Data visualization is the representation of information and data in a graphical or pictorial format. It enables businesses to communicate complex ideas and data sets effectively, making it easier to understand, retain, and communicate information to a wider audience.

In today’s world, where people are inundated with information from multiple sources, data visualization has become an essential tool for content marketers to engage their audience and make a lasting impression.

But which is its role in Content Marketing and why is it essential you use them in your content pieces? Let’s roll.

Why do we use data visualization?

Before we go on and explain the what & how, it’s first essential we get the why. Imagine traffic lights. You’re driving in your car, come near an intersection, and see the following sign.

On average, it takes people 12 seconds to read the above statement. Imagine the chaos and risk that would cause in that time. Now, take a look at the next sign.

The average driver reaction time is 0.75 seconds. Now, you know this sign means stop, without having to analyze it for eternity. This, in a nutshell, is exactly why we use data visualization in content marketing. Our brain constantly accumulates information from the environment and filters what is important. Through data visualization, we aim to immediately convey the main information to the reader as fast and concise as possible. Here’s how it works. 

Improved Understanding

Data visualization makes it easier for people to understand complex data sets and ideas. It helps to clarify the relationships between data points, and to highlight patterns and trends that may not be immediately apparent from raw data.

Increased Engagement

Data visualization can help to engage your audience, making them more likely to pay attention to your message and to remember it. With interactive and visually appealing visualizations, you can grab the attention of your audience and keep them engaged.

Better Decision-Making

Data visualization can help decision-makers to make informed decisions by presenting data in a way that is easy to understand and interpret. It can help to identify key trends, patterns, and insights that are relevant to decision-making, and to present this information in a clear and concise way.

Better Communication

Data visualization can help to improve communication by making it easier to share complex data sets and ideas with others. Whether you’re communicating with stakeholders, customers, or team members, data visualization can help to simplify and clarify your message.

The role of Data Visualization in Content Marketing

Data visualization is a valuable tool for content marketers who are looking to improve their search engine rankings and attract more links to their content. Here are some ways that data visualization can help.

Increased Shareability

Data visualizations are often more visually appealing and memorable than plain text or tables. This makes them more likely to be shared on social media, increasing the visibility and reach of your content. The more shares your content gets, the more likely it is to be seen by a wider audience and to attract new links.

Better User Experience

Data visualizations can help to make your content more engaging and interactive, improving the overall user experience. This is important for search engines like Google, which prioritize user experience when ranking content. By using data visualization, you can make your content more engaging, keep your audience on your page for longer, and improve your search engine rankings.

Improved Linkability

Data visualizations can help to create a more linkable asset. For example, if you create a unique and compelling visualization that is useful and relevant to your audience, others may want to link to it from their own websites. This can help to build your authority and improve your search engine rankings over time.

Increased credibility

Data visualizations can also make your content look more trustworthy and authoritative. By presenting data in a clear and visually appealing way, you demonstrate that you have a good understanding of the topic and that you have taken the time to research and analyze the data. This can help to establish your credibility and make your content more appealing to other websites that are looking to link to authoritative sources. 

By using data visualization, you can differentiate your content from plain text articles and make it more attractive to other websites that are looking to link to credible and informative content. This can increase the chances of your content getting picked up and linked to by others, boosting your search engine rankings and visibility.

Data visualization vs. Data storytelling

Data visualization and data storytelling are two very similar terms; still, they do have some notable differences. 

Data Visualization refers to the process of creating visual representations of data to help make sense of the information. This can involve using graphs, charts, maps, or other types of visual elements to present data in a clear and concise manner. The main goal of data visualization is to help the audience understand and analyze the data.

Data Storytelling, on the other hand, goes beyond just presenting data. It involves taking data and turning it into a narrative that is engaging, memorable, and easy to understand. Data storytelling uses data visualization, but also incorporates other elements such as images, text, and multimedia to create a complete story. The main goal of data storytelling is to communicate the story behind the data in a way that is impactful and memorable.

In content marketing, you need both to make your case.

Best Practices for Data Visualization in Content Marketing

Data visualization can be a powerful tool for content marketing, but it’s important to use it effectively. Here are some best practices to follow:

Rule of thumb

If there’s something we want you to remember from this article, it’s this: Can a naive user understand what the visualization is trying to convey based only on the visualization itself? We can’t stress this enough. If you’re not able to convey the information immediately to the user and make them read additional information to understand it, you’ve lost them. 

Choose the Right Type of Visualization

This is one of the most important practices. Choose the right type of visualization to suit the data you have and the story you want to tell. For example, if you want to compare data across categories, use a bar chart. If you want to track changes over time, use a line graph.

Use a Storytelling Approach

Use data visualization to tell a story. Use it to highlight important trends, patterns, or insights, and to make complex data sets easier to understand.

Keep it Simple

Avoid overcomplicating your data visualization. Keep it simple and easy to understand. Use clear labels, and choose colors that are easy on the eye.

SEE LARGE

Use Color Effectively

Color is a powerful tool for grabbing attention and conveying information. Choose colors that are easy to distinguish, and use color to highlight important data points or trends. Always remember to use colors that match the brand. 

Let’s take as an example the Top 10 languages WordPress is most used in. Considering the dataset, this is best represented through a bar chart. 

This is a bad example on how to visualize a bar chart. There are many colors, and the user doesn’t know where to focus. Let’s fix it.

Here, we can immediately notice that English is way more popular than other languages, and that’s the information we want to convey. That’s why we used a different color to highlight it. The other languages, however, do not have different colors. Instead, they’re represented with the same one. 

Another common mistake many people make when visualizing data is using wrong colors in maps. 

The above map visualizes the top states for plastics employment, and uses different colors to highlight different states. This, more often than not, will confuse the user. There are many colors used, sometimes red means lower than green, and the reader just doesn’t know where to focus. Let’s fix this. 

Notice how the colors are ranked from colder to hotter. The darker the green, the higher the employment number.

Label Data Properly

Label your data visualization clearly and accurately. Use clear, concise labels that explain what each data point represents. You don’t want to have a dataset that tells one thing and a data visualization that tells another. 

How to choose the right data visualization?

SEE ENLARGED 

As previously mentioned, choosing the right data visualization is critical for conveying the correct information to your audience. But with tens of different visualization types, how do you choose the right one? Trust us, it’s not rocket science. The trick is to answer these four main questions.

1. What message do you want to convey with the data?
2. What is the main purpose of your data visualization?
3. Who is the audience?
4. What’s the type of dataset you’re working with?

Let’s go through each one of them.

What message do you want to convey with the data?

Do you want to show a simple statistic of which country had the highest air pollution level last year? Or do you want to convey a more complex message that shows correlation between different variables and might want to motivate your audience to take action? 

Let’s take the first example. We want to show which countries had the highest deaths due to air pollution in the world and rank them from highest to lowest. This dataset was randomly chosen from Kaggle.

This dataset is shown as a table. In one column, we have a categorical variable (Country) and in the other a quantitative variable (Deaths). The categories are sorted by number of deaths rather than alphabetically by genre. This makes it easy to glance at the table and get an idea of which countries had the highest number of deaths. 

Adding to this, the table takes up relatively little space. If the purpose of the data visualization is to communicate simple information about the number of air pollution deaths in specific countries, this table is a good choice. But what if the information is more complex?

Next, we have a table created with the same dataset but showing slightly different information. Instead of total air pollution deaths, this table presents the deaths for two different scenarios: indoor air pollution deaths and outdoor air pollution deaths. 

Comparing air pollution deaths between several countries was very straightforward. However, comparing different forms of air pollution deaths between said countries is a bit more complicated. As a result, our message isn’t communicated effectively. 

By changing the type of data visualization here, we can effectively communicate more information. The following displays the same data and the table previously used, but in the form of a grouped column chart.

Now, it’s evident that the majority of air pollution deaths are caused by indoor air pollution rather than outdoor particulate matter.

What is the main purpose of your data visualization?

When it comes to their purpose, data visualization can serve for various purposes. We can sum the up in four:

• Comparison

Example: Comparing the sales of two different drinks in the same restaurant

• Composition

Example: Showing the breakdown of a kindergartener’s favorite fairy tales

• Distribution

Example: The number of Covid-19 deaths in each state

• Relationship  

Example: Showing how higher salaries are correlated to better employee performance

Types of Data Visualization

There are several types of data visualization techniques, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. When choosing a data visualization method, consider the type of data you have, the story you want to tell, and the audience you are trying to reach. 

When it comes to their purpose, data visualization can serve for various purposes. We can sum the up in four:

• Comparison

Example: Comparing the sales of two different drinks in the same restaurant

• Composition

Example: Showing the breakdown of a kindergartener’s favorite fairy tales

• Distribution

Example: The number of Covid-19 deaths in each state

• Relationship  

Example: Showing how higher salaries are correlated to better employee performance

Comparison

Bar Chart

The bar chart is best used when comparing individual data points. When you only have 2 data

points, then you may use 2 different colors for each bar. However, when several data points are to be shown, then it is best to use a single color for all bars, and only highlight one (when needed with a different color).

So in general:

• Accent colors are ideal if you want to highlight a significant data point.
• Bars should be wider than the white space between bars.
• Write labels horizontally (not vertically) for better readability.
• When possible, order items by value to ensure consistency and readability.

Column Chart

Column charts are used to compare values across different categories or groups. The height of the columns represents the size of each category, making it easy to identify which category is the largest or smallest. Column charts are particularly useful for displaying data that changes over time or for comparing data across different categories.

Some tips for creating effective column charts include:

• Use contrasting colors to highlight important data points or trends.
• Use consistent widths for columns to maintain the visual integrity of the chart.
• Label the y-axis clearly to ensure accurate interpretation of the chart.
• Use descriptive labels for the x-axis to make the chart easy to read.
• Avoid clutter by limiting the number of data categories or groups.

Circular Area Chart

Circular area charts, also known as polar area charts or rose charts, are used to display data in a circular format. They are particularly useful for displaying data that has a cyclical or radial pattern, such as wind direction or radiation intensity. Circular area charts are similar to pie charts, but instead of using slices, they use sectors of different sizes to represent the data.

Here are some best practices for creating effective circular area charts:

• Use contrasting colors to highlight important data points or trends.
• Order the data in a logical sequence, such as clockwise from the top or in decreasing size.
• Use a legend to explain the data categories or groups.
• Ensure that the chart has a clear title and that the axes are labeled accurately.
• Avoid clutter by limiting the number of data categories or groups.

Table

Tables are an effective way to present data in a structured format, making it easy to compare different data points. Tables are particularly useful for displaying large amounts of data that can be sorted and filtered, such as financial data or demographic information.

Here are some best practices for creating effective tables:

• Use contrasting colors or shading to highlight important data points or trends.
• Ensure that the table has a clear title and that the columns and rows are labeled accurately.
• Avoid clutter by limiting the number of data categories or groups.
• Use appropriate formatting for the data, such as numerical values or percentages.
• Consider using filters or pivot tables to make the data more interactive and easier to analyze.

Line Chart

Line charts, by contrast, are primarily used to only show one data-set over time. So when you are trying to show how something has changed over time (an increase or decrease of sorts), this type of graph usually does the trick. Now, you may still use this when comparing several data sources, but usually, anything more than 3-5 lines will be overwhelming.

A couple of points here:

• Use solid lines only because dotted or dashed lines are distracting.
• Ensure that points are ordered consistently
• Label lines directly and avoid using legends.
• Don’t chart more than four lines to avoid visual distractions.
• Zero baseline is not required, but it is recommended.

Relationship

Scatter Chart

Scatter charts, also known as scatter plots, are used to display the relationship between two variables. They are particularly useful for identifying trends or patterns in data that may not be immediately apparent. Scatter charts use a series of points that are plotted along the x and y axes, with each point representing a unique data point.

Here are some best practices for creating effective scatter charts:

• Use contrasting colors or shapes to highlight important data points or trends.
• Label the x and y axes clearly to ensure accurate interpretation of the chart.
• Use descriptive labels for the data points to make the chart easy to read.
• Consider using regression lines or trend lines to highlight trends in the data.
• Avoid clutter by limiting the number of data categories or groups.

Bubble Chart

Bubble charts are a variation of the scatter chart that adds a third dimension to the data. The size of each bubble represents the value of a third variable, in addition to the x and y variables. Bubble charts are particularly useful for displaying data that has multiple dimensions or for comparing data across different categories.

Here are some best practices for creating effective bubble charts:

• Use contrasting colors or shading to highlight important data points or trends.
• Label the x and y axes clearly to ensure accurate interpretation of the chart.
• Use descriptive labels for the data points to make the chart easy to read.
• Ensure that the size of the bubbles is proportional to the value of the third variable.
• Avoid clutter by limiting the number of data categories or groups.

Composition

Pie Chart

This one is super common, and I’d expect you’ll need to use one of these very often in your work. Pie charts are used when comparing percentages of the same source. The cool thing about them is that they can easily be stylized: whether in 2d colors, or fully 3d and interactive.

Points to follow:

• Limit categories to up to 7 to ensure differentiation with the slices.
• Double-check if the total value of the slices is equal to 100 percent.
• Group similar slices together in one bigger slice to reduce clutter (rename
• accordingly).
• Make your most important slice stand out with color. Use shades of that specific color to highlight the rest of the slices.
• Order slices thoughtfully. For example, you can place the largest section at the 12 o’clock position and go clockwise from there. Or place the second largest section at the 12 o’clock position and go counterclockwise from there.

Waterfall Chart

Waterfall charts are commonly used to illustrate how an initial value is affected by a series of positive or negative values. It is particularly useful when trying to show the contribution of different factors to a total value.

Some tips to follow:

• Color code the rising and falling segments differently for better contrast and ease of understanding.
• Label each section of the chart to provide a clear explanation of the change it represents.
• Use a baseline that starts at zero for better accuracy and easy comparison.
• Ensure that the chart is easy to read by avoiding too much detail or too many segments.

Stacked Area Chart

Stacked area charts are used to show how different categories contribute to the total value of a dataset over time. They are useful when trying to show trends and patterns in data over a specific period.

Some key points to remember:

• Ensure that the chart is easy to read by using a limited number of categories.
• Color code each category for better contrast and ease of understanding.
• Ensure that the chart is easy to understand by adding clear labels and a legend.
• Ensure that the chart is easy to interpret by using consistent scales on the x and y-axes.

Stacked Column Chart

Stacked column charts are similar to stacked area charts but instead of using an area to represent the data, they use columns. They are useful when trying to show how different categories contribute to a total value.

Some tips to follow:

• Ensure that the chart is easy to read by using a limited number of categories.
• Color code each category for better contrast and ease of understanding.
• Ensure that the chart is easy to understand by adding clear labels and a legend.
• Ensure that the chart is easy to interpret by using consistent scales on the x and y-axes.

Distribution

Column Histogram

Column histograms are used to show the distribution of a continuous variable. They are particularly useful when trying to identify the most common values in a dataset.

Some key points to remember:

• Choose an appropriate number of bins to ensure that the chart is easy to read and interpret.
• Ensure that the chart is easy to understand by adding clear labels and a legend.
• Use consistent scales on the x and y-axes to make the chart easy to interpret.
• Color code the columns for better contrast and ease of understanding.

Line Histogram

Line histograms are similar to column histograms but instead of using columns, they use lines to connect the frequency of each value. They are useful when trying to show the distribution of a continuous variable.

Some tips to follow:

• Choose an appropriate number of bins to ensure that the chart is easy to read and interpret.
• Ensure that the chart is easy to understand by adding clear labels and a legend.
• Use consistent scales on the x and y-axes to make the chart easy to interpret.
• Color code the lines for better contrast and ease of understanding.

3D Area Chart

3D area charts are used to show how different categories contribute to the total value of a dataset over time, with the added dimension of depth. They are useful when trying to show trends and patterns in data over a specific period.

Some tips to follow:

• Ensure that the chart is easy to read by using a limited number of categories.
• Color code each category for better contrast and ease of understanding.
• Ensure that the chart is easy to understand by adding clear labels and a legend.
• Ensure that the chart is easy to interpret

Map

Maps are a powerful tool for visualizing data on a geographical scale. They can help to show the distribution of data across a region, and can highlight patterns and trends in data that are specific to a particular location.

Always keep in mind to:

• ​​Choose the right map type. Choose the right map type for your data and story. Different types of data may require different map types.
• Simplify the map. Simplify the map as much as possible to make it more accessible and understandable.
• Use color effectively. Choose colors that are easy to distinguish and that make sense in the context of your data.

• Show context. When possible, provide context for the map by including relevant information such as location names, political boundaries, and other relevant landmarks.
• Make it interactive. Consider making your map interactive, allowing your audience to zoom in, pan around, and explore the data in more detail.
• Consider mobile. Make sure your maps are responsive and display well on different screen sizes and devices.

Content marketing data visualization tools

There are several tools available for data visualization, ranging from simple online tools to complex data analysis platforms. Here are some of the most popular and easy-to-use tools for data visualization:

Flourish

Flourish is a web-based platform for creating interactive data visualizations and storytelling. It provides a user-friendly interface and a variety of templates and customization options for creating engaging and informative graphics. With Flourish, users can import data from a variety of sources and transform it into visually appealing and interactive visualizations, including charts, maps, and animations. Datawrapper

Datawrapper

Similar to Flourish, Datawrapper is a data visualization tool designed for creating clear and effective data-driven graphics for content marketing. It is a cloud-based platform that allows users to upload data and choose from a range of customizable chart types to create visually appealing graphics. The platform provides a user-friendly interface and a range of templates, making it accessible for users with little to no prior design experience. 

Datawrapper also offers a variety of customization options, allowing users to modify the design and appearance of their visualizations to match their brand’s style and aesthetic. In addition, Datawrapper provides a simple and secure way to embed the visualizations into websites and presentations, making it a valuable tool for content marketers looking to communicate complex data and insights to their target audience in a clear and engaging way.

HTML

While not as straightforward as Flourish and Datawrapper, HTML can be used for data visualization by creating dynamic and interactive graphics using a combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. These visualizations can be created using various libraries and frameworks, such as D3.js, Chart.js, or Highcharts. 

These libraries provide a set of pre-built functionalities that allow developers to create custom visualizations based on specific data sets, such as bar charts, line graphs, pie charts, and more. By leveraging HTML, content marketers can create dynamic and interactive visualizations that can be easily embedded into web pages, making it a valuable tool for effectively communicating complex data and insights to their target audience.

Additionally, HTML visualizations can be optimized for mobile and other devices, providing a responsive and accessible way to engage with data on the web.

Proof that it works

As an award-winning SEO agency, we understand the importance of Data Visualization in SEO and link building. Over the years, we’ve manually built thousands of high-quality links for our clients through personalized data-driven content. Here are some of our examples that have taken coverage in some of the most famous sites.

Student Loan Debt Statistics

Small Business Statistics

Vegan Statistics

E-Learning Statistics

Deforestation Statistics

Like what you’re seeing? Schedule a free consultation and let’s grow your brand!

In higher education and many other fields, staying on top of the industry news and trends is crucial to gaining a competitive advantage. You can benefit significantly from using a strong higher education marketing strategy that aids you in identifying opportunities for growth, generating leads, and retaining students. As an SEO agency for higher education, we know how important this is!

Read on to learn more about the current higher education marketing trends, how to adapt to digital transformation within the industry, and how to use cutting-edge technologies to succeed.

4 Higher Education Marketing Trends for 2023

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education can be noticed in the visible shift in marketing strategies toward digital reinforcement and virtual events. In comparison to before, the path to reaching prospective students has changed. The immense use of digital platforms has necessitated a similar approach to marketing strategies.

The key to higher education success is not only accepting these marketing trends but fully embracing them. So, read on and learn more about higher education marketing strategies you can use to stand out from the crowd in 2023.

1. Student-centered content has the potential to drive significant results in higher education marketing

Considering the rising cost of education and the heavy burden of student loans, today’s prospective students are facing new challenges in deciding what higher education they should enroll in or if they should do so. As a result, higher education marketing must shift towards a more student-centered approach to drive results. Before, higher education institutes’ marketing concentrated on “this is why we are great” messages. Now, it focuses more on “this is why we are great for you.”

There are many ways you can reach prospective students by developing your brand identity, including content marketing. Quality content naturally helps boost engagement and helps build credibility. You can reach audiences on various platforms ranging from written content to audio and image.

Firstly, a common communication channel between higher education institutions and their audiences is blogs—spaces where the school can share relevant content, introduce various topics and programs, and create a community. Blogging is a highly effective tool for content marketing associated with many benefits on top of educating and engaging students. According to a study conducted by HubSpot Marketing, on average, companies that blog have:

• 55% more visitors
• 97% more inbound links
• 434% more indexed pages

To attract even more prospective students, you can utilize guest blogging to share content on a third-party blog. This way, you can create hyperlinks that direct visitors to your site and thus improve your visibility and web traffic.

Another format you can utilize for content marketing is podcasts. The popularity of such a tool has been at an all-time high in recent years. Statistics show that in the U.S., around 41% of the population listens to podcasts every month, with 28% doing it weekly. Because podcasts are naturally conversational, often featuring guest speakers that introduce content in a more personal way, there is plenty of room to create student-centered content. 

Video content is also gaining popularity in higher education content marketing. Both long-form and short-form videos are helpful, depending on the content you are presenting. For example, in higher education, you can utilize long-form videos for personalized campus tours, explanations of the application process, financial aid explainers, tutor introductions, and much more.

Your strategy should be to create high-quality content and incorporate it within your social media posts to reach customers. Link your blogs, podcasts, videos, and more on social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more—provide your audience with a glimpse of the content they can access by visiting your site.

2. Use short-form videos to promote your higher ed institute

Short-form videos provide viewers with a timely snapshot of important events and programs within your school. You can accompany them with a clickable link, sticker, message option, hashtag, and more to increase engagement and stay connected with your audience.

A popular destination for such videos is TikTok which has quickly grown in popularity, with over  80 million monthly active users in the United States. An interesting statistic to keep in mind is that 60% of TikTok users are Gen Zers—a prime demographic for higher education institutions. Therefore, TikTok is an excellent platform for your university or college to connect and engage with Gen Zers as prospective students in an entertaining and relatable way.

Though you can create videos that provide students with scholarly content that gives them an idea of what your university can provide academically, it is best to mix such videos with non-academic ones. Videos focused on student experience, athletics, your university’s student services, the campus, and much more are where the real engagement opportunities lie. We advise you to involve your student body in order to present the most authentic representation of what life would be like for students at your university.

3. Consider shifting your PR strategies online in order to improve your higher education marketing efforts

You can also improve your higher education marketing by shifting your PR strategies online and collaborating with other professionals. Consider shifting your focus from school-produced content to student-focused and student-made content in order to better connect with your target audience. Furthermore, place ads on content websites typically frequented by prospective students and increase the chances of them interacting with your site.

Another element you should add to your marketing efforts is establishing ties with professionals that can help you create content as well as have an established presence on social media platforms with a dedicated following, such as:

• Editors
• Professors
• Reporters
• Student ambassadors 

Leverage such tactics by embracing these influencers with the ability to reach your prospective students more effectively through their content.

4. The importance of local SEO for higher education marketing is expected to increase in the future

It is no surprise that SEO has considerable control over today’s marketing strategies, and rightfully so. It is the marketing channel that helps your site rank higher on a search engine results page (SERP) and consequently receive more traffic. However, a more recent marketing trend you should consider using is local SEO to optimize local searches. According to statistics, about 46% of all searches have local intent. Therefore, implementing basic local SEO strategies will help your site’s ranking in the local market, reaching many prospective students for recruitment. 

You should work with SEO experts and devise a strong content strategy that focuses on producing content answering questions from searches near your area and containing relevant keywords so as to improve local visibility. All improvements made in your online presence within your region will help recruit local students.

Conclusion

It is clear that one must always stay updated with higher education marketing trends as the field is constantly evolving. To stay ahead of the curve, keep generating leads, attract students and retain them, you should keep up with the trends and implement the necessary practices in your strategy. Recently, for example, higher education marketing trends include the increased importance of digital marketing, especially through student-centered content, short-form videos on popular platforms, and local search engine optimization. 

A well-chosen digital marketing strategy is crucial to expanding your institute’s student base. Our digital agency can help you stay on top of the current trends and be one step ahead of all that is to come. We’ll devise and implement a successful digital marketing strategy that encompasses all the above trends and much more. So, schedule a free consultation, and let us help you grow your education institution!

Another big win for the Manaferra team! This time we got to bring home the Best Use of Search – Third Sector/ Not-for-Profit at U.S. Search Awards event. This award comes as a result of the hard work and commitment the team put on for the Pacific College campaign in growing enrollments through search. We couldn’t be more ecstatic about completing our We Are Search Awards Trifecta after previously grabbing wins in European and Global Search Awards events.

While the initial plan was to fly to the U.S. and attend the event in person to ‘literally’ bring the award home, we couldn’t make this possible. So, a change of plans had to occur. We were looking for alternatives to be there with other nominees, at least virtually. Still, this didn’t make it less nerve-racking and exciting. 

Because of the differences in the time zone, we couldn’t watch the ceremony in real-time, but we did get together as a team and celebrated seeing our work being chosen amongst other nominees. We got one award, but it’s worth mentioning we were shortlisted in total four categories: 

• Best Use of Search – Third Sector / Not For Profit
• Best SEO Campaign
• Best Use of Content Marketing
• Best Small SEO Agency

Getting recognized all over the world for the strategies and campaigns we come up with is an enormous success. The judges remarked, “This was a well-rounded campaign pulling all the SEO levers to achieve its objectives. We admired how they accomplished their goal of showcasing how a good SEO campaign can yield even greater growth than PPC. It was also very well targeted to its prospective audience. Excellent job!” Receiving this kind of feedback will be our ultimate goal as an Higher Education SEO agency. I am super proud of the work delivered and the team behind it.

Faton Sopa, Co-Founder & CEO

Manaferra

It is quite an achievement for us to be one of the agencies from Kosovo making a breakthrough in American land and being held in high esteem in the SEO field. We are proud to be recognized as one of the best in the industry and will continue to provide the highest quality services for our clients.

Going back to the event itself, U.S. Search Awards are part of an annual international awards series. The event aims to reward American agencies that significantly contribute to the Search industry. Here is the whole list of this year’s winners. 

Congratulations to all those who made it, and a big thank you to the U.S. Search Awards. 

May 26th found the Manaferra team in the heart of Barcelona attending the event held by European Search Awards. It is with great pleasure that we announce that on that night, Manaferra took home not one but two reputable awards, Best Use of Search for the SEO campaign on higher education and Best Small SEO Agency (Silver). 

While this isn’t the first time Manaferra’s work has been awarded and held in high regard by industry experts, it certainly isn’t any less important. The awards Manaferra brought home, in Prishtina, will serve as a token of recognition and appreciation for the constant hard work delivered by all of Manaferra’s team members. The award has confirmed once again what we have been claiming all along that we bring results; we deliver work that speaks for itself. While we aim to be a humble agency, there are moments like this that make us not so humble. Jokes aside, we feel incredibly lucky (even though luck has little to do with it) to have brought home awards like these.

As for the event itself, the European Search Awards is a yearly event, part of the awards series “The Search Awards”. It welcomes entries from all European countries with the intent of celebrating agencies and companies in the field of SEO, PPC, and Content Marketing. Individuals chosen to be part of the judging panel are highly qualified experts from all over Europe. The Search Awards are pretty competitive, and even getting nominated is a big deal, let alone becoming a winner. 

It has definitely been an otherworldly feeling to be part of the event itself in Barcelona and then also have the chance to get on the stage in front of some of the greatest in the industry and accept the award. All I could think at that moment was how appreciated I felt by the judges who chose us and our work to get awarded among other agencies nominated and how we should keep doing what we do best. Evidently, when you love what you do and give your all, you will get rewarded.

Diana Bajraktari, Content Marketing Manager

Manaferra

Not to forget that the other part of the team was back home watching the event online. As proud as I felt about myself there, I felt as proud of the team I work with. 

I can’t find the words to describe the moment we heard our name being called through the screen. What I can remember is the boost of motivation to keep pushing our goals and objectives further and keep delivering work that will win awards like this one and the one we got last year. Our commitment to delivering growth and investing in our team are paid off through results and awards like this. I’m proud of the team we have built at Manaferra.

Granit Doshlaku, Co-Founder, SEO Director

Manaferra

A big congratulations to the agencies that won European Search Awards! You can have a feel of that beautiful evening by going through this photo gallery. Also, have a look at the list of the winners for this year and those that were shortlisted. 

Thank you to the team, clients, and Search Awards for the euphoric feelings. 

SEO content often gets a bad rep for being keyword-stuffed and written for search engines only. Well, we’re here to show you there’s much more to it than keywords. Read on to find out in detail what SEO-friendly content really is, what us SEO content writers are really after, and how to write good SEO content step by step.

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The topic cluster model is a content organizing model created and made popular by Hubspot. The content on their website inspired this model. Seeing that they were continually creating content, their website was starting to get crowded. Google was also beginning to favor topic-based content as opposed to keywords.

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Creating a content marketing plan timeline is one of those things you procrastinate on doing, and when you finally do, you see it wasn’t as complicated as you thought it’d be.

You can spend hours browsing the internet or reviewing your existing content just to find an idea of what to write, OR you can have it planned already neatly in your content calendar. What’s left is only to start writing.

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It comes a day when you start making changes to your website. These changes can be from a simple change in design to completely change the CMS that powers the site. Or maybe you are moving your site from an old domain to a new one. In this case, you want to make sure that the links you have worked hard to rank in Google don’t just disappear. You want to redirect them to the new ones. How? By using 301 redirect, of course!

There are three types of redirects. We want to make sure to use the right one, 301 redirect, which tells Google that this link has moved permanently. The other two types are 302 (found or moved temporarily) and Meta Refresh. More about redirection you can read at this awesome guide by Moz.

In this article, I’m going to write about two ways to mass 301 redirect links by using .htaccess and WordPress (because it’s too damn popular to ignore it).

Mass 301 redirect using .htaccess

Mass redirection in .htaccess it’s pretty easy, actually. All you need to do is open your .htaccess file in the root of your site and add these lines of code:

Redirect 301 /old-page.html http://www.example.com/new-page.html
Redirect 301 /old-page-2.html http://www.example.com/file/

You can also 301 redirect an entire site with just one line of code:

Redirect 301 / http://www.new-site.com/

Mass 301 redirect using WordPress plugin

WordPress 301 Redirects is this awesome plugin that I use whenever I need to redirect links from my WordPress sites. After installing the plugin, all you have to do is start adding links you want to redirect from your site.

/2012/09/old-post/ http://www.example.com/2012/09/new-post/

Conclusion

Whenever you change something in your link structure, it’s imperative to be careful of what will happen with the old links. You don’t want to see all SEO traffic going to 404 error pages (which eventually will follow with a drop in rankings). It’s also a bad experience for the visitors. So whenever you make these changes, you have to be sure that the old links are pointing to the new ones.