Ahrefs - Ahrefs' Weekly Digest #62

Hey there,

Long-tail keywords, marketing channels, content marketing ideas, and more. We've got some actionable tutorials for you in today's edition of Ahrefs' Weekly Digest.

What's new on the blog?

Long-tail Keywords: What They Are and How to Get Search Traffic From Them - By Tim Soulo

Fun fact: long-tail keywords are not named so because they are long. That's a common misconception. It has nothing to do with how many words there are. They're called long-tail keywords because, well, they fall on the long-tail of the search demand curve. It just so happens that long-tail keywords tend to be longer, but there are exceptions too—short keywords can be long-tail keywords.

You should also know that you can't treat all long-tail keywords the same. There are two categories. Some represent a unique search query ("topical long-tail keywords"), while others are merely a less popular variation of a more popular search query ("supporting long-tail keywords").

Knowing the difference between the two will help inform your keyword research strategy and how you create content.

8 Effective Marketing Channels in 2021 (And How We Use Them) - By Mateusz Makosiewicz

The more channels you have to reach your customers, the better. And together, they should form a seamless omnichannel experience.

So, even though we're known for our blog and YouTube channel, those aren't the only two channels we use. There are six more, including email marketing (this newsletter!), social media, advertising, and sponsorships.

Of course, if you're just starting out, you don't have enough resources to tackle every channel. In which case, we recommend focusing on just one until you've gotten the hang of it and can scale it up. (If that's SEO, read this post.)

11 Powerful Content Marketing Ideas for 2021 (With Examples) - By Priscilla Tan

2022 is just around the corner, so perhaps it's time to give your content marketing strategy a boost. Consider experimenting with a few new ideas from Priscilla and see if they work for your business.

For example, why not do a tweetstorm of every new post you publish? Give a tl;dr of the article, then encourage people to check out the full post. We tried this ourselves (or rather my colleagues Tim, Josh, and Michal did), and as you can see, it worked out quite well.

What we're reading

Lush is quitting social media. The start of a trend?

Lush has decided to stop posting on FB, IG, TikTok and Snapchat. For a brand in an industry reliant on social media, this is a bold move. But they have a strong brand, a cult following, and well, constraints breed creativity. Plus, the anti-social media sentiment is growing and this fits perfectly into that. It’ll probably pay off.

(By the way, we’re doing something similar—we’re moving our entire paid traffic budget for December from Google/Facebook and sponsoring content creators instead.)

Priority Hints Lower LCP [Article]

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is the single largest visible element loaded in the viewport. This is usually the featured image but could be something else, like the <img> element, the image inside a <video> element, blocks of text, etc.

It is part of your website’s Core Web Vitals, which is now a ranking factor.

In this test, Dave Smart signed up for Chrome Origin Trials and tested it on his site. The results? It worked! Might just be worth testing for your site too.

What High-Impact SEO Consulting Looks Like [Video]

Good SEO consulting is not about fixing technical issues or recommending best practices. It’s about the impact on your client’s business. Be proactive, show how your recommendations will affect traffic and revenue, back it up with evidence, and focus on the big changes.

Till next time ;)

Cheers,

P.S. We’re experimenting with adding more content to our newsletter. What do you think? What should we improve? What should we add? Let me know by replying to this email.