We pride ourselves on our ability to stay ahead of consumer and industry search trends. That means taking every opportunity to network and collaborate with fellow Thought Leaders in the space, so we can stay abreast of technological developments and other drivers of change.
This month saw BrightonSEO return for an autumn conference where our Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and marketing teams were lucky enough to attend and harvest their top tips for us to share with you all!
Did you know by the end of this year, video will make up 82.5% of all online traffic? Video is more engaging, more dimensional, and more informative. So, it’s very quickly becoming the standard across all sites not least in automotive. In fact, our partner Phyron, reinforces this statistic with their own data suggesting that vehicle adverts with videos get on average 50% more visits and sell 3-5 days faster compared to adverts without video.
But what advantages can video have on SEO? Meg Green, a Content Strategist at Croud (recently awarded Performance Marketing Agency of the Year), shared that more consumers are reaching for videos for reviews, step-by-step tutorials and inspiration. This makes them a completely untapped resource for getting your brand visible on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
If videography has not been factored into your 2023-2024 strategy, you could be missing out on major SERP real estate.
Clustering is the act of building and collecting content on a single topic and linking them together on your website.
Not only does it improve user experience and increase dwell time on your site, but it also increases your authority on the topic. If you’re surfacing all your research and evidence on a subject in one place, you are illustrating your expertise to both consumers and search engines. And, if Google considers you an authoritative source, you will rank higher on the results page.
Martin Hayman, SEO Strategist and Cofounder of RankCaddy, confirms that authority even plays a big part in Google’s E-E-A-T Guidelines (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness).
It doesn’t matter how competitive your primary subject is, the key is to become an authority on the topic as a whole. This can include linking content about sub-topics related to the main subject. All of which contribute heavily to a higher ranking.
You’ve heard it before. Content is King. And, though this fact still reigns true, it’s important to remember that not every needs to break the mould.
Not all blog posts are going to reach optimal performance. But those that don’t, are still a critical part of your strategy. They make room for the ones that will raise the roof. What’s important is that you’re regularly uploading content that’s authentic to your business, so don’t put pressure on your team to deliver the perfect blog post every time. Jared Keleher, an Organic Performance Marketing Lead at Wise suggests that even the bad ones contribute towards a better ranking and can aid the performance of the ones you’re most proud of.
Similarly, content can take up to 5-6 months to mature. So, give your pieces time to perform. Just because they don’t get the traction you suspect in the first month (or even three months), that doesn’t mean they won’t perform in the following three.
Reviews should be an important part of your strategy. Be it surfacing reviews on your site to build trust or proactively combatting negative reviews, so they don’t become the first thing a prospective customer sees.
Greg Gifford, Chief Operating Officer at SearchLab, gave us a crash course in how to proactively manage your reviews so they work in your favour.
Reviews will stay in the default sort section longer if they contain photos, are longer in length and/or receive 2 or more upvotes. Unfortunately, negative reviews are likely to contain at least 2 of these.
Of course, we encourage you to always offer consumers a first-class service, but if a negative review is proving to be a stubborn regular in that default section get in touch with a really happy customer. Ask them to write a long review with questions to prompt them. Ask them to upload a photo and get two people you know to upvote it. You’ll saturate the sort section with positivity in no time.
Keyword Research is critical. It directs the attention of an ACTIVE audience who are already searching for related topics. A strategy without keyword research is ineffective and is not likely to reach the right people. Put yourself in the mind of an automotive consumer. Where is your audience active? Where do they go for information? What terms do they search for?
Jess Malony, Search Strategy Lead at Rise at Seven went on to say consumers are now using more channels than ever before and it’s key we stay up to date with the platforms like Instagram, Youtube and TikTok to ensure no audience goes untapped. Understanding your audience should be the key driver of any keyword research. While competitor research can help you focus your efforts, blindly replicating a competitor’s strategy is not a sustainable approach.
Brighton SEO continues to strive for diversity across all their speakers and the latest BrightonSEO was no different, ensuring we heard from speakers from all walks of life.
We’d like to congratulate BrightonSEO for executing and delivering upon this vision. Diversity is more than just different nationalities. It’s different perspectives and different approaches to problem-solving. Diversity will continue to be a key driver of innovation across every industry, and we can’t wait to see the effect it will have on progression.
Thank you to all the organisers and speakers for executing another fantastic event. Not only did we learn new tips and tricks to help our customers better connect with consumers, but we also gained insight into key trends to come!
For example, John Mueller, Senior Search Analyst & Search Relations Team Lead at Google, teased that we may soon be seeing an update to Google's algorithm that encompasses structure data!
If you’d like to keep up to date with the latest trends throughout the tech and automotive industry, don’t forget to follow our company page on LinkedIn.