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On Friday, Google published a timeline reflecting the stages of development for various categories of Privacy Sandbox initiatives.
Caption: The Privacy Sandbox timeline, as of July 23, 2021.
The timeline (shown above) divides initiatives into four categories (“fight spam and fraud on the web,” “show relevant content and ads,” “measure digital ads,” and “strengthen cross-site privacy boundaries”). The phases indicated on the timeline are as follows:
Discussion – The technologies and their prototypes are discussed in forums such as GitHub or W3C groups.
Testing – All technologies for the use case are available for developers to test and may be refined based on results.
Ready for adoption – Once the development process is complete, the successful technologies are ready to be used at scale. They will be launched in Chrome and ready for scaled use across the web.
Transition period: Stage 1 – APIs for each use case are available for adoption. Chrome will monitor adoption and feedback carefully before moving to next stage.
Transition period: Stage 2 – Chrome will phase out support for third-party cookies over a three-month period finishing in late 2023.
Why we care
This timeline provides search marketers with a general idea of when various Privacy Sandbox initiatives should be ready for adoption. That can give marketers some indication as to whether the company will meet its new deadline (late 2023) to deprecate third-party cookies.
Transition period: Stage 1 (in which APIs for each use case are available for adoption) is currently forecasted to begin Q4 2022. Sometime after that, we should have a clearer picture of what advertising with Google looks like as third-party cookies are phased out.
More on the news
APIs shown on the timeline are based on Google’s current expectations and are subject to change. The timeline will be updated monthly.
Google expects Stage 1 of the transition period to last nine months. At some point during Stage 1, the company will announce a new timeline that decreases third-party cookies’ “Time to Live.”
The transition period will begin once APIs for all of the use cases are ready for scaled adoption. Chrome will announce the start of the transition on the timeline page and on the Keyword blog.
Google has confirmed it is fixing two search related bugs that impact what is shown and displayed in the Google search results. The issues are with review stars showing in the search results and how Google processes soft 404 documents. The two issues seem to be unrelated but are both being addressed and fixed by Google.
Soft 404 bug leading to de-indexing issues
A couple of weeks ago, we reported that Google changed how it detects soft 404 pages and that led to some pages being removed from the Google Search index. In short, Google said it now does soft 404 detection by device type, which caused some to see spikes in soft 404 errors but not clearly seeing if those pages were in the Google index or not.
Google has confirmed this morning both on Twitter and on YouTube that the company has pushed out a change to address the issue over the next few days. Google wrote “you may have noticed an increase in soft 404 error reports in Search Console the past few weeks.” “The team identified the classifier that was causing the issue and deactivated it while they fine-tune it,” the company added. That was written by Gary Illyes of Google.
John Mueller of Google said earlier this morning “we saw a bunch of these reports recently, in the past couple of weeks, and the team has been looking into that, and I think they turned one of classifiers off now based on some of the feedback that we got.” “So I would suspect that maybe this will catch up again and work out in the next couple of days and week or so.” John Mueller added.
So you should see improvements on this front in the upcoming days.
Review snippets and stars go missing
Over the past couple of days, Google Search has stopped showing, for the most part, review snippets. Those stars that are placed under some of the search results that have review structured data. Danny Sullivan of Google confirmed this afternoon that this is indeed a bug and Google will hopefully fix it soon.
I asked Danny Sullivan about this on Twitter and he responded “yes, it looks like there is a bug. We’re looking at it further and hope to correct soon.”
Here are screenshots that illustrate the before and after that I personally captured.
Review snippets from two days ago:
Review snippets from this morning:
As you can see, the stars are not showing up but Google is now aware and the issue should be resolved soon.
Why we care. All of these bugs can directly impact your traffic from Google Search. When Google resolves the bugs, it may lead to more traffic to your site from Google Search. In the first case, of the soft 404 bug, Google was not listing some pages in its search results that it will soon re-list after the bug is resolved. The second case, of the review stars, Google was/is not showing review stars in the search results that can lead to a lower click through rate from the search results.
Hopefully both will be fully resolved soon and you will see a positive impact in your traffic.
Over the last few years, the movement in favor of greater transparency and consumer protection has garnered more mainstream attention. In response, Google is making greater efforts to explain how its systems work. On the organic side, the search engine is now showing why it ranked a specific result. On the paid side, the company introduced a three-strikes pilot program earlier this week in order to prevent harmful ads from showing on its platform.
The three-strikes program will help to improve consumer safety on Google and advertisers largely agree with the policies, but the company’s record with incorrectly flagged ads has PPC professionals concerned that false positives may carry greater ramifications, ranging from more time spent communicating with Google Ads support representatives to account suspension for repeated violations that aren’t resolved in time.
Google Ads’ three-strikes pilot system
Google Ads’ new three-strikes program, which begins in September 2021, applies to violations of its Enabling Dishonest Behavior, Unapproved Substances and Dangerous Products or Services policies. “This includes ads promoting deceptive behavior or products such as the creation of false documents, hacking services, and spyware, as well as tobacco, drugs and weapons, among other types of content,” the company said its announcement. Though these ad types have long been prohibited, Google’s system to enforce these policies is new.
If an advertiser is found to be in violation of Google’s policies, they’ll receive a warning for the first infraction. After that, penalties become increasingly strict with each violation, leading up to account suspension after the third strike.
Type
Trigger
Penalty
Warning
First instance of ad content violating our Enabling Dishonest Behavior, Unapproved Substances and Dangerous Products or Services policies
No penalties beyond the removal of the relevant ads
First strike
Violation of the same policy for which you’ve received a warning within 90 days
The account will be placed on a temporary hold for three days, during which ads will not be eligible to run
Second strike
Violation of the same policy for which you’ve received a first strike within 90 days of the first strike
The account will be placed on a temporary hold for seven days, during which ads will not be eligible to run. This will serve as the last and final notice for the advertiser to avoid account suspension
Third strike
Violation of the same policy for which you’ve received a second strike within 90 days of the second strike
Account suspension for repeat violation of our policies
Strikes expire after 90 days and Google has systems in place to prevent advertisers from circumventing its policies (by creating new accounts to bypass a suspension, for example). The company also plans to expand its three-strikes program after the initial pilot to include more policy types.
“The policies aren’t the issue, it’s the unequal and sometimes plain incorrect application of the policy”
The PPC professionals that spoke to us for this article were largely in favor of the three-strikes system. However, Google’s enforcement, which can be haphazard, has them concerned.
“I want to be clear that the policies aren’t the issue, it’s the unequal and sometimes plain incorrect application of the policy,” said Amalia Fowler, director of marketing at Snaptech Marketing, “It’s the fact that an account where I have previously appealed multiple times still gets flagged for the same reason . . . If I trusted the appeal process to be smooth or that repeat flags wouldn’t occur, I would not be as worried as I am.”
“Ludicrous disapproval[s].” One might expect flagged ads to be a fact of life in heavily regulated sectors such as healthcare, but stories of inappropriately flagged ads are quite common, even in sectors like CPG and event management.
“Two of my clients were disapproved for unapproved substances and dangerous products earlier this year,” said Amy Bishop, owner of Cultivative, “I distinctly remember because the clients and I got a good chuckle out of it, considering one of them is in the event management SaaS space and the other was in the CPG space.” “It was an equally ludicrous disapproval for both of their businesses,” she added, noting that both instances were successfully appealed.
“I’ve had ‘false flags’ come up specifically in these categories a handful of times over the past year (including display ads for a cybersecurity company being disapproved for promoting drug use!),” said Tim Jensen, campaign manager at Clix Marketing. While these examples are especially concerning for ads identified as violating Google’s three-strikes policy, it speaks to a larger issue that PPC professionals have been navigating for some time: “I have clients that receive erroneous disapprovals all the time,” Bishop said, caveating that the disapprovals aren’t all for categories addressed by the new policy.
The Google Ads team seems to be aware. “I assure you, there’s no drinking during ad reviews :),” Ginny Marvin, ads product liaison at Google, tweeted in response to a comment made in jest, “I’ve passed this feedback along to the teams.”
I assure you, there’s no drinking during ad reviews :). I’ve passed this feedback along to the teams.
Google is no stranger to complaints from advertisers about inappropriately flagged ads, but the new consequences raise the stakes, and advertisers want assurances that the odds aren’t stacked against them. It’s also in Google’s best interest to improve its ad violation detection systems, since ads are the company’s main source of revenue and tying up Google Ads representatives with a deluge of support requests is an unsustainable proposition.
The potential impact on advertisers
Previously, falsely flagged ads might have been a minor frustration for marketers. But, under the new system, they could prove to be roadblocks to revenue.
For clients. “For my clients in particular, there are two or three that continuously get inappropriately flagged for substances and dangerous weapons, and we are constantly appealing,” Fowler said. “Google Ads is what drives their e-commerce presence, which makes up a very large portion of their overall business, so getting flagged incorrectly is one thing, but having it result in account suspension is another,” she added.
I would conjecture that 90% of ad disapprovals occur from honest advertisers who don’t even realize one of their products is prohibited or there is an issue on the site. If Google strictly enforces this system, many advertisers are going to suffer. #ppcchat
“I have clients that receive erroneous disapprovals all the time,” Bishop said, caveating that “They aren’t for the categories being addressed in the three-strike rule, so I doubt this will impact my clients but I can see where folks with clients in other industries, especially healthcare, might have concerns.”
Fortunately for advertisers, strikes expire after 90 days and they can appeal strikes they believe were inappropriately applied. Successful appeals aren’t counted towards the three-strike limit.
For agencies. “For the agency, this could entail additional time spent haggling with support/reps to ensure that ‘false flags’ don’t count against us,” Jensen said.
“If I write an ad, it gets disapproved, I appeal, and it gets rejected, how many more times am I likely to try with this short runway?” Fowler said, adding, “In cases where the policy is administered unfairly or poorly, or simply incorrectly, it stifles a company’s ability to advertise and adds a level of anxiety.”
More time spent “haggling” with Google Ads representatives may mean less time spent optimizing the actual campaign. And, while these false flags can stall progress, accounts that are prone to receiving a lot of them may end up getting suspended. The combination of these factors can negatively affect the agency-client relationship.
What advertisers can do to prepare for Google’s three-strikes system
In all likelihood, Google is probably improving its systems to minimize incorrectly flagged ads. However, the three-strikes program is set to begin in a matter of weeks, so it may be in advertisers’ best interests to tread carefully.
“Watch for violations that are flagged and be ready to appeal,” Jensen advised, “You can’t always predict when ads might be flagged, but just be extra mindful of display ad imagery and wording that might somehow be construed to fit these policies.”
“Understand that it isn’t just ad text that causes these violations,” Fowler said, recommending that advertisers check their extensions, destination URLs and their site as a whole. “If you have an account that historically has been flagged under these policies despite not violating them, make sure you are happy with your account setup and the number of ads. I would create ads, make sure they get approved, and then pause them for future testing so you don’t have to create them under this new policy,” she added.
Additionally, communicating the change with stakeholders and clients ahead of time can help you frame their expectations once the new policies come into effect. “In the future, we plan to expand the strikes system in phases to scope more of our policies in,” Google said in its announcement, which means that, eventually, more advertisers may potentially run afoul of the system, so it’s best to get ahead of it now instead of allowing that first warning or strike to be issued.
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Good morning, Marketers, and Google Ads’ new strike system has y’all feeling a lot of feelings.
And with good reason. I’ve seen a fewtweetsalready from advertisers dealing with ridiculous ad violations. This can be especially hard to explain to clients who don’t get why a giant tech company like Google doesn’t have available or adequate support channels to figure out these issues, too. Imagine how hard it is for SMBs or those trying to figure it out themselves, too.
This seems to be an issue on the local SEO side too, in my personal experience. I once had a client whose GMB got suspended. A small business owner, he DIY’d his listing and couldn’t figure out how to fix it. So he just created another one. When he finally got through to GMB support, the help person told him to delete the listing that was associated with his very profitable YouTube account. This is about the time he called me in a panic for emergency help.
I saw a job posting for a position at Google that ended with this almost-proverb: “Know the user. Know the magic. Connect the two.” Maybe Google’s too big to see the IRL, in-the-weeds perspectives of those of us who are in the thick of it every day. It seems like a perfect sentiment on the face of things, but the execution seems lacking overall.
Carolyn Lyden, Director of Search Content
Google says your redirects only need to stay up for a year
For the sake of SEO and Google being able to trace your changing URLs, Gary Illyes told Twitter that any redirects should stay up for a minimum of one year. However, you may choose to keep them up longer for the sake of users (nothing is more annoying than clicking a link to a new site and getting a 404).
The “clock” for this one year of redirection starts when Google initially crawls and recognizes the redirect — not necessarily when your team implements the change. This could be another reason to keep it for longer than the year mentioned.
Why we care. This is the first time Google has officially confirmed that the signals passed through redirects last forever even after a redirect is moved, if the redirect is live for over a year. If you have stakeholders or clients that really want to remove redirects for whatever reason, it is safe to do so from an SEO perspective after that one-year mark (specific to Google Search).
Google is rolling out a new SERP feature that tells you why a result was ranked the way it was. This feature is an expansion to the about this result box that launched in February 2021.
Google Search can show the terms it matched on the web page and your query, including the terms that were related but not direct matches. Google also lists if links from other websites influenced the ranking, if the results had related images, if there were geographical reasons for the result ranking and more.
The company is now rolling this out in the U.S. for English results. We expect it to be visible in almost 100% of queries in the U.S. later this week. Google said it will expand this to more countries and languages overtime.
Why we care. Search marketers always wanted to know why Google ranked a specific site for a given query. Well, Google is now giving you pretty detailed clues into why. Of course, this is not detailed ranking weights and signals, but it does tell you if the words match or match closely, if people link to the site, if there are geo-specific reasons and more.
The SEO Periodic Table: Architecture success factors
How your site is built helps search engines know what your pages are about. These elements include everything from the URLs you use and the page load speed to your security and crawlability.
The most critical element here is Crawl (Cr). If a search engine can’t crawl and index your pages, you’ve got no hope of appearing in the search results at all, let alone ranking well. Next comes Mobile (Mo) first, which represents optimizing your content so that mobile searchers can see everything that desktop users see on your site. Hand in hand with Mobile is Speed (Sp). Not only do page load delays frustrate users and decrease conversions, but Google has also made it clear that speed is a ranking factor.
More nuts-and-bolts architecture concerns include the proper handling of Duplicate (Dd)content by setting canonical URLs – this gets back to the above-mentioned algorithmic crackdown on sites simply copying other sites’ content without their permission. Additionally, using appropriate contextual keywords in your pages’ permalinks or URLs (Ur) sends a signal to the engines and users that the page contains the info they’re seeking. And, of course, a secure site — HTTPS (Ps) — is table stakes at this point.
This year we’ve also added two new elements to keep up to date with search engine changes like Core Web Vitals and the page experience update. Structure (St) is all about the information architecture of your site. We’ve also added Parity (Pr) which means that your site should offer the same user experience regardless of what device a searcher or website user is on.
Twitter is working on a dislike button. “Twitter writes that iOS users may see upvote and downvotes in several different styles (up and down arrows, a heart icon and a down arrow, and thumbs up and thumbs down icons) and that it’s testing the feature to ‘understand the types of replies you find relevant in a convo, so we can work on ways to show more of them.’ Currently, votes are not public,” wrote Ian Carlos Campell for The Verge.
Social media managers, rejoice! Instagram data now spans 60 days. And it’ll expand even further to 90 days of data later this summer, according to a tweet from Vishal Shah, VP of Product at Instagram. This update will be a big deal in helping both marketers and SaaS tools show trend data over time. We love something that makes our jobs easier.
TikTok’s new Spark Ads to boost native content. “Spark Ads enables brands to amplify existing organic videos that fit their campaign objectives such as video view and conversion with great flexibility and efficiency,” said the TikTok For Business Editorial Team in the announcement.
What We’re Watching: TikTok’s algorithm — Great for advertisers but weird if you zoom out
“A Wall Street Journal investigation found that TikTok only needs one important piece of information to figure out what you want: the amount of time you linger over a piece of content. Every second you hesitate or rewatch, the app is tracking you.”
That’s the summary of this 13-minute video on WSJ that digs into just how TikTok’s algorithm figures out its users’ interests and then takes them down very niche rabbit holes of content. The publisher created over 100x bot accounts and assigned them specific interests and then had them watch over 100k videos on the social media app.
TikTok says “shares, likes, follows, and what you watch all play a role in what TikTok shows you.” But the WSJ found that TikTok actually only needs one metric to target users so specifically: how long you linger over a piece of content. “Through this one powerful signal, TikTok learns your most hidden interests and emotions.”
This video highlights the debate we’ve been seeing play out on multiple channels. When search marketers have access or targeting based on this very specific data, it also means we can customize our advertising to those very niche audiences. If you love pets and TikTok figures out that you love French bulldogs in particular, advertisers can use that to make distinct ads to serve that particular audience.
But audiences may not realize that lingering on specific types of TikTok videos gives both the social media company and potentially advertisers that information — which as the video proves, can be very personal.
It’s the classic paid advertising conundrum: audiences want targeted advertising, but they’re afraid of giving up their personal data to get it.
Want to make your marketing more powerful and targeted to your ideal borrower? The key lies in creating buyer personas. A mortgage buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your optimum mortgage client. It serves as a guide that ensures you understand your borrows needs, their pain points, and the best marketing message to reach that particular persona.
Buyer personas reveal what led this ideal borrower to your services and what you need to do to attract others like them.
Even if buyer personas is a new concept to you, you’ve likely used a rudimentary version –for example, using one message for first-time buyers and another for commercial borrowers. However, this post will teach you how to develop mortgage buyer personas like a pro and tactics for implementing them in your marketing and lead generation.
How to Develop A Mortgage Buyer Persona
To create an insightful persona, start with the general demographic info of clients in your database, like age, gender, marital status, homeownership status, geography, education level, career, income, and other broad categories.
Once you have basics down, you want to dive deeper. Consider:
What sort of hobbies or leisure activities do they enjoy?
What worries them?
What pursuits or goals do they have in life?
Where do they shop?
How tech-savvy are they?
Now that you’ve completed your research, it’s time to start analyzing all the data.
Analyzing the Data
The first thing you want to do is look for emerging trends and patterns. Once you find the pattern, categorize the data to define your core buyer personas.
Next, go through each persona group and start filling in the averages about each buyer persona, like their educational level, occupation, challenges, goals, etc.
We recommend structuring it in this way for each persona:
Attributes (Demeanor, Communication Preferences, Interests)
For each persona, you’ll also want to include common objections.
Naming Your Mortgage Buyer Personas
Now here comes the fun part –naming your persona. Personas with names like Veteran Vicky, Millennial Mike, or Commercial Chris are catchy and easy to remember. Here’s what a completed buyer persona profile might look like:
Millennial Mike
Location: Westcoast
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Education: Bachelors Degree
Hobbies: Gaming, exercising, cooking
Job Title: Graphic designer
Income: $67,000
Relationship Status: Single and no kids
Preferred method of communication: Text
Goals: Purchase first home by 35, move up the career ladder
Challenges: With no tax breaks and continuing student loan payments, disposable income is limited
Implementing Buyer Persona Into the Borrowers Journey
Once you’ve defined your personas, the next step is to use them in your marketing efforts, particularly their Borrower’s Journey.
As a quick refresher, a Borrower’s Journey is the process consumers go through to become aware of, consider, and decide to complete a mortgage application.
Example: Millennial Mike and His Buyer’s Journey
Mike’s awareness is rooted in his goal to purchase his first home by 35. Mike will likely research the homebuying process, asking peers about their experiences buying a home, reading blog posts about first-time homebuying, and use interactive mortgage calculators that help him estimate various scenarios.
Feeling informed, Mike moves into the consideration stage, comparing lenders, looking up reviews, and getting familiar with the lender’s brand, mission, and digital mortgage tools.
Finally, Millennial Mike moves into the decision stage. Having explored various options, your marketing messages about first-time homebuyer programs, minimal down payments, and online borrower portal nudge him to pre-qualify with you. The ease of application and positive experience then ultimately convince Millennial Mike to continue and complete the full 1003.
Today’s mortgage consumers expect to be engaged on a more personal level, and buyer personas are another tool in helping you to create that engagement. They allow you to gain insight, focus, optimize, and strategize your communication with current, past, and potential borrowers. While admittedly not full proof (humans don’t always fit neatly into categories), buyer personas have proven time and again to help increase conversion rates and revenue –making it worth the additional effort.
Advertisers will no longer see the Maximize conversions and Maximize conversion value bid strategies for search campaigns, Google announced Thursday. As per the company’s announcement back in April, Maximize conversions will continue to be available with an optional target CPA and Maximize conversion value will be available with an optional target ROAS.
Performance goals and their corresponding strategies. Image: Google.
tCPA and tROAS are going away soon. “In the next few weeks, you’ll no longer have the option of using the old Target CPA [tCPA] and Target ROAS [tROAS] bid strategies for standard campaigns,” Google said in the announcement, “Instead, use the updated bid strategies by setting optional targets. This update only applies to campaign-level strategies; portfolio bid strategies will be updated next year.”
This means that, sometime in the next few weeks, advertisers will lose the ability to create new campaigns via the old tCPA and tROAS strategies, but existing tCPA and tROAS campaigns will continue to function as usual — at least until Google migrates the campaigns over to the new format sometime in 2022.
Why we care. This update will not affect bidding behavior: “Using Maximize conversions with a target CPA will have the same bidding behavior as Target CPA,” Google said, “Likewise, using Maximize conversion value with a target ROAS will have the same bidding behavior as Target ROAS.” PPC professionals should be aware of this change so they know how to create the appropriate campaigns moving forward.
For now, existing tCPA and tROAS campaigns will continue to run as usual. “We’ll give advance notice before automatically switching these old bid strategies to the new format in 2022,” Google said, “This switch will not have any impact on bidding behavior.”
Google can now list several of the factors or reasons why it ranked a specific search result in its search results listings, the company announced. This feature is an expansion to the about this result box that launched in February 2021.
Google Search can show the terms it matched on the web page and your query, including the terms that were related but not direct matches. Google also lists if links from other websites influenced the ranking, if the results had related images, if there were geographical reasons for the result ranking and more. In fact, Google said there are several factors this section can disclose when it comes to why Google ranked a specific page in its search results.
Google also lists search tips in this area to help you refine your query, if you find the result to not meet your desired outcome.
What it looks like. Here is a screen shot of what this looks like. As you can see in the “your search & this result” section, Google lists numerous bullet points for why it ranked this specific snippet. The section above, the “source” section is old and that was launched in February, as mentioned above.
What factors does Google show. Google did not tell us all the factors it shows but here are the ones I spotted while testing:
Search terms that appear in the result. In this case, Google will show you what terms were matched from the searcher’s query to the content and/or HTML on the web page that Google ranked. Matches are not just the visible content but also can be words in the HTML, like the title tag or other meta data.
Search terms related to your search. So not only will Google match based on your exact query but also terms “related” to that query. In the example above, the query was [shot] but Google expanded that to mean “vaccine.”
Other websites with your search terms link to this result. This is where sites that have these search terms on their pages and links, actually link to the result listed in the Google Search results. Yes, clearly links are still used by Google for ranking purposes.
This result has images related to your search. Google will also look at the images on the page to determine if those images, maybe the filename of the image, are on that page and are related to your query.
This result is [Language]. Language is important and right now this is an English only feature, but when it expands, Google can show other languages. So if you search in Spanish, Google may be more likely to show you Spanish results. Or if you search in Spain, Google may show you Spanish results as well.
This result is relevant for searches in [region]. Google may use the searchers location, the site’s location and the query to determine if the searcher wants to find a web page that is more relevant to a specific region. In the example above, someone searching in Vermont to [get the shot] probably wants to get local vaccine websites in Vermont. Sometimes queries can be down to the city level and sometimes the region is not relevant. Google will show those details in this area.
Search tips. Google will also let searchers hover their mouse cursor over the underlined words in this box to get search tips on how to narrow their search results better. In the screenshot below, you can see Google suggesting the search may want to add a minus sign to the word running in order to filter out those words in their search.
Google can offer a number of search tips that are specific to the query and the “about this result” box for that page.
Rolling out now. Google is now rolling this out in the U.S. for English results. By the time this story goes live, we expect it to be visible in 10% of the US based queries but by next week in about 100% of queries in the US. Google said it will expand this to more countries and languages overtime.
Google would not say how many searchers actually use this “about this result” feature but clearly Google is investing it expanding its feature set. Google did say the about this result feature has been viewed hundreds of millions of times but would not share what percentage of users have used it.
Why we care. SEOs and marketers always wanted to know why Google ranked a specific site for a given query. Well, Google is now giving you pretty detailed clues into why it ranked that site for that query with this new box. Of course, this is not detailed ranking weights and signals, but it does tell you if the words match or match closely, if people link to the site, if there are geo-specific reasons and more.
From the searcher’s perspective, it might help a searcher understand why Google ranked that result and provide more trust through transparency for Google and its searchers.
Search Engine Land’s daily brief features daily insights, news, tips, and essential bits of wisdom for today’s search marketer. If you would like to read this before the rest of the internet does, sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox daily.
Good morning, Marketers, that was quite a reaction.
On Tuesday, I asked for your thoughts on a four-year degree specifically for PPC or SEO. Thank you to the many professionals who responded — you should’ve received a reply from me!
“My first reaction to your question was to say that a PPC/SEO degree would be useless, because everything you learned in the first year would be obsolete by the second or third year,” Rachel J. said, putting forth an opinion that was shared by many of you, “But then, as I reflected on my own marketing degree, I realized that the things I was taught weren’t tactical, they were evergreen concepts that would help build an understanding of marketing as a practice.”
Colin C. pointed out that updates from platforms and top-down government legislation would also impact the value of such a specific degree — “A digital marketing degree that includes the whole package, including need-to-know technical competencies is, to my mind, more worthwhile.”
And, I felt like Joseph J.’s take would resonate with the SEOs among us: “You go through the course and 8 Core Updates already got pushed live on Google, now you have to relearn a few things unless it was taught to you during the courses.”
What I uncovered, that I wasn’t expecting, is the desire for a curriculum that encompasses the day-to-day campaign work that we do and marketing principles that can prepare us for the next step in our careers. As someone who programs SMX, your responses are noted.
George Nguyen, Editor
Users can now leave more detailed restaurant reviews on Google
Google has expanded restaurant reviews to enable users to include price range, the type of meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc.) and whether they got take out, delivery or dined in. This feature is now available for mobile users on Android or iOS, and it is live for all restaurants in the U.S., with more countries and categories rolling out in the future.
While this is a user-oriented feature, restaurant owners can also use these expanded reviews to improve their customer experience and identify competitors that also offer delivery or operate in the same price range, for example.
Google has told us that filtering searches using this information isn’t possible right now, but that doesn’t mean that capability won’t eventually roll out — I have a strong hunch it will. If it does, users will have a new way to find the exact dining experience they’re looking for. And, Google has said that it plans to extend expanded reviews into more categories, so the impact this has on the restaurant industry will eventually be felt across other local business sectors.
“Advertisers will soon only see the updated fields Maximize conversions with an optional target CPA, or Maximize conversion value with an optional ROAS,” a Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land. “We have not yet and will not be switching existing Target CPA and Target ROAS strategies to these new fields (that will happen next year with much advance notice). This will have no impact on bidding behavior.”
So, if you don’t see the standalone Maximize conversions or Maximize conversion value strategies, this is why. There’s no word yet on when Google will switch advertisers’ tCPA and tROAS strategies to the new fields, but we’ll keep you posted when we find out.
Google announces new deals sections, promotional tools and expanded reporting ahead of the holiday shopping season
The deals section that may appear when users search for major retail sales events. Image: Google.
Ahead of the holiday shopping season, Google is launching new sections in its search results to showcase deals, rolling out tools to highlight promotions and expanding reporting capabilities in Google Merchant Center.
“Deals related to your search” is a new section within the Shopping tab that shows discounted or competitively priced products. And, when users search for deals during major retail sales events, like Black Friday, Google will show a new carousel that highlights relevant deals (shown above). When uploaded via Google Merchant Center, these promotions and deals are automatically shown to users on the Shopping tab, even if the retailer or manufacturer isn’t running ads on Google.
The company also rolled out the ability to indicate that a promotion is only available to first-time customers, and promotions can now be highlighted in the Shopping tab — this can be done through Google Merchant Center. And, the best sellers report in Merchant Center is getting expanded to include historical best seller data and relative demand data, both of which can be used to help retailers decide what to stock as they prepare for major shopping holidays.
“One would therefore assume, with Google’s world-leading AI that can translate 109 languages and identify poison ivy in the wild from a photo, the company should be able to spot obvious fake reviews,” wrote Mike Blumental, co-founder of LocalU and GatherUp, for his publication NearMedia, “And if that’s in fact the case, they should then be able to create a review environment that doesn’t help bad businesses look good.”
Fake reviews undermine all of the hard work that business owners and staff put in to improve their products, experiences and service. In articles and blog posts, the harm that these reviews inflict is usually an abstract concept — but in Blumenthal’s piece, entitled “The High Cost of Fake Reviews,” he opts for a concrete example of one business, Kelly Lift Equipment, that has defrauded customers of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Having a 4.2-star rating, 123 reviews and a GMB listing with an address, hours of operation and phone number, Kelly Lift Equipment passed the at-a-glance legitimacy test for many, including Bill Scalise, whose experience was the basis for this article. Scalise, and many other victims, didn’t bother to dive deeper into the reviews or cross-reference the business’ BBB page prior to engaging with it — an oversight that would’ve revealed the scam he was walking into. Ultimately, it cost him nearly $18,000. Another victim said she was scammed for $120,000. That’s money that they no longer have, and money that doesn’t go towards supporting a reputable business.
Blumenthal’s takeaway was that, while buyers can and should be aware, platforms have a responsibility to ensure that their reviews can be trusted, especially when the platform regularly boasts about how capable its AI is.
Are you looking to elevate the performance of your loan officers? Ready to improve the productivity of your mortgage brokerage as a whole? If so, then you need to start leveraging metrics to assess the overall performance of your mortgage team.
Metrics are quantifiable figures that are used to assess the success or failure of particular processes within your brokerage. In the mortgage industry, metrics are often referred to as key performance indicators (KPIs).
Below, we outline which metrics are the most pivotal to the success of your business and explore the best ways to accurately measure these statistics.
What Metrics Are Most Important?
While it is certainly important to track various metrics regarding the performance of your mortgage brokers, not all data is created equal. Some KPIs have a stronger correlation to the success of your mortgage team than others.
Some of the most useful metrics to examine are:
Cycle Time
Cycle time is one of the most vital metrics that you can track. Which is calculated by dividing the total number of days from application to funding by the amount of loans funded during that time frame.
Cycle time is a strong indicator of your brokerage’s overall efficiency. By incorporating modern software such as the BNtouch Team CRM, you should see a reduction in your overall cycle time.
Tracking cycle time is a great way to boost your brokerage’s reputation, as well. While virtually every mortgage broker claims to process loans “fast,” calculating cycle time allows you to support this claim with hard data.
You can even incorporate this information in an ad campaign by showing that “our team closes loans 25% faster than the average mortgage broker.”
Conversion Rate
Another vital metric that every mortgage broker should be tracking is their conversion rate. This KPI is calculated by dividing the amount of loans funded by the total number of applications received during the same time period.
If you have a low conversion rate, then there is a good chance that your team is wasting resources in at least one facet of your business. Conversion rates gauge the overall health of your brokerage and should help you achieve sustained growth in the mortgage industry.
Approval Rate
Every loan officer should track their approval rates. The approval rate is determined by dividing the number of approved applications by the amount of submitted applications.
If your brokerage’s approval rate is low, then it means that your team is wasting resources on dead-end applicants.
By implementing modern CRM software, you can speed up the document gathering and review process to minimize waste. These analytical tools can help you to rapidly identify unqualified borrowers, allowing you to shift your attention to stronger applicants.
Solutions from BNTouch
If your mortgage brokerage is underutilizing its performance metrics, BNTouch can help. We provide mortgage brokers and their teams with access to cutting-edge CRM software and reporting tools. Our affordable tools can optimize efficiency, improve conversion rates, and make your daily life less stressful.
If you would like to learn more about BNTouch, schedule a free demo today!
