One of the most essential aspects of a profitable Google Ads strategy is reaching the right people, with the right message, while they’re searching.

To do this correctly, you need to know exactly how your ads are doing and what words potential customers are using to search.

This is where the Google Ads search terms report comes in handy.

This report is a goldmine and an invaluable asset to every Google Ads account.

With insights into exact phrases being used to trigger your ads, the search terms report can help:

Significantly refine your keyword strategy.
Enhance your targeting.
Boost your return on investment (ROI).

Let’s get into why the Google Ads search terms report is not only helpful but essential for maximizing Google Ads profitability.

What Is The Google Ads Search Terms Report?

The search terms report is a performance tool that shows how your ad performed when triggered by actual searches on the Google Search Network.

The report shows specific terms and phrases that triggered your ad to show, which helps determine if you’re bidding on the right keywords or using the right match types.

If you find search terms that aren’t relevant for your business, you can easily add them to your negative keyword list repository.

This helps you spend your budget more effectively by ensuring your ads are only triggered for relevant, useful searches by potential customers.

Keep in mind that there is a difference between a search term and a keyword:

Search term: Shows the exact word or phrase a customer enters on the Google Search Network to trigger an ad.
Keyword: The word or phrase that Google Ads advertisers target and bid on to show their ads to customers.

How To Create A Search Terms Report

Creating a search terms report in your Google Ads account is simple, and better yet – it can be automated!

To view your search terms report, you’ll need to:

Log into your Google Ads account.
Navigate to “Campaigns” >> “Insights & reports” >> “Search terms”

Below is an example of where to navigate in your Google Ads account to find the search terms report.

After running this report, there are multiple actions you can take as a marketer:

Add top-performing searches to corresponding ad groups as keywords.
Select the desired match type (e.g. broad, phrase, exact) if adding new keywords.
Add irrelevant search terms to a negative keyword list.

3 Ways To Use Search Terms Report Data

As mentioned above, there are numerous ways you can use the search terms report data to optimize campaign performance.

Let’s take a look at three examples of how to use this report to get the best bang for your buck.

1. Refine Existing Keyword Lists

The first area the search terms report can help with is refining existing keyword lists.

By combing through the search terms report, you can find areas of opportunities, including:

What searches are leading to conversions.
What searches are irrelevant to the product or service.
What searches have high impressions but low clicks.
How searches are being mapped to existing keywords and ad groups.

For searches leading to conversions, it likely makes sense to add those as keywords to an existing ad group or create a new ad group.

If you’re finding some searches to be irrelevant to what you’re selling, it’s best to add them as negative keywords. That prevents your ad from showing up for that search moving forward.

If some searches have a high volume of impressions, but very few clicks, these will take further consideration. If it’s a keyword worth bidding on, it may indicate that the bid strategy isn’t competitive enough – meaning you’ll have to take action on your bid strategy.

If a search term is being triggered by multiple keywords and ad groups, this is a case of cross-pollution of keywords. This can lead to lower ROI because it’s essentially having multiple keywords bid on that search term, which can drive up the cost. If this happens, you have a few options:

Review and update existing keyword match types as necessary.
Add negative keywords where appropriate at the ad group or campaign level to avoid cross-pollution.

Ultimately, using the search terms report in this way allows you to determine what is performing well and eliminate poor performers.

2. Understand How Your Audience Is Actually Searching For Your Product

Something I often see is a mismatch of how a company talks about its product or service vs. how a customer is actually searching for it in the real world.

If you’re bidding on keywords you think describe your product or service but are not getting any traction, you could be misaligning expectations.

Oftentimes, searches that lead to conversions are from terms you wouldn’t have thought to bid on without looking at the search terms report.

One of this report’s most underutilized use cases is finding lesser-known ways customers are searching for and finding your product.

Finding these types of keywords may result in the creation of a new campaign, especially if the search terms don’t fit existing ad group structures.

Building out campaigns by different search themes allows for appropriate bidding strategies for each because not all keyword values are created equal!

Understanding how a customer is describing their need for a product or service not only helps your keyword strategy but can lead to better-aligned product positioning.

This leads us to a third way the search term report can help your campaigns.

3. Optimize Ad Copy and Landing Pages

As discussed in #2, customers’ language and phrases can provide valuable insights into their needs and preferences.

Marketers can use the search terms report to better tailor ad copy, making it more relevant and appealing to prospective customers.

And let’s not forget about the corresponding landing page!

Once a user clicks on an ad, they expect to see an alignment of what they searched for and what is presented on a website.

Make sure that landing page content is updated regularly to better match the searcher’s intent.

This can result in a better user experience and an improvement in conversion rates.

How Using The Search Terms Report Can Help ROI

All three examples above are ways that the search terms report can improve campaign ROI.

How so?

Let’s take a look at each example further.

How Refining Keywords Helps ROI

Part of refining existing keywords is negating any irrelevant search terms that trigger an ad.

Having a solid negative keyword strategy gets rid of “unwanted” spending on keywords that don’t make sense.

That previously “wasted” spend then gets redirected to campaigns that regularly drive higher ROI.

Additionally, adding top-performing search terms gives you better control from a bid strategy perspective.

Being able to pull the appropriate levers and setting proper bid strategies by search theme ultimately leads to better ROI.

How Understanding Audience Intent Helps ROI

By understanding the exact language and search terms that potential customers use, marketers can update ad copy and landing pages to better match those searches.

This can increase ad relevance and Ad Rank within Google Ads.

These items help with keyword Quality Score, which can help reduce CPCs as your Quality Score increases.

More relevant ads likely lead to higher click-through rates, which leads to a higher likelihood of converting those users!

How Updating Ad Copy And Landing Pages Helps ROI

This example goes hand-in-hand with the above recommendation.

As you start to better understand the audience’s search intent, updating ad copy and landing pages to reflect their search indicates better ad relevance.

Once a user clicks on that relevant ad, they find the content of the landing page matches better to what they’re looking for.

This enhanced relevance can significantly increase the likelihood of conversion, which ultimately boosts ROI.

Use This Report To Make Data-Driven Decisions

Google Ads is an integral part of any digital marketing strategy, often accounting for a large portion of your marketing budget.

By regularly reviewing the search terms report, you can refine your marketing budget to make your Google Ads campaigns more effective.

Using this report to make data-driven decisions that fine-tune multiple facets of campaign management leads to more effective ad spending, higher conversions, and ultimately higher ROI.

More resources: 

Featured Image: FGC/Shutterstock

Google Analytics introduces direct export to Google Sheets, streamlining data analysis and collaboration.

Google Analytics now lets you export reports directly to Google Sheets.

Exporting to Sheets enables deeper analysis and easier team collaboration.

Additional export options like PDF, CSV, and APIs are also available.

An analysis of 25,000 ecommerce queries by Bartosz Góralewicz, founder of Onely, reveals the impact of Google’s AI overviews on search visibility for online retailers.

The study found that 16% of eCommerce queries now return an AI overview in search results, accounting for 13% of total search volume in this sector.

Notably, 80% of the sources listed in these AI overviews do not rank organically for the original query.

“Ranking #1-3 gives you only an 8% chance of being a source in AI overviews,” Góralewicz stated.

Google AI overviews vs. eCommerce

We just finished analyzing 25k eCommerce queries.

TL;DR

– 16% of queries return AI-overview (previously SGE)

– 13% of search volume from search goes through AI overviews

– 80% of sources don’t rank organically for the query (!)

-… pic.twitter.com/x0ehihIaee

— Bartosz Góralewicz (@bart_goralewicz) May 22, 2024

Shift Toward “Accelerated” Product Experiences

International SEO consultant Aleyda Solis analyzed the disconnect between traditional organic ranking and inclusion in AI overviews.

According to Solis, for product-related queries, Google is prioritizing an “accelerated” approach over summarizing currently ranking pages.

She commented Góralewicz’ findings, stating:

“… rather than providing high level summaries of what’s already ranked organically below, what Google does with e-commerce is “accelerate” the experience by already showcasing what the user would get next.”

Solis explains that for queries where Google previously ranked category pages, reviews, and buying guides, it’s now bypassing this level of results with AI overviews.

This: “80% of AI overview sources don’t rank organically for the query” from 25K e-commerce queries that @bart_goralewicz analyzed.

This is what I’ve seen happening too because most of the AI overviews for product related queries are “accelerators”: rather than providing high… https://t.co/UFT2wTG2ht pic.twitter.com/i5neMpALl6

— Aleyda Solis (@aleyda) May 22, 2024

Assessing AI Overview Traffic Impact

To help retailers evaluate their exposure, Solis has shared a spreadsheet that analyzes the potential traffic impact of AI overviews.

I’ve updated my Google AI Overviews (AIO) Traffic Risk Impact Assessment Sheet to make it easier to:

1. Assess the before/after AIO CTR/traffic gap2. The type of results/pages featured in AIO3. Prioritize content optimization actions accordingly

Check it out … pic.twitter.com/JFejUcaIni

— Aleyda Solis (@aleyda) May 26, 2024

As Góralewicz notes, this could be an initial rollout, speculating that “Google will expand AI overviews for high-cost queries when enabling ads” based on data showing they are currently excluded for high cost-per-click keywords.

An in-depth report across ecommerce and publishing is expected soon from Góralewicz and Onely, with additional insights into this search trend.

Why SEJ Cares

AI overviews represent a shift in how search visibility is achieved for ecommerce websites.

With most overviews currently pulling product data from non-ranking sources, the traditional connection between organic rankings and search traffic is being disrupted.

Retailers may need to adapt their SEO strategies for this new search environment.

How This Can Benefit You

While unsettling for established brands, AI overviews create new opportunities for retailers to gain visibility without competing for the most commercially valuable keywords.

Ecommerce sites can potentially circumvent traditional ranking barriers by optimizing product data and detail pages for Google’s “accelerated” product displays.

The detailed assessment framework provided by Solis enables merchants to audit their exposure and prioritize optimization needs accordingly.

Featured Image: Marco Lazzarini/Shutterstock

Apple beefed up its iPad product line Tuesday by upgrading the silicon in its Air models and introducing a new processor, the M4, into its Pro editions, which also got a display boost to OLED.

“The iPad Pro with the M4 and outdoor viewable OLED screen is arguably the best tablet created so far,” Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst with Enderle Group, an advisory services firm in Bend, Ore., told TechNewsWorld.

“The dual-layer OLED screens are the best screens ever used on a tablet and make the creative process much more realistic,” added Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a technology advisory firm in San Jose, Calif.

The new 11-inch and 13-inch Pro models announced at an online, prerecorded event have displays made of two OLED panels for exceptional brightness. According to Apple, the Ultra Retina XDR display supports 1,000 nits of full-screen brightness for SDR and HDR content and 1,600 nits of HDR peak brightness.

The new iPad Pro comes in two sizes, 11-inch and 13-inch, and features the thinnest design Apple has ever produced. (Image Credit: Apple)

A nano-texture glass option is also offered for the display. Nano-texture glass is engineered to scatter ambient light and reduce glare.

Both the tandem OLED and etched glass overlay are unique, noted Jim McGregor, founder and principal analyst at Tirias Research, a high-tech research and advisory firm, in Phoenix. “I have not seen this dual-layer OLED display solution before,” he told TechNewsWorld. “The etched glass overlay is also unique.”

“The display is stunning,” Enderle said. “The only thing I wonder about is longevity. OLED is beautiful but not very robust, and they are pushing a lot of power through it. Longevity of the display could become an issue long term.”

“As a photographer, I am excited to see how my images will look on it,” added Anshel Sag, a senior analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy, a technology analyst and advisory firm based in Austin, Texas.

“However, I am a little surprised they didn’t try to beef up the camera’s capabilities to really show off the display,” he told TechNewsWorld.

Enter M4 Silicon

In an unusual move, Apple introduced its next-generation M4 silicon into the new iPad Pro models. “Usually, next-gen chips are introduced on the Mac first,” Bajarin told TechNewsWorld. “Apple did this to emphasize their belief that the iPad is very much a PC as Jobs envisioned when he launched it 14 years ago, making it a powerful creative tool that mirrors the functionality mostly done on a PC.”

The chip is built on second-generation three-nanometer technology, which is more power-efficient than its predecessors. Apple said the M4 can deliver the same performance as the M2 chip in the previous iPad Pro models, using half the power.

According to Apple, the M4 delivers 50% faster CPU performance than the company’s M2 silicon and four times better overall performance than M2.

“A new version of Apple silicon making its debut in an iPad is a shift from where we’ve historically seen it introduced. It is consistent, though, with Apple positioning iPad as a full-featured main computer option,” said Ross Rubin, the principal analyst with Reticle Research, a consumer technology advisory firm in New York City.

Rendering performance in apps like Octane sees a substantial upgrade with the M4 chip, now up to four times faster than previous iPad Pro models equipped with the M2. (Image Credit: Apple)

“That they put their most advanced, highest-performance chip in the iPad lends credibility to their statements that they see the iPad as the future of the computer,” he told TechNewsWorld.

“They also released their professional apps on the platform,” he continued. “In some ways, that is a stronger endorsement of the iPad as a creative powerhouse. It also sends a strong signal to third-party developers, such as Adobe, that this an appropriate platform for those kinds of applications.”

“That’s been challenging for Apple in the past because when they’ve talked about high performance, they’ve shown games on the iPhone and iPad,” he explained. “That can be a great visual showcase, but for a product that can cost north of $1,000 and has a professional label affixed to it, you need to show that the productivity tools and capabilities are there.”

Mikako Kitagawa, a director and analyst with Gartner, a research and advisory company based in Stamford, Conn., agreed. “I see Apple trying to sharpen up the position of iPad as the best tablet for the creative professionals,” she told TechNewsWorld.

Play To Boost Sales

Tirias’ McGregor reasoned that Apple will probably have different versions of the M4 for the various products in its portfolio, but introducing the chip in the iPad Pro is a significant move.

“Coming out with this version specifically for the iPad Pro first makes a strong statement that Apple views the iPad as a critical product for the market, not an accessory product,” he said. “For many consumers, the iPad has become their primary computing platform.”

Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager at IDC, a global market research company, concurred that introducing the M4 on the iPad Pro indicates Apple is taking the form factor seriously but still sees it as an add-on.

“It’s not a MacBook replacement by any means. Rather, it’s a complementary device,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Beyond that, I think the timing around the release of the M4 also puts pressure on Qualcomm as their comparisons with the M3 are immediately outdated.”

Apple’s motivation behind introducing the M4 in the iPad line may also be a reaction to sales numbers. “In the first six months of Apple’s fiscal 2024, which ends in September, iPad sales dropped more than 20% compared to the previous year, a worrying trend that Apple will be looking to reverse with today’s new models,” Felix Richter wrote for Statista on Tuesday.

Apple’s iPad revenue and its share of the company’s total revenue

Will Kerwin, a technology equity analyst with Morningstar Research Services in Chicago, agreed. “We believe this shows a recognition by the company that the iPad has been underperforming and warrants a priority in driving a return to growth,” he told TechNewsWorld.

Pencils and Palettes

In addition to the Pro models, Apple introduced two new iPad Airs, an 11-inch and, for the first time, a 13-inch model, both with M2 silicon under the hood. The starting prices for the iPad Air models are $599 for the 11-inch and $799 for the 13-inch. The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $999, while the 13-inch model will sell starting at $1,299. The Air and Pro models will be available for purchase on May 15.

Two upgraded accessories were also announced at the Apple event: a new “magic” keyboard and a new pencil. Apple has added function keys to the keyboard, an aluminum palm rest, and a larger trackpad with haptic feedback.

The new Apple pencil has a sensor that allows a new tool palette to appear on an iPad’s screen by squeezing the barrel of the stylus. A gyroscope allows the pencil to be used more precisely.

Apple Pencil Pro brings support for Find My for the first time to Apple Pencil, helping users locate Pencil Pro if misplaced. It pairs, charges, and is stored on the side of the iPad Pro with a new magnetic interface. (Image Credit: Apple)

“The pencil continues to show how Apple innovates,” observed Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst at SmartTech Research in San Jose, Calif.

“You can use that stylus across their portfolio of iPads using the squeeze capability,” he told TechNewsWorld. “That’s a significant time-saver. I do a little digital editing on the iPad, and the ability to remove masks or edit things on the screen with precision is a big deal.”

“The Apple Pencil Pro is a big step forward in stylus capability for managing images and video content,” he said.

“The hovering capabilities, the ability to change the orientation of tools by squeezing the pencil before the stylus touches the surface of the iPad are all nifty touches that add to the creative experience,” Rubin added.

Google announced that it is now indexing .epub documents, a format commonly used to print books for e-readers. Google is already showing EPUB books in the search index.

EPUB File Format

EPUB is an XML-based eBook publishing format based on a standard developed by the International Digital Publishing Forum, which in 2016 was subsequently merged with the World Wide Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The goal of the merger was to bring together electronic book publishing with the Internet so that they would mutually enrich each other.

Google Indexing EBUB Content

The intent of merging e-publishing with the Internet aligns with Google’s decision to index (and at some point presumably rank) EPUB content. The only surprise should be that it took eight years to do so. The changelog notes that EPUB file format was added to Google’s documentation of indexable file types and offers no other details.

Google’s official changelog offers a matter of fact notation:

“Adding epub to indexable file types

What: Added EPUB to the list of indexable file types.

Why: Google Search now supports epub.”

Does Google Rank EPUB Content?

I did a site:search for EPUB content, noted the title of a scientific research about eating contaminated fish in Lake Ontario (“Consumption of Contaminated Lake Fish and Reproduction”) that was hosted on the journals.lww.com domain.

I next searched for that document in the regular search using the exact match keyword phrase and a variation of the keyword phrase (“Consumption of Contaminated Fish in Lake Ontario”) and Google didn’t surface the EPUB document but it did surface the webpage that contained the download to the EPUB document.

Screenshot Of EPUB Download Page

Google’s official indexable file type documentation only notes that the listed filetypes are indexable. At this time it’s fair to say that Google isn’t ranking EPUB documents but Google will surface them with a filetype:epub search.

Read Google’s official documentation:

File types indexable by Google

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Simple Line

By Rhonda Bradley May 16, 2024

Who doesn’t want more traffic, quality leads, and sales to their blog? 

The answer might surprise you.

More than 60% of marketers do not have a documented blog content strategy. Yet without one, their chances of success drop dramatically.

A blog content strategy is a written plan that guides content creation, publication, and distribution. It saves you time and energy, ensures that you stay on track with your goals, and guarantees that providing value to your target audience remains a priority.

Find out how to achieve your content marketing goals faster with our step-by-step process for creating a blog strategy below.

Key elements of a blog content strategy

A blog content strategy is a roadmap that guides your blog SEO strategy, content topics, themes, writing, scheduling, and promotional efforts.

A successful blog content strategy includes:

A detailed description of your target audience

Crystal-clear goals and KPIs

Keyword and topic planning

Timeline and content calendar

Repurposing and promotional strategy

A plan for maintaining content quality and consistency

A thoughtfully written strategy helps you drive the right kind of traffic to your blog, provide valuable content to your readers, and generate high-quality leads (or sales) for your business.

Taking the time to document your blog content strategy gives you an edge over the competition since most of your competitors probably don’t have one. 

More than 60% of B2B and B2C marketers “wing it” without a written strategy.

How to create a blog content strategy in 4 steps

These steps will help you choose the right content for your blog and form a plan to publish, promote, and improve upon your content as you grow.

Step 1: Define your target audience and marketing goals

Defining your target audience and goals gives you the information you need to conduct effective keyword research and plan content themes for your blog.

How to define your target audience:

Conduct audience research.

Identify your target reader.

List your readers’ pain points.

Learn what type of content engages your readers.

Festoon House owner Matt Little, who manages content for his company’s blog, says that audience research is the key to a successful blog strategy. “I always start by researching and understanding who our audiences are, what they are interested in, and what problems they are trying to solve.”

“Remember, content is king, but the audience is the kingdom. Cater to them, and you’ll build a loyal following.”

– Matt Little, Owner, Festoon House

How to define marketing goals for your blog

Before you invest time and resources into blogging, make a prioritized list of your blog’s marketing goals.

What are the top goals for your blog?

Let’s assume the primary objective of any business blog is to provide valuable content to a target audience. Marketing goals are a separate entity. 

Marketing goals = What’s in it for you?

Some of the most popular blog marketing goals are:

Drive traffic to your website

Generate leads

Increase revenue

Establish authority in your industry

Increase brand awareness

Most blogs have several marketing goals. However, it’s important to prioritize them for your content marketing strategy. 

What KPIs should you track for blogs?

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are insights that allow you to measure progress toward your content marketing goals.

If you’re new to KPIs and analytics, here are a few tips to help you get started.

How to measure the success of your blog:

Search traffic: Impressions, traffic, SERP position, click-through rate

Leads and conversions: Conversion rate, leads generated, revenue

Reader engagement: Bounce rate, average time on page, pages per session, social shares, scroll depth, returning visitors

Step 2: Conduct SEO keyword research

Keyword research helps you optimize your blog for search engines and develop relevant and valuable content for your audience.

Here’s a 4-step process for simple SEO keyword research.

A) Brainstorm relevant phrases and topics

Make a list of the phrases and keywords you think might be a good match for your audience.

Instead of simply copying ideas from your competitors, turn to your target audience for help brainstorming keywords that will attract quality readers.

Content and SEO manager Aleksa Filipovic recommends forging your own path when it comes to developing topic ideas. His blog on Measureschool has tripled its traffic over the past two years and now has 80,000 monthly readers.

“Turn to your target audience. Create surveys, look in online groups and communities, find out what your target audience is struggling with, and be the one with the answer. That way, you’ll find topics that can be covered and have no competition yet.”

– Aleksa Filipovic, Content & SEO Mgr, Measureschool

B) Conduct keyword and search intent research

Create a keyword database in Excel or Google Sheets where you will list the results of your keyword research. 

Use a keyword research tool like Google Keyword Planner or SEMRush to investigate your list of relevant words and phrases. Look for low- or medium-competition keywords with a fair or decent amount of traffic. 

When asked for her best tip on content marketing strategy, ButterflyMX Content Manager Katie Kistler stressed the importance of keyword research.

“Using tools like Ahrefs, SEMRush, or even the Google search engine results pages to source topics and keywords that your potential customers are looking for,” she explained, “is the most reliable way to create a high-performing blog quickly.”

C) Conduct search intent research

Before you add a keyword to your database, take a moment to ensure that your interpretation of it aligns with what searchers are looking for when they type it into Google Search.

The simplest way to do this is to drop the keyword into Google Search and view the results. 

If the results produce informational resources (such as blog articles and guides) for a similar audience, you can add the keyword to your list.

For example, people searching for “red sneakers” usually want to shop for shoes, not read a blog post about them. 

If the search intent doesn’t match, take a moment to experiment with more refined keywords.

For example, a quick search on “How to wear red sneakers” produces fashion tips, which is ideal if your blog post is about red sneaker fashion.

As you choose keywords for your blog, consider your niche and try to narrow your phrases to fit a more specific audience. This will help you reach the right people and give you a better chance of ranking well on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

D) Choose the main keywords you’d like your blog to rank for

You’ll use your top keywords to create “pillar” style articles that act as a main guide for a broad topic. 

All of your other blog articles will link to one related pillar article.

This pillar content approach is not required, but it’s very helpful to your SEO strategy.

Step 3: Create a blog content calendar and timeline

Now that you’ve created a keyword database, you can begin planning your blog’s content.

A) Create a content timeline

A content timeline outlines the themes you’ll use throughout the year, such as:

Holiday and seasonal campaigns

Company marketing campaigns

Upcoming events

Content that resonates with your audience at certain times of the year

For example, the (fictitious) Red Hot Shoes company might create a timeline like this:

Month 1: February (Focus: Valentine’s Day & Comfort)

Theme 1: Rock Your Reds for Valentine’s Day:

Posts: Styling tips for creating romantic red shoe looks, gift guide featuring red shoes, history of red shoes in fashion and romance.

Theme 2: Cozy Comfort in Red:

Posts: Highlight red slippers, sneakers, or boots; perfect for lounging at home, tips for keeping red shoes clean and comfortable.

Month 2: March (Focus: Spring & Awareness)

Theme 1: Spring into Style with Red Shoes:

Posts: Showcase new spring shoe collections with a focus on red colors, tips for transitioning your wardrobe to spring featuring red shoes.

Theme 2: Red Shoe Confidence Campaign (optional): (Align with a marketing campaign)

Posts: Partner with influencers or customers to share stories about how red shoes boost confidence, launch a user-generated content contest featuring red shoes.

B) Create a content calendar

Content calendars help keep you and your team on track.

Decide how often you’ll publish.

Plan your blog posts for the next four weeks and put them in your calendar.

Here’s an example of a simple blog content calendar created with Google Sheets:

Avoid planning content more than 4-6 weeks in advance. This gives you the creative freedom to adjust after viewing your blog metrics or reacting to industry updates that could affect audience sentiment.

For example, if a major political figure suddenly goes viral for wearing red sneakers, you would need to consider how that might affect your approach to content.

Step 4: Create a blog repurposing strategy

The days of pushing out massive amounts of blog content, regardless of quality, are gone. 

Instead of forcing yourself or your team to produce volume over value, focus on publishing high-quality content at a steady pace that works well for everyone.

Then, repurpose your blog content so you can use it to the fullest extent!

High-value blog posts are packed with gems such as stories, statistics, quotes, and lists. 

You can pull these valuable snippets from your posts to create more content and promote your blog on social media and in newsletters.

11 ways to repurpose high-quality blog posts

Videos

Social media image posts

Social media Stories

Social media video shorts

Quizzes

Posts

Meme

GIFs

Podcasts

Infographics

Email newsletters

How to drive traffic to your blog

Repurposing blog posts using the tips above will handle most of the heavy lifting when it comes to driving traffic to your blog. All you need to do is share your repurposed content on social media.

5 ways to drive more traffic to your blog posts:

Share your repurposed blog content on social media.

Share a preview in your email newsletter.

Set up an automated blog newsletter so that every time you publish an article, an email goes out to your newsletter subscribers to let them know about it. 

Run social media contests and drawings that drive people to your posts.

Partner with influencers to promote your blog.

Additionally, you can further position yourself or your company as an industry authority, which will drive more traffic to your blog.

Creating podcasts, publishing books, conducting webinars, and forming a social group/forum are excellent ways to boost authority in your industry. 

Establish standardized blog guidelines

As you develop your content marketing strategy, it’s a good idea to consider how you’ll maintain quality and consistency over time. 

Establish your brand voice and tone

Develop brand voice guidelines and determine how you’ll optimize content for your audience.

In a recent chat with Backlinko SEO Lead Leigh McKenzie, he explained that developing an authentic brand voice is key to connecting with readers.

“Backlinko’s blog strategy is focused on nailing an authentic writing voice that resonates with readers. 

As we grow our team, we tap into expertise but present it conversationally – not generic fluff. 

Writing in second person or first-person plural creates an inclusive, one-on-one tone connecting our authority with readers naturally.”

– Leigh McKenzie, SEO Lead, Backlinko

In the YouTube Short below, Brian Dean explains some of the ways you can optimize your content for readers. 

Dean advises creating skimmable blog posts with frontloaded value to improve your reader’s experience.

How to standardize blog quality and consistency

To consistently create high-quality content, you must standardize some elements of the blogging process.

You can achieve this by creating materials such as:

Brand manual:  Includes information that helps writers represent and promote your company and its products, such as:

A guide to your brand and its products, including a detailed description of your target audience and readers.

Your company’s key differentiators and primary message(s)

A list of competitors you do not want to link to.

Blog article checklist: A list of the formatting, processes, and elements you expect with each blog post.

Number of CTA’s.

The minimum number of media, statistics, quotes, and other engaging or interactive elements required in each piece.

A list of finishing tools to use before submission, such as:

Grammarly

Copyscape

Headline Capitalizer

A guide to your key blog requirements, such as formatting, SEO requirements, source and linking guidelines, and AI policies.

As you develop content standards, keep in mind that providing value to your audience is top priority. 

Chief Content Marketing Officer Ben Jacobson of Inbound Junction says blog strategists should be careful not to forget their audience when planning content.

“There are two mistakes that I see many businesses making with their blog content strategies that really get under my skin nowadays, and these two issues are related. 

One is using the blog as a pure SEO play, where getting pages to rank for keywords is the only objective. 

The other is using the blog as a pure product marketing platform, where convincing readers to convert is the only objective.”

The ongoing process of blog content strategy

In this guide, we’ve covered the basics of how to create a blog content strategy.

Strategy is a fluid process that ebbs and flows with time. Don’t hesitate to change or adjust it as you view its metrics and get feedback from your audience.

For a surefire way to encourage readers to return for new blog articles, encourage them to sign up for your email newsletter. 

At AWeber, we provide you with all the email marketing tools you need to effectively promote your blog in as little time as possible. 

From automated blog newsletters to templates, AI writing assistance, and automation, we make it simpler than ever for you to nurture your audience and send more traffic to your blog.

Sign up for a free AWeber account today and begin promoting your blog without delay.

Google has an incentive to encourage users to click its sponsored ads – but this should not be to the detriment of user experience.

This aspect of Search seems to have gone awry in recent years, with Google engaging in activities that negatively impacted users.

Historically, search engine users are accustomed to ads either being placed at the top or the bottom of a SERP, with the page itself either being purely organic results or having the organic results placed in between the ads. Search features are often mixed in, too.

This has now changed.

A change was recently added to Google’s documentation, stating that:

“Top ads may show below the top organic results on certain queries.”

Detailing how placement for top ads is dynamic and may change.

In this article, we explore this change and its impact on users and organic search results.

Timeline Of Changes

Leading up to the change, Google had been testing mixing sponsored ads within organic listings in various capacities over a 10-month period.

Here is a timeline of the changes leading up to the official launch.

June 17th, 2023: Initial Testing

This was the first time the test appeared in Google’s search results, only showing on mobile devices at the time. Within this initial testing period, it was showing for very few users with more discrete inclusion only on mobile, easily being mistaken for an organic listing for users.

October 23rd, 2023: Heavier Testing

Within this testing period, it was the first time that the broader SEO community started to notice the ad labels appearing within organic listings, being visible across both mobile and desktop.

This testing period was more prolonged in the lead-up to launch.

March 28th, 2024: Launch

On this date, Google’s Ads Liaison announced that the change would be a permanent one, with a new definition being added to the “top ads” documentation. From this date, users were then to expect an official change where ads would be mixed in with organic results beyond limited testing.

Different Types Of Placements

Now that Google has been mixing sponsored ads within organic results for almost two months, we’re able to gain a better understanding of the extent of the change and how the sponsored ads are appearing.

Based on my research, there are two common situations where Google is presenting ads within organic listings.

Mixed With Organic Results

The standard approach involves a simple ad placement within the top organic results.

Based on my experience, it is common for there to be one or two ads that are placed together in this situation. It is rare for there to be a maximum of four ads in a row.

An example of this can be found below:

In this example, the sponsored ad technically appears in position #2 on the page. Normally, the ad would have appeared above my page, but in this instance, it is below.

For the Semrush page, the visibility on the SERP would be unchanged if they were above, but for my page it is at an advantage in terms of ranking visibility.

Directly Below Featured Snippets

What seems to be the most common way ads are mixed in with organic listings is by placing them directly below a featured snippet.

In cases like this, it is common for there to be a full lot of four ads that appear below the featured snippet. In this example, there are two ads that are appearing.

In the past, and still having the ability to show right now, ads would always be placed directly above the featured snippet.

This could have been perceived as a poor user experience, considering featured snippets tend to show when an answer to a query can be explained with a short description from the page.

What Are Google’s Intentions?

Each of the situations explained in the previous section could be interpreted differently.

The first situation (mixed within organic results) is pretty clear about Google’s intentions: to encourage more clicks on ads and desensitize users to ads appearing at the top, with users mistaking ads for organic listings.

In contrast, the second situation with featured snippets could be perceived differently. While ads continue to appear in the viewport on desktop, the answer to the user’s query is prominently displayed at the top of search results without ads getting in the way.

I can’t see this being a bad thing for users or SEO, as Google is making the organic listing more visible across these instances.

In general, I’m aware of Google’s need to prioritize ad revenue with changes to ad placement. While there are certainly arguments to be made from both angles with this change, my perception is that the outcome is fairly neutral from both sides.

Ads mixed in with organic results are still exceptionally rare, but featured snippet placements are a more common use case, and there are some clear upsides to this.

How To Analyze With Semrush

While Semrush does have an Advertising Research tool that shows you the position of your ads across various queries, I found that the data wasn’t being collected in a way that allows you to compare ad position relative to organic listings.

As an alternative, I found the best approach for analysis to be through using “Ads top” as a SERP feature filter through Organic Research to locate instances where ads were being mixed with organic listings.

Here’s where this filter is located:

This filtering doesn’t allow you to filter by URLs for a specific domain, with it instead showing instances where “top ads” are a SERP feature across the Semrush index.

Using this method, I’m able to review historical top ad inclusions since the launch in March and conclude that ads being mixed in with organic results is still exceptionally rare.

Final Thoughts

Overall, based on how Google currently operates, I’m not particularly concerned about this ad placement change from Google.

While the change is an official one based on the update to Google’s documentation, it still operates more like a test, where ads are continuing to appear in normal positions in the vast majority of instances.

Based on my research, I believe the change should be perceived as neutral for Google users and SEO. If you see ads being mixed with organic listings in the wild, keep your wits about you.

I’ll be keeping an eye on this change to make sure Google’s ad placements don’t get too carried away.

Google’s ad testing has more recently reverted back to using the “ad” labeling instead of “sponsored” on mobile, which was the previous treatment up until recent years.

We can certainly expect these types of tests to continue into the future, with there never being a boring day within our industry.

More resources: 

Featured Image: BestForBest/Shutterstock 

Despite its prominence as a global semiconductor company, MediaTek remains relatively unknown among consumers. While the company has quietly become a significant force in the semiconductor space, it does not possess a brand that rolls off the tongue of most consumers.

As with any large company in a rapidly evolving industry, the question of an “identity crisis” can be multifaceted, involving public perception, market positioning, and internal strategy. This discussion explores whether MediaTek is experiencing such a crisis and, if so, what the implications might be.

MediaTek’s History

Founded 27 years ago and headquartered in Taiwan, MediaTek initially focused on producing chips for home entertainment products and optical storage solutions. Over time, the company expanded into the mobile phone market, a shift that significantly increased its global footprint and prominence.

MediaTek has predominantly focused its strategy on offering cost-effective solutions for mid-range and budget devices, which helped it gain substantial market share in emerging markets across Asia and Africa.

In contrast, competitors like Qualcomm have traditionally dominated the high-end smartphone market, particularly in Western countries. This divergence in market focus is crucial to understanding MediaTek’s brand identity, which the public often views as a more affordable, less performance-oriented alternative to Qualcomm.

Alleged Identity Crisis

The notion of MediaTek experiencing an identity crisis stems from several factors. Recently, the company has made significant efforts to challenge Qualcomm in the high-end smartphone market, notably with its Dimensity sub-brand, which offers competitive performance and features like 5G connectivity.

This move has indeed expanded MediaTek’s global market share. The company maintains more than 40% of the Android market in North America and Europe and a 40%- 50% TAM (total addressable market) share of the Latin America and Pacific Rim markets.

The company also points out that it has more than 30% TAM share in the ruthlessly competitive market in China. MediaTek could not realize accomplishments like this with purely lower-cost, lower-performance solutions.

Nonetheless, MediaTek suffers from public perception and branding challenges. The company has historically been less vocal about its achievements and innovations than Qualcomm, which has a robust marketing strategy that includes significant advertising spending and collaborations with high-profile brands and carriers. This relative silence has contributed to MediaTek’s weaker, or at least more ambiguous, brand identity.

Despite significant advancements, competitive products, and technological innovations that should enhance its industry stature, MediaTek has sometimes struggled to shake off its image as a budget chipset manufacturer. This reputation affects its ability to compete in the premium chipmaker segment, where branding and consumer perception play crucial roles.

There’s also the issue of geographical market dynamics. MediaTek’s stronger presence in emerging markets than established ones like the U.S. and Europe has further complicated its identity. Although it is a leader in several regions, the company has not gotten the respect it deserves.

How MediaTek Is Trying To Course-Correct

To address its identity issues, MediaTek hasn’t stood still and has been making several strategic moves. The company has increased investment in its marketing and branding initiatives to elevate its brand perception globally. For example, MediaTek’s “Incredible Inside” campaign is a worthy effort to associate MediaTek-powered devices with high quality and innovation.

Going one step further, MediaTek is collaborating with renowned brands and companies that can help the company enhance its reputation. In addition, partnerships, such as those with Intel for 5G laptop modems, have helped position MediaTek as an innovative and versatile chipmaker.

The company has also realized that focusing on cutting-edge technology is the only way to upgrade its brand image. Markets like IoT, automotive, data centers, Chromebooks, smart TVs — and even the smartphone space, which remains a huge market from a volume standpoint despite its slow growth — demand differentiating solutions, particularly AI capabilities that create new and compelling usage models.

These actions could help redefine MediaTek’s brand as a leading innovator across various tech sectors, not just mobile phones.

AI a Key Factor in MediaTek’s Future Growth

Last week in Arizona, MediaTek briefed the analyst community at an event that focused on the company’s ongoing efforts to fine-tune its appeal in multiple end markets to allow it to optimize its presence in the mobile, smart edge, and power IC markets that have respective CAGR growth of 5.3%, 6.8% and 6.3% in a TAM that MediaTek believes will be approximately $180 billion by 2028.

At the conference, MediaTek dedicated considerable attention to the untapped potential that generative AI will drive over the next ten years. The company sees gen AI as the impetus for meaningful growth across its portfolio of products — which translates to more semiconductor content per device.

Moreover, MediaTek believes it has the technology attributes to bring gen AI to the edge and push innovation in a differentiated manner to its customers.

While these megatrends imply a bright future for MediaTek, the company must dedicate more marketing resources to message its view on compelling usage models.

MediaTek’s Platform Solutions

With seven distinct major sub-brands that span the gamut from smartphones, automotive, Wi-Fi, Chromebooks, smart TVs, IoT, and even industrial applications, MediaTek must expand its marketing spend to compete with the likes of Qualcomm and others who have made branding and go-to-market initiatives a priority.

(Image courtesy of MediaTek)

While MediaTek does face challenges in terms of market perception and branding, particularly as it attempts to transition into higher-end markets, labeling these challenges as an “identity crisis” might be an overstatement. Instead, MediaTek is in a phase of identity evolution, both necessary and inevitable, as it seeks to diversify its offerings and compete globally across different segments.

MediaTek Must Assert Its Thought Leadership Marketing Potential

The company’s ability to navigate this evolution successfully will depend on its strategic marketing, partnerships, and technological innovation choices. As MediaTek redefines itself, it may overcome the perception hurdles and emerge more potent, with a more distinct and respected identity within the global semiconductor industry.

For MediaTek to position itself as a thought leader in AI, it must confidently articulate usage models at a highly detailed level. While the company has strong executive leadership and has demonstrated impressive business results, there is noticeable hesitation at analyst events to present detailed applications. This reluctance may stem from a concern that these models might not fully align with its customers’ perspectives.

Embracing a role as a thought leader involves guiding the industry with innovative ideas and frameworks, even if they initially diverge from customer expectations. OEMs will respect MediaTek’s input on these usage models, even if they choose to implement them differently. By defining clear, visionary strategies, MediaTek can build and enhance its brand leadership persona and drive the adoption of its solutions, fostering alignment over time.

Admittedly, this kind of messaging leadership involves risk. In the final analysis, MediaTek must proactively increase its marketing investment and refine its messaging on usage models to assert control over its market perception, differentiate its offerings, and clearly communicate the unique benefits of its solutions so that it remains competitive and, most importantly, relevant in the rapidly evolving tech industry.

Joost de Valk, the creator of Yoast SEO plugin, has created a new (and free) plugin for solving a site architecture problem that can silently diminish a website’s ability to rank.

Site Architecture

Site architecture is an important SEO factor because a well-organized website with clear navigation helps users quickly get to the content and products they’re looking for. Along the way it also helps Google find the most important pages and rank them.

The normal and common sense way to organize a website is by topic categories. While some newbie-SEOs believe that organizing a site by topic is an SEO strategy, it’s really just plain old common sense. Organizing a site by topic categories organizes a site in a way that makes it easy to drill-down and find specific things.

Tags: Contextual Site Navigation

Another way to organize a website is through contextual navigation. Contextual navigation is a way to offer a site visitor links to more webpages that are relevant to the webpage and to their interests in the moment. The way to provide a contextual link is through the concept of Tags. Tags are strongly relevant links to content that site visitors may find interesting.

For example, if someone is on a webpage about a new song by a pop star they may in that moment may be interested in reading more articles about that singer. A publisher can create a tag which links to a page that collects every article about that specific pop singer. Ordinarily it doesn’t make sense to create an entire category for hundreds of musical artists because that would defeat the purpose of a hierarchical site navigation (which is to make it easy to find content).

Tags solve the problem of making it easy to navigate to more content that one site visitor is specifically interested in at that moment. It’s contextually relevant navigation.

Too Many Good Things Isn’t Always Good

Creating a long-range plan for organizing a website can be undone by time as a website grows and trends wane. An artist that was trending several years ago may have dropped out of favor (as they often do) and people lose interest. But those tags remain, linking to content that isn’t important anymore, defeating the purpose of internal site navigation, which is to link to the most important content.

Joost de Valk researched a (very small) sample of WordPress sites and discovered that about two thirds of the websites contained overlapping tags, multiple tags linking to the same content while also generating thin content pages, which are webpages with little value.

A blog post sharing his findings noted:

“Tags are not used correctly in WordPress. Approximately two-thirds of WordPress websites using tags are using (way) too many tags. This has significant consequences for a site’s chances in the search engines – especially if the site is large. WordPress websites use too many tags, often forget to display them on their site, and the tag pages do not contain any unique content.”

The sample size was small and a reasonable argument can be made that his findings aren’t representative of most WordPress sites. But the fact remains that websites can be burdened by overlapping and outdated tags.

Here are the three main tag navigation problems that Joost identified:

1. Too Many TagsHe found that some publishers add a tag to an article with the expectation that they will add more articles to that tags when those articles are written which in many cases doesn’t happen, resulting in tags that link to just a few articles, sometimes only to one article.

2. Some Themes Are Missing The Tag FunctionalityThe next issue happens when websites upgrade to a new theme (or a new version of a theme) that doesn’t have the tag functionality. This creates orphaned tag pages, pages that site visitors can’t reach because the links to those tag pages are missing. But because those pages still exist the search engines will find them through the autogenerated XML sitemaps.

3. Tag Pages Can Become Thin ContentThe third issue is that many publishers don’t take the time to add meaningful content to tag pages, they’re just pages of links with article excerpts that are also reproduced on category pages.

The Fewer Tags Plugin

This is where Joost de Valk’s new WordPress plugin comes in handy. What it does is to automatically remove tags that aren’t linking to enough pages, which helps to normalize internal linking. This new plugin is called, The Fewer Tags WordPress Plugin. There’s a free version and a paid Pro version.

The free version of the plugin works automatically to remove all tag pages that contain less than ten posts, which can be adjusted to remove pages with five posts or less.

Added functionality of the Pro version allows greater control over tag management so that a publisher can merge tag pages, automatically create redirects or send a 404 Page Not Found server response.

These are the list of benefits for the Pro version:

“Merge & delete unneeded tag pages quickly & easily.
Creates redirects for removed tag pages on the fly, in your SEO plugin of choice.
Includes an online course in which Joost explains what you should do!
Fix a site’s tag issues long-term!
Uninstall the plugin when you’re done!”

Where To Download Fewer Tags Plugin

The free version of the plugin can be downloaded here:

Fewer Tags Free By Joost de Valk

Read more about the Pro version here.

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Simple Line

By Sean Tinney May 17, 2024

The subject line is the most important part of your marketing emails, bar none.

It’s so important that 47% of recipients only consider the subject line when deciding whether to open an email, while 69% report emails as spam based solely on the subject line.

In just a few characters, you’ve got to capture the recipient’s attention and give them a compelling reason to click. So you’re likely wondering: “How long should an email subject line be?”

To answer that question, AWeber’s in-house email experts analyzed 1,000 subject lines from 100 top marketers to understand their approach. Read on to learn…

The average email subject line length

The best length for a subject line

How long is too long for a subject line

…plus we’ll share a bunch of considerations and best practices to help you craft must-click subject lines every time.

Let’s get into it:

What is the average length of a subject line?

AWeber’s analysis of 1,000 subject lines from top marketers discovered that the average email subject line length is 44 characters (including spaces).

How long is 44 characters? For perspective, the below subject line from theSkimm (a popular daily newsletter) is 43 characters in length:

Subject line: Daily Skimm: I’ve got the world on a string

However, our research unturned a wide range of character counts, with one in nine subject lines measuring 20 characters or fewer, and about one-fifth clocking in at 61+ characters.

Learn more: Email Subject Line Best Practices To Get More Opens

What is the best subject line length?

The best email subject line length is from 30 – 50 characters and up to seven words.

Here’s an example that hits the mark courtesy of the Content Marketing Institute, containing seven words and 38 characters:

Subject line: How To Prepare for the Data Apocalypse

Learn more: 100+ Amazing Subject Line Examples

Can a subject line be too long?

Yes!

With most email providers, you can technically create subject lines of up to 988 characters. 

However, that’s waaaaaaaaay longer than the point at which the subject line will cut off in your recipients’ inboxes. And if no one’s ever going to read all those extra characters, what’s the point in writing them?

Realistically, any subject line longer than ~100 characters will be truncated on the vast majority of devices, while the Gmail app for iPhone doesn’t display anything beyond 38 characters (more on this in the next section).

Email subject line factors to consider

Now that you know the experts write 44-character subject lines, keep yours to 44 characters and you’ve got the perfect subject line, right?

Obviously not.

There are a few other factors to consider when developing your email marketing subject lines. But don’t worry, we’ll cover them here.

The devices your customers are using

Does most of your audience use an iPhone to read their email? Or are they largely on desktops? The device your customers use to open and view their emails is extremely important when crafting your subject lines.

The average inbox displays about 60 characters on a desktop while the average mobile device displays only 30 characters. Anything else will get cut off. 

The email provider your customers are using

Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo! Mail, or Apple? The platform your subscribers use for email impacts how many characters appear in your subject lines.

Device + email provider

Now let’s do the math: Combining devices and email providers gives you a set of variables.

For example, let’s take a look at the subject line character limits for Gmail on different devices:

App/deviceSubject line charactersGmail app38 charactersiPhone Mail app46 charactersGmail on a 15” laptop98 characters

So why does this matter? 

To illustrate, take a look at this example showing the same email subject line from PersonalizationMall, displayed across different devices and mail apps:

They did a great job creating urgency with the subject line: “Sean Your Triple Discount Coupon Expires Today”. 

But unfortunately I view most of my emails on my iPhone Mail App and didn’t see that the offer expired the night I received the email.

What could they have done differently? You’ll find out below when we talk about email subject line length best practices.

Want to know which providers to care most about? A study by Litmus analyzed the most popular email providers, apps, and devices, with the top 5 being: 

Provider/app/deviceMarket shareApple51.4%Gmail33.0%Outlook5.2%Yahoo! Mail2.7%Google Android1.8%

Best practices for email subject line length

With so many different combinations, how can anyone write a subject line that will stand out?

Let’s get back to our marketing experts: 71.1% of the 1,000 subject lines we analyzed were between 21 and 60 characters. 

To stand out from everyone else, instead of focusing on length alone, consider other factors that may affect your open rates.

1. Keep your most important information in the first 30 characters

Over 50% of emails are opened on mobile devices. Most email clients, like Gmail and Yahoo!, stop displaying an email subject line on mobile devices once it reaches between 33 and 43 characters. The exact number varies from one email client to another.

If you have a strong offer, you shouldn’t be forced to limit your email marketing subject line length. To optimize it for mobile readers, put the most important information in the first 30 characters. This way, this message won’t get cut off in the inbox.

2. Use the preheader to enhance your message

The preheader is the additional text that appears next to or below your subject line in an inbox. Preheaders help compliment your subject line and can be used as that extra piece of text which may otherwise get cut off at the end of a subject line.

Learn more: Email Preheaders: Tips to Increasing Your Open Rates 

3. Don’t be too wordy

Easier said than done. I’m personally someone who rambles on and often uses more words than needed when talking about something.

How do I overcome this when writing subject lines? 

I start by writing everything I want to say in my subject line, then I reduce it by eliminating or replacing certain words.

Here’s an exercise:

Subject line idea: Get up to 50% off Athletic Shoes this Saturday only

This example is 51 characters long. How can I modify this to reduce the subject line?

How about: Up to 50% off Athletic Shoes on Saturday

This exercise reduced my subject line characters to 40.

4. Test your subject lines

Every audience is different. Try short and long subject lines with your subscribers to see what works best for your unique audience.

Set up an A/B split test, sending 10% – 20% of the audience the test with the winning variation receiving the remaining 80% – 90%. This way you maximize your open rates by ensuring the strongest subject line gets sent to the majority of your audience.

Learn more: Stop Guessing and Start Testing: Improve Your Emails with A/B Split Testing

5. Personalize your email subject lines

Emails with personalized subject lines see an average open rate of 35.69%, compared to just 16.67% for non-personalized email subject lines.

But “personalization” can mean a lot of different things, from adding the recipient’s name to your subject lines, to offering them a personalized discount or product recommendation based on their browsing or purchase history.

So which approach is best?

Here’s the answer:

Type of subject line personalizationAverage open rateAdding recipient’s first name43.41%Adding recipient’s company name35.65%Adding personalized pain points28%

Learn more: From Vanilla to Wow: Using Personalized Emails to Speak to Your Audience 

6. Test emojis in subject lines

Emojis add a pop of color to your email subject lines, which can help them stand out in a crowded inbox:

Or at least, that’s the theory. In practice, marketers have seen mixed results from including emojis in subject lines:

One study found that brands using subject line emojis see an average 56% increase in their unique open rates…

…but separate research discovered that subject lines without emojis see slightly higher open rates (at 52.94% vs 47.06%)

For that reason, we recommend A/B testing emojis to see how they play with your audience.

Learn more: Everything You Need to Know About Using Emojis in Your Subject Line

Case study: Should you consider shorter subject lines?

You might want to experiment with even shorter subject lines.

Brian Dean, founder of SEO company Backlinko and one of the 100 top marketers whose emails we analyzed, used to send emails with longer subject lines. These subject lines told his subscribers exactly what they’d find inside the message.

The problem with that?

“It gave people no reason to actually open my email,” he said.

Now, he sends subject lines with an average of 15.1 characters. 

“After lots of testing, I’ve found that short subject lines get much higher open rates,” Dean said.

He attributes this to two factors:

Short subject lines reach the inbox more frequently

Short subject lines are more mysterious

Here are a few of Dean’s short email subject lines. All are under 15 characters long:

Subject line: New TechniqueSubject line: Email OutreachSubject line: Blog Posts

They give the recipient a clear picture of what the email is about, without giving away any information about the actual contents.

Of course, if you’re going to adopt this strategy, you’ll almost certainly have to repeat some of your subject lines, so they could lose their impact.

Brian gets away with it because his subscribers know he always provides unique, actionable insights — so his subject lines don’t have to do too much heavy lifting.

Write must-click subject lines with AWeber

Our analysis shows that the average email subject line length is 44 characters, while the recommended length is between 30 and 50 characters.

But that might not be the perfect length for your brand.

As we’ve seen, Backlinko boosted their open rates by slicing the length of their subject lines. Maybe your audience will favor shorter subject lines, too — or perhaps they’d be more likely to click if you provided some extra context?

The only way to find out is to test, test, and test some more.

With AWeber, you can A/B test just about any element of your email, from subject lines and calls to action to colors, templates, preheaders, and more. So you don’t have to rely on guesswork or industry benchmarks to write subject lines your audience loves.

Get started by signing up for your free AWeber account today!