All Script And Tols For Free: 🔍 How to test black hat tactics safely

🔍 How to test black hat tactics safely

Sep 30, 2020

Good morning Search Marketer, remember the good old days?

When an SEO could spam the heck out things with a bunch of backlinks and watch their site rocket to the top of the search results? Black hat SEO tactics like that no longer work like they used to. "You're constantly playing that cat and mouse game," Drew Madore, CEO and founder of Synergist Digital Media, told Barry Schwartz.

Madore doesn't recommend black hat or spammy techniques for clients, but says understanding how the tactics sometimes still work through testing on test sites can help inform white hat strategies. Watch their full interview here.

Our latest survey indicates that marketers are feeling more optimistic about attending in-person events by the time the second half of 2021 comes around. Just 4 out of 10 said they are likely to attend an event in-person in the first half, but that increases to 6 out of 10 when asked about the second half. Until then, virtual events will reign. Speaking of which, our next SMX (virtual) event will take place December 8-9, with workshops available the following week.

Keep reading for a look at Snapchat's ad pitch, your daily Search Shorts and more.

Ginny Marvin,
Editor-In-Chief

A pivot with a purpose

"Like every brand, we made incredible adjustments in real-time. Programs were cut, programs were pushed, programs were moved to next year," said Heidi Cooley, head of global marketing at Crocs.

But amidst that disruption the company made purpose a priority and launched an initiative to outfit front-line healthcare workers who needed their footwear.

"A global team initiated a commitment around giving tens of thousands of pairs a day to healthcare heroes, and we gave away over 45 days 860,000 pairs of crocs valued at over $40 million."

Learn more. Check out "The Download", brought to you by Microsoft Advertising.

Social Shorts

Snapchat pitches Platform Burst

Snapchat is floating a new advertising offering called Platform Burst, Digiday reported. The idea is to guarantee that "campaigns will reach at least 40% of their target audience 15 times" over a three or five day period, according to Digiday. Campaigns can encompass different ad formats across the platform and reportedly cost around $127,000.

Why we care. This option could appeal to brands looking for high frequency reach in the Q4 shopping season at a set cost. Snapchat also offers Snap Select, which gives advertisers the option to buy unskippable, six-second Commercials on shows in Snapchat Discover.at a fixed cost. While Snapchat has been seemingly overshadowed by TikTok's rise and political drama, Snapchat has continued to build out TV-like mobile video advertising offerings.

Compare 13 top marketing automation platforms

MarTech Today's "B2B Marketing Automation Platforms: A Marketer's Guide" examines the market for B2B marketing automation software platforms. This report includes profiles of 13 leading B2B marketing automation vendors, capabilities comparisons, pricing information, and recommended steps for evaluating and purchasing.

Get it now »

Search Shorts

Google News indexing issue again.

Google News indexing issue. Google has confirmed a news indexing issue that happened on Monday night, between around 6:45pm and 8pm ET. The issue was resolved within a couple of hours but if you noticed traffic changes that night, it might be due to that.

Canonical issue examples. Yesterday we wrote about a possible issue with Google showing the right canonical URL. Google is asking for examples to debug, so share some with John Mueller of Google on Twitter.

Disavow not a negative signal. "A disavow is not a signal that a site is bad (eg, maybe they're just showing ads without rel-nofollow/sponsored). Usually there are enough other signals to figure that kind of thing out," said Google's Mueller on Twitter.

Stay alert, stay prepared

So how can marketers stay prepared in case of a second major wave of COVID-19?

Here are three recommendations from Jeff Pickett, head of search at Omnicom Media Group.

"First, spend less time gazing into that crystal ball trying to divine what's going to happen next. And instead, spend more time trying to plan for every possible contingency that you can come up with."
"Number two, meet consumers where they are geographically, contextually, and emotionally.
"And then, third, hone your adaptation skills and integrate flexibility into as much of your business as possible."

Learn more. Check out "The Download", brought to you by Microsoft Advertising.

Are you ready for "the new normal" of 2021?

Attend SMX online, Dec. 8-9, to prepare for the coming changes to search. $149 gets you all sessions, keynotes, and networking. Add on a 2-day workshop for maximum training!

Register now »