Today in Digital Marketing - The Case for Ignoring Google's SEO Advice

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is Friday, June 16th. Today, the big SEO effect one tiny change to your business profile could have. Google gets out of the domain name business. Reddit's CEO is now threatening striking communities. And a recap on one of the biggest changes coming to digital marketing on July 1st. Are you ready? I'm Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in digital marketing. Google has a lot of advice, best practices, policies, guidelines, things that are supposed to help marketers get better results. Take this one. If you have a home-based business, Google recommends you do not put your address in your Google business profile. Here's what their site says. If you don't serve customers

Starting point is 00:00:45 at your business address, do not enter an address under the info tab in business profile manager, leave the business location field blank, unquote. But what effect does leaving your address off your Google business profile have on your position in the search results? Joining me with some new research on this, Joy Hawkins from the Sterling Sky local SEO agency in Toronto. Joy, how did you test this? So we had a multi-location client and I told them it's really imperative that we know the answer to this because if you're expanding and adding new locations, you need to know if they need to be storefronts or if you're good to just use home addresses and have those set up. So I convinced them to let me basically take the address off of one of their listings that was set up as a storefront for a month. I said, let's hide the address. So by hide the

Starting point is 00:01:34 address, literally check the box that says remove the address. And then we waited a month and we looked to see what happened. And what we saw as highlighted in the article in the video was the rankings dropped quite a bit for some terms, not all, I should say that. Like some terms are completely fine. Some of the main keywords that get the highest search volume in this space were the ones that we saw the impact on. And what was even crazier was like, we literally had some, we took screenshots. The rank tool that we used was PlacesScout and they take a screenshot for every single pin that they check. And I looked at the screenshots before and after. And for some of them, they actually removed his local pack altogether. Like it was

Starting point is 00:02:12 gone the moment we hit the address. And then when we added the address back a month later, the local pack came back like it was just nuts. Can you describe what a local pack is? Yeah. So it's like when you do a search on Google for like plumber and you get like three listings with a map, that's what we call a local pack. In this case, it was actually just two listings that were in the pack. It was them and one other business. And I guess when we hit the address on theirs, there was only one business now with an address in their market.

Starting point is 00:02:38 And so the local pack just went away completely. Also, it took the whole local pack out, including their competitor. Literally. Yet the whole local pack disappeared. Wow. And then like it came back when we added their address back, which was just like, what? Like I thought maybe it was an anomaly. Then we've also tested this on two other locations for the same client where we again went in and added the address to a listing that was hidden, saw the same increase in ranking. So we were sure it wasn't just this like random anomaly,

Starting point is 00:03:05 which I've seen before. I've seen like random one-offs before where it's like, oh, well. Right. So those are search results. But did the drop result in more downstream metrics, like a drop in call volume? Yes, their call volume, you can see it's like pretty steady, and then just like this like negative down. And then when we add it back, you'll see that the calls start to go up again. And this matches what I've heard over the years. I've heard this from other businesses over the years. Like, oh, I hid the address on my listing and my calls dropped. I stopped.

Starting point is 00:03:31 My phone stopped ringing. But we've never actually been able to test it. Like, it's such a weird case where why would you ever do that? Like, go in and hide or show your address. So it's been something I've been hearing for years, but never actually tested. I think it speaks to the trust that your clients have in you. If you're willing to say, listen, let us monkey with your search results or with your SEO and things might happen. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:03:52 So, Joy, what is the advice then? Follow Google's guidelines and leave the address off or put the address in despite the policy? Yeah, like we had some clients come to us that are clearly businesses that fall in the section that should have their address hidden. But they have it showing and we're like, yeah, don't touch it. Like I wouldn't, I wouldn't touch it. If you have your address showing and you're technically a home-based business, I just leave it like that. It's always risky when you're switching back and forth, you could trigger a suspension, right? I always tell people that like, disclaimer, you could have your listing suspended. And when you're suspended, you are forced to comply with their guidelines or you

Starting point is 00:04:23 will not get reinstated. So if you've already, if you're fine, you're getting away with it and it's showing, I'd keep it showing. And you've got all the details on this on your blog at sterlingsky.ca slash blog. Joy, thank you for this. Yes, thank you. Joy Hawkins leads the Sterling Sky local SEO agency, which you can learn more about at sterlingsky.ca. Google continues to cut costs, today announcing it will sell its domains business to Squarespace for $180 million. So existing Google domain URLs

Starting point is 00:04:57 will soon be hosted by Squarespace. Quoting social media today, with integrated affordable domain hosting via the company that rules online search, that proved to be an intriguing option to many with more than 10 million domains sold. And while they will still be supported by Squarespace, it does seem like they'll hold a little less value without that integration. But you'll get to keep your cool.cafe or.media web address if you like. It just won't come with that additional potential kick of being directly tied into Google's sorting systems, unquote.

Starting point is 00:05:31 Also, it's expected that the cost to brands for maintaining these domains may increase since Squarespace's pricing is higher than Google's. Reddit keeps on digging the hole deeper as part of the ongoing protest against api changes some moderators received messages from the company today threatening to remove moderators of subreddits if they don't reopen the quick backstory thousands of reddit communities including some of its biggest traffic draws have gone private in protest of upcoming massive API fees. Many community moderators say the fees are designed to force third-party apps off the platform. Anyway, this note sent from Reddit to these moderators this morning said, quote, If there are mods here who are willing to work toward reopening this community, we are willing to work with you to process a top mod removal request or reorder the mod team to achieve this goal. Reddit CEO yesterday did a small PR tour and did more or less say that shaking out third-party apps was part of the strategy.

Starting point is 00:06:48 The company fact sheet said the company would not unilaterally force communities back open over the objection of its moderators. But it also said through a code of conduct account that these volunteer moderators could be removed and replaced, stating, quote, if a moderator team unanimously decides to stop moderating, we will invite new active moderators to keep these spaces open and accessible to users, unquote. The blackout, which included more than 80,000 subreddits at its peak, was initially planned to last 48 hours, but many subreddits have vowed to stay dark indefinitely. More than 4,000 subreddits remain closed. or profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today,

Starting point is 00:07:50 starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected, be Zen. Wayfair, the massive home goods retailer, will test out Pinterest's new Clean Room, which the social platform launched with LiveRamp and Albertsons at the start of this year. So what is a clean room? All right, imagine you've got a bunch of secret notes about your friends' likes and dislikes. You know who likes ice cream, who likes pizza, and who likes burgers. You're trusted with this information, and you can't tell anyone else about it directly

Starting point is 00:08:19 because it's private. A company comes along and wants to have a party and needs to know what food to order, but without knowing exactly who likes what, because that's private. So company comes along and wants to have a party and needs to know what food to order, but without knowing exactly who likes what, because that's private. So you take these notes into a special clean room. In this room, you can look at your notes and tell the company, 10 people like ice cream, 20 like pizza, 15 like burgers, without ever saying who specifically likes what. The clean room in advertising is like this special room. It's a place where you, as a brand marketer, can get general ideas about what people like or dislike without ever knowing the private details of who likes what. This helps you tailor your ads better without invading anyone's privacy. Here's how Pinterest described it to social media today.

Starting point is 00:09:01 Quote, Wayfair will get aggregated insight into performance of their ads on Pinterest with LiveRamp's privacy-centric data collaboration platform, ensuring neither party has access to the other party's identifiable customer data, unquote. More and more clean rooms are getting built out as platforms try to entice advertisers looking for ways to market well, but while still respecting an ever-evolving privacy landscape. Amazon, Google, and Roku are some of the platforms offering this. An IAB report earlier this year found that two-thirds of advertisers using privacy-preserving technology use data clean rooms. The transition to Google Analytics 4 is now unavoidable as Universal Analytics nears its end. Starting next month, standard UA properties will no longer process new data,

Starting point is 00:09:55 and Google is urging users to make the switch to Google Analytics 4 before July 1st. So what happens on July 1st? Well, you'll still have access to your standard Universal Analytics properties in your account, but only for historical reporting, and that'll only be available until the following year. Any future data won't be in reporting. Audiences will no longer gain new users. Products linked with Universal Analytics will stop receiving data. This includes audiences and conversions used in Google Ads. Campaigns relying on this data are likely to stop, so it's important to review your campaign setup to make sure that you have uninterrupted performance.

Starting point is 00:10:37 According to Google, the majority of analytics users have switched to GA4, but if you are not one of those, consider this one of your last warnings. And a couple of stories to wrap up the week. TikTok has expanded its partnership with Integral Ad Science to 23 new regions. Integral Ad Science offers ad system auditing services to make sure that ad platforms are meeting the performance reach and safety claims they make. This expansion focuses specifically on providing insights into ad placement, hoping to prevent ads from appearing alongside unholy content. And LinkedIn is rolling out a new Twitter-like update that will let you organize your notifications stream according to post interactions or mentions. Some users now seeing new my posts

Starting point is 00:11:25 and mentions filters in that feed. It also offers the ability to sort the my posts filter by activity, including comments, reactions, and reposts. I am really bummed about this Google Domains thing. I used to have all my domains hosted at Bluehost, but their backend was just atrocious. Like, I don't think they changed it in 20 years. So it took me about an entire week,

Starting point is 00:11:54 but I moved all of my domains painstakingly, one by one, over to Google, which I loved. It was a great UI, simple, easy to use, always reliable, never slow. Yeah, I am bummed. Please, Squarespace, don't F this up. Well, if this podcast is on your daily must-listen list, you might benefit from upgrading your listening experience by signing up for the premium podcast. You'll get this show, but with no ads, you'll get immediate access to more than 30 deep dive, full length episodes covering the latest in marketing science.

Starting point is 00:12:26 There are links to stories in the show notes that comes out earlier than the free episodes. There are even audio chapters that let you jump in between stories. Just tap Go Premium in the show notes. And that'll do it for the week. Today in Digital Marketing is produced by EngageQ Digital on the traditional territories of the Tsunamic Nation on Vancouver Island. Our associate producer is the intrepid Steph Gunn, production coordinator Sarah Guild, music licensing by Source Audio, ad coordination

Starting point is 00:12:51 by Red Circle. And you know, not many people know this, but our theme composer Mark Blevis is actually sticking around on Twitter. So to be honest, I kind of feel like he just hate watching the whole mess. Like he told me the other day, welcome to the jungle. It gets worse here every day.

Starting point is 00:13:11 I'm Todd Maffin. Thanks for listening. See you on Monday. It's the season for new styles, and you love to shop for jackets and boots. So when you do, always make sure you get cash back from Rakuten. And it's not just clothing and shoes. You can get cash back from over 750 stores on electronics, holiday travel, home decor, and more. It's super easy. And before you buy anything, always go to Rakuten first. Join free at rakuten.ca. Start shopping and get your cash back sent to you by check or PayPal. Get the Rakuten app or join at Rakuten.ca. R-A-K-U-T-E-N dot C-A.

Today in Digital Marketing - The Case for Ignoring Google's SEO Advice

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