The full ramifications of Google’s March 2019 algorithm update are not yet known. The purpose of the update was to refine user search queries to provide more accurate results for those queries, yet many websites reportedly suffered a drop in SEO ranking.
But according to new research from data intelligence and data services firm MountainTop Data, the proper implementation of email marketing strategies can lead to a positive ranking for your website, despite the algorithm update.
A major key to improving SEO ranking is to discover what a person is thinking when they search a word or phrase
What are the peripheral words and subjects that relate to a given search term that will benefit the searcher? Digital newsletters infused with strategic keywords and emailed to a distribution list can help identify what a searcher is thinking.
Not long ago, search engines could only determine the quantity of website content—the number of links or keywords on a page. This is no longer the case—in 2018, Google made an important algorithm update by shifting the search engine’s intelligence toward content quality.
This trend was strengthened even more with the 2019 update
Email marketing doesn’t have a direct influence on Google or other search engines yet using emails correctly can vastly improve SEO. “The quality of the data in your distribution base is going to target your campaign’s product and how that product links your market to your website is going to drive your success” said Sky Cassidy, CEO of MountainTop Data, in a news release.
Cassidy prescribes the following points in an email campaign for maximum exposure:
Social media
Send an email newsletter encouraging the recipients to like or follow you in social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others.
Website blogs and articles
In your email newsletter refer to blogs, articles, e-books, podcasts or any other interesting content on your website and include links so recipients can link back to your site. Encourage sharing the newsletter with friends and colleagues.
User-generated content
Invite your email newsletter recipients to create and share their own content on your site including comments, testimonials, pictures and videos. Search engines regard this favorably.
Archiving
As your email newsletters contain quality information be sure to put them to use by archiving them on your website. Either post the articles as standalone pieces or convert the newsletters to PDF files and host them on your site.
Survey
Survey your customers in your email marketing newsletter. Ask them pointed questions about a given subject on your site. Tabulate their answers and use the highest percentage of words and phrases relating to that subject that they dish back as content on your site. These specific terms will get noticed by Google and other search engines.
Cassidy emphasizes that a critical step to improving clients’ SEO through email marketing is to eliminate bad names and addresses from their distribution email list—otherwise known as “dirty data.”
“Data cleaning a distribution list has a greater impact of delivered and engaged emails,” said Cassidy, in a news release. “That translates into enhanced SEO that can greatly impact sales.”