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Growth Academy

Google Core Update: Focus Your Niche

Highlight your Niche, Don’t Overgeneralize

For many business owners, there is a general perception that their online content should be as broad as possible, drawing customers in from all corners of the web.

That line of reasoning has been stomped by the May 2022 Google Core Update!  Google wants to prioritize content that highlights the E-A-T model:

  1. Expertise
  2. Authoritativeness
  3. Trustworthiness

How do you improve the E-A-T rating of your site?  Get positive reviews on your products, ask for mentions from followers or fellow businesses, and ensure that users feel safe and secure when buying products from your site.  Ask for customers to leave positive feedback on sites like Trust Pilot or Google reviews – that is a surefire way to improve your E-A-T!

Be a Specialist: Highlight your Niche

In doing so, it appears Google wants to boost e-commerce stores and content that demonstrate strong expertise in their niche, and do not try to blast out mundane, poor-quality content on everything from celebrity news to “The best couches of 2022.” 

This is potentially a huge boon for niche e-commerce business owners.  You no longer have to dilute your online content by broadening its scope!  Rather, it’s best now to push the other direction, and make your posts specialized to your niche business.  Google Search wants to reward e-commerce businesses who provide the highest-quality products in their field, and will no longer let retail giants outrank SME competitors based solely on their larger online domain.

Refine Your Search Results with Longtail Keywords

Picking the relevant keywords to buy Google ads has always been important, but the recent Google Core Update makes longtail keywords more important than ever before.  What are longtail keywords?  They are the manifestation of “niche” interests within search engines.  Longtail keyword phrases are highly specialized and specific, meaning instead of a customer searching…

Buy shampoo,”

They search:

“Shampoo with all-natural ingredients and anti-dandruff.”

Instead of searching,

              “Buy new couch,”

They search

              “New cherrywood handmade couch with futon and memory foam cushion.”

Notice the difference?  Longtail keywords are generally longer (3+ words), describing very specific products.  Review your current product line, and make sure you only buy Google AdWords that describe your product in precise detail!  They usually have lower a lower cost-per-click (CPC) as well, so that’s an added bonus for your online marketing budget.

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Amazon: The King of Longtail Keywords

While they are a retail giant now, Amazon is the classic example of longtail keyword success.  When they were simply a humble bookstore, Amazon did not want to compete by selling 1,000,000 copies of the most recent bestseller.  Bookstore giants like Barnes n’ Noble were dominant on these popular titles.

Instead, Amazon aimed to sell books with niche audiences, maybe only selling 10 copies of each title.  However, if they were able to dig and find 100,000 books that each had a niche audience of 10, guess what… they still sold 1,000,000 books 😉 In essence, longtail keywords are a big reason why Amazon became the retail giant it is today.    

Conclusion: Google Core Supports Longtail Keywords

If you want to benefit from the recent Google Core Update, find longtail keywords related to your product line, bid on low-CPC Google AdWords related to them, and watch your sales grow!  If you are having trouble retargeting customers, or want an advertising option outside Google’s Display Network, contact Ad360 today!  We have the niche expertise to power your digital marketing success 😊

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Growth Academy

Google Core Update: Trouble for SEO?

Some E-Commerce Owners are Frustrated by Google Core’s Update

It’s clear that Google’s Core Update has already affected a lot of businesses online.  While the new Search Engine algorithm just began rolling out in May 2022, some e-commerce sites reported immediately falling out of the SERP rankings for important keywords, as well as seeing a drastic drop in clicks and impressions on the site.  Take the following tips below as a starting point to improve your Google SERP ranking.

Click here for part I of our coverage on the Google Core Update

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  1. Increase Posting Frequency

The most effective way to rebuild and grow your SEO, as well as your e-commerce sites online visibility, is to begin posting more frequently on your site.  

Did you have a blog post rocket to the top of the Google charts two years ago? That’s great, but it won’t be enough to continue thriving following the May 2022 Google Core Update. If you are staying current and up-to-date on the major trends within your industry, Google is going to be rewarding you with a boost in page ranking!

2. Strive for Originality

On top of that, Google will now be rewarding sites that post original content.  If you are reposting content from another site or using AI-generated content, Google is going to ding you.  Also, if the quality of the content is basically a rambling word salad, and considered not useful for users, Google will rank that lower, as well.

Best Solution: Diversify your Traffic Generation Avenues

Aside from posting original quality content for frequently, it’s important that e-commerce business owners use the Google Core Update as a wakeup call to not rely solely on the search engine giant for their revenue! 

You can begin ad campaigns with Ad360 in one click that bring visibility to the entire web, meaning you get impressions from outside Google’s display network and across all apps.  On top of trying out various social media platforms, business owners can ensure that even if the Google Core Update affects their traffic from search engine’s other revenue streams and ad channels pick up the slack!

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Growth Academy

Maximize Google Ads with 360° Retargeting

Retargeting Squared: Increase Sales on Shopify with Layered Ad Retargeting

If you have kept up with our previous posts on retargeting (click here, here, and here for a refresher course), you know that retargeting is arguably the most effective digital marketing strategy on the web. 

That means for online business owners, learning the fundamentals of retargeting are essential if you want to succeed and increase your sales on Shopify! 

However, did you know that there are ways to deploy “layers” of ad retargeting?  The value of this tactic is simple: you reach your audience across all search engines and platforms – rather than being restricted to a single network.  In other words, layered ad retargeting empowers e-commerce business owners to target users not only on sites like Facebook and Google, but it allows them to continue showing ads to users as they browse the millions of Independent sites across the web.

Check out this post for a 2-step guide on how to layer ad retargeting to maximize conversions and increase your sales on Shopify 😊

Step 1: Ensure you Have Ad Remarketing Enabled on the Baseline Platform

To start, remember that platforms like Google offer their own remarketing programs that can be toggled on.  This is a no-brainer.  If you are not already using this baseline ad retargeting technique, you are allowing ~98% of all of your web traffic to “fall through the cracks.”  With no way of knowing how has visited your site, your digital marketing strategy will continue to feel like “finding a needle in a haystack.” 

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Step 2: Layer Ad Retargeting that Works Across the Entire Web

Now that you have established ad retargeting on the specific platform in question (e.g. – Google), it is time to layer up!  Using a simple app, e-commerce owners can reach outside of Google’s network when showing ads to retargeted users. 

What this means is that is the user clicks on an independent site not under the Google Display Network, your ads can still be shown to the user! This layered retargeting tactic broadens appeal, and the numbers make a clear case for its effectiveness.

There are currently ~2 million websites linked to the Google Display Network… but there are over 200 million active websites across the web!  So, by layering on external ad retargeting on top of Google’s remarketing option, you reach roughly 198 million more sites with your digital marketing.  After considering these figures, there is a strong case to be made that layered ad retargeting could drastically increase your sales on Shopify.

Conclusion: Menadex by Ad360 Can Unlock Your Online Store’s Potential

For a quick solution to “layered ad retargeting,” Ad360’s Menadex media offering connects your e-commerce promotions to every active website on the internet.  That way, your store can show ads to retargeted customers on websites that your competitors cannot reach, giving you the advantage in brand exposure and customer awareness. 

If you want to see the impact that layered retargeting can have on your business, reach out to try a free demo from Ad360!  We’ll automatically begin layering in our platform’s “universal ad retargeting” services on top of the ones offered by platforms like Google.  Create your next ad campaign with one click, and increase your sales on Shopify today 😊 Happy selling!