Slow-loading pages. Connection errors. The “white screen of death.” These are the most common hosting-related issues plaguing WordPress websites today. Choosing the right web hosting for your WordPress site can help you avoid these disruptive – and potentially costly – errors. A reliable and secure web hosting environment can ensure that your website receives:
Conversely, a poor web host can lead to drastic consequences for both users and your business. The challenge in finding a good web host is weeding through all of the technical jargon and sales pitches to identify what you actually need. Types of web hosting providersMany hosting services are available today, each with pros and cons. Knowing which one to choose can make all the difference in creating a successful WordPress website. Whether you’re looking for basic hosting, faster loading speeds, increased flexibility or improved security measures, each web host caters to distinct users’ needs. Understanding the pros and cons of popular hosting types will help you select the right one for your WordPress website. Shared hostingIn a shared hosting set-up, multiple websites are stored on a single server, all sharing memory, disk storage and bandwidth resources. Pros
Cons
Dedicated hostingHere, web hosts lease an entire “dedicated” server to a single client or organization, which can house as many websites as needed. This allows for more control and customization options compared to shared hosting. Pros
Cons
VPS hostingVirtual private server (VPS) hosting is similar to dedicated and shared hosting and is often the middle ground between the two. A VPS hosting plan is when you need more bandwidth than standard shared hosting, but don’t quite need all of the bells and whistles from a dedicated hosting plan. The host provider essentially carves out your virtual space on a dedicated server with set limits, so you’re not competing with everyone else on the shared server. Pros
Cons
Cloud hostingCloud hosting is a type of hosting service that uses a network of servers to provide web hosting services. The servers are connected, and resources can be easily scaled up or down based on the website’s needs. It provides greater performance, scalability, and reliability than shared hosting but is also more expensive. Pros
Cons
Colocation hostingColocation hosting is a web hosting service where customers rent space in a data center to house their own server. The customer is responsible for providing and maintaining their own server, while the data center provides power, bandwidth, and physical security. Colocation hosting allows businesses to have their own dedicated server in a secure, managed environment. This type of hosting is often used by businesses that need to host critical applications, databases, or other data requiring high security and performance. Pros
Cons
Managed WordPress hostingManaged WordPress hosting is specifically optimized for WordPress websites. In a managed WordPress hosting environment, the hosting provider handles the technical details of running a WordPress site, such as software updates, security, backups, and performance optimization. It is a good choice for businesses and individuals who want to focus on content creation and marketing rather than the technical details of running a website. Managed WordPress hosting provides a hassle-free experience for running a WordPress site, with many providers offering easy site management tools and 24/7 support. Pros
Cons
Core features you need in WordPress hostingWhen hosting a WordPress website, you might find plenty of unnecessary features. Pay attention to what you actually need. Some of the most critical factors to look for in your WordPress host include:
Finding your WordPress hostMost WordPress hosts create their plans based on how many resources you need. They evaluate this in two ways – site storage and bandwidth.
All things considered, it’s essential to make a checklist of what you need vs. what you don’t. Thoroughly investigate all of the hosts on the marketplace. The post How to choose WordPress hosting appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/choose-wordpress-hosting-393445
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Everyone in SEO is buzzing about AI following announcements from Google and Microsoft about forthcoming AI-powered search functionality. It’s still early, but AI is already helping search professionals do their jobs faster and easier. The sky’s the limit for its future potential. For now, however, human input remains a vital component. But whether that continues to be the case remains to be seen. Here’s a closer look at five ways AI is helping SEOs – and five ways it still has a long way to go. 1. AI generates broad global keywords – but not specific keywordsAI has helped accelerate the process of identifying global keywords, according to Michael Bonfils, global managing director of digital marketing agency SEM International. This allows him to establish a baseline to tinker with more easily. “It by no means understands a client’s unique business as all businesses are different one way or another, but it helps us speed up the process of organizing campaigns, considering suggested keywords and ad copy and evaluating the lingual translations of these words to determine if they should be added to a client’s campaign or not,” he said. Bonfils estimates AI speeds up the process by about 25%, which he called “considerable help.” Meanwhile, Alec Cole, an SEO strategist at performance marketing agency Amsive Digital, agreed on the language point – going as far as calling it his “favorite” application, but also the “scariest.” That’s because AI can “[review] international pages in languages I don’t speak for fluency and repetition of terms.” 2. AI creates markup and formulas – but inaccuracies aboundIn addition to keyword ideation, Cole has used AI to write regex, Excel formulas and schema. However, he warned of schema, “My goodness, you have to watch it.” For example, he recently had AI generate person schema for an author at a pet company and “it attempted to say she was experienced in animal husbandry, which she absolutely is not,” he added. 3. AI produces page titles and meta descriptions – but their relevancy is questionableFor his part, Barry Rolapp, a senior SEO strategist at Amsive Digital, has used AI to synthesize content into meta descriptions and page titles, but said ChatGPT is much better with the latter. "As one would expect, the system has issues with understanding what is important information in a body of text and what is less relevant," he added. In addition, AI doesn't do well with character counts, so, "I often find myself having to rework the prompt to get what I want and then find myself frustrated that the same prompt does not always yield the same type of results." Rolapp conceded this is likely due to user error, but "shows that the systems aren't able to completely understand my intent and the amount of time I take 'optimizing' a ChatGPT prompt takes away from the efficiency I am supposed to be getting from leveraging the tool." 4. AI writes content – but struggles with facts (and duplication)While some SEOs are using AI tools to produce content, such as generating blog topics, outlines and FAQs, content creation is where things can get dicey. For starters, SEO consultant Sara Taher noted the issue of potential duplication. "I had a client reach out recently to ask about ChatGPT and how they can use it for content creation and I highlighted to them that the tool does not produce unique content and that content may be duplicated in the future," she added. And while Jessica Bowman, CEO of SEO site SEOInhouse.com, conceded AI will eventually be the driving force behind scaling content production, she noted, "I would see it as a rough first draft that needs [to be] fact checked and [edited] for tone, voice and uniqueness." She agreed AI struggles with unique elements, such as brand messaging, product descriptions, and emerging technology. "I also have one concern about AI … it only knows what has been input," Bowman said. "So it's not going to always give you a unique angle and expertise to stand out among your competitors, the marketplace and the internet at large [for rankings]. This is something that would need to be incorporated during human editing." 5. AI can help solve problems – but its true potential is TBDEnergy company Schneider Electric uses AI for tasks like project management, keyword research, social media optimizations – but not content creation. "One of our goals this year as a team is to really simplify for ease, value and relevance," added Danita Smith, SEO program lead in North America and senior web specialist at Schneider Electric. "And so AI fits right into that." There's potential to save time, which Smith called "the most valuable asset." However, it's still early days, so the company – like many others – has only started to evaluate its broader potential, including how to become a nimbler organization. "One of the challenges that we always face is that things don't happen fast, typically in an enterprise organization and resources are tight," she said. "But there's always a push to scale things … We're looking at how we can use [these types of tools] to help us meet some of those production demands." In addition, Schneider Electric is looking into the power of generative AI and other AI tools to become greener – and more inclusive. "I'm looking at it as how I can use it to potentially be more friendly to our planet Earth," she said. "We can also look at it to do more inclusive marketing, which is one of our goals as well to make sure that we're using proper representation in our content and just exploring other ideas so that we are getting more creative with some of our deliverables." There's also potential in "goodness knows what else," as Cole put it. "I've gotten into the habit of throwing just about anything I can at it to see what comes out," he added. "It misses consistently, but it's fantastic at helping me crack the door open on difficult problems or automating a few tasks that classically took me a very long time." The post 5 ways AI is the future of SEO – and 5 ways SEOs still have job security appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/ai-future-seo-job-security-393431 Google penalizes Natural NewsIn 2017, Google confirmed that a controversial alternative medicine website was delisted because of a webmaster guidelines violation, not because of its political views. Natural News, a “pro-Trump” news site, claimed it was banned for its political views. However, Google’s John Mueller said the site was penalized due to sneaky mobile redirects. He advised them to clean it up and submit a reconsideration request through Search Console. Natural News would return to Google five days later. Read all about it in Natural News was not banned from Google over fake news. Also on this dayGoogle Ads latency issues and error messages within advertiser console2022: Google confirmed the issue and was investigating. Google AdSense earnings report may be buggy2022: Publishers were complaining that the report showing their estimated earnings on the AdSense console overview page was wrong and significantly lower than expected. Google AdSense separates YouTube earnings into its own payments account2022: In addition, the platform also added a dedicated AdSense for YouTube homepage. BrightEdge acquires Oncrawl in enterprise SEO shakeup2022: Oncrawl would continue to run under BrightEdge’s umbrella. Advertisers have until February 2022 to adjust to Google’s new Partner Program requirements2021: The changes were based on Partner feedback around badge criteria and more clarity regarding Program benefits. Yelp’s Waitlist, analytics and POS updates aim to address shifting consumer preferences2021: Waitlist now supported takeout orders. Yelp also added enhanced analytics for multi-location restaurants. Google Assistant to get multiple new languages, distribution and skills2018: The Assistant would soon speak 30 languages and be able to offer mobile carrier customer support. Search outpaced social for referral traffic last year, driving 35% of site visits vs social’s 26% share of visits2018: 2017 was the first time since 2014 search owned a larger share of visits over social. Search in Pics: Google’s Captain America, a mural at Google & a shiny Google slide2018: The latest images showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more. Four US presidents in the KKK? Google’s latest problem with featured answers2017: Google listed four U.S. presidents as Klan members, even though there was no conclusive evidence any were. Gboard adds new languages, voice typing, new emojis & doodles2017: Google upgraded their iOS keyboard extension to support voice dialing and 15 more languages. Live: Google Launches AMP Listings In Mobile Search Results, For Some2016: A day earlier than expected, Google pushed AMP results in the Google mobile news carousel. Google Looking Into Review Stars Dropping Out Of The Search Results2016: There were huge drops in reviews and review stars. Bing’s CelebsLike.me Finds Your Oscar Doppelganger2016: Bing created a site that let users upload photos of themselves to find their look-alike celebrities. Google Showing Colorful Line Separators In Mobile Search Results Snippets2015: Many mobile searchers on iOS and Android were noticing Google testing a new mobile interface. Android “Default Search” Class Action Against Google Tossed By Judge2015: A judge found the connection between “default search” status on Android devices and consumer harm to be too tenuous or speculative. Will Google Penalize Chromebooks, Google Analytics, AdWords & Google+ For Using Advertorials?2013: A day after warning publishers against advertorials, would Google’s search team have to penalize parts of its own company for running advertorials? Google Updates AdWords API Terms To Comply With FTC Antitrust Settlement2013: Google didn’t permit automated, batch copying of AdWords campaign data for export to another ad network in the past. Google Images Related Searches Now More Visual2012: You could mouse over the related search phrase and Google would open an image preview of what the first three images looked like. Valentine’s Day AdWords “War” Among Florists Highlights Another Google Challenge2012: Imagine searching on your own company’s name and finding a competitor’s ad that said you were “Sold Out” right on your business’ most important holiday. Search Alliance Beginning adCenter Rollout In the UK, France & Ireland2012: The Yahoo/Microsoft Search Alliance began to transition Yahoo Search Marketing campaigns to adCenter accounts. Bing Posts To Facebook Timeline If You Use New “Linked Pages”2012: Using the feature gave Bing permission to post to Facebook on your behalf. Yahoo Working On Search Across Devices2012: Yahoo has begun to test the ability to start a query on one device and continue it on another. Is SEO Killing America?2012: It’s much easier for news organizations to sell news that reaffirms our opinions than news that educates and challenges us. Google Drops Facebook Sync On Nexus S: Google/Facebook Battle Continues2011: Google said it was because Facebook contacts “cannot be exported from the device” and thus do not allow users to “control their data” as freely as Google would like. Obscure Belgian Case Threatens To Open Copyright “Pandora’s Box” For Google In Europe2011: A 2006 Belgian case that found Google in breach of copyright law for indexing newspaper headlines and snippets without permission was on appeal and approaching conclusion. Wired On Google’s Algorithm2010: A detailed look at the evolution Google’s search algorithm over the years. Google To Drop Ad Manager For DoubleClick For Publishers2010: Google announced that Google Ad Manager was ultimately going to be replaced by DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP). By The Numbers: Twitter Vs. Facebook Vs. Google Buzz2010: 600 vs. 700 vs. 55 per second. Google Testing Comparison Ads In UK2010: For credit card-related searches. Google Resumes China Talks Despite Evidence Of Govt-Hacking Connection2010: Google re-engaged with China around its ability to continue operating its number two search engine in the country in an “unfiltered” way. Xerox Sues Google & Yahoo Over Search Patent. Copy That!2010: Xerox wanted compensation and to prevent Google and Yahoo from using the technology. Is Redmond The Puppet Master In Google EU Anti-Trust Complaints?2010: Google used some blunt language about two of the three complainant companies’ relationships with Microsoft. Yahoo To Broadly Integrate Twitter Across Properties2010: Yahoo announced that it had deepened its relationship with Twitter and would be integrating Twitter’s feeds and content across its network. Google Webmaster Central Launches YouTube Channel2009: This channel would eventually contain videos from Googlers on how to help your website succeed in Google. Why Is Google Now Requiring Ringtones Ads To Disclose Pricing2009: Supposedly, the Florida Attorney General’s office had “convinced” Google to require AdWords advertisers to disclose this pricing information in any ad that is selling ringtones. Will the “Deep Web” Slay Google?2009: An engine that could mine all that Deep Web data and present “answers” to users would be quite exciting. Will Obama Be The Downfall Of Google?2009: The appointment of Christine Varney as Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust at the U.S. Department of Justice could have led to more antitrust problems for Google. Yahoo CEO Bartz to Reorg for More ‘Top-Down’ Authority2009: Yet another Yahoo reorganization was coming. And The Oscar For Best Search Engine For Oscar Winners Goes To … Microsoft Live & Ask.com2009: The winners were shown right at the top of the page. Google Explains The NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW, NOARCHIVE & NOSNIPPET META Tags2007: A basic but clear explanation. Search Suggestions The Default At Google China?2007: Google China, by default, seemed to have Google Suggest turned on. Major Microsoft adCenter Bug Costs Millions2007: Advertisers were being charged astronomical prices per click, even though they had set their bids lower. Yahoo Search Improves Movie Shortcut Results2007: They added information including movie trailers, user and critic ratings, a brief summary, and movie showtimes. Top 25 Web 2.0 Start Ups To Watch2007: A ranking of the top 25 up and coming Web 2.0 companies. Yahoo Searchlight Awards Last Night2007: Top campaigns contained elements of traditional media, online display advertising and search. Happy Anniversary, ResearchBuzz!2007: 400 “issues” appeared in nearly nine years of publication. Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.
< February 22 | Search Marketing History | February 24 > The post This day in search marketing history: February 23 appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/search-marketing-history-february-23-393429 Social media as we’ve known it seems to be in its dying days – with one notable exception, Tiktok. That’s according to a new social media engagement rate benchmark report. TLDR. There are five important takeaways for brands from the 2023 Social Media Benchmark Report, which was released today by Rival IQ:
Why we care. The report provides valuable information that can help advertisers gauge the effectiveness of their social media strategies and identify areas for improvement. By comparing their own brand’s engagement rates to the industry averages, you can determine whether your social media performance is above or below par and make necessary adjustments to optimize their campaigns for better engagement and conversion rates. About the report. It examined the mean engagement rates for different brand verticals across major social media networks. It’s important to note that Rival IQ chose 150 companies, at random, from each of the 14 industries they studied, including:
The companies they analyzed had active presences on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter as of January 2022, and had Facebook fan counts between 25,000 and 1,000,000 and minimum Instagram, TikTok, Twitter followers of 5,000 as of the same date. Interesting statistic. Among all industries, the average engagement rate for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter never goes higher than 0.47% (Instagram). Even still, Instagram took a 30% dip in 2022 compared to 2021, while Facebook and Twitter remained flat. The rate of weekly posts on Instagram remained steady in 2022, while it decreased on Twitter and Facebook, likely due to reduced investment by brands. ![]() TikTok’s engagement rate, on the other hand, comes in at a whopping 5.69%. But brands are posting less frequently on TikTok than any other channel. Higher Ed, for example, posts the least, but sees the highest engagement, whereas retail, influencers, and beauty post more frequently, but
The bigger picture. Organic social, in general, has been trending downward in terms of traffic and engagement for years. Which is why brands have been flocking to TikTok (which arguably isn’t even a “social network” as it’s more about content discovery). Enter AI. In addition to playing a key role in ChatGPT, AI and machine learning created some new possibilities for social networks.
Which gets us back to where we started. Facebook, Twitter and other social networks are trying to catch up (read: emulate) TikTok. Meanwhile, advertiser budgets have also followed. And TikTok continues to find new ways to improve reach for brands. Dig deeper. You can download the report from Rival IQ here. The post Social media engagement hits a new low, except for TikTok appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/social-media-engagement-hits-a-new-low-except-for-tiktok-393395 Despite announcing an end to layoffs at a meeting held on November 21st, Elon Musk has continued to terminate Twitter employees, even after already forcing out approximately two-thirds of the workforce in just a few weeks. What’s happening. Musk intends to revamp Twitter’s ad targeting system to resemble that of Google’s search ads, which primarily focus on keywords searched for rather than a user’s activity or profile data. Although this approach has proven successful for search engines, where users seek out specific information, it has yet to prove effective for social media businesses.
Set up for failure. Following his recent termination from his position as engineering manager for monetization at Twitter, Marcin Kadluczka suggested in a tweet on Saturday that the one-week deadline imposed by Elon Musk was impractical, stating that he believed it would take 2-3 months for Twitter to genuinely enhance its advertising capabilities. My sources have confirmed that Musk set this demanding timeline just before dismissing Kadluczka, as well as other employees in the ads, consumer, and sales departments last Friday. Musk has been trying to improve Twitter ads since he acquired the company. While it’s uncertain whether altering Twitter’s ad targeting system to prioritize keywords, similar to Google ads, will result in better quality advertising, experts in the field have raised questions and identified potential drawbacks
Why we care. If the new targeting strategy fails to produce satisfactory results (which is the most likely scenario), advertisers could be wasting their advertising budgets on ineffective campaigns. Additionally, any changes to Twitter’s advertising platform could have broader implications for the social media advertising industry as a whole, potentially leading to changes in advertising best practices across multiple platforms. The uncertainty and changes could cause the few advertisers still on Twitter could leave the platform. The post Musk gave engineers one week to make Twitter’s ad targeting work like Google appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/musk-gave-engineers-one-week-to-make-twitters-ad-targeting-work-like-google-393457 Google has updated the Google Search Console user and permissions management feature to incorporate functionality related to ownership and user management. These features were in the old Google Webmaster Tools and has finally been brought over to the current version of Google Search Console. What is new. Google added to Google Search Console’s user and permissions management these features:
What it looks like. Here is a screenshot Google shared in its blog post of this updated management interface: ![]() Permission best practices. Google also posted some best practices around permission and user rights, including:
Why we care. With these permission updates, you will have a bit more control on who has access to what areas of your Search Console profiles. Make sure to “review the leftover ownership tokens so that removed owners cannot regain access to the property,” Google said. Also, make sure to review the new help documentation and permission levels to learn what levels give what access. The post Google Search Console users and permissions management updated appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/google-search-console-users-and-permissions-management-updated-393460 Don’t miss your chance to participate in tactic-rich, expert-led training on your search marketing specialty: Register now for your choice of live, two-day SMX Master Class for just $299 each – happening online next Wednesday and Thursday, March 1-2! (Need to convince your boss to let you attend? These handy talking points and templated letter can help!)
Breaking news! Many of our instructors are making last-minute additions to their curriculum that tackle ChatGPT and the expanding role of AI in marketing! Here’s a sneak peek: Bruce Clay’s Advanced SEO class will now examine how ChatGPT can speed up your content writing process – provided you leverage it appropriately (hint: human fact-checking, wordsmithing, and so on). Eric Enge’s Technical SEO class will now also explore the impact of conversational chat systems like ChatGPT:
Brad Geddes’ Advanced Google Ads class will include examples and assistance for using OpenAI (and ChatGPT specifically) to:
Michael Brenner’s SEO-friendly content marketing class will now examine how you can (and when you shouldn’t) leverage AI in your creative endeavors:
And there’s more to come! Don’t be left behind. Explore the hottest topics in search alongside industry legends who are ready to answer your burning questions – all from the comfort of your own computer. Secure your spot at one of these exclusive SMX Master Classes for just $299 and join us online next week! The post [Next week] All-new training on ChatGPT, GA4, and more appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/search-marketing-expo-news-378494 Digital advertising is dynamic. It requires us to make the best possible account adjustments at the right time. But to make informed decisions, we must fully understand micro and macro trends. The correct data, analysis and insights drive optimizations that positively impact PPC performance. This is why creating a holistic monitoring plan that considers all relevant data points is key to tracking PPC metrics and results. This article shares ways to comprehensively monitor your paid search performance by setting up automated reports, custom dashboards and performance alerts. 1. Automated reportsAutomated reports deliver regular updates on campaign performance, giving you a clear picture of what is and isn’t working. You can set up automated reporting in Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising if you are starting or re-imaging your reporting program. To set up an automated report in Google Ads:
You can follow a similar process in Microsoft Advertising to establish an automated report for your team.
To make the most out of automated reporting, follow these tips. Set clear objectivesBefore automating your reports, you must set clear objectives for your campaigns. This will help you determine which metrics are most important to track and ensure that you focus on the right areas. Choose the right toolsMany tools are available so choosing the right ones is essential. Consider factors such as ease of use, integration with other tools, and cost when selecting. Take action quicklyA key benefit of using automated reports is that you can identify underperforming areas quickly. When you spot an issue, take action as soon as possible to minimize the impact on your campaigns. This might mean adjusting your targeting, changing your messaging, or trying a new approach altogether. 2. Custom dashboardsDashboards provide a more detailed look at individual metrics and how they trend over time. As a result, you can quickly identify any underperformance areas and take corrective action. Here are more benefits of using PPC dashboards. Efficient data analysisDashboards provide a centralized location to view your paid search campaign data. They help you quickly identify trends and patterns in your data, saving time and resources compared to manually reviewing individual reports. Real-time monitoringDashboards can display data in real-time, so you can keep a close eye on your campaigns as they run. You can identify performance issues as soon as they occur so that you can take corrective action immediately. Improved decision-makingBy having a clear and concise overview of your paid search campaigns, you can make data-driven decisions that will enhance your ROI. Dashboards can provide a high-level view of your campaign metrics, making it easier to spot improvement areas. CustomizationDashboards can be customized to show the metrics that matter most to your business goals. Customized dashboards can help you view the most relevant data to your campaigns and focus on the KPIs that matter most. Communication and collaborationDashboards can be shared with other team members, such as executives or stakeholders, to inform everyone of campaign performance. Facilitate communication and collaboration with your team, making aligning goals and strategies easier. Getting started with dashboardsBuilding customized dashboards for paid search can be fast and easy. You have various tools to get you started or help revamp your dashboard approach. Google Ads You can build customized dashboards directly within the Google Ads interface. Within the “Reporting” section, you can navigate to “Dashboards.” Then, you can add custom modules to your dashboard. Microsoft Ads The interface has no separate section for customized dashboards. However, you can customize the Overview tab of your account. You can select a series of modules that work best for your needs. Looker Studio You can create customized reports and dashboards within Looker Studio. While this process will require a bit more work, a key benefit is that you can report on all of your paid search campaigns in Google and Microsoft in one platform. 3. Automated alertsAnother critical component of a holistic monitoring plan is setting up performance alerts. These alerts can notify you when specific metrics fall outside of an acceptable range, allowing you to take action before any significant negative impact on your advertising performance. Automated alerts are mission-critical for paid search management. Here are a few benefits of establishing alerts for your account. Real-time monitoringAutomated alerts can notify you immediately when specific metrics fall below or exceed a certain threshold, providing real-time monitoring of your campaigns. You can take quick corrective action to optimize your campaigns and prevent further damage. Time-savingManually monitoring metrics can be a time-consuming and tedious task. Automated alerts save time by watching the metrics for you and sending notifications only when necessary, allowing you to focus on other essential tasks. Data-driven decisionsAutomated alerts help you stay informed about the performance of your campaigns and enable you to make data-driven decisions based on the insights provided. By staying current with your campaign performance, you can identify trends and patterns in your data and make informed decisions on optimizing your campaigns. FlexibilityAutomated alerts can be customized to track the metrics that matter most to your business goals, allowing you to focus on the most relevant KPIs to your campaigns. Setting up automated alertsSetting up automated alerts within your Google Ads and Microsoft Ads campaigns is easy. Google Ads Within any screen of your Google Ads account, you can create an automated rule which serves as an automated alert. ![]() You can create automated rules to take specific actions within your account and establish rules to trigger email notifications when particular criteria are met. In the example below, this campaign will email me if conversions are less than one during any day. ![]() You can set up an alert like this to run hourly, but you will likely trigger false alerts. Remember to develop alerts relevant to your account's volume and performance. Monitor your PPC campaigns to make the right optimizationsMaking the proper account adjustments at the right time is critical to maintaining and improving your advertising performance. When managing PPC campaigns, you must create a holistic monitoring plan considering all relevant data points. Creating dashboards, setting up performance alerts and running automated reporting will help you make informed decisions and stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving paid search landscape. The post 3 ways to stay on top of PPC performance appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/3-ways-to-stay-on-top-of-ppc-performance-393386 Microsoft is now bringing the new Bing AI search and chat experience to mobile both on iOS and Android using the Bing mobile app and Edge mobile app browser. Plus, this will allow you to search in Bing Chat from your mobile phone using voice. Microsoft is “beginning to roll out the incredible capabilities of the new Bing and Edge on your smartphone along with some exciting new features, such as voice input,” wrote Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President & Consumer Chief Marketing Officer at Microsoft. What it looks like. Personally, I do not see it yet on my Bing or Edge mobile app, even though I have access to it on Edge for Mac. But here is a screenshot from Microsoft of the chat experience: ![]() Mobile apps. Microsoft wrote that this is “available on iOS and Android today, the Bing mobile app offers a fresh look and experience.” Again, I tried it, it does not work for me, and I asked Microsoft why not, but maybe it is just too soon right now. I did make sure to be on the latest version of the Bing iOS app.
“Tapping the Bing icon at the bottom will invoke a chat session, where you can engage in all the same ways you can from the desktop. Ask simple or complex questions and receive answers and citations. Choose how you want your answers displayed – bullet points, text or simplified responses,” Microsoft wrote. Voice search. Microsoft is previewing one of the “community’s most requested features,” the company said – and that is “voice.” This voice search or chat feature is a limited preview and available in the Bing mobile app and Edge browser. “In addition, those who have access to the preview will be able to utilize the new Bing experience from the homepage of the Microsoft Edge mobile app,” the company added. Why we care. The true power of chat-based search is how people interact with it over voice, that is maybe what excites me the most about how people use chat-based search. So here it is and we get to play with it (soon I hope). The post New Microsoft Bing Chat rolling out to mobile devices with voice search appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/new-microsoft-bing-chat-rolling-out-to-mobile-devices-with-voice-search-393441 With the release of groundbreaking AI tools like ChatGPT, many wonder if AI-generated content is the future of marketing and to what extent we can use it. When it comes to SEO, there are a lot of questions today about machine-generated content. Is it an option? How would it impact the search results? Will it improve your SEO program? While the answers will evolve over time, right now many people are simply trying to understand what ChatGPT is, and the benefits and drawbacks from an SEO content perspective. This article will cover:
What is ChatGPT?Simply put, ChatGPT is a chatbot – a natural language processing tool – that responds to queries. ChatGPT has many, many use cases. I asked it to give me a list, and indeed it did: ![]() But one use case being talked about in the SEO industry right is generating content quickly and easily. I won’t go into too much detail on the ins and outs of how the technology works. You can get a background on that in an article here on Search Engine Land from Tom Demers on what ChatGPT is and why SEOs should care. Or if you want to get into the weeds, see this article by Stephen Wolfram that explains how it comes up with written text. Here, we’ll focus on how ChatGPT could change the content game for SEO and content creators. What’s Google’s stance on AI content? Does it matter?Aside from the fact that Google views ChatGPT as a threat to its existence, on the SEO front, Google has spoken out about automatically generated content several times over the years but their stance has evolved. Previously, it seemed Google was taking the stance that all automatically generated content was bad. More recently, Google clarified that automatically generated content that’s intended to manipulate search rankings is really the culprit. In January 2023, Google tweeted:
And, as outlined in its spam policies:
If you have been advocating for “quality content” as a marketer, you should apply those same principles here. We all have our part in making the search results useful, and to help our SEO clients compete by positioning them as authorities on a topic. What are some benefits of ChatGPT for content creation?The biggest benefit of using ChatGPT is the speed at which you can get results. If you were a small business or entrepreneur with limited resources to produce content quickly, I can see how ChatGPT would be an attractive option for creating content. (More on why this can be dangerous later.) Nevertheless, ChatGPT can create output for nearly any content-related command you can think of. Want sales materials written using pain points and solutions? Check. Need a social media schedule? Check. Want an answer on how to solve a link penalty written at a fifth-grade level so that it’s easy to understand? Check and check. And the list goes on. ![]() In theory, ChatGPT could revolutionize the way companies approach content marketing. Marketers could use AI-generated content as a starting point for their campaigns – drastically cutting down on time spent and costs creating new material. What are the drawbacks of ChatGPT for content creation?While ChatGPT may seem like a very useful tool, there are some downsides to using this technology for content creation in your SEO program. Some drawbacks include:
Lacks E-E-A-TE-E-A-T – experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness – are the pillars of a quality piece of content, according to Google. By its nature, it's hard to imagine AI-generated content would meet E-E-A-T standards. And then you have "your money or your life" (YMYL) content, such as financial advice, medical advice and so on. How dangerous could an AI-generated response potentially be when it comes to these topics? Before you generate 1,000 words of AI-written content on a topic, ask the following questions:
Factually inaccurate or low-qualityChatGPT is not connected to the web, and relies on the data it has been trained on to generate answers. For any given query, that data may have come from articles, books and websites, for instance. However, ChatGPT's worldview is limited beyond 2021 when its training stopped. This can present many problems, not the least of which is being able to rely on content as truth – especially those topics that deserve freshness. Since ChatGPT cannot guarantee 100% accuracy in understanding user requests, there is also a risk of content that misses the mark. Finally, ChatGPT lacks human understanding. It might struggle with nuanced topics. ChatGPT may also create awkward phrasing and syntax errors. Barrier to entry for content creation is lowerAs if we already didn't have a problem with low-quality content, AI-generated content now lowers the barrier to entry into the content creation game. Now we will have a subset of content creators who are not in the business of critical thinking or creativity. Content creators don't have to know the topic or do the critical thinking necessary to research and create a thoughtful outline. ChatGPT can create an outline for you, and you can then take that AI-generated outline and ask it to write a 2,000-word article. Within minutes, you have content. In theory, we may see thousands of new content creators entering the game, doing content for cheaper and undercutting the competition. This could mean one of two things:
Mediocre search resultsImagine a world 10 years from now where every webpage has AI-generated content. What this could effectively do is lower the overall quality of the search results, for all the reasons I outlined previously. Without the human and E-E-A-T element, the quality of an answer would be average at best – only as good as the AI algorithms would allow. And, if you consider the fact that some AI tools – like Jasper – are connected to the web, then the AI is reading its own generated content to come up with more ideas for content. So the potential negative impact it has on the search results is real. And one of two things may happen:
For all these reasons, people should always be part of the process when creating complex content with AI tools. Without expert human review, low-quality content is guaranteed. How will ChatGPT impact SEO content creators?The value of a quality content creator who knows how to use an AI tool effectively will be more in demand. I also believe that the value of a quality search result will be much higher in a world where AI-generated content becomes the norm. What will likely happen is that content creators will use AI tools to do parts of their SEO work more effectively – generating ideas, developing outlines, improving the writing, creating rough drafts that require the heavy lifting of validating, researching and rewriting. Essentially, these content creators will step into more of an editorial role. This role will not be for everyone. But the question remains: Will it actually save time in the long run? First, you must learn how to use AI tools like ChatGPT efficiently. The pre-work on the part of the content creator can make the output better. This can take time. Then, if you choose to use an article written by ChatGPT, you have the laborious process of editing, which, if you have not put in the initial research into the topic (because you relied on AI to do the outline), then you have to familiarize yourself on the topic by doing the research. You accept the burden of quality assurance on the work of "others." So what may have taken you four hours to research, write and edit, now takes you four hours to configure the requests for the AI tool, fact check the AI data, do compliance, research, write and edit. Maybe this process is made more efficient if you have editors that are subject matter experts. I could see a scenario where a subject matter expert uses an AI tool to generate ideas and rough drafts, and then very quickly can validate the AI data, then finish it based on their personal expertise or experience. In fact, I've played around with SEO topics in ChatGPT and found I could put together a cohesive "article" with about an hour's time worth of editing. Then the real work starts. You see, having something that is a written article and a finished article are different. I can get something average in one hour, which will probably not do much. But if I want to express my opinion, add my "voice," and educate to the level of my standard articles, I have much more work to do. Another scenario is that some topics just don't require a lot of critical thinking or research, and in these cases, AI-generated content may be a lot easier to work with. If tools like ChatGPT can be used in a way that produces time savings for content creators, then the cost of quality content may go down in the future. If you're a content creator and you need to generate content for other channels aside from the organic search channel, the sky's the limit with AI-generated content when you are not bound by the same types of guidelines and restrictions. The only limitations will be a question of ethics and what is the right thing to do with AI-generated content. Some universities are currently pondering whether AI content is plagiarism, for example. Tips for using ChatGPT for content creationHere are some tips to consider if you want to use ChatGPT as a content creation assistant:
ChatGPT is a tool, not a solutionI am optimistic about ChatGPT's potential, but for all the reasons I outlined in this article, I advise you to use caution when using ChatGPT for content generation. That said, if you use it, make sure there is always expert human review before publishing AI-generated content to the web to ensure quality. Ethically, we all have a part in ensuring the search results produce the best answers for users, and that we are providing the very best service for our SEO clients. The post ChatGPT and SEO content: Where do we go from here? appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/chatgpt-seo-content-where-do-we-go-from-here-393374 |
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