July 2022 Newsletter
In This Issue:
Digital Marketing Trends 2022: Summer Edition
Marketing strategies are always changing, whether influenced by trends or seasons. Nicole Vesota explores how to create an effective Summer marketing strategy in our most recent blog post. Read more about how to help your business succeed this season!
Google Performs Core Update
Google’s May 2022 Core Update is officially complete and sites are beginning to see the effects of the algorithm change. Despite being called the May 2022 update, it finished in early June and the last several weeks have shed some light on its nature. The algorithm update mainly focused on rewarding sites with high-quality content and punished spammy sites or those with AI-generated content.
Though Google is not forthcoming about what changes are made to algorithms during updates, there are indications that sites with blogs and other content written by artificial intelligence are losing placement. AI content is only against Google guidelines when it is being used to manipulate results, but it’s clear that the overall quality of a site improves when human-created content is included.
For any sites experiencing a major drop in ranking, Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller explained:
“With the core updates we don’t focus so much on just individual issues, but rather the relevance of the website overall.
And that can include things like usability, and the ads on a page, but it’s essentially the website overall.”
At Top Of The List, many of our clients have experienced an increase in visitors due to the Core Update because we always advise that our clients create high-quality, meaningful content. As Google’s algorithm moves further toward human-centered design, this becomes more vital.
For more information about the update, see Search Engine Journal’s article.
Tip of the Month
Create a useful 404 page. A 404 page is the webpage that appears when a user tries to visit a URL that doesn’t exist on your website. If you have ever experienced a 404 page, you know that it can either be incredibly helpful or a dead end. Users rarely stay on a site with a dead end. Here are some tips for creating a useful 404 page on your website.
Include Navigation
The most obvious rule about 404 pages is to display an error message and continue the site layout with the header and footer, including navigation. Even if there is no helpful information on the 404 page, the user can navigate to another part of the site. Amazingly, there are 404 pages that don’t include these elements and immediately end the user journey on their site.
Offer Site Search
If your site does not include a search bar in the navigation, add one to the 404 page. If a user is looking for something specific, search is the most direct way for them to find the information they need.
Give Page Recommendations
Review Google Analytics data and find out what pages people visit most on the site. There’s a good chance that the user is trying to find this information and displaying it on the 404 page improves their user experience. If you have a blog, you may want to also include the most recent posts.
Make It Interesting
Just because a page has information, doesn’t mean it needs to be boring! A creative 404 page can go a long way in branding your business or showing your human side. Using humor, art, or on-brand elements is a memorable way to entertain the user.
A 404 page has the potential to stop your user from continuing or it can help the visitor appreciate your business more. Include helpful for entertaining content to build trust and rapport. This is what keeps users coming back.
About What Motivates People
″A few months after my husband and I moved to a small Massachusetts town I grumbled to a resident about the poor service at the library, hoping she would repeat my complaints to the librarian. The next time I went to the library, the librarian had set aside two bestsellers for me and a new biography for my husband. What’s more, she appeared to be genuinely glad to see me.
Later I reported the miraculous change to my friend. ‘I suppose you told her how poor we thought the service was?’ I asked.
‘No,’ she confessed. ‘In fact—I hope you don’t mind—I told her your husband was amazed at the way she had built up this small-town library, and that you thought she showed unusually good taste in the new books she ordered.’
Source: Lillian Moore, Reader’s Digest
Our best for your success!
