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“Every paid search campaign needs a dedicated landing page.”
Unfortunately, a specific format – a “dedicated” standalone landing page – isn’t all that’s needed to guarantee a successful paid search campaign.
So what causes dedicated landing pages to fail?
Pages that ignore the needs and desires of their visitors won’t inspire them to take action.
Here are three case studies I’ve seen first hand where focusing on page elements rather than people can cause your campaigns to end in disaster.
Mistake 1: You Launched a ‘Radical Redesign’ Rather Than Listening to Your AudienceYou’re changing your offer. Targeting a brand new audience. Introducing new features and options.
You’re in full renovation mode in your business, and you want your landing page to perfectly reflect all the excitement and possibility that these changes will bring.
You hire a copywriter, find a designer, review, tweak, review, and tweak some more. You finally hit “publish” on your new and improved landing page and await fanfare and conversions.
Except – the fanfare and conversions don’t happen.
In fact, nothing happens.
It’s a devastating outcome you never saw coming.
‘New and Improved’ Isn’t Guaranteed to WinWhen you’re in neck-deep in a redesign, it’s hard to imagine that all the work being done might not improve conversions.
Thanks to survivorship bias, we usually hear stories of successful landing page launches – often in the form of case studies that reinforce the positive results of the work.
You won’t find many before-and-after photos of people who gained weight after starting a new diet, and you won’t find too many stories of companies that invested thousands of dollars in landing pages that don’t beat the control. But these untold stories happen far more often than you’d think.
The problem with radical redesigns, where multiple elements are changed all at once, is that they don’t allow for genuine testing. Ideas that seem good (or “good enough”) are all published at the same time. Marketers can only guess the cause of the results.
Since all changes are wrapped up in a single page variation, new pages are more likely to get scrapped entirely than modified. It’s disappointing and frustrating for everyone involved, because there was usually a high cost to the redesigned page, and a vested interest in it driving better results.
Real-World Trouble with Radical RedesignsWe weren’t seeing the traction we wanted to see with the paid campaigns, so we started split-testing the traffic between the new landing pages and the original offer on the home page.
The original home page had a conversion rate 71 percent higher than the new pages.
But visitors were less likely to convert on the second step: the updated pricing page.
The update reflected a change that was important to the business but less desirable to their prospects.
Improved Conversion Rates Come from Improved Audience Learnings, Not Just New PagesWhen radical redesign landing pages are launched, it’s often with expectations of improved performance.
Flint McGlaughlin of MECLABS Institute explains:
“The goal of testing is not simply to get a lift, but to get a learning … Because with that learning, you can map the mind of your prospective customer and create a model that predicts behavior.”
For improved conversion rates, don’t rely on design or expert copy alone.
Start your projects with hypotheses about your audience, and create pages that can be used to validate and inform assumptions.
Incremental changes and valid tests can drive better offers and better conversion rates over time.
Mistake 2: You’ve Confused Clarity with BrevityThe success of paid search campaigns depends on clarity. But clarifying means eliminating confusion, not eliminating all context and information that isn’t a call-to-action.
There’s a common marketing myth about how users search. It goes something like this:
She visits your page.
If there are distractions, she’ll get confused and leave.
If there are no distractions, she’ll have no option but to complete the form.
The truth is, most people who are in research mode don’t follow this process. Instead:
She starts exploring her options.
If she doesn’t see the choices and information she needs, she’ll close your tab.
If she has enough context, she’ll continue on your page.
And yet, thanks to the myth, we build our pages as if we could “capture” our visitor simply by removing options.
Most “best practices” about clarity in landing pages tend to be limiting and reductive, like:
One idea per page.
No navigation.
No links.
Short copy.
No distractions.
One single call to action.
While these suggestions can help transform cluttered, dense pages into focused landing pages, they can lower conversion rates if taken too far.
Cleaner Landing Page = 35% Conversion Rate DropLet’s look at what happened to one of my colleagues.
His client “refreshed” their website with a beautiful redesign.
The site is stunning. Cluttered, text-heavy pages are gone. There’s a simplified, streamlined look throughout the site and for all PPC landing pages.
The result?
A 35 percent drop in conversion rate.
The “old” landing page would not impress a web designer, but it had important information that helped visitors want to take action.
The new page has more white space and fewer “distractions,” but it doesn’t give visitors the information they need to want to fill out the form.
The cluttered page didn’t win because it was cluttered. It won because it clarified the benefits of taking action. In the simplified version, visitors didn’t clearly understand the benefit of completing the form.
Optimize for Clarity, Not MinimalismEven the big landing page software companies – like Unbounce, Leadpages, and Instapage – don’t expect an empty page to drive conversions.
All of these companies orient their visitors by using global navigation or multiple CTAs on the landing pages they’re using for their paid search.
Dropping your visitors on a ghost town of a page with no options or context is a bad user experience, and is unlikely to maximize conversions.
Give your visitors clear reasons to take action, and you’ll have a better conversion rate than if you simply strip away options.
No matter how much you limit choice on your page, you can’t limit the choice provided by your competitors, or the choice of simply closing the browser window.
Mistake 3: You Optimized for Attribute Checklists Instead of Your Prospect’s Needs and WantsI love checklists. There’s something so satisfying about knowing exactly what needs to be done and ticking off the boxes as you go. Ah, dopamine!
As busy marketers, we rely on checklists and standard operating procedures to guide the work we’re doing and track our progress along the way.
But itemized to-do lists are no substitute for knowing your audience and developing a landing page that drives them to action.
I used to manage paid search for a fitness center with multiple locations. Our paid search campaigns drove visitors to a dedicated landing page where they could sign up for a 7-day free pass.
The page checked all the boxes of standard landing page best practices:
No external navigation or links.
Simple form with high-contrast button.
Brand recognition.
Trust indicators and social proof.
Compelling offer (free pass!).
Strong page headline.
Did the landing page drive conversions? Yes, it did. But here’s where it gets interesting.
Our client launched a site redesign, and they added the 7-day free pass as a pop-up offer across the site. So we ran an experiment.
We A/B tested the final URLs of our paid search traffic using both the dedicated offer page and the home page.
When visitors landed on the home page, they were twice as likely to sign up for the free trial offer.
Why Did the Home Page Outperform the Dedicated Landing Page?Our prospects weren’t just looking to work out for a week. They were shopping for the right gym to join; one they would go to for months and years.
They needed to know about classes, schedules, hours, locations, childcare and other amenities. There’s no point in getting a free pass if you can’t use it, and they couldn’t tell from the landing page whether the fitness center would help them meet their fitness goals.
The laundry list of best practices failed to cover what visitors cared about the most. Meanwhile, the impact of having club and amenity information was so compelling that we switched all traffic to the home page (gasp!).
We saw our year-over-year conversion rates double for each of the next 12 months by driving visitors to the website rather than dedicated landing pages.
Driving traffic to the home page, year-over-year conversions were up 80 percent, with a 98 percent increase in conversion rate
Well-designed landing page experiences prioritize the audience over any checklist.
If your visitors can’t understand your offer, your process, your price, or how their lives will be better by taking action… they’ll be less likely to convert. It doesn’t matter how cool your hero image is, what color the button is or where the model’s gaze falls on the page.
Want your visitors to take action? Ditch the checklist and speak to what they care about.
How to Prioritize Your Audience for Better Conversion RatesWith so many marketers fixated solely on page software and elements, it’s extremely common to optimize for the page while ignoring the audience. But it’s not inevitable.
Fortunately, even checklist-loving marketers can get it right by following smart guidelines that go beyond button colors and navigation.
Nicholas Scalice of Landing Page School offers a suite of questions that every page should answer for better performance.
This process may not be as concise, binary, or easy as just stripping content from a page, but it’s what makes the difference.
As you build and evaluate your landing pages to meet the needs of your audience, your campaigns will improve, regardless of the specific page format of the final URL.
Remember, landing pages don’t convert; people convert. So give them the context and motivation they need to take action.
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All screenshots taken by author, February 2023
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How To Create Urgency Without Hurting Your Brand
Urgency messaging is a great way to raise conversions but is getting an increasingly bad rep
Getting visitors on your site and converting seems to be more difficult than ever. Consumers are indecisive, and, with more choice online than ever before, your website visitors are less likely to hang around.
Creating urgency is one of the best ways to raise ecommerce conversions. In my 16 years in ecommerce, there are few techniques I’ve seen that so reliably raise sales.
Urgency works by overcoming your visitors’ mental hurdles to purchasing from you. Perhaps they’re indecisive, prone to overthinking, or they just want to shop around a bit more. There are so many psychological factors at play that influence whether someone will buy from you.
It is, however, a technique to be used with caution. The problem with urgency messaging is that it can come off as disingenuous or just all round scammy. At best this renders your urgency efforts ineffective, and, at worst, it hurts your brand image, damaging trust and losing potential customers.
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Consumers are more suspicious than ever before when it comes to urgency techniques. There have been numerous news stories in recent times about how brands have been accused of misleadingly using urgency techniques, with some possibly facing court action. These stories inevitably filter into public consciousness, putting more pressure on marketers to deliver.
While urgency as a marketing tool is going nowhere, it’s more important than ever to implement it in a genuine, helpful and engaging way. In this article, I’ll run through some of the most effective urgency techniques I’ve seen, with some ideas for how to ensure they’re done well.
1. Social call-outsUsing call-outs on product pages with stats about other shoppers’ behaviour increases the perceived popularity of a product in real time, as well as activate the fear of missing out. And this, of course, increases urgency – 50 dresses bought today? Wow, other people like this too – I don’t want it to sell out! Rebellious Fashion saw some great results by using these call-ous on their product pages.
Popular products are the most likely to sell out, and showing a product’s popularity is a persuasive technique. However, it doesn’t make sense to show these stats when a product is selling poorly, as it could have the reverse effect. Use a targeting tool to define how many views/purchases need to be reached to trigger a call out message.
2.ScarcityThe fear of missing out is more motivating than the promise of gaining something. Scarcity messaging no doubt plays on this fear factor, but it is also genuinely helpful. We all want to know when products we like are running out, don’t we? Scarcity also increases the desirability of a product – we all know that studies in psychology have shown that things in a short supply are perceived as more appealing than those in an abundance.
Consider using call-outs on product pages, stating how many items are left in stock. But be careful. The trick with scarcity messaging is not to let it be counterproductive. Set parameters for when scarcity messaging is triggered – when a product has, say, fewer than 10 items left. Test to see which numbers are most effective, and try different ways to deliver the message such as slide-in containers used above by fashion retailer, Rebellious.
3. Use urgency-increasing copy – but make sure it matches your brand voiceYour web copy will help considerably in increasing urgency and persuading your visitors to act fast. There are certain words that are known to create urgency: buy now, hurry, only one left, quick, approaching, selling fast. However, it’s important to use a tone of voice that matches your brand.
Sadly, some retailers go all out with a ‘Hurry now!!!’ tone that can often come across as cheap or desperate. This tone of voice just wouldn’t suit a store selling luxury products, for example, and may alter the perception of your brand and products. However, the only way to truly know is to test different versions of the copy to see which converts best.
4. Bring urgency into social product recommendationsA good way to kickstart browsing on a site is to show best seller recommendations such as these on the Love Sofas homepage. These recommendations let your visitors know which items are popular in your store, and the injection of social proof can increase perceived desirability.
There are various techniques you can use to imply your store is really popular. Showing these bestseller recommendations “from the last hour” gives the impression your store is overflowing with visitors (which it might well be – if so, let it be known!). You can amplify this effect by adding stats to the recommendations showing how many have been sold or viewed that day.
5. Time-limited incentives with countdown timers (but don’t overuse)There are few techniques more urgency-inducing than a time-limited sale or offer, with a prominently placed timer ticking the remaining hours or minutes away. They can be used in a number of ways.
Consider:
X hours left to get free delivery
X% off an item for the next X hours
Summer sale ends in X
Order in the next X hours and get a free gift
One of the issues I see with countdown timers is overuse. Are you using countdown techniques so often that they’re becoming less effective, or that your visitors are reliant on them, or perhaps even questioning the authenticity of them?
Be sure to measure the effectiveness of your countdown methods on your conversion rate over time.
6. Use colours that promote urgency – but make sure to testWe all know that certain colours promote caution and fear – yellow, orange and red being the ones we usually think of. Red is usually the colour we most associate with urgency, and is the colour we most often see adorning shop window signage when a sale is on.
When it comes to colour, it’s worth remembering we’re all wired differently and, thus, react differently. Test different colour variations on your site to see what works best with your audience. If you already use a lot of red in your branding, you might find other colours work better in drawing attention and promoting urgency.
Amazon often uses green in its scarcity messaging, and also assures the customer that more items will be in stock soon. This use of green to promote urgency comes across as genuinely helpful and certainly less aggressive than techniques I‘ve seen employed by others. Red, in this case, is used to draw attention to the lower price.
7. Be TruthfulFor many, this will go without saying, but it’s worth pointing out – don’t state anything in your urgency messaging that isn’t true. There’s nothing wrong with implied urgency, but if you’re misleading people, eg. applying a false timescale to a sale, your visitors will soon work this out.
This will then make further urgency efforts redundant, as many shoppers simply won’t believe you. Customers buy from brands they trust, not ones that manipulate their shopping habits through false claims.
ConclusionTo wrap up, urgency messaging works best when it’s used carefully and genuinely, by nudging your customers to overcome mental hurdles and take action quickly. It’s important to be careful to avoid bad practices that might damage your relationship with customers, as well as being wary of making your urgency efforts ineffective through overuse.
Try some of the techniques in this article to see the difference it makes on your site, and as always, make sure you test, test, test!
Difference Between Bit Rate And Baud Rate
In telecommunication and electronics engineering, Bit Rate and Baud Rate are two commonly used terms in the context of data communication. Both these terms represent the speed of data transmission in the computer networks. The basic difference between Bit Rate and Baud Rate is that the Bit Rate is defined as the number of bits (binary 0s and 1s) transmitted over a network in unit time, whereas Baud Rate is defined as the number of signal units transmitted over a network in unit time.
Thus, bit rate and baud rate both the related terms, and the relationship between these terms is given by,
Bit Rate = Baud Rate × Number of Bits per Baud
In practice, Bit rate is more important when we are concerned about the efficiency of a computer, while the baud rate is important in data transmission.
What is Bit Rate?In telecommunications and computing, “bit rate” is the number of bits communicated or processed per unit of time. Bit rate is measured in bits per second (symbol: bit/s) and is commonly prefixed with a SI prefix like kilo, mega, Giga, or Tera.
The non-standard term “bps” is sometimes used instead of the conventional sign “bit/s”. Therefore, 1 Mbps stands for one million bits per second. One byte per second (1 B/s) equates to 8 bits per second in most computer and digital communication contexts.
What is Baud Rate?In telecommunications and electronics, a “baud” is a standard symbol rate measuring unit. It is one of the components that determine the speed of transmission across a data channel.
In pulses per second, symbols per second, it is the unit for symbol rate or modulation rate. In a digitally modulated signal or a “baud rate line code”, it is the number of unique symbol changes (signaling events) made to the transmission medium per second.
The term “baud” refers to the gross bit rate, which is measured in bits per second. If the system has only two symbols (usually 0 and 1), baud and bit per second (bit/s) are interchangeable.
Difference between Bit Rate and Baud RateThe following table highlights the major differences between Bit rate and Baud rate −
Factor Bit Rate Baud Rate
Definition Bit Rate is the number of bits sent per second. The number of signal units per second is known as the Baud Rate.
Calculation Bit Rate is calculated by multiplying the baud rate by the number of bits per baud. Baud Rate is calculated by multiplying the Bit Rate by the number of bits per baud.
Utilized Bit Rate is not utilized to determine the amount of bandwidth required for signal transmission. Baud Rate is used to determine the amount of bandwidth required for signal transmission.
Also defined as Bit Rate is sometimes defined as the number of bits that move per second. The number of changes in signal per second is also known as the Baud Rate.
Importance Computer efficiency was prioritized above bit rate. Baud Rate, on the other hand, is focused on data transfer.
Bandwidth for transmission Bit rate cannot be used to determine the requirements of bandwidth for data transmission. Baud rate is used to determine the requirements of bandwidth for data transmission.
ConclusionFrom the above discussion, we can conclude that both Bit Rate and Baud rate are the terms related to the speed of data transmission. The most significant difference between these two terms is that the Bit Rate provides information about transmission of bits per unit time, while the Baud Rate gives information about transmission of the number of signal units per unit time.
7 Tips For Landing Your Dream Seo Job
Can you imagine a world without search engines?
You’d be stuck combing through endless pages of web content in a frustrating and usually vain struggle to find super important things like “chiropractors near me” or “1976 Best Picture Winner.”
Luckily, search engines do exist. And because they do, there’s a real need for skilled professionals who know how to optimize websites to show up at the top of their rankings.
Are you trying to get started in the field of search engine optimization (SEO)?
I’ve probably interviewed and hired over 100 different people in SEO & search marketing roles over the past 20 years and have learned a lot of things that can help you make the right impression.
Here are my tips for landing your dream job and starting your career in SEO.
What Types of SEO Jobs Are There?Every business, blog, and ecommerce store can benefit from a search engine optimization expert to boost their online presence.
But each organization has different needs. And this, of course, means lots of different job opportunities.
While it would be impossible to list every SEO role, here are some of the more common jobs in the field:
Content CreatorWhen it comes to digital marketing, content is still king.
Content creators elevate a website’s search engine ranking by writing copy using keywords.
Tone, style, and readability are also important considerations to content creators.
SEO AnalystThese professionals are responsible for maintaining the success and relevance of an organization’s website.
By tracking and implementing the latest best practices, they keep websites informative and accessible, measuring success by analyzing performative data.
SEM Specialist/StrategistThey work with the SEO and marketing teams to drive traffic and attract customers.
SEO Account ManagerCommonly found in agency settings, SEO Account Managers oversee SEO strategy and operations for one or several clients.
They provide customer service and serve as a liaison between the client and the technical team.
Link BuilderThese professionals focus on building and maintaining backlinks that will increase traffic to a page.
They develop partnerships using email outreach, blogger networking, and posting on forums.
SEO ConsultantThey will analyze the current website and content, making recommendations to improve results, and in some cases, even lead a redesign of a client’s online presence.
Is A Career In SEO Right For You?As an important part of any organization’s digital success, the demand for SEO professionals is high and continues to grow. But like any career, it’s not for everyone.
To help you decide if this is the right choice for you, let’s take a quick look at some of the pros and cons:
Pro: It’s well paid. Let’s face it, money matters. Because SEO is so vital to modern businesses, they’re willing to generously compensate people who can get the results they need.
Con: It’s tricky. SEO is a constantly shifting landscape. Just when you think you have it figured out, Google changes the algorithm, and you have to rethink your entire strategy.
Pro: There’s a lot of variety. As discussed in the previous section, there are countless opportunities for SEO professionals.
From non-profits to professional sports franchises, mom-and-pop stores to multinational corporations – you can work in almost any industry, either independently or as part of a team.
Con: It takes time to get good at. You’re not going to become a search engine wizard in one day. You’ll spend a lot of time combing through Google Analytics, and it takes constant research to stay up to date on the latest techniques and best practices.
Pro: You’re constantly learning. If you’re the type of person who enjoys self-development, SEO may be perfect for you. From writing keyword-rich text to designing webpages, search engine optimization is anything but boring and provides you with easily transferrable skills.
Con: It requires patience. It can take days, weeks or even months for your latest implementation to reap rewards.
Quality optimization provides rewards in the long-term. But even after all your hard work, you may not see the results you wanted.
There are hundreds of ranking factors, many of which Google doesn’t reveal, and sometimes even a great strategy can come up short.
Whether the pros outweigh the cons is completely up to you. But if you haven’t been dissuaded, read on for tips on landing the career in SEO you want.
1. Identify What Employers Are Looking ForThe key to finding a job, SEO or otherwise, is to have the qualifications the employer is looking for.
But there usually isn’t one set requirement for every SEO position. Instead, it will vary from organization to organization.
For example, some employers want applicants to have a college degree, while others will accept applicants solely on the strength of their professional portfolio.
Carefully peruse the job posting (if one exists) and consider the type of expertise the employer requires. Do you need in-depth technical skills or knowledge? Some positions may require someone who knows their way around Python NLP libraries, while others will want a Google Analytics wizard.
Some of the most common skills needed include target audience identification, knowledge of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, experience with website audits, keyword research, and competitive analysis.
In addition to digital marketing experience, many companies also prefer candidates with proven verbal and written communication skills.
You can learn more about some of the most common SEO job requirements here.
2. Get To Know The Companies You’re Interested InBefore you ever send off an application, you should know as much as possible about the companies you’re interested in.
This will not only increase your chances of securing a job, but it will also help you determine if it’s a good cultural fit for you.
Research the organization’s history. How long have they been around? What are their primary products and services? Who are their competitors?
Spend some time investigating their core values. Peruse their website. Read their mission statement. Look them up on sites like GlassDoor and Indeed, where you can read employee reviews.
This is a great way to get an inside look at the culture and what working at the company is really like.
LinkedIn is also a great tool for research.
Look into company leadership, as well as the team you might be working with. See if you share any connections or interests. This can help build rapport during the interview process.
3. Stay Current With Emerging Trends And Hone Your SkillsSearch Engine Optimization, more than almost any other field, is a constantly shifting landscape.
Whether it’s changes to Google’s algorithm or emerging new technologies, what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow.
Best practices are constantly changing. To stay at the top of the field, you need to know about them.
Show potential employees you’re not only aware of the latest trends and techniques, but you understand how to use them by applying them to your current work.
Stay up to date by reading blogs and web resources (like the one you’re on now, for example).
Participate in SEO forums where you can ask and answer questions. Enroll in free certification course that will look good on your resume.
And of course, don’t forget about Google Career Certificates, a low-cost way to earn the equivalent of a four-year degree in just a fraction of the time.
You can read more about how these certificates can help you fast-track your career in this article.
4. Build Your Online BrandIn an evolving job market, which also happens to coincide with a look-at-me social media environment, it’s more important than ever to stand out.
And that means more than simply doing good work and having an amazing portfolio – it means building your brand.
Not sure what that is? Think of it as how other people think about you. It’s both your talents and who you are, and it’s what differentiates from everyone else.
A good place to start branding yourself is with a personal website. More than a way to tell your story or show off work, also lets you show employers your web-savviness.
Think about it: What could prove your expertise with search engine optimization better than a personal site at the top of the rankings?
In one fell swoop, you’ve demonstrated both your expertise and experience. And if you need a little help getting that new website off the ground, we have a handy guide to get you started.
You may also consider optimizing your social media profile for the job you want. Make sure you’re presenting a consistent, professional message across platforms. And yes, that means deleting those embarrassing party pictures from college.
5. Customize Your Resume To The RoleMany jobseekers fall into the trap of creating one “good enough” resume and submitting that for every position they apply for. That’s a mistake.
Employers want to know you not only read the job posting, but that you’re qualified for the role.
Before hitting “send” on your next application, take some time to assess your strengths and feature the qualities hiring managers are looking for.
It may be as simple as restructuring your bulleted list of skills. Or, it may call for a massive rewriting of your entire resume to focus on more relevant experience.
Do a web search for resume examples for similar roles and tailor yours around them. SEO jobs want to know the specifics of your performance.
Did you take a website from the third page of Google results to the top spot? Highlight that.
Did you grow organic traffic by 32%? Your resume should show it.
Make sure you list not just your experience but your achievements, as well.
For more assistance in crafting an SEO resume, be sure to read this article.
6. Nail The InterviewYour resume has been polished, and you’ve attracted the attention of the hiring manager. Now comes the really tricky part – the interview.
Most people know better than to show up with uncombed hair, in ripped jeans and a wrinkled Justin Bieber t-shirt, but there’s so much more to good interviews than just looking great.
Body language is also important. Sit up straight, look people in the eye, and smile. Basically do all the things your kindergarten teacher taught you.
Come prepared with pointed questions to ask. Interviewers love when you have done your research. It shows your interest in the position and that you are taking the interview process seriously.
Rehearse your answers to common interview questions and be prepared to highlight your creativity and relevant skills.
Not sure what kind of questions you may be asked? We’ve provided a list of 46 common questions that may come up during an SEO job interview.
7. Know Your WorthAll your life you’ve probably been told it’s bad manners to discuss money. There is, however, one exception to this rule – during job interviews.
Be confident in your skills and ask for compensation commensurate with them.
Research how much jobs at this level generally pay based upon job title and experience. Not sure where to start? Take a look at State of SEO 2023 SEO Salary Report.
And, be prepared to negotiate. Most jobs expect you to have a counteroffer.
A good rule of thumb is to ask for 10% more than you think you’ll get.
Provided your counter isn’t completely unrealistic, it’s not harmful to ask for more money, and who knows? You just might get it. But you won’t know if you don’t ask.
TakeawaysIn the course of this piece, we’ve taken a look at what types of SEO positions are out there, what the pros and cons of a career in this field are and some strategies for landing the job you want.
If there is one thing you take away, let it be this: SEO is a good career choice, where you will be in high demand.
With the huge global shift into digital, people are more connected to the web than ever before. And that means more content in need of optimization.
According to Business Wire, the global market for SEO services is expected to grow by 19.6% to reach $83.7 billion in 2025.
And that means the sky is the limit for SEO professionals right. Now go out there and get that job.
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Featured Image: iJeab/Shutterstock
How To Add Google Instant Pages To Your WordPress Site
As of this writing, browser statistics show that a significant share of web traffic comes from Google Chrome as it has risen to be the second most popular web browser- just barley behind Firefox. With that kind of growth and popularity, you’ll want to ensure your website is configured with Chrome specific features. The focus of this article will be on Google Instant Pages which minimizes site loading time by telling the Chrome browser about a link in your web page that is most likely to be visited from the current page. That prerendering of content in the search engine displays the page in a split second making it a great addition to every website. Adding it to your WordPress site is easy and quick so let’s get started.
How Do Instant Pages Work? How Can I Use Instant Pages To My Advantage?Google has made this technology works for developers as well as searchers. By following the Guide To Prerendering In Chrome, publishers are able to choose which pages on their site they want to prerender when users are already on the page. However, it is important that you limit the number of prerendered pages because it could result in increased bandwidth usage, slow loading of other links and stale content.
Before You StartAlthough the process of implementing Instant Pages is easy, it’s VERY important to make sure you know where to properly place the code. Take it from me, if you aren’t familiar with PHP code placement, you may want to read about the most common mistakes beginners make when trying to copy and paste snippets into their site. If you put it in the wrong place, you WILL break your site. Always do a backup of your site before making any changes and if you’ve made modifications to your theme, it’s best to make changes and test using a child theme.
Adding The CodeSave your changes and test them out on your site. Here you can see the Bombax theme will start to suggest article topics as you start entering letters into the search box. This doesn’t just give a suggested article; it’s also queued to open very quickly if selected.
In conclusion, adding Google Instant Pages as a background tool to your site will keep visitors engaged on your site. With suggested articles and fast page loading, your site will become more user friendly and encourage many return visitors, producing a low bounce rate. Test it out and see for yourself if your bounce rate improves and come back to let us know!
Jessica Prouty
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What To Do If Your Most Popular Pages Aren’t Converting
Editor’s note: “Ask an SEO” is a weekly column by technical SEO expert Jenny Halasz. Come up with your hardest SEO question and fill out our form. You might see your answer in the next #AskanSEO post!
Welcome to another edition of Ask an SEO! Today, we’ve got a question from Darcy in San Francisco:
This is super common.
I have a client right now that is dealing with this. They specialize in cleaning out estate homes after the owner has passed away.
This client gets a ton of traffic for “What to Wear to a Wake”. (For those who aren’t sure what a wake is, it’s a sort of visitation or party for friends when a loved one dies. Similar to a funeral, but without a church service. Often a funeral is held separately for family only.)
Since you didn’t give me an example from your own site, I’m going to use this one, and hopefully it will apply to your situation.
Although my client doesn’t schedule or organize wakes, a wake is one of a series of events that a deceased person’s family members need to organize.
By showing up for a search like this, the client can offer the visitor other information about what to do after a loved one’s death.
While it is indirectly related to cleaning out the loved one’s home at all (which usually comes several weeks later), the visitor has the opportunity to download a checklist and other resources that they can keep with them until that time comes.
The checklist helps them through every stage of the process and isn’t a sales piece at all.
It is our hope that if they need help cleaning out the house, they will give the client a call since the checklist was so helpful.
We have no way to track this and have no idea how many people who use our checklists actually sign up for services. But by providing a useful tool, we create that opportunity.
Links Are Important, TooBy creating and offering something of great value (for the cost of an email address), we create a resource that others are likely to link to.
And they have.
That one page has obtained completely natural links from several news organizations, funeral homes, senior care centers, and senior publications.
While these links aren’t directly to our most important content (the pages that describe what the clean out process involves), they definitely help our credibility in search for other keywords.
The Bottom LineHaving pages that get a lot of traffic but which have a high bounce rate or don’t convert can be really frustrating.
Keep trying different things.
Can some related articles get people looking at more than just that one page?
Can you capture an email with a free resource download?
Can you siphon that traffic off to an affiliate opportunity where you can at least make some secondary revenue from it?
Try to make that traffic work for you.
Dig through Google Analytics to try and get information on user behavior.
Try a focus group or a survey to get information.
Install HotJar or a similar tracking software to see what elements people interact with most.
Above All, Don’t WorryI’ve never heard of a situation where Google or any other search engine devalued other pages because one page was outperforming the others. It doesn’t objectively make sense that they would do that.
If you have one page of valuable content, it’s likely that you have more.
If the page is a pain in your reports, do what another client of mine did, and create a custom segment in Google Analytics that removes that traffic before reporting on the rest of your site.
Above all, look at it as a benefit rather than a detriment.
Have a question about SEO for Jenny? Fill out this form or use #AskAnSEO on social media.
Image Credits
Featured Image: Image by Paulo Bobita
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