Why Marketers Should Be Excited About LinkedIn’s New CTV Ads for B2B Campaigns

At its recent B2Believe Conference, LinkedIn announced LinkedIn Connected TV (CTV), a new product offering that will allow B2B marketers to tap into audiences off-platform, and onto the big screen at home. With notable CTV publishers on board – including Roku, Samsung, and NBCUniversal – clients can now utilize LinkedIn’s campaign manager to purchase streaming ads.

But that’s not all. The news came in tandem with a new partnership with NBCUniversal to introduce LinkedIn Premiere, a new managed offering in Campaign Manager that helps you target decision-makers in the United States across NBCUniversal’s premium streaming content on CTV.

While the news is exciting –  most marketers will likely have the same questions: Is LinkedIn Connected TV a viable product for our marketing strategy? What are its benefits? How does it work? And how are results measured?

What is connected TV (CTV), and what are its marketing benefits?

Simply put, connected TV (CTV) advertising refers to the practice of delivering ads through internet-connected television sets. Also known as smart TVs, connected TVs allow viewers to stream digital content through apps, either built-in or via devices like Roku, Apple TV, or gaming consoles. So, unless you’re using bunny ears on an old-school “dumb TV,” chances are you’ve encountered this type of ad in the process of streaming your favorite TV show.

So, what makes this type of advertisement enticing? While the format shares a lot of traits with its on-platform counterpart, it’s important to note these ads offer several benefits:

• Targeted advertising
• High Viewability
• Brand Safety
• Cost-effective
• Measurable Results
• Reach 

LinkedIn CTV reach already stands at 60 million households, and more than 105 million connected devices per month in the US and Canada – and these numbers are only set to grow.

Building on the success of video

During a B2Believe session regarding the product launch, Taina Palombo-Price, LinkedIn’s Senior Director of Product Marketing, said “CTV promises the power of big-screen storytelling for B2B brands.” 

The move to home television screens appears to be a calculated one, as the new offering “builds on the success of LinkedIn’s In-stream Video Ads, which are helping customers nearly triple their in-stream video completion rate.” Combining this note of success with the rise of video consumption both on and off the social media platform, and the birth of this product offering makes all the more sense. 

• Learn more on our blog: Press Play: How Marketers Who Invest in B2B Video Earn Greater ROI

Reaching your audiences with connected TV 

When was the last time you pulled up LinkedIn out of boredom? While it’s the premier social platform for networking, professional development, and job hunting, users tend to use the platform more intentionally when compared to the likes of TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, which in turn, decreases their receptiveness to advertisements. This was the strategic thinking that led to the off-platform approach of CTV, said Penry Price, VP of Marketing Solutions at LinkedIn, who recently spoke with AdExchanger about the launch. 

“LinkedIn’s expansion into CTV is not a customer acquisition play. Rather, the point is to help B2B advertisers reach existing LinkedIn members in different parts of the day,” he said, “such as when they’re at work or back at home on the couch.”

The promise of LinkedIn CTV ads

How would you like to raise brand awareness and consideration earlier on in the purchase journey? That’s the goal of LinkedIn CTV ads. In the same interview, Price shared his thinking: “B2B brands need to make sure customers have a favorable opinion of a brand before they see a product ad on LinkedIn. By starting campaigns further up the funnel with CTV, brands can increase the odds of their digital ads actually driving sales.” 

Blogging about the product launch, Lindsey Edwards, LinkedIn’s Vice President of Product Management, said “marketing campaigns are only as effective as the audience they reach.” As Edwards cites, a Demandbase report in 2023 found that 90% of US households embraced CTV, up from 81% in 2021, and the channel shows tremendous promise for B2B applications.

“By incorporating CTV into their marketing playbooks,” shared the report, “B2B advertisers can breathe new life into their campaigns, achieving heightened brand presence and improved engagement. In fact, a recent study noted that viewers exposed to both TV and digital ads were 40% more likely to recall the brand than if they saw a digital ad alone.”

The new product launch offers more than the ability to reach audiences earlier in the purchasing journey and bring highly-targeted ads to CTV. It will also give B2B  brands of all sizes the opportunity to showcase their creativity and appear alongside content that was never before possible.

Trevor Fellows, Executive Vice President of Digital Sales and Partnerships for NBCUniversal, spoke at B2Believe on the accessibility that the product brings forward. “This is really the democratization of advertising and the ability for even small clients to appear with amazing content. We announced last week … that we’re going to be opening up our Olympic coverage this summer to programmatic advertisers. That means that literally anybody can advertise in the Olympics going forward – you go back 12, 16, 20 years, that was unheard of.”

Measuring the success of LinkedIn CTV ads

In addition to native reporting, like Performance Summary Reports, Revenue Attribution Report, Conversions API, and its new CTV Brand Lift, LinkedIn is collaborating with industry-leading partners, like iSpot for advanced audience measurement and Kantar for objective brand lift studies, to help better assess the reach of your campaigns against your target audiences. But, wait, there’s more.  Price remarked on measuring success, “We’ll be looking for higher engagement on LinkedIn – such as whether clicks and video completion rates increase for a brand’s ads on LinkedIn among target audiences who first saw the ad on CTV compared to those who didn’t. We’ll also rely on measurement and verification partners to deliver core TV metrics like reach and frequency.”

Starting a LinkedIn CTV campaign 

If you’re a B2B marketing pioneer, and you’re excited about the product launch, here’s what you need to know about starting your first LinkedIn CTV campaign:

• Ads can appear at the beginning (pre-roll), middle (mid-roll), or within the last 15 to 30 seconds of the long-form video.
• You must use Campaign Manager to create your campaigns.
• CTV ads only support auto-bidding.
• Targeting is currently limited to the United States (US) and Canada.
• English must be the audience language.

For step-by-step instructions, we recommend referring to the LinkedIn help center article: Set up Connected TV ads in Campaign Manager.

Should you use LinkedIn CTV ads?

Leveraging LinkedIn’s B2B-specific targeting options for CTV allows marketers to create a more holistic approach to the platform. Previously, marketers had to use different vendors to run CTV, which have audiences different from those targeted on LinkedIn, causing a gap in targeting and overall attribution calculations.

Furthermore, the proliferation of video content cannot be ignored. LinkedIn CTV and its partnerships with these major players in the TV space make for an enticing offer for B2B marketers – an offer that allows users to create multiple touchpoints, allowing brands to engage with new audiences and appear in different mediums throughout the buyer journey. In so many words, the ad solution works to ensure your brand is memorable and top of mind when a key decision-maker is ready to make a purchase. 

There’s much to be learned about the effectiveness of this tool and the risks and rewards of launching a campaign centered around the newly launched product. That being said, there’s a lot to be excited about as innovations of this size in the social media space only come by so often. Will it be a hit? We’ll continue to monitor the viability of LinkedIn Connected TV – and work internally to offer up recommendations on how you can leverage their latest solution for your brand. 

In the meantime, we invite you to check out our rundown of expert tips for B2B marketing on LinkedIn from our team of social media specialists.

The post Why Marketers Should Be Excited About LinkedIn’s New CTV Ads for B2B Campaigns appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

20 Common B2B Marketing KPI Examples to Track Performance

Marketers of every stripe are feeling the pressure to prove the ROI of their efforts. In B2B marketing, this proof is even more important — and harder to quantify. Long sales cycles, large buying committees, and convoluted customer journeys all make measurement more challenging. 

But data-driven marketers are up for the task. We have the capability to measure a host of key performance indicators (KPIs). We just need to define them and build the capacity for measuring them into our marketing strategies.

This guide features 20 of the most common B2B KPIs. From traffic and visibility metrics to lead generation, engagement, and beyond, these equip marketers to measure, fine-tune, and elevate their campaigns.

20 B2B marketing KPI examples

We’ve grouped these metrics by category to make them easier to browse. The right metrics for your campaigns may vary depending on the tactics you’re using, your audience, and where you’re getting the most engagement.

Traffic metrics: Brand interaction that signifies intent

On the looping highway that is the customer journey, traffic metrics serve as signposts that indicate points of interest — where your messaging is earning engagement and visibility. These metrics offer a scenic view of how audiences navigate and interact with your brand, making it easier to see where your optimization time and effort is best spent.

Organic Traffic: Picture this as the organic foot traffic wandering into your digital storefront. It signifies the number of visitors reaching your site through search results or direct clicks, without interacting with a paid ad. This KPI can show how relevant your content is to your target audience’s search needs.

Paid Traffic: Just like toll roads can speed up your journey for a small fee,  paid traffic makes it easier to bring visitors to your site. It simply means visitors that came from any paid advertising effort. Understanding this metric helps you measure your ad spend efficiency and the resonation of your campaign with the right audience. 

Social Media Impressions/Engagement: If paid ads are toll roads leading directly to a destination, social media is a town square. Engagement is key, community is king, and success is measured in likes, impressions, comments and shares. Impressions and engagement metrics on social platforms offer insights into who your audience is and what content is most meaningful to them. 

Earned Media: Restaurants that land in the Michelin Guide are more likely to bring in tourists. This is an example of earned media — it means your brand is mentioned on other platforms without your direct involvement. Healthy earned media mentions are a testament to your brand’s reach and impact. 

Traffic from Social: Just a few years ago, this was the chief social media success metric. Now, algorithms are less likely to promote posts that link off site. If your social media strategy is consistently driving traffic from the social media town square to your brand’s site, that’s an excellent performance indicator. 

Understanding and harnessing these traffic metrics helps to show how customers are encountering your brand, what messages are resonating and with whom. All of the above helps reveal areas of strength and opportunities for optimization along the route to increased engagement and visibility.

Visibility and search metrics: How well does your content match searcher intent?  

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a constantly moving target. Not even Google employees fully understand the algorithm that determines search rankings; it’s a program that is constantly building on itself with minimal human intervention. 

It’s critical to keep a close eye on metrics that measure your search visibility. The following visibility and search metrics act as guiding lights, offering insights into your brand’s discoverability and credibility.

Keyword Rankings: Every keyword typed into a search engine is an expression of desire — a need to be met. Monitoring keyword rankings can show whether your content is meeting the relevant needs. It involves tracking the positions your website holds in search engine results for specific terms. Higher rankings signify enhanced visibility and relevance, potentially driving more (and more relevant) organic traffic to your site.

Organic Click-Through Rate (CTR): Rankings are important, but rankings alone don’t turn browsers into prospects. CTR for search measures the percentage of users clicking on your organic search results compared to the total number of impressions. If your CTR is low, your meta descriptions and titles need an overhaul to more closely match user intent and compel a click. 

SERP (Search Engine Results Page) Features: Search engine results used to be a set of links ranked in order of relevance, with a text ad or two on top. Now there are multiple ‘position zero’ places for content to rank. Featured snippets, knowledge panels, video excerpts and other specialized search results can increase your visibility. 

Backlinks: The number of sites that link to your content used to be a key quality indicator for Google. Now backlinks are one of many such indicators, but it’s still important to monitor them. Backlinks from credible and authoritative sites can help your rankings, while backlinks from untrustworthy sources can harm them. Monitoring backlink quantity and quality helps gauge your site’s trustworthiness and its potential to rank higher in search engine algorithms.

Domain Authority and Page Authority: These metrics assess the strength and credibility of your website (Domain Authority) and specific pages (Page Authority) in search engine algorithms. Higher domain and page authority scores typically correlate with better search visibility and rankings. In fact, many keywords have a minimum domain or page authority to even be considered for page one results.

Understanding and optimizing these visibility and search metrics helps to ensure your brand remains visible, credible, and discoverable by your target audience. 

Lead generation metrics: Turning prospects into partners

The previous sections help measure how well you’re bringing prospects closer to your brand. Lead generation metrics can help you prove your effectiveness as a partner with the sales team, helping guide prospects into becoming customers. 

Note that these metrics are less rigidly defined than the previous. Domain Authority, for example, is a universally-recognized number. But the definition of a qualified lead will depend on how your organization approaches the sales process.

Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL): Not everyone who visits your site or fills out a form will be a good fit for your solution. MQLs are prospects that demonstrate a level of engagement that deems them more likely to become customers than others. B2B MQL criteria might include job title, seniority, demographics, organization size, and role in decision making.

Sales Qualified Leads (SQL): MQLs are sent to the sales team for further qualification. Sales compares these leads to their history of deals won and lost to determine whether an MQL is an SQL as well. Measuring how well your MQLs convert into SQLs can help guide efforts to align with sales. 

It’s imperative for sales and marketing teams to align on these lead definitions. Collaboratively establishing and agreeing upon what constitutes an MQL and an SQL ensures a shared understanding of lead quality, minimizing discrepancies, and fostering a smoother transition of prospects through the sales pipeline. 

Engagement and conversion Metrics: Gauging audience interaction and action

At the heart of it, marketing is about compelling people to take specific actions. Engagement and conversion metrics help marketers understand how well their marketing campaigns are leading to the desired outcomes. 

Engagement Metrics: Engagement means, at a broad level, any kind of interaction that your target audience has with your content. It can include comments, shares and reposts on social media, comments and sharing of blog posts, clicking links in your email newsletter, and much more. Any sign that someone has seen your content and found it valuable can be considered engagement.

On social media platforms, likes and comments on posts showcase the level of engagement and resonance of content with the audience. Similarly, shares indicate a higher level of interest, potentially expanding the content’s reach.

Conversion Rate: This metric measures the percentage of users who take a desired action. It could be as large a step as making a purchase, or an incremental one like subscribing to your newsletter or downloading a guide. You’ll likely measure many different conversions as you map out your customer journey. 

Conversion rate is expressed as a percentage: If 100 users visit your website and five of them make a purchase, your conversion rate would be 5%. This rate reflects the effectiveness of your content or campaigns in prompting the desired action.

These engagement and conversion metrics provide valuable insights into audience behavior, content performance, and the effectiveness of marketing strategies in prompting desired actions. This is crucial for both optimizing your strategies and showing the value of your marketing efforts. 

Advertising performance metrics: Measuring the value of your spend

Measuring the return on advertising expenditures is an essential part of proving your marketing team’s effectiveness. These metrics can help guide you to understand where best to invest your ad budget for maximum return. 

Cost Per Click (CPC): This metric calculates the average cost paid for each click on an advertisement. It shows whether you’re backing the most effective ads with your money. For example, if you spent $100 on an ad campaign that generated 200 clicks, your CPC would be $0.50 per click ($100 divided by 200 clicks). But if a $100 campaign only generates one click, that means a $100 CPC and a dire need to re-evaluate your campaign.

Click-Through Rate (CTR): CTR measures the percentage of users who click on an ad after seeing it. It gauges how relevant your offer is and how compelling your creative is. A high CTR means your ad copy is on point and your subject matter is compelling.

Like conversion rates, CTR is expressed as a percentage. If your ad is shown 1,000 times and receives 50 clicks, the CTR would be 5% (50 clicks divided by 1,000 impressions multiplied by 100).

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): This metric includes cost per click and conversion metrics for an overarching look at how much it takes to acquire a customer through all of your campaigns. 

For example, if you spent $500 on an ad campaign and acquired 10 customers, your CPA would be $50 per acquisition ($500 divided by 10 customers). Of course, whether $50 is a reasonable CPA depends on the monetary value of each customer (more on that in the next section).

With these metrics on board, you can optimize ad campaigns, maximize ROI, and refine targeting strategies to attract and convert high-value leads or customers.

Customer lifecycle metrics: Measuring marketing beyond the first sale

Marketing’s job doesn’t end once a prospect becomes a customer. Nurturing customers into repeat customers, and even loyal brand ambassadors, is a critical part of successful marketing. These metrics help measure the business value of existing customers.

Lead to Close Rate: This metric measures the percentage of leads that eventually convert into paying customers. It signifies the efficiency of your sales process and the quality of leads generated by marketing efforts. This metric is presented as a percentage as well: if 100 leads are generated, and 10 of them become paying customers, the lead to close rate would be 10% (10 customers divided by 100 leads multiplied by 100).

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): CLV measures the total predicted revenue a customer is expected to generate throughout their relationship with your business. For example, If the average customer spends $500 annually, stays with your business for 5 years, and has an associated profit margin of 30%, the CLV would be $1,500 ($500 annual spend x 5 years x 30% profit margin). Knowing this helps determine if your CPA is sustainable—if customers cost more to acquire than they generate in revenue, it’s time to reevaluate your strategies.

Churn Rate: Churn rate calculates the percentage of customers who leave the business in a given period. This percentage helps to measure the level of attrition over time, which can assist in developing new retention strategies. 

Measuring churn rate requires a little extra math. If you have 500 customers at the beginning of the month and 50 customers churn during that month, your churn rate would be 10% (50 churned customers divided by 500 total customers multiplied by 100).

You can see how combining these metrics can give you a complete picture of each marketing activity’s value. If you know:

• The average amount of traffic to a landing page
• The conversion rate for filling out a form on that page
• The percentage of form fillers that become MQLs
• The percentage of MQLs that become SQLs
• The percentage of SQLs that become customers
• The average customer lifetime value

Then you can quantify the value of a single visit to your landing page in real dollars and cents.

Use KPIs to spot opportunities in B2B marketing

When we talk about metrics and KPIs, it’s important to remember that they’re not just numbers on a spreadsheet. Each data point represents an opportunity to better understand the customer journey and optimize the paths from awareness to repeat purchases.

The TopRank Marketing team puts a high value on measurement and optimization. Our marketing strategies can include benchmarking and comprehensive monthly and annual reporting. 

Learn more about how TopRank Marketing can help you measure and optimize your marketing results. 

The post 20 Common B2B Marketing KPI Examples to Track Performance appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

5 Reasons Why a Content Audit Is Useful

If you’re wondering how to move the needle on your website’s performance in search, conducting an SEO content audit is an essential first step. 

This systematic review serves as a comprehensive health check for your brand’s online presence, surfacing issues that may be impeding your visibility and uncovering opportunities to make fast gains.

There’s a reason why, according to research from Semrush, 61% of marketers conduct content audits two or more times per year. Actually, there are several reasons!

What is the purpose of a content audit?

A content audit is essentially an SEO analysis of your website that focuses entirely on its content ecosystem, as opposed to technical factors and the like. This process is intended to help organizations manage, consolidate, prune, update, and add content to their website in order to provide a better experience for visitors while sending clearer signals to search engines. 

An SEO content audit generally consists of eight primary steps:

1. Define your goals
2. Compile a content inventory
3. Perform Keyword analysis
4. Assess content quality
5. Evaluate Internal linking
6. Check for duplicate content
7. Perform content gap analysis
8. Develop an informed content plan

Why is a content audit useful for today’s organizations in a competitive digital environment? Here are some of the key outcomes and benefits that you can achieve by going through this important strategic undertaking.

“Whether your site is massive or tiny, a content audit can help you understand what you have, what you need, what you don’t need, and what actions you can take in the future to make sure your ecosystem of content is contributing to your goals.”

Julia McCoy, Search Engine Land

5 key practical benefits of a content audit

#1. Simplify and improve your site’s user experience.

The most important quality of any business website is that it reflects well on your brand and makes a strong impression on visitors. Many of the same improvements that will enhance your SEO impact – removing low-quality content, streamlining navigation, addressing content gaps – will also create a better experience for the people who arrive on your website. 

This makes visitors more likely to explore the depth of your content, and engage with your site more extensively!

#2. Strengthen SEO performance

Of course, bringing more people to your website is a crucial goal alongside engaging them once they arrive. Content audits play a big role here as well, improving your visibility in search by making your site and its pages easier for engines to find, understand, categorize, and contextualize. 

These are some of the actions driven by a content audit that can meaningfully impact your website’s SEO performance:

• Removing duplicate content that makes it harder for your pages to rank
• Implementing on-page optimizations for key pages
• Updating pages that are ranking for valuable keywords, but not highly, to move them up on the SERP
• Consolidating pages on similar topics and keywords to reduce self-cannibalization
• Identifying content gaps and whitespace to unlock new organic traffic opportunities

53% of marketers say updating their content helped increase engagement, while 49% saw an increase in traffic and/or rankings. (Semrush)

#3. Realign with business goals and priorities

If your company has been in business for any length of time, it’s likely that your messaging, offering, or priorities have shifted. Conducting a content audit helps ensure your website is conducive to meeting your goals and objectives. 

This might involve verifying topical authority around critical subjects, assessing relevance to your audience, or evaluating SEO performance against a refreshed keyword glossary. 

Content audits are especially useful for this purpose when companies are going through a website migration, a rebrand, or a new product launch.

#4. Maximize conversion opportunities

One thing that companies will often discover during a content audit is that they have pages ranking for terms and driving substantial traffic they were totally unaware of. As a result, these pages aren’t doing nearly as much for the marketing strategy as they could be. 

Savvy marketers use this process as an opportunity to revisit these pages and maximize their value, adding new relevant CTAs or cross-linking to key resources. 

#5. Ensure content accuracy, consistency and compliance

In order for your content to convey credibility and build trust, it needs to be accurate. But for organizations with a large amount of content on their websites spanning many years, it can be tricky to keep things up to date. 

Content audits are a great way to ensure that the brand voice, messaging, and information on your website are consistent while meeting your current viewpoint and guidelines. For example, if your company decided to sunset or rebrand a particular product or service, audits can quickly surface all content referencing it so you can make changes and updates as needed.

For businesses that operate in regulated industries, content audits can also be extremely helpful for remaining compliant, helping you quickly flag and address potential risk points.

Get more out of your content by auditing your website

The biggest overarching benefit of conducting a content audit is that it helps companies get more out of their existing content. So many organizations our agency has worked with are swimming in legacy content, which was often planned and published in different phases, by different people, under different strategies. This can lead to a confusing, inconsistent experience for visitors and search engines alike, impeding both reach and engagement.

Content audits can do wonders for your website and its content ecosystem. Learn about this and other SEO services from TopRank Marketing, and request a free SEO scorecard to start your journey!

The post 5 Reasons Why a Content Audit Is Useful appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

LinkedIn B2B Marketing Tips from Top Experts and Insiders (New Data)

The secret behind the LinkedIn algorithm, like the recipe of the original Coca-Cola, is safely guarded. And while we don’t know how either is formulated, we can safely draw conclusions on their components by conducting various experiments. Since this is a B2B marketing agency and not a competing soft drink company, we’ll look to decipher the former. 

Unlike the recipe for one of America’s most celebrated soft drinks, the composition of the social network’s building blocks is ever-changing, making it difficult, but not impossible to uncover the strategy for success. To crack the code, the team at Just Connecting analyzed a staggering 1.5 million posts, from 34,000 individual profiles, and over 26,000 company pages, spanning over 50 countries and 25 languages. The results of their research revealed exactly what you need to break through the noise, capture new audiences, and reap all the benefits of being seen on the world’s epicenter for B2B professionals.

As anticipated, the report is comprehensive, covering topics ranging from the most effective formats to the nuances of commenting and everything in between. Here, we’ll delve into what we consider the most impactful data points and insights on crafting a hook, video posts, formatting, Text + Image posts, nurturing, and more.

Break through the feed: Tips for B2B marketers on LinkedIn

Craft a unique hook to pull your audience in

Imagine writing something and no one reading it… ever. Unfortunately, this is an all too common occurrence for many brands and users of LinkedIn. Imagine if Jonas Salk, the man who developed the first safe and effective vaccine for polio, shared his initial findings on LinkedIn. Very few people would arrive at the point where he revealed his findings if he started his post with several mundane sentences. 

While you may not spend years on your work like Jonas, you don’t want your efforts to go unnoticed; ensure the two to three sentences of your LinkedIn text post start strong and capture the reader’s attention – testing proves you can increase reader retention by 30% by doing so. 

Take notes: Casey Borrero, Influencer Marketing Strategist at TopRank Marketing, shares the details on crafting an opening and conclusion that gives your audience a reason to keep reading, engaging, and clicking.

Draw viewers in by creating the perfect video post

Visualize this: It’s 2046, and you can create a social video projecting a hologram onto the viewer’s wall. Okay, that might sound invasive and overstimulating, so let’s revert to present day. Despite minimal evolution in video technology over the past decade, there are still innovative ways to engage your audience. Crafting the optimal video post ensures that your behind-the-scenes video production efforts don’t go to waste. Ensure your video is 1-2 minutes long, in vertical format, features an impactful hook, and is uploaded natively.

Need help visualizing the perfect video post? The video below featuring me, Alex White, Social – Influencer Lead at TopRank Marketing,  serves as an excellent example of all the components coming together to create an effective piece of media. 

Choosing the right format for your content

When will the next George R. R. Martin novel be released? What is the best format for sharing your LinkedIn content? Who closes the door after the bus driver departs? Unfortunately, we only have the answer to one of these questions. While various formats are available, including Text + Image, Text Only, Document (PDF), and Video Posts … Text + Image reigns supreme, promising higher engagement than all other options.

Which format is right for your content? Theresa Dorsey Meis, Content Marketing Manager at TopRank Marketing, shares how matching the post purpose with the right format can boost the amount of engagement you receive on the platform. 

Increase reach with Text + Image posts

Do you want to get noticed by the LinkedIn algorithm? As mentioned previously, it’s very keen on Text + Image posts. Using the format to gain reach is akin to using an air horn to get the attention of the staff in a library. It’s called “The Default Post” for a reason, as it provides the best results. It’s no wonder 48% of posts on the platform fall into this category.

Now, you can’t just produce any text and expect great results; no, that would be way too easy. For best performance, your text should range from 900 to 1,200 characters, feature short sentences under twelve words, and avoid using language that comes off as too promotional.

On to images. Have you ever seen a stock image that stopped you in your tracks? Yeah, we haven’t either. There’s much to be gained by sharing personalized photos, including an increase in engagement by up to 45% and stronger authority.  Be sure to incorporate brand colors and themes, too, doing so can help with a 15% increase in brand recall. Oh, and avoid screenshots when possible as they generally receive 15% fewer clicks.

Unlock the keys to a great Text + Image post: Josh Nite, Senior Content Marketing Manager at TopRank Marketing, shares the benefits of messaging and images that are unique, original, valuable, and meaningful.

Publish and nourish to see your LinkedIn posts flourish

Remember that rotisserie chicken commercial from the 90s? The one where the star would say “Set it and forget it.” This approach is precisely what you want to avoid with your LinkedIn posts. Far too often, brands and creators set their posts for publishing, only to forget about them, when they should be actively engaging on the platform. The publishing of the post is only the beginning of your journey. For optimal results, you must:

• Comment on your post: Initiating 2 to 5 comments with further insights or inquiries can further the conversation. (Be sure to do so within the first hour.)
• Repost on the second day. (Good for an increase of up to 20% in engagement.)
• Tag your connections in the comments: be sure to alert those who are likely to engage for best results.
• Show your connections’ posts some love: 5-10 comments can lead to a 15% increase in your post’s reach.
• Add a call to action: the previous penalty of providing one appears to be no longer applicable.

Nourishing tips in video format: Debbie Friez, Associate Director, Influencer & Social Media at TopRank Marketing, shares the insights you need to boost your engagement via thoughtful engagement of your own.

The Algorithm Insights 2024 report is just one of many resources you can dig into to improve engagement and reach, and achieve new heights of marketing excellence. But to truly unlock the algorithm, you must use these insights strategically and be sure to utilize all of the platform’s often-overlooked features. 

And, let’s not forget the benefits of having a team of marketers who have 20+ years of experience on the platform. Contact us today to see how our social media marketing services can help you increase content reach, drive thought leadership, build an engaged community, and increase your brand’s share of voice. 

The post LinkedIn B2B Marketing Tips from Top Experts and Insiders (New Data) appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Conducting an SEO Content Audit

If your organization has been publishing content for many years, chances are your website has more content than you can keep track of. This makes managing a content strategy harder than it needs to be. When you don’t know what content already exists — or the quality of that content — any efforts to create new content may actually work against your overall search performance. 

To combat this, we recommend conducting an SEO content audit. This process will help you understand everything that has been published on your website so you can make an informed choice about how to use it more strategically. 

A step-by-step guide to SEO content audits 

Step 1: Define your goals 

Before you can start an SEO content audit, you need to know what you’re trying to accomplish. Without clearly articulated goals, the analysis derived from the audit is likely to lack focus and meaningful insights. Setting clear goals provides a framework for prioritizing tasks, evaluating the effectiveness of implemented changes, and demonstrating the impact of the SEO content audit on overall website performance.

When you define specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for your SEO content audit, you set yourself up to have direction, purpose, and measurable outcomes. Whether the aim is to improve keyword rankings, enhance user experience, increase organic traffic, or achieve a combination of these, well-defined goals are the key to a targeted and strategic approach.

Step 2: Compile a content inventory

The first step in the content audit itself is gathering a comprehensive list of all the content on your website, including blog posts, articles, product pages, and any other destinations where content is crawled. This inventory clarifies exactly what content lives on your site, where it’s located, and its performance data. This lays the groundwork for all the work that comes next. 

Without this information, your audit could miss hidden opportunities or tackle irrelevant content, hindering your SEO efforts. But when you have a full picture of your content ecosystem, you can confidently understand what you have, what you need, and what you can improve.

Step 3: Keyword analysis

Once you have an inventory, review the keywords associated with each piece of content. This process reveals whether your pages are targeting the right search terms, attracting the desired audience, and ranking where they should be. 

Analyzing the keywords that your content targets and comparing them to search trends, competition, and user intent. Doing this will help identify missed opportunities, address keyword cannibalization, and guide your content optimization efforts. 

Step 4: Assess content quality

For each piece of content on your website, evaluate the accuracy, readability, and how closely it maps to search intent. High-quality helpful content is more likely to perform well in search engine rankings, especially after Google’s 2022 helpful content update. 

An abundance of content on your website that search engines deem “low quality” can have a significantly negative impact on overall search authority. An SEO content audit will help you identify your lowest-quality content, which you can either remove or enhance with a content refresh. Either way, addressing these pieces of content will help you improve your site’s overall search performance.

Step 5: Internal linking

Another aspect of the content itself that should be audited is how other pages are linked within your content. Internal links guide users to relevant content and help search engines understand the relationships between different pages. 

But internal linking is more than simply adding a list of additional resources at the bottom of the page (although that has its place). These should be relevant, contextual links embedded within the content itself. By optimizing internal linking, you enhance the overall SEO performance of your website and contribute to a more seamless user experience.

Step 6: Check for duplicate content

Google’s bots will penalize your search performance if it finds two pieces of content that cover the exact same topic. Not only that but creating duplicative content is a waste of resources. 

Duplication analysis will help you identify instances of duplicate content within your website or across external sites. This isn’t so simple as identifying duplicate keywords, because sometimes different keywords are targeting the same user intent. Expert guidance will help you filter out these instances.

Step 7: Content gap analysis

Now that you know what content you have, it’s time to figure out what’s missing. A content gap analysis helps you identify those missing pieces in your content ecosystem by comparing your existing content with the needs and interests of your target audience.

By understanding what your audience is searching for and comparing it against what you have already published, you can create a list of new relevant content to fill these gaps. This strategic approach ensures that your future content creation will align with user intent while targeting a more comprehensive and strategic range of keywords.

Step 8: Make a plan for each piece of content

With your audit complete, it’s time to analyze the data and make a plan of action. A well-structured plan provides a roadmap for addressing specific issues identified in the content audit and implementing improvements strategically. 

Your plan should include tasks such as refreshing content on low-quality pages, optimizing internal links, or totally removing duplicate content for each piece of content on your website. This will ensure that all your subsequent efforts adhere to the broader content strategy and are tailored to the unique needs of each piece of content. 

An SEO content audit is one component of a broader SEO audit. To learn more about this more comprehensive approach, read our guide: Here’s Why You Should Conduct an SEO Audit, and What You Can Learn From It

 

The post Conducting an SEO Content Audit appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

What Marketers Need to Know About the Latest Google Algorithm Update (March 2024)

The latest update to Google’s algorithm has potentially major implications for brands and marketers who are focused on showing up for their audiences in search. As with many recent updates, this one is designed to surface genuinely helpful results that align with search intent.

The March 2024 update to Google’s algorithm primarily targets low-quality, AI-generated content and spammy SEO techniques. Read on to learn more about what this means and how it impacts your SEO content strategy. First, a quick overview on the state of the Google algorithm, and why it is valuable to stay in the loop.

“The March 2024 core update is a more complex update than our usual core updates, involving changes to multiple core systems. It also marks an evolution in how we identify the helpfulness of content.” – Google

About the Google search algorithm

When it comes to search, Google is the primary gatekeeper between your content and your potential buyers. As of last year, Google was still processing 8.5 billion searches per day and HubSpot reports that, “While close to one in three consumers use social search to find answers, traditional search engines are still dominant, used by 88% of people.”

The last few core algorithm updates have been all about promoting better content. Each one has caused a shakeup in rankings — brands that enjoyed unassailable top spots lost positions, and new, more relevant content rose up the search engine results page (SERP).

The March update is no different. If you’re seeing changes in your content performance, here’s what you need to know.

• Get caught up: Learn about Google’s major core algorithm update from October 2023

What marketers need to know about the March 2024 core algorithm update

Algorithm updates are coming faster than ever. The last core update was in November, which was preceded by updates in October and August. These various enhancements from Google have openly shared a focus: increasing visibility of high-quality content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). The latest follows a similar theme, but is more geared toward penalizing content that fails to meet these standards.

Key Facts to Know:

• Name: Google March 2024 Core Algorithm and Spam Update
• Launch Date: March 5, 2024
• Rollout Duration: March through May 2024
• Scope: A comprehensive update that evaluates all content types
• Effect: Devalues low-quality content, including AI and spam.
• Global Reach: Affects all regions and languages worldwide
• Impact: High — could reduce prevalence of certain SERP results by 40%
• Wide Influence: All sites are being analyzed under this new update
• Recovery: If your site is affected, review your content and implement Google’s core update recommendations.
• Ongoing Evolution: Google will continue to strengthen its algorithm against spammy SEO tactics and AI-generated content.

What’s included in the March 2024 core update

The new update includes two main components: a spam update (completed as of March 20, 2024) and a core update (currently rolling out). These changes are designed to help searchers “see more useful information, and fewer results that feel made for search engines.”

The core update focuses on filtering out low-quality, inaccurate or unoriginal content, especially pages that are generated by AI or those with poor E-E-A-T scores. Google shared that they expect these and previous changes to collectively reduce “low-quality, unoriginal content” in search results by 40%.

The spam policies target three manipulative SEO techniques that Google is aiming to halt:

• Scaled content abuse: Use of AI to produce high volumes of low-quality content.
• Site reputation abuse (parasite SEO): High authority websites that host third-party content with little editorial oversight can expect to be affected.
• Expired domain abuse: Spammers who buy up expired domains to host low-quality content and get an initial boost will also be targeted with this update.

The big takeaway here is that if you’re trying to game the system, it’s a losing battle. With their wealth of resources and expertise, Google is constantly innovating their search engine to circumvent the new era of black hat SEO.   

While incorporating AI into its own search experience, Google is taking active steps to ensure that unhelpful applications of the technology from others don’t diminish that experience.

What’s next for content marketers

As we often say, the secret to good SEO is quite simple: great content. Plenty of data and analysis should go into selecting the right keywords and how you approach them, but at the end of the day, quality is what matters most to rank. Focus on showcasing your brand’s expertise, building connections, and providing concrete value. 

Do not use artificial intelligence to directly produce content. Generative AI can be helpful for content marketing in many ways, but only as a complement to human skill and perspective. Ultimately, this Google algorithm change should be good news for brands that place domain expertise at the heart of their content strategy. Your authentic and credible content will further differentiate you from competitors who might be drawn to the allure of spammy AI tactics.

How to respond to the spam update

The site reputation abuse and expired domain abuse updates are a bit more technical in nature, and could merit exploration if your brand posts content to third-party sites. If you’re concerned about how your website might be affected by these changes, you can get out in front of it with a thorough SEO audit.  

Reviewing the latest updates:

At TopRank Marketing, we keep a close eye on the ever-changing Google algorithm so we can make sure our clients are in the loop. Here’s a rundown of the latest core updates and where they’ve focused.

November 2023

• Name: Google November 2023 Broad Core Update
• Launch Date: November 2, 2023, at around 11:30 am ET
• Rollout Duration: Ended November 28, 2023
• Scope: A comprehensive update that evaluates all content types
• Effect: Higher ranking for high-quality content with an emphasis on firsthand content
• Global Reach: Affects all regions and languages worldwide
• Impact: High — over 10% of top 10 rankings are new
• Wide Influence: Extends its impact to Google Discover, featured snippets, and more
• Recovery: If your site is affected, review your content and implement Google’s core update recommendations
• Ongoing Evolution: We can expect more core updates to come, focused on the goal of providing higher-quality content to searchers

October 2023

• Name: Google October 2023 Broad Core Update
• Launch Date: October 5, 2023, at around 12 pm ET
• Rollout Duration: Anticipated to span one to two weeks
• Scope: A comprehensive update that evaluates all content types
• Effect: Not a penalty; it rewards high-quality web pages
• Global Reach: Affects all regions and languages worldwide
• Impact: Google hasn’t disclosed specific figures, but the impact seems wide-reaching, typical of core updates
• Wide Influence: Extends its impact to Google Discover, featured snippets, and more
• Recovery: If your site is affected, review your content and implement Google’s core update recommendations
• Ongoing Evolution: Google will periodically refresh this algorithm, with potential future updates unannounced

Previous core updates

• August 2023 Core Update: Rolled out from August 22 to September 7.
• March 2023 Core Update: Rolled out from March 15 to March 28.
• September 2022 Broad Core Update: Completed on September 26.
• May 2022 Broad Core Update: A significant and fast update.
• November 2021 Core Update: Impactful changes to search rankings.
• July 2021 Core Update: Another important update.
• June 2021 Core Update: A significant update that rolled out gradually.

Make your content algorithm-worthy

The path to performing better in search is two-fold: First, evaluate the content you have with an inventory and performance audit. Then develop a content strategy to create content that’s helpful to — and created by — humans.

Learn about TopRank’s SEO services and let our experts help you take the lead. We’ll get you started with a free SEO report card.

 

The post What Marketers Need to Know About the Latest Google Algorithm Update (March 2024) appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

What Makes a B2B SEO Content Strategy Unique?

TopRank Marketing has worked with clients in both the B2B and B2C realms over the last two decades. In that time, we have definitely witnessed the much-discussed convergence of these two previously diametric categories; the so-called consumerization of B2B.

But we also fully recognize the enduring factors that distinguish successful marketing in B2B versus B2C. Even as brands rightfully embrace the humanity of professional audiences, it still must be acknowledged that buyers in B2B experience contrasting motivations, challenges and dynamics in their journeys compared to consumers. The information B2B buyers seek out in making decisions, and the ways they search for it, remain very different from the standard B2C purchase.

Crafting a B2B SEO content strategy that fully accounts for the unique intricacies of this buyer journey holds the key to long-term digital growth. 

Drawing the line between B2B and B2C SEO content

The defining difference between B2B and B2C is that one targets businesses and professionals, while the other targets individual consumers. A company’s SEO content strategy should be built around this core distinction. 

Compared to B2C strategies, B2B SEO focuses more on reaching specific audiences through niche keywords and topics. The approach is guided by personas, which often span verticals, functions, or buying committee roles. In B2B, marketing goals are often more granular and incremental compared to simply generating an instant sale, so measurement is nuanced.  

The content designed to fuel a B2B SEO strategy must then suit this purpose. It should be planned and crafted with these distinct priorities in mind.

5 critical cornerstones of a B2B SEO content strategy

Organic search traffic is immensely valuable to B2B companies, especially when their SEO strategy is designed to attract visitors based on search intent. These specialized B2B techniques will ensure you’re targeting the right keywords, attracting relevant traffic and driving valuable outcomes with your SEO content.

#1. Address the full funnel with your SEO content.

The 95-5 rule tells us that within any given B2B product category, only 5% of buyers are in-market and actively searching for a solution. That math may not be exact for every industry or niche, but the underlying premise is universal: No matter what you sell, a vast majority of your potential audience is not looking to buy at this moment.

Gaining visibility and familiarity with those who aren’t ready to make a purchase, but will be in the future, holds the key to sustainable long-term growth. Organic SEO content plays a powerful role in brand building, serving as perpetual magnets to attract visitors from the 95% out-market audience. 

Upper-funnel keywords tend to have higher volumes and broader reach, meaning more opportunities to get your brand and message in front of key audiences. This, in turn, will set up lower-funnel content to be more effective.

#2. Build topical authority to establish your expertise.

The complexity and stakes of making a B2B purchase means the research process tends to be lengthy and thorough. Each challenge you can help solve has many dimensions to be explored. Using a cluster-based approach to provide comprehensive topical coverage helps your website gain authority.

This approach offers many benefits, but chief among them is the ability to rank and dominate share of search for topics that matter to your business. “Many of Google’s algorithm updates and statements have reaffirmed its preference for trustworthy, knowledgeable, and experienced publishers,” explains Semrush. “In other words: It favors content creators with topical authority.”

#3. Target long-tail keywords to address specific search intent.

This goes part and parcel with a cluster-based SEO content approach. Long-tail keywords are characterized by specificity: They tend to include more words and detail, adding another layer of depth beyond the main keywords they branch out from. An example of this might look like:

• Head KW: “SEO strategy”
• Long-tail KW: “how to develop an SEO content strategy in B2B healthcare”

By nature, long-tail keywords have lower volume, but higher intent – people running these searches are filtering and qualifying themselves as more relevant to your brand based on the information they are seeking. 

A strong B2B SEO content strategy will feature a balance of head keywords and long-tail keywords to maximize both quantity and quality of organic search traffic.

#4. Focus on educational B2B SEO content and deliver value.

Google’s algorithm updates are openly intended to prioritize helpful content and provide satisfying experiences for users. Being too promotional or light on substance will impede your content’s ability to earn search rankings.

Because B2B purchases are so complex, there is ample room for education, and information is flowing at all times. Consider all the different roles and functions involved with a buying committee, and how much these stakeholders often have to educate one another. Your brand’s content can help greatly, building trust and relevance in the process. 

Put user value at the center of your B2B SEO content. Offer clear and compelling insights or takeaways to help your audience accomplish their goals.

#5. Optimize and measure for a diverse range of conversion outcomes.

Effective SEO isn’t just about generating web traffic. What really matters is driving valuable results with that traffic, which is why it pays to be thoughtful about your conversion and measurement strategies.

What are the desirable outcomes for visitors at different stages of your marketing funnel? These might range from signing up for a newsletter to downloading an asset to signing up for a demo. Make sure you’re always offering an action that aligns with the intent of their search. 

Strategic B2B marketing measurement accounts for all of the various conversion types, as part of the proven recipe for revenue and business growth. Marketing attribution can help you connect and weigh these different actions on the way to optimizing your efforts.

Organic SEO has a reputation for being difficult to connect to impact, but that’s only if you’re not taking the right steps to set up customized reporting and event tracking. 

Set your B2B SEO content strategy up for success

Through all the algorithm changes and technology shifts, the fundamental premise of B2B SEO (or B2C SEO, for that matter) remains the same: create quality content based on reliable data around your personas, keywords and industry.

From there, it’s all about optimizing around your buyer journey and meeting the unique needs of your audience. 

Learn about the many ways in which TopRank Marketing can help you step up your B2B SEO game.

 

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