Google Analytics requires a lot of know-how to make sure that the data collection process goes as successfully and as accurately as possible

Google Analytics is still one of the top tools for data collection and brands that don’t use it are definitely missing out. Although the platform seems easy to use, it requires a lot of know-how to make sure that the data collection process goes as successful and as accurate as possible. Those that are new to using Google Analytics - or those who don't have in-depth knowledge of it - should read on as we’ve got a list of the common mistakes they could be making.

Google Analytics is not on every page

Websites that have countless pages will require more effort from both Google Analytics and its users. Surprisingly, most users make the common mistake of not having the analytics script run on every page. This of course results…

Google's new auction model for ads, Facebook tightening up Live rules, YouTube introduces new ad format, LinkedIn adding and updating job search tools and Twitter's anti-vax warning

There are a number of platform changes that you need to know about this week, including Google's update on what its first-price auction model will look like for Google Ads Manager and its publisher exchange. Facebook has changed its rules around Live following the issues it experienced during and after the Christchurch terrorist attacks. Aiming to be stricter and reduce the spread of harmful content, the platform has tightened up its regulations. YouTube is making it easier for brands to advertise via its home feed by introducing ads that use images rather than videos. LinkedIn has also made some great changes to help make it easier for those using the platform to job search or recruit. Finally, Twitter has introduced a new result for anyone searching for anti-vax-related…

Chart of the day: According to research by Salesforce, over half of ad spend is allocated to Facebook (including Instagram) or search marketing (Including Google search)

In the previous year, 30% of ad budget was allocated to Facebook and Instagram and 28% was allocated to Google and Bing paid search ads. Facebook budget is expected to increase slightly by 1% to 31% and search budget allocation is expected to stay the same at 28%. Compared to other channels such as youTube, Display, and Linkedin, Pinterest and Snapchat etc. Facebook and Google are dominating the ad space with most ad budget allocated to them. Next year, 66% of digital ad spend will go to Google, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. Over the last year, 65% of businesses have increased their video advertising budget, with more money going on video on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. …

You will know about Brin and Page, but perhaps not Sundar Pichai and Matt Serlin...

Importance to Digital Marketers: [rating=5] Recommended link: Official Google Blog announcement of Alphabet

Is 'Alphabet' 'for real'?!

Well, you might have thought that Google had grown so well established and large, that it had lost the capacity to surprise. Not so! It surprised me with the announcement this week of Alphabet. In fact, I had to check it wasn't one of those April fool PR efforts with the stunning, but curious new brand and domain name of  Alphabet (http://abc.xyz). So I headed straight to the ICANN WHOIS domain registration database and learnt that there is a San Francisco connection, Although Matt Serlin (the main registrant is nothing to do with Google), but he is part of Mark Monitor which is a domain management organisation, but if you take a look…

Understanding Google’s latest research on micro-moments and the implications for your marketing

It’s no secret that mobile has dramatically impacted how we do business and how consumers interact with brands online - the latest mobile adoption data indicates that mobile is still on course to overtake fixed internet access and that mobile ad spending accounts for 49% of digital ad spending. As a result of this mobile shift, Google has conducted some interesting ethnographic research over the last year to explore how consumer behaviour is changing and gain an understanding into the needs of real people. Some of the stand out insights from the research includes: 82% of smartphone users use their phones to influence a purchase decision in a store 62% of smartphone users are more likely to take action right away to solve an unexpected problem or task because they have a smartphone 90% of smartphone users have used their phone to…

On 3rd April 2014 Google announced that the clock is ticking until they automatically upgrade all Product Listing Ad campaigns into Google Shopping Campaigns. The timeframe they have outlined is August 2014. Therefore we recommend that you make this switch manually before the end of July as otherwise Google will take the liberty of doing it for you. Shopping campaigns were released in beta mode in October 2013 and then fully in February 2014. There are many aspects to shopping campaigns that are consistent with product listing ads: The ads are matched to user searches based on your product inventory data feed that you send to the Google Merchant Centre rather than being triggered by keywords that the advertiser sets. From a shoppers perspective they look identical - the ads show an image of your product, the product name and price and there is the option to add…

Tools and techniques to review the impact of the latest Panda algorithm update on organic search traffic

Value/Importance: [rating=5] Recommended link: Search Engine Land Analysis by Barry Schwartz It’s a statement to strike fear into the heart of anyone who relies on organic visits from Google for their business or their clients’ business. Google’s head of web spam Matt Cutts announced today that a major new algorithm update is now rolling out:

Google is rolling out our Panda 4.0 update starting today.

— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) May 20, 2014 Marketers are bound to be alarmed given the impact of the first Panda update on some sites like this one, highlighted in an article by James Gurd on how to review SEO visits and changes through time.

How to review the Impact of Panda 4.0?

Given the impact on sites throughout the history of Panda outlined below, it’s…

Google Helpouts are the latest in a long line of services from Answers through Knol

From when Google Search launched in 1997, Google has always been trying to find the best answers to its users' queries. Google Helpouts are the latest approach to help answer users queries, but in a quite different way to standard search. Did you know that Google briefly tried a similar approach before? In order to provide a more dedicated response to users' queries, in Aug 2001 Google decided to launch 'Google Questions and Answers'. This service allowed users to send their questions by email and for a flat fee of US $3 Google staffers would reply to those questions. Unfortunately the Google service ran for only 24 hours, after which it was shut down due to excessive demand! This was followed by 'Google Answers' in April 2002. This  was different in the…

A reference of major Google updates we think marketers involved in SEO, Pay Per Click or Social media need to know about

Each day Google makes many changes and updates to its different tools and it does a great job of announcing them through all its blogs and feeds, but it can be difficult to keep on top of what matters and what doesn't, particularly if you're a generalist marketer or digital marketer rather than a search marketing specialists. So on this page we try to help by being selective for you to update you on Google's algorithm updates, new tools, policies and changes to Google makes we think everyone working in digital marketing or marketing needs to know about, even if they're not a search specialist! Hopefully SEO or Adwords specialists will find it useful too and can let us know what we're missing!

June 2011 Google updates

June 29th: Google+1 recommendations buttons live…

Google has updated two of it's main sources. I thought I'd alert readers to them since I often find that people reach for their pens to make a note of these on training courses.

Google Agency Toolkit

Many readers will know the many great tools Google provide to encourage marketers to spend more with advertisers. The ones we've written about before and recommend are most useful are: The Google Keyword Tool - for seeing the number of searches on a topic Google Keyword Planner - a new tool supplementing the keyword tool Google Ad Preview tool - shows marketplace players in different countries Google Trends - for spotting search trends by country Google Ad Planner - for finding site popularity and audience composition for media sites/publishers But I find many don't know about the Google Agency Toolkit which groups these together and provides many others - check it out! …