Is your link-building for SEO strategy ready for 2023?

When you mention SEO, the first thing you probably think about is keywords. But, it’s the links that are crucial when you are building your online presence.

Links determine your website’s rank, and they tell the search engines where to show your website.

Along with Google 200 ranking factors and a few recent ones that will change the search, backlinks and outstanding content are still hugely important as we are heading into 2023.

Yet, while many resources are explaining how to create quality content, there’s far less valuable information about link building.

To help you connect the dots on your link-building strategy in 2023, we’ve jumped into action. This is your beginner-friendly guide to link building for SEO.

Chapter 1: What Does Link Building Mean in 2023?

So, what are links, and how are they changing in 2023?

Inbound links, also known as external links or backlinks, are HTML connections that link websites together. You may think of them as the avenues of the internet, mapping out the digital world for the search engines, and your customers.

Links act a lot like real-life reputation.

Let’s say you visited a new city. You ask the people there where you can get the best cup of coffee, and they all send you to Papa Café. Now you feel pretty confident that you were getting the right information.

Similarly, the more links from relevant and authoritative sources that link back to your website, the more reputable you become.

As you can see, we drew attention to the links from relevant and authoritative sources there. That’s because link building for SEO in 2023 is all about three things:

• Expertise
• Authority
• Trust

The E-A-T guidelines are more relevant than ever, according to information taken directly from Google:

The links that you cultivate for your website need to be carefully chosen based on those three factors. That’s something we’re going to concentrate on in this guide.

Link Building with E-A-T Guidelines

When it comes to link building for SEO, there are a few things you need to know:

• First, you’re never going to earn backlinks without amazing content.
• Second, without links, you’ll never crack the front page of Google.
• Third, the links that you get can’t just come from anywhere.

Studies have shown that backlinks have the same value as they did in 2016. While there were a lot of changes to the Google algorithm, the value of links hasn’t changed.

Link building for SEO is still about acquiring backlinks to your site from other relevant websites. The difference for 2023 is that you are getting the backlinks from the relevant companies to your business.

You want to get the links from sites that follow the E-A-T to succeed this year. It’s the difference between having a valuable link, and just another connection that’s weighing your business down.

When the PageRank algorithm was first introduced, the number of links to a specific page was more important than anything else. Now, it’s the quality of the links that matter more than the quantity.

Chapter 2: Defining Valuable Links for Your Link Building Strategy

So, how do you track downlinks that are E-A-T ready?

Easy!

There are 6 critical indicators that today’s businesses can use to separate high-value links, from SEO trash These indicators are:

• Page Authority
• Domain Authority
• Website relevancy
• Link position
• Anchor text
• No-Follow vs Do-Follow

Let’s dive a little deeper…

Page Authority

In link building for SEO, the authority of the page refers to how much credibility the page that is linking back to you can have. It’s similar to how you would think of improving your social circle at school.

You’ll be more popular if you hang out with the popular kids at school. So, when you get a link from a high-authority website, Google and the other search engines assume that you’re also a high authority brand.

You can discover the authority rank of your site using a MozBar extension to determine “Domain authority”.

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Domain Authority

Domain authority is similar to page authority. The main difference is that domain authority focuses on the credibility of the entire website, not just a single page.

A link from a blogger is less likely to make an impact than having a backlink to your website from a website like Huffington Post or the New York Times.

You can check the domain rating section of Ahrefs to find out a site’s authority. You can also compare multiple domains against each other:

Website Relevancy

Now a link from a high-authority site is excellent -but only if it’s relevant to your site.

If you’re running a website about social media marketing and you get a backlink from a health and fitness website, Google is going to wonder what the connection is.

If you want your backlinks to make the right impact, they need to be connected to the main theme of your website. So, the golden rule is to concentrate on reaching out to websites that are within your industry or niche.

Position on the Page

This is an odd part of the link building strategy for SEO, and something that many people overlook.

It’s not just the link that matters for your search engine ranking or the authority of the website/page. Another factor is the position of the backlink as it appears on another website. In-content links of a blog post are more valuable than links in footers or sidebars.

Generally, it’s better to have a link back to your website in the heart of someone’s article, than just a random mention in an author bio at the bottom of the page.

Anchor Text

Source: Guestpost

The term “Anchor text” in SEO relates to the text that you attach a backlink to.

For beginners, it’s the clickable text that’s usually underlined and highlighted in blue color.

Google uses anchor text as a crucial ranking signal.

So, when you’re linking to a website about email marketing tools, you want the anchor text to be something like “the best email marketing tools”. If the anchor text has nothing to do with the website link, then Google is going to assume that you’re trying to trick visitors into going to a page that they’re not interested in.

No-Follow vs Do-Follow

No-Follow vs Do-Follow links are another aspect of link building for SEO that often gets ignored.

No-Follow is the HTML attribute that websites use to tell search engine bots not to follow a specific hyperlink. The reason for this is it reduces the effectiveness of spam on search engines and improves search results.

Links are “Do-Follow” by default, but you can use tags in your content to suggest to the search engines that you don’t want links to be counted towards a specific ranking. You want more Do-Follow links to improve your SERP ranking.

Chapter 3: How to Start Your Link Building Strategy: Essential Skills

Now that you know the difference between a good link and a bad link, we’re ready to get to work.

Effective link building for SEO in 2023 is a process that requires several steps.

Yet, before we begin learning more about some of the ways that you might be able to build your links, let’s examine the skills you’re going to need.

Competitor Research

The first most valuable skill that any link-building guru can have is a passion for research.

You should start by analyzing the backlink profile of your competitors. These insights are going to help you to fill gaps that you missed or to copy their whole link-building strategy.

Tools like Ahrefs allow you to analyze your competitors’ rankings when you enter a domain name into a search bar. The key to success is figuring out why your competitor got the link they have, and whether you can get one too. For instance:

• Resource links: If you want to appear on the same resource pages as your competitors, you’ll usually just have to reach out to the site and ask if they can add
• Anchor Text Relevancy
  your resources.
• Guest post links: Guest blogs are one of the easiest ways to develop backlinks. If your competitor appears on another authority site with a guest blog, there’s a good chance that they’ll accept a guest post from you too.
• User-generated links: Your competitors might have links from users on social media and personal blogs. You may not be able to replicate these exactly, but you can encourage similar backlinks from your dedicated followers.

Something that is going to need a little more work is editorial links that are popular on your competitor’s site. Using ‘Best By Links’ by Ahrefs Site Explorer can help you to quickly determine what is most linked.

Outreach

That leads us to the second most valuable skill of building links for SEO.

Outreach skills are something that all SEO and marketing experts need to master. Also, it’s one of the hardest talents to master.

There are cases when content can organically create traction on its own, but most of the time, you’ll need to get your site or content out to the right people at the right time through communication.

While you can invest in outreach through direct mail, phone calls, and social media – the easiest and most effective option is still email.

Link Building outreach is such an in-depth topic that it deserves an eBook of its own. However, there are a few basic rules you can follow. For instance:

• Stay relevant: Always appeal only to the companies that have a direct connection to your website and the page that you want them to link to.
• Show value: Highlight why it’s a good idea to link to your page. Perhaps you can offer valuable information to the target blog’s customers?
• Get the timing right: Sharing a link to a brand-new relevant blog with another company is more likely to get you a backlink than a link to an old, outdated article.

Two-Step Email Outreach

Two-step email outreach should be a standard practice when you are reaching out to prospects for link-building opportunities.

Instead of demanding a link from the get-go, warm up the prospect first. Show genuine interest in topics they cover, share value, and earn their trust.

Here, this is an email type you can modify to meet your needs and use it for outreach.

This approach is genuine, and it helps you build relationships and earn more backlinks for your link-building campaigns.

Once you establish relationships, you can use them to plan your future link-building campaigns.

Chapter 4: Effective Link Building Strategies for 2023

Now that you know what high-quality links are and the skills that you need to master to earn them, let’s take a look at some link building for SEO strategies to use in 2023.

Notably, the strategies below won’t all work for you. However, you should test and mix and mix a few options to create your customized link building campaign.

Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is easily one of the most effective methods of link building for SEO and will boost your content marketing efforts.

Not only do you get backlinks from high-quality websites, but you can also reach visitors and potential customers that you might not have found organically this way.

To have success with guest blogging, first, you need to do a couple of things:

• Find a website that’s relevant to your niche (and accepts guest blogs)
• Get your post ready – make sure that it will appeal to the target audience of the website
• Send your pitch, and follow the guest blogging instructions provided by the brand
• Follow up if you don’t hear back, highlighting the value of your guest post

To maximize your chances of a successful pitch, follow all the guidelines provided by the website that you’re writing to. For instance, Huffpost has articles like this to guide you:

Additionally, make sure to introduce the added value of your content to the editor/publisher. For instance, it’s a good idea to showcase how many readers come to your blog regularly and highlight the fact that you share your posts on social media.

Let the brand know that they won’t have to do all the work of promoting their new guest post on their own.

Podcast Link Building for SEO

Podcasts are huge, and, heading into 2023, there are no signs of slowing ​​down in the following year, your aim should be to appear in as many quality podcasts in your industry as you can.

Competitor research will give you an insight into how many backlinks your competitors have earned from podcast appearances.

Appearing in podcasts allows you to build your authority and earn quality backlinks.

This link building strategy includes:

• Finding podcasts in your niche
• Doing an ongoing outreach campaign
• Preparing materials for guest appearances

When you collect all the info you need, start with an outreach campaign.

Search for one or more authoritative people in your niche who regularly appear on podcasts. Screenshot their image, and enter it on Google reverse image search.

Find the links to the podcasts where they appeared as guests. Reach out to the podcast host and ask to participate in the podcast.

After they invite you to the podcast, prepare well, pick a trending topic in your niche, and give valuable insights. Take advantage of the opportunity, and show that you are an authority on the subject.

Give it all you got, and establish yourself as an authority in your niche.

Create Some Link Bait

Using link bait is a wide and complex strategy that can take on many forms.

The idea is to design content that attracts links naturally because of its incredible value.

In works like this, you write an amazing blog post or record an amazing video, and people will naturally link back to it because of how helpful and engaging it is. If you can do this successfully, you’ll have link building for an SEO strategy that’s more natural and organic than anything else.

Link Bait is often defined by things like:

• Unique data and in-depth research
• Attractive graphics or video
• Free tools or lessons

While creating high-value content for SEO in 2023, always remember to make each piece as compelling as possible as potential linkbait. Perhaps instead of just reporting on the latest statistics for social media marketing in 2023, you can conduct a survey or case study.

Or instead of commenting on the content marketing preferences of millennials and Gen Z, you could host an interview with someone from the industry and use that to share unique information.

Backlinko’s case study is a great example of link bait:

Diversify Your Backlinks

Backlink diversity can mean two things: having links leading to your website from different websites and acquiring a variety of links.

To put it simply, Google recognizes a website as more authoritative if it has backlinks from a number of different domains, compared to having many links from a single site. Keep this in mind when planning your backlink strategy.

When it comes to link variety, the purpose is to make them look as natural as possible. Don’t focus only on placing links in blog posts. Instead, try to acquire links in citations, comments, as well as a combination of no-follow, do-follow, and pillow links.

Since Google is getting better and better at recognizing “artificial” backlinks, your best course of action is to consult a link-building specialist to help you diversify your backlinks and decide what type of links you want to acquire.

Link Reclamation

Link reclamation is a fantastic link building for SEO strategy to include in 2023. There are three different segments to this strategy, including:

• Fixing the broken links that already point to your website
• Finding and looking for unlinked brand mentions
• Identifying the uncredited use of copyrighted content

Let’s start with fixing the broken links that point to your website. If broken links are leading back to your website, then you’re losing valuable credibility with the search engines.

You can run the “Broken backlinks” report in the Ahrefs tool site explorer or Check My Links extension to get a list of all the broken links that you’re dealing with. Once you’ve found them, create a 301 redirect for each link using your Redirection plugin so that you’re getting the credit you deserve. Also, contact the site admin and ask them to update the link.

The second way is to find unlinked brand mentions and track what people are saying about you online. There are many tools online that can help you to track down people who are talking about your product or company. If you notice a brand mention that doesn’t link back to your site – reach out.

Thank the company for mentioning your business in the first place, and ask them if they want to add a link to that mention to help your SEO strategy. Most business owners won’t mind doing this if they already like your brand.

Finally, searching for uncredited use of copyrighted material is something that all companies should do. Whether you’re link building for SEO or not, you need to make sure that people aren’t using your material without permission.

Using Google’s reverse image search will help you to find sites that are using your copyrighted content. You can then ask the site either to add a link to your website or remove the image.

Resource Page Link Building for SEO

Resource page link building is hard to perform. But, it’s a highly-rewarding strategy that can earn you a bunch of backlinks if you do it correctly.

There are a lot of opportunities for resource page link building. However, to do it right, you have to create quality, cornerstone content people can use and link to.

To find quality resource pages is not an easy task, so use these 10 advanced Google searches for the best possible results:

• “{your keyword}” + inurl:resources
• “{your keyword}” + inurl:links
• “{your keyword}” + inurl:recommended
• “{your keyword}” + “top websites”
• “{your keyword}” + “top sites”
• “{your keyword}” + “recommended websites”
• “{your keyword}” + “recommended resources”
• “{your keyword}” + “further reading”
• “{your keyword}” + “recommended reading”
• “{your keyword}” + “useful sites”

You’ll begin reaping the full benefits of this strategy when other websites start using your resources. Every time they link to your resource page, you get a backlink.

So, when you write, focus on creating valuable, high-quality content, as the extra effort is bound to pay off in the long term.

Unlinked Brand Mentions

Unlinked brand mentions should be a part of your SEO audit and a standard part of your link building.

You miss a lot if your brand gets mentioned, but it doesn’t include a link to your website.

To find new unlinked brand mentions, set Google Alerts for your brand mentions. Find them, contact the content publisher, and get a backlink.

Reach out and ask them to include your link. In 9 out of 10 cases, you are going to give you a backlink.

Visual and Interactive Content Link Building for SEO

Visual content is still an important part of the SEO landscape – particularly as we are in 2023. If you want to improve your link building for SEO this year, make sure that you’re thinking about how you can make the most of your images, infographics, and other visual elements. It’s all about creating static visuals or interactive content others will want to link to.

Visual content or visual assets are:

• Images
• Diagrams
• Infographics
• Charts and other visual-oriented pieces of content

Interactive content can be:

• Different tools and widgets
• Quizzes
• Interactive maps
• Interactive Infographics

You want to include more visuals in your posts since this type of content is much easier to share than text-based content. For example, publish an infographic, and if someone shares it, you get a link.

Infographics in SEO are a great way to maximize the potential return on your outreach campaigns when you’re just getting started. Companies of all sizes are in constant search of valuable visual content to share on their website or reference on social media.

Check out this amazing infographic on the history of life – it’s sure to grab attention on any website:

The host site gets a cool piece of content with a great infographic, while you get a reliable backlink. Other ways that you can leverage custom images and graphics to earn backlinks for your site include:

• Creating memes for social media that are specific to your niche (better for younger audiences)
• Providing stock images that companies can use with attribution
• Creating images with quotes from your content
• Offering charts or graphics with access to specific data

Interactive elements can add a new dimension to your content and boost its general quality, as well as encourage others to link to it. Adding some interactivity improves user experience and can help you present information to the reader in an easy-to-understand way.

Publish Stats

If you do it right, publishing stats helps you build links by themselves.

Publishing stats requires a lot of research and data. However, you can prepare for this in advance, as a part of a long-term strategy.

Write long-form content based on data specific to your niche. Aim for content that is unique and worth linking. Also, include something to hook bloggers and journalists and attract users to your stats.

Work on creating value for the people in your niche. Once they cite you and use your data, you’ll get backlinks in return.

When you have quality stats and expert data, you can outreach to virtually anyone in your niche. Numbers and facts are the fastest way to reach a status of authority.

Answering Customer Questions

Although the direct SEO value of interacting on forums like Quora and Reddit is still up for debate, many companies are beginning to adopt this tactic.

Links from question and answer style websites are a great way to navigate traffic to your website. At the same time, they can help to highlight your position as a thought leader or authority in your industry.

You can also use sites like Quora and Reddit to figure out what kind of questions your customers are asking and use that information as inspiration for your blog or keyword research.

Try tactics like:

• Posting answers to common questions on Quora: Make sure that the answer is in-depth and brimming with useful statistics. Link back to your website where possible, but don’t be overly promotional.
• Responding to questions on Reddit: There are specific subreddits for virtually everything these days. Getting involved with a subreddit that’s relevant to your company’s industry is an excellent way to gain more exposure for your brand.
• Answering questions on specific forums: If there are industry-specific forums in your sector where you can interact with people from your target market – get involved. You could build a powerful reputation here and earn some new business too.

Although the link juice that you receive from each connection you make on a Q&A website might be modest, your efforts will help to build a stronger connection with your target audience.

Also, this could mean that your customers begin linking back to your website when answering questions elsewhere, increasing the number of user-generated links that you get for your profile.

Refurbish Your Top Content

Finally, here’s a method of link building for SEO in 2023 that will both enhance your SERP ranking and improve your chances of capturing audience attention.

If you’ve been online for a while now, then you should have insights into which type of your content attracts the most traffic and converts the most visitors. You can easily turn that content into link-building potential by refurbishing it for other platforms.

For instance, transform your latest blog post into a podcast that you can share on iTunes, or a video that you can add to YouTube. That way, you’ll have more links from other websites and environments direct people back to your website.

Also, you can dust off and update old content, then add smaller versions of whatever you’ve written to social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Let the industry websites that have shared your content in the past know that you’ve updated your old content so that they can share a new link. You can also ask them if they’d like a unique quote from you about the topic, to enhance the content’s shareability.

You can even use this strategy with images. Reach out to the websites that have used your old images and let them know that you’ve just updated the content where that picture came from.

Bonus Strategy: HARO Link Building

Source: Pinterest

HARO (Help a Reporter Out) is a platform that connects journalists with experts in various fields. When writing articles, journalists often need an expert’s quote to add value to their piece, and HARO is where they turn for help.

Once they enter a request, the platform forwards it to registered users who work in a related field via email. The experts then get a chance to compose and send a reply to the query, getting quoted in the article.

This way the journalists get to choose the quote they like the most, and the source gains exposure and a backlink.

Incorporating this strategy into your link-building efforts can help you acquire links from high-authority domains and add more diversity to your backlinks.

There are two ways to go about this. You can either get familiar with HARO yourself, register, and start sending responses, or you can hire HARO press outreach service, specialists.

Link Building for SEO in 2023

There’s no denying that link building is changing and evolving in 2023.

The online environment is growing more competitive than ever. Algorithms are changing, and even the way that your customers search for the information and products that they need is evolving as well.

Still, link building is one of the most valuable things that any company can do to set itself apart from the rest of the digital noise. A strong online strategy in 2023 will be built on the perfect combination of valuable, high-quality content, and a well-thought link-building strategy.

With our strategies above, you can ensure that in 2023 you’re ready to drive as many eyes back to your content as possible.

Ready to get started?

The post Link Building for SEO | Your Ultimate Guide in 2023 [Updated] appeared first on Play Media.

Easier said than done, we know. But even if you’re not versed in the digital marketing world, you can still get good results with your own efforts. You just need some tips and a push in the right direction. That’s why we’re here to give you some simple yet effective techniques for acquiring real estate backlinks. Let’s begin. 

What Is Real Estate Link Building?

Let’s start at the very beginning and explain what real estate link building actually means. Simply put, real estate backlinks, also known as inbound links, are links from other websites that point to your website. They serve as a little virtual nod of approval and credibility for your website.

There are different types of backlinks in the real estate world, but they all serve the same purpose – showing search engines that your website is a trusted and valuable resource. In a way, backlinks act as a referral for your site, showing search engines that other websites find your content useful and relevant. 

Types of Real Estate Backlinks

What kind of backlinks can you hope to acquire on the world wide web? There are different places where you can link to your website and get more traffic to your page. Here are some examples.

• Editorial backlinks – links placed in an article or blog post in a natural and relevant manner, providing value to the reader and endorsing the linked website.
• Directories – online directories that list businesses, including real estate websites, in a specific category or location.
• Listing sites – websites that allow you to list properties for sale or rent. Many of these websites also provide backlinks to real estate websites as a benefit of using their platform.
• Guest blogging – writing articles or blog posts for other real estate websites and including a link to your site within the post.
• Social media – a strong social media presence can drive traffic and build backlinks to your website. 
• Forum and community participation – participating in online real estate forums and communities can also help you build backlinks by establishing yourself as a knowledgeable and credible resource.

The Importance of Link Building in Real Estate SEO

Backlinks are kind of like the who’s who of the internet world. The more A-listers (read: high-quality, relevant websites) linking back to your real estate site, the more in-demand and trustworthy your site becomes in the eyes of search engines. And we all know the wonders that can do for your business – better visibility, more organic traffic, and a steady stream of leads. What more could you want? 

So, think of backlinks as your VIP passes to the top of search engine rankings. Just make sure you’re only associating with the right crowd – a bunch of low-quality links can actually harm your SEO. 

How to Earn Real Estate Backlinks

To attract more attention to your site, you want to be the talk of the town, making everyone link to your website. But how can you become the real estate agent on everyone’s lips? Let us guide you through some key techniques to start building links effectively ASAP.

Networking Is Key – Start Mingling

What is at the heart of real estate? Building lasting relationships with clients and agents alike. Well, the same goes when link building. You’ve probably already got a list of contacts within the industry, so why not put it to good use?  

One thing that building relationships with other players in the industry helps with is increasing your chances of earning high-quality backlinks for your website. Networking gives you access to a broader network of contacts, resources, and opportunities, making it an essential part of any real estate professional’s toolkit.

So, don’t be afraid to reach out and start building your community. Think of meaningful relationships as one of the pillars of your job.

Location, Location, Location-Based Content

Where are you based? If you’re a realtor who works in Orange County, there’s no use publishing content related to Vermont, for example. Instead, focus on what you know and what is relevant to you and your community. This is where geo-targeted content comes into play.

Start writing quality content about your neighborhood. You can create posts about the latest listings, the best restaurants in the area, activities and events nearby, etc. The possibilities are endless. Create engaging, informative content that people will want to link to. 

Also, by sharing your content on social media and mentioning the people or places you’re talking about, you could earn a few valuable and relevant links as well! The people looking for a home in your neighborhood will see you as a credible source and consider you a knowledgeable and resourceful realtor. So, start typing!

Start Guest Blogging

A more direct way of gaining quality backlinks is by guest posting. What does that mean? Well, guest blogging is pretty much what you can imagine – writing posts as a guest for other people’s real estate blogs. Again, this comes back to those relationships and networking. 

When you connect with people in the industry, it’s an opportunity to share knowledge on each other’s platforms and broaden your audience. Guest blogging is a great way to promote your website and reach people you otherwise wouldn’t. So, connect with your peers and help each other grow your businesses. 

Help Reporters Out – Use HARO

If you want to dip your toes into the PR waters and test how that can benefit your business, there’s a pretty simple way to get started. Using a service like HARO (Help a Reporter Out) is a great way to get in touch with journalists, start building new connections, and get mentions in relevant news outlets.

By sending your stories to journalists within your niche, you can land articles about your business, mentions, and links in relevant publications. So, reach out and start spreading the word about your business. If you find the PR world intimidating, you can always get digital PR services and rely on the pros.

Participate in Forum Discussions

When you’re a veteran in the industry, you have a lot of experience and knowledge you can share with others. So, why not do exactly that? You can share your wisdom with people on forums, answer their questions, give advice, share your insights, and establish yourself as a trustworthy expert in your field. Make sure to include the link to your website in your comments. As a result, you’ll become a recognizable figure in your industry, build relationships and make people want to link to your page.

Achieve all your digital marketing goals with us.

Please fill out this short survey to help us get to know you and your business better.

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PlayMedia is the digital marketing agency that will take you to the top, and help you grow your business through dedication, transparency, and a unique, highly individual approach.

Mladen Maksic CEO
Play Media

Business Citations

A business citation is a mention of your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) on other websites. The more accurate and consistent your NAP information is across the internet, the more authoritative and credible your business will appear to search engines. When someone links to your website in a business citation, it acts as a vote of confidence from that website, which can improve your search engine ranking. 

Some examples of websites where you can create a business citation are local business directories, online yellow pages, and industry-specific websites. By building a strong network of business citations, you can increase the number of backlinks to your website and establish your real estate business as a trusted and respected player in the industry.

Create Your Link Building Strategy Today

These are just some of the most effective techniques you can use to acquire quality backlinks and improve your website’s SEO rankings and brand awareness. So, by using these tips, you can successfully begin your link building journey and make a name for yourself in the real estate industry. 

Of course, this is just the beginning – there are plenty of ways to get high-quality links and drive traffic to your website. Remember that you can always rely on the experts who offer link building services. Play Media’s team of experts can come up with a backlink strategy for your website and help your business reach new heights – get in touch with us today!

The post 6 Effective Real Estate Link Building Techniques appeared first on Play Media.

However, with so many factors to consider, it can be challenging to determine the best time to send a press release. In this blog post, we’ll share some tips that will help you send your news release at the right time and improve your chances for success. Whether you’re a seasoned PR professional or just starting out, this information will help you get the most out of your efforts.

How Far in Advance Should You Send a Press Release?

Before anything else, you should decide how far in advance you’ll send your media release. 

It’s recommended to send the email a few days to a week before the event or announcement. This allows journalists sufficient time to review the information and potentially include it in their coverage. However, if the news is time-sensitive, sending the press release the day before the event may be appropriate. 

Having a defined goal will help you decide how far in advance you need to email journalists. Start by determining your goal before deciding when to send the release email. Is the point of your release to generate media coverage or raise awareness about upcoming events or product launches? 

What Is the Best Day to Send a Press Release?

First of all, it’s important to choose the right day for contacting journalists about your press release. If you choose wisely, you’ll be more likely to grab their attention and actually get a response. And that’s what you want. If you send the email too early or too late, you might lose out on the chance to get coverage. You know what they say – you snooze, you lose. 

Generally speaking, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are considered the best days for sending out a press release, as they are the start of the workweek, and journalists are more likely to be available and looking for new content to cover. Of course, there is no set rule, but these three days have shown the best results in various surveys on this subject. 

Avoid sending releases on Fridays and weekends, as they may not receive much attention. Journalists have weekends too. 

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What Time Should You Send Your Press Release?

So, come Monday or Tuesday, should you send your press release first thing in the morning or after lunchtime? Well, the early bird gets the worm, right?

The best time of day to send a press release to journalists is usually in the morning, between 8 AM and 10 AM. Sending a press release later in the day may mean it gets buried in the journalist inbox and goes unnoticed. All in all, you should strive to send the email before lunchtime. 

Sending your release in the afternoon might still get you a response, but you should avoid emailing journalists in the evening and during other out-of-office hours.

A piece of advice that will help you stand out is to avoid sending the email on the hour of half-hour (e.g., 9 AM or 9:30 AM). Why? Well, most people will schedule their emails to go out automatically, which means the emails will be sent on the hour or half-hour. So, pick a more unique time, such as 10:43 AM. This way, your press release won’t be delivered at the same time as everybody else’s. 

Reminder: Check the journalist’s time zone when scheduling your email and pick the timing accordingly. 

Beware of the Holidays

Sending out a press release on holidays can be hit or miss. On the one hand, journalists may have more free time to read and respond to your release. On the other hand, they may be out of the office and not checking their email, or they may be focused on holiday-themed stories and not as interested in other news.

It depends on the type of news you’re announcing and how relevant it is to the holiday season. It may be well received if it is timely and related to the holiday. However, if it’s not particularly newsworthy or relevant to the season, it may be better to wait until after the holidays.

In general, it’s always a good idea to consider journalists’ schedules when planning your press release timing and not schedule the email during days off.

How Often Should You Send Press Releases?

When it comes to frequency, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. But a good rule of thumb is to send press releases no more than once or twice per month. You don’t want to overwhelm the journalists and flood their inboxes with irrelevant news.

Keep in mind that a press release should be sent only when you have something newsworthy and relevant to share. Don’t just send out a press release for the sake of sending one – always make sure the information is valuable and will interest your target audience.

What to Pay Attention to When Sending a Press Release?

Find the Right Journalists

Finding the right journalists to pitch your press release to is important in getting media coverage. Here are some tips you can follow:

• Identify the target media outlets: Start by researching media outlets that cover stories relevant to your industry or niche. Make a list of relevant news websites, magazines, TV shows, and radio programs.
• Research individual journalists: Once you have identified the target media outlets, research individual journalists who cover similar stories. Look at their past stories, areas of interest, and writing style to determine if they would be a good fit for your story.
• Build relationships: Building relationships with journalists can increase the chances of your news release being picked up. Follow their work, engage with them on social media, and attend events where you can meet them in person.

If you don’t know how to get hold of journalists, there are a few solutions. First of all, you can reach out to an agency that provides PR outreach services – they’ll know what to do and how to get results. 

Otherwise, you can sign up for a release distribution service like HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and connect with journalists looking for exciting new stories within your niche. 

How to Structure Your Email Pitch

Of course, it’s important to learn how to write a press release in order to get results. But that’s not the end of it. You also need to structure your email pitch properly to get the journalist’s attention. Here are some tips: 

• Subject line: Keep it short and descriptive; summarize the main news in a few words. Try to come up with an attention-grabbing subject. 
• Introduction: Start with a personalized greeting and a sentence that hooks the journalist’s attention.
• Main body: Give a brief overview of the press release and why it’s newsworthy. Highlight the key points and benefits of the story.
• CTA: Encourage the journalist to read the attached press release and consider covering the story.
• Closing: Close the email with your contact information and a brief signature.

Keep the email concise and to the point, as journalists receive a high volume of emails daily. Also, don’t send the same email to multiple journalists – personalize your pitches to show that you’ve done your research and that you care.

The Follow-up

Because journalists are usually busy, they may not respond immediately. If you haven’t heard back after a reasonable amount of time, sending a follow-up email is a good way to go. Timing depends on the individual journalist and their response rate, but a general guideline is to wait a few days (e.g., 3-5 days) before sending a follow-up email. However, you need to respect their time and refrain from sending too many follow-ups – you don’t want to be a nuisance. 

In the follow-up email, you can politely inquire about the status of the news release and if the journalist has any questions. Keep it short and sweet, and avoid being pushy or persistent. The goal is simply to check in and ensure your email wasn’t lost or overlooked.

Ready to Hit Send? 

Now that you know the rules for sending your press release at the right time, you’re ready to reach out to journalists and get media coverage for your business. Follow our tips to maximize the impact of each pitch email, and you’ll see great success rates. And if you need help, don’t hesitate to contact us and get our PR services – we’ll secure the media coverage your brand deserves! We can create your public relations strategy to make sure you get the wanted results.

The post What Is the Best Time to Send a Press Release? appeared first on Play Media.

When it comes to your PR efforts, writing press releases to inform the general public about a product release or other important company news and events is a must. But how do you write a press release that actually gets results?

If you want your next press release to actually drive some traffic to your website and get you some recognition and attention, we have tips that will help you. So, keep reading to learn how to write successful press releases.

What’s a Press Release? 

A press release is a written document from an organization that informs the media and public about events, products, services, product launches, or other meaningful news. It’s designed to generate interest in what your company has to offer by using language and facts that attract the attention of journalists and editors.

Typically, press releases are issued by companies, government agencies, non-profit organizations, or individuals to announce a new product, service, event, or development, such as a new hire, a merger, or a change in leadership. 

Press releases usually include key details such as the date, location, and time of the event and quotes from key individuals involved. A press release aims to generate media coverage and public awareness of the announcement.

The Purpose and Importance of a Press Release 

Why should you even bother writing a news release? Well, press releases are important for a variety of reasons. Some of the main things you get from writing a good press release are: 

• Generating media coverage: Press releases are a way for you to share your company’s news and announcements with the media in the hopes of getting coverage in newspapers, magazines, television, and online news outlets.
• Building credibility: By issuing a press release, you can demonstrate that your business is credible and legitimate and that your news is important enough to be shared with the media.
• Establishing thought leadership: Press releases can be used to position an organization or individual as an expert in a particular field or industry.
• Reaching a broad audience: Press releases can reach a large audience through media coverage and can also be shared on social media platforms and your website, helping to spread the news far and wide.
• Building relationships with the media: Press releases can help you build relationships with members of the media, who can become valuable contacts for future news and announcements.

Your press release is a meaningful tool to inform media outlets and the public about newsworthy events in your company. By writing a compelling press release, you can reach thousands of potential customers who may be interested in what you have to offer. The more professional and informative your press release looks, the better your chance of getting it picked up and shared. So, you should master the art of writing engaging and compelling press releases. 

How to Write an Effective Press Release: Expert Tips

Sitting down and quickly jotting down your company news simply won’t do. In order to actually get results from your news release, you need to put time and effort into crafting a compelling piece of content. We know it sounds daunting, but don’t worry – we’re here to help. Check out our expert tips below and start writing your announcement the right way. 

You Need to Hook Them 

Whenever you’re trying to capture the reader’s attention and get them to read your text, you need to say something that will hook them. The same goes for writing a press release and trying to get news coverage. 

First impressions matter and they can make or break your announcement. So, writing an intriguing hook at the beginning of your press release is the first and crucial step. Use a catchy headline, quote, or statistic to grab their attention and make them interested in your release.

Be Direct and Straight to the Point

Whenever you’re writing content, there’s one crucial rule to remember: quality over quantity. Keep your press release short and to the point. People don’t have time to read long texts, so make sure everything you write is relevant and useful. 

Get straight to the point in your first paragraph, keeping it simple and informative. Give just enough detail in the body of the press release—you can elaborate more on the topic later.

Another thing worth noting is that you should avoid redundancies in your text. Don’t try to fill up the space by reiterating the same point over and over again. Be mindful of your words and the structure of your text. You should have a clear idea of what you want to say and how you want to say it. Don’t just wing it – plan ahead. That’s how you can be sure you’re concise, precise, and direct. 

What’s Your Word Count? 

As mentioned before, you should aim to keep your press release brief and concise. The ideal length of a press release is between 400-500 words. Anything longer than that can be difficult to read and understand. 

So make sure that the message you’re trying to convey is clear and precise within the word count limit. Don’t forget to proofread your work and double-check for any grammar and spelling mistakes. 

Include The Big Five Ws

Who, what, when, where, why? These five words are essential for any press release. Make sure you include all the important details, like who this announcement is about and what it involves, when it’s happening (or happened), where it will take place, and why people should care about it. 

These five W’s are the backbone of your press release, so make sure to answer them in a clear and informative way. This way, you’re giving the reader the full picture and all the information they need to understand the significance of what you’re announcing.

Provide Statistics

Statistics and expert opinions are powerful tools to make your announcement more credible. Don’t forget to include facts and figures, as they are a great way to illustrate your point. Statistics can add value to your text and make it more persuasive – but don’t overdo it. Keep it relevant. 

Source the References You Cite

A press release should be written in an objective manner. That’s why it’s important to source the information you include in your text. Include links to the sources you’re mentioning so the journalist can easily access all the information. 

Make sure that all of your references are credible and trustworthy. This will contribute to the credibility of your text and, thereby, your company.

Insert Quotes 

Quotes from experts, clients, and customers can add a personal touch to your press release and make it more engaging. They can also support the story you’re telling and make it more trustworthy. 

When quoting someone, make sure it is a relevant source – someone with prestige in the field or industry you’re writing about. This will give your press release an extra boost of credibility. 

So, choose one or two quotes that are relevant to the topic of your announcement and include them in your text. This will help capture the reader’s attention and make it easier for them to understand what you want to say. 

Include Contact Information

Including contact information in your press release is essential for ensuring that your message can reach its intended audience. By including contact details, you can ensure that media outlets have the resources and contacts they need to cover the story. It also provides a way for readers to reach out with any questions or comments they may have.

Having contact details listed on the press release also helps to build credibility for your organization. It shows that you are open and willing to answer any questions related to the news story.

Don’t Forget The Call To Action

Including a call to action (CTA) in your press release is essential for driving readers to take the desired action. CTAs provide direction and guidance to the reader, encouraging them to engage with your business. 

Whether you are trying to increase website visits or boost sales, a well-crafted CTA can be key. So, finish off with a little nudge to your readers, telling them how to engage with you.

Proofread Before Hitting Send

Before you hit send on that press release, you want to ensure it’s completely error-free. Double-check for any typos, spelling mistakes, and grammar errors. Make sure there are no redundant phrases or sentences in your text. The last thing you want is for a mistake to distract from the news story itself. 

Ready, Set, Send!

With all these tips and tricks in mind, you’re ready to write a newsworthy announcement and get people talking about your business. Implement all these and keep the purpose of the announcement in mind while writing. Stick to the point, be clear and concise, and show that you know what you’re talking about.

If you need help from the experts, you can always reach out to us and get our PR services to help you write the perfect release and let your business grow and thrive!

The post How to Write a Press Release That Gets Results in 2023 appeared first on Play Media.

There are pros and cons to using HARO for link building. On the plus side, HARO can help you get links from high-quality sources. But on the downside, it can be time-consuming to respond to reporters’ requests and track down the right contact information. In this article, we will discuss the pros and cons of using HARO for link building. We’ll also give you tips on making the most of this powerful tool!

Benefits of HARO

In the previous article, we were talking about what is HARO and how HARO impact your small business SEO strategy. So, we are sure that you know what is HARO and how to use it for link building, but, do you know all the benefits of HARO? We prepared a list of the benefits of HARO, and later on, we will discuss the bad things about using HARO.

• HARO can help you get links from high-quality sources
• HARO is a great way to build relationships with reporters and other influencers
• HARO can help you get exposure for your brand or website
• HARO can help you build authority and credibility

So, now you have some of the most important benefits of HARO, we can move on and take a deep look at these facts. Stay with us and find out what are cons of using HARO for link building are.

HARO can help you get links from high-quality sources

HARO, or Help a Reporter Out, is a great way to get links from high-quality sources. It’s a platform that allows you to connect with journalists who are looking for sources for their stories. If you can provide them with the information they need, you’ll not only get a link back to your website but also some valuable publicity.

There are a few things to keep in mind when using HARO, though. First, make sure that you’re providing quality information that will be useful to the journalist. Second, don’t spam the system – only reply to requests that are relevant to your expertise. Finally, be prepared to follow up with the journalist if they express interest in using your information.

HARO is a great way to build relationships with reporters and other influencers

It allows you to connect with them and get your name out there, which can lead to more opportunities down the road. However, it’s important to remember that HARO is not a guarantee of getting coverage. You still have to put in the work and make sure that your pitch is strong and relevant to the reporter’s beat. If you’re not careful, you could end up wasting a lot of time and effort on something that doesn’t go anywhere.

There are certain factors that will impact your pitch. You should be stuck to some rules when it comes to writing. First of all, try to be precise and don’t make it long form. Focus on the two paragraphs only. Also, you can provide relevant links, but, don’t hyperlink. Instead of hyperlinking, copy and paste the URL direct to the body of your response. If you are using some kind of template, that is totally fine, but take care that your response is always personalized.

Here is an example of a pitch that will work

Hello (Query Author),

I hope all is well.

I’m Sam Smith, CEO/Founder of Play Media digital agency [https://play-media.org/]. My articles have been featured in several top publications globally, from Yahoo and Social Media Explorer to Databox. My expert skills range from business and marketing strategy development to SEO.

Short bio:
LinkedIn:
Profile image:

HARO can help you get exposure for your brand or website

If you’re looking for exposure for your brand or website, HARO can be a great way to get it. By providing quotes and insights to reporters, you can get your name and your brand in front of a whole new audience.

Achieve all your digital marketing goals with us.

Please fill out this short survey to help us get to know you and your business better.

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PlayMedia is the digital marketing agency that will take you to the top, and help you grow your business through dedication, transparency, and a unique, highly individual approach.

Mladen Maksic CEO
Play Media

HARO can help you build authority and credibility

With HARO, you can create authority and credibility in your industry. By becoming a source for reporters, you can get your name and expertise in front of a wide audience, which can help establish you as an expert in your field. In addition, getting quoted in the media can also help build trust with potential customers and clients, as they will see that you are an expert who is worth listening to. If you are looking for ways to build authority and credibility, then using HARO is definitely something you should consider.

Now that you have learned what are all the important benefits of HARO usage, we can move on to the bad things about using HARO service.

Cons of HARO – The drawbacks of using HARO

There are a few potential drawbacks to using HARO as your sole source of leads for your business. First, because you are relying on the media to reach out to you with opportunities, you may miss out on some great opportunities if they don’t happen to see your query.

Second, you may get inundated with responses from people who are not a good fit for your business, which can be time-consuming and frustrating. Without any screening, anyone may quickly sign up to become a source on HARO. This gives unauthorized websites looking for an easy payday more room to operate.

Finally, because you are essentially putting yourself at the mercy of the media, there is always the possibility that they will lose interest in your story or change their focus, leaving you without any leads.

While these drawbacks exist, they should not deter you from using HARO as one of many tools in your lead-generation arsenal. With a little effort and perseverance, you can overcome them and use HARO to its full potential.

The post Pros vs Cons HARO appeared first on Play Media.

Our Play Media team has prepared everything you need to know about these services and what are all benefits of them. If you still need help, our dedicated team will be more than happy to help you out with your digital strategy complete. And now, we will learn more about HARO and how you can boost your business with it.

What is HARO?

HARO, or Help a Reporter Out, is a service that connects journalists with sources for their stories. It’s a great way to get your business mentioned in the news and can positively impact your SEO strategy. It started as a Facebook group in 2008 to enable authors and journalists to get direct input from the community. It was then converted into a mailing list and was eventually purchased by Vocus, Inc., which was later incorporated with Cision Inc.

In addition to improving your SEO, HARO can also help you generate leads and build relationships with reporters. By becoming a go-to source for reporters, you can build trust and credibility for your business.

This service’s great because it kept costs down. Before HARO service, most businesses had to pay thousands of dollars to publicists to be featured in the media. We can all agree that it is pretty expensive and unprofitable. On the other hand, getting public exposure these days may be as simple as responding to questions sent to your email via HARO. As we already said, HARO can have a lot of impacts on your business traffic and promotion.

How Can HARO Have an Impact on Your Small Business’s SEO Strategy?

HARO service is an excellent way to boost your business and create a brand, but it’s also great because this can be a fantastic way to link building. Writers will frequently add a link to your website in their publications that feature a quotation from you. This improves your company’s SEO since search engines like Google value new material with links leading back to it.

You must ensure that all your emails have a specific purpose and are addressed to the right persons and target audience. When using HARO, you must have a strategic goal, so it’s important to know what you are doing. If you are unsure about it, we suggest you contact Play Media to help you out.

Feel free to follow up with your submission once or even twice. Journalists cannot reply to every email they get, so be persistent. Here we present a list of how to use HARO to get more exposure in media for your business. Let’s start!

• Have a functioning website
• Sign up on HARO as a source
• Choose how frequently you want to receive emails.
• Make an offensive approach.

Have a Functioning Website

If you have a small business, it’s essential to have an updated website. Also, you should have an ”about” section so that the journalists can find every information about your business there.

Sign up on HARO as a Source

The next step in this process is making a source account on HARO. This will provide you access to media inquiries to which you may react.

Choose How Frequently you Want to Receive Emails.

Emails here are sent to the source three times a day. Here you can choose how often you want to receive emails. Queries can range from 50-100, so have that in mind.

Make an Offensive Approach

In this step, you will need to think about your business and its importance. Also, consider your target market and which outlets are compatible with your company’s beliefs.

In addition, you should be ready to answer quickly on these emails. Try to read queries carefully so you don’t miss out on a single thing. You should also avoid replying to every inquiry; choose the most appropriate handful and provide enough information to craft an outstanding presentation. HARO impacts your business in many various ways, but link-building is crucial.

Achieve all your digital marketing goals with us.

Please fill out this short survey to help us get to know you and your business better.

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PlayMedia is the digital marketing agency that will take you to the top, and help you grow your business through dedication, transparency, and a unique, highly individual approach.

Mladen Maksic CEO
Play Media

Benefits of HARO for Your Small Business

You know SEO is essential if you’re a small business owner. You also understand that keeping up with the latest trends and changes can be difficult and time-consuming. But did you know that HARO (Help A Reporter Out) can help you with your SEO strategy? Here are just some of the benefits HARO has for your business. We are increasing the number of backlinks to your website. You are making a name for yourself as an expert in your profession. You are contributing to material relevant to your expertise.

How Can you Make Success With HARO?

HARO’s impact on your business’s SEO can be impressive! If you are still confused and don’t know where to start and what to do, don’t worry, we are here to cover for you. In this part of our article, you will find tips on how to make success with HARO.

1. Respond as fast as you can – It’s pretty essential to respond fast. If you react quickly to a query, Your pitch will be at the top of the journalist’s feed.
2. Look for relevant queries and subjects – This is pretty much easy in HARO, so you can daily check-up emails and choose your most important topic.
3. Be precise – People love when you are consistent and accurate. Try not to write more than 200 words in your response.
4. Use practical and informative advice – If you want to stand out, be creative, and don’t write a generic fluffy response. Add examples and explanations.

HARO is a great way to improve your small business’s SEO strategy. It can help you get more backlinks, traffic, and exposure for your website. HARO is also a great way to build relationships with other businesses and influencers in your industry. If you’re not using HARO, you should start today! Contact our agency to get a free quote.

The post How HARO Impacts Your Small Business’s SEO Strategy in 2022 appeared first on Play Media.

As a cost-effective way for businesses to get all eyeballs and ears on them and the ultimate platform for brand building, customer service, and conversion, social media marketing can bring remarkable success to any business – but only if done right.

From social media 101s to practical tips, tricks, and tools you can leverage on your way to digital heights, this practical, all-in-one guide is here to show you how to do social media marketing in a way that delivers tangible results for your business and helps you tame the wild social landscape beast.

What Is Social Media Marketing?

For the first time in human history, we have technology that allows us to maintain rich connections with many people in real-time – social media, aka social networks. Intrusive, traditional marketing went out the window a long time ago. The edge social media has over traditional media lies in its unprecedented capacity in three key marketing areas – connection, interaction, and customer data.

Social media is any digital channel, tool, or platform that allows people to create and share content, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Tik Tok, and YouTube – some of the most popular social networks today. Social media marketing can help businesses reach a wide audience and advertise their brand, products, or services to an almost infinite pool of both present and potential clients and customers.

If leveraged smartly, it can result in enormous benefits, such as increased brand awareness, brand loyalty, rankings, and organic traffic, and allows for creating crowdsourced and user-generated content (UGC) and using customer feedback which ultimately leads to higher conversion rates.

Different Types of Social Media Marketing

As digital technologies and the prevailing use of mobile devices have become an integral part of our personal and professional lives, social media has become one of the main communication channels of choice – and the place to be if effective digital marketing is what you’re after. Although complex, social media marketing can be broken down into three main categories:

· Organic media: Free advertising and content that gains attention naturally

· Paid media: Sponsored content that costs money to post (paid social media posts, search engine ads, banner ads, native ads)

· Earned media: Promotional content that has been given freely by the audience in the form of shares, likes, and comments, like customer-created product reviews and recommendations.

How to Use Social Media Marketing to Propel Your Business

Done correctly, social media marketing can be a winning long-term solution for the success your brand has been struggling to attain. But is being on social media enough? Of course not! Winning the social media marketing game is easier said than done, and to see any results, you need to push all the right buttons the right way.

Great social media is like any other marketing strategy – carefully crafted, measured, managed, and founded on a strong and clear plan. It might seem overwhelming, but with the right guidance and insights, your business can flourish by reaping all the benefits of having a strong presence on consumer-favorite social media platforms.

1. Develop a Killer Social Media Marketing Strategy

Over one-third of the world’s population is on social media, so it’s quite obvious it’s where the majority of the global citizenry is. But while you might be tempted to post on as many social platforms as possible, more doesn’t necessarily mean better regarding your social media marketing strategy. Only well-researched and thought-over social media marketing strategies are rewarded by consumers.

To deliver on your strategic vision, you must be up-to-date with the latest trends and practices. When creating social media strategies, focus on where your target audience spends most of their time, what platforms are popular in your industry and where your competitors are gaining a significant following and clout. Consider aspects like business domain, future plans and goals, end customers, and audience nature.

2. Custom-Tailor Your Strategy Around Your Audience

Without the support of the right crowd, your social strategy will be in vain. Your target audience will help you figure out everything and guide your way from the social media platforms you need to be on to every piece of content you’ll ever create.

Once you narrow down the social media platforms you want to use, you’ll need to determine what type of content you want to share on those platforms. Different types of content appeal to and engage differently with different people, so experimenting to see what works best for each platform and audience, then tailoring your content accordingly is essential.

Achieve all your digital marketing goals with us.

Please fill out this short survey to help us get to know you and your business better.

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PlayMedia is the digital marketing agency that will take you to the top, and help you grow your business through dedication, transparency, and a unique, highly individual approach.

Mladen Maksic CEO
Play Media

3. Devise a Detailed Social Media Marketing Plan

If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you even know when you get there? To excel in social media marketing, it’s important to create goals that will guide your efforts. Your social media marketing plan is the road map for carrying out your strategy – it helps you keep your eyes on the grand prize and create content that aligns with your marketing goals and business objectives.

Structure your efforts and clearly define your goals so you can easily measure your success down the road, ensuring you spend your time, money, and effort where it matters most. Having helpful frameworks in place, like setting SMART goals, OKRS and KPIs, will light up the road ahead.

4. Track Your Success

One of the best things about social media? It’s loaded with valuable data. Many factors affect social media marketing, and analytics can help you assess tracking metrics, optimize campaigns, and create new goals. Unlike traditional marketing forms, social media has in-built data analytic tools allowing you to review your performance, track the success of your efforts and identify even more ways to engage without much time or resources on it.

The ever-changing digital times call for adaptable methods. So, the final and most important step in any social media marketing strategy is measurement. Use each platform’s analytics to monitor your marketing campaigns, identify which posts generate the most engagement, and tweak them as necessary. Scale up what works and stay away from what doesn’t.

Best Social Media Marketing Tools to Leverage

Without an arsenal of powerful social media marketing tools that align with your business goals, your social strategy may fall flat before being given a chance. Thankfully, there’s a plethora of both free and paid tools available that can help you win the social media marketing race. Whatever you set out to market, social media tools make staying active and engaging on social media easier, offer key analytics, and pave the way for greater impact.

Each social media tool offers specific features that best serve different social platforms and purposes. If you have a clear social media marketing strategy and plan in place, you’ll know exactly what you need from each social media tool to execute them.

Consider adding the following to your social media marketing toolkit:

Social Media Analytic Tools

In a data-driven digital era, knowledge is success. If your data is off, so will your social strategy – you can’t get the full, clear picture of your social media marketing efforts without the relevant tools to analyze each piece of the puzzle. Luckily, a well-designed social media marketing (SMM) plan lets you tap into an invaluable resource – customer data.

SMM analytics tools like Google Analytics, Hootsuite Analytics, HubSpot, and Brandwatch can do the math for you – they have the capacity to extract customer and performance data and turn this informational gold-mine into actionable market analysis and easy-to-read reports that can help you gain insights into valuable metrics to tailor and crowdsource new strategies upon.

Social CRM Tools

Compared to traditional marketing, one of the advantages of social media marketing is that it has two kinds of interaction that enables targeted customer relationship management (CRM) tools: customer-to-customer and firm-to-customer. Unlike tracking customer value by simply capturing purchase activity, SMM can track customer value directly (through purchases) and indirectly (through product referrals).

A social CRM tool like Salesforce Social Studio, HubSpot CRM, and Sprout Social acts as a sophisticated address book – it lets you store a plethora of customer and prospect contact information, identify sales opportunities, record service issues, and manage social media campaigns across various social channels, all in one location.

Social Media Scheduling Tools

Consistency is key with social media content, yet it can be an uphill battle if you manage multiple social networks. Luckily, there are different types of social media management tools for everything from composing posts to queuing and organizing them, with one common goal: saving time.

Using a Social Media Calendar or any other type of scheduling/management tool can help you plan posts in advance while ensuring you stay organized and keep track of the various moving parts of social media.

Social Media Engagement & Automation Tools

Social media engagement and automation tools help you set your brand to excel in responsiveness and efficiency. Engagement tools like Talkwalker, Zoho Social, and Hootsuite help you unify all of the messages from every platform, notify you when there’s a sharp increase in mentions, assign messages to individuals on your team and show you the full social media history of someone reaching out to your handles.

Automated social media marketing is all about dealing with repetitive social media marketing tasks that can be automated to maximize your time and performance without compromising the user experience. Automation tools can automate content promotion, streamline customer service and increase your response rate.

Social Media Advice from the Pros: Practical Social Media Marketing Tips & Tricks

To help you cut through the digital noise, we’ve asked some of our savvy marketers to share some inside scoop with our readers. Here’s what they had to say about the latest secret ingredients of social media marketing you should be tapping into:

1. Keep the Wheels Turning

Few things move faster than the speed of social media, which is why a half-hearted commitment to social media marketing is the equivalent of failing. Social media marketing is not a one-and-done thing, and if you’re not at the right place at the right time – you’ll soon fade into the noise.

Post frequently and consistently, and actively engage and interact with your followers – and yes, that includes responding to negative feedback, too! After all, social media is a cross-functional platform that also acts as a customer service portal. Use it to your advantage.

Yes, social media might be an ever-changing landscape you constantly need to keep up with, but what will never change is the human desire to connect. So you can never go wrong by investing in communities and the human beings within them.

2. Never Forget that Content Is King

Valuable content is at the core of social advertising and has the power to make or break your social media marketing efforts. One of the best ways to sabotage your social media content is to keep it salesy and fail to tie it to your goals or custom-tailor it to each social media platform and its audience.

Know why you’re creating content in the first place, and ensure each piece of content is equally engaging, compelling, and formatted to suit the channel outlines and its audience. Does your content lead readers on a journey, or does it merely stuff them as leads into a pipeline? Does it answer your customers’ problems and needs? Does it naturally fit in its surroundings so it does not disrupt users’ browsing experience?

Whatever the platform, nobody counts the number of ads you run – they just remember the impression you make. People don’t want to be sold to; they want to establish real connections and trust the brands they engage with. Emotional attachment and a humanized brand voice go a long way – it’s what builds long-lasting relationships and cultivates customer interaction and loyalty.

3. Use Smart Incentives

Boost your social media reach and following with contests and sweepstakes – most people will jump at the chance to get some free bees. Organizing giveaways for your products or services is an easy win-win – a great way to boost engagement rate and have a well-motivated audience encouraged to share your posts and, thus, get your brand, products, or services out there.

4. Take Advantage of Video Content

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know how powerful video-based content has become – especially in social media marketing. It’s become the most engaging type of content marketing with an unmatched ROI that offers the opportunity to tell a story, plus it provides amazing actionable insights. So, ensure you jump on this 21st-century marketing bandwagon and harness its power to the fullest.

Social Market Your Way to Digital Heights

Creating a highly-targeted and effective social media marketing strategy will improve your online performance. Utilizing tools to manage your social media presence and interact with your audience will increase your reach and lead generation and cultivate customer loyalty. And most importantly, tracking and analyzing your social media performance metrics will help you stay on the right track and path to success.

A marketing professional’s job is never done – marketing is about perpetual motion and continuous innovation. Use social media marketing as an idea generator, cutting-edge trend mapper, and strategic advertising compass for all your digital marketing ventures, and your brand will become a household digital name in no time.

The post Social Media Marketing Guide: Tools, Tips & Tricks for Results appeared first on Play Media.

Digital marketing is a fast-paced and ever-evolving industry where the bleeding edge is everything in the never-ending battle for customers’ attention. Yet, after all, the best marketing is one that doesn’t feel like marketing at all. And that is how native advertising, one of the most immersive advertising experiences, was born.

Our all-in-one native advertising guide will help you unpack the mysteries and intricacies surrounding this marketing strategy of the future. Read on to find out what native advertising is, why it matters, and how you can use the power of native ads to boost your digital marketing efforts and skyrocket your business success.

Take a deep breath because we’re diving right in!

The Definition of Native Advertising and How It Works

Native advertising is a form of paid advertising. It’s the process of designing ads that seamlessly match the structure and function of their surroundings – the media format they appear. In other words, native advertising is non-disruptive paid media relevant to the consumer experience and harmoniously integrated into the surrounding content. Scratching your head? Let’s break it down.

The key idea behind native advertising is creating ads so cohesive with the content of a web page or app, flawlessly camouflaged into the design, and consistent with a digital platform’s overall feel that the viewers feel it naturally belongs there and, thus, don’t perceive it as an ad.

Native ads blend into their surroundings by matching the look and feel of a site or an app to provide a better user experience for visitors, instead of jumping out at readers screaming: “Hey, this is an ad! Look at me!”

The Marketing Doppelgangers: What Are Native Ads?

The “sell-sell-sell” and “in-your-face” advertising methods simply do not work in today’s advanced digital era. In fact, they do more damage than good by putting off users and leaving them running for the “X” button. After all, nobody reads advertising – people read stories, information, and solutions. Thus, marketers should not seek to disrupt conversations but to integrate. And that’s where native ads come into play.

Native ads are ads that fit “natively”, naturally and seamlessly on the web page they appear on – hence their name. In contrast to banner or display ads that are often seen as intrusive, native ads are consumed as if they were any other piece of content, with barely a blip in the consumer experience.

By taking on the look of the media they appear on, they help spread commercial messages that don’t look like traditional advertisements that overtly push products or services without raising any promotional “red flags” or disrupting users’ interaction with the page, so they can be consumed as if they were a natural part of the user experience architecture of a given digital platform.

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Why Is Native Advertising Important?

Innovation is crucial to digital marketing. Consumers are transforming faster than we are, and if we don’t catch up and reconnect with the users in the modern advertising space, we’re in trouble.

Back in the day of online advertising’s first baby steps, the blinking web banners ruled the web as they caught users’ eyes with their flashy design. Over time, users got accustomed to these dull ads to the point they didn’t even notice them anymore. Then came the notorious, pestering popups that unapologetically interrupted the browsing experience. Eventually, the click-through rates (CTR) started to decline, so the marketing world needed to breathe new life into its advertising methods.

Unlike traditional display ads, modern-day native advertising offers the opportunity to truly connect, engage and build trust with users and impact purchase behavior subtly. It does that by naturally blending into the media format of users’ choosing and seamlessly integrating into the potential customers’ experience to avoid being intrusive and disruptive.

Why Are Native Ads Winning the Race? Key Benefits of Native Advertising

Native ads benefit everyone in the ecosystem: the users, the publishers, and the advertisers. The list of all the pros and distinct advantages of using native advertising could go on forever – there are numerous benefits to using this strategy for building brand awareness and driving engagement and revenue.

Here are some of the most prominent ones:

· Less Intrusive

The biggest advantage and true power of native ads lie in their ability to expose readers to promotional content without sticking out and users dismissing them like they would traditional ads. Native advertising works because it doesn’t feel like advertising at all – it may be promoting a product or a service but doesn’t oversell or annoy readers.

· Better Campaign Performance

The effectiveness of native advertising is another one of its digital superpowers. Native ads generally perform better in contrast to many other ad formats. In fact, 71% of consumers say they personally identify with brands that launch native ads, while only 50% feel the same way about traditional display ads. Sound like a win-win!

· Increased Clickthrough Rates and Conversions

Does native advertising actually work? Statistics would agree – native ads drive 8.8 times higher CTR and 18% higher purchase intent than traditional display ads. Talk about effectiveness! The contextual relevance of native ads allows them to produce high Click-Through Rates and, thus, significantly boost conversions and ROI.

· Engaging and Generating Trust Among Consumers

Native advertising helps brands build trust among their target audiences and connect with them by sharing valuable content without resorting to annoying pop-ups or intrusive and disruptive messages that feel “forced” and “fake”, completely ruining user experience and brand image.

Digital Chameleons: Different Types of Native Ads

Native ads are successful only when done right. To achieve their “invisible yet visible” quality, native ads must be unobtrusive, fit in with the rest of the user experience and provide value. However, success in native advertising is not all about execution – it also depends on picking the right channel and form of native ad that aligns with your digital marketing goals and brand.

Choose wisely.

Search Engine Native Advertising

One of the most common types of native advertising is one you probably come across daily – the ads on search engine result pages. The top of the first search results page is almost always adorned with paid ads, but if you weren’t familiar with Google’s paid ads, you probably wouldn’t even it’s there – the only difference between sponsored search results and other organic search results is a small “Ad” label that sits unobtrusively in the corner.

Native Advertising On Social Media

Native ads can also be run on social networks, where they take on the form of a regular post. Sponsored posts on social platforms perfectly fulfill their native advertisement duty of blending into the format of the medium they’re presented on.

You probably noticed how posts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest seamlessly blend into the rest of the feed – they look completely natural, apart from being labeled as “sponsored” within the well-hidden caption or location stamp, enabling them to look and feel authentic and organic while subtly promoting a business, product or service.

In-Feed Native Ads

Many websites, social media platforms, and news outlets incorporate some variation of a “feed” for the online content they provide. In-feed ads are placed natively in the news feed or social feed of a platform and appear in line with the rest of the scrolling selection of organic content.

Sponsored Listings and Recommendation Widgets

Native ads are often intelligently embedded in personalized suggestions and recommendations for content users might be interested in, in the form of scrollable content carousels. They also found their way into promotional listings, like Amazon’s.

Custom Native Ads

Digital advertising campaigns and native advertising options are constantly evolving, continuously opening the path for new creative ways to seamlessly blend in native ads to engage with target audiences and drive conversions. As native ads are masters of camouflage, custom sponsored content can be integrated into any digital platform or take on any form – they could be anything from Snapchat and Instagram filters to videos or tweets.

Real-Life Native Advertising Examples

Why don’t we sneak a peek at a few other interesting and popular examples of native ads and how they work their magic to help you get the pig picture?

On a blog-oriented website, the native ad would be a blog post, written and displayed in a way that looks like all the other blog posts on that site, apart from a little note somewhere that it’s sponsored by an external brand. Promoted social media posts are native ads, for example, as is sponsored recommended content at the ends of articles.

Paid video content on Youtube is a great example of how native mobile advertising works. This promotional media is designed to match the visual design and function of natural content appearing in your Youtube feed of recommended videos.

The Burning Question: Is Native Advertising Ethical?

Certain people warned about the danger of potentially “angering” users by resorting to trickery and deception by masking native ads into regular content people came for and called for greater transparency regarding native advertising.

Despite the stigma and controversy around native advertising, regulators and publishers consider native ads ethical, as long as they’re labeled clearly. The reasoning behind this is that if readers know they are looking at promotional, commercial messages (like when the ad is clearly labeled), then native advertising isn’t deceptive and, thus, ethical.

So, there are laws and legal guidelines that regulate the native advertising landscape. For example, although savvily blended, mandatory texts such as ‘promoted by’ or ‘sponsored’ within a post or a thumbnail are there to indicate that it is paid, commercial content.

The Potential Downfall Native Ads are Facing

Although we’re currently in the golden age of native advertising, it might not be as effective in the long run.

Just like the “banner blindness” eventually evolved, people might become numb to native ads at some point, as well. There are also indications that some people don’t trust brands that promote branded or sponsored content, in general. Perhaps the greatest potential threat lurking around the corner is ad blockers, slowly evolving to recognize sponsored online content.

It remains to be seen how this will shape the future of native campaigns. In the meantime, feel free to leverage all it has to offer, as this powerful native content marketing strategy drives sky-high ROIs and strong click-through rates for businesses worldwide, making it oh-so worth your time.

Native Advertising: The Future Of Original Content Marketing

Native ads have left traditional forms of advertising biting the dust and risen to the very top as the most popular and successful form of advertising in today’s digitally-centered world. Their superpower is their unique ability to camouflage their way into customers’ minds and hearts without interfering with their digital experiences, as well as evolve alongside the digital sphere and media as they change.

When executed correctly, native advertising campaigns are some of the most powerful tools modern-day marketers can leverage. Try to steer away from deceptive, over-the-top, or dull native ads, as they can damage your advertising efforts. Use our tips and insights to navigate the digital native advertising landscape and natively advertise, or, shall we say – camouflage – your way to digital marketing success!

The post What Is Native Advertising In Digital Marketing? appeared first on Play Media.

Today, we’ll walk you through one that’s been making waves in the link-building community for a while now: The Skyscraper Technique. The Skyscraper Technique can help you create link-worthy content to earn high-quality links and traffic from every piece of content you publish.

Want to one-up top-notch content by savvy marketing gurus? Read on to learn what the skyscraper technique is, why it works and how to execute it successfully!

What Is the Skyscraper Technique?

In our evolved digital marketing world, Google and other search engines aim to please the users and thus, actively encourage white hat techniques and ranking strategies such as natural link building and producing informative inbound content. That’s where the Skyscraper Technique comes in to work its magic.

The term “Skyscraper Technique” was initially coined in 2016 by SEO expert Brian Dean, the founder of Backlinko, when explaining a new way to look at link-building strategies. He performed a case study using this approach, describing how he doubled his search traffic in just two weeks by increasing the number of backlinks to his content.

Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors—the higher your number of backlinks, the more likely your content will rank well. The Skyscraper Technique is a link-building strategy that relies on this fact. It’s based on finding high-ranking content with a lot of backlinks, capitalizing on its weaknesses, then using it to develop a much better piece of content. In other words, it’s a method of building upon the best content out there to create something even better.

Skyscraper Technique In SEO

You could say the Skyscraper Technique is kind of like the “marriage” of meritorious link-building strategy and compelling content creation. It’s an entirely transparent and white hat SEO strategy. To break it down, the “skyscraping” process involves three basic steps:

• Finding high-quality content with a large number of backlinks
• Building upon high-quality content to make original content that’s even better
• Reaching out to the right people related to those targeted pieces of content

Why Use the Skyscraper Technique?

What’s the point in investing time and effort into creating content no one will ever read, right? Suffering from a lack of search visibility is a modern-day SEO struggle. If people aren’t going to find your content organically, you have to turn to alternative strategies. That’s where the Skyscraper Technique comes to the rescue. You can use it to build high-quality backlinks to your content, which will, in turn, increase your organic traffic and authority.

Generally, people like the tallest skyscraper in a city landscape. Likewise, people like the best content in the SERP landscape. Using the Skyscraper Technique is a way for you to construct the “tallest building” in the neighborhood by building upon an already-existing and already-good piece of content.

The Skyscraper Technique is incredibly effective for link-building and driving organic search traffic if executed correctly. Not only does this strategy let you create great, competitive content that earns traffic, but also lets you boost authority by earning numerous backlinks. Talk about an SEO’s dream come true!

Benefits of the Skyscraper Technique

Do you have great content but still struggling with getting enough traffic or backlinks? The Skyscraper Technique can help you break out of this rut and gain visibility and the right exposure.

Still not convinced? Here are a few top advantages of using the Skyscraper Technique:

It Helps You Reach Target Audience

A significant advantage of the skyscraper technique is that there’s proven demand for the topic or keywords. With this content strategy, you have the chance to excite an already warmed-up audience by knowing their preferences and interests, making it easier to hit the target.

Improves Authority and Boosts Traffic

The Skyscraper Technique earns you a high number of backlinks, increasing your site’s overall authority. By choosing the contacts that you outreach, you can control the process of obtaining high-quality links that are of high value for Google rankings and visibility.

It Saves Time

The skyscraper technique lets you save time in the content creation process by analyzing how well the topic is presented in the original article, and understanding what made it successful, which helps you add the icing to the already-made cake and create even more engaging posts.

It Provides Real Value to Users

By perfecting content that is already performing well, you can provide high-quality content that is relevant and useful for your readers.

Does the Skyscraper Technique Work? What All The Controversy Is About

When the Skyscraper Technique wins, it wins big, as Brian Dean has shown us. Nonetheless, it has a notorious reputation. The Skyscraper technique is quite controversial as it has a seemingly high fail rate. Much like other hot content marketing and SEO boosting trends before it, the original concept of the Skyscraper Technique is brilliant. It’s the overuse and misuse that makes it a menace.

Many blogs and businesses trying to outdo each other think the skyscraper technique is synonymous with length, not value. Yes, it is a type of long-form content, however, the Skyscraper Technique isn’t just about producing longer posts to rank higher than your competitors on SERPs or an excuse to plagiarize content. Everyone loses in that arms race.

The most common mistakes people make when using the Skyscraper Technique are:

1. Not conducting a thorough competitor and keyword research
2. Making unoriginal / plagiarised content
3. Thinking all search intent is created equal
4. Thinking longer is always better
5. Sacrificing user experience and value for more content
6. Extending outreach too narrowly

Luckily, you can take steps to ensure that you’re implementing the Skyscraper technique the right way, to use it to your advantage and get the best possible outcome.

The Skyscraper Technique Best Practices: How To Execute The Skyscraper Technique to Boost Your SEO

The secret behind the Skyscraping Technique’s success? Actually pulling it off. Knowing the definition of the skyscraper technique is simply not enough. To truly leverage its many advantages, you have to arm yourself with the best strategies and incorporate them into your marketing campaign the right way.

If you want to build a proper skyscraper, you’ll need to plan ahead. So, how can you apply the Skyscraper Technique effectively, make the most out of it and get tangible results? Let’s dive right into it.

1. Look for Relevant and Link-Worthy Content

Before you start writing your skyscraper content, take a peek at other websites’ top-performing content to see what they’re doing well. Then beat them at it. Yes, it’s that simple. You can find content by keyword, by topic, or by an authoritative source. The content you create needs to have demand (aka high search volume) to be worth the effort. If there’s no audience for your content, it doesn’t matter how good it is — no one will read it. So, stick to what’s popular in your niche.

Determining the “best” existing content comes down to the number of backlinks as a reference point. The best piece of content is usually the one that already ranks very high, which means it has a lot of organic search traffic, social media shares, and quality backlinks. Sometimes, however, the top entry in the SERPs won’t be the page with the most backlinks. You can use backlink checker tools to help you identify the best opportunities.

2. Outdo Best Performing Content

The next step in your skyscraper technique is to outdo your competition. Once you understand the content you’re up against, ask yourself: “How can I make it even better?” Your goal is to stand out from the existing content with something of more value. Add icing to an already tasty cake.

Look for new and unique ways to create content that communicates a similar message – with a twist. Take what’s already there, look at it from a unique angle, and one-up it. You can create a better piece of content by making it longer, more up-to-date, better designed, and more thorough. Increase the content volume and make it more visually appealing, informative, detailed, or elaborate.

Whatever you do, make sure it towers above the competition. In other words, offer more of everything. Put yourself in the shoes of your audience. Then, go above and beyond to provide more value to your readers and create the ultimate source for the topic at hand.

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3. Reach Out to The Right People

Simply putting a piece of skyscraper content up on your website and hoping people will take to it won’t cut it. Producing high-quality, valuable content is only half the battle. The rest is gaining notice and earning backlinks for your content to be considered worthy of a top ranking on search results. So, after you’ve spiced things up and created a better piece of content than the original – it’s time to hunt for quality prospects for the link-building part of the skyscraper technique!

Outreach your content to people who have already linked some of your previous content. Get in touch with those that linked your competitors’ content and show them why they should link yours. If it truly is better than the original content, it should be a win-win. Don’t foresee those who hadn’t linked but might be interested in your blog post. You can also use HARO services to find journalist requests relevant to your blog post.

4. Pitch Your Content The Right Way

Your last step in implementing the Skyscraper Technique is to send a brief, actionable email to the authors and ask them to link to your website. Their inboxes are probably full of similar requests, so you need to make sure your message sticks out.

Email outreach is your best friend – if you approach it the right way. You need to create a highly personalized email campaign. So, don’t stick to a generic email template – make it your own. Segment and hand-tailor emails for your prospect list to make them relatable.

Mention a specific point from the article and highlight the value of the content piece. Explain how your new content goes a step further, why it’s something potential readers will enjoy, and something they would want to link to. Show genuine interest and provide an offer they won’t be able to refuse.

5. Monitor and Update Your Content

To truly leverage your execution of the skyscraper technique, you need to monitor and keep track of the SEO metrics of your backlinks. Also, as more and more content is produced and content gets stale over time, you need to make sure you always keep it fresh and up-to-date for it to stay relevant to your audience and for the Skyscraping technique to be successful in the long run.

Ready to Give the Skyscraper Technique a Go?

Content is still king – It’s the best content that always wins the race. Thus, skyscraper content is about quality, not quantity. It’s about outsmarting your competition to ensure long-term SEO success.

Pulling off the Skyscraper Technique will ensure you cover a topic from every angle imaginable, create the most authoritative content out there and provide value to the end-users. In return, you’ll reap all the benefits of a large number of backlinks and compelling content no one will be able to get enough of!

Yes, we’re talking about the content marketer’s dream – boosting organic traffic and ranking high in the SERPS! Ready to build some digital skyscrapers?

The post The Skyscraper Technique 101: What Is It and How to Pull It Off appeared first on Play Media.

Setting up your SEO campaign looks easy when you look at the available content on the topic. But the details and finesse make the SEO and ranking process so hard to achieve.

SEO is getting even more exciting with the rise of voice search, Core Web Vitals updates, AI, and emphasis on search intent. Still, there are crucial areas of an SEO campaign where you need to go in-depth to achieve better rankings.

The key areas you want to focus on are:

• Keywords
• Content
• Content promotion
• On-Page optimization
• Link Building
• Technical SEO

In this SEO tutorial, there are actionable tips to improve each key area. But, the basic premise of the SEO campaign remains the same. Match the user’s search intent with useful information and show them your business has a solution for their problems.

Keywords

Keywords are the foundation of any SEO campaign. After you finish the keyword research, you should have a list of keywords that satisfy search intent and high-value keywords. The final list has to help you develop business-relevant pages that match how users perform relevant searches.

Search intent represents the reason behind a user’s search on search engines. Planning an SEO campaign is all about anticipating what users search and why they search for it. A method to get such insight is to create a search persona.

A search persona is similar to a customer persona. The difference is that the search persona focuses entirely on the search behavior of the user. Collect as much information as possible while trying to imagine the user’s search process.

Here is a process you can use to develop search personas:

• Define your target audience
• Define searcher’s pain points
• Define searcher’s basic queries
• Define your solution
• Use available data

Knowing your target audience is the core of any marketing task. A successful SEO campaign rests on your ability to match the user’s queries and searches with pages and content. And, you can measure that success with available data.

Let’s break this down.

When you look for keywords, think about whether they fit in your site structure and pages you want to rank for specific keywords. Even if you are unsure of whether you have the high-value keywords, look at available data. You can find all the data you need with keyword research tools.

SEO Tools for Keyword Research

There is a common misconception about keyword research tools. Paying for an Ahrefs subscription isn’t a guarantee of a list of high-value keywords.

Of course, using Ahrefs or SEMRush helps a lot. Paid keyword research tools have additional features to help you analyze the competition, get extensive keyword lists, and even find new content ideas. Also, you can check out competitors’ backlinks and see their anchor text.

However, there is another tool that is completely free and reliable. Google search gives you a chance to use the engine as a user would. Then, you can use websites like Reddit and Quora to find questions, learn about pain points, and find more keywords.

Here’s a list of some paid and free tools you can use for keyword research.

Paid:

• Ahrefs
• SEMrush
• Long Tail Pro
• KWFinder

Free or have a free plan:

• AnswerThePublic
• Ubersuggest
• Google Keyword Planner
• SpyFu

With free and paid tools, you’ll get a comprehensive list of keywords for your SEO campaign. Now, it’s time to separate high-value keywords and finish your keyword list. High-value keywords are business-relevant terms with high volume and low difficulty.

Also, your keyword list should utilize the three types of keywords – Head, body, and long-tail keywords:

Head Keywords

Head keywords or head terms are single-word keywords with a lot of search volume. These keywords are highly competitive and hard to rank. Head terms have broad search intent, which makes them very hard to convert.

Body Keywords

Body keywords are phrases consisting of 2-3 word phrases with a decent search volume. They are more specific than Head keywords and easier to rank. These keywords are less competitive and have more chances to convert.

Long-tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are phrases with more than four words. They are very specific, but these keywords have less search volume. Yet, even with less search volume, long-tail keywords make up the majority of online searches. Also, they aren’t very competitive and are easy to rank.

Keywords Grouping

Keyword grouping is the final edit of the keyword list. While your keyword list has a lot of different keywords, select those relevant to your business.

Remember that there are no best keywords when it comes to SEO campaigns. The closest to the best keywords are those that best reflect the search intent.

The best way to group keywords is to separate them by pages and content you’ll have on your website. Separate them into several categories for primary and secondary pages. After that, the keyword research is over.

Keyword Research Trends in 2022

Keyword research is experiencing a change with the advent of voice search and AI. Soon, AI-powered algorithms will focus more on the semantics of your page and keyword relevancy.

And, voice search works better with long-form keywords rather than general body and head keywords.

Search intent is more important than ever. Developing search personas helps you to rank and bring users to your website. More than that, it can help you create better content.

Content

While keywords are the foundation of an SEO campaign, the content remains the king. All SEO tasks gravitate around content. The success of your SEO campaign, whether in rankings or conversions, depends on the content.

The content is the way you answer search intent. Writing SEO content is all about finding the balance between copywriting and search intent. While you need good copy and content, you want to optimize it for keywords and follow SEO writing guidelines.

SEO copywriting and content writing are a tad different from classic copywriting. Sure, your content needs to touch their pain points and offer them a solution. But, catering to Google guidelines is just as important.

Another thing you want to invest time in is UX. Usability of content and compatibility with mobile devices is an important ranking factor for Google. The basic premise of SEO is that most users search on mobile devices. Write in shorter blocks of text to suit the mobile device screen.

Plan for the links in advance, and think about page layout when you write the content. Also, think of the content format you want to produce. Types of content you can write are:

• SEO landing pages
• Resources
• Blog posts
• Long-form content

Long-form content is the most popular form due to its high compatibility with SEO guidelines. It pushes you to add more relevant keywords, LSI words, headings, links and create featured snippets.

It helps you to create content users want to read. Also, this type of content may rank for several positions and queries in the search results. Yet, bringing it all together is what makes quality SEO writing so hard to pull off.

SEO Writing Tips

Let’s start with the common misconception about copywriting. Copywriting today has a lot of connotations with buzzwords like storytelling and narratives. Classic copywriting is all about presenting your product as a solution to the problem a user has.

For example, you could present a pair of work boots as a revolutionary product through storytelling. You could also show the average worker how full-grained leather protects him more than the usual leather. The latter is a more effective form of copywriting.

In essence, your content should provide value to the reader, matching their search intent and pushing all the right buttons. To do so, understanding your target audience and their pain points is crucial. When you are familiar with what type of information, product, or solution users are looking for, it’s much easier to grab their attention.

SEO writing works on the same principle, with the difference in that you need to:

• Present information in a short and understandable manner
• Avoid power-words and storytelling
• Follow Google updates and best practices
• Break content with H2 and H3 headings
• Write for mobile-device users
• Write for search intent
• Provide expert insight

Avoid keyword cannibalization, and avoid thin content. Google algorithm recognizes thin content, and it treats it as a signal to not index your content. Write genuinely helpful content for your readers.

Whenever you are unsure of how to write or what to add, ask yourself the following. Would this content be helpful if you were to search for a ranking keyword?

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Always Write with Search Intent in Mind

Your priority as an SEO writer is not to appeal to emotion but to appeal to the search intent. Get a list of about 10 keywords you want to use to optimize the page, and use the keywords appropriately.

Apart from understanding your audience and creating content that provides them with real value, you’ll also need to stand out in the SERP to get their attention.

Your page title tells the users what the content is about and whether it answers their intent. A compelling title that captures the essence of what the user is looking for can make all the difference between acquiring a visitor or having them scroll further.

Of course, the content on your page needs to live up to the promise you made with your page title.

Now, let’s focus more on the UX.

Content and UX

When you have SEO content, enhance it with UX. User experience in digital marketing is getting more relevant with Core Web Vitals update and changes to the Google algorithm. For a better UX, work on:

• Headings
• Links
• Buttons
• CTAs
• Page navigation
• Page load speed
• Accessibility
• Images and video

Before you start optimizing your content, think about how it is for a user accessing your page. You want to give them a chance to reach content, buttons, links, and CTAs with a single click.

While your initial goal is to make them read through the whole page, give them a chance to complete an action or get information right away.

Headings help a lot to break the content into segments making it easier to read and skim through. Your titles and headings should be compelling and encourage users to visit your page. Once there, their purpose is to keep them engaged and reading. Even if your content is great, a generic or uninteresting title/heading is likely to put off users from delving deeper.

Images and videos help to break the page down. Load your content with links from your other pages and posts.

Use a few CTAs on your pages. Give the users a resource they can use to solve their problems.

Long-form Content

Finally, you want to write more long-form content in 2022. Long-form content is great for SEO since it pushes you to create:

• In-depth content on a single subject
• Content with more relevant keywords
• Content with more internal links
• Content that ranks for more queries

The problem with long-form content is that you need the expertise to write it. Writing 2,000-5,000 word content requires extensive knowledge of the topic. Now, the Google algorithm can recognize whether you provide useful information or you have thin content.

Long-form content comes in many formats, and some of them are:

• Blog posts
• Guides
• Reviews
• How-to articles
• Case studies
• Whitepapers

When writing long-form content, pick a relevant topic and cover it in detail. Later on, you may rank for rich snippets, answer queries, and specific keywords.

Other writers and marketers naturally link toward long-form content since it has so much relevant information.

While it’s relatively hard to make, long-form content pays off in the long run.

SEO Content Trends in 2022

Create topic clusters. Developing SEO content gets hard after you finish writing content about primary topics. Branch your content into topics that rank for similar keywords to extend your reach further.

Spend more time writing resources and FAQ pages. Try to use more long-tail keywords, and create rich content, with video and images as support.

Content Promotion

Now that you have excellent content, you have to promote it. Content promotion is highly similar to content marketing. If you are wondering what is content marketing, it’s a practice of creating content to aid the user through a buyer’s journey.

It takes at least a month for Google to index new pages. Sometimes there are a lot of competitors already ranking for your relevant keywords. Then, you want to use strategies and other channels to get your content out there.

A great thing about content promotion is that there are a lot of channels to promote your content. However, you need to know how and when to use them. Also, remember to follow the promotion channel’s best practices when reaching out to your audience.

Email, social media, and blogging still work. Video marketing and influencer marketing are novelties of content promotion. Utilize them in your content promotion strategy.

Content Promotion Channels

You can find a lot of lists with content promotion hacks. However, the core content promotion channels remain the same. They include:

• Blogging
• Email
• Social media
• Paid ads
• Video marketing
• Influencer marketing

Blogging is perfect for SEO campaigns. You can take body keywords and long-tail keywords and form blog posts around them. Blogging helps you to rank in the SERPs and attract a lot of traffic. It works even better if you have a regular audience.

You can reach out to them through an email list. Then, your audience can access the new content through email. Email lists are more relevant than ever, especially since you can reach your audience through a few clicks.

Social media is another excellent way to reach out to your audience. Having pages and profiles on social media networks gives you a direct link to your audience. With sharing capabilities and comments, you get instant feedback and traffic.

Paid ads are another channel you want to utilize. They are the fastest way to expose your content to new audiences. Even though your primary focus is to rank pages through SEO, make sure to have a budget for paid ads as well.

Video marketing became a new thing. Video is such a great way to push out your new content. People want to watch it, and you can record shorter materials while leaving the link in the description. Also, video is huge for SEO, so make sure to have a video strategy ready.

Finally, there’s Influencer marketing. Reaching out to influencers and asking them to share your content could give you a boost. You can compile the list of influencers and outreach to them. They could help your content go viral.

Content Promotion Tips

To reach a wider audience and retain your audience, follow content promotion best practices.

First, outreach a lot. Get to know people in your industry. Create a genuine connection with them. Later on, this may help you with your link building and promotion since you know the people. Always network.

Next, follow formats. Each content promotion channel has a specific form of communication. Ensure that communication is crisp and straight to the point.

Try to create a community. Nothing can beat people who wish to engage your brand by their choice. Spend time knowing your users and keep providing value to get results.

Content Promotion Trends in 2022

Invest more time in content repurposing and content marketing. You can create a long-form piece of content, break it down into smaller pieces, and post them on social media. Then, go on and do the same thing on the same topic through a video.

People want more context in the content they consume. When they see a link to a 2500 word piece of content, why should they click it?

Instead, think about how specific pieces of content help them move through the funnel and back to your website. Make the buyer’s journey accessible through your content promotion.

On-Page

Once the content is ready, it’s time to perform an on-page optimization. On-page optimization is a set of practices that helps the search engine understand what the page is about. Optimize the meta, format the content, and follow the Core Web Vitals for better rankings.

The purpose of keyword research and content development is to satisfy search intent. But, the purpose of on-page optimization is to cater to search engines. Search engines crawl your page to understand what it’s about.

The bots that crawl the page look at how well your page satisfies the search intent, follow guidelines, and page formatting.

On-Page Optimization Best Practices

Let’s start with the on-page optimization best practices. When you are ready to publish the content, use a plug-in like Yoast to optimize the content. There are other plug-ins for SEO, but Yoast is simple to use and beginner-friendly.

Also, it makes it easy to optimize:

• Title tags
• Meta descriptions
• Content with keywords
• Headers

Title tags and meta descriptions are visible in the search engine results. Optimize them for CTR. When the search results appear, grab the user’s attention and make them click on the results. Always include relevant keywords in your title tags and meta descriptions.

Also, meta descriptions are what the bots crawl to understand the page. Write short meta descriptions with concise explanations for higher rankings. Then, move on to optimizing headers and content.

Use keywords naturally in content and headings. Slamming keywords together may even lead to negative ranking. Write naturally, and group your content in logical segments with relevant keywords.

After that, perform internal linking and optimize images. Internal linking is a simple way to increase dwell time on pages and hold the user on your website. Optimizing images can help you to appear for additional queries for people using Google image search.

On-Page Optimization and UX

On-page optimization requires you to work on the UX. Primary metrics for on-page optimization are:

• User experience
• Bounce rate
• Dwell time
• Search intent
• Page loading speed
• CTR (Click-through rate)

Google looks at the experience you provide with your pages and content. For search engines, a better user experience means accessible content with fast page loading speed.

Then, you want to reduce the bounce rate and increase dwell time. To decrease bounce rate, ensure that users get the information they are searching for. Give them navigation through a table of contents and let them access segments of the page through links.

To increase dwell time, give the users rich content. Break the content into headings using H2 and H3 headings. This way, the user can skim through the content to see what the page is about.

Then, they can go to the relevant segment or re-read the entire page if they want.

On-Page Optimization Trends in 2022

There’s no way to express how valuable UX is in 2022. UX can make or break your rankings. Remember to write for the readers but optimize for the search engines.

Another thing you want to avoid is power words. Google seems to think of the content with a lot of power words as clickbait.

Link Building

Link building is an essential part of an effective SEO strategy. A successful link building strategy revolves around your ability to find opportunities, execute outreach the right way, and deliver valuable content. These are the core elements of link building.

Work on innovative strategies to get more links and raise the authority of your website. In 2022, there are excellent strategies to try out, and you can learn all about them in our link building for SEO guide.

Before you try out the link building strategies, remember to keep up with the link building best practices.

Link Building Best Practices

For effective link building, you need content that follows E-A-T principles and a list of relevant outreach targets. Building a link or links also requires a proper anchor text selection. Take the time to study what is anchor text to improve the quality of your link building campaign.

E-A-T stands for expertise, authority, trustworthiness, and it remains the timeless SEO principle. Another benefit is that if you know how to improve your E-A-T ranking score, you’ll create even better content.

Your content has to provide genuine value to both the website and its users. Once you have that piece of content, it’s time to find the targets for your link building campaign. To separate low-quality from high-quality links, watch out for:

• Page Authority
• Domain Authority
• Website relevancy
• Link position
• Anchor text
• No-Follow vs Do-Follow links

For even better results, do competitor research. If you use tools like Ahrefs, you can analyze your competitor’s backlinks. Look for websites in your niche or in related industries to that of your business.

Link Building Strategies 2022

A great thing about link building is that you can get creative with it. But, before you try any of the strategies, make sure to follow outreach best practices.

For example, you could implement two-step email outreach in any communication you do. Instead of shooting for the link right away, warm up the target first. Share your insight about their piece of content, create a conversation, and then ask for a link. It gets more results.

Then, there is guest blogging. It’s a classic strategy for getting links and reaching new audiences. Find relevant websites in your niche, pitch them your post, and get the link. If you don’t get an answer, follow-up. Prepare the list of targets in advance.

Podcast link building for SEO is already becoming a staple of a link building strategy. It’s fun, helps you to build your brand, and reaches a broader audience. Find podcasts in your niche, and reach out to podcast hosts. Share your expertise and ideas, create video content, and get a link.

Resource page link building for SEO is another fantastic strategy. It gets you the link, and it helps other writers and marketers. People need resources and naturally link to their source. This is a long-term strategy and requires a lot of research to develop the content.

HARO link building is the new kid on the block. Getting backlinks and quotes in articles written by journalists for websites with high domain authority can help you diversify your backlink structure with valuable links. If you are unfamiliar with this strategy, you’d be well-advised to read up on how HARO works.

Among link building strategies finding unlinked brand mentions is the easiest by far. All you have to do is to find other pieces of content that mention your brand and ask them for a link. In most cases, site owners are going to help you out.

Finally, you can publish stats. Similar to resources, marketers and writers need stats to write content.

Link Building Trends in 2022

Invest more time in podcast link building. Link building is competitive, but appearing in podcasts is going to net you a lot of traffic. Work more on visual content and content with expert insight and a lot of data. Create genuine connections with your targets.

Technical SEO

The most neglected part of the SEO campaign is the technical SEO. While you can learn how to optimize content and write meta descriptions, technical SEO requires a different set of skills.

You have to know how to technically modify the website to make it more accessible to both users and search engines.

Failure to comply with technical SEO specifications may leave you out of rankings. The good thing is that there are audit checklists for technical SEO.

You need a website with a responsive design, higher page speed loading, and better mobile usability.

Focus on these two key areas:

1. Site structure
2. Site speed

How to structure your site:

Whether you are building a new website or doing an audit, there are key elements to consider. When you look at the website structure, pay attention to:

• XML sitemaps
• Site architecture
• URL structure
• Structured data
• Thin content
• Duplicate content
• Hreflang
• Canonical tags
• 404 pages
• 301 redirects

Start with site architecture. Create primary pages, and focus other pages around them. For example, all pages should be three clicks away. Improve the navigation by allowing the user to spend less time browsing through pages and get the information right away.

Then, focus on the URL and links. URLs should contain a maximum of five words. Always add keywords in URLs, and try to write them to reflect the content of the page. If your website has an audience all over the world, add the Hreflang tag to your website.

Now, set the canonical tags and 301 redirects. A canonical tag is a way to set a specific URL as the master copy of the page. Using canonical tags is the simplest way to avoid duplicate content.

The 301 redirects help you to point out that a page has a new location. Redirects won’t hurt your SEO, but they’ll help Google crawl your page. The same goes for 404 pages.

Finally, work on content. Two things you want to avoid are thin and duplicate content. In practice, these two are highly similar due to the low-level quality they provide to the website.

Duplicate content is content that is highly similar to the content on other pages. Thin content is the type of content with no relevant information and serves to fill out the page. SEO writing is so valuable since it’s the factor that helps you rank your content.

Finally, structure your data. Structuring data refers to the action where you organize the data for a search engine to read. While it won’t increase your ranking, structuring data may help you rank for additional search results. Recipes are an example of structured data.

With your site structure ready, it’s time to increase the speed and accessibility of the website.

How to speed up your site:

Page loading speed is an SEO ranking signal. Even if you have the best web design, you can’t rank properly with slow page loading speed. In 2022, it’s all about simplicity and effectiveness. So to speed up your site, you should:

• Use fast hosting
• Use a fast DNS provider
• Minimize HTTP requests
• Keep the use of scripts and plug-ins to a minimum
• Use one CSS stylesheet
• Ensure your image files are as small as possible
• Compress your web pages
• Minify your site’s code
• JavaScript SEO

Always think from the position of user experience. Your users want to solve their problems. SEO is there to help them do just that. Accessing information fast and easy is paramount for your business.

Perform Regular SEO Audits

Auditing your website in regular intervals is key to tracking your search engine optimization progress, identifying any issues early, and planning future steps.

Without an audit with measurable metrics and progress tracking, your SEO efforts would come down to guesswork. And that’s something SEO definitely shouldn’t be.

You can either use SEO tools to perform audits yourself or hire professionals to help you. Whatever the case, keep in mind that performing the audit is only the first step – the second one being understanding the data, and the third one fixing the issues.

If you’re interested to see what an SEO audit looks like, the type of information it provides, and how your website is doing, you can always get a free audit at Play Media.

Technical SEO Trends in 2022

You want to focus on FID, LCP, CLS. These are new ranking factors under the Core Web Vitals update from 2021. You can measure them and get reports in Google Search Console. FID refers to First Input Delay, and it measures when someone first interacts with the page.

For a good user experience, FID should be less than 100ms. LCP refers to Largest Contentful Paint, and it measures the loading performance of the largest contentful element on the screen.

For a good user experience, it should happen within 2.5 seconds. CLS refers to Cumulative Layout Shift, and it measures the visual stability of elements on the screen. The CLS should be less than .1 seconds.

To Wrap it Up

Even with AI-powered solutions and voice search, the core of the SEO campaign remains the same. Satisfy search intent and cater to the search engines.

If there’s a piece of advice to take from this tutorial, it’s to put your users first. The beauty of SEO is that it helps you design a way for users to reach your business.

Focus on their search experience and help them understand how your products solve their problems. That aspect of a successful SEO campaign will never change.

Which tip or technique from this SEO tutorial do you want to test first?

The post SEO Tutorial: All You Need to Know in 2022 [Insights & Trends] appeared first on Play Media.