Crystal Ortiz

Working with multiple agencies? You might be losing out on significant ROI. That's because scale is a major benefit of having an Agency of Record (AOR). An AOR consolidates your media buys and partnerships, which means better scale and connectivity. This leads to reduced platform fees and more working dollars going toward actual advertising. An AOR's scale can slash both platform and management fees. In our Retail Media practice, we find this often allows our advertisers to re-invest around 7% of Retail Media fees straight back into working media. Don't reduce your budgets - get more scale and more sales for the same total investment.

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Why SEO Execs Are Often More Skilled Than SEO Gurus. Something I run into regularly online is my own content. My images, my ideas, my thoughts. Except...it isn't mine. Someone took the thoughts or images, altered them slightly (or greatly), and published them as their own. With the emergence of more tools that support this, along with 'guru' encouragement, the sheer speed and scale of copying are at an all-time high. I don't mind this. I get inspired all the time by the content of others. The problem is that you end up with people providing insight they never experienced and earned. All for likes and followers. This is the SEO hustle club. Just because they talk like an SEO and act like an SEO online does not mean they are able to do SEO. In reality, thousands of SEO execs work in the trenches, doing more 'day-to-day' work than many of these gurus. "But they've done the SEO work?" Really? Are you sure? This is why I'm so passionate about SEOs (who are in the trenches) finding their voices and sharing their hard-earned insights, knowledge and experience. In fact, it's these posts that get my attention online. Not another long flow diagram of 100 things the SEO made up that they do for clients that you can 'steal' from them. Or the snazzy slide deck of content formats that drove £1 billion in revenue (Dr Evil laugh included for free). Make no mistake. There are thousands of SEO grafters with zero followings who are doing the hard work for clients while gurus plan their next YouTube video or webinar to sell you coaching, paid links, or any other get-rich-quick idea. SEO is about showing up daily. Doing the work that compounds in value. Winning ground in inches, not miles. That's why most of the SEO content I find of value, is written by those without followings. Because they pour their heart and graft into the content they create. And are doing it for the industry, not to build a following.

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Search traffic can always get a little funny going into the holidays. It’s especially weird on an election year with record storms and Google in front of DOJ cases and AI search looming. Yet we still see all time highs across verticals. Hold fast, actual broad scale change is usually slower than the news, and distractions from your business are inevitable. If you don’t react immediately to everything, you can build a strong foundation and strategy to take advantage of the shifts.

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Health privacy is breached every day online. Most Americans don’t realize their Amazon info is being aggregated with Google searches, news browsing, FB/Instagram/TikTok posts & more. So our entire online experience, including health, is being sifted for marketing. Two LDI fellows, Ari Friedman and Matt McCoy, showed how hospitals and abortion clinics are just as likely as others to track users and pass on the info to aggregators. Check out this LDI piece that lays it out. #https://lnkd.in/eetqaPi3

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This is a very important read: Google quietly testing "Message Multiple" through LSAs and offering zero transparency to advertisers. This means, while you may think you are paying for a phone call from a prospect, you really are just one of four competitors getting a message.... and you have NO IDEA how much each of those different leads costs you. If you are an LSA advertiser, this is a must read (and also... track your economics for LSAs very very carefully.

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Following on the heels of my Eight Oh Two blog posts about optimizing product description pages, recently I took a step back and expanded the discussion to include optimizing product category pages. If it's not something you're already doing for your eComm business, you're missing valuable opportunities to develop your brand and drive traffic to your web pages. I'll show you how.

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Alright, folks, buckle up. I've got some real talk about what's going on in the SEO world, and it's... well, it's something. So, I just wrapped up interviewing 9 SEO exec candidates in 10 days for my agency (Ninety One Solutions). Experience? 2 to 5 years. The takeaway? Houston, we have a problem. Here's the scoop: 1. Data? What data? Nobody's really data-driven. It's all "my friend's cousin's dog walker did this and it worked." A/B testing? Crickets. 2. Backlinks 101 We're talking bare basics here. Submissions, Web 2.0, guest posts. That's it. Where's the creativity, people? 3. Lost in translation 90% of online content is in English, but these candidates? Not exactly Shakespeare. How are they guiding writers when they're all in the same boat? 4. Playing it safe Everyone's just chasing that steady paycheck. Taking risks or investing in courses? Nah, too scary. 5. Comfort zone much? Past decent salaries have turned into a trap. They've gotten too comfy, stopped pushing themselves. Now it's all fear and survival mode. 6. Resource drought Companies aren't helping either. No extra cash for R&D, A/B testing, or even basic tools? Come on! 7. Show me the money It's all about the pay check now. What happened to wanting to make a difference? Now, check out these stats: • 76% of SEO pros say keeping up with algorithm changes is their biggest headache (Search Engine Journal, 2023) • Only 30% are regularly doing A/B tests (Ahrefs, 2022) • 68% feel their skills are underappreciated (Moz, 2023) Talk about demotivating, right? It's like we're all on this crazy treadmill chasing algorithms, feeling undervalued, and not even testing our work. No wonder folks are feeling stuck or burnt out. It's easy to see why some might just give up or coast along. But here's the thing – we can't let these stats define us. They're a wake-up call, sure, but also an opportunity. An opportunity to stand out, to be the one who does test, who stays ahead of the curve, who proves their value. So, what do we do about it? If you're in SEO: 1. Get learning! There's tons of free stuff out there. 2. Jump into SEO communities. Share what you know, learn from others. 3. Start your own projects. Get that hands-on experience. 4. Work on your English. Trust me, it'll pay off. 5. Find a mentor. Someone who's been there, done that. If you're hiring: 1. Put your money where your mouth is. Invest in your people. 2. Check in on skills regularly. Help your team grow. 3. Make testing and experiments part of the job. 4. Help your team with language skills. 5. Reward the problem-solvers and innovators. I'm really curious to hear what you all think. Are you seeing the same things? How can we shake things up and get our industry back on track? Let's chat about this. Drop your thoughts below! #SEO #DigitalMarketing #RealTalk #IndustryInsights

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Google has recently declared that, as of August 31, 2021, it will discontinue its support for expanded text ads in favor of responsive search ads. Moreover, advertisers have been alerted that ad customizers for text ads, expanded text ads, and dynamic search ads will no longer be available after May 31, 2024. #googleads #google #searchads

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Good points here. (A "gatekeeper" company is going to get a lot of unwanted attention if they make it really easy to turn off every competitor's cross-context user tracking while leaving their own cross-context user tracking turned on. Whatever form the cookie preference ends up taking, it's going to also have to control Google tracking that isn't technically cookie-based but would otherwise be unfairly/illegally advantaged)

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Why Wordy Content Destroys SEO. A few years ago I sat down with an inexperienced writer to mentor them. I reviewed their latest article. It was mostly waffle. When I asked why it was so much waffle, they told me it was down to the SEO agency. They had dictated that the page needed 6000 words. When I asked how they had come to such a figure, they told me, it was double what was already ranking. This tactic causes 2 issues. The first is that writers have to hit word count, as such they add words and sentences that are not needed. The second is that the page becomes hard to read by both humans and machines. 1000 words can easily contain 10x more information that 6000 words. This situation is not uncommon. In recent years, many SEO agencies and freelancers turned to AI. They sold content at scale, for a higher average retainer rate and at higher profit. Scaled content abuse happened. Google took action. So, you have 2 core issues. Agencies churned out wordy content and web pages. Either through humans or machines. But, we now have a huge opportunity. Amongst the SERPs is a huge opportunity to create information rich pages. To create pages packed with information, not words. This takes more effort than you think. And it's challenging for agencies to deliver. Most writers are not trained to write this way. Most SEOs do not think this way. It's why SEOs need to understand content design, information science and machine learning. There is huge opportunity in search at the moment. But only for those that can spot the patterns of opportunity.

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400% increase in ad conversions for this SaaS brand. Here’s how: Client: My Google ads aren’t converting: Me: Is your messaging talking to the right audience? Client: I think so. Me: Does it answer their pains? Client: It highlights our product features. Me: Do you show the benefits of those features? Client: Should we? Me: Does your messaging framework drive all your copy? Client: We don’t have one. I worked 1-1 with this SaaS brand in the developer space. Their tools help people create more engaging content. Ironically, their Google ads kept failing from lack of engagement and conversion. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱: Workshopped a brand messaging framework to use across their content and comms. Defined their key messages. Clarified the proof points for each message. Rewrote the ad headlines + descriptions, based on the messaging framework: • 7 headlines • 30 descriptions 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁: Within 24hrs of relaunch, the ad campaigns started kicking. Generating high quality MQLs. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀: 400% increase in conversions. 300% drop in cost per lead. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄-𝗼𝗻: Using the messaging framework, all other content, comms and GTM deliverables were overhauled. An overall content marketing plan and calendar was created and implemented. The messaging framework was used as the single source for consistent copy and messaging. *** So, stop underestimating the power of the words you use in your messaging and marketing. Stop putting off understanding how messaging tweaks can kick-start and continue clients coming to you. P.S. if you see yourself in my client here and: - you're a SaaS startup or scaleup - you have an audience online - you post regular content - you want to scale your content marketing - you want to convert your content into clients - you want to your GTM actions into generate MQLs - you want to grow I'm looking to work 1-1 with some brands to help them do just that. If you'd like to chat about ways to scale your content and generate leads, DM me. OR follow @Di Mace for more ideas on turning content into clients

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I’ve got a niche gripe here. Fellow site publishers and commerce content editors, you’ll get it. It’s endlessly frustrating when brands hop affiliate platforms without notifying publishers. Case in point: I recently looked through old content on a popular winter clothing brand we used to write about frequently, only to find they’d switched platforms without notice, leaving us with dead links. I’d spotted some legacy content of mine still pulling traffic in a dashboard and thought maybe there was an opportunity to refresh it for winter. Wrong. Instead, I’m stuck figuring out whether to redirect, reindex, or scrap those posts altogether. And yes, that costs time and money—neither of which are “fun” to burn on dated links, now driving people to nowhere. We have dozens of posts about this brand and its then-current cycle of products from a couple years ago, when it resonated well. But those products aren't as new as they were two years ago, so it's aged like milk. Re-linking for a marginal revenue boost isn’t worth it, especially when the content’s no longer timely. But it’s not just on us. Google likely considers these dead links in how it views commerce publishers, or “content publishers” as I’ve learned affiliate marketers call us. It’s a negative signal to a massively important distribution tool for this information. And we see all the downside in that chain, not the brand that made a platform switch. Brands don’t seem to realize the hassle they create or that publishers are left holding the bag to clean up a mess on our property when they flake. It’s a lot of effort for what we call “worth-it-ness,” especially in today’s chaotic search engine climate. Like... no wonder Google doesn't want to drive traffic to "commerce content" like it did six or seven years ago. We’ve dealt with brands having commitment issues with their affiliate platforms over the years, and it can be exhausting. It definitely dampens any appetite for repeating it. User trust and site integrity are our top priorities across our entire domain and ecosystem, and no one wants users hitting dead links on something we vouched for. So “organic affiliate” partnerships? They start to feel like a one-sided risk when the rug’s yanked out from under us. Brands and their agencies may not see it or feel like this is a minor annoyance based on what they see as nothing but upside, but this “play-the-field” approach impacts how we choose what makes a good performance partner. We’re forced to weigh the upfront labor AND the future labor created against the chaos waiting down the line if the garden gets unruly.

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Randomly looking through the Inc5000 list trying to start analyzing fast growing company's growth, content and SEO strategy. #1 on the list CareBridge that has achieved 157,144% 3 year growth...and hasn't optimized their site. That's astonishing growth, without even considering an organic presence. Imagine what non-branded presence in their space could drive. It's pretty simple to see and update/fix: 1. Title tag on the homepage is "Hompage" for who we serve page is 'Who We Serve" - you're putting too much pressure on your brand name to drive net new users 2. News page (usually the best place to look at content strategy) - 1 post so far in 2024 and it's company/personnel specific. 3. Keyword Rankings - 0 keywords within the top 100 sending traffic to the site around At Home Healthcare (1,400 / 17 KD), In-Home Healthcare (700 / 52 KD), Healthcare at Home (600 / 23 KD), etc. Brand and employee terms are heavily relied upon to drive traffic - which means the user is already brand aware. This level of growth is so impressive on its own, I don't mean to disparage the company itself, because they must be crushing it in other areas... But imagine adding strategic high-intent content pieces, organic strategy to rank in the non-branded space and optimizing the site towards business outcomes?

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Got an interesting question from a $100M+ online retailer. How can we improve site speed before holiday (without impacting our tracking)? These guys have: - Dozens of marketing pixels and tracking scripts - GA/GTM stack - Some server-side tracking (not all) Here's the quick approach they (and you) can take: Pixel Audit and Cleanup - Strip out unused libraries and pixels - Disable any redundant or outdated events - Hunt down and fix broken pixels You'll also find that analytics and other 3rd party pixels (often) aren't the primary site speed blockers. Instead, some upstream resource. So run your site through Google Lighthouse to identify blockers, and improve your "first contenful paint". Tag Managers Migrate all 3rd party scripts to a tag manager (GTM, Tealium, Adobe Launch, etc.) Benefits: - Better data governance - standardization - script modification - caching - sequencing control Server-Side Tagging Move clientside tracking to server-side capabilities for platforms like Meta, Google, TikTok SS Tagging can reduce browser load (crucial for mobile), but more importantly improves data quality to ad platforms. More data = more signal = smarter algo = increased ROAS, lower CAC. Smart Tag Sequencing - Defer non-critical pixels to load later - Use tag manager features for async loading The TLDR - Ditch unused pixels/libraries - Run your site through Lighthouse, fix blockers - Use a tag manager - Fix any broken tracking - Optimize load sequence - Set up server-side where possible This approach should significantly boost mobile performance without sacrificing your marketing data. Remember, with the holiday rush and heavy mobile traffic, every millisecond counts. What other tracking or site speed tactics would you add to prep for the Black Friday pop? Drop your thoughts below. #ecommerce #siteoptimization #blackfridayprep

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🔥 Agency Growth Hack: Buy another agency ... this is possible even for smaller agencies without a lot of cash stacked.... hear me out! When growing Inflow® over the years, I missed out on one growth strategy that, in hindsight, would have been clutch: buying another agency. I could have purchased an agency similar in size and service offerings for 0% down using SBA financing (and solving for a tough hiring market at the time). Another option would have been buying a complimentary agency like an email marketing or affiliate marketing agency where we could cross-sell services to a more extensive client base. My friends at CapForge Bookkeeping & More (where I am a client) explained this strategy excellently in a recent blog post (link in comments). Check it out, and let me know if you'd like to chat about it.

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Content Caffeine is back, baby! It just went out to nearly 4000 wonderful subscribers with hot takes on: 1. The. Leak. 2. The new SEO playbook As well as info from Michael King, Dixon Jones, and Aleyda Solís. We've reworked the format a bit, and the comments are awesome so far. Link in the comments! #Google #SEO #content

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If you think PMM communities are dark... wait till you see PMM subreddits ☠️ 90% of the time it's because PMMs feel like they constantly have to justify their seat at the table. Here’s what helped me SHOW value to stakeholders back when I was in-house: 1️⃣ Win/loss analysis The very first one might feel overwhelming, but I found it to be the fastest way to onboard myself and start interesting conversations internally. HOW: - Choose a specific timeframe. 12-24mo back worked well for me for a first win/loss ever. After that - aim for a quarterly cadence. - Mix of quant and qual data. Start with CRM data, compliment with interviews and call recordings. - Share what you learned. Take it to a roadshow with sales + marketing; exec team; and publish a shorter version to the entire org. 👉 Don't chase customer interviews if that feels impossible at first. But if you do the best analysis possible with the resources you do have + hypotheses and what else you'd like to find out... who knows, maybe next time you'll actually get a budget. 2️⃣ Competitive intel I don't mean how many battlecards you can whip up. HOW: - Take inventory: is the existing intel recent and relevant? - If not, identify the top players and do some more research. - Hone in on the meaning of your findings (hint: a detailed feature comparison list isn't it) 👉 By order of impact/ importance, make a wishlist of strategic projects: Playbooks, competitive campaign ideas. Share what you found and your ideas with folks in product, marketing & sales. You don't have to tackle everything alone. 3️⃣ Leverage analyst firms If you have access to them, use them as a resource, not just to get on the next wave or MQ. HOW: - Engage with your ICP's most relevant analysts - Ask questions about the market and buyers - Bring the feedback back to your product leadership and broader exec team. 4️⃣ ICP This is something you want to be on top of even if you think you know it. Doing win/loss regularly helped me to keep myself honest about it too. HOW: - Documentation is half the battle. If it isn't findable, it doesn't exist. - Don't stop at firmographics and technographics. Add details about pains and triggers. - Communicate and enable sales, marketing and product. 👉 You’d be surprised by what you can learn. I’m working on a project right now where we noticed a nonlinear pattern of success which leads me to think we might discovered a new use case. And it's not unusual - I’ve seen similar patterns at two other companies in the last year. 5️⃣ Communicate internally like your life depends on it. The more channels the better: - Roadshow in other team meetings and all hands - Internal slack channel dedicated only for updates - Internal newsletter, monthly write up (even an email) to the exec team, quarterly win/loss reviews, etc. ---- PMMs, what helps you establish credibility? Non-PMMs, where else have you seen PMMs impact?

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I like the perspective on spammers not advertising. It's a unique take that sheds light on how things work. #interestinginsight In summary, if you have unique data on relevant statistics that could be potentially interesting for your target audience, you could employ the method Gael and Mark are discussing. If you currently do not have this data, you may want to consider using this method at a later time and begin collecting unique data that would be of interest.

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