Monday, October 31, 2022
After Morbi Tragedy, Hourly Cap For Ahmedabad's Atal Bridge Inaugurated By PM
10 spooky SEO tactics to axe in 2023
It was a cold, dark night. At the end of the long path was an old, rundown mansion covered in cobwebs. Inside was a candle flickering next to the shadow of a person.
You rub the frost off the stained-glass window on the doorstep, and there’s just enough light to see what the man inside is doing. He’s moving his body from side to side, chanting numbers – what could it be? Black magic?
You put your ear to the window to find out what you can hear – and you can make out … something:
“One, two, three, four paid links!”
Alas – he’s not a sorcerer at all – but something even more chilling: A marketer performing the ancient practice of black hat SEO!
Does this tale spook you as much as it does me? It’s almost 2023, and if you’re involved in buying links – or any of the 10 things I’m about to detail in this article – you won’t have a chance to compete in the search results.
So without further ado, here are 10 spooky SEO practices to axe in 2023.
1. Not getting buy-in from the top
Your company may say that you can “do SEO” without actually understanding what SEO means.
Fast-forward to a few months down the road when you need to make big decisions about the site, and management is nowhere to be found.
To be successful in SEO, you need commitment from the top.
In addition, SEO needs to be thought of even when you, the marketer, are not in the room.
Every decision on the website impacts SEO. When you have proper buy-in, you can solve so many other issues featured in this article.
2. Hiring people that know less about SEO than you
You’ve hired a big, brand-name agency because you heard they were the best.
The company assigns an SEO professional with a fancy title to your account – what could go wrong?
Except after only a few weeks, it is apparent that you know more than your SEO team does.
And, with a little digging, you find that the person servicing your account has only a few years of SEO under their belt.
This is a real phenomenon, folks.
Make sure you research the people you hire before you sign that contract. Otherwise, your working relationship will not be fruitful.
3. Being sure you have a plan that will stick
“Man plans, Google laughs.”
OK, that isn’t quite how that old expression goes, but the reality is that the only thing constant in SEO is change.
With Google making thousands of changes to search each year, and your competitors even more, how can you seriously plan for SEO six months from now?
You do not have any knowledge about the changes you will encounter. So come to terms with the fact that a long-term SEO plan is worthless.
What to do instead?
Run in four-week sprints and re-evaluate what the website needs after each sprint.
4. Getting SEO advice and not implementing it
If you’ve invested time and money into hiring an SEO only to ignore their recommendations, then don’t be surprised by the results you don’t get.
I understand. Sometimes it seems like an uphill battle to get things done.
That is why having buy-in and a plan for how you will implement SEO strategies is the first step before engaging in SEO services.
5. Ignoring the hard changes
When faced with business silos, competing priorities and a lack of resources, it may seem impossible to get the “hard” changes done to a website.
Sometimes, they are partially or even poorly implemented to try and move the needle.
The hard changes, though, are those changes that can make a fundamental difference to your SEO program.
If the recommendation is to do them, make a case for getting them done and, if you need to, hire outside expertise to do them the right way.
6. Thinking any content is good content
If you go to the heart of almost any Google algorithm update, you will find it centers on quality content.
To succeed now and in the future, you need helpful content – expert, authoritative and trusted content.
You must somehow stand out from the competition rather than regurgitate what everyone else is saying.
Spinning others’ ideas equates to average content. And Google does not reward the average.
7. Thinking all keywords are equal
Inventing keywords does not mean that anyone would search for them. Thus they may get no traffic.
That is just one point, but you must also consider that there are many keyword strategies, and they vary by industry.
Matching your content to query intent can help you perform better in search – and is the key to being considered an expert and gaining ranking.
And if it is not ranked, then the content is nearly worthless.
8. Not looking at PPC data
Unfortunately, PPC data is often ignored. And SEO and PPC teams often feel at odds with one another.
Knowing what converts in PPC is a solid indication of the ROI for each keyword.
Also, by studying the negative keywords in PPC that identify ambiguous keywords, the SEO sees issues that point to the need for schema.
Bottom line: If certain keywords have a clear meaning and great conversion, then you may want them in your SEO program.
9. Buying links
By now, we shouldn’t still be having the “paid links” conversation.
Yet many websites still engage in this practice – unknowingly or knowingly.
To be fair, link buying is not always a black-and-white issue; there are shades of gray.
For example, if I pay someone to write an article and place it on another site, is that a paid link? Google thinks so.
The remedy to paid links? Create things worth linking to and then let others know about them.
10. Not taking any SEO training
How will you have meaningful discussions with your SEO team if you don’t know what they are talking about?
How will you get Bob in IT to actually make changes to the website if he has no SEO knowledge?
It is so critical that in-house teams have a baseline understanding of SEO, as well as to keep up with emerging strategies.
SEO training is an excellent way to get teams up-to-speed on SEO.
This proactive step helps ensure you are making sound decisions and can keep things moving forward.
Let go of these spooky SEO tactics
These are spooky times and, unfortunately for many websites, scary SEO tactics still exist.
Give the axe to the 10 items in this article and you will have a chance at competing in the search results in 2023.
The post 10 spooky SEO tactics to axe in 2023 appeared first on Search Engine Land.
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Man Posed As CBI Officer On Matrimonial Site To Dupe Women, Arrested: Cops
Microsoft Performance Max import updates
Microsoft Ads has just launched a solution within the Google Import tool to simplify duplicating your Performance Max campaigns across platforms.
They’ve also started a pilot program for importing Performance max campaigns that aren’t using a Merchant Center. The new experience will import these campaigns as Search campaigns and create Dynamic Search Ads (DSA).
Best practices. Microsoft outlines the following best practices for importing Performance Max campaigns using the Merchant Center.
The following are best practices for importing Performance Max campaigns without Merchant Center.
Use the Google Import Tool. You can access the Google Import Tool here.
Dig deeper. Read the Microsoft blog announcement and access the setup checklist here.
Why we care.
The post Microsoft Performance Max import updates appeared first on Search Engine Land.
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5 things your Google Looker Studio PPC Dashboard must have
If you’re just getting started with Google Looker Studio, you’ve probably experienced blank-page syndrome.
You get your data source connected, open up a new file, and you have no idea what to do next.
There are no instructions. No guide rails. Just you and an empty page to fill.
And while you can start with a template (Google Looker Studio Report Gallery has several), it’s still tough to know how to customize it to perfectly fit your needs.
Here are some tried-and-true elements to include in PPC dashboards and reports that will banish blank-page syndrome and give your stakeholders the insights they crave.
1. Titles, subheads and context
When you add a chart in Google Looker Studio, you select the data source, dimensions, metrics and date range from the Data Panel to populate your visualization.
But your reader doesn’t see the Data Panel and won’t know what your chart is about unless you take an extra step to include it in your dashboard.
The two graphs below show identical data visualizations. Figure A includes only the chart, while Figure B includes written titles and context.
Figure A leaves questions in your reader’s mind that Figure B answers.
You can make your graphs and tables easier to understand at a glance with these tips:
- Give your data visualizations a title.
- Use subheadings and microcopy for additional context.
- Use legends.
- State the date range if it’s not included in the chart. (Note: “auto” date range defaults to last 28 days.)
- If multiple data sources are used throughout your dashboard, clarify which is used in specific charts.
How to do it:
- Add a text box and write out your titles and descriptions.
- This will open up a “Text Properties” panel to edit fonts, text size, and styling elements.
It’s worth the small manual effort it takes to add a text box and include context!
2. KPI scorecards
You don’t need an article to tell you that your dashboard should include your key performance indicators (KPIs).
But while you’re planning out your dashboard, pay special attention to where to include them.
Your KPIs matter most in your report and deserve top billing.
That means showcasing your KPIs with scorecards like so:
Not as afterthoughts at the end of a table:
Not only do tables make it hard to identify KPIs, for languages that are read left to right, tucking KPIs on the far right of the table tells your reader these metrics are low priority.
Keep your reader focused on your key growth metrics like lead volume, revenue, or return on ad spend (ROAS), rather than vanity and traffic metrics like impressions and clicks.
How to do it:
- Use Chart > Scorecard.
- In the “metric” section of the Data Panel, add your KPI. Repeat as needed.
- Control format and size in the Style Panel.
Having KPIs appear in tables and other charts isn’t a problem, but give them added attention by using scorecards.
3. Goal pacing
Some advertisers use fixed monthly or annual marketing budgets with no room for adjustments.
Others have sales or efficiency goals they need to hit with flexible budgets.
No matter what the approach, your dashboard should answer the question:
Are we meeting our objectives, and how do we know?
Account objectives aren’t standardized, and neither is the approach for including goal pacing in your dashboard.
Fortunately, Looker Studio gives you many options for adding objectives and pacing, from literally charting against a goal to adding a written description of the target.
Here are some examples of how you might anchor performance to a goal:
How to do it:
- Option: Add a header that states the objective
- Option: Use a pacing chart such as bullet or gauge
- Option: Add a calculated field with progress to goal (metric/target)
Including goal pacing gives your reader confidence in how to interpret performance data.
4. Trends and historical comparisons
Trends and historical comparisons let your reader know if things are improving – or need improvement – over time.
Maybe you fell short of the goal, but you always miss it because it’s unrealistic.
Maybe you hit your goal, but you’re down compared to last year, and you need to take corrective action.
Don’t make your reader wonder whether current performance is average, down or “best month ever.”
Snapshot (single-metric) comparisons
Tables and scorecards give you an easy way to show your reader how performance for this period compares to another, using color-coded arrows to indicate the direction of the change (delta).
How to do it:
- Under “Date range,” select your comparison date range:
- Fixed
- Previous period
- Previous year
- Advanced
- In the Style Panel:
- Control the color of positive or negative change arrows
- For Scorecards only, you can select whether to show absolute or percentage change and whether to include a description of the previous time period (comparison label).
- You can also format Scorecards to show both YoY and MoM comparisons.
Line charts
You can get a complete picture of performance trends using time series charts.
Rather than just comparing this period to the last period, you’ve got an entire history revealing trends in seasonality, market impact and more.
You can use a continuous Time series chart (shown above) or designate a comparison time period.
Here’s how that same data looks as a Year over Year (YoY) Time series chart. Note that the comparison year will show as a lighter shade of this period’s line:
Another way to show historical performance is with a line chart that uses a time period as a breakdown dimension.
This Line chart is from a report comparing CPCs before and during the Covid-19 pandemic:
How to do it:
- To compare two time periods: Use a Time series chart and select a comparison date range.
- To compare three or more time periods (shown here for years):
- Select a Line chart
- Set the “Dimension” to Month
- Set the “Breakdown Dimension” to Year
- Set the “Sort” to Month
- Set the “Secondary sort” to Year
A few important notes for trends and historical comparisons –
- Only use these for your KPIs or metrics that directly contribute to your KPIs. Don’t add a CTR trend chart just for the sake of including a trend chart.
- There’s almost never a reason to show daily granularity in these charts. Zoomed in that closely, you’ll miss the signal for the day-to-day noise. Look for trends at a monthly level.
5. Categorical tables
Okay, so tables aren’t that glamorous.
But if your Looker Studio dashboard doesn’t have a table, something’s probably missing.
Why? Because there are times when your audience needs to compare multiple categories across multiple metrics. And nothing does that more efficiently than a table.
Tables are great for comparing default categories like:
- Campaigns
- Ad groups
- Keywords
- Search terms
- Final URLs
And depending on the complexity of your PPC dashboard, you can create tables for:
- Engines and platforms
- Channels and networks
- Funnels / intent / stages of awareness
- Brand vs. nonbrand
- Pivots of time segments, conversion types, and other categories
How to do it:
- Chart > Table (or Pivot table)
- Dimension(s): the category or categories you want to compare
- Metrics: your KPIs and supporting metrics
- From the Style Panel, you can format your table to include heatmaps, bars and targets
It’s easy to build tables and add metrics, and it’s easy to get carried away. Exercise some restraint and limit the number of metrics in your table, so it remains useful to your reader.
Bonus: Shiny charts
Our list constrained us to five categories, but here’s one bonus for making it to the end:
Shiny charts.
What are shiny charts?
Shiny charts are visualizations that your audience loves and gets excited about, even if they’re not super actionable.
Your readers may not learn anything new, but they’ll feel like they learned something new.
Maps are a great example.
Many dataviz experts say not to use map charts; there are better ways to communicate location data.
But try to find a client or stakeholder who doesn’t love to see performance data on a map. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Sure it’s a bit counterintuitive when you’re trying to build out an actionable dashboard. Maybe even a bit controversial. And you don’t have to do it. But a chart that makes your audience feel good just for seeing it has its own merit.
Putting it all together
While your Looker Studio dashboard can technically include whatever you want, it should at a minimum include:
- Title and context
- KPI scorecards
- Goal pacing
- Historical comparisons
- Categorical tables
These don’t need to (and can’t) all be discrete sections. One scorecard can include a title, KPI, pacing, and time comparison.
There are many other charts and visualizations that can take your PPC dashboard from good to great. Getting started with this list will set you up for success and give you a dashboard worth the time it took to build.
The post 5 things your Google Looker Studio PPC Dashboard must have appeared first on Search Engine Land.
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Sunday, October 30, 2022
"No Revenue...": Arvind Kejriwal's Swipe At Lt Governor On Excise Policy
Thief Returns Valuables Stolen From Madhya Pradesh Temple With An Apology
Gurugram Property Dealer Shot Dead, Family Refuses To Hand Over Body: Cops
Delhi Air Quality "Very Poor", Key Meet To Decide Pollution Control Curbs
Saturday, October 29, 2022
Second Leopard Captured In Mumbai's Aarey, Days After Baby Mauled To Death
Gurugram Traffic Cop Dragged For 50 Metres, Run Over By SUV: Police
4-Year-Old Dead, 2 Injured In Balcony Collapse In Mumbai
Man, 38, Arrested For Raping Buffalo Calf In Pune: Police
How Hindu Group Allegedly Used "Fear Of Muslims" For Real Estate Business
Video: Delhi Teen Stabbed To Death After He Protested Sister's Harassment
Friday, October 28, 2022
Some Public Representatives Still Address Officials As "Sir": BJP Leader
Firm Founded By Prashant Kishor Working For KCR In Bypoll, No Breakup
UP Man Dies By Suicide After "Harassment By Money Lender" Over Rs 50,000
Thursday, October 27, 2022
On Camera, Maharashtra Man Smashes Mother's Head With Log After Argument
Border Security Force Recovers Huge Cache Of Arms, Ammunition In Punjab
Share Geo-Locations Of Chhath Puja Sites, Delhi Minister To Officials
Google Ads podcast placement now available
Google advertisers can now advertise on podcasts.
Yep, announced today, “advertisers can now align their ads with podcast content globally. Simply create an audio or video campaign and select “Podcast” as a placement.”
Why we care. Last month we reported on three new audio, shopping, and streaming features available to YouTube advertisers. Today advertisers can officially select “podcast” as their preferred placement.
The post Google Ads podcast placement now available appeared first on Search Engine Land.
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Licensed healthcare providers eligible to apply for new YouTube product features
YouTube has just announced that licensed healthcare providers can now apply to make their channels eligible for new health product features – a suite of information resources released last year.
What this means. The health product features previously launched include health source information panels to help viewers identify videos from authoritative sources and health content shelves that highlight videos from these sources when you search for health topics, so people can more easily navigate and evaluate health information online.
Previously, those features have only been available to educational institutions, public health departments, hospitals, and government entities. The new guidelines will make the features available to a wider group of healthcare providers.
How to apply. Eligible healthcare providers can apply starting today using the guidelines below, taken directly from the YouTube blog announcement.
Applicants must have proof of their license, follow best practices for health information sharing as set out by the Council of Medical Specialty Societies, the National Academy of Medicine and the World Health Organization, and have a channel in good standing on YouTube. Full details on eligibility requirements are here.
All channels that apply will be reviewed against these guidelines, and the license of the applying healthcare professional will be verified. In the coming months, eligible channels that have applied through this process will be given a health source information panel that identifies them as a licensed healthcare professional and their videos will appear in relevant search results in health content shelves. Health creators in the US can apply starting October 27th at health.youtube, and we’ll continue to expand availability to other markets and additional medical specialties in the future.
Why we care. YouTube is trying to help people become more informed, engaged and empowered about their health by attempting to create a space where they can find reliable, factual, and informative content from legitimate healthcare providers.
However, not every licensed healthcare provider shares safe, proven, harmless content. Users should still do their due diligence to ensure that the content they are consuming is high quality.
Additionally, advertisers who work with licensed providers should apply for the new features today to ensure their channels have added visibility.
The post Licensed healthcare providers eligible to apply for new YouTube product features appeared first on Search Engine Land.
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Wednesday, October 26, 2022
3 Arrested In Assam Miya Museum Case, Sent To Police Custody
YouTube trim video tool turns videos into 6-second bumper ads
The new trim video tool from YouTube turns your videos into 6-second videos that you can use for bumper ads. How convenient!
Machine learning strikes again. The new tool is now available globally in Google Ads, making it easy for advertisers to create bumper ads. The tool is powered by a machine learning model that identifies important scenes and brand elements from the original video and adapts them for shorter formats, Google says.
Not new(s). The tool was first introduced in 2019 as Bumper Machine and Google says that since then it “has helped hundreds of brands drive more reach, frequency and efficiency by effortlessly generating 6-second bumper ads. It improves on the Bumper Machine beta in many ways, with an enhanced machine learning model that can better select clips to adapt into shorter formats and an interface with more intuitive editing capabilities.”
Dig deeper. Learn more about the new trim tool in the Google Ads Help Center.
Why we care. The new tool can be used by advertisers to quickly create bumper ads if they don’t have the cutting and editing resources available to larger businesses. The new feature also allows you to test multiple ads much faster, as all of the videos created will be available in the asset library.
The post YouTube trim video tool turns videos into 6-second bumper ads appeared first on Search Engine Land.
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Meta Q3 earnings: ad revenue declined 4%, but monthly users showing promise
Meta shared its 2022 Q3 earnings today and, as expected, performance left a lot to be desired. Advertising revenue came in at $27.2 billion, down roughly 4% year-over-year.
The positives. Overall ad impressions were up 17%, while the cost per ad decreased 18% YoY.
Monthly active users on the platform increased 2% to 2.96 billion YoY.
Not news. Meta isn’t alone when it comes to underperforming earnings. This week Google and Microsoft also released worse-than-expected results, to the disappointment of investors. SNAP also reported their slowest-ever quarterly growth last week, but added 6% more monthly users.
Frankly, Meta’s poor performance is (probably) no surprise to anyone. Meta shares are down nearly 60% YTD and inflation, a shaky economy, and privacy changes certainly contribute. At closing today, shared decreased another 7.69%.
iOS and ongoing TikTok competition. Meta is still dealing with a host of challenges due to the implementation of iOS14, including growing competition from TikTok, all of which have taken a toll on Meta’s ability to drive interest in both organic and advertising users.
Internal company documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal, indicate that Instagram users cumulatively are spending 17.6 million hours a day watching Reels, less than one-tenth of the 197.8 million hours TikTok users spend each day on that platform.
What meta says. “Our community continues to grow and I’m pleased with the strong engagement we’re seeing driven by progress on our discovery engine and products like Reels,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Meta founder and CEO. “While we face near-term challenges on revenue, the fundamentals are there for a return to stronger revenue growth. We’re approaching 2023 with a focus on prioritization and efficiency that will help us navigate the current environment and emerge an even stronger company.”
Dig deeper. You can review the Meta Investor Relations site with slides and a Webcast replay here.
Why we care. This quarters disappointing financials for both search and social could be a sign of an even bigger economic pitfall. Advertisers should prepare for higher CPCs, staff cuts, and increased costs all around.
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Google API v12 released
Google has just announced the release of v12 of the API.
Here are the highlights. Taken directly from the Google Ads Developer Blog.
- Added support for new recommendations:
RaiseTargetCpaBidTooLowRecommendationandForecastingSetTargetRoasRecommendation. - Added primary_status and primary_status_reasons to
Campaignto provide insight into why a campaign is not serving or not serving optimally. - Added support for linked portfolio bidding strategies and campaign budget. You can modify these links using bulk mutates.
conversion_tracking_idwill always be greater than 0 for all customers. In the previous versions, this field could be 0 for customers who had never created any conversion actions.- Updated
SmartCampaignSuggestService.SuggestKeywordThemesto generate more keyword theme suggestions for Smart campaigns, including free-form keyword themes. - Local Services campaigns now support individual location targeting, except for proximity targeting.
- Remove CampaignExperimentService in favor of the previously added new experiments.
- Removed support for creating new Smart Display campaigns. To achieve the same goals, we suggest using standard Display campaigns.
- Removed support for creating a new Gmail ad. Use Discovery campaigns instead.
- Removed GenerateProductMixIdeas from
ReachPlanService. - (For allowlisted customers) Added support for adding, updating, and removing
CampaignAssetandAdGroupAssetwith the field_type:AD_IMAGE(Image assets). - Added support for mutating and retrieving location asset sets for test accounts only. The location assets for the asset sets are automatically generated and non-mutable.
Update your Client Library. Developers who want to utilize these new features will need to ensure their Client Libraries are updated.
Dig deeper. Get more information about the new release from the Developer Blog.
Why we care. The new API includes updated conversion tracking, removed support for certain features and campaigns, and supports additional services such as location targeting. Developers who utilize APIs should update their Client Libraries and implement the changes so they have the most updated features.
The post Google API v12 released appeared first on Search Engine Land.
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Teen Covers Firecracker With Tiffin Box, Dies As Steel Pierces Her Body
3 new Google Performance Max features to plan campaigns, customize assets, and measure results
Google is anticipating a busy holiday season this year. In preparation, they have just announced three new Performance Max features to help advertisers plan effective campaigns, customize their asset strategy, and evaluate your results.
The Performance Planner
Advertisers can use the new Performance Planner to create campaign plans and understand how to invest their budgets while maximizing ROI. The new planner is being launched now and will be available to all advertisers in the coming weeks.
Planner features. With the Performance Planner, advertisers can forecast how their campaigns may perform in the future, as well as what can happen when certain elements like bidding strategies are implemented.
Customizing your asset strategy
Asset group scheduling. Asset group scheduling rolled out earlier this month. Now, you can add automated rules which allow you to schedule asset groups so they can be paused and enabled as needed. With scheduling, you can run ads at specific times of the day, or create and run different asset groups ahead of time.
More headlines to get your message across. The number of headlines you can upload to your Performance Max asset groups will increase from 5 to 15. Google says that by adding more headlines “you can take advantage of machine learning’s ability to create and test even more combinations to find the best-performing variations.”
Evaluating results
Performance explanations. Explanations help you identify what’s driving performance fluctuations, diagnose issues, and view recommendations. You can see these in the explanations panels and they are available for all Performance max campaigns.
First-party audience insights. A cookieless future is imminent, but it doesn’t have to mean the end of accurate targeting. Now, you can add your data segments as audience signals in your Performance max campaigns. In the coming weeks, your data segments will be added to audience insights in the Insights page. These insights may help you understand the value of your first-party data and see which of your customer lists may be converting best.
Dig deeper. You can read the announcement from Google here.
Best practices. Google suggests the following best practices as you plan your holiday campaigns:
- A few days leading up to peak holiday periods, make sure to adjust your Performance Max campaign budgets and ROAS or CPA targets to maximize your visibility when consumers are shopping.
- Consider using seasonality adjustments if you have a promotion, sale, or event where you expect to see drastic changes in conversion rates or values over a short period of time. You should only use seasonality adjustments for brief, infrequent events where you expect a temporary, but significant change (e.g. greater than 30%) that will last less than 7 days.
- If you want to prioritize certain products this holiday season, you can create a separate Performance Max campaign with its own target and budget to promote these products. However, if you just want to highlight new holiday creative assets, you can create a new asset group for these in your existing Performance Max campaigns and pause your evergreen asset groups, if needed.
Why we care. The new features may help Performance Max advertisers optimize, measure, and take advantage of additional asset features. If you’re using Performance max, you should test and utilize these new features as soon as possible, ahead of the holiday season, to drive the most benefit.
Regarding Google’s best practices, I’m skeptical of their advice to wait “A few days leading up to peak holiday periods” to make such drastic changes. Come on, Google.
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Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Chhattisgarh Cop Beats Junior, Both Taken Off Active Duty, Probe Ordered
"Rationalists" Hold Feasts During Solar Eclipse To Combat Blind Belief
Woman Allegedly Beats Son After He Did Not Wake Up, Bites Husband
Delhi Man Fired At People Over Bursting Crackers On Diwali, 4 Injured
Email marketing is continually developing. Are you keeping up?
Email may have been around since the dawn of the internet, but the space doesn’t stand still. Email marketing, and the technology that enables it, have evolved to deal with challenges like spam and deliverability and also to take advantage of opportunities, such as the ever-increasing sophistication of data usage for hyper-personalization.
Developments in the email marketing platform environment, especially consolidation and integrations between parts of the tech stack, mean that the practice of email marketing is constantly changing. Additionally, external factors like Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection and Hide My Email, mean that marketers and their vendor partners need to adapt.
Download MarTech’s “Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide” to stay up to date and learn about new and better features in the latest generation of email technology. This 51-page report is your source for the latest news, trends, opportunities and challenges facing this market as seen by industry leaders, vendors and their customers.
Complete the form below to get your copy.
This report is sponsored by Salesforce and Cordial.
Can’t see the form? Click here.
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These comprehensive guides will help you evaluate, select, purchase, and implement key marketing technology solutions. The MarTech editors have done the research so you don’t have to.
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Google Ads turns 22: A look back at the biggest changes and advances in search
Every five years Search Engine Land likes to put together a sort of birthday tribute to the search engine, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics giant that we know as Google. Take a look at their big 2-0.
But given all that’s happened in search the last two years, we think it’s about time to pop the champagne, cut the cake, and settle in for a new, yearly, honoring.
Let’s get to it!
2021-2022
Keyword match types
Keyword match types seem to be the gift that keeps on giving, or in Google’s case, taking away. This time Google’s simplified phrase match worried advertisers with some acknowledging how similarly BMM and phrase match have behaved, and others denouncing the change as a move to strip away more data and controls from advertisers so that Google can extract as much profit from auctions as possible.
Farewell, broad-match modified keywords. Google expanded phrase-match to be included in broad match, to the chagrin of advertisers everywhere.
Audiences
Advertisers will be able to use connected TV campaigns to target viewers across YouTube and “most” other connected TV apps. The new development will bring affinity, in-market, and demographic audience segments to connected TVs.
Advertisers will be able to reuse audiences across campaigns. When you build an audience to use in a campaign, Google Ads will save it so you can use it again in a future campaign.
Google Ads is renaming some key terms in your audience report and throughout Google Ads. You may have seen this already in some accounts. Google revealed this via this help documentation in September 2021.
RSAs and the end of ETAs
Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) became the default ad type in 2021. RSAs allow advertisers to input multiple headlines and ad copy variations, and Google Ads uses machine learning to determine which variations to use based on what queries people are searching for.
An open beta allowed advertisers to see Display ads alongside search and YouTube for the first time in the Google Ads attribution report. Advertisers can see the ads in Top Paths, Model Comparison, Assisted Conversions and Path Metrics reports.
Automated vehicle ads were launched. The new format uses vehicle data feeds in Google Merchant Center to match users’ searches with ads.
Nine new policies were added to the three-strike system to target clickbait, misleading ad design, and more.
Automation
Bundled bid strategies have replaced standalone options. The Target CPA (tCPA) and Target ROAS (tROAS) Smart Bidding strategies will be bundled with the Maximize Conversions and Maximize Conversion Value bid strategies, respectively, Google announced Tuesday. Moving forward, Maximize Conversions will have an optional tCPA field, and Maximize Conversion Value will have an optional tROAS field.
Everyone’s favorite campaign type, Performance Max, became available to all advertisers. PMax includes Smart Shopping and Local campaigns, though Google eventually sunsetted Smart Shopping campaigns for good starting in January 2022.
Changes to automated extensions include extensions being shown together, an “Automatically Created Extensions” report, and the ability to add them at ad group, campaign, or account level.
Privacy Concerns Deepen
The depreciation of third-party cookies was supposed to happen in 2022 but was ultimately pushed to 2023. With that, an alternative targeting technology known as Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) was opened for advertiser testing in Q2 2021, with adoption slated for Q4 2022.
The FLEDGE sandbox has been unveiled along with plans to roll out several Privacy Sandbox initiatives on Android, including the Topics API, the FLEDGE API for custom audiences and remarketing, and the Attribution Reporting API. It began testing in March 2022.
Honorable mentions
- Ads Editor version 2.0 is released
- Placement reports for Performance Max campaigns
- Testing favicons in text ads
- Goodbye to Gmail campaigns
- A revamped Search360
- AdWords API sunsetted
- Three new travel products
2015-2020
Audiences
Google’s 20th gave rise to an era of predictive marketing, using AI and machine learning to identify intent and predict customer needs, behavior and marketing outcomes.
YouTube gains access to Google data for audience targeting, effectively improving ad targeting and measurement across search and YouTube.
GA4 was also introduced, giving users expanded predictive insights, deeper integration with Google Ads, cross-device measurement capabilities and more granular data controls.
Keyword match-type decline
The way we manage search terms has changed. Close variants are no longer what they used to be and marketers are being forced to adapt to machine learning. “Google says its machine learning is now good enough to determine when a query has the same intent as a keyword with a high enough rate of success that advertisers will see an overall performance lift.” Awkward.
Google has loosened the reigns on close variant keywords. Broad match is super broad, exact match is more like phrase match, and phrase match is, well, gone?
Privacy concerns have forced Google to limit Search terms reporting. In a statement from Google, a spokesperson said, “In order to maintain our standards of privacy and strengthen our protections around user data, we have made changes to our Search Terms Report to only include terms that a significant number of users searched for. We’re continuing to invest in new and efficient ways to share insights that enable advertisers to make critical business decisions.”
Automation ramps up
RSAs and the start of the end for Expanded Text Ads began in 2020. The option for text ads was no longer the default option in the Ads dropdown. Advertisers are seeing only Responsive Search Ad (RSA) and Call ad.
Local Campaigns were introduced and aimed to drive in-store visits. Google automatically optimizes ad delivery across Search, YouTube, Maps and websites and apps in its ad networks.
Smart Campaigns debuted and were designed for small and local businesses that don’t have dedicated marketing staff and may not even have websites.
Smart Campaigns became the default campaign type for new advertisers in Google Ads. The campaigns are almost entirely automated and goals include phone calls, website visits and requests for directions.
Honorable mentions
Other new advancements in Search included:
2000 launch to 2015
While this is by no means a complete list, here are a few product development highlights from when Google launched the AdWords platform in 2000, all the way up to their 15th birthday.
2000
Google launched its new self-service advertising program called AdWords. The program enabled “any advertiser to purchase individualized and affordable keyword advertising that appears instantly on the google.com search results page.”
The AdWords program replaced Google’s first ad program called Premium Sponsorships.
Check out this article we found from The Search Engine Report in 2000.
2006
In 2006 Google decided to push forward with testing newspaper ads. If you’re curious, you can read the results here.
In the same year, they also began testing in-stream video ads with Beet.tv.
2007
Google started promoting audio ads. The landing page it takes you to tells you to call one of Google’s sales offices if you wanted to advertise on the radio.
Pay-per-action ads were launched this year, allowing advertisers to only pay when their preferred action was completed, such as a sale or click.
Google also began testing its Keyword Tool, showing the number of the previous month’s searches. The tool shows actual numbers in search volume for the previous month for keywords.
Also happening this year, Google acquired DoubleClick from The New York Times for $3.1 billion.
In July Google announced that those personalized ads you see are influenced by previous searches. In response, Google said “What you’re seeing is that we look at the user’s previous query and see how well it intersects with the current query. If it’s significant, we’ll use it to help targeting on the current query. We simply look at what’s in the referring URL (every time you load a web page, the HTTP header includes your previous URL as the “referrer”).”
Google reaches 1 million advertisers! “An analyst from UBS estimated Google has between 1.3 million and 1.5 million advertisers. According to the analyst, it shows there is still room for a lot more growth in terms of the advertiser base.”
2008
Google pitched its media buying dashboard to very skeptical agencies.
Google also announced third-party tracking for the content network. Thanks, Google!
This same year, Google also began testing showing product ads in search results.
The Inside AdWords Google Blog announced that all US-based advertisers should now have the TV ads option in their account. In fact, you should see the option after logging in to your AdWords account at the bottom, where it says “Other Campaign Types.”
2009
Google’s newspaper ads initiative shuts down. Google said they are discontinuing this service because “the current Print Ads product is not the right solution.”
Google announced that they’re officially shutting down Google Audio Ads and Google Radio Automation.
The Google Base blog announced the launch of the new Google Merchant Center. The Merchant Center is replacing Google Base for those who submit products to Google.
Google Blog announced you can now buy YouTube Promoted Video ads directly in the Google AdWords console. Previously, all YouTube Promoted Video ads were managed on YouTube at ads.youtube.com.
Google has acquired AdMob (www.admob.com), a popular mobile display ad company, for $750 million. This acquisition gives Google access to AdMob’s more than 15,000 mobile Web sites and applications.
2010
Google has announced a new lab-type area called Google Ad Innovations, which is where it’ll “show you some of our latest ideas around advertising technologies and get your feedback.” Think of it as Google Labs for Ads.
Google has enabled access to the AdWords dashboard and other features for smartphone users. It’s configurable and provides on-the-go access to account data and stats. The new mobile interface is currently available for iPhone, Android and Palm/WebOS users.
Google starts testing a feature with a small number of advertisers in which a phone number can be included within the ad to help them more effectively engage with customers who prefer to connect over the phone.
A new keyword type, broad match modifier, begins testing.
Google Product Listing Ads are offered to all advertisers
2011
Google is now letting AdWords advertisers automatically optimize what ads display most based on conversion rates.
Google will begin charging $1.00 for calls completed using the unique number it provisions, but solely when the call originates from someone using a computer who dials the number themselves from a phone. When the call is from a mobile device, or someone on a PC calls from the computer itself by clicking, the standard click charges apply. Previously, the calls dialed on a phone were free, as they didn’t involve a click, per se.
Google rolls out the ability to target ads to users by interest based on their previous browsing activity, or behavior, to all of its advertisers.
Cost per lead tests start. Google is testing search and display versions of a cost-per-lead ad format that would allow users to request an advertiser contact them.
Google is opening wider a beta test of Dynamic Search Ads. This ad type is designed for retailers or other advertisers with a large, often-changing inventory. Google automatically generates ad copy, based on the advertiser’s template.
Google officially announced it would begin serving AdWords at the bottom of search engine results pages on Google.com.
2012
Google Product Search is renamed to Google Shopping and only merchants that paid will be listed.
Google is testing the effect of adding “Trusted Stores” badges to qualifying advertisers’ search ads, as it considers deploying the badges more widely.
Google introduced the ability to target more than 30,000 ZIP codes in AdWords, giving advertisers the ability to find potential customers in a familiar, granular way. Another new feature, Location Insertion, is aimed at letting advertisers with multiple locations create one ad, and have information dynamically inserted depending on the user’s query or location.
Google released a new report — Auction Insights — that helps marketers understand how their ads stand, compared to others in the same auctions.
Testing begins for a new ad format on its Hotel Finder product that lets marketers bid to appear at the top of search results. Promoted Hotels ads are ranked based on a combination of bid and quality score, and are sold on a CPC basis.
The remarketing tag gets a makeover.
Google has begun notifying merchants that it won’t allow them to continue listing weapons-related items for sale in Google Shopping.
2013
Google announced plans to add enhanced campaigns for AdWords to aid with campaign management catered to multiple-device users. The enhanced campaigns aimed to include advanced reports about users. This move was controversial among advertisers.
Ad group-level mobile bid adjustments started to roll out.
The AdWords Keyword Planner finally launches.
Google has announced the official beta for Image Extensions in AdWords.
Google announced the beta release of Review Extensions which allows advertisers to append a quote of endorsement from a reputable publication in their AdWords ads.
2014
CNBC reports that Google is now banning porn businesses from utilizing their ad network.
To help retailers maintain consistent visibility in PLAs, Google has launched “automatic item updates” in AdWords.
Google announced it is extending its popular product listing ads (PLAs) to retail and e-commerce sites across the Google Search Network. The ads are served via a new Google product called AdSense for Shopping.
Automated Extensions report starts rolling out.
AdWords 11 is launched. Google released a fully-redesigned version of AdWords Editor that supports several of the bulk editing features that have recently been added to the web interface and introduces new functionality to the desktop tool.
2015
By 2015 Google maintained nearly 64 percent of search share on desktop and almost 90 percent of mobile in the US.
The Google shared library is sunsetted.
Google launches dynamic structured snippets for AdWords. The automated extensions display industry-specific, structured information about products and services on advertisers’ sites.
Google has opened up access to its home services ad program in AdWords Express. The home services ad program launched in beta in the San Francisco area to connect service providers with local residents searching for help.
Starting in October, Google changed the conversions columns to include only those conversions that are set for optimization: i.e., optimized conversion actions.
Google launched Smart Goals in early December. Smart Goals are designed for advertisers that don’t or can’t have conversion tracking on their sites. It aggregates conversion data from the thousands of sites that opt to share data with Google Analytics and, with machine learning, identifies visits deemed most likely to convert on the advertiser’s site.
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Yelp has created a new attribute, Business Fund, and Resource Hub for veterans
Veterans Day in the US is November 11 and to celebrate and support past servicemembers, Yelp has just launched three new products for their iOS and Android app.
- A searchable attribute to help veterans self-identify as veteran-owned on their Yelp page
- a $100,000 Veteran Business Fund awarding $10,000 to 10 veteran-owned small businesses
- A veteran-owned Business Resource Hub
Let’s take a look at these new products and features.
Helping users find and support veteran-owned businesses
Starting today, people can search for and find veteran-owned businesses. Veteran business owners can have the attribute show on their business profiles by logging into their Yelp Business profile and selecting the appropriate option.
Consumers will see the veteran-owned attribute on iOS and Android apps under the “more info” section of a business profile.
All businesses that select the veteran-owned attribute on Yelp will also receive a free window decal.
New fund to support veteran entrepreneurs
Yelp is launching a Veteran Business Fund, which will award $10,000 to 10 veteran-owned U.S. businesses. Eligible businesses can enter for a chance to win at VeteranBusinessFund.Yelp.com through Veterans Day, November 11, 2022. You can find the official rules at VeteranBusinessFund.Yelp.com/rules.
Veteran-owned Business Resource Hub
This provides instructions on how businesses can add the new attribute to their Yelp pages, as well as offers information and tools, inspirational stories, and more context on how Yelp is giving visibility to veteran-owned businesses.
Why we care. If you are a veteran and want to show the new attribute on your business page, you can do so by logging into your account and following the prompts to add a new attribute.
Yelp is making a great effort to be inclusive. With its recent additions of LGBTQ-owned and Asian-owned attributes, they're making it easier for audiences that want to support diverse businesses to find them on Yelp.
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You can’t grow as a marketer without curiosity – here’s why
People search a lot about “marketing skills.”
Google Trends shows the upward graph of the above term from January 2016, but its search has dramatically increased in 2022.
This increase leads to the conclusion that more people are looking to enhance their marketing skills. But, one skill remains underrated, despite being included in most online articles and books related to digital marketing skills.
Curiosity.
It’s underrated because some marketers emphasize working on other skills they feel will make them progress in their careers and land them their dream jobs and higher paychecks.
Thus, they’ll work on technical, analytical and communication skills, but not on being more curious.
Why is curiosity important in marketing?
Curiosity improves understanding
Kids are the most curious. They ask questions about anything and everything, and that’s how they know things better and remember for a more extended period.
Consider the Information Theory curve below. What I interpret is the more curiosity you have, the more knowledge you can get (the original interpretation is not in this context).
With more knowledge, the understanding improves and takes you to the next growth stage.
That’s how it becomes crucial for everyone, even marketers, to be extremely curious to compel us to:
- Ask questions.
- Seek out new information.
- Expand our understanding of the world around us.
Curiosity brings creativity
Curiosity is one of the most important drivers of creativity. After all, that drives us to explore new things, ask questions and look for answers.
Marketers need to be curious if they want to be creative.
We often get caught up in the day-to-day tasks that we forget to step back and question everything we’re doing.
We become complacent and go through the motions without thinking about our actions or why.
But when we take the time to be curious, we can open up a new world of possibilities.
We can look at our campaigns from different angles and develop innovative ways to improve them. We can also challenge the status quo and find better ways to do things.
When marketers become curious, they would ask more questions.
The more questions, the more understanding.
The more understanding, the better ideas, and solutions.
Curiosity enables enthusiasm
Because they ask many questions, bringing creativity in them, marketers become enthusiastic about everything they’re working on.
Let’s take a look at the Zone of Curiosity.
I have highlighted the Zone of Curiosity section within the above diagram, which says that when someone is in the curiosity state, the efficiency is at the optimum level. Hence, the interest and excitement are pretty high.
This interest and excitement can be contagious, sparking the same curiosity and enthusiasm in others.
Such a feeling can bring them together for more experiments, learning, and growth. This can lead to more sales, customers, and success for the business overall.
Curiosity strengthens precision
I would like to refer to the same Zone of Curiosity diagram above says that alertness is also high when someone is in a curious state of mind.
When we’re curious about something, we’re more likely to pay attention to it and note details we might have missed. This heightened focus can benefit marketers by allowing us to target our audience more precisely.
After all, your efforts will likely be in vain if you’re not reaching the right people with the right message. Fortunately, curiosity can help to strengthen precision among marketers.
Now that we know what curiosity delivers to marketers, we need to look at where and how curiosity helps marketers in their day-to-day marketing lives.
Where (and how) does curiosity help marketers?
Let’s start with the basics and then with the advanced ones.
1. Curiosity to learn new things
The number one area where marketers need curiosity is to learn new things. We are so busy in marketing jobs that we just keep doing what we learned in the past.
Though we have Google products that keep us on our toes to learn new things, how successful are we in learning them?
For example, Google announced the sunsetting of Universal Analytics (UA), and we have to move to GA4.
I interviewed a lot of SEOs (seniors and managers) in the past three months, and no one has tried anything there. Most of them know this news, while only a few have set it up.
This shows a lack of curiosity among SEOs to learn new things like GA4.
Seniors and managers who are hiring embrace the talent that learns new things as, most of the time, they are looking to fill the skill gaps, and if you know it, you’ll be preferred.
So, knowing is not enough for a marketer. Learning is more essential.
Be curious to learn more new things.
2. Curiosity to experiment with new things
Whenever someone asks me about experiments I did, the first one I recollect is when I earned my first featured snippet.
It was 2015 when for the first time, I optimized the content before I published it. And within a week, it was on the featured snippets.
Because it’s on the featured snippets, obviously, it satisfied the users’ search and reading intent.
That content got promoted by our competitors, and not just my reporting manager but the owner of the 300-people company appreciated me over an email.
Today, the SEO industry knows me as someone who strategizes, curates, and optimizes content for featured snippets.
My curiosity to experiment with something new helped me reach where I am today.
It could be something else for you. But, it’s vital for you as a marketer to always be curious to experiment.
3. Curiosity to know what worked and what not
Experimenting is not enough. You also need to know what worked. What’s more important is to learn why an experiment was successful.
For one of our niche clients in social media marketing, we tried everything from choosing different audiences to coming out with short, lengthy videos. But none of our posts went to more than 30 likes and 500 reach.
But, the moment we launched our first reel, it went viral.
After digging into why most of our posts didn’t go that viral and most of our reels are getting good reach, it meant our target audience embraced reels, and Instagram prioritized them.
A smart marketer must always be curious to know what works for each client and what not to multiply the effort in the right direction.
4. Curiosity to find out the reason behind the failures
With failures, I mean larger failures, such as:
- A damaged relationship with a client.
- Missing the targets.
- Achieving negative ROI consistently.
- And more.
While we had a lot of success stories around featured snippets, we have one client for whom we could not achieve them. We knew the biggest challenge was their user experience. Nothing was dynamic that we could change the page structure, title, H1, and more.
Another failure was losing one of the biggest clients last year.
We recommended many tech improvements, which they never prioritized, but because Missive Digital was new, we provided them with content writing services to prove our SEO worth.
The content we wrote is still ranking on Page 1, and the content strategy we prepared was utilized even after our association with them.
They knew our worth, but we still lost them due to their lack of implementation.
Failures will be there, and they’ll never be in your control. Be curious to identify what brought you the failure and take the necessary steps.
5. Curiosity to learn from mistakes (whether it's your own or others')
Though failure and mistake are the results of trying, they are different.
You may not make mistakes because of failures, but you may fail because of mistakes.
I remember an incident that happened a few months ago within my team. I assigned a new team member to optimize the content, and while reviewing her work, I identified that for the target query, another page of the client was ranking on Page 1.
She had spent the whole day optimizing the content, which had keyword cannibalization. That was a mistake, which I mentioned in our Slack group.
Instantly, another team member called me up and asked me what she had to do if such a thing happened to her. I quickly guided her on how it becomes necessary to inform the client first and conclude on which page to optimize for the targeted query based on the users’ search and reading intent.
I appreciated that team member for being curious to learn from her teammate’s mistake.
It’s a great sign of being a good marketer because it lets you avoid future blunders or failures.
6. Curiosity to find the implications of failures
Curiosity should not end at learning from failures. Sometimes, knowing what would happen if we fail at certain things is also essential.
- What if we optimize content and it doesn’t reach featured snippets?
- What if we fail to achieve that 10K organic traffic in 9 months?
- What if the reels don’t drive engagement as expected?
- What if the email campaign for Christmas won’t surpass the last year’s sales?
- What if the tech implementation doesn’t boost sales?
- What if the landing pages we suggest don’t satisfy the user's expectations?
As a marketer, we strategize and execute various campaigns. We set key performance indicators (KPIs) for every campaign. But we hardly think about what we should do if the KPIs go negative.
What if our campaign doesn’t work as expected? What would be the implications of that?
Some projects are do-or-die situations where business owners or marketing heads have significantly less patience and time when working with agencies, consultants, or freelancers. You can lose the trust of your clients and projects in the long run.
In such cases, be curious enough to ask peers or managers about the implications of the failures during the planning stage.
With such curiosity, you know when to change the plan if a campaign doesn’t perform in two weeks or two months.
Even if such curiosity doesn’t save you from losing the project, but will help you plan better for the next one.
7. Curiosity to know what competitors are doing
Don’t get me wrong here. I know all of our marketing strategies involve thorough competitive analysis. But, most of the time, we stick to analyzing competitors based on the services you’re providing.
For example, if we provide content writing services, we stick to just that and don’t recommend anything that might help your content perform.
Sometimes, you also need to keep an eye on whether your competitors are:
- Evolving their product.
- Collaborating with different partners.
- Investing in other marketing channels.
- Revamping their brand positioning.
- Automating certain processes.
- Hiring specific roles.
- Getting PR or social mentions.
- Getting audience attention on any platform
- And more.
Everything that your competitors do, you should know it. We have made Google Alerts for our competitors’ brand mentions and configured them in our SEO tools.
That helps you be curious about your competitors and proactive in making decisions on time.
8. Curiosity about what other marketers are talking about
No, I’m not talking about the latest news in your industry. Today, everyone has subscribed to more than two or three newsletters where they get the latest updates on the industry.
I’m talking about what other marketers are talking about, learning new things, experimenting, and more in the industry.
For example, in SEO, many people I know are learning automation through Python, using Streamlit. I learned about Python SEO through the knowledge base of the late Hamlet Batista.
I remember Orit Mutznik (one of my inspirations) started a Python course and even came up with her first script.
Then I see a lot of posts from semantic SEO from Koray Tuğberk GÜBÜR (it’s on my list).
No one can stop your progress when you know what strategies, processes, methods, and tools people use to improve our client’s marketing ROI.
9. Curiosity to see what brands are doing
Most marketers love what more prominent brands do in their marketing. They would post some tweets or carousels dedicated to the great branding done by the brands.
But only a few marketers analyze what is and isn't working for some brands.
For example, Luke Carthy (one of my favorite ecommerce SEOs) is curious to understand what is happening with the brands, what's working, and what's not. He recently devised a case study for Toys ‘R’ Us. These case studies are just the reviews he does for those websites. He does not work for them.
His curiosity makes him do such reviews and analyses of ecommerce websites.
Such curiosity is rare but is required for every marketer to enhance their approach and mindset toward how to learn from and showcase brands if they're making mistakes.
How can marketers become more curious?
Ask the *right* questions the *right* way
Whenever you read any article on curiosity online, they give one tip – ask questions.
In marketing, just asking questions won't make you curious. You need to know what to ask, when, and how.
In my opinion, asking questions like the ones below is not considered curiosity:
- Is SEO dead?
- SEO vs. PPC: What is better?
- Is content marketing relevant today?
- How much DA does Google recommend for backlinks?
Just as asking the right questions is mandatory, asking the right person in the right way also matters.
For example, this person tagged John Mueller, Barry Schwartz, Brian Dean, Dr. Pete Meyers, and Fandango for something related to Google Business. That was a completely irrelevant and incorrect way of showcasing curiosity to know from these people.
So curiosity is a skill if you take it seriously, so don't ask random, irrelevant questions to irrelevant people at irrelevant platforms and timings.
Experiment more
As I explained above, curiosity is generated through experiments and not just by asking questions. The way it happened to me - when I achieved my first featured snippet in 2015.
If not from your experiments, learn from others' experiments.
For example, in my BrightonSEO talk on remarketing SEO, I shared an experiment that Brodie Clark (an Australian SEO consultant) did on Twitter.
When he ran the experiment, I participated out of curiosity, and it helped me build this approach of remarketing SEO considering Twitter SEO.
After he shared the results on how Twitter carousel boosts organic impressions and clicks, we started using Twitter as the tool to drive more returning visitors to our website and for faster URL indexing.
So run your experiments or learn from others to enhance your curiosity as a marketing skill.
Be open to feedback
I would be too direct here. If you are not open to feedback, you cannot grow as a professional or human being.
And feedback can come from anyone – your seniors, managers, boss, juniors, mentors, and more.
Also, feedback can come in any form. For example, I usually ask my team members questions to discover what I want to tell them. In such a way, they feel it isn't feedback but learning.
It doesn't matter who gave you the feedback. See what you're learning from the feedback because that's how curiosity gets strengthened within you.
Leave your comfort zone
Before becoming a consultant, I used to work in-house. Back then, hardly all IT or marketing agencies would have weekends off in India.
But, when I worked in Cygnet Infotech (one of the largest IT headquarters in Ahmedabad), weekends were off, and I was enjoying my work-life balance.
Every month, we used to outperform our targets for TestingWhiz, and it was monotonous to keep enjoying the appreciation from the manager and company directors.
So, I knew that if I had to learn more, I had to come out of my comfort zone of this 5-day work.
I decided to leave my five-day working job and went to another IT company for a six-day working culture.
And after that, I moved to entrepreneurship which is almost a seven-day work (even if you’re not at your desk physically doing office work).
You need to identify your comfort zone and leave it at the right time. Otherwise, you won’t be curious about what the other side of your life and job looks like.
Be ready to help and collaborate (be it with peers or anyone in your network)
Not necessarily someone comes to you for help, considering you know everything. They might think they need someone reliable to work on something they struggle at.
When you agree to help (irrespective of monetary gain), you become more curious about the things you handle.
A few months ago, I was not reading all the blogs Aleyda Solis used to add to her #SEOFOMO newsletter. I used to select the interesting ones, such as content, on-page, algorithm updates, studies, etc.
But since we collaborated to write those descriptions, I now read every blog.
This has increased my level of curiosity for even the tech side of SEO. I read for myself and even for my team.
So when you're passionately involved in helping someone, your mind develops the curiosity to learn everything to help them.
Master curiosity and win as a marketer
A marketer's job is not only to build curiosity within their target audience but even within themselves to become better every day.
Take the help of peers, thought leaders, mentors, nature, tools, and more because learning is everywhere, and the more curious you become, the more successful you’ll be.
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