Get Ready for New Google Tools

[djbaxter]

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Get Ready for New Google Tools​

There's no way around it: Soon Universal Analytics will be replaced by Google Analytics 4. This new version of the analytics tool is future-proof and privacy-focused. It contains features that give you more insight into complex customer journeys and the performance of your marketing campaigns. Sounds promising! Now Google asks people to set up this new property as soon as they can. But how should you prepare for that? Here's Google Search Console (GSC) is a must-have tool for all site owners. It gives you an incredible amount of information about how your site is doing in search.

Connected your site to GSC? Now it's time to get to work! You'll get information on keywords and queries that bring traffic, and find out which rich results your content has earned! Yoast SEO Premium comes with tools that make optimizing your site easy as ABC. Help me optimize my site! ▸

Free webinar: How to get rich results for your online store​

How to stand out in the search results? The answer is rich results! These types of search results show additional information, like your product rating, price, availability, or image. Learn how to get rich results from Yoast's Head of SEO Jono Alderson and Elad Levy, VP Marketing of Loox, in the free webinar on May 24. Don't miss out:

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[seand]

I hate to say this but Google is anything but privacy-related. It's been proven time and time again that their goal is to collect data on people and use that big data to "predict" your behaviors so they can market to you, among other things. Can that be advantageous for a business? Sure, but at the expense of the customer. Privacy is indeed becoming a very big concern as big data companies are being exposed to the goings-on behind the scenes on their platforms and the data they collect on everyone. It's actually scary. For example, Google was questioned as to why there was a hidden microphone in their Nest thermostats when there's not one on the schematic. Their response..."oops how did that get in there."
Privacy is limiting what big data companies an collect now and will only continue to gain attraction which means that the big data companies customer collection base is going to shrink. I for one don't think that using big data companies like Google that have questionable data collection practices is a good idea. Just my two cents for what it's worth

 

[djbaxter]

Privacy is limiting what big data companies an collect now and will only continue to gain attraction which means that the big data companies customer collection base is going to shrink. I for one don't think that using big data companies like Google that have questionable data collection practices is a good idea. Just my two cents for what it's worth

Given Google's domination of the market, what would you suggest people use instead?

Yes you can try and block Google from indexing your content and list only on Bing, Duck Duck Go, Yandex, etc., but even if you load all the other search engines up with your content and block Google, basically maybe 2-4% of searchers will see your content since everyone else goes straight to Google.

 

[seand]

Given Google's domination of the market, what would you suggest people use instead?

Yes you can try and block Google from indexing your content and list only on Bing, Duck Duck Go, Yandex, etc., but even if you load all the other search engines up with your content and block Google, basically maybe 2-4% of searchers will see your content since everyone else goes straight to Google.

It's a great question for sure! I would suggest going back to the way we used to do things before Google was "all that". No, I'm not talking about offline marketing here, although that is ALWAYS a good option. But rather I'm talking about using more targeted, less popular (now) and yet cheaper options such as placing an ad on your target customers favorite blog. How about we go right to where we know our customers are hanging out online and put our message in front of them there? There are endless numbers of places you can partner with from blogs to podcasts, book stores, and the list can go on and on. Is it a bit more work? Yes, but I also believe the targeting that way is better and cheaper....for now at least...than just going the easy route with places like Google and FB ads. I think we owe it to our customers to protect them as much as we protect ourselves.

Also, since you mentioned Duck Duck Go, they are no longer what I would call a "freedom" and "privacy" company as they have also joined the ranks of big data in censoring what they deem as inappropriate from their search engines. If we want freedom and privacy then we must stand for it with our businesses for ourselves, our families and our customers.

But if you want the "easy" way out...using things like Google and FB...it's very costly. Both in dollars and in freedoms. And I'm not saying we can't or shouldn't use those companies, so don't completely misunderstand me, but we do need to seriously consider the cost of doing so and what power we're giving them.