Renogy approached Tuff to handle all of their SEO needs for their US and international websites. Tuff had previously been creating blog content for Renogy’s US website but was not managing technical SEO or anything else.

We analyzed all of their existing websites and put together a comprehensive SEO strategy to increase organic traffic and revenue. This is how we did it.

Technical SEO

When we first took over SEO implementation for all of Renogy’s international sites nobody had previously been maintaining their technical SEO. With that being said, it’s no surprise that there were quite a few errors that needed to be addressed.

This isn’t to say that the websites were in bad shape, they just weren’t SEO-optimized and there’s a big difference. So our first step was to make sure that all the international websites were SEO-optimized. This is how we did it…

International SEO (hreflang tags)

The first issue to tackle was the hreflang tags, and Renogy had about 16,000 of them. 

If you have multiple versions of a page for different languages or regions, hreflang tags are a way to tell Google about these variations. 

For instance, you may have a US and UK website and they’re both in English but one is in US English and one is in British English. Aside from having two different URLs – either uk.domain, domain.uk, or domain.com/uk – we need to specifically tell Google about the language differences.

The same goes for international versions with completely different languages such as German, French, or Chinese, etc.,

Some of the most common hreflang tag errors are:

1. Not having any hreflang tags
2. Having incorrect hreflang tags (Ex. having your French tags on your German site)
3. Hreflang tags being incorrectly coded
4. No self-referencing hreflang tags

The most common issue is not having any self-referencing hreflang tags, and that’s the issue that we were dealing with on Renogy’s websites. Fortunately, this can be solved programmatically so it’s not extremely time-consuming to fix all 16,000+ errors.

Meta Descriptions

Once the hreflang tags were fixed, one of the most common technical SEO errors across all websites has to do with meta descriptions. Whether it be missing or duplicate meta descriptions, this is something that commonly goes unnoticed.

Sometimes these fixes can be done programmatically by pulling the first sentence on the page and setting it as the meta description but for a variety of reasons, this wasn’t possible for Renogy. One of those reasons is that their website is hosted on Big Commerce and this makes it more difficult. Another reason is that the first sentence wasn’t ideal for a meta description.

So long story short, I began manually fixing and creating hundreds of meta descriptions so that there weren’t duplicate or missing meta descriptions across all of their international websites. 

Internal Linking & Broken Internal Links

Internal links are a very important part of technical SEO, whether it be improving the internal linking throughout the website or fixing the broken links. We did both, starting with the broken links. 

Having broken internal links on your website is another common SEO issue that can not only harm your organic performance but also your user experience and revenue. 

When fixing the broken links, my initial focus was on top-performing product pages to make sure we weren’t losing revenue due to users not being able to purchase the product. 

This is another manual fix so some of it was done in unison with the meta description fixes since I was already going through the pages manually.

No-indexing Pages

It’s important to remove low-quality pages from Google’s search engine. 

Most of us have a habit of wanting all pages to be indexed in Google and I understand it. But when we think about how Google ranks a website, it doesn’t make sense to have our blog tag archives, author archive pages, and other similar pages indexed in Google, for a few reasons. 

1. When you search for something in Google, you are presented with its search engine results page (SERP) and for that reason, Google doesn’t like to direct traffic to another SERP, even if it’s your own website’s SERP. 
2. This typically isn’t a good user experience. If someone is searching for 
3. For these reasons, Google won’t rank these pages very well and if you have a lot of low-quality pages, it will eventually harm your whole website.

For these reasons, we no-indexed any low-quality archive pages that were on the Renogy website. 

Content Creation

Now that the technical SEO is all done, let’s talk about the SEO content strategy and content creation that we executed. 

We began by creating a few pillar pieces of content that we could build a cluster strategy around. We defined a few high-traffic keywords that were essential to the business and created high-quality content around those topics. These pieces of content live at the top of the Renogy blog. 

We then created 3 to 4 pieces of related content that we used to link to these hub pages as well as internally linked dozens of existing content.

Aside from the hub pages, we consistently produce one new blog post each week for each of Renogy’s website properties. 

The other main piece of content that we created was what we refer to as customer service content.

E-commerce Customer Service Content

E-commerce Customer Service Content is essentially FAQ data that is specific to the page that it is on. Not only is it helpful for SEO, but it’s also helpful for the user experience. 

You can find this content on all the major ecommerce websites. 

Ex. Amazon

Ex. Best Buy

Renogy was missing this content on their core category solar panel listing pages, including their solar panel kits listing page, and by adding it, it helped us increase organic rankings of these pages and in return, drive more sales.

We’ve seen the most significant organic improvements to the pages that we added this customer service content to.

Results

After all of these improvements and about 6 months’ time, we are ranking #1 in Google for ‘solar panel kits’ – outranking Amazon and Home Depot when we previously weren’t ranking in the top 100. We also rank #4 for ‘solar kit’ when we previously weren’t ranking in the top 100.

In addition to that, we increased our ranking for ‘solar panels for sale’ from position 12 to position 5.

We’ve also seen significant improvements in tons of other organic keywords that are essential to Renogy’s business and bottom line. 

As I write this, organic traffic is up over 32% from when we finished our implementations and organic revenue is steadily increasing and growing about 37% quarter over quarter.

Derek Coleman

Derek is a digital marketer based in Boston, Massachusetts with almost a decade of hands-on SEO experience. He finds it meaningful, challenging, and exciting to develop, test, and implement new SEO strategies. When he’s not auditing websites and optimizing content he’s usually backpacking and exploring new cultures.

The post How We Outranked Home Depot for the #1 Position appeared first on Tuff.

Welcome to our AMA featuring Derek Coleman, our Head of SEO at Tuff.

As one of our original team members at Tuff, Derek has not only collaborated with every one of our clients over the years on their SEO endeavors, but he’s also played a pivotal role in shaping our entire SEO and content team, as well as our perspective on organic growth. From handling technical SEO to crafting content strategies and executing digital PR campaigns, Derek has successfully navigated the evolving search landscape for companies across nearly every industry.

Ready to dive in? Derek answers SEO-specific topics like: 

1. How brands should adapt to the shift in search engines providing direct answers on the SERP, resulting in decreased website traffic.
2. Thoughts on the recent March 2024 core algorithm update targeting AI-generated content and how brands should adjust their content strategies accordingly.
3. Effective methods or metrics for measuring ROI in organic efforts.
4. Predictions about the future of SEO for brands and tips on how they should prepare for potential changes or advancements in the SEO landscape. 

We’ve transcribed Derek’s answers to these questions below. If you’d rather hear directly from him, check out this video:

With search engines providing direct answers on the SERP, resulting in decreased website traffic, how should brands adapt to this shift?

Focusing on long-tail keywords and bottom-of-the-funnel content is crucial. While AI excels at generic top-of-the-funnel content, diving into specific pain points of your audience is key. Conduct interviews, understand their needs, and tailor your content accordingly. This targeted approach, coupled with long-tail keywords, can help maintain traffic despite evolving search experiences.

Additionally, prioritize online customer service by building a comprehensive knowledge base. Utilize AI to ensure 24/7 support, providing quick and accurate responses to user queries. Leveraging thought leadership and user-generated content further strengthens your brand and content quality, contributing to sustained traffic levels amidst industry shifts.

What are your thoughts on the recent March 2024 core algorithm update that targets AI-generated content? How should brands adjust their content strategies accordingly?

So, Google’s been busy with updates lately. They rolled out a core algorithm update and a spam update. These changes are aimed at cracking down on mass-produced, low-quality content. Google’s keeping an eye on how often content is churned out. If you suddenly go from publishing once a week to a hundred times a week, it raises a red flag and could lead to penalties.

For most brands, sticking to best practices and focusing on top-notch content should keep you in Google’s good graces. Following Google’s guidelines is key here. And if you’re dabbling in AI-generated content, consider keeping it separate from your main domain, like on a micro-site. This way, if there are any penalties, they won’t drag down your main domain’s reputation. Google’s paying close attention to high-volume content publishers, so it’s wise to tread carefully.

When it comes to organic efforts, what methods or metrics do you use to measure ROI effectively?

There are several approaches you can take, depending on your business goals and key performance indicators. 

For most of our partners, we typically set up goals or integrate directly in Google Analytics and ensure tracking is configured properly, whether it’s in Google Analytics or Mixpanel. For example, if lead generation is a priority, we establish a benchmark for how many leads are generated from organic traffic, specifically non-branded organic traffic. This ensures that any activities on the branded side don’t skew the results. We assess the current performance in generating non-branded organic traffic, set projections and goals for the next six months, and outline the associated costs, such as fees for content creation or CRO efforts to enhance pages and landing pages for a successful strategy.

Then, we track progress over three to six months to see the impact. We measure how many more leads we’re generating and evaluate the value of those leads to the client’s bottom line. This helps us understand the effectiveness of our organic efforts and make any necessary adjustments. 

On a related note, though not directly about ROI, here’s our favorite SEO forecasting template for planning traffic growth. Clients love it, and it’s one of the most downloaded spreadsheets on the Tuff website. It’s a fantastic tool to help you see the potential impact of your SEO efforts on your traffic.

Looking ahead, what are your predictions regarding the future of SEO for brands? How should they prepare for potential changes or advancements in the SEO landscape?

Here are my thoughts on the future of SEO and AI:

I believe AI platforms are going to face a content shortage soon. OpenAI, for example, has already scraped a lot of available content and now has a deal with Reddit to access more. They’ll probably try to secure deals with other platforms like Facebook and YouTube as well.

As long as publishers keep producing content, AI platforms will eventually need to strike deals with them to access that content. This could involve partnerships with major publishers or even smaller-scale agreements with individual WordPress publishers. There might also be a model similar to YouTube’s monetization strategy, where publishers get rewarded for their content.

AI platforms know that without fresh content, their models can’t improve. 

So, I think we’ll see more AI-generated links to articles, which won’t be too different from our current search experience. High-quality content will still rank best, whether it’s on platforms like Gemini or OpenAI. They’ll pull content from publishers and link back to their pages, driving organic traffic.

To stay ahead, continue focusing on producing top-quality content. Also, think about user intent. When researching keywords, see what type of content ranks—YouTube videos, infographics, etc. Diversifying your content formats is key. Don’t just stick to text; create videos for YouTube, short clips for TikTok, and more. This will boost your brand presence and authority, making it harder for AI to replicate your content.

Nobody can predict exactly what will happen, but it’s going to be interesting to watch it unfold!

Ellen Jantsch

Ellen is the founder at Tuff and one of the team’s core growth marketers. She is a versatile marketer with expertise in multiple channels – from ppc to seo to email to others – responsible for the experiments and testing.  She is happiest when she’s on the ski hill or outside pointing her mountain bike downhill.

The post AMA on Generative AI, Organic Search, & Google I/O with Derek Coleman, Head of SEO at Tuff appeared first on Tuff.

Understanding the Migration Landscape

Navigating a site migration requires a nuanced understanding of its various forms and the unique challenges each presents. A site migration, broadly defined, can encompass anything from changing a site’s domain to fundamentally altering its platform or structure. Each type carries potential risks and impacts on SEO performance that need to be managed carefully.

Types of Site Migrations

1. Domain Migration: Changing a website’s domain name is often driven by business decisions such as rebranding or company mergers. The challenge lies in maintaining the site’s authority and trust, as the equity built up in the old domain needs to be effectively transferred to the new one without losing ranking power.
2. Platform Migration: This involves moving a website to a different CMS or e-commerce platform. It poses substantial risks as it can affect the underlying code and URL structure of a site. Such migrations require meticulous mapping to ensure that all redirects are properly established and that the new platform supports all SEO functionalities as before.
3. Site Structure Changes: Revising the architecture of a website can improve user experience and SEO but also poses risks if not done correctly. Changes must be logical, enhance the navigability of the site, and ensure that no existing content is orphaned in the process.

For Gympass, a website with more than 500,000 pages spread across more than a dozen subdomains – some of which are user-generated content (UGC) – this involved a brand and domain migration along with multiple CMS migrations.

Impact on SEO Performance

Site migrations often result in short-term losses in traffic and fluctuations in rankings. The primary reason for this is that search engines need time to process the new configuration and re-evaluate the site’s relevance and authority. Key to mitigating these effects is ensuring that all changes are correctly mapped to the new site, from URL structures to meta tags.

Migration Risk Factors

The concept of “migration risk” involves several critical components:

• Broken Links: If the new site structure leads to broken links, it not only degrades user experience but also impacts the flow of link equity throughout the site.
• Content Gaps: Failing to replicate content accurately on the new site can result in lost keywords and ranking opportunities. Ensuring content is matched or improved in the migration is vital.
• Indexation Issues: New content structures and URLs may confuse search engines, leading to delays in indexing or the indexing of outdated pages.

Google’s Algorithms and Migration

Google’s algorithms prioritize websites that provide a great user experience and accurate, valuable content. Migrations that enhance site speed, mobile responsiveness, and security (e.g., HTTPS) are generally rewarded. However, migrations must be managed to ensure Google can effectively crawl and index the new site. Informing Google through tools like Search Console about the changes can help expedite this process and minimize negative impacts.

Understanding these elements and preparing for them can vastly reduce the risks associated with site migrations, thereby maintaining SEO performance and even setting the stage for improved rankings post-migration.

The Gympass Journey: A Strategic Brand Migration

Our recent partnership with Gympass, a well-known player in the fitness and wellness industry, showcases the need for strategic SEO during a website migration. Gympass faced a common challenge: how to maintain and enhance their online presence during a domain migration. As they prepared to move their website to a new domain, they sought our expertise to ensure a smooth transition without sacrificing organic traffic.

Why Organic Traffic Matters

Organic traffic was one of the main sources of traffic for Gympass and reaching their target audience – fitness enthusiasts, gym-goers, and wellness seekers – hinged on maintaining visibility in search engine results. Whether users were searching for workout tips, gym memberships, or wellness programs, Gympass needed to be front and center.

Pre-Migration Planning

Successful site migration starts long before the actual shift in domains or platforms—it begins with meticulous pre-migration planning. For our collaboration with Gympass, a clear understanding of their current website’s performance was paramount, as was preparing for the potential SEO impacts of the migration. This section details the critical steps we took in the initial stages, setting the stage for a smooth transition.

Analyzing Current Website Performance and Traffic

The first step in any site migration plan involves a thorough analysis of the existing website’s performance. For Gympass, this meant diving deep into their analytics to understand traffic sources, user behavior, and key performance indicators such as page load times, bounce rates, and conversion rates. Utilizing tools like ScreamingFrog, Google Search Console, and SEMrush, we were able to gather a comprehensive picture of the site’s health and areas where improvements were needed.

This initial analysis serves multiple purposes:

• Identifying High-Value Pages: Ensuring that pages with the highest traffic and engagement are prioritized during the migration to preserve their SEO value.
• Benchmarking: Establishing performance benchmarks helps in measuring the impact of the migration and setting realistic recovery goals.

Predictive Modeling of Traffic Dips and Recovery Post-Migration

Understanding that site migrations often result in temporary traffic dips, we employed predictive modeling to forecast these changes for Gympass. This involved analyzing historical data from previous migrations, industry benchmarks, and the specific changes being implemented. Our model took into account various scenarios, from best-case to worst-case, enabling us to develop a robust contingency plan.

The predictive model helped in:

• Setting Expectations: Clear communication with Gympass about potential traffic impacts and recovery timelines.
• Resource Allocation: Planning the necessary resources for immediate post-migration actions to mitigate any negative effects.

Preparing a Comprehensive SEO Audit Checklist

A comprehensive SEO audit was crucial to ensure that no stone was left unturned. This audit included checks for:

• Technical SEO: Ensuring that the website’s architecture was conducive to search engine crawling and indexing. This covered aspects like URL structure, the use of canonical tags, redirects, and the implementation of XML sitemaps.
• On-Page SEO: Analyzing content relevance, keyword optimization, and meta tags to ensure that all pages were optimized for maximum visibility.
• Off-Page SEO: Reviewing the site’s backlink profile to safeguard against losing valuable backlinks during the transition.

The SEO audit checklist served as a roadmap, guiding every step of the migration process to ensure that SEO best practices were adhered to, thereby minimizing risks and setting the stage for a successful transition. With these preparations in place, Gympass was not just ready for a domain change but was positioned for success in its aftermath, leveraging enhanced site performance and improved SEO strategies.

The Audit Spreadsheet: A Behind-the-Scenes Look

We’re sharing the very spreadsheet we used to run the technical SEO audit – a comprehensive spreadsheet that allowed us to build a map of all website URLs, identify issues, and develop mitigation strategies. 

Spreadsheet

Running the Numbers: Modeling Scenarios

Our analysis focused on Gympass’s three key international markets: Brazil, Mexico, and the United States. We dissected the percentage of organic traffic attributed to branded versus non-branded search terms and found that the overwhelming majority of organic traffic originated from branded search queries. Since the brand name would be changing, we factored this into our organic traffic predictions.

Armed with this insight, we rolled up our sleeves and dove into the data. By modeling potential scenarios based on the expected dip in traffic during the migration, we could anticipate the impact on Gympass’s online presence and how to best prepare. 

Behind the Scenes: Audits, Redirects, and Best Practices

Our tactical approach involved:

• Auditing Subdomains and Main Domain: We audited all 13 subdomains and the main domain. Our goal? Identify pages with high organic traffic and uncover any technical SEO issues.
• Redirect Maps: We meticulously crafted redirect maps for every subdomain and the main domain. Ensuring smooth transitions from source URLs to final destinations was paramount.
• Loop-Free Redirects: No tangled webs here! We identified redirect loops and chains and built the redirect maps from the source URL to the final URL, ensuring users seamlessly reached their desired content.
• CMS-Specific Best Practices: Each subdomain had its unique content management system (CMS) – HubSpot, WordPress, Storyblok, Unbounce, etc.,. We tailored migration guidelines to suit each platform.
• Robots.txt and XML Sitemap: A new Robots.txt file and an updated XML sitemap were essential for search engine crawlers.
• Technical Redirects: We followed best practices – server-side redirects, testing with 302, and then making them permanent 301 redirects.
• Collaboration with Developers: Our close partnership with Gympass’s development team ensured flawless execution.

Key Takeaways and Best Practices

From our extensive work with Gympass, valuable insights emerged that not only refined our approach to SEO but also provided us with a blueprint for future migration projects. Understanding the nuances of each step, from planning through execution and beyond, is crucial for maintaining the SEO value and ensuring the digital growth of any business.

Key Learnings from the Gympass Case Study

The Gympass migration underscored several critical elements:

• Thorough Preparation: Meticulous planning and testing helped anticipate potential issues, and minimizing disruptions in user experience and search rankings.
• Communication: Keeping all stakeholders informed at every phase ensured that any unforeseen challenges were swiftly addressed without significant delays.
• Flexibility: Adaptability in response to real-time data and feedback was essential for optimizing the migration process and outcomes.

Essential Considerations for Site Migration

Regardless of the industry or business goals, certain considerations remain paramount during any site migration:

• Risk Management: Identifying and managing risks proactively can significantly mitigate potential negative impacts on SEO.
• User Experience: Ensuring that the site remains user-friendly post-migration is vital for retaining and growing traffic.
• SEO Continuity: Maintaining SEO performance requires careful handling of all site elements that impact search visibility.

Actionable Best Practices

For companies planning a site migration, adhering to the following best practices is essential:

1. Conduct a Comprehensive Technical SEO Audit Before Migration: Assess your current SEO landscape to identify strengths and weaknesses. This audit should guide the migration strategy to avoid losing any SEO equity.
2. Develop a Detailed Content Migration Plan: Ensure all valuable content is accurately migrated to the new site. This plan should prevent any loss of content that could affect your site’s information hierarchy and keyword rankings.
3. Implement Server-Side 301 Redirects for All Old URLs: This is crucial for transferring the existing SEO value to the new URLs and for providing a seamless user experience by redirecting visitors to the appropriate content on the new site.
4. Update Your Sitemap and Resubmit It to Search Engines: Quickly updating and resubmitting the sitemap helps search engines discover and index the new structure more efficiently.
5. Monitor Performance Closely Post-Migration: Use tools like Google Analytics and Search Console to monitor the site’s performance. Quick identification and resolution of issues like traffic drops or page errors can prevent long-term negative impacts.

The Ongoing Importance of SEO After a Site Migration

Post-migration, continuous SEO efforts are necessary to solidify and enhance the site’s position in search rankings. Regular content optimization, proactive link building, and ongoing technical checks ensure the site remains competitive and relevant. This ongoing commitment to SEO not only helps in recovering from any short-term losses during migration but also in capitalizing on new opportunities for growth and visibility.

By integrating these insights and best practices into your migration strategy, your business can navigate the complexities of site migration while preserving and enhancing its online presence.

Ready to Elevate Your SEO Strategy?

At Tuff, we understand that the landscape of digital marketing is continuously changing. With increasing advertising costs, it’s more crucial than ever to invest in sustainable SEO practices that not only preserve but enhance your digital footprint. Whether you’re contemplating a site migration or looking to tweak your SEO strategy to align with the latest Google updates, our team is equipped with the expertise and experience to guide you through.

We’re eager to help you uncover the full potential of your website and ensure that your SEO strategy is robust, responsive, and results-oriented. If you’re considering any technical changes or simply want to learn more about how recent Google updates might impact your site, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Derek Coleman

Derek is a digital marketer based in Boston, Massachusetts with almost a decade of hands-on SEO experience. He finds it meaningful, challenging, and exciting to develop, test, and implement new SEO strategies. When he’s not auditing websites and optimizing content he’s usually backpacking and exploring new cultures.

The post Minimizing Risk in a Site Migration: A Data-Driven Approach to Sustainable Growth appeared first on Tuff.

In this blog post, we’ll unravel advanced technical SEO techniques, exploring everything from the intricacies of headless CMSs to the complexities of React and beyond. Read on for more! 

Technical SEO for Headless CMS & Single Page Applications (SPAs)

First, let’s zoom in on the rise of headless Content Management Systems (CMS) and how it has revolutionized how we think about content delivery on the web. Unlike traditional CMSs, headless CMSs provide greater flexibility in how content is presented, catering to the needs of different channels. However, this flexibility and the lack of built-in SEO features can present unique challenges for SEO.

First and foremost, we have to consider metatags. This may seem obvious, but these metatags (SEO title tags, meta descriptions, canonical tags, robots tags, etc.,) aren’t inherently built into headless CMss. It’s important to analyze your pages and see which tags are and aren’t present.

Another critical aspect is managing structured data. Structured data is vital for search engines to understand the context of your content. Implementing structured data in a headless CMS requires a careful approach, ensuring that the JSON-LD scripts are correctly placed and the content is accurately represented.

Finally, ensuring technical seo agency and indexing is paramount. With headless CMSs, it’s essential to regularly audit your site to make sure that search engines can access and index new and updated content. The surest way to do this, especially for JavaScript-heavy websites, is to implement server-side rendering.

Implementing Server-Side Rendering for JavaScript-Heavy Websites

In modern web development, JavaScript-heavy websites — particularly those built with frameworks like React, Angular, or Vue.js — offer dynamic user experiences but pose challenges for SEO. Implementing server-side rendering (SSR) is a key strategy to overcome these challenges, ensuring that search engines can effectively crawl and index content.

Understanding Server-Side Rendering (SSR)

The Basics of SSR

SSR involves rendering web pages on the server before they’re sent to the client’s browser. This process generates the full HTML for each page on the server, ensuring that the content is immediately available for search engine crawlers on page load. Unlike client-side rendering, where content is dynamically generated in the browser, SSR provides a complete, indexable page version from the get-go.

SEO Benefits

The primary benefit of SSR for SEO is enhanced crawlability. Search engines can easily access and index the content, as the fully rendered pages are easier for their crawlers to process. This leads to better visibility and potentially higher rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs). Additionally, SSR can improve page load times, contributing to a better user experience and Core Web Vitals, which are key factors in Google’s ranking algorithm.

Implementing SSR in JavaScript Frameworks

Framework-Specific Approaches

Each major JavaScript framework provides its own methods for implementing SSR:

• React: Libraries like Next.js provide an SSR framework for React applications. Next.js simplifies the process of turning a client-side React app into one that renders from the server.
• Angular: Angular Universal is Angular’s solution for SSR, allowing developers to pre-render Angular applications on the server.
• Vue.js: Nuxt.js is a higher-level framework built on Vue.js that provides SSR capabilities out of the box.

Challenges and Considerations

While SSR enhances SEO, it also introduces some complexities:

• Server Load: Rendering content server-side can increase the load on your servers, especially for high-traffic websites.
• Development Complexity: Implementing SSR might require architectural changes in how your application handles data fetching, routing, and rendering.
• Hydration: Once the server-rendered content is delivered to the browser, it needs to be “hydrated” into a fully interactive application. This process must be handled smoothly to maintain user experience.

SSR Best Practices

Optimize Server Performance

To mitigate the increased server load, optimize your server’s performance by implementing caching strategies. Consider using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to distribute the load.

Monitor Core Web Vitals

Keep an eye on Core Web Vitals such as Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and First Input Delay (FID) to make sure that SSR is positively impacting your site’s performance.

Continuous Testing and Iteration

Regularly test your application for both SEO performance and user experience. Use tools like Google’s Lighthouse to assess the effectiveness of your SSR implementation.

SEO Considerations in Website Architecture Design

The architecture of a website lays the foundation for its SEO success. Three critical components in this regard are URL structuring, internal linking, and sitemap creation.

Effective URL structuring is a cornerstone of SEO-friendly website design. URLs should be concise, descriptive, and include relevant keywords where appropriate. This not only aids search engines in understanding the content of the page, but it also enhances the user experience. A well-structured URL is easy to read and understand, both for users and search engines.

Internal linking is another crucial aspect of successful SEO. It helps search engines discover new pages and understand the hierarchy and relationship between different pages on your site. Strategic use of internal links, with relevant anchor texts, can distribute page authority throughout your site, boosting the SEO performance of individual pages.

XML Sitemaps

Lastly, sitemaps are vital for SEO. An XML sitemap acts as a roadmap for search engines, guiding them through all the important pages on your site. This is especially important for large websites or those with a complex structure, as it ensures that search engines can find and index all your content. Regularly updating the sitemap and submitting it through Google Search Console is a best practice every site should follow.

XML sitemaps become even more important when you’re dealing with programmatic SEO. In this case, it’s best to create an XML sitemap that programmatically populates based on new URLs that are saved in the database. 

Robots.txt Management

The robots.txt file plays a crucial role in any SEO toolkit, especially for large or dynamic websites like ecommerce platforms. Proper management of these files can significantly impact how search engines crawl and index your site.

The robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers which parts of your site should or should not be crawled and indexed. Proper configuration of this file is critical. It should be used to prevent search engines from accessing irrelevant or duplicate pages, such as admin pages or temporary pages, which can waste crawl budget and negatively impact SEO. However, it’s crucial to make sure that no important content is inadvertently blocked from search engines.

Both XML sitemaps and robots.txt files require careful management and regular updates to align with the ongoing changes and updates of your website. Their correct implementation ensures efficient crawling and indexing by search engines, thereby supporting your overall SEO strategy.

International SEO and Localization

Expanding your startup’s reach to international markets requires a nuanced approach to SEO. International SEO and localization are about more than just translating content. They involve optimizing your website for different languages and cultural contexts to effectively engage diverse audiences.

Understanding International SEO

Cultural Nuance and Relevance

Localization goes beyond direct translation. It involves adapting your content to resonate with local cultures, customs, and preferences. This may include modifying visuals, color schemes, and website layout to suit different cultural sensibilities.

Local Keyword Optimization

Conduct thorough keyword research for each target market. Keywords that work well in one language or region might not be effective in another. Understanding local search terms and phrases is crucial for optimizing your content for international audiences.

Structuring Your Website for International Audiences

Consider whether to use country-specific domains, subdomains, or subdirectories. Each has its advantages and implications for SEO, and the choice depends on factors like target audience, budget, and technical capabilities.

Implementing Hreflang Tags

The Role of Hreflang Tags

Hreflang tags are a critical element of international SEO. They signal to search engines what language and regional targeting a page is intended for, helping to serve the correct content version to users based on their location and language preferences.

Accurate Implementation

Incorrect implementation of hreflang tags can lead to SEO issues. Make sure that each language version of your site is correctly tagged and that these tags are consistently implemented across all pages.

Security and SEO: The Importance of Security Headers and Safe Practices

Search engines prioritize user safety in their ranking algorithms, which means website security directly influences SEO. Implementing robust security measures — including the use of security headers and avoiding unsafe practices — is crucial for maintaining both user trust and search engine rankings.

HTTPS as a Ranking Signal

The Shift to HTTPS

Google has confirmed that HTTPS, which encrypts data between the user’s browser and your website, is a ranking signal. Sites using HTTPS are generally considered more secure and may receive a ranking boost.

The Role of Security Headers in SEO

1. HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS)

HSTS is a response header that tells browsers to only communicate with your website over HTTPS. Implementing HSTS is crucial for protecting against protocol downgrade attacks and cookie hijacking. It also reinforces your commitment to secure browsing, and search engines like that.

2. Missing X-Content-Type-Options Header

This header prevents browsers from interpreting files as something other than their declared content type. Without this header, your site could be vulnerable to MIME type confusion attacks, potentially leading to security breaches. Making sure this header is in place is a good security practice that indirectly benefits SEO by maintaining a secure site environment.

3. Content Security Policy (CSP)

CSP is a powerful tool for preventing various types of attacks, including Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) and data injection attacks. By defining which dynamic resources are allowed to load, CSP significantly improves website security. Search engines prefer secure websites because they maintain a safe user experience. 

Avoiding Unsafe Practices

Mixed Content Issues

Websites using HTTPS but loading HTTP resources (mixed content) can be seen as less secure, leading to warnings in users’ browsers. This not only affects user trust but can also lead to search engines devaluing your site. Make sure all resources are loaded over HTTPS to maintain site security and SEO integrity.

Unsafe Cross-Origin Links

Links to external sites can pose a security risk if not properly managed. Adding ‘rel=noopener’ to external links ensures that the new page does not gain access to your page’s context, preventing potentially malicious scripts from accessing your site. This practice contributes to overall site security, indirectly impacting SEO by maintaining the integrity of your site.

Implementing Best Practices for Security and SEO

Regular Audits and Updates

Conducting regular security audits helps identify and rectify vulnerabilities, like missing headers or mixed content issues. Keeping your site’s security measures up to date is essential for safeguarding against attacks and maintaining search engine rankings.

Educating Your Team

Make sure that your team is aware of best practices for website security. This includes developers, content creators, and anyone else involved in your site’s maintenance. A collaborative approach to security can significantly reduce risks and help maintain SEO performance.

Staying Competitive on Search

The journey to mastering technical SEO is ongoing. It demands a blend of technical know-how, an understanding of evolving search engine algorithms, and a keen eye for user experience. By implementing these advanced techniques, startups can significantly improve their organic search rankings, providing them with a vital edge in the competitive search landscape.

At Tuff, we’re committed to staying at the forefront of these developments, continuously adapting our strategies to make sure that your startup not only keeps up, but stands out. Remember, in the world of SEO, staying still is falling behind. Continuously testing, iterating, and staying updated with the latest developments is key to sustained success. Embrace these techniques and watch your organic performance improve significantly.

Ready to take your startup to the next level? Reach out today and let’s discuss how to boost your SEO and drive sustainable growth.

Derek Coleman

Derek is a digital marketer based in Boston, Massachusetts with almost a decade of hands-on SEO experience. He finds it meaningful, challenging, and exciting to develop, test, and implement new SEO strategies. When he’s not auditing websites and optimizing content he’s usually backpacking and exploring new cultures.

The post Advanced Technical SEO Techniques to Propel Your Startup’s Organic Rankings appeared first on Tuff.

Page speed is one of the most important factors for scaleup brands’ growth in the digital era–especially SaaS brands. It not only affects your SEO rankings but also your conversion rates–which means your bottom line is, well, on the line.

In this blog post, we’ll explore how page speed impacts SEO and conversions, and share some practical tips and tools to optimize your website performance.

Understanding the Connection: Page Speed, SEO, and Conversions

Page speed is the time it takes for a web page to load and display its content. It can be measured by different metrics, known as Web Vitals, the most important web vitals being the Core Web Vitals.

Core Web Vitals

Google defines Core Web Vitals as the subset of Web Vitals that apply to all web pages, should be measured by all site owners, and will be surfaced across all Google tools. Each of the Core Web Vitals represents a distinct facet of the user experience, is measurable in the field, and reflects the real-world experience of a critical user-centric outcome.

In other words, each Core Web Vital looks at a different part of how people use a website, and they show how well a website serves its users in the real world. The four Core Web Vitals (one soon to be replaced) are:

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is a pending Core Web Vital metric that will replace First Input Delay (FID) in March 2024. INP assesses responsiveness using data from the Event Timing API. When an interaction causes a page to become unresponsive, that is a poor user experience. INP observes the latency of all interactions a user has made with the page, and reports a single value which all (or nearly all) interactions were below. A low INP means the page was consistently able to respond quickly to all—or the vast majority—of user interactions. 

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures loading performance. To provide a good user experience, LCP should occur within 2.5 seconds of when the page first starts loading.

First Input Delay (FID) measures interactivity. To provide a good user experience, pages should have a FID of 100 milliseconds or less.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures visual stability. To provide a good user experience, pages should maintain a CLS of 0.1. or less.

These Core Web Vitals are all ranking factors and can either help or hurt your rankings in SERPs, especially mobile searches.

How Page Speed Affects User Experience (UX)

A faster page speed can not only improve your website’s visibility and organic traffic, but can also enhance your user experience by reducing bounce rates, increasing engagement, and building trust. According to Google, 

“53% of mobile users abandon a site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load.”

Page speed also has a correlation with conversions, whether it be sign-ups, subscriptions, purchases, or downloads. A faster page speed can increase your conversions by reducing friction, improving satisfaction, and creating urgency. 

According to a study by Akamai, a 100-millisecond delay (or one-tenth of a second) in website load time can hurt conversion rates by 7%.

When we look at real-world examples of brands benefiting from page speed optimization, we can see just how impactful these improvements can be.

Examples of Brands Benefiting From Page Speed Optimization 

In 2015, Pinterest improved mobile website performance, increasing page speed by 60% and sign-up conversions by 40%. 

• They revamped the entire site, introducing metrics like user-perceived wait time (UPWT). 
• Optimizations encompassed the front end, network, and back end. 
• They reduced data loading for faster page rendering, adopted React for efficiency, improved their CDN, and streamlined data fetching. 
• These changes reduced user wait times by 40%, boosted search engine traffic by 15%, and increased sign-up conversions by 15%. 
• In 2016, this became Pinterest’s most significant user acquisition success.

Netflix reduced page loading time by 50% for the logged-out homepage by minimizing JavaScript usage and switching to vanilla JavaScript.

• This change also cut the JavaScript bundle size by over 200kB. 
• Netflix improved time-to-interactivity by 30% through prefetching techniques for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. 
• By carefully managing JavaScript and optimizing resource loading, they enhanced the sign-up process, leading to a better user experience and increased sign-up rates. 

These improvements show the importance of performance in website design, ensuring faster loading and smoother interactions for users.

Vodafone determined that optimizing for Web Vitals generated 8% more sales.

• They ran an A/B test on a landing page (where version A was optimized for Web Vitals and had a 31% better LCP score in the field than version B), and studies have also shown the negative impact poor performance can have on business goals.

• For example, the BBC found they lost an additional 10% of users for every additional second their site took to load.

Transitioning from examples of brands benefiting from page speed optimization, let’s now explore some key tips for improving website performance and securing faster page speeds.

Optimization Tips for Faster Page Speed

There are many ways to optimize your website performance for faster page speed. Here are some of the essential tips that we’d recommend:

• Minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files. This means removing unnecessary spaces, comments, and characters from your code to reduce its size and improve efficiency.
• Compress images and videos and serve images in next-gen format. You’ll want to reduce the file size of your media without compromising its quality. You can convert your images to WebP, which are lossless images that are 26% smaller in size compared to PNGs. When it comes to video, you can use a tool like HandBrake to compress files.
• Use a content delivery network (CDN). This will distribute your content across multiple servers around the world to deliver it faster to your users based on their location. You can use services like Cloudflare or Amazon CloudFront to set up a CDN for your website.
• Enable caching. This means storing some of your website’s data on your users’ browsers or servers to reduce the number of requests and load times for subsequent visits. If you’re using WordPress, you can use plugins like WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache to enable caching.
• Optimize your fonts. Choose fonts that are web-friendly, lightweight, and compatible with different browsers and devices. You can use tools like Google Fonts or Font Squirrel to optimize your fonts.

Essential Tools for Page Speed Improvement

Image Source: PageSpeedInsights

To measure and improve page speed, utilize reliable tools that can help you analyze and identify areas for improvement. Here are some of the tools we recommend:

• Google PageSpeed Insights. This is a free tool from Google that evaluates a website’s performance on both mobile and desktop devices, providing a score out of 100. It also provides suggestions on how to optimize your website for faster page speed.
• GTmetrix. This is another free tool that analyzes your website’s performance and gives you a comprehensive report on various metrics, such as PageSpeed Score, YSlow Score, Fully Loaded Time, Total Page Size, and Requests. It also offers recommendations on how to improve your website performance.
• WebPageTest. This free tool tests your website’s performance from different locations, browsers, devices, and connection speeds. It gives you detailed information on various aspects of your website performance, such as First Byte Time, Start Render Time, Speed Index, First Contentful Paint, Largest Contentful Paint, Time to Interactive, Cumulative Layout Shift, etc.

The Growth Impact

Optimizing your website performance for faster page speed can have a significant impact on your brand’s growth. With better SEO rankings, you can attract more organic traffic to your website and increase your brand awareness and authority.

Improving conversion rate means generating more leads, sales, and revenue from your website, plus growing your customer base and loyalty. 

By improving your user experience, you can enhance your brand reputation and customer satisfaction and reduce your churn rate and customer acquisition cost.

According to a study by Google, a one-second improvement in mobile page speed can increase conversions by up to 27%. According to another study by Aberdeen Group, a one-second delay in page load time can result in a 7% loss in conversions, 11% fewer page views, and 16% decrease in customer satisfaction.

As you can see, prioritizing website speed optimization not only drives immediate gains in conversions but also lays a strong foundation for sustained brand growth, bolstering your online presence and setting the stage for ongoing customer loyalty.

Wrapping it Up

If you’ve made it this far, we hope one thing’s clear: page speed is your growth navigator. It’s not just about SEO rankings; it’s about multiplying your conversions.

When you fine-tune website performance and speed, you’re not tinkering; you’re scaling your online presence. Think of it as boosting visibility, engagement, and revenue–giving you that competitive edge that keeps working in the background.

If you need any help with page speed optimization or any other aspect of growth marketing, feel free to reach out. 

We are here to help you grow your brand faster and smarter. 😊

Derek Coleman

Derek is a digital marketer based in Boston, Massachusetts with almost a decade of hands-on SEO experience. He finds it meaningful, challenging, and exciting to develop, test, and implement new SEO strategies. When he’s not auditing websites and optimizing content he’s usually backpacking and exploring new cultures.

The post The Impact of Page Speed on SEO and Conversion Rates: Optimization Tips and Tools appeared first on Tuff.

Search engine optimization (SEO) and user experience (UX) play a massive role in how well your website and company perform. The two frequently overlap, but SEO and UX audits can influence your success in different ways.

When you have strong SEO, you can pull in visitors from search engines to your website without paying for clicks. With organic traffic, you rely less on paid advertisements to get people to your website. 

However, SEO is a long-term play. We usually see results from SEO initiatives three to six months after publishing content. Driving qualified visitors to your website is not enough to be effective. 

Are users taking the actions you want them to take when they get to your website? For example, are they adding products to the cart and completing checkout? Are they filling out your lead generation forms? If they aren’t, then you probably have some user experience issues.

You need to have a strong user experience to keep users on the page, clicking around your website, and completing the actions that you want them to take.

In this article, we’ll go over the exact steps you can take to improve your SEO and UX to rank higher in search engines and convert more website visitors into customers. We’ll also show you how to conduct a quick SEO and UX audit of your site to find opportunities and quick wins.

How to conduct an SEO Audit

An SEO audit usually involves looking at your technical SEO, everything on your website that impacts your search engine rankings, as well as user experience. Examples of common technical SEO issues that we see include:

Duplicate content

Many times ecommerce product pages have duplicate versions. It confuses Google because it doesnt know which version to index in search results. You’ll also get flagged for duplicate content if you have large chunks of identical text that appear on multiple pages. 

How to fix it: The solution for duplicate content depends on the specific case, but for product pages, you’ll usually set up a canonical tag. It tells search engines which URL is the version you want them to crawl. 

Oftentimes, technical SEO issues also impact your user experience, and those are ones you should prioritize fixing. Examples of SEO and UX issues include: 

Broken links and 404 pages

Internal broken links, especially to high-traffic pages, create a poor user experience because you’re sending visitors to a page that doesn’t exist.

How to fix it: Get a list of the URLs that have broken links. You can use a Chrome extension like Broken Link Checker to help you identify them faster on the page. Then, remove the broken links or redirect 404 pages to working URLs.

Page loading speed

Page speed can greatly influence and improve your user experience as well as conversion rates. If a website doesn’t load within three seconds, over half (53%) of mobile visitors will leave. Ideally, your website should load within one second.

Research has shown that page loading speed has a direct impact on a website’s conversion rates. For example, Walmart found that when it improved page loading speed by one second it increased conversion rates by 2%. 

How to fix it: Fixing loading speed can be a lengthy process that involves multiple tactics to improve it. To start, analyze image file size and keep images under 70 KB for faster loading. Next, you’ll need to look within the code and identify areas to clean it up. We recommend working closely with a developer on page speed optimization. 

Site navigation

Shoppers want to easily browse and find products when they go into a store. Stores are organized in a way that makes it easy for people to navigate and checkout. Aisles are labeled clearly and grouped into categories. 

Your online store or website also needs to be organized, starting with the main site navigation all the way to your overall site architecture. When building a website, businesses often get caught up in the design and overlook the importance of site navigation to user experience.

How to fix it: Improving site navigation also involves many elements and can be a lengthy process. To get started you can follow these steps:

• Identify the most important pages on your website.
• Limit your top navigation to 5-7 links or fewer.
• Organize your pages into main categories that form the basis of your navigation.
• Push less important but necessary information like privacy pages to the bottom footer navigation.

Going through your website manually to find these issues would be time-consuming and ineffective. Luckily, there are several SEO tools you can use to audit your website for you.

How to run a technical audit with Semrush

Semrush and Ahrefs will crawl your site and identify issues. As of this writing, the lowest cost plans for these tools vary anywhere from $99 to $129. Semrush offers a free trial. If your website has few pages (under 100) to crawl, you can sign up and run a technical site audit with a free Semrush account.

To do this in Semrush, you’ll go to “Site Audit” under “On-Page and Tech SEO”. Then create a project by adding your website domain.

When Semrush is done crawling your website, it will look something like this:

Ideally, you want your site health, which is a measure of all your technical SEO, to be close to or above 90%. 

To view the specific technical SEO issues on your website, go to the tab that says “Issues”. Semrush tries to prioritize issues as: 

• Errors: Usually the most impactful, biggest issues to fix.
• Warnings: Issues you should fix but may take more time.
• Notices: Issues that are recommended but aren’t urgent.

However, keep in mind that these are only tools. They can identify issues, but you’ll need to resolve them on your own or hire an SEO agency to resolve them for you. 

Also, they aren’t foolproof. Sometimes, auditing tools miss errors and aren’t great at prioritizing them. It helps to have an expert manually verify errors and implement fixes from the highest priority, quick wins to low priority.

How to do a website UX audit 

There are many ways to approach a UX audit. One of them is a heuristic website analysis or evaluation. If you have a limited UX budget and time to do user research, a heuristic evaluation is a scrappy way to identify quick wins and opportunities on your site. User research is still important but this will help you get started.

It’s a quick way to gauge the user-friendliness of a website. Instead of testing with users, which can be expensive and time-consuming, experts review your website. 

Heuristic website analysis

There are many methods of heuristic analysis. Each tests the usability of your website to identify areas that you can improve.

A common method is to look at Jakob Nielsen’s 10 principles. Another method is the seven-level conversion framework. There are several variations of this, but they all evaluate website design by how well it facilitates user conversions. 

You’ll go through your website’s most important user flows and assess how well it does for each level. For example, let’s say you want someone to search for a product in your online store, add it to their cart, and complete the checkout process. You’d go through that process and evaluate it using the framework. 

The levels of the conversion framework include: 

• Relevance: When users land on this page, is it right for them? 
• Trust: Does the page include reviews, social proof, and other elements that evoke trust?
• Orientation: Is it easy for users to navigate and find what they want? 
• Stimulation: Are you giving them a compelling reason to buy your product or service?
• Security: Do you feel safe to share information with or purchase from this website?  
• Convenience: Is it easy and quick to use the website and purchase?
• Confirmation: Do users feel good about their decision after buying or taking action? 

Go through each level, identify issues, and then brainstorm solutions. Ultimately, you want to eliminate user pain points or areas that cause friction as quickly as possible.

SEO and UX audit checklist

SEO and UX have many moving parts. Although this audit checklist isn’t exhaustive, it can help you identify the biggest areas of opportunity.

☑️  Technical SEO

• Check indexing: Ensure that search engines can crawl and index your website’s pages.
• Sitemap: Verify that an XML sitemap is created and submitted to search engines.
• Robots.txt: Most websites have a robots.txt file that looks like this: https://www.patagonia.com/robots.txt. Go to yours and make sure you’re only blocking or disallowing pages you don’t want search engines to crawl. 
• Page speed: Use Google PageSpeed Insights to test the speed of your mobile and desktop experience.
• HTTPS: Make sure your website is using a secure SSL certificate (https://).
• Canonical URLs: Use canonical tags to prevent duplicate content issues.
• URL structure: Make sure URLs are descriptive, user-friendly, and include relevant keywords.
• Broken links: Check for internal and external broken links. Redirect them to relevant pages or remove broken external links.
• Schema markup: Implement structured data to enhance search result appearances.
• Duplicate content: Check for and address any duplicate content issues.

☑️  On-Page SEO

• Title tags: Each page should have a unique, descriptive, and keyword-rich title. For some pages you may be able to no-index so you don’t need to update every page.
• Meta descriptions: Meta descriptions appear in the preview of search results. Improving them could lead to better click-through rates.
• Headings: Use appropriate heading tags (H1, H2, H3). The H1 tag is the page title and there should only be one per page. The rest should be H2 and so on. 
• Image optimization: Use descriptive alt text and compress images for faster loading.
• Keyword optimization: Identify keywords you need to rank for and opportunities to create or improve content to rank in search results.
• Content quality: Review the content on your site to make sure it is SEO-optimized. It should match search intent and show your expertise. 

☑️  User Experience (UX)

• Site navigation: Review your navigation to assess if it’s easy to follow and find your most important pages.
• Responsive design: Test the site’s performance and layout on desktop, mobile, and tablets.
• Visual hierarchy: Can users easily identify the most important messages or actions on the page?
• Call-to-action (CTA): Do your main pages include one primary call-to-action and is it designed in a way that encourages users to click?
• Forms: Are your forms easy to complete and collect only the most critical information?
• Site search: Can visitors easily search and filter search functions?
• Font and typography: Is your font easy to read with the right sizes and high contrast?
• Accessibility: Does your website meet accessibility guidelines (WCAG)?

Once you audit your site, you should regularly monitor performance and make adjustments. SEO and UX audits are ongoing. If you’re looking for ways to improve your website’s SEO, user experience, or conversions, you can also reach out to Tuff and book a strategy call. We’re here to help.

The post SEO and UX Design: How to Create User-Friendly Websites That Rank and Convert appeared first on Tuff.

Data-Driven SEO: 5 Data Points for Your 2023 Marketing Plans

• 88% of marketers who have an SEO strategy will increase or maintain their investment in 2023. [Source: HubSpot]
• 73% of clicks now going to organic web listings—up from 65% just last year [Source: Brightedge]
• Consumers are searching 20% more than in 2021 [Source: Brightedge]
• Organic Search Outperforms Paid Ads: Higher CTRs (27.6% vs. 3.17%) [Sources: Backlinko & WordStream]
• 82% of Customer Experience (CX) leaders expect their program budgets to rise within the next 12 months. [Source: Forrester]

Intro

In today’s inflationary economy, marketing professionals face mounting challenges as they navigate budget constraints and the pressure to deliver results. As CFOs scrutinize media budgets, the need for cost-effective marketing strategies has never been more crucial. 

Enter SEO, a high-yield channel that remains relatively unaffected by market fluctuations. In fact, 88% of marketers who have an SEO strategy will increase or maintain their investment in 2023, and for good reason. 

Brightedge, a leading enterprise SEO tool, data reveals that consumers are searching 20% more than in 2021, and according to Gartner, CMOs are focusing more on channels that create efficiencies – SEO is one of those channels. 

With a staggering 73% of clicks now going to organic web listings—up from 65% just last year—there’s no better time for businesses to leverage the power of SEO to maintain growth and stay competitive in the face of economic uncertainty.

As a growth marketing agency, that’s exactly what Tuff is helping our partners do and I’ll explain just how in this article.

Table of contents

• The Current Marketing Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities
• Understanding SEO as a High-Yield Channel in Challenging Economic Conditions
• Building Trust with Customers through SEO
• SEO Strategies for Success in an Inflation Economy
• How to create high-quality, relevant content through audience research and persona building
• Measuring SEO and Content Marketing Success and ROI
• Key Takeaways

The Current Marketing Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities

As inflation continues to put a strain on the global economy, marketing budgets are among the first to be impacted. Companies are tightening their belts, and this puts immense pressure on CMOs to deliver results despite shrinking resources. In this environment, it is crucial for marketing leaders to not only understand the challenges posed by inflation but also recognize the opportunities that arise from focusing on the right marketing strategies.

According to data from Backlinko, the top position in Google’s organic search results receives an average click-through rate (CTR) of 27.6%. In contrast, WordStream data reveals that the average CTR for paid search ads across all industries on Google is only 3.17%. 

More importantly, this trend extends beyond the top organic search result. According to Advanced Web Metrics, pages ranking in positions 1-5 in Google search results all surpass the 3.17% average CTR for paid search ads.

In this challenging economic environment, it is essential for marketing leaders to prioritize channels that provide the highest return on investment while demanding minimal additional costs. Among the various digital marketing strategies, SEO has emerged as a particularly powerful and cost-effective solution.

CMOs are increasingly focusing on SEO to drive traffic, generate leads, and achieve long-term, sustainable growth. By prioritizing SEO, businesses can tap into new customer segments and stay ahead of their competition. With the majority of consumers relying on search engines to find products and services, a strong SEO strategy becomes indispensable for maintaining visibility and capturing valuable organic traffic. 

By focusing on and investing in SEO, businesses can create efficiencies, establish a strong online presence, and ultimately weather the economic storm. As a result, companies that can effectively leverage SEO will be better positioned to thrive amidst the challenges presented by the current inflationary economy.

Understanding SEO as a High-Yield Channel in Challenging Economic Conditions

SEO’s evolving role in digital marketing strategies

In the current economic climate, marketing leaders are more focused than ever on deriving maximum value from their SEO efforts. Organizations are prioritizing SEO to ensure cost-effective marketing solutions amidst budget constraints. According to HubSpot, 88% of marketers who have an SEO strategy will increase or maintain their investment in 2023.

For experienced SEO professionals, this means staying informed about the latest algorithm updates, such as the recent Google March 2023 Broad Core Update, which emphasizes the importance of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) in content.

SEOs need to be aware of changes in Google’s ranking systems, as illustrated by the removal of several search ranking algorithm updates from its ranking systems page. By staying ahead of the curve and capitalizing on emerging opportunities, marketers can maintain and improve their search engine rankings and make the most of their SEO strategies.

Adjusting organic search tactics for driving traffic and conversions

While experienced marketers recognize the importance of organic search in driving traffic and conversions, it is crucial to adjust tactics to maximize results. The SEMrush State of Content Marketing report emphasizes the need to focus on comprehensive keyword research, including long-tail keywords and semantic search optimization, to capture user intent more effectively. 

In order to effectively capitalize on user intent, marketers should prioritize audience research and persona building, topic clusters, and pillar pages to create a cohesive content strategy that caters to users’ needs, pain points, and search engine preferences. By continuously adjusting organic search tactics, marketers can gain a competitive edge and drive better-qualified traffic and higher conversion rates.

Leveraging technical SEO and data-driven insights for long-term ROI

Given the potential for substantial long-term ROI with SEO, marketing leaders must continuously refine their strategies to stay ahead of the competition. The State of Technical SEO report (2023) by Search Engine Land suggests that marketers should prioritize technical optimizations, such as Core Web Vitals, structured data, and advanced schema markup, to improve their site’s visibility and user experience. 

Integrating data-driven insights from analytics, user behavior analysis, and CRO can help marketers identify areas for improvement and tailor their SEO strategies for maximum impact. 

Building Trust with Customers through SEO

This image was AI-generated

Creating high-quality, relevant content

The importance of high-quality, relevant content that aligns with users’ search intent and preferences, cannot be overstated. This involves developing data-driven content strategies that address user pain points, answer questions, and provide valuable insights. By consistently delivering top-notch content, marketers can position their brand as an industry authority and build trust with their target audience.

Ensuring a user-friendly website experience

A seamless and user-friendly website experience is critical in fostering trust with customers. In fact, 82% of Customer Experience (CX) leaders, surveyed by Forrester, expect their program budgets to rise within the next 12 months. Technical aspects, such as site speed, mobile-friendliness, and accessibility, play a significant role in customer experience. By prioritizing these factors and implementing best practices, marketers can reduce bounce rates, improve engagement, and enhance overall customer satisfaction.

Developing a strong brand presence and reputation online

The impact of trust on customer lifetime value (LTV) and retention

Building trust with customers through effective SEO strategies can significantly impact customer lifetime value (LTV) and retention. When customers perceive a brand as trustworthy and authoritative, they are more likely to become repeat customers and recommend the brand to others. Marketers should focus on continuously refining SEO efforts to maintain customer trust, which in turn leads to increased loyalty, positive word-of-mouth, and long-term revenue growth. 

SEO Strategies for Success in an Inflation Economy

Embracing the shift towards user-centric SEO

This Forrester report highlights the evolution of search marketing towards a more user-centric approach. To succeed in an inflation economy, marketers should prioritize user intent, experience, and satisfaction in their SEO strategies. This involves analyzing user behavior, search patterns, and feedback to create content and optimize website elements that cater to users’ needs and expectations. By embracing user-centric SEO, marketers can drive more targeted traffic and improve conversion rates.

Leveraging AI and automation for efficiency and scale

Incorporating AI and automation into SEO strategies can help drive efficiency and scale. Businesses can capitalize on AI-powered tools and platforms to automate tasks like keyword research, content optimization, and competitor analysis. By streamlining these processes, marketing professionals can save time and resources, allowing them to focus on strategic decision-making and long-term growth initiatives.

Integrating SEO with content marketing and PR efforts

The economic downturn and shift in marketing strategies emphasizes the need for marketers to break down silos and integrate SEO with content marketing and PR efforts. By aligning these disciplines, businesses can create cohesive, consistent messaging that strengthens their brand presence and authority in organic search. Collaborating with content creators, PR, PPC, and CRO can help marketers amplify their reach, improve backlink profiles, and drive higher levels of engagement.

Adapting to SERP changes and emerging trends

The ever-changing landscape of search engine results pages (SERPs) presents both challenges and opportunities for marketers. Businesses need to stay informed about SERP changes, algorithm updates, and emerging trends, such as voice search, AI chat responses, and visual search optimization. By adapting to these developments and incorporating them into their SEO strategies, marketers can maintain a competitive edge and continue to drive growth in the inflation economy.

How to create high-quality, relevant content through audience research and persona building

Audience research

This image was AI-generated

To create truly engaging content that resonates with your audience, it’s essential to have a deep understanding of who they are and what they care about. Incorporating audience research into your content creation strategy can help you better tailor your messaging and ensure your efforts hit the mark. Here are some steps to help you connect with your audience on a deeper level:

1. Dig into Customer Data – Kick things off by examining your existing customer data for insights about your audience, such as demographics, behavior, and preferences. This might include information from customer databases, CRM systems, or website analytics.
2. Get Personal with Surveys and Interviews – Engage your target audience through surveys or interviews to learn about their needs, motivations, and pain points. If you’ve already done this, review any internal data you have, like customer support logs or sales data, for additional insights.
3. Chat with Sales and Customer Service Teams – Connect with your sales and customer service teams to gather feedback on customer interactions and identify common questions or issues customers face. This can help you better understand your audience’s needs.
4. Explore Social Media and Online Communities – Investigate social media channels, forums, reviews, and online communities where your audience engages to uncover insights into their behavior, preferences, and opinions. This will help you understand how your audience interacts with your brand and related topics.
5. Pinpoint Audience Segments and Priorities – Use the insights you’ve gathered to identify audience segments and prioritize them based on their value to your business. Consider factors like profitability, growth potential, and ease of reaching them.
6. Craft Detailed Personas – Create detailed personas representing each audience segment, including demographics, behavior patterns, and pain points. Use a template to structure your personas and add realistic details for accuracy.
7. Validate and Refine Personas – Share your personas with stakeholders, conduct additional research, or test them with your audience to validate their accuracy. Refine your personas based on feedback and new insights to ensure they truly represent your audience.
8. Apply Personas to Marketing Strategies – Leverage your personas to guide your marketing strategies, including messaging, content creation, and campaigns. Develop targeted content and messaging that resonates with your audience segments and aligns with their needs and preferences.

Persona building

This image was AI-generated

Building detailed customer personas is crucial for creating targeted content that resonates with your audience. When developing customer personas, try to include the following elements:

Demographics:

• Age
• Gender
• Income level
• Education level
• Occupation
• Location (urban, suburban, rural, region, country)

Psychographics:

• Values
• Beliefs
• Attitudes
• Lifestyle
• Interests
• Hobbies
• Personal goals
• Aspirations

Behavioral Patterns:

• Purchasing habits
• Online browsing behavior
• Social media usage
• Preferred communication channels (email, social media, phone, etc.)
• Brand loyalty and preferences
• Customer journey stages
• Pain points and challenges
• Decision-making criteria

Online Presence:

• Preferred social media platforms
• Online communities or forums they participate in
• Influencers they follow
• Blogs or websites they frequent
• Types of content they consume and share (articles, videos, podcasts, etc.)

Emotional Triggers:

• Fears
• Desires
• Motivations
• Emotional needs
• Anxieties
• Expectations

The Problem or Need:

• Specific problems they’re trying to solve
• Needs that your product or service can fulfill
• Gaps in their current solutions

Unique Selling Proposition (USP):

• How your product or service stands out from competitors
• The benefits your product or service provides to the persona
• What makes your brand the ideal choice for them

Quotes and Testimonials:

• Actual quotes from customers or prospects that embody the persona
• Testimonials that demonstrate the success stories of customers similar to the persona

Persona Name and Visual Representation:

• Assign a name to each persona for easy reference
• Create a visual representation (e.g., stock photo, illustration) to bring the persona to life

Segment-Specific Considerations:

• Industry or niche-specific factors
• Cultural or regional differences
• Any other unique characteristics relevant to your target audience

By incorporating these elements into customer personas, you can create a comprehensive and accurate representation of your target audience. This allows you to craft content and marketing strategies that effectively resonate with each persona, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.

Measuring SEO and Content Marketing Success and ROI

As experienced marketers, you understand the importance of demonstrating the value and ROI of your SEO and content marketing efforts. To effectively measure success, it’s crucial to establish a data-driven approach that goes beyond surface-level metrics. Here’s how you can achieve this:

1. Set Clear Goals and KPIs – Start by establishing well-defined, SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals for your SEO and content marketing campaigns. Align these goals with your organization’s overall objectives, and then determine the KPIs that will help you gauge progress. For instance, you might choose to measure organic traffic growth, keyword ranking improvements, the number of leads generated from organic search, or impact on customer LTV.
2. Leverage Attribution Models – Adopt a comprehensive attribution model, such as data-driven or multi-touch attribution, to gain a better understanding of how SEO and content marketing contribute to customer acquisition and revenue generation. This will help you allocate resources more effectively and prioritize high-impact strategies.
3. Integrate SEO and Content Data – Integrate your SEO and content marketing data with other marketing and sales platforms, such as CRM and marketing automation systems. This enables a unified view of your customers’ journey, providing valuable insights into how SEO and content marketing impact lead nurturing, conversion, and customer retention.
4. Implement A/B Testing and Iteration – Utilize A/B testing to refine your SEO and content marketing strategies. By experimenting with different approaches, such as content formats, headlines, and calls-to-action (CTAs), you can identify the tactics that resonate best with your audience and generate the highest ROI.
5. Establish a Continuous Improvement Process – Create a culture of continuous improvement by regularly reviewing your KPIs, analyzing performance data, and adjusting your strategies accordingly. This will enable you to stay ahead of industry trends, capitalize on emerging opportunities, and maximize the ROI of your SEO and content marketing efforts.

Key Takeaways

In conclusion, the current economic uncertainty demands marketing leaders to be more strategic in their approach. As experienced professionals, you understand the importance of SEO in maintaining growth and driving cost-effective results. 

By leveraging advanced SEO tactics and focusing on long-term ROI, you can not only weather the storm but also strengthen your brand’s online presence and improve customer LTV. As you navigate these challenging times, remember that a robust and data-driven SEO strategy is an essential component of your marketing arsenal. 

By staying agile, optimizing your approach, and capitalizing on emerging opportunities, you can continue to drive significant value and growth for your organization, even in the most volatile market conditions.

Derek Coleman

Derek is a digital marketer based in Boston, Massachusetts with almost a decade of hands-on SEO experience. He finds it meaningful, challenging, and exciting to develop, test, and implement new SEO strategies. When he’s not auditing websites and optimizing content he’s usually backpacking and exploring new cultures.

The post Leveraging SEO to Maintain Growth in the Inflation Economy appeared first on Tuff.

There’s been a lot of talk about an economic downturn—and what that means for marketing budgets. In a recent survey, 75% of global brands said signals of a recession influenced their media budgets for 2023. 

Some have already seen their budgets shrink. While others are keeping or increasing their marketing budgets, but taking a much closer look at the return on investment (ROI). 

The challenge many marketers face now is how to do more with less money.

Regardless of the state of the economy, there are two main priorities you can focus on to make the most of your marketing dollars: 

• Spend smarter on paid media channels – Analyze data on your audience targeting, media channels, creative, and landing page performance to reveal where to put your money and what you need to improve. 
• Invest in owned media channels – A strong content strategy drives inbound traffic, leads, conversions, and revenue.  

As a growth marketing and content strategy agency, Tuff helps brand partners with paid and owned channels. However, in this article, we’ll focus on owned channels—in particular, your website, content, and search engine optimization (SEO). 

We’ll show you how to build a content strategy that helps reduce your paid marketing spend and contributes to customer acquisition, sales, and revenue. 

Table of contents 

• Why brands need a strong content strategy in 2023
• How to build an acquisition-centered content strategy
• Types of content that drive traffic and conversions

Why brands need a strong content strategy in 2023

When marketing budgets are tight, organic marketing shines. The main reason for this seems obvious—money. Here are the main reasons that investing in content marketing can save you money (and help you make more) in the long run. 

1. Get nearly free traffic

SEO is one of the few remaining ways to raise brand awareness and reach potential customers without paying for every click.

Unlike paid channels, you don’t pay for every click and sale that you get. You may pay upfront for the cost to create content. But, once you publish it, you don’t pay anything. If you’re on the first page of Google search results, you could drive hundreds to thousands of visitors from it every month for free. 

2. Attract higher-quality inbound leads

Instead of going to leads (outbound marketing), you get them to come to you (inbound marketing). Content is a core component to build an inbound marketing strategy. It helps you attract and convert new visitors and leads. Around 76% of marketers use content to generate leads.

According to Hubspot’s 2022 report, SEO is the second most effective channel for acquiring new customers, behind social media. 

When prospects and potential customers find your content organically and reach out to you, you’re more likely to make a sale. For over 60% of marketers, inbound marketing—SEO, blogs, and so on—is their highest quality lead source. 

3. Build brand awareness and educate customers

Content Marketing Institute’s (CMIs) 2022 report found that the top five goals marketers achieve through content marketing are:

• Raising brand awareness
• Building trust 
• Educating their audience   
• Building loyalty with clients and customers
• Generating leads and demand

If you only focus on ads, your brand can feel too transactional. Organic content tends to be more educational. 

For example, you might create content that answers a common question or pain point for customers. This type of content provides value without outright asking for anything in return, which builds trust and affinity. 

When customers are ready to buy, they might click on an ad or go directly to your website. However, there’s a significant chance they entered the funnel by consuming your content first.

How to build an acquisition-centered content strategy

All the benefits above might sound great, but they also rely on having a strong content strategy. Here’s how to build one like a pro. 

1. Outline clear, measurable goals

Every marketing strategy starts with goal-setting, but it’s even more important for content. Goals vary widely and tracking is challenging, so be as clear as possible. To set goals for content marketing, begin by answering these questions: 

• How does your marketing goal contribute to your bottom line? 
• To be successful, what milestones do you need to reach?
• How will you measure success? 
• When do you need to reach your goal? 

Some examples of content marketing goals could be to:

• Grow organic website traffic by at least 30% month-over-month (MoM)
• Attract at least 250 organic leads monthly 
• Increase organic revenue by 25% in six months

Once you’ve set a clear direction, then you can begin planning your content strategy. 

2. Choose content topics based on data

The biggest mistake that I see some brands make when planning content is choosing topics without data. 

Instead, they brainstorm themes and generate ideas that are based on assumptions. For example, let’s say a brand sells products and services to women business owners. The brand creates a week’s worth of content around Mother’s Day, including a listicle of Mother’s Day gift ideas. 

But, is that really what the audience wants? Simply because your audience is made up of women, it doesn’t mean they’re mothers. Plus, how does that topic relate to the service or solution you provide? 

When you base your content strategy on assumptions, at best, you’ll have little to no results. At worst, you could end up offending and losing your audience. 

When money is tight, the last thing you want to do is invest in creating content based on assumptions. So, what do you do instead? Use data to inform your content decisions. Here are two types of data you’ll need: 

• Audience data – this is where you uncover customer pain points, motivations, hesitations, and more factors that influence buying decisions. 
• Keyword data – this is the traditional SEO approach to building a content strategy, by looking at monthly keyword search volume and difficulty to rank. 

The best content strategies include both types of research. In the next two steps, we’ll walk you through how to do both—audience and keyword research—to create content strategies that consistently deliver results. 

3. Conduct audience research and create personas

Most audience research starts with basic demographic information—age, location, income, education, and so on. You can pull this information from: 

• Your current marketing channels (email, social media)
• Google Analytics and other attribution software
• Customer relationship management (CRM) tools 

However, this is only a start. True audience research goes beyond demographics and digs into qualitative data including: 

• Pain points
• Aspirations (desired outcomes)
• Motivations
• Hesitations
• Perceived value
• Other influences on buying decisions

There are many ways to collect qualitative audience data, but we recommend starting with two—message-mining and customer interviews or surveys. 

Message-mining example

Message-mining, also called review-mining, is when you pull feedback from your customer reviews on your website, Google, and sites like Trustpilot or G2. You can compile the reviews into a simple spreadsheet like this one. 

The process often reveals:

• Features and benefits your customers love
• Products and services you need to improve 
• Your unique value proposition

You can also message-mine competitor reviews. Positive reviews will show you where competitors are winning. Mixed and negative reviews reveal opportunities—they show you where you can beat competitors. 

The key is to look for patterns and de-prioritize outliers. What benefits or drawbacks appear the most? 

Example customer interview questions 

If you’re conducting interviews or surveys, here are sample questions to ask and which data point they reveal:

• Pain points – What problems does this product/service solve for you? 
• Aspirations – What do you hope to achieve by using this product/service? 
• Motivations – When did you realize you needed this product/service? 
• Hesitations – Was there anything about this product/service that you had questions or hesitations about? 
• Perceived value – What made you choose this product/service over other competitors?

We could devote an entire blog to audience research, and it still wouldn’t cover everything. If you have limited resources though, this will help you get the most important audience data. 

With all this data, you should have a better understanding of your audience to create personas. Audience personas should include demographics as well as qualitative research like pain points.

4. Perform keyword research 

How will you get your content in front of your audience? Most people won’t navigate directly to your website and go to your blog, so you need a way to distribute your content. 

For most businesses, that means SEO. First, you need to identify which searches your audience is putting in Google, and which you want to show up for—these are your keywords. 

To find them, you’ll conduct keyword research with a tool like Ahrefs or Semrush. 

At the start of keyword research, it’s okay to have a lot of ideas. Later on, you’ll trim your list and prioritize keywords that will have the most impact on your bottom line. Now that you’ve done audience research, it’s easier to put yourself in your audience’s shoes too.

How to identify keywords

To identify keywords, begin by looking at your: 

• Paid keywords – Are there keywords in paid campaigns that you could rank for organically?
• Current rankings – What is your site ranking for currently? Which pieces of content could rank in a higher position if you refresh the content? 
• Competitors – What keywords and pieces of content drive organic traffic to your competitors’ sites?
• Audience and intent – Does the person searching this keyword align with your audience? How likely are they to convert to a lead or customer?

Paid keywords you can find in your Google Ads and Analytics account. 

Current rankings you can find in Google Search Console. You can also use keyword research tools like Ahrefs and Semrush. If you’re using Ahrefs, you’ll go to Site Explorer and drop in your website URL. Then, click on organic keywords from the left menu. 

If you’re using Semrush, you’ll go to Domain Overview, add your website URL, and hit Search.

Then, scroll down to Top Organic Keywords and click View details. For SEO research, you’ll want to exclude branded keywords. This is usually your company name, so it wouldn’t be a keyword that you target with content. 

For example, this is what it looks like if you put REI’s website into Semrush and filter out branded terms. Three of the top keywords that drive non-branded traffic to the site are: hiking shoes, paddle board, and sleeping bag. 

To find what keywords your competitors are ranking for, follow the same process or do a keyword gap analysis. 

For audience and intent, refer back to your audience research. You can also bring in data from sales and customer service teams to identify questions and pain points that arise after your initial research. 

Keyword research is only one part of SEO. To rank in search results, you’ll need to structure your content and website intentionally with best practices. You may need technical SEO experts to optimize your website too. 

Also, you may create content without SEO. But, that means you’ll need a budget for paid content distribution to get content in front of your target audience. 

5. Prioritize topics that relate to your products and services 

To make the most of your marketing dollars, you’ll narrow down your content strategy to focus on the most impactful topics.  

To do this, start with a map of your customer journey and ask:  

• What questions do potential customers have as they learn about your business? 
• How can you help answer those questions with content? 

Then, narrow down your choices further by asking: 

• What pain points does this content address and do I actually have a product or service that helps solve them? 

Every topic you choose should originate from data—either keyword or audience data. Now, that doesn’t mean that you can’t leave a small percentage open for experimentation. However, when marketing budgets are small, it’s harder to take those risks. 

You’ll also want to select topics that map back to a core product or service and include an internal link to those landing pages.  

6. Measure results and adjust 

How you measure success will ultimately depend on the goals you set at the start. For SEO content, the typical metrics for success focus on the quantity and quality of organic traffic. 

Here’s some examples of ways to measure results for content and SEO.  

SEO tends to take longer to see results than paid because you aren’t paying for a spot at the top of search results. Typically, we start to see results after three to six months. 

Now you have a solid plan, here’s how to execute it with high-quality content. 

Types of content that drive traffic and conversions

Part of the challenge of building a content strategy is deciding what types of content to create. There are so many options that it can lead to decision paralysis. 

We’ve created many types of content for B2C and B2B brands. Here are some types of content we recommend to drive inbound marketing efforts and focus on more traffic and conversions. 

1. Comparison content

For this, you create in-depth comparisons of you vs. your competitors. There are two main reasons to create comparison content. First, if you don’t have a lot of brand recognition, you could possibly steal some from your competitors that do. 

Second, it’s ideal content that sits at the consideration stage of the marketing funnel. Your prospects and customers are already researching your brand. They can either get the information from a third-party or even your competitors or hear it straight from you. 

Many companies from project management tools to bookkeeping software create comparison content. Gusto, for example, has an entire pillar page of comparison content. 

Each page features a comparison chart and an overview of the most important differences. ClickUp is another company that leans into comparison content. Comparison pages have easy to understand charts with key features. 

2. Articles about pricing  

If your company is being mindful of spending, your customers may be too. Be upfront about pricing, because it’s one of the first and most important factors that buyers look for on your website. 

You could also drive organic traffic and qualified leads to your website with content around pricing. There may be keywords that follow one of these formats: 

• How much does (your product or service) cost? 
• (Your product or service) pricing 
• (Your product or service) cost

For example, let’s say you search “how much does a mattress cost”. According to Semrush, there are over 6,600 monthly searches, and it’s possible to rank for the term. 

It could be a great keyword for a mattress company like Casper or Nectar to rank for organically. (Even though they are paying for paid shopping spots.)

On the other hand, Enterprise ranks in the number one spot for a pricing question: how much does it cost to rent a car? With over 6,600 monthly searches, it likely drives a large chunk of qualified traffic every month for free.

By the time someone searches for pricing, they’re close to buying. As a company, you want to show up when they are ready to buy. Prioritizing pricing content is one way to do that. 

3. Video content

Video is the top content type for marketers, followed by blogs and images, according to HubSpot’s latest marketing report. 

You can use all those types of content together and repurpose them on channels outside of your website like YouTube. 

Combining and repurposing content has two benefits. You save money by stretching how you use your creative assets, and you increase your content effectiveness. 

For example, on average, blogs with videos get 70% more organic traffic. 

Here are some examples of videos to include in your content strategy:

• Product demos 
• Short-form videos
• Tutorials

4. Templates and interactive content

Interactive content gets almost 53% more engagement than traditional static content. Examples of interactive content include: 

• Quizzes
• Calculators
• Webinars
• Video 
• Templates 
• Forms

Another perk that comes with creating interactive content is that you can use it for lead generation. For example, when potential customers take a quiz, they may provide their email along with information about themselves that helps you get to know them. 

These are only a few examples of content to get started. Along the way, you may add other types of content that are inspired by customer and audience research. 

Investing in a strong content strategy will help you spend smarter. But, remember to base your content decisions on data, like you would with any other marketing campaign.

Interested in working with Tuff on a content strategy for your business? Let’s talk!

The post Building an Inbound Content Strategy to Acquire Customers appeared first on Tuff.

Understanding the avenues users enter your site through is invaluable. Maybe social channels drive quality traffic to the site. For well-known brands, direct traffic may be the main driver. A large percentage of most businesses however are fueled by search terms targeted via organic or paid channels. Both of these channels play an incredibly important role in attracting users, but not just any users – quality ones. 

High-intent audiences are more likely to take the actions you want them to take on your site. Both PPC and SEO offer ways to attract these ideal users.

But how do we bring these efforts together to formulate efficient, actionable insights? What things can a brand do to capture as much existing demand as possible? Are there ways for your business to create demand? Can we increase efficiencies and drive more conversions in tandem?

We set out to answer all of these questions to give a look into how our team and growth marketing agency thinks about Keyword Research through the lens of PPC Management and SEO. They can sometimes be seen as two different worlds, but when you combine forces, powerful things start to happen.  

Dominating All Stages of the Funnel with Paid Keyword Targeting

Let’s start by taking a look at Paid Keyword Research, the bulk of which relates to Google Ads specifically. Every partner is in a different stage of their business. Some are more established, looking to scale Paid Search efforts with new keyword targets. Some are brand new and are not even sure what kind of volume is available for a PPC channel. Many, though, are somewhere in between. At the crossroads of maximizing existing volume & creating new demand. 

Capture Existing Search Volume within Your Growth Strategy

What demand is already out there that you can capitalize on? Is Paid Search already running with any success, and if so, can you expand on the current high value keywords? Answering these questions is the first step in Tuff’s research, regardless of the industry. Although there are many tools available, we mainly use two for this step of research; Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush. Both of these give us a holistic view on volume as well as deeper looks into the industry at large. 

First let’s take a look at the current Google account, if there is one for our partner. We set out to identify what we call High Value Keywords that exist in the account already. These keywords, as the name suggests, are the targets that are working best for the partner. Maybe they have the most efficient CPA. Or an incredibly high Conversion Rate. No matter the KPI, the most important metric to look for in these High Value Keywords is Impression Share. If Impression Share is below 70-80%, there is room to scale immediately. This can be done by simply allocating additional budget, or focusing on making optimization changes that affect Quality Score. The goal is to maximize the success of these keywords. Find the top performers and become the industry leader for all users searching those out. Capture existing demand. 

After we see the areas of what is working already, we go to the true depths of Keyword Research, and this is where Keyword Planner comes in. Below is an example of how it works. We provide a few keywords relevant to the partner, in this example we provided a few phrases surrounding financial advice. The key is to start with high intent keywords. These give the best indication into how much demand is available at this very moment. Evaluating performance at this stage of the funnel is based on revenue and last click conversions. 

Google then spits out hundreds of keyword ideas that are related to what we are looking for. We can get a gauge on monthly volume immediately, as well as an idea of how competitive these keywords may be. Much of our time is spent in this stage. Sourcing the right keywords to start bidding on takes some time. Not every keyword available is going to be relevant. Again, our focus at this stage is to maximize the use of high intent keywords. This is where Paid Search excels the most.

The highlight of Google Keyword Planner is its forecasting ability. Once you choose the keywords that you would like to target, you have the ability to see a general forecast based on a certain daily budget. This helps paint a picture of the existing demand volume available, but more importantly, how much it may cost. Tuff uses a report like this as an immediate jumping off point with a partner. “If we spend x amount on these keywords, this is the performance we can expect.”

Perform Keyword Research for the Competitive Landscape

An invaluable part of the keyword research process, that has implications across all Paid and Owned Media, is Competitor Keyword Research. What are the top competitors in your industry spending money on? Where is their focus and how can you tailor your growth marketing strategy to capitalize on that? SEMrush is our go to for this lift.

We could write multiple posts about the capabilities of SEMrush, but for right now we are going to focus on the Advertising Research tab under Domain Analytics. Here we can input any URL to see information regarding spend on Paid Search platforms. We start with totals. The monthly estimate for spend, traffic from that spend, and then available volume associated with the keywords that are being targeted. 

Digging deeper, we can then export the full list of keywords that are being targeted. This is where the true value comes in. Not only are we able to see what the competition is bidding on, we can even take a look at the ad copy they are using. This data can be utilized across all growth marketing aspects. PPC, SEO, Social, CRO, and Creative. If you can better understand the competition, you can better understand how to beat them. 

For businesses that don’t exactly know who their competitors are, we can use SEMrush to find them. Below is a list of competitors we found for Amazon. This is a high level glimpse into the industry. All of this information surrounding competitors is taken into account when developing a Growth Strategy across all channels. 

Create Demand With Brand Strategy and Broad Keyword Targeting 

The third and final pillar of Paid Keyword Research is demand creation. We have now maxed out the existing demand for high-intent terms, let’s expand. The main thing to keep in mind with this stage of strategy is that this is a long-term investment. Users are not going to convert immediately through keywords that fall into this Top of Funnel bucket. This would fall under Brand Awareness instead of Performance marketing. 

These are a few steps to how we go about a demand creation strategy for Paid and Organic keyword targets alike:

1. Identify low intent and long tail keywords. Look for terms that are easy to rank for organically and terms that have low CPC’s on Paid channels. Some tactics you can utilize on Google Ads are Dynamic Search Ads and Broad Match Keywords. 
2. Develop a content strategy focusing on these keyword targets. Content built around keywords that have low competition, but are still relevant, are an easy way to improve Organic performance. 
3. Allocate a low percentage of overall Paid budget to targeting broad and long tail keywords. These are to improve Brand Awareness and are not to be evaluated on last click conversion metrics. Instead, impressions, CPCs, and volume is what to monitor. Tip: Set a Max CPC on Google Ads to better control costs. We aim to have CPCs around 10% of high-intent keywords. 

Tactics like this have long lasting effects across all channels. Performance and Brand tactics work hand in hand this way,  pushing users in the right direction. A full-funnel approach takes time, but the upsides are certainly worth the effort.  

A Full-Funnel Approach to SEO Keyword Research

Both paid and organic search aim to drive traffic and conversions using keywords. But the nature of the two channels influences the best way to capture demand. Organic search offers the ability to target users at multiple stages of the buyer journey with a mix of informative and commercial-focused content. 

Here’s how we approach SEO keyword research for a holistic strategy that supports PPC efforts. 

Examine Current Keyword Rankings

To lay the groundwork for a solid strategy, It’s important to understand where we’re starting from an organic search perspective. To do so, we’ll take a look at current keywords rankings to:

• Learn what keywords are driving traffic to the site 
• Find keywords that are being incorrectly targeted (misaligned search intent)
• Uncover low-hanging fruit keywords on pages 2 and 3 

Often, a brand has some visibility for keywords around a core service but is not maximizing traffic and conversion potential. Common mistakes include not covering the topic in-depth, creating content that does not align with searcher intent, and creating pages that don’t target specific, high-value keywords. 

At this stage, we can pull a list of top-performing non-branded keywords to identify areas to capitalize on in our strategy. For example, say a financial advisory company is ranking well for the term wealth management on a service page. 

A top spot on page one is great. But if the brand is not targeting terms higher up in the funnel, they are missing out on the higher traffic volume and increased brand awareness that comes with speaking to people earlier on in the journey. Using the questions filter in a keyword research tool, we can filter to find common queries around wealth management. 

Questions around what wealth management is and what a wealth manager does would make for informative top of funnel content in our organic strategy. These keywords don’t have immediate commercial intent so we won’t dedicate a large amount of the PPC budget towards them. 

While paid is great for hyper-targeting ready-to-buy users, organic offers the perfect opportunity to target those earlier in the journey, getting your brand in front of users early on so they are familiar with it when they reach the decision phase. This way, you don’t spend a large portion of the PPC budget on terms that are not immediately profitable.

Conduct Competitor Analysis

No SEO strategy is complete without competitor analysis. Here, we’ll take a look at what pages and keywords are performing well for competitors. 

The goal of a holistic SEO strategy is to drive relevant, high-value traffic to a site. So we need to look at multiple metrics to determine which competitor keywords are worth going after. These include search volume, difficulty, top 10 ranking pages for the term, and user intent. 

There are multiple components to this portion of SEO keyword research One helpful step is to perform a keyword gap analysis. This essentially uncovers relevant keywords that: 

1. Your competitors are ranking for and you are not

or

2. Your competitors are outranking you for 

In our financial company example, the firm has no rankings for “term deposit calculator” which generates almost 2000 searches a month while the competitor firm is in position 1.  

In instances like this, creating new content to fill in this gap is the way to go. Yes, new content will take a while to rank organically. But the upfront effort results in ranking for a keyword that is proven to drive relevant traffic to businesses like yours. This approach allows you to siphon off traffic from competitors. 

In other cases, competitors are outranking a company  for high-value keywords. Take for example, the keyword “smsf administration”. The brand is in position 7 on the SERP spot while its competitor is in position 1, meaning it’s garnering the lion’s share of clicks and impressions. Since this topic is core to the services offered, it makes sense to target it in an organic strategy. 

In this instance, the best strategy is to optimize existing content to better match search intent and compete with top-ranking pages. Fortunately, content optimizations typically see faster movement in rankings than new content. 

This step also offers a chance to collaborate with the PPC team. Say, for example, that the PPC team has been A/B testing ad copy and CTAs for the service that the SEO team is updating a page around. Use this data when creating content on the new page. Leveraging test result data  creates cohesive messaging for a better user experience across multiple touch points.

Target Keywords at Multiple Stages of the Buyer Journey

A well-rounded organic strategy should include a mix of informational keywords and high-intent ones to satisfy queries at multiple stages of the buyer journey. 

Using Organic Search to Build Awareness

What are people searching really early on in the journey? While these users won’t convert on the spot, the search is related to the offering so getting in front of them before they are in the decision mindset is beneficial. Generating awareness with those who are high in the funnel is a smart long-term play. This portion of the strategy focuses on driving traffic and building brand authority rather than generating conversions. 

Armed with questions from competitor research, internal customer information, and our keyword research tools, we can map the questions we find to different stages of the user journey.

The PPC Play: Since these keywords won’t lead to immediate conversions, it doesn’t make sense to spend a lot of paid budget on them. But, building brand awareness is still important. Delegate a small portion of your budget to this and mark it as a visibility play. Evaluate success based on Impressions, CPCs, and traffic to your site. 

Using Organic Search to Drive Conversions

A strong organic strategy involves targeting keywords with high purchase intent. These “money keywords” are highly relevant to your offerings and are regularly searched by your target audience. Unsurprisingly, these keywords are typically quite difficult to rank for organically. In our financial advisory firm example, these keywords include: 

• Wealth management services
• Financial advice in [city]
• Portfolio specialist

Now, difficult does not mean impossible. By laying the groundwork with content targeting topics higher in the funnel, your site gains authority and increases its chances of ranking for these high-intent keywords. But depending on your domain authority, ranking for high-competition keywords can be an uphill battle. 

This stage is another great opportunity for SEO and PPC to work in lockstep. Look at top converting terms for paid campaigns and aim to rank in the top 3 spots for these organically. Because these terms are difficult, whittle it down to a list of 10 or so high-value keywords to focus these efforts on. 

The PPC Play: Use data from campaigns to identify top converting keywords. Allocate spend to these terms, working in tandem with organic to ensure related content features aligned messaging for a seamless user experience. With both SEO and PPC efforts focused on these high-intent terms, you can maximize brand presence on the SERP. 

Combining SEO and PPC to Create a Synergistic Strategy

Now that we’ve covered the keyword research phase, let’s look at how we combine paid and organic efforts. Cross Team Functionality is the goal for Keyword Research and it is important to continue evaluating progress and performance after the initial stages. 

Here are a few specific areas where Tuff uses all the information above to get the most out of our Growth Marketing Strategy.

1. Use Data from Both Channels to Inform Strategy 

Good news. Utilizing paid and organic search in your marketing mix means you’ll have double the data to pull insights from.

On the organic side, top-performing pages can provide insights into the terms and pain points that most resonate with users. A high organic ranking signals that content is matching search intent and delivering value. Keywords with high organic performance should be added to paid campaigns and tested to see which lead to the highest conversions. This way, we double down on what’s working. 

This principle works in reverse as well. On the paid side, looking at Search Term reports in Google Ads is one way to zoom in on what terms are converting well. Once we’ve uncovered key terms that are driving revenue, we can prioritize these in our organic strategy. This may include optimizing existing content to include the terms or creating new content around these terms that align with search intent.

By cross-analyzing data and using this to inform keyword strategies, a brand can cover the SERP for terms that matter most to its bottom line. 

2. Leverage PPC & SEO to Dominate the SERP

Another reason SEO and PPC are better together? They allow a brand to maximize visibility in search results. 

Paid ads will always be placed above organic results, making them the first thing users see. So investing in paid can secure your brand a spot of prime real estate on the SERP. However, organic content brings an element of authority as users tend to trust organic over paid ads. To get the best results for important keywords, combine both strategies so you’re top of mind for searchers. 

3. Target Expensive Terms with SEO 

Certain keywords come with high CPCs that get more expensive over time. In these situations, it’s helpful to target these terms organically as part of an SEO content strategy. Targeting these high-value keywords in your organic search strategy is a smart long-term play. The time it takes to rank will depend on factors including your site’s domain authority and the top 10 ranking pages. 

4. Boost Organic Efforts with PPC Retargeting 

Many users will find your brand through organic search, but what happens when they leave without taking action? Paid offers the chance to retarget specific users so that organic efforts are bolstered. Because these users have demonstrated an initial interest in the brand, they are farther in the pipeline, making them a better bet for PPC spend. 

SEO & PPC: A Match Made in Marketing Heaven

Sherlock and Watson. Movies and popcorn. Some things just work better together. When it comes to maximizing your marketing ROI, combining PPC and SEO are a dynamic duo on that list. These marketing channels complement one another beautifully when looking at any stage of the marketing funnel. With more powerful insights into user behavior, you can drive conversions and increase efficiency. 

Chris Alarcon

Chris is a PPC Strategist based in Nashville, Tennessee. When he’s not scaling Google Ads & YouTube campaigns, he enjoys longboarding, tinkering with automation tools, and a little bit of gaming.

The post SEO & PPC Powerhouse: Capturing Demand at Every Stage of the Funnel appeared first on Tuff.

As we watch companies scale back both their workforce and spend, it becomes clear (again) that unpaid channels are vital to a healthy marketing and sales strategy. Businesses are trying to be cognizant of spending without canceling all long-term investments, so in terms of priority, unpaid channels have moved to the top of the growth list.

If you haven’t invested in organic channels or if you’ve taken a hiatus from that investment, it’s time to get back in the game. Unpaid channels are a sustainable and helpful fallback during economic downturns.

Organic is a long-term play. Strategies within SEO, for instance, take time to build up and take frequent maintenance. So the longer you neglect your organic visibility, the longer it will take to catch up to your competitors.  Prioritizing  a solid foundation now means that you start reaping the benefits sooner. 

Aside from SEO, there are endless unpaid opportunities you can leverage while pinching pennies. From branding to experimentation all the way to that website refresh you’ve been holding off for far too long. 

Let’s walk through a step-by-step guide on how companies should be spending their time and marketing budgets in 2023.

Step 1: Self-care, but make it branding

At Tuff, we see a lot of well-established companies come through without having performed any brand or audience exercises to establish voice, tone, and persona targeting strategies for their website and campaigns. Putting in the work here is important both on and off your site. A strong, established brand is the secret sauce to campaign success and customer loyalty. 

When you’re looking to save money but spend your time productively, it’s a great time to tighten up brand messaging, produce value-driven content, and build relationships with new and existing customers.

Here’s a branding checklist you can use to get started:

• Establish your brand’s mission and purpose
• Understand your competitors (how do you stand out)
• Determine your target audience and create personas
• Shape your brand’s voice and tone
• Modify how your organization discusses your products or services
• Ensure all digital property emulates your brand identity

Once you’ve made these branding decisions, it’s important to audit your website and ensure it represents your brand well. The areas that will get you the most bang for your branding buck are updating high-intent pages and creating a fresh content strategy that’s brand mindful while delivering the information your audience needs. 

Step 2: Content with a twist

“People still crave information and solutions to their unique challenges, especially during a downturn.Tap into the emotions and needs of your audience, now and into the future. Create evergreen content that connects and builds trust in your brand.  You’ll reap long-term returns from your content and keep your base engaged while others pull back.” – Bridget Doherty, UX Copywriter

Content will always be an important part of your branding and marketing strategy. It’s also the easiest to upkeep while cutting budgets. 

Take advantage of this time and create a solid plan for content production and promotion. Leverage your internal experts to write pieces that grab and hold your audience.

When we think of content marketing, we usually think of fresh content to bring in new customers. However, content is a valuable way to stay connected to existing customers and provides a direct line of communication for brand loyalty and upsells. 

The probability of selling to an existing customer is between 60% and 70% while that number is only between 5% to 20% for new customers, so give your current customers plenty of attention during this time and beyond. 

Step 3: Designing your strategy 

High-quality design has become an expectation of customers. In today’s digital world, well-designed websites, social feeds, emails, videos, and blogs is the norm. Meaning, your customers hold you to a higher standard than you think. 

When potential customers come to your site, they’re bringing the experiences they’ve had on every other site (especially those of your competitors). They’re always looking for speed, ease of use, and, whether they realize it or not, something that’s easy on the eyes. 

Investing in design can help to:

• Ensure that your product or service is easy to use and understand
• Connect with customers on an emotional level
• Make your brand stand out and your company more memorable
• Build a positive brand image
• Gain customer trust and loyalty

If you don’t have a resource internally now, it’s a worthwhile investment to bring on a partner who can support your brand’s design needs.Generally speaking, it’s often cheaper to outsource design work to an agency, as they have lower rates and can provide a wider range of services. Hiring a full-time designer can be more expensive when you’re trying to save, as it involves additional costs such as benefits and other overhead expenses.

Don’t let your campaigns be wasted on lack of design and branding. 

Step 4a: Your Website & SEO

Think of your website like it’s your home. A strong foundation is important and when something breaks, it’s best to take your time and fix it correctly. Shortcuts risk the problem becoming out of control. 

Enter SEO. 

“When consumers begin spending at normal levels again, companies that have pulled back on SEO efforts will have to make up for lost performance. Companies that keep SEO rolling won’t have to backtrack and deal with drops in visibility and lost rankings as other companies overtook them on the SERP.”- Claire Routh, SEO Strategist

SEO is a secret weapon that’s important to keep in your arsenal, whether it’s keeping up with content optimization and creation to sustain organic visibility or monthly maintenance on your website to ensure it provides a good user experience.. 

Poor site performance and lack of keyword support can be detrimental to your visibility in search. Sites that give users a bad experience are penalized for this and the same goes for poor keyword targeting. Not using the right language to find the right audience can mean useless traffic and irrelevance within search engines.

As you face uncertainty during financial hardship, shift your strategy to long-term, unpaid investments. Take the time to finesse on-site content to target keywords that will bring in high-intent audiences. Focus on maintaining a healthy site experience for your users so they’re more willing to come back again as they continue on the buyer journey. 

Start now and keep up with it even once you’re back at full force with your paid investments. A consistent organic strategy is an ironclad way to guard against tumultuous times.

Step 4b: Your Website & Experimentation

So, you finally figured out your branding, content, design, and you’re maintaining SEO support on your site… Now what? 

Even though you’ve refined your brand’s online presence, the best way to see what truly resonates with and converts your audience is to start testing. From headlines to CTAs, websites present endless testing opportunities. This is the perfect way to improve conversion rates and sustainably grow the leads flowing through your pipeline without having to toy with money in paid platforms.

Forming the habit of testing before solidifying decisions about your brand ensures you’ll always have a pulse on the market and the needs of your customers. 

It’s surprising how often we see clients making major site changes because they like it internally. Just because we like something doesn’t mean it will actually be successful at speaking to customers. When in doubt, test it out. It’s not just the experience your customers need, it’s the one they deserve. 

Step 5: Organic social and partnerships

With paid social as successful as it is for a lot of companies, the upkeep of social media platforms organically is often forgotten. Staying active  and organically engaged on social media is a great way to keep visibility with your audience and keep customers engaging with your brand. 

The same is true for partnerships. During a downturn when budgets are cut, focusing your energy toward building and strengthening partnerships is time well-invested. The exchanging of content or more logo visibility off-site is the perfect, low-budget strategy to get eyes from untapped audiences. 

Don’t you… forget about paid 

During an economic downturn, it can be easy to make a rash decision like completely cutting budget to certain channels but it can actually be a great time to get strategic with your ad spend. 

Nielsen Marketing Mix Models found that when companies go cold turkey and cut channels out of their media mix, they can expect to lose 2% of their long-term revenue each quarter and found that it will take up to 3-5 years to recover. 

Nielsen data also shows that marketing accounts for 10%-35% of a brand’s equity, proving if budget cuts are done incorrectly, it can have major impacts across your organization.

You’ll find your competitors will also be dealing with budget cuts, meaning campaigns that were once highly competitive in the market can now be  high-opportunity. Campaigns that historically haven’t had much return can have a greater impact now.

The solution isn’t making hard budget cuts but rather allocating your budget towards the channels or campaigns that will have the most return at this time. Knowing how to watch the trends and keep your strategy agile is an important factor to sustaining paid media, and having a partner who brings that expertise can be the best tool for being  cautious yet effective with your budget.

It’s all about balance

Ultimately, whether you’re just getting started with unpaid investments or picking things back up, create a sustainable plan to upkeep your organic channels even as you ramp back up with paid media.

Whether it’s leveraging high-value content on and off the site or sharing keyword and audience insights to support and improve campaigns, there are endless opportunities for cross-collaboration. Add CRO into the mix by testing everything from ad copy to elements on your landing pages, and have a media mix that’s a recipe for digital success.

It seems more complicated than it is, though we are the experts. Reach out if you need an assist ramping up and maintaining your organic efforts. 

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