Mersudin Forbes

🚀 Want to rank higher in Google Maps Pack? 🌍 Here’s how: 1️⃣ Optimise your Google My Business profile 🏢 2️⃣ Get more positive reviews ⭐️ 3️⃣ Use local keywords in your content 📍 4️⃣ Ensure NAP consistency across the web 📞🏠 5️⃣ Build local backlinks 🔗 #LocalSEO #GoogleMap

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PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising can seem like the perfect way to drive traffic and grow your business - sounds great in theory, right? But as Tony Restell highlights in his latest post series, PPC often doesn’t deliver the results businesses are hoping for. And for small businesses, that frustration when your marketing spend doesn’t deliver can be all too familiar. 👇 Take a look at Tony’s post below to learn how to avoid common PPC pitfalls. If you’ve tried PPC before, what worked for you - and what didn’t?

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I've performed a HUGE amount of analysis on Google HCU. I've audited site after site. Here's what the data appears to say (again as with anything in SEO there are nuances) 👉 Sites hit by HCU were already doomed to fail HCU updates 1 and 2 were effectively collecting behavioural data 👉Post HCU 2 - we started to see the death spiral - a domains pages would consistently be stripped of queries bit by bit - a part of me thinks there were some corrections down to intent but, a lot of these sites exhibited query decay initially 👉HCU 3 would be the wipe out point - BUT, many pages didn't actually have content fully demoted, many pages saw a continued decline in QUERIES but, not substantial changes, it would be a case of queries in top tier groups would be wiped out i.e. positions 1-3, 4-10. In many cases the URLS held on to their served queries for some time after - BUT, we see the decay is progressive - this is suggestive that once the lever is pulled the damage is done UNTIL another GENERAL CORE UPDATE (with HCU baked in) 👉 Sites that were stable across HCU 1 and 2 were significantly LESS likely to be impacted - but this was highly niche dependent. YMYL and health and finance niches seemed to fall outside of this rule 👉 Sites that showed growth across HCU 1 with a flatline across HCU 2 seemed to suffer less on HCU with only top tier position and click losses but not full content devaluation Things that REALLY seemed to be recognised at HCU 3: 👉 Overarching trust in the domain first - so many smaller niche/affiliate sites were wiped out - many of them were lower level domains - less trust signals i.e. lower BSVs, lower citations, lower overall strength from links (outside of anything from Spam Brain) 👉 User behaviour - I audited sites that sailed through HCU 3 (same niche) vs those that didn't - what was interesting was there wasn't much of a difference in OVERALL engaged sessions, BUT, where I feel there was likely to have been impact was the outcome of the session. I noticed a lot of shorter form content sites with condensed information faired FAR better than giant mounds of long-form content. Consistently - pages with < 1000 / 2000 words of content that said the same thing as those with 3000 < 5000 words of content did MUCH better - almost like information compression REALLY IS IMPORTANT. User engagement is obviously demonstrated by the click / interaction. If users get what they want faster, the likely outcome has a HIGHER probability of being a good click. 👉 UX and MEDIA embeddings in page ARE IMPORTANT Lots of audited sites had far too much strung out content without enough media to break it up. 👉Ads fuck up user experience Lots of audited sites had a horrible experience, especially on mobile with persistent ads all over the place - notably sites that had clean content also showed average engagement times nearly 50% higher 👉 Links are still crucial Good, strong, fresh links clearly showed a benefit #seo #seotips

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𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 84% 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙮𝙨𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙘 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙯𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧.   Ditto Digital’s most recent SEO research (March 2024) used a data sample of UK SMEs with fewer than 250 employees and analysed the organic channel share across those companies. We also compared the number of keywords appearing in Google’s Top 100 in the UK with the company size.   The results show that, broadly, larger companies appear more often in Google search and, therefore, have a larger share of organic traffic to their websites. However, there were exceptions in the case of 16% of companies, which have a much larger than expected share of organic traffic than companies of a similar size.   Digging deeper into the data revealed that the companies with a unexpectedly large share of organic traffic had very active SEO programs in place. Whereas the remaining 84% of companies did not.   This showed the benefit of SEO in driving targeted traffic to a website but, equally, revealed missed opportunities for a large percentage of SMEs. #SEO #OrganicTraffic  

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Check out our latest article on how to maximise the usefulness of your existing databases. #b2bdata

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SEO without the smoke and mirrors, the secrets and lies. It’s a vast art in itself but here are some basics on the revamped website if you’re struggling to get your bonce round SEO. https://lnkd.in/ez8qaFwc

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**SEO Budget Constraints** Are budget constraints holding your SME back from investing in SEO? 💰 Don't let financial limitations hinder your online growth potential! At Marketing Success 4 U Ltd, we understand the challenges of SMEs and offer tailored SEO solutions that deliver results without breaking the bank. Our cost-effective strategies are designed to maximise your ROI and increase your online visibility within your budget. Let's explore how we can help your business thrive in the digital landscape. Contact us today for a free consultation! https://lnkd.in/efDXZ4a5 #SEO #SME #BudgetFriendly #GrowYourBusiness

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Advertising just works - long story short there are more businesses who can benefit from better advertising through digital channels. They just don’t know how to put the systems, resources and people in place to deliver. Techy PPC stuff aside you need to know what your LTV or / AOV is per customer (net) and work on a channel to repeatedly acquire new customers profitably (or even at a small loss if needed). Then steadily grow that channel or add more. Yes channels complement each other but the main thing is Do more and do better. One of our clients wanted to take his offline business - online but with anew brand, new domain 0 customers in a really competitive market. No brand search, previous sales data or repeat customers to bank on. I wanted to share this because as optimistic as I am we had planned to be a little bit behind this at this point(ad spend is relatively small at this early stage). Still have a long long way to go but worth it. In this case we’re using a mix of pmax and standard shopping. I’m not 100% happy and still building. Also Attribution is a bit painful (both inGA4 & in platform) but we know ads are driving sales and are growing month on month. Client is happy so we get to eat our pot noodles next week 😊

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PPC + CRO = 🚀 And yet, when we ask a prospective client how much they're putting aside for Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO), the answer is often nothing. I get it, it's more money to find. But it really doesn't need to break the bank, and can result in improved visibility, increased revenue and a much stronger online presence. Here's what we see when CRO and PPC are working tandem... ↳ Increased conversion rate - in turn lowering your cost per acquisition (CPA).   ↳ Better Google Ads Quality Scores from having hyper-relevant landing pages. ↳ Lower cost per click (CPC): Google Ads Quality Score can lower CPCs. ↳ Improved efficiency of spend. If costs remain the same but more conversions are generated, you're getting more bang for your buck and each click becomes more valuable. If your current site’s conversion rate is not where you want it to be, CRO is unquestionably worth the investment. #ConversionRateOptimisation #CRO #DigitalMarketing #BoostYourPPCStrategy

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$277,760 more sales in the last three months I've been working with this client for around 18 months and revised their previously stagnant SEO strategy. Here are the four biggest levers we pulled: 👉 Optimised collection pages - updated page titles, improved their existing content and internal links between collection pages. 👉 Created genuinely helpful pain-point content for their audience (1/week cadence). People are now finding their product as a solution to their problems. 👉 Leveraged digital-PR to build highly authoritative & relevant links. They've added around 130 links over the past 12 months. 👉 Built out more content on product pages, added FAQs, collected (A LOT of) reviews and added structured data. We've also helped DOUBLED their email list through content upgrades too, with their email channel now driving 600% more revenue than last year. I love it when SEO helps out other channels too.

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Why isn't content SEO a priority? This has been popping up in recent conversations. I mean, if you're invisible on the web, with no new traffic to your site and no useful content, what's the point of having a website? Your website should be another route to market delivering relevant visitors at the earliest possible stage. I've had several conversations recently where I've been told that SEO isn't a company priority. What do you think? Is content SEO a necessary priority for your company? Share your thoughts in the comments below. #contentseo #content #SEO #WPSEOAI

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PPC has become increasingly more popular among marketing folk, and is being seen as an equal importance as SEO. If you are a new business, or new to marketing in general, navigating PPC can seem like a minefield. This is why we have put together the beginners guide to PPC. https://lnkd.in/dddq-kki #LeadGeneration #Marketing #PPC

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'How much does SEO cost?' This is a valid question, and one that I get asked a lot. The simple answer… it depends on what you’re trying to achieve and how quickly you want to achieve it. I.e. How tough is the competition and what time/resources will it take to outrank them? BUT That’s not very helpful. And it’s certainly not enough to convince those holding the purse strings to invest. Instead, look at it this way: Your investment in SEO (or any marketing for that matter) should correlate with the potential returns that it will bring. Rather than asking how much SEO should cost, consider instead what it’s worth. Let’s take average order value as an example: Say your site ranks first for a keyword with a search volume of 10,000. With the 40% click-through rate associated with position one ranking, that’s 4,000 visitors per month.   Now, with an average conversion rate of 2.5% this would equate to an additional 100 sales per month. If, then, your average order value is £100, that’s an additional £10,000 in revenue from organic search traffic every month. Suddenly, a £2,000 retainer for SEO doesn’t seem so outrageous, does it? #digitalmarketing #SEO

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Another great talk from Will Critchlow at this mornings brightonSEO on the mysteries of Googlebot and Search Console data and how it can be used in SEO Testing to provide really interesting insights #seo #seotesting #seoexperiments #googlebot #searchconsole #brightonseo

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I'm often asked if a .com domain is preferable to a .uk domain. Well, here's something to consider. Google's Gary Illyes recently confirmed that country code domain names (like .uk) actually get a ranking boost in local search results. Here's what you need to know: 👉🏼 Local Preference: Google promotes content local to the user. So, a .uk domain may have an edge for UK-based searches. 👉🏼 Slight Advantage: While .com domains can still perform well, country-specific domains have a "little more benefit" according to Illyes. 👉🏼 Language Matters More: The language of your site matching the user's query language likely has more impact than the domain itself. 👉🏼 User Trust: Country-specific domains can inspire more trust from local users, potentially increasing click-through rates. 👉🏼 Global vs Local: Consider your target audience. If you're focusing on a specific country, a local domain could be beneficial. For a global audience, .com might still be your best bet. Remember, there's no one-size-fits-all answer. Your domain choice should align with your overall SEO strategy and business goals. At KickstartSEO, we help clients navigate these decisions to maximise their search visibility. What's been your experience with different domain extensions? I'm Michael Nagles. I talk about SEO, golf, and British weather. If you'd like to know more about KickstartSEO Limited's DIY and Done for you SEO support - including domain strategy - let's have a chat. #SEO | #DomainStrategy | #LocalSEO

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I'm relaunching the FREE email series, the Summer of SEO. Want to get involved? ⚙️ Please leave a comment below 👇 with one actionable tip an ecommerce store could do to get more sales from SEO. 👩‍💻 What technical tweaks have you seen get great results? ✅ Are there any Do's and Don'ts you'd advise a Shopify brand owner to follow? 🔗 The link building tactic you swear by for new stores? 💎 Share anything you think could be of use to an ecommerce store? I'll reach out to you to get them featured with full credit. Are you an ecommerce founder wanting to grow with SEO? 💎 Check my comment below to learn how to get this email series soon! #SEO #ecommerce #ecommerceseo

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Useful resource, and true, Konstantinos Papadopoulos . If you’re investing that much in PPC, take your time to enhance your creatives. I know the idea of reaching new audiences faster is exciting for business owners, but you’ll save tons of time and money by having your assets optimized. Don’t skip this step. Optimize over a good base to avoid having to redo everything later. #googleads #digitalmerketing #ppc

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