Technology News and Industry Knowledge

X has officially rolled out its creator ads revenue sharing program. The new feature enables users to share revenue from verified content creators’ impressions of ads in replies to content posted on the social networking platform. Elon Musk’s platform, previously known as Twitter, has introduced this new tool as part of X’s mission to enable people to “earn a living” by posting on its site. Why we care . Musk is in the midst of trying to rebrand Twitter to X following a plummet in ad revenue after his takeover last year – and this new feature comes at a huge turning point for the platform. The program has already helped creators secure substantial early payouts, which is helping to generate interest in the brand again. However, while the payouts so far have been impressive, the eligibility qualifications are pretty high. Perhaps too high for people to realistically earn a living through X. Who is eligible? In order to be considered for the creator ads revenue sharing program, you...

This is a gentle reminder that on August 1, Google will remove similar audiences (or segments) from all ad groups and campaigns. Please have a look at the full announcement here . Campaigns using similar audiences will automatically get opted into optimised targeting and audience expansion moving forward. Marketers who would rather avoid this can go to the audiences tab in the Google Ads settings page and manually turn off the campaigns instead. It’s important to note that historical similar audiences data from past campaigns will still be accessible despite the transition. Why we (still) care.  When marketers use first-party data (for example, customer lists) to create a similar audience segment, this data can generate a hugely influential performance driver for new customers within Google Ads. By combining similar segments with display ad campaigns, marketers can achieve 41% more conversions , according to Google. So losing this data will be of concern to users The new autom...

Universal Analytics is still processing data one month after Google advised it would sunset. The search engine had warned that everyone would be forced to migrate over to Google Analytics 4 by 30 June 2023 or else they would lose the ability to track the performance of their websites and campaigns. However, a month later, it looks like many marketers can still use their UA accounts as usual. Why we care.  The majority of marketers did not embrace the enforced migration to GA4 and many have found the new system difficult to use with complaints raised around its user interface , a lag in data and data discrepancies. Being able to still monitor campaign and website performance in UA will come as a huge relief to those that have been struggling with GA4. However, as tempting as it may be, it would be unwise for marketers to rely on UA for analytics purposes as it could stop processing data at any minute. What’s the latest? Shopify’s official support channel was asked by a markete...

While content is a foundational aspect of any SEO plan, it can be overwhelming for a local business to produce.  An HVAC company, hardware store, or real estate agent may not have the time, budget or capacity to roll out an exhaustive content marketing program that a B2B SaaS startup would implement to gain market share.  To heed the advice of creating content, many local businesses default to blogging. Yet the results are usually underwhelming: a few 300-word articles that are read by a total of three people.  Local content: More than blog posts Local content can be product or service pages , case studies, client testimonials, and other content pieces that: Drive people further down your sales funnel. Answer every objection they have. Convince them to take the next meaningful action in their buying journey.  Local content doesn’t even need to be written content.  The rise of iPhones, GoPros, and user-friendly editing tools means local content can i...

Programmatic advertising enables digital marketers to buy advertising space through automated technology and machine learning, typically using a demand-side platform (DSP). Leaning on automation is nothing new to most marketers. Programmatic advertising streamlines the process of buying ad inventory across a huge network of platforms. It also gives advertisers greater control and granularity over placements, budgets and creative assets.  Yet, automating the media buying process has its downside: it’s easy to let the system take over without considering what’s best for your agency. With many targeting, creative, and optimization options, determining the right approach for each client can be overwhelming. Here are five tips to ensure your programmatic campaign is as successful as possible. 1. Know your objective A clear purpose is key to your programmatic strategy. Clearly focusing on your client’s objectives will inform almost everything about how you set up your programmati...

B2B companies struggle with keyword research for various reasons: A lack of significant search volume around their core topic. Search volume for their core topic is highly concentrated around a few highly competitive keywords. Search volume is concentrated around top-funnel terms that don’t convert. Every niche and site is different – even under the B2B umbrella.  Having worked with several B2B businesses to help drive millions of visitors along with real revenue and business value, I have developed a process for gathering a list of keyword targets to drive real leads, pipeline, and revenue for any B2B website. This article will walk you through the entire process of what to do – including three types of keywords many B2B companies ignore that you shouldn’t. The basics The first phase of keyword research is to build out a list of possible keyword targets. At this stage, you can be liberal with adding keywords here, as not all will make the cut as potential targets. Some...

Ad spend increased across Google, Meta, Amazon and Walmart during the first two quarters of 2023. Another major advertising platform on the grow in Q2: fashion brand Temu. The company became a major player in the Google Shopping race, so much so that it is now competing against 82% of US advertisers – to put this percentage into perspective, this is a higher share than Walmart, according to Tinuiti’s latest Digital Ads Benchmark Report. Why we care . An increase in ad spend is fantastic news for marketers as it shows that stability and trust in the digital ad space is finally returning following the economic downturn. The more brands are willing to spend, the more opportunities that are created for advertisers – not just in terms of campaign volume, but bigger budgets will give advertisers access to more resources to improve engagement, conversions and ROI. The business’ strong performance will also be of interest to marketers previously thinking of buying ad space with Wa...

You’ve probably heard the news: Google Ads and Google Analytics 4 will completely retire first-click, linear, time decay, and position-based attribution models in September. Last-click and data-driven attribution models will remain available, along with external attribution. What some PPC marketers don’t realize is that Google won’t just discontinue these attribution models from a bidding standpoint. They will also be removed from the reporting and comparison features. This means you can no longer analyze your customer journeys within Google Ads and Google Analytics using attribution models. You need alternatives. A look at attribution models Attribution models help connect a conversion (i.e., a sale or a lead) to an ad click or impression. It’s a way to determine which ads, audiences or networks perform best.  Historically, we’ve used several attribution models with different rules to make that connection. Using football analogy, here’s what each model represents: Last c...

Google has a new Google Merchant Center policy on “automated content” that says reviews generated using an automated program or artificial intelligence application are considered spam and against the Google Merchant Center policies. Google posted this update here while also clarifying its existing Merchant Center policies and enforcement. Automated content policy. The new policy reads: “Automated Content: We don’t allow reviews that are primarily generated by an automated program or artificial intelligence application. If you have identified such content, it should be marked as spam in your feed using the is_spam attribute.” AI Content and Google. Generally, Google has been okay with people using AI to generate content, assuming that content is helpful and not written for search engines but rather for users. This is a bit of a deviation from the recent messaging from Google on using AI for content. But one would assume that reviews require a human to use the product to genera...