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Probably the single best video to watch to understand the power of Google & Facebook (or even most of the major problems across society) is this following video about pleasure versus happiness.

In constantly seeking pleasure we forego happiness.

The "feed" based central aggregation networks are just like slot machines in your pocket: variable reward circuitry which self-optimizes around exploiting your flaws to eat as much attention as possible.

The above is not an accident. It is, rather, as intended:

"That means that we needed to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever ... It's a social validation feedback loop ... You're exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology ... [The inventors] understood this, consciously, and we did it anyway."

Happy? Good! Share posed photos to make your friends feel their lives are worse than your life is.
Outraged? Good! Click an ad.
Hopeless? Good. There is a product which can deliver you pleasure...if only you can...click an ad.

The central network operators not only attempt to manipulate people at the emotional level, but the layout of the interface also sets default user patterns.

Most users tend to focus their attention on the left side of the page: "if we were to slice a maximized page down the middle, 80% of the fixations fell on the left half of the screen (even more than our previous finding of 69%). The remaining 20% of fixations were on the right half of the screen."

This behavior is even more prevalent on search results pages: "On SERPs, almost all fixations (94%) fell on the left side of the page, and 60% those fixations can be isolated to the leftmost 400px."

On mobile, obviously, the attention is focused on what is above the fold. That which is below the fold sort of doesn't even exist for a large subset of the population.

Outside of a few central monopoly attention merchant players, the ad-based web is dying.

Mashable has raised about $46 million in VC funding over the past 4 years. And they just sold for about $50 million.

Breaking even is about as good as it gets in a web controlled by the Google / Facebook duopoly. :D

Other hopeful unicorn media startups appear to have peaked as well. That BuzzFeed IPO is on hold: "Some BuzzFeed investors have become worried about the company’s performance and rising costs for expansions in areas like news and entertainment. Those frustrations were aired at a board meeting in recent weeks, in which directors took management to task, the people familiar with the situation said."

Google's Chrome web browser will soon have an ad blocker baked into it. Of course the central networks opt out of applying this feature to themselves. Facebook makes serious coin by blocking ad blockers. Google pays Adblock Plus to unblock ads on Google.com & boy are there a lot of ads there.

Format your pages like Google does their search results and they will tell you it is a piss poor user experience & a form of spam - whacking you with a penalty for it.

Of course Google isn't the only search engine doing this. Mix in ads with a double listing and sometimes there will only be 1 website listed above the fold.

I've even seen some Bing search results where organic results have a "Web" label on them - which is conveniently larger than the ad label that is on ads. That is in addition to other tricks like...

lots of ad extensions that push organics below the fold on anything with the slightest commercial intent
bolding throughout ads (title, description, URL) with much lighter bolding of organics
only showing 6 organic results on commercial searches that are likely to generate ad clicks

As bad as either of the above looks in terms of ad load or result diversity on the desktop, it is only worse on mobile.

On mobile devices organic search results can be so hard to find that people ask questions like "Are there any search engines where you don't have to literally scroll to see a result that isn't an advertisement?"

The answer is yes.

DuckDuckGo.

But other than that, it is slim pickings.

In an online ecosystem where virtually every innovation is copied or deemed spam, sustainable publishing only works if your business model is different than the central network operators.

Not only is there the aggressive horizontal ad layer for anything with a hint of commercial intent, but now the scrape layer which was first applied to travel is being spread across other categories like ecommerce.

Ecommerce retailers beware. There is now a GIANT knowledge panel result on mobile that takes up the entire top half of the SERP -> Google updates mobile product knowledge panels to show even more info in one spot: https://t.co/3JMsMHuQmJ pic.twitter.com/5uD8zZiSrK— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 14, 2017

Here are 2 examples. And alarms are going off at Amazon now. Yes, Prime is killer, but organic search traffic is going to tank. Go ahead & scroll down to the organic listings (if you dare).And if anyone clicks the module, they are taken away from the SERPs into G-Land. Wow. :) pic.twitter.com/SswOPj4iGd— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 14, 2017

The more of your content Google can scrape-n-displace in the search results the less reason there is to visit your website & the more ad-heavy Google can make their interface because they shagged the content from your site.

Simply look at the market caps of the big tech monopolies vs companies in adjacent markets. The aggregate trend is expressed in the stock price. And it is further expressed in the inability for the unicorn media companies to go public.

As big as Snapchat & Twitter are, nobody who invested in either IPO is sitting on a winner today.

Google is outraged anyone might question the numbers & if the current set up is reasonable:

Mr Harris described as “factually incorrect” suggestions that Google was “stealing” ad revenue from publishers, saying that two thirds of the revenues generated by online content went to its originators.

“I’ve heard lots of people say that Google and Facebook are “ruthlessly stealing” all the advertising revenue that publishers hoped to acquire through online editions,” he told the gathering.

“There is no advertising on Google News. Zero. Indeed you will rarely see advertising around news cycles in Google Search either.

Sure it is not the ad revenues they are stealing.

Rather it is the content.

Either by scraping, or by ranking proprietary formats (AMP) above other higher quality content which is not published using the proprietary format & then later attaching crappier & crappier deals to the (faux) "open source" proprietary content format.

Google keeps extracting content from publishers & eating the value chain. Some publishers have tried to offset this by putting more ads on their own site while also getting further distribution by adopting the proprietary AMP format. Those who realized AMP was garbage in terms of monetization viewed it as a way to offer teasers to drive users to their websites.

The partial story approach is getting killed though. Either you give Google everything, or they want nothing.

That is, after all, how monopolies negotiate - ultimatums.

Those who don't give Google their full content will soon receive manual action penalty notifications

Important: Starting 2/1/18, Google is requiring that AMP urls be comparable to the canonical page content. If not, Google will direct users to the non-AMP urls. And the urls won't be in the Top Stories carousel. Site owners will receive a manual action: https://t.co/ROhbI6TMVz pic.twitter.com/hb9FTluV0S— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 16, 2017

The value of news content is not zero.

Being the go-to resource for those sorts of "no money here" news topics also enables Google to be the go-to resource for searches for [auto insurance quote] and other highly commercial search terms where Google might make $50 or $100 per click.

Economics drive everything in publishing. But you have to see how one market position enables another. Google & Facebook are not strong in China, so Toutiao - the top news app in China - is valued at about $20 billion.

Now that Yahoo! has been acquired by Verizon, they've decided to shut down their news app. Unprofitable segments are worth more as a write off than as an ongoing concern. Look for Verizon to further take AIM at shutting down additional parts of AOL & Yahoo.

Firefox recently updated to make its underlying rendering engine faster & more stable. As part of the upgrade they killed off many third party extensions, including ours. We plan to update them soon (a few days perhaps), but those who need the extensions working today may want to install something like (Comodo Dragon (or another browser based on the prior Firefox core) & install our extensions in that web browser.

As another part of the most recent Firefox update, Firefox dumped Yahoo! Search for Google search as their default search engine in a new multiyear deal where financial terms were not disclosed.

Yahoo! certainly deserved to lose that deal.

First, they signed a contract with Mozilla containing a change-of-ownership poison pill where Mozilla would still make $375 million a year from them even if they dump Yahoo!. Given what Yahoo! sold for this amounts to about 10% of the company price for the next couple years.

Second, Yahoo! overpaid for the Firefox distribution deal to where they had to make their user experience even more awful to try to get the numbers to back out.

Here is a navigational search result on Yahoo! where the requested site only appears in the right rail knowledge graph.

The "organic" result set has been removed. There's a Yahoo! News insert, a Yahoo Local insert, an ad inviting you to download Firefox (bet that has since been removed!), other search suggestions, and then graphical ads to try to get you to find office furniture or other irrelevant stuff.

Here is how awful those sorts of search results are: Yahoo! was so embarrassed at the lack of quality of their result set that they put their logo at the upper right edge of the page.

So now they'll be losing a million a day for a few years based on Marissa Mayer's fantastic Firefox deal.

And search is just another vertical they made irrelevant.

When they outsourced many verticals & then finally shut down most of the remaining ones, they only left a few key ones:

On our recent earnings call, Yahoo outlined out a plan to simplify our business and focus our effort on our four most successful content areas – News, Sports, Finance and Lifestyle. To that end, today we will begin phasing out the following Digital Magazines: Yahoo Food, Yahoo Health, Yahoo Parenting, Yahoo Makers, Yahoo Travel, Yahoo Autos and Yahoo Real Estate.

And for the key verticals they kept, they have pages like the following, which look like a diet version of eHow

Every day they send users away to other sites with deeper content. And eventually people find one they like (like TheAthletic or Dunc'd On) & then Yahoo! stops being a habit.

Meanwhile many people get their broader general news from Facebook, Google shifted their search app to include news, Apple offers a great news app, the default new tab on Microsoft Edge browser lists a localize news feed. Any of those is a superior user experience to Yahoo!.

It is hard to see what Yahoo!'s role is going forward.

Other than the user email accounts (& whatever legal liabilities are associated with the chronic user account hacking incidents), it is hard to see what Verizon bought in Yahoo!.

Categories:

yahoo

how I went to number one on Google for a competitive term by just getting people to click my page

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The Real Reason Why SEO Firms Get Fired by @gmehrguth

may Google puke with FCS networker

Learn the real reason why most SEO firms get fired and what you can do to avoid it from happening to you.

one of the biggest metrics Google is measuring is click through rate and it's also one of the easiest to manipulate

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5 Ways SEO for Bing is Different from Google SEO by @ab80

if you were going to build some dirty Lane she were going to need some bodyguards or you might be fighting Penguins

Bing and Google share many of the same ranking signals, but there are also key differences which we'll examine in this article.

how I went to number one on Google for a competitive term by just getting people to click my page

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Wednesday, 15 November 2017

How to Increase Profits by Analyzing Your Competition

if you were going to build some dirty Lane she were going to need some bodyguards or you might be fighting Penguins

How well do you know your competition?

Depending on your industry or location, the market may be saturated with businesses providing the same services or offering the same products as your company does.

Not everyone will survive.

Sooner or later, one or two companies will separate themselves from the crowd.

If you want to be an expert in your niche, you’ll need to learn effective competitor analysis skills.

Otherwise, you could put yourself at risk of falling behind those businesses that adopt these strategies first.

As a marketing expert who founded several startup companies, I’m well aware of how competitive certain spaces can be.

It’s not easy to operate a business, especially when you’re worried about the guy down the street taking customers away from you.

Whether you’re a small-town business or a global ecommerce store, you need to analyze your competition.

If you’ve never done this before, I’ll show you how to get started.

My techniques will help you improve your business and increase profits fast.

Identify your competitors

Knowing your competitors may sound obvious to you, but you’d be surprised how many people I meet can’t name their competitors.

Those of you who fall into this category have to identify your top competitors before you do anything else.

Even if you know who your competition is, it won’t hurt to start here. You may be find new information.

Let’s say you’re a local business selling sandwiches in Seattle.

Run a search on Yelp:

Simple.

The top results will be advertisements, but that doesn’t mean those aren’t your competitors.

Don’t disregard them completely just yet.

Here’s something else to keep in mind.

You’re looking only for your direct competition.

If your sandwich shop also sells cookies or pies, you’re not looking for bakeries or specialty dessert shops.

You’re also not competing with every bar in your neighborhood that has a sandwich on the menu.

Make sense?

So filter your search to get more accurate results:

If you click on the “all filters” tab, you can narrow the results.

For this example, I’d recommend picking a price range similar to yours and a place in the same neighborhood.

If your most expensive menu item is $12, you don’t care about the gourmet restaurant 8 miles away selling $45 sirloin steak sandwiches on their dinner menu.

Now that you’ve got a more accurate list, write down your top competitors.

In a busy city, like Seattle, you may find upward of 30 sandwich shops in your neighborhood alone.

That’s way too many.

Look for businesses with the most reviews and the highest ratings.

Narrow that list down to 5 or 10 at most.

Yelp isn’t your only resource.

Depending on your business, you can also reference Google Local or Angie’s List.

However, these platforms may not be helpful if you’re trying to identify competitors in a digital marketplace.

If your operations are run completely through a blog, website, or ecommerce store, you’ll need to use other tools to identify your competitors.

Try using a service like SimilarWeb:

They offer lots of competitor analysis tools, including competitor identification.

All you need to do is put in the name of your website, and they’ll generate a list of your competitors.

They have a free sign-up option, but to maximize your research, I would recommend paying for an upgraded subscription.

If you don’t want to pay for a subscription, consider reaching out to your current customers.

Creating an effective customer survey can help you learn more about their habits.

Send a survey to your subscriber list asking them to identify other websites they shop at or blogs they read.

Who is their target audience?

Now that you’ve identified your top competitors, it’s time for you to see whom they are targeting.

You can’t assume their target market is the same as yours.

Don’t believe me?

Let’s continue with the local sandwiches example.

Here’s a chain sandwich shop called Cheba Hut:

Take a look at the names of the sandwiches on their menu.

Also, notice how they refer to their different sizes.

Based on your research, you may have identified this company as a top competitor.

They have the same hours as you; they’re close to you; and they sell sandwiches at the same price point.

But it’s clear this business is trying to appeal to a certain crowd.

It works.

Don’t get me wrong.

I’m not saying you need to adopt this strategy and look for a niche market to focus your marketing strategy on.

All I’m saying is you need to identify the target market of your top competitors.

After further analysis, you may determine you want to make some adjustments, but we’re not quite there yet.

Here are some things to consider when you’re identifying your competition’s target audience:

Age
Location
Income
Gender
Marital status

Your results won’t be perfect, but try to come up with an accurate customer profile based on their advertising campaigns.

Your Google ranking is essential

How can you be better than your competitors?

You both have the same type of content on your website.

You’re targeting the same customers.

They even update their site, services, and products as frequently as you do.

Why are they ranked so much higher on a Google search than you are?

You need to understand the components of Google’s ranking algorithm:

Visit your competitors’ websites.

Evaluate their SEO.

Determine how they are using keywords to boost their search ranking.

Look for keywords and phrases in the following places on their sites:

Title pages
H1 headings
H2 headings
Internal links
URL structure
Content

Do you notice a pattern?

See what words are getting used the most in these places.

It may have an impact on their rankings.

Compare their content to the keywords on your site.

Are you using long-tail keywords?

You should be.

Incorporating a long-tail strategy into your content creation will improve your ranking because it’s more specific.

Ecommerce sites use this tactic all the time to get more hits.

If you’re selling a pillow, adding the word “pillow” all throughout your content isn’t as effective as using terms like “down pillow for side sleepers.”

Is your competition using this strategy?

If so, that’s probably why they’re outranking you in related search results.

Analyze competitor content

Take your analysis one step further.

Getting customers to your platform is only half the battle.

But what do these people see once they arrive?

Here are some other things to look for on your competitor’s page:

Blogs
Pictures
Videos
Case studies
Buying guides
FAQ pages
Podcasts
Guest posts
CTA

Compare these to your own website.

They may have certain features you’ve omitted from your site.

I’m not saying you should automatically mimic the structure of their pages, but see what’s working for them.

For example, let’s say you discover your top three competitors have a blog. And all three outrank you on Google.

You should consider adding a blog to your site.

This data about the benefits of blogging speaks for itself.

Adding a blog to your website will help you:

Generate more leads
Increase conversions
Get more inbound links
Have more indexed pages
Gain trust from consumers

And that will lead to increased profits.

Something else to keep an eye on while you’re analyzing their website is their calls to action.

How is your competition adding subscribers, generating leads, or converting sales?

Look at their sales pitches.

See what benefits they are offering.

How do their top features compare to yours?

You may realize your product and service are significantly better than those of your competition.

But that doesn’t mean anything if you can’t relay that information to your customers.

Look at how marketers are failing to use CTAs:

Reviewing the CTA on your competition’s website could be an eye-opening experience for your marketing department.

Your competitors may excel in areas where you’re lacking.

That’s okay for now. But it needs to be fixed before you fall too far behind.

Look at their social media presence

All businesses should have a presence on social media platforms.

For now, I’m going to assume your company is active on at least some of the most popular platforms:

Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Instagram

If not, you need to follow my social media guide.

For those of you who already have profiles set up, navigate to your competitors’ pages.

How active are they?

What are they posting?

Are their customers engaged with their posts, photos, videos, and comments?

Here’s an idea.

Start adding their followers.

These people are obviously interested in your industry if they are following your competitors.

Maybe they don’t know your company exists.

Don’t be selective. Add all of them.

The more people you add, the greater your chances of getting customers to follow you back will be.

Understand why consumers follow brands on social media:

Once they start following you, it’s essential you keep them engaged.

Keep in mind, some of these people may have already established a brand loyalty with your competition.

You really need to blow them away to convince them your brand is better.

See what kind of promotions your competitors are running on social media.

Try to run one that’s more appealing.

How do they incorporate videos into their social media marketing strategy?

Video content makes up more than 90% of Internet traffic.

You should be using live video to engage with your customers.

Even if that’s something your competition isn’t doing, it’s a great way to stay ahead of them.

Recognize areas needing improvement

Now that you’ve analyzed your competitors’ customers, websites, marketing strategies, and social platforms, it’s time to adjust your business.

Based on your research, what areas of your business need improvement?

Where do your competitors excel while you struggle?

There’s always room for improvement. Don’t be biased.

It’s okay to recognize your competitors are doing well.

Run a SWOT analysis:

Here are some questions to ask yourself.

Strengths

What are you doing well?
How have you separated yourself from the competition?
What makes your company unique?

Weaknesses

What do you need to improve to compete with your top competitors?
What resources or tools do you need to achieve that?
Do you need to change your location or conversion method?

Opportunities

What is the current public perception of your company?
How can you target new customers based on your competition’s strategy?
Are there any new changes in the industry or market?

Threats

Which competitors are directly impacting your revenue?
What’s preventing you from improving your business?
How are you leaving yourself vulnerable to losing customers?

These questions are just a starting point.

You can take this SWOT analysis much further to make the necessary changes and improvements.

Conclusion

If you want to increase profits, start by analyzing your competition.

Competitor analysis is an effective strategy for businesses in all industries, whether your company is large, small, or somewhere in the middle.

The first thing you need to do is identify your top competitors.

Narrow this list down to 5 or 10 at the most.

Only look for direct competitors—not just any business similar yours.

Once you’ve identified these companies, you need to focus on their customers.

What’s their target market?

How are they appealing to these customers?

Focus on your Google ranking:

Analyze your competition’s website to see what kind of SEO tactics they’re using.

Review their content, and compare it to your own.

What pages on their site generate the most user engagement?

Consider adding a blog to your website if you don’t have one already.

Check out the social media profiles of your top competitors.

Start adding their followers in an attempt to draw more customers to your business.

Use the SWOT analysis to recognize and implement any necessary changes.

Making these changes can help improve your business and increase profits.

Which online tools will you use to identify the top 5 direct competitors in your industry?

how I went to number one on Google for a competitive term by just getting people to click my page

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The Hidden SEO Risk of Broken Redirects by @therealseoradar

may Google puke with FCS networker

Preserve your valuable links and avoid SEO disaster. Here's how to protect yourself against broken redirects.

if you really want to manipulate Google statehood you don't have to build a bunch of backlinks anymore

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