Stephanie Boito

I've mentioned the insights from Mark Ellaway and the team at Bigfork Limited before. This report is well worth a butchers. Two takeaways that chimed with me are that '75% of B2B buyers prefer a rep–free sales experience.' and that what buyers really want from a website is information to help them buy!

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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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I was chatting with Lee Waltham yesterday about the changing role of organic search in 2024. Wil Reynolds is a leader in the space and lays it out really well. "Gartner predicted a 25% drop in search traffic by 2026. In reality, my SEO traffic is already down 41% in 2024. But here's the surprising part: my newsletter signups are up 65%, and revenue remains steady." It's an interesting point and aligned with what we're seeing at Brandish | A Creative Agency— losing SEO traffic isn’t the end. There's less correlation between SEO traffic and leads now, with metrics like branded search and homepage visits becoming more relevant. We're talking a lot about this with our clients. It's a big part of why your creative approach is more critical than ever as a marketer. As research shifts to AI-driven search, how do we adapt our KPIs? Time to rethink our SEO strategies. Read Wil's full article here: https://lnkd.in/etJvr8a9 #SEO #GrowthMarketing #BrandedSearch

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Old SEO colleagues / connections... Can anyone recommend a really amazing technical/BAU link acquisition agency? Sounds a little old school, I know, but being in the theatre-industry means not being short for amazing content-led ideas and creatives for when we get cracking. What we ARE in short-supply of is for a creative ground-up "someone" to support with what we don't have time for at the moment - everything from link reconfigs where production info has changed and there is a genuine benefit for the customer to replacing it, to creative approaches to securing placements where we should already be being seen. May be seen as more grey-hat these days but still fundamentally critical to great SEO. Again - we aren't looking for someone who can run PR-led creative content link building - just someone/an agency that works closely on some of the older building blocks that many contemporary creative agencies skip over in favour of the fun! Bonus points if you/the agency were around in 2012 time and know the importance of why it's still key to ensure our technical bed of links and placements are maintained and grown, wider than the PR-led one offs and reactive/proactive PR approach (which I fully am and standby also, but will be covered in a new content and amplification strategy).

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SERP Feature Volatility Changes in the UK vs the last 30 days My new post features: DataForSEO SERP Volatility Index Google's Sean Scott Brodie Clark Chris Long Lily Ray As we enter the month of November 2024, we as SEOs should be starting to see changes in click behaviour from users especially on e-commerce sites. Google is fully rolling out AI Overviews here in the UK on mobile, meaning Google Shopping will dictate much of the search market as expected. Full Post: https://lnkd.in/eid-EaTZ #serpfeatures #serpvolatility

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Take strong sedatives before you start this script:-)

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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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Business investment is expected to gradually recover in 2025. (Hooray!) But this still means marketers must squeeze the most from their carved-up budgets in the meantime. (Boo.) So we've put together our top tips here...

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This week, Aira posted a new SEO Consultant position live based out of Milton Keynes HQ. Who's interested? 👀 I spent a bit of time looking at other similar roles out there at the moment and despite the sad redundancies agency-side, there are still opportunities in the SEO and digital PR space right now which was great to see. Businesses (mostly agencies) are still investing in building out digital PR and creative content marketing functions as the industry continues to evolve. This was part of a JD I saw for the first 90 day expectations in a digital PR role: - 30 days: ideate X campaigns for X clients and implement X - 60 days: implement X campaigns and secure X placements - 90 days: implement X campaigns and secure X placements [X = number] Digital PR will always have a place in my heart and I loved building the team at Aira 💙 🔗 BUT I think we can do a bit better than this? Are those campaigns going to influence the metrics needed? Or are we ideating to hit a number KPI a senior has set? Until we take the onus away from the # of links/placements built or # of campaigns produced and focus on content/creative/digital PR campaigns that are created based on buyer personas, the buyers journey and search intent, we're still optimising for the wrong behaviours (link volume and less relevancy) and therefore outputs for brands. We made a shift away from number/volume based metrics more than 12 months ago and we're seeing the positive impact of this for clients and in sales discussions. We're creating content that's relevant, resonant and rooted in revenue-driving KPIs. So, if you're interested in being part of an organic search team that's trying to think a little differently whilst keeping a laser focus on delivery, take a look at our SEO Consultant role below 👇 https://lnkd.in/ekQFYm2i

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Interesting shift in trends this year in our survey. Faye Thomassen will be presenting how marketers see their priorities for the year ahead. Register below. #calltracking #martech #marketingtechnology #marketing #marketinginsights

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Building topical clusters instead of chasing random keywords...very demure. Prioritising technical audit findings based on revenue and growth impact...very mindful. Combining #UX principles with #SEO...very considerate. I have been loving the demure, mindful, considerate trend on TikTok 😀 and if you are looking for how to create an SEO strategy that's demure, mindful and considerate and blogging with intention, then consider signing up for this workshop this Friday. https://lnkd.in/eDYnu5Ur This workshop is open to all small and medium-sized businesses and content creators. You do not need to be in the fashion industry to join this workshop. #SEO #Contentmarketing #blogging #SEOwriting

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Another great SEO/search news round up from Matt Finch 👀 Covering everything that happened in August, from AI Overviews appearing in the UK search results, to Reddit's continued growth in visibility. Stay ahead, read it here: https://lnkd.in/e2EAKejE #seo #seonews #google

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Hoping that this core update will make many small and independent publishers happy, as they have had the short end of the stick for MONTHS now. Google has needed a bit of course correction as the smaller publishers have had their traffic gutted, replaced by lowest quality content. Looking forward to seeing the moves! https://lnkd.in/e6pdg72V #SEO #DigitalMarketing #coursecorrection

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In an era where online presence is crucial for business success, understanding the significance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) cannot be overstated. Looking for ways to enhance your visibility and branding, build trust and credibility or for a higher return on investment? Reach out to us LOCALiQ_UK winners of SEO Agency of the Year in the UK Agency Awards 2024. #SEO #bevisible #onlinepresence

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SEO Insight for UK Businesses: When it comes to ranking on Google, targeting long-tail keywords can often be more effective than chasing highly competitive short phrases. Why? Fewer websites are vying for these specific terms, meaning they’re often easier to rank for. For instance, instead of aiming for a highly competitive term like “Cleaners near me,” consider more targeted phrases, such as “Commercial cleaning companies in Manchester.” In many cases, these long-tail keywords can drive significant search volume and attract a more relevant audience, leading to higher conversion rates. A strategic approach to SEO means focusing on the terms that matter most to your audience—and may bring even more value to your business. #localseo #SEO #businessgrowth

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The Dangers of Confirmation Bias in Search. At Brighton SEO Sarah Chaya Presch talked about the ever-growing problem with confirmation bias. It is possibly one of the largest issues online, as it creates further division with opinions and can lead to recklessness with the facts in the desire to increase revenue. I urge you to check out her detailed article below. https://lnkd.in/d2VUNXP6

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If you're an agency pitching an in-house marketer, please, actually listen to them and take them for their word, particular with anything they provide you in an RFP. If they say they know they should implement server-side rendering but business priorities are elsewhere at the moment, for goodness sake, don't wax lyrical about how amazing server sider rendering is in your pitch deck. If they say implementing any changes to the product detail pages is off-limits don't have a whole section about improvements to those products, down to micro-copy. The pitch is an opportunity for you to show your attention to detail, but more importantly, that you're on their side. Once you get the tender, *then* you can have conversations about compromises or who you can speak to in the legal team or the product team or wherever to start negotating for those changes and advocating on behalf of your internal point of contact.

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OK, so you’re the CEO and you have £1m to spend… what do you do? Your team have given you two options: 1) Make a deal with a supermarket, get more shelf-space, x2 your investment 2) Spend it all on advertising, reach 52% of the population several times and increase brand consideration by 2% Which one do you choose and why? Well according to Thinkbox’s excellent Profit Ability 2.0 report*, option 2 would actually deliver £870k return… in the short term alone… Two years later, considering the sustained effects of the campaign, this is estimated to be even higher – a whopping £3.1m return. 🤯 This may be oversimplifying slightly, and diminishing returns is sure to have an impact, amongst other things, but it still points to a huge opportunity. For example, this doesn’t necessarily include planning/production costs – and of course the work needs to be good work, you couldn’t just use any old tosh and whack a spend behind it – but there’s clearly some wiggle room there to afford worthwhile creative. I only wonder how much the big brands have skewed the data here… i.e. the larger the budget = the greater the cumulative brand recognition = the easier the cut-through = the greater the ROI, and so on, and so on. I’d love to see these short and long term ROI figures broken down for specific cohorts to see how their historic investment might have effected the outcome. i.e. B2B vs B2C, StartUps vs ScaleUps vs SMEs, National brands vs Global brands, probably all really interesting. Maybe something for next year's report? *All info shamelessly lifted from the Profit Ability 2.0 report (see link below) – which is excellent. Thanks to Mark Ritson and Andrew Tindall for sharing in the first place.

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Props to Aleyda Solís and Danny Sullivan for bringing this lengthy, thought-provoking conversation. They cover some challenging areas, particularly the status of brands following the HCU (helpful content updates), which is the most interesting and talked-about right now. I do believe that Danny/search engineers at Google probably do want to take action on the current state of SERPs. That and there are no specific up/down weighting factors just because someone is a "big brand"... BUT, the issue here is down to belief and whether you want to take what has been said as truthful or not.  Google - from a Search PoV - has taken a lot of knocks this year and has been seen as misdirecting, misleading, or flat-out lying about certain elements. Some people are inclined NEVER to believe Google; I don't think that's probably all that helpful in the long run. The issue is, for those people who don't want to believe or trust it, can you blame them? Will it likely change significantly soon? Probably not.

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