Publishers using the Subscribe with Google feature may see an increase in the reported clicks and impressions within the Google Search Console search performance report. This started around December 6, 2022.

Google’s announcement. Google posted that on December 6, 2022, “Google created an additional search result feature for sites that use Subscribe with Google. As a result, these websites may see an increase in impressions and clicks in the Search Performance report.”

As a note, the feature was created in March 2018, but it may be that Google didn’t accurately track the feature in Google Search Console until several years later.

What is Subscribe with Google. Subscribe with Google is a linchpin in that second objective to foster sustainable business models for publishers, as we previously reported. The aim is to make it as easy as possible for users to subscribe — particularly on mobile. For Google account holders with payment information on file, subscriptions can be purchased with a couple of clicks. The user’s Google credentials are then used as their login information for their subscriptions. Subscriber information will be turned over to publishers.

Why we care. If you see a jump in impressions and clicks reported in the Search Console performance report on or after December 6th and you use the Subscribe with Google feature, this may be why. Understanding the source of an increase or decrease in clicks and impressions but no other changes to your other metrics, like conversions or traffic, is useful. It seems this is a reporting change and not a new feature change that would actually result in more traffic and conversions.

Although, the wording Google used above is a bit confusing.

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When Google launched a new spam update at the end of 2022, complaints poured in as webmasters were caught off-guard. 

Why are people still using outdated SEO tactics like “keyword stuffing”? 

Here’s what else you may have done wrong and how you can practice actual SEO that benefits real-world users.

Seriously? Is keyword stuffing still a thing?!

I’ll be honest with you. I was flabbergasted that some websites affected by Google’s recent spam update were using an antiquated SEO tactic called “keyword stuffing,” according to analysis based on Ubersuggest data.

Keyword stuffing was a thing in the late ’90s of the last century! That was way before I was into SEO myself. 

When I started practicing SEO in 2004, Google was already the market-leading search engine, and keyword stuffing was essentially a thing of the past. 

Sure, people still tried to achieve the “ideal keyword density” [sic!] (there is no such thing, by the way). Yet, those were the noobs even back then.

In 2001, when Google launched the revolutionary PageRank algorithm for counting and measuring the value of incoming links, the dirty SEO trick referred to as keyword stuffing was officially on the way out.

So why do people still embarrass and shoot themselves in the foot using 25-year-old spam tactics?

It’s probably the same principle as putting your hand on the burning stove to find out for yourself what hot means. I get that logic, but when it comes to adults and SEO, it’s like telling me that you are still watching movies on a VCR!

If you do keyword stuffing in 2023 or beyond, you are embarrassing yourself and the whole SEO industry. In reality, it’s even worse than the steam engine comparison.

Do you hate the blind? Or are you blind to the suffering of others?

Using ages-old spam tactics like keyword stuffing, hidden text, or repetitive meta tags is akin to letting the blind trip on purpose. Why would someone do that?

Either you hate them or are blind to the suffering you’re causing others. Now it’s too late. You can’t claim you didn’t know anymore.

In a recent Mastodon update, Google Search Advocate John Mueller stressed the additional burden prehistoric spam tactics have on the blind or visually impaired (people who are not blind but who often can’t read on screen) who use screen readers.

Even uppercase letters are a nuisance for the blind. Unless you are using an acronym like SEO, do not use them as every single letter will be spelled out one by one for visually impaired website visitors. 

Ariel Gaster provides an insightful guide on properly designing website content for those with low or no vision.

Proper SEO involves findability and ensures that all users find what they want on the website. Thus, website usability and accessibility should be considered – not sabotaged.

Thin content? Beat it now!

Another common issue found in sites affected by the Google spam update was thin content, which was debated to death years ago.

It’s such a boring topic by now that I guess a new generation of spammers grew up without knowing about it because nobody cares to write about it anymore.

What can I say about thin content? Beat it now! 

How? Revisit existing articles on thin content.

Hire actual writers and editors and/or write the content yourself and get help from experts – either in-house or freelancers – who can share insights from first-hand experience.

Don’t just assume that you can use an artificial intelligence tool to create all your content. 

Even though these tools have matured and can aid in content creation, you shouldn’t completely “outsource” content to AI without appropriate human oversight.

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AI content has been hit to some extent

True SEO experts are always testing new things, discovering new technologies, being early adopters and improving their work using automation. I get that, as I am a tinkerer myself. 

It's often trial and error, and you will waste time and effort again and again on such things.

But it's when people forget about ethics that automation usually fails.

Some AI content has been hit by the late 2022 spam update. If you ask me, that was overdue.

I was expecting a big trashing earlier during the helpful content update.

But AI-generated content is not "evil" by itself. 

Almost every technology can be used in a useful and harmful manner. The same thing applies to content AI. 

"What is the purpose of automation?" should be the question.

Do you want to create many thin content pages to trick Google into believing you're a content-rich site with many helpful resources? 

Then the likelihood of being weeded out with the next spam update is high. 

Do you want to save resources by using automation to reduce repetitive tasks so that you can spend more time and effort on truly creative ones?

Then you will probably be much more successful with your automation efforts in the long run, and Google will reward it.

Essentially, AI content did not get wiped out completely.

Most of it simply got downgraded to lower positions in the organic SERPs. AI content without human intervention (think editing) lost the most.

What else are you doing wrong so that you deserve to get hit by the spam update?

Again, I'll be honest with you. I'm an SEO, not a spammer. That's one of the main reasons why I established myself in the industry.

I did it the ethical way from day one, even back when tricking Google was still commonplace, and content creation was not an actual part of SEO.

I did my share in showing the industry that we can do better than that, and we don't need to inflate the rankings of low-quality sites artificially.

To me, SEO means you can take any crappy website and let it shine with the right approach.

Thus, I'm taken aback each time I see someone falling back below the level of real SEO using spam tactics.

I won’t focus too much on the dubious tactics hit by the latest spam update. They do not interest me in the slightest, and some might be tempted to try other, still "under the radar" spam tactics to game Google.

Instead, I will share what might be wrong with your overall SEO approach or philosophy so you can steer clear of them.

Taking lazy shortcuts

As noted above, automation is fine. I'd love a future where nobody needs to do boring, repetitive tasks anymore.

That said, there are things you can but should not automate. In our line of work, human interaction and creativity are still paramount. 

So whenever you think you can "get rich quick" by creating a million automated "content" pages, you are probably doing it wrong. 

Sometimes taking it slow and going through the harder route will result in arriving on top and having a better view from there. (This is not just about hiking!)

Viewing Google as the enemy

Over the years, I've been a victim of this misconception myself.

When I'm angry, I'm more likely to blame someone else for my bad mood, especially "evil" corporations like Google. But thinking this way is a mistake.

The reality is much less sensational. Even corporations are comprised of people who simply do their work and try to be helpful. 

Do your part whether you work for Google or clients. When doing SEO, treat the search engine like a referee while you compete with others to be among the top athletes of the discipline.

Being selfish or egocentric

Satisfying your needs before you help others is the first thing to do. Nobody wants you to work for free as an SEO. 

However, straining to rank on Google to chase money, status, or even fame/notoriety is the same dead end as doing such things in other areas of life. 

When you just care about yourself and ignore other people's needs, you have a very narrow tunnel vision that won't allow you to optimize content and websites properly. Effective SEO involves anticipating other people's needs and empathizing with them. Just get over yourself and embrace those around you. 

SEO is about helping people to find what they need, not only about buying you a bigger car than your neighbor owns or you had last year.

Focusing on quantity over quality

So instead of writing one unique article, you created a dozen or a hundred automated articles based on data everybody else has access to. 

In the short term, that may be a good idea for your bank account. But that's a bad decision for your overall authority and long-term revenue.

Nobody wants to sift through tons of fluff, and even content that can get easily automated or reproduced (think lyrics, sports scores or weather updates) requires some additional work so that people can relate to it. 

Why else would people still watch weather reports on TV where presenters show how clouds will move over maps?

Maybe it's better to do one great thing than a dozen mediocre or a hundred low-level ones? 

Not doing what you love, only what pays

When we were young, in many cases, someone told us that we can't become: 

• Artists.
• Musicians. 
• Poets.

Instead, we need to get a "real job," meaning either some purposeless toil or something highly appreciated, both money and status-wise, like becoming: 

• Doctors.
• Lawyers. 
• Executives. 

Fast forward to today, and there are many unhappy doctors, lawyers and executives who hate their jobs and are looking for a way out to find their true purpose or follow their passion.

In SEO, some keywords and industries pay much more than others, and you can get a lot of status by working for "Fortune 500" companies. 

Or you become a "rotten scoundrel" doing the dirty work that pays even more because ethics are not in the way.

At the end of the day, it won't make you feel good about yourself. You will most likely be trying to use money and status to forget about the work you hate. 

Why not do work that you’ll love, then?

Sometimes you can combine the useful with what you love and still get paid.

I've been a poet once, but I prefer to directly help real people and make some money while at it. I can't imagine someone loving to spam, though.

Ignoring actual website visitors

In the early SEO era, you would focus mostly on Google and how to make the search engine believe that your site needs to be on top of the first page of results. 

That's only one little step from "the ends justify the means" logic and simply cheating so that you show up on top no matter whether you deserve it or not. 

Make sure you remember who you actually optimize for – real people who visit your site and use it in the best case to buy something. 

Instead of focusing solely on Google, you can behave like a real-life shop owner, be helpful to your customers and convert potential visitors into buyers. That's a huge difference. 

Google is just the middleman, and amorphous "traffic" is not the goal of SEO. 

Traffic is the cars that drive by your store, and inside are passengers who don't buy anything. So just focus on the outcome you desire and find a way to get there while also serving the interest of actual people.

No matter what spam tactics were made obsolete by the latest update, you can make sure not to fall prey to the next ones by applying the opposite "strategy."

How to steer clear of future spam updates

Let's focus on the bright side, then. While SEO means search engine optimization, we can't optimize search engines directly. Rather, what we do is "search result optimization." 

Do you deserve to rank on top? Use Google and search for your favorite keywords. Look at what's on top there and then think again.

Here are some timeless ways to get there without tricking anybody, neither Google nor visitors, nor yourself down the road. 

Find out what people want through market research

Many SEO projects or campaigns only start at the keyword research phase.

When this happens, all important decisions have already been made even before the feasibility of an actual market demand driven by technological means has not been established. 

Startups tend to create some supposedly revolutionary product or service that everybody should need, but nobody knows about that yet.

Thus, they have to invest huge resources into convincing people that they need something by leveraging questionable methods like FOMO ("fear of missing out") or needy design patterns ("we haven't seen you since yesterday, please come back to our website!"). 

It's far easier to serve an existing market in many cases unless there is overwhelming competition. You can find out both upfront what people are asking for. Often, these people do not even know that there is a name for it.

To ensure you don't fall for the trap of annoying people until they need your solution, you have to start before identifying the keywords everybody else has already researched before you. 

Take a step back and start with actual market research. Don't assume everybody needs your "me too" site just because a keyword tool says so.

Decide how you personally can help and establish a unique selling proposition

So you have identified a true need that already exists, not something you have to peddle as the "next big thing" until people are finally brainwashed into believing it. 

Now the interesting part begins: deciding how to help personally or as a business. 

What is the one thing that has been annoying you all the time already? Think of solutions to actual real-world problems. 

What is the specific part of the problem you'd like to be solved? You can't solve climate change, but you can provide one solution for a particular issue that leads to it.

Many apps and tools help you solve climate change-related issues now. Almost nobody will look for a [climate change solution app] unless they know there is at least one such solution.

You may want to check out People Also Ask questions on Google to get an idea of what people are searching for that relates to your potential offering.

Spammers often do not help anybody. They just help themselves by tricking everybody else with their make-believe statements or dirty tricks. 

If your offering, website or content is not helpful, you are much more likely to become a spammer, whether you like it or not. The "circumstances" will force you to howl with the wolves unless you can provide something truly helpful.

Ideally, nobody else has come up with a solution like you can provide. Then you have the proverbial unique selling proposition (USP).

Established businesses can do that by investing a lot in product development. Think about all the inventions that Braun or Dyson created over the years.

Small businesses and agile startups can find a micro-niche that no other or larger company can squeeze in.

Once you have the USP, create valuable content that has value by itself, such as guides, tutorials or infographics that helps people identify and deal with the problems you can solve.

Make a real business model (beyond ranking on Google and pushing ads)

This is the major mistake that makes many people become spammers. Their business model is "make money by plastering ads all over a random website." 

So they will look for expensive and competitive keywords first, then create a website nobody would visit on their own accord. Instead of solving an issue to make people click their ads, they have to lure or misdirect existing traffic to their website.

An even more limited mindset applies to many affiliate sites. Not only do they have to lure visitors to their intermediary website, but they also have to ensure that they buy using an affiliate link of theirs. This makes many affiliate websites not only spammy but also misleading.

When you come up with a self-sustaining business model, you can often take care of the SEO simultaneously. 

For instance, software is often free to some private users, while business users have to pay. Alternatively, you can have free entry-level plans while upgrades with more features need to be paid for. 

This way, free users often become brand evangelists by spreading the word organically and linking to your website.

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Although we are all somewhat uncertain about the economy, marketers are still bullish on 2023. After recovering from the pandemic shutdowns and cutting back on budgets, growth is still predicted for next year. 

That growth may not be exponential, though. Because of that, you need to make the most of every dollar you spend on your campaigns. Marketers have to focus their budgets on the most effective ads and keyword buys, and they can’t afford retargeting converted customers or targeting the wrong audiences.

Consumers have also taken a big hit to their budgets due to inflation. With this all in mind, companies that do not meet customer expectations risk losing their business altogether. According to Invoca’s 2022 Buyer Experience report, 76% of consumers will stop doing business with you after one bad experience.

Today’s buyer journey is multi-channel, with customers using digital channels to discover brands and learn about products and services. But when it comes time to make a purchase or book an appointment, they look for human assistance to ensure they’re making the right decision. To get customers to convert, marketers must make it easy for them to get what they want.

Join Owen Ray, director of content marketing at Invoca, in his informative SMX Next session to learn how to use an untapped first-party data source — customer conversations — to drive more conversions, reduce your CPA and maximize every dollar you spend on search marketing.

After this session, you’ll be able to:

• Understand what marketing data you can get from customer conversations
• Accurately measure and reduce your CPA
• Optimize and automate keyword bidding with conversation intelligence and Google Ads
• Use conversation intelligence data to reduce wasted ad spend
• Explain the results marketers see from using conversation data to optimize their marketing

Tune into the session and learn why utilizing conversation data won’t only help you weather the storm that’s coming up and how it’s going to help you come out stronger when the sky is clear.

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Google’s new editing experience for Business Profiles has rolled out. While the initial sentiment isn’t positive, everyone can agree that it’s an experience. 

So, what has changed? The Google Business Profile Manager is still here, but the ability to edit a listing in the interface is gone. 

Users no longer have access to their old dashboards and are now forcefully entered into the NMX, or New Merchant Experience, where GBP edits are made directly within the SERPs. 

This is a massive change that business owners and SEOs alike are not thrilled about. 

What is the Google NMX?

The NMX, or New Merchant Experience, removes the Google Business Profile dashboard and allows profile managers to access and edit profile information directly within the SERPs. 

While in-SERP editing is not new, removing the old business.google.com dashboard is.

Moving forward, profile managers will be required to edit listing information, review performance, and manage Google Business Profile information from within the SERP.

What has changed in the move to Google NMX?

Users see big changes between their Google Business Profile dashboards and the New Merchant Experience. 

The most dramatic change is the loss of the ability to work within the dashboard. 

Historically, most things in your Google Business Profile were accessible via the GBP dashboard, and some were available via the in-SERP NMX. This is no longer the case.

Here’s a rundown of the changes:

• Google Business Profiles are now only editable within the SERPs. The dashboard is no longer available.
• Some things still send users over to the old dashboard, but it’s inconsistent across users and likely will not continue.
• Photo insights are no longer available. This data was often criticized for being inaccurate and unreliable. The prospect of better photo data in the future has users hopeful.

If you liked the photo insights that existed in the Google My Business dashboard, this is NOT going to be moved over to the new dashboard that is rolling out right now to everyone. pic.twitter.com/ID6IM7oVwV

— Joy Hawkins (@JoyanneHawkins) October 28, 2022

• The “how customers search for your business” metrics are no longer available.
• Location information (when customers ask for directions to a business) is also gone. The NMX instead shows direction requests over time.
• You do not need to utilize a dashboard even if you manage multiple profiles. You access all profiles via the SERP, and that SERP will show you all the profiles you manage.

• Google “posts” in the dashboard are now labeled as “updates” in the NMX.
• Google has re-labeled “users.” They’re now referred to as “managers.”
• Branded search spikes in analytics for the brand (and for competitors that appear in the SERP) due to having to do branded searches to open the dashboard. 

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The benefits of the NMX

Further confirmation that the initial sentiment is not optimistic: a BrightLocal Twitter survey showed more than 83% of users find the NMX difficult to navigate.

However, there are some positives to the New Merchant Experience. 

After exploring the layout and features, users find they still have access to most of the features that the old dashboard provided.

For small businesses and non-agency managers, working within the SERP eliminates a step by removing the need to go to a separate URL to access their business manager.

While the local SEO community might be up in arms about this, the average user is unlikely to be upset about the change.

Some features are more accessible than in the former dashboard, making them easier for the average user to find and utilize.

The change from a menu structure to a more visible icon layout encourages business owners to spend more time within the NMX, which is likely Google's goal. 

Tips for getting the most out of your Google Business Profile via NMX

The old interface will not return, so the faster we get accustomed to working within the NMX, the better. 

Here are some tips for getting the most out of the New Merchant Experience.

Dive in

The fastest way to enjoy a new tool or update is to understand how it works and get comfortable with it. The quickest way to get comfortable with NMX is to jump in and use it. 

Many of us have attempted to get back to the old dashboard (myself included), but this isn't helpful in the long run. 

Test the NMX, find out where things are, and then send suggestions for improvement. If we want to drive how this works, we need to participate.

Pay attention

Look at the features Google places front and center for users, as these are what they consider most important. 

Ads are at the top of that list, but the prevalence of the review request option, Q&A, products, and services may indicate what Google will soon prioritize. (Remember, products are not limited to just physical product offerings!)

Continue to follow local SEO best practices

The dashboard may have gone away. Yet, the fundamentals have stayed the same. 

The value of understanding local SEO and optimizing your Google Business Profile accordingly will continue to be the way to grow and maintain rankings and increase profit. 

Expand your reporting 

Some insights we've gotten used to seeing may be gone, but there are opportunities to create fantastic customized reporting if you're comfortable working with data.

Prioritize reviews

Users and Google alike keep a close eye on reviews. Up to 96% of users rely on reviews to make purchasing decisions, and 70% of those users go to Google reviews most. 

Ask your customers for reviews. Respond to all reviews – good, bad, and indifferent. 

When you resolve an issue from a negative review, ask the reviewer to update their review. 

Roll with the punches

This is not the first big change Google has made, and it definitely won't be the last.

Get annoyed, get over it, and figure out how the changes can best serve your brand.

Share feedback

Joy Hawkins has offered to take suggestions for dashboard improvement to Google. 

The NMX is here to stay, but that doesn't mean it can't be enhanced.

Decide what would improve it, and share your ideas with Google and the local SEO community. 

Geotagging images

It still doesn't help rankings, so we can stop talking about it.

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With the wide variety of clients out there, you’re bound to run into the occasional DIY marketer. These marketers prefer that you teach them how to be self-sufficient rather than rely on you for every little question.

These clients can be a blessing but can also be dangerous. The challenging aspect of client management is finding the balance between empowering them to get the data they want without feeling like they don’t need you.

That’s where Google’s Looker Studio tools come into play.

Looker Studio is typically used for general reporting. The real beauty of Looker Studio is that it can be used for so much more. 

By creating tools for clients, you enable them to do the actual research it takes to accomplish SEO while still providing that much-needed maintenance and guidance that comes with experience. 

This article illustrates free dashboard templates you can use with your clients. 

How to change the branding

Before we dive into the specifics, you may want to update the branding and logo of your dashboard. This process could not be easier.

Right-click on your logo, and you will see a menu appear. Near the bottom, select “Extract theme from image.” You will then be presented with three different color scheme options. Select whichever one you feel best represents your brand.

This will automatically change most of the colors and get you most of the way to the finish line of designing in your Looker Studio tool. However, there may still be a few charts or texts you’ll need to update.

1. Technical SEO auditing

Tracking technical SEO efforts can be difficult to visualize. Sure, you can track it in a spreadsheet, but that isn’t client-friendly. 

For years, SEOs have attempted to make dashboard trackers to help show improvements in site health over time. 

Luckily, our friends at Screaming Frog have finally cracked the case of the perfect technical SEO dashboard. The best part? The template is free. You can see it here.

How to copy the dashboard

To copy the dashboard:

1. Click on the three dots in the top right
2. Select make a copy
3. Select your data source (don’t worry, you can update later)

How to set up the technical SEO tracker tool

Screaming Frog has published a helpful guide on setting up this Looker Studio tool. What they will walk you through includes:

• Setting up a scheduled crawl
• Configuring the export to a Google Sheet
• Connecting that Google Sheet to the Looker Studio dashboard

You can find the full tutorial here.

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2. Keyword research

The presentation of keyword research takes many forms. Most recognizable is the simple spreadsheet. Some people create keyword maps for each page or topic, while others with smaller clients have a short list of keywords.

However, Looker Studio can be a powerful analysis tool for larger sites with tens of thousands or millions of keywords.

If you are working with millions of keywords, do not use Google Sheets like this example. I recommend using BigQuery to handle your keywords.

Here's the link to the dashboard.

Step One: Setting up your source data

The first step involves importing your keyword research into a Google Sheet. To use the free template I created, you will need to include the following dimensions and metrics in your Google Sheet:

• Keyword
• Position
• Previous position
• Search Volume
• Keyword Difficulty
• CPC
• URL
• Keyword Intents

Here's the original data source for the dashboard that you can use as an example. All data is from Semrush.

Step Two: Copy the dashboard

As we learned in the previous dashboard, you'll want to make a copy of this dashboard and connect your data source, whether it be Google Sheets or BigQuery.

Important features of this Looker Studio tool

This tool has many unique features that can be used to help drive your on-page SEO strategy. Depending on your strategy, these features can be customized to display different types of data and categories.

Boolean Buttons

The three buttons in this tool are based on custom boolean formulas, meaning they work on true/false statements. Let's take a look at one of them.

We're creating a function only to display long-tail queries that start with a question word in the formula above. This formula relies on regex, with two very important symbols:

• The circumflex (^) is a regex function that essentially means, "if the keyword starts with this." 
• The pipe (|) symbol is another regex function that means "or."

Using this formula, you can create any number of different kinds of checkboxes. I added a few keywords separated by pipes (|) to help display keywords in those categories for the SEO and PPC checkboxes.

Custom search box

The custom search box is a pretty simple but powerful feature of this tool. Not only can it quickly help you narrow down your search to identify keyword opportunities, but it can also use the power of regex to customize your search.

Intent dropdown

The keyword intent dropdown can help you filter by the intent of each keyword within the search funnel. Pretty simple, right?

Well, this filter can be easily swapped out by any dimension in Looker Studio. So if you want to swap it out for other keyword categories, this can be the perfect filter for you. 

Funnel

This funnel helps visualize the true search funnel by intent. When applying other filters in this tool, the funnel and metrics above automatically update with the intents.

3. Link building tracking tool

Link building is one of the tensest topics SEOs like to avoid with clients. Links are challenging to earn and often the hardest thing to control. 

The best way to earn trust with clients and stakeholders is through transparency. Instead of dodging the data around link building, hand over the keys and let them explore the data for themselves.

This is one of the more straightforward Looker Studio tools we can create. You can pair any number of dimensions and metrics to help illustrate your point. 

Here is a link to the free template.

The supporting Google Sheet I'm using is a simple backlinks analytics report from SEMrush. However, you can use your own link-building tracker to feed the report. Just make sure you add the acquisition date for the date range.

You can view the Google Sheet that's feeding the tool here.

Conclusion

Looker Studio is one of the fastest reporting tools to stand up while still having some seriously robust features. The fact that it's also free makes it an easy platform of choice.

But that begs the question, why go through all that trouble for clients and other stakeholders?

These tools help create a better sense of transparency, which can help improve trust. Thus, creating a better partnership between you and your stakeholders. 

One of the most challenging parts of SEO isn't the work itself but the communication of value. So from now on, think of new creative ways to demonstrate value to your clients, even if it's just making a simple tool in Looker Studio.

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More than agencies or freelancers, in-house ecommerce marketing teams tend to have more access to data, making them the perfect intermediary between that data and the campaigns they manage.

Accurate, timely insights from analytics platforms or customer relationship management (CRM) systems can help marketers make informed decisions on how best allocate resources when automating tasks (e.g, email sequencing, segmentation strategies).

This allows for more efficient use of time while also providing a higher return on investment through targeted messaging that resonates with prospects over time.

In his SMX Next presentation, Andrew Lolk, founder of SavvyRevenue goes over what it takes for in-house ecommerce marketing teams to implement the necessary data for their algorithms to be efficient, and making sure that the data that we’re actually feeding into the engine also equals the goals.

Feeding the beast

Feeding the beast means giving as much data as possible. This includes:

• Server-side tracking.
• Enhanced conversions.
• Giving the algorithms as much data as humanly possible.

“We need to feed the system with as much data as humanly possible and then use other methodologies to define attribution,” Lolk said. “What we see in Google ads shouldn’t be what you use to actually determine whether it is good for us or not, as profitable or not. The second part is making sure that the data that we’re actually feeding into the engine also equals the goals.”

Analytics

What should PPC marketers focus on? Not manual bidding, keywords, and rules, according to Lolk.

Rather, your focus should be on taking the captain’s seat. Become a mini-manager, or team lead. In order to optimize accounts, attention needs to be given to feeding the right data into the algorithm.

In fact, analytics should equal about 99% of your back-end data. Lolk’s advice: get enhanced conversions

Micro conversions

Managers need to track micro conversions, Lolk said.

“Once you’ve figured out all these micro-conversions you want to track, you need to assign a value. The reason you want to assign a value is that unless you put some kind of conversion values to these micro-conversions, then you can’t use it for shopping because you can’t do target CPA or maximize conversions or maximize conversion value bid strategies.”

Use cases

Use cases for assigning value to micro conversions are as follows:

• The long customer journey, where it takes consumers 3-6 weeks to make the purchase. 
• High average order value, such as mattresses and high-end office chairs
• Tracking micro-conversions and assigning a value to those. Whether they be using a chat feature or clicking on reviews

Blended ROAS

To calculate blended ROAS, you take your total revenue and divide it by your total cost across all platforms.

Blended ROAS includes spend and return for Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Microsoft, and any other ad platform where you’re running campaigns. 

Negative ROAS

Brands and advertisers need to be comfortable with a negative ROAS for some products in certain categories in order to maximize profits and balance new customers, Lolk said.

There are times when you increase profit but your revenue is still down. But by looking at back-end data you can see which products were best sellers, had the highest conversion rates, or got the most clicks.

You can use that data to create a custom product score, allowing you to prioritize them.

Watch: Feeding data to automation: In-house teams’ secret sauce to Google Ads

Below is the complete video of Lolk’s SMX Next presentation.

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The featured snippet is still one of the SERPs’ most coveted pieces of real estate. They allow your site to quickly jump to the top of the search results, even if the “traditional rankings” would place your site at the bottom of the first page. 

My team and I have had a lot of success optimizing for featured snippets over the years. Eventually, we developed our internal frameworks for what performs best in claiming these yearned-for positions. 

Below are the strategies we use to optimize for featured snippet results. 

What is a featured snippet?

A featured snippet is a two- to three-sentence summary of text that appears at the top of Google. Featured snippets directly answer a user’s query in the search results. Receiving a featured snippet can result in more traffic for a given page. 

Featured snippet optimization

Follow these steps to optimize for featured snippets::

• Add a “What is” heading.
• Use an “is” sentence structure.
• Fully define the topic.
• Match the featured snippet format.
• Don’t use your brand name.
• Don’t use first-person language.
• Scale featured snippets.
• Prioritize when you rank in the top five.
• Iterate your optimizations.

The featured snippet appears to work on a more simplistic algorithm than Google’s “primary” one. The featured snippet is much more influenced by simple on-page adjustments that clearly define the topic to users. 

Featured snippets and voice search 

Also, remember that one of the goals of the featured snippet is to fuel voice search. 

Google reads back featured snippets when users perform voice queries on mobile or Google Home devices. This means that featured snippets must always make sense in this context. 

When optimizing for featured snippets, it makes sense to ask yourself, “How would my answer sound if it was read back on voice search?”

The types of featured snippets

You might notice there are several kinds of featured snippets. Knowing each type is important to understand how to structure your content to optimize for them. 

What follows are the most common types of featured snippets.

Paragraph

The most common type of featured snippet, the paragraph is composed of two or three sentences of text pulled from a <p> HTML element. 

List

A bulleted or numbered list generally pulled from either an <ol> or <ul> HTML element. 

Table

A table of information pulled from a <table> HTML element. This is the least common type of featured snippet. 

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How to optimize for Google's featured snippets

Throughout the years, one of the things I've been able to hone in on is how to optimize for the featured snippet.

I've developed a set of rules to follow when optimizing client pages for this SERP feature. You can learn more about each rule below.

1. Add a 'What is' heading

To start your featured snippet optimizations, you'll want to look for a place in your content to add a "What is [keyword]" heading tag. This signals to Google that your upcoming text could be helpful as a featured snippet.

Countless examples of pages get the featured snippet using this heading format. We've seen good success rates when replicating this strategy for our clients. 

Ideally, you'll add this heading as close to the top of your content as possible. If writing a blog post, I'll generally add it right below the introductory paragraph. This is often a great place to add it because it flows well with the content while allowing you to include it near the top of the page. 

For instance, here's a great example from TechnologyAdvice. We can see that they include this section right below their "Table of contents" at the top of the page: 

Adding this section gives Google a clear indication of what text they can pull into the featured snippet. 

As a result, they received the answer box for the competitive keyword "project management software" and even outranked Capterra, which is tough to do in SaaS SEO. 

2. Use the 'is' sentence structure

When optimizing for the featured snippet, it's important to include an "is" statement.

The first sentence should start with the structure: "[Keyword] is…" 

Below are some examples from results getting the featured snippet: 

• "Agile methodology is a type of project management process, mainly used for software development…"
• "Customer relationship management (CRM) software is software that automates and manages the customer life cycle of an organization."
• "Return on Investment (ROI) is a performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or compare the efficiency of a number of different investments."

Our analysis of pages receiving featured snippets consistently shows that "is" statements are utilized within the text. 

In our experience, this content structure appears to act as a "triggering phrase" allowing Google to easily find relevant text for the featured snippet. 

To boost your chances of getting the featured snippet spot, ensure that your first sentence follows this format. By using an "is" statement, you should see a higher percentage of your optimizations result in winning the featured snippet. 

3. Fully define the topic in 2-3 sentences

This is the most important rule to follow, in my opinion. 

Featured snippets should give users as much information about the topic as quickly as possible. 

This means the content you're optimizing must try to describe the topic as completely as possible in two to three sentences. For this rule, being concise is extremely important. 

Here are some general guidelines we try to follow when trying to concisely define featured snippets

• The first sentence should define the topic.
• The second and third sentences should describe 2-3 must-know facts about the topic.
• Avoid using any extraneous phrasing in your definition.

Here's a great example from Investopedia:

This follows the above pattern of first describing the topic and then providing users with two must-know facts about it. 

• Forensic accounting is a specific accounting technique to discover crimes.
• It's used to provide evidence of financial misconduct to courts.
• Forensic accounting is heavily used in the insurance industry.

Also, notice how the text doesn't use unnecessary words within the definition. It's short and to the point. 

4. Match the featured snippet format

As explained earlier, the different types of featured snippets include:

• Paragraphs (most common).
• Bulleted and numbered lists.
• Tables (least common).

This rule is simple. Whatever featured snippet type you see on the SERP, match that type in your content. 

For example, if you see a paragraph featured snippet appearing for the term you want to optimize for, you need to find a place to add/adjust two or three sentences of text. 

However, if a bulleted list appears, you'll need to add a similar list to your page's content. 

5. Never use your brand name in featured snippet text

This is a mistake we see all the time.

A company will get rules 1-4 right but will use some language that makes the result ineligible for the featured snippet. Brand names are one example of such language. 

Remember that featured snippets fuel voice search. Devices such as Google Home will directly read what's in the featured snippet to users. This means that the content needs to make complete sense in this context. 

For example, say Wegmans was trying to optimize for the featured snippet "health benefits of avocado" and used the following sentence: 

• "Avocados from Wegmans have many health benefits as they are a great source of riboflavin, vitamins C and potassium." 

When read by a voice assistant, this might be confusing as the searcher was looking for general benefits that apply to all avocados – not just the ones sold by Wegmans. 

Replacing the brand name with general language will give the content a higher chance of receiving a featured snippet. 

The ideal optimization could look something like this: 

• "Avocados have many health benefits as they are a great source of riboflavin, vitamins C and potassium." 

6. Don't use first-person language

Similar to the previous rule, using first-person language can be a mistake due to the ramifications of voice search. 

In the above example, let's say the on-page text optimized for the featured snippet read: 

• "Our avocados have many health benefits. We have avocados that are a great source of riboflavin, vitamins C and potassium."

Again, imagine if this sentence was read by a voice assistant. The user might wonder: 

• Who is the "we" that is being referenced? 
• Does this information only apply to their product? 

This sounds like the information might be specific to a type of avocado and might not apply to the food in general. 

Limiting this type of phrasing may also help you improve your chances of receiving a featured snippet. 

7. Scale featured snippets when possible

We've seen interesting behavior throughout the years with bulleted list featured snippets. 

For instance, you can see that a search for the term "food franchises" yields the following featured snippet below. 

However, when looking at the page, there is no specific bulleted list. Instead, the page is set up as a standard ecommerce category page. 

What Google appears to be pulling the featured snippets from is actually the individual product listings within the category page, and the selected text all appear to be formatted as H3. 

The example shows us that in some results, Google scrapes heading tag information to display as featured snippets. This allows for an interesting opportunity as featured snippets can be scaled with adjustments to the HTML. 

We've recommended adjusting the HTML on category pages from standard paragraph tags to H2 or H3 tags for some clients. This might send stronger signals that could scale featured snippet optimization globally. 

Take the time to review where Google is pulling your competitors' featured snippets from. If you're seeing common HTML elements, consider adjusting your global templates to give your content the best chance of triggering the featured snippet. 

8. Prioritize opportunities where you rank in the top 5

Previous studies have shown that ranking position matters in terms of claiming a featured snippet. Simply put, the higher you rank, the better your chance of claiming one.

An Ahrefs study showed that results ranking in the first position had a 30.9% chance of receiving a featured snippet. Positions 2 and 3 had a 23.5% and 15.9% chance, respectively. 

While this data might be different now since deduplication, it still has clear takeaways for SEOs. 

The higher your site ranks in the "standard" results, the better the chance of generating a featured snippet. 

When prioritizing, look for keywords where you already rank within the top 5 results. 

9. Iterate your optimizations

You've followed the steps above. 

You've written fantastic on-page content that clearly describes the topic under a dedicated "What is" heading at the top of the page. 

You've also been sure to stay clear of any brand or first-person terminology. 

You push your optimizations to production and wait for Google to re-index your content.

When Google finally indexes your new changes, your page still isn't generating the featured snippet.

This is not the time to stop optimizing. Instead, iterate your approach and try again. For many of the featured snippets we get, it can take multiple iterations.

In this phase, I've found that using the above process generally gets you 80% of the way there. 

If your result still doesn't receive a featured snippet, minor adjustments tend to work well. 

Look for opportunities to better define the topic, use even more concise phrasing or test highlighting different facts (see Rule 3). 

Start with minor adjustments and work to more major ones if you're still not seeing the desired results.

You'll often find that the featured snippet can be obtained after a few rounds of interaction to perfect the language.

Earn featured snippets and boost your SERP visibility 

Hopefully, these guidelines will help you when optimizing for featured snippets. 

Remember, it's extremely important to:

• Use an "is" statement.
• Fully define the topic in two to three sentences. 

By following the rules above, you should be able to significantly improve how many featured snippets you're able to receive for your site.

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E-commerce is a highly competitive environment where giant online retailers like Walmart and Amazon make it difficult for other online merchants to grow and drive conversions.

The reason why conversion remains low for some is mainly that customers cannot find what they are looking for. More than ever before, customers are shopping online for the convenience. If they cannot find what they are looking for on your site, they will leave, abandon carts and go to your competitor to buy what they need quickly and easily.

The key to solving the conversion problem is personalization – deducing what your customers want and how to help them seamlessly find what they’re looking for. It is going beyond acknowledging what they have bought in the past and accounting for what they have viewed and interacted with.

Join Jonathan Meyer, senior solutions engineer, HawkSearch by Bridgeline, in his informative SMX Next session to learn how to drive conversions and increase average order value. The answer? Implementing machine learning and AI-powered search and recommendation functionalities into your e-commerce site.

After this session, you’ll be able to: 

• Track trends and recognize patterns
• Auto-generate product recommendations
• Personalize the customer’s experience

Tune into the session and get ahead of your competition in 2023 by helping your customers stay engaged during their search on your e-commerce site.

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This article details how aspiring search marketers can advance their careers through accelerated job performance and proactive outreach. 

The best path to advance your SEM career involves:

• Delivering stellar execution and task management. 
• Providing incredible contributions to your team.
• Taking ownership of projects of any size.

Aim to exemplify the following nine attributes, and you’ll be on your way to a thriving search marketing career. 

Delivering stellar results

Individuals who bring a proactive approach to their roles will grow faster. 

Within most SEM teams, there is an endless list of tasks, and anyone who jumps in and starts acting as part of the team will get noticed and promoted.

Here’s how to bring your best self to your position daily and do outstanding work.  

1. Execute flawlessly within accounts

SEM is complicated. You must consider hundreds of nuances during each campaign launch. An incorrectly clicked radio button within Google Ads can cause an error with significant negative impacts.

Flawless execution will get gradual attention when settling into your first role in SEM. Mistakes gain immediate attention, which is not the best way to get on your manager’s radar.

SEM is fast-paced. You’ll have numerous tasks to complete each day. Keep yourself from being pushed to execute more than you are comfortable with. When you feel rushed, mistakes will undoubtedly creep into your work. 

2. Manage tasks and deadlines relentlessly

Staying on top of your daily and weekly tasks is critical. Team members and clients depend on you to complete work on time. 

In addition, being responsible for your workload builds confidence in your overall performance. 

Begin each day by reviewing your top priorities. Then, end each day by setting your priorities for the following morning. This process will significantly impact your productivity, mental health, and stress. 

Also, set the appropriate amount of time for each project each day. Prioritizing tasks and allocating enough time per project will ensure you can execute flawlessly.

3. Track long-term goals and milestones

Own your development. Collaborate with your manager to set goals and milestones for the upcoming three or six months. Work together to establish goals to support your team, advance your responsibilities, and develop your skills. 

Don’t rely on your manager to maintain your long-term goals. It’s easy to lose sight of your long-term plans due to the urgent needs that arise each day. 

Instead, be proactive by providing regular updates on your goal progress. Your manager will appreciate it when you take ownership of your development. 

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Being an incredible contributor

An exceptional team member is someone who actively contributes to their team. 

Awesome team members help everyone in their group win. Keep in mind – when the team wins, you win too. 

4. Train/mentor junior team members

If you have the experience and availability to mentor junior team members, go for it. Alternatively, you could find a mentor within your company for yourself. 

Mentoring can provide valuable insights to your mentee and help you hone your skills. Providing guidance and insight forces you to clarify your thoughts and perspective. 

You could ask to form one if you don’t have access to a formal mentorship program. 

5. Bring a steady stream of innovative ideas

Innovation is everyone’s job. You can bring new, creative ideas to your team at any career stage. 

In addition, your manager and team will appreciate someone who is proactively solving problems and improving processes. 

If you are at a different point of presenting new strategy suggestions to clients or C-Level executives in your organization, then you should aim for what is within reach.

Pitch new process ideas to your team. Propose new campaign strategies to your manager. Look for new, better ways to help the team and provide solutions.

6. Offer to review accounts from other teams

Learning is a two-way street. If you work in an agency, you could offer to review accounts for different groups. 

Account teams benefit from a third-party perspective. You could discover areas of opportunity or potential problems within an account. Offering account reviews is an excellent contribution to a team-focused mentality. 

Also, you will likely learn from other teams in this process. You could see strategies and techniques that you have yet to try before. 

Offering to review accounts can help open new perspectives that you can bring back to your team. 

Taking ownership

Managers will notice when team members step up to lead projects. Whenever possible, take ownership of projects of any size. 

Demonstrate that you have the drive to take ownership and the ability to manage. 

7. Ask to lead a new project

Taking ownership of a project happens in many forms. 

For example, you can offer to resolve a reporting or tracking issue. In addition, you can propose a new process to streamline or improve collaboration. 

This behavior shows that you want to solve issues. Taking ownership of any size shows that you are proactive and have a positive attitude toward finding new ways of working. 

Don’t underestimate the power of proactivity and ownership when thinking about your career.

8. Gain a holistic understanding of your business

If you are in-house, this means learning more about your company’s strategy. 

This means seeking additional information about your client’s business if you are with an agency. 

You’ll better understand the business you are promoting and how digital marketing strategy will drive growth. 

You can set up Google Alerts for your business or your client’s business. 

If applicable, you can attend quarterly earnings calls. You could also subscribe to your client’s marketing newsletters or other publications. 

9. Make strategy presentations to senior team members

You might not be able to make presentations to clients, prospects, or the C-level executives at your company. However, you can still gain valuable presentation experience in your available setting. 

You can take the projects you own (see the point above) and present your findings to senior team members.

In alignment with the above, you could present high-level findings about your business/client to your team. These presentations can be low-stress but high-yield in terms of experience. 

The path to growing your SEM career 

These ideas will help level up your engagement in your current role. 

Consider how you can bring stellar execution and task management, incredible contributions to your team, and ownership of projects of any size. 

The SEM career playbook series covers must-know tips and advice for getting started with and navigating a career in search marketing. 

The first article, “SEM career playbook: Overview of a growing industry,” introduced roles within search marketing. The second one, “How to excel in your current and future SEM roles,” discussed ways to capture learning opportunities for building your career.

In our final installment of this series, we’ll explore boosting core skill sets to advance your SEM career. 

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Google Chrome is adding shortcuts to the address bar on desktop that will help you search through your bookmarks, history and tabs.

Why we care. Search marketers do a lot of searching – and I’m pretty sure in our profession it’s illegal not to have dozens (hundreds?) of tabs open at a time. These additions to Google Chrome hopefully will make it a bit easier for you to search directly for the correct tab, bookmark or URL from your search history.

@bookmarks, @history, @tabs: How it works. You can simply type @ and then click on one of the three buttons (Search Bookmarks, Search History, Search Tabs).

• To search for a bookmark: Type @bookmarks, enter the bookmark name to get a dropdown with matching suggestions from all your bookmark folders. 
• To search your history: Type @history, then enter your query to get a preview of your browsing history in the address bar. 
• To search for a tab: Type @tabs, hit space, enter the tab title, and you’ll see suggestions in your address bar.

What it looks like. Here are a couple of screenshots of the new Chrome search shortcut features for bookmarks and history:

These search shortcuts are rolling out with Google Chrome 108 for desktop. Don’t see it yet? Make sure you’ve updated to the latest version of Chrome.

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