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In early March 2014, the ‘no back link’ update went live and Yandex confirmed it will no longer consider SEO links as a ranking factor for half of the commercial terms in the Moscow region.

The limited scope of the update revealed there are still tests to be run on the overall effects on SERPs, stalling Yandex’s decision to go live with the update universally, for now.

So, what does this impact mean for web owners in Russia?

It’s been confirmed the change will only affect search queries related to the following verticals:

Real estate.
Travel.
Home appliances.
Clothes and accessories.
Health and beauty.
Legal services.
SEO.

The following verticals are set to follow next in the same algorithm update:

Automotive.
Car rental, taxi and logistics.
Construction services.
Industrial machinery.
Furniture.
Finance.
Insurance.

Although Yandex did not provide too much information on what’s replaced links as the main ranking factor, we do know Yandex’s algorithm uses more than 800 ranking factors, some with more weight than others.

With the main off-site ranking factor now out of the picture, it is certain that on-page and on-site factors will take a prominent role in how Yandex decides relevancy to user’s search queries.

In addition to traditional on-page factors like meta data, the following signals will undoubtedly influence its new ranking algorithm:

Usability factors

Improvements on site/page usability results in better user experience and better on-page metrics such as page dwell time and bounce rates.

Similar to how Google factors in bounce rate in the analysis of a page, Yandex sees pages with better usability and user experience as better pages overall – thus giving more authority and importance to that site.

Yandex could potentially use the data driven from Yandex Metrica, its highly popular web analytics package, to assess on-page metrics.

In addition, there are other assets available to Yandex to collect data around page usability such as its browser toolbar and external ISP data.

User behaviour

User behaviour is another factor Yandex has considered in its new algorithm. This is where functional site design, higher conversion rate and better information architecture becomes prominent, demonstrating that CRO and great site architecture helps with a site’s SEO.

Platforms like Yandex Islands allow users to interact with sites in new ways and in some cases permit users to complete a task without the need for visiting a site.

Social signals

Social signals and their influence on search algorithms is another area where Yandex is trying to adapt a similar strategy to other major search engines.

Indexability of content from homegrown social media platform VK.com is somewhat higher than Facebook, due to the fact that Yandex has a long history of working with VK data and its public community pages.

There has been a recent deal between Yandex and Facebook that will certainly pull in another direction of more social signal influence in the search algorithm.

What about new sites with little history?

An obvious question that comes to mind is what about owners of new sites who want to increase visibility in SERPs on Yandex?

New site owners should always bring non-organic traffic to their site so that usability and on-page metrics can be formed for their site.

Relevant advertising traffic, email marketing and offline advertising that leads towards direct or brand based search visits can be valid traffic sources for a new site to achieve a respectable bounce rate and page dwell time.

Will other search engines remove links as ranking factors?

Although it is impossible to accurately predict the answer, I will mention a few points worth keeping in mind:

The fact that links are integral to search algorithms is hard to deny. Hyperlinks are fundamental to the web, but their importance in search algorithms has led to a lot of web spam.

As search engines continue to innovate and remove spam, so will Yandex’s cautious approach to this update. There is no doubt that the algorithm change would require further refinements.
We know that Google has toyed with the same idea and run similar internal tests to remove links as a ranking factor. Their tests concluded inclusion of relevant high quality links as part of the ranking formula still produces better results.

So, for the time being Google will continue to count back links as an important ranking factor for SERPs.

Three Lead Generation Card Tips from the @TwitterSmallBiz Playbook

akmercog

June 18, 2014

Posted by akmercog

Last August, we launched the
Lead Generation Card to all advertisers on Twitter. Since then, we’ve been impressed with the many small and medium businesses who have integrated the Lead Generation card into their marketing strategy, and seen powerful results.

We thought it would be valuable to share a page from our own playbook and offer a behind-the-scenes look at how the @TwitterSmallBiz team has been using Lead Generation Cards to accomplish our goals. Below, we’ll discuss what a Lead Generation Card is, and the three keys to success that we’ve uncovered through our experience using the product.

What is a Lead Generation Card?

A Lead Generation Card is simply a link that allows you to gather new customer email addresses directly within a Tweet. When you tweet out this link, it pre-populates a user’s full name, @username and email address (previously entered in their Twitter account settings) into the expanded area of your Tweet, replacing the need for a traditional, more cumbersome form.

In addition to a person’s contact information, the expanded Tweet includes other elements as well:

Short description: A statement that provides context and explains the value people will get from sharing their information with you.
Image: A visual cue that represents your business and generates interest in your offer.
Call to action: The action you want people to take, along with the benefits of doing so.

Here is what a Lead Generation Card looks like when included in a Tweet:

For step by step instructions on how to set up a Lead Generation Card, you can visit our dedicated
support page.

Our three keys to success with Lead Generation Cards

Our @TwitterSmallBiz team did a lot of testing and learning before we landed on our current strategy for Lead Generation Cards. Here are three tips for your own Lead Generation Card campaigns:

1. Streamline your campaigns

Twitter Ads enables you to set up multiple campaigns within your account and provides a view into performance at both the aggregate and individual campaign level.

If you plan to include Lead Generation Cards in your Promoted Tweets, we recommend setting up a separate campaign that includes all of your Tweets aimed at Lead Generation. This allows you to adjust your bid independently from Promoted Tweets that have other goals, such as generating engagement, driving website traffic, etc.

Within each campaign, you can also view performance at the individual Tweet level, which allows you to understand which Tweets are the biggest contributors towards your goals. When you include multiple Promoted Tweets with Lead Generation Cards in the same campaign, you can more easily compare performance across various combinations of Tweet copy and Lead Generation Card creatives.

Once you determine which Lead Generation Cards and types of Tweet copy are driving the best results, you can allocate more of your budget towards those combinations and away from the ones that aren’t performing as well.

2. Less isn’t always more

The goal behind testing and learning is to then optimize your campaigns to be as effective as possible. The more you test, the more quickly you can learn which features and combinations are most effective at helping you reach your goals. The sooner you start the testing process, the better.

When you first start using Lead Generation Cards, try anywhere from five to seven different Cards across 20-30 variations of Tweet copy. A few days into your campaign, your Twitter Ads analytics will provide you with a clear view into which combinations are performing better than others so you can focus your efforts moving forward.

Here’s an example of how we used a similar testing framework for a recent campaign to collect email addresses around a new content offer:

Lead Generation Cards:

Copy for Promoted Tweets:

Option #1:

Lead Generation Cards make it easier than ever to generate leads on Twitter – find out how they can help your biz in this guide:

Option #2:

Did you know you can capture a lead in a Tweet? Download our free guide to find out how:

Option #3:

Have you seen a Lead Generation Card before? Now you have. We’ll teach you how to use them for your business in our new guide:

Option #4:

Would 1700 leads in a week look good to your boss? Download our guide to find out how
@rockcreek accomplished this w/ Lead Generation Cards

3. Follow up

When someone submits their email address through a Lead Generation Card, that person is expressing interest in your business. This creates an opportunity for you to follow up when potential customers are more likely to be receptive to your message. If you don’t follow up with people after they submit an email address, they may not remain as interested or be as receptive to hearing from you.

For this reason, it’s important to develop a plan for how you will follow up with new leads after they submit their email address. That follow-up plan will often vary depending on the offer used for your Lead Generation Card.

For example, if your offer included a new piece of content, you may want to include the email addresses you collect in an existing newsletter or email campaign list that shares similar types of content. Alternatively, if you offered event registration through your Lead Generation Card, you might want to add those email addresses to an event mailing list so that you can send additional event information or materials that were presented at the event. No matter what type of follow-up plan you choose, it should create opportunities for you to continue communicating with new leads and, ultimately, convert them into paying customers.

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