MARKETING
August 18 Algo Update: The Cyclone Before The Storm
![August 18 Algo Update: The Cyclone Before The Storm August 18 Algo Update: The Cyclone Before The Storm](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1694026567_August-18-Algo-Update-The-Cyclone-Before-The-Storm.png)
Around August 18, just prior to the August Core Update announcement, MozCast recorded extremely high temperatures, peaking at 127°F. This stood out even compared to August’s unusually high ranking-volatility and the Core Update itself (so far).
While it’s easy to lump this volatility into the August Core Update, we recorded a distinct and probably unrelated event — a massive drop in indented results on page-one SERPs.
Indented results drop 50%
An indented result in Google is any organic result that’s grouped under another, higher-ranking result from the same domain. For example, below is a screenshot of a search for “Excalibur” that pulls up Wikipedia pages for both the sword and the film.
![August 18 Algo Update: The Cyclone Before The Storm Screenshot of the Wikipedia ranking search results for the keyword 'Excalibur'](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1694026563_312_August-18-Algo-Update-The-Cyclone-Before-The-Storm.png)
Between August 17-19, the percentage of page-one Google SERPs with indented results in the MozCast 10K tracking set dropped from 24.10% to 12.04%, as shown below.
![August 18 Algo Update: The Cyclone Before The Storm Screenshot of evident drop in indented results from August 17th to August 19th](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1694026564_851_August-18-Algo-Update-The-Cyclone-Before-The-Storm.png)
Half (almost exactly 50%) of SERPs with indented results lost them over this two-day period, and that loss has not recovered as of the writing of this post.
Indented = Promoted organic
Here’s why this matters and why this change shook up the SERPs: Indented results are often (not always) promoted from lower-ranking organic results. Consider this indented result from a search for “banquet halls” in Portland, Oregon, on August 17.
![August 18 Algo Update: The Cyclone Before The Storm Screenshot showing the ranking search results for the keyword 'banquet halls'.](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1694026564_872_August-18-Algo-Update-The-Cyclone-Before-The-Storm.png)
These two results effectively ranked 1st and 2nd. On August 20, the indented result (now a stand-alone organic result) dropped to 4th place, with a Places Pack and People Also Ask feature between 3rd and 4th, resulting in a substantial vertical drop.
And below is a set of indented results from a search for “green card renewal” on August 17.
![August 18 Algo Update: The Cyclone Before The Storm Screenshot showing the ranking search results for the keyword 'green card renewal'](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1694026565_128_August-18-Algo-Update-The-Cyclone-Before-The-Storm.png)
These results effectively occupied the 1st through 3rd positions. As of August 25, these results were split into 1st, 3rd, and 5th, with a People Also Ask feature before the 5th result.
Long-term trends (18 months)
While we can’t predict the future, this drop is consistent with a long-term trend. The graph below shows the percentage of page-one Google SERPs with indented results over the past 18 months.
![August 18 Algo Update: The Cyclone Before The Storm Graph showing the drop in percentage of page-one Google SERPs with indented results over the past 18 months](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1694026566_247_August-18-Algo-Update-The-Cyclone-Before-The-Storm.png)
The most recent drop is squeezed at the very end, but there was also a sizable drop at the end of July 2022 and a steady decline in the year since then. Keep in mind that Google had only reinstated indented results a few months earlier (at the end of 2021). This trend could reverse, of course, but my hunch is that Google’s initial roll-out was too aggressive.
Since this is effectively a re-ranking layer and doesn’t seem to be connected to the quality of individual results, there’s not much you can do about it. It’s like the car next to you at the stoplight turning down their music. Whether you like the song or not, they control the volume.
The volatility itself can be frustrating and adds to the noise of an already loud summer, but this shake-up should not impact your primary ranking for any affected SERPs. In some cases, if you were ranking below someone else’s intended results, you may even see minor gains. As always, keep your eyes open, monitor your organic search traffic, and try not to panic.
MARKETING
YouTube Ad Specs, Sizes, and Examples [2024 Update]
![YouTube Ad Specs, Sizes, and Examples [2024 Update] YouTube Ad Specs, Sizes, and Examples](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/YouTube-Ad-Specs-Sizes-and-Examples.jpg)
Introduction
With billions of users each month, YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine and top website for video content. This makes it a great place for advertising. To succeed, advertisers need to follow the correct YouTube ad specifications. These rules help your ad reach more viewers, increasing the chance of gaining new customers and boosting brand awareness.
Types of YouTube Ads
Video Ads
- Description: These play before, during, or after a YouTube video on computers or mobile devices.
- Types:
- In-stream ads: Can be skippable or non-skippable.
- Bumper ads: Non-skippable, short ads that play before, during, or after a video.
Display Ads
- Description: These appear in different spots on YouTube and usually use text or static images.
- Note: YouTube does not support display image ads directly on its app, but these can be targeted to YouTube.com through Google Display Network (GDN).
Companion Banners
- Description: Appears to the right of the YouTube player on desktop.
- Requirement: Must be purchased alongside In-stream ads, Bumper ads, or In-feed ads.
In-feed Ads
- Description: Resemble videos with images, headlines, and text. They link to a public or unlisted YouTube video.
Outstream Ads
- Description: Mobile-only video ads that play outside of YouTube, on websites and apps within the Google video partner network.
Masthead Ads
- Description: Premium, high-visibility banner ads displayed at the top of the YouTube homepage for both desktop and mobile users.
YouTube Ad Specs by Type
Skippable In-stream Video Ads
- Placement: Before, during, or after a YouTube video.
- Resolution:
- Horizontal: 1920 x 1080px
- Vertical: 1080 x 1920px
- Square: 1080 x 1080px
- Aspect Ratio:
- Horizontal: 16:9
- Vertical: 9:16
- Square: 1:1
- Length:
- Awareness: 15-20 seconds
- Consideration: 2-3 minutes
- Action: 15-20 seconds
Non-skippable In-stream Video Ads
- Description: Must be watched completely before the main video.
- Length: 15 seconds (or 20 seconds in certain markets).
- Resolution:
- Horizontal: 1920 x 1080px
- Vertical: 1080 x 1920px
- Square: 1080 x 1080px
- Aspect Ratio:
- Horizontal: 16:9
- Vertical: 9:16
- Square: 1:1
Bumper Ads
- Length: Maximum 6 seconds.
- File Format: MP4, Quicktime, AVI, ASF, Windows Media, or MPEG.
- Resolution:
- Horizontal: 640 x 360px
- Vertical: 480 x 360px
In-feed Ads
- Description: Show alongside YouTube content, like search results or the Home feed.
- Resolution:
- Horizontal: 1920 x 1080px
- Vertical: 1080 x 1920px
- Square: 1080 x 1080px
- Aspect Ratio:
- Horizontal: 16:9
- Square: 1:1
- Length:
- Awareness: 15-20 seconds
- Consideration: 2-3 minutes
- Headline/Description:
- Headline: Up to 2 lines, 40 characters per line
- Description: Up to 2 lines, 35 characters per line
Display Ads
- Description: Static images or animated media that appear on YouTube next to video suggestions, in search results, or on the homepage.
- Image Size: 300×60 pixels.
- File Type: GIF, JPG, PNG.
- File Size: Max 150KB.
- Max Animation Length: 30 seconds.
Outstream Ads
- Description: Mobile-only video ads that appear on websites and apps within the Google video partner network, not on YouTube itself.
- Logo Specs:
- Square: 1:1 (200 x 200px).
- File Type: JPG, GIF, PNG.
- Max Size: 200KB.
Masthead Ads
- Description: High-visibility ads at the top of the YouTube homepage.
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080 or higher.
- File Type: JPG or PNG (without transparency).
Conclusion
YouTube offers a variety of ad formats to reach audiences effectively in 2024. Whether you want to build brand awareness, drive conversions, or target specific demographics, YouTube provides a dynamic platform for your advertising needs. Always follow Google’s advertising policies and the technical ad specs to ensure your ads perform their best. Ready to start using YouTube ads? Contact us today to get started!
MARKETING
Why We Are Always ‘Clicking to Buy’, According to Psychologists
![Why We Are Always 'Clicking to Buy', According to Psychologists Why We Are Always 'Clicking to Buy', According to Psychologists](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Why-We-Are-Always-Clicking-to-Buy-According-to-Psychologists.pngkeepProtocol.png)
Amazon pillows.
MARKETING
A deeper dive into data, personalization and Copilots
![A deeper dive into data, personalization and Copilots A deeper dive into data, personalization and Copilots](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/A-deeper-dive-into-data-personalization-and-Copilots.jpg)
Salesforce launched a collection of new, generative AI-related products at Connections in Chicago this week. They included new Einstein Copilots for marketers and merchants and Einstein Personalization.
To better understand, not only the potential impact of the new products, but the evolving Salesforce architecture, we sat down with Bobby Jania, CMO, Marketing Cloud.
Dig deeper: Salesforce piles on the Einstein Copilots
Salesforce’s evolving architecture
It’s hard to deny that Salesforce likes coming up with new names for platforms and products (what happened to Customer 360?) and this can sometimes make the observer wonder if something is brand new, or old but with a brand new name. In particular, what exactly is Einstein 1 and how is it related to Salesforce Data Cloud?
“Data Cloud is built on the Einstein 1 platform,” Jania explained. “The Einstein 1 platform is our entire Salesforce platform and that includes products like Sales Cloud, Service Cloud — that it includes the original idea of Salesforce not just being in the cloud, but being multi-tenancy.”
Data Cloud — not an acquisition, of course — was built natively on that platform. It was the first product built on Hyperforce, Salesforce’s new cloud infrastructure architecture. “Since Data Cloud was on what we now call the Einstein 1 platform from Day One, it has always natively connected to, and been able to read anything in Sales Cloud, Service Cloud [and so on]. On top of that, we can now bring in, not only structured but unstructured data.”
That’s a significant progression from the position, several years ago, when Salesforce had stitched together a platform around various acquisitions (ExactTarget, for example) that didn’t necessarily talk to each other.
“At times, what we would do is have a kind of behind-the-scenes flow where data from one product could be moved into another product,” said Jania, “but in many of those cases the data would then be in both, whereas now the data is in Data Cloud. Tableau will run natively off Data Cloud; Commerce Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud — they’re all going to the same operational customer profile.” They’re not copying the data from Data Cloud, Jania confirmed.
Another thing to know is tit’s possible for Salesforce customers to import their own datasets into Data Cloud. “We wanted to create a federated data model,” said Jania. “If you’re using Snowflake, for example, we more or less virtually sit on your data lake. The value we add is that we will look at all your data and help you form these operational customer profiles.”
Let’s learn more about Einstein Copilot
“Copilot means that I have an assistant with me in the tool where I need to be working that contextually knows what I am trying to do and helps me at every step of the process,” Jania said.
For marketers, this might begin with a campaign brief developed with Copilot’s assistance, the identification of an audience based on the brief, and then the development of email or other content. “What’s really cool is the idea of Einstein Studio where our customers will create actions [for Copilot] that we hadn’t even thought about.”
Here’s a key insight (back to nomenclature). We reported on Copilot for markets, Copilot for merchants, Copilot for shoppers. It turns out, however, that there is just one Copilot, Einstein Copilot, and these are use cases. “There’s just one Copilot, we just add these for a little clarity; we’re going to talk about marketing use cases, about shoppers’ use cases. These are actions for the marketing use cases we built out of the box; you can build your own.”
It’s surely going to take a little time for marketers to learn to work easily with Copilot. “There’s always time for adoption,” Jania agreed. “What is directly connected with this is, this is my ninth Connections and this one has the most hands-on training that I’ve seen since 2014 — and a lot of that is getting people using Data Cloud, using these tools rather than just being given a demo.”
What’s new about Einstein Personalization
Salesforce Einstein has been around since 2016 and many of the use cases seem to have involved personalization in various forms. What’s new?
“Einstein Personalization is a real-time decision engine and it’s going to choose next-best-action, next-best-offer. What is new is that it’s a service now that runs natively on top of Data Cloud.” A lot of real-time decision engines need their own set of data that might actually be a subset of data. “Einstein Personalization is going to look holistically at a customer and recommend a next-best-action that could be natively surfaced in Service Cloud, Sales Cloud or Marketing Cloud.”
Finally, trust
One feature of the presentations at Connections was the reassurance that, although public LLMs like ChatGPT could be selected for application to customer data, none of that data would be retained by the LLMs. Is this just a matter of written agreements? No, not just that, said Jania.
“In the Einstein Trust Layer, all of the data, when it connects to an LLM, runs through our gateway. If there was a prompt that had personally identifiable information — a credit card number, an email address — at a mimum, all that is stripped out. The LLMs do not store the output; we store the output for auditing back in Salesforce. Any output that comes back through our gateway is logged in our system; it runs through a toxicity model; and only at the end do we put PII data back into the answer. There are real pieces beyond a handshake that this data is safe.”
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