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Meta's latest feature, dubbed "topic tags," introduces a fresh avenue for users to explore and discover brands.

<p>Meta&#8217;s Threads now has its own version of hashtags. </p>



<p>Meta calls this new feature &#8220;topic tags&#8221;, emphasizing its difference from hashtags by prioritizing community focus. Topic tags are now accessible to all users worldwide to enhance search functionality within the app.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care. </strong>While ads are not currently available on Threads (though they are coming soon), marketers can still engage with users and enhance brand awareness by creating profiles and generating organic traffic. The use of topic tags simplifies the process for users to discover your posts and engage with your brand.</p>



<p><strong>How topic tags work. </strong>Topic tags have some fundamental differences to hashtags, which are offered on its sister platform Instagram:</p>



<ul>
<li>As topic tags are not hashtags, brands will not be required to add the &#8220;#&#8221; symbol when adding tags.</li>



<li>Topic tags support phrases with spaces.</li>



<li>Topic tags support special characters.</li>



<li>Only one tag is permitted per post.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Why topic tags?</strong> Threads is working to enhance the quality of its communities by introducing a new tagging approach, moving away from engagement hacking. Meta is confident that the introduction of topic tags will contribute to this goal while maintaining a user-friendly platform.</p>



<p><strong>What Threads is saying.</strong> Instagram boss&nbsp;<a href="https://www.threads.net/@mosseri/post/C0j585AvsJq">Adam Mosseri</a> said on Threads:</p>



<ul>
<li>&#8220;If you share on Threads, this is a great way to connect with people who are interested in the topics that you are taking about.&#8221; </li>



<li>&#8220;For everyone, it&#8217;s a great way to dive deeper into your interests. This is just one step on a much longer path to building a space that really fosters healthy conversation.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



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<p><strong>Deep dive</strong>. Read Search Engine Land&#8217;s <a href="https://searchengineland.com/threads-meta-faq-marketers-429274" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Threads FAQ</a> guide for more information on how the platform works and the benefits it has for advertisers.</p>

Meta’s Threads now has its own version of hashtags. 
Meta calls this new feature “topic tags”, emphasizing its difference from hashtags by prioritizing community focus. Topic tags are now accessible to all users worldwide to enhance search functionality within the app.
Why we care. While ads are not currently available on Threads (though they are coming soon), marketers can still engage with users and enhance brand awareness by creating profiles and generating organic traffic. The use of topic tags simplifies the process for users to discover your posts and engage with your brand.
How topic tags work. Topic tags have some fundamental differences to hashtags, which are offered on its sister platform Instagram:
As topic tags are not hashtags, brands will not be required to add the “#” symbol when adding tags.
Topic tags support phrases with spaces.
Topic tags support special characters.
Only one tag is permitted per post.
Why topic tags? Threads is working to enhance the quality of its communities by introducing a new tagging approach, moving away from engagement hacking. Meta is confident that the introduction of topic tags will contribute to this goal while maintaining a user-friendly platform.
What Threads is saying. Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said on Threads:
“If you share on Threads, this is a great way to connect with people who are interested in the topics that you are taking about.” 
“For everyone, it’s a great way to dive deeper into your interests. This is just one step on a much longer path to building a space that really fosters healthy conversation.”

					
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See terms.
Deep dive. Read Search Engine Land’s Threads FAQ guide for more information on how the platform works and the benefits it has for advertisers.

Threads now has its own version of hashtags

Boost your agency's performance with these 10 tools for streamlining workflows, automating tasks and driving PPC campaign success.

<p>Having the right tools is crucial for agencies navigating the dynamic PPC landscape.</p>



<p>In this article, I will provide an in-depth look at the top 10 tools that have been indispensable in the growth of my agency. </p>



<p>These tools have streamlined our processes and have been instrumental in driving successful digital marketing campaigns.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-google-product-suite">1. Google Product Suite</h2>



<p>The Google product suite covers many products, but we use Slides, Sheets and Docs the most. I felt like these suites could be categorized as one tool even though, technically, there are multiple. </p>



<p>Google Sheets is a standout among Google&#8217;s offerings, and its impact on our daily operations cannot be overstated.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The real-time collaboration feature has been a game-changer, eliminating the hassles of managing multiple versions of Excel documents.&nbsp;</p>



<p>In the early days, we grappled with confusing filenames like &#8220;example_excel_doc_FINAL_11-14,&#8221; leading to potential errors. Google Sheets has eradicated these frustrations, allowing seamless collaboration and simplifying data management.</p>



<p>Google Docs allows us to cross-collaborate instantaneously, both internally and externally. Having one digital document allows us to create a digital paper trail for all status docs, reports, etc.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Google Slides is a no-brainer. We always use this for reporting and ad hoc requests and have a custom theme for our internal usage.&nbsp;It is a great way to visualize and control the talk track.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-dataslayer">2. DataSlayer</h2>



<p>DataSlayer has emerged as a robust alternative to SuperMetrics, particularly its integration capabilities and overall functionality. Leveraging the Google Sheets product, we seamlessly connect channels like Meta, Google, TikTok, and Shopify into a unified dashboard.&nbsp;</p>



<p>This enhances efficiency and enables us to create client-friendly dashboards, simplifying the reporting process. There are a lot of reporting tools, but none that offer the level of customization we require. </p>



<p>We tap into many different platforms that all need to be aggregated to a full view of all managed marketing channels. DataSlayer is one of the most affordable, flexible solutions we have found.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/free-tools-ppc-campaign-management-430520">11 free tools for PPC campaign management</a></em></strong></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-zapier">3. Zapier</h2>



<p>Zapier, often overlooked, is a powerhouse of automation. Its broad spectrum of built-in functionalities has left us consistently impressed.&nbsp;</p>



<p>From the seamless automation of repetitive tasks to establishing connections between disparate tools, Zapier has become an integral part of our streamlined workflows.&nbsp;</p>



<p>One of its standout features is its support for an expansive digital ecosystem of over 5,000 apps, allowing flexibility in customizing workflows to suit our unique needs.&nbsp;</p>



<p>We have used it to integrate with CRM systems, synchronize data across platforms, and send automated emails. It&#8217;s a tool that deserves more attention and recognition in the PPC community for its transformative impact on efficiency.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-google-analytics-4">4. Google Analytics 4</h2>



<p>Critics may voice their opinions, but <a href="https://searchengineland.com/how-to-use-google-analytics-4-guide-431630">Google Analytics</a> remains a standard in the analytics realm. Its tracking capabilities and seamless integrations provide businesses with a wealth of data, especially small to medium-sized ones.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Understanding where your traffic is coming from, the devices, and locations from a holistic perspective can help drive business outcomes.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-downnotifier">5. DownNotifier</h2>



<p>DownNotifier is particularly valuable for agency owners. As part of our onboarding process, we&#8217;ve implemented automatic alerts that notify us when a client&#8217;s website is down.&nbsp;</p>



<p>This proved pivotal during a recent Shopify outage, allowing us to promptly inform the client and pause PPC campaigns to mitigate wasted spend.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The proactive approach to downtime management has proven to be a strategic advantage. The best part is that it’s a totally free service and takes virtually no time to set up. </p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-6-canva">6. Canva</h2>



<p>For a team that leans more toward platform expertise than creative flair, Canva has become an indispensable tool. </p>



<p>Its remarkably intuitive platform serves as a game-changer, enabling us to craft visually stunning advertisements tailored for clients with limited creative capabilities.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Canva&#8217;s role extends beyond mere design – it catalyzes kickstarting social campaigns by offering an array of templates, graphics, fonts and AI customization options. All of this expedites our process of getting new campaigns launched.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-7-rich-data-tester">7. Rich Data Tester</h2>



<p>Hailing from Google, the Rich Data Tester is a valuable asset for troubleshooting issues in the Google Merchant Center or SEO.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Those versed in structured data find this tool helpful in gaining insights into how the Googlebot perceives a website. It aids in fine-tuning elements critical to visibility and performance.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-merchant-center-using-product-data-to-boost-your-retail-efforts-435466">Google Merchant Center</a> often gives errors like price mismatch, and when we use the Rich Data Tester, we can see what the robots see. </p>



<p>In many cases, the structured data is deployed in a way that confuses the bots.&nbsp;Your website needs to be converted to standardized languages that search engines can read. This will help you in all facets of marketing.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-8-google-keyword-planner">8. Google Keyword Planner</h2>



<p>Keyword Planner has stood the test of time as an essential tool for anyone managing PPC campaigns. Despite evolving over the past decade, it remains one of the most reliable keyword research tools. </p>



<p>In the era of broad match keywords, it is a foundational resource for identifying high-volume keywords and gauging their relevance.&nbsp;</p>



<p>We frequently use this tool to focus on keywords with some volume level and forecast performance for clients using a blend of Google data, client data, and industry benchmarks.&nbsp;</p>



<p>This often creates a somewhat accurate prediction of investment and performance.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-9-chatgpt">9. ChatGPT</h2>



<p>It&#8217;s challenging to understate the value of ChatGPT in our daily operations. The buzz around this AI tool is well-founded, as it has been a true game-changer.&nbsp;</p>



<p>As teams become comfortable with the prompts, ChatGPT accelerates the creation of entire accounts, generating keywords, crafting ad copy, and designing landing pages in remarkably short time frames.&nbsp;</p>



<p>We’re exploring how to connect ChatGPT to other platforms like Zapier to grow the power exponentially.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: </em></strong><a href="https://searchengineland.com/chatgpt-boost-ppc-efforts-431370"><strong><em>How to use ChatGPT to boost your PPC efforts</em></strong>&nbsp;</a></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-10-google-tag-manager">10. Google Tag Manager</h2>



<p>One of the biggest challenges we get, especially when onboarding, is making sure that we are tracking and measuring the success of our campaigns.&nbsp;</p>



<p><a href="https://searchengineland.com/how-to-set-up-google-analytics-4-using-google-tag-manager-374584">Google Tag Manager</a> is a godsend, especially if you know how to use it. You can track pretty much anything and everything that happens on-site. We can create condition-specific triggers and fire-specific conversions.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Even now, we still see a lot of clients who do not have the proper tracking setup. In some cases, companies spend and report on impressions, clicks and costs. One thing that we always try to push onto our clients is measurability. It keeps marketing directionally accountable for their campaigns&#8217; investment and performance. </p>



<p>These tools have been instrumental in the growth of our agency. We use all of these tools every single day. These platforms allow us to deliver, manage and scale our business and clients. </p>



<p>I wonder how the rapid growth of AI and the exponential capabilities of technology will further improve and possibly replace some of the need for these tools.&nbsp;</p>

Having the right tools is crucial for agencies navigating the dynamic PPC landscape.
In this article, I will provide an in-depth look at the top 10 tools that have been indispensable in the growth of my agency. 
These tools have streamlined our processes and have been instrumental in driving successful digital marketing campaigns. 
1. Google Product Suite
The Google product suite covers many products, but we use Slides, Sheets and Docs the most. I felt like these suites could be categorized as one tool even though, technically, there are multiple. 
Google Sheets is a standout among Google’s offerings, and its impact on our daily operations cannot be overstated. 
The real-time collaboration feature has been a game-changer, eliminating the hassles of managing multiple versions of Excel documents. 
In the early days, we grappled with confusing filenames like “example_excel_doc_FINAL_11-14,” leading to potential errors. Google Sheets has eradicated these frustrations, allowing seamless collaboration and simplifying data management.
Google Docs allows us to cross-collaborate instantaneously, both internally and externally. Having one digital document allows us to create a digital paper trail for all status docs, reports, etc. 
Google Slides is a no-brainer. We always use this for reporting and ad hoc requests and have a custom theme for our internal usage. It is a great way to visualize and control the talk track.
2. DataSlayer
DataSlayer has emerged as a robust alternative to SuperMetrics, particularly its integration capabilities and overall functionality. Leveraging the Google Sheets product, we seamlessly connect channels like Meta, Google, TikTok, and Shopify into a unified dashboard. 
This enhances efficiency and enables us to create client-friendly dashboards, simplifying the reporting process. There are a lot of reporting tools, but none that offer the level of customization we require. 
We tap into many different platforms that all need to be aggregated to a full view of all managed marketing channels. DataSlayer is one of the most affordable, flexible solutions we have found.
Dig deeper: 11 free tools for PPC campaign management
3. Zapier
Zapier, often overlooked, is a powerhouse of automation. Its broad spectrum of built-in functionalities has left us consistently impressed. 
From the seamless automation of repetitive tasks to establishing connections between disparate tools, Zapier has become an integral part of our streamlined workflows. 
One of its standout features is its support for an expansive digital ecosystem of over 5,000 apps, allowing flexibility in customizing workflows to suit our unique needs. 
We have used it to integrate with CRM systems, synchronize data across platforms, and send automated emails. It’s a tool that deserves more attention and recognition in the PPC community for its transformative impact on efficiency. 
4. Google Analytics 4
Critics may voice their opinions, but Google Analytics remains a standard in the analytics realm. Its tracking capabilities and seamless integrations provide businesses with a wealth of data, especially small to medium-sized ones. 
Understanding where your traffic is coming from, the devices, and locations from a holistic perspective can help drive business outcomes.
5. DownNotifier
DownNotifier is particularly valuable for agency owners. As part of our onboarding process, we’ve implemented automatic alerts that notify us when a client’s website is down. 
This proved pivotal during a recent Shopify outage, allowing us to promptly inform the client and pause PPC campaigns to mitigate wasted spend. 
The proactive approach to downtime management has proven to be a strategic advantage. The best part is that it’s a totally free service and takes virtually no time to set up. 

					
Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.
Business email address
							
						

							Subscribe
							 Processing...
						
See terms.
6. Canva
For a team that leans more toward platform expertise than creative flair, Canva has become an indispensable tool. 
Its remarkably intuitive platform serves as a game-changer, enabling us to craft visually stunning advertisements tailored for clients with limited creative capabilities. 
Canva’s role extends beyond mere design – it catalyzes kickstarting social campaigns by offering an array of templates, graphics, fonts and AI customization options. All of this expedites our process of getting new campaigns launched.
7. Rich Data Tester
Hailing from Google, the Rich Data Tester is a valuable asset for troubleshooting issues in the Google Merchant Center or SEO. 
Those versed in structured data find this tool helpful in gaining insights into how the Googlebot perceives a website. It aids in fine-tuning elements critical to visibility and performance. 
The Google Merchant Center often gives errors like price mismatch, and when we use the Rich Data Tester, we can see what the robots see. 
In many cases, the structured data is deployed in a way that confuses the bots. Your website needs to be converted to standardized languages that search engines can read. This will help you in all facets of marketing. 
8. Google Keyword Planner
Keyword Planner has stood the test of time as an essential tool for anyone managing PPC campaigns. Despite evolving over the past decade, it remains one of the most reliable keyword research tools. 
In the era of broad match keywords, it is a foundational resource for identifying high-volume keywords and gauging their relevance. 
We frequently use this tool to focus on keywords with some volume level and forecast performance for clients using a blend of Google data, client data, and industry benchmarks. 
This often creates a somewhat accurate prediction of investment and performance. 
9. ChatGPT
It’s challenging to understate the value of ChatGPT in our daily operations. The buzz around this AI tool is well-founded, as it has been a true game-changer. 
As teams become comfortable with the prompts, ChatGPT accelerates the creation of entire accounts, generating keywords, crafting ad copy, and designing landing pages in remarkably short time frames. 
We’re exploring how to connect ChatGPT to other platforms like Zapier to grow the power exponentially.
Dig deeper: How to use ChatGPT to boost your PPC efforts 
10. Google Tag Manager
One of the biggest challenges we get, especially when onboarding, is making sure that we are tracking and measuring the success of our campaigns. 
Google Tag Manager is a godsend, especially if you know how to use it. You can track pretty much anything and everything that happens on-site. We can create condition-specific triggers and fire-specific conversions. 
Even now, we still see a lot of clients who do not have the proper tracking setup. In some cases, companies spend and report on impressions, clicks and costs. One thing that we always try to push onto our clients is measurability. It keeps marketing directionally accountable for their campaigns’ investment and performance. 
These tools have been instrumental in the growth of our agency. We use all of these tools every single day. These platforms allow us to deliver, manage and scale our business and clients. 
I wonder how the rapid growth of AI and the exponential capabilities of technology will further improve and possibly replace some of the need for these tools.

Top 10 tools for PPC agencies

GA4 now has reports for Search Ads 360, Campaign Manager 360, Display &#038; Video 360, for easier data analysis.

<p>Reports that enable users to evaluate the traffic-driving and conversion effectiveness of campaigns implemented in Google Search Ads 360, Campaign Manager 360, and Display &amp; Video 360 are now available in Google Analytics 4.  </p>



<p><a href="https://support.google.com/searchads/answer/1187512?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Search Ads 360</a> is a search management platform. It supports campaigns on Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Baidu, and Yahoo Japan. </p>



<p><a href="https://support.google.com/campaignmanager/answer/2709362?hl=en#:~:text=Campaign%20Manager%20360%20is%20a,targeting%2C%20verification%2C%20and%20reporting." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Campaign Manager 360</a> is a campaign management tool for ads placed on websites and mobile platforms that manages ad serving, targeting, verification, and reporting.</p>



<p><a href="https://support.google.com/displayvideo/answer/9059464?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Display &amp; Video 360</a> facilitates ad creation, audience data management, purchasing inventory, and optimizing campaigns.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> Analyzing the effectiveness of campaigns should be easier by integrating <a href="https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9164320#120723">these reports</a> in GA 4. That should lead to better results for advertisers. </p>



<p><strong>Getting started.</strong> Once you integrate your 360 ad platforms, you can find the new GA4 reports by choosing the specific integration summary card in the Acquisition overview report. For instance, if you integrate with Display &amp; Video 360, you&#8217;ll find &#8220;View Display &amp; Video 360 campaigns,&#8221; leading to the new Display &amp; Video 360 report:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" width="462" height="600" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/12/View-Display-Video-360-campaigns-report-462x600.png" alt="" class="wp-image-435587" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/12/View-Display-Video-360-campaigns-report-462x600.png 462w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/12/View-Display-Video-360-campaigns-report-260x338.png 260w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/12/View-Display-Video-360-campaigns-report-87x113.png 87w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/12/View-Display-Video-360-campaigns-report.png 476w" sizes="(max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px" /></figure>



<p>If you unlink a buying platform from your property, you can still access the relevant report through the Acquisition overview report to continue analyzing historical data.</p>



<p><strong>New traffic source dimensions.</strong> For the new acquisition reports, Google has introduced additional traffic source dimensions. These dimensions are accessible when the 360 platforms are linked and applied at the event, session, and user levels.</p>



<p>This update enables you to utilize cross-channel dimensions  for comprehending cross-channel acquisition data, such as:</p>



<ul>
<li>Source: This is where your traffic comes from, for example Google (a search engine), Facebook (referring site), direct (users who inputted your URL) or spring_newsletter (one of your newsletters).</li>



<li>First user source: This indicates the primary sources of first-time visitors to your site. For instance, if the first user source is &#8220;organic,&#8221; it means these are users who arrived at your website or app for the first time through an organic search, like Google.</li>



<li>Session source: This shows you the most common primary sources for a set of user interactions on your website that occur within a specific time period.</li>
</ul>



<p>Additionally, you can leverage integration-specific dimensions like SA360 source, SA360 session source, and SA360 first user source to examine acquisition data for a specific buying platform to help you better understand where your traffic is coming from.</p>



<p><strong>GA4 AdSense integration improvements</strong>. You can now link GA4 properties with AdSense accounts within Analytics. If you&#8217;re using GA4 subproperties or roll-up properties, you can establish links between those properties and AdSense accounts, separate from the source properties.</p>



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<p><strong>Deep dive. </strong>Read Google&#8217;s <a href="https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/11085214" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Search Ads 360 integration</a> guide for more information on the process and benefits of linking your GA4 property to your Search Ads 360 advertiser.</p>

Reports that enable users to evaluate the traffic-driving and conversion effectiveness of campaigns implemented in Google Search Ads 360, Campaign Manager 360, and Display & Video 360 are now available in Google Analytics 4.  
Search Ads 360 is a search management platform. It supports campaigns on Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Baidu, and Yahoo Japan. 
Campaign Manager 360 is a campaign management tool for ads placed on websites and mobile platforms that manages ad serving, targeting, verification, and reporting.
Display & Video 360 facilitates ad creation, audience data management, purchasing inventory, and optimizing campaigns.
Why we care. Analyzing the effectiveness of campaigns should be easier by integrating these reports in GA 4. That should lead to better results for advertisers. 
Getting started. Once you integrate your 360 ad platforms, you can find the new GA4 reports by choosing the specific integration summary card in the Acquisition overview report. For instance, if you integrate with Display & Video 360, you’ll find “View Display & Video 360 campaigns,” leading to the new Display & Video 360 report:




If you unlink a buying platform from your property, you can still access the relevant report through the Acquisition overview report to continue analyzing historical data.
New traffic source dimensions. For the new acquisition reports, Google has introduced additional traffic source dimensions. These dimensions are accessible when the 360 platforms are linked and applied at the event, session, and user levels.
This update enables you to utilize cross-channel dimensions  for comprehending cross-channel acquisition data, such as:
Source: This is where your traffic comes from, for example Google (a search engine), Facebook (referring site), direct (users who inputted your URL) or spring_newsletter (one of your newsletters).
First user source: This indicates the primary sources of first-time visitors to your site. For instance, if the first user source is “organic,” it means these are users who arrived at your website or app for the first time through an organic search, like Google.
Session source: This shows you the most common primary sources for a set of user interactions on your website that occur within a specific time period.
Additionally, you can leverage integration-specific dimensions like SA360 source, SA360 session source, and SA360 first user source to examine acquisition data for a specific buying platform to help you better understand where your traffic is coming from.
GA4 AdSense integration improvements. You can now link GA4 properties with AdSense accounts within Analytics. If you’re using GA4 subproperties or roll-up properties, you can establish links between those properties and AdSense accounts, separate from the source properties.

					
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Deep dive. Read Google’s Search Ads 360 integration guide for more information on the process and benefits of linking your GA4 property to your Search Ads 360 advertiser.

GA4 now has reports for Search Ads 360, Campaign Manager 360, Display & Video 360, for easier data analysis.

Google Analytics 4 rolls out new reports for linked 360 campaigns

Explore the benefits, drawbacks and best practices around using branded and competitor keywords in your PPC campaigns.

<p>Bidding on branded and competitor keywords in <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-paid-search">PPC</a> can help protect your brand and steal competitors&#8217; traffic, but should you do it? This article will look at when there is a case for and against using them.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-types-of-brand-and-competitor-keywords-are-there">What types of brand and competitor keywords are there?</h2>



<p>Brand and competitor keywords have four variations:</p>



<ul>
<li>Your own business brand.</li>



<li>Your competitor&#8217;s business brand.</li>



<li>Third-party brands that you sell.</li>



<li>Third-party brands that you do not sell but directly compete with the brands that you do.</li>
</ul>



<p>For example, if we put that into an actual situation, it might look like:</p>



<ul>
<li>Space NK: Your own business brand</li>



<li>Sephora: The competitor business brand</li>



<li>Aveda, Cowshed, and Elemis: Third-party brands that are stocked</li>



<li>bareMinerals, Chanel, Bobbi Brown: Third-party brands that are not stocked</li>
</ul>



<p>This article will focus on bidding on the business brands.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/why-invest-branded-keywords-386220">Why you should invest in branded keywords even if your company ranks #1 on Google</a></em></strong></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-are-the-benefits-and-drawbacks-of-bidding-on-brand-terms">What are the benefits and drawbacks of bidding on brand terms?</h2>



<p>Bidding on brand terms in paid search advertising has both benefits and drawbacks:</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-benefits">Benefits</h3>



<ul>
<li>Protect your brand position and take that Position 1 search result.</li>



<li>Avoid loss of branded traffic to competitors.</li>



<li>Increase trust by having a paid and organic presence, also helping you dominate the search results.</li>



<li>Stronger conversion rates will be seen through branded ads, which can improve account performance data. It also lets you nudge potential customers over the line.</li>



<li>More control over how the brand ad is positioned. While organic may be a free promotion, you have limited control over how the search listing appears and which page the user is directed to. Through paid search, you can customize the ad messaging.</li>



<li>Create ease for your customers looking for your brand.</li>



<li>Choose where customers land on your website. For example, if you want cart abandoners to land directly into the cart if they return within a certain time frame.</li>



<li>Cheaper cost per click (CPC), meaning you can drive more website traffic within your budget.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-drawbacks">Drawbacks</h3>



<ul>
<li>Paying for traffic that is searching for you anyway. It can be frustrating to pay for branded traffic, but without doing so, you may lose that traffic to competitors.</li>



<li>Doesn’t support new customer acquisition, as users are already familiar with your brand.</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-are-the-benefits-and-drawbacks-of-bidding-on-competitor-terms">What are the benefits and drawbacks of bidding on competitor terms?</h2>



<p>On the other hand, bidding on competitor terms in paid search advertising also comes with its set of benefits and drawbacks.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-benefits-0">Benefits</h3>



<ul>
<li>Increase your brand visibility and awareness. Even if the user doesn’t click, it plants you in their minds.</li>



<li>Hijack traffic and sales from your competitors.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-drawbacks-0">Drawbacks</h3>



<ul>
<li>It can drive up CPC as it increases competition for the terms.</li>



<li>Lower quality scores as your ad relevance will be low, leading to higher CPCs and lower ad delivery.</li>



<li>Lower click-through rates.</li>



<li>Lower conversion rates.</li>



<li>It can cause retaliatory bidding on your own brand.</li>
</ul>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-to-bid-on-brand-and-competitor-terms">When to bid on brand and competitor terms</h2>



<p>Deciding when to bid on brand and competitor terms in your paid search strategy depends on your specific business goals, competition landscape, and overall marketing strategy. Here are some considerations:&nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-competitors-are-also-bidding-on-your-brand">When competitors are also bidding on your brand</h3>



<ul>
<li>If a competitor starts bidding on your brand terms and you do not have an advertising presence, your organic listing is not always enough. In this scenario, you may start losing brand traffic to competitors.&nbsp;</li>



<li>By launching your own brand ads, you can protect your brand position and traffic. Your competitors will have low ad relevance, so you can take back the top position by launching your own ad.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-you-have-been-running-branding-activity-in-other-channels">When you have been running branding activity in other channels</h3>



<ul>
<li>If you have been driving budget into brand awareness activity, you want to ensure that you capitalize on the increased brand searches this should be driving.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-you-want-to-target-specific-audience-sets">When you want to target specific audience sets</h3>



<ul>
<li>Using branded and competitor terms in conjunction with remarketing audiences can help you customize your ad message and landing pages. This can increase the likelihood of clicks and conversions.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-if-you-have-a-generic-brand-name">If you have a generic brand name</h3>



<ul>
<li>If your brand name has multiple meanings or you share the name with other brands in different industries (e.g., Monday, Domino’s), you may struggle to rank organically. Bidding on your brand terms can help you combat this and show up more prominently and frequently.&nbsp;</li>



<li>It won’t combat all of the issues of shared brand names if the other brands are also bidding, but it will give you a better opportunity to appear.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/solving-an-age-old-seo-ppc-issue-how-to-bid-on-your-brand-name-based-on-incrementality-341368">Solving an age-old SEO-PPC issue: How to bid on your brand name based on incrementali</a>ty</em></strong></p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-you-may-not-need-or-want-to-bid-on-brand-and-competitor-terms">When you may not need or want to bid on brand and competitor terms</h2>



<p>There are scenarios where bidding on brand and competitor terms may not be necessary or desirable. Here are some situations when you might choose to avoid bidding on these terms:</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-there-is-no-competition-bidding-for-your-brand">When there is no competition bidding for your brand</h3>



<ul>
<li>If there is no competitor bidding and you hold the top organic position, your budget may be better placed elsewhere.&nbsp;</li>



<li>You can check competitor bidding activity using the <a href="https://searchengineland.com/auction-insights-ppc-competitor-analysis-435184">Auction Insights</a> and Ad Preview and Diagnosis tools.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-if-you-have-a-mutual-agreement-with-your-competitors">If you have a mutual agreement with your competitors</h3>



<ul>
<li>Where relations are friendly there are sometimes agreements in place to not bid on each other&#8217;s brand names.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-if-your-offer-is-not-unique-competitive-or-compelling">If your offer is not unique, competitive or compelling</h3>



<ul>
<li>In this instance, you may not have the pull to draw clicks away from the competition if users are already searching for them.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-if-you-have-a-poor-conversion-rate">If you have a poor conversion rate</h3>



<ul>
<li>Suppose your conversion rate is poor for your existing brand, organic or direct traffic. In that case, you will be better placed investing in improving this before attempting to bid on competitor terms.</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-keep-in-mind-if-you-do-decide-to-bid">What to keep in mind if you do decide to bid</h2>



<p>If you decide to bid on brand and competitor terms in your paid search campaigns, it&#8217;s important to keep several key considerations in mind:</p>



<ul>
<li><strong>Ensure you don’t overpay for the traffic</strong>. Test different bidding strategies. I have found Maximize Clicks to be the most effective, but it does vary per brand.</li>



<li><strong>Add negative keywords</strong>. You don’t want to be paying for traffic looking for where to send complaints or jobs, for example.</li>



<li><strong>Be clever with which competitor keywords you target</strong>. For example, people searching for competitors&#8217; reviews or alternatives.</li>



<li><strong>Use audience observations</strong>. Observe your site traffic and customers if you are bidding on competitors. </li>



<li><strong>Consider and adjust your regular settings</strong>, like ad schedules.</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-pros-and-cons-of-bidding-on-branded-and-competitor-keywords">The pros and cons of bidding on branded and competitor keywords</h2>



<p>Brand and competitor keywords can be important to your paid search strategy. You should review your competitors&#8217; activity, business objectives and position to decide whether bidding is right for your brand.</p>



<p>In addition to keywords on the search network, you can also consider how your ads appear for brand and competitor searches in shopping ads and how you can use competitors to build custom segments.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/ppc-bidding-on-a-budget-tips-428853">5 tips for effective PPC bidding on a budget</a></em></strong></p>

Bidding on branded and competitor keywords in PPC can help protect your brand and steal competitors’ traffic, but should you do it? This article will look at when there is a case for and against using them.
What types of brand and competitor keywords are there?
Brand and competitor keywords have four variations:
Your own business brand.
Your competitor’s business brand.
Third-party brands that you sell.
Third-party brands that you do not sell but directly compete with the brands that you do.
For example, if we put that into an actual situation, it might look like:
Space NK: Your own business brand
Sephora: The competitor business brand
Aveda, Cowshed, and Elemis: Third-party brands that are stocked
bareMinerals, Chanel, Bobbi Brown: Third-party brands that are not stocked
This article will focus on bidding on the business brands.
Dig deeper: Why you should invest in branded keywords even if your company ranks #1 on Google
What are the benefits and drawbacks of bidding on brand terms?
Bidding on brand terms in paid search advertising has both benefits and drawbacks:
Benefits
Protect your brand position and take that Position 1 search result.
Avoid loss of branded traffic to competitors.
Increase trust by having a paid and organic presence, also helping you dominate the search results.
Stronger conversion rates will be seen through branded ads, which can improve account performance data. It also lets you nudge potential customers over the line.
More control over how the brand ad is positioned. While organic may be a free promotion, you have limited control over how the search listing appears and which page the user is directed to. Through paid search, you can customize the ad messaging.
Create ease for your customers looking for your brand.
Choose where customers land on your website. For example, if you want cart abandoners to land directly into the cart if they return within a certain time frame.
Cheaper cost per click (CPC), meaning you can drive more website traffic within your budget.
Drawbacks
Paying for traffic that is searching for you anyway. It can be frustrating to pay for branded traffic, but without doing so, you may lose that traffic to competitors.
Doesn’t support new customer acquisition, as users are already familiar with your brand.
What are the benefits and drawbacks of bidding on competitor terms?
On the other hand, bidding on competitor terms in paid search advertising also comes with its set of benefits and drawbacks.
Benefits
Increase your brand visibility and awareness. Even if the user doesn’t click, it plants you in their minds.
Hijack traffic and sales from your competitors.
Drawbacks
It can drive up CPC as it increases competition for the terms.
Lower quality scores as your ad relevance will be low, leading to higher CPCs and lower ad delivery.
Lower click-through rates.
Lower conversion rates.
It can cause retaliatory bidding on your own brand.

					
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When to bid on brand and competitor terms
Deciding when to bid on brand and competitor terms in your paid search strategy depends on your specific business goals, competition landscape, and overall marketing strategy. Here are some considerations: 
When competitors are also bidding on your brand
If a competitor starts bidding on your brand terms and you do not have an advertising presence, your organic listing is not always enough. In this scenario, you may start losing brand traffic to competitors. 
By launching your own brand ads, you can protect your brand position and traffic. Your competitors will have low ad relevance, so you can take back the top position by launching your own ad.
When you have been running branding activity in other channels
If you have been driving budget into brand awareness activity, you want to ensure that you capitalize on the increased brand searches this should be driving. 
When you want to target specific audience sets
Using branded and competitor terms in conjunction with remarketing audiences can help you customize your ad message and landing pages. This can increase the likelihood of clicks and conversions.
If you have a generic brand name
If your brand name has multiple meanings or you share the name with other brands in different industries (e.g., Monday, Domino’s), you may struggle to rank organically. Bidding on your brand terms can help you combat this and show up more prominently and frequently. 
It won’t combat all of the issues of shared brand names if the other brands are also bidding, but it will give you a better opportunity to appear.
Dig deeper: Solving an age-old SEO-PPC issue: How to bid on your brand name based on incrementality
When you may not need or want to bid on brand and competitor terms
There are scenarios where bidding on brand and competitor terms may not be necessary or desirable. Here are some situations when you might choose to avoid bidding on these terms:
When there is no competition bidding for your brand
If there is no competitor bidding and you hold the top organic position, your budget may be better placed elsewhere. 
You can check competitor bidding activity using the Auction Insights and Ad Preview and Diagnosis tools.
If you have a mutual agreement with your competitors
Where relations are friendly there are sometimes agreements in place to not bid on each other’s brand names.
If your offer is not unique, competitive or compelling
In this instance, you may not have the pull to draw clicks away from the competition if users are already searching for them.
If you have a poor conversion rate
Suppose your conversion rate is poor for your existing brand, organic or direct traffic. In that case, you will be better placed investing in improving this before attempting to bid on competitor terms.
What to keep in mind if you do decide to bid
If you decide to bid on brand and competitor terms in your paid search campaigns, it’s important to keep several key considerations in mind:
Ensure you don’t overpay for the traffic. Test different bidding strategies. I have found Maximize Clicks to be the most effective, but it does vary per brand.
Add negative keywords. You don’t want to be paying for traffic looking for where to send complaints or jobs, for example.
Be clever with which competitor keywords you target. For example, people searching for competitors’ reviews or alternatives.
Use audience observations. Observe your site traffic and customers if you are bidding on competitors. 
Consider and adjust your regular settings, like ad schedules.
The pros and cons of bidding on branded and competitor keywords
Brand and competitor keywords can be important to your paid search strategy. You should review your competitors’ activity, business objectives and position to decide whether bidding is right for your brand.
In addition to keywords on the search network, you can also consider how your ads appear for brand and competitor searches in shopping ads and how you can use competitors to build custom segments.
Dig deeper: 5 tips for effective PPC bidding on a budget

When to use branded and competitor keywords in PPC

Unlike ChatGPT and Bard, Elon Musk's new chatbot can incorporate real-time knowledge into its responses.

<p>X is rolling out its ChatGPT rival, Grok, to Premium+ subscribers.</p>



<p>Grok was developed by xAI, the artificial intelligence venture founded by Elon Musk in July 2023. It is available to users in the U.S.  Availability in other countries is expected soon.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care. </strong>Generative AI is now a crucial tool for SEO and PPC marketers. Industry experts have so far given positive feedback regarding Grok, praising the chatbot for its superior intelligence and creativity compared to other models. Marketers should consider incorporating Grok into their work to explore potential benefits.</p>



<p><strong>Accessibility. </strong>Not all U.S. Premium+ subscribers have access to Grok. The rollout prioritizes longer-term subscribers, granting them access sooner, according to an <a href="https://twitter.com/X/status/1732880272088076454">X</a> post. All X users are expected to have access by the end of next week.</p>



<p>If you are on mobile and can&#8217;t see Grok, X advises making sure you update and restart the app before assuming you don&#8217;t have access.</p>



<p><strong>Getting started</strong>. You can find Grok in the X side menu on the web, iOS, and Android. The chatbot can also be added to the bottom menu on the X app for easy access. </p>



<p><strong>How it works</strong>. Grok is a conversational chatbot that works like OpenAI&#8217;s ChatGPT and Google&#8217;s Bard. It is powered by a LLM called Grok-1, which contains web data from as recent as Q3 2023, as well input from human assistants.</p>



<p><strong>Why it&#8217;s different. </strong>Grok ingests real-time data from X and incorporates it into responses. For example, if you were to ask &#8220;What is trending in the news today?&#8221;, ChatGPT would not be able to answer. Grok, however, would be able to answer the question. </p>



<p>According to <a href="https://x.ai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">xAI</a>:</p>



<ul>
<li>&#8220;Grok is an AI modeled after the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so intended to answer almost anything and, far harder, even suggest what questions to ask.&#8221;</li>



<li>&#8220;Grok is designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use it if you hate humor.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Reactions. </strong>The response to Grok so far seems to be positive with some predicting it could potentially &#8220;win the Chat AI war.&#8221; Former Googler and CEO of Abacus.AI, Bindu Reddy, wrote on <a href="https://twitter.com/bindureddy/status/1733062210078089433">X</a>:</p>



<ul>
<li>&#8220;Grok &#8211; First Impressions&#8230;&#8221;</li>



<li>&#8220;- 3.5 class model.&#8221;</li>



<li>&#8220;- missing ChatGPT&#8217;s bells and whistles.&#8221;</li>



<li>&#8220;- makes up by being spicy af.&#8221;</li>



<li>&#8220;- Twitter&#8217;s real-time feed is a huge advantage.&#8221;</li>



<li>&#8220;Definitely has a lot of novelty value. If Elon can quickly improve it to have lasting value, it could win the Chat AI war. Underscores the fact that winning the Chat AI commercial market vs winning the AGI race can be mutually exclusive TLDR: Grok is nowhere near GPT-4 quality but still has a good shot at being a significant player in the Chat AI market.&#8221;</li>



<li>&#8220;Jokes and foul language apart, Grok&#8217;s responses are so entertaining because it sounds way <a href="https://twitter.com/bindureddy/status/1732899246633009295" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more <strong>intelligent</strong></a> than the other ChatLLM apps Fundamentally, the safety RLHF makes the other LLMs dumber&#8230; You are killing off part of the LLM brain by overly censoring it.</li>
</ul>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Same query on Grok, ChatGPT, and Bard! <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f92f.png" alt="🤯" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /><br><br>We are vastly underestimating the power of real-time data. Grok nails it!<br><br>h/t Scobleizer <a href="https://t.co/mWH8FMFxIG">pic.twitter.com/mWH8FMFxIG</a></p>&mdash; Bindu Reddy (@bindureddy) <a href="https://twitter.com/bindureddy/status/1732844539705237896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 7, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p>Digital marketer, Edward Sturm, also gave his verdict on <a href="https://twitter.com/showprogress/status/1733065420083446105">X</a>:</p>



<ul>
<li>&#8220;Grok is insane. I&#8217;m finding so many brilliant insights and comments THAT JUST YESTERDAY were difficult to find.&#8221;</li>



<li>&#8220;Grok is a dramatic level-up in knowledge. It shows Tweets that are hard to find with normal Twitter Search. Tweets that contain info that ChatGPT will not tell you. For creative marketing strategies, this is a game changer. growthhacking #seo #marketingsecrets #startups. &#8220;</li>
</ul>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Grok is a dramatic level-up in knowledge. It shows Tweets that are hard to find with normal Twitter Search. Tweets that contain info that ChatGPT will not tell you. For creative marketing strategies, this is a game changer. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/growthhacking?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#growthhacking</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/seo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#seo</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/marketingsecrets?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#marketingsecrets</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/startups?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#startups</a> <a href="https://t.co/DAe2NGb6Ol">pic.twitter.com/DAe2NGb6Ol</a></p>&mdash; Edward Builds (@showprogress) <a href="https://twitter.com/showprogress/status/1733065420083446105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p><strong>Next steps.</strong> Grok works only with text for now. It doesn&#8217;t understand images or videos, <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-bard-answer-questions-youtube-videos-435057" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unlike Bard</a>.  xAI plans to add support for processing video, audio, and other types of content in the future.</p>



<p><strong>What X is saying.</strong> Describing Grok on his <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1720660977786433810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1720660977786433810%7Ctwgr%5E6baf87a69af8bf405cd2c9055f8f7b7fec05d967%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechcrunch.com%2F2023%2F11%2F03%2Fmusk-says-twitter-subscribers-will-get-early-access-to-xais-chatbot-grok%2F">X</a> account, Musk said:</p>



<ul>
<li>&#8220;xAI’s Grok system is designed to have a little humor in its responses.&#8221;</li>



<li>&#8220;Grok has real-time access to info via the 𝕏 platform, which is a massive advantage over other models. It’s also based &amp; loves sarcasm. I have no idea who could have guided it this way.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



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<p><strong>Deep dive.</strong> Read our <a href="https://searchengineland.com/large-language-model-optimization-generative-ai-outputs-433148">LLM optimization guide</a> for information on how to influence generative AI outputs.</p>

X is rolling out its ChatGPT rival, Grok, to Premium+ subscribers.
Grok was developed by xAI, the artificial intelligence venture founded by Elon Musk in July 2023. It is available to users in the U.S.  Availability in other countries is expected soon.
Why we care. Generative AI is now a crucial tool for SEO and PPC marketers. Industry experts have so far given positive feedback regarding Grok, praising the chatbot for its superior intelligence and creativity compared to other models. Marketers should consider incorporating Grok into their work to explore potential benefits.
Accessibility. Not all U.S. Premium+ subscribers have access to Grok. The rollout prioritizes longer-term subscribers, granting them access sooner, according to an X post. All X users are expected to have access by the end of next week.
If you are on mobile and can’t see Grok, X advises making sure you update and restart the app before assuming you don’t have access.
Getting started. You can find Grok in the X side menu on the web, iOS, and Android. The chatbot can also be added to the bottom menu on the X app for easy access. 
How it works. Grok is a conversational chatbot that works like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard. It is powered by a LLM called Grok-1, which contains web data from as recent as Q3 2023, as well input from human assistants.
Why it’s different. Grok ingests real-time data from X and incorporates it into responses. For example, if you were to ask “What is trending in the news today?”, ChatGPT would not be able to answer. Grok, however, would be able to answer the question. 
According to xAI:
“Grok is an AI modeled after the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so intended to answer almost anything and, far harder, even suggest what questions to ask.”
“Grok is designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use it if you hate humor.”
Reactions. The response to Grok so far seems to be positive with some predicting it could potentially “win the Chat AI war.” Former Googler and CEO of Abacus.AI, Bindu Reddy, wrote on X:
“Grok – First Impressions…”
“- 3.5 class model.”
“- missing ChatGPT’s bells and whistles.”
“- makes up by being spicy af.”
“- Twitter’s real-time feed is a huge advantage.”
“Definitely has a lot of novelty value. If Elon can quickly improve it to have lasting value, it could win the Chat AI war. Underscores the fact that winning the Chat AI commercial market vs winning the AGI race can be mutually exclusive TLDR: Grok is nowhere near GPT-4 quality but still has a good shot at being a significant player in the Chat AI market.”
“Jokes and foul language apart, Grok’s responses are so entertaining because it sounds way more intelligent than the other ChatLLM apps Fundamentally, the safety RLHF makes the other LLMs dumber… You are killing off part of the LLM brain by overly censoring it.


Same query on Grok, ChatGPT, and Bard! 
We are vastly underestimating the power of real-time data. Grok nails it!
h/t Scobleizer pic.twitter.com/mWH8FMFxIG
— Bindu Reddy (@bindureddy) December 7, 2023





Digital marketer, Edward Sturm, also gave his verdict on X:
“Grok is insane. I’m finding so many brilliant insights and comments THAT JUST YESTERDAY were difficult to find.”
“Grok is a dramatic level-up in knowledge. It shows Tweets that are hard to find with normal Twitter Search. Tweets that contain info that ChatGPT will not tell you. For creative marketing strategies, this is a game changer. growthhacking #seo #marketingsecrets #startups. “


Grok is a dramatic level-up in knowledge. It shows Tweets that are hard to find with normal Twitter Search. Tweets that contain info that ChatGPT will not tell you. For creative marketing strategies, this is a game changer. #growthhacking #seo #marketingsecrets #startups pic.twitter.com/DAe2NGb6Ol
— Edward Builds (@showprogress) December 8, 2023





Next steps. Grok works only with text for now. It doesn’t understand images or videos, unlike Bard.  xAI plans to add support for processing video, audio, and other types of content in the future.
What X is saying. Describing Grok on his X account, Musk said:
“xAI’s Grok system is designed to have a little humor in its responses.”
“Grok has real-time access to info via the 𝕏 platform, which is a massive advantage over other models. It’s also based & loves sarcasm. I have no idea who could have guided it this way.”

					
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X launches its ChatGPT rival: Grok

This update will be the last time Google has confirmed a reviews update.


<p>Google confirmed that the <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-releases-november-2023-reviews-update-434262">November 2023 reviews update</a> is now complete. This update, announced on November 8, 2023, rolled out over a 29-day period. </p>



<p><strong>No more announcements.&nbsp;</strong>This will be the last time Google will confirm an update to the reviews system/algorithm. “We’ll no longer be giving periodic notifications of improvements to our reviews system,&#8221; the company said. A total of 8 reviews updates have been confirmed by Google since the&nbsp;<a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-product-reviews-algorithm-update-347568">first reviews update</a>&nbsp;launched in April 2021. </p>



<p><strong>What is new.&nbsp;</strong>Although Google won&#8217;t confirm updates going forward, updates are happening at a “regular and ongoing pace,” according to the company. That makes it sound like the reviews update is now a more real-time update. So changes to your rankings, for better or worse, may be reflected with this reviews system in more real-time than in batches. </p>



<p>This update is a global update that impacts sites in these languages: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish.</p>



<p><strong>November core update overlapping.&nbsp;</strong>Google simultaneously rolled out the <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-november-2023-core-update-released-434123">November 2023 core update</a>, which was completed on <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-november-2023-core-update-rollout-is-now-complete-434529">November 28</a>. Sites may see an impact from both the core update and the reviews update. It may be hard to know which update impacted your site.</p>



<p><strong>Previous reviews updates.&nbsp;</strong>Here are all the previous reviews updates:</p>



<ul>
<li><a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-product-reviews-algorithm-update-347568">April 2021 reviews update</a>, April 8, 2021</li>



<li><a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-december-2021-product-reviews-update-rolling-out-376672">December 2021 reviews update</a>, December 1, 2021</li>



<li><a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-releases-march-2022-product-reviews-update-with-additional-ranking-criteria-382995">March 2022 reviews update</a>, March 23, 2022</li>



<li><a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-releases-july-2022-product-reviews-update-386763">July 2022 reviews update</a>, July 27, 2022</li>



<li><a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-releases-september-2022-product-reviews-update-387293">September 2022 reviews update</a>, September 20, 2022</li>



<li><a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-releases-february-2023-product-reviews-update-393426">February 2023 reviews update</a>, February 21, 2023</li>



<li><a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-releases-april-2023-reviews-update-395561">April 2023 reviews update</a>, April 12, 2023</li>



<li><a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-releases-november-2023-reviews-update-434262">November 2023 reviews&nbsp;update</a>, November 8, 2023</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong>&nbsp;If your website publishes any type of review content, this will be an important update to watch. Check your rankings to see whether your organic traffic improves, declines or stays the same.</p>



<p>Going forward, it may be difficult to know if this reviews updates, which will be ongoing and undisclosed, has impacted your site. </p>



<p>For more details about this update and tips on how to recover, see <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-releases-november-2023-reviews-update-434262">our original story here</a>.</p>


Google confirmed that the November 2023 reviews update is now complete. This update, announced on November 8, 2023, rolled out over a 29-day period. 
No more announcements. This will be the last time Google will confirm an update to the reviews system/algorithm. “We’ll no longer be giving periodic notifications of improvements to our reviews system,” the company said. A total of 8 reviews updates have been confirmed by Google since the first reviews update launched in April 2021. 
What is new. Although Google won’t confirm updates going forward, updates are happening at a “regular and ongoing pace,” according to the company. That makes it sound like the reviews update is now a more real-time update. So changes to your rankings, for better or worse, may be reflected with this reviews system in more real-time than in batches. 
This update is a global update that impacts sites in these languages: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish.
November core update overlapping. Google simultaneously rolled out the November 2023 core update, which was completed on November 28. Sites may see an impact from both the core update and the reviews update. It may be hard to know which update impacted your site.
Previous reviews updates. Here are all the previous reviews updates:
April 2021 reviews update, April 8, 2021
December 2021 reviews update, December 1, 2021
March 2022 reviews update, March 23, 2022
July 2022 reviews update, July 27, 2022
September 2022 reviews update, September 20, 2022
February 2023 reviews update, February 21, 2023
April 2023 reviews update, April 12, 2023
November 2023 reviews update, November 8, 2023
Why we care. If your website publishes any type of review content, this will be an important update to watch. Check your rankings to see whether your organic traffic improves, declines or stays the same.
Going forward, it may be difficult to know if this reviews updates, which will be ongoing and undisclosed, has impacted your site. 
For more details about this update and tips on how to recover, see our original story here.

Google November 2023 reviews update now done rolling out

Publishers should seek legal advice before leveraging this feature as it involves the use of invalid traffic-only cookies.

<p>Google AdMob will support programmatic bidding on inventory eligible for limited ads in early 2024. </p>



<p>This new serving mode enables contextual programmatic demand for publishers serving limited ads and allows demand from:</p>



<ul>
<li>Google Demand.</li>



<li>Authorized<strong> </strong>Buyers.</li>



<li>Open Bidders.</li>



<li>SDK Bidding.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Why we care. </strong>This feature offers publishers the chance to potentially increase revenue through programmatic demand. However, using invalid traffic-only cookies might have legal implications, so it&#8217;s advisable to seek guidance from your legal department before deciding whether or not to use it.</p>



<p><strong>How it works.</strong> If you choose to use this new serving mode, Google will use invalid traffic detection-only cookies and local storage (regardless of the user&#8217;s consent signals in limited ads requests), as well as enable programmatic demand (and an invalid traffic-only cookie &amp; local storage used).</p>



<p>This inventory requires the use of the invalid traffic-only cookie as it plays a crucial role in safeguarding against invalid traffic, a prerequisite for programmatic demand.</p>



<p><strong>What is programmatic demand? </strong>Programmatic demand is a feature that can boost your earnings from Google ads in your Web Stories. It can also be used to fill in Web Story ad unit line items. </p>



<p><strong>What is invalid traffic? </strong>Invalid traffic refers to any traffic not generated by a genuine user with authentic interest. This can include:</p>



<ul>
<li>Accidental clicks caused by intrusive ad implementations.</li>



<li>Fraudulent clicking by competing advertisers.</li>



<li>Advertising botnets, and more.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Optional</strong>. Google has made programmatic bidding on limited ads an optional feature because publishers are legally responsible for the tools they use, and opinions may vary on whether user consent is necessary for invalid traffic-only cookies and local storage.</p>



<p><strong>Potential legal issues. </strong>Google is advising publishers to consult their legal teams before deciding whether or not to use this feature, considering regulations and regulatory guidance. Publishers must assess if employing invalid traffic-only cookies and local storage on their sites/apps requires user consent. </p>



<p>Publishers that do not want to use invalid traffic-only cookies and local storage without user consent should opt-out of this feature. </p>



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<p><strong>Deep dive.</strong> Read Google&#8217;s <a href="https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/14210870" target="_blank" rel="noopener">limited ads guidance</a> for more information about this change and how to prepare.</p>

Google AdMob will support programmatic bidding on inventory eligible for limited ads in early 2024. 
This new serving mode enables contextual programmatic demand for publishers serving limited ads and allows demand from:
Google Demand.
Authorized Buyers.
Open Bidders.
SDK Bidding.
Why we care. This feature offers publishers the chance to potentially increase revenue through programmatic demand. However, using invalid traffic-only cookies might have legal implications, so it’s advisable to seek guidance from your legal department before deciding whether or not to use it.
How it works. If you choose to use this new serving mode, Google will use invalid traffic detection-only cookies and local storage (regardless of the user’s consent signals in limited ads requests), as well as enable programmatic demand (and an invalid traffic-only cookie & local storage used).
This inventory requires the use of the invalid traffic-only cookie as it plays a crucial role in safeguarding against invalid traffic, a prerequisite for programmatic demand.
What is programmatic demand? Programmatic demand is a feature that can boost your earnings from Google ads in your Web Stories. It can also be used to fill in Web Story ad unit line items. 
What is invalid traffic? Invalid traffic refers to any traffic not generated by a genuine user with authentic interest. This can include:
Accidental clicks caused by intrusive ad implementations.
Fraudulent clicking by competing advertisers.
Advertising botnets, and more.
Optional. Google has made programmatic bidding on limited ads an optional feature because publishers are legally responsible for the tools they use, and opinions may vary on whether user consent is necessary for invalid traffic-only cookies and local storage.
Potential legal issues. Google is advising publishers to consult their legal teams before deciding whether or not to use this feature, considering regulations and regulatory guidance. Publishers must assess if employing invalid traffic-only cookies and local storage on their sites/apps requires user consent. 
Publishers that do not want to use invalid traffic-only cookies and local storage without user consent should opt-out of this feature. 

					
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Google is rolling out programmatic bidding for limited ads

Equip your SEO strategy for the age of AI-powered search with must-have content formats, optimization areas and performance KPIs.

As Google evolves with new AI capabilities, SEO strategies must also adapt. 
Here’s an overview of key trends and actionable tips to future-proof your presence in search results pages (SERPs).
The evolving SERPs
SERPs today are dominated by rich results, images, videos, social mentions and AI-powered snapshots. 
As searchers find answers to their queries directly within the search results, zero-click results continue to rise. This trend is expected to increase with further integration of Search Generative Experience (SGE) in main SERPs as it pulls content from diverse sources. 
Out of 100 SGE SERPs, 41% showed zero links from the top 10 organic and 46% showed only some links from the top 10 results, per a recent Moz study. 

This demonstrates that SGE is pulling in more long-tail content with higher relevancy and lower volume and using AI’s ability to understand the context to serve niche content better. 
Topical entity-rich content is becoming a competitive advantage for any brand. Google deprecated FAQ and How To listings within the search results and no longer reports on their visibility in the Search Console. 
However, FAQ content still plays a pivotal role in populating SGE content. 
The “People Also Ask” (PAA) feature has emerged as the foremost rich result on SERPs, surpassing even the once-dominant featured snippet. 
This shift emphasizes the evolving nature of user queries and the increasing importance of addressing specific, long-tailed questions in your content. 
As we look ahead, understanding and adapting to these changing SERPs will be crucial to seeing future organic growth. 
The goal: Be the SGE result 
The full rollout of SGE is expected to have far-reaching implications on how searchers interact with search engines. 
SGE places even more emphasis on producing informative responses that are corroborated by reliable sources. You must adapt your strategies and success metrics accordingly. 
SERPs will become more and more unique, to the point that no two searches will generate the same response, according to Dixon Jones, CEO of Inlinks. 
For a stable presence in search results, improve your product, know your target audience, and ensure your content addresses their needs.
Trend: Shift toward long-tail and mid-tail searches 
Traffic from head terms, typically more generic and high search volumes, is expected to decrease more than traffic from highly focused, niche, and long-tail queries that require specialized and in-depth content.

As users seek more precise, tailored information, marketers and content creators must incorporate more targeted, niche content in their strategy. 
Trend: Personalized, topical and hyper-local content helps secure rich snippets and SERPs 
SGE’s ability to understand the context and provide personalized results is set to usher in the hyper-local and niche content era. 
Introducing context windows will result in more personalized results, catering to individual users’ specific needs and preferences. 
This change increases the importance of creating relevant and resonant content with specific audience segments, including hyper-local and community-focused content. 
Must-have: Factual verification and authoritative sources 
Factual verification is necessary when using large language models (LLMs) and generative AI. 
The increasing reliance on AI to generate and curate content underscores the importance of ensuring that content is factual and sourced from authoritative and reliable sources. 
You must prioritize establishing credibility and demonstrating the accuracy of your information to maintain trust and authority in your field. 
Citation and mentions from authoritative sources play a significant role in factual verification. Gather and showcase reviews, and ensure your site has quality links and citations. 

					
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6 steps to future-proof your SERPs in 2024
As the digital landscape evolves with technologies like SGE, it is crucial to adapt your SEO and content strategies accordingly. 
To get ahead, you must first understand what dominates SGE results and decide the main areas of focus based on that. 
Brands need to build a site for user experience, not to win awards, according to Bill Hunt, president of Back Azimuth Consulting. 
The future is about owning SERPs real estate vs. ranks through multiple touchpoints.
Focus on these key areas to future-proof your SERPs in 2024. 

1. Multichannel approach
Diversifying your content based on your customer touch point is more important than ever. 
Leverage multiple content types and formats to enhance engagement, SERPS, and visibility in important strategy. This includes incorporating: 
Interactive elements: Encourage interaction through video and web story consumption and aim to increase pages per visit. Use engaging video content to capture user interest. Tools like VidIQ can help in measuring video keyword effectiveness. 
Images and infographics: Visual elements can significantly enhance the appeal and understandability of your content. 
Visual storytelling formats: Try experimenting with visual storytelling formats to increase engagement and experience. 
Brands need to consider their entire digital presence, not just their .com, according to Patrick Reinhart, VP of services and thought leadership at Conductor. 
Have you optimized your YouTube channel? Do you have a Wikipedia page? What are you up to on social media?  
These different closed environments will show up increasingly as Google evolves and tests new experiences to attract younger generations, so brands must have a presence on all these platforms.  
2. Relevant content
Ensure your content is highly relevant to the search query and keep E-E-A-T in mind. Create content that’s worth talking about. 
There are a few steps for creating qualitative content, which can lead to solid SERPs. 
Performance audit: Review if your content aligns with business goals and gives you rich snippets. Ensure you incorporate business goals, content performance, and audience journey as part of content strategy. 
Authorship: Highlight the expertise of the content author to add credibility. 
Optimizing chat experience: Anticipate and answer not just your users’ current questions but also those they haven’t even realized they need answers. Predict what they want to know and deliver it. 
Moving from SERPs to CHERPs: Prepare for interactive and visual SERPs and chat experience results page (CHERPs). 
In-depth, expert content: Be the authority on your topic with detailed, long-form content that connects with the right audience – with the right intent, at the right funnel stage. 
Helpful content: Leverage advanced content strategies with tools that offer data intelligence and scoring, creation, and measurement capabilities to produce high-quality, relevant content. 
Topical and entity gaps: Identify and fill gaps in your content, focusing on topical relevance and specific entities. 
3. User experience
Optimizing all touchpoints and the entire journey, including all channels, to improve the overall site experience leads to increased conversions. 
Prioritize user experience and pay attention to the technical health of your domain, including indexing, crawling, speed, and interactive elements. 
The faster your site loads, the easier SGE can read your content and create AI-powered snapshots. Continuously test and improve your website’s user experience. 
Focus on security, mobile-friendliness, page speed and Core Web Vitals (CWV).
Ensure your site is accessible, incorporating UI/UX best practices. 
4. Engagement and conversion rate optimization (CRO)
Use tools like VWO or Crazy Egg to test and enhance your website’s engagement and conversion rate. Track conversions through calls, leads, transactions, and form submissions. 
5. Deep schema markup for discovery and clarity
Use schema markup to enhance the visibility of your content. Ensure you are going deep while marking your content, including various assets such as images, videos, menus etc. 
Jones also recommends continuing to mark up everything with schema. But know that the way engines use that data will vary. 
Your “clicks” from search may decrease, but your “sales” from the search may even increase as search engines and SGE take users further down the purchase funnel. 
Dig deeper: How to deploy advanced schema at scale
6. Visual optimization
Centralize and manage digital assets efficiently in a digital asset manager (DAM). Avoid having multiple copies and resolutions of the same image for different applications. 
Ensure visual content is optimized and entity-focused. Utilize tools like NLP to score and enhance visual content. Regularly update and optimize visual content for better engagement. 
Critical metrics to measure SERP performance
With so much changing, how do you measure success?
Anticipate a significant drop in traffic and click-through rates (CTR) with the introduction of SGE. 
As SGE pushes down organic search results on the SERP, traditional website listings will be less visible. 
Searchers will likely find information directly on the SERP, resulting in fewer clicks on individual website links. 
AI-generated responses make tracking and measuring keyword rankings more challenging.
You must adapt and use different KPIs to measure success. Let’s understand a few critical metrics that brands can use to measure the effectiveness of SERPs in 2024. 

Visibility KPIs
SGE visibility data is not available in Google Search Console. 
With keyword rankings no longer providing reliable data, you need to focus on alternative visibility metrics like share of search, impressions and rich results visibility to determine if your content is visible to searchers.
Visual rank, pixel depth, pixel height, fold depth, and fold opportunities are new metrics that can help measure visual KPIs, per Ray Greiselhuber of Demand Sphere.
Engagement KPIs
With more content in search results, fewer searchers will click links to visit websites. As traffic drops, engaging every visitor to the site will become important for businesses. 
You can no longer afford to ignore engagement metrics like bounce rate, session duration, time on site, scrolls and clicks on your page, and average number of pages visited per session.
Conversion KPIs
Although there may be a decrease in general traffic seeking information at the top of the funnel, you can expect more focused and qualified visitors with a stronger intent to convert.
As a result, your conversion rates should improve. 
Conversion metrics like calls, driving directions, transactions, form fills, and any other soft- and hard-conversion KPIs you have for the business will become essential success metrics.
Future-proofing SEO for 2024’s dynamic SERPs
With AI-powered advancements like SGE on the horizon, 2024 will likely bring dramatic changes to SERPs and organic search visibility. 
By optimizing for engagement, conversions and overall user experience – rather than traditional keyword rankings alone – you can position your brand to thrive as search evolves.

Future-proof your SERP presence: 6 areas to focus on

Marketers will need to take action if the updates are likely to affect their Google Analytics accounts.

<p>Google Analytics 4 has updated its explorations feature and data retention settings.</p>



<p>When you save an exploration with a preset date range (like the last 28 days), GA4 will now display data from the last 28 days from when you opened the exploration, not from when you initially created it.</p>



<p>Regarding data retention, if a GA4 property becomes large, event-level data retention will automatically reduce to two months when exceeding 25 billion (for standard) or 250 billion (for 360) billable events in the last 31 days. </p>



<p>The updates were announced on the <a href="https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9164320#120623" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google Analytics Help Center</a>.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care. </strong>Marketers will need to take note of the explorations update to ensure accurate reporting, and those with large GA4 properties will need to take action to prevent data loss.</p>



<p><strong>What is an Exploration?</strong> Explorations is a set of advanced tools that go beyond regular reports, allowing you to discover deeper insights into your customers&#8217; behavior. When you want to explore data in more detail, you can use explorations to:</p>



<ul>
<li>Quickly make ad hoc queries.</li>



<li>Easily configure and switch between techniques.</li>



<li>Sort, refactor, and drill down into the data.</li>



<li>Focus on the most relevant data by using filters and segments.</li>



<li>Create segments and audiences.</li>



<li>Share your explorations with other users of the same Google Analytics property.</li>



<li>Export the exploration data for use in other tools.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Adjusting the timeframe of an exploration.</strong> To change the time frame of an exploration, follow these steps:</p>



<ol>
<li>At the top of&nbsp;&#8220;Variables&#8221;, click the currently selected date range.</li>



<li>Select a preset date range (e.g., &#8220;Last 28 days&#8221;), or use the calendar to select a custom date range (e.g., May 1st to May 31st).</li>



<li>Click&nbsp;<strong>&#8220;</strong>OK&#8221;.</li>
</ol>



<p><strong>Data retention update</strong>. In the future, if a standard property becomes Large or a 360 property becomes XL (collecting over 25 billion and 250 billion billable events in the last 31 days, respectively), the event-level data retention setting will automatically decrease to 2 months. Event-level data older than 2 months will become inaccessible and permanently deleted. This adjustment will affect only a small number of Google Analytics properties.</p>



<p><strong>Warning email.</strong> If your property is approaching these limits based on weekly event volume, Google will send a warning email to all property administrators. Once the limit is reached, another email will be sent to all administrators, informing them that the data retention setting has been lowered.</p>



<p>Between receiving these two emails, you can decrease the number of billable events sent to the Google Analytics 4 property, to ensure compliance with the current limits for your property size and to maintain longer event-level retention. If the warning is for a free property, upgrading to 360 is an option to access higher limits.</p>



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<p><strong>Deep dive</strong>. Read Google&#8217;s <a href="https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/7579450?sjid=9806830475320071240-EU#change-the-time-frame&amp;zippy=%2Cin-this-article" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Explorations</a> guide or <a href="https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/7667196?sjid=9806830475320071240-EU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Data Retention</a> documentation for more information.</p>

Google Analytics 4 has updated its explorations feature and data retention settings.
When you save an exploration with a preset date range (like the last 28 days), GA4 will now display data from the last 28 days from when you opened the exploration, not from when you initially created it.
Regarding data retention, if a GA4 property becomes large, event-level data retention will automatically reduce to two months when exceeding 25 billion (for standard) or 250 billion (for 360) billable events in the last 31 days. 
The updates were announced on the Google Analytics Help Center.
Why we care. Marketers will need to take note of the explorations update to ensure accurate reporting, and those with large GA4 properties will need to take action to prevent data loss.
What is an Exploration? Explorations is a set of advanced tools that go beyond regular reports, allowing you to discover deeper insights into your customers’ behavior. When you want to explore data in more detail, you can use explorations to:
Quickly make ad hoc queries.
Easily configure and switch between techniques.
Sort, refactor, and drill down into the data.
Focus on the most relevant data by using filters and segments.
Create segments and audiences.
Share your explorations with other users of the same Google Analytics property.
Export the exploration data for use in other tools.
Adjusting the timeframe of an exploration. To change the time frame of an exploration, follow these steps:
At the top of “Variables”, click the currently selected date range.
Select a preset date range (e.g., “Last 28 days”), or use the calendar to select a custom date range (e.g., May 1st to May 31st).
Click “OK”.
Data retention update. In the future, if a standard property becomes Large or a 360 property becomes XL (collecting over 25 billion and 250 billion billable events in the last 31 days, respectively), the event-level data retention setting will automatically decrease to 2 months. Event-level data older than 2 months will become inaccessible and permanently deleted. This adjustment will affect only a small number of Google Analytics properties.
Warning email. If your property is approaching these limits based on weekly event volume, Google will send a warning email to all property administrators. Once the limit is reached, another email will be sent to all administrators, informing them that the data retention setting has been lowered.
Between receiving these two emails, you can decrease the number of billable events sent to the Google Analytics 4 property, to ensure compliance with the current limits for your property size and to maintain longer event-level retention. If the warning is for a free property, upgrading to 360 is an option to access higher limits.

					
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Deep dive. Read Google’s Explorations guide or Data Retention documentation for more information.

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