Tree Learns The Hard Way That Lightning Is No Joke

Tree Learns The Hard Way That Lightning Is No Joke
What happens when lightning hits a tree? Massive splinters, everywhere (and a tree that's basically cut in half).

January 27, 2016 at 11:51PM
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My Single Best SEO Tip for Improved Web Traffic

Posted by Cyrus-Shepard

Howdy Moz Fans,

After more than 5 years — including an 18-month hiatus as a Moz associate — tomorrow marks my last day working as a Mozzer.

Make no mistake — I love this job, company, and community. Moz has taught me to be a better marketer. Both Rand Fishkin and Sarah Bird (and many others) have taught me more about emotional intelligence and how to treat others than I thought possible of myself. Moz has introduced me to amazing coworkers and industry folk around the world. I’m truly grateful for this experience.

Since my first YouMoz post was accepted for publication by Jen Lopez before I even worked here, I’ve done my best to share SEO tips and tactics to help people advance their marketing and improve online visibility. These posts are truly the thing I’m most proud of.

Time for one last SEO tip, so I hope it’s a good one...

SEO white lies

The beauty of SEO is that, instead of pushing a marketing message onto folks who don’t want to hear what you have to say, you can reverse-engineer the process to discover exactly what people are looking for, create the right content for it, and appear before them at exactly the moment they are looking for it. It’s pull vs. push.

Works like magic. Customers come to you.

Let’s begin this process by telling a lie.

“Content is king.”

Bull hockey. The king doesn’t rule jack squat. A truer statement is this: If content is king, then the user is queen, and she rules the universe. Let’s say that again, because this is important.

“The user is queen, and she rules the universe.”

Google only cares about your content inasmuch as it answers the user’s search query. Search results are not a collection of “good” content; they are a ranked list of content that best satisfies what the user is looking for.

Here’s a typical process many SEOs use when building content:

1. Conduct keyword research to discover what people are searching for relative to your niche.
2. Pick a series of high-volume, low-competition phrases
3. Build content around these phrases and topics
4. Launch and market the page. Build some links.
5. Watch the traffic roll in. (Or not)
6. Move on to the next project.

The shortcoming of this approach is that 1–4 are often hit or miss. Google’s Keyword Planner, perhaps the best available keyword tool available, is famous for not surfacing most long-tail keywords. Additionally, creating the exact content and building the right links in order for Google to rank you for precise pages is challenging as well.

Unfortunately, this where most people stop.

My advice: Don’t stop there.

This whole process relies on traditional SEO signals to rank your content higher. Signals like keyword usage and PageRank (yes, it’s a real ranking factor). While these factors remain hugely important, they miss the point of where SEO has already moved.

In our latest Ranking Factors Expert Survey, we asked over 150 top search marketers to rate which factors they see gaining and losing significance in Google’s algorithm. The results showed that while most traditional SEO features were expected to either retain or decrease in influence, we found that user-based features were expected to increase.

In addition to signals like mobile-friendliness, site speed, overall UX, and perceived quality, the factors I want to focus on today include:

1. Page matches the searcher’s intent: In other words, the page has a high probability of being what the user is actually looking for.
2. Search engine results clickstream data: This may include measuring the search results that users actually click, as well as the pogo-sticking effect.
3. Task completion: The user is able to complete the task they set out to do. In other words, their questions have been completely answered.

What I am going to talk about is how to improve all three of these factors for underperforming pages at the same time, using a single technique.

Here’s the tip: Optimize for how users are actually using the page — as opposed to how you optimized the page ahead of time — and you’ll see significantly better traffic.

Once you begin receiving traffic from search engines, you have an incredible amount of data regarding real search visits. If your page receives any traffic at all, Google has already guessed what your content is about — right or wrong — and is sending some traffic to you. In all reality, there is a gap between the traffic you thought you were optimizing for when you created the page, and the traffic you are actually getting.

You want to close that gap. We’ll ask and answer these 3 questions:

1. Is my content matching the intent of the visitors I’m actually receiving?
2. Based on this intent, is my search snippet enticing users to click?
3. Does my page allow users to complete their task?

Here’s how we’re going to do it. I present your SEO homework.

1. Identify your low-to-mid performing pages

This process works best on pages with lower or disappointing traffic levels. The reason you want to stay away from your high-performing pages is the adage: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

That’s not to say that high-performing pages can’t be improved, but whenever you make changes to a page you risk ruining the things that work well, so for now we’re going to focus on our under-performers.

The simplest way is to use analytics to identify pages you believe are high quality — and target good keyword phrases — but receive less traffic than you’d expect based on site averages.

For this example I’ll use Google Search Console for my data, although you could use other platforms such as Bing Webmaster or even features found in Moz Pro.

Here’s a picture of our traffic and search queries for Followerwonk. While it’s a good amount of traffic, something looks off with the second URL: it receives 10x more impressions than any other URL, but only gets a 0.25% click-through rate. We’ll use this URL for our process.

2. Discover mismatches between user intent and content

Next, we want to discover the keyword phrases that surface our URL in search results. Here’s how you do it in Search Console.

After you complete #3 above by clicking on the URL you wish to analyze, you’ll find a page of data isolating that URL, but it will lack keywords. Now hit the "Queries" tab to filter keywords filtered for this specific URL.

For our Followerwonk URL, we discover an interesting result. The phrase "twitter search" generated a million search impressions, but only 724 clicks. Google believes we deserve to rank for this query, but obviously the page doesn’t offer what people are looking for

Or does it?

The Followerwonk Bio Search page offers advanced Twitter bio search, complete with lots of advanced options you can’t find on Twitter. It’s reasonable that tons of people searching for "twitter search" would find enormous value in this page. So why the disconnect?

A quick screenshot reveals the heart of the problem.

That’s it — the entire page. Very little explanatory text makes it difficult to quickly grasp what this page is about. While this is an awesome page, it fails in one key aspect for its highest volume search query.

The page fails to satisfy user intent. (At least in a quick, intuitive way.)

So how can we fix this? Let’s move on to the next steps.

3. Optimizing for user intent

Now that we understand how users are actually finding our page, we want to make it obvious that our page is exactly what they are looking for to solve their problem. There are 5 primary areas this can be accomplished.

1. Title tag
2. Meta description
3. Page title and headers
4. Body text
5. Call to action

Rewriting the title tags and descriptions of underperforming pages to include the keyword queries users perform to find your URL can lead to a quick increase in clicks and visits.

Additionally, after you get these clicks, there’s a growing body of inconclusive evidence that higher click-through rates may lead to higher rankings. In the end, it really doesn’t matter. The whole point is that you get more traffic, one way or another.

The key is to take this data to optimize your search snippet in a way that entices more and better traffic.

Earning the click is only half the battle. After we get the visitor on our site, now we have to convince them (almost immediately) that we can actually solve the problem they came here to find. Which leads to…

4. Improving task completion

Consider this: A user searches for "best restaurants in Seattle." You want your pizza parlor to rank #1 for this query, but will this satisfy the user?

Likely not, as the user is probably looking for a list of top restaurants, complete with reviews, hours, maps, and menus. If you can offer all — like TripAdvisor, Opentable, and Yelp — then you’ve helped the user complete their task.

The key to task completion is to make solving the user’s problem both clear and immediate. On our Followerwonk page, this could be accomplished by making it immediately clear that they could perform an advanced Twitter search, for free, along with an expectation of what the results would look like.

A standard for task completion can be found by answering the following question: After the user visits this page, will they have completely found what they are looking for, or will they need to return to Google for help?

When the query is satisfied by your website, then you’ve achieved task completion, and likely deserve to rank very highly for the targeted search query.

5. Submit for reindexing

The beauty of this process is that you can see results very quickly. The easiest thing to do is to submit the page for reindexing in Google, which can help your changes appear in search results much faster.

You may see changes submitted this way reflected in search results within minutes or hours. Usually it's not more than a day or two.

6–7. Measure results, tweak, and repeat

Now that your results are live, you want to measure present performance against past. After a few days or weeks (whenever you have enough data to make statistically significant decisions) you want to specifically look at:

• Rankings, or overall impressions
• Clicks and click-through rate
• Engagement metrics, including bounce rate, time on site, and conversions

Warning: You may not get it right the first time. That’s okay. It’s fine to iterate and improve (as long as you don’t destroy your page in the process). In fact, that’s the whole point!

If you follow this process, you may see not only increases in traffic, but improved traffic coming to your site that better aligns what you offer with what the visitor is searching for.

The best content that aligns with user intent is what search engines want to deliver to its users. This is what you want to broadcast to search engines. The results can be rewarding.

Transitions

What's next for me? In the near term, I'm starting a boutique online publishing/media company, tentatively named Fazillion. (Our aim is to produce content with heart, as we ourselves are inspired by sites like Mr. Money Mustache, Wait but Why, and Data is Beautiful.)

I can’t express enough how much this company and this community means to me. Moving on to the next adventure is the right thing to do at this time, but it makes me sad nonetheless.

Say what you want, SEO is a wonderful industry of awesome human beings.
— Cyrus Shepard (@CyrusShepard) January 21, 2016

Coincidentally, my departure from Moz creates a unique job opening for a talented SEO and Content Architect. It should make a wonderful opportunity for the right person. If you’re interested in applying, you can check it out here: SEO Content Marketer at Moz

Happy SEO, everybody! If you see me walking down the street, be sure to say hi.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

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Why you might want to think twice about getting your wisdom teeth removed

Why you might want to think twice about getting your wisdom teeth removed
Why do so many people in the US get their wisdom teeth removed when there's no acute issue with them?

January 27, 2016 at 12:03PM
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Manufacturing Serendipity: How to Create Content that Captivates Your Audience

Posted by Isla_McKetta

Fifteen minutes into my first ever flight with my newborn son — a flight that had been delayed for an hour and a half, during which we'd held off feeding him so he could eat on the way up to make sure his little ears wouldn't pop from the pressure and he wouldn't start the flight screeching — fifteen minutes in, we were still ascending and even with his little head concealed beneath a nursing scarf, I could tell he was starting to get full.

I was terrified.

If he started screaming I had no idea how we would survive the four hours left in the flight. My husband and I were not the cool couple who had brought earplugs and coffee cards for all the passengers around us. I was certain everyone would hate us and, even worse, we'd never, ever fly again. I was the worst mother in the history of mothers.

As I was readjusting my son and trying to keep him calm, I noticed this phrase on the back of the nursing scarf's label:

"You're doing a great job!" Were there any words I needed more to hear in that moment? Would anything less perfect have incited me to expose this very personal, vulnerable moment to the vast readership of the Moz Blog? If the makers of the Itzy Ritzy nursing scarf hadn't reached deep into my soul and sent me a message across the universe, would you have ever heard of their product?

You, too, can grab your audience by the heartstrings and build a lasting connection that gets them to come back to you time and again while also evangelizing your business to all their friends. Because while the designers of the Itzy Ritzy nursing scarf did not know specifically when or how this new mom was going to need encouragement and, yes, the kindness of strangers, it was an easy guess to say that every one of their customers would at some point. And with a cheap, but creative, insertion of content on the back side of their label, they won my heart and loyalty.

This is called manufacturing serendipity and here's how you do it.

Understand your audience's needs

We talk a lot about empathy at Moz, and that's because the value of empathy cannot be overstated — in marketing or in life. Empathy is a super power. Dr. Brené Brown describes that super power as "feeling with people," and it creates a spark of connection for the person being empathized with. That spark can be fanned into the burning passion of a long-lasting relationship — in business and in life.

To understand how to empathize with your customer, first create personas. Find out where your audience is emotionally. Figure out what they're insecure about, what scares them, what they most need in the moment that they're visiting your site. It's not rocket science to understand that a new mom might be feeling insecure about nursing her child in public, and if that's what your product is designed to help her with... go that extra mile to connect.

Ways to reach into your customer's soul and speak to their needs include:

• A car insurance company that caters to the accident prone starting their rate page with copy that assures the customer the company will be there no matter what happens.
• Creating an ROI calculator after uncovering that your customer needs your software to generate client reports, sure, but she also needs to be able to show her boss the value she's adding to the company with her daily work.
• Understanding that everyone's time is limited, ask the most essential survey question first and then give your customer the chance to expound if he wants to. Like Sears does at the bottom of their two-question satisfaction survey:

Put content in the right places

Are you using all the content opportunities available to you? Reeling from the sniffles, fussiness, and, yes, boogies, that came with my son's first cold, I opened up the lid on a package of Boogie Wipes to find this:

The wise marketers at Boogie Wipes know that many parents will buy almost anything to make their child feel better. So they seized the opportunity to let me know that they have even more products to help me. Serendipity? It sure felt like it. And you can bet someone (not it!) dashed off to the drug store to buy some saline spray.

You don't have to turn your site into the Times Square of the Internet to put content in the right places. Instead:

• Include a call to action at the end of product-related blog posts for a free trial or other promo.
• Send a reminder email to a customer who's filled their cart and then left your site. Bonus points if you can pinpoint and speak to why they might not have finished the transaction. Comparison shopping? Offer a discount. Too busy to finish? Suggest a recurring delivery option.
• Use the mobile version of your site or app to direct customers to your nearest storefront.
• Make sure the link to your next webinar or event is on your homepage so no one has to dig for it.
• Or, like clothing retailer Boden, put an order widget at the bottom of all those reviews so it's super easy to order the item after doing your due diligence:

It doesn't always take a large change to connect your customer with the content they need.

Surprise, delight, inform

Serendipity is the feeling of happy coincidence. If your content sparks surprise, incites delight, and manages to inform along the way, you're more likely to get the response you're looking for from a potential customer. According to Dr. Read Montague, a neuroscientist at Baylor, surprise lights up the brain's reward pathways. And, unfortunately, delight in marketing is still surprising to most people, so by delighting your customer, you're creating a positive association with your brand in two ways.

Some favorite examples of content that's surprised, delighted, and informed me are:

• The way The Land of Nod positions a website error is both amusing and perfectly tailored to their audience:
• A "Moments" announcement email from Twitter. Instead of telling me about their new feature, they clued into what I use this account for (live-tweeting The Bachelor) and surfaced content that's specific to my interests:
• The image on AirBNB's 503 error page captures that feeling we have when something gets between us and that sweet treat (or vacation reservation) we've been dreaming about:
• And, finally, because not all content is online, I love the way yogurt maker Brown Cow uses the lids of their yogurt to playfully highlight the many ways a customer could eat the yogurt's cream top. This both signals to me that the yogurt has a cream top (not everyone's favorite) and shows me new ways to experience it:

Serendipity isn't new. Rand's been talking about it for a long time. But it's important to remember that serendipity sometimes needs a little help

Now that you understand your customer's needs, are looking at creative content placement, and understand how important it is to surprise, delight, and inform your audience, you have the tools you need to help serendipity along.

So if you're ready to build a lasting connection with your customers, go manufacture some serendipity already. You might just soothe the nerves of a new mom so well that she'll start evangelizing your products the minute she safely steps off the plane with her calm, jet-setting son.

The title for this post may have subconsciously been inspired by an earlier (but much different) post by Rand. Serendipity? You decide.

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What to Expect When Installing Solar Panels

As the price of electricity and other fuel sources continue to skyrocket as the resources they depend on diminish, many are looking toward environmentally friendly energy sources that can be maintained by a single home owner to help both the environment and their wallets.

While other forms of green energy are available on an industrial level, the easiest way to transition to an environmentally friendly electricity source on a budget is to invest in solar power system. A lot of electricity can be made from sunshine by a process called solar photovoltaic, which can easily make enough energy to handle a majority of home owner’s needs. Any house can be equipped with solar panels, but depending on the location and the amount of sunlight the area gets while determine whether it is the best option.

Solar energy will not fully remove a consumer’s reliance on an electrical grid but it is still a great way to save money. For houses that live in an area that get a sufficient amount of sunlight, electricity costs can be substantially reduced and can be installed with ease. In order to begin the process of setting up solar panels it is probably a good idea to first contact the electrical company. When setting up solar panels, the electrical grid is still used, but only for days when there is low sunlight. As an added bonus to being connected to the power company, any excess electricity that the panels make can be sold back to the electrical plant resulting in extra money that pays for the investment.

After consulting with the local electricity company, the next step is to find a nearby solar panel retailer. Nearly every large area that gets sun has a company that deals exclusively with the selling and installation of panels. However if an area does not have a native solar panel store, ordering them online is a great alternative. For those with a local company, give them a call and they will be able to assess the roof and house location in order to get optimal electricity from the sunlight, and will begin planning the installation from there.

Once the solar power company has determined the best setup for the household, they will set a date to install the panels. A team of qualified professionals will work with your power company to get a modified power box that is compatible with a new solar system. After the power box is properly configured, the solar panels are ready to be installed. This process can take a few hours to a few days, but once the solar panels are installed and configured, they will last a lifetime. When thinking of installing solar panels, make sure to weigh the positive environmental and budgetary benefits versus the effort and process of choosing and implementing a system.

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The Neurologist Who Hacked His Brain-And Almost Lost His Mind

The Neurologist Who Hacked His Brain-And Almost Lost His Mind
There had been nothing wrong with Phil Kennedy, no medical need for a surgeon in Belize to open his skull. But he wanted brain surgery, and he was willing to pay $30,000 to have it done.

January 26, 2016 at 02:48PM
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Moz Announces $10 Million Financing Round to Build on Momentum of New Products

Posted by SarahBird

Greetings, Moz Community!

We’ve been very busy at Moz. In keeping with my tradition, I’ll tell you what we’ve been up to in excruciating detail in my upcoming 2015 Year in Review post (next week).

But first, some big news! Moz closed a $10 million Series C round of financing yesterday. We’ve got great VC partners in Foundry Group and they are ponying up the entire round.

Unlike Jack Donaghy, my leadership mentor, I’m buzzing with excitement. I have ambitious goals for Moz and it feels fantastic to get more support on our journey.

[The Aspiration]

The fundamental relationship between organizations and their current and potential customers is changing. New marketing disciplines are emerging to take advantage of exciting changes in how we learn, communicate, make friends, and conduct business. Moz was founded to help marketers capitalize on these shifts.

We are helping people understand and grow their digital influence, and using ours to spread TAGFEE. We’re helping organizations transform how they market to be more Transparent, Authentic, Generous, Fun, Empathetic, and Exceptional. People have higher expectations about how businesses will interact with them, and less patience for dated and inauthentic approaches.

My dream is that Moz will be a force for good in marketing and in our communities. I’m passionate not just about what we do, but about how we do it. And I’ve got great investors, like Foundry, who feel the same.

We want to build beautiful software that customers love and that consistently delivers value. We want to be an inclusive place that helps you learn and build something greater than you can build alone. We also want to share what we have with the communities around us. After all, we’re all in this together, one way or another.

[The Struggle]

We’ve soared and stumbled along the way. Sometimes within the same day. It’s exhausting and exhilarating simultaneously. Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart.

Late 2013 and early 2014, in particular, tested our mettle. We struggled through a brutal product launch and a bunch of scaling challenges. We made mistakes large and small, a few of which we’re still working to resolve.

In the immortal words of Jack Donaghy, management legend, “Business doesn’t get me down; Business gets me off.” We tortured ourselves for lessons, questioned and gave up old dogmas, and began transforming ourselves into an even greater company.

[The Transformation]

At the time of our Series B, we had a single SAAS product and an API. We ended 2015 with a portfolio of FIVE products and another big project on the way. In 2015, we invested in building new products, new engineering platforms, and retiring tech debt. We're not slowing down in 2016. We're building on our momentum.

Moz Local growth is burning up!

Moz Local makes it fun and painless for brick-and-mortar businesses in the US and UK to grow their digital influence. After a mere 21 months, Moz Local has already generated an impressive $5.7 million USD in its lifetime (cash, not revenue). Moz Local revenue grew over 400% last year alone! We’re currently helping over 60,000 business locations manage their information across the web.

In November 2015, we released a major update to Moz Local that shows how a business location is performing over time and compared to its competitors. We’re also making it easier for businesses to manage their Google My Business profiles. The new features are in beta now and will be available for purchase in February.

If you haven’t played with Moz Local yet, start by checking to see if your business's information is accurate.

Introducing our newest addition: Moz Content

We’re hoping to replicate Moz Local’s success by launching more standalone tools.

For example, our recently launched Moz Content helps marketers understand and improve their content marketing efforts. This product is powered by a proprietary Moz API to identify keywords and topics interesting to their audience. We’re still very early in this newborn product lifecycle and we’re shipping updates regularly. Since December, over 28,500 marketers have performed ~22,000 content audits and 44,000+ content searches. Usage continues to climb as we add features and polish to our brand-new product.

If you haven’t yet, give Moz Content a whirl.

[The Money]

This round of financing allows us to build on the momentum we've started by growing our new product lines, and kicking Moz Pro and Moz Local up a notch.

In the year ahead, we'll use the money for growth initiatives, like marketing, experimenting our way to product/market fit, and adding sales and account management folks.

If you’re really into the funding details…

Our pre-money valuation was $120 million. We did about $38 million in revenue for 2015. For reference, our 2012 Series B pre-money was $75 million. We’ve carried forward the same basic terms from the last round (1x liquidation and non-participating preferred). Foundry is contributing the entire $10 million. (Thanks, Foundry!)

Brad Feld, whom we love, is stepping off of the board, and Seth Levine (also from Foundry) is stepping on. I’m getting to know Seth and I've enjoyed all my interactions with him. He's TAGFEE, deeply experienced, and passionate about Moz. He'll be a great addition to the board. I like to think of this as gaining Seth, rather than losing Brad; they are both still on Team Moz.

Thanks for your support!

I want Moz to be a company that customers and employees love. I want to create something lasting and meaningful.

We have an ambitious mission. We help organizations transform the way they market to match how people want to engage, learn, and shop. Although I’ve been working on it since 2007, we’ve still got a long way to go, because the target is always moving. Happily, we’re invigorated by big challenges.

We’ve got strong momentum heading into 2016, and I appreciate Foundry’s continued support. Moz is an exceptional company, and we plan on keeping it that way.

I’m also grateful for this TAGFEE team. Mozzers are optimistic, courageous, creative, and committed. We’ve been accused of being cult-like, and I’m proud of that. And thank you to everyone in the Moz community for cheering us on. We endeavor to serve you.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

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