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5 Steps to Create an Outstanding Marketing Plan [Free Templates]

marketing team discussing marketing plan  5 Steps to Create an Outstanding Marketing Plan [Free Templates] marketing plan 1

Do you take a good, hard look at your team’s marketing strategy every year?

You should. An annual marketing plan helps you set your marketing on the right course to make your company’s business goals a reality. Think of it as a high-level plan that guides the direction of your team’s campaigns, goals, and growth.
Without one, things can get messy — and it’s nearly impossible to put a number on the budget you’ll need to secure for the projects, hiring, and outsourcing you’ll encounter over the course of a year if you don’t have a plan.

Keep in mind there are variations to the marketing plan you need, depending on your industry and the goals of your marketing team. To make your plan’s creation easier, we’ve put together a list of what to include in your plan and a few different planning templates where you can easily fill in the blanks.

→ Download Now: Free Marketing Plan Template

marketing-strategy-template-free  5 Steps to Create an Outstanding Marketing Plan [Free Templates] mkt plan cover 1

Outline your company’s marketing strategy in one simple, coherent plan.


To start, let’s dive into how to create a marketing plan and then take a look at what a high-level marketing plan has inside.

In this article, we’re going to discuss:

  • What a High-Level Marketing Plan Includes
  • How to Create a Marketing Plan
  • Marketing Plan Templates You Can Use
  • Simplified Marketing Plan Template
  • Plus — Social Media Plan Templates
  • Marketing Plan Outline


Marketing plans can get quite granular to reflect the industry you’re in, whether you’re selling to consumers (B2C) or other businesses (B2B), and how big your digital presence is. Nonetheless, here are the elements every effective marketing plan includes:

  1. Business Summary
    In a marketing plan, your Business Summary is exactly what it sounds like: a summary of the organization. This includes:

The company name
Where it’s headquartered
Its mission statement

  1. Business Initiatives
    The Business Initiatives element of a marketing plan helps you segment the various goals of your department. Be careful not to include big-picture company initiatives, which you’d normally find in a business plan. This section of your marketing plan should outline the projects that are specific to marketing. You’ll also describe the goals of those projects and how those goals will be measured.
  2. Customer Analysis
    Here’s where you’ll conduct some basic market research. If your company has already done a thorough market research study, this section of your marketing plan might be easier to put together.

Ultimately, this element of your marketing plan will help you describe the industry you’re selling to and your buyer persona. A buyer persona is a semi-fictional description of your ideal customer, focusing on traits like:

  • Age
  • Location
  • Title
  • Goals
  • Personal challenges
  • Pains
  • Triggering events
  1. Competitor Analysis
    Your buyer persona has choices when it comes to solving their problems, choices in both the types of solutions they consider and the providers that can administer those solutions. In your market research, you should consider your competition, what they do well, and where the gaps are that you can potentially fill. This can include:
  • Positioning
  • Market share
  • Offerings
  • Pricing
  1. SWOT Analysis
    Your marketing plan’s Business Summary also includes a SWOT analysis, which stands for the business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Be patient with your business’s SWOT analysis; you’ll write most of it based on your market research from the sections above and your strategy below.
  2. Market Strategy
    Your Market Strategy uses the information included in the above sections to describe how your company should approach the market. What will your business offer your buyer personas that your competitors aren’t already offering them?

In a full-length marketing plan, this section can contain the “seven Ps of marketing”:

  • Product
  • Price
  • Place
  • Promotion
  • People
  • Process
  • Physical Evidence


(You’ll learn more about these seven sub-components inside our free marketing plan template, which you can download below.)

  1. Budget
    Don’t mistake the Budget element of your marketing plan with your product’s price or other company financials. Your budget describes how much money the business has allotted the marketing team to pursue the initiatives and goals outlined in the elements above.

Depending on how many individual expenses you have, you should consider itemizing this budget by what specifically you’ll spend your budget on. Example marketing expenses include:

  • Outsourcing costs to a marketing agency and/or other providers
  • Marketing software
  • Paid promotions
  • Events (those you’ll host and/or attend)
  1. Marketing Channels
    Lastly, your marketing plan will include a list of your marketing channels. While your company might promote the product itself using certain ad space, your marketing channels are where you’ll publish the content that educates your buyers, generates leads, and spreads awareness of your brand.

If you publish (or intend to publish) on social media, this is the place to talk about it. Use the Marketing Channels section of your marketing plan to lay out which social networks you want to launch a business page on, what you’ll use this social network for, and how you’ll measure your success on this network. Part of this section’s purpose is to prove to your superiors, both inside and outside the marketing department, that these channels will serve to grow the business.

Businesses with extensive social media presences might even consider elaborating on their social strategy in a separate social media plan template.

  1. Financial Projections
    Knowing the budget and doing analysis on the marketing channels you want to invest in, you should be able to come up with a plan for how much budget to invest in which tactics based on expected ROI. From there, you’ll be able to come up with financial projections for the year. These won’t be 100% accurate but can help with executive planning.
  • How to Create a Marketing Plan
  • Conduct a situation analysis.
  • Define your target audience.
  • Write SMART goals.
  • Analyze your tactics.
  • Set your budget.
Social Media Marketing Plan Templates
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Social Media Marketing Plan Templates

As marketing departments grow, so will their presence on social media. And as their social media presence grows, so will their need to measure, plan, and re-plan what types of content they want to publish across each network.

If you’re looking for a way to deepen your social media marketing strategy — even further than the marketing plan template above — the following collection of social media marketing plan templates is perfect for you:

Download 10 social media reporting templates here.

In the above collection of marketing plan templates, you’ll get to fill in the following contents (and more) to suit your company:

  • Annual social media budget tracking
  • Weekly social media themes
  • Required social media image dimension key
  • Pie chart on social media traffic sorted by platform
  • Social media post calendar and publish time

Below, let’s review the social media reporting templates, and what you’ll find in each one.

1. Social Media Questions

Social media publishing analysis and questions.  Social Media Marketing Plan Templates social media questions

This template lists out questions to help you decide which social media management platform you should use.

Once you know what social media tactics you’re going to implement in your marketing plan, it’s time to figure out what channels are right for you. This template will help you do that.

2. Hashtag Holidays

Social media hashtag holidays.  Social Media Marketing Plan Templates hashtag holidays

If you’re going to lean in to social media in your marketing plan, you can use hashtag holidays to generate ideas.

These holidays are a great way to fill out your social media publishing schedule. With this template, you’ll get a list of all the hashtag holidays for the year.

3. Facebook Live Schedule

Facebook live schedule template.  Social Media Marketing Plan Templates facebook live schedule

If Facebook live is one of the marketing tactics in your plan, this template will help you design an editorial calendar. With this template, you can organize what Facebook live’s you want to do and when.

4. Instagram Post Log

Instagram post log for social media publishing management.  Social Media Marketing Plan Templates instagram post log

Are you going to begin using Instagram regularly? Do you want to increase your following? With this template, you can organize your Instagram posts, so everyone on your team knows what posts are going live and when.

Additionally, you can organize your assets and campaigns on this doc.

5. Paid Social Media Template

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With this template, you can organize your annual and monthly budget for your paid social media calendar.

6. Social Media Audit

Social media audit template.  Social Media Marketing Plan Templates social media audit

Conducting a social media audit? You can use this template to help you gather the right analytics.

7. Social Media Editorial Calendar

Social media editorial calendar template.  Social Media Marketing Plan Templates social media editorial calendar

With this template, you can organize your social media editorial calendar. For example, you can include social media posts for each platform, so your team knows what’s going live on any given day.

8. Social Media Image Sizes

Social media image size template.  Social Media Marketing Plan Templates social media image sizes

With this template, your team can have the latest social media image sizes handy. This template includes image sizes for all major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

9. Social Media Marketing Proposal

Social media marketing proposal template.  Social Media Marketing Plan Templates social media marketing proposal

With this template, you can create an entire social media marketing proposal. This will outline the social media goals, scope of the work, and the tactics that you plan to implement.

10. Social Media Reporting Template

Social media report template.  Social Media Marketing Plan Templates social media report template

With this template, you’ll gain access to a slidedeck that includes templates for social media reporting. If you plan to implement social media in your marketing plan, these reporting templates can help you track your progress.

Simple Marketing Plan Template

Of course, this type of planning takes a lot of time and effort. So if you’re strapped for time before the holidays, give our marketing plan.

This tool simplifies yearly planning by asking prompted questions to help guide your process. You’ll be asked to input information about: 

  • Your annual marketing mission statement, which is what your marketing is focused on for the year. 
  • The strategy that you’ll take with your marketing throughout the year to accomplish your marketing goals. 
  • Three main marketing initiatives that you’ll focus on during the year (i.e., brand awareness or building a high-quality pipeline) metrics you’ll use to measure your success.
  • Your target goals for those marketing initiatives like generating 100 leads per week. 
  • Marketing initiatives that are not aligned with your current strategy to stay focused on your goals and activities that will help you be successful.

Once you input all information, the tool will spit out a table (as shown in the image below) that you can use to guide your processes.

simple marketing plan template  Social Media Marketing Plan Templates simple 20marketing 20plan

Pro Tip: If the tool doesn’t work, clear your browser’s cache or access it in incognito mode.

Let us manage your social Media!

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Good morning: Media is changing

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Changing picture

Plus a list of the top performing Valentine’s Day video ads

Chris Wood on February 18, 2022 at 10:12 am

Good morning, Marketers, the times are changing and so are the traditional media and technologies we’ve used for years.

Before the pandemic, I admit I wasn’t that impressed with finding a QR code on a magazine ad. At that time, I was probably also questioning my resilience in consuming a form of print media. 

I also wasn’t listening to podcasts regularly back then because I hadn’t yet acquired smart speakers, and I found earbuds intrusive and distracting. Now, while spending more work and recreational time at my residence, the speakers are always going.

That’s the user side. What about the shifts in backend technology that are making QR codes, podcasts and even print ads something different in 2022? 

What’s changed is that the cookie is fading, so publishers and streaming services are upping their identity, measurement, attribution and targeting capabilities. These really aren’t the same media from even a couple years ago because all the old channels and tools are changing.

Chris Wood,

Editor

Shorts

Before all the chocolates get eaten and the long stem roses wilt, let’s have a look at the top performing Valentine’s Day video ads, according to ad automation platform AcuityAds:

  1. Victoria’s Secret, “Feel the Love” (6,650,287 views)
  2. Pandora Jewelry, “Celebrate Your Little Acts of Love” (4,573,790 views)
  3. The Bouqs Company, “Valentine’s Day 2022” (4,126,349 views)
  4. Swarovski, “For the One You Love” (3,193,447 views)
  5. Teleflora, “Love Out Loud Truck” (2,885,657 views)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Good morning: Media is changing Chris Wood 1 338x338

Chris WoodChris Wood draws on over 15 years of reporting experience as a B2B editor and journalist. At DMN, he served as associate editor, offering original analysis on the evolving marketing tech landscape. He has interviewed leaders in tech and policy, from Canva CEO Melanie Perkins, to former Cisco CEO John Chambers, and Vivek Kundra, appointed by Barack Obama as the country’s first federal CIO. He is especially interested in how new technologies, including voice and blockchain, are disrupting the marketing world as we know it. In 2019, he moderated a panel on “innovation theater” at Fintech Inn, in Vilnius. In addition to his marketing-focused reporting in industry trades like Robotics Trends, Modern Brewery Age and AdNation News, Wood has also written for KIRKUS, and contributes fiction, criticism and poetry to several leading book blogs. He studied English at Fairfield University, and was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He lives in New York.

Young youtuber streaming a live video  YouTube to double down on Shorts in 2022 young youtuber streaming a live video
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YouTube to double down on Shorts in 2022

Asia SME owner, seller woman micro influencer, happy youtuber prepare record live  YouTube to double down on Shorts in 2022 asia sme owner seller woman micro influencer happy youtuber prepare record live
Asia SME owner, seller woman micro influencer, happy youtuber prepare record live

ouTube’s roadmap for this year includes enhancements to Shorts and more robust shopping experience features.

George Nguyen on February 11, 2022 at 2:51 pm

YouTube is emphasizing enhancements to it Shorts feature as well as laying out plans to improve shopping experiences in a blog post by Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan setting out its 2022 roadmap. While Mohan did not go into specific detail, he did provide a useful overview of what to expect from YouTube this year.

Shorts. YouTube plans to keep adding features to its Shorts format, the platform’s answer to TikTok and Instagram’s Reels. In addition to new effects and editing tools, YouTube plans to introduce the ability to reply to individual comments by creating another Short (similar to TikTok).

YouTube is also exploring monetization options for this format. In the coming months, it plans to test BrandConnect for Shorts creators, integration of the Super Chat feature (in which viewers can purchase visually distinct chat messages) as well as the ability to shop directly from a Short.

New insights for creators. New insights will be added to YouTube Studio. Mohan did not go into detail about what to expect from these new analytics capabilities other than that they’re meant to help “generate concrete content ideas for upcoming videos.”

More robust shopping experiences. Shopping capabilities will expand via shoppable videos, Live Shopping and via the user interface of the YouTube app.

Other updates for brands and creators. Channel guidelines, which can help creators influence the tone of conversations on their channel, are currently being tested.

An example of channel guidelines in YouTube  YouTube to double down on Shorts in 2022 Youtube Channel Guidelines
An example of channel guidelines in YouTube. Image: YouTube.

Collaborative livestreaming will also be introduced, enabling creators to go live with other creators.

Collaborative livestreaming on YouTube  YouTube to double down on Shorts in 2022 Youtube collaborative livestream 800x459
Collaborative livestreaming on YouTube. Image: YouTube.

And, YouTube has begun testing gifted memberships, which allow viewers to purchase channel memberships for other viewers in a livestream.

Read next: How TikTok influenced one of the top performing video ads of 2021

Why we care. Don’t underestimate the growing impact on marketing of the short-form video format represented by YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels and, of course, Tik Tok. TikTok, of course, saw its audience nearly double in 2020 and although Google and Meta moved competitively against it, it’s clear to most users that a lot of what Shorts and Reels do is replicate the TikTok experience. And although it’s frowned on, it’s clear that a lot of TikTok creators are simply using Reels and Shorts to expand the reach of their TikTok content.

The new Shorts features may help it compete against TikTok and Instagram. Being able to reply via a Short can keep users engaged on the platform for longer. And, monetization options for creators may also help drive adoption as well as influencer marketing opportunities on YouTube.

Additional reporting by Kim Davis

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How to Succeed in B2B Influencer Marketing

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Whether you’re just starting to explore B2B influencer marketing efforts or you’re well on your way to putting influencer content in place, there are myriad articles that can help you plot out the major steps to success. However, many of those articles don’t quite dive deep enough into some of the often overlooked yet oh-so-critical details that happen in between those big steps. 

Sometimes, that understanding comes from experience. In this case, it comes from our experience, and we’re happy to share it so you can avoid common mistakes and missteps along your B2B influencer path to success.

You Need More B2B Influencer Meetings Than You Are Thinking

Whenever anyone talks about the process of getting B2B influencer marketing efforts off the ground, they make it sound like all you need is to identify influencers, reach out, agree on the scope and then content magically appears. While that process is kind of true, it’s also not the whole picture either. It actually leaves out a plethora of meetings.

No one wants another meeting on their calendars, but conducting a lot of the right meetings is essential for B2B influencer marketing success. Instead of one big meet-and-greet-scoping-contracting-kickoff meeting, schedule smaller, more intentional meetings:

  • Initial meet-and-greet: You’re forming a new business relationship, so use this time to get to know the influencer on a personal and professional level. Talk about what they like to create, what they don’t like to create, the topics they usually cover, their upcoming availability and overall bandwidth. Also, let them get to know you and/or your team, too.
  • Vision/goal setting meeting: After the meet-and-greet call, come back to the table with some initial ideas and options for how you and the influencer can work together, but make sure there’s room for the influencer to ideate and brainstorm, too. This should be the time you both talk about goals for working together.
  • Formal scoping call: Once you and the B2B influencer are on the same page for the vision and goals, put together a formal scope of work based on your conversation. Be sure to include essential information, like what exactly is being created, when and for how much. Then, go through all of it, together. Make sure any gray area is cleared up and all questions are answered.
  • Official project kickoff: Formally kickoff the project(s) to signify the official start of the scope. Get on the same page about deadlines, assign a main point of contact for the influencer, and set creation expectations. While this seems like it might be over-the-top, it’s also creating a fresh start and giving everyone clear direction on how and when to move forward.
  • Regular check-in meetings (as needed): Depending on the final B2B influencer scope, you may want to have weekly, biweekly or monthly check-ins, just to make sure you’re on the same page and give yourselves the opportunity to talk through any details or issues that may come up along the way.

Of course, your meeting cadence and schedule will be completely dependent on what you’re using B2B influencer marketing for and what the scope of engagement looks like. Just be prepared to have a lot more meetings than you might think are necessary. 

Also, remember to keep every meeting focused on accomplishing next steps or a specific set of goals. That way, meetings will never feel excessive and they’ll be more like working sessions instead.

Tailor Your B2B Influencer Marketing Ask to the Influencer’s Talents

Not all influencers are writers. Not all influencers are speakers. Not all influencers are social media and content marketing strategists. It’s actually incredibly rare to find a B2B influencer who can do it all, so don’t jump into B2B influencer conversations with the expectation that they can. Instead, tailor your content to their talents.

While this may seem obvious, it can be hard to remember when you have a big vision and finally find a B2B influencer who is a great match for your goals and organization or get wrapped up in brainstorming. Of course you’re going to want them to create all the amazing things and be part of exciting co-creation efforts! They also might feel pressured to live up to those expectations or feel like it’s a deal-breaker if they can’t, so don’t put them out there to begin with.

Just keep in mind that you likely aren’t the world’s best writer, editor, videographer, speaker, social strategist and content marketing specialist all rolled into one, so don’t expect your B2B influencers to be the same either.

Be Prepared to Get B2B Influencer Content in Other Ways

Let’s say you have tailored the influencer marketing ask to the influencer’s talents, but they don’t have the bandwidth to take on a huge ebook project, or the availability to put together a full webinar, or even the time to put together a blog series. That’s ok, because you can get creative with how B2B influencers can create and contribute:

  • Interview B2B influencers: Have them get camera-ready and sit down for an old-fashioned interview. Give them questions that can help you get the content you need to piece together an ebook, a social series, blogs and more. As a bonus: because they’re camera-ready, you can slice up and reuse the recordings of that interview, with influencer permission, of course.
  • Have them record short-form videos: B2B influencer contributions don’t have to be massive all the time. Simply having a great idea + short-form video can be really powerful. This is exactly what Oracle Marketing Cloud’s did for their On the Fly series, where B2B influencers recorded short pieces of marketing advice while on the go in airports, train stations and more.
  • Use a staff writer to work with the influencer: Sometimes you might just have to help the B2B influencer get their thoughts out of their head and onto paper, which may take a staff writer working directly with them. In this scenario, have the writer set up multiple working sessions with the B2B influencer. Then, the staff writer can bring the influencer’s own words to life.

Yes, it might be ideal to have B2B influencers create and deliver their own content from start to finish, but that just might not be possible all the time. Thankfully, there are plenty of backup options to still get that great B2B influencer-originated content.

Treat B2B Influencers Like a Contractor and a Client

While you may technically be “hiring” a B2B influencer, they don’t work for you. They’re working with you. Instead of viewing the relationship as you hiring someone to create content, look at your B2B influencers more like contractors or clients. It’s a mutual working relationship that takes a lot of work, and they have other clients and a whole other business of their own to run, too.

Also, B2B influencers are very, very connected to a much larger network, and they know through the grapevine who is great to work with and who they wouldn’t work with again. 

Need Help with Making Your B2B Influencer Marketing Successful?

Our team of strategists are here to help you. Contact us today.

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How to Get on Top of Google Search

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SEO Trends for 2022: How to Get on Top of Google Search

Authors:

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SEO is one of the youngest marketing disciplines out there, and it’s also incredibly fast-paced. It looks almost nothing like what it did when we started.

While the fundamental principle remains the same — SEO is about making websites easy to find and understand — the tactics involved are very different than they were 15, 5, and even 1 year ago

Here’s what you should know for 2022, as well as key steps for implementing these trends and tactics.

SEO Trend #1: SERP Marketing and Content Diversification

For years now, Google has been taking steps to become a destination, not just a discovery project. With knowledge graphs, quick answers, and interactive and visual results, Google is building an ultimate resource that can give comprehensive answers to any query.

SERP Marketing and Content Diversification  How to Get on Top of Google Search SERP Marketing and Content Diversification

Within one search result page, we see:

  1. Google.com/Travel suggestions
  2. Knowledge graph (that includes maps, user reviews, basic facts, etc.)
  3. Related videos (This search element is interactive because you can scroll through the carousel to see more videos)
  4. “People Also Ask” results (This box is also interactive: You can click any question to read answers and expand follow-up questions. Interestingly, a question you click determines the topic of further questions that appear. I find this quite eye-opening.)
  5. The visual results including more similar destinations, related searches, and more
  6. Organic “text” results which are somehow lost in-between

This is where the concept of “SERP marketing” lies: You need to stop focusing on organic listings and start optimizing for all the other search elements, including videos, images and “quick-answer” sections (“People Also Ask” and featured snippets).

You need to take each individual search result page as a whole to achieve brand visibility there.

How to Dominate Google with SERP Marketing

There’s a lot to be done to create an effective SERP Marketing campaign. Here are some steps to get you started:

Analyze Your Current Opportunities

At IMN, we are building an ultimate SERP marketing tool that helps you determine all important content formats that needs to be created to dominate your target queries:

SERP Marketing Tool  How to Get on Top of Google Search SERP Marketing Tool

The tool uses your current rankings to show where you are missing out. Use this tool to understand your current opportunities better and optimize for those.

Set Up Content Collaboration Strategy

Content diversification brings in both challenges and opportunities. On the one hand, you need to continually come up with quality content assets in various formats, which is incredibly hard to scale. On the other hand, you get to leverage more mediums and try more tools and tactics, which is pretty awesome.

Content collaboration is the tactic that can solve many issues and empower your marketing with more benefits, including natural backlinks, trust and shares. And the good news is there are great projects that help you build contacts to co-create content and scale it.

Of course, unified communication is a big part of it, especially post-covid when most companies have moved to remote operations.

BizSwipe is one example that allows you to easily build B2B connections for content co-creation and marketing collaboration. You can use advanced filters and easy connection tools to find partners and influencers who can help you diversify your content strategy:

Content Collaboration Strategy  How to Get on Top of Google Search Content Collaboration Strategy

Organize Your Strategy Using an Editorial Calendar

For content collaboration and co-marketing opportunities, consider using an editorial calendar solution that will help you organize your campaigns.

ContentCal is a marketing collaboration platform that can help you organize your omni-channel content marketing strategy and boost its effectiveness:

ContentCal  How to Get on Top of Google Search ContentCal

Use its “Content Campaigns” feature to schedule your upcoming content assets and put all the ideas, goals and tasks in each campaign brief.

ContentCal Content Campaigns feature  How to Get on Top of Google Search ContentCal Content Campaigns feature

Creating a central dashboard for all your content plans to be visible for your whole team is key to consistent and effective content strategy. With ContentCal each team member responsible for a single piece of the puzzle will be able to see and contribute to the whole picture.

At the end of the day, content diversification lies at the foundation of omnichannel marketing that has multiple benefits (including cross-device compatibility, smoother shopping experience, creation of more marketing channels and more). So you may want to start working on it whether you are worried about your search visibility or not.

SEO Trend #2: Rich Results

Google search results are becoming increasingly richer and more interactive.

The good news is that this gives SEOs a competitive advantage over those website owners who are not keeping up with Google’s moves.

As an example, here’s what FAQPage schema looks like in search results once you implement it:

FAQPage schema  How to Get on Top of Google Search FAQPage schema 1

This search snippet is interactive — you can click any question to unfold the answer, and from there, even get to the site for more answers:

Search Snippet  How to Get on Top of Google Search Search Snippet

How to Implement Structured Data

There are many tools, plugins and solutions, allowing any website owner to implement structured markup with no technical knowledge required.

Check out a few options:

Voice search is no longer a trend. It is a habit. Most of us are routinely asking questions to a mobile device or a smart speaker. It is something that has become part of our lives.

Obviously, mobile search is going strong, and we have many sources to confirm that, including:

  • Back in 2015, Google revealed that more people were using mobile search than desktop search in 10 countries, including the US and Japan
  • In 2018, more than half of website traffic in the US was coming from mobile devices
  • Last year consumers spent three and a half hours a day on their mobile devices

Google switched its priorities by introducing Mobile-First Index, which means that Google predominantly uses the mobile version of a page for indexing and ranking. In other words, if your page doesn’t look good on a mobile device, or if the mobile version has less content, you may lose rankings in both mobile and desktop search results.

Mobile-First Indexing  How to Get on Top of Google Search mobilefirstindexing

Given that mobile device users often use voice search to find answers while on the go, it is safe to assume that voice search is getting popular, and these two trends are very well connected:

  • Both mobile and voice users are likely to be looking for answers while in the middle of the task (so they need clear, concise answers right away)
  • In both of the cases, the top result (which is often the featured snippet) is really what matters. So we are competing for the top result now, versus top 5 positions as we did a few years ago
  • Obviously, make your site mobile-friendly and fast (page speed is important!)
  • Adapt your content strategy to catch those featured snippet opportunities to outrank your competitors. Mobile users seldom have time to scroll, and with voice search there’s only one result being read to the user. This makes featured snippet optimization incredibly essential for your online visibility — you are either there or nowhere.

There’s a lot to featured snippet optimization (which deserves a whole separate article which I already did), but it all comes down to:

  • Researching current featured snippets for your important queries (and learning from them)
  • Structuring your content with H2-H3 subheadings that address questions behind queries triggering featured snippets
  • Providing quick, concise answers (no longer than 90 characters) below each subhead for Google to grab and feature.

If you include these steps in your writing guidelines for your content creators to use, you are halfway there:

  • Use this writing checklist that includes both of the above (and more useful) guidelines
  • Scale your content creation process using Narrato to build a team of content creators that do a good job following those guidelines. The beauty of this platform is that it matches you to the most suitable writers automatically. After some time, you have a solid team that knows your requirements and creates content fast. In an era when you need a lot of content, and you need it fast, this is a life-saver:
Narrato  How to Get on Top of Google Search Narrato 1

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SEO Trend #4: Semantic Search and Intent Optimization

Google moved away from exact-matching keyword optimization years ago, yet our industry is somewhat slow to keep up. These days, Google doesn’t use the actual string of words that are being typed in the search box. Instead, it looks at the query context and analyzes the possible search intent to deliver results.

You can see this all around the SERPs and even in Google Suggest results. I wrote a detailed article on semantic search, and here’s one of the examples from it:

Semantic Search  How to Get on Top of Google Search Semantic Search 1

Notice how Google interprets the query on the fly to realize:

  • You may have lost your cat, but you may be interested in pet and animal control centers, not just cat facilities
  • Your cat may have gone missing in the town of Halfmoon but it has legs, so chances are you may be able to find the cat in the nearby towns, including Clifton Park and Rensselaer
  • You may also post on Craigslist or search there in case someone already found it—which is an absolutely awesome idea!

What does this tell us?

Google has got very good at understanding searcher intent, and old-school content creation methods that focus on a single keyword string don’t work.

We need to create content that solves problems. That’s what Google is after, and so are our potential customers.

How to Optimize Content for Semantic Search and Search Intent

Simply Searching Google to get an idea of how it is interpreting a query is a great first step. Do the same type of research I did with that cat missing query. Look for other ways Google is trying to solve the problem for the user.

Using semantic research tools is another good idea. Text Optimizer is an intent optimization platform that helps you cluster any search query into related concepts and entities. It uses Google’s search snippets to come up with ideas to expand your initial copy to provide more solutions and meet Google’s and its users’ needs:

Text Optimizer  How to Get on Top of Google Search Text Optimizer

Based on semantic research, it will even help you build sentences based on common co-occurrence analysis of the terms you select:

semantic research  How to Get on Top of Google Search semantic research

If you are using a remote team of content writers or Narrato, it is a good idea to run TextOptimizer before creating your assignment and provide your writers with the list of concepts to cover.

SEO Trend #5: The Power of E-A-T vs Domain Names

For years, SEO has relied on a low-hanging fruit: The power of a chosen domain name:

  • Keywords in domains names did wonders to your rankings
  • Domain age and previously accumulated authority did wonders to your rankings

Both of those signals were pretty easy to fake: You could invest into buying a well-established domain or buy a keyword-rich domain name by sacrificing on its “brandability”.

These days, your domain name has no direct impact on your rankings. Thanks to its smarter algorithm and knowledge graph, Google can tell if there’s a real entity behind the domain and determine each page EAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness).

The road to higher rankings is no longer fast or predictable. You need to keep building an established brand, work on your trustability and collective authorship. Your domain name is still important but mostly indirectly: How memorable is it and how easy is it to associate your business with your niche?

Generating a business name is more important than finding a keyword-rich domain name. Building a strong brand and becoming an entity is more important than finding an established domain name. Page experience signals are more important than clicks. It’s all about focusing on real metrics now!

Now, You Are Ready to Rock 2022, Contact us to get you ranking high!

SEO is moving fast — it is a very exciting industry to be in. From the earlier days on, those people who were fast to “get it” found themselves ahead of slower-moving competitors. Use the tools and tips above to get ahead of yours in 2022 and beyond!

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