Like Johnny Number 5 eats the Encyclopedia Britannica in the above clip from the 1986 gem “Short Circuit,” as optimizers we are constantly looking for more input.

Google Analytics tracking codes are one way we can track how recipients are interacting with our content.

Also known as UTM codes, tracking parameters or custom campaigns, Google Analytics tracking codes are custom tracking parameters that communicate granular information about how visitors interacted with your calls to action to arrive at your owned properties.

This guide describes:

• When to use a tracking code
• How to format a tracking code
• Favorite tools for building UTMs
• 7 essential guidelines for formatting tracking codes

Jump to each section with the links above … or dive in now.

If you need help getting started with Google Analytics first, then feel free to refer to our easy-to-follow How to Set Up Google Analytics guide!

When to Use a Tracking Code

Use UTM tracking codes to see how traffic came to your owned web properties from across the web.

Use a tracking parameter any time you link to a URL on a domain or app you own. You will get the tracking data in Google Analytics for verified domains.

You can use UTM tracking parameters when linking to your owned property from any location: banner ads, email newsletters, social media content, and any other campaign that links people to a property that you own and manage in Google Analytics.

You cannot use UTM tracking to analyze clicks to third-party websites, like YouTube.com or Wikipedia.org. To track click activity on links that send people to properties you don’t own, Bitly is a great resource — and it’s free.

How to Format a UTM Tracking Code

To implement a UTM tracking code, add your parameters to the end of the URL you want to track for insights.

Here’s an example URL with UTM. In this example, the link is posted to Facebook.

https://www.bruceclay.com/blog/amplify-seo-employee-advocacy/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=liveblog

Part 1: URL of the page you’re linking to with a “?” at the end

Part 2: utm_source=

Part 3: utm_medium=

Part 4: utm_campaign=

How to Put Together a Google Analytics Tracking Code

There are five possible parameters you can set for each UTM tracking code:

1. Source
2. Medium
3. Campaign
4. Content
5. Term

You should always use the Source, Medium and Campaign parameters; Content and Term are optional and primarily used for paid advertising. Google goes into detail about each parameter type in its support page here.

To keep this guide simple, we will only discuss how to use the three required parameters: utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign.

Source

Google defines the Source parameter as such:

utm_source: Identify the advertiser, site, publication, etc. that is sending traffic to your property, for example: google, newsletter4, billboard.

Common Source parameter data used within the BCI content and social media department include blog, newsletter, facebook and twitter.

Medium

Google defines the Medium parameter as such:

utm_medium: The advertising or marketing medium, for example: cpc, banner, email newsletter.

Medium conveys the big picture — how to classify the medium by which your link was presented to the user.

Campaign

Google defines the Campaign parameter as such:

utm_campaign: The individual campaign name, slogan, promo code, etc. for a product.

The Campaign parameter is even more specific than Source, and the parameter where you can really start to get granular with your tracking.

The Campaign parameter gives you the power to identify the specifics of a link placement, all the way down to the color and size of the call to action, if desired.

To illustrate, here are four of the most recent Campaign parameters we’ve used in content marketing efforts:

utm_campaign=smm: The content we publish to the blog may serve to deepen our expert, authority content supporting our silos, or content themes. For example, I linked to the last post on Snapchat marketing for millennials with the Campaign parameter “smm” so that I can see how popular our social media marketing content is.

utm_campaign=toolset61upgrade: With the release of SEOToolSet 6.1, we engaged in a campaign to invite SEOToolSet Lite subscribers to try the newest tools release. Links from our engagement email campaign contain this Campaign parameter.

utm_campaign=liveblog: Our conference liveblogging is a campaign. We invest in sending livebloggers to major digital marketing conferences with the goal of driving traffic to the site. Understanding when we’re getting traffic from liveblog content is key to evaluating this investment.

utm_campaign=seonewsletter-101816: We publish the SEO Newsletter monthly. The campaign “seonewsletter” tells us that traffic to the site is drawn by newsletter content. The date tells us what edition of the newsetter they clicked to see.

Tools for Building UTMs

You’re going to get pretty good at hand-typing a UTM pretty fast after you’ve done it a few times.

But if you’d rather use a tool to create the UTM for you, keep these handy.

• Google Analytics Campaign URL Builder
• UTMftw with chrome extension and available custom GA dashboard

7 Essentials Guidelines for Formatting Google Analytics Tracking Codes

1. Every UTM tracking code starts with a question mark (?utm_). This question mark tells Google Analytics where your link URL ends and your tracking starts.

If you don’t include the question mark, Google will think your link is http://www.yourwebsite.com/your-cro-landing-page-articleutm_source which, as an alteration of the URL permalink, will result in a 404 error. The question mark is important.

2. There are five possible parameters you can set for each UTM tracking code: Source, Medium, Campaign, Content and Term.

The parameters you choose to use are strung together in one sentence (no spaces) and separated by ampersands (&).

3. It doesn’t matter what order you list your parameters in, but your first parameter must start with a question mark and all the following parameters must start with ampersands.

The “&” tells Google Analytics where one parameter ends and the next begins.

If you forget the ampersand and write your code like ”&utm_medium=viralutm_campaign=” Google Analytics will think that your Medium is “viralutm_campaign=” which, as you can imagine, will skew your Medium and Campaign data pretty badly.

4. The best practice is to use dashes to separate words in a UTM parameter.

If you end up using spaces, Google Analytics will fill in the spaces with the percent sign or plus sign.

Dashes are preferred to underscores, although both work. For the backstory, see Matt Cutts’ behind-the-scenes explanation: dashes vs. underscores.

5. UTMs are case sensitive. Keep it simple. Stick with lowercase.

UTM codes are case sensitive so Google Analytics will collect data for potatoes and Potatoes as two separate reports.

Since Google Analytics does not have the human sensibility to tell you that there is a capitalized version of your Campaign floating around somewhere in your referral traffic data, you may be analyzing incomplete data if your team isn’t careful about capitalization.

6. You must own the destination of a URL in order collect data from attaching a UTM to it.

In other words, you can only use UTM tracking to assigned parameters to links that go to your properties — your website, your blog, your app, etc. You cannot use UTM tracking to analyze clicks that go to properties you don’t own, like your page on Facebook.com or your store on Amazon.com.

7. And finally, it is critical to have a discussion about UTM parameter conventions before anyone on your team starts creating UTM codes willy-nilly.

The Google Analytics URL builder makes it easy for your team to stay in sync when creating and propagating UTM tracking codes. Create a spreadsheet or other living document (a Google Drive spreadsheet works great) that clearly outlines internal conventions and consistent parameters.

The last thing you want is your campaign data split among variations, caused by issues as simple as pluralization or capitalization. You may be analyzing incomplete data if your team isn’t consistent. It’s good to have team-wide ground rules that everyone is aware of. For example, “stick with lowercase” is a good rule of thumb.

Why Use Tracking Codes?

Use Google Analytics tracking codes to measure where referral traffic is coming from, which initiatives are meeting traffic goals, how target markets prefer to receive communication, and the ebb and flow of an industry based on seasonality.

Are you a Johnny Number 5? UTMs give you a granular snapshot of your traffic, how your consumers (and potential-consumers) are interacting with the calls to action you’re putting out there, and they are a great way to quench an unrelenting need for ROI data.

Let us help you drive and track traffic to your website from organic search, paid search, content marketing and social media. BCI’s strategic services are tailor-made to match your business goals and audience. Let’s talk more about growing revenue through digital marketing.

Editor’s note: This post originally published in 2013 has been updated.

The post How to Build a Google Analytics Tracking Code appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

What Is PageRank?

PageRank (PR) is a calculation, famously invented by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, which evaluates the quality and quantity of links to a webpage to determine a relative score of that page’s importance and authority on a 0 to 10 scale.

The handful of PageRank 10 domains, including USA.gov, Twitter.com and Adobe Reader Download, have the highest volume of inbound links of any sites on the web.

The top sites set the bar, so to speak, and the 10-point scale plummets exponentially down from there.

PageRank 5 websites have a good number of inbound links, PR 3 and PR 4 sites have a fair amount, and brand new websites without any inbound links pointing to them start at PageRank 0.

NOTE: You may be curious what your site’s or your competitor’s PR score is. But Google no longer reveals the PageRank score for websites. It used to display at the top of web browsers right in the Google Toolbar, but no more. And PR data is no longer available to developers through APIs, either. Even though it’s now hidden from public view, however, PageRank remains an important ingredient in Google’s secret ranking algorithms.

Since Google wants to return page one results that are high quality, relevant, and trustworthy, it may return webpages with better PageRank scores higher up in the SERPs, although PageRank is only one of many ranking factors taken into consideration.

Since PageRank is only one factor in the Google ranking algorithm, it’s important to remember that a high PageRank does not guarantee high rankings — but it can significantly help.

NOTE: With the growth of mobile internet use, it is especially important to also consider how Google’s Mobilegeddon Update will affect search rankings.

What Is “Link Juice” and What Are PageRank “Points”?

When Site A links to your web page, Google sees this as Site A endorsing, or casting a vote for, your page. Google takes into consideration all of these link votes (i.e., the website’s link profile) to draw conclusions about the relevance and significance of individual webpages and your website as a whole. This is the basic concept behind PageRank.

When a website links to your site, or when you link internally from one of your pages to another, the link passes PageRank points. This passing of PageRank points is also commonly called “link juice” or “link equity” transfer.

The amount of link juice passed depends on two things: the number of PageRank points of the webpage housing the link, and the total number of links on the webpage that are passing PageRank. It’s worth noting here that while Google will give every website a public-facing PageRank score that is between 1 and 10, the “points” each page accumulates from the link juice passed by high-value inbound links can — and do — significantly surpass ten. For instance, webpages on the most powerful and significant websites can pass link juice points in the hundreds or thousands. To keep the rating system concise, Google uses a lot of math to correlate very large (and very small) PageRank values with a neat and clean 0 to 10 rating scale.

How Link Juice Is Passed

Think of it this way: Every webpage has a limited amount of link juice it can pass, and the top of that limit is the total PageRank points that page has accrued. So, a webpage with 20 accrued PageRank points cannot pass more than 20 points of link juice per page.

If a page with 20 PageRank points links to one other page, that one link will transfer the full amount of link juice to that one other webpage. But if a page with 20 PageRank points links to five webpages (internal or external), each link will transfer only one-fifth of the link juice.

Google applies a decay value to every pass, so the actual numbers will be a little less than our diagram shows below. But to explain the PageRank concept simply, the formula is PR points divided by number of on-page links, or in this case, 20 divided by 5:

What if you want to link to several resources to aid user experience, but you have a strategic reason to withhold passing PageRank to those pages?

You can tell Google not to pass PageRank by amending some links with a rel=”nofollow” attribute. A nofollowed link is not crawled by the search engines, and no PageRank or anchor text signals are transferred.

However, Google still sees nofollowed links as part of the total number of links on the page. The PageRank value available to pass through the remaining, followed links is thus reduced.

So for example, if you have a web page with 100 PR points that has four links on it, and three of those links have rel=”nofollow” tags, the one link that doesn’t have rel=”nofollow” will probably still pass only one-fourth, or 25 points, of link juice. (Find out when nofollow is essential below.)

Transferring PageRank/Link Juice with Internal Linking

You can help Google see pages of your website as subject matter authorities by linking to your own important pages from related articles.

For instance, if you have an article called “How To Do Keyword Research,” you can help reinforce to Google the relevance of this page for the subject/phrase “keyword research” by linking from an article reviewing a keyword research tool to your How To Do Keyword Research article. This linking strategy is part of effective siloing, which helps clarify your main website themes.

When Nofollow Is Essential

Adding rel=”nofollow” to a link may not conserve PageRank in the way SEOs once used it — to sculpt the flow of PR value through a site (aka “link sculpting”). Still, nofollow is essential for certain types of links:

• Paid links and ads
• Links that would dilute your subject relevance
• Links to untrustworthy pages

Paid-for links and ads on your site MUST have a nofollow attribute (see Google’s policy on nofollow). If you have paid links that are left followed, the search engines might suspect you are trying to manipulate search results and slap your site with a ranking penalty. Google’s Penguin algorithm eats manipulative paid links for lunch, so stay off the menu by adding nofollow attributes where applicable.

Secondly, nofollow is also essential on links to off-topic pages, whether they’re internal or external to your site. You want to prevent search engines from misunderstanding what your pages are about. Linking relevant pages together reinforces your topic relevance. So to keep your topic silos clear, strategic use of the nofollow attribute can be applied when linking off-topic pages together.

A third case Google gives for using nofollow is for untrustworthy sites. Of course, you wouldn’t want to pass PageRank to a sketchy site.

A word of caution: Now that you understand basically how PageRank works, we don’t want to give you the wrong idea.It’s not true that the more links you have, the better off you are. For more information on effective linking strategies, see our how to increase SEO link popularity discussion.

In today’s world, QUALITY is more important than quantity. Google penalties have caused many website owners to not only stop link building, but start link pruning instead. Poor quality links (i.e., links from spammy or off-topic sites) are like poison and can kill your search engine rankings. Only links from quality sites, and pages that are relevant to your website, will appear natural and not be subject to penalty. So never try to buy or solicit links — earn them naturally or not at all.

Want to know more? Learn more about link pruning, the action you take when links from low quality pages are giving Google the wrong idea about your website.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in 2013, but is updated to reflect the latest SEO understanding of Google PageRank.

The post What Is Google PageRank, How Is It Earned, & Does It Still Matter? appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

To get a custom 404 error page up and running on your website, you’ll need to do some communicating with your server.

How you go about getting a custom 404 error page setup on your server will vary greatly depending on your server type. This article addresses how to set up a custom 404 error page on an Apache server.  

Getting a custom 404 error page up and running on the Apache Server is a five-part process:

1. Design an on-brand custom 404 error page.
2. Publish your custom 404 error page.
3. Determine what type of server you are using, or if you are using a CMS like WordPress.
4. Use your public_html folder and .htaccess file to tell your server to deliver the 404 error page anytime a request is made for a web page that doesn’t exist.
5. Test it! Make sure your 404 error page is live and working as expected.

In this post we cover parts 3, 4 and 5 of this process; you should already have parts 1 and 2 done. If you haven’t designed your custom 404 error page yet, read How to Design a 404 Error Page That Saves a Sale for strategic inspiration.

How to Determine Your Server Type

Your website is hosted on a server that dishes out web pages when people navigate to URLs within your domain. There are several types of servers.

First, the easiest one: If you are using WordPress, then you know you’re using WordPress and you should read about WordPress 404 error page setup; this Apache server article will not help you. Similarly, if you happen to be using Microsoft IIS, then you should read our How to Configure a Custom 404 Error Page in Microsoft IIS Server post.

If you aren’t using WordPress and you don’t know what kind of server you are using, call your server provider (the people you pay to host your website every month – like BlueHost, for instance), and ask them. While you have them on the line, make sure to also ask them if it is possible to set up a custom 404 error page; most server providers allow you to do this, but not all.

If your server provider tells you your website is hosted on the most widely used Web server — the Apache server — then read on!

Proceed with Caution!

If you are reading this blog post, I am assuming that you don’t have the luxury of asking an IT department to set your custom 404 error page up for you. If you do have an IT/systems department to refer to, by all means, ask for help! IT folks love servers and lines of code that talk to servers, and they effectively know how to handle both.

If you’re going in on your own, it’s smart to make sure you have your entire website backed up before you make any changes to code at the server level. The amendments we’ll be making to add a custom 404 error page are minimal, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to tinkering with server-side code.

How to Tell Your Server to Deliver the 404 Error Page

This blog post is written to help folks using the Apache server add a custom 404 error page to their website. Like most processes, there’s inherently more than one way to do this. The following five-step process is the most universal method, as it only requires FTP access to your server and a text editor, like Notepad++ (on a PC) or TextEdit (on a Mac). (It’s worth mentioning here that Notepad [the default text editor in Windows] and Notepad++ are not the same thing. If you’re using a PC, we recommend downloading the free Notepad++ text editor; using the standard release version of Notepad may cause errors if the server is running Linux.)

Step 1: Locate or create your .htaccess file

After identifying that you are using the Apache server, the first step is to locate your .htaccess file.

A .htaccess file is a file that communicates how and when your server should deliver specific information to your end user. In this case, specifically, when your server should deliver a fancy, custom-made 404 error page. Your .htaccess file should already be in the root directory of your website.

To access your .htaccess file:

• Connect to your server using an FTP editor like CyberDuck or Filezilla.
• Find the folder that contains your public website files. Public_html is a common name for this folder. While your folder may or may not be named public_html, we will refer to this folder as the public_html folder throughout the rest of this tutorial.
• Locate the .htaccess file inside the public_html folder.

If you see a .htaccess file, move on to step three.

If you don’t see a .htaccess file, make sure that your FTP is set to show hidden files (notice that period in front of the .htaccess file? That period means your .htaccess file it is a hidden file.). To show hidden files using Cyberduck, go to the View dropdown, then choose Show Hidden Files. To show hidden files using Filezilla, go to the Server dropdown, then choose Force Showing Hidden Files.

If you force your FTP to show hidden files and you still don’t see a .htaccess file, it means you don’t have one and you will have to make one. In that case, move on to step two.

Step 2: Create your .htaccess file (if you don’t already have one)

Fair warning: While any novice can create a .htaccess file (we’re going to show you how right here!), if you have an IT department this is a really, really good time to bring them in the loop. If you don’t have an IT department, now would be a great time to create that website backup if you haven’t already!  Your .htaccess file is going to communicate critical information to every page of your website, so it’s smart to have a backup plan in case things get a little haywire.

To create an .htaccess file, use a text editor like Notepad++ on a PC, or TextEdit on a Mac. Name the file .htaccess — and don’t forget the “.” It needs to be named .htaccess (periodhtaccess), not just htaccess. To keep your .htaccess file clean, make sure your text editor has word wrap disabled, and that it is using UNIX-style line endings. Also, make sure there aren’t any file extensions added to your .htaccess file when you save it. You want to choose All Files (not Text or any other file type) from the Save As Type dropdown menu and save to the Desktop.

That’s it! After you save you’re done creating your .htaccess file. The file won’t do anything until you’ve uploaded it to the public_html folder of your server via FTP but, to streamline the process, we’ll wait until after we amend the file (as outlined in step three) to upload it to the server.

Step 3: Use a text editor to edit the .htaccess file

Using your text editor, add this one line of code to your .htaccess file, followed by a blank line:

ErrorDocument 404 /custom-404.html

There’s four parts to this line of code: [the phrase ErrorDocument] [the error number] [the absolute URL of the web page where custom 404 content lives] [the blank line that follows the line of code]. Make sure you carefully include all four elements (No typos! No exclusions!) and make sure you replace the placeholder “custom-404.html” with the actual URL extension where your custom 404 error page lives.

The URL that you put in the ErrorDocument directive needs to be a:

1. Relative URL — no http and no domain name.

2. Static file — meaning Apache can serve it directly (no proxy, no application server, etc.); otherwise, Apache will assume the file is on another server and issue a redirect to the browser to go there.

It’s this one line of code that tells your .htaccess file to deliver a custom 404 page when someone asks for a web page that cannot be located.

Step 4: Use FTP to upload your amended .htaccess file to your server

Make your .htaccess file alliiivvvveeee (like Frankenstein) by using your FTP to upload your amended file to your server.

Once it’s uploaded to the root directory of your server, it’s live and your 404 error page should be working (assuming you’ve made your 404 error URL live, as well).

Step 5: Test it! Make sure your 404 error page is working

The final step in every optimization process needs to be testing. We never set it and forget it in our industry. To test if everything is in working order with your .htaccess file and your new custom 404 error page, use your web browser to navigate to a page on your website that you know doesn’t exist. For example: www.YourWebsite.com/chelsea-is-awesome.

If you see your custom 404 error page, everything is working! You have succeeded!

If you don’t see your custom 404 error page, something is wrong. Try to isolate the problem with these troubleshooting tips:

• Do all the other pages on your website work? If yes, that means the problem has to be with your 404 error page URL or your .htaccess file. If no, you have created a bigger issue and may want to revert back to a backup version of your .htaccess file.
• Can you spot any typos in your ErrorDocument line of code?
• Did you add a blank line after your ErrorDocument line of code?
• Did you disable word wrap when you created your .htaccess file? Is your ErrorDocument code on one single line? If you are using Windows, is the document using UNIX-style line endings?
• Is your .htaccess file saved as .htaccess.txt? It shouldn’t be. It should just be .htaccess with no file extension. (The trick is to choose All Files from the Save as Type dropdown when you save the file in your text editor; make sure no extra file extensions get added on.)
• If you navigate directly to your 404 error page using the absolute URL, does it work?

If none of these troubleshooting tips uncover your problem… now might be a good time to seriously consider hiring that contract IT guy or gal.

You Can Do This!

Even if you are a UX minimalist — no matter how big or small your company is — you need to consider a properly configured 404 error page a technical SEO essential. You absolutely can do all the steps outlined in this post, from locating your hidden .htaccess file or creating a new one, to writing a line of code that works. Think of it like baking a cake: you have the recipe, now you just need to put all the ingredients together.

Just follow this five-step process:

1. Get confirmation that you’re using the Apache server and the thumbs up to proceed with a custom 404 from your server host.

2. Work with your web designer to create a custom 404 error page.

3. Make your 404 error page live.

4. Use your public_html folder and .htaccess file to tell your server to deliver the 404 error page anytime a request is made for a web page that doesn’t exist.

5. Test, test, test.

Have questions? Ask in the comments section below.

The post How to Configure a Custom 404 Error Page — Apache Server Edition appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

Today’s Free SEO Tool: SEO Multi-Page Information Tool

Tool type: competitive research, on-page optimization

What you learn: Enter up to six pages and the tool pulls from each: page title, meta description, meta keywords tag, and H1. You also learn each page’s canonical tag, should an analyzed page have one.

Why this matters: The metadata and Heading 1 are among the strongest on-page ranking factors. Collect this information for top-ranked pages in your space to understand the language and focus search engines deem relevant for your keywords.

Here’s the SEO Multi-Page Information tool: Enter up to six URLs (one per line) and click Get Data below.

How to Use It

1. Enter up to six URLs (one per line) and click Get Data. Make sure to use fully qualified URLs such as https://www.bruceclay.com/blog.

The URLs you enter can be high-level competitor URLs, like your competitor’s home page, or deeper web page URLs, like a link to a specific landing page or blog post. You can also look at your own information by entering any of your own web page URLs.

2. The tool will return a list of pertinent information about each submitted web page, including:

• Page title tag
• Meta description
• Meta keywords
• H1 text
• Canonical URL if one is indicated on a web page

 

5 Ways to Use This Data

The SEO Multi-Page Information tool helps you analyze the effectiveness of high-value on-page elements like the meta tags and level-one heading tag.

Use the data supplied in this tool to:

1. Discover new niche-specific keywords: Using keywords in your title tag and H1 is SEO 101. As such, mining you competitor’s meta tags can be a great way to discover the market-specific keyword phrases also relevant to your business.

When you see phrases in your competitors’ H1 and metadata that look like keyword leads, add them to your keyword research spreadsheet and run them through a keyword research tool, like the free Bruce Clay, Inc. keyword research tool.

2. Inspire the structure and style of your own meta tags: Since every single page of your website needs a meta title and description, it’s a wise idea to approach the meta tag writing process with a structure and style strategy.

Whether you’ve been tasked with an on-page SEO audit or you’re looking to improve your current approach you can learn a lot from analyzing your competitor’s meta.

• What format are your competitor’s using? For instance, are they using pipes or dashes to break up their titles? How do they work in their brand name? Should your meta titles and descriptions take on a similar style and/or structure?
• How many characters are they using?
• What is their tone?
• How and where are they using action words?
• What’s their character count?
• How are their keyword phrases incorporated into their meta tags?
• Are they using keyword synonyms? (Learn more about semantic keywords.)

Think of this step as a part of your competitor analysis strategy. Observe what competitors are doing, feel out how successful their efforts are, and then decide if you want to follow suit or try something new.

3. Uncover weak spots (and ranking opportunities!): If your competitors are doing a good job, then consider following their lead. But if they’re doing a bad job, then their oversight may be a great opportunity for you to get one step ahead!

As you’re analyzing their metadata and Heading 1 tag, ask yourself:

• Are there any keyword gaps? If they’re not optimizing for high-volume keywords on your list, then they’re not ranking for those keywords — which could mean a big opportunity for you. Consider this a part of your competitive analysis.
• Is the meta description style lacking? Your title tag is a high-value ranking factor and your meta description contributes to CTR. Do your competitor’s meta descriptions sound dry and formulaic? If so, this is a great opportunity for you to use your meta description to stand out with a personality-rich description that highlights your page benefits and makes a click-inspiring connection. 

4. Pretty data charts make it easy to present competitor metadata to stakeholders: If you are the person tasked with proposing a new meta tag structure/style guide, then you may want to present some competitor analysis to your stakeholders at one point or another. The SEO Multi-Page Information tool is a great resource for this type of data collection and presentation; just run the tool and take a screenshot of your competitor information charts. (If you’re using Chrome, I really like the Full Page Screen Capture Chrome extension.) Using the SEO Multi-Page Information tool and screen captures is much easier and quicker than going to View Source on six separate websites and collecting the information into charts by hand.

5. Make sure your clients aren’t abusing the meta keywords tag: While Google and Bing do not consider the meta keywords tag a ranking factor, that doesn’t mean that they don’t consider it. The search engines do cache it with the page, and our research shows that they will refer to it in some cases. It is also publicly known that Bing is actually using the meta keywords tag to identify spammers and devalue websites that abuse the tag. Knowing this, the SEO Multi-Page Information tool can be used as a client metadata diagnostics tool; just plug in a few of your client’s web pages and the SEO Multi-Page Information tool will show you at-a-glance if there’s any keyword stuffing or other spammy abuse happening. [Updated: See Editor’s Note below]

Explore More Free SEO Tools

The SEO Multi-Page Information tool is a free on-page optimization tool that you can use for competitor research, or to scope out your own on-page meta data and H1 tags. If you find it useful, please bookmark this blog post and run the tool as many times as you want, with as many unique websites as you want. There is no limit; you can enter competitor websites all day long as long as you enter them six at a time. You can also find this tool embedded within the Content Optimization step of our (also free) online SEO tutorial.

If you would like to see more free SEO tools, then keep an eye on our Free SEO Tool Tuesday blog series. Or, if you want to play with all 10 of the free tools now, then you can access our free SEO tools from our SEO tutorial. All 10 free tools are embedded throughout the online guide, and they’re all free, all the time. (Seriously. They’re free.)

 

[Editor’s note: Item number 5 in the “5 Ways to Use This Data” section was added two days after publication in response to a blog comment that got us thinking. Thank you to reader kwojcie for reminding us that the SEO Multi-Page Information tool lends itself to a worthwhile conversation about when and how to use the meta keywords tag appropriately. — CA]

The post Free SEO Tool Alert: On-Page Optimization Tool Improves Organic Ranking Elements appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

Today’s Free SEO Tool: KSP Keyword Research Tool

Tool type: keyword research

What you learn: pertinent information about potential keyword search volume and context

Why this matters: The eight fields of data you get from this tool offer a well-rounded view of how your keywords measure up, who’s using them, and whether the keywords mean to the general public what you think they mean. By comparing the stats of up to 12 keyword phrases, you can make cuts and prioritize your keyword list.

Here’s the tool; enter up to 12 keyword phrases to try it out.

KSP Keyword Research Tool

How to Use It

1. Enter up to 12 keyword phrases separated by commas or line breaks into the KSP tool, and click the Run KSP button.

2. The tool will return a list of pertinent information about your keywords:

• Google, Bing and Yahoo monthly search volume
• An estimate of total search volume across all engines (the Activity column)
• The current paid search click-through rate (CTR) percentage and CPC bid amount for each term in Bing
• The Bing category associated with each keyword

Use the monthly search volume for all engines and the overall search activity numbers as an indication of relative popularity. For instance, think of a keyword phrase with a search volume of 12,000 as roughly twice as popular as a phrase with a volume of 6,000, and significantly more popular than a phrase with a volume of 1,000 or 50.

3. Mouse over each of the keyword phrases to see demographic information about the individuals searching for your keyword phrases.

7 Ways To Use This Data

The KSP is a great SEO tool if you’re looking for keyword statistics that can help you prioritize and vet a keyword research list.

Use the data supplied in this tool to:

1. Discover potential silo themes: The Categories column tells you what categories Bing associates with your keyword phrase based on its understanding of the keyword’s meaning and searcher’s intention. Sometimes these category suggestions can provide an ah-ha moment that can become a foundation theme for a brand new siloing strategy.

2. Discover more context about your keyword phrases: Just as the Categories column can reveal new avenues for thematic keyword exploration, the info reported under Categories can also clue you in to potential trouble. If you see an unexpected category reported for your keyword, you may be looking at a red flag requiring your investigation.

Here’s an example. If you enter “spiral staircase” into the KSP tool, you’ll see one of the categories reported is “Games & Puzzles.” Turns out that this is because enough people search for “spiral staircases minecraft” (to get more info on the popular and addictive structure-building game Minecraft) that Bing has associated this keyword phrase with the game.

At first glance seeing “Games & Puzzles” associated with your “spiral staircase” query might make you think that the results are way off; instead, unexpected categories should make you think “this query is multidimensional; I should further investigate its context.” Remember, part of the keyword research process is to make sure your keyword means what you think it means, and that its volume is productive converting volume – not tangentially related (or unrelated) volume that is going to bounce (see our Keyword Research: A 6 Point Checklist). Discovering that “spiral staircase” has a game association gives you a 360-degree understanding of your query and allows you to make a more educated decision about the query’s potential value.

3. Think like a semantic search engine: Using the Categories column to discover the context of your keyword phrases can also help you get into the mind of the semantic search engine. Remember, in the age of semantic search, how the search engine interprets meaning and intention plays a large role when it comes to ranking potential. If there are lots of unexpected categories associated with your keyword phrase, the search engine may have a watered down understanding of that phrase’s meaning/intention, which could mean lower rankings or inappropriate rankings where you end up clumped with the wrong crowd.

4. Vet conversion potential: The CTR (click-through rate) column in this report tells you information about how your keyword phrases are performing in Bing paid search. Use the CTR percentage to get an idea for how many clicks these words have the potential to inspire, then use that data as a clue to help you prioritize your keyword research list. Think of these numbers in relation to one another; for instance, a query with a 5 percent CTR has a relatively stronger conversion potential than a query that only has .87 percent CTR.

The CPC (cost per click) column in this free tool report tells you how much your fellow marketers are currently willing to pay per-click for traffic from this keyword phrase. Or, in other words, how much this keyword phrase is worth to your competitors. This matters because keyword phrases that are worth more per click tend to be keyword phrases that have been proven to convert better.

5. Assess competition: Queries that show high per-click bids in the CPC column convert better – but those high bids also mean that query is more competitive. For example, a CPC of $54 means there are a lot of people fighting to optimize for this term. When you see a high CPC think: “This phrase merits more research. There is potential here (it could be high converting), but who is the organic competition? Do I have a chance to rank on the first page?”

6. Evaluate whether a keyword phrase is a good match for your target market: Hover over your keyword phrases to see demographic statistics about the people who are using your potential keyword phrases. Does the demographic profile you see match the demographic profile of your target market? If not, consider dumping this phrase from your list; you want the right kind of traffic, not just any traffic, after all.

7. See how query keyword volume compares across three search engines: The first three columns of this free report show you how often people are entering your keyword phrases into Bing, Google and Yahoo search engines. This side-by-side view gives you a holistic understanding of each keyword’s popularity, and it can also help you spot anomalies that can help you better understand your keyword’s potential market.

For instance, notice in the example below that the Yahoo and Bing search volume for each query is about the same all the way down the column, until you get to the last query – “tennis shoes.” For “tennis shoes,” Yahoo sees 30,000 more searches per month than Bing; even thinking relatively, that is a pretty significant jump. Anomalies like this are great clues that offer even more insight into who is using the keyword phrase, and accordingly, what kind of traffic a first page ranking for that phrase would attract. In this case I see a disproportionate amount of people using Yahoo to search for this query, so I think: “People who prefer to search using Yahoo, also prefer to use this keyword phrase. How can I use Yahoo demographic statistics to learn more about the type of people using this phrase?”

Explore More Free SEO Tools

The free KSP tool is a free-forever keyword research tool. If you like it, please bookmark this blog post and run the tool as many times as you want, with as many keywords as you want. There is no limit; you can enter a million keywords as long as you enter them 12 at a time. You can also find this tool embedded within the keyword selection step of our SEO Guide.

If you like free SEO tools, keep an eye on the blog as we’ll be highlighting Bruce Clay, Inc. tools regularly as part of Free SEO Tool Tuesday. Or, if you want more free SEO tools right this very instant, you can see all 10 of our free SEO tools embedded within our SEO Guide right now. They’re all free, all the time, no exceptions. (Did we mention free? Just checking.)

The post Free SEO Tool Alert: KSP Keyword Research Tool appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

Unless baby mistypes a URL or tries to navigate to a bookmarked page that was moved or retired in 2012. In that case — regardless of what she wants — baby gets a 404 error page.

When baby gets a 404 error page and not what she wants, there’s a good chance she’s going to be confused, annoyed, or frustrated. Nobody likes it when baby doesn’t get what she wants…

So, what do we do?

Turn adversity into opportunity, of course!

I like to think of the 404 error page as your damage control page. Your customer just tried to go to a page on your website, and now they are faced with disappointment. The 404 error page greets them immediately at their peak moment of disappointment – what a perfect opportunity for you to tell them you couldn’t care less with a machine-generated white-screen error message. Said no one ever. This is your time to deflect those bad feelings and offer a solution that inspires positive feelings!

Follow these five steps to get on your way to creating custom 404 error pages that make your customer feel like you’re there for them, even when your content can’t be.

Five 404 Error Page Design Tips that Keep Visitors On-Site

1. Keep It Branded and On-Brand

Keeping your 404 page branded means your 404 error page should make it clear that the visitor is still on your website. This can mean keeping your custom 404 error page within the template of your website – complete with standard top and footer navigation – or, simply making sure to include a logo if you build a custom 404 page outside your standard template.

And oh, what a difference a logo can make. Compare the three examples below: a standard machine-generated 404 page, a custom page outside the website template, and a 404 message built inside the standard website template.

The second two options approach the 404 error page in very different ways, but both make it clear which website you’re on. In the first one, there’s no logo and no clues; who knows? Which experience do you want your users to see?

Keeping the 404 error page on-brand means every word and image you use accurately represents the personality and tone of your brand. If you are a serious brand like The New York Times, keep your messaging professional and straightforward. If your brand voice is conversational and appreciates a good laugh here and there, your 404 page can be a good time to toss in an ice-breaker joke. Whether or not you apologize or say thank you also falls into your brand voice guidelines. Only you know how much formality and silliness your brand voice allows. Figure it out, and follow it to a T. Always.

2. Acknowledge What Happened

Your visitor was looking for a page, and what they’re seeing isn’t that page. Help them understand what happened by telling them what happened. You can do it with your own spin, but do tell them there was an error and that – for one reason or another – the page they are looking for cannot be found. You can choose whether to mention the “one reason or another” like Adidas does in the center example below (“maybe it’s moved, or maybe the URL is incorrect”).

3. Thwart the Back Button by Showing Your Personality

When a customer is dished up a 404 page they are going to be surprised; they were expecting one thing and they are seeing another. It’s inevitable. Whether this is an annoyed surprised or a pleased surprised is up to you (and your web designer). 404 error pages are rarely seen, so why not use your brand personality to make this rare occurrence memorable in a good way?

Consider:

• Using an on-brand image to visually engage the visitor. With the right image, you may even be able to turn your visitor’s inconvenient “this is annoying” moment into a fun Easter Egg that makes him/her like you even more.

• Use your headlines and body copy to make the exchange feel more human. It’s often much easier to accept an apology from a fellow human than it is to accept an access denied notice from a robot.

• You know that awkward moment at dinner when someone just needs to break the tension with a joke? This tactic works wonders on 404 pages as well. Nobody likes being disappointed; including an on-brand joke on your 404 page is a great way to break the “something went wrong and you didn’t get what you want” tension.

4. Do the Best You Can to Serve the Customer

“Focus on the user and all else will follow.” Wise words from Google with deep-seated truth. Your visitor lives in a cyber world where they are surrounded by endless purchasing options; if they try to buy some shoes on your website and your website offers a “Page Not Found” dead-end, then they have no choice but to use the back button and head toward someone else’s online shoe store to make their purchase. Unless you can use your 404 damage control page to offer resources that help them find what they need, or discover new options they never knew they needed…!

Think about the needs of your personas; what are their needs?

• Make an educated guess about what they were trying to accomplish when they landed on this error page and offer some links that help them accomplish that task. This can save sales, turn disappointment into satisfaction, and help keep bounce rate low(er).

• Add a search box and a link to your sitemap to make it easier for them to find what they need on their own.

• Make it easy for them to contact you if they need help.

5.  Serve Yo’self! Ask for What You Need and Funnel Conversion

Your 404 error page is your damage control page, but it is also your opportunity page. Remember, we’re striving to turn adversity into opportunity, here! Think of this page as an opportunity for you to keep the ball rolling… and why not tilt the ramp so the ball rolls strategically toward one of your conversion funnels? Always keep the user first, but there’s no reason to assume that customer happiness and conversion completion are mutually exclusive.

For instance, if one of your conversions is lead generation, why not offer a link to your free demo page, like Hubspot does? (See example below.)

The key is to tell them what you want them to do. If you want them to shop women’s clothing, give them a link that says shop the women’s section – don’t send them to the home page where they might get lost or distracted. Notice in the Land’s End example, below, that they give you links to shop women’s, men’s and kid’s, or home goods, but they don’t mention heading to the home page once? Their conversion goal is clearly to increase sales in their top four categories.

The 404 error page is also a good time for you to ask them to help you solve the problem. Error pages are delivered when something goes wrong. Sometimes it is user error (a mistyped URL, for instance), but other times is a hidden website error (a moved, removed or broken page). By landing on your 404 page it’s likely your visitor just discovered an error on your website; use this page as an opportunity to ask them to send you an error report. Make sure to include a link that makes it easy for them to take action.

On the flip side, make sure you don’t tell them to do something you don’t want them to do – like “return at a later time.” You want them to stay put.

404 Errors are Inevitable: Be Proactive!

The world is an imperfect place. Screws fall out all the time, URLs are mistyped and – as much as you try to prevent it – web pages get moved, removed, or even broken. Since error pages are inevitable, I vote we take the proactive route and create the best darn damage control pages possible.

Since every brand is different, there will never be a one-size-fits all model for how a custom 404 error page should look. Instead, marketers should use the five steps outlined in this post as a guide to create a custom 404 error page experience that represents their brand, serves their customers, and supports their conversion goals.

The post How to Design a 404 Error Page that Saves a Sale appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

So you’re getting world-class training and access to hands-on tools straight from Bruce Clay — all at your own desk.

Sounds expensive.

Now, return to real life. Ready for the good news? With the new online SEO Guide from Bruce Clay Inc., you can essentially have the learning experience mentioned above for free.

While Bruce won’t physically be in the office with you, you will have a step-by-step course that walks you through his methodologies with free tools at your disposal.

What’s Included in the Free SEO Guide

The new-and-improved SEO tutorial is an ethics-based online training course created to help marketers understand and apply industry best practices.

At 19,982 words, the course is deliberately thorough. Those new to search engine optimization are invited to read from beginning to end for an all-in-one ramp up. For those with more optimization experience, we’ve split the course up into 18 steps on individual pages to make it easy to navigate to the section most relevant to your needs.

New to this version of the tutorial are expanded lessons on technical SEO tips for structured data markup and mobile SEO and UX optimization.

Free Embedded Tools Make Learning Active

We believe in active learning and retention through engagement.

To close the gap between education and application, throughout this course we’ve included free tools that help you immediately put the skills you are learning into action.

18 sections is a lot of training; why wait until you’re done with the tutorial to start applying the skills you’re learning? Instead, this training system allows you to get hands-on while the ideas are still fresh, with light versions of our tools embedded at each appropriate step of the tutorial.

Throughout this course look for free tools that allow you to:

• Perform keyword research (See Step 1
• Discover top-ranked websites by keyword (See Step 2)
• Discover the keywords your competitors are using (See Step 3)
• Choose keywords for relevance (See Step 4)
• Make your meta tags more competitive by exploring the tags your competitors are using (see Step 7)
• Analyze your keyword distribution and content reading level (See Step 7)
• Uncover technical issues that may be preventing your site from appearing in search results (See Step 8)
• Check your site to identify cloaking issues (See Step 16)

Get Started Strengthening Your SEO Core!

The Bruce Clay Inc. SEO Guide is live now. To get started with this foundations course, choose a chapter from the list below and jump in feet first.

• Step 1:  Keyword Research – How to Select Keywords
• Step 2:  Competitive Research – Who’s Your SEO Competition?
• Step 3:  SEO Competitive Analysis – Spy on Your Competition
• Step 4:  Choosing Keywords for SEO Relevance
• Step 5:  Key Considerations when Writing Content
• Step 6:  How to Use Keywords in Content
• Step 7:  How to Optimize Website Content for SEO
• Step 8:  How to Submit a Website to Search Engines
• Step 9:  Sitemaps – How to Create a Sitemap
• Step 10:  Using Rich Media to Engage Your Site Visitors
• Step 11:  How to Optimize Multimedia Content for SEO
• Step 12:  Siloing – How to Structure Your Website
• Step 13:  Link Building – How to Attract Quality Links
• Step 14:  Avoiding Google Penalties
• Step 15:  Monitoring Backlinks and Link Pruning
• Step 16:  Technical SEO Tips
• Step 17:  Mobile SEO and UX Optimization
• Step 18:  How to Monitor Search Engine Rankings & SEO Progress
• Conclusion:  Repeat – SEO: The Job That’s Never Done

Tell Us What You Think

We hope you enjoy this course as much as we’ve enjoyed making it. Please tell us what you think in the comments below.

The post New SEO Tutorial Encourages Active Learning appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

So, when an Penguin 3.0 update was announced by Search Engine Land on October 19, significant SERP rank fluctuation was expected. Instead, what we’ve seen in the six days since the update can only be described as overwhelmingly underwhelming.

Penguin 3.0: What We’ve Seen In the First 6 Days

• In a post on Google+, Google UK Webmaster Trends Analyst Pierre Far confirmed that the “update” (referred to as a “refresh” twice in the body of the post) started rolling out on Friday, October 17. Wording the change as a “refresh” in the body text gives us the impression that the event we’re witnessing this week is a minor algorithm reiteration more comparable to the quiet release of Penguin 2.1 than the massive release of Penguin 2.0.

• The Mozcast barometer which monitors fluctuation in Google’s rankings and reports volatile conditions as hot, stormy weather, showed a temperature well over 100 degrees when Penguin 2.0 was launched in October 2013. Currently the Mozcast is showing a comfortable 71 degrees at the time of this posting, and an actual decrease in instability between Friday, October 17 (when the update was announced), and Saturday, October 18.

• At this point the analysis we’re seeing from our SEOToolSet ranking tool aligns completely with the comfortable, stable Mozcast forecast: we’re seeing very little SERP fluctuation – for better or worse. In general, we have seen neither significant penalty removal or penalty increases. It was thought that sites would show marked recovery for repenting this last year while those continuing their spammy ways would see increases in ranking drops. We have seen neither.

Speculations: Why Release an Update That’s Not Really an Update?

With so much anticipation leading up to the long overdue (in our opinion) release of Penguin 3.0, we can’t help but wonder: after a year, why would Google release a Penguin “update” that is so insignificantly affecting so many?

Here are four speculations we’ve cooked up in our internal discussions:

• One theory is that the public was getting antsy and Google took this recent action to appease a vocal industry. In this scenario we posit that Google, overwhelmed with millions of disavow requests, has yet to figure out a meaningful way to use the abundance of disavow data. If the elongated lapse in time between 2.0 and 3.0 updates is the driving catalyst for the update we’re seeing this week, then this week’s update may reflect the best they could do to throw us a bone, so to speak.

• Another speculation shifts the blame toward the upcoming holiday season; reasonably, Google doesn’t want to create mass instability in the SERPs right before Black Friday ushers in the biggest online shopping season of the year. In this case, a bigger shakeup could be coming with a Penguin 3.1 update roll out just after the holiday season.

• A third speculation takes Google at its word that the update is still rolling out, and the U.S. market will see a bigger impact in the days to come. In the above-mentioned Google+ announcement, Pierre Far says, “It’s a slow worldwide rollout, so you may notice it settling down over the next few weeks” (emphasis ours). Jennifer Slegg reports that the Penguin 3.0 update was rolled out on international Google sites Google.co.uk, Google.de and Google.fr,before roll out on U.S. sites. In other words, there still could be a tiny glimmer of hope that Penguin 3.0 is in fact still rolling out, and will begin to affect U.S. sites with more gusto in coming weeks.

• The fourth and most pessimistic speculation suggests that this update-slash-refresh may actually be a sign of things to come; what if Google aims to make cheaters pay for their crimes with an unforgettable punishment, as Bruce Clay, Inc. Senior SEO Analyst Robert Ramirez proposed speculatively in an article last month, Does Google Have a Responsibility to Refresh Its Penguin Algorithm? What if this update is a sign that penalties for black hat marketing techniques may be in the initial phase of an exponential increase, evolving into website death sentences with no hope for the penalized to ever fully recover?

What Now? We Wait and See

With a substantial lack of data to show Penguin 3.0 significantly impacting the SERP space, or an at all, really, we can only continue to wait and speculate among ourselves.

If above-mentioned speculations one, two, or three are true (or near truth), the seismic Penguin update we’ve been holding our collective breath for could still, very well, be on the horizon. This means hope could still be in the cards for former corner-cutters who have been working hard to prune their backlink profiles and waiting patiently for the Penguin update that would result in penalty resolution.

If the more dramatic fourth speculation is closer to true, we’re in for a real game change. In the Search Traffic portion of their Webmaster Tools Help, Google goes to great lengths to teach webmasters how to disavow unnatural links and correct manual link penalties. We like to believe all this training and effort means something and that Google really does want what’s best for your site, and for the greater good. For that reason, we choose not to put too much weight on the Penguin-3.0-as-eternal-death-sentence speculation.

But, still, it all boils down to waiting and seeing.

The bottom line is that something has to give sooner than later.

We’ve been waiting over a year to see Google refresh the algorithmic elements that manage the analysis and judgment of backlink profiles so that reformers can see rank recovery. What we saw this week just wasn’t that update.

Here’s to hoping that update is coming our way…soon.

The post Penguin 3.0 Update is Overwhelmingly Underwhelming appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

You get it.

But what if you’re not GoPro? What if your brand is boring or mundane? What if you sell less than sexy everyday products like graham crackers or online classes?

Enough with the what-ifs.

Storytelling that works is all about telling your story in a context that gets people thinking about their own lives. Every brand, no matter how “boring,” has some special hook in their product line or their value system that is a great story just waiting to be told.

Taking a cue from the experts that are already doing it right, here are three great examples of big brands that are content marketing with stories that sell, and five reasons why their campaigns work so well.

Three Examples of Storytelling That Works

At the heart of it, storytelling is about using characters, setting and storyline to take an audience somewhere and make them feel something.

The values-driven, user-generated stories Patagonia, Honey Maid, and the University of Phoenix tell with their unscripted “Worn Wear,” “This is Wholesome,” and “A Career Outside Of Football” campaigns accomplish this extremely well.

Here’s what their campaigns look like:

Patagonia: “Worn Wear”

In the “Worn Wear” series Patagonia invites brand advocates to share about their outdoor adventures, their lives, and the stories their gear would tell if it could talk.

The campaign has two parts: A 27-minute YouTube documentary that brings to life the stories of seven adventurers, including Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard himself, and a dedicated landing page where readers can scroll through user-submitted images and their accompanying “Dear Patagonia” stories.

If you’re thinking about how not boring outdoor gear is, I tend to agree with you, but watching the documentary you’ll notice some of the products featured (like a child’s romper and a pair of board shorts) are not all that exciting on their own. It’s the stories around the romper and the shorts that make them engaging, not the clothes themselves.

In their own words, Patagonia describes the project as “an antidote to the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping frenzy, [released as] an invitation to celebrate the stuff you already own.”

Why it’s successful:

• 265,251 views on YouTube
• 1,704 YouTube thumbs up
• 184 YouTube comments

Honey Made: “This is Wholesome”

In their “This is Wholesome” series of documentaries, Honey Made gives us a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the lives of three different families, and how each make their unique situation work. The one-minute-plus documentaries feature a military family, a single dad, and a same-sex couple with two children. Although Honey Made graham products are shown in passing several times in the documentaries, the storyline is all about these families, their challenges, and, as the documentary series implies, what makes their family life wholesome.

Straight from the brand, these are the words Honey Made uses to describe the “Dad & Papa” episode of their “This is Wholesome” mini-series: “This is a touching story  […] about how two traditional guys built their family on love and laughter.”

Why it’s successful:

• 203,267 views on YouTube
• 5,132 YouTube thumbs up
• 1,380 YouTube comments

University of Phoenix: “A Career Outside Football” (video no longer available)

In the University of Phoenix short documentary, we meet NFL wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who tells us in a first-person narrative about his mom’s fight with cancer, his dad’s emphasis on education and how studying at the University of Phoenix allows him to work on his degree even while raising a son and travelling the world.

In their own words University of Phoenix says this video is all about showcasing: “NFL wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald […] working toward one of the most important completion attempts of his life: his college degree.”

Why it’s successful:

• 10,475,974 views on YouTube (yes, over 10 million views)
• 50 YouTube comments

5 Elements That Make These Stories Successful

Outdoor gear, graham crackers, and online education; not the sexiest subjects. So what makes these storytelling campaigns so successful?

The short answer: They’re successful because they tell great stories.

The longer answer: The’re successful because they tell great stories that accomplishes these five elements:

• Hit a nerve: The stories told in these campaigns are fascinating, heart-felt, genuine and inspirational. Patagonia takes us down memory lane and inspires us to think about our own adventures and the stories we’ll pass  down — with our gear — from generation to generation; Honey Made’s family stories make us think of our own families, and inspire us to live with more love in our day to day; and the University of Phoenix short makes us think about our own goals, the role education plays in our families, and how the flexibility of an online university can make it possible for anyone to fulfill their dreams — including us. These types of stories make us think introspectively and hit a nerve that makes them particularly memorable and share-worthy.

• Cast relatable characters that personify brand core values: Each of the adventurers, family members, and students we meet in these stories are true walking, talking embodiments of the Patagonia, Honey Made and University of Phoenix brand core values. People like to buy from brands they identify with; brands they believe in. These campaigns use the stories of real consumers to give the brands a human side, and to get the audience identifying with the characters as a means to get them identifying with the brand.

• Show, don’t tell: The trick to content marketing with storytelling is to use your story to show the audience how excellent your product is by working it naturally into the stories you tell. Honey Made shows us a family telling jokes, talking about what they love about each other, making s’mores on the stove. They never mention the graham crackers or tell the audience how to use them; instead they show the audience how they can be a fun, comforting addition to a day with the family. Patagonia shows you an old jacket — a jacket you can’t even buy! A jacket from the 1980s. They don’t tell you to buy a jacket, instead they do the opposite and tell you to keep the jacket you already have forever and reuse it a million times. They do this to show you the value of clothing that is made to last, which is part of Patagonia’s core value system. These stories show you scenes that softly pitch the framework of concepts, then allow you to interpret significant details and come to your own conclusions. Selling in this way is smart because it builds affinity and brand-loyal customers who are more likely to come back year after year to keep buying.

• Tell stories that naturally highlight product benefits: What’s the benefit of signing up for an online university? It allows you to take classes in Antarctica! Or so I’ve learned from watching Larry Fitzgerald’s University of Phoenix story. Why buy from Patagonia? Because “Worn Wear” just showed me a guy cross country skiing in a perfectly good pair of Patagonia pants he bought 30 years ago. Why buy graham crackers? Because it’s the little things that count and sharing a graham cracker with someone is a great way to show them you love them. I know; Honey Made just showed me three families that do it all the time and they look super happy. Every product has benefits; the trick is to use the show-not-tell angle to highlight these benefits and show them in action as a central part of your storytelling.

• Find real brand advocates that can sell the product for you: Production time aside, Patagonia, Honey Made and University of Phoenix didn’t have to do much writing at all to get these above-and-beyond stories. All they had to do was figure out the hook and ask their users to speak for themselves on a topic. The trick is to think about what makes your brand special — what the personification of your value system looks like — and then to find user stories that embody this vision.

At the end of the day, the type of introspective, user-generated storytelling exhibited in these three campaigns works particularly well as a marketing strategy because it engages the audience emotionally and makes them feel connected – both to the stories being told, and associatively to the brand.

Remember Your Campfire Roots and Don’t Overthink It

Considering storytelling as a content marketing tool, it can be easy to overthink the whole thing. If you want to create stories that sell, get in touch with your consumers (what makes them tick) and your own brand (what makes you special). The trick is to work smarter, not harder, by choosing to highlight stories that make an emotional impact, feature characters consumers can relate to, personify core values, and show (not tell) the benefits of products.

This approach can work for anyone, whether your product is deodorant, law services, online education, motorcycles, magazines, or something we’ve never even heard of.

Looking for more content marketing strategy tips? Check out Bruce Clay’s book  “Content Marketing Strategies for Professionals” to learn more.

Keep the Story Going with a Tweet

Have a friend in a “boring brand” rut? Give them a tweet pep talk!

• Every product has benefits; the trick is to show them in action as a central part of your storytelling.  [Tweet this quote]

• Storytelling 101: Consider what makes your brand special & find user stories that embody this vision. [Tweet this quote]

• Storytelling engages the audience and makes them feel connected to the brand through the story. [Tweet this quote]

• Storytelling tip: Highlight stories that personify core values consumers relate to. [Tweet this quote]

• Storytelling is about using characters, setting and storyline to make an audience feel something. [Tweet this quote]

The post How 3 Big Brands Use Storytelling to Make Everyday Products Exciting appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

With 100-plus speakers presenting about SEO, SMM, and SEM in 60-plus sessions, keynotes and clinics, the amount of insight and tactical information you can take away from an event like SMX — that’s the awesome part. Now, imagine having to choose only 15 out of the 60 sessions to participate in. And imagine having to absorb all the goodness that 15-plus hours of training has to offer.

That’s where the intensity factor comes in.

There’s a lot going on at conferences and it’s simply not possible for one person to catch it all.

For that reason we’ve decided to share with you our 30 greatest takeaways from the 21 sessions we were able to attend at SMX West this year.

And, since there were 30-plus sessions we physically were not able to attend (life is all about decisions, right?), we’re asking for your help! We’d love to add what you learned from SMX West this year to our list of takeaways.

What Was Your Biggest SMX West Takeaway This Year?

We know you have a legal page (or more likely a Drive or Evernote account) full of session notes. What were your biggest SMX West takeaways this year? What’s on your post-conference to do list? What’s the once sentence you heard in a session that shifted your mindset and changed the way you think about online marketing?

SMX is truly a community event and we don’t think there’s any reason why the sharing that happens between sessions and in elevators has to stop just because the conference is over.

Below is our list of 30 actionable SMX West takeaways.

What can you add to the list? Share yours in the comments section below!

30 Online Marketing Tips from 21 SMX West Sessions

1) The key to mobile Big Data: Collect as much data as you can; get permission; monetize it; and then decide how to merge it, mine it, share it, or sell it. (http://bit.ly/1queSUs)

2) Stop griping about content marketing and how much you hate having to become a “media company.” Media first is not a chore! It’s an opportunity to do above and beyond what you ever thought you could accomplish. (http://bit.ly/1gj7WoS)

3) If you’re ever arguing about whether a link is a good link, the conversation is already over. It’s not a good link. If it’s a good link there shouldn’t be any questions. (http://bit.ly/1pgszTL)

4) If your content matters your audience has to matter even more. If you’re building content, you have to also be building audience. Content marketing is inclusive of audience development. (http://bit.ly/1oKveot)

5) The problem is that our C-Suite stakeholders don’t think of audience as an asset. They still think of marketing as a cost center. We need to make our stakeholders understand that marketing is an asset hub. It’s all about the rise of audience development and a consistency of thought, purpose and action. (http://bit.ly/1oKveot)

6) Twitter is about human communication. Any brand that has an audience they want to connect with can excel on Twitter. It’s all about finding the community, using the tools they’re using, and engaging your community with content that adds value. (http://bit.ly/1lTWTWT)

7) Twitter community coordinators, sales people, and brand managers need to be asking themselves: Can I help five people out per day? Can I join three (or however many) TwitterChats per week? Can I host a meet-up? The trick is to always be thinking of opportunities to engage and participate, and to set goals that help you make that ambition reality. (http://bit.ly/1lTWTWT)

8) Presenting big data to a stakeholder? Make sure you practice your presentation on a nontechnical volunteer to make sure your presentation is easily understood and stakeholder-ready. Seriously. Another approach is to pretend that you’re giving your presentation to your mother, or your neighbor; will they understand what you’re saying? (http://bit.ly/1g6OxTu)

9) The difference between a good analyst and great analysts – getting buy-in to continue analysis! (In other words, communicating with clarity in a way that motivates and conveys impact to stakeholders.) (http://bit.ly/1g6OxTu)

10) Don’t get a case of Audience Assumption Disorder where you put 99% of your effort into creating amazing content and apps and then only 1% into nurturing an audience that will want to see your content. (http://bit.ly/1oKveot)

11) Spend time focusing on proprietary audience development. This means you are not only building an audience, but you are building a proprietary audience that you and you alone can reach. Remember your audience is an asset with predictable downstream value! Don’t forget to invest in that asset as needed. (http://bit.ly/1oKveot)

12) Consider your paid search person (in-house or contract) as a partner; a fellow brand strategist. They need to have a clear picture of the brand’s social, UX and big-picture businesses goals. If you are a paid search person remember you need this information; part a search optimizer’s job is to aggressively find out what success looks like for the business they’re optimizing for. (http://bit.ly/1pgh12B)

13) When clients are seeking out a paid search person they don’t just expect to work with someone who knows keywords and quality score, they want to work with a brand advocate. Someone who can offer perspective, unbiased advice and the ability to explain why things are important. (http://bit.ly/1pgh12B)

14) Wondering how much content you should be creating? According to Rae Hoffman (CEO, PushFire; @sugarrae), there is no cut and dry answer. In 2014 it’s just not as simple as “create four posts a day.” So what do you do? Don’t publish crap just because the calendar says to, publish only when you actually have something to say, and don’t create any content that is mediocre. However much content you can create under those guidelines is enough content. (http://bit.ly/1pgk3nL)

15) Considering working with a new client, or negotiating a contract? Remember these two things: 1) In 2014, your job is more about audience development and business management than “SEO” as we once understood it, and 2) Don’t ever take money if you don’t think you can provide someone with the ROI they deserve. (http://bit.ly/1pgk3nL)

16) Don’t forget to always be looking for exposure opportunities off domain. For instance, Intel looks at the SERP and thinks After someone performs this search, where are they likely to land? If it’s the Best Buy website (because Best Buy is high up in the SERP for a specific keyword phrase), they consider whether it’s smart for them to put an Intel asset (like an ad) on that page to get in front of the consumer after the SERP click. Remember marketing is largely about exposure and the means you can utilize to gain it. (http://bit.ly/1pgk3nL)

17) Keep your URL structure clean. Start down the right mental path; sit down with engineering and make sure everyone who has hands on the site structure understands the whys behind site structure and URL requirements. (http://bit.ly/1pgoj6x)

18) Remember that rel=canonical is not your savior and that it should really only be used 5 or 10 times across your site. (http://bit.ly/1pgoj6x)

19) Duane Forrester’s priorities for search marketing in 2014: (http://bit.ly/1pgoj6x)
1. Content
2. Usability and user experience
3. Social media (driver of conversation and customer satisfaction)
4. Links (for traffic, not for rankings boost)
5. Basic SEO on-page best practices

20) For your brand and competitors you don’t need to know keyword referral data to succeed. What you really need to know is your unpersonalized rank; your competitors trending unpersonalized rank; how to calculate CTR potential based on rank; and how to calculate SEO competitive traffic share. (http://bit.ly/1pgrawh)

21) If consumers have a negative Google Maps experience they’ll connect that negative association with your brand. It’s important to make sure your brand’s local data is right on maps and mobile. (http://bit.ly/1pgrpr8)

22) Being small doesn’t mean you are unable to succeed with big business competition. If you are marketing a small business, you need to think of your small business as a smaller business that can 100% compete with bigger companies. (http://bit.ly/1pgrLOH)

23) It’s essential to break down the barriers between your QA, UX, HR, Engineering, PR, Customer Service and Marketing departments. When everyone works together with targets in mind the improvement can be staggering. (http://bit.ly/1pgszTL)

24) Once you’ve broken down your internal department barriers, make sure, as an SEO, you are over-communicating at every step. Offer guidance; instead of just saying “make the title this,” explain why the title should be that. Every SEO question should be followed with an explanation. (http://bit.ly/1pgszTL)

25) It’s important that your brand is building a genuine, earned reputation that is based on realized value proposition. If you are trying to build your reputation by any non-organic means, this is faux reputation and it will only end up hurting you. (http://bit.ly/1pgszTL)

26) Be sure to make calculated optimization changes and then always be prepared to talk about those changes (with stakeholders and CEOs) in the light of unforeseen traffic drops. Ranking fluctuation is natural but you never want to be caught without a proactive response when a CEO asks you about a sudden SERP plummet. (http://bit.ly/1pgszTL)

27) Don’t just focus on engagement with influencers! Make it a priority to give back to the larger community and to interact with the people in it based on the value they bring to the conversations, not the value they can bring to your résumé. Make yourself be seen as open and available (and actually be open and available). (http://bit.ly/1pgszTL)

28) If you are marketing an app make sure your app has a dedicated landing page on your website. Most apps don’t have dedicated landing pages and, according to research performed by Justin Briggs of Getty Images, this small change can result in a significant increase in app revenue year-over-year. (http://bit.ly/1jhXKfv)

29) According to Google SVP in charge of search ranking Amit Singhal, social signals from external networks like Facebook and Twitter are still not being used as ranking factors because they are considered “unreliable.” That said, signals from Google+ are different – and trust signals from G+ are considered – because the data available from Google+ is reliable. (Google owns it; of course it’s a reliable source of information from Google to Google.) As such, searchers won’t see Facebook or Twitter affecting SERP rank, but they may see a great impact based on Google+ social signals when they’re searching logged in. (http://bit.ly/1pgwGiw)

30) Pro tips for writing promoted tweets: Start organically; avoid optimizing direct response tweets with hashtags, mentions or images; include a call to action and a relevant, compelling offer. (http://bit.ly/1pgyEQ4)

Your Turn

What were your biggest SMX West takeaways this year? Add to our takeaways list below in the comments section below!

The post 30 Smart Online Marketing Tips from SMX West appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..