How to Spot Content Marketing in Search Results | WIRED
▻https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-spot-content-marketing-search
Google results are less useful than ever. It’s my fault.
OK, not entirely. Until recently I was employed, full-time, by a software company where I wrote articles designed to rank highly in Google results, where they’d get millions of clicks.
More and more of your search results are like this. It’s called content marketing, and it’s somewhere between the editorial content you read on sites like this one and straight-up advertising. At its best, content marketing blends a certain amount of useful information with something that serves specific marketing aims. At its worst, content marketing is a way for marketers to get blatant sales pitches to rank highly in search results while also ruining your day.
You probably interact with search-based content marketing all the time, whether you realize it or not. Here’s how to identify it and think critically about it.
Pay Attention to the Website You’re On
This might sound simple, but the easiest way to identify content marketing in search results is to notice what website you’re looking at—or, if you’re on a social network, whose account you’re looking at.
Content marketing, generally, lives on the website of the product that’s being sold. So if you Googled “the best lawn mowers” check to see whether you’re on the website or social media handle of a company that sells lawn mowers, or a lawn care service, or any closely related industry. It’s easy, while searching for a specific piece of information, to skim past the header of whatever website you’re looking at and just scroll to the actual article. You need to be mindful.
Here are a few quick tips for spotting, and potentially avoiding, content marketing:
Notice the name of the website you’re reading. Most of us have a few websites we trust. Try to click those links before clicking anything else. Failing that, notice what website you’re looking at when you click.
Pay attention to the website’s top bar. Blogs and media outlets generally don’t have links to a Pricing or Features page. If you see those things above an article, you’re probably looking at content marketing.
If an article recommends a product, check whether you’re on that product’s website. This sounds obvious, but it isn’t. I can’t tell you how many times I, while working in product marketing, failed to do this—to think I’m reading a neutral review of a product only to realize I’m on their website.
Check out the homepage of the site you’re on. Is this an editorial outlet or blog dedicated to providing information? Or is it a company that’s trying to sell you something? Either way, it’s good to know what you’re looking at. If you can’t tell, do a web search for the name of the website you’re looking at.
Again, this all sounds simple because it is. But on the modern internet, where we all click search results and Twitter links without thinking, it’s surprisingly easy to read a post on a company’s website without realizing that’s what you’re doing.
#Evaluation_information #Publicité #Marketing #Content_marketing