The Convergence of SEO and SEM. Merchant SEO for Google Retail Search

There are well-defined and distinct skill sets for paid ads and organic listings.  Years ago it was usually one person’s job to do both, but the disciplines and complexity have evolved and diverged. Most retailers have separate teams for paid and organic. It’s rare for agencies to handle both with equal skill. Now, Google’s free […]

Lifestyle Images Google Beta – Lifestyle in Discover, Gmail, and YouTube

YouTube Discover Gmail Lifestyle Beta

Google has just launched an open beta to leverage lifestyle images across “browsy” surfaces within Google. This is excellent Google inventory for driving top of funnel and mid-funnel brand awareness with interactions. To take advantage of these premium placements and inventory you’ll need to add a supplemental feed in your merchant center with the attributes […]

Facebook Ad Testing and the Rubber Duckie Problem

rubber duckie race as a metaphor for Meta ad testing

In a rubber duckie race there is usually a clear winner and a bunch that lag behind. But is there something special about the winning duck or is it just the variables of the stream?  The most recommended practice for ad testing in Meta is to have a campaign for test creatives and another campaign […]

Performance Max Rug Pull – What to do when performance drops

If you’ve been working with Google’s Performance Max campaigns (PMax) for any length of time you’ve probably experienced the rug pull. Campaigns will often do well at first in, but then something will change drastically. We’ve seen campaigns crater in spectacular ways, without significant changes to the campaign, account, competition, or market demand. PMax will […]

Exclude catalog items in a P-Max campaign

Listing Groups in Performance max

Google’s Performance Max campaigns have a learning phase. If your products have a traffic history or if there are GTINs for your products shared across multiple retailers, Google can do a good job of figuring out what are appropriate search queries for your products.

Forget headless e-commerce, the future is disembodied ecom

A bunch of Lego heads

Headless has been an important evolution in user experience over the last few years. It’s a natural progression of the continued specialization of different services. Having a great backend transactional management system that can be bolted onto any amazing front end experience has liberated brands to take advantage of a greater range of design experiences. […]

Is Profit On-Brand?

branding iron Burn

One of the weirdest things I hear from clients or peers. “That’s ok on the landing page but I don’t think it’s on brand for the ads.”