Maximize Your ROI with Google Ads Budget Optimization
Jun 27, 2023
10 min read
Google AdWords budget optimization is critical to maximizing the effectiveness and return on investment (ROI) of your advertising campaigns. With the vast potential of Google Ads to drive targeted traffic to your website, it is essential to develop a strategic approach that ensures optimal utilization of your ad budget.
In this article, we will delve into the intricacies of Google Ads budget optimization, providing you with valuable insights and techniques to enhance the performance of your campaigns. From understanding the various budgeting options to implementing advanced targeting and bidding strategies, we will explore how to make the most of your ads budget.
By leveraging data-driven analysis, keyword research, and ad performance monitoring, you can fine-tune your budget allocation to reach the right audience at the right time. We will discuss the importance of setting realistic campaign objectives, tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), and employing effective bid management strategies.
Ways to Optimize Your Google Ads Budget
1. Employ a Clever Bidding Strategy
Implementing an effective bidding strategy is a crucial component of optimizing your Google Ads budget and driving a higher return on investment (ROI). While adjusting the budget of an underperforming pay-per-click campaign may seem like a logical step, it is often more practical to focus on modifying your bids.
Target-focused strategies, such as cost-per-acquisition (CPA) and return-on-ad-spend (ROAS), leverage automated bidding techniques to allocate your budget based on specific performance goals. Rather than solely relying on budget adjustments to follow trends, these strategies dynamically adjust bids to maximize conversions and optimize campaign efficiency.
For example, adopting a target CPA approach allows you to set a desired cost for acquiring a new customer with each keyword. The algorithm then adjusts the target bid accordingly, minimizing spending while striving to achieve the desired acquisition cost. This intelligent bidding strategy helps you maintain a balanced budget allocation while maximizing the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns.
In addition to automated bidding, it is essential to leverage advanced bidding options such as enhanced cost-per-click (eCPC), target search page location, or target outranking share. These options enable you to fine-tune your bidding approach based on specific campaign objectives, such as maximizing visibility, outperforming competitors, or driving traffic to specific positions on search result pages.
You can optimize your Google Ads budget and achieve a higher ROI by implementing an effective bidding strategy tailored to your business goals. Continuously monitor performance metrics, conduct thorough keyword analysis, and leverage historical data to refine your bidding approach over time. With a strategic and data-driven bidding strategy in place, you can unlock the full potential of your Google Ads budget and drive impactful results for your business.
2. Mobile Optimisation:
Is your website mobile responsive, or do you redirect mobile traffic to a subpar mobile experience? Neglecting to optimize your website for mobile users can result in wasted ad spend. According to a survey commissioned by Google, a staggering 79% of U.S. smartphone users admitted they would leave a site that lacks mobile optimization.
The unfortunate reality is that even if visitors abandon your site immediately, you still have to pay for the clicks that brought them there. If your website is slow, difficult to navigate, or lacks organization, your ad budget is being squandered on ineffective clicks.
To maximize the impact of your ads, it is crucial to address any issues with formatting and functionality on your website and landing pages. Fortunately, there are numerous ways to test and improve your site's mobile optimization. Take a closer look at your buttons and menu, ensuring that site navigation is smooth and user-friendly for both new and returning visitors. Additionally, guard against choice paralysis by offering a streamlined menu that guides visitors efficiently.
Don't let poor mobile optimization hinder your ad campaign's success. Invest the time and effort to fix any formatting or functionality issues on your website, enabling you to make the most of your ad budget. By providing a seamless and enjoyable mobile experience, you can engage users, reduce bounce rates, and maximize the return on your advertising investment.
3. Leverage Quality Scores:
The quality score of your search campaigns plays a significant role in determining cost efficiency and ad rank. Unlike other metrics, the quality score is determined by several factors, each of which contributes to assigning a score between zero and 10.
While the exact weightage of each factor is unknown, key indicators include landing page relevance and quality, click-through rate (CTR), relevance of keywords to their respective ad groups, the historical performance of the Google Ads account, and ad relevance.
Given that relevance is a crucial measure of quality score, it is essential to start by evaluating your keyword organization. Ensure that your keywords are grouped into specific categories and distributed across separate ad campaigns.
Within these categories, maintain consistency between your keywords and the content of your landing pages. Regularly update your keywords based on actual search terms and employ negative keywords to prevent wasteful spending on irrelevant clicks.
Lastly, it is vital to ensure that your ad text aligns cohesively with your keywords, providing a relevant customer journey from search terms to ad clicks and, ultimately, to landing pages.
4. Automation of High-Performing Ads:
Implementing automation in your advertising campaigns can be a time-saving and effective way to increase conversion rates. The success of automation depends largely on the volume of traffic generated by each keyword and can be influenced by seasonal factors.
Keywords that have significant performance data can provide valuable insights into future performance, allowing for more accurate automated bidding.
Automation is a critical process because the algorithm leverages extensive information to optimize bidding for a higher return on investment. However, the process becomes more complex when dealing with keywords that lack sufficient data.
In such cases, the Google Ads system takes into account the conversion rates of your ad groups and campaigns to make informed decisions and avoid unnecessary confusion, ultimately saving time and effort.
5. Keywords with Similar Conversion Rates:
Efficiently structuring your keywords with similar conversion rates is a recommended approach when dealing with a limited number of keywords. By grouping keywords based on their conversion rates, you can establish a more comprehensive metric for evaluation. This organization plays a crucial role in automated bidding, as it provides a consistent indicator of the performance of specific keywords.
To implement this practice, analyze the relevance of your keywords and create groups based on factors such as conversion rates, value, or product lines. When the Google algorithm encounters a keyword with insufficient data, it automatically considers the conversion rates of related ad campaigns within the group for contextual information. In the absence of such data, the algorithm relies on the performance data of the specific keyword itself to determine its bid.
Method to Change Your Google Ads Budget
If you are stuck on the question of how to change budget in Google ads, follow these steps:
- Sign in to your Google Ads account at ads.google.com.
- Click on the "Campaigns" tab to access your campaigns.
- Select the campaign for which you want to change the budget.
- Within the campaign, click on the "Settings" tab.
- Under the "Budget" section, click on the "Edit" button next to your current budget.
- In the budget settings, you have different options:
- If you want to change the daily budget, enter the new amount you wish to allocate for each day.
- If you prefer to set a different budget period (e.g., monthly or quarterly), click on the drop-down menu next to "Delivery method" and select "Change to: X per X."
- After making the desired changes, click on the "Save" button to apply the new budget.
Note: Keep in mind that changing your budget might impact the delivery and performance of your ads. It can take some time for the system to adjust to the new budget, so monitor your campaign's performance closely after making any adjustments.
Remember, optimizing your budget is an ongoing process. Continuously evaluate and change the budget for Google ads based on the performance and goals of your campaigns to ensure optimal results.
In Conclusion
Optimizing your Google Ads budget is a crucial step toward maximizing the return on investment (ROI) for your advertising campaigns. However, managing Google Ads budgets and making adjustments can sometimes be a complex process, especially when it comes to changing budgets. If you're looking for expert guidance on how to change your budget in Google Ads and further enhance your budget optimization efforts, Saffron Edge is here to help.
Don't let budget constraints hinder the success of your Google Ads campaigns. Take the next step towards effective budget optimization by contacting Saffron Edge today.
How Negative Online Reputation On Social Media Can Ruin Your Business?
"Social networks are a great place to rebuild the reputation" - Mr Knott One of the most widespread marketing tools in the digital age is social media. It is where we can reach out to the huge amount of public just in a single minute. One can do wonders for building their business and establish a strong brand presence in the market. On the opposite hand, social media can also kick-back and destroy a brand reputation in a matter of minutes if not done correctly. This is one of the main reasons why top businesses often take the help of reputation management professionals who are well versed in the ins and outs of managing a brand reputation online. Social media is the most immediate threat to your company's reputation," says Pete Knott, digital consultant at reputation management consultancy Lansons. Remember this 4th of July, when NIKE had to release its Air Max 1 with Betsy Ross Flag on it, to celebrate an American history week. But sportswear behemoth canceled on the distribution of the special edition shoe when Colin Kaepernick advised the company not to do it. Colin Kaepernick had an issue with sneakers design, which features 13 white stars in a circle known as Betsy Ross Flag. He referred this as Revolutionary War-era Version of the American flag, which is associated with the era of slavery. Shortly after Nike announced pulling off the shoes, right-wing politicians, including Ted Cruz and Herman Cain, vocally opposed the decision. It was Arizona governor's tweet that weighed most. He took the twitter not only announcing “embarrassed for Nike” but also step back from the funding for the establishment of Nike facility in the state of Arizona which could have employed 500 people. Source After the tweets, various users started posting about the videos of burning Nike shoes all over the social media platform. This kind of event and incidents can hamper the online reputation of any brand severely. How Your Social Media handles can hurt you Hackers Hackers can cause considerable damage to the social media campaign of the company; it is given that if they manage to break into the account of the company. Imagine if they manage to break in the account of your account and post something that appreciates the terrorist groups. One can’t think of the damage that has been by this to the brand. If it was picked up by other users over social media, then present in the market is negligible. Creative crooks Oh! They are more creative than hackers, but they don’t use the tech that hackers are using. Instead of that, they are willing to take a shorter and easier road for creating damage. They make a fake account of the company and start posting stuff and interact with the audience to gain valuable links under your brand name (as they are disguised as yourself) and run the potential for blocking or creating severe reputation damage to your brand. Internet trolls An Internet troll is a person who says something purposely controversial to gain intention over the big world of the internet. Either they do it for fun or target some individuals or businesses. Trolls only succeed in your reaction. Every time you’re responding to a troll you’re giving them what they want, and this is usually affecting their reach and negatively affect your business. Unhappy customer In recent years customers have released the power of social media. Now they often put their frustration and complaints about products over social media to gain a faster response from the companies. But business has to release; if someone is putting negative comments about their products, this will lead to degradation of the brand presence in the market. Businesses have to make sure that it will provide a proper platform for the complaints and make it public. The ill-advised social media campaign Experience comes in hand will planning a proper social media campaign. Even with this we cant assure you the smooth going for the campaign. But experience will always give you an edge over the other or amateur marketers. Make sure you check regularly social media campaigns so that nothing wrong could take place, which can impact your brand presence in the market. The solution Handling negative comments Unhappy customers are the ones who could ruin your brand reputation over the social media world. They are the ones who put up negative comments about the product and services. Dealing with them is a bit trickier but not that big a deal. Respond to comments as quickly as possible and try to solve their problems. Make sure your tone of using the words won't harm the person as well. Find out where the problem is why the people are posting negative comments publicly. Or provide them a platform to register their complaints so that they won't post it publicly. Cybersecurity Make sure your account id and password is well secured. There should be no loopholes from where hackers can get access to your private information. Mind your words While posting something, keep in mind your words or tone of the language you're using in your post. It should not harm any sentiments of the public from which you can get backlash. Precaution is always better than cure, in this fast-moving world, it is not possible, if post something and then delete it and thinks that no one will see it. Then, my friend, you are wrong. Keep your profile up-to-date. The key to the success of the social media platform is to keep your profile up-to-date on every social media platform. Rather than posting everything on every single platform, go for a different approach for each different platform. Take advantage of the social media management tool If you take help to manage social media platforms from one site or program. I'll suggest you use some of the available programs or you can outsource your social media program. To learn more about reputation management on social media, give us a call today! ...
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A Guide To DTC Marketplaces
In today's dynamic and digitally-driven business landscape, the Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) model has revolutionized how brands connect with their customers. By eliminating intermediaries and selling directly to consumers through online platforms along with advanced DTC SEO Services, companies can establish stronger brand identities, engage with their target audiences more effectively, and gain valuable insights into consumer behavior. Marketing on DTC platforms is a unique art and science that involves understanding your audience, crafting compelling narratives, and leveraging your digital tools and strategies. This guide is designed to provide a comprehensive roadmap for DTC Paid Marketing Services. Whether you're a startup looking to disrupt an industry or an established brand seeking to enhance your online presence, the insights and strategies in this guide will help you harness the power of DTC platforms to drive growth, engage customers, and achieve long-term success in the digital age. Let’s commence! The Key Features Of DTC Platforms Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) platforms, often called DTC e-commerce platforms, are digital channels or online marketplaces where brands sell their products or services directly to consumers. DTC Paid Marketing have gained immense popularity recently as DTC platforms cut out intermediaries, such as traditional retailers, and enable brands to establish a direct relationship with their customers. Here's a closer look at what DTC platforms are and how they work: Key Characteristics of DTC Platforms: Online Storefronts : DTC platforms typically provide businesses with the tools to set up and manage their online storefronts. These digital storefronts are the primary interface between the brand and its customers. Direct Sales : The hallmark of DTC platforms is that they facilitate direct sales from the brand to the end consumer. Customers can purchase products or services directly from the brand's website or platform without intermediaries. Brand Control: DTC platforms grant brands greater control over their messaging, pricing, and customer experience. This control allows brands to build and reinforce their unique identities and values. Data Insights: Brands that use DTC platforms have access to valuable data and analytics about their customers. This data includes purchasing behavior, preferences, and demographics, which can inform DTC Performance Marketing strategies and product development. Examples of DTC Platforms 1. Shopify Shopify is one of the most renowned and widely used DTC Services For Digital eCommerce platforms. It empowers businesses of all sizes to establish and manage their online stores easily. With a user-friendly interface and a vast ecosystem of customizable templates, Shopify provides businesses with the tools to create visually appealing and functional online storefronts. Key Features Customizable templates and themes. Seamless payment processing options. Extensive app store for adding functionalities. Multichannel selling capabilities. Pros : Accessibility and user-friendliness. A plethora of apps and themes for customization. Robust support and community. Cons Transaction fees for some payment gateways. Costs can accumulate with third-party app subscriptions. 2. WooCommerce WooCommerce is a powerful DTC platform that operates as a plugin for WordPress, making it an attractive choice for businesses already using WordPress websites. It provides flexibility and customization options for businesses selling directly to consumers through their WordPress-based sites. Key Features Seamless integration with WordPress websites. Extensive customization through themes and plugins. Wide range of payment and shipping options. Strong DTC SEO Service capabilities. Pros Scalability and adaptability for various business sizes. Active developer community for support and customization. Integration with WordPress for content-rich websites. Cons Requires technical knowledge for setup and maintenance. Costs can increase with premium plugins and hosting. 3. BigCommerce BigCommerce is recognized for its scalable DTC platform, making it suitable for small startups and enterprises. DTC eCommerce Services offer advanced e-commerce features that empower brands to expand their reach and customize their online stores extensively. Key Features Advanced DTC SEO Service tools and multichannel selling capabilities. User-friendly drag-and-drop website builder. Secure and reliable hosting. Scalability for businesses of all sizes. Pros Robust out-of-the-box features. Ideal for larger e-commerce businesses. Strong security and reliability. Cons Costs may be prohibitive for small startups. A limited selection of free themes compared to some competitors. 4. Magento Magento, now owned by Adobe, is an open-source DTC platform highly favored by larger enterprises with complex e-commerce needs. It offers unparalleled customization options and is renowned for its flexibility. Key Features Open-source for unlimited customization. Extensive ecosystem of extensions and integrations. Suitable for B2B and international e-commerce. Pros Unmatched customization possibilities. Excellent for B2B and international operations. Strong performance and scalability. Cons Steeper learning curve, often requiring specialized expertise. The high total cost of ownership, particularly for the Enterprise edition. 5. Wix eCommerce Wix eCommerce is known for its user-friendly approach to DTC Services For Digital eCommerce. It offers a drag-and-drop website builder, making it a great choice for small and medium-sized businesses looking to establish their online presence quickly. Key Features User-friendly website builder with AI-driven design assistance. A wide selection of e-commerce templates. Integration with various payment gateways. Pros Easy setup and intuitive design tools. AI-powered features for design and Direct To Consumer (DTC) Paid Marketing Services. Affordable pricing, including a free plan. Cons Limited scalability for larger enterprises. Transaction fees for certain plans. What is DTC Marketing? DTC Marketing, or DTC performance marketing, is a business approach where brands or manufacturers sell their products directly to end consumers without the involvement of third-party retailers or wholesalers. This marketing strategy encompasses various key elements: Inventory Management: DTC brands take full control of their product stock levels. When customers place orders, the brand manages inventory, sorting, packaging, and shipping the products. Sourcing and Delivery : DTC eliminates relying on third parties to source raw materials or deliver finished goods. Brands have a direct hand in the entire production and distribution process. Direct Communication : DTC brands directly engage with customers through various channels such as websites, social media, email marketing, and customer support. This direct communication allows brands to build and maintain strong customer relationships and gather valuable insights into consumers' preferences and behavior. Fulfillment Experience : DTC brands completely control the fulfillment experience, ensuring that orders are processed efficiently and delivered promptly to customers. DTC Performance Marketing has witnessed significant growth and relevance in the current economy for several reasons: Enhanced Customer Engagement: Direct To Consumer (DTC) Paid Marketing Services brings brands closer to their customers, fostering direct interactions. This closeness strengthens brand-consumer relationships and fosters trust. Data-Driven Insights: By selling directly to consumers, brands access valuable customer data, including demographics, purchasing habits, and feedback. This data-driven approach allows for more personalized marketing strategies and product development. Adaptation to Digital Trends: DTC is well-suited to the current scene, where online shopping and e-commerce have become increasingly dominant. Brands can leverage online platforms and social media to reach a wider audience and engage with potential customers directly. DTC Marketplaces vs. E-commerce Platforms The pandemic brought about a surge in e-commerce and DTC sales, reshaping the retail landscape. Today, businesses no longer question the significance of DTC Services For Digital eCommerce; they recognize that the immediacy and convenience of e-commerce are the future of retail. The question that arises first is: where to sell your product? Marketplaces or websites? Let’s decode this step by step: E-commerce Platforms Selling on an e-commerce website entails using online shopping platforms like Shopify or Magento to build and maintain your digital store. You have full creative control over your website's design, functionality, and navigation. This autonomy allows you to curate, stock, and design your online store to reflect your brand's identity effectively. You can regularly update your site based on customer feedback, using user-friendly templates and design tools for ongoing customization. One significant advantage is the ownership of customer data. By selling through your website, you retain valuable customer information, including purchase history and preferences. This data fuels more targeted DTC Paid Marketing and merchandising efforts and encourages repeat purchases. Additionally, there are no third-party seller fees to factor into your operational costs, unlike Direct To Consumer Marketplaces Services, where you may incur storage, shipping, and selling fees. Furthermore, an owned website offers less visibility to competitors, as customers landing on your site primarily seek your products, reducing the distraction of comparing similar products and brands. DTC Marketplaces In contrast, DTC marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, or Etsy enable retailers to sell their products through third-party platforms. While they offer less operational and creative control over your brand's presentation, they come with benefits. One major advantage of Direct To Consumer Marketplaces Services is the built-in audience. With millions of shoppers already using these platforms, your products gain immediate exposure without the need to build a specific audience from scratch. However, this increased visibility also means more competition, requiring a focus on high-quality product descriptions, images, competitive pricing, and efficient shipping. Marketplaces also handle customer service issues, from order placement to shipping and returns, alleviating the burden of customer support. However, you are responsible for managing customer inquiries and complaints on your website. Many marketplaces provide seller tools designed to facilitate sales and growth, although these tools may be limited, and you won't have access to all customer data retained by the platform. Additionally, the convenience of one-stop shopping on marketplaces appeals to consumers who can purchase items from different categories in one place, often with low-cost or zero-cost shipping, making checkout a breeze but intensifying competition. Choosing between DTC Marketplaces and E-commerce Platforms depends on your business's needs and goals. E-commerce platforms offer creative control and ownership of customer data, while DTC marketplaces provide built-in audiences and customer service assistance. To make an informed decision, it's essential to weigh the unique features and benefits of each approach in alignment with your business strategy. Begin DTC Journey With Saffron Edge The landscape of DTC Paid Marketing is dynamic and ever-evolving, and with the right strategies and support, your brand can achieve new heights of success. Saffron Edge brings a wealth of experience and expertise, guiding you through the intricacies of Direct-to-consumer (DTC) paid marketing services with a clear focus on your brand's unique identity and objectives. Our mission is to empower you to harness the full potential of DTC platforms, forging direct connections with your customers and crafting compelling narratives that resonate. We offer Direct-to-consumer marketplaces services to the clients for better business results. The world of DTC marketing is thrilling, filled with opportunities to engage, inspire, and delight your customers. It's a journey of continuous learning and evolution. With Saffron Edge as your trusted partner, you can navigate this exciting landscape, building lasting relationships with your customers and driving growth that knows no bounds. ...
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7 Ways to Ace Your SEO in 2019
The way search engines like Google rank websites changes everyday. Yes, you heard that right! Apart from the big algorithm changes that Google announces once in a while, certain little tweaks and optimizations are made to their algorithms everyday to provide better results to searchers which you don’t even know about. And 2019 is going to be no different! With a few new algorithms introduced this year, Google will give more importance to those websites that adhere to those algorithms for sure in some time to come. Also, Google is focusing more on providing the best search experience to their searchers and if your website doesn’t, you will lose a few rankings on the SERPs for sure in the year to come. So, what should you do exactly to stay in the good books of Google and ace your Search Engine Optimization in 2019? This post is all about that and a lot more. So, let’s dive right in - Rankbrain is going to be more prominent than ever Rankbrain is one of the most prominent algorithms Google has released in recent years. But what exactly is it? It is a Google indexing algorithm backed up with AI which promotes/demotes websites on SERPs based on a certain set of factors. It is designed in a way to make sure that the best results come first for searchers searching for a specific query. Since it’s a machine learning algorithm, it automatically adjusts websites on the SERPs and doesn’t require human intervention at all and can make changes to SERP almost instantly. But what’s it based on? The algorithm was implemented to make sure users get the best search engine experience and the websites that they click on do that as well. So, websites that focused more on providing the best UX to visitors were rewarded by gaining Google’s top real estate, which gets the most clicks. Doing all of that is handled by Rankbrain now. So, you’ll have to keep Rankbrain in mind and optimize the UX of your entire website to provide a better experience to the people who stumble on your website after searching on Google. Doing this is going to be extremely important in 2019! But to ace Rankbrain, you need to know the exact factors on the basis of which it grades websites on the SERPs, which are - 1. Dwell Time Dwell time is the time a visitor spends on your website. Obviously, a visitor won’t stay on your web page or blog if the content is irrelevant to them or is of bad quality. So, providing quality content that aligns with searchers intent is of utmost importance to excel in the Rankbrain era. 2. Click-Through-Rate Rankbrain is designed to look closely at the CTR of each and every web page on the internet to give an appropriate ranking to them. For example, if a search engine result on the 6th position is getting a higher number of clicks than a result on the 3rd position for the same query, Rankbrain would notice and bump up the rankings of the result on the 6th position. But since dwell time is a factor as well, just getting a higher number of clicks on your web pages will not be enough, you will have to provide the kind of content that makes users stay as well to improve your search engine rankings. Take care of these two factors for all your webpages & blogs and Rankbrain would do the rest. Go Mobile or go obsolete Google cares about their searchers. And apparently, a majority of them search for queries from their mobile devices. Mobile searchers have long surpassed desktop searchers and Google wants to provide them with the best user experience. For the same, Google rolled out the Mobile-first indexing algorithm in March this year which changed how the algorithm accessed websites forever. Under this new algorithm, Google crawlers would prefer a mobile website first for indexation and ranking to primarily provide better results to their mobile searchers. So, having a mobile website that properly supports your desktop website is not something you can procrastinate anymore, it has become an absolute necessity under this new algorithm. Google prefers having a mobile responsive website over other methods of going mobile because of its ease. But having a mobile website is not enough, you’ll have to provide a great user experience on your mobile website as well (remember, Rankbrain) to make an impact in 2019. Focus on working on the speed of your website According to a study performed by Google themselves, a website’s speed is the greatest factor that determines if a website’s UX is satisfactory or not. And since, Google has been lately focusing so much on providing a great user experience to all their users, they rolled out an update that ranked websites based on this sole factor. They called it the ‘Speed Update’. While the factor is not the heaviest, focusing on optimizing the speed of your website will certainly give you a advantage and it would greatly improve the UX of your website, which is always a nice thing to do under the watch of Rankbrain. To make your site load faster, you can get rid of heavy elements on your website or minify or combine scripts. Or else, you can use Google’s own tool to check and optimize the speed on your desktop and mobile website - PageSpeed Insights. This tool will tell you everything there is you can do to make your website load faster and perform better in SERPs. The increasing relevance of unlinked Brand mentions Google has long been solely dependant on backlinks for determining the authority of websites over the web. The general idea is, the more backlinks a website has, higher will be it’s authority in the eyes of Google, and higher it will be placed in SERPs. And it has been like this since the inception of Google. But all of this is going to change. The way your brand is mentioned over the web on social media conversations, blog posts, forums and any other medium is closely looked over by Google. It takes into account the tone, intent and context of each brand mention over the web to ascertain if it’s positive or negative and the way people talk about you over the web will certainly affect your ranking in 2019. ‘Unlinked brand mentions’ over the web are gaining relevance each day and it calls for social listening. You’ll have to jump on each and every conversation happening about your brand over the web and make sure it’s in positive light to maintain your brand reputation in the eyes of Google. Google’s Gary Illyes mentioned it himself. So, if you’re not actively monitoring your brand mentions over the web and making sure they add to the overall reputation of your brand, you will struggle to increase your search engine rankings is some time to come. To monitor your brand mentions over the web, you can make use of tools like ‘Awario’ and ‘Brand Mentions’ that would help you do just that with ease! Searchers are consuming more video content than ever People preferring to consume video content over any other type of content is nothing new and has long been a trend that’s still going strong. If you are looking to gain a lot of engagement from your audience on your website, social media or blogs, then video is certainly your best bet because people simply prefer video over anything else. Obviously, quickly watching a video about something is always easier than reading a ton of content and that’s why video is still so popular. In this world, where every brand is throwing up a lot of content on the web and is seeking attention from their audience, people have found a better way to consume content on a daily basis that quickly gives them the facts and is engaging to consume. So, if you’re not making use of Video, you're definitely missing out on a lot of engagement and additional SEO benefits. I would suggest you quickly start creating some video content for your brand and publish it on Youtube. Since, Youtube is owned by Google, you can also enjoy some obvious search engine benefits in the time to come. Target people searching for answers on Google Assistant Optimizing your content for voice searchers is currently a hot topic. And it has all the reasons to be. Voice searches globally are on a tremendous rise and you’ll be missing out if you don’t write content that targets those users head-on. But how do you target them? Here are 3 ways that would help Google Assistant pick your content over others when it comes to answering voice search queries put up by searchers - You need to be on the top 3 results for Google Assistant to even consider picking up your content. If your content appears in the featured snippet, your chances to get picked up by the Google Assistant increases by folds. Here’s how you can get featured in the featured snippet. Answer your own questions in your content. Usually, most of the voice queries start with a question and to answer that question, Google Assistant usually picks up the content that revolves around that exact question. So, try answering the most basic questions people might have around your focused keyword. To know more about what else you can do to target those voice searchers, Forbes compiled a list of best advices from 15 members of the Forbes Communications Council… do have a look at it. Quality content and backlinks are still important While the above suggested ways are vital to ace your SEO in 2019, don’t forget that content and backlinks are still the top ranking factors that matter the most to Google. With Google placing more importance on the user experience that each search engine result provides to users (Rankbrain), I think creating quality content should be your top priority for acing SEO In 2019. If your content provides real value to your target audience, they will be inclined more to read it all. And when they dwell more on your content, Google will notice via Rankbrain that you have a knack of providing quality content to all your users. Which I think is the point of SEO in general. Link building and providing quality content goes hand-in-hand as only when people love your content, they’ll want to share that content on their own blogs and within their own social circles, expanding the reach of your content and building some valuable backlinks along the way. If you continue to provide awesome content to your audience, the biggies in your industry will notice and would want to link to you too. That’s the essence of natural link building right there, and it’s not going to lose value in 2019 and beyond! If you are looking to approach your SEO in 2019 with a bang, the above mentioned ways are the perfect way to do it. But before you start implementing them, keep this in mind, Rankbrain ranks website keeping in mind the response of your audience to your content. If they bounce even before your site loads completely, Rankbrain would not even let you reach the first page of Google, let alone acing it. It’s a machine learning algorithm that does it all for Google and looks at the UX signals of your website really closely to award rankings. And it’s not easy to game Rankbrain because of it’s self-learning mechanism. You’ll have to provide quality content to your audience to get your SEO ball rolling in 2019 and there’s no escaping it now! Having said that, I hope the above mentioned ways will help you greatly in improving your website’s overall SEO potential! Being a SEO agency ourselves, we’ll rely greatly on these tactics as well to provide the best services to all our clients. If you think there are other ways (I know there are) that have helped you greatly in achieving SEO success lately and you're confident that they’ll be of equal importance in 2019 when it comes to increasing a website’s search engine rankings, do let us know about them in the comments. ...
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