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Writing people-first content: A process and template

Written on April 16, 2024 at 2:41 am, by admin

Want to rank highly in 2024 and beyond? Then, you must create what Google calls “helpful, reliable, people-first content.”

In this article, I will outline a process that shows you exactly how to do that and provide a simple template you can fill out to take your content to the next level. 

Spambusters 

At the time of writing, Google is doing some major spring cleaning to tackle some of the spammy, low-quality content littering the search results. 

Unsurprisingly, much content is developed from an SEO perspective. Google’s latest update is designed to help push down some of this SEO-first content and surface people-first content. 

Our goal here should be to create well-optimized, people-first content. Any savvy marketer knows you build trust with your prospects by being helpful and sharing.

A people-first content process

Google has a help page that provides several questions you can use to review your existing content to ensure it is helpful, reliable and people-first. Unfortunately (and ironically), this page is not helpful when creating new content. 

In addition, I have created a simple process we use at my agency for planning, writing and reviewing new content that is people-first and ticks all of Google’s qualitative boxes.

To simplify following the steps, here’s a simple template you can fill out as you work through the article. Grab a copy of this first. 

• People-first content template (Make a copy)

People-first content: A writing process

What follows is a six-step process for creating SEO-friendly content that is people first. 

As a side note, while Google is at war with low-quality generic content, don’t feel like you can’t use AI tools to help. Just ensure you use these generative AI tools as an SEO assistant rather than create the whole article for you. 

Step 1: Goals

What is your goal for this content? How does this fit into your overall SEO strategy and SEO planning? 

Creating a well-considered goal is essential. The goal is what you are aiming at. If you are off the mark here, you will miss the target despite your efforts. 

To strengthen goals, follow a simple process called “The Five Whys.” State your initial goal, then ask “why” up to five times until you have strengthened and clearly articulated your goals. 

Example

• Initial goal: Write a blog post about our eco-friendly kitchen products.

• Why? To improve our website’s ranking on Google.
  • First analysis: I want to improve our website’s ranking on Google.

• Why? Because a higher ranking will lead to more organic traffic to our site.
  • Second analysis: I want more organic traffic.

• Why? Because increased traffic can lead to more customer engagement and brand recognition.
  • Third analysis: I want increased customer engagement and brand recognition.

• Why? This engagement will likely lead to higher sales and customer loyalty.
  • Fourth analysis: I want higher sales and customer loyalty.

• Why? With increased sales and a loyal customer base, we can further our mission to promote sustainable living and make a larger positive environmental impact.

• Revised goal: Our objective is to create an informative blog post about eco-friendly kitchen products that educate users about kitchen sustainability. This will help us drive organic traffic to the site, increasing engagement and leads. 

Action item

Outline your goals and refine them using The Five Whys technique. Incorporate SMART SEO goals to refine and articulate the objectives.

Step 2: Reframing for your audience

You know what you want, but Google does not care about your goals, only the satisfaction of its users. You must align your objectives with helping users while connecting them to your business and marketing mission.

To do this, you can employ “reframing.” Based on Ann Handley’s book “Everybody Writes,” it’s a tool for shifting perspectives and better serving our audience in marketing.

First, you should be clear on who your audience is. Google spells this out:

“Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content useful if they came directly to you?”

Take your initial goal and look at this from your audience’s perspective. Ask, “So what?” and answer with “Because…”  Do this exercise up to five times.

Example

Your goal: Our objective is to create an informative blog post about eco-friendly kitchen products to help generate leads for our sustainable kitchen products. 

• So what? We all need to learn how to be sustainable in all areas of our lives to help prevent global warming and ensure the planet’s safety for future generations. 
• So what? Learning about sustainability in the kitchen can help you reduce your environmental footprint, lead to healthier living and save money – good for you and good for your children. 

Final goal: The article will provide a detailed look at how choosing eco-friendly kitchen products leads to a healthier lifestyle, cost savings and benefits for the planet. It encourages readers to make sustainable choices in their daily lives and shows them how to do that with our products. 

Action item

Define your audience, query your goal, reframe it from the customer’s perspective and explain how it helps them. Fill it out in the supplied template. Ensure you can succinctly answer how this helps the reader. 

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Step 3: Demonstrate experience and expertise 

The content you create should establish the author’s experience and expertise in a verifiable way. Google spells this out for us with the E-E-A-T and, more specifically, the requirement for “helpful, reliable, people-first content.” 

What makes something reliable? Experience, expertise and credibility are good starting points. 

Below are key points to remember based on Google’s documentation:

Experience

Your content should demonstrate first-hand experience and expertise. You should show a depth of knowledge by using a product or service or visiting a place. From a business perspective, you should clearly illustrate that you have experience. 

Expertise 

The content should demonstrate expertise or link to a page that does. For instance, if your business has accreditations, ensure they are visible on the site. If the author has specific expertise, ensure this is detailed on an author page. 

Get your facts straight 

Using data to illustrate your expertise is helpful, but ensure that any facts you use are 100% correct, referenced and do not contain unsubstantiated claims. 

‘About us’ and author pages

Your site should feature “About us” and author pages that expand upon the credibility of the business and the individual authors. Link to these from your content. Google mentions these pages specifically, so give it what it wants.

Action item

In the people-first content template, fill out the four expertise boxes covering experience, expertise, fact-checking and about us and author pages. 

Step 4: Aim high

You should aim to create unique content that is different or better than elsewhere. Your overall SEO strategy is important here, as you want a reason to stand out from the crowd, and that should flow through your content marketing.

Google provides us with 12 points to review content quality. However, we can summarize these into six points that you can use to guide your content creation. 

Data and examples

Identify data and examples that support your article. Include these, and be sure to cite them correctly. Remember, people love stats and having something makes your content linkable (which is still crucially important). 

Add something to the discussion

Look for areas where you can add something new to the discussion, such as new research, reporting or analysis. This does not have to be complicated. Run a short survey, but add something new to the discussion to add value to your article. In a nutshell, don’t just say the same thing as everyone else! 

Use clear titles

Create clear, descriptive, accurate and non-sensational titles summarizing the content. You can still optimize but do so sensibly. Always prioritize people over SEO.

State your sources and add commentary 

When referencing other sources, add value. Avoid just rewriting or restating; try to add a unique spin to what is already there. Use your experience and expertise to do so. You are an expert on this topic; your opinion and experience here matter. 

Focus on quality and make it easy to share 

Ensure the content is well produced. Use AI tools here to help if you wish. Don’t take every recommendation. Keep your voice in the piece. Aim for something of the same quality you expect in a newspaper or other printed media. 

Action item

Fill out page four of the template. Don’t worry about finding something for each of these but try to ensure you bring something new. 

Dig deeper: Mastering content quality: The ultimate guide

Step 5: Write 

In some respects, this is the easy bit. Once you have completed the research steps above, you will know the angle from which you are coming. I recommend copying your overall goal at the top of your document so you can use that as your North Star! 

The steps you take now will vary depending on your own writing style, but the key here is that planning sets up success. 

My approach is something like this:

• Decide on the format (blog post, list, stats, etc.).
• Outline bullet points of the sections.
• Work on a very rough first draft (just write – don’t stop to edit).
• Walk away for a few hours, at least.
• Write the second draft.
• Walk away and sleep on it.
• Review using Google’s question list.
• Write the third draft.
• Editor review.
• Tweak and publish.

I often think the most important aspect here is to sleep on it. If you can and if, like me, you are fitting in writing around running your business, then it can make sense to do the big steps over different days. 

• Day 1: Plan and bullet points
• Day 2: Rough first draft
• Day 3: Second draft 
• Day 4: Third draft, edits and publish

A key element for me is the sleeping on it factor. When you are writing like this, you are often trying to solve a problem and your planning and first drafts get you so far. 

But then, when you sleep on it, your subconscious starts to work through all those little bits that are not quite there yet. 

Then, when you work on your second and third drafts, you will strengthen the article so much more (and it is much easier). 

Dig deeper: 25 tips to optimize your content for people and search engines

Step 6: Review

At this stage, if you want to be absolutely certain you have nailed this, you can revisit Google’s Helpful Content help page to self-assess your content.

Having conducted the planning process, this should be orders of magnitude easier. Starting your content creation with planning and ending with a qualitative review will strengthen your approach and improve your results. 

Page experience and SEO

One last point of importance: the content should be housed on a site that provides a solid page experience. 

• Your web design and SEO should be dialed in.
• You should have green lights on your Core Web Vitals.
• Your site should run over HTTPS.
• You should not show too many ads (if any, should you be a business selling services).

These are the basics, but Google does have a help page if you wish to dive in further.

Crafting people-first content: A blueprint for SEO success

While there is a lot of change and doomsaying at the moment, content marketing with SEO is still a viable tactic for authentic experts who can help the target audience. 

Google has articulated what they are looking for. By carefully reviewing the help pages on E-E-A-T and creating helpful content, we can build a process that ensures we are aiming at exactly what Google is aiming at (that is, real SEO that stands the test of time). 

This dogged focus on the end user is truly what marketing is all about and why Google is such a big company. Getting into this mindset and making it the heart of your SEO philosophy will only improve your results.

Be sure to determine some simple SEO KPIs to measure your success and keep focused on creating content that helps you while helping your audience.  

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

TikTok testing virtual influencers for video ads

Written on April 12, 2024 at 5:39 pm, by admin

TikTok is reportedly developing AI-powered virtual influencers that will be able to compete against human creators for lucrative advertising contracts.

The new AI avatars can allegeldy read scripts for video ads created from prompts submitted by brands and TikTok Shop sellers. However, this feature is still in its testing phase so everything is subject to change, reports The Information.

Impact on sales. During testing, TikTok researchers discovered that AI avatars haven’t generated as many e-commerce sales as human influencers. This is reportedly why the new feature hasn’t been made available to marketers yet. The platform suggests that this feature should complement existing human creators rather than replace them.

Concerns. Some advertisers worry that AI influencers could be used for manipulative marketing tactics. Additionally, the rise of virtual creators could steal business from real influencers, possibly leading some users to leave the platform.

Why we care. Even though using AI influencers for promoting products might seem cheaper and quicker for your campaigns, considering the lower sales and ethical concerns involved, it might not be the best choice for brands as things currently stand.

What TikTok is saying. TikTok did not immediately reply to Search Engine Land’s request for comment.

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Deep dive. Read How Advertisers Can Leverage AI and Automation at Scale for more information on how to implement AI into your ad strategy.

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

Chase launches first bank-led media network

Written on April 12, 2024 at 5:39 pm, by admin

JPMorgan Chase launched Chase Media Solutions, a new digital media business. It’s the first bank-led media platform, allowing advertisers to send relevant promotions to some 80 million financial customers.

Chase acquired transaction-based digital advertising platform Figg in 2022 — a key component in Chase’s two-sided commerce platform. Chase Media Solutions was announced April 3.

Why we care. Over the last several years, many retailers have grown new revenue streams by setting up retail media networks (RMNs) for advertisers. RMNs are attractive to advertisers because they can send targeted ads based on the retailers’ deep knowledge of their customers, especially loyalty customers.

Data. Chase’s advantage is transactional first-party data, which allows brands and agencies to target based on purchase history. RMNs have that data too, but only within their specific stores and owned channels. Chase customers have purchase histories across retailers and other businesses they buy from.

Non-retail media platform. “Our deep understanding of consumer spending across categories has driven us to reimagine what retail media networks can offer,” said Rich Muhlstock, President of Chase Media Solutions, in a release.

• “Like retailers, we have first-party data and a dedicated audience. But what sets us apart is the unrivaled scale and insights from our customers – having long-served as a trusted guide for their financial decisions. Chase reaches across brands, merchants and shopping verticals, providing a comprehensive view of purchase behavior; this strengthens the degree of personalization, helping brands deliver offers that stoke consumer interests,” Muhlstock said.

Dig deeper: 2024 Predictions: Retail media networks

Early adopters. Pilot partners include Air Canada, Solo Stove, Blue Bottle and Whataburger, all of which ran 30-day campaigns through Chase Media Solutions.

• “The Chase team succeeded in creating a thoughtful, targeted offer that exceeded our expectations,” said Scott O’Leary, vice president of loyalty and product for Air Canada, in a release. “Two distinct offer constructs drove incremental revenue and awareness for Air Canada amongst Chase’s cardmember base. These tests clearly demonstrated the potential of the Chase Media Solutions channel, and we look forward to working together more in the future.”

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

Google structured data carousels (beta) clarified for summary pages

Written on April 11, 2024 at 2:37 pm, by admin

Google has updated its structured data carousels (beta) help documentation to clarify where your markup should go within summary pages that link out to other detail pages. Google also added the feature availability of this new structured data carousels (beta).

The Google structured data carousels (beta) is several weeks old, it was introduced when Google began releasing DMA changes in the European Economic Area (EEA) countries.

Summary pages. Google said “the markup must be on the summary page, and you don’t need to add markup to the detail pages in order to be eligible for this feature.” Google added this new section:

Pick a single summary page that contains some information about every entity in the list. For example, a category page that lists the “Top hotels in Paris”, with links out to specific detail pages on your site for more information about each hotel. You can mix and match different types of entities (for example, hotels, restaurants), if needed for your scenario. For example, if you have a “Things to do in Switzerland” article that lists both local events and local businesses.

Add the required properties. Based on the format you’re using, learn where to insert structured data on the page.

Add the required properties to that summary page. You don’t need to add markup to the detail pages in order to be eligible for this beta feature. Based on the format you’re using, learn where to insert structured data on the page.

Google also clarified this summary page markup throughout the document.

Feature availability. Since this is available currently only within the European Economic Area (EEA) countries, Google clarified this within the document. Google wrote, “This feature is currently only available in European Economic Area (EEA) countries, on both desktop and mobile devices. It’s available for travel, local, and shopping queries. For shopping queries, it’s being tested first in Germany, France, Czechia, and the UK.”

Google also wrote, “This feature is in beta and you may see changes in requirements or guidelines, as we develop this feature. If your business is based in EEA, or serves users in EEA, and you would like to learn more and express interest in these new experiences, you can start by filling out the applicable form (for flights queries, use the interest form for flights queries).”

Why we care. If you are based in European regions, these are changes you should be aware of. You may want to implement these new beta carousel features, where appropriate and then submit the interest forms to Google to be opted into the program.

These carousels may lead to more clicks from Google Search to your site.

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

Google CEO on the evolution of Search and SGE

Written on April 11, 2024 at 2:37 pm, by admin

Google Search will continue to evolve in the direction of Search Generative Experience. That’s according to Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who recently spoke about AI, Search and more at the 2024 Business, Government & Society Forum at Stanford University.

The future of information and answers. AI has been transforming Google Search for years. Google hasn’t been “10 blue links” for a long time, Pichai said, adding:

• “When mobile came, we knew Google Search had to evolve a lot. We call it featured snippets, but for almost 10 years now you go to Google for many questions we kind of use AI to answer them. We call it web answers internally. … We’ve always answered questions where we can. But we always felt when people come and look for information. People, in certain cases, want answers but they also want the richness and the diversity of what’s out there in the world and it’s a good balance to be had and we’ve always I think struck that balance pretty well.
• “To me all that is different is now the technology by which you can answer is progressing. We will continue doing that. But this evolution has been underway in search for a long, long time.
• “We’ve done all this in Google Search for a long time and people like it, people engage with it, people trust it. I view it as a natural continuation. With LLMs and AI, I think you have a more powerful tool to do that, which is what we are putting in Search with Search Generative Experience and so we’ll continue evolving it in that direction, too.”

Answers vs. search. Google’s mission has been to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google historically has done its best to reflect what’s on the web and provide trustworthy, high-quality information.

Pichai mentioned the search rater guidelines are one way Google represents the viewpoint of its user base. And we know from Pandu Nayak’s testimony in the antitrust trial that Information Satisfaction (IS) scores from raters are a key metric for assessing search quality.

But the arrival of Google SGE and AI-generated answers has had many brands, SEOs and content creators concerned that searchers would no longer click on websites – because they got the answer directly from SGE. Since introducing various types of web answers, Google has tried to strike a balance, Pichai said.

• “There are certain times you give an answer – “what’s the population of the United States” – yes it’s an answerable question. There are times you want to surface the breadth of opinions out there on the web, which is what search does and does it well. Just because you’re saying we are summarizing it on top doesn’t mean we veer from those principles. The summary can still point you to the range of opinions out there,” Pichai said

AI improving Search. Pichai has long said AI is more profound than fire or electricity. What excites Pichai about AI is how it can help improve Search.  

• “I feel the weight that people come to search at very vulnerable moments. … Trust is hard-earned, easy to lose. We have to re-earn it all the time …
• “It’s difficult to do this consistently well across the entirety of what humanity is looking for, which is what excites me about search and providing information and knowledge and is what I see as the opportunity. AI is an exciting technology which will allow us to do it better than before. But it’s a technology we have to carefully deploy in a way that we are responsible while doing so.”

Why we care. AI has radically reshaped Google Search and SEO over the past year – and we’re expecting more big changes in the coming months. It’s always good to understand where Google Search is heading, as opposed to where it is or was. Also, it can’t be left unsaid that Pichai’s interview rings a bit hollow, especially in light of the many valid criticisms of the quality of Search results and SGE answers we’re seeing at this point in time.

Dig deeper.

• Google CEO talks future of SGE, Gemini, Ads and AI Search
• Google CEO on SGE and Search evolution: ‘We’ll get it right’
• Google CEO: Search will evolve substantively in next 10 years

The interview. You can watch it here. 

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

TikTok launches enhanced ad placement controls

Written on April 11, 2024 at 2:37 pm, by admin

TikTok introduced two new controls to give advertisers more choice regarding where their content appears:

• Category Exclusion.
• Vertical Sensitivity controls.

Additionally, the social media platform is merging account-level controls for all brand safety and suitability solutions within TikTok Ads Manager (TTAM) to make using these new tools even easier.

Why we care. Ads appearing alongside content that doesn’t align with your brand identity isn’t ideal. Not only does it conflict with their company’s message, but it also likely makes it harder to reach and engage with high-value consumers.

Category Exclusion. This new feature allows advertises to control whether their ad is served next to four non-standard categories:

• Gambling and lotteries.
• Violent video games.
• Combat sports.
• Youth content.

By managing association with these content categories, brands can ensure consistency in messaging. Category Exclusion only applies to content that doesn’t breach TikTok’s Community Guidelines – for example, although the platform does now allow the promotion of gambling services, content featuring gambling in entertainment, such as movies, is allowed.

Vertical Sensitivity. Advertisers can utilize this feature to choose their industry vertical and avoid content related to that vertical that they deem incompatible with their brand positioning, providing an extra layer of brand protection. For instance, a travel brand that typically focuses on nature-themed content may opt out of appearing alongside content about volcanoes or floods.

TikTok now offers 11 verticals to choose from:

• Pets.
• Beauty.
• Food.
• Fashion/Retail.
• Travel.
• Financial Services.
• Technology.
• Automotive.
• Gaming.
• Professional Services.
• Entertainment.

Verified third-party results. TikTok also expanded its partnerships with DoubleVerify (DV), Integral Ad Science (IAS), and Zefr to include post-campaign measurement of these new controls

Unified TikTok Ads Manager hub. Additionally, the platform has introduced the Brand Safety Hub in TikTok Ads Manager to simplify brand safety measures and provide consistency for advertisers. This hub offers advertisers a smoother process, enabling them to set brand safety and suitability preferences at the account level, which then become default settings for future campaigns. It’s designed for advertisers who have clear preferences and want them applied automatically with minimal effort.

What TikTok is saying. TikTok said in a statement:

• “Beyond brand safety, we respect that brands know their values best. As such, they may have preferences as to where they show up, especially when it comes to the content next to their ads.”
• “That’s why we’re committed to continuously innovating beyond traditional suitability standards—to build solutions that empower advertisers with even more control.”
• “The new controls go above and beyond common industry standards and guidance for protections, including the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) Brand Suitability Framework.”

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Deep dive. Read TikTok’s announcement in full for more information.

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

Google testing People Also Consider label on branded search ads

Written on April 11, 2024 at 2:37 pm, by admin

Google is trialing a new People Also Consider badge on ads served within branded search results.

The label appears as a grey box positioned underneath the company name, logo and URL as demonstrated in the screenshot below:

The feature is not clickable, and so the purpose of it is causing confusion amongst PPC marketers.

First spotted. The new ad badge was first spotted by Anthony Higman, CEO of online advertising agency Adsquire. He shared his thoughts on X:

• “Google Ads is getting weird AF. ‘People Also Consider’ badge on a search for our brand.”
• “What else is there for people to also consider on a search for my brand? Or is this a sign of things to come?”
• “Is this what they have been doing by matching all branded terms to keywords? Are they really about to throw all of us into our competitors’ ad auctions unsolicited and then just toss a ‘People Also Consider’ badge on those ads and call it a day?”
• “I’m thinking it’s why they have been matching brands to keywords for the last two years. If they are really about to do what I think they are going to do with these, it is NOT clever or innovative, its desperate and grimy.”

What Google is saying. Google did not immediately respond to Search Engine Land’s request for comment.

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Why now? The new badge comes just a week after Shalom Goodman spotted Google testing a “Related to your search” badge on search ads. This label also appeared as a grey box positioned underneath the company name, logo and URL as demonstrated in the screenshot below:

Google is yet to offer any insight or further explanation around this feature.

Why we care. If Google starts forcing companies into their competitors’ ad auctions, it could be bad for business. Customers might see competitors’ ads when searching for your brand resulting in you losing a potential sale. Additionally, paying for ads on competitor brand searches are unlikely to reach high-value customers as they are looking for a specific brand, not just a service – which ultimately creates a poorer user experience.

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

Meta advertisers claim sales are down and costs are up due to glitchy automated system

Written on April 10, 2024 at 11:36 am, by admin

Meta advertisers claim the cost of running campaigns across it platforms has surged due to ongoing issues with its algorithm.

Brands report that sales and return-on-ad-spend have both plummeted, while cost-per-click and cost per 1,000 impressions are up by a factor of three in recent months – with no explanation from Meta as to why.

Why we care. If the reported ongoing algorithm issues continue to impact ad performance, marketers will need to take action to reduce costs by exploring rival platforms like Google and TikTok.

Details. Meta is a global leader in digital advertising with its platforms accounting for approximately 22% of the market, according to Emarketer. Small businesses in particular have traditionally been reliant on Meta to reach their target audience thanks to the efficiency of its AI-powered targeting technology. However, many advertisers claim that the social media giant’s dependable advertising system is currently experiencing significant issues, prompting some to reallocate their budgets to rival platforms.

Impact. The potential impact of this reported system issue on ad revenue is expected to become apparent by the end of the month when Meta releases its first-quarter earnings. Experts are forecasting Meta to report $36.1 billion in ad revenue.

Reaction. Cody Plofker, chief marketing officer at brand Jones Road Beauty, said on the “Operators” podcast:

• “It’s brutal out there. There is something just terribly broken about Meta right now.”

What Meta is saying. Meta admitted that there have been some technical issues impacting ads but denied that the problems were widespread. A spokesperson told Bloomberg:

• “Our ads system is working as expected for the vast majority of advertisers.”
• “We recently fixed a few technical issues and are researching a small amount of additional reports from advertisers to ensure the best possible results for businesses using our apps.”

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Deep dive. Read our coverage of the $7 billion class-action lawsuit Facebook and Instagram advertisers filed against Meta for more insights.

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

Google updates Merchant Center product data specifications

Written on April 10, 2024 at 11:36 am, by admin

Google’s product data specification requirements guarantee that all product data submitted to the Merchant Center is formatted correctly to optimize success for both Shopping ads and organic Shopping listings.

Each year, the search giant updates these specifications in a bid to try and improve shopping on its platform. The updates for 2024 have now been announced – and below is a summary of all the changes you should be aware of.

Changes effective immediately

The following changes came into effect on April 9, 2024:

New product data specification attributes for AI-Generated content in Shopping ads and free listings: Google introduced new attributes that now require merchants to disclose text content created using generative AI. Moving forward, you will need to use the structured title [structured_title] attribute and the structured description [structured_description] attribute when using AI-generated titles and descriptions in your product data.

New loyalty program [loyalty_program]: You can now use the loyalty program [loyalty_program] attribute to set up member prices and loyalty points in the U.S. and Japan. Adding the attribute helps Google to accurately represent the benefits of your loyalty program (as configured on Merchant Center) across Google properties.

New minimum price [auto_pricing_min_price] attribute: You can now use the minimum price [auto_pricing_min_price] attribute to set the lowest or minimum advertised price (MAP) to which a product’s price can be reduced. Google uses this information for features such as sale price suggestions, automated discounts, and dynamic promotions.

Updated guidance on installment [installment]- based offers: Google is updating its guidance regarding the usage of the installment attribute. An offer that utilizes this attribute will be considered as one where the product can be purchased by paying the full price upfront using the price attribute or in installments. With this update, Google is expanding the installment attribute by introducing a new downpayment sub-attribute to specify if the product requires a partial upfront payment. Previously, such down payments had to be provided using the price attribute.

Additionally, Google is adding a credit type [credit_type] sub-attribute to the installment [installment] attribute specifically for Vehicle ads. This is to allow specifying whether the type of installment credit is lease [lease] or finance [finance].

New free shipping threshold [free_shipping_threshold] attribute: Marketers in all countries can now use the free shipping threshold [free_shipping_threshold] attribute to indicate the minimum order value above which shipping is free.

Updated guidance on the inclusion of government-imposed fees in the shipping [shipping] attributes: Google is updating its guidance around the usage of the shipping attribute. Don’t include government-imposed fees such as import duties, recycling fees, copyright fees, or state-specific retail delivery fees in the shipping cost.

Changes starting on July 31

Expanding the list of countries where shipping cost is required: Google is expanding the list of countries where shipping cost is required and enforced to additional countries. Offers without shipping costs will now be disapproved in these countries:

• India
• New Zealand

Changes starting on September 1

Pickup method [pickup_method] will be optional for Local Inventory Ads: Google is simplifying inventory handling for LIA merchants that use the pickup today or pickup later features by making pickup method [pickup_method] optional. Pickup method [pickup_method] will no longer be required to enable pickup for your offers. Learn more about the LIA inventory feed specification.

Removing energy_efficiency_class attributes: Google is deprecating the energy efficiency attributes in favor of the certification attribute certification [certification] which was launched in 2023.

Removing the use of the price [price] attribute for down payments when used in combination with the installment [installment] attribute: Google is removing support for providing downpayment using the price [price] attribute after September 1.

Why we care. Following Merchant Center guidelines, including the updates mentioned, ensures your product listings are eligible to show in search results. New attributes like loyalty programs could incentivize customers to return, while the free shipping threshold might encourage them to spend more, ultimately boosting your ROI.

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Deep dive. Read Google’s announcement in full for more information.

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

B2B audience targeting: Meta Ads as an alternative to LinkedIn

Written on April 10, 2024 at 11:36 am, by admin

What if you could get your ads in front of your ideal customers for a fraction of the price?

LinkedIn Ads is well known for its high costs compared to other platforms.

Still, there’s a way to target a similar B2B audience on Meta, where advertising costs are significantly lower.

But this assumes two things are true:

• You have the fundamentals in place: a great offer and landing page backed by audience research, simple campaign structure, strong creative and conversion tracking. In other words, you approach advertising as a marketer rather than a media buyer.
• You’re willing to make the trade-off for cheaper acquisition costs. While you won’t have the precision targeting of LinkedIn, just because your target audience is browsing Instagram doesn’t mean they stop being who they are professionally. You may not be catering to them in that same environment, but they still have those needs and will pay attention to something interesting enough.

If the cost of advertising on LinkedIn is prohibitive or you can’t meet the minimum requirements for some of the targeting settings – and you meet these two criteria above – then you might want to consider this play.

What creative works best for B2B lead gen on Meta?

I find that you really don’t need to complicate creative since simple banner ads work well in B2B. Maybe it’s because business consumers often seek something that’ll help them advance or work more easily.

It’s different when you’re trying to get somebody to book a dentist appointment or learn about an insurance plan, where you need to convince them to make a call.

But in B2B, you’re selling something that will make somebody’s life easier without friction. It takes an investment on their part, but B2B audiences are open to that.

You can use videos as you do with B2C lead gen and ecommerce, but going after high-production values isn’t necessary.

It’s more about putting the right message in front of the right consumer. They’re on a different platform, but they’re still your target audience. And if you speak to them, they’ll take action.

Depending on the type of person you’re trying to reach, you can keep it as simple as having the right messaging.

We have an agency client that sells home organization products, so we try to reach contractors, developers, interior designers and other professionals. I sometimes find that even a good iPhone photo of the product with the right messaging will work better than a studio shot.

Dig deeper: Meta advertising: 5 best practices for 2024

Why B2B lead gen on Meta is easier than you think

Particularly for B2B lead gen, you likely have assets that can be repurposed quickly by resizing and making a few modifications.

Think about what’s important to the person you’re selling to and how your product will make their life easier. Try to speak to that in the creative and copy of the ad.

If this sounds like a core B2B marketing strategy, that’s because it is. It’s foundational work that successful B2B brands do before they ramp up ad spend.

Can I run B2B ads on Meta with a smaller budget?

If you’re considering this strategy because you have a smaller budget, I encourage you to consider dynamic creative: one ad unit with several ads and you let the system mix and match instead of making multiple standalone ads. I find this often works better.

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Audience targeting on Meta: Options and framework

With ecommerce and B2C lead gen, we tend to do a lot of broad targeting. I find more success in B2B when we use customer lists and create lookalikes to target, as well as when using Meta’s interests and detailed targeting.

We just launched a campaign for a client selling playground equipment, so we’re targeting people who work in municipalities and schools. Similar to LinkedIn, though not as detailed or granular, Meta has the option to target people based on:

• Where they work.
• What their role is.
• Which industry they’re in.

So it’s just a matter of combing through that and building enough of an audience. We prefer not to make multiple ad sets for each one and instead stack them up into one large audience, which we find works well and brings in quality leads.

You will likely get more junk leads than if you were selling on LinkedIn. But overall, it’s still cheaper to do this on Meta, even after factoring in that difference.

We’re also running ads for a company that rents large office machinery with monthly service, toner, etc. With this, we’re targeting people who work in nursing homes or as office administrators, so it’s based on their role or the type of company they work in.

But we’re also looking at interests that could be related.

Is there an industry publication that people in that line of work tend to subscribe to? If so, you set that publication’s company as an interest.

At its core, targeting professional audiences on Meta is really just about customer lookalikes, lead list lookalikes, interests and profession-based targeting.

My audience targeting guidelines

Here are some additional guidelines I follow when running B2B lead gen campaigns on Facebook and Instagram. Your mileage may vary, so test as needed.

• If you’re a regional business, you’ll want to layer in specific locations.
• I prefer not to use embedded lead forms because they tend to return more junk leads. We typically send traffic to a dedicated landing page and try very hard to get that page to convert well by speaking in a language similar to the ad creative itself.
• If you are going to utilize embedded forms, add questions to add friction to the form and qualify potential leads.
• Ensure that all your ads have UTM parameters included in the landing page URL so that when a lead comes in, you know which campaign and ad it came from.
• Feed that lead data back into HubSpot, SalesForce or whatever CRM you use so that you can see where you’re getting the most valuable leads that turn into sales.
• Consider adding to your audience selection website visitors that did not convert already, or video viewers and page engagers. This way you can target anyone who showed enough interest to engage with your media but not enough to convert.

New ways to target B2B audiences on Meta

Until now, everything I’ve shared has been from the lens of using standard conversion campaigns with a lead focus.

Now, you can also use tailored campaigns with lead objectives, which is like Advantage+ shopping for lead generation. It strips away a little bit of traditional advertiser control, but it’s worth testing – especially with larger budgets.

You can also create a campaign with a call objective if you don’t want to form submissions as your primary conversions.

If you do things by phone, use this with a call tracking number so that the CTA leads to a call, and you can monitor where your inquiries come from. The system will also track this and optimize for the best calls if you feed it the right data.

Meta has also been pushing Advantage+ audiences, which basically borrows from Google’s Performance Max in that they become audience suggestions (signals).

The system will use this as a base, but it will go beyond and find whoever it believes is the target consumer for what you’re selling.

Test before you divest

I understand the skepticism around using Meta Ads for B2B lead generation advertising.

Still, the principle behind my advice remains the same: People browsing LinkedIn don’t stop being (insert profession here) when they start browsing Facebook or Instagram.

As with everything ads-related, I advise you to try things out for yourself before writing them off.

If you don’t have a dedicated budget for experiments, use a small portion of your allocated budget just to get your feet wet. You may not achieve statistical significance, but you’ll likely see whether there’s something worth exploring further.

Psychologically speaking, you may even stand a better chance of getting them to pay attention on a platform where their guard doesn’t have to be up due to the prevalence of low-quality offers and products.

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