Archive for the ‘seo news’ Category
Tuesday, December 19th, 2023
In the ever-evolving landscape of marketing, the use of customer data has become more critical than ever before. Customer data platforms (CDPs) have emerged as a game-changer, enabling businesses to harness the full potential of their customer data. With CDPs, organizations can unlock a wide array of use cases, each catering to specific business needs. This article covers a CDP use case, its benefits and how to implement them effectively for maximum impact.
Crawl, walk, run: The iterative approach for a CDP use case
Before delving into a specific CDP use case, it’s essential to emphasize the importance of the iterative approach. Often, organizations tend to get overwhelmed by the sheer possibilities of a CDP and aim for complex solutions right from the start. Instead, adopting a ‘crawl, walk, run’ approach can be highly beneficial.
To begin, start small – perhaps by addressing a straightforward use case and gradually build upon it. This way, you can understand how the CDP integrates into your existing systems and learn to harness its full potential progressively.
How can you use the ‘crawl, walk, run’ approach?
Cart abandonment is a common CDP use case. Here is an example using the iterative “Crawl, Walk, Run” approach.
- Crawl: Identify customers who abandon their carts and track this data. Measure the cart abandonment rate and its impact on revenue. Start sending basic email reminders to encourage customers to complete their purchases. To activate this data, connect your CDP to your email marketing tool, and the audience would-be cart abandoners.
- Walk: As you gain experience, it’s time to dive deeper into the data. Analyze the customer journey events leading to cart abandonment. Segment your audience based on attributes like cart value, product categories or purchase history. Create personalized email content for different segments. You can also incorporate SMS or app notifications to reach customers through multiple channels. Utilize connectors to automate these processes.
- Run: Now, take cart abandonment prevention to the next level. Implement dynamic on-site personalization for returning cart abandoners. Use returner data to identify and engage customers who have previously abandoned carts. Leverage retargeting campaigns across social media platforms to re-engage cart abandoners. Continuously measure and refine your strategies for optimal results using A/B testing and data analytics.
What is a use case in a CDP?
A use case in a CDP has eight main pillars. Here is how they can add value to your business.
1. Measurement
Defining measurable objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) is crucial when developing a CDP use case. For instance, in a cart abandonment use case, the measurement could involve tracking the abandonment rate, the number of recovered carts and the increase in revenue.
2. Business value
To determine the business value, you need to identify the direct impact the use case will have on your organization. In the context of cart abandonment, the business value is evident in the form of increased revenue through recovered sales and improved customer retention.
3. Activation
Activation refers to the action you take based on the data and insights provided by the CDP. In a cart abandonment use case, activation involves sending personalized reminders or offers to customers who have abandoned their carts. Activation strategies should be well-defined and designed to achieve the objectives set in the measurement phase.
4. Connectors
Connectors are the bridges that link your CDP with other tools and platforms. In the case of cart abandonment, you would need connectors to integrate your CDP with your email marketing platform, SMS or app notification tools and potentially your ecommerce platform to track and recover abandoned carts effectively.
5. Audiences
Understanding your target audience is crucial. In the context of cart abandonment, the audience would be those customers who have abandoned their shopping carts. These audiences can be further segmented based on attributes and behaviors to tailor messages and offers effectively.
6. Attributes
Attributes are the characteristics or data points that define your audience segments. In the cart abandonment use case, attributes may include the value of the abandoned cart, product categories within the cart, purchase history, and more. These attributes help you personalize your messages and offers.
7. Customer journey events
Customer journey events are specific actions or interactions that customers take along their path to purchase. In cart abandonment, the key event is abandoning a cart. Understanding the customer journey events lets you pinpoint when and why potential customers drop off.
8. Data sources
Data sources are the places where the relevant data is collected. Data sources in the cart abandonment use case include your website, ecommerce platform, customer relationship management (CRM) system and CDP. Data from these sources is used to track customer behavior, gather cart abandonment data, and trigger activation processes. It is important to underscore the need for data quality and consistency from these sources to ensure accurate results.
By considering these elements, you create a comprehensive framework for building a CDP use case that is well-defined, measurable and aligned with your business objectives.
Here is how it all comes together in a framework.
Example use cases associated with definitions
To further examine the use cases, see the below graphic with example-specific definitions.
In conclusion, building a CDP use case involves careful planning. Focusing on measurable objectives, business impact, targeted activation strategies, data integration through connectors, well-defined audience segments, relevant attributes, customer journey events and the data sources that power the entire process is important. When executed effectively, CDP use cases can significantly improve your marketing efforts, customer engagement and overall business outcomes.
Incorporating these CDP use cases into your marketing strategy can substantially improve customer engagement, retention and revenue. Remember, it’s essential to start with simple implementations and gradually progress towards more complex strategies. This approach ensures a smoother transition into the world of CDPs, allowing your organization to fully leverage the power of customer data. So, take the first step and start reaping the benefits of CDPs today. For more resources, explore this blog post, 5 Clever CDP Use Cases You’ll Want To Implement.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Tuesday, December 19th, 2023
4.95 billion. That’s the number of social media users worldwide.
For the savvy marketer, that number represents a market they can tap into to drive business growth.
However, that number represents people who use social media in general. Each social media platform has its own monthly average users (MAU). For example, Facebook boasts a whopping 3 billion users.
With numerous social media platforms and new ones emerging constantly, marketers face the challenge of deciding where to concentrate their efforts.
If you’ve been wondering, I want to share the top five social media platforms you should focus on for business growth.
These platforms drive engagement for brands and have stood the test of time.
I will also show you ways businesses can harness the power of each platform to get the most mileage out of them.
1. Facebook: The powerhouse of social media marketing
Facebook is the platform that should take precedence when attempting to expand your brand’s social media presence. With a staggering 2.9 billion monthly active users worldwide, it’s an undeniable powerhouse in social networking.
Why does this matter?
It means vast brand awareness and customer service opportunities on this bustling social media platform are just a click away. No matter the target audience, Facebook offers a variety of features that can be tailored to suit one’s requirements.
The key to success on Facebook is creating an engaging business page and completing your profile. Once done, understand your target audience and how the Facebook algorithm works. This will help you create Facebook posts that resonate with your audience and get shown in more users’ news feeds.
You should also leverage other tools like Facebook stories for sharing short but captivating posts. Stories offer an immersive full-screen format where photos and videos play together sequentially with unique creative tools not available anywhere else on the site.
You can also use Facebook groups to build a community around your brand and its products/services.
Leveraging Facebook Ads for increased visibility
The key to completely harnessing the power of Facebook marketing is running Facebook Ads.
Facebook Ads enable you to reach your target audience with laser-focused precision – think demographics, interests, behavior patterns and more.
You can customize every aspect of these ads, from images and text to the timing of when they appear in user feeds. The best part? These personalized advertisements don’t feel intrusive but instead, add value to the overall browsing experience on the social platform.
2. Instagram: Harnessing visual storytelling
Businesses with visually appealing products or services can find a goldmine in Instagram, a platform teeming with 2 billion monthly active users.
Instagram thrives on visuals – from breathtaking travel photos to mouth-watering food snaps. It’s an exciting playground for businesses targeting niche communities and aiming to connect more personally with their target demographic.
The key lies in showcasing your consumer goods and weaving narratives around them through visual storytelling.
Utilizing user-generated content on Instagram
The real magic of Instagram comes alive when brands leverage user-generated content (UGC). This is authentic, relatable, and often more trusted by consumers than brand-produced ads. Encouraging customers to share images of themselves using your product can amplify engagement significantly.
This tactic enhances the authenticity of your Instagram content and helps foster strong relationships between you and your audience. By reposting customer content, you recognize them while showing potential buyers how existing customers enjoy your product.
You don’t need high-end equipment or a professional photographer to leverage Instagram’s visual appeal. A smartphone camera coupled with creative thinking does wonders here. The key is crafting stories your target audience resonates with. You can even show behind-the-scenes glimpses into production processes or highlight the people who make it happen.
In essence, effectively utilizing Instagram’s narrative power involves strategically using brand-created and user-generated visuals to create an immersive experience for followers. And this is what turns mere viewers into loyal customers.
Again, you also have to understand how the platform’s algorithm works and what Instagram users want if you’re to create more impactful Instagram content.
Dig deeper: Instagram Ad formats: Best practices for effective ad creative
3. YouTube and the influence of video content
You’ve likely heard that YouTube is a great place for product-based businesses. But why exactly?
One reason is its sheer reach. With its massive 2.6 billion user base, YouTube is one of the most popular social media sites on the planet.
This expansive user base isn’t just about numbers – it translates to an audience hungry for video content. People don’t visit YouTube merely to kill time. They’re actively searching for information, entertainment, or both. As such, creating engaging long and short-form videos on this platform can give your brand immense exposure.
A brilliant example would be beauty tutorials, which are incredibly popular on YouTube. They illustrate how well-crafted video content helps brands connect with their audience by providing value and building trust – key elements in any successful marketing strategy.
One of the beauties of YouTube is that you can grow your brand awareness without creating a single YouTube video. That’s because you can collaborate with creators and influencers to bring your brand in front of their audience.
But for lasting impact, creating your own channel is best. It allows you to create the types of content your target audience wants.
The impact of short-form videos on YouTube
In today’s fast-paced digital world, attention spans are shrinking rapidly. This has led to the rise of short-form videos as a powerful tool for capturing viewers’ interest quickly while still delivering meaningful messages effectively.
Besides being more digestible than long-format counterparts, these quick clips also tend to get shared far more frequently across various social media platforms. This is a bonus if you aim to grow your online presence beyond just YouTube.
Dig deeper: YouTube Shorts guide: How to get noticed
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4. LinkedIn: The professional networking giant
If you’re in the B2B space and need to connect with other businesses, then LinkedIn is one of the social platforms tailored for you. It’s not just a place to flaunt your resume anymore. With 950 million members worldwide, LinkedIn has become an essential tool for B2B marketers.
Building business connections through LinkedIn
Relationships are vital in growing any business in today’s digital world.
And where better to start building these connections than on a platform designed specifically for professionals?
But it doesn’t stop at making connections. The real power lies in leveraging those relationships to create opportunities to expand your reach, generate leads and drive sales.
Personal profile vs. company page
Many marketers ask which is better to use – a personal profile or a company page (business profile).
The simple answer is both.
Your personal profile will help you network personally, even regarding growing your business. You can leverage your company profile to boost your brand awareness, educate your customers on your products/services, establish yourself as a thought leader, and more.
The key to successfully using LinkedIn as a marketing tool is posting regularly, engaging with other users, and even running LinkedIn ads.
Besides a personal profile and company page, LinkedIn also offers a powerful tool called Sales Navigator.
Sales Navigator is a suite of tools that gives you insights into your target audience, gives you extra marketing tools, and much more.
Dig deeper: Decoding the SEO success of LinkedIn collaborative articles
5. X: The pulse of real-time updates
Many people trust X (formerly Twitter) to stay up-to-date on the latest trends. With real-time updates and an active user base of over 556 million monthly users, it’s a platform where news breaks first. This is particularly useful for fast-paced industries (like financial services) where up-to-date news is crucial.
Despite having fewer users than other social networking sites, X users (and the platform) are quite influential.
One reason users love X is the brevity of the content. Being a micro-content site, users can quickly get the information they want without wading through unnecessary content. For longer content, you can create X threads.
X also has other features brands can leverage. Examples include live streaming, communities, hashtags, and much more.
While business posts don’t get much traction on the platform, it’s still a great place to post updates about your brand and products.
The up-and-comers
TikTok
With over 1.2 billion monthly active users globally, TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social networks on the planet. Founded in 2016, it’s also one of the newest major social media platforms.
While the platform thrives on a younger demographic, it’s now reaching more people of all ages.
One reason for the platform’s explosive growth is that it mainly features short-form video content, usually challenges that other users jump onto. This results in the virality of certain videos, hashtags, and topics.
Brands can also leverage this social platform by creating short-form video content that appeals to their target audience. And if funny ads are one of the ways you market your business, TikTok is a great place to share them.
Threads
Threads is one of the newest social media platforms, launched in 2023 by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Launched as an X competitor in 2023, the platform has already garnered over 141 million users. While it may be too early to tell, research shows the platform’s momentum is slowing down.
Could this be a shiny syndrome that you shouldn’t waste time on?
While I may not like making predictions, I strongly believe it could be. For one, it’s a knockoff of X. Secondly, people have trust issues regarding Meta and how the brand handles users’ data. However, time alone will tell if Threads is a viable social media platform for business.
Know the top social media platforms you should focus on
Social media marketing is a critical component of digital marketing. You can use it to grow brand awareness, generate leads, and even drive sales (particularly on platforms with shoppable posts like Instagram).
The best part of social media is that you can create any type of content to reach a wider audience. From live video to short-form and long-form content to images, GIFs, and memes, social media allows you to publish content your target audience resonates with.
Plus, you don’t need massive budgets to run successful campaigns. You can often use an in-house social media management team to create and run your campaigns.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Saturday, December 16th, 2023
Google’s local search ranking algorithm has recently been updated to strengthen its “openness” signal for non-navigational queries. Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, said, “we’ve long used “openness” as part of our local ranking systems, and it recently became a stronger signal for non-navigational queries.”
What changed. Earlier this month a report showed Google ranked open businesses more often in its local search rankings higher than businesses that are closed. “As of November 2023, Google appears to be looking at whether a business is currently open as a ranking factor for local pack rankings,” Joy Hawkins wrote in her report.
Google confirmed. A couple weeks later, Danny Sullivan from Google confirmed this saying, “we’ve long used “openness” as part of our local ranking systems, and it recently became a stronger signal for non-navigational queries.”
Navigational queries. Non-navigational queries are queries where you search for types of services versus specific brands. So a non-navigational query would be to search for a pharmacy, whereas a navigational query would be to search for CVS.
Don’t change your business hours. The report said, “If you are a business that’s open 24-hours a day, this would benefit you in the evenings when your competitors disappear but you still rank.”
But Sullivan said, “This might change in various ways, as we continue to evaluate the usefulness of it, however.” He added, “I wouldn’t recommend businesses do this, given the ranking signal may continue to be adjusted.”
Why we care. If you notice changes to your Google Business Profile listings, this may be why. It is also important to ensure your business hours reflect your true open hours because if you make up your business hours, you never know if you can be hit by some sort of penalty in the future.
In short, Google is now showing more businesses that are open at the current time of the search. Is that a good thing for searchers or bad is up to debate and probably very query dependent.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Friday, December 15th, 2023
Leading U.S. marketing company Cox Media Group (CMG) has reportedly admitted to monitoring conversations for the purpose of targeted advertising.
Working with renowned brands like CBS, Fox News and ESPN, CMG has allegedly been promoting its ability to eavesdrop on consumers through microphones in smartphones, TVs, and smart speakers.
The agency has coined this capability “Active Listening” and has been actively pitching this service it to advertisers, showcasing the feature on its website, reports 404.
Why we care. Amid the worldwide push for enhanced privacy, including measures like the phasing out of third-party cookies, these statements have caught the PPC community off guard. Many are now speculating about potential repercussions, signaling a warning to the broader industry.
SEO consultant Gelnn Gabe responded to the report on X, writing: “This will not end well.”
This will not end well -> Cox Media Group claims it can listen to conversations of consumers through microphones in smartphones, smart TVs, and other devices and use it to target ads
"Clients can “claim” a territory where they want to use CMG’s services, which are available… pic.twitter.com/sTcF2WhI39
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) December 15, 2023
Google Ads expert, Steve Huskey, added: “Textbook definition of invasion of privacy.”
Textbook definition of invasion of privacy
— Steve Huskey (@TalkNerdie2Me) December 15, 2023
How it works. CMG allegedly claims that its Active Listening technology can spot potential customers in real-time through everyday conversations. It’s uncertain if this feature is on current devices, but CMG promotes it as a futuristic marketing tool that is “available today.”
Pitching the product. A CMG rep was reportedly spotted on LinkedIn promoting this service, encouraging interested parties to get in touch so that they could provide more information on prices.
What CMG is saying. The company did not respond to Search Engine Land’s request for comment. However, a promotional post on its website, which appears to have now been removed, reportedly read:
- “What would it mean for your business if you could target potential clients who are actively discussing their need for your services in their day-to-day conversations?”
- “No, it’s not a Black Mirror episode—it’s Voice Data, and CMG has the capabilities to use it to your business advantage.”
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Deep dive. Read ‘A PPC guide to privacy-focused audience targeting‘ for more information on how to serve ads while adhering to user privacy best practices.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Friday, December 15th, 2023
YouTube creators can now give away 10 free subscriptions each month as part of a new program aimed at facilitating audience growth.
Eligible creators with channel memberships can use this benefit at no extra cost to promote the perks of their memberships.
Why we care. This promotion is designed to give viewers a taste of the benefits offered by subscribing to your channel. Once they recognize the value, there’s potential for them to upgrade to full-paying members, contributing to increased revenue and brand awareness.
Getting started. To ensure your account is eligible for this off, make sire you:
- Have channel memberships enabled on your channel.
- Offer a membership tier below $5.
How it works. To give away these complimentary memberships to viewers during a live stream or Premiere, follow these simple steps:
- Click the “$” icon within the live chat.
- Select “Membership gifting”.
- Click “Gift 5 Now”.
You can give out gift memberships in batches of 5, twice a month. Share them in one stream or across several throughout the month. Unused gifts reset on the 1st of each month, so be sure to use them regularly.
Exclusions. Free of charge gift memberships are not currently available for Brand Accounts – however YouTube has confirmed it will be soon. You can check to see if you’re using a Brand account by:
- Signing into your Google account.
- Look in “Your Brand Accounts” to locate your linked Brand Accounts.
Ensure you’re using the correct account by clicking on your profile picture in the top right corner if you don’t see any listings.
What YouTube us saying. Currently, creators cannot individually select who benefits from free subscriptions, however, a YouTube spokesperson explained on X this may change:
- “We’ve seen a lot of this feedback [about this] and we’ve shared it with the team working on memberships gifting.”
- “These free of charge gift memberships are distributed to viewers based on how much they’ve watched and interacted with your channel for now, but we’ll keep you updated if that changes!”
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Deep dive. Read Google’s ‘manage channel memberships‘ guide for more information on promotional gift memberships.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Thursday, December 14th, 2023
Google is reviewing complaints regarding an ad policy update that enforces tighter restrictions on consumer financial products and services.
Following the rollout, marketers have complained that the policy is so “overarching”, it is causing issues for advertisers outside the consumer finance sector.
Why we care. If your Google Ads campaigns are facing disapproval or limitations as a result of this update and you’re unsure why, it might not be due to a violation of Google’s policies. The issue could be attributed to Google’s own processes.
Personalized ads policy update. A few weeks ago, Google revealed plans to update its Personalized ads policy, introducing restrictions on personalized ads for consumer financial products and services. The expanded policy will change the name from “Credit in personalized ads” to “Consumer finance in personalized ads.” The updated policy states:
- “In the United States and Canada, the following sensitive interest categories cannot be targeted to audiences based on gender, age, parental status, marital status, or ZIP code.”
Issues for advertisers. PPC expert and Search Engine Land award-winner Greg Kohler shared a screenshot on X of his account after a handful of ads were disapproved or limited as a result of the update:
Greg said that his campaigns were experiencing these difficulties because of Google’s policy update, which he claims was “pushed through automated checks.”
He then revealed how one campaign triggered the policy violation simply for including the term “apartments” in the keyword group, writing on X:
- “These automated checks are always way too overarching when they’re first applied – I can’t even add this keyword in the interface since it’s rejected based on just including ‘apartments”‘.”
What Google is saying. Google Ads liaison officer Ginny Marvin personally acknowledged Greg’s complaint, expressing gratitude for bringing it to their attention. She then confirmed her intention to privately message him for additional details, indicating that the matter would be investigated.
Search Engine Land will provide you with updates on future developments from Google.
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Deep dive. Read Search Engine Land’s report on Google’s personalized ads policy update for more information on how consumer finance ad targeting will be restricted moving forward.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Thursday, December 14th, 2023
This is a gentle reminder that Google is updating its ad-serving requirements in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the UK in the coming weeks.
Under the new rules, publishers and developers using Google AdSense, Ad Manager, or AdMob in these regions must use a certified Consent Management Platform (CMP) that has been certified by Google and has integrated with the IAB Europe’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF).
Enforcement will begin on January 16, 2023, and will affect a small percentage of EEA and UK traffic. It will then gradually expand to all EEA and UK traffic by the end of February 2024.
Why we care. If you are running campaigns in these regions and fail to adopt a Google certified CMP, only programmatic limited ads will be served, which could have a significant impact on your monetization.
What is a certified CMP? A Google-certified CMP is a platform approved by Google to assist businesses in managing user consent for online advertising and data collection, adhering to the IAB’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) v2. Check if your CMP is certified by viewing Google’s full list of certified CMPs here.
What if my CMP is not certified by Google? If your current CMP isn’t listed among Google’s certified CMPs, it is recommended to reach out to your CMP directly to inquire about their certification status.
What is IAB Europe? The Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe, a coalition of 27 national IABs across Europe and over 500 companies, works to help the digital ecosystem understand consumer trends and platform habits by conducting research and providing legal support for the online advertising industry. The ultimate aim is to empower businesses to create messages that effectively and efficiently resonate with consumer preferences.
What is the TCF? TCF is a voluntary standard developed by IAB Europe that fosters collaboration between website publishers, app developers, and technology partners. It ensures a standardized user experience for privacy choices, allowing users to grant or withhold consent and exercise their ‘right to object’ to data processing, based on practical requirements from Data Protection Authorities and legal principles.
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Deep dive. Read Google’s announcement in full for more information.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Thursday, December 14th, 2023
Ever wondered what would happen if you prevented Google from crawling your website for a few weeks? Technical SEO expert Kristina Azarenko has published the results of such an experiment.
Six surprising things that happened. What happened when Googlebot couldn’t crawl Azarenko’s site from Oct 5 to Nov. 7:
- Favicon was removed from Google Search results.
- Video search results took a big hit and still haven’t recovered post-experiment.
- Positions remained relatively stable, except were slightly more volatile in Canada.
- Traffic only saw only a slight decrease.
- An increase in reported indexed pages in Google Search Console. Why? Pages with noindex meta robots tags ended up being indexed because Google couldn’t crawl the site to see those tags.
- Multiple alerts in GSC (e.g., “Indexed, though blocked by robots.txt”, “Blocked by robots.txt”).
Why we care. Testing is a crucial element of SEO. All changes (intentional or unintentional) can impact your rankings and traffic and bottom line, so it’s good to understand how Google could possibly react. Also, most companies aren’t able to attempt this sort of an experiment, so this is good information to know.
The experiment. You can read all about it in Unexpected Results of My Google Crawling Experiment.
Another similar experiment. Patrick Stox of Ahrefs has also shared results of blocking two high-ranking pages with robots.txt for five months. The impact on ranking was minimal, but the pages lost all their featured snippets.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Thursday, December 14th, 2023
Google will begin testing a new feature that restricts third-party cookies by default in the coming weeks.
The Tracking Protection tool will be rolled out on January 4, 2024, to 1% of Chrome users globally.
Why we care. Be aware that if your website depends on third-party cookies, this rollout might pose challenges. Take this rollout as a heads-up to ensure your site is prepared well in advance before Google retires third-party cookies entirely in the latter half of 2024.
Why now? Google views this as a crucial step in its Privacy Sandbox initiative, aiming to phase out third-party cookies for everyone by the second half of 2024. However, the final decision depends on addressing any lingering competition concerns from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.
Am I affected? Google is selecting the 1% of Chrome users at random. If Tracking Protection is being rolled out to you, you will receive notifications upon opening Chrome on desktop or Android in January.
Potential issues. If a site relies on third-party cookies and the roll out of Tracking Protection causes issues (for example, you refresh a page multiple times), Chrome will prompt you to temporarily re-enable them by clicking the eye icon on the address bar’s right side.
What Google is saying. A Google spokesperson said in a statement:
- “Third-party cookies have been a fundamental part of the web for nearly three decades. While they can be used to track your website activities, sites have also used them to support a range of online experiences — like helping you log in or showing you relevant ads.”
- “As we introduce Tracking Protection, we’re starting with a small percentage of Chrome users so developers can test their readiness for a web without third-party cookies.”
What is Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative? The Privacy Sandbox initiative develops tech that safeguards online privacy while providing companies and developers with tools to build successful digital businesses.
The Privacy Sandbox has two primary objectives:
- Phase out support for third-party cookies when new solutions are in place.
- Reduce cross-site and cross-app tracking while helping to keep online content and services free for all.
What are third-party cookies? A third-party cookie is a small piece of data placed on a user’s device (computer, cellphone, or tablet) by a website different from the one the user is currently visiting. Primarily utilized in online advertising, these cookies track a user’s browsing history and activities, enabling targeting for personalized ads for products and services.
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Deep dive. Read ‘SEO and the future world without cookies‘ by Search Engine Land contributor Adam Audette for more information on what a cookieless world will look like for SEO and PPC marketers.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Wednesday, December 13th, 2023
Have you ever seen your traffic decline over time despite your top keywords ranking in Position 1? I have, and it’s the worst feeling.
It might feel like Google is punishing you for being successful, but that’s not the case.
Google doesn’t know you, but they do know users. And if your work is ranking in the top positions, but traffic continues to decline, it might not be your fault.
Here’s what you can do to revitalize your website’s traffic.
How to investigate traffic drops when rankings are solid
Your stakeholders are breathing down your neck and pressuring you for answers. Don’t panic, take a breath.
While you may not be able to magically bring users back to your site in an hour, you can at least do some quick research to figure out why.
An easy first step is to check search trends. This should be your very first step.
Check keyword trends from SEO tools
Most SEO research tools now have search volume interest over time. Here are some examples from Semrush.
Keyword: ‘best cars of 2022’
You would naturally expect a strong drop-off for most “2022” keywords once January 2023 arrives.
Let’s try something less stuck in the past and more evergreen.
Keyword: ‘movie theaters near me’
Now, this is an interesting topic. Here, we can see a spike around August and September, followed by a dropoff.
Barbie and Oppenheimer both came out in late July, maintaining popularity throughout those months.
Let’s say you’re the SEO for a major movie theater brand, and you say, “Hey John, this is normal seasonal behavior for movie theaters. My problem is that my boss complains that traffic has declined for years and we can’t figure out why.”
To zoom out even further, we need to use Google Trends.
Check Google Trends
This tool can sometimes lead us to helpful clues on cultural impact for search terms.
Now it’s important to quickly note the difference between search terms and topics in Google Trends. Here’s an oversimplified explanation:
- Search terms are simply keywords or search queries.
- Topics are entities that may encompass multiple search terms.
Now let’s type “movie theaters” and select Topic so that we get a better view of the landscape.
Before we move on, note that “Movie theater cleaning” as a topic follows closely after our main topic. That’s important for later. Don’t forget!
OK, let’s also change the date range to the longest option, 2004 – Present.
See that huge drop around Q2 of 2020? What happened then?
That’s when the world shut down for one of the most significant pandemics in history. That explains why traffic tanked then.
This also explains why movie theater cleaning was another hot topic in Google Trends.
But the pandemic is over. COVID is still around, but things are back open. Why hasn’t search interest returned?
Streaming services like HBO Max and Disney got innovative and started working directly with film production companies to allow streaming theatrical releases during this time. That trend has since slowed down but hasn’t brought demand back to peak levels.
But what about that huge peak before 2020? Marvel movies. That was a unique time for movie theaters where Marvel created a demand.
So what do we do about it? We can’t all be Marvel and bring people to our sites with Robert Downey Jr., but I’ll dive into some tactics later in this article.
Check new SERP features
Some keyword tracking tools have a cool metric that tracks how many pixels from the top your result is. Looking at the delta on that metric can be a clear indicator that some new SERP features may be hurting your organic CTR.
This can be frustrating, especially since Google constantly tests new ones, so you never know how long they’ll actually stick around.
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What to do when search volume changes
SEO is only as good as your product and people’s interest in it.
So, if interest is dwindling, we need to get creative and try something else.
Get social
While working in the behavioral health space before and during COVID, I found something interesting: the increase in interest in virtual therapy and psychiatry.
My clients were fortunate enough to invest in it before the pandemic, but how did our audience know to search for it?
I did some research and found that during the early days of the pandemic, behavioral health professionals were going to Instagram and TikTok to share helpful information about how to handle depression during the lockdown. They also happened to be plugging their telehealth services.
That started a chain reaction of more and more professionals plugging telehealth as an option, spreading like wildfire.
Social media has a huge impact on search demand. Sometimes, it’s short-lived; other times, it can bring back demand.
So, if you’re a struggling movie theater chain, you can use social media to bring people back to the theaters. But you have to do it creatively. Give them a reason why they shouldn’t wait for streaming.
Go old school with above-the-line ads
If you have the budget, you can work with your marketing department to invest in traditional advertising, specifically above-the-line advertising. Think TV commercials, streaming ads, radio ads, and magazine ads.
Digital has changed the advertising landscape, but traditional advertising can still help influence certain demographics. The key is determining where your audience spends their time and seeing if advertising opportunities exist.
In B2B? Try below-the-line strategies
Above-the-line strategies may not work for you if you’re in B2B. In this case, you’ll need to pursue below-the-line strategies. Think trade shows, direct mailers, conferences, etc.
Sometimes, your audience may not know what to search for or know they need your services. You need to get in front of them and show them.
What to do when new SERP features appear
As previously mentioned, this can be one of the more complex signs of traffic drops.
Often, our stakeholders may not accept that something is out of your control and will ask you to make magic happen. So what can we do?
Discover how the SERP features work
If you’re determined to regain click share in the SERPs, you’ll want to rank for any of these new SERP features. So, figure out how they work!
SERP features typically rely on content structure or schema markup to find the right pages to show. Find out who’s ranking in those features and look for commonalities between them. See if it’s something you can quickly implement.
Be patient
I hate to say this, but sometimes, no action is the best action. SERP features come and go all the time.
You’ll need to go with your gut and decide if it’s worth the time and money to rank in these new features or if you think it’s just a test and will pass with time.
Is it permanent or cyclical?
We need to be the ones to determine if traffic declines are a permanent effect of our niche or if it may be a cyclical event.
In the case of movie theaters, it’s entirely possible that a new franchise or experience in the theater business could come about and bring audiences back to the big screen.
But if you’re in the CD sales business, I’m sorry you may need to find a new line of work. It’s unlikely that CDs will have the same revitalization as vinyl.
Use the tools at hand to analyze audience behavior and see if there’s something you can do outside of your SEO scope to bring back that search demand.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
