Voice search has become an essential aspect of local SEO, changing how people seek information and find local companies. Furthermore, virtual assistants such as Siri or Alexa have become commonplace. They make online searches quicker, more comfortable, and more accessible than entering a query.  

As a result, your business has to optimize for voice and conventional search. This helps you guarantee that potential consumers can access your company information on various devices, including mobile, desktop, and smart speakers. Thus, voice search is gaining popularity among internet users due to its simplicity and convenience.

In 2024, businesses must prioritize voice and standard search to optimize local SEO. This post explores effective strategies for seamlessly integrating voice search to enhance local SEO for small business.

Voice Search v/s Text Search: The Difference it Brings to Local SEO

Voice and text search differ in user interaction, intent, context, and presentation.  

The former includes spoken requests using virtual assistants such as Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant. On the other hand, text search is the standard technique of entering queries into a search engine.  

Moreover, voice search is more conversational and long-tail, considering natural language patterns and context. Therefore, web professionals, such as marketers, website owners, and SEO specialists, wonder why SEO is important for small business in the context of voice search.  

However, as voice search became more prominent, search engines improved. Consequently, search engine crawlers started picking out the meanings of longer, conversational queries and producing relevant results.  

Hence, web professionals should incorporate voice search techniques in their local SEO strategies to capture voice search traffic.

Tips to Integrate Voice Search in SEO

The first step for your business is to assert ownership of and enhance its listings on platforms such as Google Business, Bing Places and Apple Maps Connect. This ensures visibility across various virtual assistants.

Given below are some of the most effective tips that help you integrate voice search into local SEO for small business—

Capitalize Over Conversational Question Keywords

For voice search query, you must consider the following features:

They are longer.More specific.They are more likely to be complete questions than simple keywords.  

Therefore, you must target long-tail keywords to optimize your local SEO for voice search. Consequently, target question keywords that contain three or more words to attract high-intent traffic.  

Hence, consider “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” and “how” questions users are most interested in and include them in your pages’ copy.  

Furthermore, afterward, provide a concise, satisfying answer and discuss it in more detail in the body of your content.  

Also, you can use keyword research tools, Google’s “related searches” or “people also ask” sections, and enter a search about your business to see what Google recommends.  

Understanding and optimizing for conversational voice search queries is crucial for success.  

Websites often have frequently-asked-questions sections with common search questions, which can compete for voice search results and optimize Google-featured snippet placement.

Comprehend Local Search Intents

User intent drives online searches. Moreover, local users have specific wants and expect search results to meet those intents.

Voice searches frequently have a strong local focus, as consumers seek out companies or services in their surrounding region. This creates an ample opportunity for local companies to interact with potential clients actively looking for their products or services.

Therefore, voice search optimization for local SEO must focus on position zero, where 40% of voice search results come from Featured Snippets. It increases website traffic and introduces new customers.  

Moreover, local and vocal optimization should include complete information, FAQ segments, subheadings, list articles, and tables. Marketers should identify customer segments based on search results analysis. Consequently, you can use digital tools such as the following for better comprehensive insights:

Google Search Console.Bing Webmaster Tools.Make your Content Conversational

The conversational nature of voice inquiries creates unique chances for voice search optimization in local SEO.  

Therefore, to meet users’ demands, you must maintain a conversational tone in your content. This includes terms like “I,” “me,” “you,” and “we” in blog posts, avoiding jargon and technical terminology and including comedy.  

Furthermore, choose a more informal tone when you have a well-established brand voice.  

Also, when performing long-tail keyword research, seek out conversational search words that people are likelier to employ in voice searches.  

However, this does not imply lowering the quality of your work. Maintain a more informal writing style while ensuring your material delights and adds value to readers. Google continues to appreciate high-quality content, so write it as if you were speaking it.

Focus on the Google Snippets

Voice assistants often use featured snippets to provide quick, concise answers to voice search queries. These snippets are short pieces of content displayed above organic search results, pulled from a highly ranked web page.  

Moreover, they can appear as paragraphs, numbered or bulleted lists, or other formats. Google featured snippets are relevant to voice search as a virtual assistant will likely read it as its answer.  

To win the query, you must try to capture the featured snippet. Landing in a Google-featured snippet is not guaranteed, but there are steps you can take to optimize for it. For an in-depth explanation, refer to our guide on optimizing for Google’s featured snippet box.

Implement Schema Markup

Schema markup is a technique that enhances a website’s on-page SEO. It is a form of HTML data built into webpages, providing search engines with a comprehensive understanding of the website’s purpose and intent.  

Schema markup is crucial for voice search optimization. To optimize a website for voice users, businesses should think conversationally, using metadata, alt text, and captions for videos and images.  

However, for schema markup, you must start slow and build up. With this process, scan content for speakable snippets with a conversational tone, such as an intro to a video or a blog summarizing a paragraph.

Lastly, businesses should seek help from a partner specializing in voice search optimization services to maximize their online presence and reach a growing audience. Search engine optimization is constantly evolving, and businesses should adapt their approach to effectively reach their target audience.

Optimize your Local SEO for Voice Search

Voice search is a crucial local SEO strategy for small businesses. It allows them to increase their visibility in voice search results and reach local customers across various platforms.  

Regularly monitoring and updating listings ensure accuracy and relevance, enhancing the chances of appearing in voice search queries. This improves the site’s standing with search engines and captures more voice search traffic.  

Although voice search accounts for a lower volume of local searches than text search, the generated traffic can be valuable regarding warm leads.

Are you torn between using long-form or short-form videos for your small business marketing campaign? Well, you are not alone. Despite 89% of consumers wanting to see more brand videos, there is no one-size-fits-all answer about the ideal video length.

However, this should not deter you from creating an effective video strategy. In 2023, people watched an average of 17 videos per day, highlighting the influence of video content in today’s digital landscape.

Both short-form and long-form videos offer unique advantages and come with their set of challenges. Join me as I uncover the benefits and limitations of each video format to help you make informed marketing decisions.

What are Short-Form Videos?

Short videos typically range from 30 seconds to less than 10 minutes long. They are popular on social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.

Short-form videos deliver brief yet engaging messages that quickly capture the viewer’s attention. Here are some popular types of short-form video content.

TikTok Challenges

Instagram Reels

Snapchat Stories

YouTube Shorts

Twitter Video Ads

Benefits of Short-Form Videos

A previously cited report shows that 39% of marketers find short-form videos, ranging from 30-60 seconds long, more successful. The same study reports that 44% of customers prefer watching a short video to learn about a brand’s offerings.

So, it is evident that short-form videos have their benefits. Let’s take a closer look at some of them.

Attention-Grabbing 

Short-form videos capture attention quickly, making them ideal for the fast-scrolling nature of social media platforms. Your audience is more likely to watch them in their entirety compared to longer content.

Cost-Effective Production 

Creating short-form videos requires less time and resources compared to longer videos. As a small business owner with a limited budget, using short-form videos can be cost-effective. 

Increased Engagement

Short-form videos engage viewers due to their crisp and concise nature. This results in more likes, comments, and shares that boost your content’s visibility and increase brand awareness. 

Integrating short-form videos into your influencer marketing campaigns can further amplify your reach to new and diverse audiences. 

Highly Shareable

Short videos are highly shareable. This makes it more likely for your viewers to share them, increasing their virality. 

Want to get certified in Content Marketing?

Leverage the tools and channels to predictably and profitably drive awareness, leads, sales, and referrals—EVERYTHING you need to know to become a true master of digital marketing.​ Click Here

There are multiple benefits of adding video to your website including increased engagement, improved SEO, and enhanced user experience.

Limitations of Short-Form Videos

While short-form videos offer many advantages in content marketing, they also present some challenges.

Limited Message Depth

Due to their brief duration, short-form videos may struggle to convey complex or detailed messages. Longer videos might be more suitable if you need to communicate intricate information.

Competition for Attention

Standing out on platforms flooded with short-form video content can be challenging. You must create content that stands out to avoid becoming lost in the sea of other videos.

Shorter Lifespan 

Short videos may lose their relevance with time. They can quickly get buried in users’ feeds, leading to a shorter visibility and engagement period than longer, evergreen content. 

This means you must consistently create short-form videos to maintain audience interest over time.

Limited SEO Impact

Short-form videos may be more challenging to optimize for search engines than longer, more keyword-rich content. This can affect the discoverability of your content outside the social media scene.

What are Long-Form Videos?

Long-form videos are typically longer, ranging from a few minutes to several hours. They extend beyond a few minutes to several hours, providing ample time for in-depth topic exploration and detailed content. 

These videos are particularly suitable for educational content, product demonstrations, and narrative-driven storytelling. Long-form videos are common on platforms like YouTube and Vimeo. Common types of long-form video content include:

YouTube Series

Webinars

Educational Tutorials and Courses:

Behind-the-Scenes Content 

Interviews and Conversations

Advantages of Long-Form Videos

Long-form video content is the fastest-growing segment, with videos above 30 minutes experiencing tremendous growth over the years. Let’s explore some of the benefits behind this growth.

Establishes Expertise and Credibility

Long-form videos allow you to provide in-depth information about various subjects, establishing your brand as an authority. Potential customers will likely trust and rely on your insights when you consistently deliver valuable content.

Builds Strong Audience Connections 

The more your audience watches your videos, the more they become familiar with your content and brand. This consistent engagement promotes trust and loyalty, helping you create deeper connections with your audience.

Provide SEO Optimization Opportunities

Long-form videos keep your audience engaged for a longer duration than short ones. This signals search engines that your content provides value, resulting in higher rankings and increased visibility. 

Besides, these videos provide opportunities to optimize for relevant keywords. This Attrock guide offers more insights into the value of SEO for your small business. 

They Are Sustainable

Unlike short videos, well-produced and valuable long-form videos have an extended shelf life. They can continue to attract views and engagement over an extended period, contributing to a sustainable content strategy.

Instagram reels are also a part of short videos and you can get benefits from this platform by integrating it with your website. You can learn how to embed Instagram Reels on websites and get extra benefits from your Reels.

Drawbacks of Long-Form Videos

Despite their benefits, long-form videos also have certain limitations, including:

Attention Span Challenges

Between distractions, juggling tasks, and information overload, user attention span quickly diminishes. Viewers may lose interest and disengage from your long video before its conclusion.

Are You Ready to Master Social Media?

Become a Certified Social Media Specialist and learn the newest strategies (by social platform) to draw organic traffic to your social media sites.

Click here

Complex Production Process

Creating high-quality long-form videos requires more resources, including time, equipment, and skilled personnel. This can be disadvantageous, especially for small businesses with limited budgets.

Platform Limitations

Some social media platforms and video hosting sites may limit video length, making it challenging to distribute long-form video content. You may then be forced to repurpose your content to suit various platforms. 

Short-Form or Long-Form Videos: Which Are Better?

Now that you know the benefits and limitations of each format, which one should you choose? Short-form or long-form videos?

Well, it all boils down to considering several factors, such as: 

Content Objectives

What do you want to achieve from your video marketing campaign? Short-form videos are highly effective for quick brand exposure and generating buzz. Long-form videos, on the other hand, contribute to a more in-depth understanding of the brand.

Target Audience Preferences

Audiences with short attention spans likely prefer short-form videos, while long-form videos appeal to those seeking a more immersive experience.

Similarly, short-form videos may appeal more to younger audiences, while older demographics may prefer the depth of long-form content.

Platform Dynamics

Various platforms support different content formats. Short-form videos are well-suited for platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. On the other hand, platforms like YouTube and Vimeo are better for hosting longer videos.

Industry Type

Short-form videos would be ideal if your industry thrives on trends, entertainment, and quick messages. However, long-form videos are effective for industries requiring in-depth explanations or educational content.

Bottom Line 

Ultimately, choosing short-form or long-form videos depends on your business’s specific needs and goals. Since both formats have advantages and limitations, making a choice may prove difficult. 

However, it doesn’t have to be an uphill task. The key lies in recognizing when to incorporate each video format into your marketing strategy. Understanding your audience and its needs allows you to combine both formats strategically, maximizing the benefits of each. 

Continuously analyze performance metrics and adapt your video marketing strategy accordingly to ensure optimal engagement and conversion rates.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the latest version of Google’s powerful analytics platform. Its purpose is to provide deeper insights into user behavior and website performance, helping you make adjustments whenever necessary.

Understanding engaged sessions within GA4 is crucial for anyone looking to optimize their online presence. These engaged sessions go beyond simple visit counts, revealing how users interact with your content, what captures their interest, and what drives them to take action.

Exploring the concept of engaged sessions in GA4 and breaking down what they are and what they tell you about your audience can drive your business to new heights. This guide will help you unlock the potential of your analytics data, offering practical insights to enhance user engagement and boost your website’s effectiveness.

Quick Takeaways

A user session in GA4 begins when a visitor arrives on your site and ends after 30 minutes of inactivity or at midnight. 

An engaged session must last at least 10 seconds, involve viewing two or more pages/screens, or trigger a conversion event.

Benefits of Tracking: Tracking engaged sessions reveals user behavior, high-quality traffic sources, and content effectiveness.

Using engaged session data to enhance content quality, optimize user experience, and encourage interactions leads to improved engagement and business success.

About GA4 User Sessions

Before learning about engaged sessions, it’s a good idea to understand how basic GA4 user sessions work.

Definition of a User Session

A user session is when an individual visits your website. This period starts when the user first arrives and ends after a certain amount of inactivity or when the clock hits midnight. Each session can contain multiple interactions, providing a holistic view of a user’s journey on your site.

Overview of the Session Tracking Process in GA4

GA4 starts a new session when a user first visits your site. The platform then tracks all interactions within this session, from page views to clicks and other events.

If the user is inactive for 30 minutes, GA4 ends the session. However, a new session begins if the user returns after this period. Additionally, GA4 initiates a new session if the user’s campaign source changes mid-visit.

What Counts as an Engaged Session?
Definition of an Engaged Session

An engaged session in GA4 is a session where the user has shown meaningful interaction with your website or app. Unlike basic user sessions, which merely track visits, engaged sessions give you deeper insights into user behavior by highlighting interactions that suggest genuine interest and engagement.

Criteria for an Engaged Session in GA4

Image Source

A session must meet one or more of the following criteria to qualify as engaged:

Session Lasts 10 Seconds or Longer: If a user spends at least 10 seconds actively engaging with your content, GA4 considers it an engaged session. This scenario indicates the user found something interesting rather than just bouncing away quickly.
User Views Two or More Pages: When a user navigates to more than one page or screen within a session, it suggests a deeper exploration of your site or app, reflecting heightened interest and engagement.

User Triggers a Conversion Event: A conversion event could include purchasing, signing up for a newsletter, filling out a contact form, or any other action you define as a conversion. These actions are strong indicators of user engagement.

Examples of actions that qualify as engagement include:

Reading a Blog Post: A user spending over 10 seconds on a blog post indicates engagement. Keep in mind that the average visitor spends just 52 seconds reading a blog post, so you’ll need to work hard to capture their attention.
Browsing Multiple Product Pages: Navigating through different product pages within a single session shows interest in your offerings.
Completing a Purchase: Triggering a purchase event shows engagement and interest in your product.
Signing Up for a Newsletter: This conversion event demonstrates the user’s intent to stay connected and receive updates.

GA4 helps you understand which sessions are valuable, allowing you to tailor your strategies to foster deeper user engagement and achieve your business goals.

Benefits of Tracking Engaged Sessions
Insights from Engaged Sessions

Tracking engaged sessions provides a wealth of valuable insights that go beyond simple visit counts. By focusing on sessions where users actively interact with your site, you can better understand your audience and their behavior.

Image Source

Understanding User Behavior and Preferences

Engaged sessions help you understand what keeps users on your site and what drives their interactions. By analyzing these sessions, you can identify patterns in user behavior, such as which pages they spend the most time on or which actions they frequently take.

This information can reveal user preferences and interests, allowing you to tailor your content and offerings to meet their needs.

Identifying High-Quality Traffic Sources

Not all traffic is created equal. Engaged sessions can help you pinpoint which traffic sources bring the most valuable users to your site.

Tracking where engaged users come from—organic search, social media, email campaigns, or paid ads— helps you identify high-quality traffic sources. This data lets you focus your marketing efforts and resources on channels that drive meaningful engagement and conversions.

Measuring Content Effectiveness

Tracking engaged sessions is a powerful way to measure the effectiveness of your content. By seeing which pages and types of content generate the most engagement, you can determine what resonates with your audience.

This insight helps you create more of the content that works, optimizing your site to keep users engaged longer and encourage them to take desired actions. For instance, if blog posts on specific topics result in high engagement, you can produce more content in that vein to attract and retain users.

Using Engaged Sessions Data

Engaged sessions data can be a goldmine of information to help improve your website or app. Here’s how you can use this data effectively:

Analyzing the Data in GA4

Start by exploring the “Engagement” section in GA4. Here, metrics and reports highlight engaged sessions, such as average engagement time and engaged sessions per user.

Use these reports to identify which pages or sections of your site have the highest engagement rates. Look for patterns in user behavior and pinpoint what’s working well and what isn’t.

Enhancing Content Quality

Review the high-engagement content and analyze why it’s performing well.

Is it the topic, the writing style, or the use of multimedia elements?

Use these insights to create more high-quality content that resonates with your audience. Ensure your content is informative, engaging, and easy to read.

Optimizing User Experience

User experience (UX) is crucial in engagement. Ensure your site is easy to navigate, with clear calls to action and fast load times.

Video Source

A user-friendly design keeps visitors on your site longer and encourages them to explore more pages.

Encouraging Interactions

Encourage users to interact with your site by incorporating interactive elements like:

Comment sections
Sharing buttons
Interactive tools like quizzes or calculators

Promoting user interactions can lead to higher engagement and more valuable sessions.

Tracking engaged sessions in GA4 is a powerful way to understand how users interact with your digital presence. From there, you can improve your offering to meet your audience’s needs.

The Importance of Engaged Sessions in GA4

Engaged sessions in GA4 offer invaluable insights into user behavior, helping businesses understand their audience better, identify high-quality traffic sources, and measure content effectiveness. Analyzing engaged sessions enables you to enhance content quality, optimize user experience, and encourage meaningful interactions.

Quality content can also drive engagement and improve overall website performance. Marketing Insider Group can take your content marketing strategy to the next level with our Content Builder Services. Reach out to learn more or book your free consultation.

Want to generate the best hashtags on Instagram?

We found the best hashtags using the best hashtag generators.

Hashtags are the universal language for post discoverability on social media. First used on Twitter in 2007, they’ve been going strong ever since in helping users find content that they are interested in and want to see.

Using hashtags correctly can help your content get more natural reach and engagement, and increase your followers – even one hashtag can get you almost 13% more engagement on Instagram.

We’ll start with hashtag generator tools and round out with an FAQ guide. Let’s go!

Top 15 Hashtag Generator Tools for Instagram

Here we’ll dive into the different hashtag tools available for Instagram and what they can offer users.

This isn’t a comprehensive list, but we’ve provided the top options that are the cream of the crop in terms of accuracy, functionality, as well as ease of use.

1. Hashtags for Likes 

Hashtags for Likes is the top multipurpose tool, providing users with hashtag suggestions as well as detailed information such as hashtag difficulty scores. This tool emphasizes that it promotes organic growth, helping users to expand on social media without putting their accounts at risk. 

Hashtags for Likes specializes in Instagram and TikTok, so if you’re targeting either of these sites, then this might be a tool worth checking out!

Pros:

Hashtags for Likes will help you to grow on Instagram and TikTok through hashtags, but this tool will also go above and beyond to help you improve your account overall. Some features of Hashtags for Likes include a username analyzer and competitor insights, which will help you to optimize your own account and make sure that your content is on par with that of your competition.

Cons:

Hashtags for Likes is an entirely paid tool, so not eve the hashtag generator is free. In order to access any of the account-boosting aspects of this tool, you’ll need to sign up for a subscription plan.

Pricing:

Speaking of signing up for a subscription, there are two plans available from Hashtags for Likes. The Regular plan is available for $59 per month, and the Pro plan costs $89 per month. These plans are also offered with a weekly payment option, so you could opt for that if you want to sign up with a lower level of commitment.

2. Kicksta

Whether you’re looking for trending hashtags, unique hashtags, or ideal hashtags for your industry, Kicksta’s hashtag generator tool can help.

You’ll be able to use its search box to enter a topic or keyword that you want your hashtag to relate to. You’ll then get a list of hashtags that are connected to your original search.

Kicksta provides accurate hashtag suggestions that are valuable for your Instagram content. It’s an easy tool to use and gives you just what you need to increase impressions and engagement on Instagram.

Pros

Kicksta will provide you with an unlimited amount of hashtag suggestions; you can feel free to search as many times as you need to until you’re satisfied with the hashtags you’ll be including in your next post!

Cons

Kicksta’s hashtag generator is a simple tool – it’s straightforward and easy to use, but it doesn’t include the option to search for hashtags by category.

Pricing

One of the best parts about Kicksta’s hashtag generator tool? It’s free to use!

3. Hashtagify

Hashtagify is a great tool to use if you’re looking for a more in-depth dive into the world of hashtags. Not only will this tool provide you with hashtag suggestions, it will also break down the analytics of various hashtags for you, allowing you to gauge metrics such as the popularity and trends of different tags.

Pros

Hashtagify is one of the most detailed hashtag generators available. This tool will provide you with information on who uses a hashtag most often, the popularity history of a hashtag, and even the most common spelling variations of a given tag. Hashtagify will also tell you about the top languages and countries using a hashtag, thereby giving you a view of how the hashtag is situated globally.

Cons

Hashtagify is all-encompassing, however, the detailed information provided by the tool only applies to Twitter. So, if you’re looking to use hashtags in order to elevate your Twitter account’s success, this would be the perfect tool to use. But, if your focus is on Instagram or a different social media site, Hashtagify may not be as helpful to you.

Pricing

After a 7-day free trial, Hashtagify users can select from one of three available pricing plans. These include the Personal plan for $29 per month, the Business plan for $86 per month, and the Enterprise plan for $311 per month.

4. Display Purposes

Display Purposes is a very simple tool; so simple, in fact, that it’s more like a supplemental tool that you can use alongside your primary hashtag generator. It’s great to cross-check your hashtags sometimes, and Display Purposes can help you do that.

You’ll be able to look for relevant hashtags for your IG content with their search box. You won’t have to worry about any spammy hashtags being included because Display Purposes filters those out. You can use their suggestions on any social media platform.

It’s a good idea, according to Display Purposes, to use hashtags that are popular but also include a healthy mix of hashtags that are more specific to your content and niche. Users have been known to get a place in the “top posts” for a hashtag that is more specific and not as widely used.

Display Purposes also offers a pretty interesting blog that gives you some IG tips and tricks.

Pros

Display Purposes stands out by filtering out spammy hashtags in order to ensure that their suggestions will help you achieve success on Instagram. And, clearly, they must be doing something right since their users are seeing results in the “top posts” category of the app!

Cons

As we mentioned, Display Purposes is so simple that it’s sometimes better used as a compliment to another hashtag generator. This could be a downside if you’re looking for a more streamlined process. 

Pricing

Great news – Display Purposes is free!

5. Tailwind

Tailwind will help you to find intelligent and accurate hashtag suggestions that will be relevant to each individual post that you want to create. You shouldn’t necessarily use the same hashtags for each post; tailoring them based on different elements of your posts can help your hashtags perform better.

Tailwind offers a variety of features:

Unique and customized hashtag recommendations

Hashtag suggestions appear in categories to help you understand what impact they’ll have on your content

Auto-posting with hashtag in first comment

Save hashtags to lists

Built-in analytics

Free trial

You can try out Tailwind and see if it’s a good option for you. They don’t use official Instagram data for their analytics, but their user interface is enjoyable and it can be a great option to help get your profile better results.

Pros

Tailwind’s Hashtag Finder provides color-coded hashtag suggestions, allowing you to gauge which tags are widely popular and which ones are more specific to your niche. This will help you to use the Instagram algorithm to your advantage and stand out on the app!

Cons

You have to have an account with Tailwind in order to use their hashtag generator – it’s not open to everyone. 

Pricing

As we mentioned, you have to create an account with Tailwind in order to use their Hashtag Finder. They offer a free plan that gets you access to the basics, as well as three other plans that offer various features. These plans are available for $12.99, $19.99 and $39.99 per month, respectively.

6. Flick

Flick will help you make finding and managing your hashtags easier and more effective. You can also see which hashtags are getting you the most reach.

Flick’s hashtag generator tool will suggest hashtags that may work on your specific Instagram account as opposed to just generic, general suggestions.

Here are some things you can expect when you use Flick:

Relevant hashtag suggestions

Performance tracking

Filter out irrelevant hashtags

Support in different languages

Check for banned hashtags

You will need to link your account to Flick in order for its platform to work correctly, which may be a downside for those who don’t want to deal with any platform integrations. 

Pros

Flick includes a unique feature of “Hashtag Collections,” which allows you to view relevant hashtags by category. Additionally, Flick will give you insights into your Instagram account and provide you with feedback on the performance of various hashtags that you use.

Cons

In order to use Flick’s hashtag creator, you’ll need to link your Instagram account to Flick. So, if you’re looking to avoid extra steps, this may not be the platform for you.

Pricing

After a 7-day free trial, users can purchase monthly plans from Flick for around $8, $14, $23 or $48, with each plan offering various features.

7. SISTRIX

If you need to generate hashtags that are relevant to your target audience and posts, SISTRIX will be able to help you do that.

They’ll suggest up to 30 hashtags that are related to your search, giving you quite a few options in one fell swoop. It’s not the most that you’ll find, but it’s a good starting point. SISTRIX allows you to do 25 searches per day.

SISTRIX also bases its results on billions of different hashtag combinations and its system has data on over 7 million different hashtags. You won’t be able to view analytics or create any lists, but you can check for some relevant hashtags to get your profile moving.

Pros

Not only is the SISTRIX hashtag generator based on 7.7 million different hashtags, but that database is regularly updated to ensure that all hashtag recommendations you receive are high quality and helpful.

Cons

With SISTRIX, you can receive up to 25 free hashtag suggestions per day. After that limit is reached, you’ll need to create an account with the tool.

Pricing

SISTRIX accounts are available for around $105, $211, $370 or $635, monthly. Once again, each package offers different capabilities that will meet the needs of different clients.

8. Later 

Later is known for its Instagram visual scheduling tool, but they also offer hashtag tools that are pretty cool. Its hashtag generator tool is actually a combination of a few different tools that can help you save time and get more reach and engagement.

You can:

Track hashtag performance

Organize hashtags

Search hashtags

Schedule posts

Search for user-generated content by hashtag

Save captions for later use

All in all Later is a very visual platform and its content planner and scheduler is among the best. While its service isn’t a dedicated hashtag tool, they’ve got some valuable contributions to your hashtag strategy.

Pros

Later will provide you with hashtag suggestions when you need them, as well as give you the ability to schedule the first comment on your post while you schedule the post itself. This allows you to include hashtags in the first comment of your post, leaving the caption of the post looking cleaner.

Cons

Although Later will provide hashtag suggestions to you while you’re working, it’s not an official hashtag generator. So, the service provides a variety of features, there is less of a specific focus on developing related hashtags for your post.

Pricing

You do need to create an account in order to use Later. These monthly plans are available for $18, $40 or $80, respectively.

9. Ritetag

You’ll be able to check out all of the most popular and trending hashtags in your niche when you use Ritetag. Ritetag has been one of the most popular hashtag generators for years now.

You’ll be able to get more relevant followers when you use Ritetag, connecting with more people in your niche and keeping things targeted. You can use the service for any social media platform but they are most accurate for Instagram and Twitter.

You can view a variety of different hashtag categories and can track your results, save hashtag sets, and even create test groups.

Ritetag is a great option if you really want to see results and get your hashtag strategy laser-focused.

Pros

Ritetag provides users with hashtag suggestions as they type on various sites. Even better, these suggestions are based on real-time hashtag engagement!

Cons

Ritetag is slightly more complicated to use when you’re first getting started, as you;ll need to download the tool as an app or extension. So, it’s not quite as simple as some of the tools that are website-based.

Pricing

After your free trial of Ritetag, you’ll have to purchase a monthly subscription priced at $29, $35, $49 or $97.

10. Keyhole

Keyhole is one of the most comprehensive hashtag tools on the internet, but it does come at a price. This hashtag generator tool costs $149/month, but if you have a large operation and a hefty budget, it might just be worth it.

When you use Keyhole, you’ll get:

Performance tracking

Hashtag analytics and tracking

Hashtag searches

Hashtag generation

Related topics and hashtags

Dashboard

Hashtag campaign management

Keyhole may not be the right option for everyone, but for serious marketers looking to run campaigns on Instagram, Keyhole is a well-rounded option that can give you some serious hashtag power.

Pros

What’s not to love about a comprehensive service like Keyhole? With this tool, you’ll be able to manage a variety of aspects of your social media and digital marketing, all from one place.

Cons

While Keyhole offers a wide range of hashtag-related services, it doesn’t currently offer a hashtag generator. This could be a great service to use in conjunction with a free tool if you’re looking for an all-around hashtag overhaul.

Pricing

Keyhole offers plans priced at $79 and $39 per month, as well as two plans that are custom-priced.

11. Inflact

Inflact provides a unique hashtag-generation service to its users. This tool uses AI software to develop hashtags that will help your account to get seen by your target audience. But, you have a few options when using this tool – you can search for hashtags by keyword, generate suggestions by uploading a photo, or get a list of hashtag suggestions based on a post that you have published.

Regardless of which search method you use to generate hashtag suggestions, Inflact will be sure to develop a list of popular tags that will reach a wide audience. You can also view popular hashtags by looking through the collections that Inflact has created by sorting hashtags by Topic.

Pros

Aside from being able to generate hashtags based on photos and existing posts, Inflact will also develop hashtag suggestions for you based on a detailed keyword search. Using the search bar, you can enter a keyphrase or up to five keywords in order to generate a list of hashtags that are as relevant to your account as possible. This will help you in the long run with reaching your target audience.

Cons

Like some other tools, Inflact is highly effective but geared toward only one social media site. In this case, it’s Instagram. This hashtag generator will provide you with relevant tags and insights for Instagram posts and Reels, but its effectiveness is limited to this app.

Pricing

Inflact’s Basic plan is available for $54 per month, while the Advanced plan costs $64 per month, and the Pro plan is offered at $84 per month.

12. BigBangram

BigBangram has a couple of different tools available depending on what you’re looking for. If you just need a simple hashtag search tool to provide a few suggestions, BigBangram can do that.

They also have options that cost more and give you the option to find more relevant hashtags based on your profile. This is what BigBangram allows you to do:

Get hashtag suggestions

Analyze and view hashtag insights

Filter and sort hashtags as you please

Its services work in any niche. You won’t be able to save any hashtag sets but you can get some quick, go-to suggestions.

Pros

With and AI algorithm and one of the largest hashtag databases out there, BigBangram has the tools to set you up for hashtag-based success. 

Cons

In order to get the most out of your experience with BigBangram and enjoy all of the features that the service offers, you’ll have to sign up for Tag Generator, which costs a monthly fee.

Pricing

Speaking of monthly fees, the premium hashtag generator is offered for $9 per month.

13. Mention

Operating the Mention hashtag generator is easy to operate, meaning that it’s a quick and simple process. All you need to do is enter a keyword related to your post into the search bar, and Mention will provide you with 11 hashtag suggestions. Then, you can copy and paste them directly into your post. Easy as that!

Mention uses AI technology to generate relevant hashtag suggestions that will help you to reach a broader audience among your target market. 

Pros

Mention’s hashtag generator tool will provide you with hashtag suggestions based on your search, and it will also give you information on the current trending hashtags, such as which tags are the most popular and which ones garner the highest engagement rates.

Cons

Mention does provide a limited amount of hashtags per search. While you’re free to search for multiple keywords using this tool, you will only receive 11 hashtag suggestions for each search that you enter.

Pricing

If this tool has caught your eye, then you’re in luck – Mention’s hashtag generator is free to use!

14. TagsFinder

A quick and easy way to find a couple of hashtags, TagsFinder provides you the opportunity to enter up to ten hashtags in your original search query and then see a list of relevant hashtags to those that you’d entered.

You can also filter your hashtag searches by country or set exclusions that won’t include hashtags that you already know you don’t want to use. This is a useful way to get only the most relevant hashtag results.

Pros

One nice thing about TagsFinder is that it includes a feature that allows you to filter out hashtags you know you don’t want to include. You can type in any words that you want to be omitted from your hashtag suggestions, making the results even more tailored to you.

Cons

TagsFinder limits its hashtag suggestions to 30 – although, if you remove one, the tool will generate a replacement. But, you can only see 30 at a time.

Pricing

Even better, TagsFinder is free to use!

15. MetaHashtags

Last but not least, MetaHashtags is a relatively new hashtag tool that was released in 2020. You’ll get a lot of detailed analytics info about hashtags that you are using, including:

How many posts have been created with the hashtag

Amount of posts per hour

Average likes of top posts

Average comments

Lowest number of likes

You can also use the tool to generate hashtags based on searches; you can even take a look at competing accounts to see which hashtags they use the most.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to save the hashtags directly on the site; you’ll have to download your chosen tags to a CSV file, which may be a downside for some.

PROS

MetaHashtags will not only provide you with hashtag suggestions, but it will also give you information on the hashtags that it generates for you, helping you to be an informed social media marketer and setting you up for success overall.

Cons

One downside of MetaHashtags is that users are unable to save hashtags from the website itself. You’ll be required to take an extra step and download the hashtag suggestions to a CSV file before using them. 

Pricing

This tool will generate a limited list of hashtags for free based on your search. But, if you pay for an account, you will have access to even more tags. To unlock all that MetaHashtags has to offer, you’ll need to purchase a monthly plan that costs around $9.50.

Frequently Asked Questions

Alright, now you know about the top hashtag generator tools to up your hashtag game and get things moving. Using one of these hashtag generator tools for Instagram or other social media networks will definitely help you put your best foot forward and get your content seen by more people.

Not only that, you’ll be able to stay organized and make your life a lot easier when it comes to posting and using hashtags.

Let’s take a look at a 10 of the top FAQs about hashtags so that you can make the most of your hashtag strategy.

1. What is a hashtag generator?

As you can see from most of the descriptions above, a hashtag generator is a tool that can help you find targeted hashtags that are likely to help your content perform better. There are lots of hashtag generator tools out there, so it comes down to preference and budget.

Hashtag generator tools typically work based on a search engine; they track the performance of different hashtags on Instagram (and even other social media networks) so that you can get the best possible results.

They will allow you to search using filters, see performance metrics of different hashtags, as well as keep your hashtags organized through different sets. You can then easily copy and paste them right into your caption.

Hashtag generators make things so much easier when it comes to hashtags for social media – no more tracking things by hand, no more spending hours on social media trying to figure out which hashtags are doing well, and no more guessing games.

You can easily and quickly find hashtags for your content; these hashtags will be connected to your niche, helping to ensure that you get more relevant eyes viewing your content and profile. Hashtag generators are an invaluable tool for your Instagram success.

2. What are the best Instagram hashtag generator tools? 

This article is geared mostly towards Instagram, but that doesn’t mean the hashtag generator tools on this list can’t help you with other platforms as well. In fact, it’s likely that hashtags on Instagram are similar to the performance on other platforms as well.

In any case, these are the best Instagram hashtag generator tools:

HashtagsForLikes

Kicksta

Task Ant

Ingramer

Display Purposes

Tailwind

Flick

SISTRIX

Later

Keyhole

Tagboard

BigBangram

Instavast

TagsFinder

MetaHashtags

Using one of these hashtag tools will significantly increase your hashtag strategy and save you loads of time on the platform. All of these tools are their own distinct platform and user interface; even still they are some of the most popular and well-developed hashtag generator tools that you can find.

HashTagsForLikes is definitely the best in terms of budget vs. capabilities; they have some of the best metrics to gauge whether or not a hashtag is successful and their hashtag sets make it easy to organize all your hashtags and use them as soon as you need them.

With so many options and functionalities, choosing a hashtag generator tool that works for you will probably come down to budget and personal preference. 

3. Can I create my own hashtags?

You can absolutely create your own hashtags. In fact, this is an excellent way to get people talking about your brand and create a unique feed on Instagram that allows users to check out your brand, business, creative endeavor, or whatever else you use Instagram for.

You can create your own hashtags for specific campaigns or product launches, or you can just create a general hashtag that is related to your brand or business. If you are an influencer, it’s also a way to create a type of portfolio as well as get user-generated content by encouraging your followers to use it too.

One classic example of this is the #shareacoke campaign. This is the perfect example because it allows users to interact with the brand and it also allows Coca Cola to get a lot of user-generated content and share it on their own account.

User-generated content gets more engagement on Instagram and it also encourages other users to interact with your profile and join in on the fun.

If you have a physical store, business, or restaurant, it can also be a great idea to create a hashtag because you can have clients or customers use the tag on their Instagram posts, helping to generate interest around your profile.

You can also use geotags to create a reputation for your business so that when people search the location they will see content pop up, helping you look credible with an air of authority.

4. How many hashtags can I use on Instagram? 

You are able to use up to 30 hashtags per Instagram post. This means that you can use anywhere from 0 to 30, and if you try to surpass 30, your Instagram post won’t be uploaded and you’ll have to make adjustments.

Most people wonder if you should use 30 hashtags and this has been heavily debated amongst experts in the IG community. There has been research on this and there are some general takeaways that can help you decide on the best strategy.

Studies show that after 5-6 hashtags, your engagement will start to decrease. This is perhaps because of a spammy look; users don’t like to see too many hashtags on a post. For this reason, some would agree that you should use under 6 hashtags and target them as best you can to your audience (enter: hashtag generator tool).

Interestingly, though, the average number of hashtags used on Instagram is 10.7, which means that most people are using about 10-11 hashtags per post. Some experts have speculated that 11 hashtags is the magic number for Instagram.

So, while there is no set conclusion on the issue, these are some things that you can consider when deciding how many hashtags to use.

5. How do I know if a hashtag is working? 

Do you use hashtags in your posts? Do you feel like you’re getting optimal results with your current hashtag strategy? There’s always more you can do to ensure that you’re boosting your hashtag performance and getting your content seen by more people.

It can be tricky to stay up to date with hashtags and to know which ones are doing well. It can also be a challenge to understand how many to use, what topics are trending, as well as which hashtags your target audience is likely to follow.

For this reason, we’ve created our go-to hashtag guide to help you not only take a look at the top hashtag generator tools but also answer some FAQs about hashtag use and how to get the most of the little pound sign that we all know and love.

This is one of the trickiest things about using hashtags, and you’ll have to continuously monitor and track your progres to make sure that your posts are performing well. There are a couple different ways that you can do this.

Some hashtag generators like Kicksta will let you track the hashtag analytics and see which hashtags are performing well on Instagram as well as what volume they’re being used in. Checking this before you choose hashtags can help you gauge what type of success you will have with a hashtag.

Then, you should keep track of your own account to see if your posts are maintaining similar performance. You can use Instagram analytics to see who has discovered your posts based on the use of a hashtag, letting you know when your hashtags are bringing in results and when you may need to shake things up.

You can also use analytics on IG stories to choose hashtags that are pulling in more views. This can be a great way to supplement your IG stories with things that may be trending in real time.

For your posts and other content, using a hashtag generator and IG analytics is definitely the best way to understand how a hashtag should be performing and what type of results it pulls in for you.

6. How can I create a catchy hashtag?

Creating a catchy hashtag can be tough, but there are a variety of ways that you can do it. If you want a branded hashtag, try to think of something that’s related to your niche and is short but catchy.

If you create a hashtag that’s way too long, people are less likely to use it. Ultimately you want it to be something that has a good ring to it and gets people excited to use it. You may want to use verbs in the hashtag as well to keep it action-focused.

If you are looking for a hashtag that is connected to your niche but you can’t come up with anything, you can always use your hashtag generator tool. You can easily generate a variety of different hashtags based on one keyword, giving you ideas when you need them most.

After you take a look at the populated list, you can choose the one(s) that you think would work best for you and implement them in your posts. You could also use them for inspiration and tweak them a little bit to make sure that it is just how you want it.

If you’re thinking about creating your own hashtag, search it before you use it. That way you can see if anyone has already come up with your brilliant idea; if you want it to be unique to you and your brand/business, it can be good to know what’s already out there before using the tag.

7. How can I tell which hashtags are popular?

If you want to see if a hashtag is popular, check to see if your hashtag generator tool tracks popularity of a hashtag. Many times you’ll be able to see analytics about hashtags so that you can understand what is trending and what the volume of use is.

In addition to that, you can do some searching of your own just to take a look at the numbers on the platform. Some platforms like TikTok will let you know which hashtags are trending; all you have to do is check out the discover page and it will let you know. Twitter also has a “trending” section, making it very easy to see which hashtags are being talked about and searched for.

You can also check for a particular hashtag that you have in mind by searching it in the tag section on Instagram. You can then see how many posts have been published that include that hashtag.

When you see large numbers, the hashtag is being used frequently, but you want to find a balance; using a hashtag that is too popular will bury your content because so many posts are being uploaded.

It’s a good idea to know what the volume of hashtag use is so that you can decide which one is going to get you seen but not smothered by other users’ content.

8. Can I put hashtags in the comments on Instagram?

You can definitely put a hashtag in the comments on Instagram. This is actually a popular strategy amongst Instagram users so they don’t bombard their followers and viewers with hashtags in the captions.

All you have to do is post your content and then take your hashtags, create a comment on your post, and then post the comment. The hashtags will then be active in the first comment.

Now, does putting hashtags in Instagram comments work? It can work, but keep in mind you still need to be using the right hashtags. If you choose overly popular hashtags your content will still get pushed down below all of the other posts that include that hashtag.

You should still follow the strategy that will get you the most viewers, no matter if you’re posting the hashtags on your actual post or in the comment sections. The functionality and reach will be the same; there’s no special advantage of using hashtags in the comments other than to help your posts look less cluttered.

You can also put hashtags in your Instagram stories as well as in your Instagram bio. It’s a good idea to put one or two uber-relevant hashtags in your bio so that your profile will appear in searches that are related to that hashtag.

9. What’s the best hashtag app for Instagram?

The best hashtag app for Instagram is HashtagsForLikes. They offer a premium hashtag service with some of the best analytics and filters at affordable pricing that can work with any budget.

Not only that, you can access your account via mobile app or via desktop, giving you flexibility and ease of use. The mobile version is incredibly user-friendly and helps you save time by using your hashtag tool right on your mobile device.

HashtagsForLikes works for all niches as well so no matter what kind of content you post on Instagram, they can provide you with all the valuable details about hashtags that can help you get more reach on the platform.

10. What’s the best way to use hashtags on Instagram? 

This question is quite broad, but there are a variety of different pointers for using hashtags on your Instagram content. We’ll go over a few of them in this section to help you get started.

Put a # before the hashtag word or phrase. Make sure there are no spaces between the # and the first word, otherwise it won’t work. In fact, you shouldn’t use spaces in between any of the words in a hashtag otherwise it will break up the tag and it won’t be complete.

You can use a combination of letters, numbers, and whatever else you’d like, including emojis. Emojis can be hashtags all on their own, so you may be able to incorporate relevant ones to get some good results.

Don’t use irrelevant or repetitive hashtags – this will hinder your strategy and take up valuable space where you could’ve inserted a hashtag that would be more targeted. Be specific and clear about the tags you use.

Watch out for over-popular hashtags. If you use hashtags that are surging in popularity, your content may not get seen because it’s being pushed down in the feed. Try different variants or hashtags that are more niche-specific.

General hashtags are usually overused. If you use a tag like #love or #beauty, this is too general. You won’t get any targeted viewers when you use hashtags like that, minimizing your potential to get more followers and engagement. Use niche-specific hashtags.

Check out the hashtag before using it. You don’t want your content associated with content that is offensive. Taking a quick look can make sure that your reputation stays intact.

Use your hashtag in a few different spots. You can either integrate hashtags within your caption, you can put them at the end of your caption, you can put your hashtags in the first comment, or you can do a combination of those. Try out a few different things and see which way gets you the best results.

Next Steps: Best Hashtag Generator Tools

Hashtags are a great way to get your content out to more people, generate interest around your account, boost engagement and get more Instagram followers.

You have better chances of doing all of those things when you use a hashtag generator tool. So, what’s next?

Take a look at the hashtag generator tools that we mentioned above and choose one that can work for you. Our vote is for HashTagsForLikes, but all of these hashtag generator tools are quite popular among Instagram users.

You can significantly improve your Instagram performance when you use a hashtag generator, so don’t miss the opportunity. You’ll also save time as well.

Once you choose one, start using it immediately and also pay close attention to which hashtags are trending, which ones are popular with your target audience, and how your content performs after you post it.

Do you use a different hashtag generator tool that you love? Let us know in the comments!

About The Author: Antonio Lane is a tech entrepreneur who is passionate about marketing. He has helped hundreds of companies succeed on social networks.

After countless hours of debate, weighing the pros and cons, and maybe one too many sleepless nights, you’ve decided it’s time to bring your SEO in-house. It’s a gutsy move– and a smart one, too, considering how the digital marketing landscape is more unpredictable than a plot twist in a telenovela.

But, let’s be clear: We’re not here to rehash the ‘why’ – if you’re reading this, you’re probably already sold on the game- changing power of a top-notch SEO engine purring right in your corporate garage. What we’re really gonna sink our teeth into is the ‘how’ – how to master the task of setting up and integrating a kick-butt in-house SEO team into the heartbeat of your biz.

Ready to dive in? Let’s get cracking!

Step #1: Understand Your SEO Team Needs

A startup’s needs are vastly different from those of a sprawling enterprise. Understanding where you fall on this spectrum will guide your hiring process, from the number of team members to their expertise levels.

For smaller businesses, a lean, scrappy team might do the trick – a few multi-talented individuals who can wear multiple hats. On the other hand, larger corporations may require a more specialized, robust team. The key here is to strike a balance – enough horsepower to drive your SEO engine without overloading your vessel with unnecessary weight.

Step #2: Align Your SEO Budget With Your Needs

Reality check: your dream SEO team needs to fit snugly within the confines of your budget. This isn’t just about salaries; it’s about the total cost of operation. That includes marketing tools, training, and external resources like contractors for content writing or link-building campaigns. Typically, many SEO roles are viewed as entry-level marketing positions, which may result in lower hiring costs compared to more advanced roles.

There’s no point in dreaming up an army of SEO warriors if your coffers can only muster a skeleton crew. Be realistic about what you can afford and what you absolutely need. If you’re running on a tight budget, prioritize roles that will bring the most significant impact first. Then, gradually build up your team as your SEO efforts start to bear fruit and justify additional investment.

Step #3: Scout for the Right Talent

Now, onto the exciting part – building your team. This step is more than just filling seats – it’s about finding the right combination of brainpower, creativity, and digital savvy to rev up your SEO machine. Start with the cornerstone of your team – the leader. Here are some of the qualities you should look for in your SEO team leader:

Proven SEO Expertise. This isn’t their first rodeo. They’ve boosted rankings, nailed target KPIs, and have a track record to prove it.Leadership Skills. They should be able to inspire and lead, ensuring the team is aligned, motivated, and working towards common goals.Strategic Thinker. Can they see the big picture? You need someone who can craft and steer the overall SEO strategy, not just manage day-to-day tasks.Excellent Communicator. They’ll need to translate SEO jargon into plain English for stakeholders and ensure everyone’s on the same page.Adaptability. SEO is ever-changing. Your leader should thrive on change and be ready to pivot strategies as needed.

Once your leader is on board, it’s time to assemble the rest of your crew. Depending on your budget and goals, this could range from a tight-knit squad of multi-talented mavericks to a sprawling team of specialized SEO experts. Here’s a breakdown of the roles you may want to consider:

Technical SEO Expert

First up, you need a tech whiz. This person is so in tune with algorithms that they dream in code. They’re the ones who’ll dive deep into the murky waters of technical SEO and emerge with pearls of wisdom that make your site run smoother and faster.

Outreach Specialists

Link outreach specialists are out there, building links between your website and the vast digital world. Through clever outreach and solid relationships, they bolster your site’s authority and visibility.

Content Creators

Then come your content creators, the master storytellers offering content writing services. They’re the ones who take cold, hard data and spin it into content gold. With their fingers on the pulse of keyword trends and semantic SEO strategies, they craft content that doesn’t just rank well but also resonates with your audience.

Data Analyst

Obsessed with analytics and metrics, they can spot a trend from a mile away. They’re your guide in the wilderness of SEO data, turning numbers into actionable insights.

Step #4: Equip Your Team for Success

So, you’ve got your team. Now what? It’s time to arm them with the right tools – and we’re not just talking about a fancy coffee machine (although, let’s be honest, caffeine does fuel some of the best ideas). Here are some of the most important digital tools your new in-house SEO team might need to wield to conquer the SEO battleground:

Screaming Frog, AHRefs, SEMRush For Deep SEO Insights

Screaming Frog, AHRefs, and SEMRush are like the holy trinity of SEO. Screaming Frog crawls through your site, sniffing out issues like a well-trained bloodhound. AHRefs dives deep into the backlink ocean, fishing out golden opportunities and insights. And SEMRush? It’s a multifaceted tool that excels in competitive analysis and keyword research, helping you analyze your market position, track your rankings, and really dig into your PPC competitors. These tools are non-negotiables, but they’re just the start.

Kanban Zone for Project Management

Now, let’s talk project management – because even the most talented SEO teams can spiral into chaos without a clear plan. This platform is the ideal project management software for SEO teams given its flexible board designer that allows users to customize their board to suit their workflow. Kanban Zone lets you map out every stage of your SEO campaigns, from initial brainstorming to final analysis. Plus, you can track and measure your team’s productivity through its advanced metrics feature, helping SEO teams understand how to improve their processes based on actual data.

Resource Guru for Resource Management

While Asana orchestrates the what and when Resource Guru handles the who – this dynamic duo is what keeps most SEO agencies on their toes and out of the weeds. Your in-house can also benefit from this power pair. Resource Guru fills those resource scheduling gaps Asana might leave, managing your team’s bandwidth and ensuring everyone’s workload is balanced and efficient. It’s the secret sauce to preventing burnout and ensuring that your SEO strategy doesn’t crumble under the weight of unrealistic expectations or over commitment.

Google Analytics Search Console for Measuring Success

No SEO toolkit is complete without Google Analytics and Google Search Console. These are the crystal balls of the digital world, offering a glimpse into user behavior, website performance, and search traffic. Google Analytics serves up a smorgasbord of data – from user demographics to page performance – helping your team make informed decisions. Google Search Console, meanwhile, is your direct line to Google, offering insights into how your site is viewed and indexed by the search giant, along with any issues that need fixing.

OneUp for Scheduling GMB Posts

With local SEO becoming more crucial by the day, your team needs to be on top of your GMB listings like a hawk. Enter OneUp. This tool is a lifesaver for scheduling posts, even for multiple locations on GMB. It’s like having a personal assistant for your Google My Business profile, ensuring your local audience sees fresh, relevant content regularly, which is key for boosting local search rankings.

FileCenter for Document Management

And then there’s FileCenter, the silent guardian of your SEO fortress. This tool is one of the leading document management systems out there, providing a central repository for all your SEO strategies, keyword research, content calendars, and performance reports. With FileCenter, your team can effortlessly collaborate, share insights, and streamline document workflows. This means more time spent on strategy and creativity and less on hunting down that elusive file someone saved in a mystery folder.

Slack for Day-to-Day Team Interaction

For day-to-day chatter, quick questions, and team banter, Slack is your digital water cooler. It’s where your team can share updates, ask for feedback, and even share the occasional meme to keep spirits high. Slack channels can be organized by project, team, or topic, ensuring that conversations stay focused and relevant.

Grammarly for Polished Content

Let’s face it: typos and grammatical errors are the bane of any SEO team’s existence. Grammarly is your team’s virtual proofreader, ensuring that every piece of content is polished, professional, and pitch-perfect. After all, what’s the point of driving traffic to your site if the content isn’t up to snuff?

Eletive for Employee Engagement

And finally, we can’t forget about the heart and soul of your SEO team – the people. That’s where Eletive comes in. Eletive is like your team’s virtual cheerleader, constantly measuring the pulse of your team’s morale and engagement. It offers anonymous feedback, surveys, and mood tracking, ensuring that your team isn’t just working hard but also feeling good about their work.

Additionally, Eletive incorporates tools on how to give 360 feedback effectively, fostering a culture of open and constructive communication. This feature helps in identifying areas for growth, both for individuals and the team as a whole, making feedback a cornerstone of development.

Step #5: Nurturing Your Team’s Growth

Having assembled your team of SEO superstars and armed them with the best tools, your next move is to nurture their growth. This isn’t just about hitting KPIs. It’s about creating an environment where creativity, innovation, and SEO excellence can flourish.

Integrate SEO into the Heart of Your Business

Integrating SEO into your business isn’t just about slotting it into a corner of the marketing department. It’s about weaving it into the very fabric of your company. It needs to be in the bloodstream of every project, every campaign, every piece of content.

This means breaking down silos. Get your SEO team involved from the get-go – whether it’s a new product launch, a website redesign, or a branding overhaul. Their insights can be the difference between a campaign that soars and one that flops.

Celebrate the Wins, Big and Small

In the high-stakes world of SEO, victories can sometimes feel few and far between. That’s why it’s crucial to celebrate every win, no matter how small. Whether it’s a jump in keyword rankings, a successful content campaign, or a significant backlink acquisition, acknowledging these achievements boosts morale and fosters a sense of pride in your team’s work. Celebrating successes also reinforces positive behaviors and strategies that lead to these wins, encouraging the team to keep pushing the boundaries of SEO excellence.

Additionally, as your team garners results and insights, it’s vital to present this information in a way that’s both comprehensible and compelling to stakeholders. This is where presenting a  SEO report comes into play. Using a well-structured and visually appealing template to present a SEO report can make a significant difference in how your SEO efforts are perceived and valued within the company.

Encourage Continuous Learning and Adaptation

SEO is a field that never sleeps – and your team shouldn’t be caught napping, either. Urge them to attend webinars, enroll in online courses, and stay glued to industry blogs. Create a knowledge-sharing ecosystem where team members can exchange insights and latest findings.

But don’t stop at the boundaries of conventional SEO wisdom. Encourage your team to go beyond the echo chamber of SEO forums and get their hands dirty with real-world applications. Why? Because sometimes, the most profound lessons are hidden in the rubble of spectacular failures. So, embrace the blunders with open arms, turning each one into a stepping stone towards SEO greatness.

Provide Regular Feedback and Constructive Criticism

Regular feedback is the bedrock of growth and improvement. Schedule periodic reviews to discuss each team member’s progress, challenges, and areas for development. But remember, feedback is a two-way street. Encourage team members to voice their thoughts on workflows, tools, and strategies. This open dialogue ensures better team connection and helps in fine-tuning your SEO processes to achieve peak efficiency.

Foster Cross-Department Collaboration

Regular sit-downs with the sales team can provide valuable insights into customer pain points. Brainstorming sessions with the product team can spark innovative content ideas. And let’s not forget the goldmine of data that your customer service team sits on. Make sure your SEO team has regular touchpoints with different departments to capitalize on these insights. This inter-departmental mingling allows cross-pollinating ideas to nurture a more holistic and effective SEO strategy.

Setting the Stage for Your SEO Success

Assembling and managing an in-house SEO team is no small feat. It requires a blend of the right skills, tools, and, most importantly, the right mindset. With the strategies and tools we’ve discussed, you’ll be well on your way to building an SEO powerhouse that not only drives results but also becomes a core part of your business’s success story.

As a marketer, I understand how today’s marketing campaigns face fierce competition. With so much content and ads competing for eyeballs, creating campaigns that stand out is no easy task. 

That’s where strategies like tagging come in. 

It helps you categorize and optimize your marketing efforts. It also helps your campaigns cut through the noise and reach the right audience.

To help you out, I’ve compiled nine ways brands use a tagging strategy to create an impactful marketing campaign. 

Let’s get to it. 

How Brands Use a Tagging Strategy

Tagging involves using keywords or labels to categorize and organize content, products, or customer data. You attach tags to specific items or information to make searching, sorting, and analyzing data easier. 

There are various types of tags, including meta tags, analytics tags, image tags, hashtags, blog tags, and more. 

So, how do brands use a tagging strategy to make their marketing campaigns stand out?

Improve Social Media Engagement

With over 5 billion users, social media provides an easy way to connect with your audience, build relationships, and promote your offerings.

Use a tagging strategy to boost social media interactions. Consistently use hashtags that align with current trends and topics. This encourages people to interact with your content and boosts content visibility.

You can also use tags to monitor brand mentions of your products or your industry. This allows you to engage with your audience promptly.

Consider virtual social media assistants to streamline your tagging strategy. These AI-driven tools can suggest relevant hashtags, track mentions, and automate responses. Implementing them can save time and resources while ensuring consistent engagement across your socials.

Build a Personal Brand on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform, with over 1 billion members across 200 nations. It offers excellent opportunities for individuals and businesses to build and nurture their brands.

However, simply creating a professional profile isn’t enough to build a personal brand on LinkedIn. 

Use various tags to increase your visibility, establish thought leadership, showcase expertise, and attract the right connections. For instance, use skill tags to showcase your expertise and industry tags to attract connections and opportunities within your industry. Use certification tags to help showcase your expertise and credibility to potential employers or clients. 

Facilitate Customer Segmentation and Personalization

Personalization matters—more so in today’s data-driven world. In fact, 65% of consumers expect your brand to adapt to their changing preferences and needs.

To meet this expectation, consider using a tagging strategy.

Segment your customers based on shared characteristics, such as demographics, interests, purchase history, cart abandonment, and behavior.

Here’s a summary of the steps to customer segmentation.

With your customer segments ready, use tags to tailor your marketing messages and offerings to specific segments. Imagine sending targeted email campaigns based on what your customers need. That’s the power of segmentation and tagging in action!

Enhance SEO and Content Discoverability

Tagging content can have a profound impact on search engine optimization (SEO) and content discoverability. When users search for specific topics or products, well-tagged content is more likely to appear in search results, driving organic traffic to your website. 

Additionally, tags can help you analyze the most popular topics with your readers. Then, the results of this analysis can help you adjust your content strategies accordingly.

And get this— certain AI tools can help analyze your content and suggest relevant tags and keywords. Using these tools in addition to a tagging strategy can help optimize your SEO strategies and boost content discoverability.

Partner with the Right Influencers

Influencer marketing has become a go-to marketing approach for modern brands. Recent stats show that 85% of marketers and business owners believe influencer marketing is an effective marketing strategy. 

But how do you find the perfect influencer for your campaign? 

Utilize tags to identify influencers who are relevant to your niche. Beyond this, find influencers who align with your brand values and target audience.

Additionally, look for influencers who use hashtags that are relevant to your campaigns. For instance, fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni uses #adv (advertising) and #ghd (good hair day) hashtags in this campaign.

Monitor industry-specific hashtags and mentions to discover influential voices and build profitable relationships with them. 

Track Hashtag Performance

Tracking your hashtag performance helps you understand your campaigns’ engagement, reach, and effectiveness.

To achieve this goal, assign special hashtags to each marketing project. This helps you see which hashtags generate the most engagement and reach, enabling you to refine your tagging strategy. 

Here’s an example of a hashtag performance report for the #SuperBowl2024.

This curated list of hashtag generators by Attrock discusses the top tools for your consideration. You can analyze each and choose the one that best fits your needs.

Categorize Content Accordingly 

The human attention span is shrinking. The last thing you want is for your audience to have difficulty in finding or navigating your content, get frustrated, and bounce.

Untagged content can be difficult to navigate and manage. As any marketer knows, content is important in digital marketing campaigns. 

To categorize your content, identify the main categories by topics, themes, campaigns, target audiences, or product lines. Then, assign relevant tags based on the categories you’ve identified. After that, implement a consistent tagging strategy for existing and new content. 

Organizing your content using tags can also help streamline your content management workflow. Most importantly, readers can easily find the content they’re looking for, thereby boosting overall user experience, engagement, and conversions.

Boost Your Email Marketing Strategy

Email marketing remains a powerful marketing tool in today’s digital world. It’s also another area where brands use a tagging strategy to directly reach their target audience.

Use tags to segment your email list and personalize your marketing messages. Then, you can send targeted emails based on factors like purchase history, interests, and demographics. 

Personalization can significantly improve open rates, CTRs, and overall engagement and conversion rates. It’s a simple yet impactful strategy to make your email marketing strategy more effective.  

Plus, you can use tags to track how well your emails perform with each group. This helps you understand what content resonates best with your audience and provides insight on how to improve your emails going forward.

Enhance Analytics and Reporting

Every marketer appreciates the immense value of data. For brands using tagging strategies, tags are powerful tools for gathering valuable data. 

Analyze how users interact with your tagged content. See which tags generate the most clicks, shares, conversions, and other forms of engagement. Gain insight into audience preferences and campaign effectiveness.

This granular data about your marketing efforts allow you to make data-driven decisions, allocate resources effectively, and refine your marketing strategies.

Final Thoughts 

There isn’t a single correct way for brands to use a tagging strategy in marketing. You can use a tagging strategy however you see fit. However, the bottom line is that this strategy offers you a simple yet powerful way to create attention-grabbing and unique marketing campaigns. 

Fortunately, tagging strategies are useful across various marketing initiatives, from social media and email marketing to SEO and more. 

So, if you’re ready to elevate your marketing campaign, build a strong brand presence, and stand out among the competition, consider employing effective tagging strategies today.

The world of business is a never-ending hustle. It can be hard for small businesses (SMBs) to keep up with established giants that have a lot of resources. Don’t worry, though—a revolution is on the way! SaaS, or software as a service, is revolutionizing the market by providing SMBs with technologies they previously couldn’t have afforded.

SaaS isn’t only a fancy phrase; it’s a ground-breaking leveling technology paradigm. Consider accessing strong capabilities such as customer relationship management (CRM) and project planning software, which were previously exclusive to large organizational chart makers. SMBs may easily manage customer interactions, optimize operations, and successfully cooperate with the help of SaaS services.

This article delves deeply into the revolutionary potential of SaaS for SMBs. We’ll look at how it affects cooperation, scalability, and creativity in addition to expenses. In the end, we’ll demonstrate how a strategic SaaS strategy opens the door to small enterprises’ long-term success in the fast-paced world of today. SaaS may be your secret weapon for growth, regardless of your company’s size—it can help bootstrapped startups as well as established local businesses. Let’s look into how!

Part 1: Leveling the Playing Field – SaaS’s Cost BenefitsIt used to be very expensive for small businesses to get software.

The initial investment in tool licenses, followed by regular maintenance costs, might put a serious dent in their budget. Unlike large companies with strong resources, SMBs were kept out of the game by this heavy price tag. 

SaaS employs a subscription model, which reverses the script.

Companies pay a fixed monthly price instead of a large upfront expense. For SMBs, this makes strong software significantly more realistic. Consider technology’s democratizing effect. Previously reserved for large companies, products like CRM, accounting software, or project management systems may now be used even in the smallest companies.

Imagine the possibilities!

With an easy-to-use SaaS CRM, a neighborhood bakery can handle client connections Within their means, they may monitor sales and even offer customized birthday promos. Without sacrificing budget, a strong project management system can help a freelancing designer wow customers and simplify productivity. SaaS gives SMBs access to the same potent tools used by industry giants, therefore enabling them to compete on a more equal playing field.

More on SaaS’s cost advantages:

Lower starting expenses:

Not exorbitant license costs. By allowing SMBs to invest in necessary business tools, SaaS helps them to liberate money for other purposes like marketing or hiring.

Predictable budgeting:

Unlike the variable expenses of conventional software purchases, monthly subscription prices are transparent and consistent. SaaS removes shocks from budgets!

No maintenance:

Software upgrades and maintenance fall to SaaS companies. This releases SMB resources for main company operations like customer service and marketing. Goodbye, IT hassles!

Scalability:

As company requirements change, SaaS subscriptions may be simply expanded or contracted. This lets SMBs stay away from underused licenses or costly software updates. Their strategy might change depending on the size of their team—growing or shrinking.

SMBs may greatly increase their financial situation by adopting SaaS’s cost advantages. This enables them to commit to other areas for long-term success and expansion. At last, they can concentrate on what is important: managing their company and reaching their objectives!

Part 2: Scaling with Agility: The Value of On-Demand SolutionsSoftware used to be a massive, inflexible beast.

The era where AI tools are becoming increasingly flexible, scalable, and on-demand is rapidly replacing the old paradigm of inflexible software solutions. Take, for example, the ChatPDF tool, which provides complimentary AI-powered interactions with PDFs, documents, and presentations. Furthermore, it enables users to promptly read, analyze, summarize, and translate PDFs across multiple languages.

Traditional methods required purchasing and installing sophisticated software on each machine. This long, costly procedure sometimes calls for IT experts who can easily be hired by using an IT support test. While scaling down resulted in wasted licences, scaling up necessitated large improvements.

On-demand solutions from SaaS flip the script.  

Living in the cloud, the software is available from any gadget with an internet connection. This removes difficult installs and lets companies easily grow their software use. Hiring a new team member? Just add yet another user to your SaaS subscription.

See the possibilities!  

A growing marketing organization may easily add fresh staff members to their system of marketing automation. There are no compatibility problems or hassle with program installations to handle. A seasonal firm like a landscaping company may simply cut its accounting software subscription in slower winter months to help with expenses by using a Klaviyo alternative.

SaaS provides agility advantages that release the potential for expansion:

The ability for remote work:

Employees utilizing SaaS may access critical corporate tools from anywhere with an internet connection. This encourages geographically scattered teams and a more flexible workspace. draw outstanding talent from anywhere! Using tools like slack org chart might help you to keep your team’s workspace organized

Simplified scaling refers to:

Users with a SaaS subscription may be added or removed quickly and simply. As their company grows, SMBs might change, and have a need to find a CTO to help them scale their technology infrastructure and oversee their technical operations.

Automotive updates:

SaaS companies automatically manage security fixes and software upgrades. This guarantees SMBs are always running the most recent and safest version of the program, therefore removing the need for possible security flaws and hand updates.

Embracing SaaS’s on-demand character helps SMBs to become agile and scalable. This enables businesses to run effectively with remote workers, adjust to shifting market circumstances, and concentrate on essential business operations rather than IT problems. At last, they can free themselves from the IT difficulties and concentrate on what really counts: the expansion of their company!

Part 3: Accepting Innovation – Slaying the CurveIt has always been difficult to keep software up-to-date.

New features can call for costly updates, and obsolete software could expose companies to security concerns. Often lacking the means to continuously upgrade its software, SMBs fell behind bigger businesses.

With automatic updates, SaaS turns the script around.  

New features, bug fixes, and security patches abound in SaaS companies’ continually updated software. All pages users get these updates immediately, which guarantees SMBs are always using the most recent and safest version.

Imagine the possibilities!  

The most recent tax rules automatically included in a SaaS accounting system help a small accounting business. Without any human involvement, an e-commerce business gains the most recent capabilities for handling online payments and deliveries.

SaaS has numerous advantages related to innovation:

continuous development:

SaaS companies are always developing fresh features for their systems. This helps SMBs to profit from the most recent developments without costly renovations.

Improved safety

Automatic updates guarantee SMBs always apply the most recent security fixes, therefore shielding their company from online attacks.

Pay attention to fundamental business:

Eliminating the requirement to handle software upgrades allows SMBs to concentrate their efforts on key company operations like customer service, innovation, and collecting customer feedback.

SaaS maintains SMBs at the forefront. They may use the most recent security and features free from the responsibility of running conventional programs. This helps them to keep ahead of the curve in the hectic corporate climate of today and compete successfully.

Part 4: Collaboration Made Easy: Promoting Teamwork and ProductivityCollaboration has always presented difficulties.  

Many times built data silos by on-site software, this makes team performance challenging. Different iterations of papers confused people, and communication remained jumbled.

With real-time teamwork, SaaS changes the script.  

SaaS apps built on clouds let many users access and change data at once. This gets rid of version control problems and promotes flawless cooperation.

Consider the opportunities!  

Working on a new campaign, a marketing team collaboratively uses cloud-based task management software. Updates guarantee everyone’s on-target by reflecting right away for everybody. Through a centralised SaaS CRM, a sales force easily distributes client data. This simplifies sales and enhances communication. Additionally, while evaluating SaaS tools, consider marketing goals as a factor for improving your company’s online presence. For instance, choosing a SaaS provider that helps with SEO and content marketing can ensure that your tools are well-supported with link building and keyword research, enhancing your team’s access to reliable, widely-used solutions.

SaaS has several advantages for teamwork:

Instantaneous changes:

Everyone notices changes right away, clearing uncertainty and lost time running many versions.

Enhanced dialogue:

By allowing teams to instantly exchange data and communicate, SaaS improves communication.

Greater output:

Excellent teamwork simplifies processes and increases team output.

Using SaaS’s collaborative elements will help SMBs enable their staff to operate more successfully. Improved communication, higher production, and finally greater business results follow from this.

Part 5: Building a Successful SaaS Strategy: The Road to Success

Unquestionably, SaaS has advantages; nevertheless, to maximise these benefits a strategic approach is absolutely essential. SMEs may create a successful SaaS plan as follows:

Identify needs.

Examining company demands carefully helps one to choose the best SaaS solutions. Investigate many possibilities and weigh features, cost, and integrations.

Be open to trials:

Use free samples and demonstrations to guarantee fit with current systems and user-friendliness. Test-drive many choices not too shy before making a purchase.

Giving staff members training and assistance will help to create a culture of user acceptance by means of new SaaS products. Provide easily accessible help lines and well defined documentation.

adopt an integrative perspective:

For a complete process, think about including many SaaS products. Many systems provide connectors or APIs to simplify procedures.

Regular assessment:

Review SaaS subscriptions often to be sure they fit changing company requirements. As your company expands, do not hesitate to change strategies or investigate fresh ideas.

There is an abundance of success tales!  

Once a small company uses a set of integrated SaaS products, it achieves notable efficiency. Strategic SaaS use’s scalability and accessibility to help a company flourish.

What’s the takeaway? SaaS enables SMBs to be global competitors. Using a strategic strategy will help them to achieve long- term success and unleash many advantages. SaaS is not just a choice in the ever-changing corporate scene of today; it’s the secret to releasing expansion and attaining long-term success for startups.

In summary

Small firms find SaaS to be a game-changer since the corporate environment is always changing. SaaS lets SMBs compete on a level playing field by removing upfront expenses, growing easily, and granting access to modern capabilities. From encouraging flawless teamwork to leading the innovation curve to offer better lead generation, SaaS has clear advantages. Small companies may open a road towards long-term success by using a systematic approach to SaaS deployment. SaaS is the future of enabling SMBs to flourish in the fast-paced environment of today, not just a technical trend.

Content marketing is a dynamic field that evolves rapidly, and staying ahead requires significant effort. You’ll need to set strategic benchmarks to measure success, helping you improve wherever necessary.

Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or just starting, these benchmarks will help define your successes and failures. From there, you can optimize your strategies and achieve the desired results.

Metrics like tracking website traffic and enhancing brand awareness are part of the puzzle, as they provide clarity and direction. This article will explore ten essential content marketing benchmarks that will guide you through the complexities of digital marketing.

Quick Takeaways

Setting benchmarks and using metrics you want to reach gives clear insight into content performance.

Measuring total visits, unique visitors, and page views helps gauge content performance.

Focusing on average time on page, pages per session, and social interactions helps you create content that resonates with your audience.

Monitoring conversion rates, number of leads, and cost per lead helps you determine how much it costs to turn visitors into potential customers.

1) Website Traffic

Your website traffic is the number of visitors landing on your site. Tracking website traffic is crucial because it shows how well your content attracts and retains audience interest.

Key metrics include:

Total Visits: The overall number of times people visit your site
Unique Visitors: The count of distinct individuals visiting your site, eliminating duplicates
Page Views: The total number of pages viewed by all visitors

Analyzing these metrics helps you gauge your content’s performance. High traffic and page views indicate popular, engaging content while tracking unique visitors, enabling you to understand your site’s reach.

Use these insights to refine your content strategy and improve audience engagement.

2) Engagement Metrics

Engagement metrics measure how actively visitors interact with your content, reflecting its effectiveness and appeal. These metrics are essential because they show whether your audience finds your content valuable and engaging.

Image Source

Aspects to focus on include:

Average Time on Page: How long visitors spend on a page, indicating interest
Pages per Session: The number of pages a visitor views in one session, showing navigation and content appeal
Social Shares and Likes: How often your content is shared and liked on social media, reflecting its reach and popularity
Comments and Interactions: The level of visitor interaction, such as comments and discussions

To improve engagement, create high-quality, relevant content that resonates with your audience. Use compelling headlines, visuals, and interactive elements to keep visitors interested and encourage them to engage more deeply.

3) Lead Generation

Generating leads through content marketing is essential for turning interested visitors into potential customers. Effective lead generation drives business growth and increases revenue.

Metrics to track include:

Conversion Rate: The percentage of visitors who take a desired action, such as filling out a form or subscribing to a newsletter
Number of Leads: The total count of potential customers generated from your content
Cost per Lead: The expense incurred to acquire each lead, helping you assess cost-effectiveness

Enhancing lead generation involves creating valuable content that addresses your audience’s needs and offers solutions. Use clear calls-to-action (CTAs), optimize landing pages, and offer incentives like eBooks or free trials to encourage visitors to share their information.

4) SEO Performance

Over 50% of online shoppers use Google to discover new products or brands. As a result, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is vital for content marketing success as it improves your content’s visibility on search engines, driving organic traffic to your site.

Image Source

Monitor metrics like:

Organic Traffic: The number of visitors coming from search engines, indicating your content’s reach
Keyword Rankings: How well your content ranks for specific search terms, reflecting its relevance and effectiveness
Backlinks: The number and quality of external links pointing to your content, enhancing its authority

Using relevant keywords, offering value, and ensuring your site is user-friendly can improve your site in search engines’ eyes. Regularly update your content, build backlinks, and use metadata effectively to improve your SEO performance.

5) Email Marketing

Email marketing plays a crucial role in content strategy, allowing direct communication with your audience and driving engagement. However, 72% of marketers don’t track the return they’re gaining through this channel.

Make sure you track:

Open Rate: The percentage of recipients who open your email, indicating its appeal
Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of recipients who click on links within your email, showing content effectiveness
Unsubscribe Rate: The rate at which recipients opt out of your email list, reflecting content relevance

Your email campaigns should include attention-grabbing subject lines, provide valuable and relevant content, and feature clear CTAs.

Personalize your emails to resonate with your audience and use visually appealing designs to keep them engaged. Regularly analyze these metrics to refine your strategy and improve results.

6) Return on Investment (ROI)

Understanding the financial impact of content marketing is essential to gauge its effectiveness and justify the investment.

Consider:

Revenue Generated: The total income directly attributed to your content marketing efforts
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): The expense incurred to acquire a new customer through content marketing
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): The total revenue a business can expect from a single customer account over time

Use data analytics to target the right audience and personalize content for the best results. Optimize your marketing funnel to convert leads efficiently, and continuously track and adjust your strategies based on performance metrics.

7) Content Production

Content production involves creating and publishing materials like articles, videos, and infographics to engage your audience.

Ensure you track:

Content Published: The number of pieces you create and release
Content Calendar Adherence: How well your team sticks to the planned publishing schedule
Content Quality Score: An assessment of content based on factors like readability, depth, and engagement

Consistent and high-quality content output is crucial for building trust and authority with your audience. A well-planned content calendar ensures regular posting while focusing on quality, which attracts and retains readers and drives better results for your content marketing strategy.

8) Audience Growth

Measuring your audience’s expansion helps you understand your content’s reach and impact.

Consider your:

Social Media Followers: The number of people following your brand on social media platforms
Email Subscribers: The count of individuals subscribing to your email list
Community Engagement: The level of interaction and participation in your online communities

Creating shareable content, engaging with followers on social media, and offering incentives for email subscriptions can help you reach your benchmarks. You’ll want to foster a sense of community by encouraging discussions, responding to comments, and hosting interactive events.

9) Brand Awareness

Content marketing is crucial in building brand awareness by making your brand more recognizable and memorable to your audience.

Video Source

Track metrics like:

Brand Mentions: The number of times people mention your brand online, revealing your visibility
Sentiment Analysis: Assessing the tone of these mentions to understand public perception of your brand

Consistently producing relevant content that resonates with your audience can build brand awareness. You’ll also want to utilize social media, guest posts, and influencer partnerships to broaden your reach.

Actively promoting your brand and maintaining a positive presence helps boost brand awareness, too.

10) Benchmark Comparisons

Using benchmarks to compare performance helps you understand how your content marketing efforts stack up against industry standards.

Look at metrics like:

Industry Averages: Comparing your metrics, like engagement rates and conversion rates, to typical figures within your industry
Competitor Analysis: Evaluating your competitors’ performance to identify strengths and weaknesses

Leverage benchmark comparisons to uncover areas for improvement and set realistic goals. Regularly reviewing these comparisons ensures your content marketing remains competitive and effective.

Take Your Content Marketing to the Next Level

Utilizing content marketing benchmarks is essential for driving success. Steps like tracking website traffic and engagement metrics, measuring ROI, and conducting benchmark comparisons offer critical insights into your performance, helping you achieve better results.

Integrate these benchmarks into your strategy today to enhance your content marketing performance and drive sustainable growth. Marketing Insider Group can create the engaging content you need to stay relevant to your audience with our Content Builder Services. Contact us to learn more or book a consultation with our team.

The main difference between poor and good customer service boils down to a single factor: empathy.

When customers are upset or frustrated, being empathetic changes how they feel about your brand. It shows you get where they’re coming from, calming them and making them more likely to give your company another chance.

The good news is that being empathetic isn’t that complicated.

To start, you can use customer service empathy statements to show customers you care. This lays the groundwork to help you better understand their concerns and proves you’re paying attention.

What is an empathy statement?

Empathy statements are words or phrases used in customer service interactions to communicate your understanding and validation of a customer’s feelings—essentially, to empathize with them.

Adding these statements to your customer service scripts is a great way to acknowledge the customer’s emotions, thereby building loyalty and improving customer satisfaction.

Ways to show empathy in customer service

Here are more empathetic call and chat support tips to build meaningful customer relationships:

Be approachable: Make your tone of voice, body language, and demeanor empathetic. And smile—a lot. This shows the customer you’re listening and keen to help.Active listening: Let the customer speak without interruption. Use verbal and non-verbal cues (think: nodding, paraphrasing their statements) to show you understand their concerns.Respond respectfully: Use positive and empathetic language during the conversation (“I’ll help you throughout the process to resolve your query”). Offer practical solutions or take genuine action to help.Validate their feelings: Allow angry and frustrated customers to vent and get it all out. Then validate their experiences, assuring them their issues are important. Even if you disagree with their perspective, don’t downplay their feelings.Take responsibility: Acknowledge mistakes and shortcomings on the company’s part, and apologize sincerely for the frustration or inconvenience caused. Take proactive steps to rectify the situation and stop similar issues from happening in the future.Why use empathy statements in customer service?

The simple answer is to show customers your company prioritizes their well-being over profits.

Here’s how customer service empathy statements make this happen:

Build rapport and establish trust

Trust is the foundation of long-term customer relationships, and empathetic agents earn the customers’ trust faster by making them feel heard and establishing positive sentiment. In turn, they become more willing to trust your intentions and accept support.

De-escalate tense situations

Customers expect prompt action from the company to address their concerns. Empathetic statements give them this reassurance and calm them, effectively de-escalating or diffusing potentially volatile situations.

This approach facilitates constructive dialogue and problem-solving, lowering the risks of negative publicity on social media platforms and customer churn.

Enhance customer satisfaction

89% of consumers prefer buying from brands that understand their needs and show care. Empathy statements are a solid step in meeting these expectations, helping you level with a customer’s emotions.

Customers feel valued and supported, even in challenging situations, which makes them more likely to leave the interaction feeling satisfied and positive about your brand. This approach can be particularly beneficial when you are developing a business plan or looking to start a business, as customer satisfaction is a key component of long-term success.

Create a positive customer service experience

Empathetic customer conversations pave the way for positive customer experiences, making customers feel valued and supported. What’s more, these positive experiences extend beyond individual interactions and shape a customer’s overall (positive) brand awareness and perceptions.

23 Essential empathy statements for every customer service interaction

Now that we’ve established why empathy is important, let’s review some key customer service empathy statements. Use the following phrases to convey you’re sympathetic to a customer’s issue:

When you want to acknowledge customer concerns

1. “I understand your frustration, (Customer Name).”

This statement acknowledges the customer’s frustration and validates their emotions.

2. “I appreciate you bringing it to our attention. Rest assured, I’ve made a note of your complaint and am looking into this right away.”

This phrase expresses gratitude and shows you’ve been listening actively to what they have to say.

3. “I’m sorry you’ve been experiencing this issue, (Customer Name).”

Apologizing is important for two reasons. Firstly, it recognizes the customer’s discomfort or inconvenience. Secondly, it shows you care for the customer’s brand experience.

4. “I can see why this is upsetting. We’ll work on resolving it together.”

This empathy statement validates and respects the customer’s emotions, and then promises a solution.

5. “I appreciate your patience as we work through this together.”

This is another great way to acknowledge customer concerns while asking them to be patient as you work on resolving them.

When you want to offer support and assistance

6. “Please allow me to assist you in this. “

The statement is respectful and offers direct support, showing your willingness to ease the customer’s challenges.

7. “We’re committed to making this right for you.”

Use this statement to reassure the customer of ongoing support and convey that your company is genuinely committed to helping them resolve their issue.

8. “I’m here to assist you until we find a solution.”

Similar to the above, this empathy phrase shows you want to make things right for the customer.

9. “Rest assured, we’ll work together to find a solution, (Customer Name).”

By emphasizing collaboration, this statement recognizes the customer as a partner in problem-solving and involves them in the resolution process.

10. “Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need further assistance.”

This is a great way to end an interaction after you’ve helped the customer with an issue, assuring ongoing support.

When you want to express understanding

11. “I’ve experienced a similar situation before, and I understand where you’re coming from.”

Sharing personal experiences is a great way to show empathy. When you relate to their situation, the customer feels they’re not alone in their struggles.

12. “It sounds like you’re feeling (emotion), and I want to help you.”

This phrase states you understand the customer’s perspective and that you‘re willing to support them emotionally.

13. “I want you to know that we genuinely care about your experience.”

This is another effective statement to validate the customer’s feelings, show empathy, and acknowledge their experience.

When you want to apologize sincerely

14. “We’re sorry for the trouble you encountered, (Customer Name). Rest assured, we’re taking this seriously at (Company Name).”

This statement expresses empathy for the difficulties the customer has faced and acknowledges your company’s responsibility for addressing them.

15. “Firstly, I want to apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.”

Use this to show you understand the impact of the issue on the customer and express regret for their frustrations.

16. “I’m genuinely sorry for the frustration you’re facing, (Customer Name).”

In addition to expressing genuine empathy, this phrase voices a sincere desire to alleviate the customer’s problem.

17. “I apologize to hear you’re going through this.”

Just like the previous statement, use this to empathize with the customer.

When you want to reassure customers

18. “Rest assured, I’m going to do everything I can to resolve this.”

This reassuring phrase gives the customer confidence their issue will be addressed and resolved promptly.

19. “Thank you for letting us know. We’ll work quickly to find a solution for you.“

Showing a sense of urgency in resolving issues is a crucial aspect of empathetic customer service. You recognize the importance of the customer’s time and ensure their needs are being prioritized.

20. “You’re a valued customer at (Company Name), and your satisfaction is my top priority.”

Use this customer service empathy statement to reassure the customer their well-being and satisfaction are important to you.

When you want to empathize with specific situations

21. “Billing errors are understandably stressful. We’ll get this sorted right away.”

Use this to acknowledge billing errors and reassure the customer the issue will be addressed on a priority.

22. “I know waiting for a resolution can be inconvenient. I’m here to assist you in any way I can.”

The statement works for two reasons. One, it acknowledges the customer’s wait empathetically. And two, it respectably offers support and assistance.

23. “I understand how frustrating dealing with technical issues can be. I thank you for your patience.”

This statement acknowledges the challenges associated with technical issues. Use it to show you understand the customer and that they’re not alone in that situation.

Real-world examples of prime customer service empathy statements

Here are a few real-life examples showing how customer service empathy statements work, each highlighting the crucial elements of good customer service:

Address the root cause

In December 2015, Airbnb faced accusations of racial profiling and discrimination. Instead of ignoring the problem, Airbnb took action: The CEO sent the following email to all clients, addressing the issue:

Apology email from Airbnb CEO to customers

Moreover, Airbnb implemented a new policy to combat discrimination and conducted an audit. It also launched an inclusion campaign to promote diversity and equality.

Actively listen

Zappos makes it a point to listen to its customers’ concerns and feedback actively. Reps engage in genuine conversations with customers, taking the time to understand their needs and preferences, whether it’s finding the right shoe size or resolving a shipping issue. Things like these helps companies grow and gain more customers.

Here’s how Founder Nick Swinmurn described his company’s empathetic customer service to Harvard Business Review:

Clipping from Harvard Business Review article interviewing Zappos founder.

Take ownership

Amazon is renowned for being a customer-centric organization, where reps are empowered to take ownership of customer problems. If a customer is dissatisfied with a purchase, Amazon staff members take responsibility for resolving the issue promptly, whether it’s offering a refund, exchange, or finding an alternative solution.

Twitter screenshot of Amazon answering a customer complaint.

Be flexible

Adobe is another great example of flexible and empathetic customer service. When users encounter issues, Adobe reps are quick to help. They guide users to articles in the help center or connect them with experts for 1:1 support.

Twitter screenshot of Adobe answering a customer complaint

Follow through

After a guest’s son left his beloved stuffed giraffe behind, Ritz-Carlton Hotels went above and beyond. Not only did the staff locate the toy, but they also sent a package containing the giraffe, along with goodies and a binder. This binder humorously documented the giraffe’s extended stay, acknowledging a little white lie the guest had told their son.

Takeaway thoughts

Here’s the thing: Customer decisions are often emotional rather than logical, making empathy a powerful tool to strengthen customer connections. Even if the perfect solution isn’t always possible, using empathy statements in customer service builds strong bonds with clients.

If you’re looking to maintain a human touch in your customer service interactions, check out

HelpCrunch customer service tool. It’s designed to streamline agency operations across emails, chatbots, and mobile apps. By leveraging empathy statements through the platform, you can build rapport with clients, boosting loyalty and lifetime value.

The Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that Google has defined to measure how good a website’s user experience is. They first became a ranking signal in 2021.

While the metric definitions have been tweaked over time, the introduction of the Interaction to Next Paint metric is the biggest change since the launch of the Core Web Vitals initiative.

What is Interaction to Next Paint (INP)?

Interaction to Next Paint is a metric that evaluates how quickly your website responds to user interaction. It measures how much time elapses between the user input, like a button click, and the next time the page content refreshes (the “next paint”).

To rank better in Google this interaction delay should be less than 200 milliseconds. This ensures that the website feels responsive to users.

How are the Core Web Vitals changing?

Google has announced that Interaction to Next Paint will become one of the three Core Web Vitals metrics in March 2024. At that point a website that responds to user input too slowly could do worse in search result rankings.

INP will replace the current First Input Delay (FID) metric. While FID also measures responsiveness, it is more limited as it only looks at the first user interaction. It also only measures the delay until the input event starts being handled, rather than waiting until the user can see the result.

Currently only 64.9% of mobile websites do well on the Interaction to Next Paint metric and it will be harder to get a good INP score than a good First Input Delay score.

How can I measure the Interaction to Next Paint metric on my website?

Run a website speed test to see how fast your website loads and how quickly it responds to user input.

Open the “Web Vitals” tab once your test is complete. You can see the Interaction to Next Paint metric at the bottom of the page.

In this case only 38% of users have a good INP experience.

How can I optimize Interaction to Next Paint?

Interaction delays happen when the browser needs to perform a lot of CPU processing before it can update the page. This can happen for two reasons:

Ongoing background tasks prevent the user input from being handled
Handling the user input itself is taking a lot of time

Background tasks often happen during the initial page load, but can happen later on as well. They are often caused by third party code embedded on the website.

Responding to a user interaction can require a lot of processing. If that can’t be optimized you can consider showing a spinner to provide visual feedback until the processing task is complete.

Running JavaScript code is the most common type of processing, but complex visual updates can also take a long time.

Use Chrome DevTools to analyze performance

The Chrome DevTools performance profiler shows what tasks are taking a long time and should be optimized. Start a recording, click on an element on the page, and then click on the longest bars in the visualization.

This allows you to identify whether the code comes from a third party or from your own website. You can also dive deeper to see how the task can be sped up.

Check the Total Blocking Time metric to identify background tasks

The Total Blocking Time metric tracks how often there are background CPU tasks that could block other code from running. If the user interacts with the page while a task is already in progress then the browser first completes that task before handling the input event.

You can use tools like Google Lighthouse to see how this metric can be optimized.

If processing-heavy tasks on your website are part of your core website code you’ll need to work with your development team to optimize these. For third parties you can review whether the script is still needed, or contact customer support of the vendor to see if it’s possible to optimize the code.

Monitor Interaction to Next Paint

Want to keep track of how you’re doing on INP and other Core Web Vitals? DebugBear can keep track of your website speed and help you optimize it.

Start a free 14-day trial today and deliver a better user experience.

Conclusion

The Interaction to Next Paint metric represents the biggest change to Google’s Core Web Vitals since they were originally announced. INP addresses the deficiencies of the previous First Input Delay metric and provides a better representation of how users experience a website.

Check how your website does on the Interaction to Next Paint metric before the ranking change is rolled out in 2024. That way you’ll have plenty of time to identify optimizations and make your website faster.

Try DebugBear with a free 14-day trial.