This post is part of our ongoing blog series highlighting our CMS practice at AMPXD; learn more about how we select CMS solutions through our other stories. As a large worldwide enterprise software organization with multiple product teams, marketing teams, customer communities, and outreach programs; VMware knows the daily challenges of managing a robust blog ecosystem and its content.. With over 40 different corporate blogs, VMware tasked our CMS experts at AMPXD with creating and managing a centralized authoring environment. Before our engagement the VMware teams had disparate blog instances in multiple platforms which made both content and user administration difficult to coordinate and manage. The organic growth of the various blog platforms also created the situation where they lacked brand consistency with various blogs’ look-and-feel resembling different brands. This lack of cohesion resulted in end users browsing between properties having jarring experiences as brand assets and user interface elements were unique to each blog. The AMPXD team in coordination with VMware stakeholders audited their internal workflows and business needs and identified WordPress Multisite as the ideal platform to enable blog authoring for the entire organization. The extensibility and control features of creating a WordPress Multisite network allowed for consistent user interfaces via brand controlled themes, a centralized user repository integrated with SSO, and one true dashboard to manage content and sites across the organization. AMPXD completed the migration of the existing VMware corporate blogs to the WordPress platform and, as part of the work, unified all of the disparate user interface elements of the blogs into one true corporate blog theme. The VMware blog network now has consistent styling elements whether you are browsing content from VMware Latin America or reading about the latest tips for utilizing vSphere The flexibility of the WordPress platform and the ability to create multisite blog networks has enabled VMware to create a robust blog ecosystem with over 40 blogs specialized to VMware products and disciplines. Utilizing content syndication mechanisms, VMware now has one blog space that is an aggregate of all corporate content across the blog network, giving customers one portal to discover and consume corporate content from across the whole ecosystem. By centering on the authoring workflow and optimizing the WordPress platform, the VMware team’s ability to easily manage authors, themes, system integrations and plugins has allowed the enterprise to focus on creating rich content and communities. Over the course of our ongoing series of posts around technology, we will share stories of uniquely different CMS solutions in practical implementations. If you have an upcoming CMS project or need to discuss content management strategies, the team at AMPXD would love to assist you with your needs. Reach out to us via our Contact Us form. You can also read about our entire suite of Experience Design and Website Development capabilities on our Services Page.
In our continuing series of examining Google Search Trends to gain insights into the top keywords queried in the USA, we present our findings for July 2023. Every day, we capture the top three keyword phrases in terms of search volume as reported by Google Trends (US Only). Each term has an estimated query volume attached to it, which we also record. The number scale tops out at 10,000,000+ with a lower limit of 200,000+ (sometimes 100,000+). After the conclusion of the month, we look at the phrases we collected along with their volumes to get an understanding of what drove queries for the month. Search Is Sizzling In July Actually, the total search volumes for the phrases we collected in July 2023 were lower compared to June so sizzling may be an exaggeration. We can’t say for certain why the reported search volumes were lower. There could have been a change in the way Google Trends was reporting query volume. The team likes to think that the people are out and about and not looking at their phones as much. Oh sure. Looking across the keywords, we had several celebrity deaths that made up the most searched topics of the month. The 4th of July holiday and the guy who seems undeniably connected to it made our report. We have an understanding at what movies, TV, and music were popular last month along with how much big jackpots of money captivated the search audience. Carlee Russell was someone people wanted to know more about and there was a lot of interest in the sport of soccer. Lastly, changes at Twitter and the launch of Threads had us excited to share more from the category of social media. Here’s what we have for you in this report! We Say Goodbye Sadly, the queries with the most volume from the past month were driven by celebrity deaths: Tony Bennett - 7/21/2023 - 2,000,000+ queries Sinead O'Connor - 7/26/2023 - 5,000,000+ queries On the last day of the month, two other entertainers passed away. Angus Cloud - 7/31/2023 - 5,000,000+ queries Paul Reubens - 7/31/2023 - 2,000,000+ queries We tend not to report on the query related to celebrity deaths but last month, two of these phrases were the only ones to be reported as having over 5 million queries for the day. The Fourth Fireworks, parades, and Joey Chestnut. These are the things that come to mind when we think about the Fourth of July holiday. You may not agree with the last item in the series, but the competitive eater has made our report over the past 3 years! Joey Chestnut - 7/2/2023 - 100,000+ queries Independence Day - 7/3/2023 - 200,000+ queries Fourth of July - 7/3/2023 - 2,000,000+ queries Joey Chestnut - 7/4/2023 - 500,000+ queries Take a look at the rising search popularity of his name in this Google Trends graph! Like it or not, Joey Chestnut is becoming a regular feature for the holiday. Summer Entertainment There were a few movie titles in our list from July 2023: Sound of Freedom - 7/3/2023 - 200,000+ queries Wonka - 7/11/2023 - 100,000+ queries Barbie movie - 7/20/2023 - 2,000,000+ queries The Sound of Freedom was released in theaters on July 4 and the Wonka film trailer dropped on the 11th. What seems to be the movie of the summer if not the year, Barbie hit the big screens on July 21st. Here are the queries that made our list that are related to TV shows. Emmy nominations 2023 - 7/12/2023 - 200,000+ queries The Summer I Turned Pretty - 7/13/2023 - 200,000+ queries Golden Bachelor - 7/17/2023 - 100,000+ queries Lastly, Travis Scott released an album on the 28th and people wanted to know more: Utopia Travis Scott - 7/27/2023 - 200,000+ queries Dreams of Free Money It seems like once or twice a year we get a large lottery jackpot that stirs up search interest. In July, we had two: Powerball - 7/8/2023 - 200,000+ queries Mega Millions - 7/8/2023 - 200,000+ queries Powerball - 7/11/2023 - 500,000+ queries Powerball - 7/15/2023 - 500,000+ queries Powerball numbers - 7/18/2023 - 500,000+ queries Powerball - 7/18/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries Powerball - 7/18/2023 - 2,000,000+ queries As you can see, the Powerball lottery game was very popular in July. Even though Mega Millions saw one entry in July when no one won the $427 million prize, The Powerball jackpot hit 1 billion dollars on the 18th and there was one winner for the drawing on the 20th. The Curious Case of Carlee Russell Carlee Russell’s name was reported on news outlets as someone who was kidnapped. Carlee Russell - 7/14/2023 - 500,000+ queries Carlee Russell found - 7/15/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries Carlee Russell - 7/19/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries The Alabama woman admitted later that she staged her own kidnapping and turned herself in and was charged with making false reports. Some Keywords Related To Politics Here are the phrases that made Google’s Daily Trends top 3 last month. Cocaine found in White House - 7/4/2023 - 100,000+ queries Student loan forgiveness - 7/14/2023 - 200,000+ queries Mitch McConnell - 7/26/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries Besides all the holiday festivities, people wanted to know about the cocaine found at the White House. We guess we’ll never know. On the 14th, the Biden Administration announced it would forgive the loans for 804,000 borrowers and on the 26th, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell had an episode where he stopped talking while being interviewed by reporters and was escorted from the podium where he was speaking. Soccer Keywords We are going to call it soccer in this report, but the sport better known as football around the world drove many people to search last month. The USMNT was involved in the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament. Here are some queries that were related to it that made our collection. USA vs Trinidad and Tobago - 7/2/2023 - 100,000+ queries Mexico vs Costa Rica - 7/6/2023 - 200,000+ queries USA vs Panama - 7/12/2023 - 200,000+ queries The USWNT played in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup and search interest in that team and their matches was strong and they also made the list. Women's World Cup - 7/19/2023 - 500,000+ queries USWNT - 7/20/2023 - 100,000+ queries U.S. Women's Soccer - 7/21/2023 - 200,000+ queries USA vs Netherlands - 7/26/2023 - 200,000+ queries Women's World Cup - 7/27/2023 - 200,000+ queries It figures that after a world famous player joins your club that suddenly the team name is getting queried every time you play. Inter Miami - 7/21/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries Inter Miami - 7/25/2023 - 500,000+ queries We’ll keep an eye on how many times this team makes our list for the rest of the year. Major League Baseball There is another major league playing games in the summer. MLB had their All-Star game in July but searchers mostly cared about the Home Run Derby. Home Run Derby 2023 - 7/9/2023 - 200,000+ queries Home Run Derby - 7/10/2023 - 500,000+ queries The trade deadline for the league actually occurred on the first of August but people still wanted to see the flurry of trades. MLB Trade Deadline - 7/31/2023 - 200,000+ queries Sorry Mets fans. Interest In Other Sports Too Queries related to big events in Tennis and Boxing made our list. Carlos Alcaraz - 7/14/2023 - 200,000+ queries Wimbledon - 7/16/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries The Wimbledon tournament was played in July 2023 and Carlos Alcaraz was the Men’s Singles winner. Spence vs Crawford - 7/28/2023 - 200,000+ queries Crawford vs Spence - 7/28/2023 - 200,000+ queries Errol Spence Jr vs Terence Crawford - 7/29/2023 - 200,000+ queries The boxing match between Errol Spence Jr. and Terrence Crawford was fought on the 29th. As you can see, there were many ways to search for this bout. On the 29th, Crawford defeated Spence via TKO. Prime Day Amazon had their big deal day for Prime members as they typically do in July. Amazon Prime Day - 7/10/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries The search volume is almost back to pre-pandemic levels but not quite where it was in July 2019: ‘ Twitter, Threads, and X We finish up this edition of our search trends report with all the big happenings with social media platforms. Here’s a timeline of all the things searchers wanted to know more about with the changes at Twitter (X) and Meta: Rate limit exceeded Twitter - 7/1/2023 - 200,000+ queries Threads - 7/5/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries Twitter rebrand - 7/23/2023 - 200,000+ queries For some reason, there were limits put in place for the number of tweets users could view in a day, with different limits for verified and unverified accounts. Meta launched Threads on the 5th, much to the surprise of social media managers everywhere. We shall see how this new platform evolves as we have been viewing Twitter’s many changes over the course of 2023, which includes its rebrand to X. Update all of your social icons! Thanks for reading. If you liked this article, we utilize search trends data for all of our clients and we invite you to learn more about our SEO services.
When you’re first starting out on social media, you may be heeding advice to “just show up” on each platform. Great advice, nonetheless, but there’s an opportunity to diversify your content and give it a more native fit for each social media platform. Establishing distinct channel strategies ensures that you’re engaging most effectively with that channel’s audience. Consumers use different apps for different reasons.Your audience on Instagram is completely different from your audience on Twitter or TikTok. More importantly, media dimensions, character limits, and the overall strategy and objective vary depending on what social media platform you’re using. Content can be repurposed to ensure it communicates the brands' message across different platforms,however, it should always be tweaked to fit the social channel’s needs and to increase engagement. Let’s take a look at a few popular platforms and how to optimize your content on each one. Instagram Instagram is a staple when a brand is trying to showcase their visual DNA. Most brands only have about 3 seconds to capture consumers’ attention, so they’ll want to get a good understanding of what you’re about from just a photo. No matter the industry, people will be coming to your brand’s Instagram profile to see what the products or services offered look like and take a peek at the aesthetics offered inside as well. Instagram is a visual storytelling app. Feed posts allow you to show the bigger picture, while story posts are where your consumers can see every step along the journey. Through story interactions, reels, and direct messages, there’s also a wide-open opportunity to develop a community surrounding your brand. X (previously Twitter) A community manager’s dream (or nightmare), X (previously Twitter) allows you to speak directly to your audience—and they’re likely to respond! X gives your brand an avenue to speak on what speaks to them, interact with consumers, and easily repost relevant content, all great ways to lean into your brand's personality. Most brands allow the witty, not-so-serious side of themselves to live on X, leaning into gifs, memes, and trends that float across the text-first platform. You could use this platform to engage jokingly with your competitors, start conversations about the products or services you offer and have a little fun. TikTok TikTok is a great platform to push your brand creativity and have your content reach new audiences using unique trends. For your brand, TikTok is a creative playground. With trending sounds, filters, and templates, there are so many ways to present your brand in a way you may never have before. The platform’s motto, "Make TikToks not Ads," is a great guardrail for developing content. Consumers on TikTok learn about hidden gem products, new recipes, or product hacks. Optimal content on this app is very immersive, so you have an opportunity to find more information and insights about your consumers. LinkedIn LinkedIn is a great place to show off some thought leadership and anything interesting you’re doing in your industry. Think of LinkedIn as your brand’s professional landing, a place to network and mingle in a more formal setting. Brands could use this to showcase their values, employee spotlights, and business achievements. This could spark an interest in future customers, employees, or investors. So, before jumping into a new social media platform, (like Threads), develop a channel strategy. If the app is primarily visual, take some time to solidify pictures and videos that will add value to your page and engage your audience, like relevant infographics or shots of real people enjoying your brand. For more text-first apps, take advantage of the opportunity to let your words do the work by starting engaging conversations with your consumers or answering FAQ. Most importantly, get to know your consumers! Understand how your audience behaves and engages on each specific channel so you can tailor your content to fit right in.
Creating a Centralized Digital Platform for Businesses with Multiple Brands This post is part of our ongoing blog series highlighting our CMS practice at AMPXD; learn more about how we select CMS solutions through our other stories. When website content management becomes so cumbersome that an organization cannot make even the most basic changes without the assistance of a technologist, it’s a clear indicator that a new technology strategy is needed. This was one of the key issues that prompted PFU, an international information technology company, to seek our CMS website development expertise at AMPXD. When PFU approached AMPXD for help, they had multiple websites across separate platforms with little consistency across them. With the facade of a CMS, PFU product information was scattered across different sites, and customers had a difficult time finding guidance on which products best fit their needs. PFU content authors also had a difficult time with efficiently updating content and adding new website features. The authors found themselves unable to keep up with ever changing market trends, and they were losing customers. After careful consideration of PFU’s business requirements, AMPXD identified Sitecore XP as the right enterprise CMS platform to address the identified needs, namely; feature functionality, system extensibility, and the platform’s ability to solve content management problems in a multi-brand and multi-website marketing ecosystem. Our AMPXD Sitecore team worked with PFU to rebuild two product brand websites within Sitecore: one for their business scanners product line; and another for PFU’s Happy Hacking Keyboards (HHKB) brand. PFU tasked AMPXD with improving the digital customer experience by displaying products in a more appealing way and implementing consistent and updated brand guidelines. The collective project team leveraged the power of the Sitecore CMS platform to implement new features for customers to easily identify the best products for their needs; customers are now able to sort and filter product information by industry, functionality, and business size. With the content authoring features and custom content component features of Sitecore, PFU authors are now able to easily add case studies, news articles, blog posts, and guides across their multiple sites. The data extensibility of the Sitecore platform makes it easy to integrate third party tools and services, like HubSpot and PowerReviews, directly into the content authoring interface. With these system integrations, PFU can now create integrated dynamic forms and syndicate reviews from across different retailers’ websites like Amazon — critical functionality for PFU’s marketing goals. The flexibility of Sitecore to adapt to PFU’s business and marketing needs has proven to be an accelerating force to marketing strategy, allowing PFU to publish relevant content in-market and improve customer journeys. Over the course of our ongoing series of posts around technology, we will share stories of uniquely different CMS solutions in practical implementations. If you have an upcoming CMS project or need to discuss content management strategies, the team at AMPXD would love to assist you with your needs. Reach out to us via our Contact Us form. You can also read about our entire suite of Experience Design and Website Development capabilities on our Services Page.
After seeing the title of this blog post, you may be thinking to yourself, what is Content-Led SEO? Content-Led SEO involves creating a quality, content-oriented strategy to establish internal expertise on specific topics in an attempt to increase rankings on specific keywords, increase organic search traffic, and ideally, increase conversions. There are many moving parts to it, but we will try our best to break it down for you and explain how we can help you achieve your goals with a strong Content-Led SEO strategy. So, Where Do We Begin? Before we can even begin implementing a Content-Led SEO strategy for our clients, we need to ensure that there are no underlying technical issues such as any broken links, poor site architecture, robot.txt files, indexability, and more that could be affecting search performance. We also assess any content issues such as duplicate content, missing alt tags, broken images, short, long, and/or missing title tags and meta descriptions, and more. We have an extensive team at AMP that can dedicate their time to fixing any problems we may encounter on the site. After we have addressed these issues, we can finally begin working on our Content-Led SEO strategy! Cleaning Up Content on Your Site With time, any website can easily become cluttered with old content that may not be driving users to the site anymore. It’s important for us to assess the content that is currently on the site and get rid of any content that isn't presently providing value or merge content that may be competing with one another. How do we decide which content is and isn’t providing value? There are several ways we can do this. By looking at the traffic volume, ranking keywords, inbound and outbound links, we can determine which content is low-value and which content is high-value. By getting rid of low-value content, it makes it easier for Google to find the high-value content searchers are looking for as well as helps to improve the overall quality of content on your site. That being said, this process helps to declutter your site, which in the end, results in a better experience for users and a better chance at improving your rankings in Google search results. Conducting Keyword Research Once we have cleaned up the content on the site, we can finally start moving on to conducting keyword research, which of course, is unique depending on the client and their goals. We work with you to establish what your goals are and what you wish the searcher's intent to be in order to land on your site. When beginning our keyword research, we start by taking a look at what keywords are already working for your site and bringing in traffic and clicks. From there, we can conduct customer research and competitor analysis to develop a list of keywords to target for the Content-Led SEO strategy. But simply doing keyword research and using those keywords a certain amount of times in your content isn’t going to automatically drive results! There’s More to Content Than Content With Content-Led SEO, you want to make sure you’re showcasing expert authority on a subject, so, of course, your content should reflect that. Your content should be original and go in-depth on a subject, surface-level content won’t drive the results that you’re looking for. By taking a look at the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), we can gather an idea of how the content should be structured and provide recommendations for the content. We can provide suggestions from an SEO perspective but at the end of the day, the quality of your content combined with our recommendations, will provide the best results possible. Luckily, at AMP, we have a team of talented copywriting experts whom we can work with to create strong, engaging content that is strategically optimized for search. Providing A Premium Content Experience One of the ways you can amplify your content is by ensuring your site visitors are getting a premium content experience. So how can we do that? Firstly, formatting is very important! You want to make sure your content is in an easily readable format, such as using proper font size. Using subheadings is also a great way to organize and break up your content to make it more digestible for the reader. They also make it easier to provide jump links to certain sections of the content and a table of contents so the reader can have an overview of the content being presented. Earlier we discussed the importance of showcasing your expert authority on a subject, we can further demonstrate that by having bio pages for authors. Lastly, including images, graphics, and multimedia content is always helpful to make the content more engaging for the user. The Importance of an Internal Linking Strategy Content-Led SEO is obviously all about content, so how do you get more people to view the content on your website? With an internal linking strategy of course! Utilizing this is important as it helps to pass search equity throughout the pages and content on your site. Furthermore, it helps Google understand your site and helps users navigate the site, which are three things we definitely want. When there is a lot of content on a site, it can be difficult to figure out which content should link to which other related content. That’s where topic clusters come in. Using topic clusters helps us group out related content so we can map out an internal linking strategy between the content in each cluster. This can be a very time-consuming process especially when you have a lot of content on your site. Our team can work with you to create topic clusters based on your current content and build out an internal linking strategy for you. Tracking Performance What we consider to be beneficial to both us and our clients is by providing monthly reports where we analyze the performance of our optimizations. Monitoring the results is important as it helps us identify what is working well and the areas that may need improvement. In the monthly reports, we track keyword rankings, traffic, clicks, and other metrics depending on the goals of the client. Based on the results, we can provide insight and recommendations on the next steps we need to take to continue reaching our goals! Let’s Recap! So we have just discussed a lot of moving parts that are involved within a Content-Led SEO strategy! Let’s recap some of the main points: It’s important to fix any technical issues or content issues on the site before beginning a Content-Led SEO strategy Cleaning up content on the site helps to improve the overall quality of content on your site, provides a better experience for users, and provides a better chance at improving your rankings in Google search results Conducting keyword research is a very important step in the process but having good, strategic keywords isn’t the magic answer to achieving results With Content-Led SEO you want to make sure you’re showcasing your expert authority on a subject through your own original and unique content Providing a premium content experience for your users is simple, make sure to use subheadings, jump links, a table of contents, a proper font size, author bios, and the use of images, graphics, and multimedia An internal linking strategy helps to pass search equity along your content as well as help Google understand your site better and helps users navigate your site better AMP Agency is here to help you with any of your SEO needs. Knowing that content is an important part of meeting your customer’s needs, our team can help you navigate your content marketing strategy. Learn more about our SEO services and contact us to start our partnership.
The AMP Agency SEO team published our fourth Trends report back in early March. This report predicted what the top trends of Spring 2023 would be. Now that summer is here, we have data from February - May 2023 where we can confirm whether or not our forecasts were right. Should we start a new division at AMP Agency as full-time soothsayers? For the Spring report, we explored 8 consumer topic categories: Fashion Beauty Food & Drink Activities Travel Gardening Mother's Day Easter Holidays We picked out a couple of topics from each category and updated the data charts with the spring month data from Google’s Keyword Planner. With the visualization set, we explored what happened and shared our thoughts on what drove the behavior change. See which ones we nailed and which ones we didn’t. Fashion Bubble Dress The 80s are calling! Based on our research, bubble dresses seemed to be back in this Spring. We began to see some search interest increase in January and February of this year, which lead us to believe that search volume for “bubble dress” would reach a new all-time high this Spring. Were we correct? Our prediction was spot on as we witnessed search volume for "bubble dress" reaching an all-time high of 9,900 searches in April. Can you believe it? Last year's peak was at 6,600, so this Spring season outshined that number by a whopping 50%! Bubble dresses truly captured the hearts (and closets) of fashion enthusiasts everywhere this past spring season. Parachute Pants If you were browsing for fashion inspiration on TikTok or Instagram this past spring, chances are you noticed the undeniable popularity of parachute pants. The Y2K-inspired look that parachute pants play into has earned the seal of approval from celebrities like Hailey Bieber, Bella Hadid, and Kylie Jenner as one of the season's hottest trends. The peak in popularity for parachute pants was evidently summer of 2022, but this spring is not far behind. This past March and April, this keyword reached 135,000 monthly searches, only 18% less than the highest peak in August 2022. Collectively, this spring season generated nearly half a million searches, solidifying the true populairty for these oversized, voluminous pants. Beauty Thin French Tip Nails Like many 2000s trends making a glorious comeback in recent years, this simple yet elegrant nail art design has captured the hearts of all ages. From colorful French tip nails to classic whites, this nail design proved to be an absolute must-have during this past spring season. Despite our predictions not reaching an all time high this spring season, the keyword “thin french tip nails” held a high search volume of 4,400 for a longer amount of time than ever before. In the months February through May, this query generated 16,800 collective searches, that 9% more than this same time frame last year. Wolf Cut From its emergence on our feeds around 2020 to its roaring popularity this past spring season, this shaggy, untamed hairstyle clearly made head turns. Celebrities like Jenna Ortega, Miley Cyrus, and many more have hopped on the wolf cut trend, spreading like wildfire on TikTok and other social platforms, especially for those longing for that nostalgic 90's vibe. This past spring season, we saw a 23.5% higher search volume for this “wolf cut” than ever before. With a peak of 673,000 monthly searches in Februrary and a collective sum of over two million searches in the spring months of Feb-May, the popularity for this trendy haircut is undeniable. Food & Drink Gochujang Spice is the variety of life, as is the case with Gochujang, the sweet & spicy Korean chili paste. Food enthusiasts and home cooks have been captivated by its unique flavor profile, combining spiciness, sweetness, and umami notes. The growing popularity in Korean cuisine has contributed to this trend, and we predicted that search volume would continue to increase in the Spring season. While we didn’t see gochujang as a search term reach new highs, we did see the same peak as December 2022 showing that the trend is continuing to grow. Looking ahead, it is evident that gochujang will continue to be a culinary trendsetter, delighting taste buds and inspiring creative dishes that embrace its bold and flavorful characteristics. Mushroom Coffee Mushroom Coffee has been trending over the last few years due to its unique composition, along with the health benefits. This has also been a big trending topic on TikTok, with over 37.5 million views on Mushroom Coffee related videos. Search volume for “mushroom coffee” really took off in the Fall/Winter of 2022, and we predicted that this trend would continue into the Spring of 2023. While this trend continues to grow, we did not see search volume hit new highs this spring, reaching the same peak that we saw in December. However, the overall trend continues to be up, showing that consumers are still searching for a healthier alternative for their morning pick me up. Activities Cherry Blossom Festival Cherry Blossoms mark the start of the spring season in our nation’s capital, and this year the crowds were out in full force. With beautiful sights, great food, art & culture, there is something for everyone of all ages to enjoy at the National Cherry Blossom Festival in DC. Search volume has been steadily growing on the term “cherry blossom festival” over the last few years, and we predicted that this trend would continue into 2023. We predicted that search volume would reach new highs this year and while that didn’t technically come true, we saw search volume hit the same peak as 2022, which was up 200% from 2021. The Washington Post reported that on the first Sunday of the festival, the DC metro saw its highest ridership in a single day since 2015. Beau Is Afraid Going into the Spring 2023 movie season, we had predicted that Beau Is Afraid would be the highest grossing movie domestically. This was based off a huge increase in search volume around the same time that the trailer dropped. Even though “beau is afraid” as a search term see over 2.2 million searches in April (a +500% increase from the previous high in January), it still wasn’t enough for this movie to beat out Super Mario Brothers at the box office. This was another example where search volume does not necessarily account for word of mouth. It appears users were more interested in learning what the movie was about, or how disturbing it would be based on previous A24 films. The reviews for other films such as Super Mario Brothers were much better, contributing to the popularity. This movie may be one that finds its cult following long after release. Travel Cheap Vacation Packages While demand for travel has been increasing post-pandemic, economic factors have led many Americans to seek out lower budget vacation options. Search volume for cheap vacation packages has seen consistent growth since 2020, and we expected it to keep growing to reflect the desire to get away. Although the same search interest as last spring was matched, searches for cheap vacation packages did not surpass last year’s query volume. Sitting at 33,100 searches as the peak monthly search volume, searches for cheap vacation packages were again very popular but our prediction did not completely come true. Spring Camping Camping in general has become much more alluring in the past several years, allowing for travel out of the city without experiencing crowded airports, accommodations, or public transit. Since 2020, searches for spring camping began to grow significantly, quickly surpassing even 2019 levels. We predicted the trend would continue and spring camping would be even more popular than before. Once again, although searches did match the previous year, our prediction was not fully realized and searches for spring camping were not higher than 2022. While this search interest level may stay sustained, it seems like those camping spots will be any harder to stake out than before. Gardening Companion Planting Chart Companion planting is a gardening technique that utilizes specific properties of plants to support each other in a single garden plot. By tapping into symbiosis of plants growing near each other, gardens can become more productive and have built in natural protections. Gardening searches became very popular particularly during the pandemic, and companion planting has had some of its own viral moments on social media. We predicted companion planting searches would keep growing throughout the spring. Our predictions came true - companion planting searches experienced a 22% increase between its May peaks in 2022 and 2023. As home gardening becomes more normalized and effective methods continue to be shared on social media, we think the concept of companion planting has put down its roots and is here to stay. Hydroponic Grow Tower Hydroponic gardening is a method of gardening that allows plants to be grown without soil, making it possible to grow plants vertically and without significant space. Popularity for hydroponic growing has increased over the past several years, becoming especially popular with people who wanted to garden without access to a yard. Removing dirt and space considerations made gardening inside apartments suddenly much more alluring. We saw an unprecedented spike for hydroponic grow tower searches in winter of 2023, and considering its previous peaks in the spring, we predicted spring of 2023 would show an even higher interest. While searches for hydroponic grow towers did not surpass the extreme spike that occurred in January of 2023, spring searches were still 83% higher than they were the previous spring. With the rise of gardening but little change in access to large open spaces, we think hydroponic gardening will likely sustain its popularity. It sounds like an easy win to us - the hardest part of caring for the plants (watering them!) is already taken care of. Mother's Day Mother’s Day Crafts As the spring season rolled in, people were all about getting creative and personal to make mom feel extra special. According to Pinterest Trends, the 25-34 age group was totally hooked on finding "easy" and "adorable" Mother's Day crafts to fill up their Pinterest boards. From unique paper mache flowers to sweet handmade cards, this spring was all about rallying the little ones for a crafty surprise that would make all mothers go "aww." And guess what? Our predictions were right! The search volume for "mother's day crafts" hit an all-time high in the past five years, with a peak of 22,200 monthly searches in the month of May. It's clear that personalized gifts were all the rage this year, capturing everyone's attention; Who needs store-bought when you can whip up something from the heart? This spring, it was all about making mom feel loved with a little DIY magic. Mother Daughter Spa Day Who needs traditional gifts when you can dive into a world of relaxation and rejuvenation with your loved ones? This year, it was all about treating mom to an experience she'd never forget. So, if you were wondering how to make Mother's Day truly special, the answer was loud and clear: a mother-daughter spa day was the way to go! This 2023 spring season proved that people were ready to surprise Mom with an extra-special bonding time. Queries like "mom and daughter spa day", “mother-daughter spa day near me”, and related keywords usually see a spike in search volume during the fall and winter months but they really took center stage this past spring, igniting over 4,200 monthly searches in May alone and a collective 13,200 searches from February to May as families geared up for Mother's Day. Can you believe it? That's nearly 3,000 more searches for related queries than in any previous May and nearly 90% higher search volume than every previous spring season! Easter Easter Tree The Easter Tree tradition continued to bring joy and symbolize new beginnings for families worldwide. It served as a reminder of the beauty and vibrancy of the Spring season, with people embracing the tradition of decorating their homes with Easter eggs and Spring-themed items. While the turnout didn't reach the level we expected, interest for the keyword “Easter Tree” remained strong with nearly 35,000 monthly searches in the month of March alone. This showed consistent popularity and engagement with this beloved tradition, with only around 28% less search volume compared to its highest ever peak in March 2021 and around 10,000 fewer searches between the months of February to March 2023 than this same time last year. NYC Easter Parade The 2023 NYC Easter Parade exceeded all our expectations, drawing a crowd like never before. Men, women, and pets of all ages united to showcase their creativity on New York City's famous Fifth Avenue. The energy was contagious as participants proudly paraded their most stunning and imaginative hats during this year's Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival. But that's not all – our predictions for search volume were spot on! The keywords "NYC Easter Parade" and "Easter Parade New York" ignited a wave of curiosity, prompting people to turn to the internet for more details. In April alone, there were over 25,000 searches, while from February to May, a grand total of 29,260 searches were recorded. These numbers marked the highest peak since 2019, leaving no doubt that the 2023 NYC Easter Parade was truly a bonnet-full of fun! Conclusion: Who knew the Mother’s Day crafts were going to be super popular in 2023? Oh yeah, that’s right - Us. We think you should use search query data in all of your campaign planning and brand strategy. If you don’t know how, let us help you. These reports are put together to showcase our abilities. We’d like to work with you on your next initiative. Learn more about all of our SEO Services and drop us a line.
In our continuing series of examining Google Search Trends to gain insights into the top keywords queried in the USA, we present our findings for June 2023. Every day, we capture the top three keyword phrases in terms of search volume as reported by Google Trends (US Only). Each term has an estimated query volume attached to it, which we also record. The number scale tops out at 10,000,000+ with a lower limit of 200,000+ (sometimes 100,000+). After the conclusion of the month, we look at the phrases we collected along with their volumes to get an understanding of what drove queries for the month. Let’s Get Summer Going Summer’s here and the time is right for checking in on the top search trends for the previous month. That’s how the song goes, right? In June 2023, we had a few big news stories that captured the search audience’s attention. The OceanGate tragedy and Canadian Wildfires were multi-day top search queries last month. The Supreme Court has a few decisions that made the daily top 3. Sports-related queries were big as both the NBA and NHL had their finals but the fervor for the NBA was not as high as it was in May 2023. Lastly, we had a few holidays that Vacation Mode In June, our minds shift to summer vacations and time off. With that, there were three holidays that had top query volume as reported by Google’s Daily Trends. Juneteenth - 6/18/2023 - 5,000,000+ queries This query was attached to a Google Doodle and with that customized logo producing queries with the click of a button, it was one of the highest queried phrases of the month. Father’s Day occurs on the third Sunday of June. There was a query attached to a Google Doodle as well, but it wasn’t as popular. Happy fathers day - 6/16/2023 - 500,000+ queries Over the years, we have compared Mother’s Day to Father’s Day in Google Trends. The search interest in Father’s Day has been gaining since 2019. Looking at 2022, the two interest lines were closer than ever in the past 5 years so we thought that maybe in 2023 they would be even closer to each other. That was not the case as the interest level in Father’s Day returned to 2019 levels. The last June holiday to make our list is the first day of Summer or the Summer Solstice. Summer Solstice 2023 - 6/20/2023 - 500,000+ queries Cheers to all of you in the Northern Hemisphere! OceanGate Tragedy The news story that had the search audience’s attention was the Titan submersible implosion that happened on June 18th. Here’s a timeline of the queries that made the daily top 3 that we collected from June 19th to the 21st. Submarine missing - 6/19/2023 - 2,000,000+ queries OceanGate - 6/19/2023 - 200,000+ queries Titanic Sub missing - 6/19/2023 - 200,000+ queries OceanGate submarine - 6/20/2023 - 200,000+ queries Submarine missing - 6/21/2023 - 5,000,000+ queries The query volume spiked on the 21st as the search efforts intensified. Sadly, a debris field of the submersible was found on June 22nd. Wildfires In Canada The smoke from Canadian wildfires caused hazy skies and poor air quality in the Northeast, particularly New York City. This topic also drove queries over a period of several days. Canada wildfires - 6/5/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries Air quality - 6/6/2023 - 500,000+ queries Air Quality Index - 6/6/2023 - 500,000+ queries Air quality - 6/7/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries After the first week of June, the effects of the smoke dissipated for a while until the end of the month. Canadian wildfires - 6/27/2023 - 500,000+ queries This time, the air quality affected the U.S Midwest as Chicago reported poor air quality on the 27th. Political Topics June 2023 had a few queries related to the world of politics, both foreign and domestic. Trump indictment - 6/7/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries Russia - 6/23/2023 - 2,000,000+ queries Affirmative action - 6/29/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries Student loan forgiveness - 6/29/2023 - 500,000+ queries The former President was indicted on the mishandling of classified documents during the first week of the month. There was a reported rebellion against Russia on the 23rd, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin. On the 29th, the Supreme Court made decisions on two cases where race cannot be a factor in college admissions and it rejected the Biden Administration's Student Loan Relief Plan. The World Of Tech Apple announced its newest device on the 5th at its Worldwide Developers Conference, a mixed-reality headset. Apple Vision Pro - 6/5/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries It’s scheduled to be available in early 2024. The other query related to a tech company also happened on the 5th. LinkedIn - 6/5/2023 - 200,000+ queries LinkedIn announced many new features including the inclusion of ChatGPT in drafting posts and inquiring about jobs. Not All NBA In the May 2023 Trends report,queries related to the NBA took over the month. In June, we had a nice mix of sports-related keywords. The first set shows off this mixed bag. LIV Golf - 6/6/2023 - 500,000+ queries U.S. Open - 6/15/2023 - 200,000+ queries LIV Golf acquiring the PGA made headlines and drove searches. On the 15th, the annual U.S. Open Tennis tournament began. Moving on, Soccer is a topic growing in popularity and we saw a good number of phrases make the top 3 in June. FA Cup - 6/2/2023 - 500,000+ queries Messi - 6/7/2023 - 500,000+ queries Mexico vs USA - 6/14/2023 - 500,000+ queries USA vs Jamaica - 6/24/2023 - 200,000+ queries The FA Cup opened on the 2nd along with USA matches with Mexico and Jamaica driving searches. In the biggest news, Lionel Mess officially joined Major League Soccer, signing a contract with Inter Miami that will pay him between $50 million and $60 million annually. It’s not like the NBA didn’t get any attention last month. It’s just that it was not as dominant. There was interest in the Finals - here is the timeline for that championship. Heat vs Nuggets - 6/1/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries Miami Heat - 6/8/2023 - 200,000+ queries NBA - 6/9/2023 - 2,000,000+ queries Djokovic - 6/11/2023 - 200,000+ queries Denver Nuggets - 6/12/2023 - 2,000,000+ queries Once the Finals were over, thoughts turned to next year as trades were made and the draft was held. Kristaps Porzingis - 6/21/2023 - 200,000+ queries NBA Draft 2023 - 6/22/2023 - 1,000,000+ queries NBA Draft - 6/22/2023 - 500,000+ queries Chris Paul - 6/22/2023 - 500,000+ queries Bradley Beal - 6/17/2023 - 500,000+ queries Did your team get better? In hockey, the Stanley Cup found a new home. Florida Panthers - 6/3/2023 - 100,000+ queries Vegas Golden Knights - 6/13/2023 - 200,000+ queries Even though it’s not as popular as soccer, there is still a fanbase for the NHL. What We Were Watching The summer movie season has started. Here are the film names that caused people to use Google: Spider-Verse - 6/2/2023 - 200,000+ queries Transformers - 6/8/2023 - 200,000+ queries Elemental - 6/16/2023 - 100,000+ queries TV shows are popular. Here are the ones that made our list in June 2023: The Idol - 6/4/2023 - 200,000+ queries Tony Awards 2023 - 6/11/2023 - 200,000+ queries Black Mirror - 6/15/2023 - 200,000+ queries Secret Invasion - 6/21/2023 - 100,000+ queries BET Awards 2023 - 6/24/2023 - 200,000+ queries BET Awards 2023 - 6/25/2023 - 200,000+ queries Finally, a shout out to Madonna. We hope she’s on the road to recovery. Madonna - 6/28/2023 - 500,000+ queries Thanks for reading. If you liked this article, we utilize search trends data for all of our clients and we invite you to learn more about our SEO services.
In the ever-evolving field of user experience (UX) design, it is crucial for designers to continuously improve their skills and deliver high-quality work. By adopting healthy habits, UX designers can cultivate an environment of growth and consistently enhance their expertise. In this article, we explore key habits that promote continual improvement and excellence in UX design. 5 Healthy Habits 1. Embrace Lifelong Learning: A cornerstone habit for UX designers is the commitment to lifelong learning. The field of UX is dynamic, with new technologies, methodologies, and user expectations emerging constantly. Designers should dedicate time to stay updated on industry trends, attend conferences, read books, and engage in online communities. By seeking out new knowledge and perspectives, designers expand their skill set, stay relevant, and bring fresh ideas to their work. 2. Seek User-Centric Insights: UX designers should prioritize understanding their users deeply. This involves conducting user research, usability testing, and gathering feedback. By actively engaging with users, designers gain valuable insights into their needs, preferences, and pain points. Regular user feedback allows for iterative design improvements and the creation of more intuitive and effective experiences. Cultivating empathy for users fosters the development of user-centric designs that resonate with the intended audience. 3. Practice Iterative Design: Iterative design is a habit that enables designers to refine and enhance their work continuously. By creating prototypes, soliciting feedback, and iterating based on insights, designers can refine their designs incrementally. This approach encourages experimentation and reduces the risk of major flaws in the final product. Through iterative design, designers embrace the mindset of constant improvement, ensuring that their work evolves in line with user needs and business goals. 4. Foster Collaboration and Communication: Collaboration and effective communication are essential habits for UX designers. Engaging with stakeholders, developers, and fellow designers fosters a holistic understanding of project objectives and constraints. By actively seeking diverse perspectives, designers can uncover new ideas and approaches. Clear and concise communication helps bridge gaps, align expectations, and build consensus among team members. Collaborative work environments stimulate creativity, drive innovation, and result in well-rounded design solutions. 5. Embrace Feedback and Self-Reflection: To grow as designers, it is vital to embrace feedback and engage in self-reflection. Welcoming constructive criticism from colleagues and users provides valuable opportunities for growth. By analyzing past projects and evaluating strengths and weaknesses, designers can identify areas for improvement and set development goals. Regularly reviewing one's work and seeking feedback ensures a continuous learning process, allowing designers to refine their skills, enhance their work output, and provide exceptional user experiences. Cultivating healthy habits is key to the growth and continual improvement of UX designers. By embracing lifelong learning, seeking user-centric insights, practicing iterative design, fostering collaboration, and embracing feedback and self-reflection, designers can elevate their skills and consistently deliver outstanding UX solutions. By adopting these habits, designers empower themselves to navigate the evolving landscape of UX design successfully and contribute meaningfully to the creation of exceptional user experiences. To learn more about Amp Agency’s UX Consulting & Design services, and optimize your brand’s equity, please reach out to us via our Contact Us form. Additionally, you can read about our entire suite of Experience Design and Website Development capabilities on our Services page.
The TLDR; In the evening hours of July 5, Meta officially announced the launch of their new app, Threads. Threads is a text-based social media app–a direct competitor to Twitter, containing a similar look and feel with many of the same functionalities. Users can share posts up to 500 characters long, and can include links, photos and videos up to 5 minutes in length. Threads are presented in the main feed, where users can like, repost, and reply to each update. What Social Media Professionals Want You to Know Threads has huge potential and initial reception of the app has been overwhelmingly positive. But what do the people who work in the trenches of social media every day think? We asked 9 social media professionals, and here’s what they think you should know about Threads: “Have fun with Threads; it doesn't have to be picture-perfect and product focused. Users want to see your personality.” - Rashida Hull, Sr. Engagement Strategist “Consider your audience when deciding your approach. Remembering your audience doesn’t always look the same platform to platform (e.g. from Twitter to Instagram) will help you fine-tune your strategy for success.” - Molly Miloscia, Associate Director of Social Strategy “Use Threads being a brand new platform to your brand’s advantage! Post original content instead of repurposing everything from Twitter or other platforms - it gives you the opportunity to participate in Threads-specific trends, and maybe even start a new trend.” - Ainsley Robertson, Sr. Engagement Strategist “I highly encourage getting involved in other threads (even on your personal account)! It seems like users really enjoy replying, quoting, and overall having fun conversations with each other, so doing so with other like minded brands and even fans of the brand will help with creating that brand persona. It’ll help with exposure too.” - Destiny Velazquez, Engagement Strategist “It feels super easy to simply make Threads a Twitter copycat, but this platform has a totally different feel in terms of tone and style of content! Cater to the silly side of Threads by pushing the limits of how far your brand usually goes - you just might be surprised at the positive response you receive!” - Abigail Thompson, Engagement Strategist “With more than 100 million users on Threads now, don't shy away from joining in on the fun and testing different content. Be where your audience is. If they're on Instagram, there's a good chance they're already on Threads or will be in the near future.” - Stephanie Twining, VP of Social Media “Do an audit of your competitors and others in the space to see where/how your brand can stand out.” - Rachel LaVoie, Sr. Engagement Strategist “Brands who have been stuck using Twitter primarily as a customer support tool have a rare opportunity with Threads to loosen up and present a new tone.” - Jonathan Osborne, Sr. Engagement Strategist “Share a few cross-posts to invite your followers from other platforms over to follow you on threads to help build your audience! Oh, and remember... hashtags don't work on threads (yet).” - Kaitlyn Feniello, Sr. Strategist So What Does All This Mean For My Brand? Because of Threads quick success and their place in the larger Meta suite of products, it’s not a platform to be ignored. We can anticipate it’s extremely likely that Threads will stick as a successful new platform. As you look to incorporate Threads into your social presence, here are a few things to keep in mind: Activate your profile, start posting, and post often. It pays off to be an early adopter and user of successful new platforms, giving you a leg up on gaining followers and favor with the algorithm Test, test, test. Speaking of the algorithm, we don’t yet know what it will favor and prioritize. Test different formats, posting types, engagement strategies, and monitor what seems to be working. Work smarter, not harder. Go back 6-12 months and find top performing evergreen tweets or simple Instagram posts to fill your content pipeline for Threads as you work to build out a complete strategy and approach. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Threads is looking to be a place for brands to show their personality and have a little fun. Consider how your brand can show up in this way and how you can reinvent yourself/show a different side on the platform. Consider the big picture. As you begin to activate on Threads consider how it will fit into your larger social strategy from a channel role perspective to which content pillars you might leverage on Threads.
In today's digital landscape, user experience (UX) plays a pivotal role in the success of any online venture. Users have increasingly high expectations for seamless interactions and intuitive designs. To ensure your digital product meets these demands, it's essential to perform a UX audit. In this article, we will explore what a UX audit is, its benefits, and why organizations should invest time and effort into conducting one. Understanding the UX Audit A UX audit is a meticulous evaluation of the user experience of a website, application, or digital product. It involves analyzing elements such as user interface design, interaction patterns, navigation, content organization, and overall usability. By scrutinizing these aspects, UX professionals can identify areas of improvement and provide actionable recommendations to enhance the user experience. Benefits of a UX Audit Performing a UX audit offers several valuable benefits to organizations. Firstly, it helps identify usability issues that hinder user satisfaction and engagement. By uncovering these pain points, businesses can make informed decisions on how to enhance the product and improve customer retention. Secondly, a UX audit provides insights into user behavior and preferences. By analyzing user flows and interactions, organizations gain a deeper understanding of their audience's needs and expectations. This knowledge can drive targeted improvements that align with user desires, ultimately increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Thirdly, a UX audit can identify potential conversion barriers within a digital product. By analyzing the user journey and conversion funnels, businesses can optimize critical touchpoints to improve conversion rates and drive revenue growth. Why Organizations Should Prioritize UX Audits In today's competitive market, providing a superior user experience is no longer an option—it's a necessity. Organizations that neglect UX audits risk losing customers to competitors who prioritize seamless interactions and intuitive designs. At Amp agency, we firmly believe that performing UX audits is an integral part of our creative engagements with clients. By conducting thorough evaluations of their digital products, we uncover valuable insights and opportunities for improvement. Our UX experts meticulously analyze user behavior, conduct user testing, and employ industry best practices to deliver recommendations that align with our clients' business goals. Conclusion Investing time and resources into conducting a UX audit is crucial for organizations seeking to enhance their digital presence. By evaluating the user experience, identifying pain points, and implementing improvements, businesses can increase user satisfaction, engagement, and ultimately, their bottom line. At Amp agency, we understand the power of UX audits and their transformative impact on the success of our clients' digital ventures. Contact us today to unlock the full potential of your digital products through our comprehensive UX audit services.
