SEOM Interactive https://searchenginesmarketer.com Professional SEO and PPC Services 215-675-8200 | Located in Philadelphia Region Thu, 30 May 2024 17:31:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.3 SEOM NAMED BEST PLACE TO WORK FOR THE THIRD TIME https://searchenginesmarketer.com/blog/seom-named-best-place-to-work-for-the-third-time/ <![CDATA[janine]]> Thu, 30 May 2024 17:23:21 +0000 <![CDATA[Company News]]> https://searchenginesmarketer.com/?p=5056 <![CDATA[

SEOM is thrilled to be recognized as one of the Philadelphia region’s Best Places to Work for the third time! This honor is particularly meaningful because it’s based on the... [Read More]

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SEOM is thrilled to be recognized as one of the Philadelphia region’s Best Places to Work for the third time! This honor is particularly meaningful because it’s based on the results of an anonymous employee survey that evaluates our culture, compensation, benefits, trust in senior leadership, and more.

The Philadelphia Business Journal, in partnership with Quantum Workplace, celebrates the region’s top employers annually through its Best Places to Work program. This year’s list features 84 companies across five categories based on company size. SEOM ranked in the top 20 in the small business category.

For over a decade, SEOM has worked hard to create an environment that encourages employees to think outside the box, maintain a positive work-life balance, and develop relationships with clients and coworkers that foster trust and collaboration. Receiving this award fuels our passion to continue kicking ass for our clients and delivering results that make a genuine impact. Cheers to our leadership and the entire team who make it all happen!

Interested in joining one of the best places to work? Take a look at our career and internship opportunities.

Check out the complete list of the PBJ’s Best Places to Work—small and medium-sized businesses—and learn more about the award.

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5 Tips for Digital Marketing Career Success https://searchenginesmarketer.com/blog/tips-for-digital-marketing-career-success/ <![CDATA[Lauren]]> Fri, 19 Apr 2024 15:50:04 +0000 <![CDATA[Company News]]> https://searchenginesmarketer.com/?p=5036 <![CDATA[

Liv Kincade, a junior at Temple University, recently shared her experience interning at SEOM with ADLIB, Temple’s online magazine for advertising students. Liv outlined 5 things no one told her... [Read More]

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Liv Kincade, a junior at Temple University, recently shared her experience interning at SEOM with ADLIB, Temple’s online magazine for advertising students.

Liv outlined 5 things no one told her about working in digital marketing, drawing on her hands-on experience as a two-term intern in our SEO Department.

Key takeaways from her article include:

  • Both with clients and colleagues, communication is the key to fostering a collaborative relationship.
  • Remain curious and don’t be afraid to ask questions!
  • Asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.
  • Be adaptable and always be open to new approaches and ways of doing things.
  • Don’t limit yourself, and be creative in utilizing different skills in your day-to-day tasks.

Read the full post here.

If you’re looking for a fulfilling, immersive digital marketing internship, check out our internship page!

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Sunny Days and Tasty Bites – SEOM’s Summer Snack Donation https://searchenginesmarketer.com/blog/sunny-days-and-tasty-bites-seoms-summer-snack-donation/ <![CDATA[janine]]> Fri, 01 Sep 2023 16:08:56 +0000 <![CDATA[Community]]> https://searchenginesmarketer.com/?p=4949 <![CDATA[

This summer, SEOM Interactive was proud to partner with the Bensalem Township School District in support of the USDA Summer Meals for Kids program, which ensures children aged 1-18 in... [Read More]

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This summer, SEOM Interactive was proud to partner with the Bensalem Township School District in support of the USDA Summer Meals for Kids program, which ensures children aged 1-18 in Bensalem have access to free meals during the summer months when school meal programs are not available. 

With a shared sense of purpose and an abundance of enthusiasm, members of our team rolled up their sleeves and meticulously packed 400 bags with a variety of snacks carefully selected to keep kids energized and nourished throughout the summer. 

Witnessing our team’s commitment and passion in action was truly inspiring, as they devoted themselves to ensuring that these snack packs reached those who needed them the most. 

If you’re in search of a community service project, we highly recommend reaching out to your local school district or food pantry to discover how you can make a meaningful contribution.

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Danielle Forte Promoted to Director of Content & PR https://searchenginesmarketer.com/blog/content-director-promotion-announcement/ <![CDATA[Lauren]]> Fri, 23 Jun 2023 15:53:08 +0000 <![CDATA[Company News]]> https://searchenginesmarketer.com/?p=4892 <![CDATA[

SEOM Interactive is excited to announce the promotion of Danielle Forte to Director of Content and PR. For more than 8 years, Danielle has been using her technical acumen and... [Read More]

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SEOM Interactive is excited to announce the promotion of Danielle Forte to Director of Content and PR. For more than 8 years, Danielle has been using her technical acumen and creative instincts to produce engaging content and create enticing PR and marketing campaigns for our diverse group of clients. 

Danielle Forte

Danielle Forte, Director of Content & PR

“Stepping into this new role as Director of Content and PR is very exciting,” says Danielle. “Over the years, I’ve been able to elevate my writing and media relations, work with a ton of unique clients, and collaborate with people in each department at SEOM. I look forward to further developing our content strategies and helping our team and clients tell their stories in the most effective ways.”

Danielle has been a part of the SEOM team since 2015, starting out in the SEO department but then quickly transitioning to a PR role that was created to match her skillset. In 2019, she took a lead role in our content department and in 2021, she was promoted to Senior Content & PR Manager. Outside of her client work, Danielle lends her creativity to SEOM marketing initiatives, including our social media and email newsletters.

“Danielle has established herself as an excellent writer and communicator who for years has brought initiative and innovation to her role,” says Mark Kennedy, president of SEOM. “She has a deep understanding of how content and PR support search engine optimization and rankings, and is a trusted leader within the agency. The title and promotion just affirm what she’s already been doing.” 

Check out our Careers page for our latest openings and grow your career with SEOM! 

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SEOM Sponsors Kids’ Book Giveaway During Philadelphia Bookstore Crawl https://searchenginesmarketer.com/blog/seom-sponsors-kids-book-giveaway-during-philadelphia-bookstore-crawl/ <![CDATA[janine]]> Wed, 19 Jul 2023 18:22:30 +0000 <![CDATA[Company News]]> https://searchenginesmarketer.com/?p=4902 <![CDATA[

The Philadelphia Bookstore Crawl is a celebration of Philadelphia’s wildly vibrant and wonderful bookstore scene, taking place on Saturday, Aug. 26. Since we have a team full of reading enthusiasts,... [Read More]

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The Philadelphia Bookstore Crawl is a celebration of Philadelphia’s wildly vibrant and wonderful bookstore scene, taking place on Saturday, Aug. 26. Since we have a team full of reading enthusiasts, we decided to join the fun and are sponsoring a giveaway! 

The first three dozen kids at each of the following stores will get a free kids’ book on the day of the crawl:

Get there early, as this is a while-supplies-last situation. 

Even if you’re not near one of these locations, you’re still in luck. There will be over 20 stores all over the city and surrounding suburbs taking part in the day, offering things like discounted books, exciting giveaways, and author signings. 

Learn more about The Philadelphia Bookstore Crawl and start planning your route today!

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Local Services Ads FAQ https://searchenginesmarketer.com/blog/local-services-ads-faq/ <![CDATA[janine]]> Fri, 12 May 2023 15:23:50 +0000 <![CDATA[LSA]]> https://searchenginesmarketer.com/?p=4873 <![CDATA[

Local Services Ads connect your business with people who search on Google for the services you offer. You only pay when a customer calls, books, or messages you directly through... [Read More]

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Local Services Ads connect your business with people who search on Google for the services you offer. You only pay when a customer calls, books, or messages you directly through the ad. LSAs show at the top of the search results, but they differ from traditional PPC ads. Check out these frequently asked questions to learn more about LSAs: 

What’s the difference between PPC and LSAs?
While both platforms are versions of paid advertising through Google, PPC is a pay-per-click service, meaning you pay every time someone clicks on your ad, even if they don’t contact you at all. With LSAs, you only pay for the leads you receive, not the clicks your ad generates.

How do I set a budget?
You can set a weekly budget or set a max cost-per-lead budget.

What determines rankings in LSAs?
Local Services Ads ranking factors include your budget, the size of the area you are targeting, your responsiveness to customer inquiries & requests, and your profile quality which includes your rating and number of reviews.

How does the dispute process work?
If you receive a lead that you believe you should not have been charged for, you can choose to dispute that lead for the following reasons: job not served, location not served, wrong number or sales call, spam or bot, duplicate lead, or incorrect business. If your dispute is approved, your account will be credited back the amount of that lead.

How long do I have to dispute a lead?
You can dispute charged leads within 30 days of receiving them.

Do Message leads cost the same as Phone leads?
No. According to Google, Message leads are priced at 50% of Phone leads.

Do you need to have a physical location?
No. Service area businesses are eligible to run LSAs.

How will this impact my SEO and PPC leads?
It’s possible that adding LSAs to your digital marketing strategy could reduce the quantity of leads from organic and paid search. LSAs are positioned at the top of the search results above the standard PPC text ads and organic search results.

Learn more about LSAs

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SEOM Achieves 2023 Premier Partner Status https://searchenginesmarketer.com/blog/google-premier-partner-2023/ <![CDATA[janine]]> Wed, 01 Mar 2023 20:41:55 +0000 <![CDATA[Company News]]> https://searchenginesmarketer.com/?p=4813 <![CDATA[

SEOM has once again achieved Google Ads Premier Partner status for 2023. This award recognizes us as one of the top 3% of Google Ads partners in the US. As... [Read More]

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SEOM has once again achieved Google Ads Premier Partner status for 2023. This award recognizes us as one of the top 3% of Google Ads partners in the US.

As a Premier Partner, SEOM enjoys the benefits of: 

  • Early access to new product betas
  • Up-to-date training and education on new Google Ads features and strategies
  • Google insights briefings and industry trend alerts
  • Promotional offers, like $500 for new client accounts to spend on their ads
  • Access to invite-only industry events, like roundtable discussions with Google leaders

There are even more perks that come with being a Premier Partner, like cashing in rewards points on Google swag, like beanies, hoodies, pillows, and more.

“Congratulations to our Premier Partners for 2023,” said Marcin Karnowski, Senior Director of Ads Marketing at Google. “These companies are among the top 3% of Google Partners in their respective countries. It’s a true accomplishment, one that signals their leading expertise in Google Ads, in forging new client relationships, and in helping clients grow. We look forward to supporting them as they help their customers build smart online strategies and drive long-term success.”

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Wins and Warnings for ChatGPT https://searchenginesmarketer.com/blog/wins-and-warnings-for-chatgpt/ <![CDATA[janine]]> Wed, 22 Feb 2023 14:38:13 +0000 <![CDATA[Content]]> <![CDATA[SEO]]> https://searchenginesmarketer.com/?p=4804 <![CDATA[

If you’ve spent more than 30 seconds on the internet in the last month, it’s safe to assume you’ve heard the chatter surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and its increasing number... [Read More]

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If you’ve spent more than 30 seconds on the internet in the last month, it’s safe to assume you’ve heard the chatter surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and its increasing number of applications across copywriting, scientific pursuits, and even the arts. 

Microsoft recently stole the search spotlight with the reveal of an AI-centric version of Bing, and Google quickly followed suit (perhaps a little too quickly). Some AI models have been successfully passing college exams, and models such as DALL-E 2 and Stable Diffusion have been able to produce artistic images with remarkable proficiency (although this has understandably been the subject of much controversy.)

For better or worse, we’re amid a technological and cultural revolution that has long been fantasized about, feared, and hypothesized over. At the center of this conversation has been one model in particular. It’s widely accessible (provided you catch it when the servers aren’t overloaded), remarkably verbose, and easy to use. I’m talking about OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

What is ChatGPT, exactly?

ChatGPT is an AI-based chatbot designed to answer a wide range of questions on various topics. It uses natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to understand and respond to user queries. ChatGPT is a part of the OpenAI project, which is aimed at developing advanced artificial intelligence technologies for various applications. ChatGPT can be used to answer factual questions, provide explanations on various subjects, and assist with various tasks, among other things.

Fun fact: I didn’t write any of the above paragraph. I simply asked ChatGPT (which identifies itself in conversation as “Assistant”) to tell me about itself, and that’s what it gave me on the fly. Obviously, it would have no difficulty talking about itself, but still pretty human, right?

By knowing the right kinds of questions to ask and the limitations at play, ChatGPT is an incredibly powerful tool for researching topics and writing content. The technical nature of ChatGPT and its answers are highly complex and undoubtedly something that OpenAI will mostly keep under wraps. Still, you can gain certain insights about its function and uses just through experimentation, and I’ve shared some of those below.

An Important Disclaimer

While I will share more detailed thoughts later in this post about the shortcomings of ChatGPT, I feel it’s important to take a moment to unequivocally state that ChatGPT should not be relied on to create content without human review and editing. Always carefully review any answers you receive, and edit where needed for accuracy and originality before publishing. 

Though it’s tempting, you won’t do yourself any favors copying and pasting straight from ChatGPT. Google has already established its position on preventing low-effort AI content from dominating search results (I also touched on this in my post about the bevy of September algorithm updates). Additionally, its knowledge base only consists of information from 2021 and earlier at the time of writing, so be sure to carefully review answers to prompts based on current events or frequently changing subjects.

Due to these limitations, and the nature of AI in general, factual inaccuracies and biases may make themselves present in responses from ChatGPT. Be sure to carefully and critically look over any information it gives you before you run with it.

On the more human side, ChatGPT and other such tools also have a very robotic tone of voice that can be dull to read at best, and straight-up misleading at worst. Use caution and discretion, and remember the human!

Oh, and one other important thing — don’t share any personal or sensitive information in ChatGPT, as conversation logs are occasionally viewed by “trainers” to see how requests are being handled.

Some Practical Use Cases for ChatGPT

Expanding on Short Content

In my experience, ChatGPT excels at taking small excerpts or lists of information and expanding them into more robust and detailed passages. While working with a client on a blog post for their site, I took a bulleted list of talking points they sent me and fed it to ChatGPT to see if it could build a more detailed description.

While this passage definitely needed a human touch before it was ready for posting, it still did a great job of expanding on the info and giving us more talking points on the topic. Something like this is great if you’re feeling a bit of writer’s block and may even inspire you to explore sub-topics you didn’t initially cover.

Aggregating Information

ChatGPT can take multiple passages or pages and re-form them into a singular piece of content, which is beneficial if you’re trying to merge various pages/blogs into something larger, or consolidate content on a site.

Here’s an example. One of our clients, a golf resort, has information for a particular lodging option spread across several pages. We wanted to see if ChatGPT could give us a head start in aggregating that info into one page.

What resulted is an excellent summary for us to start with when restructuring the info, but there’s something even more remarkable about this response. Neither of the pages we included in the original prompt mentioned Rees Jones or the 2-course dinner, meaning ChatGPT inferred that info from its knowledge of the site outside of that prompt. Doing so gave us a great opportunity to bolster the “sales pitch” for this travel package by mentioning features we might not have thought of before.

A quick disclaimer about this: I’ve had varying degrees of success in asking ChatGPT to work with info directly from a webpage. The tool cannot actively crawl a page upon request (yet), so data about a webpage and its contents would be subject to the same “2021 and earlier” limitation. As always, be sure to review carefully.

Keyword/Topic Ideas (Or: Putting Yourself in Your Customers’ Shoes)

While SEOM has all kinds of keyword research gadgets in our toolbox, there’s always room for more, and ChatGPT has provided an interesting new method of approaching that. Since the Assistant is designed to be “conversational,” it can give insight in a way that not only skips the intricacies of rigorous keyword research, but allows you to put yourself in the shoes of a potential customer asking a question. 

Here’s an example we ran for a client that specializes in daycare injury cases:

(That cutoff at the bottom isn’t sloppy screenshotting — Assistant actually just stopped talking because of a server issue. Whoops.)

In running this prompt, we’ve generated a helpful and conversational list of topics that will likely cross any parents’ minds when sending their kids off to daycare. 

Some of the valuable content we can generate on the subject now includes:

  • What credentials should I look for in a daycare center? 
  • What qualifications should daycare staff have?
  • What are the professional requirements for daycares in my state?

I often recommend my clients think about the questions they get from customers in person. Knowing these FAQs helps us develop content around it since there’s a good chance they’d be Googling it, too. This method is effectively a reverse approach to that, and you can use it for any number of topics relating to your business. Hopefully, the OpenAI servers will hang in there long enough to finish answering.

The Shortcomings We’ve Seen

Factual Inaccuracy

Perhaps the biggest can of worms currently being opened in conversational AI is factual correctness, and that debate is just getting started. The issues here are twofold:

  • In aiming to produce a satisfying answer from the myriad sources in its database, particularly on topics with differing viewpoints, ChatGPT could get “confused” or miss out on nuances that are part of the complete picture.
  • The internet is rife with misinformation, both accidental and deliberate, and there’s a risk that information will get sucked into one of ChatGPT’s answers.

ChatGPT itself warns that information it provides may be inaccurate, so always be sure you carefully fact-check anything ChatGPT tells you before running with it for content.

Societal Biases and Prejudices

At their core, models such as ChatGPT are trained on human speech, research, and existing works of art and text to build their knowledge base. The inherent issue with this is that the models can be prone to reflecting biases and prejudices within that vast sum of human dialogue and media on the internet.

Though this falls a bit outside the realm of ChatGPT itself, an excellent article by Slate shows that image-generation AI models seem to overwhelmingly portray white people in images generated from prompts — unless you add biased qualifiers like “poor” to the prompts. 

On the more extreme end, an AI-generated spoof of Seinfeld was recently given a temporary ban from Twitch for making transphobic comments after a technical issue forced its creators to fall back on a less sophisticated OpenAI model than what is currently utilized by ChatGPT.

To be entirely clear: neither of these cases represents intentional behavior by each model’s respective programmers, and they’ve reiterated as much. Instead, it’s another important example of the things that can slip through the cracks, given the partially “communal” nature of the knowledge base that these models are drawing on.

Robotic Speech

You’ve probably noticed my interactions with Assistant come across as a bit… robotic. Without diving into the many nuances of human speech, the simple version is that by aiming to be so perfectly human, ChatGPT often presents things in a very “by numbers” manner that lacks personality (try reading any of its responses out loud, fully observing all the punctuation, and you’ll see what I mean). Ultimately, this makes your content less satisfying to readers and reflects negatively on the way you speak with customers. When using content from ChatGPT, the editing process should always include an audit of how the text comes across conversationally.

Where Do We Go From Here?

For better or worse, the advent of ChatGPT and other similar language models will someday be looked back on as a pivotal moment in the history of online search. How they’ll be utilized on a larger scale by businesses and consumers alike is yet to be seen. 

Still, by getting to know some of its ins and outs, we’ve already gained a pretty good head start at (responsibly) utilizing it for our own purposes — most of which we hope will benefit our clients.

As always, the team here at SEOM Interactive is staying on top of this critical moment in search as it develops, and encourage you to get in touch with us if you have any questions.

That was a lot of words, and I’m running out of steam, so I’m going to let Assistant take it from here:

The post Wins and Warnings for ChatGPT appeared first on SEOM Interactive.

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Goodbye Page 1, Hello Never-Ending Scrolling https://searchenginesmarketer.com/blog/google-continuous-scrolling-update/ <![CDATA[Robert Spinrad]]> Wed, 14 Dec 2022 09:00:53 +0000 <![CDATA[Google Updates]]> https://searchenginesmarketer.com/?p=4752 <![CDATA[

Just keep scrolling, just keep scrolling… Google announced it’s rolling out continuous scrolling to desktop search results. This comes after the search giant introduced continuous scrolling in mobile search results... [Read More]

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Just keep scrolling, just keep scrolling… Google announced it’s rolling out continuous scrolling to desktop search results. This comes after the search giant introduced continuous scrolling in mobile search results in October 2021.

From a searcher’s perspective, this should, in theory, eliminate the preconceived notions that it’s page 1 or bust and search results on pages 2, 3, and so on aren’t any good. Instead, scrolling beyond the first group of organic search results will feel seamless, encourage longer scrolling, and give searchers a better chance at finding the best result for their query.

From an SEO perspective, eliminating searcher obstructions like clicking from one page to the next should increase the click-through rate and impression count for lower-ranking pages. To put it simply; the longer people scroll, the more pages they see, and the more likely they are to click on a high-quality page that never quite reached page one.

Should is the keyword here.

Have we noticed a difference?

When comparing the months leading up to the October 2021 update and the months immediately following, we haven’t noticed an increase in mobile impressions and click-through rates. However, these updates take time to roll out fully, and we do expect to see a shift at some point.continuous scrolling on google

 

It’s too soon to come to a conclusion, but there’s some comfort in knowing a high-quality page that was struggling to jump from page 2 to 1, or even 3 to 2, stands a better chance at being discovered today than it did in the past.

As with every Google update, nothing is guaranteed. Predicting how the latest update will impact your own site is difficult, but this one does seem promising.

And if nothing else, at least we can all say we’re on page 1!

continuous scrolling on google meme

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SEO Guide for Keyword Research in 2023 https://searchenginesmarketer.com/blog/seo-guide-for-keyword-research-in-2023/ <![CDATA[Lauren]]> Fri, 09 Dec 2022 21:05:35 +0000 <![CDATA[SEO]]> https://searchenginesmarketer.com/?p=4764 <![CDATA[

The start of the new year is a perfect time to evaluate your SEO strategy and whether or not you could use a fresh start. This process begins by taking... [Read More]

The post SEO Guide for Keyword Research in 2023 appeared first on SEOM Interactive.

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The start of the new year is a perfect time to evaluate your SEO strategy and whether or not you could use a fresh start. This process begins by taking a look at your keywords. 

Using keywords without a proper strategy is a recipe for failure, as keywords are the building blocks of any piece of content and the foundation of any successful SEO strategy. When used correctly, keywords help identify an article’s main topic or theme, provide structure throughout the piece, and can help boost your traffic in 2023 and beyond.

In this comprehensive keyword research guide, we’ll detail what keyword research is, the tools we love, and ultimately, how to ensure your keyword research strategy for 2023 is setting your business up for success! 

WHAT IS KEYWORD RESEARCH?

Keyword research is the process of identifying important words and phrases your target audience is searching for to drive traffic, sales, and leads to your website. They can be one word, a phrase, a question, and even a sentence. 

While researching, you’ll not only determine what keywords people are searching for but how many people are searching for them. Although it’s a core part of any SEO strategy, keyword research is also vital for other areas of digital marketing, like PPC and content marketing.

BEGINNING KEYWORD RESEARCH 

Before you begin your keyword research, you should closely examine your website. Do you sell products or offer services? What topics do you cover? Is there an active blog? These questions provide a good starting point for you to start thinking about why (and how) users are ending up on your website. 

You don’t have to rely on your brain alone! There are several tools available to help you perform keyword research, including:

  • Ahrefs
  • Semrush
  • Google Search Console
  • Google Suggest and Google Related Search
  • Google “People Also Ask”

AHREFS

Ahrefs is a powerful tool that provides a variety of data points for keyword research. You can use it for competitive analysis, organic research, and more.

Let’s take a look at our favorite Ahrefs features, which include the organic keyword report, content gap, and keyword explorer. 

Organic Keywords Report

The organic keyword report provides an excellent overview of organic search performance, allowing you to see search volume, keyword difficulty, and current position. Once you have that information, you can use it to determine your chances of ranking for a particular set of keywords, or how you can improve your current rankings. You can also use some of the tool’s filters to narrow down your keyword list.

organic keywords report ahrefs example

Content Gap Report

You need to know what kind of content businesses similar to you are producing to stay competitive and a content gap report is a good way to do so. When you perform a content gap report, you can find new keyword topics your website may be missing but competitors are already using. 

Enter Ahrefs’ Content Gap analysis. This report compares a website to several of your competitors. Then, it returns a list of keywords for which your target website doesn’t rank.

ahrefs content gap analysis example

Once you have this list, you can design a strategy around these new opportunities. Just note that if your competition offers different services or products, you must carefully go through the results to filter out non-relevant keywords.

After running the report, the next step is to make a list of these new opportunities in a spreadsheet. Organize each keyword into categories. Then, you can add them to an existing page or create a new page optimized around the topic.

Keyword Explorer

The Keyword Explorer tool in Ahrefs allows you to enter multiple keywords at once. It also estimates search volume and difficulty, which can help you decide which keywords are best to target for your website. 

Within the keyword report is a section for questions related to your root keyword. Creating content around these questions is a great way to provide value to your website visitors and potential customers.

ahrefs keyword explorer example

SEMRUSH

Semrush is another powerful tool that provides valuable keyword research data. Some of our favorite Semrush features include Domain Overview, Organic Research, Keyword Gap Analysis, and the Keyword Magic Tool. Learn more below.  

Domain Overview

Domain Overview provides a general snapshot of a website’s performance, allowing you to see its organic keywords and estimated traffic. Both of these metrics are helpful while analyzing your competitors. Input a competitor’s website into this tool and look at their ranking keywords to gain ideas on how you can optimize your own website with those keywords.

SEMRush Domain Overview example

Organic Research

The Organic Research feature provides an overview of your website’s performance in the search results. The best way to use this feature is to enter a competitor and view their complete list of ranking keywords. When examining your competitor’s keywords, you can reevaluate your website’s tags and content and determine areas of improvement. You can also view keywords based on ranking positions and changes in the ranking positions.

SEMRush organic research example

Keyword Gap

The Keyword Gap tool is very similar to the Ahrefs Content gap report. You can use this tool during competitive analysis to identify keywords your competition is ranking for, but you are not. It separates all the keywords it finds into groups based on the ranking status, which is helpful during the keyword research process. 

Here is a breakdown of the keyword groups available through this tool: 

  • Shared: keywords that rank for both your website and your competitors. 
  • Missing: keywords you are not ranking for currently.
  • Weak: keywords your website ranks for but are low in the search results and could use improvement. 
  • Strong: keywords for which you are ranking well. 
  • Untapped: keywords for which at least one competitor is ranking.
  • Unique: keywords for which only your website is ranking.

After analyzing these groups, you can develop a more informed strategy for optimizing your keywords, like creating content featuring missing keywords or strengthening existing content by working in missing keywords.

keyword gap example

Keyword Magic Tool

Use the Keyword Magic Tool to find keywords for your website. When you enter your base keyword into this feature, you will receive a large list of keywords to consider for your campaign. Though the list is extensive, you can easily filter the keywords to view the most relevant options. 

For an SEO campaign, don’t forget to take advantage of the questions section of this tool since you can use it to develop website content. Aside from questions, you can also view the search intent of each keyword, ensuring you’re honing in on the best keywords for your audience.

keyword magic tool example

Although many of these tools within Semrush provide similar information, we recommend using each of them in order to maximize your keyword opportunities. 

If you don’t have access to Ahrefs, Semrush, or similar tools, you can simply use Google to find keyword opportunities.

GOOGLE SEARCH

While many of these tools cost money to use effectively, Google is free. The search engine allows you to find new keywords directly on the search engine results page (SERP). These include Google suggest, related searches, and the People Also Ask section.

Google Suggest

When performing a search on Google, you may notice a list of suggested keywords appears under the search bar once you start typing. These are recommendations directly from Google and provide excellent keyword opportunities to consider. 

google suggest example

Related Searches

Google also provides related searches, which show up at the bottom of the search results. These phrases are similar to your initial search query and show what other people with similar interests and intentions are searching for.

related searches example google

People Also Ask

You can also leverage the “People Also Ask” section. These are questions that Google deems relevant to your search query. Answering these questions on your website is an excellent way to enhance your content.

google people also ask example landscaping

SEARCH CONSOLE

Google Search Console is a free tool that provides data about your website’s performance in the search results, including both technical and keyword data. Search Console also works well with tools like Ahrefs. 

For example, you can use Search Console to gather a list of keywords ranking in positions 11-15. This information provides opportunities for content that can be improved or promoted to help it move toward page one of the search results.

You can export this keyword report and use Ahrefs keyword explorer to find search volume data for these opportunities. Then, you can use this new data to narrow down your search for the best keyword options to consider.

google search console example

OPTIMIZING FOR SEARCH INTENT

Search Intent is what a user wants to accomplish with their specific search and falls into one of the following categories: informational, transactional, or navigational. If you’re unsure about the intent of a query you plan to optimize for, the best thing to do is see what you can find in the search results.

An example of an informational search query would be “what is the ideal height for grass?” In this case, the user is likely looking for landscaping information, but probably not a lawn service or landscaper specifically. While this makes for a great topic for a blog post, the odds of getting a ton of conversions from this query aren’t high.

Transactional search queries, on the other hand, typically provide the highest opportunity for a conversion. Someone searching “lawn service near me” is in the market for a local lawn care company and is much more likely to arrive at the website and either fill out a form or call for more information. You should generally map these types of keywords to the main pages on the website, such as the homepage, about page, and services pages.

Don’t Forget to Check Your Competitors

Keyword research isn’t complete without looking at your competitors. Conducting a competitive analysis can provide you with an assortment of data to help you find the best keywords for your business. To start this process, search for your keywords and note which websites rank at the top of the SERPs. 

Next, use Ahrefs Site Explorer to look up data about your competitors’ website, like how many keywords the page ranks for. This information can help you find new keyword opportunities or plan your next piece of content.

ahrefs competitor check example

WHAT NEXT?

After working hard to narrow down a list of potential keywords through various tools, add them to a spreadsheet. You can group them by topic or theme. For example, “Landscaping Ideas” or “How to Care for Your Lawn” can be on different pages and optimized for keywords that fit within each of these topics. 

Overall, keyword research is an essential part of digital marketing. Whether optimizing your website for organic search or running a PPC campaign, the right keyword strategy can help your business attract the right customers while helping you achieve your business goals.

Need help with your keyword or digital marketing strategy in 2023? Contact us today

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