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How brands and agencies are reacting to Elon Musk’s radical changes at Twitter

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2022

Last week, Twitter’s new chief twit, Elon Musk told advertisers he was buying Twitter because human civilization needed a town square, “where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner.”

It seems like he’s getting what he wanted.

A brand safety risk

Not all agencies and brands are on board with Musk’s new outlook.

Due to trust and safety concerns under Musk’s leadership, some agencies are advising that their clients suspend their ads on Twitter, at least for now.

One of those advertising companies is IPG’s Mediabrands. 

The automaker, and Tesla competitor GM temporarily paused their ads, but stated that its decision was consistent with its “normal course of business” to “temporarily pause our paid advertising.” The automaker added, it is not abandoning Twitter entirely, as its “customer care interactions on Twitter will continue.”

Musk’s words state that he’s committed to safety, posting recently, “Twitter’s commitment to brand safety is unchanged,” but his actions seem to say otherwise. 

Some advertisers aren’t concerned, though, as 58% of the marketers we polled thought the change could be a good thing for brands, marketers, and users.

A chaotic and confused approach to free speech 

Last week, Musk promoted a baseless conspiracy theory about the recent violent attack on Paul Pelosi. “There might be more to this story than meets the eye,” Musk said, in response to a tweet from Hillary Clinton. A few hours later the tweet was deleted. 

Musk also said he disagrees with Twitter’s practice of permanent bans for those who repeatedly violate its rules, raising the possibility that a number of previously banned, controversial users could reemerge on the platform. Many of us will be watching to see if he lets former President Trump back on the platform in time for the U.S. midterm elections. 

Musk has a history of outrageous behavior as we saw in 2018 when he called a British caver “Pedo guy” during the Thai boys’ soccer team rescue. The diver sued Musk for his comments and Musk later told a jury that his insult wasn’t meant to be taken literally.   

Bloomberg points out that there are other examples of more concerning tweets directed toward Musk, such as ones from commentators in China lobbying to have their “Chinese state-affiliated media” label removed.

It’s also concerning that since Musk’s takeover, there has been a noticeable uptick in racial and Nazi slurs on the platform.

“Musk’s Twitter takeover has shown us some unfortunate outcomes thus far, one of the clearest signals being the immediate increase in hate speech on the platform. A study from the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University found that in the hours after Musk’s acquisition, Twitter became a more “vulgar and hostile” environment, with it experiencing an “immediate, visible, and measurable spike” in hate speech. Social media acts as a gathering space for billions, and it becoming more hostile will have real-world impacts. Words matter, they have power; there have been countless studies showing how hate speech directly correlates with a rise in hate crimes.”

Eric Yaverbaum, CEO of Ericho Communications

Musk has already walked back some of his “anything goes” proclamations, tweeting that Twitter “obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.”

And yet with his mixed messages, the “free the bird” bell may not be able to be unrung; it’s clear that users see Musk’s ownership as permission to “unleash the racial slurs” as one Twitter user put it, says Yaverbaum.

Yaverbaum continued:

“Twitter’s actions (and resulting consequences) won’t stop at the public impact; it’s setting itself up for a serious internal crisis. The company is planning layoffs and is expecting employees to now work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, and employees are unsurprisingly already resigning. Leaders must set the tone to ensure a healthy workplace environment. Here Musk is doing just the opposite. Outside of encouraging poor time management and uprooting the lives of those who currently work at Twitter, Musk’s actions aren’t painting him in the best light as a leader, especially to any future Twitter employees he looks to recruit. These actions send a clear message to current and prospective employees and can have lasting impacts on a company, even years down the line.” 

The entire board fired

Immediately after his acquisition, Musk fired CEO Parag Agrawal. In addition, on Thursday Musk also fired CFO Ned Segal and policy head Vijaya Gadde. Musk also fired Sean Edgett, Twitter’s general counsel. 

More executives call it quits

Sarah Personette, Twitter’s advertising liaison and chief commercial officer stepped down from her position on Tuesday. On her Twitter, she said “Hi folks, I wanted to share that I resigned on Friday from Twitter and my work access was officially cut off last night.”

She continued “It has been the greatest privilege to serve all of you as a leader and a partner. Many have heard me say this but the most important role I believe I played in the company was championing the requirements of brand safety.” 

Chief People and Diversity Officer Dalana Brand announced on Tuesday in a LinkedIn post that she had resigned last week as well. General manager for core technologies Nick Caldwell confirmed his departure on Twitter, changing his profile bio to “former Twitter exec” by Monday night.

Chief marketing officer Leslie Berland, Twitter’s head of product Jay Sullivan, and its vice president of global sales, Jean-Philippe Maheu, have also left, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. It was not immediately clear whether they quit or were asked to leave.

The new Twitter Blue

In response to Twitter’s blue checkmark, Musk tweeted “The current system of lords and peasants, with those who have the blue tick and those who don’t, is bullshit.” 

Musk proposed charging users $20 per month to keep their blue check mark verification as well as access to other features. In response, writer Stephen King responded

Musk fired back, “We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?”

Shortly after, Musk announced “Power to the people! Blue for $8 a month.”

Joel M. Petlin, superintendent and Newsweek Opinion contributor responded 

No kidding, Joel. 

The Saudi’s investment

Last Friday, billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said he and his Kingdom Holding Company rolled over a combined $1.89 billion in existing Twitter shares, making them the company’s largest shareholder after Musk. The news raised concerns among some lawmakers, including Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut.

Murphy tweeted that he is requesting the Committee on Foreign Investment — which reviews acquisitions of U.S. businesses by foreign buyers — to investigate the national security implications of the kingdom’s investment in Twitter

“We should be concerned that the Saudis, who have a clear interest in repressing political speech and impacting U.S. politics, are now the second-largest owner of a major social media platform,” Murphy tweeted. “There is a clear national security issue at stake and CFIUS should do a review.”

Why we care

Musk’s radical changes and viewpoints could be scaring off brands and agencies, as none want to be associated with a platform that promotes hate speech, conspiracies, and an environment where employees are leaving in troves.

We are also playing the wait-and-see game. Yaverbaum added “Social media as a whole is already struggling. If Twitter continues down this path, it could easily be its undoing.”

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7 tips for a holiday-ready social media strategy

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2022

The things that are vital for brands throughout the rest of the year are even more critical to social media success during the holidays. 

There’s more noise, people are distracted, and they’re busy. 

How do you ensure your posts cut through the noise and keep their attention through the holiday season?

Here are seven tips to make your social media strategy holiday-ready.

1. Be helpful

Give your audience the info they’re looking for, earn their trust and, as a result, their attention. 

Simplify their experience by providing:

• Click-to-shop options directly from your social profiles.
• Direct links to products or booking information from your posts to assist them in finding what they need quickly. 

Work with complementary businesses to provide one-stop shopping and tag those businesses in your posts. Not only is this helpful to your customer base, but it also expands the reach of both brands.

Go above and beyond

Brainstorm ideas to help your audience simplify their lives. 

Offer expedited delivery options or added service perks to save time during the busy season. 

If you have an HVAC company, offer free furnace filter changes with service calls. 

Does your restaurant deliver? Send utensils and disposable containers to help with cleanup. 

Small touches can make a big difference.

2. Make an impact 

How are you helping others this time of year? 

Whether you’re in the service industry, retail, or anything in between, customers want to support businesses that support their communities. 

Give back by:

• Providing community outreach.
• Collecting items for food or clothing drives.
• Using your physical location to be a dropoff point for donations to a charitable organization. 

Stay away from polarizing issues or causes to avoid alienating members of your audience.

Go above and beyond

Team up with a nonprofit to help your community members make an impact. 

• Host a donation drive.
• Provide holiday meals to families.
• Allow members of your team to choose causes that are important to them.
• Support those organizations with time or monetary donations if possible. 

Parker Colorado’s West Main Taproom + Grill offers free appetizers to anyone who brings in donations for a local nonprofit’s winter coat drive. They’re helping the community and driving new business – everybody wins.

3. Be relevant

Is your offering timely or relevant to your customers’ lives? How can you make sure it is? 

One of the easiest ways to determine if your content is providing value to your audience is to simply ask. 

People love sharing their opinions, so use that opportunity to streamline your content.

Go above and beyond

Incorporate being relevant with being helpful, and you’re sure to score major points with your customers. 

Provide them with helpful, timely information that makes their lives easier, and they will remember you when it’s time to spend their hard-earned dollars.

4. Acknowledge their pain points or stressors

Some of your customers may be experiencing difficulties this time of year. How can you help alleviate that stress? 

The holiday season often creates a massive influx of mail (both electronic and physical), advertising, and social media posting. Don’t be that brand. 

You do not need to send email blasts multiple times per day unless you’ve got something you know will resonate well with your audience. (Tip: A 10% off coupon is not that something!)

Go above and beyond

Think of things your brand can do to take something off of your customers’ plates, reduce stress, or make their lives easier. 

Hire a massage therapist to provide chair massages in your lobby while people wait for appointments. 

If you have a large space, provide supplies and schedule a weekend for customers to come to your location and wrap holiday gifts. 

A reasonably small investment may be priceless in the eyes of your customer base, even if they don’t take advantage of your offer.

5. Know your audience 

If you don’t know your audience, how can you give them what they want? 

Spend time before your busy season getting to know your audience members and customers to ensure you’re speaking to them in a way that resonates. 

Be inclusive by being considerate of the fact that many people have different holidays and traditions that they celebrate. 

Acknowledge that while not everyone is the same, we can celebrate each other regardless of those differences.

Go above and beyond 

Know your competition’s audience as well and step up when the competition falls short. 

Be available on community groups to swoop in and provide assistance when your competitors don’t hold up their end of the deal with their customers.

6. Don’t waste their time

Don’t add to the already overwhelming holiday noise. 

Make sure posts, emails, and other communications have a point and are worth reading, and then follow through with their entire customer experience. 

Providing a spectacular experience on social media, but then making people wait 40 minutes for a scheduled appointment unravels all of the hard work you’ve done. 

Additionally, be sure your offerings are actually worth clicking on. 

Making a big deal about a huge sale or massive discount and then offering a 10% discount or restricting sales to specific items is not only a waste of time. You’re going to frustrate your customers and lose their trust, making them less likely to shop with you or use your services now or in the future. 

Go above and beyond 

Find a way to save them time. Hassle-free returns, expedited appointment options, and concierge services are all excellent ways to give your customers a little extra time back during the busy holiday season. 

7. Have a plan 

All of the awareness, consideration, and helpful intention are not going to get you anywhere if you don’t know your goals and find a path to execute them. 

Map out your content and have a plan for promotions. 

Schedule posts in advance to help streamline your busy schedule, but be sure to pause both organic and paid campaigns if something happens that would cause your content to seem insensitive or inappropriate to your audience. 

Set realistic goals and expectations, and have a procedure for how to handle things if expectations are not met or things go awry.

No one is perfect, and customers understand this. 

But how you handle those moments of imperfection can ensure you lose a customer or gain a lifelong brand advocate. Be sure to respond accordingly.

Go above and beyond

Create a special product or offering that your customers will get excited about. 

Nerdy Nuts knows their fans love their products, and that they get super excited about new flavors and special offerings. 

This year, they’re releasing a holiday advent calendar with a variety of both favorite and all-new flavors. 

On-brand, relevant, exciting, and – combined with their fantastic social media support – helpful. 

Amp up the engagement during the holidays

While you’re at it, have fun! Social media is designed for engagement and interaction. 

Share relevant brand messaging in a way that encourages your audience to not only get to know you, but to communicate with you and share your content as well. 

Fun, positive, uplifting holiday content not only makes your audience feel good, but it helps them feel good about your brand.

The post 7 tips for a holiday-ready social media strategy appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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Enterprise SEO agency vs. in-house SEO team: What to consider

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2022

Every time I start a new job, I get asked, “What does the relationship look like between you, the in-house enterprise SEO Director, and the SEO agency? When can we pull back on our budget for our SEO agency?”

This is a problem in the SEO industry. 

The tweet below illustrates the symptomatic problem within the industry. 

The central problem is understanding that it’s not enterprise SEO agencies vs. in-house SEO teams. It’s not a competition. 

Enterprise SEO involves complex problems dependent on many other resources and departments. It’s time to let go of the surface-level thinking of us vs. them. 

This isn’t an article about the pros and cons of using an SEO agency, consultant, or in-house SEO. It’s about my personal experience of creating a blended approach to using both an SEO agency and an in-house SEO professional.

If you’re an enterprise company investing in SEO, choosing between an in-house SEO and an SEO agency depends on how fast you want to run. Let me explain. 

Why the ‘enterprise SEO agency vs. in-house SEO teams’ concept is broken 

You either worship the altar of promised ROI predictions from SEO agencies or the realistic, logical in-house SEO that tells you SEO can’t promise ROI. 

Whatever side you’re giving the Voldemort treatment to doesn’t matter. 

It’s an example of how in-house SEO teams and agencies can meet in the middle – and give the C-suite what they want. 

When hiring their first in-house SEO lead, executives often make the mistake of searching for a unicorn that’s equally proficient in technical and content. 

If you find one, lucky you. But it’s more likely you’ll need a give and take. 

SEO agencies should be an extension of your in-house SEO team to fill in the gaps your in-house team is missing.

Ask yourself: Do you need a screwdriver? Or a Swiss Army knife? 

So, instead of promising ROI predictions based on keywords, an in-house SEO team can provide the agency with a full accounting of what true SEO looks like behind the scenes with product, engineering, and content.  

Together, the agency and the in-house team can provide a blueprint for investment, scale, and return. 

Investing in enterprise SEO agencies and in-house SEO teams is expensive

Many enterprise companies have marketing budgets but often believe SEO is “free” and don’t prioritize resources. 

This is a mistake.

This mentality leaves the in-house SEO team to live up to unrealistic expectations and burnout. 

Previously, I worked at a well-known enterprise company with a portfolio of 15 global brands as a Director of SEO to find out I was the only person actually doing SEO. In my first 1on1 with my boss, I was tasked to create a roadmap for when we could let go of our SEO agency to bring SEO in-house. 

The caveat – “bring SEO in-house,” meant I was the only person to execute SEO. 

At this company, that meant partnering with UX to design the website and working with web dev on our page speed, all while executing on-page and link building, not to mention writing content.  

I took on this challenge to make a business use case with a budget for SEO that allocated funds toward scaling my internal SEO team and hiring an SEO agency. 

Here’s how. 

Numbers are pulled based on my personal experience in-house and working with agencies.

When looking at the side-by-side comparison, it may seem like building an in-house SEO team is cheaper, but an agency can execute faster. 

60% of my time is spent getting leadership and cross-department buy-in to SEO as an in-house SEO professional. With an SEO agency, SEO work is still getting done. 

Take a look at this outline of tasks broken up between an enterprise SEO agency and an in-house SEO team: 

One of the biggest challenges enterprise companies face is how fast the company grows. If you’re a global brand, SEO is expensive and time-consuming. 

As your brand evolves, your marketing and SEO tactics need to accommodate the scale of your company. 

This means prioritizing an in-house SEO team and an SEO agency that can work together at scale. 

The power of working together with enterprise SEO agencies and in-house SEO teams

There is great power in combining forces. Think of Woody and Buzz, Apollo and Rocky, Clarice and Hannibal. 

Enterprise SEO takes a lot of time and money to execute properly. And oftentimes, you’ll have to fight for the resources you know you need to meet the business goals. 

The culprit lies in this stigma of choosing between an SEO agency and building an in-house team. There is no choice. The answer is both. 

Remember, SEO is not here to tell enterprise companies what to do with their web presence. 

Our goal as SEO professionals is to show them the opportunities and together, with a combined effort from the agency and in-house team, you can build a plan for investment and scale. 

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Google Search adds new coupons, side-by-side deals and price insights

Tuesday, November 1st, 2022

Google has added new ways to find deals across the web using Google Search through new coupons and promotions, side-by-side deal views, and a new price insights navigator. Google launched this before the holiday shopping season and said “few new features to help you easily find those discounts and get the perfect gift at the right price.”

Updated coupons and promotions

Google now has new coupons and promotions labels in the shopping search results. Google has a new promotion badge that will show up in Google Search on items running a special promotion. Google is also adding a new coupon clipping feature, which allows you to easily copy promo codes when you’re ready to buy. This is a feature you often see on those coupon sites, where you click to copy the promotion code to your clipboard.

Here is a screenshot of this:

Compare deals side by side

Google also added a way to compare two or more deals, by giving you a side by side comparison view in Google Search. For example, if you search for a women’s puffer coat, Google will show a side-by-side comparison of available puffer coats on sale right in Google Search results

Here is what that looks like:

Price insights

Google also launched a new design and feature called price insights. Price insights helps searchers understand the prices they see and make better buying decisions, Google said. You can see in price insights how one merchant’s price compares to others’ and whether it’s low, typical or high for that product.

Here is what that looks like:

Why we care

With the holiday shopping season here, as expected, Google is adding new search features to help shoppers find the products they are looking for. These features may or may not help your e-commerce site be more visible in Google Search. At least, you search be aware of these changes so that you can understand what you may want to do, such as which structured data you want to add, or what information you want to add to Merchant Center, so that you can leverage these new Google Search features.

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The static homepage is dead by Intellimize

Tuesday, November 1st, 2022

While most people associate first impressions with meeting someone in person, the same phenomenon occurs when someone lands on your website for the first time. Sometimes you know who they are, but often they are anonymous. In fact, 67% of the buyer’s journey is done before they indicate any buying signal, and about two-thirds of potential buyers walk away after a bad experience.

When you think about it, your website is your storefront, it’s the window into your brand. It says who you are, what you do and tells the visitor what they can expect and how they should feel.

Many companies fall short because they don’t spend enough time thinking about the first time someone will experience their website. They usually have one static homepage and then create zillions of landing pages to personalize for promotions because it’s troublesome to get the website changed. Even if you have first party data, much of what you do will be lost on anonymous visitors because they’ll land on your site and leave before they’ve had a chance to soak in all you have to offer. The static homepage is dead.

Research shows that people make up their minds about something in less than half a second. They form an impression when they first see your site. If that impression is positive, it’s likely they’ll continue to explore your site. If they don’t like what they see, they’ll leave. Studies show that customers who have a positive experience tend to spend 140% more with a given brand.

So, what should you be doing?

1. Check your site speed often. Page load times have the biggest impact on your website’s first impression. For example, a recent study showed that a 2-second delay in load time resulted in abandonment rates of up to 87%.

2. Focus on the customer experience and put your critical content and messaging above the fold. While customers are used to scrolling through websites, you have less than half a second to get your point across, and once you grab their attention, it takes approximately 2.6 seconds for the consumer’s eyes to focus and influence their first impression.

3. Avoid flicker whenever possible. Flicker refers to when a webpage loads in one state and then quickly transitions to show a different website experience—typically a dynamic variation with personalized elements. While this may seem like a somewhat innocuous side effect of website personalization, it can have lasting effects on your conversion rates. In fact, in a recent study by Radware, Walmart found that for every one second of improvement in regards to their page load time they increased their conversions by two percent.

4. Personalize for all visitors, even anonymous ones. When you know some attributes about your web visitors, such as the ad they clicked on to get to your site, machine learning powered personalization can help you take it a step further and dynamically customize your message or product or image shown based on firmographic, behavioral and contextual data. According to a study by Segment, 71% of customers feel frustrated when their experience with a brand feels impersonal.
5. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and poor design is often associated with mistrust of a brand. According to a recent study, first impressions are 94% design related. The most important things you can take into account are the imagery, typography and overall aesthetic. Does the image or video convey the feeling you want the buyer to experience? Does it inspire the visitor to take the desired action?

Regardless of whether you’re a B2B brand doing Account Based Marketing (ABM) or a D2C brand with an online store, first impressions matter, don’t waste yours. To learn more about making a great first impression with your website, talk to our experts and request a demo.

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How seasonality affects the SERPs and what it means for SEO

Tuesday, November 1st, 2022

As we head into another seasonal period, it’s time to prepare our holiday strategies to maximize client visibility for the deal-getters and the peak shoppsouing period.

During the next quarter, many of us acknowledge that we’re likely to see a change in traffic levels as we attribute this to seasonality. 

This does not affect all business models. Still, for some (outside of the ecommerce spectrum), interest begins to slow down as consumer focuses are laid elsewhere, and company priorities change.

One thing that may not necessarily factor into your SEO strategies – as a threat and an opportunity – is how Google’s search results pages (SERPs) behave to the changes in both user search frequency and search intent.

Why does seasonality affect search results pages?

Google’s end goal is to provide a high-quality SERP that caters to user needs and supports a query by presenting high-quality results.

Google determines if a query requires a seasonal or temporary change to how specific value propositions and beneficial purposes are presented in the SERPs. They might consider: 

• Has there been an increase in searches for this query? (Comparing period Y to X.)
• Has there been a change in user SERP behavior for this query? (Changes in click patterns, scroll, quick-backs.)
• Has there been an increase in users performing further queries to refine it?
• Has there been a change in the additional terms or stop words being introduced to the secondary query?

If Google detects changes in these user patterns, it may choose to begin experimenting with the SERP and rotate results and source-types – or even introduce new source-types and SERP features altogether.

This isn’t something new. In 2018, JR Oakes tweeted his observations on how rankings changed month-over-month, with major changes around December 2017.

Over time, Google will learn these patterns and refine future SERP adjustments over time.

With seasonality, most marketers have an almost predictable data pattern used for planning marketing activities, content, and onsite messaging. Often, this is where the assessment stops.

Many strategies I’m privy to don’t go one step further to assess how the SERPs will change during these seasonal periods. Yet, it is important to understand so we can inform our SEO strategies (including content type and publishing frequency).

Identifying seasonally affected SERPs

A lot of ecommerce SERPs we are familiar with will experience some form of seasonality, and we can usually predict and identify these through experience and common sense.

But what if you start seeing a change in traffic and rankings for particular URLs? How can you identify whether or not your SERPs are beginning to fall into a seasonality experiment?

The answer is through data. Understanding what your SERPs look like during “normal times” is important, and comes from:

• Recording and monitoring SERP features.
• Monitoring the source types (and their positions) within the results page.

Several third-party tools record this information and retain it historically. 

Let’s take the search term [beard oil]. It is a query with more than one dominant interpretation, as I could be looking to make a purchase, research different brands, or even research different oils.

This query has already changed several times over the course of this year. This October, it is beginning to show signs of changing to a seasonal SERP:

As we get closer to peak ecommerce periods and more users are searching for the term, Google’s SERP features are favoring and introducing commercially focused elements with Shopping Ads and the Map Pack (to cater to those wanting to buy both online and in-person).

We can also see a change in which source types are being ranked highest for the query.

So if we look at the top 5 ranking URLs for July 2022:

And we compare them to October 2022:

Looking at third-party metrics, one would argue that websites like Dr. Squatch don’t have the same backlink profile, brand, or content levels as the likes of GQ. But they’re a different source type, so the threshold required to rank is lower.

As Google is altering the SERP with a heavier commercial focus, the only thing that GQ can do in this scenario is to try dislodging Men’s Health as the second result or wait it out for Google to determine that a different source type is required.

This, of course, is not taking into account that October 2022 also has a Map Pack and Shopping Ads taking up SERP real estate and clicks.

Looking at data from 2021, the SERPs followed a similar pattern before reverting back around March.

If we look at Google Trends data, we can correlate these SERP changes with the peaks and troughs of [beard oil] searches in the United States (outside of an increase around the time of the first pandemic lockdown).

Communicating seasonal SERPs to wider stakeholders

Not all SEO stakeholders who receive reports and updates are au fait with how search engines work. Changes in rankings and traffic can unnecessarily set off alarm bells and lead to poor short- and long-term decision-making.

Identifying if your key traffic-driving search terms are susceptible to seasonality changes, or have been so in the past, is vital. Ensure that tags or classifications are in place and monitor them more closely around seasonal periods. 

This is especially useful if the organization you are working with has a turnover of VP and C-level. They might not know the vertical as well as the previously established person in that position.

Creating awareness of how rankings and traffic may change will mitigate the conversations when it does happen. It also helps build a business case for different content types to maintain brand visibility. 

This might involve a strategy in which the brand is made visible through a different source type or adjacent search queries that aren’t as affected by the seasonality changes. 

Investing in brand or digital assets outside of your website is an important consideration for creating an SEO strategy that can weather Google changes.

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Google is getting rid of similar audiences segments

Tuesday, November 1st, 2022

Starting in May 2023, similar audiences segments will stop being generated, and existing similar audiences segments will no longer be added to campaigns and ad groups on Google Ads and Display & Video 360.

In August 2023, similar audiences segments will be removed from all ad groups and campaigns.

What this means. More automation. Google says that similar audiences segments will transition to “more powerful, tested, privacy-centric automated solutions. These solutions help advertisers connect with relevant audiences, all while meeting people’s expectations for privacy.”

“We are committed to creating durable, resilient solutions for our advertisers to help them reach an engaged and relevant audience, even as fewer third-party cookies are available. Automation is a big part of this commitment.”

Enter Optimized Targeting and Audience Expansion

Replacing similar audiences segments is Optimized Targeting (for video, display discovery and performance campaigns) and Audience Expansion (for brand campaigns).

Optimized Targeting. For Discovery, Display and Video action campaigns on Google Ads and Display & Video 360, optimized targeting will help businesses find new and relevant audiences that are likely to convert without relying on third-party cookies.

Google says. Advertisers who use optimized targeting on Display and Video 360 can see, on average, 55% improvement while using first-party audiences.

Audience Expansion. For Awareness and Reach video or Consideration video campaigns, audience expansion makes it easier for businesses to reach more people likely to convert.

Availability. This solution is already available in Google Ads and will be launched for Display & Video 360 in the first half of 2023.

Things to know. Keep in mind the following features and best practices when creating or updating your Smart Bidding and Optimized Targeting settings.

• Advertisers can still use Customer Match lists for Smart Bidding or Optimized Targeting.
• Use Smart Bidding for store sales and offline conversions.
• You can (and should) adjust Smart Bidding conversion values.

Dig deeper. To understand how these automated solutions work towards advertisers’ marketing objectives, they can use Audience Insights – a new feature on the Insights Page that helps businesses learn more about their customers’ interests and how they engage with their ads.

You can read more info about these changes on the Google Help Center post.

Why we care. Similar Audiences segments will be available for (at least) the next 6 months. If your campaigns are using these segments, you can continue to do so until after the holiday season. However, you should still plan and test your transition to Smart Bidding and Optimized Targeting so the impact will be less harmful.

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Microsoft Performance Max import updates

Monday, October 31st, 2022

Microsoft Ads has just launched a solution within the Google Import tool to simplify duplicating your Performance Max campaigns across platforms.  

They’ve also started a pilot program for importing Performance max campaigns that aren’t using a Merchant Center. The new experience will import these campaigns as Search campaigns and create Dynamic Search Ads (DSA). 

Best practices. Microsoft outlines the following best practices for importing Performance Max campaigns using the Merchant Center.

The following are best practices for importing Performance Max campaigns without Merchant Center.

Use the Google Import Tool. You can access the Google Import Tool here.

Dig deeper. Read the Microsoft blog announcement and access the setup checklist here.

Why we care.

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Make business more human with Qualtrics solutions by Amazon Web Services

Monday, October 31st, 2022

Delivering an outstanding customer experience (CX) is no longer a function; failing to meet customer expectations can jeopardize business growth. A recent Qualtrics study found that bad experiences put a business at risk of losing an average of 9.5% of its revenue. But linking CX to business value and the bottom line is a challenge when siloed data and a lack of technology can’t deliver the multi-channel experience customers expect.

In this episode of the Solution in Focus series, you’ll listen in as Allison Windon, senior vice president of strategy at Qualtrics, discuss how to elevate CX based on insights you generate from customers’ real-time journeys. You’ll also hear how to fully leverage Qualtrics solutions in your AWS Cloud.

You’ll hear how Qualtrics helps you:

• Reduce the cost to serve by understanding and optimizing inefficient journeys and customer touchpoints.
• Improve customer retention by identifying and prioritizing strategic areas of improvement across the entire customer journey.

Increase customer lifetime value by understanding and improving loyalty behaviors that drive repeat purchases.

Listen now

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

10 spooky SEO tactics to axe in 2023

Monday, October 31st, 2022

It was a cold, dark night. At the end of the long path was an old, rundown mansion covered in cobwebs. Inside was a candle flickering next to the shadow of a person. 

You rub the frost off the stained-glass window on the doorstep, and there’s just enough light to see what the man inside is doing. He’s moving his body from side to side, chanting numbers – what could it be? Black magic? 

You put your ear to the window to find out what you can hear – and you can make out … something:

“One, two, three, four paid links!” 

Alas – he’s not a sorcerer at all – but something even more chilling: A marketer performing the ancient practice of black hat SEO! 

Does this tale spook you as much as it does me? It’s almost 2023, and if you’re involved in buying links – or any of the 10 things I’m about to detail in this article – you won’t have a chance to compete in the search results.

So without further ado, here are 10 spooky SEO practices to axe in 2023.

1. Not getting buy-in from the top

Your company may say that you can “do SEO” without actually understanding what SEO means.

Fast-forward to a few months down the road when you need to make big decisions about the site, and management is nowhere to be found. 

To be successful in SEO, you need commitment from the top.

In addition, SEO needs to be thought of even when you, the marketer,  are not in the room. 

Every decision on the website impacts SEO. When you have proper buy-in, you can solve so many other issues featured in this article.  

2. Hiring people that know less about SEO than you

You’ve hired a big, brand-name agency because you heard they were the best. 

The company assigns an SEO professional with a fancy title to your account – what could go wrong? 

Except after only a few weeks, it is apparent that you know more than your SEO team does. 

And, with a little digging, you find that the person servicing your account has only a few years of SEO under their belt.

This is a real phenomenon, folks. 

Make sure you research the people you hire before you sign that contract. Otherwise, your working relationship will not be fruitful.

3. Being sure you have a plan that will stick

“Man plans, Google laughs.”

OK, that isn’t quite how that old expression goes, but the reality is that the only thing constant in SEO is change. 

With Google making thousands of changes to search each year, and your competitors even more, how can you seriously plan for SEO six months from now? 

You do not have any knowledge about the changes you will encounter. So come to terms with the fact that a long-term SEO plan is worthless. 

What to do instead?

Run in four-week sprints and re-evaluate what the website needs after each sprint.

4. Getting SEO advice and not implementing it

If you’ve invested time and money into hiring an SEO only to ignore their recommendations, then don’t be surprised by the results you don’t get. 

I understand. Sometimes it seems like an uphill battle to get things done. 

That is why having buy-in and a plan for how you will implement SEO strategies is the first step before engaging in SEO services.  

5. Ignoring the hard changes

When faced with business silos, competing priorities and a lack of resources, it may seem impossible to get the “hard” changes done to a website.

Sometimes, they are partially or even poorly implemented to try and move the needle.

The hard changes, though, are those changes that can make a fundamental difference to your SEO program.

If the recommendation is to do them, make a case for getting them done and, if you need to, hire outside expertise to do them the right way.

6. Thinking any content is good content

If you go to the heart of almost any Google algorithm update, you will find it centers on quality content. 

To succeed now and in the future, you need helpful content – expert, authoritative and trusted content. 

You must somehow stand out from the competition rather than regurgitate what everyone else is saying. 

Spinning others’ ideas equates to average content. And Google does not reward the average.

7. Thinking all keywords are equal

Inventing keywords does not mean that anyone would search for them. Thus they may get no traffic. 

That is just one point, but you must also consider that there are many keyword strategies, and they vary by industry. 

Matching your content to query intent can help you perform better in search – and is the key to being considered an expert and gaining ranking. 

And if it is not ranked, then the content is nearly worthless.

8. Not looking at PPC data

Unfortunately, PPC data is often ignored. And SEO and PPC teams often feel at odds with one another.

Knowing what converts in PPC is a solid indication of the ROI for each keyword. 

Also, by studying the negative keywords in PPC that identify ambiguous keywords, the SEO sees issues that point to the need for schema. 

Bottom line: If certain keywords have a clear meaning and great conversion, then you may want them in your SEO program. 

9. Buying links

By now, we shouldn’t still be having the “paid links” conversation.

Yet many websites still engage in this practice – unknowingly or knowingly. 

To be fair, link buying is not always a black-and-white issue; there are shades of gray. 

For example, if I pay someone to write an article and place it on another site, is that a paid link? Google thinks so. 

The remedy to paid links? Create things worth linking to and then let others know about them.

10. Not taking any SEO training

How will you have meaningful discussions with your SEO team if you don’t know what they are talking about? 

How will you get Bob in IT to actually make changes to the website if he has no SEO knowledge? 

It is so critical that in-house teams have a baseline understanding of SEO, as well as to keep up with emerging strategies. 

SEO training is an excellent way to get teams up-to-speed on SEO. 

This proactive step helps ensure you are making sound decisions and can keep things moving forward.  

Let go of these spooky SEO tactics

These are spooky times and, unfortunately for many websites, scary SEO tactics still exist. 

Give the axe to the 10 items in this article and you will have a chance at competing in the search results in 2023.

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