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Google Performance Max: Everything you need to know

Tuesday, September 12th, 2023

Even the most traditional PPC manager can’t deny it anymore: Performance Max can do amazing things. Of course, that requires you to approach it with a different mindset than Search and Shopping.

Let me give you an example.

Years ago, when working with retailers selling products from many different brands, you typically make a separate Shopping campaign for each brand. Try that with Performance Max, and you’ll force it into doing something it’s not built for. And performance certainly won’t be at max.

Consolidation is the name of the game with Performance Max. Performance will take off if you lean in on its machine learning and smart algorithms. But carry forward your habits from the more granular campaign types, and Performance Max’s algorithmic nature will punish you.

Here’s everything you need to know about Google’s Performance Max campaign so that you can keep those needles moving in the right direction.

What is Performance Max?

Performance Max in Google Ads is the culmination of everything that makes the world’s largest search engine special. Years of collecting data on people’s browsing and purchasing behavior has allowed Google to create a campaign that’s tailored to individual searches.

Rather than placing ads in specific inventory types – like search results or product listings – Performance Max allows advertisers to upload all types of assets and access all of Google’s ad placements from one campaign. That includes:

• Text.
• Videos.
• Feeds.
• Images.

After being released to limited accounts during its alpha (2020) and beta (2021) stages, Performance Max rolled out to the wider Google Ads community in 2022 ahead of the peak shopping season.

Since then, Google has continued to support Performance Max by releasing new features, including brand exclusions and asset group-level reporting.

What makes Performance Max powerful?

Google intended Performance Max to be an all-in-one campaign type capable of serving the needs of most advertisers. Here are some of the defining features that make that possible.

Targeting capabilities

Keywords, audiences, and product feeds remain the backbone of campaign targeting. This is no different when it comes to Performance Max, but it’s how those three elements behave and work together that sets this campaign apart.

While it will quickly bypass any initial settings you give it in pursuit of the best conversions, Performance Max starts on better footing when you apply these from day one.

Audience signals

Use these to tell Performance Max what kind of users you want to show your ads to – but remember, it won’t be those exact people. 

For example, uploading your customer list as an audience signal doesn’t mean your ad will show to them (or even to others like them) but as a jumping-off point for its own targeting.

Keywords

Performance Max will quickly begin targeting broad queries not directly related to your initial targeting intent (based on custom intent audiences, product data feed, and website URL). 

While the absence of negative keywords can be frustrating, it’s likely you’ll still capture opportunities you didn’t consider. Performance Max can also analyze custom intent audiences you build from keywords.

Product feed

As always, a strong data feed is critical to success with Shopping campaigns. 

Without an optimized product feed, Google won’t know which queries to show your products for. 

Throw in a robust feed, and you will capture opportunities you didn’t even consider because of how Performance Max branches off from your initial path.

Bid management

Performance Max uses Smart Bidding to set cost-per-click (CPC) bids, which effectively means that advertisers have two options when it comes to bid strategies:

• Maximize Conversions with an optional CPA target.
• Maximize Conversion Value with an optional ROAS target.

For this to work optimally, your account needs a sizable amount of historical data that Google can use to determine what’s worked best in the past.

I typically recommend that newer accounts begin with Search or Standard Shopping to gather data, only switching over to Performance Max after maxing out impression share and building a steady stream of conversions.

Complex auctions and intent matching

Google has a massive store of data on how people behave online.

Smart Bidding analyzes over 70 million signals in near real-time (actually a tenth of a second), but we never get to see what those data points are. A certain amount of trust in the system is required for this to work, but do that, and you’ll get the results you want.

Consider 100 people searching for the same exact query. Not only will each person be in a different part of the buying journey, but their unique histories will influence factors like how quickly they might convert. The system will try to find those people most likely to convert during that search.

For ecommerce, fill those data feeds out with the right information – keywords in titles and descriptions, product categorization, and so on. This will allow you to appear in as many searches as possible, irrespective of whether somebody is “window shopping” or ready to buy.

New customer acquisition and brand exclusions

Performance Max has long since allowed advertisers to target net new revenue by bidding higher for new acquisitions, and it recently began rolling out brand exclusions to better control when your ads show for branded queries.

These features may not be as important for smaller advertisers, but larger brands looking to scale can now tell the system to focus on more valuable opportunities. When used together, these features can significantly alter the speed and profitability of a scaling process.

Thanks to asset group-level reporting rolling out to many accounts, we can use these for segmentation more effectively. When we see that certain product segments – brand, category, individual products – are not getting traction or not performing as well, we exclude them and:

• Put them in a new Performance Max campaign to force it to spend.
• Or go back to Standard Shopping.

Think of it as pruning your campaigns for what’s not getting traffic or converting well.

Dig deeper: How to think about brand exclusions for Performance Max

Dynamic Search

Google recently announced the ability to upgrade Dynamic Search campaigns into Performance Max. Remember, the capability has always existed, but you now have a one-click option.

But with Dynamic Search likely to be next on the chopping block and deprecated in the near future – remember, Local and Smart Shopping campaigns already rolled into Performance Max – now is the right time to start testing it through Performance Max.

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What sets Performance Max apart from other Google Ads campaigns?

Let’s look at a few characteristics that set Performance Max apart from its more placement-specific counterparts.

Inventory and ad spend

Bidding and budgeting can only be done at a campaign level, which is familiar enough.

Where it gets tricky is that Performance Max doesn’t show you exactly where it spent your money and this ties in closely with reporting capabilities.

But while you’re buying traffic on inventories that may not typically have the quality of Search and Shopping, Performance Max is still only targeting people likely to convert. Additionally, some industries have a very high cost per click, and Performance Max can really decrease overall costs by looking outside that bubble.

Another thing to remember is that Performance Max is front-loaded in terms of expenses. Be sure to factor in the cost of data gathering during the learning period of a new campaign.

If you have a new account, this will take longer than the usual three to six weeks. 

But as you build historical data and get better results, subsequent campaigns should exit the learning period faster and bring costs down, allowing you to free up your budget to bid more aggressively or capture more conversions.

Reporting

Reports in Performance Max can be seen at the campaign and asset group levels, and you can find those right in the Reporting tab inside Google Ads.

But I’ve spoken to several people who don’t ever navigate to where you can build custom reports based on landing page, placements, location, time of day, or products in your data feed. You can also analyze what proportion of your ad spend is data-feed-driven and what is creative-driven.

We’re also big fans of the Insights tab, which Google has revamped (update still rolling out). You used to only be able to look back to 7 and 28 days, but now you can choose any time frame – and download keywords. There’s a lot of good data in there, so don’t neglect it!

Transparency

You can use third-party scripts to determine where your ads are going. Personally, I tend to shy away from that.

The way I see it, either the campaign is performing or not. When it isn’t, there are levers you can pull to try something different.

With Performance Max, you can’t decide when or where your ad shows up – only nudge and guide the algorithm. You also lose the ability to see more granular keywords, instead getting access to keyword themes.

I think accepting this is fundamental to success with Performance Max.

But while you can’t see your ad placements, there is an account-level placement report with impression data. Unfortunately, this doesn’t give you a breakdown of cost and revenue.

Keep in mind that the goal of all of this is to move to a format similar to Advantage Plus in Facebook, which only surfaces data that you can act on.

Control

Many people think Performance Max is a “set it and forget it” campaign. Not really.

You have control, but it’s very different from what we’ve become accustomed to with other campaigns.

You program the system to do what you used to do yourself so you can focus on the decisions machines can’t make. What that comes down to in Performance Max is:

• Ad copy
• Creatives
• Audience signals
• Data feeds
• Bid strategies
• Budgets
• Campaign structure

Don’t think of it as taking one step back, but stepping back to see the big picture.

Involvement

How active do you need to be with Performance Max? Remember: Your goal is to guide the machine, nudge it in the right direction, and ensure it doesn’t veer off course.

Part of that is learning how to tame those compulsive feelings that making changes is the only way to feel involved. Maybe it’s because your clients keep asking why you only made two changes last month.

But with Performance Max, sometimes that’s all you have to do.

Instead, your involvement skews in favor of monitoring and big-picture changes. You set things up, step back and allow the campaign to run. Keep an eye on things while working behind the scenes.

Focus on making sure any first-party data is clean and accurate, that you’re integrated with a CRM (for lead generation), and improving landing page content – things that impact profitability and efficiency.

Performance Max in action: Sample campaign structures

Setting up a Performance Max campaign can be tricky if you don’t know what you’re doing. Here are some examples of how I’ve built campaigns for different types of accounts.

Ecommerce

In ecommerce, there are generally two types of advertisers:

Sells own brand

These accounts typically lead with paid social, spending as much as 70-80% of their total advertising budget on platforms like Facebook and TikTok. Google might even be an afterthought. 

These are the brands where Performance Max with creative assets tends to work particularly well for the same reasons the brand works on paid social.

Sells multiple brands

For retailers selling hundreds of different brands or thousands of products – we have clients whose catalogs have hundreds of thousands of SKUs – it’s really about showing up at the very bottom of the funnel, so these accounts lead with Google Ads.

We typically shy away from creative assets and focus more on the “Smart Shopping” approach, which makes audience signals and ad copy less significant. Instead, we focus almost entirely on getting the data feed in near-perfect shape.

Lead generation

For lead generation accounts, we typically begin with Search to build up conversion data and volume – two critical components of making Performance Max work.

Once that’s achieved, we move to Performance Max, splitting asset groups by offering and location. This allows the system to target the right people in the right places so that a New Jersey plumber doesn’t get leads from Glasgow.

If your service is offered virtually or globally, you could omit the location split and just go by offering alone.

What’s absolutely vital is that you include some type of spam filter (like a reCAPTCHA) or low-quality leads will plague you. 

Ideally, you should also be feeding offline conversions and conversion values back into Google so that it can identify future leads based on data from your complete sales cycle.

Verdict: The pros and cons of Performance Max

I’m bullish on Performance Max, but it’s not a perfect campaign.

Here’s what I admire about it and a few things I wish Google would improve.

Pro: It lets you scale beyond intent

Let’s say you’re targeting a market with limited search volume, but you really want to test opportunities beyond that limit. 

Performance Max can use its data signals to find people who might not be searching for your bottom-funnel keywords but will become a potential customer based on interest.

Performance Max is a full-funnel campaign, so it will find people it thinks are likely to convert based on all those millions of data signals – and it will then pull them down the customer journey.

This is probably Performance Max’s biggest advantage.

Not having the ability to set bids at the asset group level is a major drawback, and I understand why many PPC folks are frustrated with the obfuscation of search term data.

That said – and this could be a mentality issue – does all the other stuff matter? Shouldn’t we be figuring out how to get the most out of this toolbox instead of how to hack it? 

The whole idea of bidding with a ROAS target is that you don’t need to look at negative keywords. If it’s not hitting your target, it shouldn’t get that traffic.

I get that people want to be able to check the system quickly, especially when smaller budgets are at play, but patience goes a long way in seeing Performance Max’s true capabilities.

Con: It can be expensive at the start

Like a rocket ship, Performance Max can take you to places you never imagined – at the cost of a slow and expensive takeoff.

Getting somewhere meaningful can take three to six weeks, and that period can be pricey on the front end. 

Google monitors behavior rather than optimizing for conversions, so you’re spending considerably more for far fewer conversions than usual.

It takes clear communication and honest expectation-setting to convince clients and bosses that this is necessary to adapt to the modern avatar of Google Ads.

Pro: It’s a great way to try new campaign types.

For brands that are not ready to go all in on something untested like YouTube, Performance Max is a good way to test how that new media works.

Google claims that performance is better when routed through Performance Max, which it typically is. Their official figure is an average gain of 18%, but your mileage may vary.

Con: It’s not as easy as Google says it is

Performance Max is really not as simple as it seems. And while there will always be a place for PPC managers, it also means that we have to put in the effort to stay on top of things.

To get Performance Max right requires nuance, patience, and persistence. Many marketers will test it and give up after a few weeks because it’s not moving in the right direction.

This is shortsighted but understandable.

Pro: It refreshes your marketing priorities

Performance Max forces PPC managers to think more like marketers than strictly media buyers.

I love the ability to go beyond Search for people who are not equipped to manage Discovery, YouTube, Display, and those more niche networks. 

This makes it a great way to scale beyond your capabilities without needing a high level of expertise.

What happens is you’ll reach the audience that you have but who might not necessarily be on the network you’ve been advertising on. Google has made this process uncomplicated.

Con: Its recommendations are far from ideal

I’m always cautious of Google’s recommendations.

Too many people don’t realize what they’re signing up for. On the surface, they appear to be things that you wouldn’t think of. But they can have deeper effects, so use them with caution.

Insights is a good place to get ideas, especially as you don’t have to act on them right away and can instead weigh up the risk-to-reward ratio.

Like everything else in Performance Max, it is very much “eyes on, hands off”:

• Don’t make changes just to make changes.
• Have a goal in mind for each specific change.
• Know what you hope to accomplish so there’s something to measure.

Pro: It’s a reminder that we’re still needed

People are worried that Google wants to cut out agencies and experts, but Performance Max only reinforces the fact that PPC managers aren’t going anywhere.

Our role has changed, and it will change further, but the average business owner cannot optimally run Performance Max from day one. And if there’s anything more difficult than running a Performance Max campaign, it’s fixing one riddled with mistakes.

So whether you’re building from the ground up or fixing what’s broken, you’ll always be around and needed.

Should you run a Performance Max campaign?

Performance Max is a great option to have. But it’s just that: an option. 

You don’t have to use it. In some cases, you probably shouldn’t.

Which accounts benefit from Performance Max

• It’s typically harder for ecommerce to ignore Performance Max than it is for lead generation to make it work. That’s how good the lift in performance can be for retail conversions.
• Highly competitive mass retail products – think digital cameras and televisions – can work well on the feed side. Maybe skip the creative assets and use Performance Max a little differently than it was intended.
• If your account is rich with historical data – and in the case of lead-generation, strong first-party data inputs and outputs – you’ll have a much easier time with Performance Max.
• Bigger budgets and high monthly conversions are valuable enough that they give you a bit of a pass when it comes to the more common mistakes. High spenders with demand typically get the most out of Performance Max. 

Which accounts are better off with other campaign types

• Brand new accounts – in both new and existing businesses – will struggle with Performance Max right off the bat. You certainly can use it, but know it’s always more effective once you have historical data.
• Ecommerce accounts that neglect their product feed will find themselves spending more than they need to. Way more.
• Lead generation accounts that don’t have high-quality data inputs and outputs – lead qualification, CRM or IVR integrations, spam guards, offline conversions – should stick to Search campaigns.
• Smaller budgets and limited monthly conversions (typically under 30) will probably never gather enough data to make Performance Max worthwhile.
• Legal restrictions can throttle success. These teams don’t like not knowing which headline will show up with which description or point to which landing page. If you press ahead, theme your asset groups as tightly as possible, and you should be fine.

Special case: Regulated industries

Disclaimer: This is informed speculation. 

Accounts advertising things like pharmaceuticals and medical services (think detoxification and rehabilitation) aren’t allowed to retarget users. Performance Max offers a way around that because you aren’t targeting specific people, but the system probably will anyway.

As long as the proper teams can approve your ad copy and creatives, it really shouldn’t pose any problems.

Best practices: How to set up, optimize, monitor, and report on Performance Max

Ready to create and run your first Performance Max campaign? Have an active one, but not sure how to study or optimize performance? These resources might help.

Pre-launch checklist

My team has had access to Performance Max campaigns since Google Ads released it in beta, so we’ve had years to refine our go-live process.

Follow along with this detailed walkthrough to maximize your performance with Performance Max with everything you need to know to set up for success.

Read more: How to set up Performance Max campaigns the right way

Optimization stage

While there aren’t many levers to directly optimize Performance Max campaigns, that doesn’t mean you can’t shape them. 

Instead, your job is to guide the system governing your campaigns. Here’s a detailed walkthrough of what you can (and should) do to drive better performance.

Read more: How to improve your performance in Performance Max

Monitoring stage

Extracting data and insights from Performance Max can be frustrating, but it’s getting better thanks to features like asset group reporting. Use these tips and tricks to guide your reporting and monitoring process.

Read more: How to maximize insights from Performance Max

Underrated tips and tricks

Ecommerce and lead-generation accounts must approach Performance Max very differently – but what does that mean exactly? 

These guides will show you how to avoid repeating some serious mistakes that advertisers have made with their Performance Max campaigns.

Read more: 

• How to avoid 7 mistakes that tank retail Performance Max campaigns
• Why Performance Max for lead generation often fails and how to make it work

The post Google Performance Max: Everything you need to know appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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

Google CEO on SGE and Search evolution: ‘We’ll get it right’

Tuesday, September 12th, 2023

The multibillion-dollar question right now is whether the Search Generative Experience (SGE) will blow up Google’s Search business model. Based on early testing, Google CEO Sundar Pichai is “confident” that won’t happen.

“It’s important to us to connect users with what’s out on the web, and we are working deeply to make sure that continues to work well,” Pichai told Steven Levy in a Q&A published on Wired.

Why we care. Google may be confident that the SGE experiment will continue to send people to websites, but we’re still finding it hard to trust Google at this point. They won’t reveal any real data to us about whether AI answers are driving clicks to websites, click-through rate data, or advertising performance data on what we are calling CHERPs, or Chat Engine Results Pages. And we have no way to track this in Google Search Console, Google Ads or Google Analytics.

Ads vs. organic. Levy pointed out to Pichai that the AI-generated answers are different from a list of links, which could further add confusion about whether an SGE answer is sponsored or organic.

• “Even in a generative experience we would give you a set of sites that support what we are saying. We want to make sure users are consuming those sites. So I don’t think the core part of the experience will change. We will have a space for ads in a way that makes sense for users and particularly on commercial queries,” Pichai said.

Helping people find information. Pichai pointed out that even though the way Google presents information has evolved greatly in 25 years – but ultimately people are searching for information.

• “We are still trying to help people find the best information that exists online. Inherently, people are also looking for commercial information, and ads are very valuable commercial information, because they connect merchants and businesses, small and big, to users. None of that changes just because we are applying AI deeply. When we evolve search with generative AI, we’ll apply the same principles,” Pichai said.

Like desktop to mobile? Pichai pointed out that people asked similar questions as Google shifted its focus from desktop to making everything mobile-first.

• “Our early testing shows that we’ll be able to get it right. It’s core to the company to evolve search while applying the underlying principles. I am confident we’ll be able to get that right through this transition,” Pichai said.

The search community was also extremely worried about Google’s featured snippets stealing traffic. When Bard launched in February, there were no links. And SGE only finally added links to websites Aug. 30 after months of pressure by search marketers and publishers.

Bing burn. Did the new Bing, powered by ChatGPT, make Google “dance.” Pichai essentially dissed their efforts, comparing it to Alexa and Siri. Pichai also claimed:

• “Around the end of last year, my thoughts were, how can we bring generative AI to search in a way that makes sense for our users? That’s what I’m thinking about, and that’s what will matter in the long run.”

Could that time in late 2022 coincide with OpenAI launching ChatGPT in late November? Generative AI exploded on the scene and supposedly triggered a code red within Google, leading to the return of Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Pichai was also asked about the antitrust trial, but had little to say beyond throwing around the word “innovation.”

You can read the full interview here: Sundar Pichai on Google’s AI, Microsoft’s AI, OpenAI, and … Did We Mention AI?

The post Google CEO on SGE and Search evolution: ‘We’ll get it right’ appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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

How AI is changing the game for PPC account managers

Tuesday, September 12th, 2023

AI is helping PPC managers focus more on strategic initiatives, such as campaign inputs and back-end management, rather than manual operations.

Increased efficiency and effectiveness? This evolution is exciting!

AI will play an increasingly important role in daily operations as PPC evolves.

Here’s a closer look at how AI will impact the daily activities of PPC account managers.

Less manual operation and managing algorithms

Automation has been transforming the world of PPC for a while.

This trend will only continue. We expect significant changes in how PPC managers work over the next few years.

As automation and AI become more prevalent, PPC managers will spend less time on tasks like monitoring search queries and implementing negative keywords.

Worried? Don’t be. This positive development will free up time for managers to focus on other important tasks.

Despite what some people may say, automation will not eliminate jobs in PPC. Instead, it will lead to a shift in roles and responsibilities.

PPC managers will be responsible for managing algorithms rather than individual keywords. There will be plenty to do! 

In fact, with less manual work to do, PPC managers may find themselves busier than ever before – and more valuable to their companies as a result.

Data team collaboration 

As PPC campaigns become more first-party data-driven, the partnership between PPC managers and data teams is becoming increasingly important. This collaboration often involves joint efforts toward:

• Implementing tagging infrastructure.
• Website analytics.
• CRM access.
• Utilizing scaled automation and data reporting. 

The connection between the data/analytics and PPC teams may have been limited in the past. This was particularly true when PPC relied heavily on only a handful of tracking pixels. Once those were in place, there may have been a less pressing need for more extensive collaboration.

However, it’s essential to establish a robust and ongoing relationship with your data/analytics team to ensure PPC success. While some PPC managers may not have had this kind of partnership in the past, it’s crucial to work toward building one for optimal results.

Want to stay ahead of the game? Leverage first-party data to optimize your campaigns.

This means building strong relationships with your organization’s team in charge of these data projects. Doing so ensures you have the resources and support to stay competitive and drive results. 

Don’t wait until it’s too late – start building those bridges today!

Attribution measurement and incrementality testing 

Proving the value of paid search to an overall marketing program is familiar to PPC managers. Most PPC programs are measured on sales, revenue, ROAS, LTV and other value-based metrics. 

Incrementality analysis may already be part of your PPC program. Great! However, I know of PPC programs building these processes, and now is the time! 

Media Mix Modeling (MMM) and incrementality testing are essential to gain valuable insights into marketing campaigns’ effectiveness and efficiency:

• MMM provides a holistic view of how different channels interact and influence customer behavior, enabling managers to allocate budgets optimally. PPC managers need to be part of this conversation! 
• Incrementality testing is gaining importance due to the rise of data-driven decision-making. It helps PPC managers measure the true causal impact of a specific marketing tactic or channel and quantify the incremental value generated by your PPC campaigns. It also provides insights into optimal bidding strategies, helps validate the results of A/B tests, and enhances accountability by offering a straightforward way to measure and communicate the impact of marketing efforts to stakeholders.

In today’s complex and data-rich marketing landscape, PPC managers need to make informed decisions considering their campaigns’ broader impact. 

Hopefully, you are already involved in these projects within your company. If not, get started!

Audience building and management

Audience targeting has been a tried and true method for PPC managers for quite some time now.

While the advancements in AI and automation won’t necessarily change this approach, the rise of privacy regulations will require new tactics and strategies for audience creation, development, sculpting and management.

To effectively manage your PPC campaigns, you must make the most of your CRM data. If your PPC program has already integrated this, you’re ahead of the game! However, many PPC programs still need to build out their first-party audience processes.

Audience lists may not be as precise for automated campaigns like Performance Max and Demand Gen. Still, they help to shape impression delivery through look-a-like audiences and algorithmic signals.

PPC managers will need to play an active role in crafting audiences that will deliver results in their paid media campaigns. 

While some PPC managers may not be affected by this shift in operations due to their robust audience strategy, many others will need to consider new directions and factors.

Ad creative development and testing 

Over time, creative assets in PPC have come a long way. The text ad has been the go-to unit for PPC, and for good reason. However, things are changing and will continue to evolve. 

PPC is no longer just about search, as image ads have been in the game for a while with Google Display Ads and Microsoft Ad Network. PPC managers have also worked with video ad delivery through YouTube for years. With Performance Max, these ad units are only going to diversify further.

While PPC managers may have saved time in the past by managing search queries and manual bid changes, they will need to focus more on creative assets.

As many other optimization levers are automated, creative messaging will become even more critical. PPC managers must work closely with their creative teams to develop custom ad variations for images, videos, texts, and more. 

Also, while we’re talking about creative, PPC managers will hopefully have more time for strategic planning on their landing page/website experience. CRO has been a cornerstone of digital marketing for almost as long as this industry has existed. However, with more automated optimization and AI-driven tactics, advertisers need to find whys to make their company and products stand out. Ad creative and website experience is mission-critical. 

Building stronger relationships with creative teams will be crucial for PPC managers in the future.

SEO collaboration 

As more time is saved with automation, PPC managers will dive deeper into their collaboration with their SEO team.

Teams should not operate in silos. There should be a shared vision for a holistic SERP optimization strategy.

With the changing SERPs and the emergence of SGE and AI-driven content, paid and organic teams need to work together to optimize the SERP effectively. 

Moreover, it is essential to clearly understand the different roles and responsibilities of the PPC and SEO teams. PPC managers should be aware of the latest trends and techniques in paid advertising, while SEO experts should focus on technical optimization and content creation. 

By working together, the teams can complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses, resulting in a more comprehensive and effective optimization strategy. Regular communication and collaboration are essential to ensure everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals.

Dig deeper. SEO vs. PPC: Differences, pros, cons & an integrated approach

Conclusion

Experienced PPC managers are likely familiar with all these tactics.

However, prioritizing algorithm management and user experience optimization will be essential as the landscape shifts and your day-to-day responsibilities evolve.

This pivot may be challenging – but it’s critical for staying ahead in the game.

The post How AI is changing the game for PPC account managers appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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

Ecommerce marketing next year: 5 ways to set up for success

Tuesday, September 12th, 2023

Q4 is almost here, along with the holiday shopping season.

Rather than focus on ecommerce holiday SEO strategies and campaigns – which you should (hopefully) already have nailed down – now is a good time to start thinking ahead to next year.

1. Learn from last year

Start by reviewing last year’s campaign wrap-ups to identify any missing data or insights.

One big change from last year is that you’re likely now fully using Google Analytics 4. This requires rethinking or reevaluating your reporting.

Revisit your past reports. Can you report on all the data you have before?

Use this opportunity to inform stakeholders about any significant differences due to the new tracking setup.

Unsure where to begin with tracking? Consider a future state workshop.

Gather your team, project to the time when you need to report on holiday campaigns, and collaboratively create the report framework. This workshop format encourages idea exchange and innovative performance review methods.

These sessions also often make us think about ways to test and learn.

2. Test and learn from with a larger dataset than usual

During the holiday season, I’ve seen ecommerce site traffic surge by as much as 70%. This increased activity makes it a great time to spot data trends – and quickly test new ideas.

These tests could be general improvements or holiday-specific optimizations.

I recently worked on a test during peak season for a client, and it doubled revenue per session in a quick experiment, which might have taken weeks to achieve at another time of the year.

Key principles still count:

• Test one idea at a time.
• Keep it simple.
• Ensuring the test is scientifically robust.

I’m a fan of behavioral science, and when I need testing ideas, I turn to nudges – or small adjustments to influence decisions.

Inspired by the research of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, nudges can be a valuable source of testing inspiration, especially when aligned with audience insights to match potential customer behavior.

Successful testing yields valuable insights to guide your 2024 strategy, whether it’s for regular campaigns or holiday and sales-focused ones.

3. Gamification

Gamification is an underutilized marketing tool that goes through ups and downs in popularity.

The holiday season is an ideal time to experiment with gamification to learn about your audience for your future marketing.

Gamification varies, from generic fun games to customized ones that can captivate your audience for extended periods. For instance, we once created a football-related game for a client that achieved an astonishing average time on site of over 30 minutes.

The secret? A highly relevant, engaging, and addictive quiz.

To use gamification for audience insights, focus on custom games, like a personalized psychographic quiz tailored to your brand.

For example, a clothing brand could create a quiz like “What Does Your Wardrobe Say About You?” It guides users through statements to reveal a persona linked to popular characters, providing valuable insights into your audience.

Done well, this benefits the brand and user. But it must be executed well to avoid harming the brand-user relationship.

Now that you’ve categorized your audience using the quiz profiles, you can create targeted segments. This enables personalized email communications for each profile based on what you’ve learned about them.

4. Data capture

Zero-party data is highly valuable. Finding mutually beneficial ways to collect it from customers can greatly benefit your future strategy.

The holiday season offers more chances to connect with your audience through promotions and exclusive deals. Make the most of this by asking customers what matters most to them in advance. This enables better content personalization, which can increase conversion rates.

To gain an advantage over competitors, consider using games, quizzes, or planning tools to capture information ahead of time for holiday shopping. This allows you to benefit now and in the coming year.

Strike the right balance between questions and rewards to make it worthwhile for customers to provide this information.

Consider offering exclusive access to Black Friday sales in exchange for customer preferences. These insights benefit both your event and customer interests.

Additionally, categorize purchases to distinguish between personal and gift items. This prevents marketing misalignment, allowing you to collect more information, such as birthdays, in exchange for discounts on gifts.

To collect zero-party data effectively:

• Ensure mutual benefit.
• Store data for usability.
• Actively use and track its impact.

5. Digital PR

Digital PR can boost authority for ecommerce holiday season campaigns and the upcoming year, if executed correctly. Preparation and relevance are key.

Publications will share gift guides, Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals, and more. Ensure your brand aligns with these opportunities by analyzing last year’s coverage and your competitors’ visibility.

During planning, wear both your SEO and digital PR hats.

• Be mindful of URLs, so you don’t invest heavily in temporary ones. Create a clear strategy for seasonal landing pages to keep them active, even building anticipation for future campaigns.

Aim for immediate impact and the upcoming year.

Strategically target publications for potential backlinks, especially those you don’t already have. Examine their past holiday content for opportunities your brand can fill.

Be proactive and plan for January content, as the new year arrives swiftly with its own opportunities.

Don’t hesitate to request links when it comes to link building. We had a client with a popular beauty advent calendar capitalize on this by identifying mentions and asking for links.

Ecommerce marketing success is all about planning

Start with your future vision for holiday campaign results and work backward to achieve it.

Learn from the past and adapt to changes (e.g., GA4, economic shifts) to effectively shape your plans.

If you can’t do everything this year, start a holiday 2024 planning document and start preserving your valuable ideas. Testing and learning doesn’t happen all at once. Now is the best time to start testing and learning.

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How publishers can regain traffic and revenue with affiliate marketing

Monday, September 11th, 2023

Media companies and publishers play a pivotal role in affiliate marketing. They are in the position to wield significant influence, enhance search engine rankings and drive substantial revenue for businesses. 

However, recent shifts in the industry have seen traditional publications lose their traffic, with smaller, newer players dominating Google’s top positions.

I’ve worked with several media organizations that have sought guidance to boost their traffic and revenue through affiliate marketing.

This article distills valuable insights and recommendations, offering a roadmap for success in a field where reputation and backlinks no longer guarantee instant returns.

Organic traffic performance of established publications vs. newer, smaller publishers 

While tracking the performance of media companies doing affiliate marketing, I started seeing traffic declines for established brands. 

Below are some snapshots of the websites’ performance. They reflect the entire website’s organic traffic performance, not just the specific sections related to affiliate marketing.

Specifically, keep an eye on the years 2017 and 2021, as these were pivotal periods when significant changes occurred. The screenshots were taken from Semrush, but other tools show the same or similar traffic patterns. 

Several publications that encountered traffic declines require a media fee, so you mostly only see big brands and the same products featured in their content. 

On the other hand, newer publications are moving in to take their place. Some are making the same mistakes, while others are doing things differently. 

Here are a few new players that moved in and are making bank. These are only the website’s affiliate sections so that you can see the gains.

What can be the reason behind these movements? 

Let’s look at the sites’ affiliate programs and the types of vendors being promoted 

The absence of variety and alternatives

Part of Google’s reviews update is to show variety for shopping. Still, some media outlets tend to focus on big brands and overlook diversification in their affiliate marketing lists. 

Some of the publications in the screenshots will tell you that they must work only with certain vendors to add affiliate links, which is a huge mistake (at least in my opinion). 

The lack of diversity and options provides a worse experience for consumers, and the sites that did this all have the same traffic-dropping patterns. And although it is not necessarily against Google’s reviews update, it does not meet the guidelines. 

Other times, publications won’t add new or up-and-coming brands because their affiliate team requires sponsorships and advertorial purchases. Only the big brands can afford this, especially because placements aren’t always guaranteed. 

Often, these smaller or up-and-coming brands will feature the logos and sometimes backlinks to the publication. Although the publications have tons of links, these are harder to get and could help especially if the link is to the listicle they’re featured in.

Smaller stores and brands may share the listicle on social media, and that can bring search engine spiders back to the content for crawling. This sharing also brings potential shoppers to the media listicles and drives more sales for the publication. 

There’s a lot of SEO and monetization benefits from going with smaller brands. Still, if the decision-makers at media companies demand big brands and ad fees, they’re sacrificing their online success and ongoing commissions for a one-time fee. It’s a long-term loss for a short-term gain and the potential loss of traffic as a whole. 

The struggle of balancing helpful content and monetization

Outside of the advertiser and brand diversity, some publications syndicate their lists with the same vendors to their other brands. 

That makes the quality drop on each brand, even if they spin the content. The pros and cons stay roughly the same, so do the products and services featured, and they use the same talking points. 

Adding a couple of unique variations won’t make the content helpful or value-adding. That’s why it is important to let editors remain 100% independent on each publication and from the affiliate and ads teams. 

They will do the research and choose the best items they can talk about from their expertise. But that doesn’t mean ads and affiliate teams cannot contribute. They can say, “please feature these brands” within. The editors will be free to talk about their experience, whether it is positive, neutral or negative.

But that goes to another issue. Even with editorial freedom, the ads teams may interfere with content by adding cards, carousels, and predominant spaces that feature affiliate and paid links. This offsets the list of services ranked based on merit and quality. 

The pay-to-play content is part of the page which means it can potentially impact SEO. The good news is that these features are clearly ads and not part of the content. But these ad spaces can impact the usefulness of the content if they bury it. There’s a balancing act between providing the content the person wants and displaying ads or affiliate lists.

On some lists, the content could be value-adding, fact-checked, and written by industry experts. That’s why the page currently ranks. Then ads carousels or widgets are placed above or between them for monetization. This could cause a drop as the content is no longer as helpful, but it is a needed feature for the publication to make money. There’s a balancing act that occurs. 

These paid placements – whether an affiliate, a CPC, a flat fee, a CPM, an advertorial, or a mix of payment models – offset the original text. The paid portions may exist above the expertise content, and that changes the user experience. 

The changed UX could make it so the helpful content update devalues their pages and the site. This is where smaller publishers, new media companies, and niche sites can move in and dominate. 

Let’s use a pair of running shoes as an example. 

Suppose all the lists have Brooks Running for three of the five results and Under Armour for the other two. 

Each list has the same shoes and similar talking points. There’s not much difference and variety. This is where the Google reviews update with multiple stores comes in.

Featuring the big brands is OK. Still, try to find independent stores or emerging stores and test the products. 

By including a couple of independent retailers or unknown brands, you can add unique copy and shopping options that others cannot. And consumers may enjoy supporting small businesses, not to mention discovering new favorites. 

Suppose you discover an equally good shoe for road running that is eco-friendly. Replace something from the list and write original content about the new option. 

Then, link directly to their store and elsewhere to shop if they aren’t a DTC-only brand. 

Your content has a unique experience combined with the standard best-in-class products. And finding these hidden gems is easy.

Start by looking at retail shows for the footwear and sportswear industries and see who is presenting, advertising, and attending. You’ll discover the brands trying to get their “foot” in the door. 

You can also look for new brands on affiliate networks and ask for products to test. On top of having a unique store or brand to help your list stand out, you’ll have original photos and be able to show you physically tried the product, which works to your advantage with E-E-A-T.

As an added bonus, the smaller brands will have more flexibility with commissions, in many cases, and be more attentive as they appreciate the chance you’re taking on them. 

Key recommendations

• Ensure that 20-30% of the brands, stores, or products featured on your list are lesser-known and unique, not commonly found on generic “best” or “top” lists. Get the product in hand and give a unique perspective on it – both good and bad. 
• Unique and original experiences tend to get rewarded by search engines, along with the standards on the other lists. By having at least 20% of your list different from the others, you’re providing something the others don’t. These new features are why your content is more unique and original – a value-add to the consumer.

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Author bios that don’t demonstrate E-E-A-T

Demonstrating the author’s credentials is a key element for E-E-A-T. 

In many cases, author bios are “thin” and don’t share how or why the person is qualified to create the content. 

Some will say they love spending the weekend with their dogs or family, which is fine. But they must also list their professional experience, accolades, and qualifications. 

• Where are they published, or what industry awards do they have? 
• How have they had real-life experience in the niche for an extended time?
• What certifications or degrees do they have that are accredited and recognized by industry professionals? 

If they’re reviewing or writing content about the best hosting service, being a tech writer doesn’t help. 

Anyone can write an article about technology by researching or reading the service provider’s websites. The writer and fact-checker must both be qualified. 

Having a degree or advanced degree in IT and having worked for a hosting company on the product, engineering, or development team for more than 10 years does. 

Getting multiple certifications related to the field and sharing the most recent ones also helps make the case why you are an expert in the field. 

Ensure the editor and/or fact-checker does not just write listicles and reviews. They should also write guides on how to configure servers, troubleshoot common issues, etc. 

Having this mixed within the shopping content builds their trust with the community, and that trust can be passed to their choices on the shopping lists or shopping content. And with that trust, you may see higher conversion rates. 

If the person is not writing the guides and “how to” posts on the publication, don’t worry. Link to their bios for where they write high-value content. 

For example, I write both here and at other large SEO and marketing publications. 

If I am writing a list of marketing tools or services to shop for, ecommerce tools, or guides on affiliate marketing where I’ve won awards, featuring that I’m a columnist or contributor and linking to my author pages allows both people and search engines to associate my knowledge and credibility with the shopping content. 

This is something some of the media companies that lost traffic did not do a good job of.

Non-unique selling points or lack of hands-on experience

Many media companies require editorial integrity. A few, in particular, make it clear that editorial and ad sales/affiliate relationship managers are separate. That is a very good thing! 

The two teams cannot impact each other for a strong site SEO-wise. These media houses are flourishing and will likely continue because all integrity is intact. 

But that doesn’t mean the affiliate teams should not have editors. Allowing the affiliate teams to have writers makes the company better overall.

Successful media companies often separate the teams and allow the affiliate relationship managers to recommend vendors if there is space and a reason. 

In other cases, the affiliate team has editors, and the content goes through an SEO and ads review to ensure quality and UX. 

By having editors with the affiliate team, they can ensure diversity and introduce new brands and products. Not all sites require an ad fee, which is why these sites have more product and brand diversity. These ones are flourishing. 

In these cases, the editors have full control and say over who and what gets featured as their preferences while being able to include good alternatives from the affiliate and ads teams. 

It keeps the quality of the content way up. One issue does not apply to the majority above but exists with a few I’m not featuring.

In very few cases, editors are not allowed to receive products, which is odd. If they’re required to write about it, they should be able to test it and have full authority to evaluate it. 

They need to be experts to win the readers’ trust and appease algorithms, and they need to share their real experiences for an authentic voice.

The way to do this is to have the product in hand or use the service. If the brand cannot send samples because the media house does not allow that, then the media company needs to buy or hire the service provider for the real-life experience. 

There’s no other way around that if the publication wants to succeed. But this has become rare. Most allow product samples now.

Having real photos vs. ones from the brand, showing it in real life, and sharing unique ways to use it all build trust and work for E-E-A-T. 

The FTC already requires disclosures at the top of the content or in a clear and easy-to-see space when using affiliate links or selling advertorials. Having a disclosure that you got the products featured in the post isn’t a big deal. 

Consumers probably prefer to know that you tried it before recommending it. And if you feature the bad and the good, you’ll keep the consumer’s trust because you’re giving them the full story. 

The content isn’t relevant to their audience

I see the publication going for high payments vs. product or service quality. 

This tactic gets higher affiliate commissions but also reduces the value of the recommendations because it isn’t based 100% on actual quality. 

Higher payouts can lead to irrelevant user experiences. When a publisher sees success because the trust of the domain lifts a topically irrelevant listicle, it may expand further into niches that aren’t topically relevant to its audience. This is bad for many reasons. 

If you’re a cooking website and people love the recipes, chef interviews, and ingredient highlights, having a list of the best pet insurance is irrelevant to your audience, even if most readers have pets. 

Neither are website builders, even if your audience has their own recipe blogs. 

And just because they have blogs, it does not mean they’re on your site looking for small business loans or vacuum cleaners, even though they could use them. Your audience may need them at some point, but that isn’t why they come to you.

When you start pumping out content because it can make you money with affiliate marketing, you take away from the good user experience. If people want dinner recipes, and every third article is a shopping post, the site is no longer helpful and doesn’t meet their needs. 

They’ll shift to a new site that stays true to the niche, and you’re likely confusing search engines with what the topic of your site is. 

The helpful content update looks at your site as a whole instead of page by page. Google wants to ensure the person gets an easy answer to what they are searching for in the fastest way possible. 

That can include multiple forms of media like a blog post, a video, or a sound clip. Because the helpful content update assesses your entire website, it’s reasonable to expect that the articles surrounding the one the user is reading should also be related and relevant.

If the person is on your article learning how to clean wine off a silk shirt, and you give them an answer, they may click on the homepage to see what else you have. 

The content and categories should be broken into cleaning and upkeep topics if the site is a cleaning and housekeeping site. 

If the person finds life insurance lists, web hosting, or extended car warranties but not the themes they expected, it is a bad experience. 

The end user might click on one of them because it is interesting, but you lost your chance to be their go-to resource for cleaning and upkeep. 

Instead of irrelevant but high-paying lists, create content with the best cleaning products, landscapers, types of flowers by region and season, etc. 

These are part of cleaning and owning a home and tie into the theme. Your entire website will have a better human experience because it is relevant for the humans on your site. 

And there are good paying affiliate programs with each niche if you put the work in to find them. 

The relevant topics of the shopping lists show the reader you have a lot of resources that complement why they came to you, and by having these, you give them a reason to subscribe to your publication and follow it on social media. 

You can link to the lists from the how-to guides, creating an even better UX. When the person clicks from the how-to guide, you’ve increased pageviews for CPM money and can earn a commission. It is a big win for you as a publisher. 

When you win their trust, they may opt-in to your email or SMS list. Having them on your email and SMS list means you can make money for many years.

Regaining traffic and profitability with better affiliate marketing strategies

The media companies in the first set of screenshots can turn things around if they change their focus. They can get their traffic back and expand revenue if they:

• Diversify their product and shopping options.
• Work on E-E-A-T and topical authority. 
• Maintain a balance between content and monetization. 

Note: The screenshots showing traffic declines are for sites I do not work on directly for SEO but watch and use as examples with clients. In some cases, I do work with them through affiliate programs.

The information was publicly available and accessed using third-party tools. Site names have been withheld. The specific websites are not disclosed to avoid any potential scrutiny or repercussions and also out of respect for their privacy and business operations.

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Google search antitrust trial ready to begin: What’s at stake

Monday, September 11th, 2023

The Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google and its search engine dominance is set to begin Tuesday. 

The case, U.S. et al v. Google, focuses on the company’s popular search engine, alleging Google used its 90% market share to illegally throttle competition in both search and search advertising.

This is one of several antitrust cases against the company. In January, the DOJ filed an antitrust case against it concerning Google’s role as an advertising broker, publisher and auctioneer.

The charges. The federal government alleges Google is harming consumers by stifling innovation in online search tools and limiting choice.

The DOJ also says Google has been able to maintain its monopoly over online search through exclusive agreements that preinstall its search application on devices. This, the government alleges, allowed Google to become the dominant search engine over its rivals and stifle competition.

Federal prosecutors are likely to argue that Google is not allowing a free market of rivals who could offer search choices with better technical perks — such as the speed at which search results are presented — and on policy choices, such as more stringent data privacy practices.

The defense. Google has pushed back strongly on the allegations of anticompetitive behavior. Its products and services are more popular because they are simply better, not because Google has tilted the playing field away from potential rivals, the company will argue.

Google is also expected to argue that their contracts to be default search engines on browsers are not exclusive and do not limit competition. The company argues that users can easily set a new default search engine and that their contracts do not limit access to other search options.

Dig deeper. Report: Google sharing Chrome iOS search revenue with Apple

Why we care. A big change at Google could cause big changes throughout the digital marketing ecosystem. If the DOJ proves its case and somehow alters Google’s search stranglehold it might mean lower costs for advertisers. If Google wins more tech regulation may be harder to achieve. Time, as always, will tell.

Dig deeper. US Justice Department sues Google again, aims to dismantle its ad division

What’s at stake. The U.S. and state allies are not seeking a monetary penalty, but rather an injunction barring Google from continuing the alleged anticompetitive practices. Such an order could have significant business implications for Google. For example:

• The government said in its lawsuit that the court could break up the company as a fix.
• More broadly, the Justice Department may argue it wants to stop Google from leveraging its alleged search monopoly to make exclusive deals in newly emerging markets, including artificial intelligence.

The case is widely seen as one of the biggest challenges to tech industry power since the DOJ sued Microsoft in 1998 over its market dominance for personal computers. The trial court in that case found Microsoft unlawfully tried to block rival browser Netscape Navigator. Microsoft later reached a settlement that left the company intact.

Dig deeper. Judge: No evidence Google harmed competitors by limiting search visibility

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Target ROAS in Google Ads: 5 key considerations

Monday, September 11th, 2023

Target return on ad spend (ROAS) is heralded as the holy grail of PPC advertising. 

In contrast to click-based and conversion-based bidding, this strategy is designed to optimize financial business outcomes. 

While undoubtedly high on the Google Ads evolutionary scale, Target ROAS requires a rigorous setup before realizing its full potential.

Advertisers who switched from Target CPA to Target ROAS saw a 14% increase in conversion value at a similar return on ad spend, per Google’s internal data from March 2021. 

Google claims that advertisers who upgraded from Smart Shopping to Maximize Conversion Value and Target ROAS achieved as much as a 30% uplift in conversion value.

Results can vary from one business to another and across different sectors of the economy.

Your success with value-based bidding depends on how well it aligns with your business model and implementation quality.

This article outlines the key considerations in adopting Target ROAS to help you evaluate whether value-based bidding is a good fit for your business.

Target ROAS: An overview

Target ROAS, or tROAS, is a Google Ads value-based bidding strategy designed to maximize conversion value within your targeted return on ad spend.

As a Smart Bidding strategy, Target ROAS leverages a multitude of contextual and audience signals in combination with historical first-party data. 

Google uses its advanced predictive modeling to estimate the prospective conversion value of users and automatically adjusts your bids in line with your ROAS target. 

The higher you set your target, the lower the AI will bid and vice versa.

In practice, some conversions will yield a higher ROAS than others. Google then factors that into its calculations and recalibrates bidding to maintain your desired ROAS.

Bidding based on potential customer value

Upgrading from a conversion-based to a value-based strategy represents a shift from optimizing for the highest number of conversions to prioritizing the most valuable customers, according to Ginny Marvin, Ads Product Liaison at Google. 

As a consequence of this shift, advertisers should anticipate a trade-off between volume and value. 

Therefore, Target ROAS is generally more likely to return a higher total conversion value but lower conversion volume than Target CPA.

Here are five key considerations to help assess your business readiness for tROAS in Google Ads.

1. Variability in sales value

Before delving into the more technical requirements of value-based bidding, it might be useful to weigh up the size of the opportunity. 

Considering the variability in sales value will give you some indication of the potential upside that Target ROAS could bring to your business.

At its core, value-based bidding aims to optimize toward high-value conversion outcomes and away from low-value conversion outcomes. 

If your business has high variability in sales value within the same product or service category, you’re better placed to reap the rewards of Target ROAS.

Consider an ecommerce store selling products worth $20, $50 and $100. 

All things being equal, this store is more likely to benefit from value-based bidding than a store that only sells products worth $50. That’s because the algorithm can drive more $100 sales and fewer $20 sales.

The disparity in value creates the opportunity to optimize for more valuable conversion outcomes. 

Conversely, the store in the second example lacks the same capacity for optimization as all products are worth the same.

Value-based bidding is further amplified by greater variance or spread in conversion value. 

In our initial example, there’s a moderate level of variance. For instance, the variance would be considerably higher if the products were worth $5, $50 and $500. 

A broader distribution in conversion values gives the AI more room to find efficiencies and maximize overall conversion value.

The principle of variability applies to any assigned conversion value, be it revenue, gross profit, or another value estimate unique to your business.

Using value-based bidding in low variability scenarios

What if your products or services are priced similarly? Could you still benefit from value-based bidding?

Even if your prices are uniform, the profit margins may differ. Different customers may buy varying quantities at different frequencies and repeat rates. 

In other words, if conversion value variability is low from a revenue perspective, it may not be through the lens of gross profit or customer lifetime value (CLV). We’ll explore the implications of each of these options shortly.

Suppose every sale in your business generates the same conversion value, irrespective of the financial measure you associate with it. 

In this scenario, you would assign an identical value to each conversion. 

This is similar to Target CPA, but instead of telling Google what you’re willing to pay for a conversion, you’re defining how much a conversion is worth and using the ROAS target as your lever.

The main difference is that with value-based bidding, your bids are pegged to your returns. 

The AI will automatically adjust bids with the conversion value against your ROAS target. 

Therefore, Target ROAS provides an automation benefit, even when conversions don’t fluctuate in value.

2. Sales volume

Another key consideration is the number of sales your business generates each month. 

This will tell you whether you can accumulate sufficient conversion data on an ongoing basis to meet the minimum conversion thresholds.

Target ROAS requires minimum conversion thresholds to provide Google with adequate data to make statistically reliable bidding decisions. 

This data allows the AI to spot patterns, establish correlations, and draw meaningful insights that fuel machine learning.

Without sufficient conversion data, the AI would base its analyses on smaller and potentially unrepresentative samples, which could compromise its predictive capabilities. 

Larger data sets provide Google more opportunities to learn and bid more effectively.

Most campaign types require at least 15 conversions per campaign in the previous 30 days to run Target ROAS. 

However, minimum thresholds can vary by campaign type, as shown in the table below. Note that your conversions must include valid values to qualify toward the threshold.

Minimum Target ROAS conversion thresholds by campaign type

Campaign type	Minimum conversions	Qualification period
Search campaigns	At least 15 conversions	Last 30 days
Shopping campaigns	At least 15 conversions	Last 30 days
Display campaigns	At least 15 conversions	Last 30 days
Video action campaigns	At least 30 conversions	Last 30 days
Discovery campaigns	At least 75 conversions	Last 30 days
App campaigns	At least 300 conversions	Last 30 days

Please refer to the latest guidelines for the most up-to-date information.

For new or small campaigns with insufficient conversion data, you can start with Maximize Conversion Value, which has no minimum requirements.

Then upgrade to Target ROAS once you reach the required threshold for your respective campaign type.

An important decision is what conversion event to use as your primary conversion action. 

When deciding, you must consider your sales volume in conjunction with the length of your sales cycle.

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3. Sales cycle length

The duration of your business cycle will dictate the speed at which you can assign values to different conversions and feed those back into Google. 

The faster you can import conversion values, the sooner the AI can factor that data into its computations.

Sales cycles can vary significantly depending on the industry you’re in. 

In lead gen, the B2B sales cycle is typically between 60 to 90 days due to the cost, complexity and multiple decision-makers involved. 

B2C tends to have a much shorter cycle, ranging from a few minutes to a few weeks.

In contrast, B2B ecommerce generally has a shorter cycle than traditional B2B sales. 

Finally, B2C ecommerce would see the shortest sales cycle due to its direct-to-consumer transactions and relatively lower cost.

Consider the average time your prospect clicked your ad and the conversion event. Note that the conversion needs to occur within 90 days of the click. Otherwise, it would fall outside the lookback window, and Google won’t be able to attribute that value back to the original click.

You must choose the primary conversion action most likely to drive optimal performance. 

As a rule of thumb, Google recommends optimizing for the conversion event that occurs furthest down your marketing funnel and meets the minimum eligibility criteria. 

Here are some general guidelines to inform your decision

Scenario 1: High sales volume, short sales cycle

If your sales cycle is around two weeks or less and you generate at least 100 sales a month, then you’re in a position to optimize for sales or closed deals.

If you’re running lead gen campaigns, consider secondary observational conversion actions, such as:

• Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs).
• Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs).
• Form submissions. 
• Calls. 

Alternatively, if you’re running ecommerce campaigns, consider including begin checkout, add to cart, or newsletter subscriptions as secondary conversions.

Scenario 2: Low sales volume, long sales cycle

If your lead gen sales cycle is up to three months and you generate at least 30 sales a month, consider using either SQLs or MQLs as your primary conversion action. 

It may also be worthwhile to include sales, form submissions, and calls as secondary conversions for enhanced visibility of your funnel.

In ecommerce, consider using either begin checkout or add to cart as your primary conversion action, while adding sales and subscriptions as secondary conversions.

Scenario 3: Low sales volume, long sales cycle, and long lead qualification time

If your lead qualification time takes more than 30 days:

• Use form submissions and calls as primary conversions.
• Consider importing sales, SQLs, MQLs, and page interactions as secondary conversions.

Recommended conversion actions in lead generation

Scenario	Sales Cycle	Sales vol.	Primary	Secondary
High sales volume, short sales cycle	~2 weeks	100/month	Closed deals	SQLs/MQLs, form subs. and calls
Low sales volume, long sales cycle	3 months	30/month	SQLs/MQLs	Closed deals, form subs. and calls
Low sales volume, long sales cycle + long lead qual. time (~30 days)	3 months	30/month	Form subs. and calls	SQLs/MQLs, closed deals, page engagement

Recommended conversion actions in ecommerce

Scenario	Sales Cycle	Sales vol.	Primary	Secondary
High sales volume, short sales cycle	~2 weeks	100/month	Sales	Add to cart, begin checkout
Low sales volume, long sales cycle	3 months	30/month	Begin checkout, add to cart	Sales, newsletter subscriptions

Google recommends importing your entire conversion funnel for improved visibility while focusing on a single primary conversion action for bid optimization. 

An exception to this could be using both form submissions and calls as primary conversion actions, provided there is no duplication

Mapping your marketing funnel can be a good starting point to visualize your prospects’ key actions along their conversion path. 

Google’s conversion value calculator provides a quick way to calculate the average values of the conversion actions at every stage of your customer journey.

4. Data accuracy

So far, we’ve emphasized the importance of variability, volume, and frequency. However, the quality of your data will determine the degree of your success. 

In the context of Target ROAS, data quality is the extent to which your conversion values accurately reflect their economic worth to your business.

Target ROAS relies on accurate input to deliver your target return on ad spend. 

If your conversion values don’t correspond to their true monetary value, neither will the AI’s bidding nor your campaign results. 

The “garbage in, garbage out” principle firmly applies here. No matter how advanced the algorithm, a low-quality input is unlikely to produce a high-quality output.

This leads us to the next important decision: What conversion values do you feed the AI? 

As a general rule, your acquisition strategy should align with your business goals. Here are several approaches you could take:

Optimizing for proxy values

If you can’t measure or assign transaction-specific values, you can still run Target ROAS using static proxy values. 

This is straightforward as it doesn’t necessitate a complex conversion tracking configuration.

Instead, you assign a fixed value to your primary conversion actions, meaning every conversion will account for the same value. 

However, you can dynamically adjust your values using rules based on criteria such as location, device, or audience.

If your sales values typically fluctuate, proxy values won’t accurately reflect the true economic value of your conversions. 

As such, using proxies is the simplest but most limiting way to go about value-based bidding.

Optimizing for revenue

If your business goal is to maximize the gross value of sales, consider using revenue conversion values. This will require importing dynamic conversion values and an accurate estimate of the revenue driven by each conversion.

By aligning your value-based bidding with revenue, the AI will aim to maximize the total revenue generated within your ROAS target. 

Besides driving top-line growth, this may also be suitable for market share expansion or promoting a new product.

A drawback of revenue optimization is its neglect of profitability. They will likely have different profit margins if you offer a wide range of products or services. 

However, this difference will not be considered by the AI, which could lead to an overemphasis on high-revenue but low-margin products or services.

Optimizing for profit

If your business prioritizes the bottom line, consider assigning values that closely mirror your gross profit. To calculate gross profit, deduct the cost of goods sold from your sales revenue.

Since ad spend is also a cost of sale, you can use custom columns in your Google Ads account to subtract ad spend from your conversion value (i.e., All conversion value – Cost). 

Note that Target ROAS will still optimize for the value in the All conversion value column.

By optimizing for profit, the AI will deploy your budget towards the most financially favorable outcomes. 

In the short term, this should yield the highest total gross dollar amount, assuming accurate values, sufficient volume, and timely data imports.

Remember that optimizing for profit could come at the expense of lower conversion volumes. 

Moreover, focusing on profit may overlook potential opportunities to grow your customer base or expand your reach.

Lastly, measuring and tracking the true profitability of each conversion can be especially challenging due to the various cost factors at play.

Optimizing for customer lifetime value (CLV)

If you’re aiming to maximize long-term profitability, consider using predicted customer lifetime value (CLV). 

This requires assigning a forecasted value to each conversion based on the total expected value over the entire course of the customer relationship.

CLV generally incorporates average order value, purchase frequency, retention rate, and customer acquisition and retention costs. The relative weighting and exact calculation methods can vary across industries.

Like optimizing for short-term profit, this will also likely limit your reach to a smaller conversion pool. Furthermore, accurately estimating long-term profit can be exponentially more complex.

Over the long run, CLV optimization has the potential to deliver the highest return on investment. 

But tread carefully. This strategy banks on spending money today and recovering it years into the future. 

The delay in feedback on financial performance could prove costly should your initial projections turn out to be incorrect.

While CLV offers significant potential upside, it also comes with considerable uncertainty and upfront costs, making it something of a leveraged bet. 

Given these risks, it may be prudent to test CLV-based bidding only after successfully validating a proof of concept using Target ROAS aligned with revenue or profit.

5. Data infrastructure

Hopefully, by now, you have an idea of how to tackle value-based bidding for your specific use case. Assuming your business ticks all the boxes, the next key consideration is data logistics. 

More specifically, what systems will you need in place to streamline your marketing data and does your business have the capacity to accommodate your requirements?

Implementing Target ROAS will require a reliable way to collect, store and import data back into Google regularly. You can do this manually, automatically, or combine the two depending on your strategy. 

Here are the three main tracking options available:

Manual conversion tracking

Manual conversion tracking allows you to assign a static conversion value for each conversion action inside Google Ads. 

This can easily be set and modified on the platform without the need for technical expertise or third-party software.

As noted earlier, this is an imprecise way to track value since static conversion values don’t account for variations in purchase value. 

Assuming that your conversion values fluctuate, this is why it’s a suboptimal conversion tracking method.

Tag-based conversion tracking

Tag-based conversion tracking relies on a Google-generated JavaScript code snippet (the “tag”) embedded on your website. 

When a user completes a conversion action, the tag captures the associated conversion value and sends it back to Google.

Ecommerce businesses most commonly use this tracking method as it provides a way to dynamically adjust the conversion value to match the actual order value. 

This usually means that the conversion values correspond to revenue rather than profit, as the tag pulls the monetary amount the customer spent on a transaction.

It’s also possible to track profit using the tag-based method as long as the profit value is known and accessible when the tag fires. 

This may require deep integration with your inventory systems and third-party software to accurately calculate the profit for every sale in real time. 

So, while it’s possible to track profit, it may not be practical or feasible for most businesses due to the added complexity involved.

Setting up tag-based conversion tracking requires technical proficiency and can be challenging for businesses with various products or services.

Another limitation of tag-based tracking is its dependence on cookies to attribute conversions back to the ad click. 

When a user rejects, blocks, or deletes cookies, this can result in data gaps, negatively impacting your optimization.

Find out more about tag-based conversion tracking in this Google Ads help documentation.

Offline conversion tracking

Offline conversion tracking uses a Google Click Identifier (GCLID) to track offline conversion outcomes following a user’s interaction with your ad. 

The GCLID is a unique string of characters that Google automatically appends to your destination URLs.

This tracking method requires that you capture the GCLID parameter alongside the lead or customer’s details and store them in your CRM database. 

You can import that data back to the platform once a conversion value is assigned. Google will then use the GCLID to associate the conversion value back to the correct click.

You can import offline conversions manually inside the Google UI or schedule a recurring upload via Google Sheets, HTTPS or SFTP. 

Alternatively, you can automate this process using Google Ads API, which would require developer input. 

It’s worth checking whether your existing CRM can be directly integrated with Google Ads, as this could save you significant time and effort.

Offline conversion tracking can be a reliable and comprehensive way to track conversion outcomes. 

It also offers flexibility when assigning values that best align with your business objectives. 

Moreover, it allows you to retract and restate values you’ve already uploaded to reflect returned orders, canceled bookings, or failed deals.

Depending on the degree of complexity, you may require technical resources to get this up and running. 

A downside of this approach is its reliance on a clear connection between the ad click and the offline conversion. 

In practice, this will not always be possible due to the length of the customer journey or the nature of the conversion itself.

Regardless of the tracking method you choose, it’s important to ensure that your processing of user and customer data complies with local and international data protection and privacy laws in your jurisdictions.

The primary purpose of importing first-party conversion data into the platform is to guide the AI’s bidding decisions. 

However, linking the conversion value to the exact click that drove it also unlocks Google Ads’ full reporting capabilities. 

This allows you to track profitability down to granular details such as search terms, ads, or placements, to name a few.

Assessing your business’s readiness for Target ROAS

A successful value-based bidding strategy comes down to your data’s variability, volume, speed, and accuracy and the infrastructure needed to support your marketing operation.

• Variability is the degree to which your conversions fluctuate in value. 
• Volume refers to the amount of conversion data that you generate.
• Speed measures how promptly you can feed the data back to the AI. 
• While accuracy is the extent to which your data reflects the true economic value to your business. 
• Your infrastructure represents the technical foundation to collect, store, and import conversion data to the Google Ads platform.

We’ve established that AI thrives on data, but to fully harness Target ROAS, it’s vital to strike the right balance between quality and quantity. 

While Google recommends optimizing for the conversion furthest down your funnel that meets the eligibility criteria, that may not always be the best approach.

Depending on the quality of your data, you may see better results by optimizing for a conversion higher up the funnel that provides the AI with more data points. 

Sometimes, feeding the AI with a lot of ‘good’ data can outweigh feeding it the bare minimum of “great” data. 

Equally, a smaller pool of accurately calculated conversion values may outperform a larger pool of less accurately calculated ones. It’s up to you to adapt your strategy to your unique business circumstances and test your way to success.

So, to ROAS or not to ROAS? That is the question only you can answer. 

Theoretical evaluation is a good place to start. But to know how effective value-based bidding can be, you’d have to press that live button and find out.

The post Target ROAS in Google Ads: 5 key considerations appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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

When your business doesn’t need SEO

Monday, September 11th, 2023

While SEO can be highly effective, it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution for all businesses.

SEO might not be the immediate answer to your digital marketing needs.

Here’s why SEO may not be the best fit for a business, with alternatives and insights into when it may be a more valuable investment.

1. You require fast results

Do you need fast results for your business and a way to attract tons of visitors to your website in no time? Then SEO may not be your best course of action. 

SEO takes time to work.

New websites can take at least three to six months to rank on Google. Even then, 95% of pages don’t enter the top 10 positions within a year, per an Ahrefs study. 

Results will vary depending on your strategy, but data suggests that you must wait to see an impact. That’s why this path is not for everyone. 

For example, if you are hosting a one-time event or concert, or it’s the first time you are organizing it, you are limited in time. 

You can’t just wait for search engines to index your website or for people to start searching for your event. You need to make them aware of it and get them excited. 

That’s when paid search or social media ads are more effective in promoting your event and getting people to buy tickets or register.

Or let’s say you have a new solution, such as a CRM or a mobile app, that you want to introduce to the market. You want to show people how awesome your solution is and how it can solve their problems. 

Here, you can’t rely solely on SEO. You’ll need to use other marketing methods to grab your audience’s attention and convince them to try your solution. 

PPC advertising is key in this case. After you build up some traction and reputation, you can start investing in SEO, as people will search for your solution independently.

So, SEO is not always the best option if you need to quickly generate interest around a new topic or when launching a new product to the market. 

You’ll need marketing methods that will help you reach your target audience instantly, such as social media ads or other types of paid advertising, and drive them to your website or landing page. 

2. You operate on a tight budget or limited resources

SEO isn’t prohibitively expensive. You can manage much of it yourself with basic knowledge and free tools. Advanced tools like Ahrefs are available for under $100 per month to level up your game.

The problem is that good SEO takes a lot of time and effort. 

You have to research keywords, analyze competitors, create content, build links, monitor rankings, and so on. And that’s not even counting the technical aspects of SEO, like site speed optimization, mobile-friendliness and security. 

These tasks can consume your precious time and energy, which you could use for other important aspects of your business like customer service and sales. 

So what do you do? You could hire an SEO agency or professionals to handle everything for you. They have the skills and tools to get the job done right. 

They don’t come cheap, however. Depending on the scope and quality of their services and the things you need help with, you could end up paying anywhere from $500 to $10,000 per month for SEO. 

While this can be acceptable for larger companies, it may be a significant sum for many startups and small businesses. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that SEO is not worth the expenses. It can be one of the best investments you make for your business in the long run. 

You can drive organic traffic, generate leads, increase conversions, and grow your brand awareness while outranking your competitors and dominating your niche.

The thing is, SEO can wait if you’re on a tight budget or have limited human resources or time. 

First, you should focus on developing your business and perfecting the product or service to form a more comprehensive SEO strategy.

You can also defer your SEO efforts if you already have an in-house marketing team that knows what they’re doing and you’re making money from other promotion channels that are working well for you.

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3. You face low demand for your product or service

SEO is about getting people to find you online when searching for something related to your niche. 

There must be interest in your topic and demand for information to justify implementing SEO initiatives like content marketing. 

For example, if you run a local pet store, you can use the high demand for pet products, information and services online. 

It makes sense to try to rank high for keywords such as “how to groom your dog” or “healthy treats for cats,” as they can translate to more sales. 

Similarly, your store has to deal with increased competition from other pet businesses for limited ad placements, which can quickly become expensive and unsustainable. 

SEO may save you money over time. Once your page ranks among the top results, you only need to keep it updated to retain rankings, proving to be a strategic advantage. 

But what if your product or service is not very popular, or you cater to a specific audience? Then, you might not need SEO as much. 

For instance, if you’re in security contracting, arms, nuclear, or other industries with low demand or high barriers to entry, you don’t have to worry about optimizing your website for search engines. 

Not many people are looking for these things online, and you probably have other ways of reaching your customers.

4. You are not concerned about outranking your competitors

Another case where you don’t need SEO is when your brand is so well-known that everyone recognizes it. 

Think of Mars candy bars, for example. 

They have a great website but don’t focus on creating elaborate blogs or landing pages targeting specific keywords. 

They don’t have to because they’re already famous and are not concerned with beating their competitors in the search results. 

What’s more, they don’t sell their products directly to customers. Instead, they rely on a well-developed indirect sales distribution system. 

So, they are not interested in ranking for the keyword “Mars candy bar.” Ranking for this keyword may even jeopardize stores that want to get found in their market.

Even if you search for their main keyword, depending on your region, the official website may not reach the top of the search engine results page.

You can see the same trend with other established brands like Coca-Cola that operate under a franchise distribution model.

However, you don’t need to be a global business chain not to concern yourself with competitors. 

Another scenario where SEO might be optional is if you have a very niche business that serves a very specific market. 

Maybe you sell custom-made jewelry for weddings and only work with a few clients per year. 

In that case, you don’t need to compete with thousands of other websites for generic terms like “wedding jewelry.” 

You need to reach your potential customers by other means, such as referrals, social media, or email marketing.

5. Your target market does not use search engines

Sometimes, your target audience doesn’t use search engines to find you. They already know you and trust you, and they visit your store in person or type your website address directly into their browser.

For example, if you run a local bakery with a loyal customer base, you don’t need to worry about ranking high on Google for keywords like “best bakery near me.” 

Your customers know where to find you and love your products. They might even recommend you to their friends and family through word-of-mouth. 

However, just because I said you don’t have to worry about SEO doesn’t mean you can ignore your online presence. 

You still need a great website that shows off your brand and what you do. You must also be active on social media to connect with your audience and share valuable content. 

Additionally, you can benefit from local SEO, and you still have to optimize and maintain your online pages, whether it’s social media or Google My Business listings. 

These things matter greatly if you want to grow your business and reach more people.

Assessing the pros and cons of SEO

If you’re still on the fence about whether SEO is right for your business, consider the following opportunities it can provide to your business:

Pro: Increased visibility and traffic

• SEO can help you attract more organic visitors interested in your products or services. 
• You can also target specific audiences based on location, demographics, or preferences.

Enhanced credibility and trust

• You can establish your brand as an authority in your industry through content marketing. 
• Appearing at the top of search results will make you seem more authoritative, showing your expertise and value to your customers. 

Improved user experience and conversion

• SEO will ensure that you create a user-friendly and engaging website that provides relevant and useful information to your visitors. 
• You’ll get to optimize your website for mobile devices and ensure high load speed and accessibility. 
• This will improve your customer satisfaction and loyalty and increase your chances of converting visitors into buyers.

Evaluate how important these factors are to your company. Try to consider the long-term perspective of your business. 

If you think these opportunities are important, you can start taking small steps toward developing an optimization strategy. 

SEO takes time to show results, so it may be worth it to start working on your optimization as soon as you notice chances for growth. 

While the benefits are great, and many SEO experts tout the selling points, I believe you should also be aware of the possible disadvantages of this promotion strategy. Here are the things to keep in mind:

Con: High competition and intensity

• SEO is a dynamic and ever-changing field that requires constant research, analysis, and adaptation. 
• You must keep up with the latest trends, algorithms, and best practices to stay ahead of your competitors. 
• Hiring professional SEO experts or agencies to help you with your strategy may be necessary.

Uncertain and delayed results

• SEO is not a quick fix or a guaranteed solution. Building your ranking and visibility on search engines takes time and effort. 
• You may not see immediate or consistent results from your SEO efforts. 
• Technical issues, algorithm changes, or manual actions from search engines may impact your progress.

Ethical risks

• SEO can be risky if you don’t follow the ethical and legal guidelines of search engines. 
• You may be tempted to use risky techniques to manipulate your ranking or deceive your customers. However, this can backfire and damage your reputation and credibility. 

Consider SEO’s value for your business at the moment

SEO is valuable but not obligatory. Assess its pros and cons for your situation. 

If you choose SEO, invest fully in experts and resources, be patient for results, and offer unique contributions. 

If it’s not right for your business now, don’t stress. You can revisit it when the time is right.

The post When your business doesn’t need SEO appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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

Threads users can now search for posts

Friday, September 8th, 2023

Threads users can now search through posts on the platform.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new functionality has now been rolled out to most English and Spanish-speaking countries, including the US and UK.

The new search feature is available on both the Threads mobile app and web app.

Why we care. Potential customers now have a new way to search for and discover brands on Threads, which could result in increased visibility.

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What’s new? Threads did have a search feature when it first launched back in July, however, this only provided the ability to search through users – not posts.

Following testing in Australia and New Zealand last month, Threads’ new search functionality allows users to browse posts using keywords. Below is a screenshot of the new feature in action:

Deep dive. Read our Threads FAQ guide for more information.

The post Threads users can now search for posts appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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

Entities, topics, keywords: Clarifying core semantic SEO concepts

Thursday, September 7th, 2023

In this article I’ve curated some of the most commonly misunderstood elements of entity and semantic SEO, aiming to clear the fog around them.

Here’s our roadmap:

• What are the differences between entities, topics and keywords?
• How do entities affect keyword research?
• What is a topical map?
• How do you do on-page optimizations in the entity paradigm?
• What role does schema markup play in entity SEO?
• What are semantic networks and how do you build them?

What are the differences between entities, topics and keywords?

One of the most common areas of confusion I’ve seen when discussing entities is what differentiates keywords, topics and entities from each other. 

Because entities, keywords and topics are intertwined elements in the vast landscape of SEO, it can often be difficult to truly tease apart each definition. 

Entities

These are the foundational concepts or things in content. At a basic level, entities can be singular nouns, like “chocolate cake” or “iPhone.” 

But they can also represent more complex named concepts, such as events like “The Olympic Games” or places like “Mount Everest.” 

In SEO’s semantic framework, entities are unique, identifiable concepts consistent across various texts or contexts. They aren’t tied to specific phrases but represent broader ideas. 

Within a keyword phrase like “delicious chocolate cake recipe,” “chocolate cake” is the entity. 

On a larger scale, for a website about tech reviews, entities such as “smartphones”, “laptops”, and “gadgets” guide its overarching themes, signaling to search engines the primary subject matter.

Keywords

These are the specific phrases or terms users type into a search engine. They’re the bridge between the user’s intent and the content they’re trying to find. 

Keywords can encapsulate one or more entities, reflecting what users are actively seeking. 

For instance, while “iPhone” is an entity, a keyword that encompasses it might be “iPhone 12 Pro Max review.” 

Topics

Topics are thematic areas or categories that encapsulate one or more entities. Think of a topic as an umbrella under which multiple entities can reside. 

For example, under the topic “Smart Home Technology,” entities could include “Google Nest Hub,” “smart thermostats,” and “IoT security.”

Here’s a summary of their key distinctions:

Scope

• Topics are broad and can encompass multiple entities and even various keywords. 
• Entities are more specific and focused.
• Keywords are the specific searchable terms related to both.

Hierarchical relationship

• Entities usually fall under topics. 
• Keywords can align with either entities or topics or sometimes both.

SEO

• Topics guide your broader content strategy.
• Entities help focus and refine that strategy.
• Keywords serve as the target for actual search queries.

Intersection

• Topics can be used to form content clusters.
• Entities and keywords serve to refine and specify the content within those clusters.

User intent

• Topics guide the user through their informational journey.
• Entities provide specific answers.
• Keywords can be crafted to meet specific user queries.

Semantic networks (in the context of SEO)

• Topics often serve as nodes in semantic networks that connect related entities.
• Keywords serve as the pathways that lead users to those nodes.

The relationship between topics and keywords manifests in how keywords help flesh out the various aspects of a given topic. 

In a well-structured content strategy, the keywords you target should naturally fall under the umbrella of your chosen topics. 

This ensures that your content is relevant and comprehensive and satisfies a range of user intents related to your topic.

In essence, topics serve as the overarching themes that guide the scope and direction of your content, providing a high-level focus. 

Entities further sharpen this focus, giving search engines like Google a nuanced lens to understand the core essence of your content, both on micro and macro levels. 

Keywords, meanwhile, refine and drill down into specific facets of your overarching topics, making your content discoverable to users with particular queries related to those topics.

How do entities affect keyword research?

Traditionally, SEO strategies were rooted in keyword research, focusing primarily on keyword difficulty and search volume. 

Specialists would aim for low-hanging fruit – terms a site could realistically rank for – before moving on to more competitive keywords. 

While effective in the past, this approach has become less optimal due to evolving search algorithms. 

Today, a keyword-centric methodology risks creating disjointed topics across a website, undermining the development of topical authority.

Imagine if topics occupied a physical space where some topics are proximal while others are distant. 

In this space, “bowling shoes” would be closer to “bowling” than “fun nights out with the family” – however, “fun nights out with the family” might not be far off. 

This is how advanced language models perceive language. They generate graphical representations to discern topical relevance.

If your site has a scattered topic structure, jumping from one loosely related topic to another (as with ad hoc keyword targeting), Google might find it challenging to decipher your website’s core intent. 

This could lead to a decline in ranking or just an inability to be competitive for the keywords that really matter to your business.

While targeting low-hanging fruit in terms of keywords is still viable, it doesn’t necessarily establish a website as an authority in a specific niche. 

To optimize content in this era, we need to consider two key aspects:

Density of the subject matter

Your goal should be to cover content that is graphically close together and to do it better than any competitor. Assess the competition. 

Determine which sub-niche within your realm you can outshine others in. Can you truly be the go-to expert on the subjects you target? 

Logical subject expectations

Creating content that naturally aligns with your site’s objectives is crucial for SEO success. 

I often see SEO professionals broadening their content scope excessively or employing AI to cover every conceivable angle of their subject matter, which misses the mark entirely. 

For instance, imagine a site focused on “Kettlebell Workouts for Beginners.”

Adding an article about the history of kettlebell design, while interesting, may not directly benefit the site’s primary audience, who are looking for actionable workout tips. 

Entity SEO is not a free pass to cover every topic under the sun. It’s imperative to prioritize the content that resonates with your site’s main objectives and aligns with Google’s understanding of your expertise. 

In other words, before you delve into the nuances of kettlebell design, ensure you’ve already covered the basics your audience is actively searching for. 

Only expand to broader topics when you’ve observed the search engine sees you as an expert in your sub-niche (this is usually observable by top rankings and quick rankings of new articles). 

Remember: Establishing oneself as a topical authority is an ever-evolving challenge. Success hinges on thorough research, pinpointing subtopics ripe for deeper exploration – areas others might have overlooked. 

Equally critical is identifying content clusters within competitor domains, not just to replicate but to outdo.

However, stay attuned to their backlink profiles. Gauging your ability to match or even outpace these external factors is crucial for a realistic strategy.

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What is a topical map?

As we discussed above, SEO was often synonymous with keyword research and this was stage one of an SEO effort. 

Marketers would scour the web, hunting for keywords promising high search volumes and low competition. 

The strategy was simple: find a high-potential keyword, create content around it, rinse and repeat. 

This tactic was more about sniping possibilities than building a holistic digital presence. 

The aim was to grab those low-hanging fruits – isolated keywords that could easily be targeted to drive traffic. 

The idea was you’d build a base of ranking content and then slowly advance to more difficult terms over time. This approach was ultimately keyword-centric.

The cluster-centric approach 

In my opinion, an evolved SEO strategy should focus on strategic decisions around clusters of content and not exclusively aimed at individual keywords.

Enter topical maps – a vital tool in modern SEO that helps you better visualize and plan your content strategy. 

A topical map is essentially a visual representation of your primary subject and how it connects to various sub-topics and themes. 

Think of it as a spider diagram or a mind map. At the center of this map, you have your main subject – the overarching topic your site focuses on. 

Branching out from this central node are related sub-topics, which serve as the pillars supporting your main subject. 

Each sub-topic can further divide into specific themes or even narrower facets, providing a layered, organized structure to your content.

Imagine your central topic is “Basketball.” 

From there, branches like “Basketball Techniques,” “Basketball Equipment,” and “NBA Teams” emerge. 

Dive deeper and from “Basketball Techniques,” you have “Free Throws,” “Dribbling” and more. 

Interspersed are your keywords, suggesting content angles and user intent.

Instead of focusing on individual keywords, you’re now looking at clusters – groups of related content pieces. 

These clusters allow you to paint a comprehensive picture of a subject, making your site a one-stop hub for audiences. 

When assessing competition and volume, the focus shifts from individual keywords to these clusters, looking at the aggregate potential rather than singular opportunities. 

Here, your focus becomes analyzing the landscape for what clusters of content your competition has and looking for pockets of where you can outperform their clusters instead of their keywords.

The benefits of thinking in clusters

This shift from keywords to clusters offers multiple advantages:

Depth and breadth

• By covering related topics under one umbrella, you provide both in-depth insights and a broad overview, catering to various user intents. 

Authority

• A cluster approach signals to search engines that you’re not just skimming the surface. You’re diving deep, establishing your authority in a niche. This triggers search engines to rank you higher, oftentimes for terms that you have weaker external factors than the competition on. 

Flexibility

• Clusters allow for easier content expansion. If a new trend emerges within a cluster, you can seamlessly integrate it without disrupting your site’s structure.

Keyword clustering tools can be game-changers when building topical maps. They help you identify when a keyword deserves its standalone topic page or if it fits better within a broader topic.

In essence, the older approach was cherry-picking good keywords and using their success to propel your SEO forward. 

The new approach is to select clusters of dense content that establish authority. When done correctly, you can trigger a topical authority boost and circumvent the need for superior external SEO factors.

How do you do on-page optimizations in the entity paradigm?

Now that we’ve seen how entities can be factored into your high-level strategy and content roadmap via topical maps, let’s go through questions people ask about the actual implementation of entities on your site. 

On-page SEO and entities: What’s changed?

If you’ve engaged in SEO for any time, a notable change in your Search Console query report is that your pages often rank for keywords not directly mentioned within their content. 

Entities and the knowledge graph have transformed Google’s grasp on language. Previously, search results predominantly showcased pages that explicitly mentioned a keyword. 

But now, with the deeper understanding provided by entities, Google draws from a wider pool, considering pages that address topics in a related sphere. This leads Google to favor more comprehensive content pieces. 

This shift introduced what I term “authority pages.” These are content-rich pages saturated with entity relationships, designed to answer many potential user queries. Such pages aggregate the essence of what previously required several pages. 

As you develop these authority pages, AI tools can be instrumental. 

The fundamental procedure involves a few key steps:

• First, utilize tools or methods like TF-IDF (Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency), RAKE (Rapid Automatic Keyword Extraction), or keyword extraction techniques to pull out crucial keyword phrases or entities from articles that already rank highly in your target area. This step is crucial because it helps you establish the minimum subject matter and terms that Google seems to view as essential for ranking in that particular topic space.
• Once you have identified this baseline, the next objective is to go beyond it. Your aim should be to not just match the top-ranking articles in terms of entities and keywords but to exceed them by introducing new entity relationships or facets of the topic that haven’t been extensively covered. The idea is to offer a more comprehensive, insightful piece that adds value beyond what’s currently available, thereby enhancing your chances of being viewed as an authority on the subject by search engines.

I explore these concepts and tools in greater depth in How ChatGPT can help you optimize your content for entities, where I break down the nitty-gritty of how to maximize your topical authority in the SEO landscape.

What role does schema markup play in entity SEO?

The concept of entities is crucial in the world of SEO, serving as the focal points around which content is structured. 

Leveraging schema to highlight these entities can provide search engines with an even clearer understanding of your page’s subject matter and context. 

Schema is a tool often underutilized in the SEO community. 

While many stick to generic schema setups, custom options like “Mentions schema” can vastly improve how Google understands your content. 

Mentions schema allows you to specify what or who your page mentions, and can even link to authoritative sources like Wikipedia for greater clarity. 

Here’s how to implement it. 

Step 1: Identify your core entity

Before you begin implementing schema, identify the core entity or entities around which your content revolves. 

For example, if you’re writing a comprehensive guide about “Mediterranean Diet,” your core entity is the Mediterranean Diet.

Step 2: Use mentions schema

Utilize mentions schema to specify additional entities related to your core entity. 

If you’re discussing the Mediterranean Diet, you might mention entities like “Olive Oil,” “Fish,” and “Exercise.”

{
  "@context": "http://schema.org/",
  "@type": "Article",
  "mentions": [{
    "@type": "Thing",
    "name": "Olive Oil"
  },
  {
    "@type": "Thing",
    "name": "Fish"
  },
  {
    "@type": "Thing",
    "name": "Exercise"
  }]
}

Step 3: Use ‘SameAs’ for authoritative sources

When you mention other entities, use the “SameAs” attribute to link to their authoritative sources, such as Wikipedia pages or scientific studies.

{
  "mentions": {
    "@type": "Thing",
    "name": "Olive Oil",
    "sameAs": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_oil"
  }
}

Step 4: Visualize using tools

Tools like Schema Zone can help you visualize your schema structure. 

Plug in your URL to see if your schema correctly highlights your core and related entities.

Step 5: Test and monitor

Use Google’s Schema Testing Tool to make sure your schema is correctly implemented. 

After that, monitor your site’s performance to see how the enhanced schema affects your search rankings.

By consciously implementing schema to outline the entities within your content, you’re making your content more understandable to search engines and paving the way for better SEO performance. 

It’s an essential step to make your content not just readable but also “understandable” by search engines.

What are semantic networks and how do you build them?

The importance of a well-structured SEO strategy cannot be overstated, especially as search engine algorithms continue to evolve. 

While topical maps provide an initial framework defining which clusters of content you should focus on, they only scratch the surface. 

Enter semantic content networks – a refined, holistic approach that ties together the multiple facets of your content into a unified whole.

What is a semantic content network?

A semantic content network is a sophisticated way to structure and interconnect your website’s content beyond isolated pages and lone keywords. 

At its core, it’s an organizational model that serves as a roadmap for interconnecting your content. 

Rather than marking standalone pages or individual keywords, you’ll be plotting out clusters of interrelated content, usually in the form of internal links and hierarchical relationships. 

How does it build on traditional models?

If you’re familiar with the “hub and spoke” model, you’ll find similarities here. 

In this enhanced model, central themes or “hubs” serve as the anchor points, with related sub-topics or “spokes” branching out. 

What sets it apart is its keen focus on logic and accessibility, ensuring that both users and search engines can easily understand the architecture and flow of your content.

Why do semantic content networks matter?

In today’s SEO landscape, search engines like Google are shifting from a narrow focus on keyword counts to a broader understanding of content, context, and semantic relationships. 

A semantic content network helps you adapt to this advanced landscape, ensuring your content is not just easily discoverable, but also resonates with this new level of search engine understanding. 

By adopting this approach, you’re creating more than just a search-optimized website. 

You’re constructing a logically interconnected web of content that enhances the user experience and aligns perfectly with modern search engines’ intelligent, semantic capabilities. 

This is the future of SEO, and it’s a future where clarity, coherence, and connectivity reign supreme.

Prioritizing entities and semantic relationships in SEO

In SEO, we’ve transitioned from a narrow keyword-focused approach to an interconnected, holistic view encompassing entities, topics, and the broader semantic relationship between them. 

Entities, being the foundational concepts within content, help search engines understand the context and essence of a page beyond mere keyword repetitions. 

As we pivot to this enriched understanding, the importance of topical maps and semantic content networks becomes clear. 

They’re not mere tools; they’re strategies to better align with the evolving nature of search engines and, in turn, enhance user experience. 

A coherent, logical content web is not just the future of SEO – it’s the present. 

Recognizing and harnessing this shift can pave the way for more meaningful, impactful online experiences.

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