Since Search Engine Land launched, we have given PPC experts a platform to share their in-depth knowledge and timely insights – with the goal of helping you solve problems, manage challenges and understand the constantly shifting landscape of paid search, paid social and display. What follows are links to the 10 most-read, must-read Search Engine Land PPC columns of 2023 that were contributed by our fantastic group of Subject Matter Experts. 10. How to avoid 7 mistakes that tank retail Performance Max campaignsLearn how to avoid repeating some serious mistakes that advertisers have made with their Performance Max campaigns. (By Menachem Ani. Published Jan. 17.) 9. Why Performance Max for lead generation often fails and how to make it workGetting Performance Max to work for lead generation programs without offline conversion data is very hard. Learn what you can do here. (By Menachem Ani. Published Feb. 14.) 8. How to combine Google Ads with other channels to retarget, nurture and convertFive tips for using Google Ads retargeting with email, organic traffic, cross-device tracking, direct mail, and social media. (By Adriana Stein. Published Dec. 1.) 7. How to transition away from Google Ads similar audience segmentsLearn how to maintain or improve your performance in Google Ads and prepare for the removal of these high-quality audiences. (By Chelsea So. Published March 1.) 6. Why advertisers should reassess Google Ads recommendationsGoogle Ads is fundamentally changing the way recommendations work. Here’s why you should take extreme caution in applying any recommendation. (By Greg Finn. Published Jan. 5.) 5. The Hagakure method for Google Ads managementLearn about the Hagakure method, a modern approach to Google Ads management that blends simplicity and automation for better results. (By Benjamin Wenner. Published Oct. 5.) 4. This Google Ads script uses GPT to summarize account performanceUse this script to provide GPT with facts about your account and get a performance summary that can be shared with clients and stakeholders. (By Frederick Vallaeys. Published June 5.) 3. Using ChatGPT’s Advanced Data Analysis plugin for PPCExplore real-world examples of how to use the feature to speed up PPC data processing and visualization, insights generation, and more. (By Jason Tabeling. Published Aug. 31.) 2. A Google Ads script that uses GPT to write RSAsThis script can help you leverage GPT’s API to use the maximum number of RSA assets and, in turn, boost your paid search campaigns. (By Frederick Vallaeys. Published April 13.) 1. ChatGPT for PPC marketers: 15 strategic prompts to use todayLearn how to use ChatGPT to level up your paid search efforts without sacrificing strategy, authenticity or creativity. (By Amy Hebdon. Published Feb. 1.) via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/8pm3swC
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Since Search Engine Land launched, we have given SEO experts a platform to share their in-depth knowledge and timely insights – with the goal of helping you solve problems, manage challenges and understand the constantly shifting SEO landscape. What follows are links to the 10 most-read, must-read Search Engine Land SEO columns of 2023 that were contributed by our fantastic group of Subject Matter Experts. No surprise, Generative AI was the hottest topic in 2023 and dominates our list – 80% of the columns were either about ChatGPT, Bard or SGE. Also, I need to give some huge recognition to Tom Demers, who authored 5 of the 10 most popular SEO columns of the year. Unbelievable! 10. How Google SGE will impact your traffic – and 3 SGE recovery case studiesLearn how Google Search Generative Experience could affect your website’s organic traffic in this in-depth analysis. (By Gilad David Maayan. Published Sept. 5.) 9. Your SEO guide to the ChatGPT APIThe ChatGPT API can help address some of the web interface’s shortcomings. Here’s how to maximize the API for specific SEO use cases. (By Tom Demers. Published March 17.) 8. How to write title tags for SEO with ChatGPTLearn how ChatGPT and the ChatGPT API can help you create compelling, clickable title tags. (By Tom Demers. Published March 27.) 7. Yandex scrapes Google and other SEO learnings from the source code leakYandex isn’t Google, but there is a lot SEOs can learn about how a modern search engine is built from reviewing this codebase. (By Michael King. Published Jan. 30.) 6. An SEO guide to understanding E-E-A-TDig deeper into E-E-A-T – specifically what it means, why it matters to SEO, and tips to use it to your advantage. (By Zoe Ashbridge. Published March 13.) 5. How to steal your competitors’ featured snippets with ChatGPT (prompts included)A seven-step, ChatGPT-assisted process to streamline your featured snippet optimization and boost traffic for your top-ranking keywords. (By Tony Hill. Published May 11.) 4. 16 of the best AI and ChatGPT content detectors comparedWe tested the top detection tools for AI-generated content. Here’s what they are good and bad at, plus what to expect when using them. (By Tom Demers. Published April 25.) 3. How to use Google Bard for better SEODon’t miss out on Bard’s strategic advantage in SEO. Here are four ways to maximize Google’s AI chatbot for fine-tuning your SEO strategies. (By Lauren Busby. Published Oct. 23.) 2. An SEO’s guide to ChatGPT promptsHere’s what to remember when creating prompts, plus examples of SEO-focused ChatGPT prompts for daily work. (By Tom Demers. Published Feb. 24.) 1. How to use ChatGPT for keyword research (with actual prompts)Learn specific keyword research applications for ChatGPT, plus a framework for incorporating the tool into your SEO processes. (By Tom Demers. Published March 2.) via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/hcvm8yd Nicolas Cole has ghostwritten for some of the biggest tech founders, Fortune 500 executives, New York Times best-selling authors, Grammy-winning... The post How To Become A Ghostwriter: From A 7-Figure Ghostwriter appeared first on Copyblogger. via Copyblogger https://ift.tt/AYQXR1b The PPC community had a rollercoaster year in 2023. Google stirred things up by shaking cushions and discreetly adjusting ad prices, and the entire industry faced a major shift with the sunset of Universal Analytics, forcing everyone to transition to Google Analytics 4. It’s fair to say that GA4 did not receive the warmest welcome. As we approach the end of 2023, let’s reflect on some of the most headline-worthy, controversial, and impactful changes that significantly influenced the PPC world over the past 12 months. Google antitrust trialGoogle spent 10 weeks on trial for allegedly using underhand tactics to ensure it stays the world’s leading search engine. In September, the search engine was taken to court by the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and 35 states in a landmark case that could bring significant changes to Google and the future of the Internet. The DOJ is hoping that the case will force Google to divest parts of its online advertising business, which could have a major impact on advertisers. One of the most significant revelations from the 10-week trial occurred when Jerry Dischler, the head of Google Ads, testified that the search engine secretly raises ad prices to achieve targets by as much as 10%, using techniques such as RGSP (Google’s Randomized Generalized Second-Price ad auctions). This revelation not only angered advertisers but also directly contradicted Dischler’s statement during a keynote speech at SMX Advanced in 2015. In a clip brought to light by Search Engine Land, Dischler explicitly informs marketers:
Advertisers have since accused Google of downplaying its manipulation of ad prices, with some alleging that the company quietly increases ad prices by as much as 100%, a significant difference from the 10% figure mentioned by Dischler. Other notable takeaway to come from the federal antitrust trial include:
Reacting to the revelations to come from the antitrust trial, some advertisers were so outraged that they claimed they no longer trust Google Ads and were considering leaving. Judge Amit P. Mehta, who was presiding the federal antitrust trial, is expected to make a decision in the New Year. Google Ads boss resignsGoogle Ads chief Jerry Dischler resigned two weeks after the federal antitrust trial ended. Google told us the decision had nothing to do with his testimony, during which he claimed the search engine quietly raises ad prices for marketers by as much as 10%. Apparently, he just wanted “a new challenge” after working in advertising for 15 years. Google would not confirm whether Dischler is moving to another department or leaving the company. However, it was confirmed that Vidhya Srinivasan, who previously led product and engineering for ads, will take over leadership of the Ads team reporting to Google Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan. Shashi Thakur, a 17-year Google veteran, will take on Srinivasan’s previous role and report directly to her. Google’s additional legal issuesGoogle was also sued by Gannett, the publisher of USA Today, for using “deceptive commercial practices” and breaching U.S. antitrust and consumer protection laws in June. A few weeks later, eight individuals accused Google of illegally using copyrighted content and stealing the personal information of millions of Americans to train its AI products in a proposed class action lawsuit in San Francisco. Meanwhile, across the pond, Google is facing the possibility that it may be forced to sell part of its ad business after being charged with violating the European Union’s antitrust laws. Following a lengthy investigation, the European Commission suggested that “mandatory divestment” is the only way the search engine can resolve the issue. In the UK, publishers sued Google for $4.2 billion in lost ad revenue. The claimants alleged that Google gave preferential treatment to its own ad tech products, which resulted in reduced display ad revenues for publishers. In another blow for Google, an Adalytics study accused it of mis-selling video ads to marketers for the last three years. Advertisers working for small businesses, Fortune 500 companies and even the U.S. Federal Government have all been impacted, with the Google violating its own standards approximately 80% of the time, according to the research. Google denied the claims, describing them as “extremely inaccurate”. A second Adalytics study accused Google of risking the brand safety of advertisers by placing search ads on compromising non-Google websites, including sites containing pirated content and hardcore pornographic sites. Google categorically denied the allegations. Goodbye, Universal Analytics!Universal Analytics was officially replaced by Google Analytics 4 in July, but the sunset of UA was more gradual than expected. In fact, it took two months for the tool to finally stop processing data. Still, marketers were not happy. Despite repeated warnings from Google that the enforced migration was coming, only one in four marketers had fully adopted it in time, according to a Search Engine Land survey. Marketers struggled to navigate the new interface, so much so that many were contemplating switching to GA4 alternatives. GA4 updatesGiven the forced migration from UA, Google spent 2023 focusing on improving its product and rolled out numerous updates to GA4, including:
Search ads and Search Generative ExperienceGoogle confirmed in May that it was experimenting with directly integrating Search and Shopping ads within SGE. The search engine explained that search ads would be available on day one of its release and that advertisers wouldn’t be able to opt out of showing ads on the new search experience – at least not immediately. Google CEO Sundar Pichai told Steven Levy in a Q&A published on Wired in September:
In November, Google began testing a new SGE ad format and then rolled out new AI features within SGEto boost product visibility and conversions. Demand Gen goes globalGoogle Ads introduced Demand Gen on a global scale in October, extending access to all advertisers. This feature, considered the “next generation of Discovery campaigns,” brings new elements such as enhanced ad creation flow, additional inventory, and insights. Unlike Discovery campaigns, which were limited to images, carousels, or product data feeds for creatives, Demand Gen allows the use of videos. This includes regular YouTube videos and Shorts, providing advertisers with greater flexibility in crafting content that resonates with their target audience. Merchant Center NextGoogle officially unveiled a new, simplified version of Merchant Center, called Merchant Center Next (MCN), at Google Marketing Live 2023. MCN will officially replace Google Merchant Center in early 2024. YouTube’s ad blocker battleIn May, YouTube began issuing warning notifications to users, informing them that ad blockers are not allowed on the platform. The social media platform told users to either turn ad blockers off or pay for YouTube Premium if they want access to its extensive video library. A month later, YouTube stepped up its tactics to stop its users from installing ad blocked by disabling videos. By August, the platform was testing a new anti-adblocker popup that featured a timer warning when the next ad will play. A countdown clock, which reportedly ran for 30 to 60 seconds, would appear in the top right corner of the message, showing non-paying viewers how long they have left to take action before another ad starts. The following month, YouTube started sending users with ad blockers enabled more aggressive prompts, warning them to either “Allow YouTube ads” or subscribe to YouTube Premium. The platform then admitted to delivering a “suboptimal” experience to users with ad blockers enabled. However, in November, it was reported that YouTube’s ad blocker crackdown could be illegal in the EU. The platform had been using JavaScript code to detect ad-blocking extensions without asking users for consent first, claims privacy expert, Alexander Hanff – who has filed an official complaint with the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC). The alleged act would mean YouTube is violating EU privacy laws – however, Google is denying the charge. Amazon breaks records, Prime video ads, ‘quiet’ deals with AppleAmazon Prime Day 2023 set new records, emerging as the retailer’s most successful to date. The two-day extravaganza, held on July 11 and 12, witnessed a notable year-on-year spending increase of 6.1%, reaching $12.7 billion in the U.S., as reported by Adobe Analytics data. These impressive outcomes followed Amazon’s strategic layoffs in April within its advertising division. In an effort to increase ad revenue, Amazon announced that Sponsored Product ads will now be served on more platforms, including Pinterest and Buzzfeed. The retailer is also exploring the possibility of launching ads on Prime Video. However, when it comes to advertising on Amazon, the platform reportedly gives tech giant Apple an unfair advantage. In a secret deal, Apple allegedly asked Amazon to not serve competitor ads on its product pages. In response, the retail giant reportedly agreed to only serve ads and recommendations at the bottom of Apple product pages – a gesture it doesn’t provide to rival brands like Samsung and Microsoft. In other Amazon news, it was reported that the retailer’s share of seller revenue is now 50%. Recent changes, including higher fulfillment fees and mandatory advertising expenses, have resulted in increased costs for sellers. YouTube and TikTok expand their ad offeringsBoth YouTube and TikTok introduced new features in 2023, and research from independent organizations underscored the platforms’ substantial value in effectively targeting specific demographics. YouTube
TikTok
The decline of XFollowing Elon Musk’s takeover in 2022, Twitter’s ad revenue steeply declined. In June, it was reported that advertising revenue had fallen by 59% year-on-year, prompting Musk to bring in Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO. The following month, the platform changed its name to X and tried to lure back advertisers by slashing the price of video ads. In August, major brands began pausing their ad spend on X after learning campaigns appeared under pro-Nazi content. A Search Engine Land survey then found that less than a quarter of advertisers were planning to advertise on X over the next 12 months. X decided d to start outsourcing the sale of some of its ad space by joining forces with the Google Display Network in October. However, after Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory in November, it was reported that major brands weren’t just pausing their ad spend, they were cutting ties with the platform. Experts have predicted that X will lose as much as $75 million in ad revenue by the end of the year. Other Meta newsMeta experienced a significant year with the introduction of Threads, launched in July, with 100 million people subscribing in the first 102 hours. While much attention was given to the company’s latest platform, notable developments also took place across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
Microsoft ads boss steps down, predictive targeting and Target CPA and Maximize ConversionsAfter the departure of ads boss Rob Wilk in March, former VP, Global Partner & Retail Media Sales Kya Sainsbury-Carter took over. She keynoted Search Engine Land’s SMX Advanced in June. In a Q&A with Search Engine Land contributor Greg Finn, she discussed the future of Microsoft Advertising and emphasized the role of conversational AI. Here’s a breakdown of other significant advertising developments from Microsoft in 2023:
Automation & Performance MaxThe rapid pace of AI development led to a sense of overwhelm among 70% of marketers this year. Complicating the situation, both Google and Microsoft have been inserting ads into AI experiments without providing brands the option to opt-out. This has raised concerns among advertisers who worry about their products and services being promoted alongside inappropriate content. Here’s an overview of some of the most significant AI advancements, news and developments in 2023: Amazon
Microsoft
Meta
Other platforms making headlinesSeveral other platforms made waves in 2023: Instacart
Lyft
Shopify
Snapchat
Yelp
Key statisticsThroughout the year, researchers conducted studies to delve into the state of digital marketing in 2023 and published their findings. These insights provide an indication of the industry’s probable performance in the foreseeable future:
SMX Advanced and SMX NextWe can’t wrap up our 2023 year in review without talking about SMX. We had two epic virtual conferences this year with expert speakers discussing topics such as how to revolutionize your PPC game with Chat GPT to how to make Performance Max for Lead generation work. From SMX Advanced:
Well that’s a wrap on 2023! What a year it’s been. Looking forward to 2024, I think automation and generative AI will play a more prominent role, and we’ll see big changes to the ad landscape as Google continues to roll out SGE. Additionally, expect significant developments from TikTok, Reddit and other advertising platforms. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/posmlV4 The year 2023 was unlike any other I’ve seen in SEO and Search. I say this as someone who has been in this industry since 2007. Many others I spoke to expressed similar sentiments at various points throughout 2023. By March, Search Engine Land had published multiple stories that, in any other year, all could have been the story of the year. And the news and updates kept coming, day after day, week after week and month after month. Until at last, here we are, with no more year left to go! Although, with how this year has gone, I may be tempting fate – it’s entirely possible that a major Search story will break on Dec. 31. Search Engine Land has covered all the biggest stories for 17 years, and we did it again in 2023. Here’s our look back at the biggest SEO news and updates of 2023. Search Generative ExperienceThe all-new, AI-powered Google Search — officially: Google Search Generative Experience — was announced May 10 after months of speculation and rumors. It was powered by multiple large-language models (LLMs), including PaLM2 and MUM. It came with a waitlist (a recurring theme in 2023). Google opened access May 25. Here’s our SGE hands-on and early reactions. Dig deeper. Test driving Google’s Search Generative Experience The AI-generated answers are presented in a variety of forms via a snapshot, with links, images, videos and the ability to ask follow-up questions. SGE has received countless feature updates and expanded to 120 more countries, all while its content formats continue to evolve. Initially, SGE failed to cite sources in its answers (like Bard). Google began testing SGE links before officially adding links in August. Leading up to this:
Dig deeper. Google patent describes how the Search Generative Experience works BardGoogle tried to make it clear — Bard is not Search. This didn’t stop people from confusing Bard with some AI features it teased at the same time (which we later learned was SGE). But the arrival of Bard — Google’s answer to ChatGPT — was huge news in the Search world. Bard is Google’s experimental conversational AI service, powered by LaMDA. Bard was upgraded to Google’s Gemini model in December. Assistant with Bard, a “personal assistant powered by generative AI,” will soon be added to Google Assistant on iOS and Android.
Dig deeper: ChatGPT vs. Google Bard vs. Bing Chat: Which generative AI solution is best? AI contentThe arrival of generative AI led to brands, including BankRate, CNET and others, experiment with publishing AI-generated content, as we saw in January. This emergence of generative AI-written content reminded us of the old content farms wiped out by Google’s Panda updates. Google seemed to change its stance on AI content this year, less than a year after warning against AI written content. Content that is helpful and created for people first (vs. solely for earning search rankings) was now OK, according to Google’s Danny Sullivan. Google reiterated its stance a month later, with Sullivan saying Google’s focus is “on the quality of content, rather than how content is produced.” Meanwhile, content creators quickly became concerned about AI answers stealing traffic and revenue:
We also saw bad examples of AI content this year:
Ranking revelationsSEO wasn’t front and center at the U.S. vs. Google antitrust trial, but we learned a lot about how Google actually ranks pages.
Also this year (separate from the antitrust trial), Google’s Gary Illyes told us that links are no longer a “top 3” Google search ranking factor, which is in line with what Google said a year ago and told us would happen nearly a decade ago. Links clearly still play a role in SEO. However, for Google, links are less important for ranking webpages than in years past. Hidden gems, personal search and NotesGoogle announced a trio of updates in November:
Algorithm updatesAlthough it felt like an incredibly volatile year, and we were warned to “buckle up” for more, Google only released nine algorithm updates this year – less than the 10 it has released the previous two years. You can read the annual recap of 2023 Google algorithm updates by Barry Schwartz.
Reminder: Our history of Google algorithm updates page features all the latest news and guidance around the latest algorithm updates. Link best practicesGoogle shared new link best practices in their SEO and search developer documentation. This help document evolved from covering the basics of crawlable links to covering anchor text placements, how to write good anchor text, internal links and external links. Content pruningCNET got “exposed” for deleting thousands of pages (a.k.a., content pruning), which is a fairly common advanced SEO practice. CNET wrongly believed that content deprecation “sends a signal to Google that says CNET is fresh, relevant and worthy of being placed higher than our competitors in search results.” However, Google’s Sullivan wanted to make Google’s stance on this tactic clear:
Read all about it in Google warns against content pruning as CNET deletes thousands of pages as well as my follow-up guide, Improving or removing content for SEO: How to do it the right way. In memoriam: Google Analytics UAWe knew the end of Universal Analytics (UA) was inevitable. Google published blog posts, sent us emails, posted reminders on social platforms and showed us an intrusive interstitial every time we logged in. Google even threatened to set up Google Analytics 4 for us if we didn’t. While it seemed everybody was talking about AI, GA4’s switch-or-else date — July 1 — eventually came. Despite all the advanced notice, marketers still felt unprepared. Our coverage:
We thought UA would stop processing data. It didn’t. UA properties kept processing data. Ten days later. A month later. Two months later. Search Engine Land’s UA property finally stopped processing data on Sept. 8 — 68 days past the date on which we were expecting, and told repeatedly, it would stop. I wonder if there are still any UA properties collecting data as we close out 2023? 10 more Google Search updates and changes
Dig deeper. Inside Google’s massive 2023 E-E-A-T Knowledge Graph update MicrosoftNew Bing / Bing Chat / Bing CopilotIn January, we learned Microsoft was planning on adding ChatGPT features to Bing. By February, we learned it would be powered by GPT-4, (OpenAI released this model in March) and the new interface was spotted in the wild. Microsoft revealed the new Bing at an event in February. Here’s our hands-on review from February. New Bing earned praise from SEOs (e.g., New Bing is mind-blowingly fast and better than I expected) despite seeming to have multiple personalities (or “confused”) early on and received multiple quality improvements since. It also came with a waitlist and would only be open to Edge users on desktop initially. Over a million people signed up for the AI-powered Bing over the next 48 hours. Dig deeper. Microsoft explains how Bing AI Chat uses ChatGPT and Search with Prometheus Microsoft’s AI-powered search earned much media attention and created the perception that the company might finally gain ground on its longtime rival, Google. But hype, as it often does, turns out not to be reality. It looked like Bing made some small gains in search market share by March. We later learned that the new Bing attracted many new Edge users, who then chose Google for Search instead of Bing. It became clear by May that Microsoft Bing had failed to gain market share. Even clearer after six months of the new Bing — Microsoft disputed the numbers but failed to provide any figures. By the time Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke at the U.S. vs. Google antitrust trial, he sounded like a defeated man, saying at one point:
In November, Microsoft announced a rebranding of Bing Chat to Copilot. When that change will actually become visible remains to be seen, as Bing still refers to its chat experience from Search as “Bing Chat” or “Chat.” Dig deeper:
YandexA former Yandex employee allegedly leaked source code, part of which contained 1,922 search ranking factors. This was huge news when it broke, but has almost been forgotten now. It turned out that 1,922 figure was low — there were actually 17,854 Yandex ranking factors. See Michael King’s excellent analysis: Yandex scrapes Google and other SEO learnings from the source code leak. Also, Russia’s largest search engine is now reportedly for sale. YahooYahoo started dropping hints in January about its return to competing in the search space. In addition to hiring, a tweet promised Yahoo was going to make search “cool again.” Now we know Yahoo’s new Search experience will start rolling out in the first few weeks of 2024, Brian Provost, SVP & GM, Yahoo, told me at SMX Next in November. NeevaThe ad-free search engine, founded in 2019, shut down. Search Engine LandSearchBotWe turned Search Engine Land into a chatbot this year. Yes, we trained ChatGPT on our content so you can explore, experiment and learn more about search marketing. Later in the year, SearchBot got a huge upgrade, including new personas and image generation. Sign up here for free access. SMX Advanced and NextWe ran two digital events this year – SMX Advanced in June and SMX Next in November. Both shows were packed full of actionable SEO tips and insights. Below are links to our coverage of some SEO session from Advanced:
You can expect to read lots of coverage of SEO sessions from SMX Next over the coming weeks on Search Engine Land. Plus, congratulations to all the 2023 Search Engine Land Award winners. Salary & Career SurveyHere’s what you told us:
20 years of Barry SchwartzSearch Engine Land’s own Barry Schwartz has now been covering all things search for 20 years — 17 of those here at Search Engine Land. JR Oaks did a fascinating breakdown of 20 years of search based on Search Engine Roundtable analytics data. SEO in 2033What’s next for SEO? More AI. We are only at the dawn of our generative AI journey and AI-driven Search as we enter 2024. Pichai said this year Google Search will evolve substantively in next 10 years. And 2024 will be one year closer to the type of search that is more “personalized” (hello, Bard Assistant) and “ambiently available to users in radically different ways.” And he promises Google will get SGE right. DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman echoed this, saying Google will look much different in 2033 – where conversation is the interface, not a Search box. If you’ve never seen the 2013 movie “Her,” watch it. Or if you have seen it, watch it again. That could be the general direction Google is heading. The future of AI Search could be:
We aren’t there yet. Learn all you can about how modern search engines work, generative AI, LLMs, retrieval augmented generation and generative engine optimization (GEO) in 2024. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/SPXOkjh Google launched nine confirmed algorithmic updates in 2023, as well as a new AI search engine, the Search Generative Experience. In 2022 and 2021, Google had 10 confirmed algorithmic updates. Unless Google rolls out a new update this week, Google would have rolled out one less update in 2023 than it did in 2022 and 2021. Google confirmed algorithm update summaryWe whipped up this timeline documenting all the confirmed Google search algorithm updates in 2023, so you can visualize the updates over the year. Four Google core updates in 2023Google had a whopping four core updates in 2023, compared to only two in 2022. We had core updates in March, August, October and November. March 2023 core update. The Google March 2023 core update started rolling out March 15, took 13 days to complete, and finished on March 28. Overall, the volatility was about the same as previous core updates according to some data providers. Here is one chart we shared back then comparing that volatility: August 2023 core update. The Google August 2023 core update started rolling out August 22, took 16 days to complete, and finished on September 7. Overall, the volatility was generally less than previous updates, feeling more muted than what we expected according to data providers. Here is one chart we shared back then comparing that volatility: October 2023 core update. The Google October 2023 core update started rolling out Oct. 5, took 14 days to complete, and finished on Oct. 19. Overall, the volatility was hard to measure because it overlapped with the October spam update, but the volatility was felt in a big way, according to several data providers. Here is one chart we shared back then comparing that volatility: November 2023 core update. The Google November 2023 core update started rolling out on Nov. 2, took 26 days to complete, and finished on Nov. 19. Overall, the volatility was even greater than October spam update, according to data providers. But this update also overlapped with the November reviews update. Here is one chart we shared back then comparing that volatility: Product reviews update to reviews updateGoogle renamed the Product reviews update to the reviews update. That’s because Google is now looking at all types of review-related content, not just product review content. We had three reviews updates this year. The November 2023 reviews update is the last update of its kind that will be confirmed going forward, Google said. February 2023 product reviews update. The Google February 2023 product reviews update started Feb. 21, took 14 days to complete, and finished on March 7. Overall, the volatility showed that update was more significant that previous product reviews updates, according to some data providers. Also, this was the last product product reviews update before it was renamed the reviews update. Here is one chart we shared back then comparing that volatility: April 2023 reviews update. Now we move into the realm of reviews updates with the Google April 2023 reviews update, it started on April 12 and took 13 days to roll out, completing on April 25. again, this update went beyond product reviews and included services and businesses, destinations, media and other review content. Overall, the volatility was more widespread that previous updates, simply because it impacted more categories of review content. Here is one chart we shared back then comparing that volatility: November 2023 reviews update. Now we move into the realm of reviews updates with the Google November 2023 reviews update, it started on Nov. 8 and took 29 days to roll out, completing on Dec. 7. Again, this update went beyond product reviews and included services and businesses, destinations, media and other review content. I was unable to get data that compared the volatility of this update to previous ones because the November core update overlapped with this update and the data was too messy to separate. Helpful content update that shook the industryThe Google September 2023 helpful content update started on Sept. 14 and took 14 days to roll out, ending on Sept. 28. While we only had one helpful content update in 2023, this update was big. In fact, SEOs are still talking about this update today and how much of an impact it had on their businesses and clients. The volatility was very big, especially if you zoomed into the SEO chatter (what SEO forums were saying). It seemed like this was the helpful content update we expected Google to launch in 2022 but never did. I believe this update was felt more within the SEO industry niche, maybe sites designed to rank well in search engines, more so than typical sites that take into account more than just search engines. Here is one chart we shared back then comparing that volatility: A spam update in the middleAnd we had a spam update in the middle of all of these updates, the October 2023 spam update. That spam update started on Oct. 4 and lasted 15 days, ending Oct. 20. Yes, this update overlapped the October 2023 core update, making tracking the volatility of this specific update nearly impossible. Google said the October 2023 spam update “aims to clean up several types of spam that our community members reported in Turkish, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Hindi, Chinese, and other languages.” Google added that update should “reduce the visible spam in search results, particularly when it comes to cloaking, hacked, auto-generated, and scraped spam.” Other Google algorithm changes, updates, tweaks or topics
via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/qGFX62P Danny Miranda is in the top 1% of podcasters, and has interviewed some of the best entrepreneurs of our time,... The post How To Make A Successful Podcast: From A Top 1% Podcaster appeared first on Copyblogger. via Copyblogger https://ift.tt/IcgyqNp In 2023, we witnessed the rise of AI-powered search and significant evolution of the SERPs with the arrival of Google’s Search Generative Experience, as well as Bing Copilot (formerly Bing Chat). Google’s new AI model, Gemini, is their largest and most advanced with the capability to understand text, code, audio, images, and video. We expect to see its full potential unleashed on Google Search in 2024. Meanwhile, Google continues to stress the importance of quality and experience while using AI models as a key component of ranking and re-ranking. Google released several algorithm updates this year around the quality of content and page experience. Using AI is acceptable to Google for generating content as long as it is highly relevant and offers value. Still, don’t expect thin, AI-generated content with little or no value to easily earn SERP visibility for the long-term. A topical, entity-first strategy is now a competitive advantage. Strengthening the technical foundation of your platform to improve discovery and experience is critical. Bottom line: futureproofing digital presence for AI search should be a major priority for all brands in 2024. Read on to discover seven key trends that should influence your roadmap in 2024, as well as three must-haves for success. 7 trends that will influence your strategic roadmap in 2024These are the top seven trends we will notice in 2024. Changes above can only happen when we have the right infrastructure. 1. SERP and visual optimizationIn Google SGE and the SERPs, rich results will continue to evolve. So SERP optimization will remain critical as we expect zero-click results to grow due to SGE. Want to get into the AI-generated answer (or snapshot)? Keep publishing fast-loading pages filled with relevant, helpful, valuable and unique content. Some specific areas to prioritize:
2. Helpful content and content intelligenceA rock-solid content strategy will be essential in 2024:
You want to demonstrate high levels of E-E-A-T and publish content written or reviewed by subject matter experts or demonstrate actual hands-on experience. Every search happens because someone wants or needs something. Your content should help searchers achieve their goals or complete their tasks. How a user interacts with your content is just as important as the content itself. To meaningfully do this, your strategy should include creating buyer personas. Create content based on the buyer’s journey at every touch point. Survey your customers and ensure content and UX align with the strategy. Content intelligence – knowing what type of content will perform, based on data – should become your foundation of content creation. Several generative AI tools and plugins can quickly create content, sure, but it’s typically unclear:
Establishing a data-driven approach to measure the effectiveness of content will become crucial for content creators. 3. Engagement and experienceUser interactions and engagement are incredibly important to shaping Google’s search results. Google wants to reward expert-level content that is compelling and meets the needs of searchers. Your goal in 2024 should be to improve the quality and experience for searchers by improving the quality of your content and the experience of the digital assets. 4. Personalized experienceGoogle CEO Sundar Pichai said search will evolve substantively in the next 10 years. Search will be more personalized to impact users more profoundly and meaningfully. That may be why, on Nov. 15, Google introduced a personalized search experience, including a new Follow button, to show searchers more information about what they care about directly in their search results. You also need to give your customers personalized experiences based on who they are, what they are looking for, and where they are coming from. This means a tighter integration with your CDP (customer data platform) and CRM (customer relationship management) systems to ensure a personalized experience. Clean data, audience segmentation, and data-driven campaigns to personalize experience are critical strategies to win in 2024. 5. Multichannel approachTake advantage of all opportunities on what will become increasingly competitive SERP real estate with limited inventory for organic listings. That means optimizing the customer journey across various channels and content types:
Be everywhere. Be consistent. 6. Local Strategy needs to be more personalized, localized, and experiential.If your brand has a local presence, add localized experiences to build expertise, engagement and traffic. For destination-based content, think:
Listings management alone will not be enough. You must optimize the entire local consumer journey – from your landing page to audience interactions across all channels. 7. Brand mentions and social proofWe know LLMs are trained on a variety of sources to compile results. You will need to understand what specific questions/topics your customers are seeking answers for, where they will get this information, and ensure we create targeted strategies to garner brand mentions and citations from well-respected sources and influencers with a substantial social following within the relevant industry. 3 priorities for staying ahead in changing timesWith all the changes taking place, staying ahead of the curve and the changing times is imperative. “Keep up, or you will be left behind.” Here are three main priorities to help you stay ahead. 1. Technical Infrastructure which Enables Integrated, Robust ExperienceHaving a solid technical foundation is a must-have for 2024. A solid technical foundation ensures robust experience. This includes the ability to centralize all your data to build meaningful dashboards and customer journey insights, component-based architecture that enables one-click personalized and omnichannel experiences, security infrastructure, fast server response (CDN), and integrations. Dig deeper. Future Proofing Digital Experiences in AI First Semantic Search. 2. Embracing New MetricsAs AI serves answers in the search results, traffic is likely to decline. As more content is served within search results from Google properties, organic listings will continue to get more fragmented and will be pushed lower down on the page. Traditional metrics like rankings will mean even less than they do today. New metrics are emerging, and brands must consider adopting these as part of success criteria. New success metrics should include:
3. AI-Enabled Worker and Organization AlignmentBy learning how to apply AI in your daily life, you can become more efficient and better in creating content outlines, image creation, custom images, summaries, designs, and so many other places where AI should be used.
Are you ready for 2024?Smart organizations in 2024 will:
Some individual and organizational transformations will be needed. For example:
Get familiar with AI. Learn to use large language models for forecasting, content generation and analyzing user behavior. There are many ways to use AI to simultaneously improve your day-to-day efficiency and the quality of your work. AI-enabled workers and organizations will have the advantage. They will be more valuable than those that haven’t learned and leveraged AI tools. Use the trends and strategies from this article to help decide what to prioritize and why and how to align organizations cross-functionally. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/bzj4yVL Google posted an indexing issue with Google Search, saying it is investigating reports of indexing delays for content. Google said this issue is “affecting a small number of sites” and they are “working on identifying the root cause.” What Google wrote. Google posted, “Google is investigating reports about delayed indexing in Google Search that’s affecting a small number of sites. We’re working on identifying the root cause. Next update will be within 12 hours.” Google also posted these responses on X: Started early this morning. The reports of these indexing issues started to come in around 1:30 am ET on Thursday, December 21. I initially posted about it on the Search Engine Roundtable, several hours prior to Google confirming the issue. You can see that some of the complaints came in as early as 1:30 am ET and continued to come in throughout even as I write this story. Who is impacted. Initial thoughts were that only sites in India and specific regions were impacted but that is not exactly correct. Others thought it had to do with sites that publish both normal HTML pages, as well as offer an AMP alternative solution. The sites I write at, here and the Search Engine Roundtable do not appear to be impacted. The Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Washington Post and other large publications also do not seem to be impacted. Google said it is only “affecting a small number of sites.” Google will update us when it figures out the “root cause” of the issue. But I do not expect Google to share which sites were impacted and which were not. What now. If you are impacted, there is not much you can do right now but wait it out. Google is investigating the issue on their end and will hopefully resolve the issue sooner than later. Google did say it will provide an update within the next 12 hours, but hopefully we will see an update sooner. Why we care. If you are noticing issues with indexing of your content and thus traffic issues to your site from Google Search, then this may be why. Again, this specific issue is new, as of this morning. If you have been having indexing and ranking issues over the past several days or months, that is likely more of an issue with one of the Google Search algorithm updates and Google thinking your site is not worth ranking and indexing at this point. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/QkrM7Z2 One of the joys of living in a place where the winters tend to be long and dark is the time it allows for reading. Make a fire in the fireplace, pour yourself a drink and open a good book. I often do the bulk of my reading for the year between October and March because then it’s outside time (which isn’t to say you can’t read outside). We live in a time when we’re surrounded by marketing. Everything and everyone seems to be vying for our attention. If you work in marketing, the idea of reading a book about something you do all day and that surrounds you every waking moment might sound unappealing. Yet, there are still new things to be said and new things to learn about marketing. As you head into 2024, here are six books to put on your reading list. The first thing you’ll likely notice is they aren’t all actually about marketing. But marketing is an essential part of every business and every leader must be a marketer to be successful. 1. Impossible to Ignore: Creating Memorable Content to Influence DecisionsThe central focus of Dr. Carmen Simon’s book is the creation of memorable presentations, which is an area where many people have just enough knowledge of PowerPoint and Google Slides to be dangerous. The problem with many of the day-to-day presentations we see in sales and business, in general, is they try to function as both a presentation and a leave-behind. That leaves them packed with information and light on strong visuals and stories, and those are the exact elements that stick in our memories and promote recall. As evidence that the techniques in the book work, I like to refer to how Simon uses them in the book itself. Years after first reading “Impossible to Ignore,” I remember her anecdote about standing in line at a store when she was a child in Soviet-era Romania. Food was in short supply, so the workers had to limit the number of people in line. They decided to send home everyone behind the girl who stood out in a bright red coat, which was a young Simon. The combination of strong visuals and a powerful story burned that in my mind. 2. Running with Purpose: How Brooks Outpaced Goliath Competitors to Lead the PackWhy would a memoir by the CEO of an athletic shoe company make the list? Because marketing, at its essence, is about identifying and creating markets for whatever you’re selling. When Jim Weber took over as CEO of Brooks, the company was trying to be everything to everyone who wore sneakers. That’s a lot of people in a market with many big brand names. Weber and team decided to drop a large portion of the market by leaving the “athleisure” business, which consists of the low(ish)-cost sneakers people wear around the house or when they’re doing chores. They decided instead to focus on serious runners. This one also has a great marketing play involving luxurious portable toilets Brooks brought to major races. To gain entry, runners had to be wearing Brooks footwear. There’s a lesson on market disruption, too. Remember the craze over five-finger running shoes? Yeah, that was fun. 3. Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They ExpectWill Guidara has a unique resumé. Among his roles: restaurant owner, creative agency leader, conference host and the author of four cookbooks. His specialty is hospitality. One of his guiding beliefs is that hospitality need not be limited to what we think of as the hospitality industry (i.e., restaurants, spas, hotels). Instead, businesses across industries can create experiences that delight customers and drive more business. As Guidara rose to prominence in the restaurant business in New York City, his business became legendary for providing experiences like sledding in Central Park for a family that had never before experienced snow. The moments of brilliance and generosity in the book could serve as a lesson for corporations across the business spectrum. Americans have relatively dim views of large corporations and financial institutions in general. They feel much better about small businesses, which are more nimble and structured in a way that makes personal touches possible. Many marketers will tell you their brand is more than a logo or color palette, it evokes emotions and, most importantly, trust. In “Unreasonable Hospitality,” you get a view of what this truly looks like in practice. 4. The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary ImpactWe can’t remember every detail of every experience. If you’ve ever watched a courtroom drama, you’ve seen this play out. “So what you’re saying is, you’re not sure if the suspect had a beard or not when you saw him on that misty, moonless night?” We remember the peaks of our experiences most of all. Sometimes, we remember the valleys of our experiences. Everything else gets labeled as “just not important enough to remember” by our memory. In “The Power of Moments,” Chip Heath and Dan Heath help readers understand how our minds process and classify experiences. Once you understand how this all works subconsciously, it’s much easier to be deliberate in creating moments that matter for our audiences. As a blueprint, the book looks at events that weren’t necessarily designed to be memorable, such as a “Signing Day” ceremony for graduating high school seniors where they announced which college they were attending. It then deconstructs the events to see what exactly made them memorable. 5. Humanizing B2B: The new truth in marketing that will transform your brand and your salesDownload a whitepaper. Get calls from sales reps. Receive email after email. For years, the B2B marketing playbook was pretty boring – even a bit annoying. It’s improved to some extent but still has a long way to go. You probably know the feeling if you have friends who work in B2C marketing. “Oh, you’re doing a Super Bowl ad? That must be exhausting for you…” What if it didn’t have to be this way? (Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.) Instead of being the boring part of marketing, Paul Cash and James Trezona say, B2B should appeal to the emotions of people trying to transform organizations and create change. They draw heavily on research from The B2B Institute at LinkedIn to make the case that B2B buyers rely on emotions just as much as their B2C counterparts. That makes a great deal of sense, when you think about it. Because they aren’t actually counterparts. They are the same people, and they don’t take off their B2B hat and put on a B2C hat when they finish their workday. 6. Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning So Customers Get It, Buy It, Love ItPart of what I enjoy about April Dunford’s story is that, like me, she never set out to be a marketer. As someone without a formal marketing education, she asked a lot of questions. The answers left her unsatisfied. “Trust me, it works.” “Because we’ve always done it that way.” The result is “Obviously Awesome,” a book that re-thinks product marketing from an outsider’s perspective. The most difficult part for people trying to turn their product into a story that resonates with customers is where to start. Do you craft a story that starts with your features? Or do you focus first on the customers’ needs? What about differentiation? You’ll have to read the book to find out. via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/9xQSTkv |
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