One question that has haunted me since I entered the PPC realm in 2014 is, “Should we really be bidding on our own branded terms?” It’s normal to wonder why you should have to pay for clicks when users are already searching for your brand. I (obviously) have opinions on this question, so let this blog post serve as my response to the question above.
Over the past year or so, we’ve seen some fascinating trends in organic search, especially with the introduction of AI into commonly used tools. It’s affecting how we approach SEO and plan organic strategies for our clients. For decades, Google has had a virtual monopoly on the search engine market, defining the rules of SEO as we know it. When we talk about SEO and organic traffic, we’re really talking about following the guidelines that Google sets. Play by enough of their rules, and your site ranks higher, gets more visibility, and ultimately draws more traffic from organic search.
In modern society, we’ve gotten really good at accumulating stuff. Between Amazon Prime’s Two-Day shipping and capitalism, it’s a wonder we haven’t started sending our excess stuff into space via SpaceX. And though there are plenty of how-to articles and influencers expounding the virtues of minimalism and telling us how to de-clutter and simply, how many of us think about how clutter manifests in the digital realm? Just like the closet in the guest bedroom, our finely tuned websites can get bogged down with unnecessary stuff. And what happens when that machinery becomes bogged down with unnecessary weight? Enter the dreaded “code bloat.”
When a website is laden with excessive code, it mirrors the clutter in our homes: it slows down performance, hinders user experience, and can ultimately drive potential customers away. This post will explore the detrimental effects of code bloat on your website’s performance and why it’s crucial to streamline your digital presence.
Google has recently announced that Interaction to Next Paint (INP) will become a primary Core Web Vitals metric, replacing First Input Delay (FID), starting in March 2024.
Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is a fairly new metric developed by Google to help website owners and developers evaluate the responsiveness of user interactions on their web pages. It measures the time it takes for a website to respond to all user interactions, such as button clicks or link taps, and provides the maximum time for all or most interactions.
Hello fellow marketers! It’s time to connect your Google Ads to the new Google Analytics (GA4).
GA4 is replacing Universal Analytics (UA), formerly Urchin Analytics. UA has been around since 2005 and we agree that it is time for some disruption.
GA4 promises to give us a better view into the entire customer journey. The update includes the integration of Looker’s business data visualizations. This, along with the new default Data-Driven Attribution is truly going to give us actionable data on which touchpoints convert customers.
If you are hesitant about linking to GA4, there is good news! You will still have access to your Universal Analytics property, and it will continue to collect data alongside the new GA4 instance.
Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes addressed a persistent question: How long do 301 redirects last? His answer: one year. But like many things with Google, there’s a bit more to it. Illyes goes on to explain that even after the redirect is removed, the signals do not go back to the origin page but stick with the destination page. So the answer to, “How long do 301s need to be alive to permanently move a page in Google’s eyes?” The answer is one year.
Let’s back up and explain that in detail.
If you’ve said, “2020 was my best year” or “we grew in 2020 despite the pandemic” you might be in for a reset in 2021 and into 2022. We don’t want to alarm you, but we do want to help you set realistic expectations. It may be best to expect a pullback from 2020 numbers.
When Covid hit in early 2020, we saw clients with digital products, digital solutions, online businesses, and even some brick and mortar companies thrive. Additionally, companies that invested aggressively to grow during the downturn were able to outmaneuver competitors who didn’t have the foresight, or the funds, to remain strong when business slowed.
Coming sometime in 2021, Google will be changing the way site speed affects search rankings. The new ranking signal will be lovingly titled the “page experience signal” and will be combined with Core Web Vitals per an announcement from Google. Google suggests you’ll be given notice six-months before rolling out the changes, so you don’t have to respond immediately. But it would be wise to start preparing now.
Do you want to increase traffic to your business website, boost click-through rate (CTR), and increase impressions and conversions? (Ok, those are rhetorical questions.) Assuming you do, then you may want to consider experimenting with your title tags.
You did it. You researched your topic, wrote multiple drafts, revised and edited, and finally polished it up. Now your article or blog post is ready for the world.
But wait! Before you click the publish button, there’s one final important step: content layout. Give your copy the best chance for success by making it as reader-friendly as possible.
