Blogs

Raising search rankings for businesses, brands, and companies via proper SEO techniques in Google requires more than just basic knowledge. This is why delving into advanced SEO methods and techniques helps. It can help one outpace competitors in an instant. Tactical keyword clustering is important. This helps make good use of authority via pillar content made via Google’s E-E-A-T rules (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trust). Then content marketers can harness organized data for rich snippets, conduct deep analysis of competitors, and become fluent in technical SEO audits. Link-building tactics, analyzing content gaps, and optimizing for voice search are also part of advanced SEO techniques that help make good use of user intent and behavioral signals. They will help in the creation of worthwhile SEO techniques, bringing in organic traffic and improving the website’s visibility.

Understanding Advanced SEO Techniques - Key Methods that can Improve Search Rankings on Google

The year 2025 began two months ago. Digital marketers today are now reflecting on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and the way it can do the following:

• Boost rankings.
• Bring in traffic.
• Amplify a brand’s visibility.
• Ultimately connecting with customers.

AI is reshaping search and Google’s core updates are constantly changing things. Best practices in SEO plus best SEO techniques are changing daily. This has hence made SEO quite challenging. However, there is a notion that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Meaning there are still many opportunities for SEO professionals and digital marketers to improve their SEO services this year.  They can do so by focusing on fundamentals whilst keeping in sight the technological advancements taking place.

1. On-page SEO is Important

When people search for something online, it all starts with a question. Websites providing the best answers and solutions to the questions asked by customers (plus problems faced) are the ones that get rewarded with improved rankings. This is where on-page SEO comes in handy. Optimizing web pages through it helps search engines recognize the value of those web pages and connect them with users who are searching for relevant information, queries, and topics. Off-page SEO is different. It focuses on backlinks and external signals. On-Page Search Engine Optimization is part of advanced SEO techniques. It covers everything from a page’s structure to the page’s content. Titles, headings, internal links, and image labels affect the way search engines interpret and rank a website. Once pages are properly optimized, they become more visible in search engines’ results pages (SERPs). The outcome? They begin attracting more organic traffic. This is where a robust strategy comes in handy. It helps prospective customers find their requirements precisely whilst ensuring search engines can understand the website’s content with ease. The perfect balance between technical improvements and user-friendly content is the key factor separating average websites from top-ranking ones.

2. Reoptimizing Old Content

It is not a surprise that more than 50% of companies are using content marketing. Many of them have content that is a few years old at least. Many are also asking why they should re-optimize old content. Experienced professionals from Branex reveal that old content and underperforming is like a car with a flat tire. It is present but it cannot be used. Conducting a Google position check can reveal that a page that once fell in rankings can be re-optimized. Optimizing content that receives low traffic, low conversions, or lacks another metric (that matters the most) can help the business make the most of that content. They can build on the initial time spent in writing and publishing it, and then they can get it back at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs).

3. Using an SEO-centered Content Strategy

It is high time that a focus on SEO content be created and developing a strategy for the website should also be in place. An SEO-centered content strategy helps in the development of content that will help businesses attain higher ranking in search engines.  They can begin through the creation of content clusters with bedrock content and supporting topics. Keyword mapping should be implemented to help track and organize all efforts. Blogging is a robust tool for promoting a brand. Content marketers can have professional bloggers in their teams to create high-quality content with a core focus on driving traffic in the right direction and building the brand’s value. Blog posts that are updated timely help with the following:

• Bring visitors on board.
• Encouraging return traffic.
• Helping improve the SERPs and Search Engine Ranking.

4. Giving Voice Search Optimization Due Consideration

Voice search is becoming more popular. Smart speakers such as Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home are now household staples. By 2025, 60% of online searches will be voice-based. This opens a new door for SEO. There is no need to worry about keyword stuffing. Voice search optimization is about conversational language and tone. People will ask questions as if they are talking to a friend. This is what should be done:

• Using long-tail keywords reflective of natural speech.
• Thinking about the way people phrase their questions.
• Adding common phrases used in daily conversation.

A lot of voice searches have local intent. Meaning, people will ask for the nearest dentist or a nearby car dealership. They will avoid national chains but will desire something close. This can be optimized via the following tips:

• Keeping the Google My Business Profile up-to-date.
• Making good use of location-based keywords in content.
• Encouraging customer reviews in creating authority, expertise, and trust.

Staying ahead of the curve in Voice Search Trends is important. The trends evolve constantly and marketers must keep up. They should focus on the following:

• Monitoring changes in voice search technology.
• Adjusting the content tactics as per users’ behavior.
• Experimenting with various formats (especially Q&A sections on the website).

5. Improving Core Web Vitals and Webpage Experience

User Experience (UX) is king in terms of SEO. Google made it clear multiple times that Core Web Vitals are important and they are here to stay. Those who are wondering how to improve core web vitals are in luck! These metrics measure how well the website works in terms of the following factors:

• Loading Speed.
• Interactive Factors.
• Visual Stability.

Those who desire to rank well this year should focus on three key areas. The first one is improving the website page loading times. Here are the factors to check:

• Aiming for the website to load in less than three seconds.
• Using Google PageSpeed Insights to check webpage loading speed and obtain tips on improving it.
• Optimizing images and reducing server response times to improve a website’s speed.

Enhancing user experience (UX) on mobile is equally important. It can be done through the following methods:

• Ensuring the website is mobile friendly, as more than 60% of online traffic comes from mobile devices.
• Testing the website on numerous devices to ensure the website fits each device perfectly.
• Simplifying navigation to make it easy for users to find what they need.

Visual stability of websites is also necessary. Here are some tips on ensuring it:

• Avoid using confusing layout shifts.
• Using fixed dimensions for both images and videos. They keep the layout stable.
• Checking the site regularly for elements causing shifts. If found, they should be fixed

It should be understood that a smooth user experience (UX) keeps visitors happy and improves the website’s ranking.

6. Advanced Keyword Glossary Helps in Keyword Planning

Most keyword glossaries often are ignored because they lack utility. However, a properly designed keyword glossary is invaluable in content planning. Incorporating advanced data can help identify terms that bring in qualified traffic instead of zero-click placements. The data that helps are

• Competitor rankings.
• Funnel stages.
• Search intent.

52% of Google Searches are informational Searches. AI features answering queries without visits. It is hence key to focus on keywords offering real prospects of qualified traffic. Also Read: How To Use Google’s AI Overviews For Search

7. Bringing into the Spotlight the Most Visible Content

Revisiting old content is never a bad thing. Both the audience and search engines value fresh content. But regular content audits are wise. The most visible content should be updated by ensuring the following:

• The brand POV is correct.
• Relevant statistics are added.
• New insights are added.
• The format is improved.
• Updating calls to action (CTAs) with recent assets or relevant further reading material.

8. Checking & Monitoring the Technical Optimization

An optimized website is key to creating a seamless user experience (UX). It also helps the website get improved search engine rankings. Focusing on the following key elements can ensure optimal performance:

• Crawlability of crawlers.
• Website mobile-friendliness.
• Fast loading page speed.
• Schema markup should be implemented.

9. Prioritizing E-E-A-T

Although Google is now facing competition, prioritizing its E-E-A-T principles is necessary:

• Experience
• Expertise
• Authority
• Trust

Content Marketers and digital marketing teams should highlight human authorship and experience in their content. They can tackle challenges, add author bylines, and double-check the content in line with the principles. E-E-A-T audits are needed to help assess content performance. 

10. Developing an Internal Linking Process

Internal linking should be done smartly. Crawlers are like robot vacuum cleaners. When they roam a site, and index the pages; it clears the floors. It requires internal links as search engine crawlers won’t work. A lack of internal links means the website won’t be in search engine results. Consequently, it won’t earn clicks, online organic traffic, sales, leads, and revenue. This leaves SEO in a lurch. Developing a proper internal linking strategy for websites helps in:

• Showing the relation between pages.
• Passing the links from high-authority pages (homepage) to lower-authority pages.
• Demonstrating the value of older or newer pages.
• Improving page rankings.

Over to You

In 2025 and beyond, these advanced SEO techniques will not only be proven to be worth their money but also worth implementing. They will certainly help websites get improved search engine rankings on most search engines, especially Google.

Not long ago, I was searching the Internet and came across the term "Generative Engine Optimization." It got me thinking: Is that even possible? Then I realized how the advent of generative AI has transformed almost everything. Today, we are more inclined to optimize businesses for greater visibility, and that too with AI assistance.  Fast-forward to today, we are now seeing AI implemented in almost everything. Whether it be Google SGE (Search Generative Experience), BingChat, or ChatGPT, Google's AI search engine has become the cornerstone. So with so much happening in the artificial intelligence era, we often wonder if the concept is actually true, especially when it comes to optimizing search engines. Does it have any practical implementations in the field? This led me to explore and scour the Internet, and hence, I found Generative Search Engine Optimization (GEO). It’s a new discipline but covers the basics of our classic Search Engine Optimization (SEO). GEO aims to increase site visibility by optimizing and displaying contextually sound content. By incorporating generative AI in content creation, we enhance this approach, producing engaging, tailored content that aligns seamlessly with user intent. But before diving deep into their meanings and functionality, let’s differentiate between them.

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

SEO is a well-known search marketing strategy that merely focuses on optimizing websites by adding keywords to rank higher traditionally in SERPs. It usually involves searching for targeted keywords, producing top-quality content, building backlinks, and performing a series of other tactics.  SEO focuses on understanding how crawlers and indexers work. We are all aware of how Google works with algorithms. Every time a website goes live, Google sends web crawlers to explore the site content and see if it meets SEO guidelines. If it does, Google crawlers index the site for ranking.

What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)?

GEO is a much newer concept. It is the same as Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). It has recently emerged, leading to the rise of AI-driven search engines, which are also known as generative engines.  Unlike Google, GEO does not list websites; it creates comprehensive answers by taking information from multiple sources across the Internet. According to one of the recent pieces of research that I came across, GEO utilizes a mix of methods such as citations, quotations from relevant sources, & statistics to boost a website’s visibility through AI.

How Do SEO and GEO Differ From Each Other?

While SEO is a practice that optimizes websites to improve visibility ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs) based on relevant keywords & search queries, GEO is a more nuanced approach where optimization happens based on the responses from chatbots or other AI-driven tools. SEO uses a mix of strategies, as discussed earlier, including keyword research, content creation, on-page and off-page optimization, technical SEO implementations, and effective link building. Whereas GEO emphasizes other unique requirements such as context understanding, prompt engineering, and structuring data for better interaction.  While SEO requires accessing the site’s backend to include optimizing metadata, improving site speed, creating optimized content, building backlinks, and a series of other practices, GEO simply focuses on one thing alone: quality content—one that aligns with user expectations.

How is Success Measured in SEO and GEO?

Another important aspect is measuring the success of both practices based on implementations. In SEO, metrics such as click-through rate, bounce rate, and time spent on a page are commonly utilized. Instead, GEO proposes a set of impression metrics that measure the visibility of citations and relevance based on user queries. In fact, it is worth noting that SEO strategies can be applied universally across different types of content, while GEO strategies may vary depending on the domain in which you’re working! For example, if you’re discussing historical content, authoritative language may work best. Adding citations and laws will increase the chance of your work appearing in Generative Searches more effectively. However, even then, the crux of the entire GEO implementation is based upon contextual correction.

1. Perform Keyword Integration While Maintaining Contextual Depth

While GEO demands contextual depth, SEO requires the accurate integration of primary keywords within the text. This ensures that your content's primary keywords are strategically placed in titles, headers, and throughout the text. Regarding GEO, it’s best to consider keywords that can be naturally introduced within the content. There are plenty of opportunities to add secondary keywords, such as relevant statistics, expert quotations, or effective case studies. This not only helps with traditional SEO practices but also complements how AI engines generate adequate responses.

2. Optimizing for Authority and Relevance

SEO has always favored authority. As with GEO, your main focus should be to optimize the content for both authority and relevance. For example, if your content needs to be recognized by AI-driven engines, it’s important to include contextually sound information that is well-cited from industry-leading blogs and backed by academic papers. This way, AI engines can pull in more relevant information to generate contextually and technically sound answers.

3. Structured for Skimmability

Traditional SEO favors content that is easy to skim. This means your content should feature clear headings, proper bullet points, and concise paragraphs. In contrast, GEO depends on the depth of context. Content written specifically to entice human readers can often overlook small details and contextual depth. These depths are commonly found when you search for queries with GEO.

4. Focus on User Experience or User Intent

Both practices focus on satisfying the user intent. As far as SEO goes, user experience is all about searching queries which offers better customer satisfaction. At the same time, it’s focused on reducing bounce rates and improving the reader’s dwell time. However, GEO focuses mostly on creating content that answers broader questions. It eventually breaks down content into digestible parts for AI engines to use as answers. 

5. User Engagement Score

Beyond bounce rate and time on page, user engagement score can give you a nuanced look at how users interact with content. This metric combines various factors—like time spent, scroll depth, and engagement with interactive elements (think infographics or embedded videos). For SEO, high engagement often signals relevance and authority, while for GEO, it indicates that the content resonates well with users, fulfilling AI-driven engines’ need for rich, engaging responses.

6. AI Readability Index

While traditional SEO considers readability (aiming for concise, skimmable content), GEO measures AI readability index. This is an emerging metric that evaluates how effectively AI can parse your content for relevance, tone, and factual depth. When optimized for this index, content becomes more accessible for AI engines, enhancing its chances of being featured in generative responses. In short, balancing SEO readability with AI readability ensures that your content is not only human-friendly but AI-friendly as well, offering comprehensive AI overviews for search.

7. Content Alignment with User Intent

One evolving metric for both SEO and GEO is content alignment with user intent. In SEO, this means that content precisely addresses what users are searching for. GEO, however, goes deeper into the "why" behind queries, especially as AI models attempt to satisfy broader, sometimes complex user questions. If users consistently find answers to their intent within your content, both SEO and GEO algorithms take note, rewarding content alignment with higher visibility and better positioning.

8. Structured Data Implementation Rate

Another crucial metric is the structured data implementation rate, especially significant in GEO. SEO benefits from structured data to enhance search features like rich snippets, but GEO takes this a step further by focusing on contextual organization. For instance, using schema markup for citations, content types, and source credibility indicators improves GEO performance, making it easier for AI engines to pull contextually rich snippets and authoritative insights.

9. Contextual Relevance Score

In SEO, contextual relevance has traditionally been tied to keyword optimization. GEO, however, gauges a contextual relevance score that considers the entirety of a topic's depth and accuracy, as AI engines prioritize well-contextualized data. This score, derived from how accurately content reflects topic nuances and authoritative knowledge, signals to AI models that your work is both informative and reliable, potentially increasing its visibility in generative responses.

Concluding Thoughts 

In today’s digital world, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) each play vital roles in connecting with audiences. SEO is essential for helping people find your website through traditional search engines, while GEO brings the power of AI to deliver more personalized, on-demand content. Choosing between GEO and SEO, or combining both, depends on your goals and audience. SEO keeps you visible in search results, while GEO helps you meet modern expectations for tailored, immediate content. By blending these strategies, you’re setting up your brand for success in a digital world that values both accessibility and personalization. We believe in creating remarkably impactful digital experiences. As a generative AI development company, our agenda is also to ensure that your website ranks at the top of search results. To achieve this, we use a variety of tactics, including but not limited to SEO and GEO strategies. If you’re looking to invest in the right digital marketing practices, Branex is only a consultation away.

This past month, I have been using Google a lot for my daily searches.  Although I am more of a fan of DuckDuckGo since it offers better accuracy in results, Google still takes center stage because it’s just one of those fads that are never going to fade.  What really intrigued me this time was the AI Overview feature and it really got me thinking.  Is Google really putting in the effort to make the search experience better for its users?   So I took the time and sat down with some of our SEO experts at Branex. We had a nice chat over a cup of coffee and they told me the ins and outs of the AI Overview for Search.  But they had their own fears, and here’s what they had to say about it,  One of them said; 

“Google AI Overview poses a high risk for traffic loss, particularly with websites that focus purely on information.” 

Another one voiced a different concern, 

“If an AI Overview already displays all the relevant information in the search results, then users may no longer have a reason to visit individual websites.” 

 So I took the liberty upon myself to clear these fears out. I did my research and wrote this article on how SEO doesn't need to worry about AI Overview for Search. 

The Power of AI in Search - A Google Revolution

For a long time, AI-powered search was exclusive to a select few - tech elites, coders, and early adopters.  The exclusive club held the power of AI using it to revolutionize the way we find information. Then, in May 2024, Google, the search engine giant, brought AI to the masses. With the introduction of AI Overviews, the familiar Google search page took on a new dimension. Nearly 70% of all search queries were instantly transformed, with AI-generated responses appearing at the top of the results page. This meant that over 14 million searches now included AI-powered answers, a significant shift that impacted how we interact with information. As of June 2024, while the percentage of searches triggering AI Overviews has settled to around 10%, the impact is still immense. With over 1.5 million daily searches in the U.S. alone benefiting from this new feature, it's a defining moment for users and businesses alike. Hema Budaraju, Google’s Senior Director of Product for AI Overviews, sheds light on when you're most likely to encounter this new feature:

"AI Overviews is designed to assist with specific and complex queries. For example, if you're wondering 'What prerequisites are needed for a particular course?' or 'How do I optimize my website for voice search?', that's when you're likely to see it in action."

(A little birdie tells me that if you want to test this out for yourself, try searching for "AI-powered tools," “Google AI model,” "voice search optimization," or "advanced calculus techniques." You might just be surprised!) With Google's AI Overviews, the power of AI in search has never been more accessible.  It's an exciting time for users and a turning point for businesses, as we navigate this new world of information retrieval. 

How is Google’s AI Overview Enhancing the Power of Search? 

1. For the Casual User

Imagine you're a casual internet user, just browsing the web for everyday information. You might be wondering how AI Overviews change your Google Search experience. Well, for starters, it makes finding simple information even easier! Let's say you're looking for a nearby restaurant. While AI Overviews is designed for more complex queries, it still provides a seamless search experience for your casual queries too. You'll quickly get the information you need, like directions, operating hours, and contact details, all at a glance. But where AI Overviews shine is when you want to explore a topic in more depth. Let's take a common interest like "space exploration." With AI Overviews, you might see a summary of the latest space missions, upcoming events, and even suggested related topics, like the history of space travel or the future of private space companies. It's like having your guide to the vast universe of information.

2. For the Student or Researcher

As a student or researcher, AI Overviews becomes your trusty sidekick. Let's say you're working on a project about the potential impact of climate change on coastal communities. With AI Overviews, you can ask complex questions and get instant, comprehensive responses. It might provide you with an overview of the latest research, and relevant statistics, and even suggest related topics, like adaptation strategies or policy changes. For instance, a student curious about "the impact of social media on youth" might not only get an overview of the topic but also suggestions for further exploration, such as the psychological effects, the influence of influencer culture, or the potential benefits of online communities. A survey by the Pew Research Center found that over 70% of students and researchers believe that search engines have a 'mostly positive' impact on their work, and with AI Overviews, this impact is set to increase. So, the next time you're working on a project or paper, remember that AI Overviews can be a powerful tool to enhance your understanding and provide new directions for your research.

3. For the Business Professional

In the business world, time is money, and AI Overviews understands that.  Whether you’re a marketing professional, social media enthusiast or someone interested in the latest trends of SMM, AI Overviews can offer you a quick overview of the topic which includes all the recent developments, successful campaign strategies, and even future predictions.  AI Overviews also offer valuable industry-specific information.  For example, a financial advisor might search for "investment trends in a high-inflation environment." It gives him an insightful summary of expert opinions, historical data, and potential risks and opportunities.  You can think of it as a personal business advisor helping you make informed decisions.  With AI Overview, businesses can also gain insight into customer’s behaviors and preferences. For example, a retailer might search for “online shopping trends during the holiday season.”  For example, a retailer might search for something like, “online shopping trends during the holiday season” and with AI Overview get results like statistics on consumer spending, popular product categories, and even suggestions for strategies to optimize customer experience.  The benefits of AI are undeniably vast! But let's circle back to our main concern - how will AI impact the SEO market, and how can SEO specialists leverage it to their advantage?

Google AI Overview - A Few Search Tips for Digital Marketers 

You know what they say if you can’t beat the hare, then you become the hare.  With AI-driven search engines such as Google’s SGE, it becomes more prevalent to adapt to SEO strategies which include concepts such as the Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).  To make things easier for you, we have some tips that can definitely help you get started: 

1. Focus on Writing High-Quality Content 

According to a study by HubSpot, articles with updated content are 74% more likely to perform better in search rankings, and those with engaging headlines can increase click-through rates by up to 30%. If there’s one key factor that will make your content stand out and rank highly in Google's AI-driven era, it's how well-researched and informative your content is. As long as your content is engaging and of high quality, it is more likely to be cited in AI-generated responses. When writing, ensure that your message is clear and concise. Avoid unnecessary fluff and get straight to the point. Regularly updating your content with the latest trends and information holds significance. Always invest in writing engaging headlines designed to capture attention. Prioritize user feedback, as it offers valuable insights into how you can continually improve your content. 

2. Use Structured Data Approach 

You want Google to understand the context of your content, and this can only be achieved if you speak the language that Google speaks.  If you want to improve your chance of getting featured in AI Overviews, here are a few steps that you need to perform to get featured: 

• Add schema markup using schema.org to your HTML. 
• You can use JSON-LD format for easy integration with search engines. 
• Introduce key elements such as articles, reviews & events. 
• Validate structured data using Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to check errors. 
• Monitor performance to track how structured data impacts search visibility. 

3. Don’t Forget to Include Citations & References 

To create authority, your content must include citations and references from authoritative sources. By adding authoritative links to your website, you can boost your content’s credibility and increase its overall visibility. Whether you’re using AI-generated or traditional responses, add citations & references. 

• Always add important references to well-known and credible resources. 
• Another strategy is to use inline citations to place references within the text to support your point. 
• Create a reference section to list all sources at the end of your purposeful content. 
• Add links to original research creating useful links to studies and make mentions. 
• Don’t forget to mention important links and ensure all references are current & relevant. 

4. Make Use of Multimedia 

According to research by SEMrush, websites that use structured data have a 36% higher click-through rate and a 20% increase in traffic compared to those that don’t.  Incorporating multimedia can further increase engagement, with studies showing that articles with images receive 94% more views than those without. It’s always best to add images, make more videos, and design infographics to make your content a whole lot more engaging and easier to understand.  When you implement these practices, it allows Google’s AI to analyze and present the data in effective limelight & increase the content credibility manifolds. 

• Start with adding high-quality images which are relevant and high-resolution. 
• Create videos which are informative and complement your overall written content. 
• Optimize media for best SEO implementations by using alt text, captions, and descriptions. 
• Design infographics to visually represent data and add newer concepts. 
• Embed multimedia in content, integrated images, and added videos & text within the infographic. 

5. Optimize Content for Voice Search 

We are living in an era where voice search takes center stage.  Today, AI-driven search engines have become increasingly popular, utilizing a mix of written content and voice search. As a result, it's essential to optimize content for natural language, ensuring it aligns with conversational tones. When creating content, it's important to write in a way that mimics natural speech, making the language more engaging and accessible. A good example is to cover content by including FAQs that address the typical user queries. Many marketers today focus on covering long-tail keywords, one that people are most likely to speak about rather than type out. It’s always best to address those queries by writing content that’s well-optimized for voice search. Also, never forget about covering how-to guides to answer UGC. All of these efforts would sequentially contribute towards content optimization for AI Overviews. 

Artificial Intelligence - You Don’t Have to Be Afraid 

You might have heard a lot about AI lately, and it's easy to feel a bit unsure about this new technology.  But we're here to tell you that there's no need to be afraid!  AI is your friend, and it's here to make your life easier and more fun. AI is not here to replace SEO but to enhance it. Here's why SEO doesn't need to be afraid:

1. AI Enhances Search Precision

AI-driven overviews are designed to provide more accurate and relevant search results. This means that well-optimized content has a higher chance of being featured, especially when it’s structured to answer specific user queries. AI helps in surfacing the best content, so SEO efforts focused on quality and relevance will continue to thrive.

2. Focus on User Intent

AI overviews prioritize understanding user intent, which is something that good SEO already aims to do. By aligning SEO strategies with AI’s focus on intent, content creators can ensure their work remains valuable and visible. This alignment reinforces the importance of understanding and predicting what users are really searching for.

3. New Opportunities for Featured Content

As AI overviews become more common, there's an increased opportunity to be featured in these snippets. Well-structured content that clearly addresses common queries or offers unique insights will be more likely to appear in these prime positions. This could mean more visibility for those who adapt their SEO strategies accordingly.

4. AI and Human Input are Complementary

While AI can process large amounts of data quickly, it lacks the human touch that understands nuances, emotions, and cultural contexts. SEO experts can leverage this by creating content that resonates emotionally or culturally with audiences, something AI alone can't fully replicate.

5. SEO's Role in Feeding AI

The AI overview relies heavily on the content it crawls and indexes. High-quality SEO-optimized content feeds this AI, making SEO professionals more critical than ever in shaping what information is presented. The better the content, the better the AI results.

6. Adaptation Over Fear

SEO has always evolved with technological advancements. The introduction of AI in SERP is just another step in that evolution. Instead of fearing it, SEO experts can adapt by focusing on the new rules of engagement—like optimizing for natural language queries and understanding AI’s ranking factors. Think of AI as a really smart assistant that can help you with all sorts of things. It can answer your questions, give you helpful information, and even make suggestions.  The best part? It's always learning and improving, so it gets better the more you use it. Some people might find AI a little intimidating at first. Maybe they've seen movies or read books that make it seem scary or complicated. But here's the thing - You don't need to be an expert to use AI.  According to Ziff Davis, 

“We analyzed thousands of queries across our key domains that generate the lion’s share of our organic search referrals and the percentage of times that an AI Overview appeared. It fell to 8%, meaning 92% of the time the search engine results page did not include an AI Overview for the queries that matter to us most. Analysis by other industry experts indicates a similar percentage of overall searches resulting in AI Overviews. At this point, we don’t see it as a significant change to the search experience.”

 

Conclusion

So there’s nothing to worry about. Just start with something simple.  The key is to remember that AI is built to work for you. It's there to make your life better and simplify complex tasks. So, the next time you want to learn something new or need a helping hand, give AI a try.  It's a brave new world, but one that you can explore at your own pace. So, don't be afraid to embrace AI and all that it offers. It's an exciting journey, and you're in the driver's seat. Ask, explore, and discover—that's the beauty of AI. No content is good enough unless you don’t have the best teams working on it. At Branex, we offer remarkably curated and responsible Generative AI services for our customers worldwide. 

Let’s make your website appear in Google’s AI Overview for Search. 

How many times have visitors bounced off your site because it took a long time to load or it failed to perform optimally? Are you struggling to get your site to the top of SERPs? As a site owner, you are often searching for ways to boost page load speed and offer a seamless user experience but aren’t sure what to do. Fortunately, the Core Web Vitals metrics determine the things that are bogging down your site and give you insight into the speed, interactivity, and visual stability of your site. Improving your core web vitals not only enhances the user experience but also helps you rank higher on Google. Here’s what site owners and developers can do to enhance their site’s performance, and boost user satisfaction, engagement, and conversion.

Boost Your Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) Score

If your goal is to display the most useful content to your users in the smallest possible time, achieving a high LCP score is the key. LCP is basically the time it takes between the browser starting to load a page and the largest content element (image or text block) on that page appearing on the screen. An ideal LCP score of 2.5 seconds or less, will help you rank higher on Google, reduce bounce rates, and get higher conversion rates. To locate the largest content element, head to the Diagnostics section within the PageSpeed Insights tool. There, you'll find a breakdown of elements contributing to your LCP score. If your largest element happens to be a heading or a paragraph of text. Consider enhancing it by breaking it down into smaller paragraphs and incorporating titles for better readability. Not to mention, the font families you use and how you deliver them to your users can also impact your LCP score. To increase your LCP score, consider using system fonts, or web-safe fonts that are the default fonts on a user’s device. This removes the need to download any fonts during page load. Additionally, if you are going for custom website development, you can create sets of fonts to include only the characters that you will need. Try not to burden your site with a large font set, especially when you don’t use all the characters. If media files dominate are lowering your LCP score, try resizing larger PNG and JPG images into smaller dimensions. You can also compress them with the help of tools such as ShortPixel, Imagify, Kraken, or Optimizilla. Opt for images with smaller file sizes, as larger ones tend to slow down the loading process and increase the overall page size. It’s also prudent to choose a performance-friendly image format, such as WebP to deliver high-quality images at a lower size, without compromising on image quality. You can also implement lazy loading if your site contains lots of graphics, animations, or videos. So that images are only downloaded when someone scrolls down your page, rather than loading below-the-fold content all at once when the visitor lands on the page. Lazy loading can have a significant impact on your page loading and LCP score.

Improve First Input Delay (FID)

This metric quantifies the responsiveness of a site when users interact with it for the first time, such as by clicking a button to expand an accordion section, entering their email address into a form field, or choosing an option from the menu. This indicates how quickly the page responds to user input and is one of the best ways of gauging responsiveness. As they say, first impressions are often the last. If a user’s first interaction with your webpage is delayed, they are likely to bounce off. A page's First input delay should never exceed 100ms for 75% of all recorder page loads. Here’s what you can do to minimize the FID:

1. Minimize JavaScript:

Users cannot interact with a page while the JS code is loading. This is why reducing the amount of JS code or delaying execution on your page is important for minimizing First Input Delay.

2. Divide Lengthy Tasks:

Your primary focus should be on breaking down lengthy tasks. These tasks hinder the Main Thread from promptly responding to user interactions. Enhance your website's performance significantly by breaking up these tasks.

3. Condense and compress Code Files:

Minimizing code through techniques like removing unnecessary whitespace and line breaks (minification) is crucial. Additionally, compressing code files reduces their size. Some hosting and CDN providers incorporate these methods by default.

4. Delay or Eliminate Non-Essential External Scripts:

Occasionally, third-party scripts such as Google Analytics, heatmaps, etc. can thwart the timely execution of your scripts. Determine which scripts offer the most value to users and prioritize them. Generally, you can do away with ad and pop-up scripts.

5. Streamline CSS:

Although JavaScript is often seen as the culprit for FID, CSS can also be render-blocking by default. Excessive CSS negatively impacts user experience. In addition to implementing Critical CSS and minifying and compressing CSS files, consider minimizing unused CSS on your site.

Set Up Page Caching

Implement server-level caching to decrease server load and minimize the server response time. When a visitor lands on a cached page. There is no need to render its content and elements from scratch every time the visitor accesses the site. Instead, what they see is a saved (cached) version of the page, resulting in faster subsequent page loads. Most site pages are cached automatically as soon as a visitor lands on them. The same page also loads faster for other visitors who share the same parameters (geographic locations, device types) as the first visitor. Setting up page caching automatically boosts performance metrics such as LCP and FCP, and significantly improves the site's core web vitals score.  To enable caching on the server level and boost your website’s performance and overall page speed. WordPress users can make use of plugins such as WP Fastest Cache, LiteSpeed Cache, and WP-Optimize.

Minimize JavaScript (JS) Execution for Core Web Vitals

Unused JS code, often referred to as “dead code,” can downgrade your website’s performance, increase loading times, and negatively impact the user experience. Reducing your JavaScript Execution would definitely improve your Google core web vitals. You need to keep the FID (First Input Delay) score at a minimum if you wish to keep users engaged on your site for over 300 milliseconds. To optimize your website, you only need to load the CSS and JS code that your page requires to appear correctly and defer the rest that is needed later. To identify and eliminate unnecessary CSS and JavaScript files on page load, right-click on the web page and select “Inspect”.  Next, click on ‘Sources’ and look for three dots at the bottom of the page. This is where you add the ‘Coverage’ tool and click on the load button. This will show you the amount of unused CSS and JS files as well as how much code is used within each resource so that you can minimize the parts of code that can be loaded later. Doing so will help you speed up your page load and save your mobile users' cellular data. If you have a WordPress website, you can make your web pages load faster without waiting for JavaScript to load altogether. Applying this Deferred JavaScript technique on your WordPress website will automatically reduce the FID score. For this, you need a cache Plugin to move selected JS files to deferred loading.

Optimize for Mobile Devices

Google‘s mobile-first indexing has made it absolutely indispensable to prioritize your mobile users and optimize your website to deliver a buttery-smooth and seamless user experience. You can hire a professional mobile application development company to create a fully responsive site that automatically adapts the layout and content to the screen size and device of the user. If you wish to improve speed and performance, your website should be fully optimized for all devices. Eliminating the need for separate mobile-specific versions. It also helps to implement caching techniques specifically designed for mobile devices. So static resources, such as images, CSS files, and JavaScript files, are saved locally on the user’s device, thereby decreasing load time and increasing access to offline content. You can also enable Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), a mobile-specific page format (a separate lightweight, stripped-down template) that allows you to create web pages that load quickly on mobile browsers, offering better mobile experiences. While we are still on the subject of mobile optimization, you might also consider limiting or even eliminating popups. Considering the smaller screens of mobile devices, pop-ups can wreak havoc on the user experience. Freeing your mobile real estate from pop-ups will enable you to offer a seamless experience to users. Last but not least, it also helps to have a more intuitive navigation menu on your mobile site. More and more software development companies in the USA are using collapsible and hamburger menus to keep the website clean and clutter-free and enhance usability.

Minimize Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Cumulative Layout shift refers to a page’s visual stability after rendering or more specifically how long it takes for a page to appear stable when it loads. If the elements on a page shift unexpectedly without user input instead of appearing stable as the page loads. You are dealing with a high CLS. As a general rule of thumb, an optimized CLS score should be less than 0.1 seconds if you want to offer a stable, user-friendly experience. Unexpected layout shifts mean that your users have to re-learn the location of links, images, and fields due to a sudden displacement of text. Or accidentally clicked something that wasn’t there a moment ago due to the appearance of dynamic ads or popups. Perhaps a user is reading a block of text on their hand-held device just as embedded video loads above it, making the entire content move down, making them lose their place in the article. Believe it or not, CLS is one of the main causes of frustration for a web user. Here are a few ways to meet the CLS threshold.

• Steer clear of placing ads and pop-ups above other content. When you insert content at the top of a page, it causes everything below to move around, resulting in a less-than-ideal Core Web Vitals CLS score.
• When you're dealing with images and videos, be sure to add width and height attributes. These little details help the browser allocate the right amount of space for each element in advance, significantly reducing layout shifts.
• For elements like ads, iFrames, and dynamic content, it's crucial to reserve space. Just like images and videos, these elements can cause layout shifts if there's no designated space for them. Use containers with proper dimensions and the overflow: hidden property to make sure the content stays within its designated area.
• Font delivery is another area where optimization matters. By using link rel="preload" and font-display: optional together, you can prevent layout shifts and those annoying flashes of invisible text.
• Refrain from using “popup” calls to action that occur a short while after the user visits a site. Doing so can really hurt your CLS Score. If you still need to incorporate any popup CTAs. We recommend that you delay triggering them for the first few seconds of browsing.

Improve Loading of Third-Party Scripts

A lot of external elements come into play to bog down your website. For instance, if your site relies on ad scripts, it leaves you at the mercy of the ad provider. If their ads are fully optimized and performant. All is well – but if God forbid the ads load slowly, you are better off switching providers. If third-party scripts are making your website sluggish, you shouldn’t brush it off. Ask yourself, do you really need that specific ad? Are these scripts adding any value to your site? There might be a more efficient and less server-stressing alternative out there. Perhaps give it a shot? If you can swing it, try hosting the script yourself to have more control over the loading process. If that's not an option, see if you can speed up the preloading process. At the very least, load those scripts in a way that won't bring your site to a crawl. Go for asynchronous loading or defer them until the last minute. This way, the browser can put together the page before dealing with those external scripts. If the script is crucial, use async–like for analytics. If it's not as urgent, defer it.

Most of your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts focus on earning high-quality backlinks.  Links that bring traffic to your website from external sources are also called Inbound links. Backlinks create a significant impact on your website’s overall search performance.  It also establishes authority and increases your site’s exposure across the Internet.  Google prioritizes useful information. It ranks websites which are credible, trustworthy, and authoritative. Many websites achieve such results more efficiently with effective link building.  However, link building isn’t the only factor; there are many others such as internal linking, quality content, organic SEO, technical SEO, website’s UI/UX which play a significant role in building your website’s authority and making it rank high-up on the SERPs.  While many website owners often fall under the false pretense of creating a lot of backlinks irrespective of focusing on its quality. In the wake of doing so, they often create plenty of low-quality backlinks.  This can often hurt your website’s overall search rankings.  In fact, bad-quality links can potentially harm your business online instead of doing more good. And here’s what makes us wonder, where do we begin? How do we acquire high-quality backlinks?  In this article, we are going to talk about the nature of high-quality backlinks & how Google evaluates them. Interested? Let’s read everything about high-quality backlinks we know so far. 

What Are Backlinks? 

The simplest definition of backlinks is incoming links that one website places on another.  For example, you’re a news website and you’ve recently covered a piece of important news. However, this news which you’ve covered also includes elements where you have to cite sources from external sources.  As it is with the case of news, people often want to fact-check whether the information is true or a hoax. Therefore, you create an anchor text on your website citing the original source.  To help you understand the concept, let’s take a look at the following illustration: 

Why Backlinks Are Important For Google? 

When your site earns backlinks, it impacts your website’s search visibility and increases its ranking position overall. Google takes a backlink as a “vote of confidence” when authoritative websites link back to your domain. Here are a few ways how backlinks can benefit your position in Google SERP. 

1. Improved Organic Search Ranking

Creating backlinks dramatically improves your organic search visibility. The more web pages link back to your website, the better your site will appear on the searches. A website with a strong backlink profile authenticates Google how your site content is relevant.  Also Read: How To Optimize Your Core Web Vitals To Improve Website Performance

2. Increased Website Visibility

The greater the backlink profile of your website, the more visible your website is going to become for search engines such as Google. High-quality backlinks will enable search engines to discover your content faster and increase your website’s chances for quick indexing. 

3. Builds Website Online Credibility

Google favors websites which hold significant credibility online. If you want your website to perform better in the SERPs, you should always invest in effective link-building. It gives your site a more authoritative appeal and eventually increases the site’s trustworthiness. 

4. Drive More Referral Traffic

Backlinks can often bring direct traffic to your website from external sources. You can get links from new aggregators, third-party reviews, and from many other online sources. Eventually, you bring more traffic to your website when a user reading the post with your link, clicks on it. 

5. Increase Website’s Domain Authority

The greater the backlink’s profile, the stronger will be your website’s domain authority. Your site’s domain authority and your website’s page authority define how your overall SEO performance score is going to impact your overall search rankings. 

How Does Google Evaluate High-Quality Backlinks? 

When it comes to receiving high-quality backlinks, Google keeps a regular check to update its algorithm. That’s why it's important to stay abreast with the latest SEO developments.  Here are a few things that you need to keep in mind when working on quality backlinks: 

• Relevance: The backlink should come from a site relevant to your content. Google values links that make sense contextually and are from related industries or topics.
• Authority: Links from authoritative sites carry more weight. A backlink from a well-established, trusted source is more valuable than one from a low-quality or unknown site.
• Anchor Text: The text used in the link (anchor text) should be relevant to the linked page’s content. Google sees descriptive and relevant anchor text as a signal of a high-quality link.
• Diversity: A natural link profile includes backlinks from a variety of domains and sources. Google views a diverse set of links as a sign of organic link-building.
• Editorial Placement: Links that are editorially placed, meaning they are naturally embedded in content by the site owner or editor, are more valuable than links that are bought or added in a manipulative manner.
• Link Position: Links placed within the main content of a page (as opposed to sidebars, footers, or comment sections) are considered higher quality.
• Traffic: Links that drive actual traffic to your site are more valuable. Google can infer the quality of a backlink based on how much traffic it generates.
• No Spammy Behavior: Backlinks from spammy or penalized sites can harm your rankings. Google values backlinks from clean, well-maintained sites.
• Recency and Freshness: Recently acquired links or those from regularly updated sites can be more valuable, as they indicate current relevance.
• No-follow vs. Do-follow: While “no-follow” links don’t pass PageRank, a healthy mix of do-follow and no-follow links is natural and seen positively by Google.

The above discussed aren’t the only factors. Google also evaluates the quality of backlinks by covering other technical aspects of the website as well such as: 

• Nofollow 
• Redirects 
• Alt attribute 
• Anchor text
• Robots.txt

How to Get Quality Backlinks for Your Website? 

Backlinks are basically references. They work the same way as citations do on academic or Wikipedia pages. They make your content more authentic and establish your website’s brand authority.  Here’s a cool infographic that we have put together: 

1. Create Useful & Information Rich Content

Believe it or not, everyone loves a page that’s informative. If you want to earn backlinks to your website, you can always create well-detailed content with highly interactive visuals. Some content types which are remarkably great for your website to stand out are infographics, scannable content, unique industry-specific blog posts, and websites that cover unique trends with interactive data. All such content types assist in linking back to the authoritative web. 

2. Build Nurturing Relationships

Link-building activities are great for reaching out to industry influencers and webmasters. This practice is great for expanding your network & promoting web pages. 

3. Broken Link Building Method

Usually, broken links are mended by reaching out and contacting webmasters and red-flagging broken links on a certain website. It’s a great way to highlight opportunities & make the necessary recommendations to a web page so broken links can easily be replaced. While doing it, SEO marketers often capitalize by asking the relevant webmaster to offer them a chance to build quality backlinks. In this way, the broken link is recreated benefiting both parties. 

4. Find Competitor Backlinks

It’s always a good idea to keep track of competitor’s SEO strategies. You can start by identifying their existing link building strategies and reverse engineer them. For example, you perform a link-building profile search on your competitor and check out relevant sources from where they have previously created web links. Assess these links and see which website owners to connect with. Discuss with them what opportunities are available to add your particular business to their page. 

5. Convert Mentions to Links

There are many websites which mention a specific brand or product by adding a hyperlink to one or two of their posts for you. These are your business followers and therefore, it’s always great to have a chat with them. Connecting with them is easy as they are already convinced you are worth the mention. You can always request them for a backlink or two to increase your credibility. 

6. Guest Blogging

It’s always great to write about an industry trend or something amazing and get it published on one of the popular blogs within your particular industry. Guest blogging opportunities are present in abundance. You can easily find these opportunities on social media, or simply check the “Write for Us” section for different websites. When going for a guest post, it's always best to do your research. Determine their existing strategy, understand their target market, and evaluate which of the guest posts are top-performing on social media. In this way, you can get a few good backlinks to your website. 

Good Backlinks vs Bad Backlinks - Understanding the Difference! 

Backlinks which are coming from relevant and authoritative sources are termed good-quality backlinks. They usually come from websites which have a high domain authority. More or less, these websites publish content that works incredibly well on the Internet. They are not only well-researched & informative but are well-optimized on primary and secondary keywords.  One good example of a high-quality backlink is the “Natural” editorial links. Such inbound links often exist on sources like news sites, large publications, opinion pieces, and blogs.  Such content is not only information-rich but the context is high-relevant. Whereas, bad or low-quality backlinks are links coming from unreliable and irrelevant online sources. They are possibly websites which are penalized for violating Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.  Getting backlinks from such sites hurts your online credibility. 

The Best Way to Improve Backlink Quality 

Since then we have learned how Google evaluates backlinks and what is the difference between good-quality and bad-quality backlinks. Here are a few tips on how you can improve the backlink quality. 

• Optimize your content
• Leverage guest blogging
• Reach out to reputable directories
• Participate in conferences
• Optimize your email marketing tactics
• Follow the best Google practices

Want to Build High-Quality Backlinks & Boost Your Digital Marketing Efforts? 

Finding the best sources to earn high-quality backlinks for your brand can be a bit of a challenge. In fact, good SEO truly depends on what kind of websites are linking back to your business.  You can achieve all that and much more by reaching out to Branex, a complete digital marketing agency. We can help you optimize your website and acquire high-quality backlinks so your digital presence thrives. Call now to schedule a consultation with our SEO experts so we can guide you better. 

It is getting scary out there. Who could’ve thought that an insignificant virus that started spreading in the Wuhan district of China would slowly consume the entire world? But now, it has engulfed the whole world in its devastating grasp. COVID-19 has spread worldwide and has forced almost the entire world to go into lockdown.

People all around the world have put themselves in self-quarantine and the roads are now completely deserted. Amid the havoc, marketers are working hard to adjust their SEO strategies to make businesses survive. They now understand COVID-19’s impact on the search interest of the average user. And in the wake of doing so, it is essential to understand what kind of questions people can ask on Google Search. What can be their daily queries and how they are going to approach us?

There are just so many newer dimensions in which COVID-19 has funneled SEO marketers.

The Essential vs. the Non-Essential

Now when it comes to the market, there are two kinds of retail markets. There is one that sells essential goods and may comprise grocers, drugstores, and general merchandisers. And then there is one that sells non-essential goods such as apparel, home goods, and other luxury items.

While the businesses of those who are in the essential goods market have seen positive growth on the Internet, businesses that fall in the non-essential category have seen a significant decline.

So if you fall into the category of an essential good market, then your business might be running casually. However, if you do fall in the non-essential category, then you must make use of COVID-19. If you don’t want to fall short in the rat race, it’s time to publish content using the COVID-19 aspect as an integral part of your content marketing strategy.

When it comes to publishing COVID-19 content on your website, you can’t just cash the pandemic to favor your business strategies. You need to make sure that you’re using the term correctly.

When doing so, ask the following questions,

• Is the content that you’re about to publish on the Internet using COVID-19 relevant to your target market?
• Will targeting the coronavirus keyword have a positive or negative impact on your business?
• Will it be ethical to use the COVID-19 keyword search phrase as part of your content on the Internet?

As much as the idea of cashing the website traffic searching for COVID-19 is lucrative, it is also important to understand the impact such content can have on the image of your brand.

How Should One Proceed with SEO Marketing?

The answer is simple. Base your content around questions that are more commonly asked by people on Google related to COVID-19. People are getting anxious every day; their saved-up incomes are running low. The world economy just might collapse and amid the chaos, you must find questions related to COVID-19 that will complement their search intent. At the same time, you’ve to strategize how you’re going to sell your product/service as well. So it’s a double-edged sword that you have to deal with.

Some of the questions that are more commonly searched than others are “How did the coronavirus spread” or “How did the coronavirus begin”. By basing your content around such questions, there’s a strong chance that you can grab the attention of your visitors and then pitch your offer to them.

Perform Coronavirus Keyword Research

The easiest way to perform your coronavirus research is to find out questions surrounding coronavirus keywords. To do so, you can use just about any keyword research tool which you’ve already been using. In our case, we usually use AHREFs to perform our keyword research.

The idea is to find keywords that are most relevant to your audience. Then you have to find what specific twist you can give to that keyword in your content so it can complement your own business.

For example, if you’re a B2B business, then you can ask a question such as…

What Does Coronavirus Mean for B2B Business Owners?

If you’re working in the medical industry, then a question like,

How Are Medicare Institutions Making the Best Use of COVID-19 Outbreak?

And if you’re just a digital marketing agency like we are, then a question like,

What Marketing Strategies Can Work Wonders Amid the Coronavirus?

It can work incredibly well for your search audience.

So when you cover these topics, you can add some more important search terms that can create the bulk of your content. For example, you can introduce the element of how COVID-19 originated and how it is so widely spread across the world. While picking your favorite keywords, just make sure that you double-check the search volume and the keyword difficulty. Keywords or key phrases with higher search volumes and strong competition will be relatively hard to rank compared to the easier ones.

Perform Research on Your Target Audience

Before you decide on performing your research on the important questions to search, you should first understand who your target audience is. Consider your audience and learn what kind of content they are searching on the Internet.

Now, if you’re wondering how you can carry out such research, then I have a very easy way.

How about you ask the people yourself? If you have an active Facebook fan following or you have an email list of subscribers, or you’re very active on Quora or Reddit, just send them questions that will help you decide what content will have the best results.

Believe me; your audience can be the perfect source of giving you the insight you desperately require. Engage with them, learn from them, and then use that information to retarget them and sell services.

Lastly, Create a Coronavirus Page for Your Business

Last but not least, create a dedicated page for coronavirus to help create awareness. It can cover all the coronavirus-related questions and can serve as a pillar post through which you can market your other content. Bear in mind that your pillar post shouldn’t be focused on marketing your brand.

Instead, it should be solely focused on creating awareness and helping people out in the hour of their need. If you can add some other value to your audiences, such as a free giveaway or tutorial courses, it will contribute to your overall marketing strategy. Interlink your services within that pillar post and see if it converts your visitors. Use a mix of short-tail and long-tail keywords that are already ranking.

Add more contextual internal links as you see that your content has started rising in the SERP.

So that’s all folks, here’s everything I have to share with you on how to perform SEO on questions that can complement your COVID-19 marketing strategy. Stay tuned as I will soon be publishing more content.

Until next time.

In the wake of the Coronavirus epidemic, businesses are navigating a challenging landscape, prompting a surge in the demand for innovative digital marketing strategies.

Our world is facing a never-seen-before outbreak. Although the spread of coronavirus is dangerous, there is hope left on the horizon.

COVID-19 has impacted businesses, and the economy in the worst way ever. The grocery shelves are empty, and restaurants feel like part of a ghost town.

As a business owner, you might be looking for ways to save your business in the coronavirus epidemic.

If you’re watching the news every minute, you might have realized that coronavirus is not going anywhere soon. And even with a cure in hand, it might take some time for things to get back to normal.

While it’s difficult to leave your home at the moment, the situation is just a temporary phase, and your business is not going to shut down.

Let’s just say that it’s going to get worse before it gets any better.

In any case, the only solution for a startup is to stay connected with their audience and don’t lose their reputation in the process.  

This blog will teach you this today. I will share digital marketing ideas that will help your brand increase its online presence even in critical times like these.

Use Social Media to connect with your customer

Everyone is dealing with the coronavirus outbreak differently. Whether the test is positive or not, we all need to take precautions. We’ve all been locked in our homes with our family. No meetup with friends or dining out at restaurants.

This is the perfect time to show empathy to others and help them in whatever way you can. Time is sensitive, which is why you don’t have to act pushy all the time. But if you work smart, this is a grand opportunity for your brand to make a good reputation.

Everywhere is stuck in their homes, scanning for updates, and trying their best to remain insane in isolation.

Use your business to contribute food to areas where you can. Help the elderly with their grocery shopping. Promote these good deeds with social media marketing. Guide the customers on preventive measures of coronavirus outbreak.

Be Discoverable in this challenging time

It is a time when more people are online. Search traffic has been on the rise for the past week, and it will continue for some time. Everyone is glued to their computers and smartphones, and looking forward to updates. People are looking for entertainment and ways to pass their time.

Anything online right now will be consumed with more attention. This is not a time to hide offline. You must use search engine optimization strategies to get on top of Google search results pages. This is the time to connect with your customers and tell them that you are there to help them in any way possible. 

PPC can be a smart move

With everyone busy on their phones, there is no perfect time other than this to make the best use of PPC marketing. The cost per click is already low these days, which means that you’ll save some budget on your PPC marketing. It’s a fantastic way to jump-pass your competitors with clear-cut PPC marketing.

Get ready for the bounce-back surge

We all know that sooner or later, this coronavirus outbreak will be over. And when that happens, the consumer will return to their regular spending habits. You must remember that SEO is a long-term strategy. If you do something now, it will be part of the lives of people later.

Don’t pause your SEO campaign. Now is the time to get more links by guest posting on websites that are at the top of their game. When your site shows up, people will make a note and contact you later when things get back to normal.

Unique Circumstances demand special offers

You have this fantastic opportunity to show support to your customers by offering discounts to them. For instance, Amazon is giving free audiobooks to kids who are at home. Ahrefs offered their blogging for the business course for free. Udemy provided free classes in these critical times.

Think about what offers you can give to your customers for free or on a discount that might help them at this time.

The golden time to work on Local SEO

Since everyone is at home, they are looking for ways to distract themselves. If you are not using local SEO strategies to target your local customers, you are making a big mistake. It’s time to tell those customers that you exist.

Customers are now looking for convenience, something local and near their homes. It’s time for you to help these people and their families with the services that they need.

Make a landing page and offer them discounted offers or geo-location services that will help customers build trust, or at least they will positively remember your brand.

Finish your Digital to-do lists

Now that you’re not commuting to the office or taking any in-person meetings, your schedule is free. This is the free time to finish off all of those half-baked or incomplete digital ideas that never got your attention.

This is the time to rethink your underperforming marketing campaigns. Develop strategies for next year. Go for remarketing and ensure that your customers get what they are looking for.

Wrapping it up

During the pandemic, these adapted digital services empower businesses to thrive in the digital world. It doesn’t matter if you’re a startup or a well-established business. You need to show people that you are a brand that can serve even in times like these.

Undoubtedly, the coronavirus outbreak is temporary. But whatever you do at this time will be noted and remembered by your customers for the long haul. Ensure that you leave a good impression on your customers.

Before 2011 people had never heard of voice search, a voice assistant or even voice search optimization. When Siri was launched, people thought of it as a tool to make them laugh and manage their to-do lists.

I am a big fan of horror movies. So, whenever I get to witness anything remotely related to a supernatural phenomenon, I try to enjoy it fully. However, these chilling experiences often turn into hilarious memories. Almost a decade ago, when I went to my friend’s house, I found him talking to someone. Bear in mind that my friend has no family and he lives alone.  The following conversation took place between him and me.

Me: “Who are you talking to?
Friend: “I am talking to Siri.“
Me (with a big grin on my face): “Alas, you have a girlfriend!”
Friend (Unamused): “No, it’s someone whom you don’t know and can’t see.”
Me: “Lol! You are talking to ghosts. And here I thought you finally have a girl in your life.”
Friend (Irritated): “Moron. It’s just Siri –voice assistant on my iPhone.”

Not many people predicted that voice search would become a major trend of the future.

But just like everything else, voice search evolved.

Now, there are tons of voice-activated devices in the market, namely Alexa, Google Assistant, and Cortana.

It is said that by 2020, 50% of the searches will be via voice search.

Research conducted by Google revealed that people use voice search because of the following benefits:

• People can efficiently multi-task while searching for things with voice searches.
• It gives people convenience in their day-to-day tasks.
• Voice search helps people search faster than any other device.
• People can get instant answers and the information they seek.

People are already using voice assistants to get their routine straight, e.g., setting the alarm, setting reminders to call their mums, booking an appointment, feeding the dog, etc. This presents a massive marketing opportunity to marketers and small business owners as well.

Optimized for Semantic Search? Consider Yourself, Lucky

If you’ve heard of Google Hummingbird changes, I assume you are already aware of semantic search. If not, here goes. Google realized that they should add more to keyword searches than simple queries. They needed a new skill. This gives birth to comprehension.   

Instead of just queries, and fragments of keywords, Google started analyzing the meaning behind each question. In doing so, Google was able to predict the intent of the people searching for things online. This forced marketers to switch to voice search optimization.

Forget the long list of useless keywords you need to optimize for your search. Stop seeing search queries as words and shift your thinking to a voice search optimization mindset.

The Voice Search Optimization Mindset

In ancient times, the people of the caves used to survive by imitating others. Our great-grandparents worked hard and evolved like crazy, which is how we can survive generation by generation.

Whether you are an entrepreneur or working a tedious job, you'll die if you do not evolve. The same goes for your website. If you want to compete with the fearsome competitors out there, you must get your hands dirty with voice search optimization.

With that mindset, we must focus all our attention on voice search optimization. Instead of leaving things as they are. It is time that you start providing content that answers the needs of the customer. You know that Google will now read aloud your content so why not make it easy on the ears?

To do that, you first need to get rid of the over-optimized text that is lingering on your main page which will serve no great purpose now. In this guide, you’ll learn how to use voice search optimization to make your content relevant to what people are searching for. As the saying goes, "SEO done right is a win for everyone".

Turn Keywords into Queries 

Understand that people type and speak quite differently.

For instance, if someone is looking to buy a new TV. They will type “buy TV” while if they say the same thing, they’ll go like this, “What is the best TV?”

Were you able to spot the Semantic Search difference between the two?

Luckily there are online tools that can help you do this.

One such tool is Answer the Public. A fascinating tool takes one root keyword as input and presents a map of commonly asked questions regarding that keyword.

In Google, the “People Also Ask” feature acts in a similar manner. Just type in any question, and you’ll get what people are searching online.

Structure Your Content to Fit the Voice Search Mold

Voice search queries are more conversational and natural. People don’t type out fragmented keywords. Instead, they speak in full sentences or questions. To make your content in line with this rising trend, write as if you’re having a friendly chat. For instance, instead of “Best Italian restaurant in town,” use a phrase like, “What’s the best Italian restaurant near me?”

Consider the questions people ask out loud. They tend to be longer and more specific. So, if you’re optimizing for voice search, focus on providing direct answers. Think about what information users are likely seeking and structure your content accordingly. This approach not only helps with voice search but also improves the overall user experience on your site.

FAQs Are Your Best Friend

Adding a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section is a great way to optimize for voice search. People often ask who, what, where, when, and why. Answer these questions clearly on your site.

For example, if your business offers digital marketing services, anticipate questions like, “What are the benefits of digital marketing?” or “How can I increase my website’s traffic?” Provide straightforward, easy-to-understand answers. The following format makes it easier for search engines like Google to pull up your content as a featured snippet when users ask similar questions.

Regularly update your FAQs based on the evolving questions from your audience. Tools like Google’s “People Also Ask” feature can identify useful common queries related to your field. 

Don't Forget About Mobile

Most voice searches happen on mobile devices. 

So, make sure your site is mobile-friendly. It should load quickly, be responsive, and be easy to navigate. Voice searchers are often on the move and need quick answers. 

Having a mobile-friendly site is key to making your users happy, especially those using voice search. People on the go want quick answers without fuss. 

Therefore, it’s always great to ensure your site looks and works great on all devices. Test it out yourself on different screens to check if it runs smoothly.

If your website loads slowly, people might leave quickly—and that means missed chances for you.

Voice Search Optimization - The Future of Search

Voice search optimization is not just a passing trend; it’s the future of how people interact with search engines. With every passing day, voice search will become even more prevalent. 

Forget about old-school keyword stuffing. If you want your website to be a success, you need to ensure user intent is well met and you provide content that answers the spoken queries. 

Shift your focus from simply matching keywords. 

Understand the needs and questions of your audience and optimize your content accordingly. 

It prepares your content for the future and polishes up your overall SEO strategy. And before you know it - you will amass many visitors coming to your website. 

Branex is a digital transformation agency that offers mobile app development, website development, custom eCommerce development, and much more.

Link building is a key part of any SEO marketing strategy. It’s one of the things Google values the most. A well-implemented link building strategy ensures that you deliver relevant and high-quality results to people searching online. Not only that, but when you build links correctly (in line with Google's Webmaster Guidelines), it establishes better trust and authority.

In fact, a recent study by Ahrefs found that 91% of all pages on the web receive no organic traffic from Google, largely because they lack backlinks.

When adopting a link building strategy, it must be done with absolute care. A bad link can hurt your website’s ranking. Instead of boosting your site, it may struggle to keep up.

If you don’t want your website to go downhill, check out these six link building strategies. They might not be the top SEO trends, but they are essential for every link builder out there.

Let’s help you beat the competition online!

Emphasize Quality Content

In the past, search engines weren’t as sophisticated as they are today. If you want increased exposure for your business and want to rank your site at the top of SERPs, you need links that appear naturally. 

In 2018 or even 2019, it might not have mattered much where your links appeared. It was fairly irrelevant whether you were getting a backlink from a low-quality website faking authority. 

However, things are different now. Google’s algorithm has significantly evolved. It can distinguish between fake websites and genuine ones, placing greater emphasis on the quality and relevancy of a link.

Did You Know? According to Moz, 92% of search traffic goes to results on the first page of Google, further highlighting the importance of a robust link building strategy.

Quality Factors of Link Building

The main quality factors of a link are:

1. Anchor Text:

This is the text that hyperlinks to another webpage. For instance, linking Branex.com’s blog page as anchor text would appear as "Branex Blog".

Previously, Google relied more on descriptive anchor links, which led to anchor link abuse.

Fast forward to today, link building works differently. For example, let’s say you’re trying to create a natural backlink linking to your website on the keyword “digital marketing services.” Back then, people would abuse anchor text links by adding highly targeted and descriptive keywords like “cheap digital marketing services,” which would make up 90% of all your anchor text links. This kind of behavior is a clear signal to Google that you’re trying to manipulate SERPs.

2. Domain & Page Authority:

Domain Authority (DA) measures the authority of the domain name linking back to your website, based on factors like the number of backlinks.

Page Authority (PA) builds similarly but focuses on a single webpage instead of the entire domain. Tools like Moz, SEMRush, Ahrefs, and Majestic provide insights on PA and DA to assist in link building efforts.

3. Relevance:

Last but not least, the relevance of the link is critical. A funny domain name might not link back to your website as effectively as a domain more relevant to your niche. For example, if your website sells digital marketing services, a domain name such as “www.digitalmarketingtexas.com” would be more effective in helping your backlink rank accurately than one that isn’t relevant.

Wrong backlinks can cause harm. You could end up on low-quality article directories or content mills, risking your website’s reputation.

Fun Fact: Never buy links, or your website risks being de-indexed.

Develop Useful Connections

As mentioned, quality backlinks are not easy to obtain. It requires constant effort, especially when searching for links within your relevant niche.

The goal should always be to have links to your website appear in relevant places. Businesses must check if the page is original, authoritative, and relevant to the desired niche when making backlinks. If you’ve been in SEO for a while, you may have contacts you can reach out to. Building lasting relationships with website owners in your industry can provide invaluable resources that benefit your link building campaign.

Don’t hesitate to approach a webmaster with an offer. It may help you forge a mutually beneficial and long-lasting relationship. It could be anything worthy of a link—like a product, business, service, or brand name. You might already have something useful that others would link to on their websites.

Write High-Authority Guest Posts

According to a study by Aira, 53% of marketers still believe guest posting is one of the top link building strategies.

Although an old practice, guest posting is still one of the fastest ways to build authority backlinks by connecting with webmasters who accept quality content.

However, one of the worst mistakes businesses make is trying to use guest posts to manipulate search engine results, which can lead to penalties. Instead of adding value, this tactic can damage their site. But if you create quality content that is helpful and relevant to a target market, guest posting becomes a useful tactic you can rely on.

Just don’t overdo it, or you risk spamming the platform.

Use More Variety

No doubt, building links has become more challenging, but there are still plenty of opportunities out there. Many specialists now diversify their link building strategies, leveraging various methods.

To build a diverse and valuable link profile, link builders use different forums, social media posts, blog posts, local citations (for local businesses), and other social media channels.

If you’re implementing link building for your business, diversify your approach and ensure you create links that appear valuable to readers.

Place links strategically, or they will end up in spam.

Engage Your Audience

As discussed earlier, it’s important to create lasting connections, which you can only achieve by engaging with your target audience.

Online marketing is a collaborative effort—a two-way conversation unlike traditional advertising, which often focuses solely on sending a pitch.

As a webmaster, you have plenty of opportunities to engage your audience. Social networks provide an easy way to converse, where you can leave comments and add links. You can also leave blog comments and engage your audience in forums for better understanding.

By paying attention to their needs, getting them involved, and addressing their concerns, you build trust and respect, ultimately fostering long-lasting relationships.

A portion of your link building work might even be handled by your audience.

Add More Value

There is no shortage of low-quality content online. Many articles are written solely to generate backlinks.

Google AI for search has transformed everything. Despite this, countless low-value articles and web pages are still published regularly, adding little to no value for readers. Many of these are AI-generated or spun content.

Publishing original, high-quality content not only adds value but also attracts backlinks naturally. Your content may be shared on social networks and bookmarking sites, and webmasters may voluntarily link to your content.

There’s a saying, “Write naturally, and the links will come.”

It doesn’t matter if you’re a veteran SEO professional or a beginner, you’ll agree that natural link building will give you a long-term position in Google search ranking.

What is Natural Link Building?

Natural link building is attracting links without investing any energy or time. The links are generated naturally by guest posting or incorporating user-generated content.

The core idea behind generating natural links is that the content on your website is so valuable that people cannot resist linking your website to their content.

The more natural links you’re able to accumulate, the stronger your position on the SERPs.

We would suggest combining both natural link building with current link building methods to double the impact.

Benefits of Natural Link Building

Traditional link building differs from natural link building.

With natural link building, you can improve your traffic, rank, and increase brand visibility.

• Industry recognition: When you get your link mentioned in a famous publication, your brand visibility will increase.
• Social shares: There is a direct relationship between the number of shares and the content that attracts natural shares.
• Building relationships: Using natural links can help you build relationships with industry experts.
• Confidence: When you get traffic from natural links, you know that these are genuine people willing to read and take an interest in your brand.

So does one approach natural link building?

How can we glean those coveted link juice that will nourish your rankings to the top?

Let’s dive into six link building strategies that can help you turn the wheels and drive you to the top in a natural way.

1: Content Marketing

The foundation of strong link building starts with creating content worth sharing.

Traditional link building demands links from guest posts and blog comments. The natural link building doesn’t work like that.

Building evergreen content is a sure-shot way to attract links from high-quality backlink websites.

If your content is regularly providing value, it becomes evident that people and high-authority websites will take note.

2: Social Media Platforms

Your personal social media profiles provide a grand opportunity to share links to your website without costing you anything.

Twitter gives you two fields to add a link. (In bio and website section). On Instagram, you can add a link to the profile. While on LinkedIn you have the option to add three links.

Besides all of this, social media will help you to get your content in front of more people.

If your content is relevant and engaging, that your audience would love to share, then this will result in attracting tons of natural links.

3: Taking Aid from Resource Pages

Resource pages are evergreen pages that provide high value to the customers. These are the pages that contain PDFs, downloadable content, tips and tools, interviews, and third-party links that offer valuable content. The good thing about these pages is that people visit these pages more often.

At times some websites limit their resource pages for themselves. However, if you can convince the website owner to post your link on the resource page, it would give your website’s ranking a boost on Google.

People looking for answers to their problems often land on these pages. And if they find your content useful, then they will share it further, directing more relevant traffic and link juice to your website.

4: Quora

A question-and-answer website that shares knowledge and gives answers to questions asked by people, with traffic of more than 200,000+ unique visitors per month.

To gain natural links from Quora, the key is to provide value. Bloggers use Quora to drop their links whenever they get a chance.

Find a question that relates to your product/service/brand and while providing a valuable answer, subtly direct the reader to your site to explore your offerings.

5: Ebooks

Is an excellent writer on your team? If yes, ask them to write an industry-leading ebook to get some natural links.

An ebook is personal, and if you do it the right way, then your audience will start considering you an expert in your domain, giving you authority over other websites.

Once you’ve crafted a highly valuable ebook, you can then intelligently place links to articles, and landing pages of your products and services via hyperlinking text and CTAs.

6: Reddit

Reddit is not just for r/gaming, r/showerthoughts, and r/dankmemes. There are plenty of things that you can do on Reddit. For instance, you can use Reddit to answer questions or share knowledge.

Create an account as a simple user and start answering questions that are related to the industry of your business.

Subscribe to subreddits that are related to your industry. Answer questions that build your karma and share value. Occasionally, drop a link that helps users and at the same time helps other businesses.

If other Redditors like what you have to say, and if your linked content is of interest to them, they may decide to share it elsewhere or even link to it in a future article.

Conclusion

Link building is crucial for SEO success, but it only works when done right.

By focusing on quality content, building strong connections, and using diverse strategies, you can create a powerful link building plan that boosts your rankings and builds trust with your audience.

Keep engaging with your audience, add real value, and let the links grow naturally.

Ready to take your SEO game to the next level? Branex offers expert SEO services tailored to your business needs. Let’s help you dominate the competition online—contact us today!

Spending big bucks on your SEO can be worth it if you have a clear goal, strategy, and budget for your SEO campaign. 

There was nothing special about the event.

The speaker began with a simple introduction.

A Breakthrough Digital Device

People were curious. They knew they were in for a surprise, but no one knew that the device that was about to be announced would completely change the way we listen to and enjoy music.

This shocked People who were happy with a wallet-friendly CD player were shocked. They thought it was the most insane idea of the century.

I mean, who will pay $399 for a music player? However, this was not an ordinary mp3 player. This was the first iPod.

A device, having the capacity to store 1,000 – 2,000 CD-quality songs with a runtime of 10 hours.

When Steve Jobs made the announcement of the iPod for the first time, people in the presentation hall thought it was an outrageously expensive device.

However, by the time Jobs finished his 50-minute presentation, the audience, as well as the potential customers, were completely sold, and oodles of people bought iPods regardless of their price.

Life-Saving Father’s Advice For My Startup

My dad has always said, “The cheaper buyer gets bad meat”. I didn’t understand his words until the time I started my first business.

When I launched an ecommerce store and assumed that I could take care of the website SEO. I was operating on a limited budget. So I learned whatever I could about SEO and implemented those strategies.

Six months passed, and there were no sales. Eventually, my friend advised me to hire a professional SEO agency to take care of SEO. Although the price seemed too high at that moment, that was one of the best decisions of my life.

People carry this feel-good perception that if something is expensive, it must be good. Americans are already appending $497.16 per month on their SEO. Moreover, companies paying $500 are more satisfied than those paying anything less than $500. 

A study by Backlinko revealed some thought-provoking results. Here are some of the significant findings:

Key SEO Findings by Backlinko's Study

• Small businesses often take SEO services if they come directly from a referral, Google search, or an online review.
• More than 75% of businesses believe that the reputation of the CEO of the digital agency plays a vital role in hiring the agency. Location is also an essential factor. People consider going to a local SEO Agency.  
• One of the biggest challenges for website owners is to attract new customers and retain old customers without spending much. A professional SEO agency will overcome this challenge by using smart strategies.
• Block fraudulent clicks on Google Ads.
• Business owners expect an SEO company to boost brand awareness.
• It turns out that the majority of business owners are not happy with their current SEO agency. Only 30% of the owners plan to recommend their current service provider.
• Clients prefer to work with an agency rather than a freelancer.
• Even if some clients prefer to stay with the brand after the first failure, there is a chance that the client will leave because of customer service and responsiveness.
• As a result, most of the CEOs didn’t believe in one SEO agency, and dissatisfied they switched to more than one agency.

Investing in premium SEO services is more critical now than ever before. Despite the current difficulty, everyone finds themselves facing a lack of organic keyword data & traffic.

A coherent SEO strategy is essential in terms of online marketing; along with other vital components of the brand. Search engine optimization or SEO is a way to optimize your website so that search engines will understand it better and give you higher rankings. If you’re willing to showcase your brand in Google Search result pages, it is pivotal to invest in the right SEO agency.

Implementing strong, quality SEO on a brand’s website and digital properties is always going to be beneficial to that brand and its marketing efforts.

It’s considered a “new age” marketing technique. But it’s critical to a brand’s web presence in this day and age, especially as available data and rivaling competition continue to increase and grow.

If you’re still worried about the premium price of SEO, stop thinking, and start dialing our numbers. We provide high quality SEO services without hurting your wallet.