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How To Use Artificial Intelligence To Rank On Google (Dataiku)

How To Use Artificial Intelligence To Rank On Google (Dataiku)

by | May 31, 2020 | Blog, SEO

How To Use Artificial Intelligence To Rank On Google With Dataiku

by Braeden Schwark | May 31st, 2020

VSA Team

Dataiku Model SEO Results

Artificial intelligence — the new frontier.

It seems like only yesterday that A.I. had surfaced as the new promise for technological advancement.

Google themselves have driven down their energy costs using AI by a huge amount, just by letting machine learning do its thing.

Everyone has heard about AlphaGo, AlphaZero, and even AlphaStar taking the mental-sporting field by storm.

But few truly realize what goes into these deep learning achievements, and feel it’s a big mystery that only Big-Tech can solve.

So why does it feel like AI is so out of reach for the average person or business?

Well, I think it’s because there just isn’t enough accessible information out there.

Just like everything else worthwhile, it takes a bit of time, and effort, to learn a new skill.

I’m here to help you understand the basics, and how to leverage this technology today in improving your Google rankings.

 

The A.I. Basics

 

Although they’re spoken of interchangeably, machine learning, AI, and deep learning, all have their own meaning behind them. Let me explain.

Artificial Intelligence, otherwise known as A.I., refers to the broad idea that machines can be trained so as to perform a task that requires a certain degree of creativity. In other words, it’s the science of creating a machine capable of mimicking human tasks or abilities.

Deep learning, and machine learning, are both subsets of A.I., they help recognize patterns, build correlations, and typically attempt to mirror basic ways humans learn.
One great example of this is a neural network.

Neural networks are a kind of machine learning made up of units connected similar to the neurons of a human brain. In this way, the computer can learn more abstract ideas such as video games with uncertain information, such as Starcraft, or Dota.

Natural Language Processing is what we use to analyze and understand the complexity of languages. If you’ve ever spoken with Siri or Alexa, you have spoken with one of these NLP AIs.

Understanding these terms is important in taking your first steps in using artificial intelligence.

 

Using AI To Rank On Google

 

As you know, Google’s SERPs are all determined by the RankBrain algorithm, which is an artificial intelligence.

By using machine learning, we can reverse-engineer parts of Google’s ranking factors by collecting the key SERPs data and running it through predictive modeling.

 

STEP 1 | Collect The Data

 

There are hundreds of ranking factors, and there’s no way we can collect every single one, even if we tried.

However, there is a lot of on-page and off-page data we can collect in bulk using a few helpful tools.

In this guide, we’ll be using:

 

Scrape SERP URLs Using Ahref Keyword Research Tool

 

The first thing you’ll want to do is to gather a list of URLs that are ranking for your targeted keyword.

In this case, I simply used the Ahref keyword research tool to return a list of the top 100 SERPs for a given keyword.

You can export just one keyword SERP, but the more data you have, the more accurate the predictive modelling will be. So I suggest you export at least 5 related keyword SERPS (~500 results) to work with.

 

Run List of URLs Through Screaming Frog

 

Screaming frog is an SEO favourite when it comes to scraping tools, as it gives you loads of useful data about any list of URLs or domains.

First, you’ll need to use the “list” function on Screaming Frog to manually upload the list of URLs.

Once uploaded, press start, and allow the crawl to run its course.

When the crawl is complete click on export, and save the CSV to your computer.

 

Run the URL List Through BatchSpeed

 

With Googles recent announcement on Core Web Vitals, it is a good idea to also test our dataset URLs for those same vitals.

Batchspeed.com will allow you to crawl your URL list in bulk, and receive critical webpage performance metrics.

The “Core Web Vitals”, as Google calls them, are:

  • First Input Delay, or FID, is the time between the user’s first interaction with the website and it’s response to that interaction.

Using BatchSpeed, you’ll be able to export mobile and desktop performance data that can help build correlations between Core Web Vitals and a URL’s position on Google.

 

Combine the Data

 

Once all of the data is collected, it’s time to combine the data into a single sheet, so our machine learning platform can access all of the pertinent information from one place.

An easy way to port data across spreadsheet tabs is the VLOOKUP formula, which can help you match the data with the proper URL.

 

STEP 2 | Download Dataiku

 

 

Dataiku is a free machine learning platform that is beginner-friendly and offers done-for-you algorithms. There is no better platform to start with if you are looking to learn the ropes of artificial intelligence and it’s applications.

You’ll need to, first, visit the Dataiku website, where you can then click on the “get started” button.

When you land on the pricing page, look for the “free” pricing package and click “install now”.

Now you only need to follow the instructions for your operating system.

It’s important to note that if you are using Windows OS, the installation process will be slightly more complicated.

Once you have Dataiku running, you’re ready to start your machine learning project!

 

STEP 3 | Create a New Project

 

To create a new project, simply click the “New Project” button on the top right of the dashboard.

When prompted, give your project a name. I chose “Top Ranking Factors”.

 

STEP 4 | Import Your Dataset

 

Once you reach your new project dashboard, click on the “+ IMPORT YOUR FIRST DATASET” button.

The button will take you to an upload page, where you’ll want to click “upload your files” under the “Files” category.

You’ll be taken to an upload terminal where you can now import your dataset of ranking factors.


Now that your file is uploaded, you can click “create” on the top right of the screen.

 

STEP 5 | Create a Visual Analysis

 

Continue by clicking on the circular icon on the top left of the toolbar for visual analyses.

Now click on “+ New Analysis”, and select your dataset with the dropdown, and click “Create Analysis”.

You will now be presented with the data you’ve imported.

If needed, you can make changes like deleting irrelevant data columns, and more.

 

STEP 6 | Create Machine Learning Model

 

This is where things get fun.

Head over to the “Models” tab on the top right of your page, and then click “create first model”.

Choose a “Prediction” task.

Select your target variable, in this case, that’s “Rank”. Also, click “Automated Machine Learning”.

Then, select “High-Performance Models” with the “In-memory” engine.

We can run this model as-is, but we still want to make a couple of changes before we pull the trigger.

Head to the “Design” tab.

Under “Modeling”, click “Algorithms”. Then make sure you only have “Random Forest” and “XG Boost” algorithms active. You should also change the “Number of trees” to 1000.

That’s it, we’re ready to go. Click “Train” at the top right, name your training session, and confirm.

Allow the magic of machine learning to take its course. This may take some time.

 

 

STEP 7 | Analyze Your Results

 

When the algorithms have finished processing, they’ll return a number of the most important variables according to their calculations.

You can click on the title of the algorithm report to view more detailed information.

In the case of the Random Forest session, it has evaluated that “Dofollow Domains” is the number one variable related to top-ten rankings, and XGBoost agrees with that assessment.

Feel free to look around the additional charts and information within the models by clicking on them after they’ve finished calculating their reports.

 

STEP 8 | Put Your Data Into Action

 

Now that you have a clear model on what ranking factors have the most impact on your given keywords, you can now put it into action for your SEO campaigns.

By prioritizing your budget, time, and resources towards the metrics that matter most, you can drive organic growth at a faster pace, and at a lower cost.

If your ML results are showing a high “variable importance” for do-follow backlinks, with a low variable importance for on-page factors, consider allocating more of your campaign budget towards link-building and visa versa.

 

Conclusion

 

I hope you found this guide helpful in getting started with machine learning, and how it can benefit your business or agency.

Again, to make the most out of A.I. it’s important to continue learning, and experimenting with more models, algorithms, and datasets to find new ways it can bring value to you or your clients.

If you think of some ideas on what you can do with this technology, give it a try. You never know, you might just discover something extraordinary.

 

Authored by Braeden Schwark

Published on May 29th, 2020

VSA Team

Five Must-Know Tips and Tricks for Quora Marketing

Five Must-Know Tips and Tricks for Quora Marketing

by | May 25, 2020 | Blog, Content Marketing, Guest Posts

Five Must-Know Tips and Tricks for Quora Marketing

by Sorav Jain | May 23rd, 2020

Guest Writer

Anyone who wants to run a modern business successfully in the contemporary world has to look into digital marketing. There are several effective digital marketing tools today. Quora—the exclusive question-and-answer platform that satiates the needs of people from all walks of life—is considered one among the digital marketing trends for 2020. 

Quora is an engaging social media network that helps businesses to share a substantial volume of information while enabling them to promote their products and services efficiently.

Why is Quora Considered Crucial Among the Sophisticated Digital Marketing Tools?

Quora is one of the top social media platforms that are frequented by myriad users who visit for obtaining appropriate answers to their queries. With over an overwhelming 200 million unique visitors, Quora is no doubt a leading, unmatched digital marketing tool today. It is an excellent way to identify the issues that are puzzling the existing and potential user base of your business. 

Replying to Quora questions that are associated with your specific industry helps to demonstrate your skill and experience in the space, thus improving your brand’s image. Furthermore, it helps to influence people to contemplate a problem in a different way that projects your brand or product as a niche. 

Effective Tips and Tricks to get the best out of the modern social platform of Quora

Quora platform is among the top-rated digital marketing trends for 2020. There are certain strategies, following which, businesses may reap the complete benefits of Quora marketing. 

1. Creating an exceptional, captivating Quora profile is essential

Quora has a system of showing your bio in short right at the top of the page. This can be viewed by users. Care must be taken to mention your skills and industry experience so that people who visit get to know more about you and your brand. In fact, this is an excellent opportunity to perform effective branding. 

Quora allows you to show 50 characters of your profile that includes your name and bio; you may make the maximum out of this by mentioning your brand name at the beginning itself. 

You may opt for topic-specific bios as well, wherein, you may mention your experience and skills in the specific fields while answering questions related to those domains. 

To make your Quora profile complete, you may include as many details as possible:

  • Your areas of expertise
  • Detailed ‘about me’ section
  • Your interests
  • Your places and cities
  • Your previous businesses and companies
  • Your qualification and the educational institutions 

2. Refrain from self-promotion and excessive promotion

Answering questions related to subjects in which you have a high level of knowledge enhances your reputation on Quora. While you are given an opportunity to describe your brand here, do not forget that Quora is primarily about providing the best answers to users’ specific questions.

You need to help the Quora community and build your business through that only, and not by attempting to indulge in self-promotional activities. The success of making use of social media as robust digital marketing tools is achieved through enticing members to notice your brand. If they so desire, they would start using your products or services.

It never pays to market your products or website on Quora. Using influencer marketing is, of course, one of the marketing trends for 2020, but it is to be noted that you may resort to marketing only if a specific situation calls for it and adds value to users. Your focus must be on figuring out ways to give back as much to the community as possible. 

3. Choosing the best questions to answer is beneficial

Answering any questions on Quora is fine; it enables sharing knowledge and getting involved on a great level in the community, much like how Vancouver SEO Agency answered SEO questions on LinkedIn. But when using digital marketing tools, you need to follow a strategic way to answer users’ questions. The following are a few of the factors to be considered for such an approach:

  • First, search for the topic that you choose: This helps to significantly narrow down the questions you face. It will further enable you to pick the ones you can handle expertly. 
  • Go for a domain that is related to your business: Selecting questions associated with your specific business and its activities, and answering questions related to a topic that you have previously written about is essential. This equips you with experience, and meaningful stats can be shared, making your answers all the more relevant. 
  • Find threats that have a lot of upvotes: Upvotes are indicators that the specific questions have been viewed on a large scale. It is the popular answers that have the potential to attract a lot of views, and subsequent clicks back to your website.
  • Find questions that are new: Answers coming for fresh, new questions facilitate climbing to the top quickly. 

Questions are even more important than answers. Quora marketing is not just about providing answers, it encourages people to ask the best questions as well.

4. Answering questions with confidence and authority is imperative

You gain expertise and tend to influence people as you go on answering questions and spread knowledge. Unlike user-generated content, one of the immediate benefits of the Quora Platform is that individuals are viewed as authorities on specific subjects. The more you communicate and share your knowledge, the more the chance of you being considered an expert.

By providing great value through answers to questions, you may command great influence. To be able to provide good answers, you need to provide statistics, references, and sources. A short and relevant answer that points to some external resource is welcome.

The requirements of a short and good answer are

  • Ii must be specific
  • It must be focused
  • It must have a personality
  • You need to be passionate about the particular topic
  • You must adopt to storytelling and offer takeaways

You will gain the status of being an authority on a subject by providing answers that have qualities such as being brief and focused while including a link to offer the chance of learning more. 

5. Create your network

You may connect with other users who have interests similar to you by establishing your exclusive network. This is an essential Quora marketing strategy that has to be implemented by businesses. It is suggested that you keep trying continuously to increase your network connections. 

For achieving this, search for individuals having identical interests and those who appear to be obsessed with subjects that you find significant. People with similar preferences and interests in your preferred subjects and your trade will be good resources for developing your business. 

Quora, when used as an effective digital marketing tool, proves to be an excellent place for nurturing new and meaningful connections. The process is easy too. All you need to do is click the ‘follow topic’ button. 

The Significance of Quora in digital marketing trends for 2020

Quora, with its huge following on the Internet in the contemporary world, is not only excellent for communication but also a great opportunity for modern businesses to market their brands to their targeted audience. 

It has been estimated that nearly 37% of Quora users are likely to be from management positions. Quora, when used as a robust digital marketing tool, can help marketers to reach the top-brass and decision-makers of business organizations. 

Wrap-up

Quora has audiences from all walks of life. It is not only being used by information seekers and commoners but also by experts from varied industries with different professional backgrounds. Accomplishing branding and marketing through this medium depends on adding value by providing insightful and useful answers to them, much like content marketing.

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Authored by Sorav Jain

Guest Writer

Sorav Jain is a leading digital marketing expert and trainer. He is the Founder and Thinker-in-Chief of echoVME Digital, one of the best digital marketing companies in Chennai. He is also the Founder of Digital Scholar, India’s first agency-styled digital marketing institute. Sorav lives and breathes digital and is always looking to push the envelope in terms of profitable digital marketing solutions.

Why Link Building Is One Of The Most Important Parts Of Your SEO Strategy

Why Link Building Is One Of The Most Important Parts Of Your SEO Strategy

by | May 5, 2020 | Blog, Guest Posts, SEO

Why Link Building Is One Of The Most Important Parts Of Your SEO Strategy

by Hannah Stevenson | May 5th, 2020

Guest Writer

Link building is a crucial element of any SEO strategy, but it often gets a bad reputation because of poor quality agencies and websites that sell spammy links.

As a result, many businesses choose to overlook link building and instead focus on content creation on their site. 

While high-quality, relevant and insightful content is a vital part of any website optimization process, it shouldn’t be used in isolation. 

In fact, link building goes hand-in-hand with content creation to boost a website’s SEO. By working to build quality links to relevant content, companies can boost their website’s reach and rankings.

If you’re still skeptical about link building, then here are just some of the reasons why it’s a vital part of any SEO strategy and some advice on how you can do it right. 

Links Highlight The Relevance Of Your Content To Readers And Algorithms 

Relevance is a term you’ll hear a lot in the SEO market. That’s because it is one of the main ways that Google, the world’s biggest search engine, assess the relevance of websites and content pages, is to check the websites that link to it.

The search engine is committed to offering users the most relevant content for every search, which is why its algorithm scans websites and looks out for website content that not only contains relevant keywords but is also linked to by other websites. 

If other websites have used your content as a source, then the algorithm believes that it must be relevant and informative. 

As such, when they’re trawling the web seeking out content that will match the intention and needs of any given search, they will give more weight to the content that has been linked to by a lot of top-quality websites.

Therefore, the more relevant links your website has, the better your chance of reaching the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) that you’re targeting. 

Readers will also be incentivized to click on source links within other articles, and they will naturally assume that this content is informative, as it has already influenced the content they have just read. 

As a result, links will help you to rank your website higher on search engines by showing the algorithms that your content is relevant for searches related to your chosen topic and keywords, and as such push your pages closer to the top of the SERPs you’re targeting. 

Being linked on other pages will also encourage clicks, which are also valuable to your SEO and your brand authority. 

Not All Links Are The Same

Many company owners think of link building as a covert operation that involves paying for links that may earn their website a penalty and lose them business. 

However, not all links are worth the same in SEO. High-quality links that are natural and on relevant, professional websites will benefit your website and help to show Google, and readers, that it is worth checking out.

Links on spammy, poorly designed websites that buy links will harm your SEO in the long-run, as Google will notice that you are associated with an irrelevant and bad quality website, which could lead to a virtual black mark against your site’s name.

As such, you need to be selective when building links, and avoid using low-quality, cheap services that will only ruin your reputation in the long run. 

Link Building Begins With Quality Content 

If you’re already investing heavily in your content creation strategy, then I’ve got good news for you; you’re halfway towards building quality links for your website.

Quality content can attract links organically because other content creators will seek out reliable sources for their articles. 

However, these organic links rely on your content already being respected and at the top of search engine results, which means that you need to push it to get it there.

The first step towards that is to promote your content on social media, and use paid adverts if your budget allows for this.

You also need to actively offer your content to other writers and website owners by searching for opportunities. You could propose writing guest posts for quality, relevant websites, or you could use the broken link method- searching for links that have been removed in other people’s content, then offering up your link as a replacement. 

However you do it, you need to push your content towards other website and blog owners so that you can grow its reach and build links. 

All of this work can take you away from your business and the work you do for your customers, which is why many companies seek out outsourced support or bring in teams to help them. If you’re looking for a high-quality link building agency, then search out one that has the same aims as you, and will put in the time and effort to build you top-quality links that will benefit your website’s SEO, not earn it a penalty.

These services often come at a premium, but you get what you pay for. By investing time and money into your link building, you’ll be able to boost your website’s SEO. It can feel like a long, arduous process, but it is a vital part of any business strategy in today’s digital age. 

Conclusion 

As this article outlines, link building is a vital part of any SEO strategy, but it requires a lot of effort and hard work. Cheap link building isn’t beneficial and will only harm your website, so it’s crucial that you take the time to build high-quality links.

Bringing this strategy in-house or working with a high-quality external agency is the best way to ensure that you build links that will enhance your website and help you to achieve your business goals.

Authored by Hannah Stevenson

Guest Writer

Hannah Stevenson is the Content Marketing Manager at UK Linkology. She has extensive experience of content creation for link building, writing guest posts and creating innovative content for a wide range of purposes. She loves to share this knowledge with interested readers.

6 Reasons To Use User-Generated Content In Marketing

6 Reasons To Use User-Generated Content In Marketing

by | May 1, 2020 | Blog, Content Marketing, Guest Posts

6 Reasons To Use User-Generated Content In Marketing

by Carol Sobbers | May. 1, 2020

Guest Writer

Introduction

When we talk about marketing these days, the most vital component for it is known to be the content as the importance of trust and engagement rises among the marketing campaigns.

Nowadays brands and marketers make huge investments to make their marketing campaigns & activities attractive, interesting, and influential. But the challenge has been to find the content that can help them achieve these goals.

User-generated content has emerged as the ultimate solution to these challenges and drive marketing success & growth for brands & marketers. So, what exactly is user-generated content & why should you use it?

 

What Is User-Generated Content?

User-generated content or UGC or consumer-generated content is any piece of content that the social media and digital media users have created and shared on these platforms.

Talking about marketing, user-generated content is when customers create and share content based on their experiences, ideas, opinions, reviews, feedback, etc. that is about or relevant to the brands & businesses.

It is shared by the real customers based on their actual experiences with a business relating to their investments. This makes the user-generated content highly trustworthy, credible, relatable and reliable.

Given these attributes, it becomes the perfect choice for brands and marketers to leverage it in their marketing campaigns and achieve their goals. Here we have listed some of the best reasons why you should use user-generated content marketing.

 

6 Reasons To Use User-Generated Content

 

1. Get Unlimited Stream Of Original Content

As we discussed, the content is extremely useful for the success of any marketing campaign these days, especially after the digital media impact is growing among the users globally.

So, it is essential to have original and fresh content that can help to empower the marketing campaigns. But the challenge that marketers and brands face is that constant content creation that is valuable, intriguing and engaging.

This requires huge investments in resources such as labour or time but user-generated content is quite different as you can get an unlimited flow of UGC from social media platforms where billions of users share valuable content daily.

With UGC, you get an unlimited hub of content that you can collect and curate as per your needs and use it in marketing too with minimal resource investment and better effectiveness.

 

2. Let Users Be Your Trust-Builders

Lately, the components such as trust, authenticity, reliability, etc. have been in the spotlight among the brands and marketers as they have realized the promotional brand-centric marketing is less effective and has a short life.

Also, spammy over promotional misrepresentation marketing has caused distrust and authenticity among the users for the marketing and the brand itself leading to harming the brand image and identity.

Thus, user-generated content again provides the best solution as it is shared by real customers driven by their real experiences so that makes it authentic, reliable and trustworthy more than the branded content.

Trust and authenticity are massive factors for defying the user engagement and the results that a marketing campaign will generate from the users.

 

3. Display Brand Advocacy & Build Desirability

Nowadays there are only a few brands globally for which the customers can take guarantee or credibility for the brand image and its products/services quality. Therefore, brand advocacy being so rare has become extremely valuable among the brands & potential customers.

 

User-generated content about your brand is like the positive word of mouth that users are sharing with their networks and it hugely influences the purchase decisions of the potential customers.

This advocacy by customers for the brand about its quality, value, image, etc. leads to causing brand desirability among the customers for the brand where more and more users want to associate themselves with the brand.

 

4. Build Social Media Reach & Influence

We all know that social media platforms are the primary and most important marketing channels for most of the brands globally. Therefore, it becomes essential to have a strong brand presence and influence on social media platforms.

Building social media presence and influence requires content but not the branded content as people tend to disregard such content due to the no value addition of engagement elements.

Whereas user-generated content increases engagement as it is more relatable, realistic, and interesting. This leads to more sharing and ultimately more reach and exposure for the brand leading to increased following and brand influence on the users.

 

5. Give Users The Engagement Opportunities’

Engagement is probably the most important and success-defining factor for any marketing campaign be it online or offline. So, it is essential to target the user engagement and content is the best way to do so.

As we discussed that the user-generated content is more relevant and realistic so it will create trust among the users leading to attracting them for engagement with content. Also, it will show the brand’s trust in its customers and transparency in marketing.

Along with that, the UGC marketing will also create a chain reaction where more and more users will be motivated to share useful and valuable content for your brand.

 

6. Magnify Your Conversions & Sales

We will start with the fact that over 90% of the users trust user-generated content while making their purchase decisions online and social ads with UGC get 5 times higher click-through rate.

Increasing conversions and sales are important goals for any marketing campaign and user-generated content is a perfect way to do so by displaying trustable, authentic, and valuable information that can positively influence consumer purchase decisions.

The increasing conversions and sales will lead to boosted revenue generation and more profitable opportunities with added benefits of brand building.

 

Conclusion

These were some of the best benefits of user-generated content and this valuable UGC is hugely available on the social and digital platforms. Not just these but there are many more benefits that you can avail using UGC in your marketing along with a powerful omnichannel marketing strategy.

To get started with, you can leverage a tool like the UGC platform to help you create your user-generated content marketing strategy. It will help you in collecting & curating UGC and displaying your UGC campaigns across different marketing channels.

Authored by Carol Sobbers

Guest Writer

Carol is an enthusiastic content curator with a zeal to write anything and everything about digital marketing and related domains. Follow her blogs here and comment what you feel about them!

12 Tips On Writing Amazing PPC Ad Copy & Why You Should Care

12 Tips On Writing Amazing PPC Ad Copy & Why You Should Care

by | Mar 31, 2020 | Blog, Guest Posts, PPC

12 tips on writing amazing PPC ad copy & why you should care

by Rashed Khan | Mar. 31, 2020

Guest Writer

The exact strategy that you use to optimize your PPC advertising account and make it a success will depend on the type of niche that you’re in. So, creating a food marketing PPC strategy will be very different from creating a PPC marketing strategy for a waste disposal company or a cosmetic surgery clinic, for example.

Similarly, a B2B PPC account has many different considerations to a B2C PPC account. However, one thing remains the same across all PPC accounts — the importance of creating great PPC ad copy!

In this blog, we will run through why it is important to optimize your PPC ads and how to do ad copy analysis. We’ll also give you twelve top tips that you can try in order to improve your PPC ad copy and create ads that succeed.

Why is it important to create great PPC ad copy?

Having a strong PPC ad copy can benefit your business in more ways than you might think. Here are four reasons why you shouldn’t neglect your PPC ad copy:

It creates a good first impression – The ad copy is the first thing about your business that your customer will see. A good first impression impacts how the customer perceives the business. This can result in them being more likely to fill in a form or make a purchase on your site.

 

It increases traffic

How does quality PPC ad copy increase traffic? Simple. If the customer doesn’t like what they see, then they probably won’t click the ad. That means fewer people will be landing on your website. If we assume that the traffic that you’re targeting is profitable, then that means you’re getting fewer profitable clicks to your site.

To put it simply, an increase in profitable clicks to the site results in an increase in profit.

 

It improves the quality of traffic

The purpose of a good PPC ad isn’t just to increase traffic. It is also to deter the wrong kind of traffic.

You should bear in mind that with PPC advertising, you pay for each click. The more people that click your ad, the more you pay. Therefore, in an ideal world, all of the clicks that you get should ideally become a sale or a lead.

Of course, we don’t live in an ideal world, which means the best we can do is to take steps to try to get the most relevant traffic possible.

If you include messages in your ad copy that don’t reflect your business or what is on your landing page, then you may win the click, but the chances of the user completing a conversion action on your site are low.

For example, if you sell premium-priced products on your site, then by adding ‘cheap’ in your ad copy, you may increase your clickthrough rate but the chances of securing a successful sale are low.

This is because you’re attracting the wrong audience. Similarly, there is no point in mentioning that you have a ‘75% off clearance sale’ in your ad copy when you don’t have a sale on your site. This is because people are going to bounce off your page as soon as they find out that there is no sale happening.

 

Higher Quality Scores

Google Ads Quality Score is a score from 1 – 10 that Google assigns each of your keywords. The higher your Quality Scores, the less you pay for a click. Seeing as though your clickthrough rate is a metric used to calculate your Quality Scores, it makes sense to work on optimizing your clickthrough rate.

Writing good PPC ad copy makes it more compelling to the user, which in turn improves your clickthrough rate and your Quality Scores.

How do I start optimizing my ad copy?

The first step is to create multiple ad copies for each ad group in your PPC account. Google Ads will then split test these ads by showing one ad some of the time and another ad at other times.

The number of ads that you split test will depend on how large your budget is but, in general, we recommend testing three different ads at the same time.

Once you have enough data you can take a look at the performance of your ad copy and pause the poorest performing ad. You can then add in another ad copy and run the test again. By doing this process repeatedly, you will start to find the messaging that best resonates with your customers.

What calculations can I use to decide which ad copy is better?

You should start by downloading the ad copy data into Excel and grouping the ad copy message data. You can then use various metrics to decide which ad copy to pause.

There are various metrics that people use to decide on the best and worst-performing ad copy. Some of these are below:

Clickthrough rate (CTR) = Clicks / Impressions = The percentage of impressions that resulted in a click

Conversion rate (CVR) = Conversions / Clicks = The percentage of clicks that resulted in a conversion

Cost per Acquisition (CPA) = Cost / Conversion = The average cost of a conversion

Impression to Conversion = Impressions / Conversions = The percentage of impressions that resulted in a conversion

A basic starting point is to look at the CTR of your ad copy. If a lot of people are seeing your ad and not clicking, then this shows that the ad message isn’t catching the user’s eye or compelling them to click.

Improving the CTR of your ads will help to improve your Quality Scores. This means that focusing on optimizing this metric should lead to you getting more clicks at a cheaper click price.

However, it is important not to only focus on CTR. This is because an ad may be catching the user’s eye and enticing them to click your ad for the wrong reasons.

If this is the case, then you’re going to win the click (and pay for it), but the likelihood of you getting a sale or lead from the click is low.

Another metric to layer on top of CTR when analyzing your ad copy is CVR. A high CTR but low CVR could mean that you’re bringing in a lot of traffic but the cost of the extra clicks that you get is eating into your profits.

Two good metrics to look at when doing ad copy analysis is to look at the CPA and impression to the conversion of each ad. This is because these metrics combine multiple data points to give you a clearer perspective on which ad is better.

The CPA metric will show you which ad gets leads or sales at the lowest cost. The impression to conversion metric will show which ad would have gotten the greatest number of conversions had we given each ad the exact same number of impressions.

Here is an example of how you could group your ad copy data:

12 tips on writing amazing PPC ad copy

Now that you know the importance of optimizing PPC ad copy and how to do ad copy analysis, it’s time to start thinking about what to include within the copy itself.  

1 – Take inspiration from competitor’s ads

Look at your competitors’ PPC ads to get an idea of the kind of messaging that they’re testing. There may be some inspiration that you can take from them. It may also help you to counteract their ads.

For example, if they mention how much they charge for their product and you’re cheaper, then it makes sense to try adding your price into your PPC ad copy.  

2 – Address your audience

Try talking to your audience by addressing them directly. Use words like ‘you’ and ‘your’. This will make your ad feel more personable.  

3 – Ask a question

We’ve found that asking a question in PPC ads can often work well and is worth testing. For example, if you offer ‘wholesale food supplies’ and someone searches for this, then you could add ‘Looking for Wholesale Food Supplies?’ in the ad copy.

Asking a question in PPC ads often catches people’s attention. This is because it makes them stop and think for a second about what their answer to your question might be.  

4 – Include figures and statistics

Incorporating figures and statistics into PPC ads can be a very powerful tactic to build credibility. It is a quick and concise way to showcase why you’re better than the competition. This is particularly important in a PPC ad, where you have a very limited number of characters to sell yourself.

Here are some examples of facts and figures that you could try:

  • 90% success rate
  • Recommended by 9 out of 10 customers
  • Improve Efficiency by 75%
  • Save £250
  • 1,250 Products Stocked
  • 5,000 Happy Customers

5 – Use countdown timers

Countdown timers can be used in those PPC ads that mention the amount of time remaining before something ends.

We have found that countdown timers are a great way to add urgency and really help to improve the CTR and CVR of your ads.

For example, if you have a sale running that ends in two days’ time, then you can add a countdown timer in your ads that highlights how much time is remaining before the sale ends.

The first tip for using countdown timers that we have for you is not to use them if your offer still has a long time left. Countdown timers work by creating urgency and no urgency is going to be created if your countdown timer ends in four weeks’ time.

The second tip is to also add a countdown timer to your landing page to create a consistent user journey. This will require development resources as it is not currently offered by Google Ads.  

5 – Put your best messaging in the headlines

The headline of your ad is the larger, blue coloured text. This is the most prominent part of your ad. It is common for users to only read this part of the ad when deciding on whether to click on it or not.

It is therefore important to put your best messaging in the headline; if you put your best messaging in the description lines, then it may not even get read by the user.  

6 – Include keywords where possible

Adding your keywords into the ad copy can result in a higher CTR. If the user searches for your keyword and then the ad copy includes that keyword, the user is more likely to think that your ad matches their requirements.

Another benefit of adding the keywords into your PPC ad copy is that doing so can help to improve your Ad Relevance.

Ad Relevance is another metric used to calculate your Quality Score. It looks at how well your ad copy matches the keyword. Therefore, by adding the keyword into the ad copy you can improve your Ad Relevance.

However, it is important that keywords are not added to a point where the ad copy no longer makes sense or appears poorly written.  

7 – Ensure consistency of messaging between ad copy and landing page

In order to convert a successful click into a sale or lead, it is important that any messaging used in your PPC ad is also present somewhere on your landing page.

For example, if your PPC ad mentions that you offer tailored food solutions, then it will help to improve your conversion rate if the landing page that the user sees also mentions this.

This is because the specific messaging on the PPC ad is what attracted the user to click your ad. If it is not on the landing page, then they may click back and continue searching on Google.  

8 – Utilise ad extensions

Utilise all ad extensions that are relevant to your business. As a minimum, you should be using Sitelinks, Callouts and Structured Snippets.

However, there are a lot more ad extensions that you can use also.

Ad extensions give you extra space to shout about your business. They also take up space which not only makes your ad appear larger; it also pushes the competitor ads below yours further down the page.  

9 – Try Dynamic Keyword Insertion

This is one suggestion that I don’t recommend too often. However, it may be worth testing on some PPC accounts.

Dynamic Keyword Insertion is a feature available on Google Ads that adds the keyword that was triggered into the ad copy.

For example, if your keyword ‘foodservice supplies’ is triggered by a user’s search, then Dynamic Keyword Insertion will add ‘foodservice supplies’ into your PPC ad copy. This can help to improve your CTR.

In addition to this, it can also improve your Ad Relevance since it adds your keywords into the ad copy.  

10 – Include USPs

All businesses will have, at one point, had to think about their Unique Selling Proposition and what makes them different or better than the competition.

You can include these in your PPC ads to stand out from your competitors.

For example, do you have multiple years of experience in your field? Do you have a larger food product range than most competitors? Do you offer free delivery where the competitors in your niche don’t?

 

11 – Use a location feed

Google Ads has a feature that allows you to add the location of the user in the ad copy. This results in ad copy messaging that is tailored to the user’s location.

This is especially beneficial for businesses that are using PPC advertising to bring customers to their local store.

So, for example, if a user is searching from Leeds and you have a store in Leeds, your ad copy messaging can include ‘Come Visit Our Local Branch in Leeds’. If the user is based in Manchester, the ad copy can be tailored to say, ‘Visit Our Local Branch just 1 Hour from ManchesterourHou’ instead.

Ads tailored to the user’s location can really help to personalize your ads to the specific user and yield a strong CTR.

To find out how to create a location feed in Google Ads, take a look at Google’s feeds and business data page here.  

12 – Call to action

Include a call to action in your PPC ad copy that tells customers what to do when they land on your page.

A call to action can be very powerful because it can tell a user what they can expect or what they would get if they clicked on your ad.

Here are some examples of calls to action:

  •       Listen Now
  •       Apply Now
  •       Get Started
  •       Watch More
  •       Subscribe Now
  •       Try for Free
  •       Download Free E-Book
  •       Get a Free Quote

PPC ad copy is an integral part of any PPC account and therefore optimizing it can yield vast improvements in general performance.

 

Ad CTAs (Call to actions) illustration.

Wrapping up

A little creativity combined with the twelve ad copy optimization tips mentioned in this blog can go a long way to helping you to successfully optimize your PPC ad copy.

The key is to always be testing new ad copy messaging and then analyzing the results. By doing so, you should be able to improve the CTR and CVR of your ads as well as improve your Quality Scores to bring down click prices.  

Authored by Rashed Khan

Guest Writer

Rashed is the PPC Director at a UK based PPC marketing agency called Pepper PPC Agency. Rashed started off doing SEO marketing before finding his passion in PPC marketing. To find out more about Rashed, take a look at his LInkedin.

15 E-Commerce SEO Best Practices to Increase Your Google Ranking in 2020

15 E-Commerce SEO Best Practices to Increase Your Google Ranking in 2020

by | Mar 27, 2020 | Blog, Guest Posts, SEO

15 E-Commerce SEO Best Practices to Increase Your Google Ranking in 2020

by Cyrel Nicolas | Mar. 27, 2020

Guest Writer

There are tons of SEO tools and practices that can help you all the way to improve your online platform. Go for the high quality and best method to acquire long-term results.
To give you some insights, here are some of the ways that you can do. Take note of these for your e-commerce to strive better online.

1. Use Paragraphing For Contents

As you do an article, make sure you write it with several paragraphs. Don’t single-out one great content. But, don’t make it too long though. The use of paragraphs makes the content or write-up easier to understand. It’s the basic standard so be careful and familiarize yourself. Make sure you know how to put the main idea in every paragraph to have more coherence.

2. Make It Cohesive

Speaking of coherence, make sure that your contents or articles are inclusive with its idea. It should be well-written for your audience to understand easily. Also, contents are one of the significant factors that will help your website to become much more engaging. So, be creative in drafting your articles too.

3. Know Your Audience

You should know what type of audience or possible users are you trying to get. It will help your website to become much more specific and special for your target online audience. So, it’s best to identify their needs for you to cater to the virtual world. Apart from that, it will help you gain their attention much more as well.

4. Use Of Meta Description

To make sure that your website is on the right track, you can use an active meta description on your webpage. The meta descriptions will help your site to gain more online audiences in every post that you provide. So, make sure you work well on your articles. Use the Google SEO best practices 2020 to help you all the way.

5. Parentheses And Brackets

For better content and website performance, use parenthesis and brackets as well. This helps a creative impact on your site. It is for you to have no monotone effect in reading your write-ups or any article for that matter.

6. Responsive web pages

Make responsive web pages so that customers can see your site content comfortably regardless of the screen size. Also, focus on the landing pages where your site visitors will fill their personal information.

7. Make Captivating Headlines

Since you intend to seek the attention of your target audience, one effective way to do so is through having catchy titles or headlines for your content. Most of the time, it is where people are deciding to click your site and run through it. Make them curious and highly interested in what you can offer too. So, be sure to make it sound and look appealing once they read and visit your site anytime in a day. You can hire a part-time freelance SEO expert for help.

8. Use The Right And Relevant Words

In making the website content and in any other aspect, make sure you stay relevant to the theme or concept. Use the right words for your write-ups. It’s a necessary tool to increase the optimization process as well. As a result, you’d be able to gain much more positive results that will affect your search ranking online.

9. Video Contents

Instead of doing long articles, one way to make them stay on your website is through the posting of high-quality videos and photos. In the matter, you have to make it look a bit cinematic for aesthetic purposes. The videos should not be pixelated as well as the photos you decide to post. It should stay relevant. And as much as possible, make it as one of the tools used for marketing. Have a personal branding and make it as your own.

10. Image Contents

You can also use images as your content. So, make sure you optimize it. Look for the high level of quality pictures that you can post.

11. Signals In Website Ranking

Have a high signal in search ranking to make sure you stay on top of a search engine. The signal is one of the critical factors determining your site’s search visibility. So, assess it makes it improve day-by-day for a better online presence in time. You can use keywords and backlinks. To know more and help you out, use the RankBrain as one of your platforms.

12. Use High-Ranking Posts

Since you can see which posts from your website are with the highest rank, make sure you feature them on your site. It’s an excellent move for SEO. People will be naturally drawn to your site since such high-ranking posts are accessible online. Filter your website. Make it more inclusive and cohesive. Look for online recognition so your Google ranking will eventually increase. There are freelance SEO professionals that can give you a hand.

13. Featured Snippets

Use featured snippets to help your site generate organic traffic and exposure online. Once you do, it will pave the way for your target audience to see your webpage at first glance and visit it as well in no time. It gives you much higher ranking results too.

14. Developed And Advanced User Experience

Make sure you pay attention to your users. Have their experiences with your site as one of the factors in making high content and development. The user experience is a priority.

15. Go For A Mobile Version

To make sure that you have more and more audiences, keep in touch with them online through a mobile-type version of your site with accessible features. There are tons of people who use mobile phones to surf the Internet, so better address this concern right away. You can look for programmers to help you out effectively. You can also hire expert SEO specialists for this one. There are many tools that you can use, such as an SEO guide of structured data using JSON-LD, which can help your site improve through time.

Final Word

These are some of the best ideas that you can use to improve your Google ranking as a website in 2020. Make sure to keep these in your mind. Always remember the importance of SEO for the online world. And as you go for optimization, use some of these best SEO practices.

Authored by Cyrel Nicolas

Guest Writer

Cyrel Nicolas has been passionate in online marketing and been an SEO freelancer consultant in the Philippines for almost 10 years. He is the owner of CyrelNicolas.com and helped hundreds of businesses across the globe to increase online brand awareness and organic traffic using effective white-labelled strategies.