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Empowering Publishers: The All-In-One Platform and Playbook Guide [Template Included]

Level the Playing Field: How Publishers Can Compete With the Big Guys

Publishers face an increasingly competitive landscape dominated by established media giants. But this doesn't mean success is out of reach.

As publishers, you can have top-tier content and journalism, but do you have the right platform, playbook, and blueprints to succeed?

You can have the right team, but without a game plan, solid platform, or understanding how to maximize your tools and resources correctly, it doesn't matter how great your content is.

Find out how an all-in-one content management system (CMS) can help publishers find the right tools and strategies to succeed and compete in the media industry.

Here are the top CMS tools publishers need to compete.

1. SEO: Be Found and Be Seen

Ranking high in search engines is crucial for attracting new readers. Unfortunately, navigating the evolving world of SEO can be overwhelming. With technical SEO as Google's latest ranking factor, it can be challenging to ascertain whether your content meets Google's requirements and adds value for users.

What RebelMouse Can Do for You

  • Simplify Keyword Research: Save time on keyword research with RebelMouse's built-in SEO tools. Our user-friendly interface suggests relevant keywords, displays search volume, integrates with Google Search Console for ranking insights, optimizes URL slugs, and recommends linking opportunities to streamline your content creation for increased organic traffic.
  • Guide Your On-Page Optimization: From metadata, image alt text, tag generation, and smart-linking technology, your content is optimized for search engines through RebelMouse's on-page optimization guidance. This ensures your content is informative and discoverable by search engines, increasing your visibility and driving organic traffic.
  • Ensure a Mobile-First Experience: A website without mobile compatibility falls behind in the SERPs (search engine results pages). RebelMouse's platform is built with a mobile-first approach, ensuring your content is easily accessible and visually appealing on any device, directly impacting your search rankings and user experience.

RebelMouse's on-page SEO optimization sequence

2. Omnichannel Distribution: Reach Your Audience Everywhere

Publishing across multiple platforms expands your reach and audience engagement. However, managing content across different channels often becomes time-consuming and complex.

What RebelMouse Can Do for You

  • Streamline Multi-Platform Publishing: RebelMouse has an omnichannel distribution approach to publishing your content across your website, social media, and email, all from one central hub.
  • Schedule Your Content for Success: Stop worrying about managing your social platforms. RebelMouse's social scheduling features let you link your email, Facebook, and X (Twitter) accounts to ensure publishing consistency and maximum engagement from a single hub.
  • Track Performance Across Channels: Gain valuable insights into how your content performs across various platforms. RebelMouse's comprehensive analytics tracking helps you understand what resonates with your audience on each platform, tailoring your content strategy.

 RebelMouse's CMS integrates social media scheduling channels

3. A Modernized Platform Without Plugins or Upgrades

While WordPress and Drupal empowered individual bloggers in their early days, they may not always be the best fit for today's demanding business needs. These platforms can become cumbersome as your website grows, requiring frequent updates and plugin adjustments that can potentially impact performance.

What RebelMouse Can Do for You

  • Deliver Blazing-Fast Loading Times: Slow load times frustrate users and negatively impact your search rankings. RebelMouse prioritizes speed and performance and outperforms the top publishing platforms at Core Web Vitals. We ensure your website loads quickly and positively contributes to search engine rankings and user engagement.
  • Maintain Clean and Secure Code: Forget upgrades and plugins. RebelMouse is an enterprise-grade CMS built on secure and clean code. We utilize industry-leading practices to ensure your website is secure, trustworthy, and crawlable by search engines, further enhancing your search ranking potential.
  • Provide Ongoing Updates: Staying ahead of the curve is crucial in the SEO world. At RebelMouse, we constantly enhance our platform with the latest technology and perform automatic updates, ensuring your website stays optimized without manual intervention.

 RebelMouse tops big CMS publishers in Core Web Vitals 2024 report

4. Ad Opportunities: Monetize Your Content and Turn Your Passion Into Profit

Monetization is essential for any publisher's long-term sustainability. RebelMouse provides advertising opportunities and support to help you generate revenue, reach more audiences, and capitalize on your digital real estate.

What RebelMouse Can Do for You

  • Unlock Programmatic Ads: Tap into a vast network of advertisers and automatically display targeted ads on your website, maximizing your revenue potential.
  • Test, Manage, and Track Your Ads: Easily manage your ad campaigns, test and track their performance, and analyze their effectiveness with user-friendly tools.
  • Expert Support: Benefit from a dedicated team of experts ready to answer questions, as well as implement, monitor, and guide you toward maximizing your ad revenue through data-driven insights.

Check out how our clients experienced a boost in eCPM revenue using our AI-powered programmatic ad technology.

 bar graph displaying how RebelMouse clients saw increased eCPM revenue with AI-powered ad tech

5. Advanced Platform Tools: Elevate Your Content and Engagement to Go Beyond the Basics

With any modern platform, you need advanced tools to streamline your output and stay competitive as an independent publisher. Working with a CMS that helps you create engaging content and build a strong audience connection with its innovative features is best.

What RebelMouse Can Do for You

  • AI-Powered Insights: RebelMouse uses AI and first-party data to gain insights into your users, their preferences, and content performance to deliver content that resonates with your readers.
  • Drag-and-Drop Design: RebelMouse’s Layout & Design Tool allows users to create visually appealing and user-friendly websites without any coding knowledge. Customize your website's layout and elements to match your brand identity and enhance audience engagement.
  • AI Technology: RebelMouse leverages AI technology to streamline your content creation process and ensure brand consistency. Features like an AI headline generator and AI-driven content recommendations can significantly boost your content's effectiveness, increasing click-through rates (CTR), engagement, and conversions.

 AI headlines analytics show CTR increase 21 days post AI launch

AI-powered content recommendations boost CTR by 55\u2013159% across three client sites in 30 days

6. Navigate Digital Terrain With a Team of Experts by Your Side

Don't go at it alone. Benefit from the guidance and support of a dedicated team of digital experts that will answer your questions, offer strategic advice, and help you navigate the complexities of running a successful online presence.

What RebelMouse Can Do for You

  • Industry Knowledge and Best Practices: Tap into the expertise of a well-versed team. Leverage their publishing knowledge and best practices to optimize your content, maximize your audience reach, and achieve your publishing goals.
  • Ongoing Support: With RebelMouse, a global team of experts is available 24/7, ready to assist you throughout your publishing journey.
  • Do-It-for-You System: RebelMouse offers fully managed website performance and tracking, taking the burden of monitoring and analyzing data off of your shoulders. This allows you to dedicate your time and energy to what matters most — creating content that resonates with your audience and propels your business forward.

7. Analytics and Reporting: Understand Your Audience and Make Data-Driven Decisions

Data is your friend. Gain valuable insights into your audience and make informed publishing decisions with RebelMouse's comprehensive analytics and reporting features.

What RebelMouse Can Do for You

  • Uncover Audience Insights: Monitor social media analytics, user demographics, content engagement metrics, and website traffic. Learn more about the interests and requirements of your audience.
  • Customizable Reports: Generate reports and website stats tailored to your specific needs, allowing you to analyze your data effectively and identify key trends and areas for improvement.
  • Data-Driven Decisions: Leverage insights from your audience to refine your content strategy, optimize your website, and make data-based decisions about your publishing strategy.

client experiences percentage boost in users, views, sessions, and Google Search traffic 30 days after launching on RebelMouse

The RebelMouse Playbook Template: Achieve Publishing Success Faster

The following playbook empowers publishers to compete and thrive in today's competitive media landscape. By leveraging RebelMouse's platform insights, you can develop and execute a winning strategy to establish yourself and engage your audience.

Download the following worksheet to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and inform your strategic direction:

Download the RebelMouse Playbook Template

Developing Your RebelMouse Strategy

Now, let's leverage RebelMouse's strategies to address your specific needs and skyrocket your growth:

  • Identify Your Current Traffic Baseline: Analyze your existing website traffic data using a tool like Google Analytics. This includes metrics such as:
    • Total Website Visits
    • Unique Visitors
    • Pageviews
    • Average Session Duration
    • Bounce Rate
    • Top Referral Sources
  • Set Traffic Goals: Based on your overall objectives, define specific website traffic goals aligned with your SMART criteria. For example, aim to increase monthly website visits by 20% within the next quarter.

  • Utilize Analytics and Reporting Tools: Track your progress toward your traffic goals using analytics features that can:
    • Identify your top-performing content
    • Analyze evergreen trends you can use to increase traffic
    • Understand user behavior on your website with first-party data
    • Gain valuable insights into your audience demographics and interests
  • Refine Your Content Strategy Based on Data: Leverage website traffic analytics for your content creation and distribution strategies. This might involve:
    • Identifying topics with high audience interest
    • Updating existing content with new data and interactive research
    • A/B testing with different content formats
    • Tailoring content to specific audience segments

Achieve Publishing Success With RebelMouse

To become a top publishing company, you need the right platform and playbook to unlock your full potential. RebelMouse, an all-in-one CMS, empowers publishers to thrive and amplify their digital reach.

RebelMouse is an agile platform built for the demands of high-traffic websites. Our revenue-focused platform is engineered for lightning-fast page speed, maximizing SEO reach, and building brand exposure.

Ready to achieve your goals? Share them with us and schedule a demo. We'll map out a personalized game plan to supercharge your publishing success.

AI-Powered Content Recommendations Increase CTR

Picture reading a blog post on a new whipped coffee recipe or a DIY home improvement plan. Next, you discover another article recommending top coffee brands or ideal decor. Then, you dive into more engaging content, bookmarking a collection of tasty treats to try or a roadmap for your house project. It’s as if the site is reading your mind, tailoring each article to your preferences and delivering relevant information for success.

How is this possible? Through new, powerful artificial intelligence( AI) recirculation technology, we can recommend personalized content that will resonate with each user.

Use AI-Powered Content Recommendations to Combat Content Overload

When we think of the internet, we also think of information overload. According to research, at least 7.5 million blog posts are published daily, making it more challenging for credible businesses to get valuable information to their target audience.

Users are more likely to abandon websites that are difficult to navigate or require them to sift through tons of content. When users quickly leave your site, Google determines that your company does a poor job of answering search queries, leading to a negative user experience.

AI technology makes getting the right content in front of your target audience more manageable.

How AI Recommends Content That Matters

AI algorithms function as the "brain" of AI technology to understand user interests. When users explore your website, AI analyzes their behavioral data, including search history, content interactions, and online behavior patterns. The more time your audience spends on your website, the more AI gets to know them.

Doing so allows AI to determine each user's preferences and provide valuable content suggestions.

The images below show an example of AI-powered content suggestions in action. A user initially searched for handmade gifts for the holiday season, and AI added value by recommending a listicle of 44 gift ideas that matched the original search query.

Initial Article Title

article title about handmade gifts with social icons underneath

AI-Powered Content Recommendations

AI-powered technology recommending articles similar to initial article title

Images help users visualize what an article is about, so they are more likely to click the recommendations driven by AI rather than a simple text hyperlink.

Advantages of AI-Powered Content Recommendations

AI-powered content suggestions offer many benefits for users and content creators and streamline how your content appears to your audience. Some of those benefits include:

  • Improved User Satisfaction: Personalized content cuts through content overload, boosts engagement and brand loyalty, and enhances user satisfaction.
  • Data-Driven Insights: AI collects and analyzes user data to understand their online behavior and offer insights into their next move. You can use this data to power your marketing campaigns and create unique content that appeals to your audience.
  • Improved Reach: The more satisfied users are with your content, the more credible and authentic you will appear to Google Search, resulting in higher search rankings, increased exposure, and greater reach.
  • Increase in Revenue: Engaging content makes loyal customers likelier to subscribe or purchase, increasing conversion rates and business revenue.

AI-Powered Content Recommendations in Action

RebelMouse's AI-powered content recommendations are dramatically increasing click-through rates (CTR) for our users, and we’ve got the data to prove it. Our strategy team recently performed a 30-day experiment where the data revealed AI-recommended articles led to a remarkable 159% increase over traditional methods.

line graph displaying low average accumulated CTR in red and improved AI-related CTR in blue

RebelMouse’s AI-powered content recommendations consistently outperformed traditional methods, achieving a 20–50% higher daily click-through rate and yielding more web traffic and revenue potential.

line graph displaying low daily CTR in red and improved AI-related CTR in blue

statistics card compilation displaying CTR increases across three different client sites

The results demonstrate AI's undeniable impact in delivering content that resonates with users. At RebelMouse, our platform offers an intuitive, personalized experience for publishers to build connections with their audience through AI-powered features that provide pertinent content to users.

Unlock the Power of Personalized Content: Embrace AI-Powered Recommendations Today

In essence, fostering deeper connections, building user loyalty, and creating a more immersive digital experience are pivotal outcomes of AI-powered recommended content. RebelMouse is an AI-enabled platform with proven results showing that AI-powered recirculation can maximize your revenue and conversion rates by 50% or more.

We don't merely deliver content, but actively empower our clients to engage with their audiences, earning their trust and providing a digital landscape that is enjoyable, rewarding, and worth revisiting.

Not on RebelMouse yet? Click here to request a demo. Our team will advise you on transitioning to a system where AI determines recommended content placements instead of relying on manual inputs.

Already on RebelMouse? To enable this feature for your site, please contact support@rebelmouse.com or talk to your account manager today.

Building Better Interfaces: Tips From RebelMouse’s Design Team

The team at RebelMouse that works on user interface (UI) design often faces challenges that can make or break a user's experience (UX). The following list breaks down some of the typical issues that we might run into, from how things look to how easy they are to use.

General Design

Inconsistent Design Elements

Mismatched design elements, such as different button styles, varying fonts, or inconsistent color schemes, can lead to a confusing and disjointed user experience.

Example:

Inconsistent Iconography

Using icons that are stylistically different or have varying meanings can confuse users.

Example: An interface uses different icon styles, leading to a lack of visual cohesion.

Inconsistent or Non-Intuitive Symbol Use

Using symbols or icons that are not universally recognized or intuitive can lead to confusion.

“There are a few icons that enjoy mostly universal recognition from users. The icons for home, print, and the magnifying glass for search are such instances. Outside of these examples, most icons continue to be ambiguous to users due to their association with different meanings across various interfaces. To help overcome the ambiguity that almost all icons face, a text label must be present alongside an icon to clarify its meaning in that particular context.”

—From the Nielsen Norman Group on Icon Usability

Overuse of Colors or Fonts

Using too many colors or font types can make a design look cluttered, and can detract from the overall user experience. It’s essential to maintain a balance.

Example:

Cluttered Layout

Overcrowding a page with too many elements can overwhelm users, making it difficult to focus on the most important content.

Example:

Poor Alignment and Spacing

Inconsistent alignment and improper spacing can disrupt the visual harmony and hierarchy of the interface.

Example:

Lack of a Clear Hierarchy in Information

Without a clear visual hierarchy, users may struggle to understand which elements are the most important.

Example:

Lack of Consistent Branding

Inconsistent branding across different pages or platforms can confuse users about your identity and professionalism.

Example: A company’s branding has a completely different color scheme and logo compared to its website.

Navigation and Accessibility

Poor Navigation

Complicated or unclear navigation can frustrate users, making it difficult for them to find what they are looking for.

Example: A complex website with no search function or clear menu, making it hard to find specific sections.

Inadequate Error Handling

Not providing clear and helpful error messages can leave users confused and frustrated when things go wrong.

Example: An online form that returns a generic "Error Occurred" message without specifying what the user needs to fix.

Poorly Designed Search Functionality

A search feature that returns irrelevant results or is hard to use can significantly hinder the user experience.

Example: A news website's search function that returns unrelated news, frustrating users.

Technical Aspects

Low Contrast

Insufficient contrast, especially with text, can make content hard to read, impacting accessibility and usability.

Example:

Ignoring the Use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs)

Not using SVGs for icons and other graphics can result in poor rendering on high-resolution displays.

Example:

Design Beautiful Websites With RebelMouse

To summarize, the trick to effective user interface design lies in your ability to present a seamless and intuitive experience. Finding the right balance across design elements and functionality sets the stage for interfaces that users find both aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate. A detailed, user-centric approach in addressing these design challenges can significantly elevate the overall user experience.

If you would like to learn more about creating attention-grabbing user interfaces for your digital properties, let’s connect.

AI Headline Generator: How to Create Site-Wide Prompts

With our AI headline generator tool, you can create enticing, click-worthy titles for your articles, product pages, social media captions, content tags, and more. You can also customize AI prompts to manage your content production in one location with our OpenAI integration.

RebelMouse’s AI-powered tools help you save time searching for what you need to support traffic-generating content. This article covers how to create AI prompts for your editorial pages and customize your own AI tabs for specialized content.

How to Customize Headline Prompts in Entry Editor

If you have a specific request for our headline generator, crafting a prompt can help instruct the AI toward your desired output.

Follow these steps to create a headline prompt in Entry Editor:

  1. Click the Edit Prompt button to customize the current prompt.

RebelMouse AI headline prompt customization.

2. After customizing your prompt, click Save.

How to Create and Customize Site-Wide AI Prompts

You can manually modify the headline generator prompt for each article, or create a comprehensive AI prompt that will work across all of your desired content. This feature is helpful if you want to avoid typing requests into the AI, or have content that adheres to a particular format.

All users can benefit from AI-generated headlines tailored to your website or brand's unique tone and feel. You can customize Entry Editor's default prompts for your site or specific pages.

Follow these steps to customize your site-wide AI prompts:

1. Click the hamburger menu (☰) in the upper-left corner of your Posts Dashboard and select Layout & Design Tool.

RebelMouse dashboard settings.

2. Then, click the hamburger menu under Global Settings, select Pages, and click Entry Editor.

 RebelMouse global settings and entry editor tabs.

3. Next, find the AI Headlines menu. Use the drop-down menu to add Headline AI as a Right Rail element to an Entry Editor layout.

Entry editor AI headlines menu.

All your filled-in fields, such as the headline, social headline, and teaser headline should be in the Headline AI Right Rail element and ready for editing. If any fields are missing, you can use an Optimizer Field to add and customize them.

RebelMouse AI headlines optimizer field.

4. To add an Optimizer Field, follow this visual tutorial:

You can add as many field sections as you like to the headline generator using the Optimizer Field. In the example below, we chose the Primary Tag as an additional field.

In Entry Editor, the Primary Tag field will appear as follows in the Headlines tab:

Best Practices for Creating an AI Prompt

The AI prompt is compatible with any field, but it specifically considers the {{postBody}}, which contains the text for the body and listicle sections. Other components such as {{headline}}, {{subheadline}}, and {{primary_tag}} should be specified inside brackets.

How to Create a Custom AI Tab for Entry Editor

Your custom AI button personalizes your content creation and can be added to Entry Editor as an independent tab from the headline generator. If you want everything in one location, you can also add these fields under the Headlines tab.

Follow these steps to create a custom AI tab:

1. Click the hamburger menu (☰) in the upper-left corner of your Posts Dashboard and select Layout & Design Tool.

RebelMouse Layout and Design dashboard settings.

2. Then, click the hamburger menu under Global Settings, select Pages, and click Entry Editor.

RebelMouse's Entry Editor tab from the global settings page.

3. Next, find the AI Headlines menu. Use the drop-down menu to add Headline AI as a Right Rail element to an Entry Editor layout.

 RebelMouse's AI headline customization menu.

4. Click the Right Rail section under a B-test in the Entry Editor layout, which should then be highlighted in blue. (Each user's version of this element will appear differently.)

RebelMouse's Entry Editor right rail element.

5. Click the plus icon (+) in the upper-left corner and select the Right Rail element. This will enable it for customization.

right rail element instructional guide.

6. In the element settings on the right-hand side of the interface, click Element Role to access the drop-down menu and choose the Custom button at the bottom of the list.

right rail click element role instructional guide.

right rail element customization settings.

7. Under the Options for Custom Right Rail section, create a title. The custom Entry Editor tab in this example is called “AI Wizard.”

AI prompt custom title section.

8. You can optimize your custom AI tab with various subject fields, such as primary tags, social headlines, custom tweets, and more, using the optimizer box. After choosing your fields, input your desired AI prompts to generate content for your website more quickly.

Continue following the instructions below to name your fields and create your prompts using the optimizer box.

9. Click the plus icon (+) in the upper-left corner of the interface and select Row.

AI prompt row customization settings.

10. Select the Column section under the Custom: AI Wizard tab after choosing Row. It will be highlighted in green.

AI prompt column customization settings.

11. Click the plus icon (+) in the upper-left corner of the interface to access the drop-down menu. Type in “optimizer box” in the search field and select it. The optimizer box is a useful tool you can use to direct and instruct the AI while it creates and refines content.

AI prompt optimizer box settings.

12. The optimizer box will appear on the right side of the screen, where you can input your field name, title, prompt, and description.

AI prompt optimizer box text fields customization settings.

13. Click the kebab menu icon (three vertical dots) next to Field Name to access the drop-down menu and choose a desired field.

AI prompt field name menu settings.

In this example, we chose Custom Tweet.

AI prompt custom tweet field name.

Here, you can add a specific prompt. For example:

Create a social caption in under 280 characters that engages and interacts with readers. Provide three different variations."

To add more custom fields to your custom AI tab, follow steps 9–13 as needed. You can also watch this quick video tutorial:

14. In Entry Editor, your fields will appear like this under your custom AI tab:

AI prompt custom fields display.

FAQ

Here are some common questions and answers to help you customize your AI prompts in Layout & Design Tool.

1. How do I remove/disable a Headline element?

You can use the optimizer field to disable a Headline element if you want to hide or remove it. This will deactivate Entry Editor's ability to add this field name under the Headlines tab. In the example below, the Teaser Headline element is turned off.

2. How do I update an AI prompt?

Any AI prompt can be updated using the optimizer field. This change can be seen in Entry Editor under the Headlines tab. For example, in the screenshot below, we are changing a prompt that will generate different article titles.

AI prompt update settings.

Supercharge Content Creation With RebelMouse’s AI Tools

Use RebelMouse's AI headline generator to enhance your content strategy and online visibility. RebelMouse represents the future of content optimization, offering a streamlined process that increases user satisfaction and engagement.

Leverage tools for a faster and simpler content strategy to stay competitive and communicate effectively with your audience.

If you want to add our AI tools to your account, contact your account manager or send an email to support@rebelmouse.com to learn more.

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Sunsetting Third-Party Cookies: A Look at Browser Trends and Revenue Implications

Browser Data Is Already Telling the Story of What Publishers Can Expect When Third-Party Cookies Are Gone for Good

The upcoming demise of third-party cookies is on track to turn the digital advertising world upside down, and some publishers are still not ready for how it could impact their bottom line.

Third-party cookies, which are small text files designed to make it easy for sites to identify visitors and their browsing habits, have been on the chopping block for years. Many web browsers have severely limited or completely cut off the power of third-party cookies already. As of January 4, 2024, Google Chrome has restricted third-party cookies for 1% of users, and plans to increase third-party cookie restrictions to 100% of users beginning in Q3 2024.

As third-party cookies become obsolete, traditional targeting methods will no longer suffice. That’s why publishers are scrambling to establish a first-party data strategy. Click here to get caught up on the definition of first-party data and why it’s critical to your revenue roadmap.

Recently, our team of growth strategists researched browser analytics to uncover just how big this impact will be on advertisers. One of the more striking findings from our analysis was the disparity in ad performance between different browsers. For example, Safari has already disabled third-party cookies and captures approximately 30% of U.S. web traffic. Despite its substantial user base, the average effective cost per 1,000 ad impressions (eCPM) is $0.62. By contrast, Chrome, with its larger share of U.S. web traffic at approximately 38%, has a substantially higher average eCPM at $1.67.

What’s eCPM? eCPM stands for “effective cost per mille.” (Mille means one-thousand in Latin). eCPM helps advertisers understand how much they're paying for every one thousand impressions of their ad. This is a valuable metric for understanding the effectiveness and profitability of a campaign. A higher eCPM indicates that you're earning more revenue for every one thousand impressions of your ad.

Let’s take a look at the browser data we analyzed. Here’s where the most popular web browsers stand on the use of third-party cookies:

Browser

Use of Third-Party Cookies

Google Chrome

Severely limits third-party cookies, with total restrictions coming this year.

Opera

Allows third-party cookies.

Microsoft Edge

Allows third-party cookies, and is expected to make similar restrictions like Google.

Firefox

Blocks third-party cookies from known trackers by default.

Safari

Blocks third-party cookies by default.

Here’s a chart to better visualize the share of ad impressions across Safari, Chrome, and other browsers:

And here’s a look at the average eCPM for those same browsers:

Remember, Safari has completely phased out third-party cookies. So when Chrome finally does the same, you can expect to see a similar decrease in average eCPM. The dramatic difference in average eCPM between Safari and Chrome is a good illustration of why it’s imperative for publishers to be ready for this major shift away from cookies and how it could seriously impact revenue streams.

At RebelMouse, we are developing a solution that mitigates this decline by leveraging first-party data and the way it’s shared with advertisers.

Additionally, since 2022, RebelMouse has invested heavily in research and development around AI technologies. Leveraging OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Vertex AI, we have become expert AI integrators. The breakthroughs in this space, combined with our approach to first-party data, have been essential to the groundbreaking results we’ve achieved. Thanks to our innovative AI integrations, RebelMouse seamlessly aligns editorial content with programmatic buyers' IAB taxonomies. Click here to learn more.

Win Back Revenue With First-Party Data

RebelMouse’s all-encompassing AdOps services leverage AI and first-party data to create more personalized, targeted, and effective advertising experiences for your users without the need for third-party cookies.

Looking to get ahead of the ad game? Let’s connect to explore how we can work together.

Here’s Why You Should Focus on Valley Elevation

We've all experienced it. The dopamine-filled highs of watching site stats blast through the ceiling on our favorite web analytics platform after a piece of content goes viral. As digital publishers, it's in our blood to crave these spikes. But the sobering crash back to reality that follows, and the ensuing scramble to come up with the next piece of content that can match the previous peak, are seemingly inevitable. This constant seesawing is a frustrating and fatiguing experience, no matter the size of your budget or marketing team. What's a publisher seeking stability to do? Are we all targeting the right goals, or is there more here than meets the eye?

Enter Valley Elevation

Turns out there is more to your stats than just those towering summits. It's the concept of valley elevation, and it's been staring you in the face the entire time. Coined by Bradley Schwarzenbach and popularized by bestselling author Andrew Davis, valley elevation posits that you should be focusing on the depth of your metrics' troughs instead of its peaks.

Keep reading... Show less

Technical SEO Tips to Master Google Updates

Imagine you’ve spent hours tirelessly optimizing your website with top-quality content, relevant keywords, and topics guaranteed to drive traffic, only for your efforts to be in vain, with months passing by with few readers, low rankings, and little revenue for your business. If this is your current situation, you should elevate your technical SEO strategy.

Today, we're diving into the essential side of ranking with technical SEO, which is often overlooked, yet more critical than high-traffic keywords to rank high across search engines. Dive deep into technical SEO, find out how it impacts your Google Search rankings, and learn the best practices to stay competitive even during a volatile Google core update.

What Is Technical SEO and Its Importance to Google?

Technical SEO involves improving your website's security, speed, and layout for greater search engine visibility. If you’re driving a car, you want the best route and guidance to reach your destination quickly. In this scenario, think of high-quality content as the destination and technical SEO as the highways and signs that lead you there.

Technical SEO is the behind-the-scenes actions you can take to optimize your website for efficient indexing by Google’s web crawlers. In addition to looking for sites that follow best practices around organizing their content and infrastructure, Google also looks for websites that provide a satisfying user experience, and that means making sure your quality, helpful content is set up for success.

John Mueller, Google’s Senior Search Analyst and Search Relations Team Lead, tweeted:

It will be difficult for your site to rank well if it’s difficult for users to navigate, confusing, or doesn't effectively match users’ search intent because it doesn't adhere to the fundamentals of SEO maintenance.

How to Make Your Website More Technical SEO-Friendly

To enhance your website's technical SEO, improve its crawlability (scanning and navigation) and indexability (organization and storing). Google’s bots crawl a web page to understand and discover the content. After crawling, the bots will organize and store the information in specific databases to display on its search results page.

To enhance the crawlability and indexability of your webpages, consider these tips to optimize your website for technical SEO.

1. Create an XML Sitemap

Whether you have a few pages or hundreds on your site, a sitemap helps Google discover your pages faster. Most content management systems will automatically generate a sitemap that you can submit to Google Search Console. Google will then periodically crawl and index your sitemap when changes are made. If your CMS does not offer this service, you can download a sitemap generator tool instead.

XML sitemap example

How RebelMouse Can Help

RebelMouse automates site mapping and integrates with Google Search Console, giving you effortless control over your website structure. Easily submit sitemaps to Google with just a click and let our CMS track indexing status, identify crawl errors, and streamline your website architecture.

2. Use a Robots.txt File

A robots.txt file prevents Google from crawling pages you’d like to omit, such as pages with duplicate content or a site with thousands of URLs that aren't essential to the user experience.

Without this file, Google will crawl your entire website, which could hurt your SEO if you have hundreds of pages with old, unoptimized content. Your CMS should automatically generate a robots.txt file for you. If you do not have one, there are resources for writing and submitting a robots.txt file.

How RebelMouse Can Help

Get your website seen by more people! RebelMouse users automatically have a custom robots.txt file and an integrated sitemap optimized for SEO that can help you manage and exclude pages from search engines. This means search engines like Google can find your most important pages quickly and easily, boosting your search rankings and traffic.

3. Add Canonical Tags

Canonical tags prevent Google from penalizing duplicate content found across multiple URLs. Using canonical tags eliminates plagiarism detection and improves your technical SEO. For example, you would want to add a canonical tag to articles with the same disclaimer messaging located at the bottom of each page. Certain CMS platforms can easily set up a canonical URL, or you can manually enter the "rel=canonical" tag into your system's HTML code.

How RebelMouse Can Help

Forget manually inputting code. RebelMouse's “rel=canonical” tag automatically tells search engines which web page is the original, preventing keyword cannibalization and plagiarism red flags.

4. Shorten Your URLs

URLs help Google and users find new content. Avoid long URLs with random characters that are not easy to remember to increase your visibility and brand awareness. If you write an article about vegan recipes, here are some good and bad examples of how your URL should be formed.

Good URL: https://www.yourdomainname.com/vegan-recipes

Bad URL: https://www.yourdomainname.com/vegan-recipes/7563/$#%/culinary-baking

Keep your URLs free of random characters and shorten them to help Google and users understand an article when navigating.

How RebelMouse Can Help

RebelMouse’s CMS performs competitor keyword research right from the editing interface to optimize your slug for keyword phrases with the highest search volume. With our Google Search Console integration, you can see how your articles are ranking for specific phrases to help determine ways to boost existing momentum.

RebelMouse CMS Google Search Console integration for URL optimization

RebelMouse's Search Engine Keyword Volume Integration Tool

 RebelMouse CMS integrates keyword search volume for URL slug optimization

5. Practice Internal Linking

Internal links are beneficial to ranking across Google Search because they allow bots to efficiently navigate and index your webpages. This practice boosts authority, particularly for large websites with numerous pages that may not be visible to users. By internally linking important or orphan pages, Google indexes them faster, increasing the likelihood of them ranking and users seeing your most valuable content.Best practices for internal linking include:

  • Using a Specific Number of Links: Include at least 6–10 links per 2,000 words, with 1–2 links pointing to product pages.
  • Linking to Keyword-Rich Anchor Text: Include keywords in your anchor text, and only link to articles that best match the title. For example, if you're linking to an article titled "Best Taylor Swift Songs," use the exact anchor text. Avoid long anchor text that’s over five words.
  • Linking to Pertinent Pages: Link to your most important pages for Google and users, such as contact, product, home page, or relevant articles. Discover your biggest high-traffic pages and link to those using a site audit tool like Semrush, Google Search Console, or Ahrefs.
  • Avoiding Using Similar Anchor Text: To avoid confusing Google, use unique anchor text for each article and refrain from linking to different pages using the exact same keywords.
  • Sweeping Your Site for Broken Links: Links on your site may need to be updated over time. Regularly conduct site audits every three months to replace broken links and maintain your site's health.

How RebelMouse Can Help

RebelMouse’s SmartLinks automatically searches for and links to articles containing specific key phrases. Enter a keyword term and let SmartLinks do the rest.

Additionally, in RebelMouse Entry Editor, we auto-populate your related content and use AI-powered recirculation technology to provide users with the best content recommendations to keep them engaged.

 RebelMouse CMS with linkable articles under SEO tab of Entry Editor

6. Optimize Images With Alt Text for Enhanced SEO

Image optimization is important to Google, and using alt text correctly is essential for both SEO and awareness. Alt text describes an image to help search engines comprehend and rank your visual content. Improve accessibility and follow Google's recommended practices for image optimization by including alt text that provides context for your website's images.

How RebelMouse Can Help

RebelMouse takes a multi-faceted approach to optimizing images with alt text for enhanced SEO, focusing on technical efficiency and user experience. Some of the critical SEO image features that our CMS offers includes:

  • Automatic Tag Generation: RebelMouse leverages AI technology to generate alt text automatically for uploaded images.
  • Keyword Targeting: Users can enhance automatically generated alt text by incorporating relevant keywords.
  • User-Friendly Interface: The platform provides an easy-to-use interface for altering and changing alt text, allowing users to edit descriptions without requiring technical knowledge.

example of RebelMouse alt text image optimization settings in CMS

7. Optimize Images Using Google’s Best Practices

It takes more than alt text to bring out the boldness and vitality of your website's aesthetic. When considering image SEO, Google's best practices for images are a step in the right direction. From sourcing high-quality images to compressing them for efficient loading, there are a few ways to enhance your user experience and maintain optimal site health. Here are some tips for best image practices for your website:

  • Choose the Proper Format: Opt for WebP if supported, JPEG for photos, PNG for transparent graphics, and GIFs for simple animations.
  • Compress Your Images: Use tools like Squoosh or TinyPNG to find the optimal compression level for each image without sacrificing quality.
  • Minimize Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Preload website images to avoid your designs moving unexpectedly, causing user frustration.
  • Prioritize Critical Resources: Load essential images first and defer non-critical ones to avoid delaying page rendering.
  • Implement Responsive Images: Adapt images to different screen sizes and devices for a seamless experience.
  • Submit an Image Sitemap: Help Google discover and index your images more efficiently.
  • Use Structured Data: Provide additional information about your images for richer search results.

How RebelMouse Can Help

RebelMouse offers image resizing for lightning-fast loading and generating accurate alt text for users and search engines. Our AI headline generator provides image captions and alt text that best fit your keyword choices and support accessibility. Our CMS also seamlessly integrates with Google-friendly features like sitemaps and structured data.

8. Ensure Your Site Offers Desktop and Mobile-Friendly Navigation

When your website is not optimized for site navigation, users must sift through content like files in a basement. This can frustrate them, resulting in a high bounce rate. A well-structured site with a navigational menu or search bar can make or break your user experience, leading to increased user engagement and conversion rates if the content matches users’ search intent.

To make your site more navigation-friendly:

  • Optimize for mobile
  • Reduce clutter on your site with clear icons instead of lengthy text
  • Add images and videos to break down complicated topics
  • A/B test your pages to see which content and layouts interest users the most

How RebelMouse Can Help

RebelMouse offers everyone a smooth and user-friendly experience, regardless of device, combining responsive design, mobile-first development, touch-friendly interfaces, content prioritization, and flexible navigation options.

RebelMouse's Particle Assembler is a content creation tool within our Entry Editor that makes it easy to transform your posts into micro pieces of media-rich content, which we call particles, that can both be shared individually and crawled separately for search. Assembler is a helpful SEO tool because it can generate a unique URL slug for each particle, maximizing your article's ability to get indexed by Google for more than one key search phrase.

9. Implement a Comprehensive 404 Dashboard

A well-optimized website prioritizes successful navigation and addresses user frustration when a page is not found. A comprehensive 404 dashboard is valuable for any website owner or manager. It encourages proactive website maintenance, improves the user experience, provides helpful data on site errors, and allows you to resolve issues quickly. These errors can include:

  • Broken Links: The dashboard can identify URLs that return a 404 error, indicating broken links throughout your site.
  • Outdated Content: The dashboard should pinpoint outdated content, link typos, or remove pages.
  • Prioritize Critical Pages: The dashboard should classify broken links according to their impact, such as high-traffic or critical business pages requiring immediate attention.

How RebelMouse Can Help

RebelMouse’s CMS includes an advanced 404 dashboard for monitoring and managing broken links and website errors that may be slowing down your site and hurting your SEO. We also provide Semrush audit integrations that identify areas of improvement to raise site health and ensure a seamless user experience.

10. Maximize Page Performance and Speed With Core Web Vitals

GIF example of product page poor responsiveness versus good responsiveness on mobile

Google’s Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics that measure your site's performance for page loading, interactivity, and visual stability. Core Web Vitals can help optimize your website for search and elevate the user experience with fast-loading, delay-free pages that function across desktop and mobile. RebelMouse prides itself as the powerhouse of Core Web Vitals, outperforming popular CMS options like WordPress and Wix for all of our platform’s users.

 RebelMouse CMS with good Core Web Vitals in green versus traditional CMS with poor Core Web Vitals in red and yellow

 Core Web Vitals Report: RebelMouse with a green uptrend outperforms competitor CMS platforms

Check out PageSpeed Insights to see your Core Web Vitals score. Here are some ways to improve your LCP, FID, and CLS metrics:

  • Loading Speed (LCP) Improvement: Try preloading the most crucial components of your website so that they’re available on the page as soon as the user lands on it to increase your loading speed.
  • Interactivity (FID) Improvement: Prevent certain elements from slowing loading time to enhance interactivity. Use lazy loading to ensure specific sections load in a preferred order, prioritizing important content for users.
  • Visual Stability (CLS) Improvement: Consider design and image dimensions that support the web page’s layout and won't shift or move around as your users navigate around the page to improve your site's visual stability.

For a more comprehensive look into Core Web Vitals health, check out this guide on improving your Core Web Vitals.

How RebelMouse Can Help

RebelMouse offers a blend of built-in optimization, user control, and additional strategies to ensure your site delivers stellar Core Web Vitals performance, ultimately leading to better search rankings, user experience, and overall website success.

11. Structure Your Data

The format of your website and its content is known as structured data. Your structured data for pages and articles should include an optimized URL, metadata (meta title and description), an H1 title, H2 headings, and H3 headings (when applicable).

Your information would be organized for a landing page or home page according to the navigation menu, the “About Us” page, the copy explaining your brand's purpose, and the call-to-action (CTA) buttons pointing to crucial website pages, such as new services, products, or content.

In essence, you want your data to be organized neatly for crawling and visibility, unlike unstructured data, which lacks a defined format and is difficult for both Google and users to index and understand.

How RebelMouse Can Help

With RebelMouse, you can enhance your structured data by adding elements through our platform's user interface. This allows you to specify the schema for specific content types like recipes, videos, or events (e.g., recipe carousels or event cards). We also make it easy to optimize your H1, H2, and H3 headers.

12. Upgrade Your Web Security

Security is crucial because Google relies on trusted sources that ensure user data is safe. To ensure your website is safe from malware and online hackers, make sure it uses HTTPS, advanced security encryption offered by hosting services like Amazon Web Services (AWS), and is SOC 2 Type 2 certified. Discover more from 2024's safest content management system.

How RebelMouse Can Help

RebelMouse takes web security seriously with a full range of features and a fortified infrastructure to safeguard your website and data. By leveraging a centralized platform, AWS security, a secure infrastructure, compliance adherence, and SOC 2 Type 2 certification, RebelMouse helps you build a secure and trustworthy online presence.

13. Run a Site Audit

Site audits identify areas for improvement to ensure optimal site health, such as ways to improve high-traffic pages, broken links, missing metadata and alt text, and technical SEO missteps. Platforms like Semrush and Ahrefs are great places to start if you're new to technical SEO. They can help you manage your content and address page errors on your website.

We’ve improved one client's technical site health from 59% to 92% through frequent audit checks and corrections. Even in the face of unpredictable Google updates, our CMS allows clients to maintain high-performing, optimized, and competitive sites through regular website health checks.

Semrush displaying healthy Site Health Score at 92 percent

How RebelMouse Can Help

RebelMouse takes a comprehensive approach to site audits and technical SEO, providing the tools, insights, and support you need to optimize your website for success. With its automated scans, Semrush integration, user-friendly features, and expert support, RebelMouse empowers you to take control of your website's search engine visibility to unlock its full potential.

How to Maintain Website Health and Traffic During a Google Core Update

With the unpredictability of the latest Google core update that caused many websites to see a decrease in traffic, it's essential to focus on managing technical SEO while delivering helpful, user-first content to your audience.

If your website has seen a downward trend since the last Google Search update, here are some ways to remain competitive and bring your rankings back up:

  • Focus on the User: Following SEO trends is nice, but you might be following a dead-end path. When trying to win long-tail keywords, consider whether the content helps a user take action, answers their questions, and takes them to the next steps that satisfy their search intent. If you create content for clickbait that offers generic information, you will see little progression in your search rankings.
  • Maintain Your Website Health: Site audits are the best way to launch your technical SEO efforts. Adhere to the aforementioned recommendations in this article and prioritize the elements of your SEO strategy that will lead to the best outcomes, whether that means strengthening your Core Web Vitals, increasing security, refining metadata, or generating opportunities for link development. Work through our list of suggestions until you reach optimal tech health.
  • Clean Up Your Site: A Google Search core update may be the perfect time to get your site decluttered and focused on structured data that offers users the best navigation and interface to sift through. Use A/B testing to experiment with new features and gauge your users' reactions.

Skyrocket Your Technical SEO With RebelMouse

RebelMouse is an enterprise-level, AI-powered CMS for brands and publishers. With our cutting-edge systems and AI solutions, we assist clients with increasing their online visibility and realizing their full earning potential. Our users love to rave about their online success and traffic increases after joining our platform.

We offer a one-stop shop for managing omnichannel integrations, Core Web Vitals, sophisticated security protocols, AI-powered recommendations, automated metadata recommendations, and smart-linking technologies. As we continue to be the number one CMS for SEO in 2024, we aim to transform online performance for our clients in a way that helps build connections with their audiences.

Contact our team to request a demo and learn more about our products and services.

Responsible Statecraft: SEO Growth After Switching to RebelMouse CMS

The RebelMouse team met the Responsible Statecraft team in 2023. We kicked off our partnership in April and launched the new experience in early September. The results we have achieved together are beyond impressive.

Post-Launch Performance

It’s exciting to see that a few months after launch we can report exciting growth — especially in traffic from Google.

Responsible Statecraft post-launch performance statistics

Performance Boosts in 30 Days

It’s not only about the traffic boost after the launch. We monitor the traffic from month to month and work with Responsible Statecraft on maintaining that growth.

Responsible Statecraft performance boost in 30 days

Knowing that Google is a top traffic source for Responsible Statecraft, looking at the data in Google Search Console is also exciting.

Responsible Statecraft Google Search Console performance statistics

Onboarding Journey

There are a few reasons why the Responsible Statecraft team decided to switch to RebelMouse’s platform:

  • Their site was launched in December 2019 on WordPress. They have grown considerably in that time — not just in traffic, but also across content providers (e.g., reporters, themselves, and outside contributors). They needed the right platform to support internal growth.
  • They were ready for the next round of traffic growth, especially in terms of SEO. Even with great expert content, they just weren’t getting enough traffic. There was a concern that their existing website was not fully optimized. The website architecture was old and it hadn’t been updated.
  • They were also looking for a complete strategy overhaul to give their readers more reasons to stay on their site and build loyalty.

Throughout the build process, we had amazing partners on the Responsible Statecraft side, including Kelley Vlahos, Editorial Director, and Ben Armbruster, Managing Editor. The best way to explain our work together is synergy. Each of our team members, with their unique experiences, perspectives, talents, and communication styles, created the growth that the Responsible Statecraft team was hoping for from the start.

Project Scope

Every project benefits from a clear roadmap and defined goals. We prioritize understanding our clients' objectives and providing cost-effective solutions. Our commitment to our clients' success fosters long-term relationships, as demonstrated by clients who have been with us for over a decade.

When Responsible Statecraft approached us, Adam Taylor, our Director of Strategic Solutions, immediately responded to their needs. He addressed their concerns directly, navigating budget constraints and roadblocks with empathy, patience, and personalized solutions. Adam's dedication allowed Responsible Statecraft to confidently migrate to RebelMouse and quickly maximize their online success.

Taxonomy

The breadth of topics and categories that Responsible Statecraft touches on is very significant. Previously, the site was heavily based on tags with only a few categories, which wasn’t the ideal way to organize all of the content.

While it can be a challenge to reflect a wide range of topics in taxonomy, our Senior Vice President of Product & Strategy, Alex Leo, started the project by performing a comprehensive analysis of all the tags and topics Responsible Statecraft had used previously. From there, our Director of Audience Development, Craig Kanalley, took a close look at common threads and found that a geographical structure would work best. This was based on the high volume of location-based tags the site had been using. We presented this to the Responsible Statecraft team and got timely and receptive feedback to move forward with the new taxonomy.

All of the content was divided into six regions: Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and North America. Within each region, there were countries and relevant categories.

Responsible Statecraft website taxonomy and structured data

This new taxonomy was reflected in the redesign with a Regions drop-down menu on the site’s main navigation. The new menu made it easy for users to pull up a region of interest and see the latest news, launching into a section page for each specific region.

A few high-level, common topics that the site covers were also a part of the new and improved main navigation: Military Industrial Complex, Washington Politics, Media, and Global Crises.

“I loved collaborating with the Responsible Statecraft team to improve their site’s taxonomy,” Kanalley said. “They are experts in their field and improving the organization of their content has made it a better user experience for anyone who visits the site, highlighting the great work that they do.”

Getting the taxonomy right was the first step, and from there, we were ready to build a beautiful design.

Complete Redesign

RebelMouse's web designer, João Marcos Oliveira, transformed Responsible Statecraft's vision into a reality that exceeded expectations. João's eye for aesthetics and understanding of UX principles resulted in a website that effectively communicates its vision and directs users to relevant content.

Kelley Vlahos testimonial about the website design process with RebelMouse

Responsible Statecraft website redesigned with optimized mobile version

Modernized and Refreshed Brand Identity

RebelMouse provided new logo options, because a well-designed logo is memorable and easily recognizable. We also offered new typography because having proper font sizes enhances readability, making it easier for users to consume content and understand the message.

Responsible Statecraft brand identity

Top Navigation

The design team also updated the main navigation by highlighting the main areas and incorporating drop-down menus.

Before

Responsible Statecraft's former navigational website before RebelMouse redesign

After

Responsible Statecraft new website navigation

Segmented Layout

Segmented layouts help organize content into logical sections. Each segment is dedicated to a specific message or topic. This enhances overall site navigation and the user experience.

Responsible Statecraft home page with segmented article layout

Article Page Improvements

Here are some of the page and website navigation improvements we focused on during the redesign journey.

Better Navigation

To enhance UX and contextual understanding, we included breadcrumbs and relevant tags.

article page navigation

Author Bio

Below each article, we have incorporated the respective author's bio with author structured data. This information helps establish their expertise, qualifications, and background. It lends credibility to the content and allows readers to assess the author's authority on the subject.

Responsible Statecraft article pages and author bios

More Relevant Content

We placed more relevant content below each main article, incorporating both internal links and “around the web” links based on the topic at hand.

author page with more relevant content

We also eliminated the site's footer and incorporated an infinite scroll stream of articles, so users can easily keep discovering more about any given topic.

Mobile Responsiveness and User Experience

The redesign phase included providing responsive layouts to ensure a consistent and optimal user experience across various devices.

website mobile responsiveness

Mobile Navigation

We moved the top navigation to a hamburger menu, including topic areas and main calls to action, to showcase more pieces of content instead.

 Responsible Statecraft's old mobile version (left) versus new navigation (right)

We built a mobile-friendly article page design, using the proper font sizes and optimal image ratios. Check out these before-and-after examples:

Article page mobile design before and after

Implementation

Our technical team is the team that brought all of this work together. Igor, a RebelMouse Solutions Architect, did a fantastic job of navigating the technical solutions, working with Ben and Kelley on understanding how the old site was set up, how to get all of the data from the old instance over to RebelMouse, and how to bring the new vision for the taxonomy to life.

Igor and RebelMouse Platform Engineer Dmitry worked together with Kelley and Ben on making sure that the home page not only reflected a beautiful design, but also had the right functionality from an editorial perspective. With the new look, the editorial team can easily highlight stories and move them around the site as a part of the editorial process.

“This was a pretty custom request because it was really important for the Responsible Statecraft team to have full control over the home page experience and which stories go where. It took us probably a week to find the best possible solution together and I’m really happy to see the Responsible Statecraft team using it so well. They have been great to work with on coming up with solutions,” said Igor.

Kelley Vlahos testimonial about building a user-friendly site

He built out a plan that was seamlessly implemented with Dmitry and Florian, a RebelMouse Server-Side Engineer. José, a RebelMouse Project Manager, made sure everything was planned and that resources were available from all sides. He kept all of us on track by making sure there was transparency on what we needed to prioritize, move, and what we needed from Kelley and Ben.

The Quality Assurance team, Natallia and Mariano, were the ones who made sure everything looked perfect before anything was shown to Kelley and Ben. It’s so important to have a thoughtful QA team as part of this process since it saves enormous amounts of time by preventing sending incomplete work or unnecessary back and forth.

Technical SEO

With such an amazing team, it’s easy to keep our promise to our clients — that we’ll always keep them modern and ensure that we improve their performance upon launch. Delivering high performance and great Core Web Vitals is our standard.

We care a lot about on-page and technical SEO, and we are very proud to have launched Responsible Statecraft’s site with a Semrush Site Health Score of 86.

These results were achieved by:

  1. Leveraging the power of RebelMouse’s CMS and our out-of-the box features, such as (but not limited to):
    1. Sitemaps
    2. Structured data
    3. Dynamic page titles
    4. Fallbacks for meta descriptions
    5. Correct canonicalization
    6. Absence of server or security issues
  2. Following the built-in processes that we’ve created over the years from migrating countless sites, such as (but not limited to):
    1. Cleaning up bad or old links (e.g., HTTP links)
    2. Optimizing JavaScript and CSS so that there are no performance issues
    3. Submitting sitemaps to Google Search Console
    4. Optimizing robots.txt files
    5. Defining rules for titles and meta descriptions for the most valuable pages
  3. Defining priorities and setting up plans with the Responsible Statecraft team on what is necessary to achieve before launch (such as making sure we have the taxonomy set up correctly) vs. the things that can be addressed later (such as optimizing titles for pages that are not as valuable).

Next Steps

Launching a site is not the finish line at RebelMouse — it’s the starting point. After the site was launched, Veronica, the dedicated Account Manager for Responsible Statecraft, teamed up with Zelle Gatoc, our Digital Strategist, and Rasselline Rose, our Data Insights Analyst, to work together with Ben and Kelley on systematically:

  1. Optimizing the technical SEO across the site even further. We work with teams who are not always technical, but we help support their editorial efforts so that they are following the best practices of technical and on-page SEO.
  2. Discovering new ways to distribute content across channels. We believe in diversification of traffic through different channels, such as Flipboard or SmartNews.
  3. Identifying the next design iterations to provide the best user experience possible. All design decisions are based on data and performance.

Kelley Vlahos testimonial about the RebelMouse team

It takes a village to raise a child and a team to build wonderful user experiences.

Responsible Statecraft and RebelMouse's teams

Introducing: Layout & Design Tool 3.0

The team at RebelMouse have been working hard to launch a new version of our Layout & Design Tool. Here is a look at some of the new features that enhance the digital publishing process.

Highlighted Uncommitted Changes

The latest update of Layout & Design Tool will highlight the elements that have been added, modified, or removed to visually indicate what are the changes pending to be committed. Elements containing any unsaved changes will be marked as:

  • Green if the element is new.
  • Yellow if the element was modified.
  • Red if the element was deleted.

After you save the elements, the highlights will disappear.

Single A/B Test Edition

To ensure a clearer and more controlled editing experience, we have introduced editions of a single A/B test on each commit. As soon as you start working on an A/B Test, Layout & Design Tool will lock the remaining ones to prevent you from accidentally changing other A/B tests.

No More Changeless Actions on Timeline

Instead of tracking all actions, Timeline will now only register actions that make actual changes to the current page, and will no longer track consecutive changes of the same type that overwrite each other. This will make the change history shorter and more meaningful. You will no longer see selection, expanding, or collapsing actions, nor repetitive entries.

Disabled Saved Button

The save button is now disabled by default, and will be enabled only once a change has been made. This will help reduce open tabs in your browser, and you will never forget if you changed something or not if you happen to step away from your work.

Auto-Generated Commit Messages

Why spend your time writing meaningful commit messages when they can be generated automatically? Simply make your changes, and then let Layout & Design Tool create a message based on the modifications you are about to commit to. You can still leave an optional commit message indicating any additional information if needed.

Tracking Critical Actions

Marking an A/B test as live, or deleting an A/B test, is an important action that can impact your site. Now, both of those actions will generate commits to track changes. Archiving and unarchiving will also be tracked.

Improved Set as Live Screen

Every time you push an A/B test live, a comparison screen will appear that shows the differences between your A/B test and the one that is currently live. This means that you will no longer overwrite live changes that you were not aware were introduced.

Quick Revert for Recent Versions

Ever make a mistake and want to revert your changes? You can now go to Timeline and click on the recent commit to load the latest changes. Then you can click on the save button to revert to an earlier version.

Changelog

Every time you open Layout & Design Tool, you will now see our brand new Changelog that will help you catch up with the important updates that've taken place on your site. You can see the recent changes and filter by page, type of commit, dates, users, and more. Click on any diff button to see the changes introduced by that commit.

Changelog will track the creation and deletion of custom pages or custom shared elements, as well as the creation and deletion of A/B tests. Also, it will register any A/B tests set as live and whenever they are archived or unarchived.

Share Feedback

Use the "share feedback" button in Layout & Design Tool's top bar to tell us what you would like us to improve, or if you encounter any issues.

If you have any questions about the newest version of Layout & Design Tool, please email support@rebelmouse.com or talk to your account manager today.

From Cookies to Conversions: Win Back Revenue With First-Party Data

How RebelMouse Embraces AI and Emerging Solutions to Reinvent Marketing

Ciao, Cookies

If you’re an advertiser, publisher, brand, or just trying to generate revenue from a website, you’ve probably heard about the demise of third-party cookies.

Since the early 90s, cookies have been a fundamental component of how the web works. These small text files were designed to make it easy for sites to identify visitors and their browsing habits. The cookies are then stored on a user’s device to track activity about how that user interacted with a particular website. This could be anything from a user’s interests and behaviors to verifying their identity. As you can imagine, this has been a slow-boiling privacy concern because cookies can track users' online activities across multiple websites, allowing advertisers to create comprehensive profiles of individuals without their consent.

The centralized storage of this kind of data poses a risk around unauthorized access, potentially exposing users to privacy breaches and identity theft. The collection of vast amounts of user information through cookies without proper safeguards in place has driven the push for more privacy-focused alternatives.

The alarm bells about third-party cookies have been going off for years. Many web browsers have severely limited the power of third-party cookies. As of January 4, 2024, Google Chrome has restricted third-party cookies for 1% of users, and plans to increase third-party cookie restrictions to 100% of users beginning in Q3 2024.

A World Without Cookies: Implications for Advertisers

Third-party cookies have played a major role in how marketers and advertisers track user preferences across websites. For example, if you look at a jacket online, advertisements for that same jacket will follow you across the web until you (hopefully) eventually buy it. In addition to user preferences, third-party cookies also help advertisers measure conversions, track user journeys across websites, and segment audiences based on behavior.

The loss of this critical data means that brands need to navigate how to maintain consistent and accurate audience measurements across channels. In particular, publishers need to be concerned about ad revenue, since many of them currently rely on programmatic ads for the bulk, if not all, of their business revenue.

That’s why publishers, marketers, and advertisers are exploring alternative solutions to third-party cookies, primarily through the use of a first-party data strategy.

First-party data is collected directly from a company's own customers or website visitors. This data is often used to supplement their own data, enabling them to gain insights into broader audience segments, target specific demographics, and improve ad targeting.

There are a number of methods businesses can implement to collect first-party data. Some of those methods include:

  • Adding tracking pixels to your website or mobile apps
  • Collecting information through offers, discounts, or exclusive content
  • Data collection forms that request name, email address, location, and more
  • Customer surveys

Still new to what first-party data is all about? We’ve got all of the basics of first-party data collection covered. Click the image below to learn more.

The Challenge and Reward of Harnessing First-Party Insights

First-party data is more valuable because it's collected directly from the source — a site’s own audience. This means more accurate insights into each user's behaviors, which means more targeted and effective marketing campaigns. However, first-party data can be more challenging to collect than simply relying on third-party cookies. Users need to have established trust in a brand or website before they’re willing to give up valuable information. This means each user must have a vested interest in the brand’s value proposition and feel secure that they will receive something in return for their data.

It can be a big task to build this kind of loyalty with your audience. A successful first-party data strategy requires more than collecting customer data. Businesses must gather, store, and analyze their first-party data to understand audience behavior, and then use those insights to improve marketing performance and deliver more customer value.

The good news is that effective first-party data can also reap big rewards. The more trust your users have in your business, the more effective your marketing efforts will be. We’ve got a seven-step strategy you can use as a guide when formulating your own first-party data plan. Click the image below to learn more.

RebelMouse's Vision for AdTech Transformation

Crafting a first-party data strategy is a tricky task, but luckily the death of third-party cookies comes at a time when there are exciting, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence to help publishers stay on the revenue train.

At RebelMouse, our core mission is to deliver an AI-enabled, performance-driven, and cutting-edge CMS alongside decades of digital experience to ensure that our clients always stay ahead of the curve. To keep this momentum going, we’ve spent an enormous amount of time allocating significant resources to research and develop new solutions that yield tremendous results for gathering first-party data.

Additionally, since 2022, RebelMouse has also invested heavily in research and development around AI technologies. Leveraging OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Vertex AI, we have become expert AI integrators. This has been critical to keeping our clients modern in an ever-evolving tech landscape. The breakthroughs in this space, combined with our approach to first-party data, have been essential to the groundbreaking results we’ve achieved. Thanks to our innovative AI integrations, RebelMouse seamlessly aligns editorial content with programmatic buyers' IAB taxonomies.

Our focus on first-party data is centered around two major initiatives:

  • Increasing programmatic ad revenue.
  • Increasing site engagement and return visits.

Additionally, we harness psychographic data that complements both direct sales and programmatic efforts. This powerful combination not only enhances revenue on the initial user visit, but also leads to substantial increases in CPM upon return visits. As visitor loyalty grows with frequent returns, the revenue potential continues to rise.

Click the image below to learn more about how we are leveraging AI to transform the ad space.

RebelMouse Ad Operations: Your One Stop for Modern Monetization

Mastering an AI-powered first-party data strategy and completely rethinking how to generate revenue for your business isn’t easy. Most publishers rely on a third-party agency to help them optimize their ad strategy. At RebelMouse, we simplify your ads initiatives by eliminating the need for an outside vendor to manage your programmatic ads.

Our devoted team will not only increase the quality and viewability of your ads, but we will use advanced AI solutions to help you stay ahead of the industry on important ad strategies like first-party data.

And the results have been lucrative for our clients.

Our Methods: Your Single Source for Ad Management

In addition to leapfrogging the competition across the digital ad landscape, we focus on key initiatives to set aside your campaigns from the rest of the internet’s noise.

  • Core Web Vitals (CWV) Improvement
  • User Experience
    • Control ad volume
    • Monitor ad viewability
    • Keep tabs on correct ad sizing and placement
  • Increase Click-Through Rate (CTR)
    • Focus on CTR leads to better advertisers and higher CPMs
  • Direct-Sold Ads
    • Full campaign setup
    • Coordination with your ad sales team
    • Implementation of the direct-sold ad(s) on your site
    • Continuous optimization of the campaign focused on the best performance around viewability and conversion rate
  • Testing Abilities
    • Before any direct-sold ads are published to your site, we have the ability to test and review exactly how they will look, which means no surprises when the campaigns officially launch

Reap Revenue Rewards With RebelMouse

RebelMouse’s all-encompassing AdOps services leverage AI and first-party data to create more personalized, targeted, and effective advertising experiences for your users while respecting privacy and compliance standards.

Looking to get ahead of the ad game? Let’s connect to explore how we can work together.

Technical SEO: Google's Latest Ranking Revolution

Master Core Updates With Quality Content and Technical SEO

What do Google Search core updates and poor technical SEO have in common?

Low search rankings.

Even with high-traffic pages, your online presence is at risk if you can't marry high-quality content with the right technical SEO tactics, leading to less online visibility and decreased performance.

In 2024, the online community desperately needs guidance as it attempts to keep up with Google's algorithm changes and SEO guidelines. Even though Google has advised publishers and marketers to concentrate on creating E-E-A-T content, many still perceive it to be a guessing game, which adds extra stress and anxiety to content creation.

How Google Core Updates Affect Rankings

According to marketing publications Search Engine Journal and Amsive, Google suggests that focusing on technical SEO and user satisfaction first can help your online business thrive in engagement and survive Google's core updates. Since September 2023, Google has launched at least four significant updates, which include:

  • The Helpful Content Update (September 2023): This update prioritized content that helps users answer a specific question, perform an action, or add value to their lives. Websites that are overly optimized for SEO or solely create content for Google Search and not users will find themselves penalized.

  • The Spam/Core Update (October 2023): This update focused on search quality and penalized sites that had spamming violations like cloaking, hacking, keyword stuffing, false information, and other materials that negatively impact the user experience.

  • The Ranking Update (November 2023): This update prioritized publishers delivering more high-quality content to offer users helpful content, which in turn allows websites to rank higher in search results.

  • The Reviews Update (November 2023): The reviews update optimized the monitoring of reviews that appear in articles or individual content comparing products and services that aim to influence a user's decision.

Impact on Publishers and Marketers

These updates can have a significant impact on the way your site ranks in Google Search. Here are just some of the ways your business could suffer if it doesn’t follow Google’s guidelines:

  • Massive Traffic Declines: Many publishers experienced drops from millions to near-zero clicks and impressions, particularly across Google Discover.

  • Loss of Visibility: Sites disappeared from Google Discover and Top Stories, especially after the October 2023 core update.

  • Revenue Decline: Traffic losses directly impacted income for publishers relying on online ads.

  • Confusion and Lack of Guidance: Publishers felt unclear about the reasons behind the changes and how to recover traffic.

  • Uneven Impact: Some sites, even well-established ones, were affected, while others seemingly benefited.

  • Regional Variations: Traffic changes differed based on location.

  • Web Story Spam in Discover: An increase in low-quality Web Stories may be pushing down other content.

Dominate Google With Technical SEO Tactics

When questioned about the next prominent thing marketers should focus on, Gary Illyes, Google's Search Systems Analyst, emphasized that creators should produce quality content structured to help a user find what they need as quickly as possible.

To achieve this, the Google Search Relations team advised publishers to emphasize technical SEO optimizations and stop chasing SEO trends.

Technical SEO is the supportive framework of a high-ranking website. With proper website structure, functionality, and site navigation, your site can rank on Google Search’s page one.

Not sure how your site stacks up when it comes to technical SEO? Click here to get a free analysis of your site's technical SEO health.

The Three Traps of Content Creation

It's not about chasing the next best thing. Trends are among the pitfalls that confuse marketers about their online performance. According to Search Engine Journal, the following are some of the content creation pitfalls to be aware of:

  1. High Traffic Equals High-Quality Content: You can target common keywords with low search volume and rank highly for those terms, but if your content lacks value to a user and only provides generic information, your high-traffic pages may be doing more harm than good.

  2. Content First, Framework Later: Technical SEO is the cornerstone of your website. Would you build a house on unstable ground? Like a home, you want to create a strong foundation to ensure your website performs well behind the scenes. This means regularly running site audits for growth, checking for broken links or pages, and improving your Core Web Vitals.

  3. Monitoring the Number of Visitors: The number of site visitors is essential, but if they leave after a few minutes, this will increase your bounce rate and signal to Google that your site has low user satisfaction. User engagement, time spent, and page clicks are critical metrics for determining how well your technical SEO efforts result in great user content. Developing a first-party data strategy can assist you in deciding what users want most from your website.

Build Content Quality and User Engagement With RebelMouse

Tired of grappling with the intricacies of Google’s updates and mastering technical SEO? RebelMouse is your ultimate solution! With our state-of-the-art, AI-enabled CMS technology, we aim to redefine your user experience and online success. We help our users master their site health by improving metrics like Core Web Vitals while delivering a creative specialist team. Our industry experts assist you with managing and monitoring your technical SEO performance behind the scenes while you prioritize other important business tasks.

Maximize your SEO potential with our platform, meticulously optimized for page speed, to ensure your content shines across search engines. RebelMouse empowers you to monetize intelligently, providing your team with the tools to navigate the ever-evolving digital landscape systematically.

Ready to revolutionize your online presence? Request a demo and upgrade to RebelMouse to propel your digital success today!

Technical SEO: How to See the Most Growth From Site Audits

We get this question a lot: Why is our expert content not ranking higher in search? You can do everything right from a content perspective, but if you’re not looking at technical SEO, you’re missing out on opportunities.

Good technical SEO is about getting the fundamentals right: A unique title for every page, a unique and informative meta description, good site architecture with a clear sitemap, taxonomy, internal linking, clean code that leads to good site performance, and so on. These are just some of the important building blocks that are a part of technical SEO.

Semrush Technical SEO Performance Improvements:


 SEMrush Technical SEO improvements enhances page clicks, search impressions, and Google user experience.

RebelMouse is the best CMS for Core Web Vitals and performance, which are both crucial for SEO. But industry-leading SEO platform Semrush has Site Audits that can identify other technical SEO problems on your site that may seem small in isolation, but can amount to big problems when reviewed holistically. Google Search Console offers further insights on potential issues and can help validate fixes. We’re happy to offer Site Health services, including SEO audits with a full analysis of issues and recommendations for fixes to significantly improve your Semrush Site Health Score.

The way to see the best results is by building these into your process. You can run an audit and make fixes, but unless you’re not planning on making any changes to your site or adding any new content, this will not suffice. Running second, third, fourth, and fifth audits, and making more fixes along the way, will allow you to take full advantage of how good technical SEO can improve search engines' ability to understand and index your content, and lead to real and long-lasting traffic growth.

Think of the technical SEO process like this:

Both your website and the internet are dynamic, constantly changing entities, so your attention to them needs to be ongoing.

One issue can have multiple causes, so solving each issue individually (starting with the biggest) gives us a chance to do things in a controlled way that allows us to track the impact and not change too much at once. This is a more stable approach.

In addition, when you solve things in a planned and iterative way, it allows you to identify the root causes of these problems by spotting patterns. Let's say you fix broken titles on tag pages. You can analyze pages that are left to see if there is a new programmatic solution.

We have case studies to back up this logic.

In one instance, we started with a 59% Site Health Score, made continuous improvements over several months, and ultimately boosted the score to 92%. Search impressions increased along the way, more than doubling from where they started:

With another client, since beginning Semrush audits and fixes, we observed a 54% increase in clicks and a 44% increase in impressions vs. the two months before the audits.

This shouldn’t be a one-and-done process. It should be continuous, and that’s where we have seen the most impact and the best results. It’s about identifying one issue at a time, rolling out the solution the right way, and then looking for the next one to address.

Ready for us to get to work with your site? Contact us today to get started.

Sticky Positions: Best UI/UX Practices [Design Examples]

What Is a Sticky Position?

A sticky position, or sticky element, is something that remains in a fixed position as you scroll through a web page.

Imagine browsing a site, and suddenly, a bright, colorful box pops up and sticks to the side of your screen like chewing gum. It could be a funny meme, a tempting offer for free pizza, or even a cool quiz about your personality type. That's a sticky element!

Sticky elements are design techniques that enhance the user experience on websites and in apps by offering users an easy way to access crucial information and perform essential actions. This approach involves placing specific content and elements in a designated position on the screen, allowing them to remain visible as a user scrolls.

For brands, they're a powerful tool with benefits that boost brand awareness, engagement, and conversions. Examples of sticky elements include navigation menus, contact details, or call-to-action (CTA) buttons readily available at a user's fingertips.

Here are some benefits of using sticky elements:

  • Grabs a User's Attention: Sticky elements offer eye-catching visuals and placements that capture users' attention to your brand message or call to action. Consider using a bold, visually appealing banner to promote your services or products.
  • Tailors Engagement: You can customize your sticky elements to appear on specific pages or display content relevant to a user's interests to deliver targeted messaging.
  • Improves the User Journey: Sticky elements can enhance the user experience by providing quick access to customer support, social links, “Contact Us” buttons, or an FAQ section.
  • Increases Brand Awareness: A sticky element such as a brand banner can be an ongoing reminder of your business as a user scrolls. Contrary to typical ads, a sticky element remains in place and helps to reinforce your brand's identity to users.

Common Uses and Placements for Sticky Positions

Place your sticky element in the best way to hold your users' attention and convert them at the ideal time. This placement could be on the side of the screen, at the top, or as a pop-up module, depending on what will benefit your users the most. Consider the following popular uses and placements for sticky elements that have the potential to produce gold conversions:

Navigation Menus

Sticky navigation menus are a common and effective design choice. When navigating a website, you can easily find essential links as you scroll down because the menu always remains at the top. This helps users navigate the site without scrolling up and down, improving their experience with a user-friendly website.

 Common Dreams website scrolling GIF with a sticky navigation menu at the top

Social-Sharing Icons

Social-sharing icons usually remain visible on the side or on the bottom of a screen. These sticky elements are common for blogs and articles, allowing users to easily share content.

 article scrolling GIF with sticky social-sharing icons below the author's image

Call-to-Action Buttons

Sticky CTA buttons, such as “Sign Up” or “Buy Now,” are often placed at the bottom of the screen to help users take action.

 article scrolling GIF with a sticky sign-up CTA fixed at the bottom of the screen

Announcement Bar

With an announcement and promotion bar, you can leverage the top area of your site to inform readers about breaking stories, events, campaigns, or anything else you’d like to feature prominently.

announcement bar sticky position at the top of a website page

announcement bar sticky position at the top of Premier Guitar website page

The announcement bar’s monthly CTR can range as high as 31.1% or as low as 0.05% in the first month. One month after implementing their announcement bar, Premier Guitar experienced a dramatic boost in their clicks, sessions, and CTR.

announcement bar performance statistics

Sticky Sidebar Ads

Sticky sidebar ads increase visibility and revenue while giving users quick access to helpful content. These ads rotate after an entire scroll through to maximize space and income potential, as well as to ensure that users will see them.

Check out the following case study findings on sticky sidebar performance:

 No Film School's static and sticky sidebar ads analytics indicate higher performance percentages for the sticky sidebar

Scroll-to-Top Buttons

Users often scroll through lengthy pages, and having a scroll-to-top button offers a convenient way to swiftly navigate back to the top of a page. This is particularly useful on pages with extensive content.

 article GIF with a sticky scroll-to-top arrow on the right side of the screen

Cookie Notices

A sticky cookie notice allows users to set their cookie preferences and manage their privacy settings efficiently.

 Heatmap News article scrolling GIF with sticky cookie settings at the bottom

Common Mistakes When Using Sticky Elements

Before implementing sticky elements, avoid these common mistakes:

  1. Avoid Overlapping: Make sure sticky elements don't overlap other essential elements on a page. For example, using a sticky bottom display ad can overlap a footer.
  2. Use Correct Sizing: Make sure the sticky sidebar fits the window vertically, because sometimes the bottom gets cut off on smaller screens. We recommend using a size that ranges from 300–500 px in height, or having the size be defined dynamically depending on the device being used.
  3. Create a Simple User Experience (UX): Make sure sticky calls to action or ads have a close or collapse button. This allows a user to remove any unwanted elements from their screen.
  4. Keep a Consistent User Interface (UI) Design: Make sure sticky elements are consistent and look correct across all devices.
  5. Steer Clear of Overcrowding: Ensure that you are not overcrowding your screen with too many CTAs, as this can distract and possibly frustrate your users.

Sticky Element Design Dos and Don’ts

Explore the following collection of best practices, which includes a set of dos and don'ts to guide you toward effectively using sticky elements on your website.

 two phones showing correct and incorrect sticky CTA versions

 two phones displaying proper and improper sticky ad video placements

 two phones displaying right and wrong ways to present a sticky navigation menu

two phones demonstrating the correct and incorrect times to display relevant and recommended content

Boost User Experience and Conversions With CSS Sticky Positions

Sticky elements provide users with a smooth and intuitive way to interact with a website. Website owners value a straightforward and engaging user experience that offers instant access to the navigation menu and calls to action that promote conversion.

Before implementing sticky elements, think about platform compatibility across desktop and mobile devices, placement to avoid clutter or on-screen distractions, techniques for evaluating their efficacy, performance metrics, and general usability to make the most out of your workflow. Sticky elements help optimize website navigation and engagement when used carefully and with a user-centric approach.

Need help strategizing around and implementing sticky elements across your site? Contact RebelMouse today to learn more about how we can help you move the needle for your business.

What Is A/B Testing? Boost Your Website's Performance

This guide covers A/B testing, its definition, advantages, and real-world applications. We will also go over how A/B testing works, ways to implement it in your SEO practices, and common roadblocks that may come up when evaluating test results. Now, let's see how A/B testing can improve your website’s performance.

What Is A/B Testing?

A/B testing, also called split testing or bucket testing, is a type of experimental testing in which you divide your audience into two groups and present them with different versions of a web page or app element. Group A sees one version of a page, and group B sees another version. The goal of A/B testing is to identify which variation performs better in terms of user engagement, conversion rates, and improving your online presence.

How A/B Testing Works

In an A/B test, businesses create two versions of a web page or an app element: A and B. A is the control page, and B is the variation page that may slightly change the headline, button design, or layout. Half of the users see A (control), and the other half see B (variation). You can then measure each version's performance based on user clicks and conversions.

A/B testing email experiment split among two groups showing the open rate percentages

A/B Testing Example #1: Subject Lines

One example of A/B testing includes subject lines. Imagine group A receives a promotional newsletter titled "Essential Natural Products for Women," and group B receives a variation titled "Must-Have Natural Products for Women in 2024." Whichever headline receives more clicks is the one that appeals most to your audience, which will help you understand your audience's preferences and online behaviors better and increase the likelihood of converting them. Utilizing an AI headline generator may help you during the brainstorming phase.

two web page versions with distinct colors and formatting for A/B testing

A/B Testing Example #2: Page Layout

Let's say you want to measure how many clicks an advertisement gets depending on where it appears. Group A receives the original version with the ad displayed on the side of the screen. In contrast, group B gets a different version of the web page with the advertisement positioned at the bottom of the screen. If the ad on the side of the screen earns more clicks, placing side-screen ads may be more beneficial for your business.

Benefits of A/B Testing

There are several reasons why you would A/B test, including:

  • Making Decisions Based on Data: You can use numerical data from A/B testing rather than assuming or generalizing what your users might like to make more informed decisions and drive more positive results.
  • Improving User Experience: A/B testing allows you to identify what content and designs appeal most to your customers, which can enhance how visitors interact with your website, leading to better user experiences.
  • Consistently Improving Your Site: You can meet business goals and fine-tune your website to meet your users' needs, leading to a lower bounce rate, higher click-through rates (CTR), and increased conversions.
  • Enhancing Marketing Strategies: You can optimize your marketing campaigns by testing copy, web layouts, design elements, and call-to-action (CTA) buttons to create the perfect pages that bring more exposure to your brand.
  • Optimizing Interface and Design: A/B testing previews how an audience may react to interface modifications, allowing designers and marketers to improve user engagement, styles, and product features if necessary.

A/B Testing in Marketing

Here are some ways you can use A/B testing in marketing to assess and improve your strategies:

  • Headlines: You can test different titles to see which appeal more to users and yield a higher CTR.
  • CTA Buttons: You can compare call-to-action button placements, colors, and font sizes, and experiment with text variations such as “Sign Up Now” or “Find Out More” to determine what captures the most attention.
  • Email Subject Lines: A/B test subject lines in email marketing campaigns to boost open rates and CTR.
  • Layout and Navigation: Test different layouts and navigation structures, such as adding sticky elements or a scroll-to-top menu button to optimize the user flow and reduce bounce rates.
  • Social Proof: Compare the impact of social proof elements, such as testimonials, reviews, or ratings.

Those are just a handful of the numerous ways you can use A/B testing to improve specific goals and elevate user experiences across a website or app.

How to Create an Effective A/B Test in Six Steps

 A/B testing infographic outlining six steps for effective experimentation

Running an A/B test doesn’t have to be a complicated process. Before testing multiple variables at once, prioritize which elements are most important to the user experience and comparable in an experiment. Some examples include font size, images, headlines, social, color scheme, and layout.

To create your A/B test, follow the steps below:

1. Collect Data

Before starting an A/B test, businesses need to collect relevant data to pinpoint areas of improvement. Use analytics tools like Google Analytics or Google Search Console to examine metrics such as website traffic, bounce rate, CTR, trends, drop-off rates, and user behavior. First-party data sources such as email open rates, purchase history, lead generation forms, social media insights, surveys, and audience demographics are a few ways to discover consumer insights.

2. Establish Your Goals

Clearly define the goals you want to achieve with A/B testing. It could be increasing conversion rates, boosting traffic, decreasing bounce rates, improving click-through rates, raising brand appeal, or any other metric aligned with your business objectives.

3. State Your Test Hypothesis

A test hypothesis calculates the probability of an assumption in light of your objectives and data collection. This hypothesis should describe how and why changes in your variable should result in a specific outcome.

Imagine that you want to increase the sales driven by your e-commerce product page. For the A/B test, you send out one version of the page with the typical product description, and your variation replaces the product description with a short video that highlights the product's features.

You might hypothesize that video advertisements will result in a 10% increase in add-to-cart rates.

4. Select Your A/B Testing Tools

Selecting the appropriate A/B testing tools is the first step in improving content, be it a blog post, an email, or a web page. You can compare headlines using tools like RebelMouse's integrated headline tools, which allow you to target particular audiences to see how they respond. You can also A/B test your website layout, distributing variations across equal groups or a randomized sample with the help of adjustable sample size parameters.

Depending on your desired outcomes, you will use different A/B tools. For instance, you might use different A/B testing tools for design testing than you would for emails. To help you optimize your workflow, find out if your content management system (CMS) has integrated or built-in A/B tools. Google Analytics also offers web page A/B testing for non-RebelMouse users.

5. Run Experiment

Launch the A/B test and assign users to the control group (version A) or the variation group (version B). Consider these points when running your experiment:

  • Statistical Significance: Make sure the test is statistically significant, which means that your dependent variables and data will be used to determine the results rather than a random, inexplicable chance.
  • Sample Size: Make sure a sufficient sample size produces accurate results. An excessively large or small sample size will yield inaccurate results. Use a sample size calculator to prevent this.
  • Period: Give the test enough time to run if you're testing metrics like pageviews or bounce rate. Let your test variations run simultaneously for at least one month for the most accurate and statistically significant results.
  • User Feedback: During your test, you can send out surveys to users to get their input. You can learn more about someone's online habits by asking why they didn't click past a particular page or on a CTA button. You can find out if they felt the information needed to be more relevant to them or if the content needed to be shorter.

6. Analyze Results

Once the test is finished, analyze the results. Compare the performance of the control group and the variation group to determine which version performed better. Remain focused on the primary metric you selected to assess and avoid getting distracted by the experiment's other outcomes. Ignore the quantity of conversions if you have chosen to test the bounce rate of a web page. Apply the results to your next action plan. If one test outperformed the original, consider applying those changes to multiple pages on your site.

A/B Testing and SEO

A/B testing is generally safe and encouraged by Google. However, it’s essential to follow best practices to avoid any negative impact on your search rankings. Avoid practices like cloaking (showing search engines different content than what users see), and use attributes and 302 redirects (temporarily redirecting users to a specific page) when necessary to maintain the integrity of your website's search rank. Google also offers insights on minimizing the A/B testing impact on Google Search.

Challenges and Considerations for A/B Test Results

When interpreting A/B test results, it's essential to be aware of the following critical challenges:

  • Inaccurate Sample Size: Ensure that your sample size is large enough to produce reliable and statistically significant results. A sample size that is too large or too small will yield unreliable results.
  • The Shiny and New Syndrome: When conducting your test, remember that when something new or unique appears on your website, users may become more engaged because they are experiencing something different. To prevent this, concentrate on first-time visitors who will be able to handle the changes and will view your site with a fresh perspective.
  • Outside Influences: During your A/B test, some factors will be beyond your control, such as a platform outage or seasonal buzz. Avoid testing results during busy holiday seasons since shoppers tend to buy more. If your site or platform encounters technical issues during the test run, you should refrain from including that data since it will be inaccurate during your testing period.

Kickstart Your A/B Testing Strategies Today

Businesses can improve user experiences, increase conversion rates, and optimize their websites with the help of A/B testing. Remember, A/B testing is a continuous process requiring ongoing optimization and experimentation.

RebelMouse provides a streamlined content management system that makes A/B testing easier, enabling you to maximize the potential of your website and outperform the competition. Our team can help you with the process or create these test runs for you if you'd like to test your site’s functionality, performance, and traffic goals, or obtain trustworthy analytics.

Contact RebelMouse today to learn more about how we help you move the needle for your business.