No… that doesn’t just mean “make better content,” though, of course, great content is a crucial factor.

Today’s Listen from Copyblogger goes beyond optimizing your content. We’re hearing some new insights on the matter—some often-overlooked things to keep in mind when working towards getting those shares, from the power of the “second customer” to the immediate impression your website makes.

Let’s see what’s good, starting around 01:45…

• (02:25) Why Sonia hesitates to share a certain publisher’s content…
• (03:10) Why you need to make sure you’re sharing content that’s appropriate for your audience
• (03:25) As a content creator, your first duty is to your audience/potential customer
• (04:00) 1st factor. What is your goal? What are you trying to change in the world with your content? What are you trying to get people to do? – why it’s crucial you know this before you start making shareable content
• (05:08) Who else has the audience you want?
• (06:10) 2nd factor. “The second customer” aka a person who might not ever be a literal customer, but they have the ability to connect you to your customers
• (07:30) The problems with purging your email list of people that aren’t necessarily buying
• (07:45) Why making a purchase isn’t the only way that someone can benefit your business
• (09:45) 3rd factor. Consider the immediate impression your website makes
• (12:40) 4th factor. How to create an immediate positive impression for your content
• (14:25) Make sure to keep an eye on title tag and meta descriptions
• (15:10) 5th factor. What would you like people to do when people find you?
• (15:45) Some pros and cons to keep in mind when you’re considering adding a pop-up to your content

When it comes to SEO, Google is basically the only search engine that matters. Sure, there’s Bing (lol), Yahoo (yeah…no), and a few others, but they don’t matter. Since those other engines don’t matter, it makes sense to get hyper-specific with the pieces of Google’s ranking algorithm.

That’s what today’s Read is going to do. It focuses on just one piece of Google’s algorithm called RankBrain. Right now, RankBrain is the third most important ranking factor for Google’s algorithm, but it’s def moving it’s way up the ranks.

At this point, you’re probably like, “Okay, wtf is RakeBrain?” First of all, it’s RankBrain. Second of all, it’s a machine learning algorithm that Google uses to sort search results.

This is big because Google’s algorithm used to be manually coded, meaning their engineers actually changed the algorithm. But now RankBrain has the ability to tweak the algorithm on its own, and it’s going to have more influence on that algorithm in the future. That means you need to optimize for RankBrain now so that you’re not burned in the future. Like, right now.

Here are a few ways to do that:

1. RankBrain understands user intent. That’s a big deal because that means it’s time to scrap long-tail keywords and focus on Medium Tail Keywords. More on this in Chapter 3 of today’s Read.
2. Optimize titles and description tags for CTR. Organic CTR is a ranking signal for RankBrain. You can get more clicks by packing your titles with emotion, adding brackets and parentheses to the ends of your titles, use numbers (not just on list posts!), and spending more time writing your meta-descriptions. More on this in Chapter 4.
3. Optimize your content for bounce rate and dwell time. There is no doubt that these two factors are ranking signals for RankBrain. Read Chapter 5 for more on this.
4. Chapter 6 – RankBrain Optimization Strategies and Case Studies.

Running out of room to fully sum this one up. Sorry. You should truly check out today’s Read.

On September 26th, 2017 Saudi Arabia made a historic decision—women will be allowed to drive starting in June 2018. Before that, it was illegal for a woman to drive a car in the country. Even though there is still a lot of work to be done for equality in Saudi Arabia, it’s a huge step in the right direction.

Despite it now being legal for women to drive, they’re still facing prejudice and judgment from males in their community. That’s why Nissan is stepping in with a short documentary-style film that is designed to promote confidence among Saudi Arabian women.

Nissan hopes to do that by offering women driving lessons with an unexpected instructor (not gonna ruin this one for you), and promoting discussion with the hashtag #SheDrives.

And while Nissan obviously has an ulterior motive here (sell cars), we still appreciate their effort.