For 25 years, links have been core to how Google ranks web pages. But, today, I think most marketers dramatically overestimate their importance. There’s good evidence that over the long run, links won’t be all that crucial to Google’s rankings, and will be replaced by lexical references that connect topics and keywords to a brand,
Something is Rotten in Online Advertising
By What the #$%* is going on with the digital advertising ecosystem? Where to even begin… Should we start with the upcoming loss of third-party cookies? The bizarre Google & Facebook duopoly teamup against anti-trust action? The rise of online ads as a money laundering & terrorist-funding tactic? Or maybe we should talk about brands’ ever-shrinking
What Should Digital Marketing Agencies Focus on in the Year Ahead?
By A few weeks ago, I received a lovely email with an important question: what should digital marketing agencies focus on in 2021 and beyond? Via Sebastián Cardozo of Noventaynueve Wait… Why me? I don’t run an agency, and haven’t for more than a decade. Well, SparkToro has used a lot of agency help, we’ve got
The Three Biggest Problems Folks Have When Searching SparkToro
By Tens of thousands of marketers, researchers, product managers, and more are using SparkToro to learn more about their audiences. That’s inspiring. I love it. And also… Some of y’all are getting stuck. It’s not your fault! SparkToro’s a new tool, with a new search paradigm, and new kinds of audience data. So, it’s up to
The Best Damn Food & Drink Gift Guide on the Web
By What’s in this guide that makes it so good? 37 small, privately-owned, high-quality businesses you’ll actually want to support, 75+ delicious food and beverage gifts that your friends and family will love to receive, and 0 slideshows, 0 ads, 0 affiliate links, and $0 dollars biasing the editorial recommendations. In short: everything you’d want in
Social Networks “Optimize for Engagement.” What Does That Mean for Marketers?
By I’m a firm believer that incentives and systems govern behavior at scale. If you want to understand why companies make the decisions they do, look at how their executives and boards are rewarded. If you’re trying to grok an unfamiliar sport, see how points are scored and wins are tabulated. Follow the incentives, and you’ll
I Blogged Every Night for a Week. It Went Terribly.
By Friends, I want you to look at a Google Analytics traffic graph with me. It’s not pretty, but sometimes we can learn more from failures than from success. You see that, too, right? In the week of November 15-21, SparkToro’s website saw a slight decline in traffic that, for most of this year, only happens
Marketing Takeaways from the 2020 US Election | Part V: Brand Familiarity & The Weaknesses of Product
By Welcome to the final episode in our five part exploration of the 2020 US election from a marketing lens. If you haven’t already, make sure to check out the rest of series Part I: Identity & Common Enemies Part II: Positioning & Segmentation Part III: Polling Problems & Growing Fans vs. Persuading Converts Part IV:
Marketing Lessons from the 2020 Election | Part IV: Narratives & Information Distribution
By Welcome to the penultimate episode (part 4/5) in our ongoing analysis of the 2020 US elections. If you haven’t already, check out part one, covering identity & common enemies, part two on positioning & segmentation, and part three on polling problems & growing vs. converting audiences. This time, we’ll look at the memorable power of
Marketing Lessons from the 2020 Election | Part III: Polling Problems & Growing Fans vs. Persuading Converts
By It’s time for part three (of five) in our ongoing analysis of the 2020 US elections. If you haven’t already, check out part one, covering identity & common enemies, and part two on positioning & segmentation. Today, we’ll get into the weeds of survey methodology, why election polling appears to be less accurate, and how