SEO Auckland

Agentic AI is Revolutionising Digital Marketing

Sun, 02 Mar 2025 00:32:29 GMT

You can listen to the podcast discussion of this article below.

Artificial Intelligence is no longer just a tool—it’s evolving into something more powerful, more independent, and more capable of transforming industries at a fundamental level. Enter agentic AI and AI automation , a new breed of AI that doesn’t just follow rules—it makes its own decisions, autonomously optimising and executing complex tasks with minimal human intervention.

For digital marketers, this is a game-changer. Imagine an AI system that can autonomously research, create, test, and refine SEO strategies without waiting for human input. No more manual audits, endless content tweaks, or labour-intensive link-building campaigns. Instead, marketers can let AI take the wheel, focusing their energy on strategy and creativity.

"SEO has always been a moving target, but agentic AI is the closest thing we’ve seen to a self-driving optimisation system," says Glen Maguire, founder of Clickthrough . "It’s not just about automation anymore—it’s about intelligence, adaptability, and results."

How Agentic AI is Reshaping SEO

1. Autonomous Keyword Research

Traditional keyword research requires extensive manual analysis, competitor comparisons, and ongoing adjustments. Agentic AI can dynamically identify emerging keywords in real time, analysing massive datasets across industries and consumer behaviours. AI-driven tools like BrightEdge Autopilot and SurferSEO are already demonstrating how AI can adapt strategies on the fly.

�� Stat Check: A study by HubSpot found that 75% of searchers never go past the first page of search results (source) . AI-driven SEO ensures your content is positioned for maximum visibility without constant human oversight.

2. Content Creation and Optimisation

Content has always been the backbone of SEO, but creating high-quality, optimised content at scale is a resource-heavy task. Agentic AI doesn’t just generate articles—it understands search intent, audience engagement, and ranking factors to craft content that not only reads well but performs well.

Tools like OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Jasper AI are already demonstrating how AI can write human-like content. But agentic AI goes further by continuously improving content based on performance data. If an article isn’t ranking, the AI can rewrite sections, update statistics, and even improve internal linking—without waiting for a marketer to step in.

3. Automated Technical SEO Audits

Most SEO audits involve tedious manual work—checking site speed, identifying broken links, ensuring mobile responsiveness, and more. Agentic AI can run continuous technical SEO audits, instantly identifying issues and fixing them autonomously.

�� Stat Check: Google prioritises page experience, and a delay of just one second in page load time can reduce conversions by 7% (source) . AI ensures pages are optimised in real time, improving rankings and user experience.

4. AI-Powered Link Building

Link building remains one of the most challenging aspects of SEO. With agentic AI, link-building isn’t just automated—it’s intelligent. AI can identify high-authority websites, craft personalised outreach emails, and even negotiate guest post opportunities without human involvement.

Consider tools like Postaga and Pitchbox, which already automate outreach efforts. With agentic AI, these processes become self-learning—AI will test different messaging styles, analyse response rates, and refine its strategy for maximum success.

5. Continuous Performance Monitoring and Adaptation

SEO isn’t a one-time job—it’s an ongoing battle against competitors, Google’s algorithm updates, and shifting user behaviours. Agentic AI is always on, always optimising. It tracks SERP movements, adjusts strategies dynamically, and ensures websites maintain their rankings without human intervention.

�� Stat Check: A report by Backlinko found that the top-ranking page on Google gets 10x more clicks than the #10 result (source) . AI-driven SEO ensures businesses stay at the top, increasing traffic and conversions.

Agentic AI is Revolutionising SEO & Digital Marketing

The Future of AI-Driven SEO

So, where does this leave human marketers? If AI is making decisions and executing SEO strategies on its own, do we still need digital marketers at all?

Absolutely. AI is a powerful tool, but it’s just that—a tool . The role of digital marketers will shift from execution to strategy, creativity, and oversight. Businesses will need experts who can interpret AI insights, set high-level goals, and ensure AI is aligned with brand objectives .

"AI doesn’t replace digital marketers—it makes them more powerful," says Glen Maguire. "It’s like having a team of data analysts, copywriters, and SEO specialists working 24/7, but you’re still the one steering the ship."

Final Thoughts

Agentic AI is not just another automation tool—it’s a revolution in digital marketing. For businesses that embrace it, the rewards are enormous: faster rankings, higher traffic, and better ROI . For those that resist? They risk being left behind in an industry that never stops evolving. The future of SEO isn’t just about keeping up with Google’s algorithms—it’s about staying ahead of them. And with agentic AI, that future is already here.

Digital Marketing: A Lifeline for NZ SMEs in Challenging Times

timur@clickthrough.co.nz (Timur Totikov) — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 23:02:25 GMT

You can listen to the podcast discussion of this article below.

New Zealand’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are feeling the pressure as the recession tightens its grip. For many business owners, cutting costs and maximizing efficiency are top priorities. One of the smartest moves you can make during these tough times is taking control of your digital marketing strategy. By learning to manage your marketing in-house, you can save money, drive growth, and future-proof your business.

The Growing Trend of Business Training

Business owners worldwide are increasingly investing in upskilling their teams. In fact, a recent study by the Training Industry found that the corporate training market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8% through 2027 (source). This surge in training demand is largely driven by the rising accessibility of digital marketing tools, which have become easier to use and more cost-effective. Now, even small teams can harness the power of sophisticated platforms to achieve big results.

Why In-House Digital Marketing is Essential for SMEs

1. Stay Agile in a Competitive Market

In uncertain economic conditions, agility is key. With in-house digital marketing expertise, your team can respond quickly to changes in the market, launch campaigns faster, and adjust strategies without the delays and costs of working through an external agency.

2. Cost Savings Without Compromising Quality

Outsourcing digital marketing can be expensive, with agency fees eating into already stretched budgets. By bringing these skills in-house, you can allocate more of your budget directly to campaigns that deliver measurable ROI.

3. Tools Are Easier to Use Than Ever

Thanks to advancements in AI and automation, digital marketing tools are now more user-friendly and efficient. Platforms like Google Ads, social media schedulers, and email marketing software allow businesses to execute sophisticated campaigns with minimal technical expertise. This accessibility makes in-house management not just feasible but highly effective.

4. Manage Agencies More Effectively

Even if you still rely on an agency for certain tasks, having in-house knowledge ensures you’re in control. You’ll be better equipped to evaluate strategies, hold agencies accountable, and collaborate on achieving your goals.

Upskill Your Team with Digital and AI Training

To support SMEs during these challenging times, we offer a range of digital marketing courses designed to empower your team with practical skills. But we don’t stop there—we also provide cutting-edge AI training courses to help you automate and optimize your marketing efforts. Here’s what you can gain:

1. Master Automation Tools

AI-powered tools can significantly reduce the workload of managing your digital marketing campaigns. Learn how to use automation for tasks like lead generation, email campaigns, and social media management. These tools not only save time but also enhance precision and personalization.

2. Build a Future-Proof Strategy

AI and automation are no longer optional; they’re essential for staying competitive. Our courses teach you how to integrate these technologies into your marketing strategy, ensuring your business remains ahead of the curve.

3. Immediate, Measurable Impact

With our hands-on training, you’ll walk away with actionable strategies that deliver results. Many of our clients report increased website traffic, better lead conversion rates, and higher customer engagement after completing our training.

Why Choose Clickthrough for Your Training?

At Clickthrough, we’ve been helping New Zealand businesses navigate the digital landscape since 2009. Our boutique approach ensures personalized support and exclusive access to our expertise. Here’s what sets us apart:

Expert Trainers: Learn from professionals with years of experience in SEO , Google Ads , Social Media, AI and Generative AI .
Tailored Learning: Our courses are customized to meet the unique needs of your business.
Ongoing Support: We provide follow-up coaching and resources to help you implement your learning effectively.

Take the First Step Today

Don’t let the recession dictate your business’s future. By investing in training, you can take control of your digital marketing, reduce costs, and achieve better results. Whether you’re looking to upskill your team or explore the power of AI, we have a course to suit your needs. Visit Clickthrough to learn more and enrol today. Don’t Wait—Act Now.

Digital Marketing, a Lifeline for NZ SMEs in Challenging Times

Taking Control: Why In-House Digital Marketing is the Key to Success

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 00:46:37 GMT

Why In-House Digital Marketing is the Future for New Zealand Businesses

In a tightening economy, more New Zealand businesses are bringing digital marketing in-house for greater control and cost savings. With user-friendly tools like Generative AI, managing your own SEO, Google Ads, and social media is easier than ever. Take charge of your marketing, cut costs, and drive better results—all without relying on external agencies.

As businesses, organisations, and government entities in New Zealand look for ways to adapt in the face of budget constraints, managing digital marketing in-house is emerging as a cost-effective and highly efficient alternative to outsourcing. With advancements in technology—particularly Generative AI (GenAI) tools—more organisations are finding it easier to take control of their marketing strategies without relying on external agencies.

In this blog, we’ll explore why now is the perfect time to bring your digital marketing in-house and how your business can benefit from this shift.

The Changing Digital Marketing Landscape

The digital marketing world has evolved rapidly over the last few years. What used to require highly specialised expertise has now become much more manageable thanks to easy-to-use tools and platforms.

For instance, Generative AI (GenAI) tools can now create high-quality marketing content with minimal effort. Whether it’s generating blog posts, social media content, or even ad copy, these AI-driven solutions empower businesses to produce content quickly, without the need for external copywriters or expensive agencies.

Furthermore, platforms like Google Ads and social media networks such as Facebook have made it easier for businesses to run their own campaigns. These platforms offer intuitive interfaces, detailed guides, and insights that make launching and managing campaigns accessible to even non-technical teams.

Why Outsourcing to Agencies May No Longer Be Worth It

Many businesses have traditionally turned to external agencies for their digital marketing needs, believing it to be the easiest and most efficient option. However, relying on agencies has its downsides. Agencies often spread their resources across multiple clients, which can result in your business receiving less attention.

Worse yet, many agencies fail to deliver the level of service and results that clients expect.

In the current economic climate, this lack of attention and accountability is becoming increasingly frustrating for businesses.

A recent article in the NZ Herald highlighted how many of New Zealand’s top creative agencies missed out on government contracts due to a crackdown on public spending .

The message is clear: businesses and organisations are rethinking their approach to marketing spend, and outsourcing may not be the answer.

By bringing digital marketing in-house, businesses have the freedom to adjust their strategies as needed, without waiting on third parties. This flexibility is key, especially when marketing needs to respond quickly to market changes or internal shifts in priorities.

Generative AI: The Ultimate Game Changer

One of the most exciting advancements in digital marketing is the rise of Generative AI (GenAI) tools. These tools are transforming how businesses create content, run campaigns, and optimise their marketing efforts.

Imagine being able to generate blog articles, product descriptions, or even engaging social media posts in just minutes. GenAI tools like ChatGPT can craft these materials based on the specific needs of your brand, saving time and resources.

Additionally, these AI tools provide valuable insights and recommendations in real-time, which can help businesses optimise their digital marketing strategies. For example, AI-driven SEO tools can identify the best keywords for your industry, while predictive analytics can help fine-tune Google Ads campaigns for better performance.

Cost Savings by Bringing Digital Marketing In-House

In an economic downturn, businesses must make smarter decisions about their spending. The New Zealand government’s recent initiative to tighten the belt on spending consultants and contractors reflects a wider shift in how organisations are managing their budgets . This focus on cutting costs has filtered down to businesses of all sizes, many of whom are looking for ways to reduce marketing expenses while still driving growth.

One of the best ways to achieve this is by bringing digital marketing in-house. By managing your marketing efforts internally, you avoid the high costs associated with agency fees and service markups. Instead, you invest directly in building your team’s capabilities.

Recent studies on online learning and professional development reveal that companies that invest in upskilling their staff see better long-term outcomes. Businesses that train their employees in digital marketing can improve both their performance and overall business results. This not only saves money but also builds a stronger, more adaptable team.

SEO, Google Ads, and Social Media: Mastering Key Digital Skills

If you’re considering bringing your digital marketing in-house, what areas should your team focus on? Here are the key areas where in-house teams can easily excel with the right training:

SEO Training : Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is crucial for increasing your website’s visibility. By learning how to optimise content, choose effective keywords, and improve your site’s ranking on Google, your team can drive organic traffic without relying on an agency.
Google Ads Course : With Google Ads being one of the most effective tools for reaching new customers, understanding how to create, launch, and manage campaigns is essential. A well-trained in-house team can set up ads that are highly targeted and deliver measurable results.
GenAI Training : Learning how to leverage GenAI tools allows your team to generate high-quality content quickly. AI tools are transforming the way businesses create content, making it easier than ever to manage campaigns, even with limited resources.
Social Media Training: Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are key to building brand awareness and engagement. With the right training, your team can learn how to create compelling content, engage with your audience, and measure campaign performance.

The Economic Case for In-House Digital Marketing

The financial case for bringing digital marketing in-house is clear. As businesses face economic challenges, it’s becoming crucial to find cost-effective ways to maintain and grow their marketing presence.

A recent article from The Beehive discusses the government’s efforts to reduce reliance on consultants and contractors, reflecting a growing trend among businesses . By investing in digital marketing training, you gain the ability to run your own campaigns without incurring the high fees associated with outsourcing. This puts more control in your hands, allowing you to adjust strategies as needed while saving on costs.

Moreover, businesses that build in-house digital marketing expertise can more easily adapt to changing market conditions. When external factors impact the economy, having the flexibility to manage your campaigns directly allows you to respond quickly and effectively, without needing to rely on an outside agency to make adjustments.

Take Control of Your Marketing with Clickthrough

At Clickthrough, we understand that businesses in New Zealand need cost-effective, flexible, and powerful marketing solutions. That’s why we offer comprehensive digital marketing training courses that cover everything from SEO and Google Ads to content creation using GenAI and social media marketing.

With our training, your team will have the skills they need to manage digital marketing in-house confidently and effectively. Not only will this save you money, but it will also give your business the control and agility needed to thrive in a competitive market.

Contact Clickthrough today to learn more about our training programmes and how we can help your business take control of its digital marketing strategy.

By managing your digital marketing in-house, you’ll not only save money but also gain better control over your strategy and outcomes. With Clickthrough’s training, you can empower your team to master SEO, Google Ads, and social media—giving your business a competitive edge in today’s challenging economic environment.

Digital Podcast

AI: The Secret Weapon for Your SEO Arsenal

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 03:35:36 GMT

PODCAST VERSION

Seize the SEO Advantage with AI

Picture this — your website, is at the pinnacle of search engine rankings, driving an unprecedented wave of traffic. Now, stop picturing and start acting, because with AI, this vision can be your reality.

Do’s and Don’ts of AI for SEO

Firstly, AI is not a magic wand that instantly elevates your rankings. You need to wield it with finesse. Do leverage AI to analyze large sets of SEO data for insights that you could easily miss. This means patterns, keyword trends, and user behaviours are now within your grasp. Remember to not rely solely on AI without human oversight. The personal touch in understanding user intent cannot be wholly replicated by robots, which means always have an SEO expert being being responsbile for guiding the AI.

Use AI-driven analytics tools to evaluate competitor strategies, but don’t forget that the core of your strategy should be unique to your brand’s voice and message. Do you want to be a copy when you were born to stand out?

SEO Best Practices with AI

Harnessing AI for SEO efficiently requires you to adhere to best practices. Use AI tools to optimize your content creation — these marvellous inventions can suggest keywords that will organically boost your content’s relevance and appeal. But—and this is imperative—always ensure that your content remains engaging and valuable to your audience. AI can lead the horse to water, but your content must make it drink!

Regular SEO audits are a must, and yes, you guessed it, there’s an AI for that. These tools can crawl through your site, faster than any human could, pinpointing issues that need your attention. Keep these audits regular, keep them thorough, and watch as your website health flourishes.

GenAI and SEO – A Dynamic Duo

Now, meet GenAI, your new SEO partner. Think of Generative AI as your insightful colleague who works 24/7 without taking a coffee break. GenAI can help you craft content that’s not just good, but great—content that resonates with SEO algorithms while maintaining that human connection that enthralls readers.

It can predict shifts in SEO trends, giving you a head start to adapt and stay on top. Imagine always being one step ahead—because with GenAI, that’s exactly where you’ll be.

The Immeasurable Impact of AI on SEO

AI and SEO, when combined, result in smarter keyword research, precise customer insights, enhanced user experiences, and much more. This means content that loves the podium of search engine results pages. With every algorithm update that search engines roll out, AI helps you pivot with agility, ensuring that your SEO game is strong, relevant, and unbeatable.

You Hold the Power

Dear business owner, you hold the reins. The question isn’t whether AI can revolutionize your SEO; it’s whether you’re ready to step into that revolution. Are you prepared to take your business to the heights it deserves? It’s not just about being better; it’s about being the best. It’s not just about participating in the race; it’s about dominating it.

Start incorporating AI into your SEO strategy today, and watch as your digital presence soars high above the competition. Remember, SEO is a marathon, not a sprint—and with AI as your high-performance gear, you are unstoppable.

The Road Ahead

Ready to begin this remarkable journey? Start small if you must, but start now. Integrate AI solutions into your SEO strategy, bit by bit. Witness how these tools amplify your efforts, refine your tactics, and drive results that exceed your wildest expectations.

The road ahead is bright, paved with the successes of those who dared to dream and dare I say, those who dared to act. You have everything you need to make a mark in the digital universe. With AI and a dash of human genius, your success story in SEO is waiting to be written.

Are you ready to be the protagonist of this adventure? Then take that first step, and leap into the future of SEO with AI as your loyal ally.

Time to shine, business heroes. Your audience awaits.

Seize the SEO Advantage with AI
Do’s and Don’ts of AI for SEO
SEO Best Practices with AI
GenAI and SEO – A Dynamic Duo
The Immeasurable Impact of AI on SEO
You Hold the Power
The Road Ahead

In the bustling digital marketplace where your website is competing against millions, standing out is not just crucial; it’s survival. Here’s something you might not know: Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become the silent warrior in the battle for SEO supremacy. And guess what? You too can harness its power.

Will Ai Replace Digital Marketing

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Sun, 20 Oct 2024 19:54:33 GMT

Listen to the Podcast version below.

Digital marketing is one of the most critical aspects of the modern business world. It has become an essential tool for businesses to reach customers, build relationships, and increase revenue.

What is AI?
How will AI enable Digital Marketing?
AI-Powered Digital Marketing Tools
Digital Marketing Trends with AI
Will AI Replace Digital Marketers?
Conclusion

AI-Powered Digital Marketing Tools

AI powers many tools that digital marketers can use to enhance their strategies. For example, AI automated chatbots automate customer service inquiries.

At the same time, predictive analytics tools help marketers gain insights into customers’ needs and behaviour, which allows digital marketers to generate personalized content recommendations for customers, assisting customers in finding the most relevant products and services quickly.

Digital Marketing Trends with AI

As AI evolves rapidly, digital marketing will become increasingly automated and personalised. Marketers will have more access to data than ever, allowing them to develop more informed strategies tailored to each customer’s needs.

As AI-powered tools become more advanced, they will allow marketers to focus on creative aspects of their craft, such as developing compelling stories and engaging visuals. In the near term, we expect to see more sophisticated chatbots that can respond to customer questions in real-time.

We will likely see advancements in predictive analytics tools that give marketers more profound insights into their customers’ behaviour and needs.

Finally, AI-powered personalisation tools will become more advanced and help marketers deliver custom content recommendations for their customers. With these advancements, digital marketing will become increasingly automated and personalised, offering unparalleled customer service and satisfaction.

Will AI Replace Digital Marketers?

Although AI has the potential to automate many of the tasks associated with digital marketing, likely, it will only partially replace digital marketers. AI tools still need to be improved in their ability to understand customer intent and preferences fully, and as such, they will remain dependent on human input.

Additionally, creative aspects of digital marketing, such as storytelling, SEO copywriting and aesthetics, will remain firmly in the hands of human marketers. Therefore, while AI may automate parts of the job, digital marketers should rest assured that they are here to stay (for now).

Conclusion

AI has the potential to revolutionize digital marketing by providing marketers with valuable insights into customer behaviour, automating mundane tasks, and helping them develop more effective campaigns. AI-powered tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated, freeing marketers to focus on the creative aspects of their craft.

While it is unlikely that AI will ultimately replace digital marketers, it is clear that it will play an essential role in shaping the future of the industry.

One thing is for sure, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing digital marketing , allowing marketers to deliver more effective campaigns faster.

What is AI?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to developing computer systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and language translation.

AI is achieved through machine learning, natural language processing, and robotics. Machine learning is a subfield of AI that involves the development of algorithms that allow computers to learn from data without being explicitly programmed.

Natural language processing involves teaching computers to understand and interpret human language, while robotics consists in designing machines that can perform physical tasks.

AI has many real-world applications, such as self-driving cars, virtual assistants, fraud detection, and personalized marketing. As technology advances, AI will play an increasingly important role in many industries and aspects of our daily lives, such as how companies market to consumers using digital marketing.

How will AI enable Digital Marketing?

AI offers tremendous potential to enhance digital marketing strategies by, in particular, helping marketers better understand their audiences and providing more personalized experiences.

AI can also help marketers automate tedious but necessary tasks, allowing them to focus on more creative aspects of their craft. For example, AI can generate customer segmentation models that help marketers target their campaigns more effectively.

AI has already made a significant impact in the field of digital marketing services. Chatbots are one example; they allow companies to offer 24/7 customer service with automated service and sales responses tailored to each individual’s needs.

In addition, AI is used for natural language processing (NLP) applications, such as generating content for websites, social media and search marketing strategies. This technology can help interpret customer conversations to provide more meaningful insights into customer behaviour. This insight allows marketers to design more effective campaigns with better-tailored messages for each customer segment.

Comparing Looker Studio vs Power BI

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 01:49:50 GMT

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Tracking the performance of your SEO services can be carried out effortlessly using these platforms, which offer invaluable tools for creating and sharing interactive data dashboards and reports, enabling data-driven decision-making at its finest.

In this blog, we’ll delve into the intricacies of Looker Studio and Power BI to help you determine which one aligns best with your data analytics needs.

The Cost of Data Visualisation Tools

Looker Studio and Power BI both help present data to various departments and stakeholders within a company, but differences arise when it comes to price.

The Cost of Data Visualisation Tools
Data Sources and Integration
Data Modeling Comparison
Choosing the Right Tool
User Interface, Speed, and Visualisation

In today’s business landscape, your data is more important than ever, and choosing between tools like Looker Studio vs Power BI is a pivotal decision for organisations to harness the power of data visualisation and analysis.

Power BI provides a range of pricing options, including a free desktop version, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes. On the other hand, Looker Studio stands out as an entirely free solution, with the added convenience of requiring only a Google account to kickstart your data visualisation journey.

These choices ensure that businesses can find the right fit for their specific needs and budget.

Data Sources and Integration

Looker Studio boasts strong integration capabilities focusing on Google products such as Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console.

Additionally, it provides access to an extensive network of over 800 partner connectors, making it a versatile tool for data integration across most of the tools that you use. However, some of these tools may require additional fees for integration.

On the other hand, Power BI offers integration with a wide array of data sources, surpassing 100 different types, spanning from files to databases.

This inclusive approach includes compatibility with your SQL Server and Microsoft Excel, providing users a broad spectrum of options to connect and analyse their data effectively.

Data Modeling Comparison

Looker Studio and Power BI each offer unique approaches to data modelling. Looker Studio primarily emphasises data visualisation and reporting, enabling users to connect to diverse data sources, transform data within the tool, and craft interactive reports and dashboards.

It assumes that data modelling and storage are managed externally, positioning itself as a reporting and visualisation tool.

On the other hand, Power BI engages users in a user-friendly data modelling process, incorporating data transformation using Power Query, defining relationships between data sets, and employing the DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) language for custom calculations.

Power BI allows users to construct interactive and insightful reports and dashboards from a wide array of data sources.

Choosing the Right Tool

When it comes to selecting the right business intelligence tool, the choice largely depends on your organisation’s specific needs and strategy.

Looker Studio is a great option for businesses that may not have a clearly defined BI strategy yet. Its versatility, free nature, and data connections make it ideal for creating straightforward, interactive dashboards. This tool is particularly well-suited for small to medium-sized companies operating using the Google Suite (GA4, Search Console, etc.).

On the other hand, if your organisation has a well-established BI strategy and requires advanced data modelling, intricate analytics, and scalability, Power BI is the way to go.

It is more suitable for enterprise-level companies, potentially even multinational corporations, seeking complex and customised reporting capabilities within their higher budget constraints.

User Interface, Speed, and Visuals

Both Google Data Studio and Power BI provide customisable user interfaces with speeds that can vary based on data size and complexity.

Google Data Studio, however, stands out with its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, real-time data updates, and quick loading times, allowing for efficient data processing. It offers a wide range of visualisation options, data blending, and trend analysis features, making it a versatile tool for creating visually appealing reports and dashboards.

On the other hand, Power BI is praised for its user-friendly interface and rapid data processing using in-memory technology.

It supports direct queries and live connections, offering interactive dashboards, advanced analytics, and natural language queries, providing users with a dynamic and versatile platform for creating meaningful reports and dashboards.

Choosing the Best Data Analytics Tool

When deciding between Looker Studio and Power BI, organisations should carefully evaluate their unique requirements, budget constraints, and the tools their business uses for analytics.

Looker Studio presents a cost-effective and user-friendly choice with its versatile data connectors, while Power BI offers advanced data modelling and analytical capabilities. We provide comprehensive Looker Studio training courses to help your business.

The choice ultimately boils down to what will allow your business to make the most of your data and allow you to capitalise on it in your business across all touch points.

5 Elements of Website User Experience (UX)

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 01:41:45 GMT

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Seamless navigation ensures users can effortlessly find what they seek, while audience-tailored content speaks directly to their needs and interests. And lastly, in this era dominated by mobile devices, an adaptive design that embraces accessibility on all screens is non-negotiable.

Come along as we delve into the components that pave the way for an engaging online experience with website design .

Great Aesthetics

In user experience, aesthetics play a role, encompassing elements such as colour schemes, typography, and adherence to brand guidelines. This phase of the process is often referred to as the “Surface” of your website.

Great Aesthetics
Fast Page Speed
Simple Navigation
Content Specific to Your User
Mobile-Friendly Design

Ensuring that your brand has an enjoyable and seamless website user experience (UX) is crucial to the success of your business online.

To captivate and retain your visitors, you need to consider the five crucial elements that underpin an exceptional UX. From visually pleasing aesthetics that leave a lasting impression to lightning-fast page load times that reduce bounce rates, each facet plays a pivotal role.

These choices serve as the initial impression for users as they navigate a website, skillfully emphasising crucial information. It’s worth noting that users’ preferences and reactions to design elements can differ significantly, underscoring the importance of a versatile and user-centric approach to visual design.

Fast Page Speed

Fast page speed is an important element in delivering a positive user experience. Slow-loading websites can frustrate users, impacting the overall quality of their interaction. This is particularly vital as users today are accustomed to swift access to content, and any delays can lead to frustration and even increase bounce rates.

Page speed also plays a substantial role in search engine rankings, as Google notes that a page taking more than three seconds to load triples the likelihood of a user bouncing. Key metrics, such as Time to First Byte (TTFB), First Contentful Paint (FCP), and Onload time, along with Google’s Core Web Vitals, offer crucial insights for optimising page speed to achieve better rankings.

Simple Navigation

In UX design, your website structure is a crucial element that guides navigation and interaction within a product, be it a website, app or email. Focusing on custom interaction for your website design helps to create user-friendly experiences, ensuring that users can effortlessly navigate and engage with a website.

There are various navigation styles to choose from, each tailored to specific contexts. Despite their stylistic differences and positioning, they share a common goal: to serve users in the best possible way, providing them with a seamless and confident browsing experience.

However, it’s important to exercise caution with certain styles, like employing a hamburger menu on a desktop or relying heavily on intricate animations. Understanding your audience is key, as it helps assess the effectiveness of your chosen navigation style. Remember, there’s always room for improvement, especially regarding this fundamental aspect of website design.

Content Specific to Your User

To create a successful website, it’s essential to focus on content that directly caters to your users’ needs, whether for services or informative purposes. Your site should provide answers and assistance to visitors. The concept of “Usefulness of the Website” underscores the significance of identifying your audience and customising the user experience to meet their specific requirements.

User Experience (UX) design is a user-centred approach that revolves around addressing both user needs and business objectives. Designers must delve into research to comprehend what users expect from the product and then harmonise these expectations with the product’s goals. Optimising your website requires finding the right balance between SEO services, creativity, and technical aspects.

Mobile-Friendly Design

Mobile-friendly design is a crucial element in UX design, particularly in today’s digital landscape dominated by mobile devices. With the recent completion of Google’s transition to mobile-first indexing, the significance of this concept has been underscored.

This approach involves crafting websites that seamlessly adjust to different devices, ultimately enhancing accessibility, SEO performance and user experience. For businesses looking to expand their reach and maintain competitiveness, mobile-friendly design is a must-have.

Enhance Your Website’s Online Presence Today

These components are essential for captivating and retaining your audience. For expert guidance in enhancing your website’s user experience and online presence, contact us at 021 344 050 or email us at hello@clickthrough.co.nz.

What Is Seasonal SEO?

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Sat, 14 Oct 2023 08:14:22 GMT

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Staying ahead of the curve is crucial for businesses seeking sustained success year-round. One strategy that has gained prominence over the years is seasonal SEO.

So, what exactly is seasonal SEO? This approach involves tailoring your search engine optimisation efforts to align with specific seasons and events throughout the year, maximising your brand’s visibility and reaping the rewards of targeted consumer behaviour.

The Impact of Seasonal SEO

Seasonal SEO can be thought of as the art of timing. It’s about recognising the ebb and flow of user behaviour throughout the year and adapting your SEO strategy to match these fluctuations.

This is vital because consumer needs and preferences change with the seasons and during key events, and businesses that can anticipate and cater to these changes stand to gain a competitive edge.

The Impact of Seasonal SEO
Two Seasonal SEO Strategies
What Are the Benefits?
Tools for Understanding Seasonal Popularity
Optimising for Seasonal SEO
Aligning Your SEO Strategy
Implementing Your Seasonal Strategies

Imagine a tourism company that optimises its content for summer-related keywords during the months leading up to the holiday season. By doing so, they’re tapping into the heightened interest in travel during that time, boosting their chances of ranking higher in search results and attracting more potential customers. For example, travel agencies and airlines often tailor their promotions based on the seasons. The team at Clickthrough have over 13 years experience in Auckland, tailoring our SEO services around seasonal trends. Allowing businesses to grow and take advantage of these opportunities throughout the year.

Two Seasonal SEO Strategies

There are two primary types of Seasonal SEO strategies: time-based and event-based. Time-based strategies involve optimising for specific periods that recur annually. For example, a business selling outdoor equipment could focus on summer-related keywords as warmer months approach. On the other hand, event-based strategies revolve around optimising for specific events or occasions, such as Christmas or major international sporting events like the FIFA Women’s World Cup. For instance, an e-commerce store could enhance its SEO efforts during the holiday season by targeting keywords related to holiday gifts, decorations, and celebrations. Similarly, when an event like the FIFA Women’s World Cup is happening, businesses related to sports apparel, fan merchandise, and even local travel can leverage event-based SEO strategies to attract a larger audience.

What Are the Benefits?

One of the most significant benefits of seasonal SEO is its potential to balance out revenue fluctuations. Many businesses experience natural peaks and troughs in sales throughout the year. By strategically capitalising on high-demand periods, such as holidays or specific seasons, you can generate additional revenue streams that help sustain your business during leaner months. Moreover, seasonal SEO offers the opportunity to create more targeted marketing campaigns. When you align your content with the interests and needs of your audience during specific times of the year, you’re more likely to engage potential customers and convert them into paying clients.

Tools for Understanding Seasonal Popularity

Understanding the popularity of certain keywords and topics during different seasons is essential for crafting a successful seasonal SEO strategy. Luckily, powerful tools are at your disposal, such as Google Trends, Keyword Planner, and Search Console. Google Trends allows you to visualise the popularity of search terms over time, helping you identify when interest spikes for specific keywords. Keyword Planner aids in finding relevant keywords and estimating their search volumes, while Search Console provides insights into how your site is performing in search results. By using these tools, you can identify the optimal times to promote certain products or services and shape your content strategy accordingly.

Optimising for Seasonal SEO

When it comes to optimising your content for seasonal trends, it’s important to follow a strategic approach that encompasses different phases of user behaviour. Segmentation is key. During the ramp-up period, focus on creating anticipation and interest for the upcoming season or event. As you enter the engage period, provide valuable and engaging content that caters to the needs of your audience during that specific time. Finally, during the slow-down period, consider strategies to maintain customer engagement and begin laying the groundwork for the next high-demand phase.

Aligning Your SEO Strategy

To fully leverage the potential of seasonal SEO, it’s crucial to recognise and adapt to shifts in search patterns that occur during different times of the year. This recognition should inform your SEO strategies, allowing you to align your content with peak shopping periods and consumer preferences. For instance, during a holiday season, your SEO efforts include creating gift guides, promoting special deals, and optimising for keywords related to festive activities. By understanding the nuances of your audience’s search behaviour, you can provide the content they’re actively looking for.

Implementing Your Seasonal Strategies

To effectively implement seasonal SEO strategies, consider the following tips:

Optimise existing content: Update and optimise your existing content to align with seasonal trends and keywords.
Create seasonal landing pages: Develop dedicated landing pages that cater to specific seasons or events.
Avoid dates in URLs: This prevents content from becoming outdated and irrelevant once the season or event has passed.
Strategic linking: Interlink relevant seasonal content to enhance user experience and SEO performance.
Backlink planning: Build relationships with other websites for potential backlinks to your seasonal content.
Remember that during high-volume periods, Google’s SERPs can undergo significant changes. Monitor your rankings and traffic closely, making adjustments as needed to maintain your visibility and capitalise on the increased demand.

Conclusion

Seasonal SEO is a powerful strategy that can help businesses not only adapt to changing consumer behaviour but also thrive in highly competitive markets. By aligning your SEO efforts with specific seasons and events, you can enhance your brand’s visibility, engage with your audience more effectively, and generate additional revenue streams. Through careful analysis of seasonal trends, optimisation of content, and alignment of SEO strategies, businesses can stay ahead of the curve and secure long-term success in the dynamic world of digital marketing. So, get ready to ride the waves of seasonal demand and watch your business flourish like never before. Reach out to our digital marketing agency for a meeting today to learn more.

FAQ

Best Seo Agency Tips

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Sat, 14 Oct 2023 03:54:12 GMT

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Before you do, though, take a moment to think about your own shopping habits. Do you typically search for the product you want, click on a Google Ad, then make your purchase? In all likelihood, probably not.

Instead, you might search for a product in Google, click on a website to learn more about it, check out a blog post, or something else.

Sometimes, you might have even come across a product through an email newsletter, on a social media network, or through a referral site before finally making the purchase via a Google Ad that day – or days later.

That Google Ad is getting all the credit, but it was the multiple other channels that did all the hard yards. It would be like giving one All Black all the credit for scoring a try and disregarding all the other players, even though they played a part in getting that try-scorer the ball.

How Does Google Analytics Work?

At face value, business owners and marketing companies use Google Analytics to show a business’s eCommerce transactions and conversions. Typically, the last thing a customer clicked on before making a purchase is shown as the conversion.

For basic information regarding transactions, this method of data is sufficient. In fact, this free web analytics service is one of the best analytical tools out there for marketing and search engine optimisation (SEO).

However, something was lacking – and that was a depth to the data. That’s where Multi-Channel Funnels under the umbrella of Google Analytics comes in.

What is Multi-Channel Funnels?

What Is Your Real Source of Conversion?

A quick glance at your Google Analytics will show you just what channel your customers used to access and purchase your products. You might think, ‘perfect, now I can stop every other advertising and marketing method and just focus on the one that’s performing the best!’

If you or your E-marketing team is using the latest version of Google Analytics, they may have seen a new feature called Multi-Channel Funnels. If you can’t see it, make sure you have goals enabled before clicking on the ‘Conversions’ tab in the left-hand column, followed by ‘Multi-Channel Funnels’.

This function offers in-depth reports on the various marketing channels that work together to create conversions for your business. So, in this case, every single All Black is being praised alongside the one that scored the winning try. The best part is, you can see what’s working from start to finish of the buying process and what may require some tinkering.

Multi-Channel Funnel Reports

Whether you’re a PPC manager or a business owner, having five new report options available can make you feel like you have full control over your marketing campaign. You can now see the full path-to-conversion over 30 days, or even up to 90 days, by adjusting the search results.

This includes seeing the various customer interactions with your channels – such as social networks, display ads, organic searches, paid searches, and affiliates.

1. Overview Report

The overview report forms the first part of the Multi-Channels Funnel section. It allows you to compare your conversion numbers and assisted conversions over your preferred time period. There is also a tool called ‘Multi-Channel Conversation Visualiser’. See for yourself how the different channel combinations led to a sale.

2. Assisted Conversions Report

Using Assist Interaction Analysis or First Interaction Analysis, you can determine how many sales and conversions each of your channels initiated, aided in, and completed. The Assisted Conversions Report will also show the value of those sales.

3. Top Conversion Paths Report

Perhaps one of the most desirable reporting features of Multi-Channel Funnels is the Top Conversion Paths Report. This report shows you the most popular conversion paths that led to sales and conversions. It also shows you how many conversions there were from each path and their value.

What’s particularly interesting about this report is how many different channels can work together for a single outcome – a sale. You might directly pick up most of your customers through Google Shopping or Google Ads, but that’s rarely the case.

Instead, it can be a combination of paid advertising, organic search results (through methods like SEO copywriting), referrals, and direct. You can view the basic channel grouping path or create your own custom channel groupings. This report also offers the option to display the data by the source, medium, AdWords, and other traffic.

4. Time Lag Report

Think about your own shopping habits and the typical timeframe for making a purchase. When you decide you need a new washing machine, do you look for one online then purchase it the same day? Or, do you view different sources, read reviews, then, days later, go back and make your purchase?

Sure, we’re all capable of making impulse buys. Still, the average person may not always purchase an item on the same day they begin looking for it online. But how do you know for sure? One of the newest report offerings from Google Analytics’ Multi-Channels Funnel is the Time Lag Report.

This report outlines the conversion paths that take place within 0 to 12+ days. You may notice in your own reports that the sales values from conversions that took the longest tend to be higher. As a rule, people tend to spend longer mulling over their options regarding big ticket items.

These time lags can also explain why you sometimes see conversions from a previous month appearing in the following month’s AdWords data. People took their time making sure your product was right for them.

5. Path Length Report

Related to Time Lag Report, the Path Length Report outlines the number of interactions a visitor had with your website before they converted. What businesses tend to see with this data is the higher the cost of an item, the more interactions a customer can have with it before deciding to buy it.

So, What Is Your Real Source of Conversion?

Your paid ad may have been the deal clincher, but there is some truth in not putting all your eggs in one basket. By ignoring the other conversion paths, you are potentially locking yourself out of the very conversion paths that lead to the golden egg.

Every conversion path has its place, from paid and organic searches, referral sites, and affiliates to social media platforms, email newsletters, and custom campaigns. Thanks to this new report tool, Multi-Channel Funnels, you can analyse every conversion path to ensure you’re covering all bases and providing the clearest route to a sale.

10 Essential SEO Trends You Need To Know In 2020

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Sat, 14 Oct 2023 03:54:11 GMT

What Is Your Real Source of Conversion?

Instead, you might search for a product in Google, click on a website to learn more about it, check out a blog post, or something else.

How Does Google Analytics Work?

However, something was lacking – and that was a depth to the data. That’s where Multi-Channel Funnels under the umbrella of Google Analytics comes in.

What is Multi-Channel Funnels?

If you or your E-marketing team is using the latest version of Google Analytics, they may have seen a new feature called Multi-Channel Funnels . If you can’t see it, make sure you have goals enabled before clicking on the ‘Conversions’ tab in the left-hand column, followed by ‘Multi-Channel Funnels’.

Multi-Channel Funnel Reports

This includes seeing the various customer interactions with your channels – such as social networks, display ads, organic searches, paid searches, and affiliates.

1. Overview Report

2. Assisted Conversions Report

3. Top Conversion Paths Report

Instead, it can be a combination of paid advertising, organic search results (through methods like SEO copywriting ), referrals, and direct. You can view the basic channel grouping path or create your own custom channel groupings. This report also offers the option to display the data by the source, medium, AdWords, and other traffic.

4. Time Lag Report

5. Path Length Report

So, What Is Your Real Source of Conversion?

How To Rank On The First Page Of Google In New Zealand

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Sat, 14 Oct 2023 01:59:22 GMT

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In this guide, we distil our wisdom from over 14 years of SEO services , providing you with the seven key areas that can help improve your chances of ranking on Google’s first page.

Seven Tips to Ranking Well on Google

1: Master Long-Tail Keywords

The first step towards achieving a first-page ranking on Google is to master the art of long-tail keywords. These specific and longer phrases help attract targeted traffic to your website.
Start by conducting thorough keyword research to identify long-tail keywords that align with your content and audience. This blog, for instance, targets the long-tail keyword “first page of Google” which has an average of 10 monthly searches within New Zealand.

Master Long-Tail Keywords
Create High-Quality Content
Explore Different Content Formats
Target Google SERP Features
Focus on User Experience
Learn from Competition
Earn Quality Backlinks
What Affects Organic Rankings?

Taking Control: Why In-House Digital Marketing is the Key to Success

No matter the industry of your business, securing a coveted spot on the first page of Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) is a top priority across New Zealand.

It’s a well-known fact that most people rarely venture beyond the first page of search results, making first-page rankings essential for increasing website visibility, driving organic traffic, and establishing authority within your industry.

2: Create High-Quality Content

High-quality content is the cornerstone of SEO success. Your content should be in-depth and informative and should be able to answer user queries effectively. Focus on producing content that adds value and addresses the needs of your target audience.

A good example of this is our guide on creating a pillar page strategy for your website. We comprehensively dive into the topic and explain the process to get you started towards a well-organised and optimised website.

3: Explore Different Content Formats

Diversify your content portfolio by incorporating various media types such as images, videos, and audio. Engaging visuals and multimedia can capture the attention of users and enhance the overall appeal of your content.

For example, in the past, we have explored audio content as part of our strategy in the form of our SEO podcast.

4: Target Google SERP Features

Optimise your content to feature in Google’s SERP features like rich snippets, featured snippets and knowledge panels. These features can significantly increase your visibility and click-through rates.
You can’t directly request these features, but in the case of featured snippets , you can optimise your content with them in mind whether your content includes definitions, answers to popular questions, a table containing relevant data to various queries, lists and video content.

5: Focus on User Experience

A user-friendly website that aligns content with user intent is crucial. Ensure your website is easy to navigate, loads quickly, and provides a seamless browsing experience for visitors.
Google introduced mobile-first indexing back in 2016, so ensure you prioritise mobile website versions for ranking.

6: Learn from Competition

Analyse your competitors’ strategies to gain insights into what works in your industry. Use this knowledge to improve your content and stay ahead of the competition.

For example, when you want to rank for a certain keyword, a good rule of thumb is to take the average word count from the top 3 ranking positions. Google already believes those three websites have relevant and quality content, so if you follow suit, you can’t go far wrong.

Let’s say the word count of the top 3 ranking webpages for “hedge trimming services” are 798, 1002 and 306. So, as a rough guide, the average word count you should aim for is 702.

7: Earn Quality Backlinks

Building authoritative and organic backlinks is essential for boosting your website’s credibility. Collaborate with other websites in your niche to acquire high-quality backlinks.

One method to achieving this is by positioning yourself as a valuable source for reporters and bloggers by creating informative content such as “Why” and “What” posts, engaging infographics, and compelling videos that resonate with your target audience.

What Affects Organic Rankings?

While achieving a first-page ranking on Google can be challenging, it is not impossible.
By following the steps outlined in this guide and staying committed to improving your SEO strategy over time, you can increase your chances of securing a prominent position in Google’s SERPs.

Google ranks organic results based on factors like relevance, quality, usability, and context.
Target specific keywords and align content with search intent.
Analyse SERPs to understand user intent and tailor your content accordingly.
Create comprehensive, trustworthy, and original content.
Optimise on-page SEO by strategically placing keywords.
Build backlinks to improve your website’s authority.
Track rankings using SEO tools like Agency Analytics or Semrush.

Remember that SEO is a long-term strategy, and results may take some time to materialise.
With dedication and the right approach, you can boost your website’s visibility, drive organic traffic, and establish your brand as an authority in your industry.

Seek the SEO Experts

The Clickthrough team has over a decade of experience providing SEO services in Auckland and the wider New Zealand, helping businesses rank well.

We have experience working across service industries, e-commerce stores, enterprise-level businesses and SMEs.

Reach out to our team today to get started on your journey towards ranking on Google and maximising the organic search traffic to your website. Email us at hello@clickthrough.co.nz or by phone at 021 344 050 .

Sources:

MARKETSHARE.HITSLINK.COM, OCTOBER 2010

https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/featured-snippets
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/mobile/mobile-sites-mobile-first-indexing

How To Create Engaging And SEO Friendly Content

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 08:21:20 GMT

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In SEO, many people get caught up in creating content designed for search engines and completely ignore the human-centric approach that is also crucial to your online success. It’s easy to focus solely on pleasing algorithms and forget that real people are the ones we ultimately want to reach. However, striking the right balance between SEO and user experience is essential to thrive in the digital landscape.

SEO-Friendly Content Writing Tips
Crafting Captivating Content
Technical SEO Techniques
Boosting Engagement Through Content

In this blog, we will explore the best practices for crafting compelling and SEO-friendly content that not only attracts readers but also ranks well in search results. By emplying an SEO agency to combine creativity and strategic SEO services, you can enhance your content’s visibility and drive higher levels of engagement. So, let’s dive in and learn how to bridge the gap between SEO and a human-centric approach to maximise your online impact.

SEO-Friendly Content Writing Tips

I think we can all agree that writing is a creative endeavour, but in SEO, we need to be a little technical too! Crafting SEO-friendly content is a crucial aspect of gaining visibility in search engines and reaching a wider audience.

One of the first steps in this process is conducting comprehensive keyword research to pinpoint the most relevant terms and phrases your target audience will likely use. Seamlessly incorporating these keywords throughout your content, including in the title, headings, meta description, and body, can significantly boost your chances of ranking higher. However, it’s not just about stuffing keywords; focus on providing valuable and informative content that caters to your audience’s needs.

Search engines increasingly prioritise user intent and satisfaction, meaning the more you deliver what your readers are looking for, the better your chances of climbing up those search result rankings. So, remember, writing with SEO in mind doesn’t have to sacrifice creativity; it’s about finding the right balance between technical and artistic elements for the best possible outcomes!

Crafting Captivating Content

Often when writing an article, you focus too much on addressing all the ideas and talking points needed, and the page design and layout become an afterthought. The ancillary areas of a blog, namely, images, videos, and formatting, play a crucial role in capturing and retaining your audience’s attention.

Crafting captivating content goes beyond mere words; it demands a thoughtful approach to storytelling and visuals. Start with a clear and attention-grabbing headline that entices readers to explore further.

Utilize compelling storytelling techniques to weave your message, drawing readers into your content and making it an immersive experience. Enrich your articles with visuals like images, infographics, and videos, which not only enhance the reading experience but also keep your audience visually engaged.

Additionally, remember the importance of breaking up your content into digestible chunks with subheadings and bullet points, improving readability and encouraging readers to stay on your page longer. By incorporating these elements into your writing, you’ll be well on your way to building a loyal readership and encouraging content sharing.

Technical SEO Techniques

For many businesses, regular blog and article posting is one component of their marketing strategy. Captivating content leveraging SEO techniques can significantly impact your content’s reach and visibility.

One vital aspect is building high-quality backlinks from reputable websites within your niche. Guest posting on other blogs and collaborating with influencers can help you obtain valuable backlinks and expand your audience. Additionally, ensure your blog’s technical SEO is sound, including fast-loading pages, mobile responsiveness, and proper use of meta tags.

Regularly update and repurpose your content to keep it fresh and relevant, and focus on producing long-form, comprehensive pieces that provide in-depth value to your readers. By implementing these strategies, you can not only boost your search engine rankings but also establish your authority and credibility in the industry, ultimately driving more organic traffic and potential customers to your website.

Remember, captivating content combined with effective Auckland SEO practices is the winning formula for standing out in the digital landscape and driving sustainable growth for your business.

Boosting Engagement Through Content

Ultimately, the goal of any good piece of content is to increase awareness to your brand, increase sales, and build your community. One vital aspect to achieving this is by boosting engagement through your content. Engagement serves as the lifeblood of any successful online presence, and there are several strategies you can employ to encourage interactions from your audience.

A powerful technique is the use of calls-to-action (CTAs) strategically placed throughout your content to prompt readers to leave comments, share your content on social media, or subscribe to your newsletter. Timely responses to comments and messages are equally important, as they foster a sense of community and show your audience that you value their feedback.

Don’t shy away from conducting surveys or polls to gain insights into your readers’ preferences and interests, as this allows you to tailor your future content accordingly, enhancing their overall experience.

For an even more interactive approach, consider running exciting contests, engaging giveaways, or thought-provoking quizzes, all of which can further captivate your audience and deepen their connection to your brand. By implementing these strategies, you can actively boost engagement, cultivate lasting relationships with your audience, and ultimately take your online presence to new heights.

Conclusion

Creating content for your business can be a rather involved process, especially if you’re going beyond blogs and into more long-form video or creative content. Striking the right balance between SEO and a human-centric approach is crucial for online success. So, combine creativity with strategic SEO practices to stand out in the digital landscape and drive sustainable growth for your business.

FAQ

Did you know that 53.3% of all website traffic comes from organic search ? This statistic underscores the significance of optimising your articles and blogs to show on Google and other search engines. Without proper optimisation, your valuable content might remain hidden in the vast sea of the internet, failing to reach your target audience.

Rich Snippets And Schema Markup Made Simple The SEO Consultants Handbook

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 08:29:59 GMT

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For those of you working in marketing and aren’t in the know, Rich Snippets and Structured Data make use of HTML to optimise your presence on Google. Rich results can be an attractive SEO tactic for websites optimised for rich snippets, generating an impressive average of 58 clicks per 100 search queries.

People Are Still Searching For It
It’s Changing, Not Dying
Enjoy a High Return On Investment (ROI)
Receive Targeted Traffic
Enjoy a Competitive Advantager
Which SEO Strategies Are Dead?
Let Clickthrough Assist With Your SEO Needs

Understanding Google Rich Results and Structured Data

If you want to rank well on Google, then making their Algorithm’s job crawling your website as easy as possible is recommended. Through structured data, you can tell Google what exactly is on your page and what the purpose is, leading to the creation of Google Rich Results. These Rich Results are the eye-catching and interactive search results that go beyond the typical blue link and meta description, presenting users with additional information, images, and interactive elements.

The impact of Rich Results on click-through rates and user engagement is substantial, making it a crucial strategy for enhancing your website’s online visibility. Achieved through Schema Markup, structured data provides search engines with vital contextual information about your content. By employing various schema types, such as Product, Recipe, Event, Review, and more, SEO consultants can help your website qualify for these Rich Results, ensuring a significant boost in organic traffic and overall success in the digital landscape.

Understanding SERP Features and Featured Snippets

Let’s break down why exactly achieving something like a featured snippet is so beneficial for your business. Well, the position your appear on search engine results pages (SERPs) directly impacts your visibility to potential customers. This is where SERP features come into play, displaying essential elements above the organic search results, providing users with direct answers to their queries.

Among these features, Featured Snippets are the holy grail, as they occupy the coveted “position zero” and showcase concise answers to user questions. When SEO consultants employ the appropriate schema types to structure content, they can significantly increase the likelihood of their clients’ content appearing in Featured Snippets.

As a result, businesses can experience a boost in website traffic, gaining more exposure and ultimately establishing their authority in their respective industries. Embracing the power of SERP features and Featured Snippets can be a game-changer for any business looking to thrive in the digital landscape.

Harnessing the Potential of Various Schema Types

Now it’s time to provide some practical examples of how schema can enhance various aspects of your website. Schema Markup offers various schema types that cater to diverse content types and industries.

Product Schema can highlight essential product information, such as pricing, availability, and reviews, right on the search results page, giving potential customers immediate insights for e-commerce websites.

Recipe Schema allows food bloggers and cooking websites to showcase their recipes with cooking times, calorie counts, and ratings, making their content stand out and enticing to readers.

Event Schema is ideal for promoting events, conferences, or webinars, ensuring that interested participants easily find event details and registration information.

Review Schema helps businesses display star ratings and testimonials, building trust and credibility among potential customers.

Organisation and Local Business Schema can furnish detailed information about businesses, including contact details and opening hours, increasing their chances of being featured in local search results and driving foot traffic to physical stores.

By strategically implementing these schema types, your website can enjoy enhanced visibility, increased traffic, and improved user experience.

The Versatility of Specialised Schema Types

In the SEO industry, “Content is king” is an often touted rule for a business’s website, and these are a few of the ways to enhance your website content on SERPs. SEO consultants can take your content a step further by exploring the versatility of specialised schema types, which can provide your clients with a distinct competitive edge.

One such schema is the FAQ Schema, which empowers websites to display frequently asked questions and their answers directly in the search results, boosting visibility and establishing authority. Additionally, leveraging the Author Schema can be immensely beneficial for content creators and bloggers, as it allows them to showcase their name, picture, and other relevant details right in the search results, thereby enhancing trust and credibility.

Not to be overlooked, the Video Schema enables the presentation of video content with an enticing thumbnail and duration, enticing more clicks and views. And if you have content that involves step-by-step instructions, the How-to Schema is the perfect choice to guide users seamlessly through the process. By harnessing the power of these specialised schema types, you can elevate your clients’ online presence and make them stand out in the crowded digital landscape.

Conclusion

Optimising your website for rich snippets and schema markup can often be complicated. But in some cases WordPress or Shopify extensions can handle things like product schema automatically, saving you time on potentially monotonous tasks. For the rest of it, SEO experts like the Clickthrough team can help get your website up to par. Contact us today to find out how we can help improve your website’s visibility in search engines.

FAQ

To boost your website’s visibility in search engine results, leveraging Google Rich Results through Schema Markup is the secret weapon you need. In this comprehensive handbook, we will explore the power of Rich Snippets and Schema Markup, their impact on SERP features like Featured Snippets, and how different schema types can supercharge SEO in Auckland and drive targeted organic traffic. Get ready to take your website to the next level with the ultimate guide to Rich Snippets and Schema Markup!

How To Connect With Customers Using Local SEO

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 08:41:03 GMT

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Does increasing the awareness of your business locally sound good to you? Well, by using Local SEO strategies, you can see significant growth in traffic to your website and brick-and-mortar store. In fact, did you know that 42% of local searches involve clicks on the Google Maps tab? With the rising dominance of online searches, leveraging SEO can have a tremendous impact on the visibility and reach of your business.

Leveraging Google My Business (GMB) Optimization
Building Local Citations
Utilising Local Schema Markup for Enhanced Visibility
Tailoring Local SEO Strategies for Different Business Types

Whether you run a small local boutique, a cosy café, or a thriving service-based company, implementing these SEO tactics in Auckland can help you attract potential customers in your area, drive foot traffic to your physical store, generate online leads, and ultimately boost your sales. So, get ready to navigate the world of Local SEO and watch your business flourish in the local market!

Leveraging Google My Business (GMB) Optimisation

The first step in optimising your online presence for Local SEO is setting up your Google My Business profile. Whether regarding location, services, products, or even customer engagement, GMB is crucial in enhancing your local visibility. In fact, an astounding 56% of customer actions on Google My Business listings result in website visits, demonstrating its significance in driving online traffic. To make the most of this powerful tool, ensure that your GMB page is up-to-date and filled with relevant information. See our profile below as an example.

Accurate NAP (Name, Address, Phone) details and well-chosen business categories are essential for boosting your local rankings. Positive reviews from satisfied customers can work wonders for your credibility and search rankings, so don’t hesitate to encourage clients to leave their feedback. Additionally, staying active on your GMB profile by posting regular updates, captivating photos, and enticing offers will keep potential customers engaged and informed about your latest offerings. Embrace the potential of Google My Business optimisation and watch your local presence flourish like never before.

Building Local Citations

Business visibility on directories can be of great benefit to your online footprint. Yellow, for example, is a New Zealand-wide local citation that businesses can leverage to enhance their presence in local searches. Local business listings, also known as local citations, form a crucial part of Local SEO, influencing your business’s legitimacy and relevance in the eyes of search engines.

As with your Google My Business profile, ensuring consistent and accurate NAP details across various online directories, social media platforms, and review sites, you send strong signals to search engines about your business’s credibility. This, in turn, can positively impact your local rankings and help potential customers find your business quickly.

Embracing a well-thought-out local citation-building strategy and being diligent in maintaining NAP consistency can make a significant difference in your local online visibility and ultimately lead to increased customer engagement and growth for your business.

Utilising Local Schema Markup for Enhanced Visibility

Improving the Google algorithms’ ability to identify your presence as a local business is one way to enhance your Local SEO efforts. This is done through Local Schema Markup, which is a way of adding code to your website’s HTML. Local schema markup is a powerful tool that helps search engines understand the context of your business information. By incorporating structured data markup, you provide explicit signals about your location, operating hours, customer reviews, and other essential details.

The result? Your listing can stand out with rich snippets in search results, offering potential customers valuable information at a glance. With local schema markup in place, you increase your chances of appearing in featured snippets and other special search result features, ultimately boosting your business’s visibility and attracting more local customers.

Tailoring Local SEO Strategies for Different Business Types

Not all Local SEO strategies will be suitable for your business. For example, retail stores will benefit from an entirely different approach compared to service-based businesses. Tailoring Local SEO strategies based on the type of business is essential to achieve optimal results and connecting with the right audience.

Focusing on hyper-local keywords and community engagement can be highly beneficial for small businesses. By incorporating location-specific phrases and actively participating in local events and discussions, small businesses can establish a strong presence within their immediate vicinity. On the other hand, e-commerce websites should optimise product pages with relevant geo-targeted keywords to capture local searches. Implementing location-based meta tags and schema markup for local business information can significantly enhance their visibility in search results.

Restaurants and cafes can take advantage of customer reviews and regularly update menus and special offers on their Google My Business (GMB) pages. Positive reviews and dynamic content help build trust with potential customers and encourage more foot traffic. Brick-and-mortar stores can enhance their local presence through event promotions, localised content, and interactive store locator maps.

By creating buzz around local events and offering unique in-store experiences, they can attract a loyal customer base. Meanwhile, service-based businesses can target specific service areas and create localised content to attract potential clients. Utilising location-based landing pages and emphasising their expertise serving the local community can help them stand out from competitors.

Conclusion

Start with a Local SEO strategy today to help your business to thrive within your community. By leveraging tactics such as Google My Business optimization, building local citations, utilizing local schema markup, and tailoring strategies to different business types, you can significantly enhance your local online presence. These strategies will attract potential customers, drive foot traffic to your physical store, generate online leads, and ultimately boost sales.

FAQ

In this blog, we will delve into the world of SEO and explore various strategies and techniques that can put your business on the map, quite literally! From Google My Business optimisation to local citation building, we will uncover the secrets to enhancing your local online presence and effectively engaging with your target audience.

Making The Right Move Outsourcing Or Training For Google Ads Success

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 08:34:50 GMT

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Many businesses face a dilemma when it comes to their online advertising. Do you outsource your Google Ads management? Or do you get training for your staff to handle advertising in-house? According to recent studies, 65% of small-to-midsized businesses run pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. Should you follow suit, what will be the right course of action for your business?

Outsourcing Google Ads Management
The Benefits of In-House Google Ads Training
Finding the Right Balance: Hybrid Approach
Considering Cost, Expertise, and Long-Term Goals

Outsourcing Google Ads Management

Outsourcing Google Ads to an agency to manage your business can often be the right choice. Businesses that do so will find that by relying on professionals well-versed in Google advertising and AdWords management, they gain access to a wealth of experience and knowledge that can optimise their ad campaigns effectively. Studies conducted in 2019 indicated that approximately 63% of business-to-business (B2B) enterprises sought the assistance of marketing agencies by outsourcing a part of their marketing endeavours.

Moreover, these experts are well-equipped to track ad campaign performance meticulously, utilising data-driven insights to make informed adjustments and improve the return on investment (ROI). This option not only saves time and resources but also enables businesses to focus on other core aspects of their business, leaving the intricacies of Google Ads in expert hands. The advantages include accessing experts, like those from Clickthrough, with decades of experience in online advertising, amplifying the benefits significantly, freeing up time and resources, strategic planning and customisation, continuous monitoring and optimisation, and achieving cost efficiency.

The Benefits of In-House Google Ads Training

In-house marketers, on the other hand, can also be of immense benefit to your organisation. Having team members on hand to consult with can lead to greater access to key stakeholders, providing them with valuable information that can influence the direction of their campaigns. In fact, 38% of brands with in-house teams rate cost efficiencies as the main benefit, followed by brand knowledge and nimbleness.

By investing in comprehensive Google Ads training for your in-house team, you can take your business to new heights. With Google Ads certification and PPC training, your team will gain the skills and knowledge necessary to take complete control of your advertising efforts. Tailoring the learning experience to your specific business needs allows you to align marketing strategies with your brand’s unique voice and vision.

Continuous learning through online advertising courses and digital marketing workshops will keep your team updated with the latest industry trends and best practices, fostering long-term success in managing your Google Ads campaigns. Having the right expertise within your team enables you to navigate challenges swiftly and communicate effectively, ultimately driving success for your business.

Finding the Right Balance: Hybrid Approach

Many businesses may even find that this situation doesn’t call for either one or the other but instead makes the most of both for your organisation. Striking the right balance between outsourcing and in-house training can be a winning formula for many businesses. A hybrid approach allows you to leverage the expertise of external professionals while nurturing the skills of your internal team.

By collaborating with specialised agencies and concurrently investing in PPC management training for your employees, you create a powerful synergy that maximises the potential of your Google Ads campaigns. This approach fosters a sense of ownership within your team while benefiting from the insights and strategies of seasoned experts, resulting in an efficient and productive advertising strategy. Finding the right balance through this hybrid model ensures your organisation stays competitive and adapts to the ever-changing market landscape.

Considering Cost, Expertise, and Long-Term Goals

There are a number of considerations when choosing between management or training. The size of your operation, for one, will dictate whether you can justify including Google Ads as one of your employees’ responsibilities.

Evaluating costs, expertise, and long-term goals becomes paramount when deciding between outsourcing and training. Outsourcing may require higher upfront expenses, but the expertise and experience gained can lead to better ROI and improved ad campaign performance.

On the other hand, in-house training involves an initial investment in education but can prove cost-effective over time. To make a well-informed decision that aligns with your unique goals, consider your business’s current budget, the complexity of your advertising needs, and your growth projections. Google claims its advertising platform delivers an impressive 8:1 return on investment, highlighting the potential rewards for those who choose wisely.

Conclusion

Well, with that information in mind, hopefully, your path forward is a little more clear. Whether you choose outsourcing or training, making a well-informed decision can lead to a significant return on investment and improved ad campaign performance. As you navigate the ever-changing market landscape, remember that Google Ads can be a powerful tool when used wisely. Choose wisely and stay competitive in the digital advertising arena.

FAQ

In this blog, we will explore the benefits and considerations of outsourcing versus training for Google Ads success, shedding light on essential aspects such as Google Ads management, ad campaign performance tracking, and PPC management. Let’s delve into each option to make an informed choice.

Conducting An SEO Audit For Your Business A Step By Step Guide

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 09:02:12 GMT

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What’s the point of getting an SEO audit for your website , you ask? Well, there are a number of reasons. For one, you will be able to identify where your website stands regarding search engine optimisation and understand how it can be improved to drive more organic traffic.

Optimising Your Website Around Technical SEO
Optimising Site Structure and Navigation
Enhancing On-Page Content
Evaluating Off-Page Factors
Reviewing Analytics and User Experience

From assessing your website’s performance to analysing keywords and optimising on-page elements, we’ll provide you with the information you need to enhance your website’s search engine rankings and attract your target audience. Let’s dive in and see where your website might need improvement.

Optimising Your Website Around Technical SEO

Some aspects of SEO can be quite complex; structured data and schema markup are some examples that often confuse and complicate things for website owners. Other aspects of technical SEO optimisation include evaluating and improving your URLs to make them more user-friendly and search engine-friendly.

It also involves addressing any missing or poorly optimised meta titles, meta descriptions, and H1 tags, which are essential elements for conveying the relevance and purpose of your web pages. Implementing schema markup helps search engines understand and display your content more effectively. Lastly, website speed is assessed and optimised to provide a better user experience and improve search engine rankings.

Optimising Site Structure and Navigation

Your website needs to be designed around consumer behaviour and search engines’ ability to crawl your website and easily find what pages are important for your business. One crucial aspect of this is the menu structure, which should be well-organized and intuitive, allowing users to navigate your website easily. Internal linking is also essential, as it helps create a logical and strategic linking structure that enhances the overall user experience and aids search engines in discovering and crawling your content effectively.

Furthermore, optimising frequently asked questions (FAQs) on category pages provides valuable information to users and improves search engine visibility. By conducting a comprehensive audit of these elements, you can ensure that your website is optimised for both user satisfaction and search engine performance.

Enhancing On-Page Content

Ensuring that the content on your website pages is optimised is called on-page SEO, which is crucial in improving your online visibility and organic search rankings. This practice involves analysing and enhancing various on-page elements to ensure they are user-friendly and search engine-friendly. By strategically optimising headings, subheadings, keyword usage, and content quality, you can enhance the relevance and value of your web pages.

Well-crafted headings and subheadings improve the readability and organisation of your content and provide search engines with important contextual cues. Additionally, incorporating relevant keywords naturally throughout your content can help search engines understand the topic and purpose of your pages. Furthermore, focusing on content quality by providing valuable and informative information helps establish your website as a reliable source of information, which can lead to increased user engagement and longer dwell times.

By investing time and effort into on-page optimisation, you can create a seamless user experience and make your website more appealing to both users and search engines, ultimately leading to improved rankings, increased organic traffic, and a stronger online presence.

Evaluating Off-Page Factors

Another area of SEO that can also be vital for you to maintain your competitive advantage on search engines is off-page SEO, which encompasses evaluating and enhancing your backlink profile and online presence across directories and social media.

This involves analysing your backlinks’ quality, relevance, and diversity to ensure they contribute positively to your website’s authority and visibility in search engine results. Building backlinks, encouraging branded searches, and increasing engagement and shares on social media are key strategies for off-page optimisation. By focusing on these factors, you can strengthen your website’s online presence and drive more organic traffic.

Reviewing Analytics and User Experience

The final area you can analyse when conducting an SEO audit is measuring the performance of your website to see exactly where you can improve and intuiting what changes need to be made to achieve better results. This encompasses various aspects related to analytics and user experience. It includes evaluating your blogging strategy and its impact on SEO, ensuring your content is engaging, informative, and optimised for search engines.

Utilising analytics platforms like Google Analytics 4 helps track website performance, user behaviour, and conversion metrics. Heatmap analysis provides insights into user interactions and behaviour on your website, helping optimise the user experience. Lastly, this section covers any other observations or recommendations that may arise during the audit to enhance your website’s SEO performance further. By analysing these metrics and making necessary adjustments, you can maximise your website’s potential and achieve better visibility in search engine rankings.

Conclusion

Optimising your website for SEO is an ongoing process; our team believes the task is never truly done. There are always more ways to improve your website’s online presence, and conducting regular SEO audits can help identify areas for growth and optimisation. By staying ahead of the ever-changing search engine algorithms and implementing effective strategies, you can continue to boost your website’s visibility, drive organic traffic, and reach your target audience.

Embracing SEO as a continuous journey allows you to adapt, innovate, and ultimately thrive in the competitive online landscape. So, let’s embark on this exciting adventure together, constantly striving for SEO excellence and unlocking new opportunities for your website’s success.

Contact Clickthrough today for more information on our SEO services in Auckland .

FAQ

Having a solid online presence is essential for businesses to succeed. And with search engines being the primary way people discover new products and services, ensuring that your website is optimised for maximum visibility is crucial. This comprehensive guide will take you through the step-by-step process of conducting an SEO audit for your business .

Develop SEO Skills Within Your In House Marketing Team

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 08:54:30 GMT

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New Zealand has officially entered a recession , compelling businesses to reevaluate their budgets and resource allocation strategies to navigate this challenging period successfully. In such times, marketing budgets often become the first casualty, resulting in greater losses for those who scale back or eliminate their marketing efforts. However, research reveals a remarkable opportunity for businesses to not only weather the storm but also thrive.

What Are the Benefits of Upskilling Your Marketing Team?
What Skills Can You Learn from SEO Training?
Where Can You Get SEO Training?

According to a recent study , companies that increased their marketing budgets during the recession experienced a substantial 20% increase in sales compared to pre-recession levels. This highlights the significance of maintaining and even enhancing marketing efforts during economic downturns.

In this blog, we will explore a practical approach to bolstering your marketing team’s capabilities by developing in-house essential Search Engine Optimization (SEO) skills. By leveraging SEO expertise, you can achieve sustainable growth and ensure your business remains visible and competitive amidst the challenges of a recessionary climate.

What Are the Benefits of Upskilling Your Marketing Team?

Maintaining and increasing your marketing efforts during a recession can have a number of benefits for your business and your marketing team. One key aspect to focus on is upskilling your marketing team, particularly in the area of search engine optimisation (SEO). In today’s digital landscape, SEO plays a vital role in the success of businesses.

By developing SEO skills within your in-house team, you gain better control over your online presence, enjoy faster response times, and benefit from a deeper understanding of your brand and industry. Having a specialised SEO team within your organisation offers a competitive advantage that can make a significant impact on your overall marketing strategy.

What Skills Can You Learn from SEO Training?

There are a number of key skills that your team can learn to help your business thrive in the digital landscape, and one crucial area to focus on is SEO. To excel in SEO, your marketing team should develop key skills such as keyword research, on-page optimization, technical SEO, link building outreach , content creation, and analytics. By investing in SEO training , you can equip your team with the knowledge and tools necessary to enhance your online visibility and drive organic traffic to your website.

Additionally, provide them with recommended tools, software, and online resources that can support their SEO skill development, ranging from keyword research tools to SEO plugins and industry blogs. Platforms like Semrush, Ahrefs, or Majestic can be invaluable in their learning journey. Upskilling your team in SEO not only benefits your business but also helps them feel more fulfilled and confident in their individual growth and professional development.

Where Can You Get SEO Training?

Everybody learns differently, some may prefer to read through online resources themselves and slowly but surely learn what they need to know. For others, Clickthrough offers comprehensive and customised SEO training to help get your team up to speed quickly. However, it’s important to remember that SEO constantly evolves, and staying ahead requires continuous learning. Collaborating with external SEO experts in Auckland or agencies to complement your in-house team’s skills and resources. These partnerships can bring additional expertise and perspectives to your SEO initiatives.

To ensure the effectiveness of your in-house SEO efforts, it’s crucial to measure success using key performance indicators (KPIs), analytics tools, and reporting frameworks. This data-driven approach will allow you to track progress, identify areas for improvement, and make informed decisions to optimise your website’s visibility and rankings. With the right combination of training, collaboration, and measurement, your team will be well-equipped to navigate the ever-changing world of SEO.

Conclusion

The difficulty of SEO varies among industries. Some may be nearly impossible to rank first on Google, whereas others might have minimal competition. However, regardless of the industry, staying up-to-date with SEO industry trends is crucial for success. It is essential to encourage continuous learning within your team and provide them with resources to stay informed about the latest trends and algorithm updates.

Overcoming challenges in building in-house SEO expertise is common, but you can overcome them with clear communication, ongoing training, and addressing specific obstacles. Resources like Search Engine Journal can be a great asset for your team to stay up to date with the ever-evolving world of SEO. Investing in your team’s knowledge and adapting to the changing landscape can position your website or business for long-term success in the competitive digital realm.

FAQ

Effective Link Building In SEO Building Strong Foundations

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 08:50:45 GMT

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One important area within the SEO industry is link building. This entails the use of hyperlinks between your own web pages, outward links to external websites, and incoming links from external websites. Link building is a fundamental aspect of SEO services , as it improves website visibility, boosts organic traffic, and enhances search engine rankings.

Creating a Website Worth Linking To
Effective Strategies for Link Building
Monitoring and Adaptation
Measuring Link Building Success

In this blog, we will delve into the basics of link building, exploring different types of links, optimizing anchor text, and considering domain authority and relevance. By understanding these key factors, you can effectively leverage link building strategies to optimize your website’s performance and drive organic growth.

Creating a Website Worth Linking To

Without having content worth linking to, you are likely going to have a hard time attracting links from external websites, otherwise known as backlinks. Your first step towards building up your backlink profile is to create high-quality and engaging content that provides value to your readers. This value can be either in the form of information. Building a strong foundation is key to successful link building.

One way to achieve this is by creating high-quality and valuable content. This not only attracts backlinks naturally but also provides value to users. On-page optimization and ensuring a positive user experience are also crucial. By optimizing your website’s structure, navigation, and load times, you create a solid foundation for link acquisition.

Effective Strategies for Link Building

There are a number of strategies that have proven to be effective in link building, and these strategies have evolved significantly over the past 10 years. In the past, Google used to prioritize quantity over quality when it came to link building, which led to businesses manipulating search results in their favor. However, the focus has now shifted towards the quality of links acquired.

Crafting an effective link building strategy is crucial, and it starts with setting clear goals and conducting competitor research to identify opportunities. It’s important to target specific websites and audiences, especially within your industry, as this helps to concentrate your efforts.

Building relationships through outreach with webmasters, bloggers, and influencers can yield fruitful results. Additionally, employing natural link acquisition techniques, such as creating link-worthy content and leveraging social media, can help in building strong backlink profiles. Remember to ensure that the distribution of anchor text is 80% branded to maintain a balanced approach.

Monitoring and Adaptation

Make sure to monitor the backlink profile over time, this can help ensure the effectiveness of your link building strategy. Regularly analyzing your link profile using tracking tools like Majestic , allows you to evaluate the quality of your backlinks and identify any issues such as broken or toxic links. It’s crucial to adapt to algorithm changes and stay informed about search engine guidelines to maintain a successful link building approach.

By avoiding black hat practices and embracing white hat techniques, you can ensure the longevity of your efforts. Monitoring backlink acquisition also helps you identify potential negative SEO tactics employed by your competitors. If you notice sudden spikes or increases in backlinks, it’s important to investigate and disavow any spammy linking domains to restore the integrity of your backlink profile and hopefully boost your website in the search results.

Measuring Link Building Success

So, how do we measure the success of our link building campaigns and efforts? Well, there are a number of KPIs to consider, some you can see a direct impact from link building and others are a contributing factor. These include organic traffic growth, search engine rankings, domain authority, trust flow and citation flow improvement, and the number of quality backlinks acquired.

These metrics provide insights into the impact of your link building activities and help you gauge the overall success of your strategy. By monitoring these indicators, you can assess the effectiveness of your link building efforts and make informed decisions to optimize your strategy for even greater results.

Conclusion

Attracting impactful backlinks is a tall order, but there are a number of ways to get started with link building. By creating high-quality content, optimizing your website, and implementing effective strategies, you can build a strong foundation for successful link building. Remember to monitor and adapt your approach over time, and measure success through key performance indicators.

With a well-executed link building strategy, you can enhance your website’s visibility, drive organic growth, and achieve improved search engine rankings. Reach out to the Clickthrough team today for more information on our link-building outreach services.

FAQ

Say Goodbye To Universal Analytics Embracing Google Analytics 4

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 08:46:26 GMT

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Well, the time is finally here – Universal Analytics has now stopped collecting your business’s data for good. We are now in the era of Google Analytics 4! We thought it would be a good idea to refresh your memory about what this change means for you and your business.

The Limitations of Universal Analytics
What are GA4’s Key Features and Benefits?
Why Are These Tracking Changes Important?
Transitioning from UA to GA4

We will discuss the features and benefits of Universal Analytics, as well as the challenges it faced in today’s digital landscape. Introducing GA4 as the solution will highlight the need to transition from Universal Analytics to GA4 for more comprehensive tracking and measurement.

The Limitations of Universal Analytics

There are a number of reasons that Google has sunsetted Universal Analytics. As an analytics platform, UA has been around since 2005. However, with the launch of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Google is adapting to the changes in tracking that businesses require. One major limitation of Universal Analytics was its struggle to track user interactions in a multi-device, cross-platform environment. This limitation significantly impacted businesses and their ability to gather accurate and comprehensive data.

In addition, UA had strict data limits, processing only 10 million hits, 500 hits per session, and 200,000 hits per user per day. These data limits were a hindrance to businesses striving for in-depth analysis.

Fortunately, GA4 addresses these limitations by removing data limits, allowing businesses to gather and analyse data without constraints.

What are GA4’s Key Features and Benefits?

So, with an eye towards the future, let’s explore what features GA4 offers and how they can be of benefit to your business. To start with, GA4 boasts improved customer journey tracking by helping to identify their touchpoints with your brand across multiple devices and platforms. This enhanced cross-platform tracking allows for a seamless understanding of user interactions, enabling you to optimize your marketing strategies accordingly.

Furthermore, GA4 incorporates machine learning, providing deeper insights and predictive analytics, enabling you to uncover valuable patterns and trends that can drive your business forward. Privacy and data control are also prioritized, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations. With simplified goals and events setup, enhanced visualizations and reporting, as well as more powerful audiences for your ad campaigns, GA4 offers a plethora of parameters that can elevate your business’s performance and user engagement analysis. Embrace the future of analytics with GA4 and unlock new opportunities for growth.

Why Are These Tracking Changes Important?

Being able to more accurately measure customer interactions with your website can only be considered a great benefit for businesses. In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, where customers effortlessly switch between devices and platforms, keeping up with their behavior is like chasing a shape-shifting puzzle.

However, by embracing comprehensive tracking, businesses can unlock the secret code behind user behavior, paving the way for optimized marketing campaigns and improved overall performance.

It’s like donning a pair of high-tech glasses that reveal hidden insights, allowing businesses to connect the dots and deliver exceptional experiences that keep customers coming back for more. From the first click to the final purchase, comprehensive tracking is the compass guiding businesses towards success in the ever-evolving digital realm.

Transitioning from UA to GA4

The transition for marketing teams across the globe is going to be touch and go for a while. Clickthrough offers comprehensive GA4 training for in-house marketers to continue with their marketing reports as usual and keep track of the success of their marketing endeavors.

But how can businesses navigate this process smoothly? Our experts provide guidance on transitioning from Universal Analytics to GA4, ensuring a successful shift. We discuss the steps involved, potential challenges, and best practices to embrace during this transformative journey. Worried about this change? Don’t be! We will make sure this transition is as smooth and seamless as possible for you and your business.

Conclusion

For those of you who grew attached to Universal Analytics over the years, this change is unavoidable. However, future-proofing your business’s analytics needs is necessary by adopting GA4. Staying up-to-date with analytics technologies is crucial in the ever-evolving digital landscape. Making the transition to GA4 offers long-term benefits that can contribute to the success of your business.

By embracing this change, you can ensure that your analytics capabilities remain relevant and effective, enabling you to make informed decisions and stay ahead of the competition. Future-proofing your analytics is an investment in the future, empowering your business to thrive in the dynamic world of data-driven insights. Contact us today to learn more about our GA4 training .

FAQ

What Is Google Search Generative Experience

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Tue, 30 May 2023 09:11:10 GMT

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AI has become a hot topic recently, and its impact is particularly pronounced in the realm of search engines. We’ve witnessed the rise of Bing Chat and Chat GPT, both of which have garnered significant attention and praise. It is no wonder that search engines are evolving to become more intuitive, delivering more accurate and personalised responses than ever before.

Introducing the Generative AI Knowledge Panel
Generative AI for Local SEO
AI-Powered Shopping Results
News, Events, Images and Video

In this blog, we will explore how SERPs are adapting and delving into their features, benefits, and potential for the future of search. Get ready to embark on a journey where AI takes centre stage, paving the way for a new era of intelligent and dynamic search.

Introducing the Generative AI Knowledge Panel

Typically, when you prompt Google with a question, it will give you either a featured snippet answer or an article along with a side panel and the ‘People also ask’ section. Let’s use the example below for the query ‘What is SEO?’ as an example.

FAQ

However, with the introduction of Google’s generative AI search experience or SGE, there is a new and exciting addition to the search results—the knowledge panel. The knowledge panel appears after the generative AI response and provides a comprehensive overview of the topic, incorporating information from various sources. It offers a quick glance at the key details, related topics, and even interactive features, all within a compact and easily accessible format.

This enhancement enhances the search experience by providing users with more in-depth and relevant information sourced from reliable companies, publishers and industry experts.

Generative AI for Local SEO

Google’s generative AI also offers powerful features that can benefit businesses on the local level. Whether you’re looking for a good barber in your area or an Auckland SEO services agency , Google’s local search functionality currently shows limited information.

However, with the introduction of Search Generative Experience (SGE), users are now provided with more comprehensive and detailed information at their fingertips, allowing them to make more informed decisions. For instance, when searching for sneakers, SGE goes beyond the traditional local pack feature and provides AI-generated overviews that slightly differ from the results shown on the desktop browser.

On mobile, the generative AI response aligns with the local pack, ensuring consistency across platforms. This enhanced local search experience powered by generative AI opens up new possibilities for users to explore and discover businesses in their vicinity.

AI-Powered Shopping Results

Google shopping is one area that will see some great improvements with SGE (Search Generative Experience) once it’s fully launched to the public. With the aim of enhancing user experiences and providing valuable information, Google will begin capturing reviews, testimonials, and perspectives from people who have used the shopping products in question. This means consumers can make more informed purchasing decisions when browsing search results.

For instance, if you’re looking for a waterproof Bluetooth speaker, SGE will display shopping results with reviews and advice on what to look for in a Bluetooth speaker. This highly personalised approach ensures that users find the right product and gain insights from real users to choose their needs. The new Google shopping experiences will bring convenience and confidence to shoppers, changing how we navigate the online shopping world.

News, Events, Images and Video

Some other potentially less impactful areas of SGE that will change include news, events, businesses, images, and videos. When it comes to news, SGE pulls from the five most recent sources to provide users with the latest AI news .

When searching for helpful videos or images for whatever purpose, SGE offers advice from three sources for specific needs, while the current Google results provide a range of videos that are less personalised towards you as an individual.

Lastly, for events, SGE offers a long list of suggestions from five sources for upcoming events in a specific area. At the same time, Google search results commonly present events in a calendar format. These changes in SGE aim to enhance the search experience across various areas, providing users with more relevant and diverse information.

Conclusion

SEO and search engines are seeing some slight upheaval of what you could call the ‘status quo’ and the team at Clickthrough is welcoming the change. Search engines are there to help you find information and make decisions; with SGE, Google’s ability to do so will greatly improve. Our team recently launched generative AI training courses to help your businesses embrace and adapt to this new era of business operation.

Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) represents an exciting leap forward in search engine technology. By harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning, Google is revolutionising how we interact with search results. SGE goes beyond providing a list of relevant links; it aims to understand the user’s intent and generate personalised information relevant to you.

Check out Google’s announcement video for Search Generative Experience below!

How To Optimise Product Pages For Better E Commerce Seo

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 15 May 2023 09:18:06 GMT

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E-commerce can seem like a daunting task when it comes to SEO, especially when your product range boasts thousands of products. Optimising each and every page may feel overwhelming, but it’s a critical step to maximise your online visibility and drive more qualified traffic to your website.

Keyword Research for Ecommerce
Optimising Product Information, Meta Tags and More
Optimise Your Product Pages with Customer Feedback
Optimising for User Experience in E-Commerce
How Can Structured Data Help with E-Commerce?
Internal Linking for E-Commerce

Keyword Research for Ecommerce

Keyword research is often overlooked in e-commerce, yet it is crucial in driving website performance analysis and targeted traffic to your product pages.

Understanding the significance of keywords and knowing how to choose the right ones can make a world of difference in the success of your online business. Keywords bridge what users are searching for and the products you offer, helping search engines match relevant queries with your content.

Conducting thorough keyword research can uncover the exact phrases and terms potential customers use to find products like yours. This enables you to optimise your product pages effectively, improving their visibility and increasing the chances of attracting qualified leads.

But how do you choose the right keywords? Combining industry knowledge, market trends, and diligent analysis requires identifying high-value keywords that align with your product offerings and target audience.

The goal is to strike a balance between search volume and the level of competition, selecting keywords with sufficient search traffic but not overly competitive. Using well-chosen keywords can enhance your product pages’ visibility, drive organic traffic, and boost your e-commerce success.

Optimising Product Information, Meta Tags and More

Once keyword research is done, you can start crafting your product titles, descriptions, and other elements to captivate search engines and customers. Creating compelling product titles and descriptions drives organic traffic to your online store or website.

By strategically incorporating relevant keywords into your titles and descriptions, you can improve your search engine visibility and attract potential customers actively searching for products like yours.

However, it’s important to strike a balance between optimisation and readability, ensuring that your titles and descriptions appeal to search engines and resonate with your target audience.

In addition to optimising your product titles and descriptions, don’t overlook the power of optimising your product URLs, meta tags, and headers. These elements significantly improve your website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs).

By aligning your URLs, meta tags, and headers with your targeted keywords, you can enhance your website’s relevance and ensure that search engines understand the content and context of your product pages. Implementing these strategies will boost your search engine rankings and make your products more discoverable and appealing to potential customers.

Optimise Your Product Pages with Customer Feedback

Conversion rate is crucial when it comes to e-commerce, and one effective way to increase it is by leveraging user-generated content and reviews. Showing off your positive customer feedback not only builds trust with potential buyers but also boosts your website’s search engine optimization (SEO).

User-generated content, such as testimonials, ratings, and reviews, serves as authentic social proof that can influence purchasing decisions. When prospective customers see real people endorsing your products or services, they are more likely to convert into paying customers.

Additionally, search engines value user-generated content as it provides fresh, relevant, and unique content, which in turn improves your website’s visibility in search results.

By encouraging and showcasing user-generated content and reviews, you not only enhance your SEO efforts but also increase conversions by instilling confidence in your brand and creating a sense of community around your offerings.

Optimising for User Experience in E-Commerce

Page and user experience are crucial when it comes to e-commerce, ensuring your page loads quickly, is responsive, and delivers a seamless browsing experience.

One important aspect of optimizing product pages is focusing on product images. Images play a vital role in attracting customers and conveying the value of your products.

However, they can also negatively impact page load times if not optimized correctly.

FAQ

This blog will delve into the importance of optimising product pages for better e-commerce SEO . Implementing effective strategies and techniques can significantly enhance your website’s search engine rankings, attract more potential customers, and ultimately boost your online sales.

So, let’s explore the key factors and actionable insights that will help you optimise your product pages for greater SEO success !

To strike a balance between visual appeal and performance, it’s essential to compress images without compromising quality. By reducing file sizes, you can significantly improve load times, leading to higher search engine rankings and a better user experience.

Mobile optimization is another critical factor in today’s digital landscape. With the increasing use of smartphones and tablets for online shopping, ensuring your product pages are mobile-friendly is paramount. Responsive design allows your website to adapt seamlessly to various screen sizes, optimizing image sizes and layouts for mobile devices.

This approach ensures that your product images are displayed correctly and load quickly, regardless of the device being used. Prioritizing mobile optimization and responsive design for your product pages ultimately leads to enhanced user satisfaction, increased conversions, and improved search engine visibility.

How Can Structured Data Help with E-Commerce?

Structured data is a powerful tool that can significantly enhance visibility in search results and drive more organic traffic to your website. It involves using HTML markup to provide search engines with specific information about the content on your web pages.

By structuring data in a standardized format, search engines can better understand and interpret the information, resulting in more informative and visually appealing search results.

Structured data can be particularly beneficial for e-commerce websites, as it helps optimize product listings and enables search engines to display rich snippets such as price, availability, and reviews directly in the search results.

This increased visibility not only improves the user experience but also boosts your e-commerce SEO by attracting more clicks and potential customers to your site.

Internal Linking for E-Commerce

Internal linking is crucial for any website to rank on search engines and especially so for e-commerce businesses. It refers to the practice of connecting different pages within a website through hyperlinks.

These internal links not only improve the overall navigation and user experience but also play a significant role in enhancing the SEO performance of a website. By strategically placing internal links, website owners can guide visitors to relevant pages, allowing them to easily discover and access valuable content.

Furthermore, internal linking helps search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of a website, making it easier for them to crawl and index pages. This ultimately leads to improved visibility and higher rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Implementing effective internal linking strategies can significantly impact the success of your website, boosting both user engagement and organic traffic.

Conclusion

E-commerce can be highly competitive, but by optimizing your website and product pages for SEO, you can unlock the potential for increased sales, higher conversion rates, and greater visibility in search engine results.

Implementing effective SEO strategies, such as keyword research, compelling meta tags, and user-friendly navigation, can significantly improve your online store’s performance and attract more potential customers.

Don’t let your products get lost in the online marketplace. Take the necessary steps to optimize your e-commerce website today and start reaping the benefits of improved SEO.

If you’re looking for expert guidance and support, contact Clickthrough today to find out how we can help with your e-commerce business and drive its success in the online landscape.

5 Common On Page SEO Issues And How To Fix Them

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 08 May 2023 19:39:36 GMT

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Most experts agree that there are three main areas of SEO, and those are technical, off-page, and on-page.

Title Tags and Meta Descriptions
Duplicate Content Needs to Be Fixed ASAP
Your URL Structure Needs to Be Clear
Images Need to be Optimised for SEO & Page Experience
Top Tips for Internal Linking

In this blog, we’ll focus on on-page SEO and explore five common mistakes people make with their on-page content. From duplicated content to missing alt text, these issues can negatively impact your website’s search engine rankings and prevent you from reaching your target audience. But don’t worry – we’ll also provide you with actionable tips on fixing these issues and improving your on-page SEO.

So, join us as we dive into the world of on-page SEO and learn how to optimise your website for better search engine rankings!

Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Meta titles, often referred to as title tags, are an incredibly important ranking factor for any given page on your website. Some common mistakes you should avoid include making them too short or too long. Typically title tags should be a maximum of 60 characters, and you should make the most of this character limit, as exceeding it will truncate your title in good search results.

FAQ

While technical and off-page SEO often get a lot of attention, on-page SEO is equally important for boosting your website’s search engine rankings.

However, many businesses think that creating high-quality content is enough to optimise their on-page SEO, but there’s much more to it.

It’s also crucial to ensure that your meta title is optimised for your target keywords, including your primary and secondary keywords, and not just stuffed with keywords. Formatting is vital, and it’s recommended to include your primary keyword first, then your secondary keyword and brand name.

Format Example

Primary Keyword – Secondary Keyword | Brand Name/Company

10 Litre Watering Can – Gardening Supplies | Green World

Also, include local modifiers in your title tag, meta and onpage optimisation . For example, SEO Auckland or SEO Wellington shows the search engine you are trying to rank in those cities for a particular service. Adding New Zealand or even NZ, e.g. SEO NZ , will help the search engines prioritise your target country, even if you use a .co.nz domain.

Another mistake is missing the search intent or including irrelevant descriptions in your meta titles, which can lead to a high bounce rate, so make sure your meta titles and descriptions are relevant to the page content. Many people don’t realise that meta descriptions can be truncated if they are too long, so ensure you make the most of the space by writing descriptions up to 155 characters long.

Format Example

Shop the 10-litre watering can at Green World, your one-stop shop for high-quality gardening supplies. Perfect for any size garden or plant collection.

By avoiding these mistakes, you can create meta titles and descriptions to boost your on-page SEO and improve your website’s overall ranking.

Duplicate Content Needs to Be Fixed ASAP

It’s not entirely clear how often Google will index your website, and it’s become less frequent in recent years. But one thing you need to fix before it happens is any duplicated content on your website, whether that’s your page title tags, meta descriptions, H1 tags, page copy, or even testimonials.

Duplicate content is a common mistake people make with on-page SEO, but it can seriously harm your website’s ranking potential. When search engines find identical content across multiple pages on your site or even across different domains, they will not know which to rank higher.

As a result, your website could be penalised for duplicate content and lose visibility in the search results. Therefore, it’s crucial to audit your website regularly and ensure your content is unique and valuable to your audience.

Your URL Structure Needs to Be Clear

This often-overlooked on-page ranking factor is one that people frequently make mistakes with, and that’s your URL structure. Your URL needs to be clean, concise, and relevant to the content on the page.

One of the most common mistakes people make is using generic URLs that provide no context to search engines or users. Another mistake is using long, complex URLs with irrelevant information, making it difficult for search engines to understand the page’s purpose.

Additionally, including stop words or filler words in your URL can dilute the keywords and make the URL harder to read. To avoid these mistakes, keep your URLs short and descriptive, include target keywords, and separate words with hyphens to make them easily readable.

Images Need to be Optimised for SEO & Page Experience

Have you ever loaded up a web page, and the images show up 5 or more seconds later? This is a perfect example of how image optimisation could improve your website.

There are several considerations to make when it comes to optimising images for on-page SEO, and unfortunately, many people make mistakes that hinder their efforts.

One common mistake is not giving images descriptive file names or neglecting to include alt tags. Another issue is failing to compress images and reduce their file size, resulting in slow loading times. There are a number of free image compressor websites, only a Google search away.

Choosing the wrong file format or over saturating a page with too many ideas can negatively impact SEO. By avoiding these common mistakes and optimising your website’s images properly, you can improve your website’s user experience and search engine ranking.

What Is New Bing Chat Working With Ai Chat Bots

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 19:45:19 GMT

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Despite the issues ChatGPT users will have noticed, people keep returning to use it. In marketing, this is an example of great product-market fit. The chatbot is so helpful that people will continue using it, despite its faults!

What is New Bing?
How Are Bing Responses Generated?
How Does New Bing Differ From Search?
OpenAI Image Generation

What is New Bing?

Like ChatGPT, New Bing offers a new way for people to search the web using AI chatbots. With Bing’s latest AI-powered features, users can now experience a more personalised, efficient, and creative search experience. One of the most exciting features of the new Bing is the chat experience, which enables users to interact with an AI chatbot in a conversational manner.

FAQ

Bing has run with this success and integrated it directly into their search engine with New Bing, or Bing Chat. So, what do these updates to Bing’s search engine experience offer? In this blog, we’ll discuss how to use Bing Chat, how AI generates answers and replies, and how Bing Chat differs from your typical search engine experience.

When using Bing’s chat experience, users can ask complex questions and receive detailed replies, making it feel like they have a research assistant at their fingertips. The AI-powered chatbot scans the web and provides a summarised answer to your query, making it easier for users to get an actual answer quickly. Users can also ask follow-up questions, such as “Can you explain that in simpler terms?” or “Give me more options,” to receive more detailed or different answers.

However, it’s important to note that the number of interactions in each chat conversation is limited to keep the interaction grounded in search. This means that Bing’s chat experience is optimised for providing quick and efficient search results rather than for extended conversation.

How Are Bing Responses Generated?

New Bing and Chat GPT run on the same engine but differ in how responses to your queries are generated. While Bing primarily searches the web for relevant content and summarises it for you, Chat GPT generates responses based on its internal knowledge base.

When you ask a question to Chat GPT, it uses its understanding of language to come up with a response based on the patterns it has learned from the text it was trained on. Chat GPT can also generate new text based on the prompt you give it, which is why it is capable of having conversations with you.

In contrast, Bing’s search results are based on what it finds on the web, which can include up-to-date information and a wide range of sources. Bing Chat uses this same technology to generate responses to your queries, allowing you to access the latest information on a given topic. However, it can only provide answers based on what it finds on the web rather than drawing on an internal knowledge base like Chat GPT.

It’s worth noting that while Chat GPT is an impressive technology, it has its limitations. Because it was trained on text up to 2021, it may not have knowledge of recent events or developments. In contrast, Bing can search for the latest information available on the web, making it a valuable resource.

How Does New Bing Differ From Search?

When using search engines, sometimes finding specific information can take a while, but with Bing Chat, the search experience is much more intuitive and streamlined. Unlike traditional search engines, the new Bing combines the power of search with the convenience of chat, allowing users to search how they talk, text, and think.

One of the key differences between Bing Chat and traditional search engines is how Bing presents search results. Instead of generating a list of relevant links, Bing consolidates reliable sources across the web to give you a single, summarised answer. This makes it easier for users to quickly find the information they need without having to sift through multiple pages of search results.

Another advantage of Bing Chat is its ability to understand complex search queries. Whether you’re asking a question, looking for specific information, or searching for a particular product, Bing can take your search query and provide a detailed response. Users can even ask follow-up questions to their initial search to get personalised replies, making the search experience more conversational and engaging.

OpenAI Image Generation

A feature of Bing Chat I can get behind when it comes to creating content, and that’s the AI image generator. With Bing Image Creator, you can generate AI-rendered images from the chat pane using natural language descriptions.

Powered by an advanced version of the DALL∙E model from our partners at OpenAI, Bing Image Creator is an amazing tool for content creators who need visual content to go with their written content. By simply describing the image you want to see in words, AI technology takes over and generates a unique idea that matches your description.

This means you no longer have to spend hours scouring the internet for the perfect image or creating your own graphics. With Bing Image Creator, you can save time and effort by generating custom images that perfectly match your content. Whether it’s a blog post, social media update, or digital marketing campaign, the AI image generator in Bing Chat can help you bring your content to life.

For fun, I had Bing generate an image of a giraffe wearing jandals (flip flops to you Americans) to showcase what it can do.

Conclusion

Before you get ahead of yourself and start trying to use Bing Chat, you need to use Microsoft Edge to gain access to it, sorry Chrome and Firefox users. With that being said, Bing Chat is an exciting new addition to the world of AI chatbots, offering a range of features that are sure to improve the customer service experience for many businesses.

How To Keep Ahead Of Google Algorithm Updates

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 19:50:22 GMT

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Google’s search algorithm constantly evolves, making it challenging for businesses and marketers to maintain a top position in search results.

Content is Key to Ranking Well on Google
Keep an eye on SEO Industry Updates
Monitoring Your Website

One week you rank well for your key search term; the next, you need help maintaining your position. With the frequent updates to Google’s algorithm, it’s essential to keep ahead of the curve by attending an SEO course to avoid negative impacts on your website’s search engine rankings.

Regularly publishing new content for your website is crucial for a strong content strategy. Google rewards websites that update their content regularly with higher rankings; updating your website with fresh content also helps to keep your audience engaged and coming back for more. You can achieve this by creating blog posts, articles, or any other new content relevant to your target audience. While updating your website with fresh content regularly is important, quality is more important than quantity. It’s better to focus on creating high-quality content that helps your audience rather than churning out lots of low-quality content.

“We suggest ensuring you’re offering the best content you can.

That’s what our algorithms seek to reward” – Google Support

User experience, often called simply UX, is one way to ensure your content is optimised for your audience. This means keeping in mind that your content should be easy to read and navigate and should be optimised for mobile devices. It’s important that your content is visually appealing, well-organized, and provides value to your audience. By prioritising the user experience, you can increase the odds of keeping visitors on your website longer and getting them to convert.

This is all well and good, but if your content isn’t created with keyword strategy in mind, you may miss out on an important opportunity to improve your search engine rankings. Using relevant keywords throughout your content naturally and organically is important without overstuffing your content with too many keywords

Keep an eye on SEO Industry Updates

Staying ahead of the curve in SEO means keeping track of what is happening in the industry. Instead of discovering something two months late, monitor what’s happening and adjust your strategies as soon as possible! The experts at Search Engine Journal and Search Engine Land get paid to write about digital marketing and SEO updates. So why not put aside 5 minutes each day to look at what they’ve written?

Reading industry articles can help you expand your professional network by introducing you to new tools, techniques, and ideas. By staying informed and engaged with the latest industry news, you can position yourself as an expert in your field and build relationships with other professionals who share your interests and goals.

Monitoring Your Website

Tracking a few key things on your website can make your business more resilient to changes to Google’s algorithm. One of these is ensuring that your internal linking structure is well-organized and optimized, allowing Google to easily identify the pages that are most important to your business.

Another important factor to consider is website speed, which Google has confirmed is a ranking signal. Slow-loading websites are penalized in search results, making it essential to ensure that your site loads quickly and efficiently if you want to maintain a high ranking.

To stay informed about changes to Google’s algorithm with regards to website speed, webmasters should regularly test their site’s performance using tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights. This tool provides a comprehensive analysis of your website’s speed and offers recommendations for improving it.

When making changes to your website, it’s important to track your progress one step at a time to see what works best. Any changes you make can have an impact on your rankings, so it’s crucial to monitor your results.

If you need assistance, our Clickthrough team provides customized SEO services for your business and industry. Contact us today at hello@clickthrough.co.nz to learn more!

Conclusion

Staying ahead of Google’s algorithm changes means you must be proactive rather than reactive. You can maintain your website’s search engine rankings through updates by understanding the basics of Google’s algorithm and implementing effective SEO techniques.

Creating high-quality, relevant content and focusing on the user experience is essential, as keeping an eye on industry updates and monitoring your website’s internal linking structure and speed. Remember, any changes you make can affect your rankings, so it’s essential to make changes one at a time and keep track of your progress. By following these strategies, you can stay ahead of the curve and succeed in the constantly evolving world of SEO.

FAQ

How Has Bing Improved With Ai And Machine Learning

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 20:01:10 GMT

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The internet is constantly evolving, and search engine companies are racing to out-innovate each other. Bing, however, has surged ahead of the pack with their latest offering, the AI language model Chat GPT. By leveraging this cutting-edge technology, Bing can better understand and cater to their users’ needs, delivering an efficient and personal search experience.

Bing’s AI technology also powers its image search feature, allowing it to recognise and analyse the content of images to provide more accurate and relevant search results. With Bing’s image search, users can filter images by size, colour, style and even facial expressions. AI and machine learning technologies have revolutionised the search engine industry, providing users with more personalised and efficient search results. With Google’s BERT and BARD, and Bing’s AI solutions, users can expect a more intuitive and relevant search experience in the future.

User Experience Improvements on Bing

Searching for information online can be tedious and frustrating, especially if you’re sifting through irrelevant results. Bing, however, has taken a different approach to search engine technology by investing heavily in AI and machine learning to improve user experience.

One of Bing’s most exciting AI-powered features is Chat GPT. This sophisticated chatbot uses natural language processing and machine learning to generate human-like responses to text-based conversations. By learning from user behaviour and search patterns, Chat GPT can provide more intuitive and personalised search results, saving users time and hassle.

Bing’s commitment to AI has already yielded impressive results. The integration of Chat GPT has led to a significant increase in user satisfaction and engagement, with a 10-15% boost in click-through rates. It’s no wonder why Bing is seen as a leading innovator in the search engine industry.

Current Limitations of AI in Search Engines

Developing AI and machine learning in search engines is an ongoing process with challenges and limitations that must be overcome. Despite these obstacles, search engine companies continue to invest in these technologies to enhance the user experience.

One of the challenges is the quality of data used by these models, which can result in inaccurate search results. However, with AI and machine learning advancements, search engines are better at understanding user intent and delivering more relevant and personalised search results.

Another challenge is the complexity of language models, which can struggle with understanding nuances in language and context. However, ongoing improvements and updates to these models address these issues, resulting in more accurate and appropriate responses to user queries.

Transparency is another limitation of AI and machine learning in search engines, but companies are working to provide more visibility into how these models operate to build trust with users.

Is AI the Future of Search?

Looking to the future, AI and machine learning technologies are set to play an even bigger role in search engine development. As these technologies advance, search engines will become even more intuitive, providing users with increasingly personalised and accurate search results.

Additionally, natural language processing and voice search are likely to become more prevalent, allowing users to search more efficiently and effectively. As search engine companies work to address the challenges and limitations of AI and machine learning, we can expect the search experience to become even more seamless and user-friendly.

FAQ

But how exactly does Bing’s use of artificial intelligence and machine learning improve the search experience, and what benefits does it provide users? This article will dive deep into these questions, exploring how Bing uses Chat GPT to elevate its game and compete with the likes of Google Search.

What’s the Link Between Search Engines and AI?

AI has become a buzzword that’s been popping up everywhere regarding search engines . But what exactly is AI, and how does it relate to how we search for information online? The link between search engines and AI is that AI technology is being used to enhance search engines’ capabilities, making them more accurate and personalised for users.

By incorporating natural language processing and machine learning algorithms, search engines can better understand the context and intent behind search queries, providing more relevant and helpful results. Both Google and Bing have been incorporating AI technologies into their platforms to provide users with more accurate and personalised search results.

Bing’s Chat GPT and Google’s BERT are examples of AI-powered tools revolutionising the search engine industry . AI is set to play an increasingly important role in the future of search as technology continues to evolve. We expect to see more AI-powered tools, such as ChatGPT 4, further improving the search experience.

The Technology Behind AI and Machine Learning

One of the latest AI technologies that Google has introduced is BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers). BERT is a machine learning algorithm that can better understand the context and meaning of search queries, providing more accurate and relevant search results. With BERT, Google can better understand the intent behind long-tail keywords and deliver more precise search results.

As Google continues to innovate and enhance its search engine capabilities, it has been exploring various AI technologies. Among these technologies is Google BARD, which competes with Chat GPT, another model that leverages the strengths of human and machine learning to optimise search results. With BARD, Google can improve its natural language understanding and provide users with more personalised and accurate search results.

On the other hand, Bing has also been incorporating AI and machine learning technologies into its search platform. Bing has been using machine learning algorithms to analyse user behaviour and search patterns to deliver more relevant and personalised search results. Bing also uses AI to provide predictive suggestions based on a user’s search query, making finding what they’re looking for easier and faster.

Google Discover For SEO

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 20:06:39 GMT

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Are you a business looking to increase the discoverability of your content online? Google Discover could be just what you need.

How Does Google Discover Differ from Search Engines?
The Impact of Google Discover
Integrating Google Discover with Your Business
What types of content are best suited for Google Discover?

The Impact of Google Discover

To measure the effects of Google Discover on your business, you need to understand how it works and its impact on website traffic and user engagement. One way to measure this impact is by using Google Search Console.

FAQ

In 2018, Google launched Discover – a smart feed that delivers personalised news and information to mobile users. Since then, the feature has steadily grown in popularity, attracting more and more monthly users. For discerning marketers and SEO experts , Discover is an exciting opportunity to boost brand visibility and get ahead of the competition.

But making the most of this powerful tool takes some know-how. In this article, we’ll dive into the many benefits of Google Discover and share some practical tips for using it effectively.

How Does Google Discover Differ from Search Engines?

With Google Discover, users no longer have to search for content that interests them. Its features use advanced machine learning algorithms to create a personalised feed of articles and information based on a user’s search history and behaviour.

The result is a custom, intuitive experience that delivers relevant content without actively searching. In other words, Discover serves up a plethora of information that users can peruse and engage with based on their interests, making it a powerful tool for discovering new and interesting content.

Google Discover appears in various places, including the Google mobile app for Android and iOS and the Google homepage on mobile browsers. You can also stumble upon it in new Google Chrome mobile app tabs.

This tool provides insights into how website performance is affected by Google Discover by tracking clicks, impressions, and clickthrough rates of the content displayed in the feed.

By delivering personalised content to users, Discover can drive more traffic to a website and keep users engaged for longer. This personalised approach can reduce bounce rates and longer session durations, increasing user engagement metrics.

In short, by measuring key performance indicators that reflect user engagement and website traffic, it’s possible to see the impact of Google Discover on your website’s performance.

Integrating Google Discover with Your Business

To get started with Discover, you should focus on high-quality, informative content that resonates with your audience. Visuals such as images and videos are powerful tools to help make your content stand out on Google Discover. Don’t be afraid to leverage them to capture users’ attention and make your content more engaging.

Crafting descriptive and informative titles and meta descriptions that accurately reflect the content of your page is another crucial step. Doing so will increase the chances of your content surfacing in Discover, ensuring that it resonates with users and drives more traffic to your website.

While clickbait titles may attract clicks in the short term, they are not ideal for Google Discover. Google’s algorithms prioritise quality content that provides value to users, and clickbait titles can be perceived as misleading or low-quality. Instead, use titles that accurately describe the content of your page while still being attention-grabbing. One strategy is to ask questions in your titles, increasing the audience’s curiosity and encouraging them to click through to your content.

Structured data markup can also help improve your Discover visibility, allowing Google to better understand your pages’ content. Lastly, don’t forget to track your performance through Google Search Console and adjust your strategy as needed.

By following these tips, you can effectively integrate Discover into your current SEO and content marketing efforts, making the most out of this powerful tool to drive traffic and increase brand awareness.

How To Create A Pillar Page Strategy That Boosts Your Websites Seo

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 20:11:10 GMT

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Are you looking for a strategy that can help boost your website’s SEO and increase organic web traffic? You may want to try creating a pillar page strategy.

What is a Pillar Page?
Deciding on Your Pillar Topics
Deciding on Your Cluster Topics
Optimising Your Pillars and Clusters
Internal Linking
Implementing a Pillar Strategy for your Website

FAQ

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ensures your website follows certain guidelines to help it rank higher on search engines such as Google. While there are many ways of gaining traffic for your site, creating an effective pillar page strategy and committing to it will help you become an industry leader by capturing the majority of high-volume and trending topics. This blog will outline the steps towards a successful SEO-friendly pillar page strategy to attract visitors, build brand awareness, and boost your website’s organic reach. We’ll focus on why they are important, what factors to consider when creating them, and the best practices for executing this strategy.

What is a Pillar Page?

Have you ever come across a website that seemed to have all the answers on a specific topic? That’s because it probably had a pillar page. These pages are like a one-stop shop for all things related to a broad overarching topic. They provide a comprehensive overview of the subject, making it easy for users to find the information they need. But it’s not just about user experience. Pillar pages are also SEO-friendly, helping websites rank higher on search engines and attract more organic traffic. So, lets get ready to build a solid foundation for your website with pillar pages! Read on below to find out how.

Deciding on Your Pillar Topics

Keyword research is the first step to determining which topics will be the most suitable for pillar pages. By analysing your target audience’s search behaviour and queries, you can gain valuable insight into the topics they are most interested in and what they are searching for online. This information can then identify the most promising topics for pillar pages, ensuring that your content is relevant, valuable, and in demand. By focusing on popular topics with your target audience, you increase the chances that your pillar pages will attract organic traffic, generate leads, and establish your website as a trusted source of information in your niche. In short, keyword research is the key to finding the topics that will make your pillar pages successful.

Deciding on Your Cluster Topics

Now that we’ve broken down how to identify your pillar pages based on keyword research, we need to dive deeper into what clusters we will use within those pillars. Keyword research and relevance are crucial in determining what should be included within clusters of pillar pages for your website’s SEO pillar strategy.

This information can then be used to build clusters within pillar pages that focus on specific themes and subtopics related to your broad topic. Suppose we use our website as an example. In that case, we have the pillar page ‘SEO ‘, which then has subsidiary cluster pages discussing location specific SEO services , such as SEO Auckland and SEO Wellington .

To boil it down for you, a pillar page is the cornerstone of your website’s content strategy, serving as an overarching guide to a particular topic. Cluster pages are then created to support and expand on the pillar page’s information, and sub-clusters are even more specific, targeted pages that provide even more detail and context. This structure helps to create a cohesive and organised website while improving search engine optimisation.

Optimising Your Pillars and Clusters

Your website’s title tags, meta descriptions, H1s, and page copy are all important elements that can impact your search engine rankings and help you attract organic traffic. By optimising these elements around your chosen keywords, you can ensure that your pillar and cluster pages are highly relevant to the queries of your target audience and that they provide valuable information that meets their needs.

A well-optimized title tag and meta description can improve website traffic & click-through rates while including relevant keywords in H1s and page copy can help search engines understand the context and relevancy of your content. Optimising these elements around your chosen keywords can help you get the most out of your pillar and cluster pages and take your website’s SEO to the next level.

Internal Linking

Once the page copy for your pillar and cluster pages has been optimised, it’s time to connect everything with internal linking. Internal linking refers to linking one page on your website to another, helping users navigate your content and search engines understand the structure of your site. By linking your pillar and cluster pages together, you can create a clear information hierarchy and make it easy for users to find related content. This improves the user experience and helps search engines understand the relationship between different pages on your site.

These are just a few examples of how internal linking can benefit your website:

Navigation – Internal links help visitors navigate your website, making it easier to find the information they’re looking for and explore related content.
Search Engine Optimization – Internal links signal to search engines the hierarchy and structure of your website, helping to improve its relevance and authority for relevant search queries.
Relevance – By linking related pages together, internal links help establish the relevance of your website for specific topics, making it easier for visitors and search engines to understand the purpose and focus of your site.
Reinforced Content – By linking to related pages within your website, you support the content on your pillar page, providing additional context and information for visitors.
Increased Time on Site – Internal links can encourage visitors to stay on your website longer by providing access to additional relevant content, improving engagement and reducing bounce rates.

Implementing a Pillar Strategy for your Website

To sum it all up, creating a pillar page strategy can have a significant impact on the SEO of your website. By performing keyword research, determining topic clusters, optimising your content, and using internal linking, you can create a comprehensive and organised website that provides value to your target audience and ranks higher on search engines.

By following these best practices, you can attract more organic traffic, build brand awareness, and establish your website as a trusted source of information in your niche. Investing in a solid pillar page strategy can set your website on the path to success and establish a strong foundation for growth and success in the future.

Is SEO Dead

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 20:18:10 GMT

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In 2022, many internet users queried whether search engine optimisation or SEO was dead.

People Are Still Searching For It
It’s Changing, Not Dying
Enjoy a High Return On Investment (ROI)
Receive Targeted Traffic
Enjoy a Competitive Advantager
Which SEO Strategies Are Dead?
Let Clickthrough Assist With Your SEO Needs

FAQ

After all, SEO has been around in various forms since 1991, and all good things must come to an end. But does that include SEO? Most digital experts would agree that SEO is alive and well, and here’s why.

People Are Still Searching For It

If something were to lose its value or popularity, Google Trends would alert us to it. Google Trends is a website for analysing the most popular search queries in multiple regions and languages. In New Zealand, the search term ‘SEO’ has been steadily increasing since 2004.

The graph numbers represent its interest relative to the highest point – 100. The value of 100 reflects the peak popularity for a term, while 50 means the search word is half as popular for that term.

As you can see, interest in SEO hasn’t been significantly waning since Google Trends started capturing keyword data. Instead, it has continued to climb. People still understand that SEO is crucial for their presence and success in the digital space.

Source: Google Trends

Now, let’s compare those results to the Spice Girls, who reached the peak of their fame in the late 1990s but broke up in 2001.

Source: Google Trends

As the Spice Girls are no longer releasing new music, they aren’t as relevant to the average internet user as they used to be. As a result, most internet users aren’t searching for terms related to the Spice Girls.

It’s Changing, Not Dying

The SEO techniques we use today are far different from those we relied on even just a few short years ago. Businesses were able to use black-hat tactics to ‘cheat’ the system, such as keyword stuffing, buying links, and cloaking, to increase their online image without offering anything to customers in return.

Now, such techniques don’t work. Google has ensured that the best way to enjoy better search engine results is by providing an exceptional user experience through techniques like quality content.

It’s easy to assume that SEO is dying when the SEO techniques you once relied on no longer have the desired result. Instead, Google algorithms have simply changed. The best way to ensure you remain relevant in the digital world is by changing with them.

Enjoy a High Return On Investment (ROI)

Return On Investment (ROI) is an essential metric for companies wishing to see results from their advertising and marketing investments. If you’re spending more money than you’re making from the avenues you use to get your business out in the public eye, your ROI is low.

However, many businesses that invest in their SEO strategy see a high ROI. They calculate this return by looking at their organic site traffic, search engine rankings, and achieved goals before using the popular ROI SEO formula to measure their results from Google Analytics: Investment gains – investment costs / investment costs.

Receive Targeted Traffic

People use Google to look for a particular product, service, or solution. When you’ve enhanced your website with SEO practices to provide those three things, your website can appear front and centre in search engine results for your preferred audience to see.

Unlike more traditional forms of advertising like TV, radio, and newspaper, your business appears when customers need it the most – and 24/7. Whether they’re searching in the middle of the night or during business hours, they can find what they’re looking for.

Enjoy a Competitive Advantage

It can sometimes seem like you must have the largest marketing budget to reap the same rewards as your competition. If they’re spending tens of thousands of dollars on Google Ads, you must do the same to be noticed by customers in the online space.

However, search engine optimisation puts you on more of an even playing field. If you prioritise consistent and ongoing SEO, even when combined with pay-per-click (PPC) ads , there’s every reason to believe you can enjoy similar visibility in search results. And once you reach a desirable position in search results and keep up with the best SEO strategies, it can be challenging for your competitors to bypass you.

Understanding Conversion Attribution

Often, when a conversion is achieved for your business, the success on that final step can’t be attributed the credit in its entirety. Most leads make contact with a brand numerous times before converting.

So instead, each channel and point of contact leading up to conversion, from organic search results to paid ad listings, plays a part. Considering this, SEO often stands behind conversions that are incorrectly attributed to paid search, which wouldn’t have been possible without the awareness they gained from the original organic search rankings. (See image below)

Which SEO Strategies Are Dead?

SEO isn’t dead, but some strategies are dead. If you’re still relying on any of the following tactics and techniques, you might not be seeing the results you’re looking for.

Keyword Stuffing

Keyword research allows you to discover words related to your business people are searching to find what they need. It can be tempting to use every high-ranking word multiple times to secure a higher position in search engine results, but this practice doesn’t work anymore.

Google can detect instances of keyword stuffing and over-optimisation and can actively penalise businesses they identify doing this.

Low-Quality Content

All content is good content, right? Wrong. Google might love unique content, but it actually prefers content that’s of value to readers and provides the solutions to their problems.

You might not enjoy the results you desire if you publish content with no real value, too many keywords and affiliate links, and no images or videos. Provide well-thought-out and expertly-written articles, and Google might view your website as an authority in the space.

Putting Algorithms Before People

You might assume that if you tick all the right SEO boxes, you’ll skyrocket your way through search engine results. However, putting algorithms before people is no longer a desirable practice. Instead, Google now prioritises Page Experience.

Google’s Page Experience focuses on Google ranking factors and Core Web Vitals (LCP, FID, and CLS). Alongside standard SEO tactics, it’s also crucial to ensure your website is mobile-friendly, provides a safe browsing experience, has HTTPS, and has no intrusive page elements.

Let Clickthrough Assist With Your SEO Needs

There’s no denying that SEO is complicated, especially as Google algorithms change and the benchmark for an SEO-optimised website keeps moving. However, that doesn’t mean SEO is dead. If you’re struggling to remain relevant in the online world, we can help. Contact Clickthrough to learn more about search engine optimisation, search engine marketing, and training courses to keep your business in the digital limelight.

Can Podcasts Help SEO

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 20:22:33 GMT

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Most business owners are already familiar with the main components of an SEO strategy, such as meta tags, content, backlinks, and product images. But could podcasts be another promising way to help your business stand out in the digital sphere? As it turns out, yes.

Is It Worth Starting a Podcast?
How to Start a Podcast
How to Appeal to Google’s Algorithms
Improve Your SEO Strategy With Podcasting Today

FAQ

In 2019, Google announced that podcasts would start appearing in search results and would also be playable from the search engine. Any time someone entered a topic of interest followed by the keyword ‘podcast’, they could choose from a selection of top-rated offerings.

Later, Google also brought the same functionality to Google Podcasts and Google Assistant for the web, allowing users to say, ‘Hey Google, play a podcast about New Zealand’. Relevant podcast episodes would then be displayed for users to choose from.

With these new advancements in search engine functionality, it’s only natural to question its value for your own business and online presence. If you’re eager to learn more to take your SEO strategy to a new level, take note of the following information.

Is It Worth Starting a Podcast?

When you already have a robust SEO strategy in place, you might not see the value in starting a podcast. However, if you have plenty to offer the average listener about your area of expertise, there might be more value in this avenue than you think. You might also enjoy some of the following benefits.

Become a Known Expert in Your Field

We all have one business or individual that comes to mind when we need information on a particular subject. There’s no reason why that business or individual can’t be you. A podcast provides you with a platform to show the general public just how much you know about a particular topic. Over time, and after amassing a following, you might become a trusted source whose credibility listeners value.

Build Up a Contacts List

Reaching your target market isn’t always easy, even if you’ve had great success getting people to sign up to newsletters via your website. Podcasts provide another avenue to reach your preferred audience and give them the information they need.

If they subscribe to your podcast, they’re notified when you release a new episode and won’t forget to tune in. When they listen enough and become familiar with who you are and what you offer, they might naturally start checking out what else you have, such as eCommerce websites and social media pages.

Enjoy Organic Traffic

There are many different ways to drive organic traffic, such as using long-tail keywords, becoming a guest blogger, and promoting your content on social media. However, podcasts are also now an effective way to enjoy even more.

There’s a reason people are choosing to listen to your podcast in the first place: it provides the information they need. For example, you might give helpful life tips if you’re a life coach or information on new cars hitting the market if you’re a car mechanic. You already have a focused audience, so take advantage of it.

Include a call to action at the end of each episode that guides visitors to a webpage to take advantage of a promotional offer just for them. For example, if you were a life coach offering life tips, you might direct listeners to your website to take advantage of a discounted session.

Once they claim the offer, you now have them on your contact list and can begin using your other marketing techniques, such as email marketing, to market other products and services.

How to Start a Podcast

You might now understand how beneficial a podcast can be for your business, but how do you start one? It can be much easier than you think when you follow the steps below.

1. Research and Choose a Topic

You want your podcast to stand out from the crowd, so think about topics related to your business that might interest other people. See if you can find similar podcasts from other creators and come up with ways to make yours unique.

2. Plan the Podcast

Planning a podcast takes more time than recording it, but it can ensure the process goes smoothly. Choose a unique name, purchase a domain name for your new podcast, and think about the best length for your audience. There is no ‘perfect’ podcast length but stick to the subject matter to prevent people from losing interest.

It’s also worth considering your episode format, with intro music, a podcast body, a call to action, and outro music. Finally, create your cover art and purchase a quality microphone for podcasting.

3. Record and Edit

With planning taken care of, you can now start recording your podcast. There are plenty of affordable and free podcast recording apps online, many of which clean up audio, allow you to add music, and guide you through piecing together audio segments.

4. Optimise Your Podcast for Search Engines

We’ve discussed how helpful podcasts can be for SEO, so don’t underestimate the importance of SEO optimisation for the podcast itself. Write a podcast description that summarises what your podcast series is about, and write a summary for each episode that covers the main points.

Think about the words people would use to search for the topics you’re covering so you can improve your chances of appearing prominently in podcast search engines. Take note of the optimisation tips provided by each platform. For example, Spotify encourages podcasters to use keywords and interesting information in the first 20 words of the description.

5. Upload Your Podcast

There are many standout podcast services to upload your podcast on, such as YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio. To ensure you’re reaching as many listeners as possible, consider utilising a podcast hosting service to ensure your new podcast is distributed across many of the most popular platforms.

How to Appeal to Google’s Algorithms

Most business owners want to tick all the right boxes for Google’s algorithms to improve their chances of being noticed. Regarding podcasts, take note of trending topics and cover those subjects to captivate your audience.

You might venture over to Twitter and check out their trending topics or visit the Trending Searches webpage provided by Google. Many podcasters also make use of Google Trends , which explores some of the highest-trending search queries and topics and their interest over a 12-month period.

Improve Your SEO Strategy With Podcasting Today

There have been many exciting developments in the SEO scene, and you might be surprised by how many of them could benefit your business. If you’re eager to learn more about SEO, podcasting, or how to improve your business’s digital presence, contact experienced boutique Auckland search agency Clickthrough to get the ball rolling.

Google Analytics 4 Tips

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 30 May 2022 20:28:54 GMT

Tips for Migrating to Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Running a website, e-commerce store, or sale app without Google Analytics is like punching in the dark. You don’t see your target.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a free tool that enables you to keep track of your visitors by collecting important data about them.The software shows you the number of page views, page impressions, clicks, the number of visitors, returning visitors, etc. The software also shows you important demographic data like country and the type of device used.

FAQ

Apart from the in-built data filters, Google Analytics also allows you to create custom filters targeting specific audiences or data sets. The data you collect through Google Analytics reveals crucial information about your customers. This helps you target your customers during marketing campaigns.

For example, if you run an e-commerce store that sells sneakers and you want to target customers in New Zealand. You’ll have to create content that people in New Zealand find useful and attractive. The content can be in the form of written text, images, or videos.

To track the origin and the number of people viewing the content on your website, you need to link it to Google analytics. The results will show you whether your content and marketing strategy are working i.e. whether you’re attracting the visitors you targeted. Google has upgraded Universal Analytics software to Google Analytic 4 (GA4) and expects all customers to have migrated by October 1, 2023.

In this article, we share with you tips for migrating Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

Note: migrating to Google Analytics 4 can be quite complex to get right. There are also additional features in GA4 that you can utilise. Before you start migratin your analytics data, we recommend:

read our tips below
attend our Google Analytics Four Training Courses
contact our GA4 Migration team

Tip 1: Consider Account Structure

The structure of your Analytics account depends on whether you’re running one small website or you have an e-commerce store with several brands and thousands of products. Websites and digital properties belonging to the same owner are contained under the same account and governed by the same terms of service.

To set up cross-domain tracking or measurement on GA4, go to the admin panel > Property > Data Streams > Web > Tagging Settings > Configure your domains.

Tip 2: Create an Analytic 4 Property

To create an analytic 4 property, use the GA4 Setup Assistant Wizard. The GA4 tag will collect data alongside your current universal analytic tag if you have one installed. Stick to the instructions provided on the official Google support website to create your GA4 property. Click on the link to access a step-by-step guide on how to create a GA4 property using the setup assistant wizard.

Tip 3: Add Data Streams

To create a data stream, go to admin on the account column and select the account you want to create a data stream for. Click on the property column to make sure you’ve selected the desired property. In the property column, click on Data Stream, and then Add Streams. Then select the iOS app, Android app, or Web.

Tip 4: Enable Data Collection

Add the analytic tag to your web pages to start receiving hits of data to your new GA4 property.

Tip 5: Enable Google Signals

Enabling Google signals allows you to track users’ journeys across devices. It also allows you to remarket to users who are signed into Google. To activate Google signals, you must be logged in as an editor. Click on the Google support link for a step-by-step guide on how to activate signals.

Tip 6: Connect to Google Ads

If tracking data from google ads or running a marketing campaign, then connecting to Google ads is a must to complete your migration. To link to Google ads you’ll have to import your Google links from universal analytic to GA4. You’ll start to see data appearing in your Google analytics 4 reports if everything links right. For a step-by-step guide on how to import Google link ads click on this Google support link.

Tip 7: Transfer Universal Analytic Custom Filters and Events to GA4

Migrating filters from universal analytic to GA4 means transferring the measurement approach you’re using. You’ve to transfer page views, events, custom dimensions, and custom metrics if needed into the Google Analytics 4 schema. Follow this Google supportlink for more details on how to map universal analytic events and custom dimensions to Google analytics 4.

Tip 8: Move Universal Analytic Goals and Conversion to GA4

To migrate your goals, use the goal migration tool to automatically duplicate most of the event and destination goals in your universal analytic property to your new GA4. Follow this Google support link to access the goal migration tools you need to successfully migrate. Clickthrough offers GA4 migration services to help businesses seamlessly transition to the new analytics platform and take advantage of its advanced features to improve you improve your conversions.

Tip 9: Authenticate and Bid For Conversion in Google Ads

If you’ve already set up Google ads and are bidding for impressions and clicks through universal analytics, you can duplicate this data in the GA4 property. You can then export the data from GA4 back to Google ads. Click this Google support link to get more information on biding on GA4 conversions in Google ads.

Tip 10: Migrate Audience

Migrating your visitors from universal analytic to GA4 property enables you to identify the same visitor group based on the data generated by GA4. You can then export the audiences to the Google ads account linked to the new GA4 property. Follow this supportfor more on migrating audiences.

Tip 11: Migrate E-Commerce Filters/Measurement

Before migrating data, you should note that some of the e-commerce events and parameter names have been changed in GA4 properties. Make sure you use the correct GA4 names and parameters if you want accurate reports and event data. To migrate your e-commerce measurements from universal analytics to GA4 you should not interfere with your universal analytic implementation.

Remember to create duplicate events for your Google Analytic 4 property. Use the new parameters and event names.

Tip 12: Add Users

To add users, you need the GA4 Migrator for Google Analytics. To use the migration tool, you must log in as an administrator.

If you follow the above tips, then migrating your universal analytics to Google Analytics 4 property should be successful. Consults an expert if you experience difficulty.

Note: Google Analytics Universal has note been sunsetted and will no longer process new data for your business. Read here for more information about GA4.

Website Performance Discover A Lighthouse At The End Of The Tunnel

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 20:32:59 GMT

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Remember the days when you could build a website and the mantra was, “If you build it, they will come?”

What is Lighthouse?
How Can Lighthouse Help Me?
How Do I Run Lighthouse Over an Existing Website?
How Do I Use Lighthouse?
Why Do I Need to Know How My Website is Performing?
How Can Lighthouse Help With SEO?
What’s the Big Deal With Accessibility?
What if This All Sounds Like Gobbledegook?
Lighthouse: In A Nutshell

FAQ

Well, those days are long gone! Nowadays, building a website and filling it with helpful content and SEO friendly copy is not enough to ensure your website can be found by your customers and clients. While content is indeed King, the performance, accessibility, SEO and quality of your website is definitely Queen. There has to be a way to audit your website – and the Chrome DevTool Lighthouse is it!

What is Lighthouse?

Lighthouse is an open-source, automated tool for improving the quality of web pages. It can be used to analyse and give a full report on what slows down your pages as well as tips on how to fix these problems.

Lighthouse generates reports that notifies users about performance issues or flaws with their site such as accessibility, correctness and more. Lighthouse runs audits against any public website which makes it easier than having someone manually audit your site’s content making Lighthouse great for SEO purposes.

How Can Lighthouse Help Me?

Lighthouse is a way for businesses to make sure that their websites are running optimally. Lighthouse allows you to identify issues with your website and fix them before you or your competitors notice. Lighthouse analyses three main areas:

Performance
Quality
Correctness

It does this by running tasks that assess your website to see if it performs well, is accessible and user-friendly for all, and that everything on the site is up to date.

Lighthouse analyses various elements of a page such as the DOM tree, network requests, resource timing and more. It runs every task in three different ways:

Lighthouse runs tasks as a real user would, taking into consideration common device performance and accessibility issues.
Lighthouse runs tasks with three popular JavaScript libraries to simulate the common browser APIs that your site may be using.
Lighthouse can run on your local machine, or you can run it over an existing website.

How Do I Run Lighthouse Over An Existing Website?

In order to run Lighthouse over an existing website, it need to be added as a Chrome extension that you can download here:

https://github.com/GoogleChrome/lighthouse

This Chrome extension will always be the latest version and is updated around every six weeks so having the Lighthouse Chrome extension installed is always the best option.

How Do I Use Lighthouse?

If you choose not to use the Chrome extension you can also use Lighthouse by opening up your Chrome browser and going to the Lighthouse website at:

https://developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse/

Once Lighthouse has loaded, all you need to do is click on “perform an audit”, choose your settings and Lighthouse will give you a report with any issues it finds during its analysis of your site.

Why Do I Need To Know How My Website Is Performing?

As mentioned earlier, in the golden days of early internet, businesses could build a website and expect it to generate traffic all by itself, however these times are well and truly over.

Competitiveness and the sheer number of businesses competing for pole position within the search engines means that in order to remain at the top, your website needs to be fast and appealing.

According to research conducted by Lighthouse, 50% of people abandon a web page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Lighthouse also found that on average a modern mobile website will take 2 seconds just to blink before rendering!

So how do you compete? How do you ensure that your website can be found online? The answer to both of these questions is: optimisation.

How Can Lighthouse Help With SEO?

Lighthouse reports allow you to keep track of all of your website’s performance metrics which means you can always see a history of how a page has been performing.

This means that Lighthouse can help with SEO by allowing you to track a page’s ranking over time and create a graph, Lighthouse calls it the “waterfall”.

The Lighthouse waterfall is important because it allows you to keep an eye on your site’s performance history which, in turn, allows you for example to figure out the impact of a site redesign on your pages’ ranking.

Lighthouse has also been used by some companies as a way to check whether or not competitors are following their best practice guidelines and thus discover any errors that their competitors may be making.

Lighthouse can not only help you analyse your own website, but it can help you become a better competitor online.

What’s The Big Deal With Accessibility?

Accessibility is one of the most important aspects of website design, yet it is often overlooked. This is a shame, because making your website accessible to everyone has many benefits, both for your visitors and for your business.

What Is Accessibility?

Accessibility is the idea that your website should be usable by everyone, regardless of their needs or ability. There are many different types of disabilities, which can affect people in a variety of ways. When you design and develop your website, you need to keep these users in mind at all times.

Why Is Accessibility Important?

Everyone should be able to use the internet, not matter their circumstances. Accessibility is important because it will allow people with disabilities, or health conditions that affect how they access websites, to be able to follow what’s happening online.

From a business perspective, it makes sense too. After all, just because a person has a disability, it doesn’t mean they don’t want to spend money online!

Lighthouse audits a site on all of its major pages and alerts you to any errors that may affect a user’s experience. Lighthouse runs all its audits in a completely separate process from the Lighthouse client app, so if there are any accessibility issues they won’t impact your site score.

What If This All Sounds Like Gobbledegook?

Then you’ve come to the right place! Here at clickthrough.co.nz we’re masters at making sense of the gobbledegook! We can make even the most confusing online processes look like child’s play!

With an expert team of digital marketing consultants, we specialise in all things digital and have an aim to help all New Zealand businesses grow through sound search engine marketing practices and education.

What’s more, we’re more than happy to answer any questions you may have about Lighthouse and provide you with a performance audit of your website based on Lighthouse data and our own successful proprietary algorithms.

Lighthouse: In A Nutshell

Lighthouse can be set up in such a way that there is no excuse not to use it, making it a very simple and effective tool for any business to use. It should be considered an essential part of your website arsenal

Lighthouse makes sure you know exactly what needs to be fixed in order to create the best possible experience for your visitors.

However, gathering and analysing the data is one thing; making sense of it all and being able to take action is another….. and that’s what we do best!

Contact our friendly experts with any questions and

 discover what we can do for you and your business today!

Getting Familiar With Google Optimize

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Sun, 26 Sep 2021 20:37:25 GMT

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In recent years, Google has pulled out all the stops to make sure everyday small and large business owners can optimise and tailor their sites to specific internet users rather than users as a whole.

What is Google Optimize?
Google Optimize Features
How Does SEO Work With Google Optimize?
Is Google Optimize Right for Me?

FAQ

They provided Google Optimize and Optimize 360 for free in 2017 and made it easy for businesses to grow simply by focusing on the customers they wanted to target. Yet, not everyone is aware of what Optimize is or what it can do for their business. You can learn all that information and more below.

What is Google Optimize?

Google Optimize is a tool for site testing and personalisation that allows you to make test site changes without complex development cycles and development teams. It has also been built on top of Google Analytics, which provides you with further site-enhancing options and site metrics.

This tool can be a game-changer for businesses trying to deliver a personalised experience without understanding what works and what doesn’t. You can identify the different features that customers are enjoying and those that aren’t working in a real-world environment for key target audiences.

For a more detailed understanding of Google Optimise, attend one of our training courses in SEO or Analytics .

Google Optimize Features

Engagement is the key goal for any business in the digital sphere trying to grow its customer base. Therefore, you can expect Optimize to offer a variety of features to help with this very goal.

Testing & Personalisation

Not all business owners will get it right the first time, so Optimize allows you to test, test, and test again until you get results. They offer many ways to do this, such as A/B and A/B/n testing, multivariate testing, split URL testing, server-side experiments, and site personalisation.

With A/B and A/B/n testing, you can test multiple versions of the same page on your website to see which one works best for your users. Multivariate testing goes more in-depth, allowing you to test elements within a page.

If you’re unsure how well separate pages are doing compared to each other, you can make use of split URL testing or redirect testing, which allows you to test individual pages against each other with different URLs.

More advanced Optimize users might look at server-side experiments to deploy variants on their own systems, then use Optimize to view reports and compare results.

Finally, testing and personalisation features of Optimize also include personalised experiences. You can use these various forms of testing above to build a custom targeted site from the ground up or launch a site version were able to test with success.

Visual Editing

With diagnostics and a responsive editing tool, you can use Optimize to create new page variants and personalise them to see which performs the best. You can do all of this without having to recode your site each time.

Customisation Options

After extensive research, you likely know who your target market is and how they browse the internet. Use this information to your advantage with Optimize’s customisation tools. You can customise your site based on device, operating system, and browser and even reach visitors based on their shopping behaviours and geographic locations.

Reporting

One of the primary reasons for testing various pages and site elements is to find out what’s working and what isn’t. Optimize offers a reporting feature so you can see how your experiments performed in the real world.

With this feature, you can review a summary of your experiment, overviews of improvements, objective details, and more.

Objectives

You likely have an objective with any site change you make, so it’s only natural for Google Optimize to offer both system and custom objectives on which to build your experiments. You can also set your goals from Google Analytics as objectives in Optimize.

Integrations

One of the most convenient things about Optimize is how seamlessly it integrates with other tools you use to manage your site engagement. You can use all your customer insights to make informed decisions about site changes by integrating Analytics, Google BigQuery, Firebase, Google Ads, and AMP.

How Does SEO Work With Google Optimize?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) involves improving both the quantity and quality of traffic to your site or web page from search engines like Google. This traffic tends to be organic, resulting from site changes and optimisation over time, such as keywords, metadata, and linking.

As many people optimise and refine their sites using tools like Google Analytics and Google Ads, you can experience a harmonious relationship when you sign up for Optimize. Remember, one of the many highlights of Optimize is that you can integrate it with other Google tools.

As a result, any of the objectives and goals you worked toward on Google Analytics can be built on in Google Optimize. If you’re unsure how to integrate Optimize into your current SEO strategy, contact SEO experts in Auckland to walk you through it.

Is Google Optimize Right for Me?

Google Optimize might be right for you if you want to:

Identify which parts of your site require improvement
Make text and image changes to test what works the best
Tailor experiences to your customers without building new sites
Test different site variations
Engage with your customers

Now might be the right time to delve into your site testing options to see how you can create a better user experience for your target audience.

The Need For Speed Why Fast Websites Are Crucial In 2021 And Beyond

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 21:54:18 GMT

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Think about how many times you’ve exited out of a website because it didn’t provide a user-friendly experience. It might have had poor loading time or didn’t function properly on your desktop or mobile device.

It Creates An Overall Better User Experience
Mobile Page Speed is a SEO Ranking Factor
How to Check Your Load Speed
How to Make Your Mobile Website Load Faster
It’s Time to Improve Your Website Loading Speed

FAQ

Rather than wait for it to load with the patience of someone familiar with dial-up internet, you likely looked elsewhere for the information, products, and services you required. After all, your time is precious, and that particular business is probably not the only one offering what you need.

Understanding your own behaviour can help you predict the behaviours of your customers, as well. If you don’t prioritise page speed , you aren’t prioritising business success. Now might be the right time to start focusing on your load speed, understanding why it matters and ensuring it meets your customers’ expectations.

We recommend you take our SEO course to learn how to improve site speed, or read our tips below.

It Creates An Overall Better User Experience

As previously mentioned, page loading speed plays an integral part in a positive or negative user experience. If pages load too slowly, you’re at risk of losing a potential paying customer. In contrast, a fast-loading site can lead to better engagement and possibly even increased sales.

So, how do you define a ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ site? If your site loads in under 1.7 seconds, it’s going to be faster than approximately 75 percent of other sites. Total loading in 2.9 seconds means your site is around 50 percent faster than others, and loading in five seconds makes it slower than approximately 75% of other websites.

Studies performed by Amazon found that for every 100 milliseconds of improved load time, they saw a one percent increase in revenue. Google also discovered that if internet users have a negative experience on your mobile site, they’re 62 percent less likely to purchase from you.

Google Sees Page Experience As Important, Too…

In June 2021, Google announced that it would be rolling out Page Experience signals as important ranking factors. These came into effect from mid-June and would impact how visible sites would be on search engines based on how well they helped users find what they were looking for.

The two most important ranking factors to feature in this new update were core web vitals and mobile friendliness. Core web vitals consist of interactivity, visual stability, and, most importantly, mobile page loading performance.

Mobile Page Speed is an SEO Ranking Factor

Even though your core focus is on making sure your customers have a memorable purchasing experience, search engine optimisation can be another crucial reason why addressing slow page loading can be important.

In 2018, Google made mobile page speed a ranking and indexing factor. Traditionally, Google used to crawl, index, and rank desktop versions of your site, but switching to mobile was able to provide better results for internet users.

At the time when mobile page speed became a ranking factor, mobile sites had an average load speed of around 15 seconds. Since more than half of site visitors would leave if loading took more than three seconds, this update made it crucial for business owners to address their site speeds.

FYI, you can learn more about how to improve your site speed on one of our SEO courses .

How to Check Your Load Speed

It’s all well and good to identify loading speed as imperative for a positive customer experience and SEO purposes, but how are you supposed to know if your site is fast enough? Google provides a Landing Page evaluation tool , and you can also seek help from digital marketing or local website design Auckland experts.

On the Landing Pages page, you can identify which pages require improvement, check mobile friendliness, and determine the conversion tracking compatibility rate for your landing pages.

Sign in to your Google Ads account and click ‘Landing Pages’ on the page menu.
Identify pages that aren’t optimized for mobile by checking the ‘Valid AMP click rate’ and ‘mobile-friendly click rate’ columns. They will appear as less than 100% if they aren’t mobile-friendly.
Review the ‘conv. tracking compatibility’ rate to determine which pages are correctly configured for conversion tracking.
Click ‘view expanded landing page’ to see landing page URLs for each page.
Click ‘test’ in the ‘mobile-friendly click rate’ column to use the Google mobile-friendly test.
Click ‘test’ in the ‘valid AMP click rate’ column to use the AMP validator test

You can also see which pages were interacted with the most by checking the clickthrough rate and impressions columns. From here, you can filter the most valuable data for your needs.

How to Make Your Mobile Website Load Faster

Due to loading speed’s importance for your online presence, it’s crucial to identify the best ways to make a noticeable difference. SEO experts can be your first port of call since they have access to a broad range of tools to optimise both desktop and mobile websites.

However, there are also other small changes you can make, such as:

Using compressed images
Keeping redirects to a minimum
Creating clean design
Relying on Google AMP
Turning browser caching on
Prioritising mobile SEO

It’s Time to Improve Your Website Loading Speed

With improved customer engagement, potential for increased sales, and vastly better ranking opportunities, there’s every reason to start focusing on your loading speed without delay.

Soon enough, being at that 15-second average mobile loading time may start to impact your online business reputation. Take the time to review your current page speeds and decide whether you’re ready to take action.

A Basic Guide To Google Web Stories 2021

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 22:13:13 GMT

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You may have noticed that your favourite social media platforms are jumping on the story bandwagon in recent years. You can tap your screen multiple times and enjoy an immersive story experience that entertains and informs at the same time.

What Are Google Web Stories?
How to Create Your Own Google Web Stories
Why Use Google Web Stories in 2021?
How Do You Find Google Web Stories?
What Do I Do Next?

FAQ

Google is no different. In 2018, they announced the release of AMP Stories, which were powered by AMP technology. However, in 2020, they rebranded AMP Stories as Web Stories . Now, many innovative companies are incorporating them into their everyday marketing.

If after reading this article you are still not sure what Web Stories are, then consider attending our SEO courses .

What Are Google Web Stories?

If you’ve got something important to say and you want to shout it from the rooftops, Google Web Stories are how you can do it. Google describes them as being “visual stories that feel like yours, because they are”. Essentially, they are full-screen experiences that offer complete immersion for customers and viewers.

Each panel of a Google Web Story can include videos, graphics, and other fun features that allow you to create a story that is unique to your business.

Unlike Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms , Google Web stories are also not limited to Google as a platform. Instead, you can host them on your own website.

You can also incorporate calls to action, Google AdWords , and even links to provide your customers with everything they need to take action during and after they have seen your story.

How to Create Your Own Google Web Stories

The last decade has been an exciting time for new marketing techniques. We’ve learned about the importance of having websites, using best SEO practices, and being present on social media. Therefore, it’s only natural that you’ll be looking at your options surrounding Google Web Stories.

As you may know, planning makes perfect. Before you jump right into creating your story, plan it out first. Remember, these stories consist of multiple panels with graphics, links, videos, and CTAs. By planning how you want your story to look, you can streamline the process for your web story creation.

Having a coding engineer in your marketing team is going to put you on the path to success with your Google Web Stories. They can build your story from scratch while making it unique to your business.

However, even if you do not have a coding engineer to help with this code-dense marketing technique, you’re not without choices. Below, we will run through a few ideal Google Web Stories creator tools.

WordPress Plugin

WordPress is the most popular content management system globally, with around 75 million websites using it to produce standout website designs. With so many people using this CMS, it’s not out of the question for WordPress to offer a plug-in to assist with your Google Web Stories.

This plug-in is an editor within your WordPress platform that allows you to utilise page templates without having to design them from scratch yourself. You can also gain access to WP’s media library and customise the colours and text styles of your story.

Make Stories

Almost as popular as the WordPress plug-in is Make Stories . This is a code-free piece of software with easy-to-use drag and drop features to create a unique Google Web Story. There are dozens of different elements to use and full support for a variety of platforms like WordPress, widget embedding, and more.

Newsroom AI

Newsroom AI is a free and paid site that offers a multitude of different features to help you create an exciting Google Web Story. You can sign up with your Google account, create a story, then view reports to see how well it is doing. The more familiar you become with Google Web Stories, the easier it can become to create stories that convert.

Why Use Google Web Stories in 2021?

Google is always coming up with exciting and innovative features for small businesses and large corporations to take advantage of. Some of them may suit your needs, and some of them may not.

So, why is Google Web Stories turning out to be a must-have marketing tool in any business’s toolbox? There are many reasons why this feature can be worth a closer look.

Another Way to Drive Traffic To Your Site

You’ve got social media. You’ve got Google AdWords, and you’re starting to appear in Google search images. Google Web Stories is yet another way you can drive traffic to your website. There is no harm in making sure that more customers than ever before can access your products and services on the internet.

What’s more, because you can make Google Web Stories and Google AdWords work in harmony, you’re able to get more bang for your SEO buck.

Viewers Love Them

As a viewer yourself, which would you rather see: A webpage full of text with no graphics – or short and snappy graphic panels with all the information you need being displayed in a fun and innovative way? We know what we’d choose…

You can still get your message across to your customers, but you are using Google Web Stories to make sure it’s a fun, immersive, and relatable way.

The Content is Yours

When you create stories on platforms like Instagram and Facebook, you are using their tools to do so. In many situations, you can’t use that content anywhere else – unless the two platforms are linked through their ownership by the same company.

With Google Web Stories, the content you create is yours to do with as you please. You have created it yourself through a third-party tool (like those mentioned above), which means you can put them anywhere with compatibility.

How Do You Find Google Web Stories?

Before learning about the benefits of Google Web Stories for your own business, you may be racking your brain trying to remember where you had seen them before. As it turns out, these stories can turn up in several places – and in a multitude of different ways.

You might have seen them appear as a unique result after searching for something in particular in the Google search engine. In the USA, people also see visual stories appearing in a grid view and carousel. These features may end up here before long.

Web stories also feature in Google Images, so be on the lookout while you’re planning your next exciting web story.

What Do I Do Next?

Google Web Stories are an exciting marketing technique that many businesses in Aotearoa can see the value in. However, like any new feature, they can take time to learn.

Fortunately, there are plenty of online tools available to assist with the Google Web Stories creative process. You can also contact marketing companies to help with making sure your web stories are on the right track and being seen by the right people.

Accelerated Mobile Page Amp Tips

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 22:05:46 GMT

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Is your website lightning quick on desktop and mobile?

Any business owner with a website or eCommerce store needs to know the answer to this question. People are impatient and a slow website will have them bouncing in a matter of seconds. If you can speed up your website it will make a massive difference not only for user experience and conversions, but for your search rankings as well. Here’s why.

First impressions count
Mobile users expect speed
Fast websites convert better
Quick load speed may be good for organic SEO
Accelerated Mobile Pages
Pros
Cons
Are you ready to increase your website speed?

FAQ

First impressions count

A quick website load speed creates a strong first impression. It shows customers that your business is professional and reliable. ‘Fast’ equates to ‘trust’ and ‘confidence’ in the online world. A website that loads quickly will attract new customers and keep your existing ones coming back for more. A slow website creates the opposite impression. ‘Slow’ equates to ‘unsafe’ and ‘untrustworthy’. Customers that have trouble with load speed are less likely to visit your website again. A Kissmetric study found that 40% of people abandon websites that take more than 3 seconds to load, that’s a large chunk of your audience that won’t be returning!

Mobile users expect speed

Since more people use Smartphones for browsing, rather than desktop connections, a quick website load speed for mobile is vital. Trying to access a slow website when you’re on the go is frustrating and customers are impatient. Busy people demand quick answers, and want even faster speeds for a mobile site than they do for desktop sites. They’ll abandon sites that don’t give them what they need immediately. Test how fast your site loads on mobile with Google’s Test My Site .

Fast websites convert better

Slow load speeds not only drive potential customers away, they drive away your sales. If your website loads quickly on mobile, more people will potentially visit your site rather than a slower competitor. The Kissmetric study above says 40% of people abandon sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load. If you have 100,000 visitors a month, and your website takes 4 seconds to load, that’s 40,000 potential customers a month that you’re missing out on converting. Ideally you want a fast website so people visit, browse and buy. With a slow website people tend to abandon rather than buy.

Quick load speed may be good for organic SEO

Fast mobile websites could potentially rank higher on Google. Website load speed is one of Google’s many ranking factors and in July 2018 it announced that speed would now be a ranking factor in mobile search results (but there’s no guarantee that improving your mobile speed alone will improve your ranking position). As Google says , “a slow page may still rank highly if it has great, relevant content.”

Accelerated Mobile Pages

If you’re looking for faster mobile web experience for your customers, then switching to Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is an option. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is an open-source framework formulated by Google, that can be used across a variety of platforms such as Shopify® and WooCommerce . It aims to improve your page speed and create a faster mobile web experience for your customers. This doesn’t necessarily improve engagement but it does give your site the chance to improve your ranking position.

Here are some pros and cons of using AMP:

Pros

Extremely fast page load speed
Google starting to display AMPs in search results
Potentially higher rankings in organic mobile search results
Potentially higher chance of customer conversion.

Cons

Can be confusing to set up
Reduction in branding elements
Still in its infancy so capabilities not known.

For further reading on AMP, check out Neil Patel’s Definitive Guide to Accelerated Mobile Pages . As he says, Google hasn’t yet made AMP a ranking factor, so a well optimised mobile page is perfectly fine at the moment.

Are you ready to increase your website speed? Fast website speed is a critical matter, especially for mobile users. A slow website affects your customer’s experience, it affects your SEO, and it affects your conversions. As SEO experts, ClickThrough can test your site and help you improve your site speed. Get in contact with us today.

A Guide To Google Ad Certification

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 22:18:30 GMT

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Have you ever heard someone refer to themselves as a Google Ads certified professional? This isn’t a self-proclaimed title. Instead, people with that title have undertaken Google Ad certification assessments to be able to provide Google services to others.

What Are Google Ad Certificates?
What Google Ad Certificates Are Available?
What is Google Analytics
Benefits of Gaining Google Ad Certification
Preparing for Google Ad Certificate and Google Analytics
How to Get Certified
Are You Ready to Take the Next Step?

FAQ

In 2021, there were six Google Ad certifications on offer, along with the Google Analytics certification. Any individual can benefit from going through the certification process if they want to pass their knowledge onto others or eventually gain the Google Partner badge .

However, knowing how to start or even gain the necessary knowledge to pass the assessments can be tricky. We’ve included some helpful information below to put you on the right path.

What Are Google Ad Certificates?

As previously mentioned, six Google Ad certificates form part of Google’s official accreditation. These certificates allow people to demonstrate that Google recognises them as online advertising experts.

Having this accreditation certainly helps when you’re trying to offer online advertising and marketing services to an individual or business. The certificates are offered through Google’s online training program called Skillshop , which provides Google professional tools and solutions.

What Google Ad Certificates Are Available?

Given that Google Ads is a multi-faceted platform with a lot for the average person to learn, the entire certification process is split into parts. You can study for all certificates, or just the ones that capture your interest.

Digital marketing experts like the team at Clickthrough can assist with the studying and training process to ensure you’re as prepared as possible to take your exam.

We offer personalised training for:

Google Ads Search Certification
Google Ads Display Certification
Google Ads Video Certification
Shopping Ads Certification
Google Ads Apps Certification
Google Ads Measurement Certification

Google Ads Search Certification

This certificate provides proof that you have mastered Google search campaign building and optimisation. Once you are certified, you will be able to make use of automated solutions to boost your campaign performances.

Google Ads Display Certification

Are you trying to achieve specific goals with your display strategies? This certification can show you what’s possible. Once you’ve gained your certificate, you’ll be able to develop effective display strategies and achieve your goals.

Google Ads Video Certification

Both Google Video and YouTube are fast becoming effective advertising methods. With a Google Ads Video Certification, you’ll understand the best approaches for reaching your target audience through these platforms.

Shopping Ads Certification

More and more people are relying on Google to find what they need to buy online. With Shopping Ads Certification, you will learn how to optimise your shopping ads for the best results.

Google Ads Apps Certification

By undertaking the Google Ads Apps Certification, you’ll be able to confidently create Google App campaigns while taking advantage of the many advanced optimisation options.

Google Ads Measurement Certification

Knowing how your digital ads are performing can make all the difference to your future strategies. With the Google Ads Measurement Certification, you learn the importance of metrics and how to use them to improve your ad performance.

What is Google Analytics?

You may now have a basic understanding of Google Ad certifications, but what about Google Analytics? This is a separate certification that provides you with a Google Analytics qualification.

This web analytics service is offered by Google and allows you to track and report your website traffic, ROI, social networking sites, video, and more. The benefits of using Google Analytics, studying for the test, and subsequently gaining your qualification means that you can confidently use this tool to improve your business – and the businesses of others.

Once you’re ready for the free test provided by Google, allow between 60-90 minutes to complete it. There are 70 questions in total, and you are required to receive an 80% pass rate to gain your Google Analytics Individual Qualification, which is valid for one year.

Benefits of Gaining Google Ad Certification

After hiring the experts to help with Google Ad Certification training, you may wonder what kind of benefits you’d receive from gaining your certification.

The main benefit you can gain from the process is being able to tell your clients that you’re a certified online advertising professional. You also earn a personalised certificate and can begin using your newfound knowledge for your business and other people’s.

But the benefits don’t end there. If you meet all the requirements, you may be able to help your company earn a Google Partner or Premier Google Partner badge. Businesses can acquire this badge by having at least one Google Ads certified affiliated member who also meets other criteria.

Preparing for Google Ad Certificate and Google Analytics Assessments

The idea of taking assessments and studying after having left school years before can be daunting. You may not even remember how to study or how to take an exam.

Fortunately, one of the best ways to prepare for your Google Ads or Google Analytics assessments is by bringing in the experts. Personalised training from digital marketing experts can help you understand which information is relevant to your assessment, which may not be clear from simple Google searches alone. Google also provides plenty of information through their official avenues, such as Skillshop.

How to Get Certified

Even thinking about gaining Google Ads Certifications can lead you to feelings of overwhelm. We’ve covered a lot of information above, but it really is a straightforward five-step process.

Step 1: Create your Google Account

Step 2: Get set up in Skillshop

Step 3 : Prepare for your exams. A digital marketing expert can provide the necessary training

Step 4: Pass the exam with an 80%+ pass rate

Step 5: Gain your certification. You can then choose to connect with Google Partners.

Are You Ready to Take the Next Step?

Google has offered us more control over our business advertising methods than ever before. By gaining your Google Ads Certifications, you’ll be in the best possible position to control both how much you spend on marketing and how you make it work to your advantage. There’s no better time than now to get your training underway.

In Ecommerce Here Are Some Seo Best Practices For Video

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 17 May 2021 22:32:52 GMT

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Google has released a number of innovative features in recent years that have enabled eCommerce business owners to stand out from the crowd. From keyword and site architecture to on-page SEO and technical SEO – there are so many options. Yet another to join the ranks in recent months has been video for eCommerce.

Understanding How They Work
Using Video On Your eCommerce Site’s Product Pages
Putting Videos into Blog Posts and Articles
Connecting Videos with Social Media
Running Livestreams
Adding Video Structured Data
Give Your Videos Their Own Page
Submit a Video Sitemap File
Benefits of Video Marketing
More Views
Google Prefer Them
They Make Your Business More Credible
Is It Time to Look at Video for eCommerce?

FAQ

It almost seems like video and eCommerce are now working hand in hand, with site owners being able to take advantage of several benefits with just a few minor site changes. If you’re ready to take your eCommerce site to the next level, here’s how Google may help you to do it.

Understanding How Product Videos Work

Before you get the camera rolling to produce a product video for your eCommerce site, take a moment to understand how they work in relation to Google. See how other people are doing it, and you may get to grips with the benefits a lot faster.

You can see videos on the Google Search results page and also on the videos tab. Often, they come with summary text, a playback duration, and a thumbnail image. In recent months, Google has also introduced a key moments feature. This lets you navigate certain video sections to find the most relevant parts to you.

For example, if you need to learn how to install a radiator in a car, you don’t have to watch the entire car building video to find it. Instead, you can skip to the part that shows you how.

Putting Videos into Blog Posts and Articles

Product reviews are a big part of online shopping. If you are posting an article or blog post that compares one branded product with another, a video can improve the user experience.

You can even include videos in your blog posts about what your company has been up to, such as new product manufacturing, community ventures, or something else.

Connecting Videos with Social Media

Every week, 45% of YouTube and Facebook users watch over an hour of videos. Of those videos, 85% on social media will be watched without sound. Videos certainly have their place on your eCommerce site, but they also have value on social media platforms.

Fortunately, many of the leading social media platforms manage indexing for you, so there’s no need to worry about improving your video exposure on these platforms.

Running Livestreams

If your eCommerce site has all the bells and whistles, including live stream embedding, you can use these features to your advantage. You can schedule live streams, or run them at random, to interact with your many customers and would-be customers. If you use Broadcast Event structured data along with Indexing API, you can also have a ‘LIVE’ badge appear to garner more interest.

Live streamers that record while they stream can also get additional bang for their buck by embedding their live streamed video on their website for later viewing.

Adding Video Structured Data

If you’re not familiar with the inner workings of your website, it can be worth relying on a digital marketing team for this step.

For your best chance of having Google recognise your video on Search, include video structured data on any pages with video content. This multi-step process involves adding specific properties, validating your code, and making sure your page is accessible to Google.

Give Your Videos Their Own Page

Even though you can include videos on your product pages, blogs, and articles, it can sometimes be beneficial to give them their own page, as well. The type of traffic you get from a video with its own page may be different from that you’d see when that visual content is mixed in with other information. There’s no harm in duplicating the video across more than one page on your site.

Submit a Video Sitemap File

To make sure Google can find the video content within all your web pages, create and submit a video sitemap file . A sitemap has extra information about the videos you have on your web pages that may not be easily discovered during site crawling.

There is more than one way to go about this process. You could create a separate sitemap for the video or embed a video sitemap within your existing sitemap. You can also host more than one video on a web page. With this option, each sitemap entry is the URL for a page with one or multiple videos. You just have to make sure that each site map has fewer than 50,000 URL elements. If you’re unsure how to create a video sitemap file, consult an SEO and marketing business for help.

Benefits of Video Marketing

It might seem like a lot of hard work to include videos on your eCommerce site, but it can be worth it. Many business owners have reaped the rewards of making a few small changes to accommodate this latest feature.

More Views

Would you prefer to read an essay or watch a video to learn how to do something? It goes without saying that a video will be a far more popular option for instructional purposes. You may also experience more views on your video than if you simply posted a video transcript on its own.

Google Prefers Them

The next time you search for something in Google, notice how the search engine shows you the results. In many situations, video is the more prominent offering, followed by helpful articles.

While you may optimise any blogs or articles you write about something, it’s worth putting the same SEO effort into your videos. The views and conversions may just surprise you.

Using Video On Your eCommerce Site’s Product Pages

One of the best places to include video on your eCommerce site is on your product pages. They can be instructional videos for how something works or installs or a simple video that shows the target market using the product. While there’s nothing wrong with imagery on a website, a video can add another element that helps people make a purchasing decision. It also doesn’t hurt that your video may appear in Google Search.

They Make Your Business More Credible

Every day, around 18,000 scam websites make their way onto the internet. Sometimes, they list fake products for sale that you never receive. It’s no wonder that some online buyers have trust issues.

Fortunately, you can gain the trust of your customers with video. After all, what kind of scammer would go through the effort of creating a video about their company, morals, values, and products if their goal was to make fast money?

Is It Time to Look at Video for eCommerce?

Whether you’re trying to improve your digital presence, or you simply want to take advantage of Google’s many innovative features, there’s value in dabbling in video. Why not try your hand at creating a video today? You never know how important it might be to your eCommerce store’s popularity and sales.

Basic Guide To Core Web Vitals 2021

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 22:38:02 GMT

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Google is always coming up with new and innovative ways to improve the user experience for those browsing the internet. One recent announcement that Google made in late 2020 with user experience in mind was Core Web Vitals .

What Are Core Web Vitals?
Why Do You Need to Learn About Core Web Vitals?
Breaking Down the Core Web Vitals in 2021
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
First Input Delay (FID)
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
What Do I Do Now?

FAQ

When these performance factors are unveiled in June 2021 to work in harmony with your existing UX signals, you can expect your Google Search Console to look a little different.

Get ahead of the curve by learning about Core Web Vitals before they are released so that your website can be in the best position to take advantage of them. Here’s what you need to know.

What Are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are essentially a set of factors the influence your webpage’s user experience. All elements have page speed and user interaction in mind: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

Each of these Core Web Vitals will work in harmony with your other web vitals, such as mobile-friendliness, safe browsing, HTTPS, and no invasive interstitials. These new factors will be visible in your Google Search Console enhancements section, and they will ultimately join the rest of your page experience metrics to form a fuller picture of your page’s overall UX.

Why Do You Need to Learn About Core Web Vitals?

You might be thinking, ‘Oh great, here’s yet another thing I need to do to make my website rank. I’ll just ignore it.’

At the moment, page experience isn’t an official Google ranking factor, but it will become one in June 2021. As previously mentioned, they will combine with the metrics already in place so that each of them will form an essential part of your potential customers’ user experience.

At the moment, most people already know that mobile-friendliness, a malware-free site, HTTPS, and few pop-ups are considered essential by Google. Before long, Core Web Vitals will be, as well.

Breaking Down the Core Web Vitals in 2021

To the average website user, LCP, FID, and CLS will not mean much. You may not even know how to manage these areas to ensure your webpage is performing as well as it could. We’ll address each of these components below. However, you can also reach out to a digital marketing company like Clickthrough for assistance.

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) refers to the length of time it takes for a page to load from a user’s perspective. This feature differs from other page speed measurements like First Contextual Paint and TTFB because it measures how much time it takes for someone to click on a link and see most of the content on the screen.

You can measure your LCP score now by using Google PageSpeed Insights . This feature allows you to see the areas of your website that could do with improvement. It will measure what passes and what doesn’t while also showing you which URLs require page performance improvements.

The ultimate goal of reviewing your LCP is to ensure that every page on your site hits LCP within 2.5 seconds. For pages with several high-resolution graphics, you may need to revisit the design of those pages while also focusing on some of the following things:

Upgrading your web host for faster load times overall
Removing large page elements that slow down your LCP
Removing unnecessary third-party scripts
Addressing your bulky CSS that can contribute to slow LCP times
Setting up lazy loading, which makes images load when someone is scrolling, rather than all at once

First Input Delay (FID)

Equally as crucial as LCP is First Input Delay (FID). FID refers to the time it takes for users to interact with your page. This is not an essential feature for all websites, but it is for many. What’s more, Google views it as incredibly important for understanding how real-life users interact with your website.

FID measures several interactions, such as:

Clicking on site navigation links
Choosing menu options
Entering emails into forms
Opening accordion text on mobile phones and other mobile devices

Google’s Search Console measures your FID information in the same way it does for LCP. It shows you which pages are performing well, which need improvement, and which are performing poorly.

Not all websites will see the value in this Core Web Vital because not all pages require interaction. For example, blog and news websites only require you to scroll down. There is often no need to interact in any other way. If that’s the case, sometimes FID will not report on your site.

If you have had a look at how your website performs for FID, and you need to make any improvements, you can use some of the following methods:

Using a browser cache to improve load content time
Removing non-essential third-party scripts
Minimising JavaScript usage where possible

Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

The final of the three Core Web Vitals is Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). This refers to a page’s visual stability as it loads. Essentially, if anything moves around your page as it loads, you’ve got high CLS, which is not desirable.

Like the other two Core Web Vitals, you can get an idea of how each of your webpages is performing in your Search Console. Fortunately, making changes tends to be relatively straightforward, even for those website owners who don’t consider themselves savvy web developers.

We recommend some of the following tips for improving your CLS if it ranks as poor:

Make sure you reserve space for adds
Use set dimensions for media like infographics, videos, images, and GIFs
Add any new UI elements below the fold to avoid them pushing content down as the page loads

What Do I Do Now?

Google announced Core Web Vitals would be becoming a vital page performance measurement at the end of 2020. However, they’ve given website owners six months to act from that announcement date.

You now have until May to start planning for website changes to align with Core Web Vitals. You don’t have to do anything until May, but you may like to begin reviewing page elements that likely impact how well your pages will perform with these metrics in mind.

You can also get in touch with a digital marketing company for assistance in making sure your webpages align with the latest changes and are in the best possible position to rank in Google search results.

Why Your Marketing Staff Need To Understand The Seo Basics

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 22:45:43 GMT

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Search engine optimisation (SEO) is not something you naturally know how to do. It’s a relatively new concept and one that has continuously evolved and developed as the years go by.

It’s Easier Than Ever Before
SEO Is Constantly Evolving
Organic Search Can Be Your Best Source of Traffic
You Can Build Credibility and Trust
You Can Provide a Better User Experience
You Can Tap into the Local Market
SEO Is Affordable
I Want My Marketing Team to Learn More; What Do I Do?

FAQ

However, as new as it is, there can be a lot of value in being the early bird that gets the worm. If you haven’t yet put steps in place to ensure your marketing staff understand the SEO basics, then now might be the time.

It’s Easier Than Ever Before

If arranging accommodation and travel for your team to attend an SEO eLearning course was one of the main reasons you didn’t consider it, that’s no longer a problem.

While COVID-19 has ravaged the world, it has also enabled previously in-person events to proceed online, including SEO and marketing courses.

More and more event and programme organisers are developing learning modules that key marketing staff can access with ease. They can stay in the comfort of their home – or your business – while learning valuable information to improve your digital presence.

SEO Is Constantly Evolving

Even if you have learned some SEO techniques in the past, that doesn’t mean your training is over, and you no longer require education. Just like the medical field, technology and best practices are continuously evolving include new information surrounding organic searches, natural searches, paid and unpaid searches, and more.

Let’s take a look back to where we were, to where we are now. Reviewing this article in just five years would produce even more dramatic differences.

Mobile vs. Desktop

When SEO techniques first became known, there was a massive emphasis on desktop computers. We were targeting our content and websites to computer users. With over two billion people now using their mobile phones to access the internet, there has been a dramatic change in best SEO practices.

Google now rewards websites that are mobile-friendly because it understands the changing trends. It wants you to change with them.

Quality Content

When SEO was in its infancy, websites were easily able to rank for keywords. Some website developers, marketing teams, and business owners would stuff their sites full of poor-quality, duplicated, and keyword-drenched content. It wasn’t about doing right by the viewer; it was about being seen in search results.

Now, it’s all about quality. Google will prioritise a website featuring informative and well-written content over one that just has keywords galore but no true substance. While you can still integrate keywords and long-tail keywords to benefit from natural searches, you just have to do so while making sure you’re benefiting the reader.

Link-Building Schemes

Early on, website creators realised that if they used fake links from different sources, they could increase their rankings. This became known as a black hat SEO technique .

When Google caught on, they penalised, de-listed, and banned those who took part in this shady business. Now, they encourage website owners to focus on natural links through guest posts and links from authoritative websites.

These few examples have shown a dramatic shift in behaviours in just a few short years. If you don’t keep up with SEO education, there’s every chance you’ll be left behind with techniques and skills that are no longer relevant for putting your business image front and centre.

Organic Search Can Be Your Best Source of Traffic

It’s easy for a marketing team to throw money into endless advertising avenues to direct traffic to your website. You might end up spending several thousand dollars on platforms you can’t track or monitor, with the hope that at least a few ad viewers made it to your site.

The reality is, organic search traffic is one of the best ways to improve your business’s web performance. The more time and effort you put into improving your site’s SEO, the more organic results, or natural searches, from which you can benefit. This means your marketing team and you, as the owner, save money while potentially benefiting from more web sales.

You Can Build Credibility and Trust

You know your business is trustworthy and credible, but do your customers, and by default, Google? If Google and other search engines have no measurable data to confirm you’ve got a trustworthy and credible site, they won’t display it as such.

It takes several elements to build up that trust, including the use of on-page elements and content, quality backlinks, positive user behaviours, and algorithms . Requesting that your marketing team learn the basics of SEO could mean big things for consumer trust and your website’s future popularity.

You Can Provide a Better User Experience

You might think that the best user experience on a website is one based on looks and feel. Sure, effortless navigation and the best graphic design are essential components of a business website. Still, there’s more to the picture, and it can begin before your prospective purchasers even land on your site.

By using SEO techniques like keyword research, searcher language and intent, title tags, and meta descriptions, you are laying the foundation for solving a consumer’s problem.

Keywords

Keywords are commonly searched words related to the products and services you are selling. When you include these in your website’s content, they may appear in the Google search results when someone looks for those specific words. Searcher Language & Intent

It’s important to put a lot of thought into the keywords you’re going to use because searcher language plays an integral part in SEO. Not everyone looking for the products you sell will know the exact name for them.

For example, you might stock scarlet footwear. You can include this term throughout your site, but what if people are only searching for red shoes? Being able to use variations can be crucial for increased web traffic.

Searcher intent can often require clarity, as well. If your business offers shoe repairs, you may attract two types of searchers – those who want someone to repair the shoes and those who want advice on how to repair shoes themselves. The inclusion of long-tail keywords in your web content can make this clear.

If your marketing team is not familiar with the intricacies of how people search and what they search, encourage them to undertake SEO research.

Title Tags

A title tag is the text you use as the clickable link in your search result. You typically have around 70 characters to work with, so creativity is vital. You want to use language related to your keyword, but you also want to grab a potential purchaser’s attention.

Meta Descriptions

Another thing your marketing team shouldn’t neglect is the meta descriptions used for each page of your website. These allow you to expand on what you stated in your title tag.

However, you have up to around 300 characters to play with for this body of text. Use the space wisely, as it’s crucial to add valuable information that also encourages people to find out more.

You Can Tap into the Local Market

If your marketing team is only familiar with SEO on a national or international level, then the next best step is focusing on a local level. With more and more businesses taking advantage of the benefits that SEO brings, it’s a hot market out there.

Be specific with your local SEO practices to bring in purchasers from the same town, city, and region as you. This process can include using local citations, a Google My Business listing with updated contact and location information, and local, relevant backlinks.

User reviews can also improve your local presence. Each time someone searches for something specific in your area, you are more likely to appear on someone’s device with reviews, contact information, and the proximity of your business to them.

SEO Is Affordable

There are multiple marketing avenues that a marketing team can tap into. They can go to the extreme end with promotional events and giveaways. Or, they can opt for more traditional platforms like newspaper and radio advertising.

However, these costly forms of advertising don’t always have sustainable results you can track. SEO not only provides real-time data so you can see what’s working and what isn’t, but it’s affordable, as well.

Setting up an SEO-friendly website takes very little of your time and money. You can then spend as much as you want to on PPC ads while you wait for your organic, unpaid search growth to kick in. Many businesses then rely on a combination of PPC and SEO to keep the momentum going.

I Want My Marketing Team to Learn More; What Do I Do?

If your marketing team hasn’t yet heard about the magic of SEO , then there’s no better time than now to fill them in. You can leave them to their own devices to browse the internet for information on the best ways to improve web traffic through SEO or sign them up for an online learning course. This small amount of time, effort, and money can serve your business well in the years to come.

What Is Your Real Source Of Conversion

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 22:51:03 GMT

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How Does Google Analytics Work?
What is Multi-Channel Funnels?
Multi-Channel Funnel Reports
Overview Report
Assisted Conversions Report
Top Conversion Paths Report
Time Lag Report
Path Length Report
So, What Is Your Real Source of Conversion?

FAQ

Instead, you might search for a product in Google, click on a website to learn more about it, check out a blog post, or something else.

How Does Google Analytics Work?

However, something was lacking – and that was a depth to the data. That’s where Multi-Channel Funnels under the umbrella of Google Analytics comes in. Migrating to the latest analytics platform GA4 will help further with conversion tracking by allowing marketers to set up analytics for their websites much more easily.

What is Multi-Channel Funnels?

If you or your E-marketing team is using the latest version of Google Analytics, they may have seen a new feature called Multi-Channel Funnels . If you can’t see it, make sure you have goals enabled before clicking on the ‘Conversions’ tab in the left-hand column, followed by ‘Multi-Channel Funnels’.

This includes seeing the various customer interactions with your channels – such as social networks, display ads, organic searches, paid searches, and affiliates.

1. Overview Report

2. Assisted Conversions Report

3. Top Conversion Paths Report

Instead, it can be a combination of paid advertising, organic search results (through methods like SEO copywriting ), referrals, and direct. You can view the basic channel grouping path or create your own custom channel groupings. This report also offers the option to display the data by the source, medium, AdWords, and other traffic.

4. Time Lag Report

5. Path Length Report

So, What Is Your Real Source of Conversion?

SEO Competition Growing Across New Zealand Ppc Vs Organic

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 22:57:51 GMT

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PPC vs. Organic SEO
Does Competition Make a Difference?
Using Google My Business
Why Use Google At All?

FAQ

You then get to benefit from organic growth, often with the help of digital marketing experts .

When you hear the word ‘free’, your ears probably perk up – and so they should. Free traffic to your website with the possibility of new customers? What a great deal! And it is – but you have to be in it for the long game. SEO, as you will quickly learn, is a marathon, not a sprint, that takes a combination of long term effort and smarts to get right.

Which is where PPC comes in.

PPC vs. Organic SEO

After you have optimised your website to ensure you’re in the best position to achieve organic growth, there can be a waiting period. But suppose you want to benefit from near-immediate exposure. In that case, you may see the value in pay-per-click advertising (PPC).

PPC is a Google offering that allows you to create a search campaign ad that appears in Google when selected search terms are used. When someone searches for those keywords and your business pops up, they can click on your ad to head to your website. You are then charged for that click. You don’t have to pay for the ad when it is not clicked.

Why on earth would someone choose to pay for PPC advertising when organic SEO is free? Because PPC advertising can bridge the gap immediately, while your organic SEO works its magic in the background.

For example, you may have just launched a brand new website, which will take 3-6 months to rank well in the organic search results. In this instance, we’d recommend using Google Ads to provide your business with immediate clicks, leads and sales while the SEO rankings build.

Eventually, your SEO can begin to offer better results than your PPC campaign. You can then choose to end that campaign or keep it ticking away in the background if it’s delivering the results you desire. We recommend using a combination of both techniques.

Topic comparison

Search term comparison

These graphics offer a comparison of Google Ads vs. SEO. As you can see, the two start relatively even in results. But the more “seasoned” the SEO becomes, the more valuable it becomes for lead generation.

Does Competition Make a Difference?

The complicated part about SEO and PPC is that there is no blanket rule for how they will work for you. Each industry is different, and, as the graphic below shows, even each part of New Zealand is different.

That’s why it can be a good idea to leave your PPC ads and organic SEO growth in the capable hands of a digital marketing team. They have the best tools and skills to make sure they use an approach that’s as unique as your business for the best results. Because, yes, competition does make a difference.

In this graphic, you will see a breakdown by region of the use of Google ads (PPC) and SEO. From this, you will see that with more competition in the North Island, businesses are using a mixture of SEO and PPC to achieve desirable results for their business.

Given that three in four New Zealanders live in the North Island, it makes sense for there to be more businesses to cater to those people. By default, that can mean more competition.

The hospitality industry is a fine example of this competition. In 2017, there were over 17,000 hospitality businesses in New Zealand. So, how could you make yours stand out from the crowd? Well, one popular way is digital marketing with PPC and SEO.

Using Google My Business

One way to combat growing SEO competition is by making use of Google My Business and Google Maps. Google My Business can work hand in hand with your current and future SEO and PPC techniques.

This free tool allows you to create a business profile that integrates with Google’s search results and maps. On it, you can list your business name, photos of your business (including products and services), along with phone numbers, websites, and addresses. Essentially, this profile can include anything that assists in making sure your business is as easy to learn more about as possible.

The beauty of Google My Business, too, is that it offers insights into how your customers are connecting with you so you can find out what’s working and what isn’t.

You can see how many people used the ‘call’ function, how many website clicks, the number of direction requests, how many people followed, and even how many people made bookings through your Google My Business Profile.

This graphic shows the popularity of Google My Business and its projected growth past 2020.

Setting Up Google My Business

Not every business owner is tech-savvy, and that’s okay. You will be pleased to know that setting up your profile takes just a few steps . Alternatively, a local SEO company will be able to assist with your profile’s creation and other local SEO techniques .

Sign in to your Google Account or create one using your business email domain.
Enter your business address and position the marker on your location.
Choose how to display your business on Google Maps – this can include whether or not you serve customers at your address or whether you deliver your goods and services.
Choose your business category.
Enter your phone number and/or website URL.
Verify your account.

Why Use Google At All?

All this talk of Google Pay-Per-Click ads and organic SEO , you may be wondering why Google is an ideal option when there are so many other platforms out there.

Some other platforms can indeed serve their purpose for your business. Take Bing , for example. It only makes up around six percent of the market share. Still, it can suit some companies targeting the very New Zealanders who rely on this search engine over Google.

In saying that, Google makes up around 90 percent of the market share. It’s hard to look past that statistic when you’re trying to boost your business image.

Is it Time to Act?

With so much competition throughout New Zealand, there’s every reason to tap into the available resources to improve your online presence. Using a combination of search engine optimisation for organic growth and pay-per-click advertising, you may experience growth that traditional advertising methods have failed to deliver.

SEO Copywriting In 2020

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 23:03:05 GMT

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Content marketing has always played a significant role in drumming up interest in a product or service, even if SEOcopywriting isjust a new concept.

What is Content Marketing?
SEO Writing and What it Involves
The Similarities and Differences of Copywriting and SEO Writing

FAQ

Cast your mind back to World War I when the U.S. Army wanted recruits for American forces. They came up with the “I Want YOU” campaign featuring Uncle Sam . Even though the world has changed a lot since then, one thing hasn’t: the importance of targeted writing to lure in prospective purchasers.

Both copywriting and SEO writing are integral for reaching people, engaging them, then turning them into paying customers.

The problem is, you can’t just put words on paper or a web page and immediately expect them to bring customers in their droves. It pays to have an understanding of both copywriting and SEO writing, their differences and similarities, and how to use them to your advantage.

What is Content Marketing?

The internet is full of information on marketing, including how to market your business, how to build your customer base, and how to earn more money in business. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the information.

But one thing that appears like a shining light through a blanket of fog is content marketing. Understand what it is and how it works, and you can build a solid foundation to work from.

Content marketing incorporates creating and sharing content to attract, engage, and convert ‘leads’ or customers. It can exist in many forms, like email newsletters, press releases, blog posts, web pages, social media, and video.

No matter the form of content marketing you use, they all involve using words to achieve your end goal. How those words form can ultimately be based on your target market and can influence your customer base in the future.

Copywriting and What it Involves

Under the umbrella of content marketing is copywriting, which is produced to turn a slightly interested person into a paying customer. Copywriters put together a lot of different content, such as landing pages, web pages, emails, direct mail, print advertising, video, and audio scripts.

But they don’t just put together a whole bunch of words and wait for them to work their magic. They incorporate several different elements to ensure those words are what people want to hear before purchasing a product or service. Take note of these elements below.

Customer Targeting

When you market a product or service to the public, you think long and hard about who will buy it and who it will appeal to. It would be best if you did the same thing when writing content about that product.

Many businesses work with copywriters to put together a buyer persona . This allows you to narrow down the desired demographics in a target audience that sets your content’s tone. You can then shape your words to address a problem or pain point, then offer the solution – with that solution being your product or service.

An Emotional Response

Being able to tug at heartstrings is an integral part of content marketing and copywriting. You also see it in SEO copywriting . Appealing to a prospective purchaser’s emotions is also a sound way to generate a lead where word counts are limited.

Think about all the emails that make their way into your inbox every day. Dozens of them probably end up in your trash bin because their subject line didn’t capture your attention. Copywriters must be able to form emotional subject lines that recipients can’t help but want to open.

The average open rate of emails across U.S. industries is 22.1%, which means around 80% of consumers aren’t opening emails. Attention to detail in copywriting could change that.

SEO Writing and What it Involves

In recent years, you may have seen a lot of information on the internet about SEO, or search engine optimisation. While it’s a powerful tool for lead generation, it’s also one that’s changing all the time. As a result, many businesses are noticing the benefit of leaving it in the capable hands of an SEO expert .

The goal of on-page SEO, or SEO copywriting, is to form content designed not only for your reader/potential customer but also for search engines. In saying that, a business must achieve a balance.

Too much focus on catering to a search engine can result in a technique known as black hat SEO . If caught adopting any black hat SEO techniques, you may receive a penalty from a search engine such as Google.

Penalties may include being downgraded or delisted from the search engine.

Blackhat SEO Techniques

Some of the more well known black hat SEO writing techniques include private blog networks, often called “link farms”, keyword stuffing, article duplication, comment spamming, link buying, and content cloaking.

One of the best ways to avoid accidentally falling into any of these traps is by letting a content marketing specialist in Auckland or nationwide take care of your SEO needs.

Keyword Research

Once you know what not to do with SEO writing, you can focus on what you should do to master content creation for your business. Keyword research is an integral part. It involves discovering what people are searching for when trying to find products and services that you offer.

For example, if you are a bakery in Ponsonby, your business might rank well if you include keywords in your content such as “bakery in Ponsonby”, or “baked goods in Ponsonby”. There are plenty of keyword research tools online to make use of, or a content marketing expert can provide assistance.

Readers First, Search Engines Second

It’s easy to get so caught up in the latest SEO algorithms that you focus all your attention on them. Truthfully, content marketing is about putting your reader first. Create content they are asking for, and you’ll gain momentum from it – with a helping hand from SEO.

Google’s primary focus is on making sure that content is relevant. If it’s appropriate for a reader, you’ll benefit from it being shared online or even used in backlinking by other businesses.

But Don’t Ignore Algorithms Altogether…

Of course, writing for the reader is paramount. Still, it’s also worth being aware of SEO practices that can benefit your business and content. These are changing all the time, so it’s worth asking an expert for a helping hand to make sure you’re doing all the right things regarding your content marketing direction.

The Similarities and Differences of Copywriting and SEO Writing

Under the umbrella of content marketing, you have both SEO writing and copywriting. What they both have in common is that they are a form of content designed to generate leads for your business.

They first lure the reader in, engage them in what you are offering, then turn them into a paying customer who believes in your product or service. But that’s ultimately where the similarities end. From that point, these two writing styles become much different.

SEO writing is largely for websites. It’s writing that you target towards readers while also keeping in mind that search engines can help it be seen. Copywriting, on the other hand, has a broader spectrum.

It features on websites, but it’s also something you use in radio ads, TV ads, printed products, newspapers, emails, the list goes on.

SEO writing is also about bringing in a generally interested person, warming them up, then turning them into a buying customer. Copywriting in other avenues relies on that customer to already be interested in what you may have to offer but building on that buyer persona voice to clinch the deal.

Copywriting and SEO writing might be two different things. Still, they are both necessary things for your business while focusing on content marketing. Are you unsure where to begin? It might be time to bring in the big guns to work out where content marketing could take your business now and into the future.

Bing Advertising Worth It In New Zealand

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 23:07:53 GMT

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When you start looking at various advertising platforms for your business, there are a few key players. You might look at social media advertising, but you probably also see the value in the likes of Google Ads and search engine optimisation, as well.

Bing vs. Google – What’s the Difference?
Content Understanding
Domain Types
Backlinking
The Social Stance
But is the Following there to Use Bing?
PPC Advertising Cost – Google vs. Bing
Comparing Top Features
Local Searches
Maps
Making the Decision: is Bing Advertising Worth it in NZ?

FAQ

But what about the small players in the game, like Bing , for example? Is Bing advertising worth it in NZ, or is Google the best and only option? Read on to find out.

Bing vs. Google – What’s the Difference?

Both Bing and Google are search engines – that much they have in common. You enter a search term, like SEO Auckland , get the results you want, and move on with your day. Still, there must be a reason why the two have such dramatically diverse followings. The two search engines are actually quite different.

Content Understanding

If you are starting to work on your SEO content and metadata, but you’re yet to choose a search engine to advertise on, then it pays to do this first. Believe it or not, both search engines understand your content in different ways. So, by optimising for one, you’re not necessarily optimising for the other.

Bing, in a way, is more conventional. It’s very clear in its expectations of how you format your keywords, page titles, and comprehensive metadata. Google is quite complex in how it interprets data. So, it’s in your best interest to outsource this task to a digital marketing expert to get better bang for your buck.

That’s not to say that you can’t use the same method for Google as you would for Bing, but you may experience vastly different results on the two search engines.

Domain Types

Google and Bing prefer and promote websites differently. What may rank highly on Bing may not on Google , and vice versa. The differences may not seem huge, but they can be.

For example, Bing tends to prefer top-level domains, such as .edu and .govt.nz, that sees a lot of traffic and/or has been online for some time. So, if you have an official website, then Bing may be an excellent option for you.

In saying that, Google has a far freer approach. As long as your website is popular or commercial, Google sees it as favourable.

Backlinking

Any SEO and marketing expert in New Zealand will tell you that backlinking is essential. This process involves adding links naturally to the SEO content of your site. However, both Google and Bing view this process differently.

Google believes that the more links on your site, the better it stands out, and the more authority it has. While Bing encourages backlinking, it doesn’t see it as the be-all and end-all of SEO importance. Both search engines, though, see the quality and relevance of backlinks as more critical than the quantity. So, bear this in mind.

The Social Stance

If your business has quite a massive social media presence, then you may want to put a lot of thought into which search engine you advertise with. One places more importance on your social media presence than the other. This can either be to your detriment or benefit.

Google has openly admitted that it doesn’t factor a company or individual’s social media into its search engine ranking – at least not at a base level . Bing, on the other hand, does. If you regularly receive a lot of likes, comments, shares, and retweets, Bing loves you. You can rank highly as a result of how popular you are on social media.

But is the Following there to Use Bing?

Google has a massive following and for good reasons. It has nearly 90 percent of the global market share, boasts a seamless platform, and even assists with personalising your searching experience. But that doesn’t mean other players in the game, like Bing, are lagging. They just fill up a different part of the market.

Some people prefer Bing because it has a desirable rewards programme. You can earn points while you search, and then spend those points at Windows and Microsoft stores.

Features such as this, and many others, are also seeing Bing growing at a rapid rate. In fact, its growth is faster than Google, right now. At this stage, around six percent of New Zealanders use Bing, but that figure is set to change.

And then there’s the target market. Your decision to use a search engine other than Google can be based on where your potential customer base is. The profiles of Google users and Bing users can be vastly different, and that might be what you’re looking for.

Bing users are often older, wealthier, and less tech-savvy. If that’s the market you’re trying to tap into, then Bing advertising can be worth it in New Zealand.

PPC Advertising Cost – Google vs. Bing

Now, more than ever before, spreading your business dollar further is crucial. So, looking outside of Google’s PPC platform may be worth your while if you need to save money. For the Google Search Network, the average cost-per-click is between $1-2. It’s less than $1 on the Google Display Network.

Bing’s cost-per-click is around a third lower than that of Google, at an average of $1.54 across multiple industries. As this search engine has fewer advertisers, there is less competition and, as a result, a more affordable ad campaign option.

Comparing Top Features

It’s only natural to wonder if Bing advertising is worth it in New Zealand. After all, it has relatively comparable features, but with one boasting a far larger market share than the other. So, if you were to compare those top features of each search engine, how would they stack up?

Local Searches

The ‘shop local’ trend has well and truly taken off, with more people than ever before keen to shop in businesses near them, rather than far away – or even in another country. When you search for something locally on Bing and Google, how do the two compare?

Both search engines bring up a map, but the results they bring up can be different. Why? Because Google will focus on your exact position and what’s closest. In contrast, Bing will provide a much broader view. They both show local results, but Bing brings in its results from a more general radius.

Maps

Gone are the days when you had to carry around a huge paper map to find out where you are and where you need to be. Both Bing and Google offer maps with expected arrival times and roads to take. The main difference between the two, though, is the time it takes to get to your destination.

Google overestimates – possibly to allow for any minor delays – but Bing can be a little more precise with no time to spare. What’s more, Google will offer information as you travel, such as telling you that the route you’re taking bypasses a closed road, roadworks, or a bridge. Bing doesn’t offer such information.

Making the Decision: is Bing Advertising Worth it in NZ?

The answer is yes and no – depending on your goals. Both search engines offer the same functionality, but their features can cater more towards you or against you.

Fortunately, if you want to try both – you can. If you are currently with Google AdWords, you can transition much of your campaign data over to Bing. However, you’ll need to set up your display ads, conversion tracking, and similar, from scratch.

If you’re not sure which search engine is right for you, then you can also ask the experts. Search engine marketing teams across NZ are more than happy to look at your business structure and advise you on the best advertising platforms to suit your unique needs.

The Importance Of Keyword Research And What It Means For Your Business

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 23:11:39 GMT

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You’ve got a product or service to sell. You’ve got a website. You’re ready to serve hundreds of customers. But where are they, and why isno one visiting your website? Out of many possible reasons, your keyword research (or lack thereof) could be to blame.

Have a Target Strategy
Keyword Research for Content Creation
Get into the Nitty-Gritty of Keyword Research
And What About Location?
Choosing the Best SEO Provider

FAQ

Keyword research involves analysing the search terms that people are entering into search engines so that you can provide a solution to a problem.

In basic terms, you have to find out what people want and then deliver it with strategic use of words. Sounds simple, right? It can be, but only if you know what you’re trying to achieve.

Read on to learn the importance of keyword research and how you can incorporate it into your business.

Have a Targeting Strategy

Without having a strategy regarding keyword research, you’re flying blind. Think about the people you are trying to attract and what you are trying to sell them. Who are they? What do they want? What are they searching for online? By knowing who your target audience is, you can establish a set of keywords that you can naturally incorporate into your website.

When you work with a search engine optimisation company , you can design a persona to help define your targeting strategy. A persona is a fictional character, but one that’s based on your ideal customer.

This persona incorporates who that person is, what their goals are, and what their barriers are. Once you know who you are trying to attract, you can begin to understand the kinds of words and phrases your site needs to have to draw them in for a closer look.

Without this vital step, you and your chosen SEO company can waste a significant amount of time and effort optimising your site for keywords that are irrelevant to your website and offerings.

Keyword Research for Content Creation

As you now know, carrying out keyword analysis can show you what people are searching for. That’s helpful, but then you need to make sure you’re giving them the things they are searching for.

For example, if someone is looking for a digital marketing company in Auckland or even a rugby coaching website, then produce content on your site that addresses that search. You can achieve this through site content and blog posts featuring information on you as a digital marketing company in Auckland, the services you offer, and who you can help.

Now, when people search for a digital marketing company in Auckland, you’ve got a solution ready and waiting for your target market to discover.

Get into the Nitty-Gritty of Keyword Research

Simply having a single word that people might search for isn’t enough to impact the click-through rate or Return on Investment (ROI) of your organic search strategy. Let’s say you sell shoes, along with hundreds of other businesses and companies in New Zealand.

For example, if you are a specialist shoe etailer, then creating content with generic “shoes” as your primary keyword may not help you achieve the results you desire. Instead, it’s worth talking to your local SEO expert about long-tail keywords.

Long-tail keywords are more specific key phrases or keywords that can often receive less traffic but have a higher conversion rate. Someone looking for shoes may only be browsing, but someone looking for “women’s brown leather cowboy boots” has something very particular in mind.

With fewer businesses competing for that keyword, you may find yourself front and centre, ready to handle inquiries for that kind of footwear and generating a lot of sales.

And What About Location?

Alongside descriptive keywords, you can also focus on location-based keywords. These are words and phrases that help you to rank for a specific town, city, region, or country.

For example, a shoe retailer may like to research the popularity of “shoe shops in Ponsonby, Auckland,” as opposed to “shoe shops” on its own. The more detailed you can be naturally, the better your chances of appealing to your target market.

Choosing the Best SEO Provider

Believe it or not, your success with online sales can come down to who you choose to help with your digital marketing strategy and SEO. In this situation, the adage of if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is, comes into play.

Cheap SEO providers may rush the keywords research process, or even outsource it to contractors who don’t know your area or even your country. Rushing this crucial process can undermine the results you are seeking, and can even have a detrimental impact on your search engine ranking.

When you’re looking for an SEO company to help with keyword research, then find one that offers the full package. A marketing agency that puts time and effort into developing a persona can have a surprising effect on your online presence.

Ethical Marketing And Why Its The Best Option For Your Business

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Tue, 12 May 2020 23:19:51 GMT

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Ethics are something that every business aims to have in every facet of their business. They want their staff to be ethical, their practices, and even their customers.

What is Ethical Marketing?
Ethical Marketing Principles
What is Unethical Marketing?
Black Hat Marketing
What Are Some of the Common Black Hat Marketing Strategies?
Best Digital (and Ethical) Marketing Strategies
How to Get Started with Ethical Marketing

FAQ

But what about their digital marketing? Is there a guideline or protocol for how to make sure you’re marketing your products in the most ethical way? Read on to learn the ins and outs of ethical marketing, and why it’s the best option for your business.

What is Ethical Marketing?

There is no single way to describe ethical marketing, for it’s a multi-faceted term that has various applications in the digital marketing world.

But, in a nutshell, you would say that ethical marketing is a philosophy. It’s making sure that in all parts of your digital marketing plan, you’re thinking about what’s honest, what’s responsible, and what’s fair.

The problem is, the term ‘ethics’ is incredibly abstract. What one company may see as “ethical,” another may not. Even customers of those businesses may have varying views about what they see as an ethical form of digital marketing. They can then form their own opinion of the company based on their beliefs.

Ethical Marketing Principles

While ethics can be subjective in a variety of marketing avenues, there are a few blanket principals you can apply to your digital marketing strategy. And if you’re not sure if you’re on the right track, then a company skilled in such marketing methods can also lend a helping hand.

Open and honest discussion in all marketing decisions
A common standard of truth
Transparency in who a marketer pays for product endorsement
Fairness to consumers on who is marketed to
Abiding by a high standard of personal ethics
Compliance with government and professional organisation standards
A defining line between news, entertainment, and advertising
Consumer privacy

What is Unethical Marketing?

Digital marketing is a marathon rather than a sprint. Still, some businesses are eager to get to the top of Google search results or to see instant results. So, they resort to unethical marketing practices that don’t necessarily paint their business in the best light.

You may be wondering how you can spot an unethical marketing practice, especially since what you define as ethical is not concrete. Fortunately, most marketing specialists in New Zealand can help with that. They will even formulate ad campaigns that are entirely ethical and offer the best chance of conversion.

Some examples of unethical digital advertising practices include:

Exaggeration – false claims about a product. An example of this would be “this coffee can keep you awake for days”.
Puffery – rather than objective claims, an advertiser acts subjectively. An example could be “the warmest socks in the world” but not being able to back up that claim.
False comparisons – comparing two brands (your own vs. competition) with a misleading or inaccurate claim.
Unverified claims – making a claim, but not explaining how.

Black Hat Marketing

This then leads us onto black hat marketing, which is a form of unethical internet marketing that can destroy a company’s online presence when caught out by Google.

Once again, digital marketing is about playing the long game to see results. It can take the best SEO practices over a length of time to deliver the results the business desires.

However, through choosing the wrong SEO and marketing specialist in NZ, or by making unethical choices, some businesses may find themselves dabbling in black hat marketing.

This form of marketing offers near-immediate results, but by using both unethical and sometimes illegal practices. On the other side of black hat is white hat SEO , which an ethical strategy that marketing companies adopt.

What Black Hat Marketing Aims to Achieve

Black hat marketers set out to trick search engines into offering a higher ranking in search engine results. It does this by showing web pages for commonly searched phrases that may not relate to the term being searched.

For example, you might be searching for “top marketing specialists in NZ,” but a shoe store using that term might show up in the search results instead. The goal of such a technique is to drive as much traffic to the website as possible.

Given that search engine reputations can suffer from not offering what people are looking for, they take a hard-line approach to punish those who adopt black hat practices.

What Are Some of the Common Black Hat Marketing Strategies?

It’s essential to be aware of unethical marketing practices so that you know what you shouldn’t do when it comes to marketing your business. These are unethical practices that you would never find a reputable NZ marketing agency using.

Stuffing keywords into hidden text, tags, and no-scripts
Increasing the volume of inbound links by using pages dedicated to listing links. This process is called link farming.
Showing different websites to what the keywords outlined – in a process known as cloaking.
Stuffing meta tags with keywords in what is commonly referred to as meta keyword stuffing.
Creating blogs with no original content. This involves taking articles from other publishers to generate traffic. You may hear this process referred to as “ splogging ” or a “scraper blog”.
Secretly loading a user’s computer with fraudulent cookies, even if they don’t click on a link. This process is called cookie stuffing – and not in the delicious way.

Best Digital (and Ethical) Marketing Strategies

While black hat and unethical digital marketing techniques may shoot your page to the top of the search results, you won’t be there for long. Both immoral and illegal marketing techniques can see your website banned from even appearing in search results.

Therefore, it’s always in your best interest to adopt sound and ethical marketing techniques. You can plan these out yourself, or rely on an SEO company in NZ to help.

Social Media Marketing

Social media is fast becoming one of the most popular forms of ethical digital marketing. It allows you to improve your search ranking, generate leads, increase sales, and improve exposure and traffic.

The key to a successful social media marketing campaign is consistency and quality. Fortunately, there are plenty of digital marketing companies in NZ that can offer tips and tricks on how to work on this.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Marketing / Google AdWords

Sales-ready leads are something that every business owner aspires to have, and that’s what PPC marketing can offer. Why not talk to your local marketing expert about how to use PPC marketing to your advantage?

This form of ethical marketing allows you to reach targeted customers and without waiting for results. Your return on investment (ROI) is also quite high, as you only pay when an interested potential customer clicks on the link.

Given the complexities behind setting up a successful PPC campaign, it’s worth checking in with a marketing guru to get the best results.

Search Engine Optimisation

You might think that building a pretty website is enough to get the customers visiting in their droves, but it takes more than that. Search engine optimisation can be paramount. Adopting the best on-page SEO strategies can be a recipe for success, but it can also take expert assistance.

Consider:

A unique domain name
A country code top level domain (.co.nz, .nz)
Adding keywords to your title tags and meta descriptions
Using keywords at the front of your title tags
Adding keywords to H1 tags
Removing duplicate content from your site
Adding long-tail keywords to your site
Creating SEO-friendly URLs
Updating your content often
Optimising your images with metadata and correct sizing
Using a keyword in the first paragraph of your content
Adding internal links and high-authority outbound links
Checking spelling and grammar
Having an SSL certificate

There are dozens of best practices in the realm of search engine marketing, so don’t be afraid to spend a bit of time learning the ins and outs of the marketing world.

How to Get Started with Ethical Marketing

It can be quite overwhelming to get to grips with marketing strategies you can and can’t adopt. The last thing any business owner wants is to lose the gains they have made through practices they didn’t realise were not ethical.

One of the best ways to start your new digital advertising journey on the right track is by enlisting the help of an E-marketing expert. Form a plan, learn what approaches work the best, and watch as those customer leads roll in.

Upskill With Elearning

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 23:23:22 GMT

For several years, businesses have been transitioning from traditional bricks and mortar models to those that incorporate an online and digital presence. That transition might have been slow, but efforts were certainly ramped up as the respiratory disease COVID-19 spread throughout the world.

Now, businesses are making sure they can provide service during New Zealand’s alert level 4 lockdown by moving as much as they can online.

However, several companies are sure to have noticed a slow-down during this time. This means there is certainly not as much to fill the working week as there was before. While you could focus on getting a few odd jobs completed around the home, wouldn’t your time be better spent doing those things for your business that you just never had time for before?

eLearning can help

E-learning is the process of learning a new skill online or partaking in educational programs online. With the entire country at home, it’s now more relevant than ever before to use the internet for guidance on how to manage parts of your business.

Does your business need to upskill in a particular area, such as search engine marketing or social media marketing? Are there things you could be doing better to manage your current and future customers during this trying time? You don’t need to sit in a classroom to learn new skills to benefit your business. Everything you need is now at your fingertips in the digital world.

DIY

Many people in lockdown are using this time to paint their fences, tend to their gardens, and scrub their homes from top to bottom. Those are all worthwhile things to do, but DIY skills can also relate to learning new skills online that could ultimately put your business in a strong position once the alert levels in New Zealand are lowered.

Traditionally, SEO , social media marketing , Google Ads , and analytics are all things that businesses could learn about from experts in person. While those services and training sessions will still be available once the lockdown is lifted, they are now available online in the interim. You have more time, so why not take advantage?

By learning these skills online yourself, you and your business experience a multitude of benefits. You have more control over your costs and expenditure related to marketing, and you don’t have to pay an agency to look after them for you. As you are learning things that can boost your business profits, better cash flow is also a likely benefit.

Learn Digital Marketing from Experts

You’re at home, and businesses are around you at home, so you can guarantee that digital marketing experts in New Zealand are also at home. As a result, you don’t have to learn new, valuable skills for your company on your own. E-learning is about tapping into the knowledge of experts as you would in a classroom setting, but in a purely digital sense.

The best SEO and marketing experts are on hand to help business owners and their teams learn SEO, social media marketing, migrate to GA4 and more, in E-learning courses online.

Benefits of Managing Digital Marketing Yourself

There will always be search engine marketing companies ready and able to manage your firm’s online presence. However, there is also no harm in learning the skills to take care of it yourself.

In this particularly trying economic time , cutting costs and saving money is paramount. It’s crucial not to stop your current online marketing practices, but savings can be made through managing those practices yourself.

E-learning courses dedicated to teaching you those skills can offer several benefits. You come to understand why e-marketing is so important, and you learn about the many techniques that can be relevant to your unique business model.

Everything from Google ads and analytics to social media marketing and content now makes a whole lot more sense. Better yet, you now have the time to give them as much attention as they require.

Find E-Learning Courses to Suit Your Business

When it comes to learning digital marketing strategies for your business, you’re not short of options. An abundance of E-learning courses are available online, such as SEO & SEM short courses, SEO training courses, social media short courses, and more.

Think about what you want to achieve in your business after lockdown, and how you can gain momentum during the lockdown. The more you learn, the more likely you are to come out swinging.

FAQ

Business Advice During Covid 19

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 23:25:30 GMT

We’re in extraordinary times as a coronavirus called COVID-19 has the world firmly in its grasp. But even though everyday life and business feels uncertain at this point, and every fibre in your being says stop spending money, there has to be a voice of reason that says otherwise.

Spend money to make money…

After all, if there’s anything that remains true through these troubling times, it’s that you have to spend money to make money whether you feel confident in doing so or not.

While curbing spending on products and services can be a way in which you get through these uncertain economic times, there’s one area that requires consistency, and that’s your SEO investment. The buyers are still out there, so the marketing techniques to put your business to the forefront have to be, as well.

Not convinced? Read on to learn why you shouldn’t let COVID-19 affect your SEO practices.

Avoid a cash crisis…

It seems like the entire world is at home. No one is walking the streets, non-essential bricks and mortar businesses are closed, and money is changing hands at a slow rate. But you can keep cash flow ticking over by boosting your organic search engine marketing results.

Bear in mind, that while people aren’t roaming the streets, they are scrolling the internet. To pause your SEO services now would be to reduce your presence when more of the world is on the web than ever before.

Initial reports indicate Google search ads are seeing a 7% loss compared to January 2020, but do you know what’s increasing? Organic search visibility.

That means you need to continue to create content that contributes to your brand strategy. Good content also boosts SEO performance and leads to trust, and trust leads to sales. Sales allow you to keep that cash flowing, all the while building a brand that’s ready to thrive once COVID-19 is shown the front door.

Make every dollar count…

During tough economic times, every dollar counts. That’s why search engine marketing is something that many businesses can get on board with. You know where every dollar is going and whether or not it’s leading to the results you are trying to achieve.

It’s also one of the most cost-efficient investments you can make during COVID-19 and one that requires continuous investment to give bang for your buck.

Having a search engine marketer on your team, too, can prove valuable. As soon as they see that something isn’t working, they can play with keyword phrases, move your budget, and make changes that reflect the current purchasing mood.

Everything related to search engine optimisation and marketing is trackable. Look at your sales. Look at your leads. If you’re not getting value for money, then change it. You have full control over this form of marketing – you can’t say the same about non-digital marketing .

So, right now, create SEO-focused content related to your industry. Keep your site up to date for those who will be visiting it. Check your current campaigns and make sure your message is relevant. You’re then on track for results both now and when the new market emerges at the other end.

Embrace the digital age…

Diversification is a wise move in any business that is starting to lag behind the times. But during the tough economic climate brought about by the coronavirus COVID-19, you have an opportunity. That opportunity is to diversify business practices to stay afloat.

Some businesses may not have been all that keen or invested in the digital age. Given that many countries are putting their citizens in lock down, the digital platform is now all that several non-essential businesses have. Use this time as an opportunity to brush up your skills, work on your SEO practices, and give your business that new edge it has been waiting for. Now is the time for your business to shine.

Prepare for the new normal…

We know from past experiences that things do and will get back to normal. Even if that ‘normal’ is different from the one before COVID-19 reared its head.

SEO is about consistency, and stopping and starting will prove more harmful than keeping your practices going – even through tough times.

It’s also important to note that the media can drive the fear cycle, with each sensationalist headline more profitable for them than the last. It’s important that you do not freeze. This virus is serious, but we will get through it and the market will re-open, hungrier than ever. You need to ensure your business is ready, by having a strong organic search strategy, or it will leak fresh revenue to competitors.

If you haven’t put much thought into search engine optimisation and online marketing techniques, then now’s the time. The entire world is online, and SEO can help make sure that your business is seen more so than one that has let its practices slip.

FAQ

Seo Isn’t Dead But Your Tactics Might Be

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 23:30:00 GMT

FAQ

Google’s latest updates are exposing New Zealand SEO companies that continue to use cheap, outdated and dangerous tactics to boost organic rankings.

The fallout in the NZ SEO industry is brutal for both SEO NZ companies and, unfortunately, their clients, who often don’t realise what tactics their optimiser is using until it is too late.

The message from Google is clear: adopt modern, content led search tactics that help Googlers find answers to their search queries, or lose your most valuable source of online leads!

Cheap SEO is like Google on steroids

Cheap search engine optimisation tactics, like buying low quality backlinks, are like steroids to an athlete – they can provide a quick boost, but ultimately destroy your domain or get it penalised. Similar to doping penalties, ranking penalties can last for years, or even forever.

Professional SEO companies now have to work a lot smarter and harder than before to achieve results using white hat SEO techniques , which has accelerated the purging of SEO cowboys from the NZ search industry.

We anticipate that in 2018, the New Zealand SEO industry will be pushed to achieve a higher standard, benefiting true SEO professionals, Googlers, and most importantly, our clients.

Google penalises you, not the SEO company

Bear in mind, Google penalises your website, NOT the SEO company. YOU are ultimately accountable for the SEO tactics that are applied to your website, not the SEO company you have contracted to do the work. We recommend you conduct regular due diligence (AKA SEO audits ) of the methods your SEO company uses.

To help you, we’ve listed below the top three good and bad SEO tactics you need to be aware of as we head into 2018.

Three SEO tactics to avoid in 2018

Do not buy or acquire low quality websites to link back to yours.
Do not produce thin, low quality web page content that is also not unique e.g. web copy that has been duplicated from another website or poorly written copy.
Avoid over-optimizing your web pages for their target search terms e.g. repeating keywords too many times.

Three SEO tactics to embrace in 2018

Regularly produce unique, well researched website content that appeals to your target audience.
Use SEO tactics that enhance the user experience of your website, in particular, the mobile user experience .
Earn backlinks from relevant websites naturally, or not at all.

For more information on our modern SEO approach, or for an assessment of your SEO tactics, contact one of our friendly New Zealand SEO experts on 021 344 050 , or learn SEO best-practice at one of our popular SEO training courses for managers.

Fight Flight Or Freeze

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 00:33:40 GMT

As most business owners and employees will now be aware, a Coronavirus disease, known as COVID-19, is rapidly spreading around the world. As of March 15, nearly 170,000 cases had been reported , with over 6,500 deaths.

As a New Zealand business owner, the virus has probably triggered one of three reactions in your business: fight, flight, or freeze. These are the natural responses that can serve a purpose in the right moments but can also stop us from doing what’s best for our business.

Here are a few tips to help you navigate the decisions you need to make during this trying time.

Fight
Flight
Freeze
Have You Got an Infectious Disease Outbreak Response Plan?
Last, But Not Least, Keep Yourself Safe

FAQ

Fight

With several countries in lockdown and people staying at home to keep themselves safe, it’s not uncommon to notice a significant slump in business revenue. But you can fight back by focusing your online marketing budget on short-term activities that drive short-term revenue and cash.

Rather than focus on the long-term goal of profitability, look at ways you can sustain revenue right now, while putting future activities on the backburner until the worst has passed. That might require you to cut costs and budgets, as several companies have already done, on those tasks that were previously aimed at long-term growth.

Price adjustment is yet another ‘fight’ method that can sustain you in the here and now. Keep those sales rolling in, even if it means you have to operate with a slimmer profit margin. The goal is to keep your business ticking over.

In the same breath, competitive packages can be a way to sustain your business through this challenging period. Look at what your competitors are doing and consider following their lead. Your line of business can dictate what those packages could be.

Businesses may also like to factor in the official call for social distancing . With hundreds of thousands of people choosing to stay at home to do their part for minimising the spread of COVID-19, you can look at different options that make it easier for your customers to do business with you.

Offer free shipping on their order, “no contact,” shipping directly to their door, and start offering online services if you don’t already.

Flight

Running away from the virus is potentially not going to be the best option for any business. Instead, it’s essential to put a plan in place that will keep customers working with you – even if it’s not in line with your traditional business model.

Freeze

Some businesses and companies may decide to ride out the storm in what is known as “freeze” mode. This is where you do nothing but try to keep the business ticking along as usual.

While freezing is an option, it’s paramount to understand how COVID-19 can impact your target market, their behaviour, and how they’re thinking. Understand what their needs are at this time, and how you can meet them.

It’s only natural to do nothing because you fear making the wrong business decision. Still, the consequences of doing nothing can be far greater than if you were to do something.

Have You Got an Infectious Disease Outbreak Response Plan?

Businesses with employees may now be putting their infectious disease outbreak response plan into practice. All employees should be aware of this plan, how to implement it, and how to ensure continuity of operations in the face of a genuine disease outbreak risk.

As a rule, businesses should start by:

Keeping sick employees at home and away from the workplace
Reiterating hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette
Carrying out routine cleaning of commonly touched surfaces

Your infectious disease outbreak response plan should identify health risks to your employees and work-related exposure. Make sure all your HR policies are consistent with those outlined in public health recommendations.

Consider whether you can enact flexible work practices, such as remote working and social distancing, and if you can operate on a skeleton staff to minimise any impact.

Furthermore, a long, hard look at your supply chain can outline what, at the very minimum, you need to keep your business running like a well-oiled machine. Who are the critical links from manufacturing through to suppliers and distributors? Know who you need to contact in the event of a problem, where someone in that chain can no longer deliver due to health and safety concerns.

Last, But Not Least, Keep Yourself Safe

New Zealand has eight confirmed cases of COVID-19, as of March 15. That number is expected to rise. However, we can all do our part by keeping ourselves safe and taking all necessary precautions.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth. Practice good respiratory hygiene, and be on the lookout for changes in your health – such as difficulty breathing, a fever, and a cough. Stay home if you are not feeling well, and contact your health care provider as soon as possible.

Wash your hands frequently with soap and water, and maintain social distancing of at least three metres between you and anyone who is coughing or sneezing.

As a business owner, such a disease can cause endless amounts of stress. However, the more prepared you are, the better the outcome for you and your team.

Review Me Why Getting User Reviews For Your Business Is Important And How To Get Them

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 23:36:15 GMT

When you enjoy a meal at a restaurant, you’ll often find that a waiter or waitress will visit your table and ask how everything is. You might be halfway through swallowing a piece of steak, so the timing isn’t great, but you give them the feedback they’re asking for anyway.

How Do User Experiences Translate to SEO Benefits?
You’ve Convinced Me, Who Do I Ask to Give me a Review?
How Do I Ask for Google and Facebook Reviews?
Reaping Review Rewards

FAQ

Restauranteurs ask for that feedback because they want to make sure you are happy with the service and food they are providing. In the online world, though, reviews are a little more crucial. In written form, Facebook and Google reviews are not only relevant for finding out if people are happy, but are also helpful for your SEO .

The same concept applies to the restaurant scenario, though. If you want to find out how you’re doing, you have to ask. Read on to learn not only why Google and Facebook reviews are so important, but how you can get them.

How Do User Experiences Translate to SEO Benefits?

Okay, we’re not going to lie. It does seem a bit weird to think that a customer saying “they changed my car tyre fast” is going to draw visitors to your website or have any profound effect on your SEO. But you’d be surprised.

In the same way that backlinks tell Google you’re a trustworthy business, reviews tell customers and Google that you’re trustworthy, as well. Of course, the more positive the reviews, the more positively your business will be viewed.

You know your business is trustworthy already, though, so why bother fishing for reviews from customers? It’s important to understand just how powerful Google now is.

Up to 90 percent of consumers will read a review about a business before they visit it. Online reviews can also impact up to 70 percent of purchasing decisions. Still not convinced? Then how about knowing that nearly 75 percent of consumers say that a glowing review of a business will make them trust that business? Trust us; Google and Facebook reviews are the way of the future. So, are you in?

You’ve Convinced Me, Who Do I Ask to Give me a Review?

Hopefully, most people will be kind enough to give Google and Facebook reviews without being asked, but some people do need a prompt. However, it pays to be quite selective of who you ask if you want to show your business in the best light for SEO purposes.

For example, you possibly wouldn’t ask someone for a Google or Facebook review who has just yelled at you for not serving them right on closing time. You can certainly have confidence in asking someone for a review who was over the moon with the product and service you provided. Don’t feel the need to ask every single customer for a review, for it might not work in your favour.

How Do I Ask for Google and Facebook Reviews?

It can feel a little weird asking someone whether they like you or not. Fortunately, the digital age we live in means that it’s definitely a more widely accepted practice than it used to be. You don’t even need to ask them to their face.

It wasn’t all that long ago that the death of email was predicted, but we seem to have gone full circle. Now, it’s a goldmine for businesses to access their customers and provide tailored marketing solutions. Use it to ask for reviews.

When you send a product off to its new home, you want to make sure that the recipient is happy with it. Within a week, send a customised email out to thank them for their business, the purchase of X product, and a short message that says you hope they will visit again soon.

You can then provide a link to a reviewing platform – bet it Google or Facebook (or both) – asking them to review their experience with you if they get a chance.

Keep the email short and sweet. A novel won’t capture anyone’s attention, and it will most likely end up in the bin folder along with everything else.

If email contact isn’t applicable for your business (and it won’t be for all), then there are other ways to ask for Facebook and Google reviews. Leave a review card with their order that offers instructions on how to leave a review. You can also link your Google reviews to your website to encourage people to leave reviews of their own accord.

Alternatively, for larger purchases, you can make a phone call. Follow up to make sure they are happy with the product, then ask if they would be happy to leave a review online.

Reaping Review Rewards

Asking for reviews for your business isn’t hard work, but it can seem like yet another thing you’ve got to add to your ever-growing list of business tasks. But think of the payoff. The more people that leave positive reviews, the more trustworthy your business can be seen in the eyes of Google.

Your ranking on Google may even benefit as a result. So, what are you going to do the next time you deal with a particularly happy customer? You’re going to ask them to put that in writing.

How The Multi Channel Ppc SEO SEM Approach Actually Works

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Fri, 24 Jan 2020 23:39:40 GMT

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a beautiful thing. Search engine marketing (SEM) with PPC advertising has its place in most businesses, as well. Everyone has that single thing that works for them, but what happens when you combine them into one package?

Magic. Magic happens.

Increase Your Viewership
Find Out What’s Working
Read the Data
Using Your PPC to Help Your Organic Strategy
Strong Apart, Better Together

FAQ

Increase Your Viewership

Both search engine optimisation and pay-per-click advertising are designed to improve your website’s ranking. But when you use these two approaches together, you can take advantage of many cohesive attributes that actually work better together than apart.

The on-page optimisation component is about playing with your metadata and keywords that allow the search engines to crawl your site with ease. You then complement that with external links from different sources that add relevance and substance to your site.

Finally, you open your wallet and invest in pay-per-click advertising , an SEM strategy. This is where you pay for people to follow a link to your website or landing page. The low cost per click can be quite an attractive lure for many business owners, but you also need to pair this investment with a sound strategy for customer conversion.

If your search engine optimisation is going well, or your PPC advertising is, then you might not feel that utilising a multi-channel approach will offer any benefits, but Google has already admitted that the two do go hand-in-hand.

You may appear at the top of the food chain for organic results, but that doesn’t mean your potential customer will click on your website purely because of that result. In fact, Google said that around half of the clicks on ads were not replaced with organic clicks once businesses decided to stop investing in PPC advertising.

Find Out What’s Working

Many years ago, businesses could only measure their success in specific platforms with schemes such as “bring in this coupon for a 10% discount”. It was their way of not only offering their customers a good deal but also making sure that, for example, newspaper advertising was right for them.

With the digital age comes the demise of the newspaper and similar advertising methods. People want to find out what they are spending their money on, and whether their investment is turning into customer sales. That’s what the multi-channel approach can offer.

When you pair SEO with SEM, including PPC advertising, you are covering all bases for the best chance of securing that virtual trolley checkout. With Google Analytics , you can see which ads are being clicked on the most, which keywords helped people to find those ads, and which subsequent conversion options on your website led to a sale.

Without that combination, you merely see how many people are checking out on your website, not what actually made them do so.

Read the Data

So, you now understand that search engine optimisation and PPC advertising go hand in hand, you need to make sure you’re capitalising on that relationship. And that involves reading the data correctly while making smart choices with your money.

Reading the data involves looking at the keywords you have put in place throughout your PPC campaign, then comparing how the click rate compares for each option. Running your PPC campaign alongside your organic one with the same keyword data can also help you work out which offers the best conversation rate. The more you know, the better equipped you are to adjust your campaign and workin with your budget for the best result.

Your site’s search data can also fall under this category. Find out what people are searching for on your website. You can then use those keywords in your PPC campaigns knowing that they are precisely what people are visiting you to receive.

Using Your PPC to Help Your Organic Strategy

The multi-channel approach involves having your SEO and SEM advertising methods working together. However, it’s not out of the question for your pay-per-click campaigns within the realm of search engine marketing to carve out their own road for other methods to follow.

Most people know that organic results can take a long time to work. You can often wait for eons only to realise the way you set your campaign up didn’t work how you intended, as well. With pay-per-click, the results are near-instant.

Therefore, you can use the best-performing ad copy from your pay-per-click advertising to work out quickly what is going to work for your organic strategy. Save hours, days, and weeks mulling over test campaigns and identify that sure-fire recipe for success at the same time.

Strong Apart, Better Together

In this digital age, it can be hard to know what works. SEO and SEM with pay-per-click advertising, they all have their place solo, but there’s no denying they can move mountains together. What are you waiting for? Start looking at ways you can make your organic and paid advertising work hand in hand, or find an SEO and advertising expert who can help. The results may surprise you.

Guide To Choosing The Best Seo Agency

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Sun, 06 Oct 2019 23:45:09 GMT

Listen to this article

Critical tips for selecting the best SEO agency

Selecting the top search engine optimisation agency to meet your needs is a daunting, yet necessary, task. We crafted this guide to help you select a partner that will suit your company culture and help you achieve your SEO goals.

Start by setting your organic SEO goals
Understand the main requirements of your SEO strategy
Does your website need SEO friendly content?
Does your website have major ‘technical SEO’ issues?
Does your website need trustworthy links?
Invite three SEO agencies
Beware of hidden costs
Next steps

FAQ

Tip #1: Set your organic SEO goals.

This sounds anecdotal, however goal setting is a crucial first step that is often glossed over.

Start by setting the goals for your organic search strategy. Define what you want to achieve with your SEO program and by when. For example, do you want your SEO program to generate x number of leads (email and calls), $ amount of sales or both? We recommend setting your SEO goals per month, quarter and for the year.

Note: SEO rankings are an important metric to track. However, we recommend you treat rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs) as a key performance indicator (KPI), rather than a goal. Ultimately, rankings generate clickthroughs from Google to your website, though those clicks won’t always translate directly into a lead or a sale, for reasons such as usability issues with your website.

Why start by setting your SEO goals?

Goals are key for tracking the return on investment (ROI) of your SEO program and identifying what needs to stop, start or continue. Goals are also a key reference point for trying to pinpoint why your clickthroughs from search are not translating into leads or sales.

Finally, presenting your SEO goals to your potential SEO partners allows them to estimate what approach and investment is required by them to achieve your goals.

Tip #2: Define your primary SEO requirements.

Conduct a high level audit of your existing SEO strategy before you contact potential SEO suppliers as your findings will help filter out SEO suppliers that don’t have the SEO expertise you need.

Consider contracting an SEO expert to audit your website against key SEO factors, such as the following, before you approach SEO agencies.

Does your website need SEO friendly content?

Does your website have deep content, that answers a variety of questions your audience is searching for? Does it provide content such as videos, podcasts, blogs, FAQs, product reviews and product guides. Or is the content on your website too thin or outdated.

Does your website have major ‘technical SEO’ issues?

Is Google struggling to understand the meaning of the content on your web pages? Have your pages being tagged correctly and is Google able to index the key pages of your website, in priority order? How long does it take your website to load on a mobile device?

Does your website need trustworthy links?

Low quality backlinks to your website are like steroids, they assist in the short term though ultimately get you penalised. Does your website suffer from too many low trust / low quality / spam backlinks? Has your website built enough backlink authority over time?

Tip #3. Invite three SEO agencies.

You are now at a point where you can invite a few SEO agencies to pitch to be your SEO partner. We suggest inviting no more than three agencies, or you will end up getting confused.

Consider using the following questions to filter out agencies you don’t think will be a good fit for your company culture and SEO requirements.

How long have they been incorporated / in business as an SEO agency?
What do they see as the main focus point for your SEO strategy (see previous section)?
What is there core focus, content, technical SEO or backlinks (see tip #2 above)?
Do they mainly work with small, medium or large websites?
Do they service competing companies?
Where are they based?
Who will service your account?
What is the notice period / term of the contract?
What experience do they have working with your Content Management System (CMS)?
What other services do they provide e.g. copy writing , design, training , Google Ads ?
What is their recommended price and what is included (see next section) and excluded in their price?
Do they provide advisory support only or do they also provide SEO related implementation services (see next section)?

Tip #4. Beware of hidden costs .

Most New Zealand SEO companies provide advisory services + link building only. This means you need to also budget time and money for implementing the recommendations your SEO provider makes. Be sure to clarify with the SEO agencies on your short list which of the following services they implement and which you will need to budget for over and above what you pay them.

website content creation (videos, blogs, web page copy, etc)
onpage implementation, such as loading header and image tags into your content management system
making changes to your Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager tracking system if it is not tracking accurately

Next steps.

We appreciate selecting an SEO agency is a daunting prospect, though it is a crucial decision you need to get right. If you want further information or a confidential chat, tips or advice, email hello@clickthrough.co.nz or call one of our friendly SEO experts on 021 344 050 .

Googles June 2019 Core Update

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 23:48:45 GMT

Listen to this article

FAQ

Here’s What We Know So Far…

It went live on June 3rd.
It was a significant update.
It has affected a large number of sites rankings.
Sites with multiple listings on the same page may have seen a decrease in those listings but a strengthening of the remaining listings.

What Type of Sites Were Affected?

Health Sites
eCommerce Sites
Cryptocurrency Sites
News Sites
Finance Sites
Gambling Sites
Travel Sites

What Does Google Say?

Google’s John Mueller was asked in a Webmaster Hangout what to do if a site is suffering a traffic loss due to the update. His answer provided insights into understanding what is happening.

He did not suggest fixing anything specific and the reason there’s nothing specific to fix is because a core update encompasses a broader range of factors.

“I think it’s a bit tricky to explain because we’re not focusing on something very specific where we’d say like for example when we rolled out the speed update.” – Google’s John Mueller.

The key take away here is don’t panic and make rash changes – keep following Google’s guidelines for quality content.

Here are the kinds of questions Google suggests you should ask yourself:

Would you trust the information presented in this article?
Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?”

Why the Digital Marketing Training Booming?

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 23:55:21 GMT

You can listen to the podcast discussion of this article below.

Five years ago it was ok just to get by with digital, but companies are now finding that in order to stay relevant and succeed, an online presence is crucial. Over the past three years we’ve particularly noticed a rapid surge in requests for SEO, Google Ads, Analytics and Social Media training. There’s an increasing demand for skilled digital marketers who can help businesses succeed in the digital world.

The boom in digital marketing and digital advertising
More ways to connect and engage with customers
Staff that quickly need to upskill
Tech savvy millennials
Businesses taking digital marketing in-house

Here are the 5 most important factors that we think are driving the growth of digital marketing and SEO training in New Zealand.

The boom in digital marketing and digital advertising

The overall upsurge in digital marketing training in New Zealand reflects the growing importance of digital to a company’s bottom line. Digital marketing and digital advertising have become an integral part of the marketing mix. The internet is such an accepted part of people’s daily lives, that going digital is the only way to reach them. The stats back up our observations too.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) report for 2017 reveals that digital advertising is leading the way. According to the ASA report, in 2017 digital advertising generated $785 million dollars worth of revenue – that’s 30.65% of the total advertising revenue in New Zealand. This was up $2 million on 2016 figures.

Trailing behind digital marketing in second and third place were TV at $566 million and newspapers at $353 million. This shows just how popular a medium digital advertising is right now and how it’s growing even more so. Businesses are jumping on board with this trend and looking at how they can increase their involvement in digital.

More ways to connect and engage with customers

Digital marketing goes beyond traditional marketing, and has opened up more ways to connect and engage with existing and prospective customers. Businesses can now use digital channels such as:

Company blog
Search engines,
Google ads
Display advertising
Social media
Email / e-newsletters.

The biggest benefit of using digital marketing is that many forms are extremely cost-efficient, more so than traditional marketing. Digital marketing is also ever changing, due to the rapid developments being made in technology. You need to move quickly and adapt to change if you want to keep being relevant to your customers.

Staff that quickly need to upskill

Since everything is turning digital nowadays, businesses have an increasing need for staff with digital skill-sets. The shortage of digital marketing talent in New Zealand (and around the world) means that businesses and digital agencies are recruiting inexperienced staff, or perhaps staff who have done a Digital Marketing diploma with a lot of generalised course content. These staff need to quickly build their digital marketing skills, so businesses are sending them on short training courses for more specialised up-to-date training.

Tech savvy millennials

Millennials are incredibly tech savvy, especially around social media, and businesses have to get onboard or risk losing buy-in from this sector of the market. Making sure that millennials are part of your digital marketing campaigns, and overall strategy, is a smart move. Marketing to millennials requires the recruitment of younger, more tech savvy marketing staff who are ‘in touch’ with this generation. This ensures you stay on top of new trends and current platforms. This is a young target market that craves culture, community and experiences, so you need to produce online advertising content that has a high engagement level. The millennial staff that you train up are not just digital marketers, they’re your secret weapon to reach Gen Y.

Businesses taking digital marketing in-house

Businesses may have previously outsourced digital marketing to an agency but a lot of them are now creating their own in-house digital marketing services. Not only can companies enjoy a significant cost savings by keeping marketing in-house, they can also avoid having to deal with poor account servicing by digital agencies. Many businesses complain of a lack of transparency with agencies, and not having control over their data, so going in-house is a way of taking back that control. A critical element to making in-house marketing successful though is hiring staff with the right skills to achieve your company’s digital marketing goals. Digital training is necessary to get staff up to speed, and that’s what we’ve been seeing recently.

How can Clickthrough help?

At Clickthrough we provide training courses customised to each company’s requirements and designed to help boost your staff’s skills in SEO , Google Ads , Social Media Marketing and Google Analytics . Our Clickthrough trainers are experienced Google Certified tutors who will get your staff up to speed quickly, and ensure they have their finger on the pulse of digital marketing. Find out more about our training courses 2-for-1 Xmas offer or contact us today to book a course.

Why SEO Stats

glen@clickthrough.co.nz (Glen Maguire) — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 23:51:43 GMT

FAQ

We’ve created an easy-to-view infographic below that addresses the question: ‘Should SEO be an integral part of your marketing investment?’ These SEO statistics are hard to ignore, even for those of you left disillusioned by low quality NZ SEO services you may have used in the past. With 80% of us searching online before we buy, your business simply can’t afford to marginalise SEO any longer. The statistics speak for themselves.

Still undecided how SEO fits into your marketing mix?

Learn more about best practice search engine marketing at one of our New Zealand SEO training courses , or contact one of our friendly SEO NZ and Google Ads marketing planners on 021 344 050 to discuss integrating best practice search engine marketing into your marketing mix.

SEO Auckland

Agentic AI is Revolutionising Digital Marketing

How Agentic AI is Reshaping SEO

1. Autonomous Keyword Research

2. Content Creation and Optimisation

3. Automated Technical SEO Audits

4. AI-Powered Link Building

5. Continuous Performance Monitoring and Adaptation

Agentic AI is Revolutionising SEO & Digital Marketing

The Future of AI-Driven SEO

Final Thoughts

Digital Marketing: A Lifeline for NZ SMEs in Challenging Times

The Growing Trend of Business Training

Why In-House Digital Marketing is Essential for SMEs

1. Stay Agile in a Competitive Market

2. Cost Savings Without Compromising Quality

3. Tools Are Easier to Use Than Ever

4. Manage Agencies More Effectively

Upskill Your Team with Digital and AI Training

1. Master Automation Tools

2. Build a Future-Proof Strategy

3. Immediate, Measurable Impact

Why Choose Clickthrough for Your Training?

Take the First Step Today

Digital Marketing, a Lifeline for NZ SMEs in Challenging Times

Taking Control: Why In-House Digital Marketing is the Key to Success

Why In-House Digital Marketing is the Future for New Zealand Businesses

Why Outsourcing to Agencies May No Longer Be Worth It

Generative AI: The Ultimate Game Changer

Cost Savings by Bringing Digital Marketing In-House

SEO, Google Ads, and Social Media: Mastering Key Digital Skills

The Economic Case for In-House Digital Marketing

Take Control of Your Marketing with Clickthrough

Digital Podcast

AI: The Secret Weapon for Your SEO Arsenal

PODCAST VERSION

Seize the SEO Advantage with AI

Do’s and Don’ts of AI for SEO

SEO Best Practices with AI

GenAI and SEO – A Dynamic Duo

The Immeasurable Impact of AI on SEO

You Hold the Power

The Road Ahead

Contents

Will Ai Replace Digital Marketing

Listen to the Podcast version below.

Contents

AI-Powered Digital Marketing Tools

Digital Marketing Trends with AI

Will AI Replace Digital Marketers?

Conclusion

What is AI?

How will AI enable Digital Marketing?

Comparing Looker Studio vs Power BI

The Cost of Data Visualisation Tools

Contents

Data Sources and Integration

Data Modeling Comparison

Choosing the Right Tool

User Interface, Speed, and Visuals

Choosing the Best Data Analytics Tool

5 Elements of Website User Experience (UX)

Great Aesthetics

Fast Page Speed

Simple Navigation

Content Specific to Your User

Mobile-Friendly Design

Enhance Your Website’s Online Presence Today

What Is Seasonal SEO?

The Impact of Seasonal SEO

Contents

Two Seasonal SEO Strategies

What Are the Benefits?

Tools for Understanding Seasonal Popularity

Optimising for Seasonal SEO

Aligning Your SEO Strategy

Implementing Your Seasonal Strategies

Conclusion

FAQ

Best Seo Agency Tips

What Is Your Real Source of Conversion?