SEO
What Is Social Listening And How To Get Started
Most marketers now understand the value of social media as a marketing tool – and countless companies have now established their own presence across a variety of social platforms.
But while the importance of creating content and building an audience is well understood, many organizations are lacking when it comes to another key strength of social media: social listening.
Social listening is a strategic approach that can help your brand tap into the incredible breadth and depth of social media to hone in on what your target audience is saying and feeling – and why.
By investing in social listening, you can gain a deeper understanding of conversations happening around not just your brand but your broader industry, and extract meaningful insights to inform multiple areas of your business.
In this article, we’ll explore what social listening is, why it’s crucial for businesses today, and the tools that exist to help you do it before diving into tips for getting started with your social listening strategy.
Let’s get started.
What Is Social Listening?
Social listening is the practice of tracking conversations on social media that are related to your brand, analyzing them, and extracting insights to help inform your future marketing efforts.
These conversations can include anything from direct mentions of your brand or product to discussions around your industry, competitors, relevant keywords, or other topics that might be tangential to your business.
The idea of social listening is that you’re really getting to know your audience by sitting back and listening in to what they talk about – what their gripes are, what they’re interested in, what’s getting them excited right now, and much more.
Gathering this data and then examining it can help you in a number of ways, from uncovering useful product development insights to inspiring new content ideas or better ways to serve your customers.
Here are some of the things you can achieve through social listening:
- Tracking mentions of your brand, products, or services across social platforms.
- Evaluating public perception and sentiment towards your brand by assessing whether mentions are positive, negative, or neutral.
- Spotting trends that are emerging among your target market by noting common themes, topics, or keywords in conversations.
- Gaining a better understanding of your audience, including who they are, where they spend time online, what they want, and how your brand can connect with them.
As such, social listening isn’t just a powerful tool for marketing, but can also be leveraged to improve customer engagement and service, product development, and other areas of your business.
What’s The Difference Between Social Listening And Social Monitoring?
If you’re finding yourself a little confused about the difference between social listening and social monitoring, you’re not alone! The terms are often used interchangeably – when, in reality, they have different scopes and objectives.
Generally speaking, social monitoring is narrower and more focused on your brand specifically, while social listening takes more of a big-picture approach to gaining insights.
If social monitoring is about seeking out brand mentions and conversations to hear what people are saying, social listening is diving even deeper to understand why they’re saying those things.
Social monitoring typically involves tracking social activity directly related to your brand so that you can stay abreast of what’s happening at the moment and tackle any pressing issues.
In this regard, it’s often leveraged as a component of a company’s customer support program to help respond to queries, answer questions, and remedy complaints in a timely manner.
It can also help to identify trending topics or industry moments that might apply to your brand. Basically, social monitoring is all about being aware of what’s happening around your brand on social media so you can respond quickly.
Social listening does all of this, but also takes things a few steps further, expanding the scope of what you’re tracking and focusing on obtaining insights to help with brand strategy, content planning, and decision-making.
Where social monitoring might focus on mentions of your brand, social listening goes beyond that to explore broader consumer behavior and emerging industry trends, and make qualitative analyses of the conversations that are happening in those areas.
One analogy I’ve encountered that I find helpful for understanding the difference between the two: If social monitoring is akin to tending your own backyard, social listening is like taking a walk through your neighborhood and eavesdropping on conversations to better understand what your neighbors are interested in and concerned about.
While we are focused on social listening in this particular article, both social monitoring and social listening are important parts of an effective marketing strategy.
Why Is Social Listening Important?
As we’ve touched on, successful social listening can benefit many areas of your business – from your marketing to your product and your customer support. And all of this means it can have a big impact on your bottom line.
Let’s look closer at just some of the reasons why social listening is an important tool in your business’s arsenal.
Reputation Management
Social listening can help you get a sense of how your audience – and the general public – feels about your brand, products, messaging, or services.
By understanding both the positive and negative sentiments around your brand and where they come from, you can work to fill the gaps and improve perceptions of your company.
Understanding Your Audience
On that note, social listening is a great way to learn more about your audience – from your current customers to your prospects and beyond.
It offers a looking glass into what your target consumer is thinking about, their opinions, pain points, desires, etc. With this information, you have the power to customize your content, message, and products to serve their needs better.
Market Analysis
Social listening is a powerful tool for unearthing insights into your industry – trends, consumer behaviors, opportunities, etc. This is the kind of information that you can use to get ahead of your competitors and deliver the ultimate customer experience.
Competitive Insights
Speaking of competitors, social listening enables you to keep a watchful eye on your competitors and learn from their successes and failures.
You can use active listening to determine how your target market perceives your competitors and apply your findings to differentiate yourself from the pack.
Crisis Management
Let’s face it: Crises happen, no matter what your business or industry. But social listening can help you identify crises before they hit a boiling point, and address them in a timely manner.
Content Strategy
Want to know what content types and formats resonate best with your audience? Try social listening! Once you have the necessary insights, you’ll be able to create more engaging content.
Lead Generation
Social listening can drive lead generation in a number of ways.
You can use it as a tool to discover prospects who are interested in your industry, product niche, or topics related to your business.
Beyond this, by improving your content strategy, reputation, products, customer experience, and more using your social listening insights, you will ultimately boost more leads to your business.
Social Listening Tools
Given that social listening requires pulling data from millions of posts across social media and analyzing it, we would recommend using a tool to help with your efforts.
Here are a few popular social listening tools.
Hootsuite
Known for its social management features, Hootsuite also offers a comprehensive suite of capabilities to help with your social listening efforts.
The platform allows you to create custom streams to track hashtags, keywords, or mentions across a range of social platforms. You can use these to spot conversations in real-time and engage with them.
Using some of Hootsuite’s tools and integrations, you can also do things like track brand sentiment, listen into Reddit conversations, access consumer research, and more.
Pricing:
- 30-day free trial.
- Paid plans start at $99/month for the Professional tier and 249/month for the Team tier (billed annually).
- Hootsuite offers an Enterprise tier with custom pricing.
Sprout Social
Sprout Social is another leader in the social media management space that is super useful for social listening.
With Sprout Social’s Smart Inbox, you can pull all your mentions, comments, and DMs from across your social platforms into one single feed – helping you keep on top of what’s happening.
Other key features include audience analysis, campaign analysis, crisis management, competitor comparison, influencer recognition, sentiment research, and much more.
Pricing:
- 30-day free trial.
- Paid plans start at $249/month for the Standard tier, $399/month for the Professional tier, and $499/month for the Advanced tier (billed annually).
- Sprout Social offers an Enterprise tier with custom pricing.
Brandwatch
Brandwatch is a strong social listening and analytics platform that can help you track and analyze conversations online. It pulls data from 100 million sources, ensuring you’re not missing anything.
The Brandwatch tool will sift through brand mentions in real-time to analyze sentiment and perception, saving you a ton of time and manual effort.
Other key features include AI alerts for unusual mentions activity, conversation translation across multiple languages, tons of historical data, and more.
Pricing:
- Book a meeting with the Brandwatch team to learn more about pricing.
Meltwater
Meltwater’s social listening tool monitors data from a ton of different feeds, from Facebook to Instagram, Twitch, Reddit, YouTube, and many more. It can even recognize when your brand is talked about in a podcast!
Key features include topic and conversation trends analysis, custom dashboard and report building, consumer segmentation and behavior analysis, crisis management, and more.
Pricing:
- Contact the Meltwater team for pricing details.
Talkwalker
Another top name in the social listening space, Talkwalker monitors 150 million websites and 10+ social networks to power your real-time listening experience.
It offers AI-powered sentiment analysis in over 127 languages, notifications for any atypical activity, issue detection, conversation clustering, and much more.
Pricing:
- Contact the Talkwalker team for pricing.
6 Tips For Building A Social Listening Strategy
Now that you understand what social listening is and why it’s important – as well as a few of the tools you can use to power your social listening program – it’s time to start considering your strategy.
Here are six steps we recommend when building out your social listening strategy.
1. Define Your Goals & Objectives
As with any big project, your first step before starting should be to set clear goals for what you want to achieve.
Why are you doing this, and what is the desired result? Sit down with your team and talk through these points in order to align with your objectives.
You might have one key objective or several. Some potential options could be:
- Improve your company’s customer service and support.
- Gain insights to help inform product development and enhance product offerings.
- Track brand sentiment across current and potential customers.
- Develop a deeper understanding of the competitive landscape in your industry, and how your competitors are performing with social audiences.
- Stay on top of industry events and trends so you can spot content gaps and opportunities ahead of time.
Whatever your goals are, make sure you have them set from the beginning so you have clarity as you move forward.
2. Pick Your Tool Of Choice
While social listening can technically be done manually, it will never be as comprehensive as what you can get from leveraging a tool or platform.
Social media listening tools, like the ones we highlighted above, are able to synthesize data from millions of sources at once – not to mention their abilities to analyze sentiment, identify trends, spot activity, and more.
So, while they typically come with a price tag, the good ones are worth their weight in gold.
Do your research and choose a tool that aligns with your objectives and your team’s budget.
Look for something that monitors many different touchpoints, offers comprehensive analytics, is customizable, and integrates with your existing tech stack (if necessary).
3. Identify Target Keywords And Topics
This step is crucial: Take the time to define the keywords, topics, and hashtags that you want to “listen in” to – as these will provide the basis for your listening efforts.
Be sure to include keywords and themes that are relevant to your brand but also your industry, so that you get information that’s most useful to you. You could also discuss any keywords or topics you might want to exclude and why.
These might evolve or change over time, and that’s okay – this is about setting up a well-considered and focused foundation based on what matters most right now, and what will help you achieve your goals.
4. Decide On Your Workflow
Who will be responsible for monitoring your social listening data? Who should be responding to relevant mentions? Whose job is it to analyze the data and report on learnings and progress?
These are all things you should consider early on so that you can develop a clear workflow that outlines responsibilities.
By establishing the process early on, you’ll make sure that your efforts are not in vain and that you’re able to really put your data to use.
One recommendation: Make sure that somebody is regularly monitoring conversations and engaging where necessary. You should be keeping a keen eye on your listening activity – and automated alerts can be very helpful here.
5. Adapt As Needed
As part of the workflow we just discussed, somebody (or several people) should be responsible for routinely analyzing the data you’re collecting – as, unfortunately, it won’t analyze itself.
Set up a consistent process for diving into your data, extracting insights, and then acting on them.
There’s no point in allocating resources to a social listening program if you’re not using the learnings to benefit your business.
So, be sure to adapt your content strategy, marketing efforts, customer service, and so on based on what the insights are telling you.
6. Don’t Forget Measurement
We all know the importance of social media measurement – and this extends to your social listening efforts.
As time goes on, continue to measure the success of your efforts against the goals and objectives you set out for yourself.
This will help you evaluate the impact of your social listening, and whether there are areas you should pivot or refine based on the data you’re seeing.
You can also track social engagement metrics over time to see if your learnings have provided a boost in your social performance as a whole.
In Conclusion
With millions of conversations happening all around us on social media, any brand that isn’t engaging in social listening is missing a major opportunity.
By taking the time to proactively (and attentively) listen to your audience and target consumers, understand them better, and put their feedback to use, you can drive considerable success for your business.
So, take some of the advice we’ve shared here and start building out your social listening strategy today!
More resources:
Featured Image: batjaket/Shutterstock
FAQ
What is the significance of social listening for modern businesses?
Social listening plays a pivotal role for modern businesses by offering critical insights into audience behavior, industry trends, and brand perception. By analyzing conversations on social media related to their brand or market, companies can adequately respond to customer feedback, adapt their marketing strategies, and anticipate consumer needs. It not only aids in shaping product development and content strategy but also enhances customer service, reputation management, and competitive analysis. This strategic approach empowers businesses to make informed decisions based on the direct sentiments and unfiltered conversations of their target audience.
Can you differentiate between social monitoring and social listening?
Social monitoring and social listening are distinct yet complementary components of a comprehensive social media strategy. Social monitoring is more tactical, focusing on tracking and responding to direct brand mentions, queries, and specific conversations related to immediate issues. Its objective is to maintain awareness of what’s currently being said about a brand and to participate in these conversations promptly. Social listening, on the other hand, employs a broader, more strategic approach. It goes beyond mere tracking, analyzing the underlying sentiments, causes, and implications of social discourse to extract actionable insights. This process not only involves engagement but also a deep analysis of consumer behavior patterns and industry trends for a long-term strategy formulation.
Which social listening tools are recommended for businesses to utilize?
For businesses looking to execute an effective social listening strategy, a variety of tools are available that can help streamline the process. These include:
- Hootsuite: Offers custom streams to monitor social conversations and sentiment, alongside integrations for broader consumer research.
- Sprout Social: Features a Smart Inbox to consolidate social interactions for monitoring. It also provides tools for audience and competitor analysis.
- Brandwatch: Analyzes brand mentions from an extensive range of sources, offering AI-powered sentiment analysis and trend spotting.
- Meltwater: Monitors various feeds, from mainstream social media to Reddit and podcasts, enabling comprehensive analysis.
- Talkwalker: Provides monitoring and analytical capabilities over a broad spectrum of online platforms, backed by AI sentiment analysis.
Businesses should select a tool that aligns with their specific needs and objectives, focusing on features like comprehensive analytics, broad monitoring capabilities, and the ability to integrate with existing technological infrastructure.
SEO
Snapchat Is Testing 2 New Advertising Placements
The Snapchat ad ecosystem just expanded with two new placement options.
On Tuesday, Snap announced they started testing on two new placements:
- Sponsored Snaps
- Promoted Places
While not available to the general public yet, Snap provided information on the test, including their launch partners and more about the ad placements.
The goal of these placements are for brands to expand their reach across some of the most widely adopted parts of the platform.
Sponsored Snaps Ad Placement
Snapchat is testing a new Sponsored Snaps placement with Disney, in the announcement from October 8th.
The Sponsored Snaps placement shows a full-screen vertical video to users on Snapchat.
Users can then opt-in to opening the Snap, with options to engage with the advertiser in one of two ways:
- Sending a direct message to the advertiser by replying
- Use the call-to-action to open the link chosen by the advertiser.
Sponsored Snaps aren’t delivered via a push notification and will appear differently than other Snaps in a user’s inbox.
After a certain amount of time, any unopened Sponsored Snaps disappear from a user’s inbox.
Promoted Places Ad Placement
Snap partnered with two other brands for their Promoted Places ad placement test: McDonalds and Taco Bell.
This new ad placement shows on the Snap Map, which is meant to help users discover new places they may want to visit.
Promoted Places will highlight sponsored placements of interest within the Snap Map.
In early testing, Snap said they’ve found adding places as “Top Picks” drives a typical visitation lift of 17.6% for frequent Snapchat users.
They also mentioned the possibility of exploring ideas around customer loyalty on the Snap Map in future phases.
Summary
Snap hasn’t yet announced how long these ad placement tests will run, or when they’ll be available for broader advertisers.
Snap said the Sponsored Snaps and Promoted Places placements will evolve from feedback within the Snapchat community and the brands partnered with them at launch.
In the future, there’s possibility of integrating features like CRM systems and AI chatbot support to make communication more streamlined between brands and Snapchat users.
SEO
The 11 Best SEO Books You Must Read Today
SEO is a rapidly evolving field, making it important for professionals to continuously expand their knowledge and skills.
We’ve put together a list of essential SEO books suitable for readers at various levels.
Some books on this list provide a foundation in core concepts, while more advanced practitioners can explore topics such as entity optimization.
The list includes specialized resources tailored to specific areas of SEO. For example, some books offer strategies for businesses targeting local audiences, while others serve as comprehensive guides to link building tactics.
For those interested in Google’s perspective, another book provides insights into the company’s philosophies and principles.
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced professional, this list caters to diverse interests and skill levels, ensuring there’s something for everyone.
Books On Search Engine Optimization
1. SEO For Beginners: An Introduction To SEO Basics
Published by Search Engine Journal, this is a comprehensive guide to SEO. It covers everything from link building and SEO history to busting common myths and offering expert tips.
While it’s for beginners, veterans can also gain new insights. The book breaks down complex ideas into bite-sized pieces, making it a great starting point.
It’s well-structured, with each chapter tackling a different SEO aspect – from search engine mechanics to the latest algorithm updates.
The authors don’t just stick to theory. They provide real-world examples and case studies to show how these concepts work in practice. This mix of theory and application makes the book a valuable resource for anyone looking to improve their SEO.
Key reasons to give it a read:
- Get a solid grasp of SEO basics from industry pros.
- Easy-to-follow explanations of tricky concepts.
- Practical advice you can apply to your SEO strategies.
- Stay in the loop with current SEO trends and Google updates.
- Benefit from the collective wisdom of top SEO experts.
2. Entity SEO: Moving From Strings To Things
By Dixon Jones, CEO of InLinks
Dixon Jones’ book “Entity SEO: Moving from Strings to Things” explains the shift from old-school keyword SEO to modern entity-based optimization.
It explains how search engines now use the Knowledge Graph to understand relationships between concepts and offers practical advice on adapting your SEO strategy.
Key points:
- Making your brand an “entity” in your niche.
- Using structured data effectively.
- Getting quality links and mentions.
- Creating content rich in entity information.
The book uses real examples to show how these concepts work in practice. It’s meant to help SEO professionals at all levels understand and prepare for where search is heading.
Worth reading if you want to:
- Get a solid grip on entity SEO.
- Learn actionable entity optimization tactics.
- Establish your brand as a recognized entity.
- Master the use of structured data for SEO.
- Future-proof your SEO strategy.
3. The Art Of SEO: Mastering Search Engine Optimization
by Eric Enge of Stone Temple Consulting, Stephan Spencer, and Jessie C. Stricchiola
Covering everything from SEO 101 to advanced tactics, this book starts with the basics of how search engines work and then dives into the meat of SEO: keyword research, on-page optimization, technical SEO, and link building.
The authors break down complex strategies into actionable steps, making implementation a breeze.
What sets this book apart is its holistic approach. It’s not just about ranking; it’s about aligning SEO with your business goals and integrating it into your digital strategy. The book also discusses the role of content marketing and social media in boosting SEO performance.
Reasons to read this book:
- Get a complete SEO education, from basics to advanced strategies.
- Learn to align SEO with your business objectives.
- Access practical, step-by-step guides for implementing SEO tactics.
- Understand how to integrate SEO with content marketing and social media.
- Benefit from the collective wisdom of three renowned SEO experts.
4. The Psychology Of A Website: Mastering Cognitive Biases, Conversion Triggers And Modern SEO To Achieve Massive Results
Matthew Capala’s “The Psychology of a Website” offers a fresh take on website optimization. Instead of focusing on technical aspects, it dives into the psychology behind user behavior and conversions.
Capala, a seasoned digital marketer, shares actionable tips for creating websites that perform well in search results and keep visitors engaged and more likely to convert.
The book kicks off by exploring how our brains work when we browse websites. Capala then gets into the nitty-gritty of optimizing different website elements, from how they look to what they say.
A big focus throughout is user experience (UX). Capala stresses that a great website isn’t just about ranking high on Google – it needs to be easy and enjoyable for people to use.
While UX is key, Capala doesn’t ignore SEO. He offers practical advice on keyword research, on-page optimization, and building links while keeping the focus on creating content that actually connects with users.
By blending psychological insights with practical digital marketing strategies, Capala offers a well-rounded approach to website optimization that can lead to significant improvements.
Reasons to read this book:
- Gain insights into the psychology driving user behavior and conversions.
- Learn to create websites that not only rank well but also engage visitors.
- Get practical strategies for optimizing design, content, and calls-to-action.
- Discover how to enhance user experience and mobile performance.
- Learn to integrate SEO best practices with a focus on user engagement.
- Benefit from real-world examples and expert insights from a seasoned digital marketer.
5. The Best Damn Website & Ecommerce Marketing And Optimization Guide, Period
SEO veteran Stoney DeGeyter’s book “The Best Damn Website & Ecommerce Marketing And Optimization Guide, Period” covers SEO basics to advanced tactics for websites and online stores.
It starts with SEO essentials and then dives into advanced topics. The book’s standout feature is its focus on ecommerce, addressing product pages, category optimization, and effective product descriptions.
DeGeyter emphasizes a holistic SEO approach that aligns with business goals and user experience. He also covers analytics for strategy refinement.
This guide suits both small business owners and ecommerce marketers.
Reasons to read:
- Master SEO fundamentals and advanced strategies.
- Learn ecommerce-specific optimization tactics.
- Discover product page and description best practices.
- Understand user-generated content’s SEO impact.
- Align SEO efforts with business objectives.
- Benefit from decades of industry expertise.
6. Ecommerce SEO Mastery: 10 Huge SEO Wins For Any Online Store
Kristina Azarenko’s “Ecommerce SEO Mastery” offers 10 key strategies for online stores. The book tackles common ecommerce SEO challenges like thin content and complex site structures.
Azarenko breaks down each “SEO win” with practical advice on implementation.
Topics include:
- Ecommerce keyword research.
- Product & category page optimization.
- Leveraging user-generated content.
- Building quality backlinks.
- Site speed and mobile optimization.
- Structured data.
The book provides real-world examples and emphasizes data-driven SEO. It guides readers through using tools like Google Analytics and Search Console to track progress.
Reasons to read:
- Learn 10 powerful ecommerce-specific SEO strategies.
- Gain insights from a renowned SEO expert.
- Discover how to optimize product and category pages.
- Leverage user-generated content for SEO benefits.
- Learn to build high-quality backlinks.
- Apply real-world examples and case studies.
- Adopt a data-driven approach to ecommerce SEO.
7. Product-Led SEO: The Why Behind Building Your Organic Growth Strategy
by Eli Schwartz
Eli Schwartz’s “Product-Led SEO” offers a fresh take on SEO strategy, emphasizing business goals and sustainable organic growth.
Drawing from his work with major brands, Schwartz presents a framework that integrates SEO with overall company strategy.
The book challenges traditional SEO tactics, advocating for a holistic approach that prioritizes user value.
Key topics include:
- User intent optimization.
- Content strategy for the full customer journey.
- Measuring SEO’s business impact.
Schwartz focuses on the strategic “why” behind SEO tactics, encouraging critical thinking and adaptable strategies for long-term success.
Reasons to read this book:
- Gain a strategic perspective on SEO that aligns with business objectives.
- Learn to create sustainable organic growth through user-centric approaches.
- Discover how to optimize for the entire customer journey.
- Understand methods for measuring and communicating SEO’s business impact.
- Access real-world case studies and examples from major brands.
- Benefit from the author’s extensive experience in driving impactful SEO results.
Books On Link Building
8. The Link Building Book
by Paddy Moogan
Paddy Moogan’s “The Link Building Book” is a comprehensive, free online guide.
It covers link building basics, tactics for acquiring high-authority backlinks, content creation, and practical steps for planning and executing campaigns.
The book emphasizes white-hat techniques and quality over quantity, making it valuable for both SEO novices and pros.
Reasons to read:
- Master link building fundamentals and best practices.
- Learn diverse tactics for acquiring high-quality, relevant links.
- Understand how to assess potential linking websites.
- Discover content strategies that naturally attract links.
- Learn to plan and execute effective link building campaigns.
- Benefit from practical advice and real-world examples.
- Access updated, valuable insights at no cost.
Books On Local SEO
9. Local SEO Secrets: 20 Local SEO Strategies You Should Be Using NOW
by Roger Bryan
“Local SEO Secrets” by Roger Bryan is a must-read for businesses targeting local customers. It offers 20 proven strategies to boost local search visibility and drive growth.
Key topics include:
- Local SEO fundamentals and how it differs from traditional SEO.
- Optimizing Google Business Profile listings.
- Building local citations and leveraging structured data.
- Creating local content and managing online reputation.
- Implementing and tracking local SEO strategies.
The book provides actionable advice, real-world examples, and step-by-step instructions. It’s valuable for small business owners, marketers, and SEO consultants working with local clients.
Reasons to read:
- Learn 20 proven strategies for improving local search visibility.
- Understand key local ranking factors like Google Business Profile, reviews, and citations.
- Master GBP optimization for local SEO success.
- Discover how to use structured data and local content effectively.
- Learn reputation management best practices.
- Get practical, easy-to-implement instructions and examples.
- Learn to measure local SEO performance with analytics tools.
Books On Search Engines
10. How Google Works
by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg
“How Google Works” by ex-Google execs Schmidt and Rosenberg offers an insider’s view of the search giant. While not focused on SEO, it provides valuable insights for digital marketers and business leaders.
The book offers practical advice and real-world examples applicable to businesses of all sizes.
Understanding Google’s philosophy can inform more effective, customer-focused digital marketing strategies.
Reasons to read:
- Get an insider’s view of Google’s success principles.
- Understand how to create a user-centric business strategy.
- Discover ways to foster innovation and experimentation in your organization.
- Gain insights into data-driven decision-making processes.
11. Entity-Oriented Search
“Entity-Oriented Search” by Krisztian Balog is a deep dive into modern search engine tech. It focuses on entities, knowledge graphs, and semantic search and is aimed at readers with a background in information retrieval (IR).
A key strength is its coverage of cutting-edge research, like neural entity representations and knowledge-based language models. While tech-heavy, it touches on applications in QA, recommender systems, and digital assistants and discusses future trends.
It’s essential reading for IR, natural language processing (NLP), and artificial intelligence (AI) pros seeking in-depth knowledge of modern search engines.
Reasons to read:
- Deep dive into entity-oriented and semantic search tech.
- Research on knowledge graphs and semantic understanding.
- A detailed look at entity extraction, linking, and ranking algorithms.
- Insights on neural entity representations and knowledge-based language models.
- Expert knowledge from a renowned IR and search engine specialist.
Conclusion: Choosing Your Next Book
These 11 SEO books have got you covered – whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro.
For beginners, “SEO for Beginners” and “The Art of SEO” are solid starter packs that’ll teach you the SEO fundamentals.
As you level up, books like “Entity SEO” and “Product-Led SEO” explore more advanced topics like optimizing for entities and aligning SEO with business goals.
Several books focus on specific areas:
- “Local SEO Secrets” is a must-read if you’re targeting local customers.
- “Ecommerce SEO Mastery” zeroes in on ecommerce SEO.
- “The Link Building Book” is your starting point to master link building.
On the technical side, “Entity-Oriented Search” dives deep into semantic search and cutting-edge search engine tech. “How Google Works” gives you the inside scoop on Google’s mindset.
The key is picking books that match your skill level and areas of interest. Whether you want to learn SEO from scratch, level up your game, or specialize, there’s a book for you.
The Amazon links in this post are not affiliate links, and SEJ does not receive compensation when you click or make a purchase through these links.
More SEO & Marketing Books Worth Your Time:
Featured Image: PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock
SEO
The 100 Most Searched People on Google in 2024
These are the 100 most searched people, along with their monthly search volumes.
# | Keyword | Search volume |
---|---|---|
1 | donald trump | 7450000 |
2 | taylor swift | 7300000 |
3 | travis kelce | 4970000 |
4 | matthew perry | 3790000 |
5 | kamala harris | 2730000 |
6 | joe biden | 2480000 |
7 | caitlin clark | 2400000 |
8 | olivia rodrigo | 2100000 |
9 | jd vance | 2060000 |
10 | billie eilish | 1720000 |
11 | sabrina carpenter | 1680000 |
12 | kate middleton | 1660000 |
13 | patrick mahomes | 1570000 |
14 | gypsy rose | 1520000 |
15 | jason kelce | 1490000 |
16 | mihály csíkszentmihályi | 1460000 |
17 | timothee chalamet | 1450000 |
18 | tyreek hill | 1380000 |
19 | lola beltrán | 1350000 |
20 | lebron james | 1330000 |
21 | lauren boebert | 1310000 |
22 | barry keoghan | 1300000 |
23 | brock purdy | 1280000 |
24 | drake | 1250000 |
25 | griselda blanco | 1210000 |
26 | ryan reynolds | 1200000 |
27 | zendaya | 1180000 |
28 | scottie scheffler | 1170000 |
29 | aaron rodgers | 1170000 |
30 | casimir funk | 1170000 |
31 | zach bryan | 1150000 |
32 | tom brady | 1150000 |
33 | jacob elordi | 1140000 |
34 | blake lively | 1130000 |
35 | millie bobby brown | 1120000 |
36 | margot robbie | 1110000 |
37 | luisa moreno | 1110000 |
38 | bruce willis | 1090000 |
39 | v | 1090000 |
40 | eminem | 1050000 |
41 | cillian murphy | 1040000 |
42 | anthony edwards | 1020000 |
43 | peso pluma | 1000000 |
44 | fani willis | 1000000 |
45 | etel adnan | 1000000 |
46 | dua lipa | 991000 |
47 | jennifer aniston | 986000 |
48 | bianca censori | 983000 |
49 | megan fox | 982000 |
50 | shannen doherty | 977000 |
51 | mike tyson | 973000 |
52 | megan thee stallion | 971000 |
53 | ariana grande | 960000 |
54 | james baldwin | 958000 |
55 | britney spears | 954000 |
56 | oj simpson | 941000 |
57 | lainey wilson | 937000 |
58 | dan schneider | 933000 |
59 | emma stone | 932000 |
60 | raoul a. cortez | 930000 |
61 | dolly parton | 926000 |
62 | joe burrow | 925000 |
63 | anya taylor-joy | 925000 |
64 | amanda bynes | 924000 |
65 | danny masterson | 920000 |
66 | matt rife | 918000 |
67 | kendrick lamar | 912000 |
68 | messi | 901000 |
69 | bronny james | 901000 |
70 | adam sandler | 898000 |
71 | james earl jones | 897000 |
72 | coco gauff | 892000 |
73 | michael jackson | 884000 |
74 | victor wembanyama | 870000 |
75 | pink | 865000 |
76 | luka doncic | 861000 |
77 | selena gomez | 861000 |
78 | jelly roll | 861000 |
79 | jonathan majors | 840000 |
80 | justin fields | 824000 |
81 | meghan markle | 821000 |
82 | florence pugh | 819000 |
83 | post malone | 813000 |
84 | jayson tatum | 808000 |
85 | diddy | 804000 |
86 | justin jefferson | 799000 |
87 | sza | 794000 |
88 | ana de armas | 793000 |
89 | cj stroud | 790000 |
90 | ben affleck | 788000 |
91 | jake paul | 786000 |
92 | zac efron | 783000 |
93 | scarlett johansson | 779000 |
94 | deion sanders | 771000 |
95 | dr. victor chang | 760000 |
96 | andrew tate | 759000 |
97 | jason momoa | 756000 |
98 | pedro pascal | 755000 |
99 | bad bunny | 744000 |
100 | christian mccaffrey | 735000 |
# | Keyword | Search volume |
---|---|---|
1 | taylor swift | 17000000 |
2 | trump | 12400000 |
3 | matthew perry | 9100000 |
4 | sydney sweeney | 8500000 |
5 | travis kelce | 7500000 |
6 | oppenheimer | 7300000 |
7 | messi | 7000000 |
8 | elon musk | 6500000 |
9 | sinner | 6300000 |
10 | cristiano ronaldo | 6100000 |
11 | kate middleton | 5900000 |
12 | billie eilish | 5200000 |
13 | joe biden | 5000000 |
14 | xxxtentacion | 5000000 |
15 | 大谷翔平 | 4900000 |
16 | virat kohli | 4800000 |
17 | jenna ortega | 4700000 |
18 | v | 4600000 |
19 | ronaldo | 4600000 |
20 | kamala harris | 4300000 |
21 | olivia rodrigo | 4200000 |
22 | griselda blanco | 4000000 |
23 | margot robbie | 4000000 |
24 | cillian murphy | 3800000 |
25 | carlos alcaraz | 3600000 |
26 | dua lipa | 3600000 |
27 | zendaya | 3600000 |
28 | djokovic | 3500000 |
29 | bianca censori | 3500000 |
30 | jude bellingham | 3400000 |
31 | alcaraz | 3400000 |
32 | millie bobby brown | 3400000 |
33 | ana de armas | 3300000 |
34 | sabrina carpenter | 3300000 |
35 | henry cavill | 3300000 |
36 | ryan reynolds | 3200000 |
37 | ice spice | 3200000 |
38 | anne hathaway | 3100000 |
39 | timothée chalamet | 3100000 |
40 | putin | 3100000 |
41 | barry keoghan | 3000000 |
42 | lana rhoades | 3000000 |
43 | michael jackson | 3000000 |
44 | peso pluma | 3000000 |
45 | ariana grande | 3000000 |
46 | jacob elordi | 3000000 |
47 | lebron james | 3000000 |
48 | blake lively | 2900000 |
49 | bruce willis | 2900000 |
50 | lamine yamal | 2900000 |
51 | emma stone | 2900000 |
52 | shubman gill | 2900000 |
53 | simone biles | 2900000 |
54 | rohit sharma | 2900000 |
55 | brad pitt | 2900000 |
56 | eminem | 2900000 |
57 | jennifer aniston | 2800000 |
58 | timothee chalamet | 2800000 |
59 | mike tyson | 2700000 |
60 | megan fox | 2700000 |
61 | lola beltrán | 2700000 |
62 | caitlin clark | 2700000 |
63 | leonardo dicaprio | 2700000 |
64 | johnny depp | 2600000 |
65 | scarlett johansson | 2600000 |
66 | selena gomez | 2600000 |
67 | drake | 2600000 |
68 | mihály csíkszentmihályi | 2600000 |
69 | anya taylor-joy | 2500000 |
70 | madonna | 2500000 |
71 | britney spears | 2500000 |
72 | max verstappen | 2500000 |
73 | jeremy allen white | 2500000 |
74 | gypsy rose | 2500000 |
75 | andrew tate | 2500000 |
76 | kylie jenner | 2500000 |
77 | travis scott | 2400000 |
78 | fabrizio romano | 2400000 |
79 | jennifer lawrence | 2400000 |
80 | meghan markle | 2400000 |
81 | hardik pandya | 2400000 |
82 | keanu reeves | 2400000 |
83 | angelina jolie | 2400000 |
84 | glen powell | 2400000 |
85 | jd vance | 2400000 |
86 | shannen doherty | 2300000 |
87 | jungkook | 2300000 |
88 | jason momoa | 2300000 |
89 | jennifer lopez | 2300000 |
90 | bellingham | 2200000 |
91 | jeffrey epstein | 2200000 |
92 | justin bieber | 2200000 |
93 | florence pugh | 2200000 |
94 | kim kardashian | 2200000 |
95 | ben affleck | 2200000 |
96 | haaland | 2200000 |
97 | zac efron | 2200000 |
98 | tyson fury | 2200000 |
99 | imane khelif | 2100000 |
100 | adam sandler | 2100000 |
In almost every industry, there are celebrities, professionals, or influencers that other people want to emulate. For example, an amateur tennis player might want to know which tennis racket Novak Djokovic uses. Or a football player might want to know the shoes Trent Alexander-Arnold wears.
In fact, Equipboard has taken this idea seriously and created a site around the gear used by professional musicians.
You can do the same for your industry too.
Here’s how:
- Go to Keywords Explorer
- Enter the names of famous people in your niche
- Go to the Matching terms report
- Filter for keywords related to gears using the Include filter
For example, if I entered the names of professional tennis players (Roger Federer, Emma Radacanu, Rafael Nadal) and filtered for tennis gear keywords (e.g., shoes, racket, wristband, shorts), I see 960 potential keywords I could target. If I were a tennis site, I could create a category page for each celebrity and list out all their preferred equipment.
Another way is to enter a relevant keyword into Keywords Explorer, go to the Matching terms report, and observe keyword patterns. For example, if I were a fitness site, I could enter “weight loss” into Keywords Explorer.
The first thing I’ll notice is that many people are actually interested in how certain celebrities lost their weight. The second thing I notice is that the keywords all form a pattern: [first name][last name] weight loss.
As such, I can use the Word count filter to look for keywords that have 4 words, which gives me a list of celebrity-related weight loss keywords:
Want to do keyword research for your site? Sign up for Keywords Explorer.
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