Bing Chat gains Android home widget and improved sports scores

Microsoft released a number of improvements to Bing Chat, including an Android home widget, improved sports scores and other updates for SwiftKey, the company announced. This is in addition to the other changes, including Bing being added as the default search provider for ChatGPT.

Android home widget. There is now a new Bing Chat widget that you can enable on your Android device’s Home screen. Once you install it, there will be a Bing icon will take you directly to Bing Chat.  

Here is how that looks:

Improved sports scores. Bing Chat said it improved its “sports grounding,” adding they have “taken steps to help Bing Chat give better answers if you’re asking questions about sports topics — including games, schedules, stats, and standings across a variety of sports.”

Here is me asking for sports scores this morning:

Other changes. Bing also announced a number of changes to SwiftKey including how to compose messages in SwiftKey, new tones in SwiftKey when composing messages and new translator in SwiftKey for iOS.

Why we care. Now your sports score searches in Bing Chat should be a bit better, plus if you use Android, you can now access Bing Chat using the Android widgets. Don’t you just love these improvements?

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Google Search Console shows the wrong mobile indexing status for some sites

About a week ago, Google did its last batch of moving sites to mobile-first indexing and some mobile-friendly sites were still noticing their sites were being reported as being crawled using desktop indexing. It turns out, there is a reporting bug in Google Search Console that may show the wrong mobile indexing status for some sites.

What Google said. Google’s John Mueller posted on Twitter a few minutes ago about the issue. John wrote, “It looks like we’re also showing the wrong mobile indexing status for some sites in Search Console, which is a reporting issue on our side (and also not related to mobile friendliness).”

Where to check. To check your indexing status, login to Google Search Console, click on the “Settings” link on the left side bar and then look under the “about” section to see your indexing status.

Why we care. So if you are nervous after noticing Google reporting that your mobile-friendly site(s) were being reported as crawled using desktop indexing, it might be a bug. Check back in a week or so to see if things have changed.

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How to use GA4 to optimize your digital marketing strategy

Knowing how to use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is necessary for marketers looking to optimize their digital campaigns. But first, you need to get some basic considerations nailed down.

When gathering information, journalists ask six classic questions:

• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Where?
• Why?
• How?

And you can also use this framework to figure out how to best use GA4 within your organization.

To make the most of the analytics platform, you must be able to answer at least six of the following seven questions:

• Who are our company or client’s target audiences?
• What events should we set up on our website?
• When should we measure micro conversions?
• Where do we need to customize our reports?
• Why is integrating Google Ads with GA4 the first step?
• How should B2B marketers use GA4?
• How should B2C marketers use GA4?

This article explores a framework for maximizing GA4 to improve your digital marketing strategy.

Who are our company or client’s target audiences?

Even within the same organization, “audiences” may mean different things.

The advertising team may refer to audiences for remarketing. 

SEO, social, content or digital PR teams might say that audiences refer to a segment of users from their site who have generated similar behavioral data, share demographic data, or are important to the brand in other ways.

Since these teams typically report their acquisition traffic by channel (e.g., organic search, social, or referral), they rarely segment their audiences by behavior, demographics or conversions.

However, GA4 has several suggested audiences you might want to use for segmentation. This includes users who:

• Conducted item searches.
• Started watching a video.
• Finished watching a video.
• Did not complete a tutorial.
• Completed a tutorial.
• Provided an email address.
• Are potential business leads.

GA4 lets those with Editor or Marketer roles create audience triggers when users reach key milestones like initiating X sessions, reading Y articles, or crossing Z conversion thresholds.

With these features, you can:

• Discover what different audiences are searching for and engaging with.
• Learn how users are moving through the customer journey unexpectedly.
• Explore what this means for optimizing the company’s digital marketing strategy.

Plus, if most of the traffic to your site comes from default channels like organic search, organic social, organic video, organic shopping, referral, and audio (e.g., podcast platforms), then why let advertising get all the credit for remarketing to audiences that are not “paid”? 

What events should we set up on our website?

Most events showing your contribution to the bottom line are collected automatically when you set up GA4. But they are not reported and cannot be used to create audiences until you enable enhanced measurement.

Here are seven of the automatically collected events that SEOs may want to enable for enhanced measurement:

• File_download: When a user clicks a link leading to a document, presentation, or audio file.
• Form_start: When a user interacts with a form in a session for the first time.
• Form_submit: When the user submits a form.
• Scroll: When a user reaches the bottom 90% of each page for the first time.
• Video_start: When the video starts playing.
• Video_progress: When the video progresses past 10%, 25%, 50%, and 75% duration time.
• Video_complete: When the video ends.

Once you have determined which events are worth measuring, go to Admin, click on Data Streams > Web and slide the switch On under Enhanced measurement to enable your choices.

You should also consider adding several recommended events, including:

• Generate_lead: A user submits a form to request information.
• Login: A user logs in.
• Purchase: A user completes a purchase.
• Search: A user searches for your content.
• Share: A user shares your content.
• Tutorial_begin: A user begins a tutorial.
• Tutorial_complete: A user completes a tutorial.

You can also set up custom events, but I will not even try to guess what you might want to create.

This is because GA4 uses event-based data instead of session-based data. So, now you need to measure specific interactions after users come to your site and which default channel they used to get there.

When should we measure micro conversions?

You probably know that micro conversions measure important steps to completing macro conversions. 

But executives only seem interested in macro conversions. So, setting up micro conversions was not worth it – until GA4 came along. 

In most cases, the process is as easy as going to Admin, clicking on Events, and selecting the toggle under Mark as a conversion.

For example, you might want to measure the following micro conversions:

• Scroll to 90% of a blog post or article.
• Play at least 50% of a product video.
• Complete a tutorial.
• Download a white paper.
• Complete a registration form.
• Register for a service.
• Add merchandise to the shopping cart.

If you can associate monetary values with your micro conversions, then more executives will think that they matter. 

Let’s say 10% of the people who sign up for a newsletter go on to become customers, and your average transaction is $500. Then you might associate $50 (i.e., 10% of $500) as the monetary value of a newsletter sign-up. 

To add a value when someone has completed a registration form:

• On the left, click Admin > Events.
• Click Create event to see the table of custom events.
• Click the event to modify.
• In the Parameter configuration section, click Add modification.
• In the Parameter field, enter currency.
• In the Value field, enter a currency type (e.g., USD).
• Click Add modification.
• In the Parameter field, enter the value.
• In the New value field, enter a value (e.g., 50 for $50).
• Click Save.

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Where do we need to customize our reports?

GA4 offers different report collections based on the information provided during setup. 

The first default set of reports you might see is the Life cycle collection, which helps you understand each stage in the customer journey – from acquisition to engagement to monetization to retention.

It is replaced by the Business objectives collection if someone selected “Raise brand awareness,” “Examine user behavior,” “Generate leads.” or “Drive online sales” during setup.

There is also a User collection, which helps you understand the people who use your site, including their demographics (e.g., age, location) and the technology they use (e.g., browser version, app version).

You can also:

• Change the primary dimension in a report. 
• Add a secondary dimension to a report.
• Apply a filter to show a subset of your report data. 
• Adjust the date range in a report.

And check out Explorations, which is a set of audience discovery and comparison tools that help you uncover deeper insights about your customers’ behavior. This includes:

• Funnel exploration: See where users abandon the customer journeys that you have laid out on your site and identify how well they are succeeding or failing at each step. 
• Path exploration: See the paths your users take as they interact with your site.
• Segment overlap: See if different segments of users overlap with each other. Use this technique to identify new user segments that meet complex criteria.
• User exploration: Analyze the users that make up the segments you create. You can also drill down into individual user activities.
• Cohort exploration: Discover insights about the behavior and performance of groups of users that are related by common attributes.
• User lifetime: Examine user behavior and value over their lifetime as a customer.

Why is integrating Google Ads with GA4 the first step?

GA4 also provides direct integrations with a variety of platforms.

One is Google Ads integration. This lets you see the full customer cycle, from clicking on ads to completing micro and macro conversions. This step also enables remarketing in Google Ads using lists based on the Analytics audiences that SEOs and marketers create in GA4.

But Google Ads integration is just the first step.

SEOs need their companies and clients to integrate Search Console with GA4 so they can analyze organic search traffic to the site. 

This integration lets you see:

• Where your site ranks in search results.
• Which queries generate clicks.
• How those clicks translate into user behavior, like which landing pages engage more users and how many of these users go on to convert.

And B2B marketers may need to integrate Salesforce Marketing Cloud with GA4. This integration lets you track and analyze customer journey activity through your GA4 property.

But these sound like plumbing projects. How can you turn critical data from these integrations with GA4 into strategic insights to optimize your digital marketing strategy?

You might want to follow Avinash Kaushik’s advice: 

“I’ve come to learn that this desire to overachieve also comes at a very heavy cost—it drives sub-optimal behavior. Instead, I recommend this as the #1 goal for your company: Suck less, every day. Whatever you do today, consciously suck less at it.”

– “Stop Exceeding Expectations, Suck Less First”

Although I gasped when I first read his article five years ago, I now realize this is precisely how to use GA4 to optimize your digital marketing strategy today.

How should B2B marketers use GA4?

B2B CMOs may not want to tell the rest of the C-suite that their digital marketing strategy is to “suck less every day,” and re-brand this approach by calling it the “flywheel marketing” or “digital transformation” strategy.

But whatever it’s called, this approach will enable marketing teams to harness the insights that Analytics Intelligence will soon start displaying on the home page of GA4 to nurture audiences, subscribers and leads.

Analytics Intelligence uses machine learning and conditions that you can configure to highlight unexpected opportunities and threats. 

Analytics Intelligence uses a statistical technique called anomaly detection. To detect hourly anomalies, the training period is two weeks. 

To detect daily anomalies, it is 90 days. And to detect weekly anomalies, the training period is 32 weeks.

But here is what B2B marketers will want to focus on: Analytics Intelligence uses a statistical technique called “contribution analysis” to identify the user segments (a.k.a., audiences) contributing to anomalies. 

Then, it calculates the “anomalous metric value” for each user segment. Finally, it surfaces user segments on “anomaly insight cards.”

A non-profit organization in Pittsburgh named 412 Food Rescue needed to recruit more volunteers to deliver food from retailers to people experiencing food insecurity.

As you’ll learn by watching “Google Analytics: 412 Food Rescue Case Study,” automated insights showed them that weekends tended to be a little bit slower in terms of volunteers and engagement.

So, they adjusted the social media campaigns driving traffic to their website.

They also cut their reporting time by 50%, freeing up their limited staff to expand to new cities.

How should B2C marketers use GA4?

But how can the country’s top 100 advertisers, which are all B2C companies, use GA4 to optimize their digital marketing strategy?

Fortunately, GA4 offers a new way to measure online video advertising campaigns through engaged-view conversions (EVCs), which indicates that someone watched your YouTube ad for at least 10 seconds and then converted on your website within three days of viewing it.

This new KPI leverages consumer behavior. It turns out that people have a strong intent to watch the content that they have come to YouTube for. So, they tend to stay on the platform even when seeing an ad during their viewing session. 

People often do not act immediately after viewing a YouTube video ad. Instead, they often wait to act until after they have finished their full viewing session. 

This is also where EVCs come in and explains why 70% of YouTube viewers say they bought a brand after finding it on YouTube.

EVCs have been available since September 2020. But three announcements at Brandcast, YouTube’s 12th annual advertiser showcase, which was part of the Upfronts 2023, give the top 100 advertisers in the U.S. even more reasons – and more screens – to start using this nerdy KPI.

First, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said: 

“We’re seeing a seismic shift in the way people consume content. More and more, viewers are tuning into YouTube on the biggest screen in their home. According to Nielsen, YouTube is the leader in streaming watch time on TV screens in the U.S.”

YouTube reached over 150 million people on connected TVs in the United States, according to Nielsen data. That’s a much bigger audience than advertisers can reach during the Super Bowl.

Second, YouTube Chief Business Officer Mary Ellen Coe said: 

“No one does sports better than YouTube. We give you access to all the content fans love with live and on-demand and across league partnerships like the NFL, the NBA, and more. And we’re the number one sports destination for Gen Z fans.”

Gen Z (18-24) YouTube viewers rank YouTube as the #1 video platform they need to engage with things they are passionate about, according to Archrival.

Third, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said: 

“The fact is, millions of football fans are on YouTube to catch all things NFL. This past year, NFL content on the platform gained a 27% increase in watch time year-over-year, with 1.9 billion views.”

All this gives you new reasons to use GA4 to optimize your digital marketing strategy before Sept. 10, 2023, when YouTube debuts as the new home of NFL Sunday Ticket.

The day after this “big game,” you don’t want to face tough questions about why you stayed on the sideline while other advertisers reached football fans across YouTube’s entire array of NFL content.

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Is your YouTube Channel a brand video graveyard? How to revive it

For as long as I’ve worked in SEO, I have been asked the same question by brands and businesses, big and small:

Why should I use YouTube? How can it help my business? Shouldn’t I be on TikTok instead?

Sadly, for many businesses, YouTube is just a place to host their videos. Nothing more, nothing less. And it’s a huge missed opportunity in terms of video ROI, brand awareness, traffic and audience growth.

A lack of effort in marketing and optimizing videos is one reason the C-suite is often reluctant to invest in future video projects. They just don’t see the value.

In short, for many businesses, YouTube is where their videos go to die. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Your YouTube channel doesn’t have to be a brand video graveyard.

Understanding the problem

Brands and businesses often disregard YouTube as a genuine and viable medium for growth. There are common false assumptions among business leaders and even marketers around YouTube:

• YouTube is for kids and Gen Z.
• YouTube is all about clickbait, pop culture and music videos.
• Being successful on YouTube requires a big budget and professional production equipment.
• No one will be interested in what my business has to offer.

Equally, business leaders often just don’t understand video, marketing or audiences well enough to produce anything other than dull corporate brand videos. Surprise, surprise, these do not work well on YouTube.

This brings us to the concept of a brand video graveyard. It comes about when brands fail to do the following:

• Create engaging content that resonates with their audience. Without engaging content, viewers quickly lose interest and move on to other channels.
• Optimize the channel and video uploads. Naming a video ‘Our company overview’ isn’t going to cut it.
• Cultivate a community for audience growth. Often, comments and questions are left unanswered for months or even years.

To avoid this fate, brands must invest time and effort into:

• Understanding their audience.
• Crafting compelling video ideas.
• Optimizing their videos for maximum reach and engagement.

Typical causes of YouTube desertion

The causes of a channel turning into a brand video graveyard can vary.

Sometimes it is due to a lack of resources.

Other times, it is because the brand is not putting in the effort to create content that will engage their audience.

Changes in the brand’s strategy or goals may also lead to a lack of content or a shift in focus away from YouTube.

Time is also a huge factor. You don’t necessarily need a huge budget or fancy tech, but you do need time to research, plan, upload, optimize and promote.

Pitfalls of allowing your YouTube channel to go stale

So, you have a YouTube channel that only you and your employees subscribe to. Surely it won’t hurt, will it?

Well, picture it from a prospective customer or client’s point of view and ask yourself these questions:

• Does it look like the brand cares about its public image?
• Do they appear professional and successful?
• Would you remember the company or brand if you saw them elsewhere?
• Do you feel like they care about educating, entertaining or understanding their customers?

The answer to all of these when looking at a deserted YouTube channel is, undoubtedly, no. Neglecting your channel is, in turn, neglecting your target market and will impact your other marketing efforts.

These days, marketing, acquisition and sales aren’t as simple as building a website, pushing it live and watching the money roll in.

The most successful companies utilize a multichannel approach, appearing wherever their audience is.

If your target market is on YouTube, you should be there – ready to answer their questions and educate them into remembering, buying and advocating for your product.

Marketers have understood this message, but often they deprioritize YouTube based on the assumptions we discussed previously.

There’s a clear prioritization gap between consumers and marketers, a 2022 study by SproutSocial found.

Marketers ranked Instagram and TikTok higher in usage anticipation, but YouTube is still a hugely popular platform for consumers.

Not every type of business is suitable for YouTube.

Maybe no one wants to see how septic tanks are emptied or a day in the life of a toilet roll holder.

But generally, most businesses can find a hook or a niche that is interesting and visual enough.

Why you should bring your YouTube channel back from the brink

So, why should brands bother with YouTube? Why not just leave a channel deserted and pretend it never happened?

Here are a few reasons why investing time and love into your long, lost channel could be an excellent move. 

Have we met before?

For businesses, YouTube isn’t meant to stand alone. Integrating your YouTube videos into your broader online presence creates a cohesive brand experience for your audience.

This integration helps drive traffic to your channel, encourages cross-platform engagement, and strengthens your brand’s online presence. 

YouTube enables businesses to position themselves as industry leaders by creating educational and informative videos.

Sharing valuable insights, tutorials, how-to guides, and industry updates can establish your brand’s authority and expertise in your niche.

Viewers who see your brand consistently delivering valuable content are more likely to trust and remember you.

Don’t forget to subscribe

YouTube is all about engagement. It enables businesses to directly engage with their audience through comments and other interactive features.

Asking viewers to subscribe and like your videos, having clear calls to action, and creating engaging video thumbnails can attract more followers and keep them on your channel longer​​​.

Building a loyal, engaged customer base that actively advocates for your product or service could be one of the most valuable things you ever do. 

A nice side effect of this is that eventually, all those subscribers, interactions and views will make your content more likely to be promoted by YouTube’s algorithm. Win, win!

Build it and they will buy

YouTube can influence the purchasing decisions of both B2B and B2C buyers. So, if your channel looks a little unloved, it could miss out on reaching key decision-makers​​.

YouTube is a crucial and valuable part of the marketing mix.

• Up to 89% of people said they purchased a product or service after viewing a video about it, a Wyzowl research found.
• YouTube users are three times more likely to watch online video tutorials than read instructions, according to Google.
• As of 2023, 91% of businesses report using video as part of their marketing strategy, according to Wyzowl.

YouTube can no longer be an afterthought. This is where your audiences are and they’re waiting for you. 

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How to revive your YouTube channel and attract views

Now that we've recognized the pitfalls of turning your YouTube channel into a brand video graveyard let's explore some effective strategies to breathe life back into it and attract views. 

By implementing these tips, you can revitalize your YouTube presence and make it a thriving hub for your brand's content.

Conduct a channel audit

There may not be much to audit, but this exercise will help you take stock of what you have, what’s missing and what your next steps should be.

You’ll want to start a spreadsheet for your audit. Download a list of all your uploads by going to Analytics > Content > Advanced Mode and exporting from there.

Analytics

If you have a reasonable amount of data, then YouTube's analytics section will provide valuable insights into how viewers find and watch your content. It’s a great place to start.

There are two types of analytics:

• Channel analytics.
• Video analytics. 

The latter is great if you have a video with a decent number of views.

You’ll be able to see how long viewers watch for and what percentage of the video they view, plus a nice retention graph showing where the audience drops off, skips forward or rewatches.

Source: YouTube support

Tip: Look out for steep drops in audience retention at the start of your videos.

This could indicate that the title or thumbnail is somewhat misleading. It could also tell you that the fancy, animated brand ident is putting people off.

Remove it and get straight to the content!

Content types and categorization

Ideally, you’ll already have more than a couple of videos on your channel.

Ensure your spreadsheet includes all the titles, descriptions and URLs of your videos and then try to put them into categories. Here are some to get you started:

• Blog video: Answers a question or explains a topic.
• Brand/company video: Your company overview, brand advert.
• Testimonial video: Client(s) saying how great you are.
• Demo or how-to video: Explaining how to do or use your product or service.
• Webinar, roundtable, discussion or interview: You discussing a topic relevant to your business with guests.
• Feature or inspiration video: Promoting features of a product, service or even destination – if you’re a travel company.

Ideally, you want to keep brand videos to a minimum. They’re best used in the channel’s featured video section to greet subscribers. 

Your bread and butter will be blog, demo and feature videos. These are the types of content people will be looking for. These are the videos that will engage, educate and entertain.

Engage with your community

YouTube is not a one-way communication platform. 

Foster a sense of community by actively engaging with your audience. Respond to comments, answer questions, and encourage discussions. 

This interaction boosts engagement and strengthens the bond between your brand and your viewers. Show that you value their input and incorporate their feedback into future video ideas.

If you have comments that aren’t too old, reply to them! Post your own comment on each video and pin it to the top. 

Ask viewers what their thoughts are and whether they have questions. Being able to have direct contact with consumers in this way is invaluable.

Respond to feedback

It can be easy to turn off comments and hide from potential detractors.

But, if you treat your YouTube community as an opportunity – to learn, improve and connect – it’ll help build trust, brand affinity and loyalty.

• Acknowledge the feedback: Whether the feedback is positive or negative, it's important to acknowledge it.
• Thank the person providing the feedback: Showing appreciation for feedback helps to build a positive relationship with your audience.
• Respond promptly: Responding promptly shows that you value the feedback and are committed to improving.
• Be open-minded: Approach feedback with an open mind and be willing to consider different perspectives.
• Take action: Use the feedback to make improvements and show that you are committed to meeting the needs of your audience.

Optimize your videos

This is probably the most obvious but difficult task when reviving a YouTube channel.

Optimizing your videos is essential for increasing their discoverability on YouTube. 

Remember, the more effectively you optimize your videos, the higher the likelihood of attracting organic traffic and gaining subscribers.

But, I hear you ask, what exactly do I mean by optimizing?

Well, YouTube optimization is very similar to website SEO. The principles are largely the same.

• Keyword research: Find out what topics in your niche people are searching for. Take a look at what content competitors are creating. What are your clients asking you at both a sales and support level?
• Metadata: Is your title accurate, informative, keyword optimized, and clear? Does your description include a link to a relevant resource on your website? Your video descriptions can be pretty long, so feel free to be as detailed as you like. It all helps. Viewers may only read the first lines before the ‘show more’ link appears, so ensure the first paragraph summarizes well enough to make sense.
• CTR optimization: Does your thumbnail accurately reflect the content of the video? Is it eye-catching and engaging, yet still professional?
  • Tip: Where possible, try to include a human face in your thumbnail. They tend to encourage more clicks than text or graphic-only thumbnails.
• Tags: Think of them as “keywords” not to be spammed. Video tags should be specific to each video, whilst channel tags should be broad and relate to the overall niche and seed topic.

For more tips on YouTube optimization, check out this article on YouTube SEO 101.

Consistency is key

Building a loyal audience requires consistency in uploading new content. 

Create a content calendar and establish a regular uploading schedule that aligns with your audience's expectations. Consistency builds trust and keeps your viewers engaged. 

Whether you choose to release videos weekly, biweekly, or monthly, the key is to set realistic goals and stick to them.

Collaborate with others

Collaborating with other YouTubers in your niche can help expand your reach and attract new viewers. Seek opportunities for cross-promotion or guest appearances on other channels. 

By tapping into their audience base, you can introduce your brand to a wider audience, increasing your channel's visibility and potential subscribers.

Don’t set it and forget it

Success on YouTube doesn’t come after one optimization or publishing stint. A “set it and forget it” approach is probably the reason many brand channels are languishing in the first place. 

A marketer or founder came along, set everything up, uploaded some videos and then… tumbleweed.

YouTube performance is all about iteration, consistency, engagement and topicality. Leave a long enough gap between uploads or SEO and you’ll find yourself lagging behind.

Set yourself a goal of regular uploads and checks. Assign someone to the task who has the time and the interest to keep things ticking along. Your audience deserves it.

Let your YouTube channel thrive

Reviving your YouTube channel requires dedication, strategic planning, and a commitment to producing high-quality, engaging content. 

By implementing these tips and staying consistent, you can transform your channel from a lifeless graveyard into a thriving hub of activity, attracting views and driving your brand's growth. 

Don't let your YouTube channel go to waste. Revitalize it and reap the rewards of a vibrant, engaged and lively audience.

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Microsoft Ads to launch UET Insights dashboard with new traffic data

Microsoft Ads will start collecting more website data through its Universal Event Tracking Tag to power UET Insights, a new dashboard for advertisers to launch in June.

The dashboard. Data will be available in near real-time and won’t be sampled on the new dashboard. It will include these metrics:

• Session count.
• Popular pages.
• Device breakdown.
• Country breakdown.
• Quick backs (the number of sessions where a visitor navigated to a page, then quickly returned to the previous page during the selected time period).
• Average active time.

Here’s a preview of what the UET Insights dashboard looks like:

New data signals. Additional website performance signals captured by the UET Tag will include:

• Page latencies (speed and load times).
• Click and scroll interactions.
• Purchase cart details.
• Cart abandonment details.
• Browser-based signals.
• JavaScript browser errors.

Starting June 29. That’s the date when Microsoft will automatically enable UET Insights on all existing UET tags. UET Insights will be enabled by default on all newly created tags.

Opting out. Before UET Insights is enabled:

• Complete an opt-out form by June 26 to disable the automatic upgrade.

After UET Insights is enabled:

• Disable one tag: Navigate to Tools > UET tag, select your tag. Hover over UET Insights, select the pencil icon. You’ll get a pop-up, Edit your insights setting. Set the toggle to off.
• Disable multiple tags: Go to the All Tags page, select all the tags you want and choose Disable Insights.

Why we care. Microsoft says the goal here is to help advertisers better understand user engagement and improve ad targeting. Hopefully this new data can help advertisers improve ROI and drive more traffic and conversions.

About UET Tags. Launched (then on Bing Ads) in 2014, a sitewide UET tag powers conversion tracking, remarketing and automated bidding strategies on Microsoft Ads.

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Google Search of today won’t exist in 10 years, says DeepMind co-founder

Google will look much different in 2033 – where conversation is the interface rather than the search box.

That’s according to Mustafa Suleyman, cofounder of DeepMind (which Google bought in 2014), in an interview on the No Priors Podcast.

Why we care. ChatGPT, the new Bing and Google’s new Search Generative Experience are all huge signals of a major shift in search. Clearly, nothing will change immediately. But in the coming years these changes could potentially upend the way Google – as the dominant search engine – has shaped the web and, as a byproduct, SEO and PPC.

The search dialogue. Google is “an appallingly painful” conversation right now, where the answer comes in the form of 10 blue links (though Suleyman didn’t mention all the search features and ads that also act as “answers” on today’s SERPs).

Google learns from the results people click on, how long they spend on websites and whether they come back to the search box to refine their search or click on other results. He added:

• “The problem is [Google’s] using 1980s Yellow Pages to have that conversation. And actually now we can do that conversation in fluent natural language.”

Google rewards engagement, not answers. Google has shaped content production in a way that favors optimizing for ads and rewards content creators for keeping people on pages longer, Suleyman said.

• “You go on a webpage and all the text has been broken out into sub bullets and subheaders separated by ads. You spend five to seven or 10 seconds just scrolling through the page to find the snippet of the answer that you actually wanted. But most of the time you’re just looking for a quick snippet. … that looks like high-quality content to Google and it’s ‘engaging’.”

From ‘speaking Google’ to ‘speaking to AI.’ Suleyman believes we’re nearing a point where searchers will no longer have to think “How do I change my query and write this?”

• “We’ve learned to speak Google. It’s a crazy environment. We’ve learned to Google, right? That’s just a weird lexicon that we’ve co-developed with Google over 20 years. No, now that has to stop. That’s over. That moment is done and we can now talk to computers in fluent natural language, and that is the new interface.”

Bottom line. Suleyman believes Google should be “pretty worried” that the Google search we know today won’t be the same in 10 years.

• “It’s not going to happen overnight. There’s going to be a transition. But these kind of succinct, dynamic, personalized, interactive moments are clearly the future in my opinion.”

Google CEO on Search in 10 years. In a recent interview, Google CEO Sundar Pichai was asked whether we are nearing the end of link-based search and 10 blue links. Pichai said search will be “more ambiently available to users in radically different ways” compared to today, adding:

• “I think the experience will evolve substantively over the next decade. We have to meet users in terms of what they are looking for.”

Watch the interview. The video is embedded below. Or, if you prefer, you can read the transcript.

The post Google Search of today won’t exist in 10 years, says DeepMind co-founder appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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How to do B2B content marketing the right way (with 5 examples)

Here we are over two decades into the 2000s, but bad B2B content marketing still exists.

Digital content marketing has existed for at least 10 years, but some businesses still make elementary mistakes that wreck their potential for results.

That’s a shame because most content marketers (71%) will tell you that content has only become more important over time.

Most buyers easily ignore ads and actively search out content to help them make purchase decisions (70% of buyers read at least 3-5 pieces of content before talking to a salesperson).

Truly, the businesses that do B2B content marketing right have a giant competitive advantage.

So, what does the right way look like? 

Let’s explore both sides of the coin so you can see exactly how to do content marketing the right way.

First: The wrong way to do B2B content marketing

The only way to learn the right way to do content marketing is to understand the wrong way, first. Here are six major no-nos.

1. Not creating a content marketing strategy

This is the biggest sin of content marketing.

If you’re lacking a strategy, you can’t expect consistent results. (A content strategy is a plan that maps out how you’ll create, publish, distribute, and promote content to grow your brand.)

Sure, one of your shots may land. Maybe you’ll create a blog post that gets attention. Maybe your website traffic will spike for a week. Maybe you’ll earn some leads. 

But that will come down to mostly luck. And it won’t last because you won’t have a plan in place that keeps your content consistent in quality, frequency, look/feel, and impact.

You need more than luck if you expect your content marketing to help grow your business over time. You need a plan of action. You need to create content from a place of anticipating and fulfilling user needs. 

To be effective in the long term, content marketing can’t be reactive or ad hoc. Instead, it needs to be proactive and strategic.

If content marketing is the vehicle, then content strategy is the engine. You can’t race down the road to results without it.

2. Not focusing on your target audience and customers

Many businesses start with content marketing by first thinking about themselves. What could they share? They brainstorm topics based on what’s important to them and what they know.

Huge mistake.

What they don’t realize: Your content should never be focused inwards. It doesn’t matter what you want or what the brand wants.

The vital step is to turn outwards. What does the audience want? What’s important to them? How does this intersect with what you sell?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, that’s a huge problem you can only rectify with audience research – especially by talking directly to your prospects.

Unfortunately, most businesses make the mistake of not talking to their customers:

You have an entirely different set of concerns and needs versus your audience. You can’t expect to understand their perspective out of hand. That’s guesswork.

Bottom line: Don’t rely on your assumptions about your audience. Don’t guess what’s important to them. And don’t make the mistake of only writing about what matters to you when creating content.

3. Selling versus helping

Imagine this scenario:

You have a question only Google can answer. You consult the search engine. The top result looks promising like it might have the exact information you need. You click.

You can’t read further than the headline because your screen is immediately swallowed by a pop-up asking you to subscribe. “But I haven’t even read anything yet!” you think to yourself.

You click out of the pop-up and begin to scroll, but there’s a banner ad under the first paragraph, and in the next section, the business ungracefully segues into talking about itself and its service.

Where is the information you were promised?

“Yuck,” you think. You click the “X.”

This is a prime example of selling versus helping in content – a big no-no.

Remember, readers aren’t coming to your content to read a sales pitch. They’re looking for information: answers, advice, facts, help, data.

Giving them what they need is one of the main ways you’ll build trust with them, which will lead to bigger gains if you’re consistently doing that over and over.

Content marketing is never about selling. It’s about helping above all.

4. Not promoting your content

If you post a blog and don’t promote it, does it really exist?

No. Because that blog will get zero traffic if no one knows about it. And content with zero traffic is worthless.

You need people reading your content to see any benefits from content marketing. And you’ll have a much better chance of that happening if you promote it.

This doesn’t have to be fancy. Post it on social media. Send out an email telling your subscribers about it.

Never publish something only to let it sit festering on your website. Make sure people know it’s there so they can read it, use it, love it, and ultimately draw closer to your brand because of it.

5. Not optimizing your content for search

You can’t do content marketing without SEO. And you can’t do SEO without content marketing.

They work together symbiotically in a beautiful balance.

That also means trying to do one without the other is asking for failure.

Let’s put it this way: 

• Good content is helpful, solves problems, and builds trust with your prospects.
• Good SEO ensures that people searching for your keywords can discover your content in search engines. 
• Following the rules of SEO also improves your content’s quality and the user experience on your website.

If you’re going to do B2B content marketing, don’t leave home without SEO and well-optimized content.

6. Expecting results immediately

One of the major fumbles you can make with B2B content marketing is giving up too early.

On average, it can take as long as six months to a year to start seeing results. 

This length of time will shift depending on the size of your business, your goals, and your strategy. But in every single case, content marketing does not work overnight or instantly.

It’s a slow burn to success. But once you start seeing results, they should compound over time. 

That’s because the great content you published one week ago, one month ago, and one year ago will continue to bring in traffic and leads long after their initial publish date. As long as you’re strategic, your B2B content marketing will be sustainable.

But you have to be patient to wait for that ROI (return on investment) to start appearing.

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The right way to do B2B content marketing: 5 examples

B2B content marketing done right looks like these five examples. Study these brands and their content to see the light.

Giving the people what they want: Grammarly

Grammarly knows its audience and creates blog topics that match the questions they’re asking in Google. 

That means the brand is not creating posts like “the best editing app for your business” or “why you need an editing app.” 

For example, this blog on how to write collaboratively speaks to professionals and students, Grammarly's target audience. This is a topic they actually struggle with, especially in our world of remote work and Zoom meetings.

Grammarly also creates content to answer common grammar questions people search for such as “when to use over vs. more than” or “when to use who vs. whom.” Grammarly is outwardly focused on what its target audience needs and wants from its content.

Consistency matters: Orbit Media

A regular cadence of content going out on your blog is important for consistency, but so is updating old content so it remains fresh and relevant.

Orbit Media does this well with their blogging survey, which they update with new data and insights every year.

Note that this is a complete update, too. They have resent the survey, collected and compiled the answers, and analyzed them for insights every year since 2014. Then they rewrite the post and update the graphics. Now that’s consistent.

Winning at optimization: Zapier

To see a winning combination of content + SEO, look at Zapier. 

Zapier makes automation software, but they’re ranking for terms like “best to-do lists” and “AI image generator.” How? Why?

Zapier integrates with apps like these. That’s how they make relevant content for seemingly random keywords.

However, the point is that it works – the company ranks highly for these keywords and pulls in nearly 1 million in traffic monthly, as this case study shows.

Helping vs. selling: LendingClub

LendingClub offers customers personal and business loans, banking, and investing services. Their blog content is a great example of helping vs. selling.

The emphasis is on education, and when services are mentioned, it’s discreet and relevant to the discussed topic.

A giant of B2B content marketing: HubSpot

HubSpot is a giant in their industry for many reasons, but a major one is its content marketing.

With a vast, robust, consistent blog that produces targeted, high-quality content, plus a strategy that rakes in subscribers and leads with “content upgrades,” it’s no wonder this brand pulls in over six million people to its website annually. (This Sumo report shows just how staggering HubSpot’s success is.)

It’s time to do B2B content marketing the right way

If you long to see the types of results enjoyed by the top B2B brands doing content marketing, know that it’s not out of reach.

What do you need to do, most of all?

Commit.

Content marketing takes a commitment of the highest order to work.

You need to be committed to a strategy, committed to your audience, committed to quality, and committed to being patient as you wait for ROI.

But that commitment is worth it because content marketing is profitable, affordable, sustainable, and what customers want to see from brands.

You just have to do it the right way.

The post How to do B2B content marketing the right way (with 5 examples) appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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