As an SEO, I've grown accustomed to frequent news about updates and other changes made to Google's algorithm. But today's news from the world's leading search engine took me for a loop.

Here at Wikimotive, the idea of machine learning and AI as a part of future search results has been something we thought of as semi-futuristic. We knew Google was dabbling in machine learning AI, but assumed the technology was years away from being tested. But it turns out it's already here, and it's called RankBrain.

To quickly get you up to speed on this new search technology, we've put together five quick facts every SEO needs to know:

1. RankBrain is a Machine-Learning Artificial Intelligence System

We all knew it was coming. The robot takeover is here, and it's all Google's fault.

With the RankBrain system, Google has officially put search results in the hands of a machine-learning artificial intelligence system. Unlike the search algorithm it's a part of, which requires updates from Google's search engineers, RankBrain is able to learn and better supply results related to completely unique searches.

This means it's able to give users the best results possible for longtail and conversational search queries.
   

2. RankBrain Expands Upon Hummingbird

In 2013, the Hummingbird algorithm brought better conversational search results to Google. This meant you could ask Google questions and get accurate results instead of formatting your query to match what Google understood.

Hummingbird was able to better understand words and how they were connected in order to supply quality and relevant results for many longer queries.

RankBrain builds on to what Google started with Hummingbird, but is able to detect patterns and connect dots that were unable to be detected by the non-AI algorithm. Because of this, Google can now learn and begin to connect unique searches with others in order to provide better and better results for those that use long and conversational queries.
    

3. RankBrain is Smarter Than Google's Search Engineers

As a company, Google is made up of some of the world's best and brightest software engineers. You'd think that all of that time spent creating and tweaking algorithms and updates would give them the ability to outsmart a new AI like RankBrain.

Unfortunately, that's not the case.

In one experiment, the company put its search engineers head-to-head with RankBrain. They were asked to look at certain webpages and make a guess as to which page would rank at the top of Google search results. The engineers were correct 70 percent of the time, but RankBrain was correct 80 percent of the time.

I'm sure they all had questions about job security afterward.
   

4. RankBrain is Used to Process a "Very Large Fraction" of Queries

While the exact number hasn't been made public, Google did announce that RankBrain is an active part of the process that serves a "very large fraction" of its search queries.

At this point, there's no word of any reported traffic effects from RankBrain, which has reportedly been going through a rollout process since early 2015. As we learn more about the technology, though, it's expected that SEOs will put together the pieces of the puzzle to determine where the changes are being made, as well as the fallout from said changes.
   

5. RankBrain is Now the Third-Most Important "Signal"

Because RankBrain is a part of Hummingbird, it acts as just another one of the hundreds of signals used by Google to rank pages and serve results. However, Greg Corrado, a senior research scientist at Google, told Bloomberg that RankBrain has already become the third-most important signal for serving search results.

So despite being new technology, it's clear Google is betting big on RankBrain.

There are still plenty of questions on the table about RankBrain, especially amongst SEOs. Wikimotive will keep a close eye on all developments involving RankBrain and report new findings as they come in.

Originally Published to Wikimotive.com on October 26, 2015. 

As an SEO, I've grown accustomed to frequent news about updates and other changes made to Google's algorithm. But today's news from the world's leading search engine took me for a loop.

Here at Wikimotive, the idea of machine learning and AI as a part of future search results has been something we thought of as semi-futuristic. We knew Google was dabbling in machine learning AI, but assumed the technology was years away from being tested. But it turns out it's already here, and it's called RankBrain.

To quickly get you up to speed on this new search technology, we've put together five quick facts every SEO needs to know:

1. RankBrain is a Machine-Learning Artificial Intelligence System

We all knew it was coming. The robot takeover is here, and it's all Google's fault.

With the RankBrain system, Google has officially put search results in the hands of a machine-learning artificial intelligence system. Unlike the search algorithm it's a part of, which requires updates from Google's search engineers, RankBrain is able to learn and better supply results related to completely unique searches.

This means it's able to give users the best results possible for longtail and conversational search queries.
   

2. RankBrain Expands Upon Hummingbird

In 2013, the Hummingbird algorithm brought better conversational search results to Google. This meant you could ask Google questions and get accurate results instead of formatting your query to match what Google understood.

Hummingbird was able to better understand words and how they were connected in order to supply quality and relevant results for many longer queries.

RankBrain builds on to what Google started with Hummingbird, but is able to detect patterns and connect dots that were unable to be detected by the non-AI algorithm. Because of this, Google can now learn and begin to connect unique searches with others in order to provide better and better results for those that use long and conversational queries.
    

3. RankBrain is Smarter Than Google's Search Engineers

As a company, Google is made up of some of the world's best and brightest software engineers. You'd think that all of that time spent creating and tweaking algorithms and updates would give them the ability to outsmart a new AI like RankBrain.

Unfortunately, that's not the case.

In one experiment, the company put its search engineers head-to-head with RankBrain. They were asked to look at certain webpages and make a guess as to which page would rank at the top of Google search results. The engineers were correct 70 percent of the time, but RankBrain was correct 80 percent of the time.

I'm sure they all had questions about job security afterward.
   

4. RankBrain is Used to Process a "Very Large Fraction" of Queries

While the exact number hasn't been made public, Google did announce that RankBrain is an active part of the process that serves a "very large fraction" of its search queries.

At this point, there's no word of any reported traffic effects from RankBrain, which has reportedly been going through a rollout process since early 2015. As we learn more about the technology, though, it's expected that SEOs will put together the pieces of the puzzle to determine where the changes are being made, as well as the fallout from said changes.
   

5. RankBrain is Now the Third-Most Important "Signal"

Because RankBrain is a part of Hummingbird, it acts as just another one of the hundreds of signals used by Google to rank pages and serve results. However, Greg Corrado, a senior research scientist at Google, told Bloomberg that RankBrain has already become the third-most important signal for serving search results.

So despite being new technology, it's clear Google is betting big on RankBrain.

There are still plenty of questions on the table about RankBrain, especially amongst SEOs. Wikimotive will keep a close eye on all developments involving RankBrain and report new findings as they come in.

Originally Published to Wikimotive.com on October 26, 2015. 

The web revolves around content. A lot of content. According to Internet Live Stats, there are currently around 200 million active websites. That's not individual pages, but actual unique websites that can contain millions of pages of their own.

Standing out from the crowd is a lot more difficult than it used to be, but not impossible. Using the information below, you can start creating better content that is more easily discoverable by search engine users and more easily shareable on the social web.

As the web grows even more in 2016, these five rules will help you create great content and stand out better than ever before.

Be Evergreen

The problem with most content is that it has an expiration date. Yes, just like your milk and eggs content can go bad. It won't start clumping up or develop a disgusting smell, but it will become worthless to readers after a certain amount of time.

Sometimes you can't avoid this. For instance, I would never suggest to a car dealer that writing about the current model year is pointless because the manufacturer is just going to create a new one the next year. No, I'd tell them they need to consistently be creating new content or updating existing content to reflect or keep up with changes.

Your ultimate goal, however, should be to focus as much of your time on content that does not become irrelevant after a certain time. Evergreen content allows you to grow traffic more consistently because this content doesn't lose traction as quickly as date-dependent content.

When done correctly, evergreen content can work wonders for your overall organic traffic numbers. By targeting popular topics, you'll find it's often like discovering oil on your property. Once you've finished the work, you can sit back and let the traffic flow in like checks from the oil company.

Be Socially Shareable

If you're new to online content and digital marketing, the term "shareable" might throw you for a loop at first. But the concept is simple: shareable content invokes action from users. This is the type of stuff your mom used to forward you via email but now shares via Facebook to all of her friends and family.

How does it invoke action from users?

Shareable content can usually be described as funny, uplifting, sad, and/or informative. When you discover this content, it makes you think about other people and how they'd like it. Most of the time you also enjoy the content, but a lot of shares are for specific friends or groups of friends.

For example, I've made it public to my Facebook friends that I love my cat. Because this has become so tied to my Facebook profile, friends regularly share content about cats with me. Whether it's a funny video about cats vs. dogs or an informative article about how cats actually hate us all, it's clear people associate me with that type of content.

How do I create shareable content?

Do you want to make people laugh, inspire them, make them cry, or inform them? Answering this question is the first step. The next step is asking yourself if people care enough about this topic to share with their friends. You can make some niche content work, but the topic should be something most people can connect with.

Be Helpful

Content should always be helpful in some way, shape, or form. Even if your content isn't answering questions, it can still be helpful. Even an article with embedded videos of people scaring cats can be thought of as helpful if you're looking to laugh during a quick break at work.

Regardless of what your content is about, you need to ask yourself: will someone find this helpful?

Am I making them laugh? Am I informing them of an important development within their industry? Am I helping them accomplish something?

The more you think about ways your content can help people, the most success you'll have.

Be Specific with Intent

Content, especially content created for SEO, needs to have a specific intent. Just as search users present intent with their queries, you need to craft your content to match that intent.

The days of ranking content because you mentioned certain keywords are over. In order to rank well today, you need to have all of your ducks in a row. Keywords do still matter, but the intent of your content is even more important because Google is able to better crawl and rank content based on more contextual factors than ever before.

This means that if someone is looking for "iPhone 6S tips and tricks," you're providing them with exactly that. This content would describe things the iPhone 6S can do that aren't completely obvious or mentioned in the phone's manual. This content would be completely different from what you'd provide for "how to use iPhone 6S."

Going deeper with intent, if I search "buy a TV," Google provides results that match my intent. I'm not looking for information on TVs, I want to buy now.

On the other hand, if I search "buying a TV," Google provides results for TV buying guides and other informative content.

(Mentioned in previous articles, this is an example of transactional vs. informational keywords.)

When reviewing content, you can keep yourself on the straight and narrow path by asking yourself: what is the intent of my target keywords and does my content match that intent? It's that easy.

Spark Conversation

Unless your content is designed to help someone complete a simple task, one of your big goals should be to spark conversation.

But why is this important?

You want people to take action on your content! Whether that means they spend extra time on your site writing a comment, send it to a friend and have a private IM conversation about it, post it on Facebook, or write a reply and link to it on their own site.

I've found that if you can consistently write content that stands out, you'll attract more overall action around your content. All of these actions not only help your site's natural readership and social readership, but also affect SEO as well.

So the next time you sit down for a brainstorming session, start thinking of ideas that will get people talking!

While it's tough to create content that follows all five of these rules, your goal should ultimately be to nail at least three of them. If you're struggling to create great content, bookmark this page and read it before each writing session. I've found that simply reminding myself of these rules helps inspire me to write better and better content each day.

Originally Published to Wikimotive.com on October 19, 2015. 

The web revolves around content. A lot of content. According to Internet Live Stats, there are currently around 200 million active websites. That's not individual pages, but actual unique websites that can contain millions of pages of their own.

Standing out from the crowd is a lot more difficult than it used to be, but not impossible. Using the information below, you can start creating better content that is more easily discoverable by search engine users and more easily shareable on the social web.

As the web grows even more in 2016, these five rules will help you create great content and stand out better than ever before.

Be Evergreen

The problem with most content is that it has an expiration date. Yes, just like your milk and eggs content can go bad. It won't start clumping up or develop a disgusting smell, but it will become worthless to readers after a certain amount of time.

Sometimes you can't avoid this. For instance, I would never suggest to a car dealer that writing about the current model year is pointless because the manufacturer is just going to create a new one the next year. No, I'd tell them they need to consistently be creating new content or updating existing content to reflect or keep up with changes.

Your ultimate goal, however, should be to focus as much of your time on content that does not become irrelevant after a certain time. Evergreen content allows you to grow traffic more consistently because this content doesn't lose traction as quickly as date-dependent content.

When done correctly, evergreen content can work wonders for your overall organic traffic numbers. By targeting popular topics, you'll find it's often like discovering oil on your property. Once you've finished the work, you can sit back and let the traffic flow in like checks from the oil company.

Be Socially Shareable

If you're new to online content and digital marketing, the term "shareable" might throw you for a loop at first. But the concept is simple: shareable content invokes action from users. This is the type of stuff your mom used to forward you via email but now shares via Facebook to all of her friends and family.

How does it invoke action from users?

Shareable content can usually be described as funny, uplifting, sad, and/or informative. When you discover this content, it makes you think about other people and how they'd like it. Most of the time you also enjoy the content, but a lot of shares are for specific friends or groups of friends.

For example, I've made it public to my Facebook friends that I love my cat. Because this has become so tied to my Facebook profile, friends regularly share content about cats with me. Whether it's a funny video about cats vs. dogs or an informative article about how cats actually hate us all, it's clear people associate me with that type of content.

How do I create shareable content?

Do you want to make people laugh, inspire them, make them cry, or inform them? Answering this question is the first step. The next step is asking yourself if people care enough about this topic to share with their friends. You can make some niche content work, but the topic should be something most people can connect with.

Be Helpful

Content should always be helpful in some way, shape, or form. Even if your content isn't answering questions, it can still be helpful. Even an article with embedded videos of people scaring cats can be thought of as helpful if you're looking to laugh during a quick break at work.

Regardless of what your content is about, you need to ask yourself: will someone find this helpful?

Am I making them laugh? Am I informing them of an important development within their industry? Am I helping them accomplish something?

The more you think about ways your content can help people, the most success you'll have.

Be Specific with Intent

Content, especially content created for SEO, needs to have a specific intent. Just as search users present intent with their queries, you need to craft your content to match that intent.

The days of ranking content because you mentioned certain keywords are over. In order to rank well today, you need to have all of your ducks in a row. Keywords do still matter, but the intent of your content is even more important because Google is able to better crawl and rank content based on more contextual factors than ever before.

This means that if someone is looking for "iPhone 6S tips and tricks," you're providing them with exactly that. This content would describe things the iPhone 6S can do that aren't completely obvious or mentioned in the phone's manual. This content would be completely different from what you'd provide for "how to use iPhone 6S."

Going deeper with intent, if I search "buy a TV," Google provides results that match my intent. I'm not looking for information on TVs, I want to buy now.

On the other hand, if I search "buying a TV," Google provides results for TV buying guides and other informative content.

(Mentioned in previous articles, this is an example of transactional vs. informational keywords.)

When reviewing content, you can keep yourself on the straight and narrow path by asking yourself: what is the intent of my target keywords and does my content match that intent? It's that easy.

Spark Conversation

Unless your content is designed to help someone complete a simple task, one of your big goals should be to spark conversation.

But why is this important?

You want people to take action on your content! Whether that means they spend extra time on your site writing a comment, send it to a friend and have a private IM conversation about it, post it on Facebook, or write a reply and link to it on their own site.

I've found that if you can consistently write content that stands out, you'll attract more overall action around your content. All of these actions not only help your site's natural readership and social readership, but also affect SEO as well.

So the next time you sit down for a brainstorming session, start thinking of ideas that will get people talking!

While it's tough to create content that follows all five of these rules, your goal should ultimately be to nail at least three of them. If you're struggling to create great content, bookmark this page and read it before each writing session. I've found that simply reminding myself of these rules helps inspire me to write better and better content each day.

Originally Published to Wikimotive.com on October 19, 2015. 

While SEO isn't new to those of us in the digital marketing industry , there are plenty of small and local businesses that are only now being introduced to the power of organic search traffic. Whether you're a salesperson for a marketing company who needs ammo to make the sale, or a local business owner looking for more reasons to invest in SEO, these statistics will help you better understand the overall value of search traffic.

Local Search Users Take Action

88% of consumers who search for a specific type of business via mobile call or visit within 24 hours. (Google's Mobile Movement Study, 2011)

By now, every local business owner is aware of the importance of local search. It can make or break your business today because customers are on-the-go and want to save time wherever they can. Gone are the days when you looked up a business in the White Pages or drove around town blind looking for a specific shop. Our phones not only give us that information in a matter of seconds, they can lead us there quickly so we can get more done. If you want those 88 percent of consumers to be able to call you, make sure you have a local SEO strategy in place so you can be found above your competition.

Search Leads to Sales

Leads from search engines close at a 15% rate. Higher than referrals, paid search, and outbound.

When you get a call from a telemarketer, you're more than likely not looking or interested in the product or service they're pitching, right? It's probably also annoying getting a random call from someone trying to sell you something. If you were interesting in their products or services, you'd search for it! This is the ultimate example of why leads from organic search traffic is so valuable. Instead of being pitched at a random time, consumers are seeking out your business. No one searches for "car dealers in NH" unless they're in the market or soon to be in the market for a car in New Hampshire. So if you're the car dealer at the top of this SERP, you're sure to be raking in leads after ready-to-buy customers click through and view your inventory.

Page 1 is Where You Want to Be

75% of users never go past the first page of search results. (HubSpot)

Businesses cannot afford to be on page two for keywords related to their business because most people will never get past the first page. They're likely to find exactly what they're looking for, and then they're gone and out of the market. You didn't even get a chance to gain their business because they won't even know you exist. No amount of paid search or traditional advertising can make up for the value that being on the first page (hopefully near the top) can have on your business.

Paid Search is a Distant Second to Organic

79% of search engine users say they always/frequently click on the natural search results. 

Paid search is a great way to supplement your organic traffic, but it can certainly not replace it. Most users understand paid results are ads and instead choose to focus on organic results. Organic results are trusted as being the most relevant, so users understand what they're clicking on more than they do with paid results. This is why leads from organic search close at 15 percent, compared to paid search's 4 percent.

Originally Published to Wikimotive.com on May 18, 2015.

While SEO isn't new to those of us in the digital marketing industry , there are plenty of small and local businesses that are only now being introduced to the power of organic search traffic. Whether you're a salesperson for a marketing company who needs ammo to make the sale, or a local business owner looking for more reasons to invest in SEO, these statistics will help you better understand the overall value of search traffic.

Local Search Users Take Action

88% of consumers who search for a specific type of business via mobile call or visit within 24 hours. (Google's Mobile Movement Study, 2011)

By now, every local business owner is aware of the importance of local search. It can make or break your business today because customers are on-the-go and want to save time wherever they can. Gone are the days when you looked up a business in the White Pages or drove around town blind looking for a specific shop. Our phones not only give us that information in a matter of seconds, they can lead us there quickly so we can get more done. If you want those 88 percent of consumers to be able to call you, make sure you have a local SEO strategy in place so you can be found above your competition.

Search Leads to Sales

Leads from search engines close at a 15% rate. Higher than referrals, paid search, and outbound.

When you get a call from a telemarketer, you're more than likely not looking or interested in the product or service they're pitching, right? It's probably also annoying getting a random call from someone trying to sell you something. If you were interesting in their products or services, you'd search for it! This is the ultimate example of why leads from organic search traffic is so valuable. Instead of being pitched at a random time, consumers are seeking out your business. No one searches for "car dealers in NH" unless they're in the market or soon to be in the market for a car in New Hampshire. So if you're the car dealer at the top of this SERP, you're sure to be raking in leads after ready-to-buy customers click through and view your inventory.

Page 1 is Where You Want to Be

75% of users never go past the first page of search results. (HubSpot)

Businesses cannot afford to be on page two for keywords related to their business because most people will never get past the first page. They're likely to find exactly what they're looking for, and then they're gone and out of the market. You didn't even get a chance to gain their business because they won't even know you exist. No amount of paid search or traditional advertising can make up for the value that being on the first page (hopefully near the top) can have on your business.

Paid Search is a Distant Second to Organic

79% of search engine users say they always/frequently click on the natural search results. 

Paid search is a great way to supplement your organic traffic, but it can certainly not replace it. Most users understand paid results are ads and instead choose to focus on organic results. Organic results are trusted as being the most relevant, so users understand what they're clicking on more than they do with paid results. This is why leads from organic search close at 15 percent, compared to paid search's 4 percent.

Originally Published to Wikimotive.com on May 18, 2015.

Local SEO has become one of the most important focuses in the digital marketing community. This means it's only natural for everyone to take notice and rethink strategy when Google makes an update to its local Map Pack results.

In its latest update, which occurred around August 6, 2015, Google redesigned the Map Pack to fit with its mobile design scheme and reduced the maximum number of results from 7 to 3.

A lot of business owners went to sleep seeing their business on page one, but woke up completely pushed off. As SEOs and business owners, what are you supposed to take away from this change?

In this post, we'll explore five of the most important thoughts and takeaways from the latest Google Map Pack update:

Local Rankings Matter Even More

While it's always been important to rank #1, it's more important than ever to ensure your business actually shows up within the map pack, as there are now only 3 positions available on the initial SERP. (In order for users to see more results, they'll have to click through to Google Maps.)

This means more businesses will likely begin focusing on local SEO and the top 3 may beef up their efforts in order to stay on top. There's no more coasting by in the bottom 4. It's time to invest in local.

Google's Focus is on Improving Mobile Experience

In May 2015, Google officially stated that it's receiving more search queries from mobile devices than desktop devices in ten different countries, including the U.S. and Japan. (This actually contradicts data from comScore, which showed that smartphone and tablet searches accounted for only 29 percent of the market at the end of 2014.)

We don't know more than that, but it's obvious Google is focusing on improving its core search experience
more than on desktop.

In recent years, the company has been preparing us for the mobile takeover by suggesting responsive web design, which allows a site to conform to various screen sizes, is best practice moving forward.

With this change, it's clear Google wants to blend the desktop and mobile experience, and this update is just another step in making that happen.

Too Many Choices

Many experts believe that Google reduced the number of businesses in the local pack because CTR among the bottom results was extremely low. This does make sense, as Google's job is to quickly provide users with the best results in order to better connect users with information.

It's also possible that Google provided too many irrelevant results for many search requests. Not on purpose, but just by design of the previous Map Pack. With the new design, they're able to keep the results as relevant as possible.

In a recent Moz post, Casey Meraz displayed user tests in which everyday people interacted with Google's new Map Pack. None of the users were taken aback from the lack of 7-pack results, but were confident in making a decision based on reviews and ranking.

Less Website Traffic

Because of the new Map Pack design, it's likely most businesses will receive less traffic, despite there being less competition.

Why?

Because of the design change. Instead of the business name appearing as a clickable link, most of the listing displays as clickable.

But unlike the previous Map Pack design, it does not direct the user to the business's website. Users are now directed to a new SERP that brings up the local map and prominently displays the business's full information.

There are buttons on the Map Pack that link to business websites and provide directions, but users are accustomed to clicking on a business's name or title in order to get the website.

In fact, Casey Merez also did a heatmap test with the new Map Pack, which showed users click more on the business name than on the website. With this data in mind, it's possible this new design could be cause less traffic to funnel to business websites.

Google+ Deprioritized

By now, we all know that Google+ has been a failed experiment. The search engine company's social network showed a lot of promise when it was first released, but failed to catch on with everyday users.

In the past couple of years, Google has slowly been moving as far away from Google+ as possible without completely shutting down the service.

First, Google shut down its authorship program, which allowed journalists and bloggers to claim content and appear in search engine results. Next, the company removed the requirement of a Google+ account with YouTube.

Now, with the latest Map Pack update, Google has removed the link Google+ (My Business) page link from local results. It's actually impossible to now navigate to a Google My Business page from SERPs.

And while some experts believe Google+ votes are a local ranking factor, I believe it's likely that posting content to a Google+ page is a waste of time.

At the end of the day, Google is going to make the changes it wants, regardless of what the SEO community thinks. So whether you're an SEO or a small business owner, take this information and use it to provide your clients with better results or better prioritize business marketing for the future.

Originally published to Wikimotive.com on October 5, 2015.

Local SEO has become one of the most important focuses in the digital marketing community. This means it's only natural for everyone to take notice and rethink strategy when Google makes an update to its local Map Pack results.

In its latest update, which occurred around August 6, 2015, Google redesigned the Map Pack to fit with its mobile design scheme and reduced the maximum number of results from 7 to 3.

A lot of business owners went to sleep seeing their business on page one, but woke up completely pushed off. As SEOs and business owners, what are you supposed to take away from this change?

In this post, we'll explore five of the most important thoughts and takeaways from the latest Google Map Pack update:

Local Rankings Matter Even More

While it's always been important to rank #1, it's more important than ever to ensure your business actually shows up within the map pack, as there are now only 3 positions available on the initial SERP. (In order for users to see more results, they'll have to click through to Google Maps.)

This means more businesses will likely begin focusing on local SEO and the top 3 may beef up their efforts in order to stay on top. There's no more coasting by in the bottom 4. It's time to invest in local.

Google's Focus is on Improving Mobile Experience

In May 2015, Google officially stated that it's receiving more search queries from mobile devices than desktop devices in ten different countries, including the U.S. and Japan. (This actually contradicts data from comScore, which showed that smartphone and tablet searches accounted for only 29 percent of the market at the end of 2014.)

We don't know more than that, but it's obvious Google is focusing on improving its core search experience
more than on desktop.

In recent years, the company has been preparing us for the mobile takeover by suggesting responsive web design, which allows a site to conform to various screen sizes, is best practice moving forward.

With this change, it's clear Google wants to blend the desktop and mobile experience, and this update is just another step in making that happen.

Too Many Choices

Many experts believe that Google reduced the number of businesses in the local pack because CTR among the bottom results was extremely low. This does make sense, as Google's job is to quickly provide users with the best results in order to better connect users with information.

It's also possible that Google provided too many irrelevant results for many search requests. Not on purpose, but just by design of the previous Map Pack. With the new design, they're able to keep the results as relevant as possible.

In a recent Moz post, Casey Meraz displayed user tests in which everyday people interacted with Google's new Map Pack. None of the users were taken aback from the lack of 7-pack results, but were confident in making a decision based on reviews and ranking.

Less Website Traffic

Because of the new Map Pack design, it's likely most businesses will receive less traffic, despite there being less competition.

Why?

Because of the design change. Instead of the business name appearing as a clickable link, most of the listing displays as clickable.

But unlike the previous Map Pack design, it does not direct the user to the business's website. Users are now directed to a new SERP that brings up the local map and prominently displays the business's full information.

There are buttons on the Map Pack that link to business websites and provide directions, but users are accustomed to clicking on a business's name or title in order to get the website.

In fact, Casey Merez also did a heatmap test with the new Map Pack, which showed users click more on the business name than on the website. With this data in mind, it's possible this new design could be cause less traffic to funnel to business websites.

Google+ Deprioritized

By now, we all know that Google+ has been a failed experiment. The search engine company's social network showed a lot of promise when it was first released, but failed to catch on with everyday users.

In the past couple of years, Google has slowly been moving as far away from Google+ as possible without completely shutting down the service.

First, Google shut down its authorship program, which allowed journalists and bloggers to claim content and appear in search engine results. Next, the company removed the requirement of a Google+ account with YouTube.

Now, with the latest Map Pack update, Google has removed the link Google+ (My Business) page link from local results. It's actually impossible to now navigate to a Google My Business page from SERPs.

And while some experts believe Google+ votes are a local ranking factor, I believe it's likely that posting content to a Google+ page is a waste of time.

At the end of the day, Google is going to make the changes it wants, regardless of what the SEO community thinks. So whether you're an SEO or a small business owner, take this information and use it to provide your clients with better results or better prioritize business marketing for the future.

Originally published to Wikimotive.com on October 5, 2015.

Blogging for business is by no means a new phenomenon. It's been talked about for years now, and I'm sure most of you reading this have tried blogging, whether in your free time or for a business.

But while the craze around blogging has died down as it becomes more acceptable, there are still plenty of people out there skeptical about blogging and its potential benefits. In this post, I'll show you how to get started so you can be on your way to developing a more advanced and successful digital marketing strategy.

Every business's site should have a set of main pages that act as the gatekeepers of information. These offer information about your business, its services, and help assure potential customers that they're choosing the right business based on their needs.

With these pages, you're doing the bare minimum. For some businesses, that's fine. But if you're looking to go above and beyond in order to drive traffic and increase leads, a few pages just isn't going to cut it. You need other internal pages that link to this content in order to better establish authority with search engines (and users).

You have to start thinking of your site as not just a place for customers, but a resource for anyone and everyone interested in information about your services or products. That's easier said than done, though, right? Here's an example:

Wikimotive works primarily with car dealers on automotive SEO campaigns, so let's say you're a car dealer that's looking for a way to get more traffic, boost rankings, and get more high quality leads. This is how you'd start:

Create a List of Your Products and Services

Creating a list of your products and services will give you a good look at what you should be promoting and will allow you to figure out exactly what people are searching for in order to find businesses like yours.

Do Keyword Research

Using the Adwords Keyword Planner Tool, take your list of products and one by one use them to gather related keywords and search volume. I recommend creating a spreadsheet for this data, as it's the easiest way to stay organized while doing keyword research.

To get started, simply click "Search for new keywords […]" and enter your product or service in the field labelled "Your product or service." If your business is local, or you simply want to target a specific location, click the first box under the "Targeting" heading. (For U.S. users, this will be labelled "United States," but may differ for international users.)

[irp]In the field labelled "Enter a location to target," type the location and the Keyword Planner should automatically suggest a few locations based on your search. You can be extremely specific with your targeting, so feel free to experiment. (Be sure to also remove the country target before clicking "Save."

Once you're ready to see your ideas, click "Get Ideas." This will send you to a results page that shows overall search data for keywords related to your search, related keyword groups (typically used for quick paid search campaigns), and individual keyword ideas that are related to your original search.

Browse through these and start adding keywords that are contextually informational to your spreadsheet. Informational? What is that?

I break keywords down into two different categories: transactional and informational. Transactional keywords are those that users search when they're looking to make a purchase. Informational keywords are used when someone is looking for information on a specific topic. Pretty simple.

For example, "used cars for sale" would be considered transactional, while "buying a used car" would be considered informational. You don't want your blog posts to be centered around transactional keywords because that should be the focus of your main/navigational content. We'll be linking to the main content from these blog posts in order to supplement that content.

Outline Topics Based on High-Volume Keywords and Get to Work

Now that you've got your keyword list, let's create a few ideas for individual blog posts based on those keywords. For our example of topic that centers around "used cars for sale," I'd pick the following keywords:

• Best Used Cars
• Buying a Used Car
• Best Used Car Deals
• Used Car Valuations
• Certified Used Cars

From here, you want to develop an idea around each of these items. Think about the information people might be looking for when searching for these keywords and try to answer some of the questions you anticipate they'd ask. Here are the posts I'd write in this situation:

• 10 Best Used Cars to Buy in 2015 - I'd gather information from all available sources in order to give readers an idea of the best used cars available in 2015. I'd base this list purely on reliability and overall value, as this is what car buyers think of as "best."
• Buying a Used Car: 5 Things to Consider - To help consumers searching for tips about the used car buying process, I'd list five of the most important things they should take into account when buying a used car, including reliability, depreciation, mileage, and ownership history.
• The Best Used Car Deals of 2015 - While somewhat similar to our "best used cars" post, the best used car deals is purely based on finding vehicles that offer the best value. Typically this means cars that allow you to save versus buying new.
• How are Used Car Valuations Determined? - In this post, I'd explain exactly how dealerships determine the value of used cars when selling and appraising trade-ins. This will not only inform users of the process, but give them a little peace of mind should they be looking to trade in a vehicle or buy one.
• What Makes Certified Used Cars Special - This is something a lot of car buyers probably wonder, and it's our job to inform them. I'd write about the evaluation process for most major brands, and the types of extra work that goes into "certifying" a used car.

Create a Blog Schedule

Now that we've got a few posts completed, let's work on creating a schedule for blogging. This will not only help you or your organization stay consistent with content efforts, but will also help you stay organized with topics and other focuses. Here's what we need to determine:

• How often you want to blog
• What topics you want to cover
• When you want to cover specific topics

How Often You Want to Blog

How often you want to blog really depends on your resources. If this is something you'll be handing off to an employee to handle in addition to other work, you may want to only require one or two posts each week. But if you have a dedicated content writer or editor, you're likely to see better results in less time with a schedule of one post each day.

What Topics You Want to Cover

For our car dealer example, they should be covering a variety of topics in order to better compete for a variety of search terms related to their business. New cars, used cars, car loans, service, and repairs are probably the most basic, and you should have keyword sets and topics ready for each of these.

When to Cover Specific Topics

If you want to stay organized, it's a good idea to focus on certain topics during certain times. So if one week you want to focus on used cars and the next focus on new, you'll have an idea of what's coming up and can plan ahead accordingly. If you have a lighter blog schedule, it's a good idea to focus on one topic for an entire month before switching the focus.

You may also want to cover some topics based on the time of year. So if you know the new models are coming in around April of next year, plan on writing about them in March to prepare for that.

Conclusion

As long as you follow these steps, blogging for business should be a breeze. A lot of work goes into the production of great blog content, but as long as you're committed and consistent you should have no problem keeping up in order to get results.

This post originally appeared on Wikimotive's blog under the title "Blogging for Business: How to Get Started" on August 24, 2015. 

Blogging for business is by no means a new phenomenon. It's been talked about for years now, and I'm sure most of you reading this have tried blogging, whether in your free time or for a business.

But while the craze around blogging has died down as it becomes more acceptable, there are still plenty of people out there skeptical about blogging and its potential benefits. In this post, I'll show you how to get started so you can be on your way to developing a more advanced and successful digital marketing strategy.

Every business's site should have a set of main pages that act as the gatekeepers of information. These offer information about your business, its services, and help assure potential customers that they're choosing the right business based on their needs.

With these pages, you're doing the bare minimum. For some businesses, that's fine. But if you're looking to go above and beyond in order to drive traffic and increase leads, a few pages just isn't going to cut it. You need other internal pages that link to this content in order to better establish authority with search engines (and users).

You have to start thinking of your site as not just a place for customers, but a resource for anyone and everyone interested in information about your services or products. That's easier said than done, though, right? Here's an example:

Wikimotive works primarily with car dealers on automotive SEO campaigns, so let's say you're a car dealer that's looking for a way to get more traffic, boost rankings, and get more high quality leads. This is how you'd start:

Create a List of Your Products and Services

Creating a list of your products and services will give you a good look at what you should be promoting and will allow you to figure out exactly what people are searching for in order to find businesses like yours.

Do Keyword Research

Using the Adwords Keyword Planner Tool, take your list of products and one by one use them to gather related keywords and search volume. I recommend creating a spreadsheet for this data, as it's the easiest way to stay organized while doing keyword research.

To get started, simply click "Search for new keywords […]" and enter your product or service in the field labelled "Your product or service." If your business is local, or you simply want to target a specific location, click the first box under the "Targeting" heading. (For U.S. users, this will be labelled "United States," but may differ for international users.)

[irp]In the field labelled "Enter a location to target," type the location and the Keyword Planner should automatically suggest a few locations based on your search. You can be extremely specific with your targeting, so feel free to experiment. (Be sure to also remove the country target before clicking "Save."

Once you're ready to see your ideas, click "Get Ideas." This will send you to a results page that shows overall search data for keywords related to your search, related keyword groups (typically used for quick paid search campaigns), and individual keyword ideas that are related to your original search.

Browse through these and start adding keywords that are contextually informational to your spreadsheet. Informational? What is that?

I break keywords down into two different categories: transactional and informational. Transactional keywords are those that users search when they're looking to make a purchase. Informational keywords are used when someone is looking for information on a specific topic. Pretty simple.

For example, "used cars for sale" would be considered transactional, while "buying a used car" would be considered informational. You don't want your blog posts to be centered around transactional keywords because that should be the focus of your main/navigational content. We'll be linking to the main content from these blog posts in order to supplement that content.

Outline Topics Based on High-Volume Keywords and Get to Work

Now that you've got your keyword list, let's create a few ideas for individual blog posts based on those keywords. For our example of topic that centers around "used cars for sale," I'd pick the following keywords:

• Best Used Cars
• Buying a Used Car
• Best Used Car Deals
• Used Car Valuations
• Certified Used Cars

From here, you want to develop an idea around each of these items. Think about the information people might be looking for when searching for these keywords and try to answer some of the questions you anticipate they'd ask. Here are the posts I'd write in this situation:

• 10 Best Used Cars to Buy in 2015 - I'd gather information from all available sources in order to give readers an idea of the best used cars available in 2015. I'd base this list purely on reliability and overall value, as this is what car buyers think of as "best."
• Buying a Used Car: 5 Things to Consider - To help consumers searching for tips about the used car buying process, I'd list five of the most important things they should take into account when buying a used car, including reliability, depreciation, mileage, and ownership history.
• The Best Used Car Deals of 2015 - While somewhat similar to our "best used cars" post, the best used car deals is purely based on finding vehicles that offer the best value. Typically this means cars that allow you to save versus buying new.
• How are Used Car Valuations Determined? - In this post, I'd explain exactly how dealerships determine the value of used cars when selling and appraising trade-ins. This will not only inform users of the process, but give them a little peace of mind should they be looking to trade in a vehicle or buy one.
• What Makes Certified Used Cars Special - This is something a lot of car buyers probably wonder, and it's our job to inform them. I'd write about the evaluation process for most major brands, and the types of extra work that goes into "certifying" a used car.

Create a Blog Schedule

Now that we've got a few posts completed, let's work on creating a schedule for blogging. This will not only help you or your organization stay consistent with content efforts, but will also help you stay organized with topics and other focuses. Here's what we need to determine:

• How often you want to blog
• What topics you want to cover
• When you want to cover specific topics

How Often You Want to Blog

How often you want to blog really depends on your resources. If this is something you'll be handing off to an employee to handle in addition to other work, you may want to only require one or two posts each week. But if you have a dedicated content writer or editor, you're likely to see better results in less time with a schedule of one post each day.

What Topics You Want to Cover

For our car dealer example, they should be covering a variety of topics in order to better compete for a variety of search terms related to their business. New cars, used cars, car loans, service, and repairs are probably the most basic, and you should have keyword sets and topics ready for each of these.

When to Cover Specific Topics

If you want to stay organized, it's a good idea to focus on certain topics during certain times. So if one week you want to focus on used cars and the next focus on new, you'll have an idea of what's coming up and can plan ahead accordingly. If you have a lighter blog schedule, it's a good idea to focus on one topic for an entire month before switching the focus.

You may also want to cover some topics based on the time of year. So if you know the new models are coming in around April of next year, plan on writing about them in March to prepare for that.

Conclusion

As long as you follow these steps, blogging for business should be a breeze. A lot of work goes into the production of great blog content, but as long as you're committed and consistent you should have no problem keeping up in order to get results.

This post originally appeared on Wikimotive's blog under the title "Blogging for Business: How to Get Started" on August 24, 2015.