Month: August 2023

An on-page SEO checklist will take you through the essentials your website needs to rank. You can tackle tasks like writing title tags, adding internal and external links, and finding target keywords. What is on-page SEO, and what should be on your checklist?

On-site or on-page SEO is adjustments to a website’s internal links, tags, and content to increase its ranking. Optimizing your website with an on-page SEO checklist makes it easier for search engines to understand your site structure. Elements you might focus on include internal linking, page speed optimization, URL structure, and schema markup.

There are yet more facets of your website to optimize and prioritize. This on-page SEO audit checklist will review basic and advanced SEO strategies designed to increase your website’s visibility, attract traffic, and increase leads.  

What Is On-Page SEO?

On-page SEO includes the modifications you make to your website to increase your optimization and rank. It’s the opposite of off-page SEO, which are SEO strategies outside your website.

An on-page SEO checklist prioritizes tags, meta descriptions, website structure, loading speed, content quality, links, and optimization. You can also get deeper into on-page SEO with advanced tasks we’ll discuss later.

Why is on-page SEO important? By mapping out your website layout, you tell a search engine crawler how to navigate your site and its content. The search engine can determine how relevant your content is to searchers and increase its ranking accordingly.

Boosting your rank is paramount, even if your business is in a good SEO position. You can always increase website traffic, leads, and conversions with a higher rank.

After all, according to Ahrefs, only 0.63 percent of those using Google for a search bother to click to the second page. If your lapsed SEO hygiene causes your site to slide that far down the rankings, you’re practically invisible online.

Essential On-Page SEO Checklist

Now that you understand what is on-page SEO and why it’s worth prioritizing, here is an essential checklist. Tackling these tasks one at a time will make a noticeable difference in your SEO ranking.

1. Title Tag Optimization

The first area to focus on is your website’s title tags. A title tag is an HTML webpage tag that can appear as a snippet in Google and other search engine results. You can think of the title tag as a webpage’s headline.

A title tag should be descriptive and engaging, utilizing primary keywords according to your keyword research. However, only insert relevant keywords.

Watch your title tag length. The optimal length is 50 to 60 characters. According to SEMrush, Google rewrites most title tags exceeding 70 characters. This can cause your original message to be muddled.

2. Meta Descriptions

This post and all the content we publish on the Mediaboom blog have meta descriptions. These are short synopses of the blog post in 140 to 150 characters. A meta description should include your main keyword and possibly a secondary keyword, but no keyword stuffing.

A strong meta description can improve the click-through rate of your content, generating more organic traffic.

3. URL Structure

Your on-page SEO checklist must include improving your URL structure.

URLS include fragments, queries, paths, ports, parameters, subdirectories, top-level domains, secondary domains, subdomains, and schemas. Here’s a breakdown:

• The scheme or protocol indicates the proper protocol for web servers, such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, or HTTPS.
• The subdomain is the website page the user wants to visit, like https://blog.website.com.
• The second-level domain is the website name, such as https://mediaboom.com/.
• The top-level domain is the entity registration type, including .com, .org, .gov, or .edu.
• The subdirectory or subfolder points to a webpage section, such as https://mediaboom.com/news/, with “News” being the subdirectory.
• The port indicates a connection endpoint through a numerical value, such as an IP address.
• The path is where the resource or file within the URL is located.
• The query indicates a query string and is represented by a question mark.
• Parameters in a URL are searched values, from specific search terms to numbers.
• Fragments use a hashtag and point to a webpage location, such as a name attribute.

Your URLS must be SEO-friendly, following the structure above, utilizing keywords, and promoting clarity and consistency.

4. Heading Tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.)

If you read enough blogs online, you’ll notice they all use H1s, H2s, and H3s. Heading tags create content structure and hierarchy. Search engines use heading tags to display your content correctly, keep it organized, and make it readable.

Here are some best practices for writing heading tags:

• Heading tags should incorporate your keywords naturally.
• Your post should only contain one H1 tag for the title. All main subheads should use H2 tags, then H3 for subheads within H2s, and H4s or H5s for subheads within H3s as needed.
• Stay consistent across your headers, utilizing the same title case throughout.
• A header tag should not be a full sentence or paragraph. Save that for the content itself. Stick within a 70-character max limit for writing headers.

5. Keyword Placement and Density

A basic on-page SEO checklist is incomplete without discussing target keywords, how to place them, and how often.

As mentioned throughout this section, keyword stuffing is a bad practice. Jamming your keyword into every other paragraph or every 100 words will get you penalized by Google for producing poor content.

You could drag your rank down further and negatively impact the user experience, so keyword stuffing is not worth your while.

The appropriate keyword density varies by word count. However, with a free keyword density checker like SEO Review Tools and others, there is no excuse to publish content that overuses a keyword. The practice will have just as detrimental an effect as keyword stuffing.

6. Internal Linking

Published content will use internal links to draw your website visitors to other relevant content. If you use internal links correctly, your SEO ranking can improve, so follow these best practices.

• Be clear in your anchor text. Vague descriptors make your readers weary about clicking, as they’re unsure where the link will take them.
• Naturally incorporate your keyword into the anchor text.
• Don’t add too many links. A good rule of thumb is no more than two links for every 500 words.
• Link to important pages on your website.

7. Image Optimization

Images break up paragraphs and make your content interesting. You’ll also increase your views by 90+ percent, according to marketing resource Jeff Bullas.

However, unoptimized images can hurt your SEO ranking. Review your blog content and add alt tags to your images, which are descriptors of the image. Write an alt tag as though describing the image to a friend on the phone who can’t see it.

If your image fails to load or goes offline, an alt tag is a suitable replacement.

You should also consider compressing or re-uploading smaller versions of large images. Bloated file sizes make your website load slower, hindering your SEO aspirations.

8. Mobile Responsiveness

An on-page SEO checklist needs mobile-first indexing, as Google will review the content on your mobile site to determine your rank before the desktop version.

Fortunately, you can use free tools like Google Search Console for insights into how mobile-friendly your website is and amend it based on the results.

9. Page Speed Optimization

Fast-loading websites are a must for on-page SEO. Loading speed is part of website performance, and Google prioritizes high-performing sites in its SERPs. Further, a slow-loading website detracts from the user experience and could increase your bounce rate.

According to browser tester BrowserStack, a mobile website should load in 8.6 seconds and a desktop website in 2.5 seconds.

How do you improve your website loading speed? Here are some tips:

• Reduce redirects.
• Cut down on external scripts.
• Cache your browser HTTP.
• Optimize your images.

10. Content Quality and Length

The last basic on-page SEO checklist element is content. High-quality, informative, and relevant content will help your website rank.

Comprehensively covering a topic is a must, but how many words does that require?

Your content should be at least 1,500 words to rank, with 2,000 words as a good cutoff point. Some brands prefer shorter-form content between 500 and 750 words, so test shorter and longer content to see which drives the most engagement.

Mediaboom’s work with Aspen Luxury Concierge included revamping the company’s SEO campaign and improving content marketing. Our agency created a targeted, relevant keyword strategy that pushed Aspen Luxury Concierge into the top 10 Google search results for more than six of its keywords in only 90 days.

Further, ALC had a spike in new user organic traffic by 118 percent after working with Mediaboom.

Achieve your dream SEO results with Mediaboom’s expert services.

Advanced On-Page SEO Checklist

The following elements of this on-page SEO checklist are more advanced but cover critical components of your SEO campaign.

1. Schema Markup

Structured data through a schema markup tells Google what your page elements are and how they should appear. Google knows more than 30 types of schema, with some including books, articles, carousels, datasets, how-tos, Q&As, FAQs, and recipes.

Other schemas you might incorporate into your SEO campaign are:

• Product markups, which provide product information and details.
• Sitelink markups are for SERP navigational links beyond your homepage.
• Review markups give your business a star rating between one and five.
• Local business markups indicate the parts of your website with business contact details.
• Logo markups refer to your logo on a search engine.

Using schema markups can build your brand presence, increase a site engine’s understanding of your website content, and help your ranking.

2. Social Sharing Buttons

Incorporating social sharing buttons into your SEO campaign can increase your website visibility. However, you can overdo it, so only use three buttons at once.

You might stick to the most popular platforms like Twitter or Facebook or select social platforms based on which your audience gravitates toward the most.

Social sharing buttons perform best on the left or top of the page.

3. HTTPS and SSL

The last item on your on-page SEO checklist is HTTPS and SSL. We discussed HTTPS earlier and how it relates to URL structure, but what about SSL?

SSL is short for Secure Sockets Layer. This internet safety protocol uses encryption between servers or between a browser and a website. Using SSL reduces instances of identity theft, data theft, impersonation, and internet eavesdropping, facilitating a safer, secure environment for your audience.

Monitoring and Maintaining On-Page SEO

An on-page SEO checklist is a great starting point for improving your SEO ranking, but you must continually manage your SEO to hold your rank. Here are some strategies to implement.

Keeping Abreast with Algorithm Updates

Search engines change their algorithms regularly to improve the user experience and keep up with our shifting world. You must stay current on the latest algorithmic updates and adapt your SEO strategy to meet the new parameters.

Regular SEO Content Audits

An on-page SEO audit checklist must include regular content checks. An audit can reveal weaknesses in your content strategy and recommend areas for improvement. For example, you might update older content or rewrite a post so it will perform better.

You can use Google Search Console for SEO content audits. SEMrush can audit your website in minutes, so you can begin changing tact today.

Mediaboom’s work with dermatological company Qazi Cosmetic Clinic included a fresh SEO plan, website overhaul, paid ads, and strategy.

By incorporating content marketing into its SEO strategy, Qazi increased its new users by nearly 2,000 percent, generated 3,496.68 percent organic traffic, and enjoyed 2,127.01 percent total traffic.

Let’s work together to create an SEO strategy that serves your business.

Finalize Your Strategy: Let Mediaboom Guide You Through the Ultimate SEO Checklist!

Building your SEO checklist begins with Mediaboom. Our expertise can increase your SEO ranking so you can reap the rewards of more site traffic, leads, and conversions. Get on the road to better website visibility with Mediaboom.

Website navigation can make or break your business—quite literally.

According to a report by Top Design Firms, 38% of people evaluate the layout and navigational links when visiting a website for the first time. This emphasizes the need for accessible website navigation design, as 42% of respondents said they would abandon a site with poor functionality.

So, how do you create an engaging user experience for all visitors?

Mediaboom has your back with this comprehensive guide to website navigation best practices.

First, let’s define some terms.

What Is Website Navigation?

Website navigation is a collection of features like copy, link text and buttons, and menus, that allow visitors to move from one page to another. Users must be able to find the information they’re looking for with little to no friction or frustration.

This roadmap interlinks every page, providing much-needed context while maintaining the website’s hierarchy.

It’s a core reason visitors continue browsing a website for long periods.

However, navigation goes beyond improving user experience. When done right, it can help search engines better understand what your business offers. This can boost search engine rankings, drive traffic to your website, increase browsing time, and even enhance lead generation.

What Is a Navigation Bar on a Website?

A navigation bar (or menu) is a section on the homepage that links to a collection of internal web pages. Its purpose is to help users find the pages that are most useful to them.

The navigation bar can be hidden or easy to access from anywhere on the homepage.

This element is critical to your website’s success. It must be functional, easy to use, and deliver essential information and resources to all visitors.

Types of Website Navigation

A crucial part of nailing website navigation best practices is knowing no two types of website navigation are equal.

We’ve listed common types of website navigation so you can choose one that best resonates with your target audience:

Drop-down Navigation Menu

This is the best option if you have a content-rich website with many pages to include in your main navigation menu. You can easily group all the informative links under general headings and make them accessible with a single click.

These mega menus collapse via animation, allowing users to see and do more with pages relevant to their needs.

Footer Navigation Menu

This is typically used when you can only fit a handful of links to the main navigation bar. So, if visitors cannot find the link at the top, they can look for it at the bottom of the page.

The footer navigation menu also holds company contact details, social media links, information about the company, terms and conditions, privacy policy, and other legal must-haves.

You can also throw in an extra CTA to give visitors all they need to reach the end of the sales funnel.

Hamburger Menu

A hamburger menu is a three-line button that groups all navigation links in one place. The menu appears when visitors click on the icon and remains hidden otherwise.

This dynamic website navigation design is excellent for mobile-first websites and apps, reducing clutter on devices with limited-screen real estate.

Horizontal Navigation Bar

It is the most commonly used website navigation bar design.

Displayed at the top of the page, it includes a list of important pages in the header, arranged side by side. The sections are just one or two words, such as “About,” “Products,” “Login,” etc.

This navigation bar is often fixed, so it’s a great place to add a contact button, using a clear CTA and color psychology to convince people to take a specific action.

Vertical Sidebar Menu

This expands from the side of the page when you click on an icon and stays in the same place as you scroll. It facilitates easy browsing by displaying all the important links at once without crowding the design.

The vertical sidebar can be hidden until the visitor opens it. It is popular for e-commerce, online magazines, and other websites with many pages to display.

10 Website Navigation Best Practices

These best practices for website navigation will improve user experience and make it easier for search engines to index your website:

1. Keep It Simple

The navigation bar exists to guide users to pages they can visit. Keep it simple, using one or two words for descriptions to remove uncertainty from the equation. Simplicity will help users go where they want to in just a few steps.

It would also be a good idea to limit the number of levels in the website hierarchy, using the three-click rule to avoid overwhelming your user’s journey.

2. Consistent Navigation

Here’s a tip for website navigation best practices.

Make sure the menu looks the same on every web page. This extends to all elements: menu, sub-menu, and headings. Cohesiveness is critical for a good user experience. Any deviation, such as a link that does not flow with the existing menu, could lead to bounce rates.

3. Make It Responsive and Mobile-Friendly

Mobile devices account for a staggering 56.96% of global website traffic.

[Depending on what you sell, this can be different for you. Check it via Audience > Mobile > Overview > Reports > Tech > Tech overview on Universal Analytics]

To capture a large audience, make sure your navigation menu is responsive on all screen sizes to deliver the best user experience. This can be as simple as using a hamburger menu to reduce shopping cart abandonment—no mean feat, seeing that 85.65% of mobile users tend to hit the exit button on the checkout page.

With a mobile-optimized website, you can also gain a competitive advantage.

4. Use Clear and Concise Labels

Use descriptive key phrases instead of generic labels like “products,” “services,” “solutions,” etc., to show visitors what they can expect when they click on a specific navigation item. This eliminates the risk of visitors clicking away because they’re frustrated by the vague terms.

It will also help search engines index your website for relevant keywords and phrases, which can drive traffic and increase conversions and sales.

Don’t know how to go about it? Use Google Trends to see what people look up, optimize terms for geographic locations, and sit back and watch the results unfold.

5. Implement a Search Function

More than 40% of users say a search bar is the most important feature on the website. Incorporating it into your website navigation design will help visitors find things in an instant.

A search function leads to easy-to-navigate websites, even those with tons of pages and features. It improves time on site and reduces bounce rate.

6. Prioritize Navigation Based on User Needs

As a general rule of website navigation design best practices, don’t base your strategy on what looks good to you. Focus on what your users need.

Consider the pages users navigate to the most and ensure they are easy to access. Highlight certain pages that facilitate purchases to guide visitors further along the sales funnel.

7. Use Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumb navigation is one of the most important website navigation best practices you can use. It allows users to visualize the path they have taken so far. It is a location indicator that makes it easy for people to retrace their steps, eliminating the hassle of clicking the back button over and over again to go back to their desired page.

In fact, it appears right below the header, with the “greater than” symbol (>) separating pages.

8. Limit Drop Down Menus

Drop-down menus keep the nav bar clean, crisp, and neatly organized, but they can also do more harm than good. They can encourage function creep, making the site harder to navigate if you add more and more list items.

Plus, they’re not very accessible and can pose all sorts of usability issues.

9. Keep the Number of Menu Items Limited

Empirical evidence suggests that an average person’s short-term memory has the capacity to remember seven items. This is why it is best to keep the number of items in your menu between five and seven to make the information easier to scan and process. This also leads to a less cluttered page.

If you have more than seven critical items to link, you can use a drop-down or hamburger menu.

10. Regularly Test and Update Navigation

One of the best website navigation best practices is to monitor results using analytics (more on this below). To this end, you can use a combination of heatmap tracking and KPIs to determine how people use your website. Determine what works and what doesn’t and update your designs based on the findings.

Case Studies of Good Website Navigation

Setting up good website navigation is no child’s play. It requires a lot of time and resources, and there’s still no guarantee you’ll get it right.

This is why you should consider leaving it to the pros.

At Mediaboom, we perform website analysis and use website navigation best practices to create a user experience that translates into a high ROI. Our professionals use their extensive industry knowledge and current and upcoming trends to deliver the best results.

Don’t take out word for it; believe our best website navigation examples instead.

Millennium Tower San Francisco

For this luxury high-rise building, we created a fully responsive, custom-designed, highly interactive website that puts its amenities and services front and center. Capitalizing on the power of stunning visuals—one of the most important aspects of web redesign—we showcased all that the Millenium Tower San Francisco had to offer in an engaging manner, lending it an air of exclusivity that visitors can’t resist.

JW Marriott

Our partnership with JW Marriott for their Houston Downtown address brought a +200% increase in traffic. We took inspiration from their rich history and combined it with modern elements to create a stunning website with a responsive framework.

>>And a dash of help with print pieces for the grand opening.

Guardian Jet

We overhauled the product catalog and website for Guardian Jet, which claims roughly 1.9% of the market share. It brought a +732% increase in online leads, +1,409% increase in website traffic, +23% pages per session, and +61% avg. session duration, improving the user experience for global clients.

Want to see similar results for your biz? Contact our digital marketing agency today!

Common Mistakes in Website Navigation

Here are some mistakes to avoid while designing website navigation:

• Putting your navigation menu in weird places. Follow the standardized format to take the guesswork out of the equation; you’ll lower the bounce rate with the ease of use that predictable navigation offers.
• Not paying attention to order. Follow the principles of primacy and regency, keeping important items first or last on the list, as these get the most attention from users.
• Using graphic buttons. They are not search-friendly or accessible for the visually impaired, and they take ages to load. Use text-based links instead.
• Using too much negative space. Sure, minimalism is on trend, but don’t go so far as to make it hard for visitors to find the content they’re looking for.

One of the best website navigation best practices is to avoid leading your users to a dead end or pages that are still under construction. If you’re getting a digital makeover to boost your business, take users to another relevant webpage.

Tools for Improving Website Navigation

These tools will aid your journey toward better website navigation:

Treejack

This testing tool by Optimal Workshop will help you identify how users navigate your site. It’s perfect for A/B testing when building an intuitive website interface, as it will analyze where and why people get lost in your content. This information could go a long way in improving your website’s architecture.

Google Analytics

A free tool available to anyone with a Google account, it tracks and reports website traffic to deliver the insights you need to grow your business. It’s statistics and basic analytical tools go a long way to describe, diagnose, and predict how users interact with your site. It also provides intel on where they encounter difficulties.

Hotjar

This tool adds depth to the insight you get from Google Analytics. You can use it to visualize visitor behavior using heatmaps, session recordings, and surveys to understand how they use and interact with your site. This is a fantastic tool to improve user experience.

UserTesting

Get first-person feedback on a product, feature, or prototype to uncover any issues with usability and navigation. Knowing this can help you improve your website while keeping real people’s needs, wants, and preferences in mind.

In Conclusion: Improve Your Website Navigation

While these website navigation best practices will go a long way to helping you unlock top-notch user experience, planning it out isn’t easy.

This is where Mediaboom can help you. We take the guesswork out of the equation to develop website navigation that feels most intuitive to your users.

Reach out to us to learn more about how we can help.

Around 55% of companies use Google Display Ads (clutch.co)—for good reason.

The Google Display Network (GDN) advertises brands across over 2 million websites, videos, and apps, effectively reaching around 90% of internet users worldwide based on context, location, and audiences.

Undoubtedly, this is where you should direct your ad spend.

Google Display ads are visually engaging graphic campaigns that can supercharge your brand reach. You can reach audiences in various stages of the buying cycle and on multiple platforms, such as blogs, videos, mobile apps, and even search engine results. And when your ad pops up in front of an interested customer, their clicks will power conversions for your business.

Read on for a comprehensive guide to creating a successful display ad campaign to take your business to the next level.

What are Google Display Ads?

Google display ads are some of the best visual-based ad types on the Google Display Network. It helps advertisers market their products to interested users on third-party websites, videos, apps— just about anywhere they browse.

Compelling copy, variety in image formats, and a well-crafted benefit-oriented call to action (CTA) will go a long way in capturing a potential customer’s attention, leading to conversions. Your ads should be designed to keep your brand on top of your target audience’s mind without being too intrusive.

These ads are great for differentiating your brand and expanding awareness in a saturated market.

Google Display Ads Size

There are many size options available for Google display ads.

Or, you can get the most bang for your buck with Google responsive display ads (RDA).

Launched in 2016, this fan-favorite addition to the display ad category allows users to enter their assets (images, headlines, etc.) on your portal. Then, the Google search engine will automatically adjust their size, format, and appearance to build ads that fit almost any space on any standard Google Display Network (GDN) format.

Responsive ads maximize your reach, increase click-through rates to boost conversions and improve performance on all digital properties, including mobile devices.

3 Real-World Google Display Ads Examples

Whether you want to spread awareness about your brand or direct users to take a specific action, Google Ads Display can make it happen. But don’t take our word for it; look at these real-world search ad examples to understand why they work.

Guess

This clothing company highlights the brand collaboration with J.Balvin with vibrant hues and a no-pressure CTA, successfully capturing its target audience.

Salesforce 

This cloud-based software company launched several well-branded ads to reinforce its message, pairing it with subtle CTAs (“learn more”) and some genius color psychology (calming blue and optimistic orange) to grab interest.

Square Terminal

With the brand name, CTA, and benefits covered in just ten words, this revolutionary all-in-one credit-card machine provider made quite the impact.

Want to join their ranks? Contact Mediaboom, and watch the magic happen.

How to Run Google Display Ads in 10 Steps

Studies have shown a 59% boost in conversions when consumers conduct a search related to a display ad, which speaks to its potential to drive sales.

Want to cash in on it? Here’s a simple how-to guide.

1. Setup Google Ads Account

Setting up a Google Ads account is easy.

1. Head to https://accounts.google.com/ and create a Google account. Select “to manage my business” from the drop-down menu that appears. *Skip this step if you already have a fully-functional account for your business.*
2. Go to https://ads.google.com./, log in to your brand-new AdWords account, then follow the steps to create your first campaign.

Ensure your website is optimized for conversion before you embark on this journey. It should be easy to navigate, aesthetically pleasing with lots of white space, with eye-catching and high-quality visuals, and mobile-optimized for convenience.

We can take care of your website development and design as we did for Millennium Tower San Francisco, setting a new standard of what luxury residence and experience should look like.

2. Define Campaign Goals and Objectives

Google display ads are a form of paid marketing campaign. To get a good return on investment (ROI), you need to define your campaign goals.

What do you want your display ads to do for you?

By setting specific marketing objectives (build awareness, influence consideration, or drive action), you limit the scope of your ad campaign to a small group. This will help you target high-intent customers, capture more traffic, and ultimately increase sales and revenue.

You can opt for “no marketing objective” to tap into all available features, but bear in mind this could take time to show results.

3. Choose “Display Network” as the Campaign Type

On your Google Ads account, click “+ campaign” and select “Display Network Only.” This ad type will allow you to tap into its network of partner websites that reach millions of people worldwide.

4. Configure Campaign Settings

Your work doesn’t end with creating a new campaign. You must configure it to reach (and hopefully exceed) your marketing objectives.

Start by giving your campaign a name. If you don’t want to do so, Google will do it for you.

Don’t slack for the following configurations:

• Ad assets: This is information you put in your ads. Go heavy on the contact information here, as it can double up as your CTA.
• Device: Choose which digital properties you want to target, so you can customize your ads according to their specific requirements.
• Network: Carefully choose where you want your ad to appear. For display ads, this should translate to thousands of sites across the web.
• Schedule: This is when you want your ads to appear for maximum conversions. You can also set a campaign start and end date.

Also, consider choosing language over location.

Of course, location-based targeting works like a charm, allowing you to target postal codes, cities, countries, etc. But if you cater to customers worldwide, displaying your ad in your target language will ensure it appears on the feed of everyone who has it in their browser’s settings. This will lead to much better reach.

5. Define Your Target Audience

The key to an effective display ad campaign is knowing what to target.

There are different types of audiences:

• In-market Audiences: Target users already interested in your products and services. They may be convinced to make a purchase when they see your ad.
• Affinity Audiences: They are narrowly pre-defined by Google based on their interests and shopping behavior surrounding a specific product or service.

If your target audience isn’t in these buckets, consider creating a buyer persona based on demographics, lifestyle, needs and wants, buying behavior, etc. Then you tell Google precisely who to target with keywords or specific landing pages with their “custom intent” category in audience targeting.

Don’t know how to make SEO work for you? We can improve your rankings and increase your visibility on search engines like we did for A&A Global Industries.

6. Create Ad Groups and Select Targeting Options

Ad groups refer to ads that share common targets. They contain all your keywords, text, and landing pages, so you can easily organize your ads with the same theme. This will help you drive traffic and draw leads at a lower cost.

Ad groups can be a money-generating machine if you ensure integration among all assets and meet messaging consistency with a good quality score.

Once this is done, you can “choose how to target your ads.” You can show your ads on websites related to your keyword—the ones your target audience is actively searching for, target interests or remarketing, and so on.

You can also “narrow your targeting further” to increase the odds of appearing on specific websites.

7. Design and Upload Display Ads

Designing ads can feel daunting. Follow these tips for the best results:

• Instead of sticking to one ad size, create multiple formats of the top performing dimensions. This will help you get more impressions. Or just use Google responsive display ads.
• Add a clearly visible logo to boost brand awareness.
• Define your value proposition and be aggressive with how you market it. While it should take up ample space in the ad, make sure your copy is concise, with the entire piece taking up not more than four lines.
• Use a subtle, well-thought-of CTA to compel people to take a specific action, using the right color contrast (as suggested: red) to perform better.
• Follow the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle. Only 9% of display ads manage to keep the attention of the viewer for more than one second. You need to keep your content short and simple to reduce clutter and keep all eyes on the prize: your messaging and preferred action.
• Tweak the size of your ad to fit the dimension options available.
• Use meaningful imagery to grab interest with visual marketing.

When you have your creatives, you can move to the final destination: upload.

Head to “Create Ads,” choose “Image ad,” then upload the file. Create an ad name and provide a display URL.

You can add the page your ad will link to, and Google will give you a list of ad ideas to start with.

8. Set a Budget and Bidding Strategy

There are different bid types to help you meet your campaign goals:

• Cost per click (CPC) — set a maximum price for someone clicking on your ad.
• Cost-per-view (CPV) — you pay each time a user watches your video for at least 30 seconds.
• Manual cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) — for video campaigns to grab attention fast. As the name suggests, you’ll pay a set amount for every thousand impressions.
• Viewable Cost-Per-Thousand Impressions (vCPM) — based on ad viewability.

You can also go for “maximize clicks (or conversions!),” “target cost-per-action (CPA),” “Target Return On Ad Spend (ROAS),” or “Enhanced Cost Per Click (ECPC).” If you’re unsatisfied with your ads’ performance, a bid adjustment will cut your losses, and you can adopt a better campaign strategy.

As for setting a budget, you can enter the average amount you want to spend per day.

As traffic fluctuates, GDN may show your ads to more people. It is called “overdelivery,” but your spending won’t increase by more than 2x your daily limit. Google will also ensure you’re not charged more than 30.4x times your daily limit in any month, even if your ads reach more people than your budget permits.

9. Launch Your Google Display Ads Campaign

Once you’ve performed all the due diligence, select “Publish campaign,” and you’re all set to rock and roll.

Remember that while ads are usually approved in a day, it can take some time for them to be shown to your audience and yield results.

10. Monitor Performance and Make Optimizations As Needed

Analyze the impact of your display ad campaign using key performance indicators (KPIs); more on this below. Tracking your ads will help you make informed decisions about what’s working and what isn’t, so you can tweak the headline, color, ad copy, CTA, and even the location you’re targeting to improve results.

Admittedly, this can be a lot of work.

If you want to reap the benefits but don’t know how to go on about it, trust Mediaboom with your campaign. We will boost your brand and authority the way we did for Aspen Luxury Concierge and VB Events.

KPIs to Monitor When Running Google Display Ads

KPIs are measurable metrics that track how your Google ads display performs for a specific goal or objective.

Here are targets to keep an eye on:

• Impressions: The number of times your ad is displayed.
• Click-Through-Rate (CTR): The number of clicks your ad received divided by the total impressions. This is the percentage of impressions that yielded interest (clicks) from users.
• Conversion Rate: The percentage of people who took the desired action.
• Cost Per Click (CPC): How much you pay each time a user clicks on your ad.
• Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA): How much it costs to attain a single conversion.
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): How much you earn (revenue) per dollar spent on display ad campaigns.
• Viewability: Ads that are actually seen by users on a website or mobile app.
• Engagement Metrics: Abandonment rates, bounce rates, conversion rates, new vs. returning visitors, page/scroll depth, pages per session, page views, time on page, top exit pages, unique visitors, etc.
• Ad Placement Performance: The area on the web page where your ad is shown to the audience.
• Frequency: The number of times a user sees your ad in a given time frame.

Not familiar with these terms? Contact Mediaboom for help.

We can optimize your ads according to KPI analysis. And with some help from our Google Ads cost calculator, help you generate maximum possible traffic for your budget.

FAQs about Google Display Ads

How does Google display ads grow marketing results for advertisers?

Google uses targeting options that harness the power of signals to place ads in relevant contexts. It helps advertisers reach a larger audience, boost brand awareness and recognition, and generate high-quality leads, setting them up for success.

Where do Google Display Ads appear?

Google Display ads can appear on websites, videos, apps, articles, and even at the top and bottom of the Google search results page.

What is the benefit of Google display ads?

Google display ads capture user intent, but their biggest benefit is building brand awareness and increasing visibility.

Let Mediaboom Manage Your Google Display Ads

Display advertising is one of the best digital marketing solutions to increase clicks and conversions, but it can be a tricky field to maneuver. That’s why you need a trusted digital marketing agency like Mediaboom in your corner.

We have the experience, the insight into Google’s ever-fluctuating guidelines, and a team of experts that will make things happen.

Contact us today to scale your business!

SEO content marketing can generate more leads, a spike in website traffic, and result in more collaborations. However, combining the two concepts can prove challenging. What is SEO when applied to content marketing?

SEO content marketing utilizes the elements of SEO for producing and optimizing content. For example, you can use on-page SEO elements like keyword research and link-building to improve your content. Off-page SEO, including quality backlinks and getting on directories, will also further your content marketing goals and increase your authority.

This guide to SEO and content marketing will first explain the concepts separately, and then delve into how they enmesh. We’ll also share actionable strategies and benefits.

SEO Content Marketing Definitions

Let’s begin by expanding on the definition of SEO content marketing from the intro, unpacking it with its two core concepts.

What Is SEO?

Search engine optimization or SEO determines how well your website ranks in search engine results pages or SERPs.

Marketers employ SEO strategies to push their site toward the top of the SERPs page and possibly reach the illustrious first position.

Landing at the top of Google’s results for a search term can lead to 32 percent of clicks, reports Backlinko, so it’s worth aspiring to become number one.

Digital marketing agency Mediaboom partnered with Meraki Global Advisors, a global multi-asset operations and outsourced trading firm, to improve its web presence. Through a combination of services, SEO chief among them, Meraki experienced a 336-percent uptick in organic traffic.

What Is Content Marketing?

Next, let’s shed some light on content marketing. This form of marketing entails producing and sharing content to further a company’s goals, such as increasing brand visibility, website traffic, email list-building, lead conversions, and customer loyalty.

The type of content you can use runs the gamut from blog posts to whitepapers, webinars, eBooks, videos, checklists, and infographics. The content you select depends on your campaign and audience.

What Is SEO Applied to Content Marketing?

SEO tactics like keyword research, link-building, domain strategizing, and website redevelopment can bolster content marketing by making your website more trustworthy and increasing traffic.

Improve Content Marketing Through On-Page SEO

Now that you see how content marketing and SEO intersect, let’s explore the measures you can use to improve your content, beginning with on-page SEO or the SEO improvements made on your website.

This form of technical SEO will help you sharpen and optimize the content you focus on and improve the user experience.

Keyword Research

The keywords you select for your content have far-reaching consequences. They affect how well your article will perform and where your website will rank. Harnessing the right keywords will assist your traffic growth rate and aid in customer acquisition.

Keywords vary by industry, but the best keywords to incorporate into your content share several common threads. They have a good monthly search volume, they’re authoritative, and they’re relevant.

Search volume is measured by the number of searches the average search engine user does per month. You shouldn’t select oversaturated terms, as you have more competition, which makes it harder to rank.

However, you shouldn’t select such obscure keywords that no one even thinks to look for them. Ahrefs found that 15 percent of Google searches haven’t ever been searched. Don’t let yours be one of them.

Keywords that increase your authority will boost your rank, as will relevant keywords.

High-Quality Content (Articles)

Now that you’ve researched keywords in your industry or niche, it’s time to begin writing content.

These best practices will help you produce high-quality articles, eBooks, whitepapers, and other written content:

• Focus on search intent and answer a user’s questions.
• Keep your content readable by breaking up long paragraphs, adding bullet points, and including images or videos.
• Format your content using header tags like H2s and H3s.
• Know your audience and write for them.
• Only present accurate content and back up assertions with high-quality links (i.e., studies).

Internal and External Link Building

Next, it’s time to focus on your link building, one of the most important aspects of SEO content marketing.

Let’s begin with internal links. Don’t create pages just to do it but determine that your website has enough pages. For example, do you have landing pages for each product or service you sell?

Do you use links across your website in your written content? If not, you should start.

Then you can turn your attention to external link-building. External links are outside of your website and are also known as backlinks.

For example, if you wrote a whitepaper and linked to a scientific study relevant to your topic, that’s an external link. The presence of external links builds authority and trustworthiness.

Page Loading Speed

Visitors won’t get to your content if your website loads too slowly. A website should load in two seconds, according to website performance resource Pingdom.

Taking too much longer will hurt your website traffic. Statista data unveiled that customer satisfaction drops by 16 percent for every second they spend waiting for a website to load.

Further, one in every four website visitors will leave a website that doesn’t load in four seconds or less. Most customers, 64 percent, do not come back to a slow-loading website, the data reports.

UX/UI Experience

UX/UI represents user experience and user interface, in that order. The terms relate to how well a website is designed for functionality and usability.

Your website must make it easy to find the information you seek, with a neat, concise navigation bar, clear menus, a search function, and CTAs above the fold.

We have plenty of examples of A+ website design to inspire you, such as this collection of luxury travel websites or these examples of real estate website design.

You can rely on Mediaboom for crafting an incredible website that drives results. When we teamed with Clarity Software Solutions, a healthcare communication company, to redesign its website, conversions increased by more than 1,200 percent.

Clarity also boosted its organic traffic by over 300 percent and its total traffic by more than 250 percent.

Explore Mediaboom’s website development services today.

Improve Content Marketing Through Off-Page SEO

Next, let’s review the off-page SEO measures you can use for your SEO content marketing strategy. Off-page SEO refers to improvements made outside of your website that still relate to your site for improving your rank and optimizing your content.

SEO Audit

First, take a hard look at your SEO and content marketing with an SEO audit. SEMrush is a handy tool for this, but you have plenty of other options. An SEO audit can reveal the following:

• Your current ranking
• Technical website issues and how to improve them on a page-by-page basis
• How your outreach campaigns are going
• Who the top domain owners are so you can reach out for backlinks
• Where you’re missing backlink opportunities
• Keywords you’re not utilizing correctly
• Keywords you’re not using
• How much organic traffic you generate
• Your authority score
• Competitor insights
• The quality of your internal links
• Your core website vitals
• Your website loading speed
• How mobile-optimized your website is
• Whether your website has duplicate versions
• If your site has indexing issues

High-Quality Backlinks

Earlier, we discussed external links or backlinks. Now, let’s focus on backlink quality, a major determining factor of SEO success.

In the example before of writing a whitepaper and using a study as an external link, a study is a fantastic high-quality backlink. Studies are published by medical and scientific journals and are widely trustworthy.

News articles, trusted review websites, product or service reviews by reputable bloggers, and social media sites are examples of quality backlinks. Ideally, a quality backlink ties to your business, such as a news site that quoted your CEO.

Disavowing Toxic Domains

As you begin generating quality backlinks, you’ll get better at sniffing out the toxic ones. Toxic backlinks harm your SEO as search engines perceive them as spam.

Websites deemed untrustworthy and those that overuse links can be toxic, but there is no hard and fast definition.

Optimized Tracking Setup

Another off-page SEO content marketing strategy is optimizing your tracking setup. You must begin tracking SEO metrics like organic search results, conversion rate optimization, keyword rankings, click-through rate, bounce rate, and exit rate.

Your SEO tools should begin generating this data for you. These metrics indicate the success of your campaign.

However, keep in mind that SEO results are anything but overnight sensations. You could have to wait months to see the needle move and your rank increase.

Mentions in Directories

Many industries have business directories, and you should aspire to have your company name added. Getting on a directory increases your backlinks, hastens a search engine’s indexing speed, and improves your visibility.

Social Media to Boost SEO Content Marketing

Social media is an important component of an SEO content marketing strategy, as you can appeal to your target audience and grow your customer base. Here are some methods for achieving those goals.

Social Signals

Search engines gauge your rate of social signals, including retweets, votes, likes, or reposts across social media platforms from Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

The priority of social signals by search engines has increased and could continue to grow. Begin bolstering yours now using SEO content marketing.

Social Bookmarking

The SEO strategy of social bookmarking involves creating web document bookmarks that are sharable and editable. You can use bookmarks to store your links in one concise location, retrieving them from any device you wish for off-page SEO.

Google and Social Media Authority

Increasing your authority across Google and social media will automatically improve your content marketing strategy and SEO ranking. You’ll focus more on researched keywords, relevant content, strong backlinks, and audience targeting.

Mediaboom can help your company develop authoritative content that ranks and build your clout on social media. Contact Mediaboom today to begin discussing your SEO content marketing strategy.

What Can You Expect After Optimizing Your Content Marketing SEO Strategy?

Deploying an SEO content marketing strategy takes time, patience, and hard work, but it pays back dividends if you stick with it. Here are some of the benefits your business can begin reaping in the coming months.

Traffic Increase

The spike in organic traffic you receive will attract new attention to your website. You should have already redesigned your website for a faster loading speed, easier navigation, and an overall improved user experience. That will keep people on the site for longer.

You should also be ready to convert traffic to your email list with opt-in forms and lead magnets such as webinar transcripts or checklists.

More Leads and Sales

Once leads join your email list, you can begin nurturing the professional relationship, guiding them through the sales funnel until you can present your products or services. Your leads will feel readier to buy, increasing your rate of sales and conversions.

SEO content marketing can also boost your lead generation rate as your website becomes more visible.

Increased Authority

Between producing well-researched, trustworthy content and building a backlinking strategy, your brand will be viewed as an authority in your industry. Your reputation will precede you, and your authority will continue to generate traffic to your website as you publish quality content.

Partnerships and Collaborations

The rate of collaborative opportunities and partnerships that pop up once your company’s website ranks higher will steadily increase. You might get to do more guest blogging, sponsorships, and other mutually beneficial arrangements.

These partnerships will make your brand even more visible, increasing your ranking further if you’re not yet in the top spot.

Hire Now an SEO Content Marketing Agency!

SEO content marketing links these two concepts. You’ll use SEO strategies to build stronger, more engaging content and a website that ranks.

Mediaboom are SEO specialists who understand what it takes to produce enduring content. Work with our experts to launch your SEO content marketing strategy.