Hello and welcome to another episode of
the 90 Day Website Mastery Podcast. It's
episode 31. We're excited to bring you
even more valuable insights and practical
advice to help you enhance your website's
performance. Join us as we explore
strategies to make your website work
harder for you and reignite your pride in
your online presence. I'm here with my
co-host Pascal Fintoni and we have 4
segments in each episode. We start with
you ask, we answer where we've got a
question submitted by our community
asking us if we can help solve something
for you. We have the website stories
where 1 article or podcast or perhaps a
video has taken our interest and we want
to explore it further. And we then move
onto the website engine room where we
share an app each or a piece of kit that
we can help you as a website manager and
a website content creator make your life
easier and be proud of your website. And
then lastly, of course, we finish with a
call to action. Every piece of content
should have a call to action. So our last
segment is the website call to action.
Pascal, how are you today?
I'm very good. Listen, I've gone through
the show notes and this is going to be
another 1 that's packed full with
suggestions, advice, and hints. And a lot
of it will be actually giving people lots
of prep research and homework. I hope you
don't mind, but this is what it's all
about. You've got to investigate, you've
got to upskill yourselves into what it
means to be a website manager. And I
think you're going to find the Ask We
Answer and website stories particularly
interesting.
Well, with that note, let's move on to
You Ask, We Answer.
Now, this is a question that I spotted
online. I'm going to say from memory,
LinkedIn, but I could be wrong. And there
was some exchanges in and around
websites, stats, analytics, and so on,
Johnny. And somebody actually quite
smartly said, listen, can we just keep
things simple? I keep hearing that I've
got to get ready for a cookie-less
internet. And I'm really not sure that
people know what it means. Certainly, I
could do someone explain to me what it
means in plain English and what I should
do about it. And then people kind of
plowed in and make things even more
complicated. So this is going to be,
Johnny, and my attempts to make things
very, very simple and clarify what we
mean by a cookie less. But perhaps,
Johnny, do you want to start by telling
us about cookies, which I know I'm very
fond of, in terms of eating them, but
also, yeah, once again, a bizarre term
that has been adopted a long time ago
that maybe people have lost track of its
meaning.
Chocolate chip ones are probably my
favorite. And interestingly, there was my
8 year old was using the Amazon Firestick
the other day and it came up with some
kind of cookie consent for some strange
reason. Normally you only see that on the
setup, but anyway, she was laughing her
head off saying, daddy, it's asking me
about cookies on my TV screen. So there
we go, but you're right. So cookies in
the terms of websites and digital, they
are small text files that sit on your
device and help website owners, help
analytics, help advertisers track what
you're doing. And also are used for being
able to, perhaps you've logged into
something, that cookie enables you to
stay logged in on that device. So they
can be extremely helpful, but they can
really go into your privacy. And and
they're certainly used for for tracking
what's going on. But there's big changes.
And And probably Apple were way ahead of
this, stopping third-party cookies a long
time ago. So the likes of Facebook
advertising, Instagram advertising would
use the cookie to be able to remarket to
you, to be able to track what you're
doing, to be able to track which websites
you're going to. And that would help Meta
decide how to advertise and who to
advertise to. But the likes of Apple
stopped that third party tracking quite a
while ago. And are limiting first party
tracking. So I'm conscious I don't want
to go too detailed Pascal, so to help
bring me back. But yeah, in answer to the
initial question, what are cookies? I
guess I've given some answer there.
So that means that the expression a
cookie less world or internet is not true
because you're still going to have your
own cookie. So as a website manager and
owner, you're going to have the ability
to make life easier for yourself and your
visitors. I thought it was important.
Thank you, Johnny, that you reminded us
that we get benefits from visiting
website more than once. We don't have to
necessarily re-enter our details again,
or we can see the pages that we visited
being recommended and so on. So the issue
is more, well, the issue, actually, what
I welcome is a more private way in which
you can use web browsers and visit the
internet. So the kind of reaction, the
open arms kind of reaction comes from, I
would say perhaps less ethical marketers
to begin with, I would argue, but also,
yeah, well, nothing can last forever. I
agree to a point that Google is playing a
clever game as well, saying, well, we're
going to stop all of you, but ourselves,
tracking things and so on. So yeah, we're
going to have that kind of things. But
for me, it also brings back this idea of
if you really want to have data and
intelligence by your customers, current
and future, you're going to have to use
different methods. And interestingly, you
know, I've explored this in previous
episodes of this podcast and the
webinars. So think about what advertising
can help you capture interesting data
about your customers. But also why don't
you use that as a setting point by your
organization that you've aligned your
kind of activities and behavior to
actually welcome and embrace a more
private internet.
Yeah, for sure. It is about privacy. It
is absolutely about privacy. But the
likes of Google, of course, have us using
Google Chrome. And so they are not
worried as much about a cookieless
internet because they have so many
people, such a high percentage using
Google Chrome that they can still access
a lot of data that they want to access
anyway. But the likes, I guess the bigger
issue from my point of view as a small
business owner working with many small to
medium businesses, I think the bigger
issue is the likes of meta. So the likes
of advertising and the likes of analytics
even as well. So if you're using Google
analytics, then there's a lot of ways
that Google's combating this. But it's
about making sure that, Let's take Google
Analytics first. So it's about making
sure that you set up as many event
tracking things that you can put in place
as possible. So helping Google understand
what happens when someone clicks a
button. Are you wanting people to watch a
video? Or you want it, What do you want
people to do? And have you used, for
example, Google Tag Manager to tag the
entire website so that Google can fully
understand what you're wanting people to
do and are they doing these things? And
that's how you can build that analytical
data to absolutely help from, for
example, Google Ads. So if you want to
perform well in Google Ads, then you
really need to make sure that you've got
as much event tracking going on, which
we've said for years, but this takes it
up to another level that sort of if
you're not doing this now, then it has an
impact on how your pay-per-click will
perform and how your analytics data is
how good that data is. So setting up
events and then setting up key events and
then likewise Inside Meta, there's a
bigger issue because the only way for
Meta to get data now is by you physically
in a way giving it data. It can't rely on
the cookies. So that's making sure that
you've got the MetaPixel installed. It's
making use of the conversion API so that
you can again set the types of events and
conversions on your website so that again
you can make it abundantly clear to
Facebook and Instagram what's going on on
your website, what you want people to do,
What happens when they click this button?
What happens when they watch this video?
What happens when they fill out this
form? Because if you want good return on
investment on any of these channels, then
you have to help them understand what's a
good conversion and what does engagement
look like? And then it's about uploading
customer lists and customer data. There's
a whole GDPR question here, but it's
about, are you prepared to give more data
to the likes of Meta, because if you want
to continue advertising with them, you're
going to have to consider it. And that's
the big fundamental change, I guess.
Thank you very much. So for me, what does
it mean to be operating in a cookie-less
internet is to be more reflective, to be
more strategic, and to reflect on your
website and the environment that you
control. And actually, are you currently
squeezing enough intelligence about your
visitors? And that could be the starting
point to make sure that then if there is
less data available to your list, you're
getting more formats there. Then think
about these kind of offsite interactions
and what do you want from this? So you
can break it down, pen and paper,
whiteboard moment, and then this would
give you the kind of framework for a
conversation that you can have with your
web developers, with the advertisers, you
can send questions to Johnny and I and
we'll take it from there. But for me,
that's kind of the reaction is we're
going to slow things down and be more
reflective and just closing on that
segment with a bit of trivia. If ever you
want to experience where the cookies came
from, apart from your favorite kind of
biscuit manufacturer, according to a
historian, this was invented in 1994 by
an engineer working on Netscape, 1 of the
early web browsers.
Well, there we go. Let's move on to our
next segment, which is website stories.
Now, this is going to be a very
interesting selection. We're not going to
have time to go through all of it in 1
go. And as I mentioned in introduction,
this is going to be your prep on your
research. But this was mentioned about a
week ago, Johnny, in the green room, this
idea of the news that Google search API
documents had been leaked to actually
someone that we're very fond of. There's
been a voice of reason in the world of
SEO and content marketing, Rand Fishkin,
currently working at Spark Toro. So Rand
Fishkin seemingly has received from an
anonymous source, thousands of leaked
document for the Google search API. And
he wrote an article about it, which is
the selection for today. You also run a
webinar a few days ago. So I mean, the
title says he told, you know, an
anonymous source, share thousands of
leaked Google search API documents with
me, everyone in SEO should see them. So
what is interesting back to his own
values and the way he's been operated
forever, he's not keeping it to himself,
he's sharing it with everybody else. Now,
the article and the other kind of
commentaries talk about this idea of the
confirmation by, you know, that what we
thought was happening mechanically and
intuitively is indeed the case that the
algorithm is very complex. There's
interconnection between different models.
But what I thought was very, very
interesting from the article and the
early reaction, I mean, obviously at the
time of publishing the article, Ranj
Fiske and his colleagues, I don't have
time to go through the entirety of the
leaked document with this idea of 2
things. The behavior on site seems to
have an impact on your ranking on search
engine results, primarily Google. So what
people do and what they click and how
long they stay and so on, it's something
that actually having a massive influence
and we cannot gather that ourselves but
it's nice to have the confirmation.
Clearly a bias towards Chrome browsers
which is probably not helpful as
information. Links being important, both
internal links and external links. And
this idea of, at a granular level, page
title, which is something that you have
claimed for many, many years, Johnny,
that they're very, very important. And of
course, this idea of making sure that
content suggests authority, both in terms
of the individuals in the business, but
also at a site level. And I'm literally
scanning through a summary statement,
which is a lot busier than I have time to
go through this. So I suppose for me,
it's asking your reaction about the
leaked document. Can it be trusted to
begin with? But also, yeah, range
generosity for sharing that information
with everybody else. And also this idea
of actually, once you settle and come
down from the, would you say exciting
news, it kind of confirms what we knew
already.
Yeah, yeah. And that's where I sit with
this, that there's actually nothing new I
don't think in here. And certainly if you
were as an SEO expert to make assumptions
on certain things, those assumptions are
right. So all it's doing is backing up
what we already believed and what we
already knew and what we've already been
saying for a long time. What I do like
about it is it does clarify some of these
things and it's sort of a, it's a data
point to be able to turn around to people
and say, well, actually look, you know,
I've been saying this for a while and
look, this is the case. So that whole
thing of dwell time on a website, what,
and how the, the user interacts and how
they scroll and how long do they spend
and what, how many pages did they look at
and how many buttons do they click? All
of that, of course, send signals. You
know, why is Google, why does Google
Analytics have a free Google Analytics
product? It wants to know what's going on
on your website. It wants to have the
keys to your shop to fully understand
what's going on. Well, why would it want
that in the first place? Well, it wants
it to start deciding who to rank were.
So, you know, who's more engaging than
others. So for me, it was nothing too
obvious. But I think it reinforces that
this is about helpful, resourceful
content. It reinforces that, you know,
yes, SEO titles are still important. It
reinforces that links are still
important, really important. It's their
way of understanding trust. So yeah, it's
a good check sheet in terms of are we
doing these things? In terms of is there
anything new? Well, probably for a lot of
small businesses out there, yes, but
that's purely because they haven't really
caught up in the times of search engine
optimization. So yeah, it's a handy
document. It's a, and, but it reinforces
what we should be doing in the first
place.
My recommendation, Jonny, sorry, is you
and I are going to spend time looking at
this and enjoy some of the very detailed
kind of insights, But be patient if SEO
and digital marketing is not your central
occupation, where the market will work it
out and give you the highlights and the
things that you need to know. But I
thought it was important to capture it
early. I want to thank Ren Fishkin for
his generosity, but also may I just say,
Johnny, that it's quite reassuring that
it means that you and I have been talking
a lot of sense for many years.
I would agree, Pascal. We already knew
that, but it's nice to have that
validation. Absolutely. And on that, we
will move to our next segment, which is
the website engine room.
Now in this segment, Jonny and I share
the 1 app, the 1 solution that can make
life easier as a web seminar content
creator. So what discoveries from the
interweb are you bringing back to the
fore, Jonny Ross?
Well, we've been talking a lot about
accessibility on websites. And again, if
you use common sense, what we're looking
for is a privacy website, It's privacy
across websites, but we're also looking
for accessibility. Websites that work
across lots of different devices, but
work for every single type of person.
Whatever accessibility needs that they
might have. And accessibility is often
never looked at, rarely thought about, or
something that's thought about right at
the end. And, you know, that's just
unfair. And at the same time, it's, it's
now becoming a large ranking factor. And
also understanding that there's an
audience out there that actually have a
lot of money to spend, but if they can't
access your website, they can't spend it.
And it's also understanding that Google
wants a fair playground for every single
user out there. And if your website
doesn't work well, or isn't easy to use,
or isn't accessible, then it is going to
have a negative effect on your ranking.
So that was quite a long reason as to why
I'm about to share this tool, but this
tool solves this problem very, very
quickly and easily. My, having said
everything though, when you're moving
into your next web build, I'd like you to
really bring accessibility right to the
beginning. But on current web builds,
userway.org, userway.org is a simple
plugin that you can put onto your website
that instantly makes your website
accessible. And it allows the user to be
able to change contrast, to highlight
links, change text spacing, bigger text,
pause animations, all sorts of stuff.
It's dyslexia friendly. It's it's very,
very, very clever. Useaway.org. They have
free plans. They have pay plans. The free
plan works just as well, to be perfectly
honest, unless you're a very big website,
the free plan is perfect. So it was quite
a long talk there, but that was my reason
for understanding why userway.org is a
really good app to be looking at.
Now it's important to give the rationale
and the why, some of the context. I'll do
the same, although mine would be a bit
shorter, Johnny. So I've been kind of
looking at the practice of content
curation, reporting back on complex
reports. I mean, 1 case in point what we
discussed a moment ago. And it is clear
to me that as a visitor, I need value
from content curation or content
reporting. So I came across this great
app that challenges your kind of thinking
when it comes to if you want to be seen
to be discussing, summarizing, exploring
a report, typically the PDF format on
online, then you've got to go about it in
a way that is meaningful, helpful. You've
got to go deep, not shallow, if you want
to express and showcase authority. I came
across something called Chat PDF. So be
careful, it's not the other 1, it's Chat
PDF. And what Chat PDF really does
superbly, it allows you to upload a PDF,
could be yours, it could be from the
authority, a public authority in your
sector where they publicly released a
report that is analyzing your sector or
practice and more. And through questions
and through conversation and chat, the
chat PDF allows you to explore the
content of that document. But that
exchange, that conversation is exactly
what should be featured on your website.
So I see this as a great source of
inspiration for doing content curation
almost at a more advanced level than
just, hey, I came across this, here's a
link, go check it out. Or hey, I've got
1, who wants 1? You want to be
essentially writing extensively about the
report. And if you think that that seems
like an odd practice, I would recommend
that you go check out the Hootsuite
social media trends report and look at
that page. It's just so extensive and so
rich in content that you don't even need
to be convinced that the report is worth
your while. I know that's
counterintuitive, Johnny, because we all
think, well, I should be not sharing the
content, people will download the PDF.
But actually we see that the behavior
wants the opposite. Share the reason why
I should be interested and I will
download the PDF. So PDF for superior
content curation and promotion.
Brilliant, thanks Pascal. And our final
segment for this podcast as always is the
website call to action.
Everyone be ready for the 1 change or 1
adjustment that is going to make life so
much easier and make your website work
harder for you. Johnny, what is your
recommendation?
Well, people buy from people that they
trust, people buy from brands that they
trust. Start building more trust and
credibility on your website by making
sure that you're running regular security
updates, by making sure that you have the
correct SSL certificate installed and it
passes trust signals. And more
importantly, start implementing 2FA,
two-factor authentication. None of us
like it. We don't like that whole thing
where we've got to get an auth app or the
text message, but actually people are now
expecting it and they're slightly
concerned in some way if you don't have
it. So it's about building trust. How can
you build trust? Regular security
updates, 2 factor authentication and
making sure your SSL certificates are
installed correctly. What's your website
call to action this
podcast? This is very simple because this
is an exercise that I did only 2 days
ago. Do you have a blog? Do you have
content categories? And how can you be
sure they are still current? How do you
know that the language in the industry
has not moved on? How do you know that
the labeling you've used from 2, 3 years
ago is still valid? That's really
important. We went through an exercise
with a client and we horrified that how
outdated the content categories of their
blog was. So if you think that even your
own thinking has changed in terms of the
kind of content you've produced from 2, 3
years ago, even a year ago, and maybe you
have too many actually categories or too
few, but this is literally an exercise
where I want you to review and update
your content categories in terms of the
naming or the tagging of your blog
articles because the likelihood is you're
missing on traffic and you're missing
suddenly on a dwell time that Johnny
mentioned a moment ago.
I hate to admit it, but when I see blogs
being uploaded and see categories being
selected, I think, God, they're out of
date. But there's so many things on the
plate. When do you update them? And
actually there's the call to action. It's
Time to update the blog categories. What
another great episode. This has been the
90 day website mastery podcast. It's our
31st episode. And hopefully we've helped
you understand a bit more about the
cookie-less future and really thinking
about how to boost website security and
some apps that's gonna help you get more
out of content and be prouder of your
website. For more information, visit the
90-daymarketingmastery.com, where you
will be able to book a discovery call
with either myself or Pascal. Thanks for
joining us, give us feedback and what
would you like us to answer in the next
episode? Please let us know. Thanks
Pascal, it's been very nice seeing you
indeed. We will see you.
Thank you very much.
We'll leave you with a nice, making some
notes and putting some things into place.
Speak to you all soon, take care.
Thanks for watching!
Thanks
for watching!