Meine skandalösesten Meinungen zu SEO und Content in 2023
You will learn what I currently think is important in the areas of
SEO and content marketing and what positive and negative
developments are coming our way. Have fun! My name is Alexander Rus and SEO
is my daily bread. We chat on this channel about SEO and content marketing. If you want to learn how you can sustainably acquire
customers through your website, then subscribe to this channel right now. Let's start with how I see SEO and content
marketing today and definitely in 2023. It's always very important to me: SEO is basically simple, and it's important
to keep the concept simple in your head. Most of our customers and also other
SEO's get into small things that bring extremely little at the end of the day.
There are certain things that bring ninety
percent of the success and there are a few little things that are also ambiguous.
They bring zero point one percent of the success. “What topics should
I deal with? What topics shouldn't I deal with?" Of course, if it's a hobby
– and this isn't about delivering results at all – 'fair enough'. Then it's really cool when you
try out these things and so on. But for most companies
, it's all about SEO generating a 'return on investment' .
The one that aims to achieve certain goals:
SEO not as the end goal. And then it is important to deal with the things where you know
that they will bring results and where you know that they will also bring results in the
years to come. That's why we start with
my or 'evergreen media' first principles of SEO.
And those are these ten points. There is a separate video for this, because
otherwise it would go beyond this scope, where I explain all the individual points.
And if you follow these ten points, then every answer tends to be
derived from these ten points. That means: You have a question, you look at
these points.
Then you will find the answer in it. And something else that I
really like to show our clients: If they… They dealt with SEO ten years ago
and are like this: "Yes, and we have to add keywords
to the website. And how about keyword density
and anchor text optimization and pipapo?” Then I always show them my SEO pyramid. This is actually our Evergreen Media SEO
pyramid. And of course there are points here, some SEOs will not agree with me here
and in some niches you could move individual
points from the level. But basically, if you
follow this pyramid, you will always get results. We'll go through that very briefly now because
it's important as a foundation. Logically, your website
must be able to be crawled and indexed so that you can rank for anything at all.
Then nowadays it is extremely important that you provide a relevant page to the demand behind a
keyword. Then the next important thing is that this page is
well optimized in terms of keywords. Then you want to
generate good click rates in the search results. On the one hand, because good click rates ensure more clicks
and you get more traffic and thus more customers. And on the other hand, because the
click rate is then a ranking factor again. Then we want a
competitive link portfolio. Simply put, our domain authority, no matter what tool you use,
is similar to that of the competition. Then we want to offer a good user
experience.
That means fast loading times, trustworthy design, excellent
overall user experience and then outstanding content. And here it is very important that
you understand that you can rank perfectly with all factors, with content that is just as good as
that of the competition. That's why great content that really is significantly better than
the competition is just the top of the pyramid. This only improves your competitiveness
and makes your content more of a competitive advantage and harder for
competitors to overtake you. But in principle , if any rankings are generated,
your content does not have to be outstanding. The important thing is that you understand,
for most, the outstanding thing is: "Yeah, someone wrote that article
in eight hours, not two hours." A two-hour article is a heap of
garbage that you should throw in the bin. I would say every page that is SEO relevant
and that you write in under eight hours… Eight hours is tough. I say under seven hours is
to be viewed with suspicion. And anything that's more of a time investment and so forth will probably become something
meaningful then.
Just as a guide. So. From my point of view, what has
changed this year? I usually say that anyway. Most are
now "SEO 2023 hypie and voice search blah blah!" Do you know that since 2015 most of them have been babbling
about voice search and say: "Next year voice search will be the game changer!" No, it's always the basics. Little has changed. Google just always goes its own
way. systematic. They want to be and remain the most helpful search engine. You will systematically get better
at evaluating relevance. They always make the searches more extensive, not always just ten
blue links. Instead, more and more functions are being added that satisfy any
user needs. In these areas you should therefore develop as much
as possible. Voice search, if it comes at some point, then
you can still deal with it. It's simply a matter of understanding: "
What is behind a search query? What does a user want at this
point? What is his end goal?” And since covering all points in the journey
and no matter where he starts, always presenting the clear next step.
It's really easy to deal with. Not like, "Hey, um, how about
changing the anchor text distribution by 0.5 percent
to compound anchor text? " That's what people deal with. What the [ __ ]? So, then what is also important: I see the whole thing entrepreneurially,
content value curve for your target group. Now if you don't know what
is the content-value curve. There's a fantastic
article from one of my favorite blogs , Animals. And they always talk
about strategic content and tactical content. And then there is the value curve, because of
course nothing is just that, but everything can be
distributed on one curve. I find that very exciting and is also
totally relevant for many of our customers, because for many of our customers we
do demand-oriented or SEO-driven content marketing,
but more and more other content marketing as well. That is, what is important for other areas. It's really important that you understand:
"Hey, you're doing a knowledge base now." Let's say what we always say: "You want to be
the niche library.
This is tactical , meaning you have all of the standard SEO
content, all of your landing pages, and so on. But it is also important to develop in
these directions. That means: What we are now doing Counternarrative
thought leadership is a point that will come up again later is
currently we are in an economic crisis. Anyway, that's what the media is telling us, um, and accordingly people are going to start
getting stupid again now.
Namely, now the link
brokers and link marketplaces are suddenly flaring up again and things are
going in the dark direction again. And what would then be counter
narrative thought leadership? I'm making a video why this is a
not so good idea for companies that don't want to burst into flames. And it's important to also
generate this content, which may not get as many
searches, but is still important here. Data storytelling would be classic,
something like case studies, where you use data to show
how you helped customers. Super valuable and
developing further here is valuable. In general, if the SEO/ If these
topics are somewhat newer to you, I highly recommend Product-Led SEO. This book explains a lot how to use SEO effectively for your
business model and your products. So. Then, because we talked about
change, my somewhat harsh opinion about updates. Because there are always a lot of questions as to
whether I can make a video for this update. I know I never do the videos then.
That's because updates are incredibly uninteresting for me personally and also
for our headoffs, because updates are based on our experience and what we
also see in the customer and so on. It only ever hits you when you're behind the curve
or, simply put, when you're a laggard. That means all the things that Google has been preaching for ten years – or let's say five
years – you haven't implemented. Then you just get crushed, like helpful
content updates or page experience updates. It's not all: "Oh, my God,
that's new", it's like this: The updates come because people
don't implement them and then they just get crushed. That's why it's so important
that you read this post. So if that's an issue for you. Everything is actually explained here, so here it is
explained: Why it is pointless to analyze core updates .
And whatever the same
questions Google asks itself. And if you're good here, if you
can answer all of these questions – "I do" – awesome! Then you won't be affected by core updates
either. Then as the biggest tip in my opinion if you are dealing
with the subject of E-A-T: There are great articles here. There is also a
super valuable contribution on our website. This can be the guideline for all of your digital
marketing because it actually has everything in it. Expertise, authority, trustworthiness,
everything that matters to a brand is in here instead of you worrying about updates. Updates: It's always about
the basics. Spam Update, Page Experience Update, Helpful Content Update. Are these topics that were new to you at
the point this update came out? But let's start with the developments. In the last episode we talked about, let's say, just
general developments. I would say in the
content value curve, standard SEO content.
In this video we talk
more about counternarrative thought leadership. More like what my opinions are on
this topic and I hope you like it. Normally we only ever make one video in
this classic direction in standard SEO content. This year I wanted to try something
new. Let's dive in. In times of crisis, the dark side of the force will
become more seductive again. It's quite logical. Many SMEs will come under pressure, will
accordingly invest in dubious tactics, with dubious agencies
that ten years ago overruled these tactics and are
really falling on their faces. Which is already
the indicator as an example: We now have a resurgence
of link brokers and link marketplaces.
There may be a
separate episode on this topic. It's suddenly socially acceptable again
at conferences and in big magazines and so on. And it's totally exciting.
That's insanely unreasonable. But it's always like this: Um, when the boom times
are over and everything gets scarcer again, then abbreviations become more
tempting again and people are like, "Yes, that will work." The problem is, SEO and content marketing
are now on the one hand, in principle, expert services that require a lot of time and know-how. That means building an effective content brand
, that's something like the examples that I first showed, for example, in the "B2B Content
Marketing Examples" video: Personio, what else did I have? uSign and so on and so on;
there are tons of cool companies that have built cool content brands – it
just doesn't work with 100 euros texts and 50 euros links. It's just unrealistic. If you want permanent, company-changing results, you cannot
buy cheap and believe in shortcuts. What's cool about SEO: If you started before
this crisis period, then SEO can help you through the crisis because
even if you do feel pressured, you can reduce your budget or investment in SEO
and the results won't drown now.
And that's the cool thing. So.
Then point two: The most helpful brands win even more. Well, the helpful content update
we saw this year actually confirms what
we're always communicating on this channel. Google's vision is clear: They want to
be and remain the most helpful search engine. Um, and there will be more going in that direction. That means: The brands, the companies that do
valuable, cool content marketing that is suitable for the target group and are simply
helpful will win and the others that manipulate, abbreviate, save and so
on will be systematically crushed. And what I just like there: E-A-T is just
an excellent model and that's why I always say to everyone: Everyone should definitely,
um, look at the Google Quality Rate Guidelines and just study them.
They just help so
much as a guide for a business on what to look for when building a website, how
to position themselves as a brand, and so on. This general document helps so immensely. If content marketing is not such a big deal in a company,
then I always recommend the book: "They ask, you answer". On the one hand, there are good reasons
why it is incredibly important for companies to invest in content.
Because it will be like this: someone in your
industry will invest in content. They answer the questions from the target group and
build trust accordingly. That means: The only way you
can compete is: You have extremely much better products and then you have to be
lucky that the target group knows that. Or you can just reduce the price
, which reduces your margin and systematically kills you over
time and is 'a race to the bottom'.
That means: If they give better advice and then
catch up with the quality over time and maybe even have a reasonably good
price, how do you ever want to play along? I dont know. Number three: companies are taking content
marketing more and more seriously. So what we're seeing especially now this
year is that even the larger, more traditional companies have discovered that great
content can be a competitive advantage.
And the smaller ones are exactly the same and you can just see how everyone is getting more creative.
So you can even get into the most boring niches, as I said, Elbemetall is one
of our customers, I love ELBEMETALL. But let's say roof sheeting is
not an exciting topic now. Even here you can do cool content
marketing, which is lovingly prepared, exactly for the target group and simply helps.
And we are now seeing this in everyday agency life,
that there is more and more willingness to really invest
here and offer value here, and that this is not just the task of
interns and working students. Just think how crazy it actually is, that it was like this in most companies, especially before Corona
: Brand communication, which ultimately is
content on your website, was primarily done by text exchanges, working
students and interns. Inconceivably. And luckily we are now also seeing
clear trends in willingness to invest thanks to Corona. I see that with other
agencies too and so on. People and companies are ready –
content is actually the 'here to stay' and gives us visibility, gives us
brand awareness, generates conversions etc. Then, the focus on goal achievement. That means: You notice more and more that Google is getting
better at understanding what the user wants and accordingly also what
he has as his end goal and this focus leaves UX, SEO, content marketing, content design and conversion
optimization extreme or even more merge.
That's definitely something
we see in the agency: that we still have to make
sure that these components are all connected with each other so that in the end
something comes out that works extremely well. Where text, graphics, videos, um, next steps
– how the whole thing is prepared – seals etc. Where it all comes together and gives a uniform, perfect picture. Here I always recommend
the book "Content Design" is in German. Real really good. Well, the funny thing is, it's currently still the case that
customers ask me during the offer meeting: "Yes, but anyone can enter texts" and don't see what
a gigantic topic content design is. That's the difference between
Expected Content and Unexpected Content. Most people expect a block of text on the internet. But if you deliver
something that has been lovingly prepared, then the perception of this content is
very different than if it is a block of text.
It's just like when you buy an Apple
iPhone and it comes in some, uh, grease-smeared box. Then the value of this
product will be very different for you than it comes in the cool and ingenious
Apple iPhone box, where you think: "The box alone is worth 1,000 euros." Like that. Then: "AI-supported content Creation
creates more time for love of content.” Artificial intelligence and we
've tried many tools now, is still disastrous in research, fact
checking and context. So from my point of view there is no
German-language tool that is strong here. There are definitely tools that are good, but
they definitely suck in those aspects. And now pure AI
content, um, is never going to reach the top result
on a query level for years to come. Well, I'm leaning out a bit here, but I very much
doubt that's the case. But AI-assisted content creation
can go a long way or reduce the easy, boring part of
content creation.
And this time gained can be used to produce something really outstanding
, because in the end, when you write a text, you have to
pay attention to so many things and so on. And if the AI at least gives you some help in
making small decisions on wording and so on, if it saves some time,
I can use that time to think, "How can I make this post stand out." And it definitely is Case in point , that everyone should deal with.
There are a lot of different tools. You have to find something that
fits your own workflow, but it will definitely go in that direction. So it won't go in the direction of
"AI-created- Texts", but "AI-supported". Well, I definitely know: Big magazines, such as the Economist now
, already use AI-assisted journalism. Of course you have to check all the
facts and so on. But where it helps : with heavy lifting, while writing itself. So,
because writing itself … With us they always say: "Writing
itself is not that exhausting." That's why it's so incredibly funny
that text exchanges, per word abr reckon Then what is the incentive?
Then the incentive is that you generate as many words as possible.
Is that a good incentive? Of course not. It's about you
delivering the best content, not as many words as possible. And
that's why I'm very amused that so many companies are still
focused on text exchanges because it's like me giving incentives to employees
that ruin my own company. That's exactly how it is,
nothing good can ever come of it, because if the motivations are the wrong ones,
then things will always go in the wrong direction. Very exciting. Then we come to the last point
and I'm looking forward to it. So I hope that this will happen more now. More and more brands will use
interactive content to collect data and start a dialogue
with the target audience.
Personally, I would have expected
it to happen much sooner. Again briefly: "What is the
goal of the interactive content?" The goal is to address the users
with content that makes it possible to open a communication channel between both parties
. Because otherwise, if I now let's say we have this really
nicely edited post here, then it's still the case: I'm reading this post, but there's no
inter-interaction and the only data I can theoretically collect is,
I can do heatmaps and I can analyze scroll depth. But it's
all relatively uninteresting in the end. And I'll show you a few
examples just to inspire people. Why can't an e-book look like this? Mega this B2B e-book.
Really cool. It's not even supercrazy, but it's just nicely designed and
still stands out so extremely. Then what I can do, of course, is what's
a huge topic in so many niches, but you can do it so cool: calculators. Is now from Symantec.
It's not an exciting company either. "ROI calculator in explorer
the benefits of strong, smarter user authentication
to protect your organization." And there you can get a lot of key
figures, what you get if you introduce a new system and
no data breaches and pipapo and so on . And whatever money you save,
over whatever, for whatever period of time. Super cool. And that's not an issue I… Sometimes people immediately look for calculators:
loan calculator, home loan calculator, pipapo, logical calculator. But in this
topic it is certainly something very special. infographics. In my view, infographics as images are
relatively dead, even in German-speaking countries.
But what if you make an infographic like this? Of course, now the demo effect is
that the site is incredibly slow. Mega cool. That's unimaginable. So how cool is the experience? For me, this is a boring
topic that I am not involved in. So it's certainly an exciting
topic, but I'm not involved in the topic. But how cool can an
infographic be when it is like this? Of course it's a lot of work, but
content is always a lot of work and that 's a competitive advantage again
because: who's going to copy it? super tedious.
And then something very classic, ahem,
but which a) very few do, I now call it "Question Funnel".
Now that's rate, that's some American insect brand. So
to solve insect problems. it's so cool Like , 'Does it sting your bite? yes or no There, there. Then I get: "What animal does it have to be?
Okay, it's a mosquito." And then I get information about mosquitoes. Suitable products to solve my
mosquito problem. How cool is that? Well, you combine full informational
content with an action of a retail store. Super cool. And I hope that this will finally find its
way into SEO and content marketing.
Yes, there are companies in German-speaking countries that do this, but there are so few
and these are things that make me think: "Cool. This is how I want the web to be. It's good for users. It's good
for businesses. It's good for everyone." I hope you enjoyed this, shall we say,
different take on SEO 2023. If so, I would of course be happy
about a like and even more about comments and questions that are
not related to a topic. Is everything wonderful. And otherwise, thank you very much for
watching and see you next time. Bye..
