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Big Footprint is happy to announce the addition of a new team member, Kim Parish!
Kim joins the team with over 15 years of experience in Operations and Project Management and will fill the newly created position of Director of Operations.
Kim has been in Operations/Project Management since obtaining her Bachelor’s in Marketing/Master’s degree in Public Administration. Kim is also certified in Project Management and is a Certified Public Manager!
Kim lives in Tallahassee, Florida and enjoys being outdoors, when the weather isn’t too hot! She also loves getting lost in a good book.
Welcome to the team Kim!
Big Footprint is happy to announce the addition of a new team member, Chris Hickey!
Chris joins Big Footprint as the Director of SEO with 20 years of Digital Marketing and organic search optimization experience. Since moving to Denver in 2000, he has spent most of his time in the agency world, crafting strategy for websites of all shapes and sizes.
He loves to dive deep into figuring out issues with websites – technical or other – and helping clients identify areas of opportunity, define goals, implement solutions and see the end results from SEO strategies.
Chris graduated from Ohio University with a bachelor of science degree in Management Information Systems (MIS) and International Business. He resides in Denver with his wife, two kids and dog Hazel.
Welcome to the team Chris!
Connect with Chris on LinkedIn.
Big Footprint just launched the new website for GigSmart, a best-in-class, cost-effective staffing solution that allows users to find on-demand Workers nearby. We are thrilled with the result and our Client is too.
The website launch was the culmination of an engagement involving design, development, and organic search (SEO) strategy.
With offices in Denver and Cincinnati, GigSmart needed a fully optimized and mobile-friendly web presence to fuel its next stage of growth. The site is built upon the latest CMS technologies and incorporates all best practices of SEO.
If you’re looking to revamp, evolve, or just optimize your website, contact Big Footprint.
Big Footprint just launched the new website for Rimilia, the first and only AI-powered automation platform built to manage the order-to-cash process in real-time.
The website was the culmination of a partnership between the Client Rimilia, Big Footprint, and Catalyst Marketing Agency in Denver. Catalyst provided web design and copywriting, with Big Footprint providing web development and SEO.
With offices in Colorado, Toronto, and the United Kingdom, the company needed a digital presence which would allow for B2B international SEO. The site is built upon the latest WordPress technologies and incorporates all best practices of B2B SEO.
If you’re looking to revamp, evolve, or just optimize your website, contact Big Footprint.
If you’re investing the time to generate great content, of course you want it to be visible within search results. Whether you’re a content creator of blogs, articles, or some other medium, there are several steps and strategies you can utilize to optimize your work.
These principles apply to both B2B or B2C content, and if followed will ensure maximum visibility within organic search results.
Keyword Research – Use free or paid tools to do basic research around the topic to identify the most opportunistic keyword phrases in terms of volume and competition. For most posts you could target 1-3 keywords/phrases, but in principle you need content specifically about that topic to rank. Align these keywords and your copy with user intent.
Google the Keywords You Plan to Use – Before you commit to the keywords and writing the article… Google the same terms you hope to rank for in order to see what ranks now! This way you’ll see if the top ranking positions are “out of reach” from an SEO standpoint. If you see Wikipedia and other powerful, established, popular websites, it may be better to pivot to a different, less competitive keyword in hopes to obtaining traffic from it. In addition, analyze the composition and makeup of the SERP (search engine results page). This will reveal whether text is enough to rank, or if you’ll need images, video, infographics, or other types of rich content to compete at the top.
Note the SERP Features – When you Google your target keywords, you may also notice SERP features like “People Also Ask,” “Featured Snippets,” and the “Knowledge Box” which can also offer opportunities for on-SERP optimization via other tactics like schema markup. These kind of SERP features are most often seen in a few types of searches:
Google will only display a short excerpt of the text on your full page, so you must be sure to provide an answer less than 50 words. For an even better chance at a featured snippet, include the question as a heading and then answer the question directly below.
Write the Post with Depth of Content – Try to have at least 300 words if not more, and include rich media such as images, embedded video, and other types of content beyond text. Remember to also optimize these assets as best you can, for example adding ALT text to images and using a transcript for videos. Lastly, don’t forget to weave the same keywords you want to rank for into the headings and sub-headings of your blogs (h1, h2, etc.).
Internal & External Linking Considerations – A critical component of content optimization is including internal and external links within the copy. Internal links should connect the page’s content to logical and relevant pages within your own site. Make sure to utilize optimized anchor text or typescript, which is the often blue and underlined text making up the link. Search engines examine the text making up the link as an indicator of what the resulting content will be about, so instead of Click Here it would be better to use a link like Learn about X Topic here. External links are also important. Remember to cite sources and link to relevant content outside of your website (when applicable).
Include a Call to Action (CTA) – Don’t just write a great piece of content with no next step – give the user something to do! Include a Call to Action within the post (or multiple CTAs if that makes sense) to ensure your readers have a clear path to conversion, whatever that may be.
Title Tag and Meta Description – Wait until you’ve completed the post/article itself to generate a title tag and meta description. This will help you “see the post from 30,000 feet” and ensure your title and description are spot-on. Remember, the title tags should be written for search engines and include target keywords (it’s one of the most critical on-page SEO elements). One the other hand, you should your meta descriptions for users as this element has no bearing on ranking, but is the statement users see in the results that should entice and/or compel them to click your result and not one of the other options on Google.
Author and Date – If you have the ability to author and date the post, you should. This helps search engines understand your content hierarchy and publishing history, which are both factors in ranking.
Categorization – Select the most relevant category for the post or article. This will make your content more “search-able” within your blog and also more “find-able.”
Enable Social Sharing – All of your posts should theoretically be primed for social sharing. This can be one CTA like the example mentioned above, but it will help promote the visibility of your content within social channels.
Measure & Grow – Make sure to utilize a measurement solution of some kind, whether it be Google Analytics and/or Search Console or another platform. You can also track organic rankings through several tools, our favorite of which is Authority Labs.
Repurpose & Update Top Performing Content Over Time – Using the measurement tools discussed above, be sure to monitor your top performing content over time. Then you can repurpose or update it, adding depth that will help keep the post at the top of the rankings. Remember, don’t change the URL and if you have to for some reason, use a 301 redirect.
Responsiveness Is Not an Option – In today’s mobile-first world, responsiveness is a requirement for success. Sites that lack mobile-friendly content and features will see themselves penalized within search results.
Ensure Your URL Structure Is Optimal – While this is not a simple change, in principle you should seek to create clean, clear, and concise URLs for your content. Avoid dynamic URLs with symbols or characters, and use dashes to separate words (www.example.com/in-a-title-for-instance).
Generate & Submit an XML Sitemap – The generation and submission of XML sitemaps will help ensure your website is indexed and optimally crawled by search engines. Depending on your Content Management System, there may be features or plugins allowing you to generate the XML Sitemap(s). Yoast is a popular tool for WordPress XML Sitemap features for instance.
Slow Load Speeds Hurt – Google and other search engines are putting more emphasis on the overall user experience. Hence, if your site is super slow with respect to load times, or suffers from many crawl errors, hidden text, or other poor-UX features, you can expect that fact to be reflected in the rankings.
Update Previously “Thin” Content – While most copywriters focus on forward-facing optimizations, you can also work backward into your body of work to identify new SEO opportunities! Review or crawl your past posts to identify “thin” content with under 250 words, then begin to optimize these assets with more depth and or rich media.
Monitor Your “Mentions” – Oftentimes a website will mention a company or brand in text and not link to it. You can use various tools like Moz or others to “monitor” the web for mentions of your keywords or brands, which you can then contact to request a link or offer something like a quote or a reciprocal value proposition. There are a variety of examples we could cite, but monitoring your mentions will open up more doors for linking opportunities.
With organic search representing such a critical inbound channel for most websites, Content Optimization strategies are essential.
By following the tips provided in this resource, you’ll put your content in the best position to rank.
Questions? Big Footprint can help establish and direct a process for content optimization.
Big Footprint is happy to announce the addition of a new team member, Lex Urquhart!
Lex will be serving as Big Footprint’s Senior Paid Media Manager.
He boasts 7 years of experience in a wide range of platforms including Google Ads, Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Programmatic Display and more. With this knowledge of multiple paid platforms, he brings a strategic approach to best fit client needs within given budgets and goals.
Since he started branching out from Google Ads into other platforms over 4 years ago, Lex helped generate and further establish Paid Social and Display departments to help agencies better serve their clients. Having been a business owner himself, he prides himself on understanding clients’ Paid Search Optimization needs from relational experience.
Lex enjoys many things including making/listening to music, skateboarding, snowboarding, climbing, yoga, long hikes with his dog, and grilling out with friends. In his past, Lex has worked with large scale music festivals to help them sell out capacity and enjoyed the company he’s made along the way.
Welcome to the team Lex!
Big Footprint is happy to announce the addition of a new team member, Noah Johnson!
Noah will be Big Footprint’s Director of Digital Media.
He brings more than 10 years of knowledge based on experience in both the corporate and agency landscape. He has experience in the agency world as an SEO and Paid Search account manger. He’s also led paid search agency teams, and developed internal systems focused on deliverables as well as the overall client experience.
Noah has extensive experience working alongside hundreds of clients to help develop and execute successful paid advertising strategies to help their businesses achieve real, tangible goals. He is focused on serving our clients and internal paid advertising team to ensure that Big Footprint delivers consistent results that are constantly aligned with the clients goals.
When he’s not creating at Big Footprint, you can find Noah on his snowboard, with a backpack on top of a mountain (and his dog Marley, of course), or experiencing other incredible adventures that Colorado has to offer!
Welcome to the team Noah!
Connect with Noah on LinkedIn.
Big Footprint is happy to announce the addition of a new team member, Jacob Rice!
As the Director of Development, Jacob started at Big Footprint in October 2018. He is an expert in design, branding, creating landing pages, and developing websites in WordPress.
As our internal director of web development, Jacob stays on the forefront of the latest changes in technology. His focus is on functional design which emphasizes usability, aesthetics, and lead generation.
Jacob resides in the Denver area with his wife, baby, and their dog. He enjoys spending time with his family, baking, and obsessing over the various minutiae of all the movies, music, and other pop culture artifacts he finds fascinating.
Welcome to the team Jacob!
Connect with Jacob on LinkedIn.
Big Footprint is happy to announce the addition of a new team member, Jamie Webster. As the VP of Growth, Jamie will lead sales and business development strategy for the agency.
After starting at the end of September 2018, Jamie is already digging into sales and getting involved in driving results for our clients. With 13 years of experience in Business Development, Jamie brings the insight necessary to help Clients identify and execute critical Search Marketing tactics and quantify revenue goals.
An Irishman by birth, Jamie has called Colorado home for the last 5 years. He loves to spend time with his wife and dog, travel, golf, and read.
Welcome to the team Jamie!
Connect with Jamie on LinkedIn.
We’re excited to announce that Big Footprint recently relocated to a new Denver office.
The Flight Building is a recent addition to the growing RiNo neighborhood, and the team is excited about the business community here. In addition the TAXI campus includes a gym, pool, coffee shop, heritage food incubator, and other amenities we’re enjoying so far.
The energy of the space is apparent, with our neighbors TechStars and the Nature Conservancy doing some really impactful work (everyone in the building is though). Boa is the building’s main tenant and adds its brand’s vibe add to the feel.
Feel free to drop in and say hello if you find yourself in the area!
When it comes to keyword research and analysis, we’ve seen a variety of approaches throughout our years in the agency business.
Most search marketing practitioners seek the same goal, but employ widely different deliverables and processes to get there.
While the resulting analysis needs to be accurate and actionable, there are certainly elements that define what amazing B2B keyword research looks and feels like.
So that brings us to the topic of this blog… what separates the best from the rest when it comes to keyword analysis?
In order to fully understand the scope of research – and the digital marketing problems you’re solving as a consultant, it is imperative that you embark on your “own” Discovery process. In this case the pun is intended. If you don’t OWN your Discovery process- in the sense of asking the right questions, developing systems for metrics and forecasts, and accessing the available web analytics data – then your keyword research will be missing it’s most important primary source material.
As a B2B search marketer, you need to adhere to your own process – and own the progress and resulting outcome. This critical step ensures you understand the intricacies of the client’s business, the competition, their unique value elements, the B2B “Buyer’s Journey,” and ultimately how your success will be measured.
Within our practice – and as a Google Certified Partner agency – we rely on Google’s Keyword data. But we can all agree that the best research always includes thorough exploration and usage of various source materials.
So we also supplement that data with other tools like Moz, SEMRush, Bing, and even social data from LinkedIn and Facebook (when available and relevant).
Before you can proceed in the most thoughtful direction, this step is a must because it allows you to get access to the right tools or reports, verify the source materials, check the data, and ask the right questions – so you can work in the most optimal manner toward identifying the mission-critical keywords in the Client’s space.
“Strategy” is a broad term which is hard to define. When it comes to a Keyword Research process, it is almost easier to look at the issue from the opposite direction. What makes a lazy or shallow deliverable? That is easier to define, and we’ve all certainly seen them in the course of our careers.
Perhaps it was a “deliverable” that was just an export of some data with no labels. Or perhaps the data points weren’t even defined – or worse yet the analysis includes many terms the Client mentioned not to use. It’s always disheartening to see situations like these, but this helps us understand what a “strategic” process really looks like. It is by definitions based around critical thinking. It is thorough, shows comprehension, accurate data, and includes clear data-driven recommendations and definitions.
The best work always shows an understanding of B2B principles and how they’re applied to the Client’s digital footprint.
This is not a new concept in B2B – but it’s application to the keyword research process can be all your own. Your goal here is to understand how your Client’s customers are searching online – and what stage of the Buyer’s Journey they’re in – so that you can connect with them at those different stages with different keywords. If you aren’t considering these principles in your B2B keyword research, you are probably missing many opportunities.
Big Footprint’s application of this extends beyond keyword research and into many other tactical aspects of paid search. Learn more about how we target different stages of the Buyer’s Journey here.
Another essential data set that you must leverage (if available) is that generated from paid search efforts. Many clients in B2B have paid search campaigns running, or have in the past, so the data is often there if you ask for it.
What will you learn from paid search data that can drive keyword analysis? Many things, including what terms have converted the best, which ads have the highest click through rate, and what keywords are negative-matched. This will help ensure accuracy and lend another source of credible, real-world click data to support – or perhaps refute – your targeting recommendations.
In any consulting engagement, there are always certain “intangibles” that separate the best from the rest. These can stem from the way the result is delivered, the result itself, and even the way the result is achieved.
How then can a search marketing agency be different in that respect?
To provide examples, we’ll put Big Footprint’s Clients under the lens to illustrate some of the ways we have evolved our practice in this way.
Our “Targeting Value” Metric: This is a unique way to show your agency is a cut above. We developed a metric we call “targeting value” which examines how competitive and “own-able” a given keyword is based on the SERP, linking metrics, and usage of the term across the web. After explaining how it works to Clients, and why it’s wonderful to condense that much information into a “score,” you can not only dig deeper, but impress Clients with your expertise.
Useful Documentation: We are obsessive about the Client’s experience with the actual deliverable. This extends from the presentation itself (in person or via phone) all the way to the format and organization of the document itself. We ensure that the information is provided to enable productive usage of the document, and that it’s accessible to all members.
Client Alignment Focus: Several of our B2B Clients have told us that by working through and engaging with our Keyword Analysis process, they have been able to establish better organizational alignment with respect to goals, success metrics, and marketing’s role in lead generation.
Brand & Product Positioning Insights:
Keyword Analysis exposes the truth about user search behavior, and Clients co-opt those truths into their own marketing narrative and messaging.
Hopefully this post can help to foster and continue the conversation about what amazing B2B keyword research looks like.
Are you trying to understand how to connect with your audience online? Contact Big Footprint.
Bing Ads featured Big Footprint and our client Datavail in the latest agency partner case study. Access the full story and infographic here.
We were flattered to be considered one of Denver’s premier search marketing agencies, and as a Bing Ads partner we are grateful to have the direct support of their team.
Published last week, it explains the overall strategy and how Bing Ads and B2B Paid Search tactics were utilized to target specific buyers.
By the end of the campaign, Datavail and Big Footprint used Bing Ads to achieve a 36% increase in traffic. Leads increased by 40% while the cost per lead dropped by 41% year over year.
Our client testimonial noted the following:
“Bing Ads is a valuable channel in our search marketing mix that has allowed us to reach B2B decision makers. I’m very proud of the growth and success we achieved with our partners at Big Footprint. The results speak for themselves.”
— ROBIN CAPUTO, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, DATAVAIL
Looking for results like these? Contact Big Footprint for an initial consultation.
A snapshot of the infographic is below:
We’re happy to announce the addition of Todd Colston to Big Footprint’s growing team of Denver digital marketing experts. Todd is our newest Search Account Executive. Learn more about Todd here.
His role encompasses Client and Project Management, as well as Foundational and Ongoing SEO. Marketing Analytics, User Interaction Analysis, and SEO-driven website migrations are also areas of Todd’s practice.
Todd brings a diverse background that’s allowed him to assess and deduce value from various source points during his previous digital marketing roles. His 6 years experience in search, research, and analysis drive positive results and fulfill the unique needs of enterprise-level SEO clients (and SMBs).
Todd enjoys many hobbies including cooking, brewing beer, movies, playing music, and spending time with friends. He has won awards for his homebrew beer and is super proud to have recently won a meatball competition (they were really good, you should be jealous). A recent Coloradan, he enjoys hiking, biking, camping, and will soon acquire many bruises learning how to ski.
We’re happy to announce the addition of Thomas Raville to Big Footprint’s growing team of Denver search marketing experts as our newest Search Account Executive. Learn more about Thomas here.
Thomas will oversee Digital Account Management covering campaign strategy, project management, and Sales and Marketing integration for B2B clients.
With a unique background of over 7 years of experience in Business Development and Search Marketing tactics, Thomas brings the insight necessary to bridge the gap between Sales and Marketing teams. Thomas’ ability to quantify revenue goals and prove a return on investment across digital campaigns has made him invaluable to his clients.
A Southerner from birth, Thomas has called Colorado home for the last four years and doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon. When he’s not reading or nerding out on the latest marketing and tech trends, you can find him on his mountain bike with his dog Ellie not far behind.
Big Footprint is proud to announce the launch of the new and improved CollegeInvest website.
The new website lives at https://www.collegeinvest.org/ and is fully optimized with best practices of technical SEO, search marketing, and web analytics tracking.
The launch was the culmination of a a lot of hard work by our team, the Client, and partner agencies Cultivator (providing design and branding) and Explore Communications (providing media buying and strategy).
CollegeInvest’s mission statement explains that the organization’s goal is “to provide a variety of savings options that all meet the needs of Colorado families, regardless of saving and investment preferences. We provide expert information, simple financial planning tools, and tax advantaged 529 college savings plans to help Coloradans achieve their higher education goals.”
We’re happy to announce the addition of Tyler Dow to our team. Tyler joined Big Footprint’s growing team of Denver search marketing experts a few weeks ago as our newest Digital Project Manager.
Tyler’s primary role at Big Footprint will be digital project management, encompassing everything from web development and SEO strategy to execution of custom web analytics tracking tactics for B2B clients.
As an experienced designer & developer, he brings more than 7 years of successful client and project management to the team. With a deep understanding of marketing technologies and tactics, Tyler is able to accurately plan and manage the risks and opportunities that face any new project. As a previous designer, he has a keen eye for making projects look great while functioning at the highest standards of today’s technology.
Originally from Minnesota, Tyler has traveled all over the country with his wife and dog, including five years in Seattle, WA. He’s a recent transplant to Denver and when he’s not in front of a computer, you can catch him in the mountains or on the river with his fly rod.
Big Footprint is happy to announce that it’s now officially a Bing Partner agency.
We’re excited to evolve our relationship with Bing and bring our Clients new opportunities for growth.
The team first learned that we’d be the latest addition when our Bing account group shared the news last week at our meeting in Denver.
As part of the Bing Partner Program, we can continue our mission of bringing Clients the latest and greatest in paid search innovations, beta programs, and industry insights.
Bing’s program is designed to distinguish leading agencies in the search marketing world through free training opportunities, exclusive marketing and sales resources, and technical support. Learn more about the program here.
While there are several other Denver-based paid search agencies already in the program, we are proud to join the ranks of these elite practitioners.
Are you looking for a better partner in paid search? Contact Big Footprint for an account audit and you’ll see why we’re the best in search marketing.
Big Footprint is proud to announce the launch of the Colorado ABLE website this past week.
If you haven’t heard the news, Colorado joined a growing list of states with a new program that offers tax-advantaged savings plans for people living with disabilities. The Colorado ABLE program will allow disabled individuals and their families to save up to $100,000 in the special accounts, without affecting their eligibility for SSI, Medicaid and other public assistance. A recent story from Denver’s 7 News includes a clip of the segment that aired August 22, 2017, and more information about the program.
The project was a collaborative effort with Big Footprint providing web development and technical SEO, and partner agency Cultivator Advertising & Design providing visual communications, and the client CollegeInvest, a not-for-profit division within the Colorado Department of Higher Education that has grown to become the state’s most trusted resource in helping to attain a higher education through tax-advantaged College Savings Plans.
Contact Big Footprint for assistance with your next web development or SEO project.
About a week ago, Google announced the launch of a new Native Advertising feature within AdSense – and aptly named it “Native Ads for AdSense.”
Before this, native advertising was not new by any means, but search marketers had fewer options with less data and reach. With Google entering the market, we can expect to see a lot more native advertising moving forward, but hopefully in a way that is more meaningful, relevant, and less intrusive than the past thanks to Google’s “user-first” philosophy.
If you’re reading this blog it’s more than likely that you’re familiar with the concept, look, and feel of native advertising, but if not here’s a quick introduction to the topic.
Publishers can work with Google or other services to present click-based, revenue-driving ads on their website. These ads match the look and feel of your site, hence the “native” adjective.
Google will now support “In-feed,” “In-article,” and “Matched Content” native ad options – all three of which can be run separately or simultaneously.
“Matched content” native advertising
“In-article” native advertising example
“In-feed” native advertising example
In past search projects, we relied on Taboola and Outbrain to manage native advertising campaigns (there are also many other services out there). Both platforms require set-up, on-boarding, and the typical tasks you’d expect with any service platform of this type. While we were happy with these services, we will see if Google offers a faster, easier, or more direct avenue to publishing these ads in way that drives MROI. Google for one certainly will behind this drive – and they have the formula right. Consider that advertising revenues from Google-owned properties has grown 30% each quarter year over year for all of 2016 ($64+ billion), while growth in the “Google Network Member” segment was only growing at 4% during this period ($15.6 billion).
According to Google publishing native ads is as easy as creating an AdSense account and clicking “+New Ad Unit” although I am sure using this channel effectively is nowhere near as easy as running shotgun ads. You can read all about it directly from Google here.
1) Greater Reach via Native Advertising: Google’s digital footprint is the largest the world has ever seen, so we can expect added reach with their products, especially if these aids can be paired with remarketing tactics.
2) Greater Relevance: If you use Gmail, Chrome, or other Gsuite products, Google knows a lot about you – your interests, browsing habits, products you’re shopping for etc. So we can expect this data to drive the accuracy and relevance of native advertising in a way other vendors never could – because they never had this much data.
3) Better CTRs: Google has a naturally higher CTR so this will likely continue within native ads moving forward, but consider the impact in a slight improvement of native CTR versus Display CTR. Especially with the growth of ad-blocking technology and other browser tools, we have to make marketing dollars go a lot farther with a few percentage point increases in CTR.
4) Faster Speed to Market: Again, if you’re reading this, you’re likely a search marketing practitioner who already has an AdWords and AdSense account. So creating, funding, and publishing new native ads (at least in theory) could be much more efficient than other platforms and vendors.
5) Better Browsing UX: With better targeting and relevance in native advertising, we can hope that publishers will also realize that better UX and CRO mean a lot to readers. Less obstruction with pop-ups, hover states, and other unrelated offers will hopefully decline as native advertising drives better performing traffic.
If native advertising is a digital marketing or search strategy you think your company should be pursuing, contact us for a consultation.
If you’re a digital marketer in 2017, it’s likely you’ve noticed big changes in your organic traffic volume. Hopefully the changes you’ve all measured were positive, but one worrisome trend we documented (and have seen other SEOs exploring as well) is the fact that the value of organic rankings seems to be eroding over time.
What does that even mean? In this case I am defining “value” as to the amount of organic traffic reaching your website via terms you own (meaning you rank in the Top 3 positions).
Yet one variable which you’d often suspect as the cause of an organic decline hasn’t changed at all – rankings!
So if you still rank #1 for a bunch of different keywords, why is organic traffic volume eroding?
This puts a new suspect into clear focus – a change in organic click-through rate. More commonly referred to as (CTR) and more often used in a paid search setting, CTR measures the rate at which users click your presence versus the number of times it appears. Essentially, it is calculated as clicks divided by impressions.
There are several reasons for this we’ve identified through our web analytics data that are echoed by other studies in the industry, all of which I will cite below when any of their findings are shared.
One final note, this isn’t unanimously true. Some clients’ organic traffic driven through informational content and rankings (ie. Blogs, Articles, and Guides) experienced a greater decrease across the board, while many commercial-focused topics did not see the same erosion. So keep in mind your reliance on content vs. transactional intent will determine how much this affects you.
The leading cause for most of our clients organic traffic erosion is Google Featured Snippets, especially those whose organic portfolio was content heavy. MozCast data suggests that about 15% of organic results include a Featured Snippet, and if you rely on your content for organic growth your own situation is likely much higher.
One technology firm – Wordstream – ran their own assessment and concluded that a #1 Google ranking is 37% less valuable (in terms of CTR) than it was two years ago. Wait… what? This was uncovered in a smart way. The company used Search Console data and organic rankings data to determine that the CTR was falling for many keywords they “owned” in #1 position. Despite no change in rankings, organic clicks and traffic decreased by 37%.
Wordstream’s methodology and results are sound – and you can replicate this if you have Google Webmaster Tools and Search Console history (and access to your rankings history). Another source cited was Advanced Web Ranking, which found that “ranking #1 in Google has a 23.5% mobile click-through rate, down from 28.6% in 2015” in their own study of this. If you try this yourself, let us know!
Let’s not forget that the SERPs continue to change in other ways, too. Google added more real estate for paid search last year, and we are noticing more image and social results, Google’s Knowledge Panel, local map results, “People also ask (related questions),” reviews, sitelinks, and more.
Top organic queries always had to compete against other elements on the SERPs, but the competition for your attention is growing more heated as search engines evolve and mobile search volume grows.
For almost all of our B2B client portfolio, mobile organic CTR is lower than on desktop. A post from Moz/Jumpshot data (and one of the best posts of the year in my opinion), also posited this and then measured organic CTR as lower on mobile devices than on desktop.
The data mirrored marketers’ intuition, and showed that on mobile devices, 40.9% of Google searches result in an organic click, 2% in a paid click, and 57.1% in no click at all. For desktop devices, 62.2% of Google searches result in an organic click, 2.8% in a paid click, and 35% in no click at all.
The stat that should especially jump out at you is that nearly 60% of mobile searches result in no click at all. Of course this spans a variety of situations, tons and tons of data, and a myriad of search intent, but the point is that Google is seeking to answer as many questions as possible on the SERPs.
We replicated this test with our own data and for 5 different clients (with varying levels of reliance on content for organic success), and the mean decrease in organic CTR was 26%. Not as bad as what Wordstream found but it really does depend on whether the topic can be defined in a sentence on the SERPs or if it’s more complex. For instance, you can answer “what does SEO mean” in a satisfactory manner for the user on the SERP, while you couldn’t even scratch the surface of “how does SEO work” in a single sentence.
Here are a few ideas to improve your organic CTR, and insulate yourself from this effect as best you can.
• Leverage a strong content generation strategy that is not easily replicated or defined in short summary fashion. Focus on user intent and aspire to create the highest-quality content you can (easier said than done trust me I know). Don’t just start writing either. Sit down and invest time in researching the topic to see what is out there, then decide what you can do to improve upon that. Otherwise you’re throwing pennies into the wishing well. By answering complex questions with top-notch information, you can avoid losing traffic on the SERPs.
• Review your meta descriptions and title tags. Rewrite the boring boilerplate descriptions with compelling, interesting copy that makes a user want to click it. Use lists, numbers, and emotional words to draw users’ attention on an otherwise crowded SERP. Who wouldn’t want to click on “7 Powerful SEO Tactics To Drive Traffic & Revenue” – that title would draw eyeballs.
• Publish and promote your content in other places, like through social media optimization or via paid content syndication.
• Consider publishing content in new mediums, such as video. Users watching a video illustrate much stronger topical intent than those seeking a quick definition on the SERPs.
• Determine which of your formerly top-performing organic URLs have suffered the most organic decline, and utilize paid search to fill the funnel if necessary.
• Craft your page titles with paid search data (ex: using the most effective headlines and ad copy to drive page title and meta description).
These are just a few ways we are trying to improve organic CTR in the face of recent trends and SERP changes.
Contact us if this is a search problem you’re suffering from currently.
At yesterday’s Google Marketing Next event in San Francisco, we learned much about the future of what the search leader has in store for users and the marketers seeking to reach them.
Before we cover the big news, Google shared a few stats that you will find hard to believe – but they’re true.
1) Half a trillion data points across devices are now collected each day in Google Analytics.
2) Through its network of partnerships, Google tracked details on roughly 70% of all credit card transactions in the US.
Now for the latest products updates.
Google announced the launch of “Google Attribution,” which according to the company will utilize machine learning to assign a weighted value to each touchpoint (digital and real-world) along the path to purchase.
While Last-click attribution as a sole method of measurement has faded among our client base, the need for clear causal relationships between marketing spend and resulting sales will always be a core part of our practice. In many cases we’re using fractional attribution models to understand this, but if the data can be automated we as marketers will save time which is always a plus. Google also stated this product will be FREE for most businesses.
If you haven’t seen it yet in your account, don’t be surprised. The service is in beta, and Google said the release should occur later in 2017.
Google also announced “Attribution 360,” another product with similar functionality but more power and features. With an annual price of $150,000, most Clients won’t need this but if you’re spend is anywhere over $100,000 per month you would likely see benefits from this with the integration elements between your own data, AdWords, and DoubleClick.
It will be interesting to see how the tool performs in early beta testing and we will share any results that are not confidential or protected.
YouTube also rolled out a new feature, announcing that ads can now play at the end of videos and display details like local store hours, directions, and products, and more. While this feature will definitely be more valuable to B2C than B2B campaigns, we will keep an eye on this trend. With a purely digital path to purchase, the effectiveness of this is certainly diminished. But for retail, real estate, food/beverage, and other industries, this is an exciting prospect.
Google announced another step forward in its mission to return related, relevant ads and information to a user’s search query. Digital marketers can now buy placements that appear only when a user is “in market,” meaning they’ve expressed interest in a related product in their search history. How will this work you are probably wondering? Google stated that it plans to analyze trillions of search queries across its user base to identify users with purchase-intent.
To the future of search.
Big Footprint is proud to announce the launch of the L&W Supply website.
The company’s web presence needed to be evolved after being acquired by ABC Supply Co. Inc. With a fresh redesign, and improved technical structure, tracking, and full SEO, the new website will be a valuable business tool for the firm.
The project was a collaborative effort with Big Footprint providing design and web development and transitional SEO to ensure all digital equity was retained, and the IT team of both L&W Supply and ABC Supply providing critical support.
Great work to both teams on this exciting launch.
Contact Big Footprint for assistance with your next web development or SEO project.
Big Footprint is proud to announce the addition of Aaron Slusky as our new Senior Paid Search Strategist.
Aaron brings paid search expertise and a strong agency background to the team. He worked for three formidable Denver agencies, Fusionbox, Inflow & SmartSearch Marketing, prior to arriving at Big Footprint. In his time managing paid search, he has led large international B2B and B2C accounts in many different fields.
Aaron is excited to be a part of our growing agency, saying “One of the reasons I wanted to join the team at Big Footprint was the breadth of knowledge this team holds on all things marketing and beyond. It’s clear to me that I can combine innovation, best practices, and full transparency in driving results for each client’s goals. I’m excited to be a part of this growing team and to bring my past agency experience to help on the paid side in client strategy, strategic management and producing top opportunities for each individual client.”
Aaron’s passion for search marketing began in 2003 when hired by a start-up company who spent the vast majority of its advertising dollars on online marketing efforts. This led to Aaron gaining valuable knowledge of SEO as well as Paid Search in its infancy.
Aaron graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a bachelor of science degree in business administration.
He currently resides in Denver with his wife and two children. He enjoys traveling, gardening, reading, snowboarding and spending quality time with his family.
Aaron has always focused on maintaining strong client relationships and understands it’s truly a unique partnership with each client. He has always appreciated the challenge of meeting and exceeding paid search goals for his clients.
Please contact Aaron at aaron@bigfootprintdigital.com
A big thank you to all those who attended our B2B Paid Search event this past week.
Big Footprint is partnering with the experts at Google to present the latest search marketing trends and practices allowing B2B companies to evolve their sales funnels.
Held at Google’s Boulder office, the event began with a tour of the campus and lunch before the presentation began. Networking and happy hour were up after that!
The content challenged attendees to modernize their approach to paid search by better aligning paid media tactics with the Buyer Journey. This approach is tailored to B2B paid search and works best for those companies with long, complex research cycles and multiple touch points.
B2B organizations must remember that when it comes to paid search, there is much more than keyword bidding involved. Those companies using paid search successfully in B2B are aligning the entire search ecosystem with the Buyer Journey, leveraging new technologies and integration to drive leads/revenue. Big Footprint even included a few examples from successful B2B Paid Search campaigns.
Access the presentation below or download the PDF.
And the truth is that you can too – or have Big Footprint and Google help you. Our partnership gives us (and our clients) access to exclusive Google betas, tools, data, resources, and dedicated support – plus we are always first to know about product rollouts. In fact, Big Footprint and Google provided a research document to many of the companies in attendance with specific insights that mirrored the presentation.
The search landscape is changing as the Buyer’s Journey is now more self-directed – and occurring more often on mobile devices. All of these changes present either challenges or opportunities to savvy digital marketers.
We will update the event landing page (link below) as upcoming events are scheduled, and announce them on social channels and through email. At that time, the event(s) will be open for registration. Like the last event, attendance will be limited to 15 companies.
Learn more about the Big Footprint’s B2B SEM event.
Contact Big Footprint with any questions.
The Big Footprint team was excited to see today’s mention of our latest project DripJoy Coffee in the popular Built in Colorado newsletter, known for being “Colorado’s hub for startups and tech.” The Tech Roundup features startups and tech companies across the state doing new, cool, and interesting things.
DripJoy Coffee, which launched last week and sponsored Denver Startup Week, is now live and perfecting single serve coffee makers and subscriptions. “We brewed 3,094 cups of coffee in five days at Denver Startup Week,” DripJoy CMO, Justin Kutner, told Built in Colorado. “That’s 255 gallons of coffee out of 12 brewers. None of them broke or had to be taken offline for even a minute.” Powered with commercial-grade components, “DripJoy brewers are meant to run into perpetuity – so if there is ever anything wrong with yours, we’ll send you a new one,” Kutner told us. Nice one DripJoy!
The article also mentioned ShaveMOB, another e-commerce project powered by Big Footprint where customers buy razors online. In fact, ShaveMOB recently acquired 800razors.com.
Great job Big Footprint’ers on your hard work.
Find the full Built in Colorado article here.
Studio Shed, a Boulder-based creator of luxury backyard sheds and a long time client of Big Footprint, worked with us to create an infographic to assist in their content marketing efforts. Noticing the growing trend in Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) – also called carriage houses, granny flats, etc. – and the modular addition capabilities of their product line, it was determined that the most relevant and effective infographic would be one that focuses on the benefits of a modular freestanding home addition.
Once we settled on a topic, we moved into the research phase. Given the endless amount of information available concerning modular structures, it was necessary to approach it from an angle that was not only unique, but aligned with the client’s capabilities as well. A modular home addition is different from a freestanding modular home addition; as such, the research process honed in on this distinction to craft a unique infographic that is as much a piece of information as it is sales collateral.
Just like an animated video needs to be storyboarded before beginning the animation process, the layout, or structure, of the infographic must be determined before tackling the design. As we write the content, we keep at the forefront potential layouts: Will it work best vertically or horizontal? Should the images themselves tell a story? How should we position those all-too-critical calls-to-action? The copy is thus delivered in a manner that best conforms to the proposed layout, as this helps both the client and designer visualize the final product before we even begin the design phase.
Once the copy is approved, we begin the design process. After working with the client to procure the necessary images, our designer gets to work bringing the copy to life. This typically takes anywhere from 1-3 revisions, allowing us to hone in on the client’s specific requests while ensuring the entire project is fully optimized for SEO.
Visit Studio Shed to see the finished product and to learn more about the benefits of freestanding modular additions.
Big Footprint’s crew has been busy creating animated videos, and we’re proud to showcase some of our recent work. Our digital animation capabilities result in powerful content assets that drive visibility, awareness, and links for our clients.
Our team begins the process with an in-depth Discovery, then a detailed script writing process that aligns goals and desired outcomes with video production. Next up, we move into Storyboards and Concepting to define the creative direction and style.
From there, we finalize the script and select a narrator after listening to 10-20 voice artists. You can speed them up, slow them down, or guide them another direction until you’re happy with the take.
Finally, we stitch it all together with crisp, clean digital animation that holds the user’s attention and includes calls to action and conversion points.
Check out a few of our recent projects below.
Pak Mail worked with Big Footprint to create this animated overview of the company and its services. Covering all of Pak Mail’s capabilities, this succinct short was very prominent throughout the company’s digital presence. It even holds homepage real estate. Watch it here.
Studio Shed’s evolving web presence greatly benefitted from this animated video which offers viewers a full overview of the company’s products and philosophy. The video was a hit across social channels and earned the company a number of valuable links. Watch it here.
ShaveMOB’s launch in 2013 required an animated video that could drive interest and share the story behind the company. With quick moving animation and metrics meant to sway consumers, this video was an integral asset in the launch of ShaveMOB. Watch it here.
SWIPE Shaving, a featured product on Costco.com, also needed an animated video that showcased the superior technology of the razor while introducing the concept to customers. Watch it here.
The paid search world is abuzz with Google’s latest product updates, which are extremely powerful and will (hopefully) be well received.
Reflecting the company’s “mobile-first” mantra, these updates will allow advertisers more control and visibility into how their media dollars perform in mobile, tablet, and desktop environments in the wake of the “right-side removal” recently.
To begin with, Google’s “Expanded Text Ads” launched July 26 but probably won’t fully roll out until August. When they do, you’ll start seeing them in more places since the AdWords editor only started showing the option to everyone yesterday.
Expanded text ads are optimized for the screen sizes of the world’s most used smartphones and feature two headlines, each with 30 characters, and one long 80-character description line. That’s nearly 50% more ad text for advertisers to highlight products and services. These ads will compete with standard text ads to enter the auction, so we will be updating (and recommend you do, too) your ad rotation to optimize for conversions to ensure your best-performing ads serve most often. Additional ideas and best practices can be found here, courtesy of Google, but the company’s research found that longer ad headlines are more useful to mobile users because they provide additional information about the query/business before they click an ad.
Below is an example of an expanded text ad – you can see the difference immediately.
The next big update Google announced (perhaps the biggest in our opinion) is the launch of Device Bid Adjustments in the first week of August, with an expected roll out of 2-4 weeks.
Device Bid Adjustments will allow advertisers to set mobile, tablet, and desktop bid adjustments on ALL AdWords campaign types. Device bid adjustment range is expanded to -100% (opt-out) to +900%, giving us far more control than was available prior. While Google representatives said this change was a request they kept hearing, it make a critical impact as you can now anchor your base keyword bids to the devices most valuable to your business – and then set bid adjustments for each of the other devices. It’s a move away from Enhanced Campaigns, but it’s one we appreciate because of the various search “moments” we’re advertising to. More precision, better results, mobile first.
The last big announcement in the Paid Search world was the September 6 launch (for ALL advertisers) of the Cross-Device Conversion tracking capability.
Starting then, cross-device conversions will be automatically tracked for all accounts and included in the conversions columns.
While I wish this had come out before the cross-device bid adjustment update, it will no doubt drive even more granular data and illustrate how various touch points in the buyer journey occur and on what devices.
Big Footprint promises another, more detailed post on this topic as the change approaches.
As a Google Partner, Big Footprint was aware of these changes, but how they affect the larger paid ecosystem is left to be seen. We suspect that ALL sophisticated advertisers will fall in line and utilize these updates, especially expanded text ads. But some marketers might need to see and digest the cross-device conversion tracking data before delving into the world of cross-device bid adjustment.
Need help with your web analytics or paid search? Contact Big Footprint for a consultation, or for a copy of Google’s “Expanded Text Ads Best Practices.”
About five months ago, we were honored to announce that Big Footprint had become the latest Colorado addition to Google’s Premier Partner Program. This partnership not only allows us to provide added support to our clients in the form of beta opportunities and training programs not available to other agencies, but also gives us exclusive access to a dedicated team of Google reps who work with us to ensure we continue to drive Paid Search success for all of our clients.
“We are excited to now have a dedicated agency support team at Google whom we are constantly leveraging for all of our SEM partners,” said Jake Havenridge, Director of Paid Search. “The partnership has stepped up our ability to drive actionable insight and optimizations for all of our clients, which has been the #1 goal at Big Footprint all along.”
Color us surprised when we received a package in the mail from Google containing recognition of our induction into the program! We would be remiss if we did not show it off, so check out the images in the gallery below, then learn more about the Google Partner Program here.
Big Footprint, the long-time digital marketing agency for Studio Shed, debuted a new animated video explaining the company’s unique philosophy, modern shed designs, build, and installation process.
The beginning of the animated video gives key background about Studio Shed, “Studio Shed is more than just a backyard storage shed. It’s your home office. Your creative studio. Your small business. A personal sanctuary in your yard just steps from your back door. Customizable down to every detail, from layout, colors, interior finishes and more, giving you the power to create a personal space customized to meet your individual needs.”
A collaborative effort, Big Footprint and Studio Shed designed the video together, crafted the narrative, and reviewed storyboards and various incarnations of the video before deciding on the perfect mixture of information, animation, audio, and call to action.
In the past couple of years, Big Footprint has added new capabilities to our digital marketing services. Animated video has become one of the most requested services, and Big Footprint has delivered seamlessly with top-notch animation, script development, and high quality voiceover work. Get your own animated video.
As experienced SEO practitioners, we’ve all gone through enough website launches and transitions by now that you should have this whole 301-redirect process down. While 301 redirects are prone to causing friction among SEO practitioners and Web Developers, there has been one question we can agree on – how long should you keep 301 redirects?
Why does it matter? Because there’s always been debate about how long to keep them – and you have to consider the business case. For instance, if you’re a company working through your third or fourth website iteration in the last 8 years, should you be keeping redirects intact from the original version (your “1.0” website) from 6 six years ago?
From a usability perspective yes, but from a technical standpoint, you also have to consider server load and resources. You don’t want users hitting 404 pages or parked domain pages, but you also can’t preserve everything all the time. Search engines will also often include “old” and “new” pages in their results, so it’s something you have to address.
So oftentimes the answer isn’t so simple. Google stated that it can take up to 6 months for a new site to be fully recognized, so Big Footprint’s “Transitional SEO” process is one of critical importance. We feel the absolute minimum amount of time you’d want to preserve your redirects would be one year – but in the case of most sites you should preserve them until you have a more compelling reason not to.
We’ve run our own tests on BigFootprintDigital.com and witnessed a lot of different implementations across clients, and we often recommend keeping your 301 redirects in place as long as you can. While the value certainly diminishes as time goes on and layers are added, there is still value there – albeit in some cases more than others. Take for instance a “content” site which might be bookmarked, linked to, etc. – those legacy redirects will probably be more important than an e-commerce site with a low cost product. The decision surrounding redirect value should be driven the value of your traffic. In a B2B example, if a company has an extremely high CPL for an extremely expensive product then that traffic is highly valuable, especially within the context of a multi-touch sales funnel – meaning redirects should be preserved.
One thing to keep in mind is that you can’t just layer redirect upon redirect. Instead, you need to update the chain. Let’s say you have an A–B redirect and then a B–C redirect. You should instead make the first one an A–C redirect versus the alternative. This is also true when dealing with another variable or layer – you want your redirects pointing to the latest and greatest iteration of content.
Need help determining your redirect strategy or navigating the murky depths of Transitional SEO? Contact Big Footprint.
Big Footprint is proud to announce the addition of Justin Kutner as our new Director of Digital Strategy.
Justin is excited to help our agency grow. “Big Footprint is a clear leader when it comes to search and ROI-based marketing. I’m eager to bring my experience managing teams, elevating strategy, and pushing clients in new directions to this successful group of energetic digital marketers.”
Justin’s background is diverse. A Denver native, he earned a master’s degree in Political Campaign Management from the George Washington University. After graduating, he managed political campaigns before working at a digital public affairs agency in Washington DC. In this role, he managed and built digital tools for eBay, Microsoft, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and The United Nations, among other clients.
Previously, Justin served as Digital Director at another leading Denver-area marketing agency where he oversaw a major expansion of digital services, team members, and successful client project launches.
Justin attended the University of Colorado, Boulder and earned a degree in Media Studies and a certificate in Peace and Conflict Studies, the latter of which provided him with the tools and knowledge necessary to handle the many tricky situations intrinsic to digital marketing.
When not in the office, you can find him hunting for Denver’s best restaurant or reading a novel on his patio.
Justin’s deep experience and understanding of the web drives his sense of what clients are looking for – and how he finds the best way to deliver it. Welcome to Big Footprint, Justin!
You can view the press release here.
Big Footprint and Datavail, a leading provider of remote database administration services, were proud to accept the award for “Best Results” at the 2016 Business Marketing Association Gold Key Awards. Colorado’s leading B2B marketers gathered at the event held on Friday, April 22 at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum to celebrate and honor the best in the business.
The award represents the culmination of a strategic SEO, PPC, CRO, Content, and Social campaign that saw Datavail drive an impressive mROI of 3,560%, a 40% increase in leads, and a 69% increase in organic traffic over the course of twelve months.
To see more about our work and results with Datavail, visit here.
In order to achieve these results, Big Footprint utilized a four-part comprehensive, search-centric lead generation program focused on driving monthly recurring revenue from Datavail’s industry-leading database management services.
• First we analyzed past performance, competitors, and user trends to identify tactics. We met with internal stakeholders to learn about their needs.
• Our next step was to create goals, build an outcome model, and set up advanced tracking (providing visibility from click to closed deal).
• We then built a foundation of campaigns (SEO, PPC) to drive long term success, learning from our data and creating iterations.
• Finally, we expanded the campaigns to emphasize ongoing content and social, building a sizeable audience, leveraging influencers, and earning links back to the site.
“Big Footprint has been a valuable partner in the growth of our inbound marketing strategy,” said Robin Caputo, Chief Marketing Officer at Datavail. “Their programs have driven direct, measurable ROI, helping Datavail to attain our goals.”
This marks the third time Big Footprint has received BMA’s “Best Results” award in the past four years. In addition, we also took home the Gold Key Award for Total B2B Campaigns for which production and media costs exceeded $250,000 during a 12-month period (the same entry for which we won “Best Results” with Datavail).
“The entire Big Footprint team is very proud of the results we’ve driven in this combined effort with Datavail. We are grateful for this recognition from our peers in the B2B space,” said Nick Yorchak, Founder of Big Footprint.
The Gold Key Awards is recognized as Colorado’s most prestigious competition dedicated solely to business-to-business marketing communications. This year’s program received nearly 200 submissions from some of the state’s top B2B businesses and agencies. A panel of six independent judges representing agency and corporate marketing professionals across the country scored entries in more than 65 categories on objectives, creativity, production, and results.
View the full press release here.
Ranking factors have always been a mystery. While we’re aware of what ranking factors comprise Google’s algorithm– Search Engine Land has a great write-up1 on this – it’s always been difficult to determine which of these Google considers as the most significant.
Late last year, however, Google announced it was using RankBrain2 in its search algorithm update, known as Hummingbird. In fact, it was quickly declared the third-most important ranking factor. A machine-learning AI system, RankBrain works around the clock to parse and understand language to deliver better more relevant search results. Surgogroup3 sums it up nicely:
“RankBrain uses artificial intelligence to embed vast amounts of written language into mathematical entities — called vectors — that the computer can understand. If RankBrain sees a word or phrase it isn’t familiar with, the machine can make a guess as to what words or phrases might have a similar meaning and filter the result accordingly, making it more effective at handling never-before-seen search queries.”
Its importance can’t be understated. As Forbes4 points out, it must be pretty influential if it supersedes all other ranking factors except for two. Hummingbird comprises hundreds of ranking factors, all of which have their place in helping sites get to the top of search rankings, but until now, no one really knew what the most important ones were.
The answer was given during a recent Google Q&A with Andrey Lipattsev, Search Quality Senior Strategist in Ireland. During a conversation about RankBrain and how it works, Internet Marketing Consultant Ammon Johns5 asked the following:
Johns: “We’ve heard that this is the 3rd most important factor contributing to results now. Would it be beneficial to us to know what the first two are?”
Lipattsev: “Yes, I can tell you what they are: content, and links pointing to your site.”
You can view the relevant portion of the video below:
So now we know. Along with RankBrain, content and linking are the Holy Trinity of ranking factors among the 200+ factors that go into Google’s Hummingbird algorithm update. So what does this actually mean?
Well, it means nothing has really changed. Simply put, all it really did is clarify what we already knew: content and linking are king, and the backbone of a strong search strategy. While there are other important ranking factors to consider, creating new and unique content consistently and chasing those links are the first steps toward search success.
Need some assistance? Big Footprint can help. We offer comprehensive search-centric solutions, ranging from website optimization and paid search to content marketing and strategic linking analysis. Visit to learn more today.
Sources
[1] http://searchengineland.com/seotable
[2] https://moz.com/blog/rankbrain-unleashed
[3] http://news.surgogroup.com/google-turning-lucrative-web-search-ai-machines/
[4] http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2015/11/12/what-is-google-rankbrain-and-why-does-it-matter/#12e17b50301a
[5] http://www.ammonjohns.com/about.html
This past week, the Big Footprint team took a trip to Chicago to meet with some of our favorite clients. We were also lucky enough to be invited to Google’s new offices, located in the trendy West Loop neighborhood.
While there, Big Footprint CEO Nick Yorchak and COO Zach Randall met with account representatives and had a chance to tour the 6-floor, 30,000 sq. ft office space which opened just a few months ago and still has a few floors under construction.
The team enjoyed this first-hand look at Google’s creative workspace and unique interior design.
Check out some photos from our visit below, or visit this Chicago Tribune article for a more complete gallery.
We are excited to announce that Big Footprint is Colorado’s latest addition to the Google Partner Program! Check out our profile here.
This is big news for Big Footprint as it reflects our expertise and certifications in Google AdWords
You can learn all about the Google program here, but this development will allow us to further support all of our clients with the latest in Google trends, betas, and optimization opportunities – so we are beyond excited!
Our Google Partner status now makes our team eligible for further Google trainings and certifications only available to “badged” agencies, meaning we can continue to grow and nurture our expertise in all things search marketing.
This comes on the heels of Google’s announcement that they will expand with a dedicated team of Google reps who will now be working specifically with Big Footprint to grow our partnership and ensure we continue to drive Paid Search success for all of our clients.
In the next few months, we will be presenting a series of events with Google in Denver and across the Front Range, from Colorado Springs to Boulder, focused on showing B2B companies how to drive the maximum amount of value for their media dollar.
We will post registration links and more information on the Big Footprint blog as these events are scheduled.
View the full press release here.
One of the saddest things I have ever seen in SEO is a failed website transition. I could share many stories but I won’t here. You’ll have to find me next time I’m at the brewery and I’ll regale you with plenty of apocryphal stories and fairy tales from the world of Transitional SEO – but right now we’re focusing on the facts.
You can’t afford to ignore the impact of Transitional SEO on your website. If left unaddressed, the implications can be disastrous, not only to your company’s search engine rankings but its entire online presence.
Big Footprint specializes in managing this process, and it’s taken a few years because integrating SEO into the web development process is the most often overlooked – and critical – element when a new website is launched and an old website is replaced.
Remember: search engines don’t rank websites, they rank pages. So from an SEO perspective, the goal of any digital transition should be to ensure that search engines realize new pages deserve the same “quality signals” as the pages on the legacy site(s).
And because Google so heavily values user experience, this transition must appear invisible and seamless to the user.
With that in mind, companies must identify areas where existing search rankings can be leveraged to boost overall search traffic (news, public relations, etc.) through search engine friendly redirects and content strategy.
Big Footprint specializes in managing this Transitional SEO process for clients and agency partners. We’ll either take care of everything, or if you’d prefer we’ll consult with your web developers to ensure SEO is integrated into their efforts.
You need Transitional SEO if you are:
1. Any company or agency launching a website which will replace an existing web presence
OR
2. Any company or agency working through a merger or acquisition, rebranding initiative, and product launch that will lead to changes and updates in online presence.
Search engines judge (and rank) websites with complex algorithms that assign value to the quantity and quality of incoming links, as well as the depth of unique content indexed on the website.
When a digital transition occurs, numerous issues can arise which affect the website’s relationship with search engines, especially those issues affecting indexed content and associated link equity. It is essential that companies not overlook the importance of implementing SEO best-practices and procedures during this period of change, or the years of work it took to build trust and authority with search engines can be lost overnight. Learn more in Big Footprint’s Transitional SEO white paper here: SEO+Site_Transition-Whitepaper_Big-Footprint
In the dynamic world of SEO, a famous quote aptly describes the game-changing consequences an unorganized website transition can bring into play with search engines.
Big Footprint examines the following, in addition to our proprietary 148 point Transitional SEO checklist. When moving and transitioning a website, the following errors will not only confuse search engines, but harm the user experience, negatively impacting your site’s performance in Google search results:
Domain Name Changes
Addition/Deletion of Subdomains
URL Structure Changes
404 (Not Found) Errors
Duplicate Content
Canonical Tags
Search Engine Friendly Redirects
Platform/Content Management System Modifications
Web Analytics & Conversion Tracking Tools
Webmaster Tools
Broken Links
Lost Link Equity
HTML + XML Sitemaps
Web Feeds/Content Syndication
Going through a website transition?
Contact Big Footprint to ensure your website transition doesn’t fall victim to SEO Decay.
The Paid Search world is all a-buzz the last few days with news that Google is planning on rolling out a big change to the way the search engine results pages (SERPs) are configured.
Starting later this week, Google will no longer show the vertical ad sets that previously filled the right side-bar of the results page (on desktop and tablet) worldwide.
This change is coming in conjunction with the addition of a fourth ad in the top section, though this spot is reserved only for “highly commercial queries” (and it’s still a bit unclear what exactly that means). You’ll still see ads both above and below organic search results, but now you’ll see four instead of three for many queries.
There’s no word yet on how, or if, Google will fill the valuable side-bar real estate.
Apparently this change will not effect Google’s Product Listing Ad (PLA) boxes, or Knowledge Panel ads.
Make no mistake, this change is huge news! The number of advertisers “above the fold” has been cut by more than 60%, and that’s only if a large portion of searches qualify for the extra “highly commercial queries” ad spot. This example illustrates this new change.
At the very least, agencies should expect to see some cost-per-click (CPC ) increases for many of their advertisers, as well as a more competitive paid search marketplace overall.
Spenders in Google’s big beautiful auction could see CPAs rise due to the growing CPC.
With this in mind, Big Footprint put together a quick list of strategies that you might begin employing now to mitigate the effects of this change.
One of the biggest effects this change will have on smaller advertisers is that it will make an “all of the above” bidding strategy much more expensive to employ. Many advertisers simply won’t be able to compete head-to-head with some of their bigger competitors any more on every single query. Keeping accounts lean and highly targeted will help focus your media on driving performance.
Several tactics to consider would be:
Day-parts to eliminate spend during low conversion times
Limiting targeting to certain geos or demographic
Pulling expensive “fat-head” terms out of your account
Often times keyword research can help identify longer-tailed versions of core keywords to exact match in order to maintain coverage at a fraction of the cost.
Mobile devices are driving a growing proportion of clicks in many accounts, and since mobile ads won’t be effected by this change at all, consider trying to emphasize mobile even more in your campaigns. Creating mobile specific ads and extensions is a quick way to do this, but bid modifiers and RLSAs could also be employed.
If you’re paying more for clicks, theoretically you should be maximizing the value of those clicks. A renewed focus on Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) tactics will help pull every cent of ROI out of your media dollar.
Since your Brand is often fairly cheap and in top positioning already, pushing these campaigns harder where possible will also help keep overall CPCs low.
Wordstream’s blog has some great initial insights and data you can check out too for additional details on what others are seeing. For instance, the early winner of this change so far seems Position 3, which is gaining a greater share of Click-Thru-Rate (CTR) while Positions below 5-10 are struggling.
Only time will tell how this change will ultimately effect the future of Paid Search, but here at Big Footprint, we’re looking forward to the challenge.
BMA Colorado recently hosted a panel where the Gold Key winners from 2015 shared insights and tips for this season’s entries.
On January 13, 2016 before the keynote event “How to Launch a Content-First Business,” five of last year’s winners joined a panel and related their experiences and tips for success.
Nick Yorchak, the founder of Footprint, added a few thoughts on preparation and how best to prepare one’s entry.
Big Footprint won the 2015 Gold Key for “Best Results” for work completed on behalf of Condit Exhibits by achieving an impressive ROI of 696% on organic search efforts, coupled with a 109% increase in organic traffic to the website and multiple coveted “Top 3” rankings for multiple high-value keywords.
Learn more about Big Footprint’s expertise here.
Big Footprint is proud to announce the addition of Greg Nostrant to the team as Paid Search Specialist.
And he literally is a specialist for all things PPC – with Google AdWords and Google Analytics Certifications. Greg’s range of digital experience has consisted chiefly of paid search, lead generation, and social presence management. He is relentless day in and day out, mastering the tricks of the trade and reinvigorating client success with seasoned veteran, Jake Havenridge.
Originally hailing from Los Angeles, Greg attended the University of Colorado – Boulder, earning a degree in Psychology and Business. Armed with this knowledge into the human psyche, Greg possesses the unique ability to provide a deeper understanding of human behavior online, specifically how it impacts conversion and landing page optimization for Big Footprint’s clients.
All of us at Big Footprint value the drive and experience that Greg delivers, especially his strong background in organic search and nit-pickiness on best practices.
Outside of work and when not crushing on the dartboard, one would most likely find Greg authoring a 5-star Yelp review, talking basketball, or indulging in some sort of a movie marathon.
We’re excited to bring on you on board, Greg. Welcome to the team!
Big Footprint is proud to announce the addition of Brad McHargue to the team as the new Director of Content Optimization. Having cut his teeth with BFD as a freelance writer, he and his beard officially joined the team on July 6th, 2015. Some say the sound of seven trumpets could be heard, but this has yet to be verified by independent sources, and we’re pretty certain it’s a terrible metaphor anyways. Now THAT’S irony. But we digress.
Brad’s skills as a writer and editor have helped clients leverage and optimize content, improve their online presence, and serve as the voice of authority in their respective fields. Thanks to a background in academic research cultivated while earning a BA and MA in Classical Civilizations at Florida State University (NB: he doesn’t recommend this), Brad is capable of digging deep to find information while adapting his voice and tone to fit styles ranging from B2B technical writing to consumer-facing, e-commerce driven copy.
Hailing from the sweat-soaked state of Florida, Brad moved to Denver in June of 2009 and quickly settled into the not-so-glamorous life of a freelance writer. Over the course of the next several years, he navigated the tumultuous world of digital marketing, applying his skills as a writer, editor, and researcher in a variety of freelance, in-house, and agency roles. In addition to providing content and SEO, Brad’s love of film has translated into writing all of the scripts for Big Footprint’s video production projects. He is not above making obscure film references in internal emails and laughing like an idiot over how clever he thinks he is.
In his free time, Brad likes to stroke his beard pensively while penning horror film scripts he thinks are way better than they really are. His long-term goals include world domination; his short-term goals include this totally awesome burrito.
Denver, CO — May 20, 2015 — Condit Exhibits, a leading provider of global exhibition solutions, and Big Footprint, a search-centric marketing agency, announced a dual honor; the award for “Best Results” at the 2015 Business Marketing Association Gold Key Awards. The recognition took place at the annual Gold Key Awards gala Friday, May 1, at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science with over 300 B2B marketers in attendance.
Big Footprint and Condit received the “Best Results” honor by achieving an impressive ROI of 696% on organic search efforts, coupled with a 109% increase in organic traffic to the website. Condit now ranks in the coveted “Top 3” in search results for multiple high-value keywords. The combination of Big Footprint’s expertise and Condit’s innovative exhibit and temporary structure solutions will provide continued success in 2015 and beyond.
In addition to the Best Results award, Condit received two awards recognizing the unique space created within its office facilities. The Creative Campground, the epicenter of all things design, was created to provide a 3-dimensional portfolio of its in-house fabrication capabilities. Condit also took home an award for a direct mailer campaign. The goal was to find a creative and engaging way to reinforce and/or start new relationships with creative agencies in Denver and Boulder. Based around the “back- to-school” theme, the team created a direct mailer consisting of a Condit branded backpack filled with the beginners essentials to knowing how Condit can be the perfect agency partner. Big Footprint was also honored with the Gold Key award for “Best SEO Campaign,” the entry which was also recognized for “Best Results.”
“The entire Big Footprint team is very proud of the results we’ve driven in this combined effort with Condit. We are grateful for this recognition from our peers in the B2B space,” said Nick Yorchak, Founder of Big Footprint.
Mike McGowan, Condit’s President, said “The results and feedback we have gotten from these projects have been astounding and immeasurable. We are grateful recipients of these awards and congratulate our peers on their notable achievements.”
The Gold Key Awards is recognized as Colorado’s most prestigious competition dedicated solely to business-to-business marketing communications. This year’s program received nearly 200 submissions from some of the state’s top B2B businesses and agencies. A panel of six independent judges representing agency and corporate marketing professionals across the country scored entries in more than 65 categories on objectives, creativity, production, and results.
About Condit
Condit Exhibits leverages its international footprint and the insights and experiences developed over its 60-year history to assist global clients with all of their exhibition challenges. By staying on the bleeding edge of the trade show and exhibit industry, Condit Exhibits can design and build multi-dimensional exhibitions, environments, studios, and digital spaces. Condit Exhibits specializes in the design, fabrication, management, and installation of trade show exhibits, exhibitions, events, museum exhibits, visitor centers, real estate sales centers, television studio sets, corporate lobbies, kiosks, and three dimensional marketing environments of any kind.
About Big Footprint
With the intense competition for eyeballs online today, it’s not enough anymore to simply build a digital presence. You have to draw people to it. Big Footprint makes your presence known. A Denver-based search-centric marketing agency, Big Footprint is led by a team of seasoned experts specializing in various aspects of the search spectrum. Founded in 2009, we partner with B2B & B2C marketers, agencies, and web developers to augment the online marketing campaigns you’re creating or have already launched. owner of domain We architect and execute digital marketing programs through the science of search. The effect is both powerful and profitable. We will help you make more money.
View the press release on BusinessWire.
I hope your New Year is off to a positive start. We’re happy to announce that Big Footprint moved offices over the holiday break, and we’re finally settled in!
We cordially invite any and all Clients and Partners to come visit us at our new address, in Denver’s “Bolt Factory” development.
Big Footprint’s new address is:
209 Kalamath Street Unit 8
Denver, CO 80223
The new and improved Big Footprint space offers our team more space to grow, with private offices, a full kitchen, foosball table, darts, and a more convenient location for employees. The “open office” concept, which has been criticized recently, was maintained for the most part, with private rooms allowing for more privacy during meetings and calls. While there’s still a bit of construction left to do, the space has been transformed to create the environment we wanted. And you’ll definitely notice the usage of our flagship color, orange.
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Whether you’re a Client, an Agency Partner, or a member of our community, the entire Big Footprint team looks forward to an impactful year with you.
Here’s to 2015.
Understand Motivations & Perceptions
Put yourself in their shoes. Various user groups will seek and engage with different types of content. Identify the user groups you’re marketing to and develop persona-driven messaging you can test by driving traffic to two landing pages with different messaging. You’ve set up your first test and laid the foundation for the type of thinking and digital empathy you’ll need to drive your campaigns forward.
Address Users’ Thought Process & Anxieties
In order to drive a user towards your conversion point, you need to address their anxieties and thought process.
What Can I Do?Remove the barriers to conversion, and test, test, test. Create an A/B or multivariate (if you have enough traffic or budget) and test variations in any of the categories above. Everything from button color, size, position, to imagery, messaging, layout, and more. Establish your value proposition. Start with the basics and evolve from there. When you eliminate the anxieties that prevent users from moving forward, you’ll continuously optimize your campaign.
Establish Your Expertise
Leverage quantifiable factors to illustrate your experience and expertise. These points should prove why you’re the right choice, while also addressing the user’s anxieties discussed earlier. In a B2B situation, supporting points like “Full Tim 24/7 Support” or unique product or service features that are “guaranteed” are all excellent points to emphasize on landing pages. Another way to establish expertise is to list awards your firm has won, or recognitions you’ve received. You can also list prominent publications in which your company was featured. All of these tactics are excellent ways to establish credibility with the user while driving conversions. Test and realign the messaging and imagery you use to establish expertise with the users’ anxieties and your conversion rate will skyrocket. And then test some more.
Leverage an Offer
An offer on a landing page can certainly increase conversion rate, even if that offer is only perceived. You can offer a “Free Trial” or an expert content asset, like a white paper or an industry study that your audience will find valuable or provoking. Again, align these offers with the user’s thought process, and test continuously.
If you’re testing or optimizing any of these elements, or better yet all of them, you will generate valuable insights that will drive conversion rate but also marketing intelligence. In a recent project, Big Footprint was able to drive a 276% ROI through paid search management and landing page optimization. We utilized multiple rounds of multivariate testing, splitting paid traffic to three distinct landing pages. With ongoing testing, we identified the top performing elements and increased conversion rate 376% while decreasing Cost-Per-Lead by 77%.
The power of landing page optimization is easily measured. Remember to test and refine as you evolve your campaigns to make the biggest business impact possible.
If you have any questions about your current landing pages testing program, contact Big Footprint.
To be clear, this does not mean that Google Authorship is entirely dead, but the headshots and view counts are.
Now, does this render authorship worthless? In short… no. Let’s review what changed and what will stay the same.
Changes:
Staying The Same:
The loss of the headshot in search results is a blow for marketers. It made sense. On a search engine results page, where text dominates the eye, a headshot was an easy way to differentiate your listing from the masses. One theme that continually prevails in every Google update is that quality is the name of the game. Even when headshots were included in search results, Google did make clear that they had the right to show or hide an image based on relevance to the searcher.
I believe that long-term authorship will remain valuable. How Google measures that value is not clear, but I am sure quality, the authority of the website(s) the content is on, and frequency will all be factors. Even without authorship, creating great content with utility will add depth, freshness, and thought leadership to your website.
For more information on how to expand your digital footprint, view other articles on the Big Footprint SEO Blog.
Nick’s presentation explained how non-profits can leverage free tools available within Google Analytics to measure digital campaigns and drive insights that can be leveraged for optimization and testing.
The presentation is available at the bottom of this Blog post, just click to download the PDF or view the presentation on SlideShare.
After beginning with a discussion about Goal Tracking and how to measure “conversions,” Nick moved into channel attribution and explained how to leverage these attribution data and insights to improve a website.
Attendees learned that by defining and measuring clear conversion goals, an organization can gather the data needed to improve its website and drive business impact.
Nick’s critical points included the following:
• Data-driven website optimization should be ACTIVE
• Remember, conversion optimization and testing is a process, not an event.
• Don’t test too many things at once.
• Reduce friction with a clear call to action.
• Address the USER THOUGHT PROCESS
• Optimize on BOTH sides of the click (Pre Click vs Post Click optimization)
In the end, Nick concluded by outlining what he meant by “active” optimization, exploring 5 core principles that drive this process.
1) Go beyond the basic metrics and traffic analytics
• Stop worrying about visit volume – focus on quality but more importantly,
focus on CONVERSION and ATTRIBUTION
2) Go beyond channels
• Understand your digital ecosystem (paid+earned+owned) and how it
impacts your results with assisted conversions
3) Go beyond groundhog keyword strategy
• Keyword research becomes multi-dimensional – across all assets/channels
4) Go beyond retro-active optimization
• Strategy, Data, and Insights drive new content generation and testing
5) Celebrate the enlightenment of Integrated Analytics
• Measure impact by contribution
Before Nick concluded, he shared with the audience of one of Big Footprint’s ethos:
“Performance measurement is prioritization logic.”
After that, Adrienne Schafer, Director of Program Innovation for MyLifeLine.org Cancer Foundation, showed the audience how her organization uses these tools everyday. Her presentation is also available below.
For more information on landing page optimization and how your organization can begin testing and improving your process and execution, read this Big Footprint blog post on the topic.
Downloadable Assets:
Data Driven Website Optimization by Nick Yorchak
Analytics by Adrienne Schafer
The time has come! Your company landed that big project in Europe, you opened a brand new office in South America, or you’ve partnered with a new vendor in Asia. But, now what? Wait for people to find you? Not if you partner with Big Footprint!
International press releases are an effective way to publicize your new venture and ensure your news is discovered by your industry (and search engines). In general, content does not rank overnight. Leveraging a press release service will help your news get in front of a larger audience by utilizing the industry partners of each service. These partners will share your information and link back to your website, providing valuable earned links.
An added benefit of an online press release is that it helps to monopolize a search engine’s results page for targeted keywords. Indexation of the release on PR Web, PR Newswire, BusinessWire, or other services will expand your digital footprint. By taking up more “real estate” you make it more difficult for your digital competition to rank as well.
Here are a few tips for optimizing your next international press release:
Selecting a Service: Becoming a “member” of some wire services can be free and instantaneous, while others can take up to 24 hours to process and approve a paid application. Some services that we utilize here at Big Footprint are:
If you are an agency, you may need to have your client(s) email the distribution service to grant permission to distribute a release on their behalf. Make sure you allocate time and budget for this!
400 Words: Write a press release in English that is around 400 words. Most services charge a fee (as much as $300!) for each additional 100 words after 400. When calculating the cost, word count is based on the English version of a release.
Targeting: Select the countries you need to target, but also look at region packages of different countries. Many times selecting specific countries is more expensive than a region. For example, a client now offers services in Spanish and they want to target South America… pick a package that is targeted for only Spanish speaking countries in South America.
Translate: Leverage your employees to translate your press release, if you can. This will save you a translation fee from the press release service and give you peace of mind that the translation is correct and uses local vernacular.
Rich Media: When sending out your release you can improve your SEO by attaching assets to your press release. Optimized assets, like a PDF with meta data and links, will be distributed and picked up by different syndications when the release goes out. For international releases, these assets should be translated into the native language of your target market.
Add to Your Blog: Finally, once you have distributed your release, talk about it on your blog and your optimized social channels. This will help to give your release more longevity and more opportunities to earn links. In your blog you can utilize internal linking to provide resources to other translated language pages and also provide a link to read the official press release.
If you have any questions on international press releases or want more information on how they benefit SEO, leave a comment below or contact us!
Tags: international seo, press releases
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What could put a smile on the faces of content marketers on a blistering hot Denver summer afternoon (besides ice cream)?
A new way to distribute content! Today, LinkedIn announced a new product: Sponsored Updates.
Sponsored Updates are similar to Facebook “Promoted Posts.” They allow a company with a LinkedIn page to pay for visibility by sharing a post in the newsfeed of certain targeted users on LinkedIn, effectively amplifying the reach of that content.
As far as how the updates are displayed with this new functionality, LinkedIn said, “…sponsored updates can be seen on desktop, smartphone and tablet devices and will clearly be marked ‘sponsored,’ appearing in the member’s homepage feed along with the organic posts from their network and the companies they follow.” Members will have the option to “Follow” the sponsoring company as well as “Like,” “Comment,” and “Share” posts with their network.”
This is a great tool for B2B marketers seeking to drive visibility for their latest white paper, blog, press release, or webinar within their target market(s). With Sponsored Updates you can place specific content efforts directly in front of a CEO, specific company, or a lead that is halfway through the sales funnel.
The specificity of targeting not only allows you to connect the right content with the audience you need, but the niche population and narrow targeting will keep media costs down. Some of the targeting parameters that you can control are:
LinkedIn’s video below, albeit a little cheesey, does a good job of showing how these sponsored updates work.
As of right now, Sponsored Updates are only available to customers with a LinkedIn account representative. However, we tried to sign up and were notified that every company will have access starting July 29, 2013, meaning you won’t have to wait too long to test this out for yourselves.
We can’t wait to leverage these Sponsored Updates and see what type of impact they have on the world of social content distribution. What do you think, will you pay to promote your content on LinkedIn? Contact Carlo Ritschl with questions about getting started with LinkedIn if you haven’t already.
Tags: LinkedIn, LinkedIn Sponsored Updates, SEOcial, social media
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Facebook recently rolled out a new update to its mobile platform for local businesses. While platform updates in the world of Social Media are frequent and many times minor, this one stood out.
This update to mobile local pages is like a ninja surrounded by a group of bad guys. Facebook is surrounded by thousands of social sites that are gradually edging closer and closer. This update a direct karate chop to the face of other location-based social sites like Yelp and Foursquare and a roundhouse kick in the gut to Google+ Local.
Don’t get me wrong; this is not eliminating any of those sites. They will get up and fight harder. However, Facebook has counter-attacked for the moment.
If the layout and usability of these new pages catches on with the consumer, you might see more and more traffic shift away from sites like Yelp for a review, and go straight to Facebook.
Tech Crunch had some screen shots of the new layout.
With that said, suddenly Graph Search just became a little more important. Graph Search is still in beta (you can get on a list to try it out), but with this update, Facebook has added a couple pieces to the puzzle that will make it a more complete and powerful local search engine.
What does this mean for local businesses?
You’ll need to start thinking of Facebook as a search engine. It’s still early, but as users learn about this tool and begin using it, it could have a dramatic impact on them finding your business and deciding whether to spend their dollars with you. Social media and SEO are blending closer and closer, and this emerging overlap is just another step in the direction of social search.
This is what Facebook has told businesses:
In order to serve up the best results for its users, Facebook will look at recommendations and star reviews as factors in its algorithm. If you have a page already set up, you should be promoting that you have one and also informing people that they can leave recommendations there. One recommendation can set you apart from a competitor that has none!
As with everything online, things will shift and change regularly, but as a digital marketer this is one change that I would want to act on sooner rather than later.
Tags: facebook, local search, social media
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Do you know what it takes to create great presence in the eyes of Google with Google+ and Author 
Pages? We created a resource to help guide you through some simple steps, that when added together, can produce better search results and a better user experience. The main ingredients that are discussed are author bio pages, rel=author tags, Google+ pages and profiles, and some other tips to bring it all together.
Follow this step by step process to ensure you cook up the best dish. Take a look, try it out, and let us know how it goes.
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It isn’t exactly hard to figure out that Google is trying to incorporate the social experience into everything online. One interesting thing they have done is allowed for a Google+ user to be a “contributor” to a blog, magazine, Facebook, Twitter feed, etc.
There is some set-up and customization involved in creating an author page and adjusting the settings in Google+ to allow Google to begin pulling and showing your author information. How Google collects this information is through a piece of html code called a rel=author tag.
It’s funny, we have become so detached from face to face interaction that it is becoming more and more important. Relationships matter, and a smiling face matters. Think about the last time you were in an awkward social situation (aka: networking). Nobody likes it, and if there is not a smiling face you recognize, there is just a sea of faces. However, as soon as you recognize someone, there is a connection, and that sea all of a sudden seems more navigable.
The sea is the search engine results page (SERP). It takes a lot of effort to figure out who those “faces” (links) really are. When you see a face, it is a signal that this person is good and credible. The same comfort level you have with a friend in a crowded room is the same type of emotion that is elicited by a picture on a results page.
Leave a comment and let us know where your eye goes in a search result or if you are using rel=author tags!
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Look at this results page for “Best Skis”. Which result is your eye attracted to?
Big Footprint has moved and we invite you to the grand opening of our new office. The party is 10.19.2012 and starts at 6 PM at 1045 Lincoln Street, Denver, CO 80203.
Come down to The Golden Triangle for free music, drinks, food, and networking. We’re located in LINC 1045, a new small business collective for creative start-ups in Denver. The party will be held to celebrate the Grand Opening of the entire building. Food will be provided by some local favorites:
Cuba Cuba
Charcoal Restaurant
Roostercat Coffee House
Martine’s Bake Shop
Wynkoop Brewing Co.
Tony’s Meat Market
Zocalo
Melita’s Greek Cafe
Feel free to bring friends and family. Don’t miss the party!
Big Footprint founder Nick Yorchak shared his insights and thoughts surrounding B2B SEO and the next generation of search in the BMA Buzz “Thought Leadership” series. Click the link above to read the article at BMA, or read a transcript of the article below.
The SEO landscape continues to evolve, as search engines update their algorithms and more and more users search for information on their mobile devices. In order to expand and manage their digital presence, it’s critical for B2B marketers to understand the monumental shift in search.
The companies leading in B2B SEO are generating the best content they can, and their rankings reflect their perceived digital influence thanks to valuable assets such as whitepapers, webinars, quarterly industry reports and expert blogs.
Even FAQ pages and archives of your company’s press releases can add valuable content. However, when investing the time to create valuable content assets that will impact SEO it’s crucial to put yourself in the user’s shoes.
When it comes to best practices of link building, B2B companies see success through two main principles.
The first is having a content distribution strategy. Let your content build links by distributing it through your social channels; this will expand your digital footprint and illustrate influence and voice, which helps to drive rankings and traffic. Second, you need to leverage real-world relationships to create valuable inbound linking opportunities.
Yet having an effective search marketing strategy is about more than just keeping up with search engines. It’s about reaching prospects where they are seeking information about you via whichever channel you can best engage them. And while decision makers and B2B buyers are increasingly searching on mobile devices, most companies are unprepared in this realm.
Indeed, search volume from mobile devices is up five-times greater than in the past two years, according to Google Mobile World Congress Barcelona and ThinkWithGoogle. In the U.S. alone, mobile’s overall share of Web traffic has increased to roughly 9%, per comScore’s 2012 Mobile Future in Focus.
So, how can you ensure your digital presence is “mobile ready?”
The first step is developing mobile friendly communication. Mobile search encompasses more than just one result type. Users will receive different results and presentation formats — and even disparate search results — depending on the device. Use so-called “responsive design” to cater the layout of the page to the viewing environment. If you can’t, know the trade-offs and pitfalls.
Integrate SEO into your web and mobile development process or involve an SEO expert to ensure your website follows best practices and is “search-engine friendly.” If not, consider implementing a mobile landing page.
Next, turn your attention to optimization. Incorporate best practices of traditional SEO. Optimize all of your digital assets, including YouTube videos, images, news feeds and map listings for increased visibility in mobile search results.
In the next few years SEO and display industry standards will evolve, as platforms emerge that make mobile campaigns easier to manage. And “mobile driven spending” will catapult to the top of the consideration list, both in terms of budget and marketing priority.
President :: Big Footprint
Nick is the President and Founder of Big Footprint, a search and content marketing consultancy. A seasoned organic search expert, Nick has attained top organic rankings for a variety of B2B and B2C companies ranging from Fortune 500 industry leaders to local startups and non-profits. As a member of SEMPO and BMA, Nick has spoken at industry events and panels on the topic of search engine optimization, and his unique career story was featured in the New York Times.
Tags: b2b seo, bma buzz, nick yorchak
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Big Footprint founder Nick Yorchak recently contributed an article entitled “Is Your Digital Presence Mobile Ready?” to Colorado’s own Advertising & Marketing Review, a publication serving the advertising, marketing and media industries across Colorado. Greg Olson of Growl also contributed to this article.
Click the link above to read the article at Advertising & Marketing Review, or read a transcript of the article below.
By Nick Yorchak and Greg Olson
The mobile revolution continues to escalate, fundamentally changing the way we search for and consume information. Decision makers and consumers are searching on mobile devices, yet most companies are unprepared.
Studies from Google found that search volume from mobile devices is up 5x in the past two years (Google study Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona and ThinkWithGoogle). In the U.S. alone, mobile’s overall share of web traffic has increased to over 9%. Research firm IDC forecasted there will be more U.S. mobile web users than PC by 2015.
Despite this fact, less than 10% of the web is “mobile ready.”
So, how can you ensure your digital presence is “mobile ready?”
The first step is developing mobile friendly communication. Remember, mobile search encompasses more than just one result type. Depending on whether the search query is from a feature phone, smartphone or tablet, a user will receive different results and presentation formats, and even different search results.
Use responsive design if you can, but if you can’t, understand the trade-offs and pitfalls. Responsive design essentially makes your web presence fluid, adapting the layout of the page to the viewing environment. Users across a broad range of devices and browsers then have access to a sole source of content, styled and laid out so as to be the most usable.
Consider implementing a mobile landing page with contact information and your address as a start if you can’t develop a mobile friendly website. Then, test it across a variety of devices and online mobile emulators to see the look and feel of your mobile presence. Make sure the text is to easy to read, and that the user can navigate with a minimum of resizing, panning, scrolling, etc.
Once your mobile presence exists in a user-friendly form, turn your attention to optimization. Remember to incorporate best practices of traditional SEO, properly naming web pages according to the content of the page.
Your mobile presence is more than just your own website. Optimize all of your digital assets including YouTube videos, images, news feeds and map listings for increased visibility in mobile search results. This will also pay dividends across other channels, not just mobile.
Integrate SEO into your mobile development process or involve an SEO expert to ensure your website follows best practices of “search engine friendly” coding and web development. Standard SEO ranking elements apply and are heavily determined by the desktop version of that webpage, as typically a mobile page is on the same URL as its desktop counterpart.
Accessibility is critical for mobile search and if you are hiding content from Google or Bing (intentionally or otherwise) you can incur penalties that will handcuff your online presence for years to come. Google already provides the most variety within search results for feature phones via Googlebot-Mobile, which crawls for specific device types. Google even went so far as to say that your pages may be filtered from those results if they don’t render properly or declare an accurate mobile DocType. Enable user detection and minimize load time. Do your mobile due diligence; put the user experience and accessibility at the forefront of your mobile strategy.
Both Greg and I agree that the ROI on mobile advertising will increase as a result of what industry experts have called mobile’s greatest advantage over other channels, the “relevance of proximity.”
In the next few years, industry standards will evolve and platforms will exist as mobile display becomes easier to manage. “Mobile Driven Spend” will emerge as a leading category that we’ll all need to consider.
About Nick Yorchak
President :: Big Footprint
Nick is the President and Founder of Big Footprint, a search and content marketing consultancy. A seasoned organic search expert, Nick has attained top organic rankings for a variety of B2B and B2C companies ranging from Fortune 500 industry leaders to local startups and non-profits. As a member of SEMPO and BMA, Nick has spoken at industry events and panels on the topic of search engine optimization, and his unique career story was featured in the New York Times.
About Greg Olson
Founder: GROWL
Greg is a BMA Colorado past President and currently is on the BMA National Board of Directors. Founder of Growl: A branding and digital agency, helping clients connect to the digital world more effectively. Greg is an active speaker and author on combining technology and marketing to improve a company’s ROI.
Tags: advertising and marketing review, greg olson, mobile seo, nick yorchak
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Denver, CO – Big Footprint Digital, a Denver-based search marketing and lead generation consultancy, was one of several companies that received a prestigious Gold Peak Award from the Colorado Chapter of the American Marketing Association in June. Big Footprint specializes in search engine and content marketing that drives online presence to increase traffic, leads, and revenue.
The Colorado American Marketing Association awarded Big Footprint Digital a Gold Peak Award in the Search Engine Marketing category. Big Footprint Digital was recognized for their hard work on June 7, 2012 at the 24th Annual Peak Awards Gala held at the City Hall Event Center. The event is one of the largest in Colorado dedicated to celebrating the achievements of the state’s marketing and advertising community. Peak Awards are given as Bronze, Silver, and Gold in each category of consideration, including print advertising, email marketing, public relations, and many more. Winning entries are determined not only by looks and aesthetics, but more importantly, by the effectiveness of the campaign’s results.
Big Footprint Digital won the Gold Peak Award for their work with Level 3 Communications to implement a strategy to market groundbreaking telecom products to mid-market companies. Big Footprint utilized a number of methods to achieve success with this pay-per-click (PPC) campaign, including developing custom landing pages, implementing click-to-sale tracking, conducting multivariate testing, and more. Among other very impressive results, Big Footprint achieved a 250% increase in click-through rate and a 276% return on investment (ROI) for Level 3 Communications.
Receiving a Gold Peak Award amongst some very strong competition is a huge accomplishment and the Big Footprint team was elated to learn that their work had been recognized. According to Nick Yorchak, President and Founder, “I’m really proud of the team we’ve been able to build and the work we are doing. Being recognized alongside our partners at Level 3, the COAMA judges, and the B2B marketing community in Colorado means a lot to us.”
About Big Footprint Digital:
With the intense competition for eyeballs online today, it’s not enough anymore to simply build a digital presence. You have to draw people to it. Big Footprint makes your presence known. A Denver-based search marketing and lead generation agency, Big Footprint is led by a team of seasoned experts specializing in various aspects of the search marketing spectrum. Founded in 2009, we partner with B2B & B2C marketers, agencies, and web developers to augment the online marketing campaigns you’re creating or have already launched. We architect and execute digital marketing programs through the science of search. The effect is both powerful and profitable. We will help you make more money.
Tags: AMA, Awards, big footprint awards, client results, gold peak
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Denver, Colorado (PRWEB) August 30, 2012 ::
Click here to see this press release on PRWEB
Big Footprint Digital, a Denver-based search marketing and lead generation consultancy, was one of several companies that received a prestigious Gold Key award from the Colorado Chapter of the Business Marketing Association. Big Footprint specializes in search engine marketing (SEM) and content marketing that drives online presence to increase traffic, leads, and revenue.
The Colorado Business Marketing Association awarded Big Footprint Digital two Gold Key awards, the “Best Search Engine Marketing Campaign” award and the “Best Results” honor. The Best Results award is one of five awards that spans all award categories and entries, across print and digital. Big Footprint was recognized for their results on May 4, 2012 at the annual Gold Key Awards Gala at the Denver Art Museum.
Big Footprint’s campaign with Level 3 Communications focused on a strategy to market and sell groundbreaking telecom products to mid-market companies. Big Footprint utilized a number of tactics to achieve success with this campaign, including paid search (PPC) and custom landing pages with multivariate tests, and implementing click-to-sale tracking which included inbound phone calls. Among other very impressive results, Big Footprint achieved a 250% increase in click-through rate and a 276% return on investment (ROI) for Level 3 Communications. Click here to see the Search Marketing Case Study for B2B Telecom.
The Best Results Gold Key award for 2012 is a very prestigious award, and the Big Footprint team was elated to learn that the project was recognized as the best overall campaign result of all 160 entries for 2012. According to Nick Yorchak, President and Founder, “I’m really proud of the team we’ve been able to build and the work we are doing here. Being recognized alongside our partners at Level 3 by the BMA judges and the B2B marketing community in Colorado means a lot to us.”
The Gold Key Awards are Colorado’s most prestigious competition dedicated solely to business-to-business (B2B) marketing communications. The Colorado chapter of the BMA received 160 entries from Colorado’s top B2B businesses and agencies. A panel of seven independent judges from across the country representing agency and corporate marketing professionals reviewed all entries.
About Big Footprint Digital:
With the intense competition for eyeballs online today, it’s not enough anymore to simply build a digital presence. You have to draw people to it. Big Footprint makes your presence known. A Denver-based search marketing and lead generation agency, Big Footprint is led by a team of seasoned experts specializing in various aspects of the search marketing spectrum. Founded in 2009, we partner with B2B & B2C marketers, agencies, and web developers to augment the online marketing campaigns you’re creating or have already launched. We architect and execute digital marketing programs through the science of search. The effect is both powerful and profitable. We will help you make more money.
About the Business Marketing Association:
The Business Marketing Association (BMA) is a national organization that unites professionals who specialize in business-to-business marketing and communications. The Colorado Chapter has more than 550 members and one of the largest and strongest chapters in the country. The BMA Gold Key Awards is Colorado’s most prestigious competition dedicated solely to business-to-business marketing. For more information, visit the BMA Colorado website.
Tags: Awards, b2b, big footprint, bma colorado, gold key awards, news
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Big Footprint, a Denver-based search marketing and lead generation agency, announced the company will move its office location to the Equitable Building, at 730 17th Street in downtown Denver.
The move offers more space to the growing Big Footprint team, as well as convenience to the company’s clients.
Founded in 2009, Big Footprint partners with B2B & B2C agencies, marketers, and web developers to augment the online marketing campaigns you’re creating or have already launched.
We architect and execute digital marketing programs through the science of search.
The effect is both powerful and profitable.
We will help you make more money.
Learn more about we work by visiting Big Footprint’s search marketing resources section.
Tags: big footprint office
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