All Script And Tols For Free: 🔍 Well, hello again, desktop search volume.

Apr 01, 2020

Good morning search marketers, are you seeing desktop click share increasing?

Desktop search is popping during the work-from-home surge. That was among the interesting insights shared by Microsoft Advertising during its annual agency partner event, held virtually yesterday. Advertisers can take advantage of share of voice opportunities during this time, but should also consider customer journeys are likely to be longer, said Microsoft Advertising's corporate VP Rik van der Kooi, who also shared vertical-specific insights.

In talking retail, van der Kooi says we should expect the online shift in shopping to remain permanent to some extent. Yet, one thing has become abundantly clear during this time, e-commerce functions only as well as its underlying infrastructure. The challenges Amazon FBA sellers are experiencing during this time highlight broader vulnerabilities in the e-commerce ecosystem. Merchants have been scrambling to adjust, not just their marketing, but their entire operations.

Coronavirus isn't mentioned specifically, but yesterday, Google Ads updated the sensitive events section of its inappropriate content ads policy to include "public health emergency." We can count this as the official banning of coronavirus-related keywords.The new language is significantly more comprehensive than the previous version with many more examples of content violations.

Google has confirmed it has made changes to ad rep support for small and mid-sized agency partners. We know some agencies have already been told they will be losing their dedicated agency reps. Let us know if your agency has heard the same: gmarvin@thirddoormedia.com.

For SEOs just getting into coding, it can be hard to figure out where to begin. In a 101 look, Detlef Johnson walks through understanding source code, compressed code and compiled code as part of his SEO for developer series.

Today at 2 p.m. ET, Michelle Morgan, Matt van Wagner, Brad Geddes and I will be discussing PPC on Live with Search Engine Land. The first 50 to sign up will be able to join live, and then we'll post the full video for everyone to watch.

Keep reading for a Pro Tip about the Q&A social network Quora and more.

Take care,

Ginny Marvin
Editor-In-Chief

Pro Tip

How does Quora performance compare to other PPC channels?

"While the volume is lower than other major PPC channels, Quora audiences tend to be highly engaged in 'real' conversations, often for highly niche topics with many related to B2B markets," explains SMX West speaker Tim Jensen of Clix Marketing. "I've had the most success with Quora for generating top-of-funnel visitors to later retarget cross-platform with lower-funnel assets."

If you haven't tested Quora Ads yet, here's what I would recommend:

Set up the pixel on your site and begin to build a retargeting audience you can test.
Search topics/questions for discussions related to your industry, your brand name and competitor brand names. You can then try topic targeting (higher volume but can be hit or miss how specific you can get based on the industry) or questions targeting/retargeting (more specific but tougher to get volume) to get a feel for how people respond.
Segment Quora traffic in retargeting audiences for other platforms (using UTM parameters) to test how these individuals perform elsewhere.

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5 critical elements for local marketing success

This guide from MarTech Today examines the market for local marketing solutions and the 5 critical elements for local marketing success: Listing Management, Local SEO, Local Landing Pages, Reputation Management, and Paid Search and Social Media. Also included are profiles of 17 leading local marketing solution vendors and capabilities comparisons.

Read more »

Mindful Moment

This is a difficult time for us all. We are sharing a mindfulness exercise daily to help those interested to take a moment to decompress and regain focus. If you have a tip or exercise to share with the community, please email me at gmarvin@thirddoormedia.com.

This week, we have suggestions from Tara Martello, a meditation and mindfulness coach based in Philadelphia. Today's exercise: Place your hands on your belly. As you inhale, feel your hands expand outward. Then exhale, allowing your hand to move in toward your body. Repeat 5 times or until calm.

Search Shorts

Microsoft rewards for using Bing.

Temporarily closed. Google said that marking your business as temporarily closed will not have a negative impact on your search rankings.

PageRank scores. Gary Illyes from Google said he can look up your true PageRank scores if he wanted to, but the old toolbar PageRank scores are long gone.

Microsoft Rewards. Bing posted on Twitter: Give with Bing is a new way to give back. To try it, join Microsoft Rewards, and your Bing searches will earn points that are automatically donated to the cause of your choice.

Stay up-to-speed on modern marketing

Join us online April 21-23 for Discover MarTech: A Virtual Event For Strategies & Solutions! Live keynotes from MarTech Program Chair Scott Brinker and Real Story Group's Tony Byrne, in-depth marketing technology training, and exclusive community networking – all yours, all free.

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