Episode 163 contains the notable Digital Marketing News and Updates from the week of May 29 - June 2, 2023. And the show notes for this episode was generated using generative AI. And like always, I curated the articles for the show.

1. Google Search Console Insights Adds New Report to Track Growing Content - Google has added a new report to Search Console Insights that track your content's growth over time. The report shows you how many impressions and clicks your content has received and how its ranking has changed. This information can help you identify your most popular content and change your content strategy to improve its performance.

To access the new report, go to the Search Console Insights page and select "Your Growing Content" from the menu. The report will show you a list of your top content, along with the following information for each piece of content:

You can use the information in this report to identify your most popular content and change your content strategy to improve its performance. For example, you can promote your most popular content on social media, write more content on similar topics, or optimize your content for specific keywords.

2. Google Now Treats .ai Domains as Generic Top-Level Domains - Google has updated its search algorithm to treat .ai domains as generic top-level domains (gTLDs), rather than country code top-level domains (ccTLDs). This means that .ai domains will now be eligible to rank for global search queries, not just those specific to Anguilla.

This is a significant change for businesses that use .ai domains. In the past, these businesses were limited to targeting local traffic. Now, they can reach a global audience with their websites and marketing campaigns.

If you have a .ai domain, you can optimize your website for global search queries today. Here are a few tips:

Following these tips can help your .ai domain rank for global search queries and reach a wider audience.

3. Google Penalizes Websites with Cheap TLDs - Google's John Mueller said on Reddit that Google penalizes websites that use cheap top-level domains (TLDs). Cheap TLDs are domains that cost less than $10 per year and are often associated with spam and low-quality websites.

Google's decision to penalize websites with cheap TLDs indicates that the search engine is more aggressive against spam. In recent years, Google has been cracking down on spam and low-quality websites, and this latest update is another step in that direction.

If your website uses a cheap TLD, you may want to consider transferring it to a more reputable domain. This will help to improve your website's ranking in Google Search results and protect you from being penalized.

How do you know which TLDs are spammy? Check out, Spamhaus.org.

4. Google Launches ‘Product Studio’ - Google has announced the launch of Product Studio. This free tool uses generative A.I. to create high-quality product images. Product Studio is available to all businesses, regardless of size, and can create images for various purposes, including product listings, marketing campaigns, and social media.

To use Product Studio, businesses upload their product images and provide details about the product, such as the product name, category, and color. Product Studio will then use this information to generate high-quality images, including lifestyle images, product shots, and close-ups.

Product Studio will be a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes. It can help businesses to save time and money on product photography, and it can help businesses to create more engaging and visually appealing product listings.

It's important to note that Product Studio is currently in the pilot phase, and Google is working with a select group of retailers to test and refine it. However, they have expressed their excitement to see what's possible with this technology.

5. YouTube Shopping and Discovery Product Ads Requirements - Google has clarified the requirements for YouTube Shopping ads and Discovery product ads. The new requirements are designed to help retailers understand why their ads may not perform well and how to address any issues.

The new requirements for YouTube Shopping ads include the following:

You can review the Google Shopping ads policy center and free listing policies to understand better how the policies are enforced.

6. Microsoft Introduces ‘Insights’ for Universal Event Tracking Tags - Microsoft has unveiled ‘insights’ for Universal Event Tracking (UET) tags in an exciting development for data-driven marketers. This feature, designed to enhance your understanding of user engagement on your website, will be automatically enabled for all existing UET tags starting June 29.

A Microsoft Advertising UET tag monitors visitor activities on your website following an ad click. This tag collects relevant data, empowering you to keep track of conversion objectives and create specific remarketing lists for effective audience targeting. UET tags enable the tracking of various conversion goals, such as purchases, sign-ups, downloads, and more. These goals can be configured based on criteria like visitor count to specific pages, time spent on the website, the number of pages browsed, and clicks on your mobile app, among others.

The newly introduced UET Insights bring several advancements designed to provide a more in-depth understanding of user interactions on your website. These insights are integrated into a powerful dashboard that showcases crucial data such as:

Additional indicators like page latencies, interactions (clicks and scrolls), purchase cart carts specifics, cart abandonment details, and JavaScript browser errors are also included.

UET Insights extend beyond providing a comprehensive understanding of your website's performance. They help enhance the effectiveness of ads through refined targeting, fraud detection, and minimizing conversion loss. This leads to a richer understanding of user behavior and website performance, resulting in more efficient advertising strategies.

Activating UET Insights doesn't require coding. Existing tags were automatically updated, and any new tags created will come pre-equipped with UET Insights. Notably, there's no data sampling involved, ensuring that the information you receive is complete and representative. UET Insights does not adversely affect your site's performance, and the collected data is processed and presented almost instantly on the UET dashboard.

Advertisers maintain complete control over UET Insights and can choose to turn them off if needed. Those wishing to opt out can do so through the UET Dashboard in the Microsoft Advertising platform. To learn more, visit the Microsoft Advertising help page.