Learn how to estimate your share of search for different keywords using Google Search Console, and how to perform a gap analysis to find your SEO gaps
Making better use of organic search is a cost-effective technique for generating leads and sales that is especially desirable for businesses where there is pressure on media budgets.
Gap analysis for SEO is a technique I developed many years ago when Google Search Console data showing the keywords driving visits to your site first became available. I have since extended it to use Google Analytics 4 Landing page reports to assess gaps where organic visits are arriving on your site through time as outlined at the end of this article.
Through 2024 and 2025 the growing importance of Generative AI and increase in Zero-clicks caused by Google's AIO Overviews have caused many to question the importance of SEO, but the ongoing value of organic search is…
With changes in media distribution, marketers are rapidly adapting their methods of budgeting, reporting, and investing in paid, owned and earned media to reach and engage their customers
Investment in media is frequently grouped into the 3 media 'buckets' of earned, shared and paid which each give opportunities to influence customers. None of these media types are new, but what is new is the increasing prominence given to owned and earned media while paid media has always dominated in the past.
Digital media adoption and usage is constantly evolving in today's digital landscape. As of January 2024, 62% of the world's population uses social media. It's fair to say that paid, earned, and owned media offer marketers a never-ending array of new opportunities to win and retain more customers.
Current definitions of paid, earned, and owned media
In short - paid media means the content distribution has been paid for, whereas earned and…
Consumer mobile usage and adoption. Use our mobile marketing statistics compiled from the best free sources to inform your digital marketing strategy and mobile user experience
It's hard to imagine today that there was a time when smartphones weren't the major device for accessing the Internet. Desktop used to dominate. I recall a headline from back in 2008 when it was forecast by by Mary Meeker, an analyst at Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers that "Mobile to overtake fixed Internet access by 2014". That same year, Eric Schmidt of Google exhorted businesses to take a 'Mobile First' approach to designing web experiences, informed by customer-focused smartphone analytics. Our mobile marketing statistics compilation contains
15+ years later, in 2024 understanding mobile engagement of online users is more vital than ever so digital markers can eng2age and influence their mobile audience. Today, the latest research from Statista shows that more than…
2024 Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) statistics: Discover the latest search usage and adoption data to inform your search strategies
Statistics help us turn data into information, allowing us to make informed and rational decisions and that's exactly the purpose of this article.
We're huge fans of search engine marketing, both search engine optimization and paid search marketing. But with behavior changing so quickly, it's vital to keep on top of search engine marketing statistics to inform your strategy.
We have a wide range of tools and templates for marketers looking to make data-driven marketing decisions. Whether you're looking for channel excellence or marketing strategy advice, we've got resources to support your digital marketing optimization journey.
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Search marketing data for 2024 - February update
This summary of search engine marketing statistics is aimed at helping you make better-informed decisions about the running of your search marketing.
I'll start by reviewing…
Keyword research data reveals the SEO CTR rewards for top of SERP rankings in Google. Inform your SEO marketing strategy with the latest trends in 2024
You often hear company owners saying “I want to rank top” for their target keywords. Although this may be an unrealistic hope, they’re right to say this since they realize that claiming the top position in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) drives up your SEO click-through rate CTR like nothing else.
October 2023 data from firstpage.com demonstrates that ranking #1 generates a typical CTR of 39.8%. That's more than double the CTR for 2nd position, 18.7%, and nearly 4x the CTR for 3rd position, 10.2%. You can see this example below for example search term 'customer data platform".
While the top 3 positions carry double-digit click-through rates, these start fallling rapidly to…
Our latest summary of ad clickthrough rates statistics in the US, Europe, and Worldwide is designed to help you benchmark your paid digital and social media ads, set marketing budgets, and define your goals
If you're forecasting your digital media spend, you need to compare the ROI of your display ads, paid social, Google Ads, and social media. Depending on your objectives, it's worth reviewing and benchmarking the latest metrics like average click-through rates, average cost per click, and cost per lead.
I've put this compilation together to help marketing professionals create direct response conversion models for digital marketing campaigns. By creating budget models using known benchmarks for average CTRs and digital media click-through costs, you can better forecast your return on investment from digital media ads. Our budgeting and forecasting spreadsheets include:
Simple digital channel planning spreadsheet
Conversion and revenue model spreadsheet
Month-by-month customer acquisition spreadsheet
…
How to use the power of the 70:20:10 rule as a marketing model to prioritize your digital marketing strategy
With new marketing tools and techniques available to us almost daily, it can be difficult to know where to prioritize your marketing activities to get the most 'bang for your buck'. This is where the 70:20:10 rule can really help, since it's a simple device which helps us think through how we prioritize the time and budget we put into different marketing activities.
As marketers, we need to be agile through reacting to new developments in order to gain an upper hand on competitors, but at the same time, we need to avoid being 'technology magpies' following seductive, shiny new tools that may distract us from working on optimizing the most effective channels. By splitting your spending or output into three differently sized areas, it helps you to identify priority areas, and allocate…
74% of customers trust social networks to guide purchasing decisions. In 2021, when trust is at peak importance, is your influencer marketing strategy delivering the results you need?
Yet again social media is shaking up your marketing mix for 2021. The latest research shows 86% of marketers used influencer marketing in the last 12 months. But with the changing habits and ever-evolving platform diversification we've seen this year in particular, it's more important than ever to consider your influencer marketing strategy.
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Want to plan your influencer marketing strategy for more customer conversions?
Segmenting influencers into different types will help you prioritize types of influencers to monitor and interact with. It should be a core approach to support your content marketing, SEO and social media marketing.
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If you're new to influencer segmentation, take a look at the below practical infographic from Traackr: The Many Faces of Influence -…
What should a client-side marketer look for when evaluating an agency SEO proposal?
One of the key decisions many companies must make in regards to search engine optimization (SEO) is the decision on whether to create and build a team in-house or to work with an external agency or consultant(s). There are pros and cons to both approaches and many businesses often choose to go with a combination of the two: create a team in-house and work with external advisors to support best practice and on-going guidance.
If a decision is made to work with an SEO agency there are several steps to be taken, including the selection of a range of agencies and later the management of a pitch process that is covered in other articles and guides from Smart Insights included in the Agency Toolkit.
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This tube map is a great way to summarise online marketing options to non-digital specialists or to check your digital media knowledge for skills gaps
You will know from our digital media infographics and success maps that we're big fans of using visuals to help simplify the understanding of the many opportunities in digital media.
Here's a visual representation of online media options we wish we had thought of! It's from our friends over at agency Hallam Internet and needs no further explanation.
The 2020 digital marketing map
You can get a higher resolution version of the visual from Hallam Internet.
The 2013 digital marketing map
I originally shared this infographic back in 2013 and since then a lot has happened as digital platforms have developed. I'm prompted to update it since Susan Hallam…
