Cloudflare Launches Privacy-First Analytics to Rival Google & This Week’s Digital Marketing News [PODCAST]

Hosts Jess Budde, Greg Finn, Christine “Shep” Zirnehld, and a friendly witch are kicking off spooky season with scary stories of vanishing location reporting, Google Ads auto-applied recommendations, and mobile SERP features that never take users to your site.

If you’re unable to catch the episode on Spotify, be sure to watch the video version on the Search Engine Journal YouTube channel.

Google Ads auto-applies recommendations in some accounts

Menachem Ani received an email from Google Ads this week that some automated recommendations would be auto-applied in his accounts at the beginning of October.

For some of the recommendations, such as “keyword match type best practices” it isn’t entirely clear what specific changes would be made.

Advertisers responded on Twitter, many of whom had no idea that they may be opted-into this feature.

Our hosts tell you how to make sure you’re opted-out of auto-applied recommendations.

Just make sure this is turned off. #ppcchat pic.twitter.com/VuIqhbwjPU

— Menachem Ani Ⓜ️ (@MenachemAni) September 29, 2020

Cloudflare launches analytics service

Cloudflare announced new privacy-first analytics tools that any marketer or webmaster can access, even if they’re not Cloudflare customers.

These free tools promise to take a privacy-first approach that provides data regarding how people are finding and using your site without sacrificing user privacy.

The product is being marketed as an alternative to “popular analytics services available [that] were built to help ad-supported sites sell more ads” such as Google Analytics.

Facebook removing 28-day attribution

Facebook’s 28-day attribution model will not be available for reporting after October 12, 2020.

Facebook currently measures results using a 1, 7, or 28-day window – but the default is 28.

This will impact all advertisers who have not changed their default attribution window.

Facebook also said all historical data tied to the 28-day attribution window will be deleted on October 12 and recommends advertisers download any data they need before that date.

Organic Google Shopping listings launch globally

After launching free Google shopping listings in April 2020, Google will be rolling out the feature worldwide in mid-October.

The free listings will start in the shopping tab before appearing in the main search results.

Retailers who want their products to be eligible for free listings need to make sure they’ve opted into Surfaces Across Google in Merchant Center.

Then, ICYMI, there may be more than meets the eye with Google Ads updated location reporting.

Google Ads UI updates for Report Editor and Locations reporting seem to be rolling out in some accounts. pic.twitter.com/nvbxDjddWn

— Ginny Marvin (@GinnyMarvin) September 25, 2020

We’ll answer your burning digital marketing questions during our lightning round segment:

• Who is answering what “it depends” means for SEOs?
• What do you need to know about Snapchat’s new “Platform Burst” media buy option?
• When can advertisers take advantage of new Pinterest ad slots?
• Where can you find the latest news and updates about Microsoft Advertising?
• Why we’re rethinking our stance on Instagram stories.
• How can you easily create reports out of your Google Survey data?

If you’re looking for more information on this week’s news stories, head over to the Marketing O’Clock site. Be sure to subscribe while you’re there!

Featured Image Credit: Cypress North