Monthly Archives : September 2018

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SEO Ranking Factors Analyzed

It has been a while since I’ve seen a big switch in factors that affect search engine ranking. SEMRush has released a report based on the scope of 600,000+ keywords, in order analyze the importance of ranking factors.  The results are that the number of direct website visits to your site is the most important factor!  So basically sites that already have a lot of traffic from people typing the URL in the address bar will rank higher in results. This is hard to take for someone trying to improve ranking by adjusting the website – as it is not an on-site factor.  But it makes sense that Google would show the most popular sites at the top.

Other factors that score higher than total referring domains are:

  1. Time on site
  2. Pages per session
  3. Bounce rate

So if your site is engaging and people spend more time on it you also stand to benefit with a higher ranking.

The take away from this is that anything that could increase your direct visits will also increase your visits from organic search  because more direct visits will increase your position in search results.

See the report here: https://www.semrush.com/ranking-factors/

Ranking Factors Analyzed

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Call to Action in Video Ads

If video ads in Facebook and YouTube are part of your marketing mix, here are some tips on how to edit the end of your ad.

 

Facebook Video Ads

After the video ad ends, Facebook overlays a call to action in the middle of your video.  One can choose the call to action text and link in the video ad settings.  So for the last frame be sure not to have anything important in the centre of the frame.  I suggest putting your logo and any text that you want to include (like a slogan) at the top or bottom.  Keep the end short as the call to action from Facebook only appears after the video ends, so there is no point lingering on a long end frame making the user have to wait to click.

YouTube Ads

Youtube has many options for videos, this is a general tip for ads that users can click on to visit a URL. it is important to have a call to action and you can even write “click here” as part of your call to action to let users know what action to take.  I recommend keeping this ending of your video with your logo and call to action for at least 4 seconds.

 

Let me know if you have any comment or other tips based on your experience.