David H Boggs, MS Search Marketing https://www.davidhboggs.com/blog David H Boggs, MS provides expert search marketing, SEO and Google Ads services to Maine businesses. en-us How to use structured data markup to enhance appearance in Google search results https://www.davidhboggs.com/blog/conversion-rate-optimization/how-to-use-structured-data-markup-to-enhance-appearance-in-google-search-results-2372-thread.html Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://www.davidhboggs.com/blog/conversion-rate-optimization/how-to-use-structured-data-markup-to-enhance-appearance-in-google-search-results-2372-thread.html Correctly using structured data markup in your articles and blog posts can make your content stand out in Google Search results by including it in enhanced displays like top-stories carousels and rich results with headline text and large images, like this:

Google encourages us to use structured data to help it understand what our pages are about, by providing clues in a structured format that it can easily interpret.

Structured data is coded using in-page JavaScript markup that describes the content of the page.

Google provides the following suggestions/warnings for using structured data markup for SEO purposes:

  • Although most structured data for search uses schema.org vocabulary, follow the documentation on developers.google.com as definitive for Google Search behavior, rather than the schema.org documentation.
  • Always test your structured data markup using the Structured Data Testing tool before it goes live.
  • For your content to be eligible for enhanced display on Google, you must include all the required properties for an object.
  • Defining more recommended features can make it more likely that your information can appear in Search results with enhanced display, but it's better to supply fewer but complete and accurate properties vs. more properties that are less complete or accurate.

Although a number of different structured-data markup systems exist, and Google recognizes several of them, the simplest and most-used is JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) - say "Jason LD" - which uses arrays of attribute-value pairs (like "@type NewsArticle").

Google recognizes a number of applications for structured data - AMP and non-AMP pages, articles, videos, recipes, etc. For simplicity, in the following example I'm going to demonstrate the easiest case: how to do structured-data markup for a non-AMP article or blog post.

To begin, I created a simple webpage containing an article, here: https://www.davidhboggs.com/demos/article.htm which looks like this:

Then using the example here https://search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool I created the following JSON-LD script and pasted it into the <HEAD> of article.htm:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "http://schema.org",
"@type": "NewsArticle",
"mainEntityOfPage": {
"@type": "WebPage",
"@id": "https://www.davidhboggs.com/article.htm"
},
"headline": "Transformation of Search Summit scheduled for 19 October 2018 in NYC",
"image": [
"https://www.davidhboggs.com/images/david_round_150.jpg",
"https://www.davidhboggs.com/images/newsletter.png",
"https://www.davidhboggs.com/images/transformation-of-search.png"
],
"datePublished": "2018-08-08T12:51:51+00:00",
"dateModified": "2018-08-08T12:51:51+00:00",
"author": {
"@type": "Person",
"name": "David Boggs"
},
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "ACRO Global",
"logo": {
"@type": "ImageObject",
"url": "https://www.acroglobal.com/images/header2017_300.png"
}
},
"description": "Conference organized by ClickZ with Search Engine Watch and Catalyst will be addressing latest trends in search: platforms and technologies, organic and paid."
}
</script>

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's where all that came from, line by line:

"http://schema.org" is used in every script.

The various @types for non-AMP pages are here: developers.google.com/sear...data-types/article#non-amp

"NewsArticle" and "WebPage" were obvious fits for my content.

"@id" is the URL of the page: https://www.davidhboggs.com/article.htm

"headline" comes from the <h1> tag of the page.

Then come the "image" URLs, one for each image on the page: head shot, Newsletter icon, conference icon. Include all your important images.

Next are "datePublished" and 'dateModified" in iso 8601 format, which you can get here: http://www.timestampgenerator.com/

Then come "author" data, with @type=person, name=David Boggs

Followed by "publisher" data: @type=Organization, name=ACRO Global

Then "logo" with the data pair @type: "Image Object" and the URL of the ACRO Global logo

Finally "description" from the <META description> tag of the page

Saved the page, uploaded it to DavidHBoggs.com and ran the Google Structured Data Testing Tool on the page URL from here: https://search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool

which produced this result:

No errors, no warnings. Great!

But had I messed up, Google would have given me a (more or less) helpful error message.

If this were a "serious" page - not an example - I'd next add it to my XML sitemap, upload that ad run it by Google Search Console for re-indexing.

And go here for more on Maine search engine optimization.

]]> How to use Google Ads Keyword Planner to find the best keywords for SEO https://www.davidhboggs.com/blog/conversion-rate-optimization/how-to-use-google-ads-keyword-planner-to-find-the-best-keywords-for-seo-2389-thread.html Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://www.davidhboggs.com/blog/conversion-rate-optimization/how-to-use-google-ads-keyword-planner-to-find-the-best-keywords-for-seo-2389-thread.html Google wants you to use its free Keyword Planner tool to create Google Ads campaigns, in order to collect click charges from you. And it works fine for that. But you can also use it to identify the keywords that Google's vast store of search data show to be the most valuable for use in attracting searches for what you're selling - via Google organic search as well as in a Google Ads campaign.

What's the catch? To get full use of the Keyword Planner, you must have a Google account, and have set up at least one Google Ads campaign. That's a fair trade.

To begin, log in to your Google account and go to Google Ads, where you should see a page header similar to this:

Click on the Tools icon to get the list of tools:

Then click on Keyword Planner, which will send you here:

Click on Find Keywords, and in the screen that opens, enter 5 "seed keywords" - the most basic terms that describe your product. In the example, I'm assuming our product is a Cape Cod bed and breakfast, and the 5 seed keywords I've picked are cape cod, bed and breakfast, lodging, vacation and beach. To proceed from there, click Get Started.

That should send you to a screen like the one below:

If the keyword column is too narrow - cuts off parts of the keywords - just grab the column divider and pull it farther open:

Take a moment to take in an overview of all the information that's provided in that screen, such as:

  • Starting from our 5 seed keywords, Keyword Planner has generated 2360 suggested keywords, based on actual Google searches.
  • Total numbers of searches, and numbers of searches done on mobile devices, by month for the past 12 months.
  • For each of these 2360 keywords:
    • The average number of monthly searches
    • Trend line of search numbers by month
    • Level of competition
    • High and low Google Ads bid needed for top position over the past 12 months

Now some thinking on our part is required. Because some of these suggested keywords are much too broad - optimizing a page for "beach" or "lodging" will get us nowhere - and others (not shown in the screencap) like "bed and breakfast UK" are irrelevant. We need to pick and choose.

The 2360 keywords are presented in groups of 500. We need to go down the list of 1 to 500 and click the checkboxes beside the most relevant-looking ones, like this:

At the left end of the header, Google will keep count of the keywords we've selected.

Important: When you get to the end of the first group of 500 keywords, before going on to the next 500, click the Add to Plan link (as in screencap below) in the header. If you don't, the system will "forget" your picks from the first 500 and reset to 0 selected.

When you've clicked Add to plan, you should see the In Plan indicator at lower right, like this:

Click the right-arrow to move to the next group of 500 keywords.

Repeat for each group of 500 keywords.

When that process has been completed successfully, Google will create a Plan and save it as a draft. You may have to back-arrow to get to a screen that displays this:

Click RESUME PLAN to open the Plan Overview screen:

As you can see, Google has figured out that using Google Ads we can get 4600 incremental site visits for "only" $6400. And it tells us that most clicks will come from mobile devices, and 97% from within Massachusetts - all equally useful information for purposes of SEO for organic search.

Click the DOWNLOAD PLAN link at top right, and Google will create a spreadsheet in CSV format that we can download and open in Excel. As created by Google, the interesting parts of this CSV file will look like this:

The Keyword column contains my picks from the 2360 that Google generated. Beside each are Google's estimates of monthly clicks, impressions, click charges, clickthrough rate and cost per click for each keyword when used in a Google Ads campaign with the aforementioned $6400 click budget.

But for organic SEO purposes, what we most want to know is: what keywords do we most need to weave into our pages to interest the most prospects? Those with the highest estimated cost per click, of course, because those CPC data come from real-life Google Ads data and reflect the level of competition among suppliers. So, with a bit of Excel manipulation, we can get this rank-ordered list of keywords, starting with the most valuable:

Thanks for your free help, Google!

Go here for more in depth about keyword research for Google Ads and SEO.

And go here for more on Maine search engine optimization.

]]> UXPA 2025 Call for Proposals closes Friday UXPA Amsterdam 16-19 June 2025 https://www.davidhboggs.com/blog/conversion-rate-optimization/uxpa-call-for-proposals-closes-friday-3935-thread.html Mon, 07 Oct 2024 14:38:37 GMT https://www.davidhboggs.com/blog/conversion-rate-optimization/uxpa-call-for-proposals-closes-friday-3935-thread.html

UXPA 2025 Call for Proposals closes Friday

The User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA) has extended its deadline for 2025 international conference speaker proposals to 11:59 PM Pacific Time Friday this week 11 October 2024.

UXPA International Conference 2025 will be held in Amsterdam 16-19 June 2025.

UXPA seeks proposals for various conference tracks, disciplines, types of talks and audience levels:

Tracks:

  1. Career Development
  2. Emerging Technologies
  3. Tools & Techniques
  4. UX Strategy
  5. UX Leadership
  6. DEIA

Disciplines (optional):

  • UX Design
  • Visual Design
  • UX Research
  • Content Strategy
  • Content Writing
  • Design Ops

Type of talk:

  • 60-minute talk
  • 60-minute panel
  • 3-hour course with honorarium of 500-1000 euros
  • "Poster" - make a poster about what you did, and explain it to people

Audience level

  • Entry level
  • Mid level
  • Senior level

What happens after you submit a proposal:

  • 5 anonymous people will review it and comment on it.
  • Chairpersons will review proposals and comments.
  • Top proposals will be shortlisted.
  • Full conference committee will select proposals for final program.
  • Note that for every proposal you submit, you must review 3 proposals of others.
  • One individual per accepted proposal will get a 300 euro discount on conference registration.

App which you must use to submit proposals is here:

https://coms.app/uxpa2025

Help with questions is here:

https://forms.gle/dC8YNNGHhkNfAgYk8

or here:

chair2025@uxpa.org

Comment: Should be a wonderful conference. Too bad so far away.

]]> Google to begin including photos in Local Service Ads Google says photos will improve ad rank https://www.davidhboggs.com/blog/conversion-rate-optimization/google-to-begin-including-photos-in-local-service-ads-3908-thread.html Tue, 20 Aug 2024 16:56:18 GMT https://www.davidhboggs.com/blog/conversion-rate-optimization/google-to-begin-including-photos-in-local-service-ads-3908-thread.html

Google to begin including photos in Local Service Ads

According to Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin, Google will now begin selecting photos from advertisers LSA profiles to show in their ads.

In March, Google began asking LSA advertisers for photos in an email that included the screencap, above.

For the first time, Google has said that photos in LSA ads can help improve ad ranking; also that Google will select photos "based on their likelihood to increase engagement with your ad." But ads may not also include photos, "depending on the user query and other factors."

Google recommends uploading at least 3 images.

Google's LSA photo guidelines include:

  • high-quality images
  • images showing you performing work
  • images relevant to your business
  • original images
  • no phone numbers or other identifying information
  • images showing customers (for some types of businesses)
  • formats: JPEG, PNG, BMP, ICO, WEBP
  • resolution 640px x 640px or better
  • max filesize 10 MB

Initially, LSA ads will include photos in the USA and Canada only.

And Google will not be sharing any analytics data - clicks, impressions, etc. - at this time.

]]> Longer mobile video ads convert better 31-60 second ads convert up to 50% better than shorter videos https://www.davidhboggs.com/blog/conversion-rate-optimization/longer-mobile-video-ads-convert-better-3696-thread.html Sat, 25 Feb 2023 20:12:56 GMT https://www.davidhboggs.com/blog/conversion-rate-optimization/longer-mobile-video-ads-convert-better-3696-thread.html

Longer mobile video ads convert better

Redwood, CA-based mobile advertising specialists Liftoff have released a report showing that based on data from their customers (mainly mobile app creators) video ads 31-60 seconds long are converting at "up to" 50% higher rates than do shorter video ads.

They theorize that this is happening because longer ads are better able to showcase the features of apps, and better permit ads to tell stories.

Their recommendations for video advertisers are:

  • To save time and money, rather than starting from scratch, stitch together some existing shorter videos.
  • Develop a well-rounded story with a compelling hook and a satisfying conclusion.
  • Use longer ads to show off the features of your app and reach a broader audience.

Comments: Some mobile video ad facts

  • Among ad formats, video ads most engage the user.
  • 75% of video ads are consumed on mobile devices.
  • 98% of persons aged 18-34 watch videos on smartphones daily.
  • More than 60% of digital video campaigns were run on mobile devices in 2022.
  • Smartphone owners use their devices an average of 170 minutes daily.
  • Mobile video ads lend themselves to both behavioral and contextual targeting.
  • Mobile video campaigns can be developed and deployed at lower cost than traditional ad forms.
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