Ryan Siddle

This site is an extremely interesting case. Brand in the finance sector. Destroyed by the HCU update 2023. Backlinks from digital PR (and paid links), albeit some of the digital PR ones are totally off-topic, and some look like paid DPR placements. The site increased its content by 1000 pages in a year, so I suggest that it might have used AI content to scale. The site is well-designed, with lots of E-E-A-T elements. My gut says this site was hit by multiple factors: a bit of waffly content, some link devaluation, and AI content. It looks like they've deleted over 1000 pages a matter of weeks after being hit, so perhaps they took a chance. An interesting case, might reach out to the owners of this one.

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We have a guest post by Dii Pooler today over on the PPC Chat web site: "A Simple Guide to PPC Attribution Models" https://lnkd.in/erns_nTk

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Customers mistyping emails? Boost email accuracy and opt-ins by renaming your checkout's label to “Email (required for order confirmation)” in Shopify In Shopify, go to Themes > Edit Default Content > Checkout Contact > Email Label. Hat tip to Matthew Stafford from Build Grow Scale for the tip.

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Want a better ROAS on Performance Max? 🔥 We found one counter-intuitive optimisation after $1M+ in adspend... Try removing search themes completely. We saw shopping spend go up 50% in accounts when we implemented this... Alongside significant improvements in ROI. Here’s why this works: Adding in search themes prompts pMax to spend more on the search network. This means that pMax will then begin to cannibalise your existing cold search campaigns. Google says this themselves: "On Search inventory specifically, search themes in Performance Max campaigns will have the same prioritisation as your phrase match and broad match keywords in Search campaigns." Here's why this is bad: We want the majority of our adspend to be on the shopping network… With brand name fully excluded from the campaign. Meaning we’re spending on the highest quality, cold traffic. For 9/10 brands, shopping ads will produce the highest ROI. We want to leave the search adspend for the search campaigns instead. This is because in regular search campaigns we have more control over: ➡️ Ad copy ➡️ Negative keywords ➡️ Cost per clicks So, how do you check if you’re overspending on search? Here's your action plan: 1. Run Mike Rhode’s Performance Max script. 2. If more than 30% of your spend is on search, remove search themes. 3. If shopping spend doesn’t increase after 1-2 weeks, create a new pMax campaign w/o search themes. 4. Add in more exact match keywords to your cold search campaign. Over time, this should produce better ROAS in pMax as more of your adspend goes to the shopping network. Agree? Disagree? Always up for discussion 👇.

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3 underrated skills of working in SEO Showing the potential → to win clients or to get resources Setting expectations → to keep clients happy or manage internal politics Ruthless prioritisation → to actually get those damn results Three of the biggest, yet often hardest parts of SEO. Showing potential, telling that story. → For prospective clients, show them how big their market is (total potential searches * conversions * AOV) → For internal resources, show them the total potential impact of the project To keep people happy (clients or internal). Set those expectations. → Highlight competitors, what they have vs you (missing content, missing links, etc) → Showcase other's growth trajectory tied with inputs To get results. Prioritise effectively. → Fixing those five 404 pages on a site with 200,000 pages likely isn't going to make an impact → Getting thousands of additional pages indexed, probably is Getting sign-off, winning clients, getting results. You nail those three and you'll print money with SEO.

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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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Can ChatGPT do SEO for me? It depends…   Whilst ChatGPT is very good for very specific questions or augmenting existing knowledge, it isn’t useful enough yet for insightful analysis or providing nuanced advice—it misses vital context. 

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Take strong sedatives before you start this script:-)

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RECOVER FROM GOOGLE HCU - based on the rationale of data points from the leak. Those hit are likely to see recovery at FUTURE UPDATE points and not between updates. 1. USER BEHAVIOUR is at least ONE of the defining factors that determines if something is HELPFUL - note here HELPFUL and GOOD aren't the same thing. GOOD CONTENT isn't always helpful content! This would explain WHY good content got wiped out post SEP/MAR HCU. 2. BEHAVIOUR ANALYSIS (from click) NEEDS VISITORS - so we should do the following: 👉 Build LONG TAIL Traffic from organic, set up MICROSOFT CLARITY / custom GA4 exploration for engagement + GTM EVENTS to capture interactions 👉 Adjust your content so that you PRIORITISE what people care about above the fold - remember BEHAVIOUR indicates helpfulness, your focal query will have an intent behind it - look at what you can introduce to help users get what they came for, VIDEO, interactive media, UGC all have better capabilities at retention 👉 Use AlsoAsked to dump out PAA data for your query, export to sheets, send to chatGPT and ask for PRIORITY TRENDS based on the questions 👉 Adjust your content with an INFORMATION PRIORITY FRAMEWORK 👉 Make your content fucking hot - humans get bored easily, UX comes in here - you want UNCLUTTERED, SNAPPY, CLEAR layouts with information in digestible chunks with media/videos/tables/ugc 👉 Use Clarity + GA4 + GTM to look at IMPROVING ENGAGED SESSIONS and engagement time in seconds 👉 Track OUTBOUND EXIT BEHAVIOUR (GTM events on outbound clicks) 👉 Refine and TEST until you can sequeeze as much engagement as possible / retention 3. CONTENT 👉 Use inLinks as your content editor - optimise for END USER INTENT but ensure you have good solid topical coverage (NSR/NLP) incorporate relevant synoyms 👉 Ensure people writing content are high quality / understand content scopes and are able to articulate things using the right sentiment, language, person perspective 👉 Information prioritisation and digestibility 👉 Cite facts/statements 👉 Declutter - get rid of NON SERVED content 👉 AVOID EXCESSIVE TOPICAL DILUTION 4. LINKS 👉 Google appears to have a different storage policy for content less likely to be served - this may downvalue links from stale/stagnant content 👉 Links from fresher content where the linking source has traffic appears to be MORE likely to transfer equity (FEATURED/HARO/DIGITAL PR) 5. BRAND SIGNALS 👉 Increase BSV (brand search volume) 👉 Consistency in brand details 👉 History, about, address, establishment, team etc. 6. NAVBOOST 👉 Navigational queries - look at building a logical navigation that facilitates a relevant hierachy that's likely to result in further engagement 7. CTR Improvement 👉 Sites generating IMPRESSIONS but not clicks are likely to be demoted if they maintain a low CTR - FOCUS ON DRIVING UP CTR WHERE THERE ARE IMPRESSIONS! #seo #seo2024 #digitalmarketingtips

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Ok, I get it—most popular CMS platforms have pretty solid tracking and metrics built in. (I personally love the granular detail you can get from Wix, and Shopify’s no slouch either!) But I feel like a lot of businesses are sleeping on GA4. Yeah, the transition from the OG Google Analytics was rough, and learning a whole new system is a pain. But having a proper GA4 setup is super important for a few reasons: 🌟 A Single Source of Truth Your CMS metrics are great, but GA4 is platform-agnostic. It collects data from across all your digital channels (not just your website), giving you a holistic view of your customers. That means consistent and comparable data, whether you’re tracking web traffic, app interactions, or something else entirely. 🌟 Future-Proofing Your Data Let’s say you decide to switch CMS platforms down the line. If you’re only relying on your CMS for tracking, you’ll lose all your historical data and be starting from scratch. A solid GA4 setup means no data gaps, no matter how often you switch platforms or tools. 🌟 Hidden Gems in GA4 While GA4 doesn’t come with as many pre-built reports as the original Google Analytics, there are goldmines in there. Features like predictive metrics, cross-platform tracking, and advanced segmentation aren’t always available in a CMS’s reporting. These are key to unlocking deeper insights into user behavior. 🌟 Trust but Verify Got trust issues with your CMS data? GA4 can help. Being able to compare data from multiple sources (like your CMS and GA4) means you can cross-check metrics and make sure nothing’s slipping through the cracks. 🌟 Neutral Ground Unlike your CMS, which might push its own agenda (like driving you toward certain e-commerce tools), GA4 is neutral. It’s not here to sell you on Google Ads (surprisingly!). It just gives you clean, unbiased data. 🌟 Track Third-Party Software If you’re using third-party tools like ticketing systems or booking software, GA4 is your best friend. CMS platforms typically track only the data happening on your site, but GA4 can track interactions across other software and services too. This means you get a complete picture of your customers’ journey, even if it happens outside your website. 🌟 It’s Critical for Google Ads If you’re running Google Ads, GA4 is basically a non-negotiable. Without feeding GA4 data into your campaigns, you’re not going to get anywhere near the full potential of your ads. GA4 powers smart bidding, remarketing audiences, and other advanced features that can boost your ROI. Other reasons? If you’re doing any cross-platform tracking (mobile apps, for example), GA4 excels at unifying data across web and app interactions. And GA4’s event-based model gives you far more flexibility in tracking user interactions than the old session-based model. #GA4 #marketingdata #googleanalytics

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Why and How I Filter SEO Noise (and why you should too). Firstly, if you've never ran your own business, invested your own money and had to make payroll. You should bookmark this post. But I'll explain how I filter through SEO content to ensure I only get the gold. Here goes. Filter 1. Did the needle get moved? And by the needle moving, I'm talking about ranking on page 1 for a clients money keywords. This is one of the reasons SEO gets a bad reputation. So much of today's SEO advice is seeking dev perfection. Not rankings. So, in content I'm always looking for a line in a post that links back to evidence this leads to revenue somehow. Filter 2. Opportunity cost. The reason paid search gets more money is that it doesn't need any of the noise of SEO. No talk about canonicals, cannibalisation, schema, page speed, internal links etc. It's a money in and money out thing. If your SEO budget is £60k a year, the clients think "what else could I spend that on". So, when I read anything about SEO, I'm always thinking "what did it cost, what impact on revenue or money word rankings did it make?" If there is nothing in the content about that, I take it as noise and ignore it. Filter 3. Too good to be true. If I read anything that says "steal my" and provides a template or strategy of any kind that then says "made xyz amount of money" I know 2 things. 1. That the poster is full of BS. 2. That it never happened. If someone can actually make a business millions with their knowledge, do you really think they are giving it away for free? Of course not. So, once I see anything like that, I'll never take anything they say seriously. 90% of the time it's designed to grow a following, build a list to then sell you a course. Ok, so why does all this matter, especially if you've never ran a business? Because clients care about revenue and avoiding waste. And you absolutely should too. Except if you've never had your own business, loads of 'get rich or get results quick' content can be seductive. But that's the game... 'look at how amazing I am, follow me, because I'm amazing'. Ok, so what happens when you filter all this mentally, you can focus on finding the stuff that is good and can help you to grow and improve. And there's some amazing content out there. It does just take some digging to find it. As I'm getting ready to relaunch my own content process (after a long break) I'll be sharing the best content that I'm reading. Until then, try and filter out the dross.

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Google August 2024 core update is done - here is what we know  - Few saw full recoveries - Some saw small recoveries - Most saw nothing or even more hurt Here are some of the facts, volatility charts and more from the SEO community on this update  https://lnkd.in/eNRWFEzm #google #googlecoreupdate #googlealgorithmupdate #googleupdate #seo #googleseo 

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Is Google going to be found guilty of increasing the price of search auctions? Well the final arguments are being made and it’s now up to the court to decide it they have been abusing their market dominance in search. I find the argument that there are other channels to be a weak one, as the other channels operate at different parts of the funnel. But can the DOJ prove that increasing auction prices are anything other than the result of increases in demand and competition is the real question. I would have thought that this might have been easier to prove with Google changes to brand bidding over the years, which always seemed like a naked attempt to better monetise branded search and drive up the cost for advertisers.

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Not all SEO advice is created equal. Google’s Martin Splitt recently cast doubt on the effectiveness of some automated SEO audit recommendations. It's a reminder that not everything flagged in an audit will impact your search rankings. Here's what you need to know about separating useful insights from outdated advice Here’s a quick breakdown: 1. Text-to-code ratio: Often flagged but irrelevant to modern SEO. CSS/JavaScript minification: Good for user experience but doesn't directly influence SEO. 2. SEO Orthodoxy: Many "best practices" are outdated beliefs that no longer affect rankings. 3. Google Documentation: Use it as your baseline, but remember, it doesn't reveal how to manipulate rankings. #SEO #GoogleUpdates #DigitalMarketing #SEOTips #SearchEngineOptimization #AutomatedAudits #MartinSplitt #MarketingStrategy #DigitalStrategy #TechTrends #ContentStrategy

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This Email System took me 3 years to learn, I’ll teach it to you in 5 minutes: 1. Build The Foundations In order to win at email you need to build the foundations. • Set up the correct SPF, DKIM & DMARC records • Warm your email address before increasing volume • Build sender reputation with engaging content • Clean your list ruthlessly • Segment that list properly Email is immensely powerful Give it a fighting chance 2. Automate first Automate your biggest revenue drivers first: • Nurture new subs with a beautiful welcome journey • Save abandoned checkouts with timely reminders/offers • Turn browsers into buyers with social proof & urgency Automate now Expand later 3. Build a quality list The quality of your subscribers is better than the quantity of them When turning site visitors into email subs: • Use an incentive that attracts the right people • Don't focus on margin crushing discounts • Don't sacrifice the initial sale for the email sub Quality always beats quantity Treat your list like the valuable asset it is 4. Gather relevant data only Email is a powerhouse for data, when used right: • Gather valuable buyer behaviour data • Get helpful feedback, at scale, with surveys • Balance the data gathered with the ROI of using it (This is vital) 5. Right message, right time, right person Send campaigns is more than just blasting promotions Campaigns win when sent to the right people at the right time • Segment your audience based on buyer behaviour/interests • Allocate emails to these segments based on brand goal • Spread the messaging evenly and consistently • Treat each segment as it's own funnel • Send emails that delight, educate and inspire • Use less words • Make the CTA singular and clear 6. Get creative Innovation drives emails Test and fail fast: • Try new messaging • Test different copy • Run different offers • Borrow ideas from other brands Fail often & fast to to get the edge 7. You're never right, the numbers are Your beliefs on what will work are usually wrong: • Split test subject lines, content and CTA's • Be open to trying new things • Speak to experts in the field for insights on what's working This is where you stand apart from the crowd That's it! — Like this post? Please let me know what you thought in the comments below. Also, follow me for more insights If enough people like this, I’ll break this down in much more detail on video

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CRO weekly #199 - Why you should run AA tests Welcome to a fresh CRO weekly newsletter with an overview of interesting reads and jobs you might have missed. ☚ Smart tooltips: web form optimisation without development from Exatom ☚ What are AA tests and why you should run heaps of them! from Simon Jackson ☚ List of the best Linkedin post from Ron Kohavi ☚ Career interview with Oriol Vila Masip at Experimentation Jobs ☚ 5 reasons why you can’t miss: The Convert x Women in Experimentation Summit from Daphne Tideman ☚ Why doesn’t senior management care about CRO? from Fenil Mangukiya 4 featured jobs: ➽ Growth Analyst at Paired (United Kingdom) ➽ Data Scientist, Product at Figma (Multiple locations, USA) ➽ CRO Lead at New Balance (Amsterdam, Netherlands) ➽ Staff Data Scientist - Experimentation at Instacart (USA) Find 100+ jobs at Experimentation Jobs The next CRO weekly is send out Thursday morning, signup if you don't want to miss the next one. Read the full newsletter in the comments.

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Thought I’d weigh in on the Google leak having had a few days to review it. I've seen plenty of posts with a lot of info but not much practical advice, so here's a few (6) concise takeaways and how we'll be adapting our SEO approach as an agency going forward: 1️⃣ Click data matters 📊 Previously, click data was thought to have minimal impact. The leak reveals it significantly influences rankings. We'll be implementing A/B tests across titles and descriptions to improve click-through rates (CTR). 2️⃣ Site authority is key 🌐 It wasn’t confirmed that Google used site-wide authority metrics. The leak shows “siteAuthority” impacts overall site ranking. This doesn’t necessarily change our approach; we will continue to develop holistic content strategies and pursue high-authority backlinks. 3️⃣ Chrome data utilisation 🔍 SEOs were unaware of the extent Google used Chrome data. The leak confirms its influence on rankings, highlighting user experience metrics. We will continue to optimise page load times, ensure mobile-friendliness, and enhance site navigation. Again, no real change in approach here. 4️⃣ Content freshness is crucial 📝 SEOs knew freshness was a factor but not the specifics. Google uses multiple date-related metrics to evaluate content freshness. We already have resource ring-fenced on a monthly basis to keep key pages up to date for clients so it's good to have this validated as a strategy. We will continue this practice, refreshing old posts with new information and updating key ranking pages with re-optimised content. 5️⃣ Detailed link evaluation 🔗 We all knew links were important but lacked detail on evaluation. The leak shows metrics on link diversity and relevance, with low-quality links potentially ignored altogether. We’ll continue to acquire backlinks from reputable websites through our digital PR activity, but we can maybe start running campaigns to specifically target certain domains where we know average domain authority is high i.e. university and charity sites. Obviously continuing to target the big news sites as well. It could also be worth exploring more ways to create ongoing relationships with the most relevant websites in each niche to ensure we're consistently generating links with high relevancy scores. 6️⃣ Brand presence is essential 📣 The direct impact of brand recognition on SEO was unclear. The leak highlights the importance of building a strong, recognisable brand. An omni-channel approach is potentially the key here and reinforces the point that marketing shouldn’t be a single channel strategy. Display and PPC will naturally improve brand visibility over time, so should probably be considered for clients expecting to see significant results through SEO alone. #SEO #GoogleLeak #Marketing #SEOTips

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🎤 Are SEO Conferences Worth It? Is There an ROI for Attending? I get asked this a lot and see it asked in SEO groups quite often. What are my thoughts? 💡 You might be surprised, but the real value isn’t what you think. The usual pessimistic reply is: ❌ “They won’t share anything on stage that they didn’t share on YouTube/course/wherever already. It’s just fluff.” Agreed to a degree, but…. 💥 The main knowledge bombs, nuggets, and connections happen outside of the conference. Perhaps literally outside the conference room in between talks, or at any networking or other events going on. 👥 I’m not the best guy to compare conferences, cause I’ve only attended one (CMSEO - Chiang Mai SEO conference). But I have gone 4x already (going to my 5th one in 3 months). Why? ✅ Because of the awesome people that attend. Many of whom I now call friends and stay in touch with regularly. ✅ Because of all the new opportunities that emerge when getting to know new people in the space. ✅ Actual knowledge from 10+ speakers at the main conference and 12 more speakers at pre-events. ✅ The mastermind where a “shit ton” of knowledge bombs will be dropped. 💰 The ROI for me is simple: If I get one…yes ONE…good nugget out of all the networking, mingling, talking, listening, and masterminding (if that’s even a word), it pays for my trip entirely, most likely many times over (plane, hotels, ticket, all included). I usually leave with multiple of these, not just one. The only reason why conferences and networking events wouldn’t work for you and have an ROI is if you are extremely introverted and would stand in the corner and not talk to a single soul. But even then I would see you and come talk to you most likely 😀 This is not a promotion for CMSEO, but for any SEO (or any other digital marketing) event/conference being held. In the end, it’s all about the people—SEO and marketing are driven by the connections we make. 📸 I mean just looking at the image below is mind-boggling. To spend a day in a mastermind with Tim Soulo (the CMO of Ahrefs), Lucjan Suski (the CEO of SurferSEO), Jacob Kettner (owner and CEO of First Rank SEO) and last but not least Craig Campbell (needs no introduction, it's freaking Craaaaig (said in the most Scottish of accents) Campbell. You think there were any nuggets there? You betcha! 💬 What’s been your experience with SEO or marketing conferences? Have you seen a solid ROI, or do you think they’re just fluff? Share your thoughts below! P.S.: If you found this perspective useful, don’t keep it to yourself—share it with your network! ♻️ #SEO #DigitalMarketing #SEOConferences #Networking #ROI #MarketingStrategy #BusinessGrowth

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