With more than 10,000 new websites created every hour, brands need to reconsider their strategies to stand out in search engines.
Imagine a new website, buried beneath a mountain of other websites, fighting for the algorithm's attention. To rise above, companies must innovate and embrace an approach that goes beyond traditional SEO.
In our latest interview, Bubblegum Search founder and Director Matt Cayless shares tips brands can leverage to stand out, emphasizing digital PR as a strategy for new and established websites.
Who Is Matt Cayless?
Matt Cayless is the founder of Bubblegum Search, a creative-first search and social agency that specializes in helping eCommerce and home services brands grow. With years of experience in the industry, Matt has honed his expertise in customized digital strategies and is dedicated to delivering personalized, professional, and proactive services.
Understanding a brand's unique identity and needs is vital in every new project, and every agency has its strategies for uncovering and addressing these aspects effectively.
Matt suggests that Bubblegum Search relies on a discovery call to dive deep into understanding what makes a brand tick. The company explores key information such as:
- Long-term goals
- Who the audience is
- Where a prospect stands in the market
- What hurdles are brands facing
“We use a mix of interviews, detailed questionnaires, and reviews of their existing marketing efforts to craft a strategy that truly resonates with their brand’s unique needs,” he notes.
Going In-depth to Uncover a Site's Potential
In addition to the discovery call, a thorough website analytics audit is a key component of Bubblegum Search's approach.
According to Matt, they’re not just tinkering around the edges but delving into the nitty-gritty of a site's technical health, checking aspects like load speed and mobile friendliness.
As part of their efforts, they assess the quality and relevance of content across core pages and how effectively the client uses keywords. They also audit all conversion tracking and make sure the client has set up Google Tag Manager (GTM) and is working correctly.
“This approach helps us pinpoint exactly what tweaks will push our client’s performance to the next level, ensuring we can measure and report on all metrics that matter most and pivot our strategy as and when needed.”
Matt highlights that a major pitfall they often observe is businesses making web design or development changes without consulting with SEO experts. Another big mistake is rushing a website migration without proper checks.
He believes that these mistakes can seriously harm a site’s search rankings, highlighting that:
“Bubblegum Search ensures that all web development or migration processes undergo a rigorous review, ensuring no negative impact on SEO.
When handled correctly, these changes result in improved rankings and increased traffic. This oversight is a fundamental part of our strategy to safeguard and enhance the company's digital presence.”
The main lesson here is clear: consult with SEO experts before making any web changes and don’t rush migrations.
Traditional SEO Tactics Won't Work for New Websites
Matt and I discussed how businesses can optimize their new websites to increase organic traffic.
This is his input on this matter:
“SEO for new websites can be particularly challenging due to the competitive nature of search engine results pages (SERPs). To truly stand out, it's critical not just to focus on the traditional technical and on-page SEO elements but to also develop a robust branding strategy. That should encompass channels such as social media, digital PR, and email marketing.”
He believes that this holistic approach is necessary, as outdated and simplistic SEO tactics won't cut it anymore.
QGP Founder and SEO Lead Kosta Hristov agrees, emphasizing that building a strong corporate brand across multiple platforms often provides better long-term value than focusing solely on personal branding.
“Google loves brands. They want to rank brands. Because having a brand means long-term investment on the business side. And you build a brand by keeping a healthy presence across multiple channels,” he says.
According to Matt, Bubblegum Search emphasizes building a comprehensive brand presence that resonates across multiple channels, ensuring clients not only survive but thrive in today's digital landscape.
Watch our video to discover how to convert SEO leads into paying customers.
Digital PR Is a Powerful Tool for Established Websites
Matt believes that digital PR is a powerful tool for both new and established brands. He highlights, however, that it requires a substantial budget to be effective.
“For new brands, it’s important to manage expectations; a few PR campaigns alone are unlikely to lead to high search rankings immediately.
Success in digital PR demands a balanced investment across multiple marketing channels including SEO and other brand-building activities,” he adds.
Matt advises that clients should strategically allocate their budgets to ensure their digital PR efforts complement other ongoing marketing strategies, maximizing the overall impact.
To further enhance the effectiveness of digital PR efforts, he shares the following tips for brands:
- Make your stories irresistible to journalists by hooking them with unique, data-driven insights and wrapping them up with eye-catching visuals
- Keep up a steady stream of personalized communication with journalists, ensuring the pitch is tailored to what they care about, significantly boosting your chances of getting those high-value backlinks
To capture journalists' attention and make its content worthy of links, Bubblegum Search focuses on:
- Crafting data-driven stories with unique insights, ensuring they are both compelling and newsworthy
- Using reactive campaigns to swiftly adapt to trending topics, ensuring timely and relevant content
- Incorporating expert commentary to maintain and enhance their client’s authority and relevance within their industry
“We prioritize building long-term relationships by consistently providing valuable and timely content, establishing ourselves as a reliable source for high-quality stories. We also use specialist PR software to find relevant journalists and build and maintain relationships,” he explained.
Additionally, he suggested that they tailor their pitches to align with the specific interests and editorial guidelines of different media outlets, ensuring their content is both relevant and impactful.
But how can businesses effectively measure the ROI of their digital PR campaigns in terms of SEO?
SmartSites Co-Founder Michael Melen answers that measuring the ROI of digital PR for SEO requires looking beyond basic metrics.
"Start by tracking improvements in search rankings for key terms and growth in organic traffic, especially from trusted sites linking back to your content.
Quality matters, so make sure you focus on the authority of these backlinks.
Also, examine conversion rates from organic traffic to understand revenue impact.
More importantly, setting clear goals, like brand awareness or lead generation, helps tie these metrics to what really matters, giving you a full picture of your PR campaign's effectiveness," he says.
Riding Tiktok's Effect on Social Media
Given that a great number of consumers prefer video content in 2024, I was curious to hear from Matt if brands should opt for developing YouTube and social videos or focus on blogging.
In his opinion:
“This isn’t an either-or answer.....do both if they work!. But the attention is now on social more than ever, and with the ‘Tiktokification’ of platforms such as Instagram and YouTube shorts, using video and creative strategies to get in front of the audience is more crucial than ever.
The best part of all is that these social platforms now use the interest graph algorithms, meaning it’s a level playing field to get views and attention if the creative is good enough.”
Finally, I asked Matt if he could share his best content marketing tips brands can leverage for the best ROI in 2024.
He believes mastering organic social media results by understanding each platform's nuances and crafting successful creative content can yield huge ROI. Best of all, he says, brands can repurpose successful organic posts with a call to action and boost them with paid media to drive leads and sales.
