The document provides information on using groups to better understand local and competitor data to improve marketing strategies. It discusses how to create groups to compare campaigns, products, features, audiences, locations, and competitors. Creating relevant groups allows marketers to discover new keywords, find content gaps, understand search behavior by location, and identify new competitors. The document outlines how to set up groups with content and keywords, add locations and competitors, and use the groups to learn more about performance and opportunities.
2. Where should we focus our optimization efforts?
Why is this site underperforming?
How do I know if a change in performance was caused by a
change I made?
QUESTIONS ABOUT LOCAL SEO
A MORE SYSTEMATIC TO ANSWER
4. SITUATIONAL DIFFERENCES
UNDERSTANDING
MOZ Local Rank Factors Shipyard Local Rank Factors
MyBusiness Signals Local Networking
NAP / Citations Domain Age
On-Page Signals Cross-Linking Between Site & Social Profiles
Link Signals Competing Site Online
Behavioral Signals Online Reviews
16. DEVELOPING A PROCESS
1. Break down questions about performance drivers into testable hypotheses
2. Gather Data
a. Consider Independent, Intervening, and Dependent Variables
b. Find Data Sources (Ginza, Search Console, Analytics, BuzzSumo, Server Logs...)
c. Interrogate the validity of your data
3. Develop an experimental design (Keeping in mind issues with intervening variables,
invalid causal inferences, and comparison validity issues)
4. Track Results Systematically
5. Run statistical tests (Pearson, Spearman, T Tests, Multiple Linear Regression) to test for
relationships in the data using programs like Excel, R, Stata, SAS…
23. You need to make good decisions quickly
preferably based on real information
24. So you can
SAY SMART THINGS
like
“We should create a video about our trail running shoe responsivey cushioning and
place it in targeted ads and email campaigns for our Seattle audience.”
“But in Asheville we should create images that highlight the durability of our shoes
and leverage social media, forums, and search using keywords: ‘most durable
shoes for trail,’ ‘long-lasting trail shoes,’ and ‘Appalachain trail shoes for men.’”
25. SEATTLE
Top feature: CUSHIONING
Best performing product: WILDHORSE 3
Highest converting campaign: SALLY MCRAE
Top ranking keywords:
RESPONSIVE CUSHIONING SHOES
MOST STABLE TRAIL SHOES FOR WOMEN
COMRFORTABLE TRAIL RUNNING SHOES
ASHEVILLE
Top feature: DURABILITY
Best performing product: TERRA KIGER
Highest converting campaign: SALLY MCRAE
Top ranking keywords:
MOST DURABLE SHOES FOR TRAIL
LONG-LASTING TRAIL SHOES
APPALACHAIN TRAIL SHOES FOR MEN
26. AND BASE THOSE RECOMMENDATIONS ON
‣ Comparing how features, products and campaigns perform
‣ Who your competitors are for each location and how that affects your content
and traffic
‣ Which content and content types perform best for your audience
‣ How your target audience is searching for products, features, services, and
brands in selected locations (how do keywords and search behavior differ)
‣ Are there topics you’re missing creating content for in specific locations
27. So we’re going to talk about:
Using groups to get better insights
and information about local and competitor data
to up your marketing game.
*Best of all, you can do it on a budget.
28. By creating GROUPS,
you can easily compare
‣ Campaigns
‣ Messages
‣ Features
‣ Products
‣ Audiences
across various locations and competitors
29. Creating groups
Why groups? *Besides all the stuff I just said
‣ View your data your way, by what matters and makes sense to you
‣ Easier to handle multiple variables
‣ Quicker reporting
30. Creating groups
What will we be able to do?
‣ Discover new keywords to track based on location and competitor content
‣ Figure out what content to create before you launch new products, services,
campaigns, or messaging strategies
‣ Understand gaps in content both nationally and by location
‣ Find new competitors based on location
‣ Compare performance of keywords, content, and channel performance by
location
31. STEP 1: Choose groups
Examples of what you can create groups for
‣ Campaigns
‣ Messaging
‣ Products
‣ Features
‣ Audience types
‣ Content types
‣ Geographies
‣ Demographics
‣ Targeted accounts
(ABM)
32. Creating groups
What can I group?
‣ Keywords
‣ Content (onsite and offsite)
‣ Competitors
‣ Locations
34. Campaign Products Features Audiences
Featured athlete: Sally
McRae
Nike Air Zoom Wildhorse Responsive cushioning Trail enthusiasts
All-terrain quicknessd Nike Air Zoom Terra Kiger Traction Ultra marathoners
Durability Casual trail runners
Adaptive fit
An example: Nike trail running shoes
These are all things I might want to be able to track and compare for marketing
Nike trail running shoes, so we’ll create groups for each of them.
35. Campaign Products Features Audiences
Featured athlete: Sally
McRae
Nike Air Zoom Wildhorse Responsive cushioning Trail enthusiasts
All-terrain quicknessd Nike Air Zoom Terra Kiger Traction Ultra marathoners
Durability Casual trail runners
Adaptive fit
Comparing Features
For purposes of showing how to get set up, we’ll talk about trying to look at trail running
shoe features: responsive cushioning and durability
36. Each group needs two core components
CONTENT KEYWORDS+
Building a group
This is content you’ve created
that you believe is relevant to the
topic for the group
The keywords selected reflect
terms, phrases, products, etc.
that are part of how people
would find this content, describe
their wants and needs, or talk
about the situation
38. ADD CONTENT TO
THE GROUP
‣ Using keyword matching
regex rules you can set up
groups that will
automatically find and add
matching keywords based
on AND, OR, and NOT
specifications.
‣ This will also automatically
add new content that
matches these rules to the
group as well.
39. ADD CONTENT TO
THE GROUP
‣ You can isolate
subdomains, folders, and
other types here as well,
such as /blog or
/trail-shoes/
40. ADD CONTENT TO
THE GROUP
‣ Add content and targeted
keywords manually to
isolate URLs. This works for
onsite and offsite content.
41. ADD KEYWORDS
TO THE GROUP
‣ Add keywords once, and
they are applied to all
content
45. GROUP COMPETITORS
for easier comparisons and
filtering INDIRECT
DIRECT
ONLINE RETAILERS
ZAPPOS
EBAY
JET
RETAILERS
DICKS
FOOTLOCKER
REI
PUBLICATIONS
RUNNINGSHOESGURU
RUNNERSWORLD
TRAILRUNNERWEEKLY
OTHER BRANDS
REEBOK
BROOKS
ASICS
49. NEW COMPETITORS
by group
‣ See exactly who is competing with you
for traffic based on specific features,
products, campaigns, messaging, etc.
‣ Group them by direct and indirect
options so that you can understand
their content and positioning better.
56. VIEWING COMPETING KEYWORDS
individually and by group
This is a great way to learn:
‣ What’s being created around specific topics before starting a campaign
‣ What types of content seem to be created frequently for certain keywords and
groups - blogs, videos, image, landing page, etc.
‣ Total search volume for a group of terms versus competitors
‣ All content for a group that competitors are creating, which you can segment by
feature, product, campaign, messaging, etc.
‣ What content your competitors are creating that meet target market needs by
location
57. FIND MORE KEYWORDS
by topic
‣ Consider both broad and specific
topics to see what
recommendations are made.
‣ Look for “adjacent topics” to see
if terms related to your product
appear.
58. FIND MORE KEYWORDS
by content
‣ You can use your landing page or
a competitor’s page
‣ Use direct and indirect competitor
landing pages to see what types
of content resonate
59. FINDING NEW KEYWORDS
These are not only great keywords to consider tracking, but also ideas for new content,
emails, social media conversations, forum posts, etc.
61. ERIN’S TRICKS
CHALLENGE: You’re launching a new trail running shoe that is super durable
You want to know
What content is already out
there
How does durable trail shoe
content rank in different
markets
What content should you
create to rank for durable
trail shoes
62. ERIN’S TRICKS
QUESTION: What content is already out there about durable trail running shoes?
Add locations relevant to
your markets
- Seattle
- Portland
- Asheville
- San Francisco
- Tacoma
Run competitor discovery for
durability + trail running
shoes groups
- Runningshoegurus.com
- SeattleTrailRunnersClub
- BestTrailShoes.com
Expand their list of content
by the durability group
again to get a list of all
relevant content
Add keywords about
durability to a group and
keywords about trail
running shoes to a group
- Keyword discovery
- Your own list
63. ERIN’S TRICKS
QUESTION: How does durable trail shoe content rank in different markets?
Add locations relevant to
your markets
- Seattle
- Portland
- Asheville
- San Francisco
- Tacoma
Run competitor discovery for
durability + trail running
shoes groups
- Runningshoegurus.com
- SeattleTrailRunnersClub
- BestTrailShoes.com
View top performing
keywords by durability
group + trail shoe group
+ location
Add keywords about
durability to a group and
keywords about trail
running shoes to a group
- Keyword discovery
- Your own list
64.
65. ERIN’S TRICKS
QUESTION: What content should you create to rank for durable trail shoes?
View competitor list by
individual keyword or
keyword group + location
Find the competitor content
most relevant to you
Place URL of relevant
competitor content into
keyword discovery tool
Take list of discovered
keywords and sort by
- Search volume
- Competition score
- Location
- Keyword group
Run competitor discovery
for your tracked durability +
trailing running shoe
You get list of keywords that becomes:
- Topics to create new content
- Keywords to track for new campaigns, features, or products