{"id":142744,"date":"2021-01-11T17:56:54","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T17:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/?p=142744"},"modified":"2021-01-11T17:59:05","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T17:59:05","slug":"how-to-use-xpath-expressions-to-enhance-your-seo-and-content-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2021\/01\/11\/how-to-use-xpath-expressions-to-enhance-your-seo-and-content-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"How to use XPath expressions to enhance your SEO and content strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"well\">\n<h3>30-second summary:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>As Google increasingly favors sites with content that exudes expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T), it is imperative that SEOs and marketers produce content that is not just well written, but that also demonstrates expertise.<\/li>\n<li>How do you understand what topics and concerns matter most to your customer base?<\/li>\n<li>Can you use Q&amp;As to inform content strategies?<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0XPath notations can be your treasure trove.<\/li>\n<li>Catalyst\u2019s Organic Search Manager, Brad McCourt shares a detailed guide on using XPath notations and your favorite crawler to quickly obtain the Q&amp;As in a straightforward and digestible format.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Google increasingly favors sites with content that exudes expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T), it is imperative that SEOs and marketers produce content that is not just well written, but that also demonstrates expertise. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One way to demonstrate expertise on a subject or product is to answer common customer questions directly in your content.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, how do you identify what those questions are? How do you understand what topics and concerns matter most?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The good news is that they are hiding in plain sight. Chances are, your consumers have been shouting at the top of their keyboards in the Q&amp;A sections of sites like Amazon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142745\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-1_customer-Q-and-A-screenshot.png\" alt=\"XPath and how to find customer questions and preferences\" width=\"617\" height=\"515\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-1_customer-Q-and-A-screenshot.png 617w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-1_customer-Q-and-A-screenshot-300x250.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 617px) 100vw, 617px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These sections are a treasure trove of (mostly) serious questions that real customers have about the products you are selling.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How do you use these Q&amp;As to inform content strategies? XPath notation is your answer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can use XPath notations and your favorite crawler to quickly obtain the Q&amp;As in a straightforward and digestible format. XPath spares you from clicking through endless screens of questions by automating the collection of important insights for your content strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>What is XPath?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">XML Path (XPath) is a query language developed by<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3schools.com\/xml\/xml_xpath.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">W3<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to navigate XML documents and select specified nodes of data.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The notation XPath uses is called \u201cexpressions\u201d. Using these expressions, you can effectively pull any data that you need from a website as long as there is a consistent structure between webpages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means you can use this language to pull any publicly available data in the source code, including questions from a selection of Amazon Q&amp;A pages.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This article is not meant to be a comprehensive tutorial on XPath. For that, there are<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.w3schools.com\/xml\/xpath_intro.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">plenty of resources from W3<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. However, XPath is easy enough to learn with only knowing the structure of XML and HTML documents. This is what makes it such a powerful tool for SEOs regardless of coding prowess.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s walk through an example to show you how\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Using XPath to pull customer questions from Amazon<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>Pre-req: Pick your web crawler<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While most of the big names in web crawling \u2013 Botify, DeepCrawl, OnCrawl \u2013 all offer the ability to extract data from the source code, I will be using ScreamingFrog in the example below.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ScreamingFrog is by far the most cost-effective option, allowing you to crawl up to 500 URLs without buying a license. For larger projects you can buy a license. This will allow you to crawl as many URLs as your RAM can handle.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Step one: Collect the URLs to crawl<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For our example, let\u2019s pretend we\u2019re doing research on the topics we should include in our product pages and listings for microspikes. For those unaware, microspikes are an accessory for your boots or shoes. They give you extra grip in wintry conditions, so they are particularly popular among cold-weather hikers and runners.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142746\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-2_microspikes-example-image.png\" alt=\"Example for finding details using Amazon\" width=\"595\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-2_microspikes-example-image.png 595w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-2_microspikes-example-image-300x288.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 595px) 100vw, 595px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Source: https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/s?k=microspikes<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here we have a list of 13 questions and answer pages for the top microspike pages on Amazon.com. Unfortunately, there is some manual work required to create the list.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142747\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-3_amazon-URLs-about-microspikes-image.png\" alt=\"List of questions - XPath and creating content\" width=\"553\" height=\"284\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-3_amazon-URLs-about-microspikes-image.png 553w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-3_amazon-URLs-about-microspikes-image-300x154.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 553px) 100vw, 553px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The easiest way is to search for the topic (that is, microspikes) and pull links to the top products listed. If you have the product\u2019s ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) handy, you can also generate the URLs using the above format, but switching out the ASIN.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Step two: Determine the XPath<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From here, we need to determine the XPath.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In order to figure out the proper XPath notation to use to pull in the desired text, we have two main options:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 View the Source-Code<\/span><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142748\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-4_Source-code-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Determine the XPath\" width=\"728\" height=\"188\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-4_Source-code-scaled.jpg 728w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-4_Source-code-300x77.jpg 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-4_Source-code-768x198.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px\" \/><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 View the rendered source code and copy the XPath directly from Chrome\u2019s Inspect Element tool<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142749\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-5_rendered-source-code.jpg\" alt=\"Copy XPath\" width=\"516\" height=\"458\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-5_rendered-source-code.jpg 516w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-5_rendered-source-code-300x266.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 516px) 100vw, 516px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You\u2019ll find that the expression needed to locate all questions in an Amazon Q&amp;A page is:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/\/span[@class=&#8221;a-declarative&#8221;]<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here is XPath notation broken down:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span><b>\/\/<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is used to locate all instances of the following expression.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Span<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the specific tag we\u2019re trying to locate. \/\/span will locate every single &lt;span&gt; tag in the source code. There are over 300 of these, so we\u2019ll need to be more specific.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>@class<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> specifies that \/\/span[@class] will ensure all &lt;span&gt; tags with an assigned class attribute will be located.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>@class=\u201da-declarative\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> dictates that \/\/span[@class=&#8221;a-declarative&#8221;] only locates &lt;span&gt; tags where the class attribute is set to \u201ca-declarative\u201d &#8211; that is, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&lt;span class=\u201da-declarative\u201d&gt;<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is an extra step in order to return the inner text of the specified tag that is located, but ScreamingFrog does the heavy lifting for us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s important to note that this will only work for Amazon Question and Answer pages. If you wanted to pull questions from, say, Quora, TripAdvisor, or any other site, the expression would have to be adjusted to locate the specific entity you desire to collect on a crawl.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Step three: Configure your crawler<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you have this all set, you can then go into ScreamingFrog.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Configuration -&gt; Custom -&gt; Extraction<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142750\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-6_screaming-frog_config_custom_extraction.png\" alt=\"Configure your crawler\" width=\"674\" height=\"443\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-6_screaming-frog_config_custom_extraction.png 674w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-6_screaming-frog_config_custom_extraction-300x197.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 674px) 100vw, 674px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This will then take you to the Custom Extraction screen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142751\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-7_screaming-frog_custim-extraction-screen.png\" alt=\"Custom extraction screen\" width=\"965\" height=\"304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-7_screaming-frog_custim-extraction-screen.png 965w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-7_screaming-frog_custim-extraction-screen-300x95.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-7_screaming-frog_custim-extraction-screen-768x242.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 965px) 100vw, 965px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is where you can:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Give the extraction a name to make it easier to find after the crawl, especially if you\u2019re extracting more than one entity. ScreamingFrog allows you to extract multiple entities during a single crawl.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> You can then choose the extraction method. In this article, it is all about XPath, but you also have the option of extracting data via CSSPath and REGEX notation as well.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Place the desired XPath expression in the \u201cEnter XPath\u201d field. ScreamingFrog will even check your syntax for you, providing a green checkmark if everything checks out.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> You then have the option to select what you want extracted, be it the full HTML element or the HTML found within the located tag. For our example, we want to extract the text in between any &lt;span&gt; tags with a class attribute set to \u201ca-declarative\u201d so we select \u201cextract text.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We can then click OK.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Step four: Crawl the desired URLs<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now it\u2019s time to crawl our list of Amazon Q&amp;A pages for microspikes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First, we\u2019ll need to switch the Mode in ScreamingFrog from \u201cSpider\u201d to \u201cList.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then, we can either add our set of URLs manually or upload them from an Excel or other supported format.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142752\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-8_screaming-frog_URL-list.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"596\" height=\"469\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-8_screaming-frog_URL-list.png 596w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-8_screaming-frog_URL-list-300x236.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 596px) 100vw, 596px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After we confirm the list, ScreamingFrog will crawl each URL we provided, extracting the text between all &lt;span&gt; tags containing the class attribute set to \u201ca-declarative.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In order to see the data collected, you just need to select \u201cCustom Extraction\u201d in ScreamingFrog.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-142753\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-9_screaming-frog_data-collected-on-custom-extraction-screen-1024x497.jpg\" alt=\"Run the desired URLs\" width=\"640\" height=\"311\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-9_screaming-frog_data-collected-on-custom-extraction-screen-1024x497.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-9_screaming-frog_data-collected-on-custom-extraction-screen-300x146.jpg 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-9_screaming-frog_data-collected-on-custom-extraction-screen-768x373.jpg 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-9_screaming-frog_data-collected-on-custom-extraction-screen-scaled.jpg 728w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At first glance, the output might not look that exciting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-142754\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-10_URL-list-before-final-results-1024x224.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"140\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-10_URL-list-before-final-results-1024x224.png 1024w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-10_URL-list-before-final-results-300x66.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-10_URL-list-before-final-results-768x168.png 768w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-10_URL-list-before-final-results.png 1074w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, this is only because a lot of unneeded space is included with the data, so you might see some columns that appear blank if they are not expanded to fully display the contents.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you copy and paste the data into Excel or your spreadsheet program of choice, you can finally see the data that has been extracted. After some clean-up, you get the final result:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-142755\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-11_URL-list_final-results.png\" alt=\"Final list of questions created using XPath\" width=\"938\" height=\"437\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-11_URL-list_final-results.png 938w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-11_URL-list_final-results-300x140.png 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Image-11_URL-list_final-results-768x358.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 938px) 100vw, 938px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The result is 118 questions that real customers have asked about microspikes in an easily accessible format. With this data at your fingertips, you\u2019re now ready to incorporate this research into your content strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Content strategies<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before diving into content strategies, a quick word to the wise: you can\u2019t just crawl, scrape and publish content from another site, even if it is publicly accessible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First, that would be plagiarism and expect to be hit with an<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmca.com\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DMCA notice<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Second, you\u2019re not fooling Google. Google knows the original source of the content, and it is extremely unlikely your content is going to rank well \u2013 defeating the purpose of this entire strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead, this data can be used to inform your strategy and help you produce high quality, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">unique<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> content that users are searching for.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, how do you get started with your analysis?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I recommend first categorizing the questions. For our example there were many questions about:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Sizing: What size microspikes are needed for specific shoe\/boot sizes?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Proper Use \u2013 Whether or not microspikes could be used in stores, on slippery roofs, while fishing, mowing lawns, or for walking on plaster?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Features: Are they adjustable, type of material, do they come with a carrying case?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Concerns: Are they comfortable, do they damage your footwear, do they damage the type of flooring\/ground you\u2019re on, durability?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is an amazing insight into the potential concerns customers might have before purchasing microspikes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From here, you can use this information to:<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>1. Enhance existing content on your product and category pages<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Incorporate the topics into the product or category descriptions, answering questions shoppers might have pre-emptively.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For our example, we might want to make it abundantly clear how sizing works \u2013 including a sizing chart and specifically mentioning types of footwear the product may or may not be compatible with.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>2. Build out a short on-page FAQ section featuring original content, answering commonly asked questions<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make sure to implement<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.google.com\/search\/docs\/data-types\/faqpage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FAQPage Schema.org markup<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for a better chance to appear for listings like People Also Ask sections, which are increasingly taking up real estate in the search results.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For our example, we can answer commonly asked questions about comfort, damage to footwear, durability, and adjustability. We could also address if the product comes with a carrying case and how to best store the product for travel.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>3. Produce a product guide, incorporating answers to popular questions surrounding a product or category<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another strategy is to produce an extensive one-stop product guide showcasing specific use cases, sizing, limitations, and features. For our example, we could create specific content for each use case like hiking, running in icy conditions, and more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even better, incorporate videos, images, charts, and featured products with a clear path to purchase.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using this approach your end product will be content that shows expertise, the authority on a subject, and most importantly, addresses customer concerns and questions before they even think to ask. This will help prevent your customers from having to do additional research or contact customer service. Thanks to your informative and helpful content, they will be more ready to make a purchase.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Furthermore, this approach also has the potential to lower product return rates. Informed customers are less likely to purchase the wrong product based upon assumed or incomplete knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amazon is just the tip of the iceberg here. You can realistically apply this strategy to any site that has publicly accessible data to extract, be that questions from Quora about a product category, Trip Advisor reviews about hotels, music venues, and attractions, or even discussions on Reddit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The more informed you are about what your customers are expecting when visiting your site, the better you can serve those expectations, motivate purchases, decrease bounces, and improve organic search performance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Brad McCourt is an Organic Search Manager at Catalyst\u2019s Boston office.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do you streamline research to produce content that addresses customers\u2019 top questions and product concerns? Look no further than XPath Expressions. Catalyst\u2019s Brad McCourt explains how XPath Expressions used in conjuncture with ScreamingFrog can be used to collect insights that fuel expert, authoritative, and trustworthy (E-A-T) content creation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":142757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,5],"tags":[127,28041,75,601,451,305,27850,30,369,27863,22,13581,1119,3487,28040,28039,28042],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-142744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content","category-seo","tag-amazon","tag-amazon-reviews","tag-content-2","tag-content-strategy","tag-customer-data","tag-customer-reviews","tag-e-a-t","tag-ecommerce","tag-evergreen-content","tag-faq-content","tag-seo","tag-seo-content","tag-strategy","tag-xml","tag-xpath","tag-xpath-expressions","tag-xpath-notation"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":false,"tad_content_format":false},"post_info":{"name":"idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/How-to-use-XPath-expressions-to-enhance-your-SEO-and-content-strategy.png","category":"Content","timeago":"5y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142744"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=142744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}