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    9 GA4 training courses to help confused marketers

    Saturday, July 1st, 2023

    Marketers have been pulling their hair out trying to get to grips with Google Analytics 4 – fortunately, we’ve got some good news.

    There are a bunch of incredible courses and resources available that’ll boost your confidence and understanding of how to use the new platform.

    Here, we’ve compiled a list of 9 Google Analytics 4 training courses that you may want to consider.

    1. Marketing Land

    Cost: $249

    Level: Advanced

    Duration: Two days

    Search Engine Land’s former ‘Search Marketer of the Year’, Colleen Harris, is running this SMX Masterclass course online live on August 16 and 17. “The Marketing Land course is designed to give people practical applications of GA4,” Harris said. “It’s also looking at GA4 under the theme of ‘I got through July now what do I do?’ So much of GA4 this last year has just been getting things set up now it’s time to go back and say ‘how can I get more out of this tool?’”

    Harris will be covering the following topics:

    2. Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

    Cost: $600

    Level: Three learning levels – principles, intermediate and advanced

    Duration: One day

    This course, put together by The Chartered Institute of Marketing, is available both in-person and online. It sets out to teach marketers how to implement GA4 and show them the advantages this system has over its predecessor, Universal Analytics.

    Key features of the course include:

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    3. Google Analytics 4 Kickstarter

    Cost: $2,500 (for any team size)

    Level: Beginner to intermediate

    Duration: Six hours in total, spread across two three-hour sessions on different days

    Delivered to you and your team live online, no experience is necessary for Measure Lab’s GA4 course – although there are more advanced courses available. The course comprises four modules designed to help marketers get up to speed with Google’s new analytics tool.

    The course covers the following topics:

    4. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for SEO

    Cost: $49.99

    Level: Beginner to intermediate

    Duration: 10 videos

    SEO consultant Joe Hall created this all inclusive GA4 course specifically to help SEOs. In the course, Hall details each step to getting your website set up on GA4, as well as how to build various custom reports for organic traffic.

    The course covers the following topics:

    5. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Complete Course

    Cost: $225

    Level: Intermediate to advanced

    Duration: 7 HD video lessons to watch at your own pace

    Love Data’s practical and comprehensive course was created to help marketers master GA4 and give them a much needed confidence boost. The lessons teach you how to build GA4 reports and use them to improve the performance of your website and/or campaign.

    This course covers the following topics:

    6. Google Analytics 4: Implementation and Configuration

    Cost: $635

    Level: Intermediate

    Duration: One day

    Available in person and online, Jellyfish’s GA4 course was designed for marketers who already have some knowledge of GA4, such how reports are created and data is collected. It teaches all marketers need to know about setting up GA4, configuring and auditing properties and how the new platform differs from UA. Marketers will also have their newfound knowledge put to the test with hands-on, in-platform exercises.

    This course covers the following topics:

    7. Become Great at Google Analytics 4

    Cost: $299

    Level: Intermediate

    Duration: 5 hours 9 minutes

    Created by Charles Farina, Head of Innovation at Adswerve, this course aims to teach marketers everything they need to know to get started with GA4. Farina discusses an array of topics from data integrations to funnels to pathing reports. Upon completion, marketers are awarded a certificate.

    Key features of the course include:

    8. Bespoke GA4 Training Solutions for every business

    Cost: From $1,620

    Level: Beginner to intermediate to advanced

    Duration: One day

    Optix Digital Academy offers bespoke training days, which can be delivered in-person and online, to suit your business’ needs. Marketers are invited to submit a brief detailing specific areas they need assistance with ahead of the course, and an outline of the training day is then agreed between the company and your business.

    This course covers the following topics:

    9. Google Analytics 4 for Beginners - New Google Analytics

    Cost: $70

    Level: Beginner

    Duration: Two-hours on demand video

    This Udemy course is available on mobile and TV, and was created for people starting their careers in digital marketing. A certificate is awarded upon completion with students graduating with new skills in being able to analyze website and campaign performance.

    This course covers the following topics:

    Why we care. One of the most common complaints we saw when reviewing the answers to our GA4 readiness poll was that marketers don’t think Google has provided enough resources with regards to using the new analytics system. If you’re in this boat and are struggling with GA4, it’s essential you brush up on your knowledge so that you can continue to monitor the performance of your campaigns or else you won’t be able to accurately report your successes back to clients.

    What’s the problem with GA4? Marketing Land course creator Colleen Harris told Search Engine Land that there are a lot of differences between UA and GA4, and marketers are finding the changes challenging. “There are a lot of new features in GA4 and workflow updates,” she explained. “This is also a time where most digital marketers are already trying to do so much with little time, and this is one more big thing.”

    Harris added that the attribution changes within GA4 are currently posing the biggest issue to marketers. “Folks are used to getting a lot of data about the users and the reality of marketing is that we all will be getting less data and have to the same with it,” she continued.

    Has Google not provided enough help? Marketers have complained that Google has not given them enough tools and resources to get their heads around GA4. However, Harris tells Search Engine Land that Google has done the best it can given the deadlines it had to meet and the large volume of people they were working with. She said: “All those UA codes come with every level of knowledge and skills, so trying to educate so many people at so many different levels is a feat.”

    Why should marketers invest in GA4 training? Marketers need access to data behind their campaigns to monitor performance, create reports and make adjustments for improved ROI. So it’s essential that advertisers gain confidence in using GA4. “Data is going to flow and GA4 isn’t going to go away, so the more you stay away from it the harder it is to become comfortable with it,” said Harris.

    In addition to needing to know the essentials, GA4 comes with a lot of benefits that could make a huge difference to your campaign. “The conversions path report is one of the best parts of GA4 that lets you start to understand the early, mid and late touch point before the conversions happen,” added Harris. “It opens up a lot in terms of understanding activity before the conversions.”

    Deep dive: For free information and resources on how to us GA4, read the ‘Google Analytics 4 account training guide and support‘ guide.

    The post 9 GA4 training courses to help confused marketers appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    Universal Analytics is officially replaced by Google Analytics 4

    Saturday, July 1st, 2023

    Well, it’s finally happening – the dreaded Universal Analytics sunset has started.

    Here in the United States, UA is still processing data, but we were greeted by an ominous message when we logged into our account this morning:

    This warning started appearing on UA at around 7am EST, once again reminding marketers that they must migrate to Google Analytics 4 to maintain their website measurement.

    Why we care. Today’s forced migration to GA4 is a historic transitional moment in digital marketing. Advertisers now have no choice but to use GA4 if they to track the performance of their websites and campaigns – unless they want to find an analytics alternative outside of Google of course.

    How it works. Google has advised that today’s UA shutdown is being rolled out in stages which is why some marketers may still be able to access certain data. However, all properties that are still functioning are in a queue to be deleted, which will be happening on a rolling bases.

    What has Google said? Google has been warning marketers that they need to migrate over to GA4 for more than a year. On Twitter and via a statement on the Analytics Help Center, Google said:

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    Timeline. The shutdown of Universal Analytics is being rolled out the following stages, with the final phase set for July 2023:

    Deep dive: For more information on how to migrate to GA4, read Google’s ‘Learn how to make the switch‘ guide.

    The post Universal Analytics is officially replaced by Google Analytics 4 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    GA4 readiness: 23% have fully adopted, 50% still learning, 16% yet to begin

    Friday, June 30th, 2023

    In just 48 hours we received around 400 responses to our poll question about Google Analytics 4.

    With the standard version of Universal Analytics sunsetting tomorrow (July 1), we asked you:

    What level of readiness are you (and/or your team) at when it comes to switching to GA4 from Universal Analytics?

    Despite plenty of frustration:

    The takeaway from those statistics: more than 90% of our joint readership is aboard the GA4 train, for better or worse.

    GA4 Poll Graphic

    Why we care. At first glance, this looks like a vote of confidence in Google’s analytics strategy. After all, there are plenty of alternatives to GA4. But it’s not that simple.

    Rightly or wrongly, it’s possible to adopt a tool even though you really don’t like it.

    “An unfinished product rushed to market.”

    “It’s not that the masses aren’t ready for GA4, it’s that GA4 isn’t ready for the masses. The UI is terrible.”

    “Terrible UI, terrible reporting.”

    Selected comments from poll respondents.

    We might need to wait a while to see if people can make GA4 work for them or if frustrations with it start to make the alternatives look more attractive.

    The post GA4 readiness: 23% have fully adopted, 50% still learning, 16% yet to begin appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    YouTube stops playing videos for people with ad blockers in new trial

    Friday, June 30th, 2023

    YouTube is disabling videos for people using ad blockers as part of a new trial.

    The social media platform is asking users to either turn ad blockers off or pay £11.99 a month for YouTube Premium if they want access to its extensive video library.

    Why we care. If this trial is expanded to the general population, all YouTube users, who want to continue watching videos for free, will be forced into allowing ads to play. This is great news for marketers as it will increase reach for campaigns, which ultimately, could result in more conversions.

    How it works. Right now, the trial is being tested on a small group of people around the world that have ad blockers enabled. When they sign in to watch content, all videos will be blocked unless they either change their settings to disallow ad blocker or they sign up for YouTube Premium.

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    What has YouTube said? Oluwa Falodun, a spokesperson for Google, told The Verge in a statement:

    Why now? YouTube has said that it is taking these measures to ensure that its content creators are compensated for their work. “YouTube’s ad-supported model supports a diverse ecosystem of creators, and provides billions of people globally access to content for free with ads,” the company said in a statement.

    Deep dive: For more information on YouTube’s ad policy, you can visit the YouTube Advertising hub.

    The post YouTube stops playing videos for people with ad blockers in new trial appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    Buy on Google program to shut down Sept. 26

    Thursday, June 29th, 2023

    Buy on Google for Search and Shopping will shut down Sept. 26, the company announced today via an email sent to participating retailers.

    Why we care. Google says it is dropping Buy on Google to create a new “streamlined buying journey for shoppers” that makes it easier for retailers to sell on Google and YouTube.

    What Google is saying. A Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land:

    New pilot. We’re told that more merchants are already using Google’s new checkout pilot than Buy on Google. Google has created a new form if you’re interested in the new checkout pilot.

    Here’s what we know about Google’s plan for a “more streamlined buying journey for shoppers,” according to this page:

    The email. Here’s a copy of an email Google is sending to merchants today:

    Building great checkout experiences is something we’re focused on, and are always evolving. We’re writing to inform you that, as of September 26, 2023, the current Buy on Google program will be ending in the United States. We have some new channels that we’re excited to be testing (more info below), however, we wanted to share some key details about Buy on Google.

    1. Your participation in Buy on Google will end on September 26, 2023 and no listings on Search or Shopping will show the Buy on Google option. If you are currently onboarding, you will be removed from the process today. 
    2. All orders received through September 2023 should be fulfilled with return policies honored, regardless of program termination. 
    3. You have the option to terminate your participation in the program sooner than September if you feel this choice is more beneficial for your business.  Please reach out to support for assistance with doing this.
    4. Order data will be available for one year post program ending. You can access your reports via the instructions here.
    5. No action is required from you to end the program. 

    We will continue to introduce new ways to optimize the way users navigate to checkout on our platforms, and look forward to continued engagement with our retail partners on other products such as our new checkout pilot and all other areas of collaboration through our tools, insights and training. 

    We’re excited about the  streamlined checkout experience we introduced last year, wherein consumers who are ready to buy will have the option to go directly from a listing on Google to the checkout flow on your website. Once there, they will see the chosen product already in their shopping cart and can checkout on your site with whatever payment method they select.  *Merchants using the new Google checkout feature see an improvement in gross merchandise value (GMV) between 1-10%

    • *Source: Google Data, US, Retail, March 2023. [Caveat: Data pulled for existing pilot merchants]

    Learn More:

    • If you are interested in joining the checkout pilot, please complete the interest form here. 
    • Please note, if you are selected to join the checkout pilot ahead of September, any current Buy on Google experiences you have running will stop showing effective immediately.  
    • For those not selected to participate in the pilot, we will reach out to you once the solution is more widely available so you can onboard then! 

    For any questions or support regarding terminating your participation, please contact our support team or reach out to your Google contact.

    The post Buy on Google program to shut down Sept. 26 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    GA4 for B2B: How to track events and conversions

    Thursday, June 29th, 2023

    Starting July 1, Universal Analytics will no longer collect data. B2B companies looking to track their web or app performance must use Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

    GA4 provides extensive capabilities for visualizing and analyzing data. 

    To avoid being overwhelmed by the abundance of data, it is crucial to fully understand the tool and determine key metrics for your business. This ensures effective measurement of web traffic in GA4.

    This guide explores how to set up and track events and conversions for B2B companies.

    How to measure web traffic through GA4?

    To properly analyze website traffic in GA4, the first thing to understand is GA4’s acquisition reports, which are divided into two main groups with different purposes:

    Hence, companies, whether B2B, ecommerce or SaaS, can use these reports to analyze the sources of users or traffic on their websites.

    However, the situation changes when you move on to the next report provided by GA4, the Engagement report, which enables you to analyze events and conversions. 

    By default, the tool offers a wide list of events on our website. While they may all look useful, not all are equally important. 

    So, how do you identify the most valuable events for B2B companies and properly measure them? Let’s find out.

    How to track events and conversions in GA4 for B2B companies

    Define key KPIs for your business

    To effectively track the main conversions on a B2B website, the first step is to define the most relevant KPIs for the company. 

    Generally, the main conversions for B2B companies include:

    When visualizing the events or conversions report for the first time, you’ll notice that GA4 records different events. 

    However, none correspond to the defined KPIs for a B2B website.

    GA4 events
    GA4 events - Conversions

    To track the main conversions for your B2B company, you need to identify each type of event and set it up.

    GA4 event classification

    In GA4:

    There are four ways of classifying how to measure events in GA4:

    It is best to follow the GA4 event classification guidelines to create your website’s own events. You can also create them in a recommended or customized way using Google Tag Manager.

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    From the KPI to the event: How to configure events in GA4 for B2B

    Once you have defined the main KPIs for your B2B company, you need to identify the event to collect and learn how to set it up accurately. 

    Key events for B2B websites are not automatically triggered. They need to be tracked using GA4 and Google Tag Manager.

    GA4 for B2B - KPIs and events

    Let’s take a closer look at each one.

    File downloads

    Need to track when a user opens or downloads a file (such as a product manual or datasheet) from the website? 

    One of the best solutions is to use the enhanced measurement event called file_download. 

    This event is triggered when a user clicks a link to a file with common file extensions such as documents, text files, executables, presentations, compressed files, videos, or audios.

    To activate this event, go to Admin > Data Streams, select the data, and enable Enhanced measurement.

    File downloads

     Then, check if the File downloads event is activated.

    File downloads

    Google Analytics 4 triggers the file_download event when the clicked file extensions match the following regex:

    pdf|xlsx?|docx?|txt|rtf|csv|exe|key|pp(s|t|tx)|7z|pkg|rar|gz|zip|avi|mov|mp4|mpe?g|wmv|midi?|mp3|wav|wma

    To check if it is triggered correctly, go to DebugView (Admin > DebugView):

    File download - DebugView

    If the event is being tracked, everything works as intended. 

    You can now mark it as a conversion so that the results for this metric will appear in the events and conversions reports.

    To mark the event as a conversion, go to Admin > Conversions.

    File download - conversion

    After marking it as a conversion, when you validate using DebugView, the event will no longer appear in blue as a general event. 

    Instead, it will appear in green, indicating it has been marked as a conversion.

    File download - marked as conversion

    Triggering file download events via Google Tag Manager

    The event may not be triggered correctly depending on the website’s CMS or how it is coded. 

    In such cases, you’ll need to create a trigger using Google Tag Manager. (You must have a Tag Manager account set up and linked to GA4.)

    A trigger for when the file is clicked: You will configure the necessary parameters to track file downloads on our website. 

    For example, in the case of a PDF file, you can do it as in the following image:

    GTM file download trigger

    A customized trigger: If the previous method doesn’t work, you will create a custom event based on web insights. For instance:

    Finally, create the tag with the necessary parameters, either based on your own judgment or following GA4’s recommendations for this event.

    GTM custom trigger

    Once the tag is created, analyze and verify that the event is correctly triggered. 

    This step ensures that the event tracking functions as expected and the data is accurately recorded.

    GTM tags fired

    The parameters associated with the event will provide you with additional information about how users interact with the website through these events. It helps you gain insights into user behavior and engagement. 

    Every time you include events via Google Tag Manager, you must add them to GA4 through the Admin > Custom definitions section.

    Video reproductions

    Want to track interactions with videos on the site? You can use the video engagement event, which is also an enhanced measurement event.

    This event is activated in phases:

    To set up the tracking, check if Enhanced measurement is enabled and ensure that the Video engagement event is enabled within it.

    Video engagement - Enhanced measurement

    Next, verify if the tracking of the video engagement event is properly monitored and recorded.

    Video engagement - phases

    If it works successfully, activate it as a conversion.

    However, if the data is not collected correctly, you need to trigger it via Google Tag Manager.

    Form submission

    To monitor form submissions, such as requests for quotations or to ask for more information, use the enhanced measurement event: form_submit.

    Check if Form interactions is enabled in Enhanced measurement.

    Form interactions - Enhanced measurement

    If it is being registered correctly via DebugView, you can configure it as a conversion.

    Form-submit - DebugView

    Form submits via Google Tag Manager

    If, for some reason, the event is not triggered, you can set it up through Google Tag Manager.

    To do so, activate all the variables to collect the required data for forms. 

    Activate all variables

    Then, create a general trigger for all forms in GTM. From here, you can generate tags and triggers either for all forms or specific to each form.

    Generate tags and triggers

    An example of a trigger configuration for a contact page form:

    Trigger configuration for a contact page form

    Once this is done, create the tag with the recommended parameters or whatever is necessary according to your goals:

    Tag configuration - recommended parameters

    Finally, verify that the event is triggered.

    Form-submit - trigger fired

    Lead generation, calls and emails

    As a B2B company, tracking various leads from calls, emails, or subscriptions to forms like newsletters are important. 

    GA4 does not define these events automatically. So, below are two ways to monitor these interactions on your website.

    Generate_lead as recommended event

    You can collect interactions such as newsletter form subscriptions using the recommended event generate_lead, which can be triggered when a user submits a form or a request for information.

    To trigger it, in this case, the quickest recommended method is via Google Tag Manager.

    First, you need to create the trigger. For example, when a user subscribes to a newsletter:

    Generate_lead - newsletter subscription

    And then generate the tag and check that it is working:

    Tag configuration - subscribe_newsletter

    Finally, check with DebugView that it is activated and flag it as a conversion. It may take a few hours for this option to appear.

    Generate_lead - DebugView

    Leads as custom events

    However, suppose you don’t want to group subscriptions or other forms of requesting information with, for instance, calls or emails within the same analysis group. In that case, this can be done using custom events. 

    When naming the event, it’s ideal to make it similar to other events to simplify the data analysis. For example, when clicking on a phone to call, the event could be called click_phone.

    To create this event, you would follow the same process as in the generate_lead, using Google Tag Manager.

    First, create the trigger.

    Leads as custom events

    And then, set up the tag:

    Click_phone - tag configuration

    How to visualize the data?

    Collecting key metrics for B2B websites is crucial, but it’s also important to visualize them quickly.

    To visualize the generated conversions, go to Reports > Engagement > Conversions or create customized reports through the GA4 Exploration section.

    Visualize the generated conversions

    You can also create these reports using Looker Studio, as it allows easy integration with GA4.

    Looker Studio - visualization

    Then, you can create dynamic reports with all the events and conversions set up.

    Create dynamic reports

    GA4 for B2B: Hone in on what matters to your business

    GA4 provides a lot of data. This is why defining the most relevant metrics for your business is so important.

    This way, you can track priority KPIs and analyze your performance efficiently.

    The post GA4 for B2B: How to track events and conversions appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    Bing adds new AI-powered shopping tools

    Thursday, June 29th, 2023

    Microsoft has announced new AI-powered shopping tools powered by Bing and Bing Chat. These include new price match monitors, AI-generated buying guides, and review summaries, all aimed to “help you shop and save with confidence,” Microsoft said.

    Price match monitors. These new price match monitors show you a product’s price after you purchase that product. This is so you can request a pricing match from the store you bought it from if that price changes after you ordered it.

    Microsoft said they have “partnered with top US retailers with existing price match policies and will be adding more over time.” This is launching in the US search results soon, Microsoft told us.

    Here is a video of how Bing’s sidebar shows you the price history over time and also alerts you after the price drops:

    Buying guides. Bing now uses AI to generate buying guides based on the product or category of products that you are researching. The AI-generated buying guides will also provide you with product suggestions, show you the specifications of those items side-by-side and potentially offer other smarter comparison interfaces to help you along your buying journey.

    These buying guides will launch in Bing in the US today and in the Edge browser worldwide today.

    Here is a video of those buying guides in action:

    Review summaries. Bing will also give you review summaries if you ask for them in Bing Chat or the Edge sidebar. The review summaries will summarize what customers are saying online about the product you are researching. It will also use AI to generate top insights and popular opinions about the products.

    This rolls out worldwide today across Bing.

    Here is what it looks like:

    Here is a video of it in action:

    Why we care. It is fascinating to watch how Bing Chat and other AI-based search features are expanding, getting more useful and being more human-like. Clearly, if you are a retailer, getting your products into Bing Shopping is important here. But what opinions and summaries the AI-generates also will be interesting to follow.

    The post Bing adds new AI-powered shopping tools appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    7 PPC planning tips when entering a new geographic market

    Thursday, June 29th, 2023

    Whether you’re opening retail locations in a new state or selling your software in a new country, entering a new geographic location requires a well-thought-out marketing strategy. 

    Paid media can be a foundational tool for cost-efficient sales generation from prospective customers in the new market. 

    This article provides several suggestions for tailoring your PPC efforts toward a region new to your brand.

    1. Estimate search volume

    Looking at projected search volume in advance will help you:

    Google’s and Microsoft’s respective Keyword Planner tools offer free solutions to estimate volume for each platform. 

    Note that any data is approximate based on historical searches and can be particularly inaccurate for more niche queries. 

    Ultimately, you can use data after launching the campaigns to get an idea of actual volume. 

    2. Add regional keywords

    If you’re promoting a business with local presence, think through regional terms that make sense to incorporate into keywords. These could include:

    Additionally, your phrase and broad match keywords should pick up on queries that include local modifiers. 

    For instance, the keyword “furnace repair” may show for the query “charlotte furnace repair.” 

    Watch your search terms for local queries and add the ones that show significant enough volume or have converted. 

    3. Customize assets

    While you may take learnings from existing markets as to what ad copy assets perform best, you should consider where to tailor ad copy to the region. 

    For instance, use location insertion to show city names in ads if applicable. 

    On the landing page end, include location callouts and pictures of landmarks from the region you’re targeting so prospects can see you’ve taken the time to identify with their area.

    Additionally, consider offers you can put in front of people in the new area. 

    If you just opened new brick-and-mortar locations, you may be able to offer a free gift to the first 1,000 customers who visit and can mention that in your ad to promote while supplies last.

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    4. Check conversion tracking and tagging

    This is an area that can all too easily slip through the cracks when launching a new marketing effort. 

    You need to be sure you’re getting accurate conversion data from the start to report on performance and allow ad platforms time to learn.

    If you’re pushing traffic to new landing pages from new ad campaigns, make sure that you’re tracking results properly. 

    You may need to configure new conversion tracking or ensure existing pixels are carried over to these pages.

    Depending on how you track lead performance on the backend, you may also need to ensure that URLs are properly tagged. 

    UTM parameters must be unique to these campaigns. Incorporate any custom parameters necessary to sync up with your CRM or automation platform. 

    If you’re offering a coupon code for the new market, you may also need a separate parameter for that.

    5. Find local competitors

    Competitor bidding can be an effective way to reach potential customers if they are searching for a business in a similar realm. They are likely looking for your products/services. 

    Research local competitors that appear popular in your market and incorporate their names into keywords.

    Because competitor keywords can often be pricier, test segmenting out these keywords into their own campaign. 

    As a bonus, research top selling points for competitors and read their reviews to identify pain points to capitalize on. 

    For instance, if one competitor gets frequent complaints about poor customer service, emphasize the quality of your service in ad copy.

    Your core search campaigns will also be valuable for identifying new competitors to bid on as you review search terms. 

    You’ll see what competitor names appear the most and which ones are likely to convert.

    6. Support search with other channels

    While this article focuses primarily on tactics for paid search, no marketing channel operates in a bubble. 

    Particularly in a new market, branding efforts via other channels can help to establish familiarity and legitimacy for your business. You can build credibility before people search and recognize your brand name. 

    Additionally, you can create audiences based on people who visit your site or engage with videos and social posts.

    You can then retarget them with offer-focused messaging and layer these audiences onto search campaigns.

    Some potential options for alternate channel efforts include:

    7. Set realistic expectations 

    Establishing CPA/ROAS goals for a new market will inevitably be crucial to planning conversations with business stakeholders. 

    Particularly when entering regions where people are unfamiliar with your brand, you should not expect to be able to drive conversions as efficiently as in markets where you’ve operated for years. 

    The team involved should know that CPAs will likely be higher (and ROAS lower) than in existing markets, at least while getting off the ground. 

    People will just be starting to become familiar with your products or services, and campaigns must go through the learning phase to bid efficiently.

    Additionally, prepare to be flexible and adapt to trends as you monitor them. 

    You may find users have a higher conversion rate than expected, and you may be able to scale budget more quickly than anticipated. 

    Or you may discover that responses are lower than expected and need to experiment with a few different tactics before finding the right combination of messaging and channels that works.

    Start planning

    With these tips in mind, it’s time to get to work planning your campaigns for entering a new market. 

    Think through the channels, keywords, and budget. Work with your technical team to ensure conversion tracking is firing properly and links are properly tagged. 

    Finally, set reasonable expectations for performance and prepare to watch campaigns closely as they get off the ground.

    The post 7 PPC planning tips when entering a new geographic market appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    A 5-step approach to optimizing websites with millions of pages

    Wednesday, June 28th, 2023

    You’ve been tasked to optimize a site that is so massive it makes the Great Wall of China look like a picket fence. And it’s your sole responsibility. You need to make a big SEO impact with fewer resources. What do you do?

    In this article, I’ll share five approaches you can focus on when you’re optimizing massive websites. 

    By the end, you’ll feel confident knowing that you have a battle plan to conquer that great wall of webpages that lie ahead:

    1. Sharpen your weapon, then go to battle

    It’s useful to have a certain mindset about your SEO program before you start. 

    That said, two key steps will help you create an SEO game plan: 

    Let’s look at those in more detail.

    Site analysis

    In the battlefield of the search engine results pages, your website is the weapon. 

    So your first mission: Sharpen that weapon by making the site the best it can be so that you’re not your own worst enemy. 

    A site analysis will uncover the things that are hindering your rankings. 

    You can do this in a couple of ways:

    Diagnostic tools

    The average SEO tool is meant to repair your site, not rank it. In other words, it will not tell you how to rank but what you need to fix based on best practices.

    Most businesses use diagnostic tools to do a self-audit. While it can uncover some useful information, there are a couple of limitations:

    For example, let’s say you’re seeing a drop in organic search traffic. The diagnostic tool will not be able to understand what factors contribute to that – is it due to an algorithm update? Did your site recently migrate? Is your content bad?  

    So, it is the diagnostic tool operator’s job (a.k.a. you) to be able to take the data and apply wisdom to ensure you are focusing on the most impactful things.  

    Some tools you might consider for diagnosing your site include:

    SEO audits

    Nothing beats the strategies you can uncover from a professional-level SEO audit that marries diagnostic tools with expert wisdom from an SEO vendor. 

    In addition to running the best tools, an SEO expert conducting a site audit can:

    Competitive analysis

    Once you’ve sharpened your tool, it’s time to go to the battlefield in the SERPs, where your second mission is to beat the competition (not the algorithm). 

    Remember, you cannot attempt to beat an infinitely large algorithm. 

    By focusing on what your competition is doing, and trying to do as well as them or better, you set the stage for a more manageable battle.  

    Here again, you will rely on tools to help you uncover your competition’s strategy. 

    You are looking to find things like who your true competitors are, and recommendations on optimizing your webpages based on the top-ranked pages in the SERPs.

    Some tools you might consider for competitive research include:

    By understanding your site and your competition, you can enter the battlefield with a clearly defined plan. This makes managing a large site’s SEO less overwhelming.

    2. Focus on global changes

    When you have a massive website, every change needs to count. That means looking at the things that can elevate the entire site or key pages across the site. 

    One of the obvious wins here is improving your website performance (and your content, but more on that later). 

    You can tackle things like:

    Website speed

    Website speed can impact many things: The user experience, your website rankings and conversions … so this is something to take seriously. 

    Google conducted some research on speed and its impact on users back in 2017 (highlighted below), and while the data is a bit old, the message still holds.

    Website speed - Google stats

    As you look at your site, you may find that some of your pages may load slower than others. If that happens on your most important pages, you want to start there. 

    And you may have groups of pages with the same template where making a few changes can improve speed across all those types of pages. 

    Some things you may need to address are:

    Some helpful tools and resources for this include:

    (Note that, technically, the old page speed algorithm has been replaced by core web vitals, which I’ll cover next.)

    Core web vitals

    Core web vitals focus on factors that create a good user experience on your website, this includes:

    Google says that “if at least 75 percent of page views to a site meet the ‘good’ threshold, the site is classified as having ‘good’ performance for that metric.”

    This most likely only matters to the top-performing pages on the site, though, not the entire site, as pointed out in this Google SEO office hours: 

    However, Google has noted that some sites may not need to dedicate too many resources to core web vitals, or obsess about the scores:

    IMO most people don't need to do anything different. This is not a change in how ranking works, it's more about how we've been thinking about these elements. We've seen people hyper-focus on these numbers, that's not a good use of time & energy. Think holistically instead.

    — John Mueller (official) · #StaplerLife (@JohnMu) April 22, 2023

    Several tools offer lab and field data that can help you understand core web vitals:

    So look at the most critical pages on the site, and run some tests to see what can be improved.

    Mobile-friendliness

    Ensuring your site is mobile-friendly is a no-brainer in today’s mobile-centric world. Of course, there’s also Google’s mobile-first indexing.

    There is more to consider than you may think in order to have a mobile-friendly site. In general, you will want to think about:

    Tools that can help you along the way include:

    Code optimization

    Because the code on your website can impact a search engine’s ability to crawl your website, you can consider optimizing that code. 

    Again, you can start with certain page templates or key page types and go from there.

    Checking out W3.org’s developer tools can be helpful. 

    Validators and tools

    But a warning for beginners: You can spend a lot of time and resources trying to chase perfect code and the effort doesn’t always match the outcome. 

    So it’s wise to know how to prioritize the recommendations, and you may need expert help from a developer who also understands SEO or vice versa.

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    3. Improve the top-performing pages 

    Another area to laser focus your SEO efforts when you are contending with a large website is the top-performing pages. 

    Typically, a handful of webpages drive the majority of organic traffic to a website. Look at those first.

    This is consistent with an Ahrefs study which found that out of billions of webpages, only about 4% of them received any meaningful traffic at all.

    Ahrefs traffic study

    In other words: If you have to choose between optimizing a product page that drives a lot of traffic to your site versus a lesser-known product page featuring a left-handed socket wrench with a light on it, choose the top performer.

    You can easily track down your top-performing pages using Google Analytics, and you can also use information from Search Console.

    Pages report in Google Analytics.

    In terms of how you improve these pages, again, you’ll want to focus on page analysis and competitor analysis. 

    Run some diagnostic tools like those linked earlier to get a sense of where those pages are, then compare that to the top-ranked pages in the SERPs for the queries you are targeting.

    As part of this, you may need to strengthen the content, so look at your content with a critical eye, too.

    4. Focus on pages that target head terms

    In my experience, maybe 15% of a website is targeting its “head” terms – the broader, more generic keywords/queries that people use when searching for what you have to offer. 

    Ultimately, you can drive a ton of traffic if you can rank for these more generic terms – and they can be million-dollar keywords. 

    So if I were to focus my efforts on a large site, I would want to optimize the pages that target head terms (the landing pages), and then secondly, optimize all the subpages that support them. 

    This typically means you need solid information architecture – how you organize your content. 

    If you already have well-organized content that supports your head terms, then you’d focus on optimizing those pages using some of the tools and strategies I’ve already mentioned. 

    If you don’t, however, you may need to do some reorganization of the content, links and navigation on your site. This is where SEO siloing comes in handy.

    SEO siloing is a form of website content organization and internal linking practices. One of the goals of this strategy is to maximize your site’s relevance for head terms.

    Not only that, but SEO siloing can help by:

    Just to give a quick example: Say you own a power tools business that sells cordless power tools, electric power tools and gas-powered tools.

    You’d start by organizing the website content (and site navigation) into categories supporting the three product lines you sell. 

    Example of siloing website content

    Your SEO program aligns with this because these categories will be the head terms you are after, too.

    Practically, each product line will have its own section on the site with a landing page and supporting pages. 

    The goal is to have well-organized landing pages and supporting pages with helpful, expert content that aligns with how people search and learn about the things you have to offer. 

    Links between the landing pages and their own subpages clarify the relationships for search engine spiders crawling the website.

    You can apply siloing to all types of sites, including ecommerce, B2B and informational sites.

    Of course, this is a highly simplified explanation, and the details of how to make SEO siloing work well are vast.

    Can this be a massive project? Yes. But it depends on the state of the site.

    For some, they may have to do a larger reorganization of the content to achieve their goals, while others may need less effort with perhaps some new internal linking.

    How big of a job this is depends on things like:

    It can be a challenge but well worth it in most cases – it’s one of the ways we get our clients to rank for highly competitive one-word terms. 

    For our final step in optimizing massive websites, let’s look at how you can elevate the quality of a website from an SEO perspective by focusing on the content.

    5. Clean up the content

    Last but not least, having excellent content is a priority. And this can be a huge challenge for large sites.

    When you have massive amounts of content, you will need to divide and conquer. 

    I’ve said previously that website publishers should spend half the time creating new content, and half the time updating old content. 

    (And by the way, if you plan on creating new AI content, see my article on ChatGPT and SEO content.)

    Large websites need a system for:

    Google’s helpful content system looks at the site as a whole, not just at a page level. 

    So if you have some great content, and then a whole bunch of “search engine first” content, it can negatively impact the ability of the site to do well in the search results. 

    As you are evaluating your content, keep some important guidelines in mind from Google:

    Then you will go through all the steps of optimizing those pages after the content is of the highest quality.

    Making SEO for large websites more manageable

    Large sites have their own unique issues. As you stand before the towering fortress that is your website, the divide-and-conquer attitude will help you stay sane. 

    While the task may seem daunting, you can remind yourself that SEO is an ongoing job – so play the long game.

    The post A 5-step approach to optimizing websites with millions of pages appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




    How non-retail advertisers can embrace value-based bidding in Google Ads

    Wednesday, June 28th, 2023

    As Google continues to push for automation, advertisers have gotten more creative about making updated best practices, including smart bidding strategies, work for their companies and verticals. 

    While value-based bidding has become a staple for ecommerce and retail brands, non-retail verticals have struggled to incorporate it effectively into their holistic PPC strategies.

    This article explores the challenges faced by non-retail industries in embracing value-based bidding in Google Ads and how to make it work for your unique business.

    Making value-based bidding work for non-retail brands

    Most ecommerce and retail brands can seamlessly update their bidding strategies to value-based models. 

    The revenue is already set up.

    The conversion path is clearly valued (i.e., add to cart, purchase, first-time or returning purchaser value)

    The steps to transition make sense. 

    But for finance? SaaS? Insurance? Healthcare and education? It’s been a trickier shift for many advertisers in these fields. 

    At its core, value-based bidding takes designated signals noting the quality of a customer into consideration while ultimately optimizing for the highest possible value to the business. 

    This is absolutely attainable for non-retail companies and will function the same way. But it should be treated a bit differently in terms of strategy and setup.

    Think about your business and what you’re most proud of from an advertising or website analytics standpoint: 

    Consider what’s valuable to your company and what tagged activities contribute to the lifetime value of your customers. 

    Once you’ve answered these questions, you’ve proven that value-based bidding will work for your business.

    In the meantime, there are several bigger-picture factors to consider: 

    Below are different options and thought-starters for each step.

    Defining goals: What matters most?

    The funnel stage is an incredibly important piece of the puzzle. 

    For many advertisers, it can feel like there are limited options for which conversion actions are most important to their bid strategy. 

    For example, a B2B company whose main KPI is qualified leads generally cannot optimize that low in their funnel in a bid strategy due to data limitations or low conversion volume. 

    The best case scenario will be to have ~2-4 conversion actions marked with a value for value-based bidding to work effectively. 

    However, many non-retail companies may have difficulty deciding what else is important to them outside their final lead submission or last-step conversion item.

    In many cases, lead form submissions are the last tracked data point via a conversion tag or Floodlight for advertisers to optimize for. 

    Marketers need to remember that every touchpoint is important in a customer’s journey. 

    Maybe you mark a pageview, time on site, and a lead start as your set of conversion actions to include in a bid strategy. 

    Each is a tick in the consumer journey to become a qualified lead. Foundationally, value-based bidding is optimizing for more than lead volume or an efficient tCPA. 

    Any data that advertisers can tag for the algorithm is helpful. 

    The fine line here, however, is determining conversion actions with a high enough conversion volume per month (30-50 actions at minimum) while also being low enough in the funnel to drive higher and more qualified conversion rates. 

    Secondary and tertiary touchpoints: The middle of the iceberg

    If you’re struggling to identify secondary and tertiary goals to include values for, imagine your customers’ journey from their perspective.

    How many pages do they need to visit or buttons do they need to click before completing the primary conversion? 

    If the primary goal is a button click on the homepage, consider including a minimum time on the page as a secondary conversion action to increase the number of qualified leads. 

    If a pageview feels too broad, how about creating an engaged visit action, where the time on page needs to be higher than 30 seconds to count as a conversion? 

    Or visiting 3-4 pages, using Google Analytics data to create a custom conversion? 

    From there, you can hone in on the most impactful chunk of the funnel before losing out to offline data that may be unavailable or hard to import on a consistent cadence.

    In these scenarios, it’s crucial to align on the best inflection point.

    Can we optimize for lead form submissions since they’ll be higher volume, or should we import offline data from submissions or scrubbed leads as a last touch even though we know the drop-off is steeper? 

    If offline conversions are less than 30 per month, even if they’re worth 100X of a lead submit, it would be better to aim higher in the funnel so that the bid strategy can best optimize.

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    Defining values: What’s it worth to you?

    Once a goal has been agreed upon, it’s time to look at values. Google has released a helpful calculator as a starting point. 

    Still, it will also be good to have an internal contact and an analytics resource on hand to help comb through the known data points, conversion rates, lifetime values, and any other important variables for your business. 

    The conversion rates will be your easiest entry point. 

    If you’re looking at 100 engaged page visitors, 60 lead form starts, and 50 lead form submissions, with a lead form submission worth $100, you can calculate the trickle-down metrics using Google’s calculator. 

    This will tell you that your lead submission is worth $100, your lead form start is $83, and your pageview is $50.

    If your approach requires lifetime values to be calculated, use your CRM as a source of truth to gauge your customers’ fullest potential within your company. 

    Once you’ve calculated the highest value (within the ~30 conversions per month guideline), work backward with your analytics team to determine specific values for the events leading up to the main goal.

    Offline data: To ingest or not?

    The last major commonality in a non-retail bidding strategy is the ingestion of offline conversion data to include in optimizations. 

    In a best-case scenario, offline conversions are set up and directly available in Google Ads or SA360 for conversion action with minimal proxies or gaps. 

    In reality, there are often data lags, connectivity issues, and other unforeseen hurdles when setting up offline conversions. 

    To get ahead of this, consider what resources you have available. 

    Evaluate your appetite for a heavy lift and how you can set smaller goals to reach full value-based bidding. Can you set up value-based bidding using only online tags to start?

    I’d offer that most of your customer journey on your website or in your ads is helpful to inform value-based bidding. 

    You’ve set up a great user experience online for your customers to find you (paid ads), reach you (your contact information is listed somewhere, I’m sure – if not, please make sure it is!), and raise their hand showing interest in your company (a lead form, a phone call, an appointment booking, and so forth). 

    Anything outside the web for the majority of these industries (a closed booking, showing up to an appointment, scheduling a follow-up meeting) will happen more naturally and at higher rates by strengthening the online footprint using value-based bidding.

    Embracing what sets your industry and business apart

    The shift into more automated bidding and the emergence of value-based bidding as an option for many verticals come with both headwinds and tailwinds. 

    Any businesses considering shifting to value-based bidding but wary of the effort or setup should zoom out and consider the strategies outlined above to start their journey towards bidding to value. 

    The future of advertising will only get more automated in exciting ways, so ensure the “best practices” work best for you before they are no longer optional and/or continue to evolve. 

    The post How non-retail advertisers can embrace value-based bidding in Google Ads appeared first on Search Engine Land.

    Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing




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