Atomic Media

Reddit shown excessively in Google product review search results, study finds

Written on February 14, 2024 at 10:38 am, by admin

Reddit shows up 97.5% of the time in Google Search product review queries and accounts for nearly two-thirds of the slots reserved for Google’s Discussions and forums SERP feature, a new analysis finds.

Why we care. Reddit can be a valuable resource for searchers but has an obvious spam problem. More than half of Reddit’s top-ranked threads have spam as the top comment, as called out in the analysis by author Glen Allsopp, who wrote that “Google’s promotion of them feels excessive,” adding these “current search results are the worst I can recall seeing.”

By the numbers. An analysis of 10,000 keyphrases found that Discussions and forums appear 77% (7,702) of the time. Overall, 766 individual forums appeared, but just Reddit and Quora had 3X greater visibility than every other forum:

• Reddit appeared in 7,509 results and was featured 14,263 times.
• Quora appeared in 3,513 results and was featured 3,832 times.
• Every other domain (766 of them), combined, appeared 4,989 times, with most sites never getting a second listing like Reddit. Some were inactive but there were no new forums or any forums with a low number of posts.

Over-correction? So why is Google pushing Reddit so hard? It could partially be in response to multiple stories over the last couple of years discussing how users add “Reddit” to the end of their queries. But based on the findings of this analysis, perhaps Google has over-corrected for this issue.

The analysis. You can read the full Detailed analysis here: The Discussion Forums Dominating 10,000 Product Review Search Results.

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

How each Google Ads bid strategy influences campaign success

Written on February 14, 2024 at 10:38 am, by admin

Even experienced PPC advertisers can struggle with bid strategies in Google Ads.

There are over half a dozen options, each serving different objectives and use cases. You can easily lose track of when to use what.

Each bid strategy gives Google’s systems a different mandate around spend, target metrics and profit. Media buyers constantly bounce from one bid strategy to the next, and it’s not uncommon for a campaign to switch between strategies depending on where it’s at in the lifecycle.

Save this guide as your main resource for understanding which bid strategies to use, when and how to use them, and why they’re important.

1. Manual CPC

Manual cost-per-click (CPC) bidding is not really a place that I believe most campaigns want to stay, but it has two clear uses.

First is brand campaigns, where the goal is less about performance and more about making sure that searches for your brand end up on your website, not those of your competitors. With brand campaigns, you want to capture a certain amount of impression share.

• How many searches are there for my brand each month?
• Am I showing up at least 80-90% of the time?
• Am I capturing and profiting from these queries?

In my experience, you’re better off with Phrase and Exact Match when using manual bidding, while limiting Broad Match to just a few very relevant terms.

Broad Match is much more liberal and when you combine that with Smart Bidding, Google knows which of the 100 people searching for the same keyword are most likely to convert. They can tweak those bids in real time.

The other use case for Manual CPC is low-volume keywords, typically in lead generation campaigns. When you’re running a Search campaign and trying to stay profitable, but you don’t have a large budget and or a large enough data signal, manual bidding often works well.

If your budget is $50 a day and you start bidding $7 per click, and you see that you’re spending the full $50 a day, you can bid less per click. If that works, you keep lowering your bid until you see that Google is no longer spending the full budget. That’s when you know to push back in the other direction.

In those cases where you’re using manual bidding, it’s important to look at performance by device or time of day to see if you need to implement specific bid adjustments. I typically do this until I have enough conversion volume, and then I try to switch to Maximize Conversions or Target CPA.

Even with a limited budget, sufficient conversion data is my barometer for deciding to move to Smart Bidding. If I’m on manual bidding several months or years into a campaign’s lifetime, it’s because there truly are no better options.

2. Maximize Clicks

I use Maximize Clicks out of the gate when I want a campaign to simply spend its budget: Shopping, Search, and Dynamic Search. When I want to collect conversion data and speed up the learning process, I set it to Maximize Clicks for a few weeks.

The difference between Manual CPC and Maximize Clicks is the latter doesn’t give Google any limitations on how much to bid. You can set a bid cap, but the idea of this bid strategy is to simply exhaust a daily budget and get as many clicks as possible.

I recommend using it sparingly – only when your goal is to push traffic to collect data.

That being said, you might find it useful for upper-funnel campaigns focused on prospecting, such as Demand Gen or even certain Search campaigns where you want to generate new traffic from specific audiences.

Remember to take those results with a pinch of salt, because this bid strategy has no guardrails on the quality of clicks.

Dig deeper: Bidding and bid adjustments in paid search campaigns

3. Target Impression Share

Target Impression Share has only one use case, in my opinion: Branded search. I’m sure there are other scenarios where it makes sense to different folks.

The goal of branded search is maintaining visibility – you don’t want that traffic to wind up on a competitor’s site. If the traffic converts, it converts; Smart Bidding is not really going to influence the level of intent.

When you show up 90% of the time and capture 90% of clicks, there’s no reason to use a CPA or ROAS target. Both of those will push aggressively and make you pay more for a click that you can buy for much less.

Again, make sure you’re only using Phrase and Exact Match, or the system will go overboard.

Don’t use this strategy if the play is to get more of your competitor’s impression share. Bidding on your own brand means you have high relevance, so you get cheaper CPCs than your competitors.

Now flip that equation: You don’t have high relevance for your competitor’s brand, so you’ll have to bid much more aggressively. In this situation, I’d use a CPA or ROAS target to make sure this tactic remains profitable.

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4. Smart Bidding (and why I prioritize it)

My goal with most campaigns is to move toward some form of Smart Bidding eventually. Google has a tremendous amount of user data that influences its ability to push your account in the right direction, but you’ll never see that if you stick to manual bidding.

Many advertisers and media buyers are skeptical of Smart Bidding and have every right to be. But I don’t believe that campaigns that rely overly on manual controls will continue to deliver outsized results in the years to come.

Maximize Conversions (Target CPA) and Maximize Conversion Value (Target ROAS)

The difference between Google’s two primary Smart Bidding strategies is simple:

• Maximize Conversions focuses on the number of transactions or conversion actions
• Maximize Conversion Value focuses on any value that you provide (typically revenue)

What often ends up happening is lead gen service providers lean in on Maximize Conversions while ecommerce brands go for Maximize Conversion Value. But if you do lead generation and can import your offline conversion values – pipeline and sales data – then you can use Maximize Conversion Value to great effect.

The ultimate goal of Google Ads is to bid based on value, so that you can look at your cost versus revenue and optimize for profit margin.

With both bid strategies, you can include a target goal: CPA for Maximize Conversions and ROAS for Maximize Conversion Value.

Without these targets, you’re telling Google to spend your whole budget – whether that’s $100 a day or $100,000. And the system will try its best to do that while getting you as many conversions or conversion value as possible.

Give it a Target CPA or a Target ROAS, and you’re no longer telling the system its first objective is to spend the budget but to meet your goal while spending as much of the budget as possible within those confines.

For most campaigns seeking profitability, Maximize Conversions with Target CPA or Maximize Conversion Value with Target ROAS are typically where you want to get unless you have specific objectives around reach, frequency or metrics. 

Finding the sweet spot for a ROAS or CPA target

There’s a science to finding the optimal ROAS or CPA target for Smart Bidding to work with.

I like to start either bid strategy with no target. This pushes it to spend and gather data, allowing me to establish a benchmark for what that target comes in. If the CPA is $100 and I want it to be less, I set the target to $95 and see how much I can still spend.

If I still get full use of my daily budget, I keep pulling it back slowly while seeing if I can still pull in a similar amount of traffic and conversions at a lower cost. Keep tweaking those metrics until it lands at a place that makes sense for you while following these best practices:

• Reduce the target by no more than 10-20% at a time and give the system a few weeks to acclimatize. Accounts with more conversion data can get away with bigger and more frequent changes.
• Watch for the cliff. Maybe you’ll end up doing 90% of original volume while spending only 60-70% of the original spend (and still exhausting nearly the full daily budget). Maybe you’ll see a massive drop and need to roll it back.
• Lower your bids whenever a campaign is reaching its daily budget every single day. You do this on Smart Bidding by lowering your Target CPA or increasing your Target ROAS, which changes the ultimate bid that goes into the auction. If your campaign is set to $100 a day and spends $105 every day, you can likely lower your bids.

Value-based bidding

With Maximize Conversion Value, Google gives you the opportunity to feed it with business data that illustrates which leads are most valuable to you.

While it’s often used by ecommerce businesses that quantify the dollar value of things, it can also be used in lead generation.

The simplest way to do this is for lead gen is to:

• Understand your brand’s full sales funnel – how prospects become leads, how leads become qualified leads, how qualified leads become opportunities, and how opportunities become sales.
• Work with your team or clients to determine what a sale is worth, then work backward through the funnel, noting down the typical conversion rates from one stage to the next. If you do this right, you can determine the value of a conversion in Google Ads based on how much revenue a deal generates.
• Use offline conversions to manually or automatically feed that information and those values back into Google Ads, allowing the system to find more of the kinds of leads that lead to closed deals, signed contracts and money in the bank.

Additionally, Conversion Value Rules lets you add positive and negative weightage to locations, devices and audiences, effectively serving as another layer of bid adjustments for Smart Bidding.

Dig deeper: Value-based bidding: Why it’s key to boosting your Google Ads

Match bid strategy to your campaign’s goals

I’m pro-Smart Bidding and pro-automation in general. However, I understand that thousands of Google Ads marketers still prefer the old-school method of controlling everything themselves.

Ultimately, it’s important that we’re all able to do what’s best for our clients and brands. That’s why I believe the most essential part of picking a bid strategy is lining it up with what you want to achieve.

Performance Max, for example, only allows you to use Smart Bidding and is a poor fit for accounts with limited conversion data. If you aren’t willing to adapt, stick to Manual CPC and its limits.

Criticism of automation and AI is fair when it’s in the right context, but for those using these new technologies with the right support and setup, better performance is a question of “when” rather than “if”.

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

Google local pack not showing for many searchers

Written on February 14, 2024 at 10:38 am, by admin

Google Search currently has a bug when the local pack, the local search results box, is not being served in its desktop of mobile search results. This is affecting a lot of searchers right now and seems to have started at about 8:40 am ET on Wednesday, February 14.

Some searchers are able to see the local packs but here in the United States and in many other countries, it seems the local pack is not rendering for any searcher.

Searches like lawyers near me, density near me, florists near me, pizza near me, car repair near me, and so on – none of those are returning the local pack in the Google Search results right now.

It also does not work when searching directly in Google Maps:

What it should look like. Here is a screenshot from one searcher who is able to see the local pack in the UK. That local pack should show up at the top or middle of the normal search results.

There has been no word from Google on this issue yet but this can have a serious impact for local businesses that get a lot of traffic from these local packs.

Why we care. If you are a local business and depend on driving traffic and sales through Google’s local pack and local search results, know there is a bug. I suspect Google will fix this bug relatively quickly but it has already been over an hour since we noticed the bug and it is still not resolved.

Fixed. It took over two hours but it is now working again, here is a screenshot:

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

3 tips to be a great data steward for agency clients

Written on February 13, 2024 at 6:36 am, by admin

Automation and AI have given us tools to reduce (often drastically) the time we spend on more tedious PPC tasks.

That means as agency partners, we need to shift toward acting more as consultants for our clients. We must use our expertise to provide strategy and guidance that leads to business growth rather than hands-on-keys busywork.

A key area where we can leverage our expertise by identifying how clients can use data effectively while ensuring compliance with evolving privacy and security regulations.

1. Confirm where your clients (and your agency) stand with marketing analytics maturity

Over the last decade, the marketing analytics space has grown exponentially. Where do your clients stand? Factors often include:

• Budget
• Age of the company
• Leadership’s willingness to invest the right resources into the right tools

A one-size-fits-all approach won’t cut it. As a result, it’s important to figure out the scope of clients’ resources right out of the gate. Use these questions to guide you:

• Do they have a dedicated marketing operations team with whom you can communicate freely? Or are they still learning how to configure Salesforce objects?
• On average, how much time do they generally need to process data or analytics requests?
• Are they doing any media mix modeling, single or multi-touch attribution? Or are they still trying to figure out attribution altogether?
• Do they use Google Analytics 4 or another reliable web analytics platform?

Confirming your clients’ marketing analytics maturity phase is just the first step in the process. You should also know where your agency stands with its marketing analytics maturity. What scope of services are you capable of offering to your clients?

Suppose your agency is still in the “informative” or “real-time” phase (see chart). In that case, it’s unlikely you can successfully assist a client who aims to incorporate more predictive technology into their marketing practice. Yet this situation can become a great opportunity to seek out resources (including third-party) to do so.

If you’re encountering similar analytics-related challenges across many clients, consider investing in an in-house resource to help solve them. For instance:

• Train members of your data and analytics teams on the Salesforce reporting platform.
• Hire a marketing operations specialist to help clients with tagging and tracking.
• Create a task force to scope out the best predictive tools and methods to use agency-wide, given your own resource constraints.
• Build a roadmap to get your agency to a place where you can confidently say you’ve reached the “prescriptive phase.”

Ultimately, as agency partners, our goal is to ensure leadership has confidence that marketing activities are translating into business success. Positioning your agency as a strategic partner with an effective analytics scope can inspire confidence in your clients’ leadership teams. 

Dig deeper: 3 steps for effective PPC reporting and analysis

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2. Future-proof by preparing for third-party cookie deprecation with server-to-server tracking

By now, you’ve heard ad nauseam that third-party cookies will soon be a thing of the past, with Google expected to phase them out completely by Q3 of 2024. If they aren’t already, your clients will be asking about the implications for their media strategies.

Today, nearly every major advertising platform offers an offline conversion tracking solution. By default, this conversion tracking method is cookie-less. As a result, your first step should be enabling this option for your clients across platforms.

In addition, take steps to audit the quality of the data passed into these systems. With routine audits, your agency team can continue optimizing toward ideal conversion rates. 

The best practice for seamless tracking, however, is implementing server-to-server tracking. On a surface level, server-to-server tracking creates and stores a unique identifier on the client’s private server when a user clicks a tracking link or generates an ad impression. This ID replaces pixel-based (or client-side) tracking, which stores the customer’s data in their web browser.

It’s important to note that server-to-server tracking is not a way to get around privacy restrictions and compliance. Rather, it bypasses browser-based privacy restrictions and ad blockers.

If your agency isn’t already doing so, now is the time to create a company-wide initiative for everyone to become familiar with server-to-server tracking. Then, you can start helping your clients understand the importance of configuring their technology stacks to enable this method.

Implementation can take a lot of time, particularly when databases require reconfiguring to generate and store these unique IDs. While your agency may not oversee the technical execution, it’s essential to be a good consultant to your clients and set expectations for what it will take. It’s also helpful to have good recommendations for resources if you or your clients don’t have them available internally.

3. Don’t over-engineer your analytics strategy

Ad platforms have seemingly been rolling out a new AI or forecasting tool every other month. When you consider the countless other third-party analytics SaaS on the market, it can feel overwhelming to keep up.

Remember, just because a tool is new doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good – or even the right tool for your goals. As you consider new tools and workflows to incorporate into your analytics strategy, ask the following questions:

• Will it help me collect accurate and timely data better than my current solution does?
• Can it help me analyze trends deeper and better than my existing tech stack does?
• Will it provide more actionable insights than I currently receive?
• Will it help me comply with any regulatory requirements better than I already do?
• Can it do what I already do, but cheaper?

These elements are some of the most basic pillars of any marketing analytics strategy. If any new and flashy tools or strategies aren’t satisfying one of the above, they probably aren’t worth the resource allocation.

It’s also critical to consider where your agency has landed on the marketing analytics maturity path. If you’re operating in the “informative” phase, adopting more advanced media mix modeling or an incrementality testing tool might not be your top priority.

The path to becoming a great data steward

Between the rapid rollout of automation and AI tools and the deprecation of third-party cookies, many agencies’ roles continue to shift toward the consultant end of the spectrum.

For agency partners, becoming a great data steward starts with knowing how, why, and when to incorporate analytics into paid media planning – and ultimately guiding clients toward future-proofing their businesses.

Dig deeper: 6 tips to track and analyze PPC results

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

Google expands generative AI capabilities for automatically created assets

Written on February 13, 2024 at 6:36 am, by admin

Google expanded its generative AI features for automatically created assets (ACA) to all English language advertisers in the U.S. and UK.

Why we care. If you are an English-speaking advertiser in the U.S. or UK, you can now start utilizing generative AI to help create your ad campaigns, giving you access to a broader range of ideas instantly and significant time-saving benefits.

ACAs explained. Automatically created assets (ACAs) are a campaign-level setting that advertisers can opt into. By activating this setting, assets such as headlines and descriptions are automatically generated. These generated assets complement the ones provided by advertisers for their responsive search ads, enhancing the overall ad content.

Generative AI and ACAs. In some cases, generative AI is used to create assets that better match what people are searching for. This helps ensure that the generated content is relevant and aligns with users’ search queries.

How it works. Automatically created assets (ACAs) work in conjunction with responsive search ads by generating new content, like headlines and descriptions, based on the specific details of your ad. This includes factors such as your landing page, existing ads, and keywords.

When your ad is eligible to appear for a query, the responsive search ads consider both the pool of assets you’ve created and the automatically generated assets. The system then serves the combination predicted to perform the best.

What Google is saying. Google Ads liaison officer Ginny Marvin said on X:

• “Generative AI is used to improve the relevancy of assets to the search query and predicted performance of your Search ads in Search and Performance Max campaigns.”
• “ACA is meant to supplement, not replace, your existing headlines and descriptions.”

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Deep dive. Read Google’s automatically created assets guide for more information.

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

TikTok publishes best practice guide for optimal campaign performance

Written on February 13, 2024 at 6:36 am, by admin

TikTok published a best practice guide on how to optimize your ad campaigns and bidding strategies for maximum performance.

The 13-page guide includes tips and recommendations for:

• Account structure.
• Campaign setup.
• Data connections.
• Creative.
• Attribution.
• Measurement.

Why we care. If you plan to run campaigns on TikTok this year, you should check out this guide as the tips provided are directly from the platform. However, it’s important to keep in mind the source of this information, and that certain advice may prioritize TikTok’s interests over advertisers’.

Ad account optimization. As part of a nurtured account strategy, TikTok recommends ensuring your Ad Account is structured towards the end-to-end user journey, for example:

• Only use one ad account.
• Combine and diversify ad groups.

Nurtured account strategy. TikTok advises starting with upper funnel conversion events (don’t immediately start with the lowest funnel events) and repeating the process for each new Ad Group. The platform claims this is the “key to scalable growth and long-term performance.”

Data connection setup. TikTok states that by utilizing its data connections to measure and learn from consumer actions on your website, you can maximize the chances of conversions.

Setting and scaling your budget. TikTok recommends adhering to its best practices to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of your budget utilization. The platform notes that it is advisable to set budgets for both campaigns and Ad Groups.

Bidding strategy. The bidding strategy you select tells TikTok’s system how to bid for you in the ad auction, so the platform advises selecting a bidding strategy that is best aligned to your primary KPI for campaign efficiency.

Ad fatigue. When you reach the maximum number of people who are interested in your ad, you may experience ad fatigue. TikTok has some tips on what actions you can take if this happens.

Attribution. TikTok recommends using Click Through Attribution together with View Through Attribution for a holistic view of your campaign.

What TikTok is saying. TikTok said in a statement:

• “Ensure your campaigns are set up properly so that you can achieve repeatable, reliable results with ease. Use the best practices in this guide as the foundational building blocks for success on TikTok.”

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Deep dive. Read TikTok’s optimal web performance best practice guide in full for more information

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

Google tests Branded Local Service Ads with opt-out option

Written on February 13, 2024 at 6:36 am, by admin

Google is piloting branded Local Service Ads (LSA) called Direct Business Search.

Brands are automatically enrolled into this new ad type by default. From Feb 13, all businesses will be able to disable it by manually adjusting their settings.

Direct Business Search explained. This new ad type allows brands to show up in search results when someone directly searches for a brand or business.

Why we care. While this ad type may offer the chance to display your ad when someone is actively searching for a competitor, allowing you to tap into their customer base, it’s essential to consider the possibility of paying for conversions that you might have naturally obtained anyway. This happens when users click on your ad, even when your organic listing is right below it in the search results, as clicking on the organic listing would not have incurred any cost.

First look. Direct Business Search ads were first flagged by Anthony Higman, CEO of online advertising agency Adsquire, who shared a screenshot on X:

Reassurance for advertisers. Expressing concern, Higman noted that brands currently lack the option to opt out of Direct Business Search ads. Joy Hawkins, owner of the Local Search Forum, LocalU, and Sterling Sky, a Local SEO agency in Canada & the USA, shared this sentiment, confirming her inability to opt out of this ad type too. However, Google provided assurance that the ability for all brands to opt-out will be available in the near future.

Google also explained to Search Engine Land that when an existing customer clicks on a Direct Business Search ad, the business won’t be charged – only new customer leads are charged.

Opting out. Ben Fisher, Co-Founder/Lead Consultant at Diamond Google Product Expert, explained on X that brands can opt out of Direct Business Search ads by going to settings, and turning off the Direct business search toggle, as demonstrated in the screenshot below:

If the option is not currently available, it’s important to note that Direct Business Search ads are still in the early stages, and Google will be making this choice accessible to everyone in the near future.

What Google is saying. Google Ads liaison officer Ginny Marvin said on X:

• “This is an experiment that will be rolling out shortly. To be clear, the opt-out will be available for everyone. Customers will receive more information on this next week.”

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Deep dive. Read Google’s Direct Business Search guidelines for more information.

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

Best of SearchBot: Create letter explaining SGE to clients and provide actionable steps

Written on February 9, 2024 at 6:33 pm, by admin

Best of the SearchBot showcases Search Engine Land’s SearchBot’s responses to prompts submitted by readers. The language model is based on content from Search Engine Land layered on top of ChatGPT. The editors of Search Engine Land selected this response for its usefulness and have supplemented it with additional relevant content.

I am the first generative AI chatbot for search marketers. I am trained with Search Engine Land content.

Here’s something somebody asked me! After that, how you can improve prompts to get even better answers from me.

Prompt:

Give a brief overview of search generative experience.

Answer:

The Search Generative Experience (SGE) is a new AI-powered search engine developed by Google. It aims to provide users with more informative and interactive search results. With SGE, users may see an AI-generated answer displayed above the search results, clearly labeled as experimental. The answer is boxed in and accompanied by the websites used to generate it, which can be clicked on for further exploration. SGE also supports vertical search experiences, such as Google Shopping, and can provide AI-generated answers for specific product searches. Users can engage in conversations with SGE by adding more details or prompts, and the AI will generate follow-up answers. Google has trained SGE using a variety of language models to ensure the quality and accuracy of the information presented. The search experience prioritizes information quality, safety, and providing credits to the source of the content. It also emphasizes factual responses over fluid ones to maintain trust and avoid false or inaccurate information. SGE includes links to publisher websites and allows users to toggle for deeper dives into additional sources. Classic search results are still accessible in a more “snackable” format. Google takes a responsible and deliberate approach to introducing generative AI capabilities to Search, and feedback from search quality raters is used to improve the overall experience. SGE is not intended to replace the current Google search experience but will likely undergo adjustments based on user feedback before a full launch.

How this prompt could be improved:

You an experienced SEO consultant with clients in various industries. You specialize in improving online visibility through technical, on-site, and off-site recommendations. However, your biggest strength is content SEO; specifically, creating blogs that consistently rank well on Google.

Right now, your top priority is on the upcoming rollout of Google’s new search generative experience and how you can protect your clients’ websites from potential drops in rankings. You understand the importance of preparing for this change in advance by staying ahead of the curve. Your goal is to deliver practical advice and actionable tips regarding the Search Generative Experience and keep your clients up with the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing.

Create documentation for your clients explaining what Search Generative Experience is in detail, how search results will appear differently, why Google is making this change and why people are concerned about it. State when it is being rolled out, how this could impact their website traffic, and why it is important to start preparing for this change now.

Structure the documentation in a user-friendly format by incorporating headings where applicable and adopting a question-and-answer style for clarity.

Within the letter, propose a tailored SEO editorial strategy for your clients’ websites to ensure they are prepared for Search Generative Experience. Outline what actions you recommend taking now regarding their blogs to ensure that their search traffic is as best optimized as it can be. Emphasise why it is important to be proactive and start preparing for Search Generative Experience now, outline the risks of not doing so, and the benefits of taking action now.

Your tone is friendly, confident, insightful, and reassuring as you help clients choose the best approach for them. Make sure you simplify everything so that those who do not work in SEO can easily understand every point. Present various options that match their goals, resources, and preferences, making it easy for them to decide.

You are putting this documentation together for business owners and decision-makers. You want to reassure them that you are on top of upcoming Google changes and that they can trust you to be proactive, and avoid potential issues before they arise.

The key elements and enhancements to this prompt are as follows:

(Task)

Create documentation for your clients explaining what Search Generative Experience is in detail, how search results will appear differently, why Google is making this change and why people are concerned about it. State when it is being rolled out, how this could impact their website traffic, and why it is important to start preparing for this change now.

Within the letter, propose a tailored SEO editorial strategy for your clients’ websites to ensure they are prepared for Search Generative Experience. Outline what actions you recommend taking now regarding their blogs to ensure that their search traffic is as best optimized as it can be. Emphasise why it is important to be proactive and start preparing for Search Generative Experience now, outline the risks of not doing so, and the benefits of taking action now.

(Context)

You an experienced SEO consultant with clients in various industries. You specialize in improving online visibility through technical, on-site, and off-site recommendations. However, your biggest strength is content SEO; specifically, creating blogs that consistently rank well on Google.

Right now, your top priority is on the upcoming rollout of Google’s new search generative experience and how you can protect your clients’ websites from potential drops in rankings. You understand the importance of preparing for this change in advance by staying ahead of the curve. Your goal is to deliver practical advice and actionable tips regarding the Search Generative Experience and keep your clients up with the ever-changing landscape of digital marketing.

(Tone)

Your tone is friendly, confident, insightful, and reassuring as you help clients choose the best approach for them. Make sure you simplify everything so that those who do not work in SEO can easily understand every point. Present various options that match their goals, resources, and preferences, making it easy for them to decide.

(Format)

Structure the documentation in a user-friendly format by incorporating headings where applicable and adopting a question-and-answer style for clarity.

(Example) 

You are putting this documentation together for business owners and decision-makers. You want to reassure them that you are on top of upcoming Google changes and that they can trust you to be proactive, and avoid potential issues before they arise.

Answer:

Subject: Preparing for Google’s Search Generative Experience: Your Guide to Staying Ahead

Dear [Client’s Name],

I hope this message finds you well. As your trusted SEO consultant, I wanted to bring your attention to an upcoming change in the digital marketing landscape that could impact your website’s visibility and traffic. Google is rolling out its new Search Generative Experience (SGE), and it’s crucial to start preparing for this change now to ensure your online presence remains strong.

What is the Search Generative Experience (SGE)?
SGE is Google’s AI-driven initiative to provide personalized and conversational answers to user search queries. It leverages natural language processing (NLP) capabilities to understand complex topics and detailed search queries better. The goal is to provide comprehensive information without the need for follow-up questions, similar to a real human conversation.

How will search results appear differently?
With SGE, search results will focus more on conversational queries and featured snippets. Instead of traditional web content, AI-generated text will likely appear, providing personalized answers directly on the search engine results pages (SERPs). This change may increase the time users spend on SERPs, as they receive comprehensive responses akin to a real human conversation.

Why is Google making this change, and why are people concerned?
Google aims to enhance user experience by providing more accurate and detailed information directly on the SERPs. However, this change has raised concerns among marketers and website owners who fear a potential drop in website traffic. It’s important to note that SGE won’t steal your traffic; instead, it offers publishers more ranking opportunities. By understanding and adapting to SGE, we can leverage these opportunities to drive more traffic to your website.

When is SGE being rolled out, and how could it impact your website traffic?
SGE is still in its experimental phase, and Google is continuously refining its algorithms. While the exact timeline for the full rollout is uncertain, it’s crucial to start preparing now to stay ahead of the curve. By proactively optimizing your website for SGE, you can ensure that your content is well-positioned to benefit from this new search paradigm.

Why is it important to start preparing for SGE now?
Being proactive and preparing for SGE now will give you a competitive advantage in the evolving digital landscape. Waiting until the rollout is complete may put you at a disadvantage, as your competitors who have already optimized their content for SGE will have a head start. By taking action now, you can safeguard your website’s visibility, maintain or improve your rankings, and drive more targeted traffic to your site.

Tailored SEO Editorial Strategy for SGE Preparation:
To help you navigate the upcoming changes and optimize your website for SGE, I propose the following tailored SEO editorial strategy:

1. Move beyond traditional SEO strategies:
Focus on creating valuable, unique, and thought-provoking content that offers a personalized experience and reflects real human perspectives. This will set your content apart from generic offerings and align with the conversational nature of SGE.

2. Pay closer attention to E-E-A-T signals:
Demonstrate your expertise, experience, authority, and trustworthiness through your content. Leverage subject matter experts and incorporate their insights into your content creation workflow. Prioritize activities that boost your authority, such as link building and customer reviews.

3. Reputation management is key:
Maintain a positive online reputation by actively managing reviews, engaging on social media, and running PR campaigns to promote positive mentions of your brand. This will signal to search engines that you produce valuable and relevant content.

4. Own the narrative in your industry:
Become the go-to resource for information in your niche by creating comprehensive, in-depth content. Strategically build internal links to enhance the authority of your priority pages and earn backlinks to boost the authoritativeness of your content.

5. Embrace agility and experimentation:
Continuously evaluate your SEO approach based on data analysis and make necessary tweaks quickly. Experiment with new concepts and SGE-based content strategies to gain visibility in this evolving search paradigm.

6. Optimize for long-tail queries:
Create and optimize content specifically for question-based queries, as they are anticipated to gain prominence in SGE. Comprehensively answer user questions and provide detailed information to increase visibility and engagement on SERPs.

7. Leverage structured data markup and SEO strategies:
Implement effective structured data markup techniques to help search engines understand your content better. This can improve your chances of appearing in SGE carousels and enhance your overall visibility.

By implementing these strategies, you can proactively prepare your website for SGE and ensure that your content is optimized to drive targeted traffic and maintain or improve your rankings.

The Risks of Not Taking Action:
Failing to prepare for SGE could result in a potential loss of visibility, decreased organic traffic, and a competitive disadvantage. Your competitors who adapt to SGE early may surpass you in search rankings, making it harder for your target audience to find you. By taking action now, you can mitigate these risks and position yourself for success in the evolving digital landscape.

The Benefits of Taking Action Now:
By being proactive and preparing for SGE, you can:

1. Maintain or improve your website’s visibility and rankings.
2. Drive targeted traffic to your site through personalized and conversational search results.
3. Establish your brand as an authority in your industry.
4. Stay ahead of your competitors who may be slower to adapt.
5. Enhance user experience by providing comprehensive and valuable information directly on the SERPs.

I am confident that by implementing these strategies and staying ahead of the curve, we can navigate the upcoming changes brought by SGE and ensure your website’s continued success.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I am here to support you every step of the way.

Best regards,

[Your Name]
SEO Consultant

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

Google Ads gambling and games policy updated

Written on February 9, 2024 at 6:33 pm, by admin

Google Ads is updating its gambling and games policy U.S. country-specifics.

Starting February 8, Google will start accepting and running sports betting ads from certified, state-licensed entities with certificates of compliance in North Carolina

You must apply for certification to be eligible to promote these ads.

Why we care. Advertisers who want to run sports betting ads should apply for certification, without it, promoting their campaigns will not be possible.

When to apply. Starting now, advertisers wanting to promote online gambling content in North Carolina can apply for certification.

Certification. To obtain certification, follow these steps if you meet Google’s policy and country-specific requirements:

• Privately-licensed operators: If you are based in one of the countries where Google permits online gambling content, fill out the online gambling application form in the Google Ads Help Center. Providing all the requested information will help prevent delays.
• State-run entities: If you operate in one of the countries where Google allows only state-run entities, use this form. When completing the form:
  • In ‘Summary of the issue’: Note that you’re requesting certification to advertise as a state-run gambling entity, and provide your website URL.
  • In ‘Campaign name and Ad group name’: Enter N/A if you haven’t set up a campaign or ad group.
• Social casino game operators: Use this form to submit your website URL or app, Google Ads customer ID, and the country group you are targeting. 

You must submit a separate application form for each country you want to target.

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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

Pinterest announces major ad partnership with Google

Written on February 9, 2024 at 6:33 pm, by admin

Pinterest announced a new ad partnership with Google designed to boost its ad revenue.

This marks Google as the second third-party ad partner for Pinterest, following its multi-year collaboration with Amazon that was unveiled last year.

Why we care. This collaboration provides an opportunity for brands running campaigns with Google Ads to not only broaden their reach but also engage with an active, high-value consumer base. This engagement has the potential to lead to stronger return on investment (ROI) and increased conversions.

How it works. The integration will enable ads to be served on Pinterest via Google’s Ad Manager. When Pinterest users encounter a Google Ad they will be directed to the advertiser’s website to complete their purchase.

Timeline. Pinterest initiated the rollout of the new ad integration a few weeks ago and is reportedly experiencing positive results. Following a similar pattern to the Amazon integration, the Google integration is expected to be phased in over several quarters.

International goals. While Pinterest has 80% of its user base outside the U.S., only 20% of its revenue comes from these international users. Executives are optimistic that the Google partnership will play a crucial role in boosting the average revenue per user in international markets.

What Google is saying. Pinterest CEO Bill Ready said:

• “This partnership will focus on monetizing several of our currently unmonetized international markets by enabling ads to be served on Pinterest via Google’s Ad Manager.”
• “We went live a couple of weeks ago, and this is starting to ramp up. Third-party ad demand is scaling as we anticipated.”

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Deep dive. Read Pinterest’s Q4 2023 earnings report for more information.

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