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.

Mikayla Nogueria: How Much Influence Does She Really Have? (According to Google Search Trends) Mikayla Nogueria (@mikaylanogueira on TikTok) has changed the world of consumer buying habits with her TikToks that average 2 million views per video. Viewers immediately became enamored with Mikayla and her honest reviews of beauty products and trends. There’s no holding back with her bold and authentic Boston personality that just makes you want to trust every word she says! Her page offers candid reviews, beauty tips, and stunning makeup looks that have resulted in over 9 million people following her account. She is also the queen of body positivity and motivational talks, we love that! Me, being an SEO specialist, lover of TikTok, and frequent viewer of Mikayla’s videos(including being influenced to buy some of the products she recommends), I was curious to see how her TikToks of reviewing products with millions of views translated to Google search trends and Google search results. I figured with how influential she is, that has to have some effect on Google search, right? So I went ahead and pulled Google search trends and Google keyword planner data from her recent videos reviewing viral makeup products. Let’s take a look into how those performed! Mikayla Nogueria’s TikTok Videos and Their Effect On Google Search Trends TikTok #1 Starting off with a TikTok Mikayla posted on December 20th, 2021 that received 3.3 million views of her reviewing the “NARS Orgasm Liquid Blush”, which singer and celebrity Madison Beer swears by. Mikayla had to see if Miss Madison was telling the truth and tested out the product for us. She gave the product stellar reviews stating that the blending, pigmentation, and color were amazing (definitely adding this to my cart later)! This video received over 500k likes and 2,000 comments but what happened to the Google search results after this video was posted? I pulled Google Trend data for the keyword “NARS Liquid Blush” and analyzed the week it was posted, including the days leading up to the post and after. We can see that before December 20th, this product wasn’t really trending, but it began to climb after Mikayla posted her TikTok. Now, this looks promising so far right? But I’m thinking we should look at a few more examples before coming to a conclusion because we love not only a material girl but a research girl. TikTok #2 Let’s move on to another viral product that Mikayla tried on January 11th, 2022: pastel chromes from Chaos Makeup(this product gives very much Euphoria vibes). This video has almost 10 million views with almost 2 million likes and close to 10,000 comments! This product was given the stamp of approval by Mikayla which resulted in it completely selling out, we stan supporting small businesses. But did this translate to Google Trend results? Yes. It. Did. Let’s go, Mikayla! We can see an instant peak in trend results for “Chaos Makeup” beginning on the day Mikayla posted and reviewed the product. But again, what are we? A research girl, so let’s look at a couple more videos to further prove that Mikayla is a TikTok beauty review goddess. TikTok #3 The next day, January 12th, Mikayla reviewed Charlotte Tilbury’s (an icon in the beauty industry rn, we love her) new foundation, and her video received over 2.8 million views. Charlotte Tilbury has been slaying with their contour and blush sticks and their flawless filter that gives your skin that perfect glow. When they announced their new product, of course, Mikalaya had to put it to the test! The product is Mikayla approved (unsurprisingly because we love C Tilbs), she even stated that this will be the foundation she’ll be using for her wedding makeup! The video amassed over 440k likes and 4,000 comments but let’s see how this affected Google trends and search results. As we can see in the graph on the left, the Google trend results shot up by 300% the day Mikayla’s TikTok was posted. In the graph on the right, we can see that the monthly search volume shot up by over 1,000% in January 2022 compared to December 2021. We’re still seeing a pretty consistent trend of an increase in both Google trends and search results after Mikayla reviews a product on TikTok. TikTok #4 On January 19th, 2022 Mikayla reviewed the NYX Tinted Brow Mascara, another product that went viral! With over 1.5 million views, Mikayla gave it a thumbs up and was obsessed with how natural it made her brows look. Her video gained 222,000 likes and over 1,000 comments but did we see this same kind of volume in Google trends and search results? In the graph on the left, we see an immediate increase of 250% in Google Trends on the 19th when Mikayla posted the video, love that for her! On the right, we see the monthly search volume increased by 120% from the previous month. So far we’re 4/4 for Mikayla’s videos and their positive impact on Google Trends and search. Even though this is very impressive for Mikayla, I thought to myself, do her sponsored videos perform just as well? Mikayla Nogueria’s Sponsored TikTok Videos and Their Effect On Google Search Trends Let’s start with some background information! Sponsored videos are typically noted with a hashtag, #ad, in the caption stating that the individual was paid by the company to promote/review this product. Mikayla got her start on TikTok from reviewing makeup products organically, so of course, brands started to realize the influence she has on consumer buying habits and wanted to use her influence to promote their products. Get that coin Mikayla! We know with her authentic personality that she would never promote a product just for a check, but because she truly likes and uses that product herself, so keep it up queen. Sponsored TikTok #1 The first sponsored video I took a look at was her review of the “Glow Recipe Plum Plump Hyaluronic Serum” on December 7th. The video received over 1.6 million views and 94,000 likes and over 700 comments. Before Mikayla was even sponsored by Glow Recipe, they reached out to her earlier in the year asking if she could try it and give it her honest opinion. It quickly became her favorite moisturizer and she’s been using it for months! In the graph on the left, we can see the keyword “Glow Recipe Plum Plump Hyaluronic Serum” shoots up by 200% in Google Trends the day after the TikTok was posted. On the right, search volume was up 270% from the previous month, jumping from 590 results to 1,600, iconic! Sponsored TikTok #2 Mikayla’s next sponsored video was her reviewing the “Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Foundation”, aka one of the most iconic drugstore foundations, on December 20th, she gave it stellar reviews and it garnered over 1.1 million views and 100,000 likes, and over 1,300 comments. Everybody loves a product that is great, but also doesn’t break the bank so I have a feeling this video is definitely going to impact some trends and search results. No shock here; We see on the left that the Maybelline foundation keyword blew up by 110% on Google Trends within the day of Mikayla’s TikTok video being posted. The Google search results also increased by 110%, jumping to a thousand monthly search results in December 2021. Sponsored TikTok #3 On January 3rd, Mikayla is sponsored by Makeup Revolution and reviews their 5D Lash Mascara. The video received over 900k views, 110k likes, and 900 comments with Mikayla stating the mascara made her lashes look beautiful! She’s also sporting a red lip in this video, something she rarely does because she doesn't typically like red lipstick but we love it on her! Anyways, let’s see what the results were for the keyword “Makeup Revolution 5D Lash Mascara”. Google Trends for “Makeup Revolution 5D Lash Mascara” shot up by 200% following the 1 to 2 days after Mikayla’s TikTok was posted! And on the right, we can see the search volume grew by over 1,000% in January 2022 compared to December 2021, we love to see it! Sponsored TikTok #4 The last sponsored TikTok of Mikayla’s that I took a look at was posted on January 19th featuring the company Peach & Lily and their “Glass Skin Refining Serum” product. Mikayla talks about when she used to work at Ulta and she would sell Peach & Lily like crazy! She’s been a fan of this brand for years so it’s great to see it all come full circle for her. She follows the video up by demonstrating how to use the products correctly, again, we love that. The Google Trend results went up by 200% over the past week as we see an increase in trends after the video was posted on the 19th. Similarly, we see an increase in search volume for “Peach & Lily Glass Skin Refining Serum” in January 2022 of 480 monthly searches as opposed to 390 monthly searches in December, meaning an increase of 120%! Looks like Mikayla is 4/4 on her sponsored TikToks and their effects on Google Trends and search results. Mikayla is A Major Influencer When It Comes to Google Trends and Search Results. Period. I think we can all agree with the conclusion that Mikayla Nogueria has some serious influence when it comes to Google Trends and search results! The days of advertising have completely changed with the TikTok platform and Mikayla is definitely a pioneer in the movement. Being able to see how TikTok videos and trends impact Google search results warms my little SEO heart and has made my love for TikTok grow even more. By comparing the organic versus sponsored TikTok videos, the only difference I noticed was a drop in views, likes, and comments for sponsored content but since the Google Trends and search results are consistent, they seem to be just as effective in getting viewers to search for the product online. Also, the videos Mikayla organically reacts to are typically ones that have gone viral, so it makes sense those videos get more engagement in comparison to sponsored videos. All in all, Mikayla has done an amazing job at being a trustworthy influencer when it comes to makeup and beauty and it’s amazing to see the impact that she has on Google Trends and search results.