Content has become the primary tool we use to create a dialogue with our prospects and cultivate online customer relationships. That content must be relevant, valuable and interactive to win their attention and draw them into a conversation. In reality, content has always been the best way to do marketing.

But with the overabundance of information overloading your customers and prospects, it becomes difficult for them to find a trustworthy source of information. The solution is more than positioning your brand as the expert in your niche by creating content and reaping the rewards. It is optimizing your content for organic, paid traffic and site search that converts.

By exploring the relationship between SEO, SEM and on-site search, you can begin to optimize the experience your prospects get when they arrive at your site. 

Learn more by watching Coveo’s Director of Product Marketing, Stephen Rahal’s informative SMX Next session for tips and tricks on creating an onsite search strategy that helps you better understand each visit and optimize every interaction.

After this session, you’ll be able to educate your teams about the value of onsite search and why you need to invest now; benchmark your site search and learn what capabilities are key to boosting conversion; rethink how you design navigation and map user journeys with artificial intelligence and start unifying your search and web analytics data to understand customer intent better.

Ensure that every visitor you get through organic and paid search finds what they’re looking for. Sign up here to learn more about on-site search.

The post Why on-site search is the best investment you’ll make in 2022 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Messy SEO is a column covering the nitty-gritty, unpolished tasks involved in the auditing, planning, and optimization of websites, using MarTech’s new domain as a case study.

This installment of “Messy SEO” details my process of addressing the SERP title change made to one of our most important MarTech pages. In Part 3, we discussed the tactics we used to fix broken images, find the correct replacements and, ultimately, improve user experience.

RELATED: Navigating Google’s title changes: The rollout, what’s happening now and what you can do about it

Analyzing the Google SERP title tag changes

Ever since Google announced changes to its SERP page title generation process, SEOs have been scrambling to measure its impact, adjusting their strategies when necessary. Many organizations saw minor changes to their site’s title tags, but there were some notable exceptions. Our team, in particular, noticed a major edit to our MarTech mission page title link (the title of a search result in Google Search).

The SERP title was changed to “MarTech is Marketing Logo,” (shown above) which is pulled from our MarTech site’s header logo alt text. Whereas the original title link (shown below) was our chosen title (“What is MarTech? …This is MarTech”), Google opted to display a piece of alt text that gives little context and fails to encourage clicks.

Reviewing the changes in clicks and CTR

Most of the MarTech SERP title changes we’ve seen haven’t changed drastically. As a result, their clicks, impressions and CTR numbers stayed at expected levels over the past few months.

But, we wanted to zoom in on the search metrics for our “What is Martech?” page to see what impact an unwanted title change made by Google has had, especially since it’s one of our most visited pages. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t good.

Knowing the SERP title change took place between October 27 and November 1, we compared the page’s November performance to its October results. We found that the page’s total clicks decreased from 2,301 to 1,500 and the average CTR went from 3.1% to 2%.

The total impressions went from 73,691 to 75,427 and the average position remained 12.7. This implies that the SERP title change hasn’t affected visibility or rankings (as Google said it wouldn’t), but rather heavily discouraged people from clicking on the result.

Clearly, the SERP title change hurt our traffic, so we needed to find a way to address it.

Taking steps to change the SERP title

Waiting for Google to change the title on its own is the last thing we wanted to do. We decided to take action right away. Here are a few of the tactics we’ve tried so far.:

• Resubmit the page. We immediately resubmitted the page to Google via Search Console. While this isn’t likely to change anything, there’s always the chance it helps crawlers pick up on page elements they’ve missed — in this case, our title tag.
• Update the title tag. Since it appears the algorithm had an issue with our chosen tag, we made an adjustment. We were careful not to transform it completely; it is now ”What is MarTech? …MarTech is Marketing.” This version more clearly points to the topic of the page, which we hope Google notices.
• Add contextual internal links. There are already plenty of internal links pointing to this page, but we wanted to be sure Google had plenty of context. So, we added more links with contextual anchor text to the page — keyword phrases such as “what is martech,” “martech is marketing,” or simply “martech” — to show the crawlers what this page is actually about.
• Monitor the SERPs. We’re keeping an eye on our title link to see if these changes helped. We will continue repeating these steps every week or two — as long as it takes.

Have your title links experienced major changes over the past few months? What strategies have you implemented and have any been successful? Email me at cpatterson@thirddoormedia.com with the subject line “Messy SEO Part 4” to let me know.

More Messy SEO

Read more about our new MarTech domain’s SEO case study.

• Part 1: Navigating a site consolidation migration
• Part 2: The importance of canonicalization
• Part 3: How to find cached images and improve user experience

The post When Google’s title change goes wrong appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Google is rolling out a few updates to Google Search to help users find doctors and healthcare providers that are right for them. These updates include being able to see if a doctor or healthcare provider accepts your insurance and if they speak your language.

Health insurance. Google Search can now show you which insurance networks the doctor or healthcare provider might accept. Plus, on the mobile search results, Google will let you filter providers by the insurance plans accepted. This will help users determine if a provider accepts their insurance, including Medicare, private insurance and employer-funded insurance, government-affiliated health programs and more.

Speak my language. Healthcare providers and doctors can also edit their Google Business Profile listing to define the languages spoken at their offices. Google said patients “want to be able to communicate clearly in their language of choice.” Google says there are over a dozen languages represented, including Spanish and American Sign Language.

How to update your details. Google says you can update your healthcare facilities details in your Google Business Profile, so make sure you verify your business with Google. Then you will be able to:

• Add additional insurance providers they accept from a pre-populated list of available insurance providers
• Remove insurance providers and networks that are listed erroneously

Note, the feature will be disabled if all insurance information is removed and for any other insurance related information and issues, providers can submit feedback directly to the Google My Business support team.

Why we care. Finding a healthcare provider or doctor can be intimidating for some, so any way to make it easier to find one is important.

For those of you who have healthcare providers as clients, you will want to make sure the insurance information in the Google search results for your clients is accurate and if not, make sure that the healthcare provider’s website clearly describes which insurance providers are accepted. Also, don’t forget the easiest method is to update the healthcare provider’s Google Business Profile to ensure Google has the latest details on your facility.

The post Google Search lets you see if a doctor or healthcare facility takes your insurance appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Over the last few years, social media-based marketing has become a valuable tool for mortgage brokers. Social media platforms can help loan officers to bring in a steady stream of high-quality leads.

If you work in the mortgage industry, then you need to be active on social media. But just logging on and sharing an occasional post or clicking the “like” button on a few status updates won’t get the job done. Instead, you need to use proven tactics that produce real results.

Thousands of mortgage brokers are already making the most of social media to market their businesses. You can, too, with a few proven strategies. In this guide, we’ll explore the many ways that lenders can make the most of social media to connect with prospective buyers.

Types of Social Media Marketing  

Before we discuss how you and your loan officers can generate more leads, it’s important to cover the basics of social media marketing. Generally speaking, social media marketing can be grouped into one of two broad categories.

Organic Leads

An “organic lead” is a lead that you acquire without having to use paid advertising. Much like SEO marketing, getting organic leads via social media takes time. You have to create a social media page, build your following, and consistently post interesting content.

However, the work doesn’t stop there. You will also need to remain active on your business account if you want to continue to generate organic leads. Even a few weeks of inactivity can hurt your ability to attract new clients.

Paid Advertising

The other type of social media marketing is paid to advertise. You can create various types of paid advertising campaigns, depending on your preferences. For instance, Facebook allows you to display paid ads in the following locations:

• Newsfeeds
• Stories
• Messenger

On top of selecting the “placement” for your ads, you can also choose what types of content to display. A few examples include written content, images, or videos. As you might have guessed, ads that feature video content will be more expensive to show than written material.

As you’re creating a paid advertising campaign, you’ll find that each social media platform allows you to customize your budget. This approach lets you have total control over how much you spend in total on your paid marketing campaign.

Tactics Loan Officers Use to Generate Leads

If you want to attract clients, you will need an effective marketing strategy. To help, we have identified some of the best tactics that loan officers use for lead generation.

The mortgage brokers who have the most effective social media marketing campaigns are:

Consistent

Perhaps the most important component to social media lead generation is consistency. This is especially true if you want to capture organic leads and minimize expenses. 

When you post erratically on social media, it can be difficult to connect with prospective clients. Each platform uses a complex algorithm to analyze your behavior on the page.

We’ll use Facebook as an example since they are the world’s largest social media platform. Facebook’s algorithm scores and displays organic posts based on various ranking signals. A few of these criteria include how recently the company has posted, the type of post created (picture, text, video), and whether a user is likely to engage with it.

Mortgage brokers who post engaging, consistent content will be more prominently displayed on news feeds. Loan officers who post bland marketing materials once or twice a month may not generate any leads at all.

Diverse

The loan officers with the most effective social media marketing campaigns are extremely consistent, but that doesn’t mean that they’re boring. Successful mortgage brokers also post diverse types of content. 

These individuals do everything from posting compelling videos about homebuyers that they’ve helped to share stats that show off their speedy loan processing timelines. Their efforts keep their audiences engaged while helping them build their following.

As you’re creating your social media lead generation strategy, take advantage of the various features within each platform. Set realistic goals for your company. For example, you might choose to post written content on your news feed twice per week and incorporate one video or image onto your story every other week.

Concise and Easy to Understand

Think back to a few pieces of mortgage-related social media content that caught your eye. What did these ads have in common? All of them likely had a great “hook,” delivered a pointed message, and ended with a gentle call to action.

Marketers designed these ads in this way because they understood that users on social media often have a very short attention span. Remember, most prospective clients are turning to social media to take a break from their daily responsibilities!

With that in mind, you need to keep your marketing content concise. Whether you’re creating a paid marketing video or simply posting an update on your timeline, be brief and purposeful. 

Each piece of content should have a specific goal, deliver useful information to the audience, and end with a call to action. Depending on what you created the content for, the CTA may be simple instructions such as “like our page” or “share this post.”

Genuine

The average consumer can see right through a fluff piece or flashy marketing video. Mortgage brokers who have the most success in generating leads on social media have mastered the art of being genuine. Instead of packing their content with self-promotional materials, they strive to add value to the lives of their audience.

If you want to do the same, focus on creating content that is informative and easy to digest. Everyone knows that you want to earn their business. You don’t have to dedicate every piece of content towards reinforcing this point. Share information, teach a skill, solve a problem — in short, show that you’re an expert in the industry!

Benefits of Social Media for Mortgage Brokers

Social media marketing is an excellent tool for mortgage brokers. This advertising medium offers several significant benefits because it allows loan officers to:

Connect with New Clients

Perhaps the most notable benefit of using social media is that it can help mortgage brokers to connect with new clients. Social media platforms have almost completely replaced traditional word-of-mouth advertising.

In the past, consumers would tell their friends and family if they had a good or bad experience with a company. Now, they post about it, like the business page, or even actively comment on other people’s pages when they ask about mortgage services.

Social media sites also give loan officers the ability to proactively seek out prospective customers through paid and organic marketing. 

Social media marketing can be much more effective than other forms of advertising, especially when you understand that the mortgage industry is heavily focused on building relationships with clients.

Earn Repeat Business

Social media is useful for generating new leads, but it can also help loan officers to earn repeat business. When a mortgage broker provides their client with a great experience from start to finish, that person will likely follow the company’s business page. 

If the broker stays active on social media by using the strategies outlined above, that past client will frequently see their content.

When it comes time for that customer to refinance their current loan or purchase another home, they will likely turn to that loan officer for help. 

Loan officers can also send out birthday messages and refinance alerts to increase their chances of retaining customers for future deals. 

These types of correspondence are typically sent via email, but they can also be delivered in a social media message. Remember that staying in contact with people is the best way to build an ongoing relationship. Even if they don’t require your services right now, they probably know someone who might! 

Build Your Brand Image

A strong brand image is an integral part of lead generation. Ideally, you want your company’s name and logo to be highly recognizable. Social media marketing is a great way to reach this goal.

Every time you post on your company’s social media accounts, your followers will be exposed to your brand. Over time, this will leave a lasting impact on your audience. As a result, they might just turn to your company the next time they need mortgage services.

Save Money

Another significant benefit of lead generation via social media is that it is extremely cost-effective. This is especially important for independent loan officers and small mortgage firms that do not have massive advertising budgets. 

Mortgage professionals can start a business page on the top social media platforms for free. They can also begin to build their audience using organic marketing tactics until they have the funds to start using paid advertising.

Marketing Made Easy with BNTouch

As you can see, social media can be a powerful tool for mortgage brokers. When it’s used properly, social platforms can generate quality leads and grow your business.

With that being said, we understand that you may not have time to build marketing campaigns from the ground up. That’s where we come in! 

BNTouch provides our clients with cutting-edge mortgage CRM software. This technology includes several features, including pre-built marketing content that can help you to get more leads fast. If you would like to learn more, request a demo today!

The post How Mortgage Brokers Are Leveraging Social Media to Generate Leads appeared first on .

“When I talk about the metrics that will help you get and secure and keep buy-in, I come to you with a perspective of operations,” said Jessica Bowman, CEO of SEOinhouse.com, in her presentation at SMX Next. “How do we get other people involved in SEO as well?

SEOs are constantly searching for new ways to prove their work’s value to higher-ups. And, many prefer to let the results speak for themselves. But, as Bowman argues, it’s often more effective presenting executives with actionable metrics that get them involved in operations.

Here are three metrics Bowman recommends SEOs hone in on to secure that coveted buy-in so that they can continue to improve the visibility of their brands.

Metrics that can change the conversation

“SEO operations . . . is focusing on how you go about getting the SEO strategies and tactics done,” Bowman said. “Dp that well and you start setting yourself apart from the competition because most companies don’t address SEO operations.”

“Now we can take this framework and kind of shrink it down and make it [into] a strategy scorecard,” she added.

The SEO strategy scorecard framework gives executives and other departments a clear look into your tactics and what they’re designed to achieve. In her version, Bowman links these strategies to one of two categories: those that grow SEO traffic and those that accelerate SEO through operations.

Bowman says you can add more insight by featuring metrics such as estimated revenue. Highlighting these numbers can be pivotal in getting executives talking about SEO’s value.

Metrics that can get executives to recognize SEO’s value

“What I find is that SEO teams spend a lot of time fixing SEO problems that other teams introduced,” said Bowman. “And when you’re working on this stuff, it is time not spent on growing SEO revenue.”

Bowman recommends SEOs start reporting on time spent fixing SEO problems stemming from other departments. The goal should be to get executives to realize that prioritizing SEO training and department accountability will prevent these issues.

The point isn’t to create animosity between departments, but rather to identify roadblocks in SEO operations and show why they’re valuable.

Here are specific issues Bowman suggests SEOs identify:

• Changes in core web vitals metrics;
• Changes in page speed metrics;
• 4xx URLs in tags;
• 3xx URLs in tags; and
• Schema errors.

Metrics that can forecast SEO success

Executives and other higher-ups want to know your SEO projects are on track to meet specific goals. That’s why Bowman suggests marketers report on the most pertinent metrics — these are the campaign’s critical drivers.

“It is not uncommon for project managers and executives to talk about critical drivers,” Bowman said. “What is uncommon is to report on critical drivers.”

“These are metrics that tell you, and executives, if you even have a chance of reaching the SEO goals,” she added.

As Bowman says, critical drivers are well-known to the leaders of any organization. But when SEOs lay these out in their reporting, it gives decision-makers a clear roadmap and proves their worth that much more.

“The important thing to think about these critical drivers is that they are reports on the activities that must happen to achieve the revenue goals,” she said.

“When you communicate it in this method, this will get executives focusing on the right teams to do what needs to happen to grow SEO,” she added.

Watch the full SMX Next presentation here (registration required).

The post 3 SEO metrics to help secure executive-level buy-in appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Demographic audiences delivered nearly twice the reach (+99%) of interest audiences in campaigns with the same budget when the selected interest audiences were too narrow, according to a study of consumer packaged goods (CPG) campaigns published by Facebook. However, both types of targeting performed comparably when interest audiences were broad enough.

The analysis included 50 CPG campaigns in the EMEA region, measured using Facebook Brand Lift.

Why we care. The big takeaway from Facebook’s analysis is that some interest audiences are too small to generate scale when compared with demographic audiences. Advertisers should assess their interest audiences and decide whether the higher impact is worth potentially diminished reached and higher CPM.

If interest audiences are broad enough, they can perform comparably with demographic audiences. In that case, advertisers should select the strategy that best matches their campaign goals.

While these findings make sense, they’re also convenient for Facebook, since Apple’s App Tracking Transparency doesn’t affect demographic targeting.

Demographic outperforms interest audiences that are too narrow. Interest-based targeting is inherently more limited than demographic-based targeting. To overcome that difference, the campaign with the lower reach needs to compensate with greater efficiency. Interest targeting does deliver greater efficiency, but it’s unlikely to make up the difference.

“Among the campaigns with significantly reduced reach due to interest targeting, the effectiveness was slightly higher compared to the demographic audiences (+22%),” Facebook said, “However, this increase was slightly below the required threshold and was unlikely to sufficiently compensate for the lower reach. As a result, demographic strategy was 1.6 times more likely to be the winning strategy and drove more cost-efficient brand outcomes compared to the interest strategy in these campaigns.” When interest audiences were too narrow, demographic audiences also delivered 99% more reach than interest audiences on the same budget.

Both demographic- and interest-based targeting can deliver reach. The two strategies achieved comparable reach with the same budget when interest audiences were broad enough to provide sufficient reach. When both could deliver comparable reach — within 20% of the other — for the same budget, Facebook’s analysis showed that they were equally likely to be the winning, cost-effective strategy.

“This finding implies that some broader interest audiences can generate scale of reach comparable to demographic audiences and marketers can select either of the strategies while maximizing the alignment to the category buyers,” Facebook said.

Your objectives should dictate your strategy. Demographic targeting was the winning strategy 1.6x more often at the top of the funnel, while interest targeting was the winning strategy 2x more often at the bottom of the funnel, according to the analysis.

This means that interest audiences may be better for lower-funnel objectives, like driving purchase intent and consideration, while demographic audiences might be more likely to drive upper-funnel objectives, such as brand awareness. Advertisers should select the strategy that best matches their campaign’s specific goals. Using both strategies appropriately can enable brands to drive both upper and lower funnel outcomes.

The post Demographic audiences deliver twice the reach of narrow interest audiences, according to Facebook appeared first on Search Engine Land.

IndexNow has now been turned on by over 60,000 websites that use Cloudflare in less than two months after IndexNow was announced by Microsoft. IndexNow is an open protocol that any search engine can participate in to enable site owners to have their pages and content instantly indexed by the search engine. 

Microsoft and Cloudflare announced today that “more than 60,000 unique websites that have opted-in to Crawler Hints. Those zones have sent Bing about billion Hints for when specific assets on their websites have changed and need to be re-crawled.” I turned it on for the Search Engine Roundtable, my personal search blog, when it was announced.

How to turn it on. It literally is controlled by the flip of a switch in Cloudflare under the crawler hints section that you can access under the cache tab, then under the configuration section:

Microsoft said once this setting is enabled it, IndexNow “will begin sending hints to search engines about when they should crawl particular parts of your website.”

Google may adopt it. Google said recently that it too will test the IndexNow protocol for indexing. So while Microsoft Bing and Yandex are the only two who have fully adopted it, if Google adopts it, you can expect other search engines to as well.

Why we care. Like we said before, instant indexing is an SEO’s dream when it comes to giving search engines the most updated content on a site. The protocol is very simple and it requires very little developer effort to add this to your site, so it makes sense to implement this if you care about speedy indexing. Plus if you use Cloudflare, it can be turned on with the flip of a switch.

The post 60,000 websites using Cloudflare turned on IndexNow appeared first on Search Engine Land.