Archive for the ‘seo news’ Category
Tuesday, July 12th, 2022
Google Performance Max campaign users will soon notice four new features in their accounts.
What’s new. The four new Performance Max campaign features are:
- Seasonality adjustments are intended to allow advertisers to adjust the bid strategy based on anticipated changes in conversion rates for events such as holiday sales. Because Smart Bidding already exists for predicted seasonal events, advertisers should only use the adjustments for changes that are otherwise atypical. The adjustments should be used for long weekend promos or sales that typically last between 1-7 days.
- Data exclusions will tell Smart Bidding to ignore data from dates where you may have encountered issues with conversion tracking which may have impacted the accuracy of your data. An example of this would be website outages, bugs or tagging issues.
- Explanations will make it easier for advertisers to identify performance fluctuations and diagnose issues. The feature will also provide recommendations to help improve performance. If you have a product feed, the explanations will analyze the product status as well as top moving products, groups and types. This will become available for PMax campaigns in the coming weeks.
- Optimization Score allows advertisers to see where the campaign has room for improvement and finds recommendations to help you take action to try and drive better results.
Recent releases. Google also announced two new features that we reported on last week. These were advanced location targeting controls and diagnostic insights.
Best practices. You can understand more about Performance Max campaigns and read Google’s best practice guide here.
Why we care. Google is attempting to give advertisers more transparency and control over their Performance Max campaigns. While many advertisers agree that this is a step in the right direction to better control and performance, they should also be aware that the explanations and optimization score recommendations are guidelines, not required fixes. Always test your campaigns and monitor them on a regular basis. Make campaign adjustments based on data and your unique business.
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Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Tuesday, July 12th, 2022
As we enter economic uncertainty, many leaders are looking for ways to make the most out of their marketing budgets. Paired with customer behavior becoming increasingly turbulent and less predictable, you are now faced with maximizing your ROI.
We’ll highlight case studies of clients who’ve already reaped the benefit of sharpening their paid search strategy including Sage and how they achieved a 75% decrease in CPCs.
Register today for “Paid Search Tactics You Need to Maximize ROI in a Tight Economy,” presented by Adthena.
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Tuesday, July 12th, 2022
Over the past few years, match types have changed, smart bidding has become a little more intelligent and new campaign types have been introduced. These changes once again have advertisers reconsidering their account structures.
How are search marketers evaluating account structure and organizing campaigns in light of all these changes – and why?
We found out during a roundtable discussion at SMX Advanced, featuring myself, Duane Brown from Take Some Risk and Aaron Levy from Tinuiti. Brad Geddes from Adalysis moderated.
The session covered many of the changes the major search engines have made recently, including:
This was a lively session with lots of great information, so buckle up!
How has campaign organization changed for you?
The prevailing thought on campaign organization was that the hyper-targeting of the past is no longer necessary. I’ve moved from granular campaigns segmented by match type to incorporating all match types in the same campaign, along with more automation and smart bidding.
Levy said he used to use single keyword campaigns segmented by audience. Now, they’re focused more on input optimization that’s more performance driven. Giving the right signals to the machine is key.
Automation was another theme here.
Brown said he is a fan of Performance Max campaigns for his ecommerce clients. However, he cautioned that Google is still not great at context, so figuring out when to consolidate and when to keep things separate is important.
What are the big things you look for when planning campaign structure?
The key here is intent. All three speakers mentioned understanding search intent as the basis for campaign structure.
Levy suggested that if performance is expected to be different enough to require separate targeting and messaging, split it into its own campaign. However, his default is to let the machines make better decisions faster.
I think about campaign structure in terms of intent, goals and budget. Where any of these vary, make a separate campaign.
Budgets may be client-driven by region or even content asset. But aside from that, don’t split out unless it’s necessary.
When asked about brand search, all three speakers agreed that brand should usually be broken out separately, to maintain brand protection and its place in the buyer journey, which is usually bottom of the funnel.
What do you no longer segment on that you used to?
I no longer segment by match types. This used to be done at the campaign level but is completely unnecessary now.
It also isn’t necessary to use every match type. Pick the best match type for each keyword instead.
Levy added that for ecommerce, they used to segment by product type. They still do this when performance dictates, but it’s not something they always need to do.
How has ad group structure changed?
Fewer ad groups and no more breaking out by match type was mentioned by all panelists.
While broad match performs better now than it did a year ago, Brown noted that he does break out this match type for testing.
Levy is a fan of consolidation. They used to structure ad groups by match type, but now incorporate all match types in the same ad group.
What about RSAs? Some people are using one headline per product in the same RSA and assuming Google is matching them up with the right product. Are you still separating RSAs by theme?
I still segment RSAs by product, with each ad specific to the content and theme and using variations of headlines and descriptions.
Incorporating multiple products into a single ad is better as a DSA. DSAs are rarely used in B2B and have to be carefully set up to be successful.
Levy added that they still split out DSAs. DSAs have improved but still make questionable calls, so they use them primarily as a research tool.
Levy is also writing separate headlines by theme for his RSAs. Be careful of including the keyword over and over in multiple headlines – make sure the combinations make sense.
Do keywords still matter?
Brown said yes, but maybe not as much as they did five years ago. Keywords still have value, though.
Brown uses DSAs as a “sweeper campaign” to find unusual keywords they wouldn’t think of otherwise.
Levy addressed the common theme of “keywords are dead” by saying that keywords died and came back as something else.
Google has a branding problem with keywords and match types. Neither are what they used to be, and the names do not mean what they used to.
Keywords are now thematic, audience-based or language-based. But they’re still important.
Do you trust that Google will show your ads for all the possible search terms?
Sometimes Google is surprisingly good at matching keywords to search terms. Google seems to have figured out that B2B advertisers are looking for B2B customers.
But I still see a lot of bad matches, where Google doesn’t seem to understand what the advertiser is selling. Advertisers should be cautious not to put all their trust in Google.
We still need keywords and negative keywords. As I mentioned during the roundtable discussion, Google hides about 75% of search queries in many of her B2B accounts.
In the end, it comes down to signals. The more signals you can give Google with your keywords, audiences and goals, the better results you’ll get.
Levy added that we now have a combination of image and language search. When someone is searching for an image, what do you bid on?
He believes intent will take a larger role in the future because intent is a mix of people and language. For B2B – who is searching? An administrative assistant, or the decision-maker?
Advertisers need to go beyond just keywords. They need first-party and third-party data. Google makes decisions on what they can see, we need to feed them as much as we can.
It’s possible to have the same search term showing in multiple ad groups. Should you include every single search term as a keyword? Does Google really match them up exactly? Are you adding all the queries or letting it ride?
Brown said that if there are enough conversions, he will add the search term and adjust bids. But if query volume is low, it doesn’t make sense to add the keyword because it won’t move the needle.
Also, remember that as a PPC manager, you have to manage your campaigns. Will adding the search term help, or just be more work?
I usually add the search terms if they’re converting. I also still try to do some keyword sculpting, although that has become less important.
Also, a term may convert, but on a keyword that’s not as relevant as another keyword elsewhere in the campaign. It’s important to think about the best place to add the search term – don’t just click “add” in the search term report.
Regarding automation: It’s generally believed that Performance Max and Discovery campaigns are the least liked campaign types. How are we thinking about these campaign types? Are they core for you, or backfill, or are you just not using them at all?
Levy quipped that in golf, a “Max” score is for the bad players! He feels that while performance max may take a bigger role in the future, it will not be the only option.
Levy is cautiously optimistic about Performance Max. It’s performing well but is under-baked. It’s not a core campaign for him as there are too many unknowns and not enough targeting, and it makes bad decisions, especially in B2B.
Brown is bullish on Performance Max. He thinks that in a year, people will say they love it. After all, people love things when they work. The black box is what people don’t like.
Google needs to test things in the real world to find problems, and agencies need to learn use cases for each new offering.
Regarding Discovery campaigns, Brown loves them. The right audience is necessary. Discovery campaigns can convert for prospecting, but you need to change creative faster, like you would with Facebook as opposed to Google.
What’s your advice to someone with 3-5 years’ experience in PPC?
Brown recommended forgetting everything you knew 5 years ago, because Performance Max has changed the game. Think about what you want to show for and what you want to match for. Our job isn’t to push buttons but to understand what’s making more money.
Levy reminded us that those with 3-5 years’ experience are still learning, so it might actually be easier for them. Those who are long time PPC pros have established habits that are hard to break. Learn new resources, approach with skepticism but devote time to learn how the sausage is made. Influence decisions and adjust accordingly.
My suggestion: managers should think about the signals they’re giving to the machine and let the machine do the manual work.
Search is not a list of tasks to check off. Dig in and see what’s working and why.
Think more strategically: “what are my objectives and what do I need to do to make it better?”
Bonus Round! Highlights from the Q&A
What about industries with compliance concerns?
I have a lot of B2B clients with compliance issues. Sometimes you have to do old-school segmenting across match types with lots of negatives.
Align things as best you can while still explaining to your client that exact match isn’t like it used to be.
In heavily regulated industries sometimes broad match is out of the question. Often, you really have to go old-school and avoid many of the new campaigns and automations as much as possible in order to maintain compliance.
How do you handle match type breakouts with brand search?
Levy said he breaks things out based on definitions that are the same across similar brand terms. With brand, he is doing more old-school segmenting and more negatives, because brand can bleed into non-brand and vice versa.
How do you go about increasing reach and volume while maintaining relevancy?
Brown believes in adding more keywords rather than using broad match, and in adding audiences. That said, broad is worth testing. Also, retry things you tested before – they might work now!
Are you even doing query mapping anymore?
Levy is letting Google figure it out unless messaging is critical. Usually, Google does a good job with this.
Geddes added that his high-spend clients still do query mapping, and see a huge conversion increase from doing so.
There are struggles with RSAs due to lack of data. How do you think about structure in an RSA world?
- Levy: “People try to clone ETAs to RSAs. Make sure each ad element says something new or else it becomes repetitive.”
- Geddes: “Pinning is really flexible. You can pin multiple headlines to a single line.”
Google has been pushing using RSAs and broad match. Is this useful?
Levy has done this a lot. They are starting to see some cannibalization, but 90% of the time Google picks the right match – if you are using smart bidding.
Do not do this with manual bidding. There are too many variables.
What about ecommerce, non-Performance Max campaigns? Any quick structure tips?
Brown suggested using analytics to break out top products and low-performing SKUs. You’ll need multiple campaigns.
Performance Max vs. shopping – are you getting worse ROAS with performance max?
Brown has done a lot of testing with Performance Max. ROAS is equal to or better than smart shopping, but you need to use the right creative and ad formats.
Is Google performing better or the same now with broad match?
Broad match, which used to be a B2B nightmare, is performing way better. If the keywords are long-tail enough, broad match does well.
Lightning round! Where are we going with match types?
- Me: “A lot less visibility into performance, but there’s lots to test.”
- Brown: “Give up control and hope we get insights.”
- Levy: “Make it ok for the machine – put guardrails in.”
- Geddes: “Override the machine if needed.”
Watch the roundtable discussion at SMX Advanced 2022
To listen to the roundtable discussion yourself, get your free pass here.
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The post How and why marketers are revisiting PPC campaign organization appeared first on Search Engine Land.
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Tuesday, July 12th, 2022
Google Analytics 4 is introducing three new metrics to the platform this week. The metrics will be available to view across explorations, segments, audience, reports, and the Google Analytics data API. The new metrics added are:
- Bounce rate
- UTM term and UTM ad content
- Conversion rate
1. Bounce rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of sessions that were not completed due to a user exiting the landing page. These sessions are the opposite of the engagement rate. The Bounce rate metric is available in the Explorations and Reporting Customization.
In GA4, the Bounce rate is calculated differently than in Universal Analytics. You can learn how the new metric is calculated in the help doc.
2. UTM term and UTM ad content
These metrics are available in the Explorations, Reporting, and Audience Builder. Google has added both a user scope and a session scope dimension. For the UTM content parameter, you’ll be able to see the value assigned to first user manual ad content as well as session manual ad content. For the UTM term parameter, you’ll be able to view the first user manual term and session manual term.
3. Conversion rate
GA4 is now reporting on the conversion rate for any event. This includes both the user conversion as well as the session conversion rate.
You can review the release announcement from Google here.
Why we care. More data from Google is typically a good thing, especially when it comes after the release of a new product or feature. Additional insights into performance metrics should help advertisers diagnose and troubleshoot campaign performance issues.
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Monday, July 11th, 2022
A couple of months ago Google teased a new video indexing report in Google Search Console, that new report is now rolling out, the search company announced. The Video indexing report is rolling out “gradually over the next few months, so you might not see any changes for now,” the company added.
What is the video indexing report. The video indexing report shows how many indexed pages on your site contain one or more videos, and on how many of those pages a video could be indexed. Google said the report can help you understand the performance of your videos on Google, and identify possible areas of improvement.
What it looks like. Here is a screenshot of this report:
When the report shows. Google said if Google detects videos on your site, the Video indexing report will appear on the left navigation bar in the coverage section. If Google has not detected a video on your website, you will not see the report.
What it tells you. The report shows the status of video indexing on your site. It helps you answer the following questions:
- In how many pages has Google identified a video?
- Which videos were indexed successfully?
- What are the issues preventing videos from being indexed?
In addition, if you fix an existing issue, you can use the report to validate the fix and track how your fixed video pages are updated in the Google index, Google explained.
URL Inspection tool for video pages. Google also also enhanced the URL Inspection tool to allow you to check the video indexing status of a specific page. When inspecting a page, if Google detected a video in it, you will see the following in the results:
- Details such as the video URL and the thumbnail URL.
- The page status showing whether the video was indexed or not.
- List of issues preventing the video from being indexed.
Please note, this does not work for the live URL inspection feature.
What The video URL inspection looks like. Here is what this looks like:
Why we care. If you host videos on your site or embed videos on your site, you will want to check out this report to see if there are ways to improve those videos or help other videos to show up in Google Search. Videos are an important aspect of search traffic and visibility in Google Search.
There are a lot more details on this new report in this Google help document.
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Monday, July 11th, 2022
Personalizing your marketing campaigns for one customer is easy, but how about one hundred or thousands of customers across multiple marketing channels?
Work smarter, not harder, by using artificial intelligence (AI) as part of your martech stack and giving your customers the unique experiences they crave.
Register today for “Use Data to Create Next-Level Customer Experiences at Scale,” presented by MoEngage.
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Monday, July 11th, 2022
Frederick Vallaeys spent 10 years working at Google and was instrumental in helping build features like conversion tracking and analytics. For the last 10 years, he’s been running his current company Optmyzr, which is a PPC management software that helps advertisers optimize their campaigns. In his session at this year’s SMX Advanced, Vallaeys goes into detail on how to make the most out of your RSAs and automated bidding strategies.
The numbers. About 92% of advertisers have shifted to using RSAs, and the majority of those who have turned them on or used them, leave them on without shutting them off. Vallaeys hypothesizes that even years ago when advertisers didn’t know that RSAs were going to be the only option, performance was good enough that advertisers were willing to stick with them.
Vallaeys goes on to say that of the 1.7 million ads they audited, the CTR was almost exact between RSAs and ETAs. However, the conversion rate was about 11% worse with RSAs. They found that ad groups with RSAs received 1.6 times as many conversions as ad groups without RSAs. And that’s all we really want, right? More conversions.
Making the leap to RSAs. Google recommends taking your existing ETAs and start building your RSAs. Google claims that without making any changes to the ad text, creating an RSA will result in about a 7% increase in conversions with a similar cost per acquisition.
Vallaeys and the team at Optmyzr even wrote a script that you can download to make the transition from ETAs to RSAs much easier. You can download the script here.
Smart bidding strategies. Vallaeys is a fan of using smart bidding with RSAs, though when it comes to using broad match keywords, he says that’s up to the advertiser. Google did studies where they found a 20% “lift” when enabling smart bidding and broad match keywords. Though they didn’t clarify if the “lift” was an increase in clicks, CTR, or conversions.
Vallaeys reminds us that with an automated bidding strategy with RSAs, Google will show ads that match your keywords, even if the queries aren’t exactly the same. If the keyword or phrase is similar and your ad shows, you may be stuck paying a higher CPC than you normally would if the bidding were left up to Google. The chart below outlines the differences in what you could pay if your campaigns were left on Manual CPC.
Google loves scores. Ad strength is another score in your account. Vallaeys explains that ad strength scores tend to help newer advertisers, but seasoned ad veterans know that it’s not related to actual performance. Ad strength scores are suggestions gathered from other advertisers and “what everyone else does.” Limited Eligibility status is now gone and “Poor” ad strength is not an indicator of how well your ads will serve, so take it with a grain of salt.
One interesting experiment that Vallaeys outlines is that Google suggested adding specific text into the ads and indicated that it would increase the ad strength. When that text was manually added by typing the words in, the ad strength didn’t get better. But when they click the link that Google gives you to add the exact same text, the ad strength got better. This experiment may indicate that ad strength as a statistic or measuring tool isn’t that sophisticated.
RSA structure. Based on the 1.7 million ads that Optmyzr has analyzed, Vallaeys provides several tips to help make the most of our ads:
- Having two RSAs per ad group seems to be ideal for improving conversion rates
- Use labels to connect RSAs with automation
- Use pinning techniques to fake ETAs or leave ad combinations exactly where you want them (this is suggested if you have been testing for a long time and know what works)
- More headline variants lead to more impressions
- Adding DKIs and ad customizers may increase impressions, but likely decreases conversion rates
- RSAs need to be tested against RSAs. RSAs cannot be tested against ETAs simply because they’re too different
- Don’t fixate on old metrics
- Use ad variations to test and iterate creative (on the Campaign level, under the Experiments link)
Don’t miss Frederick Vallaeys session in SMX Advanced 2022
For more details on testing and optimizing RSAs and the results of the experiments Optmyzr ran, get your free pass here.
Already registered for SMX Advanced? Log in.
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Monday, July 11th, 2022
Google recently announced that web data reporting will be supported within the Ad Manager publisher networks.
What this means. Now when you link a Google Analytics 4 property to your Google ads account, data from that property is available to view in your Ad Manager reports.
What metrics are measured. Ad traffic from Google ads will show the following metrics in your reports:
- Ad format
- Ad source
- Ad unit
- Page path + query string and screen class
- Ad unit exposure
- Publisher ad clicks
- Publisher ad impression
- Total ad revenue
Technical requirements. To view the technical requirements for linking Google Analytics 4 to Ad Manager, you can read the help doc here.
Why we care. Viewing and gathering reports on information regarding app monetization and behavioral data from Google Analytics 4 allows advertisers to further track the customer journey and provide deeper audience insights.
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Saturday, July 9th, 2022
This week Pinterest introduced four new merchant features to help retailers promote their stores.
- Product Tagging on Pins
- Video in Catalog
- Shop Tab on Business Profiles
- The API for Shopping
Product Tagging on Pins. Product Tagging allows merchants to make their pins shoppable, so shoppers can click and purchase seamlessly within the app. In early tests, Pinterest reported a 70% higher intent on product Pins tagged in scenes versus standalone product photo Pins.
Video in Catalog. Video ad formats increased click-through-rate by 158%, lowered cost-per-click by 42%, and lowered cost-per-acquisition by 58% in early tests versus static images. Video ads allow merchants to show additional angles of their products to further drive conversions.
The Shop Tab on Business Profiles. Merchants will be able to display a prominent Shop button on their business profiles, giving shoppers an easy way to find and view shoppable products. In early tests merchants reported about 30% of their first attributed sales from the Shop tab.
The API. The API allows for better and more accurate metadata management and improved quality for products. Accuracy in early tests came in at about 97%.
What Pinterest said. “At Pinterest, our goal is to turn inspiration into action, and our vision for shopping is to make it possible to buy anything Pinners are inspired by on the platform. In 2021, the number of Pinners engaging with shopping surfaces on Pinterest grew over 215%, and 89% of weekly Pinners use Pinterest for inspiration in their path to purchase. The new shopping features such as the API for Shopping allows brands and retailers to reach high-intent Pinners during the earliest stage of their shopping journey with the most updated catalog data” says Jeremy King, SVP of Engineering at Pinterest.
Read the full announcement on the Pinterest blog here.
Why we care. Albeit following in Instagram’s footsteps a couple of years late, Pinterest merchants and advertisers are finally getting new ways to reach and engage with high-intent shoppers. If you’re a retailer on Pinterest, be sure to implement these new features ASAP.
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Saturday, July 9th, 2022
Justifications are snippets of text that Google shows in the local pack to help users “justify” why the business is showing up for their search query.
There are a variety of types of justifications. The type you see highlighted in the local pack varies based on a user’s search query.
This guide will help you understand Google justifications.
Why do Google justifications matter?
While they may not cause rankings, recent research from Moz shows that 57% of local packs feature justifications.
Some listings even show multiple justifications when a listing is expanded.
Types of Google justifications
Website mentions
Pulled directly from content on your website, this type of justification will often show a user the page on your website where the content is being pulled from. It may include a meta description and photo.
Tip: Use these justifications to see what content on your site influenced the ranking for that search phrase, and use when working on strategy for other pages.
Review
Review justifications come from information within Google reviews for a business.
Review justifications can be influenced if reviewers use preferred keywords within their reviews.
Tip: Review justifications are not always positive. Actively managing Google reviews can help brands avoid embarrassing results.
In stock
If a business has activated See What’s in Store, or SWIS, function for their listing, in stock justifications may be displayed.
Tip: This is a third-party function. There are a few platforms that can help you get this feature enabled, like dbaPlatform.
Sold Here
Sold here justifications show a shopper that the product they’re searching for is available for sale at your location.
They’re identified by a checkmark in front of the justification. These justifications cannot be influenced.
Provides
Like “sold here”, these service-based justifications use a checkmark icon in front of the justification. They pull from a brand’s Services in their Google Business Page.
Tip: Be careful about how you word your GBP services to avoid embarrassing results. For example, a plastic surgeon offering a broken nose does not seem very welcoming.
Menu
This is a justification for restaurants. Menu information is pulled from the restaurant’s menu within your Google Business Profile or the menu highlights, and menu items will display in the justification accordingly as a “menu highlight” or “on the menu”.
Tip: Keep your GBP menu information up to date – you never know when a midday craving will bring new business your way!
Post
These justifications pull in keywords from your Google posts and have an exclamation point icon in front of the justification.
Post justifications are updated as new Google posts are published by your brand, but do not just look for exact-match, they also pull related keywords. They can overwrite other justifications and can be influenced by your brand’s Google post content.
Tip: If you’re trying to optimize for post justifications, keep posts to one main topic instead of listing a variety of products or services.
Justifications: What you need to know
Justifications update quickly
We have seen results update nearly in real-time. Joy Hawkins has discovered justifications in search results based on an edit she had made barely minutes earlier.
This is great for correcting suggested edits, attributes that may be blocking justifications, or for changing information in your Google Business Profile.
If something isn’t working, review the above justification types and see if there’s something you can update in order to assist in triggering a new justification for a particular local result.
Justifications do not affect rankings
While website items featured in justifications may have a correlation to ranking, the justifications themselves do not.
If you see a result with a justification, that result was already ranking and now Google is adding more information to support the search result they’ve chosen to provide.
While many people believe that Google posts affect local rankings, testing has found that Google posts do not affect rankings.
Justifications are not a replacement or bandaid for a bad website or Google Business Profile.
Make sure that you’re providing relevant content for your business and your local area, strong onsite SEO, and are following other local SEO best practices.
Website justifications may be one possible exception to this rule.
When users see a “their website mentions” justification, this is likely an indication that Google finds this content to be reputable and relevant to the search query, and is likely relevant to the business ranking for that particular query.
Some justifications can be affected by user-generated content
Obviously, review justifications display content or information provided by users. However, Sold Here justifications do as well.
Google gets information on available inventory from Know this place? push notifications from Google Maps by asking users to answer questions about a local business after a recent visit.
At this time, we have not discovered a way to determine which questions Google will ask a user, only that Google pushes the questions after they’ve determined that a user has recently physically visited the business location.
Devices can cause variations in justifications displayed
Different device and display types will show different justifications.
A desktop result may show a justification when mobile does not, or mobile may show a review when desktop shows menu options.
Why doesn’t your brand show justifications in local search?
Be careful when setting up your Business Profile.
Both “online services” and “online appointment” attributes within a brand’s Google Business Profile will block justifications from showing in the local pack.
Typically, justifications will start showing up within approximately 48 hours of removing the attributes.
Share valuable information with justifications
Justifications are a fantastic way for brands to help share valuable information in the search results.
Map pack real estate is valuable. Take advantage of the potential of Google justifications.
Maximizing your efforts can pay off big.
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