#TWIMshow - This Week in Marketing

Episode 166 contains the notable Digital Marketing News and Updates from the week of June 19 - 23, 2023. And the show notes for this episode was generated using generative AI. And like always, I curated the articles for the show.

1. YouTube's New Thumbnail A/B Testing Tool - YouTube has launched a new thumbnail A/B testing tool that allows creators to test different variations of their thumbnail images to see which one performs best. The tool is currently in live testing with a small group of creators, but it is expected to be rolled out to more creators in the coming months.

The thumbnail A/B testing tool is a valuable addition to YouTube's creator toolkit. By testing different thumbnail images, creators can ensure that they are using the most effective thumbnail to attract viewers and maximize their video views.

2. TikTok Expands TikTok Shops to All Businesses In The US, UK, Canada, and France - TikTok is expanding access to its TikTok Shops eCommerce program to all businesses in the US, UK, Canada, and France. The program allows businesses to sell products directly through TikTok, and it has been growing rapidly in popularity. In the first quarter of 2023, TikTok Shops generated over $1 billion in GMV.

To join the TikTok Shops program, businesses need to have a TikTok account and a Shopify or Ecwid store. Once they are approved, they can start adding products to their TikTok Shop and linking their product catalog to TikTok. Businesses can then tag products in their videos and create shopping posts that allow users to purchase products directly from TikTok.

The expansion of TikTok Shops to all businesses in these four countries is a major step for the platform. It will allow more businesses to reach a wider audience and sell more products through TikTok. This is likely to further boost the growth of TikTok Shops in the coming months and years.

3. Instagram Now Lets You Download Public Reels! - Instagram is now rolling out the ability for users to download publicly posted Reels content to their camera roll. This means that users can now save Reels to their devices for offline viewing, sharing, or editing. To download a Reel, simply tap on the share icon and then select the "Download" option.

There are a few limitations to this feature. First, only Reels from public accounts can be downloaded. Second, creators can opt out of enabling downloads of their content in their Account Settings. Finally, some users have reported audio issues with some Reels content, which could be linked to Meta's music licensing agreements.

Overall, this is a welcome addition to Instagram that will give users more flexibility with how they interact with Reels content. It will also make it easier for users to share Reels with others, even if they don't have Instagram.

4. LinkedIn's New AI Image Detector Catches 99% of Fake Profiles - LinkedIn has developed a new AI image detector that has a 99% success rate in catching fake profile photos. The detector uses a variety of techniques to identify fake images, including analyzing the image's pixels, comparing it to other images in its database, and looking for inconsistencies in the image's metadata.

The advent of AI-generated profile images has made it easier to create fake LinkedIn profiles, which has exacerbated an already huge problem. In the first half of 2022, LinkedIn detected and removed 21 million fake accounts.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that LinkedIn's AI image detector is working well. An affiliate marketer who deployed fake LinkedIn profiles said that their success rate dropped significantly after LinkedIn implemented the new detector.

5. Meta Expands Reels Ads To Instagram And Tests AI Features - Meta is expanding Reels ads to Instagram and testing AI features to boost engagement and broaden advertiser reach. Previously, Reels ads were only available on Facebook. Now, advertisers can run ads between Reels on Instagram, expanding beyond Facebook. Meta is also introducing app promotion ads to Reels to boost app downloads. Additionally, Meta is testing AI to optimize music in single-image Reels ads, aiming for better viewer engagement.

6. Meta's New Speech-to-Text Translation Tool Can Translate Text into Audio in 6 Languages - Meta has announced a new AI system called Voicebox that can translate text to audio in a variety of styles and voices. The system is based on a new method called Flow Matching, which allows it to synthesize speech with fewer learning and processing requirements than other similar systems.

Voicebox can translate text into audio in six languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. It can also perform noise removal, edit content, and transfer audio style.

The system is still under development, but Meta plans to make it available to developers in the future.

7. GA4 Update: Now You Can Control Conversion Credit - Google Analytics 4 has added a new feature that allows you to select which channels are eligible to receive conversion credit for web conversions shared with Google Ads. This means that you can now choose to give credit to organic and paid channels, even if the last non-direct click was not from a Google ad.

This new feature can help you to get a more accurate picture of the impact of your marketing campaigns. For example, if you're running a paid campaign and you see that organic traffic is also converting, you can now give credit to both channels. This will help you to allocate your budget more effectively and improve your ROI.

8. Google Sues Rank and Rent Marketer: What You Need to Know - Google is suing an online marketer for violating its terms of service and for engaging in activities that mislead users and violate both federal and state laws. The marketer, who was a member of a public Facebook group called "Rank and Rent – GMB Strategy & Domination," is accused of creating fake businesses and fake websites, and then associating them with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone numbers whose area codes correspond to the fake businesses' supposed locations. Google alleges that the marketer has been associated with over 350 fake Business Profiles listings since mid-2021.

9. Google Launches New INP Report in Search Console to Help you Prepare for FID to INP Transition - Google has launched a new report in Google Search Console to help site owners prepare for the upcoming change of First Input Delay (FID) to Interaction to Next Paint (INP) as a Core Web Vital metric. The report, which can be accessed by clicking this link and selecting a property, shows how well your site performs with the INP metric.

INP is a measure of how long it takes for a user to be able to interact with a page after it has loaded. It is a more accurate measure of user experience than FID, as it takes into account the time it takes for the browser to paint the first content on the page as well as the time it takes for the user to be able to interact with that content.

The INP report in Google Search Console shows the following data for each page on your site:

• The average INP for the page
• The percentage of users who experienced an INP of 100 milliseconds or less
• The percentage of users who experienced an INP of 300 milliseconds or less

Google has not yet announced a specific date for the FID to INP transition, but it is expected to happen in March 2024. By using the INP report in Google Search Console, you can start preparing your site for the change and ensure that your users have a good experience.

 
10. Google Postpones Data-Driven Attribution Switch: What You Need to Know - Google has postponed the switch to data-driven attribution in Google Ads from June to mid-July 2023. This means that first click, linear, time decay, and position-based attribution models will still be available for new conversion actions until mid-July. However, once the switch is made, these models will be removed from all Google Ads reporting. Advertisers who want to continue using these models will have to manually switch to them.

The reason for the postponement is that Google wants to give advertisers more time to prepare for the switch. Data-driven attribution is a more complex model than the other attribution models, and it requires more data. Google wants to make sure that advertisers have enough data to get accurate results from data-driven attribution.

11. Google Ads Now Lets You Track Store Sales and Optimize Your Bids -  Google has announced that store sales reporting and bidding are now available across Performance Max campaigns within Google Ads. This means advertisers can measure total sales wherever customers prefer to shop and optimize their bids for in-store revenue.

To use this feature, you'll need to upload and match your transaction data from your business to Google. Once you've done that, you'll be able to see how your ads translate into offline purchases.

Store sales reporting and bidding offer a number of benefits for businesses, including:

• The ability to measure the true value of your ads in terms of in-store sales
• The ability to optimize your bids for in-store revenue
• The ability to gain insights into how your ads are driving offline purchases

If you're using Performance Max campaigns, I encourage you to take advantage of this new feature. It's a great way to track the impact of your ads on your offline sales and optimize your bids for maximum results.

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Episode 165 contains the notable Digital Marketing News and Updates from the week of June 12 - 16, 2023. And the show notes for this episode was generated using generative AI. And like always, I curated the articles for the show.

1. LinkedIn Removes Carousel Posts, Profile Videos, and In-Image Links - LinkedIn is removing native carousel posts, profile videos, and the ability to embed clickable links within the image or video of your posts. These changes will take effect on June 26, 2023.

Carousel posts were introduced in July 2022, but they never really caught on with users. Profile videos were added in 2021, but they also failed to gain traction. The ability to embed clickable links in images and videos was a more popular feature, but LinkedIn says that it is being removed because it is not being used as much as other features.

LinkedIn says that it is making these changes in order to "focus on the features that our members use the most." The company says that it will continue to evaluate its features and make changes as needed.

2. Instagram Broadcast Channels Are Here!: A New Way to Connect with Your Audience - Instagram Broadcast Channels are now available worldwide. Creators can use Broadcast Channels to send one-way messages to their followers with text, photos, videos, polls, and voice messages. Broadcast Channels are only available in the Instagram app. Instagram is testing experimental features for Broadcast Channels, including question prompts, a dedicated tab in the inbox, collaborators, expiration dates and times, content moderators, and preview links.

3. TikTok Launches AI Ad Script Generator: How to Use It and What to Watch Out For -  TikTok has launched a new AI tool that can create scripts for ads in a matter of seconds. The Script Generator is available to all TikTok Creative Center users with a desktop TikTok for Business account. Advertisers simply have to enter in some basic information about the services or products they're offering, and the tool will generate various video scripts with hooks, scenes, calls to action, and visual/audio cues.

The Script Generator is a free tool, and advertisers can run their enquiry as many times as they like. However, it's important to note that there is a risk of inaccurate information being published when using AI-generated content. TikTok has warned digital marketers that they shouldn't rely solely on AI-generated scripts, and that they are solely responsible for ensuring that the content is accurate and complies with applicable laws and regulations.

4. Google's New Search Spam Report Form: How to Help Keep Search Results Clean - Google has updated its search spam report form to include more types of feedback, such as spam, paid links, malicious behavior, low quality, and other search quality issues. 

To submit a spam report, simply visit the Google Search spam report form and fill out the required information. You can also submit feedback in bulk by clicking the "Bulk Submission" button.  

This new form is a great way to help Google keep its search results spam-free. If you see any spam on Google, please take a moment to submit a report.

5. Google Sues Scammers for Creating Fake Businesses and Reviews - Google has filed a lawsuit against a group of scammers who created fake businesses and fake reviews on Google Maps and Business Profiles. The scammers allegedly created over 350 fraudulent Business Profiles and over 14,000 fake reviews. Google is seeking to stop the scammers from continuing their illegal activities and to recover damages.

6. Google Merchant Center Updates: What You Need to Know -  Google has updated its Merchant Center product data specification, with some changes taking effect immediately and others rolling out over the next few months. The most notable changes include:

• Expanding the list of countries where shipping cost is required using the shipping [shipping] attribute or through account shipping settings and enforced to additional countries. Offers without shipping cost will now be disapproved. Per Google, Shipping cost is one of the most common reasons for customers to abandon their shopping choices, so offering accurate information can help the performance of your ads and free listings. Shipping cost is recommended in all countries, but only required for certain countries. This policy is in effect as of June 15, 2023.
• Introducing a new certification attribute to describe product certifications, such as energy efficiency ratings. The certification [certification] attribute is used to describe certifications like energy efficiency ratings, and will allow for compliance with updated EU energy efficiency labeling regulation for products covered by rescaled EU energy labels. Learn more about the certification certification [certification]. This policy is in effect as of June 15, 2023.
• Previously, the quantity [quantity] attribute was required and the availability [availability] attribute was optional for local inventory feeds.  To simplify setup, they’re making the availability [availability] attribute required and quantity [quantity] optional. Google will begin warning merchants who don’t use the availability [availability] attribute in their local inventory feeds. Availability required instead of the quantity for local inventory ads and free local listings. This policy is in effect as of June 15, 2023.
• Clarifying the guidance for unique product identifiers. If your landing page has multiple prices, such as price for other variants, original currency, or promotional prices, they require the additional prices to be clearly differentiable from the advertised base price. For example, if you show the base price and a members-only price on your landing page, then it should be clear to the user which price is the advertised base price and which price is for members-only. This policy is in effect as of June 15, 2023.
• Expiration date [expiration_date] : Starting July 18, 2023, you can use the expiration date [expiration_date] attribute to stop showing a product on a specific date. For example, you can use this attribute for limited stock or seasonal products
• Beginning September 1, 2023, products that misuse out_of_stock availability will be disapproved. The availability [availability] attribute tells users whether or not a product you’ve listed is in stock, and should accurately represent the state of your product. Previously, the availability [availability] attribute could be used to pause and unpause ads from showing on Google. Instead, you should now use the pause [pause] attribute, which was introduced last year, to temporarily stop products from showing.

If you are listing your products on Google Shopping then you  should review your product data feeds to ensure that they are compliant with the new specifications. Failure to comply could result in product disapprovals or other penalties. If you need help then reach out to us.

Episode 164 contains the notable Digital Marketing News and Updates from the week of June 5 - 9, 2023. And the show notes for this episode was generated using generative AI. And like always, I curated the articles for the show.

1. Google’s Structured Data Validator vs Schema.org -During June 2023, Google SEO Office Hours, Google’s Martin Splitt answered a question about structured data validation and how Google’s validator can show different results than the Schema.org validator.

Both Google and Schema.org offer tools for validating if structured data is correct. 

Google’s tool validates structured data and it also offers feedback on whether the tested structured data qualifies for rich results in the search engine results pages. Rich results are enhanced search listings that makes the listing stand out on the search results. The Schema.org Schema Markup Validator checks if the structured data is valid according to the official standards.

Per Splitt, “Schema.org is an open and vendor-independent entity that defines the data types and attributes for structured data. Google, as a vendor however, might have specific requirements for some attributes and types in order to use the structured data in product features, such as our rich results in Google Search. So while just leaving out some attributes or using some type of values for an attribute is fine with Schema.org, vendors such as Google and others might have more specific requirements in order to use the structured data you provide to actually enhance features and products.”

In conclusion, Google’s validator has a purpose that is different from just checking if the structured data is valid. It’s checking to see if the structured data that Google requires (for potentially showing a webpage in enhanced search results) is valid. The Schema.org validator is just checking for standards and has nothing to do with how Google uses structured data.

You can watch the June SEO office hour here.

2. Google's Latest Search Console Update Makes it Easier to Fix Video Indexing Issues -
Google has released an update to its Search Console, aimed at refining video indexing reports. This enhancement promises to offer you more precise problem descriptions and actionable solutions to help boost the visibility of your videos in Google Search.

Previously, users encountered a generic "Google could not identify the prominent video on the page" error. Now, Google has decided to provide more specific details to overcome this problem. Here's what you need to know:

1. Video outside the viewport: If your video isn't fully visible when the page loads, you'll need to reposition it. Make sure the entire video lies within the renderable area of the webpage.
2. Video too small: If your video is smaller than desired, you should increase its size. The height should exceed 140px, and the width should be greater than 140px and constitute at least one-third of the page's width.
3. Video too tall: If your video is taller than 1080px, it's time to resize it. Decrease the height to less than 1080px to comply with Google's new guidelines.

While you might still see some old error messages for the next three months, Google plans to phase these out, replacing them with these new, more detailed notifications.

By adhering to these updates, you can maximize your video's prominence on Google Search and enhance user engagement. Happy optimizing!

3. Navigating the World of Domains: A Google Insider's Advice -  Let’s delve into the world of domain names and how they can impact your business's digital reach, guided by insights from Google Search Advocate, John Mueller.

Mueller recently clarified the differences between generic top-level domains (gTLDs) and country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), following Google's decision to reclassify .ai domains as gTLDs, breaking away from their previous association with Anguilla.

In essence, gTLDs (such as .com, .store, .net) are not tied to a specific geographical location, unlike ccTLDs (like .nl for the Netherlands, .fr for France, .de for Germany) that are country-specific. Mueller pointed out that if your business is primarily targeting customers within a certain country, a ccTLD might be the way to go. On the other hand, if you're aiming for a global customer base, a gTLD could be the better option.

Importantly, Mueller also highlighted the need to consider user perception. He posed a question to consider: will users click on a link they believe is meant for another country's audience?

Furthermore, Mueller also cautioned against using TLDs that may appear spammy, as it can harm your site's credibility.

His advice underscores the importance of strategic decision-making when registering your domain, reminding us that the choice of a domain name is not just a technical one, but a business decision that can have a significant impact on your online presence.

4. Google's Verdict on the Impact of Security Headers on Search Rankings - In your quest for a secure website, you may have come across HTTP headers - bits of data that offer valuable metadata about a webpage to browsers or web crawlers. The most well-known among these are response headers, like the infamous 404 Error or the 301 redirect.

A subset of these headers, known as security headers, play a critical role in fortifying your site against malicious attacks. For instance, the HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) header mandates that a webpage be accessed only via HTTPS, not HTTP, and ensures the browser remembers this preference for the future.

While a 301 redirect can guide browsers from HTTP to HTTPS, it leaves your site exposed to potential 'man-in-the-middle' attacks. An HSTS header, on the other hand, ensures your browser requests the HTTPS version directly, effectively bolstering site security.

A question was recently posed to Google's John Mueller about whether integrating security headers, like HSTS, could influence website ranking. Mueller's response was clear: the HSTS header does not impact Google Search. This header's purpose is to guide users to the HTTPS version of a site. As for deciding which version of a page to crawl and index, Google uses a process known as canonicalization, which doesn't rely on headers like HSTS.

So, while security headers might not boost your site's search ranking, their importance in maintaining a secure browsing experience for your users cannot be overstated. Remember, a secure website is a trusted website, and trust forms the foundation of any successful online presence.

5. Debunking 'Index Bloat': Google's Take on Effective Web Page Indexing - In a recent episode of Google's 'Search Off The Record' podcast, the Search Relations team at Google tackled the topic of web page indexing, putting a spotlight on the much-discussed theory within the SEO community: "Index Bloat."

This theory, often cause for concern, refers to a situation where search engines index pages that aren't beneficial for search results. It includes pages like filtered product pages, printer-friendly versions, internal search results, and more. Advocates of the index bloat theory argue that such pages can confuse search engines and negatively impact search rankings. They link this issue to the concept of a crawl budget, which is the number of URLs a search bot will crawl during each visit. The theory proposes that index bloat can lead to an inefficient use of this crawl budget, with search bots wasting time and resources gathering unneeded data.

However, Google's John Mueller challenged this theory, stating there is no known concept of index bloat at Google. According to Mueller, Google doesn't set an arbitrary limit on the number of indexed pages per site. His advice to webmasters is not to worry about excluding pages from Google’s index, but instead, focus on creating and publishing useful content.

While some supporters of the index bloat theory have pointed to issues like accidental page duplication, incorrect robots.txt files, and poor or thin content as causes, Google asserts that these are not signs of a non-existent "index bloat," but simply general SEO practices that require attention.

Some have suggested using tools like Google Search Console to detect index bloat by comparing the actual number of indexed pages to what's expected. Google's stance implies this comparison isn't indicating a problem, but is instead part of routine website management and monitoring.

Google's official stance dismisses the idea of index bloat. Instead, the emphasis should be on ensuring the pages submitted for indexing are valuable and relevant, thereby enhancing the overall user experience.

6. Controlling Googlebot: Decoding Google's Search Relations Podcast Insights - In the latest episode of the 'Search Off The Record' podcast, Google's Search Relations team, John Mueller and Gary Illyes, delved into two key topics: blocking Googlebot from crawling certain parts of a webpage and preventing Googlebot from accessing a website completely.

When asked how to stop Googlebot from crawling specific sections of a webpage, such as the "also bought" areas on product pages, Mueller emphasized that there's no direct method to achieve this. "It's impossible to block crawling of a specific section on an HTML page," he clarified.

However, Mueller did propose two strategies, albeit not perfect ones, to navigate this issue. One involves utilizing the data-nosnippet HTM

Episode 163 contains the notable Digital Marketing News and Updates from the week of May 29 - June 2, 2023. And the show notes for this episode was generated using generative AI. And like always, I curated the articles for the show.

1. Google Search Console Insights Adds New Report to Track Growing Content - Google has added a new report to Search Console Insights that track your content's growth over time. The report shows you how many impressions and clicks your content has received and how its ranking has changed. This information can help you identify your most popular content and change your content strategy to improve its performance.

To access the new report, go to the Search Console Insights page and select "Your Growing Content" from the menu. The report will show you a list of your top content, along with the following information for each piece of content:

• Impressions: The number of times your content has been shown in Google Search results.
• Clicks: The number of times users have clicked on your content in Google Search results.
• Position: The average position of your content in Google Search results.
• Growth: The percentage change in impressions, clicks, and position from the previous period.

You can use the information in this report to identify your most popular content and change your content strategy to improve its performance. For example, you can promote your most popular content on social media, write more content on similar topics, or optimize your content for specific keywords.

2. Google Now Treats .ai Domains as Generic Top-Level Domains - Google has updated its search algorithm to treat .ai domains as generic top-level domains (gTLDs), rather than country code top-level domains (ccTLDs). This means that .ai domains will now be eligible to rank for global search queries, not just those specific to Anguilla.

This is a significant change for businesses that use .ai domains. In the past, these businesses were limited to targeting local traffic. Now, they can reach a global audience with their websites and marketing campaigns.

If you have a .ai domain, you can optimize your website for global search queries today. Here are a few tips:

• Use relevant keywords throughout your website content.
• Create high-quality content that will attract and engage visitors.
• Build backlinks from other high-quality websites.
• Promote your website on social media and other online channels.

Following these tips can help your .ai domain rank for global search queries and reach a wider audience.

3. Google Penalizes Websites with Cheap TLDs - Google's John Mueller said on Reddit that Google penalizes websites that use cheap top-level domains (TLDs). Cheap TLDs are domains that cost less than $10 per year and are often associated with spam and low-quality websites.

Google's decision to penalize websites with cheap TLDs indicates that the search engine is more aggressive against spam. In recent years, Google has been cracking down on spam and low-quality websites, and this latest update is another step in that direction.

If your website uses a cheap TLD, you may want to consider transferring it to a more reputable domain. This will help to improve your website's ranking in Google Search results and protect you from being penalized.

How do you know which TLDs are spammy? Check out, Spamhaus.org.

4. Google Launches ‘Product Studio’ - Google has announced the launch of Product Studio. This free tool uses generative A.I. to create high-quality product images. Product Studio is available to all businesses, regardless of size, and can create images for various purposes, including product listings, marketing campaigns, and social media.

To use Product Studio, businesses upload their product images and provide details about the product, such as the product name, category, and color. Product Studio will then use this information to generate high-quality images, including lifestyle images, product shots, and close-ups.

Product Studio will be a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes. It can help businesses to save time and money on product photography, and it can help businesses to create more engaging and visually appealing product listings.

It's important to note that Product Studio is currently in the pilot phase, and Google is working with a select group of retailers to test and refine it. However, they have expressed their excitement to see what's possible with this technology.

5. YouTube Shopping and Discovery Product Ads Requirements - Google has clarified the requirements for YouTube Shopping ads and Discovery product ads. The new requirements are designed to help retailers understand why their ads may not perform well and how to address any issues.

The new requirements for YouTube Shopping ads include the following:

• Your products must be eligible for sale on Google.
• Your products must be in stock and available for purchase.
• Your product prices must be accurate and competitive.
• Your product descriptions must be clear and concise.
• Your product images must be high-quality and relevant to your products.

You can review the Google Shopping ads policy center and free listing policies to understand better how the policies are enforced.

6. Microsoft Introduces ‘Insights’ for Universal Event Tracking Tags - Microsoft has unveiled ‘insights’ for Universal Event Tracking (UET) tags in an exciting development for data-driven marketers. This feature, designed to enhance your understanding of user engagement on your website, will be automatically enabled for all existing UET tags starting June 29.

A Microsoft Advertising UET tag monitors visitor activities on your website following an ad click. This tag collects relevant data, empowering you to keep track of conversion objectives and create specific remarketing lists for effective audience targeting. UET tags enable the tracking of various conversion goals, such as purchases, sign-ups, downloads, and more. These goals can be configured based on criteria like visitor count to specific pages, time spent on the website, the number of pages browsed, and clicks on your mobile app, among others.

The newly introduced UET Insights bring several advancements designed to provide a more in-depth understanding of user interactions on your website. These insights are integrated into a powerful dashboard that showcases crucial data such as:

• Overall visits to your website and the number of visits each page has received
• Breakdown of sessions based on country of origin and device type
• Data on quick backs (customers who spend only a few seconds on your website)
• Information on the duration visitors spend on your website

Additional indicators like page latencies, interactions (clicks and scrolls), purchase cart carts specifics, cart abandonment details, and JavaScript browser errors are also included.

UET Insights extend beyond providing a comprehensive understanding of your website's performance. They help enhance the effectiveness of ads through refined targeting, fraud detection, and minimizing conversion loss. This leads to a richer understanding of user behavior and website performance, resulting in more efficient advertising strategies.

Activating UET Insights doesn't require coding. Existing tags were automatically updated, and any new tags created will come pre-equipped with UET Insights. Notably, there's no data sampling involved, ensuring that the information you receive is complete and representative. UET Insights does not adversely affect your site's performance, and the collected data is processed and presented almost instantly on the UET dashboard.

Advertisers maintain complete control over UET Insights and can choose to turn them off if needed. Those wishing to opt out can do so through the UET Dashboard in the Microsoft Advertising platform. To learn more, visit the Microsoft Advertising help page.

Episode 161 contains the notable Digital Marketing News and Updates from the week of May 15-19, 2023. And the show notes for this episode was generated using generative AI. And like always, I curated the articles for the show.

1. HomeAdvisor Penalized by FTC for False Claims -
HomeAdvisor, a popular online marketplace for home improvement services, has been penalized by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for making false claims about the quality of leads it sells to service providers.

The FTC's complaint alleged that HomeAdvisor had made false, misleading, or unsubstantiated claims about the quality and source of the leads it sells to service providers. The complaint also alleged that HomeAdvisor often told service providers that its leads result in jobs at rates much higher than it can substantiate. Some of the false and misleading claims made by HomeAdvisor are:

• That its leads were "hand-picked" by HomeAdvisor experts.
• That its leads were "pre-qualified" and "ready to buy."
• That its leads were "more likely to convert" than leads from other sources.

The FTC's complaint also alleges that HomeAdvisor failed to disclose that its leads were often generated by bots or other automated means, and that they were not always from people who were actually interested in buying home improvement services.

As part of the settlement, HomeAdvisor will pay $50 million to the FTC and will be required to change its business practices. These changes include:

• Disclosing that its leads may be generated by bots or other automated means.
• Disclosing that its leads may not be from people who are actually interested in buying home improvement services.
• Providing service providers with more information about the leads they are buying.

This settlement is a reminder that businesses must be careful about the claims they make about their products or services. Businesses that make false or misleading claims can be subject to penalties from the FTC.

If you believe that you have been the victim of false or misleading claims about leads, you can contact the FTC at https://www.ftc.gov/complaint.

If you need assistance with your marketing or advertising, please contact me for a free consultation. I can help you ensure that your business is compliant with all applicable laws and regulations. You can also contact me for a comprehensive audit to help you ensure that your business is not making false or misleading claims.

2. Meta Adds New Lead Generation Tools to Facebook -
Meta is adding new lead generation tools to Facebook, making it easier for businesses to collect contact information from potential customers. The new tools include a lead form builder, which allows businesses to create custom lead forms, , a lead magnet library,  a lead generation chatbot and a lead generation ad, which allows businesses to promote their lead forms to a wider audience.

The lead form builder allows businesses to create custom lead forms that can be embedded on their website or in their Facebook posts. 

The lead magnet library provides businesses with a selection of pre-made lead magnets, such as ebooks, checklists, and white papers. 

The lead generation chatbot allows businesses to collect contact information from potential customers through a conversation in Messenger.

The new lead generation tools are available to all businesses that use Facebook. To use the lead form builder, businesses will need to create a Facebook Page and then add the lead form builder to their Page. To use the lead generation ad, businesses will need to create a Facebook Ad and then select the "Lead Generation" objective.

The new lead generation tools are a great way for businesses to collect contact information from potential customers. The lead form builder is easy to use and allows businesses to create custom lead forms that fit their needs.

Meta says that the new lead generation tools are designed to help businesses "grow their audience, increase engagement, and drive sales."

3. Meta Starts Refunding Advertisers for Overspending Glitch -
Meta has started to issue refunds to advertisers impacted by a glitch last month that resulted in overspending and higher than usual CPAs.

The glitch occurred on April 23, when Meta's automated system overspent advertisers' daily budgets in a matter of hours. CPAs also tripled.

Meta has said that it is still investigating the cause of the glitch, but it has apologized for the inconvenience and promised to make it right.

If you were affected by the glitch, you can request a refund by visiting Meta's website.

4. Google Merchant Center COVID-19 Update -  Starting from June 2023, Google is making a significant change to its COVID-19 policy under its Sensitive Events Policy. The company will be lifting restrictions on COVID-19 related content, meaning that Shopping ads and free listings containing COVID-19 related terms will no longer be restricted. In addition, the approval via LegitScript or Project N95 will no longer be required. This policy update will allow Shopping ads and free listings for certain types of face masks, vaccines, and other COVID-19 related products.

However, it's important to note that all content related to COVID-19 will still be subject to all other Shopping policies. These policies prohibit content that could be harmful to users and the overall shopping ecosystem, including any form of misrepresentation.

If you're unsure about how this update might impact your business, or if you need assistance in adjusting your marketing strategy in line with these changes, I'm here to help. Please do not hesitate to contact me for an audit and let's make sure your business continues to thrive in these changing times.

5. YouTube to Offer Unskippable Ads on Connected TV -
YouTube is the most popular streaming service on TV screens in the U.S., with an estimated 150 million unique viewers. Now, the company is testing a new ad format that will allow advertisers to show unskippable 30-second ads on connected TV devices.

The new ad format is called YouTube Select, and it is currently being tested with a small group of advertisers. If the test is successful, YouTube plans to roll out the format to more advertisers in the coming months.

YouTube Select ads will be placed before, during, or after videos on connected TV devices. Viewers will not be able to skip these ads, which will last for 30 seconds each. Advertisers will be able to target their ads based on a variety of factors, including the viewer's interests, demographics, and viewing history.

The introduction of unskippable ads on connected TV is a significant development for the advertising industry. It is a way for advertisers to reach a large audience with their messages, and it is a way for YouTube to generate more revenue. These ads can be a more effective way to reach your target audience, since they will be guaranteed to see your ad.

And if you are interested in running YouTube Select ads, I can do an audit, assess your need and then develop a strategy for using YouTube Select to reach your target audience . 

6. Google Analytics 4 Audience Builder Refresh - Google Analytics 4 has recently refreshed its audience builder, adding new dimensions and metrics, enhanced ways to manipulate event value and event count, and a new option to match dates.

Here are some of the new features:

• New dimensions and metrics: GA4 has added new dimensions and metrics to the audience builder, including:
  • Low engagement sessions: This dimension helps identify users showing low engagement with a website or app. For instance, it allows the creation of an audience segment of users having more than three low-engagement sessions within the past five days.
  • Session duration: This metric measures the average duration of a session.
  • Session count: This metric measures the number of sessions that a user has had in a given period of time.
• Enhanced alternatives for manipulating event value and event count: GA4 has enhanced the alternatives for manipulating event value and event count. For instance, you can now create audiences based on the total value of events or the number of events that have occurred within a given period of time.
• New option to match dates: GA4 has added a new option to match dates when creating audiences. This option allows you to create audiences based on events that have occurred within a specific date range.

These enhancements make it easier to create more sophisticated audiences in GA4. If you're using GA4, I encourage you to check out the new audience builder and see how it can help you improve your marketing campaigns.

If you need assistance with updating your Google Analytics 4 audience, please contact me for an audit.

7. Google Search Console to BigQuery Bulk Data Export Feature Does Not Include Historical Data - Google announced in February 2023 that it would be adding a new feature to Google Search Console that would allow users to export their data to BigQuery. his feature allows users to export all of their Search Console data to BigQuery, where it can be analyzed using SQL queries. 

BigQuery is a cloud-based data warehouse that offers powerful data analysis capabilities. By exporting their Search Console data to BigQuery, users can gain insights into their website's search performance that would not be possible with the Search Con

Episode 160 contains the notable Digital Marketing News and Updates from the week of May 8-12, 2023. And the show notes for this episode was generated using generative AI. I still sourced the articles for the show.

1. Scammers Are Exploiting Verified Accounts on Facebook and Instagram to Defraud Users - Scammers are exploiting verified accounts on Facebook and Instagram to defraud users by posing as official Meta providers. These hackers have managed to gain access to a range of verified accounts and are utilizing them to promote Facebook-specific scams, redirecting users to malware. It's important to note that any URL not directly affiliated with 'facebook.com', 'fb.com', 'meta.com', or similar are not associated with Meta or its platforms and should be avoided. While it was initially assumed these scammers acquired verification through the new Meta Verified program, it has been found that most of these pages belong to existing verified accounts that had their names changed recently. Meta has stated that it invests significant resources in detecting and preventing scams and hacks, and it has removed all identified imposter accounts.

2. Meta Introduces AI Sandbox for Advertisers - Meta has announced the launch of AI Sandbox, a suite of generative AI tools designed to enhance the effectiveness of advertising on their platform.

The AI Sandbox provides three new generative AI features:

1. Text Variation: With this tool, you can enter your ad copy, and the AI will suggest several variations for you to test. This feature helps optimize your copy based on AI-driven insights, allowing you to choose whether the suggestions are "Not Great" or "Looks Good"​
2. Background Generation: This feature enables you to use text prompts to define the appearance or style of the background you want. It allows for testing various images and gauging their impact on ad performance
3. Image Outcropping: This tool assists in adjusting your assets to fit different aspect ratios across Facebook and Instagram surfaces, such as Stories and Reels

These tools have the potential to significantly improve the performance of your Facebook advertising while saving time. However, as is always the case with AI, it's crucial to test and monitor the outputs, given that generative AI is not flawless.

Currently, these new generative AI features are only available to a select group of advertisers. However, Meta has announced plans to expand access to more advertisers in July. As we approach the date, we will keep you informed about any further developments.

3. New Pinterest Updates That Could Transform Your Business! -
Pinterest is revamping its pin creation process, unifying all its creation features into a single streamlined flow. This simplification means that features previously exclusive to certain pin formats or business accounts are now accessible to all users. This includes the ability to add links, make post-publish edits, and adjust aspect ratios flexibly. Adding to the creative suite, all content creators can now include expressive features like music, text overlay, and stickers to their pins.

A noteworthy addition is the ability to add links to all images and videos in the app, empowering every pin type to drive direct traffic. This functionality could transform Pinterest into a powerful referral marketing tool for your business, guiding users back to your site and even facilitating in-app purchases via Pinterest's native product features.

Moreover, Pinterest is expanding access to its paid partnership tool and product tagging using affiliate link options. It's also enabling emoji reactions on all pin types, adding a new layer of user engagement.

These enhancements not only enrich the user experience on Pinterest but also open up fresh avenues for business potential and revenue generation within the app. It's a great time to reassess your Pinterest strategy and explore how these new features can be leveraged to their maximum potential.

4. Unleash Your Marketing Potential with TikTok's New World Hub - There's exciting news on the horizon for TikTok marketers. TikTok recently held its third annual 'TikTok World' event, showcasing the latest product developments, ad tools, and creator options, all with the aim of empowering businesses to increase their TikTok presence​.

But the cherry on top is the launch of the new 'TikTok World Hub' - a central space that houses all the key announcements and insights from the event. The hub provides access to video presentations covering topics like eCommerce elements, improved ad tools, and more. It also links to a range of guides aimed at enhancing your TikTok marketing strategy​.

TikTok has published two new guides within the hub. The first, 'Creative Codes', gives an overview of the key principles that drive standout creativity on the app. The second is a comprehensive 4-page explainer of TikTok's creative principles. These guides are designed to help you amplify your TikTok content efforts​.

While no major updates were announced during the TikTok World event, TikTok provided valuable insights into the app's best practices and ongoing development of its ad tools. It's certainly worth your time to explore and absorb the information to maximize your potential on the platform​.

5. Key Announcements from Google I/O 2023: Embracing the AI Wave -
Google's annual I/O event recently concluded, and it showcased significant developments in the realm of AI, influencing Search, Google ads, and visual creation elements. Here are the key takeaways that are relevant for marketers and SEO professionals:

1. Transforming Search with AI: Google announced new AI-powered capabilities for Search. The company has integrated a range of new generative AI tools into Google Search, enabling a more comprehensive and efficient search experience. You can now expect to uncover new viewpoints, insights, and understand a topic faster. However, Google has also noted that errors in AI responses are to be expected, and they will be refining these systems over time based on user feedback.
2. AI in Shopping Results: Google's generative AI tools will also be applied to shopping results to aid users in product comparisons. These new AI elements for shopping will provide insights into key elements to consider when making a purchase, including up-to-date reviews, ratings, prices, and product images​.
3. Bard Expansion and Perspectives Element: Google is rolling out its generative AI creation tool, Bard, to more regions and adding more capacity to generate Bard responses from multiple inputs. A new 'Perspectives' element is also being added to selected Search results to provide more human insight into specific elements, enhancing the user's search experience​.
4. Photo Editing Tools: Google is launching new improvements to its photo editing tools, including enhanced capacity to shift core elements within an image frame. These tools will be launched on Pixel phones later this year.
5. Mitigating Risks of Generative AI Images: Google is introducing new informational tools to help users determine whether images displayed in Search are real or not. This is a significant move towards mitigating the risks associated with the rise of generative AI images in Search.

Google's push into AI could have significant implications for how users interact with Search and how traffic is directed to websites. If you're unsure of how these changes might affect your website or business, don't hesitate to reach out. We're offering a complimentary audit to help you navigate these new developments.

6. Update on Google Analytics 4 Deadline - There have been some rumors circulating around the internet suggesting that the GA4 migration deadline might be extended. However, Google's Ads Liaison, Ginny Marvin, has emphatically stated that "The deadline is not changing".

This means that, as planned, Universal Analytics will stop processing data on July 1, 2023. Nonetheless, it's worth noting that historical data will still be accessible in UA properties until July 1, 2024​.

Given the deadline, we strongly urge you not to delay your GA4 migrations. The transition to GA4 is a significant step and could impact your data analysis capabilities if not handled promptly and appropriately.

If you need assistance with the transition, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to help guide you through this process to ensure minimal disruption to your analytics setup.

Don't let the GA4 transition catch you off guard. Contact us today for a thorough audit and a smooth transition.

7. Harness Google's Hreflang x-default to Boost Your Website Navigation and Conversions - Google has recently highlighted the advantages of using the hreflang x-default value, an underused feature that can significantly improve user experience and website navigation​​. This tool is particularly useful for directing users to a suitable URL when their preferred language is unsupported.

The hreflang x-default value works in tandem with other hreflang annotations that specify the URL version for content targeted to a specific language and region. As an example, if a page has hreflang annotations for English and Spanish versions, with an x-default value pointing to the English version, French-speaking users would be directed to the English page due to the x-default annotation. This ensures a seamless experience for all website users, regardless of their language or location.

There are a couple of key benefits to implementing the hreflang x-default value on your site:

1. Enhanc

Episode 159 contains the notable Digital Marketing News and Updates from the week of May 1-5, 2023.

1. Google Updates Guidance For Cross-Domain Canonicals - Google has updated its help documentation for canonicalization. It removed a line about syndicated content and also updated a line about noindex to prevent selection of a canonical page within a single site. Per Google,  “The canonical link element is not recommended for those who wish to avoid duplication by syndication partners, because the pages are often very different. The most effective solution is for partners to block indexing of your content.”

But first, let me explain what canonicalization actually means. A canonical tag (aka "rel canonical") is a way of telling search engines that a specific URL represents the master copy of a page. Using the canonical tag prevents problems caused by identical or "duplicate" content appearing on multiple URLs. Practically speaking, the canonical tag tells search engines which version of a URL you want to appear in search results. A cross-domain canonical is when the duplicate page appears on an entirely different website (domain).

Previously, Google has recommended you use the canonical tag for syndicated content even though it was a hit or miss. 

2. Video Description In Structured Data Is Now Optional - The description of the video is used to help Google understand the video, but it is no longer a requirement for video structured data. But Google still recommends doing it. Google updated the “description” property from “required” to “recommended” in the structured data documentation.

Please fill out the description if you can.

3. Google: Clarification On E-E-A-T - Danny Sullivan, Google's Search Liaison said on Twitter, "Our existing documentation does explain E-E-A-T and YMYL in the context of how they should be considered by content creators seeking to produce helpful, people-first content. It's all on this page.”

Remember, Google has been saying for years now that there is no E-A-T (or now E-E-A-T) algorithm, but Google does have factors and signals it looks for that align with the values around determining content that demonstrates E-E-A-T.

The page Danny linked to says, "Google's automated systems are designed to use many different factors to rank great content. After identifying relevant content, our systems aim to prioritize those that seem most helpful. To do this, they identify a mix of factors that can help determine which content demonstrates aspects of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, or what we call E-E-A-T. While E-E-A-T itself isn't a specific ranking factor, using a mix of factors that can identify content with good E-E-A-T is useful." Google's example says its "systems give even more weight to content that aligns with strong E-E-A-T for topics that could significantly impact the health, financial stability, or safety of people, or the welfare or well-being of society. We call these "Your Money or Your Life" topics, or YMYL for short.""

So again, E-E-A-T is important, but optimizing for it directly it not really possible. You can however write content that demonstrates those qualities and Google should understand that and reward that type of content. But there is not one specific thing to do, it is many things signals that Google uses to determine if a piece of content demonstrates experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, aka E-E-A-T.

4. Google: How To Accelerate Website Indexing - During May’23 Google SEO office-hours Q&A session, a concerned website owner inquired about the slow indexing of their 16,000-page site. Google Search Relations team member Gary Illyes explained that indexing speed depends on several factors, the most crucial being the quality of the site and its popularity on the internet. Illyes suggested that website owners ensure their content is of the highest quality possible to increase the indexing speed. High-quality content is essential as Google’s algorithms prioritize it when determining indexing priority. However, the definition of high-quality content extends beyond the mere text of individual articles.

According to Google’s John Mueller, the quality of content encompasses the overall website, including its layout, design, integration of images, and page speed. These elements contribute to a positive user experience and are key factors that Google considers when assessing quality.​

Illyes also recommended that once you ensured that your content is the highest quality you can possibly make, try to run some social media promos perhaps so you get people to start talking about your site. This is what he had to say, “How fast a site is indexed depends on a bunch of things, but the most important one is the quality of the site, followed by its popularity on the internet. Once you ensure that your content is the highest quality you can possibly make, try to run some social media promos perhaps so you get people to start talking about your site. That will likely help.”

Reading between the lines, so backlinks, links from external websites to your site, contribute to faster indexing and improved search engine rankings. And Technical SEO (optimizing a website’s structure, code, and page speed to meet search engines’ crawling and indexing requirements) is crucial.

5. Google: Focus On Content Quality Over Posting Frequency - Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller, recently engaged in a candid discussion on the r/BigSEO subreddit, addressed the question of blogging frequency. 

“The problem with trying to keep a frequency up is that it’s easy to end up with mediocre, fluffy content, which search engine quality algorithms might pick up on, and then assume the whole site is like that. Taking risks like this in the beginning when it’s easy for you to start over is probably fine, doing that in the long run will be painful when it catches up to you. (All of this applies even more if you’re taking short-cuts with gen-ai content).”

So folks, prioritize creating unique and compelling content over maintaining a consistent posting schedule.

 
6. Google: Avoid Outdated Link Building Strategies - Google’s John Mueller made it very clear that you should avoid outdated link building strategies such as SENuke or PBN’s.

The concept of SENuke and similar link-building tools is that you blast loads of (usually rubbish) content all over the internet, to get backlinks. And a private blog network (PBN) is a group of websites that only exists to provide backlinks to other websites. The purpose of a PBN is to manipulate Google to improve a site’s Google search rankings. PBNs clearly violate Google's Webmaster Quality Guidelines and can result in harsh penalties. Google’s link spam guidelines state: “Any links that are intended to manipulate rankings in Google Search results may be considered link spam. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.” So, PBN’s clearly fall within this guidance.

7. Google: Disavowing Links Based On Third-Party Metrics Is A Terrible Idea - When John was asked if one should disavow links based on those pages being under a certain score from a third-party tool, John said no. John wrote on Twitter, "That seems like a terrible idea." "Also, none of those metrics are things Google cares about, as any SEO tool will tell you... hopefully," he added.

8. Google: Links From Spammy Sites Are Not TrustWorthy - In the May 2023 Google SEO office hours, someone asked “If a domain gets penalized does it affect the links that are outbound from it?" To that question, Duy Nguyen from the Google Search Quality team said “I assume by penalize you mean that the domain was demoted by our spam algorithms or manual actions. In general, yes, we don't trust links from sites we know is spam.” 

This is common knowledge however it is good to have someone from the spam system say it so clearly.

9. Google: "Coming Back Soon" Pages For Site Migrations - Google's John Mueller wrote on Twitter, "I'd try very hard to avoid having a "coming back soon" page during a revamp. I don't think you'd gain a lot by bouncing it back & forth." "If you need it for <1-2 days, I'd just 503. For anything longer, it's going to be painful regardless of how you do it," he added.

Back in 2009 John said something similar, saying, "Tip of the day: If you have a generic "your site will be hosted here soon" page, use "noindex" or 503 result code, thanks!"

But John is now clarifying that the 503 should not be used for more than a couple of days. In fact, previously, John said 503s are for hours, not a solution for something that will take place for weeks.

FYI: A 503 Service Unavailable server status code is to be used when the server is currently unable to handle the request due to a temporary overloading or maintenance of the server. It is a good method for temporary downtime and to help Google know

Episode 158 contains the notable Digital Marketing News and Updates from the week of Apr 24-28, 2023.

1. Snapchat Reports Lower Revenue In Q1’23 - Snapchat has released it Q1’23 earnings report. First off, on active users – Snap added 8 million more total daily actives in Q1, taking it to 383 million daily users. Their growth is essentially flat in the US, its most lucrative market, and EU while they continue to gain momentum in the ‘Rest of World’ category, with Indian users, in particular, warming to the app. 

Snap brought in $989 million in total for the quarter. They wrote, “Q1 revenue was particularly challenged, as we implemented significant changes to our ad platform that were disruptive to demand. While the macroeconomic environment has shown signs of stabilization, it continues to be a headwind to growth. Our brand-oriented business was down 12% year-over-year and our direct-response (DR) business was down 9% year-over-year.”

2. Pinterest Reports Lower Revenue Even Though They Added Users In Q1’23 - Pinterest in the Q1’23 earnings report shared that they added 13 million more users in the quarter (463 million DAU). Pinterest also says that it’s seeing more engagement, with sessions, impressions, and time spent growing faster than MAUs. And interestingly, Pinterest also notes that Gen Z is now its fastest growing demographic, another good sign for its future potential as a key discovery element.

On the revenue front, Pinterest earned in $603 million revenue for the period. In Q1’22 they earned $575 million. This is a $28million increase from last year. 

Like other platforms, Pinterest too  is dealing with the broader economic downturn, which has impacted ad spend, but the expanded usage does bode well for its future potential.

Also this week Pinterest has also announced a new partnership with Amazon, which will enable Amazon advertisers to expand their campaigns to Pinterest, via an integrated presentation and purchase flow process. Here is what Pinterest had to say about this partnership: “As user engagement with shoppable content on Pinterest continues to grow, we’re pleased to have selected Amazon as our first partner for third-party ads. The partnership with Amazon will bring more brands and relevant products to the platform combined with a seamless on-Amazon buying experience for consumers and offer advertisers strong performance.”

3. Meta’s Ad Revenue & Usage Up 4% In Q1’23 - Meta’s ad revenue increased by about 4.1% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the year-earlier period. Advertising revenue was for Q1 2023 was $28.1 billion, an increase of 4.1% compared to the same period in 2022 ($27.0 billion). Total Meta revenue for Q1 2023 was $28.6 billion, an increase of 2.6% compared to the same period in 2022 ($27.9 billion). Other key metrics you should be aware of are:

• Facebook’s daily active user count increased by 4% to reach 2.04 billion.
• The number of monthly active users was 2.99 billion, an increase of 2% year-over-year.

Meta’s low-single-digit increase matches Google and Microsoft. And is further confirmation of the ill health of the advertising market.

4. Microsoft Search & Advertising Revenue In Q1’23 - Microsoft announced their results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.  Advertising and search revenue increased 3.4% to just over $3 billion during the period, including traffic acquisition costs that Microsoft pays to publishers. The company attributed the increase to higher search volume and its acquisition of Xandr, an ad buying platform it acquired from AT&T. LinkedIn revenue was up 7.6%. Microsoft attributed the increase to its Talent Solutions products. The company also said the number of sessions logged on LinkedIn grew 15%. 

Since Microsoft Advertising does not have a platform like YouTube, so what I really care about is their Search Advertising results. For Search Ads they earned $3.05Billion an increase of $100 million from the same same period last year. Does this mean that the demand for advertising is slumping?

5. Google Q1’23 Result: Search Revenue Slightly Up & YouTube Down - Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, reported lower advertising revenue in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the year-earlier period. In Q1’2023 they earned $54.55B in revenue which is $113 million less than Q1’2022. Search Ads generated $40.359Billion while  YouTube generated $6.693Billion in revenue. A 2% gain in search revenue was offset by declining revenue for YouTube ads (-2.6%) and Google’s advertising network (-8.3%).

To me, this means that Search is still going strong despite the popularity of chatGPT and other generative AI tools. And YouTube is probably facing fierce competition from TikTok and Facebook/Instagram.

6. Bing Webmaster Tools To  Show Chat Impressions And Clicks - Microsoft will include Bing Chat data in Bing Webmaster Tools in May, Fabrice Canel, Principal Product Manager at Microsoft Bing, said on Twitter.

7. Google Will Keep UA Historical Data Until Jul’24 - Google Analytics has finally put a date (1st July 2024) on the loss of historical data in Universal Analytics (UA) after they transitioned us to GA4 on 1st July 2023.

After sunset and until platform turndown, users will have Viewer access to historical data and reports in the user interface but not Editor access.

Additionally, you can export your data, as outlined in the available solutions. However, no new data will be processed after the property turndown, and there will be no updated reports or metrics with post-sunset data.

Bidding, audience, or conversion data will not be sent to Google Ads or third-party integrations.

You can read more about other important UA, and GA4 milestones on the Google Analytics Help page.

8. Google Ads Updating Dangerous Products And Services Policy - From July 3, 2023, Google will enforce the updated Dangerous Products and Services Policy. The policy now covers ads for products which carry an imminent, proven and unresolved risk of death or grievous bodily harm, that have been the subject of a consumer advisory or product recalls.

Violations of this policy will not lead to immediate account suspension without prior warning. A warning will be issued at least seven days before suspending your account.

Google advises everyone to review the policy to determine whether or not any of your ads fall in the scope of the policy, and if so, remove those ads before July 3, 2023.

This is one of the 28 policies that Google want advertisers to follow. This is why you need to work with a reputable resource who stays on top of these stuff for you. 

9. Google Ads Will Not Allow URL’s As Account Names - Beginning in June 2023, new Google Ads accounts will no longer be able to include a URL in their account names. You can read more about the change on the Google Ads Developer Blog.

10. Show Your YouTube Ads Next To Popular Music - YouTube has announced two new ad options that will better enable advertisers to tap into emerging music trends. 

a.) Gen Z Music - enable advertisers to show their ads alongside the latest trending music clips. So the next time someone makes a TikTok clip to a Fleetwood Mac song, which drives people to go searching for the track on YouTube, you’d be able to tap into that rising popularity, and get your brand aligned with that clip.

b.)Trending Music on Shorts - essentially provide the same placement opportunity within Shorts clips.

It looks like YouTube is cashing in on the latest music trends via ad placement options, which will likely come at some cost, given the views and engagement such content sees. But it could be an effective way to build brand awareness and maximize reach and resonance by association. YouTube says it now has over 100 million songs in its Music catalog, with global and localized versions of trending tracks in over 100 countries and 80 languages. That presents a significant opportunity and could be a suitable means to maximize your branding and promotional efforts if you can afford it.

11. Page Experience Matters Even Though It Is Not A Ranking Signal - A week ago, Google removed page experience system, the mobile-friendly system, page speed system and the secure site system from its ranking systems page. Google also wrote, “The page experience update was a concept to describe a set of key page experience aspects for site owners to focus on.” 

Now Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison wrote that Google page experience was never a ranking “system” but is still considered a ranking “signal.” Just because page experience was removed as a ranking system, it does not mean it does not reward pages that have a good page experience.

Google made an update to their ranking system page last week because ranking *systems* are different than ranking *signals* and people were confusing between the two. 

The big takeaway? "Google's core ranking systems look to reward content that provides a good page experience."

12. What’s The Ideal Number Of Products On A Page For It To Rank Well? - Every wondered what’s the ideal number of prod

Episode 157 contains the notable Digital Marketing News and Updates from the week of Apr 17-21, 2023.

1. Twitter Requires All Advertisers To Pay For Verification First - Twitter has informed all advertisers that they’ll have to sign up to either Twitter Blue or Verification for Organizations in order to keep running ads in the app. In effect, this now means that brands will have to pay Twitter $8 per month for a blue tick, or $1,000 per month for its Verification for Organizations offering – though brands that are already spending ‘in excess of $1,000 per month’ will soon be given gold checkmarks automatically.

The cheapest option would be to buy a Twitter Blue subscription for your brand, which will cost your business an extra $96 per year, and if you’re planning to run Twitter ads, that’s unlikely to have a huge impact on your annual budget.

You’ll also get a verified tick for your brand account, which could help to give your brand more legitimacy in the app even though the checkmark doesn’t seem to communicate the same level of authority or trust that it once did. Given that the blue checkmark can also be bought by anyone, as there’s no checking process involved – there’s no actual verification in Musk’s Twitter Blue process. That means that someone else could also register your brand name, and also get a blue tick for it.

Hmm. The question is: Should you pay for verification?

2. Instagram Allows You To Add Up To 5 Links In Your Profile Bio - Instagram has finally  launched one of its most requested feature updates, giving users the ability to add up to five links in their IG bio, expanding on its capacity to drive traffic. In the announcement, Instagram wrote:

“Starting today, the update will make it easier for creators and other users to highlight their passions, bring awareness to causes they care about, promote brands they love, showcase their personal business, and more.”

This is bad news for products such as Linktree, and other linking tools. Instagram’s opposition to external links has long been the key driver of usage for third-party link aggregator tools, but now, people will be able to replicate that capacity within the app itself, which will no doubt see many abandon their paid subscriptions to third-party apps.

But then again, some of these tools enable branding options that could still act as an enticement, along with more link display options. It’s also become such a standard behavior now that users don’t find it jarring, so maybe, some businesses will stick with third-party link tools, even with this new capacity available.

To add multiple links to your IG profile, head to ‘Edit profile’ > ‘Links’ > ‘Add external link’. From there, you can drag and drop to order your links as you’d like them to appear in the app.

3. Google: Just Because A Site Is Good Now, Doesn't Mean It Will Be #1 Forever - Sayan Dutta asked Google’s John Muller that “Recently I am noticing that websites are being removed from Google News. My 3 years old site suddenly showing Not Live on Publisher Center. I saw that with a few of my sites.”

Google's John Mueller replied  that just because a site appears to be doing super well in terms of Google ranking and SEO today that it won't one day degrade in value. John added, "just because something's in Google News now doesn't mean it'll be there forever."

Sometimes sites just lose their luster, the topic may be not as relevant, or the content quality does not increase as its competitor's content quality increase. Sometimes, sites change ownership and the new owners do not put in the work needed. Sometimes sites just can't keep up with the speed on innovation.

There you go folks, SEO is not evergreen or perennial.

4. Google Adds New Return Policy Structured Data Support For Merchant Listing - A structured data type communicates to search engines that the data is about a specific data type. Structured data types have “properties” that provide information about the data type.

A new returns section has been added to the structured data type definitions within Google’s product structured data document. This is for merchant listings, not yet product snippets, and these new properties types apply to merchant listing experiences. This addition came on the same day that Google began showing shipping and return information in its search results.

The new MerchantReturnPolicy type has two required properties (applicableCountry and returnPolicyCategory). Required properties are not optional and must be present in the structured data in order to ensure eligibility for the rich results specific to MerchantReturnPolicy.

Google’s new section for the returns policy shopping experience eligibility explains that there is an alternate way to become eligible without having to configure the associated structured data. They recommend configuring the shipping settings return policies in the Google Merchant Center Help (details on how to configure it here).

5. Google Introduces New Crawler & Explains The Use Cases For Its Different Crawler Types - Google has added a new crawler to its list of Google Crawlers and user agents, this one is named GoogleOther. It is described as a "generic crawler that may be used by various product teams for fetching publicly accessible content from sites." For example, it may be used for one-off crawls for internal research and development, Google explained. The GoogleOther crawler always obeys robots.txt rules for its user agent token and the global user agent (*), and uses the same IP ranges as Googlebot. The User agent token is "GoogleOther" and the full user agent string is "GoogleOther."

Here is what Gary Illyes from Google wrote on LinkedIn:
“We added a new crawler, GoogleOther to our list of crawlers that ultimately will take some strain off of Googlebot. This is a no-op change for you, but it's interesting nonetheless I reckon. As we optimize how and what Googlebot crawls, one thing we wanted to ensure is that Googlebot's crawl jobs are only used internally for building the index that's used by Search. For this we added a new crawler, GoogleOther, that will replace some of Googlebot's other jobs like R&D crawls to free up some crawl capacity for Googlebot. The new crawler uses the same infrastructure as Googlebot and so it has the same limitations and features as Googlebot: hostload limitations, robotstxt (though different user agent token), http protocol version, fetch size, you name it. It's basically Googlebot under a different name.”

At the same time, Google updated the Googlebot page, and listed the different crawler types & its uses that may show up in your server logs. Using this information, you can verify if a web crawler accessing your server is indeed a Google crawler instead of spammers or other troublemakers. Google’s crawler fall into three categories:

• Googlebot - The main crawler for Google’s search products. Google says this crawler always respects robots.txt rules. Next time when you find crawl—**.googlebot.com or geo-crawl-**.googlebot.com in your server logs, know that Google Search crawler visited your site.
• Special-case crawlers – Crawlers that perform specific functions (such as AdsBot), which may or may not respect robots.txt rules. The reverse DNS mask for these  visits show up as rate-limited-proxy-***-***-***-***.google.com
• User-triggered fetchers – Tools and product functions where the end-user triggers a fetch. For example, Google Site Verifier acts on the request of a user or some Google Search Console tools will send Google to fetch the page based on an action a user takes. The reverse DNS mask for these visits show up as ***-***-***-***.gae.googleusercontent.com

P.S: Listen/watch the show to hear my perspective on why it  is important for any website owner to review server logs and keep the troublemakers away.

6. Google Removed Older Search Ranking Algorithm Updates From Its Ranking Systems Page - Google has updated its documented Google ranking systems page and completely removed the page experience system, the mobile-friendly system, page speed system and the secure site system rankings. You can spot the difference if you compare the live page to the archived page.

These removals make me wonder if any of these algorithm updates mattered at all to the overall Google ranking system?

7. Google To Remove Page Experience Report, Mobile Usability Report & Mobile-Friendly Tests From Search Console Report - In the coming months, Google will deprecate the page experience report within Google Search Console, the mobile usability report, and the mobile-friendly testing tool. The core web vitals and HTTPs report will remain in Google Search Console, Danny Sullivan of Google announced.

The original page experience report launched in Search Console in April 2021 and was designed for just mobile pages. Google added a desktop version with the launch of the desktop version of the algorithm in January 2022.

Episode 156 contains the notable Digital Marketing News and Updates from the week of Apr 10-14, 2023.

1. Microsoft Ads Launches PLA Extensions - PLA Extensions are the first fully integrated retail media solution from Microsoft allowing brands to serve product ads both onsite and offsite with a single budget while automatically optimizing for the best balance of performance and reach.

What are onsite and offsite ads? Advertising your products on a retailer’s website (known as “onsite”) is a strategy with a proven return on investment (ROI)—but advertising only onsite can limit your reach. Onsite advertising has genuine advantages, such as increase awareness of your products with a retailers loyal shoppers, as they’re already shopping (with high intent to make a purchase) on the retailer’s website. However, reaching only shoppers that are already searching for your products on a retailer’s site limits your reach.

PLA Extension allows you to place product ads both onsite and offsite with a single budget, while automatically optimizing for the best balance of performance and reach. While previously limited by ad supply constraints onsite, you can now reach significantly more in-market shoppers offsite. With PLA Extension, you’ll have unified reporting and attribution without any heavy lifting. This feature unlocks omnichannel attribution in an automated and scalable way, enabling you to measure the impact of your onsite and offsite ads and see a more complete view of the shopper’s journey.

When you opt to use PLA Extension—if an onsite campaign is underspending—the feature will automatically extend your product listing ad to offsite product placements powered by the Microsoft Search Network and the Microsoft Audience Network, optimizing performance and reach across on and offsite product ad placements.

For example, suppose John is searching for a new pair of boots on his favorite retailer’s website. He sees your ad for a particular brand of boots but becomes distracted before adding them to his cart and leaves the website without making a purchase. Later that evening, he’s browsing online and sees your ad again on Bing. He clicks through the ad on Bing and is taken to your product page on the retailer’s website, and this time, makes a purchase. Meanwhile, Sandra, another shopper in need of new boots who isn’t familiar with your brand, has also seen your ad on DuckDuckGo and clicks through to make a purchase as well. Thanks to the PLA Extension feature, you’ve reached in-market shoppers both on and off the retailer’s site with a single PLA campaign.

PLA Extension drives awareness of your brand and points prospective customers back to your product landing page, growing your audience, and increasing the likelihood of sales.

The introduction of this feature in the Microsoft PromoteIQ solution is just one of the ways Microsoft is solidifying its vision to build the most complete omnichannel retail media stack.

2. GA4 Gives You The Ability To Change How You Count Your Conversions - Google Analytics 4 (GA4) now allows users to modify the counting method for conversions, introducing a “once per session” option, which is similar to how Universal Analytics (UA) operated. There are two different counting methods that you can select for a conversion event: 

1. The “Once per event” (Recommended) setting means that Google Analytics 4 properties count an event as a conversion every time it occurs. This option is recommended because it reflects the behavior of users on your site or app, and allows you to distinguish between sessions where multiple conversions occurred and sessions where only one conversion occurred. For example: A user completes 5 conversions in one session. This setting counts 5 conversions.
2. The “Once per session (Legacy) This setting means that Google Analytics 4 properties count an event as a conversion only once it occurs within a particular session. Once per session is how Universal Analytics properties count goals. Select this option if it’s important for your GA4 conversion count to closely match your UA conversion count. Otherwise, select Once per event. For example, A user completes 5 conversions in one session. This setting counts 1 conversion. 

A session is a group of user interactions with your website or app that take place within a given time frame. In Analytics, a session initiates when a user either opens your app in the foreground or views a page or screen and no session is currently active (e.g. their previous session has timed out). 

By default, a session ends (times out) after 30 minutes of user inactivity. However, you can adjust the session timeout period. There is no limit to how long a session can last. An engaged session is a session that lasts longer than 10 seconds, has a conversion event, or has at least 2 pageviews or screenviews.

If you don't make a choice, Google Analytics will automatically use the default counting method. The default depends on how conversion events were created. 

i. “Once per session” is the default counting method for all conversions that were created from Universal Analytics goals:
 1. in an automatically created Google Analytics 4 property
2. using the goals migration tool in the Setup Assistant after April 2023
ii. “Once per event” is the default counting method for all other conversions

You can quickly tell which counting method each of your conversion events uses by going to the Conversion events table in Admin > Conversions. Any conversion with an  icon next to it has the Once per session counting method. If there’s no icon in the Conversion name column, then that conversion event uses the Once per event.

To change the conversion counting method, you need to have at least an “Editor” role on the property.

3. In U.S Search Ads Accounted For 40.2% Of All Digital Ad Revenue In 2022 - According to the 2022 IAB’s Internet Advertising Revenue Report, search ads accounted for $84.4 billion of the $209.7 billion in U.S. digital advertising revenues.  In 2021, search ads accounted for $78.3 billion of the $189 billion spending.

The IAB report pointed out that the growth of search revenues wasn’t as strong as other formats – it lost 1.2 percentage points in total revenue share. That’s because display revenues were up 12%, digital video was up 19.3% and digital audio was up 20.9%, year on year. With 40.2% of all digital ad revenue in 2022, paid search is still the leading format.

After rebounding in 2021, social media saw its smallest level of growth in 10 years, according to the IAB. In 2022, revenue from social platforms was $59.7 billion, up from $57.7 billion in 2021. Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature was cited as one key reason for stalled growth.

You can view the entire report here (note: the report is free, but you must log in or create an account to download it).

4. Google Released 2022 Web Spam Report - Every year Google releases its web spam report showing how much better the search company got at fighting search spam. Google has named its machine learning based systems for spam identification with its own name - SpamBrain. SpamBrain is Google's AI-based spam-prevention system that it launched in 2018 but never spoke about externally as SpamBrain until 2021.

Here are some high level numbers that Google shared in its 2022 report:

• SpamBrain detected 5 times more spam sites in 2022 compared to 2021 
• SpamBrain detected 200 times more spam sites in 2022 compared to when SpamBrain first launched in 2018
• SpamBrain was incorporated in the December 2022 link spam update
• 10 times improvement in hack site detection
• SpamBrain can detect spam during crawling, so a page doesn't need to be indexed to be found to be spammy

5. Google Updates Policy For Video Thumbnails In Search Results - On April 13, 2023 Google published in Search Central Blog that they have made a change so that video thumbnails only appear next to Google search results when the video is the main content of a page. This will make it easier for users to understand what to expect when they visit a page. 

Previously, they showed video thumbnails in two different ways. For pages where the video was the main content of the page, the video thumbnail appeared at the beginning of a listing: This remains unchanged. 

The other format was for when a video was present on a page but not the main element of a page. In that case, the thumbnail appeared after a listing: This second format is going away. According to Google during their experiments phase,this change has had minimal impact on overall engagement for publishers.

This change will impact search appearance reported metrics for videos in the performance report in Search Console. There will be annotations in the video indexing report and the video enhancements report.

In my own experiments, I n