Previously processed data in Universal Analytics will be stored for at least six months after the deprecation dates listed above.

Why Google is making the switch. “Universal Analytics was built for a generation of online measurement that was anchored in the desktop web, independent sessions and more easily observable data from cookies,” Russell Ketchum, director, product management at Google, said in the announcement. “This measurement methodology is quickly becoming obsolete.”

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) differs from its predecessor in that it operates across platforms, doesn’t rely on cookies and uses an event-based data model for measurement. It also does not store IP addresses, which can help brands stay on the right side of privacy regulations.

Why we care. If you haven’t set up your GA4 properties yet, now is the time. Even though we have well over a year, configuring GA4 now will enable it to start tracking the metrics you care about so that historical data is there when you need to reference it.

This is also something of a wake-up call: Many search marketers have been dragging their heels when it comes to adopting GA4. In just over 15 months from now, that will no longer be an option, so the more familiar you get with GA4’s interface and capabilities, the better equipped you’ll be to handle the transition for your brands.

RELATED: Meet Google Analytics 4

The post Google to end Universal Analytics in 2023 appeared first on MarTech.

Escalating ads suspensions. Google first began imposing ad suspensions on February 27. The initial round of suspensions was aimed at Russian state-owned media outlets. On March 3, the company expanded on the suspension by including all ads serving to users in Russia. 

Google is far from alone here. Numerous other platforms, including Microsoft Advertising, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat have announced similar policies in light of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. However, Google seems to be the first platform to take these actions a step further by hamstringing Russia-based advertisers from reaching global audiences.

Why we care. This cuts off an important channel for brands in Russia, hindering their ability to reach potential customers elsewhere in the world. The question now is whether other platforms will follow Google’s lead.

The post Google pauses activity for advertisers based in Russia appeared first on MarTech.

Why we care. Podcasts aren’t just for true crime, politics and comedy any more. HubSpot launched its own podcast network back in summer of 2021 aiming to put engaging content in front of marketers and marketing operations professionals. LinkedIn now follows with podcast content clearly aimed at users’ professional personas.

But be patient. Brands can’t just publish on this new channel — there’s a process. Existing podcasts can express an interest in participating by filling out this form.

Dig deeper: HubSpot’s roadmap for building community through content

Where to listen. All LinkedIn Podcast Network shows will be available globally on LinkedIn by following the podcast hosts and subscribing to their weekly newsletters. These shows are not exclusive to the professional social media network — they can also be listened to on other podcast platforms, like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. 

Additional reporting by Kim Davis

The post LinkedIn announces a new podcast network appeared first on MarTech.

Shorts. YouTube plans to keep adding features to its Shorts format, the platform’s answer to TikTok and Instagram’s Reels. In addition to new effects and editing tools, YouTube plans to introduce the ability to reply to individual comments by creating another Short (similar to TikTok).

YouTube is also exploring monetization options for this format. In the coming months, it plans to test BrandConnect for Shorts creators, integration of the Super Chat feature (in which viewers can purchase visually distinct chat messages) as well as the ability to shop directly from a Short.

New insights for creators. New insights will be added to YouTube Studio. Mohan did not go into detail about what to expect from these new analytics capabilities other than that they’re meant to help “generate concrete content ideas for upcoming videos.”

More robust shopping experiences. Shopping capabilities will expand via shoppable videos, Live Shopping and via the user interface of the YouTube app.

Other updates for brands and creators. Channel guidelines, which can help creators influence the tone of conversations on their channel, are currently being tested.

Collaborative livestreaming will also be introduced, enabling creators to go live with other creators.

And, YouTube has begun testing gifted memberships, which allow viewers to purchase channel memberships for other viewers in a livestream.

Dig deeper: How TikTok influenced one of the top performing video ads of 2021

Why we care. Don’t underestimate the growing impact on marketing of the short-form video format represented by YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels and, of course, Tik Tok. TikTok, of course, saw its audience nearly double in 2020 and although Google and Meta moved competitively against it, it’s clear to most users that a lot of what Shorts and Reels do is replicate the TikTok experience. And although it’s frowned on, it’s clear that a lot of TikTok creators are simply using Reels and Shorts to expand the reach of their TikTok content.

The new Shorts features may help it compete against TikTok and Instagram. Being able to reply via a Short can keep users engaged on the platform for longer. And, monetization options for creators may also help drive adoption as well as influencer marketing opportunities on YouTube.

Additional reporting by Kim Davis

The post YouTube to double down on Shorts in 2022 appeared first on MarTech.

The new experience will start rolling out over the next few months. Google will share migration timelines as the year goes on.

Why we care. Centralization of data and controls should save time for enterprise search marketers by allowing more work to get done in one place. Sharing common technology with Google Ads should also make things easier.

Support for most new features. The new Search Ads 360 was redesigned and rebuilt using the same technology that powers Google Ads. Having this common technology as the foundation enables support for most new Google Ads features, such as Performance Max and Discovery campaigns.

More support for other search engines. One of Search Ads 360’s main selling points is the ability to manage your ads across different channels, including other search engines. Search Ads 360’s updated infrastructure allows Google to add support for more features from other search engines.

For example, the updated platform now supports over 10 additional Microsoft Advertising features, including responsive search ads, call extensions, local inventory ads and additional Microsoft audience types like customer match. Support for Yahoo! Japan’s Dynamic Ads for Search and sitelink extension scheduling are also now available.

Google will continue to add more features and channel support in the coming quarters.

New advanced features for enterprises. In addition to support for existing features, Google is also rolling out completely new features for Search Ads 360.

“For instance, the new Search Ads 360 takes enterprise workflows to the next level by giving you new ways to centralize and scale your day-to-day tasks and key activities — like campaign management, automated rules and labels — and you’ll now be able to make these changes across multiple advertisers at the same time,” Google said in the announcement.

The company is also making upgrades to existing features: The “Performance Center,” which will become available later this year, is touted as an improved budget management planner with support for enterprise planning capabilities, like improved forecasting across search engines.

And, the existing inventory management and ad builder tools will be unified into one feature, which will be called “Templates.” Templates is also expected to become available later this year.

Refreshed UI. Google also updated Search Ads 360’s interface, borrowing elements from the Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising UIs. This may make navigation more efficient since advertisers may already be familiar with it.

The post Google announces new features for Search Ads 360 appeared first on MarTech.

Why we care. Experience is all about meeting customers where they are. Increasingly, retailers are looking to virtual and AR experiences to enable customers to inspect and purchase big-ticket items like furniture remotely.

The 3D imaging technology has been around for quite a while. The key is the social commerce component. Can users buy with a minimum of clicks, and will the inventory be updated in real-time through the DX?

Just last week, we saw that Snapchat was also stepping up their game with AR social commerce.

In addition, this capability is rolling out to a new product category with support from well-known retailers, which could be significant for Pinterest’s 444 million monthly active users (worldwide) as well as the brands looking to sell to them. If this feature strengthens Pinterest as a shopping platform, it’ll also strengthen it as an advertising channel as well. 

Read more: Marketers look to upgrade their 3D digital experiences

AR-powered Try On expands product categories. Pinterest first introduced its Try On feature in January 2021 for beauty products, specifically eyeshadow and lipstick.

A month before that (December 2020), Google launched a similar feature in the mobile search results. Amazon also has a “View in your room” feature available on its mobile app for certain products as well.

How it works. Users browsing home decor products on Pinterest’s Android or iOS apps will see three dots in the top-right corner of “Try On enabled” Pins. Select the Pin and “Try in your space” to view the product using the camera lens.

Users can adjust and place the product to better help them visualize how it’ll look in-person. Users can also click the Pin to be taken to the checkout page of the retailer’s site.

Additional reporting by Chris Wood.

The post Augmented reality marketing expands with new Pinterest Try On for furniture appeared first on MarTech.

Topics may be a more realistic option than FLoC, marketers say

“Topics seem more likely to be acceptable to the broader ecosystem as they address several FLoC privacy concerns head on,” said Aaron Levy, head of paid search at Tinuiti. “It’s odd to call this an advantage, but I view anything that launches with a higher likelihood of stability and lesser likelihood of mass opt-outs a win.”

The other practitioners seemed to concur. “On their face, Topics seem like they should be less personally identifiable, which would be a plus for privacy,” said Julie Friedman Bacchini, president of Neptune Moon and managing director of PPC community PPCChat.

“I like that Chrome users will be able to see their topics and delete them if they wish,” said Christine Zirnheld, digital marketing manager at Cypress North. While this feature can make life harder for advertisers, options for users will help to appease privacy advocates and regulators, which increases the chances that Google will eventually be able to launch Topics.

Topic diversity and other potential hurdles for advertisers

The Topics API’s initial design includes approximately 350 topics, according to its GitHub page. Advertisers are concerned that this quantity won’t be sufficient enough to provide relevant targeting.

“Google’s current interest list [of topics] doesn’t offer the level of nuance most marketers need to target people who’d actually want to see their ads,” said Ashwin Balakrishnan, head of marketing at Optmyzr. “If Topics is going to be a success, Google needs to provide more detailed options.”

“Advertisers (at least as of now) would have few interests to actually target, and broader targeting does not usually lead to better performance,” Zirnheld said. “An interest in cars & autos doesn’t tell me if that’s luxury, rental, new, used, SUV, etc.,” Geddes added, “That means there will be more competition for less targeted ads,” noting that, at this point, it is still too difficult to predict how Topics will work in practice.

For reference, the IAB Audience Taxonomy contains approximately 1,500 audience segments. “One of the most popular drinks in the U.S. is Coffee,” Zirnheld provided as an example. “The IAB Taxonomy has ‘Coffee,’ ‘Coffee & Tea,’ ‘Coffee Creamer,’ ‘Coffee Filters,’ and ‘Tea/Coffee – Ready-to-drink.’ The closest topic Google has (at the moment) is ‘Food & Drink.’”

Despite the relatively low number of topics designed into the initial proposal, Google may already be aware of this issue: “This is a starting point; we could see this getting into the low thousands or staying in the hundreds [of topics],” said Ben Galbraith, Chrome product director.

In addition to the potentially limited topics, “The limited timeframe could be concerning for advertisers, as they are used to much more persistent inclusion of an audience than one to three weeks,” Bacchini said, caveating that it remains to be seen whether keeping interests more current might also yield benefits. Levy also touched upon this concern: “It feels more directionally accurate than truly precise,” he said. “I hope for some sort of a boolean setup longer term where we’re able to combine, expand or narrow topics, but of course time will tell.” 

As a privacy measure, there is a 5% chance that a random topic is returned, according to the GitHub page. This is to ensure that each topic has a minimum number of members. “While I understand that this helps ensure anonymity and privacy for internet users, this is obviously not a good thing for advertisers,” Zirnheld added.

Chrome might be the only browser to adopt, but that might not matter for some

“Chrome is still the big boy in the browser war,” said Steve Hammer, president and co-founder at RankHammer, “I do think Edge will matter as more people get Windows 11, but that’s the lone one I’d worry about for clients.”

“While Chrome’s market share is (slightly) shrinking, I don’t anticipate this’ll change our usage at all,” Levy said, “Rather, it will all fit into a broader theme of treating the data as directional rather than ‘right.’”

“If it’s limited to Chrome, we’ll see how that affects iPhone users,” Geddes said, noting that, “The lack of cross-browser support is a bit worrisome, but it won’t affect anyone’s budget if they are getting good returns from their marketing dollars.”

If Chrome claims enough of the browser market, that might empower Google to continue with the Topics API without having to go to the bargaining table with its competitors. That independence can help the company stick to its Privacy Sandbox timeline, which shows that all associated initiatives are slated to be launched in Chrome sometime in Q4 2022.

Looking to take control of your data? Learn about trends and capabilities of customer data platforms in the latest edition of this MarTech Intelligence Report.

Click here to download!

Is Topics an improvement over FLoC?

As with all potential third-party cookie replacements, Topics must be evaluated from the user privacy perspective as well as the advertiser perspective. “FLoC raised privacy concerns and Topics seems more privacy-friendly and attempts to provide more control and transparency to internet users. In that way, Topics is ‘better,’” Zirnheld said.

“However, this means broader targeting for advertisers, meaning less control over who sees our ads,” she noted. “We might have to get more creative with targeting for our clients if this is the route Chrome is taking.”

“For advertisers, I expect that Topics wind up more restrictive with less options and less precision than we were hoping for from FLoC (which is already a reduction of current tactics),” Levy said. “It’s annoying, but also encouraging that Google is trying to come up with a solution that works for everybody.” 

Google is trying to address the significant pushback and concerns provoked by FLoC, said Yahoo CBO Iván Markman. “It is yet to be seen whether this next iteration is workable, given how high level and short-time-spanned it is. Google’s FLoC received negative policy and industry feedback, and there was concern that FLoC IDs could have been exploited for cross-site user tracking. With the release of Topics API, Google is providing a higher level of user obfuscation and localized browser storage vs. a centralized storage location.”

Wayne Coburn, director of product at cross-channel marketing platform Iterable added: “Google’s pivot — from FloC to Topics — shows that consumers have lobbying power and a voice they are not afraid to use. People understand that their data is valuable, and they are moving to preserve the value of their assets. With FLoC, Google was trying to ensure their continued dominance in the advertising space, and both consumers and the ad industry responded with a resounding no. With Topics, Google is admitting they need to do more to preserve and protect consumer privacy.”

Ultimately, third-party cookies are going away, so expect growing pains

“The current conversations around FLoC Topics highlight one thing: Third-party (aka advertising) cookies are dead,” said Coburn. “It is more important than ever for marketers to have and maintain quality first-party data. Consumers have to be able to trust the brands they interact with — from the ethics of the brand through to the way it handles personal information — and if a consumer doesn’t trust a brand, they aren’t going to let their data anywhere near it. That isn’t going to change, so the way big tech handles data has to.”

However, “Anything that is a departure from cookies is going to feel like a step down in targeting, I think,” Bacchini said. “We are going to have to adjust our thinking about what ‘accurate targeting’ actually means and come down off of the sense of strong or accurate targeting that we feel like we have had up until this point.”

Additional reporting by Kim Davis.

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The Topics API will share a limited number of topics of interest, based on the user’s recent browsing browsing history, with participating sites without involving external servers. Users will be able to review topics assigned to their profile and remove them. There are no plans at this stage to allow them to add topics. Google says it will have a process in place to exclude potentially sensitive topics like race and sexual orientation. The final iteration of the user controls, as well as other technical aspects of how Topics works, will be determined based on the trial and feedback, Google said.

We reported in the Daily Brief last August that this change was being contemplated.

Google had no news to announce with respect to its Privacy Sandbox Timeline for deprecating third-party cookies, although it conceded it might change depending on trials and feedback.

How it will work. “With Topics, your browser determines a handful of topics, like ‘Fitness’ or ‘Travel,’ that represent your top interests for that week based on your browsing history,” Google said in the announcement.

Up to five topics are associated with the browser. Topics are stored for three weeks and the processing occurs on the device, without involving any external servers, including Google’s own servers.

Google is starting this initiative with about 300 topics “that represent an intersection of IAB’s Content Taxonomy V2 and also our own advertising taxonomy review,” said Ben Galbraith, Chrome product director, “This is a starting point; we could see this getting into the low thousands or staying in the hundreds [of topics].” 

When a user goes to a participating website, the Topics API selects three topics (one from each of the past three weeks) to share with that site and its advertising partners. If a site does not participate in the Topics API, “Then it doesn’t provide a topic nor does it receive a topic,” Galbraith said. The site itself or its advertising partners can opt in to the Topics API.

Google has also published a technical explainer containing more details about the Topics proposal.

The difference between FLoC and Topics. One of the main distinctions between Google’s previous targeting proposal, FLoC, and the Topics API is that Topics does not group users into cohorts. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation has pointed out, fingerprinting techniques could be used to distinguish a user’s browser from the thousands of other users within the same cohort to establish a unique identifier for that browser.

Additionally, under FLoC, the browser gathers data about a user’s browsing habits in order to assign that user to a cohort, with new cohorts assigned on a weekly basis, based on their previous week’s browsing data. The Topics API determines topics to associate with the user on a weekly basis according to their browsing history, but those topics are kept for three weeks. They are shared with participating sites and advertisers rather than a FLoC cohort ID.

The difference between contextual advertising and Topics. Galbraith confirmed that, unlike traditional contextual advertising, users can be targeted by topic even on sites that have nothing to do with the topic. In other words, someone that had showed interest in camping equipment in the previous three weeks might be targeted with ads for tents on a sports website.

“Time will tell” which browsers will adopt. Google is in the early phases of implementing the Topics API, so other browsers likely won’t have had a chance to evaluate it. But, Chrome was the only browser to adopt its predecessor (FLoC), so it’s unlikely that Firefox, Safari, Edge or other browsers will adopt Google’s proposal this time either.

“We’re sharing the explainer, which is the beginning of that process to discuss with other browsers their view on the Topics API, so time will tell,” Galbraith said.

Why we care. Google is currently set to deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome sometime next year and now we have a better idea of what audience targeting options will be available. Although FLoC is now officially off the table, the remarketing solution FLEDGE is still under consideration.

Prior to the Topics API, Google ran into a number of challenges with FLoC, including lack of adoption, industry pushback and regulatory issues. The company has likely addressed some of those challenges with this new proposal, but adoption among other browsers remains unlikely, which could impact how big of a user base advertisers are able to get in front of.

Galbraith declined to make explicit comment on the alternative identifiers being developed within the adtech industry, only saying that Google believes that the days of tracking consumers are over.

Additional reporting by Kim Davis.

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Customers are no longer just voting for brands or products via their purchases. Now, they’re also voting for the future they would like to see the world move towards — a future in which climate change is being addressed, centuries of socioeconomic and racial injustices are being corrected and equality and inclusivity are available to all.

This means that brand values are now part of your unique selling point — and if you’re not promoting values that align with your audience, it’s likely that one of your competitors will. However, inclusive marketing isn’t just a tactic to pander to audiences. It’s here to underscore humanity and the common struggles we face while recognizing and celebrating our differences. 

It can also help propel your brand towards its business goals: More than two-thirds (67%) of respondents to an Edelman study said they bought from a brand for the first time because they agreed with its position on a controversial topic, while 65% said they wouldn’t buy from a brand when it remains silent on issues they care about. And, inclusive ads drove a 23-point lift in purchase intent among consumers belonging to Gen Z, whether the person experiencing the ad was represented or not, according to Microsoft, meaning that inclusive marketing can help drive your sales funnel as well.

To help further your understanding and strengthen your messaging, we’ve compiled a list of resources that can serve as the foundations for your brand’s inclusive marketing efforts.

Evaluate your own biases

Relying on your own judgment when auditing your implicit biases means that you’re the judge and jury, which can lead to a self-defeating exercise. Instead, try resources like Harvard’s Implicit Association Test (IAT).

The IAT can help you identify your implicit biases across many categories, like gender and career, skin tone, religion, disability, sexuality, weight, age and more. Once you’ve taken the IAT, share it with your team so that everyone can keep a watchful eye over how their own biases may make their way into your marketing campaigns.

Inclusive marketing resources

Here are a number of resources for brands to consider as they build inclusivity and diversity into their organizations and campaigns.

• 5 ways to promote inclusion in your marketing organization: A recap of Dr. Lauren Tucker’s 2021 SMX Next session, in which she shares her inclusion-first approach for promoting diversity within organizations.
• The cost of ignoring website accessibility: Non-compliant sites are vulnerable to lawsuits, but SEOs can help protect them by advocating for accessibility, which can serve both differently-abled audiences as well as your business goals.
• (Video) Addressing diversity, recruitment and retainment in agencies and marketing teams: A panel discussion featuring CJ Bland, Zenia Johnson and Jackie Leuing about why diversity is good for business, what intentional commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives looks like and how employees can initiate change in their companies.
• (Video) Microsoft’s “The Download” Episode 8: Search Engine Land Editor George Nguyen sits down with Microsoft’s Nora Xu for a conversation about the importance of inclusion in marketing after a surge in hate crimes against Asian Americans.

There is also a growing tech space featuring solutions which promote diversity and inclusion. Two examples are Knockri, which seeks to to remove bias (and tokenism) from the recruitment process, and Keep Wol, which automates and gamifies diversity training.

Our sister site, Search Engine Land, presents an annual award for Advancing Diversity and Inclusion in Search Marketing to recognize the individuals and organizations that are driving positive change in the search community. The 2021 winners are Rejoice Ojaiku, for her work in founding B-Digital, “a digital marketing platform aimed at showcasing and inspiring Black talent,” and hasOptimization, a New Hampshire-based agency whose marketing efforts are complemented by their work for both inclusion and diversity across many areas of focus.

Dig deeper: How putting inclusion first can lead to diversity.

Inclusive marketing guides

Google and Bing, the search platforms that are at the center of many of our campaigns, have recognized the value and need for inclusive marketing by publishing their own resources on the subject.

• Microsoft’s Marketing with Purpose Playbook: Available as a free download, the Marketing with Purpose Playbook is one of the most comprehensive resources for inclusive marketing statistics (which can help you secure executive buy-in) and tips. The 101-page PDF is divided into three important areas for marketing (responsibility, values and inclusion) and covers a wide range of audiences.
• Google’s All In Inclusive Marketing Insights: Created from the lessons Google learned as it began its own inclusive marketing practices, this resource center has strategies for building teams, making inclusive creative choices, embedding inclusion into your strategy as well as audience insights to help eliminate stereotypes in your creative.

Inclusive language guides

Creating a welcoming environment for diverse audiences starts with the language in our messaging. Below is a list of language guides from various organizations that can help you ensure inclusivity in your creative assets and content.

• LinkedIn’s Inclusive Language for Marketers: This pocket guide provides a concise summary of inclusivity considerations for your messaging and brand identity.
• Google’s developer documentation word list: This style guide for developer documentation contains safe alternatives for biased wording, like the use of “slave,” “tribal wisdom” and more.
• Northwestern University’s Inclusive Language Guide: This general-purpose guide features explanations for why certain language is considered exclusionary or biased, as well as alternative phrases to use instead.
• GLAAD Media Reference Guide: Intended for use by journalists, GLAAD’s guide focuses on language as it pertains to the LGBTQ community.

Accessibility

Accessibility for differently-abled individuals or those that rely on assistive technologies is often considered by marketers to be “someone else’s job,” but inclusive organizations recognize that the responsibility is shared by all. Here are some resources that can help you evaluate and improve your site’s accessibility, while potentially opening up new audiences for your brand and protecting you from ADA-related lawsuits.

• The cost of ignoring website accessibility: An analysis of the potential consequences of overlooking website accessibility.
• 10 principles of digital accessibility for modern marketers: A list of key accessibility principles that should be relatively straightforward to implement.
• W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium with the goal of providing a single standard for web content accessibility, the WCAG explains how to make content easier to access for people with disabilities.

Inclusive marketing for your campaigns

Numerous platforms have added ways for businesses to showcase their diversity. Below are some articles covering features that you can use to immediately add an element of inclusivity to your advertising or online presence.

• Microsoft Advertising launches Marketing with Purpose Business attributes. The company later added Asian-, Latin-, Women-owned and Diabetic-friendly business attributes as well.
• Yelp introduces a searchable Asian-owned business profile attribute. The company also added an LGBTQ-owned attribute; both attributes join the pre-existing Women-owned, Black-owned and Latinx-owned profiles attributes.
• Google Business Profile adds “Women-led” icon and attribute to listings. The “veteran-led” and “Black-owned” attributes are also available for local listings.

This resource will be updated on an ongoing basis. If you have feedback, suggestions or resources to submit, please send an email to gnguyen@thirddoormedia.com.

This article first appeared on Search Engine Land.

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Why we care

Personal ethics and brand values have become factors in buying decisions for many customers. Being able to quickly differentiate your brand from others, through attributes such as these, can help you stand out from the competition.

Additionally, inclusive ads drove a 23-point lift in purchase intent among consumers belonging to Gen Z, whether the person experiencing the ad was personally represented or not, according to Microsoft.

This article first appeared on Search Engine Land.

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