Introduction to Google Ads

Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords, is a powerful pay-per-click advertising platform that allows businesses to display their ads on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) and partner websites. With Google Ads, you can reach a vast audience of potential customers and drive targeted traffic to your website.

The Benefits of PPC Advertising

PPC advertising offers several advantages for businesses looking to boost their online visibility and generate leads. Here are some key benefits of running Google Ads campaigns:

1. Instant Visibility: Unlike organic search engine optimization (SEO), PPC ads provide immediate visibility on search engine results pages, allowing you to reach potential customers right when they are actively searching for products or services related to your business.

2. Targeted Advertising: Google Ads allows you to target specific keywords, demographics, locations, and even devices, ensuring that your ads are shown to the most relevant audience. This targeted approach increases the likelihood of reaching potential customers who are more likely to convert.

3. Cost Control: With PPC advertising, you have full control over your budget. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad, making it a cost-effective advertising method. You can set daily or monthly budgets to ensure you stay within your desired spending limits.

4. Measurable Results: Google Ads provides comprehensive reporting and analytics tools that enable you to track the performance of your campaigns. You can measure key metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and return on investment (ROI), allowing you to make data-driven decisions to optimize your campaigns.

Understanding Google Ads Campaign Structure

To effectively run Google Ads campaigns, it’s essential to understand the campaign structure. Google Ads campaigns are organized into hierarchical structures consisting of the following elements:

1. Account: Your Google Ads account is the top-level entity that contains all your campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords. It is linked to your billing information and provides access to various account settings.

2. Campaign: A campaign is a container for your ads and ad groups. Within a campaign, you define your advertising objectives, budget, targeting settings, and other campaign-specific parameters.

3. Ad Group: Ad groups are subdivisions within a campaign that house specific sets of ads and keywords. Grouping your ads and keywords into relevant ad groups allows for better organization and targeting.

4. Ad: An ad is the creative element that is displayed to users. It includes a headline, description, and a link to a specific landing page. Ads can be text-based, image-based, or video-based, depending on the campaign type.

5. Keyword: Keywords are the search terms or phrases that trigger your ads to appear when users search on Google. Choosing the right keywords is crucial for reaching your target audience and driving relevant traffic to your website.

Setting Up Your Google Ads Account

To get started with Google Ads, you need to create an account. Follow these steps to set up your Google Ads account:

1. Visit the Google Ads website and click on “Get Started” or “Start Now.”
2. Sign in with your Google account or create a new one if you don’t already have one.
3. Enter your account details, including your business name, website, and currency preferences.
4. Provide your billing information, such as your credit card details or bank account information.
5. Set up your campaign by selecting your campaign goals, target locations, and budget.

Defining Your Campaign Goals

Before launching your Google Ads campaign, it’s essential to define your campaign goals. Your campaign goals should align with your overall business objectives and help drive the desired action from your target audience. Here are some common campaign goals:

1. Increase Website Traffic: If your primary objective is to drive more traffic to your website, you can set up a campaign focused on increasing clicks or website visits.

2. Generate Leads: If lead generation is your goal, you can create a campaign that encourages users to fill out a form, request a quote, or sign up for a newsletter.

3. Boost Sales and Conversions: If your main objective is to drive sales and conversions, you can set up a campaign optimized for conversions, where you define specific actions as conversion goals, such as completing a purchase or submitting a contact form.

4. Enhance Brand Awareness: If you want to increase brand visibility and reach a broader audience, you can run a campaign aimed at increasing impressions and brand recall.

By clearly defining your campaign goals, you can tailor your ad messaging, targeting, and bidding strategies to maximize the desired outcomes.

Creating Compelling Ad Copy

One of the key factors in running successful Google Ads campaigns is creating compelling ad copy that grabs the attention of your target audience and encourages them to take action. Here are some tips for writing effective ad copy:

1. Use Attention-Grabbing Headlines: Your headline is the first thing users see, so make it catchy and relevant to their search query. Include keywords and highlight your unique selling proposition.

2. Craft Compelling Descriptions: Use concise and persuasive descriptions to communicate the value and benefits of your products or services. Focus on addressing the pain points of your target audience and offering solutions.

3. Include Strong Call-to-Actions: Encourage users to take action by including clear and compelling calls-to-action (CTAs). Use action verbs and create a sense of urgency or exclusivity to motivate users to click on your ad.

4. Highlight Unique Selling Points: Differentiate yourself from competitors by highlighting your unique selling points. What makes your business or offerings stand out? Emphasize special offers, discounts, or unique features that set you apart.

5. Test Different Variations: Don’t settle for one ad copy. Create multiple variations and test them to identify which ones perform best. Continuously refine and optimize your ad copy based on performance data.

Remember, your ad copy should align with your landing page content to provide a seamless user experience and increase the likelihood of conversion.

Targeting the Right Keywords

Selecting the right keywords is crucial for reaching your target audience and maximizing the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaigns. Here are some tips for targeting the right keywords:

1. Conduct Keyword Research: Use keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Moz Keyword Explorer to identify relevant keywords related to your products or services. Look for keywords with a high search volume and low competition.

2. Focus on Long-Tail Keywords: Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific search phrases that have less competition. They often indicate higher intent and can drive more qualified traffic to your website.

3. Consider Keyword Match Types: Google Ads offers different keyword match types, including broad match, phrase match, exact match, and broad match modifier. Each match type determines how closely the user’s search query must match your selected keywords for your ad to appear.

4. Negative Keywords: Use negative keywords to exclude certain search terms that are not relevant to your business. This helps to refine your targeting and prevent your ads from appearing for irrelevant searches.

5. Monitor and Refine: Regularly monitor the performance of your keywords and make adjustments based on data. Identify high-performing keywords and increase their bids or create separate ad groups to target them more effectively.

By targeting the right keywords, you can increase the visibility of your ads to users actively searching for products or services similar to what you offer.

Optimizing Ad Groups for Better Performance

Organizing your ads into relevant ad groups is essential for optimizing your Google Ads campaigns. Here are some tips for optimizing your ad groups:

1. Group by Theme or Product: Create ad groups that focus on specific themes or product categories. This allows you to tailor your ad copy and landing pages to specific audience segments and increase relevance.

2. Use Ad Group-Level Keywords: Assign keywords to each ad group that closely align with the ad copy and landing page content. This improves the Quality Score of your ads and increases the chances of appearing in relevant searches.

3. Test Different Ad Variations: Create multiple variations of your ads within each ad group and test them to identify the best-performing ones. Experiment with different headlines, descriptions, and CTAs to find the winning combination.

4. Optimize Ad Group Settings: Fine-tune your ad group settings to maximize performance. Adjust your bid strategy, targeting options, and ad rotation settings based on your campaign goals and performance metrics.

5. Regularly Review and Refine: Continuously monitor the performance of your ad groups and make data-driven adjustments. Identify underperforming ad groups and optimize them for better results.

By organizing your ads into well-structured ad groups and optimizing them based on performance data, you can improve the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaigns and maximize your return on investment.

Utilizing Ad Extensions for Enhanced Visibility

Ad extensions are additional pieces of information that can be added to your ads to provide more context and increase visibility. Here are some popular ad extensions you can utilize:

1. Sitelink Extensions: Sitelink extensions allow you to add additional links to specific pages on your website. This provides users with more options to explore relevant content and increases the likelihood of clicks.

2. Call Extensions: Call extensions display your phone number alongside your ad, allowing users to call your business directly from the search results. This is particularly useful for businesses that rely on phone calls for conversions.

3. Location Extensions: Location extensions show your business address alongside your ad, making it easier for local customers to find and visit your physical location. This is beneficial for businesses with brick-and-mortar stores or local service areas.

4. Callout Extensions: Callout extensions allow you to highlight key features or benefits of your products or services. Use callouts to showcase free shipping, 24/7 customer support, or any other unique selling points.

5. Review Extensions: Review extensions display positive reviews or ratings from reputable sources alongside your ad. This builds trust and credibility, increasing the chances of users clicking on your ad.

By utilizing ad extensions, you can enhance the visibility and effectiveness of your Google Ads campaigns, providing users with more information and compelling reasons to click on your ads.

Monitoring and Analyzing Your Campaigns

Regular monitoring and analysis are essential for the success of your Google Ads campaigns. Here are some key metrics to monitor and analyze:

1. Click-Through Rate (CTR): CTR measures the percentage of users who click on your ad after seeing it. A higher CTR indicates that your ad is relevant and engaging to your target audience.

2. Conversion Rate: Conversion rate measures the percentage of users who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a contact form. A higher conversion rate indicates that your ad and landing page are effectively driving conversions.

3. Cost per Acquisition (CPA): CPA measures the average cost of acquiring a customer or lead. It helps you assess the efficiency of your advertising spend and optimize your campaigns for better ROI.

4. Quality Score: Quality Score is a metric used by Google to evaluate the relevance and quality of your ads, keywords, and landing pages. A higher Quality Score can result in lower ad costs and better ad positions.

5. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): ROAS measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising. It helps you assess the profitability of your Google Ads campaigns and optimize your bidding strategies.

By regularly monitoring these key metrics and analyzing the data, you can identify areas for improvement, make data-driven decisions, and optimize your campaigns for better performance.

Implementing Split Testing to Improve Results

Split testing, also known as A/B testing, is a powerful technique to optimize your Google Ads campaigns. Here’s how you can implement split testing:

1. Identify Test Variables: Determine the specific elements you want to test, such as ad copy, headlines, keywords, or landing page design. Focus on one variable at a time to accurately measure its impact.

2. Create Test Variations: Create multiple variations of the test variable. For example, if you’re testing ad headlines, create two or more headlines with slight variations in wording or messaging.

3. Split Traffic: Divide your ad impressions evenly between the different test variations. This ensures that each variation gets an equal opportunity to be shown to your target audience.

4. Monitor Performance: Track the performance of each test variation using key metrics such as CTR, conversion rate, and ROI. Identify the variation that performs better and generates more favorable results.

5. Implement the Winning Variation: Once you have identified the winning variation, implement it as the new default and continue testing other variables to further optimize your campaigns.

Split testing allows you to make data-driven decisions and continuously improve the performance of your Google Ads campaigns. By systematically testing and optimizing different elements, you can drive better results and maximize your return on investment.

Maximizing ROI with Conversion Tracking

Conversion tracking is a crucial component of successful Google Ads campaigns. It allows you to measure the effectiveness of your ads and track the actions users take after clicking on your ads. Here’s how you can maximize ROI with conversion tracking:

1. Set Up Conversion Tracking: Use Google Ads’ conversion tracking feature to track specific actions on your website, such as form submissions, purchases, or newsletter sign-ups. Install the Google Ads conversion tracking code on your website to start tracking conversions.

2. Define Conversion Goals: Clearly define the actions you consider as conversions. This could be a completed purchase, a lead form submission, or any other desired action that indicates a successful conversion.

3. Assign Values to Conversions: Assign a value to each conversion to measure the monetary impact of your advertising efforts. For example, if your average order value is $100, you can assign a value of $100 to each completed purchase.

4. Analyze Conversion Data: Regularly analyze your conversion data to assess the performance of your campaigns. Identify high-performing keywords, ad groups, and ads that drive the most valuable conversions.

5. Optimize for High-Converting Keywords: Allocate more budget and bidding power to keywords and ad groups that have a higher conversion rate and generate a higher ROI. Pause or refine underperforming keywords or ad groups to minimize wasted ad spend.

By accurately tracking conversions and analyzing the data, you can identify the most effective elements of your campaigns, allocate resources wisely, and maximize your return on investment.

Conclusion

Running Google Ads campaigns can be a highly effective strategy for lead generation and business growth. By following the steps outlined in this comprehensive guide, you can master the art of Google Ads and drive targeted traffic to your website. Remember to continually monitor and optimize your campaigns based on performance data, test different variations, and track conversions to maximize your ROI. With a well-executed Google Ads strategy, you can reach your target audience, generate quality leads, and achieve your business objectives.

FML Marketing is a lead generation and PPC agency with +10 years of experience. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you maximize your Google Ads campaigns and drive business growth.

The post How to run your first Google ads campaign (2024 UPDATE) appeared first on FML Marketing.

1. Searching on your brand name

If you have professionally built up a webshop, you will be able to see your turnover growth in the first few years without applying many special tricks. After a few years, however, this could decline…Time to tap into new marketing channels. You can then, for example, choose display marketing. This is because in this way you can reach entire target groups that are of value to you. This is the group that is already looking for products that you offer.

Through this form of marketing, you can create awareness of your brand. The attractive thing about this method is that you can use it to approach new target groups via a Google Ads display campaign. This not only results in clicks but also in searches by brand name. This way, you will have double fun. Moreover, you can target your competitors and use searches including their brand name to trigger your ads!

2. Achieving multiple goals

For many, display marketing is a no go because the costs do not outweigh the conversions compared to other methods. At least…that is what they think! What they don’t realize, however, is that the value of this form of marketing is more than just conversion. So it is also important to see this in the right perspective and to determine when your campaign is successful. Think of it as a similar way as a television effort. There is no direct conversion to be derived from this either. Think about the range of potential customers, the increase in reach for your brand. And guess what, it works wonders in combination with retargeting!

This is also called the engagement phase. You can then use the data that you have collected through display advertising, later on, to focus even more specifically on certain target groups. You can then tailor your message to them. After all, you ultimately want to reach and activate the most relevant target group. The available data helps you to easily identify these target groups so that you can work with them in a targeted manner.

3 A new opportunity for near-customers

Display marketing is the way you can alert new customers to your name. It’s also the way to make visitors who didn’t become customers aware of what you have to offer. For example, you can use a banner to approach them again about the product they have viewed, or sometimes even put it in their shopping cart, but did not buy it.

There is a method that works very well. This is, of course, dynamic remarketing. It is a way to show a product that is known to have been viewed by the visitor. This offers an important advantage. After all, you know exactly which product to market in the banner. It can help to link a special offer to it.

4 Ensuring clear recognition

The last point to think about is the recognisability of your brand. After all, display marketing allows you to visualize your brand for potential customers. Advertisements via search engines do not offer this possibility. It has long been known what value the recognizability has in terms of increasing a market share.

That is why this form of marketing can coexist with, for example, regular search Google Ads. This gives you an extra opportunity to work with logos, colours and house styles. These are all characteristics that can influence your (future) customer. This is even a strengthening factor when you consider how wide the range of display marketing can be. If you use banners for near-customers, then recognizability is also a factor that will trigger them!

The value of display marketing

In short, display marketing serves several purposes. It makes customers aware of their needs. It offers opportunities to re-invigorate near-customers. It provides more reach and increases brand awareness. Moreover, it provides a visual component and recognizability.

Thank you for reading Why Display Marketing should be on your mind in 2020. Feel free to leave a comment below, or to get in touch with FML Marketing if you wish to learn more about the opportunities of display marketing.

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The post Why Display Marketing is essential for your brand in 2020 appeared first on FML Marketing.

7 reasons to consider a website redesign

1. The technique is outdated

A few years ago, websites were built with Flash. Responsive was not an issue at all. How different is it now? Now a mobile-first approach is important for your Google ranking and Flash doesn’t even work on the average Mac. The technique is fast, so make sure you are aware of the latest developments and change your website if necessary.

2. Your logo and corporate identity are restyled

Sometimes it’s not necessary to redesign your website aesthetically, but other things do lead to a redesign. For example, if you get a new logo and/or a new corporate identity, your website will probably also have to rely on a few changes. Of course, this doesn’t have to be super rigorous, but you do want all expressions of your company to be consistently recognizable for your customers.

3. Your current website is not SEO friendly

The purpose of a website is of course that it can be found. Many outdated websites are not completely up to date in terms of code. This means that on other points the SEO is probably a bit outdated as well. Google’s requirements for a good ranking for your website change regularly, so you should keep an eye on it and adapt your website accordingly.

4. Your website can’t be updated easily

Thanks to WordPress, coding is no longer necessary. This means that having a website is a lot more accessible than just having one ten years ago. Thanks to WordPress, having and maintaining a blog is easier than ever. A blog is also a great tool for SEO. Google ranked websites that are regularly updated with new content are higher than websites that are not.

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5. Your website built with a platform like Wix

With Wix, you can easily create your own website. The problem with this kind of website builders is that they are limited. That’s why these kinds of websites are not so distinctive. Also, the functionalities in the field of SEO are limited. And let’s face it, most business owners are not necessarily well versed in the field of design, which also quickly results in an amateurish website.

6. Your nephew, niece, neighbor designed your web page

Although the person who designed your website is a professional, it is usually not a good idea to have your nephew, niece or neighbor build your website. Cheap is usually expensive. It is possible that you are missing out on great opportunities because your website is not optimal. That’s a shame.

7. Your Facebook page functions as a website

Some companies don’t have a website at all, but only use their Facebook page as a replacement for a real website. However, it is important to have your own website. Most customers do their research online and your website can help them with this. A website can serve in this way to inform your (potential) customers. After all, you can put a lot more information on your website than on a Facebook page. Also, having a website builds trust. This way, people get a better feeling that they are dealing with a “real” company.

In addition, it is also quite possible that Facebook will hardly be used anymore in a few years’ time. Just look at Hyves. When these kinds of channels disappear, it is good to have a website where you can fall back on.

Website redesign round-up

There are plenty of reasons to consider a website redesign. The fact is that you may miss out on opportunities due to an outdated website. Still doubting whether your website is ready for a redesign? Please contact us for free and non-binding advice.

Did you like this blog post – Website Redesign: When is it time? –  and would you like to receive more of these messages? Subscribe to our newsletter. You will receive the latest news, tips, and inspiration in the field of branding, search engine optimization, graphic design, and web design.

FML Marketing – Digital solutions Marbella area 

Considering a redesign of your website in the Marbella area (Gibraltar, Manilva, Estepona, San Pedro de Alcántara, Fuengirola)? Contact FML Marketing. We are a boutique online marketing agency, specialized in high-quality, responsive web design.

The post Website Redesign: When is it time? appeared first on FML Marketing.

Don’t you adapt the content in time? This makes your website less effective, lowers your search engine ranking and lowers your conversion rate. All this can be prevented with a content audit: an inventory and qualitative inspection of your content with which you know which content can be removed, modified or added.

Content SEO audit = health check for your content strategy

Usually, a content audit is defined as the process of inventory and analysis of the content on the website, including its performance. It is therefore already a ‘strength-weakness’ analysis, or a ‘health check’ of all the content on your site: text, images, videos, downloads, microcontent, but also meta tags such as the page title, which is important for search engines, for example. Do you want to know how up-to-date and relevant your current content is? What is quality? And how well does the content reach your target group? Then do a content audit!

Examples of outdated content: your price has gone up and you are still showing the old price, there is a sunny summer photo with an article about winter tires, the interesting background article on another site has been removed, but your link to this page still exists and now gives a 404.

These are all moments when your visitor can get confused and drop out. And you don’t want that!

When do you do a content audit?

Reasons to do a content audit are:

• Check How well visitors find, understand and do something with your content;
• Know how you rank in the search engines;
• To determine the content strategy;
• Before the launch of a new site and perform a content migration. With the audit you determine which content is useful and performs well and is allowed to go to the new site;
• You want to know which content visitors are still missing (the content gap) or which content you can optimize;
• As a regular check to optimize your content.

The goal of a content audit: measuring = knowing = improving!

After performing an audit, you know how (un)healthy your content is. And then what? Then you can start improving! With insight into the quality of your content, you can determine action points to solve the current bottlenecks, optimize your content, or still create missing content. This improves the findability of your content and increases conversion. This way you not only help your visitor but also yourself/company to achieve the objectives.

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Take your time

Yeah, an audit’s a lot of work. Especially if you have a large website with a lot of content pages. On the other hand, it also provides a lot of value if you implement the points for improvement from the audit. So plan enough time for your audit. Both for the inventory, the analysis and the implementation of the points for improvement. Determine whether you want to assess all content for each audit, or perhaps only certain content or pages. This already makes a big difference in the amount of work. Or maybe you have a colleague who is willing to help? My experience is that the initial inventory of the URLs, goal, target group and content owner is the most work. Therefore, record the results well! Then you have a format that you can use again and again. Keep it up to date when you delete or add a URL so that it remains clear.

FLM Marketing SEO Health Check

To get you started, FML Marketing offers a comprehensive Website SEO Health Check. You can use this as a start, and it is completely free. Learn more: https://fmlmarketing.com/seo-service-marbella/seo-health-check/

Sample
Another possibility is to do a representative sample. For example, do you have thousands of content pages and types on your site? Then you can choose a number of pages to perform the audit instead of all pages. Then choose the pages that are important for the goals of the organization, for the main user groups, for different content owners and at different levels in the site. So not only landing pages and homepage, but also the pages deeper on your site.

Automated inventory check
Tools are available to automate part of the inventory. For example, Content Insight, Screaming Frog or Google Search Console. Such tools provide an overview of URLs and sometimes more data. With large websites, this quickly saves a lot of work. However, the qualitative assessment of the content and the definition of the points for improvement are always a matter for people. After all, you also need knowledge of the organization, the objectives, the market, and the visitors. You just can’t automate this.

Do the content audit in 5 steps

Let get started with the Content SEO audit: check the health of your content strategy. Below, I will explain how to perform a content audit in 5 steps.

Step 1: determine your starting points

First, you determine your starting points, your context, for the audit. For this, you need to know the business, marketing and communication objectives. A company that, for example, has a target of concluding at least 90% of its lease contracts online and has a formal tone-of-voice, will have different objectives than a youth forum on how to use social media wisely. In addition, it is important to know what the purpose of your visitors to your site is. The wishes and tasks that a visitor performs on your site, determine which measurement points you include in your audit. For example, visitors to the intranet of a financial services company are well-known employees who look for information and take care of human resources, while a website with garden furniture gets unknown visitors who want to see product information and prices, compare and buy furniture.

The content pages and types of these websites have different goals and therefore different starting points.

Step 2: determine measurement points and make an inventory of your entire content strategy

Now that you have determined your starting points and the purpose of your content, you start by determining your starting points and do the inventory. Measurement points are for example: page title, number of sessions, entry points, communication message present on the page, tone of voice, content owner, number / % of visitors via search engines, content type (text, video, pdf…), page loading time, bounce %, English text present, which keywords are entered on the page, etc. Choose the measurement points that apply to your site. Put them in an Excel overview with the unique URL in the first column. Then add the selected measuring points to the columns behind the unique URL. You can use this as a start and adjust it where necessary. Depending on your objectives, you can measure more or less. For example: if you have a lot of mobile views, it is also useful to measure on e.g. readability on different mobile screens. Then you start with the inventory of the current content and add all the answers in your Excel overview. The quantitative data is taken from your statistics package such as Google Analytics. Choose a period of less than 1 year to get relevant figures.

The qualitative data such as ‘communication message present, tone-of-voice’ etc. are assessed by you per content item and you fill in the relevant column.

Step 3: analyze your current content plan

After filling in the columns, the real work begins…the analysis. Look at the data you have collected and assess the outcome. In any case, be critical and honest in your answers. It doesn’t benefit your content if you work half-heartedly. You can ask yourself questions like:

Readability and quality of content

• What kind of content is this (text, download, metadata…)?
• How easy is content readable?
• Which keywords belong to this content? Are these well processed in the title, URL, headers (H1, H2, H3, etc.)?
• Is text actively written?
• Customer focus

Does content answer the customer’s question?

• What is the desired core message and does the visitor understand the message?
• Is the tone of voice the same as in the communication objective?
• Is the loading time fast enough?
• Efficiency

Purpose

• What is the purpose of the content and what do you want your visitor to do with it (download, click on the button, share…)? Does your visitor do this or do they show different behavior?

Findability

• Is the content in a logical place on the site?
• How high is the page displayed in search results from Google, for example, and how can you improve your position (findability)?
• What search terms are used to find your content in search engines? What content is missing?
• Is the content even viewed?

Correctness and topicality

• Is the content of the content still up to date, correct and in line with the communication objective?
• Are the links still working?

Retain, update or delete content?

List what kind of action you are going to take. This helps you to understand the scope of your actions and to set your priorities.

Step 4: Turn insights into actions and create new content

Now that you know which content needs to be edited or deleted, you can create an action plan. Of course, this depends on the extent of the necessary changes, whether you can do everything at once, or whether you are prioritizing and planning with quick wins and longer-term improvement points. Adjusting a number of writing errors and repairing broken links is done quickly enough. Writing, determining the right place in the navigation structure, coordinating with the content owner and publishing new content pages with downloads, videos, call to action buttons often has a longer turnaround time.

The filter on the column ‘Follow-up action’ tells you exactly which content you need to edit or delete. Determine which actions you want to perform and fill in the column ‘Remarks’. For example, adding metadata, adding a link to a video, placing a page-level higher in structure, etc. The overview of actions can now be prioritized and scheduled in your calendar.

Step 5: implement, make it measurable and optimize the new content strategy

And now it’s time to make the desired changes. Determine what your desired result is and make sure you can measure it. After all, adapting the content should lead to improved findability and conversion, and you want to see that reflected. Is the content not yet optimal? Optimize it further until you achieve the desired results. The optimization is a continuous process and not a one-off action. Make the content audit part of your management activities and make sure you perform it periodically. This will improve the quality of your content, the findability of your site, the conversion and, at the bottom, your customer satisfaction!

Good luck with auditing your website’s content! If you have any questions, feel free to ask them!

FML Marketing – Online Marketing specialist Costa del Sol

Thank you for reading Content SEO audit: check the health of your content strategy. FML Marketing is a digital marketing agency located in Estepona. With our team of multilingual, online marketing specialists we help companies in Gibraltar, Estepona, Marbella, San Pedro de Alcántara and Málaga grow. Creativity, content, SEO and high-quality design are the key tags of our company. Besides our growing client base in Spain, we are proud to operate as an international marketing agency, with clients in Denmark, the United Kingdom and The Netherlands.

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9 reasons why content is essential for SEO

Actually, we have already established 9 reasons why good content is so essential for SEO and we can certainly think of more.

1. A reason to come back

The goal of SEO is more visitors. If visitors have a reason to come directly to your site, what do you need the search engine for? Nevertheless, a good content SEO strategy will let your website rank higher in Google over time for important and relevant keywords.

2. Establish expertise and authority

Good content brings the expertise and knowledge of your organization and people under the spotlight. So a potential customer can already see from your content that he is at the right address.

3. Conversion option to lead / customer

Content that touches or appeals to your target group probably causes questions or eventually even an order/assignment. That piece you wrote about that custom solution that you implemented with that big customer in France? A potential customer from Germany called, he also has an ear to it. It goes without saying that this tactic could be very effective for regional and local companies. For example A new restaurant in Marbella is opening soon with a new style of kitchen and menu. Time for the marketing department to get to work. Essential is to create solid online content (Videos, blogs, social media posts) to create a buzz and simultaneously inform potential visitors about the new location of the store. Later the goal shifts towards getting reviews on Google and Tripadvisor for example. 

4. Good content is divisible on social media

The most powerful form of advertising is still word-of-mouth and social media are now one of the most important channels for this. Who knows how a cow catches a hare? Oh, and Google now takes the number of social shares into account in its ranking, that you know it.

5. To social shares, search engines (or will I just say Google?)

Have more tricks to assess content. What we read about it (contentmarketinginstitue.com for example) quickly becomes complex but that Google can determine better and better what good content is. All the more reason to ensure that you stand out from the competition head and shoulders.

6. Claim brand (values)

Are there words that you would like to associate with your company or brand? Content can help you with that. To give your own example, if your search contains the word ‘positioning’, chances are that you will come to De Merkelijkheid. And let that be just where we excel. By putting a few words at the center of your content, the search engine can easily associate this with your brand.

7. Provides an ‘active’ site

Activity is an important factor for Google. A site that is not maintained will contain no relevant information, the robot reasons. So make sure that you regularly post new content on your site.

8. Provides new SEO (keyword) insights and links

By experimenting with content from the content you sometimes come to insights that are very valuable in the field of SEO. You may find long-tail keywords that are specific to your target group and no one has claimed it yet!

9. Link building

People like to link to good content. You must ensure that you become one of the best sources of information in your market. Google looks along and often rewards many links quickly with a (much) higher ranking. This SEO strategy is called link building. Together with a solid Local SEO setup and content marketing/SEO strategy, your company will be able to climb the search engines fast.

Search Engine Optimization Marbella and Estepona 

For more information, please visit our Search Engine Optimization page and learn more about our SEO/packages and services. Also available is our SEO consultancy and free website audit! Simply contact us via one of the forms or call us for free advice. We are happy to support you in the race to the first page in Google!

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Benefits of own SEO & Google Ads management

The biggest advantage of managing internet marketing campaigns internally is the fact that you are part of the organization. Besides being familiar with the internal communication and the strategic vision of the company, you also know all products or services and you master the professional language. In addition, there is a higher involvement with the company and you can switch faster when setting up short-term or action-oriented campaigns.  

Disadvantages own SEO & Google Ads management

Well optimized SEO and Google Ads campaigns cost a lot of knowledge and time to set up. In addition, they also need to be continuously monitored and optimized. In many cases, this often comes into play. Even when you employ your own marketing employee, specialist knowledge and time are not always present. The marketing employee often has his or her hands full of all kinds of other marketing activities, not just SEO and Google Ads. This leaves little room for the development of professional knowledge. It is also difficult for one person to specialize in all marketing areas. In addition, the internal management of the online marketing activities also entails costs. Think of salary costs, overhead costs, and training.

Benefits of working with an internet marketing agency

As mentioned before, a good internet marketing campaign requires a lot of time and specialist knowledge. When you outsource SEO and Google Ads, you do not have to spend time on regular optimizations and keeping track of knowledge and developments. A real SEO or Ads specialist can also get more out of your campaigns, resulting in more results. In addition, the costs can also turn out to be advantageous when you call in an internet marketing agency. For example, you save salary costs and you are not connected to a long-term commitment (contract).

* Extra benefits from a Google Partner

A Premier Google Partner is officially recognized by Google and has qualified and certified Ads specialists. The advantage of this is that you are assured of profitable Google Ads campaigns that are constantly assessed on quality and performance. In addition, Premier Google Partners have the advantage that they are the first to be aware of new opportunities offered by Google Ads. They also receive extra guidance in the form of training and direct support. Thanks to this knowledge and experience, the specialists can set up your Ads campaigns more efficiently, resulting in more results with less advertising budget.

Disadvantages of working with an internet marketing agency

A disadvantage of working with an internet marketing agency can be communication. When the agency does not switch quickly or often changes contact, this can result in extra time or miscommunications. An external specialist also needs to deepen your business, branch and professional language. Various tools are available for this, but it does require extra time and effort. In addition, not all internet marketing agencies are equally competent. By choosing a Premier Google Partner you are certain (in the case of Google Ads) that the specialists have the right knowledge and skills!  

Combination of own SEO & Google Ads management and collaboration with an internet marketing agency

It is clear that there are advantages and disadvantages to both options. However, a combination of the two might also work very well for your company. Depending on the resources, you can, for example, hire a junior marketing employee who provides direction and support to the internet marketing agency. In that case, the bureau can draw up a strategy and propose optimizations. Another scenario is that when you are strong in strategy, the internet marketing agency takes care of the day-to-day management. Do not limit yourself when it comes to own SEO and Google Ads management or outsourcing. There is no one-size-fits-all solution!

Curious about the possibilities for outsourcing internet marketing or a collaboration? Together with FML Marketing Marbella, you will always find a suitable solution for your company!

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With AdWords, you can quickly set up ads for the right target audience! A handy tool from Google that often produces good results in a short time. To help you on your way, I explain how you can set up your first AdWords campaign in eight steps!

Before you start, you must, of course, have an AdWords account. Go to http://www.google.be/adwords, click on the ‘Start now’ button and register. When you are logged in, you can start developing your first campaign. Here we go!

1. Choose the right campaign

The most important step in the whole process is step 1. Here you choose which type of campaign you want to develop. By default, the ‘Search Network with Display Select’ is usually chosen.

This type of campaign gives you the most chance to lead relevant visitors to your website. For the first campaign, I would definitely choose this type! Tip: Is your goal to get more name recognition? Then you better choose a different type of campaign, namely ‘Display Network only’. Through this campaign, you can show your ads in more than one million different places in the Google network.

AdWords golden rule: promote one product per AdWords campaign.

2. Choose which area you want to approach

In this step, you set your area in which you want to advertise. You can choose between countries, regions, provinces, and cities. If you want to work in detail, you can even determine the size of your area based on coordinates. This could be handy if you are targetting a large shopping mall for example. Or perhaps a festival terrain.

AdWords golden rule: set 1 location (zone) per AdWords campaign.

AdWords golden rule: If you target countries or regions, also select the mayor cities within these areas. This will enable you to grasp a hold on what city within that region is responding the best to your ads.

3. Choose your ‘bid strategy’ and determine your daily budget

There are different ways to pay for your ads. For example, you can choose CPC (cost per click on your ad), CPM (cost per 1000 impressions of your ad) or CPA (cost per action or conversion). To start, CPC is the best option to choose. This will give you a better idea of how AdWords works and it also gives you more control over your budget.

4. Create an ad group with clear ads

An ad group is a group of ads. It is, therefore, best to collect the ads that belong together or that are linked to specific keywords in a separate ad group. As an example, I have created 2 ad groups namely ‘Ad group – General’ and ‘Ad group – Eco’. Each ad group contains other ads.

Then add an ad to your ad group. Please note, you are limited in the number of characters that you can use for your advertisement. Headline: the first line of your ad text is limited to 25 characters Description line 1: the first line under the heading is limited to 35 characters Description line 2: the line after or under description line 1 is limited to 35 characters Visible URL: the website that appears green in the ad The URL you show here can also be linked to another landing page. This can be useful, for example, when you want to direct people directly to the correct landing page.

Learn more about the benefits of an Organic SEO Strategy

5. Add relevant keywords

Add a number of keywords per ad group. When you create different ad groups that each contain specific ads, you also need to ensure that the right keywords are associated with the right ad. When people search for ‘green energy’, it makes no sense to show the ads from the ‘Ad group – General’. The advertisements that must be shown must come from the ‘Ad group – Eco’. Do not overdo the number of keywords you want to add. Start with 20 keywords per ad group and continue working from here.

AdWords golden rule: Focus on user intent – What a user is looking for when they type in a keyword. What does the keyword represent?

6. Check everything thoroughly Not unimportant!

You are almost ready to put the campaign online. Take your time and look after everything calmly. Are the keywords linked to the right ad? Is the CPC set correctly? Is the daily budget set correctly? (It would not be the first time that people accidentally set a too high amount and then later deviate from the invoice :)) These are things that should definitely be in order before you launch the campaign. After all, you do not want Google to charge you more at the end of the month than you thought you had set up in advance.

7. Enter your payment details

Now that you are ready to launch the campaign, you must pass on your personal payment details to Google. You can enter your payment details by clicking on the gear at the top and selecting ‘Invoicing’.

8. Activate campaign

View the current status of your campaign. When the campaign is paused, you must first activate it before the ads are displayed in Google. Choose as ‘Enabled’ status and your ads will be shown online quickly and correctly.

Last but not least…

When you look at everything calmly and follow the right steps, everything is online within 60 minutes. Moreover, you can always contact Google with questions or comments. They offer an excellent service both online and offline. The steps I have discussed in this blog post form the basis for setting up an AdWords campaign. However, AdWords has much more to offer than just the standard campaigns! But start simple and then go more specific. Also important: follow your campaigns well and evaluate them regularly!

If you need help or if you wish to outsource a professional Google AdWords campaign,  please visit our dedicated Google AdWords page and contact us for all the possibilities! Thank you for reading our Marketing blog!

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Website Design: What is an SSL certificate?

An SSL connection is an encrypted connection between the visitor of your website and the server. You can easily identify an SSL connection with the URL in the address bar of your browser (https://www.domain.com), the lock before or after the URL or a green bar.

Why an SSL certificate?

An SSL certificate gives a visitor the confidence that their personal data is handled securely and that malicious parties can not intercept the data if they are entered on the website.

Moreover, you comply with the new legislation in this way, because you ensure that the traffic to and from your website proceeds securely. The certificate provides for the encryption of the connection and for checking the identity of your website. This prevents others from being able to read, but you also prevent information that is sent to your website or sent from the website can be modified.

Different forms of SSL certificates:

• Extended Validation (EV): this is the highest level of validation and gives the visitor 100% guarantee that the visited website is optimally secured;
• Organization Validation (OV): just as with EV, your company is controlled by the Chamber of Commerce, but if you do not use any financial or personal data on your website, you better opt for OV;
• Domain validation (DV): limited level of protection, intended for websites with few visitors or an intranet;
• Multi-domain: if you have multiple websites this is the best solution and cost-saving. There are also multi-domain certificates with EV, so extra safe;
• Wildcard: if you have multiple subdomains on one server that you want to secure, this is a cheap and easy solution.

VIDEO – How to apply an SSL certificate to your website

Contact FML Marketing is you would like to learn more about the benefits of SSL secured websites, or advice when purchasing an SSL certificate. We will gladly help you!

FML – The creative marketing agency in Marbella, Estepona and San Pedro

FML Marketing is a creative, digital marketing agency located in Estepona. You will find our office on Avenida Litoral 45 when entering Estepona from the A-7 from Marbella. We support local and International businesses with Web Design, Website Maintenance, Search Engine Optimization, and digital marketing (social media). Contact us via (+34) 6 50 80 12 43 or via info@fmlmarketing.com

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Search Engine Optimization

SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” It is the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” search results on search engines

Google the introduction

In the Netherlands, where FML Marketing was founded, Google is by far the most used search engine and the importance of being able to score well in Google is high. For example, the overwhelming majority (92%) of the people in the search results does not look any further than page one. And where 31 percent clicks the number 1 position, the number two and three are already considerably reduced to fourteen and eight percent respectively.

Two pillars

Search engine optimization is often referred to as SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and is based on two pillars: On-page: HTML, structure and content and Off-page: link building and social media. By actively implementing improvements in both pillars, your website will be better found. SEO is therefore seen as an effective marketing tool that can be used for branding and increase your conversion.

HTML

With on-page improvements, you can initially think of the optimization in the field of html. Give your site a good title and clear description (meta description). This is the information that is displayed in the search results and visitors have to go to your site. Then make sure that your site meets the expectations you generate with your title and description. The time that people spend on your site or not will affect your position.

Search Engine Optimization Solution Marbella

Local SEO: Why it is important for your business

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Structure

The structure of your site is a second on-page element that Google takes care of when positioning the search results. The loading speed and the mobile-friendliness of your site are also included. For example, Google recently started mobile-first indexing, where the mobile variant of websites is leading to the compilation of the search results. With this, Google responds to the increase in the use of the search engine on the mobile phone.

Quality Content

Due to increasingly smart algorithms, content is all about relevance. The golden rule is, therefore: write for your customer. In addition to quality and relevance, it is important that your content is current and unique. That does not only apply to your texts, but also to other forms of content such as images and videos.

Keywords

When determining relevance, keywords play an important role. By knowing which search terms people use, you gain insight into the behaviour of your potential customers. An extensive analysis, where you also look at your competition is recommended. There are several programs that can help you with this, such as Google AdWords, Ubersuggest and Google Trends. The search function on your own website can also give you ideas. Then it is important to respond to these keywords with your content.

Link building

In addition to on-page SEO improvements, you can also implement off-page improvements, which ensure that your site is better indexed. Collecting incoming links to your website (link building) is one of the possibilities for this. Here too, the incoming links must be relevant. So do not use automated programs for this, do not pay for links and avoid spamming on forums. However, it is good to link to a relevant website with a high authority and to invite people to assess your products. You can also use interesting content to ensure that people want to link to your site by themselves.

Social media

The use of social media also affects your ranking in Google. So these channels are suitable for direct contact with your supporters and collecting reviews. Make sure you place content on your website that people like to share via social media. So know where your target group communicates and be active there!

The post This is how you realize growth with search engine optimization appeared first on FML Marketing.

In order to have a website or webshop in 2018 that is well-liked and well-found, it is important to optimally serve visitors and Google. We list the most important points and SEO trends for you in 2018.

SEO Trend 1: Natural search terms and slang

In recent years, the use of voice when searching in search engines has increased. In 2016 we noticed this trend already, Google then indicated that one in five people with the voice gives searches. ComScore expects this share to be even higher in 2020, at 50 percent. In addition to the smartphones and tablets, the smart devices are in-house, such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home, which are increasingly being operated by voice. With speech, the searches will not only become longer but also different. Previously, users entered keywords in a search query via the keyboard. When users indicate a search query, it often consists of a question or a sentence. The number of words in a search via voice search is, therefore, longer on average than in a regular way. Since we search differently by voice than with the keyboard, it is important to use natural keywords and phrases. When we type in a keyword, we often keep it as short as possible. For example, we type in: “Hotel Marbella”. If we let the smartphone look something up, we say: “I am looking for a hotel in Marbella”. So full sentences are made instead of just a keyword typed. This also requires a different approach to SEO. Where you previously optimized for keywords, you need to optimize (still) more on longtail keyword combinations. The optimization should focus more on questions and problems that arise from spoken language. Complete questions with the answers. Google is also responding to this with the featured snippets, which I’ll go deeper into later in this piece. So carefully check which questions and problems the searchers have and tailor your content accordingly.

SEO Trend 2: Visual search in Google

Visual search is developing better and faster. Previously, Google could only understand images by looking at the textual information that was added by, for example, the webmaster. Consider, for example, the filename, alt-tag and the title attribute. With the internet becoming more and more visual, for search engines like Google and Bing and social media networks such as Pinterest and Instagram, it is becoming increasingly important to ‘read’ and understand visual content. Pinterest came early this year with the Pinterest lens and Aliexpress also uses visual search in their app. These tech companies, therefore, invest a lot in creating and improving their visual search engines.

SEO Trend 3: Mobile increasingly important

Due to the growth of the use of smartphones and tablets, Google requires the websites to be user-friendly when viewed on mobile devices. A recent survey by BightEdge shows that currently, 79 percent of all keywords and 47 percent of the keywords in the top-20 are different on a desktop than on a mobile device. And 57 percent of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices. Many people search ‘on the road’ and in this way find shops and businesses in the area. Because a large part of the mobile search is local, local SEO is a must. The challenge in 2018 will be to coordinate the search query and the answers at a local level. In addition to local searches, mobile devices are also used to quickly find the answers to questions or the (pre-) selection for a purchase. The attention span on mobile devices is generally considerably shorter than on desktop. In 2018, the mobile user experience should, therefore, be simple and super-fast. In addition to the regular optimization techniques for the speed you can execute yourself, Google also has its own project called Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). In fact, these are lightweight lightweight pages without unnecessary formatting.

SEO Trend 4: Linkbuilding 

Linkbuilding has been important from the very beginning of SEO. This will not be different in 2018. But what will be a big difference is that it is mainly the qualitative backlinks that have a positive influence. Seo specialists always talk about natural backlink profiles. A backlink profile should look as natural as possible and therefore contain both relevant and irrelevant backlinks. In practice, not all backlinks need to be relevant to the topic of your website. In a natural situation, where no work is done on seo, a backlink profile is created in a natural way, where the types of backlinks are diverse; think of backlinks of news websites, press releases, company guides, links of sponsor websites, charities and initiatives, profiles on websites or links from business networks. These do not always directly relate to the subject of your website. The type of backlinks can therefore vary; think of text links, image links and branding links. Linkbuilding is something that you have to pay a lot of attention to. Do this well and in a natural way, this will give a big boost. Do not just focus on getting new backlinks, but also take a closer look at your existing backlinks. Various tools are available for this, such as Majestic and Ahrefs. In addition, the focus in 2018 should be on setting up sustainable relationships within and outside your network. For example, if you offer broker training, you can approach graduate brokers with the request to state on their websites that they have completed their broker training at your educational institute. In addition, you could also approach other less relevant parties (with whom you work together) for an online collaboration. Think of a caterer, cleaning company or printing company. This way you arrive at a natural and balanced backlink profile.

SEO Trend 5: User-friendliness remains critical 

Search Engines such as Google find it important that the websites shown in the results are user-friendly. After all, a website must be shown that not only offers the requested information, but that is also easy to navigate and use. To determine user-friendliness, there are a number of factors that Google takes into account.

SEO 2018 – 3 important user-friendly facts

The speed of the website. Make sure there are no long loading times. This can be prevented by not using large images. The server (and thus the hosting) is also important for the website speed.

Valuable content. The information provided on the website must be interesting and relevant to visitors. There are several statistics available in Google Analytics that you can use to determine whether content is valuable or not. Consider, for example, the time on the pages, bounce rate, etcetera. Therefore, tempt the visitors to surf to other pages. You can achieve this by including internal links in the articles.

Visitors behaviour. Visitor behaviour is an important indicator for Google to assess whether a website is valuable or not. Consider, for example, a metric such as bounce rate, that is the percentage of visitors who left your website without taking any action and returning to the search results. What you actually want is that visitors spend more time on your website that has a positive influence on your positions in Google.

In 2018, the usability of your website or webshop must be better than ever. The user experience on all devices must be error-free. Google is a master in interpreting the visitor behaviour on a website and this will be even more important in the ranking of the search results. Dive into Google Analytics and identify bottlenecks by seeing where visitors get stuck or drop out. For example, view the behaviour on the landing pages. If this is too difficult, you can also use usability tools such as Crazy Egg or Lucky Orange. Not only on a statistical level can usability be improved, also at content level. The better pages on your website are tailored to the search query, the better this is for visitors and the position in Google. There is a strong connection between UX and SEO.

Extra SEO trends 2018

Featured Snippets en Quick Answers

Google has indicated that it no longer wants to be a search engine, but a personal assistant. If you ask a question, Google wants to show the answer as soon as possible. You see this when you ask for a translation or want to know the value of a certain currency in euros. The answer then comes directly to the top of the website without having to click through to another website.

If you optimize your content so that Google can see that this is the answer to a question, your content is also eligible to be in the featured snippet. To realize this, it is important to use natural keywords and phrases. The ideal page would answer all the questions that the viewfinder had to answer within the same topic. Think of it as a FAQ, but for the content, you offer on the website. Featured snippets give the opportunity to acquire a top position in Google relatively quickly. What is increasingly being shown by Google is the ‘Google Answer Box’. This is a section at the top of the page where the question is entered with the answer immediately below. A featured snippet is a listed answer that matches the search that appears near the Google search results. This snippet consists of the answer to the question, the page title and the URL to the relevant page.

SEO trends 2018: The verdict

The SEO trends that started in 2017 seem to become more and more the basis. The SEO trends for 2018 may therefore not be brand new, but no less important. The trends that have now started, will have a huge influence on the way of searching on the internet. This logically also provides a different approach to website and webshop optimization.

For more information on search engine optimization, please visit our FML blog page. Or subscribe to our free weekly newsletter.

SEO trends 2018 The Infographic

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