The Captain's log: Insights from below deck April 2022

Credibility of an author and the impact on SEO

It’s no secret that at TBB Towers, we like to eat. But there’s another kind of E-A-T that we pay a lot of attention to here, and sadly, it doesn’t involve food. In this case, E-A-T refers to expertise, authoritativeness and trust, and Google rewards organisations and brands that demonstrate high levels of these via their website and content.

One particular aspect of E-A-T that caught our attention in March is that Google can rank documents according to the credibility factor and reputation score of the author, which are independent from those of the publisher. There are several factors which can impact an author’s reputation score, including how well-known they are, how their published content has been rated by users and how long they’ve had a proven track record of publishing content on a certain topic. 

This newfound information on author credibility and the impact it can have on SEO is something we’ll be looking into further, to help maximise E-A-T for our clients.

Google Merchant’s new price competitiveness feature

Google Merchant recently released a new price competitiveness feature that shares insights on how your products are priced, relative to other retailers. There are three key stats worth taking note of: above benchmark price, at benchmark price and below benchmark price. All three will help you identify opportunities and allow you to adjust product pricing to stay competitive in your market.

It’s also possible to dig down and view the price competitiveness of your products by category, country and brand. By using these insights alongside the campaign data in your ad account, you can make more informed decisions to improve the performance of your shopping campaigns.

Google retiring Google Analytics for GA4

Google announced that it will sunset its legendary Google Analytics platform in June 2023, in favour of GA4. This announcement has been met with mixed responses from the digital marketing world. While it was always inevitable, users hoped that GA4 would go through some updates before this roll-out happened. This is due to the ease with which certain essential data points can be accessed through Google Analytics, which are difficult to find in GA4.

But, this in itself is meaningful. Google is telling us what it thinks are the most important data points to be looking at, and is suggesting a shift in what data we look at and how we analyse it. GA4 is also a response to the ever-increasing landscape of privacy – using artificial intelligence, GA4 is able to plug holes in data that we’re already starting to see in Google Analytics, due to a growing awareness of cookies and tracking, and the ease with which users can deny them.

We recommend making the shift as soon as possible. While there’s over a year before Google Analytics is closed down, changing platforms now will help accrue comparative data, give users time to get used to the platform and also give people time to build the most useful dashboards to help them with their data analysis. It’s better to do it now than be scrambling to do it after Google Analytics has been closed down.

Generation Alpha

We’re all familiar with the term ‘millennials’, and most of us have heard of ‘baby boomers’ and ‘Gen X’ too. But there’s a new generation on the rise: ‘Generation Alpha’. Born between 2010 and 2025 and aged between 0 to 12 years old, this next generation of consumers are the first to be born entirely in the 21^st century. And, as this generation are in front of screens more, and earlier, than any other generation, it’s wise to start paying attention to them now.

Marketers should consider this digital-first approach in their strategies, alongside two other shared characteristics among this group. Firstly, activism matters – Generation Alpha will prioritise buying from sustainable companies who are transparent and authentic in their approach. Secondly, digital forums will be a go-to for social interaction, with digital games and the metaverse proving popular meeting places.

Instagram updates

Out with the old: Instagram has announced that adding multiple hashtags will no longer get your content more views or increase its distribution, but will instead be used to correctly categorise content. If users signal to Instagram that your content is high-quality (through likes, saves etc.), your content may be pushed out to more people via traffic sources such as hashtags people follow. While this can result in more reach from hashtags, this is correlation rather than causation – what caused the post to do well in hashtags was the content itself. So, when pinning down your social strategy, spend less time on hashtag research and more time on creating the best possible content for your followers.

In with the old: Instagram’s chronological feed is back, to live alongside the current algorithmic feed. Users can choose which way they’d like to sort their feed, with Instagram predicting that most will opt to stick with the algorithm. So, while it’s worth taking timing into consideration when you post, don’t plan your strategy around it. If you notice a dip in engagement on your feed posts, focus on Stories and Reels to compensate for that loss in reach.