Each year, bonafide tech geeks and enthusiasts gather or tune in for one of the biggest events of the year: Google I/O, the search giant’s annual developer conference.
It’s a learning opportunity for many, with sessions and talks creating what Google describes as “an immersive experience focused on exploring the next generation of tech.”
But it’s the annual opening keynote that really has everyone paying the most attention. That’s when the ...Read More
Digital marketing is one of those areas that's become, in a way, all-encompassing. There's social media, there's SEO, and there are the analytics that come with both. And with the rapid pace at which digital marketing evolves, it can be difficult and confusing to prioritize which parts deserve your attention.
That's why the Search Engine Journal launched the 2017 State of Digital Marketing.
To find out where digital marketers focus their time and budgets, and how they set parameters of success, over 200 industry professionals were surveyed, filling roles within SEO, paid search, and content marketing.
Read MoreTo find out where digital marketers focus their time and budgets, and how they set parameters of success, over 200 industry professionals were surveyed, filling roles within SEO, paid search, and content marketing.
In the world of marketing, it seems like there are always new tools, tips, tricks, and trends to discover and incorporate into your marketing strategy. How is it possible to keep up with them all?
As a marketer myself, I often wish I had a better sense of all of the tools available to me -- and what sets each of them apart -- so I can make more informed decisions on how to create and optimize content.
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Thanks for joining me here on the HubSpot Marketing Blog today. I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you all a few things you might not know about me.
I'm ambidextrous (I can write with both hands), I'm the adoptive mother of three cats (one of whom is named Kitty), and before coming to HubSpot, I spent a lot of time writing and sending link building outreach emails.
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When it comes to writing text for your blog and social media posts, many marketers wonder, "But what's the character limit?" It's never a simple question -- sometimes, it's answered by parameters established by certain channels. And on other occasions, it's more a question of what's ideal.
For example, you probably know the character limit for a tweet is 140, but did you know that the ideal length is actually less than that? (Hold tight -- we'll explain why.)
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Today I’m going to show you how we boosted our organic traffic by 43% over a 3 month period.
The best part is, we did it without publishing any new content, spending any more money on marketing or adding any additional resources to our team.
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I’ll admit that when I first heard a colleague mention “latent semantic indexing,” my immediate response was simply, “What?”
Luckily, although it sounds like something that requires a degree in computer science, it’s actually a concept you’re probably familiar with -- particularly if you have some basic knowledge of keywords and their close relationship with search engine optimization (SEO).
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Today, most marketing teams are structured to drive traffic towards websites, which then converts into leads for the sales team to close. Once this process starts to deliver results, marketers then seek to generate even more traffic, and hopefully even more success.
An oversimplification, but that’s the standard marketing playbook. Few marketing teams focus on getting more from existing traffic. That’s where conversion rate optimization (CRO) comes in.
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According to Forbes, 80-90% of consumers research purchases online before buying.
Whether you're in the process of launching a new business or already have one, having a strong online presence for your brand is extremely important.
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Before the internet was more widely available, your business may have relied on printed directories, such as the Yellow Pages, to be found and discovered by new customers.
The greatest likelihood someone would call you over your competitors was if you paid for larger print ad placements, or if your brand's name started with one of the first letters of the alphabet.
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Sometimes, it seems like keeping up with a search engine's algorithm is like learning a new language. Only, it's a language that keeps updating over time and changing with things like technological advances, evolving topic interests, and constant improvements to user experience. And often, it seems like those changes are quiet -- like there's no way to find out about them unless you, say, subscribe to a blog that keeps you in the loop.
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Just when you thought you were up-to-date on the latest SEO best practices, an algorithm change or a new expert post has you questioning yourself. Sound familiar?
It's true, the world of SEO is spinning faster than ever, and for every new strategy, an old one becomes obsolete. As inbound marketers, it's our job to stay informed of these changes, while continuously questioning the status quo.
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Over the past few years, Google has made a lot of changes that can be challenging for modern marketers and SEO experts to keep up with.
Recently, Google started indexing according to mobile search results, cracked down on intrusive pop-up ads, and removed right-side ads. What do all of these changes have in common?
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Think about everything you’ve bought in the last six months, specifically the big purchases. When was the last time you didn’t start a shopping trip with a Google search? If your answer is anything close to “I can’t remember,” you’re in good company. Every year, over 2.8 trillion search queries are made on Google alone.
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SEO is an evolving science. While some of the core principles will presumably stick around forever, some of the more nuanced parts of it are subject to continuous change. As a result, many of the "proven" tactics people have used in the past -- keyword stuffing, link schemes, and so on -- are now the stuff of legends.
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So, you've developed an amazing site. You've put together some seriously valuable content, iterated on the design, and gathered a ton of feedback. Now, you're finally feeling ready to share it with the world.
And as soon as you publish your new site for the world to see, all of your content will immediately start showing up in Google, right?
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We’re living in a mobile-first world. For most of us, that means from the moment you wake up in the morning, your phone becomes a part of your daily routine -- from silencing your alarm, to reviewing the daily news, to checking email, and so on.
And search engines are seeing the result of this trend: search queries on mobile have now surpassed desktop-based queries.
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If you’re anything like me, there’s been a time in your life when you’ve asked, “What the heck is https?”
What’s that extra “s” for? Well, it turns out that the “s” stands for “SSL,” which stands for Secure Sockets Layer -- the technology that encrypts your connection to a website, so that hackers can't intercept any of your data.
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Imagine you own a business that films and produces yoga routines for at-home practice. As search engine results pages become more crowded, your chances of ranking for a popular industry keyword -- such as "yoga" -- begin to diminish.
But as it turns out, that's not the end of the world. These days people are actually conducting more specific, conversational queries -- think: "how do I teach myself yoga?" -- to get the information they're looking for, faster.
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I have money in my savings account because my bank has a built-in auto-deposit process. I’m not logging into my account every day and moving money around, but when I do log in, I can see the progress I’ve made toward my goals by setting my account to automate deductions.
Think of marketing automation like auto-deducting money from your checking account and putting it into savings: The automatic process lets you invest in your future goals in an easier way than if you did it manually.
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It’s not often that you see the word “fun” and “algorithm” in the same sentence. (Okay, fine. Maybe you do, if you’re a marketing nerd like I am.) But think about this: Google has really been around for over two decades. With a history like that, there's got to be at least some compelling trivia, right?
Believe it or not, algorithms are really cool. I mean, they get us our search results, after all.
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Did you know that, on average, smartphone users touch their phones 2,617 times each day?
According to the survey conducted by dscout in the spring of 2016, smartphone users also spend an average of 145 daily minutes on their mobile phones.
In other words, we're leaning on our mobile devices more than ever before.
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Search engine optimization (SEO) isn't all about focusing on keywords anymore. Search engines are getting smarter and better at understanding a searcher’s intent and how they can provide them with meaningful content.
Over the past few years, marketers have lived through everything from changes in search behavior (like the serious increase in mobile search queries) to search engine algorithm updates (like Google's rewarding more secure websites).
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Content marketing has seen a lot of changes over the past few years, in particular around the way that marketers have gone about actually developing their content. A lot of this has come down to the rapidly evolving search engine landscape, as well as a huge shift in the way that people are discovering content.
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When you’re looking for a local business that’ll fix your favorite pair of shoes, sell you the book your friend recommended, or bake a spaceship-themed cake for your kid’s birthday -- how do you find it?
You pull up your favorite search engine for a little online research, of course.
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Tracing the history of SEO is kind of like trying to trace the history of the handshake. We all know it exists, and we know it’s an important part of business. But we don’t spend a ton of time thinking about its origins -- we’re mostly concerned with how we use it day-to-day.
But unlike the handshake, SEO is fairly young, and changes frequently. Quite appropriately, it appears to be a millennial -- its birth is predicted to fall somewhere around 1991.
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I moved five times in the last year. And every single time I moved, I forgot to sign up to have my mail forwarded to my new address.
Mail forwarding is an important step in any moving process, as it ensures you don't lose any valuable information that's sent to you. And the same can be said for your website: If you're moving a website from one URL to another, you need to take the necessary steps to ensure your visitors get sent to the right place.
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These days, it seems like most marketing jobs require at least a basic knowledge of search engine optimization. Even writers need to know about it -- gone are the days, it seems, of simply composing with words. We have to know how to rank, build links, and yield traffic.
But many of us aren't sure where to begin. And that, says HubSpot Senior Acquisition Manager Matt Barby, is due to the deluge of information available on SEO.
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How the heck can you use an image for search optimization?
It might be simpler than you think. You see, there's something about the way an infographic conveys content -- from its customization to its digestible format -- that both grabs and holds people's attention, and makes them highly sharable. But how does it work? And how can you use infographics for your own SEO strategy?
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When you wear white, do you inevitably spill something all over yourself?
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"Getting found" isn't a new phenomenon for inbound marketers. In fact, being searchable is one of the founding principles of inbound marketing -- a principle that continues to evolve as consumers begin to change their habits and innovative new technologies start to emerge.
According to the 2016 State of Inbound report, 66% of marketers agree that growing SEO is their top priority for 2017.
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The holy grail of content marketing and SEO is to be ranked in the top 10 on Google for a high volume search term.
If you accomplish that, your site will enjoy long-lasting, inexpensive organic traffic -- which is an absolutely wonderful thing. That said, SEO is very much a rich get richer game.
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Google is no stranger to algorithmic change. And usually, those changes are made for the sake of the user. Looking at a history of Google's product announcements, usability is usually at the heart of the modification.
So when Google announced its impending smackdown on mobile pop-up ads earlier this week, it came as no surprise that the major reason behind it was to enhance the user
experience.
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Search engine optimization is incredibly important for marketers. When you optimize your web pages -- including your blog posts -- you're making your website more visible to people who are looking for keywords associated with your brand, product, or service via search engines like Google.
But it can be a pretty tricky tactic to master with Google's copious algorithm updates.
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Setting up proper SEO for your website is no easy feat -- especially when you're dealing with constantly changing algorithms. However, as search engines continue to evolve, it’s becoming more and more important for marketers to keep their content fresh and properly optimized.
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Indexing as many pages on your website as possible can be very tempting for marketers who are trying to boost their search engine authority.
But, while it’s true that publishing more pages that are relevant for a particular keyword (assuming they’re also high quality) will improve your ranking for that keyword, sometimes there’s actually more value in keeping certain pages on your website out of a search engine’s index.
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SEO can sometimes feel like it stands for "Something Extremely Obscure."
As marketers, we're responsible for staying on top of what can feel like endless Google algorithm updates. And if we fail to do so, we run the risk of not showing up in search for important target keywords.
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Before we publish anything on the HubSpot blog, we always take a minute to optimize its URL for both our readers and search engines. It's an SEO best practice that's withstood Google's many algorithm changesover the years.
While your URL structure isn't the be-all-end-all of your SEO efforts, using SEO-friendly URLs on your site can give you an edge over your competitors in search.
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There’s no question that building great inbound links to your site is hard work. While many site owners resort to spamming blog comment sections to get their backlinks, that’s neither necessary, nor effective for your SEO efforts.
But it's probably just a last ditch effort since, although there's much talk about generating inbound links, the nitty-gritty ways to actually do that are rarely discussed.
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Every marketer knows that a successful inbound marketing strategy includes a blog. But not just any blog -- a blog that boasts relevant, consistent content that's optimized for both the target audience and search engines. That's the kind of blog that drives results.
Trouble is, finding time to balance quality and quantity is tricky.
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Ever feel like your business is too "niche" to benefit from blogging?
Then consider this: 16% to 20% of searches people ask in Google have never been searched for before. No matter how unique your niche is, it's likely that people are searching for the content you'll create.
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Let's get right down to it: The key to successful SEO is concentrating on long-tail keywords.
Although these keywords get less traffic than more generic terms, they're associated with more qualified traffic and users that are typically further down their path of intent.
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In business, getting ahead often hinges on our ability to get noticed. We need people to pay attention to our brand if we want them to listen, complete an action, change a behavior, and so on.
Trouble is, there are two types of attention: good and bad. And the brands below know a thing or two about both. Remember the dress that broke the internet?
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Meta descriptions. Blegh; sounds complicated, right? Two years ago if someone would have asked me about a meta description I would have assumed they were trying to talk nerdy to me. It sounds like code, and something that is way over my head.
Google has been known to change their logo in fun, surprising ways for their Google Doodles, but major changes to the actual search engine results page (SERP) occur far less often. That’s why their recent decision to remove ads from the right-hand side of their desktop SERPs is making big news.
What exactly did they change?
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Have you ever visited someone else's website and felt confused about what the company did and where they wanted you to go on their site? An experience like that can really make you wonder about visitors' experiences on your own website. Do your site visitors understand what you do and where you want them to go?
Not only are these critical pieces of information to know, but they're also worth checking in on regularly.
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In the past few years Google have been refining the way that it displays results to users. In particular, Google has been increasing the number of Featured Snippets that it displays for queries.
What's a Featured Snippet? And more importantly, what do you have to do to appear there? Well, that's what I set out to explore.
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We've got a confession to make: We've been making a few rookie SEO mistakes within our own website.
For a company that is supposed to be at the forefront of inbound marketing and SEO, this isn't something that we're entirely proud of. But even experts make mistakes, right?
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As marketers, we've gotten quite good at evolving our playbooks when it comes to SEO. But the changes we've seen to this point are nothing compared to what's coming next.
We are in the early stages of a new era of search -- an era tied closely to more sophisticated patterns such as mobile, social, and voice search, among other things. And for the first time this isn't just a matter of adding a new chapter to our SEO strategy, it's a matter of creating entire new playbooks.
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There are two types of search advertisers: those who have failed and those who are going to.
At HubSpot, we embrace failure -- it’s often an important step towards success. That being said, we don’t ever go out of our way to fall on our face. Instead, when attempting something new, we try as hard as we can to learn from others who had failed before us.
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