Tips Tuesday – Email Authorization Deadline, Sneaky AI Plugin, 2024 Predictions
Hello Happy Site Owner!
Tips this week include:
- Holiday Deals are in full swing – get your savings
- Google’s Feb 1 deadline for email authorization and where to get help with it
- New metrics analysis testing for Helpful Content Update recovery
- Changes to Video pages in Google Search Console
- Medivine sells Grow Social to NerdPress
- More on Mediavine’s product roadmap for 2024
- 2023 video trend reviews
- 2024 content marketing predictions
- The best times to post on social media in 2024
- A popular plugin that snuck in AI on us, and how to turn it off
BlogAid Holiday Deals
I’ve got HUGE discounts for you this year on the things you need, including:
- DIY SEO course – save $100
- Webmaster Training – save $190
- Site Audit – save $100
- Consults – half off
- AI Images for Profit – first month for $1
- AI Success Club – 25% off plus $900 worth of bonuses
See the Holiday Deals page for all the details.
And tell your blogger buddies about these deals too!!
Email Marketing Tips
Google’s Feb 1 Deadline for Email Authorization
Google has put a deadline on getting your email deliverability and authentication squared away. The deadline is Feb 1.
What does it mean to have proper authentication?
There are all kinds of special DNS records that need to be added at your host and at Cloudflare for proper email authentication and delivery of both email from your site and from your email list.
That authentication cuts down on spam and helps ensure the emails you send land in the inboxes of your subscribers.
In the 15+ years I’ve been doing this, I’ve only seen 1 client make all of those connections and add all of those records themselves.
That’s why me and my clients use the Domain Email Service at Iridium Hosting do this setup for us.
You don’t have to be on that host to get this service either.
But, it’s the host me, all of my clients, and webmasters and their clients use.
One of the reasons for that is they have far superior security, including not running a domain-related email through the hosting.
Ours is set up through the SMTP delivery service and all of our DNS records for our email and list service are fully configured too.
SEO Tips
Helpful Content Update Recovery Workshop Status
I’ve invited 2 volunteers from the DIY SEO course to help me test the new process I developed to make it easier to see which of our posts/pages were affected by Google’s Helpful Content Update, and all of the other algorithm changes Google made starting in August.
I’ve made it easy to analyze the data we can download in reports from GA4 and Google Search Console, as there really is no way to decently analyze them on those platforms.
And I sent out a survey to folks in the course asking if they want to start the workshops early this time, as we have so much to cover this year.
If your traffic has dropped this fall, you definitely want to get in this course and see how to get that traffic back.
And it’s on sale for the holidays too!
Changes to Video Pages in GSC
Google announced that Video mode will only show on pages where the video is the main content.
And of course they want that video above the fold so they can easily tell it is the main content.
But, they also want your page load to be fast. But if it is above the fold we may not be able to lazy load it, and that will radically slow down the page load.
Plus, we want to strategically place our affiliate links, subscribe buttons, and optins above the video because almost no one scrolls below the video to see those things.
Here’s what I’m doing about my posts with videos – nothing.
My video is below the fold, but still high enough on the page to be considered the prominent content.
It’s not a secondary type of video, like what we see with videos that have ads, and those videos may or may not be directly related to the content of the post.
Too many videos on the page confuses Google.
But video ads pay a lot of money.
And links for affiliate things and optins and subscribing to our YouTube channel get a lot more clients when above the video, and make us more money too.
Here’s the thing.
My videos rank well on YouTube. That’s where they get discovered for the most part.
Some rank so well that they are shown in regular Google Search too.
They ALWAYS outrank my post now.
So, I’m not sure I give a flying flip about what Google wants me to do with the placement of my video in a post.
And they will likely change their mind about it by next quarter anyway.
So, this is a hoop I have no intention of jumping through.
But, if you have multiple videos on your posts, you definitely need to have a look and see if they are confusing to visitors and Google.
Some of those videos with ads that follow you around everywhere are distracting or confusing because they are not the thing that the post is talking about.
Monetization Tips
Mediavine Sells Grow Social to NerdPress
I was a little stunned by this announcement, but in one way I’m relieved to hear it.
I worked directly with the original developer of the Grow plugin back when it was called Social Pug. And I was sad to the point of crying when he sold it to Mediavine.
In my opinion, they butchered that plugin.
And they botched every new integration they added to it with their Grow.me stuff.
It literally fooled site visitors into thinking they were signing up to the site owner’s email list when in fact they were actually handing over their privacy rights to Mediavine.
It took way too many months of complaining to get Mediavine to share that email list with the site owner and to do an integration with the site owner’s email list, in my opinion.
And all the “Grow” names in everything was just majorly confusing too.
So, now the plugin is owned by NerdPress and the new name is Hubbub.
NerdPress is a WordPress support and maintenance service company.
To my knowledge, this is their first plugin.
So, we’ll see what they do with it.
You can read more about Hubbub on the NerdPress site.
But basically, it goes back to being social share buttons, and your current account, if you have the Pro version, stays the same.
More on Mediavine’s Product Roadmap
Mediavine made a video with a panel discussion of all their top folks to share their product roadmap and what happens with the drop of erd party cookie tracking.
No matter who you use as your ad agency, you need to watch this.
And no matter what any of them say, you need to diversify your income stream so that ads is a sideline, not a main source of income.
Trends and Predictions
2023 Video Trend Reviews
Two of the big video platforms are releasing their trend reviews for what was hot in 2023, and maybe hints of what to expect in 2024.
Even if you are not active on each of these platforms, it’s still worth your while to see the trends on them. You might be amazed at what you are missing that could be major traffic for your site.
Here’s a list of them.
2024 Content Marketing Predictions
Content Marketing Institute gathered predictions from 67 influencers and experts on what we can expect to see in 2024 with trying to get our content in front of more eyeballs.
The big trends will be dominated by:
- Assistance from AI
- Trust and relationships
Many of these folks also say there is going to be a big shakeup in content marketing next year, and we will need to ride the waves of change too.
The Best Times to Post on Social Media in 2024
Is there a best time to post on social media?
I think this question has been around as long as social media platforms have existed.
Search Engine Journal has the predictions from multiple authoritative sources for what you should do in 2024.
AI Plugin Tips
A Popular Plugin Sneaks in AI on Us
I told you this was going to happen!
A popular plugin that many of us used slipped in an AI component.
And security folks insisted that they provide a way to turn it off shortly afterward.
Here’s what to look for and how to turn it off.
Tips Tuesday Plus subscribers got the rest of this tip.
