Google’s algorithm updates in 2024 brought some of the most significant changes to search rankings in recent history. With multiple core and spam updates, the search giant reinforced its commitment to high-quality, user-first content while cracking down on spammy and low-quality sites. Here’s a breakdown of the major updates and their impacts on search engine results pages (SERPs). 

March 2024 Core Update: The Biggest in Google’s History

The March 2024 Core Update was the largest algorithm update Google has ever released, impacting multiple core ranking systems.

Key Highlights:

• Aimed at improving search quality by reducing low-quality and unoriginal content, particularly AI-generated content.
• Emphasized user experience factors like page speed and mobile-friendliness.
• Rolled out over 45 days, from March 5 to April 19.

Impact on SERPs:

• 45% reduction in low-quality, unoriginal content appearing in search results.
• Major ranking shifts, with some websites seeing improvements while others experienced declines.
• Reinforced the importance of ongoing content audits that identify issues like what slows a page down, layoutshift and other core web vitals

March 2024 Spam Update: Strengthening Google’s Spam Policies

Alongside the core update, Google also launched a March Spam Update to combat manipulative SEO tactics.

Key Highlights:

• Introduced three new spam policies:
  • Scaled Content Abuse: Targets bulk-created low-quality content.
  • Expired Domain Abuse: Prevents ranking manipulation using expired domains. Many people buy established domains and leverage that authority to push their content. This often leads to bad user experience because the new  content is not relevant to the rest of the website.
  • Site Reputation Abuse: (Active from May) Penalizes sites with poor reputations.
• Enhanced SpamBrain, Google’s AI-powered spam prevention system.
• Rolled out over 15 days, from March 5 to March 20.

Impact on SERPs:

• Websites violating spam policies saw ranking drops or complete removal from search results.
• Increased volatility in rankings, urging compliance with Google’s evolving guidelines.
• Improved search quality by eliminating spammy sites.

June 2024 Spam Update: Enhancing Spam Detection

Another spam update in June focused on eliminating spam tactics that were still slipping through the cracks.

Key Highlights:

• Targeted websites violating Google’s spam policies.
• Improved SpamBrain to detect new types of spam.
• Completed in 7 days, from June 20 to June 27.

Impact on SERPs:

• Removal of auto-generated, low-quality, and manipulative content.
• Sites engaging in spammy tactics saw decreased visibility.
• Reinforced the importance of following Google’s spam guidelines.

August 2024 Core Update: Supporting Small and Independent Publishers

This update focused on boosting useful content from smaller publishers in response to feedback from Google’s September 2023 Helpful Content Update.

Key Highlights:

• Improved rankings for small and independent publishers producing valuable content.
• Rolled out over 19 days, from August 15 to September 3.

Impact on SERPs:

• Websites previously impacted by the September 2023 update saw partial recoveries.
• Increased visibility for high-quality, original content from smaller sites.
• Reinforced Google’s commitment to people-first content.

November 2024 Core Update: A Moderate but Notable Update

The November 2024 Core Update aimed at further refining search result quality.

Key Highlights:

• Focused on ranking genuinely useful content higher.
• Rolled out over 24 days, from November 11 to December 5.

Impact on SERPs:

• Moderate impact compared to earlier updates, with varied effects across different industries.
• Continued emphasis on user-focused content.
• Some major websites saw significant ranking shifts.

December 2024 Core Update: The Final Refinement of the Year

Google wrapped up the year with a December Core Update, fine-tuning search quality.

Key Highlights:

• Focused on improving content relevance and usefulness.
• Rolled out just a week after the November update.
• Completed in 6 days, from December 12 to December 18.

Impact on SERPs:

• Major ranking shifts, with some sites improving while others declined.
• Reinforced the need for helpful, reliable, and original content.

December 2024 Spam Update: Cracking Down on Spam Before Year-End

Google ended the year with another spam update to clean up search results.

Key Highlights:

• A broad spam update aimed at refining overall spam detection.
• Followed closely after the December Core Update.
• Rolled out in 7 days, from December 19 to December 26.

Impact on SERPs:

• Massive reduction in spammy content, leading to deindexing and ranking drops for violators.
• Increased ranking volatility during the rollout.
• Reinforced Google’s push for high-quality, user-first content.

Key Takeaways from 2024 Google Algorithm Updates

1. Content Quality Is More Important Than Ever

• Google’s core updates consistently rewarded valuable, well-researched content. Starting with GenAI based content is acceptable, but this approach still requires HI (human interaction)/ human-in-the-loop. 
• Low-quality, or spammy content faced significant ranking penalties.

2. Spam Prevention Became More Aggressive

• Multiple spam updates removed bulk-generated and manipulative content.
• SpamBrain improvements made it harder for black-hat SEO tactics to succeed.
• It would be a good practice to remove old content that may have been using old outdated techniques (e.g. keyword stuffing, low quality backlinks, duplicate content, ect.)

3. User Experience Matters

• Core Web Vitals include factors like page speed, mobile-friendliness, and site reputation played a bigger role in rankings.
• This is where technical SEO plays a significant role. 

4. Adaptability Is Key for SEO Success

• With updates rolling out frequently, regular content audits and SEO adjustments are crucial for maintaining rankings.

2024 Google Algorithm Updates: Your Action Plan Now

As Google’s algorithm landscape continues to evolve, quality content has become the non-negotiable foundation for search success. While GenAI content provides a starting point, human oversight remains essential. Google’s core updates are systematically demoting low-quality content while rewarding well-researched pieces.

Simultaneously, Google’s enhanced SpamBrain is aggressively targeting manipulative tactics. As a result, it is crucial to:

• Periodically run technical audits
• remove outdated content using questionable techniques like keyword stuffing
• disavow poor backlinks or reach out to lost domains

Don’t overlook technical SEO. Your Core Web Vitals scores directly impact rankings, with page speed, mobile optimization, and site reputation carrying significant weight. The most successful SEO practitioners in today’s environment aren’t those with the biggest budgets, but those who embrace adaptability through regular content audits and strategic adjustments.

Take action now by conducting a comprehensive content audit, removing or upgrading underperforming assets, and investing in technical improvements. The sites that will dominate search results in the coming months will be those that prioritize genuine value, technical excellence, and consistent optimization.

Final Thoughts

Navigating Google’s algorithm changes can be challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. At Black Kite Marketing, we specialize in helping businesses adapt, grow, and maintain their search rankings in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

Need expert SEO strategies tailored to the latest Google updates? Call us today at (516) 259-1813 to learn how we can boost your online presence.

Let’s optimize your success—contact Black Kite Marketing now!

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The Rise of AI in Google Ads: Key Developments and Innovations

Here are some of the latest AI features in Google Ads that you can implement:

1. AI-driven search campaigns 

Google’s AI-driven search campaigns analyze user intent and context, optimizing ads based on search patterns, browsing behavior, and real-time engagement. These campaigns can dynamically match ads with the most relevant keywords and audiences, leading to more effective targeting, improved click-through rates, and a higher return on investment (ROI).

2. Performance Max AI features

Performance Max campaigns leverage machine learning to drive conversions across all Google channels—including YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, and Maps. The AI optimizes in real-time to achieve campaign goals, automating asset creation, audience targeting, and ad placements. Performance Max’s “Insights” feature provides feedback on the best-performing creative elements and demographic segments, giving marketers powerful insights into campaign success.

3. Automatically created assets & Optimized Targeting

Automatically Created Assets (ACA) use AI to generate variations of ad copy, images, and videos, tailoring them to user intent and enhancing relevance. Google Ads analyzes your existing assets and user data to create customized versions that best match potential customers’ preferences. ACA saves time and improves ad performance by presenting more appealing, contextually relevant content. 

Optimized targeting uses Google’s machine learning algorithms to find and reach audiences most likely to engage with your ad. Going beyond audience segments you specify, it expands the reach of campaigns based on real-time data and engagement signals, helping brands tap into broader and more relevant audiences and improve conversion potential.

4. Google Analytics 4 measurement enhancements

GA4’s AI-powered measurement tools track cross-platform data, providing insights into customer journeys across devices and channels. With machine learning models, GA4 predicts user behavior (such as likely conversions) and fills in data gaps from privacy restrictions, enabling more accurate attribution. This data can feed directly into Google Ads, enhancing targeting and campaign optimization. 

5. YouTube AI-powered creative tools

Google’s AI-driven tools for YouTube ads offer advertisers the ability to automatically edit, resize, and customize video assets for maximum engagement. From trimming ads to generating compelling thumbnails, these tools optimize video content for various user demographics and engagement trends. They can also suggest the best formats for target audiences, improving ad relevance and effectiveness.

6. App campaigns

App campaigns, powered by Google’s machine learning, promote apps across Google’s properties, such as Search, YouTube, and Google Play. They optimize ad placements based on audience behavior, preferences, and app-install likelihood, with minimal setup. AI continuously refined targeting and creative elements to drive app installs and engagement, allowing marketers to focus on audience growth with less manual management.

7. Conversational Experience in Google Ads

Google is piloting conversational experiences in its Ads platform to streamline campaign creation through an interactive, chat-based setup. With this feature, advertisers can describe their campaign objectives, and Google’s AI will suggest targeting options, create ad copy, and provide real-time feedback. This makes the ad setup process simpler and more intuitive, especially for marketers less familiar with Google Ads.

Each of these features leverages AI to simplify ad creation and management, target the right audiences, and drive more effective results across Google’s ecosystem.

The Role of Technical SEO in Enhancing Ad Placement on Search Results

Technical SEO plays a critical role in enhancing ad placement on search results, as it improves a website’s overall health, user experience, and credibility—factors that Google considers when determining ad quality and placement. Here’s a look at how technical SEO influences ad performance:

1. Technical SEO for Ads

Technical SEO elements like crawlability, indexability, and site structure help search engines understand your website’s content and relevance, indirectly boosting the quality score for Google Ads. Google evaluates landing pages as part of its ad quality score, so if a website is technically optimized, it can lead to a better user experience and, in turn, improve ad performance and placement.

2. Improving Ad Ranking Through SEO

Google Ads factors in ad relevance and landing page experience to calculate the ad quality score. A technically optimized website ensures that landing pages load quickly, are well-structured, and feature relevant keywords—all of which contribute to a better quality score. Higher scores improve an ad’s ranking and can lead to lower costs per click (CPC) and better visibility in search results.

3. Site Speed Optimization for Ads

Fast-loading pages are essential for good user experience, and Google rewards pages with better load speeds. Slow pages increase bounce rates and frustrate users, reducing the likelihood of conversions. Technical SEO improvements like compressing images, minifying code, and enabling browser caching can significantly boost site speed. For ads, faster landing pages not only enhance the user experience but also improve ad quality scores, which can reduce CPC and improve ad positions.

4. Mobile Friendliness Impact on Ads

With the majority of searches now happening on mobile devices, Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in its ranking algorithms and ad quality assessments. Technical SEO practices such as responsive design, touch-friendly buttons, and streamlined content for mobile devices help improve mobile usability. A mobile-friendly landing page is more likely to retain users and convert them, enhancing ad performance and quality scores for mobile users.

In summary, technical SEO directly supports Google Ads by optimizing the technical aspects of a website, enhancing the quality score, improving page speed, and ensuring mobile usability. These improvements positively impact ad placement, lower CPC, and increase the likelihood of conversion, making technical SEO an essential element for maximizing ad performance on search results.

Integrating technical SEO with your Google Ads strategy

Integrating technical SEO with your Google Ads strategy creates a powerful synergy between organic search and paid advertising, enhancing ad performance, reducing costs, and maximizing ROI. Here are some best practices to align technical SEO with your Google Ads efforts effectively:

1. SEO and PPC Synergy

To maximize the effectiveness of both SEO and PPC campaigns, focus on sharing insights between the two channels. Use organic search data to identify high-performing keywords, search trends, and audience behavior, which can inform your PPC campaigns. Similarly, analyze PPC data for top-performing keywords and audience insights, using them to refine your SEO strategies. When SEO and PPC align, you reinforce brand visibility and increase the likelihood of appearing in both organic and paid search results.

2. Keyword Research Techniques for Ads

While keyword research is fundamental to both SEO and PPC, each approach benefits the other. For example, SEO keyword research provides a foundation for understanding search intent, which can shape the targeting of Google Ads. Conversely, PPC data reveals which keywords drive conversions, allowing you to focus your SEO efforts on high-value terms. Using tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, integrate these insights into your ad campaigns and organic content to align both channels with user intent.

3. Landing Page Optimization Tips

Landing page quality has a significant impact on ad performance. Optimized landing pages should load quickly, be mobile-friendly, and clearly align with the ad’s message and user intent. Use technical SEO to enhance load times, ensure page security (SSL), and simplify navigation. For ads, include targeted keywords naturally within the landing page content, particularly in headers, and design a clear call-to-action (CTA) that mirrors the ad’s offer. This not only improves the quality score of the ad but also enhances conversion rates.

4. Relevance Scoring in Ads

Google assigns a relevance score to ads based on the alignment between the ad content, keywords, and landing page experience. Technical SEO plays a role by ensuring that your landing pages are highly relevant, optimized for user experience, and clearly aligned with the keywords and messaging in your ads. By boosting relevance, you improve your ad quality score, which can lead to higher ad placements and lower costs per click (CPC). Regularly test ad copy and landing page variations to ensure relevance and engagement with users.

Additional Tips:

• Use Structured Data: Adding structured data (Schema markup) to your landing pages helps search engines understand and display your content in a more meaningful way, potentially increasing ad quality scores and click-through rates.
• Optimize Page Titles and Meta Descriptions: Ensure page titles and meta descriptions are optimized with targeted keywords for both organic and paid campaigns to create a cohesive message that appeals to users in search results.
• Analyze and Adjust Regularly: Continuously monitor both organic and paid performance metrics to identify areas for improvement. Tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console provide data on which keywords and pages perform well, helping you adjust your approach over time.

By integrating these technical SEO best practices into your Google Ads strategy, you create a seamless experience that boosts ad relevance, improves user engagement, and drives cost-effective results.

Embrace the Latest Changes in Google Ads to Maximize Your Advertising Efforts with AI and Technical SEO Insights

The integration of AI advancements in Google Ads and technical SEO can revolutionize your advertising strategy, driving greater relevance, cost efficiency, and user engagement. By combining data-driven insights from AI-powered tools with a strong foundation in technical SEO, businesses can enhance ad placements, optimize user experience, and maximize ROI. As Google’s algorithms and ad capabilities continue to evolve, staying up-to-date with these changes is crucial to staying competitive in the digital landscape.

Ready to elevate your Google Ads strategy? Black Kite Marketing can help you leverage the latest AI and SEO insights to achieve impactful results. Reach out to our team today to learn how we can enhance your ad performance and expand your digital reach.

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In this post, we’ll delve into the key changes introduced in the August 2024 update, explore its impacts on various types of websites, and provide actionable insights to help you adapt and thrive in this new search environment. Whether you’re a seasoned SEO professional or a business owner looking to improve your site’s performance, understanding this update will help you navigate the complexities of Google’s search landscape.

Key Changes in the August 2024 Update

This latest update is aimed at addressing the feedback Google received from various creators and stakeholders. With this update Google wants to connect users with a wider range of sites so that small or independent sites can rank. The idea is that the relevancy and quality of the content will be a higher factor in ranking than the size of the site. 

Another aspect of this update is for the search engine to better recognize improvements that websites have made, ensuring that the most updated content is showing up in the results.

Impacts on Smaller Independent Projects

During previous updates – The Helpful Content Update in September 2023 and The March 2024 Core Update – many smaller sites were hit hard. One site in particular, House Fresh, went viral for sharing their discontent with this. We ran their website through SEMrush to see how their site has been affected over time:

As you can see back in September their traffic was at a high point but it immediately dropped drastically following the September Helpful Content Update. The site took another blow in during the March 2024 Core Content Update bringing traffic to an all time low. 

Following the most recent August 2024 Core Update we do see that their site started to recover from the loss. This does seem promising that Google is aiming to address the issues raised by smaller independent projects.

Adapting to August 2024 Google Core Update

Here are best practices for businesses to adapt, improve, and recover:

1. Actionable Tips to Improve Content Quality

Conduct a Comprehensive Content Audit: Review your site’s content to identify gaps, outdated information, or thin content. Focus on relevance, accuracy, and user intent.

User-Centric Content: Write content that answers user questions thoroughly and clearly. Structure content with headers, subheadings, and bullet points to improve readability.

Improve Depth & Originality: Offer unique insights, analysis, and data that are not found on other sites. Avoid duplication or simply rewording existing material.

Update Old Content: Regularly refresh content with updated information, statistics, and insights to remain current and valuable.

Enhance Visuals: Use images, infographics, and videos to supplement the text. Rich media improves user engagement and can boost rankings.

2. Enhancing E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)

Showcase Author Expertise: Clearly list the credentials and expertise of content authors. Provide author bios with relevant qualifications and experience, and link to social profiles or professional pages to build trust.

Cite Reliable Sources: Back your claims with authoritative sources such as studies, research papers, and recognized industry leaders. Properly referencing external sources can boost credibility.

Secure Website: Ensure your site uses HTTPS for security. Users and Google favor secure websites, which boosts trustworthiness.

Earn Quality Backlinks: Seek backlinks from reputable websites within your niche. Building relationships with authoritative websites can enhance your site’s perceived authority.

User Reviews and Testimonials: Display genuine reviews, testimonials, and case studies that speak to the quality of your products or services. Social proof reinforces trust.

3. Strategies to Recover from Ranking Drops

Identify Affected Pages: Use Google Search Console and analytics tools to pinpoint which pages or keywords experienced a drop. Analyze their performance before and after the update.

Improve Page Experience: Optimize for Core Web Vitals (page speed, mobile responsiveness, interactivity). A better user experience directly impacts rankings.

Focus on Intent Matching: Align content more closely with user search intent. Google increasingly emphasizes content that matches specific user needs, so adjust content to fulfill intent at every stage of the buyer’s journey.

Optimize On-Page SEO: Review title tags, meta descriptions, alt texts, and internal linking structure. Ensure they are still relevant to search queries and are optimized for new ranking signals.

Competitor Analysis: Analyze competitors who gained rankings during the update. Identify what they are doing differently in terms of content structure, keywords, and E-A-T to adjust your own strategies accordingly.

Rebuild Trust & Authority: If trustworthiness is affected, reassess your backlink profile. Disavow toxic links and build relationships with authoritative sites to regain your site’s trustworthiness.

4. Technical SEO Considerations

Fix Indexing Issues: Ensure there are no crawl errors, and important pages are indexed correctly. Use tools like Google Search Console to spot and fix any issues.

Improve Mobile Usability: Ensure your website is fully responsive and optimized for mobile devices, as mobile usability continues to be a critical ranking factor.

Structured Data: Implement structured data (Schema.org) where appropriate to help search engines understand your content better and improve visibility in rich snippets.

Monitoring Your Site’s Performance

Tracking your website’s performance is crucial to understanding how the August 2024 Google Core Update has affected your rankings and traffic. Here we’ll cover how to effectively monitor changes, the tools you should be using, and the metrics that matter most.

Monitoring changes in your website’s rankings and organic traffic is essential for understanding how the update has impacted your site. Here’s how to stay on top of it:

• Set Up Regular Monitoring: Schedule consistent checks of your website’s traffic and ranking performance to spot any trends early. Set up benchmarks prior to the update so you can measure changes accurately.
• Segment Your Traffic: Distinguish between organic search traffic and other sources like paid, direct, or referral traffic. This will give you a clear view of how the update has affected your site’s search visibility.
• Track Keyword Performance: Focus on your most important keywords to monitor their ranking changes. Pay attention to both your main keywords and new queries that are driving traffic.

Important Metrics to Track:

• Organic Traffic: Regularly check daily, weekly, and monthly traffic fluctuations from search engines.
• Ranking Changes: Follow your keyword positions and identify whether they’ve improved or dropped.
• Click-Through Rate (CTR): Measure how effectively your pages are drawing users from search results.
• Bounce Rate & Dwell Time: If users are bouncing off pages quickly, it could mean your content no longer matches search intent or provides value.

Recommended Tools and Metrics for Analysis:

• Google Analytics
• Google Search Console
• SEMRush

By using Google Analytics, Search Console, and third-party platforms, you can gain a comprehensive view of your site’s health and make informed decisions to boost your rankings.

Conclusion: Navigating the Impact of the August 2024 Google Core Update

The August 2024 Google Core Update has once again reshaped the digital landscape, emphasizing the importance of high-quality, user-centric content. The good news is that many of the smaller sites that were hit hard by previous updates are starting to recover. That being said, it is important for businesses to continue to adapt to these changes.

Whether it’s reassessing your SEO strategy, improving technical performance, or refining your content to align with Google’s latest focus, staying ahead of the curve is key to long-term success.

At Black Kite Marketing, we specialize in navigating the ever-evolving SEO world. If your business has been affected by this latest update or you’re looking to future-proof your digital strategy, we’re here to help. Contact us today for a free SEO audit and tailored recommendations to keep your site optimized and competitive.

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Google Business Profile is the current name for the tool that allows businesses to control how their information appears on Google. This includes updating business hours, adding photos, responding to reviews. Properly managing these  details will ensure accuracy  when customers search for the business.

Google My Business was the previous name for this tool before Google rebranded it to Google Business Profile in 2021. The core functionality remains the same. Google’s name change reflects their effort to make the product more intuitive. The results should be a product aligned with how users search for and interact with local businesses online.

Ultimately, Google Business Profile and Google My Business refer to the same free tool that businesses should claim and optimize to enhance their visibility and engagement on Google’s search engine and maps. Understanding the name change can help businesses navigate this important local listing platform more effectively.

New features in Google Business Profile

A) Use on Search and Maps to Claim and Verify Your Business Profile 

Business owners have been able to edit their profile information through Search for a while. But now, you can verify and resolve other issues like updating your business information with your Business Profile directly from Search.

To do this, start with looking up the name of your business on Google. Or, if you prefer, you can visit your profile on Maps. There, you will see an option to verify the profile.

You can also edit any public information on your profile, such as your address, business hours, or photographs from Search and Maps.

B) Message Your Customers on Search

An increasing number of customers are turning to text conversations with businesses of all sizes. According to a 2021 report by Podium, 67% of consumers think texting merchants is more convenient.

As a result, Google has added a new chat feature in Google Business Profile, enabling you to engage in text conversations with customers right from your profile on Search. Previously  Google introduced this attribute to help business owners see and respond to messages on Maps.

You can also turn on the “Send read receipts” via Messaging Settings to see if the customer has received and read your message. This is an effort to further improve chat experiences for customers and entrepreneurs alike.

C) Discover More About the Calls You Receive Through Google

Phone calls are not dead. Many people appreciate the immediacy and personal touch inherent in phone conversations: and Google knows this well. A survey by CallRail shows a 61% increase in calls from Google My Business between January 2020 and July 2020.

Hence, Google has launched a call history option for American and Canadian merchants with verified Google Business Profiles.

Thanks to this update, you can now see the phone calls that come in through your Google Business Profile. This can provide you with valuable insight into your incoming call performance.

D) An enhanced map search algorithm to minimize spam listings

An up-to-date Google Business Profile (GBP) plays a crucial role in fighting spam on Google Maps in a few key ways:

1. Boosts Legitimacy: Accurate information in your GBP establishes your business as a trustworthy entity. This includes details like your address, phone number, website, and operating hours. A well-maintained profile, with consistent information across platforms, strengthens your listing’s credibility. A benefit is Google becomes less likely to flag your listing as spam. 
2. Discourages Fake Listings: Spammers often rely on inaccurate or incomplete data to create fake business listings. By keeping your GBP current, you make it more difficult for them to create a duplicate listing that might mislead users. 
3. Improves Search Ranking: Maintaining an accurate profile factors into Google’s local search ranking algorithms. This means your business is more likely to appear in relevant local searches for potential customers. Higher visibility of a legitimate, informative profile pushes spammy listings further down the search results, making them less noticeable.

In essence, a well-maintained GBP acts as a shield against spam. It strengthens your business’s online presence, discourages fake entries, and aids users in identifying and reporting misleading listings. This collective effort helps Google maintain a more accurate and trustworthy experience for everyone on Maps. 

E) A more efficient Google Business Profile dashboard

The GBP portal is your command center for managing your business’s online presence across Google Search and Maps. Here’s a breakdown of how it works:

Creating and Claiming Your Profile:

• Visit [business.google.com] to access the Google Business Profile portal. 
• You’ll need a Google account to create or claim your profile.
• Search for your business name to see if an existing listing exists. If not, you can create a new one.
• If a listing exists but you haven’t claimed it yet, follow the prompts to verify ownership through a postcard or phone call.

Managing Your Business Information:

Once you’re in the portal, you can update and manage a wide range of information about your business, including:

• Basic Details: Name, address, phone number, website URL, category (industry).
• Description: A concise description of your business and its offerings. 
• Hours of Operation: Accurate opening and closing hours, including special hours for holidays or specific days.
• Attributes: Indicate if your business offers features like Wi-Fi, delivery, or in-store pickup.
• Photos & Videos: Upload high-quality visuals showcasing your business, products, or services.
• Posts: Create short posts to share updates, events, promotions, or new offerings with potential customers.

Interacting with Customers:

The portal allows you to respond to customer reviews, both positive and negative.  Engaging with reviews demonstrates responsiveness and professionalism.

You can also manage messages sent by customers directly through the portal, making two-way communication easier.

Analytics and Insights:

The portal provides basic analytics to understand how customers find your business listing. You can see metrics like:

• The number of views your listing receives in search results.
• User actions taken like clicking your website or requesting directions.
• Demographics of users who find your listing (limited data).

Additional Features:

Manage Multiple Locations: If you have multiple business locations, you can manage all your listings from a single portal. 

Short Name: Create a unique short name for your business that users can use for easier searching and navigation on Google Maps.

Promotional Tools: You can explore paid advertising options like Google Ads to reach a wider audience through targeted promotions.

Overall, the Google Business Profile portal offers a user-friendly platform to manage your online presence. It empowers your control over your business’s appearance in search results. Additionally, you can showcase your offerings and directly interact with your audience.

Final Thoughts

Google My Business has undergone a recent rebranding to Google Business Profile (GBP). The name change reflects Google’s aim for a more user-friendly experience. Despite the new moniker,  the core function remains the same: helping businesses manage their online presence on Google Search and Maps.

Just like its predecessor, Google Business Profile is a free tool for businesses. You can now edit public information and have text conversations with customers directly from Search. And when you help Google by keeping up-to-date and accurate GBP Profiles, you are helping fight spam listings.

Navigating the ever-evolving landscape of SEO can be challenging, especially with updates like Google’s Business profile rebranding. As these updates continue to shape the digital marketing world, it’s crucial to understand their distinct impacts and adjust your local SEO marketing tactics accordingly. By adapting to these changes, you can improve your website’s visibility and ranking in search results.

If you would like to learn more about the latest updates from Google or a review of your website, please contact Black Kite Marketing today! You can reach us at (516) 259-1813.

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Content Quality: The Foundation of SEO Success

Think of content quality as the bedrock of your website. Great web pages and blog posts attract, engage, and ultimately satisfy your audience. Google does not want to crawl the entire internet, so they have to start somewhere. The starting point is usually websites with informative, well-written, and relevant content that answers user queries comprehensively. 

This is where content analysis tools, like SEMrush, come in. They help assess your content’s readability, keyword usage, and overall structure, allowing you to identify areas for improvement. After identifying areas of improvement, refresh or update your content, and then monitor the results.

The real insight comes from combining content metrics with web analytics. Whether data is from Google or another SEO tool, you can effectively gauge if you’re improving search visibility. Consider some metrics that will indicate you are on the right course. 

Keyword Rankings: Visibility on the Search Stage

Keywords are the search terms users type into search engines. Ranking higher for relevant keywords increases your website’s visibility and potential clicks. Google’s Search Console tool provides valuable insights into your website’s keyword performance, allowing you to:

• Track your ranking progress 
• Identify keywords that are generating traffic to your site
• Assist in keyword research to unlock new opportunities

The Quantity of Well-Ranked Keywords: A Sign of Content Strength

The number of keywords a page ranks well for isn’t a direct ranking factor itself. However, the quantity of well-ranked keywords can be a strong indicator of a page’s performance on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Here’s how:

1. Signals Content Relevance and Depth: A page ranking for a variety of relevant keywords indicates its content comprehensively addresses the topic. Google Search engines sees this as a sign that the page is highly relevant to a broader search intent, not just a single keyword. This can boost the page’s overall ranking potential for related keywords, even if they aren’t specific targets.
2. Demonstrates Semantic Understanding: When a page ranks for multiple related keywords, it suggests the content uses semantic language effectively. This means it incorporates synonyms, related terms, and broader concepts surrounding the main keyword. Search engines recognize this as a sign of in-depth understanding. And as a result, they will use it to improve the page’s relevance for similar searches.
3. Enhances User Experience: Creating quality content often results in content that provides a comprehensive answer to various user intents. These pieces of content cater to a wider audience with diverse search queries related to the topic. This can lead to higher click-through rates (CTR) and longer dwell times on the page, both positive ranking signals for search engines.

Semantic targeting refers to the practice of optimizing for one keyword and ranking for several others. It involves creating content that not only targets the main keyword but also incorporates related keywords, synonyms, and variations. An increase in the quantity of well-ranked keywords signifies proper use of semantic targeting and high-quality content. Ultimately, you should see improvements in your page’s performance on SERPs and attract a wider, more engaged audience.

Rich Results: Standing Out from the Crowd

Rich results are enhanced search results that go beyond the basic text snippet. They can include images, videos, star ratings, and more. Appearing in rich results can significantly boost your click-through rate (CTR) as they grab user attention more effectively.

SEMrush can help you identify opportunities for rich results. First, run a keyword report to list pages that have search features. Next, dissect Semrush’s report, allowing you to pinpoint target keywords and features. Finally, make necessary edits to pages on your site to grab those rich results.

After earning enhanced search results, look at your **Google Search Console** The Enhancements reports verify you’re progressing correctly. You will be able to monitor your performance in areas such as video, events, etc. Once again, Google will only unlock enhanced search results on pages with high-quality content.

Leveraging Structured Data Markup is the key to unlocking the power of rich results. It involves adding specific code to your website, providing search engines with structured and understandable information about your content. This allows them to display your content as rich results in the SERPs, unlocking the benefits mentioned above.

Implement structured data following best practices and specific guidelines for each type of rich result to avoid any errors. Google Search console’s Enhancements report is once again your friend. It alerts you of any errors with your structured data and suggests changes you should make.

Types of Rich Snippets:

• Product Snippets: Displaying product details like price, availability, and ratings.
• Recipe Snippets: Showcasing cooking time, ingredients, and calorie information.
• Event Snippets: Highlighting event dates, locations, and descriptions.

By implementing structured data markup and leveraging rich results, you can enhance user experience. These featured snippets provide users with more information upfront. Not only does this increase your website’s visibility, but click-through rate in SERPs, as well.

However, remember:

• Focus on quality content first: Rich results are not a substitute for high-quality, informative content. Ensure your content is relevant, valuable, and meets user search intent.
• Use structured data markup accurately: Make sure you test the codes you create to ensure they are valid.
• Monitor and analyze: Track the impact of rich results on your website’s traffic and user engagement. This allows you to refine your approach and maximize the benefits.

By strategically incorporating proper structured data markup alongside high-quality content, you can significantly **boost your SEO success**, attract more qualified traffic, and ultimately achieve your website’s goals.

Direct Traffic: Building Brand Loyalty

Direct traffic refers to visitors who access your website by typing in your URL directly or using bookmarks. This indicates brand awareness and user loyalty, signifying that your audience recognizes and trusts your brand. Google Analytics is your go-to tool for tracking direct traffic and understanding user behavior once they land on your website.

Direct Traffic as a Validation of Content Quality and SEO Success

Direct traffic often serves as a quality indicator for your content and the overall success of your SEO strategy. Let’s break down why it’s important and how you can measure its impact in Google Analytics.

Why Analyzing Direct Traffic Matters

When a user directly types in your website’s URL or uses a saved bookmark, it indicates they remember your brand. This level of brand recognition often stems from positive experiences with your website’s content (relevance, quality, ease of finding information). Strong SEO strategies generally lead to increased brand awareness and visibility. As more users encounter your website through search results, social media, or other channels, they become more likely to remember your website and access it directly in the future. 

High levels of direct traffic can suggest that your content is engaging and memorable. When users find your content valuable, they’re more likely to revisit it and potentially share it within their networks, further amplifying your reach.

How SEO Success Impacts Direct Traffic

• Improved Search Rankings: Higher rankings in search results increase your visibility, leading to more clicks and the potential for users to remember your website.
• Strong Brand Presence: A robust SEO strategy helps build your brand online. A well-established brand creates trust and encourages users to access your content directly.
• Memorable Content: Optimized content designed with user intent in mind leaves a lasting impression and compels users to return directly to your website.

Measuring Direct Traffic in Google Analytics

Here’s how to analyze direct traffic within Google Analytics:

• Acquisition Reports: Navigate to Acquisition > All Traffic >  Source/Medium.
• Look for “(direct) / (none)”: This row indicates direct traffic sessions with no source or medium information attached.
• Segmenting Data: Use advanced segments to drill down into direct traffic behavior:
  • Geography: Identify regions where you have the strongest direct traffic.
  • Landing Pages: See which pages users are accessing most directly.
  • New vs. Returning Users: Analyze if returning users are more likely to exhibit direct traffic behavior.
• Key Metrics based on Direct Traffic:
  • Volume Over Time: Monitor trends in direct traffic – increases could indicate positive SEO results or brand awareness campaigns.
  • Session Depth: Analyzing session depth (pages per session) and average session duration can offer helpful insights into the engagement level of direct visitors. While low bounce rates are generally desirable, it’s important to consider the nature of your content and user behavior. Some pages, like landing pages, naturally have a higher bounce rate, given their intended purpose.
  • New visitors: An upsurge in new users could imply that your SEO strategy is successfully attracting relevant users interested in your content. High-quality content can naturally lead to users bookmarking your site, contributing to direct traffic from new users.  Determine if they arrive directly and engage with your content, using the other session metrics above.
    • *Analyze trends over time: Look for sustained increases in new users with direct traffic, not just isolated spikes, to establish a potential link to SEO efforts.

In Summary

Analyzing direct traffic provides insights into content quality, relevance, and the effectiveness of your SEO strategy. While not a direct ranking factor, consistent increases in direct traffic demonstrate that your website is providing value. Your site is building a loyal audience and successfully branding itself in the minds of users.

The Interconnected Web: How They All Work Together

High-quality content that effectively targets relevant keywords can increase your website’s organic search ranking. As a result, you will see not only more organic traffic, but direct traffic as well. As your brand awareness grows, Google rewards you with:

• Higher ranking on SERPs
• rich result opportunities
• Indexing more pages

This virtuous cycle emphasizes the importance of a holistic SEO approach.

Contact Black Kite Marketing Today!

In order to accurately measure SEO Success don’t forget to:

• Consistently create high-quality, user-centric content.
• Utilize tools like SEMrush and Google Search Console to analyze your content and track keyword performance.
• Semantic targeting naturally attracts rankings for a wider range of related keywords.
• Aim for rich results to stand out in search engine results pages.
• Monitor and understand your direct traffic through Google Analytics.

By understanding how your content impacts these factors, you can unlock the true potential of your SEO strategy. Using the right tools allows you to identify opportunities to improve your content. An additional benefit, most tools will also help monitor progress. Quality content leads to driving traffic, brand awareness, and ultimately, success.

Now that you know how to identify SEO success, you might be wondering: where do I start? This work takes time, skill and expertise. That is where we come in. If you are in need of SEO services contact Black Kite Marketing at (516) 259-1813. We can help you enhance your search engine rankings and now you know how to grade our work.

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In this article we will go over what Google’s March 2024 Core Update is all about, what changes were made to Core Web Vitals and how you should adjust your content marketing to please the almighty Google Algorithm.

Google’s March 2024 Core Update

The March 2024 Core Update from Google is a major algorithm adjustment intended to refine search results by reevaluating and restructuring how pages are ranked. Core updates are aimed at improving the overall relevance, quality, and variety of search results. However, Google does not publicly disclose the specific details of these updates, including their impact on rankings or the exact changes made. 

As a result, website owners and SEO professionals like us have to analyze our site’s performance around these updates to gauge any potential effects on rankings and traffic. Since this algorithm update just rolled out it is too early to tell how our websites will be impacted.

Based on what we know there are few things to definitely keep in mind:

• Diversify Your SEO Approach: Avoid relying too heavily on a single SEO tactic. A multifaceted SEO strategy that includes on-page optimization, high-quality backlinks, and strong technical SEO will help safeguard your site against the impact of algorithm updates.
• Make User Experience (UX) Your Priority: Enhance your website’s speed, mobile responsiveness, and overall interactivity to create a seamless and enjoyable user experience. With Core Web Vitals now a key ranking factor, optimizing for UX is essential for SEO success.
• Stay Agile and Well-Informed: Stay up-to-date with the latest developments in Google’s guidelines and industry best practices. The digital landscape is constantly evolving, so maintaining flexibility in your strategy and implementation is crucial.
• Create Exceptional Content: Invest in creating comprehensive, deeply researched content that serves the specific needs and interests of your audience. Google’s algorithms are increasingly adept at recognizing and rewarding content that offers genuine value and expertise.

Changes Made To Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are nothing new, in May 2020, Google introduced Core Web Vitals as part of their ongoing effort to enhance user experience on a webpage, offering a standardized set of user-centric metrics. These metrics assess aspects such as loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. 

Initially the core web vitals included:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This metric measures the loading performance of a web page. It specifically looks at the time it takes for the largest content element (such as an image or text block) to load and become visible to the user.
• First Input Delay (FID): FID measures the responsiveness of a web page. It looks at the time between when a user interacts with a page (such as clicking a button or a link) and when the browser is able to respond to that interaction.
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): CLS measures the visual stability of a web page. It looks at the amount of unexpected layout shift that occurs during the loading process, which can be disruptive to users.

First Input Delap (FID) is now Interaction to Next Paint (INP)

On March 12, 2024 Google officially changed First Input Delay (FID) to Interaction to Next Paint (INP). What this means is that INP will now be an official Core Web Vital metric to measure responsiveness of a webpage instead of FID. This change from FID to INP will have very little to no impact on your search rankings.

Google replaced FID with INP to overcome FID’s limitations. FID only measured the delay for the first input, failing to account for the page’s responsiveness throughout the user’s session. In contrast, INP considers the responsiveness of the entire page throughout the user’s session, providing a broader, more comprehensive, and accurate assessment of the user experience.

INP will observe the following interaction types:

• Clicking with a mouse.
• Tapping on a touchscreen device.
• Pressing a key on a physical or on-screen keyboard.

Hovering and scrolling are not considered in INP.

INP aims to measure how quickly and smoothly a site reacts to user inputs, providing a crucial indicator of its interactivity and responsiveness. A lower INP value indicates a faster, more responsive page, which improves the overall user experience.

To be considered in the “green zone,” a page’s INP should be less than 200ms for 75% of all recorded page loads.

How To Improve Core Web Vitals in 2024

It’s important to note that Core Web Vitals are only one aspect of the overall core ranking system. The following steps will improve user experience but don’t neglect the other aspects of SEO which contribute to your rankings. 

When it comes to improving your Core Web Vitals there are three main metrics you want to focus on. These include: 

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
• Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

Here are some steps to improve your Largest Contentful Paint (LCP):

• Upgrade your hosting plan: A fast server response time (TTFB) is crucial for site speed. Consider switching from a slow, shared hosting server to a dedicated plan.
• Implement Critical CSS: Critical CSS involves identifying the CSS needed to load above-the-fold content and placing it in the head tag. This technique improves both actual and perceived performance.
• Optimize images: Images are often the main reason for slow websites. Compress, resize, and convert images to the appropriate format to improve loading times.
• Preload hero images: Hero images are typically the most important above-the-fold elements. Loading them quickly is essential for a good user experience. Use link rel=preload, especially for hero images loaded with CSS or JavaScript, to reduce LCP significantly.

Interaction to Next Paint (INP)

Here are some steps to optimize your INP score:

• Minimize Recurring Timers: Reduce the use of setTimeout and setInterval to avoid delaying user interactions by occupying the main thread, particularly if these timers are executing lengthy tasks.
• Split Long Tasks: Break down long-running tasks into smaller segments to prevent blocking the main thread, enabling the browser to maintain responsiveness and smoother visual experiences during user interactions.
• Prevent Interaction Overlap: Use techniques like debouncing inputs and utilizing AbortController for fetch requests to prevent multiple interactions from overwhelming the main thread before it can render the next frame.
• Evaluate Event Callbacks: Review the necessity of costly event callbacks; consider removing or postponing their execution to reduce processing time, ensuring actions such as button clicks do not impede page responsiveness.
• Defer Non-Rendering Work: Use yielding to the main thread during long tasks to allow for UI updates, enhancing perceived responsiveness by completing crucial rendering work before continuing with non-critical tasks.
• Reduce DOM Size: Aim for a DOM with fewer than 1,400 nodes by avoiding excessive HTML, minimizing JavaScript-based DOM manipulation, and refraining from using heavy page builders or plugins that contribute to large DOM sizes.

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

To significantly reduce layout shifts, consider these optimizations:

• Avoid inserting ads and pop-ups above other content. This can cause significant layout shifts, affecting Core Web Vitals CLS scores. For example, the GIF from creativebloq.com demonstrates why this should be avoided.
• Add width and height attributes to images and videos. This helps the browser allocate space for each element in advance, reducing the likelihood of layout shifts.
• Reserve space for ads, iFrames, and dynamic content. Ensure these elements have reserved space by using containers with proper dimensions and the overflow: hidden property. This prevents content from overflowing its container and causing shifts.
• Optimize font delivery. Use link rel=”preload” and font-display: optional together to prevent layout shifts and flashes of invisible text.

Our Final Thoughts

Navigating the ever-evolving landscape of SEO can be challenging, especially with significant updates like Google’s March 2024 Core Update and changes to Core Web Vitals. As these updates continue to shape the digital marketing world, it’s crucial to understand their distinct impacts and adjust your content marketing strategies accordingly. 

By staying informed and adapting to these changes, you can ensure that your content remains optimized to meet the evolving standards of Google, ultimately improving your website’s visibility and ranking in search results.

If you would like to learn more about the latest Algorithm updates from Google or would like us to review your website please contact Black Kite Marketing today! You can reach us at (516) 259-1813. 

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Websites that prioritize user intent optimization by delivering comprehensive and insightful content are likely to see improved visibility and rankings on Google’s search results pages. In essence, the Google Helpful Content Update reinforces the importance of creating valuable content that genuinely addresses users’ queries and concerns, thereby enhancing the overall search experience.

Why is the Google Helpful Content Update Important for SEO?

The Google Helpful Content Update holds immense significance for SEO practitioners and website owners alike due to its profound impact on search engine optimization strategies. With this update, Google underscores the importance of prioritizing user-centered ranking factors, emphasizing the creation of valuable content that directly addresses user queries and needs. This shift necessitates a recalibration of SEO strategies towards crafting comprehensive, insightful, and user-focused content. 

Websites that prioritize valuable content creation, catering to user intent and providing genuine solutions, are poised to benefit significantly from improved visibility and rankings on search engine results pages. By aligning with the principles of the Google Helpful Content Update, SEO professionals can enhance their website’s performance and better meet the evolving demands of users in the digital landscape.

Creating Helpful Content That Meets Google’s Standards

Creating helpful content that meets Google’s standards requires a holistic approach that incorporates 

1. User Intent Research
2. Keyword Analysis 
3. An Informative & Engaging Writing Style
4. Structured Data Markup

User Intent Research

Understanding the intent behind users’ search queries is crucial for tailoring content to their needs. By conducting thorough user intent research, which may involve analyzing search trends, user behavior data, and feedback, content creators can gain insights into the specific questions, problems, or interests of their target audience.

Keyword Analysis 

By identifying relevant keywords and phrases that align with user intent, content creators can optimize their content for search engines while ensuring it remains valuable and informative. However, it’s important to strike a balance between incorporating keywords naturally and maintaining readability and coherence.

An Informative & Engaging Writing Style

An informative and engaging writing style is paramount for creating content that resonates with users and meets Google’s standards. Content should be well-researched, providing accurate information and valuable insights to users. Additionally, adopting an engaging writing style that captivates the audience’s attention can enhance the overall user experience and encourage longer engagement with the content.

Structured Data Markup

Structured data markup is a powerful tool for enhancing the visibility and relevance of content in search engine results. By implementing structured data markup, content creators can provide additional context and metadata to search engines, helping them better understand the content’s relevance to users’ queries. This can result in rich snippets, featured snippets, and other enhanced search results features, which can significantly improve the visibility and click-through rates of the content.

Optimizing Your Website’s Current Content

Optimizing your website’s content to align with the Google Helpful Content Update involves enhancing user experience and providing valuable information to visitors. Here are a few steps you will want to take:

Content Audit

Conducting a comprehensive content audit is a crucial first step in this process. By evaluating existing content for relevance, accuracy, and usefulness, you can identify areas for improvement and prioritize updates or revisions to better align with user intent.

Improve Page Load Speed

Improving page load speed is another essential aspect of optimizing your website’s content. In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, users expect websites to load quickly and seamlessly across all devices. Slow-loading pages can lead to higher bounce rates and decreased user satisfaction, ultimately impacting your site’s performance in search engine rankings. By optimizing images, minimizing unnecessary scripts, and leveraging caching techniques, you can significantly improve page load speed and provide a smoother browsing experience for your visitors.

Mobile-Friendly And Responsive

With an increasing number of users accessing the web via mobile devices, having a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes and resolutions is essential. Mobile-friendly websites not only cater to the needs of mobile users but also signal to search engines that your site is optimized for modern browsing experiences. By adopting a mobile-first approach to web design and testing your site across various devices, you can ensure that all visitors, regardless of their device, have access to your content in a user-friendly format.

Other Aspects of User Experience (UX)

As mentioned earlier user experience is an important factor for this new update, here are some other ways you can improve the UX on your website:

Website Navigation And Architecture

A well-structured website with intuitive navigation enables visitors to easily find the information they’re seeking, leading to longer engagement and reduced bounce rates. By organizing content logically and providing clear pathways to relevant pages, you can enhance the overall user experience and improve your site’s performance in search results.

Clear Call-To-Actions (CTAs)

Effective CTAs prompt users to take specific actions, such as signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or contacting a business. By using clear, compelling language and strategically placing CTAs throughout your website, you can guide visitors towards desired outcomes and enhance user engagement. This not only improves the overall user experience but also signals to search engines that your website is valuable and relevant to users’ needs.

Accessible Design Elements

Accessible design ensures that all users, including those with disabilities or impairments, can easily navigate and interact with your website. This involves implementing features such as alternative text for images, keyboard navigation options, and color contrast considerations. By prioritizing accessibility in your website design, you can create a more inclusive experience for all users and improve your site’s usability and search engine visibility.

By prioritizing user-friendly website navigation and architecture, clear call-to-actions, and accessible design elements, you can enhance the overall user experience and improve your site’s visibility and rankings in search engine results.

Analyzing Your Website’s Performance: Key Metrics

Analyzing website performance after the Google Helpful Content Update involves monitoring a few key metrics. These metrics will gauge the impact of the algorithmic changes on your site’s visibility, user engagement, and conversion rates. 

Organic Traffic

Organic traffic changes provide valuable insights into how your website is performing in search engine results pages (SERPs) following the update. Significant fluctuations in organic traffic may indicate shifts in search visibility and user behavior, warranting further investigation into content relevance and optimization strategies. 

Bounce Rates

Bounce rate fluctuations offer insights into the effectiveness of your website in retaining visitors and providing relevant content. A decrease in bounce rate suggests that visitors are finding value in your content and exploring multiple pages, while an increase may signal mismatches between user intent and content delivery. 

Time On Page

Time-on-page metrics provide context on user engagement and content consumption patterns, with longer durations typically indicating higher levels of interest and engagement. 

Conversion Rates

Finally, monitoring conversion rates allows you to assess the effectiveness of your website in achieving desired outcomes, such as purchases, sign-ups, or inquiries, following the update. 

By tracking these key metrics, you can gain valuable insights into the performance of your website post-update and make informed decisions to optimize content and user experience accordingly.

Conclusion

The Google Helpful Content Update emphasizes the importance of creating user-focused content that provides value. By aligning your website’s content with this update and considering user intent in your SEO strategy, copywriters can optimize their writing to better cater to users’ needs and preferences, ultimately improving their website’s visibility and user experience.

If you would like to learn more about this update and what changes you need to make in your SEO strategy call Black Kite Marketing at (516) 259-1813.

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Video SEO Services: Begin with the Basics

Publishing web video fits within most digital marketing strategies. You can treat it as another piece of content, similar to working with info-graphics or e-books. However, unlike those types of media, web video is dynamic. Given that, it is a great source of amplifying the message you want to deliver to your audience. Web video offers the flexibility to be:

• Embedded directly on your website or shared over your marketing channels, such as social media
• Promotional, as a web commercial, or instructional to off-load service and on-boarding teams
• Professionally planned, shot, and edited or created on-the-fly by you and your team members

To maximize the reach of your video content, let’s look at some essential steps that need to be customized for each of your videos.

Video SEO best practices | Google Search Central

Tell Search Engines How to Find Your Video

There are an ever increasing number of sites and web tools allowing you to distribute video. For these reasons, your video must be easy to discover amid the sea of content options. Up against such fierce competition, search engines are a powerful ally to gaining viewers.

Regardless of how you are distributing your videos’ bits, take the time to draft and publish a dedicated video page for each piece of content. This will generate more traffic to your owned and operated website from new visitors using search engines, alongside returning visitors, app users, or off platform viewers. With your video page in place, apply your regular SEO process, just as you would for any other destination on your site.

The dedicated video page need not be more than a title, the video’s embed code, and a small amount of text with a heading or two. Consider this page an opportunity to target new, long tail keywords with the goal of drawing new, top of funnel visitors.

From a technical perspective, wrap your video content inside proper html tags for dynamic media:

• embed
• video
• iframe

Additionally, to help search engines identify and understand your video content, [provide structured data](link to BKM blog) using schema.org’s video object. Schema is an extensible markup that can provide as much or as little support information about the video itself. In this situation, you want to tell search engines to prioritize your video content to anyone searching for the keyword you are targeting.

Next, make sure the page is publicly accessible to crawlers (not blocked by robots dot text or meta tags). Equally important, the page should not require complex user interactions (login/password).

Lastly, create a video sitemap and submit it to search engines. While this is fundamental if you are hosting the video yourself, it is just as beneficial when using a video hosting site, such as Vimeo or YouTube. You cannot rely on these platforms to drive traffic to your site and it will go a long way to improving your site’s authority.

Apply Existing SEO Strategy

Video content is another channel for your marketing tactics to leverage the effort you’ve already put into keyword research. Use the same keyword approach on each dedicated video page’s:

• title and description meta tags
• headings and subheadings
• url slug and filename

Beyond these technical and keyword based mechanisms, employ all your SEO techniques, both on page and off page.

Grant Search Engines Access to Video Files

An optimization unique to video is a poster image or, more commonly, the thumbnail. Typically a high quality image representative of the content, browsers display this graphic while loading the video player in the background. It will remain onscreen until the page visitor interacts with the player, for example beginning playback. This could default to a frame within the video on some platforms, but it is an opportunity to provide a graphical display with:

• eye catching imagery related to the topic, not necessarily in the video
• your branding, logo, slogan, or even personnel headshots
• the video title, or other support text

Treat it as a “play this video” call-to-action. Specifying this graphic will improve the likelihood of search engines indexing your page and highlighting your video in the results pages quickly.

Both the video sitemap and structured data for the video allow you to link to the specific web video player for your content. Generally, this is the embed code from a video host platform (embedUrl, player_loc). A point often overlooked, if you are hosting the video file, is to instruct search engines where to access the source video file (contentUrl, content_loc).

Similar to your video page, both the thumbnail image and original video file should be accessible to crawlers. Together with good SEO, you may unlock video specific features such as video previews and key moments. Videos may be listed among video results, Google images, or in Google Discover.

Pros: amplify existing reach of organic keywords, new content to rank for gap keywords; used to drive traffic to your owned and operated site or to reduce service tickets for quick to solve issues.

YouTube Video SEO Services

As mentioned previously, there are a variety of ways to get your video to leads, customers, and evangelists. However, the king of them all remains YouTube. Optimizing for the second largest search engine (behind parent company Google) is not only important on its own merits, but straightforward if you follow the steps above.

Beyond the basics, there are a few additional steps you will want to take that are specific for YouTube:

• Channel page. One of the first steps you will want to take is creating your own channel to host videos. While you can certainly start out with guest publishing on an existing channel, once you are comfortable generating content, create your own channel. From there, make sure to customize each area, such as channel name (most likely your brand), banner, and channel description. You should also add links to your website and social media accounts.
• Category. Each video should be classified in the appropriate category, or closest approximation.
• Tags. An additional mechanism to optimize for your target audience. These could be secondary keywords or identifiers to easier navigate your video library.

Pros: turnkey content management system, getting your content in front of existing audience that consumes video

Video Hosts and Third Party Video Players SEO Services

Aside from YouTube, there are many alternative hosting platforms and embedded web video player options. For example, you may choose to host your videos on vimeo or roll your own web video player using video.js. In these cases, you will have a whole set of video SEO opportunities. You will want to optimize for

• filename
• player load time
• interactive experiences

Major hosting platforms, such as vimeo , include many great SEO features, similar to YouTube. At the other end of the spectrum, building a player from frameworks such as video.js will require using plug-ins or manually adding and editing JavaScript code.

Conclusion

Web video is a dynamic source of content that can be distributed across all your marketing channels. To maximize its reach, we recommend applying Video SEO services best practices. These consist of basic SEO and video specific tactics to leverage the effort already put into keyword research.

Are you ready to optimize your video for maximum visibility across search engines? Contact BKM for fundamental SEO tactics on all your web content, including dedicated video pages. And you can also contact HSV Innovations, a web video consulting agency specializing in video SEO services. Happy streaming!

The post Where To Begin With Video SEO Services appeared first on Black Kite Marketing.

ChatGPT is a chatbot created by OpenAI’s proprietary GPT-3 technology. It was released in November 2022 and since then, has created tremendous excitement among everyone with its seemingly unlimited potential for use. Social media is flooded with creative examples of people finding different uses be it finding weight loss plans, programming tips, creating content for presentations and many more. 

ChatGPT and Content Marketing 

There are several aspects of content creation that have now become simplified with this new AI technology. The following are ways that ChatGPT is already having an impact on content marketing. 

1. Content creation: ChatGPT can generate unique and engaging content ideas for blog posts, social media posts, and other types of content saving businesses time and resources. Marketers could create effective campaigns and increase their lead generation.
2. Improved Customer Service: ChatGPT can be used to develop chatbots that can interact with customers and provide information about products or services. These chatbots can also be used to provide 24/7 customer support. Chats with customers can be analyzed to find patterns in pain points and enable businesses to address them proactively.
3. Social media management: ChatGPT can help marketers identify the best times to post on social media, based on historical data and current trends. This can help to maximize engagement and reach target audiences.
4. Customer insights: By analyzing customer feedback and social media conversations, ChatGPT can provide insights into customer preferences and behaviors. This will enable marketers to develop more effective marketing strategies and campaigns.
5. Greater Personalization: ChatGPT’s features to analyze customer data and offer recommendations can be used to personalize marketing content based on individual customer preferences and behaviors. This can help with customer satisfaction and loyalty.

ChatGPT could benefit companies to scale their businesses without overburdening their resources. The possibilities seem to be endless, and this has created waves across the digital landscape.

7 ChatGPT Prompts for Marketing

A Prompt is the starting point for a conversation with a chatbot. It could be a question or an instruction. Offering context to the prompt enables the bot to narrow down its search and provide specific information. Since ChatGPT uses natural language processing, the writing can be in conversational style. 

Here are a few ChatGPT prompts for marketing that you can use for your business:

1. Write an introduction to a blog post on a topic: I am writing a blog on “topic” and am not sure how to start off in a way that will pique the reader’s interest. Generate a few lines on the topic so readers will continue to read further into the blog
2. Create a campaign for promoting a new product launch on Facebook: Give me a few ideas to create a campaign for my new product that should target baseball fans in the North East USA.
3. Write Product Descriptions: Write a short product description for { your product name}. Use upbeat words are informative and will generate audience curiosity.
4.  Write Captions for your videos: Create a few captions for a fitness trainer about 50-100 words in length
5. Create Titles and Meta Descriptions for Pages: Write me a meta description and title for a Page titled “Home Automation Long Island”
6. Gather keyword ideas: Give me a list of keywords for a landscaping company in Nassau County
7. Use it to do quick research on a topic related to your industry: What is the average price of an oil change in NY.

There are many other ways in which you can utilize this technology to help you market your business online. You just have to use your creativity and find ways to implement it into your workflow. 

Down Sides Of ChatGPT

Despite all the benefits of ChatGPT there are a few things you want to keep in mind. You don’t want to be overly reliant on AI technology since it still has its limitations. Some of the reasons you don’t want to rely solely on AI are:

• Not all the information is up to date: You are going to need to do manual research to verify that all the information is accurate.
• It cannot provide sources for it’s information: Not only can the information be inaccurate but it can’t provide you with the sources that it retrieved the data from. 
• Cannot replicate a true human touch based on experience: Certain things like testimonials, company branding, culture and other aspects need a true understanding of the demographic your business is trying to target.

The Final Point

There are many ways in which you as a business owner or marketer can utilize Chat GPT and other AI technologies to make your content marketing easier. By utilizing some of the methods discussed in this article along with coming up with some new one on your own you can find creative ways to streamline your content creation. 

Make sure you don’t become overly reliant on these tools and only use them to help assist you and give you ideas on what to create. 

If you would like to learn more about how we utilize ChatGPT and Jasper for both ourselves and our clients give us a call at (516) 259-1813 or fill out our contact form. 

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You don’t need to be the most talented graphic designer but by implementing certain design techniques it can have a huge impact on your marketing efforts. Whether it is creating a featured image for a blog post, editing images for social media or designing a website you need to have some understanding of graphic design.

In this article we will cover why graphic design is important for digital marketing and 6 tips you can start implementing.

Why Graphic Design Is Important for Digital Marketing

Graphic design is an essential element for digital marketing campaigns. It helps specify a company’s brand and develop an engaging visual experience. From telling your story to creating a solid call to action, quality graphic design helps create an attractive, navigable online experience that facilitates customers to interact with the digital content. With strategically designed graphics companies can influence and guide potential customers through their online journey. 

So, invest in graphic design, grow your digital marketing campaign, and make your customers take the next step. Decide wisely and ensure you include graphic design as an integral part of all your digital marketing campaigns.

Graphic Design Tips

Continue reading to learn more about graphic design principles every business must follow. It will help you when you discuss your digital strategies with your designer. 

1] Create your unique identity with a design for your audience

By building a unique brand identity, you can be sure your brand looks consistent among all platforms. When you get help from a graphic design company, you can select your unique tone, style and distinguish it from competitors. With your identity, customers and potential clients will become more familiar with your brand and differentiate you from the crowd. Many make the mistake of having inconsistent designs which leads to a lack of connection with their audience.

2] Graphic Design communicates better than words

With graphic design you can communicate more effectively than with words. You can show your audience how your product or service can solve their problem. Whether it is information, a sale or features about a product this can all be communicated with graphic design. Consider using infographics to educate your audience and highlight important statistics that will influence their decision making.

3] Mobile first design

Most consumers use their mobile devices rather than desktops for their online queries. Make sure that your graphics are formatted for smartphones in high resolution since smartphones can present high-resolution images. All elements related to your brand (logo, colors, fonts, voice & tone) should be consistent for organic and paid social media posts, websites, and everything under the digital marketing category. 

4] Adopt negative space

Negative space or white space is the area between the design elements. It can be any color, not necessarily white, or an image or pattern. Negative space enhances visual appeal and enables viewers to understand your message. Allow the graphic to visually express the simplified facts your business tries to convey to the audience. A sufficient balance between negative space and content avoids cluttering the design.  

5] Use easy-to-read fonts

The font you use should be easily readable. An attractive font that is hard to read is a deterrent to your design. More than that it can create confusion and make your design challenging to read. Choose two good fonts, one for headings and the other for text.

6] Color Psychology to drive your message

When constructing your brand’s color palette, they need to reflect your brand’s tone since the majority of purchasing decisions are subconscious. In other words, people take action based on what they see and how it impacts their emotions. It means you need to carefully choose the colors in the logo, packaging, marketing materials, and business proposals.

Psychologically, colors evoke different feelings:

• Blue: trust, safety, security, and relaxation.
• Purple: creativity, abundance, and mystery.
• Green: wealth, health, and refreshment.
• Pink: femininity, romance, and youth.
• Orange: energy and enthusiasm.
• Yellow: optimism, spontaneity.
• Red: passion and energy.
• Black: sophistication, luxury, and power.
• White: purity and cleanliness.
• Grey: gravity and professionalism.

Once you understand color psychology, you can select the colors that best convey your brand message and get people to feel and act a certain way. In short, you can produce powerful content that can achieve your goals.

Various tools to learn graphic design:

• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe InDesign
• QuarkXPress
• CorelDraw 
• MATLAB

Conclusion

Graphic design might seem simple but it is an important part of your marketing strategy. Even if it seems easy to you it is not your job so don’t waste your time and resources sitting down to create. This will only overwhelm you and take time away from other business-related tasks that require your attention. Leave the job to professional graphic designers. 

We at Black Kite Marketing make it a point to provide aesthetically pleasing designs to accompany our digital marketing services. Whether you work with us for SEO, Social Media or Website development you can ensure that your content looks great and brings out the tone of your brand. Contact Black Kite Marketing today at (516) 259-1813.

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