Branded search vs direct search: How to optimize for brand-driven queries

So you have built a brand, large enough for it to be searched on Google? Now, how well are you ranking for all those branded queries?

A few days ago Joy Hawkins posted a very insightful thread distinguishing between two important brand-driven search queries:

• Branded searches are searches for brands that you sell (even if it’s a part of your business name) that returns a list of results.
• Direct searches are searches for your specific location that return a Knowledge Panel (also referred to as “Authoritative OneBox”).

For example, [State Farm] search triggers local-three-pack results. That’s a branded search:

[State Farm Shannon Barr] returns a knowledge graph: That is a direct search:

This classification makes your local search optimization strategy much more clearer and better organized:

• Create and optimize your third-party brand assets to dominate as many results for your direct search results as you can
• Collect all your branded search queries and create the optimization strategy to rank high (as well as appear in local-three pack)

Let’s discuss the above two points in more detail:

1. Dominate direct search results

Here’s one important thing that you need to always keep in mind when creating your strategy for these: More often than not, this search is driven by ROPO / ROBO (research online purchase/buy offline/online) behavior.

What this means is that those searchers already know you and are ready to purchase. In fact they are so ready that they take time researching you online.

This is huge.

This also needs to push you to keep a closer eye on those direct search results and what first impression they make when someone looks at them for the first time.

The first impression matters here. A lot.

With that in mind, perform and repeat the following exercises on a regular basis:

1. Perform that direct search (this may include your full business name, your business name plus your business address, your business name plus your / the owner’s name, etc.)
2. Evaluate reviews and ratings (rich snippets) searchers see right away. Should you spend some more effort on a particular platform (Yelp, Facebook, etc.) to improve your overall rating there? Should you try and push any of your other listings higher in search, those where you have managed to build a better rep? Should you try and obtain verified presence at new local platforms (probably those that rank high for your competitor’s name). Smaller local directories can give you better, easier controlled rich snippets, e.g. Business.com, DirJournal, BizJournals, etc.
3. Evaluate third-party assets those trigger (your interviews, standalone reviews, articles about you, etc.). Should there be other – more favorable 0 assets pushed there? (For example, events you spoke on, your other interviews, books, etc.) Should more of those be publicized? (E.g. publish and promote that video where you were speaking!)
4. Evaluate visual search results those trigger (images and videos). Can those be hurting that important first impression? Should I be publicizing more images, including photos, visualizations, etc.?

The search results are always evolving, so it’s important to perform those exercises on a regular basis as well come up with and implement a new plan at least yearly.

2. Collect and organize your branded search queries

This is one of those steps that’s unbelievably missed by many, even big, brands.

Remember: Your important branded search is not just your actual business name. There are hundreds and (for bigger brands) even thousands of ways your potential customers are searching for you online.

Here are a few most important ones to keep an eye on:

• ROPO queries (these are ready to buy) Your brand name + reviews
• High intent queries (almost there!): Your brand name + your product / feature. Here’s a bit more on this type
• Navigational queries (your site navigation should be addresses): Your brand name + contact / login
• Competitive research (these customers are the easiest to lose!) Your brand name vs your competitor’s name. *Wistia is doing a great job optimizing for those: Notice their well-optimized landing pages for these types of queries. Example:

And here’s another thing to remember: You want to rank #1 (and if possible #1, 2 and 3) for all of those! Otherwise, you may lose a customer to a competitor or a blogger who is suggesting a better alternative or simply advises against your brand.

But not just that! Think about all those “blended” search results that may distract the user’s attention from your brand:

• Local pack
• Videos
• Images
• Product results
• People Also Ask, etc.

Whenever these are triggered for your branded search, include a separate strategy for conquering those too, e.g. “[brand name vs your competitor’s name] needs a video”.

Serpstat is a solid platform helping you research and organize all those branded queries in a meaningful way.

• You can sort branded queries by search volume or keyword difficulty
• You can see at a glance which blended search element each query triggers (as well as filter by any)
• You can add all the branded queries to their rank tracking tool under a separate project to keep a close eye on how you rank:

Serpstat’s output gives a very good insight into search results for each keyword without the need to actually search for each one in Google. This allows you to efficiently create a thorough branded search optimization strategy.

You can read more about there keyword selection tool here.

3. Optimize for local-three pack rankings

Local-three pack has changed local search optimization a lot. It is also leaving a lot of local businesses and marketers confused because there’s not much obvious logic behind it, in some cases.

There are no official recommendations helping us understand what can get a businesses into the well-used local three pack, obviously, but here’s what I was able to collect from reputable sources and my own observations:

• Keep your local listing verified and completed (including those newer sections like Google Local Posts)
• According to Bright Local, businesses appearing in the Google Local 3-pack have an average of 47 Google Reviews (work on those reviews).
• There’s a huge on-page factor in play (Make sure those branded search queries are mentioned on your landing page)
• As basic as it sounds but keywords help everywhere: In your business description on Google local, on your page (again), in your business reviews, etc.
• Seasonal fluctuations. I’ve seen businesses with “March” in the business name suddenly appear in the three local pack during spring. I am not sure if there’s anything to do here to put this idea into practice but at least we know those rankings are not permanent.

More on ranking in local-three pack: How to Start Ranking in Google 3 Pack ASAP

Are you optimizing for your direct and branded search queries? Let us know in the comments!

source https://searchenginewatch.com/2018/11/05/branded-search-vs-direct-search-how-to-optimize-for-brand-driven-queries/

20 Things You Might Not Know About Gutenberg WordPress Editor

The Gutenberg WordPress Editor is perhaps a complicated writing workspace at first glance. In fact, its whole structure can be very intimidating to explore especially for someone who is totally comfortable with the classic editor. Some of you may have been using it already but are still quite alienated with the Gutenberg’s overall setup. Working with the “blocks” and the unfamiliar structure can be even more frustrating than writing the article itself.
In contrast, did you know that there are several ways to lighten up your Gutenberg experience through executing some hacks?
Here, let me give you a few things you might not know about Gutenberg, which can be of great help to your writing experience.
1. Edit using Classic Editor through Classic Block without worrying about backward compatibility.
If you are not that satisfied with the toolbar Gutenberg is offering, you can always switch to a classic block. A classic block allows you to change a block’s toolbar to the classic editor toolbar, which you are accustomed to.
To do this, click the plus (+) button on the upper left side of your editor, and select classic.
You will then notice that the block itself will
Source: https://managewp.org/articles/18066/20-things-you-might-not-know-about-gutenberg-wordpress-editor

source https://williechiu40.wordpress.com/2018/11/06/20-things-you-might-not-know-about-gutenberg%ef%bb%bf-wordpress-editor/

5 Best WordPress Instagram Plugins

Social media sites can are great for posting images and engaging with users. Instagram is one of the most popular social media sites/apps around, where posting images and videos with hashtags and locations can be extremely useful for your business or brand. However, you you might want to replicate these posts on your website to funnel traffic to your site, but instead of manually uploading the same images, you can use WordPress Instagram plugins to make your life easier. In this post, we highlight five WordPress Instagram plugins that will help you to automate image sharing on your site. This post has WordPress plugins that help you to create posts from Instagram automatically, import/backup posts and create beautiful Instagram feeds among other things.
In short, you’re getting the perfect Instagram plugins to boost activity and drive more traffic on your WordPress site.
Top 5 WordPress Instagram Plugins
In this section, we cover a premium Instagram plugin known as Intagrate and four other free plugins. Don’t sweat it if you’re not ready to put some money down, Intagrate has a free version as well, which allows you to test drive the plugin risk free. That being said,
Source: https://managewp.org/articles/18065/5-best-wordpress-instagram-plugins

source https://williechiu40.wordpress.com/2018/11/06/5-best-wordpress-instagram-plugins/

How to Create a Multilingual Website With Elementor and TranslatePress

Creating a website for your business or portfolio is easy thanks to WordPress and plugins such as Elementor. It’s a great way for potential clients to notice you and find you online. But, just as clients in your country can easily find you, so can potential clients from the rest of the world. And if you run the type of business who can serve clients from all over the world, wouldn’t it be nice if you could direct them to the version of your site that displays in their native language?
Fortunately, WordPress is available in many languages thanks to the translations contributed by the community. But, what happens when you need a website that’s available in more than one language?
That’s where plugins like TranslatePress come in handy. In today’s post, we’ll give you a brief overview of what TranslatePress does and then show you how you can easily use it with Elementor to translate your site’s pages directly from the front-end.
TranslatePress is a translation plugin for WordPress that can be downloaded for free and used to translate your entire site directly from the front-end. The plugin is even compatible with WooCommerce so you can easily translate
Source: https://managewp.org/articles/18064/how-to-create-a-multilingual-website-with-elementor-and-translatepress

source https://williechiu40.wordpress.com/2018/11/06/how-to-create-a-multilingual-website-with-elementor-and-translatepress/

5 Reasons To Know Who Is Logged In To WordPress

If I asked you who is logged in to your WordPress site right now, would you know? Most WordPress site admins cannot tell who is logged in to their sites or multisite network. If they use a comprehensive WordPress activity log plugin they can see who has logged in, when and from where, and what they have done in the past. Though they still they cannot say what is happening at this instances on their sites.
Since WordPress is a multi-user platform used for any kind of website, from e-commerce to online services, you need a means to see what your users and customers are doing on your website. This post highlights five reasons on why you need to know who is logged in to your site. It also explains what tool you can use to see the logged in users.
Why You Should Know Who Is Logged In To Your WordPress
In a brick and mortar business it is very easy to tell who came in to work and who is doing what. You have clocking in systems, and can physically see people doing the work. Though when you have a WordPress site it is not that easy to tell what your users are doing at this instant. Are they writing a new article, modifying an existing page or modifying the theme?
And what about the sub contracted
Source: https://managewp.org/articles/18063/5-reasons-to-know-who-is-logged-in-to-wordpress

source https://williechiu40.wordpress.com/2018/11/06/5-reasons-to-know-who-is-logged-in-to-wordpress/

Data on why retail icon Sears fell in new ecommerce economy

Sears, which long ago pioneered an early form of ecommerce through its catalog business, didn’t foresee a shifting landscape that started 25 years ago in Jeff Bezos’ garage in Seattle.

While the U.S. retail giant could have carved out a strong presence in ecommerce, it failed to act back in 2005 when Amazon became the leading internet retailer. Instead, it launched its own big-box retail chains to try to turn tide on market share loss from Walmart, Target and others.

Eleven years later in 2016, former CEO Eddie Lambert who stepped down after Sears filed for bankruptcy this/last week, warned of disruption to retailers like “Walmart, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Staples, Whole Foods and many others have felt the impact of disruptive changes from online competition and new business models.” Like many other retailers struggling to survive like Toys “R” Us, JCPenney and Macy’s, Sears is closing 142 unprofitable stores by the end of this year.

Insights on Sears.com traffic and conversions

To better understand Sears’ under-performance in the rising ecommerce economy, we analyzed data from Jumpshot’s panel of 100 million devices that tracks more than five billion consumer actions per day. The data ranges from January 2017 to September 2018.

One key finding is that Sears has barely grown online transaction volume for nearly two years. Through September, it posted almost exactly the same number of purchases, growing just 0.03% year over year. Traffic to the site has been declining. It’s down 16% for the year.

While that means Sears is converting at a slightly higher rate with less traffic, the bad news is almost half of search engine traffic now comes from paid search ads. That’s up from just over 20% from the same time last year. Nearly half of its traffic comes from Google promotions.

Sears’ private-label strategy didn’t stand the test of time 

The value for Sears’ historically strong brands like Craftsman, DieHard, and Kenmore has lost its luster. The retailer manufactured or sourced high-quality products to earn lasting trust that spanned generations and used them to generate loyalty. But, Sears failed to realize it could not rely on brand affinity forever, especially since brand loyalty is prevalent mostly among older generations who are the majority of Sears’ customer base. Instead, it’s limped along using the goodwill it’s generated to maintain sales or sell off its brands as assets.

In comparison, Amazon’s winning private-label strategy has focused on acquiring retail dominance and then moving in on established brands with its own often cheaper and lower-quality products to squeeze out the competition.

Jumpshot data shows that Sears’ strongest categories online are tools, appliance and shoes. Combined, they account for about half the transactions on Sears.com.

The tools category is a bright spot for Sears. It grew 50% year-over-year growth last year and Sears.com is the fourth ranking domain in category behind Amazon, Walmart and Home Depot.

But, 84% of tools purchases on Sears.com are driven by one brand, Craftsman, which represents about one-fifth of all online sales for Sears.

Though they’ve sold the brand to Stanley Black & Decker, Sears has wisely retained licensing rights for its most valuable brand for another 14 years.

Unfortunately, Sears performance for online sales in its two other top categories, appliance and shoes, is underwhelming compared to competitors.

Its Kenmore brand drives 62% of all appliance sales on Sears.com, but appliance sales have been flat so far this year, down 0.1% year-over-year through the end of Q3. It ranks ninth in market  share with only a 1.6% sliver of the pie by domain. Amazon outpaces the pack with a 69% market share in the category. Others ahead of Sears in online appliance sales include Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, Kohls, Best Buy and Bed Bath & Beyond.

Sears’ performance in the shoes category is far worse, and most of the traffic it is generating is tied to legacy brand DieHard boots.

Four of the top six keywords leading to interactions with the brand include the DieHard name, and it’s paying for consumers’ attention with nearly half of its traffic from those keywords being driven by paid ads. Overall, Sears.com is ranked 17^th among a crowd of competitors for market share by domain.

Lack of ecommerce vision may sadly end in Sears’ liquidation

In a plea to employees last week during a town hall meeting as Sears gears up for a do-or-die holiday season, Chairman Eddie Lampert said “we need to show material progress over the next few months” to avoid liquidation. In a past warning, he stated that Google and Amazon are forcing traditional brick-and-mortar businesses “to evolve or face dissatisfied users and shareholders, leading to major corporate actions.”

Even if Sears didn’t surpass Amazon as the king of ecommerce, if it had acted earlier to adapt to a changing landscape, it could have been a fierce contender. If only Sears had seen the future of online commerce around the time of its Kmart merger in 2004, it could have successfully reinvented itself as a leader in a new internet retail economy. Instead it chose to imitate other big-box retailers instead of using its considerable resources to take on Amazon.

As Kurt Vonnegut wrote: “Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are: ‘It might have been.’” Only time will tell with Sears’ final fate, but the future is not looking bright. If you follow the search engine data insights, they clearly show the strong likelihood of Sears’ downfall in light of the rise of ecommerce.

Deren Baker is the CEO of Jumpshot.

 

source https://searchenginewatch.com/2018/11/05/data-why-retail-icon-sears-fell-in-new-ecommerce-economy/

Strategic Blogging Tips, Rules, and Etiquette for Success

There’s no doubt WordPress became the most powerful blogging platform on the planet. It’s easy to update, easy to use, and flexible enough to support dozens of bells and whistles. None of that matters, however, if your blog isn’t up to par. We’ve created this four chapter guide to help beginners understand how to build a great blog, one which will attract readers, keep them, and build an unforgettable community.
You see, a great blog is about more than great writing. It’s about reaching out and joining a conversation, and doing so in a way that is professional, eye-catching, and interesting. There are a lot of unspoken rules of blogging you should know, and there are some behind-the-scenes tricks which can help you build a better blog. Our goal is to provide you with both.
Blogging doesn’t have to be hard, but it helps to know what you’re doing. Our guide is designed to help you build a great blog from the ground up. However, you can also use these blogging tips to retool an existing blog.
Chapter 1: Good Blogging Takes Great Planning
Start by Knowing Your Goals
Your goals will have a big impact on the way you handle your blog. A blog meant
Source: https://managewp.org/articles/18062/strategic-blogging-tips-rules-and-etiquette-for-success

source https://williechiu40.wordpress.com/2018/11/05/strategic-blogging-tips-rules-and-etiquette-for-success/