Hello and howdy!

Have you ever received or given an unexpected compliment? Sure, there are times when you’re expecting a compliment. Getting one unexpectedly hits different – it makes your day a bit brighter! In my search to find others experiencing the same, I discovered this short piece from Bret Lasky on LinkedIn. It’s beautiful to see others bringing compassion they see in the outside world to the workplace!

If you’re looking for a way to add unexpected compliments to your team flow, try a shoutout board! Our team has been using a virtual whiteboard to point out our colleagues’ good work and teamwork. It helps keep us feeling good too. 🙂

Now, onto digital marketing!

• What should Google rank in Search when all the content sucks? And we can relate to his pictorial depiction of “Google [as] a baby wading through a content trash heap.” Getting past the over-the-top nature of the article, the net-net is that future success with SEO requires credible, helpful content designed to match the intent of Google’s searchers. We are in full agreement on that mission to elevate and optimize.

• Digital Marketing Institute launched a course on AI in Digital Marketing to address the AI skills gap in the industry. A quick review of the online course from ClickZ indicates this helps people who want to better understand:
• how AI can impact marketing and
• how they can start their journey into the AI space.

• Are you aware that AI “chatbots fabricate details in at least 3% of interactions – and as much as 27%?” This data is cited in a MarTech article on “How to protect against and benefit from generative AI hallucinations.” When it comes to gen AI, you should always take the “trust but verify” approach. This is why we prefer gen AI chatbots like Bing Copilot, Google SGE, ChatGPT Plus, and Perplexity. They provide citations and links to the sources they used for generating their responses.

Two search engine strategies, both alike in goal.

In the search results, where we lay our scene.

These 90’s dreams burn with new coal;

Staying optimized keeps agencies on caffeine.

From forth one strategy emerges another;

A pair of star-cross’d lovers in it to win it

With the help of each other.

Well, Hi!

Today, we are gathered to celebrate the love of 2 special search strategies, SEO & SAIO. Let’s see what their enchanting relationship can teach us!

💖 SEO & SAIO are positive influences on each other: If you create solid content for SEO or SAIO specifically, it will help build your site authority for both chatbots and search engine bots.

They are like positive relationships in your life (perhaps your dog, a relative, a close friend). When both parties contribute positively, they can build a beautiful, supportive relationship.

💖 SEO & SAIO have different styles, but they work to the same goal: In SAIO, content is more conversational and broader in nature compared to SEO. Although the strategies vary, they still work for the same goal of visibility.

Sometimes, the differences in a relationship help us progress and widen our perspective as individuals. For work relationships, every team member has unique skills and workstyles. When these differences are acknowledged and respected, you can see some marvelous project executions.

• The latest Think With Google’s Future Ready Video Series with Katie Couric features Robert Wong, VP of Creative Lab at Google. The 7-minute YouTube interview covers a variety of topics including why you should play with AI, is generative AI creative, and what will the future of AI look like. One interesting comment that caught our ear is “that AI can generate a picture or write a sentence, but it doesn’t understand what it wrote or what it creates. AI doesn’t have taste. It can’t pick the best line.” Check it out on YouTube.

• Here’s a guide on “product page SEO” covering key elements of effective product page optimization. It includes: leveraging product page URLs, optimizing image file names, alt text, schema, and more.

  If some of this sounds familiar, it may be due to the fact we have introduced these elements for influencing SEO and SAIO. They help present your content as the most relevant to searches done via AI chatbots like Bing Copilot and Google SGE.

“Oh shoot, I’m late!”

A jolt of adrenaline hits you as you scurry to get to where you need to go. You reach for your phone. A stack of meticulously organized papers flies off your desk like the most disappointing confetti ever seen. A sigh of frustration. A look of anguish. “I don’t have time for this.”

If that is not one of the most relatable occurrences, I do not know what is.

Let us examine that pressure and how it applies in the workplace. What is the cause of this time-keeping anxiety?

The Issue with Numerical Time

As we know, numeric time is a construct, an illusion working to keep us all on the same beat. I believe the issue of our societal stress around time lies in how we think about it.

We “measure” time with productivity, efficiency, and busyness. We have methodical approaches to managing time like prioritization and workflow organization – it has been implanted within us during youth. There is pressure for kids to be potty trained before sending them off to school with timed tests and project deadlines. We learn “time management skills” so we can slap them on college applications and resumes.

While there is nothing wrong with measuring time, – it is imperative to advance as a species – our overreliance on it has been steeped in our culture, particularly in our workplaces.

Time & Workplace Productivity

A study in the Journal of Consumer Research found that many cultures view busyness as a sign of status. The question is: do we need to be overworked and overtired to feel accomplished at work?

When we anxiously race to beat the deadline, we prime ourselves for living in a “reacting” mode. Dr. Jim Taylor in Psychology Today explains that reacting is based on perceiving a threat, while responding flows from “deliberate and thoughtful decision making.” We, as people, need both mechanisms to survive. We need to run if there is a lion chasing us, but do we really need to blow up on an intern who didn’t complete a report on time? When we fall into the pressures of time crunches, we do not give ourselves time to be mindful – of ourselves and others. Constantly reacting to time pressures, we never hone our ability to respond. Think about the times you have reacted versus responded – how has your work or relationship with your team been affected?

Multi-tasking – it’s a skill in almost every job description. According to a study from the Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, only 2.5% of the 200 people studied could multitask effectively without causing detriments to the work. Even without science to back it up, how has a distracted mind impacted your workday? Were you a little on edge? Did all the work get done well? While avoiding multitasking completely is impossible, why does it have to be a standard for every workplace?

What is Time Without Numbers?

Time without numbers is mindfulness.

Albert Einstein, a leader in the numbers game, said, “…the past, present, and the future are real illusions, that they only exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.” The truth is: we have only ever experienced the present. The past and the future are only thoughts. The present is here.

A present awareness can mean higher quality projects, reports, team synchronicity. A mindfulness study featured in the National Library of Medicine revealed that participants who practiced mindfulness perceived time passing more slowly than the control group. With the perception that time is longer than it is, we can catch silly proofing or computation mistakes and notice when we need a break. Living presently means we are not bound by the limitations of the past or expectations or the future.

Time without numbers is compassion.

Compassion can take on a myriad of shapes and forms. While it may not include full understanding of others’ struggles, it uncovers the openness to uncover what they may need. It allows people to be responsible for getting their work done but gives them help if it’s needed. Compassion allows for flexibility. In a Gartner survey of 10,000 digital workers, 43% of them attributed “work hours flexibility” as their main reason for increased productivity. The flexibility to work how, when, and where can help those with neurodivergence or other needs to do their best.

A New Approach to Time in the Workplace

A balance between numbers and mindful compassion can be struck. Imagine the glorious potential. Team members are mindful of what they need, while compassionate leaders can actively listen and implement solutions to deliver results.

The choice lies in whether we can embrace new perspectives of time in our own lives and workplaces.

Learn more about approaches on mindfulness in the workplace.

Hiya!

You know those days when it seems everything has gone sideways? We all have ‘em. I think the trick is to look at them in their entirety. Here are some thoughts:

• Is everything about traffic bad? Yes, it slows us down. Is slowing down always bad? Not always, for example, we slow down on vacations. Not saying traffic is like a vacation (cuz it ain’t). Perhaps it gives us time to notice the cloud formations in the sky or appreciate the sincere goodness of seat warmers in the midst of winter.
• How about making mistakes at work? Yes, it’s not fun to stare into the face of imperfection. We can sit with that. Notice how a mistake may draw you into a new path of thinking… of observing. Maybe those observations lead you to a new, creative solution…

Whatever hurdles may come up, remember that you have the strength and creativity to handle them.

Let’s get into the digital marketing rodeo!🤠

• Search Engine Land reports on the future of SGE, Gemini, Ads, and AI Search based on clues from the latest Alphabet earnings call and statements from the Google CEO. It covers a lot of ground with how AI is a key driver behind what Google hopes to achieve in 2024 and how their AI initiatives, including Bard and the Assistant (with Bard) mobile app, are being incorporated into their search products as complementary features.

Heyo!

We’re in the midst of winter in New Jersey, and it’s such a great time to pause. Tara Brach, American psychologist, author, and meditation teacher gives some insights into the benefits of the “pause” in her book, Radical Acceptance.

“Pausing interrupts entrenched patterns of interaction. When the downward spiral of judging and misunderstanding is stopped, even for a brief time, it becomes possible to recognize the unconscious beliefs and feelings that lie behind the problem. Such insight naturally leads us to making wiser choices.”

When the moment is demanding a lot of you, if you have the opportunity, take a pause. See if anything changes.

• Econsultancy has put out their “Digital and Marketing Trends for 2024.” Their observations fall into five sections including:
  • Data haves and have nots
  • Customers are more than a conversion
  • Creative experiences
  • GenAI: Beyond the cool demo (with a note that AI’s presence is felt in other sections)
  • People as competitive advantage

Note one of the subcategories for the Customers section is “A rebound for trust” that explores how use of AI for content and/or images can reduce a customers sense of trust and how brands need to counteract that potential pitfall.

• Speaking of trends, Marketing Charts compares “Marketers’ Most Important Consumer Trends in 2024 vs. 2023.” Generative AI tops the list now but wasn’t even on the list last year. All the other trends show declines vs. last year with TikTok and Metaverse showing the biggest drops.

• Notice a theme here yet? What if we shared an eMarketer chart showing that 86% of adults worldwide want AI to “help research products or get information” during their shopping journey (according to October 2023 IBM data)? They also think AI would be helpful for customer service, looking for deals or reviews, and generally shopping for products or services. Does optimization for gaining AI chatbots’ citations in their answers now sound like something you might be interested in? (Yes, that was an Entourage reference.)

Howdy, friends!

January 24th is National Compliment Day, so here are some headed your way:

Good for you for expanding your knowledge and reading today. Think of 3 things you did well today. Now, out loud, give yourself a compliment for accomplishing them, no matter how big or small they are! Happy reminder that complimenting yourself is important, we believe what we hear ourselves say! 😊

Let’s hop into the digital marketing news, fellow marketing enthusiasts!

• You’ve likely heard about apps that let you take a picture of a plant and then identify it for you. Well, Google is adding those kinds of features to its search and Gen AI toolboxes. Our Head of SEO, Marc Engelsman, asked the question: Does this mean a picture is now worth a thousand keywords?! (ba-dum-tss)

Hello, hello, hello!

When you’re a kid, learning languages, behavior, and all that fun stuff is easier, almost natural. But after about the age of 25, your brain needs different methods and techniques for learning. Some key science-based tips from the Huberman Lab podcast for accessing “Neuroplasticity Super Protocol” (or I like to call, super learning mode):

• Make sure you’re focused and alert
• Mistakes actually trigger alertness, so don’t be afraid to make ‘em!
• Get plenty of rest or NSDR (Non-Sleep Deep Rest… a type of meditative state). This state is where your brain does most of the neural circuit rewiring and learning.

Why am I sharing about neuroplasticity today like a real-life Ms. Frizzle? Because the new year generates new goals for us. Many of those goals involve learning in some way. Learning a sport… learning how to listen better… or learning how to be a more well–rounded marketer… all that jazz. Welp, let’s get to it, shall we?

• MarTech resurfaced this article on governance with Gen AI. It’s a good read as companies large and small, B2B and B2C, etc. are committing to using Gen AI to help deliver content development at scale and speed. Recommendations for implementing changes in content processes to protect and ensure brand consistency include training, version control, and controls on what AI platforms are being used.

• Here’s “Your SEO strategy checklist for 2024” that recommends re-examining core strategic elements including: business objectives, industry trends, plus audience and competitor insights. There is also reference to testing AI as an ally for implementing SEO tactics. But, alas, no mention of adding SAIO as part of your SEO strategy. That’s why we’re here.

• Speaking of SAIO, here’s an interesting tidbit from an Authoritas study: “94% of Google SGE links are different from organic search results.” The study includes other data on SGE links and, overall, points to the importance of leveraging both SEO and SAIO strategies for maintaining overall visibility in Google SERPs.

Happy New Year! 🥳

Stumbled upon this beautiful quote from Alua Arthur. I hope we can take at least some of this heartfelt message with us each day. We are worthy. We are messy. We are beautiful…. Let’s embrace it and live it. (If you’re interested in the full speech, it’s here.)

I don’t know how to transition gracefully from that graceful quote, soooo let’s jump right in, shall we?

• B2B marketers are jumping on the AI train according to this recent eMarketer Roughly a third of them are using AI for chatbots, coding, design, content, and presentations. Looking “beyond the chart” there is a reference to a different study that says 49% of B2B leaders believe customer support chatbots are important to the digital purchase journey (with the caveat that human oversight and interactions are still important, too).

• Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Land (SEL) compiled this comprehensive review of SEO developments in 2023 that he said “was unlike any other I’ve seen in SEO and Search.” He also coined it as “The year of generative AI.” The article also includes links to SEL articles with details on developments not just in gen AI but also algorithm updates, rankings revelations, linking best practices, and some views of the what’s next in search (“more AI”). This compendium may be worth bookmarking for future reference.

• PS – If you want a compendium on DBE’s launch and continued development of Search AI Optimization (SAIO) in 2023 best practices, check out our web page Search Artificial Intelligence Optimization (SAIO) Insights.