Archive for the ‘seo news’ Category
Tuesday, August 1st, 2023
In an industry that’s constantly evolving…
- Goodbye UA, hello, GA4 – are you making the most of the platform?
- How can you leverage generative AI right now to power success?
- Machine learning in Google Ads – friend or foe?
- The next Google algorithm update is just around the corner… are you ready?
… it’s never been more critical to learn trusted, actionable tactics to drive more awareness, traffic, conversions, and sales.
Attend your choice of SMX Master Class, online August 16-17, to unlock expert knowledge and reliable insights you can implement immediately to drive measurable results.
Check out the complete SMX Master Class lineup, featuring an all-new generative AI course (keep reading for details!) and a newly-updated Google Analytics 4 course!
Attending a Master Class is a rewarding step toward a more successful campaign, company, and career. Check out some of your peers’ favorite reasons to attend!
- Learn actionable tactics and next steps to improve campaign performance and achieve measurable results, no matter your KPIs.
- Train with experienced instructors from all walks of the search marketing spectrum and validate your instincts and initiatives.
- Get trusted answers to your specific questions during live Q&A, happening throughout your Master Class.
- Soak up the knowledge you need to know in six* laser-focused hours, rather than wasting valuable time with multi-week training programs.
- Train at your own pace – and watch and rewatch for deeper learning – with the convenience of on-demand access, available until October 16, 2023.
- Digital access means you can attend from anywhere in the world – and anywhere in your home or office: couch, cubicle, kitchen – wherever.
- Master Class instructors are held to the highest ethical standards. You’ll only learn tactics that are safe for your brand or clients. No get-rich-quick schemes that might land you in hot water with regulators, the search engines, or your boss.
- Earn a personalized certificate of completion and a digital badge to showcase your expertise and involvement in the search marketing community.
- Unlock a rewarding team-building experience when you attend as a group – and save up to 20%** while you’re at it.
- Cross-train on multiple critical search marketing disciplines and save 15%*** when purchasing more than one Master Class.
For nearly 20 years, more than 150,000 search marketers from some of the world’s most prestigious brands have attended SMX to learn the latest in SEO and PPC, sharpen their professional skills, and take their careers to new heights.
Now, it’s your turn.
Secure your spot at one of these exclusive SMX Master Classes for just $299!
Psst… Think you have what it takes to be an “award-winning” search marketer? Enter the 2023 Search Engine Land Awards for your chance to boost team morale, attract new business, and stand apart from the competition!
*The Generative AI class is approximately 7 hours across two days. The Advanced SEO class is approximately 8 hours across two days.
** Groups of 3-5 save 10%, 6-11 save 15%, and 12 or more save 20%. Reply to this email for more details!
***Discounts for different offers cannot be combined.
The post 10 reasons to attend an SMX Master Class appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Tuesday, August 1st, 2023
Andi Search today is launching a new semantic content engine, as well as better source attribution and a new user experience.
Concepts over keywords. Andi Search is now better at understanding concepts, according to company founder Angela Hoover. The goal is to better highlight content. Being able to rank content semantically helps Andi do that, Hoover said.
- “What makes the web great is the high-quality content that producers spend hours researching, writing and creating. Fair content attribution, however, has been an issue in search from all the way back when Google started doing snippets, and now LLM search opens up a new paradigm for an experience that buries the original content producer even more.
- “Our commitment is to showcase great content and useful information, not steal it. There’s a way to do GenAI search that benefits both the user and producers of media,” Hoover said.
What it looks like. Here’s an example search for [suggest ideas for lowering blood pressure as a 35 year old]:
Visual updates. Andi now uses a “universal image discriminator,” which detects an image’s size and quality, then dynamically resizes it to display in its visual feed. Images are sourced from the webpages in Andi’s search results.
What is Andi. Andi is a startup search engine that was doing conversational, generative question answering before the new Bing and Google Search Generative Experience. It generates results from its index of 30,000 high-quality websites.
Dig deeper. Andi Search adds Generated Content feature.
Why we care. Andi, recognizing the importance of citing its sources, is trying to set itself apart from the generative AI experiences from Google and Bing. While Andi is an alternative search engine with a tiny fraction of Google’s user base and isn’t on your SEO radar, watching the evolution of Andi’s visual, feed-based take on search results is interesting.
The post Andi Search launches new semantic content engine appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Tuesday, August 1st, 2023
X has officially rolled out its creator ads revenue sharing program.
The new feature enables users to share revenue from verified content creators’ impressions of ads in replies to content posted on the social networking platform.
Elon Musk’s platform, previously known as Twitter, has introduced this new tool as part of X’s mission to enable people to “earn a living” by posting on its site.
Why we care. Musk is in the midst of trying to rebrand Twitter to X following a plummet in ad revenue after his takeover last year – and this new feature comes at a huge turning point for the platform. The program has already helped creators secure substantial early payouts, which is helping to generate interest in the brand again. However, while the payouts so far have been impressive, the eligibility qualifications are pretty high. Perhaps too high for people to realistically earn a living through X.
Who is eligible? In order to be considered for the creator ads revenue sharing program, your account must meet the following criteria:
- Subscribed to Blue or Verified Organizations.
- Have at least 15M impressions on cumulative posts within the last three months.
- Have at least 500 followers
If your account meets these conditions, you’ll then need to ensure you have an account with Stripe – X’s payment processor. You’ll then need to ensure that X’s Ads Revenue Share Terms are adhered, for example, the Creator Monetization Standards and the X Rules.
How it works. If your account is eligible, you’ll need to follow these simple steps to get started:
- Join and set up payments from within the Monetization section of the app, which can be found in the side menu on iOS and Android, and the overflow menu on web.
- Click on ‘Join and setup payouts’, which will redirect you to X’s payment processor, Stripe.
- Setup a Stripe account to receive your share – this is the account you will need to transfer funds to your external bank account.
- Once you opt in, you will receive payouts at a regular cadence, so long as you have generated more than $50 USD.
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What has X said? X announced the rollout via a statement posted in its Help Center. It read:
- “We want the process to be as simple as possible, so all eligible X Blue and Verified Organizations subscribers are entitled to revenue share so long as they meet the eligibility criteria and join.”
- “Users will be able to apply for both Creator Subscriptions and Ads Revenue Sharing by accessing Monetization in settings.”
- “While all eligible users may choose to participate, if you are found to breach the Ads Revenue Share Terms, which include, for example, Creator Monetization Standards and the X Rules, you may be excluded from the program.”
Deep dive. Read Twitter’s full announcement for more information on how its ad revenue-sharing program works.
The post X launches creator ads revenue sharing program appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Tuesday, August 1st, 2023
This is a gentle reminder that on August 1, Google will remove similar audiences (or segments) from all ad groups and campaigns. Please have a look at the full announcement here.
Campaigns using similar audiences will automatically get opted into optimised targeting and audience expansion moving forward.
Marketers who would rather avoid this can go to the audiences tab in the Google Ads settings page and manually turn off the campaigns instead.
It’s important to note that historical similar audiences data from past campaigns will still be accessible despite the transition.
Why we (still) care. When marketers use first-party data (for example, customer lists) to create a similar audience segment, this data can generate a hugely influential performance driver for new customers within Google Ads. By combining similar segments with display ad campaigns, marketers can achieve 41% more conversions, according to Google. So losing this data will be of concern to users
The new automation features set out to help marketers better connect with relevant audiences, measure results and unlock growth even more so than before, resulting in better reach and ROI. But whether they agree with Google remains to be seen.
What has Google said? Google told marketers that its new features encourage an audience strategy anchored in automation, which it claims makes it easier to market at the speed of consumers. A statement posted on the Google Ads Help Center read:
- “For Discovery, Display and Video action campaigns on Google Ads and Display & Video 360, optimised targeting can help you find new and relevant audiences that are likely to convert without relying on third-party cookies. In fact, advertisers who use optimised targeting on Display & Video 360 can see, on average, a 55% improvement when using first-party audiences.”
- “For Video reach or consideration campaigns, audience expansion makes it easier to reach more people that matter to your business. By leveraging machine learning, audience expansion helps marketers incrementally grow reach with new relevant audiences. This solution is already available in Google Ads and will be launched for Display & Video 360 in the first half of 2023.”
- “For Search and Shopping campaigns, advertisers can reach your most valuable customers using the predictive power of Smart Bidding that automatically leverages signals from your first-party data. More than 80% of Google advertisers are already using automated bidding. So even as observable data may become less available, you can trust that automation can help you drive strong results.”
- “To understand how these automated solutions work towards your marketing objectives, advertisers can use audience-insights – a new feature on the insights page that helps brands learn more about customers’ interests and how they engage with ads – at an aggregated level – so that you can connect with them in more meaningful ways.”
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Why now? Google announced in November 2022 that similar audiences would sunset in August following the phasing out of third-party cookies and the ongoing need to increase user privacy. The search engine explained:
- “The ongoing uncertainty we see today challenges us as an advertising industry to re-evaluate established formulas for success and find more immediate ways to drive business growth. Moreover, as common online marketing approaches evolve and new privacy-preserving alternatives develop, growing your business requires new, more durable strategies.”
- “That’s why, starting in 2023, we’ll gradually transition similar audiences to more powerful and durable automated solutions to help you connect with relevant audiences and unlock growth – while meeting people’s expectations for privacy.”
- “An audience strategy anchored in automation will make it easier for you to market at the speed of consumers. And in an ever-evolving privacy environment, it will bring you one step closer to meeting people’s expectations and multiplying your results.”
Deep dive. Read Google’s Audience Insights guide for more information on how automated solutions help advertisers achieve their marketing objectives. You can also check out our top tips on how to move away from similar audience segments and what action you should be taking next.
The post Reminder – Google’s similar audiences are being removed appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Friday, July 28th, 2023
Ad spend increased across Google, Meta, Amazon and Walmart during the first two quarters of 2023.
Another major advertising platform on the grow in Q2: fashion brand Temu.
The company became a major player in the Google Shopping race, so much so that it is now competing against 82% of US advertisers – to put this percentage into perspective, this is a higher share than Walmart, according to Tinuiti’s latest Digital Ads Benchmark Report.
Why we care. An increase in ad spend is fantastic news for marketers as it shows that stability and trust in the digital ad space is finally returning following the economic downturn. The more brands are willing to spend, the more opportunities that are created for advertisers – not just in terms of campaign volume, but bigger budgets will give advertisers access to more resources to improve engagement, conversions and ROI.
The business’ strong performance will also be of interest to marketers previously thinking of buying ad space with Walmart, as Temu may now be considered a serious alternative.
What has Tinuiti said? Andy Taylor, vice president of research at Tinuiti, suggested Temu’s success was unexpected:
- “It’s pretty shocking to see a new player – one that many are not aware of – rise to become a bigger advertiser in the space than Walmart, in terms of the companies we support.”
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By the numbers. Among the most interesting stats highlighted in the 31-page report:
- YouTube ad-impression growth remained strong at 34% year-over-year (YoY), while the average CPM fell 18%.
- YouTube spending on connected TVs (CTVs) shot up 31% YoY, however, desktop spending fell.
- Desktop YouTube spend dropped by 27% YoY in Q2 2023, with the desktop share of YouTube spending falling from 20% to 14% during the same period.
- Reels ads now account for 11% of Instagram ad impressions.
- Advertisers grew investment in Meta properties 9% year-over-year in Q2 — the strongest quarter since Q1 2022.
- Walmart Sponsored Products spend rose 39% year-over-year in Q2, as ad pricing declined just 4% in the second quarter compared to a 41% decline in Q1.
The report. You can download Tinuiti’s latest Digital Ads Benchmark Report to dive deeper into all the numbers and trends.
The post Ad spend up across Google, Meta, Amazon, Walmart in Q2 appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Thursday, July 27th, 2023
Elon Musk has significantly discounted ad prices on X – the social networking platform previously known as Twitter.
For a limited time only, select marketers in the U.S. and UK can save up to 50% off of new bookings until July 31.
The platform reportedly claims it is running these promotions to boost reach for marketers during high-traffic periods, such as the Women’s World Cup, in an email seen by the Wall Street Journal.
Why we care. Whether you’re a marketer that has taken a step back from X or you’ve never purchased ad space from the platform before, now may be a good time to reconsider and start making it part of your advertising strategy as the financial risk has been significantly reduced. X also still has 450 million daily active users worldwide, so reach potential is huge and could hep brands connect with previously untapped audiences, which could lead to improved ROI.
How it works. The discounts are only being offered to select marketers that are running video ads alongside trending topics in X’s ‘Explore’ tab. These ads provide brands with a 24-hour placement at the top of X’s trending topics list. A spokesperson reportedly said:
- “The goal of these discounts is to help our advertisers gain reach during crucial moments on Twitter such as the Women’s World Cup.”
The catch. In addition to offering marketers a range of ad discounts, X has warned that they will risk losing their verified status if they do not reach minimum spending thresholds.
Brands are expected to spend at least:
- $1,000 on ads in the previous 30 days
- $6,000 on ads in the previous 180 days.
This new rule goes into effect Aug. 7. Brands that lose their verified status are vulnerable to impersonation attacks, which can cause damage to a business’s reputation.
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Why now? Twitter’s ad revenue has recently plummeted by 59%, following an exodus of big spending advertisers after Musk took over Twitter.
- Although the ad industry, in general, has taken a hit on ad spend, Twitter appears to be more impacted than others – with many blaming Musk for marketers’ reluctance to invest in its ad space.
A race to the bottom? Following Twitter’s rebrand to X, the company is now trying to rectify the situation by tempting advertisers back to the site via discounted rates.
- With Musk aiming to make the platform cash-flow positive again by as early as Q3 2023, luring advertisers back with such huge discounts at this point isn’t surprising.
Deep dive. Read Twitter’s Ad Pricing policy for more information on its ad prices.
The post X (Twitter) slashes video ad prices to lure back advertisers appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Thursday, July 27th, 2023
Google Analytics 4 audiences can now be used with third-party segments in Ad Manager.
By accepting a third-party segment (cookies matching the demographics of your visitors bought via a third-party data provider), marketers can target line items to it, perform reports and run forecasts.
Meanwhile, audiences can also be used as-is for targeting or, marketers can combine this data with other audiences to perform analyses.
Why we care. This additional data provides valuable insights to marketers about their customer-base and how effective their campaigns are at reaching them.
It’s vital that advertisers understand their customers the best they can so that they can make data-driven decisions to not just target the right people, but to ensure that the content they create will engage them – which is likely result in higher conversions and ROI.
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How it works. To access GA4 audiences in Ad Manager you need to follow these simple steps:
- Link your Analytics property to Google Ad Manager.
- Activate Google signals.
- Enable Ads personalization in the link settings.
- GA4 audience should then automatically be exported to Ad Manager.
Deep dive. Read Google’s ‘Sharing Audiences in Google Analytics‘ guide for more information.
The post GA4 audiences can now be used with third-party segments in Ad Manager appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Thursday, July 27th, 2023
Google will exclude gameplay imagery from its Shocking Content policy next month.
The Publisher Restrictions guidelines will be updated to include the exception on August 30, the Ads Manager team has confirmed to Search Engine Land.
Why we care. It’s important for marketers to ensure they are staying compliant with Google policy changes to avoid potential penalties and exclusions.
What’s new? Once the new updates are rolled out, gameplay content will only be excluded if it contains gruesome, graphic or disgusting accounts or imagery and depicts acts of:
- Torture.
- Sexual violence.
- Violence against minors.
- Violence against prominent real-name persons.
- Violence against an individual or group on the basis of a characteristic that is associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization.
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What has Google said? Google is advising brands to review the update to check how their site or app will be impacted.
If a brand would like to challenge previous content exclusions based on this update, they have the right to appeal. A spokesperson said:
- “If your site or app received restricted ad serving previously due to Shocking content but you believe ad serving should no longer be restricted following the update, you may request a review or appeal of your site or app on or after 30 August 2023.”
Deep dive. Read Google’s ‘Shocking content‘ rules for more information on what content exclusions apply to. For more information on appealing content exclusion decisions, read Google’s Policy Center guidelines.
The post Google is updating its Shocking Content policy to exclude gameplay imagery appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Thursday, July 27th, 2023
Microsoft Ads is trialling a new dashboard for advertisers called UET Insights.
The new feature, which will display data collected through its Universal Event Tracking Tag, aims to help marketers better understand their campaign’s performance in terms of engagement.
The dashboard. Data will be available in near real-time and won’t be sampled on the new dashboard. It will include the following metrics:
- Session count.
- Popular pages.
- Device breakdown.
- Country breakdown.
- Quick backs (the number of sessions where a visitor navigated to a page, then quickly returned to the previous page during the selected time period).
- Average active time.
New data signals. Additional website performance signals captured by the UET Tag will include:
- Page latencies (speed and load times).
- Click and scroll interactions.
- Purchase cart details.
- Cart abandonment details.
- Browser-based signals.
- JavaScript browser errors.
Awaiting feedback. Microsoft had originally planned to automatically roll out the new dashboard to all advertisers on June 29. However, the tech giant instead decided to launch the new feature in beta on July 25 and give advertisers the choice of whether to opt in. A spokesperson said:
- “Given that we want to gather more user feedback, we’ll first pilot this directly in Microsoft Advertising online as a beta for advertisers to manually self opt-in.”
- “Auto-enablement of this feature will happen at a later undetermined time based on the success of the pilot.”
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Why we care. Microsoft has said that it is trialling the new dashboard to give advertisers more insights into their campaign’s performance. If advertisers are able to better understand what’s working and what’s not working in terms of engagement, then they can make better, data-led decisions to implement improvements moving forward. This could result in a better ROI and potentially generate more traffic and conversions.
About UET Tags. Launched (then on Bing Ads) in 2014, a site-wide UET tag powers conversion tracking, remarketing and automated bidding strategies on Microsoft Ads.
The post Microsoft Ads pilots UET Insights dashboard with new traffic data appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Wednesday, July 26th, 2023
Microsoft has begun to officially roll out dark mode for Bing Search and Bing Chat. We reported this was coming, along with support for Bing Chat in Chrome and Safari browsers. Microsoft’s Jordi Ribas posted on Twitter “We are starting to roll out desktop dark mode for Bing over the next few days.”
What dark mode looks like in Bing Search. Here is a screenshot of what dark mode looks like in Bing Search:
What dark mode looks like in Bing Chat. Here is a screenshot of what dark mode looks like in Bing Chat:
How to enable dark mode in Bing. To enable dark mode in Bing Search or Bing Chat, click on the menu bar at the top right of the page and under the “appearance” section check off “dark.” You can also default to your system settings for dark or light mode:
Why we care. Jordi Ribas from Microsoft said, “We heard the requests for dark mode and are excited for everyone to experience this feature in Bing Search and Chat.”
So this is a much-requested feature and we know Google Search supports dark mode, as does Google Bard.
The post Bing Search and Bing Chat officially rolling out dark mode appeared first on Search Engine Land.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
