SEO
Using The Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) Framework For SEO Content
The Jobs to be Done (JTBD) framework, also known as Jobs Theory, is a method of analysis used to support innovation in product development and marketing.
JTBD has existed in various forms since at least the 1980s with Don Norman’s famous book, The Design of Everyday Things.
It was popularized in the 2000s by Clayton Christensen and his colleagues in Harvard Business Review (and again in the 2010s) and MIT Sloan Management Review.
JTBD is unique because it centers around the job – not the customer or user.
While used mostly for product innovation, it can apply equally well to SEO and content marketing.
We’ll examine how to use the JTBD framework for SEO content development.
Many examples are from the world of B2B SEO, but the theory should apply equally well to other spheres of web content marketing.
Getting Started With JTBD
Many forms of traditional research for marketing and advertising focus on demographic data, searching for the “average” customer of a product or service to find ways to be more appealing to and reach these people.
Rather than focusing on data points like age or gender, the Jobs to be Done framework focuses the marketer on the problems the target audience is trying to solve.
Regardless of a person’s age or gender, they have jobs to be done – and they search Google for help completing those jobs.
For product development and marketing products directly, the job to be done might be very much related to the product itself.
However, the use of the framework doesn’t need to be limited to jobs that the product can solve.
For SEO, it is perhaps best applied to the small tasks a prospect might be completing throughout their day.
When a prospect turns to Google to find information or complete a task during their normal workday (not necessarily when they’re researching products to purchase), the brands with helpful content build trust with their audience and the immediate opportunity to generate a conversion, according to Christensen Institute,
“With an understanding of the “job” for which customers find themselves “hiring” a product or service, companies can more accurately develop and market products well-tailored to what customers are already trying to do.”
Applying this type of thinking to create compelling website content produces tremendous results.
Finding Your Audience
Start by defining your target audience.
This isn’t just the people who would purchase the product or service your company offers.
Your target audience includes journalists, bloggers, podcasters – people creating content in the target market.
Consider the types of jobs your target audience might use Google to complete in a given day:
- Finding a conference to attend later in the year.
- Looking for statistics, trends, graphs, and images to use in an upcoming presentation.
- Finding answers to technical questions within their immediate field.
- Searching for examples of a plan or roadmap while creating their own.
- Looking for books, authors, and influencers in written form, or podcasts for inspiration, best practices, and industry news.
- Exploring tools to improve their daily processes.
When your target audience is using Google to solve their daily problems, you can be at the top of search results with the best answer on the web to help them.
After they arrive on your website, you can provide a wide range of related content to engage them and, in many cases, generate a conversion.
User Stories For JTBD
Instead of worrying about demographic data, a user story format can help figure out three basics:
- When.
- I want to.
- So I can.
Consider the situation, motivation, and desired outcome of the target audience, and develop user stories that can inform content creation.
Below are some examples of the user stories method in action.
Example 1: When I am on an interview panel, helping to hire for a role outside of my usual wheelhouse, I want to prepare by understanding the responsibilities that role typically entails, so I can provide informed feedback that will help the hiring manager make a good decision.
In this scenario, I might turn to Google to search for “interview questions” or “roles and responsibilities” related to a particular job title.
I would be conducting basic research to help me in my day-to-day tasks.
The website providing helpful information at the top of Google results will benefit from my visit, have the opportunity to offer me related content or a conversion, and will start to build credibility with me that can influence future buying decisions.
Example 2: When I am developing a business case to support a new initiative, I want to find research to guide my thinking, so I can craft a compelling argument to support my initiative.
In this scenario, I might turn to Google to search for data points, trends, and statistics to help guide my thinking and persuade others.
Example 3: When I am preparing for a flight, I want to find a podcast to listen to, so I can be educated and entertained about a topical area.
Example 4: When I am thinking about buying a popular book in my field of interest, I want to read a review first, so I can make an informed purchasing decision.
JTBD For Existing Customers
SEO isn’t just for marketing to prospects.
You can use the Jobs to be Done framework for figuring out what your existing customers are trying to accomplish – and create content that helps them do just that.
By looking at support chat logs, help desk tickets, community questions, and other places where existing customers indicate the jobs they’re attempting to accomplish, you can find a wealth of ideas about what to create new content about to help them.
Key Takeaways
- When you are conducting content planning for your website and ready to move past basic keyword research techniques, consider the JTBD framework.
- Start with the individuals you are creating content for – who is your audience?
- Brainstorm common small or large tasks that these individuals might deal with in their day-to-day work lives.
- Create helpful content ready when they inevitably turn to Google to complete those tasks.
Wrapping Up
Using the JTBD framework, marketers can identify many good topics and keywords with lower search volume and less competition than head terms but will generate higher quality visits.
A target audience is trying to accomplish an endless number of jobs, from small to large. By producing great content, a brand can develop a trusted relationship with prospects before they’re in buying mode.
This will translate to increased sales when the prospect is ready to make a transaction.
More resources:
Featured Image: Jacob Lund/Shutterstock
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SEO
Google March 2024 Core Update Officially Completed A Week Ago
Google has officially completed its March 2024 Core Update, ending over a month of ranking volatility across the web.
However, Google didn’t confirm the rollout’s conclusion on its data anomaly page until April 26—a whole week after the update was completed on April 19.
Many in the SEO community had been speculating for days about whether the turbulent update had wrapped up.
The delayed transparency exemplifies Google’s communication issues with publishers and the need for clarity during core updates
Google March 2024 Core Update Timeline & Status
First announced on March 5, the core algorithm update is complete as of April 19. It took 45 days to complete.
Unlike more routine core refreshes, Google warned this one was more complex.
Google’s documentation reads:
“As this is a complex update, the rollout may take up to a month. It’s likely there will be more fluctuations in rankings than with a regular core update, as different systems get fully updated and reinforce each other.”
The aftershocks were tangible, with some websites reporting losses of over 60% of their organic search traffic, according to data from industry observers.
The ripple effects also led to the deindexing of hundreds of sites that were allegedly violating Google’s guidelines.
Addressing Manipulation Attempts
In its official guidance, Google highlighted the criteria it looks for when targeting link spam and manipulation attempts:
- Creating “low-value content” purely to garner manipulative links and inflate rankings.
- Links intended to boost sites’ rankings artificially, including manipulative outgoing links.
- The “repurposing” of expired domains with radically different content to game search visibility.
The updated guidelines warn:
“Any links that are intended to manipulate rankings in Google Search results may be considered link spam. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.”
John Mueller, a Search Advocate at Google, responded to the turbulence by advising publishers not to make rash changes while the core update was ongoing.
However, he suggested sites could proactively fix issues like unnatural paid links.
“If you have noticed things that are worth improving on your site, I’d go ahead and get things done. The idea is not to make changes just for search engines, right? Your users will be happy if you can make things better even if search engines haven’t updated their view of your site yet.”
Emphasizing Quality Over Links
The core update made notable changes to how Google ranks websites.
Most significantly, Google reduced the importance of links in determining a website’s ranking.
In contrast to the description of links as “an important factor in determining relevancy,” Google’s updated spam policies stripped away the “important” designation, simply calling links “a factor.”
This change aligns with Google’s Gary Illyes’ statements that links aren’t among the top three most influential ranking signals.
Instead, Google is giving more weight to quality, credibility, and substantive content.
Consequently, long-running campaigns favoring low-quality link acquisition and keyword optimizations have been demoted.
With the update complete, SEOs and publishers are left to audit their strategies and websites to ensure alignment with Google’s new perspective on ranking.
Core Update Feedback
Google has opened a ranking feedback form related to this core update.
You can use this form until May 31 to provide feedback to Google’s Search team about any issues noticed after the core update.
While the feedback provided won’t be used to make changes for specific queries or websites, Google says it may help inform general improvements to its search ranking systems for future updates.
Google also updated its help documentation on “Debugging drops in Google Search traffic” to help people understand ranking changes after a core update.
Featured Image: Rohit-Tripathi/Shutterstock
FAQ
After the update, what steps should websites take to align with Google’s new ranking criteria?
After Google’s March 2024 Core Update, websites should:
- Improve the quality, trustworthiness, and depth of their website content.
- Stop heavily focusing on getting as many links as possible and prioritize relevant, high-quality links instead.
- Fix any shady or spam-like SEO tactics on their sites.
- Carefully review their SEO strategies to ensure they follow Google’s new guidelines.
SEO
Google Declares It The “Gemini Era” As Revenue Grows 15%
Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, announced its first quarter 2024 financial results today.
While Google reported double-digit growth in key revenue areas, the focus was on its AI developments, dubbed the “Gemini era” by CEO Sundar Pichai.
The Numbers: 15% Revenue Growth, Operating Margins Expand
Alphabet reported Q1 revenues of $80.5 billion, a 15% increase year-over-year, exceeding Wall Street’s projections.
Net income was $23.7 billion, with diluted earnings per share of $1.89. Operating margins expanded to 32%, up from 25% in the prior year.
Ruth Porat, Alphabet’s President and CFO, stated:
“Our strong financial results reflect revenue strength across the company and ongoing efforts to durably reengineer our cost base.”
Google’s core advertising units, such as Search and YouTube, drove growth. Google advertising revenues hit $61.7 billion for the quarter.
The Cloud division also maintained momentum, with revenues of $9.6 billion, up 28% year-over-year.
Pichai highlighted that YouTube and Cloud are expected to exit 2024 at a combined $100 billion annual revenue run rate.
Generative AI Integration in Search
Google experimented with AI-powered features in Search Labs before recently introducing AI overviews into the main search results page.
Regarding the gradual rollout, Pichai states:
“We are being measured in how we do this, focusing on areas where gen AI can improve the Search experience, while also prioritizing traffic to websites and merchants.”
Pichai reports that Google’s generative AI features have answered over a billion queries already:
“We’ve already served billions of queries with our generative AI features. It’s enabling people to access new information, to ask questions in new ways, and to ask more complex questions.”
Google reports increased Search usage and user satisfaction among those interacting with the new AI overview results.
The company also highlighted its “Circle to Search” feature on Android, which allows users to circle objects on their screen or in videos to get instant AI-powered answers via Google Lens.
Reorganizing For The “Gemini Era”
As part of the AI roadmap, Alphabet is consolidating all teams building AI models under the Google DeepMind umbrella.
Pichai revealed that, through hardware and software improvements, the company has reduced machine costs associated with its generative AI search results by 80% over the past year.
He states:
“Our data centers are some of the most high-performing, secure, reliable and efficient in the world. We’ve developed new AI models and algorithms that are more than one hundred times more efficient than they were 18 months ago.
How Will Google Make Money With AI?
Alphabet sees opportunities to monetize AI through its advertising products, Cloud offerings, and subscription services.
Google is integrating Gemini into ad products like Performance Max. The company’s Cloud division is bringing “the best of Google AI” to enterprise customers worldwide.
Google One, the company’s subscription service, surpassed 100 million paid subscribers in Q1 and introduced a new premium plan featuring advanced generative AI capabilities powered by Gemini models.
Future Outlook
Pichai outlined six key advantages positioning Alphabet to lead the “next wave of AI innovation”:
- Research leadership in AI breakthroughs like the multimodal Gemini model
- Robust AI infrastructure and custom TPU chips
- Integrating generative AI into Search to enhance the user experience
- A global product footprint reaching billions
- Streamlined teams and improved execution velocity
- Multiple revenue streams to monetize AI through advertising and cloud
With upcoming events like Google I/O and Google Marketing Live, the company is expected to share further updates on its AI initiatives and product roadmap.
Featured Image: Sergei Elagin/Shutterstock
SEO
brightonSEO Live Blog
Hello everyone. It’s April again, so I’m back in Brighton for another two days of Being the introvert I am, my idea of fun isn’t hanging around our booth all day explaining we’ve run out of t-shirts (seriously, you need to be fast if you want swag!). So I decided to do something useful and live-blog the event instead.
Follow below for talk takeaways and (very) mildly humorous commentary. sun, sea, and SEO!
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