Let’s say someone was plopped down in the middle of nowhere and they had never seen another person. They didn’t have mirrors or any good reflective surfaces near them.

What would they think their face looked like?

I’m convinced they would not get anywhere close to imagining what a human face really looks like. Am I crazy?

I’m fascinated by self-perception—physically and abstractly. In general, we don’t seem very good at seeing ourselves clearly. Even with mirrors, cameras, therapists, and self-help podcasts.

We also don’t see our own work very clearly either. After pouring so much of ourselves and our time into a landing page, an ad campaign, a brand, our eyesight seems to take on these funhouse mirror lenses. It’s almost impossible to look at that and see what other people see—or more so, what other people perceive.

What can you do about that? These are the deep thoughts I leave with you today.

✌️Hayley

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PS Again, I bring you this post-script that’s more important than a post-script. But I’m giving away a thousand dollar gift card to whoever sends me the most helpful tip for fellow marketers. So far about 20 people have submitted ideas. So, the odds of winning that mula seems pretty good to me.

It could be a productivity tool you love, a site you visit all the time because it’s so useful, a framework that helps you write landing page copy. Anything like that. Just hit reply and share.

​AMAZON ADS CAN NOW AUTOMATICALLY APPEAR ON PINTEREST, BUZZFEED, AND MORE​

Amazon Sponsored Product ads are getting more visibility. They can now appear on Pinterest, Buzzfeed, Hearst Newspapers, Raptive and Ziff Davis brands. This feels big to me.

​CREATE AND RUN REPORTS FOR GA4 PROPERTIES IN GOOGLE SHEETS WITH NEW ADD-ON​

Usually you need to go into GA4, find a report, and export the data there. Now, you can open a sheet and use the extensions menu to create a report and bring the data into the sheet.

​REPORT CLAIMS YOUTUBE SERVES TARGETED ADS TO AND COLLECTS DATA FROM CHILDREN​

Collecting data about kids (like which videos they prefer or which ads they skip) is off limits to protect their privacy. Google and US federal laws agreed on that. But an ad analytics firm claims YouTube is still collecting data and serving targeted ads for content labeled “made for kids.”

This started a bigger conversation between advertisers and Google. Advertisers want to know that the ads they run with Google do not violate laws about child privacy and data collection.

​GOOGLE’S REFUNDS TO ADVERTISERS SUGGEST GOOGLE BROKE THEIR AD STANDARDS ​

According to Adalytics, 80% of Youtube in-stream ads weren’t complying with the requirements Google created for them (like that the ad plays with audio, the video plays automatically, etc.) After that report, some marketers reported receiving refunds for their ads. Google said, “As part of ongoing relationship building, we sometimes issue credits to advertisers, this is not uncommon.” Others think this suggests Google doesn’t truly believe the Adalytics report to be “wildly inaccurate claims about Google Video Partners.”

​AMAZON NOW INCLUDES AN AI-GENERATED SUMMARY OF REVIEWS​

The summary shares the general pros and cons mentioned in reviews, in a short paragraph.

​GOOGLE ADS TESTS ONE-ON-ONE SUPPORT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES​

Usually, this kind of customer service has only been given to their biggest clients. And it sounds like Google has long-term plans to give more help like this to small businesses.

​YOU CAN NOW “UPGRADE” YOUR GOOGLE DISCOVERY ADS TO DEMAND GEN BETA​

“Demand Gen campaigns combine image + video ads in one place and can be used to drive conversions, site visits and actions like sign-up and add-to-cart across YouTube, Discover and Gmail,” according to good ol’ Ginny (a Google Ads Liaison). By early 2024 you’ll have to upgrade from Discovery ads to Demand gen ads.
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OTHER UPDATES

​Google lets you add social media links to business profile​

​Google’s SGE now provides AI summaries on the pages of some long-form content​

​Instagram tests showing four advertising brands on one page between Reels​

​Google Ads to sunset Enhanced CPC on Shopping campaigns

​OneLook​

This bad boy comes in clutch when you just can’t remember the word you’re trying to use. Please tell me I’m not the only one who frequently forgets vocabulary???

For instance—while writing this email—I couldn’t think of a word that was on the tip of my tongue. So I typed “ability to be seen more” into OneLook and it gave me a list of words, including “visibility.” And that’s just the word I wanted but couldn’t think of.

Dear reverse dictionary, I love you.

I’m hoping some of you suffer from random loss of vocab and will find this helpful. 🫠

​5 BEST GOOGLE ADS ALTERNATIVES TO DIVERSIFY & GROW​

It can feel overwhelming to choose which ad platform(s) to use besides Google. This lists the benefits of five other ad platforms to help you evaluate your options.

​SOCIAL MEDIA IMAGE SIZE GUIDE FOR ALL PLATFORMS IN 2023​

It’s always nice to have an article like this book marked for your social strategy.

​THE WHAT, WHEN, AND WHY BEHIND THE DEMISE OF FAQS & HOW-TO​

This gives interesting context around Google’s recent decision to reduce the visibility of FAQ and How-to rich results.

​LINK-BUILDING SERVICES PREPARED FOR THE FUTURE OF AI-FOCUSED SEARCH​

Link building needs to evolve as AI changes search engine results. Dofollow’s approach to link building is set up to succeed with these changes. Their philosophy is: to build sustainable links you need to align with Google, not fight search’s evolution.

🚇 THE NEW YORK TIMES TRANSFORMS ENTIRE SUBWAY TRAIN INTO IMMERSIVE AD​

🤝 A PSYCHOLOGIST EXPLAINS HOW WORKING REMOTELY IMPACTS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR BOSS​

💵 HOW MUCH DOES A CONTENT MARKETER MAKE? WILL AI IMPACT THAT IN 2024?​

🖼️ AI-GENERATED ART CANNOT BE COPYRIGHTED, RULES A US FEDERAL JUDGE​

🤨 THE NEW BING HAS FAILED TO TAKE ANY MARKET SHARE FROM GOOGLE AFTER SIX MONTHS

Some of the links in my newsletters are affiliate links. So sometimes I get monies (aka dollary doos, aka sweet sweet dough) when you buy or sign up for some of the stuff I mention—at no extra cost to you.