October 31, 2023June 9, 2020 by John Woods

Google is bringing a big dose of science to web user experience…and it matters to anyone with a website

By John Woods | June 9, 2020

Google has announced a new set of standards for measuring “page experience” – that is, whether a particular web page delivers its content in a way that gives a positive experience for the user. These new standards provide a specific, pass or fail benchmark for three aspects of page experience that Google’s research has identified as particularly impactful for users.

Many websites currently fail to meet these new standards. Google is allowing a period of time before enforcement, but site owners are now on notice: they will need to improve their websites to meet these new page experience benchmarks, or face penalties to their SEO rankings.

In this article I’ll give an overview of the new standards, discuss their implications for B2B digital marketers, and highlight some immediate next steps you should be taking to ensure you are not left behind as Google rolls out its implementation of these standards.

Introducing Core Web Vitals

Google is calling the new standards “Core Web Vitals”. You’ll start to see them appear in various Google tools and reports. For example, here’s how they show up in Google Search Console:

There are three separate measures in Core Web Vitals:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): a measure of how long the page takes to display, when first loaded

• First Input Delay (FID): measures how quickly the page becomes interactive

• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): measures what Google calls “visual stability”, in other words how much the page elements flicker and move around during the initial loading process.

Each of these measures has its own specific benchmarks on a traffic light system. For example the LCP needs to be below 2.5s to score as “good”. Between 2.5s and 4.0s LCP means “needs improvement”. And LCP above 4.0s means “poor”.

I’ll drill into these three measurements in a future article. For now, it’s enough to say that they measure separate and largely independent aspects of user experience: so for example a page that scores very highly on LCP could still score badly on FID or CLS. So each measure will need individual attention.

Why Core Web Vitals matter

Page experience has been important for SEO for a long time. Google and other search engines naturally want to feature pages that will provide a positive experience for users. But to date the exact impact of page experience on SEO rankings has been hard to understand.

This is great news for all of us when we use the web: by providing an explicit incentive to avoid poor page experience, Google is helping to encourage higher standards for user experience across the web.

It is also good news for site owners: with Core Web Vitals, Google is making the impact of page experience on SEO much more transparent. A website owner can use the Core Web Vitals benchmarks as a reliable guide to whether their page experience is good enough to avoid SEO penalties, and can target specific improvements if they are needed.

But there is some bad news for site owners: the Core Web Vitals benchmarks are pretty demanding! It is likely that many websites will need to make significant technical changes to meet the new benchmarks and avoid SEO penalties. This is especially true for niche B2B websites which have often been designed and implemented with relatively little concern for page experience.

Although Google haven’t said so explicitly, I predict that page experience will become a much more significant ranking factor for SEO as Google rolls out these standards. So B2B marketers who pay attention to Core Web Vitals and who take action to ensure their websites meet the new benchmarks will be rewarded with higher levels of organic search traffic. And those who do not take action are likely to see their organic traffic decline.

Google’s announcements so far only relate Core Web Vitals to organic search. But I would not be surprised to see Core Web Vitals quickly becoming a factor in quality score for paid search (PPC/SEM). Google Ads already has a component of quality score for “landing page experience”, so it would be entirely logical for Google to take Core Web Vitals into account in the future. If that happens, Core Web Vitals scores will have a direct bearing on PPC costs: because a higher quality score reduces the amount paid for each click, and vice versa.

There’s time, but the clock is ticking

Google acknowledges that website owners will need time to improve their page experience. Their announcement says that the new measures will not be incorporated into SEO rankings until 2021 at the earliest, and that there will be a minimum of 6 months’ notice of the specific date.

Google has introduced similar policies in the past designed to encourage improvements in user experience. In particular, Google encouraged site owners to move from non-secure http: to secure https: connections, and pushed for mobile-friendly page design. Both of these were introduced gently with a small SEO impact at first, increasing over time. I predict we will see the same with Core Web Vitals: a small penalty for sites that don’t meet the benchmarks at first, but rising to a much more substantial penalty over time – to the point where, like https and mobile-friendliness, it will become inconceivable to attempt any meaningful SEO strategy on a site that does not meet the Core Web Vitals benchmarks.

What to do now – find out where you stand

You can see how your web pages score against the Core Web Vitals benchmarks right away. Check your website with Google’s free Pagespeed Insights tool. You’ll see your current scores highlighted with a blue icon, like this example:

Some things to consider when using this tool:

• Each page will have its own scores. You should check more than one page: important pages like the homepage and the “contact us” page, for example, and any pages that you have built specifically to bring in organic traffic.

• Pagespeed Insights ranks mobile and desktop versions of your page separately. Make sure to look at both. Many B2B sites are built primarily for desktop, a great set of Core Web Vitals on desktop won’t help you much if you fail every measure on mobile.

• The report shows both “Field Data” and “Lab Data” – concentrate on Field Data if it is available. If your page has small numbers of visitors (like many niche B2B pages) there may not be enough data for the “Field Data” report to show. In that case you can use the “Lab Data” report as a backup.

What to do next – plan to pass the benchmarks

You may be lucky enough to find that all of your important pages already pass the Core Web Vitals benchmarks. If so, congratulations! You should still remain vigilant, especially if you plan any technical or design changes to your pages, but it’s unlikely you will need to do any major work.

But it is much more likely you will find that your pages fail at least some of the benchmarks. This is especially true for B2B websites, where page performance and user experience are typically not given high priority in the design and implementation stages. In that case you’ll need to plan and budget for technical or design changes, or brace yourself for an eventual SEO penalty and consequent loss of organic traffic – and perhaps other negative implications too.

For some B2B website implementations it may be impractical to meet the Core Web Vitals benchmarks even with very large amounts of work. If your site is one of those, it may be time to consider a redesign or a complete replatform – with compliance with Core Web Vitals benchmarks an explicit goal for the project.

If you’d like help understanding the impact of Core Web Vitals on your B2B digital marketing strategy, or with any other aspect of B2B digital marketing, contact us today for a no-obligation consultation.

January 12, 2023May 20, 2020 by Emma Grimshaw

Are LinkedIn text ads the best kept secret in B2B brand advertising?

By Emma Grimshaw | May 20, 2020

The LinkedIn advertising platform has evolved quickly in recent years. What started out as a clunky interface with limited audience options and just a single advert format (the humble Text Ad), has matured into a more refined user experience with sophisticated targeting options that are a treasure-trove for B2B marketers.

Their newer Sponsored Content ad format is – on paper – better than it’s predecessor in almost every way. Benefiting from a large image or graphic, a generous character limit, a clear call-to-action button, and prominent news feed placement, you can expect a well-performing ad to generate a click-through-rate of 0.35-0.45%, according to LinkedIn.

Side-by-side the original Text Ad format looks somewhat meagre, tucked away to the right of the screen with just 50×50 pixel thumbnail image, 25-character headline, and 75-character description. And with a CTR of 0.12% being considered by LinkedIn as a ‘good’, it might leave you wondering: why even bother with Text Ads at all?

1 – LinkedIn Text Ads are excellent value

On the face of it a Text Ad with 10,000 impressions and 1 click might not feel like value added. But if your campaign is set to bid for clicks rather than impressions, then this should be considered a success. Where else would you be able to get your brand in front of a well targeted audience of B2B decision-makers 10,000 times for less than the price of a cup of coffee?

2 – LinkedIn Text Ads are highly targeted

If you have already created a sleek Sponsored Content campaign, then you’re only a few clicks away from setting up some complementary Text Ads. Your audience has already been defined and refined, so why not utilise this and reinforce your sales-focused messages with brand-building creative?

3 – LinkedIn Text ads are perfect for brand building

With specialist B2B products and services, there is a good chance that your audience isn’t big enough to run remarketing ads on LinkedIn. Text Ads are a great alternative, enabling you to keep your brand front-of-mind with the same prospects that have likely seen your Sponsored Content ads.

So whilst they might not boast impressive enough CTRs to hinge an entire lead generation campaign on, their power to generate brand awareness for pennies is the reason we think LinkedIn Text Ads are one of the best kept secrets in B2B brand advertising.

January 13, 2023May 7, 2020 by John Woods

Smartphone with Sharp Ahead's Website on it

Using Google Optimize to implement a COVID-19 notice in a sticky header

By John Woods | May 7, 2020

There is no “business as usual” at the moment. Even if your business is operating normally, you can’t assume that your clients, prospects and other stakeholders will realise that. So it’s important to proactively communicate how your business is responding to COVID-19. A simple, but effective way to do this on your website is with a site-wide sticky header – like the one we are using on the Sharp Ahead website.

We like this approach because it is conspicuous and clear while being minimally disruptive of the user experience. It has essentially no impact on the rest of the page, just taking up a few vertical pixels and pushing the normal content a little further down.

If you are lucky, your website’s content management system may already have support for a sticky header. But if it doesn’t, Google have provided a simple way to implement a COVID-19 notice using Google Optimize. This can be done with the free version of Google Optimize, so there’s no technology cost, and the steps are simple enough that you should be able to implement this in an hour or so.

Here’s a walkthrough of the steps needed to implement a COVID-19 sticky header, using Google Optimize:

1) If you already have Google Optimize set up and working on your website, you can skip ahead to step 5. Otherwise, start by signing up for a Google Optimize account at https://marketingplatform.google.com/intl/en_uk/about/optimize/.

2) Follow the prompts in Google Optimize to create a new account, and a new container within that account. You will end up with a container ID that will look something like OPT-ABCDEFG.

3) Advance warning, this is the only tricky part – proceed with coffee. You will need to install the Google Optimize snippet in your website, and it needs to be added to every page. Ideally it should be included in the HTML <HEAD> section of the page, but that isn’t essential for this particular usage. You may need help from your web developers to do this. If you have Google Tag Manager, you can use that to install Google Optimize much more easily. (If you don’t have Google Tag Manager – why not? It’s a key productivity tool for digital marketing teams!)

4) For the next bit, it is much easier to work within the Chrome browser. So switch your browser if need be, and then install the Chrome extension for Google Optimize (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-optimize/bhdplaindhdkiflmbfbciehdccfhegci).

5) In your Google Optimize container, select “Create an experience”. Give your experience a name, provide the URL of your homepage and choose Google’s built-in “COVID-19 banner” experience type:

6) If everything is set up correctly, you’ll see a preview of your homepage with Google’s default banner in place, like this:

7) That default banner is a good start but most likely you will want to change the content and appearance somewhat. Use the on-screen editor controls to change the banner’s text and colours to get it the way you want it. The Optimize editor is powerful but takes a bit of getting used to. The live preview at least means you can see the impact of your changes right away. You might need a bit of trial and error – if you get lost, you can always shut down the editor screen without saving and start again! Here’s an example of how to change the background colour of the bar to “COVID-19 Red”:

8) Once you have the banner reading and looking exactly how you want it, hit the Save button in the top right of the editor screen and then click Done:

9) If all is well, you’ll see the Optimize details screen with your banner experience showing as “Draft. Some setup steps must still be completed.”:

10) You can leave most of these settings unchanged. In the “Measurement” section, click on the “Link to Analytics” button and follow the prompts to set up that connection.

11) You should now see the status change to “Draft. Ready to start.”:

12) Hit the “Start” button to put your banner live!

Google Optimize does a pretty good job of laying out and sizing the banner for various devices, but it’s a good idea to test the end result on both a computer and a phone to make sure you are happy with it.

When things change

Google Optimize doesn’t allow an Experience to be edited after it has been put live. So if you need to change your banner, log back into Google Optimize and make a copy of the Experience. Make your edits to the copy, then stop the original banner and start the new copy.

Speak to an expert

If you are concerned about the impact of COVID-19 on your paid media strategies, or on any other aspect of your B2B digital marketing, speak to an expert at Sharp Ahead today. We offer a free 30-minute remote consultation.

January 13, 2023March 27, 2020 by John Woods

Man with headset watching something on laptop and taking notes

Considering webinars? 10 top tips and 2 alternatives.

By John Woods | March 27, 2020

If you’re considering the pivot from face-to-face events to webinars, you’re not alone. In the era of social distancing webinars are an obvious choice for facilitating interactions between customers, prospects and suppliers.

Here are our top 10 tips for running a webinar from home– and 2 alternatives to consider.

A webinar is not a hard sales pitch. People have given up their time to learn something not to hear your sales spiel. Use case studies, ask a customer to join you remotely for a Q and A, share your expertise. Think of it as an opportunity to position yourself as a thought leader.
Don’t give away too much! A webinar should open conversations, build trust and facilitate the next steps. There should be a clear call to action at the end of the that moves attendees down the sales funnel.
Check WiFi speed – have you managed a general video call before at home on your laptop that was relatively smooth? Test video quality from room to room and find where the strongest signal is.
Sound quality is even more critical than video. If possible, use a microphone. If you don’t have one, sit as close to your laptop microphone as possible. Make sure you are in a quiet, calm environment. If possible having children, noisy housemates or pets around as they will distract you and your attendees.
Always have a practice run! Ask someone to dial into the practise webinar listen in to check quality. Plan it for the same time of day as the live webinar for the most accurate test. If you have no one to help, simply record your test run and make sure you are happy with the sound when you listen back.
Familiarise yourself with your webinar software (we like Zoom and GoToWebinar). Make sure you know how to mute yourself, start the webinar, end the webinar and take questions (and practice these steps!).
Prepare questions. You probably have a good idea of what kind of questions your customers tend to ask so have a couple prepared in case your attendees are reluctant to ask their own.
Avoid using long videos in your webinar. They often result in a mixed experience for attendees, who have signed up to hear and interact with people not watch videos (which you can always send out after the webinar)
Don’t panic if something goes wrong. Stay calm, keep the audience informed and mute yourself for a few seconds to compose yourself if you need to.
Follow up. Always email your attendees to thank them for their time and post the recording on online (the content isn’t sensitive). Not only does this allow your attendees to re-watch or share their with colleagues, it also is a useful resource for future prospects. (You can also listen back to the webinar yourself and make notes of any improvements you might want to make for future webinars.

Not sure if webinars are right for you? If you’re not comfortable running a webinar, or if you’re (rightly) worried your customers are being bombarded with them right now, here are two alternatives:

Short instructional videos: consider creating some short, helpful videos on your product, service, or area of expertise. Use the same tips above on sound quality and practice. Keep them under a minute or so and amplify them through your social networks, inviting prospects and customers to follow you and signup to receive future content.
Interviews: if you have a friendly customer or influencer willing to be interviewed, you can use the same software and principles above to record your conversation and provide that content to your prospects and customers. Again, amplify it throughout your networks and consider creating short teaser versions to repurpose for more content.

And of course, if you need any help defining your webinar strategy, want some coaching or hands on assistance, or just have some general questions on webinars, please get in touch.

January 13, 2023March 25, 2020 by Jennifer Esty

Revising your marketing plan in a time of uncertainty? 5 best practice tips for digital excellence

By Jennifer Esty | March 25, 2020

Before you change your plans, read our 5 best practice tips for digital marketing excellence in this time of uncertainty.

The social networking behemoth is now even more important for staying in touch with customers and prospects. Take the time to audit your Company Page and personal profiles of key colleagues. Make sure they are updated with relevant messaging, polished branding, and clear signals that you’re ready to connect and interact online.

Now is definitely the time to develop a rich content strategy and a team of online influencers to reach prospects in the absence of offline activity.

PPC

If you’re looking to reallocate marketing funds, PPC is almost certainly a good investment right now. Focus on intent-based, high value keywords and best practice basics like brand ads and remarketing campaigns.

Whilst search volumes for many B2B products and services may decrease for a period of time, being found for those searches is even more critical now and you will stand out even more (and pay less) if competitors have made the ill-advised decision to turn off all PPC advertising.

Read our blog on Managing PPC in the emerging Coronavirus situation for more tips.

Google My Business

If your business has changed or reduced opening hours, make sure you update your Google My Business (GMB) listing to let customers and prospects know.

GMB has also introduced a “temporarily closed” status if you have physical shops or offices that you wish to mark closed during the lockdown.

Similarly, if your main contact numbers have changed, updating them on your listing is vitally important.

Analytics

With so many of your customers and prospects working from home, your IP tracking software probably isn’t offering you a lot of help right now.

However, the LinkedIn Insight can give you rich insights into who is interacting with your website and landing pages, and gives you an opportunity to create remarketing lists for LinkedIn campaigns. If you don’t have it already, the tag is easy to create and deploy.

Website

Including a business continuity message on your site will give customers and prospects reassurance that you are open for business—or can set their expectations on response times or any changes in the services you can provide.

Also, with traffic likely to be lower and overall activity reduced, now might be just the time to make those important changes or updates to your site. You’ll lower any risks during deployment and are likely to have more time to focus on strategic improvements, better content and increased conversion—all ready to provide a best practice customer experience when it’s business as usual again.

Need more help?

If you need any help with your digital strategy, Sharp Ahead are offering a free 30-minute consultation to qualified B2B companies. You can book one online today.