Last month's top news from our industry

So what happened in the digital industry in April 2023?

Pinterest announced a partnership with Amazon, TikTok Shop launched in Beta, YouTube introduced new music ad solutions, Google is depreciating several attribution models, Google Search Console is dropping the Page Experience report, Mobile Usability report and Mobile-Friendly tests , and much more!

Let's get you up to speed.

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Conference recaps

April was a month full of learning for our digital performance analysts and client strategy directors. Together they attended no less than 3 different conferences. Discover their key takeaways in the articles below.

SMX Munich 2023 - Key takeaways on SEO

On March 15th and 16th, Benjamin Nyonkuru and Jean-Baptiste had the opportunity to attend the SMX Munich conference. During the event, ChatGPT was on everyone’s lips, as the new tool developed by OpenAI has had an impact on our industry. Discover Jean-Baptiste key takeaways on SEO.

SMX Advanced Paris 2023 - Key takeaways on SEO

Valentine had the opportunity to participate in the last SMX Advanced Paris. In her article, you will find the main takeaways from her 2 favorite SEO presentations. Expect to learn a little bit more about the future of SEO and AI and link building.

SMX Advanced Paris 2023 - Key takeaways on PPC

Together with Valentine, Mathilde attended the Search Marketing Expo (SMX) conference in Paris. She's excited to share some insights with you. While there were many interesting topics discussed at the conference, she is highlighting the two presentations that stood out to her.

Webwinkel Vakdagen 2023

“Wow this event is huge” – This was the first impression of Yannick and Bert upon entering. More than 250 e-commerce suppliers on the exhibitor floor and more than 200 lectures in the 12 lecture halls. In their blog article, they discuss their key learnings from 2 days at the 'Webwinkel Vakdagen'.

From around the web

AI & ChatGPT

Auto-GPT May Be The Strong AI Tool That Surpasses ChatGPT
- Forbes
"LLMs have been limited in one significant way: They tend to only be able to complete one task, such as answering a question or generating a piece of text, before requiring more human interaction (known as prompts). Enter Auto-GPT – a technology that attempts to overcome this hurdle with a simple solution. Some believe it may even be the next step towards the holy grail of AI – the creation of general, or strong, AI."

Samsung workers made a major error by using ChatGPT
- Techradar
"The company allowed engineers at its semiconductor arm to use the AI writer to help fix problems with their source code. But in doing so, the workers inputted confidential data, such as the source code itself for a new program, internal meeting notes data relating to their hardware. 

Since ChatGPT retains user input data to further train itself, these trade secrets from Samsung are now effectively in the hands of OpenAI, the company behind the AI service."

US begins study of possible rules to regulate AI like ChatGPT
- Reuters
"The Biden administration said Tuesday it is seeking public comments on potential accountability measures for artificial intelligence (AI) systems as questions loom about its impact on national security and education."

Meta will debut its generative AI this year
- Search Engine Land
"Meta plans to monetize its proprietary generative AI technology by December, joining Google in exploring practical applications. The company has been investing in AI for over a decade and recently created a new generative AI team to focus on commercialization."

Generative AI coming soon to Google Ads
- Search Engine Land
"Google is set to integrate generative artificial intelligence into its advertising business in the coming months, joining other major tech companies in adopting the technology. The company plans to use AI to generate unique ads using materials provided by human marketers, based on an internal presentation for advertisers"

Google CEO Sundar Pichai Says Search to Include Chat AI
- The Wall Street Journal
"Google plans to add conversational artificial-intelligence features to its flagship search engine, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said, as it deals with pressure from chatbots such as ChatGPT and wider business issues."

Google planning new search engine while working on new search features under Project Magi
- Search Engine Land
"Google is in the process of building an “all-new search engine” powered by its new A.I. technology while at the same time working on adding new A.I.-based features to its current search engine under the project name Magi."

Data & analytics

Export historical data from Universal Analytics before July 1, 2024
- Google Analytics Help
"This article outlines your different options for exporting historical data from Universal Analytics before the platform turndown on July 1, 2024. This article also covers important milestones for the July 1, 2023 sunset for standard Universal Analytics properties."

Google Analytics Introduces Regex Support For Event Creation
- Search Engine Journal
"You can now modify and create events in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) using regular expressions (regex). This update is a welcome addition to Google Analytics, as regex support was not previously available for these tasks."

GA4 Adds New Conversion Counting Method
- Krista Seiden
"When GA4 Conversions were first launched, they flipped this methodology upside down, and instead of deduplicating at the session level, a Conversion was counted every time the event fired. You can now choose, on an individual conversion level (woah!!), if you want it to count once per event or once per session. "

Google Ads Update: Enhanced GA4 Conversion Imports
- Search Engine Journal
"In a recent update, Google Ads improved how it imports web conversion data, allowing for more precise measurements and enhanced optimization. Google Ads now supports the import of fractional, cross-channel web conversion credits from Google Analytics 4 (GA4) properties."

PPC

Lunio Guide about Performance Marketing
- Lunio
"Use this playbook to build, optimise, and scale highly-profitable campaigns across Search, Shopping, PMax, Display, Video, and Social  – with exclusive tips from 4 renowned PPC experts. "

Results from Google Ads’ interest-based advertising testing
- Google Ads & Commerce Blog
"As Chrome’s deprecation of third-party cookies approaches, Google Ads and Display & Video 360 have been experimenting with interest-based audience solutions. This includes affinity, in-market, custom audiences and demographic segments on Google’s display network, using a combination of privacy-preserving signals."

Google-related updates

First click, linear, time decay, and position-based attribution models are going away
- Google Ads Help
"Starting in June 2023, we’ll remove the ability to select first click, linear, time decay, and position-based attribution models for conversion actions in Google Ads that do not already use one of these models. Then, starting in September 2023, we'll switch any conversion actions still using these models to data-driven attribution."

Google Search Console To Drop Page Experience Report, Mobile Usability Report & Mobile-Friendly Tests
- Search Engine Roundtable
"In the coming months, Google will deprecate the page experience report within Google Search Console, the mobile usability report, and the mobile-friendly testing tool. The core web vitals and HTTPs report will remain in Google Search Console, Danny Sullivan of Google announced."

Shipping and Returns information on Google Search web results
- Google Search Central
"Google Search now shows an expanded display of shipping and return information on Google Search text results for merchant sites. We're also making it easier to monitor and fix the structured data required to enable this display using the Search Console Shopping reports and tools."

Reach Gen Z audiences where they are on YouTube with new music ad solutions
- Google Ads & Commerce Blog
"We’re making it easier to reach Gen Z audiences (ages 18-24) with the introduction of new AI-powered music ad solutions that will get your brand in front of trending music, such as music from headliner BLACKPINK. These will be available across devices and formats including long-form, audio and — coming soon — YouTube Shorts."

SEO

How Google’s Selective Link Priority Impacts SEO (2023 Study)
- Zyppy
"Selective Link Priority occurs when Google encounters multiple links on a page that target the same URL, typically with different anchor text. In this scenario, instead of using all the different anchor texts, Google is known to select only certain anchor texts for ranking purposes. 

To our knowledge, nobody in the SEO industry has published any testing on this in a long time. In the meantime, Google made several changes that made testing more difficult for SEOs and also potentially changed how Link Priority may work."

Taxonomy SEO, knowledge graph, and ChatGPT go hand in hand. Here’s why.
- WordLift
"Build a resilient taxonomy SEO by combining it with ChatGPT and Knowledge Graph to drive more online sales"

Social media

Pinterest announces partnership with Amazon to bring third-party ad demand to the platform
- Pinterest Newsroom
"We’re announcing that we’re opening up third-party ad demand on Pinterest. As user engagement with shoppable content on Pinterest continues to grow, we’re pleased to have selected Amazon as our first partner for third-party ads."

LinkedIn Announces New Updates for Audience Network Campaigns
- Social Media Today
"LinkedIn has announced some new updates to its Audience Network ads, which will make it easier to connect with LinkedIn users outside of the app."

TikTok Shop launches in Beta
- Search Engine Land
"TikTok sellers are being invited to be the first to sign up and try out TikTok Shop before its public release. TikTok Shop is an ecommerce solution designed to boost sales and brand growth on TikTok. It allows users to discover and purchase products from their favorite creators and brands in a single, smooth experience."

Meta has reportedly stopped pitching advertisers on the metaverse
- Business Insider
"According to a new report from The Information, Meta is no longer pitching the metaverse to advertisers in meetings. Instead, the company is incentivizing the use of its short-form video product Reels, while also highlighting its slew of AI tools, per the report. "