Welcome back to this month’s edition of Digital Round-Up! Wildly enough, March 2022 has ended, and just like that, we move into April. I don’t know about you, but this year is moving by quickly for myself and the Smarter Searches team. Our days are busy, and it seems the world of digital marketing has been active as well by the looks of some significant updates. After sifting through the tons of publications from March, these are the top 5 articles that can help the marketing community in the coming months. Let’s jump in and discuss!
Universal Analytics Will Be Going Away, Help Article from Google
This may be a bit insensitive, but a scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail came to mind when hearing the news of Universal Analytics’ retirement date: “Bring out ye dead!” In all seriousness, though, this is a massive blow to my heart. Many digital marketing agencies heavily rely on the in-depth data provided by Google’s UA view, Smarter Searches being no exception. Indicated in the help article, July 1, 2023, is the set end for Universal Analytics. This help article from Google outlines the critical differences between the two platforms.
Essentially what this means is you should be prepared to migrate to a G4 account, export any historical data from your UA (you have six months to do so after July 1, 2023), and make any adjustments to your Google Ads account as conversion tracking will no longer flow from UA (conversion and tag migration are available). While this transition is still over a year away, I find it interesting that Google is doing away with the advanced data it collects. However, I am not surprised due to the swift movement of consumer data privacy. Regardless, I’ll miss this helpful tool.
Google Intros New Shopper Marketing Tools from Ad Exchanger
One of my favorite clients recently came to me with a request to dip into the Google Shopping sphere, an excellent idea for this online retailer! After spending a reasonable amount of time setting everything up, getting products approved, inputting shipping information, and more, Google releases information claiming to integrate Merchant Center with Performance Max. Unfortunately, Google is notorious for never having great shopping platforms. However, there are always consistent unkept promises, so this time, we shall see if there are, in fact, more tracking capabilities despite the cookieless future and if the conversion rate tracking is improved.
How Social Media Trends Can Influence Your SEO from Moz
Sandra Potisek from Moz walks us through how leveraging social media can directly impact your SEO. My initial reaction was utterly in agreement with her hypothesis, but I did begin to waiver at moments. Overall, yes- social media is arguably the most effective form of content marketing; however, when Potisek begins speaking on how brands utilize influencers for marketing, that’s where I dip off. There is a fine line between influencer marketing and influencer advertising in this case. Suppose we are talking about the former, 100% a great way to grow your online presence organically. But the latter is strictly paid, and we know paid advertising and SEO are mutually exclusive.
The Anatomy of the Perfect SEO Report from Semrush
Taking a look at this outline for creating the perfect SEO report, it outwardly seems like a fleshed-out advertisement for Semrush. No judgment; I understand you need to show off your products! I quite like the content and reasoning behind each section, though. For instance, choosing the proper KPIs to track month by month will do two things: show you which areas of strategy need to be optimized and show your client the right amount of data to maintain interest. Reporting is no doubt necessary, and truthfully this article does a great job of walking through each reporting element and its importance.
Combatting the Data and Analytics Skill Gap in the Marketing Industry from MarketingTech
As a semi-recent marketing graduate, this article by Andy Rice at MarketingTech struck me. He outlines how automation techniques to eliminate administrative work, transparent recruitment, and clear expectations for new marketing data and analytics hires will help close the large employment gap. There are many open positions with a small qualified candidate pool from which to choose. Marketing was always my first choice of major, and I decided an International Business minor would be a good fit considering my love of travel. But due to the pandemic, working abroad wasn’t exactly in my future. If I’d known how essential a data or analytics familiarity would be for my job now, I would have 86’d the international business and opted in for Business Analytics courses. For any college students studying marketing, take my advice and learn more about analytics- it’ll help you get and keep the job you want!
Congratulations! You’ve made it to the end! I know that was quite a bit of heavy information, but trust me, these monthly Digital Round-Ups are no easy feat. Sifting through all the recent publications takes a lot of energy, so hopefully, these highlight reels, so to speak, are helping!
