Editor’s Note (2025 Update):
Since this article was first published, the importance of backlink management during a site migration has only grown. Backlinks remain one of the most influential SEO signals, but search engines have become more discerning about how those links pass value. When launching a new website or changing platforms, your migration plan must now include a detailed process for how to manage your backlinks, identifying which links can be updated, which require redirects, and which ones still contribute value post-migration.

If you’re thinking about a new website, know that failing to address backlinks after a new website launch can result in a significant loss of SEO authority, even with perfect redirects in place. We now advise pre-migration backlink audits using tools like Ahrefs or GSC, followed by a post-launch outreach strategy to retain as much relevance and authority as possible.

There’s no getting around the fact that site migrations can be a harrowing experience if details both large and small are not taken care of first. Whether a site is moving to a new content management system or an entirely new domain name, migrating a site requires a carefully considered SEO migration services plan to avoid doing harm.

SEO site migration plans must have a strategy to address crucial technical issues like (in order of importance) getting redirects in place, making sure all analytics and reporting software are in line and taking care of any outstanding duplicate content.

While those technical issues have the highest priority, there’s one more thing you need to keep in mind: how does the migration affect your backlink profile?

SEO Migration Plans And The Impact On Existing Backlinks

Editor’s Note (2025 Update):
One of the most overlooked problems after launching a new website is backlink decay — when once-valuable links drop in relevance or break entirely. The principles described here still apply, but we now know that how you manage your backlinks after a new website launch can directly influence how quickly or whether your rankings recover.

As part of any 2025 SEO migration strategy, we recommend evaluating not just whether redirects are in place, but also which links are worth reclaiming or updating manually. Relevance and indexing status now play a much larger role in backlink value, especially with how AI-driven search evaluates authority.

There’s really no such thing as a “typical” site migration since most websites are unique. If a backlink points to a link on a site that does not exist or does not have a proper redirect to the new URL, there is a lot of value lost from that backlink. Simply put, if a page’s URL changes during a site migration for any reason, any backlinks pointing to that original URL have reduced in value.

There are three common kinds of migration, each with possible impacts on managing existing backlinks:

Migration Type 1: Moving To A New CMS

Editor’s Note (2025 Update):
CMS changes still represent a major risk for link equity loss, especially when older URL structures are abandoned. In 2025, the recommendation goes beyond just implementing 301 redirects. You should now cross-reference your old URL structure with high-authority backlinks and determine which pages need custom redirect rules or even replicated URL slugs.

This approach helps preserve backlinks after new website launches where full URL parity isn’t possible. When planning how to manage your backlinks during a CMS migration, don’t rely solely on automated tools. Manual review of key URLs is critical for protecting performance.

Some websites that are quite old may have been created in an older framework or with an older programming language. If these sites move to a new CMS that does not support the older URL extension (e.g., .html), the URLs will have to be changed, even if none of the content itself does.

For example:

• Example.com/home.cfm was originally built in Adobe ColdFusion
• The site owners want to transition to a WordPress install
• Because WordPress doesn’t support the.cfm code, the URL will be changed to Example.com/home or simply the root

This switch will affect your URL or site structure after the migration, which will hurt your organic traffic and keyword rankings if not handled correctly. This is the most tedious type of SEO migration plan to prepare before starting on the project.

Migration Type 2: Moving To A New Domain Name

Editor’s Note (2025 Update):
This is still one of the highest-risk migration scenarios. What’s changed since this article was published is how search engines evaluate link freshness and topical match. It’s no longer enough to rely on redirects alone.

When launching under a new domain, you need a clearly defined process for how to manage your backlinks after a new website, especially those from trusted, niche-relevant sources. We now prioritize reaching out to update links from high-authority pages where the anchor text or context is still relevant. That manual update can restore more SEO value than a redirect ever will.

Sites that want to rebrand and take on their brand identity with a new domain name face the largest risk of adverse effects on their overall SEO. Not only will they have lost most branded search traffic, but all backlinks pointing to the previous domain have also significantly dropped in value since every URL will have changed. Even though 301 redirects still pass on “link juice” to the new URLs, the value is far less than a backlink pointing directly to the new URL.

This is comparable to moving from one office location to another in real life. The search engines need to know where your new site lives. To make sure your site maintains all of its search engine visibility, you will also need to update as many of your backlinks as possible.

One piece of good news to keep in mind: if a site moves to a new hosting provider but does not change URLs or the URL structure, there is no impact to the backlink profile.

However, if the site owners decide to change the URL structure or retitle URLs to fit with a rebranding, then there is a loss of value from existing backlinks.

Migration Type 3: Moving To A Secure Site From An Unsecured Site

Probably the most common type of site migration we find in today’s modern Internet is the migration from an unsecured site (one which the URL starts in HTTP) to a secure site (one that starts in https).

This update should be a boost to your SEO efforts but doesn’t come without risks. When you go secure, everything on your site needs to be made secure, too. Linking to unsecured sites from a secure site will negatively impact your rankings and traffic, so only link from https to https pages.

So it’s clear that in most cases, a site migration means that backlinks will pass on considerably less link juice after everything’s said and done. Luckily, taking advantage of link reclamation is a sure-fire way to regain what may have been lost during the site migration, but this is just one tactic to consider.

Link reclamation should not be the focus forever, so here’s how to plan out a long-term link building strategy for any site facing an imminent site migration.

Prioritizing Link Building As You Create Your SEO Migration Plan

Editor’s Note (2025 Update):
One new recommendation in 2025: use your pre-migration backlink list to group URLs by domain authority, relevance, and whether the site is still active. This helps set clearer priorities for which links to manually reclaim and which can be redirected with less urgency. Managing backlinks after a new website launch takes more than redirects. Proactive planning will ease the post-migration workload and improve link retention.

One of the first things to take on before completing your SEO migration plan is to pull any data from your site’s backlink profile. Using tools like Google Search Console, Moz Explorer, or Majestic SEO, having a complete list of all relevant backlink data will provide an idea of where to go once the new site has launched.

The next step is to rope in whoever is in charge of the site’s public relations and make sure they are included before the migration.

Having a properly optimized press release will go a long way to maximizing any benefits both from brand awareness and SEO perspective. This should be prepared well in advance as well as a highly targeted list of publisher contacts to ensure the press release is delivered to the appropriate sites and other media outlets.

Once PR efforts are taken care of, make sure to update all social profile links if the domain/brand name is changing following the new site launch. 

Prioritizing Link Building During Your SEO Site Migration

Editor’s Note (2025 Update):
The process of managing backlinks during a migration is now more strategic than ever. Beyond domain authority, 2025 best practices include factoring in indexation status and whether the linking page still ranks. A high-authority backlink from a dead or deindexed page won’t provide value.

Also worth noting: Alexa Rank is no longer available as of 2022. Replace it with updated trust metrics from tools like Ahrefs (UR/DR) or Semrush (Authority Score).

For this stage, the site is either within several days or immediately after the new site has launched and users can now visit the site. During this time, the main link building tactic to focus on is performing manual outreach for link reclamation.

This can be a daunting task if a site has an extremely large backlink profile, so here’s where data pulled before the site launch will come in handy. Using factors such as Moz’s Domain Authority or Alexa Rank, sort the list of backlinks and try to identify websites with high value to qualify them for link reclamation.

Site owners could potentially perform link reclamation for months on end to regain the link juice lost from a site migration. But over time, this tactic will provide less SEO value compared to other link building tactics.

Depending on the diversity of a site’s previous backlink profile, try to sort external backlinks by domain authority and eliminate any sites below a certain score.

The types of sites worth targeting during this reclamation phase will focus on the following by priority:

1. .edu, .gov domains
2. High domain authority publishers
3. Relevant industry directories

Outreach to these sites will generally be easier than other link building tactics since the link already exists. As always, remain polite and courteous, and you’ll rarely encounter negative feedback from your link update request.

Avoid the Rabbit Hole, Alice

Editor’s Note (2025 Update):
You can now use AI-powered tools (like Link Whisper or Surfer SEO’s backlink audit feature) to more quickly surface irrelevant or low-value backlinks. This helps streamline decision-making when managing your backlink profile during and after migration.

Having laid out which sites to target during this reclamation phase, there are a few caveats to keep in mind. Even if a link is from a high authority site, this doesn’t mean it’s worth the time reaching out to get it updated as you journey into your SEO site migration.

For example, a lot of backlinks may be from news stories or press releases dating several years back. It will be extremely difficult to get a publisher to update a news story from 2011 just because your site has changed domain names.

Another example is if a backlink is from a site that is in no way related to your industry. Topical relevance is very important in regards to the quality of a backlink profile, so there will be times where link reclamation to irrelevant websites may not be the best use of time. 

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Prioritizing Link Building After You Complete Your SEO Migration Plan

Editor’s Note (2025 Update):
As of 2025, we’ve seen a rise in hybrid link strategies following migrations. Teams now rotate between manual outreach, digital PR, and passive link attraction methods (like content hubs or partner toolkits). The goal is long-term backlink diversity, not just recovery.

When thinking through how to manage your backlinks over time, consider your site migration as a reset point. Rebuilding should include evaluating which tactics brought the most sustainable links in your old structure, and which ones to leave behind.

Link reclamation, when done correctly, will take several weeks, if not months, following a site migration. But as mentioned earlier, there will come a point where reclamation will provide fewer returns relative to time and resources invested.

This will ultimately fall on personal analysis, but once outreach has been completed on the targeted list of qualified sites for link reclamation, it’s time to consider moving on to a more comprehensive link building strategy. This is the time to refocus on building up internal pages on the site relative to a site’s keyword focus.

Link reclamation shouldn’t necessarily be abandoned completely long-term, but it’s important to weigh the value of time invested and the overall returns when diving into the multitude of link building tactics. If acquiring new links begins to slow down, link reclamation is worth revisiting so that some link building activity can continue.

Site migrations will always have some degree of negative impact on the site’s SEO. Provided that all technical concerns are squared away, link building should still be part of a site migration plan to help reduce these negative effects.

Still, don’t feel fully prepared for your upcoming site migration? Click above to download our site migration checklist, contact us for a no-obligation consultation, or check out one of these helpful blog posts:

• The Complete Beginner’s Guide To SEO Website Migrations
• Craft CMS vs. WordPress: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide
• Sr. SEO Strategist Bentz Talks Site Migrations On BluHorn TV
• What To Do When Your Traffic Takes A Nosedive After Your Redesign

This article was updated to add additional information on August 18th, 2025.

The post How To Retain Your Backlinks During A Site Migration (Updated August 2025) appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Editor’s Note (Updated July 2025)

• This article was originally published in 2015 and discusses early access to a now-retired feature called the Search Impact Report in what was then Google Webmaster Tools. The tool has since been rebranded to Google Search Console, and the Search Impact Report was fully replaced by what is now known as the Performance Report.
• For the most up-to-date SEO strategies and tools, please visit our SEO services page.

We were selected to be a “Trusted Tester” for Google Webmaster Tools newest addition, the Search Impact report (currently in Alpha)!  In the world of marketing, what could be better than having access to more data? We’re super excited and we want to share a few of the new features with you!

The Search Impact Report allows you to break down your site’s:

• Clicks
• Impressions
• Click through rate (CTR)
• Average position

Using different dimensions, including:

• Date
• Countries
• Devices
• Search Type (web, image, video)

Editor’s Note (2025)

• These metrics are still core to Google Search Console today but are now accessed through the Performance Report, which offers enhanced visualizations, longer data windows (up to 16 months), and integration with Google Discover and News results.
• For modern use cases and SEO strategies, see our SEO services page.

The best part is you can actually combine and compare several dimensions to get more granular data. (Who doesn’t Love MORE data?)

Let’s take a look at a few screen shots:

In this first shot we are looking at search queries from the last 7 days compared the previous 7 days. We have chosen to look at clicks and average position. The ability to compare data on one screen is a huge improvement to GWT!

As always with Google Webmaster Tools, you can zero in on any of the results for a detailed chart. Below, you will see that we clicked on ‘fashion marketing’.

Editor’s Note (2025)

• While comparisons are still possible in modern GSC (e.g., date ranges, queries, pages), the UI has significantly evolved. Screenshots from this article may no longer reflect the current experience.

Next, we’ll take a look at a new feature that allows you to compare metrics by devices. Here, we are taking a look at total clicks for 28 days on a desktop computer compared to mobile devices.

Editor’s Note (2025)

• Device breakdown is still a standard feature. However, Google has fully transitioned to mobile-first indexing since 2019, making mobile performance arguably the most important view today.

The report also allows you to filter by several different factors which will come in handy for content creators and SEOs as it makes it easy to narrow in on specific topics within your site. In the next screenshot we have chosen to look at clicks and impressions from the last 90 days for only URLs that contain ‘fashion’.

Editor’s Note (2025)

• Filtering by query, page, device, and country is still supported — and even more powerful in the current GSC interface. That said, modern SEO tracking also often involves API integrations, GA4 syncing, and tools like Looker Studio for enhanced visual dashboards.

You can drill down even further too! We added filters to the same report as above to get more detailed information. We now have the clicks and impressions for URLs containing ‘fashion’ narrowed to mobile traffic from the United States! Are you as excited as we are?

Our initial opinion of this report is that it’s a really great upgrade for Google Webmaster Tools, probably one of the best we’ve seen thus far. We’ve only just started to experiment with it, but feel the biggest benefit seems to be the fact that we can get granular data faster without having to cross compare with Analytics. We also believe that in the future, the mobile portion will most likely be the most valuable as there is a lot of talk in the SEO world about upcoming mobile algorithm updates.

Editor’s Note (2025)

• That prediction turned out to be true. Mobile optimization is now a fundamental ranking factor, and the tools used in 2015 have grown significantly in their functionality. Google Search Console and GA4 now work hand-in-hand to deliver these insights.

In the end, we are super excited to learn more about it and provide Google with our feedback. We promise to keep you updated…Stay Tuned!

Final Note (2025)

• Looking for the latest SEO tools, mobile-first optimization strategies, and how to make the most of Google Search Console today? Explore our SEO services and insights for expert guidance.

This article was updated to add additional information on August 11th, 2025.

The post Get to Know Google: New Search Impact Report appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Search behavior makes it clear where interest is picking up. Branded queries show traction. Impressions show reach. Organic visibility in export markets shapes how opportunities start. A steady climb in search demand from Poland or Chile tells you something’s working before revenue shows it.

Traffic data helps you see where your brand is getting attention and where it’s missing. If more users from Frankfurt or Manila are searching your name, that’s a signal. Visibility there means you’re showing up when buyers are comparing. You’re on the list before the call ever happens.

The right metrics tell you when you’re in the room. That’s the difference between being present and being passed over.

What to Measure Before You Start Spending Heavily

Export-focused marketing starts with proof that people in your target markets are already paying attention. Before you spend heavily, find the signals that suggest your digital presence has room to grow or is already growing without support.

Start with organic search impressions broken out by country. These numbers tell you where people are seeing your brand on Google, whether or not they click. A steady rise in impressions from Canada or Thailand points to rising visibility, even before conversions show up.

Next, look at branded versus non-branded traffic. Branded traffic shows where your reputation is spreading. Non-branded traffic points to demand for your category. Both are useful but they mean different things. Strong branded traffic in the UK might suggest the market already knows you. Strong non-branded traffic in Mexico might mean buyers are researching but haven’t heard of you yet.

Social engagement is another early sign. Start by tracking interactions from international audiences: comments, shares, video completions, even new followers. You’ll often spot traction here before it shows in revenue. High engagement from a specific country can suggest your content connects even before you translate a word.

Don’t overlook referral traffic. A few backlinks from a trade publication in the UAE or a distributor’s blog in Italy can tell you a lot. These are endorsements you didn’t have to ask for. They also help your SEO and increase brand trust in those regions.

These metrics help you decide where to test, where to double down & where to hold off — all before you start writing checks.

SEO Signals that Point to Growth or Gaps

Your organic performance in foreign markets won’t always follow the same playbook as your domestic success. International SEO comes with its own clues and complications. Knowing which signals to watch can help you spot both momentum and misfires before they cost you.

Start with localized rankings. Check where you’re ranking for non-branded queries in your export targets. Don’t just focus on translation — pay attention to search intent. Ranking well for product terms in France or Vietnam usually means your content hits the mark for how buyers in those markets actually search. It also tells you which countries might be further along the funnel.

Backlinks from foreign domains are a strong trust signal for international SEO. A few .co.uk or .de links can go a long way toward building authority with Google in that region. These help rankings but they also often lead to referral traffic and new partnerships. If those links are missing, it usually means your content isn’t earning attention in those markets yet.

Then there’s user behavior. Bounce rates from non-native speakers can point to language mismatches. If you’re getting visitors from Colombia but they leave after a few seconds, there’s a good chance the content isn’t in Spanish or isn’t written the way they expect. 

Finally, check how your pages are being indexed in international versions of Google. Google doesn’t treat every market the same. Use Search Console’s international targeting and coverage tools to find issues specific to markets like Japan or Brazil. Pages might be excluded, miscategorized, or buried because of crawl errors or incorrect hreflang tags.

Each of these SEO signals tells you something specific. They can point out exactly where your international strategy needs attention.

Paid Campaign Benchmarks Worth Watching

Paid search advertising campaigns give fast feedback but only if you’re watching the right benchmarks. Export-focused campaigns reveal what’s resonating in each market, how much traction costs, and where your ads are falling flat before they even run at scale.

When starting paid campaigns, you will need to build brand awareness. No matter how popular or unknown your name might be, the impressions metric will be the best way to get your brand name in front of future customers and clients.

Then review click-through rates by market and language. A high CTR in Spain and a low one in Brazil might have nothing to do with the product. It could be the language, the tone, or how the offer is framed. Even small phrasing differences can shift performance — especially in cultures where directness, politeness, or urgency are perceived differently.

Cost per conversion is one of the clearest indicators of real progress. Low CPCs in a region don’t mean much if you’re not converting. A $0.30 click in Indonesia sounds efficient until you see it takes 200 of them to drive a single lead. Watch this metric by country, not in aggregate. That’s where budget waste usually hides.

You’ll also want to keep an eye on share of voice in markets that run on platforms outside the Google–Meta world. In Russia, it’s Yandex. In South Korea, it’s Naver. In China, Baidu and WeChat are key players. Knowing how visible you are compared to competitors in those channels gives a clearer read on how far your campaigns are actually reaching.

Then there’s the stuff most reports skip: ad disapprovals and delivery issues. These are often signs of cultural or compliance mismatches. An image that works in the U.S. might get flagged in Germany. A call-to-action that sounds persuasive in English might come off as aggressive in Japan. Delivery delays, restricted reach, or outright rejection usually mean something didn’t translate — legally, visually, or socially.

Turning Metrics into Market Strategy

Data without direction burns time. The goal with data is to let them steer your next move. Metrics start by identifying countries that show digital traction but haven’t been part of your formal strategy. Maybe you’ve got a steady stream of traffic from Argentina, but no active campaigns or sales reps there. Or maybe branded searches are picking up in Sweden, even though you haven’t translated a page. Those are signals. Someone’s looking for what you offer, even if you’re not offering it to them yet.

This is where visibility becomes a blueprint. Use those early indicators to set up lightweight tests. Try a paid search campaign in the market that’s already showing organic growth. Run social ads in the country that’s already sharing your content. The traction is already there and a small push tells you whether it’s worth a bigger one.

Localization budgets always bring hard choices. You can’t do everything at once. Use the data to prioritize. Which markets have high bounce rates because of language mismatches? Which ones have strong CTRs but low conversion? Which are missing basic SEO structure or indexation? The metrics show you where a small investment could close a gap.

The strategy builds from there. Traffic tells you who’s curious. Engagement tells you who’s considering. Conversions tell you who’s ready. But it all starts by listening to what the data already knows.

Don’t Skip the Local Input

Analytics will get you moving in the right direction but it won’t tell you everything. A spike in search traffic from Malaysia or referral links from Turkish trade blogs can signal opportunity. To turn that into real traction, you still need people on the ground who understand what buyers expect, how business is done, and what will fall flat fast.

That’s where trade reps, in-country distributors, and our friends at the U.S. Commercial Service come in. They see what the dashboards miss. Pairing data with firsthand knowledge keeps you from making smart-looking mistakes.

Also, be sure to check out the U.S. Commercial Service’s Market Diversification Tool to see where your products are being sold the most.

Ready to Compete Globally with Confidence

For companies expanding into international markets, visibility without strategy leaves too much on the table. Direct Online Marketing helps connect the dots between what the data shows and where the growth is hiding.

As an official Strategic Partner of the International Trade Administration, DOM works with exporters to build digital strategies that match real-world opportunities. From search visibility to paid campaign refinement, DOM gives you the tools to turn digital attention into export success.

Ready to see where your brand already has traction — and how to turn that into sales? Let’s talk.

The post Measuring Your Global Visibility Starts With What the Right People See First appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Questions To Ask When Hiring A Digital Marketing Agency

With the infiltration of AI into all forms of digital marketing, this article has been updated for 2025 to include questions about AI and how a Digital Marketing Agency, like Direct Online Marketing, works with it to help keep a human in the loop so you do not get crushed by Google algorithm updates.

Digital marketing will only become more complex as the landscape changes along with consumer behavior. Thank you for checking out this list of essential questions to ask a digital marketing agency before you set out to hire one.

Businesses that hesitate to adopt modern digital strategies will eventually fail without bringing on the right people to carry them out. For companies that don’t have the resources to expand their internal teams or just need a partner with specific expertise, digital agencies are the perfect solution. Choosing the right agency is nothing short of a monumental task.

By the end of this resource, you should have the answers to the most critical questions to ask a digital marketing agency as you are going through the evaluation process of seeking a new one to help your business grow with confidence.

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Digital marketing is a vast field with countless strategies, concentrations, and nuances. Some of the largest companies on the planet have huge teams of marketers, all of which must be at the top of their game to stay ahead of the latest trends. As each discipline and digital platform evolves, keeping up with it all ends up being extremely taxing for smaller businesses that can’t maintain such large teams.

Acquiring new business online requires having seasoned talent with hands-on knowledge regarding the benefits and strengths of different platforms. Not only that, but these individuals also need to know how to execute. Strategy and consultation are meaningless without the people who can provide results.

Companies that wish to explore new territory or improve performance in a specific area of digital marketing will end up considering whether to hire fresh talent or partner with an online marketing agency. Evaluating the merits of in-house versus outsourced marketing is complicated; there are numerous factors to consider.

However, the fact that agencies leverage a pool of talented workers with diverse experiences means that companies who partner with them have the potential to get the highest return on their investment. Hiring specialists to work in-house usually equates to the cost of hiring an agency and very often even ends up being more expensive. Companies that partner with an agency can take advantage of a whole team of experts for less risk than hiring new internal employees.

What To Look For In A Digital Marketing Agency

Hiring an agency is far from easy.  Finding the right fit can be time-consuming and downright frustrating. The agency selection process can feel like an awful chore:

• Some agencies make grand promises that they can’t keep
• Some agencies fail to provide substantive proof of how they get
• Some agencies only specialize in extremely niche areas.
• Some agencies have restrictive, long-term contracts.

The above highlights just a few of the challenges in choosing an agency. Ultimately, results are what matter. While there’s no way of telling for sure whether investing with a specific agency will generate a positive return, vetting an agency is extremely important.

Be sure to ask and receive answers to the following questions to ask a digital marketing agency as part of your vetting process.

21 Questions To Ask A Digital Marketing Agency Before You Hire Them

Digital Marketing Agency Question 1. Are My Expectations And Their Promises Realistic?

One of the biggest ways companies set themselves up for failure is when the bar is set beyond realistic heights. Having goals is good, but not when it involves going after the unachievable. When this happens, falling short of that high bar becomes inevitable.

This problem can go both ways. While a company may come to a prospective agency with impossible goals, many agencies make promises they simply can’t keep. It’s best to disqualify any company or agency that guarantees results.

Goals can more realistically be set for tasks pertaining to the quality of services, such as communication and reporting. Pay attention to these kinds of promises. Never be afraid to push to better understand how an agency intends to keep itself accountable with deliverables on a predetermined schedule.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 2. Does The Contract Restrict Me Even When I’m Not Satisfied?

The contract length is something to keep in mind when choosing an agency. A common practice in the agency world is to draft contracts where clients must agree to minimum commitments of anywhere from six months up to a full year. That means that no matter if the agency is doing the work, the client still has to pay. That’s not to say that an agency with a year-long contract doesn’t do good work, but it doesn’t offer a whole lot of flexibility for the client if a marketing campaign goes south.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 3. Do They Provide Unique Or Cookie-Cutter Strategies?

Agencies should have refined processes and procedures that empower them to provide repeatable outcomes. However, every business has unique needs, and formulating a strategy should not rely on a templated approach.

Assuming a company understands its goals, the right agency should be able to tailor a strategy in such a way to satisfy that client’s needs. In a perfect scenario, an agency would build all of its client strategies from the ground up, designing them individually to reach business goals and objectives.

When an agency puts forth a contract, understanding every aspect of it is crucial. Be aware of how long a contract will be and that longer ones are more restrictive. Some agencies offer month-to-month agreements where clients can choose to end the relationship for any reason.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 4. Are They Both Tactical And Strategic?

Strategic planning is meaningless without boots on the ground to get things done. Depending on goals and needs, a company likely doesn’t just need a strategic partner; they also need a tactical one.

The only way to get a sense of whether an agency can execute is if they provide strategic timelines with deliverables and hard deadlines. While an agency won’t have specifics, make sure to ask about what the timeline will look like.

But the opposite must also be true. An agency that gets itself far too into the weeds, focusing only on tactics won’t get the job done either. The strategy ultimately dictates what tactics to use, and it is possible for an agency to be too tactical. Long-term campaign success requires always having an eye towards the future without getting too caught up in the day-to-day.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 5. How Regular Are Communications?

Marketing success hinges upon routine and free-flowing communication. A disadvantage of outsourcing to an agency is that communication takes longer and can be a bit more difficult.

At a bare minimum, the best agency will always offer recurring meetings and campaign updates, typically weekly. This frequency is a default best practice; clients may, of course, have specific preferences outside of this schedule. A good agency should be flexible enough to provide the amount of communication the client needs to demonstrate campaign health.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 6. Will I Get A Dedicated Point-Of-Contact?

No matter the size of an agency, the answer to this question should always be “yes.” Some agencies are so large that clients have to deal with customer service call centers rather than a dedicated account manager. It’s best to avoid agencies like this. Clients will end up feeling like just another number in a system.

Agencies need to provide that human touch, and an account manager should do exactly that. An account manager—as opposed to a more junior employee—ordinarily serves as the primary point of contact, as this person should have a comprehensive understanding of every aspect of the client’s campaign, coordinating with their team members accordingly. Account managers are there to serve. They should make themselves available to answer questions or provide insights with reasonable turnaround times.

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Digital Marketing Agency Question 7.  How Important Is Data To Them?

Every marketer should treat performance data like gold. Making decisions in today’s world without relying heavily on data is a mistake. While other factors should also be part of an agency’s decision making, campaigns live and die by data analysis.

Data should inform everything an agency does since it informs what’s going well, where to adjust, and where they need to go in the future.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 8.  How Tech-Savvy Are They?

An important consideration for selecting an agency is how they approach technology adaptation and innovation. Working in digital marketing requires knowledge of complex technology. Which is continually evolving. What may have generated results a decade ago may not be feasible in the present day.

For example, if you are seeking an agency that specializes in paid search, you should ask how they use automation tools and tactics to improve the overall return on investment.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 9.  Can They Help A Business Of My Size? 

Many businesses care about whether an agency has direct experience with helping other companies in their industry. While some industries have specific tactics and strategies that work best, a competent digital agency has experience assimilating data quickly and adjusting to almost any industry and business.

The more important question is whether an agency is the right fit for a business of your size. An agency with mostly enterprise-level clients likely isn’t the best fit for a medium-sized manufacturer. Inversely, an agency that only assists local restaurants likely won’t be a good fit for a corporate franchise business.

Figure out what factors you value most in an agency relationship and choose accordingly.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 10.  Who Will Be Working On My Account?

Because companies pay agencies for their pool of talent, decision-makers have a right to know who works on their account. In addition to having an account manager, many agencies also provide a dedicated secondary or “backup” point of contact who has extensive knowledge of the account.

Your primary point-of-contact should have the necessary experience and support from a second person with the experience to fill in knowledge gaps.  Keep in mind that while people leave from time to time,  there shouldn’t be frequent changes in your contact to ensure consistency and maintain a positive long-term relationship. Additionally, you should never get the feeling of a “bait and switch” when your senior contact shortly after switches over to a more green person.

Beyond that, try asking questions about how many team members will work on the account, as well as their qualifications. Note that due to the management of workloads,  agencies may not be able to commit a specific person to your account until you commit to partnering with the agency.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 11. What About The Agency’s Corporate Culture?

The core values of an agency foretell the kind of relationship you will have. Generally, consider agencies that are collaborative, innovative, and proactive.  The best agencies really stand out when transparency and accountability are also baked into their corporate culture.

By asking questions about their corporate culture, this should also give some insight into an agency’s hiring process. Since the greatest benefit of partnering with an agency is its team, getting a measure of the agency’s talent is essential. Also, be sure to check out what employees say about working at the agency on sites like Glassdoor.

Learn What Our Team Members Love
About Working At DOM.
Visit Our Careers & Culture Page.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 12. What Areas Do They Cover?

You need to understand the company’s needs and objectives. If the idea is to partner with someone to fill those gaps, focus on the areas that matter most. Some agencies specialize in one area or have a team that covers many. For example, a company may think they only need help with an SEO site migration, but fail to consider the need for ongoing SEO work.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 13. How Exactly Do They Generate Results?

Not every agency will have the same approach for a given marketing area. The best ones have carefully created their own process to account for every single step of the way, including potential bumps in the road.

Selecting an agency is also tough because oftentimes decision-makers don’t know enough about a subject to ask the right questions. Perhaps a company does great work with content marketing but doesn’t have detailed SEO experience. Agencies that provide insights into their processes will always be the best choice.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 14. Are They A Partner Or A Provider?

Companies should only seek agencies that act as an extension of their marketing team. An agency must deliver results, but they should also be proactive in improving the overall client relationship and the quality of their results.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 15. Are They Transparent?

In addition to regular communication,  choosing the right agency should also involve considering if they’re accountable and transparent. Results speak for themselves, and agencies need to be upfront at all times. A competent agency will know when to admit failure, and they will also know how to right the ship.

Companies hire agencies to get things done. A lack of clarity and honesty is a recipe for disaster.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 16. What Credentials Do They Have?

Certifications and accreditations are essential indicators of an agency’s quality. These credentials must be bestowed by a reputable third party to vouch for the work of a given agency. Some credentials even have different tiers to consider. Let’s say a company wants an agency that knows Google Ads inside and out. Their best bet would likely be to go with one that’s a member of the Top 200 Premier Google Partner program, an elite group of the best digital agencies that specialize in Google Ads.

Learn more about our team, credentials, and qualifications here.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 17. Do They Have Case Studies Demonstrating Their Work?

Case studies communicate past success. They are summaries of challenges faced and solutions found. Reading over these pieces of content should grant a sense of the types of companies they help as well as what tactics generated such good results.

Steer clear of agencies that don’t have several compelling case studies to their name.

Check out a selection of our marketing campaign case studies here.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 18. Do They Have Testimonials?

Testimonials say an awful lot about an agency. In particular, client testimonials that use branding and a direct quote from an actual person are huge credibility signals. These clients are so confident in the results of the agency that they put their name on it.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 19. What Do Their Online Reviews Look Like?

Although similar to testimonials, online reviews are another significant credibility signal to examine. Testimonials usually require the agency to reach out to the client for a direct request, whereas clients can submit online reviews at their leisure.

Even if an agency has a high review score, be sure to read both positive and negative reviews to identify common threads across them. On top of the usual review aggregators like Google and Yelp, be sure also to check out agency-specific review platforms like Clutch.

One corollary of this item is the measurement of customer satisfaction.

Two industry standards for this measurement are Net Promoter Score (NPS) and SurveyMonkey’s global benchmark score. One thing to note about benchmarks is that they can vary widely among industries. For example, educational institutions tend to average an NPS of 71, while healthcare companies are lucky to get much higher than 27.  

NPS is calculated using a simple survey question: How satisfied are you with the service you received? More detailed surveys are also available, but all it takes to create a reliable baseline is that one question, answered on a scale of 1 to 10. It is a fast, simple way to gather customer data. According to Retently.com, Digital Marketing Agencies average an NPS of around 61. 

The other primary benchmark is calculated by surveys provided by SurveyMonkey, the leading provider of information-gathering services across many different business sectors. To calculate a SurveyMonkey Global Benchmark for each question, the company adds up individual scores to generate an average across all surveys. Digital marketing agencies average a 44. 

Digital Marketing Agency Question 20. Do they use AI to generate content or optimizations?

In 2025, virtually all digital marketing agencies integrate AI tools into their content creation and optimization processes. AI assists with tasks such as generating drafts, analyzing data, and identifying trends to improve efficiency and performance. However, while AI provides immense value, it is crucial that agencies maintain a human in the loop to ensure content aligns with a brand’s voice, remains unique, and meets Google’s ever-evolving quality standards. Human editing plays a vital role in reviewing and refining AI-generated content to add authority, creativity, and personalization. This safeguards against penalties from search engine algorithms that prioritize originality and user relevance. When discussing AI use with a prospective agency, confirm that their approach involves both leveraging AI for efficiency and retaining human oversight to ensure top-tier, authoritative results.

Digital Marketing Agency Question 21. What About Pricing?

Companies should only seek agencies that act as an extension of their marketing team. An agency must deliver results, but they should also be proactive in improving the overall client relationship and the quality of their results.

21 Questions To Ask A Digital Marketing Agency: 4 Key Takeaways

Gathering as much information as possible about an agency will go a long way towards finding the best fit. Finding the right questions to ask a digital marketing agency may feel challenging; make no mistake. But in the end, any company can select a great agency provided that they always consider:

• The value of an agency is in its talent
• Regular communication is key
• Execution trumps good strategy
• Credibility is extremely important

Video: SEO or PPC?

Looking For The Best Digital Marketing Agency?

Ready to learn more about Direct Online Marketing and how our digital marketing agency can help your company grow confidently online? Contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation with one of our digital marketing experts.
Take a moment to read why we are The Best Digital Marketing Agency For B2B Businesses.

Oh… and if you do contact us, feel free to pick from this list (or add to it) if you have any questions to ask a digital marketing agency.

This article was updated to add additional information on August 6th, 2025.

The post 21 Essential Questions To Ask When Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency (Updated For 2025) appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Do you have GA4 questions about how to harness the latest generation of Google Analytics for your business? Whether you’re looking to interpret user behavior, optimize campaigns, or make data-driven decisions, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) gives you the insights to succeed.

GA4 offers a unique opportunity to gain deeper insights into what drives your customers, as well as to fine-tune your marketing strategies accordingly. 

Do you want to know how GA4 can help your company grow with confidence? Get your popcorn ready. We’re about to embark on an exciting journey into the world of analytics, where rich data awaits to unlock the potential of your brand.

We’ve asked our in-house GA4 specialists to answer the most common and essential GA4 questions that marketers like you face daily.

With GA4, you can track user interactions across all their devices, gain greater insights into user journeys, and supercharge your digital marketing strategies. Get ready to discover the full scope of GA4’s powerful capabilities and how they can revolutionize your business. Let’s begin the journey towards uncovering the full potential of this powerful tool.

What Makes Google Analytics 4 (GA4) a Game-Changer for Marketers?

GA4 primarily uses an event-based data model, which adds great flexibility and granularity to your tracking capability. This allows for a deeper understanding of user behavior, capturing specific actions like video plays, scrolls, and form submissions, rather than just focusing on sessions and page views.

Biggest Takeaway: Traffic and sessions still matter greatly in GA4! However, the way GA4 defines sessions—using the session_start event and tracking engaged sessions—means you should analyze trends within the GA4 platform itself. If you’re asking GA4 questions about traffic discrepancies, the key is to focus on consistency within the same data model.

Greater Customization

GA4 doesn’t rely on predefined, static reports. Instead, it gives you powerful tools to generate insights tailored to your website and business objectives. It introduces custom definitions (parameters) to replace older limitations, offering more flexibility in data collection and analysis.

Biggest Takeaway: Your analytics setup should reflect your unique business needs, not just mimic an old platform. GA4 allows you to do this, but its learning curve can be steep. A GA4 specialist can help guide your setup for maximum insight and usability.

BigQuery integration

GA4 offers free native integration with BigQuery for advanced analysis and reporting.

Biggest Takeaway: With BigQuery and GA4 combined, you can achieve advanced reporting and long-term data storage. This is especially useful for creating dashboards in tools like Looker Studio or managing around GA4’s limited API quota.

AI-powered insights

GA4 leverages machine learning to provide predictive metrics and audience-building tools. These help digital marketers make smarter decisions and optimize ad campaigns.

Biggest Takeaway: With smart bidding in Google Ads becoming the norm, the ability to feed high-quality data from GA4 into your campaigns is crucial. If you’re wondering how to best leverage these features, consult a GA4 specialist to help you build the right strategy.

How can digital marketing managers benefit from the improved data integration and cross-platform tracking in GA4?

For businesses that leverage mobile apps in addition to websites, the enhanced cross-platform tracking allows for a more seamless experience when comparing data streams. Because Google Analytics, Firebase, and GA4 are all events-based models, they are leveraging a similar data schema that allows for cross-platform comparison of data. 

In terms of integrations, GA4 integrates well with the core Google stack via:

• Google Ads
• BigQuery
• Firebase
• Looker Studio

This connectivity allows digital marketing managers to fully utilize GA4’s default data-driven attribution, improved cross-device tracking, and robust user behavior insights.

If you’ve been searching for answers to your GA4 questions about implementation and setup, this is one area where a GA4 specialist can help ensure your integrations are aligned with your marketing goals.

What new insights can GA4 provide for digital marketing campaigns?

Enhanced audience segmentation

GA4 enables digital marketing managers to create dynamic audience lists based on a wide range of user attributes, behaviors, and events. This enhanced segmentation can reveal new insights into how different audience segments interact with marketing campaigns, allowing for more precise targeting and personalization.

Customizable funnels

GA4 allows digital marketing managers to create customizable funnels with multiple touchpoints and conversion events, providing a deeper understanding of the user journey. By analyzing these funnels, managers can identify bottlenecks and areas of improvement, optimizing their campaigns to drive more conversions.

How do GA4’s machine learning capabilities improve data analysis and prediction for digital marketing managers?

GA4’s predictive metrics, like Purchase Probability and Churn Probability, can provide valuable insights into users’ future actions. Digital marketing managers can use this information to proactively target users who are more likely to convert or re-engage those at risk of churning, leading to more effective and efficient campaigns.

How can digital marketing managers leverage GA4’s enhanced audience segmentation features to target their campaigns more effectively?

Develop dynamic remarketing campaigns

With GA4’s advanced audience segmentation capabilities, digital marketing managers can create dynamic remarketing campaigns that are tailored to each user’s specific interactions with their website or app. For example, they can target users who have viewed a particular product category but haven’t made a purchase yet, encouraging them to complete the transaction with personalized offers or recommendations.

Optimize audience bid adjustments

GA4’s audience segmentation features can be used to identify high-value audience segments that generate the most conversions or have the highest lifetime value. Digital marketing managers can then increase bid adjustments for these segments in their Google Ads campaigns, ensuring their ads are more likely to be shown to users who are most likely to convert.

Improve content personalization

By leveraging GA4’s audience segmentation features, digital marketing managers can gain insights into the preferences and interests of their target audience. This information can be used to create personalized content and offers that cater to each segment’s needs and preferences, leading to better user experiences and higher engagement rates.

What are the best practices for setting up GA4 for optimal data collection and reporting?

The best approach we’ve found is to spend time planning what you want to see out of your analytics. This means creating a measurement strategy that mirrors your marketing goals and trying to find ways to mirror those goal KPIs and metrics in your reporting. 

Additionally, GA4 has more robust platform reports, but requires detailed understanding of your setup to maximize its usage. Not everyone in your organization will feasibly want to get to this level of understanding, which means the better approach can be customized dashboards that answer “What questions do I want answered from my web data?”. 

In terms of GA4 configuration best practices, here is a handy GA4 checklist that is comprehensive and easy-to-setup.

How can digital marketing managers benefit from GAS4’s event-based tracking?

GA4’s event-based tracking model allows for deep insights into user behavior by capturing specific actions such as form submissions, video views, downloads, scroll depth, and more. For lead generation sites with lots of forms or gated content, you can define custom event parameters like form_name, content_type, and form_id to evaluate the performance of individual assets.

Audience segmentation can also reveal patterns of behavior. For example, you can analyze which events are common among users who convert, versus those who don’t. These insights make it easier to fine-tune your site’s content and user flows for higher conversion rates.

GA4 also offers enhanced ecommerce tracking, with funnel reports that let you visualize when users:

• Add items to their cart
• View their cart
• Begin the checkout process
• Complete a purchase

This level of detail gives digital marketing managers clear visibility into conversion drop-off points, which can be used to inform site optimizations.

What are the key data visualization features in GA4 that can help digital marketing managers make more informed decisions?

While it requires intimate knowledge of your GA4 configuration, the free form or blank report allows you to set up a custom report to compare events to custom dimensions and metrics. 

GA4’s funnel reporting and path exploration reports are significantly improved over previous tools, offering more detailed insights into user behavior and conversion paths. That said, they aren’t intuitive and require a baseline knowledge of GA4’s event model and setup.

There are limitations to comparing session-scoped and event data that Google introduced in December 2022. Unfortunately, blending this type of data together would require BigQuery or another alternative.

How do GA4’s privacy and consent features help digital marketing managers comply with data protection regulations like GDPR and CCPA?

Privacy and consent features

GA4 offers better privacy controls, including consent mode and data deletion capabilities, helping marketers comply with data protection regulations like GDPR and CCPA.

What If Your GA4 Setup Isn’t Delivering the Insights You Expected?

If your GA4 property isn’t producing the kind of insights you were hoping for, it may be due to configuration gaps, not the platform itself. Many marketers launch GA4 using only default settings, which rarely reflect the specific KPIs or business goals they care about.

It’s one of the most common GA4 questions we hear: “Why doesn’t my dashboard answer the questions I care about?”

A GA4 specialist can help you audit your setup, create a proper data layer (primarily through GTM), and build custom dashboards aligned with your goals.

What are the top GA4 integrations that digital marketing managers should consider for their marketing tech stack?

Google Ads: Link your GA4 property with your Google Ads account to analyze ad performance and optimize your campaigns.

Google Search Console: Integrate GA4 with Google Search Console to monitor organic search performance and identify optimization opportunities.

Google Data Studio: Connect GA4 with Google Data Studio to create custom data visualizations and interactive reports.

BigQuery: Integrate GA4 with BigQuery for advanced data analysis and reporting capabilities.

Firebase: Connect GA4 with Firebase to track app performance and user engagement.

Most other software platforms are leveraging the GA4 API, but are adapting to changes to provide solutions including Shopify, WordPress, Salesforce, Marketo, Hubspot, etc.

How can digital marketing managers use GA4’s conversion modeling to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns more accurately?

GA4 Conversion modeling refers to how GA4 estimates some conversions that it doesn’t observe directly based on the modeling of data. This doesn’t mean that the data is less trustworthy necessarily, but it is a clear difference versus Universal Analytics. There are a couple of main implications that a digital marketing manager should be aware of, which are that recent conversion data may be subject to change. The modeling may result in a shift of recent conversion data, so understand that numbers may change slightly over time. The other major implication is that Google Analytics is best used when thinking about patterns and trended data versus stressing over exact numbers. As it is, with Apple’s Intelligent tracking protection and increasing changes to data privacy, there is less guarantee of completely accurate data, but overall trends and sample sizes should still inform strategic decision-making.

What are the recommended GA4 training resources for digital marketing managers to get up to speed quickly?

Looking to answer your own GA4 questions and build confidence in the platform? Of course, the DOM blog is a great resource! But beyond that:

• Analyticsmania.com
• Measureschool.com
• Simoahova.com

How can GA4’s enhanced ecommerce tracking features help digital marketing managers optimize their online store performance?

GA4 provides very clear pathways for evaluating checkout funnels and overall product performance. Understanding how different traffic channels are performing in terms of conversion events is critical and should help inform how conversion optimization efforts are taken on-site. GA4 is not the answer to why problems happen – behavioral analytics tools such as heat-mapping or A/B testing help better with this – but GA4 can help pinpoint where conversion drop-off points are happening as well as provide clues for what problems may exist.

What are the top GA4 custom reports and dashboards that digital marketing managers should create for better campaign monitoring?

The most powerful visualizations would be connecting GA4 to other visualization platforms such as Google Looker Studio, Tableau, or other visualization alternatives. Ideally, to avoid the GA4 quota issue, these SEO, PPC, and general marketing dashboards are generated with integration from BigQuery or another data warehouse/database system.

How can GA4’s predictive metrics help digital marketing managers optimize their budget allocation and campaign targeting?

GA4 predictive audiences is the most likely application that uses machine learning to predict custom audiences such as those likely to convert or those likely to churn. Keep in mind, your website needs enough of a data set to be able to have these insights generated. 

I am not getting the same kind of insights I want out of my GA4. How do I fix this?

1. Generate a measurement strategy that identifies the business goals, marketing goals,  KPIs, and metrics that are important for a business. 
2. Install GA4 through GTM. The biggest challenge is likely in this step, as there are a lot of custom CMS websites that don’t have a proper data layer setup to capture the right data in GTM. 
3. Integrate GA4 with the Google stack.
4. Generate a custom dashboard that answers the most important questions you want answered about your data. 

DOM offers expert GA4 analytics setup and training if you need help with the above.

How can digital marketing managers use GA4’s advanced analysis techniques to gain deeper insights into user behavior and campaign performance?

Integrating GA4 and Google Ads data with BigQuery unleashes the ability to blend data and evaluate performance through deeper data analysis. Within the platform, there are powerful insights, but to be able to manipulate and blend data together, which is only possible with external solutions, will further untap its potential.

What is the future of GA4, and how can digital marketing managers stay updated on the latest developments and features?

GA4 is continually evolving and is most powerful when digital marketing managers spend the time to understand its nuances. Hopefully, GA4 will become more feature-rich and adjustments to the UI will help to lower the learning curve for brand-new users. 

GA4 is meant to be integrated with Google Tag Manager and it would be very difficult and time-consuming to be maintained through hard-coded gtag. 

The data landscape will also likely be changing with the popularity and dynamic changes resulting from AI and data privacy laws. It is up to digital marketing managers to stay current as things are rapidly developing.

You Made It To The End?

If you’ve made it to the bottom of this post, you just uncovered some crucial insights into optimizing your analytics strategies with GA4. 

With answers to 19 vital questions, you’ve gained the foundation to build a solid data-driven approach for your brand. 

Have a question you didn’t see answered above? Contact us and let us know – our GA4 specialists are always eager to help you grow online with confidence. 

Thank you for diving in with us, and let us know if we can support you with our top-rated marketing analytics services as you complete your GA4 migration journey.

This article was updated to add additional information on August 1st, 2025.

The post 19 Popular GA4 Questions (With The Right Answers From Our Expert Analysts) appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

We’re hosting this live session on July 30 at 11 AM ET, featuring Marina Hahn, International Growth Consultant at Google, and Justin Seibert, President of Direct Online Marketing (DOM), a strategic International Trade Administration (ITA) partner. They’ll dig into how businesses can use Google Ads and smarter localization strategies to connect with customers in new markets — without draining the budget or launching campaigns into the void.

What You’ll Learn

This session is built for marketers who know there’s global demand for what they offer but need better tools and tactics to reach that demand effectively. Whether you’re selling direct-to-consumer or generating leads for high-consideration B2B products, the foundation is the same: get the right message to the right person in the right country.

That means understanding:

• Where international growth is headed in 2025 and beyond
  
• How retail and lead generation trends vary by region
  
• How to use Google Ads for both global and hyper-local campaigns
  
• Why localization isn’t just translation — and what to do instead

You’ll also get a preview of underused Google Ads features that can help you build and scale international campaigns without guessing your way through targeting or budget allocation.

Who’s Speaking

Marina Hahn brings years of experience in helping businesses grow internationally through digital. She works closely with Google’s International Growth team — a group that specializes in finding global expansion opportunities and crafting strategies to match.

Justin Seibert founded DOM in 2006 and has led campaigns on every continent that sells things. DOM is a top 200 Premier Google Partner and has helped companies big and small find success with international paid media and SEO.

Together, they’ll walk through both the big picture and the practical details, with examples and takeaways you can actually use. This won’t be a generic overview — you’ll leave with actionable ideas and a clearer sense of what’s possible for your business.

Register Now

Scaling Across Borders: International Growth with Google Ads
July 30
11 AM ET
Online (we’ll send the link after registration)

Reserve your spot here

Bring your questions. Bring your goals. Come ready to rethink what international growth can look like — and how Google Ads can help get you there.

The post Free Webinar: Google Ads for Global Growth appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Instagram stickers have become an integral part of every story. They enhance the value of a story by adding attention-grabbing elements that potentially stops a user from skipping a story to the next one.

What are the benefits of having digital branded stickers?

1) It can be a perfect tool for marketing

If your business creates its own set of stickers, it means that the marketing team can construct branded content on the go. They could directly accentuate a story with branded stickers in the app anytime.

2) Your audience can use it

The availability of branded stickers allows the audience to be ambassadors of the brand with minimal effort from their end.

3) Allows tracking results

Giphy helps brands to keep track of impressions derived from each branded sticker. This helps in determining what content seems more attractive to the audience. In addition to this, it also tells the frequency of the views on the stickers.

4) It is free

While it is true that brands are required to pass a rigorous process off approval, but once passed, the Giphy accounts are free.

Are you wondering how to get your branded stickers on Instagram? Well, here is how:

Create a Giphy account

Through a corporate email ID, sign up for an account. Make sure to not to fill in the profile as yourself, but as a brand or business. Include the business’s website, social media handles, and an avatar. All of this is crucial to get a verified account.

Create at least five stickers

Now, this is the part you will enjoy as creating stickers is really fun! Giphy has put detailed guidelines to ensure that the stickers you create can get through the approval process successfully.

Simply put, your stickers should contain transparent backgrounds coupled with animations and should neither exactly be rectangular nor circular. Moreover, you must create and upload at least five stickers to bag a verified account.

When you move on to uploading your stickers, make sure to include tags to each gif. This way, your audience will be able to find you easily on Instagram

Apply for a verified account

Once you have signed up and created your stickers, it is time to apply for a verified account.

Wait

The Giphy team can take around 3 to 10 business days to review your application and approve it. So, be patient and wait!

Each sticker goes through the approval process. In case you happen to delete a sticker, it will restart the approval process. So, be mindful!

You are done!

Once approved, you can feel free to use and promote stickers through your social media account. We recommend that you keep adding more and more stickers to your account and track views utilizing the dashboard.

We can’t wait to see your branded stickers up on the app!

The post How to Create Branded Instagram Stickers for Stories appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

You’ve probably heard about the benefits of having a fast-loading website from more digital marketing professionals than you want to admit. One of the most efficient ways you can speed up your site across each page occurs when you take the time to address issues with unminified JavaScript and CSS files.

If you are a regular user of site auditing tools included in SEO platforms like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz, then you probably have also come across the following warning in your to-do list of warnings to fix: issues with unminified Javascript and CSS.

Based on who you are within the company you work for, we also have a pretty good feeling we know your first thought after seeing that alert in your site audit:

• Executive: “What does that even mean?!”
• Marketer: “Crap! Now I’ve got to get my developer involved to fix this.”
• Developer: “I KNOW what it means, but it’s just a warning. How important is fixing that?”

At DOM, JavaScript and CSS minification warnings show up in almost every site audit we conduct. It doesn’t matter if the site is old or new, built with WordPress or Magento, targeting clients and consumers in the US or on an international scale. If you operate a website, chances are good you have issues with JavaScript and CSS minification that are causing your site to load slow.

While most SEO site auditing tools do not classify minifying JavaScript and CSS as one of the highest priority items to address, that doesn’t mean taking care of these warnings is something you should put off, either.

Because in the always-on, always-now game of digital marketing, time is money. And by time, we really mean page load speed.

The time has come to demystify the following warning you have received so many times in your site audit:

“issues with unminified JavaScript and CSS.”

You should know what it is. You should know how it works. You should know what impact fixing this is going to have on your site performance.

You can figure all of this out below.

What Is ‘Unminified JavaScript And CSS’? How Does It Work? What Does It Mean To Have ‘Minified JavaScript and CSS’?

Before getting specifically into what unminified JavaScript and CSS are, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page with what JavaScript and CSS do on your website.

• JavaScript, in its core state, is a programming language. Its sole purpose is for creating dynamic and interactive elements on webpages, and then telling your browser where to find those dynamic/interactive elements and what to do with them.
• CSS is short for Cascading Style Sheet. This file helps your web developers create the uniform look and feel of your site without having to copy and paste the same content on each individual page.

So, what is unminified JavaScript and CSS files?

To put it simply: scripts and files in their evolved state of being.

Web developers do have to follow a standard set of coding language rules to produce web pages and sites, but almost all of them have unique ways to create something from nothing. Over time, companies also tend to change developers, too. Then new developers bring their own approach to modifying JavaScript and CSS to perform new tasks or overhaul page layouts.

Over time, as these files evolve, they also can become weighed down with things like:

• Unnecessary lines
• White space
• Comments in the source code
• Hosting on external servers

As a result, you are left with unminified JavaScript and CSS files performing core processes on your site. For a great visual, think of unminified files as the Arnold Schwarzenneger character from Twins hanging around on your server.

If that explains unminified JavaScript and CSS files, what is minified JavaScript and CSS?

Essentially the same files… just in a condensed format.

• Extra lines and white space removed
• Unnecessary comments scrubbed out
• Hosted on your local server

If your unminified JS and CSS files are the Arnold character from Twins, then obviously your minified JavaScript and CSS files are comparable to the Danny DeVito character hanging out on your server.

 “Whether you are an executive, a marketer, or a developer, taking a little bit of time now to make sure these two important filetypes get minified will have a positive impact long term on the future success of your digital campaigns.“

Jonathan Bentz, Sr. SEO Strategist

How To Fix Unminified JavaScript And CSS On Your Website

The amount of time you are going to need to spend in the following section will vary greatly based on the job title you have.

• Executive: You can probably delegate fixing this issue to your site manager or web development lead and task them with troubleshooting to find a solution. Want to share this post with those people via email or Slack? Right-click here and select ‘Copy Link Address’ for a bit.ly link to share with them.
• Marketer: Based on your expertise and comfort level inside your website platform, you can either see the executive suggestion above or read below to find the best solution for your site.
• Developer: Unless your marketing team has a dedicated “web guy” you can transfer these issues to for troubleshooting and resolving, completing a minification of JavaScript and CSS probably falls on you. Read more below.

There are several approaches you can take to fixing unminified JavaScript and CSS files. The way you go about reaching that end destination of minified JavaScript and CSS depends on the platform your website has been built upon. Below we have detailed three ways to complete the fix.

1. How to fix in WordPress
2. How to fix in non-WordPress Content Management Systems (CMS)
3. How to fix them old school with no CMS

How To Minify JavaScript and CSS in WordPress

Our favorite answer to any WordPress-related issue is “there’s a plugin for that.”

Completing minification-related improvements to your JavaScript and CSS in WordPress results in the same two-step answer…

1. Choose a plugin to fix these issues
2. Install/activate/configure your plugin of choice to minify the files

Referral links from the Google PageSpeed Insights tool to WordPress.org will present you with 11 pages of plugins to help minify JavaScript and 15 pages of plugins to help minify CSS.

Below are two of some of our frequently recommended solutions – one free to use, one premium.

• Free to use options: W3 Total Cache, Autoptimize, Hummingbird
• Premium option: WP Rocket

Depending on your budget and level of technical expertise, both of our recommended plugins can be configured to produce great results for your site. You just need to confirm compatibility with your hosting environment and set them up for success.

Ready to do a deep dive into other WordPress plugin solutions to improve your site? Check out our list of the 12 best WordPress plugins for SEO.

How To Minify JavaScript and CSS Using Apps In Other Popular CMS Solutions

According to trend monitoring from BuiltWith, WordPress is the content management system used by about 50% of the top 1 million sites on the web. If you don’t use WordPress for your own reasons but still use a popular CMS with comparable third-party applications, check out any of the links included below. You may find yourself on the way to uncovering your next favorite module for Drupal or extension for Joomla and Magento.

• Drupal: AdvAgg
• Joomla!: JCH Optimize
• Magento: Aptrian

Note that we are not necessarily endorsing the above tools, just providing them as the most common ones per CMS as of the time of this writing.

Have you tried any of the above-listed apps? How’d they work out for you? Let us know in a chat so we can share your experience with other readers!

How To Minify JavaScript And CSS The Old School Way

Don’t use WordPress or any of the other platforms listed below to operate your website? Well then, you may have some more work ahead of you to complete the minification of your JavaScript and CSS.

At the same time, there may be nothing you can do.

For example, if you use Kentico as your web content management system, you can actually configure minification for these files directly in your administration area.

It’s okay, I was surprised to learn this, too. But check out the documentation.

If your site is built on Squarespace or Wix, there may be nothing you can do.

• Squarespace claims minification is included in their platform.
• Wix, on the other hand, does not appear to offer its users the flexibility to change this OR include it as an included solution.

Short of manually going through your code line by line to remove extra lines, white space, and comments, the most efficient old school approach to fixing minification issues with JavaScript and CSS is with these two tools from Uglify – UglifyJS.net and UglifyCSS.com. Leveraging these two open-source tools will remove all of the unnecessary stuff without compromising your core functionality.

Once again, note that we are not necessarily endorsing the Uglify suite of tools; just providing this as the most common “old school” solution at the time of this writing. Feel free to proceed, but do so with caution.

And if you have successfully used the Uglify apps, let us know in a chat how they worked out for you so we can share your experience with others.

What Impact Can Removing Unminified JavaScript And CSS Have On Your Website?

Minified JavaScript and CSS files are smaller, so they load more efficiently. In addition to that, minification can positively impact your website in the following ways:

• Decreasing the load time of your pages
• Increasing engagement rates with site visitors around the world
• Improving your search engine rankings
• Creating more leads and sales for your business

According to a post from our own Adam Roth last year on slow loading websites, one study found that more than 25% of participants would abandon a webpage that takes over 4 seconds to load.

On top of that, a one-second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions.

We can’t calculate the actual financial impact that one second can have on your business. You’ll have to figure that out yourself.

But the results are clear: the faster your site loads, the more confidence you can have in your ability to grow leads, sales, and traffic online.

Next Steps After Minifying JavaScript And CSS

If you’ve made it to this stage of this post, you should have a pretty good handle on:

• What JavaScript and CSS are
• How these file types can become unminified
• What the difference is between unminified and minified JavaScript and CSS
• How to minify JavaScript and CSS in WordPress, with potential solutions for other popular CMS platforms
• Why minification can improve your page load times, and
• How page load times can positively and negatively impact your revenue online.

Whether you are an executive, a marketer, or a developer, taking a little bit of time now to make sure these two important filetypes get minified will have a positive impact long-term on the future success of your digital campaigns.

Not only will taking the time to minify JavaScript and CSS reduce the number of warnings you see in your weekly site audit. It will also reduce the amount of friction your site visitors experience when they engage with your company.

Eliminating these warnings, and that friction, are site improvements your entire organization can take to the bank.

For another in-depth walkthrough on an issue we commonly find in SEO site audits, please check out this guide to alt text for images and learn how maximizing your opportunities there can help improve your SEO performance. You can also check out any of these helpful resources written by our team below:

• Internal Links: How Much Do They Affect SEO?
• Sentence Casing vs. Title Casing: Which Is Better?
• These Landing Page Optimization Tips Dramatically Boost Conversions

The post How To Fix Unminified JavaScript And CSS Issues In Site Audits appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Search is changing. Faster than most businesses realize. As artificial intelligence weaves its way deeper into how users find information, the way companies need to think about search optimization is shifting right under their feet. That is why we have launched GEO at Direct Online Marketing.

GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. Not a gimmick – GEO is essentially an expansion of SEO into parts of the web that may not be as valuable to traditional Google results, but impact the training data that influences AI results and tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and even Google’s AI Overviews.
It is SEO adapted for how AI systems ingest, interpret, and present your content to users. GEO is a critical strategy for companies that want to stay visible as AI transforms the search experience.

Why GEO Exists

At DOM, we have always focused on what delivers results. Not vanity metrics. Not what worked five years ago. GEO came out of the same client-first mindset that drives everything we do.
We started noticing over the last two years that generative search tools were pulling in information from content that was not always ranking on the first page of Google. Some of that content wasn’t even ranking within the first four pages of Google. At the same time some of the best-optimized and most traditional SEO content was completely missing from those AI-generated responses.

The implications are pretty clear: search engines are no longer the only gateway to your target audience. AI tools have become their own layer of discovery, curation, and recommendation. And they often prioritize different signals than Google’s core algorithm.

So we built a new framework for an advanced service offering. GEO focuses on making your content clear, credible, and easily digestible for AI. It emphasizes structure, trust, expertise, and intent. It helps your site become the source AI tools prefer to cite and summarize. And it does it all in ways that impact you positively for both AI and traditional search results.

“Generative Engine Optimization is not just a trend—it’s a necessity for staying visible in the age of AI. If your content isn’t optimized for how tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity process and present information, you’re already behind.”
— Billy Wright, Lead SEO Strategist, Direct Online Marketing

How GEO Differs from Traditional SEO

GEO does not replace SEO. It builds on it. But the key difference is the audience, the sources, the methods. Traditional SEO optimizes for search engines. GEO optimizes for the engines and also the AI models interpreting your content.

Here are a few of the core differences:

Content Framing

Traditional SEO aims for keyword-rich, long-form content with structured headers, showing that you are an expert.

GEO prioritizes this same clarity, direct answers, and formats like Q&A, listicles, and clean data that AI tools can easily parse. But – and this is a big one – it really relies on you to make claims about your brand and business that Google may traditionally overlook. Talking about how YOU are THE BEST is great for AI, it simplifies it having to understand who is the best. Give it what it wants.

Source Credibility

In SEO, domain authority and backlink profiles help rankings and show your reputation.

In GEO, being cited by reputable sources and presenting clear authorship, expertise, and transparent sourcing matter. However, being cited by many non-conventional sources, or those you wouldn’t consider major players in SEO, also helps significantly. By reverse engineering which sites the AI uses to pull its data you can create lists of potential link sources that Google may not put value in, but due to their crawlability or niche, ChatGPT may see them as the gospel truth.  Claims made about your business within Employment and Career sites may have more of an impact than reviews on G2 or Clutch. Showing up as a recommendation in Reddit can be extremely impactful for being recommended in AI results.

Indexing vs. Training Data

SEO content gets indexed in search engine databases.

GEO-optimized content is typically scraped from both traditional search results as well as the training data that it was fed. For instance, content from The New York Times and BBC gets referenced in AI tools due to its historical authority and consistent formatting.

Intent Mapping

Traditional SEO organizes around search intent and buyer journeys.

GEO looks at the kinds of questions AI tools are trained to answer and how your content can be the best result for that AI, not just the end user. It relies much heavier on your own claims in order to generate responses than Google may, allowing you to influence the results in a different way.

Technical Accessibility

Site speed, mobile usability, and readability matter to both. Google needs to be able to read your site, and LLMs need to be able to crawl the actual content that shows to a user to properly scrape answers. If your website is heavy with JavaScript it can be a death sentence for showing up in AI, unless you fix the technical issues underneath.

“The beauty of GEO is that it strengthens your position with AI tools and traditional search engines at the same time. Clear, structured, credible content is exactly what both Google and generative models are looking to surface.”
— Billy Wright, Lead SEO Strategist, Direct Online Marketing

Why GEO Matters Now

Generative engines are already influencing search decisions. Tools like Perplexity.ai, Microsoft Copilot, and Google’s AI Overviews present summarized answers, not just a list of links. That means your opportunity to win clicks may depend more on being the source that fuels the answer than being a link in a top-10 list.

This shift is already reshaping the competitive landscape. Businesses that adapt early have a massive advantage. GEO helps:

• Position your brand as a trusted authority that AI wants to quote
• Keep you relevant in AI-powered answers even as organic traffic patterns change
• Future-proof your content strategy for emerging interfaces like voice search and multimodal AI queries
• We are at an inflection point. Just like the rise of mobile required a rethink in SEO strategy a decade+ ago, AI now requires its own strategic layer.

What GEO Includes at DOM

Our GEO service is designed to integrate seamlessly with our traditional SEO work. Here is what we include:

GEO Audits: We review your existing content and structure to assess how AI-friendly your site currently is.

Content Strategy: We create content outlines specifically designed for AI tools to interpret, cite, and summarize.

AI Visibility Optimization: We look at your mentions across AI platforms and optimize for answer boxes, zero-click responses, and generative snippets.

Citation Mapping: We build your content’s credibility by earning references from reliable sources that AI tools prioritize.

Technical GEO: Schema, structured data, crawl paths, and content formatting tailored for LLM parsing.
And because AI tools are evolving fast, our GEO strategy is too. We test. We monitor responses in tools like ChatGPT and Bing Copilot. We optimize based on how these models actually surface content today, not what they used to do six months ago.

Who Needs GEO?

Not every business is ready for GEO. But if you:

• Compete in a high-value, information-driven industry like legal, B2B SaaS, finance, or healthcare
• Already have a content-rich website but see declining traffic despite quality
• Want to be positioned as a thought leader in your space
• Rely on organic traffic to fill your sales pipeline

Then GEO should be on your radar now.

For companies doing international business or trying to reach global audiences, GEO can be even more valuable. AI tools aggregate content across languages and regions, and optimizing for that visibility means stronger global performance.

The Future of Search Is Generative

Organic visibility is no longer limited to a list of 10 blue links. It is answers. It is citations. It is being the voice behind the AI tools your customers trust.

We are not walking away from SEO. We are building on it. GEO is our next evolution of helping clients win in search. Because as AI continues to change how users discover information, we are not waiting to catch up. We are helping businesses lead.

If you want to stay ahead, you need to think about search differently. GEO is not optional. It is essential.

Let’s discuss how we can incorporate Generative Engine Optimization Services into your digital strategy.

The post What is GEO? appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

If you’re wondering how to adapt, you’re not alone. DOM now offers Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Services to help businesses improve their presence in AI-powered search results like Google’s AI Overviews, Bing Copilot, ChatGPT, and more. From structured data enhancements to content positioning strategies, your brand will be visible where it counts.

EDIT (5/14/2024): Google SGE is finally here! In May of 2024, Google announced that Google SGE, AKA Google AI Answers, will be rolling out to all United States users by the end of the week. But what are these new Google AI Answers, and what do they mean for the future of the search engine and your website’s traffic? Read on to learn more!

Everything changes all of the time. Especially in the world of SEO.

Google Search Results could likely be unrecognizably different by this time next year. With the growth of AI and Google SGE (Search Generative Experience), the world of SEO will get considerably more exciting and challenging moving forward. 

But what do we expect to happen when Google launches the SGE version of Search? How will optimizing your website change because of Google SGE? How will Google SGE impact how users interact with the search engine and your website?

We’ve asked our in-house SEO experts here at Direct Online Marketing for their opinions and we have compiled a guide of best practices we expect to help your website thrive, as you optimize for Google SGE.

What Do We Know About Google SGE AKA Google AI Answers?

What Are Google AI Answers?

Google AI Answers are the generated content you see at the top of search results within the United States as of May 14, 2024. Google AI Answers are pulled by the new system known as Google SGE.

What is Google SGE?

• Google’s Search Generative Experience – AKA Google SGE – is an innovation to its search engine, powered by its generative AI. 
• This new experimental feature aims to transform search engine experiences from being passive, as they were historically, to more interactive, personalized and dynamic. SGE uses AI to generate quick, concise overviews of search topics, enhancing user experience (sure, Google…) and providing new ways to interact with search results​​​​​​. 
• It also means there could be a significant shift in strategies previously employed towards gaining visibility in search results.

Will Google SGE Replace Rich Results?

• As of this writing, no explicit information suggests that Google SGE will entirely replace rich results, but it is very likely to have an impact. Rich results, which provide additional data in the SERPs, differ from SGE’s AI-powered overviews and interactive content. 
• As SGE is still experimental and not live out in the wild, its exact impact on existing features like rich results remains to be fully understood.

“While I anticipate seeing organic traffic drop for many sites, thorough and well-written content can enhance click-through rate to mitigate this decline by becoming the source of information that SGE quotes from, with the best, most relevant content available on the subject in question providing Google’s AI with all the information it needs on the query in an easily digestible way.”
– Brian Slonka, Digital Marketing Account Manager

When is Google SGE Coming?

• Google SGE is already available as an experimental feature in 120 countries (excluding Europe), supporting multiple languages. Its full implementation and potential expansion remain under development, with access to the Google Labs experiments open until the end of December 2023​​. There is much speculation that it will launch much sooner than many users originally anticipated. 

Will My Site Lose Traffic Because of Google SGE?

• There are concerns that SGE could lead to reduced visibility for organic search results. The AI-generated overviews at the top of search results might reduce the need for users to click on individual websites, potentially lowering click-through rates (CTR) and organic traffic. 
• This shift may require websites to adapt their SEO strategies​​. Images that accompany your top-ranking results on Google may become much more important as they can help guide users to click into your website since the URL of the site itself may be more obscured.

Are There Certain Types Of Sites That Google SGE Will Impact More?

Short answer: Possibly.

Google SGE may impact certain types of websites more than others. Particularly, sites that produce content tailored for Google Rich Results, such as recipe blogs and video game walkthrough sites, could see a decrease in search engine visibility. This is because their content might be incorporated directly into Google’s SGE results section, potentially reducing the need for users to visit the original websites for information.

“This advancement will likely enhance user experience by providing more intuitive, context-aware, and interactive search results. For website owners and content creators, this means adapting to a more AI-driven approach in content presentation and SEO strategies, focusing on quality, relevance, and structured data to align with how AI interprets and ranks content.”
– Alicia Cleary, Digital Marketing Strategist

Will Google SGE Mean More Ads in Search Results?

There is no direct company-issued information that Google SGE will lead to an increase in ads within search results, as Google says the focus of Google SGE is on enhancing the user experience through AI-generated content and interactive features. 

There is some speculation, however, that there will be more screen real estate taken up by Google SGE content in addition to ads, but this remains to be seen outside of what appear to be tests and experiments.

How Will Google SGE Impact My Analytics?

“Analyzing and optimizing for user experience is going to be more and more critical in the SGE world. Additionally, segmenting your organic data is going to be an absolute necessity for drawing insightful conclusions about the impact of SGE.

“Looking at your data by content grouping, funnel stage, device type, keyword intent breakouts, etc. will help you better mitigate and optimize for the new SGE landscape.”
– Dana Schumacher, Sr. Digital Analyst

Prepare For A New Search Engine Experience

In summary, Google SGE represents a significant evolution in search engine technology, focusing on AI-driven interactivity and personalized experiences. While its full impact on SEO, organic traffic, and ad integration is still unfolding, dynamically adapting to this rollout will be crucial for website owners and content creators.

“SGE provides a unique opportunity for businesses to revisit how well their websites define their customers’ unique problems and how clearly they present solutions at a high and granular level.

“The depth, clarity, and formatting of website content is more crucial than ever. Website content that prioritizes these fundamentals will be in the best position to be present within SGE results and, most importantly, to convert traffic.”
– Gary Kramer, Sr. Digital Strategist

How Can I Try Google SGE Today?

Update: As of today, May 14th, 2024 Google SGE AKA Google AI Answers has begun rolling out to all Google users within the United States. Google SGE should be live for all US users by the end of week, but if you are outside of the US the following instructions may still be available for you.

If you want to try out the experimental version of Google SGE before it rolls out to the wider world, you can do so simply using Google Labs. Here is a short guide on how to use Google SGE today.

How To Try The Beta Of Google SGE

Log into Your Google Account:

• Open Chrome on your desktop or laptop.

• Click the profile icon in the upper right corner and select “Turn on sync”.

• Enter your Google account email and password.
• If you’re already logged in with Sync enabled, skip this step.

How To Access Google Labs:

• Open a new tab in Chrome.
• Click the small beaker icon to the left of your profile icon to open Google Labs.

How To Enable Google SGE:

• In Google Labs, find the SGE card.
• Click the On/Off slider on the SGE card to the On position.

• Close the Google Labs tab.

How To Try Google SGE:

• In the Google search field, type a query.
• On the Google search results page, click the “Generate” button above the standard results to activate an AI response.

• Google will return results personalized to your search using AI.

“SGE is going to impact user behavior away from visiting some websites entirely – particularly those sites that solely exist to answer questions Google can easily steal an answer and showcase in their SERP. I like to think of SGE’s impact being similar to the impact felt by the wide release of People Also Ask answer boxes and Featured Snippets, but on a much larger scale.

“Because of that, companies need to make sure they connect their top-performing webpages to keywords where Google users are more likely to need to take action, not just research something to get a surface-level understanding.

“Industry-leading sites have already been strategically growing with Google this way, but now every business that wants to grow using SEO will need to follow suit.“
– Jonathan Bentz, Sr. Digital Marketing Strategist

How To Optimize Your Website For Google SGE

Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) represents a significant shift in how search engines function, leveraging generative AI to enhance user search experiences. This article explores key strategies for optimizing your website for the upcoming Google SGE.

Content Quality & Google SGE

• User Focus: Consider what makes your website valuable to users. Why should someone choose your content over others? Ensuring your content serves the user’s needs is crucial.
• Google’s Perspective: Reflect on why Google should prioritize your content. It’s essential to align your content with what search engines consider valuable.
• AI-Generated Content: If you use AI to generate content, ensure it’s carefully edited and refined before publishing. Authenticity and quality remain paramount.

“A good content approach will be unfazed by SGE or, really, any Google algorithm changes. Since the beginning of the web, the mandate for content creators has always been to write the best stuff we can that informs the reader and answers the questions they have.

“We aren’t just writing for robots; we’re writing for people. The better we do our jobs, the better the search results get, and the better Google will get at recognizing (and delivering) the content we write.”
– Jim Foreman, Sr. Content Specialist

Authority & Google SGE

• E-E-A-T Framework: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google values these traits extremely highly when deciding whether or not to show content currently, and it will only get more important as Google SGE rolls out in the wild. To build authority, focus on creating high-quality, expert content.
• Establishing Authority: Develop your website’s authority by showcasing expertise and providing valuable, well-researched content.
• Author Persona: Having content written by individuals with verifiable expertise is beneficial. This adds a layer of credibility to your website.

“User Experience is one of the most under-optimized parts of SEO, and it will only become more important as we move into the world of Google SGE. If a user has a bad time on your website, they’re unlikely to return, make a purchase, or recommend your content to a friend. Why would an AI version of Google continue to show your website if it doesn’t delight users?”
– Billy Wright, Lead Digital Marketing Strategist

User Experience & Google SGE

• Accessibility: Ensure users can easily find what they’re looking for on your site. Navigation should be intuitive and straightforward.
• Website Speed: A fast-loading website enhances user experience, which is a critical factor in SEO.
• E-commerce Optimization: For e-commerce sites, streamline the purchasing process to be as quick and user-friendly as possible.

Images & Google SGE

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): With SGE, images will play a more significant role in influencing CTR. Optimize images to be engaging and relevant to your content.

Video & Google SGE

• Growing Importance: Videos are likely to gain more importance in search results. Incorporating unique video content on your site can enhance user engagement and SEO.

SGE’s focus on interactive, AI-generated content emphasizes the importance of quality, authority, and user experience in website optimization. By adapting to these evolving standards, websites can enhance their visibility and effectiveness in Google’s AI-driven search landscape

April 2024 Google SGE Update

Beginning at the end of March 2024 Google began testing the Google SGE AI results directly within the normal Google search results for some users within the United States. This caused lots of controversy as some users noted that they could not opt-out of getting the Google SGE results, and that it was taking up so much search real estate that it became problematic for their user experience. Whether this test is reflective of an upcoming roll-out of Google SGE in 2024 is yet to be seen.

May 14, 2024 Google SGE Update

At Google I/O today, May 14th, 2024, Google announced that Google SGE AKA Google Ai Answers was rolling out live for all United States users, and would be fully available across the US by end of week. Their language also focused mainly on calling it AI Answers, which reflects the most recent change to the text surrounding the generated content within the search results.

SEO will keep changing, as it always has–Google SGE is just the latest development to shake things up. At Direct Online Marketing, we’re all about helping you adapt and thrive in this new search era, no matter what happens. Got questions about how your site will work with Google SGE? Looking for smart strategies? We’ve got you covered. Drop us a line for a free SEO chat, and let’s team up to make your online presence shine in the world of Google SGE.

Note: This article has been updated to include the end of March 2024 / April 2024 Google SGE updates where it was tested among users who were not white-listed for Google SGE in Google Labs.

Updated June 2025 with AI Overview, the newest form of SGE.

The post Google SGE: What Is It And Should You Be Afraid? appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.