Archive for the ‘seo news’ Category
Wednesday, May 1st, 2024
Personalization is rapidly becoming essential for businesses to drive engagement, loyalty and revenue growth.
With declining website traffic from search and the phase-out of third-party cookies, companies must find new ways to maximize every visitor interaction.
Consumers now expect personalized, tailored experiences across all touchpoints, just as they receive on social media.
This article explores the foundational pillars of effective personalization, the role of AI in identifying segments and predicting journeys and real-world examples of how brands have boosted conversions through location-based, channel-based, behavioral and customer data-driven personalization tactics.
Why personalization is vital for marketing strategies
Two primary contributing factors are making personalization a vital component of the marketing strategy for businesses:
- As click-through rates from organic search drop – especially from top-of-the-funnel information-seeking queries – website traffic likewise declines. You need to engage every visitor because website visitors are even more important now than before.
- The pending deprecation of third-party cookies has significantly challenged marketers to offer personalized experiences. Marketers should focus on first-party data collection and activation and onboarding a CDP to remove data silos and create a single unified view of the customer.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said last year that search will be much more personalized and ultimately about understanding what users want and helping them accomplish it. He also said AI has been transforming Google Search for years.
It is not about 10 blue links but the most meaningful, rich answers. Two-thirds of consumers prefer these tailored interactions, indicating a trend toward more intimate and user-centric search experiences.
Consumers today are already used to content tailored to their interests. Social media feeds respond to what engaged users in the past. As search also gets more personalized, consumers will expect personalized experiences at every touchpoint – even the websites they visit.
Personalizing the experience is complex. It necessitates a comprehensive customer data platform (CDP) that maintains unified and actionable customer profiles.
Brands must urgently connect their CDP with their CRM and CMS to create personalized experiences. For meaningful personalization, three things need to come together.
3 foundational pillars of personalization
1. Harness your customer data
Implementing data-driven personalization can be challenging. Harnessing data effectively requires a sophisticated CDP capable of processing real-time information to craft diverse personalized experiences across the site. It also requires specialized data analysis skills and the creation of a comprehensive, unified customer profile.
With sophisticated data processing capabilities, you can collect real-time data and leverage it to deliver diverse personalized experiences that matter most to your customers.
- Unify customer profile: Unify data from various sources, creating a single, comprehensive profile for personalized experiences in the Customer Data Platform (CDP).
- Customer segmentation: Segment your customers by analyzing geolocation, browsing behavior and demographic data stored in the CDP.
- Target cohorts: Identify cohorts to target out of the segmentation, such as high-converting, high-revenue and high-LTV segments to target for personalization campaigns.
- Predict user journey: Predict users’ next actions and journey based on past actions for the target cohort. Analyze the probability of conversion for these users.
- Real-time personalization: Create personalized content for each target cohort based on the predicted user journey and conversion probability to deliver real-time personalization.
- Enrich customer data: Continue to enrich customer profiles in the CDP with real-time personalization data. This helps optimize segments and journey predictions.
2. Connectivity/journey
Connecting the omnichannel purchase journey with customer data and intent is challenging. However, ensuring a seamless, tailored experience across all channels, both now and in the future, is essential for keeping customers happy.
This requires fluid connections across various touchpoints to foster loyalty and revenue growth. As brands, we must ensure that simple workflows are defined for the most common use cases.
3. Personalizing content and distribution workflows
Content strategy is a major hurdle for many organizations, with 90% finding it challenging to produce content that aligns with user intent. Brands must define content creation and distribution workflows to ensure the content reflects customers’ intentions.
Establishing streamlined workflows, utilizing design systems, centralizing digital assets and deploying AI for content customization are key steps toward achieving this. Aligning imagery across touchpoints and using analytics to capture genuine insights are vital for meaningful engagement.
Types of personalization to consider
There are typically four types of personalization, all enhanced by AI-driven strategies and insights.
Location-based personalization
- Refers to the customization of content, services or offers based on the user’s physical location.
- Utilizes geographic data such as GPS coordinates, IP addresses or user-provided location information to deliver relevant and tailored experiences to individuals in specific locations.
- Enables businesses to target users with location-specific content, promotions or recommendations, enhancing user engagement and satisfaction.
Channel-based personalization
- Involves tailoring content, campaigns, promotions or experiences to suit specific communication channels or platforms where users interact with a business.
- Encompasses optimizing content for various channels such as websites, mobile apps, email, social media or messaging platforms to deliver a consistent and seamless experience across different touchpoints.
- Aims to cater to the unique preferences and behaviors of users on each channel, ultimately enhancing engagement and driving desired actions.
Behavioral personalization
- Refers to customizing content, recommendations or experiences based on the past behaviors and interactions of users with a website, app or brand.
- Utilizes data such as browsing history, purchase behavior, search queries and engagement patterns to deliver tailored content and recommendations that align with the user’s interests and preferences.
- Aims to anticipate the needs and desires of users based on their actions, ultimately enhancing user engagement, satisfaction and conversion rates.
Explicit, customer data-based personalization
- Relies on information voluntarily provided by users, including user preferences, interests, demographics and past interactions with the brand.
- Involves leveraging the direct input and explicit consent of users to tailor content, offers and experiences to their specific needs and preferences.
- Utilizing first-party data lets you create highly targeted and relevant messaging that resonates with your audience, leading to improved engagement, loyalty and conversion rates.
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AI’s role in personalization
AI-driven personalization tailors experience for everyone by analyzing their interactions and preferences, avoiding the one-size-fits-all approach.
AI personalization significantly improves decision-making, reduces business risks and fosters brand loyalty. Here are three use cases for AI and how it plays a significant role.
Identifying visitor segments to target
AI plays a pivotal role in dissecting visitor data to uncover meaningful segments. By analyzing visitors’ locations, devices, channels, browsing behaviors and interactions, AI models automatically group visitors into meaningful clusters.
Brands can then target these segments for personalized experiences and connected journeys. AI-driven segmentation empowers businesses to allocate resources effectively, optimize marketing efforts and enhance customer experiences.
Use AI for visitor journey prediction and optimization
Visitor journey stages represent the sequence of interactions a user has with a brand, from initial awareness to conversion and beyond. AI models meticulously analyze user behavior data, including website visits, clicks and session duration.
By discerning patterns, these models categorize visitors into relevant stages, such as “Ready to buy,” “High LTV” (Lifetime Value) or “Dormant.” Brands can then strategically deliver personalized content tailored to each visitor’s specific journey stage.
AI-powered content creation/selection
AI dynamically creates personalized content, ensuring relevance. It continuously learns from user interactions and precisely selects content for visitor segments. A/B testing and sentiment analysis aid in iterative learning and content optimization.
Ultimately, AI-driven content personalization ensures that each visitor receives relevant, engaging, timely information, fostering stronger connections and driving conversions.
How brands can leverage personalization to boost revenue
Here are two real-life examples where behavioral and channel-based personalization helped increase RFP submissions and conversions for a brand:
Goal: Increase ROI from the paid and email ‘spring campaign’
How we solved with channel-based personalization:
- Created a segment to identify visitors who are landing on the Spring campaign page from specific paid and email campaigns.
- Personalized the homepage to highlight the spring campaign details and send visitors to the spring campaign page.
Impact: 2X conversion rate for visitors from paid/email spring campaign.
Goal: RV resort wanted to drive more bookings from customers interested in long-term stays
Steps we deployed:
- Analyzed user flow on the website and identified visitor touchpoints to book long-term stays.
- Created a segment to identify visitors who are interested in long-term stays by looking at their page views on long-term stay pages.
- Personalized the homepage to highlight long-term stay-related content.
Impact: The customer witnessed 55% increase in conversion rate within a month from implementing behavioral personalization for the visitors interested in long-term stay.
Personalization, connectivity and data: The triad strategy for boosting revenue
AI is here to stay. Platforms will continue to leverage AI to deliver personalized experiences to their customers. By extension, personalization could soon become as essential as having a website.
Early movers that invest in the trifecta of personalization, connectivity and data will have the advantage over their competitors today and beyond.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Tuesday, April 30th, 2024
Are you ready to unlock an awesome training experience absolutely stacked with actionable tactics on the latest in SEO, PPC, AI, and more?
The SMX programming committee – including your friendly neighborhood Search Engine Land editors Barry Schwartz, Danny Goodwin, and Anu Adegbola – plus search experts Brad Geddes, Greg Finn, Eric Enge, and more – are putting the finishing touches on the SMX Advanced agenda.
The complete program will be live next week, but in the meantime, here’s your final preview of what’s to come. If you’re ready to secure your free pass, get started here: events.searchengineland.com/smx-advanced-2024
- Day 1 keynote – Insights from Google’s latest search quality updates: A keynote conversation. Join Google’s Director of Product Mangagement, Elizabeth Tucker, and Search Engine Land’s Barry Schwartz for a candid conversation about Google’s recent updates and how we as content creators can best position ourselves for success.
- Day 2 keynote – Embracing AI and the future of paid search. Join Aaron Levy, former VP of Paid Search at Tinuiti, as he reveals how to put the “marketing” back in “search engine marketing,” and prepares for the future of paid search, whatever it may hold.
- The importance of Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) – with Mike King, iPullRank
- Inside the 2024 SEO Periodic Table: Orchestrating a symphony of search elements – with Search Engine Land’s Danny Goodwin and Jeff Ferguson, Amplitude Digital
- Maximizing Performance Max: Advanced campaign structures for optimal ROI – with Andrew Lolk, SavvyRevenue
- Unlocking AI’s potential for digital advertising creative – with Kerri Amodio, Closed Loop
- Prompt and circumstance: Your guide to AI wizardry (an interactive, live clinic!) – with Marc Sirkin, Third Door Media, Amy Hebdon, Paid Search Magic, and more special guests
Check out more details here: searchengineland.com/smx/advanced/agenda
Remember – your free SMX Advanced pass unlocks everything, including all keynotes, sessions, live Q&As, meetups, platform demos, instant on-demand access – even a personalized certificate of attendance. The agenda will be live next week… stay tuned for more details!
P.S. The 2024 Search Engine Land Awards are open for entry! Learn more about how to apply here: awards.searchengineland.com/2024/
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Tuesday, April 30th, 2024
Google Ads will automatically pause low-activity keywords, starting in June, according to an email sent to advertisers by the Google Ads team.
What is low activity? Campaigns that were created more than 13 months ago and that have had zero impressions in the past 13 months.
Why we care. Navah Hopkins explained it well on LinkedIn: “Keywords with no impressions in your account are dragging down your account performance. We’ve seen documentation from the DOJ trial highlighting an account Quality Score – what do you think having hundreds/thousands of zero impression keywords does to the account?”
Unpausing paused keywords. If you unpause a paused keyword in Google Ads, Google will automatically pause it again if it receives no impressions over the next three months.
Why the change. So advertisers “focus on keywords that drive results,” Google said.
Ad group pause. As a reminder, Google Ads began automatically pausing ad groups with low activity in March.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Tuesday, April 30th, 2024
Google’s new Search spam policy around reputation abuse – or what SEOs have referred to as “parasite SEO” – will take effect “after May 5,” according to Google. May 5 is this Sunday.
We knew this was coming. Google told us this change was coming in March, when Google announced multiple search enhancements, which also included the March 2024 core update (which completed April 19) and spam updates (which completed March 20).
Google’s reminder. Google Search Central posted on X:
What is site reputation abuse? When third-party sites host low-quality content provided by third parties to piggyback on the ranking power of those third-party websites. As Google told us in March:
- “A third party might publish payday loan reviews on a trusted educational website to gain ranking benefit from the site.”
- “Such content ranking highly in Search can confuse or mislead visitors who may have vastly different expectations for the content on a given website.”
Under Google’s new policy, site reputation abuse is defined as “third-party content produced primarily for ranking purposes and without close oversight of a website owner” and “intended to manipulate Search rankings” will be considered spam.
But. Not all third-party content will be considered spam, as Google explained:
- “Many publications host advertising content that is intended for their regular readers, rather than to primarily manipulate Search rankings. Sometimes called ‘native advertising’ or ‘advertorial,’ this kind of content typically wouldn’t confuse regular readers of the publication when they find it on the publisher’s site directly or when arriving at it from Google’s search results.”
Google said in March that it would start to take both automated and manual actions on this abuse starting May 5. Now that time is just a few days away.
Why we care. Many SEO have been complaining about the harm and unfairness that comes from parasite SEO. With so many complaints about the quality of Search results lately, we’ll see whether this helps deal with the problem.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Tuesday, April 30th, 2024
If you’ve ever tried using avatars or buyer personas to write a Google Ads headline, you know it can be frustrating and fruitless.
You try to define your target market, only to be told, “Our audience is anyone who wants our product – we don’t exclude anyone.” Persist a bit and you might refine it to “Ages 25-45 in metropolitan areas.”
Eventually, you craft a detailed persona: Alex, 37, from Chicago, who enjoys protein smoothies, drives a Lexus and dreams of traveling to Asia.
The problem is that going ultra-deep in a psychographic profile doesn’t actually help you craft a 30-character headline for fleet management software.
This article tackles the steps to successfully transform your PPC ads just by focusing on the people who click them.
Your ad shouldn’t be for everyone
Targeting a specific client avatar, like “Alex from Chicago,” doesn’t translate to an effective headline. Aiming your ad at everyone interested in fleet management software isn’t the solution either.
What you really need is an ad that smartly qualifies each click.
You want your ad to attract and convert your ideal clients while encouraging everyone else to pass by your ad.
Not only does this approach prevent unnecessary clicks – saving you money – it also boosts your conversion rates by focusing on those most likely to convert.
Here’s how to create headlines that attract the right audience and repel the rest:
- Identify who should and shouldn’t click your ad using target and anti-audiences.
- Tailor your ads for these specific groups, directly addressing your ideal clients’ needs and desires while subtly deterring others.
- Measure your success using the right metrics to know if your ads are effective.
Ready to refine your approach? Let’s dive in.
Step 1: Decide who’s in and who’s out
In this first step, we’ll go through several exercises to help you identify and distinguish between your audience segments.
It might feel new at first – most marketers were never taught this – but it’s a skill that will help you throughout your career.
Know your TAM, SAM and SOM
When you target “everyone” interested in fleet management software, you’re addressing your total addressable market (TAM) – this includes all potential buyers in the category.
Here’s a simple diagram to illustrate TAM, SAM and SOM:
We’re not using this framework to estimate market sizes but to clarify who we are and aren’t targeting.
Your TAM is much larger than the segment of the market that will actually choose your company, and it’s certainly larger than you’d want to target in terms of pay-per-click costs. The same applies to your serviceable available market (SAM), the segment of the TAM you can actually serve.
Your serviceable obtainable market (SOM) includes prospects who are most likely to convert and who you should be targeting.
Identify your target audience and anti-audience
- Target audience (SOM): People actively seeking the specific benefits, price points and features your product offers. You want this audience to engage with your ads.
- Anti-audience (TAM and SAM): Everyone who’s left becomes your anti-audience. They are searching within your keyword category but aren’t looking for what you’re specifically offering. Your anti-audience will click your ad but won’t convert.
To define your anti-audience, think about who’s least likely to say “yes” to your offer:
- Who doesn’t resonate with your unique selling points?
- Who clicks your ads but doesn’t become a lead or make a purchase?
- Who fills out a form but never follows through to become a client or customer?
Most businesses running ads already know who the “problem clicks” are from.
A high-end art print company attracts visitors looking for cheap movie posters, the last-mile delivery service receives more job applications than customer leads and so on.
If you’re stuck, an AI tool like ChatGPT can help identify who’s in your category but not an ideal prospect for you, given the specifics of your offer.
Compile your target and anti-audience lists
Once you understand who to target and who to dissuade from clicking your ads, it’s time to create detailed audience lists.
These two lists will essentially be mirror opposites.
Your target audience list includes attributes of your ideal customers, while your anti-audience list includes attributes of people who won’t convert.
Include qualities that relate to your offer, such as:
- Location
- Scope of service
- Compatibility
- Requirements
- Style
Consider a Japan-based real estate investment company using Google Ads to attract investors. They realize many of their leads come from people looking to buy their first home, not from potential investors.
To combat this, they craft their audience lists to differentiate between those they want to attract and those they’d rather avoid:
| Target audience |
Anti-audience |
| Real estate investors |
Looking for low-cost housing |
| Interest in properties in Japan |
Looking for properties outside of Japan |
| Wants real property |
Wants REITs |
If your lists feel obvious and even redundant, you’re doing it right! Once your audience distinctions feel self-evident, writing effective headlines and ads becomes much easier.
Step 2: Tailor your ads to attract and repel
How do you write a headline that discourages the wrong clicks?
Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting you write a headline that says:
“If you don’t have the budget for our services, don’t click this ad.”
Fortunately, there are ways to make your ad specific without being off-putting.
Example 1: America’s ‘non-woke’ job board
This ad shows for the keyword “career opportunities,” targeting job seekers disillusioned with “woke culture.”
The headline is straightforward: “America’s Non Woke Job Board.” It appeals directly to its target audience while naturally deterring those not aligned with this perspective.
- Target audience: People upset about “woke culture.”
- Anti-audience: People who aren’t looking for “non-woke companies.”
What if, instead, they had used the headline:
“Find a good job that respects your values.”
Interestingly, that’s the headline on their homepage.
It might work well there, where visitors know the context and ethos of the company. However, for a Google Ad, including “wokeness” is a better filter to pique the interest of the right job seekers while keeping click costs down.
Example 2: Only for accredited investors
In finance, advertising to the right audience isn’t just a matter of efficiency – it’s often a legal requirement.
- Target audience: Accredited investors.
- Anti-audience: Anyone who’s not an accredited investor.
A headline clearly stating “Only For Accredited Investors” immediately clarifies who the ad is for, discouraging ineligible investors from engaging with content they legally cannot access.
Example 3: Binge-watch your way to fluency
For a language learning service, standing out in a crowded market requires a unique approach.
- Target audience: People looking for an edu-tainment learning style.
- Anti-audience: People in a rush or who want an academic experience.
Lingopie’s ad, “Bingewatch your way to Fluency,” perfectly promotes its offering. It attracts learners who prefer a more entertainment-based method, while those in a rush or seeking a rigorous academic structure look elsewhere.
Take your ad through two passes to make sure your headlines are:
- Uniquely appeal to your target audience.
- Discourage clicks from your anti-audience.
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Step 3: Know your metrics
Are you trapped in the “one job” fallacy of advertising? It’s a common misconception:
“An ad’s only job is to get clicked. It’s the landing page’s job to convert.”
Many marketers and their clients subscribe to this view.
The problem is clicks and click-through rates (CTR) are poor metrics for determining an ad’s effectiveness.
If an ad pulls in the wrong audience, it may generate more clicks, but this could lead to increased costs while sales decline.
This isn’t just theoretical; data from WordStream shows this is exactly what happened to the average Google Ads account last year:
According to these year-over-year stats:
- Average CTR: Increased (+3%)
- Conversion rate: Decreased (-10%)
- Lead costs: Increased (+20%)
A higher CTR doesn’t correlate with business growth.
Conversely, attracting fewer but more targeted clicks can significantly enhance performance.
Here are the results from a client after we refined their ads to better target their audience:
- Average CTR: Decreased (-3%)
- Conversion rate: Increased (+71%)
- Lead costs: Decreased (-47%)
Despite fewer impressions and clicks, actual leads went up 42%.
Does this mean you should aim for a lower CTR?
Nope! It just means that if your goal is to increase leads and sales, you should measure your ad against its ability to drive leads and sales, not its ability to drive more clicks.
Instead of only tracking click activity, prioritize post-click metrics:
- Conversions and conversion rates: Measure how effectively your clicks are driving leads and sales.
- Cost per lead (CPL) and return on ad spend (ROAS): Evaluate your ads’ cost efficiency.
These indicators give you a clearer picture of your ad’s true impact, so you know if your ads are reaching and resonating with your intended audience.
Walkthrough: Optimize Google Ads with anti-audiences
Now that you’re familiar with the concept of anti-audiences, let’s put it into practice by optimizing an ad from start to finish. This exercise is adapted from Magnetic RSAs, my course on crafting effective responsive search ads.
We’ll analyze an ad from Inflate Clarksville, a local business (not a client) specializing in stylish bounce houses and inflatable party decor rentals in Middle Tennessee.
Here’s a screenshot of one of their ads:
Define the audiences
If the total addressable market (TAM) is all bounce house renters, the serviceable available market (SAM) could be defined as bounce house renters in Middle Tennessee, which is who the ad’s headline is targeting.
However, this ad should target a more niche market.
Inflate Clarksville’s offerings are distinct, with an upscale aesthetic suited for stylish events, setting them apart from typical neon-colored children’s inflatables.
The ad must emphasize these upscale options while deterring those seeking traditional styles.
Here’s a simple TAM/SAM/SOM diagram for visual aid:
Using this model, we define the target and anti-audiences by aesthetic preference and location.
Here are the specific traits and attributes that could appear in the audience lists:
| Target audience |
Anti-audience |
| Heavily engaged with social media, potentially influencers |
Bargain hunters looking for discounts |
| Locals in the middle Tennessee area |
Out-of-area prospects |
| Seeks elevated aesthetic for parties for children or adults |
Prefers traditional, neon-themed children’s party styles |
With clear target and anti-audience lists, we can fine-tune the ad.
Optimize the headlines and message
Optimizing an ad involves enhancing what works and minimizing ineffective elements.
The current ad effectively notes the service (bounce house rentals) and location. It misses the unique value proposition (UVP) of the upscale bounce houses. It also highlights water slide rentals, which don’t specifically appeal to the ideal customer base.
A revised ad should spotlight Inflate Clarksville’s high-end inflatables, appealing to local, style-conscious consumers and subtly deterring those looking for conventional or economical options.
Google Ads headlines: Before and after roundup
Before: “Bounce House Rentals TN – Inflatable Water Slides”
- Fails to differentiate
- Does not target the specific audience
- Gives no reason for the anti-audience to avoid clicking
After: “Aesthetic Bounce House Rentals – Stylish Middle TN Inflatables”
- Incorporates “aesthetic” and “stylish” to set clear expectations
- Attracts customers looking for upscale bounce houses
- Deters those seeking basic or discount options
This focused rewrite helps to attract the ideal customer, reduce irrelevant clicks and improve the ad’s efficiency.
Time for action
To further refine your skills in crafting Google ad headlines:
- Review existing ads: Assess whether your current ads clearly identify and communicate with the target and anti-audiences. Edit or create new versions to sharpen their focus.
- Craft new ads: When starting new campaigns, define your target and anti-audiences upfront to guide your ad creation process.
- Practice material: If you lack a product or service to advertise, use existing Google ads as practice material. Analyze, critique and rewrite ads to better specify their target audiences.
Happy writing!
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Monday, April 29th, 2024
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) now has 111 potential concerns over Google’s Privacy Sandbox, according to its April Q1 2024 report. That’s up from 72 in the CMA’s Q4 2023 report, released January.
Why we care. The CMA’s January report made it clear that Google couldn’t proceed with third-party cookie deprecation. Sure enough, Google announced a third delay in the phase-out of cookies, with hopes to complete the process in 2025. But again, this is just a delay. Third-party cookies will go away.
Why the concerns? The CMO and the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) are concerned the Privacy Sandbox could make Google even more dominant, giving them an unfair advantage that could hurt advertisers, competing ad platforms, publishers and users.
Multi-touch concerns. One addition to the report is around concerns over Google’s approach to attribution:
- “Stakeholders have expressed further concerns around Google’s approach to multi-touch attribution, arguing that ‘single touch’ attribution is likely to advantage Google.”
- “For example, a current user journey may involve seeing an ad several times on different properties (e.g. a publisher site, their social media feed, etc) before the user takes an action. Users may also act on their intent to convert by searching for the advertised product. Stakeholders are concerned that Google is likely to be the ‘last touch’ and therefore capture more of the value from conversions than other market participants.”
- “We have shared this feedback with Google and await its response.”
What is Google’s Privacy Sandbox? Google is introducing the Privacy Sandbox program as an alternative to third-party cookies to enable advertisers to deliver targeted ads in Chrome while minimizing improper cross-site and cross-app tracking.
Maybe 2025. Google started phasing out third-party cookies to 1% of Chrome users in January. However, Google announced yet another delay to third-party cookie deprecation on April 24:
“We recognize that there are ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers, and will continue to engage closely with the entire ecosystem. It’s also critical that the CMA has sufficient time to review all evidence including results from industry tests, which the CMA has asked market participants to provide by the end of June. Given both of these significant considerations, we will not complete third-party cookie deprecation during the second half of Q4. We remain committed to engaging closely with the CMA and ICO and we hope to conclude that process this year. Assuming we can reach an agreement, we envision proceeding with third-party cookie deprecation starting early next year.”
Privacy Sandbox update
The report. You can read the CMA Q1 2024 report here (PDF).
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Monday, April 29th, 2024
Google Ads today introduced six new AI features for Performance Max campaigns.
Why we care. You’ll want to explore these new PMax features to see whether they help you uncover new insights or improve campaign performance and ROI.
Customer Value mode. This new PMax feature, in beta, is meant to help PMax advertisers who use purchase conversion goals to acquire high-value customers.
- New customer acquisition goals are now available for Search Ads 360 advertisers.
Customer retention goal. This PMax feature, also in beta, is designed to help you win back lost customers.
- Contact your Google account team to learn about next steps.
Detailed demographics. Data on age and gender groups is rolling out now. You will be able to find it in audience insights. As Google explained it:
- “Detailed demographics in audience insights empower you to understand your untapped demographics so you can craft ads that resonate directly with specific age and gender groups.”
Budget pacing insights. You will be able to see real-time spend tracking, current and projected spend and forecast conversion performance. Google said:
- “At a glance, you can analyze your campaign pacing to identify potential areas for strategic budget shifts, such as moving budget from a campaign that’s underpacing to a campaign that is close to becoming budget limited.”
Account-level IP address exclusions. PMax advertisers can now exclude specific IP addresses (e.g., your company), reducing wasted budget on unwanted ad interactions.
Final URL expansion. This new PMax feature, in beta, lets you test whether “replacing your final URL with a more relevant landing page from your website drives stronger results. … Opting into the Final URL expansion experiment will split your traffic, dedicating a portion of your budget to testing this feature while tracking results alongside your original setup.”
- Advertisers testing this feature had “an average increase of over 9% in conversions/conversion value at a similar Cost Per Action (CPA)/Return on Ad Spend (ROAS),” according to Google data.
- Contact Google support or your account team if you want to join the beta.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Monday, April 29th, 2024
Microsoft’s AI assistant Copilot is now available for all advertisers across the Microsoft Advertising Platform, a month after they increased the testing pool, the company announced today.
Why we care: Microsoft touts CopIlot as a way for advertisers to save time on routine tasks, focus on strategic decision-making and improve overall performance. We’ll be watching closely to see whether these claims are actually true for advertisers.
What’s new. Copilot offers several AI-powered capabilities within the ad platform, including:
- Natural language conversational chat to get answers and synthesize info.
- Recommendations for ad creative assets like images and copy.
- AI-generated images and other assets on demand.
- Integrated throughout the platform UI and workflows.
What it looks like. Here’s a screenshot of what it looks like in the Microsoft platform:
And what Copilot looks like answering a question about campaign performance:
What’s next: An upcoming pilot will allow advertisers to use Copilot to summarize the performance of specific ad campaigns via chat automatically.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Monday, April 29th, 2024
B2B lead generation through paid search is constantly evolving. Today’s effective PPC strategies differ from previous years. B2B marketers must adapt and zero in on:
- Hyper-personalization using first-party data.
- Leveraging account-based marketing to target high-intent audiences.
- Engaging and educating prospects with interactive content.
- Developing compelling video assets for Performance Max and beyond.
- Using AI-driven automation.
1. Hyper-personalization using first-party data
Focusing on hyper-personalization to engage our target audience is necessary, but it has become even more difficult as Google cracks down on personalization policies in Google Ads.
This strategy involves leveraging your company’s data analytics and advanced segmentation techniques to deliver tailored content and offers to individual prospects based on your preferences, behaviors and demographics.
Break out your campaigns in Google Ads by industry, job title or other ways to best segment your audiences. Analyze vast datasets to gain deeper insights into your audience’s needs and pain points. With this knowledge, you can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with prospects personally, driving higher engagement and conversion rates.
Successful B2B lead generation campaigns will prioritize hyper-personalization, delivering customized content across various channels, including email, social media and PPC. By addressing each category’s unique challenges, you can establish stronger connections and foster trust, ultimately paving the way for long-term relationships with prospects.
Dig deeper: The search marketer’s new imperative: Capturing first-party data
2. Leveraging account-based marketing to target high-intent audiences
To find these prospects, account-based marketing (ABM) continues to gain momentum as a powerful strategy for B2B lead gen, especially in complex, high-value sales environments. Unlike traditional lead gen approaches that cast a wide net, ABM targets specific accounts or companies with personalized messaging and experiences.
Consider embracing ABM tools to collect audiences to target within Google and Microsoft Ads. The shift to first-party data demands better audience lists for targeting on Display, Demand Gen and Video Campaigns. These signals are also necessary for effective audience signals on Performance Max campaigns.
Without strong audiences these tools can offer, you may be wasting money on campaigns that deliver to the wrong audiences. Using ABM tools is especially important, as many ads could land in front of consumers rather than businesses, wasting precious ad spend or driving low-quality leads.
Tools, including 6sense, ZoomInfo and Hubspot, can create contact lists, integrate with Google and Microsoft Ads and personalize landing pages and email sequences.
These advancements in marketing technology let you scale your ABM efforts effectively, leveraging automation and predictive analytics to identify and prioritize high-potential accounts.
By investing resources in strategic account targeting and personalized engagement, your B2B organization can drive meaningful conversations and win new business in 2024.
Dig deeper: Maximizing your B2B spend: Is account-based marketing worth it?
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3. Engaging and educating prospects with interactive content
With shorter attention spans nowadays, use interactive content to grab your audience’s attention. Instead of using static assets like whitepapers and ebooks, which have been the norm for lead generation landing pages for years, interactive content gets people actively involved, leading to better engagement and understanding.
From interactive quizzes and assessments to calculators and configurators, there are myriad ways to create compelling interactive experiences that educate and entertain prospects while subtly guiding them through the buyer’s journey. Incorporating forms into interactive content keeps PPC campaigns effective for lead generation while offering value.
Leverage interactive content formats to stand out and engage your audience while gaining data, finding qualified leads and boosting conversions efficiently.
4. Developing compelling video assets for Performance Max and beyond
Creating effective video content is to level up your B2B lead gen efforts. Video is now a key component in Google and Microsoft Ads, incorporated into various campaign types like Demand Gen and Performance Max. If you’re not producing compelling video content, you risk lagging behind in your marketing efforts.
This also includes short-form videos. Since Google now offers ads for YouTube Shorts, remember to create vertical video content that can be served on as many channels as possible.
If you’re investing in expensive ABM tools to collect audience lists, put your best content forward to entice your audience to interact with your content. Video content is essential to a strong PPC B2B strategy today.
Dig deeper: How advertisers can capitalize on vertical video
5. Streamlining processes and driving efficiency with AI-powered automation
Amid data overload, you can rely on AI and automation to streamline lead generation and boost efficiency. AI simplifies tasks like data analysis, ad copywriting and emailing prospects, simplifying PPC processes.
AI-powered automation is central to B2B lead gen campaigns, allowing you to deliver personalized experiences at scale while optimizing resource allocation and campaign performance. Google also enables AI within Google Ads through “AI Essentials,” so you can quickly launch campaigns or create deliverables to integrate into your interactive content or ebooks on landing pages.
The keys to successful PPC lead gen today and beyond
As data privacy restrictions tighten and buyer expectations shift, B2B companies must adapt their paid search approaches accordingly. These strategies blend cutting-edge technologies with customer-centric experiences to capture attention and drive conversions.
From personalized ads to interactive content and AI optimization, these tactics are crucial for staying ahead of the curve in 2024’s lead generation landscape.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Saturday, April 27th, 2024
Google has served “billions of queries” with its generative AI features and plans to “expand the type of queries we can serve our users” even further. That’s according Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai, speaking during the Q1 2024 Alphabet earnings call.
AI overviews, which Google introduced in the U.S. in late March and the UK earlier this month for a small slice of queries, are also increasing Search usage, according to Pichai:
- “Based on our testing, we are encouraged that we are seeing an increase in search usage among people who use the new AI overviews as well as increased user satisfaction with the results.”
Later during the Q&A portion, Pichai was asked multiple times about search behavior and user engagement within SGE. Here is what Pichai said:
- “I think broadly, we’ve always found that over many years when things work well on the organic side, monetization follows. So, typically, the trends we see carry over well. Overall, I think with generative AI in Search, with our AIO views … I think we will expand the type of queries we can serve our users.”
- “We can answer more complex question as well as in general. That all seems to carry over across quarter categories. Obviously, it’s still early, and we are going to be measured and put user experience at front, but we are positive about what this transition means.”
- “We see an increase in engagement, but I see this as something which will play out over time. But if you were to step back at this moment, there were a lot of questions last year, and we always felt confident and comfortable that we would be able to improve the user experience.
- “People question whether these things would be costly to serve, and we are very, very confident we can manage the cost of how to serve these queries. People worried about latency. When I look at the progress we have made in latency and efficiency, we feel comfortable.”
- “There are questions about monetization. And based on our testing so far, I’m comfortable and confident that we’ll be able to manage the monetization transition here well as well. It will play out over time, but I feel we are well-positioned.”
Why we care. All signs continue to indicate that Google is continuing its slow evolution toward a Search Generative Experience. I’m skeptical about user satisfaction increasing, considering what an unimpressive product AI overviews and SGE continues to be. But I’m not the average Google user – and this was an earnings call, where Pichai has mastered the art of using a lot of words to say a whole lot of nothing.
SGE will continue to evolve in 2024. During the Q&A portion, Pichai was asked to elaborate on what types of queries or scenarios generative AI is working best so far. Pichai kept it vague:
- “On SGE and Search … we are seeing early confirmation of our thesis that this will expand the universe of queries where we are able to really provide people with a mix of actual answers linked to sources across the web and bring a variety of perspectives, all in an innovative way. And we’ve been rolling out AI overviews in the U.S. and the U.K., trying to mainly tackle queries, which are more complex, where we think SGE will clearly improve the experience.”
- “We’ve already served billions of queries, and it seems to cut across categories. But we are still continuing our testing… We are metrics-driven in these areas. … But I am optimistic that it clearly improves the user experience, users are telling us that, and we are seeing it in our metrics, and we’ll continue evolving it through the course of this year.”
This was followed later by a question seeking more color around AI changing Search volume or Google use cases. Pichai answered with a non-answer about Google’s positive and profound path:
- “We view this moment as a positive moment for Search. And I think it allows us to evolve our product in a profound way. And Search is a unique experience. People come and they get to — be it if you want answers, if you want to explore more, if you want to get perspectives from across the web and to be able to do it across the breadth and depth of everything they are looking for and the innovation you would need to keep that up, I think it’s what we’ve been building on for a long time.
- “And so I feel we are extraordinarily well set up, particularly given the innovation path we are on. And overall, I view this moment as a positive moment.”
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
