The Best of June 2021: Marketing Technology Highlights, Tools, and More!
June 28, 2021
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Highlights
Favorite New Tutorials
From: Moz.com | VIDEO - 8 min: How to Make Newsworthy Content by Amanda Milligan
When it comes to SEO, getting others to link to your content is a powerful way to boost your reach. We love this video because it is essentially a whole class in under 10 minutes! Amanda Milligan explains how to use data, emotion, and impact to create newsworthy content that attracts links.
From Grant: "Even if SEO is boring or doesn't apply to you, this is a great lesson on teaching a subject from a whiteboard. It shows that every video published doesn't need to take weeks of planning."
Major Product Changes
These Google Updates Could Help Your Business Grow (Or cause some problems!)
Google made several changes this past month that could affect how your business operates online. These updates will allow you to have a more holistic view of your customers' journeys with Google Analytics 4 and boost your page speed score with the new lighthouse 8.0 update. Most notably, the latest update to Google My Business allows you to add more meaningful information to your listing.
From: marketingprofs.com | ARTICLE - 5 min read: Goodbye Universal Analytics, Hello Google Analytics 4 by Alex Yastrebenetsky
This new form of analytics will make it easier to track the complex movements of modern web users. You'll gain a more complete picture of how customers navigate your website or apps from their mobile and desktop devices.
“As more and more people began to use mobile devices, marketers began clamoring for a way to analyze data across platforms so they could have a more holistic picture of their target audiences and their behaviors.”
Alex Yastrebenetsky
From: searchenginejournal.com | ARTICLE - 4 min read: Google PageSpeed Scores Updated with Lighthouse 8.0 by Roger Montti
Google also announced the release of Lighthouse 8.0. Lighthouse is a tool that measures website metrics such as page speed, accessibility, and SEO. With this new update, specific speed metrics will now matter more than others, which will help most sites enjoy higher page speed scores.
From: searchenginejournal.com | ARTICLE 4 min read: Google Adds More Ways to Edit Business Profiles in Search by Matt Southern
Businesses can now include more information on their Google My Business listing! This will help searchers easily find the information they need without navigating away from the search results or Google Maps.
“Now businesses will be able to add or edit more details such as contact information and opening hours, and create Posts to share updates right from Google Search.”
Matt Southern
SEO Top 10 Lists: How to Improve & What to Avoid
Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, improves a website to appeal to both users and search engines. Creating well-written content will help your site attract more relevant traffic, gain trust, and convert more leads.
From: semrush.com | ARTICLE - 14 min read: 10 SEO Copywriting Tips to Improve Your Content (Plus Some Tools) by Connor Lahey
This article is packed with detailed guides and resources on how to improve your SEO copywriting. Below are the 10 tips for improving your SEO copywriting that Semrush covers in this article.
- Find the Right Keywords
- Find Questions That People Ask
- Identify and Map Search Intent
- Check Competitors' Articles for Your Target Keywords
- Gather Original Data
- Optimize Your Header, Meta Title, & Meta Description
- Create Organized, Easy-to-Read Content
- Include Visuals
- Include CTAs (Calls-to-Action)
- Good Internal & External Linking Structure
From: searchenginejournal.com | ARTICLE - 10 min read: The 10 Most Harmful Mobile SEO Mistakes by Aleh Barysevich
These SEO mistakes are harmful because they drive mobile visitors away from your site. This negative mobile user experience can actually have a significant impact on your overall site ranking.
“[Google is] switching to mobile-first indexing...Mobile-first means that Google is crawling your mobile site – and is often only looking at your mobile site. Even if your desktop site is the best, if it doesn’t offer an excellent mobile experience, Google will not rank you well.”
Aleh Barysevich
Here are the 10 tips Search Engine Journal lists as the most harmful SEO mistakes to make. Read the full article to learn how to avoid these costly errors.
- Core Web Vitals: Slow Site Speed
- Core Web Vitals: Interstitials
- Missing Content: Blocked Files
- Missing Content: Unplayable Content
- Missing Content: Bad Redirects/Cross Links
- Missing Content: Mobile-Only 404s
- Missing Content: Structured Data
- Bad UX: Not Specifying Mobile Viewport
- Bad UX: Poor Mobile Design
- Responsive Strategies: Not Cross-Checking Metrics You Rely On
Directly from Google
From: searchenginejournal.com | ARTICLE - 4 min read: Google on How to Use Keywords in Content by Roger Montti
Given the improvements of search engine technology, is it time to give keywords a rest? John Mueller, Search Advocate at Google, explains how often you should use keywords in your content and why word mapping is so important.
Social Media Marketing Strategies
From: neilpatel.com | ARTICLE - 9 min read: Facebook Marketing: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners by Neil Patel
Facebook has over 2.74 billion monthly active users making it the world’s most popular social media platform. It might not be the right platform for every business, but it does hold many opportunities to engage with customers. Developing a Facebook marketing strategy may seem daunting, but this article walks you through the relatively simple process.
From: northbaybusinessjournal.com | ARTICLE - 6 min read: 7 things your business shouldn’t be doing in social media marketing by Shana Bull
Even the most experienced social media marketers can wind up making these common mistakes. Below are the 7 mistakes that might be standing in the way of your social media success.
Read the full article to learn quick fixes to each of these issues.
- Never engaging!
- Not planning ahead
- Not editing photos
- Ignoring DMs
- Posting randomly
- No CTAs!
- Overthinking content
From: socialmediaexaminer.com | ARTICLE - 6 min read: 11 Social Media Marketing Podcast Episodes to Boost Your Wisdom by Lisa D. Jenkins
Learn on the go with these social media marketing podcast episodes! Many of these episodes include top marketing professionals discussing how they use Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms to grow their businesses.
From: venturebeat.com | ARTICLE - 2 min read: LinkedIn lets marketers ‘boost’ organic posts and promote events by Paul Sawers
LinkedIn rolled out some new features this past month that will help you promote your business. The new features include better analytics reports and tools like the "boost" button (which allows you to quickly turn a well-performing post into an ad).
Thinking Strategically
Leading a Team Meeting
From: nngroup.com | ARTICLE - 6 min read: Derailed Design Critiques: Tactics for Getting Back on Track by Rachel Krause
Although design critiques are an essential part of the design process, the feedback you receive can sometimes be unhelpful. This article covers how to handle these 3 scenarios that can derail a design critique:
- Hypothetical scenarios (not supported by data)
- Unhelpful and unactionable feedback
- Off-topic or premature questions
From: invisionapp.com | ARTICLE - 4 min read: How to run an effective online brainstorming session by Kacy Boone
We think group brainstorming sessions are some of the best ways to quickly generate ideas. These working meetings can be just as effective virtually as they are in person. This article walks you through the step-by-step process and best practices of hosting a successful brainstorming session using a simple online whiteboard.
Thoughtful Design Techniques
From: uxdesign.cc | ARTICLE - 12 min read: Designing forms for gender diversity and inclusion by Sabrina Fonseca
This was one of our favorite articles of the month! It explores how asking for someone’s gender on a registration form makes a big impact on how they view your business. If done wrong, you risk losing engagement and drawing false conclusions based on incorrect data. So how can you ask for a person's gender in a thoughtful and inclusive way? Do you even need to ask at all?
“As with any form field, if there isn’t a clear benefit to the user, you probably shouldn’t ask about it.”
From Grant: "This article really hits the nail on the head. Every conversation I have with clients when designing forms involves convincing them to ask fewer questions. Fewer questions will increase the likelihood that people actually fill these forms out."
From: jonyablonski.com | ARTICLE - 12 min read: Cognitive bias and the design process by Jon Yablonski
Our own biases can creep into the design process if we’re not careful. Here are some strategies for identifying and mitigating those biases upfront.
Return to the Office or Keep WFH?
From: thecut.com | ARTICLE - 5 min read: ‘Am I the Only One Who Hates Working From Home?’ by Alison Green
In an advice column format, a disgruntled employee writes in feeling very disconnected from her colleagues while working from home. She's frustrated that it seems like most people will remain at home once the office opens back up.
Response: "The problem in your case sounds like you've found yourself at a company where the vast majority of people feel differently than you do. Giving you what you need to be happy would mean taking away something that's making everyone else happy..."
Alison Green
From: thecut.com | ARTICLE - 7 min read: How Is Returning to the Office Supposed to Work, Exactly? by Alison Green
Alison Responds to readers who dread going back into the office. Concerns range from reuniting with problematic coworkers to wearing a bra every day.
From Grant: “Work is trending towards full remote. If you insist on your employees working at an office, you’ll find yourself hiring B-level talent.”
Fun Finds
From: behance.net | DESIGN: *FLASH WARNING* Hype&Hyper magazine branding by kissmiklos
This flashy and vibrant brand design is for a Central and Eastern European magazine covering innovation, urban life, and creative ecosystems. Our favorite part of this collection is seeing the design brainstorming and development process in action.
From: behance.net | DESIGN: Illustrations by Leonard L’inventur
We enjoy these whimsical story-book illustrations by Leonard L’inventur. Scrolling through this collection is a quick way to brighten your day and find a little inspiration!
From: youtube.com | VIDEO - 10 min: Making FAMOUS Graphic Designs Better!? (Before & After Graphic Design) by Satori Graphics
Satori Graphics takes 4 designs from influential brands and re-designs them in his style. As he goes, he talks you through his process and explains how his changes improve the effectiveness of each design.
FUNNY TOOL: Sophisticated Company Name Generator
Are you looking for an outrageous business name that is bound to raise some eyebrows? Check out this wacky tool that uses random English town names to generate your “ideal” company name.