This is part 2 of 2 of the my MozCon 2016 review. You can read part 1 here.
As I stated earlier, I did not attend every speaker – only those that I thought were relevant to my particular line of business, web design.
Taking the Top Spot: How to Earn More Featured Snippets with Rob Bucci
I really enjoyed Rob Bucci’s presentation. I had a notion in my head that rich snippets in Google were only taking away from user click throughs. Although some searches are taking away user clicks, Rob pointed out that listings in Google with a rich snippet drove user engagement up when someone did click through.
Local Intended Searches Don’t Have Rich Snippets
For now, searches with local intent that would display a Places result won’t show a rich snippet. Local SEOs don’t get to take advantage of rich snippets like many organic SEOs. There might be a place for rich snippets in Local SEO in the future.
Three Types of Rich Snippets
Generally, there are three types of rich snippets that Google uses:
- Lists (ordered and unordered)
- Paragraphs
- Tables
Rob said that Google is desperate for rich snippet data. When Google crawls a site looking for data, they’ll create the snippet type using what they think would be the best for the user. For example, when someone is searching for a recipe, Google will display the rich snippet in an ordered list. Even if the website didn’t display or markup their content in an ordered list, Google will work hard to get it setup as a list in SERPs.
Rich Snippet Strategy
One of my key takeaways from Rob’s presentation is that you can use your understanding of rich snippet types to improve your ability to have your listing attached to one in SERPs. If you find keywords in your space that you’re optimizing for that have rich snippets, look at the markup of the pages Google is pulling from and compare it to the type of rich snippet they displayed. If Google had to pull the data together from paragraphs or divs to make a table, then you have yourself a “weak snippet”.
You can use this strategy against your competitors. If you find weak snippets in your keyword space, you can then format your content correctly so that Google doesn’t need to work so hard. If Google’s looking for a table, give them a table. The chances of Google using your site instead is now much better.
The Irresistible Power of Strategic Storytelling with Kindra Hall
Storytelling seems to have become a very powerful marketing strategy. I think it’s tough to pull off due to the time investment, but once it is completed, it will be an asset to any marketing strategy.
Kindra spoke on the importance of storytelling, backing it up with psychological reasons why people enjoy it. Any company or website can tell a story that will resonate with its target market.
Basics of Storytelling
Like the stories we were read when we were kids, all stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is important when creating story content. It will help you and your marketing team plan the story.
Kindra suggests telling a story about, problems that your customers had, and once they found you, how those problems went away. She also suggests focusing on a single moment or person in time. Make sure to include emotions of how people felt once a problem was solved.
Here are some examples of great stories that Kindra mentioned:
These are great example of stories that don’t focus on the product, but rather the emotional value tied to it.
Did you attend MozCon? What did you think about it?
