The way we measure and attribute performance in PPC is going to evolve in 2023. Third-party cookies will be retired. You need to be ready. There is no better time than now to start rebuilding your PPC measurement framework. What makes the new measurement ‘privacy-safe’Historically, PPC advertisers have relied on third-party cookies to measure campaign performance and build remarketing audiences. These types of pixels are not focused on user privacy. Third-party cookies are designed to track user behavior. Often, they also gather user data that is outside of their intended usage and scope. Users can be tracked across websites, platforms and apps with just a single third-party cookie. These tracking activities violate the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other privacy restrictions. Your new measurement framework will be built with proprietary data and first-party cookies that you own. These types of measures will not track users or gather their personal information. Your updated measurement practices will still analyze the activity on your website in regard to visits, sales and other metrics. However, you will not be able to place pixels on devices that track user behavior beyond the proverbial walls of your walls. PPC platforms are developing new measurement tools that adhere to privacy regulations while still providing advertisers with as much data as possible. While many of these new tools do not provide additional data, they do let advertisers use their own data to optimize their PPC campaigns. Platforms like Google and Microsoft certainly care about user privacy, but the financial health of their business relies on getting new measurement tactics right. Approximately 90% of Google’s revenue is generated by advertising, meaning they have billions of dollars on the line here. What are the new PPC measurement opportunities?Currently, many of your PPC measurement and audience practices are centered around a few third-party cookies. Sometime in the next 18 months, there will not be a simple one-for-one solution that replaces your third-party cookies. This is why we continuously refer to your new “measurement framework.” It is likely that you will need to rely on multiple tracking methods to acquire data sets that are similar to what you have now. First-party data strategyIn the near future, the cornerstone of your PPC measurement and audience management will be built upon your own first-party data. In regard to measurement, this means tracking PPC performance within your analytics and/or client relationship management (CRM) platform. I could write an entire manual on building a first-party performance measurement practice (or, someone smarter than could write one). If you do not have complete faith in your company’s back-end tracking, now is the time to set the record straight. It’s important to point out that building PPC remarketing audiences from third-party cookies will not be a viable tactic. Your company needs to have first-party audience data that can be used to build new audiences. The most common attribute of these audiences is an email address and phone number. The more data points you have per user, the more likely they are to match back to a Google and/or Microsoft account. This means you’ll be able to find users for targeting, exclusions, or building similar audiences. This is critical. You need to start this process now. Privacy-safe website tagging You can still use tracking on your website, but you can’t use third-party cookies. The new Google Tag (formerly Google Global Site tag) adheres to international privacy regulations and should be durable in terms of restrictions. Another benefit is that the new Google Tag is configured to be compatible with the entire suite of Google digital marketing products. This means one pixel will provide the necessary data gathering functionality for Google Ads, Google Analytics, SA360, and DV360. The new Google Tag should be one of the bedrocks of your new measurement framework. You should already have a Universal Event Tracking Tag (UET) from Microsoft in place. But if you don’t, now is the time to place this pixel on your website. UET is the core measurement tactic from Microsoft that needs to be a critical component of your measurement framework in 2023. PPC measurement after third-party cookies go staleEnhanced Conversions This Google feature can improve the accuracy of your conversion measurement. It supplements your existing conversion tags by sending hashed first-party conversion data from your website to Google in a privacy-safe way. When a customer completes a conversion on your website, you may receive first-party customer data such as an email address, name, home address and/or phone number. This data can be captured in your conversion tracking tags, hashed, sent to Google in its hashed form, and then used to enhance your conversion measurement. Setting up Enhanced Conversions is not very labor-intensive. This is especially true if you already have a tag manager solution implemented on your website. Google has published extensive implementation documentation to help launch this solution. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Advertisers will still be able to track website data and user engagement because GA4 will gather information via Google Tag. GA4 should serve as another critical element of your website measurement plan going into 2023. Keep in mind, if you are currently using Google Analytics (GA), you need to migrate your account to Google Analytics 4 by July 2023. I recommend initiating the GA4 transition process now. You can not import historical performance data from your current GA account to your new GA4. Data within GA4 begins to record when you create your new account and set up the new pixel. This is why you should migrate to GA4 as soon as possible. Migrating now is especially important for ecommerce. If you do not launch your GA4 instance before the holiday season, then that data will not appear in your GA4 going into next year. Do not procrastinate – you could lose your 2022 holiday data! Offline conversion tracking Sometimes, an ad doesn’t lead directly to an online sale but does start a customer down a path that ultimately leads to a sale in the offline world, such as at your office or over the phone. By importing offline conversions via offline conversion tracking (OCT), you can measure what happens in the offline world after your ad results in a click or call to your business. Importing offline conversion events gives you a more comprehensive look at which keywords and targeting criteria drive the most cost-effective conversions. This data can help you target and optimize your campaigns to drive growth. This is where your first-party data can really help you with privacy-focused measurement. However, of all these solutions mentioned here, this is the most time-intensive. Smart Goals Smart Goals from Microsoft Advertising uses machine learning (ML) to understand the value of each visitor to your website. When you have the UET tag installed on your website properly, the Microsoft Ads platform will automatically analyze each visitor to your website to determine which sessions resulted in a conversion. “Smart goals use multiple signals to identify conversions. Some of the signals that are used include session duration, pages per session, location, device, and browser,” according to Microsoft You do not have to do anything in your accounts since Smart Goals are created by Microsoft Advertising automatically. If your account is eligible for Smart Goals, you will receive a notification from Microsoft. So, check your accounts and hopefully you have access to this helpful tool! Your new measurement framework has optionsAs you can see, there isn’t one solution that simply replaces your reliance on third-party cookies. The solutions mentioned above are all viable for measuring your performance. But it’s likely that you will use more than one method to gauge PPC performance. That’s fine, but you should review all of your options – today! The post How to build a framework for PPC measurement in 2023 appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/ppc-measurement-framework-386051
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To provide more flexibility in advertisers’ goals, strategies, and conversion journeys, TikTok is introducing a flexible Attribution Manager. The new feature enables users to set custom attribution windows on the TikTok Ads Manager. Why the change. TikTok realizes that every advertiser is different in regard to the actions their target market takes after clicking an ad. If the goal is brand awareness, a click or like is a sufficient objective. However, if the advertiser is selling a service or high-ticket item, the conversion journey looks different and can often take longer. New options. The original and default attribution windows are set to 7-day click and 1-day view. This means that potential customers have 1 day to convert after an ad is viewed, or 7 days after the ad is clicked. The new options available for advertisers are:
Best practices. To get the most out of the new attribution windows, you’ll need to consider who your customer is, what your conversion goal is, and how long they take to perform the primary action. For retail brands running a seasonal campaign or flash sale, a 7-day click or 1-day view is sufficient. However, for a high-ticket item, or a product that takes more consideration such as purchasing insurance or comparing laptop models, a longer attribution model is suggested. Who gets it. The TikTok Attribution Manager is available to advertisers who run campaigns using the TikTok Pixel or Events API. What TikTok has to say. You can read the announcement on the TikTok blog here. Why we care. This is a necessary update from TikTok, as most ad platforms have flexible attribution windows already. Advertisers are likely familiar with how they work, but if you use TikTok ads, be sure you have the pixel installed so you can track your conversions and take advantage of this new update. The post TikTok introduces Attribution Manager with flexible windows appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/tiktok-introduces-attribution-manager-with-flexible-windows-386066 At this year’s SMX Advanced Julie Bacchini, President of Neptune Moon, moderated a roundtable discussion with three other experts on the topic of the recent Google Marketing Live 2022. Included in the panel were:
GML2022: Thoughts & reactions from the panelOne of the underlying thoughts from the panel was this GML2022 was a very different Google Marketing Live event than past shows. “So this year’s Google Marketing Live was all about commerce,” Gales said. “Commerce was the star of the show and I don’t know that I was expecting that.” Bacchini highlighted the point that this year there was a lot of talk about auto-generated creative and speculates that we will see more of this in the future. “In the keynote, they said ‘Let’s build the future of marketing together’ and then every mention of the future of marketing was AI and automation,” Henderson said. “It felt a little over the top.” The consensus was also that folks were expecting more about some of the newer campaign types like Performance Max, but real news on the topic never materialized. All agreed that the lack of talk around keywords and bidding was surprising, and unique, for a Google Marketing Live event. Reaction to Amazon & TiktokThe panel thought that the event felt more “reactive” to Amazon and TikTok with announcements aimed at taking market share from the ecommerce and social media giants. Everyone on the panel also agreed that this year’s event was the most ecommerce heavy event to date. Gales was most excited about the new vision for the search experience. She said:
She also went on to state that this vision may be a longer-term play and that not all of the plan will come to fruition immediately. “In previous Google Marketing Lives I was always looking for more video and in this year’s Google Marketing Live video had its place,” Henke said. Henke also praised the efforts of Google in competing with the likes of TikTok and Instagram with the creator funds and full adoption of vertical video on Google’s biggest stage. There were also questions about how video will actually fit together with the new story ad types. Other positives from Google Marketing LiveSome additional GML2022 elements that the panel liked were:
Potential concerns from Google Marketing LiveOne main element of concern for the panel was the risk posed by uploading user data. Bacchini made it clear that while Google wants advertisers and agencies to upload first-party data, there may be a risk associated with that, which falls directly to the advertiser/agency. She made a plea to consult with your legal team before acting on some of the first-party data uploads. Bottom lineWhether you like or dislike the changes announced at this year’s Google Marketing Live, they will be coming to your accounts soon. This roundtable gives a fair look at how four ads experts are planning for these changes. Watch the full SMX Advanced roundtableYou can view the full discussion at no cost until Aug. 31, along with all of the other sessions from this year’s SMX Advanced. Not registered for SMX Advanced? Get your free pass here. Already registered for SMX Advanced? Log in here. The post Google Marketing Live 2022: Reactions from the experts appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/google-marketing-live-experts-react-smx-advanced-386048 A new group – Agencies for Reproductive Rights (ARR) – has been formed by more than 30 search organizations. The group’s purpose. It is to provide abortion travel benefits for team members following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. According to the ARR’s website:
As Michael King, founder & CEO of iPullRank, put it on Twitter, “if you work at @iPullRankAgency and live in a state that doesn’t support a woman’s right, whatever plane, train or automobile you need to take is on us.” There are still many details to work out, as the group was only formed over the weekend and announced today. What is for sure is that the group is free to join, and there is a form on the ARR site to do so. Why the group formed. “I woke up Friday still reeling from the fact that my wife, Jill, and my two daughters, were just told by their government that they were basically second-class citizens and that the government had more say over what they could do with their own bodies than they did,” according to Andrew Shotland, CEO of Local SEO Guide. The companies. These companies have joined ARR so far:
Why we care. Whether you are pro-abortion or anti-abortion, the Supreme Court’s decision is only starting to be felt in our industry. The ripple effects will likely continue for the foreseeable future. As Google put it in a memo to its employees: “this ruling will have [an impact] on people’s health, lives, and careers.” The post 30+ agencies form new group to support reproductive rights appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/agencies-for-reproductive-rights-formed-386059 “Not all Google updates are equal,” said Glenn Gabe, SEO consultant at G-Squared Interactive, in his presentation at SMX Advanced. “Google pushes thousands of changes per year, but some are small and some are large.” Whenever a new Google algorithm update is announced, SEOs often spend a lot of money, time, and resources optimizing their sites. And while this can be a good thing, as it helps improve these properties, it can also distract marketers from higher priority tasks when the update is overhyped. For example, many sites worked heavily on improving Core Web Vitals even though the page experience signal is lightweight (more of a tiebreaker). Gabe showed examples of sites that saw no movement at all when their CWV scores were “poor” and “good”. To properly address these updates — and discern what impact they will have — Gabe offered SEOs a few tips that can help them get to the heart of the issue. Don’t jump to conclusionsAny major drop in rankings/visibility following a Google update will undoubtedly spur many SEOs to action. But, to avoid wasting too much of your valuable time and resources, Gabe recommended getting all the facts in place before jumping to conclusions. “Avoid the knee-jerk reaction when rankings drop,” he said. “You might need to [make changes], or you might not need to. A drop during a major algorithm update could be due to relevancy adjustments, intent shifts, or overall site quality problems.” “All of these are very different, so don’t just charge ahead,” he added. Gabe suggests marketers create a delta report to analyze these changes. This type of report will detail changes in your top landing pages and queries, allowing you to pinpoint those that have dropped during significant algorithm updates. It can also reveal the root cause of the drops and help teams determine the next steps. “This is quick, easy, and packed with punch,” he said. “It can reveal a lot of information.” Determine if there are site quality issuesSometimes visibility changes following a Google update stem from a quality issue with your site, rather than a change in the algorithm or new competitors. “If you determine this is the case, there’s good and bad news,” Gabe said. “You can address those problems and see recovery eventually, but it takes significant work over the long term. You will typically not recover quickly — it’s usually months of hard work.” Gabe said that when addressing these quality issues, site owners should analyze their sites through the lens of broad core algorithm updates, then work to improve content quality and user experience. This means reviewing potential technical SEO problems that could be affecting site quality as well. “As Google’s John Mueller explained, when you think about quality, it’s not just about content,” said Gabe. “It’s not just about the text on a page, so don’t just focus on what people are reading.” Pay attention to E-A-T“E-A-T, or expertise, authoritativeness, and trust, is super-important,” said Gabe. “You could think of Google’s algorithm like a human who’s asking if the [site] creator has expertise on a topic. You have to look at your content objectively.” Because E-A-T isn’t a score or scale, it’s not always easy determining how well your site embodies its principles. Yet Google’s documentation has highlighted its importance — especially when future-proofing sites for algorithm updates. So, SEOs should ensure they’re adhering to its standard. When it comes to improving E-A-T after a ranking drop, many SEOs focus on improving content quality and thoroughness, which are incredibly important. But, as Gabe noted, authoritativeness is also heavily influenced by links and mentions from authoritative sites. “If you do the right things content-wise and build trust with your audience, links and mentions from well-known sites could help from an E-A-T standpoint,” he said. “It’s not easy to fix this problem if you don’t have a lot of authority, but you can work at it over time.” “It’s really important to identify, plan and execute changes to improve the site overall,” he added. Watch Glenn Gabe’s full SMX Advanced presentationNot registered for SMX Advanced? Get your free pass here. Already registered for SMX Advanced? Log in here. The post What to do if you’re negatively impacted by a major algorithm update appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/what-to-do-if-youre-negatively-impacted-by-a-major-algorithm-update-385997 When you have a productive team, you’ll have happier clients. And happy clients equate to sustainable business growth, which keeps your team employed and equally happy. The problem is many marketing leaders were trained in archaic productivity techniques, such as meeting madness that can quickly drain the creative air out of the room, or non-stop daily nagging via Slack. I’ve also witnessed many clients implode due to a lack of focus on productivity measures – not only within their in-house marketing departments but across their entire staff. This is a major downfall for agencies like mine – because of their lack of productive habits, they failed internally, and I lost a client. This lack of productive discipline hurts hundreds of agencies across the world. Old habits die hard, especially when productivity comes into play. So whether you’re leading a team of writers, SEOs, or social media influencers, these productivity hacks will help your agency succeed. And the more you repeat good habits, the stronger you can build on these, making you and your staff outrageously productive. With that said, here are 21 tips to keep your marketing team – or any team – productive. 1. Know the roleOne of the main productivity issues I’ve seen across hundreds of agencies and companies I’ve worked with over the past two decades is the lack understanding roles. Undefined roles and responsibilities can result in leaks in your project management funnel, where certain deliverables are not met, or clients are not given the required attention. On the flip side, leaders have a natural impulse to put more responsibility on their most productive staff, creating bitter resentments between staff members and management. To avoid these issues, it’s essential to define your work process as a company and clearly delegate roles and responsibilities to staff. Consider even minute details like administrative work, who takes leads on projects, and who needs to do the grunt work. 2. Leverage your team’s strengthsWith various roles and responsibilities defined, you must put your team in the best position possible to succeed. Clearly, someone with little knowledge of SEO or writing will struggle in those roles, dragging down your business. So if someone is better at client communication than one of your SEO associates, consider making them responsible for client relations. However, no agency is perfect. Outsource your weaknesses. Hiring freelancers or white labeling services is a great way to fill labor gaps without overwhelming your team or hiring new individuals. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. Your job as a leader is to put these individuals in the best position possible to succeed. Capitalize on your team’s strengths. Delegate the rest. 3. Partner ownershipBecause your team will have a diverse set of strengths and weaknesses, it’s common for some employees to at least feel like they are taking on more responsibilities than others. Therefore, to prevent any sort of hostility and to incentivize greater production, it makes sense to tie compensation to productivity. There truly is no greater incentive at a workplace than to base pay on performance. But better yet, give workers the freedom and flexibility to work on their schedule (including remotely) to save money and also save your employees their time. 4. Minimize meetings; prioritize allMeeting mania – many managers love it, but employees hate it. There is no bigger impediment to the workday than taking a big chunk of time (especially in the mornings when people can be in full creative mode) to talk about strategy. Cut out wasteful meetings, but make the most of the meetings you do need. Apply these productivity hacks to meetings to ensure that you and your team are as productive as possible:
5. Structure your day strategicallyHave you ever noticed that you tend to be more productive in the morning, even without a cup of coffee? This is because, for the average adult on a normal schedule, your energy levels naturally spike shortly after you awake due to your circadian rhythms and cortisol levels. Thanks to our agrarian roots, this was the time of day when you would typically go out and do manual labor, so our bodies created a little internal alarm clock to wake us up. For this reason, I always do my most creative work such as writing and strategy planning, which requires lots of focus, early in the morning. You can also plan out tasks based on your general level of alertness. For example, many of us experience a second wind mid-afternoon. So by performing essential tasks when we’re most alert and mindless tasks when we are crashing a little bit, you can get remarkably improved productivity without downing a couple of espressos to stay focused. 6. Block hours and prioritize tasks dailyTo follow up on this, it’s important to plan your day ahead of time. In fact, I like to take time on the weekend or early Monday to block off time for tasks throughout the week to keep my schedule on track. By using a project management software or Google Sheets, you can track progress throughout the week, spend extra time working on tasks when you’re falling behind on, and even gain a little hustle trying to beat the clock on tasks where you are falling behind. For example, blocking off time to even look at emails is a great way to reduce distractions and condense tasks into a small, manageable chunk of time without being overwhelmed. I check my email only three times a day on my “creative” days, which are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and about seven times or so Tuesday and Thursday when I plan the bulk of my meetings and more administrative work. 7. Daily breaksOf course, don’t forget to block off downtime throughout your day and week for breaks. While breaks will momentarily stop productivity, taking a 15-minute break here or there will actually make you more productive throughout the day overall. Not only do breaks make you more productive, but they make you more alert and a better decision-maker. For example, a famous study of Israeli judges found that judges who took two breaks in the day prior to granting detainees parole were more likely to grant parole. On the other hand, judges who had not taken breaks typically chose the safest or most simplistic answer of just denying detainees parole altogether. In addition, this study from Stanford showed that writers and other creatives who were stuck with writer’s block benefited tremendously from talking walks to clear the mind. I also cease all work duties at 6 p.m. every Wednesday, and spend alone time either in the woods hiking, riding motorcycles, or in my office reading with a bottle or two of wine. I shut off completely, and reset myself for the rest of the week’s duties. This means no computers or checking work emails or social media from my phone. I also do the same thing for the entire day Sunday, which is mostly spent with family to recharge. 8. Prioritize well-beingThe more mental clarity your team has daily, the sharper the focus and productivity. While you don’t need an entire yoga studio or massage center like those found at Google headquarters, some tips to improve mental clarity and reduce stress throughout the day include:
9. Reduce distractionsCreating a calm environment involves reducing distractions. Whether you have an open office layout, cubicles, or are remote, there are a few ways to reduce distractions throughout the day, which will help your team focus:
10. ZERO multitaskingUnfortunately, our attention span can only focus on so much, and multi-tasking is often a distraction in and of itself. Train staff and yourself to focus on single tasks simultaneously, even if it means blocking off points of the day for communication, like email and Slack. Perhaps the most straightforward study arrives from the classroom. One ScienceDirect study found that college students who multitasked during homework and class assignments took longer to complete their homework and had a worse GPA. 11. Create project management sheetsOne way to help your staff stay focused is to provide them with the proper tools and education to become more productive. For example, project management software and calendar apps have led the way as a resource for individuals to plan out tasks in advance, set due dates and block off time to complete tasks. If you’re looking to save money, I also like to set up simple project management spreadsheets with tasks, checkboxes once a task is complete, due dates, and employee signatures to track and assign tasks. These tools also provide a transparent view of staff members’ productivity and help you identify distractions or tasks they struggle to complete. 12. Explain projects thoroughlyFurthermore, there is no better way to set your staff up for success than by explaining tasks thoroughly to avoid confusion. Many employees struggle to ask questions at work when they are confused about a task. To prevent confusion and anxiety at work, provide detailed explanations and hands-on teaching to help staff master tasks quickly. 13. Provide proper toolsNaturally, in the age of AI and IoT, no agency still conducting manual keyword or backlink research without proper software really stands a chance. So, to boost productivity, you need to invest in the right tools. For example, I like to use Semrush for general keyword research, backlink audits, and topic research. In addition, my team also uses Grammarly to cut down on editing times and provide clients with a polished finished product. 14. Trust factorTransitioning a little bit from individual productivity hacks, the culture you create at your company will be a massive determinant of success and productivity. This article from Harvard Business Review outlines the importance of building a high-trust culture and how it boosts productivity:
If employees are motivated to come to work and feel happy at their job, they are more likely to work harder and contribute as much as they can to improve their workplace. Contrast this to toxic work environments where individuals are most likely to slack, gossip and complain, often not fearing if they will get fired or let go. 15. DiversifyHosting a diverse environment of people with different backgrounds and opinions contributes to knowledge sharing, which boosts the productivity and efficacy of projects. And since most employees demand diversity in the workplace, this improves your overall culture and the well-being of your employees. Again, happier employees are more productive ones. 16. Gratitude for allI’m a big proponent of positive reinforcement and its efficacy in forming positive habits. While discipline is effective at curbing bad habits, rewarding productive members with gratitude is a great way to reinforce positive habits, improving productivity. 17. Constructive feedbackDiscipline for the sake of discipline is rarely effective. Rather, if you want to curb unproductive habits at work, you need to provide constructive feedback with solutions for employees to improve their habits. For example, if I come back to you and say this article is poorly written without any feedback, how are you supposed to address my specific criticisms or improve? Make feedback constructive and a learning process. 18. AuthenticityAs previously stated, high-trust cultures tend to be more productive. Well, one way to build trust is to be authentic, open and honest with employees. Building trust with your employees and establishing a positive company culture starts with your actions as a founder. So by being genuine and transparent with employees, you can cultivate trust, build their confidence, and boost their productivity. 19. Establish visionA major part of building trust is transparency and being on the same page as employees. Establishing a shared vision for company growth and branding is a great way to build trust across your organization and also make employees feel like they are a part of your agency, not that they just work for it. Actualizing your company’s vision will require tons of hard work, which is where proper time management and productivity hacks come into play. 20. Set realistic goalsTo bring your vision to life and improve the productivity of your employees, you need to set goals. Goal setting can increase employees’ productivity by 11 to 25 times. Most importantly, big goal setting has the largest impact. The logic is quite clear; when employees feel like they are working for something, they are more committed to seeing it through. Even in an immediate sense, goal setting makes you one step closer to your goal just by setting expectations and tracking progress. 21. Challenge employees with stretch goalsStretch goals are high-risk, high-reward goals that require a lot of effort and creative problem-solving. While wellness and proper guidance are all nice ways to boost employee productivity and happiness, sometimes it takes adversity to see what employees are made of. So be sure to challenge leading team members from time to time with ambitious tasks to push them out of their comfort zones. Not only will employees learn more through this process, but they may even come close to reaching these goals, thus improving your agency’s efficiency beyond previous limits. Build a culture and train employees on good habits that lead to better business outcomesBy reinforcing these habits through continued education and guidance, your team can form long-lasting habits that will help make your agency operate the leanest possible. And lean means higher profit margins, which equates to a sustainable business. The post 21 ways to keep your marketing team productive appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/keep-marketing-team-productive-386011 The presence of knowledge panels has been increasing in Google’s SERPs for years. As a result, the classic search results, also known as “10 blue links,” are getting more competition when it comes to attracting the attention of the searcher. Or should we better call it the “questioners”? Because most search queries are implicitly formulated questions that require an answer. Google wants to use the SERP features to answer the questions directly. These features are a window into the Knowledge Graph or are directly or indirectly associated with it. This article will explain how Google creates knowledge panels – and how they work. What are knowledge panels?Entities play a direct or indirect role in many search queries. That is why you will find different box variants in the SERPs for many search queries. As soon as Google recognizes that with a search query as a subject directly after the entity asked about knowledge panel delivered. The knowledge panel can also be called an entity box and it is delivered for almost all entity types. However, a knowledge panel is not delivered for every entity of a type. The entity must be captured in the Knowledge Graph. One of the fundamental questions for SEOs is which entities to include in the Google Knowledge Graph. According to Google, only named entities from the classes of the following entity types are primarily recorded in the Knowledge Graph.
However, not all entities from these classes are associated with a knowledge panel presented in the SERPs. The entities must have a certain social relevance or authority in the respective area. The classic knowledge panel can be recognized by the share button in the upper area of the panel. Knowledge panels are not to be confused with business boxes. These are not based on the Knowledge Graph, but on an entry on Google Business. To what extent the data from Google Business is also taken into account in the Knowledge Graph is not clear, but it is not unlikely. Google uses different templates for the knowledge panel. The placeholders for the content in the knowledge panel vary depending on the entity or entity type that is searched for. The placeholders are based on the standard attributes of the respective entity type. How does Google determine the relevance of an entity to serve a knowledge panel?The criteria by which Google evaluates this relevance are not clearly documented or there are no concrete statements from Google. Wikipedia plays a special role for the proof entity. The surest way to be recognized as an entity is to have an entry on Wikipedia. But other platforms that provide semi-structured data, such as Soundcloud, can also be used by Google to identify entities, as the hack for the keyword “SEO services India” has shown. There it becomes clear that SoundCloud was used as the source for the entity detection. Websites such as SoundCloud or Wikipedia always present information in a consistent structure. This means that the information can be easily extracted from the websites without mark-ups. How does Google create a knowledge panel?The knowledge panels were first presented in the SERPs with the introduction of the Knowledge Graph in 2012. In the Google patent Providing knowledge panels with search results, one finds the basic methodology and purpose of the knowledge panel. The purpose for users of a Search engine is described as follows.
Here is an excerpt from the patent on the methodology for delivering the knowledge panel:
The basic functionality when delivering a knowledge panel can be summarized in the following process steps:
I find it exciting to realize that each entity type is assigned its own knowledge panel template with corresponding placeholders. The entity type of the respective entity represented by a knowledge panel is always specified below the name of the entity. Depending on which standard attributes are assigned to the entity type and for which attributes the values are available, content is specified in the knowledge panel. Example entity type “Canadian rapper” in musician Drake’s knowledge panel How does Google generate images for the knowledge panel?Regarding the question of which images are selected for the knowledge panel, I looked at some Google patents from the last few years. Selection of representative imagesThis patent describes how Google could select representative images for entities of the type “person” for the corresponding knowledge panel. The steps are as follows:
The selection of possible images as well as the clustering of these into categories is determined depending on the proximity to the entity as well as the aspect ratio. It will be very likely that machine learning methods are used. We get an idea of possible categories by looking at the image search. System and method for associating images with semantic entitiesAnother exciting Google patent related to images and entities describes how Google Images could assemble the images for semantic pre-selection.
In this patent, images are labeled with attributes. through which the images can be assigned to specific entities. These attributes are initially identified via image recognition of an initial image. Additional attributes are added via attributes of similar images and similar entities, presumably of the same type. This is how the meaning of the picture emerges. These patents describe some approaches to how Google could specify images for knowledge panels. In my opinion, the source of the image is also decisive, which image Google selects the most relevant image for an entity and thus uses in the knowledge panel. Popular sources for people’s pictures seem to include Wikidata, Wikipedia, Wikimedia, social media profiles (e.g., LinkedIn, Twitter) and well-known magazines. To what extent the ranking in the image search correlates with the selection of the image(s) for the knowledge panel is unclear. The influence of the Knowledge Graph is growing fastThe influence of SERP features is increasing every year and with it the influence of the Knowledge Graph on the search results. The classic blue links are losing more attention and thus relevance. Entities are at the center of the Knowledge Graph and will have an increasing impact on the SERPs. With regard to voice search, SERP features such as featured snippets and knowledge panels also play an important role. The changes in the SERPs due to the MUM update can already be seen, as can the increasingly central role of entity-based searches. Therefore, SEOs should no longer perceive this topic as a “nice-to-have.” The Knowledge Graph should be included in your SEO strategies. The post How Google creates knowledge panels appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/how-google-creates-knowledge-panels-386025 Organizations have been investing resources into improving their Core Web Vitals scores, according to new research. Enterprise SEO platform BrightEdge has compared the top rankings for 500 keywords, from this year to last, in four markets: education, B2B technology, finance and retail. Core Web Vitals, one year later. It’s been just over a year since Google’s page experience update started rolling out June 15, 2021. It was completed Sept. 2. The three Core Web Vitals website performance metrics were a subset of the overall Page Experience Update. Those metrics are:
Page experiences are improving. Here’s the data from BrightEdge: On average:
Why we care. SEOs weren’t sold on Core Web Vitals. However, this research shows that companies have been taking Core Web Vitals seriously. It is impossible to point to Core Web Vitals as the sole reason for any ranking boosts or declines. But smart SEO requires driving incremental gains. And every possible positive signal you can give Google (such as good Core Web Vitals scores) is a potential way to positively influence your ranking and visibility. The post Core Web Vitals scores improving for top-ranked sites appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/core-web-vitals-scores-research-386036 SEO is ongoing. It isn’t a one-time thing. Achieving the results you desire requires disciplined thinking and focus. If you dive into the weeds too quickly, you may find that hours or days have passed and you’ve invested time into areas that may not have any real impact in the end. While agility is key on an ongoing basis in SEO, it is equally important to have a solid strategy and plan upfront. A strategy and plan, with a clear direction and baseline, allows for:
Being both proactive and reactive (within a moment) is important, whether you’re working for yourself, your boss, or your clients. Here’s why. Goal setting“What are your goals?” This is the first question you should ask when someone reaches out for SEO help. Define them. Document them. Knowing what you need SEO to produce is critical. Goals are a critical filter for all strategic and tactical plans. Goals could be:
When you don’t know what the end goals are – and how to reach them – you can waste a lot of time and resources guessing or floating from SEO tactic to tactic. Defining target audiencesYou need to define who you’re trying to reach and how they search and behave online. Once you do that, you can map out conversion paths, funnels, and ways to target and engage them. In addition to knowing who you want to reach, it’s also critical to know the size of the net that you’re casting. Sometimes, goals can be too big for the opportunity that SEO presents. Reaching a certain audience could be too ambitious. Or perhaps the competition is simply too great to get meaningful results. Keyword research tools, industry/market research and sources within your industry can help you research and define your target audience, as well as with persona development. Competitor researchWhen you know who your audience is and what topics and keywords map out to your conversion goals, you have a narrowed competitor landscape to review. Dive deep into who owns the SERP real estate for terms and topics that you want to drive traffic to your site. Use SEO tools to identify, set up monitoring and an ongoing plan to track the competitors. This will give you a reference point and can help you understand why they are ranking. KPI definitionGoals and KPIs are not the same. Yes, you might have a single KPI that is tied to an end goal, but you can measure several data points that may be close to, or far away from, a conversion goal. Don’t jump into your action plan before you define the KPIs that matter based on your goals, target audience, and funnels. While average position and impressions might not be close to the end goal of a lead submission or e-commerce transaction, they are necessary to get there. Define all the KPIs that matter. Put emphasis and priority on the ones that will be indicators and progress metrics versus those that are tied directly to the end goals. Be consistent with them and map them out in advance. Baselines and benchmarksUsing what you know about audiences, competitors and the KPIs that matter to you, it’s important to understand your current performance. You want to objectively measure the return on investment and outcome of your efforts over time. Now is the time to capture baselines of your own performance and benchmarks of how they stack up against the industry. Plus, we can compare them to our ultimate goals and see how far we need to go. This can range from visibility through rankings and average position to impressions to visits and conversions. There are engagement metrics that you can look at as well as to how visitors are moving through defined funnels. To get this data, you can use SEO tools or Google Analytics’ benchmarking report. Be sure to document benchmarks. These metrics will become your baseline and define your starting point so you can evaluate your efforts in meaningful intervals going forward. Reporting setupNow it’s time to set up your reporting infrastructure. Whether you’re configuring Google Analytics to be your data source, leveraging Google Data Studio, or third party software, you want to get everything in order now. Don’t wait until you’re off and running. In many cases if you don’t have clean data, filters, and segments, you can’t fix the details later. There’s nothing worse than over or under counting and not being able to go back and correct it once you’ve gotten deep into your work. Also, configure your reporting to show the starting points and how you’re tracking toward goals. The reporting should help you tie back to your efforts and gain insights to adjust your strategy as you go. Strategy developmentBy this point, you should be ready to do some final initial auditing and strategy work. A quick technical audit will help you understand how much work is needed to get the technical house in order when you start planning out the work. It will also help you understand how big that effort will be in terms of IT, code and site performance. At the same time, you’ll want to know what kind of effort and strategy is needed for content. Doing a gap analysis, going back to audience and competitor research data, and factoring out how much effort is needed to match and exceed competitors will be critical while also delivering exactly what your audience wants. Use the auditing and reviews to develop a strategy and overall assessment of needs that will go into your tactical plan. Tactical plan and scheduleBy this point, a big picture roadmap should have started to emerge. You’ve identified and defined your big needs. But you can’t do it all at once. How quickly you can reach specific goals will depend on your resources and pacing. Now you need to plan the work, measure it and control the resources in a prioritized way. Put together a phased schedule and plan. All the while knowing there will still be a lot of unknowns as you go through multiple tasks, such as:
You must be proactive, not reactive. Drive an organized strategy and the needed tactics to achieve your plans. Resource planning and roles definitionThis step can happen earlier and/or throughout your planning process. Be careful not to get too deep into crafting the perfect strategy and plan without making sure you have the resources to pull it off. Resources include:
Your stakeholders are important, too. Additionally, any hard costs in terms of vendors and tools shouldn’t be overlooked. These all factor into ROI and as well as how much they can enable or slow your plan and efforts. Avoid overestimating. Also, make the case for more resources if you think your plan can’t deliver on the goals with your current resources. Now is the time to have these conversations – not months or years into an effort. The big ideaI would argue with anyone that SEO is best approached as an ongoing discipline that has proper balance between planned activities and the necessary agility that comes with constant search engine changes and fluidity of the web. Yes, plans are subject to change – maybe even right after they are written and launched. However, the absence of a strategy and plan leads to a reactive approach and one that lacks efficiency, focus and prioritization. Start with a strategy and plan. And revisit it on a regular basis. Take this approach for every new initiative or client. It will make life easier! The post Why SEO must start with strategy, planning appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/seo-strategy-planning-385949 Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) will impact the future of marketing. Optimizing for the future of virtual marketing demands a name, which I am calling virtual environment optimization (VEO). Today, we’re already starting to see the building blocks – and optimization potential – for this new technological world with the metaverse. What is Virtual Environment Optimization (VEO)?VEO is the task of working within a virtual environment and utilizing the resources available to best position the clients’ products and services within an alternative reality. In search engine optimization (SEO), the focus is mainly on utilizing content, its best practices, and a slew of strategies to drive the clients’ website to the top of the search results. With the numerous changes in technology, it became necessary for SEO to adapt to areas such as voice search, map search, mobile search and much more. Considering that there is another technology shift on the horizon with VR and AR, marketing will once again need to consider how clients’ products and services should be marketed in the metaverse or any virtual environment. By coining the term VEO, we can start strategizing how to shift gears towards a more virtual environment for buying and selling products. Why you should consider virtual optimization (VEO) nowStatistics indicate how VR and AR has progressed (and will continue to progress) over the next several years. Currently, in listing the industries where VR is the most useful, marketing and advertising are listed at the bottom, with only 16%. This indicates that there is plenty of room for growth and improvement. According to Finances Online, the top workforce development benefits of VR are as follows:
In just 2020 alone, the combined markets of AR and VR were worth approximately $12 billion. By 2024, it is projected to jump with a large annual growth rate of 54%, resulting in a valuation of $72.8 billion. Virtual reality is projected to change the shopping environment for consumersRetail is the sector that is projected to deliver the largest commercial investment in AR/VR technology in 2024, with $7.3 billion, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC). According to pymnts.com, the home try-on effect will be eliminated by 25% from the benefit of virtual store implementation. As of now, the average e-commerce rate is 2%. With the help of VR, consumers can be influenced by their purchasing decisions. So much so that for 2022, VR statistics show that VR adoption in e-commerce can boost online shopping conversions by 17%. Regarding shopping online, 61% of consumers would rather shop with AR experiences, and 40% would likely spend more on customizable items through AR. Virtual productsWhen looking at how trends may be leaning toward using VR and AR to boost the clients’ visibility, Google is a perfect example. Already Google has worked towards virtual products as early as 2013, with the creation of the Google Glasses. More recently, they have developed the Google Lens, a vision-based computing capability that allows you to “search what you see.” Using your camera, Google Lens will compare the object in the picture to other images and rank them on similarity or relevance. For instance, if you use Google Lens on a product such as jeans or sneakers, Google Lens can provide more information on the product, including the results available to purchase the product. Consumer trends and how they have changedAs a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, online shopping saw a massive increase and changed the way people shop. The commerce platform Kibo surveyed both millennials and Gen Z about their shopping habits. Out of both age ranges, 28% have admitted that they plan to continue online shopping even after the pandemic, as they prefer it over shopping in a physical store. Lisa Kalscheur, Kibo’s CMO, claims that their research proves that people have started to move towards digital channels:
Age is not necessarily a factor in the desire for online shopping. For millennials, 53% of individuals between 25-34 would prefer to find out information about a store online rather than asking the in-store staff for help. The younger generation commonly referred to as “Gen Z,” is extremely focused on online shopping. Gen Z is sustainability-minded and wants to change and update its style constantly. This has led to more non-traditional shopping styles, such as renting clothes. CEO of Rent the Runway, Jennifer Hyman, commented on the younger generation:
Trends are shifting towards a world where we spend more time online and in VR than ever before. It’s only a matter of time before marketing and commerce penetrate this realm. In some cases (Nike and Ikea), they have already ventured into this space. We must consider these factors and prepare for the future ahead of time. What might optimizing a virtual environment look like?The Metaverse offers a great example of the future of VR and marketing. Meta had already taken the initiative to help users monetize on products. In Horizons World – the company’s social metaverse platform – it will start to test “in-world purchases,” allowing Horizon creators to sell virtual items to enhance the worlds they’ve created for users. In addition, Meta hopes to focus on ads in the future of Horizons Worlds. Aside from Meta, we can look at real-world sectors for optimizing virtual environments: GroceriesOnline grocery shopping has taken off, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey from eMeals indicated that 34% of individuals use delivery services to buy groceries online. CEO Forrest Collier said:
As a hypothetical example of VR grocery shopping, imagine virtually entering a Kroger’s. By putting on the VR headset and opening Kroger’s app, you would be transported into a virtual supermarket. This virtual supermarket would be larger than any real physical store in the area and with much more inventory. As the user navigates through the store, they would be able to interact with the products –such as examining the packaging and nutrition panel and finally adding them to their cart. Three students from UCLA conducted a study on VR and grocery stores. They attempted to draw as close of a parallel as possible to a traditional, in-store experience. They’ve imaged the following features using VR, with each step bringing the user to a more detailed viewing and interactive ability:
This then raises the question: how will marketers be able to compete for or determine who receives the “most visible” shelf space and placement of their product? A virtual store equates to a much bigger inventory with more choices than ever before. The goal would be to ensure that the clients’ product gets more visibility rather than remaining “one in the crowd.” Clothes and other product retailersThe future of VR and AR in clothing stores could result in each brand eventually creating its own unique virtual retail outlet. In a virtual setting, consumers would be able to explore an incredibly large inventory, filtering based on style, season, brand, size, etc. There may even be a “virtual mirror” to utilize, similar to MTailor’s custom tailoring services using AR. In terms of marketing, retailers moving towards the VR environment would mean figuring out how to compete for mannequins, maximum shelf visibility, placement of popular brands, popular items, etc. Home goodsAR has already been implemented into the home goods sector. For example, an individual can use their phone to select items and test how they would appear in their home in real-time. The benefit of VR marketing in a shopping environment is that groceries and all retailers will be able to save tremendous amounts of money by going virtual. There will be the ability to cut down (or potentially even eliminate) the number of physical stores, necessary employees and all associated overhead. In addition, there will be fewer brick-and-mortar stores, with large distribution centers for quick and easy delivery. Virtual content will reign supremeThe phrase “content is king” has been used as a motivator for clients when planning content strategies for the creation of pages, blogs, videos, etc. Now, as we start to enter a world of virtual reality, clients will have to shift to keep up with and produce virtual content where it is relevant. Soon we will see Google begin indexing, crawling, and ranking web content based on the visual search results for AR-based content. As a result, SEOs will need to incorporate both augmented and virtual reality into their future content strategies. Marketers will now need to devote more resources to visual content, such as infographics, videos and images. SEO-friendly content will make a client’s site more popular and help their visibility in the search results. With augmented reality, customers would be able to go on a “virtual grocery store” shopping spree within a VR grocery retailer. A virtual store is capable of housing more inventory than any brick-and-mortar location. It can be navigated and easily accessed by consumers. Overall, enhancing your content with augmented reality and well-optimized content is a win-win for both the audience and search engines. The benefit of AR is that both the brand and the customer provide content. This means consumers are more likely to participate in AR if they can add content in real-time. As always, positive and engaging content is likely to have the greatest impact. As technology and trends continue to change over time, it is the responsibility of the marketing to shift their practices to stay up to date with the consumers’ needs. VEO is coming. Will you be ready? The post Virtual environment optimization (VEO) is coming. Ready for it? appeared first on Search Engine Land. via Search Engine Land https://searchengineland.com/virtual-environment-optimization-veo-ready-385743 |
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April 2023
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