With this change, comes challenges. Below you will learn what is new in GA4 and tips on how to get you started before July 1^st comes.

What is new in GA4?

The latest update, Google Analytics 4, brings a lot of new features and improvements.

1. Integrated web and mobile reporting

The best thing about Google Analytics 4 is that it gives you combined mobile and web data in a single Analytics property. With Universal Analytics, you would have to look at both channels separately in different properties, but GA4 allows for more robust cross-device and cross-platform tracking. The result is a clearer picture of how users interact with your website or app, leading ultimately to better marketing and product design decisions.

2. Keep Track of Events Without Codes

GA4 offers automatic event tracking for some user activities, like page views, scrolls, outbound clicks, site searches, video interactions, and file downloads. You don’t need to add code or set up event tracking in Google Tag Manager. Just ensure that “Enhanced measurement” is activated in your GA4 interface.

3. Get AI Artificial Intelligence Insights and Predictions

Thanks to machine learning, Google Analytics 4 properties can extract meaning from data and identify trends that otherwise go undetected. Technology like this can help you predict consumer market trends, such as increased demand for a particular product or service. With this data, businesses can make more informed decisions about where to focus their marketing efforts. Thereby recognizing customer needs earlier and tailoring marketing efforts accordingly.

Tips to Help Get You Started

1. Analyze the way you use Universal Analytics

As you prepare to switch to GA4, take stock of what data you are currently collecting and how your organization uses that data.

2. Make a note of the enhancements you’ve made

Take inventory of any customizations or enhancements carried out on your UA installation.

3. Transfer your UA goal metrics over to GA4

Once you’ve identified which metrics to track, figure out the best way in GA4. Sometimes, it might just be changing the language or labels.

4. Compare GA4 goals to your current UA marketing goals

Please wait a month for your new GA4 system to collect and measure data and compare it to your UA results. Given the significant differences between the two systems regarding data collection, metrics measurement, and ROI calculation, it might not be possible to compare them one-to-one.

5. Continue customizing your GA4 Property

There is no denying that GA4 offers more business reporting, automated reports, and dashboard creation options than its predecessor. However, you will still need to work to analyze and customize every dashboard and report to make sure it accurately reflects your data. Dashboard customization is a critical step that should not be rushed.

6. Analyze more than just your website’s analytics

With GA4’s new features, you can uncover hidden patterns and trends, gain a deeper understanding of your customers and even go beyond your website data.

7. Plan ahead

GA4 offers more advanced features, which means there will be a learning curve and potential bumps during the switchover. So, before you switch, check that you have allocated enough resources and time for migrating your data and getting used to the new system. A successful shift will require technical skills, alignment, and collaboration between your team members.

In 2023, the internet has come an essential to a business, therefore, website analytics are becoming an important tool to understanding your audience.

Additional Website Tools

Maximizing Your Website’s Online Traffic: Exploring Various Types and Strategies

Amazing Tips That Will Bring More Attention To Your Website

The Why & How of Website Accessibility

The post What is New in Google Analytics 4? appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

These days, establishing an online presence for your business is vital. You can have an app, e-commerce store, or website to ensure your clients can find your business online. And because of the advent of technology, many entrepreneurs can easily create apps and websites for their brands. However, this may be overwhelming since you must compete with hundreds of competitors to rank high on Google’s search engine results page (SERP). To learn more about this, keep reading this beginner’s guide. 

What Is Google SERP?

Google SERP is the page that appears after you enter a query or search into Google. Google has over 80% of the market share on different search engines like Yahoo and Bing. For that reason, you must ensure that you rank high on Google SERPs since consumers mainly check the first page results. 

When you appear on the first page of SERPs, you’re most likely to generate more traffic to your website since most consumers trust the ones appearing on the first page. Furthermore, you may also appear on the first pages of SERPs by using the ‘People Also Ask’ tool or use some of the following features, as digital eagles explains:

• Reviews: Also known as star rankings, can show after a transactional query—a search that Google users search when thinking about buying a service, item, or product. And consumers are more likely to click on results with 5 or 4 stars. Thus, it’s best to have a star rating system for your business where clients can leave their ratings. 
• Featured Snippet: This feature is eye-catching since it shows in a box with the applicable search keywords the consumer wants that may be contained in your site. However, you need to reach the first page of search results to be considered as a featured snippet. So that when searchers see it, they’re more likely to click on it, mainly if it contains their desired keywords and relevant data. 
• Google Ads: This feature can appear at the bottom or the top of the SERP. You can let your target audience see your ad before the organic results. But you must use competitive keywords or have a high-quality site to reach the top of the SERP.

What Are The Factors Affecting Your SERP Ranking?

As mentioned, people searching for things on Google usually rely on the first page of the SERP. If people can’t find the answers on the first page, they’ll revise their queries instead of clicking the next page of the SERP. Therefore, you must ensure that you rank high or be on the first page of the SERP. You can do so by considering the following factors:

1. Optimized Site

You need to consider search engine optimization (SEO), especially in the technical aspect. When your site has technical SEO issues, search engine crawlers are less likely to access your site correctly. This makes search engines unable to rank your site. 

That’s because before you get ranked, the search engines will find all publicly available web pages during the discovery stage. The next step is crawling, wherein they add extracted information to their index. Such a process will help ranking algorithms rank websites. 

During all those processes, you need to assist these search engine crawlers so they can complete the process without any blocking. Keep in mind that they may be unable to crawl and index your site if they can’t access it. Therefore, it would be best to do the following if you want to optimize your site for search engine crawlers: 

• Fix Crawl Errors: Make indexing faster and more efficient by fixing crawl errors via the Google Search Console. 
• Optimize Extensible Markup Language (XML) Sitemap: You must ensure that your sitemap has all your site’s pages so the search engine bots can discover them. 
• Optimize robots.txt: You may also want to specify and instruct what page search engine bots can crawl using the file robots.txt. 

2. Mobile-First Site

Google also indexes your site according to its mobile-friendliness. Instead of the desktop version of your site, Google will index the URL of your mobile site. This means that Google ranks and indexes your content from the site’s mobile version. Consequently, it would help if you prioritized the mobile-friendliness of your site. 

3. Content Quality

Most importantly, you should create content that covers a broad spectrum of your niche. It should also be in-depth, engaging, and provides relevance to your readers. These qualities of quality content can help your site rank higher on SERP. 

Conclusion

If you want your target audience to discover your business, you need your site to rank well in Google’s SERP. However, it’s also essential to consider things that can improve your site’s position on search engine results pages. Make the necessary adjustments right now and see the difference.

The post A Beginner’s Guide To Google SERP appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

1. Create a Google My Business Listing

This is the first step in being found on google maps. You need to create a Google My Business Listing. This is a free service provided by Google that allows you to provide information about your business and what services are offered.

To start, you must sign up for a free Google account and then visit your dashboard. You’ll find the link to create a new listing in the left-hand menu.

2. Choose your business category

You have a few options when it comes to choosing what type of business you want to represent on Google maps. Just like with all things related to marketing and branding, it depends on who you are and what kind of target audience you’re trying to reach out to.

To see the categories available, go to your Google My Business dashboard and then click on “categories”. This will give you several options such as “arts & entertainment”, “food & drink”, and “hospitality”. You can also choose your industry from here.

3. Provide the contact information for your business

The next thing you must do is provide a phone number and address. This is what will show up on the maps that people use when searching for points of interest in your area. It’s also important to ensure that your current hours are accurate as this might be what an individual relies on while visiting your business.

To do this, go to Google My Business and then click “Get more info”. You’ll find the option to change hours right there. You can also change your business’s website and add photos of your business. If you want to see it on a map, you’ll have to verify the listing. You can do so by clicking the “verify” link that appears below all of the information you provided.

4. Optimize your website

It’s essential that your webpage is easily seen by people who are using Google maps and search engines in general. This means that it must be optimized for search engines as well as humans who use them directly to view websites on their mobile devices.

The good news is that there are quite a few quick and easy tips you can follow to make sure your website is viewed by Google easily without having to go through a lengthy process. For example, if you simply have a lot of information on your page, you don’t have to worry about it being read. This means that when people go on to the page and leave it in “read” mode, this won’t affect the way it appears in Google maps. This will keep the information from being seen by other users.

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1. Search Intent

Search intent is giving the people what they are look for. There are 4 types of search intent: informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional. The most important aspect of search intent is details:

• Format
• What are you including in your article
• How in-depth is it
• Are you writing for a beginner or advanced?

To figure out where to begin, do a SERP analysis. SERP analysis is the process of studying a search engine results page to learn why the top-ranking pages are ranking well for the search query.

2. Speed to Value

Speed to value is to get to the point. The best way to do this is to do a short introduction that states what your reader is reading about and what the key takeaways will be in the blog post.

3. Scannable

Readers scan content in an “F shape”, which means eyes start at the upper left of the page and move to the right. Then they jump down a bit and do it once more. As they scroll down, they look at the only the left side of content, until they see key phrases.

To write for a F-shaped reader, the information-carrying words need to be at the beginning of paragraphs (ex: Best Marketing Tips: _____).

Some ideas include:

• Subheadings
• Bullet points
• Short paragraphs
• If you are writing longer paragraphs, key phrases should be bold

4. Comprehensive

You do not want readers to go back to Google. Some ideas to get the job done are:

• How-to content (Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, etc.)
• Linking to further readings/resources
• If you are writing for a beginner, define (or avoid) jargon

5. Stay Up to Date

You should be refreshing your content on a regular basis to make sure that it is still accurate.

6. Make Your Audience Talk

Making your audience talk is especially important when you are competing against sites with higher authority scores. When creating content, you want your audience to use your content in their social shares, emails, and backlinks. Here are some ways to get your audience to talk

• Look at what content and topics your target audience is already talking about and somewhat copy it
• Look at new angles of a topic
• Look at what journalists are covering and use your content

7. Sticky Content

Sticky content keeps readers from hitting the back button; you want your audience to stay on your page or website. Here are a few ways to keep users on your site:

• Optimize speed to value (key 2)
• Scannable sections (key 3)
• Dense content (no fluff, straight to the point)
• Easy to understand
• Visuals or graphics

Now that you have some tips on how to optimize your website to rank better on Google, it is time to take some action. Remember, quality is greater than quantity.

Additional SEO Resources

A 3-Step Guide to Starting a Content-Driven SEO Strategy

How To Improve Your Company’s SEO for Greater Results

How To Combine Digital Marketing & SEO Effectively in 2022?

The post Creating Content to Improve Google Search Ranking appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

The 5 Signals

1. Core Web Vitals

These are a new set of three performance metrics that focus on how performance connects to experience. The three metrics are Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and First Input Delay (FID). Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how long it takes for the largest element to become visible in the viewpoint. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures how visually stable the page is. First Input Delay (FID) measures how long it takes for the browser to respond to the first user’s interaction with a page.

2. Mobile-friendliness

The user should get the same time results, no matter if the information lives on mobile-friendly web pages or apps. More and more people are using their mobile devices to access the internet, and the algorithm is adapting to that change.

3. Safe Browsing

Safe Browsing has helped webmasters via Search Console with information about how to fix security issues with their sites. The updated information will provide more specific explanations of malware, deceptive pages, harmful downloads, and uncommon downloads.

4. HTTPS usage

Security has always been critical to the web. A web with HTTPS is not the future; it is happening now to secure browsing.

5. No Intrusive Interstitials on mobile

Google’s goal is to help users quickly finds the best answers to their questions, no matter what device they are using. The content on the page should be easily accessible to the user.

What is Page Experience?

Page Experience update focuses on the user experience of a page, not its content. Even after this update rolls out, Google will still focus on the value of content. Google’s words on balance between Page Experience vs Relevance: “While all of the components of page experience are important, we will prioritize pages with the best information overall, even if some aspects of page experience are subpar. A good page experience doesn’t override having great, relevant content. However, in cases where there are multiple pages that have similar content, page experience becomes much more important for visibility in Search.”

How Google Will Measure Ranking Score?

1. Core Web Vitals

To measure how your site compares against LCP, CLS, and FID, you can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights testing tool. Below is what Google recommends your measures to be at:

If you are in the green, you are good to go. If you are in the yellow or red, it is time to reevaluate your core web vitals.

2. Mobile-friendliness

To see if Google has detected issues with mobile-friendliness, you can use the Mobile Usability report in Google Search Console.

3. Safe Browsing

To check for issues with safe browsing, you can use the Security issues report under Security & Manual Actions in Google Search Console.

4. HTTPS usage

You can test this one yourself – when you visit a page on your website, do you see a closed padlock in your browser address bar? If so, you’ve passed this assessment. You can also view details and read that your connection is secure.

5. No Intrusive Interstitials on mobile

There is no test to this key signal. You will want to make sure that you are not displaying intrusive interstitials or popups to mobile users. Some intrusive interstitials include popup ads or asking for an email address to send a document.

This does not mean that Google will stop prioritizing content and relevance. It just means if there is situation where there is a tie in relevance, the one with better page experience will take the top of the search.

Additional Google Page Experience Resources

Understanding page experience in Google Search result (Google)

The Google Page Experience Update: User experience to become a Google ranking factor (Search Engine Land)

Google’s New Algorithm: Page Experience (Neil Patel)

The post New Google SEO Algorithm appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

Introduction: Google My Business

Though Google My Business (GMB) had been around for a while, it never seemed to work the way Google (or users) wanted—especially during the days of Google+. In short, there was a lot of confusion over Brand Pages and Local Pages, and even more confusion how these worked with Google+ and YouTube. It was a mess.

After Google closed Google+ (R.I.P.), they pivoted their focus to GMB. Luckily, the end of Google+ gave Google time to focus their efforts to create a much more cohesive Google My Business.

For local businesses, this made building out a profile much less confusing. Since then, Google has been able to add features ranging from GMB-hosted websites to posts to product and service pages, things I’ll be discussing in the coming weeks.

The Basics: What is Google My Business?

Google My Business provides a fast and easy way for businesses, products, brands, artists, and organizations to manage their online presence with Google. With your Google My Business account, you can see and connect with your customers, post updates to your Business Profile, and see how customers are interacting with your business on Google.

Show up on Google Search and Google Maps.

Basically, the purpose of Google My Business is to give you a presence when someone searches for your business (on web), and if someone’s looking to find you on Maps.

Additional features include responding to reviews, adding products, services, and posting updates.

Get on the Map: Setting up Google My Business

Okay, so it’s likely that you’ve already done this. That said, maybe you’re just starting out, maybe you’re a B2B company who has never thought much of this (I know of a few). If you haven’t, here’s how to get up and running.

If you want more information on the in-depth process of creating and optimizing a Google My Business Profile, head over to the Local Marketing Institute, look at GMB FAQ, and check out the GMB Marketing Kit.

Ingredient List:

Wow, I feel like one of those annoying recipe writers who has to put out a life story. Here’s the minimum information you want to put on there:

• Name, Address, Phone
• Category (for a list of GMB Categories, click here)
• Website
• Hours
• Description
• Logo

How to Get Started

Getting started is simple.

Step 1: Go to business.google.com, click sign in.

Sign in with Google Account.

Step 2: Search for your business.

It’s likely that Google has already created your business based on information from other sites. If so, as long as no one has claimed it, claiming is similar to creating.

Step 3: Search for Primary Category

For a list of Google categories, click here. However, it may be easier to simply start typing.

Step 4: Add location (or service area).

You will be asked: “Do you want to add a location customers can visit, like a store or office?”

• If yes, type in your address.
• If no, begin to type in areas you serve.

Note: If you serve customers at your location AND serve them at theirs, you have the option to add service areas after adding address.

Step 5: Add Contact Phone and URL.

At this stage, Google will give you the option to say “I don’t have a website” or “create a website based on information provided.”

Step 6: Click Next, Click Finish, Verify.

At this stage, you need to verify your claim.

You may have the option to verify this by phone (i.e. if this your personal business and your personal phone). Alternatively, if the phone is unreachable, you can always verify by postcard. Just let the individual in charge of the mail know this is coming. Though postcards are going out, this may be slower.

In rare cases, Google may allow email verification, Search Console verification, or video chat—though over the course of doing this a hundred or so times, I’ve never seen it.

Step 7: Complete Your Listing

After choosing your verification method, you will be taken to your dashboard, where Google will show you everything ranging from offers to advice. Look for a section that says “complete your listing.” Most changes will not show up until after the location is verified.

Recommended Information

Specifically, add the following:

• Hours of Operation
• Description (up to 750 characters)
• Logo
• Short Name
• Additional Categories
• Attributes (Veteran-led, Women Led)

Photos and Images

If you want to tell searchers “Look at this photograph,” you’re in luck—you can add the following:

• Identity photos: Logo, Cover Photos
• Location Photos: Photos of the interior and exterior of your business.
• Team Photos: Show off your people.
• Overview Video: Upload an overview video of your business.

Business-Specific Information

Some businesses are given additional options such as reservations.

Use the Time to Build Your Business: Follow us for More

Stay tuned, because I’m going to follow this up with posts, products, and services. Even during this pandemic, we’re working hard. As one of those businesses more than capable of working from home, we have been putting in a ton of work to ensure our clients not only survive the short downturn, but that they’re primed for growth after this short downturn.

If you’re looking to make the most of the massive bounce that’s going to happen after the Coronavirus dip ends, you’re going to want to know us. Click here for a free website analysis and get to know more about us here.

The post Social Distancing Quick Fix: Setting Up Google My Business appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

What is BERT?

According to Google, BERT “represent[s] the biggest leap forward in the past five years, and one of the biggest leaps forward in the history of Search.”

What does BERT stand for?

BERT stands for: Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers.

Wait, what? Essentially, the update is a result of a breakthrough in Google’s research on transformers. Transformers work to process words in relation to other words in a sentence, rather than processing each word one-by-one. This helps Google to understand the context of the search query, rather than relying on the dying language of keyword-ese.

What is keyword-ese?

Google coined the term keyword-ese to describe the phenomenon in which writers use awkward language or phrases to better optimize keywords so that content shows up on search engines.

Why is context important in search queries?

Voice search is becoming the new norm, making search queries more conversational. Queries resemble sentences instead of keywords. As a result, the individual words themselves are less important; rather, it’s the meaning of the sentence overall that matters.

Who is most affected by the BERT update?

According to Google, it’s expected that 1 in 10 searches will be affected by BERT. Worth noting is that the update analyzes search queries – not content. How Google will then interpret those searches will be what changes the results. Consequently, the traffic you may lose to BERT is likely low-quality and not meant for you anyway. Any traffic you gain will be more relevant and, accordingly, more likely to convert.

How do I optimize for BERT?

Simply put, create high-quality and highly relevant content. Don’t hide behind keywords. Instead, focus on creating content that users want to read. Do this by researching the topics often searched by your target audience and then creating a content calendar around these same topics. This is exactly how inbound content is meant to work – offer something useful to the users you care about, and Google will be more likely to show that content to them.

Good content formats in response to BERT include: how-tos, FAQs, and Q&As. When drafting an FAQ or Q&A, for example, incorporate questions users are likely to search for. Google often uses blogs with these formats for its featured snippets.

Can I see a Google BERT example?

Google included examples demonstrating the effects of BERT in its announcement. One of the examples compared search results before and after the update for the query: “2019 brazil traveler to usa need a visa.”

The intent of the search query is to find results related to visa information for Brazilian travelers coming to the U.S. Initially, the search engine misinterprets the meaning of the word “to,” causing the search engine to display results on U.S. citizen travel to Brazil. After the update, the engine understands the true intent of the search and appropriately displays information on U.S. travel visas.

How does BERT compare to other Google updates?

Two updates keep coming up as the search community discusses BERT – Hummingbird and RankBrain.

What’s the difference between BERT and Hummingbird?

Hummingbird was Google’s first response to the trending takeover of voice search. BERT is the latest. The updates differ, however, in how they process and understand language. Prior to BERT, search queries were understood by reading from left-to-right. Now, it compares words in relation to other words within a sentence, making the order of these words less important.

How does BERT compare to RankBrain?

Many are saying that BERT is the biggest update since RankBrain launched 5 years ago. RankBrain was Google’s first AI used for search queries. Like Hummingbird, it was one of the earliest updates shifting the focus from keywords to natural language. BERT isn’t meant to replace the work of RankBrain or Hummingbird; rather, it’s meant to build on it.

Making the Most of BERT

Any good marketer has nothing to fear as BERT takes effect. If you’re creating top-notch and highly relevant content on a frequent basis, you’re doing exactly what you need to. Two key takeaways: (1) BERT analyzes search queries instead of web content, and (2) the context of searches is becoming far more important than keywords.

Have you noticed any changes on your site due to BERT? Let us know in the comments.

The post 10 FAQs on the Google BERT Update appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.

Ninety percent of internet users look at results on Google’s first page, which means if your website isn’t on the first page of a web browser, it isn’t getting noticed. A right SEO agency can transform your business. Consult with friends or business associates to help find qualified SEO agencies. You want an agency that is going to help you reach your goals correctly.

A right SEO agency should help you increase sales and decrease your adverting budget while improving the user experience. Choosing the right SEO agency to work with can be difficult. Here are some tips to consider before going into a contract with just any agency.

SEO is Not Magic

SEO is misunderstood; it is a complicated process. SEO requires a great understanding of how search engines work, attention to detail, and constant modifications since Google’s algorithms change almost weekly. Shortcuts, such as buying links, and keyword stuffing can lead search browsers to demote your website, which downgrades your rankings and decreases organic traffic. So, if an agency is talking t you about magic algorithms etc. don’t follow it, you will eventually end up paying a higher price.

Have Detailed Goals

Do not choose an SEO company with unclear goals of “increasing organic traffic,” this is a broad goal, and increased traffic does not automatically translate into increased revenue. You want to be sure that your ranking first for the actual product you are selling. You need to give considerable thought to what the goal of your website is. Are you looking to increase sales? Looking to decrease websites bounce rate and increase your conversion rate? Do you want to build your social media following or other services go beyond SEO? Whatever SEO firm you choose, make sure you are clear on the type of results you are looking for and what services you expect.

Don’t Just Use Google Search for ‘Best SEO.’

The best SEO agencies will have numerous long-term customers who have referred members of their professional circle to the same service. Companies that list on ‘best SEO’ have probably paid a premium for their spot on the list. The best way to discover a qualified SEO agency, like Direction Inc, is by word of mouth advertising. Ask your professional circle who they would recommend.

Select an SEO the Communicates Well

You want an SEO agency that communicates well with you, and you can trust. Proper SEO doesn’t happen overnight, it is a process, and you will be working with the agency for the long-term to build the best optimization for your business and website. To reach your goals, it is going to take time, patience, and a good communicative relationship.

SEO Services

An SEO agency is essential to your business, 93 percent of online experiences start with a search engine, and 47 percent of people choose one of the first three listings. There are certain SEO services that a right SEO agency should include in their contract, such as:

• Website structure analysis
• Website content analysis, including conversion rate analysis
• Off-page online report
• Optimization of website code and structure
• Optimization of onsite content
• Optimization of off-page factors

Questions to Ask an SEO Agency Before Hiring Them

Always look at reviews of any company you are thinking of going into contract with. Also, ask these following questions:

• Do I have complete access to my site and reports?
• Have you done work for a similar business?
• What are all your charges and payment options?

Final Thoughts

When you look for a qualified SEO agency, remember the tips above. But make sure you are ready to get into the process of search engine optimization because it will be a process that takes time, and you need to work with an agency with excellent and open communication.

The post How to Qualify an SEO Agency appeared first on Modern Marketing Partners.