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10 New Social Media Platforms & Apps To Have On Your Radar

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According to an April 2022 study, there are 4.65 billion social media users globally.

This means that 58.7% of people around the world are social media users.

On top of this, new social media apps and platforms are constantly popping up, trying to captivate a share of users around the world.

As a social media manager or content marketer, this can be hard to keep up with – and a little overwhelming.

That is why we’ve put together this guide to help you keep track of this year’s major social media trends, and the new and important platforms and apps on the horizon.

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Social Media Trends In 2022

With top social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram ranking highly in monthly users, shifting your focus to new social media platforms can be challenging.

The rise of live streaming services like Facebook Watch and YouTube Live has helped drive further growth for major apps and platforms.

Audio-based social networking is another social media trend that is becoming more popular and being added to both established and newer apps.

Audio-based communities allow users to share music, discuss different topics and create playlists.

These communities are built around specific artists or entertainers and encourage interaction among their users.

We’ll talk more about the new apps using this new feature in a moment.

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The SEO strategies top platforms use to create organic growth are helpful to keep in mind when growing your audience on those very platforms.

Since social media is a key tool for businesses to connect with customers, it’s crucial to create dynamic and informed strategies.

Each platform and app offer something different, and they’re worth checking out if you’re looking to get ahead of the curve when it comes to brand awareness and growing customer engagement.

To help you stay on top of what’s happening on social networks, we’ve compiled a shortlist of 10 platforms and apps that you might want to keep an eye on in the coming months.

10 New Social Media Platforms & Apps

1. TikTok

TikTok has quickly become a major player with its detailed algorithms and unique content creation capabilities. In 2020 and 2021, TikTok was the fastest growing social media app in the U.S.

Even though it was initially released in 2016, the stable release or production release (where most bugs were finally worked out) was in October of 2021.

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Within a matter of months, the app blew up.

By the end of 2021, this up-and-coming app had 1 billion monthly users worldwide.

If you’re not familiar with it, TikTok is a short-form video platform where people can create and share video content anywhere from 15 seconds to 10 minutes in length.

These days, it’s not uncommon to hear someone say, “Hey, did you see that TikTok where…”

It’s become an easily relatable platform where content often goes viral.

For this reason, brands and influencers have capitalized on TikTok to market products and create brand followings.

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This has also given rise to TikTok shopping, which enables users to purchase products without having to leave the app.

2. Discord

When it comes to community management and engagement, Discord is the newest platform catching people’s attention.

Discord already has an astonishing 150 million monthly active users.

A little like Zoom, users can communicate through voice chat or message and screen share.

This platform is a community-powered voice-over IP (VoIP) application where users can create their own server to communicate with others and send out their own invite links to the chat.

Discord also allows you to better control alert functions for people in your group, and assign people roles so no one is overwhelmed by notifications.

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Some people say it offers better chat functionality than Skype or Slack.

Discord has slowly been transitioning from a gamer-centric platform to incorporating opportunities for businesses.

One important thing to note for marketers and brands is that Discord allows first-party data tracking.

These are also numerous features for collaboration and the potential to tag customers for events and during chats.

3. Twitch

Twitch is a live streaming service that originally specialized in video gaming and esports. It has since expanded to offer creative content of all kinds.

Owned by Amazon, many of the web’s top influencers depend on Twitch as a primary source of income. It has numerous monetization opportunities, such as advertising and monthly subscription revenue.

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With 140 million active monthly users, Twitch is another platform brands should pay attention to for marketing opportunities.

To compete with Twitch, YouTube added new features similar to Twitch, such as membership milestones creating incentives for users.

The content on Twitch spans numerous industries and topics such as games, music, sports, travel, food, drinks, and special events – creating a variety of ways for marketers to reach their target market.

Brands have started collaborating with Twitch streamers to help promote products and share tips on their live stream.

Another marketing strategy brands use on this platform is to run banner and in-video ads to help increase their brand awareness.

4. Instagram Reels

Instagram is already an incredibly popular social media platform with over 1 billion monthly active users.

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But within the platform is a newer feature, Instagram Reels, which allows users to share 15–60 second multi-clip videos with audio and different effects – similar to TikTok.

Brands and social media managers can easily share reels with followers on their profiles.

These reels can be permanently featured on their Instagram profile.

In addition, marketers can utilize Instagram Reels algorithms to enhance their Instagram content strategy.

If you would like to find out the best ways to use Instagram Reels for business, then check out this how-to guide.

5. Patreon

There are over 8 million monthly active users on Patreon.

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And even though Patreon has been around since 2013, it has risen to prominence in the past couple of years.

This platform allows brands and creators to produce exclusive content for their followers.

Through Patreon, creators offer monthly subscriptions that give people access to different kinds of content and bonuses, broken into different monthly membership tiers.

Many freelancers and brands use Patreon to promote and manage their subscriptions for their podcasts and other content.

This is a great platform to create a consistent income stream from subscribers and a simple way to monetize content.

With straightforward navigation throughout the platform, creators can easily manage content and subscriptions.

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6. Twitter Spaces

As most know, Twitter is a widely used social media platform with over 229 million daily active users.

But Twitter Spaces, which launched in 2020, is a new feature of the already beloved app that allows users to have live audio conversations on Twitter.

For those brands and influencers with an active Twitter following, it’s a great way to interact with followers and share live updates, creating a broader discussion zone.

Teams within a brand can even co-host a live event and add up to 10 additional speakers to create more engaging events.

For Twitter Spaces, users can contribute by entering messages or sending emojis, establishing a more inclusive sense of community.

In addition, Twitter Spaces is a great place to educate your followers about upcoming promotions or products.

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7. Spotify Greenroom

Spotify Greenroom was introduced back in 2021, adding a unique feature to the popular platform Spotify.

Spotify has a massive active monthly user base of 422 million, making it a strong contender among rising platforms.

Spotify Greenroom creates a space where followers can listen to music and podcasts live.

It also creates an area for listeners to connect and chat.

Spotify is an excellent and streamlined platform for brands to incorporate ads.

In addition, Spotify Greenroom caters to listeners with various interests, which means there are opportunities for a wide range of brands.

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For example, Neutrogena, Pizza Hut, Samsung, and LinkedIn (to name a few) utilize Spotify for advertisements.

But it’s not just for big brands.

A mix of small and large brands have been using Spotify to market their services and products.

8. Caffeine

Caffeine is a live streaming service for gaming, sports, and entertainment brands and enthusiasts.

Founded in 2016, it slowly grew before its prerelease in 2018.

Caffeine has gained popularity among entertainers like Offset and NFL player and gamer JuJu Smith-Schuster.

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This is a simple-to-use platform where users can watch programs live and chat about what’s happening. Additionally, users can watch major programs such as FOX Sports, ESPN, and college sports live on the platform.

Since Caffeine has received $294 million in funding, it’s worth keeping the app on your radar as it develops further.

As the platform develops, marketers will have more opportunities to grow their audience and promote their products.

9. Supernova

Supernova is a social media platform with a charitable twist.

It gives 60% of advertising income to charities chosen by users with the goal of creating an inclusive community.

Supernova is one of the newer apps on the horizon, launched in December 2021.

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It is marketed as the ethical alternative to Facebook and Instagram, as it uses human moderators to maintain a positive and inclusive environment.

Users on this platform can select charitable causes to support, such as mental health and climate change reform.

When a user’s post receives a ‘Like’ on the platform, a portion of the “Supernova Action Fund” (which is funded by Supernova ad partners) is donated to their choice of charity.

If giving back is vital to your brand, then you might consider how you can get involved with this new form of charitable social media.

10. Clubhouse

Another new platform to pay attention to is Clubhouse, a social audio hangout app where you can meet new people and discuss your favorite topics.

Clubhouse has 10 million weekly active users worldwide.

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Users can follow celebrities and entertainers such as Malcolm Gladwell, Oprah, Ashton Kutcher, and Drake.

This platform is an excellent place for marketers to learn about social media and marketing tips and trends, and find new communities to connect with on the platform.

Takeaways

Staying on top of these up-and-coming platforms and apps can help your brand connect better with your existing communities, and find new ones.

They are also a great way to market your brand and build brand awareness.

Make sure to keep SEJ on your radar to stay on top of the newest marketing trends, helpful apps, and platforms on the market.

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Content Pruning: Why It Works, and How to Do It

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Content Pruning: Why It Works, and How to Do It

Content pruning sounds pretty appealing: delete a ton of content and see your organic traffic improve. But pruning has risks (like deleting useful pages and useful backlinks), and benefits are not guaranteed: So how does pruning actually work? And when

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8 Free SEO Reporting Tools

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8 Free SEO Reporting Tools

There’s no shortage of SEO reporting tools to choose from—but what are the core tools you need to put together an SEO report?

In this article, I’ll share eight of my favorite SEO reporting tools to help you create a comprehensive SEO report for free.

Price: Free

Google Search Console, often called GSC, is one of the most widely used tools to track important SEO metrics from Google Search.

Most common reporting use case

GSC has a ton of data to dive into, but the main performance indicator SEOs look at first in GSC is Clicks on the main Overview dashboard.

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As the data is from Google, SEOs consider it to be a good barometer for tracking organic search performance. As well as clicks data, you can also track the following from the Performance report:

  • Total Impressions
  • Average CTR
  • Average Position
gsc-performance-overviewgsc-performance-overview

Tip

If you’ve signed up for AWT using Google Search Console, you can view your GSC performance data in Ahrefs by clicking “GSC Performance” from the main dashboard.

But for most SEO reporting, GSC clicks data is exported into a spreadsheet and turned into a chart to visualize year-over-year performance.

organic-traffic-graph-showing-clicks-year-over-yearorganic-traffic-graph-showing-clicks-year-over-year

Favorite feature

One of my favorite reports in GSC is the Indexing report. It’s useful for SEO reporting because you can share the indexed to non-indexed pages ratio in your SEO report.

google-search-console-indexed-pages-reportgoogle-search-console-indexed-pages-report

If the website has a lot of non-indexed pages, then it’s worth reviewing the pages to understand why they haven’t been indexed.

Price: Free

Google Looker Studio (GLS), previously known as Google Data Studio (GDS), is a free tool that helps visualize data in shareable dashboards.

Most common reporting use case

Dashboards are an important part of SEO reporting, and GLS allows you to get a total view of search performance from multiple sources through its integrations.

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Out of the box, GLS allows you to connect to many different data sources.

Such as:

  • Marketing products – Google Ads, Google Analytics, Display & Video 360, Search Ads 360
  • Consumer products – Google Sheets, YouTube, and Google Search Console
  • Databases – BigQuery, MySQL, and PostgreSQL
  • Social media platformsFacebook, Reddit, and Twitter
  • Files – CSV file upload and Google Cloud Storage

Sidenote.

If you don’t have the time to create your own report manually, Ahrefs has three Google Looker Studio connectors that can help you create automated SEO reporting for any website in a few clicks

google-looker-studio-partner-connectorsgoogle-looker-studio-partner-connectors

Here’s what a dashboard in GLS looks like:

ahrefs-seo-audit-dashboardahrefs-seo-audit-dashboard
Ahrefs Google Looker Studio integration

With this type of dashboard, you share reports that are easy to understand with clients or other stakeholders.

Favorite feature

The ability to blend and filter data from different sources, like GA and GSC, means you can get a customized overview of your total search performance, tailored to your website.

Price: Free for 500 URLs

Screaming Frog is a website crawler that helps you audit your website.

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Screaming Frog’s free version of its crawler is perfect if you want to run a quick audit on a bunch of URLs. The free version is limited to 500 URLs—making it ideal for crawling smaller websites.

screaming-frog-user-interface-screenshotscreaming-frog-user-interface-screenshot

Most common reporting use case

When it comes to reporting, the Reports menu in Screaming Frog SEO Spider has a wealth of information you can look over that covers all the technical aspects of your website, such as analyzing, redirects, canonicals, pagination, hreflang, structured data, and more.

Once you’ve crawled your site, it’s just a matter of downloading the reports you need and working out the main issues to summarize in your SEO report.

Favorite feature

Screaming Frog can pull in data from other tools, including Ahrefs, using APIs. 

If you already had access to a few SEO tools’ APIs, you could pull data from all of them directly into Screaming Frog. This is useful if you want to combine crawl data with performance data or other 3rd party tools.

screaming-frog-api-accessscreaming-frog-api-access

Even if you’ve never configured an API, connecting other tools to Screaming Frog is straightforward.

Price: Free

Ahrefs has a large selection of free SEO tools to help you at every stage of your SEO campaign, and many of these can be used to provide insights for your SEO reporting.

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when-to-use-ahrefs-free-tools-across-the-seo-process-illustrationwhen-to-use-ahrefs-free-tools-across-the-seo-process-illustration

For example, you could use our:

Most common reporting use case

One of our most popular free SEO tools is Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (AWT), which you can use for your SEO reporting.

With AWT, you can:

  • Monitor your SEO health over time by setting up scheduled SEO audits
  • See the performance of your website
  • Check all known backlinks for your website
ahrefs-overviewahrefs-overview

Favorite feature

Of all the Ahrefs free tools, my favorite is AWT. Within it, site auditing is my favorite feature—once you’ve set it up, it’s a completely hands-free way to keep track of your website’s technical performance and monitor its health.

If you already have access to Google Search Console, it’s a no-brainer to set up a free AWT account and schedule a technical crawl of your website(s).

Price: Free

Ahrefs’ SEO Toolbar is a free Chrome and Firefox extension useful for diagnosing on-page technical issues and performing quick spot checks on your website’s pages.

Most common reporting use case

For SEO reporting, it’s useful to run an on-page check on your website’s top pages to ensure there aren’t any serious on-page issues.

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ahrefs-seo-toolbar-overviewahrefs-seo-toolbar-overview

With the free version, you get the following features:

  • On-page SEO report
  • Redirect tracer with HTTP Headers
  • Outgoing links report with link highlighter and broken link checker
  • SERP positions
  • Country changer for SERP

The SEO toolbar is excellent for spot-checking issues with pages on your website. If you are not confident with inspecting the code, it can also give you valuable pointers on what elements you need to include on your pages to make them search-friendly.

If anything is wrong with the page, the toolbar highlights it, with red indicating a critical issue.

severity-highlight-ahrefs-seo-toolbarseverity-highlight-ahrefs-seo-toolbar

Favorite feature

The section I use the most frequently in the SEO toolbar is the Indexability tab. In this section, you can see whether the page can be crawled and indexed by Google.

indexability-tab-ahrefs-seo-toolbarindexability-tab-ahrefs-seo-toolbar

Although you can do this by inspecting the code manually, using the toolbar is much faster.

Price: Free

Like GSC, Google Analytics is another tool you can use to track the performance of your website, tracking sessions and conversions and much more on your website.

google-analytics-screenshotgoogle-analytics-screenshot

Most common reporting use case

GA gives you a total view of website traffic from several different sources, such as direct, social, organic, paid traffic, and more.

Favorite feature

You can create and track up to 300 events and 30 conversions with GA4. Previously, with universal analytics, you could only track 20 conversions. This makes conversion and event tracking easier within GA4.

Price: Free

Google Slides is Google’s version of Microsoft PowerPoint. If you don’t have a dashboard set up to report on your SEO performance, the next best thing is to assemble a slide deck.

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Many SEO agencies present their report through dashboard insights and PowerPoint presentations. However, if you don’t have access to PowerPoint, then Google Slides is an excellent (free) alternative.

google-slides-screenshotgoogle-slides-screenshot

Most common reporting use cases

The most common use of Google Slides is to create a monthly SEO report. If you don’t know what to include in a monthly report, use our SEO report template.

Favorite feature

One of my favorite features is the ability to share your presentation on a video chat directly from Google Slides. You can do this by clicking the camera icon in the top right.

share-video-chat-google-slidesshare-video-chat-google-slides

This is useful if you are working with remote clients and makes sharing your reports easy.

Price: Free

Google Trends allows you to view a keyword’s popularity over time in any country. The data shown is the relative popularity ratio scaled from 0-100, not the direct volume of search queries.

Most common reporting use cases

Google Trends is useful for showing how the popularity of certain searches can increase or decrease over time. If you work with a website that often has trending products, services, or news, it can be useful to illustrate this visually in your SEO report.

Google Trends makes it easy to spot seasonal trends for product categories. For example, people want to buy BBQs when the weather is sunny.

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Using Google Trends, we can see that peak demand for BBQs usually happens in June-July every year.

bbq-google-trends-graphbbq-google-trends-graph

Using this data across the last five years, we could be fairly sure when the BBQ season would start and end.

Favorite feature

Comparing two or more search terms against each other over time is one of my favorite uses of Google Trends, as it can be used to tell its own story.

google-trends-comparison-examplegoogle-trends-comparison-example

Embellishing your report with trends data allows you to gain further insights into market trends.

You can even dig into trends at a regional level if you need to.

regional-trends-via-google-trendsregional-trends-via-google-trends

Final thoughts

These free tools will help you put together the foundations for a well-rounded SEO report.

The tools you use for SEO reporting don’t always have to be expensive—even large companies use many of the free tools mentioned to create insights for their client’s SEO reports.

Got more questions? Ping me on X 🙂

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Study Reveals Potential Disruption For Brands & SEO

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Study Reveals Potential Disruption For Brands & SEO

A new study by Authoritas suggests that Google’s AI-powered Search Generative Experience (SGE), currently being tested with a limited group of users, could adversely impact brand visibility and organic search traffic.

These findings include:

  • When an SGE box is expanded, the top organic result drops by over 1,200 pixels on average, significantly reducing visibility.
  • 62% of SGE links come from domains outside the top 10 organic results.
  • Ecommerce, electronics, and fashion-related searches saw the greatest disruption, though all verticals were somewhat impacted.

Adapting to generative search may require a shift in SEO strategies, focusing more on long-form content, expert insights, and multimedia formats.

As Google continues to invest in AI-powered search, the Authoritas study provides an early look at the potential challenges and opportunities ahead.

High Penetration Rate & Industry-Wide Effects

The study analyzed 2,900 brand and product-related keywords across 15 industry verticals and found that Google displays SGE results for 91.4% of all search queries.

The prevalence of SGE results indicates they impact a majority of websites across various industries.

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The research analyzed the typical composition of SGE results. On average, each SGE element contained between 10-11 links sourced from an average of four different domains.

This indicates brands may need to earn multiple links and listings within these AI-curated results to maintain visibility and traffic.

The research also suggests that larger, well-established websites like Quora and Reddit will likely perform better in SGE results than smaller websites and lesser-known brands.

Shifting Dynamics In Organic Search Results

With SGE results occupying the entire first page, websites that currently hold the top positions may experience a significant decrease in traffic and click-through rates.

When a user clicks to expand the SGE element, the study found that, on average, the #1 ranked organic result drops a sizeable 1,255 pixels down the page.

Even if a website ranks number one in organic search, it may effectively be pushed down to the second page due to the prominence of SGE results.

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New Competition From Unexpected Sources

The study revealed that SGE frequently surfaces links and content from websites that didn’t appear in the top organic rankings.

On average, only 20.1% of SGE links exactly matched a URL from the first page of Google search results.

An additional 17.9% of SGE links were from the same domains as page one results but linked to different pages. The remaining 62% of SGE links came from sources outside the top organic results.

Challenges For Brand Term Optimization & Local Search

The study reveals that SGE results for branded terms may include competitors’ websites alongside the brand’s own site, potentially leading to increased competition for brand visibility.

Laurence O’Toole, CEO and founder of Authoritas, states:

“Brands are not immune. These new types of generative results introduce more opportunities for third-party sites and even competitors to rank for your brand terms and related brand and product terms that you care about.”

Additionally, local businesses may face similar challenges, as SGE results could feature competing local brands even when users search for a specific brand in a regional context.

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Methodology & Limitations

To arrive at these insights, Authoritas analyzed a robust dataset of 2,900 search keywords across a spectrum of query types, including specific brand names, brand + generic terms, brand + product names, generic terms, and specific product names. The keywords were distributed across 15 industry verticals.

The study utilized a consistent desktop browser viewport to quantify pixel-based changes in the search results. Authoritas also developed proprietary “alignment scores” to measure the degree of overlap between traditional organic search results and the new SGE links.

While acknowledging some limitations, such as the keyword set needing to be fully representative of each vertical and the still-evolving nature of SGE, Authoritas maintains that the insights hold value in preparing brands for the new realities of an AI-powered search ecosystem.

Why We Care

The findings of the Authoritas study have implications for businesses, marketers, and SEO professionals. As Google’s SGE becomes more prevalent, it could disrupt traditional organic search rankings and traffic patterns.

Brands that have invested heavily in SEO and have achieved top rankings for key terms may find their visibility and click-through rates diminished by the prominence of SGE results.

SGE introduces new competition from unexpected sources, as most SGE links come from domains outside the top 10 organic results. This means businesses may need to compete not only with their traditional rivals but also with a broader range of websites that gain visibility through SGE.

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As Google is a primary source of traffic and leads for many businesses, any changes to its search results can impact visibility, brand awareness, and revenue.

How This Could Help You

While the rise of SGE presents challenges, it also offers opportunities.

Taking into account what we’ve learned from the Authoritas study, here are some actionable takeaways:

  • As SGE favors in-depth, informative content, businesses may benefit from investing in comprehensive, well-researched articles and guides that provide value to users.
  • Incorporating expert quotes, interviews, and authoritative sources within your content could increase the likelihood of being featured in SGE results.
  • Enriching your content with images, videos, and other multimedia elements may help capture the attention of both users and the SGE algorithm.
  • Building a strong brand presence across multiple channels, including social media, industry forums, and relevant websites, can increase your chances of appearing in SGE.
  • Creating a trustworthy brand and managing your online reputation will be crucial, as SGE may feature competitors alongside your website.

Looking Ahead

While the long-term impact of SGE will depend on user adoption and the perceived usefulness of results, this study’s findings serve as a valuable starting point for businesses and SEO professionals.

By proactively addressing the challenges and opportunities SGE presents, you can increase your chances of success in the new search environment.


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