Google has changed the way keyword matching works
Keyword matching in Google Ads is like playing with LEGO. You’ll eventually figure it out, but only after [insert astronomical number here] attempts.
Fortunately, Google has announced a few changes to make keyword matching simpler…we hope.
The change: Broad and phrase match keywords that are identical to a query will now always match.
*blank stares*
Okay, here’s an example that helped us:
Assume someone searches Google for “sushi delivery near me” and you bid on two broad match keywords: sushi delivery and sushi delivery near me. Before this update, both keywords would have been eligible to match this query.
Following this update, the keyword sushi delivery near me would be the preferred match because it is identical to the search query.
Relevance is also becoming a keyword matching factor: If a search query isn’t identical to a keyword, Google will now consider relevance signals in addition to your Ad Rank when deciding what to match.
*more blank stares*
We don’t blame you. Try picturing it this way:
Assume someone searches for “quick sushi delivery near me”. In your campaign, you have a broad match keyword food delivery and a phrase match keyword fast sushi delivery.
With this update, the latter (fast sushi delivery) will match because it’s more relevant to what the searcher looked for.
Let’s hope that with this update the keyword matching confusion, and blank stares, will be a thing of the past.
ADVERTISING
E-commerce ad costs have tripled since early 2021, according to a study
Who’s to blame: As usual, Apple is the villain.
Their ATT privacy update made it difficult to target iPhone users with relevant ads. As a result, ad costs went up.
Moloco, an ad-tech company with a lot of data, tried to put some numbers behind these claims. They analyzed 2.2 billion ad impressions, 8.2 million clicks, and 97,000 actions. They also compared conversion costs before and after Apple’s privacy changes.
The findings: The average cost of conversions for e-commerce marketers increased by 200 percent for tracked users and 155 percent for non-tracked users.
All of this happened over a six-month period, mainly as a result of Apple’s “Don’t track” dialog box. (Companies could track 73 percent of iOS users by early 2021. By June, that figure had dropped to 32 percent.)
What you can do about all this: Well, a few things. Try to collect more first-party data and test more creatives. Also, read Facebook’s blog post from yesterday on how to properly track your campaigns after ATT.
This change affects us all, and there will be a period of adjustment as large platforms like Google figure out privacy-first tracking.
The good news? They’re figuring it out faster than you think.
SPONSORED BY PROPUSH
Do you want to find out how to increase the ROI of your affiliate offer by up to 35%?
Check this out. Most affiliates use pre-landers to improve conversion rates for the offers they promote.You know that already.
But… Did you know that adding a ProPush Smart Tag on the pre-lander can get you up to 35% more revenue on the same affiliate offer?
Here’s how: When using Smart Tag, your user will get a push-notification which will suggest that they subscribe or close it, after which they go to the page of your main offer.
By following just three rules, you will easily increase your income:
- Use Smart Tag on your pre-lander
- Send traffic as usual to get conversions for your affiliate offer
- Increase your ROI through push-subscriptions
If you’re working with verticals like sweepstakes, finance, dating and many others, even better!
As an example, if your revenue reaches $1000, by using ProPush you can earn $1350 for the same campaign just by adding Smart Tag!
Setting up a ProPush Smart tag is really easy and fast! Try it now.
PS: The Smart Tag is a unique format that is suitable for any vertical you work with!
FROM THE CREW
Let’s figure out the impact of iOS 14 on Facebook Ads, and get a free deep dive
That industry-changing update from Apple has been rolled out for a few months now.
Word on the social media streets is that the impact was rather negative…which is what most people predicted. But we want to find out just how negative, and that’s where you come in.
Fill in this 30s survey and we’ll publish the results.
We’ll also make it worth your time. Reply with a screenshot of the confirmation page of the survey and we will send you an awesome 100+ page deep dive on Snow, an oral care company.
This deep dive includes Snow’s Facebook Ads and email campaigns from Q4 2020, right in time for you to get some inspiration for Q4 2021.
You can answer the survey right here.
EMAIL MARKETING
The PEC method: How to generate $240k with a 7-day email sequence
We found an interesting YouTube video that’ll show you an easy strategy for building an email list of engaged customers. Reread that! Customers. Not readers. And all while making a solid profit along the way.
Chase Dimond is the host. Sean Anthony is the guest. And PEC is the strategy he used to make $240k in revenue with a 7-day email sequence.
How it works: PEC means paid email challenge.
Essentially, you sell a low-ticket course delivered via email for a specified period of time. At the end of the challenge, invite your customers to take the next step. For Sean, that is a mid-ticket offer that helps them solve a bigger (or related) problem.
What are the benefits? We’re glad you asked:
- It’s quick and easy to make.
- Makes you build a list of customers while weeding out those sneaky freebie seekers early on.
- Customers love it and do it because it’s so simple.
- It makes your customers want to buy your mid-ticket products.
Creating a PEC is quite easy: Are you ready? All you have to do is pick a specific problem you want to solve and…solve that problem by breaking it up into each day of the challenge. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
And if you want to be as effective as possible, Sean recommends that your PEC reflect these three key characteristics:
- Low price. Under $100.
- Help solve one specific problem in a short time frame, ideally 7 days. (The longer the challenge, the less attractive the offer is.)
- Give people the experience of a quick win.
The Crew’s take: We think this strategy is great for two reasons. One…we really like acronyms (but you probably already knew that). And two, this not only has the potential to be highly profitable, but it also educates your customers to open and engage with your emails.
And if you’re a smart marketer you know that the more they consume your content, the more they buy.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
TEXT MARKETING: Some call it the hottest marketing channel, if you do not have a text strategy you need one. Join TapOnIt’s free webinar to get text savvy. You will learn how to integrate texting into your current marketing strategy, see case studies from different industries and get ideas for the holidays. Join to learn for free.*
TIKTOK: Have you heard about “community commerce?” According to TikTok, it is one of those things that’ll cause products to sell out.
ADVERTISING: Apparently, mobile apps and Apple are still playing cat-and-mouse after the ATT update.
GOOGLE: You can now serve up Shopping ads on Google for certain products that were previously prohibited because of the pandemic.
MICROSOFT: Are you eco-friendly? Or perhaps a family-owned business? Microsoft introduced a small feature that allows you to highlight this in your ads.
FACEBOOK: What types of content does Facebook demote? The company published a whole guide to help you figure out the answer.
LINKEDIN: Speed matters. Especially when it comes to getting in touch with leads who’ve just signed up. LinkedIn has released a lead gen forms integration with Zapier to help you out with this.
GOOGLE: Privacy-based tracking is the way of the future. Google Ads and other Google Marketing Platform products now support server-side tags, according to the company’s blog post.
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
Imagine that you are in a boat, in the middle of the sea. Suddenly, you are surrounded by hungry sharks just waiting to feed on you. How can you put an end to this?
You can find the solution here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
Uh-oh. Facebook no longer likes the term “Influencer”
This is interesting.
Someone on Twitter recently noticed that Facebook had changed the name of one of its official pages. The previous name for this page was Influencers on Facebook.
The new one is (drumroll)…Thought Leaders on Facebook…
Yes, we’re cringing too.
Maybe someone should have informed Facebook that the terms “thought leaders” and “influencers” are not interchangeable. Or maybe Facebook is trying to appeal to the LinkedIn crowd, as influencers there like to be titled “thought leaders”, according to one tweet.
In any case, one thing is clear: the social landscape is changing, and the term “influencer” now carries a lot of baggage that bigger brands may not want to carry.