Our Top 3 Picks from MozCon 2021
From July 12-14, 2021, our SEO team virtually attended MozCon, where they had the chance to participate in several sessions providing insights and tactical presentations from industry leaders in SEO, search marketing, local search, conversion optimization, and more. These were the sessions that stood out to our team:
1) The science of purchasing behaviour: How to use it effectively to attract & convert more prospects into customers.
The brand strategist, Flavilla Fongang, talked about how businesses waste a lot of money on advertising with no results. Instead, she recommends building a community where customers connect with the brand emotionally. That, in return, increases customer retention and referrals.
- Strategy + advertising and client relationship
- Client retention and acquisition
- Market expansion/new marketing
- 80% brand, 20% product
Strategies to demonstrate this on websites:
- Focus on the pain and desire of target customers.
- Differentiate your claims: Use contrast as the reptilian brain is trained to see the difference. For example: before and after images.
- Demonstrate the value of what you offer by showing a tangible gain.
- Beginning & end: place the most important information at the beginning & repeat at the end.
- Power of the gaze: use images where the eye gaze is directed to your product or the most important element.
In the end, Flavilla stressed going beyond the expectations to support your customers’ goals.
2) Rule your rivals: From data to action.
Dr. Pete Meyers's session focused on using competitors’ data to get insights and come up with an action plan to implement. Here are some of the practical tactics he mentioned:
- Find your SEO competitors using SEO tools like Moz Pro & SEMrush, as most of the time they are not who you think they are.
- Check which keywords your competitors are ranking for.
- Group keywords they are ranking for by topic.
- Focus on the keywords you are ranking with in the 6th -19th
- Look for content gaps, not keyword gaps.
- Check what kind of content you already have and try not to cannibalize it.
- Look for keyword opportunities that were not covered in current content then create new content or refresh your old one.
- Monitor the performance of your new content. If it does not perform like expected, then use it for internal linking or redirect it to the most relevant content.
- Use search operators to check how your competitors are ranking for certain keywords. For example keyword (site:example.com OR site:example.com)
- Helpful resources:
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3) Build for search: Modern web dev that puts SEO first.
Dana DiTomaso of Kick Point focused on the SEO challenges that come as a result of redesigning your website. Oftentimes, SEO and conversion optimization can take a backseat to design, content, and functionality when it comes to website redesigns. With Core Web Vitals and site performance more important than ever before, it’s essential for your technical SEO team to be involved in your website redesign at multiple points throughout the process.
The reason that many website development companies struggle in this regard, according to Dana, is because they use the “waterfall” redesign method. There are several issues that come along with the waterfall redesign method, including:
- If a decision-maker is unhappy with the design, you essentially have to start over from the beginning. This method does not have the necessary checkpoints required for SEO and design alignment.
- Your developers are not involved in the design process until it’s too late. This means your problems don’t show up until coding, much later than they should be appearing.
- QA takes too long and can be demoralizing to everyone on your team, from the design department to SEO, to account management.
The “agile-ish” approach allows for more flexibility and resolves many of the issues that come with the waterfall approach. With the agile-ish approach, SEO is involved in the website redesign from day one beginning with keyword research. The full agile-ish approach is as follows:
- Keyword research
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- Presented to the client in a way that shows how much each keyword category contributes to the overall volume. Remember, all keywords are not created equal!
- Create a blueprint for each page identifying the URL, focus keywords, page info (page title, meta descriptions, etc.), and any redirects needed
- Create microcopies: map out page content, banners, and CTAs
- Use wireframes and get client/internal approval in rounds. Do not wait to get approval in bulk, as you may have to start over and risk wasting time and budget.
- Develop your own list of SEO technical specifications (robots.txt, canonicals, site speed) and check them early and often!
Following these steps will lead to a smoother redesign process, less wasted time, and more trust amongst your team and your clients, as everyone is involved in the process from day one.
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