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10 things to eliminate from your life to be more productive at work

Written on November 9, 2022 at 8:55 am, by admin

We’ve all seen how work has changed over the past two and a half years. 

Remote work, once rare, became the norm, especially in industries like online marketing which can easily be done remotely.

During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, as many as 71% of workers were working remotely.

That said, many digital marketers already worked remotely. 

I’ve been fully remote since 2012 and before that, worked hybrid (mostly remotely) for five years. I know many who have done the same.

Remote work has its benefits and challenges. One of the biggest challenges is productivity.

Being productive while working remotely has always been tricky. There are distractions at home that don’t exist in an office.

I would argue, though, that an office has distractions that don’t exist at home.

Water cooler conversations, impromptu meetings, people stopping by your desk to chat, and an open-office environment – all are distractions that can make workers less productive. 

Add to that the Great Resignation and tech layoffs due to a possible recession, and you might be overwhelmed and find it difficult to be productive no matter where you work.

Not to worry – here are 10 things to eliminate from your life to be more productive at work.

1. Distractions

Whether you’re working from home or in an office, distractions can be a problem. Distractions can come from your surroundings, such as house cleaning, the TV at home or coworkers in the office.

Technology, which is designed to make us more productive, can also be a distraction. 

For example, just now as I was writing this, a meeting reminder popped up on my screen.

Meeting reminders are probably a necessary distraction. But do you really need to be notified every time you get an email or a Teams chat?

Probably not.

Turning off unnecessary notifications goes a long way in reducing interruptions and improving productivity.

I disable email notifications entirely. No flying envelope on the screen, no sound, nothing. I check email at regular intervals but don’t react every time one comes through.

Same thing for Teams or other IM chat notifications. I mute notifications from group chats, treating them like email. Otherwise, my Teams notifications would be going off all day.

Enable only the notifications that are absolutely necessary, and mute or disable the rest.

I leave meeting reminders on because without them I’d never remember all my meetings. But I know people who don’t even have meeting reminders going off. Experiment and decide what works best for you.

2. Multitasking

We’ve all been on a Zoom call where we’ve given in to the temptation to check email or chats. Especially now that so many meetings are happening via technology rather than with people sitting around a table, it’s easy to pop over to Outlook and start reading.

Resist the temptation to multitask.

While you may think multitasking makes you more productive, it actually doesn’t.

Frankly, it’s also rude.

Make every effort to give the meeting your full attention. That way you can focus on any takeaways and to-do’s that might be assigned to you.

And if you find yourself in a meeting that you don’t need to be in, ask to drop. Or decline the meeting invite.

It’s OK to protect your valuable time. Decline meetings that you don’t absolutely need to be in.

And if you’re the one scheduling the meetings, consider whether it needs to be a meeting at all. 

Meeting culture is broken and people will thank you for helping clear their calendar.

3. Working without breaks

Have you ever been so busy that you feel like you need to stay chained to your desk to get everything done?

I sure have.

It’s hard to step away when you have so much to do, so many meetings, and so many people calling, emailing, and IM’ing you. 

Do it anyway.

Taking short breaks improves productivity and helps give you a fresh perspective on the tasks at hand.

I like to walk, and I take short walk breaks a couple of times a day. Outside, if possible.

The fresh air and movement help clear my head.

I’ve often found that the solution to a problem I’d been scratching my head over becomes clear as day when I step away from my desk and get some fresh air.

If you can’t get outside and walk, at least step away from your desk. Walk the hallways of your office or home. Go up and down stairs if you have them. Get your blood pumping.

And don’t forget about lunch breaks.

Many of us work through lunch, concerned that taking 20 minutes to eat will set us behind.

Forget that.

Take a break, even if it’s just for a few minutes to grab a bite and eat it, slowly.

4. Repetitive work

Do you find yourself performing the same task, day after day or week after week?

Pulling reports, checking budget pacing, and reviewing performance are all regular part of any digital marketer’s routine.

But if you find yourself doing repetitive work, see if you can streamline it.

If you have junior staff, delegate!

We have a rule on our team that if a manager finds themselves doing a task more than three times the exact same way, we make a video illustrating how to do the task – and then delegate it to a junior team member.

It’s amazing how much time and effort this has saved our busy managers.

Now, I realize not everyone has someone they can delegate to.

Before we were part of Merkle, I was pretty much running my accounts solo.

If that’s the case for you, don’t fret! See what you can automate.

I think a lot of us forget that we can automate report pulls from Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Facebook Ads, analytics platforms, bid management platforms and pretty much any tool we’re using to evaluate performance has a way to create automated reports.

Use them. It’s so much easier to react to a report in your inbox than to have to create it from scratch every time.

One more tip – if you’re not familiar with scripts for Google Ads and Microsoft Ads, it’s time to learn and use them.

Scripts can help automate routine tasks and save tons of time.

5. Unnecessary meetings

I’ve mentioned meetings a couple of times already. Meetings are such a big part of many digital marketers’ workdays. 

Often, meetings are necessary and unavoidable. We all have to meet with clients, for example.

But many meetings are just unnecessary, especially now that so many people work remotely.

I worked remotely long before the pandemic. But I noticed my calendar filled up dramatically once everyone else was remote.

It seemed like conversations that previously would have been a quick phone call or email had now turned into a meeting on the calendar. 

And when a meeting is on the calendar, meeting organizers feel like they have to fill the scheduled time.

Resist this temptation.

If you just have a question for someone, call or email them. Don’t schedule a meeting.

If a meeting is necessary, think carefully about who needs to attend. Invite only those who are critical to the objective.

Speaking of objectives – preparing for meetings goes a long way to keeping them productive. 

Every meeting should have an agenda listed in the meeting invite. This helps attendees prepare.

Distribute any materials – reports, screenshots, etc. – ahead of time if possible so people can review them and prepare questions.

Have a plan for the meeting. If you’re leading the call, prepare what you’re going to say, how long you’ll spend on each topic, and what outcomes are needed.

Don’t leave a meeting without outlining next steps. This helps prevent additional meetings.

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6. A messy calendar

Whether you use Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, Calendly or some other calendar program, getting a grip on your calendar is key to being productive.

Don’t limit the use of your calendar to meetings. I schedule blocks of time to get things done. Otherwise, someone will fill my time with more meetings.

If you use Microsoft Outlook, their Viva tool will actually help you schedule “focus time” where you can block open times to focus on task completion.

And protect your time. Have a set start and end time for your workday, and stick to it as much as you can.

Sure, urgent meetings outside of normal hours can and do happen – sometimes they’re unavoidable. 

But for regular meetings, work with your team/client to see if you can find a time that fits with your schedule so you’re not regularly attending 7 a.m. or 7 p.m. meetings – unless that’s your preference.

7. A messy workspace

What does your workspace look like? Is it neat as a pin, or covered with clutter?

Most of us are probably somewhere in between. But if you can get closer to “neat as a pin,” you’ll find your productivity increasing.

Research cited in the Harvard Business Review “has shown that our physical environments significantly influence our cognition, emotions, and behavior, affecting our decision-making and relationships with others.”

Many people were forced into working remotely when they didn’t really have the right space for it.

I get that. We dealt with that in my own household at the start of the pandemic.

But at this point, if you’re still remote, it’s likely at least partly by choice. So whatever and wherever your workspace is, see if you can clear the clutter. You might be surprised at how much more productive you become.

8. Social media during the workday

Yes, we all get news from social media. You probably found this article via a social media link.

In the SEO and SEM space, social media has been around since before it was called social media. I fondly remember the old SEO forums of the early 2000s, where members of the community gathered to ask questions, share news, and just chat with each other.

But constantly checking social media is a real productivity killer.

Instead of keeping Twitter open all day, set times that you’ll look at it. Maybe you only check your feed first thing in the morning, at lunch, and before logging off at night. 

Just don’t stay on there all day. You’ll find you’re much more productive.

9. Pressure on yourself

We all put a lot of pressure on ourselves. It’s human nature.

How many times per day do you think, “I should be able to do all this! Why am I struggling?”

Try to go easy on yourself.

Be realistic about what you can get done in a day. If you’re feeling overloaded, sit down with your manager and lay out all the tasks on your plate.

Ask your manager to help you prioritize. And be clear with them about how long it will take you to complete everything on the list.

As mentioned earlier, set a time to shut down every day. Do not answer emails all day and night.

If you must have work email on your personal phone (and I know this is the reality for many of us), turn off your notifications and do not open your work email app after hours. The emails will be there in the morning.

Search engine marketing is rarely life or death. Aside from emergencies like a website going down, most problems can wait until the next morning. 

10. Self-doubt

Going hand in hand with putting pressure on yourself is dealing with self-doubt. 

Just this week, I had a moment where I felt like I just couldn’t do the task that was being asked of me. 

And I’ve done paid search for more than 20 years.

We hear a lot about imposter syndrome. According to Healthline: 

“Imposter syndrome, also called perceived fraudulence, involves feelings of self-doubt and personal incompetence that persist despite your education, experience, and accomplishments.” 

Try to push past imposter syndrome.

You were put in your job because your supervisor had confidence you could do it. So unless you lied about your qualifications, be confident!

You can do this!

Showing confidence goes a long way not only in increasing your productivity, but making clients feel at ease.

It’s OK to confidently say, “Let me look that up and get back to you.” I say this on calls on a regular basis.

No one expects you to have every answer at your fingertips. Don’t hem and haw – just say you’ll follow up. 

Being more productive leads to better results

I hope you can apply some of these productivity tips to your work life. 

Here’s to eliminating productivity blockers and getting more done with less stress.

The post 10 things to eliminate from your life to be more productive at work appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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

Instagram’s in-app post scheduling tool now available to professional accounts

Written on November 9, 2022 at 8:55 am, by admin

Instagram has just rolled out its new in-app post-scheduling tool for creators and businesses. The new tool lets you schedule Reels, Photo, and Carousel posts up to 75 days in advance.

How it works. You’ll be able to schedule Reels by:

• In the creation flow, tap ‘Advanced Settings’ before sharing the post
• Tap ‘Schedule this post’
• Select the time and date you want it to go live
• Tap ‘Schedule’ in the post composer

What Instagram says. Functionally, this doesn’t add anything new as you’ve been able to schedule posts via Creator Studio since 2020. But it could make it easier to manage your content on the go, while the capacity to schedule Reels, in particular, could help you maximize your content performance.

Why we care. Brands and social media advertisers who manage Instagram accounts can now easily schedule posts without having to integrate with third-party tools. This feature is likely to come in handy around the busy holiday season, or as brands and agencies are looking for ways to cut costs.

The post Instagram’s in-app post scheduling tool now available to professional accounts appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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

How brand marketing helps improve E-A-T signals: An introduction

Written on November 9, 2022 at 8:55 am, by admin

If you came to SEO from a non-marketing or technical background, it can be beneficial to have a broader understanding of brand marketing. This helps you better ally with your marketing communications colleagues to contribute to improving your website E-A-T. 

In this article, I will share some of the core principles of brand marketing and how they may be reflected in criteria that can positively demonstrate expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.

Note: This is a deep dive into the first part of my SMX Next presentation, which takes place next week on Nov. 16. Register here for free.

Why SEOs should care about brand marketing

In a previous article, I shared the extensive E-A-T auditing process my agency uses. The process is varied and detailed, covering the evaluation of work that may not be under your control. 

For example, one of the checkpoints is to look at the business’s key people to see:

• How they are referenced and promoted on the site.
• How much of their research, work, patents and other evidence of expertise is displayed, marked up, and validated through linked references. 

Representing and marketing key people, particularly media-trained spokespeople, is usually the remit of the PR team or agency. 

If you work for a small or micro organization or you are an owner-operator, then perhaps all aspects of marketing communications fall to you. 

In either case, it is really important to understand some of the basics of brand marketing and how mid to large-sized brands behave. This way, you can ensure that the output of brand marketing is communicated in a way that Google can process and evaluate.

Finally, while some aspects of the work that can help validate your E-A-T may not be under your control, you can use this topic to further internal education efforts as to what SEO is and how it can harness the efforts of all marketing teams. 

You can explain to your colleagues how their work has dual purposes and benefits outside of their primary goals. 

As an SEO, this is an exciting opportunity for you to:

• Coordinate a broad project.
• Drive awareness of the benefit of SEO in a more accessible, non-technical manner.
• Implement meaningful improvements for the business.

Let’s get into some principles and commonalities of good brand marketing behaviors so you can replicate this approach for yourself and understand more about how other teams’ work can dovetail into your E-A-T SEO goals.

Why does Google care about brands?

Google cares about brands because consumers care about brands. 

While E-A-T is a relatively new concept coming to life in August 2018, I would argue that it is an evolution of work that can be traced back to updates as early as Vince in 2009, which was informally known in the industry as “the brand update.” 

This update appeared to favor brands, but Google re-framed this as a “trust change.” That the new ranking order appeared to give more weight to brands is more symptom than cause, because [good] brand activity and behavior evince a greater variety of trust signals. 

This matters because this is an example of giving the consumer what they want. Quite simply most consumers are reassured by familiarity and trust brands to deliver on expectations.

Researchers found that 7/10 consumers will buy more from brands they trust and that people abandon purchases if trust is broken, according to the 2021 Future of Marketing Research study by Adobe. 

Moreover, 63% of respondents who indicated they trust a brand, will recommend that brand to their friends. 

Trust is vitally important and can be broken quickly, with the top three reasons respondents gave for leaving a brand relating to misuse of data. 

This a cautionary tale for those who invest time and effort in building brand value, only to lose all benefits through aggressive targeting or failure to remove someone from marketing after opting out.

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What brand accomplishments communicate trust to consumers?

Strong brands have a purpose outside of commercial goals, commonly referred to as a company vision or mission. 

Similarly, a set of values or beliefs should be shared by founders, leaders and team members which are aligned with the vision. 

Brands have identities that are instantly recognizable, helping to expand reach and familiarity which engenders trust. 

Finally, brands should behave to a certain standard aligned with values and do so consistently. This is what generates trust. 

When consumers see clear and consistent values and ethos around what a brand stands for, purchases move outside of pure necessity and begin to become a part of our perception of identity. This is social identity theory.

“Social identities are most influential when individuals consider membership in a particular group to be central to their self-concept and they feel strong emotional ties to the group. Affiliation with a group confers self-esteem, which helps to sustain the social identity.” 

Campbell Leaper: Advances in Child Development and Behavior

If we buy into this social identity as personality, it is clear to see why broken trust leads to a sharp rejection as per the Adobe study findings. 

What is a brand vision?

A brand vision or mission statement is simply the brand’s purpose and reason for being.

The most successful global brands that are instantly recognizable exist for much more than the purpose of commercial growth.

Good vision statements are:

• Driven by purpose.
• Challenging.
• Contribute to some degree of greater societal good.
• Forward-looking and reaching.
• Recognizable and suitable.

Here are some fun examples that you will likely know. Have a read of these vision statements and see if you can identify the brand they belong to. (I’ll note the answers at the end of this article.)

• “To bring the best user experience to its customers through innovative hardware, software, and services.”
• “To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.”
• “Our deepest purpose as an organization is helping support the health, well-being, and healing of both people — customers, team members, and business organizations in general — and the planet.”

Note that all of these examples are entirely non-commercial and speak to impacting society and even the planet positively.

Jenna Tiffany, Chartered Marketer and author of Marketing Strategy, states in the book that “transformation of ‘vision’ into ‘sales targets’ can be devastating for a brand and company culture.” 

This is because, without a guiding purpose, there is no action framework outside of the pursuit of profit and revenue, leading to actions becoming disparate and inconsistent. 

To ensure consistency and purpose in operations, most good brands lean into a set of non-commercial values.

What are brand values?

According to The Branding Journal, brand values are:

“[F]oundational beliefs that can steer action and encourage customer loyalty.”

Take the story of Whitney Wolfe Herd and how she founded Bumble, as an example. She took the company to IPO last year and made history as the youngest woman to ever take a company public.

Wolfe Herd’s ambitions for the company were driven by a broader goal to make online dating a safer space. In a Time interview, author Charlotte Alter references Wolfe Herd’s strong belief in the value of brand. 

“Wolfe Herd sees Bumble less as a dating app, a social platform or a tech company than as a brand. It’s the word that she uses the most when talking about Bumble, and it’s the word that crops up most frequently in conversations with employees and executives.” 

It is no surprise then, that along with a non-commercial purpose, the brand has a clear set of values stated on the company About page which are:

• Integrity
• Kindness
• Quality
• Confidence
• Respect

It is clear to see how these values are intrinsic to the company’s goal of making online dating a safer space. 

What may not be clear yet, is how having vision and values can contribute to how our E-A-T is perceived. To illustrate this in the most tangible way we will discuss a final introductory aspect of brand marketing and that is identity.

Brand identity matters

In Brand Identities: A Framework for Successful Branding, author Phani Tej Adidam defines brand identity as:

“[A]n outward expression of the brand, including its name and visual appearance. The brand’s identity is its fundamental means of consumer recognition and symbolizes the brand’s differentiation from competitors.” 

With that understanding, a brand’s total identity can be far broader than a simple logo but extends to:

• Logo
• Colors
• Shapes
• Fonts
• Emblems
• Trademarks
• Words/slogans

It’s not just the image or mark itself that becomes recognizable. Whether trademarked or not, even the text descriptor of a visual device can be understood as part of the whole entity.

As an example, search Google for “three stripes” to see this in action. 

The generic query “three stripes” generates a knowledge panel result explaining:

• The trademark.
• Its origin and appearance.
• Variations in the application of how the three stripes are incorporated into visual marks. 

On this extension of assets and peripherals being a part of the whole brand story, Tiffany of Let’s Talk Strategy and author of the previously mentioned Marketing Strategy book added:

“A brand is how a person perceives and identifies an organization or person (if it’s their personal brand). This perception can be influenced with what are known as branding elements, such as logos, a specific slogan/strapline, designs, symbols, and (most importantly) the feelings which the products or services evoke. A brand is more than a product or service; it is the combination of all of these elements.”

How can brand marketing be leveraged to grow E-A-T?

Simply put, brand marketing is about the creation and marketing of tangible assets. Over time, assets are understood to be entities by search engines. 

Entities can be marked up with schema, linked to, cited and referenced to contribute to a growing semantic dataset of tangibles. 

This is entity SEO, which has been increasingly in focus this year as the rate of progress in joining the strands of entity, quality and complex semantic and contextual understanding is evident with MUM.  

When it comes to brand marketing, all of the brand assets (which may be people, marks, values, vision, slogans, catchphrases, and colors) have the potential to become entities. 

Let’s look at it as a step-by-step process imagining we’re a start-up.

1. Create or evaluate all marketable assets

These are the summation of identity components, vision and values, and key people and their assets too. 

If you are a start-up, this is a very exciting time to define all these things with founding member energy. 

If not, it is never too late to work on this aspect of who you are as a business and why you do what you do best.

2. Assets become entities

Any asset that is defined, named, referenced and marketed consistently over time becomes an entity – a “thing” in and of itself. 

It’s been a very long time since Google acquired Metaweb in 2010, which facilitated a sea change in Google named entity recognition (NER) capabilities. 

When your assets are understood as entities, Google can better understand when a search user may be referring to your asset as opposed to a word or phrase in another context. 

Entities can get more real estate on the SERP particularly if it is exclusive, such as a trademark, an individual or an invention. 

In many cases, you can own the entire first page for your own entities, even if it may be with a mix of owned and operated versus not owned but operated (such as social media pages.)

3. Entities can be marked up

Structured data is becoming the new rule 34 of the web. If it exists, there is a schema for it. 

Adding semantic markup conveys a greater depth of understanding. It can contextualize the object in a way that a query string might not. 

While not absolutely critical to be understood as an entity, we often find that markup can accelerate time to trigger entity recognition. It is also simple to implement and can be added via Google Tag Manager if development constraints exist.

How does any of this contribute to E-A-T?

All of the things we have discussed today are signals or indicators of a level of maturity and responsibility that larger organizations should have within our society. 

These are brand behaviors that engender trust in us as consumers. Therefore, it makes perfect logical sense that known brands that deserve to match a query should rank well in Google Search. 

Better CTR means higher search engagement which leads to greater potential for paid ad clicks which means Google, advertisers and search users all have a better experience.

Authenticity is key

Brand marketing has to be genuine. Vision has to be authentic, or it will be impossible to retain consistency. 

Authenticity in vision, values and message is often referred to as brand DNA, which helps us understand that it isn’t something we should or could fake. 

To fake it would possibly mean more effort and less reward than having vision and values and being authentic in their communication.

Brand vision statements – answers:

• Apple Inc.
• Starbucks
• Whole Foods

The post How brand marketing helps improve E-A-T signals: An introduction appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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

10 Google Analytics 4 settings to check before the holiday season

Written on November 8, 2022 at 4:52 am, by admin

Technically, you don’t need Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to measure your holiday sales efforts this season because Universal Analytics (UA) is still active.

However, next year at this time UA will no longer be tracking data and the individual accounts will likely be permanently shut down and closed sometime around January 2024. 

From next year on, the only analytics data you’ll have (from a Google-owned analytics platform, anyway) will be from GA4.

GA4 measures website activity very differently from UA, so the only way you’ll get a year-over-year comparison for this holiday season vs. the next holiday season is if you have the latest platform properly configured now. That’s why you should care.

So, here are 10 things you’ll want to make sure are being properly tracked today. 

(Author’s Note: The setup paths listed below are accessed within the GA4 platform itself and you must have Admin privileges) 

1. Does your ecommerce platform have an easy app or plugin to allow GA4 tracking yet?

Six months ago, robust support for GA4 from platforms (e.g., Shopify, BigCommerce) was not yet available.

Now there are apps out there positioning themselves for easier GA4 support.

Many of them are very new so they don’t yet have a large user base. Do your homework before just installing one of those.

In fact, it might be best to consult with a professional. You need to make sure any app or plugin meets your specific measurement needs.

2. Do you have referral exclusions that need to be added? 

You may have a number of referral exclusions to consider. For example, PayPal, GooglePay, AmazonPay, ApplePay, etc. 

Here is the path to set this up within GA4:

• Admin > Property > Data Stream > Configure Tag Settings > Show More > List Unwanted Referrals

3. Is there any domain tracking needed?

If your ecommerce site is all one domain, then nope. You’re good to go. 

However, if you have multiple domains, then you better make sure those are properly set up. An example of this would be a site that has the following:

• https://www.companyname.com
• https://shop.companyname.com

4. Are you driving traffic via Google Ads?

If so, do you have audiences built in Google Analytics for use in Google Ads? 

Are you importing conversions from Google Analytics into Google Ads? 

It’s a great idea to do so, but if you’re using UA for conversion optimization currently, make sure you list your GA4 audiences as secondary, not primary. 

To connect to Google Ads:

• Admin > Property > Product Links > Google Ads Links

To connect to Google Merchant Center:

• Admin > Property > Product Links > Google Merchant Center

5. Which analytics account is your Google Search Console connected to?

You can only connect your Search Console to one analytics account at a time so if UA is your source of truth and primary platform of use for this holiday season, keep it connected there. 

However, if you’re ready to make the full switch to GA4, it’s pretty simple. 

To make that connection:

• Admin > Property > Product Links > Search Console Links

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6. Have you set up your landing page reports?

Landing pages are often recycled for the next year, so for purposes of YOY comparison data, you’ll want to make sure you’re set up for it.  

Here’s how:

• Reports > Life cycle > Engagement > Pages and Screens > Customize Report (pencil icon in the upper right page)

For a full tutorial, be sure to check out How to Make a GA4 Landing Page in 10 Easy Steps from Search Engine Land contributor Krista Seiden.

7. Have you enabled the ‘enhanced measurement’ options for key events?

In GA4, everything worth measuring is an event. Get used to it and make sure you’re all set. Anything related to conversion path is an event. 

For ecommerce, that includes critical touchpoints like:

• Site search
• Product listing view page
• Product detail page
• Product video or gallery view
• Add to cart
• Payment page visit
• Confirm order
• Support page/chat
• Etc.

If your GA4 account does not show any of the above actions as events, then you need to get them set up accordingly. 

Many of the actions you’ll want to track (site search, video views, scrolls, etc.) require the “enhanced measurement” feature to be turned on. 

Additionally, tracking for form submission signups, button, phone and email clicks needs to be set up as custom events.

To enable enhanced measurement:

• Analytics > Property > Data Streams > Enhanced measurement toggle switch

8. Are your attributions and lookback windows properly set?

While (in the opinion of this author) cookie-cutter attribution models have questionable value in terms of what actually drove the conversion, they are relevant when managing a campaign with multiple touchpoints in a purchase process. 

When it comes to lookback windows, the concept is pretty simple: “How far back in time do you look when measuring what assisted in driving the conversion?” 

A good rule of thumb is 30 days for acquisition-related events and 90 for others. 

Is it perfect? Far from it. 

However, defaulting to 30 days should cover you in most cases (but there are exceptions, of course). 

To ensure your attribution and lookback windows are properly set:

• Admin > Property > Attribution Settings

9. Have you looked into GA4’s thresholding issue (smaller accounts)?

What is “thresholding”?

If you have Google signals activated in your GA4 account, you can get session details from sites and apps associated with a Google account. 

While this can be beneficial for understanding user behavior, Google also doesn’t want you to be able to personally identify an individual via GA4. 

For example, if your ecommerce site has a dozen products and gets 10-20 orders per day, there’s a good chance it would be possible to identify an individual user by taking their order information and matching that up with data you can see via GA4. 

If you’ve ever seen thresholding in a GA4 report, it’s terrible. 

The good news is there is a way around thresholding (for now), but you have to know where to look. Here’s where:

• Admin > Account Settings > Reporting Identity > Show all

Once there, click on “device-based” and that’ll mitigate the thresholding issue:

10. How will you take annotations?

In UA, the user is able to add an annotation to add critical context to a number. 

For example, bad winter weather may have closed the entire state for a whole weekend causing an abnormal spike in website traffic and conversions while people were stuck at home bored. 

Knowing why there was an abnormal spike in traffic is critical from a forecasting perspective because the cause should not be considered a reliable, repeatable event.

As of this writing, annotations are not yet available on the native GA4 platform. (Remember the entire point of this article regarding the importance of year-over-year tracking?) 

Having annotations to provide proper context to key numbers is critical. 

Right now your best options are to either document them separately or install a browser extension that will give you that capability. 

Do a simple Google search for “GA4 browser extension” and you’ll see a list of choices.

(This author is neither endorsing nor rejecting the use of a browser extension, but will always advise to only use ones with a solid install base, are well-supported, and come highly recommended by reputable industry experts.)

Annotations will no doubt be added natively to GA4 at some point in the future so documenting them in a spreadsheet somewhere safe is certainly a viable option for now.

Ensure you have solid GA4 data for future use 

GA4 has a lot of possibilities, but also a lot of complexities when it comes to setup and use.

This article is by no means a complete checklist, as the platform continues to evolve. 

But hopefully, it gives you a solid base to ensure you’ll be able to have solid data from this holiday season to use in future YOY comparisons. 

The post 10 Google Analytics 4 settings to check before the holiday season appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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SMX is happening online next week… attend for free!

Written on November 8, 2022 at 4:52 am, by admin

Join thousands of search marketers online next week at SMX — November 15-16 — to learn actionable tactics that will take your SEO and PPC campaigns to a new level of success.

Your FREE All Access pass unlocks nearly 50 tactic-rich sessions programmed by the Search Engine Land editors that explore the latest search marketing issues — from machine learning to E-A-T, critical GA4 reports, winning site structure, and more. Each day kicks off with exclusive keynote conversations with Google – loaded with invaluable advice and tips straight from the source!

Instant on-demand access is included so you can train at your own pace – no plane ticket, no hotel, no travel risks required.

By the end of next week, you’ll be ready to…

• Increase the visibility and discoverability of your digital content
• Drive significant conversion rate and revenue gains
• Earn trust and build engaging conversations with prospects

… and much more. Check out the complete agenda, including live Q&A (Overtime!) with 30+ expert speakers, invigorating topic-driven Coffee Talks, and more!

What are you waiting for? You and your career deserve this. Grab your free pass now and join us online, November 15-16!

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Excel pivot table best practices for search marketers

Written on November 8, 2022 at 4:52 am, by admin

In 7 useful Excel formulas and functions for PPC, I shared tips to quickly identify high-impact PPC optimizations that will move the needle for your brand or client.

I am a firm believer in an analytical approach to search marketing. My “weapon of choice” for manipulating search data is Excel and one of my favorite features of the platform is pivot tables.

In this article, I’ll highlight a use case you might not be familiar with, along with some tips and shortcuts to enhance your pivot table skills. 

Unique use case: Using pivot tables to QA bulk sheets

If you’ve come across pivot tables in your search marketing career, I’d expect it was likely in a performance report. However, they can be leveraged in creative, non-analytical ways.

One such approach I am a particularly big fan of is using pivot tables to QA bulk sheets.

Might be a given, but you need to build your bulk sheet before you can use this technique. I won’t cover bulk sheet tips in this article (just one teaser: the concatenate function could come in handy), but one step I’ll recommend for your QA is to compile a summary of the elements you expect to be included in your bulk sheet. 

I generally build a table in the first sheet of my workbook, such as the one that you see below. For the sake of this example, there are two things I want to highlight.

• First is that there will be exactly 5 keywords in each ad group.
• Secondly, Ad Group #1 across all campaigns drives to the final URL with Page=A, Ad Group #2 drives to page=B, and Ad Group #3 will click to page=C. 

In the screenshot, you’ll notice I included the formula bar, which contains a formula for how to count distinct values in a data set.

Rather than discuss the nuts and bolts of how it works, just know that the referenced cells (D4:D18 in this example) need to be identical across the match functions and you should get the correct results. 

Once you’ve built out your bulk sheet, it’s time to create the pivot table.

The key here is to make sure you are highlighting all rows/columns that comprise the bulk sheet before you create the pivot table.

Now that we have our pivot table created, we can use the count feature to ensure that the bulk sheet is accurately created.

When you drag non-numeric fields into the Values area, the output will automatically become a count, instead of a sum. It’s important to note that the pivot table will not reflect just the unique values.

This is illustrated in the example below, where you can see that the count of all campaign elements is 75, which reflects the total number of keywords we expect in the bulk sheet. 

It’s important to recognize this, as it has an impact on how you should design your pivot table for accurate QA.

The best practice I recommend is to focus the count on the most granular element of the campaign. Move the campaigns and ad groups to the Rows area of the pivot table.

One final transformation to make, which is more stylistic than anything. If you right-click on the Campaigns field and navigate to field settings, you can adjust the view of your pivot table.

By making the selections highlighted in the view below, you can make the pivot table less vertical. 

The screenshot below shows the differences in pivot table formats, with the corresponding field settings underneath.

Again, more of a stylistic tip than anything; however, this will format the pivot table in a way that is more friendly for copy/pasting into the Editor.

With these pivot table views, we’ve completed the first part of our QA. We’ve also confirmed that we have 5 keywords in each of the 15 ad groups.

If you wanted to audit the keyword text for accuracy, you would just move Keywords into the rows column below Campaign and Ad Group. 

In the second part of our QA, we want to make sure that the ad groups in each campaign are driving to the correct landing page.

One of the beautiful things about pivot tables is that there are multiple ways to get to the same conclusion.

Below I’ve highlighted two ways you can use pivot tables to confirm we’ve trafficked the bulk sheet correctly.

The first option is similar to how we QA’d the count of keywords in each ad group. All I did was remove Keywords from the pivot table and added Landing Page underneath Ad Groups in the row. This will create a view that’s very easy to compare to our summary table. 

The second option flips things on its head a bit. Since we know that all Ad Group #1s should drive to page=a, we can put Landing Page at the top rows area in our pivot table. By doing this, we will see all the Ad Groups within the bulk sheet that are driving to Page=A. A different view, yet one I would argue is more effective for QA’ing. 

I’m only highlighting a few different views that I like. I challenge you to attempt leveraging a pivot table in your next bulk sheet QA and don’t be confined to the examples I’ve included here.

One of the greatest advantages of pivot tables is their flexibility. Play around and figure out what methods/approaches make the most sense for you. 

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4 tips and tricks for pivot table analysis

To reiterate, the most common way that pivot tables are used in search marketing is for performance-based reporting.

In order to optimize the quality of your analysis, I want to highlight a few key tips.

1. Use custom calculations for maximum accuracy

I can’t stress this one enough. Accuracy is crucial for any analysis you are conducting.

To be honest, I don’t even export data sets with metrics such as CTR, CPC, or CVR, as I am a proponent of creating these as custom fields in the pivot table to ensure these metrics are accurately reflected. 

It is surprisingly easy to create these metrics in a pivot table.

Once you’ve created your pivot table, navigate to the pivot table Analyze menu, go to Fields, Items, & Sets, and finally Calculated Field.

Here, you can name and create custom fields that will automatically update with any changes you make to the filters/contents of the pivot table. 

Although it defaults to a “Sum of” label, you can see in the screenshot it is not a Sum. I typically just find and replace “Sum of” once I’ve finished creating my calculated fields to avoid any confusion. 

To illustrate the difference, I’ve included the average platform CTRs in my dataset in the screenshot below. You can then see how I get to the calculated fields menu and how I create the calculated field. 

Notice how the average of CTRs does not accurately represent the true CTR for this data set. However, our Custom CTR is spot on. (Feel free to check the calculation yourself!)

2. Pull data at the most granular level 

The beauty of Excel and pivot tables is that it is prepared to handle relatively large data sets (about 1M rows). Pull your data at a keyword or ad level, add segments (i.e., device) and always pull by day if looking at a time period. 

In doing so, you will ensure that you can drill down to the main drivers of impact. Refer to my first Excel article for tips on adding additional filters, such as transforming dates to a weekly view or how VLOOKUP can help create filters.

3. Build reports for the long term 

PivotTable data can be refreshed and updated easily using the refresh feature (see screenshot below). Think about how you can design your report for the long term so that all you need to do is update the back-end data to create an updated view of performance. 

This means maximizing the use of formulas in data manipulation (such as adding filters) and designing the data source in a way that those formulas won’t break when you paste in the updated data. 

While this may seem like a heavy lift upfront, your end goal is a simple button click to refresh your performance report. The squeeze is worth the juice, trust me!

A quick comment on the difference between Refreshing a pivot table and Changing the Data Source. If you click Refresh, it will update the data within the originally defined data source. 

When you change the data source, you are redefining what rows/columns should be included in the pivot table data.

If you expect the number of rows in the data set to vary over time, I recommend becoming familiar with the Change Data Source option, as this will ensure you have always included all rows/columns in the report. It’s an extra step, but one that ensures your data set is comprehensive.

4. Use shortcuts for pivot tables (PC users)

Last but not least, sharing a handful of shortcuts that have improved my speed when manipulating pivot tables. 

These are a bit more complex, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be flying around your workbook! For those on a Mac, #1 I’m sorry you’re missing out on Excel for a PC, but #2 your shortcuts are different!

• Alt + N + V + T: This creates a pivot table
• Alt + J + T: This opens the pivot table Analyze menu, when your cursor is on a cell within the pivot table. Adding a few keystrokes to the end gets you to commonly used features/menus 
  • Alt + J + T + J + F: This opens the Calculated Fields menu
  • Alt + J + T + F + R: This refreshes the pivot table
  • Alt + J + T + I + D: This allows you to change the data source
  • Alt + J + T + C: This opens up the chart creation menu for the contents of your pivot table
  • Alt + J + T + E + C: This clears the contents of your pivot table 

Improving your Excel skills takes practice

Similar to the functions I covered previously, it is going to take practice and time before you see the efficiency benefits that come with these techniques. However, put in the time now and I can assure you that you will see the payoff.

In addition, I encourage you to not limit yourselves to the applications of pivot tables covered here. As shown in the Bulk Sheet QA example, there are multiple ways to get to the same output. 

PivotTables are incredibly powerful tools that you can use to ensure you have both the 30,000-foot view of performance, as well as the more granular shifts that show your mastery of the funnel.

Use the Calculated Fields to create metrics specific to your business and think about how the QA techniques can be applied to other parts of your role. 

The applications of these techniques are far-reaching.

Want to learn more Excel tips and tricks from me? Sign up for SMX Next. Check out my session on how to level up your analytical skills with Excel, plus you’ll hear from plenty of other amazing speakers. 

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How SEO and content marketing work together

Written on November 8, 2022 at 4:52 am, by admin

SEO and content marketing go together so well. They just work.

For best results, you shouldn’t do content marketing without considering how SEO fits in.

Conversely, you shouldn’t do SEO without understanding how content provides substance and connection to what ultimately matters at the heart of it all: your audience. 

With both content and SEO working together, you’ll hit two bullseyes:

• SEO drives targeted, relevant traffic from Google – not random people who won’t care about what you do or sell, but rather prospects who could join your audience and convert at some point. It’s so powerful, SEO drives 1,000% more traffic than organic social media.
• Content marketing builds trust, authority, and loyalty with those prospects. If you’ve been paying attention, most modern consumers do diligent research before making purchases, and they want to like and trust the brands they give their money. 55% of buyers rely more deeply on content for researching and making purchase decisions than they did a year ago.

To put it lightly, SEO and content marketing have an incredibly symbiotic relationship. Let’s explore how they harmonize.

First, what is content marketing?

Content marketing is the creation, publication, and distribution of online content (from blogs and videos to ebooks and podcasts).

This content is not intended to sell something or promote the brand, but rather educate, entertain, or empower prospects. This nurtures their interest, engagement, and trust over time so they eventually become customers.

What is SEO?

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of optimizing and improving your website (and your website content) so it’s visible in search results, where people are hunting for information, answers, products, and services.

It can’t be understated how important it is these days to show up in search engines, especially Google. Google Search, Images, and Maps drive 92.96% of global traffic. If your website and pages rank highly in the search engine, you’ll earn a good slice of that. 

What are the major differences between SEO and content marketing?

SEO and content marketing are different but related.

Let’s put it this way:

• SEO is what brings targeted traffic to your site, including your content.
  • SEO includes a set of actions you can carry out to optimize your website and content to show up in searches.
• Content is how you keep those people on your pages, nurture and eventually convert them into customers.
  • Content can be optimized for specific keyword searches that connect to the audience (and buyer’s journey stage) you want to bring in.

To sum up, each one supports the other. 

But how, exactly? In what specific ways do content marketing and SEO intertwine for the benefit of brands, search engines, and the users who need them?

How does SEO complement content marketing? (and vice versa?)

SEO and content marketing are very much a yin and yang situation. One improves the other and vice versa.

With both in your strategy, the results will be much more impressive than using either alone.

1. SEO drives relevant traffic to nurture content

You don’t write content so it gets sucked into the black hole of the internet. You write content with the hopes that some weary readers will find it and come away with giant light bulb moments.

They’ll associate those moments with your brand and your expertise. That’s formidable.

Content that doesn’t get read is useless. If you want it to contribute to the success of your marketing, you need people reading it so it can do its job nurturing leads.

One of the best ways to ensure the right eyes land on your content? Use SEO tactics to optimize it with keywords your targets are searching for.

68% of all website traffic comes from searches. That means, whenever someone in the world opens a browser, they’re starting their online session with a search most of the time. SEO helps drive the chunk of people who need you to your nurturing content.

2. SEO and content boost visibility and brand awareness

Want more people to associate your name with key industry terms? Start showing up consistently in their searches for those terms with SEO.

Even better, start showing up with amazing content that answers their questions and eases their specific pains – the ones only you can solve with what you know and what you sell (or, if you’re a marketer or SEO specialist, what your client knows and sells).

The better you do this, the higher your site and content will show up in results. Ultimately, earning a top 5 spot in organic (non-paid) results in Google promises the best chance people will not just see your listing, but also click on it.

CTR, or click-through rate, is the percentage of people visiting a webpage who click a specific link. The best CTRs on a search engine results page belong to the top 5 positions.

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3. SEO and content work together to improve the user experience

SEO and content aren’t just about ranking in a search engine and driving traffic and leads.

Together, they also help you provide a better user experience to your audience across your website.

SEO is laden with rules and guidelines that govern:

• How your website should be structured and optimized.
• How you should approach building pages and content.
• How you should link to other sites and your own.
• The level of quality you should aim for.
• And more.

It also prohibits deceptive or manipulative behaviors that aim to trick users or game the ranking system.

Following the guidelines for your site and content doesn’t just ensure you’ll rank better – it also ensures your audience will have a good experience once they find you.

And that contributes to everyone’s goals:

• Search engines want users to find what they’re looking for quickly and efficiently, and they want to provide results that are relevant and helpful.
• Brands want prospects who find them on Google to eventually turn into customers – and there’s a better chance of that happening if the brand provides a good user experience: from relevant, useful content to a fast-loading site that’s well-structured.

4. High-quality SEO content helps your pages rank better

It’s no secret that high-quality content will help your blogs, articles, and even your landing pages and sales pages climb the search rankings.

Content quality is, in fact, one of the most important elements that will influence your SEO success – if not the most important.

As Search Engine Land’s What Is SEO guide puts it:

“Content should be your first priority when thinking about SEO.”

After all, the content on your website:

• Determines whether you’re relevant to a user’s search query and whether you’ll add value to their lives or waste their time. 
• Influences how long they’ll stay on your site (will they read that entire blog? Browse your other content? Look at your “about” page and services/products?).
• Should provide evidence that they can trust you.

These are essential signals to send out to your prospects, and all of them begin and end with your content and its quality.

Don’t leave home without both SEO and content marketing working in tandem

Let’s not mince words here.

Content marketing set up in a strategy by itself does not have the same power as when it’s mashed together with SEO.

Content without smart SEO will get far less traffic, fewer reads, less engagement, and fewer conversions.

SEO without high-quality content equals a thin, uninspiring, useless website that attracts no one and earns nothing.

The secret sauce comes together when you blend the two.

SEO pulls in traffic and leads. SEO gets a brand seen on a different level. SEO ensures the user experience measures up to high standards and satisfies users.

Content engages leads and keeps them on your site. Content nurtures their interest, trust, and loyalty. Content keeps them coming back for more.

Don’t leave home without a healthy mixture of both in your strategy.

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Apple could be building an ad network for live TV

Written on November 4, 2022 at 5:46 pm, by admin

Apple is currently holding discussions with advertising partners and MLS sponsors with the plan to launch next February.

The push for more ad space. Apple has been pushing aggressively lately to generate more demand and ad space for advertisers.

• Four new Apple Search Ad placement options
• New Apple ad spots are coming by the end of the year
• Apple’s ad business may reach $6 billion by 2025

A deal with the MLS. Apple recently closed a 10-year deal to air MLS games in a new subscription service, as well as Apple TV+ streaming platform. They will also stream a portion of games for free to users of the Apple TV app. They’ll offer three different tiers: the dedicated package, paid TV+ subscriptions and the free TV app. 

The contract has been estimated to cost $250 million per season or $2.5 billion over the next decade. 

Why we care. New ad space is a good thing for advertisers who may be struggling to find their place in a crowded ad landscape. Stay tuned for more information when Apple makes an official announcement.

The post Apple could be building an ad network for live TV appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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

YouTube has introduced a TikTok and Twitch co-streaming feature

Written on November 4, 2022 at 5:46 pm, by admin

Creators can now co-stream live videos with their friends on Twitch and TikTok. The new YouTube feature is called Go Live Together, and it’s rolling out over the next couple of weeks.

Not new. The new feature is compared to TikTok’s multi-guest and Twitch’s Guest Stars. YouTube’s newest addition Go Live Together can only be accessed through the YouTube app, which all parties must have installed.

What’s included. Hosts who want to co-host with their friends must have at least 50 subs and a verified channel. Additionally, guests must have a channel with no strikes on it.

On Twitch and TikTok, co-hosting supports up to five guests, but with Go Live Together, only one guest can join.

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Ads are allowed. YouTube’s co-hosted streams are allowed to run advertisements, but guests won’t see any of the revenue. The ads will head to the host, and the tandem stream won’t even show up on the guest’s channel. In the Creator Insider video, a YouTube rep admitted that visibility on guest channels is “so important to creators,” so that perk could arrive soon on Go Live Together.

Why we care. Creators will have the opportunity to bring on guests to share experiences, collaborate, or “hang out. The addition of advertisements also gives an additional opportunity to monetize their content.

We aren’t sure if monetization will ever be afforded to both participants on the channel, but there should be an option to at least split revenue. Brands will also have an opportunity to advertise their products and services in a collaborative environment.

The post YouTube has introduced a TikTok and Twitch co-streaming feature appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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

Report: Insights into the Tik Tok Audience by Digital Marketing Depot

Written on November 3, 2022 at 2:45 pm, by admin

Five years after it first launched, the video sharing-focused social network TikTok has taken the world by storm.

Downloaded more than 2 billion times by users in 150 countries, people have flocked to the mobile app which presents them with a stream of algorithmically selected short videos filled with music, dancing, cooking demos, and other short bits of user-created entertainment.

For this report, DISQO surveyed 39,452 adult consumers in the United States with the goal of better understanding TikTok usage and consumer attitudes, particularly about brand advertising on the social media platform, including:

• How does TikTok usage vary across demographic cohorts?
• What do TikTok users think about efforts to market to them on the platform?
• What actions do TikTok users take after watching brand videos, and how does that map to the consumer marketing funnel?

Visit Digital Marketing Depot to download TikTok is all that… and a bag of clips. Insights into the TikTok audience from DISQO.

The post Report: Insights into the Tik Tok Audience appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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