470 - exam 2

YMYL: your money your life

Content that if presented inaccurately, untruthfully, or deceptively, could directly impact the reader's happiness, health, safety, or financial stability. Experts with relevant expertise need to write YMYL content. News and current events (international events, business, politics, science) Civics, government, and law (information about voting, government agencies, public institutions, social services, legal issues) Finance (financial advice) Shopping Health and safety (medical issues, drugs, hospitals) Groups of people (race, religion, disability, age, gender) Other (fitness/nutrition, housing, choosing a college)

Revenue terms

Conversion - any action taken by a user deemed important to an advertiser can be a sale, a lead generation form completed, a download, a video view Conversion rate - Conversions divided by clicks two conversions from 100 clicks is a 2% conversion rate Return on investment (ROI) - How much you earn minus how much you spend you generated $1000 in sales from $100 in paid search, your ROI is $900 Return on ad spend (ROAS) - Very much like ROI, but expressed as a ratio $1000 sales from $100 in paid search yields a ROAS of 10:1 or just expressed as "10" Cost per acquisition (CPA) - A price model where an advertiser is charged only when a conversion is generated by the advertising

Search metrics

Core search - includes all qualified searches Consistent with previous months that we've reported Explicit core search - excludes contextually driven searches (slideshows) Ex. websites that say "20 celebrities that got divorces in 2020" (you have to click next to get through all of them) Comes up as separate searches

Planning an Organic Search Campaign

Define the Target Market Find key words and phrases through research Keywords must be related to site content Long tail keywords yield better conversion rates and typically cost less Use Different Match Types Use your analytics to assess needed changes if a keyword has a high bounce rate, you should eliminate it or refine it

Types of Anchor text

Exact-match - includes a keyword that mirrors the page that is being linked to 'link building' linking to a page about link building Partial-match - includes a variation of the keyword on the linked-to page 'link building strategies' linking to a page about link building Branded - A brand name used as anchor text 'Moz' linking to an article on the Moz Blog. Naked link - URL that is used as an anchor 'www.moz.com' is a naked link anchor Generic - generic word or phrase that is used as the anchor "Click here" is a common generic anchor Images - Google will use the text contained in the image's alt attribute as the anchor text

How to use Social Media to enhance SEO:

Expand profiles on social media accounts Monitor social media conversations to enhance SEO Discover the language that is used to talk about product category Need to know lingo the target audience is using Drive inbound links via social media outlets

Video on Google Ad Extensions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGm9u_I6fgk

Extensions enhance your ad with valuable information such as links, phone numbers Can be added at various levels to your account Site links - direct people to specific pages of website allows you to see all extensions in one table

What is Google's FLoC?

Federated learning of cohorts (FLoC) is a method for browsers to enable interest-based advertising It works by gathering data about a user's browsing habits and then clustering groups of users with similar interests into cohorts Why it's such a big change Advertisers are used to targeting via third-party cookies, which enable them to reach specific individuals With FLoC, individuals are put into a cohort based on their interests, adding a layer of anonymity that may help increase user privacy Industry relations to FLoC

Native advertising

Material in an online publication which resembles the publication's editorial content but is paid for by an advertiser and intended to promote the advertiser's product blurs the line between advertising and content Horizontal ad network - A network which generally has hundreds or thousands of sites on different topics (News websites) Vertical ad network - A network which is dedicated to deliver advertising on a specific audience Sports, fashion, and cooking websites are examples of publishers that frequently participate in vertical ad networks on social media in the form of promoted tweets and sponsored stories

Additional factors that improve SEO results

Number of backlinks "Inbound link" - created when one website links to another, points back to the linked-to page Valuable for SEO because they represent a "vote of confidence" from one site for another Signal to search engines that others vouch for your content Earning backlinks can positively affect site rank or search visibility Relevant use of anchor text Website verification and sitemaps submitted to search engines A file where you can list the web pages of your site to tell Google and other search engines about the organization of your site content Can provide valuable metadata associated with the pages you list in that sitemap Will make it easier for your site to be indexed

More on Search

Organic search engine marketing - combines the best practices of creativity, technology, usability, copy, and online promotion Some marketers believe there are "tricks" that will improve the relevancy of sites Black hat SEO practices can lead to penalties Penalty - can mean temporary ranking losses or, in the worst case, lead to the website being excluded from search results

PPC Terminology

PPC - a model of internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked A way of buying visits to your site Ad extensions - expand your ad with additional information Typically increase an ad's click-through-rate by several percentage points Ad group - a group of keywords associated with a set of ads Campaign - a group of ad groups Keyword - term on which advertisers bid to trigger their paid search ads to be shown to relevant users may not necessarily be a single word and can include phrases with many words in them (long tail keywords) Paid search ads - Generally a four-line text element which users can click and be taken to an advertiser's desired landing page Destination URL (landing page) - The page that a user is redirected to upon clicking an ad Max bid - The most an advertiser is willing to pay for a click on a keyword this is not necessarily the price an advertiser will pay as it's very possible to pay well below (but never above) your bid

PPC

PPC benefits - fast measurable results, traffic is targeted , you only pay for clicks , get on the top spot of Google's Page 1 search results instantly Reasons for PPC campaigns When PPC is working correctly, the fee is trivial because the visit is worth more than what you pay for it Auction based system Search engines reward advertisers who can create relevant intelligently targeted pay-per-click campaigns by charging them less for ad clicks Benefits of SEO and PPC running together: keyword and conversion data from PPC can be fed into SEO the total volume of traffic can be increased by targeting clicks in paid and organic for high-performing keywords High-cost keywords, high-volume or low-converting keywords can be moved from PPC to organic search Target users at all stages of the customer journey from research to comparison to purchase with commercial keywords Increase confidence and awareness by having both strong organic and paid visibility

Title Tags

an HTML element that specifies the title of a web page are displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs) as the clickable headline for a given result, and are important for usability, SEO, and social sharing meant to be an accurate and concise description of a page's content Length - should be a maximum of 50-60 characters long including spaces Keyword Placement - Your most important words (keywords) need to be first in your title tag, with your least important words being last in the title tag (most to least) if you're working in a language that reads right-to-left, then it is reversed, and it would be least important to most important Wording - Keep important phrases short and simple Leave out words that would make it read like a sentence (e.g., and, if, but, then, etc.) Company Name - If your company name is not part of the important (keyword) phrases, put it at the end of the title tag if it is part of your important words, put it as the first words in the title tag. Some SEOs will tell you to leave it out can leave it in for branding purposes - so people will see the brand and click. DON'T DUPLICATE Title Tags Title tags must be written to be descriptive of the content on the page

Ad affiliates

an online marketing channel. An advertisers pays a blogger to promote the advertiser's products or services on the blogger's site Examples of companies offering affiliate advertising programs to bloggers Amazon: you can choose from a wide variety of ads such as text links, banner ads, and more Ebay: you can choose from ebay's auctions and find the specific products you want to advertise on your site Allposters: you can choose from 400,000 products to advertise on your blog

title tag writing examples

example 1 important keywords = "Charlie Sheen" and "Winning" title tag: Charlie Sheen Winning what if keywords were = ​​§ "Charlie Sheen Winning" and "Tiger's Blood" Title tag should STILL be = "Charlie Sheen Winning" Then you would add a pipe | and "Tiger's Blood" as the second phrase Leave out extra words such as "and", "say", etc.

keyword stuffed title tags

keyword stuffing is the worst offense when it comes to title tags take out the word "and" and replace it with "&"

Display Advertising, Ad Serving, and Retargeting (lecture in class and slides) Understand how interest-based or behavioral targeting currently work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Glgi9RRuJs&list=PL6aT9elthI51NOdkxxV3m7O3vIA_A9C5u&index=3

rocess begins when you visit the publisher's page Publisher(website owner) sells ad space to advertisers that want to reach audience Publisher server - assembles content for the page Publisher ad server - uses built in knowledge, considers series of important questions, if it isn't reserved they may decide to put opportunity on open ad market to get a better deal Any premium buyers? What do I know about the consumer? What advertiser is the best fit? SSP (supply side platform) - uses to monitor programmatic ad inventory, used to out on open ad market, applies additional knowledge asking questions about if they've seen consumer before sends ad request to ad exchange Ad exchange connects to ad platforms (demand side platform) Pre-cached bid - if fulfilled it will speed up the time of filling a real-time order Agency ad server - tracks ad performance for advertisers, records the request for sale as an impression Whole process can happen in a fraction of a second Have a general understanding of FLoC as discussed in class and on the slides

Google & Title tags

sometimes google will rewrite your tag for you make sure you write a title tag that is page related, content descriptive, short and sweet, and not keyword stuffed

HubSpot SEO certification- key takeaways from: SEO basics

68% of online experiences start with a search, using a search engine. A healthy SEO strategy balances building relevancy with building authority. The three stages of ranking are: discovery, relevance and authority. In the context of SEO, E-A-T stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, all of which are traits that Google uses to rank your website. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for SEO include: organic traffic, keyword ranking, conversion rate, bounce rate, page load time, and backlinks established. A backlink profile is a list of all the sites that are currently linking back to your site, and which pages they are linking to.

What does the title tag look like?

<title>Important words go here </title> the most important single tag in your page. it tells the search

Google video on Ad Groups and Campaigns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH4Tlnes3ew&index=4&list=PL9piTIvKJnJPB729hcZYSEXCsQFyeJV44

Adwords use keywords to determine which ads to use for people online- ad words make up a campaign multiple ad groups make up a campaign a collection of different ads make up an ad group Organic search results are in the middle of the page (match search term) Paid results are shown at top and bottom (ads from businesses use AdWords) Bid - the amount of money someone is willing to pay for an ad How much you spend each time someone clicks Budget - how much you spend each day on your entire campaign affects how much your ad is shown Quality score - how relevant and useful your ad is

Social media advertising

Allows for targeted advertising Facebook pixel allows for retargeting When you visit a site w/ the facebook pixel, you will see ads for products you viewed in your facebook newsfeed

What are cookies?

A small text file embedded in your hard drive by the server of the site you are visiting Neither a virus or spyware They send data back to the server of the files What are they used for? Used to make surfing on the web easier for you When you visit an online shop for the first time, the site's server sends a file to your computer, which installs itself automatically on the disk. Thanks to this cookie, you'll be recognized the next time you visit the same site and you won't have to enter all your details again Cookies customize your web experience

more terms

Alt tags - Short code snippets that allow you to link each image or videos on your page to a short piece of informative text Anchor text - Text in your web page content that is linked to another page. The visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. Keyword density - How often a keyword is mentioned on a page Important that the keywords fit into the context of your content/website Keyword stuffing bores the reader and can cause penalties. Goal is 1-3% keyword density. Good to stay on lower end, over 3% is way too much. HTML - Stands for Hypertext Markup Language a standard code for tagging text files and formatting the font, color, graphics, and hyperlinks, and for creating web pages Inbound links - Links from external websites that lead to your site and do not originate from your domain. The terms "external links" and "backlinks" are synonyms ​​Indexing - The operation used by search engines to crawl the web, to scan web pages and to store information about them CTR - Click-through rate refers to the ratio of the search result displayed and the clicks actually made on the search result Link building - The process by which inbound links are generated from other websites Link juice - The boost to the authority of a website that is given by inbound links from other websites with authority Nofollow - A tag that is placed in the HTML code to tell search engines that the link is a paid link for which no link juice will be calculated

Changes to deterministic matching https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2021/01/20/ios-14-update-facebook-ads

Apple is requiring all apps in the App Store to show a prompt to its users on ios devices essentially asking the user for permission for the app to track them outside the platform in different ways · Testable article: here's what ios 14 update means for your Facebook ads How ios 14 affects Facebook marketers Ios 14 affects the way Facebook is able to receive and process conversion events from tools like Facebook pixel The update will prohibit certain data collection and sharing unless people opt into tracking on ios 14 via this prompt If Facebook is not able to track user behavior, the effectiveness of the tracking pixel is diminished. This results in ineffective remarketing efforts Targeting options will be weakened. Your ability to create hyper-personalized ads to audiences may be hindered greatly Less targeting options means more wasted spend and less personalization of ad copy Facebook's response to ios 14 Update has the potential to be extremely detrimental to their revenue 79.9% of FB users only use the application on their smartphone It will negatively affect small businesses looking to advertise on their platform How does ios 14 affect your FB ads? Businesses will be forced to turn to subscriptions and in-app payments Less efficient and effective advertising This comes down to the ability to track events and behavior If users opt out of tracking, you will not be able to subsequently advertise to those individuals via remarketing in the future on their mobile device Fewer website sales from ads Trend towards de-personalized ads is going to have an impact on those looking to boost sales via FB Drop in FV app install ad revenue Greater difficulty for small businesses to reach their ideal audience, limiting growth How to plan around the ios 14 update Exclude ios devices from campaigns with conversion objectives Create campaigns outside of the conversion objective Create an extra layer or break down your conversion flow on your landing pages

Writing good title tags

Article: How to write title tags for search engine optimization (https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2012/12/31/how-to-write-title-tags-for-search-engine-optimization/) Properly written title tags are critical to your SEO Strategy Title tags tell search engines what your page is about Meta tags Meta elements are HTML or XHTML elements used to provide information about a web page for the search engines and website users Such elements must be placed as tags in the head section of a HTML document. These elements are the: Title tag Description Keywords

HubSpot SEO certification- key takeaways from: Link Building for SEO: Scaling Your Backlink Strategy

Backlinks are extremely important for SEO, as they tell the search engines that your site is authoritative (because other sites link to it because the content is relevant). That's why link building is so important for improving the SERPs of your pages. Link building relies upon building meaningful relationships with people that will lead to more links down the road. One link building tactic that is mentioned in this lesson is the use of press requests. Press requests come from journalists that are writing stories, and they are looking for experts on specific topics. They use quotes from the experts in their articles, and typically will link to the expert's website. The thought leaders in your business can provide quotes that can be used, which result in backlinks to your site from high-quality media sites. Google cares how interesting other people think your content is, and measures that quality primarily through backlinks. Backlinks indicate to Google that your site is a high-quality resource that others consider valuable and relevant. People are more likely to organically link to informational content, and far less likely to link to product pages. To get on page one of the SERPs, you need as many backlinks as the currently ranked pages that are there. You can check your own and competing sites using tools such as Moz's Link Explorer. Unique and different content is not necessarily a good thing when it comes to SEO — emulate what the top ranking sites are doing when it comes to content. Build long-term relationships with bloggers, partners, business owners, influencers, and journalists as part of your backlink strategy.

SEM Terms

Black hat SEO - A dubious SEO approach involving manipulative measures to influence rankings. Search engines prohibit black hat SEO. This is when people do things they shouldn't be doing to influence rankings; for example, adding popular keywords that don't relate to the context of a page. White hat SEO - This is the type of SEO measure which complies with search engine providers' guidelines and focuses on the searching users' needs. Ex: If the page is about an apple pie recipe, using keywords about ingredients needed for an apple pie. Search query - the term used to describe the actual keywords or phrases that a search engine user enters when searching Short-tail keywords - generic phrases (typically 1-2 keywords long) that attract a significant volume of traffic but achieve little income Ex: Women's boots Long-tail terms - keyword phrases with normally three or more keywords that attract a lower volume of search traffic, but are more valuable because they attract more qualified traffic than head terms Ex: Women's fur lined snow boots

Match Types

Broad match - reaches widest audience and not in the same sequence Sale purse = purse sale and ad will appear Phrase match - must be in exact sequence, enclosed in quotes "Pink and purple purses" in that order will trigger an ad Exact match - most precise method, enclosed in brackets [pink purse] will trigger an ad but not pink purse store Negative match - uses a minus sign and prevents ads from appearing -handbags and your ad will not appear lowers bounce rate because limits traffic from people looking for something else

Types of online advertising

Display (banner) ads Remarketing/retargeting Social media Search ads Native advertising

Advertising standard formats

For ad servers to work, there has to be standard ad sizes Aspect ratio than pixels Parties in an advertising ecosystem Publishers Sell ad units on their properties Popular websites and portals Advertisers Buy ad units on publishers' properties Pay for each ad unit "delivered" Ad networks Aggregator of ad spaces supplied by publishers Matches supply (ad space) with demand ads Ad affiliates Sales channel that drives traffic to advertisers' sites Categorized based on how they drive traffic Ad exchanges Open technology platform for trade of ad units Provides a transparent forum for all parties in the ecosystem to coordinate and transact

How does PPC work

Google uses CPC Bid and your Quality score Quality score - googles rating of the quality and relevance of both your keywords and PPC ads Quality scores Important to boost your ratings by working consistently on your account. This can be achieved by focusing your efforts on several key areas: Keyword research - discover new, highly relevant keywords to add to your campaigns including long-tail opportunities that can contribute to the bulk of your overall traffic Keyword Organization - split your keywords into tight, organized groups that can be more effectively tied to individual ad campaigns Refining Ad text - test put PPC ad copy that is more targeted to your individual ad groups. More effective ads get higher CTR, one of the best ways to improve Quality Score. Optimizing Landing Pages - Follow landing page best practices to create pages that connect directly with your ad groups and provide a cohesive experience for visitors, from keyword to conversion. Adding Negative Keywords - Continuously research, identify, and exclude irrelevant search terms that are wasting your budget. If your ad has a high bounce rate, this will negatively impact your Quality Score

HubSpot SEO certification-key takeaways from: Optimizing Your Website for Rich Results

Google uses structured data (a markup language that is in a standardized format for providing details about a page and classifying the content) to better understand the contents of a web page, as well as to create rich results. Rich results are visually enhanced search results that include additional details about the site, along with the normal title, URL, and meta description. You cannot optimize your web pages for all types of rich results, however you can optimize them for several types of rich results. SERPs can include organic results, rich results, featured snippets, knowledge graphs, and paid ads. Local brick-and-mortar businesses should create a Google My Business page to improve local SEO. Many people use voice search on mobile devices to search for "businesses near me." Featured snippets provide people with instant answers to specific questions. Google creates a featured snippet that is displayed as a summary of an answer to a person's question, and it's displayed on top of the organic search results. The answer comes from a web page, and also includes the page's title and URL. Web pages can be crafted that answer specific questions that relate to the subject matter of the page, such as "what is the average temperature in Honolulu, Hawaii?" The answer should be concise, and cleanly formatted. It should also be at the top of the page, and less than 50 words.

HubSpot SEO certification-key takeaways from: On Page and Technical SEO

Heading tags provide hierarchical structure to a web page. Title tags specify the title of a web page in search results, and should be under 60 characters if possible. Words like "click here" or "learn more" are not effective link descriptions, and neither is the page's URL. The most important aspect of creating SEO content is to focus on creating user-friendly, relevant, and authoritative content. A sitemap is an XML file that is on your web server (host) that lists all of the URLs on your website. It is used by search engines to index your website, and is submitted through Google Search Console. You need a meta description because it increases clickthrough rates and visits from organic search, provides users with the right information when it is needed, and increases visits from social. The meta description should be 155-160 characters, and should include one or two keywords. Your website should be securely served using a valid SSL certificate.

What Does a page rank indicate

How important a page is on the web How important search rankings are on the web How important a search term is on the web

Important paid search metrics

Impression - An ad exposure to a searcher Typically it does not cost you in PPC but you also don't know if it was seen. Click - When a searcher clicks on an ad and is redirected to the destination URL of an ad. Cost per click (CPC) - Costs divided by clicks ($100 for 50 clicks equals $2 CPC) Clickthrough rate (CTR) - Clicks divided by impressions (100 clicks from 1000 impressions equals a 10% CTR)

User Intent:

Instead of violating SEO guidelines to trick search engines into ranking you higher, focus on understanding and fulfilling user intent. The desired content is their "user intent" If a person performs a search for "bands," is their intent to find musical bands, wedding bands, band saws, or something else? Your job is to provide the right content in the format they desire.

HubSpot SEO certification- key takeaways from: SEO Reporting

It's not enough to work on SEO without setting measurable goals and KPIs and analyzing the results regularly. Since SEO is an iterative process, the details gained from measuring your results can be opportunities for additional SEO practices. A highly ranking keyword could be driving traffic to your site, but you don't have much content relating to that keyword. Time to create more content around the keyword. Do not change too many things on your site at once; over-optimization can be detrimental and can affect your rank on the SERPs. Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and Moz's Link Explorer are free to use, and can be extremely useful for monitoring your progress. Search traffic is measured in click throughs, pageviews, sessions, and unique views, and different SEO tools may contradict one another and use different terms.

HubSpot SEO certification- key takeaways from: Keyword Research for SEO

Keyword research tells you what people are searching for, how many people are searching for it, how difficult it will be to rank for a search query, and what format people want to receive information in. Head terms (also referred to as fat head) are usually single-word keywords with a lot of search volume and competition. Body keywords (also referred to as chunky middle) are 2-3 word phrases with pretty good search volume, slightly more than head terms, with slightly less competition. Long tail keywords make up the majority of searches online. "Long tail" refers to the graph showing the demand curve, rather than the number of words in the search query. The topic cluster model is a way of organizing a site's content pages using a clean, deliberate site architecture. It is done by creating pages that target clusters of specific and relevant content topics, all linked from a centralized hub that is referred to as a pillar page. The pillar page should also provide a comprehensive overview of the topic, and the topic should be relevant to the targeted keywords of your site.

Terms for Organic Search

Keywords - words or phrases selected when making a search (can also be used in other contexts) Meta tag - also known as meta name or meta elements and is in the header portion of a site's HTML code Algorithm - the calculations about various issues that search engines use to find the most relevant search results for a search query. Displays the search engines 'best guess' as to which pages are most relevant Title tag - title in blue bar at top of web page; important for SEO rankings. *You need a separate title tag for each page. Meta descriptions (page descriptions) - HTML attributes that provide concise summaries of webpages. Keep it within 160 characters and write it to catch the user's attention. They are between one sentence to a short paragraph and appear underneath the blue clickable links in a search engine results page (SERP). However, depending on a user's query, google might pull meta description test from other areas on your page

Checklist on how to write optimized title tags

Length: max of 70 characters, including spaces Keyword placement: your most important keywords need to be first in your title tag. least important words being last in the title tag. Keyword separation: use pipes to separate important keyword phrases ||| Wording: keep important phrases short and simple. leave out words that would make it read like a sentence Company name: if your company name is not part of the important keyword phrases, put it at the end of the title tag Don't duplicate title tags: they must be written differently for every page Make it relevant: Title tags must be written to be descriptive of the content on the page

We looked at this article in class about how the auctions on google work. Make sure to read this and understand it. https://www.wordstream.com/ppc

PPC stands for pay-per-click, a model of internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Essentially, it's a way of buying visits to your site, rather than attempting to "earn" those visits organically. Google Ads - users bid on keywords and pay for each click on their advertisements Ad Rank = CPC bid + Quality Score (best combined gets the best position) CPC Bid: the highest amount an advertiser is willing to spend Quality Score: takes into account your click-through rate, relevance, and landing page quality an effective PPC keyword should be: Relevant Exhaustive (Should include most popular words AND long-tail keywords (multiple-word phrases) which are more specific and less common, but they add up to account for the majority of search-driven traffic. They are less competitive, and therefore less expensive.) Expansive (keyword list is constantly growing and adapting) The price you pay = the ad rank of the person below you / your quality score + $0.01 An advertiser can pay less for a higher position due to its high quality score. (Advertisers with better Quality Scores get more ad clicks at lower costs.) Managing PPC Campaigns: Add PPC keywords Add Negative keywords Split Ad Groups: Improve click-through rate (CTR) and Quality Score by splitting up your ad groups into smaller, more relevant ad groups, which help you create more targeted ad text and landing pages. Review costly PPC keywords (shut off underperforming) Redefine landing pages (modify call-to-action, don't send all your traffic to the same page)

Social Media and SEO

Posting links that drive traffic to your website that have low bounce rates helps SEO. Promote your content by posting it on social media. Monitor conversations on your social media accounts as well as competitors'. Use for insight on keyword research Conversations also give insight into the type of content the product category users need. Encouraging user generated content builds brand awareness. If they link to your site, that directs more traffic to you.

Google's Algorithms

RankBrain (Google's name for a machine-learning artificial intelligence system that's used to help process its search results) Machine learning - where a computer teaches itself how to do something Hummingbird is overall search algorithm Proprietary - release ranking signals and SQEG guidelines but no one knows the exact formula they use Constantly releases updates BERT - google's neural network-based technique for natural language processing pretraining. BERT can help computers understand information a little more like humans do. Opensourced last year Helps better understand the nuances and context of words in searches and better match those queries with more relevant results Used to better match queries with search results and is also used for featured snippets Looks for relationships in the query

Difference between ad networks and ad exchanges

Programmatic advertising - advertising that is being done automatically An ad exchange allows the purchasing and selling of media ad inventory from other ad exchanges and ad networks Ad networks purchase the inventory from ad exchanges Filter out inventory from publishers according to specifications and targeting options Ad exchanges - Marketplaces where publishers, advertisers, and ad networks may purchase and indeed sell inventory You have to take a look at the pricing Ad exchanges utilize real-time bidding (RTB), which revolves around the competition Ad networks use negotiations relying on specific media inventory

How Search Works

Query- User-Initiated search term Index Server- Stores information previously categorized Spiders- Or 'robots' are programs 'crawl' the web and follow every link or piece of data they see and bring back to index server SERP- Search Engine Results Page Having a sitemap up makes it easier for your site to be crawled. Can still be found without a sitemap, but would need a lot of site traffic.

Factors to consider when selecting an affiliate advertising program

Read all the details about the opportunity including the pay, the terms, etc. Select affiliate program ads that are consistent with your blog's content. Ads that don't match your content will undoubtedly be clicked on less frequently (meaning less revenue for you) and can decrease the credibility of your blog (meaning fewer readers will return to your blog because it's cluttered with irrelevant ads). Don't go overboard with affiliate ads. Too many ads not only make your blog look suspiciously like spam to readers Don't expect big profits (at least not at first). While many bloggers can generate a decent ancillary income from affiliate advertising, most bloggers can't boast those kinds of results. Boosting your income through affiliate advertising takes time and practice. Don't be afraid to test new ads, placement, programs and more until you find the best mix to meet your goals for your blog.

Traditional retargeting and how it works

Retargeting (aka remarketing) is a form of online advertising that can help you keep your brand in front of bounced traffic after they leave your website allows you to serve ads to people who have: Previously visited your website Used your mobile app Possibly visited and bought a retail location allows for more efficient use of your ad spending budget For most websites, only 2% of web traffic converts on the first visit a tool designed to help companies reach the 98% of users who don't convert right away

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) has 2 aspects:

SEO/Organic Search AND PPC/Paid Search Both require planning and customer knowledge Paid search requires bidding on relevant keywords Web pages need to be written with algorithms in mind and with relevance. Learning is a continuous process for those in SEO

Search Marketing

Search Marketing: the process of gaining traffic and visibility from search engines through both paid and unpaid efforts. Search Marketing encompasses: Search engine marketing (SEM): refers to all aspects of search queries, including organic and paid listing although most definitions say organic only SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Measures and methods of optimizing online content so that it is indexed, and so that the search engines can work out how relevant the content is to any particular search query so search engines can find it more easily Process of getting traffic from the "free", "organic", "editorial", or "natural" search results on search engines SEO is earning traffic through unpaid or free listings SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages): search engine's search results that is used to refer to organic results but paid ads do show up on the page

Google snippets

Selected search results that are featured on top of Google's organic results below the ads in a box

Types of cookies

Session cookies In effect for 1 visit Mainly used by online shops and allow you to keep items in your basket when shopping online expire when the browser is closed Persistent/permanent cookies On user's computer for a period of time remain in operation even when you have closed the browser they remember your login details and password so you don't have to type them in every time you use the site First-party cookies Set by the website from which files requested Third-party cookies Set by ad network or metrics service Installed by third parties with the aim of collecting certain information to carry out various research into behavior, demographics, etc. These are the cookies that Google is eliminating iphones have not used cookies

Retargeting on desktop devices

Tracking tags and cookies The tracking tag is a snippet of a code (sometimes called a tracking pixel) Places an anonymous cookie into the browser of any site visitors The cookie captures anonymous data but no personally identifiable information (PII) PII includes name, email address, phone number, IP address, SSN, or any other piece of information that can identify an individual Retargeting can also occur across devices

Display advertising

Static images - these are your basic banner or square ads that appear around the content. Text - these are text ads that are created by algorithms to make text ads relevant to the surrounding content. Floating banners - these move across the screen or float above the regular website's content. Popup ads - these are new windows that appear in front of the website content; the newly opened window displays the full ad so visitors can see. Flash - these are moving ads that "flash" different content at the viewer. Video - these are small video ads that autoplay or wait for the video to be played by the visitor Wallpaper - these appear and change the background of a website, filling the whole page The original form of online advertising, visual ads that appear on third party websites (usually ones that are related to your content or service in some way) Usually very affordable If you contact the third-party site directly, their rates will vary from site to site If you go through a marketing site, they'll charge you a base rate Some third-party sites like the Google Display Network allow for demographic, geographic, contextual, and behavioral targeting All of which help you target the audience that would most likely to be interested in your product/service

SEO Optimization

Technical Content Off-site SEO

What are SEO practices?

The methods vary from technical practices you can achieve behind the scenes on your website (we tend to refer to this as 'on-page SEO') to all the promotional 'off-page' approaches you can use to raise your site's visibility (like link building and social media marketing) When we talk about visibility, we mean how high up the SERP your website appears for certain search terms in the 'organic' results. Organic results refer to those that appear naturally on the page, rather than in the paid-for sections. Building a strong site architecture and providing clear navigation will help search engines index your site quickly and easily. This will also provide visitors with a good experience of using your site and encourage repeat visits. It's worth considering that Google is also increasingly paying attention to user experience, including mobile optimization and site speed

What is a title tag?

Title tags are part of the meta tags that appear at the top of your HTML inside the <head> area Title tags are like the title of the chapter of a book It tells people and search engines what your page is about Title tags are also part of what makes people decide whether to visit your site when it shows up in the search results Title tag should contain important keywords to help the search engine determine what the page is about Write title tags for humans; format them for search engines

SQEG: Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines

What human quality raters use to evaluate websites and SERPs Don't directly affect rankings Emphasis on Beneficial purpose - means your site and content should have a user-focused purpose that benefits them in some way SQEG Updates: E-A-T or Quality Expertise - refers to the creator of the main content(MC) on the page. Does the creator have the expertise/credentials to back up info? Authoritativeness - refers to the main content creator, the content itself, and the website on which it appears. "Authoritativeness" means having generally recognized authority. Trustworthiness - Also refers to the main content creator, the content and the website. Being a trustworthy expert and source means people can trust you to provide honest, true info that is accurate.

Methods for matching across devices & testable article from ppt https://digiday.com/media/wtf-is-the-difference-between-deterministic-and-probabilistic-identity-data/

What is probabilistic data? based on probabilities It is comprised of individual pieces of information, such as a devices operating system or IP address, and compiled to puzzle together a conclusion can be used to create an identifier Retargeting platforms combine all this information and use algorithms to create a single identity Downside is that it is a "best guess" Accuracy can be as high as 90% but usually is in the 60-70% range Why is probabilistic data used for advertising? Deterministic data is hard to come by Systems using probabilistic methods employ a variety of data points to decipher who a user might be they assign identity that is probably accurate Do companies communicate whether an identity has been assigned based on deterministic or probabilistic data IDs don't reveal whether they're deterministic or probabilistic methods What types of information is used to assign probabilistic identity? Soft signals or non-unique device characteristics Typical data points used include IP address, timestamps, browser version or screen resolution Fingerprinting triangulates a variety of data points to establish identity, but ad and identity tech execs often stress that there are distinctions between the twooften stress that there are distinctions between the two What is deterministic data? Deterministic data is information that is known to be true and accurate because it is supplied by people directly or is personally identifiable, such as names or email addresses It's often referred to as authenticated data It ties devices together using a mix of user and device IDs with advertising IDs Logging into FB, email, etc. combined with ID device that acts as a device-specific cookie and enables advertisers to identify and target users Retargeting pool is smaller because it depends on user login; however, targeting is more accurate How is deterministic data used for advertising identity? Deterministic identifiers use deterministic data to assign identity to a person online or using a mobile device in order to track that identified person across websites or apps for ad targeting or measurement Key ingredient in deterministic identity is typically information someone supplied herself, usually by logging in w/ a name, email address or phone number Is deterministic data the same as first-party data? First-party data gathered directly from people by a brand, or a publisher includes deterministic data such as names, emails, or phone numbers First-party data also includes: articles read, purchase transaction or other behavioral data How is deterministic data used to assign identity? Deterministic identity is achieved when an email address supplied by a publisher or advertiser is matched to the same email address in an identity graph or database of logged-in users A deterministic ID match could happen if two entities both recognize an ID and can accurately match them Sometimes 3 pieces of deterministic information can be used to connect the dots Data fields must agree Privacy concerns regarding mobile devices One of the most controversial uses by an app = location data collected by GPS Many free third-party apps collect location data that they sell The data aren't just based on current location but also track travel patterns, including stops at hospitals and other healthcare facilities