Client Update – June 2022 | Tribal Core

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!

Here we are just past the tail end of 2021, yet another year that has presented so many challenges and opportunities for each of us, both personally and professionally.

Following are some end-of-2021 thoughts with you, including our rates, how we’ve improved our services and what we have planned for 2022. I'm leaving this post up top, as there is so much good stuff in here, and so much for our beloved clients to look forward to throughout the year.

First, I want to express gratitude. Gratitude for all of our amazing clients who trust us and the work that we do. Gratitude for our remarkable team that shows up every day with a smile and a mission to move the needle for our clients, including Jessica, Christine, Amy, Valicia and Catriana. And my own personal gratitude for the health and happiness of my wife AliSun and friends and family who make life richer.

On to the agenda.

First, a note that we raised our rates for new clients, effective January 15. I’m really pleased to share that YOU are grandfathered in. The fact is, we’re not immune to rising costs across the board, including labor and our tools, and we’re also heavily invested in working to improve our services, such that we’re providing ever-increasing value. So yes, our rates are going up, yours are not.

That said, we really want to encourage you to take that money you AREN’T spending with us to UP your investment in your web presence in 2022. This might mean increased Google Ads spend or re-theming your website or creating some videos. Give it some thought and ask us any questions you might have.

Ok, next - how we improved our services in 2021. Well, it starts with a big investment in R&D with every one of us taking on projects that make us better. The tools and platforms and algorithms out there change so fast it requires this investment so that we can help you stay competitive and gain ground.

So we look to improve the process and methodology for what we already do, and try new things that we think can deliver wins to our clients.

Here’s a list of some of the things we did in 2021:

The Core Web Vitals report was the most important SEO deliverable of the year.
We comped a full set of Display Ads for every client
The new Podcast Research we delivered has been a game changer.
YouTube Placement Research is new for our clients
Google Lead Forms are just now rolling out to clients
Remarketing and Audience Building are improved
Our Keyword Research expanded, including questions and queries and negative keywords
Our Roadmaps, Content Strategy, Topic Research and Page Research were all refined
Your Client Dashboard was improved
A series of 12 Explainer PDFs we deliver at key touchpoints, archived in your client portal
Our Onboarding Process is twice as efficient

Heading into 2022, we are rolling out a number of things in the first few months, including:

Performance Max, which is Google’s new omnichannel platform
YouTube Remarketing
Responsive Display Ads
Advanced Analytics for Google Tag Manager users

You can see we’re busy building in value and keeping you at the cutting edge of the Google Ads platform, as well as ever-improving our approach to SEO and Content Strategy.

Next, we want new business. We welcome your referrals, and we have a program in place to pay a nice referral thank you. We work hard to earn your trust and confidence, and if you have someone in your network that would benefit from having a chat to see if we might be a good fit, please put us in touch. Our team is ready to welcome new clients, and we’ll do our very best for them.

Lastly, I invite you to get on my calendar to ask any questions you like and to discuss plans and goals. We’re going to work hard every day for you, and if we can better align with your strategic direction, it’s a win-win for all of us.

So again, on behalf of the team here at Tribal Core, thank you. We value you and we want to see you succeed. I hope you take time to take good care this holiday and do the things that recharge you and nurture your soul. Be safe out there and be well.

~ Tyler

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!

When one is in a fast-changing industry such as internet marketing, it's imperative that there is a big focus on R&D - researching the latest changes and developing the implementation of those changes to the benefit of clients. And that's precisely what we do, with regular R&D meetings, process development and occasionally using a client as a willing guinea pig for something new and exciting. To be fair, it doesn't look quite like the lab above.

Some of the things we're working on, which you'll see the fruits of in the coming months:

Conversion value rules which allow advertisers to tell Google Ads what factors are most important to them.
Connecting Youtube accounts to Google Analytics accounts to gather more analytics data.
Google's new beta omnichannel program Performance Max to advertise across all Google Platforms.
Dynamic Attributes to enhance remarketing campaigns with dynamic creative content.
Advanced Analytics to better segment and differentiate audiences for channel marketing.

The long and short of it is that we're dedicated to your success, and we see R&D as an essential piece of that puzzle. We work every day to earn your trust and confidence, and staying on top of the latest innovations is just one way that we aspire to deliver value and create happiness.

We run SEO Campaigns for clients on our higher tiers. This is the process of procuring "backlinks" from high-quality, trafficked blogs back to our client's website. The idea here is to increase both domain authority and page authority while maintaining a "natural link profile."

It pairs well with creating good content for your website, including long-form content of 1,500 words or more. The backlinks to your content help that content rank increasingly well for it's target keywords. Google "self storage seo" for example, and you'll see us ranking #1. This is due to a combination of (1) creating great, useful content, (2) keeping that content fresh by updating every couple months and (3) developing backlinks to that content.

Following is organic traffic for one of our clients in the Professional Services vertical. This approach is paying off with 165% more traffic and 200% more leads since March.

Candidly, this is a very time-consuming, low-margin process that requires expertise and resources. And it requires patience, as it takes time for this backlink development to build up the authority to make your site and target posts more competitive. If you'd like to learn more about running SEO Campaigns for your site, schedule some time with Tyler.

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!

We're always looking for opportunities to improve how we serve our valued clients. The latest improvement is a Dashboard upgrade.

Our clients have come to love and rely on the executive-level view we build. We wanted to improve the insight into Google Ads on this latest upgrade. Most of you will see a new page 4 & 5 in your Dashboard (this may vary if another vendor is running Google Ads for you or if we are simultaneously managing a Google Grant account).

You can always find a link to your Dashboard in your Client Portal. Note you can page through your Dashboard in the upper-left, and there's a Date Range tool you can adjust in the upper-right.

Hope you like it and find it useful! Get in touch with any questions or requests - we're here to serve.

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