Client Update – Oct 2023 | Tribal Core

I touched base with a client yesterday whose dad was in his last days. They had a chance to spend a number of days together.

It was a good reminder of why we all do what we do and what's really important. For most of us, it's some combination of family, friends and doing meaningful work.

Here at Tribal Core, we strive to serve our clients well, knowing your livelihood, abundance and happiness are in the balance. We know we need to earn your trust and confidence every day, and we don't take that lightly. In short, we care, and I sincerely hope that shines through as you interact with us regularly.

If you have any questions at all, or just want to touch base, don't hesitate to get in touch. My schedule is always available here: https://www.tribalcore.com/schedule/

In gratitude for our work together,
~ Tyler

For our clients with a local service area, for whom we are managing Local SEO:

In January 2023, Apple announced the launch of its local listings platform, Apple Business Connect, which is actually a re-launch of the older "Apple Maps Connect" platform launched in October 2014.

Apple Business Connect is a free tool that allows businesses to manage and customize their information across Apple apps, similar to Google Business Profile (GBP), which is primarily used to populate information on Google Search and Maps. Initially, the platform offered a basic listing feature on Apple Maps, but it has since become more feature-rich and useful for businesses.

Depending on the platform a local business is on, there may be integrations that can assist a business like so:

Online reservations
Digital payments
Real-time notifications
Advanced analytics

Additionally, Apple has introduced Apple Showcase Posting, where businesses can add ephemeral promotions and announcements to their Apple Maps listings called Showcases (currently US-only).

We spend 10-15% of our time in R&D, making sure we stay on top of the latest platforms, features and opportunities. Apple Business Connect is yet another example of how quickly things change and how we're there for you to navigate the ever-changing online landscape.

We are significantly upgrading our Local SEO service to include enterprise platform management and Google Business Profiles. We are currently reaching out to our clients that may benefit from Local SEO, or are already using our services, to discuss the upgrade and start rolling out the changes.

In the meantime, check out a couple recent blog posts for context on why Local SEO is so important for businesses with a local service area and how we can be of service.

If you know any small businesses with a local footprint (think doctors, lawyers, restaurants and so on), or businesses that operate multiple locations, put 'em in touch and we'll add you to our referral program. We're offering this with extremely competitive pricing as an essential cost of doing business locally.

You might have seen Google’s new analytics code, GA4, in the news of late. I wrote an article about it here and we've covered it here in our monthly Updates - see the next accordion tab below.

There has been some urgency around implementing this, because Google is going to stop collecting data on the older version, Universal Analytics (UA), on July 1, 2023. This means that in order to have year-over-year data, your site needs to have the new GA4 code installed by July 1 of this year. Every website owner needs to be aware of this.

Because GA4 is in some ways not ready for prime-time, it’s important to us that as we implement this for our clients (gratis!), we have it run concurrently with the older UA code to ensure data continuity. Tricky for us is that Google Analytics code can be implemented in many, many different ways. So one-by-one, we’re auditing, implementing and testing code, learning as we go. It looks a lot like that photo above!

As we successfully implement GA4 on your website, we'll see if initial data is looking as it should. We’ll also connect it up to Google Ads. We’ll then be circling back to further ensure that you’re collecting the data you should be, particularly Conversion Events.

We’re future-proofing your web presence even as the ground constantly shifts. This is yet another benefit for Tribal Core’s clients and a reflection of our gratitude for your business.

If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Most of our clients use a version of Google Analytics code called Universal Analytics. Some sites have adopted Google’s latest: Google Analytics 4, which is commonly referred to as GA4, and some sites are concurrently running both GA4 and Universal Analytics.

GA4 is a seismic shift in data collection and measurement. Google describes it thusly: “Google Analytics 4 operates across platforms, does not rely exclusively on cookies and uses an event-based data model to deliver user-centric measurement.”

Here’s the kicker: Google has announced that Universal Analytics will no longer process new data beginning July 1, 2023. That means that a website that has been running Universal Analytics will not collect data at all beginning July 1, 2023, such that any report or view will have a total drop-off on that date.

That seems aways away, yes? Well yes and no. Continuity of data is really important. Measuring site performance month-over-month or year-over-year is really important. Looking up historical data is really important.

And so too it becomes really important to ensure this continuity of data in your new GA4 account, so that by the time that Universal Analytics stops collecting data, you’ll have at least a year of data in GA4.

We Will Migrate You Sooner Than Later

Migrating over to GA4 in the next two months is something that we feel is critically important for you, so we’re taking the lead. We’re building process and checklists so that we can prepare you for this transition, which we’ll help manage.

For most of our clients, we’ll be adding GA4 to an existing Universal Analytics account. This means our clients will have two different Properties in Google Analytics, each of them populating with data. This ensures that we stay the course with the Analytics we know and love, while collecting data in GA4 and learning how the platform works, what’s different in GA4, and how to maximize actionable insight.

Some clients have implemented Google Analytics code via Google Tag Manager – we have process for that as well, as implementation is different than placing the Analytics code directly on the website.

Some specific challenges in this process are setting up fundamentally different Conversion Tracking (now entirely based on Events) and migrating Ecommerce measurement (which Google calls “high effort”).

The bottom line is that we’re treating this as the big deal that it is, so that our clients continue to have the data they need to make good decisions about spend, resources and time. You are welcome to reach out to discuss this further – we’re here for you!

Here's organic traffic growth from a B2B client of ours:

Our client has seen over 600% growth in organic search traffic over the last year, primarily due to a Content + Authority strategy. We've talked about this before: creating great content, keeping it fresh and building authority via backlinks is incredibly important in growing an organic search presence.

Some key things to think about:

Creating content: we encourage you to blog on a regular basis - once a week if you can! We can help with content procurement, including our Topic Research Roadmaps, Longform Content and additional Blog Posts.
Freshening Content: in your Monthly Report, we maintain a spreadsheet of posts and pages on your website that should be updated and "freshened" on a fairly regular basis, usually every 90-120 days. This might include adding 100+ words, updating content for 2022, adding photos and other ways to add value for your site visitors.
Authority: you benefit from high-quality backlinks. On your own, you might procure backlinks from your broader web presence, including guest posting, trade organization profiles, Chamber of Commerce membership and so on. We can help with backlink procurement via our SEO Campaigns, deployed in a way that maintains your "natural link profile."

If you're on our entry-level OWL Plan, consider our WOLF Plan or contact us regarding an a la carte approach to the Content + Authority strategy outlined above. This is a long-term foundational approach to strengthening your website and growing organic search traffic over time. Get in touch anytime!

We're really excited to be beta testing a new service for our clients we call Podcast Research. You should have received your research, and we encourage you to review it and send out five quick emails.

Podcast appearances accomplish two goals: (1) it demonstrates your thought leadership to a highly relevant, self-selecting audience and (2) includes a backlink to your site on the episode page. This boosts your domain authority, resulting in better search rankings over time.

Let us know if you have questions!

By now, you've received your Core Web Vitals report, which outlines performance and next steps for three user experience metrics that Google has incorporated into the algorithm. This is the biggest Google algorithm update we've seen since the mobile-friendly update over six years ago.

Across the web, it appears that 87% of websites are failing one or more of the Core Web Vitals metrics. Anecdotally, we're seeing our clients fall into one of three pretty evenly-sized buckets - modest traffic improvement, modest traffic decline or no change. This tracks quite closely with how well a site is performing in the Core Web Vitals test.

Most recommended Core Web Vitals adjustments will need to be made by a developer. In some cases, you'll just need faster web hosting. We've outlined possible problems and solutions in your report, and we're available for additional questions, anytime. You can schedule time with Tyler here. We're in this with you!

Thank you for the trust and confidence you've placed in us!