The Best of Search 2021

This month's Searchlite intro written by SEO Analyst & Copywriter, Skye Sonnega.

Happy New Year!

To no one’s surprise, the Twin Cities rang in 2022 with sub-zero temperatures. We can safely say that it is officially winter in Minnesota! We hope that wherever you are, your holiday season was a safe, happy and healthy one.

At the end of 2021, Uproer employees were asked to answer three questions about their predictions for the search industry in 2022. You can read their thoughtful answers and ideas in our latest article here.

This edition of Searchlite is a bit different. Instead of presenting the latest finds in the search industry, we compiled our most clicked links from 2021. Last year came and went in the blink of an eye, and we’d like to reflect on it one last time. Read the articles you don’t want to miss from last year below:

How to Power-Up Your E-Commerce Category Pages for SEO

by Griffin Roer, for Uproer

Key Takeaways:

• We walk through 8 elements of category page optimization that you should focus on to improve your SEO performance

• ​Dynamic content is an overlooked opportunity that you can implement to get the edge in search results
• Learn how ecommerce companies often get these optimizations wrong (do any of these describe your category pages?)

Why it Matters:
Category pages are often an ecommerce company's best opportunity to drive large volumes of new potential customers through SEO. Our recommendations will help you improve your non-brand rankings and increase traffic.

iOS 14 Impact on Targeting: Four Immediate Steps for Marketers

by Stephanie Davila, for Ovative Group

Key Takeaways:

• The iOS 14 update will be a big change. But like any big change, there are things you can do to limit the disruption if you’re prepared.
• This article outlines four key things you can do to ensure that your marketing efforts adapt to the tracking & measurement updates.

Why it Matters:
We echo that all marketers should also be diligent in the coming months. Measurement and reporting are going to see a turbulent 2021, so keep your eye on the headlines to see if Google and other platforms roll out similar updates. Be sure to talk to your teams and clients about this, and make sure everyone knows what the impact will be and how you will mediate the changes.

How Airbnb Created An SEO Moat That Seems Invincible

by Ross Simmonds, for Foundation

• SEO Moats increase your SERP dominance, meaning your brand is able to target and win on a wide variety of niche search terms associated with the target market.
• Delivering content in an easily accessible way through clean URL structure and total SERP domination increases authority and can help users trust and find content from your brand more frequently.
• "The riches are in the niches" - When looking at search volume, we often disregard low or no volume terms. When we instead write content that targets these terms for authority purposes, it increases our trust and helps answer questions for people who do search these.

Building a Keyword Strategy for Comparison Content

by Dan Taylor, for Search Engine Journal

Key Takeaways:

• Comparison keywords aren’t going away, even if your inclination is to ignore them. People are out there searching for “alternatives” to brands, and capitalizing on this search volume is a great way to open up Mid to Bottom of funnel content.
• Your comparison pages should have a quantitative comparison element, where the consumer can clearly see the differences between products.
• This is a great tactic for SaaS companies and software based products as it gives the consumer something tangible to hold onto.

Why it Matters:
Every day, consumers are searching for something more, better, best, and there aren’t many companies capitalizing on comparative content to fill this need. Instead, we see sites like G2, Capterra, and other review based sites take the lead in SERPs over makers. While search volume may not be as high as other primary keywords, these pieces of content make great wildcard content, which can elevate your quality content without running to the ends of the earth for content ideas.

Comparison content comes in many forms, but it’s important to recognize that you will have to take real stock of your product before comparing it to other products on the market. This article talks about having qualitative metrics to compare against, and this means being able to lay it all out on the table, for you AND your competitors. Of course, there are ways to do this that elevate your brand and make it look more enticing, but your users will appreciate your transparency. This tactic requires you to really believe you have the best product on the market.

Top Interesting Stories:

• The Most Expensive Google Keywords 2021

• How to Find & Support Entry Level SEO Talent

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Most Clicked Tools in 2021:

• Reddit Keyword Research Tool

  One of Uproer's favorite tactics is using Reddit to source content ideas and learn how people talk about a topic. Keyworddit is a free tool that extracts keyword ideas from subreddits. Just enter in a subreddit name to generate keywords.

  This tool helps you quickly identify keywords being referenced across a subreddit, which can help guide your content strategy, inform your research for new pieces of content and provide interesting audience insights.

• Panguin Tool

  Use the Panguin Tool for free to help determine whether your site has been impacted by all Google algorithm updates. This tool allows you to view your GA data overlaid by historic algorithm events to create an interactive timeline of site performance.