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CRO Customer Engagement Data Strategy Highlights Reaching New Customers SEO Uncategorized

Five-star strategy: How to ask customers for reviews

Decorative image showing the benefits of asking customers for reviews.

It’s a scorching summer afternoon. A potential customer, brows furrowed in concentration and drenched in sweat, scrolls through her phone on a crowded sidewalk. 

She is very obviously on a mission: she must find the perfect iced coffee to cool down and fight off the 2 p.m. slump. Suddenly, a standout shop bursts forth and piques her attention, illuminated by a chorus of glowing five-star reviews raving about “the most refreshing cold brew in town” served over “nugget ice, AKA the good ice.” 

Intrigued, she taps the screen, ready to learn more and order online. This is the power of online reviews harnessed for maximum impact.

But how do you, the savvy coffee shop owner, unlock this potential and transform satisfied customers into your biggest online cheerleaders? This guide dives deep into the art of the “how to ask for customer reviews” question. We’ll explore not only the strategic request itself, but also the ways to weave those reviews into your content strategy and leverage them to skyrocket your online reputation and local SEO strategy.

So, grab your own iced coffee (preferably with nugget ice) and settle in to read. By the end of this post, you’ll be equipped with a five-star strategy to cultivate a chorus of positive reviews that will have thirsty customers like our sweltering friend lining up at your physical and virtual doors.

Review signals: How Google uses reviews to rank local businesses

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) reviews integrate with Google Maps and are the key to unlocking local SEO success. Google’s search engine algorithm craves review signals, a trifecta of quantity, quality, and recency, to determine local search ranking. The more positive reviews you have, particularly on your Google Business Profile, the higher you’ll climb in local search results, making your business more discoverable by potential customers searching for your products or services.

Google isn’t the only player in the review game. Platforms like Yelp, Facebook, and industry-specific review platforms (Happy Cow, for example) carry weight too. While Google Business Profile reigns supreme for local SEO, a diverse online review portfolio across various platforms strengthens your social proof and builds trust with potential customers who frequent these sites.

The power of Google Business Profile Reviews (and why they matter most)

Think of your Google Business Profile as your digital storefront’s welcome sign. Positive reviews on your profile act as glowing neon lights, beckoning potential customers in. Studies show that businesses with a higher volume of positive reviews rank higher in local searches and experience a significant boost in click-through and conversion rates. In fact, positive reviews are more than just gold stars or recommendations. They’re a cornerstone of trust and credibility for businesses of all kinds, especially those with a purely online presence.

Another way to boost CTR? Winning featured snippets. Learn more about the benefits of featured snippets in your SEO strategy.

Positive reviews are a trust-building powerhouse that go beyond SEO. Put yourself in the shoes of a customer: Would you be more likely to choose a coffee shop with a handful of generic reviews or one boasting dozens of detailed descriptions of exceptional beverage and barista experiences? Positive reviews establish credibility, showcasing your commitment to delivering exceptional customer experiences for businesses with and without a physical storefront.

The art of the ask: Encouraging a flood of five-star reviews

Now that you understand the power of reviews, let’s explore how to request them from satisfied customers strategically. Here are some key tactics:

Make it easy

Reduce friction by providing clear instructions on how to leave reviews on your preferred platforms (Google Business Profile, Yelp, Facebook, etc.) Include links or QR codes directly to your review pages on your website, email signatures, and even receipts.

Timing is key

The timing of your request can significantly impact response rates. Ask for reviews when the positive experience is fresh in the customer’s mind, following a successful purchase, service completion, or exceptional customer service interaction.

Multiple channels, maximum impact

Don’t restrict yourself to a single platform. Yes, Google Business Profile reviews might reign supreme, but consider encouraging reviews across channels like your website, email marketing campaigns, and social media posts.

Learning from feedback: Addressing negative reviews strategically

Negative reviews shouldn’t send shivers down your spine. While they can bring down your score slightly, how you handle them is crucial. A prompt and professional response acknowledging the customer’s concerns and outlining steps taken to address the issue demonstrates your commitment to customer satisfaction. This can actually strengthen your credibility and show potential customers you’re willing to go the extra mile.

Negative reviews, while not ideal, present a valuable opportunity for growth. Treat them as constructive criticism, offering insights into areas where you can improve your customer experience. Here are some key steps to take when addressing negative reviews:

  • Respond promptly: Don’t leave the customer hanging! A timely response shows you care about their feedback.
  • Acknowledge concerns: Validate the customer’s experience and show empathy.
  • Outline solutions: Explain the steps you’re taking to address the issue and prevent similar occurrences.
  • Maintain professionalism: Avoid getting defensive or argumentative. 
  • Take the conversation offline: If the issue requires further discussion, offer to move the conversation to a private channel (e.g., email, phone call).

Following these steps can turn a negative review into a positive customer service experience, demonstrating your commitment to improvement. 

Putting it into action: ‘Your coffee sucks.’

Plot twist: Let’s say the customer above, we’ll call her Karen (predictable, we know), was less than impressed with the beverage she was served at your coffee shop. She left a one-star review on your shop’s Google Business Profile.

It would be easy to respond with something like: 

“We’re sorry you didn’t like our coffee. Everyone has different tastes. We can’t please everyone.”

While not technically incorrect, there are more productive ways to engage. This response is dismissive and does not address her concerns. It might also discourage other customers from leaving reviews for fear of a negative response. And worst of all, it might dissuade potential customers from visiting your shop in the first place.

Here’s what a five-star response to her one-star review might look like:

“Thank you for taking the time to leave a review, Karen. We’re sorry to hear that your upside-down iced caramel mochaccino wasn’t what you expected. We take pride in using high-quality ingredients and are disappointed that we didn’t meet your standards.

Would you be willing to tell us a bit more about what you found lacking? Your feedback is valuable to us and helps us continuously improve our products.

We’d love the opportunity to offer you a complimentary beverage on your next visit, so you can experience the quality we strive for. Please feel free to reach out to us directly at [phone number] or [email address] so we can make this right.”

This response acknowledges her disappointment, is committed to quality, and offers to investigate the issue further. It also provides a specific solution (a free drink) and a way for the customer to connect directly. This shows the customer that their feedback is valued and demonstrates a willingness to go the extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction.

Harnessing the power of social proof: Using reviews to build trust

Positive reviews are goldmines for credibility and encouraging special proof! Consider showcasing them on your website, landing pages, social media platforms, and marketing materials. They act as persuasive testimonials, convincing potential customers that your business delivers exceptional experiences.

Take it a step further and leverage the power of social media reviews. Encourage satisfied customers to share snippets of their positive reviews on your social media pages and tag your business in their social posts. User-generated content featuring glowing reviews adds authenticity and resonates deeply with potential customers.

See how user-generated content from one particular platform is shaking up the SERPs in our recent post about Reddit for SEO.

The voice of the customer: Using reviews to improve CX

Reviews are a treasure trove of valuable customer insights. Don’t just bask in the glow of positive reviews; consider diving a little deeper! Identify recurring themes in both positive and negative reviews. Positive feedback highlights what you’re doing right, while negative reviews pinpoint areas for improvement. From there, you might use this information to:

  • Refine your offerings: Based on customer feedback, consider expanding your product or service offerings to better cater to customer needs.
  • Optimize your customer journey: Identify pain points and streamline your customer journey to create a more seamless and enjoyable experience.
  • Exceed expectations: Use positive feedback as a springboard to brainstorm ways to exceed customer expectations and consistently delight your audience.

Turning feedback into action: Taking advantage of customer insights

Don’t let valuable customer feedback gather dust! Implement a system for gathering, analyzing, and taking action based on review insights. Here are some tips:

  • Track progress and measure results: Monitor the impact of changes implemented based on customer feedback so that you can tell a meaningful story about the time you’re investing in your customer review strategy.
  • Assign a dedicated team member: Designate someone to monitor reviews across platforms and compile key insights. You might integrate reviews into monthly reporting and make it easy to monitor on a Looker Dashboard.
  • Schedule regular review analysis sessions: Dedicate time with your internal team to analyze reviews and brainstorm actionable steps based on the feedback received.

Establishing a system for leveraging customer feedback can continuously improve the customer experience, foster brand loyalty, and drive sustainable business growth.

Asking for customer reviews: The five-star formula for success

By understanding the power of customer reviews, implementing strategic request tactics, and utilizing the insights they provide, you can unlock a potent formula for success. 

Remember, positive reviews are more than just a vanity metric: they’re the cornerstone of building trust, attracting new customers, and, ultimately, achieving long-term business growth.Ready to take your online reputation and local SEO strategy to the next level? We are. Our team of digital marketing experts can craft a customized strategy to help you leverage the power of customer reviews and dominate your local search rankings. Let’s talk.

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CRO Customer Engagement Data Strategy Highlights Paid Media Reaching New Customers SEO Strategy

Engage and inspire: Powerful digital marketing strategies for nonprofits

Decorative image representing non-profit digital marketing.

Animal welfare, environmental conservation, youth services—your nonprofit is fighting for a great cause! Who wouldn’t want to donate? Unfortunately, with nearly 2 million public charities in the U.S. alone* vying for your donors’ attention (and dollars), those donors have many options, and yours may not be at the top of the list. 

While you’re trying to increase total donations, bring in net new donors, and lower your cost per acquisition (all in the name of saving baby gorillas), you’re likely facing challenges with competition, user experience, financial constraints, or accurate reporting that hinder your ability to meet those goals. Let’s explore some digital marketing strategies for nonprofits that can help you overcome these obstacles and protect those gosh darn baby gorillas!

Meaningful moments: Connect with your audience to stand apart from competition

With so many competitors in the market, your donors have to make the tough decision of which nonprofit organizations they want to financially support (civic engagement is great and all, but also, baby gorillas). As such, it’s crucial to resonate with your audience in a way that makes you stand apart from competitors and increase brand awareness. You can do this through:

Knowing your audience: Prospective donors don’t give simply as a function of their demographics; their giving is a reflection of their values. Taking a valuegraphics-based approach to understanding your audience will empower you to position your cause in a way that resonates with the ultimate decision driver: values.

Impactful storytelling: By sharing compelling stories, you can evoke emotion and illustrate the tangible impact of your work, making your mission more relatable and memorable.

Influencers and ambassadors: 69% of consumers trust influencers over information coming directly from a brand. Consider partnering with influencers and ambassadors to amplify your message and leverage their reach and credibility to broaden awareness and build trust.

Community building: Building an online community fosters a sense of belonging and engagement. This strategy is particularly impactful for establishing a base of sustained donor relationships as opposed to singular donations.

Personalized digital experiences: Tailoring digital experiences to individual preferences and behaviors make interactions more relevant and more meaningful. Knowing when to send someone to a landing page for ocean conservation versus, say, baby gorillas, could be the difference between a one-time $20 donation and a sustained monthly donation of my entire paycheck.

Make it easy: Drive action through improved UX

You’ve connected with a potential donor and got them to your website, but now they’re not sure where to go to make a donation. Once they find the donation page, it defaults to a $100 donation, and they can only give $50 but can’t figure out how to change the amount. Fine. They’ve decided to forego Starbucks this month so that they can afford the $100 donation, but now they don’t have a credit card nearby and the mobile payment platform doesn’t take ApplePay. UGH. Your potential donor just left your site and has no intention of coming back. Be sure that you’re providing your website visitors with a great user experience and making it super easy for them to donate. You can do this by incorporating:

User-friendly features: Create or enhance features that simplify the donation process. That might include adding a prominent donate button on the homepage and throughout the site, giving users intuitive ways to change their donation amount and frequency, or providing a variety of payment methods for donors to choose from.

Accessible website design: Ensure you’re creating a welcoming space for all by designing your website and mobile app according to WCAG accessibility standards. Accessible websites and apps remove barriers for a significant portion of the population, allowing you to tap into a wider audience.

CRO strategy: Conversions rate optimization (CRO) strategy is a continual testing and optimization cycle that identifies and addresses friction points on the website in an effort to drive ongoing incremental improvement to conversion performance. Addressing even the most minor pain points on your website will improve user experience and increase your donation rate. In just 3 months, we helped an e-commerce company double its revenue with a strategic CRO campaign.

Embrace efficiency: Invest in tactics with limited waste

If you are a marketer at a nonprofit, you’re likely operating with a limited budget and resources while also striving to make a significant impact. Every penny counts, so it’s crucial to invest in tactics that drive sustainable results with minimal waste. Consider:

Google Grants: Google offers nonprofit organizations up to $10,000 of advertising credits per month. While there are some restrictions, it’s basically free money. Make sure your nonprofit is taking advantage of this great tool.

CRO strategy: We already mentioned it once in this blog, but it’s so powerful, we have to bring it up again. A strong CRO strategy is an insurance policy for your paid media campaigns. If you invest in paid media, you are spending a lot of valuable money driving people to your website, but what if they get to the website and they’re met with a bad experience? They drop from the site before ever making a donation, and given the poor experience, they’re not likely to come back. We call this the “leaky bucket effect,” and it’s something that can be greatly reduced through CRO strategy.

Full-funnel marketing: A lot of nonprofits invest heavily in lower-funnel tactics like paid search, because they can see the direct conversions. But neglecting upper-funnel awareness and consideration tactics chokes your funnel which has major downstream impact as you lose your ability to reach net new donors. Invest in a full-funnel strategy to set yourself up for long-term, sustainable growth.

Data is king: Prioritize analytics to drive growth

Accurate and accessible data can provide meaningful insights, drive strategic decision-making, and enhance the effectiveness of your mission. For many nonprofits that often find themselves wading through more data than they know what to do with, consider honing in on these strategies:

Strengthen your data foundation: A strong data foundation is the cornerstone for any organization that seeks to harness the potential of its data. Not only will this enable better decision-making throughout your organization, if you wish to level-up your marketing game with things like personalization or AI, a strong data foundation is essential. 

KPI alignment: Because nonprofits often put such a heavy emphasis on driving donations, there is a tendency to misalign marketing tactics and key performance indicators (KPIs). Bottom-of-funnel tactics, like paid search, are meant to drive conversions (a.k.a. donations), and therefore, conversion rate (CVR) or cost per acquisition (CPA) are appropriate KPIs for paid search. A podcast ad, on the other hand, is an awareness tactic that sits at the top of the funnel. It plays a crucial role in your marketing strategy for reaching net new potential donors, but it’s not likely to drive direct donations (its impact will be felt downstream through those low-funnel tactics). As such, the success of podcast advertising should be measured based on KPIs like reach, frequency, and audio completion rate (ACR).

See how right-sizing a national environmental nonprofit’s unbalanced measurement approach enabled us to implement a full-funnel media strategy that increased their conversions by over 60% and resulted in a 22% lift in peak-season giving.

Data storytelling: You’ve worked so hard to connect with your audience, stand up an efficient marketing strategy, and capture meaningful data. Make sure this isn’t lost on your executive team. Communicate data-driven insights effectively through data storytelling. By transforming complex data sets into a compelling narrative, you avoid unnecessary complexity to prevent misinterpretation, foster engagement, and enable understanding across teams.

Great marketing strategies support even greater missions

A smart marketing strategy can help you overcome many of the common challenges faced by nonprofits, setting you apart from the competition and setting you up for long-term success. Not sure where to start? Tallwave can help. Let’s save some baby gorillas together.

* Source: Statista Research Department, and Jan 5. “Public Charities by Subsector U.S. 2021.” Statista, 5 Jan. 2024

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Customer Engagement Highlights News Product Design SEO Uncategorized UX Design

Leveling up: How gamification in UX drives engagement 

Decorative image showing gamification in UX.

Imagine this: you open an app, complete a task, and a delightful chime rings out as a virtual trophy pops up on your screen. You feel a surge of satisfaction, a small rush of accomplishment, and maybe even a drop of dopamine activates in your brain. This is the subtle power of gamification in UX design.

What is gamification in UX design? It is simply the strategic use of game-like mechanics in non-game contexts, and it has become an undeniable force in the digital landscape. As consumers, we increasingly expect playful engagement in the apps and products we interact with, even if we don’t realize it. 

But for marketers and business decision-makers, understanding the science behind gamification and its impact on user behavior can be a game-changer (pun intended) for driving long-term engagement and success.

The game is afoot: Why gamification in UX design works

So, what’s the secret sauce behind the effectiveness of gamification in UX? It all boils down to a powerful trio: motivation, reward, and positive reinforcement.

Studies have proven over and over that our brains are wired to respond to challenges and rewards. Gamification taps into this inherent human desire by:

  • Introducing elements of competition: Leaderboards, point systems, progress bars, and other visual game elements trigger a sense of healthy competition, motivating users to strive for the top.
  • Unlocking rewards: Whether it’s virtual badges, exclusive content, amassing points, or even merch and discounts, the promise of a reward incentivizes users to complete tasks and keep coming back for more.
  • Delivering positive reinforcement: The aforementioned chime, a congratulatory message, or even just a simple progress bar filling up all provide positive reinforcement, triggering the release of dopamine, the increasingly rare neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and motivation.

This positive reinforcement loop keeps users engaged, fosters a sense of accomplishment, and ultimately drives desired user behaviors, whether it’s completing a learning element or module, consistently using an app, or making repeat purchases.

Image showing gamification in UX design.

The science of fun: Who does gamified UX appeal to?

(Spoiler alert: It’s everyone.)

While gamification might conjure up images of overly anxious Millennials amassing stars to swap for coffee at Starbucks or Boomers swiping away at Candy Crush, the reality is that the appeal of gamification in UX is far-reaching. 

The core psychological principles behind gamification are universal human motivators, tapping into our deep-down desires for accomplishment, recognition, and social connection.

Studies have shown that gamification can be effective across various demographics and in all kinds of applications:

  • Learning and development: Gamified learning platforms can make educational content more engaging and improve knowledge retention for all ages.
  • Employee engagement: Gamified internal applications can boost employee motivation, productivity, and collaboration. And we all know the employee experience matters.
  • Wellness and fitness: Fitness trackers and health apps incorporating gamification elements encourage users to adopt and maintain healthy habits.
  • Ultimately, gamification speaks to the inner competitor, the reward seeker, and the social butterfly within us all.

Learn more about how Tallwave creates outstanding digital experiences through design.

Image showing gamification in UX design.

Beyond the badge: The power of personalized gamification

While leaderboards and badges were the early pioneers of gamification, today’s approach goes beyond the superficial. Forward-thinking gamification personalizes the experience, tailoring rewards and challenges to individual user preferences and behavior. This means:

  • Dynamic difficulty: The difficulty level can adjust based on user performance, ensuring an enjoyable experience for both beginners and seasoned users.
  • Adaptive rewards: Rewards can be personalized based on user preferences, making them feel valued and motivated. 
  • Segmented experiences: Gamification elements can be tailored to specific user segments to drive relevant actions, like encouraging first-time users to complete onboarding steps or incentivizing loyal users to try new features.

This personalized approach fosters a deeper connection between users and the product, fostering long-term loyalty and brand advocacy. 

The future of personalized gamification in UX is even brighter with the integration of Artificial Intelligence. AI can leverage user data (assuming consumer consent and privacy requirements are met) to recommend relevant rewards and suggest social connections within the app, creating a truly individualized and engaging experience for each user. This level of personalization can further boost user motivation, satisfaction, and loyalty.

Real-world wins: Gamified UX success stories

Seeing the power of gamification of UX in action is as simple as opening up your smartphone or clicking over to your favorite retailer’s online storefront. Here are some inspiring examples of brands using gamification to achieve remarkable results:

Duolingo

This language learning app extensively uses gamification, with points, badges, leaderboards, and a daily streak system to keep users motivated and engaged in their language learning journey. The result? Duolingo boasts a high user retention rate and a loyal following. A social media presence dominated by an unhinged owl helps, too.

Starbucks Rewards

The Starbucks loyalty program is a masterclass in gamification. Users earn stars with every purchase, unlocking rewards and exclusive benefits. This program incentivizes purchases, builds brand loyalty, and encourages repeat visits.

Image showing gamification in UX design.

Sephora Beauty Insider

Sephora’s loyalty program, Beauty Insider, is a prime example of gamification done right. It uses a tiered system with point accumulation and rewards that incentivize purchases and brand loyalty. Members earn points for various actions, like making purchases, leaving reviews, and celebrating their birthdays. These points translate into rewards ranging from exclusive discounts and samples to early access to new products and invitations to special events. The program also incorporates a progress bar element, visually showing members how close they are to reaching the next tier (Insider, VIB, Rouge). It adds a touch of friendly competition and motivates them to keep engaging. This gamified approach fosters a sense of accomplishment and keeps customers returning for more, solidifying Sephora’s position as a leader in the beauty industry.

These examples showcase how gamification can seamlessly integrate into various applications to drive user engagement and achieve business goals.

Ready to help your brand win with gamified UX?

By incorporating gamification principles into your UX design, you can unlock a world of possibilities:

  • Increased user engagement: Gamification keeps users coming back for more, fostering long-term product loyalty.
  • Improved learning and onboarding: Gamified experiences can make learning and onboarding processes more engaging and effective.
  • Enhanced brand advocacy: Positive user experiences fueled by gamification can turn users into brand champions who spread the word.
  • Measurable results: User behavior data from gamified elements provides valuable insights to optimize your UX strategy further.

But wait, there’s more: Best practices for winning results

Here are some key considerations when implementing gamification into your digital product experience:

  • Align with your goals: Ensure gamification elements directly support your overall product objectives. Don’t just add points for the sake of adding points!
  • Keep it relevant: Tailor gamification mechanics to your target audience and the specific actions you want to encourage.
  • Don’t overdo it: Too many bells and whistles can overwhelm users. Keep it simple and seamlessly integrate gamification elements.
  • Measure and iterate: Track user behavior data to see what’s working and what’s not. Be prepared to refine your gamification approach based on insights

By strategically incorporating gamification into your UX design, you can create a more engaging and rewarding experience for your users, ultimately driving success for your business.

Partner with a digital agency that understands gamification

At Tallwave, we believe in the power of gamification to elevate the user experience. Our team of UX design experts can help you develop a gamified digital product strategy that seamlessly integrates with your overall vision and goals. Let’s work together to create a user experience that’s functional, fun, and engaging. We’re waiting to hear from you.

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News Reaching New Customers SEO

Reddit for SEO: Why user-generated content dominates search results

Decorative image showing Reddit as an SEO tool

Is it just me, or DAE wonder why Reddit has become such a significant holder of SERP real estate? As a user and consumer, I’ve increasingly noticed that Reddit forums dominate the results I see for product and service-based queries, and as an ever-curious SEO and content strategist, I need to know why.

So, what’s happening here? Why has Reddit emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the SEO game? And what does this mean for us as marketers? Brace yourselves: we’re about to explore the complex and evolving world of Reddit and SEO, as well as the profound impact “the front page of the Internet” has on how users seek and interact with information.

Does anyone else
Explain like I'm 5
You mileage might vary
Today I Learned
Life pro tip
Hivemind
Too long; didn't read

ELI5: What even is Reddit?

Before we delve into the “why,” let’s quickly recap what Reddit is for those unfamiliar with this online behemoth.

Think of Reddit as a massive, decentralized forum where users create and share content on a wide range of topics. These communities, called subreddits, cover everything from news and technology to niche hobbies and local interests. Personally, I’ve used Reddit to discuss SEO news and trends with my professional cohorts, find volunteer opportunities in my community, and, most recently, connect with a fellow “elder emo” music fan to snag a ticket to a very much sold-out show for a “bucket list” band. Simply put, there’s something for everyone (YMMV on concert tickets).

Reddit’s diverse user base has more than 267.5 million weekly active users, solidifying its position online as a veritable melting pot of voices and perspectives. This rich and varied audience actively engages with all kinds of content, creating a dynamic platform where discussions and user-generated content (UGC) reign supreme.

Why is Reddit taking over search results?

Now, onto the juicy part: why is Reddit suddenly showing up everywhere in search results? Here are a few key factors contributing to its rise:

The power of user-generated content

In its relentless pursuit of providing the best user experience, Google’s algorithm increasingly values authentic, unbiased, and people-first content. Reddit thrives on UGC, offering a treasure trove of real-world opinions, experiences, and insights that traditional websites often lack. This authenticity resonates with search engines, making Reddit a valuable source of information.

Diversity and depth of content

Reddit covers a mind-boggling range of topics, with in-depth discussions and detailed information on virtually anything you can imagine. This depth allows Reddit to address long-tail keywords and niche queries with a level of specificity that traditional websites might struggle to match.

Community-driven authority

Reddit thrives on user engagement. Upvotes, downvotes, and discussions within subreddits organically signal the value and relevance of content. This community-driven authority system likely helps Google identify high-quality, trustworthy information.

The Reddit IPO effect

While maybe not a direct cause, Reddit’s recent IPO may have contributed to its increased visibility in search results. With heightened public interest and media attention, Google might be placing a greater emphasis on crawling and indexing Reddit content.

TIL why Reddit matters for marketers and SEOs

So, what does this Reddit SEO phenomenon mean for us as marketers and SEO professionals? A lot. In fact, you might think of Reddit’s rise in SEO and SERP positioning as both an opportunity and a challenge:

  • Opportunity: Reddit offers a powerful platform to connect with real users, gather valuable insights, and build brand awareness. Engaging with relevant subreddits allows you to participate in organic conversations, address customer concerns, and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
  • Challenge: Reddit is a community-driven platform with strict guidelines and Reddiquette, not a marketing playground. Spammy tactics or self-promotion will be met with swift backlash. Building trust and providing genuine value are required for a visibility victory on Reddit.

Case in point: How brands are rocking Reddit

Is your brand up for the challenge? You’ll find success stories from brands like Nordstrom, Toyota, and Xbox One that have implemented effective Reddit engagement strategies.

Spotify was a pioneer on the platform. In 2014, the music streaming service created a branded account and sparked a virtual thread asking users to share the most emotionally impactful songs in their lives, and ended up with more than 10,000 responses. Leveraging this user-generated content, Spotify made a unique playlist, demonstrating their understanding of their audience and building trust within the Reddit community. 

Other examples of brands taking on the Reddit challenge:

  • Toyota: They’ve tapped into Reddit communities like r/forumla1, r/cars, and r/trucks, providing helpful content and insights from their engineers, fostering trust and brand loyalty among car enthusiasts.
  • Xbox One: By actively participating in gaming subreddits, hosting AMA (ask me anything) sessions with game developers, and addressing user concerns directly, Xbox One has built a strong community around its brand.

But wait, there’s more. Reddit’s presence at CES 2024 walked marketers through how their platform is an essential touchpoint on the customer journey with an activation called “Key to Context.” The hands-on walk-through experience showed how instrumental the platform was in a car-buying experience and unlocked opportunities for brands to engage with consumers through UGC and strategically promoted posts.

Who owns brand Reddit strategy? It’s a team effort

While Reddit engagement might fall outside typical job descriptions, brands can create a “Reddit village” for success. This village includes passionate brand advocates (including employees, partners, and even consumers), community managers who curate content, and SEO/content teams who translate Reddit insights into broader strategies.

LPT: 5 ways to use Reddit for SEO and online visibility

Now, the million-dollar question: how can we leverage Reddit’s SEO potential within the spirit of the platform’s core values? I’ve got a few pro tips and ideas from my experience and research, as well as those collected from the SEO hivemind.

  1. Find your niche: Identify relevant subreddits where your target audience actively engages. Research their interests, common discussions, the language they are using (linguistic profiling), and the overall tone of the community.
  2. Become a valuable contributor: Don’t just drop in and promote your brand. Actively participate in discussions, share your expertise, and answer user questions genuinely. Provide insightful comments and contribute valuable content that benefits the community.
  3. Focus on long-tail keywords: Reddit excels at long-tail queries due to its in-depth discussions. Optimize your content for these specific keywords to increase your chances of appearing in relevant search results.
  4. Embrace UGC: Encourage users to share their experiences with your products or services within relevant subreddits. This organic UGC can be incredibly powerful for building trust and brand sentiment.
  5. Track and analyze: Monitor your Reddit activity and track the impact on your SEO metrics. Use tools like Semrush and Google Analytics 4 to measure organic traffic and identify which subreddits and posts drive the most engagement.

TL;DR: Reddit and SEO success requires a long-term, user-centric approach

Reddit’s growing prominence in search results is a testament to the power of user-generated content and authentic online communities. As marketers and SEOs, we must adapt our strategies to embrace this shift. Success on Reddit comes from building genuine relationships, providing value, and becoming a trusted member of the community.

Leveraging Reddit in your online footprint is a long-term integrated digital marketing game, not a quick SEO win. But by approaching Reddit with a user-centric mindset and focusing on providing value, you can tap into its immense potential and elevate your brand to new heights.

Ready to talk about Reddit and SEO? We are. Let’s connect.

Categories
Customer Engagement Reaching New Customers SEO Strategy

Holistic search strategy: A Grandmaster’s approach 

A decorative image that relates holistic search strategy to chess.

Conquering the digital landscape to boost online visibility and establish brand presence requires a strategic approach that mirrors mastering a chess game. It’s all about drawing up and executing a holistic search strategy that covers every angle of the digital marketing board. 

With time and money on the clock, crafting a holistic search strategy looks like the meticulous planning and execution required in a high-stakes game. Achieving grandmaster marketing status isn’t merely about making moves; it’s about anticipating your opponent’s next steps. And by combining search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and other winning tactics with a holistic approach, you’ll be prepared for success at every turn.

The opening gambit: Unveiling the holistic search strategy

A holistic search strategy breaks down silos between paid search and organic search efforts. By analyzing data from both channels together, you can create a unified strategy that maximizes your visibility across search engine results pages. This approach ensures your website aligns with user needs at every stage of the customer journey, ultimately driving overall search performance.

It’s about weaving together the threads of customer behavior, market trends, and competitive intelligence to inform strategic decisions with optimism and purpose. By gathering and leveraging data from diverse sources, such as search engine analytics, valuegraphics, and market research, a holistic search strategy strives to optimize many facets of a brand’s online presence. 

Much like a well-executed gambit, implementing a holistic search strategy can maximize ROI by aligning marketing efforts with the evolving audience needs and preferences, ensuring sustained success in the digital board.

The middle game: Key elements in play

SEM, SEO, and conversion rate optimization are a triple threat in the digital realm and serve as the key elements in a holistic search and integrated marketing strategy. 

SEM: The Rook

Our agile rook, SEM, charges forth with paid campaigns, reaching engaged audiences, amplifying brand visibility in search engines, and driving traffic to websites. Unlike the organic approach of SEO, paid search utilizes paid advertising platforms to quickly reach engaged audiences and achieve faster visibility. 

Like a rook on a chessboard, SEM is a very powerful piece in a marketing plan, but it requires strategic planning to effectively deploy:

  • Keyword strategy: Leverage organic keyword research to inform which keywords you will bid on and which keywords you want to exclude from campaigns. Include a healthy mix of brand and non-brand keywords, and test bid strategies on those keywords.
  • Aligned ad and landing page copy: It is important that the ad copy aligns with the copy on the landing page it drives traffic to. This helps ensure a cohesive user experience, which generally results in better performance.
  • Use your assets: Don’t settle for just headlines and descriptions— take advantage of site links, callouts, structured snippets, phone extensions, lead forms, locations, prices, and promotional features to capture user attention and drive immediate action.

SEO: The Queen

The queen of your strategy, SEO orchestrates content, keywords, and technical aspects, ensuring your website ranks high on the digital field of play. Imagine it as the most versatile force, attracting organic traffic through optimized content, targeted keywords, and a user-friendly website structure. Think of SEO as building a sturdy, well-defended castle, organically attracting visitors with relevant content and strategic placement with vast mobility. 

Here, SEO serves as that central force:

  • Keyword research: Like a skilled scout, SEO identifies the most relevant search queries and key phrases your target audience is using.
  • Content creation: Drawing on these insights, SEO transforms into an informed storyteller, crafting engaging, informative content that resonates with your audience and answers their burning questions.
  • On-page optimization: Finally, SEO acts as the architect, meticulously optimizing website elements like title tags, meta descriptions, and internal linking, ensuring search engines can easily understand and index your content.

See our latest client success story to understand how SEO and content strategy can lay the foundation for success in the SERPs.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): The King

As the game nears its climax, we focus on conversion rate optimization (CRO). Much like a well-executed endgame, CRO ensures that every move, or every click, counts. 

Here’s how:

  • A/B testing: A/B testing allows you to explore different variations of elements like landing page design, call-to-action placement, and content structure. This data-driven approach helps refine your tactics, uncover winning combinations, and constantly improve your conversion rate. Meticulously testing different strategies can help identify the most effective approach for your target audience.
  • Strategic landing page optimization: Landing pages guide visitors toward desired actions, such as making a purchase or subscribing to a newsletter. By optimizing them for seamless user experience and clear calls to action, you convert interest into tangible results. Think of landing pages as kings capturing website visitors by providing a clear path to desired actions.

SERP dominance: Checkmate

Securing top positions on the SERPs and winning clicks is the endgame in a holistic search strategy. Success looks like seeing your brand in the top positions for relevant keywords, increasing your brand visibility, and driving significant organic traffic toward your website. From organic and paid search results to Google Shopping ads, answer boxes, featured snippets, videos, and images, provide search engines and users with a clear understanding of your content and increase the click-through rate for your organic listings. Think of SERP dominance as securing the king’s position and establishing your brand as a leader in the digital landscape.

Learn more about SEO, SEM, CRO, and other Integrated Digital Marketing Services from Tallwave.

The ever-evolving chessboard: Adapting to change

The digital realm is dynamic, constantly shifting and evolving. Just as Garry Kasparov adapted in response to every single one of Deep Blue’s moves, brands too must be adaptable and responsive in their holistic search strategies. 

Here are some key moves to keep your holistic search strategy at the top of its game:

  • Embrace new technologies: Stay informed about emerging technology and industry trends, such as voice search and SGE, and incorporate them into your strategy. Get started with our blog about SEO trends in 2024.
  • Monitor algorithm updates: Search engines regularly update their algorithms, which can impact your rankings. Stay informed about these updates and adjust your strategy accordingly.
  • Analyze your data: Regularly analyze your website traffic and user behavior data with GA4’s new metrics to identify areas for improvement and optimize your strategy for long-term success.
  • Keep learning, keep growing: The digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving, so continuous learning is essential. Stay up-to-date with industry trends, attend workshops, and actively seek new knowledge.

Take the board with purpose (and Tallwave)

Just as in a friendly game of chess, adopting a holistic search strategy means thinking ahead, staying flexible, and making smart moves to outmaneuver the competition. In this dynamic arena, where algorithms are always changing and search trends are in flux from day to day, taking an integrated approach will help your brand stay sharp and ahead of the curve.

And when you’re ready to level up your search strategy and capture the king, Tallwave is ready to support your success. We’ve got all the pieces arranged on the board; take the first two squares forward by reaching out to us now.

Categories
SEO Strategy

Swipe right on SEO: Can keywords play Cupid?

Decorative image representing the overlap between search engine algorithms and dating all algorithms.

Algorithms are inescapable. They have the power to influence, nudge, and sometimes even manipulate our choices. Algorithms curate social media feeds, direct us to products we don’t even know we need (but somehow do), recommend movies we are practically guaranteed to like, and, for many of us, dictate our search for the perfect romantic partner.

According to a recent Pew Research Center report, 3 in 10 adults in the U.S. admit to having used a dating app or site in their quests for love (or at least some kind of companionship). Just like Google’s algorithm sorts through billions of web pages to find the best answer to our most pressing questions, dating apps use hidden algorithms to curate your potential matches. 

And many of the same factors that influence search algorithms also influence dating app algorithms. It’s totally possible to optimize your dating profile to find the best matches, just as you can optimize a website with SEO for the best rankings.

When two become one: Where search algorithms and dating app algorithms overlap

In technical terms, algorithms define a finite set of instructions executed in a predetermined order to achieve a desired result. 

But in application, you might think of algorithms as the secret blueprints behind every search or swipe. Just like Google or Bing connect you to the information you need, dating apps, like Bumble and Hinge, are compasses for navigating a sea of potential partners. When an advanced algorithm is at the helm, instead of randomly riding the waves and going with the flow, data drives a curated path.

Whether you’re looking for a quick answer to a trivia question with Google or swiping through an app to find a Valentine’s Day date, here are some things to keep in mind to help you maximize the “perfect match potential” of any algorithm, from search engines to dating apps:

Gathering data

Just as search engines analyze your search history and preferences, dating apps collect information from your profile, behavior—likes, profiles viewed per session, swipes, messages—and even survey responses. This data, which would be considered engagement metrics in SEO, becomes their digital recipe for understanding your unique “type.”

Identifying patterns

Think of algorithms as pattern information investigators, always on the lookout for recurring themes. If you consistently swipe right on outdoorsy extroverts with healthcare careers, the algorithm takes note and adjusts your match pool accordingly. It’s like Google noticing you frequently look for hiking trails and medical journals, and then prioritizing those in your search results.

Prioritizing profile

Once patterns are identified, the algorithm takes charge of your potential matches. It’s like Google ranking web pages with quality content based on relevance and authority. In the dating world, this means profiles that align with your preferences get bumped to the top of your swiping deck, while those that don’t match your “type” fade into the background.

Constant learning and adapting

Algorithms aren’t static; they’re constantly evolving based on new data and user interactions. Each swipe, message, or profile visit provides feedback for the algorithm to refine its understanding of your preferences. It’s like search engines updating their algorithms to reflect changes in user behavior and search trends.

While each platform might have its unique approach, they all follow a version of these basic steps. And just like you can use SEO for social media algorithm success, you can also rely on similar search engine optimization techniques to find your perfect match on the dating app of your choice. 

Organic magic: How to find love with SEO

The connection between dating apps and search engines goes beyond the algorithms. In fact, the processes of creating a dating app profile and optimizing a website for SEO have the exact same desired outcomes: to increase organic visibility and encourage action. Just like a business wants to see its products at the top of the SERPs, encourage clicks, and win conversions, the singles swiping on dating apps want to be on top of the stack, nudge potential matches to swipe right, and ultimately win a chance at love.

So, with these commonalities in mind, it’s time to consider using basic SEO practices to improve your dating app strategy. Here are some actions you can take to optimize algorithmic awesomeness, regardless of whether you’re working with a website or matters of the heart.

Learn more about SEO and other Integrated Digital Marketing Services from Tallwave.

Consider user and keyword intent

Successfully optimizing a website or a dating profile means understanding your audience and their unique intentions. If you’re seeking high-funnel customers (or more casual matches) who are just browsing, aim for broad and informational keywords to pique their interest in general. If you’re looking for customers (or potential partners) closer to conversion (or a relationship), more specific and transactional keywords might be a better choice to build momentum and encourage a journey with the end result in mind.

Use linguistic profiling to speak your audience’s language

Linguistics plays a huge role in how we consume content and how we form relationships. Google and potential partners both use latent semantic indexing to understand relevency, and this means you must share high-quality content worded particularly for your perfect match.

Let’s say you’re looking for someone who is a bit of a homebody, great conversationalist, creative in the kitchen, and shares an affinity for little white dogs. Consider using terms semantically related to these traits like “cozy comfort,” “witty banter,” “culinary artistry,” and “petite powderpuff pups” to further display relevancy and spark a playful exchange.

Create compelling content

High-quality content reigns supreme in SERPs and dating apps. Share authentic anecdotes that reveal your unique qualities in your dating app profile just as you would with value propositions on your website. Visuals and creative content count, too.

Stay active and online

Consistent engagement encourages both search engine rankings and dating app views. For dating app users, this means logging in frequently and replying to messages promptly. When it comes to website optimizations, this means regularly posting new content and encouraging crawlers.

End on a call-to-action

We all need a little push sometimes. Call-to-action (CTA) language is essential for guiding clarity and direction. CTAs provide clear instructions and next steps, guiding your audience toward the desired action, whether it’s buying a product, subscribing to a newsletter, downloading content, sending a message, or even asking for a date. Without a CTA, users might be left confused and unsure of what to do next, leading to missed opportunities.

Whether searching for love or online success, you can use SEO strategies to find your perfect match. Remember, a clear call to action is critical to converting that click into a connection.

Ready to fall in love with SEO success?

While Tallwave doesn’t usually offer dating advice, we have written digital marketing love stories and we help businesses find their perfect matches online with powerful, integrated solutions. Reach out for a consultation today. 💕

Categories
Customer Engagement SEO

Beyond hype and hashtags: The complicated connection between SEO and influencer marketing 

A decorative image showing the connection between SEO and influencer marketing.

The allure of influencer marketing is undeniable. Just like organic SEO, influencer marketing can bring brands amplified awareness, improved engagement metrics, and perhaps most importantly, a boost in conversion rates.

Influencer marketing and SEO can even be powerful tools when used strategically and in concert with each other. However, relying on influencer marketing to improve your organic reach can be complicated. 

How do influencer marketing and SEO work together? 

Though distinct players in the marketing game, influencer marketing and SEO share a complicated relationship. Even Google has acknowledged the link between the two strategies. Both SEO and influencer marketing offer unique advantages and challenges, and understanding the complex relationship between them is key to unlocking the full potential of both.

Here’s how influencer marketing and SEO can complement each other:

  • Increased brand awareness: Both strategies aim to get your brand in front of more people. Influencer marketing leverages influencers’ established audiences, while SEO optimizes your website for search engines, making it more discoverable to an even broader audience.
  • Improved brand trust: Positive influencer endorsements can build trust with their audience, which can translate to your brand. Similarly, high-quality, informative content created for SEO can signal trust to search engine algorithms, not only boosting your rankings, but potentially earning you visibility among Google’s rich results and establishing the expertise of your brand.
  • Content creation: Influencers can create valuable content (e.g., blog posts, social media posts) featuring your brand, which you can then leverage on your website or social media for SEO benefits.
  • Backlinks: If influencers link to your website in their web-based content, it can boost your SEO ranking through high-quality backlinks. (But remember, most social media links are “no-follow” and won’t count as backlinks.)

Here’s how influencer marketing and SEO are different

  • Sustainability: Influencer marketing often delivers short-term bursts of traffic and engagement, while SEO aims for long-term, sustained organic growth.
  • Control: You have limited control over influencer content and messaging, while you have full control over your website and its SEO strategy.
  • Scalability: Reaching a large audience through influencer marketing can be expensive, while SEO can be scaled more efficiently with ongoing effort.
  • Measurement: Measuring the direct impact of influencer marketing can be complex, while SEO metrics are typically more well-defined and trackable.

You might summarize the relationship and differences between influencer marketing and SEO like this: use influencer marketing for building brand awareness, social proof, and potentially generating high-quality content. Use SEO for building long-term organic traffic, establishing your brand as an authority, and improving overall website visibility. And of course, let’s not forget the links between SEO and social media, too! 

Let’s talk about Lashgate and its impact on SEO

TikTok beauty influencer, Mikayla Noguiera, is no stranger to controversy, but last year’s “Lashgate” has gone down in social media history. In early 2023, Nogueira posted a TikTok video review, in paid partnership with L’Oreal, showing off the conspicuous results of the brand’s new Telescopic Lift mascara. But the drama began to unfold when another app user posted a video asserting she had proof that Nogueira was wearing artificial eyelashes — specifically Ardell Wispies — in her review, which cast doubt on the mascara’s results. Nogueira posted the review that inspired Lashgate on Jan. 24, 2023. As of Jan. 24, 2024, exactly one year later, the video has garnered more than 60.5 million views on TikTok. 

According to organic search data from SEMRush, “Telescopic Lift Mascara” was searched 320 times in January 2023 (before Lashgate and shortly after the product launched). Monthly searches jumped to 5,400 in March 2023 as the drama peaked, and as of January 2024, the phrase has averaged 9,900 searches per month.

Even though the search volume for the product exploded by more than 4,200%, it’s not all good news. Branded search volume for the product largely included long-tail modifiers like “drama,” “controversy,” and “fake reviews.” 

On the flip side: What happened to Wispies?

Ardell false eyelashes hit the market more than half a century ago and have been a beauty industry favorite since. However, they have a slightly different SEO story to tell.

Let’s look at monthly search volumes for the term “Ardell Wispies”:

  • January 2023 (before Lashgate): 5,400
  • March 2023 (peak of Lashgate): 6,600
  • January 2024 (1 year after Lashgate): 5,400

Even though Noguiera’s paid partner was L’Oreal and not Ardell, the latter benefited from a modest-but-fleeting lift in monthly search volume when interest in the Lashgate controversy peaked. And this is how influencer marketing, regardless of hype or drama, typically works: a brand or product will see a surge in organic search volume and traffic after a product goes viral, but these figures fall back to the status quo when the hype dies down. 

While the short-term impact of influencer marketing can drive a rapid, short-term increase in brand visibility that could translate to a temporary positive impact on your brand’s bottom line there are no guarantees except that results will be fleeting.  Long-term organic search success comes from investing in a healthy, ongoing SEO strategy.

Connecting the dots between influencer marketing and SEO for long-term growth

Now that we’ve unraveled some of the nuances in the complex relationship between influencer marketing and SEO. Here are some actionable steps to craft a strategy that maximizes the potential of both to amplify your brand’s reach and build lasting organic visibility:

1. Align your influencers with your SEO goals:

  • Consider micro-influencers: They often engage in deeper connections with their audiences, creating content that feels more authentic and resonates better with search engines.
  • Prioritize content quality over reach: Choose influencers who align with your brand values and can create informative, engaging content that optimizes for relevant keywords.
  • Invest in evergreen topics: Don’t just chase fleeting trends. Collaborate on content that has long-term appeal and relevance, offering lasting value to your audience and search engines alike. 

2. Capitalize on content synergies and measure impact:

  • Repurpose influencer-generated content: Share their social media posts, blog articles, or video snippets on your website and optimize them for relevant keywords.
  • Leverage backlinks: Encourage influencers to link to your website within their content, providing valuable backlinks that boost your SEO ranking.
  • Track and analyze: Use analytics tools to monitor the performance of your influencer campaigns, both in terms of audience engagement and organic search traffic.

3. Build a robust SEO foundation to sustain the momentum:

  • Optimize your website: Ensure your website is technically sound, with fast loading times and mobile-friendliness. Incorporate relevant keywords strategically throughout your website content.
  • Focus on quality backlinks: Beyond influencer partnerships, actively pursue high-quality backlinks from reputable websites in your niche.
  • Create valuable content consistently: Don’t rely solely on influencer content. Publish informative blog posts, articles, and other valuable resources on your website to demonstrate your brand’s expertise and attract organic traffic.
  • Learn from the best: Want to see how influencer marketing and SEO work together first hand? Look at SEO influencers to see how it’s done.

Influencer marketing and SEO are both powerful tools, but don’t rely on influencers alone to expect long-term results. By implementing these actionable steps and a strong SEO strategy, you can leverage their combined strengths to build a brand that shines online, both in the spotlight of an influencer’s collaboration and in the steady glow of long-term organic success.


Ready to see for yourself? Let’s discuss how a full-funnel marketing program leveraging organic SEO can equal outstanding experiences and ongoing success. Here’s to the start of a great partnership.

Categories
Uncategorized

Search evolution: The state of SEO in 2024

Decorative image representing changes in SEO in 2024

2023 brought tectonic transformation to SEO. Emerging technologies and the adoption of generative AI upheaved the state of the SERPs, resulting in disruptive and unprecedented volatility. But one thing has held true even as the sands shift around us: SEO is alive and well as we drill into 2024.

The state of SEO in 2024 will bring on  a continuing landslide of coming changes. We anticipate the drifts of digital evolution to show us a relentless and fiercely competitive environment where maintaining visibility and boosting efficiency to drive faster execution of search optimization efforts (and impacts) is increasingly critical. Deeper AI integration into the search experience and continued emphasis on expert-created content will continue to erupt and gain momentum over the coming year. 

However, one bedrock principle remains unaltered: SEO will continue to be an important part of a healthy full-funnel marketing strategy as we navigate into 2024.

SEO in 2024: What SEO trends will have staying power?

While the future of SEO is always evolving, each change creates a layer, just like you’ll see in sedimentary stone. While the foundation stays the same, faults and intrusions can create a changing landscape in nature — just like we see online. Here are some SEO changes from 2023 that will create lasting impacts in 2024.

E-E-A-T remains at the epicenter of SEO

One acronym has served as the ground zero for the SERP seismic shakeup: E-E-A-T.

Google recently upgraded its basic E-A-T guidelines to the more advanced E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) guidelines. We’ve already seen that E-E-A-T will continue to be the line where SEO content strategy and SERP rankings meet as we move forward in the coming year. 

What does E-E-A-T look like in 2024? Consider the following:

  • Experience: While experience is closely tied to the other three elements of E-E-A-T, it emphasizes knowledge gained from real-world experience rather than through ingestion and synthesis of existing information. Consider this example: a skincare company wants an expert article on the benefits of their newest product. They could have a dermatologist or esthetician write the article based on their general knowledge of skin and the impact of certain ingredients. Or, they could invite a skin care professional who has actually recommended the product to their clients and consumers who have actually used the product to contribute to the article. The second approach is an example of prioritizing information informed by real-world experience
  • Expertise: Content can display expertise in many different ways. One of the most impactful is to meet searcher’s needs from an expert perspective. For example, an endocrinologist would have the expertise and insight to write an article about how hormones impact sleep for searchers seeking to conquer insomnia (and an endocrinologist who has actually worked with patients struggling with insomnia would have the experience in addition to the expertise).
  • Authoritativeness: SEO depends on site authority, and you can establish this necessary credibility through backlinks, social media mentions, and even metrics based on on-site user behavior. An authoritative website shows established trust and relevance in the eyes of both users and search engines with accurate and well-researched content, clear navigation, regular updates, and technical stability.
  • Trustworthiness: Technical SEO success can help establish trustworthiness in Google’s eyes, starting with quick load times, HTTPS security, and user-friendly URL structures. It might also come from external links pointing to other credible sources, stating a physical location, and having an accessible Terms and Conditions page.

Helpful Content Update is more than an aftershock in 2024

E-E-A-T might be at the epicenter of SEO, but Google’s Helpful Content Update in 2023 wasn’t just a tremor – it was an eruption, reshaping the SEO landscape with noticeable volatility. 

The chart shows SERP volatility after Google's HCU.
This image shows SERP volatility in September 2023 as Google’s latest Helpful Content Update was released.

In 2024, we’ll see the aftershocks continue in the SERPs, with Google and other search engines emphasizing content that’s not just well-written, but truly helpful, user-centric, and bursting with value. Google will continue to prioritize content that answers searcher’s queries directly and will continue to reward the most effective and user-friendly answers with position-zero placements and featured snippets.

Product reviews in SEO: Digging for trust and transparency

Product-focused websites have a hidden goldmine that will continue to create SEO value in 2024: product reviews. Google algorithms now dig deeper for reviews that gleam with honesty, detail, and user-centric value. Gone are the days of shallow, surface-level assessments or over-the-top influencer endorsements; what Google wants is content that strikes it rich in terms of trustworthiness and transparency.

Building a mountain of trustworthy reviews will be essential for e-commerce sites in 2024. Here are three ways you can leverage reviews for an SEO boost in the coming year:

  1. Mine the depths of authenticity: Let your customers speak for themselves about your products and services. Prioritize showing reviews on product pages and across website content.
  2. Uncover hidden layers of detail: Don’t just skim the surface – highlight reviews that drill down into the product’s functionalities, strengths, and weaknesses, leaving no crevice unexplored.
  3. Incorporate the user’s voice: User-generated content is the volcanic heat that keeps reviews dynamic. Encourage comments, questions, and comparisons on blog posts and through other channels (email, social media) to capture a rich tapestry of perspectives that can be leveraged into site content.

Tapping into product reviews for SEO 2024 isn’t about glittering facades; it’s about unearthing genuine value for users.

Riding the waves of the Search Generative Experience

The surge of AI is swelling, and SGE (search generative experience) is becoming an unstoppable force. These features are like tectonic plates, shifting the landscape of how users find information – and organic search optimization strategies need to adapt.

Here are some things to keep in mind when navigating the SEO shift toward SGE:

  • Speak in your customers’ language: SGE leverages AI to personalize search results based on individual user profiles. To ride this wave, optimize your content for specific user personas and the language they use to ensure clarity and relevance. Consider adapting your content for conversational queries, optimize for long-tail keywords, and ensure mobile-friendliness for conversational AI and voice assistants.
  • Click-through rate: Don’t be surprised if SGE leads to traffic drops. Recent research sheds light on how SGE impacts click-through rates for different content types, and it’s not always pretty. To prepare for the potential impact, analyze search impressions and clicks to tailor your content toward formats and features that resonate with SGE audiences.
  • AI as a guide: Embrace AI not as a competitor or a content copywriter, but as a guide. Consider using AI-powered SEO tools to understand user intent, and optimize headlines and meta descriptions for increased visibility. Humans should take the lead when it comes to strategy and brands should continue to create high-value content for humans — and not algorithms.

Charting rock-solid SEO strategy in 2024

By embracing the changing digital landscape, you can chart your course to organic search victory. Personalized search, visual search, and user experience are surfacing as even more significant SEO factors in the coming year. 

Here’s how you can look around the curve and start charting what’s next based on our 2024 SEO predictions.

Personalize search for individualized online experiences: 

  • Understand your audiences: Research and understand specific user profiles, tailoring content to their unique needs and preferences.
  • Diversify your keyword strategy: Include long-tail keywords and conversational queries that reflect personalized searches.
  • Embrace AI tools: Use semantic analysis and topic modeling to personalize content and optimize for individual intent.

Let visual searches help you scale the pixel peak:

  • Invest in high-quality creative assets: Prioritize professional images, engaging videos, and infographics to capture attention and improve engagement.
  • Optimize image meta descriptions and alt text: Use relevant keywords and concise descriptions to ensure your visuals get seen.
  • Embrace structured data markup: Implement schema markup to help search engines understand the context and content of your visual assets

Prepare for increasing UX emphasis:

  • Conduct user testing: Understand your audience’s pain points and preferences through A/B testing and user surveys.
  • Streamline navigation and layout: Prioritize user-friendly interfaces, intuitive design, and mobile responsiveness.
  • Improve site speed with technical optimizations: Invest in page speed optimization tools and techniques for lightning-fast loading times.

SEO isn’t stagnant. It’s always shifting and evolving, which means there are constant opportunities for actionable steps to improve SERP rankings and visibility. Keeping these considerations top of mind will help you improve search visibility and perceived relevance, increase organic site traffic, and deliver a high-quality website experience from the first pageview.

We offer the SEO and Integrated Digital Marketing services your business needs in 2024. Learn more.

Ready for what’s next in SEO? We are.

Don’t become a fossil; know that leveraging long-term SEO success requires proactive, data-driven, and user-centric approaches. Tallwave is eager to implement future-forward SEO and digital marketing strategies that will keep you ready for what’s around the corner in 2024 and beyond.  Let’s talk.

Categories
News Reaching New Customers Strategy

SEO isn’t dead: How AI and SGE are shaping the future

Is SEO dead? Skull wearing sunglasses

The artificial intelligence revolution has rocked our world in a few short months. OpenAI launched ChatGPT. Bing released a chat feature. Google opened access to Bard and the experimental Search Generative Experience. As these new tools emerge, almost everything about how we seek, access, and interact with online information changes. And it begs the question…

Could all these AI-enabled changes mean SEO is dead? The answer is a hard no; it’s just different. The days of optimizing websites exclusively for crawlers and bots are far behind us. We, as SEOs and marketers, must embrace the shift toward optimizing websites, content, and online experiences for humans and their information needs. As such, search engine optimization is alive, and will become even more important in your web strategy as AI tools advance in this new era.

Living in the moment: Understanding SEO, AI, and SGE

SEO, AI, and SGE are three of the most important technologies today, and they’re all becoming inseparably linked. AI is already used in a number of ways to improve SEO, from generating high-quality content to identifying and targeting the right keywords. 

As AI develops, it will likely play an even more significant role in SEO, helping businesses reach their target audiences more effectively. By staying ahead of the curve with these technologies and strategies, companies can position themselves for success in the future of search. Before we dive into the details of what comes next for SEO, let’s look at broader definitions and how these technologies and strategies impact each other today.

What is SEO?

SEO (search engine optimization) is nothing new. In fact, both the concept and the term have been part of the web-based world since 1997 — before Google existed. At this time, search engines functioned as directories or virtual yellow pages. And as more consumers adopted the Internet, more businesses became invested in making themselves visible on the Internet.

SEO is a complex and ever-changing field, but it is essential to any online marketing strategy.  Your web presence depends on organic SEO. Traditionally, SEO depends on fundamental factors that increase website traffic and search engine placement, which include:

  • Creating relevant, keyword-optimized content.
  • Optimizing the website’s title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags.
  • Building backlinks from high-quality websites.
  • Ensuring that the website is mobile-friendly.
  • Improving the website’s loading speed.

What is AI?

AI, short for artificial intelligence, is a technology that mimics or simulates human intelligence. There are a variety of applications for AI, from self-driving cars to automated manufacturing processes. Machine learning, deep learning, and cognitive computing all influence how AI works. 

Conversational and generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Bard, and Bing are natural language processing tools and can communicate in a human-like way. They provide information quickly and can generate new text, code, images, and other kinds of creative content.

What is SGE?

SGE stands for Search Generative Experience. It is a new set of search and interface capabilities that integrates generative AI-powered results into Google search engine query responses. 

SGE is still under development, but it’s designed to make searching for information online even more helpful, instructive, and insightful. By nature, SGE hinges on providing users with a more personalized and conversational experience. It is intended to do this by:

  • Generating concise and informative answers to complex questions.
  • Providing relevant visual content, such as images, charts, and graphs.
  • Suggesting follow-up questions to help users explore their topic of interest further.
  • Translating search results into different languages.

Here are some examples of how SGE can be used:

  • If you search “how to change a tire,” SGE might generate a step-by-step guide with images and videos.
  • If you search for “best restaurants in Phoenix,” SGE might generate a list of restaurants with user reviews and links to their menus.
  • If you search for “what does life even mean?” SGE might generate a summary of different philosophical perspectives on the topic.

SGE is revolutionizing the way we search for information. Using generative AI to produce more personalized and informative results, SGE can help searchers (consumers) find the information they need more quickly and easily.

The current state of SEO: ‘It depends’

We can’t ignore the fact that AI’s emergence and proliferation are rattling to SEO as we traditionally know it. 

According to Search Engine Journal’s 2024 State of SEO report, today’s digital marketers and SEOs expect disruptions from three major trends:

  1. Generative AI
  2. Google’s E-E-A-T ranking criteria
  3. Automation tools 

For many SEO experts, these new and rapidly evolving advances challenge how we think about what it means to optimize for search.  

These concerns check out, too. Google’s recent Helpful Content core algorithm update, which began rolling out in August and has extended into September 2023, is making one fact glaringly obvious: SEO no longer means optimizing content and website experiences for search engine crawlers and the only way to win top-ranking spots, boost CTR, gain qualified organic traffic (and lift conversions) is to optimize for the human experience.

While AI, generative tools, and even search algorithms gain a better understanding of what kind of content is helpful and informative to people, the notion of keyword-stuffed web copy created just for search engines is on its way out, and helpful content written by people, for people, has gained momentum as what it takes to win in the competitive SEO space. 

Welcome to the future: Embracing content strategy with SEO, SGE, and AI in mind

As more web users turn to AI and SGE tools to do research and make informed decisions, it is increasingly important to be visible to searchers no matter the medium they’re using and aware of how your business is perceived by both artificial and human intelligence in this new virtual realm. 

The only way to achieve this goal and prepare for future advancements is to embrace a website content strategy intricately interwoven with forward-focused SEO. This is evident with each Google core algorithm update as they increasingly move toward rewarding sites that relay information in an easy-to-understand, conversational, and unbiased tone.

Next steps for content strategy, SEO and SGE success

It might sound counter-intuitive, but embracing an organic content strategy with a human element is vital to success in today’s AI-driven landscape as SGE emerges. This especially rings true when your business and website tie into YMYL (your money or your life) topics like health, medicine, finance, and current events.

Google’s algorithms are designed to reward websites that provide high-quality content that is informative, comprehensive, and relevant to users. To appeal to Google’s E-E-A-T criteria, comply with Google’s Helpful Content updates, and succeed in SGE, businesses need to focus on creating content that is genuinely helpful to humans with UX and CX in mind. There are a few ways to accomplish this:

  • Understand your customers’ journey. Linguistic profiling and search journey analysis can help you define your target audience’s journey.  Where are they in their conversion journey? Understanding their needs and offering solutions improves their experience on-site and with your brand.
  • Write for your target audience. Before you start writing, take some time to think about your target audience. What are their needs and interests? What kind of content would they find helpful? What are the values that drive their decision-making?
  • Do your research. Make sure that your content is accurate and up-to-date. Cite your sources and link to other relevant content.
  • Be clear and concise. Get to the point quickly and avoid using jargon.
  • Write in a conversational tone. Imagine that you’re talking to a friend or colleague.
  • Break up your text with images, videos, and headings. This will make your content easier to read and scan.

Does this sound familiar? We’ve touched on the factors you see above before and it’s helped drive success landing at “position zero” in the SERPs. Learn more about featured snippets in SEO strategy.

Take the next steps in SEO and SGE now

AI is poised to revolutionize SEO, empowering businesses to reach their target audiences with unprecedented precision. Businesses must ethically embrace AI and other innovative technologies and position themselves as leaders in this rapidly evolving field. This requires an online strategy inextricably linked to forward-thinking SEO created by humans for humans.

Offering SEO solutions and website and content strategy is just part of how Tallwave wants to drive your success. As a leader in providing integrated marketing solutions and more to both established and up-and-coming brands, Tallwave is ready to deploy our customer-centric and cohesive approach in a way that is unique to your vision and creates exceptional experiences for consumers of all kinds. 


From conversion rate optimization to paid media services to product design and beyond, we’re ready to partner up and strategically future-proof your digital strategies.

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Is SEO for Social Media the Secret to Success?

Decorative image showing smiling woman using social media on a tablet.

Social media platforms have evolved from online hangouts to significant touchpoints on your customers’ conversion journeys. Establishing your brand’s social media footprint and visibility is crucial; it forges meaningful consumer connections and enhances digital experiences. 

However, the painful reality for marketers is that curated social content alone won’t get you to For You Pages and newsfeeds. But reaching into your SEO strategy toolkit just might. Many factors in establishing a solid social media presence seriously overlap with the search engine optimization strategies you’re already using to drive growth on your website.

With complex algorithms and user behavior playing a crucial role in content visibility, leveraging the power of SEO for social media is vital to improving reach, engaging the right users, and converting customers.

What is the relationship between social media and SEO?

When it comes to creating online experiences and driving strategic growth, social media matters. Surveys show that working-age adults spend an average of 2.5 hours daily scrolling social media. These consumers rely on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for product research, reviews, brand engagement, and even for making purchases as integrated e-commerce solutions become the norm. 

SEO matters, too. An effective organic SEO strategy elevates your brand by boosting page rankings and increasing visibility, clicks, and conversions. Investing in SEO builds long-term equity for your business and establishes authority in your market. And while AI might change how algorithms work, SEO strategy will always need human-lead creativity and expertise to resonate with human users. Learn more about the benefits of implementing a proven SEO strategy. 

And although social media and SEO may seem like distinct digital strategies, they are closely intertwined. Social media platforms aim to engage and satisfy users by showcasing relevant, high-quality content. At the same time, SEO seeks to achieve the same by delivering valuable web content to answer their search queries.

SEO and social media: Symbiotic sisters

Think about it: SEO focuses on improving website reach by considering algorithms and ranking factors for better visibility on search engine result pages like Google or Bing. These factors hinge on authority, expertise, and trust established through technical performance, keywords, latent semantic indexing, and user behavior (bounce rate, time on site, pages visited, etc.).

Social media platforms also rely on algorithms that determine how content is displayed to users. These algorithms analyze similar factors, such as bio and caption keywords, viewer intent, creator authority, user behavior, and engagement. 

Relevance, engagement, and authority influence how content is shown to users on the SERPs, home pages, feeds, and For You Pages. Noting the many intersections, it’s easy to interpret that applying SEO techniques to social media strategies will likely increase the chances of your target audience finding your content, engaging with it, and ultimately converting into customers.

SEO strategies to adopt for social media success

Experience is everything. The shared objective between SEO and social media is to provide users with the best possible experience by delivering the best possible content related to their needs and intents. 

You can implement SEO techniques in your social strategy to push your brand toward customer acquisition and growth. With increased social media visibility, you’ll be there for critical make-or-break moments on the conversion journey.

Experience is everything. The shared objective between SEO and social media is to provide users with the best possible experience by delivering the best possible content related to their needs and intents.

Let’s look at a few tips social media managers can borrow from the SEOs.

Know what’s now

Social media evolves rapidly. Just look at all the recent changes with Instagram. Part of finding success with your audience is understanding what’s current and popular in their world. Google Trends offers an easy way to tap into today’s interests so that your content is timely and relevant.

Speak their language

Like traditional SEO, linguistic profiling and keyword research are crucial in social media optimization. Identify keywords and phrases relevant to your industry, target audience, and specific social media platforms. Use those phrases in your content and captions. Tools like SEMrush, Moz, and free browser extensions like Keyword Surfer can help you discover relevant terms based on how people search for products or content.

Flex your authority

Optimize your social media profiles by incorporating relevant keywords in your bio, descriptions, and headers. This helps social algorithms understand the nature of your business and improves the chances of being discovered by users searching for those keywords. Mention titles or credentials relevant to your content to display subject matter authority.

Create connections

Actively engage with your audience by responding to comments, messages, and mentions. This fosters a sense of community and encourages further engagement. And engagement shows the algorithm that your content is valuable and relevant.

Analyze and optimize

Regularly analyze your social media performance using built-in analytics tools or third-party platforms. Monitor engagement metrics, reach, click-through rates, and conversions to understand what resonates with your audience. Adjust your strategy accordingly to optimize results.

Let integrated solutions lead to intertwined success

You can unlock social media’s full potential and drive meaningful results by understanding the relationship between SEO and social media, implementing effective strategies, and staying informed about the latest trends and algorithm updates.

Explore Tallwave’s Integrated Digital Marketing services.

Social media and SEO aren’t siloed strategies. An integrated growth enablement partner like Tallwave can assist in combining SEO and social media strategies as part of a comprehensive conversion rate optimization program. We are eager to deploy our customer-centric and cohesive approach in a unique way to your vision and create exceptional experiences for consumers of all kinds.

Ready to learn more about Tallwave and how we can help with SEO and social media? Let’s discuss how combined forces equal outstanding experiences and ongoing success. Here’s to the start of a great partnership.

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Tallwave Headquarters

6720 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 140
Scottsdale, Arizona 85253
(602) 840-0400

Tallwave Headquarters

6720 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 140
Scottsdale, Arizona 85253
(602) 840-0400

For business inquiries, contact Ed Borromeo, Tallwave Partner at innovate@tallwave.com

For business inquiries, contact Ed Borromeo,
Tallwave Partner at innovate@tallwave.com

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