📊 Twelve.

New metrics appear in Google Analytics, Microsoft expands its advertising to new markets, and more. January 13, 2023 [Read in browser]( [logo] [sponsor]( Happy Friday, you made it. We thought of a way to tell if someone online is a human or an AI: Ask them if they’ve kept their new year’s resolutions perfectly. Because if someone does, they can’t possibly be human. Right? GOOGLE More ways to track e-commerce data in Analytics [article-image] If you can’t track the little things, can you really evaluate your store’s performance? … Because Google just announced [12 new item-scoped and event-scoped dimensions and metrics]( to help you do just that. What’s going on: The new options help you analyze how individual items perform, but also track information about all your services and e-commerce interactions. For example, you can now see the number of purchases for each item, for each country, and many more. Item by item, top to bottom: The list of dimensions and metrics in Explorations and the Data API includes item affiliation, item variant, items added to cart, shipping tier, and more. Google also released fresh naming conventions: Item list clicks are now Item-list click events, Item purchase quantity is now Items purchased, and so on. You can see the full list of metrics, dimensions, and new conventions in Google's official announcement above. Why we care: Google keeps improving Analytics 4, and this addition gives you more input in your store performance. Sounds great for e-commerce advertisers – keep it up Google! ADVERTISING Microsoft expands to new markets, Google shares tips Two updates from the tech giants... Microsoft’s net just got wider: It’s [expanding ad targeting options]( to a number of markets in the Middle East and Africa. Countries include Ethiopia, Congo, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Armenia, Georgia, and more. Whoa. Oh, and don’t forget: You have until February 1 to migrate to Responsive Search Ads, as it will remain the only search ad type remaining. Don’t procrastinate! Also, Google thinks you can do better: The search giant [published a series of posts]( to help you “unify your media and maximize workflow and budget efficiency using Display & Video 360.” These posts explore topics that could help you smooth out your ad operations through: - Tips for maximizing budget efficiency. - Growth planning. - Controlling connected TV ad frequency. … and more. Worth a read, especially if you’re advertising on a larger scale. Why we care: Thanks to Microsoft’s continued global expansion, you now have even more targeting options. And Google seems intent on winning bigger advertisers by providing more insight into automated ads and first-party data. Expected, but still interesting. Speaking of interesting… SPONSORED BY STACKED MARKETER PRO The psychology behind why some emails get read while others don’t—and how to get yours on the must-read list [article-image]( Psychologists don’t have to be marketers, but marketers definitely need to know a thing or two about psychology. It’s the difference between getting read and sinking into the spam folder. Everyone has preconceived notions. Identifying their beliefs and acting upon them can help your emails stand out. That's why we put thousands of email campaigns sent by hundreds of businesses on the couch. Here are the psychological principles mastered by the top 1%: - Rhyming statements help people believe. - Humor makes them more likely to remember. - Numbers attract people’s attention. - Curiosity hooks them into opening emails. … And much more. Plus, you'll find hundreds of emails that demonstrate these strategies. [You can check out a sample here.]( Join Stacked Marketer Pro now to start applying these powerful email psychology hacks, and get access to 20+ other Pro reports you can use to level up your marketing. [Go Pro and nail your next campaign.]( SEO This is how ChatGPT can help you with technical SEO [article-image] By now you probably feel that ChatGPT is everywhere – in your feed, in your mind… maybe even in your fridge. However, that doesn’t mitigate the fact that it can be darn useful for this industry. Joe Hall recently [shared an interesting guide]( for making some of your technical SEO processes more efficient, and it’s kind of mind-blowing. So let’s get technical… Create static XML sitemaps – It’s rare, but sometimes you encounter a bunch of static web pages managed by a custom content management system (CMS) that doesn’t auto generate sitemaps. If that happens, you may have to roll up your sleeves and create sitemaps manually. Or, instead of writing it by hand, you can try the following ChatGPT prompt: Create a valid XML site map that includes the following URLs: [list URLS] Create JSON-LD schema – With AI, you don’t need to use unreliable JSON-LD automated generators to create this type of schema markup. Instead, just type this: Generate JSON-LD schema for a local [business type] named [business name] at the address [address] with the phone number [phone number] Create crawl directives for robots.txt – Normally, you don’t have to edit the robots.txt file. But on the rare occasion that you do, you’ll have to be nitpicky. For instance, what would you do to prevent crawlers from accessing certain directories when you still want them to crawl subdirectories inside that blocked original? Well, just try this prompt: Create a robots.txt file that blocks Bing [or crawlers from any other entity] from crawling the /assets/ directory, but allows crawling the /assets/javascript/ directory. Awesome, right? If you want to see the output examples, as well as some more tips, [check out the entire article](. You may get some ideas of your own! FROM THE CREW Radically honest: how Stacked Marketer is doing by the numbers [article-image]( It’s that time again. How’d you like to see our 2022 financials including revenue, earnings before tax, and subscribers? [Discover why we:]( - Plan to shed certain subscribers. - Didn't hit our goal in EBT—and why that pays off in 2023. - Rebranded our Pro membership. And, the thing you are most curious about: how we made $685,000 in revenue in 2022. Why give away so much information? Because we want feedback from smart marketers like you! [Download our 2022 annual report PDF now.]( THE CREW’S INSIGHTS Should you make the switch to tROAS? [article-image] An automated bidding strategy is an efficient way to get the right clicks at the perfect cost. After all, Google knows who your ideal customer is, and knows what it takes to make them click. Fair enough. But before you jump into automated bidding, let’s look a bit closer at Google’s target ROAS (tROAS). What is tROAS? A bidding strategy where you set a specific goal for the return you want to get from your ad spend. If you want to spend $1,000 and generate $5,000 in revenue, then you would set your tROAS to 500%. You can set a tROAS when you choose “maximize conversion value.” When to use a tROAS: - You’re an e-commerce store that generates revenue when you make a conversion. - You have products at varied price points. - You have a lot of conversion data, and Google knows who your target consumer is. - You know what your average ROAS is. When not to use tROAS: - You’re running ads to generate leads or to rack up downloads of free products (digital downloads, guides etc.). - You have less than 50 conversions, and therefore don’t know what ROAS you usually stand at. The takeaway? If your campaigns have a lot of data, and you want to hit certain revenue goals from your array of products, then it’s worth giving tROAS. ROUNDING UP THE STACK [GROWTH MARKETING:]( The best way to improve your marketing? Study what top marketers are actually doing. Enter the Growth Newsletter. Each week, they interview experts to get actionable growth tactics. Then they share them with you. [See examples and subscribe here.](* [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE](: Caught AI-ing. Looks like big publications have already started using “automation technology.” The popular tech publication CNET has written 73 AI-generated articles alone so far. Does this mean our daily reads are now Turing tests? [GOOGLE:]( And speaking of AI, Google had to once again clarify that “any content created primarily for search rankings” goes against its guidance. The reason? Bankrate—a big finance publication—openly used AI-generator tools. Anyone else feeling dizzy with all this? [TWITTER:]( You’ll be able to buy a Twitter username soon. Apparently, the platform is planning to put up 1.5B usernames from inactive accounts to auction in a bid to boost revenue. Hey, when the going gets tough, the handles get going… [TIKTOK:]( France doesn’t joke around. After slapping Apple with an $8.5M fine a few days ago, French authorities dropped a $5M penalty on TikTok for a “manipulative cookie consent flow” that makes it easier to accept cookies than to refuse them. Naughty. *This is a sponsored post BRAIN TEASER What has a neck but no head? You can find [the answer here](. [poolside-logo] POOLSIDE CHAT What’s that noise under the deck? [article-image] So you’re on your deck drinking a coffee. Or maybe a beer. When suddenly, you hear something wiggling underneath. Take a guess: is it a cat, a racoon, or a rat? Wrong – it’s none of those. It’s a [fully grown hibernating black bear](! So what do you do first? Well, if you’re like the family that encountered this particular bear, the first thing you’d do is… [record a TikTok](. Very brave. The state’s Department of Environmental Protection has told them to “leave the bear alone until hibernation passes.” According to the family, the bear’s been “super chill” so far. But imagine walking above a bear for the next few months. Seems scary. SHARING IS CARING Still drinking out of that sad, coffee-stained mug in the lunchroom cabinet? Come on. You’re better than that. Let us send you the Marketer Mug instead. It looks great, fits perfectly inside your hand, and though we can’t explain it… it makes beverages taste better, too. Just get 30 other smart people to sign up, and it’s yours. [article-image]( [CLICK TO SHARE]( Or copy your referral link: [ [SUBSCRIBE]( | [SM PRO]( | [ADVERTISE]( You are receiving this email because you want to know what is going on in digital marketing. If you aren't thrilled about our emails, reply and let us know why. 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