Step-By-Step Guide To Earning Your Google Ads Certification
Getting Google Ads Certified is a great way to demonstrate a baseline learning effort and level of exposure to PPC and managing Google Ads. Whether you’re coming out of school,…
Why Search (And The User) Is Still Important To SEO
Throughout every technological change, the one constant always seems to be people calling for the death of SEO and search engines. While pundits have been quick to call for the…
A Surprising Sales Killer, Study Finds
Research shows that name-dropping AI in marketing copy might backfire, lowering consumer trust and purchase intent. A WSU-led study published in the Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management found that…
Facebook Attracts Gen Z Users While TikTok’s Boomer Audience Grows
According to a recent report by eMarketer, Facebook is experiencing a resurgence among Gen Z users, while TikTok is gaining traction with baby boomers. Despite these shifts, both platforms maintain…
Google Gives 5 SEO Insights On Google Trends
Google published a video that disclosed five insights about Google Trends that could be helpful for SEO, topic research and debugging issues with search rankings. The video was hosted by…
Directional Reporting in GA4 — Whiteboard Friday
All right, last question you’re gonna ask yourself, is this video helping to drive sales? I’m sure that you have been in the situation, like I have, where your boss,…
Google Search Algorithm Update Targeting Explicit Deepfakes
Google updates search algorithm to combat explicit deepfakes, improving content removal and adjusting rankings to protect users from non-consensual imagery. Google updated its algorithm to combat explicit deepfakes. Content removal…
Understanding & Optimizing Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) is a Google Core Web Vitals metric that measures a user experience event. CLS became a ranking factor in 2021 and that means it’s important to…
What Are Breadcrumbs & Why Do They Matter for SEO?
Breadcrumbs are a navigational feature for your website, and they can greatly impact SEO and user experience. Many websites still don’t implement breadcrumbs, which is a huge mistake. Not only…
Google Confirms Robots.txt Can’t Prevent Unauthorized Access
Google’s Gary Illyes confirmed a common observation that robots.txt has limited control over unauthorized access by crawlers. Gary then offered an overview of access controls that all SEOs and website…
Google Introduces INP Improvement For Publisher Tag Ads Library
Google has released an update to its Publisher Tag Ads Library, introducing a new feature to improve Interaction to Next Paint (INP) scores. The update focuses on yielding during out-of-viewport…
Google Clarifies Autocomplete Functionality Amid User Concerns
Google’s Communications team recently took to X to clarify its Search Autocomplete feature following user complaints and misconceptions. Autocomplete’s Purpose & Functionality Addressing claims of search term censorship Google stated:…
Google Ads Experiencing Outage Impacting Key Features
Google Ads is currently experiencing a widespread outage that has affected several components of its platform. The incident, which began on August 1, 2024, at 15:27 UTC, has left many…
Google Chrome Adds Visual Search, Tab Compare, & Smart History
Google has announced three features for its Chrome browser, which will roll out in the coming weeks. These additions, incorporating Google’s AI and Gemini models, offer new ways to interact…
Video Advertising Metrics & Brand Advertising With Greg Jarboe
Last week Greg Jarboe wrote an article for SEJ covering insights from the 2024 IAB Digital Video Ad Spend & Strategy Report which was the second part of a two-part…
Moving From Strategy To Action
Impactful SEO is rarely executed by a lone wolf. You need resources. You need buy-in from higher-ups – a CMO, head of product, or even CEO. But here’s the thing:…
Should I Delete My GBP If I Am Selling My Product Nationwide?
This week’s Ask an SEO question is from Ursula, who asks: Should a small business with a local office (more workshop than sales office) and a Google Business Profile listing…
Google’s AI Overviews Appear In 3.9% Of Trending News Searches, Study Finds
Google’s AI Overviews rarely appear in trending news searches, study finds. Health queries most affected. AI Overviews appear in only 3.9% of trending news searches. Health-related queries are most likely…
What Are Google’s Core Topicality Systems?
Topicality in relation to search ranking algorithms has become of interest for SEO after a recent Google Search Off The Record podcast mentioned the existence of Core Topicality Systems as…
How to Find and Reclaim Lost Backlinks
Building links is difficult. Which is why it’s so frustrating when hard-earned links disappear without warning. Sadly, this happens all the time. Here’s a screenshot of a link to Ahrefs’…
How People Search: Understanding User Intent
In its earlier days, Google relied heavily on plain text data and backlinks to establish rankings through periodic monthly refreshes (then known as the Google Dance). Since those days, Google…
Is Perplexity AI’s Revenue Share Plan Fair?
AI-powered answer engine Perplexity AI announced a revenue-sharing plan with publishers when their content is referenced, but there are few details on how smaller publishers will benefit. Some in the…
New Wix AI Tool Scales Content With Authenticity
Wix announced a suite of AI tools that can automatically create topics and article outlines for blog posts that maintain quality and authenticity, helping businesses overcome an important hurdle of…
Google Expands ‘About This Image’ To More Platforms
Google has announced the expansion of its “About this image” feature to additional platforms, including Circle to Search and Google Lens. This move gives people more access points to obtain…
AI Bots — Who is Blocking and Why?
I covered some of the potential arguments either way in my previous post, but the truth is that right now looking at how little traffic these models are driving, it’s…
PPC Strategies For Privacy-First World
The digital advertising landscape is constantly changing, and a recent announcement from Google has shifted things yet again. On July 22, 2024, Google made a surprising U-turn on its long-standing…
When Search Isn’t Search Anymore, But It is Still Search
If you talk to any paid search marketing old-timer (someone with 10+ years of experience) and ask them what has changed within the search industry, they will likely give you…
Search GPT – Can Search GPT Disrupt Google Search?
Despite initial concerns, Chat GPT has not replaced search. Q2 record earnings show Google Search does better than ever. That’s why OpenAI’s new search engine, Search GPT, makes only sense…
I Asked 26 Marketers for Their Best Marketing Books. Here’s What They Recommend
What are the best marketing books? To find out, I asked 26 marketers (from Ahrefs and elsewhere) to recommend a book that influenced their marketing work. Here are their recommendations:…
Google Introduces New AI Tools For Performance Max Campaigns
Google introduces AI tools for Performance Max, enhancing reporting, creative capabilities, and brand safety measures for advertisers across multiple campaign types. Google adds AI-powered tools to Performance Max campaigns. New…