SEO & Content Marketing International Report 2023 PART 1 On-site SEO Content Introduction A bit about European SEO expert 3-4 5-24 How much do specialists spend on SEO? 5-9 What is the cost of tools? 9-11 Types of SEO work 12–14 Types of employment and new SEO challenges 15-22 SEO industry and gender 22-24 Part 1: On-site SEO 26-58 Debunking SEO myths Phrase positioning or following trends? 30-35 Debunking SEO myths Does the length of content matter? 35-45 Debunking SEO myths Directory or subdomain? 44-48 Debunking SEO myths Images are not important for SEO 48-53 Who creates the content? 53-55 SEO experts share some Industry secrets 55-59 Methodology: how was the report created? 60 Introduction WhitePress® Today's website optimized in terms of SEO is dramatically different from its 2005 or 2010 counterpart. In a way, SEO specialists acquire their knowledge on an ongoing basis. What works and what doesn't? This is something they learn by trial and error. And they are not always willing to share their secrets. A separate topic concerns the industry's focus mainly on the United States. That is where expert voices and reported data come from. The power of the market there is also visible through the figures: the US SEO market was worth USD 80 billion in 2021 (IBISWorld, 2021), while the European market was valued at only USD 24.6 billion (European Search Market Report, 2021). To put it more into perspective, it is worth adding that in China, it's USD 7 billion, and in India, it's less than a billion. Therefore, the SEO world often and quite wrongly focuses exclusively on America. REPORT There are few fields like SEO; the existence of thousands of European online stores and services depends on it, and yet it is still so poorly researched. This is partly due to the freshness and variability of the phenomenon: search engine optimization came into being less than three decades ago, but almost everything has changed over the years. With the reality in Europe often being different from that in the US. That's why we’ve decided to carry out the largest survey to date focused around the question: what SEO techniques and tools will be used by European experts in 2023, and how do they see the future of the industry? We hope that we have been able to dispel the mist of mystery that has hung over our continent so far. In this report, we’ve partnered with Similarweb, who has provided additional digital data points to see whether online searches and trends match the survey. 3 WhitePress® REPORT Similarweb is a Digital Intelligence platform that supports the smartest marketing teams in the world. Its advanced data collection methods equip SEOs with superior data and insight to make better strategic decisions. Using both traditional SERP data and real-user data, Similarweb has fresh keywords and competitor intel, helping SEOs identify opportunities, reveal successful tactics, and spot trending terms and topics before anyone else. 4 Widely available information about their website optimization spending does not make it any clearer. Search Engine Journal reports an average of less than USD 500 per month; according to WebFx, it is between USD 750 and 2,000; in research by Ahrefs, the budget was precisely USD 3209; and Accelerate Agency reports that it should be expected to spend between USD 1,000 and... USD 1 million. Not only is this range vast, but the data usually comes only from the US market, so it is not entirely representative of Europe. A study by WhitePress® allowed for more concrete results. It seems that, in Europe, the most money is spent by people in countries such as the UK, where 27% of SEO specialists have a monthly budget of more than EUR 4540 for a domain. Czechs, Poles, or Romanians tend to have budgets of EUR 400–500, which probably also has to do with the size of the market. The lowest budgets can be found in Turkey, where only half of SEO specialists invest more than EUR 200 per month in their websites. The results are highly variable, but the average budget per domain oscillates around EUR 500 per month. REPORT How much do specialists spend on SEO? WhitePress® A bit about European SEO expert 5 REPORT WhitePress® However, will SEO budgets have to become higher and higher over time? We've asked our respondents about this, and their opinions are strongly divided. 6 "It seems that the French market is slowing down. When the economic context is fragile, companies tend to cut on expenses that are no vital for them.” WhitePress® REPORT According to David Chelly, a member of the board of directors of the French organization SEO CAMP: It leads to the conclusion that in times of crisis, SEO expenses might drop significantly, at least in France. On the other hand, Anastasiya Baydachenko, CEO of IAB Ukraine, believes that SEO-related expenses will need to be higher in the future due to frequent algorithm changes introduced by Google. She states: "In Ukrainian publishers' experience or any small publisher’s experience, it is very uneasy to understand how to secure a site search listing position in all these constant algorithm changes. That is why they need a higher budget for SEO expenses and to hire professional agencies. When was the last time you saw any service costs decrease?” 7 David Peranić, Digital marketing strategist at Kontra Agency, explains that: "[s]earch engines are changing the way they work, and the number of SERP positions that acquire good CTR is decreasing. The fact that some activities will eventually become cheaper will only mean that a lot more effort will be needed to rank high enough. You shouldn't be surprised that the golden era of SEO for many small companies will vanish and that it will become too expensive for them to rank. The main question for any activity, including SEO, is not what the cost is. The main question is: what is the expected return on investment and WhitePress® George Filippotis from Spiral Mango agency emphasizes several factors that may contribute to the increase in SEO expenses over time. The complexity of optimization efforts will: “[require] more advanced tools and techniques to achieve desired results.” Moreover, REPORT what is the risk of failure?” "SEO strategies often require customization and expertise to align with specific business goals and target audiences. Human involvement and strategic decision-making remain crucial in many aspects of SEO. Consequently, businesses may still need to invest in specialized SEO professionals or agencies, potentially maintaining or increasing expenses.” As can be seen in the comments quoted above, the opinions of industry professionals regarding SEO budgets in the future are divided. Ultimately, businesses will need to carefully assess the expected return on investment and the risks associated with SEO activities to determine appropriate budget allocations. 8 The expenditures of most European SEO specialists are no more than a few hundred Euros per month. While Google Search Console remains a valuable tool for providing insights into site rankings, it has certain limitations. For instance, it only offers traffic estimates and lacks the ability to compare a site with its competitors, a feature provided by paid tools. Information from these paid equivalents WhitePress® To gain a competitive edge in today's saturated SEO-marketing market, staying up-to-date with the latest tools is essential. The days of relying solely on free SEO tools like Google Search Console are long gone, although there are exceptions. Many SEO specialists now leverage their own custom tools or unique combinations of techniques. The number of officially available tools exceeds 200, and the possibilities for proprietary tools are endless. REPORT What is the cost of tools? 9 WhitePress® REPORT can confer an advantage, as not everyone has access to them. Additionally, they enable verification of elements beyond the scope of Google Search Console. 10 However, is there a chance that Google Search Console will once again become the sole tool used by SEO specialists? The limitations of it are acknowledged by our respondents, with only 13% of them expressing readiness to state that it will replace most analytics tools in the future. The limitations of this tool are noticeable — it's difficult to work in current times using just one tool, especially in such a complicated field like SEO. "I believe that keyword analysis should be a multidimensional process. No tool alone can give you all the information about keywords that you need in the SEO and content marketing processes. If you want to get to the top in competitive markets, However, there is no shortage of people who swim against the current, and they do so successfully! As per usual in the case of SEO, the phrase 'it depends' applies here too. It can be visible in the comments below: WhitePress® Szymon Słowik, SEO Consultant & Strategist REPORT you need to put in extra work and effort.” "Besides Search Console as a basic tool, in our daily work, we rely on Semrush as an all-in-one SEO tool. Through it, we can analyze our ranking, keyword structure, backlink structure, and potential toxicity. It enables us to conduct effective keyword research easily, even on a competitive level, by analyzing our competitors' profiles.” Rafael Sotelo, Content manager, Marketing4eCommerce 11 "I have made it a sport to use as few tools as possible for my work. Therefore, I try to grab as much as possible with a single tool [...] I steer based on just a few KPIs: keyword popularity, rankings, and traffic. With these, I successfully manage my own sites and those of clients. So minimize the number of tools and KPIs for overview and quick action!” Do we know anything more about the specifics of the European market? The last few years have witnessed a veritable revolution in the field of remote working, and the SEO industry reflects this. WhitePress® Types of SEO work REPORT Marcel Nanning, Founder & Publisher, B2BMarketers Only one in five SEO specialists works in a corporate office. The rest perform their duties in hybrid or remote mode. How does the widespread use of remote work in recent years impact work? According to specialists from Kala Presence d.o.o agency., the impact of remote work on the SEO industry has been positive "[...] because it opened up the market and the whole SEO world became more connected, and more people found interest in the SEO and saw their careers within the SEO.” 12 REPORT WhitePress® Content manager z Marketing4eCommerce, Rafael Sotelo comes up with a similar conclusion: "The widespread popularization of remote work has brought about a revolution in the labor field” What was that revolution? David Chelly, a member of the board of directors from SEO CAMP, discusses this topic further: "The impact was positive, as many companies were not able to hire SEO specialists. As companies work more and more online, hiring people gets less complicated.” 13 In a similar vein, Mert Erkal, the founder and an international SEO expert at Stradiji, shares his insights on the challenges and benefits of remote work in the SEO industry. He states: "Despite the challenging climate due to the pandemic, SEO has continued to thrive primarily because of the flexibility in its work processes. Transitioning to a fully remote setup does present challenges... One of the significant downsides is the feeling of isolation, which can impact productivity. However, the positive effects outweigh the negatives... Working remotely has no "[...] thanks to the option of remote work, SEO experts had more time to be creative, perform technical tasks, and develop strategies. Furthermore, the motivation brought by remote work WhitePress® Mürsel Ferhat Sağlam, the founder of Branding Türkiye, highlights that remote work has provided many benefits to the SEO industry. He states that REPORT significant downsides for workers specializing in SEO.” also reflected on the quality of the work performed. In short, the widespread adoption of remote work has provided many benefits to the SEO industry.” 14 Types of employment and new SEO challenges WhitePress® REPORT When it comes to how SEO specialists are employed, there are roughly equal numbers of those working in agencies, freelancers, and people employed directly by a company that positions its own sites. The majority (65%) are involved not only in sole SEO but also in other areas such as social media advertising, SEM, or email marketing. 15 REPORT WhitePress® There are various reasons for this. Freelancers demonstrate versatility to gain a market advantage. A company's in-house specialists are often responsible for other areas out of necessity, as they handle all or a large part of the company's online marketing themselves. Whereas, in an agency, it is sometimes necessary to combine several roles to achieve better results for the ordering parties on tight budgets. This reflects a common market trend to combine SEO with other activities as part of holistic marketing strategies. 16 Gerald Murphy, Senior Solutions Business Manager w Similarweb, adds: "It’s also worth noting that SEO itself has diversified. It has always been a discipline subject to change, driven by Google guidelines, algorithm updates, and an increasingly competitive landscape. This year, at Similarweb, one of the big trends we’re seeing is SEO for channels other than Google. YouTube and Amazon SEO are fairly established now, but the rise of TikTok is particularly interesting. TikTok SEO has a monthly search volume of nearly 10k, and TikTok SEO strategy has over 1k. And closer to traditional SEO, ‘Bing SEO’ and associated additional marketing tasks, they have to adapt within a growing and diversifying SEO space too.” Example keywords and MSV (Monthly Search Volume) to back this up: Similarweb data 2023 WhitePress® the search landscape, SEOs not only have to contend with REPORT terms are also rising. While new generations start to dominate 17 It is confirmed by the results of previous reports concerning other industries: 69% of marketers use SEO alongside marketing techniques (HubSpot State of Marketing Report, 2021), and the phrase "SEO in content marketing" was the second most searched for content-related topics last year (The State of Content Marketing, 2022 Global Report), which means that marketers or copywriters are also keen to add SEO to their arsenal. As can be seen, these areas are more often perceived by both parties as complementary than competitive. WhitePress® REPORT The question of the number of handled domains is also indirectly linked to the type of employment. Only one domain is usually handled by SEO specialists employed by a specific company, while handling more than 15 sites is definitely more popular among agencies and freelancers. From a global perspective, the largest number of people (more than 37%) work on 2–5 domains at a time; these can be agency employees with several major clients, the aforementioned freelancers, as well as in-house staff. 18 REPORT WhitePress® When it comes to the effectiveness of an SEO specialist, the number of supervised websites plays a significant role. Cătalin Jilavu, Founder & Chief from Digital Craft Agency points out that „[w]orking on very few websites can make a specialist lose grip on what is happening in the overall SEO environment, while working on too many can lead to superficial work.” A similar viewpoint is presented by Dario Begonja, Managing Director at Hero Factory: "Managing only one website can give you the best possible focus, but you might lose touch with the general market, failing to spot important market-wide occurrences in time. Also, 19 working on strategies versus working on everyday SEO content is vastly different. This is why we like to ensure a maximum of 4–6 websites per expert, with multiple experts sharing their market insights with one another.” More about this is said by Florin Girtan, SEO Director at Gun Media: "Usually the bigger the number, the lower the effectiveness. In order to be fully effective, a specialist should fully understand and immerse themselves in the business, and having a larger In the WhitePress® study, almost 70% of respondents do not work on more than 10 websites. As Paweł Gontarek, CEO of Semgence, points out, the number of domains they handle limits the hours they can dedicate to individual projects, which ultimately leads to the aforementioned decrease in efficiency. WhitePress® REPORT number of websites makes that difficult.” "If we have 168 working hours in a month, it's physically impossible to work that many hours. We need to automate some processes (at least partially) to manage our workload. However, if someone is responsible for, let's say, 30 projects in SEO, they can only dedicate around 4 hours to each project. The remaining hours are allocated for ongoing tasks, breaks, self-development, and so on. If a company dedicates the entire 168 hours to project management, in my opinion, it's challenging to provide proper care and attention to each project. 20 In Semgence, we have implemented a system where almost every new project is estimated based on hours. This way, individuals have fewer projects to handle (around 4-6), allowing them to dedicate more time to their execution.” Part of the specialist's work also involves communication with the client, which naturally requires a certain amount of time each month. Therefore, a complete focus solely on technical work is not possible. "It is important to remember that there are two aspects: typical communication with the client, explaining the strategy, and moderating texts. If we don't want to play ‘broken telephone’ with the involvement of an additional customer service person, we simply need to allocate 2–3 hours per month for direct client contact. It all depends on the agency's vision, its position in the market, and the values it upholds, including how clients are served within the organization. At SeoFly, we believe in WhitePress® the link profile, coordinating content creation, etc., and REPORT SEO work, which involves analyzing the website, managing doing things the way we would like to be served ourselves, emphasizing accessibility from our side.” Korneliusz Smolik, CEO, SeoFly Therefore, finding balance is crucial. The specialist needs to have a sufficient number of websites to stay engaged and up-to-date with the industry, but not so many that their work becomes superficial and lacking in in-depth understanding. Ultimately, there is no fixed number that guarantees effectiveness for every SEO specialist. It depends on their capabilities, time management skills, and ability to stay informed about the latest SEO trends and best practices. 21 Striking the right balance ensures that the specialist can deliver quality results across the supervised websites. SEO industry and gender WhitePress® REPORT And who is an SEO specialist today? Slowly but steadily, the representation of women in the industry is growing, changing an image that so far has been heavily masculine. A Moz report from 2015 and a paper entitled State of SEO from 2020 show that at that time, approximately 30% of SEO specialists were female. Meanwhile, in our 2022–2023 research, the result has already risen to more than 36 percent. Incidentally, we found that, proportionally, the largest number of women in SEO works in Greece. 22 WhitePress® REPORT In terms of the digital world, worldwide data largely reflects that of the survey for gender. Similarweb reviewed three popular SEO websites: Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land, and SEOroundtable to see the gender split of website visitors. As you can see below, the data sits around the 60% male vs. 40% female mark worldwide. Similarweb data 2023 In a number of European countries, this gender split is nearing an even split. For instance, in the UK, 40% of visitors to SEJ are female, and in Poland, it’s 48%. This extends to industry events, where we’ve seen a transformation in the demographic. In fact, when you look at the traffic going to the BrightonSEO website, females edge the majority with 52%. 23 Adelle Kehoe, Director of Content at Similarweb, reflects: "While there’s still a way to go, having attended SEO events as well as working in and with SEO teams and agencies for over 10 years, I’ve noticed a definite shift in the industry. The data is encouraging and moving in the right direction, but companies and events still need to take further steps to transition more women in SEO into leadership roles and create safe and are involved in SEO, a subject that has often been left to men, possibly due to a highly technical component. However, many female SEO and Content professionals are now established in both the Italian and international market.” WhitePress® “As the report shows, an increasing number of women (finally!) REPORT inclusive environments for everyone to thrive.” Valentina Turchetti, Managing Director and Content Marketing Lead, YourDigitalWeb - SEO&Digital agency This is not the only surprising data to come out of the WhitePress® study. We encourage you to read the entire thing and draw your own conclusions. 24 REPORT PART 1: ON-SITE SEO In recent years, internal website optimization has undergone a real revolution. The once-popular "stuffing" of rigid key phrases on a page neither helps to gain a high position in search results nor does it inspire confidence in users. And this is becoming increasingly difficult to do anyway. WhitePress® On-site SEO As Steve Jobs once said: "First and foremost, you have to ensure a positive user experience, and only then adapt the technology to it.” This motto applies perfectly to modern SEO, which must focus primarily on the audience. However, what is On-site SEO in specialists’ current perspective? Krešimir Ćorlukić, the representative of SEO Hrvatska, emphasizes the crucial importance of this element in the industry: 26 knowledge on the basics of HTML, CSS, JS and how it all relates to ranking, you can't really be a good SEO. A lot of websites (even big ones, from experience) lose a lot of traffic on silly PART 1: ON-SITE SEO "On-site SEO is how most SEOs start for a good reason. Without mistakes like robots.txt or messed up canonicals. Others lose out on not knowing how to do SEO for javascript websites or how important meta descriptions, titles and other content is for CTR and engagement rates.” type of work, so a lot of effort has to be spent in the beginning and not too much later in the project. It does not need to be perfect, but it has to be at least 80% OK in order to start all other work.” WhitePress® "On-site SEO is what we start with, always. This is a top-heavy REPORT Péter Boóc, SEO expert and CEO from Dog&Pony agency, highlights the significance of investing efforts in On-site SEO at the beginning of a project, stating, This field of SEO naturally influences a series of other aspects of website functioning, as explained further by Antonis Bantios, Head of SEO & Big Data from Globe One Digital: "On-page SEO is not just a good first step; it's the only first step in the SEO industry. Starting SEO without optimizing the website first is like buying fuel for a car without an engine. You must do your research, identify and fix all technical issues, and optimize your content in order to effectively target those keywords. 27 but your marketing strategy as a whole, with lower CPCs, better conversion rates, and higher quality metrics in general.” PART 1: ON-SITE SEO Because on-page actions won't only affect your SEO efforts "Certainly small sites often benefit from building out content, but it seems to be more about having comprehensive coverage on a topic than about the number of pages or words. There is also WhitePress® A strong emphasis on the optimization of the websites and the content is also expressed by Cindy Krum, CEO at MobileMoxie, an expert well acquainted with the US market. According to her, one has to always seek balance between SEO and content. She points out that there is a certain strength in having well-developed content on one’s site, but, as it is in many cases, moderation is the key to success. REPORT The comments provided by the experts emphasize the importance of on-page SEO as the first and essential step in the SEO industry. It is necessary to optimize the website, fix technical issues, optimize content for the audience, and effectively target keywords. such a thing as ‘too much content’, especially if it is repetitive, redundant, or low-quality. Some sites actually benefit from reindexing that type of content. I tend to believe that there is an overall score for the proportion of high-quality to low-quality content on a site. Once you know that you have covered the topic thoroughly, then it is important to keep that ratio very high.” 28 PART 1: ON-SITE SEO It is definitely true that Internet users are fleeing from sites that mislead them. A misleading link, an uninteresting article, "waffling," etc. can not only result in negative consequences for search engines but also discourage users. The essence of On-site SEO is well summarized by Nino Zubanović, SEO Consultant from HERO factory: “[...]as long as people will seek value while they're investing their time and focus browsing, On-site SEO and making sure that the content provides value will be a pivotal first step for What amounts are we talking about? This is one of the things that you can learn from our report, which also reveals a number of other surprising facts concerning search engine optimization in 2023: • Most SEO specialists still mainly analyze key phrases, and pay less attention to trends. WhitePress® All of this means that On-site SEO techniques must be applied skillfully, and this requires additional time and resources. REPORT an SEO strategy.” • The longer the content, the better? Respondents disagree: half say yes, 25% say no, and 25% have no opinion. • A company blog in a directory, subdomain, or on a new page? 83% of SEO specialists would choose a directory. • Photos, tables, infographics? Most industry professionals believe that they have an impact on their position in the rankings, either directly or indirectly. • Anchor texts exact match: According to the researchers, it is safe to use exact match content on the website. 29 PART 1: ON-SITE SEO Debunking SEO myths: Phrase positioning or following trends? SEO Myth: Key phrases are less important than they used to be. Following trends is what counts. According to research by WhitePress®, there is currently a clear majority of opinion among industry professionals that it is primarily worthwhile to rely on analyzing key phrases. Tin Đudajek, SEO strategist & consultant at Tako.hr, emphasizes, WhitePress® It has been debated for some time whether focusing on sole keywords really makes sense (since algorithms change so often). Or is it perhaps better to focus on trends? REPORT SEO specialists like specifics, so let's focus on them. A study by WhitePress® concerning SEO in 22 European countries was a good opportunity to dispel some popular industry myths. The first concerns the use of key phrases. "It is a part of the job that you simply cannot avoid. And it would be pointless to avoid it, really.” He believes in the importance of keeping up-to-date with industry changes, subscribing to relevant newsletters, and staying connected with peers to gain insights. He adds, "If you're not keeping up, a change could come and find 30 chapters” PART 1: ON-SITE SEO you unprepared. It's like reading a book and skipping a few This is not an isolated opinion — Bogdan Păunică, from Digital Craft Agency highlights, "Our environment constantly changes, and not knowing what is coming can make you more of a task performer than a true "Although SEO can be condensed and mechanized to the WhitePress® Perhaps it is precisely the human aspect, which requires broad and profound environmental analysis, that will protect SEO specialists from being replaced by artificial intelligence. REPORT specialist.” point where SERP is just a numbers game devoid of context, most serious and competitive industries are so saturated and competitive that I find it hard to imagine success without immersing oneself in the industry. [...] An SEO specialist who can understand the brand and condense it into something that is SEO-friendly is the one who is successful; parroting the same topics and phrases either does nothing or brings only shortterm benefits.” Marko Pačar, Managing partner, Granular Group Keeping up with the latest trends may seem difficult, sometimes even impossible — but creating your own or joining an already established 31 "It's all about good work organization, if one can find the time PART 1: ON-SITE SEO community can come to the rescue, as explained further by Paweł Gontarek: for it. One good solution we have in Semgence is having 1-2 channels where we share news, interesting articles, tool information, and updates. This way, everyone in the company (not just the SEO team) has access to current knowledge and changes happening in search engines. This work organization fosters a culture where those seeking knowledge share their findings with others, leading to the development of all WhitePress® REPORT individuals working in the company." 32 PART 1: ON-SITE SEO The research reveals that 20% rely on them alone, completely ignoring industry news or trends. 52.5% of people sometimes draw conclusions for themselves from current trends, but first they base them on keyword analysis. Others mainly observe the latest market trends, but supplement this with knowledge concerning phrase analysis. Whereas, no one admitted to completely ignoring keywords in their work, giving a clear verdict: "If we look at the changes on the SERP and the huge oscillations of positions and volumes on a daily basis, every even remotely WhitePress® Still, the comments from the experts highlight the importance of staying updated with industry changes and connecting with peers to exchange insights. This ensures that SEO professionals are prepared for big changes and can effectively track and focus on relevant strategies. While trends may be important, analyzing key phrases remains a significant aspect of SEO. REPORT Phrase analysis still constitutes the first and most important tool in the arsenal of a good SEO specialist, and this is true regardless of the country. volatile and dynamic industry requires us to address users with relevant content that is not only aligned with their intent but also with industry trends, geographic location, and other sociodemographic criteria that were not crucial for success from an SEO perspective a few years ago. Consequently, some SEO tools are simply not adequate for the job; recognizing why the SERP is structured the way it is and how to position yourself as a brand in a certain industry is the key to success.” Marko Pačar, Managing partner, Granular Group 33 PART 1: ON-SITE SEO Google's algorithm updates have become more frequent in recent years (for example, 18 updates in 2022, 11 in 2016, and 8 in 2010). A single update can sometimes turn an elaborate SEO strategy upside down. The means of expression are changing: letters are being replaced by video, and searching by text alone may soon become less popular than by voice or image. What doesn't get old is still interesting and valuable content—of course, enhanced with the right phrases. This necessity of being able to master the constantly-evolving landscape of Google algorithm updates is very well expressed by Paweł Gontarek, who focuses on how crucial being able to adapt to these changes is: "I don't follow changes in Google’s politics, but I do keep track of and sometimes they cause substantial drops. In those moments, it's a matter of rolling up the sleeves and finding solutions. Unfortunately, there are times when everything else needs to be put aside because we have to focus on analyzing the drops and developing a strategy to overcome the crisis." WhitePress® significant impact; sometimes they result in positive outcomes; REPORT algorithm changes. Sometimes these changes don't have any Sometimes, dealing with another update and putting out the fire can be a demanding challenge, and some SEO specialists focus heavily on predicting potential consequences to be ready and prepared to act before it's even required: “[...] As SEO specialists, we must be up-to-date with all updates and changes in Google policies. But not to change the actions that we recommend to our clients, but to understand where Google is thinking in its search results. We must anticipate all the movements they are going to make. In this way, no change will catch us on the wrong foot.” ClickAge 34 "Professional SEO services have to track the Google updates and PART 1: ON-SITE SEO The dynamics of SEO require staying up-to-date with every update; otherwise, our efforts will simply cease to yield the expected benefits: align their tactics with the new policies. Outdated SEO practices would harm the client's websites otherwise. Adaptation needs clear and straightforward communication with the clients, as they need to understand the changes." Szabolcs Nótin, Founder and CEO, WhitePress® REPORT Marketing21 Digital Marketing Agency Debunking SEO myths: Does the length of content matter? SEO Myth: The longer the content, the better the ranking chances on Google. This myth is debunked even by Google on its official channel in the series "SEO mythbusting" Nevertheless, such a view is still quite popular, as exactly half of the industry professionals say that the more content, the better. 35 PART 1: ON-SITE SEO REPORT WhitePress® One in four people asked believes that it all depends on the type of website and what the competition is writing on theirs. The others don't treat the length of content as a significant factor for positioning, which may suggest that what counts for them the most is the factual content. “After more than ten years of creating SEO-focused content in our magazine, the conclusion is clear: it depends. [...] The importance of content length has increased for Google, but the crucial aspect is to understand and address the user's search intent: make the content as long as you believe the user needs to satisfy their search. A good structure of titles and indexes, effective internal linking to that post, and a positive user experience on the page are as important as the length when it comes to ranking.” Rafael Sotelo, Content Manager, Marketing4eCommerce 36 from 300 to 400 words ranks excellently in one industry, while in another industry, it may require several thousand words. Therefore, we adapt the length of the texts based on the industry PART 1: ON-SITE SEO “We have conducted successful tests where content ranging and the website rather than solely catering to algorithms.” Paweł Gontarek, CEO, Semgance than those 500-word-long blogs that everyone keeps writing. The only case where I see short-form content ranking highly is when it is published on an E-E-A-T or YMYL website, or when a query is super specific and really doesn't need much explanation. WhitePress® “Blogs with 2500 words or more tend to get more TOP positions REPORT An interesting aspect is also the correlation between the length and the language of the published content, as explained further by Barbara Slade Jagodic, the owner of SLADE.hr: I do advise my clients to publish longer texts, as we do see that they keep ranking really high when we optimize them. For websites targeting the Croatian public, it's usually enough to write a 2000-word text, while in English it can take up to 10,000 words to rank.” Others do not consider the length of content a significant factor in SEO, which may suggest that they prioritize content's substance and relevance. “The length of content does not have a direct impact on ranking on Google. What truly matters is providing relevant, valuable, 37 In fact, our clients pages with not much text but a substantial number of regularly updated content and signs of expertise perform just as well, if not better, in search rankings compared PART 1: ON-SITE SEO and expert information that answers the user's query effectively. to pages with a lot of text. Conversely, pages that contain a lot of text but show little evidence of expertise rank lower.” to write 5,000-word articles in order to perform well in terms of positioning. In our long experience, this is not quite the truth: the most important thing is to write content that is as comprehensive, complete, and detailed as possible. As a result, these are medium-length articles precisely because they are highly structured. Half of the respondents determine the length of the content, depending on the complexity of the topic.” WhitePress® "When it comes to SEO, most people believe that it is necessary REPORT Olha Melnyk, Manager, Aweb.Agency Valentina Turchetti, YourDigitalWeb, SEO&Digital agency, Managing Director and Content Marketing Lead Web users are more and more sensitive to pages "bloated" with thousands of unnecessary characters. They appreciate it when content specialists reach out to them, producing factual answers to specific questions. That’s why half of the respondents determine the length of the content, depending on the complexity of the topic. However, 38% of SEO specialists still take advantage of analyzing the competitors' content length as their main guideline before writing a text for a handled website. This is a tactic that is less tailored to the reader but more effective from an SEO point of view. It also allows for avoiding the unnecessary multiplication of content because it is created long enough to outrank competitors. 38 PART 1: ON-SITE SEO REPORT WhitePress® In third place in terms of popularity is a rather simple but highly effective technique: checking the competition for selected phrases by typing them into Google or a different search engine. If, as indicated by our surveyed parties, proper AI tools are used for this, one can learn a lot this way. “The analysis of search results is not only a pivotal element of my typical SEO analysis, but above all, I use it to recognize the competition and elements affecting the CTR of the website that I take care of. I concentrate on the construction of the SERP: the presence of text results (and the construction of their metatags, displaying Rich Snippets) and additional visible components such as Google News, Video, graphics, a direct answer, or a knowledge box. 39 behind a given query (what is a key in the further strategy for an analyzed keyword) and a hint about what I really have to face in search results. PART 1: ON-SITE SEO Based on this analysis, I draw conclusions about the intention Additionally, I often identify ‘quick wins’ based on this analysis—these small improvements that, when implemented, can help the client's website stand out from the competition in search results. Another important aspect I consider is the ‘People also ask’ box. While I usually automate this process, it serves as a valuable source of inspiration for creating new blog content and helps forget about the comparative analysis of domains in SERPs (however, I also automate the process here). At the end of the day, the analysis of the search result is the basis of a well-chosen SEO strategy for the selected keyword :)” WhitePress® When you think about the analysis of search results, you can't REPORT me better understand user needs. Ewelina Podrez-Siama, CEO & SEO Consultant, Fox Strategy Only one in ten respondents always uses content of similar length in their work. Perhaps these are people who handle, for example, websites of one type, one industry, or simply one domain. In such a case, a certain schematic approach in action may indeed constitute the most rational strategy (e.g., all product descriptions in a building shop may be of one length). An interesting fact is that Ukrainians are leading the way in this approach. 96.85% of SEO specialists there always write or commission content of equal length, whereas almost all Spanish specialists (91%) are most likely to choose SERP results analysis when they want to find out what article length would be optimal. 40 PART 1: ON-SITE SEO However, when it comes to experts providing us with comments, the approach favoring length is in the clear minority. WhitePress® The verdict: common sense and experience dictate that this should be refuted, but a large proportion of European SEO specialists continue to see the sense in this and carry out their SEO activities in this way. REPORT Link (https://twitter.com/JohnMu/status/1226247665563758592) “Contrary to popular belief, Google's search ranking doesn't directly favor longer content. True, longer articles can accommodate more relevant keywords, co-occurrences, n-grams and boost relevance calculations performed by algorithms like TF-IDF, BM25, or word2vec. However, search engine designers have crafted countermeasures, such as ‘term saturation’ and ‘document length normalization’, to nullify this inherent advantage and create a balanced playing field for all content, regardless of length. 41 long documents, thereby debunking the myth that longer content invariably ranks higher. Nevertheless, comprehensive, well-articulated, longer content naturally encapsulates PART 1: ON-SITE SEO In essence, these techniques downplay the relevance of overly a broader spectrum of information, entities, attributes, and contexts. This comprehensive nature enables such content to satisfy a wider array of search queries, reducing the need for further searches. This efficiency in satisfying information needs is, indeed, a key goal of all information retrieval systems. However, length alone is not a determinant of higher rankings; it is the value and relevance of the content that truly count.” “It still affects it, but not like before. Our experience is that the long-term trend of ‘content inflation’ seems to be stopping. With content inflation, our clients were forced to write longer WhitePress® REPORT Koray Tugberk GUBUR, CEO, Holistic SEO & Digital (HSD) and longer texts, up to a point where it became inefficient for all parties involved: • users - too long didn't read; • Google - costs too much resources to crawl; • client- the burden of content creation” Boóc Péter, SEO Expert, CEO, Dog & Pony marketing agency 42 PART 1: ON-SITE SEO Naturally, we cannot completely negate the potential negative effects that may result from reducing the quantity of content in favor of its quality, as mentioned by Nagy Béla, CEO of SEO101 agency: “Reducing the volume of content can have both positive and negative impacts on SEO. Positive Impact: Reduced content volume can help if it results in more focused and relevant content. Eliminating fluff and keeping only factual, concise information can make your content more valuable for users, potentially improving dwell means less overall content on your site or less comprehensive coverage of a topic, it may negatively affect SEO. Search engines tend to favor in-depth content that thoroughly covers a topic. Furthermore, less content can mean fewer keywords and less text for search engines to index, which could potentially hurt your visibility in search results.” WhitePress® Negative Impact: On the flip side, if reducing content volume REPORT time, reducing bounce rate, and favoring SEO. 43 PART 1: ON-SITE SEO Debunking SEO myths Directory or subdomain? WhitePress® Every SEO specialist understands that On-site optimization is not only about the content itself but also about meta titles, images, or website addresses. And it was the latter that we've asked our respondents about, on the example of a company blog or the advice section of a website. Directory or subdomain? Or perhaps a completely new page? Such questions are very often asked in groups for people from the industry, and they provoke heated discussions every time. REPORT SEO Myth: There is no one right way to create blogs or advice services on websites - as Google points out, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Meanwhile, it is a myth that SEO specialists cannot find common ground in this matter! Despite the differences in budgets, mentalities, or realities in the 22 studied countries, respondents everywhere are virtually unanimous: 83% of them choose a directory (i.e., whitepress.co.uk/blog/). “I usually prefer it in the form of a directory, because in this way, if the content is valuable and provides high expertise, it could earn backlinks, which will help the domain as well.” Florin Girtan, SEO Director, Gun Media 44 PART 1: ON-SITE SEO REPORT WhitePress® Only in the second place is there a subdomain (for example, blog.whitepress.pl), and in the last place, in terms of popularity, there is a separate page (like: blogwhitepressa.pl). Only approximately 6% of people choose to do so. Of course, there are cases where it is worth applying these less popular variants, as explained further by Viktoriia Goloverda, Head of SEO at Netpeak Ukraine agency: “Implementing a separate domain or subdomain would be suitable if: The CMS of the main website has limitations in terms of technical implementation or integration. In this case, the blog can be implemented on a different CMS. 45 subdomains and domains. PART 1: ON-SITE SEO You have sufficient resources to support separate Implementing on a subdomain would also allow for consolidating the authority of the main domain. However, it's worth considering that if the optimization of the main site is unsuccessful, it can also affect the blog and vice versa. If you plan to promote the blog as a separate brand or business project, creating the blog on a separate domain resources, and strategy before making a decision. It's also necessary to consider technical aspects that can affect the management and development of the blog in the chosen format.” Why such results? Directories are part of domains. Subdomains are indexed separately. If a blog is located on a subdomain, it is not taken into account in the overall domain ranking. Therefore, in a certain way, Google "favors" directories. Another obvious reason why SEO specialists are more likely to choose directories is that they are the easiest to set up, even without advanced development knowledge. This is particularly important for freelancers who cannot rely on a staff of IT specialists. WhitePress® Considering this, it's important to define your goals, budget, REPORT will be relevant. And what do our specialists have to say about that? “The answer probably depends on your goals, but my number one choice is usually in a subdirectory for three main reasons: 46 the keywords they search for. 2. Internal linking: because we have the opportunity to build PART 1: ON-SITE SEO 1. Branding: because visitors correlate the brand’s domain with more pages and boost specific internal pages. 3. Domain authority (not the metric): if you already have an established brand with an established domain, I see no reason to start from scratch.” Experts seem to share that point of view, but as always, it depends, which Ewelina Podrez-Siama explains further: WhitePress® The verdict: Across the 22 studied countries, respondents basically agree: 83% are most likely to choose a directory. REPORT Antonis Bantios, Head of SEO & Big Data, Globe One Digital “The answer to this question depends on the specific circumstances. I work with bloggers and WordPress on a daily basis, so in many cases, the best solution is to operate on the main domain. This applies to situations where the goal is to develop the blog and monetize its traffic. I approach the subject in a completely different way when a blog is created to support an SEO strategy, for example, in e-commerce. 47 (with URLs included in the internal linking of the entire website). However, I generally advise against using a blog on a PART 1: ON-SITE SEO Then the most frequently chosen solution is a subdirectory subdomain if its purpose is to contribute to the SEO strategy. WhitePress® Debunking SEO myths Images are not important for SEO REPORT In my view, this is usually the least effective option.” SEO Myth: SEO is solely focused on content, disregarding the significance of images, tables, or infographics for search engine positioning. One of the questions addressed in the international WhitePress® study delved into the role of infographics, images, and tables in relation to SEO. Does their inclusion on a website influence its positioning? 59.5% of industry professionals believe they have an indirect impact. These visual elements are captivating and engaging, leading to longer user sessions and increased user interaction. 48 “Graphics for the sake of graphics aren't a ranking factor. Simply adding a graphic to your page won't affect your ranking. PART 1: ON-SITE SEO As Kyle Roof, Lead SEO at High Voltage SEO, aptly puts it: However, having graphics can yield numerous positive effects that could potentially impact your ranking. For instance, visitors might spend more time on your page, explore your site further, share the page, or even link to it. Any of these actions is likely to holds outstanding importance for content and, therefore, for SEO in the realm of information-oriented search. Good content must provide people with answers to the situations they find themselves in. Desktop, tablet, mobile? Subway, car, office? Suitable format offerings (specifically, texts, images, videos, WhitePress® “Every form of explanatory or entertaining content format REPORT have a positive effect on the page's ranking.” podcasts, and interactives, including gamification) need to be delivered for each situation, and this is and will continue to be incredibly time-consuming. The ideal interplay of these elements will secure or enable SEO success in the future.” Marco Janck, CEO, CAMPIXX, SUMAGO “It is imperative for SEO and copywriting professionals to understand how to make the content more digestible and easier to read. Short paragraphs, headings, bolding, and 49 infographics, and other visual elements are also powerful allies. Spacing out the content and incorporating relevant images, PART 1: ON-SITE SEO other formatting techniques can help in this task, but images, infographics, and tables that visually represent the content can transform it into a more user-friendly format.” "Users search not only texts but some valuable graphic (or video) content. Unfortunately, most traditional SEO articles have poor supplementary materials, like photos from stock that are not catchy. The content should look 'sexy' for the users, so deliver them what they want!" WhitePress® Meanwhile, 31% of respondents believe that such visual materials directly influence search engine rankings. Alena Dalskaya-Latosiewicz from PRaxis Agency adds to this perspective, stating: REPORT Daniel, Editor, Techbit Nonetheless, Google employees have never confirmed any form of "penalty" for websites lacking images or graphics. Instead, it may be a matter of a simple correlation: each image or graphic presents an additional opportunity for the page to be discovered through Google Images. Moreover, even in traditional search engines, an increasing number of graphical elements are emerging among the top results to attract visitors to the site. Only 9% of participants believe that photos hold no relevance in terms of rankings. However, recent Google data reveals that 40% of Generation Z internet users primarily utilize Instagram or TikTok for searching rather than "conventional" search engines. Consequently, visual content made available through such channels will become crucial for companies and the media in the years to come. 50 PART 1: ON-SITE SEO REPORT WhitePress® The verdict: According to the majority of experts, visual elements do impact positioning, whether directly or indirectly. „What impact can social media "mentions" have on SEO in the future? Vertical video marketing can be a powerful force! In the era of AI, it will become increasingly difficult for search engine algorithms to analyze which content carries more value 51 the name of beautiful SEO reports. Social media will likely become a valuable ‘human’ referral PART 1: ON-SITE SEO for real, ‘live’ users and which is created by robots for robots in channel and a key factor in deciding which links should rise to the top of search engine result pages (SERPs). Traffic from LinkedIn for B2B or TikTok for B2C will become the only objective informant that answers the question of what real people want. Today, many internet funnels don't start with Google or Bing but rather with social media search engines. According to recent studies, 40% of Gen Z initiates their search for places, products, The team led by Sundar Pichai is not indifferent to this data. Currently, in SERPs, we can come across TikTok panels featuring example videos about restaurants in Łódź, hotels in Crete, or summer outfit ideas. WhitePress® than using traditional search engines or Google Maps. REPORT or services through platforms like TikTok and Instagram rather 52 quality content on a specific topic can experience multiple peaks of popularity, especially when compared to the ‘onetime’ posts on Facebook or Instagram feeds. PART 1: ON-SITE SEO Vertical algorithms appreciate evergreen content, so high- Perhaps soon someone will flip the switch, and evergreen verticals that answer specific queries will reach the top of the first page of Google, according to the online vox populi. Brands and SEO experts who start focusing on vertical video marketing now will win over competitors who are just beginning to learn about it.” WhitePress® & Marketing Trainer REPORT Mateusz Buczkowski, T-Shaped Marketer Who creates the content? On-site is statistically much more popular than Off-site because it allows optimizing a website quickly and independently. Meanwhile, Off-site actions require time and commitment, which often involve expenditure, and the end result depends on more than just the SEO specialist himself. Respondents confirmed this: content for their own website is created by most of them personally (very often and often; 52% of them). Next in line was the help of a professional copywriter, whether employed directly by an agency or company or as a freelancer. Only one in five respondents frequently orders texts via content creation platforms. 53 PART 1: ON-SITE SEO REPORT WhitePress® “In our experience, we continue to rely on internal copywriters to create content. Despite the numerous platforms and services available, some of which are alluring with the prominence of AI, we remain faithful to our core and seek to explore the individuality of each writer. As every writer has their own writing style and interpretation of subjects, heavily influenced by their personal experience, there is something that can be extracted that AI has not yet mastered. 54 and advantages of AI, especially in terms of content creation speed. It is an area that we remain attentive to and open to exploring in the future. PART 1: ON-SITE SEO However, we are not indifferent to the significant advancements External hiring is not highly valued, as it is simpler to maintain a more restricted form of communication by working with people on a daily basis.” SEO experts share some Industry secrets WhitePress® REPORT Daniel, Editor,Techbit We saw preparing the SEO report as an opportunity to go a little deeper into industry trends. One of the more interesting questions in this context was the one about anchor texts used in internal linking. A topic sometimes overlooked by SEO beginners, who are surprised when they realize how much can be "squeezed" out of a page with proper internal linking. But what types of links will be most effective? Our respondents shared their secrets with us. The highest percentage (21%) very often uses exact match linking, so one that perfectly corresponds to a phrase (like here: A report on SEO through the eyes of a woman). Slightly less popular were partial match anchors (e.g. here is an interesting report on SEO through the eyes of women). 55 PART 1: ON-SITE SEO REPORT WhitePress® In third place were the so-called brand keywords (like: A report by WhitePress® about women in SEO). It was followed by navigation text, "clickable" graphics, and the URL itself, once so popular but today only used (very often or often) by a total of 15% of respondents. The conclusions from the research align with the way Mateusz Malinowski, SEO Director at Fabryka Marketingu, usually works: “When it comes to internal linking, the rules I apply are different from those I use for building external links. Both in terms of quantity and linking methods, these two strategies are different. 56 the most effective in passing power to specific queries. Using such phrases helps both users and Google understand what the page linked to is about. Google recommends using PART 1: ON-SITE SEO I mainly use exact-match anchor phrases because they are keywords in anchor text, and with internal linking, we can afford to have more exact match phrases. However, it's important not to overdo it—if all our anchor texts are the same, it may look like spamming. Therefore, it's worth striving for a certain degree of diversity in our anchor texts. Secondly, I use partial match anchors, which sound more natural. These are phrases that include a variation of the Google understand the context of the target page. Using different anchor text phrases is also in line with Google's recommendations for useful and descriptive anchor text. When it comes to brand pages, the strategy may be slightly different. In situations where I manage a brand's website and their products are offered by other e-commerce stores, it is WhitePress® exact match, they are still related to the topic and help REPORT keyword on the linked page. Although they are not an valuable to base the linking strategy on brand-related phrases. I try to minimize the use of anchor phrases like ‘check here’ because they are not the key phrases I want to rank for. However, if I have to use such phrases, I make sure to link to a larger sentence fragment that includes the keyword and a call to action (CTA).” All the techniques mentioned above are On-site SEO activities. One in three respondents spends between 29 and 50% of their budget on these. 57 PART 1: ON-SITE SEO REPORT WhitePress® A relatively small percentage of SEO specialists spend most of their money on On-site activities concerning optimization. This means that the remaining funds are, to a large extent, allocated to Off-site SEO. While some may mistakenly believe that On-site SEO is diminishing due to the rise of AI in content creation, the truth is that AI complements the process rather than replacing it entirely. Good content and human expertise are still vital. AI, though promising, has its limitations in generating engaging content. It often produces fluff that requires expert editing. This highlights the 58 By connecting On-site and Off-site SEO strategies, businesses can create a comprehensive and effective optimization approach. The harmonious integration of these two components maximizes the benefits of AI-driven content creation while leveraging the expertise of human editors and maintaining the importance of quality content. This holistic SEO approach allows businesses to establish a strong online presence, attract organic traffic, and enhance their search engine visibility for long-term success. PART 1: ON-SITE SEO REPORT However, it is essential to recognize that Off-site SEO, such as building authoritative backlinks and establishing a strong online presence, is equally crucial. It reinforces the credibility and visibility of the On-site content, contributing to improved search engine rankings. WhitePress® importance of human input and understanding what works in content creation. On-site SEO, which focuses on optimizing website content and structure, provides the foundation for integrating AI effectively. 59 In the report, we've set out to find out more about strategies and trends regarding content marketing, Link building, and SEO tools. The research, that formed the basis of the report, was conducted by WhitePress® in 2022–2023 and included professionals from 22 European countries. PART 1: ON-SITE SEO Methodology: how was the report created? The aggregated and analyzed data, along with the tremendous input of our partners, has allowed us to create a comprehensive SEO and Content Marketing report. WhitePress® In order to reach as many respondents as possible, the forms were made available through various communication channels, such as social media, email, but also META and Google Ads. Additionally, we were supported by more than 100 partners across Europe, who provided us with the necessary feedback and allowed us to reach a wider audience with our message. REPORT We used a web form translated into 22 languages to collect the data, which allowed us to collect quantitative data from almost 1,500 professionals across Europe. It was divided into three extended sections, touching on topics such as "On-site SEO", "Link Building" and "The Future of SEO". 60 Main partner Partners REPORT WhitePress® www.whitepress.com/en/ 62