travis

SEO Tips From Travis, No. 38 Google Merchant Center Next is right around the corner. But wait, isn't that a Google Ads platform? Yes, and... It fuels your visual organic listings. From product cards, to shipping and returns snippets, to promo codes, GMC governs how you appear beyond Shopping ads. Use this mandatory transition to refresh copy, imagery, and product highlights. Try Product Studio's new suite of AI tools. Don't let Aug 19th merely come and go. #SEOChat

SEO Tips From Travis, No. 35 Google Merchant Center no longer ONLY fuels Shopping + PMax campaigns. Today, they directly influence organic listings. Here are two ways (ex. Merrell running shoes): 1) Snippets Price ranges, delivery timelines, return policies, and even promo codes (not shown) appear below the text-based organic listing. 2) Product Grid In addition to the top-most, paid Shopping carousel, SERPs now feature an organic listings grid, mid-page. Clicks expand a details panel (desktop right-side, mobile full-screen), which initially keep users on the SERP. Full utilization of GMC represents a significant opportunity for brands today. #SEOChat

SEO Tips From Travis, No. 22 Why do Page Titles (title tags) and Meta Descriptions matter? Think of them in a traditional headline + body copy context. Which of these would you prefer for your organic listing? Both are results for "barefoot running shoes" and have dramatically different placements on the SERP. One is from a polished brand. The other hosts research about the topic. Note the ellipses... These elements are controllable if you draft them well. If not, Google (and other search engines) may rewrite them for you, creating uncertainty. Own your SERP presence.

SEO Tips From Travis, No. 16 When reviewing organic activity, exclude branded queries. Assess how well you attract the unaware. Determine which queries your content attracts. Within Google Search Console, exclude all variations of your brand name AND unique product names. To do so, use a regular expression (regex) filter. Use "pipes" to separate individual variations of brand/product names and even phrases (i.e. taglines) used in external marketing efforts. This delivers a clean view of unaided organic search.

In a way. Within campaign settings (attached), you can select Only bid for new customers. This is predicated on a customer list added within the account-level conversion settings. (You can refresh this list periodically.) Google IDs new/returning customers in a few ways: support.google.com/google-ad….

This was a fascinating exercise. It helps establish priority/importance, especially when pure curiosity can lean one astray. I'm pretty happy with the result!

I use the script as a "2nd source" to gut check. Here's an example of the last 7 days in an account (Ads UI). Yes, it's a relatively small sample size, perhaps "not enough" to fully optimize for conversions... Regardless, I would think the ML is sophisticated enough to pick a "winner" by now and optimize accordingly, just as it optimizes for the "best performing ad" elsewhere, in other campaign types. Two AGs have identical impression volume, the other is +3.7%. I see this play out over much longer stretches, with far more spend in play. The parity remains.

Good article, thanks Ginny. One snippet stuck out to me (see image). I run a PMax script that provides campaign-level distribution between shopping, video, display, and search inventory. Here, your point rings true. Most days will be shopping-heavy, but others will have display/video "opportunity surges." This makes sense. The script also parses out daily spend, impressions, & value at the Asset Group level, which is not something surfaced in the UI. Rolled up, this data helps determine which asset-audience combos work best over time, assisting with manual optimizations. I find that at the impression level, Asset Groups serve with *near identical* pacing. (I'm talking about within 0.25% of each other over a given month.) This reality contradicts your core point about agility. I would think that , over time, the ML would favor certain Asset Groups over others, spending more into these higher performing audiences. This has proven to NOT be the case. I've been tracking this for nearly a full year, with Asset Groups rotating through. Regardless of the mix of 3, 5, even 10 AGs, impression distribution remains ~equalized. Can you comment on this? Or perhaps can you gain insights from the broader team at your disposal?

This is likely Amazon doing a very poor job with their own structured data. Post-click, they have the category (sort of) correct with mood-affecting beverages, but it's messy. Can't change Amazon...but you can strengthen your own site. Happy to take a look, shoot me a DM.