Month: October 2017

Will chatbots become part of the consumer search experience?

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When thinking about the future of organic search, common considerations include the impending mobile-first index, machine learning, AI, natural language processing, voice search, site speed, HTTP 2, personalization and consumer behavior changes led by the Internet of Things and digital assistants.

However, during an inspirational Future of Search meeting with the Bing team and Rik van der Kooi, corporate vice president for Microsoft advertising worldwide, discussion focused on a different topic — how chatbots could form a much greater part of the consumer search experience. Van der Kooi explained that since May in the US (Seattle area), Bing has been testing chatbots directly in paid and organic search results, as shown below.

While chatbot integrations have been in the news over recent months, most people outside of the Seattle area won’t have seen them in action or truly considered how such integrations could be used.

For instance, if chatbot integrations within search results become a future reality, they could be used to carry out the following without ever leaving search results:

  • Book a test drive
  • Engage with customer service
  • Order products and services

The possibilities are vast and shine a light on the importance of APIs and data integrations to enable the next generation of consumer interaction.

The challenges of a chatbot future

For a moment, let’s assume Bing’s testing is successful, and we see chatbots roll out in search results. Getting brands to a point where they can leverage the technology is going to be a challenge never before experienced by owned performance and marketing teams.

Do brands have the data infrastructure and customer service setup to make this happen? Who leads these teams, and are they willing to cooperate? What reporting metrics will be required? New relationships and process will have to be forged and maintained.

Measurement and reporting will also pose new challenges, as consumers will interact with brands through search results pages rather than on-site. Analytics platforms will need to find a way to track these interactions.

If chatbots are to become a part of the consumer search experience in the future, agencies and in-house teams have to set expectations with brands about the level of resource and data integration requirements.

For instance, being an early adopter and investing in new technology may produce underwhelming results until consumer usage becomes mainstream; however, at that point, you’ll be a front-runner with an advantage over competitors.

On the other hand, you can wait until consumer adoption has reached high levels, but you’ll then be playing catch-up to earn visibility within search results.

Prioritizing the short-term, middle and long-term future

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Nobel Prize In Chemistry 2017 Awarded For Imaging The Molecules Of Life

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The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 has been awarded to three researchers, Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank & Richard Henderson, for their work on imaging the molecules of life.

The three, including Cambridge University’s Richard Henderson, were able to develop a revolutionary new electron microscopy imaging technique that can see these molecules at the atomic level.

“This method has moved biochemistry into a new era,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement awarding the $1.1 million) prize.

“Researchers can now freeze biomolecules mid-movement and visualize processes they have never previously seen, which is decisive for both the basic understanding of life’s chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals.”

The breakthrough has been compared to being able to actually photograph a person on the Moon from Earth in minute detail.

Traditionally one of the biggest hurdles in using electron microscopes is that the water surrounding these molecules simply evaporates in the vacuum chamber.

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Nobel Prize In Chemistry 2017 Awarded For Imaging The Molecules Of Life

check out this post on Nobel Prize In Chemistry 2017 Awarded For Imaging The Molecules Of Life

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 has been awarded to three researchers, Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank & Richard Henderson, for their work on imaging the molecules of life.

The three, including Cambridge University’s Richard Henderson, were able to develop a revolutionary new electron microscopy imaging technique that can see these molecules at the atomic level.

“This method has moved biochemistry into a new era,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement awarding the $1.1 million) prize.

“Researchers can now freeze biomolecules mid-movement and visualize processes they have never previously seen, which is decisive for both the basic understanding of life’s chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals.”

The breakthrough has been compared to being able to actually photograph a person on the Moon from Earth in minute detail.

Traditionally one of the biggest hurdles in using electron microscopes is that the water surrounding these molecules simply evaporates in the vacuum chamber.

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Safari’s New “Intelligent Tracking Prevention” — What Does it Mean for Marketers?

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Along with the release of the iPhone 8, Apple’s new operating system, iOS 11 and its browser, Safari 11 on desktop, are causing quite a stir among advertisers and marketers. Not for their new design or ease of use but for their release of “Intelligent Tracking Prevention” — a feature which would limit website owners’ ability to track users across domains. But what does that mean exactly, and how can marketers best prepare for it? Let’s take a closer look:

What Does Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) Actually Do?

In a nutshell, ITP limits the ability for advertisers and site owners to track users across domains. Any websites that load things like scripts or image across domains are classified according to a machine-learning algorithm, and cookies that those sites deposit are essentially sectioned off — preventing them from tracking the user 24 hours after they first interacted with the site. Why 24 hours? The cookie is stored in the system in case the user wants to user their login information from one domain on a separate service — for example, logging into a service using your Facebook or Google credentials.

intelligent tracking prevention cookie timeline

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Once the cookie is partitioned away, it sits there until 30 days have passed. If the user hasn’t interacted with that site any more after 30 days, the cookie is purged.

What Does This Mean for Advertisers?

Currently, ITP is only enabled for mobile and desktop versions of Safari. According to Statcounter as of August 2017, Safari holds a little over 20% of the desktop browser market – but as much as 58% of the iPad tablet market (Android mobile devices do not support Safari). This may not sound like much compared to Firefox or Chrome, but it actually represents millions of users. And, as privacy concerns grow, advertisers and marketers alike can expect this type of technology to spread across all popular browsers and devices.

The question then becomes, what does this actually mean for advertising – particularly platforms like Google Adwords?

Google has responded to the Intelligence Tracking Prevention initiative by changing how it captures and reports conversions within Adwords. According to Apple’s own recommendations, which recommend “server-side storage for attribution of ad impressions on your website” and that “[l]ink decoration (padding links with information) [be] used to pass on attribution information in navigations”.

According to Chi Hea Cho, a spokesperson for Google, “[w]e are updating our measurement tools, consistent with Apple’s recommendations for ad attribution, to help our customers continue to accurately measure ad clicks and conversions. These changes are designed to work for all browsers, but are timed to adapt to the new settings Apple is introducing. Our goal is to limit interruptions to our users’ experiences and to preserve our partners’ ability to evaluate their investments in digital advertising. As always, giving users choice and control of their data and how it’s used is a top priority for us.”

To that end, Google has also sent out an email to Adwords users with the following technical details:

To help ensure conversions are reported accurately in your AdWords account, we’ll be making three changes, consistent with Apple’s recommendations for ad attribution:

  1. If you have auto-tagging enabled and a Google Analytics tag on your website, we’ll begin to set a new Google Analytics cookie on that site’s domain, which will store information about the ad click that brought a user to your site. If you have linked your AdWords and Google Analytics accounts, the AdWords conversion tracking tag will be able to use that click information.
  2. AdWords will continue to report conversions for users who have recently interacted with Google services and domains.
  3. AdWords will also use statistical modeling to estimate website conversions that could not be measured from Safari, and include them in your AdWords reporting.

To help with these changes, Google Analytics has created a new type of cookie, called _gac which extends Google Analytics tracking to include Adwords conversions. Whenever auto-tagging is enabled, the cookie is used to store ad click details. Right now, the cookie is sent from Googleadservices.com — which makes it a third-party cookie and one of the types that Apple’s machine learning process would in turn segment and separate.

With _gac, the cookie is instead set on the advertiser’s domain and thereby becomes a first-party cookie — one that conforms to ITP’s rules and recommendations. That means all the ad data associated with that particular user will continue to be sent across for conversion reporting and attribution.

So if you’ve linked your Adwords and Google Analytics campaigns, as most people have, you won’t see any changes and will continue to record conversion data from Safari users. Those that haven’t will notice that Google records the conversion activity only within that first 24-hour period.

How Can Marketers Be Prepared?

The biggest shift that affects reporting and tracking is going to be the migration from third-party to first-party cookies. Still, even first-party cookies aren’t a foolproof solution since no one is truly certain how Safari’s machine learning processes will identify them, and whether or not human ingenuity will work to circumvent these changes and continue to track users as it has in the past.

If you’re working with a vendor that uses its own form of reporting and measurement, ask them what steps they have put into place to mitigate the issues arising from potentially lower data quality from Safari users. It’s important to note that there will likely be shifts and changes in the performance data that’s gathered in the coming weeks and months — so avoid any rash decisions for the time being until things settle.

Of course, the ever-looming elephant in the room is the issue of how effective campaigns will be now that this type of remarketing has effectively been cut off or severely restricted. What happens when users view products across multiple devices but wait longer than 30 days to purchase? The data you gather in these cases is simply not going to be an accurate reflection of what’s really happening.

AdWeek has joined the fray, expressing their concern to Apple and others about how this change has affected business models and the nature of the internet as a whole. They write:

The infrastructure of the modern Internet depends on consistent and generally applicable standards for cookies, so digital companies can innovate to build content, services, and advertising that are personalized for users and remember their visits. Apple’s Safari move breaks those standards and replaces them with an amorphous set of shifting rules that will hurt the user experience and sabotage the economic model for the Internet.

We strongly encourage Apple to rethink its plan to impose its own cookie standards and risk disrupting the valuable digital advertising ecosystem that funds much of today’s digital content and services.

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October 2017 Google Webmaster Report

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Beat high-cost paid search clicks by sweating the details

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paid search clicks

In some industries and sectors, the per-click cost of search keywords is notoriously expensive — so expensive, in fact, that it dissuades some businesses from even stepping into the fray. When a click can cost you $200 or more, that reluctance is understandable.

At the same time, the costs of not stepping into PPC might be just as pricey, even if they’re not as obvious. In industries where competition is stiff, you could stand to lose a lot by being conspicuously absent from PPC.

So, what’s a business to do?

Fortunately, expensive clicks — even really expensive clicks — don’t have to stop you from venturing into PPC. You just have to make sure that every click counts.

Industries where clicks are costly

Before we get into a discussion about how to make sure every click counts, let’s get clear on the industries and sectors we’re talking about.

Though most advertisers aren’t paying more than a few dollars per click, some industries have average CPCs of $50 or more. Which keywords are garnering these high rates? Here are a few:

  1. Business services
  2. Bail bonds
  3. Casino
  4. Lawyer
  5. Asset management
  6. Insurance
  7. Cash services & payday loans
  8. Cleanup & restoration services
  9. Degree
  10. Medical coding services

My agency has clients in education, insurance and legal sectors, and I can attest to the sky-high rates. In fact, I’ve seen click costs of $200 or more with some clients!

How can a business justify playing on this field? Mostly, it comes down to sweating the details to make sure every one of those clicks counts. And by sweating the details, I mean doing the following:

1. Pay more attention to Quality Score

Normally, my team doesn’t manage to Quality Score. This is partly because most of our clients already have excellent Quality Scores, so it’s a non-issue. But sometimes we onboard new clients that have Quality Scores that are just okay.

Usually, we won’t worry too much about these scores because we know they’ll improve over time as a byproduct of good account management. But when a client is in an industry with high costs per click, we give these Quality Scores more attention.

As you know, Ad Rank is determined by a combination of factors, as stated in AdWords Help:

We combine the components of Quality Score (expected clickthrough rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience), the max. CPC bid, and the expected impact of extensions and other ad formats to determine Ad Rank. When estimating the expected impact of extensions and ad formats, we consider such factors as the relevance, expected clickthrough rates, and the prominence of the extensions or formats on the search results page.

Consequently, in a high costs-per-click environment, we’ll look closely at ad extensions, keywords, ad relevancy and landing pages to make sure everything’s set up perfectly to boost the Quality Score.

Recently, we went through this with a law firm client. The firm came to us with a decent Quality Score, but we wanted to get it even higher. We ended up creating additional landing pages to make sure that our keywords lined up perfectly with our landing pages. In fact, we ended up creating one set of landing pages for “lawyer” themed pages and another set of “attorney” themed pages to make the match seamless.

2. Keep a tight handle on location targeting

Again, this is something my team does for all accounts, but it becomes even more critical in a high-click-cost environment. Obviously, you want to minimize “wasted” clicks as much as possible — and having your client’s ad display in areas they don’t serve is a big waste!

You might think this point is self-evident, but we recently on-boarded a new client and found that its ads were showing up across the US, even though the bulk of its business was in one particular city. Needless to say, we quickly clamped down on location targeting.

The lesson here? Target the geographic radius of the company’s business, and check traffic periodically to make sure nothing extraneous is getting through. Then exclude as necessary.

3. Look for lower weekend bids

Amazingly, some advertisers turn off their ads on weekends. I can’t fathom why this is. Perhaps they think no one researches universities or lawyers on the weekend. However, weekends can present an excellent cost-saving opportunity.

In some cases, we’ve lowered bids by as much as 75 percent on weekends, and the ads continue to display in the second ad position. More importantly, we haven’t experienced a dip in leads over the weekend or during the week.

4. Focus on what’s converting

Generally, it’s better to have a handful of well-converting campaigns with generous budgets than a wide swath of campaigns with limited budgets.

The problem with campaigns with limited budgets is that those budgets can get used up quickly. In fact, a severely limited budget might not even meet minimum bid thresholds. Consequently, your campaign ends up sitting there, doing nothing.

It’s much better to cut back on the number of campaigns and give more generous funding to those that are actually converting.

To give a simplified example: You have 10 campaigns with a total budget of $100. You assign each campaign a budget of $10. If clicks rise to $12 each, nothing is going to happen.

Instead, pick your one or two top-converting campaigns and assign them appropriate budgets so they can actually convert.

5. Experiment with shared budgets

Another way to address the above scenario is to set up a shared budget. A shared budget is a single budget that’s shared among several campaigns. With a shared budget, you don’t have to try to guess which campaigns are going to convert. It’s also an excellent option when costs and campaign volume vary significantly from day to day.

We’ve deployed this strategy with some of our university and law firm clients, and it’s worked well. It avoids scenarios where some campaigns have used up their entire budget allotment, while others have budget remaining but aren’t seeing any action.

6. Lean into the Google Display Network

Often, we find that costs per click are lower on the Google Display Network (GDN) — sometimes much lower. In fact, I’ve seen $200 Search Network clicks priced at $5 on the GDN!

In addition, the GDN has all kinds of options for placement and targeting, which allows you to get super-specific and thereby minimize waste.

That’s why we’ll often suggest starting on the GDN before moving to the Search Network when industries are hypercompetitive, and clients are competing against big brands with big budgets.

7. Choose your devices wisely

Sometimes, clients feel they should run their ads across all devices: desktop, tablet and mobile. But this isn’t always the case.

Sometimes, click costs are lower on some devices (e.g., mobile) than others, which can create another cost-saving opportunity.

We recently came across a retailer who was running all of their campaigns on mobile — and just mobile. This may seem surprising (especially for a retailer), but for this client it made sense. They were getting great performance on mobile — and cost per acquisition was lower there, too.

8. Spend more time looking forward than back

We constantly look at comparative month-over-month and year-over-year data. But when clicks are super-pricey, there’s a danger in putting too much emphasis on this data. Things always change. New competitors enter the market. Google raises their prices. Or any other number of things can happen.

So rather than getting tied up in knots wondering, “Why are we paying $59 per click when we paid $50 last year?,” you’re better off spending your time on the things you can control.

Don’t stop sweating the (right) details

Sweating these details won’t turn expensive clicks into cheap clicks. But it can sometimes bring down costs a bit and, more importantly, help make sure that every click counts.

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Online Safety: A Lesson All Students Need To Learn

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August this year was an exciting month for those students finishing sixth form and college. After spending months disconnected from the world to focus on their studies, their A-Level results were released. For many, it was an opportunity to celebrate and let off some steam before setting off for pastures new. The prospect of university and expanding their minds, surroundings and opinions is too good to turn down for many people. It is where, some say, you ‘find yourself’. But during this rollercoaster ride of meeting new people and experiencing new things, it’s important to stay safe.

From spraying traceable SmartWater on possessions, to using anti-drink spiking straws, safety lessons are instilled into students by the bucket load as they leave for higher education. However, there isn’t much advice concerning their digital safety. We live in an age where there are just as many people looking to do you harm online as there are in real life and it’s important for students to stay vigilant. While it’s essential to enjoy their new home, they need to ensure their personal details are secure and that they’re the only one that can truly ‘find themselves’ online.

Recent attacks like the one on UCL in July show that universities are prime targets when it comes to cyberattacks. Students’ details are highly sought after and hackers have a number of ways of targeting them. From phishing scams like the one seen in September, where cyber scammers posed as the Student Loans Company, to the creation of a completely fictitious university, cyber-attackers are not short of creativity. Students need to be aware of their online behaviour and learn how to best mitigate risks. By following a few simple steps, students won’t have to worry about who can see their information, leaving them lots of extra time to attend those all-important lectures.

P1ck1ng Pa55w0rd5

Some people, no matter how many times they’re told, simply never change their passwords. They stick with predictable standbys and default options like ‘123456’ or even worse, ‘password’. Remembering them can be a chore, yes, but ensuring you have different passwords for each account is a necessity. If you don’t have the memory to remember all these different variations then a password manager is the answer for you.

Password managers greatly simplify the entire password process, enabling you to secure all your passwords behind one master password. All you have to do is remember one secure password and your accounts will auto-fill with their applicable passwords whenever you need access. Remembering one password isn’t too hard, right?

Keeping Social Media Social

Adding new friends on social media is a first step for many students cementing friendships. With so many fresh faces in such a short period of time it can be hard to keep track, but it really is imperative. Thousands of fake profiles are made every day with malicious intent, so be aware that it isn’t difficult for those same impersonators to list a university on their profile, too. Make sure you don’t accept anyone you haven’t physically met, no matter how attractive they are.
Sampling the offerings of your new surroundings is essential if you’re to feel at ease in your new home.

But as you post pictures on Instagram, or check-in on Facebook, remember that this information is permanent and available for many to see. It’s easier than you might think to accidentally reveal sensitive information such as your card details, address and when you’re out of the house, through pictures on social media. Be aware that most social media platforms are, in their essence, public.

Sharing Isn’t Always Caring

University is a time of sharing, from the accommodation you live in to the many group presentations you’re expected to do. Some of the most commonly shared things are the communal computers in the library. These shared devices can be used by dozens of people in one day, so remember to never click yes when asked to save your details. Keep track of which devices you’re logged in to and always sign out at the end of each session.

Wi-Fi hotspots are important for doing work while you’re out and about, but these open networks can also be ripe territory for hackers. When connected to the same public Wi-Fi, hackers can see which webpages you access and depending on how secure the sites you’re visiting are, your browsing history, searches, personal login information, photos, videos, emails, and comments. Use a Wi-Fi inspector app to analyse the security of the connection, or invest in a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to surf the net securely.

Be Cautious

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Online Safety: A Lesson All Students Need To Learn

check out this post on Online Safety: A Lesson All Students Need To Learn

August this year was an exciting month for those students finishing sixth form and college. After spending months disconnected from the world to focus on their studies, their A-Level results were released. For many, it was an opportunity to celebrate and let off some steam before setting off for pastures new. The prospect of university and expanding their minds, surroundings and opinions is too good to turn down for many people. It is where, some say, you ‘find yourself’. But during this rollercoaster ride of meeting new people and experiencing new things, it’s important to stay safe.

From spraying traceable SmartWater on possessions, to using anti-drink spiking straws, safety lessons are instilled into students by the bucket load as they leave for higher education. However, there isn’t much advice concerning their digital safety. We live in an age where there are just as many people looking to do you harm online as there are in real life and it’s important for students to stay vigilant. While it’s essential to enjoy their new home, they need to ensure their personal details are secure and that they’re the only one that can truly ‘find themselves’ online.

Recent attacks like the one on UCL in July show that universities are prime targets when it comes to cyberattacks. Students’ details are highly sought after and hackers have a number of ways of targeting them. From phishing scams like the one seen in September, where cyber scammers posed as the Student Loans Company, to the creation of a completely fictitious university, cyber-attackers are not short of creativity. Students need to be aware of their online behaviour and learn how to best mitigate risks. By following a few simple steps, students won’t have to worry about who can see their information, leaving them lots of extra time to attend those all-important lectures.

P1ck1ng Pa55w0rd5

Some people, no matter how many times they’re told, simply never change their passwords. They stick with predictable standbys and default options like ‘123456’ or even worse, ‘password’. Remembering them can be a chore, yes, but ensuring you have different passwords for each account is a necessity. If you don’t have the memory to remember all these different variations then a password manager is the answer for you.

Password managers greatly simplify the entire password process, enabling you to secure all your passwords behind one master password. All you have to do is remember one secure password and your accounts will auto-fill with their applicable passwords whenever you need access. Remembering one password isn’t too hard, right?

Keeping Social Media Social

Adding new friends on social media is a first step for many students cementing friendships. With so many fresh faces in such a short period of time it can be hard to keep track, but it really is imperative. Thousands of fake profiles are made every day with malicious intent, so be aware that it isn’t difficult for those same impersonators to list a university on their profile, too. Make sure you don’t accept anyone you haven’t physically met, no matter how attractive they are.
Sampling the offerings of your new surroundings is essential if you’re to feel at ease in your new home.

But as you post pictures on Instagram, or check-in on Facebook, remember that this information is permanent and available for many to see. It’s easier than you might think to accidentally reveal sensitive information such as your card details, address and when you’re out of the house, through pictures on social media. Be aware that most social media platforms are, in their essence, public.

Sharing Isn’t Always Caring

University is a time of sharing, from the accommodation you live in to the many group presentations you’re expected to do. Some of the most commonly shared things are the communal computers in the library. These shared devices can be used by dozens of people in one day, so remember to never click yes when asked to save your details. Keep track of which devices you’re logged in to and always sign out at the end of each session.

Wi-Fi hotspots are important for doing work while you’re out and about, but these open networks can also be ripe territory for hackers. When connected to the same public Wi-Fi, hackers can see which webpages you access and depending on how secure the sites you’re visiting are, your browsing history, searches, personal login information, photos, videos, emails, and comments. Use a Wi-Fi inspector app to analyse the security of the connection, or invest in a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to surf the net securely.

Be Cautious

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Incredibly, We Now Know The Last Meal Of A Creature That Lived 200 Million Years Ago

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If you’re anything like us you’ll struggle to remember what you had for dinner last night, but now scientists have managed to unearth the last meal eaten by a creature that died a staggering 200 million years ago.

The team were studying the fossilised remains of the ’Ichthyosaurus Communis’ – one of the first species of a group of sea-going reptiles that lived in the late Triassic and early Jurassic period in Europe and Asia.

The find was remarkable, firstly because it was the only example of a newborn ichthyosaurus ever to be found by humans, and secondly because it had a stomach full of prehistoric squid.

University of Manchester/Julian Kiely

The ‘Ichthyosaurus Communis’ lived in Belgium, England, Germany, Switzerland and Indonesia, and has been known to science for nearly 200 years, but this is the first time the team have uncovered such detail. 

Paleontologist Dean Lomax, who worked on the study, said: “It is amazing to think we know what a creature that is nearly 200 million years old ate for its last meal.”

Measuring in at a total length of approximately 70cm (adult relatives normally grow up to 3.3 metres in length), the team at the University of Manchester, used a CT-scanner to create a 3D model of the animal.

Lomax said: “We then found many tiny hook-like structures preserved between the ribs. These are from the arms of prehistoric squid. So, we know this animal’s last meal before it died was squid.”

This also lead the team to conclude that younger examples of the species “fed exclusively on fish” and had a totally different prey-preference to their parents and other elders.

First discovered and recognised by science in 1821, with many uncovered by Victorian paleontologist, Mary Anning, along the coast at Lyme Regis, Dorset, the ichthyosaurus is one of the most common Early Jurassic fossil reptiles in the UK.

Despite this, there are few examples of complete or well-preserved fossils, making this find even more exceptional: “This specimen is practically complete and is exceptional. It is the first newborn Ichthyosaurus Communis to be found, which is surprising…”

It was initially believed that Ichthyosaurus laid eggs on land, but now fossil evidence shows that in fact the females gave birth to live young, and were born tail first to stop them from drowning in the water. 

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14 ways to get smarter with your content and SEO

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Despite the many ways Google has changed the search game over the last five years, one truth remains: content is the vehicle that drives your consumer interactions, engagements, experiences and, ultimately, conversions.

However, only 41 percent of marketers think their organization is clear on what an effective or successful content marketing program looks like, according to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI).

Marketers aren’t just lacking confidence in their efforts; these are real and measurable deficits. In fact, only 20 percent of B2C and 50 percent of B2B content earns any engagement at all, my company’s research has found.

That’s a lot of wasted effort and resources invested in content that ends up just floating around the web, winning zero business benefit for its creators.

In this post, we’re going to take a look at content through the SMART lens. SMART is a goal-setting framework in which S stands for Specific, M for measurable, A for achievable, R for relevant and T for timely.

Below is my variation that explains how to apply search engine optimization (SEO) to your content within a SMART framework, giving you 14 concrete ways to make your marketing more effective and to win you more business.

S —  Specific content wins every time

Content is not about what your marketing team wants to say. It is about providing insight and information that your audience actually wants to hear.

SMART content is designed for a specific audience, based on your understanding of their needs, preferences and intent.

  1. Get to know your audiences.

There’s much more to this than keyword research. Where do your consumers live online? What’s their intent when performing certain types of searches or engaging your brand in social? What action are they most likely to take at that point? Understanding the audience you’re writing for is the foundation on which SMART content is built.

  1. Discover opportunities through topical research.

How well do you understand the competitive environment in the verticals for which you’re creating content? Today, you’re competing for eyes and clicks. Your competitors may be other companies, but you could be competing for space in the SERPs against media brands, bloggers, influencers and more. Without that bigger-picture, bird’s-eye view of relevant search and social spaces, you’re flying blind.

Evaluating the content gaps not covered by your competition provides you with opportunities to create engaging content that speaks to people in the key moments that matter.

  1. Choose content formats wisely.

Which media will you incorporate to best illustrate your message, engage your audience and reach people across platforms?

Don’t limit yourself; a single piece of content can incorporate several types of media, including socially shareable images, quick video clips and embedded media, like SlideShares.

This gives you various ways to convey your message, but it also allows you to appear in different types of search results (like Google Images) and on different search platforms (like YouTube or SlideShare’s internal search), as well.

M — Measurable content delivers on the metrics that matter

Content marketers are getting better at proving the business value of their activities. Just two years ago, only 21 percent of B2B marketing respondents to CMI’s annual content marketing survey said they were successful at tracking ROI. Now, in 2017:

  • 72 percent are measuring their content marketing ROI.
  • 51 percent are using a measurement plan to provide both insight and progress toward the business goals.
  • 79 percent are using analytics tools.

How can you make your content marketing efforts measurable?

  1. Choose metrics that matter and align with your business goals.

Which KPIs tell the true story of your content’s success? Ideally, you’re going to measure your content’s performance through the entire funnel, right from lead generation and audience-building to nurturing, conversion, sales and right on through post-sales to retention and evangelism.

Site traffic, lead quality, social shares, time on site and conversion rates are among the top metrics used by B2B marketers to determine content success. Priorities are similar for B2C marketers.

  1. Make search engine optimization a core component of content creation.

Improve your visibility and key metrics like engagement, time on site, sharing and conversions with strategic content optimization.

Apply readability standards and optimize title tags, meta descriptions, subheadings, images and text in line with current SEO standards.

Keep visitors clicking and engaged with smart internal linking that both improves user experience and resurfaces your most popular, highest-converting content.

  1. Accelerate with automation.

Machine learning is growing in importance in search, especially where data sets are large and dynamic. Identifying patterns in data in real time makes machine learning a great asset to understand changes in your customer base, competitor landscape or the overall market.

Ideally, your content automation system will include reporting to tell you not only how each piece is performing but also make recommendations to help you focus on your most valuable opportunities.

Automation allows you to manage routine tasks with less effort so that you can focus on high-impact activities and accomplish business goals at scale.

A — Actionable content is always on & ready for activation

By actionable content, I mean that which is ready to answers users’ questions but also is valuable way beyond the initial period of promotion after publishing.

  1. Empower your content creators with technical SEO support.

Last month, I wrote about the importance of balancing technical and non-technical SEO within your organization. If you want your content to perform its best, you need to support your creative team with a technically sound, optimized online presence.

Site structure and hierarchy, meta data, mobile readiness, internal linking, site speed, coding errors and other technical SEO factors can all affect your content’s ability to rank.

Further, they can affect readers’ ability to access and enjoy the content and then take next steps. Get your technical and non-technical SEO in order to set your content team up for success.

  1. Optimize for activation across multiple channels.

Search engine marketing is the second-most commonly used paid content promotion tactic, next only to social advertising.

Push your content to social channels like Twitter and Facebook, but don’t forget other channels like LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and Google+.

Ideally, you’re going to have some understanding of your audience on each platform and which channels will be most receptive to each new piece. Make sure you’re optimizing your social posts for the platform on which you’re posting — cutting and pasting the same post across all channels doesn’t cut it.

R — Resonate with content promotion in relevant channels

Even if you build it, they will not come until attracted. The competition for eyes and minds is fierce; increase the efficacy of your organic efforts and promotional spend by targeting the right people in the right places at the right time.

  1. Amplify in social channels for early traction.

Low spend minimums on channels like Twitter and Facebook make it affordable to run experiments against different audience segments and see where your content resonates best.

Plus, that initial boost of activity gives your content authority and appeals to the social networks’ ranking algorithms, helping you get more organic reach.

If you are tracking and measuring correctly, you can see which audiences are not only engaged, but converting. That’s where you want to allocate your content-promotion budget, rather than having some predetermined amount of spend per channel that runs its course regardless of performance for each piece.

  1. Syndicate and use paid promotion to reach targeted audiences outside your existing network.

Syndication takes content you’ve already published on your site and republishes it elsewhere, exposing you to another publication’s audience. You might be able to find organic syndication opportunities, and there are plenty of paid syndication services like Outbrain, Taboola or Zemanta.

If you’re looking at large-scale syndication, read Danny Sullivan’s caution on using links in syndicated pieces first to stay on the right side of Google.

  1. Don’t forget email!

Your consumers want to hear from you. In fact, 86 percent want to receive emails at least monthly from companies they deal with, a MarketingSherpa survey found in 2015.

Make your call to action (CTA) to click through and read the content crystal-clear. Avoid placing competing CTAs in your email, and resist the urge to try to sell in every communication. Your content is designed to do the work of helping them take the next logical step.

T — Tangible business results are derived from SMART content

KPIs like social interactions and site visits give you a great idea of how well your content performs in search and social, but you need tangible business results to prove value.

  1. Make content profitable with CTAs that drive performance.

What action would you like readers to take? Which of your site’s conversion pages is currently converting best and generating the highest-quality leads? These insights will help guide your CTA selection, but remember, your CTAs should also match the consumer intent you’re targeting with each piece. Don’t forget to include embedded performance tracking for both site traffic and conversions.

  1. Incorporate elements that support multiple business functions.

Make your content multidimensional with elements to build brand authority, inspire or educate on product (or service), encourage engagement and more.

Incorporate testimonials into your content, where they can serve the purpose of providing social validation within the context of an existing consumer experience. Develop author personas to give your content greater authority and build the profiles of key employees and executives.

  1. Improve ROI with ongoing content management and optimization.

How much content does your organization have sitting on-site and around the web? Each piece is an opportunity for ongoing traffic and lead generation, but only if it’s kept in line with constantly changing SEO standards.

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