We are headed to the age of assistive task driven search where the user needs help to 'do' things as well as learn things. Smart speakers, mobile phones, assistive systems and conversational search and action devices are where the buck is headed for now. Where are we at in this wave? What are the challenges? What are the opportunities right now? Here we look at some of the ways we can start to prepare our tactics and strategy to be pioneering search marketers with conversation search and conversation action.
Voice Search Challenges For Search and Information Retrieval and SEODawn Anderson MSc DigM
Whilst search engines are making great strides to achieve gold standards in error free voice search recognition there are still a number of challenges. We look at some of them here and seek to understand how we may adapt to optimise for them. Thanks to Enrique Alfonseca, the Google Conversational Research Team, ESSIR Barcelona for the great learnings and education.
The Iceberg Approach - Power from what lies beneath in SEO for a mobile-first...Dawn Anderson MSc DigM
In a mobile-first world, with time-poor users, research crazy and mainly browsing with one eye and one hand, we need to consider a few new approaches to SEO. Information overload is all around. We need to think about how we can maintain relevance with less in some cases. We need to consider the Iceberg Theory and simultaneously consider the Iceberg Syndrome as well as placement position in user view for content and links
Workshop presented at Webdagene 2013 (http://webdagene.no/en/) September 9, 2013; UX Lisbon (http://www.ux-lx.com), May 12, 2011; UX Hong Kong (http://www.uxhongkong.com/), February 17, 2011.
The 5 Levels of Talent Mining from SourceCon 2010 DCGlen Cathey
My SourceCon 2010 DC Keynote at the International Spy Museum on the 5 Levels of Talent Mining. I explore the value of human capital data, how talent mining has significant advantages over the predictive control of candidate variables when compared to other methods of sourcing candidates, and what I believe to be the future of sourcing, which is Talent Intelligence and Analytics.
Extracts from a workshop at GOVIS 2007 (www.govis.org.nz)
This one-day intensive workshop taught attendees how to incorporate user goals and agency needs into the web design process.
Workshop presenters: Zef Fugaz, Bob Medcalf, Elyssa Timmer
Feedback from the workshop attendees:
http://www.zefamedia.com/usability/feedback-from-power-to-the-people/
Voice Search Challenges For Search and Information Retrieval and SEODawn Anderson MSc DigM
Whilst search engines are making great strides to achieve gold standards in error free voice search recognition there are still a number of challenges. We look at some of them here and seek to understand how we may adapt to optimise for them. Thanks to Enrique Alfonseca, the Google Conversational Research Team, ESSIR Barcelona for the great learnings and education.
The Iceberg Approach - Power from what lies beneath in SEO for a mobile-first...Dawn Anderson MSc DigM
In a mobile-first world, with time-poor users, research crazy and mainly browsing with one eye and one hand, we need to consider a few new approaches to SEO. Information overload is all around. We need to think about how we can maintain relevance with less in some cases. We need to consider the Iceberg Theory and simultaneously consider the Iceberg Syndrome as well as placement position in user view for content and links
Workshop presented at Webdagene 2013 (http://webdagene.no/en/) September 9, 2013; UX Lisbon (http://www.ux-lx.com), May 12, 2011; UX Hong Kong (http://www.uxhongkong.com/), February 17, 2011.
The 5 Levels of Talent Mining from SourceCon 2010 DCGlen Cathey
My SourceCon 2010 DC Keynote at the International Spy Museum on the 5 Levels of Talent Mining. I explore the value of human capital data, how talent mining has significant advantages over the predictive control of candidate variables when compared to other methods of sourcing candidates, and what I believe to be the future of sourcing, which is Talent Intelligence and Analytics.
Extracts from a workshop at GOVIS 2007 (www.govis.org.nz)
This one-day intensive workshop taught attendees how to incorporate user goals and agency needs into the web design process.
Workshop presenters: Zef Fugaz, Bob Medcalf, Elyssa Timmer
Feedback from the workshop attendees:
http://www.zefamedia.com/usability/feedback-from-power-to-the-people/
How Just a Little Data Analysis Can Improve your ContentJoe Pairman
Slides from a webinar given on February 5th, 2013, organized by Comtech Services (http://comtech-serv.com/ ). Abstract as follows:
In the past, it was often difficult for information development teams to obtain quantitative data on how their content was used. In recent years, with the spread of online content delivery, it has become easier to obtain such data. Now, the challenge is how to interpret it in order to make content more effective.
In this webinar, Joe Pairman from HTC's User Education team will show how content usage data, ratings by users, and search query records can:
• Indicate appropriate vocabulary
• Contribute to taxonomy development
• Suggest areas of focus for content improvements
• Help to answer specific questions about designing effective content
Fast, Cheap, and Actionable: Creating an Affordable User Research ProgramMichael Powers
Done a usability study? Ready for the next step? Today we have an abundance of fast, affordable website user research methods, many of which can be done remotely with real users. Learn about available user research options and how IUP runs successful research projects that lead to actionable insights.
UX - Behind & In Front of the Curtain (State of Search 2018)Mary Davies
A glimpse into how UX affect rankings and conversions. This presentation offers perspectives from both a back end technical SEO perspective as well as a front end user perspective.
Presented By: Dave and Mary Davies
Search is not just the place your users go to when they are lost or have something specific to find. It is also a place where your users go to to have a conversation about their needs. Avinash Kaushik remind us that search is the only place that gets used more than 10% of the time. So, how are we designing this conversation? In this presenation for the IXDA Singapore community, I share a framework to design the search experience.
Talk from Tech SEO Boost 2019 by Dawn Anderson on the move to the just in time predictive personalised search experience for search engines and users. Exploring recommender systems, collaborative filtering, temporal and location based queries and the rise of predictive, personal dynamic search. Exploring the work of information retrieval researchers and Google Discover.
This presentation explores the relationship between agile methodologies and generative artificial intelligence (AI). It reflects on how agile principles enabled organizations to adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic, proving agility is a mindset not a place. The rise of generative AI brings new opportunities to augment human capabilities and boost productivity. However, over-reliance on AI risks decreasing human creativity and collaboration. Agile practitioners must remain vigilant to use generative AI purposefully, preserving team interactions. Examples demonstrate how generative AI chatbots can assist with agile coaching, accelerating knowledge acquisition. But human compassion endures despite innovations. Overall, embracing change through strong values and advanced technology allows agile practices to thriv
SearchLeeds 2018 - Dawn Anderson - Power from what lies beneath ... The icebe...Branded3
Dawn takes a look at ‘The Iceberg Approach to SEO’. As we move increasingly to an era of smaller screen search (or no screen), we need to consider ways to say more with less and communicate this to both search engines and users. She explores semantics, the knowledge graph, schema and ontologies combined with UX as methods to pass themed ‘equivalence’ from below the surface of the site or the individual page.
How is mobile technology and search engine tuning evolving to meet the needs of users? Here we look at recent developments in research, implementations by search engines, and how to look at reach users can adapt their strategies to take into account these next-level changes.
Artificial intelligence and conversational search are having their big moment right now, and it’s easy to see why. Its relevant to all of us. Its potential to enhance our daily lives is the foundation of its widespread adoption…but measuring our satisfaction correctly *in the moment* is the key to its ultimate success – or failure. The future of search lies in the ability of conversational UI to make human-to-computer interactions correct, relevant and useful. The satisfaction metric is the key to moving search ahead, making personal AI assistants essential sidekicks in everyday life. The more our personal AIs “get” us, the more we want to talk with them.
In this session, Ozlo’s Principal Engineering Lead Heidi Young, who has lived and breathed search for more than 10 years, will discuss how the success of AI-driven assistants – and their ability to enhance our lives – depends on a specific satisfaction metric. By breaking down human-to-computer interactions and focusing on immediate feedback loops (micro-level metrics) instead of solely on lagging indicators (macro-level metrics), satisfaction is more effectively measured. This type of engagement is a game-changer is measuring satisfaction and indicating happiness. It should be a top priority of AI architects, since users who have positively ending conversations come back. This is the key to the new personal AI assistant revolution.
Data vs Hunch - Beyond Lecture at Hyper Island 2015Beyond
How do you strike a balance between data and creative hunch in a digital marketing world obsessed with metrics and ROI? Slides from a session with the Hyper Island Digital Data Strategy class of 2015, at the school's Stockholm campus.
How do you strike a balance between data and creative hunch in a digital marketing world obsessed with metrics and ROI? Slides from a session with the Hyper Island Digital Data Strategy class of 2015, at the school's Stockholm campus.
The Future of Search: How Measuring Satisfaction Will Enhance Our Personal ...teamozlo
Ozlo VP of Engineering, Heidi Young, talks about "The Future of Search: How Measuring Satisfaction Will Enhance Our Personal AIs and Our Lives" at Seattle Interactive 2016
Heidi Young, Ozlo VP of Engineering, Seattle Interactive 2016teamozlo
Ozlo VP of Engineering, Heidi Young, talks about "The Future of Search: How Measuring Satisfaction Will Enhance Our Personal AIs and Our Lives" at Seattle Interactive 2016
You've heard the news, Data Science is the cool new career opportunity sweeping the world. Come learn from Thinkful Mentors all about this new and exciting industry.
In this talk we outline some of the key challenges in text analytics, describe some of Endeca's current research work in this area, examine the current state of the text analytics market and explore some of the prospects for the future.
How Just a Little Data Analysis Can Improve your ContentJoe Pairman
Slides from a webinar given on February 5th, 2013, organized by Comtech Services (http://comtech-serv.com/ ). Abstract as follows:
In the past, it was often difficult for information development teams to obtain quantitative data on how their content was used. In recent years, with the spread of online content delivery, it has become easier to obtain such data. Now, the challenge is how to interpret it in order to make content more effective.
In this webinar, Joe Pairman from HTC's User Education team will show how content usage data, ratings by users, and search query records can:
• Indicate appropriate vocabulary
• Contribute to taxonomy development
• Suggest areas of focus for content improvements
• Help to answer specific questions about designing effective content
Fast, Cheap, and Actionable: Creating an Affordable User Research ProgramMichael Powers
Done a usability study? Ready for the next step? Today we have an abundance of fast, affordable website user research methods, many of which can be done remotely with real users. Learn about available user research options and how IUP runs successful research projects that lead to actionable insights.
UX - Behind & In Front of the Curtain (State of Search 2018)Mary Davies
A glimpse into how UX affect rankings and conversions. This presentation offers perspectives from both a back end technical SEO perspective as well as a front end user perspective.
Presented By: Dave and Mary Davies
Search is not just the place your users go to when they are lost or have something specific to find. It is also a place where your users go to to have a conversation about their needs. Avinash Kaushik remind us that search is the only place that gets used more than 10% of the time. So, how are we designing this conversation? In this presenation for the IXDA Singapore community, I share a framework to design the search experience.
Talk from Tech SEO Boost 2019 by Dawn Anderson on the move to the just in time predictive personalised search experience for search engines and users. Exploring recommender systems, collaborative filtering, temporal and location based queries and the rise of predictive, personal dynamic search. Exploring the work of information retrieval researchers and Google Discover.
This presentation explores the relationship between agile methodologies and generative artificial intelligence (AI). It reflects on how agile principles enabled organizations to adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic, proving agility is a mindset not a place. The rise of generative AI brings new opportunities to augment human capabilities and boost productivity. However, over-reliance on AI risks decreasing human creativity and collaboration. Agile practitioners must remain vigilant to use generative AI purposefully, preserving team interactions. Examples demonstrate how generative AI chatbots can assist with agile coaching, accelerating knowledge acquisition. But human compassion endures despite innovations. Overall, embracing change through strong values and advanced technology allows agile practices to thriv
SearchLeeds 2018 - Dawn Anderson - Power from what lies beneath ... The icebe...Branded3
Dawn takes a look at ‘The Iceberg Approach to SEO’. As we move increasingly to an era of smaller screen search (or no screen), we need to consider ways to say more with less and communicate this to both search engines and users. She explores semantics, the knowledge graph, schema and ontologies combined with UX as methods to pass themed ‘equivalence’ from below the surface of the site or the individual page.
How is mobile technology and search engine tuning evolving to meet the needs of users? Here we look at recent developments in research, implementations by search engines, and how to look at reach users can adapt their strategies to take into account these next-level changes.
Artificial intelligence and conversational search are having their big moment right now, and it’s easy to see why. Its relevant to all of us. Its potential to enhance our daily lives is the foundation of its widespread adoption…but measuring our satisfaction correctly *in the moment* is the key to its ultimate success – or failure. The future of search lies in the ability of conversational UI to make human-to-computer interactions correct, relevant and useful. The satisfaction metric is the key to moving search ahead, making personal AI assistants essential sidekicks in everyday life. The more our personal AIs “get” us, the more we want to talk with them.
In this session, Ozlo’s Principal Engineering Lead Heidi Young, who has lived and breathed search for more than 10 years, will discuss how the success of AI-driven assistants – and their ability to enhance our lives – depends on a specific satisfaction metric. By breaking down human-to-computer interactions and focusing on immediate feedback loops (micro-level metrics) instead of solely on lagging indicators (macro-level metrics), satisfaction is more effectively measured. This type of engagement is a game-changer is measuring satisfaction and indicating happiness. It should be a top priority of AI architects, since users who have positively ending conversations come back. This is the key to the new personal AI assistant revolution.
Data vs Hunch - Beyond Lecture at Hyper Island 2015Beyond
How do you strike a balance between data and creative hunch in a digital marketing world obsessed with metrics and ROI? Slides from a session with the Hyper Island Digital Data Strategy class of 2015, at the school's Stockholm campus.
How do you strike a balance between data and creative hunch in a digital marketing world obsessed with metrics and ROI? Slides from a session with the Hyper Island Digital Data Strategy class of 2015, at the school's Stockholm campus.
The Future of Search: How Measuring Satisfaction Will Enhance Our Personal ...teamozlo
Ozlo VP of Engineering, Heidi Young, talks about "The Future of Search: How Measuring Satisfaction Will Enhance Our Personal AIs and Our Lives" at Seattle Interactive 2016
Heidi Young, Ozlo VP of Engineering, Seattle Interactive 2016teamozlo
Ozlo VP of Engineering, Heidi Young, talks about "The Future of Search: How Measuring Satisfaction Will Enhance Our Personal AIs and Our Lives" at Seattle Interactive 2016
You've heard the news, Data Science is the cool new career opportunity sweeping the world. Come learn from Thinkful Mentors all about this new and exciting industry.
In this talk we outline some of the key challenges in text analytics, describe some of Endeca's current research work in this area, examine the current state of the text analytics market and explore some of the prospects for the future.
Natural Language Search with Knowledge Graphs (Haystack 2019)Trey Grainger
To optimally interpret most natural language queries, it is necessary to understand the phrases, entities, commands, and relationships represented or implied within the search. Knowledge graphs serve as useful instantiations of ontologies which can help represent this kind of knowledge within a domain.
In this talk, we'll walk through techniques to build knowledge graphs automatically from your own domain-specific content, how you can update and edit the nodes and relationships, and how you can seamlessly integrate them into your search solution for enhanced query interpretation and semantic search. We'll have some fun with some of the more search-centric use cased of knowledge graphs, such as entity extraction, query expansion, disambiguation, and pattern identification within our queries: for example, transforming the query "bbq near haystack" into
{ filter:["doc_type":"restaurant"], "query": { "boost": { "b": "recip(geodist(38.034780,-78.486790),1,1000,1000)", "query": "bbq OR barbeque OR barbecue" } } }
We'll also specifically cover use of the Semantic Knowledge Graph, a particularly interesting knowledge graph implementation available within Apache Solr that can be auto-generated from your own domain-specific content and which provides highly-nuanced, contextual interpretation of all of the terms, phrases and entities within your domain. We'll see a live demo with real world data demonstrating how you can build and apply your own knowledge graphs to power much more relevant query understanding within your search engine.
Haystack 2019 - Natural Language Search with Knowledge Graphs - Trey GraingerOpenSource Connections
To optimally interpret most natural language queries, it is necessary to understand the phrases, entities, commands, and relationships represented or implied within the search. Knowledge graphs serve as useful instantiations of ontologies which can help represent this kind of knowledge within a domain.
In this talk, we'll walk through techniques to build knowledge graphs automatically from your own domain-specific content, how you can update and edit the nodes and relationships, and how you can seamlessly integrate them into your search solution for enhanced query interpretation and semantic search. We'll have some fun with some of the more search-centric use cased of knowledge graphs, such as entity extraction, query expansion, disambiguation, and pattern identification within our queries: for example, transforming the query "bbq near haystack" into
{ filter:["doc_type":"restaurant"], "query": { "boost": { "b": "recip(geodist(38.034780,-78.486790),1,1000,1000)", "query": "bbq OR barbeque OR barbecue" } } }
We'll also specifically cover use of the Semantic Knowledge Graph, a particularly interesting knowledge graph implementation available within Apache Solr that can be auto-generated from your own domain-specific content and which provides highly-nuanced, contextual interpretation of all of the terms, phrases and entities within your domain. We'll see a live demo with real world data demonstrating how you can build and apply your own knowledge graphs to power much more relevant query understanding within your search engine.
Human quality raters have been the mainstay of search engine evaluation for decades but a sea-change is on its way due to the need for scale as machine learning and demand evolves.
Life of An SEO - Surfing The Waves of Googles Many Algorithmic UpdatesDawn Anderson MSc DigM
the life of an SEO is never boring. Search is always changing and subsequently Google's algorithms are updated to reflect changing search behaviours and to combat the actions of bad actors / spam in the search engine results pages. We look at past algorithms, the many types of algorithms and identify how you can ascertain whether you've been impacted by an algorithmic update and how to remedy / recover
Natural Semantic SEO - Surfacing Walnuts in Densely Represented, Every Increa...Dawn Anderson MSc DigM
Structured data accounts for only a small part of the web and the problem grows as the volume of the online content grows. Schema markup is a drop in the ocean to help with this. However, things are being addressed in the natural language research space in the form of dense retrieval and other developments such as Sentence BERT and FAISS. Utilising heuristics such as umbrellas and sidecar pages will help to send clues and assist with ensuring search engines rank the right pages from your sites for SEO
Whilst passage indexing may seem like a small tweak to search ranking, it is potentially much more symptomatic of the beginning of a fundamental shift in the way that search engines understand unstructured content, determine relevance in natural language, and rank efficiently and effectively.
It could also be a means of assessing overall quality of content and a means of dynamic index pruning. We will look at the landscape, and also provide some takeaways for brands and business owners looking to improve quality in unstructured content overall in this fast changing landscape.
Zipfs Law & Zipfian Distribution in SEO - Pubcon Virtual Fall 2020 - Dawn And...Dawn Anderson MSc DigM
Zipf's Law is prevalent throughout many forms of data and that includes the internet at large and within sectors of the internet, websites and web pages plus linguistics. How does this impact SEO if at all?
What is BERT? It is Google's neural network-based technique for natural language processing (NLP) pre-training. BERT stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers. It was opened-sourced last year and written about in more detail on the Google AI blog. In this presentation we look at what Google BERT means for SEOs and marketers and how Google BERT is and will continue to impact the search landscape. We also look at the back story to Google BERT, including transformers and natural language understanding and computational linguistics.
Google BERT is many things, including the name of a Google Search algorithm update. There is lots of confusion as to what Google BERT is, where it has come from and what SEOs and marketers need to do about it (if anything). Here we look at the solutions the introduction of Google BERT by Google seeks to provide and explore the background to natural language processing and computational linguistics.
Disambiguating Equiprobability in SEO Dawn Anderson Friends of Search 2020Dawn Anderson MSc DigM
Connecting the probable dots in content and data can help significantly and improve your search strategy. Ambiguity in SEO comes in many form too, going beyond content and into entities and locations. This talk touches on some of the areas where ambiguity can impact and hinder your performance
Connecting The Worlds of Information Retrieval & SEO - Search solutions 2019 ...Dawn Anderson MSc DigM
The worlds of information retrieval and SEO are very connected and each benefits from the other as the amount of content and unstructured data on the web grows. Here I look at my experiences over the past few years of following both the IR and SEO worlds
It's very easy to get started too quickly in SEO for a new website and not plan properly using a framework to improve probability of success. Here we look at the SOSTAC framework for a new site and explore some traditional strategic models and marketing frameworks to employ in an SEO capacity for a dog friendly website in the UK territory. Expect SOSTAC, Porters 5 Forces, Ansoff Matrix, 5S's, 8P's and more
Google BERT and Family and the Natural Language Understanding Leaderboard RaceDawn Anderson MSc DigM
Natural Language Understanding and Word Sense Disambiguation remains one of the prevailing challenges for both conversational and written word. Natural language understanding attempts to untangle the 'hot mess' of words between more structured data in content, but the challenge is not trivial, since there is so much polysemy in language. Some recent developments in machine learning have seen significant leaps forward in understanding more clearly the context (and therefore user intent and informational need at time of query). Here we will explore these developments, and some of their implementations and seek to understand what this means for search strategists and the brands they support both now and into the future.
Natural Language Processing and Search Intent Understanding C3 Conductor 2019...Dawn Anderson MSc DigM
This talk looks at the ways in which search engines are evolving to understand further the nuance of linguistics in natural language processing and in understanding searcher intent.
As the volume of content continues to grow exponentially helping search engines to understand context and the topical themes within your site is increasingly important. Understanding some of the concepts are covered and also ways to utilise these in your marketing strategy.
In an information economy where users are time poor and research hungry we need to take a mobile first approach to meet the needs of both users and search engines looking to align users informational needs with relevant search results. With limited space and a now mobile-first index how can we align our SEO strategy with this?
The changing search landscape calls for different approaches to user needs, including context, intent and device considerations. Here we take a look at ways to keep working to keep your ecommerce site well positioned for strong transactional and informational queries in the moments that matter to shoppers online.
Mobile-first goes beyond simply indexing in a search engine. It has several meanings, which traverse user-behaviour, web design, adoption in different territories, adoption amongst user segments, adoption in different verticals. We need to be aware of these fundamentals changes in search behaviour and adapt quickly.
Here we take a look at server log file analysis for SEO and explore not only the benefits but also the process of finding, gathering, shipping and analysing user agent logs
A few of the recent findings we discovered whilst working on an SEO beast which cover crawling, server log file analysis, site speed optimization and database optimizations. Technical SEO insights
Cruft busting technical debt code smell and refactoring for seo - state of ...Dawn Anderson MSc DigM
Things can add up over time when you migrate sites or have many legacy domains, subdomains and old code in a website. Signs of poor quality add up as incremental crawling never stops. This is akin to SEO technical debt which you need to repay to regain good site health and positive quality signals. You can't repay the debt all at once, but in iterative incremental steps over time.
Duplicate content continues to confuse many of us. Part of the problem is there are different types of duplicate content which may be treated differently by search engines. There are different ways to deal with this in your SEO and content marketing strategy. It's important to be careful when removing content to ensure you're not shooting yourself in the foot. Instead of remove, try to improve or regroup content which is being triggered for the same query class / cluster and may be diluting. Change the emphasis and make something of added value for users. Consider query and category agnostic filtering versus content which is considered at query run-time auction in search results.
It's another new era of digital and marketers are faced with making big bets on their digital strategy. If you are looking at modernizing your tech stack to support your digital evolution, there are a few can't miss (often overlooked) areas that should be part of every conversation. We'll cover setting your vision, avoiding siloes, adding a democratized approach to data strategy, localization, creating critical governance requirements and more. Attendees will walk away with actions they can take into initiatives they are running today and consider for the future.
The digital marketing industry is changing faster than ever and those who don’t adapt with the times are losing market share. Where should marketers be focusing their efforts? What strategies are the experts seeing get the best results? Get up-to-speed with the latest industry insights, trends and predictions for the future in this panel discussion with some leading digital marketing experts.
AI-Powered Personalization: Principles, Use Cases, and Its Impact on CROVWO
In today’s era of AI, personalization is more than just a trend—it’s a fundamental strategy that unlocks numerous opportunities.
When done effectively, personalization builds trust, loyalty, and satisfaction among your users—key factors for business success. However, relying solely on AI capabilities isn’t enough. You need to anchor your approach in solid principles, understand your users’ context, and master the art of persuasion.
Join us as Sarjak Patel and Naitry Saggu from 3rd Eye Consulting unveil a transformative framework. This approach seamlessly integrates your unique context, consumer insights, and conversion goals, paving the way for unparalleled success in personalization.
In this presentation, Danny Leibrandt explains the impact of AI on SEO and what Google has been doing about it. Learn how to take your SEO game to the next level and win over Google with his new strategy anyone can use. Get actionable steps to rank your name, your business, and your clients on Google - the right way.
Key Takeaways:
1. Real content is king
2. Find ways to show EEAT
3. Repurpose across all platforms
Financial curveballs sent many American families reeling in 2023. Household budgets were squeezed by rising interest rates, surging prices on everyday goods, and a stagnating housing market. Consumers were feeling strapped. That sentiment, however, appears to be waning. The question is, to what extent?
To take the pulse of consumers’ feelings about their financial well-being ahead of a highly anticipated election, ThinkNow conducted a nationally representative quantitative survey. The survey highlights consumers’ hopes and anxieties as we move into 2024. Let's unpack the key findings to gain insights about where we stand.
The Forgotten Secret Weapon of Digital Marketing: Email
Digital marketing is a rapidly changing, ever evolving industry--Influencers, Threads, X, AI, etc. But one of the most effective digital marketing tools is also one of the oldest: Email. Find out from two Houston-based digital experts how to maximize your results from email.
Key Takeaways:
Email has the best ROI of any digital tactic
It can be used at any stage of the customer journey
It is increasingly important as the cookie-less future gets closer and closer
The session includes a brief history of the evolution of search before diving into the roles technology, content, and links play in developing a powerful SEO strategy in a world of Generative AI and social search. Discover how to optimize for TikTok searches, Google's Gemini, and Search Generative Experience while developing a powerful arsenal of tools and templates to help maximize the effectiveness of your SEO initiatives.
Key Takeaways:
Understand how search engines work
Be able to find out where your users search
Know what is required for each discipline of SEO
Feel confident creating an SEO Plan
Confidently measure SEO performance
Mastering Local SEO for Service Businesses in the AI Era is tailored specifically for local service providers like plumbers, dentists, and others seeking to dominate their local search landscape. This session delves into leveraging AI advancements to enhance your online visibility and search rankings through the Content Factory model, designed for creating high-impact, SEO-driven content. Discover the Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy, a cost-effective approach to boost your local SEO efforts and attract more customers with minimal investment. Gain practical insights on optimizing your online presence to meet the specific needs of local service seekers, ensuring your business not only appears but stands out in local searches. This concise, action-oriented workshop is your roadmap to navigating the complexities of digital marketing in the AI age, driving more leads, conversions, and ultimately, success for your local service business.
Key Takeaways:
Embrace AI for Local SEO: Learn to harness the power of AI technologies to optimize your website and content for local search. Understand the pivotal role AI plays in analyzing search trends and consumer behavior, enabling you to tailor your SEO strategies to meet the specific demands of your target local audience. Leverage the Content Factory Model: Discover the step-by-step process of creating SEO-optimized content at scale. This approach ensures a steady stream of high-quality content that engages local customers and boosts your search rankings. Get an action guide on implementing this model, complete with templates and scheduling strategies to maintain a consistent online presence. Maximize ROI with Dollar-a-Day Advertising: Dive into the cost-effective Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy that amplifies your visibility in local searches without breaking the bank. Learn how to strategically allocate your budget across platforms to target potential local customers effectively. The session includes an action guide on setting up, monitoring, and optimizing your ad campaigns to ensure maximum impact with minimal investment.
Most small businesses struggle to see marketing results. In this session, we will eliminate any confusion about what to do next, solving your marketing problems so your business can thrive. You’ll learn how to create a foundational marketing OS (operating system) based on neuroscience and backed by real-world results. You’ll be taught how to develop deep customer connections, and how to have your CRM dynamically segment and sell at any stage in the customer’s journey. By the end of the session, you’ll remove confusion and chaos and replace it with clarity and confidence for long-term marketing success.
Key Takeaways:
• Uncover the power of a foundational marketing system that dynamically communicates with prospects and customers on autopilot.
• Harness neuroscience and Tribal Alignment to transform your communication strategies, turning potential clients into fans and those fans into loyal customers.
• Discover the art of automated segmentation, pinpointing your most lucrative customers and identifying the optimal moments for successful conversions.
• Streamline your business with a content production plan that eliminates guesswork, wasted time, and money.
Mastering Multi-Touchpoint Content Strategy: Navigate Fragmented User JourneysSearch Engine Journal
Digital platforms are constantly multiplying, and with that, user engagement is becoming more intricate and fragmented.
So how do you effectively navigate distributing and tailoring your content across these various touchpoints?
Watch this webinar as we dive into the evolving landscape of content strategy tailored for today's fragmented user journeys. Understanding how to deliver your content to your users is more crucial than ever, and we’ll provide actionable tips for navigating these intricate challenges.
You’ll learn:
- How today’s users engage with content across various channels and devices.
- The latest methodologies for identifying and addressing content gaps to keep your content strategy proactive and relevant.
- What digital shelf space is and how your content strategy needs to pivot.
With Wayne Cichanski, we’ll explore innovative strategies to map out and meet the diverse needs of your audience, ensuring every piece of content resonates and connects, regardless of where or how it is consumed.
Monthly Social Media News Update May 2024Andy Lambert
TL;DR. These are the three themes that stood out to us over the course of last month.
1️⃣ Social media is becoming increasingly significant for brand discovery. Marketers are now understanding the impact of social and budgets are shifting accordingly.
2️⃣ Instagram’s new algorithm and latest guidance will help us maintain organic growth. Instagram continues to evolve, but Reels remains the most crucial tool for growth.
3️⃣ Collaboration will help us unlock growth. Who we work with will define how fast we grow. Meta continues to evolve their Creator Marketplace and now TikTok are beginning to push ‘collabs’ more too.
5 big bets to drive growth in 2024 without one additional marketing dollar AND how to adapt to the biggest shifting eCommerce trend- AI.
1) Romance Your Customers - Retention
2) ‘Alternative’ Lead Gen - Advocacy
3) The Beautiful Basics - Conversion Rate Optimization
4) Land that Bottom Line - Profitability
5) Roll the Dice - New Business Models
Everyone knows the power of stories, but when asked to come up with them, we struggle. Either we second guess ourselves as to the story's relevance, or we just come up blank and can't think of any. Unlocking Everyday Narratives: The Power of Storytelling in Marketing will teach you how to recognize stories in the moment and to recall forgotten moments that your audience needs to hear.
Key Takeaways:
Understand Why Personal Stories Connect Better
How To Remember Forgotten Stories
How To Use Customer Experiences As Stories For Your Brand
The digital marketing industry is changing faster than ever and those who don’t adapt with the times are losing market share. Where should marketers be focusing their efforts? What strategies are the experts seeing get the best results? Get up-to-speed with the latest industry insights, trends and predictions for the future in this panel discussion with some leading digital marketing experts.
Digital marketing is the art and science of promoting products or services using digital channels to reach and engage with potential customers. It encompasses a wide range of online tactics and strategies aimed at increasing brand visibility, driving website traffic, generating leads, and ultimately, converting those leads into customers.
https://nidmindia.com/
When most people in the industry talk about online or digital reputation management, what they're really saying is Google search and PPC. And it's usually reactive, left dealing with the aftermath of negative information published somewhere online. That's outdated. It leaves executives, organizations and other high-profile individuals at a high risk of a digital reputation attack that spans channels and tactics. But the tools needed to safeguard against an attack are more cybersecurity-oriented than most marketing and communications professionals can manage. Business leaders Leaders grasp the importance; 83% of executives place reputation in their top five areas of risk, yet only 23% are confident in their ability to address it. To succeed in 2024 and beyond, you need to turn online reputation on its axis and think like an attacker.
Key Takeaways:
- New framework for examining and safeguarding an online reputation
- Tools and techniques to keep you a step ahead
- Practical examples that demonstrate when to act, how to act and how to recover
Turn Digital Reputation Threats into Offense Tactics - Daniel Lemin
Voice Search and Conversation Action Assistive Systems - Challenges & Opportunities
1. ”Voice
Search
SEO
&
Assistive
Systems...
Challenges
&
Opportunities”
“The
current
situation
for
voice
search
&
SEO
and
overcoming
challenges“
Dawn
Anderson
@DawnieAndo from
@MoveItMarketing
8. But…
we
will
look
at
only
2
types
today…
which
are
a
hybrid
within
the
assistive
systems
Provide
answers
/
search
Conversation
Search
Help
with
activities
/
tasks
Conversation
Actions
14. Stepping
out
of
the
SEO
bubble
Source:
SISTRIX.
2018. Stepping
out
of
the
SEO
Bubble
-‐ SISTRIX.
[ONLINE]
Available
at: https://www.sistrix.com/blog/stepping-‐out-‐of-‐the-‐seo-‐bubble/.
26,700+
respondents
15. Why
do
people
use
voice
search?
Source:
Higher
visibility
study
on
2000
people
(opportunity
sampling)
16. When
do
people
use
voice
search?
Source:
Higher
visibility
study
on
2000
people
(opportunity
sampling)
47. So
many
ways
to
misunderstand
natural
language
Intensive Reciprocal Reflexive Personal Relative Indefinite Demonstrativ
e
Possessive Interrogative
Myself Each
other Herself I Who Anything This Mine Who
Himself One
another
Himself You Whom Everybody That His Whom
Herself Myself He Whose few Those Theirs Which
Itself Ourselves She Which many These Hers What
Ourselves Yourself We That none Ours Whatever
Yourself They What some Yours Whichever
Me Whatever Whomever
Him Whoever
Her Whomever
Us whichever
48. Computer
programs
lose
track
of
who
is
who
easily
I’m
confused…
Here…
Have
some
flowers
instead
;P
;P
53. Unstructured
data
(text)
Semi-‐
structured
data
Relational
databases
Structured
data
XML
sitemaps Ordered
lists
Unordered
lists
Tabular
data
Data
Feeds
Turn
‘fluffy’
web
pages
into
machine-‐
understandable
formats
– add
signals
55. Over
half
of
voice
search
results
hold
featured
snippets
(Dr
Pete
Myers,
Moz,
2017)
Work
on
building
out
the
Knowledge
Graph
56. Tip
5
– Cover
all
bases
due
to
paraphrasing
absence
57. • Well
structured
long
form
informational
content
(where
appropriate)
• Semantic
headings
• Write
for
a
featured
snippet
win
(few
exceptions)
• Cover
the
bases
because
of
extraction
&
compression
(no
paraphrasing)
67. Understand
your
customers
to
assist
with
AI
Customer
Service
Data
Customer
Panels
Email
questions
FAQs
Build
Assistant
App
68. Understand
your
customers
to
assist
with
AI
Perceived
Information
need
Micro-‐task
Micro-‐task Micro-‐task Micro-‐task Micro-‐task Task
Micro-‐task Micro-‐task Micro-‐task Micro-‐task Task
Micro-‐task Micro-‐task Task
Micro-‐task
Micro-‐task
Micro-‐task Task
Micro-‐task Micro-‐task Task
Micro-‐task Task
We
can
identify
the
user’s
probable
top
tasks
&
subtasks
Identify
their
needs
&
what
info
they
need
along
the
way
71. Book
hotel
intent
When
do
you
want
to
stay?
dates
dates
How
many
nights?
3
nights 2
nights
Overnight A
week
Single
or
double
room?
Single
room Double
room
Programme your
own
expected
questions
and
answers
72.
73. We
are
at
’Day
One’
but
the
future
is
’Assistive’
76. References
• Broder,
A.,
2002,
September.
A
taxonomy
of
web
search.
In ACM
Sigir forum (Vol.
36,
No.
2,
pp.
3-‐10).
ACM.
• Chuklin,
A.,
Severyn,
A.,
Trippas,
J.,
Alfonseca,
E.,
Silen,
H.
and
Spina,
D.,
2018.
Prosody
Modifications
for
Question-‐Answering
in
Voice-‐Only
Settings. arXiv preprint
arXiv:1806.03957.
• HigherVisibility.
2018. How
Popular
is
Voice
Search?
|
HigherVisibility.
[ONLINE]
Available
at: https://www.highervisibility.com/blog/how-‐popular-‐is-‐voice-‐search/
• Filippova,
K.,
Alfonseca,
E.,
Colmenares,
C.A.,
Kaiser,
L.
and
Vinyals,
O.,
2015.
Sentence
compression
by
deletion
with
lstms.
In Proceedings
of
the
2015
Conference
on
Empirical
Methods
in
Natural
Language
Processing (pp.
360-‐368).
• Filippova,
K.
and
Alfonseca,
E.,
2015.
Fast
k-‐best
sentence
compression. arXiv preprint
arXiv:1510.08418.
• Google
Developers.
2018. Content-‐based
Actions
| Actions
on
Google
| Google
Developers.
[ONLINE]
Available
at: https://developers.google.com/actions/content-‐
actions/.
[Accessed
18
June
2018]
77. References
• Mitkov,
R.,
2014. Anaphora
resolution.
Routledge.
• NLP
Department
-‐ Stanford
University
-‐ Imran
Q
Sayed.
2018. Issues
in
Anaphora
Resolution.
[ONLINE]
Available
at: https://nlp.stanford.edu/courses/cs224n/2003/fp/iqsayed/project_report.pdf.
[Accessed
28
June
2018].
• Radlinski,
F.
and
Craswell,
N.,
2017,
March.
A
theoretical
framework
for
conversational
search.
In Proceedings
of
the
2017
Conference
on
Conference
Human
Information
Interaction
and
Retrieval (pp.
117-‐126).
ACM.
• Schalkwyk,
J.,
Beeferman,
D.,
Beaufays,
F.,
Byrne,
B.,
Chelba,
C.,
Cohen,
M.,
Kamvar,
M.
and
Strope,
B.,
2010.
“Your
word
is
my
command”:
Google
search
by
voice:
a
case
study.
In Advances
in
speech
recognition (pp.
61-‐90).
Springer,
Boston,
MA.
• SISTRIX.
2018. Stepping
out
of
the
SEO
Bubble
-‐ SISTRIX.
[ONLINE]
Available
at: https://www.sistrix.com/blog/stepping-‐out-‐of-‐the-‐seo-‐bubble/.
[Accessed
16
June
2018].
78. References
• The
Stanford
Question
Answering
Dataset.
2018. The
Stanford
Question
Answering
Dataset.
[ONLINE]
Available
at: https://rajpurkar.github.io/SQuAD-‐explorer/.
• Trippas,
J.R.,
Spina,
D.,
Cavedon,
L.,
Joho,
H.
and
Sanderson,
M.,
2018.
Informing
the
Design
of
Spoken
Conversational
Search.