Technology News and Industry Knowledge

Google is rolling out changes to comply with new state privacy laws and user opt-out preferences across its ads and analytics products in 2024. The big picture. Google is adjusting its practices as Florida, Texas, Oregon, Montana and Colorado enact new data privacy regulations this year.  Key updates include: Restricted Data Processing (RDP) (which is when Google limits how it uses data to only show non-personalized ads) for new state laws: Google will update its ads terms to enable RDP for these states as their laws take effect. This allows Google to act as a data processor rather than a controller for partner data while RDP is enabled. No additional action required if you’ve already accepted Google’s online data protection terms. Honoring global privacy control opt-outs: To comply with Colorado’s Universal Opt-Out Mechanism, Google will respect Global Privacy Control signals sent directly from users. This will disable personalized ad targeting based on things like C...

One size certainly does not fit all in PPC advertising. The strategies that drive success in ecommerce often differ from those required for effective lead generation.  Lead generation through PPC is more challenging than ecommerce. There are more obstacles and numerous sales funnel strategies to navigate. Additionally, major ad networks often favor ecommerce brands because of their new features and educational resources. This article wasn’t written to complain but to explore the nuanced approaches needed for each, highlighting key strategies for lead generation such as fraud prevention, monitoring micro KPIs and navigating the complexities of revenue tracking. The challenges of lead fraud Lead generation campaigns face the persistent challenge of lead fraud, which can skew performance data and drain budgets. This can be true for display, video and cross-network campaigns. Unlike ecommerce, where the end goal of a transaction requires a credit card payment, lead generation ...

Site launches are arguably one of the most risky SEO endeavors. You can go from pure SEO bliss to catastrophe at the flip of a switch. I’m sure any experienced SEO you ask could tell you a site launch horror story or two; whether it was their own doing due to lack of knowledge/experience or something completely out of their hands. My hope with today’s article is that you may learn something from some of the lessons I’ve learned launching websites over the past decade. At the very least, perhaps it’ll help prevent one less site launch horror story. Below are some of the major lessons I’ve learned and aren’t in any particular order of importance. 1. Excluding low-traffic pages from redirects during a site launch is risky I learned this lesson the hard way when working at an agency years ago. For whatever reason, at the time, we only redirected the top 500 pages of a site based on traffic, links and overall page authority. If it was a CMS page (like category pages), those also go...

Google Search Console link report may be broken or maybe Google decided to report on fewer links in that tool. Many are seeing huge declines in the number of links the tool is showing them when compared to last week. More details. Starting Monday, May 27th, many SEOs began to notice a decline in the number of links being reported and then as of this morning, many are noticing massive declines , some even showing zero links being reported in the tool. I am seeing a 40% reduction in the links reported today when compared to just a few days ago. Here is my link report from today: Here is a screenshot from the same report from May 27th: Bug or feature. Google has not yet commented on this issue, so either this is some sort of reporting glitch – like we saw yesterday with product snippets report – or it is a feature, where Google is just showing fewer links. Either way, you are not alone, everyone is seeing a huge decline in the number of links reported in the Google Search Co...

If you’ve been following SEO trends over the past two years, you’ve probably heard the term “AI” more than enough times already. While I’ll admit it is getting a tad bit repetitive, it’s not without good reason.  AI technology will set the trajectory of nearly every industry in the modern economy. Some industries are further along the adoption curve than others, but at some point, the world we see today will be seamlessly woven together with AI. With that imminent future in mind, it’s important to discuss how we use generative AI effectively. My agency has dealt with clients on both ends of the AI spectrum. Some wish to avoid it in their content production at all costs, while others think it can do everything for them. Unfortunately, neither is true. This begs the question, “How should we use AI for our SEO content production?” Here are six principles to ensure you’re getting the most out of the technology while still producing effective, Google-friendly content.  1....

Google officially rolled out the requirement for Consent Mode v2 for Google properties in the European Economic Area (EEA) to ensure its properties complied with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in March. Consent Mode v2 introduced two new parameters:  ad_user_data , which ​​sets consent for sending user data related to advertising to Google.   ad_personalization , which sets consent for personalized advertising.  This launch caused a frenzy among PPC marketers to ensure compliance before the deadline. However, a significant number of advertisers have not adopted consent mode, and their ad accounts are at risk of penalization. Below are four ways to check your current Google consent mode configuration. 1. Check your consent mode configuration in Google Ads The first and simplest place to start your checks is within Google Ads itself. Within your ad account, navigate to Tools and Settings > Measurement > Conversions > Diagnostics. If consent mode...

From fireside chats to expert-led sessions featuring digital leaders who are blazing a trail in the world of omnichannel marketing, this year’s Emarsys Omnichannel and AI Masterclass is packed full of insights that will leave you buzzing with new ideas.  In this article, we’re going to take a look at three key sessions from the likes of Home Depot, Colgate-Palmolive and Kellanova that you won’t want to miss. Let’s dive in. More than commerce: How CPG brands are building DTC engagement  Speakers: Don Brett, Podcast Host, CPG View  Jamie Schwab, VP Global Digital Commerce, Colgate-Palmolive  Jamie Decker, VP e-Commerce, Del Monte  Diana Macia, Director, Global Omnichannel Capabilities, Kellanova (Kellog’s)   What’s in store:  Driven by the modern consumers’ demand for convenience and internal pressures to build brand affinity, the last few years have seen a stampede of consumer products brands opening up direct-to-consumer offerings....

The search community is still unpacking and processing the huge reveal of the Google Search ranking documents that were made public yesterday morning. Everyone has been asking, why has Google not commented on the leak. Well, Google has finally commented – we spoke to a Google spokesperson about the data leak. Google told us. Google told us that there are a lot of assumptions being published based on the data leak that are being taken out of context, that are incomplete and added that search ranking signals are constantly changing. This is not to say Google’s core rankings principles change, they do not, but the specific and individual signals that go into Google rankings do change, Google told us. A Google spokesperson sent us the following statement: “We would caution against making inaccurate assumptions about Search based on out-of-context, outdated, or incomplete information. We’ve shared extensive information about how Search works and the types of factors that our systems ...

PayPal is building an advertising business that will leverage the troves of data it collects on consumer purchases and spending habits. What’s happening? The digital payments giant plans to create an ad network that allows merchants and brands to target PayPal’s roughly 400 million users with personalized promotions and ads based on their transaction histories. Why we care. Advertisers should be interested in this because PayPal has a vast amount of purchasing data from 400 million users, so this could mean sophisticated targeting and advertising across multiple channels (as Paypal plans on serving ads beyond its platforms) from one platform. Key hires. Mark Grether, formerly head of Uber’s ad business, hired as SVP/GM of PayPal’s new PayPal Ads division to develop ad formats and build out the sales team. John Anderson, previously head of product/payments at Plaid, hired as SVP/GM of PayPal’s consumer group. Details. PayPal already offers an “Advanced Offers” ad product tha...

Understanding all the features of Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is essential to making the most of it. Doing so allows you to configure the tool to analyze data accurately and efficiently. It also lets you draw the best conclusions for designing, refocusing and defining your digital strategies. GA4 users can configure many functionalities, including custom dimensions, which allow for more detailed and personalized data analysis. What are dimensions in GA4? Google defines a dimension as an attribute of your data. It describes your data, and it’s usually written in text rather than numbers. An example of dimensions would be source/medium, which shows how a user arrives at a website: Another example of dimension would also be the Event name, which shows the different events that happen on a website and how the user interacts with it: When creating the GA4 account, the tool preconfigures a wide list of dimensions automatically by default. However, if this is not enough for your ...