Oct 25, 2024 538 reads

Organic Performance Decline Analysis After Algorithm Updates and March 2024 Update

How to Analyze Organic Performance Drops After Algorithm Updates?Since March 2024, organic results have been highly active, with Google core and spam updates causing sharp declines especially on E-commerce websites. These declines were reflected in Google Search Console performance with decreases in clicks and impressions at similar rates. However, while performance reached millions of impressions, the number of clicks remained in the hundreds. This situation was observed more on product detail pages than usual for E-commerce websites.After Google’s recent core updates, it was detected that Google stopped the Image Pack display in SERP for organic queries targeted by e-commerce sites and for queries containing brand names that affect multi-brand sales websites. When we provided analysis for the Retail category affected by the core algorithm update, it appears that Google removed the Image Pack display from the queries targeted by these websites during the May–July period.In this case, product detail pages reaching millions of impressions experience significant losses in impression and avg. position metrics.According to the sources, it’s important to understand that Google’s broad updates can impact images ranked in Web Search results (image packs, knowledge panels, etc.). (Google’s tendency to remove Image Pack display starts from April 2024 following the March 2024 core update.)Methods for Analyzing Organic Traffic DropsWhen analyzing an organic traffic drop, you can first analyze whether the drop is sector-wide. Then, by examining which queries and pages are experiencing the decline in organic performance, you can determine whether this is seasonal or a technical problem. This allows you to identify the top factors affecting the website’s organic performance.After the March 2024 core algorithm update, the performance drop occurred particularly on product detail pages. Therefore, the main focus of this analysis has been prepared around the drop on product detail pages.Sectoral Organic Visibility Analysis in Organic Traffic DropYou can start by analyzing the SEO visibility of competitors that perform on the same keywords in organic search during the relevant period. This way, you can observe whether the performance drop has an industry-wide impact and not just on the target website.For this, SEO tools such as Searchmetrics, Ahrefs, and Similarweb can be used.The visibility graph calculated over position and search volume metrics grouped sectorally based on the 1M keywords tracked by the Searchmetrics tool:Google Search Console Organic Query & Page Analysis Experiencing a DropWhile the page with declining performance had around 151K impressions, the number of clicks was at the 912 level.The declining organic query had around 133K impressions, while the number of clicks was at the 82 level.Ahrefs Target Query SERP Display AnalysisTo understand the impact on impression performance of queries experiencing a decline in organic performance, “Organic Keywords” in Ahrefs Site Explorer was used.Google Image Pack Display / Algorithm Ads appear at the top and bottom of the SERP; the organic content in between drives traffic to your website. A result that appears as an Image Pack is in search type: web format. The link for the image appearing in the Image Pack is reflected in the GSC report as avg. position. The title attribute of the image tag includes the page URL, and this is the link that generates impressions/clicks. When the Image Pack link is clicked on Google SERP, the user is taken directly to the page. Example: 3 million impressions, only 430 clicks (0% CTR). Google’s algorithm selects Image Pack results based on the principle: “The Google Search algorithms select the images as it believes that it is something that would benefit the users.” Merchant Center AnalysisBecause it negatively affects the performance of product detail pages, Merchant Center performance was also examined. Free listings are visible across platforms such as Shopping, YouTube, Google Search, Images, and Lens. Due to the Image Pack removal, Merchant Center free listing performance may not have been reflected in the SERP.Search Appearance AnalysisGSC Search Appearance reports the rich result display of product pages. Rich results containing product information such as price and stock disappeared, and the SERP performance of the pages was affected.Google Analytics Pageview & Engagement AnalysisEngagement for out-of-stock products dropped, thus decreasing pageviews and engagement rate, which may have affected SERP performance.Core Web Vitals AnalysisAs of March 2024, the INP metric began to be used in page performance measurement. Some URLs are insufficient on the mobile version, which may reduce organic performance.Reasons for the Drop After the March 2024 Core Algorithm Update Google stopped the Image Pack display for queries targeted by e-commerce sites and for multi-brand queries containing brand names. Broad updates can impact images in Web Search results. Rich result display for out-of-stock products disappeared. The switch from Infinite Pagination to Classic Pagination may have affected organic performance. There was a loss of authority in branded queries in April 2024. Measures to Take After the March 2024 Update Redirection plans should be created for products with zero stock. Product content should be optimized. Image optimization of product detail pages should be ensured. Actions should be taken to increase the engagement rate of product pages (Rich Results & Merchant Center). Mobile usability and CWV metrics should be optimized (including INP). References Google Developers – Visual Elements Databox – GSC Impressions by Search Types SEO Clarity – Google Shopping SEO Radd Interactive – New Google Shopping Organic Webappick – Organic Listing on Google Shopping Merchant Center Documentation Google Ads – Performance Guide Google – Rich Results Reddit SEO Discussion – Impressions Drop SEO Hacker – Search Appearance Analysis GSQi – Image Pack Rankings

Sep 6, 2024 1797 reads

Catch the Back-to-School Wind: Effective Marketing Strategies for 2024

What is Back-to-School? Back-to-School is a significant period in marketing when students and parents purchase school supplies and clothing for the upcoming academic year. It also marks the start of the consumer shopping season and the transition into a new season. In Turkey, this period is typically considered to span August, September, and October. Who is the Target Audience for Back-to-School? Students, families, and teachers all engage in shopping to prepare for the new school year, covering needs ranging from electronics and stationery to clothing and footwear. With the rise of online education post-pandemic, demand for technological devices peaks during this time. What Are the Global Figures? The National Retail Federation forecasts that families with young children will spend a total of $38.8 billion on school shopping. For college students returning to school, this figure could rise to $86.6 billion. These numbers highlight the increased importance of technological products due to the digitalization accelerated by the pandemic. Online shopping remains a popular option for both families with young children and college students. Numerator has shared new data for the 2024 school shopping season. With the growing use of technology in classrooms, traditional school supply sales have decreased year-over-year, while online retailers have increased their share of the school supply market by 15 points over the last four years. Amazon leads in this sector. In the 2023/24 academic year, 90% of students used computers or tablets in their classrooms, and 80% used technology for school at home. Key findings include: Even young children use digital technology. While 2nd graders are least likely to use a computer or tablet for homework at home (60%), their use in the classroom is higher (83%). Computers are more commonly used than tablets. Last year, 69% of K-12 students did school work on computers, while 47% used tablets. 66% of households reused last year's supplies. Only 34% indicated they would purchase all new supplies. Online retailers captured 37% of school supply spending. Amazon has moved up to second place, surpassing Target. Effective Back-to-School Marketing IdeasInfluencers Appeal to Youth Young consumers place significant importance on the opinions of influencers they follow on social media when making shopping decisions. Partnering with influencers who appeal to this demographic can boost your brand's visibility and popularity among younger audiences. Collaborate with BTS influencers on platforms like TikTok and Instagram to effectively convey your brand message to young people. Parents and Teachers Matter too! The back-to-school period is crucial for parents and teachers as well. Parents are busy shopping to meet their children's needs, and teachers are preparing their classrooms for the new school year. Offering special promotions and discounts for parents and teachers can attract their interest and boost sales. Promotional Gifts In Turkey, promotional products are highly attractive to consumers. During the back-to-school period, consider offering school supplies, bags, or stationery sets as small gifts with purchases over a certain amount. These giveaways enhance the shopping experience and increase customer loyalty. Share User-Generated Content (UGC) on Social Media User-generated content plays a significant role in social media marketing. Share photos and videos that your customers post about your products to build brand credibility. Encourage customers to create UGC to increase engagement and expand your brand’s reach organically. Content and Theme Consistency Ensure that the content and themes used in your Back-to-School campaigns reflect the needs and expectations of your target audience. For instance, guides, shopping lists, and preparation tips related to returning to school can engage your customers. A well-aligned content strategy will make your brand message more impactful and effective. Choose the Right Products Selecting appropriate products based on your expertise and stocking up with relevant sizes and quantities can boost sales. Stationery, technology products, books, and clothing are always safe choices. Offering exclusive Back-to-School collections can set your brand apart from competitors. Back-to-School Promotions Implement various promotional strategies to attract customers. Percentage-based discounts, bundle deals for anticipated purchases, and student discounts can help drive sales. Email Marketing Email marketing is a key strategy for assisting parents and college students with their school shopping. Personalized content and discounts can effectively engage your customers. Customize Your Store for Back-to-School Make sure your website's landing page reflects the back-to-school theme. Display products under specific categories to simplify the purchasing process. Add Valuable Content to Your Blog Write blog posts offering guides and tips related to the back-to-school season to attract customers. Expert reviews and checklists can also be helpful. Partner with an Educational Institution Offering donation options to customers can build brand loyalty. Contributing to local schools can positively impact the community. Include a Gift with Every Purchase Adding a gift with purchases can enhance customer satisfaction. Offer unique gifts for customers who make purchases above a certain amount. Increase Reach with a Referral Program Encourage loyal customers to introduce your brand to their family and friends, boosting sales. Facilitate this process with referral links or unique codes. Invest in Customer Reviews Remember that shoppers look for brands they can trust. Product reviews play a significant role in purchasing decisions. Promote customer reviews to influence potential buyers and build trust in your brand.

Aug 6, 2024 547 reads

Using GA4 Measurement Protocol on server-side Google Tag Manager

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Measurement Protocol is a powerful tool for various data collection and analysis needs. Here are some use cases of the Measurement Protocol:1. Connecting Online and Offline BehaviorsGA4 Measurement Protocol allows you to combine online and offline customer interactions. For example, if a customer views a product on your online store and later purchases it in your physical store, you can merge these two interactions to create a more holistic customer journey.2. Measuring Client-Side and Server-Side InteractionsThe Measurement Protocol enables you to track both client-side and server-side interactions. This way, you can collect all user interactions occurring on your website and apps on a single platform.3. Sending Events Outside Standard User InteractionsYou can use the Measurement Protocol to send events outside standard user interactions, such as offline conversions, to GA4. This is especially useful for measuring the impact of your online ad campaigns on in-store sales.4. Sending Events from Devices and Apps Where Automatic Data Collection Is Not PossibleYou can send event data from kiosks, smartwatches, and other devices and applications where automatic data collection is not feasible. The Measurement Protocol enables you to integrate data from such devices and centralize all customer interactions.SetupIn server-side Google Tag Manager, we create the Measurement Protocol (GA4) ClientWe define the activation path as /mp/collect{ ‘measurement_id’: MEASUREMENT_ID, ‘api_secret’: API_SECRET, ‘client_id’: payload.get(‘client_id’), ‘events’: payload.get(‘events’) } Resources Google Analytics 4 Measurement Protocol Documentation By using the GA4 Measurement Protocol, you can enhance your business's data collection and analysis capabilities. This will help you make better business decisions and improve the customer experience.For more comprehensive technical measurement and product analytics, contact us

Aug 6, 2024 414 reads

The Use of First-Party Data in E-commerce Analytics

First-party data is the information a company collects from its customers and through its own channels. This data is typically gathered through customer interactions, website visits, transactions, and other direct engagements. Here’s why first-party data is so valuable.What is first-party data?First-party data is the information collected directly by a company from its own customers and target audience. This data comes from visits to your website, purchases, and other user interactions. It is considered the most valuable type of data for your business because it comes directly from the source, making it accurate and reliable.Why should we use first-party data? Accuracy and Reliability: Since first-party data comes directly from your customers, it is the most accurate and reliable form of data. It best reflects customer behavior and preferences. Data Control: First-party data is fully under your control, giving you greater oversight in terms of data privacy and security. This makes it easier to comply with privacy regulations like KVKK and GDPR. Personalization: The data collected from your customers allows you to offer more personalized and relevant content. This enhances the customer experience and boosts customer loyalty. Competitive Advantage: You gain access to exclusive data that your competitors can’t access. This makes your marketing strategies and business decisions more effective. So what is third-party data?Third-party data is information collected, aggregated, and sold by entities that are different from the original data source. In digital marketing and data analytics, third-party data is typically sourced externally and may include a broad range of demographic, behavioral, and interest-based data about individuals. This data is gathered by data brokers, aggregators, or other third-party organizations specialized in collecting and selling data.Recently, there have been limitations on third-party data usage, particularly in performance marketing and e-commerce analytics. KVKK requires user consent for data collection, which affects the creation of third-party cookies. Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari have implemented features like Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) and Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP), which block third-party cookies by default. Google Chrome planned to phase out third-party cookies by 2022, but this deadline has been pushed to the second half of 2024, aiming to strike a balance between user privacy and an ad-supported web. Safari and Firefox offer advanced privacy to their users by blocking third-party cookies by default.However, with Google’s recent A new path for Privacy Sandbox on the web announcement, a new update has been introduced stating that the blocking of third-party data and cookie deprecation will now be left to user choice.The main reason for this update is the combination of default cookie blocking in browsers, pressure from ad-tech platforms, and underwhelming performance in the tests conducted under the Privacy Sandbox API.For more comprehensive and technical e-commerce analytics, contact us

Jul 25, 2024 524 reads

Profitable Organic Content Production with N-Gram Analysis

How to Generate Profitable Organic Content with N-Gram Analysis?In the e-commerce projects we consult on for SEO, we have all certainly encountered the expectation: “We don’t want to create blog content only to gain organic traffic; our goal is also to generate revenue from the blog content we produce.” After performing the analyses below, tracking user behavior and observing the results of the planned strategy will be the most critical part, but I hope this strategy sparks an idea in your mind. :)1. Setting Up N-Gram AnalysisFor this strategy, the pool of search queries resulting in sales on the website is first subjected to N-Gram analysis. This analysis breaks down search queries into 1, 2, and 3-component parts, evaluating each component separately.By ranking according to various metrics such as ROAS, Conversion, and CPO, the top-performing 1, 2, 3, or 4-gram terms are obtained. This allows you to see which terms perform best and have the highest spend.This analysis provides insights for targeting high-performing terms more heavily and removing terms with high spend but low contribution to performance from the strategy.2. List of High-Performing Search Terms via N-Gram AnalysisIn Google Ads Search Network campaigns, we identify main categories for organic content revenue targeting through high-performing generic and short-tail keywords. (For example: men, women, children, men’s shoes, children’s t-shirts, women’s blouses, etc.)Encountering the main keywords identified as high-performing in the N-Gram analysis also in 3 and 4-gram versions provides a sort of validation of the strategy.Although our SEO efforts target long-tail keywords corresponding to 3 and 4 grams, analyzing 1 and 2-gram main keywords is essential for identifying high-performing umbrella keywords that may drive results.TIP: Branded queries still have high sales potential compared to non-branded queries, so extra attention should be paid to umbrella keywords within branded queries, as these keywords are already familiar to your users and have higher purchase potential.3. Organic Performance Analysis of High-Performing KeywordsThe organic traffic performance for the website is analyzed for the 3 and 4-gram keywords identified as high-performing in Google Ads Search Network campaigns. Thus, in the organic content strategy built around keywords performing well in Google Ads, the organic performance transfer for queries aligned with SEO targeting can also be evaluated.4. Organic Content CreationFinally, blog content with Informational & Transactional intent is created for the keywords identified through Google Ads and organic performance analyses, with a focus on sales potential.1. For profitable queries ranking in the top 3 organically, a blog strategy aligned with Transactional intent can be developed, as it is possible to gain authority through blog content.2. For queries with average organic traffic performance, ranking 4-10, a blog strategy aligned with Transactional intent can also be developed.In summary, although targeting long-tail queries is still the primary SEO strategy, you can design your blog content strategy for profitability by identifying revenue-generating keywords from N-Gram analysis with generic and short-tail queries and leveraging existing organic performance for those queries.Even if N-Gram analysis is just one method for profitability analysis, it is an essential step for constructing the correct strategy.Content sharing alone is not enough in the user’s purchase journey; you can encourage users toward conversion by using effective internal linking strategies within blog content.

Jul 18, 2024 641 reads

Preparing for Privacy Sandbox: What is Storage Access API?

Chrome is gradually phasing out support for third-party cookies to reduce cross-site tracking. This creates a challenge for sites and services that rely on cookies in embedded contexts for user journeys like authentication. The Storage Access API (SAA) allows these use cases to continue while limiting cross-site tracking as much as possible.What is the Storage Access API?The Storage Access API is a JavaScript API for iframes to request access to storage permissions that would otherwise be denied by browser settings. Embedded elements with use cases dependent on loading cross-site resources can use this API to request access from the user when needed.If the storage request is granted, the iframe will be able to access cross-site cookies, just like it would if the user visited that site as a top-level context.While it prevents general cross-site cookie access often used for user tracking, it allows specific access with minimal burden on the user.Use casesSome third-party embedded elements require access to cross-site cookies to provide a better user experience — something that will no longer be possible after third-party cookies are disabled.Use cases include: Embedded comment widgets that require login session details. Social media “Like” buttons that require login session details. Embedded documents that require login session details. A top-level experience delivered within an embedded video player (e.g., not showing ads to logged-in users, knowing user caption preferences, or restricting certain video types). Embedded payment systems. Many of these use cases involve maintaining login access within embedded iframes.Using the hasStorageAccess() methodWhen a site first loads, the hasStorageAccess() method can be used to check whether access to third-party cookies has already been granted.// Set a hasAccess boolean variable which defaults to false. let hasAccess = false; async function handleCookieAccessInit() { if (!document.hasStorageAccess) { // Storage Access API is not supported so best we can do is // hope it's an older browser that doesn't block 3P cookies. hasAccess = true; } else { // Check whether access has been granted via the Storage Access API. // Note on page load this will always be false initially so we could be // skipped in this example, but including for completeness for when this // is not so obvious. hasAccess = await document.hasStorageAccess(); if (!hasAccess) { // Handle the lack of access (covered later) } } if (hasAccess) { // Use the cookies. } } handleCookieAccessInit();