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News and articles that allow us to stay on top of our game. You might want to read them too.

Data & Privacy

Digital advertising is not the dot com bubble, improper attribution is

– Marketing Land

“In other words, I am positing that paid search advertising itself has not failed, it’s that an understanding of how to use paid search advertising as part of an integrated marketing mix for individual companies has failed. Improper use of attribution has led to an obsession with directly tracked results that over time do not build a brand and incremental sales. They simply re-target (not necessarily remarketing, btw) the same users already in the sales cycle – ad nauseam.”

Apple’s data war could lower the value of ads, say these two major publishers

– AdAge

“Both executives say that they see a difference in the value of ads, depending on whether a reader comes to sites through Apple or Google browsers. Visitors through Apple browser, where cookie tracking is more limited, lead to cheaper ads.”

When Third Comes First

– Adexchanger

“Not all brands have first-party data, and in some advertising categories, first-party doesn’t help growth objectives at all because it reveals information about an existing customer, rather than potential customers where incremental opportunities reside.
Brands should seek a reliable and legitimate provider for the type of data they need, then apply a scientific, analytical approach to selecting the strong data signals they will use as a predictor to reach the right prospects.”

Is digital advertising a lot less effective than the ad industry believes?

– Econsultancy.com

“Put simply, companies are attributing to advertising what likely would have occurred anyway. Using an analogy from the article, there’s a person handing out coupons for discounted pizza in the restaurant itself and advertisers are crediting those coupons for sales even though it’s obvious this conclusion is flawed.”

 

Google: Organic, Ads & Analytics

Google search results eye candy: How users navigate search features and what it means for SEO

– Search Engine Land

“Because search-results pages are now so inconsistent from query to query, users are often forced to assess the page before digging in and making a selection,” according to the report. Any given query can surface numerous search features, ranging from rich answers to carousels and everything in between. This assortment of information plays a critical part in shifting the user’s attention across the page. “That means that the layout of a SERP can determine which links get visibility and clicks.”

Misquoted and misunderstood: Why many in the search community don’t believe the WSJ about Google search

– Search Engine Land

“Google aims to ensure that the most relevant and useful search results show up in the organic search results. While Google cannot open-source its search ranking algorithms due to (1) competitive and (2) manipulation reasons, Google does work hard to provide a trusted set of search results for its searchers.”

See the ‘top signals’ informing your Google Ads bidding strategies

– Search Engine Land

“Google’s smart bidding strategies use a host of signals to inform bids with each auction. Now, Google is starting to show which signals are driving performance to optimize bids for people more or less likely to convert.”

 

Social: Facebook & Instagram & others

Introducing New Brand Safety Controls for Advertisers

– Facebook

“While our Community Standards apply to everyone on Facebook, we also have additional policies to hold publishers, creators and advertisers accountable. At the same time, we know that not all businesses are the same and some may want additional controls for placements within publisher content, like in-stream and Instant Articles on Facebook or Audience Network. It’s why we are focused on giving advertisers more transparency and sophisticated tools to suit their brand. Today we are announcing strides in our brand safety controls.”

Social media ads are most effective for inspiring new product research

– Econsultancy.com

This is one part of Econsultancy’s “The best digital marketing stats we’ve seen this week” linked to above.
“The study assumes that the first action an online shopper will take to express interest in a product can be to click a link to learn more, type in the brand domain direct, or run a search for the product or brand. When it comes to inspiring product research, 23% of survey respondents cited social media ads as the number one most effective form of advertising – out of 11 different common advertising and promotional mediums offered.”

TikTok Is Testing A Self-Serve Ad Platform

– Adexchanger

Advertisers in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and the United States can purchase TikTok ads with partially self-serve tech. A pitch deck obtained by Digiday outlines TikTok’s two self-serve business models. The first allows bidding based on cost per click. The second model is based on cost per acquisition, targeting users most likely to convert. Among the usual audience parameters – age, gender and location – advertisers can also target based on device price, interests like beauty or travel and with look-alike segments.

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