Google has launched innovative generative image tools specifically designed for Demand Gen advertisers around the globe. This new feature allows advertisers to quickly create high-quality, original image assets with just a few clicks, streamlining the process of campaign asset creation.

Streamlined creation process

The new AI-powered tools are capable of producing high-quality images efficiently, significantly reducing the time and effort required from advertisers. Additionally, Google introduced the “Generate more like this” feature. This function enables advertisers to create variations of existing images that have proven effective, ensuring that successful themes or styles can be consistently utilized in their campaigns.

Maintaining control over image selection
Advertisers maintain full control over their campaign images:

• Full Autonomy: Advertisers decide which AI-generated images to use, not Google’s automated systems.
• Tailored Content: The ability to choose ensures that all content is specifically tailored to fit the brand’s unique needs and appeal directly to their target audience.

Originality in every image

A key feature of these tools is their ability to ensure originality. Google’s AI guarantees that no two images are the same, providing unique and distinct visual content for every campaign. This not only enhances the visual appeal of the advertisements but also supports the creation of genuinely distinctive marketing materials.

Ideal users and benefits

The generative image tools are particularly useful for:

• Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs): SMEs can leverage these tools to produce professional-grade marketing assets without the need for large marketing budgets or in-house graphic designers.
• Digital Marketers and Agencies: These tools allow for quick creation and iteration of campaign images, making it easier to meet client demands and campaign deadlines.
• E-commerce Businesses: With the need for continuous visual content on product listings and promotions, e-commerce platforms can benefit greatly from the ability to rapidly produce and test different visual assets.

Why this matters

Utilizing AI in this manner can save advertisers significant time, money, and resources. It simplifies the creation of tailored, appealing visual content, making campaign management more efficient and effective. With these tools, Google is paving the way for a more streamlined, creative approach to digital advertising.

In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, keeping up with the most effective strategies on platforms like LinkedIn is crucial for maximizing visibility and engagement. A comprehensive analysis conducted by Socialinsider sheds light on the best practices for posting on LinkedIn, based on data collected from active accounts between January 2022 and December 2023. Here’s a distilled guide to what works best on LinkedIn, according to their findings.

The power of images and videos

• Multi-Image Magic: If you’re aiming for engagement, stacking your posts with multiple images is the way to go. This approach has been pinpointed as the most engaging format on LinkedIn. While carousel posts are no longer an option, you can mimic this effect by sharing PDFs where each page is a captivating image that tells part of your story.
• Video Victories: For boosting your brand’s shareability, video content is your best ally. This format has emerged as the top performer in terms of being shared across LinkedIn, making it a key asset for any brand looking to increase its visibility.

Engage and understand your audience

• Polls for Pulses: Want to know what your audience thinks? Polls not only engage but also leave a significant impression, offering a simple yet effective way for your followers to voice their opinions.
• Short and Sweet: When it comes to captions, less is more. A succinct caption paired with your images can enhance engagement significantly. It’s all about making your content easily digestible for your audience.
• Personal Touch: Encouraging your team to actively participate on LinkedIn, by curating their personal profiles and sharing company messages, can amplify your brand’s reach and authenticity.
• Data-Driven Decisions: Utilize LinkedIn’s page analytics to get to know your audience better. Tailoring your content to different segments based on this data can significantly boost your engagement rates.

A rising tide of engagement

LinkedIn engagement has seen a notable uptick, soaring by 44% year-on-year. This increase is not just a result of the platform’s growing popularity but also due to brands posting more frequently. This shift signifies a strategic move away from other platforms, highlighting LinkedIn’s growing importance in the digital marketing landscape.

Why this matters

Leveraging these insights can revolutionize your LinkedIn strategy. Although there’s no universal solution for success on this platform, applying these data-backed recommendations can guide your content creation towards more meaningful interactions and greater visibility.

Navigating External Links: It’s been observed that posts with external links generally see less engagement. A clever workaround? Share your links in the first comment of your posts to keep your audience engaged without leaving the platform.

By integrating these strategies into your LinkedIn playbook, you can enhance your brand’s presence, foster deeper connections with your audience, and drive your engagement metrics to new heights.

In a significant update from Google, come July 1, 2024, Google Analytics will see Universal Analytics (UA) replaced by the more advanced Google Analytics 4 (GA4). This shift means that all UA services, including APIs, will no longer be operational, effectively making UA data inaccessible through traditional means.

Key Points to Note

• Migration is a Must: If you’re still using UA, it’s crucial to migrate to GA4 to continue enjoying Google Analytics services without interruption. Google provides a migration guide to help with this process.
• Save Your Data: UA users should export their data ASAP. Post the deadline, any UA data not exported will be permanently deleted by Google.
• Impact on Integrations: The discontinuation of UA will affect various integrations. Conversions tracking, audience lists, and data access via APIs for UA will stop. This could impact advertising campaigns and data reporting tools that rely on UA data.
• Export Deadlines: For Universal Analytics 360 users, ensure you export historical data through BigQuery before June 30, 2024. After this date, you’ll no longer be able to request data exports, though already exported data will remain accessible.

The transition to GA4 is not just an upgrade but a complete overhaul, offering new features and improved analytics capabilities. To avoid losing critical data and to make the most of GA4’s offerings, users should start the migration process immediately and ensure all necessary data is exported before the cutoff date.

How to Export Your Historical UA Data

Exporting your Universal Analytics data is crucial to ensure you don’t lose any valuable historical insights. Here’s a simplified guide on how to export your data:

• Access Your UA Account: Log into your Google Analytics account and navigate to the Universal Analytics property you wish to export data from.
• Choose Your Export Method: Google Analytics offers several ways to export your data, including standard reports, custom data exports, and integrations with tools like Google Sheets and BigQuery.
  • Standard Reports: You can export these directly from the Analytics interface into CSV, Google Sheets, or PDF format.
  • Custom Data Exports: For more comprehensive data needs, use the Custom Data Export feature to select specific data sets for export.
  • BigQuery Integration: Universal Analytics 360 users can export their data to BigQuery for advanced analysis. Start this process as soon as possible to ensure complete data transfer before the deadline.
• Follow Export Instructions: Depending on your chosen method, follow the prompts to complete the export process. For BigQuery users, ensure you initiate the export process before June 30, 2024, to avoid losing access to historical data.
• Secure Your Data: Once exported, make sure your data is stored securely. Consider cloud storage solutions or external drives for large datasets.

By exporting your data and transitioning to GA4, you can continue to leverage Google Analytics’ powerful tools for insights and decision-making in your digital strategy.

Reddit has introduced a groundbreaking advertising format called “free-form ads,” designed to seamlessly blend with the platform’s user-generated content. By mirroring the look and style of regular posts, these ads aim to foster natural engagement between advertisers and the Reddit community.

Key Features of Free-Form Ads

• Engagement-Focused Design: Advertisers can now craft ads that closely resemble user posts, encouraging more interactive and engaging experiences.
• Diverse Media Integration: The ads support a mix of images, videos, and text, utilizing templates for easy creation.
• Inspired by Megathreads: Drawing inspiration from Reddit’s popular Megathreads, these ads serve as a hub for information and discussion on trending topics.

Why Free-Form Ads Matter

• Enhanced Engagement: Brands can deliver comprehensive information in an engaging way, potentially boosting conversion rates.
• Potential User Backlash: There’s a risk that users seeking authentic content might react negatively to ads disguised as user posts.

How Free-Form Ads Work

• Versatile Media Support: Advertisers can use images, videos, and text to share in-depth information.
• Template-Based Creation: Ready-made templates facilitate the easy assembly of ads.
• Sponsored Label Visibility: Ads are marked with a “Promoted” label for transparency.
• Global Availability and Accessibility
• Reddit Ads Manager Integration: The new ad format is accessible globally to all advertisers via the Reddit Ads Manager.

Early Success Stories

• Brands like Just Eat Takeaway, Kraft Heinz, and Leica: Reported significant upper funnel results through early adoption of free-form ads.
• Philadelphia Cream Cheese Case Study: Demonstrated the ad format’s ability to engage communities, yielding over a thousand comments, a 91% upvote rate, and a 42% higher click-through rate compared to previous benchmarks on Reddit.

Reddit’s new free-form ads represent a strategic effort to enhance advertising engagement by mimicking the platform’s user content style. While offering the potential for increased brand interaction and community engagement, the success of this approach will depend on the balance between advertisement and user experience integrity.

Google has announced a set of major updates in March 2024 to improve search result quality and reduce spam, signifying a commitment to enhancing user experience. Here’s a breakdown of the key changes and their implications:

• Core Update: The March 2024 core update aims to significantly reduce unhelpful content by 40%. It is more complex than previous updates, affecting multiple systems within Google’s core ranking process. The rollout may take up to a month, with expected fluctuations in search rankings as the updates are implemented.
• Spam Policy Enhancements: Alongside the core update, Google introduced stringent spam policies targeting:
  • Scaled Content Abuse: Tackling spammy content produced at scale, whether through automation or manual efforts, to manipulate rankings.
  • Expired Domain Abuse: Preventing the misuse of expired domains to boost the ranking of low-quality content.
• Helpful Content Integration: The helpful content system is now a part of the core update mechanism, streamlining Google’s approach to prioritising valuable and user-focused content. This means no separate announcements for helpful content updates going forward.
• Guidance for Affected Websites: Google advises that there aren’t specific actions to recover from a rankings drop immediately. The focus should be on creating high-quality content that fulfils user needs. Significant recovery is likely to be observed following subsequent core updates.
• Impact on Digital Marketing: These updates underscore the importance of quality and relevance in content creation. Digital marketers should ensure their content strategies are aligned with providing genuine value to users, rather than employing tactics solely aimed at improving search rankings.

Google’s Commitment to Quality

These comprehensive updates respond to critiques about the quality of search results and represent Google’s ongoing efforts to ensure users find relevant, informative content. By focusing on enhancing the overall search experience, Google aims to maintain its position as the leading search engine while fostering a healthier digital content ecosystem.

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) is redefining the rules of engagement for ads in search results. This insightful article delves into a comprehensive study by SE Ranking, with whom we partner for our rank tracking for clients, examining the impact of SGE on ad placements across a broad spectrum of keywords and niches. It highlights the strategic positioning of ads and shopping carousels in relation to AI-generated snippets, offering critical insights for marketers looking to navigate this new terrain. Discover how these changes could influence your advertising approach and strategy in the detailed analysis provided.

What is SGE?

SGE, or Search Generative Experience, refers to Google’s integration of AI-driven content directly into search results, aiming to enhance user experience by providing more relevant, comprehensive answers to queries. It marks a shift toward more interactive and dynamically generated content, affecting how users find information and how marketers optimize for visibility and engagement within search results.

Initial Findings

SE Ranking found that ads were displayed at the top in 23.19% of instances and at the bottom in 35.21% of cases. Shopping ads, presented as carousels, appeared 14.41% of the time. Shopping ads were predominantly displayed above the SGE snippet, accounting for 80.72% of placements. In contrast, they appeared below the SGE snippet in 13.65% of cases. The least common placement was in the sidebar, occurring just 5.63% of the time.

The Impact on Ad Placement

Google’s evolving search landscape, marked by the integration of the Search Generative Experience (SGE), prompts a strategic shift in ad placements. Here are key points on this trend:

• Ads predominantly settle at the bottom of search results, hinting at Google’s content prioritization strategy.
• Shopping ads secure positions above SGE snippets, emphasizing visual shopping aids.
• An extensive analysis of 100,000 keywords across various sectors reveals insights on ad placement and AI responses.
• Marketers are encouraged to adapt strategies in response to these evolving dynamics.

Google Shopping Ads & SGE

Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) reshapes the landscape for shopping ads by prioritizing them in search results. Here’s how it impacts their visibility and performance:

• Enhanced Visibility: Shopping ads are placed prominently above SGE snippets, ensuring they capture attention first.
• Targeted Reach: This positioning is strategic for queries with purchase intent, directly connecting products with potential buyers.
• Increased Engagement: Being at the forefront, shopping ads likely see higher click-through rates, driving traffic and sales.

Why is it Important?

The development of Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) is pivotal for SEO marketers as it introduces a new layer of AI-driven content directly in search results, potentially changing user interaction patterns. This necessitates adjustments in SEO strategies to optimize content not just for traditional search algorithms but also for engagement in this new AI-enhanced context. Marketers need to understand how SGE influences visibility and click-through rates to ensure their content remains relevant and effectively reaches their target audience.

What Should We Do About It?

Currently, the future of SGE isn’t certain, but Google’s main guidance of creating engaging, helpful, and authentic content remains as valuable as it was before. Keeping a close eye on SGE and future developments is crucial for understanding its true impact and how it may affect your ongoing SEO strategy. SEO is a constantly shifting landscape that requires regular experimentation, analysis, and education – what may deliver performance this year might not be the next. Keep an eye on our email newsletter and Round-Up blogs for future developments on the impact of SGE.

What is YouTube Collaborate?

YouTube’s collaboration tool allows users to duet shorts from other creators on the platform, the feature has the same functionality as the TikTok stitch feature. The feature enables users to record videos with a split screen which displays both the newly recorded video and the original short. The feature has been released to both iOS and Android users.

The collaboration tool now provides YouTube creators with the opportunity to produce short-form content like those on TikTok. This creates space for creators to reach audiences that prefer short-form content whilst staying on YouTube’s platform.  Initially, TikTok offered the function, but YouTube did not, creating a clear disparity between the two platforms. 

YouTube has previously stipulated regarding copyright that ‘fair content use’ required users to use clipped footage of the original content, lasting no longer than 30 seconds per clip. And the content being made needed to be educational or for commentary purposes. Inappropriate or offensive content is not tolerated and can lead to creators acquiring copyright strikes or in some cases, account bans.

How to use YouTube Collaborate?

Utilising the Collaborate tool is quite simple, just use the following steps to navigate:

• Select the watch page for the short you would like to collaborate on.
• Press the ‘remix’ icon and then click ‘collab’.
• You can select as much as 60 seconds of the short you would like to duet.
• Pick a layout, there are plenty of options to cater to stylistic preferences.
• Record. Your video will be recorded whilst the original short plays simultaneously. 

The benefits of the collaboration tool on YouTube?

Creators have a fair chance to reach a wider audience by collaborating with other creators’ videos.  This will enable content producers to create short-form reactive/ collaborative videos without needing to orchestrate the production of a long-form video.

The ability to produce reactive content, commentaries and even repurpose existing content will give users the chance to utilise the platform’s features in ways they were previously unable to.

YouTube’s previous limitations to using other users’ YouTube content means the clips must be staggered and done with reasoning. Now creators will be able to react to longer clips in a shorter format, making the commentaries or working alongside other creators and their content far easier with fewer limitations.

YouTube provides a plethora of display choices allowing video creators to find a style which works best for their style. With options such as picture-in-picture, green screen effects and side-by-side layouts.

Lastly, the brands will now be able to use audience participation to their advantage within marketing campaigns. The integration of UGC within marketing campaigns will likely have a positive knock-on effect with audiences trusting personal customer experiences. While also decreasing the cost of campaigns, circumstantially because of the input of user content with their own.

We’d love to know if this is something you’ll be using or watching out for. For more information, YouTube has created a short to give a glimpse into using collaborate.

Google has updated its e-commerce platform to better handle product variations like size or colour through structured data. This makes it easier for online shops to show off their product range and helps shoppers find what they’re looking for more easily.

Along with detailed guides and tools for website owners, Google has introduced three key features to organize products more effectively and has made return policies clearer. This is great news for online stores, as it could lead to better visibility in searches, more trust from shoppers, and possibly more sales.

Technical Implementation and Documentation

Google’s recent update includes new structured data specifications for product variants, accompanied by comprehensive technical documentation and validation tools. This documentation guides e-commerce sites on how to implement the new structured data correctly, ensuring products are accurately represented in Google’s ecosystem. Tools like Search Console and the Rich Results Test have been updated to support the validation of this new structured data, helping site owners identify and rectify any issues promptly, ensuring that product listings are optimized for Google’s search.

Understanding Product Variant Properties

The three new properties, hasVariant, variesBy, and productGroupID, are integral to Google’s enhanced structured data for product variants. These properties allow e-commerce sites to effectively group variants of a product under a single “parent” product.

• “hasVariant” is used to nest product variants within their parent ProductGroup
• “variesBy” identifies the variant properties (like size or colour)
• “productGroupID” serves as a unique identifier for the ProductGroup, facilitating easier management and discovery of product variants in search results.

Clarification on Return Fees

Google clarified the use of “FreeReturn” versus “ReturnShippingFees” values in the structured data for product returns. This distinction is crucial for e-commerce platforms to accurately communicate return policies to consumers, ensuring clarity on whether returning a product is free or if return shipping fees apply.

This clarification aids in enhancing transparency and trust between retailers and customers, making online shopping experiences more straightforward and satisfactory.

Importance for E-commerce Sites

Google’s update is a significant boon for e-commerce sites with product variants, allowing for a more detailed and structured presentation of products. By enabling the grouping of variants under a single parent product and clarifying return policies, Google enhances both the visibility and the user experience on e-commerce platforms.

These improvements can lead to better search result accuracy, increased consumer trust, and potentially higher conversion rates for retailers.

In the evolving landscape of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), the emphasis on authenticity and firsthand experience in content creation has never been more critical. This shift is reflective of search engines’ sophisticated algorithms that prioritize content offering real value to users.

Search Engine Land reported this week that a SEO study showed that websites using first-person pronouns and first-hand experience seemed to be gaining from the recent batch of Google Updates. Subtle identifiers such as “me”, “I” or “we” perhaps demonstrate to search engines that the content is produced and written by a human, and not instead with the voice of a “brand” or company. This shift to focusing on individual experts is a clear one, with so many sites competing with often the same content (now not helped by AI), Google seems to be separating the wheat from the chaff by looking for content clearly penned by an individual.

We have long told our SEO clients – to write content from the individual’s perspective. Make it personal – use content so that it shows a company isn’t sanitised brand copy, but a collection of thoughts, ideas and explanations from the experts that work there. Never before has it been so important to ensure that your online content comes from an experienced individual, and one with true authenticity.

Authenticity

Building Credibility: Authentic content establishes a foundation of trust between a website and its visitors. Search engines like Google use various indicators to assess the genuineness of content. Original research, accurate sourcing, and transparency in authorship and intention all signal authenticity to these algorithms.

Enhancing Engagement: Authentic content resonates more deeply with readers, encouraging longer engagement times and more meaningful interactions. These behavioural signals are key metrics for search engines in determining content quality and relevance.

Mitigating Risks: In an era where misinformation can quickly spread, search engines penalize deceptive practices harshly. Genuine content strategies avoid these risks, ensuring long-term SEO health.

Experience

Firsthand Knowledge: Content created from firsthand experience offers unique insights that generic information cannot replicate. Search engines, through updates like Google’s E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), increasingly value this depth of knowledge.

User-Centric Design: The user experience (UX) on a website, including its content’s readability, accessibility, and navigability, significantly impacts SEO. Content that reflects an understanding of user needs and preferences tends to perform better in search rankings.

Content Depth and Quality: Experience-driven content often provides a richer, more comprehensive exploration of topics. This depth is not only valuable to readers but also positions websites as authoritative sources on specific subjects, further boosting SEO performance.

Why focus on creating content with experienced experts

Adaptation to Algorithm Updates: Google’s algorithm updates increasingly focus on rewarding content that demonstrates both authenticity and real-world expertise. Websites prioritising these aspects are better positioned to adapt to and benefit from these changes.

Competitive Differentiation: In saturated markets, authenticity and experience can differentiate a website from its competitors. This unique selling proposition can attract a loyal audience base, contributing to improved search visibility and higher conversion rates.

Leverage your own experience and expertise

The importance of authenticity and experience in SEO content cannot be overstated. As search engines evolve, the demand for content that is both genuine and insightful continues to grow. Websites that embrace these principles not only foster stronger connections with their audience but also solidify their standing in search rankings. The future of SEO lies in creating content that is true to the creator’s experience and expertise, offering real value to the user beyond keywords and optimization tactics.

In today’s digital age, the ability to make data-driven decisions is pivotal for marketing success. However, one of the most daunting challenges marketers face is consolidating data from various sources into a coherent, analyzable format. That’s where the magic of data integration tools like Supermetrics comes into play, particularly when creating comprehensive dashboards in Google Looker Studio.

Of course, none of this is new and anyone working in digital marketing will be familiar with how data visualisation dashboards can be invaluable for reporting. However, many clients aren’t familiar and may still be reliant on viewing data separately in different platform dashboards or via Excel exports. So, this guide is for you!

Data disconnection and complexity

Marketers utilize a plethora of platforms—social media, PPC, SEO, CRM, and more. Each platform generates vast amounts of data, but these data sources often exist in silos, making it difficult to see the bigger picture. The process of manually extracting, cleaning, and consolidating data is not only time-consuming but also prone to errors, leading to less reliable insights.

What is Supermetrics?

Supermetrics is a powerful tool designed to automate the data extraction and consolidation process. It acts as a bridge, connecting your disparate data sources to your analytics or reporting tools. With Supermetrics, you can easily pull data from over 60 online marketing platforms (such as Google Ads, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Salesforce) directly into Google Looker Studio, Excel, Google Sheets, and other reporting tools.

Utilizing Supermetrics for diverse data sources

The strength of Supermetrics lies in its versatility. Whether you’re looking to analyze your SEO performance, track your PPC campaigns, monitor social media engagement, or measure your sales funnel, Supermetrics has you covered. It streamlines the process of fetching data from various platforms and prepares it for analysis, saving marketers countless hours of manual work.

Integration with Google Looker Studio

Google Looker Studio, previously known as Google Data Studio, allows users to create customizable dashboards and reports. When Supermetrics is used in conjunction with Google Looker Studio, it transforms raw data into visually appealing and informative dashboards. Here’s how you can leverage Supermetrics for Google Looker Studio:

1. Connect Your Data Sources: Use Supermetrics to connect your marketing platforms with Google Looker Studio. This is as simple as adding Supermetrics as a data source and selecting the platforms you wish to integrate.
2. Automate Data Import: Schedule automatic data refreshes to ensure your dashboard always displays the most up-to-date information.
3. Customize Your Dashboard: Utilize the drag-and-drop interface of Google Looker Studio to create custom reports that highlight the KPIs most relevant to your marketing objectives.

Innovative Data Visualization techniques

With the foundation set, it’s time to get creative with your data visualizations. Here are some innovative ways to present your data in Google Looker Studio using Supermetrics:

• Multi-Channel Performance Overview: Create a comprehensive dashboard that showcases your performance across different marketing channels, allowing you to easily compare and contrast their effectiveness.
• Customer Journey Funnel: Visualize your customer’s journey from initial contact to sale, highlighting areas of strength and opportunities for improvement.
• Real-Time Campaign Tracking: Set up dashboards that track the performance of your marketing campaigns in real-time, enabling quick adjustments to optimize results.
• Geographical Heat Maps: Understand where your efforts are paying off by visualizing customer engagement, sales, or any other key metric by geographical location.
• Competitor Benchmarking: Use Supermetrics to pull in public data on your competitors and create dashboards that benchmark your performance against theirs.

Conclusion

In a world where data is king, having the right tools to effectively gather, analyze, and present this data is crucial. Supermetrics offers a lifeline for marketers drowning in data, simplifying the process of data consolidation and visualization. By harnessing the power of Supermetrics and Google Looker Studio, marketers can unlock insights that were previously hidden, driving smarter, data-driven decisions that propel their businesses forward.

Ready to transform your marketing analytics strategy? Explore how Supermetrics can streamline your data integration and visualization processes today. Speak to us about building your very own digital performance dashboard today.