But before we touch on digital marketing, let’s be honest about what matters: quality people, service, and repairs. 

Local businesses thrive on repeat customers and word-of-mouth referrals. No matter how many new customers a digital marketing strategy attracts, if the front-of-shop staff is unfriendly, the mechanics are unreliable, or the repairs don’t work, the business won’t last.

All digital marketing advice and other marketing input depend on customers getting:

• Good service
• Reliable repairs
• Fair price

What are the key components of Auto Repair Digital Marketing?

There are many things you can do to market your shop online. But, there are several key aspects of digital marketing that you must do. Here is a list of digital marketing requirements.

There is a lot you can do, but at the very least, here are the key elements:

• Online presence: website and social media profiles
• Search engine optimization: getting your site content right
• Social media activity: it’s all local
• Online advertising: Search and Social
• Tracking, Analytics & Reporting

Online presence: Website and social profiles

The first step in a digital marketing program is making it easy for prospective repair customers to learn about your service and contact you. The two main areas are a website and your business on social media.

Website

You need a website, obviously. It must have explicit content and ways for customers to schedule a repair service or talk to a mechanic. It must also be set up so search engines understand your services (we’ll touch on SEO later).

Social Media Profiles

Social profiles have become as important as websites. Facebook and Google Business Profiles are key online sources for prospective customers. You must keep these up-to-date and active. A well-set-up social media profile includes location information, a phone number, photos, explanations of service, and regular updates/postings. 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Auto Repair

While word-of-mouth is the number one driver of new customers, auto repair shops are also found by people using Google Search or Bing. Search engines must know your services and your business’s location so prospective customers can see it in the search results.

One challenge is that your competitors want to appear high in the search results or the maps just as much as you do. While SEO has many facets, here are some things you can do to increase your search engine results.

Clear content on the homepage

Use your homepage to identify your core services. Use clear titles with short paragraphs for each service and link to inner pages that provide a deeper explanation. Simply listing your services on your homepage is not enough; you must link to more content.

Name, Address, Phone Number (NAP)

This information is critical for people to contact you and for search engines to know when to show your services to people searching in your area. NAP information should be in the site’s footer, appear on every page, and be on a location/contact us page.

Structure the NAP

Search engines are good at recognizing NAP information. You can add NAP information to the site with markup or other code to make it easier. Schema.org is the ‘keeper’ of the structure formatting and a great resource.

Structure your Content

Content structure is key to helping search engines understand what you do. And your understanding of your customers and how they ask about your services is a great way to think about it.

Consider tires. What are the different services related to tires? 

Tire repair, tire replacement, tire rotation, tire balancing, and others are ways a potential customer may think about your tire service and how they may search for it. Articulating this on your tire services page is important. 

But it can go deeper than that.  

Some people who need new tires may search for “new tires” or “tire replacement.” They may search for “Goodyear tires” or “Toyo tires.” The inference is that they are looking for new tires but a particular tire brand. So, you should create a page for Goodyear tires and link to it from your “Tire Services” page under the “Tire replacement” section.  

Being specific lets Google and prospective customers know you sell and install Goodyear tires.

SEO can encompass a lot more. But this is about broader Auto Shop marketing.

Check out Justin’s post for a deeper dive into Auto Shop SEO.

Google Business Profile

On this note, ensure your Google Business Profile (GBP) is current. Many people searching for a local business will just get to the GBP and call from there. 

You can claim your business and manage it here. Have photos of the repair shop, interior and exterior. New customers will be more comfortable if they know what to expect.

Locally Social

An auto repair shop is local by nature. The customers come from the surrounding area. Online (and offline) local involvement and interest are critical to a small business. So, while having an updated local business social profile is required, a local shop should do much more.

A stagnant profile may give the impression that the business is not in operation or engaged with the community.

Facebook is, for now, the primary social platform. But certainly not the only one. Nextdoor and others are potential channels as well. But, go deeper rather than spread out too thin. 

Posting on Social Media

Posts should go beyond auto repair topics. Identify local community organizations, such as park districts, chambers of commerce, schools, VFWs, etc., and keep up with their local activities. Mention them and link to them in your posts. Share their posts.

Attend and share photos and comments on local events. On your posts, shout out to other local businesses. Engage, in person and online, with the community on which the shop depends. 

Online Advertising

PPC Advertising for Auto Repair

Pay-per-click advertising is still a major driver for the repair shop business. There are many options for PPC advertising, with Google being the primary and, for most shops, likely the only search engine. Tutorials are available to get started in Google PPC, but Google also has a simplified Local Services Ads (LSA) program.

One point of caution: LSA is pretty opaque. You do not have much control over the ads; you set a budget and a target area, give Google some information about your services/search terms, and Google does the rest. The LSA is a good place to start if you don’t have the time or resources to manage a search program. 

Facebook/Instagram Ads

Facebook and Instagram are great ways to promote your business to the local community. You can be creative in advertising, run seasonal promotions, and keep your name present among potential customers.  

Tracking and Analytics

It wouldn’t be digital marketing without mentioning tracking and analytics. Setting up a Google GA4 account and adding it to your website is essential for measuring your digital marketing activity. 

Properly configured, GA4 will show you :

• where your visitors are coming from 
• which channels drive leads and calls
• give you a sense of what content is important

While we can write pages about analytics and reporting and how to use it, the important part for now is just setting it up.

You can do so many things online to promote an auto repair business. But, the above covers the more critical aspects of digital marketing. If you need assistance with your online advertising, reach out to us. We’d love to help.

The post Auto Repair Shop Digital Marketing: Getting Started appeared first on Fanatically Digital.

How Are PMax Shopping Ads Affected by Amazon Prime Days?

We have clients running PMax Shopping campaigns, and they all changed significantly during the week of Prime Day and the days around it. Usually, suffering lower ROAS or higher CPAs.

Why does PMax performance change during Prime Days

PMax are AI campaigns, and they respond to data. With enough data, they learn to optimize campaigns to maximize ROAS, minimize CPA, or hit specific targets. Over time, they are very effective at optimizing programs. 

What PMax is not good at is quickly adapting to changes in the stream of data. With big enough changes, the campaigns may enter a learning phase. Sometimes, they simply don’t perform well. Prime Days introduced a short-term shift in shopping behavior. 

In some cases, the lower prices in Amazon for a category moved purchases away from the site and onto Amazon. So, clicks that usually converted did not. The people expected lower prices and went to Amazon. 

Delayed purchases in the days leading up to Prime Days may also create changes in the data. Like Black Friday/Cyber Monday, people hold off until they purchase on the sale day. Unlike BF/CM, Amazon is the only place for the Prime Days sale and was heavily promoted.

Normally,  competitor sales may have some impact on each other. However, when it’s Amazon, the scale of the sale, the expectations set by Amazon promotions, and the resources Amazon puts behind them have a significant impact on other sales outlets.

PMax Options During Prime Days

There are a few approaches to handling the impact of Prime Days on your Google PMax Shopping campaigns. From trying to compete head-on to shutting down for the time being and some steps in between, advertisers can take steps to leverage or mitigate Prime Days.

Make no Changes to PMax

Letting the PMax campaign run as usual is an option. You can accept the lower performance over the week or so during Prime Days and allow PMax to adjust when things return to normal. 

Compete With (leverage) Prime Days

If you sell on Amazon, you don’t want to, and you are likely not allowed to promote lower prices on your site. But if you don’t sell on Amazon, can you compete? 

Amazon Prime Days spurs more shopping. But people are looking for deals. Can you compete on price? Does obtaining a new customer create a lifetime value that warrants low or no margin on a sale driven by the Prime Days frenzy? If so, it may be worth lowering prices to entice purchasers. This is a business decision many struggle to work out.

Shut Down PMax

Alternatively, you can pause the PMax campaign. This will prevent spending, obviously. The hope is that when you restart, it will not take as long to hit its stride. But keep in mind that shutting it down and unpausing it can launch a learning phase.

Unlike the holiday season, when almost all channels and categories carry sales/promotions, Prime Days is a one-sided event. It speaks volumes that one channel carries so much influence that it has a material impact across categories in other channels. You can’t escape it, so choose the path and plan accordingly.

PMax: Why AI & Data-driven Optimization Can Be Fragile

Over the long run, AI optimization will generally outperform manual optimization. There are exceptions, and I suspect those exceptions will become fewer as AI improves. For all the long-term benefits, advertisers must accept some short-term heartburn.

 Among other things is the AI’s sensitivity to changes in data inputs. Prime Days is an example of an indirect event having a direct effect.

PMax campaigns optimize based on all the traditional inputs (though it controls them), like budget allocation, bidding, and targeting. These used to be (and, to some degree, still can be) controlled by the campaign manager. But for PMax they are controlled by the AI.

This works well because the data inputs also include buyer behavior throughout, and even tangential to, the purchase process. The AI sees patterns that let it know when to bid on what inventory (Search, GDN, YouTube, Gmail, etc), how much to bid, and what the user might do next. The AI can nurture a person through the buying process. 

The very thing that makes AI so good at optimization also makes it fragile to changes in data input. If buyer behavior suddenly changes, AI bidding based on past behavior does not drive the same anticipated action. 

AI has to see the new behavior repetitively to adjust. If the change is short-term (like Prime Days), it applies old information to the new behavior. Then, as the behavior changes back to normal, the AI is trying to adapt to the recent behavior of Prime Days. It can take a couple of weeks to re-learn based on the data changes. 

Plan and Manage the PMax Strategy

PMax is about strategy, which is a long-term view. Fluctuations in the PMax performance are normal and managers should not attempt to make changes based on short-term changes. While a given week or two may be up or down, it is the long-run optimization that makes PMax powerful.

The post Amazon Prime Days and Google PMAX Shopping appeared first on Fanatically Digital.

Some of the changes in the PPC world and where it lands us as a PPC agency:

The Search Engine Competitors

In the early years, the change was about the players. As the different search engines competed for PPC marketing dollars, the number of paid search engine options faded over time. Yahoo! and Ask had dedicated sales teams, then eventually stopped selling and simply incorporated competing search engines into their search tools. Google and Microsoft are the last two (viable) PPC search engines. 

Through all this time, Google set the standards that the others tried to emulate. From consumer-facing features to ad management UI, most tried to copy Google. We are at a point where Microsoft simply says to import your Google Ads or Google Merchant data directly. 

As an agency, it is easier to deal with a few players, but it seems restrictive in the search space.

Google Ads: From complete control to black-box

Focusing on Google which set the stage for all search engines, Google tried to provide the PPC managers as much information and control as possible. The search management landscape is unrecognizable in today’s environment. Take these examples:

Long-Tail Search Term

When Google reps visited our agency, one of the first strategies they encouraged was an exceptionally well-built-out keyword list with well-structured ad groups. Having five- or more-word search term targets was very common. Creating ad groups focused on very finite terms created a competitive advantage. 

You could find terms on which very few competitors were bidding, thus creating very low-cost CPC programs. While everyone was bidding on head terms, only those who did a great deal of work built out long-tail programs. 

Google effectively killed long-tail PPC programs by implementing “low volume” barriers to creating a search auction. Now, Google has forced us to compete with head terms (or very close), inflating the cost for any advertiser who managed long-tail terms.

SKAG – Single Keyword Ad Group

One strategy implemented by many PPC agencies and managers is the SKAG. It was very targeted, with very tight ad copy and landing pages. Running the SKAG was a lot of work, as was managing the ad groups and the negative match type to funnel the correct ad to the best search.

Google effectively killed this strategy by no longer honoring match types. When your ad group ad can show for searches that Google deems “mean the same” and seems to grow the list of “qualifying searches” as you increase your negative keyword list, the SKAG loses its validity.

CPC Max Bid – still available, lease valuable

From Enhanced bidding to CPA to ROAS, CPC Max Bid has all but lost its meaning. You can absolutely do this. But, with the advent of AI, manual bidding is highly inefficient and perhaps even detrimental to a PPC ad program’s success. 

With the advent of PMax campaigns and CPA/ROAS targeting, the CPC quickly becomes irrelevant. This is where AI is making itself felt.

What Does AI Mean for a PPC Agency?

For any agency or in-house PPC manager, the direction of Google Ads will greatly reduce the time spent on tactical implementation and increase the focus on strategy. 

This is a difficult switch for larger agencies or any PPC agency that built a team dedicated to managing the tactical implementation of paid search, which almost all have. I have seen recent PPC agency recommendations that make it clear that the agency is still clinging to the old tactics (old being just a couple of years). To shift from tactics to strategy, agencies have to reduce staff at the lower to mid levels and hire/promote staff at upper-mid levels to work with clients.

It makes managing the client relationship more challenging on two fronts. 

One is that helping clients transition from the tactically focused account structure to a more strategic/AI-centric approach is difficult. Clients are used to seeing very detailed campaign builds and reporting. As one agency put it, manually managing the program gives you more control… but not better results. Clients feel better with the control. As an agency, we have to help them look past the lack of direct control and see the results.

Two, fee structures are based on the old paradigm. With hours baked into tactical actions that are no longer needed, agencies must reevaluate their fees with current and new clients. These hours and the agency’s profit based on them are going away. It can be challenging to take steps to reduce the agency billings. It’s a bit frightening to give up the revenue, and let’s face it, a bit of an ego hit. But our industry is changing, and we need to adapt and be fair.

The pace of change in the pay-per-click industry is accelerating. Agencies should be leading their clients down this path with a result-centric, strategic approach. Waiting until you have no choice when Google and other channels force the use of their AI, will leave the agency and the clients behind.

The post Evolution of a PPC Agency appeared first on Fanatically Digital.

In today’s digital landscape, having a strong online presence is crucial for the success of any auto shop. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the key to ensuring that potential customers can easily find your services when they search online.

As an SEO agency, we have decades of experience running local SEO campaigns, and we’ve managed several successful accounts for auto shops in the Midwest. While every shop is different, there are some general principles that you can follow to boost your rankings and grow your revenue.

So we put together a step-by-step guide of the strategy that we implemented for these shops.

Measuring Your Success: How to Set up Tracking

While it’s possible to optimize your site and improve your SEO without tracking your performance, it’s important to know what’s working and what isn’t so you can adjust your strategy.

We recommend setting up three free-to-use tools to measure your progress: 

1. Google Analytics
2. Google Search Console
3. Google Tag Manager

In order to link your site to these tools, you will need to insert a snippet of code. Most web builder platforms like Wix, Kukui, etc., make this super easy.

Step 1: Link your site with Google Analytics. 

Google Analytics provides data about the activity that occurs on your website. This includes your web traffic, where users are coming from (e.g. organic search, paid search, email campaigns, etc.), and their behavior on-site.

You’re also able to track custom conversions or key events, like when a user schedules an appointment or signs up for a rewards program.

Get started with your Analytics set up here.

Step 2: Link your site with Google Search Console. 

Google Search Console tracks how your website is ranking on Google. It provides data on the search queries you’re ranking for and can be broken down by page, country, device type and more.

Get started with your Search Console set up here. 

Step 3: Link Your Site with Google Tag Manager

Finally, Google Tag Manager is great for setting up custom events such as form submissions, clicks to particular links, and more.

This tool is a bit more advanced and will require some time to get the hang of.

There are a ton of great resources out there for learning the ins and outs of Google’s tools and how they all work together. Analytics Mania is one of them, and he has a Tag Manager tutorial for beginners. 

Get started with your Tag Manager set up here.

Google Business Profile

Step 4: Complete Your Business Profile

Google Business Profile is the cornerstone of any local SEO strategy. For our primary auto shop client, about 30%–40% of their organic traffic comes from their Google Business Profile. 

If you do nothing else for search marketing, complete your Google Business Profile!

And check out our complete guide to setting up Google Business Profile!

Step 5: Remain Active of GBP

But your Google Business Profile isn’t a “set it and forget it” kind of tool. Once your profile is set up, it’s important to remain active. 

Activity such as updating holiday hours, uploading photos, creating posts for deals and promotions, and responding to user reviews has been shown to impact your GBP rankings.

Positive user reviews are also a huge influence on click-through rates and, ultimately whether or not a user decides to schedule an appointment. Be sure to follow up with customers in an email and ask them to share their experience. Don’t forget to include a link to make it as easy as possible.

Know Your Keywords

Step 6: Write a List of Your Target Keywords

Generally, auto shops are going to target the same cluster of keywords. This may change between shops depending on the services you offer or areas you specialize in.

But generally speaking, we can break down our keywords into three categories based on how users search for mechanic services.

Step 7: Map Your Keywords

For SEO, we typically map a keyword (or keyword topic) to one landing page.

For instance, your homepage will usually be mapped to the most frequently searched and broadly applicable terms (head terms). So the content of your homepage will be optimized to target terms like mechanics and auto shop. We’ll discuss this more in the next step.

The secondary terms (the terms by vehicle and service) will need separate landing pages in order to target effectively. We typically recommend that our auto shop clients build a landing page for each service they offer and for the most popular brands of vehicles they service.

Website Optimization 

Step 8: Optimized Your Homepage

Your homepage is critical for both users and search engines.  It sets the tone for your website and helps users understand what you do and how you can help them.

Your primary terms will likely include “auto repair,” “auto shops,” or “mechanics near me.”  These are the keywords your homepage will target.

It’s also beneficial to add localization to your keywords. If your shop is in Jacksonville, then we’d include “Jacksonville Auto Repair” as a keyword.

Title Tags

The title tag is the main title of your webpage that appears in search engine results. Make sure it includes your target keywords and is under 60 characters.

For example: Auto Repair Shop in Jacksonville | Jax Automotive Service

Header Tags

Use effective headers that incorporate relevant keywords.  For instance, your H1 (the main header) should be something like “The Premier Jacksonville Auto Repair Shop.”

Your other header tags (H2s, H3s…) don’t necessarily need keywords. However, they should be relevant to the page topic.

If you were to look at the header tags in isolation, you should be able to tell they were taken from an auto shop website (i.e. “We’ll Get You Back On The Road In No Time!”)

Body Content

Write informative paragraphs that communicate what your business is and who you serve. Including strong sentences like: “Jax Automotive Service is a proud Jacksonville mechanic serving drivers from across the county!”

Best practices recommend page content to be at least 300 words. This gives search engines enough “meat” to decipher what the page is about and who it’s best for.

Call to Action

Make sure you have a clear call to action.

Prefer your customers call to schedule an appointment? A prominent phone number on your page or header is key.

Have an online appointment scheduler instead? Make sure the form is clearly present on the page or obvious buttons that link to the form page.

Step 9: Create (or Optimize) Your Secondary Landing Pages

Secondary landing pages target search queries with lower volume like your vehicle or service terms.

While search queries like “auto shop” or “mechanic near me” are going to be your primary focus, it’s still important to have content that will pick up those less frequently searched terms like “mercedes mechanics”

The same principles apply to these pages just as they did for your homepage. Think about title tags, header tags, body content and call to actions.

Step 10: Blog articles

Regularly publishing blog articles is a great way to supplement your SEO efforts. Writing about common car problems, seasonal maintenance tips, or even featuring customer testimonials can signal to search engines that you are an expert authority that users can trust.

Blog content also keeps users engaged, leading to longer visits and higher interaction rates—signals that search engines use to gauge a site’s quality and relevance.

Plus, well-written articles can generate backlinks. Other website may link to your article which increases your site’s authority and improves its ranking on search engine results pages.

The Potential Numbers

As mentioned, we’ve implemented this strategy in the past with great success. 

To give you an idea of one potential outcome, here’s a breakdown of where traffic comes from after a few years of implementation and refining. 

Most of our business traffic (meaning non-blog traffic since blog traffic typically doesn’t convert into customers) comes through the Google Business Profile, which is why it’s such an important piece of the SEO puzzle. 

Google Business Profile traffic is followed by organic traffic to the homepage; this is traffic that clicks through to our site via the blue links instead of the GBP.

Following the homepage, our Service and Vehicle pages collectively make up about a quarter of our business traffic. While it’s a smaller piece of the pie, it’s definitely not something to ignore.

Wrapping Up

Optimizing your auto shop’s online presence involves a multifaceted approach that includes understanding your target keywords, effectively mapping these keywords to specific landing pages, and ensuring that your homepage and secondary pages are optimized for search engines.

By focusing on strong SEO practices, regularly updating your blog with relevant content, and engaging with customers on social media, you can significantly enhance your visibility and attract more potential customers.

Remember, consistency and continuous improvement are key to maintaining a strong online presence and achieving long-term success.

If you’re interested in learning more about how we can help improve your search visibility, check out our auto shop SEO services!

The post A Guide to Auto Shop SEO appeared first on Fanatically Digital.

Maximizing the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaigns starts with avoiding common pitfalls. From improper conversion tracking to overlooking vital ad assets, each step can significantly impact your campaign’s success. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore five critical mistakes to steer clear of and provide actionable tips to ensure your ads drive results. Let’s dive in and optimize your advertising strategy for maximum impact and ROI.

1. Improper Conversion Tracking

One of the most important things when first setting up Google ads is to make sure you have proper conversion tracking set up. Without conversions tracking a couple of things will happen. First, Google won’t know what to optimize. Secondly, the absence of accurate data hinders your ability to assess the effectiveness of your strategies.

So, let’s jump into a few things to check when setting up conversion tracking:

1. Primary Vs. secondary conversions. Google will automatically track and optimize to your primary conversion and only track your secondary conversions. So, if submitting a lead or a sale are the most important conversion actions for you, then make sure these are set as primary and not secondary conversions. 
2. Don’t over clutter your conversion actions. We like to say “if everything is important then nothing is important”. We recommend choosing the most important conversion actions and tracking those. This might seem simple, however, sometimes Google will recommend many conversion events, including individual page views and link clicks which most likely are less valuable to you than a purchase, call or lead form submission.
3. Tracking conversion value. Once a user has landed on your website and made a purchase or closed a deal, it’s important to send that purchase value back into google. This way you can track your return on investment instead of just the number of conversions.  

2. Not Setting an Ad Schedule 

Google allows you to set an ad schedule based on the day or the hour. You could hypothetically run ads at a different time every day, though we can think of many reasons you’d need to do that. 

Creating an ad schedule that suits your company is key. This can be done right off the bat or once you have more data. 

For instance if you are a B2B organization, running ads Mon-Fri is most likely the way to go. Why waste your money on the weekends when people aren’t at work. In the same vine you might run ads from 9am-5pm to coincide with the average work schedule. 

When you are setting up your campaigns you might have no idea when your consumers are most active. No worries! You can always run your campaigns 24/7, and after a couple of weeks and enough data, you can assess when conversions are coming in, and cost/conversion then adjust accordingly. 

Running ads on a schedule doesn’t have to be an all or nothing either! You might notice that for some reason on Wednesdays, your conversions and ROI are down but you still want ads to appear on Wednesdays. If you are setting manual bids you can adjust the maximum bid based on the time and day. So on Wednesdays you can set your max bid to 50% of what your normal max bid is to lower spend. 

3. Blindly Accepting All of Google’s Recommendations

Don’t get us wrong, Google can have great recommendations but sometimes they can be overzealous and it can lead you down a path you definitely don’t want to go down. For instance, Google will often make recommendations that include a budget increase, which you might not have. It’s okay to tell Google no even if your optimization score goes down a bit. 

Another recommendation you should keep an eye on is the key word changes. Google will frequently recommend broad match keywords and we have noticed sometimes they aren’t afraid to add +150 broad match keywords to one ad group. For some, this may be okay, but for others this can lead to irrelevant search terms and messy keyword data. 

Not all of Google’s Recommendations are bad, some can be very helpful but make sure to not blindly accept all of their suggestions without thinking about how it will affect your business. 

4. Not setting up location targeting

Don’t forget to set up Location targeting for your ads based on your company’s needs. Google allows advertisers to select what countries, states, or zip codes their ads appear in. Google also allows you to set areas that you don’t want to advertise in. 

No one likes wasted ad spend and the quickest way to lose money is to advertise in areas where your business is less or not relevant. For instance, if you run a brick and mortar store you should set up location targeting based on the area around your store. No need to be advertising in Texas if your store front is in Chicago, IL. 

Location targeting is relevant if you have an online store too. Let’s say your company sells snow blowers. Well, once again advertising in Texas might not be the biggest bang for your buck.

Sure over 5 years I’m sure someone will buy a snowblower in Texas for some reason or another but you’d be better off concentrating your ad spend on places like Wisconsin, Michigan or New Hampshire. 

5. Lack of Ad Assets

Our final mistake we see advertisers make is not utilizing assets! Advertisers should use assets in Google Ads because they play a crucial role in creating compelling and effective advertisements that increase ad relevance and increase ad quality score. 

When creating an ad it’s hard to miss the basics like headlines and descriptions because they are required, but don’t forget about the optional ones. You used to have to add the optional assets to an ad after the ad was created in the asset tab.

Now Google has made it easier and gives advertisers the option of adding assets and extensions to the ad while making the ad itself. Some of these assets are:

• Sitelink extensions
• Call outs
• Structured snippets
• Photos
• Location extension
• Lead form extension
• Call extension
• Price extensions
• Image extensions

These different assets allow you to link to relevant  pages on your site, highlight important details about your company, and provide contact information up front. Overall assets can be used to provide more information and make your ad more attractive to potential customers. 

That being said, not all assets are relevant to every business. For example, you might not take calls or you might sell products solely online and not have a location. That’s okay! Use all that pertains to your business to maximize ad quality score. 

Wrapping Up 

In conclusion, mastering Google Ads requires diligence and strategic planning to avoid common pitfalls that can hinder your campaign’s performance.

By ensuring proper conversion tracking, setting up ad schedules tailored to your target audience’s behavior, critically evaluating Google’s recommendations, implementing precise location targeting, and leveraging ad assets effectively, you can maximize the effectiveness of your advertising strategy.

With these insights and actionable tips, you’re equipped to optimize your campaigns for maximum impact and ROI. Here’s to your success in the dynamic world of digital advertising!

The post 5 Common Mistakes in Google Ads appeared first on Fanatically Digital.

This world requires a great deal of trust. With PMax, we provide Google with assets and data; users provide the data through behavior and signals, and Google pulls information about behaviors from all over. AI optimizes the campaigns in ways that are challenging to comprehend. 

This is challenging partly because of the opaque nature of the PMax campaigns. Google will adjust bids, create ads in real time, and select placements without managers seeing any detail. Even when the campaigns meet or exceed the goals, we are troubled by our lack of knowing how. 

PMax Needs Data

The power of AI lies in its ability to sift through vast volumes of data and establish connections at a scale that surpasses our traditional ‘if-then’ logic. AI/ML continually assimilates data, identifying patterns and enhancing performance. This underscores the importance of our campaigns acquiring as much information as possible, a crucial step in the PMax journey. 

How We Siphon Data From PMax Campaigns

Campaign managers are used to tactical actions, and it is tempting to maintain tactical control of some aspects of the Google Ads campaigns. Whether keeping a pure search campaign going, creating multiple PMax campaigns to segment messaging, or creating several asset groups,  having some level of tactical control is common. 

However, each separate campaign isolates data, removing it from the aggregate data collection that helps AI improve campaign performance.

There are legitimate reasons to create different campaigns. As managers, it is important to ensure each campaign serves a unique purpose—every campaign siphons activity (data) from the PMax campaign. Reducing the number of campaigns should help the overall account performance.

If unique campaigns are maintained, consider applying portfolio management. This allows Google to optimize budgets across campaigns.

The PMax Journey

A common strategy (broadly speaking) is to segment campaigns into prospecting (people who have never been to your site or searched your brand) and remarketing (messaging people who have visited your site or provided their information). For manually managed campaigns, this makes sense. Gaining the first visit and guiding a person through the lower funnel require different messaging.

But, when we do this manually, we are guessing at budget allocation and optimal cost per action. 

A PMax campaign monitors users throughout the journey and optimizes their experience at each step. Ads are created in real-time and targeted for context/placement and the person’s journey process. AI adjusts the bids across the Google ecosystem to maximize the end result. 

So, while we may manually create a prospecting campaign that gets the most users to our site (let’s say), AI can identify those most likely to convert and adjust the bid accordingly. Rather than getting 100 visitors for $1 each, the AI may find the best ten prospects and pay $10 each—a classic case of quality over quantity.

However, the PMax campaign must see the entire conversion journey to gather the right data. If we siphon prospecting data from remarketing data, the PMax campaign cannot make the connections. It essentially mirrors your manual optimization. 

Steps To Moving to PMax

Google Ads provides many tools to help ad programs move to PMax. Some convert existing campaigns, others implement experiments, and others make it easy to build a PMax campaign from scratch.

Before implementing new PMax campaigns, consider the scope of existing campaigns in the account. The more campaigns running, the less data the PMax campaign can receive. So, start scaling back if there are many campaigns. 

Setting goals will help determine which campaigns can be shut down and is necessary to establish a PMax campaign. You can target several types of goals, from CPA to Max value to ROAS, even max traffic. The more data you can feed back to Google, the more successful your campaign will be.

There are technical aspects to implementing PMax outlined in Google Ads as you implement the program. Follow the steps they show, and you should be good.

So, are you starving your PMax campaign? If you are just starting one, will you feed it enough data? Keep your PMax campaigns healthy with a steady flow of data and assets to leverage what AI/ML can do.

The post Are You Starving Your Google Ads PMax Campaign? appeared first on Fanatically Digital.

Why you need to implement Google Tag

Browser security has been changing, tightening restrictions on third-party Cookies. 

If you’re unfamiliar with browser cookies, they are simple text files saved to your computer that store information. The information varies depending on what the author of the cookie wants to track. As a site owner, you may want to save a user’s preferences to the cookie, then when they return, set their browser experience accordingly. It could be language, layout, or some IDs that indicate who they are (non-PII-based). 

Third-party Browser Cookies

Third-party cookies, as the name suggests, are created by and transmit the information from these text files to another domain. However, due to security and privacy concerns, this cross-domain access to cookies is being phased out from most browsers, requiring a shift in tracking methods.

Until recently, most tracking tools, including Google’s, relied on third-party cookies to save and share information with services like Google Ads. Safari restricted this a while back. Google Chrome will be in early 2025 (perhaps; the time keeps getting pushed back). Eventually, however, browsers will no longer support these.

The Google Tag is a tracking method that does not rely on third-party cookies. When cookies are blocked, the Google Tag will be the only way to provide data back to Google Ads to track conversions and help optimize the advertising.

Enhanced Conversions with Google Tag

Google Tag is part of a toolset that combines ad data with site data and AI/ML to optimize advertising programs. To fully leverage the capabilities available, advertisers need to implement Enhanced Conversions as part of the Google Ads program. Enhanced Conversions collects user-provided data from forms and checkouts back to Google Ads to provide the AI with value and user data. This is used to improve the campaign performance.

Automated Detection

Google Tag can detect form fills and read the user-provided data automatically. Google Tage is the quickest way to implement Enhanced Conversions. But, it is also dependent on Google correctly picking up the signals.

Manual Implementation

You can manually implement form data transmission through Google Tag Manager(GTM). This requires familiarity with HTML elements, Javascript, and GTM configuration. With GTM, you can test the process to see what is sent to the Google Tag.

Privacy Policy for Enhanced Conversions 

Implementing Google Ads Enhance Conversions requires sites to conform to privacy disclosure policies. When implemented, check the latest Google Requirements for user notification. A link will be shown to you during the setup process.

Two trends are converging with the implementation of Google Tag. First, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are replacing manual optimization. Second, browser privacy concerns are pushing us into new methods of measuring ad performance and collecting information. Combined, these have the potential to increase ROAS significantly while reducing time spent in the weeds of managing ad programs.

The post Google Tag for Ads appeared first on Fanatically Digital.

Duplicate content is a persistent concern for website owners and SEO specialists alike. From near-identical pages to sections of content reused across a site, the ramifications of duplicate content on search engine rankings are often debated. 

In this article, we delve into the nuances of duplicate content and its impact on SEO. We explore different scenarios, from full-page duplicates to spun content, to understand when and how duplicate content can affect your site’s performance in search engine results pages (SERPs).

TL;DR

• There are different ‘degrees’ of duplicate content (from spun copy to identical full-page content)
• Generally, duplicate content won’t severely impact your rankings. Google will usually pick the most appropriate page to rank
• But full-page duplicates carry the potential to hurt your rankings, especially if there are other conflicting signals.
• Duplicate sections (as opposed to full pages) also shouldn’t impact rankings; so long as the primary focus of the page is not duplicated content
• Spinning content can be a useful tool, depending on the intent of users. Informational content isn’t good for spinning but commercial/transactional content is usually okay

There is a Range of Duplicate Content

Duplicate content can refer to a range of cases. Sometimes we’re talking about duplicates of pages, differentiated only by their URLs.

It can also refer to sections of content that appear on multiple pages across your site. 

And other times, duplicate content can refer to text that has been lightly edited–or spun–in order to appear original.

We’ll take a look at all three cases and what impact (if any) it can have on your ability to rank on the SERPs.

Full Page Duplicates

Full-page duplicates are when the same page is effectively copied and pasted.

Search engines especially dislike this type of duplicate content because it makes it more difficult to determine which pages to prioritize in the rankings. 

Although most of the time, Google doesn’t have too much trouble and can select one version of the pages to show.

However, as we found out the hard way, this isn’t always the case. There are some instances in which duplicate content can hurt SEO performance. The case study below demonstrates one of those instances.

Case Study of Full-Page Duplicate Content

We have an e-commerce client that has thousands of product pages. Last year, they had a technical hiccup in which some of their pages were republished under a new URL. 

So for a while, we had two identical versions of many product pages.

While their developers quickly solved the main issue, there were still a few duplicate pages out there that we didn’t catch right away. 

But once we did, it gave us an interesting peek into what can happen when you have identical content on your site. And the results are kind of frightening.

Here are some screenshots of Search Console performance when filtered to include both versions of the duplicated page.

When the issue occurred in late March, performance tanked for pages with duplicate versions. Neither the existing page nor the new version ranked well.

This is what we believe happened:

The original pages had a longer history with a more robust backlink profile, which gave it a fair amount of “ranking power.”

However, the links from the client’s internal catalog were overwritten and instead linked to the new versions instead of the original, which sent mixed signals to search engines regarding which version to prioritize.

And this bumped us down quite a bit in the rankings.

This was an easy fix once we caught it and performance for those pages soon recovered. But it demonstrates vulnerabilities when publishing identical content (whether intentionally or not).

Duplicate Sections

By duplicate sections, I mean identical content that doesn’t make up the primary focus of the page. Generally speaking, duplicate sections won’t have a negative impact on rankings. 

As long as the remainder of the page’s content hits the criteria required for ranking, then duplicate sections aren’t going to slow things down.

For example, one of our clients has a section that serves as a call to action with a fair bit of text that they post on their blogs, FAQs and other information-serving pages.

Since these are primarily informational pages, the call to action isn’t going to play a big role in Google’s analysis of the page.

But if these sections take up a more substantial portion of the page, it might be worth rewriting the content in order to ensure its originality.

It’s useful to think about it like this: If you were to remove the section in question, would the page still make sense? Would it still accomplish its goal? If we remove the CTA of the pages mentioned above, then yes, the page would absolutely still make sense and accomplish its goal of informing our audience.

But there are some instances where rearranging, rewriting, or spinning the content would make sense (more on that below).

Similar (or spun) Content

Sometimes, it’s necessary to rewrite existing content–called spinning. 

But this raises similar questions. Does Google view spun content as ‘legitimate’? Can “spun” content hurt my SEO performance?

Spinning Content is the practice of rewording existing text to communicate the same ideas but avoiding the appearance of duplicate content or–for some black-hat actors–plagiarism.

As usual, the answer is–annoyingly–it depends.

While Google won’t manually penalize sites unless there is obvious malicious behavior, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that publishing spun content can hurt SEO.

It’s more accurate to say that spinning content is often just a waste of time. Not always. But often.

When Spinning Content is a Waste of Time

I’d argue that spinning content is a waste of time when you’re trying to rank for queries with informational intent.

Google prioritizes content that:

• contains original information, reporting, research, or analysis
• provide a substantial, complete, or comprehensive description of the topic
• offers insight or information beyond the obvious
• and avoids simply copying or rewriting those sources

While it’s not perfect, Google is generally pretty good at ranking content that offers more than generic or regurgitated answers to common questions.

And in our experience, spun content–and even content that’s relatively original but offers little more insight than the sources we used to write it–almost never generates traffic for informational queries.

However, we have had success when spinning content for queries with commercial or transactional intent. Here’s a case study to demonstrate.

Case Study of Spun Content

We have a client that serves Los Angeles with moving services.

L.A. has a huge geography with many towns and smaller cities within it. So, as part of our SEO strategy, we published Areas Served pages that target localized search queries (e.g., anaheim movers and movers in beverly hills, etc.).

With hundreds of these pages to publish, it’s incredibly difficult and time-consuming to write completely original content for each one. So oftentimes, we’ll spin the content.

While this content is relatively unique on the surface, it’s functionally identical. Google’s crawlers won’t process a distinction between synonyms such as hassle-free transition and hassle-free move.

So if the content isn’t unique (i.e. duplicate content) why doesn’t this hurt SEO performance? 

I’d argue it’s because the commercial intent to purchase moving services in a specific geography–Beverly Hills–means the pages’ different geographic focus is enough to make them sufficiently unique.

A user in Anaheim doesn’t want a page on services in Beverly Hills and vice versa.

Given the relative success of these particular pages and our Area Served page strategy, it’s safe to assume that Google considers this kind of spun content to be acceptable. 

Wrapping Up

Navigating the intricacies of duplicate content in SEO requires a nuanced understanding of search engine algorithms and user intent. While some instances of duplication may have negligible effects or even prove beneficial, others can significantly impact your site’s visibility and ranking potential.

By recognizing the various forms of duplicate content and implementing strategies to address them effectively, website owners can optimize their SEO efforts and enhance their online presence in a competitive digital landscape.

The post Does Duplicate Content Hurt SEO? appeared first on Fanatically Digital.

On the surface, SEO’s role for B2B is simple: help generate sales. However, where SEO comes into play for sales impacts the SEO strategy. 

Business-to-business is often discussed as if there is a monolithic go-to-market strategy that somehow applies to all B2B companies. Obviously, this isn’t the case. So, when we talk about SEO, we have to go beyond B2B and beyond the specific industry to understand the individual company’s sales process.

The Target Metrics For A Website

Websites are marketing tools. Like any other marketing tool, successfully developing and managing a site depends on defining its purpose/goal. 

In general, we find that the website, and therefore SEO, plays a role in one or more of three areas.

Direct Online Sales

The easiest and most direct metric for a successful website is e-commerce revenue. When selling services, equipment, parts, or consumables online, we have a direct attribution to organic search. 

Lead Generation

Lead generation is more commonly a target metric for B2B. While measuring leads and attributing them back to the sources is relatively straightforward, tying back the quality of these leads is less so. This becomes more challenging as the sales cycle becomes more complex.

Sales Support

This is more amorphous. For complex or longer-cycle sales processes, websites often become the go-to channel for prospects. Making sure content is easily accessible and discoverable or appears in Google search results when prospects continue with research can make or break a sale. While there is no hard metric for Sales Support, UX and SEO visibility play a key role.

The Purchase Process

What is the process from shopper to prospect to customer? For some industries, there may be a standard that applies to most companies, but that is not always the case. Two companies in the same industry may have different growth strategies. One may have an active Outbound Sales Team, while another may have a Product Lead Growth strategy. These involve two distinct buyer experiences even within one vertical.

Short-Cycle

From the time a customer identifies a need to the time the purchase is made, it can be a day or perhaps a few days. We often see this in parts and consumables. There is not a lot of research taking place. So, you have to make it to the shortlist quickly, identify and communicate the KSP immediately, and have a 1-3 day communication plan. 

There is very likely an e-commerce component or a rapid response lead generation program. Once the transaction is complete, the buyer will unlikely visit the site again until another need arises. 

Mid to Long-term Sales Cycles

Longer sales cycles tend to involve higher costs or longer-term commitments. They also involve more touch points, research, and a greater need for rich content. The website must support the communication coming to the customer during the sales process as well as support the prospect in providing information during their research. 

At this point, there is another discussion on customer relationship management involved, which is beyond our scope here. 

Key Content For Websites in B2B Sales

Knowing the target audience is vital to prioritizing and developing the website’s content. While all three of the following areas are important, their weight and focus on a site depend on the purchase process and sales strategy. 

Product/service education

This can span the category or the company’s specific offerings. The website has to provide sufficient information to educate prospective customers and demonstrate a level of expertise to make prospects comfortable.  

Company Authority

Higher costs and longer commitments come with more risk and require more support. But even with lower cost/commitment services, sellers must convey their authority and expertise in the marketplace to make it to a buyer’s shortlist. It is not enough to just describe products or services. The website must convey experience in the industry.

Company Trustworthiness

From transaction/information security to post-sale fulfillment, a website has to communicate trust. Verifiable customer reviews, a commitment to providing references, and real case studies are critical to establishing the trust needed to make it onto a prospect shortlist. It is not sufficient to simply list what a company sells; websites have to convey trust. 

What about SEO for B2B Websites?

We didn’t forget. But SEO comes after all the above. While we work on SEO strategy, SEO is a tactic within the sales and marketing areas. So, first, all the above-mentioned needs to be figured out, and then search engines and how to structure content for them can be considered.

One challenge for digital agencies is when clients or prospects begin with SEO discussions (or digital marketing in general) prior to the marketing and sales strategy.  We can work to get content to rank with search engine optimization, but if it is not the right content or not targeted to the right part of the sales funnel, then even page one ranking is not going to move the needle… well, maybe a little. But the point is that we must have the right goals in place for SEO to be effective.

Fortunately, we have been around long enough to help our clients lay the groundwork for a good digital marketing program, including SEO.

The post The Role of SEO in B2B Marketing appeared first on Fanatically Digital.

A primary application for browser cookies in marketing is the ability to remarket/retarget a browser (person) that has been to the website. This seems great, as it shows interest. But, it has led to lazy marketing habits.

Blanket remarketing gives no real thought to context or timing. It intrudes on users when they are completely removed from the context or concerns that led them to the advertiser in the first place.

But doesn’t Google automation deal with this? Not really. In theory, it should. But we’ve all experienced the unsettling sensation of being “followed” around the Internet by a site we visited. 

This recent article in AdAge speaks to this very issue. 

The next level of automation

As Google pushes everyone to trust their AI, it expands on the concern raised by blindly retargeting users based on cookies: that, as marketers, we are relinquishing our control to a black box of automation. We are told this improves our marketing ROAS, but I am not convinced.

I think AI will improve results when it comes to unmanaged programs. For marketers who do not have the time to monitor and adjust their campaigns, AI provides a level of optimization that is bound to make things better.

I have seen dedicated campaign managers do much better for the average company. One thing AI is good at is finding the low-hanging fruit. A freshly launched program managed by AI can get quick wins, but they often plateau. Changes to pages, offerings, and budgets can reset the AI to a learning phase. Manually managed programs can get beyond the low-hanging fruit.

The other area where AI will excel is data analysis and response. However, the response/output is only as good as the data input, and the average company has issues with this.

A full circle of ads, outcomes, and feedback works well for AI. The most basic of these is E-commerce sites that feed all the sales back into Google Ads (directly or through G4.) AI is likely your best bet if you have an e-commerce website, and your primary conversion is an online sale.

Where Google AI falls short is when the value of an action is determined after the conversion point. All Google knows is that a conversion point was triggered. Herein lies the problem. 

Left to Google, the initial round of leads is more likely to be filled with junk than value. However, Google doesn’t know this, so junk leads are used equally in conversions. The AI is optimizing the program to deliver junk.

Can this be fixed? Yes. Absolutely. But not by the resources of the average company.

Fixing Junk Leads in Google Ads

Google provides valuable mechanisms to improve lead generation for offline activity following an online conversion.

Every lead submitted to Google Ads should include the corresponding lead ID, which should be carried with the lead through the sales/closing process.

When leads are closed, a file can be generated (or API used) to load the results back to Google. With this file, Google can assign value to each lead, allowing the AI to optimize lead generation.

For junk leads, which are usually identifiable very quickly, a file with the lead ID can be uploaded to Google to have these leads deleted from the system.

Like so much of the ad tech hype, leading-edge tools require resources and knowledge that are not available in the average company. 

Beyond the issue of resources is that of reliance on technology and complacency. Remarketing as we know it will end this year. And that’s not a bad thing. It reminds us that we are prone to accepting the easy out, allowing technology to do what we should be doing—or at least paying a great deal more attention to. 

As we continue to push the envelope of AI in advertising, we must always pay close attention to the outputs and ask ourselves if this really is the best that can be done.

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