Good morning, Search Marketer, and a heartfelt season's greetings from the Third Door Media team. I've always considered the passage of time to be somewhat arbitrary (I'm only a day older on my birthday than I was the day before, right?), but I haven't been able to reconcile that with the fresh feeling of a new year, full of possibilities. Are those feelings mutually exclusive? All this to say we'll be taking a break from newsletters for the holidays and starting back up in the new year on January 4 — I look forward to touching base with you then! As we approach the end of the year, I encourage you to reach out to loved ones, colleagues, long lost friends, and anyone you know who may have fallen on hard times. Marketing is a people business, and caring about others is an asset. See who may need a hand, or just carve out 30 minutes to enjoy some mulled wine over a video call. The pandemic has taken so much from so many, but we can still end the year on a positive note. George Nguyen,
Editor | | | | | PPC | | | | | PPC 2020 in review: COVID leaves its mark on e-commerce and paid search | | Now that the year is coming to a close, we decided it was time to reflect on the events and announcements that mattered most to paid search marketers. The pandemic pushed consumers towards e-commerce as social distancing took hold, and platforms expedited plans to ease that transition for users and marketers: both Google Shopping and Bing Shopping results opened up to free product listings. Buy on Google commissions were done away with so that the company could, presumably, better compete against other e-commerce sites like Amazon. And, Facebook launched Shops so that businesses could establish an integrated storefront for customers across Facebook and Instagram. The trend towards more automation that we've been documenting for years has kept its momentum: Google introduced custom audiences, automated Insights and Performax Max campaigns. It also decreased search term visibility, potentially making millions in ad spend invisible to advertisers — perhaps it's conditioning us away from keywords? After all, it did run a test making RSAs the default this summer. After the insane events of 2020, I'll refrain from 2021 predictions, but I'll certainly entertain yours. Tweet at me, I'm @geochingu. Read more here. | | | | | | | The technology that's saving retail businesses from going under Sponsored by Lightspeed | | The pandemic is changing the game for retail, and fast. Not only is the competition fiercer than ever before, but the coronavirus has been the cause of a dramatic decrease in in-store traffic. While the situation has forced some companies to shut down, many have realized that if they want to break through and maximize profits, they will need to adapt to more flexible business models with the adoption of new technologies. In order to remain competitive, online and offline experiences must "wow" the consumer. Having a great product is not sufficient to satisfy today's buyer profile. The secret sauce for these struggling businesses lies in the ability to combine in-store and online shopping to create an omnichannel retail strategy to provide the best possible experience all around, without having to choose one or the other. In today's modern economy, the inter-connected customer shouldn't have to choose either. Read more » | | | | | | | Learn about the benefits of using an SEO tool and compare leading vendors | | SEO remains the stalwart mainstay of digital marketing, driving as many as 22% of all website visits. But its practice has become more complex—today, SEO includes everything from content marketing to user experience. Using SEO software tools can increase efficiency and productivity while reducing the time and errors involved in managing organic search campaigns. This guide from MarTech Today explains the benefits of using an SEO tool and compares 21 leading vendors. Read More » | | | | | | Search Features | | | | | Brand reputation and the impact of Google SERP selections | | Google surfaces content questioning the legitimacy and, sometimes, the legality of businesses in brand searches — just look to the People Also Ask (PAA) section for examples of "is company XYZ legit?" queries. Even worse, some of these are loaded questions, like, "why is company ABC bad?" Could you imagine being the brand manager of a business that has PAA questions like that, front and center, displaying to thousands of users per month? In his latest guest article, JR Oakes takes a deep dive into the negative brand impact of PAA results. He's even built a Google Data Studio dashboard detailing company PAA changes over time, domain and PAA diversity, PAA themes, company sentiment and more. "The main takeaway here is that I think there is a line between answering a user's query, whether positive or negative in sentiment from available content, and suggesting information actively that can substantively change a user's perception of the topic being searched," Oakes says. "This is especially relevant for navigational searches where in many cases the user is only using Google to get to a site, not asking for feedback on a company." Read more here. | | | | | | | Say hello to SMX Report: Analytics for Search Marketing | | Unlock actionable tactics to measure search marketing success at SMX Report, online February 23, 2021. Secure your spot for just $99! Register now » | | | | | | Events | | | | | In-person events in 2021? | | Last week, the United States began the historic rollout of the first approved vaccine for COVID-19, giving the country and the rest of the world some long-overdue optimism that this grim pandemic will soon come to an end. On a simply human level, the relief in a future where family gatherings and social congregation are possible without fear of catching this deadly disease is cause for celebration. For marketers and professionals, it means one day soon we will be able to gather at offices, off-sites, sales trips, conferences and trade shows. Several times this year we have surveyed marketers on their comfort level for attending live events absent an effective COVID-19 vaccine and each time they have told us that they would largely skip out on travel and in-person professional gatherings. But, with what is sure to be a long-term vaccine rollout having begun, we thought it was time to gauge whether those opinions have changed. Please click here to take our short survey >> | | | | | | Search Shorts | | | | | Advertising health check and a bit of BERT too | | | | Microsoft Advertising platform health. Microsoft announced that it has a new page where you can check the health of the overall Microsoft Advertising platform. The page is available at https://status.ads.microsoft.com/ and it shows you the status of its Applications, Platform, and API. Google core updates & BERT are unrelated. I asked Danny Sullivan of Google if the last core update has anything directly to do with BERT. Danny said "no, it's not." | | | | |
