#google ads competitor research | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mostlysignssomeportents · 5 months

Text

AI is a WMD

I'm in TARTU, ESTONIA! AI, copyright and creative workers' labor rights (TOMORROW, May 10, 8AM: Science Fiction Research Association talk, Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures building, Lossi 3, lobby). A talk for hackers on seizing the means of computation (TOMORROW, May 10, 3PM, University of Tartu Delta Centre, Narva 18, room 1037).

Fun fact: "The Tragedy Of the Commons" is a hoax created by the white nationalist Garrett Hardin to justify stealing land from colonized people and moving it from collective ownership, "rescuing" it from the inevitable tragedy by putting it in the hands of a private owner, who will care for it properly, thanks to "rational self-interest":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/04/analytical-democratic-theory/#epistocratic-delusions

Get that? If control over a key resource is diffused among the people who rely on it, then (Garrett claims) those people will all behave like selfish assholes, overusing and undermaintaining the commons. It's only when we let someone own that commons and charge rent for its use that (Hardin says) we will get sound management.

By that logic, Google should be the internet's most competent and reliable manager. After all, the company used its access to the capital markets to buy control over the internet, spending billions every year to make sure that you never try a search-engine other than its own, thus guaranteeing it a 90% market share:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task

Google seems to think it's got the problem of deciding what we see on the internet licked. Otherwise, why would the company flush $80b down the toilet with a giant stock-buyback, and then do multiple waves of mass layoffs, from last year's 12,000 person bloodbath to this year's deep cuts to the company's "core teams"?

https://qz.com/google-is-laying-off-hundreds-as-it-moves-core-jobs-abr-1851449528

And yet, Google is overrun with scams and spam, which find their way to the very top of the first page of its search results:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security

The entire internet is shaped by Google's decisions about what shows up on that first page of listings. When Google decided to prioritize shopping site results over informative discussions and other possible matches, the entire internet shifted its focus to producing affiliate-link-strewn "reviews" that would show up on Google's front door:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

This was catnip to the kind of sociopath who a) owns a hedge-fund and b) hates journalists for being pain-in-the-ass, stick-in-the-mud sticklers for "truth" and "facts" and other impediments to the care and maintenance of a functional reality-distortion field. These dickheads started buying up beloved news sites and converting them to spam-farms, filled with garbage "reviews" and other Google-pleasing, affiliate-fee-generating nonsense.

(These news-sites were vulnerable to acquisition in large part thanks to Google, whose dominance of ad-tech lets it cream 51 cents off every ad dollar and whose mobile OS monopoly lets it steal 30 cents off every in-app subscriber dollar):

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/saving-news-big-tech

Now, the spam on these sites didn't write itself. Much to the chagrin of the tech/finance bros who bought up Sports Illustrated and other venerable news sites, they still needed to pay actual human writers to produce plausible word-salads. This was a waste of money that could be better spent on reverse-engineering Google's ranking algorithm and getting pride-of-place on search results pages:

https://housefresh.com/david-vs-digital-goliaths/

That's where AI comes in. Spicy autocomplete absolutely can't replace journalists. The planet-destroying, next-word-guessing programs from Openai and its competitors are incorrigible liars that require so much "supervision" that they cost more than they save in a newsroom:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/29/what-part-of-no/#dont-you-understand

But while a chatbot can't produce truthful and informative articles, it can produce bullshit – at unimaginable scale. Chatbots are the workers that hedge-fund wreckers dream of: tireless, uncomplaining, compliant and obedient producers of nonsense on demand.

That's why the capital class is so insatiably horny for chatbots. Chatbots aren't going to write Hollywood movies, but studio bosses hyperventilated at the prospect of a "writer" that would accept your brilliant idea and diligently turned it into a movie. You prompt an LLM in exactly the same way a studio exec gives writers notes. The difference is that the LLM won't roll its eyes and make sarcastic remarks about your brainwaves like "ET, but starring a dog, with a love plot in the second act and a big car-chase at the end":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/01/how-the-writers-guild-sunk-ais-ship/

Similarly, chatbots are a dream come true for a hedge fundie who ends up running a beloved news site, only to have to fight with their own writers to get the profitable nonsense produced at a scale and velocity that will guarantee a high Google ranking and millions in "passive income" from affiliate links.

One of the premier profitable nonsense companies is Advon, which helped usher in an era in which sites from Forbes to Money to USA Today create semi-secret "review" sites that are stuffed full of badly researched top-ten lists for products from air purifiers to cat beds:

https://housefresh.com/how-google-decimated-housefresh/

Advon swears that it only uses living humans to produce nonsense, and not AI. This isn't just wildly implausible, it's also belied by easily uncovered evidence, like its own employees' Linkedin profiles, which boast of using AI to create "content":

https://housefresh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Advon-AI-LinkedIn.jpg

It's not true. Advon uses AI to produce its nonsense, at scale. In an excellent, deeply reported piece for Futurism, Maggie Harrison Dupré brings proof that Advon replaced its miserable human nonsense-writers with tireless chatbots:

https://futurism.com/advon-ai-content

Dupré describes how Advon's ability to create botshit at scale contributed to the enshittification of clients from Yoga Journal to the LA Times, "Us Weekly" to the Miami Herald.

All of this is very timely, because this is the week that Google finally bestirred itself to commence downranking publishers who engage in "site reputation abuse" – creating these SEO-stuffed fake reviews with the help of third parties like Advon:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/03/keyword-swarming/#site-reputation-abuse

(Google's policy only forbids site reputation abuse with the help of third parties; if these publishers take their nonsense production in-house, Google may allow them to continue to dominate its search listings):

https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2024/03/core-update-spam-policies#site-reputation

There's a reason so many people believed Hardin's racist "Tragedy of the Commons" hoax. We have an intuitive understanding that commons are fragile. All it takes is one monster to start shitting in the well where the rest of us get our drinking water and we're all poisoned.

The financial markets love these monsters. Mark Zuckerberg's key insight was that he could make billions by assembling vast dossiers of compromising, sensitive personal information on half the world's population without their consent, but only if he kept his costs down by failing to safeguard that data and the systems for exploiting it. He's like a guy who figures out that if he accumulates enough oily rags, he can extract so much low-grade oil from them that he can grow rich, but only if he doesn't waste money on fire-suppression:

https://locusmag.com/2018/07/cory-doctorow-zucks-empire-of-oily-rags/

Now Zuckerberg and the wealthy, powerful monsters who seized control over our commons are getting a comeuppance. The weak countermeasures they created to maintain the minimum levels of quality to keep their platforms as viable, going concerns are being overwhelmed by AI. This was a totally foreseeable outcome: the history of the internet is a story of bad actors who upended the assumptions built into our security systems by automating their attacks, transforming an assault that wouldn't be economically viable into a global, high-speed crime wave:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/24/automation-is-magic/

But it is possible for a community to maintain a commons. This is something Hardin could have discovered by studying actual commons, instead of inventing imaginary histories in which commons turned tragic. As it happens, someone else did exactly that: Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom:

https://www.onthecommons.org/magazine/elinor-ostroms-8-principles-managing-commmons/

Ostrom described how commons can be wisely managed, over very long timescales, by communities that self-governed. Part of her work concerns how users of a commons must have the ability to exclude bad actors from their shared resources.

When that breaks down, commons can fail – because there's always someone who thinks it's fine to shit in the well rather than walk 100 yards to the outhouse.

Enshittification is the process by which control over the internet moved from self-governance by members of the commons to acts of wanton destruction committed by despicable, greedy assholes who shit in the well over and over again.

It's not just the spammers who take advantage of Google's lazy incompetence, either. Take "copyleft trolls," who post images using outdated Creative Commons licenses that allow them to terminate the CC license if a user makes minor errors in attributing the images they use:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/24/a-bug-in-early-creative-commons-licenses-has-enabled-a-new-breed-of-superpredator/

The first copyleft trolls were individuals, but these days, the racket is dominated by a company called Pixsy, which pretends to be a "rights protection" agency that helps photographers track down copyright infringers. In reality, the company is committed to helping copyleft trolls entrap innocent Creative Commons users into paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars to use images that are licensed for free use. Just as Advon upends the economics of spam and deception through automation, Pixsy has figured out how to send legal threats at scale, robolawyering demand letters that aren't signed by lawyers; the company refuses to say whether any lawyer ever reviews these threats:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/13/an-open-letter-to-pixsy-ceo-kain-jones-who-keeps-sending-me-legal-threats/

This is shitting in the well, at scale. It's an online WMD, designed to wipe out the commons. Creative Commons has allowed millions of creators to produce a commons with billions of works in it, and Pixsy exploits a minor error in the early versions of CC licenses to indiscriminately manufacture legal land-mines, wantonly blowing off innocent commons-users' legs and laughing all the way to the bank:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/02/commafuckers-versus-the-commons/

We can have an online commons, but only if it's run by and for its users. Google has shown us that any "benevolent dictator" who amasses power in the name of defending the open internet will eventually grow too big to care, and will allow our commons to be demolished by well-shitters:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/09/shitting-in-the-well/#advon

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

Catherine Poh Huay Tan (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/68166820@N08/49729911222/

Laia Balagueró (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/lbalaguero/6551235503/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

321 notes · View notes

mariacallous · 2 months

Text

Unbox a new phone in the US and it's almost certain to have Google as the default way to search the web. Federal judge Amit Mehta on Monday ruled in favor of the US Department of Justice that the contracts Google uses to secure that position violate fair competition laws. Now Mehta must decide what to do about it.

The jurist could order big changes to the unboxing experience, with users having to select their default search provider. He also could go as far as to force Google to sell parts of its business. Mehta scheduled a hearing for September to begin the process of deciding the penalties, but with Google appealing the verdict, it could be years—if ever—before the search giant must comply.

Though legal and economics experts say it’s difficult to guess where Mehta might land with his remedies, they have some ideas of what he might be considering. Here’s a look at five options.

Ban Revenue Sharing

US courts have generally tried to resolve antitrust violations by ordering an end to the illegal behavior, setting rules to prevent it from recurring, and taking any additional measures needed to ensure that the culprit and its competitors are moved onto an even field.

To satisfy that first prong, Mehta is widely expected to ban Google from continuing with arrangements under which it splits tens of billions of dollars in ad revenue among Apple, Samsung, Mozilla, and other companies that agree to set Google as the default search on their devices or software.

“At a minimum, the Justice Department will ask for an injunction that forbids Google from engaging in the conduct that the court deemed to be improper,” says William Kovacic, who previously served as an antitrust regulator on the US Federal Trade Commission.

An injunction might prevent Google from using its unmatched economic might to outspend smaller search companies, such as Bing, DuckDuckGo, or Ecosia, to secure exclusive default status. Positioning matters; Mehta’s ruling found that even when it’s easy for users to switch defaults, most people don’t adjust the setting. But some do prefer Google. That’s why “Google.com” is the most popular search term on Bing, which is the default on some Microsoft devices, according to Mehta’s ruling.

In the future, users who prefer Google may end up having to query “Google.com” in other search engines, too.

Require Choice Screens

Mehta could follow the lead of the European Union, which for years has required Google to offer a menu of search options on Android devices, and recently expanded the rule to the Chrome browser.

Experts don’t believe the European regulation has led to a significant increase in the popularity of Google alternatives because users recognize Google better than other options. “The horse is already out of the barn,” says Herbert Hovenkamp, an antitrust scholar at Penn Law School who has researched tech platforms. “One problem with free choice is that it won’t necessarily take down Google’s market share.”

But if Mehta pursues the approach, he should make some improvements on the EU’s rules, says Kamyl Bazbaz, senior vice president of public affairs at DuckDuckGo. Users should be prompted with the choice screen periodically, not just once, Bazbaz says. They shouldn’t have to deal with popups from Google urging them to switch the default to Google, he adds. And when users first interact with a competing search app, there should be an easy way to set it as the default app.

With these added measures, some searchers could find themselves more reliably ditching Google. Others could be frustrated by the recurring requests.

Order a Divestiture

Contract bans and choice screens are examples of conduct remedies. But the Justice Department in recent years has expressed a preference for what are known as structural remedies, or breaking off parts of a company.

Most famous is the breakup of telephone giant Bell in the 1980s, creating a variety of independent companies, including AT&T. But courts aren’t always on board. When Microsoft lost an antitrust battle in the 1990s, a federal appeals panel rejected an order to break up the company, and Microsoft eventually settled on a range of conduct changes.

A one-time sale is preferred by regulators in part because it doesn’t require them to invest in monitoring the ongoing compliance of companies in terms of conduct remedies. It’s a much cleaner break, and some antitrust experts contend that structural remedies are more effective.

The challenge is figuring out what parts of a company need to be separated. John Kwoka, an economics professor at Northeastern University who recently served as an adviser to FTC chair Lina Khan, says the key is identifying businesses in which ownership by Google are “distorting its incentives.” He says that, for instance, breaking off search could open the door to Google’s Android partnering with a different search engine.

But Hovenkamp doubts the potential of a search sell-off to increase competition because the service would remain popular. “Selling Google Search would just transfer the dominance to another firm,” he says. “I don't know what sort of breakup would work.”

Some financial analysts who study Google parent Alphabet are also skeptical. “Alphabet's scale, continued strong execution, and financial strength mitigate this legal risk and the possible ensuing financial and business model ramifications,” Emile El Nems, vice president for Moody's Ratings, said in a press statement.

Other legal experts envision a future in which search results would come from Google and the ads in the experience from another company that’s spun off from Google. It’s unclear how that remedy would affect users, but it’s possible ads could end up being less relevant and more intrusive.

Force Google to Share

Mehta found in his judgment that Google provides users a superior experience because it receives billions of more queries than any other search engine, and that data fuels improvements to the algorithms that decide which results to show for a particular query.

Rebecca Haw Allensworth, a law professor at Vanderbilt University following the Google case, says one of the most aggressive remedies would be requiring Google to share data or algorithms with its search competition so they too could improve. “Courts do not like to force sharing between rivals like that, but on the other hand, the judge seemed very concerned about how Google’s conduct has deprived its rivals of what they really need to compete—scale in search data,” she says. “Forcing data sharing would directly address that concern.”

Potential shareable data could include all the queries that users are running on Google and which results they are clicking, DuckDuckGo’s Bazbaz says.

Another option would have Google hold on to its data while instead providing a service on a nondiscriminatory basis, with adequate customer support, for other apps to pull results from Google and present them to users as part of a competing experience. Rivals have called Google’s existing offering in this regard inadequate.

“Only a multipronged remedy will allow rivals to enter the market and fairly compete for consumers based on the merits of their own product,” says Lee Hepner, senior counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project, an anti-monopoly advocacy group.

Any approach that involves Google sharing data is likely to raise questions about its users’ privacy. Strengthened rivals also would have a better shot at securing defaults, meaning those who’d rather use Google would again have to take a few more steps to get back to regular old Google.

Increase Oversight

It’s up to the Justice Department to propose to Mehta potential remedies, which Google would then get a chance to rebut. Neither side has previewed what it wants.

In some other antitrust battles, Google has found ways to design product and policy changes to continue to limit competition in part by making competing unaffordable for rivals. “Google will do anything it can to get in the way of progress,” Bazbaz says. That’s why he hopes Mehta establishes a monitoring body to administer the remedies and hold Google to their spirit.

Bazbaz also wants to see Google have to invest in public education initiatives to let users know about the benefits they can get from switching search engines. With oversight and PR measures in place, users may have no choice but to hear about the Google Search antitrust case for a long time to come.

40 notes · View notes

darkmaga-retard · 1 month

Text

https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-rare-antitrust-move-breaking-up-google/5865384

U.S. Justice Department Considers a Rare Antitrust Move: Breaking Up Google

By Leah Nylen and Anna Edgerton

Global Research, August 16, 2024

BNN Bloomberg 14 August 2024

A bid to break up Alphabet Inc.’s Google is one of the options being considered by the Justice Department after a landmark court ruling found that the company monopolized the online search market, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations.

The move would be Washington’s first push to dismantle a company for illegal monopolization since unsuccessful efforts to break up Microsoft Corp. two decades ago. Less severe options include forcing Google to share more data with competitors and measures to prevent it from gaining an unfair advantage in AI products, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private conversations.

Alphabet shares were down 3.8% at 10:13 a.m. in New York, the most since Aug. 5, when a federal judge ruled the company has an illegal monopoly in the search market.

Regardless, the government will likely seek a ban on the type of exclusive contracts that were at the center of its case against Google. If the Justice Department pushes ahead with a breakup plan, the most likely units for divestment are the Android operating system and Google’s web browser Chrome, said the people. Officials are also looking at trying to force a possible sale of AdWords, the platform the company uses to sell text advertising, one of the people said.

The Justice Department discussions have intensified in the wake of Judge Amit Mehta’s Aug. 5 ruling that Google illegally monopolized the markets of online search and search text ads. Google has said it will appeal that decision, but Mehta has ordered both sides to begin plans for the second phase of the case, which will involve the government’s proposals for restoring competition, including a possible breakup request.

A Google spokesman declined to comment on the possible remedy. A Justice Department spokeswoman also declined to comment.

The U.S. plan will need to be accepted by Mehta, who would direct the company to comply. A forced breakup of Google would be the biggest of a U.S. company since AT&T was dismantled in the 1980s.

Justice Department attorneys, who have been consulting with companies affected by Google’s practices, have raised concerns in their discussions that the company’s search dominance gives it advantages in developing artificial intelligence technology, the people said. As part of a remedy, the government might seek to stop the company from forcing websites to allow their content to be used for some of Google’s AI products in order to appear in search results.

4 notes · View notes

netbird123 · 30 days

Text

Search Engine Optimizatio

The Power of Search EngineMarketing : Reach Your Target Audience

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a digital marketing strategy that involves promoting a website or online content through paid advertisements on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. The goal of SEM is to increase visibility, drive traffic, and generate leads or sales by appearing at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords or phrases.

Benefits of Search Engine Marketing

1. Targeted Advertising: Reach users actively searching for products or services like yours.

2. Increased Brand Awareness: Build recognition and establish your brand as an industry leader.

3. Measurable Results: Track conversions, clicks, and ROI with precision.

4. Flexibility: Adjust bids, ad copy, and targeting options in real-time.

5. Competitive Advantage: Outrank competitors and dominate search engine results.

Types of Search Engine Marketing

1. Pay-Per-Click (PPC): Pay only when users click on your ads.

2. Cost-Per-Thousand Impressions (CPM): Pay for every 1,000 ad views.

3. Display Advertising: Target users with visual ads on search engines and partner websites.

Key Components of a Successful SEM Campaign

1. Keyword Research: Identify relevant and high-traffic keywords.

2. Ad Copywriting: Craft compelling and persuasive ad copy.

3. Landing Page Optimization: Ensure a seamless user experience.

4. Bidding Strategy: Set optimal bids for maximum ROI.

5. Ad Extensions: Enhance ads with additional features like site links and callouts.

Best Practices for Search Engine Marketing

1. Conduct thorough keyword research to identify opportunities.

2. Create high-quality ad copy that resonates with your audience.

3. Optimize landing pages for conversions and user experience.

4. Monitor and adjust bids regularly to ensure ROI.

5. Use ad extensions to enhance ad visibility and click-through rates.

Conclusion

Search Engine Marketing is a powerful tool for businesses to reach their target audience, drive traffic, and generate leads or sales. By understanding the benefits, types, and key components of SEM, you can create effective campaigns that deliver measurable results and a competitive advantage.

#SEO #Search EngineMarketing #search engine optimization #social media

3 notes · View notes

gonzalez756 · 24 days

Text

In the bustling world of e-commerce, standing out can be both a challenge and an opportunity for small businesses. Crafting a well-rounded marketing plan is essential to gaining visibility, driving sales, and building a loyal customer base. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your existing strategies, a structured marketing plan can set the foundation for success. Here’s a comprehensive guide to developing a marketing plan tailored for a small e-commerce business.

Understand Your Market and Audience Before diving into marketing tactics, it's crucial to have a deep understanding of your market and target audience. Conduct market research to identify your ideal customers, their needs, preferences, and shopping behaviors. Use surveys, interviews, and social media insights to gather data. Analyze your competitors to understand their strengths, weaknesses, and the market gaps you can exploit. Key Questions to Answer: Who are your ideal customers? What are their pain points and needs? How do they prefer to shop online? What are your competitors doing well, and where are their shortcomings?

Define Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP) Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP) differentiates your business from competitors. It should clearly articulate why customers should choose your products or services over others. Your UVP should focus on the unique benefits and features of your offerings, such as superior quality, exceptional customer service, or exclusive products. Steps to Develop a UVP: Identify what makes your products or services unique. Highlight benefits that resonate with your target audience. Communicate your UVP clearly across all marketing channels.

Set Clear Marketing Objectives Setting clear and measurable marketing objectives is essential for tracking progress and ensuring that your efforts align with your business goals. Objectives might include increasing website traffic, boosting conversion rates, or growing your social media following. SMART Objectives: Specific: Clearly define what you want to achieve. Measurable: Ensure you can track progress (e.g., increase website traffic by 30%). Achievable: Set realistic goals based on your resources. Relevant: Align objectives with broader business goals. Time-bound: Set a timeline for achieving each objective.

Choose Your Marketing Channels Selecting the right marketing channels depends on where your target audience spends their time. A mix of channels often works best, but it's essential to focus on those that will yield the highest returns. Key Channels to Consider: Social Media: Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are excellent for brand building and driving traffic. Tailor your content to each platform’s audience and features. Email Marketing: Build and nurture an email list with personalized and targeted campaigns. Regular newsletters, promotional offers, and abandoned cart reminders can drive sales and customer retention. Content Marketing: Create valuable content such as blog posts, videos, and infographics that address your audience’s pain points and interests. Quality content can drive organic traffic and establish your brand as an industry authority. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimize your website and content for search engines to increase organic traffic. Focus on relevant keywords, high-quality content, and a user-friendly website structure. Paid Advertising: Invest in pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns on Google Ads or social media ads to drive targeted traffic. Utilize retargeting strategies to convert previous visitors into customers.

Develop a Content Strategy A well-planned content strategy helps in creating engaging and relevant content that attracts and retains your target audience. Your content should align with your brand’s voice and address the needs and interests of your audience. Content Strategy Components: Content Calendar: Plan your content in advance to ensure consistency. Include blog posts, social media updates, email campaigns, and other content types. Content Types: Diversify your content with articles, videos, infographics, and user-generated content. Engagement: Encourage interaction through comments, shares, and feedback. Respond to customer inquiries and engage with your audience to build relationships.

Leverage Analytics and Track Performance Monitoring and analyzing your marketing efforts is crucial for understanding what works and what needs adjustment. Use analytics tools to track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as website traffic, conversion rates, and customer acquisition costs. Analytics Tools: Google Analytics: Track website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates. Social Media Insights: Analyze engagement metrics on social media platforms. Email Marketing Metrics: Monitor open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates from email campaigns. Regularly review your performance data, compare it against your objectives, and adjust your strategies accordingly. Continuous optimization based on data insights will help you stay competitive and achieve better results.

Budget Wisely A well-defined budget ensures that you allocate resources effectively across different marketing channels. Determine how much you can invest in each area and prioritize spending based on potential return on investment (ROI). Budgeting Tips: Allocate Funds: Distribute your budget across channels that align with your goals and audience. Track Spending: Monitor your expenses to avoid overspending and ensure efficient use of resources. Adjust as Needed: Be flexible and adjust your budget based on performance and changing priorities.

Build Strong Customer Relationships Customer retention is as important as acquiring new customers. Focus on building strong relationships through excellent customer service, personalized experiences, and loyalty programs. Retention Strategies: Personalization: Tailor recommendations and communications based on customer behavior and preferences. Loyalty Programs: Reward repeat customers with discounts, points, or exclusive offers. Customer Feedback: Encourage and act on customer feedback to improve your products and services.

Adapt and Innovate The e-commerce landscape is constantly evolving, and so should your marketing strategies. Stay informed about industry trends, new technologies, and changing customer preferences. Be prepared to adapt and innovate to remain competitive and meet your customers’ evolving needs. Staying Ahead: Industry Trends: Follow industry news and trends to stay updated. Emerging Technologies: Explore new technologies and tools that can enhance your marketing efforts. Customer Feedback: Continuously gather and act on customer feedback to improve your offerings. Conclusion Developing a comprehensive marketing plan for your small e-commerce business involves understanding your market, defining your UVP, setting clear objectives, and choosing the right channels. By creating a strategic content plan, leveraging analytics, budgeting wisely, and focusing on customer relationships, you can drive growth and achieve success. Remember, a successful marketing plan is dynamic and should evolve based on performance and market changes. Embrace innovation and stay adaptable to build a thriving e-commerce business.

#ecommerce business #e commerce #digital marketing #social media marketing #google ads #business

2 notes · View notes

autistpride · 5 months

Text

BIPOC autistic people, content creators, blogs, and pages!

Okay...

This post was one that I was unsure how to write. I'm white and I am very aware of my privilege.

I wanted today's post to highlight and center the voices of autistic BIPOC individuals and honestly, I couldn't just talk about a few. I wanted to put as many names out here for people to follow.

For those who want to follow and learn and for those who need to find these wonderful people in their community.

When researching and working on my list, I came across a post made by Autistic, Typing in 2019 as they had made a list of Autistic Black/ Indigenous/ People of Color & Latinx Advocates to follow.

So today's post is a link to this amazing individual's link, https://www.faceook.com/share/p/VMWG2wURiVWuTP2r/

This link contains all their hard work and emotional labour, a comments section FILLED with people adding others or themselves to the list, as well as a google doc form to add/ edit/ remove autistic creators. So please, if you are one, go fill it out and have yourself added to the list!

Below are some people/ creators/ pages that I thought should be mentioned. I tried to just add the ones I didn’t see listed, but I know there is overlap and tried to point those ones out.

And PLEASE send me any others! I want to follow as many as I can.

Famous People

Anita Cameron- one of the original disability rights activists of the US.

Angela Weddle- artist (mentioned on the post)

Dr. Sarai Pahla- MD and medical translator

Dr. Angel Durr- CEO of DataReady DFW

Burnett Grant- senior lab tech at ZoomEssence Inc

Bernard Grant- Phd in English

Stephan Wiltshire- architectural artist

Lauraen-Rocelle Fernandez- Founder of Mask Off

Michael Buckholtz- music producer for acts such as MC Hammer

Jade Logan- comic artist

Elise Nicole Bowen- music composer who can be found on spotify

Avery Ahmer- tik tok influencer who talks about autism

Kayla Smith- Black Autistic Disability Rights Advocate and creator of #AutisticBlackPride

Kris Young- writer and blogger at Black Neuroqueer Punk (mentioned on the post)

Jackie Pilgrim- Board of NAMI

Armani Williams- professional Nascar driver

Morenike Giwa Onaiwu- advocate and public speaker co-edited All The Weight of Our Dreams and Sincerely Your Autistic Child (mentioned on the post)

Michael Fuller- music prodigy

Melissa Simmons- founder of MisTaught and the creator of Black History Month for Dummies & White Teachers (mentioned on the post)

Lamar Hardwick- the Autism Pastor. Writer and advocate (mentioned on the post)

Kambel Smith- artist known for complex architecture sculptures

Ronaldo Bryd- artist

Ikea “Syance” Wilson- artist and musician

Kris McElroy- writer, artist, and advocate

Talia Grant- first female actress who is autistic to land a mainstream role on British television

Kalin Bennett- first autistic person to receive a division 1 scholarship to play basketball

Tom Wiggins- former enslaved person who was an amazing musician

John Howard- martial arts competitor/ MMA fighter

Morgan Harper Nichols- storyteller and influencer

Questlove- musician and songwriter and collaborator for Disney Jr “Rise Up, Sing Out”

Lois Curtis- artist and plaintiff in the 1999 Olmsted Supreme Court Decision

Tyla Grant- found of Black and Neurodivergent (BAND) and host of the one percent podcast

Nik Sanchez- actor

Benjamin Banneker- naturalist and mathmetician

Talisha Johnson- writer and director of Too Autistic for Black

Joshua Beckford- child prodigy and youngest person to be admitted to Oxford at 6

Breanna Cook- Paralympic athlete

Creators

Marcela Collier @highimpactclub

Black Neurodiversity @blackneurodiversity

Autistic Black Woman @autisticblackwoman

Ryse @teachingwithmxt

Caro @disrupt_yuh_feed

Jessie @momma_lips

Nadia @autisticblackgirl

Kayla Smith @BeingKaylaSmith

Tiffany Joseph @nigh.functioning.autism (mentioned on the post)

Tiffany Hammond @fidgets.and.fries (mentioned on the post)

Lauren Melissa Ellzey @autienelle

La Fille Dani @myneurotype

Tim Boy @blackinfinityking (mentioned on the post under previous tag name @BlackAutisticKing)

Raven Derose @confidencewithrae

Danielle @zelue

Ahylaysia @ahlaysia

Rosalie Babette @theautisticgiraffe

Dr. Kofi @autisticallykofi

Jonteugbeye @jonteugbeye

Nia Patterson @thefriendineverwanted

Anansi @dreadfulrebel4x

Gianna Rose @usagi_rose_universe

M’Nda @melaninmaven97

Lina’s brain @ndwellness

Pages

The Activistic Autistic

The Art of Autism

Fidgets and Fries (mentioned on the post)

Not Your Mama’s Autism

The Kisha Project

Autism in Black

Neurodivergent Rebel

Black Neuroqueer Punk (mentioned on the post)

The Color of Autism

Sincerely Your Autistic Child

NeuroClastic- PLEASE pass along their post A Letter to Black and Indigenous Autistic Teens

Autistic, Typing- They have the amazing list of Autistic BIPOC Advocates here!!

Morenike GO

Black Autistic Lives Matter

Autistic People of Color Fund

Autistic People Of Color, Indigenous People, and Mixed-Race People - this is a private FB group highly recommended I can not comment on it

Neurodiverent Black Women- another private FB group recommended but I can not comment on it

Other Amazing Neurodiverse People

Simone Biles- olympic gymnast ad most decorated gymnast with 32 metals

Amada Gorman- youngest inaugural poet in US History

Clary Chambers- founder and CEO of SparkClarity

Solange Knowles- singer and actress

Harry Belafonte- singer, songwriter, actor. First Black person to win an Emmy.

Maya Angelou- poet and activist. Write “I know why the caged bird sings” and the poem “On the Pulse of the Morning” that was read at the 1993 presidential inauguration

Danny Glover- actor, director, activist. Prominent roles in Lethal Weapon, The Color Purple, and Angels in the Outfield

Octavia Spencer- actress, author, producer. Worked on The Help.

Brandon Marshall- former NFL player

Kelly Rowland- singer, songwriter, actress and member of Destiny’s Child

Jumaane Williams- politician and activist in New York City

Magic Johnson- former professional basketball player and one of the greatest 50 players of NBA

Clarence Page- journalist who has won a Pulitzer Prize

Mohammed Ali- professional boxer and activist

Black Girl, Lost Keys

Tumi Sotire @TheBlackDyspraxic

#audhd #autistic adult #actually audhd #autistic pride #autism acceptence month #autism #autism acceptance #asd #autistic

4 notes · View notes

digitalsrishblogs · 1 month

Text

Search Engine Optimization - a complete guide

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is improving your website's visibility on search engines like Google, making it more likely that people will find it. SEO involves optimizing your site to rank higher in search results, leading to increased free, or organic traffic.

Main Types of SEO:

On-page SEO: Focuses on optimizing individual pages, such as using the right keywords and creating high-quality content.

Off-page SEO: Involves activities like link-building to improve your site's authority and trustworthiness.

Key SEO Activities:

Keyword Research: Finding the right keywords for which people are searching.

Content Creation and Optimization: Developing and refining content to meet user needs.

Technical SEO: Fixing issues to ensure search engines can properly crawl and index your site.

Link Building: Acquiring backlinks from other websites to improve authority.

Importance of SEO:

SEO is essential because millions of people search for products and information on Google daily. High rankings in search results lead to more visitors, better brand awareness, and potentially more customers. Ignoring SEO means missing out on valuable traffic and allowing competitors to capture your audience.

SEO vs. PPC:

Paid Results (PPC): You pay for ads that appear in search results.

Organic Results (SEO): You earn rankings through SEO without paying for ads. Although SEO takes more time and effort, it can provide long-term traffic and reach a larger audience.

How Search Engines Work:

Search engines like Google use bots to crawl the web, index pages, and rank them based on relevance and quality. As a website owner, implementing technical SEO helps ensure that search engines can find, index, and rank your pages effectively.

Role of SEO in Digital Marketing:

SEO is a crucial part of digital marketing, ensuring that your site appears in search engine results pages (SERPs). It complements other strategies like PPC, content creation, and social media marketing, helping your site stand out and attract more visitors.

Please CLICK HERE to read more blogs.

#digitakmarketing #seo #search engine optimization #seo services

2 notes · View notes

h3103re · 2 months

Text

How to Sell Your Products Online

In the digital age, selling your products online is not just an option but a necessity for business success. The internet provides a vast marketplace, but standing out and making sales requires a strategic approach. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you sell your products online effectively and attractively.

1. Define Your Target Audience

Understanding your target audience is crucial. Who are they? What are their preferences and pain points? Conduct market research to identify their demographics, interests, and buying behavior. This insight will shape your marketing strategy and product presentation, ensuring you connect with the right customers.

2. Choose the Right E-Commerce Platform

Selecting the right e-commerce platform is essential for your online sales success. Consider popular options like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce. Look for features that match your business needs, such as customizable templates, payment gateways, and inventory management. A user-friendly interface and reliable customer support are also critical.

3. Create a Compelling Online Store

Your online store is your digital storefront, so make it visually appealing and user-friendly. Invest in a professional design that reflects your brand’s identity. High-quality product images, clear descriptions, and easy navigation will enhance the shopping experience and encourage purchases. Ensure your store is mobile-friendly, as many customers shop on their smartphones.

4. Optimize Product Listings

Effective product listings are key to attracting and converting buyers. Write clear, engaging product descriptions that highlight the benefits and features of your products. Use persuasive language and incorporate keywords that potential customers might use in their search queries. High-resolution images from multiple angles, along with videos if possible, can help customers make informed decisions.

5. Leverage Social Media Marketing

Social media platforms are powerful tools for reaching and engaging with your audience. Create and share content that resonates with your target market, including product showcases, behind-the-scenes looks, and customer testimonials. Use targeted ads to reach specific demographics and drive traffic to your online store. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest can be particularly effective for visual products.

6. Implement SEO Strategies

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) helps improve your store’s visibility on search engines like Google. Optimize your website by using relevant keywords, creating high-quality content, and ensuring fast loading times. Implement on-page SEO techniques, such as meta tags and alt text for images, and build backlinks to boost your site’s authority and ranking.

7. Offer Excellent Customer Service

Providing exceptional customer service can set you apart from competitors and foster loyalty. Respond promptly to customer inquiries, offer multiple contact options, and provide clear information about shipping, returns, and exchanges. Positive reviews and testimonials can enhance your credibility and attract more buyers.

8. Utilize Email Marketing

Email marketing is a powerful tool for nurturing leads and driving sales. Build an email list by offering incentives like discounts or exclusive content. Send personalized emails to your subscribers, including product recommendations, promotions, and updates. Automated email campaigns can help you stay connected with your audience and encourage repeat purchases.

9. Monitor and Analyze Performance

Regularly monitor your online store’s performance using analytics tools. Track metrics such as website traffic, conversion rates, and average order value to gauge the effectiveness of your strategies. Analyze customer behavior to identify trends and areas for improvement. Use this data to make informed decisions and optimize your sales approach.

10. Adapt and Innovate

The online marketplace is constantly evolving, so staying adaptable is crucial. Keep an eye on industry trends, emerging technologies, and changing consumer preferences. Experiment with new marketing tactics, update your product offerings, and continually refine your strategies to stay competitive and meet your customers’ needs.

By following these steps, you’ll be well-equipped to successfully sell your products online. Focus on understanding your audience, optimizing your store, and delivering exceptional service to create a compelling and profitable online presence. Embrace the digital landscape, and watch your business thrive in the online marketplace.

#online marketing #digital marketing #products #online shopping #business #sales

2 notes · View notes

shoaibshahariar · 2 months

Text

I love exploring SEO Strategies. Social Media Marketing also fascinates me. I specialize in optimizing websites to improve search engine rankings (Google) and visibility through keyword research, content optimization, backlink building, and sitemap indexing.

As a digital marketer, I'm excel in social media management, crafting effective online campaigns, and promoting businesses and their products.

My clients expect key results from my SEO services. They want better search engine rankings, which lead to higher visibility and more targeted traffic. They also look for increased conversions, such as more leads and sales. Quality backlinks and regular progress reports are also important to them.

I deliver these results with my Professional SEO service

🤖🔎

Attract more audience to your site without paying for ads! Stand out from our competitors & get higher search engine ranking.

#seo #seoexperts #seo services #socialmediastrategy #growyourbusiness #searchengineoptimization #digital marketing #marketing strategy #seo specialist #online marketing #seo optimization

3 notes · View notes

leads-view · 7 months

Text

The Importance of Keyword Research in PPC Campaigns

In digital marketing, building a successful Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign is no small task. It requires a careful balance between several crucial elements, one of the most significant being keyword research. In this blog post, we will shed light on the importance of keyword research in PPC campaigns and how it can make all the difference in your strategy.

Understanding Keyword

Research Keyword research is the process of identifying relevant search terms your target audience is using and leveraging them to draw attention to your online content. These search terms - or keywords - are then incorporated into your PPC campaign, helping your advertisements display to users who search for those specific terms.

Why is Keyword Research Important in PPC Campaigns?

1. Targeting the Right Audience

Keyword research helps to ensure your ads reach the right users at the right time. By understanding what your audience is searching for, you can align your advertisements with their needs and interests, making your campaign more effective and efficient.

2. Improve Ad Relevance and Quality Score

Google Ads uses a metric known as Quality Score to determine your ad relevance, expected click-through rate (CTR), and landing page experience. Keyword research can boost your Quality Score by improving ad relevance. The better your keywords align with your ad copy and landing page content, the higher your Quality Score is likely to be. This can contribute to a lower cost-per-click (CPC) and higher ad ranking.

3. Capture High-Intent Users

Understanding and targeting high-intent keywords can lead to higher conversion rates. These keywords indicate a user’s readiness to act, be it making a purchase, booking a service, or downloading a guide. By bidding on high-intent keywords in your PPC campaigns, you stand a better chance of attracting users who are ready to convert.

4. Monitor Competitors

Keyword research allows you to monitor your competition. By knowing what keywords your competitors are targeting, you can adjust your PPC campaign strategy, identify gaps they are missing, or even compete for the same space.

Strategies for Effective Keyword Research

So, how do you conduct granular keyword research for your PPC campaigns? Here are a few strategies:

1. Understand Your Audience

It starts by understanding your target audience: their needs, pain points, search habits, and language they use. This will form the basis of your keyword research.

2. Use Keyword Research Tools

Utilize tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMRush, and Ahrefs to generate a comprehensive list of keywords related to your product or service. These tools not only suggest relevant keywords but also provide data on search volume, competitiveness, and CPC.

3. Long-Tail Keywords

Don’t forget about long-tail keywords! These are specific, often lengthier, phrases that users might search for. Though they typically have lower search volume, long-tail keywords are less competitive and often signify a higher buying intent, resulting in higher-quality traffic.

4. Continually Refine Your Keyword

List Keyword research isn’t a one-time event. Regularly revise and refine your keyword list based on your PPC campaign performance metrics, new trends, and changes in user behavior and industry landscape.

Conclusion

In summary, keyword research is a fundamental component of a successful PPC campaign. Thoughtful, strategic keyword research ensures your ads not only reach the right audience but are relevant, competitive, and capable of capturing high-intent users, leading to higher click-through rates and conversions. By treating keyword research as an ongoing process, marketers can remain adaptable and responsive, leading to continually optimized PPC campaigns.

#EngageYourAudience #SocialStrategy #SEO #SearchEngineOptimization #KeywordResearch #OnPageSEO #LinkBuilding #ppc advertising

5 notes · View notes

vaishu-shiva · 5 months

Text

Unlocking the Power of Digital Marketing Tools

In today’s swiftly evolving digital environment, the efficacy of marketing endeavors relies on more than mere creativity and instinct. Given the vast array of online platforms and channels available, marketers must harness technology's power to streamline processes, scrutinize data, and optimize campaigns for maximum impact. This is where indispensable software tools for digital marketing play a pivotal role. Consider, for instance, enrolling in a comprehensive Digital Marketing Course in Pune, which equips students with indispensable skills and knowledge crucial for triumphing in the digital realm.

Unveiling the Digital Marketing Toolbox

Digital marketing encompasses an extensive array of strategies and tactics, ranging from search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to social media marketing and email campaigns. To navigate this intricate landscape adeptly, marketers require access to a diverse set of tools catering to various facets of their digital strategy.

Unlocking Insights with Google Analytics

At the core of any digital marketing initiative lies the imperative need for data-driven insights. Google Analytics serves as the quintessential tool for this purpose, furnishing an abundance of information regarding website traffic, user behavior, and conversion metrics. By meticulously analyzing this data, marketers can glean valuable insights into the efficacy of their campaigns, enabling them to make well-informed decisions aimed at optimizing performance.

Driving Results with Google Ads and Facebook Ads Manager

Paid advertising remains a pivotal component of numerous digital marketing strategies, offering a targeted approach to engaging potential customers. Google Ads (previously known as Google AdWords) facilitates the creation of PPC campaigns visible in Google search results, while Facebook Ads Manager provides a platform for crafting ads on Facebook and Instagram. Featuring robust targeting options and performance tracking capabilities, these tools empower marketers to yield substantial results and maximize their return on investment (ROI).

HubSpot: The Inbound Marketing Hub

Inbound marketing, centered on captivating and engaging customers through valuable content and experiences, has garnered significant prominence in recent years. HubSpot emerges as a frontrunner in this domain, presenting a comprehensive suite of tools encompassing email marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), social media management, and more. By consolidating these functions within a unified platform, HubSpot empowers marketers to orchestrate cohesive, data-driven campaigns resonating with their target audience.

Mastering Email Marketing with Mailchimp

Email marketing remains a potent tool for nurturing leads and fostering conversions. Mailchimp emerges as a trusted platform for devising, dispatching, and scrutinizing email campaigns. Featuring segmentation, automation, and personalization functionalities, Mailchimp facilitates the delivery of tailored content to subscribers, fostering enduring relationships with the audience.

Dominating Search with SEMrush and Ahrefs

SEO constitutes a cornerstone for enhancing visibility and driving organic traffic to websites. Tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs provide a comprehensive suite of SEO features, encompassing keyword research, rank tracking, backlink analysis, and competitor research. By leveraging these tools, marketers can optimize their websites for search engines, thereby maintaining a competitive edge in the ever-evolving realm of SEO.

Managing Social Media with Hootsuite and Buffer

Social media management tools such as Hootsuite and Buffer simplify the process of scheduling, monitoring, and analyzing social media content. These platforms facilitate the maintenance of a consistent social media presence, enabling real-time audience engagement and effortless campaign performance tracking.

Crafting Compelling Content with Canva

Visual content plays an instrumental role in captivating audience attention and fostering engagement online. Canva provides marketers with an intuitive platform for designing captivating graphics, infographics, and marketing materials. Boasting an extensive library of templates and design elements, Canva empowers marketers to materialize their creative vision and stand out amidst the digital clutter.

Building a Strong Foundation with WordPress

Content management systems like WordPress serve as the bedrock of numerous digital marketing endeavors, furnishing a flexible and scalable platform for crafting and managing websites, blogs, and online stores. Featuring an intuitive interface and a rich plugin ecosystem, WordPress enables marketers to establish a formidable online presence sans the necessity for coding or technical acumen.

Conclusion

In today’s digital epoch, attaining marketing success necessitates a strategic approach fortified by access to the right tools. By harnessing indispensable software tools for digital marketing, marketers can streamline processes, dissect data, and fine-tune campaigns to yield tangible results. Whether it entails unlocking insights with Google Analytics, driving outcomes with Google Ads and Facebook Ads Manager, or crafting captivating content with Canva, the possibilities are boundless. Armed with the right tools, marketers can navigate the intricacies of the digital landscape with aplomb, thereby realizing triumph in their marketing endeavors.

#digital marketing #technology #search engine marketing #seo #social media marketing #tech #email marketing #content marketing

4 notes · View notes

mbharatoff · 6 months

Text

Top 5 Digital Marketing in 2024

Some powerful tools are widely used in digital marketing. These are the most important tools in digital marketing and if you know or want to learn more check out this.

Google Analytics: A web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. It provides valuable insights into website performance, user behaviour, and audience demographics.

Google Search Console: Formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools, it's a free service provided by Google that helps webmasters monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot their site's presence in Google Search results. It provides data about search performance, index coverage, and more.

Mailchimp: An email marketing platform that allows users to design, send, and analyse email campaigns. It offers features such as email templates, audience segmentation, automation, and detailed analytics.

SEMrush: A comprehensive SEO tool that offers features for keyword research, backlink analysis, rank tracking, site auditing, and more. It helps businesses improve their online visibility and outrank competitors in search engine results.

Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords): Google's advertising platform that allows businesses to create and manage pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns. It enables advertisers to display ads on Google's search engine results pages (SERPs), YouTube, and partner websites within the Google Display Network.

These tools collectively cover a wide range of digital marketing needs, from website analytics and SEO to email marketing and online advertising. However, it's worth noting that the effectiveness of these tools can vary depending on factors such as your specific goals, target audience, and industry. Additionally, there are many other digital marketing tools available that cater to different aspects of online marketing, so it's essential to explore and experiment to find the ones that best suit your requirements and learn more.

#digital marketing #tools #SEO

2 notes · View notes

mariacallous · 10 months

Text

YouTube unleashed an influential generation of new internet celebrities in 2007 when it started to share ad revenue with select video creators. For the past couple of years, a snippet of code on YouTube’s website revealed which channels are part of the secretive and exclusive club. But users and activists who had come to rely on that flag suddenly found themselves in the dark last month.

YouTube removed the code, shutting off the ability of creators to keep tabs on their competitors—and of journalists and researchers to hold the world's largest video streaming service accountable for who it allows into what’s known as the YouTube Partner Program, or YPP. Its demise hasn’t been previously reported.

Being part of YPP can be a validation of creators' talents, but the uncertainty left by the code's removal could let both new joiners and kicked-out creators escape attention. In September, YouTube announced that UK comedian Russell Brand had been suspended from YPP after several women accused him of rape and sexual assault. Now, it’s more difficult to track a channel’s status.

Maen Hammad says he and his colleagues at the US corporate responsibility advocacy group Ekō used the code on YouTube channels and tools empowered by it to carry out their investigations. The nonprofit previously used the flag to report on anti-LGBTQ content receiving revenue from YouTube. “I would have to believe that YouTube took out the source code after many civil society groups were using them to corroborate that YouTube was monetizing some of the worst disinformation on the internet,” Hammad says.

Tony Woodall, who runs a travel channel that he hopes will soon meet the viewership requirements to join YPP, made use of YouTube’s transparency about accounts in the program in recent months. He used the Google Chrome extension Is YouTube Channel Monetized?, which was powered by the code snippet, to research and learn from the strategies of other travel accounts already in YPP. “YouTube creators like to know which other creators are getting monetized and ask, ‘Why not me?’” Woodall says. He now feels deflated—the extension has stopped working, and no clear alternatives are available.

Asked about the vanished code, YouTube spokesperson Kimberly Taylor says the service constantly makes updates to improve the privacy of creators and viewers. While ads appear on a variety of videos and channels, just those in YPP get a portion of sales. Whether someone is earning ad revenue share is a fact YouTube intends to keep private with the channel owner, Taylor says.

The sensitivity of that information is debatable. Lindz Amer, a transgender, nonbinary creator of kids’ content in YPP, says they never found it concerning for the public to know they received a share of ad revenue from YouTube. “People already assume my channel is monetized, because they see my subscriber count and they see ads,” says Amer, who has nearly 29,000 subscribers on YouTube. “I absolutely understand the importance of privacy but it’s not something that matters to me as much as my address not being online.”

Coded Mystery

YouTube, which is owned by Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, pays up to 55 percent of ad revenue and a portion of subscription sales to more than 2 million creators who’ve met viewership and quality requirements to become part of YPP. After YouTube said it improved its ability to identify appropriate content, it began in November 2020 showing ads on non-YPP channels, from which it keeps 100 percent of the ad sales. But the ads expansion made it challenging for the public to authoritatively determine the creators included in the program and getting a revenue share.

Fortunately for watchdogs and wannabe members of YPP trying to monitor their competitors, internet archives show that in June 2021 the publicly accessible source code for YouTube channels’ homepages began including a piece of JavaScript including a flag showing “true” or “false” for “is_monetization_enabled.” By no later than December 2021, internet sleuths had spotted the helpful code. Software developers sprung into action, developing ad-supported websites and free browser add-ons that automatically looked for “true” or “false” in the code for a channel and displayed to users whether a particular channel was enrolled in YPP and thus receiving ad payouts.

At least one analytics tool used by millions of YouTube creators, vidIQ, integrated a monetization checker based on the code directly into its platform after users requested the feature. Chrome’s extension store shows a handful of such offerings collectively have more than 7,000 users.

The owner of the website Is This Channel Monetized, who goes by Alex Portman, says he developed his own tool in November 2022 because he works in digital marketing and needed to assess whether which YouTube channel strategies were commercially viable. “I figured I was not the only one needing this, so I turned it into an online tool,” Portman says. It’s been an unprofitable venture, but it’s generated significant traffic and paid off by benefitting his day job.

Portman and other developers say the code on YouTube channels disappeared as early as November 17—the day after WIRED asked YouTube about the flag when fact-checking a story about YouTube excluding creators in the Palestinian territories from its revenue-sharing arrangement. WIRED had used the code to confirm that Palestinian channels were not in YPP. YouTube did not dispute the accuracy of the code and generally does not publicly comment on a specific channel’s monetization status.

After YouTube removed the code, Portman says, his website experienced a surge in visits. He rushed to develop a way to use other clues to provide the same information.

His new system assumes a channel is in YPP if it meets the program minimum of 1,000 subscribers (though YouTube is gradually lowering the threshold to 500) and most of its recent videos have ads. Channels with other visible monetization features like memberships or Super Thanks are also considered part of YPP, since being in the program is a prerequisite but those options have not been widely adopted by channels. Portman has to start reporting some channel’s status as “unknown” when there aren’t enough clues to provide a clear answer.

“I haven't reached out to YouTube support, as they are generally not helpful at all,” Portman says. “I highly doubt they will ever address this.”

The advocacy group Ekō had used the monetization code and tools based on it to study financial support for problematic content on YouTube. The group published a report in October about seven channels apparently in YPP that accounted for 13 videos with what Ekō described as anti-LGBTQ speech. When following up last month, Ekō’s Hammad found that eight videos seemed to no longer show ads. Because the YPP-status-checking tools had broken, he could not determine whether the channels behind the uploads had been booted from YPP entirely. YouTube’s Taylor says ads don’t appear on videos violating YouTube guidelines, which include restrictions against hateful and derogatory content.

Media Matters for America, a nonprofit that calls out alleged misinformation spread by conservative commentators and the advertisers funding them, had taken advantage of the YPP-status-check functionality to inform its own work. “Rolling back transparency will negatively impact monetization research overall, not just at Media Matters,” spokesperson Laura Keiter says. “It's disappointing that we will need to look for new methods.”

WIRED couldn’t determine whether any academic researchers had relied on the code while studying online video. One professor speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution from YouTube says they had previously looked at the flag and that it would have been valuable to their future research. “Knowing which channels seek to monetize on YouTube and which don’t would be great for studying the online creator economy,” the professor says.

YouTube spokesperson Taylor says scholars are welcome to request data through a research program open to students and staff at higher-education institutions. That data does not include information on whether a channel is part of YPP or is receiving ad-revenue-sharing payments.

To ensure YPP creators are getting paid for their work, YouTube this year has forced millions of viewers to disable ad blockers if they want to watch videos without delays or at all, frustrating users and causing chaos in the ad-blocker developer community.

Within the community that emerged around the YPP code flag, the developer of an open source monetization-checker extension who goes by Shaz suspects that the popular vidIQ service distributing the functionality may have put the issue on YouTube’s radar and “put the final nail in the coffin.” VidIQ CEO Rob Sandie says YouTube changes the data it provides all the time. “That's their decision, and we respect that, and we'll continue to find more ways to help creators,” he says.

Shaz was quick to give up on his extension after the code’s disappearance. He pulled it from the Chrome store and archived his project on the code repository GitHub, closing it off to further updates. At least unless a new clue leaks someday.

5 notes · View notes