Technology News and Industry Knowledge

In an interview with contributor Matt Van Wagner, the SEM initiative Search Engine Land Award winners talked about their strategies for a donation campaign combatting news searches during the bushfires in Australia, improving CRO in the very competitive financial services space, and improving margins for seasonal retail campaigns on Amazon. Watch the video below to check out the tactics: Best Overall SEM Initiative – Small Business Matt Eden, Head of Performance Media at Reef Digital Agency Tell us about your campaign, Matt. Matt: The Vincent Paul Society approached us in late December about running a bushfire campaign. With bushfire campaigns, in particular, because Australia goes through this cycle of having bushfires, we usually have a build that’s ready to go. This one was a bit different because the crisis was much larger than we’ve ever had before. We tend to run our campaigns using broad-match modifiers initially. And then whittle down the list as quickly as we can wit...

Launching around Super Bowl week, the campaign aims to provide a boost to those feeling the economic and emotional turmoil of a downer year. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/old-spice-gives-exhausted-young-men-a-pep-talk-with-ads-emphasizing-confi/594205/

Facebook announced today that it will begin testing news feed topic exclusions for advertisers this year. Citing advertisers’ brand safety concerns, Facebook says the new feature would allow marketers to choose whether or not to show their ads alongside potentially sensitive content: “For example, a children’s toy company may want to avoid content related to a new crime show, so they could select the ‘Crime and Tragedy’ topic,” the blog announces . Topic exclusions. Along with Crime and Tragedy, other topic exclusions being tested include News & Politics and Social Issues, according to a Facebook spokesperson. The idea is to give advertisers more control over where their ads may appear in a user’s newsfeed and means brands will be able to ensure that their products and services don’t show up next to topics the brand doesn’t associate with or believe in. Facebook says they “will continue to listen and learn during the test,” so there could be more topic exclusions added or the cur...

A new brand positioning was crafted to highlight Discover's financial services beyond just transactions. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/campaign-trail-discover-looks-toward-brighter-days-in-ad-showcasing-financ/593905/

Along with a social media series and sweepstakes, the campaign includes a spot that will air in key regional markets during the Super Bowl. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/ab-inbevs-cutwater-spirits-taps-schitts-creek-star-for-multichannel-cam/594177/

The Kellogg-owned snack sponsored a livestream in which a gaming influencer lured a zombie out of a video game, mimicking one of the brand's TV spots. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/pringles-brings-video-game-zombie-to-life-in-twitch-livestream/594176/

We’re excited to have interviewed Boston SEO expert Christopher Lara, from TheeDigital, for the next installment of our Featured SEO Expert Series! TheeDigital is one of SEOblog’s top SEO companies in Boston. Christopher Lara is the

Posted by amandamilligan If you need to get backlinks and generate brand awareness for clients, a great way to start is by creating original research and then pitching that research to writers. But the promotion of your work is probably the trickiest part, and a lot of it comes down to the pitch email you send to a writer.  To make this task a bit less daunting, in this episode of Whiteboard Friday, Amanda Milligan of Fractl walks you through a real pitch email that resulted in coverage of one of their stories. Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high resolution version in a new tab! Video Transcription Hi, everyone. Welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. My name is Amanda Milligan. I'm the Marketing Director at Fractl. Today I'm going to talk to you about the anatomy of the perfect pitch email. This has to do with the digital PR space . The way that we get backlinks and brand awareness for our clients is by creating original research, new studi...

If your content is helpful to your customers’ success but is not earning page rank or traffic, now may be the right time to shift your SEO strategy. Leveraging data science, marketers today can predict the google rank of their content and take measures to improve it even before publishing. Join Patrick Snajder, iQuanti’s Head of Content, as he discusses how you can forecast and improve SERP ranking, gain deep insights on trends in competitive performance and identify opportunities to optimize and create content for performance against top competitors. Don’t miss this webinar! Register today for “The Secret Behind SEO Success: Estimate and optimize your content’s rank as you create it,” presented by iQuanti. The post The Secret Behind SEO Success: Estimate and optimize your content’s rank as you create it appeared first on Search Engine Land . Via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/1BDlNnc

With many stores still closed and shoppers stuck at home, mobile screens have become increasingly central to the way people experience brands. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/ar-try-ons-now-a-must-have-for-many-beauty-brands/593944/

The company saw revenue hit $111.4 billion in its first quarter, a 21% year-over-year lift fueled by double-digit growth in each product category. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/apple-reports-record-revenue-with-idfa-changes-set-for-early-spring/594130/

QR codes, AR and geofencing are used in an in-store experience that is designed to keep COVID-19 precautions in mind. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/nike-store-plots-virtual-outdoor-adventure-with-mobile-tech/594093/

RankSense CEO Hamlet Batista, a mentor to many in the SEO community and someone fellow marketer Mike King called “ the best of us ” died on Tuesday night, leaving those who knew him, admired him, learned from him and loved him, reeling from the loss. Hamlet passed away after suffering from a case of COVID-19, Maura Loew, operations manager at RankSense, confirmed to Search Engine Land. Hamlet’s contributions to our industry spanned numerous publications and conferences, including our own . His drive to share his knowledge has been widely recognized, and applauded, by his peers. 🙇Wow. I guess I can retire now… kidding! Thank so much John! 🙏 I love showing what is possible to do with #Python 🐍🔥 https://t.co/VnG50bZoW8 — Hamlet Batista (@hamletbatista) June 24, 2020 “I’m a trained engineer, and we’re native problem solvers . . . Our calling is to fix stuff that we see is inefficient,” he said in a vlog with Barry Schwartz , providing us with a glimpse of what motivate...

Now known as Walmart Connect, the retail media network is looking to scale into a top-10 offering by developing its own demand-side platform. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/walmart-links-with-the-trade-desk-in-extensive-overhaul-to-ad-business/594118/

Interest remains strong in the romantic holiday but marketing must reflect how consumers plan to celebrate differently because of the ongoing pandemic.  source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/dunkin-offers-drive-thru-weddings-for-valentines-day/594100/

Children can use the Lego Vidiyo app with minifigures and "BeatBit" pieces to create music videos that can be trimmed to shorter, shareable clips. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/lego-teams-with-universal-music-group-for-tiktok-like-kids-app/594061/

CEO Mark Zuckerberg cautioned that small businesses will no longer be able to reach their customers with targeted ads due to Apple's planned changes to IDFA. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/facebook-reports-record-revenue-but-warns-of-apples-privacy-changes/594099/

There is tough competition these days among brands seeking the attention of their target audience. If you wish to grow the traffic of your WooCommerce site, you will need to engage your audience and promote your product. WooCommerce is WordPress’s c

Posted by Imogen_Davies At Google’s Search On event in October last year, Prabhakar Raghavan explained that 15% of daily queries are ones that have never been searched before. If we take the latest figures from Internet Live Stats , which state 3.5 billion queries are searched every day, that means that 525 million of those queries are brand new. That is a huge number of opportunities waiting to be identified and worked into strategies, optimization, and content plans. The trouble is, all of the usual keyword research tools are, at best, a month behind with the data they can provide. Even then, the volumes they report need to be taken with a grain of salt – you’re telling me there are only 140 searches per month for “women’s discount designer clothing”? – and if you work in B2B industries, those searches are generally much smaller volumes to begin with. So, we know there are huge amounts of searches available, with more and more being added every day, but without the data to see vo...

Because it is frozen out of the big game by AB InBev, the marketer is using science to get people to dream about its products. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/coors-pulls-from-inception-to-insert-brand-into-dreams-before-super-bowl/594048/

The purpose-driven #HereToBeHeard push seeks to build on prior efforts by the marketer, including removing gender bias and negative stereotypes from ads. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/mars-starts-influencer-powered-crowdsourcing-campaign-to-amplify-womens-vo/594013/

Brick-and-mortar retailers and travel-related businesses that bore the brunt of the economic slump are showing signs of recovery after a relatively strong fourth quarter. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/digital-ad-spending-from-holidays-shows-signs-of-return-to-normalcy-merk/594020/

The Unilever brand joins a growing group of Super Bowl newcomers that have seen higher sales during the pandemic and want to showcase a commitment to social responsibility. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/hellmanns-super-bowl-debut-enlists-amy-schumer-to-address-food-waste/594019/

Google announced that it will try not to show “teaser” based Web Stories in Google Search and Google Discover. This is a new policy change and Google said the ecosystem has been experimenting with new ways of creating rich Web Stories but based on what it has seen, users want to see the full story without being asked to click through to read the full story. What are Web Stories. Web Stories came to life under the name of AMP Stories back in 2018. Google defines Web Stories as a way to “immerse your readers in fast-loading full-screen experiences.” You can “create visual narratives, with engaging animations and tappable interactions,” using Web Stories. “The Web Story format (formerly known as AMP Stories) is free and part of the open web and are available for everyone to try on their websites. They can be shared and embedded across the web without being confined to a closed ecosystem or platform,” Google added. What is changing. Paul Bakaus from Google said “one- or two-page tea...

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is synonymous with digital marketing today. Introduced to the masses through various sci-fi movies, within a decade, AI emerged as a revolutionary technology impacting almost every industry on the planet. Whether in pro

Posted by LydiaGerman It’s a common misunderstanding that working with a small budget for SEO means you can’t generate results. How can you possibly make enough improvements to the site in so few hours per month? Well, for us at Tao Digital Marketing , our work with Fleetcover goes to show that results can be achieved by focusing on the most important changes in the little time you have. In this case study, we’ll break down how we increased leads by 751%, keywords by 259% and impressions by 535% on a budget of less than £1,000 / $1,347 per month, equating to one day’s work. That’s a small spend for SEO, but making the right changes at the right time, and focusing our efforts on the most important aspects, generated these positive results. Objectives Our objectives were similar to what every website ultimately wants to achieve: generate leads for the business and increase online visibility for relevant search terms. To be a little more specific, we picked this client up in March ...

Posted by CassandraLeeanne Backlinks continue to be especially valuable for SEO, acting as a signal to search engines that vouches for both the value of your content and the worthiness of your website. In measuring the success of your backlink efforts and informing your future SEO priorities, the data matters. Depending on the tool you use, your results can vary greatly and — in this case — the more data the better. With this in mind, we’re excited to share that Moz has the largest link data set, according to a study done by Perficient. Methodology The link index study was done by Perficient , a respected publicly-traded consulting firm specializing in digital solutions. This award winning firm regularly publishes insightful studies , focused on SEO trends and topics. For this study, Eric Enge , Principal at Perficient, Search Engine Land author , and well-known SEO SME, led the investigation. The study compared 3,000 search queries across the Technology, Health, and Finance mar...

The two are expanding their work in advertising sales and content sharing as the pandemic drives up consumer appetites for formats like livestreaming. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/nbcuniversal-twitter-deepen-partnership-to-meet-growing-demand-for-premium/593983/

Some of the biggest announcements so far are advertisers like Budweiser sitting out, but newcomers — particularly brands boosted by the pandemic — are also jumping on the opportunity. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/super-bowls-status-as-marketing-bellwether-diminished-as-brands-play-it-sa/593926/

Sports fans can share videos of their "epic moves" on social media for prizes that include an overstuffed, motorized chair valued at $32,500. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/papa-johns-offers-chance-to-win-epic-stuffed-chair-designed-for-binge-wa/593945/

To promote the product launch, the company offered drone delivery in the "buzzworthy" community of Coffee County, Georgia. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/coke-delivers-coffee-flavored-soda-from-walmart-by-drone/593923/

Before the location opens to the public, two fans can book a stay that includes access to a PlayStation 5 and a one-hour Twitch session with a top gamer. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/7-eleven-turns-latest-experiential-store-into-gaming-palace-airbnb/593933/

Chief marketers must standardize what their role involves in order to align their skills with growth strategy and measure success, writes MMA CEO Greg Stuart. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/cmo-heal-thyself/593332/

In September 2020, Google launched local services ads to lawyers.  Since my agency works with a lot of lawyers, we were very curious to see how these ads impacted where people click in the search results.   At first, we assumed these ads were stealing clicks from the local pack results but were surprised to find that although it did lower the click-through-rate of the Google My Business listings, the average impact was only a loss of about 5 clicks a month.  However, when we looked at several Google Ads accounts for several lawyers, it told a very different story.  In this example, after Local Services Ads launched, this lawyer saw their cost per conversion double and their number of conversions drop in half. In this example, this lawyer saw his cost per conversion increase by 50% and his number of conversions dropped by 50%. Seth Price, founder of BluShark Digital and managing partner of Price Benowitz LLP , saw something similar at his agency.  W...

User experience (UX) is one of the most important determinants of online success today. The fact that user experience can yield you an ROI as high as 9900 percent is proof enough of this fact. Every business talks about offering a premium user experience. But