are also much more likely to click on this result compared to others that appear below. How do featured snippets work? Here’s what Google has to say: Here’s the nice additional bit that a lot of people miss – “Featured snippets commonly contain one listing, but more than one may appear.“ This means Google is picking the most definitive reply to a query which is most likely based on its historic performance. It is highly likely that these are: It’s high ranking in organic search based on various existing parameters of the search algorithm High click rate on the query Likely answer to the exact question in the format of an answer in a few lines and also a detailed explanation for support The average amount of time spent on-page and a lower bounce rate which is a signal that the answer is relevant Are there different types of featured snippets? Well, the are different types of content that get featured. This includes paragraphs, numbered lists, bulleted lists, tables, YouTube videos, images, and charts. Why are featured snippets important? Other than the most obvious fact of added visibility, featured snippets are also what you hear as an answer if you do a voice search. Not just that, 55% of households are expected to own smart speaker devices by 2022. From this lens, if you are not in the featured snippet, nothing much else will matter. The good part is that more than one result can be in the featured snippet. Here’s an example of what multiple featured snippets looks like We searched for ‘top 10 places to holiday in India’. While the main featured snippet read ‘According to Travel Triangle’, it also had ‘View 5+ more’ on the top right corner. The result takes you to a page where Travel Triangle is still featured in the first two search results and also as a first result in the answer box. Then you’ll see search results from competitors like Thrillophillia and MakeMyTrip among others on the same topic. Here’s another thing that grabs attention – the featured snippet is not a paragraph directly taken from the page. The snippet program is built in a way that it will scan the entire page, select content from the page in parts, gather it and show it in the more relevant and effective manner. With this instance of the Travel Triangle blog, you’ll see that Google has reformatted the content and just picked up the list for display with minimal or no text from within each list item. Another reason to care about position zero in terms of search is also that it is shown before the ads. It takes up significantly more real estate space than regular results garnering more attention – and there is no way you can pay to get here. And now the question you are really seeking the answer to – How do I get to rank in the featured snippet? As with all things SEO, there are tips and tricks to get yourself into position zero. Here are some things that can help First – get to the first page of search results – the higher the better. This is half the battle won for any SEO. Now, even a no. 10 listing on page 1 has a chance to get into position zero, however, the majority of featured snippets come from results that rank between 1 to 5. Work backward – what is the most likely question for which your particular blog can be the best possible answer. Provide the right information in the right format. Include all possible information through that one page Include rich media including infographics and video on the page in the same context Keep updating the page as often as possible. Keep a timeline check on when the page was last updated and if it the latest page is crawled Optimize the title by adding a part of the query to it as an H tag. Also, add the year/month where relevant. For example, something like ‘2019’s most definitive list to get to position zero on Google’. Keep the page engaging by opening comments so that there is always fresh user-generated content on the page that gives the impression that the page has useful information. From a content perspective, answer the 5 Ws of who, what, when, where, why. This is most likely to cover the questions in context. Google’s answer box about the topic is likely to give you the questions people are already asking. Don’t forget to answer the How. Many questions seek instructions as answers on how to do or make something. If you have a video, image or content that answers this, make sure you include it in the page Add definitions: Definitions help solve the ‘What’ part of the question in a way that can keep it simple to understand and complex enough to intrigue someone to click through. Do a comparison: An a v/s b approach can be a great winner for a featured snippet people like to get information in context. For example, do a simple cat vs dog search on Google, you will see a featured snippet, featured videos, answer
Month: July 2019
Whatsapp for Business – All you need to know and how to assess if its worth it
Most marketeers have already heard about Whatsapp for Business that launched sometime back. A few early birds have tried it out. Most others are trying to figure their way around this new and seemingly powerful means of customer communication. Let’s get into the details of what this medium is, how to evaluate it for your business and what you’ll need to get started. What is Whatsapp for Business? In simple terms, it is a way for businesses to have one on one communication with their customers. As a business, you can be a just chat away from your customer at all times. Even though businesses have always wanted to do this, there has never been an easy way to do it. Our earlier means of communication like emailers SMSes and even notifications have long reached their saturation point, enough to be partially consumed but also easily ignored. Whatsapp, primarily because of its market penetration, established usage and a huge set of the captive audience becomes a gold mine for a savvy marketer. Where is Whatsapp for business users? In case you booked a movie ticket, it is likely that your booking service provider sent an update about your ticket on Whatsapp. Same goes for a travel ticket booking or even if you are interacting with your bank and want to know your balance. Most people received their first communication on Whatsaap as a transactional message which you can’t reply to. You must not have even realized giving consent during the booking/transaction process. Now you have your ticket right in a chat window – unmissable and quick to access. This establishes a window of communication initiated by the brand – but with rules. What are the rules I need to know before I use this medium? Whatsapp currently is trying things out and they have authorized third-party vendors who can help you with the technical set up and the communication strategy. Their primary fear is that brands exploit the medium and soon make it spammy. Aren’t we already tired of the Good Morning messages from various groups? Now what if brands start selling to you on Whatsapp – it can get irritating and mostly result in people blocking brands altogether. Most service providers will share a per-message cost with you. The cost varies depending on the base number of messages you commit to per month. The cost applies if you initiate the communication, but is free for a 24-hour window if your customer messages you first Whatsapp is establishing itself as a convenient way for customer service. They are being cautious to not open the platform for promotional content which they believe can lead to it becoming spammy All message templates need to adhere to stringent guidelines and will be executed only if approved by Whatsapp If your customers being to block you and report your messages as spam, Whatsapp too will block your number The most basic but most important rule – Whatsapp requires explicit customer consent before you send a message to them. The consent can be taken on other media like SMS, email, website form, etc. The consent can also be collected in an offline form but the record needs to be preserved electronically for easy access in case of conflict. What are the types of communication possible via Whatsapp? Whatsapp can primarily hold up the burden of your transactional communication. Ticket booking confirmations, links and relevant messages on Whatsapp allows easy access. The second type of communication is initiated by the customer with a service request or query. Thus, it can be used for issue resolution. What should marketers be varied while using Whatsapp for Business? It seems like a good bet to jump on the Whatsapp bandwagon and announce to your customers. Here are a few important things to consider before you do this The opt-in process starts from scratch. You’ll have to write the right opt-in message so that your customers have set expectations from the medium. The more transactional the better initially as those come as utility messages than regular communication.7 Consider a base technical set up cost and the cost per initiated communication from your end. Consider resource requirements to handle Whatsapp messages. This is similar to having people on standby for a live chat with your customers on your website. Except, many customers may think it is OK to reach out to you at an odd hour. Invest in training people who will be actually answering customer queries. If the first people in the line of fire fall, the whole system can crumble very quickly. We can see screenshots from Whatsapp chats floating on Twitter on how an irate customer service reacted on chat. Keep a thorough quality check on the responses delivered and be agile to intervene and change processes where required In spite of your best efforts, some disgruntled customers are likely to block you because of an unrelated issue. Because the line here is unclear, Whatsapp is more likely to side with your customer than you. How can you evaluate if Whatsapp for Business is right for you? To evaluate Whatsapp for Business, you need to have a handy document that establishes the business case. Here’s how you can do this: Get clarity on all customer-facing functions in your organization. In most companies, you’ll have a customer service team and a sales team in this line. Others may include finance (governing transactions). The sales may further split into offline and online sales depending on your business model. Collect volume data on communication from each of these functions. Understand how many touchpoints exist for each function (emails, SMSes, notifications), who they reach out to, how much overlap exists and the frequency of communication. This will help you get to a rough ballpark on the number of messages that you are likely to initiate via Whatsapp and what the cost will be. Shortlist which functions really need Whatsapp and which
How to Edit Social Media Posts That Have Already Been Published
When it comes to content, the competition becomes more intense every day. And for any brand that hopes to capture that slice of the customer’s attention, posting quality content simply isn’t enough. I can post a great Insta story or a witty meme with an even wittier caption, but if I’m doing it once in two weeks, there’s simply no point. Consistency is key — everyone from the biggest online brands to fledgeling Youtubers swears by this one rule. But consistency comes with its own issues. When you’re posting twice a day on Facebook, thrice on Instagram, four times on Twitter, and so on, chances are you’ll make a mistake or two. From racking your brains to create memorable copy to finding/creating that perfect image, there are way too many things that go into a social media post. Sometimes, the mistake may be as trivial as a misspelt word (which can still have a strong impact on your reputation) or you may just upload a completely wrong image! Whatever be the issue, here’s the complete guide on how you can resolve it. We’ve broken down editing options by social media platform, along with instructions on how to make things right. So here we go: Facebook Facebook is the one platform that’s part of the default marketing strategy for most brands. Given how frequently we end up posting on Facebook, it’s important to know how to quickly backtrack when necessary. What can be edited You can easily edit wrong spellings, poorly worded captions, and even entire textual content. Basically, as long as you’re dealing with the written word, Facebook lets you edit the post whenever you want. In fact, you can even change or add tags, whether that’s for brands, individual, or even locations. You can also edit posts with the Facebook Page Manager App. Keep on mind that edits on Facebook can be made by any Page admin. Plus, edits are also visible on the platform, including the ones that have been made before the post was published. Finally, the post’s edit history is actually public so any user can really look at the editing history if they really want to. This obviously shouldn’t deter you from making the edits you need to, it’s just something to keep in mind. How to edit Simply click/tap on the three dots which are present on the top right-hand corner of the actual post. Then select “Edit Post” from the drop-down menu that appears. Make your changes and just click “Save”. What cannot be edited Unlike textual content, photos and videos cannot be edited on the platform. So if you attach the wrong image or video to the post, you’ll simply have to delete the post and start from scratch. The only exception is if you are editing your post in the Facebook Pages app and you need to change an image. In that case, you can upload the new photo to a post and save it. Once you save the post, go to editing mode and delete the old photo. Importantly, if a post has been boosted, or is part of an ad campaign, it cannot be edited. So when you’re advertising on Facebook, please make sure your post is perfect before it goes live. Otherwise, you’ll have to keep deleting the old post and creating a new one. Twitter Twitter is the one platform where posting frequency is the maximum. In fact, many companies run a thriving customer support channel on Twitter. What can be edited Nothing! Unfortunately, there is no option of editing tweets as of now. This has been the subject of a lot of discussions but as of now, there is no move by the platform to provide an editing option. The company feels that giving the edit option would take away from the free-flowing nature of the platform. At times, Twitter has indicated that it might provide an editing option, with an ‘editing window’ of around 5 minutes after the tweet has been posted. However, there is no concrete progress on this as of now. How to edit Since there is no real editing option for tweets, if you make an error you simply have to delete the tweet and start again. Luckily, the limited size of a tweet makes it much easier to accomplish this. Instagram Instagram has become the most popular social media platform after Facebook. Plus, its young demographic (more than 600 million followers are under the age of 34) and high engagement rates means its often the primary platform for many marketers. What can be edited Just like Facebook, you can change textual information on Instagram. Which means you can edit your caption, add or change any location tag, and add or delete account tags. You can also add and edit alt text tags. How to edit Keep in mind that you can’t edit captions on the desktop version of Instagram. It can only be done within the app on your mobile. To edit the caption, go to your post and click the three dots on the top right side. Then tap the ‘edit’ button after which you can make changes like editing the caption, changing location, and adding account tags to the photo or video. Once the editing is complete, tap the “Done” button on the upper right side. What can’t be edited Similar to Facebook, you cannot edit the videos and images in a post once you’ve uploaded them. You’ll have to delete the post and start again. LinkedIn In recent years, LinkedIn has become the go-to platform for every B2B brand and two professionals join LinkedIn every second. What you can edit You can edit posts both from the Company page as well as your personal profile. Once again, you can only change the text. How to edit To edit your post, go to the page you posted from, and find the post. Click on the three dots on
How to Get High-Quality Backlinks: Strategies That Work in 2019
A young startup recently came to us thoroughly confused and exasperated by SEO. They had begun to think of SEO as this black box where things are constantly shifting and they just never quite knew how to get it right. There were so many elements to SEO — content, keywords, website optimization, meta tags and so on — that they often ended up feeling confused and directionless. Plus, with SEO evolving so much every few months, what worked one day would just not be as effective later. However, as we explained to this client when it comes to SEO, there are some things that are evergreen. And one of these is high-quality backlinks. A quality backlink basically says that a well-reputed website considers your content relevant enough to send their audience to it. In Google’s eyes, that automatically increases the value of your content and brings it much higher in the search engine results. Yet, most people, just like our client, are so intimidated by the idea of generating high-quality backlinks that they simply don’t know where to start. So, we decided to break down some of the strategies that have worked really well for us in the recent past and are likely to work in the near future as well. Reporting Broken Links This is a way to build high-quality links with some smart research and well-timed outreach. Here’s how: For starters, you need to find a list of sites that have either changed names, stopped offering a service, moved to a new URL, shut down, etc. Of course, these sites should have content similar to the content you offer. Use a backlink checking tool like Ahrefs to see which websites had links to these sites that are now defunct. In other words, all these websites will now have broken links that don’t lead to real content, undermining their user experience in a big way. Then email the people who are still using these outdated links and give them a heads up. In the same mail, you can mention that they could link to your website content instead. Chances are they’ll be a lot more receptive to your outreach because you’re doing them a huge favor. Skyscraper content A great way of generating high-quality backlinks is to create that one piece of content in your industry that truly stands out. It should be evergreen, comprehensive, extremely detailed, and at least 5-10x better than any other article on the subject. To know what to build this content around simply find a piece of content in your industry that has already performed well in terms of backlinks. And then create a more comprehensive, in-depth piece on the same subject. Make sure you aggressively share the article with influencers and bloggers in your industry as well as companies and brands that have been mentioned in the article. This will ensure you get the retweets and shares that you need. Before you know it, your content will generate the maximum number of backlinks for you. Turning brand mentions into backlinks This is a simple one. Use a social listening tool to get an alert every time someone mentions your brand on their blog. They’ve mentioned you so you already know they like you. All you need to do is send them a friendly email requesting them to convert the mention into a link, and voila, you have a high-quality backlink right there. Guest Posts Guest posts used to be one of the most effective methods for link-building. Over time, companies began mass-producing low-quality guest posts and publishing them across websites. This led to Google issuing a warning about guest posts with the result that a lot of marketers began staying away from this technique. However, guest posts continue to be one of the most effective ways of building high-quality backlinks. It’s a win-win situation where the owner of the blog gets free content and you get a quality backlink. The key is that the content should be top-notch. Also, it’s important to find the right websites for guest posts. A great starting point is to do some research on the guest posts of your competitors. If these websites have published something from competitors, they’re likely to accept guest posts from you. Use content formats that have a proven track record Did you know that 75% of all online content gets 0 backlinks? It’s very easy to create content that falls into this category. To create content that is among the other 25%, you should stick to content formats that have been proven to work. Take a look at this table for instance: As you can see, things like videos, infographics, lists, “how-to” and “why” posts are particularly successful when it comes to link-building. Of course, this doesn’t mean you should just create lists, how-to guides, and infographics. But they provide a good starting point around which you can build a comprehensive content marketing strategy. Find authority resource pages Authority resource pages are absolute gold when you’re looking to generate high-quality backlinks. Here’s an example of the perfect resource page: Hence, all you really need to do is find relevant resource pages and then send them the link to your content, simply asking to be added to the list. Of course, most people don’t refer to them as resource pages so finding them can be a little tricky. People usually refer to them as “helpful resources”, “useful resources”, “further reading”, and “additional resources”. So simply google any of these phrases together with the relevant keywords to find the right article. Conclusion Many people are still skeptical about whether link building actually works. Of course, misguided black hat SEO techniques like link building generators will only be counter-productive. However, painstakingly building high-quality backlinks is still the best way to build SEO in the long run. The techniques listed in this article should be your go-to as you look to build a long-lasting and