Welcome to Part II of Edition No. 79 of my weekly newsletter, providing practical analysis in the world of digital content strategy.
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¡Buenos días from beautiful Barcelona! I’ll be here until early July visiting my wife’s family (as well eating tapas, visiting new coffee shops and brushing up on my Catalan). Shoutout to TSA for not only searching my bags, but also leaving a printed notice inside my MacBook, which was inside a zipped-up cover, inside a zipped-up backpack, inside a zipped-up suitcase with a three-digit code. By the way, if you’re an American resident, your tax dollars paying for some pretty high-quality card stock used to print these notices in COLOR. Dwight Schrute would be both proud (paper quality) and disgusted (reckless use of tax dollars).
Normally I wouldn’t publicly share that I’m out of town for so long, but there’s a large armed man staying at our house as well as a few friends dropping by to make sure no one touches our fast-growing basil and rosemary plants. Plus we’re surrounded by neighbors with large dogs, including a metro police officer. (The metro police officer being one of the neighbors, not one of the large dogs.)
Speaking of information leaks, Google says the details disclosed about its algorithm’s API lack context. I’m sure they do. Like that time I got caught taking my parents car out at midnight to buy a Happy Meal when I was 17. When they greeted me in the driveway, I, too, told them the situation lacked context.
(That didn’t actually happen. I wouldn’t eat McDonald’s it if were the last place in the world. Unless they were serving sausage, egg and cheese McGriddles all day.)
Let’s get to this week’s top updates in the world of digital content strategy, including a nice little feature update from Google Analytics 4.
GA4
+ Reports: Switch Between Days, Weeks, Months
You can access this from dashboards within the Reports tab.
While this seems like a no-brainer, we only had one option until this point.
This will make it much easier to look at trends over the long-term instead of parsing through a chart that plotted data day-by-day.
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SEO
+ Google: Leak Lacks Context
“Google told us that a lot of assumptions are being published, out of context, based on incomplete information from the data leak.”
“We would caution against making inaccurate assumptions about Search based on out-of-context, outdated, or incomplete information. We’ve shared extensive information about how Search works and the types of factors that our systems weigh, while also working to protect the integrity of our results from manipulation.”
-Google Spokesperson
“…Google never comments on specifics when it comes to its ranking algorithm, a spokesperson told me. Google said if they did comment, spammers and/or bad actors could use it to manipulate its rankings.”
…which is basically what I pointed out in yesterday’s newsletter
“This Google leak is likely going to be the story of the year – maybe of the century.”
The year? I buy it. But the century?? Let’s pump the gosh-darn brakes, Barry
The Google Leak: 3 Practical Takeaways
+ Usually Active John Mueller Hasn’t Tweeted Since May 21
Mueller hasn’t Liked a Tweet Since May 19, Sullivan May 17
As of the publishing of this newsletter at 6:30 a.m. ET May 31
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Social Media
+ Threads: New Desktop Version Rolling Out Globally
“…so you can customize and personalize what you see.” -Adam Mosseri
+ Instagram: Expands Limits for Kids Who Feel Unsafe
+ ‘Introducing TikTok One Creative Sweet’
“All-in-one creative solution”
“Imagine a space where efficiency meets innovation”
(I have no idea what that means.)
“Connect with leading agencies”
“All while using generative AI”
+ Instagram: ‘remember that any video over 90 seconds won’t be eligible to be recommended in Explore or Reels Tab’
+ Oral Arguments for U.S. TikTok Ban Scheduled for September
“Under the appeals court schedule, the creators, TikTok and ByteDance must file legal briefs by June 20 and the Justice Department by July 26, with reply briefs due by Aug. 15.”
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Miscellaneous
+ Job Opening: Partner Manager, Content and Meme Pages
“The Biden for President (BFP) campaign is looking for a Partner Manager to join the Digital Partnerships team.”
Salary: $65,000 - $85,000 a year
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