Top Digital Marketing News
Google really dominated the digital marketing landscape this past month, amounting to a majority of our stories in the April 2021 roundup. From the forthcoming Page Experience update to reasons not to upgrade to Google Analytics 4 (just yet), we’ve got a lot to cover today in our latest digital roundup. Let’s get to it!
SEO stories
Google push Page Experience update to mid-June
Back in our February 2021 digital roundup, we reported that Google planned to launch the Page Experience algorithm update, which uses core web vitals as ranking signals, in May. Well, the update was delayed about a month and a half, as webmasters can now expect to see it implemented in mid-June. This is actually some good news because it gives WMs even more time to prepare. You can read more about the delay and the impact of the Page Experience update at Search Engine Journal.
Google add regular expressions to Search Console to help filter data
Google rolled out an update to Search Console this past month that adds regular expressions (aka “regex”) to help filter data more easily. As the company notes in the announcement, “This will help you create more complex query and page-based filters and answer more questions that interest them.” Want to know more? Get the full story and see how you can use regex filters at Google Search Central.
Paid media stories
Google implementing first-party cookies
Google rolled out support for first-party cookies this past month through updates to Global Site Tag and Google Tag Manager. This helps to improve how the company attributes conversions back to the ads you’re running. And starting in May, those attributions should become even more accurate, because they’ll include “instances where a user might engage with more than one of your ads before converting.” Make sure you have the relevant language in your policies to obtain consent. You can learn more at Google Ads Help.
Facebook’s Q1 report confirms rising CPMs year-over-year
In their Q1 earnings report for 2021, Facebook revealed that advertising revenue jumped 146% year-over-year, an impressive feat considering daily active users only increased by 8%. The reason for that big leap in revenue? A rise in ad prices. Facebook saw a “30% year-over-year increase in the average price per ad and a 12% increase in the number of ads delivered.” That’s according to the CFO’s commentary in the report, which you can read through at Search Engine Land.
Digital analytics stories
Life after third-party cookies
Over at Engadget, writer Cherlynn Low put together a strong overview of what the Internet could look like without third-party cookies. This topic comes to light after several major pieces of cookies-related news over the past few years, of course, including the impact of GDPR, Google announcing FLOC, and the implications of Apple iOS 14.5. There’s a lot to unpack here, and it’s all incredibly interesting, so luckily Low did a lot of the heavy lifting in her Engadget article.
Why you may want to hold off on Google Analytics 4
While you may be investigating a migration to Google Analytics 4, we at Ayima don’t think it’s the right time to make the move just yet. And to give a thorough explanation as to why we feel that way, we found a relevant and concise summary by Dr Dave Chaffey over at ClickThrough Marketing. He touches on the many reasons including the fact GA4 doesn’t include many familiar reports (yet!), that it’s not a cookieless solution, and that it changes the goal setup. Learn all about why GA4 isn’t ready just yet at CTM.
Ayima news
We have more exciting news to share with you from our team. In addition to new blog content, we are continuing our free webinar series featuring deep insights from our digital marketing experts.
Webinar series
Our free series of webinars continues soon with our session on customer retention and advanced retargeting. Make sure to click through and sign up for updates on when we’re ready to go live!
Blog articles
Here’s what we published in April 2021.
- Digital Marketing Strategies - Guide and Template: Client Growth Manager Richard Ingilby delivers a thorough breakdown of how to write a digital marketing strategy with a free template included.
- How to Achieve A 10/10 Quality Score on Google AdWords: Want a perfect quality score on Google AdWords? Our step-by-step guide is here to help.
