ADVERTISING
Kissing ad targeting goodbye?
There have been discussions about regulating Big Tech in the US for a long time. Those same talks are also taking place in the EU, with regulators wanting to stop targeted ads.
The Crew’s take: It’s complicated.
There’s always a difference between words and outcome when it comes to these things.
In this case, what we fear the most is a push towards regulation that only a handful of big ad networks can comply with, while possible competitors get pushed out of business.
What will the future hold?
TIKTOK
TikTok’s forced sale to Oracle and Walmart is off
The deal that brought together three unlikely names has been shelved indefinitely.
The Biden Administration is still looking at potential security risks of TikTok (and other Chinese tech companies) so it’s probably not the end of the story in the long term.
For now, TikTok US stays untouched and TikTok as a whole can focus on providing marketers with better advertising options.
Speaking of better advertising… TikTok introduces the “Small Business Resource Center”.
Think of it as the place to go if you want to learn about how marketing on TikTok works. Best practices, case studies, getting started guides, workshops and more.
SPONSORED BY PUSHGROUND
A guide to running dating campaigns and a 10% deposit bonus to boost your Valentine’s Day profits.
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, the evergreen dating vertical is becoming hotter than ever.
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Not familiar with Pushground?
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SEO
The comforting mirage of SEO A/B testing
SEO A/B testing is quite simple.
Compare a control group with a test group, and measure the difference in those two cohorts.
However, it doesn’t always go as expected. And here, AJ Kohn explains why SEO A/B testing is rarely useful for companies.
In his opinion, there is a discrepancy between SEO A/B and real SEO growth. The reason is that test groups might get obstructed.
For instance, let’s say you’re testing the image search result of two different groups, but Google refuses to pass a referrer for image search traffic. You can’t know if you’re getting the correct sampling in each cohort.
And what about the percentage of pages in each text group that are currently not indexed by Google? If one cohort has a materially different percentage of pages out of the index, then you’re not making a fact-based decision.
In addition, you don’t know how long Google takes to “digest” the changes you’re testing.
So, should you stop doing SEO A/B tests?
According to AJ Kohn, the problem is not how the test is structured. But the mindset behind the A/B test.
Too often, sites slavishly follow the SEO A/B testing result. They see each test as being independent of all other potential changes and rely solely on the SEO A/B test measurement to validate success or failure.
So, consider your changes holistically when you’re testing!
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
SEO: If you’ve been neglecting image SEO, John Mueller has 12 recommendations for you.
FACEBOOK: The newest “Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Report” from Facebook is out. 426 FB accounts, 153 IG accounts, 210 Pages and 62 Groups were removed in January 2021.
FACEBOOK: Facebook is reportedly working on a Clubhouse clone. *surprised Pikachu face*
SEO: This is more if you’re a beginner with SEO, but Ahrefs put together a solid guide for On-Page SEO.
BRAIN TEASER
Which word in the English language does the following:
The first two letters mean a man, the first three letters mean a woman, the first four letters mean someone great, and the entire word means a great woman.
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.
The Ford F-150 gets a rocket-powered version
In Rocket League, that is.
Yeah, it’s not quite as special as a real-life rocket-powered F150 truck but you take what you can get, right?
When can you get it? Starting 20th February until 28th February. It will be in the game’s item shop and reportedly cost 1,500 in-game credits.
Is this just a start for companies trying to monetize their real-life products with virtual versions in games? Probably!