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Welcome to Volume 51!
Although we award MVPs at the end of a sports game, we all know that the team that plays together wins together. MVPs aren’t always the player who scored the most points, it’s the player which was most valuable overall.
So why have we been rating our ad campaigns based on the effects of the last click before conversion? A well-created ad campaign works in tandem, all pieces of the puzzle lead to the conversion even when there are MVPs along the way. This is exactly why Google is leaving last-click attribution behind and shifting gears to focus on data-driven attribution.
Before we get into that, here’s a peek at what’s to come:
- Google ads are moving towards data-driven attribution
- Zapier’s use of listicle’s to build its SEO moat
- Skype focuses on its looks to take back market share from Zoom
Also, we are HIRING B2B MARKETERS:
- Foundation is hiring a Sr. Content Marketing Strategist
- Foundation is hiring a Technical Content Marketing Manager
Google Ads Moves On From Last-Click Attribution
Key performance indicators and metrics are crucial to continually improve your marketing performance. You can’t fix what’s not broken, but you can always improve it!
Previously, Google Ads used last-click attribution as a guiding metric, which gave 100% of the conversion credit to the action a user took before making a purchase. Although this is a useful metric to be aware of, it doesn’t tell the full purchase journey story.
With last-click attribution, it was a challenge to see an even split of user interactions before purchase.
But now Google Ads is moving away from last-click attribution and toward data-driven modeling!
With the data-driven attribution approach, multiple touchpoints and signals that occurred leading up to conversion are taken into account. Although not every touchpoint is equal, Google has its ways of using AI and Machine Learning to break down the effectiveness of each touchpoint. And then use that data to calculate the true incremental value of ads.
This update comes along at the same time we are losing access to cookie data, which means tracking users across the web is going to get a lot harder. Ideally, Google Ad’s update will fill that gap by enlisting machine learning technology, while respecting user privacy and personal data to fill in the missing data points.
Vidhya Srinivasan, VP/GM Buying, Analytics and Measurement, at Google Ads stated the following in the press release regarding the Google Ads update:
“Like all of our measurement solutions, we respect people’s decisions about how their data should be used and have strict policies against covert techniques, like fingerprinting, that can compromise user privacy.”
Google is in a precarious spot. They need to balance user safety while also simultaneously supplying marketing teams with accurate data about their ad campaigns. A data-driven attribution approach may just be the future of data tracking and third-party data modeling we are looking for in this privacy-centric world.
Key Takeaways
- A new Google Ads update should display the holistic performance of an ad campaign more accurately.
- In a cookie-less world, Google adapted to AI and Machine Learning to fill in the gaps left by the loss of a tracked user journey.
- Data-driven attribution gives credit to all aspects of the ad campaign while using machine learning to accurately justify the strength of its role in leading to a conversion.
Zapier Listicle SEO
If you’re unfamiliar with Zapier — it’s a tool to help people automate simple tasks between apps. It’s basically a no-code automation tool.
Yet, Zapier organically ranks in the top spots for things like:
Their simple listicle about the best note-taking app drives around 25k sessions back to Zapier’s blog each month and ranks on 10k+ keywords.
Does Zapier make a note-taking app? Nope.
Yet, they rank in the top spots for:
These aren’t easy keywords to rank on either; “note-taking app” has a keyword difficulty of 95! This simple listicle is able to outrank legitimate note-taking apps like Evernote and Simplenote.
That is incredible.
A lot of marketers would be happy with ranking on “best note-taking app” with their list of best note-taking apps. But Zapier can target both the parent keyword, “note-taking app,” and the child keyword, “best note-taking app.”
As well as almost every other long-tail “note-taking app” keyword you can think of.
And if you were searching for a note-taking app you are more likely to click on the list of best note-taking apps, rather than a landing page for an app you haven’t heard of.
Funny enough, Zapier doesn’t offer a Notepad App to their users, but they still rank on these massive keywords a single listicle.
Do you know what Zapier does offer?
Integrations and automation with all of those apps that were featured on the listicle.
They aren’t just randomly publishing listicles hoping for views or shares, like Buzzfeed. This is a very strategic move to get their integrations, recipes, and “magic moments” in front of more people. At the right time of the buyer’s journey.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
To find out how Zapier uses listicles to turns millions of readers into users, check out How Zapier Uses Listicles To Drive 5+ Million Sessions.
Key Takeaways
- Listicles are a great way to target investigational search intent, especially outside of your niche.
- Quality and evergreen content will lead to conversions in the long run and build brand trust.
- Content creation should span past conversion-based content alone to reap the full benefits of a content marketing strategy.
Skype Goes For Zoom With Product Updates
Before entering the unprecedented year of 2020, Skype comfortably sat as the leader in video call platforms, holding 32.4% of the market share.
But in a single year, Skype lost 25.8% of its market share and its crown of the best video chat app to Zoom.
It’s amazing how the tables can turn, and how Skype went from a household name to the name of a distanced cousin that visits every other Christmas. In fact, when it comes to video calling apps to stay connected, Skype barely comes up.
However! Skype is not down for the count. Although it had a rough year as video call platforms piqued in popularity, Skype has taken the time out of the spotlight to reimagine their design and are now launching a colorful redesign, with new features and performance updates.
Skype took note of the various weak spots in Zoom’s aesthetics and leveraged those findings to upgrade their UI so it was more attractive to new users.
I mean look at the left-hand chat display!
To compete with Zoom on a user acquisition level, Skype is working on a redesign of Meet Now. This is a feature that allows people to join calls without signing up or installing the app.
One last cool feature that Skype is working on is called, TwinCamera. This will allow people on calls to access a secondary device’s camera and split the screen to feature their furry assistant, a whiteboard, or a piece of art they are working on.
While Zoom works to expand its off-platform features and integrations with Facebook, Skype is coming back with a redesigned look to re-attract users onto their video call platform. Plus, if you use Zoom for business it would be a nice separation to access Skype’s UI for personal calls.
Key Takeaways
- Skype redesigned its look to attract new and old users to its video call platform.
- In the face of heavy competition, there is power in patience and improving on competitor’s weak spots.
- Zoom is beginning to focus its efforts off-platform, making it the perfect time for Skype to strike back and regain market share.
OTHER NEWS OF THE WEEK:
🎨 Collaborative cloud platform Frontify raised $50M to build out its suite of features to go beyond being simply a storage location for brand and design assets.
📈 Ninja Van, a Singapore-based logistics startup has raised $578M in Series E funding.
📱 TikTok reached the astounding milestone of 1B monthly active users.
BRAIN FOOD OF THE WEEK:
Slack has recognized the drain that writer’s block can have on team communication, so they’ve gone ahead and removed the need for the written word.
Slack recently launched “clips,” a video message integration to help you avoid the need for meetings and overcome the strenuous struggle of putting your thoughts down on (virtual) paper. Some people prefer to talk things through and rely on tone of voice for proper understanding, making video notes a communication lifesaver.
Plus – you can share your screen and send off a clip in seconds, right from the project channel.
TWITTER THREAD OF THE WEEK:
A list of 10 low-budget marketing channels for startups by Hrishikesh Pardeshi
WHAT WE’RE WIRED INTO THIS WEEK 🎧:
Street Spirt (Fade Out) by Radiohead (Best Track: Talk Show Host)
Originally sent out, by me Cali B, on Thursday, September 30, 2021.
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