Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) are the pages displayed by various search engines when a user searches for a particular word or phrase. When creating content as part of your inbound marketing strategy, you’ll want to employ various Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to have your page rank higher in search engine results. You can use SERP rankings to measure the effectiveness of your content and SEO techniques. In this episode, Harris and Shawn discuss how founders and marketers can use SERP as an important metric to measure the performance of content against particular keywords. They begin by talking about the need to understand a product’s niche and audience before moving into various SEO and SERP tips and tools. One Powerful Quotation: * 30:10 – Shawn: “You employ all of your good SEO techniques to make [your content] rank more highly, and then you use SERP to measure how well your page [performs in search results].” Key Topics: * 1:00 – Harris and Shawn talk about life events and various work projects. Shawn mentions that he’s working on a collaboration project with @Odd_Jayy (https://twitter.com/Odd_Jayy) and @glowascii (https://twitter.com/glowascii). * 4:20 – Shawn gives tips on how to find time to read books. * 9:00 – Shawn gives a definition for Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) and why it offers a better metric than Search Engine Optimization (SEO). * 11:45 – Harris asks about good versus bad (trickery) SEO. * 14:00 – Shawn defines SERP, which is an indication of where your site shows up in search engine results when a user searches for particular keywords * 16:15 – Harris talks about Google’s new shopping tab * 17:15 – Harris and Shawn talk about how product search engines within a site (e.g. Amazon’s search) differs from broader search engines, like Google. * 19:00 – Shawn mentions a recent development where people are receiving random packages containing seeds. It turns out that this is a part of a scam to boost Amazon reviews for vendors (https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/08/04/free-amazon-orders-scam-mysterious-seeds-packages-brushing/5580858002/). * 21:08 – Harris and Shawn give their perspectives on running traditional outbound marketing techniques, such as running Google or Facebook ads. * 23:52 – Shawn recounts his experiences creating content for SparkFun and how successful it was at driving pageviews. * 25:40 – Shawn talks about creating content to maximize SERP number. Namely, “evergreen” content that continues to draw users for years after posting offers some of the best SERP value. * 29:53 – Shawn describes how SEO can be used to boost SERP. * 30:30 – Harris and Shawn give reasons for why they’re using Binho, LLC (https://binho.io/) as an example of how to create evergreen content for a niche audience. * 31:01 – Shawn describes the importance of patience with inbound marketing. * 33:20 – Harris talks about reusing and distributing content. * 34:27 – Shawn talks about why voice and video should (probably) not be your primary content for inbound marketing (at this point in time). Most search engines still prioritize written content, so written content should be your focus. * 39:03 – Harris introduces his new project: Intro CRM (https://introcrm.com/). * 41:11 – Shawn helps Harris brainstorm ideas for evergreen content that could be created to drive traffic to his new service. * 49:58 – Shawn mentions that Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest tool (https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/) can be very helpful for discovering keywords, creating article titles, and analyzing people’s search patterns. * 51:29 – Shawn introduces the concept of pillar content (https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-is-a-pillar-page), which is a collection of related articles that link to each other and all pages link back to a single, important piece of content. * 56:22 – Harris asks what would be good content if your audience doesn’t know the right words or jargon to use (i.e. they don’t know what a “host adapter” or “CRM” is). * 1:02:23 – Shawn talks about setting your expectations when competing with content from large companies. * 1:03:05 – Harris stresses the importance of having a good, differentiated product to start with. * 1:06:52 – Harris and Shawn talk about how to market products that may not have all the features you hoped for on launch. * 1:09:21 – Shawn recommends the book The Innovator’s Dilemma (https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Change-Business/dp/0062060244) to learn about how to create products that serve a niche well. * 1:11:11 – Shawn talks about the importance of needing to market your product while you’re developing it and recommends the book Content, Inc. (https://www.amazon.com/Content-Inc-Entrepreneurs-Successful-Businesses/dp/125958965X) to assist in this journey. * 1:13:50 – Shawn talks about his experiences creating pillar content and measuring SERP. He recommends the tool Serposcope (https://serposcope.serphacker.com/en/) to automatically report the SERP rankings of your site versus various keywords on a daily basis. * 1:17:34 – Harris asks Shawn about the tools he uses to measure SEO and SERP. Shawn lists Neil Patel’s SEO Analyzer (https://neilpatel.com/seo-analyzer/) and Rank Math SEO for WordPress (https://rankmath.com/) in addition to the previously mentioned tools. * 1:19:29 – Harris talks about his poor experience working with an outsourced SEO firm. * 1:20:26 – Harris and Shawn talk about the skills required to create good content and why building trust is so important. * 1:22:02 – Harris and Shawn talk about how to create content that’s relevant to your audience. Shawn recommends the book Youtility (https://www.amazon.com/Youtility-Smart-Marketing-about-Help/dp/1591846668) for learning how to create valuable, relevant content. List of Resources * Rework (https://www.amazon.com/Rework-Jason-Fried/dp/0307463745) * Sapiens (https://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-Harari/dp/0062316117/) * Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest tool (https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/) * The Innovator’s Dilemma (https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Change-Business/dp/0062060244) * Serposcope (https://serposcope.serphacker.com/en/) * Neil Patel’s SEO Analyzer (https://neilpatel.com/seo-analyzer/) * Rank Math SEO for WordPress (https://rankmath.com/) * Youtility (https://www.amazon.com/Youtility-Smart-Marketing-about-Help/dp/1591846668) Host Contact Information: shawnhymel.com (https://shawnhymel.com/) kennyconsultinggroup.com (http://kennyconsultinggroup.com) LinkedIn – Shawn Hymel (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnhymel/) LinkedIn – Harris Kenny (https://www.linkedin.com/in/harriskenny/) Twitter – Shawn Hymel (https://www.twitter.com/ShawnHymel) Twitter – Harris Kenny (https://www.twitter.com/harriskenny) License Information: “Hello Blink Show” by Kenny Consulting Group, LLC and Skal Risa, LLC is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Intro and outro song is “Routine” by Amine Maxwell is licensed under CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)