COMMON SEO MYTHS (4)

Reimagining E-E-A-T: How Ethos, Pathos & Logos Supercharge SEO Campaigns

by Digital PR & Outreach tipsLink BuildingSEO

This week I am in Estonia discussing a topic that has been of interest to me since I was in high school – the concept of Ethos, Pathos, Logos and how rhetoric can be used in a powerful manner to drive performance in marketing.

I have spoken at a number of events on this topic so thought why not pull together a blog which discusses it in more detail.

Introduction

When I first started working in SEO, I quickly realised that it wasn’t just about rankings or backlinks, it was about people, it was about trust, logic, and emotion. In other words, it was all connected.

We often hear about E-E-A-T in SEO—Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. But there’s an even older framework that can help us bring this concept to life: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.

These three pillars of classical rhetoric are essential to crafting compelling SEO campaigns that drive both traffic and ROI:

  • Ethos (Credibility)
  • Pathos (Emotion)
  • Logos (Logic)

Let’s explore how this trio transforms and builds on E-E-A-T, taking it from a theoretical concept into an actionable SEO and conversion strategy.

Why Trust and Emotion Matter More Than Ever

Today’s consumers don’t just want to buy, they want to believe and as such, before making a decision they research, reflect, and seek validation.

  • 81% of people research online before purchasing.
  • On average, people spend 79 days researching high-value products or services.
  • 87% of consumers will reverse a buying decision if they read something negative about a brand online.

Your online reputation doesn’t just influence perception, it controls conversion.

In fact, positive internet reputation is the #1 factor influencing consumer trust (according to Trustpilot). In a landscape like this, your SEO and brand perception are deeply intertwined.

Consumers today have more choice and more power than ever before which means it’s no longer enough to simply appear on page one of Google. Your brand needs to stand for something. It needs to resonate emotionally and intellectually with your audience. That resonance is the difference between visibility and conversion.

Trust and emotion work hand in hand and when users feel connected to your brand and see it as credible, they’re far more likely to convert. Whether you’re selling luxury goods, financial services, or educational courses, the foundational element of any strong conversion strategy is belief—belief in your product, your message, and your brand promise.

This is why companies must actively monitor and shape their online perception. Every review, testimonial, media article, and social post contributes to a broader narrative that potential customers absorb and internalise. SEO isn’t just about climbing the ranks anymore; it’s about earning trust in every single search interaction.

SEO Isn’t Just About Rankings—It’s About Persuasion

Great SEO campaigns are persuasive. They build logical arguments, supported by evidence, that make users feel something, that’s where Ethos, Pathos, and Logos come in.

Incorporating these rhetorical elements isn’t just good for branding it has tangible, measurable impacts on user behaviour. When you earn trust (ethos), create emotional engagement (pathos), and offer compelling logic (logos), your SEO content becomes significantly more effective at driving action.

Most SEO professionals understand how to optimise for technical performance and keyword targeting but too often, content creation becomes robotic and formulaic. The most successful SEO campaigns break this mould by connecting with the user on a deeper level and tapping into the same persuasive techniques used by public speakers, journalists, and marketers for centuries.

For example, think of a service page for a mental health clinic. It’s not enough to talk about services and appointment options, the page should express empathy, demonstrate expertise, and clearly explain how their approach logically supports better outcomes. These are real-world examples of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos in action.

Similarly, a product page for a high-end bike brand can use emotional storytelling (Pathos) to connect with avid cyclists, establish brand credibility with expert endorsements (Ethos), and logically walk through the advanced engineering benefits (Logos). The result? A user who not only lands on the page but feels compelled to act.

Onsite SEO: Build Trust and Guide Emotion

When users land on your site, they have an intention—a question or a goal. To match that intent and persuade them to act, your content needs all three rhetorical tools.

Logos: Align With User Intent

Logical, clear content that satisfies the search query builds credibility and drives conversions. Consider:

  • Content type (e.g., product page vs. guide)
  • Content format (e.g., video vs. article)
  • Content angle (e.g., comparison vs. tutorial)

The key to logos is clarity, your messaging should follow a logical progression that answers user questions and addresses objections. This might include detailed feature breakdowns, transparent pricing models, how-to guides, or comparison tables that help users make informed decisions – use the existing SERPs as a guide for the type of content that Google is looking for.

Search engines prioritise content that aligns with intent but they reward content that delivers real value even more. That means diving deep into topics, citing credible sources, and optimising the structure of your page for readability and relevance.

You can strengthen your logos-driven SEO by using structured data to highlight important elements, adding anchor links for easier navigation, and including downloadable assets for users seeking additional information.

Pathos: Appeal to Emotion

Content that explains benefits and not just features helps users feel why your offering matters. Start with a story. Show you understand their pain points.

Simple example:

Don’t say “Our mattress has a cooling layer.”
Say “Say goodbye to sweaty, sleepless nights.”

Emotionally resonant content improves dwell time, social sharing, and brand loyalty. Think testimonials, storytelling, customer success stories, or user-generated content, all of these build emotional affinity with your brand.

You can go further by including lifestyle photography, community involvement stories, or user-generated campaigns that highlight authentic brand experiences. The key is to speak directly to the emotional motivators behind your user’s goals whether that’s feeling safe, valued, understood, or inspired.

Ethos: Establish Credibility

Use authority-driven content that positions your brand as trustworthy:

  • Expert commentary
  • Author bylines
  • Pillar pages
  • Detailed FAQs
  • Videos from real professionals

Credibility is one of the most undervalued elements of content marketing. Your website needs to look and feel like a trustworthy source including the design, the structure, and of course, the credentials of the authors.

Highlight awards, certifications, memberships, reviews, and third-party validations to bolster your brand’s trustworthiness. A well-structured About page, media mentions, and in-depth team bios can significantly increase user trust.

You can further establish ethos by adopting a consistent tone of voice that reflects professionalism, empathy, and clarity. Additionally, displaying security badges, money-back guarantees, or accreditations helps lower perceived risk in the decision-making process.

Google’s algorithms, particularly in YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) spaces like finance and healthcare, are increasingly attuned to credibility signals. This makes ethos not just a conversion tool, but a ranking factor.

Offsite SEO: Build Reputation Where It Matters

It’s not just what’s on your site, your brand’s perception across the web plays a critical role in both trust and rankings.

Steps to Take:

  • Review online sentiment
  • Analyse media coverage
  • Identify weak points and address them proactively

Your offsite reputation can be amplified by proactive outreach and strategic PR. By generating high-authority backlinks through trusted media sources and industry-specific publications, you enhance your domain authority and trust profile.

Online reviews, local citations, and social signals also play a role in shaping the broader narrative around your brand. Consider tools like Google Alerts, Brand24, or BuzzSumo to monitor how you’re perceived and identify gaps in your brand communication strategy.

Digital PR as a Trust Engine

Digital PR, when executed correctly, does more than build links—it builds brand equity.

Real Examples:

  • Road Traffic Accident Lawyer: 60+ high-DA links built around credibility and expertise.
  • Vaping Retailer: Leveraged media interest to build trust in a highly scrutinised industry.
  • Loans Provider: Collaborated with external experts to create human-interest-driven content.
  • Catering Brand: Used quirky angles like “Tiramisu Drawers” to land high-authority links and show industry knowledge.

These campaigns succeed not just because of the link metrics, but because they tell a story. They appeal to human interest, tie into topical conversations, and offer unique data or insights that position the brand as a thought leader.

Digital PR can also involve thought leadership opportunities, op-eds, or long-form editorial partnerships. These offer a chance to showcase your expertise (Ethos), provide valuable insights (Logos), and connect to larger cultural conversations (Pathos). The result is not just a stronger backlink profile, but a magnetic brand presence that builds over time.

Integrating Ethos, Pathos, and Logos into Content Strategy

To fully implement this model, it’s important to view content as a layered experience. At every stage of the funnel (awareness, consideration, decision) users are looking for slightly different signals.

  • At the awareness stage, Pathos helps users connect emotionally with your brand message.
  • During consideration, Logos becomes critical as users weigh the pros and cons and look for rational justification.
  • At the decision stage, Ethos reinforces confidence that your business is the right choice.

Here’s how that looks in practical content strategy:

Funnel StageEthosPathosLogos
AwarenessBrand mentions in trusted mediaEmotional storytellingThought-leadership blog content
ConsiderationExpert reviews, testimonialsPain-point-driven messagingComparison pages, product specs
DecisionCertifications, money-back guaranteesReassuring CTAsTransparent pricing, FAQs

Use Case Example: A Legal Services Firm

  • Ethos: Bio pages featuring credentials, media coverage, case study testimonials
  • Pathos: Blog posts on “What to Expect Emotionally During a Divorce”
  • Logos: Step-by-step breakdown of the legal process, downloadable guides

Combining these ensures your messaging speaks to different cognitive and emotional needs—reinforcing your position in the search results and in the customer’s mind.

Measuring the Impact: SEO + CRO = ROI

To prove that these techniques work, tie Ethos, Pathos, and Logos into measurable outcomes:

  • Ethos → Increased trust signals (e.g. lower bounce rate, higher engagement)
  • Pathos → Higher social shares, increased time on site
  • Logos → More form submissions, higher conversion rates

Track not only rankings but also:

  • Goal completions by content type
  • Engagement metrics for emotionally driven pages
  • Conversion lift after credibility enhancements (e.g. adding author bios or media mentions)

These allow you to make the case internally that emotionally intelligent and credibility-focused SEO content does more than attract, it converts.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

If you’re trying to integrate Ethos, Pathos, and Logos into your SEO strategy, watch out for these pitfalls:

  1. Over-reliance on logic: Pages that are all data and no story often fail to engage.
  2. Neglecting credibility: Failing to show authorship, awards, or sources damages trust.
  3. Ignoring the user journey: Not all visitors need the same kind of persuasion so make sure you tailor messaging to your funnel stage
  4. Too much focus on links: Digital PR should elevate brand positioning, not just pass PageRank.

Always ask: “Is this content informative, credible, and human?”

Final Thought: The Future of SEO is Human-Centered

Search is changing. Algorithms are becoming more sophisticated, and user expectations are rising. To succeed in 2025 and beyond, SEO professionals must think more like communicators, less like technicians.

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos aren’t “nice to haves” they’re essential tools in the SEO toolkit—helping your content rise above the noise and connect in a way that earns attention, trust, and action.

So ask yourself:

  • Are we credible?
  • Are we emotionally resonant?
  • Are we logically compelling?

If the answer is yes to all three, you’re not just doing SEO. You’re building a brand.

Untitled design (1)

Director Amanda Speaking At SEO Estonia

by Cedarwood Digital NewsDigital PR & Outreach tipshome pageLead GenerationLink BuildingPaid SearchPaid SocialSEO

Last Friday our Director Amanda spoke at SEO Estonia, one of Europe’s leading digital marketing events. Her talk, discussing how Aristotle’s Ethos, Pathos and Logos can help to drive ROI was well-received by the 400 attendees and left them with some thought provoking and actionable takeaways around how they can improve CRO and ROI by tying their SEO approach into ancient rhetoric.

The main focus of SEO Estonia this year was on ROI – how do we get more ROI from our SEO campaigns, taking a step away from vanity metrics to ensure that we are focusing on what really matters. With this in mind, each speaker was tasked with really tying their talk back to ROI and how the approach they are suggesting could drive real change in SEO.

Amanda discussed how incorporating the principles of Ethos, Pathos and Logos can directly impact your ROI in many ways:

  • Improving your brand credibility and awareness means that when people are looking for you, they will be reassured, making them less likely to drop out of the conversion funnel and more likely to engage with your product/service

  • How to review online sentiment and media coverage to identify where your gaps are and plug them – ensuring that users see what you want them to see about your brand and if there are areas of weakness that these are addressed and dealt with from a reputational standpoint

  • Using Logos to align with user intent – making sure that your content and content format matches the audience so they can easily understand why it’s right for them and ensuring that you’re showcasing benefits rather than features to push a more emotional appeal with your audience.

  • Understanding how these ideas map back directly to ROI, for example that Pathos can improve dwell time on site, therefore making users more engaged, or that Ethos can lead to higher trust signals and therefore a better conversion rate.

Overall, the two day conference invited some of the world’s best speakers to share knowledge and learn from each other – leading to some great overall takeaways!

COMMON SEO MYTHS

SEO for Financial Services: How to Win Trust and Traffic in 2025

by Digital PR & Outreach tipsLink BuildingSEO

Introduction

Search engines are now a dominant force in the decision-making process for financial consumers. Whether it’s a consumer choosing a mortgage broker, a retiree researching pension options, or a startup searching for a business loan, nearly all journeys begin with a Google search. According to Google’s own data, over 70% of consumers use search during their decision-making journey in the financial sector.

But for financial services brands, ranking highly isn’t just about technical optimization or keyword stuffing. You’re operating in a “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) space, one of Google’s most scrutinized verticals and that means your SEO efforts must do more than attract clicks, they need to inspire trust, meet compliance standards, and deliver genuinely helpful content.

This comprehensive guide explores how to build a compliant, high-performing SEO strategy tailored for the financial services sector in 2025.

Why SEO Matters in Financial Services

Let’s be clear: SEO is not a “nice to have” in this sector – given the strong YMYL guidance across finance, adhering to guidelines and following these processes plays an important role in ensuring visibility for your brand while also meeting regulatory compliance.

1. Search Is the First Step for Most Customers

Whether it’s “best life insurance UK” or “can I get a mortgage as a contractor,” the first action people take is searching online. If your brand isn’t visible at that moment, you’ve lost the sale often before you knew the prospect existed.

2. Organic Leads Have High ROI

While paid search can deliver leads quickly, SEO compounds over time and delivers leads at a lower cost per acquisition (CPA). In industries like wealth management or insurance, where the customer lifetime value is high, organic leads can be the most profitable over time.

Additionally, paid search traffic in these sectors can often have an incredibly high cost per click, so being able to attract leads organically plays a key role in being able to keep costs down and within control compared to spiralling PPC costs.

3. Trust Is Earned Through Visibility

Ranking high in Google suggests credibility. In a space where trust is everything, consistent organic visibility reinforces that your brand is authoritative, secure, and worth engaging with.

4. Google Prioritises Accuracy in Finance

Because misinformation can have serious consequences in this industry, Google’s algorithms and human quality raters apply stricter standards to financial content. Your SEO efforts must account for these guidelines, or risk invisibility.

Challenges of SEO in Financial Services

The financial industry brings some unique hurdles that marketers in fashion or e-commerce simply don’t face.

A. E-E-A-T Requirements

Google’s emphasis on Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust (E-E-A-T) hits hardest in sectors like finance. If your content lacks expert attribution, verified information, or real-world credibility, it will struggle to rank no matter how well optimized it is. This is often due to the fact that E-E-A-T isn’t just an acronym in these sectors, it’s a way for Google to see that your website is offering genuine value to a user and not putting them in any potential danger.

B. Compliance and Legal Oversight

Financial services content must comply with regulations from bodies like the FCA (in the UK), the SEC (in the US), or other international watchdogs. This creates friction when publishing blog posts, on-page copy, or campaign landing pages. Legal reviews can delay content for weeks, or require fundamental rewrites so it’s important to have a clear understanding of how compliance ties into SEO to make this process as smooth as possible.

C. Longer Content Production Cycles

Because of compliance and internal sign-off requirements, financial brands often have slower, more complex editorial workflows. This makes agility (such as responding to search trends or news) harder which can hinder link-building and content freshness. Experienced SEO agencies in this sector will know what works best from a links perspective and be able to apply this approach to support your business.

D. Difficult Link Building Environment

Google considers backlinks as a signal of authority, but in finance, acquiring these links ethically can be difficult. Many sites are reluctant to link to financial services due to regulatory fears, or they demand high editorial standards, alternately even just getting content in for reactive newsjacking can have a long sign-off process meaning that you can miss the hook. Effective link building in this sector can be a game changer when it comes to performance due to the trickier nature of it.

Core SEO Strategies That Work for Financial Services

Despite the challenges, many financial brands are winning in organic search by focusing on the right strategies.

1. Building E-E-A-T Into Every Page

To rank well in YMYL categories, your website and content must scream trust and authority.

Ways to Strengthen E-E-A-T:

  • Showcase Authors and Credentials: Every blog post or guide should be written or reviewed by someone with clear financial expertise and their credentials should be visible.
  • Third-Party Validation: Include awards, media mentions, and Trustpilot reviews to support your credibility.
  • Secure and Transparent Website: Use HTTPS, display your regulatory information (e.g. FCA license number), and include a clear privacy policy and terms.
  • Create a Transparent “About Us” Page: This should explain your company’s mission, leadership team, and experience.

Real-World Example:

NerdWallet includes certified financial experts on all of their content and states when it was last reviewed. This type of content hygiene helps Google trust their information and it’s why they rank well for thousands of high-intent financial terms.

2. Keyword Strategy Based on Intent, Not Just Volume

Most financial brands fall into the trap of chasing broad, competitive keywords like “life insurance” or “pension advice.”

Instead, focus on user intent — and break it into three stages:

Awareness Stage:

  • “What is income protection insurance?”
  • “How does compound interest work?”

Consideration Stage:

  • “Best savings accounts for under 30s”
  • “Credit card vs overdraft: which is cheaper?”

Decision Stage:

  • “Apply for a fixed-rate mortgage online”
  • “Open a stocks and shares ISA with no fees”

Tip: Use tools like AnswerThePublic, AlsoAsked, and Google Search Console to discover long-tail and question-based keywords you can realistically rank for.

3. Content Hubs and Topic Clusters

Rather than publishing one-off blogs, build structured content clusters that build topical authority.

Example Cluster: “First-Time Buyers”

  • Main Pillar: “Complete Guide to Mortgages for First-Time Buyers”
  • Supporting Blogs:
    • “5 Government Schemes for First-Time Buyers in the UK”
    • “What Credit Score Do You Need for a Mortgage?”
    • “How Much Deposit Do You Really Need?”

Internal linking between these articles tells Google your site is a trusted authority on that topic, improving rankings across the board. You can also then tailor an effective Digital PR strategy to help build deeper links into these pages, building authority and supporting the overall performance of the cluster.

4. Local SEO: A Missed Opportunity for Many

If you offer in-person services even if it’s hybrid or Zoom-based local SEO can help you reach qualified leads.

Must-Have Elements:

  • Location Pages: e.g. “Independent Financial Advisor in Bristol”
  • Google Business Profile Optimization: Use categories, respond to reviews, add Q&As, post regularly.
  • Local Backlinks: Consider local events, get listed in business directories, build partnerships with community organisations.

5. Technical SEO: The Foundation You Can’t Ignore

Financial websites tend to be large and complex with multiple product pages, calculators, forms, and FAQs. Technical SEO ensures all of this is crawlable, indexable, and performant.

Key Areas to Address:

  • Core Web Vitals: Ensure fast loading, visual stability, and interactivity
  • Mobile Optimization: Most users now research on mobile, your site must be flawless here
  • Schema Markup: Use FinancialProduct, FAQPage, and Organization schemas where relevant
  • XML Sitemaps and Robots.txt: Keep these clean and updated
  • Duplicate Content: Especially with rates and regulations, ensure content isn’t copied across pages

Digital PR and Ethical Link Building

Earning high-quality backlinks is critical in building authority but you must avoid spammy or black-hat tactics, especially in finance.

Link-Building Strategies That Work:

  • Data-Led PR Campaigns: Commission or analyse data and pitch stories to journalists (e.g. “Average UK Credit Score by Age Group”)
  • Expert Commentary: Offer your advisors as expert spokespeople to react to breaking news
  • Create Free Tools: Mortgage calculators, ISA allowance trackers, or pension age checkers often earn links
  • Publish Original Research or Whitepapers: Journalists and bloggers love citing original data

Example:

Comparison websites have successfully gained thousands of high-authority links by creating utility comparison tools, consumer affordability studies, and reacting quickly to news stories with expert advice.

Measuring SEO Success in Financial Services

Your SEO reporting should tie back to business outcomes not just traffic.

Key Metrics to Track:

  • Organic Visibility: Impressions, ranking positions, and share of voice
  • Engagement Metrics: Time on page, scroll depth, bounce rate
  • Lead Metrics: Form submissions, quote requests, downloads
  • Conversion Attribution: Use GA4 and CRM integrations to connect content to customer actions
  • E-E-A-T Signals: Number of referring domains, quality of backlinks, author profiles built

Tip: Combine data from Google Search Console, GA4, Semrush, and your internal CRM for a full-funnel picture.

Emerging Trends to Watch in 2025

  • AI Overviews in Search Results: Google’s AI-generated summaries mean more zero-click searches, so optimise content for inclusion in these overviews
  • Voice and Conversational Search: More people are searching with natural, question-based queries
  • Search Personalisation: Rankings now vary more by user location, history, and intent local SEO and behavioural data matter more than ever
  • Topical Authority > Page Authority: Building deep, useful content around a theme will outperform isolated “SEO blog posts”

Conclusion

SEO for financial services in 2025 is about trust, authority, and helpfulness. You’re not just competing for clicks  you’re competing to be the most credible option in a high-stakes decision. That means building a search strategy that balances compliance with creativity, data with empathy, and technical structure with user experience.

ETHOS (1)

Cedarwood Digital Wins Big at the European Search Awards 2025! 🏆

by Cedarwood Digital NewsDigital PR & Outreach tipsPaid SearchPaid SocialSEO

We’re absolutely thrilled to share that Cedarwood Digital has taken home five trophies from this year’s European Search Awards – including all three Agency of the Year categories!

🥇 Best Small SEO Agency

🥇 Best Small PPC Agency

🥇 Best Small Integrated Agency

Winning these three awards is a huge honour – not only do they recognise our team’s dedication across SEO, PPC and integrated campaigns, but they also position Cedarwood as one of the top-performing agencies in Europe. That’s a huge milestone for us, and one we’re incredibly proud to achieve.

Award-Winning Campaign Work

In addition to agency accolades, we were also recognised for the outstanding results of our client campaigns, winning:

  • Best Use of Search (FMCG)
  • Best Use of Search (iGaming)

These awards celebrate the strategic, creative and data-led work we deliver for our clients day in, day out. It’s amazing to see that effort recognised on a European stage.

A Standout Year For Growth & Community

2024/2025 has been a standout year for Cedarwood Digital. Not only have we seen incredible growth as an agency, but we’ve also focused on giving back to the community and helping shape the future of digital marketing talent.

This year alone, we:

  • Launched Manchester DM, a brand-new digital marketing meetup focused on sharing knowledge and growing the northern digital community.
  • Partnered with colleges to help students upskill and explore careers in SEO, PPC and beyond.
  • Delivered talks, training and insights at a range of conferences and events across the UK.

It’s been a year of ambition, collaboration and meaningful impact – and we couldn’t be prouder.

Thank You

A massive thank you to Don’t Panic Events for organising such a brilliant event and to the judges who dedicated so much time reviewing entries – your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.

And of course, to our team, clients and community – thank you for being part of the journey. Here’s to continuing to push boundaries, drive performance and make 2025 our best year yet.

Cheers to what’s next! 🥂

COMMON SEO MYTHS (1)

Director Amanda On The Main Stage @ Brighton SEO

by Cedarwood Digital NewsDigital PR & Outreach tipsGeneral Marketinghome pageLink BuildingPaid SearchPaid SocialSEO

For her fourth time speaking at Brighton SEO, Director Amanda took to the main stage at Brighton SEO to deliver a talk on “Reimagining E-E-A-T: Using Ethos, Pathos And Logos To Boost SEO Campaigns” drawing on skills that she learnt when studying philosophy at school, Amanda discussed how the valuable rhetoric of Ethos, Pathos and Logos can be applied to SEO campaigns to not just improve performance, but most importantly to improve conversion rate and drive sales and leads – which at the end of the day is why everyone does it!

At the event which had over 2,000 attendees, Amanda went into detail about how to apply these principles to your SEO campaigns and why doing so plays such an important role in ensuring your maximising your return on investment. Key focus areas included:

  • Understanding that 87% of people will leave the conversion funnel if they read a negative review or mention of your website – brand perception and awareness is key and building/protecting your reputation plays a key role in this

  • Showcasing “benefits” not “features” – why should I use your product/service, what benefit does it have to me? Rather than just listing a specific feature it has, appeal to the user’s emotional side by helping them to understand how it could help them

  • Matching user intent plays an important role in keeping users in the funnel – understanding what type of content best resonates with them is important here, do they want content that showcases experience or expertise? Or sometimes do they want a mixture of both?

  • Utilising Digital PR effectively to build reputation – how to best use your thought leadership and data-led campaigns to make people find your brand online and ensuring that when people are researching they’re finding what they need to to better understand your brand.

Overall, the outline of the talk focused on how Aristotle utilised “rhetoric” to help persuade an audience to do something – not too different from what we try to do in modern day SEO and provided relatable takeaways that not only help to align E-E-A-T (specifically in YMYL industries) but also help to boost those all important conversion rates.

A big thankyou to everyone who attended the talk – please reach out if you’d like a copy of the deck!

Screenshot 2025-07-09 203015

Director Amanda Walls Speaks At The SEO Mastery Summit, Saigon (Vietnam)

by Cedarwood Digital NewsDigital PR & Outreach tipsGeneral Marketinghome pageLead GenerationLink BuildingPaid SearchPaid SocialSEO

Our Director Amanda Walls was on stage at the SEO Mastery Summit, Saigon last week discussing “Using Digital PR To Simultaneously Boost SEO And CRO”

The SEO Mastery Summit is one of the most highly regarded SEO conferences in the world with nearly 500 delegates from around the world attending the week-long conference each year & Amanda was delighted to have been invited to speak at the event. The conference is held each year in Ho Chi Minh City and attracts a huge international audience.

“The SEO Mastery Summit is one of the leading SEO events in the world so it’s great to be able to get on stage and share knowledge with as well as learn from some of the world’s best SEO’s,” she said.

Also on stage, were leading SEO speakers including Craig Campbell, Kavi Kardos, SEO Jesus, Christopher Hofman and many more…

Key themes of the conference focused around the rise of AI and how we can adapt it into strategy to help improve efficiencies, as well as looking at personal branding and the rise of this within SEO. There were many cutting-edge talks discussing recent Google algorithm updates and how to stay ahead of the evolving landscape, as well as some great social networking events and a chance to meet SEOs from all over the world.

Overall, the conference had some great actionable takeaways to bring home for clients, in addition to being a great way to learn from and speak in front of some of the world’s leading SEOs.

COMMON SEO MYTHS

Debunking Common SEO Myths

by SEO

At the start of this year, as an SEO beginner eager to learn the ropes, I had no idea how many outdated myths and misconceptions were circulating the industry. At first, I found myself taken in by some of these misconceptions, believing they were essential to ranking success. Fast forward to today, after spending a month working hands-on in SEO, I’ve had my fair share of enlightening moments uncovering just how far off some of these popular beliefs can be. 

If you’re new to SEO, I’m here to share the top 5 myths I’ve debunked during my first month in the field so you can skip the confusion and dive straight into effective strategies that actually work.

Keyword stuffing

Keyword stuffing is probably one of the biggest misconceptions I had when beginning SEO and it’s quite a difficult one to shake off.

Keyword stuffing is just like overwatering a plant. You might think adding more keywords will help your content rank higher, but all it does is kill the quality. Just as a plant that can’t thrive with too much water, your content won’t perform better by cramming in extra keywords; it will only make it harder for search engines and readers to engage with. 

That’s not to say you ignore keywords, but that focusing on naturally incorporating keywords that are valuable to your niche, and appreciating quality and readability is significantly better SEO practice than stuffing those keywords.

Only targeting high-volume keywords

I initially thought that the highest volume keywords were the golden ticket to ranking success. More searches equals more traffic, right? 

But it’s not that simple. 

High-volume keywords are usually quite competitive and often not specific to your offering. 

Focusing solely on high-volume keywords can often leave you competing with a tonne of other content, making it harder to stand out. Meanwhile, targeting more specific keywords (often long-tail keywords) can help you reach a more engaged, relevant audience.

The key is balance. A strategic mix of high-volume and niche keywords allows you to reach people who are truly interested in what you’re offering, giving you better opportunities to connect and convert. Quality over quantity, always.

Keywords need to be exact matches

For a long time, I was under the impression that you had to use the exact keyword phrase repeatedly to rank well in search results. But here’s the thing, search engines have evolved.

They now focus on understanding the context and meaning behind your content, the intent, not just exact word matches. It’s like when someone gets the gist of what you’re saying, even if your wording isn’t spot-on. For example, if you’re targeting “best commercial cooking equipment”, you don’t have to use that exact phrase every time. Phrases like “top kitchen equipment for restaurants” or “best professional cooking tools” will still help you rank because they carry the same relevant context.

By using synonyms, related terms and natural variations, you’re not only making your content more readable but also aligning with how search engines now interpret language. It’s like speaking naturally to someone, rather than forcing every sentence to sound robotic or repetitive. The goal is to sound human for the sake of your users and Google.

Meta descriptions are a ranking factor

Although good practice, crafting the perfect meta description is not a direct route to better rankings. 

What they do help with is encouraging users to click through to your site. The right meta description can act like an engaging headline that convinces someone to visit your page. But when it comes to rankings, it’s your content’s relevance, authority and user experience that matters most.

So, while meta descriptions are important for click-through rates, don’t expect them to boost your rankings on their own.

SEO is all about ranking #1

It’s easy to get caught up in the idea that SEO is solely about reaching that coveted #1 spot in search engine results pages. While a #1 ranking can be great for visibility, it’s not the be-all and end-all of SEO success.

SEO is really about gaining high visibility across SERPs by attracting relevant traffic that’s genuinely interested in your content. Achieving high rankings for your target keywords is important, but the goal should be to attract the right kind of visitors (people who are likely to engage with your site) and not just focusing on reaching the top at all costs.

Here’s what really matters in SEO:

  • Quality traffic: attracting visitors who are interested in your content is far more valuable than simply aiming for the highest possible rank. It’s not about pulling in masses of traffic that bounce off your page immediately; it’s about driving people who find value in your offerings. High-quality traffic leads to higher engagement, conversions and long-term SEO success.
  • Multiple ranking factors: SEO success is a combination of many elements. Google’s algorithm takes into account far more than just the keyword you’re targeting. Content quality, relevance to user intent, page experience (such as site speed and mobile-friendliness), website structure and strong backlinks are all key to improving your ranking. So, even if you don’t land in the #1 position, ranking well across multiple keywords can still drive consistent traffic and deliver value.
  • Staying up to date: The world of SEO is constantly changing. Google’s algorithms are regularly updated, meaning the strategies that worked last year might not be as effective today. Focusing solely on ranking #1 with outdated tactics won’t be sustainable. SEO is a dynamic field and to stay ahead, you need to stay adaptable. You should continuously refine your strategies based on the latest updates and trends in search engine algorithms.

If you are interested in more SEO tips, check out the rest of our Cedarwood Digital blog!

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Cedarwood Wins SIX UK Search Awards

by Cedarwood Digital NewsDigital PR & Outreach tipsPaid SearchPaid SocialSEOUncategorised

We are over the moon to announce that we won SIX UK Search Awards at the event last Wednesday – a great way to finish off a record year in 2024! 🎉

On the night we took home:

🏆 Best Small PPC Agency
🏆 Best Small Integrated Agency
🏆 Best SEO Agency (Silver)
🏆 Best Use Of Search (Healthcare) – Patient Claim Line
🏆 Best Low Budget PPC Campaign – Salt Of The Earth
🏆 Best Use Of Search B2C (PPC) – Salt Of The Earth

2024 has been a great year for us as we continue to grow from strength to strength, improving partnerships with our existing clients while growing each of our departments in turn so it’s great to have been recognised in particular for the agency awards which are testament to this.

It was a great evening all round and we are already looking forward to 2025!

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BrightonSEO October 2024: Key takeaways

by Digital PR & Outreach tipsSEO

Last week I spent a few days in one of my favourite places for my first BrightonSEO conference. Along with other team members, I made the 250-mile journey across the country, in the hopes of finding fish & chips and gaining some SEO insights.


As a Digital Content Executive, I had the pick of the litter when it came to the talks and panels, and I went to quite the range. I left feeling very impressed by how actionable and engaging the discussions were (and still dreaming of the Donatello’s Tiramisu).

If you couldn’t make it to the conference or found yourself torn between conflicting talks, this blog is for you. I’ll be summarising my standout talks and sharing the top takeaways and highlights. Read on for a comprehensive overview of my most impactful sessions from BrightonSEO. 

I kicked off my first day bright and early with two talks on relevancy in Digital PR….

Liv Day – How To Find The Relevance Gap

Liv opened the conference by highlighting the crucial role relevance plays in a site’s link profile. She offered a clear explanation of why relevancy is a metric we simply can’t afford to neglect. Through a compelling case study, she demonstrated the impact of irrelevant backlinks on traffic and rankings. These links, she explained can contort the topicality of a website, potentially causing search engines to misinterpret the site’s focus.

She then shared her process for identifying and bridging the relevancy gap between a site’s themes and its backlink profile. Her team employs tools like IBM Watson’s natural language processor to identify relevant concepts, analysing both the site and the linking pages to check for alignment.

Liv’s talk underscored the importance of maintaining a relevant backlink profile, and thinking carefully about the subject of your campaigns. Today, shoehorning a connection can do more harm than good but the good news is, there are new tools being developed every day to help us guarantee topical alignment. 

Sophie Coley – Audience-centric Planning and Creative Personas: a strategic approach to relevancy  

Sophie then followed up with a different, but equally compelling angle on link relevancy. Drawing from her journalism background, she advocated for a persona-driven approach to help brands create more resonant content.

She recommended using platforms like Reddit or TikTok to understand audience pain points, or simply playing around with seed phrases in an incognito browser (e.g. ‘travel insurance when… ‘, ‘travel insurance for…’ etc.’

Sophie then used this travel insurance example to outline a framework for using AI tools like Perplexity to assist with ideation of relevant content ideas. Upon providing a detailed prompt, the tool generated five hypothetical persona examples, complete with first-person statements explaining their experience shopping for travel insurance (including motivating factors, challenges faced etc.) 

It became evident that considering these tangible personas makes it significantly easier to ideate creative yet relevant campaigns. As Sophie put it: ‘Having broad boundaries in place makes ideation a lot easier’.

  

Yasmin Birchall – The Digital Generation is Here: why you’re about to overhaul your online strategy  

Later in the morning, Yasmin drew our attention to Gen Z, how they are changing search, and how we can adapt accordingly. She highlighted that we’re now living in a new age of people who’ve never lived without technology at their fingertips – and that this generation now makes up 15% of our population! As a result, we need a holistic, multi-touch approach to guarantee engagement. Some key points I took away were:

–>Users are diversifying away from Google, now it’s TikTok that the new generations are looking to first when considering where to go for dinner, or when planning their holiday agenda.

–>Gen Z prioritise authenticity and individuality – they’ll respond well to tailored content, rather than being ‘creeped out’ by how well the ads are aligned with their online behaviour.

–>Price is as, if not more, important than sustainability – Yasmin drew on a Mintel survey to highlight that for 51% of Gen Z, managing their finances is their biggest priority.

Yasmin’s insights provided a valuable glimpse into the minds of Gen Z consumers and reminded us not to get comfortable with our strategies. Brands and marketers must evolve their approaches to meet the changing expectations of our younger audiences. 

Nathan Height – Diversifying Beyond Google 

Nathan’s talk similarly discussed how search is changing, but focusing on the search engine landscape. Whilst Google still undeniably dominates the market, we’re seeing a greater number of competitors than ever before. He even highlighted that Google and OpenAI themselves are turning to Reddit to inform their generation of information. 

So, what can SEOs do to cater for these changes? Nathan shared some practical advice,  including the importance of creating content for conversational long-tail queries. He pointed out some good ways to build an understanding of these specific searches (Quora, Reddit, TikTok keyword insights etc.) that I’ll be factoring into my keyword research going forwards.

This talk offered a persuasive case for SEOs to broaden their horizons beyond Google. My overall takeaway was the importance of diverse content creation and understanding user intent across multiple platforms. The online search scene is increasingly fragmented and it’s important to stay ahead.

  

Carla Dobson-Elliot – Is SEO killing curiosity

How many times a day do you find yourself reflexively reaching for your preferred search engine when a question pops into your head? For many of us, this habit has become all too frequent. Carla opened her talk with the now-familiar scenario of “going down an online rabbit hole”, highlighting how search engines have become the go-to source for satisfying our curiosity.

Carla emphasised that brands need to tap into this curiosity as well, rather than letting search engines monopolise our inquisitiveness. She argued that traditional demographics like age and gender are no longer sufficient for understanding audiences. Instead, she proposed a new framework based on “curiosity cohorts” – five distinct modes by which people search for and consume information and advertisements.

These cohorts should inform content strategy. For example, an “exhilaration hunter” might be drawn to Uber’s random promotion spinner, while a “novelty seeker” could find a Spotify playlist as a call-to-action more appealing. Carla urged marketers to identify their audience’s curiosity type and create fresh, engaging content tailored to these preferences.

I found this a really innovative approach to content creation, and will definitely be taking Carla’s curiosity quiz to discover which category I fall into.

  

Chris Meabe – 100% Evergreen Articles To Survive Search Updates

Now, while this title sounds a bit too good to be true, Chris delivered a practical guide for creating content resilient to algorithm changes. By analysing a set of evergreen articles, he’d uncovered several suprising commonalities:

📌Most articles began with ‘what is’, or at least opened by defining key terms

📌Introductions typically ranged from 100-150 words, with overall word counts between 1,200 and 3,000.

📌The number of backlinks was less crucial than internal links. Successful articles contained at least 10 outbound links to authoritative sources, often citing statistics.

📌Total word count mattered less than the depth and quality of information provided.

📌Lastly, Chris cautioned that while these articles were evergreen, they were not just left to their own devices, but were refreshed annually to maintain relevance.

📌This was a super actionable talk, giving me some clear Do’s and Dont’s to keep in mind when content-writing.

 

Sabine ljunggren – How To Maximise Your Search Visibility On Social Media

The final track I attended before sadly bidding Brighton farewell focused on social media, beginning with Sabine’s guide to maximising visibility on social.

Continuing a recurring theme, she emphasised TikTok’s emerging role as a new search engine. She cited a 2024 Adobe survey revealing that “new recipes” and “DIY tips” are among the most searched keywords on the platform. A particularly striking statistic showed that over 90% of TikTok users use the search function within 30 seconds of opening the app. So, if you’re not capitalising on this evolution of search behaviour, you’re missing out on some hefty search volume.

To capitalise on this trend and increase brand visibility, Sabine offered a few key tips:

  1. Prioritise creating optimised content that will improve click-through rate and maximise the time users are spending on the platform. 
  1. Implement ‘pattern interrupts’ – unexpected frames or different camera angles.
  1. Develop ‘comment-friendly content’ that encourages interaction and debate in the comment section.

In summary

If I was to distil everything I learnt from the conference, the overarching themes were:

💡Understanding your target audience is more important than ever, and go beyond basic demographics

💡Like it or not, TikTok has evolved to be a significant search platform and ignoring it potentially could mean missing out on engagement opportunities

💡The quality and relevance of your links matter more than quantity. Irrelevant or low-quality links can potentially harm your SEO efforts more than they help.

Need a hand with your performance marketing strategy? Whether it’s SEO, link-building, or paid advertising that you’re looking to enhance, we’ve got you covered.

Cedarwood Digital are an award-winning digital marketing agency, based in Manchester but working with SMEs and large multinationals internationally. Get in touch today to chat about how we can improve your online visibility. 

5 Steps To Increase Your Organic Click-Through Rate - Blog Image

5 Steps To Increase Your Organic Click-Through Rate

by SEO

When it comes to driving traffic to your website, increasing your organic click-through rate is essential. If your website is ranking highly on the SERPs, that’s great, but if users aren’t clicking through then your SEO efforts may be wasted. In this blog, we will be discussing five ways to increase your organic click-through rate (CTR) so that users will click through and you can increase your traffic. 

What Is Click-Through Rate? 

Organic click-through rate (CTR) is the number of users who click on your website in the SERPs. You can calculate your organic click-through rate by dividing the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions. 

Organic click-through rate is extremely important for SEO because the higher your CTR is, the more traffic you will receive. Boosting your CTR will mean more visitors, more engagement, and ultimately, more conversions. 

5 Steps To Increase Your Click-Through Rate:

1. Optimise Your Title Tags With Descriptive Keywords 

The title of your webpage will be the first thing users see in the SERPs and it can play a significant role for users deciding whether they’ll click through to your site or not. A well optimised title tag can grab attention and communicate relevance at the same time, both of which are essential for increasing CTR. 

When creating title tags you should focus on your most important keywords. For example, if you’re targeting “wooden garden furniture”, your title tag should reflect that phrase. Using your target keywords within your title helps you to match the search intent closely and show users that the content and products on your page is relevant to what they are searching for. 

Your title tag will obviously very much depend on what your web page is, if it is a product/ category page, it should clearly state what those products are, if it is blog style content it may be more of a longer title such as, “How To…” or “The Ultimate Guide to…”. When optimising title tags, as a general rule you should use between 50 and 60 characters for your title – as long as it tells the user exactly what is on your page, and it matches the user intent, users will be more likely to click through. 

2. Optimise Your Meta Description 

Meta descriptions can play a significant role in driving clicks. A meta description is the short description of text that appears below the title in the SERPs, it gives users a brief overview of what they can expect if they click through to your site.

Like title tags, meta descriptions should also contain your target keywords that are relevant to search intent to confirm to users that this page is going to provide them with what they are looking for. 

Your meta description should be between 50 and 160 characters and it should describe exactly how your website is going to provide the user with valuable information that they are looking for to solve their problem. Make it clear to users why they should click onto your webpage rather than a competitor’s page by highlighting your unique selling points (USPs) within the description, this could be free next day delivery, expert advice or 5 star review – whatever makes you stand out from your competition should be included here alongside what the page is offering. 

3. Optimise Your URLs

Although it may seem obvious, your web page’s URL can play a significant role in increasing click-through rates. When creating and optimising our URLs, keep it short and descriptive. Avoid long, complicated URLs. 

Again, you should use your target keywords within our URL to give users and search engines a clear understanding of what your content is about.  

You should also ensure to utilise subdomains within your URL structure to device your site into logical sections. For example, if you are targeting wine glasses, it is likely that they will sit underneath the main glassware category, so your URL will read as follows: www.example.com/glassware/wine-glasses.com.  

A logical, easily readable URL that contains keywords relating to the search intent reassures users that they are clicking on the correct page. 

4. Use Structured Data 

Adding structured data, also known as schema markup, to your website can help search engines better understand your content. It allows search engines, such as Google to display rich results and enhance your SERP listings with reviews, prices and more information to make them more interactive for users. 

Structured data is coded using in-page markup on the page that the information applies to. The structured data should describe the content of that page and this will help Google to further understand what the page is about. 

As previously mentioned, implementing structured data can help to display rich results in the SERPs and this can attract more clicks for your web page because your site is more likely to appear at the top of the SERPs, particularly if you have the featured snippet, it is more interactive than a plain URL and it gives the user more information when they see your site in the URL so they can clearly see that the content on your page is going to match their search intent. 

Types of structured data you can implement can include: 

  • ➡️ Product markup – for e-commerce sites, including product markup including price, availability and ratings can attract shoppers more effectively. 
  • ➡️ Review schema – displaying user reviews and ratings directly in the search results can showcase credibility and attract more users to click through. 
  • ➡️ FAQ schema – answering commonly asked questions and including FAQ schema can help your content appear as featured snippets or people also asked and can help to attract more traffic to your site.

Implementing structured data can be extremely beneficial to increase your organic click-through rate – to have a look at what structured data you currently have implemented on your site, you can use the Rich Results Test tool to see what is currently found on the page as well as any errors or suggestions for your structured data. 

5. Create Fast Loading Pages 

Site speed is a very important part of click-through rate – if a user clicks on your site and the web page doesn’t load quick enough, the chances are that they will click off and go to a competitor site and your bounce rate will increase a lot. Page speed is also one of Google’s ranking factors so if your page is too slow, it can have an impact on rankings.  

There are many different ways you can optimise your site speed including: 

  • ➡️ Optimising your images – reduce your image size without compromising the quality 
  • ➡️ Reduce any unused JavaScript 
  • ➡️ Make sure all images have an explicit height and width set 
  • ➡️ Eliminate render-blocking resources 

How you can optimise your site speed will vary depending on your website, in order to find ways of making your site speed faster, use PageSpeed Insights. This tool will allow you to enter your URL and it will provide you with diagnostics and opportunities on how to improve the overall site speed for your website. You can also do this on a page by page basis if there are particular pages which you would like to improve. 

Summary 

Increasing your organic click-through rate is a combination of many different strategies. By optimising and following these five steps, you can increase your click-through rate bringing in more traffic, better engagement and potentially higher conversion rates. 

It is important to consistently refine all of the above elements to ensure your website is always targeting and meeting the needs of your users – make sure to stay up to date and constantly optimise your website for SEO purposes and you can make sure your website brings in relevant traffic through the SERPs. 

If you need help increasing your organic click-through rate and aren’t sure where to start, get in touch with our team of SEO experts today and we can help you maximise the traffic coming to your website by optimising your website to increase organic click-through rate. 

How To Tackle A Loss In Organic Traffic - SEO Blog

How To Tackle A Loss In Organic Traffic

by SEO

If you have experienced a loss in organic traffic, it can be a worrying and frustrating challenge. Whether your website is for a personal blog or a large e-commerce site, a drop in organic traffic can potentially mean a drop in rankings and can affect your visibility, engagement, conversions and ultimately your revenue. If you have noticed a drop in your organic traffic, don’t panic as there are steps you can take to find out what has happened and how you can recover your rankings and traffic in order to increase conversions. 

In this blog, we will discuss why your organic traffic could have taken a drop, how to identify the cause and actions you can take to regain your traffic.  

Initial Analysis 

Understanding the causes behind your drop in traffic is essential in order to know how to address these causes, so the first step if you have noticed a drop in organic traffic is to conduct an initial analysis. 

Use tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, Google Analytics and Google Search Console to review traffic decreases – you can identify which pages of your website have been affected and look at specific dates to see if you can find any information about a potential cause. 

There can be many potential reasons as to why you’re organic traffic has dropped including: 

  • ➡️ Google algorithm updates – Google releases hundreds of search algorithm updates every year. While some are minor, some core updates can significantly affect search rankings. These updates can impact how Google evaluates website content and ranks pages and if your website is not providing the most helpful and relevant content, you may experience a loss in traffic. 
  • ➡️ Technical SEO problems – technical issues can prevent Google and other search engines from properly crawling and indexing your pages which can in turn affect your rankings, visibility and traffic. If Google cannot effectively crawl your website, it may not be able to index it and it therefore won’t appear in the SERPs. 
  • ➡️ Content issues – personally, I would say that content is the backbone of SEO and it is a huge part of SEO overall. If your content is outdated, irrelevant or thin, it is likely that it won’t rank highly and you can lose out on a lot of potential organic traffic. 
  • ➡️ Competition – another reason you may lose traffic is simply because your competitors are actively improving their SEO strategies. If a competitor has updated their content, built backlinks and are providing optimised content, they may increase their rankings and could push your content further down the page, potentially reducing clicks and traffic.
  • ➡️ SERP intent change – SERP intent is vital when it comes to optimising your website – it is so important that your website is giving the users what they want. This means that if the user intent changes, and your website is not providing users with the information they are looking for, you’ll probably lose rankings so that Google can provide users with the most helpful and relevant content. 

How To Figure Out The Cause Of Your Traffic Loss 

There are many ways in which you can figure out the causes of your traffic loss: 

Google Search Console

  • ➡️ Analyse the performance report to understand which pages have experienced traffic drops. 
  • ➡️ Review the search results report to analyse which search queries are bringing in traffic and which queries have dropped off.
  • ➡️ Analyse the page indexing report to look through any crawl errors and any technical issues that could be preventing Google from crawling and indexing your site. 
  • ➡️ Utilise the page experience report to ensure your website is providing a good page experience. 

Google Analytics

  • ➡️ Identify which pages have seen the biggest traffic drop off in the user acquisition report – comparing current data to historical data is a good idea to see what has dropped off. If it is applicable, make sure to factor in seasonality.  
  • ➡️ Look at the highest revenue driving pages to uncover which pages are having the biggest impact due to the loss in organic traffic. 
  • ➡️ Analyse user behaviour metrics such as engaged sessions, engagement rate, engagement time and bounce rate to see if there are engagement issues on particular landing pages.

Ahrefs 

  • ➡️ Review which pages have seen decreases in rankings for specific keywords. 
  • ➡️ Check keyword volumes to analyse any trends or decreases.
  • ➡️ Look into search intent for target keywords and review whether or not your landing pages are matching the intent. 
  • ➡️ Analyse your backlink profile against competitors. 
  • ➡️ Review how competitors are ranking for target keywords and if they have seen similar decreases or increases. 

Algorithm Updates 

  • ➡️ Research whether there have been any algorithm updates – check what these updates were regarding and align the dates of the update with your loss to see if you have been impacted. 

Review Website Changes 

  • ➡️ Identify any recent website changes; content, design, or technical to see if there are any issues with these changes or if these could have negatively impacted your SEO performance. 
  • ➡️ Check your robots.txt file and sitemap to ensure there are no issues.

Conduct A Competitor Analysis 

  • ➡️ Analyse your competitors’ sites to see if they have made any significant changes that could be impacting your rankings.
  • ➡️ Check their content, backlink and on-page efforts to see if they are actively updating and refreshing their website for SEO purposes. 

Ways To Increase Organic Traffic 

Once you have identified the cause of your traffic drop, you can now start to take actionable steps to improve your rankings and traffic so that you can increase conversions and revenue. 

Technical SEO 

Start by addressing any technical issues that could be preventing your site from being crawled and indexing. There are many different technical fixes but below are some of the key areas to ensure they are working correctly and are optimised for SEO. 

  • ➡️ Crawl Errors 

Use Google Search Console to identify crawl errors and ensure you fix all issues that are preventing Google from crawling your site. Errors such as 404, page not found or any other 4xx issues should be resolved to ensure Google can crawl your website correctly. 

  • ➡️ Indexing Errors

It is important to make sure that Google is indexing all of the important pages from your site so firstly, review your sitemap to ensure that there are no errors and all necessary pages are included. Secondly, review your robots.txt file and make sure there are only pages that shouldn’t be indexed in there. If there are urls in your robot.txt file that you want to be indexed, make sure to remove these and optimise them for search engines. 

  • ➡️ Site Speed 

Site speed is important for user experience and search engines so optimising it is highly recommended. Using PageSpeed insights, you can assess your site speed and look for areas for improvement. Consider compressing images and minimising JavaScript to improve page loading times. 

  • ➡️ Mobile Friendliness

Google uses mobile-first indexing, and with the majority of users using their mobile device to conduct searches, it is extremely important that your website is mobile friendly. Make sure to check that your site is responsive on all devices and make sure to make any necessary improvements – you can use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check your website’s mobile usability and from there, you can see if you need to make any changes to your site. 

Content 

Once you have identified areas of your website that have seen a decrease in traffic, you can update your content accordingly. Outdated and thin content can cause traffic losses over time as they are not providing users with helpful information, so it is important that you are regularly updating your content to ensure it is satisfying the user intent by staying relevant and providing informative content. 

To update your content, you should conduct a content audit to evaluate the quality of your content and identify which pages are a priority to update. When updating your content, ensure to carry out the following steps:

  • ➡️ Keyword research 
  • ➡️ Content updates 
  • ➡️ Internal Linking 

It is important to make sure your content is relevant, unique and helpful to users. By improving your content you can increase rankings and engagement and recover lost traffic. 

Backlinks 

Backlinks are an essential part of any SEO strategy and a high quality backlink profile can have a large impact on your website’s organic rankings. A drop in the quality of backlinks to your site can therefore have a large impact on your organic traffic. Focus on acquiring high-quality backlinks from authoritative sites to improve the quality of your backlink profile. Continuously work on strengthening your backlinks by creating high quality Digital PR campaigns and by creating high quality content that can naturally attract links. Gaining high quality backlinks can increase the authority of your site and can have great impacts on your SEO performance.

User Experience 

User experience is highly important when it comes to engagement, so make sure you are optimising your site for your users first. Google’s primary goal is to help users, so optimising your site for your users is therefore essential. When improving user experience, make sure to optimise the following: 

  • ➡️ Meta title and description 
  • ➡️ Readability 
  • ➡️ Design elements 
  • ➡️ Navigation 
  • ➡️ Engagement 
  • ➡️ CRO analysis 

By creating a good user experience throughout your site, you can improve engagement and conversion rates. 

Optimising Your Site For SEO

The above information can be extremely helpful if you have experienced a drop in organic traffic. However, the main thing to remember is to make sure your SEO strategy is ongoing. Focus on creating high quality content, ensuring your website is in good technical stance, conducting regular audits and keeping up to date with industry news and updates. This will allow you to proactively stop your traffic from decreasing in the first place.

By staying informed, you can make sure your website is optimised at all times and adapt your SEO strategy accordingly. 

Experiencing a drop in  traffic can be difficult but by navigating it carefully and carefully analysing what has happened and how you can fix it, you can work to regain any lost traffic. 

If you have noticed a loss in your organic traffic and you need help understanding what has happened and how to regain this traffic, make sure to get in touch with our team of SEO experts. We can help you create a targeted SEO strategy and increase your organic traffic in order to meet the goals of your business, whether that be engagement, conversions, or revenue – we can help.

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How to write helpful content in light of Google’s helpful content update

by SEO

In September 2023, Google ran its helpful content update, focused on improving the ranking of high-quality content. In preparation for the update we undertook an audit of our clients’ websites to ensure they were all meeting the mark. We analysed just how helpful the content was and where improvements could be made. So what were we looking for? And how can you make sure your content adheres to the ‘helpful content’ guidelines?

What is ‘helpful content?’

Helpful content can be summed up as content that is created for the user, not for the search engine. Humans are typing queries into search engines,  so the answers should be written for humans. If the answers have been written to serve an algorithm or a search engine, then the average user isn’t going to find that helpful or enjoyable. When done correctly, helpful content will boost your SEO because the information you provide will demonstrate that your pages put people first, not crawlers.

What did the 2023 helpful content update add?

A year after the helpful content update was launched, Google made some further changes. It’s important to have a clear understanding of what was added, to inform your SEO strategies. Whilst nothing too dramatic was introduced, there are a few things to be aware of:

  • ➡️ The 2023 update demonstrated more of an openness to AI-written content, as long as it’s still providing value. Google specifically removed the words “written by people” and just wrote “helpful content created for people in search results.”

    So, no more is AI-generated content an absolute no-go. Go ahead and use it to support your content strategy, but proceed with caution and ensure the writing remains well-written and informative.
  • ➡️ The update had an emphasis on User Experience, placing more focus on things like mobile-friendliness and website design. For Google to deem your site helpful, it might therefore be a good idea to give it a quick technical audit.
  • ➡️ We saw a crackdown on third-party hosted content with Google warning against placing low-quality content on subdomains to try and improve search ranking. They said: 

    “if that content is largely independent of the main site’s purpose or produced without close supervision or the involvement of the primary site, we recommend that it should be blocked from being indexed by Google.”
  • ➡️ And finally, the update targeted the popular practice of updating content with minor changes and a recent date to appear fresh in search results. No shortcuts allowed I’m afraid guys.

Why is Google bothered?

Search has come a long way since the simple days of keyword stuffing. 45% of people using their mobiles online now use voice search and it’s no wonder. A whole generation has grown up with search engines as an everyday tool and we are now moving towards using search much more naturally than ever before. Google wants to make searching and finding what we want even easier, and is striving to understand meaning, context and intent far beyond a few keywords. 

The helpful content update is part of Google’s Natural Language Processing (NLP) masterplan. Essentially, Google wants to give users what they want rather than users having to guess which words to type to get the best results. The helpful content update ensures that websites and pages are providing the best, most informative content possible.

How to write helpful content

The easiest way to target this mammoth subject is to break it down into key areas:

  • ➡️ The User
  • ➡️ E-E-A-T
  • ➡️ Semantics
  • ➡️ Copy

1. The user (you, me, them, us)

No matter what you are writing about, always (I repeat always) remember who you are writing for. Understanding your audience is key to writing content that will be helpful to them. There is no use writing about the quality and composition of a leather dog lead if your client’s target market is price focused. To make that point clearer, here is how I would approach user intent when setting out writing content:

Industry/product/service: what does your client sell and what are the typical pain points when selling that product? Our client in the gardening industry sells high end garden furniture. People searching for garden furniture are likely to be concerned with quality, price and maintenance. So I would structure my content around these pillars:

Demographic: Our gardening client has an affluent target market and wants to hone in on the quality of their product rather than the final price. Therefore, their customer is less likely to be typing price related queries and more likely to be considering longevity and overall value. 

Possible queries: Now that you’ve broken down your user you can consider what they might actually be searching for. Tools like alsoasked or answerthepublic are great for researching real queries that real users are regularly typing into search engines. Even a basic Google search on something like ‘garden furniture sets’ can give you some direction.

This approach can be applied to all clients. Understanding the nuances of the end user enables you to write content that helps them find answers even if they don’t not know exactly what they are searching for.

2. E-E-A-T (aka friends don’t lie)

Much is made of E-E-A-T, or experience, expertise, authority and trust, not being a ranking factor. Not that I’d argue with Google, but the concept of E-E-A-T is intrinsic to helpful content so, for me, it follows that if you are creating expertly written, authoritative and trustworthy content you are being more helpful and, ergo, you will likely rank higher. 

When I set about integrating E-E-A-T into copy, I think about three key areas:

Bullet points and numbering 

This helps you to clearly set out your content and improve the user experience. The information held in these lists can be some of the most valuable on the page, allowing for featured snippet opportunities and, on a more basic level, setting the content apart so the user can easily identify it (remember what we said about writing for the user). It can be something as simple as a list of Do’s and Don’ts, but having these distinct sections of information demonstrates that you know what you are talking about and aren’t afraid to show it. 

Linking 

Linking is the pat on the back of the digital world. It shows search engines that you have mates vouching for you and it helps users to understand and trust what you are saying. Adding internal links to your content can direct traffic through a clear marketing funnel and allows you to utilise content pillaring effectively. Linking related articles together will form one big picture on your pillar topic and signal that you have plenty of expertise and authority in your subject.

And what about external linking? This is when you point to a website outside of your organisation and say ‘look they can back me up.’ It shows that you aren’t pulling information from thin air and can corroborate your points. In some instances, for example, Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) industries, external linking can be especially helpful because the subject matter requires an extra degree of expertise and trust. When researching your content, keep a list of any useful links and weave them into your final piece where relevant and appropriate.

But remember, with the 2023 update’s emphasis on user experience, it’s super important that these links are all working correctly. Tools like Google’s Lighthouse will assess the mobile-friendliness of your links, while Screaming Frog or Ahrefs will quickly identify any broken links.

Hard facts and figures 

Firstly, don’t make stuff up! This might be obvious but we’ve all been there – convinced we remember something only to find out it wasn’t quite right. For instance, if I’m writing an About Us page, I make sure to have an in-depth list of facts on the client to hand, so that my content has gravitas. 

Second to this, I always look to see where I can add value into my content with social proof, like reviews, featured articles or any accreditations. This might be a simple banner at the footer of a blog but it shows users and SERPs that the page, and therefore the site, can be trusted. Author profiling is another great way to double down on the information you provide so, where possible, include an author bio.

3. Semantic SEO (hey Bert)

Semantic SEO goes back to meeting your users needs. In short, it’s the use of keywords and phrases that relate to your chosen topic. Think of it as a natural way of speaking. If you were talking about your morning routine, you would naturally mention breakfast, showering and leaving the house. You wouldn’t veer off on a tangent and start talking about putting your pyjamas on. This is what Google refers to as salience.

In 2019 Google launched BERT, an algorithm which impacted 10% of all search queries straight away. BERT is an AI demo that will tell you how salient, and therefore relevant, your content is to your intended topic. So, as we touched on in the morning routine example, you should be using lexis that is relevant to your subject matter and shows your audience that what they have landed on is exactly what they’re looking for. Start off with some keyword research to identify your core keywords for your topic and don’t be afraid to use common sense as well! 

For example, if I was writing category copy for a piano retailer, I would use the top tier keywords around that specific piano brand but also talk about keys, pedals and soundboards to effectively demonstrate what the content was about. This is useful for content pillaring too, and those all-important linking opportunities. You can then run your content through BERT and get a salience score to see how it stacks up against other similar content.

BERT will also show you if it is a positive, negative or neutral piece of content. This doesn’t refer to its state of mind but rather its relevance to other similar articles. If you were writing content about the best apps for 2024, BERT should give you a neutral score as it isn’t an emotive subject. Or, if you were writing about how to be more motivated in the mornings, your copy may need to have a more positive sentiment score. Carefully consider the value your content offers, who it is targeted at and what needs they are trying to meet in searching for that content. This will help you achieve the right level of sentiment.

4. Copywriting (your English teacher would be proud)

Given half the chance, I’d talk about the virtues of good grammar and syntax all day long. Don’t underestimate the importance of simply writing well when it comes to helpful content. Readers don’t want to read overly long sentences with no clear end point. Think of every piece of content as a conversation. If you were asking someone for directions and they digress into how they used to live nearby, you would quickly forget the valuable information. So stick to the point and set out a clear beginning, middle and end before writing anything. I never start any article without drafting a brief first. Then, when I do come to actually crafting the content here are some of the basic rules I live by:

  • H2 & H3 headings – long blocks of content are off putting and make it harder to find the info you are looking for so always separate with headings.
  • Short simple sentences – ideally a sentence should be no longer than 20 words. If it is then commas are your friend.
  • Follow questions with an answer – even if the answer is ‘it depends’ – give a definite answer first and then follow up with any variables.
  • Use simple language – the average reading age for the UK is 9 years old. Of course, this can change depending on the topic and who you’re writing for (a professional audience might require more jargon). But the golden rule is to keep your content clear and understandable. Simple synonyms are a copywriter’s best friend.

In summary

Google will definitely thank you for setting your content out clearly and using good English. They will high five you if you have some good E-E-A-T signals and they will get down on one knee if you are meeting the needs of your users (sorry I got carried away).

Writing helpful content is mainly about matching user intent, and the 2023 helpful content update is just part of making search engines as effective as possible for the people using them – us. So perhaps the biggest takeaway when writing for humans is to be human. Don’t try to trick an algorithm into trusting you, just be trustworthy. There are SEO specialists and data analysts who can take care of the technical aspects of SEO, but as a content writer you should be focused on creating content that is enjoyable, valuable and genuine. So, to summarise, as a content writer, here are  the basic steps to get you started with writing helpful content: 

– Define your user and their needs

– Find opportunities for bullet or number lists

– Include internal and external links

– Fact check your content and ideally include evidence or social proof

– Research keywords and optimise for salience and sentiment 

– Use good English and grammar

– Write for your audience not a search engine (you should have figured that out by now)

If you need a hand writing SEO optimised helpful content, get in touch with us.