Stealth algorithm update causes SEOquake

Here is this week’s roundup of interesting news from us and the SEO/PPC industry. Enjoy!

?? Another SEO Rankings Shake-up Over Father’s Day Weekend

If you noticed strange fluctuations in traffic in your Search Console or the Landing Page reports in GA4, it’s now clear why.

Google apparently decided to run a stealth algorithm update in the week before Father’s Day weekend, and many are still feeling the effects of it?(at DDU, we haven’t noticed anything - our site traffic is still increasing).

The larger-than-normal volatility has many raising questions about this update, which Google still hasn’t confirmed.

Read more here

?? Profit Pillars: Remote Hiring Unlocked (Webinar Replay)

In case you missed it, here’s a replay of the Profit Pillars webinar last Friday, when Noel Andrews at JobRack , showed us his hiring process from start to finish.

Here are some highlights:

• High-quality talent available at 50% less than U.S. rates
• You can increase your net margin by 7%
• It’s best to find people who will commit long term
• Common hires include support roles, specialists, managers, and software developers

Noel is leveraging 15 years of recruiting experience with large corporate technology companies to help entrepreneurs hire highly talented players at affordable rates to help them grow their small teams.

His company JobRack has helped over 1,000 businesses hire successfully since 2015. If you’ve struggled with hiring and growing a team, give this a watch!

Watch recording

?? Last Cohort on GA4 "Cover Your Assets" Blueprint Certification Course for 2023

Our GA4 CYA Blueprint course is back! But this will be the last cohort for 2023.

This is also timely with the fast-approaching July 1 switchover date from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4.

We just opened enrollment 2 days ago, and only 25 spots will be available. This kicks off on July 10.

Save your seat

????Business Unfiltered EP #8: Are You Profitable?

In this episode, Mercer and I talked about strategies for maximizing profit margins in business models like agencies, startups, and products. Here are some episode highlights:

• Generally, healthy margins run at 25-35% (after you pay yourself).
• Reinvesting 25% of profits back into your business prevents burnout.
• The critical distinction between a startup and an agency business model.
• Revenue projections and accounting for significant expenses to predict profitability.
• How to build recurring revenue through retainers and other payment models.

To close out the episode, we also discussed strategies for qualifying leads and choosing (selectively) whom to work with, plus we introduced the "fruit tree" analogy for business profits.

Listen here

???Predictive Targeting With Microsoft Ads

You might be able to see how your ad campaigns perform and which audiences are more likely to convert?before?you even start running them.

Microsoft just introduced Predictive Targeting supported by AI technology, which is now available to all advertisers on Audience Ads - whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise.

They anticipate that their new feature will help advertisers in three key ways:

• It will be easier to find and reach your target audience
• You’ll save time by not having to create an audience from scratch
• You’ll gain more flexibility in your advertising strategy

Will these three predictions play out as expected?

That remains to be seen, but in the meantime, it won’t hurt to give it a try. Best case scenario? Targeting becomes much easier, your conversions go up, and your spend goes down.

Learn more

???Blog Post: Change Your Google Analytics Data Retention Setting, or Lose Important Data

The default Google Analytics 4 data retention period is only 2 months. This is fine if you are only interested in short-term analysis. After that period, you will lose valuable data about your users.

But let’s face it, unless you have just launched your website or app, you need more historical data to thrive in the future. The maximum retention period in GA4 is 14 months, and you can easily change this in your settings.

If you want to keep your data even longer, BigQuery is a great option.

Read article

???YouTube: How to Create GA4 Events Within GA4 (Part 2)

This is the second part of the video series on creating GA4 events. This one covers event creation using enhanced measurement.

We dive into the challenges associated with labeling 'click' events, while exploring using a new 'outbound link click' event instead. We also delve into complex setups like tracking video interactions and, for example, logging events when users don't complete videos.

Finally, we note that similar tracking can be done with form interactions, offering insights on user drop-offs, but you’d need to enable it manually.

Watch video

Until next time!