SEO News

Now, let’s get straight to it.

Technology is holding back half of UK retailers

Retailers are still struggling to harness the power of new technology, according to the latest research from eCommera and Coleman Parkes.

In a study of 200 UK retailers with revenue of over £100m, 46% of respondents said their tech stack is inhibiting growth. Consequently, 64% plan to increase investment in 2017.

When it comes down to the reasons why, retailers cited website stability, customer experience and analytics as the three areas that require greater focus. This proves that – while retailers might have invested in the latest tech – many are unable to implement it correctly.

Pepsi Super Bowl ad generates most media conversation

4C has revealed the Super Bowl moments that ignited social media, with both Lady Gaga and Pepsi overshadowing the game itself.

There were over 37m engagements around the event in total, including conversation about teams, players, and performers.

Tom Brady earned 2.5m engagements, while Lady Gaga gained 5.5m engagements for her impressive performance. Meanwhile, Pepsi was the most talked about brand ad, garnering 708,089 engagements.

UK searches for mini-breaks up a fifth year on year

The Spring Travel Insights report from Bing Ads has revealed the travel destinations Brits are currently searching for.

With a spike driven by Valentine’s Day and the approaching spring bank holiday, searches for mini or short breaks are up nearly a fifth year on year. Spa breaks are similarly popular, making up 23% of searches.

Mobile is also a key driver, with 31% of mini-break search volume coming from a smartphone or tablet.

More consumers search eBay for iPads than roses for Valentine’s Day

In more Valentine’s Day news, eBay has revealed that Valentine’s gifts are increasingly moving from the practical to the experiential, as shoppers search for more unusual and imaginative gift ideas.

This time last year, searches in eBay’s Travel & Holidays category surged by 55%, while interest in its Art category rose by 60%. Further to this, interest in event tickets and books rose by 57% and 39% respectively.

Even traditional gifts like roses have been eclipsed by practical items like the iPad, which saw a 31% spike in search interest.

One in ten marketers admit their emails are irrelevant

New research from the DMA highlights how vital emails are to marketing strategies, with 95% of marketers agreeing that they are ‘important’ or ‘very important’.

Despite this, only 9% say that all their emails are relevant to customers, and 38% say that ‘some’ are relevant at best.

For marketers, ‘lack of strategy’ remains the biggest concern, followed by ‘lack of data’ and ‘data silos’. It’s not all bad news, however, as last year’s biggest concern of ‘limited internal resources’ has dropped out of the top three.

With over half of consumers having considered deleting their email account, it is up to marketers to strive to provide greater relevance and value.

AI marketing spend predicted to hit $2bn by 2020

A new report from Qubit and IDC predicts that marketing spend on artificial intelligence technology will grow by 54% from $360m in 2016 to $2bn by 2020.

A large factor in this prediction is the belief that traditional tools like A/B testing and predictive analytics are flat lining. Similarly, the suggestion that marketers are struggling with the sheer volume and variety of consumer data, leading to inaccuracies and errors.

Consequently, while marketers are still failing to grasp AI effectively, marketing spend looks set to boom.

Quality more important than price for grocery shoppers

New research from Shoppercentric has highlighted the changing expectations of grocery shoppers, as high quality produce overtakes competitive pricing in terms of importance.

Now, 54% of consumers say quality produce is the most critical factor, while 49% cite price.

Other changing behaviour includes how often consumers shop, with the ‘little and often’ trend increasing 5% since 2016. Lastly, the rise of mobile continues, with 27% of shoppers using their smartphone to shop in the past month – a rise of 3% from last year. 

5.5bn people predicted to be using mobile phones by 2021

According to a new report from Cisco, more people will be using mobile phones in 2021 than bank accounts and landlines.

Due to strong growth in mobile users, smartphones and IoT connections – combined with network speed improvements and mobile video consumption – mobile data traffic is predicted to grow sevenfold.

Cisco also forecasts that there will be 12bn mobile-connected devices by 2021 – a figure up from 8bn in 2016. Lastly, the total number of smartphones is expected to account for more than half of all devices and connections in the world.

46% of consumers influenced by social video

In a survey over 5,500 consumers, the Science of Social Video has found that people spend an average of six hours a week watching video content on social media networks.

67% of respondents said that this figure had increased over the course of the past year, while 60% said that it’s likely to continue to rise.

The survey also highlights how social video can impact purchasing decisions, with 46% saying they had made a purchase as a result of watching a branded video on social media, while 32% had considered doing so.

(Minutes of social video consumers watch per day)

Omni-channel sales restricted by security concerns

A new survey from Aspect has found that security concerns about social media could be preventing sales.

69% of consumers have security concerns over payment or personal details, while 60% have concerns over social media channels being at risk of phishing attempts or fraudulent profiles.

While social media channels are still widely used for research purposes, purchases are generally carried out elsewhere, with a majority of consumers being unwilling to pay via communication channels like Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram.

On the other hand, consumers are increasingly confident in paying via mobile applications, with 75% saying they are happy to do so.

Now, let’s get straight to it.

Technology is holding back half of UK retailers

Retailers are still struggling to harness the power of new technology, according to the latest research from eCommera and Coleman Parkes.

In a study of 200 UK retailers with revenue of over £100m, 46% of respondents said their tech stack is inhibiting growth. Consequently, 64% plan to increase investment in 2017.

When it comes down to the reasons why, retailers cited website stability, customer experience and analytics as the three areas that require greater focus. This proves that – while retailers might have invested in the latest tech – many are unable to implement it correctly.

Pepsi Super Bowl ad generates most media conversation

4C has revealed the Super Bowl moments that ignited social media, with both Lady Gaga and Pepsi overshadowing the game itself.

There were over 37m engagements around the event in total, including conversation about teams, players, and performers.

Tom Brady earned 2.5m engagements, while Lady Gaga gained 5.5m engagements for her impressive performance. Meanwhile, Pepsi was the most talked about brand ad, garnering 708,089 engagements.

UK searches for mini-breaks up a fifth year on year

The Spring Travel Insights report from Bing Ads has revealed the travel destinations Brits are currently searching for.

With a spike driven by Valentine’s Day and the approaching spring bank holiday, searches for mini or short breaks are up nearly a fifth year on year. Spa breaks are similarly popular, making up 23% of searches.

Mobile is also a key driver, with 31% of mini-break search volume coming from a smartphone or tablet.

More consumers search eBay for iPads than roses for Valentine’s Day

In more Valentine’s Day news, eBay has revealed that Valentine’s gifts are increasingly moving from the practical to the experiential, as shoppers search for more unusual and imaginative gift ideas.

This time last year, searches in eBay’s Travel & Holidays category surged by 55%, while interest in its Art category rose by 60%. Further to this, interest in event tickets and books rose by 57% and 39% respectively.

Even traditional gifts like roses have been eclipsed by practical items like the iPad, which saw a 31% spike in search interest.

One in ten marketers admit their emails are irrelevant

New research from the DMA highlights how vital emails are to marketing strategies, with 95% of marketers agreeing that they are ‘important’ or ‘very important’.

Despite this, only 9% say that all their emails are relevant to customers, and 38% say that ‘some’ are relevant at best.

For marketers, ‘lack of strategy’ remains the biggest concern, followed by ‘lack of data’ and ‘data silos’. It’s not all bad news, however, as last year’s biggest concern of ‘limited internal resources’ has dropped out of the top three.

With over half of consumers having considered deleting their email account, it is up to marketers to strive to provide greater relevance and value.

AI marketing spend predicted to hit $2bn by 2020

A new report from Qubit and IDC predicts that marketing spend on artificial intelligence technology will grow by 54% from $360m in 2016 to $2bn by 2020.

A large factor in this prediction is the belief that traditional tools like A/B testing and predictive analytics are flat lining. Similarly, the suggestion that marketers are struggling with the sheer volume and variety of consumer data, leading to inaccuracies and errors.

Consequently, while marketers are still failing to grasp AI effectively, marketing spend looks set to boom.

Quality more important than price for grocery shoppers

New research from Shoppercentric has highlighted the changing expectations of grocery shoppers, as high quality produce overtakes competitive pricing in terms of importance.

Now, 54% of consumers say quality produce is the most critical factor, while 49% cite price.

Other changing behaviour includes how often consumers shop, with the ‘little and often’ trend increasing 5% since 2016. Lastly, the rise of mobile continues, with 27% of shoppers using their smartphone to shop in the past month – a rise of 3% from last year. 

5.5bn people predicted to be using mobile phones by 2021

According to a new report from Cisco, more people will be using mobile phones in 2021 than bank accounts and landlines.

Due to strong growth in mobile users, smartphones and IoT connections – combined with network speed improvements and mobile video consumption – mobile data traffic is predicted to grow sevenfold.

Cisco also forecasts that there will be 12bn mobile-connected devices by 2021 – a figure up from 8bn in 2016. Lastly, the total number of smartphones is expected to account for more than half of all devices and connections in the world.

46% of consumers influenced by social video

In a survey over 5,500 consumers, the Science of Social Video has found that people spend an average of six hours a week watching video content on social media networks.

67% of respondents said that this figure had increased over the course of the past year, while 60% said that it’s likely to continue to rise.

The survey also highlights how social video can impact purchasing decisions, with 46% saying they had made a purchase as a result of watching a branded video on social media, while 32% had considered doing so.

(Minutes of social video consumers watch per day)

Omni-channel sales restricted by security concerns

A new survey from Aspect has found that security concerns about social media could be preventing sales.

69% of consumers have security concerns over payment or personal details, while 60% have concerns over social media channels being at risk of phishing attempts or fraudulent profiles.

While social media channels are still widely used for research purposes, purchases are generally carried out elsewhere, with a majority of consumers being unwilling to pay via communication channels like Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram.

On the other hand, consumers are increasingly confident in paying via mobile applications, with 75% saying they are happy to do so.

Posted by randfish

What’s the secret to earning site traffic from competitive keywords with decent search volume? The answer could be as easy as 1, 2, 3 — or more precisely, 2, 0, 1, 7. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand lets you in on a relatively straightforward tactic that can help you compete in a tough space using very fresh content.

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high-resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Howdy, Moz fans, and welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. This week we’re going to chat about what is sometimes known as the keyword-plus-year hack. This is the idea that you take a keyword that has some existing search volume, and you add on a date, either a month or a month and a year, and you are able to outrank many of the other players because it’s a much less competitive space. I’ll show you what I’m talking about. It helps to have an example.

Keyword trend graph

So let’s say there are a good number of people every year who search for the best web designs. They want to get design inspiration, or they just want to see what’s out there. They’re looking for the design gallery, so they search for best web designs. Many times, though, those folks will get results from the last 5 to 10 years, and they’ll see those in there and they’ll go, “You know, I want something more modern, more updated,” and so they will revise their query to “best web designs 2016.” In fact, many people even start with these queries. So they want to see the top Android games of January 2017. They want to see the best summer dishes 2017 for planning on cooking something.

They’re looking for something that is trendy. Maybe they’re looking around fashion, or you see this a lot in searches around hairstyle or anything that is grading products or services. Who are the best real estate agents in Seattle? No, no, not the 2012 edition of “Seattle Met Magazine.” I want 2017. Who are the best real estate agents in Seattle 2017? So they’ll add this year on there. What’s great is, because this year or month only happens as it happens, those searches only happen as we get to that time period, the keyword research will not expose it to you. So if, for example, let’s make this 2017, so “best web designs 2017.”

We’re filming this Whiteboard Friday in January. There have only just started to be a few searches for best web designs 2017. There have only just started to be a few any keyword searches that include the word 2017, because 2017 has just started. Therefore, your competitors are not seeing those in their keyword research list. They’re not targeting them. There’s not a ton of content out there yet, and so it’s easier. Even though the volume tends to be lower than the usual keyword — sometimes it’s higher, but usually lower — you will find it is vastly easier to rank for, and it’s also the case — this is sort of beautiful — if you’re using this tactic, even though it’s higher in volume to have “best web designs” versus “best web designs 2017,” the one without the year, it is often the case that Google will bias to show more recent content, especially if there are lots of searches that get revised to include the temporal number or date.

That is awesome because it means that you can win twice. You can rank for this one, which, of course, the search volume for it will die off at the end of the year, but you might be able to rank for this one as well. If you keep that updated, and change it up, and add to it, retire the old one, move the old one over to an old URL, put the new one up at the new URL, or keep the same URL if you’re trying to build on top of the link authority that you’ve built to that URL, you can have some awesome ranking and traffic power.

The process

How do you do this?

1. Conduct keyword research using:

• NON-date keywords – You want to conduct the keyword research without using the date. I’m going to start with non-date keywords. So if I’m in Keyword Explorer, or if I’m doing my keyword research in AdWords, or wherever I am, I would search for “best web design,” get a big list of my target keywords.
• Last year + keywords – Then I would go look at last year numbers. For example, I would search for “2016 best web design” or “best web design 2016” or anything from my keyword export or list that includes years.
• 2–3 years ago + keywords – I would go two and three years ago, so that I could get a sense for the volume that includes the year. I would also be looking for month at this time.

2. Use Google Trends and/or SimilarWeb/Jumpshot Trends to ID seasonality

Then I’d use Google Trends, or if you’re not a fan of Google Trends — they can be a little squirrely with some data — SimilarWeb and Jumpshot also have keyword trend data, at least at the head of the demand curve, that can be good, and try and identify some of that seasonality. If you see that there’s a high season that includes a particular month, that’s often an indication that month plus year could be there, and then you can go and look in here. I could add “May 2016 best web design” to see if there was actually search volume for just the May keyword.

3. Use Google SERPs to determine if the month/year tactic is popular or underserved in your niche

Then I’m going to use Google SERPs. I’m going to check the keyword difficulty of those SERPs, and I’d probably look to see how many different outlets are producing monthly or annual content. For annual content, it’s really going to be very January- and February-centric. That’s when it all gets produced. Then, if it is underserved, that means there’s more opportunity there, but, even still, it’s almost always a lower difficulty, easier to get in there.

4. Target and create that timely content

So, to do that, you’re going to be using:

• Recent data. If I were creating a page to target “best web design 2017,” I would want to use designs that have come out in the last month only or maybe just at the very end of 2016.
• Employ emerging trends and language. So maybe it’s PWAs, maybe it is language around clean design, whatever the trends in the field are right now.
• Serve the recency of the searcher’s intent by giving them the ability or showing right up front that my data and my information is very recent and that I’m helping them with what’s going now, not just historically.

5. Publish as early in the period as possible

You want to publish this content as early as you can in the period without doing it earlier. So what I don’t want to do is have my launch be in December 2016. December is a very quiet period anyway. It’s tough to get traction and attention, it’s tough to build links, but it also can be the case that you won’t hit the search algorithms as recency systems. Google has these algorithms called the QDF, query deserves freshness, and so if they see that you’re producing that content a month or two months before it’s actually the right date, there’s going to be skepticism, both from users who might stumble upon it or find it, but also from engines. So you want to publish early in the period, but not any earlier than that.

With this tactic, yeah, you can hack your way to some pretty awesome traffic. I look forward to hearing from all of you who’ve done this, who are trying it, and hear your experiences. We’ll see you again next week for another edition of Whiteboard Friday. Take care.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

p.s. For some great examples of this in action, check out KeywordKeg’s list of 2017 phrases.

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