Pinterest prohibits climate misinformation in ads, content 

Pinterest wants to remove any traces of climate misinformation from its platform. The company announced it will now remove any ads or content from its platform that violates its new policy.

In October, Google announced a similar policy. It prohibited advertisers, AdSense publishers, and YouTube creators from running ads or monetizing misleading content around climate change.

New community and advertising guidelines. Pinterest’s new policy removes climate misinformation and disinformation. Specifically:

• Content that denies the existence or impacts of climate change, the human influence on climate change, or that climate change is backed by scientific consensus. 
• False or misleading content about climate change solutions that contradict well-established scientific consensus.
• Content that misrepresents scientific data, including by omission or cherry-picking, in order to erode trust in climate science and experts.
• Harmful false or misleading content about public safety emergencies including natural disasters and extreme weather events.

This all falls under the “Sensitive content” section of Pinterest’s advertising guidelines. 

Source: Pinterest prohibits climate misinformation in ads, content 

Twitter: Edit button coming (but you’ll have to pay to get it)

Twitter confirmed via a tweet that an edit button is coming. Not to everyone. Just Twitter Blue subscribers as a test. 

Why do we care? Whether you use Twitter personally, professionally, or both, you’ve probably tweeted something, only to realize a few seconds or minutes later that there was an error. Maybe it was a typo. Maybe you forgot a link. Whatever it was, it meant you had to delete the tweet and start over – sometimes losing engagement (replies, favorites, retweets). It’s annoying. So this will be good news for marketers and brands if this feature finally becomes available to all users. 

Twitter + Elon Musk = edit button? On April Fools Day, Twitter tweeted “we are working on an edit button”. Was it a joke? At the time was largely viewed as Twitter trolling its user base about the most-requested feature for years that Twitter refused to give its users: an edit button. 

Apparently, it wasn’t a joke. 

This was the second such tweet aimed at its newest (and largest) shareholder and board member, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, within 24 hours. The other was a response to Musk’s Twitter poll, in which he asked a simple question: Do you want an edit button?

As of publishing, 73% of the 4 million voters said Yes. (Well, technically they voted yse, because the options Musk gave were both misspellings.

Source: Twitter: Edit button coming (but you’ll have to pay to get it)

Ready to turn website visits into money? Meet continuous conversion

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? 

As a marketer, you know the importance of website conversion rate optimization (CRO), so you run A/B tests or set up personalization rules. But before you know it, you’re bogged down by setting up tests, monitoring them daily to see if they’ve reached statistical significance, and declaring winners (if you can even call them that). Even then, you’re stuck with the laborious task of baking these into your base site or pinging your engineering team to do so yet again for you. 

And after all this work, you realize you’re still not meeting the goal you set out for in the first place: driving more conversions. This is because your visitors are still receiving a one-size-fits-all static experience and not the personalized, dynamic experience they’re expecting. At this point, you’re behind on your goals and wondering if there’s a better way.

There is.

What if we told you there’s a website optimization solution that replaces manual, developer-reliant testing and marries your great ideas with machine learning to help you easily turn website visits into money? It’s here now, and it’s ready to help you drive growth.

Source: Ready to turn website visits into money? Meet continuous conversion

R.A.C.E to success: A strategic framework to win at SEO

SEO can be broken down into clear, repeatable steps.

We know that:

• Content is king and user experience is queen.
• Google wants us to create unique, relevant, comprehensive content so that searches can find exactly what they are looking for. 
• Websites should load fast and make it easy for users to perform their desired actions.
• The content and experience of the site should be worthy of being mentioned and linked to by other relevant, authoritative websites.

In this way, optimizing for SEO can be distilled into four stages:

1. Research
2. Audit
3. Create
4. Empower

Want to learn a repeatable, step-by-step marketing program that will allow you to develop and implement a successful digital marketing strategy? This will be the first article of a new series that will deliver just that. This article will provide a general outline of the “what” and “how.” Future installments will go into much more detail.

Research (reboot, raid, realign)

Before starting any SEO campaign, you need to spend a significant amount of time researching.

Audit (analyze, align, activate)

Now that all the background research is complete, it’s time to move on to the auditing stage. You’ll need to perform several audits to ensure your site has all the correct elements. 

Source: R.A.C.E to success: A strategic framework to win at SEO

Twitter for Professionals: How to switch to a Professional Account

Twitter has made Professional Accounts available to all of its global users. Professional Accounts, originally introduced in October, are now available to “anyone who comes to Twitter to do business.” 

Businesses, brands, creators, and publishers who make the switch will gain access to advanced profile features, promotional tools, and new features, according to Twitter. Converting is free.

Twitter promises much about its professional account. But does it deliver? Read on for a walk-through of how to make the switch, and along the way, decide whether you think it’s worth your time to do so.

How to make the switch

First, make sure you qualify for a Professional Account. Here are Twitter’s rules:

• You must not have a history of repeatedly violating the Twitter User Agreement.
• You must have a complete profile with an account name, a bio, and a profile picture.
• Your authentic identity must be clear on your profile. Your profile must not feature another person’s identity, brand, or organization, nor does it use a fake identity intended to deceive others. Profiles that feature animals or fictional characters are ineligible unless directly affiliated with your brand or organization. Parody and fan accounts are not eligible for Professional Accounts.

If you’re qualified, you can move on.

Source: Twitter for Professionals: How to switch to a Professional Account

More news:

Tech Companies Rally to Help Ukraine

Google Ads latency issue confirmed with ad reviews

Facebook confirms ‘massive ranking failure’

Tech Companies Rally to Help Ukraine

As the world watches the Russian invasion of Ukraine taking place in real time, leading tech companies have launched initiatives to support Ukrainians as they resist Russian aggression.

From combatting misinformation, to facilitating contact with the outside world, to providing humanitarian aid to organizing fundraisers, these companies are leveraging their resources and expertise to aid in Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty.

Ukraine Is A Hotbed Of IT Talent

Following independence in 1991, Ukraine has continued to emphasize science and technology, with the 2015 Law on Scientific and Technical Activities reinforcing institutional support for a national innovation system.

This has led to significant growth in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, which accounts for more than 40% of the country’s total exports.

A 2020 study by DAXX found more than 200,000 tech specialists in Ukraine, with roughly 85% working in software development.

Since the outbreak of hostilities, dozens of companies have sought to hire some of the 10 million displaced Ukrainians via websites like Remote Ukraine.

Google Leveraging Resources to Assist Ukraine

In the days following the February 24 Russian invasion, Google’s charitable division, Google.org, contributed $15 million in donations and in-kind support to aid relief efforts in Ukraine. That includes $5 million in employee matching contributions and $5 million in direct grants.

On March 4, Google committed an additional $10 million to help organizations delivering both immediate aid and longer-term assistance for refugees in Poland.

Microsoft Also Using Its Expertise to Prevent Cyberattacks

Microsoft is using its capabilities and resources to aid in bringing relief to the humanitarian crisis in Eastern Europe.

Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Center reacted quickly to cyberattacks on Ukraine’s digital infrastructure, writing signatures to detect and block the malware known as FoxBlade in just three hours from its initial detection.

Search Giants Fighting Misinformation

To combat the spread of misinformation about the conflict, Microsoft has joined Google in blocking Russian state-media, including RT and Sputnik news. They have also stopped Russia state media’s ability monetize and advertise on their platforms, which include YouTube, Google News, MSN.com, Facebook and Twitter.

Other Tech Companies Doing Their Part

It’s not just search engines contributing resources to aid the Ukrainian people. Other tech companies are assisting as well.

Amazon is donating $5 million to provide on-ground support, while its Welcome Door program seeks to provide refugees with employment support.

Also contributing humanitarian support for citizens in Ukraine and refugees in Eastern Europe are Apple, which is matching employee donations at 2:1, Salesforce which is committing $2 million, and Epic Games and Xbox, who are donating two weeks of Fortnite proceeds totaling $36 million.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX sent thousands of Starlink satellite internet kits to help Ukrainians stay connected to the outside world, something it was working on even before a Ukrainian government official made a request on Twitter on February 26.

Source: Tech Companies Rally to Help Ukraine

7 reasons why people believe SEO myths

The bigger question is: why does your boss (and/or your co-workers and/or your team) keep asking you about these SEO myths? Or how did your client hear about some random, long-ago debunked tactic? Shouldn’t they know better?

Well, no. Not always. 

Part of your job is to understand and educate them about how search actually works – why E-A-T isn’t a ranking factor, why Domain Authority isn’t a metric Google uses or why LSI keywords are a ridiculous concept.

Read on to learn about the top reasons people believe SEO myths and how some SEO practitioners deal with them.

Repetition

SEO myths sound believable when repeated enough times. Misinformation tends to spread in our industry. It’s shared in conference presentations, in blog posts, on social media, on podcasts and elsewhere. Before you know it, you’ve got a myth (or a new SEO boogeyman). 

So if you find yourself in this situation, what should you do? 

Holly Miller Anderson, lead SEO product manager, North America, at Under Armour, put it this way: “Educate. Don’t argue.”

““One of the best things SEO leads can do is to be as proactive as possible about educating your org and leadership team against SEO myths,” Anderson said. “Host talks as often as possible (i.e. lunch and learn style) about SEO myths and invite people to come in and hear some of the myths, share the ones they’ve heard, and provide different resources and proof.”

Myths typically are the “easy answer”

SEO is “free traffic.” At least, that’s how many clients view it. At times, SEO is oversimplified, to the point where clients think all you have to do is x, y and z and then sit back and wait for all the rankings, traffic, conversions and revenue.

Well, often the “too good to be true” answers turn out to be just SEO basics. Table stakes. Everybody is optimizing their meta tags, answering questions, making mobile-friendly sites and trying to create “great” content. 

Sometimes, even worse, these “easy answers” could actually be tactics that could inflict harm on your clients. And that’s something you never want to ignore, said Himani Kankaria, founder of Missive Digital.

“I’ll tell them that I won’t be doing it and won’t be allowing my team to do it as implementing the wrong things would cost the client, and then cleaning it up would also add cost,” Kankaria said. “On top of that, what’s the guarantee that cleaning up that mess would bring back results?”

The only way to fight bad information is with better information, said Keith Goode, principal SEO product manager at Cox Automotive.

Information overload

You can find all sorts of information about SEO. There are endless help documents, articles, guides, studies, social media updates, ebooks, courses, podcasts, videos, and on and on. Talk about information overload! 

But you know what else is easy to find? SEO misinformation. 

Dave Davies, lead SEO at Weights & Biases, pointed out that most SEO myths originate from a kernel of truth. He said he has found that identifying that kernel and discussing why you haven’t engaged the tactic in this scenario is helpful. 

Maria White, head of SEO at Kurt Geiger, said that communication is the best way to tackle misinformation. 

It ranks well on Google, so it must be true

There’s a belief that what ranks well on Google means that it is accurate and trustworthy. I’ve seen this happen plenty through the years. For example, when people quote a statistic, they often type in [keyword + stats], look at the number one result, find a stat, cite that roundup post and hit publish. 

Except, when you actually check the sources, you realize that somebody at some point took a statement or statistic out of context, and it morphed into something that it never was. 

But Google doesn’t always rank the best or correct answers. Google’s algorithms are unable to fully determine accuracy. 

Lack of critical thinking

SEO checklists only take you so far. It’s your job to gather and process all the information, arguments and data we can before taking action. After all, the goal is to do what’s best for your brand, business, or clients. 

So question everything. Be skeptical. Examine the who, what, where, when, why, and how of everything you read, watch, or hear. 

Most of your clients just aren’t capable of critical thinking about SEO. They don’t have our experience, knowledge, and data. And though it may be hard, sometimes it’s important to be blunt, especially if the situation requires a radical change in thinking, said Kaspar Szymanski, co-founder of SearchBrothers. 

The source seems legit

For those of us who have been in the industry for several years, we’ve seen some popular personalities and websites that have published some questionable, misleading, or downright incorrect information. 

So we should produce better information as positive alternatives to learn from, according to Bill Slawski, Director of SEO Research at Go Fish Digital. 

“Sadly, there is a lot of misinformation in the world, and some SEOs are much more interested in writing popular clickbait rather than something that may be more accurate,” Slawski said. “These authors can sometimes be successful in terms of being paid by toolmakers, but aren’t helpful to SEO customers who want successful businesses.”

Every media or publishing site occasionally gets information wrong. Most reputable ones admit and correct their mistakes. That isn’t always the case in SEO. Some people, when corrected, will ignore it or – worse – stubbornly stand by their harmful content. 

It’s considered “best practice”

In SEO, frustratingly at times, the answer often is “it depends.” That’s because what is considered SEO best practice in e-commerce SEO can be different from news SEO or local SEO or enterprise SEO.

No two websites, even in the same market, are exactly the same. Some strategies and tactics may work for multiple websites, but results will inevitably vary. Some SEO “best practices” may prove to be “worst practices” for some websites.

What to do when faced with these SEO myths?

Kevin Rowe, VP of strategy and product at PureLinq, has a standardized approach that includes, in part, a three-question litmus test for prioritizing and assessing risk against goals. Those questions are:

• Did the recommendation come from Google?
• Is the person/company providing this info a full-time SEO for 5+ years in your niche/similar niches?
• Was there a study done with a methodology?

“It’s really important that you treat the client as if they are logical people that have good ideas and not uneducated in SEO,” Rowe said. “Just because we’re experienced SEOs doesn’t mean we always have the best answer.”

But what if a client is stubborn about an idea? Jason Barnard, founder and CEO of Kalicube, said you might have to stop working with them. 

“Why waste time?” Barnard said. “There is no lack of smart business owners in the world who don’t treat SEO as a one-trick-quick-and-easy-win-every-time-with-no-effort. Let’s work with clients who want to integrate SEO into a wider business-focused digital strategy.”

Source: 7 reasons why people believe SEO myths

ACF WordPress Plugin Vulnerability Affects Up To +2 Million Sites

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) WordPress Plugin

The ACF WordPress plugin is a popular development tool that allows developers to add custom fields to the Edit screen as well as to customize the sections for users, posts, media and other areas.

Missing Authorization Vulnerability

A missing authorization vulnerability happens when a software like a WordPress plugin does not check for authorization of a user when accessing specific information.

Remote Authenticated Attacker

This particular vulnerability exploits a missing authorization check for users who have some level of authentication.

That means that users with at least editor, author or contributor level of authentication can access admin level privilege in order to view database information.

ACF Changelog

A changelog is a log detailing all the changes in each version of a software.

It’s difficult to tell which of the changes detailed in the changelog are related to fixing the vulnerability because the ACF changelog does not explicitly say that something is a security fix, it just labels them as a “Fix.”

The changelog for the ACF WordPress plugin does not explicitly note that a security issue was addressed.

Advanced Custom Fields Vulnerability is Patched

The ACF vulnerability affects all versions prior to Advanced Custom Fields 5.12.1 and Advanced Custom Fields Pro 5.12.1.

The Japan Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center recommends all users of the plugin to update immediately to the ACF versions 5.12.1.

Source: ACF WordPress Plugin Vulnerability Affects Up To +2 Million Sites

Google: Out Of Stock Products May Impact Search Visibility

Google may reduce the visibility of a product page if the item for sale is listed as out of stock on the retailer’s website.

This is stated by Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller during a recent Google Search Central SEO office-hours hangout.

A question is submitted by an ecommerce store owner asking if search rankings for transactional keywords could be negatively impacted if the products sell out.

Mueller says, in theory, Google could reduce visibility for product pages with out of stock items.

However, that doesn’t have to be the case.

Google Treats Out Of Stock Products As Soft 404s

Mueller doesn’t rule out the possibility of out of stock products seeing reduced visibility in search results. He explains Google treats ‘out of stock’ as a soft 404 error.

Google Will Still Show Product Page If It’s Relevant

Whether Google treats the product page as having a soft 404 error depends on how much value it offers beyond the product itself.

If the page doubles as a resource for information about the product — information that can still be useful if the product is out of stock — then it’s likely to remain visible in search results.

Lastly, Mueller adds that the rest of a site’s rankings would not be impacted by a product going out of stock.

Source: Google: Out Of Stock Products May Impact Search Visibility

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YouTube to drop Maximize Lift bidding

Meta rebrands automated ad products, shopping campaigns coming soon

Nearly 50% Of Twitter Users Tweet Less Than 5 Times A Month

Google Ads latency issue confirmed with ad reviews

Google has confirmed an issue with the Google Ads console where there is “higher than normal latency” during the ad review process for Responsive search ads (RSAs). Google said this is impacting a “significant subset of users.”

If you are noticing slowness in the Google Ads console, do know Google is working on resolving it.

The notice. Google posted “we’re aware of a problem with Google Ads affecting a significant subset of users. We will provide an update by Apr 4, 2022, 7:00 AM UTC detailing when we expect to resolve the problem. Please note that this resolution time is an estimate and may change. The affected users are able to access Google Ads, but are seeing error messages, high latency, and/or other unexpected behavior. Currently, Responsive search ads (RSAs) might experience a higher than normal latency during the ad review process.”

Fix ETA. There is currently no specific estimated time when this issue will be resolved but Google is working on it and promises to give us an update by Monday on this issue. I suspect it will be resolved sooner, but we will keep you posted.

Source: Google Ads latency issue confirmed with ad reviews

Twitter tests 3 new ad formats 

Twitter is piloting three new ad types – Interactive Text, Product Explorer, and Collection ads. Only a few brands have access to them, but the new ad types will be visible to all U.S. Twitter users (iOS, Android, and the web).  

Here’s everything we know about the ad formats and examples of brands using them.

Interactive Text Ads. These ads have a larger font than organic tweets and bolded text. Advertisers can also pick from 10 colors to highlight up to three words from their ad copy. Twitter users who tap or click on the highlighted words will be taken to a landing page, which the brand specifies. Brands testing this ad format include Oreo, Bud Light, and Wendy’s.

Here’s what it looks like:

Product Explorer Ads. These are 3D product ads. Users can swipe and rotate a product to view it from multiple angles. Users can click on the Shop Now button to buy it from the advertiser’s website.

Here’s what it looks like:

Collection Ads. Advertisers can display a “hero” image (it remains static) plus five thumbnails beneath it (which users can scroll through horizontally). What happens when a Twitter user clicks or taps on one of the thumbnails? The advertiser chooses what URL to send them to (e.g., a product landing page). 

Here’s what it looks like:

Source: Twitter tests 3 new ad formats 

Toxic links and disavows: A comprehensive SEO guide

What is a toxic link? Are toxic links the same thing as spammy links? Can too many of these hurt your site’s ability to rank? 

If you are uncertain as to whether you would benefit from filing a disavow, this article should answer your questions.

A “toxic” link is generally considered to be a link that has the potential to harm your website’s ability to rank. However, not all SEOs are aligned on how to define toxic links and whether their presence actually could hurt your ability to rank.

Some will say that any link that would be considered an unnatural link as per Google’s documentation on link schemes should be considered “toxic” and could hurt your site. Others use the phrase to describe the type of spammy link that Google says their algorithms ignore. 

It is important to note that Google itself does not actually have a notion of “toxic links”. 

So why do SEOs use the phrase “toxic links”? 

Several well-known SEO tools aim to find and help you disavow unnatural links. Several of them list links that they have programmatically determined to be potentially harmful in Google’s algorithms. 

The idea is that you can use their tools to identify these “toxic links” that could potentially hurt your site, and then disavow them.

Source: Toxic links and disavows: A comprehensive SEO guide

LinkedIn Adds New & Improved Tools To Creator Mode

New tools added to LinkedIn’s Creator Mode gives you more analytics data with greater insight into audience engagement, and access to new profile features.

LinkedIn announced the addition of new tools and features to its creator mode. Creator mode is a profile setting intended to help LinkedIn users increase their reach, build engaged audiences, and expand their influence on the platform.

With the goal of providing members with more resources to start quality conversations and make an impact, LinkedIn has made the following changes.

New Tools

Creator Analytics – This update gives users the ability to measure content performance and growth, allowing them to optimize content strategy and audience engagement. Creators can now track content performance over time and aggregate totals for metrics like impressions and engagements.

Source: LinkedIn Adds New & Improved Tools To Creator Mode

“Flawed” WordPress Proposal Causes Backlash

WordPress community offers a negative response to the proposed feature that could cause disk usage to rise by up to 70%.

A new proposal for WordPress 6.0, scheduled for May 2022, will enable automatic image conversions as a default so that all uploaded images will display in a better WebP format. The WordPress developer community overwhelmingly responded negatively against the proposal because it will cause a massive increase in disk space usage.

Proposal to Enable WebP by Default

WebP is a new image format that displays images at considerably lower file size. This means that many web pages will download at a faster pace, resulting in a better experience for users.

The WebP format should be better for publishers because it is well known that improving website speed results in higher advertising earnings and increased sales.

So a proposal to make WebP default probably seemed like a good idea.

The proposal however was met with passionate, and at some points furious, resistance from the WordPress community.

Massive Increase in Disk Space

One of the most important concerns voiced by the WordPress community was that this new feature will dramatically increase disk space, by an order of 25 to 50% or even more.

One developer offered their feedback that this will result in increased expense for publishers because of the need for more hosting webspace. The developer noted that while bandwidth costs are cheap, disk space is not.

Source: “Flawed” WordPress Proposal Causes Backlash

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Facebook confirms ‘massive ranking failure’

YouTube to drop Maximize Lift bidding

AIOSEO WordPress plugin integrates Microsoft Clarity

Facebook confirms ‘massive ranking failure’

Less than 24 hours after we learned about Meta’s smear campaign against rival social network TikTok, it has been confirmed that Facebook was showing harmful content to users over a period of six months.

The failure was detailed in an internal document obtained by the Verge. It detailed a “massive ranking failure” where Facebook’s systems failed to suppress posts containing nudity, violence, and propaganda from Russian state media.

Facebook wants to create a brand-safe environment. They’re failing. When Facebook allows ads to appear alongside the types of content it failed to downrank here, that’s incredibly troubling for brands and publishers. Facebook has a history of self-inflicted wounds, scandals, and a lack of accountability when issues like these have been exposed and made headlines. To date, it hasn’t irreparably hurt them. The big question is how long brands will stop investing money in a platform that has shown great interest in taking their money but little interest in protecting them from being associated with such harmful content. 

Source: Facebook confirms ‘massive ranking failure’

How paid search marketers can address brand measurement challenges and grow in their careers

Climbing the corporate ladder isn’t always the most straightforward process, especially for paid search marketers. Professionals seeking to grow their careers need to map out a path, accounting for their unique roles within their organizations.

“The most important thing is to look at your current position,” said Pascal Skropke, CMO of Design-Bestseller, at SMX Next. “Not everybody has the opportunity to work at a fast-growing e-commerce company or startup.”

He added, “Look at where you are and find out if it’s possible to take steps within your company — and understand what your company needs to succeed.”

Skropke says marketers seeking to climb this ladder should establish an “anchor point” within their company — the cross-section of their company’s needs and career goals. One of these points is the issue of campaign advertising measurement — the lack of direction, accurate data models, and resources for many brands in the digital retail space.

Source: How paid search marketers can address brand measurement challenges and grow in their careers

Google’s Privacy Sandbox ad technology testing begins

Google has announced that the first round of testing is here for its crucial Privacy Sandbox initiative. In this round of testing developers will gain access to Privacy Sandbox’s newest measurement proposals: Topics, FLEDGE and Attribution Reporting. These ad technologies are the replacement for the beleaguered FLoC initiative that was killed off back in January.

What are these technologies again?

• FLEDGE, or First Locally Executed Decision over Groups Experiment, calculates ad auction data in the browser itself instead of at the server to help increase privacy by limiting a user’s data flow.
• Topics is a technology that helps identify interests for advertising while retaining greater user privacy.
• Attribution reporting allows for better measurement of the conversion from ad clicks or views.

Together these technologies are aimed at helping limit the use of personal data while ensuring accuracy in reporting. 

Origin trials. Announced back in 2020, origin trials are a way that developers can test experimental features for a limited time before the public. These trials generally occur on a first-party basis only and on one “origin”. As of today, developers will be able to see and test the code for Topics, FLEDGE, and Attribution Reporting in the Canary version of Chrome. 

After this is iteration is rolled out, testing will then begin in a limited Chrome beta and then to a stable version of Chrome. The origin trials for the above-mentioned Privacy Sandbox technologies are worldwide. 

If you are interested in API access, Google has a developer guidance page here to help.

Source: Google’s Privacy Sandbox ad technology testing begins

Facebook ads ‘Interest Categories’ may be up to 33% inaccurate

Interest Category targeting on Facebook may be up to 33% inaccurate, according to a new study from North Carolina State University. The NC State researchers conducted two separate experiments, the first to find out which activities were associated with “interest” on Facebook and the second to analyze the accuracy of user interests from participants around the world. The results were far from comforting.

Experiment 1. The first experiment involved the setup of 14 accounts, a small sample size, that merely viewed or scrolled through a page in order to see if those topics within the content consumed would be pulled into the “Interest Categories” accounts. The goal was to see what interests would then be associated with the newly formed account and to qualitatively infer how accurate the newly assigned interests were. 

The findings show that 33.22% of the inferred interests were either inaccurate or irrelevant. “The key finding here is that Facebook takes an aggressive approach to interest inference,” Aafaq Sabir, lead author of a paper on the work and a Ph.D. student at NC State, said.

Experiment 2. To get even deeper, the NC State team wanted to see if the findings would hold true for a more diverse group of users. The 146 study participants were selected by Amazon Mechanical Turk from “different parts of the world”. A browser extension would then extract data from the participants’ Facebook accounts and question the participant about the validity of the interest data.

This study found that 29.3% of the interests that Facebook had listed for participants were not actually of interest. “That’s comparable to what we saw in our controlled experiments,” said Anupam Das, co-author of the paper and an assistant professor of computer science at NC State.

What’s unclear. With samples sizes this small, we should take this study with a grain of salt. While the data is unflattering to Facebook’s targeting, much of the experiment is unclear on the parameters used to determine what is of interest and what is not of interest. Additionally, the second experiment in this study relies on user feedback that does not appear to have quantitative parameters in place for reporting, which may muddy results.

Source: Facebook ads ‘Interest Categories’ may be up to 33% inaccurate

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YouTube to drop Maximize Lift bidding

AIOSEO WordPress plugin integrates Microsoft Clarity

YouTube Confirms Shorts Views Don’t Count For Monetization

YouTube to drop Maximize Lift bidding

Google will be ending support for Maximize Lift bidding for YouTube, the company said, leaving a TrueView, in-stream ads option behind as YouTube continues to enhance its ad offerings.

What it did. Maximize Lift was a very specific bidding strategy that worked in conjunction with Brand Lift measurement with a goal of hitting more of the right audience that was currently in the consideration phase. If you aren’t familiar with Brand Lift, it is a tool that helps to measure recall, awareness and consideration and requires a Google Account Rep to activate on your behalf.

Maximize Lift used details input by advertisers about their brands and products to generate content to be used in Brand Lift surveys. The survey responses were then used by Maximize Lift to focus on those consumers that may be the best fit for your products. Unlike other bidding types Maximize Lift didn’t optimize towards views, rather would optimize towards lift.

“We launched Maximize Lift as a beta in 2018 to optimize TrueView in-stream campaigns,” a Google spokesperson said. “While we did see some success, we are sunsetting the bidding tool to focus on scalable solutions like skippable in-stream ads that are more in line with how advertisers want to buy.”

Maximize Lift was launched in 2018 with the allure of driving meaningful B2C results. Upon release, Google touted a 2x return on ad spend for COVERGIRL’s Lashblast Mascara product. However, it seems that there has been less and less focus lately on Brand Lift within YouTube.

Source: YouTube to drop Maximize Lift bidding

New PPC Salary Report Details How Much PPC Pros Earn

A worldwide survey of paid search professionals provides a clear picture of what they’re earning across various sectors and locations.

Duane Brown, CEO and Head of Strategy at Toronto-based ad agency Take Some Risk Inc. has released his seventh annual PPC Salary Survey.

Using responses submitted by 715 digital marketing professionals worldwide, its goal is to provide salary transparency to ensure all PPC professionals are fairly compensated.

Using data collected in February 2022, this report includes information from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the U.S., India, the U.K., the Netherlands and other European countries.

Top Insights from the Report

This 111-slide report includes an includes a significant amount of data, including salary breakdowns by region, employer type, experience and gender. Some key insights include:

• The average salary for PPC professionals ranges from $45,875-$174,215 in the U.S., $52,000-$149,000 in Australia and New Zealand, €37,900-€67,330 in Europe and $45,250 to $154,250 in Canada, depending on experience.
• The gender pay gap persists within the search marketing industry, with males with 10-15 years of experience earning an average of 11% more in the U.S., 19.2% more in the U.K. and 15.2% more in Europe. This gap exists across experience levels.
• From 2021 to 2022, average salaries in the field have grown by approximately 6.5% in the U.S., 5% in Canada, 6% in the U.K, and 11% in Europe. Average salaries in Australia and New Zealand have remain largely unchanged.
• Wages for entry level PPC positions have decreased in most regions in the past year. In Canada and Europe, while they have grown, they are still below 2020 numbers.
• In-house and agency salaries remain roughly equivalent, while freelancers tended to outearn both, with an average compensation of $96,335 in the U.S., £44,500 in the U.K. and €68,672 in Europe.

Average Salary Comparisons

For a better understanding of the figures in this report, we have compared estimates and averages from a variety of sources:

Paid Search Analyst, entry level – Toronto, Ontario

• Duane Brown – $40,000
• Glassdoor – $46,920
• Talent.com – $57,500

 PPC Specialist, 3 years’ experience – New York, NY

• Duane Brown – $93,625
• Glassdoor – $77,009
• Indeed – $83,119
• LinkedIn – $75,000

Senior Digital Marketing Manager, 5 years’ experience – London, UK

• Duane Brown – £56,600
• Glassdoor – £63,305
• LinkedIn – £62,500
• Totaljobs – £52,000

Paid Search Specialist, 8 years’ experience – Berlin, Germany

• Duane Brown – €55,566
• Glassdoor – €57,740
• Paylab – €63,876

As you can see, Brown’s numbers are broadly in line with what other sites are finding.

Source: New PPC Salary Report Details How Much PPC Pros Earn

Google shares search traffic monitoring dashboard for Data Studio

Google has created a new Data Studio template. You can use Google’s Search traffic monitoring dashboard to quickly see if there are any significant changes to the performance of your most important pages and help uncover whether you may have any potential SEO issues. 

Google also announced that its Search Console connector now includes Discover and Google News traffic data. Google added similar data to the Search Console Search Analytics API in October.

How to get the dashboard. You can access the dashboard here.

Once you’ve set up the Search traffic monitoring dashboard, you can choose the date range (it’s the last 28 days by default). Then you filter your data by pages, types, countries and devices.

How to set up the dashboard. It’s pretty straightforward. Navigate to Data Studio and create a Search Console data source.

Choose the URL Impression table, which includes URL-level data for web, image, video, news, discover, and googleNews. The Property Parameter you choose will be your default in your report, but you can access the others via a filter.

Google added a couple of “bonus” tips: 

• Under report and page layout, set Display mode to Fit to width. This will make your dashboard mobile-friendly for monitoring on the go.
• If you don’t have subdomains, consider removing your domain name (using a calculated field with the expression REGEXP_EXTRACT(Landing Page, ".*\\.com/(.*)$")). Google said this makes your tables less cluttered.

Source: Google shares search traffic monitoring dashboard for Data Studio

More Search Console Insights Added to Google Data Studio

Additional data from Search Console is now available through the Google Data Studio connector, allowing users to visualize traffic from more Google sources.

This update is announced by Google Search Advocate Daniel Waisberg in his second post of a blog series related to Data Studio & Search Console.

Google Data Studio Search Traffic Monitoring Dashboard

Google has created and shared a template to use in data studio to monitor Google Search Performance.

A dashboard can help you find issues as they happen with simple visualizations such as line or bar charts, which are quick to interpret.

If an issue is discovered then you can dig deeper to find the cause of it.

Start by following these steps:

• Sign in to Data Studio
• Create a Search Console data source
• Choose the URL Impression table

What Can I Do With A Google Data Studio Dashboard?

Now that your dashboard is set up, here’s more about what you can do with it.

1. Specify the data you want to monitor by selecting the desired Search Console property.
2. Choose the date range you want to analyze
3. Select filters such as country, device, and search type

Source: More Search Console Insights Added to Google Data Studio

Most plan to tough out the switch to Google Analytics 4

Kicking and screaming it is. Despite grumbling about Google Analytics 4, the vast majority of marketers tell us they plan to make the switch anyway, even if they aren’t very excited to.

What we found. About 70% of the 250 marketers we polled said they planned to switch and will handle the migration internally. Another 14% of respondents said they planned to switch but would hire outside consultants to help them get set up with GA4. Only 12% said they planned to explore other analytics platforms to use instead of GA4. The remaining 4% cited “other” scenarios, such as having already installed GA4 or that they use a different tool to handle their analytics now.

Why this is happening. Google this month said it plans to sunset Universal Analytics, the current version of GA, in July 2023. The company also said users would not be able to port over data from the older version to the new GA4. That news both stung users and gave them a reason to migrate sooner than later so they will have at least some historical data in the new platform.

Why we care (and why we’re not surprised). On one hand, Google has never been shy about retiring platforms, or making platform changes, despite user outcry. But the pushback on Google’s decision here highlights the ubiquity of Google Analytics and its power as a free tool. If there were equivalent free alternatives then more people would be using them. While making to switch to something like Adobe Analytics could give users more control over their data, that comes with a price that may be too steep for some organizations.

It’s notable, though, that 14% said they plan to hire outside help. That shows how intricate some GA instances are today. That must seem more daunting to an organization when the platform you are migrating to is confusing and complicated, as marketers have complained about GA4.

Source: Most plan to tough out the switch to Google Analytics 4

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AIOSEO WordPress plugin integrates Microsoft Clarity

The latest version of the AIOSEO (All in One SEO) WordPress plugin (4.1.9) adds integration with Microsoft Clarity. Clarity is Microsoft’s free analytics tool that provides insights into on-site user behavior.

Clarity’s dashboard shows a visual overview of user behavior. Then you can dive deeper into heatmaps (to see where users interact most often and how far they scroll) and session recordings (to see mouse movements, clicks, taps, and scrolls for all users, across pages and devices).

AIOSEO is installed on more than 3 million websites. Clarity, which came out of beta in 2020, has also been integrated with Bing Webmaster Tools and Microsoft Advertising.

How to activate Clarity in AIOSEO. Go to:

• General Settings » Webmaster Tools Verification
• Click on the Microsoft Clarity icon
• If you don’t have one already, you’ll be prompted to create a Clarity project.
• Fill in your details. 
• Copy and paste your Clarity tracking code.
• Click Save. 

It will take Clarity a couple of hours to gather data. 

Source: AIOSEO WordPress plugin integrates Microsoft Clarity

3 ways Google Performance Max campaigns boost paid search in 2022

Google recently released its Performance Max campaigns enabling businesses to advertise their ads across all of Google’s channels (Search, Display, Gmail, Maps, Discovery, YouTube, etc.) instead of creating specialized ads for each channel.

However, as with any automated advertising platform, it’s best to oversee and guide the overall strategic direction to ensure campaign success. 

Join paid search experts from Adthena to learn three ways to boost your Google Performance Max campaigns to ensure they deliver real business results.

Source: 3 ways Google Performance Max campaigns boost paid search in 2022

Google Docs can write your meta descriptions

Was the meta description for this article written by Google? Or a human editor at Search Engine Land?

You can’t tell, can you? That’s how far machine learning has come. Read on the learn the “shocking” truth.

Auto-generating content summaries. Earlier this year, Google started automatically generating content summaries for Docs users. Google explains the technology behind how it works in this blog post if you want to dive into the natural language understanding (NLU) and natural language generation (NLG) of it all.

In short, based on the text of your document, Google will suggest a summary for you. You can choose to use the summary if it looks good to you, or you can edit the summary to be more to your liking.

This was interesting news because if there’s one thing I know from editing for 20+ years, it’s that people – even some great content writers – have a hard time condensing 1,000+ words into one or two short sentences or ideas that are optimized for search and act as a teaser to entice clicks (without giving away everything). 

Testing out Google Docs summaries. I was curious to see how good Google Docs is at generating summaries, so I looked at my five most recent articles. 

In short, Google Docs is surprisingly good at generating summaries. It’s by no means 100% perfect – but it’s at a level you’d expect from Google. I’m sure you already have seen Google’s intelligence at work in Gmail, offering responses to an email or suggesting how you should finish a sentence as you’re writing it.

Source: Google Docs can write your meta descriptions

Lessons in Buying Group Marketing – Learning to dance with your sales team

First, you walk. Then you run. What if, instead, you learned to dance?

While Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a key strategy today, going forward, B2B marketers will take a more holistic view. More of a dance than a race, marketing is evolving to look at the entire lifecycle and how to care for the customer relationship at each phase. Driven by this holistic approach, Forrester proclaims in its New Tech: Account-Based Marketing Q1, 2022 report that “the term Account-Based Marketing will disappear by 2025 as B2B organizations focus on the entire customer lifecycle.”

As part of this evolution: Buying Group Marketing (BGM). While ABM blankets your key accounts with messaging, BGM targets the specific people involved in purchase decisions at your key accounts. It does this through carefully crafted buying group personas and delivering custom campaigns to buying team members. It’s a person-based marketing approach versus an account-based one. BGM is about relationship building – externally and internally.

While that sounds great, the devil is in the details.

One of the keys to implementing a successful BGM strategy requires a fundamental paradigm shift in how you market. As Forrester reinforces in the New Tech report, “sales and marketing must come together to identify and prioritize buying groups for effective ABM.”

A lead isn’t something to be tossed over the wall at the MQL stage for sales to run with. Employing a BGM strategy, requires marketing and sales to work together at every stage of the customer lifecycle from awareness to deal and beyond.

If your marketing and sales alignment has looked more like a tussle than a dance in the past, it’s time to streamline your moves into elegant choreography. Here’s how you and sales can ditch your two left feet and learn to dance well together.

How BGM sales-marketing alignment works

Let’s set the scene with an example from the movie Dirty Dancing.

In this 80s classic, there is a scene where Baby (the main character) is learning to dance the Mambo with Johnny (the dance instructor). His usual partner, Penny is on the sidelines and can see that Baby is struggling to learn the steps. So, Penny steps in and guides Baby from behind while Johnny leads. And the three of them move together in fluid unison to the music until Baby gets the moves down and learns the dance.

How does this relate to Buying Group Marketing?

In an effective BGM strategy, Johnny represents the sales team, Penny represents the marketing team, and Baby is the prospect. Marketing and sales work together to guide the prospect into finding the right steps and rhythm that will help them succeed.

This is a fundamental shift in how sales and marketing has traditionally worked together. With BGM, marketing is no longer stuck on one side (or in Dirty Dancing… the corner) of the MQL wall but involved in all the stages of the process. Because of this, each department needs to know the steps and be able to dance together first. Then they can bring the prospect in and teach them to dance, too.

Source: Lessons in Buying Group Marketing – Learning to dance with your sales team

How to write compelling ad copy in a Smart Bidding landscape

Google’s Smart Bidding system is a set of automated ad bidding strategies that use machine learning to help optimize bidding for conversions. It makes it easier for marketers to increase sales, leads, and profits by deploying the most effective ads at scale.

However, this advanced advertising technology doesn’t negate marketers’ responsibility for crafting rich, engaging ad copy. In fact, Smart Bidding requires even more input from qualified professionals.

“I still feel that there’s a degree of autonomy that requires us to make those choices,” said Ashley Fletcher, VP of marketing at Adthena, in a recent webinar. “AI is at its best when it gives you those choices.”

“The world of search marketing is built around AI,” he added, and marketers need to know how to write ad copy that gives the Smart Bidding system the best options to choose from.

Source: How to write compelling ad copy in a Smart Bidding landscape

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YouTube Confirms Shorts Views Don’t Count For Monetization

Views of YouTube Shorts count toward a channel’s total watch time, but they don’t count toward eligibility in the YouTube Partner Program (YPP).

Channels in the YPP are able to monetize and earn revenue from videos, though not everyone is eligible to join it.

Among other criteria, acceptance into the YPP requires 4,000 valid public watch hours within the last 12 months.

It wasn’t always clear whether Shorts views contributed to the 4,000 threshold.

Now we know for certain the 4,000 hours of watch time must come from regular videos — or what YouTube refers to as videos on demand (VODs).

This is stated in a Q&A video on YouTube’s Creator Insider channel, which contains a number of pertinent questions about Shorts.

First, let’s look at YouTube’s answer to the watch time question.

Do Shorts Views Count Toward 4,000 Hours Of Watch Time?

When asked if views of YouTube Shorts count toward the 4,000 hours of total watch time, it’s confirmed they don’t.

However, YouTube does have a “Shorts Fund” enabling creators to make money from Shorts videos only.

There’s no room for interpretation with that response. Shorts views don’t count toward meeting YPP requirements.

Here are some other questions about Shorts that are answered in the YouTube Creator Insider team’s latest video.

Can Long Form Videos Be Repurposed Into Shorts?

Concerned about publishing repetitive content, a creator asks if it’s acceptable to turn previously published VODs into Shorts.

There’s nothing wrong with repurposing VODs, but Shorts should be able to stand on their own without requiring the VOD for context.

Will There Be Separate Analytics For Shorts And VOD?

YouTube confirms it’s working on revamping the analytics section in YouTube Studio.

Currently, views of all types of videos are counted as a single metric.

Should I Create A Separate Channel For Shorts?

While some creators choose to start separate channels for Shorts content, this is only recommended if the videos will be a departure from what you already create.

Will YouTube Add Custom Thumbnails For Shorts?

Without getting into specifics, it’s revealed YouTube is working on “addressing” the feedback regarding custom thumbnails for Shorts.

It’s unlikely a majority of viewers would see the thumbnails though, as most Shorts views come from people swiping through the feed.

Source: YouTube Confirms Shorts Views Don’t Count For Monetization

Google Search rolls out a more visual search interface on mobile with grid format

Google has rolled out a new mobile search interface that allows for a more visual look at some search results. A Google spokesperson told us this new interface helps “surface relevant information related to an image, so users have a deeper understanding of the results they’re seeing.”

Mobile only. The new interface is currently live for mobile searches on Google for select queries. You can try it for the query [hand tattoos] or [game room design] on your mobile device.

What it looks like. Here is a cropped screenshot of the new visual look, that shows images in a grid-like interface. If you want a full size screenshot, click here.

Two position ones? I asked Google if the top two results would be counted in Google Search Console performance reports as position one, or if the one on the left is position one and the one on the right is position two? Is that flipped for languages that go from right to left like Hebrew and Arabic? We will update this story when we hear back.

More updates. Google said it will continue to make improvements to the mobile and desktop search results. Last year, Google made several updates to the mobile interface design of search and also launched continuous scroll.

Source: Google Search rolls out a more visual search interface on mobile with grid format

WooCommerce Store API Now Stable, Provides Better Support for Custom Frontends

WooCommerce announced that its new Store API is now stable after two years in development. It powers the plugin’s new block-based cart and checkout experience as well as all products blocks.

The Store API is a public, unauthenticated API, that provides REST API endpoints for cart, checkout, and product functionality. WooCommerce core developer Mike Jolley explained how the new API is different from the plugin’s REST API:

The main difference between the Store API and WC REST API is that the Store API allows unauthenticated access to store data, for example, products. This makes it suitable for a variety of use-cases, including custom frontends.

This is an unauthenticated API. It does not require API keys or authentication tokens for access.

Another difference is that the Store API has support for Cart data. This allows for cart operations such as adding items to the cart, updating quantities, applying coupons, and submitting orders. Only the current customer’s cart can be accessed.

Data returned from the Store API is always reflective of the current user (cookie-based), whereas the WC REST API allows more extensive access to any data, should you have the correct access rights.

In an interview with HollerWP last year, Jolley said it’s helpful to think of the Store API as for clients and the core REST API as the API for store management.

“Keeping them separate like this makes it clear that one exposes data in a public context,” he said.

Scott Bolinger, co-founder of AppPresser, explained how the Store API fixes a problem with the original WooCommerce REST API.

“It [the WC REST API] was never meant for mobile, headless, or any other front end implementation,” Bolinger said. “It was only meant for back end admin stuff like inventory, adding/removing products, etc.

“The problem is that there was no alternative, so headless/mobile apps used it for displaying products. With the WC REST API, everything requires authentication, which doesn’t make sense, because products are public on your website. You shouldn’t have to authenticate to see someone’s products.”

The new Store API allows developers to get products, attributes, collections, and other data without authentication, and adds a cart API, making it possible to checkout.

“I think most implementations of the WC Rest API that are for the front end should switch to the Store API,” Bolinger said.

The WooCommerce team is still working on making this API suitable for headless and mobile apps. In an ideal world, the best cart API for headless WooCommerce apps would be made by WooCommerce. In the meantime, Bolinger recommended CoCart.

Source: WooCommerce Store API Now Stable, Provides Better Support for Custom Frontends

Chrome and Edge hit with V8 type confusion vulnerability with in-the-wild exploit

Google is urging users on Windows, macOS, and Linux to update Chrome builds to version 99.0.4844.84, following the discovery of a vulnerability that has an exploit in the wild.

Due to this, the browser maker is being tight-lipped on details.

“CVE-2022-1096: Type Confusion in V8. Reported by anonymous on 2022-03-23,” was as far as Google would explain the issue.

V8 is Chrome’s JavaScript engine — it is also used server-side in Node.js but has not yet said it is impacted.

Google added that bug details would be restricted until a majority of users had updated the browser.

“We will also retain restrictions if the bug exists in a third-party library that other projects similarly depend on, but haven’t yet fixed,” it said on Friday.

A day later, Microsoft issued its own notice and said the issue was fixed in Edge version 99.0.1150.55 released the same day.

At the start of the month, Google said it was seeing more Chrome zero-day flaws in the wild.

Source: Chrome and Edge hit with V8 type confusion vulnerability with in-the-wild exploit

Why Ukrainians are turning to Telegram during the war

For weeks, Russia’s military assault on Ukraine has been complemented by full-fledged information warfare. The Kremlin has propagandized Russian state media and is trying to control the narrative online too.

We’ve seen a bombardment of “imposter content” circulating – including fake news reports and deep-fake videos – while Ukrainians and the rest of the world have scrambled to find ways to tell the real story of the invasion.

What is Telegram?

Telegram is one of the most popular social apps in Ukraine and Russia and has been since before the invasion began. It’s a free cloud-based app that allows users to send and receive messages, calls, photos, videos, audio, and other files.

How does it work?

Telegram has several key features that make it an appealing option for communications relating to the war.

It facilitates public and private groups of up to 200,000 users (where individuals can send messages and interact), and channels (which allow one-way broadcasting to channel subscribers).

Through these groups and channels, organizations can reach hundreds of thousands of people with messages and audio/video live streaming – all of which are encrypted and stored on the Telegram “cloud”.

However, while both public and private communications on Telegram are encrypted, the default encryption setting is not end-to-end encryption, and instead happens on a client/server basis.

The data is stored (albeit in an encrypted form) on the cloud, and distributed across multiple data centers throughout the world. These centers are controlled by legal entities in various jurisdictions, and subject to the laws of those jurisdictions. This data could be decrypted, although doing so would be difficult.

But Telegram does offer another layer of security through its “secret chat” feature. When this is enabled, the communication between two users becomes end-to-end encrypted.

This data isn’t stored anywhere apart from the sender’s and receiver’s devices. Not even Telegram can access it. Users can also set a “self-destruct” timer on secret chats. Once the timer ends, the communication disappears forever.

Telegram claims to be even more secure than similar apps such as WhatsApp and Line.

Telegram meets politics (once again)

Telegram has a history of being leveraged as a protest tool in times of conflict and oppression.

In 2020, people in Belarus opposing the Russian-supported authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko used the platform to organize a mass protest of around 100,000 people.

It’s likely similar actions have taken place in the context of the war on Ukraine. President Zelenskyy has openly used Telegram to urge men to take up arms and resist the invasion.

Many Russians have also turned to the app for independent information, following the Kremlin’s clampdown on free media. Russian journalist Ilya Varlamov used Telegram to live stream the invasion and has acquired 1.3 million subscribers since the war began.

According to Time, there has been a 48% increase in the number of Russian subscribers on Telegram since February 24 when Russia’s invasion began. Presumably, the bulk of these people is looking for independent news. Western outlets including The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post have also joined.

The double-edged sword

As is the case with any powerful technology, the privacy afforded by Telegram is also a problem in the wrong hands.

The Russian government is running Telegram channels for state-affiliated media, including Sputnik and RT news, and has encouraged users to turn to the app for pro-Kremlin content.

Meanwhile, Russian bot accounts are spreading disinformation, often by posing as fake “war correspondents” supporting the Kremlin’s narrative.

Pressure is mounting

Telegram has a record of refusing calls to moderate content (perhaps due to Durov’s libertarian view of how such technologies should be governed).

Moreover, the way the platform is built means there is a limit to how much it can be moderated. In many cases, Telegram won’t be aware of illegal activity until it is notified.

And with end-to-end encryption, it’s difficult to know just how much harmful content is making the rounds. Telegram can only intervene in a limited number of cases, and with a narrow capacity.

Source: Why Ukrainians are turning to Telegram during the war

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Twitter adds keyword search to Direct Messages

Twitter announced that is giving users a long-requested feature – the ability to search your direct message (DM) inbox by keyword.

The search feature is rolling out now to all Twitter users (web and app). Sadly, I don’t have it yet, but I know many people already have access to it.

How Twitter DM keyword search works. Just as you’d expect of any platform in 2022. Visit your inbox, click on the search bar, and start typing in your keywords. 

Until now, you could only search DMs for people and groups. Now you’ll see a third option, Messages. Twitter will highlight any messages that contain that keyword, including conversations where the keyword is used multiple times.

One limitation, as noted by the Verge: it appears as though DM search didn’t return any results for conversations older than 2020. So if you were hoping for a search function that went through your entire history, you’re out of luck unless Twitter improves this. 

Source: Twitter adds keyword search to Direct Messages

Google Search adds booking and appointment availability for healthcare providers

Google announced it will now show you some healthcare providers’ appointment availability and give you the ability to book an appointment directly through Google Search. This currently only works in the US and it seems to be limited to one pilot private, MinuteClinic at CVS, but Google hopes to expand this to additional providers in the future.

Hema Budaraju, the lead of Google Health and Social Impact, said Google Search is rolling out a feature “that shows the appointment availability for healthcare providers so you can easily book an appointment.” “You might see available appointment dates and times for doctors in your area,” Google wrote.

What this looks like. Here is a screenshot of the new “appointments” tab in the local pack that lets you filter to see healthcare providers that offer online booking options. It lets you pick various options for what medical attention you require:

Which providers are included? Google said it is working with partners including MinuteClinic at CVS and a number of other scheduling solution providers. Google added that “we hope to expand features, functionality and our network of partners so we can make it easier for people to get the care they need.”

Health in Search. A few months ago, Google enabled the ability to help you find healthcare providers that take your insurance coverage. So this is the next step in Google’s journey to help people with healthcare.

Source: Google Search adds booking and appointment availability for healthcare providers

Google Maps blocked 100 million abusive business profile edits in 2021

Google has shared how it keeps information on its Google Maps platform “reliable,” saying that less than one percent of the content seen in Google Maps is fraudulent or abusive. Google uses algorithms, machine learning, and humans to control abuse, spam, and other fraudulent business profile edits. All of this is done why Google saw an uplift of 30% in the number of business edits and additions in 2021 than it saw in 2020.

As a reminder, last month, Google opened up on how it moderates reviews on Google Maps.

Spam fighting efforts. Google said it blocked more than 100 million abusive edits on Google Business Profiles by “fraudsters” who try to edit those listings. Here is a breakdown of those efforts as shared by Google:

• Removed over 7 million fake Business Profiles on Google Maps. Google said more than 630,000 of those Business Profiles were removed through user reports.
• Prevented 12 million attempts to create fake Business Profiles on Google Maps.
• Stopped 8 million fraudulent attempts to claim Business Profiles on Google Maps.
• Disabled over 1 million accounts due to policy-violating activity, such as online vandalism or fraud.
• Removed or blocked 95 million policy-violating reviews, over 60,000 of which were taken down due to COVID-related instances.
• 1 million reviews were taken down through user reports.
• Blocked or removed 190 million photos and 5 million videos that were blurry, low quality, or violated Google’s content policies.

Source: Google Maps blocked 100 million abusive business profile edits in 2021

First-party data: 4 internal checks to make sure you’re ready

On-site tracking consent forms are essential for website design and CRO (conversion rate optimization). A lot goes into successfully securing user consent from the wording to the placement.

The core needs are:

• Simple and easy to understand permissions on tracking.
• A link to the privacy/cookie policy.
• The ability to accept or decline tracking.

Getting creative with the language can help inspire brand affinity. However, the clarity of the message must be maintained. 

HubSpot does this well with its verbiage:

“We use cookies to make Hubspot’s website a better place. Cookies help provide a more personalized experience and relevant advertising for you and web analytics for us. To learn more about the different cookies we’re using, check out our cookie policy (baked goods not included).”

It does a great job of disarming the user, and the design makes consenting to cookies a hard-to-miss CTA (call to action). That said, it leads with the brand benefits instead of user benefits, which could prevent users from accepting tracking. 

Going simple has its advantages, though – as NinjaCat displays:

“By clicking ‘Accept All Cookies,’ you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.”

The additional step of letting folks see exactly what cookies they will be opting into is helpful as well.

Source: First-party data: 4 internal checks to make sure you’re ready

Marketing leadership: 4 lessons learned from military service

bout 10 years ago, I was interviewing for a job that included leadership responsibilities. After the first round of interviews, I received an email from the recruiter explaining they didn’t find me to be a good fit.

Why? Because I didn’t have any leadership experience.

I replied to the email pointing out that I had over a decade of experience leading teams ranging from two to 20 people as a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in the Army. It was on my resume and we discussed that during the phone conversation. 

The recruiter replied that “military” leadership didn’t count because it was not “business” leadership.

Many people think that military leadership is like R. Lee Ermey’s role as the drill instructor in the movie “Full Metal Jacket.” While some leaders in the military emulate that kind of behavior, I found a lot of the leadership principles I learned during my time in the Army directly apply to people leadership.

Source: Marketing leadership: 4 lessons learned from military service

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Meta rebrands automated ad products, shopping campaigns coming soon

All of Meta’s automated ad products will exist together under the name of Meta Advantage, the company announced. Five of its existing ad products are getting a new name and will be joined by a sixth new-ish product – Shopping Campaigns – set to roll out to all advertisers sometime later this year. 

According to Meta, the suite will actually consist of two types of Advantage products:

• Advantage: This lets you automate a specific part of a manual campaign.
• Advantage+: This lets you automate a campaign from beginning to end or part of a manual campaign (e.g., placements or creative).

Same tools, new names. Here’s a quick recap of what Meta announced is changing: 

• Lookalike Expansion becomes Advantage Lookalike. This tool helps advertisers reach a broader audience than what is defined in their Lookalike audience. 
• Detailed Targeting Expansion becomes Advantage Detailed Targeting. This tool finds additional audiences based on the advertiser’s targeting preferences (e.g., interests).
• Automated App Ads become Advantage+ App Campaigns. This tool uses real-time data to adjust ads across audience, placement and creative.
• Automatic Placements become Advantage+ Placements. This tool decides where your ad will show on Meta (e.g., Facebook Feed, Instagram Stories, Reels), with the goal of delivering better results.
• Dynamic Experiences becomes Advantage+ Creative. This tool creates multiple variations of an ad using a single image or video.

Coming soon: Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns. Currently known as Automated Shopping Ads, this is in beta testing. Meta said the goal of these ads is to help advertisers drive conversions by automating the optimization of ad creative, targeting, placements and budget. 

Source: Meta rebrands automated ad products, shopping campaigns coming soon

New Integration For GA4 And Search Ads 360

With the deprecation of Universal Analytics coming in July 2023, Google has introduced a new integration of Google Analytics 4 and Search Ads 360. This integration provides valuable and necessary data sharing between the two platforms.

If you run Search Ads 360, check out these tips and benefits of integrating with Google Analytics 4.

What Are The Benefits Of Integration?

There are several benefits to integrating these two data sources and accounts together:

• Analytics 4 conversions exported to Search Ads 360
• Search Ads 360 cost and campaign data imported to Analytics 4
• Analytics 4 app and site engagement metrics are available in Search Ads 360

Navigating Cross-Channel Reporting

One of the main benefits of linking Search Ads 360 and Google Analytics 4 is its ability to report on cross-channel metrics. You’ll be able to review cross-channel attribution for search ads in these reports:

• Model Comparison
• Conversion Path

You’ll be able to access user, session, and conversion metrics across different dimensions of:

• Source/medium
• Campaign
• Channel

How To Create The Link Integration

You must be an Editor of Google Analytics 4 and an Admin of your Search Ads 360 account to link the two platforms.

To get started, you’ll go to the “Admin” section of your Google Analytics account. From there, you’ll find the link options under the “Property” column.

• Property >> Product Links >> Search Ads 360

There are a few key callouts to keep in mind when linking the two platforms.

• The “Enable Auto-tagging” is on by default. There is no way to change this setting when linking.
• Keep on the “Enable Campaign Attribution” setting. This allows for conversions to be exported to Search Ads 360.

How To Export Conversions

In order to export Analytics 4 conversions, you need to enable the setting when creating the integration link. Simply turn on the “Enable Campaign Attribution” setting under the Property setting.

Source: New Integration For GA4 And Search Ads 360

Google claims it reduced irrelevant search results by over 50% in seven years

Google Search has reduced the irrelevant results shown in Google Search by over 50% in the last seven years, the search company announced. With that, Google also dropped another nugget of information saying they have seen a more than 60% increase in natural language queries.

Irrelevant results. Google is constantly making changes to Google Search. In 2021, Google said it made more than 5,000 improvements to search and ran more than 800,000 experiments. For comparison, in 2020 Google revealed it made 4,887 changes to search.

Google’s changes and experiments are all aimed at improving search quality and relevancy. Google said that the 50% decrease in irrelevant search results over the past seven years is measured based on internal metrics based on quality rater data. There is no independent source for this metric, but these are internal metrics Google uses to measure the relevancy of its own search results.

Natural language queries. The other metric, that there is over a 60% increase in people entering queries into the Google search box using natural language is interesting. Google said that they have “seen people’s search queries evolve, too.” “Since 2015, we’ve seen a more than 60% increase in natural language queries in search,” Google wrote.

So if you write your content, like people normally write and speak, then you should do well in Google Search. Google wrote “this means people can find what they need more easily, and using language that’s closer to the way we normally write and speak.”

Source: Google claims it reduced irrelevant search results by over 50% in seven years

New Google Algorithm Update Aimed At Product Reviews

Google launches a third product review algorithm update in search results, which builds off of the product review updates introduced last year.

New Guidance From Google For Writing Product Reviews

With the rollout of the March 2022 product algorithm update, Google is publishing new guidance on writing reviews to ensure they meet the search engine’s quality threshold.

Google recommends meeting the following criteria when creating product reviews:

• Include helpful in-depth details, like the benefits or drawbacks of a certain item, specifics on how a product performs or how the product differs from previous versions
• Come from people who have actually used the products, and show what the product is physically like or how it’s used
• Include unique information beyond what the manufacturer provides — like visuals, audio or links to other content detailing the reviewer’s experience
• Cover comparable products, or explain what sets a product apart from its competitors

Google’s Guidance For Reviews With Multiple Products

If you’re writing a review of multiple products with the intention to recommend a “best” product overall, Google has additional guidance.

When recommending a product as the best overall, or the best for a certain purpose, be sure to include the following information in your review:

• What sets the product apart from others in the market
• Why is the product particularly suited for its recommended purpose?
• First-hand evidence to support your claims

Lastly, Google adds it’s perfectly fine to create reviews for products individually, even if they’ve also been reviewed in a ranked list.

Should you choose to create multiple reviews, make sure there is enough useful content for each of them to stand on their own. Don’t just repeat the same points you already made.

Source: New Google Algorithm Update Aimed At Product Reviews

Google releases Partner Program directory in latest effort to rebuild program

Google on Wednesday released a new directory of agencies and marketers participating in its Partners program so that companies looking to hire Google Ads experts have an easy resource to turn to.

However, for search marketers, the announcement meant a bit more: A recommitment to a program that previously lost a lot of good faith with marketers.

What happened? In February 2020, Google said it planned to change the requirements for participating partners, which included the doubling of the 90-day spending threshold. They also set an optimization score bar that would have disqualified half of the existing participants if they didn’t implement Google’s recommendations on behalf of their clients. The PPC community pushed back. Google never made those changes and ended up delaying the release of the revamped program for two years until its relaunch this past February.

What are the new requirements? Google settled on the following requirements to participate:

• Achieve an optimization score of 70%.
• Spend $10,000 across all of a partner’s managed accounts within a 90-day period.
• Have at least 50% of designated account strategists certified in Google Ads, with at least one certification in each product area (Search, Display, Video, etc.) with campaign spend of $500 (or more) in 90 days.
• The ability to dismiss recommendations without them counting against your Optimization score

Source: Google releases Partner Program directory in latest effort to rebuild program

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