Here are 5 ways that digital publishers can prepare for the Q4 and holiday shopping surge to dramatically increase engagement, grow their audience, and boost both ad and ecommerce earnings.

1. Refresh and Optimize Evergreen Holiday Content

Towards the end of the year, your holiday content becomes more competitive, which means if you haven’t already, it’s time to go in and refresh your evergreen articles and holiday-specific content. Update evergreen articles such as gift guides, recipes, travel tips, home décor roundups, budgeting content, and wellness guides. This positions your brand to capture traffic as audience demand for content, recommendations, advice etc. rises.

Focus on updating product suggestions, verifying pricing, adding fresh recommendations, and re-optimizing articles for SEO and AI/GEO trends. Adding structured data (FAQ, product schema, and how-to markup) can also win valuable rich-result placements in search. If your content library has gaps, now is the time to create new evergreen pieces that strengthen your holiday footprint.

WATCH: Navigating AI-Powered Search: A Guide for Publishers on Google AI Overviews & AI Search Engines

2. Double Down on E-commerce Content & Conversion Paths

Q4 is the peak period for gift giving and seasonal shopping. Your audiences are looking for Thanksgiving meal prep ideas, travel tips, and holiday gifts for family and loved ones. Gift giving and seasonal shopping drive enormous purchase intent in Q4. 

This is a good time to prioritize e-commerce content so you can capture significantly more affiliate revenue. Build new gift guides and update existing ones. Create “best of” roundups and category-specific shopping guides. Add comparison charts, clear CTAs, and skim-friendly formatting. Promote early-access deals, exclusive promo codes, Black-Friday/Cyber-Monday deals, etc. You should also look to collaborate with affiliate partners. SHE Media Collective members have access to two e-commerce partnerships under our Beyond the Banner offerings.

3. Optimize Your Site UX and Performance

Q4 and the holiday season bring more traffic and audience engagement. As you prepare your content to take advantage of this surge, make sure your site is technically sound for an optimized user experience. Enhance your site speed for mobile and desktop (especially on commerce-heavy pages), optimize your ad placements to take advantage of increased impressions, and check your Core Web Vitals for improvement opportunities. Double-check the affiliate links in your e-commerce pages to ensure they load quickly and cleanly. If your site is slow, difficult to navigate, and full of pop-ups, you lose valuable impressions as users move on when you can’t capture their attention. SHE Media Collective members have access to the site optimization tool Nitropack at a discounted rate under our Beyond the Banner offerings. 

4. Strengthen Distribution Channels

This is the time to double down and strengthen your distribution channels. Even the best content needs strong distribution to reach new audiences and perform well. Map out which platforms your content will run, strengthen existing channels, and seek to establish new ones. Share your content across social platforms, newsletters, push notifications, and content syndication channels. Also, map out which content will perform best on which platform and optimize some content and headings to align.

• Use audience segmentation in email newsletters to serve personalized gift guides, deals, and content bundles.

• Create new graphics and Pinterest-optimized assets

• Do A/B testing with push notifications

• Repurpose content into short-form video, carousels

SHE Media Collective members have access to content distribution channels and syndication opportunities at a discounted rate under our Beyond the Banner offerings. 

WATCH: The Insider’s Guide to Flipboard for Creators & Publishers

5. Optimize Your Ad Layout and Monetization Mix

In Q4, advertisers increase spending, and affiliate earnings spike. The publishers who optimize their monetization strategy and ad layout early see the biggest impact. Follow these steps below to optimize your SHE Media ads, implement video ads, etc.

Ad Optimization tips:

• Always have the adhesion banners enabled; these improve your site’s overall viewability and improve your revenue.

• Do a spot check. Are all your ads responsive? Are you seeing desktop ad sizes show up on mobile? (The SHE Team is happy to help you fix this. Contact support@shemedia.com)

• Don’t over-optimize the SHE Media code. Exclude blogherads.js and header.js from plugins that minify or defer code, or from caching. We have built in optimizations, and over-optimizing can hurt your revenue.

• Make sure that your ads.txt file is up to date. Go to your site url/ads.txt on your domain and look at the timestamp at the bottom of the page. If you are manually updating your ads.txt file, you should be updating it at least once a month (ideally twice a month). If you are using the SHE Media Infuse Plugin and it isn’t showing the current date, reach out to the Support team for guidance. (Contact support@shemedia.com)

• Take advantage of Q4 rates, and give video ads a try if you haven’t yet. Our floating player comes with higher revenue attached.

• If you’ve moved or changed your name or tax information, please reach out to the SHE Media team to make sure we get this updated before tax season comes. (Contact support@shemedia.com)

SHE Media’s site list curation powers Private Marketplace (PMP) and Direct Buy deals within Penske Media, which was named a Bellwether Publisher in the 2025 Jounce Report. By combining curated site lists with first-party data, engagement metrics, and strict Brandsafe standards, we offer advertisers packages that not only perform well but also align with evolving buyer expectations around brand safety and quality.

Penske Media Corporation, whose portfolio includes both O&O supply and the She Media sales house, is also viewed very favorably. -Jounce The State of the Open Internet Report 2024

With a network of over 2,000 publishers and strong ties across both the media and brand ecosystem, SHE Media continues to be a benchmark for high-quality inventory.

In this piece, we’ll unpack how our approach to curation, audience integrity, and advertiser relationships helps drive better revenue for our publishers and why curated inventory matters more than ever.

What is Ad Curation?

Ad curation refers to the process by which vendors selectively match audience data and programmatic supply path insights with available ad inventory to surface high-value impressions that might otherwise be missed. Put simply, curation combines data intelligently with inventory. When executed effectively, curation delivers more efficient targeting for advertisers and increased revenue opportunities for publishers.

Programmatic advertising will account for 87% of digital ad revenue by 2026, and ad curation has become a key mechanism for control in this rapidly consolidating industry. 

Curation, though not new, has in recent times started to play a central role in enabling players like SHE Media to better manage data and advertiser relationships in a landscape dominated by Big Tech. Curated offerings improve transparency and efficiency. 

With platforms like Google and Yahoo entering the space, and players like The Trade Desk responding with moves such as acquiring Sincera, curation is becoming mainstream. As the IAB Tech Lab pushes to standardize practices, it's clear that ad curation is reshaping power dynamics across the programmatic ecosystem. 

How Does Ad Curation Reshape Power in Ad Tech?

Ad curation reshapes power in ad tech by shifting control from traditional demand-side platforms (DSPs) to a broader range of players like SHE Media’s publishers and data partners. The 2025 Jounce report shows that the share of OMP is going down as more and more Demand buyers choose curated deals, as well as PMP and Direct deals over the open market.

Traditionally, DSPs have dominated programmatic buying by controlling how advertisers access audiences. However, with ad curation, other entities like SHE Media can package inventory and audience data into premium customized deals that create incremental value for our publishers. This redistribution of power enables media owners and Publishers to reclaim margins, dictate terms, and maintain closer relationships with buyers. As a result, ad curation is challenging the historic gatekeepers of ad tech, fostering a more decentralized, transparent, and competitive ecosystem. 

Curated deals are more premium and data-rich, and the trends show that advertisers may shift from pure CPM-driven buying to performance models that value attention, context, and outcomes more than scale alone. The valuable rise of curation is prompting strategic responses from incumbents like The Trade Desk and Google to maintain their influence.

SHE Media’s Role in Ad Curation

SHE Media has always played a more strategic and influential role in ad curation, moving beyond the traditional function of simply auctioning ad inventory. As the industry tries to catch up and the landscape becomes more curation-driven, SHE Media will continue to act as a proprietor of custom audience and inventory packages driven by quality data and strategic partnerships with data providers.

SHE Media orchestrates curated, high-value ad experiences that are reshaping the balance of power in ad tech. Here are a few ways we are leading:

Curated Lists & Marketplaces: SHE Media's role in building and managing curated lists where inventory is bundled with specific data signals or contextual relevance makes it more attractive to buyers and more valuable for publishers.

Data Stewardship & Transparency: By enabling more transparent and efficient use of data, SHE Media strengthens its role as a responsible partner with deep, direct relationships with premium publishers.

Revenue Growth: Through curation, SHE Media captures a greater share of media transaction value, driving stronger revenue returns for our publishers.

How SHE Media Publishers Benefit from Ad Curation?

SHE Media publishing partners, both big and small, benefit from ad curation in several key ways. In addition to the obvious revenue potential, curation gives our publishers more relevance and control in the programmatic advertising ecosystem. Ad curation empowers publishers to move up the value chain as it shifts them from passive sellers to strategic partners by unlocking higher value, stronger relationships, and better control over how their media is monetized.

As a SHE Media publishing partner, here is how you benefit:

Higher Revenue: Curated deals often command premium pricing because they offer advertisers better targeting, data overlays, and quality inventory. This means our publishers earn more per impression compared to open exchange deals.

Improved Buyer Relationships: SHE Media exposes its publishers’ brands to premium buyers. Our direct relationships with brands and agencies allow our publishers to participate in customized private marketplace (PMP) deals, which leads to long-term partnerships and predictable revenue streams.

Better Inventory Control: Unlike in open exchanges, curation lets us define how, where, and to whom our publishing partners’  inventory is sold, helping maintain brand safety, user experience, and editorial standards.

Differentiation in a Crowded Market: With curation, we package our publishers' content and audience in unique ways, like based on context, category, or audience attributes, making it more attractive and distinct to premium advertisers.

Transparency & Trust: By participating in curated deals, our brand partners/advertisers can have more visibility into the inventory/supply. They can see the site lists, brands, and request specific audiences.

Visibility for Small/Mid-Sized Publishers: Curated marketplace helps small and mid-sized publishers who may otherwise have a hard time pitching their inventory as premium to advertisers, or they might otherwise get lost in a pool of impressions 

SHE Media is an enterprise publisher with an industry-leading sales house. We bring in curated deals, and as the industry changes and more Demand partners choose to buy in the PMP and Direct marketplaces, curated deals will continue to rise in value, which translates to more advertising revenue for our publishers. 

For questions contact: support@shemedia.com

AI Overviews (also referred to as AIO) are AI-generated summaries that appear on Google Search results pages. AIO is triggered by search queries and pulls its information from sources around the web. Unlike other Google Search page features like ‘featured snippets’ and ‘people also ask’, which show one or two sentences extracted from a single website/source, AI Overviews consolidates information from multiple websites and sources to create an extensive summary or answer to a search query.

AIO essentially makes Google no longer just a Search Engine but also an Answer Engine operating similarly to other LLM AI tools like ChatGPT.

What is Google AI Mode?

AI Mode is a feature that provides/generates even more answers to search queries. In AI Mode, a user can ask follow-up questions. It can search the web for information and summarize that information into clear answers, summaries, and even subtopics that take into account user intent. AI Mode is powered by Google's Gemini 2.5 model. According to Google, in AI Mode, “you can ask anything on your mind and get a helpful AI-powered response with the ability to go further with follow-up questions and helpful web links”. AI Mode functions like a chatbot where people can start a query and ask follow-up questions. According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, AI Mode is a “total reimagining of search”.

Impact of AIO and AI Mode on Publisher Traffic

Google’s AI Mode and AIO have left publishers wondering what the impact would be on Search, which publishers rely on for traffic, and Google relies on for half of its sales revenue. (Google’s search business generated nearly $200 billion in 2024, which was more than half of its total sales). AI Mode is an LLM that poses serious questions about the impact it will have on publisher traffic, and LLMs are known to produce content without redirecting users to the original source through backlinks. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• AIO has been reported to Spam problem. “Google is apparently not using any type of fact-checking or consensus mechanism to generate or verify its answers”. This means, at the very least, Google will continue to iterate and change how AIO ranks publisher content. 

• The Pew Research Center’s recent report shows that users are less likely to click links when an AI summary appears in search results.

• AIOs are impacting CTR for major sites and their leading keywords. A survey shows that desktop CTRs can fall by two-thirds when there is an AIO answer. Mobile is less impacted but still loses about half of its clicks. 

• Currently, the best possible scenario for publishers to combat the rise of zero search clicks is to show at the top of the links included in AIOs. According to Google, links included in AIOs get more clicks than if the page had appeared in traditional search, but this is unconfirmed, and we are seeing results from research that shows that there has been a massive increase in zero-click searches. Google also claims that “users stay on websites longer after being referred from AI Overviews.”

• Which industries/content types are being affected the most by AIO? Science, Health, People & Society. (Note: this might change)

SEO FOR AIO (AI Overviews): How to Optimise for AIO

It’s still not clear how AI overviews work and how they rank content. The data on the impact of AI Overviews on Search CTR is hard to find because Google is yet to provide clear data on AIO CTRs. There are studies done by third parties, close observations, and industry speculations, but there is no concrete understanding of how it works or the direction these AI engines would take. 

Given how new and unpredictable AIO is, there are no established best practices or comprehensive optimization tools. However, here are some things you can start to do to make your site more likely to show up on AI Overviews in Search.

• First, check if your site has AI visibility. Use the top AI search tools: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude. Search your ranking keywords and see if you show up, and search your site name. This will give you an idea of if and how you show up on AI search engines.

• Optimize your content structure with schema markup, FAQs, and semantic tagging.

• Make your content tone mirror the way people ask questions to boost the chance of showing up in AIOs.

• Branded searches have been shown to be the most resilient to Google AI Overviews. This adds more credence to the importance of having a strong brand identity and producing unique content. Try to insert your brand names into your content in definitive ways to show your content is unique.

• Focus on high-frequency search terms that include your brand name. 

• Observe your content that’s currently showing up on AIOs and see how you can reinforce any unique qualities into other articles. Use tools like Semrush AI Toolkit.

• So far, AIOs are not triggered for hard news queries. So, take any chance you have to create trending content. For long-term strategy, see how you can expand on trending content, as that seems like the least vulnerable right now, and with the coming changes to AI search engines.

• While you fortify your content with keywords that withstand being overrun with AIOs, structure your evergreen articles and landing pages for machine comprehension. This means using subheadings, FAQs, bulleted points, and answering questions directly with precise and unambiguous language.

• Third-party tools like the Semrush AI tool can help with estimates. 

• Informational content is most likely to trigger AIOs. According to Semrush, “88.1% of queries that trigger an AI Overview are informational.”

• Semrush study also shows that AIO overviews are showing up for low-competition and fact-based queries.

• There is emerging research on how key phrase data can be pulled from AI chatbots, which would help with optimization efforts. Read more here

• Remember, even in this new AI-dominated search landscape, the tried and tested best practices still hold true: produce quality content.

• In today’s shifting landscape, cultivating a loyal audience and strong brand presence is more critical than ever. Publishers who’ve built engaged communities and loyal audiences through newsletters, multi-platform presence, and diversified traffic sources, are better positioned to weather the volatility of the Search landscape.

Some of you have these products already activated, but there are still many publishers missing out on these opportunities. Look through the list of products and make sure you are opted in.  The list is divided into two categories of products: products you can activate yourself and start using today and opt-in products that our support team can activate for you. To opt in, fill out this form.

This page is frequently updated with new products.

Trinity Audio

Benefits: Additional Revenue, Engagement, User Experience

Trinity Audio is a tool that converts articles and blog posts to audio. Audio articles make a website more accessible to the visually impaired and people with disabilities to use your website and find value in your content. It also lets you stay ahead of the curve as more and more users prefer to listen to articles. Creating a listening experience on article pages increases site engagement and an additional revenue source through audio ads. I want Trinity Audio

Wayward

Benefits: Additional Revenue

Wayward (fka Content Connections) provides incremental e-commerce revenue through automation and analytics for both Amazon Attribution and Amazon Associates. Wayward is designed to maximize publishers’ affiliate revenue by automatically optimizing all eligible links for the highest revenue-per-click (RPC), for Amazon Attribution, Amazon Associates, and Creator Connections. They provide detailed performance analytics, support third-party integrations, and eliminate the need for manual link management. As an Amazon Ads verified partner, they also ensure full compliance with current policies and quickly adapt to changes, helping publishers stay compliant while maximizing earnings. 

This tool is for publishers who regularly produce e-commerce content and want to elevate their affiliate marketing strategies. As a SHE Media Collective member, you can now access Content Connections as one of our Beyond the Banner products. I want Wayward 

RevContent - Apple News Monetization

Benefits: Additional Revenue

If you syndicate content to Apple News, you now have the opportunity to monetize your content directly through our new collaboration with RevContent.

RevContent is an authorized publisher selling agent for Apple News and one of only two companies authorized to run as a Publisher Selling Agent inside of Apple News. They currently drive revenue for brands like NPR, The LA Times, Buzzfeed, Dotdash Meredith, Huffington Post, and many others. I want to work with RevContent for Apple News Monetization

NitroPack Site Optimization

Benefits: Site Speed, Core Web Vitals, SEO Optimization

Nitropack is a complete speed optimization SaaS solution that provides all the performance optimization features your site needs in one place. Unlike traditional caching plugins, NitroPack provides caching, full image optimization, CSS/HTML/JS minification and compression, built-in Cloudflare CDN, font subsetting, and more! Their software helps site owners stay on top of Google’s latest web performance guidelines. Its fully automated optimizations allow 200K+ active users to hit 90+ speed scores and pass Core Web Vitals.

Through our new partnership, SHE Media Collective publishers can now access NitroPack at a 10% discount. Visit our landing page to learn more and take advantage of this exclusive offer. I want NitroPack

Chicory

Benefits: Additional Revenue, User Experience

Chicory’s contextual commerce solutions turn recipe content into an incremental revenue opportunity with contextual advertising and shoppable technology that enhance your site experience and attract budgets from top CPGs, retailers and agencies. Served directly within the recipe card, Chicory’s premium in-lines and pairings units are contextually targeted to complement the recipe a user is viewing.

• Shoppable Recipe Technology + Ad Solutions

• Users can shop full recipes in just a few steps, seamlessly connecting content to commerce

• 11.8x higher engagement than non-shoppable recipes

To get Chicory, contact support. Support@shemedia.com

Browsi

Benefits: Additional Revenue, User Experience

Browsi’s AI engine collects 150+ real-time behavioral data points to determine if and where ads placements should be rendered.

How It Works:

• Find the best placements for your ads with real-time behavioral data

• Create personalized ad experiences per user

• See an instant uplift in ad revenue and improvement in UX

• Improve viewability by up to 20 percent!

To get Browsi, contact support. Support@shemedia.com

Acast Podcasts

Benefits: Brand expansion, Audience Growth, and Additional Revenue

SHE Media is teaming up with Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, for a new partnership to arm publishers and podcasters from both organizations with resources and channels to promote content, grow audiences, and monetize their work in new ways. SHE Media Collective members get 100% off of the Acast Influencer Hosting Plan for 12 months with free hosting and distribution of your podcast across all podcast platforms and listening apps, allowing you to reach the widest audience of consumers. To learn more and sign up, visit the SHE Media x Acast landing page. (This landing page is password-protected. Check your email for an email from SHE Media Collective for the password, or reach out to support@shemedia.com.

Video Ads: Connatix and Outstream Video Solution

Benefits: Additional Revenue

Larger sites and publishers can monetize their own video content with SHE Media through Connatix. SHE Media offers a premium Connatix player for all publishers who qualify, who want to monetize their video content. It comes with all the state-of-the-art features including contextual playlists.

For publishers of any size, we offer our outstream video unit, so that all publishers can offer video inventory to brands and generate high CPMs from video ads. Publishers with video inventory generate 30%-50% more revenue on average. I want Outstream Video

Flex ad units

Benefits: Revenue Growth and User experience

SHE Media has created several types of flex ad units that combine multiple ad sizes for maximum earnings. Flexible units guarantee that publishers maximize fill rate and CPM for each one of their ad slots on the page. Flex ad units are also more responsive to the available space and devices. For example, the flex rectangle ad is a combination of our 300x600 rectangle and a 300x250 medium rectangle. Examples of available flex ad units are flex banners, flex rectangles as well as our proprietary in-content and recipe card ad types that deliver a variety of sizes best suited to their needs. I want Optimized Ads

Hindsight

Benefits: Revenue, Engagement, and Increased time on page.

Hindsight uses contextual targeting to place innovative engagement and advertising units to enrich web content. Hindsight is a content recirculation feature that also hosts in-content ads. Publishers can see up to a 2%-4% average Pageview increase, depending on placement, and a 3-5% CTR increase on the recommended articles. I want Hindsight

Pushly

Benefits: Traffic and Engagement

Pushly offers notifications that appear on users’ Android mobile devices and all desktop devices. Pushly sends push notification messages alerting users when a website publishes new content. With Pushly, publishers can set up recurring notifications that get audience attention whenever they publish or update content. Push notifications can also be used to collect newsletter signups, sell products, etc. Pushly aids in reaching new audiences and increases the engagement of existing audiences. The Pushly dashboard gives publishers data and insight into audience behavior, habits, and engagement trends. Pushly delivers an average of 7.35MM Page Views to SHE Media Collective sites every quarter.

Landing Page 

Sign up page

Pushly Explainer Video

Tap Bio

Benefits: Social Audience Conversion

Tap Bio is an Instagram Link-in-Bio tool that can help publishers and creators redirect their social audiences to their website and other projects and content on different platforms. Tap Bio helps overcome the link limitations of Instagram that publishers, in particular, face. SHE Media Collective members get access to a free Tab Bio Silver Account thus allowing you to add a blog post link for every Instagram post to drive traffic to your site. With TapBio, publishers can convert social followers to website visitors. SHE Media has partnered with TapBio to give all members of the SHE Media Collective a complimentary silver account! 

Signup Page

Simplefeed

Benefits: Traffic Growth and Additional revenue

SHE Media’s new partnership with Simplefeed offers a tangible and direct path for our publishers for placements in leading industry syndication platforms. SimpleFeed uses its syndication technology solutions, experience, and relationships with leading news aggregators to streamline content redistribution for publishers. Content redistribution leads to a significant increase in web traffic from referrals and ad revenue on each platform. These syndication platforms also offer in-platform earning opportunities. Sign Up

PubExchange

Benefits: Traffic and Audience Growth

PubExchange is a content recommendation tool that places a publisher’s content on other sites in the SHE Media Collective and vice versa. SHE Media publishers who choose to join PubExchange select posts from other websites that they’d like to promote and are served posts from other Collective bloggers and SHE Media properties like SheKnows and Stylecaster in the widget on their site. Sites under a certain size threshold have to pay a monthly fee to use this feature, but it’s in exchange for higher-value content relevant to your audience.

Signup Page

Publishers in the SHE Media Collective who have invested time into creating and curating a robust presence on Flipboard have seen an increase in referral traffic from the platform to their sites. 

Apply to Flipboard Here

Flipboard & The Fediverse

In addition to the benefits of reaching new audiences on Flipboard, you can also be a part of the Fediverse. The Fediverse is a network of open-source social networks, like Mastodon, Threads, and now Flipboard, that are in one interconnected yet independent universe. When you are part of the Fediverse it doesn’t matter which platform you share on; your posts get distributed to the whole ecosystem. 

The Fediverse is estimated to grow to 170 million users by the end of 2024. Currently, Flipboard publishers can federate their accounts, which will make their content available to the Fediverse. This means increased reach and engagement for your content.

Though still in beta, Flipboard is gradually opening up the Fediverse to publisher accounts that are actively curating on Flipboard. You can apply to be federated here.

Resources on the Fediverse:

VIDEO Watch this video featuring Flipboard CEO Mike McCue and Senior Lifestyle Editor Aileen Lalor as they talk about the future of the Fediverse Where the Media Goes From Here: What is the Social Web?

BLOG If you don’t have time to watch the recording, “A Guide to Flipboard Federation for Publishers” was published earlier this year and contains many key details in a more succinct fashion.

FORM Apply via this form to be federated via Flipboard

Q4 is short for ‘fourth quarter’ and is used to refer to the last 3 months of the year — October, November, and December. Q4 is typically a boom period for the publishing industry as a whole including bloggers and creators. This is because Q4 typically sees increased user traffic paired with an increase in advertising spending from advertisers. Q4 is also host to some of the major holidays such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas - which present huge opportunities for content. The Q4 boom peaks between Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. The end of Q3 (September) can usually be also high. Food publishers historically see a huge spike in Q4 however, all niches benefit from Q4. It is an industry-wide peak. 

Why is Q4 Lucrative for publishers?

Increased Online Traffic

There is usually an uptrend in traffic in Q4 for several reasons. More people start to spend more time online as they start browning for holiday shopping. According to the PMG 2022 Holiday Report, lin 2021, consumers start shopping for gifts in October. People spend more time online not just for shopping but for great content too. For example, people who want Holiday prep tips like Thanksgiving and Christmas, Halloween costume ideas, Halloween party ideas, etc. Q4 is also a great time for Ecomm as conversion rates peak in the last four months of the year. Q4 is a good time to focus on producing more eCommerce content with affiliate links. Or if you don’t already have one, start an e-commerce strategy for your blog or website. The global pandemic also amplified Q4 trends as the PMG report also showed that people now start their holiday shopping sooner than before. Keep these in mind:

• Q4 brings increased traffic as more people are online

• Holiday prep tips/Holiday gift ideas/Thanksgiving/ Halloween/Traveling

• Conversion rates peak in Q4 due to the following reasons:

  • Holiday shopping/gift shopping/hosting prep

  • Black Friday

  • Increased travel

  • Prevalence of online shopping

  • A highly online climate that leads to more content needs and faster trend cycles

Increased Advertising and Brand Spend

In Q4, Companies typically have a bigger marketing budget to boost holiday sales. In addition to that, companies and brands typically have leftover budget that needs to be spent before the end of the year. This leads to a higher ad spend from advertisers as these brands aim to capture the Q4 consumer behavior uptrend and increased user activity. Increased demand leads to competition and so you see advertisers paying more for impressions as demand increases. Higher demand = Higher CPMs = more fill rate which equates to higher RPMs = increased revenue for you. . Keep these in mind:

• Companies have bigger marketing budget to boost holiday sales in Q4

• Advertisers have left-over budget that needs to be spent before the end of the year

• Advertisers pay more for impressions as demand increases . This means Higher CPMs = more fill rate which equates to higher RPMs

How to Optimize Your Content for Q4

Make the most of the Q4 peak period by tweaking your content strategy. Your Q4 content strategy should be a combination of producing new content and updating old articles and content on your site.

Create a Content Calendar

The first thing you should do is prepare your content calendar. Having a content calendar helps you plan the topics and formats of the content you plan to post on your site, and ensures that your overall publishing strategy is properly implemented while also giving you a chance to make a detailed content plan. Even something as simple as outlining your proposed content ideas in a spreadsheet will help you be more organized.  Read our detailed guide on how to create and implement a content calendar.

Increase Publishing Frequency

In Q4 it pays to increase your publishing frequency. We usually recommend publishing up to three or four times a week to see a significant increase in traffic. 

Let Trends Inform Your Strategy

Food content is one of the best performers for Q4 so f you write about food, ramp up your number of food posts. Write content around key Q4 holidays, significant dates, events, and trends. Read on to see tips on how to spot and track trends for content ideas.

Get Ideas from Top Performing Content 

Another strategy to use when ideating new content is to create new supporting content around your top-performing topics/content already on your site. 

Check your GA and SHE Media dashboard to see your top-performing content and create similar content to what is performing well. Interlink this new and the old content to help your site visitors find new related content.

Add more Content Formats

Produce Content with varied content formats — add more images, galleries, videos, social embeds, etc. 

Write Compelling Headlines

And always remember to use compelling and enticing headlines and CTAs. Write down a few headline ideas and choose the most compelling. Make sure to include keywords in your headlines. 

Distribute Your Content

Recirculate and Share Old and new content. Boost your top-performing content. Reshare to social, newsletters, add to landing pages, etc. Use Traffic Sources such as newsletters and social sharing, especially Pinterest. Create pinnable graphics and pin and share them with proper CTAs and hashtags. Look into PubExchange and Pushly. 

Update and refresh old content from the last Q4

Look back at your traffic from last year's Q4 content and note the top performers- refresh those with new examples, shoppable links, photos, etc. As you update old articles also clean up your site by performing a site-wide audit to make sure there are no broken links, stale information, etc. As you update old articles do not update or change any links. Watch our editorial workshop on how to update old articles and blog posts for more tips.

Understanding and Tracking Trends  in Q4 (And year-round)

You can find out the best trends for your niche by perusing industry trend reports. These reports are great for content idea generation and 

preliminary research for content strategy. See some key trend reports below

Use Industry Trend Reports for content idea generation and preliminary research for content strategy

• Pinterest Trend Tracker and Pinterest Trend Reports

• Meta Foresight Trend Report

• PMG Intelligence Q4 and Holiday Report

• Hubspot Trend Reports

• GWI - Global Web Index

• Marketing Trends

• Social Media Trends

Notable Q4 Events

• Veteran’s Day

• Halloween

• Thanksgiving

• Friendsgiving

• Black Friday

• Cyber Monday

• Giving Tuesday

• Hanukkah

• Christmas

• Boxing Day

• Kwanzaa

• New Year’s

Preparing for Q4: How to Use Organic SEO to Grow Traffic and Increase Earnings

The SHE Media Collective helps content creators and entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses with dedicated support for managing ads, brand partnerships, and more. Apply now to join our mission-driven platform.

Why Trends? In addition to creating evergreen content, writing on trending topics in your niche is important for several reasons: 

• It makes your content  and website relevant

• Meets your audience's needs and interest

• Boosts engagement on your site's social and other platforms

• Increases visibility of your brand overall

• Invites opportunities for features and collaboration

HOW TO WRITE ABOUT TRENDS

• Look for coverage opportunities like national holidays, seasonal events, hot topics, etc.

• Start writing about a recurring trend topic at least one month in advance to capture the first waves of brewing interest from readers

• Stay within your content niche and bring new perspectives to trending topics

• Insert a trend in intervals into your content calendar (monthly, weekly, etc)

• Pick a recurring trend and create a content cluster on the topic

• Be flexible in your approach and experiment

• Be watchful and keep your trend content up-to-date 

• Create content that addresses FAQs on trending content 

• Make sure your content is helpful and provides value to the reader

TRENDS & KEYWORDS

• Chose a trend and find the relevant keywords using keyword tools like Google Trends, Pinterest Trends, Semrush, Ubersuggest, etc

• Add a dimension to a trend for unique coverage and to reach a target audience

• Find the longtail keyword equivalent for trending topics e.g for the trending topic “Summer nails” you could use longtail keywords like, wedding guest  nail ideas, cute summer nails, summer nail design ideas etc

• Some trends call for adding date/season to keywords e.g “summer nails 2024”

• Use keyword as H1/H2

• Do not add dates to your URL

• Make sure to update the content and date when the season passes (not the URL)

• Follow the formula: Summer + niche + 2024

SUMMER TOP TRENDS

Below is a list of notable events, key dates, and upcoming holidays for summer 2024

• Summer Olympics - Fri, Jul 26, 2024 – Sun, Aug 11, 2024

• US Independence Day - July 4th

• Canada Day - July 1st

• National Icecream Day - July 15th

• Summer wedding season

• Labor Day - September 2nd

• The official end of summer (September 23rd)

• Summer + niche + 2024  

• (use this formula to create summer trend keyword variations)

SOCIETY TRENDS & COVERAGE OPPORTUNITIES

• De-influencing (buy less)

• Fashion, recipes, decor “to impress”

• Fun holiday ideas - unconventional /off-peak season 

• Election year 2024 

• Sporting events

• AI in every industry

• Back to school shopping and prep

FOOD TRENDS

• Big sharing dishes

• Low-alcohol wines/zero-proof cocktails

• Countertop oven recipes

• At-home dinning - frozen foods/ food delivery

• Food and gaming collaborations

• Food & entertainment crossovers 

• International cuisines

• Boba flavored snacks

• Summer dinner recipes

FASHION TRENDS

• White looks/ white dresses, white lace, poplin 

• Polo and Tennis inspired looks

• Transparent/see-through/ sheer

• 90s inspired outfits

• Roses/Rosettes/Bows

• Short shorts

• Metallics

• Craft /Crochet

• Maryjanes/Ballet flats

• Capri Pants

• Butter yellow hues

• Fit & Flare/drop waist

BEAUTY TRENDS

• “Skinminimalism” less is more skincare and beauty

• High-tech beauty devices

• Regenerative treatments

• Skin-Mind connection

• Date night beauty/makeup routine

• Fourth of July nails

• Summer nail ideas

• Boyfriend blush and soft bronze blush

• Metallic makeup

• Sustainable beauty

HOME & DECOR TRENDS

• Quiet luxury decor

• Sustainable/organic /hand-crafted decor

• Home bedroom refresh

• Mixing textures

• Butter yellow (also in fashion)

• Diverse textures/textured walls

• Artisanal and craft designs

• Metallic decor/statement pieces

• Bringing the outdoors indoors

• Blue hues/blue kitchens are in

• Small office/home office decor

ENTERTAINMENT TRENDS

• Social video continues to rise in popularity 

• AI integrations / and disruptions

• Streaming platform dominance

• Cloud gaming going mainstream

• Podcasting growth

• Kpop and Korean TV

• Summer TV and Movie lineup

• Inside Out 2

• The Bear

• Moana 2

• It Ends with Us, etc.

WELLNESS & LIFESTYLE TRENDS

• Artificial intelligence in wellness

• Mental health and consumerism 

• Social and emotional wellness for men

• Postpartum awareness

• Weight loss drugs

• At-home wellness immersion - Cold plunger, yoga rooms 

• Pickleball and Badminton

• Combat sports for Millennials and Gen Z

• Longevity in self-care

• Increased focus on gut health

TRAVEL TRENDS

• Outdoors, beachside, and play-based vacation

• Global sporting events fuel travel

• Sport tourism

• Top summer destinations

• South Africa, Munich, Tokyo, Nice, Paris, London

• Personalized travel

• Eco-friendly/climate-conscious travel

• “Coolcations”

• AI in travel /planning, travel sidekick

• Mysterious places travel e.g “Places on earth that do not feel real” +240% jump in searches

JULY  APPLE NEWS SPOTLIGHT CALENDAR 

JULY

7/1 - 7/21: Tour de France (major moments and recap)

7/1 - 7/14: Wimbledon

7/4: Fourth of July (recipes, entertaining, summer fun)

7/9: Father's Day gifts

7/15-7/18: Republican National Convention

7/16: MLB All-Star Game

7/17-7/20: British Open (golf)

7/24: MLS All-Star Game

7/26-8/25: Leagues Cup (soccer)

TREND WATCH - PARIS SUMMER OLYMPICS 2024 

• Timeline - “when is the Paris summer Olympics?”

• Unique take  - thoughts on the Olympics, recipes for watch parties, watching with kids activities

• Anticipate the readers' questions

• Who is “xx” athlete (background, past performance, style)

• Paris travel guide

• Local watch party events

• Look ahead for coverage opportunities

• What were the trends during the last Olympics?

• Who are the athletes to watch

• Who are the celebrity performers/ opening night / in the stands etc

Watch the 2024 Trends Webinar

I want to highlight 2 things in particular that are relevant to bloggers and a good follow-up  to the webinar we did on Tuesday, May 28th:

1. Having a strong brand matters and powerful brands will always outrank smaller ones. Smaller sites in the SHE Media Collective should focus on building a brand that is popular and well-recognized outside of Google Search. Signaling strong authorship by creating an Author Bio and About Us page is helpful for building trust. “Google stores author information associated with the content and tries to determine whether an entity is the author of the document.” Getting mentioned on other sites/platforms in addition to actively engaging with your users (running events, responding to comments on your site or social media, etc.) are also ways to cultivate a good reputation.

2. Small businesses and newer content creators are not going to benefit as much from SEO until they've established a level of credibility. This reinforces my advice that bloggers find ways to grow their audience independently of Google given the current state of the industry. Evidence shows that Google is ranking and sending traffic to bigger sites with more authority, allowing them to dominate the web. If you’re a smaller publisher, your content is less likely to perform well on Google if there are bigger and more well-known brands producing similar content as you. This doesn’t mean you should abandon or ignore SEO. It just means you shouldn’t put all your eggs in the Google basket. Focus on diversifying your audience and distributing content on other platforms as well to reach a new and wider audience.

Key Resources for Understanding Google Core Updates

There has been a flurry of articles written by reputable SEOs on the recent Google leaks. I encourage you to check out the following:

• https://ipullrank.com/google-algo-leak 

• https://sparktoro.com/blog/an-anonymous-source-shared-thousands-of-leaked-google-search-api-documents-with-me-everyone-in-seo-should-see-them/

Additional Reading

Debugging Drops in Google Search Traffic

Google Search's core updates and your website

Helpful content and Google Search results FAQ

Submit Ranking Feedback to Google

However, publishers can still optimize their content to rank for SGE as well as Featured Snippets and People Also Ask sections. 

How to Rank for SGE and Featured Snippets 

• On-page SEO — Now more than ever, your on-page SEO should be top-notch and properly optimized. Write and update meta descriptions to be properly descriptive and informative and make sure your articles have schema markup with sufficient and descriptive  H2 and H3 subheadings.

• Use FAQs and descriptive subheadings — Speaking of subheadings, having FAQs in your articles increases the chance of ranking in an SGE or People Also Ask results to keyword queries. When you create FAQs, make the questions H2/H3 and write direct, comprehensive, and informative answers to each question.

• Personalized and detailed answers/info in your articles —  comprehensive and informative answers are not just for your FAQ sections. The entire article should be helpful as it pertains to Google’s standards of helpful content. It should be current and informative. 

• Improve your site architecture:

• Internal linking - Include internal links to contextually relevant and recent articles.

• Category and Tag pages - Clean up and/or consolidate category and tag pages that have no new content or haven’t been updated in a while. Every major category and tag page should be frequently updated with quality.  

• Get rid of repetitive content — Avoid repetition in pages and in your content. There’s a difference between covering a topic area comprehensively and producing content that is so similar it passes for repetition. Make sure every article on your site is unique. 

How to Finetune Your Content Strategy for 2024 SEO 

If you see a rapid traffic decline in your organic traffic, there are a few possible reasons, however the most likely is that your content is being affected by one of Google’s updates. This means you need to make your content fresh and relevant. Read more on possible reasons for significant traffic drop.

Rethink Content Topics: A massive drop in traffic for certain content areas or verticals could mean that content topic is overdone on the web for SEO and traffic gains. When a content niche has been flooded with content created specifically to rank on Google, that whole topic could get flagged by Google. This doesn’t mean you should abandon a content topic, especially when it is an area you are passionate about and/or adequately qualified to write on. You can rethink how you write on these topics, and make your content stand out with unique perspectives and authentic takes. 

Cohesive Website and Topical Relevance - Make sure your website is cohesive and has a running theme and topic. If you write about Food, let that be clear from your categories, tags, and content. The topics you write on should be relevant to the keywords you seek to rank for. The more high-quality content you have on these topics the more relevant your site will be in your audience and to search engines. We’ve discussed this extensively in the Helpful Content Update article and our monthly webinars. 

Build Strong Author Bios and About Page — Given the proliferation of AI and spam content on the web, search engines are on a mission to differentiate human-generated content from the rest. A robust About Page sends strong brand signals that back up your content quality. You can already see these changes being made by industry-leading publications. Many publications now have enhanced Author bios showing the expertise and qualifications of their writers and contributors and The New York Times recently redesigned their Byline pages making them more enhanced to bolster trust in readers.

E-E-A-T  and Unique Human Perspective — Following Google’s E-E-A-T (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) standards, your content should contain unique information and add value to an existing topic. Your content should show the expertise, experience, and authority you have in that space. Search engines want to know that the content is created by humans and provides valuable and unique human perspectives.

Google March 2024 Core Update

Google carried out another update which launched March 5th and was completed in April. This was a global core update impacting all regions, all sites, and all types of content. Google has stated that there would be more updates and ‘refreshes’ to come and likely won’t be announced. 

This update tackled spam and low-quality content on Search with the goal of reducing content created for search engines. Google says since the update, which also affects Google Discover and Featured Snippets, there is now 45% less low-quality and unoriginal content on search results, and plans to continue to work to reduce low-quality and unoriginal content in Search. 

Today we announced the March 2024 core update & new spam policies that, in combination, are designed to show less content made to attract clicks and more content that people find useful. Learn more: https://t.co/wQVZ8mExRB

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) March 5, 2024

Key Resources for Understanding Google Core Updates

Debugging Drops in Google Search Traffic

Google Search's core updates and your website

Helpful content and Google Search results FAQ

Submit Ranking Feedback to Google

Google’s September 2023 core algorithm Helpful Content Update was a key marker for the organic traffic dip for many entertainment sites. These updates have left publishers unsure of how to maintain site relevance and make their content rank high on SERP. 

The Penske Media SEO team conducted a deep-dive analysis of the organic search traffic landscape for entertainment sites and the shared core strategies and tactics that have proven effective. These findings provide a pathway to rank better on Google SERP, grow organic traffic, and build credibility in a given entertainment niche. We’ve summarized their findings for the SHE Media Collective below.

Traffic Growth Updates for Entertainment/News Coverage 

• Google’s May 2022, September 2022, and September 2023 core algorithm updates were key markers for the organic traffic dip. Overall content quality must evolve to rank better.

• News coverage has to evolve. Google's algorithm updates have shown multiple times that they are no longer ranking perishable news stories in the same way they have in the past. Google is deemphasizing certain content and the standards of a news story are evolving as reinforced by Google’s algorithm updates. “Google’s Core Algorithm makes clear that a quick two-paragraph news item spun from a press release or another website will become secondary to Google’s own modules, and the originators of that reporting”. 

• A website redesign and taxonomy overhaul exposes a site's past archives to Google during recrawls - can be good for traffic boost but has a dwindling advantage in 2023/24.

• Entertainment saw a cultural shift from network to streaming, and websites that established foundational evergreens (i.e. specific shows) and topic types (I.e. sports, politics, streaming) have been able to keep up. 

• Every writer and contributor on a site needs to have a bio, photo, and contact info to improve E-E-A-T metrics. 

Cultural Shift in Viewing Habits 

• Viewing habits and content formats have changed drastically over the past five years. Streaming, binge-watching, and limited series have all been introduced since the early days of television blogging.

• Entertainment saw a cultural shift from network to streaming and sites that established foundational evergreens (i.e. for specific shows) and topic types (I.e. sports, politics, streaming) have been able to keep up. 

• Entertainment and news sites need to have some strong evergreen content on relevant verticals to increase its relevance and E-E-A-T in this space.

Entertainment Organic Traffic Analysis

• Organic Impressions / Site Visibility: The May 2022 Core Algorithm Update hit SEO visibility for entertainment sites

• An analysis of top-performing entertainment sites shows that they all have established  authority on specific shows and personalities 

• We find that often that a site’s evergreen content needs to have a strong strategic direction for higher quality and should have more quantity. 

• When an entertainment site’s content is mostly perishable/short-term (5-7 days) news stories e.g. news stories tied to TV shows that have a short lifespan, it is not a stable traffic mover. These stories stop driving traffic after a short period.

• Evidence shows that recent Google algorithm updates, particularly the Core and the Helpful Content Updates, have negatively impacted many of these short-term stories in the news space. 

• Google is consistently updating the way stories are ranked. Older, perishable news stories, are now being re-ranked downwards, losing out to more relevant content. It’s not that these stories are necessarily “bad”; it is that they were time-sensitive (i.e. no longer relevant today).

• Research shows that Google’s search engine has adapted to surface fewer news stories for straightforward celebrity name searches and instead shows more broad social media and reference data for many of these TV and movie personalities. It’s logical to hypothesize that one of the past algorithm updates may have de-emphasized the news carousel for more general queries. (Enhanced tag queries could be a good strategy to help regain competitiveness for TV-related terms).

Content Formats and Approach for Entertainment Sites

a.) News Stories that expire quickly (quality) 

News is the most vulnerable category to algorithm updates.

Solutions: Rethink and build more robust news story types.

b.) Intermittent Evergreen-ish Stories (quality)

These content types (e.g. recaps, Interviews, Awards, reviews) are more a matter of consistency and proper categorization. They have a longer lifespan than news stories and provide an opportunity for being a stabilizing force and a bridge between news and evergreen. Solutions: Be consistent, and current and provide proper categorizations of this content for better navigation and user experience.

c.) True Evergreen Tentpoles (quality) + (quantity)

Evergreen content are not tied to an episode, a season, or the lifespan of a show. Entertainment sites need better quality in the first two categories and more quantity (and guided quality) in the third of these three categories. Solutions: This is both a quality and quantity issue. Evergreen must have proper E-E-A-T. 

What are Evergreens?

An evergreen piece of content is any story that is core to your brand and consistently generates traffic for a period longer than three weeks. Google wants to send users to sources that it has confidence in, and it will rely on past stories with keywords that continue to get traffic and engagement to help the algorithm inform that decision. 

Misconceptions About Evergreens

There are certain misconceptions about Evergreen content that we would like to dispel. Evergreen content is 1. Not click-bait, 2. Might not get traffic right away, 3. Do not need to be very broad or general

Misconception #1: It’s clickbait.

Clickbait tends to be quick, easy stories without context. Evergreens can be deeply thoughtful pieces that inform the reader on a topic. They can also be extremely specific and in-depth. In this example of evergreen entertainment content, The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time readers are going to the story because of the opinions and authority of the brand itself.

Misconception #2: If it doesn’t get traffic right away, it’s a failure.

Evergreens must be tended to and take time to ramp up traffic. Expectation setting is key here. If you are competing for a highly valuable keyword, it may take a few weeks for it to take off, succeed, and rise to the first page of Google. This is also generating authority for that page and those keywords, so it needs to be tended to and monitored. You can also update the piece to match the moment.

Misconception #3: Evergreens need to be very broad and general.

In the past, evergreen content was best when it was broad, but we are seeing with the core algorithm updates that Google is looking for every site to be masters of their topics. Having specific evergreens that are core to the brand – even though they might not deliver a lot of traffic immediately – will help us diversify the core keywords we rely on should we see Google’s AI shake things up.

Overarching Key Findings 

The Helpful Content and Core Algorithm Updates impact a site holistically so it is looking through the entire history of engagement to pages and keywords. If a site has some low-quality content it brings down the overall ranking and quality score of the site. 

News Coverage - has to evolve as Google is no longer ranking perishable news stories in the same way they have in the past.

More important for growth is depth, not breadth. A site needs to create a core definition (profile) of who its readers are. A site can only grow out strategically once we have anchored the authority for its core topics and shows. Decide the core topics in your niche and strategically build the foundation to rank for those topics long term.

Review Google’s Helpful Content Algorithm Update here: Google Search's Helpful Content System 

2024 is already looking to be an exciting year. We have drawn insights from industry-leading reports, our internal data, and experts in the SHE Media Collective to bring you the content and digital trends that will dominate in the coming year. As you plan and start to implement your editorial and content strategy for the year, don’t ignore these high-performing content trends and predictions across various publishing niches in 2024. 

Watch the Webinar: 2024 Content and Publishing Trends + 2023 Recap

2024 Content Trends

See the dominating content trends for major publishing niches. These predictions show the direction of user interest in 2024. What will people be searching for on the web and what are the most popular interest and topic areas? As you write and create don’t ignore these topics as they are a good way to keep your content fresh and also serve as keywords to insert into your articles and overall content strategy.

Food & Recipe Trends

• Recipe mashups

• Gummy candy kabobs 

• Carbonara ramen

• At-home coffee stations 

• Mindful eating “healthspan”

• Nostalgic dining (reviving old brands)

• Convenience yet healthy options

• Non-alcoholic fancy/fun drinks

• Innovative snacks

• Rise of global flavors and ingredients

• Interesting spice combinations

• Mindful mixology

• “Sipping your supper”

• Sustainability in cooking/eating

• Women’s health supplements and food products

Beauty & Fashion Trends

• Bows and Bow aesthetics

• Metallic/Silver accessories and clothing

• Pops of Color

• Red as a statement color

• Blue hues

• Bigger and Bolder

• Chunky hoops

• Big braids

• Sculptural jewelry

• Big hair

• Satin coats

• Bucket boots

• Maryjanes

• Colorful Sneaker Trends

Lifestyle: Home & Decor Trends

• Kitschy kitchen

• Eccentric kitchen

• At-home coffee stations 

• Retro design

• Dopamine furniture

• Fun lamps/lampshades

• Timeless decor/and neutrals

• Nature in the home

• Turtle terrarium ideas

• Fish tank theme ideas 

Lifestyle: Wellness Trends

• New and niche sports (pickleball, badminton)

• Combat sports and workouts

• Meaningful connections/ conversations

• Bodycare/Body skincare routine

• Digital tracking of physical and mental health

• Probiotics

• Decline of restrictive diets

• Mindfulness and Meditation

• A wellness and mental health approach in every niche/for every brand

Parenting Trends

• Gentle parenting names

• “Inchestones”

• Eco-conscious parenting

• Healthy boundaries on social media usage

• Vintage baby names

Entertainment Trends

• More Streaming services will emerge

• Streaming platforms will consolidate

• Podcasting will continue to rise in popularity

• Anticipated Movies: Dune 2, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Kong vs Godzilla: The New Empire, Inside Out 2.

• AI in various facets of entertainment 

• UGC (User Generated Content) competing with traditional media platforms

• Continued rise of social video

• Notable Entertainment Events

• Golden Globes

• Emmys

• The Grammys

• Super Bowl

• Mardi Gras

• BAFTA Awards

• SAG Awards

• Oscars

Notable Dates and Events Jan/Feb/Mar

• MLK Day (January 15)

• Black History Month (February)

• Lunar New Year (February 10)

• Mardi Gras (February 13)

• Valentine’s Day (February 14)

• President's Day (February 19)

• Women’s History Month (March)

• SXSW (March 8-16)

• St. Patrick's Day (March 17)

• Equal Pay Day (March 15)

• Easter (March 31)

• Ramadan (March 11-April 9) and Eid-al-Fitr (April 9)

Trends and You! How to Use Trends to Your Benefit

• Stay in your chosen content niche and find trends that bring new perspectives to grounded topics.

• Insert a trend in intervals into your content calendar (monthly, weekly, etc).

• Pick a trend with recurring tendencies and create a content cluster on the topic.

• Make your content voice search-friendly and use properly sourced/licensed quality images.

• Be flexible in your approach and experiment.

• Be watchful and stay up-to-date on new developments in your niche.

• Create content that answers common questions in your niche and provides educational value. 

• Create content for notable dates weeks ahead. E.g if you want to create Valentine’s Day content like tips, recipes, activity recommendations, etc, publish weeks before Valentine's Day as that’s when people begin their search.

• Be excited about and embrace new changes not *fearful*.

2024 Social Media Trends

• Social media will rise as a search engine.

• Social platforms will shift to increase engagement and monetization of DMs.

• A creator’s authority and credentials will matter more and more on social platforms.

• Vertical Video content is key across all platforms.

• “Number of Shares” will matter more as an engagement metric.

• Threads and WhatsApp will provide increasing value to publishers.

• Social videos will take off and compete with mainstream video platforms.

Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Whatsapp) Trends

Meta has suggested that it will pivot its strategy from Reels to Video more holistically.

Facebook - Facebook will continue to deprioritize link traffic in favor of video

Threads  - Referral traffic from the Threads platform now appears as l.threads.net rather than consolidating within Instagram. Users can also now tag a topic in a Thread—and it’s a lot more flexible than a traditional hashtag. These changes make Threads more favorable to Publishers.

Instagram - In 2024 Instagram will do more with Direct Messaging. Expect more engagement opportunities with new DM features. Instagram Broadcast channels will also be on the rise this year. 

WhatsApp - The newly launched Whatsapp Channels shows promise for content distribution for publishers.

Linkedin Trends

• LinkedIn’s algorithm will favor creators with authority and credentials who produce ample content in their subject areas of expertise.

• LinkedIn will deprioritize personal content and personal updates for more educational & expert content.

• There will be features and opportunities for more professional networking for business growth.

• LinkedIn Newsletters will continue to bring value to creators for self-syndication and reaching a wider audience.

TikTok Trends

• Tiktok will host longer vidoes (15 min videos) 

• TikTok is chasing super-app status and looking to expand its uses

• A lean into Search and Affiliate marketing (TikTok Shop)

• Increased competition with Amazon while offering a different approach to shopping. TikTok shopping will be powered by Inspiration/Trends vs Amazon which is powered by Ease/Convenience

• “by ending its Creator Fund, Tiktok will pay creators only for videos longer than 60 seconds—another sign of short-video monetization problems” - Insider Intelligence

Pinterest Trends

• Pinterest remains a top traffic source and reliable content distribution channel

• View 2024 Pinterest Predicts

2024 Advertising and Publishing Trends

• Third-party cookies are going away in 2024 (Google has twice pushed out the timeline)

• AI will continue to grow and supercharge ad tech (post cookie world for contextual targeting)

• E-commerce will grow and spread to more platforms

• Ad-funded streaming on the rise (CTV ad spending will rise, AVOD)

• Short video craze is cooling (in favor of longer videos) /Meta/YouTube shorts/TikTok

• Generative AI will supercharge Search

• Upgraded virtual assistants for more voice search

• More and wider search formats for more content types and mediums

• Demand for Ebooks and Audio content will continue to rise

• AI-powered insights into content performance

• Watch the Webinar: 2024 Content and Publishing Trends + 2023 Recap

SHE Media Has a Seat at the Table

• E-commerce - SHE Media continues to revolutionize the e-commerce experience for both publishers and users through detailed personalization and native shopping integrations.

• SHE Media Cohorts - Providing advertisers with enhanced audience segments increasing the value of inventory.

• High-Level Advocacy - SHE Media and Penske Media involvement in AI-related conversations as a publisher advocate at the industry level with AI innovators such as Microsoft, Google, Open AI, etc.

• SHE Media continues to be focused on the sustainability and growth of the independent web.

More Trend Resources for Publishers & Creators

• Pinterest Predicts 2024 Trend Forcast

• The 16 Most Important Social Media Trends for 2024

• Toast 2024 Food and Beverage Report

• 10 Best AI SEO Tools for Publishers in 2024

• Google Expands Video 

• Google’s Helpful Content Update - What Publishers Need to Know & How to Recover

• Exploding Topics

• GWI

• Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content

• Watch the Webinar: 2024 Content and Publishing Trends + 2023 Recap

1. Optimize Titles and Headlines - Every page and article should have a main title and that title should be an H1 tag. The H1 tag is the most important element on the page. The title of your article should be a H1 tag and it should be prominent on the page and should appear above all images or content. 

   
   

2. Insert  H2/H3  Header Tags to Subheadings - Make sure all pages and posts have the right tagging and subheading. This will have a positive impact on how search engines understand your content. Subheadings and FAQs should be tagged H2 and H3 in hierarchical order. 

3. Insert relevant keywords to Headings - While you’re making your heading and subheading the right tags, make sure they contain relevant keywords so they are optimized for search. The title of the article should be properly descriptive and engaging. Subheadings should describe exactly what that section is about. This will make your content easier to navigate, keep readers engaged for longer and yes it will help your content rank better on SERP.
   
   

4. Meta Description - Your meta description should contain relevant keyword(s) and should be engaging. This will help entice readers for higher CTR. For Meta description optimization, try the AIO SEO plugin.

5. Analyze with Page Speed Insights - Quickly analyze your site with Google's PageSpeed Insights and implement straightforward fixes like image compression and removing broken links. You can also check for broken links on your site by using other tools like the Broken Link Checker

6. Optimize Images - In addition to compressing images that are the wrong size based on your page speed insight, also optimize images with better alt text and description. Doing this will optimize your images for Search which can be a significant ranking SERP feature for your site. And always uses quality images that are properly sourced, paid for (or free Creative Commons license), and credited. 

7. Ensure Your Site is Mobile Friendly - The internet is mobile-first and there’s a good chance most or at least 50% of your users access your site using their mobile devices. Whatever changes, uploads, and updates you make to your site should be optimized first for mobile. Always check what a new upload will look like on mobile devices. Make sure there are no awkward cut-offs, weirdly sized images, or inserts and that there is enough white space between content. Use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test to make sure your site and site content is optimized for mobile.

8. Internal Linking - include an average of 2 or 3 internal links in every article. This will help with navigation on your site, and give your site a better site structure making it easier for the SERP crawlers to crawl and it will increase user time on your site.

9. External Linking - Also include external links to quality and reputable sites in our articles as this will help improve your E-E-A-T score (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). When you write, draw from existing research or other authoritative perspectives on the topic and link to their sources. Reputable sites are sites that are .org .gov .edu etc. Read more about E-E-A-T.

10. Optimize With Keywords - Keywords are how your content gets found. Optimizing with keywords ensures that your content is showing up for the right search queries and to the right audience. Include longtail keywords and include related keywords in every post. Learn more about Keyword Strategy —How to Find and Use the Right Keywords for Your Content

11. Write and Publish Quality Content - This strategy is as good as ever and is the only sure way to grow and engage an audience. Ensure your content is clear, concise, unique, and provides value to the user.

12. Monitor Your Progress - The saying “If you can not measure it, you can not improve it”  applies to your website optimization efforts as well. Use GA to track your site traffic and monitor your changes to see what works and what doesn’t. Do A/B testing when you can e.g. you can test our different Title headings to see which one gets the best CTRs. When you update content, check how it's performing. Monitor your traffic sources to see what’s performing the best. etc.

Remember, even small changes can lead to a significant impact on your SERP rankings, user experience, and traffic.

Recommended Reading

Google’s Helpful Content Update - What Publishers Need to Know & How to Recover

Increase Your Page RPM with these Best Practices

Webinar: 2024 Content and Publishing Trends + 2023 Recap

Why is MCM important?

Everyone connected to the digital advertising space is looking for ways to keep fraud out of the ad ecosystem. Ads.txt and sellers.json were two industry wide efforts to help create transparency about relationships between publishers, networks, and ad providers.

MCM will help Google build on that, by combining their policy checks for content - both from advertisers’ creative and publishers’ content - with checks for ads.txt. It ensures that only sites following best practices can monetize, and allows publishers greater transparency with the process.

How does MCM help?

All publishers will connect to the networks or direct providers they work with through MCM in order to maintain full monetizatin.  Not just at the site level (like DoubleClick/AdX/SPM), but at an account level as well. Google will detect repeat policy violations, and keep those accounts from joining networks - which improves advertiser trust and keeps ad rates high.

How is SHE Media handling MCM?

All new sites must complete the MCM onboarding in order to serve your ads. We have created dynamic and flexible code in our backend to help automate the entire process. With just a little information from you, SHE Media will send you an invitation from Google Ad Manager.

An animated GIF highlighting the steps to get started with MCM, steps below.

What do I need to get started with MCM?

First, you must be in good standing with Google. If you know that you have a policy ban from Google AdSense, SPM or Google Ad Manager, please let our support team know ASAP so that we can see if it’s something that we can help you get reviewed and lifted.

Second, you’ll need to make sure that we have your payee information in the dashboard. We use your payee name on the invitation, so if you have an LLC, that’s what the invitation will reflect.

Third, you’ll need to provide us with an email. If you’ve never used a Google Ad product, just provide us with the email you’d like to use. If you have used AdSense, Google Ads, Google Ad Manager - give us the email associated with those accounts. Important: DO NOT CREATE ANY NEW ACCOUNTS. DO NOT CLOSE ANY OF YOUR ACCOUNTS. Google only allows you to have one Google Ad Manager account and one Google AdSense account. Creating new accounts can cause some flags on Google’s end - and if you have no AdSense or GAM account, don’t create anything! This process will create any accounts you need without any of the usual wait times. If you create them on your own, it can delay processes by weeks.

Fourth, Google checks to see that you have a valid ads.txt file. So once you’ve filled out the MCM invite, we recommend working on installing our ads right away. While they might not fill with ads, it’ll set you up so that as soon as the ads are set, they’ll begin filling immediately.

Last, this process can take a minimum of 3 days - longer if there are any errors or issues. Unfortunately SHE cannot control how quickly Google moves, but we will do everything we can if there are any issues to work with Google to resolve them.

What do I need to look for?

SHE will send an invite to the email you’ve associated with MCM. It will come from Google Ad Manager, and say that PMC (Penske Media Corporation - SHE Media’s Parent Company!) is asking for permission to Manage Your Inventory with the Subject - Request to Manage your Inventory, and a link in the email to get started. Depending on your history with Google, it can walk you through setting up a payee account through AdSense (or connecting your existing AdSense), and create a Google Ad Manager account. (If you have all these set up, it might just ask to associate them)

Fair warning, Google will send you a lot of emails since you’ve created a new Google Ad Manager account. Instead, look for the email that says your Ad Manager account has been approved and that Google has alerted PMC (which includes our network) that we can manage your ad inventory. That’s when you know your site is going to be evaluated - and we’ll email you when your site has been approved and you’re ready to run our ads.

If you have a Google Ad Manager account already, your invitation will be in GAM. Login to https://admanager.google.com and go to Admin, then Multiple Customer Management. There’ll be a link for PMC, and click it!

Frequently Asked Questions about MCM

How much control am I giving PMC/SHE Media?

No more than you would have before. SHE Media has always managed the inventory in our ad network - this simply makes it a little more visible how all the pieces fit together.

All the documentation refers to PMC as our parent. What does that mean?

It’s just a way to describe the relationship between you as a publisher and PMC/SHE Media as a network. A network like SHE is considered a parent, because we get ads directly from Google Ad Exchange. We pass them along to you, the child - the last stop for our ads.

Do I need to log into my Google Ad Manager platform?

No! To check your reporting and earnings, we recommend that you log into the SHE Media Dashboard instead. The GAM platform does give you a place to update information with Google, and allows you to see what parents you have connected to your account.

Reminder: While MCM allows you to have multiple parents who provide you with ads, please remember that the agreement you signed with SHE is for exclusive ad placement.

While you can disconnect your connection with SHE, please be advised that any site that needs to do so will need to complete the MCM onboarding process again. Breaking the MCM connection will stop all ads, and you will not be able to monetize until you’ve completed it again.

Please remember that you have signed an agreement with us that includes a term length, and any questions about the contract should be directed to our Publishing Network team at support@shemedia.com. Dropping your ads without notice can result in your remaining ad revenue being withheld.

What if I run into any errors?

Take a screenshot of the error you get while filling out the invitation. Send it to the support team at support@shemedia.com and we’ll open a ticket with Google Support to escalate your case.

What if I Change my URL?

If you change your URL and rebrand your site - we will need to open a new site profile for you in our dashboard, and submit that new URL to MCM for them to evaluate (because to the internet, it’s a new domain).  All that will apply is the ads.txt and site approval sections. You will not need an invitation.

What if I add more sites to my account?

Each additional site will need to complete the site approval portion of MCM onboarding.  You will never need to go through the user account approval again - unless you’ve left our network, disconnected from our GAM account, and want to come back.

Can’t I just go somewhere else if I don’t want to do MCM?

This affects the entire industry. MCM doesn’t just affect SHE Media, but every ad network that uses Google’s ad framework or Google’s ad inventory.

What if I’m coming from another network?
Do I have to wait until that contract is finished to start?

No! We want you to start this early so that your site is ready to go with our ads before your transition date. Otherwise, you risk having several days of not being monetized at all.

(The only difference is that you’ll not want to put up our code, but add our ads.txt lines to your existing lines - so that Google can see what it needs to approve your site)

Questions about MCM we didn’t answer? Reach out to support@shemedia.com and we’ll be happy to answer them.

What is RPM?

RPM stands for revenue per mille (mille = thousand in Latin. It is the estimated amount you will earn for every 1,000 views. The SHE Media Dashboard shows both your Pageview RPM and a Session RPM.

Traditionally RPM was measured using pageviews, but we’ve started to see Advertisers, Google Search, and Social Platforms shifting their focus to rewarding content that a user values based on visit and engagement behavior, which means Publishers and Media companies like ours are adapting our focus on Sessions. Signals like time-on-site, bounce rate, pages per session, repeat visits, and overall interaction with the content are used to measure the user’s satisfaction (and thus value) of your content.

Focusing on sessions leads to a lift in user experience signals which is directly aligned with those partners and rewards. To drive the point home, assume you improve your site’s user experience by optimizing your ads, improving site speed, improving SEO, and overall optimizing the user experience & monetization opportunity by partnering with SHE Media. You’ll see an increase in pages per user, increased time-on-site, and lower bounce rates. All of these satisfy the things advertisers, search engines, and social platforms are eager to reward with showing your content to more users and delivering more visitors to your content — which ultimately drives more revenue to you!

What Factors Impact the RPM?

Many different factors can impact a publisher’s RPM, some in your control and others not. Here are a few examples of what will impact your RPM.

1. Geography – This is why, at the application phase, we ask if your traffic is mostly U.S. or International. International traffic tends to receive lower RPMs.

2. Advertiser rates – Direct vs. programmatic, level of quality, budgets, so many things.

3. Seasonal trends – Big one, understand the trends. Certain months are better than others, certain times of the year.

4. Device type – Most of the time, desktop traffic gets RPMs that are higher than mobile.

5. Ad format – Certain ad formats, like video or sticky placements, get higher RPMs.

6. Viewability – If your users aren’t actually seeing the ad, you won’t be paid for those impressions.

See RPM Growth Best Practices

How is RPM Calculated?

Looking at your revenue from the last 30 days, RPM is calculated by dividing your earnings by your number of monthly sessions divided by 1,000.

Session RPM = (revenue) / (# of sessions/1,000)

Calculating out an example for you, let’s pretend that last month you earned $5,000 on ad revenue and your website had 200,000 sessions. Following the formula above, your RPM would be $25.00. In other words, for every 1,000 sessions your website delivers, you will be earning $25.00. 

Keep in mind that the amount you earn will vary by campaign, traffic, seasonality, and a few more variables we’ll go into, but it will always be shown in your dashboard.

Tips to Increase RPM

You can find a list of various ways to increase your RPM here, but the best thing you can do is partner with SHE Media. As a part of Penske Media with sister brands such as Rolling Stone & Variety as well as our own fully staffed properties (Sheknows.com, Stylecaster.com, Soaps.com), we have collectively spent hundreds of millions of dollars to understand what works and what doesn’t. When you work with us, we put those years of experience, hundreds of exclusively commissioned data studies, and enterprise-level relationships with Google as a GCPP-certified partner, and social platforms to work for you without any additional hidden fees or consulting charges.

Together we’ll work on things like ad optimization, webpage optimization, SEO, video production, audio (podcast) production, licensing, content marketing, influencer marketing, branded content, and more.

Introducing more reporting options!

Find out more information on the SHE Media Collective and apply today!

Google's Helpful Content Update is their recent update to their search ranking algorithms, but also to Core Web Vitals and MCM. Behind it is a shift in how we approach content on the web, fixing an issue that online advertising helped cause - unhelpful content designed to create longer posts.

What is low value content?

While Google won't come out and say exactly what qualifies a site as being Low Value Content, it's all related to whether or not readers will find content valuable. High value content typically means that when someone searches for a term and clicks a search result link that takes them to your site, they're satisfied by what they were looking for and don't need to search any further. Google rewards high value content with better search ranking.

We've found that largely, genres like travel sites and food sites are being labeled LVC (though any site can be labeled Low Value Content). Lists are typically the biggest culprit since curated lists aren’t necessarily unique information or something that might satisfy a reader's answer.

When Google rejects a site in the MCM process for Low Value Content, this is what they tell us:

Your site does not yet meet the criteria of use in the Google publisher network. For more information, review the following resources:

• Minimum content requirements

• Make sure your site has unique high quality content and a good user experience

• Webmaster quality guidelines for thin content

• Webmaster quality guidelines

While Google won't give you a list, we can give you things that we've found that sites flagged as LVC have in common.  We recommend that you take a look at this to decide how you want to change your upcoming posts or to edit your more recent content (from the past 90 days).

Too many images, not enough text

One of the things we've seen on sites that Google's returned as Low Value Content are articles with a sentence per image/ affiliate link.  We find a good ratio of text to image is 300 words per image.

Lists

While it seems to be a popular content type, any list over 10 is probably not going to be high value content. With anything of that length, you'll likely be including short thoughts on whatever the subject is.

Of a special note, since Google has called it out as thin content - if you're doing affiliate link posts, make sure you provide a LOT more detail. Don't share a sentence with a link. You need more information!

Google also doesn't consider roundup posts high value content. They might be valuable to people who return to your site, but if you're doing a weekly roundup of other people's recipes that just link out, it might not index as well as your original content.

Irrelevant Content

Consider clickbait articles. How many times have you clicked into an article, looking for what was promised in the featured image or the title - never to find it in the article? That isn't very helpful, is it?

Or say you're searching for a particular recipe, and have to go through several pages worth of content to get to the actual recipe itself.  If you've ever thought that the introduction to a recipe should be its own blog post, that's what they mean.  (By all means, please have longer posts- just make sure that the content directly ties into the recipe)

Images that are taller than your viewport

One of the most important things any publisher can do is understand the importance of viewport size. A viewport is the size of a device's screen. You should never post any image that's taller than the average viewport.  (Anything taller than 600 pixels runs the risk of being cut off and losing impact)

You should not only resize images prior to uploading but if you're on WordPress, utilize a plugin that will resize the images

Write your own content

AI can be a great tool, but if you aren't heavily editing to make sure it's in your writing style, this can create too many similarities to other people using the same tools. It could hurt your search engine ranking more than help you by cutting down on the time to create new content.

One final note:

These are not guaranteed reasons your site can be labeled Low Value Content - as mentioned, Google can and will change what it deems high value content. But these are all good practices to consider when creating your content.

Table of Contents

1. Technical Basics

2. Content Themes & Strategy

3. Content Distribution and Marketing

4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

5. Growth and Monetization

Technical Basics for Starting a Blog

To start a website, you have to first understand the basic technical requirements you would need to have a strong foundation. Every website lives on the World Wide Web and has to have a domain name and unique URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A website’s URL is the address of a website. So for starters, you need to establish a domain name with a hosting service.

Hosting Services

There are several hosting services out there some more popular than others. These hosting services listed below are some of the most commonly used and highly recommended by SHE Media Collective publishers.

• Bluehost

• Dreamhost

• PeoplesHost

• BigScoots

• LyricalHost - top rated

• Siteground

• Doteasy

• Cloudways

• Hostinger

Domain Name

Put simply, a domain name is the address of a website. It is the link or URL and is how people will find and access your site. You need to check if the exact domain name you want is available. If it is, then you are lucky, but if it’s already taken you can find an alternative or if it’s taken but not live yet, you can attempt to buy it from the owner. Choosing a domain name for your website is one of the most important aspects of building a your publishing brand. Check if your chosen domain name is available using a domain name checker or domain name generators like Shopify Domain name generator, Go Daddy Domains or Squarespace Domains.   Read more about Domain Names.

Themes/Design UX

The design and UX (user experience) of your site is something that might change as you go along with the process. However, it helps to have a basic idea of what you want your website to look like. If you’re not sure what you want or where to begin, start by looking through the web to find websites that you like and that embody what you envision for your site, and use these examples as inspiration. It could be several sites with each having an element that you like. This exercise will help you start to clearly visualize the type of publishing website or blog you want. Always keep the reader in mind when deciding on your website theme and design. You want to make sure your website is easy to browse and navigate and that site visitors can easily find your content. Specifically for a blog, you want to make sure users are inclined to stay on the website and read multiple blog posts and articles and your UX design is crucial to that.

Content Themes, Structure, and Strategy

Content creation is the engine that drives a blog. Writing continuously on a particular topic and sub-topics in that niche and sharing your opinions, and perceptives is what will keep readers coming back to and committed to your blog. To establish your content themes, you need to first answer the following questions:

• What is the main topic your website will be about? (Food and Recipes).

• What is your sub-niche and/or unique POV on that topic? (healthy but delicious recipes).

• What is your “why” i.e. why are you creating this content platform? (You are a nutritionist, you love cooking, they are your family recipes, etc.).

Perhaps you’re a thought leader in your space, you already have a social presence. Communicating your “why” will differentiate you from the rest of the blogs and content creators in your niche and all around the web. No matter what your niche of choice is, you must ensure that you can create helpful, reliable, and people-first content on a regular and consistent basis.

Picking your Niche

Chances are you already know what your site is going to be about. You can choose a niche based on what you are most skilled or passionate about or based on your research on profitable and high-performing niches. If you’re not sure yet about a niche, start by figuring out what you are knowledgeable about and what unique point of view you can bring to the topic and share with your readers. It is also important to consider the level of competition in a particular niche before you decide. Is it a saturated space? If it is, you can still create a blog if you are passionate about the topic, however, it is crucial that you bring a unique point of view and find other ways to make your site stand out to attract (and keep) an audience.  Also, ensure it is a niche in which you can produce lots of content with continuous and expanding conversations.

The About Page 

For every website, and particularly a new website, the About Page is one of the most important pages you will build. Think of it as a billboard for your business. Readers, collaborators, future advertisers, and brand partners will all flock to your About Page to find out more about you, your site and what makes you unique. The About Page could be a make-or-break factor in people deciding if they want to work with you or continue to read your blog. Make sure that you properly introduce yourself and show your qualifications, be authentic and professional, and leave no questions unanswered. Read more on How to Create the Perfect  About Page.

Publishing Frequency

After your new website has gone live, it has to be regularly updated with new content to keep your audience engaged and coming back and to garner new audiences. To do this, you have to determine your publishing frequency and set up a publishing calendar. When determining your publishing frequency, one key word to remember is ‘consistency’. Consistency makes your blog reliable, and so users will know to return for new and fresh content.

Set up a publishing frequency that you can keep up with. You could publish, monthly, bi-weekly, weekly, daily, or multiple articles a day. For individual bloggers (if you’re going to be running your site by yourself) consider your bandwidth. Don’t over-promise and push out all your content at a frequency that you can’t sustain. We usually recommend individual publishers to start by publishing once a week and gradually increase the frequency to 2-3 times a week. For larger publishing teams, or those who intend to hire freelance writers, start off with the minimum publishing frequency you are sure you can maintain and eventually build up. It is important to establish and maintain a publishing cadence so your audience knows what to expect and when. This will build trust and loyalty in your readers. If your publishing frequency is erratic and you go for long periods of no new content, you will lose repeat visitors. 

Hiring Writers/Contributors

As mentioned above, you can hire writers and contributors to create content on your site. You can also seek guest posts from fellow bloggers and writers who are seeking to expand their reach. To find writers, you can put a call out to websites like Fivver or Upwork. You can also make announcements to find guest authors and freelance writers in Facebook writer groups, blogger groups etc. Don’t forget to tap into your network as well. If you intend to use contributing writers as the primary source of content on your website, take time in choosing and hiring your writers. In order to ensure quality and a regular publishing cadence you should hire reliable and quality writers.

Content Distribution & Marketing

No matter how great your content is, it will do no good if no one sees it. Marketing your content is a crucial step in running a website. In this section, we are going to cover the various content redistribution platforms you can use to get your content out there and reach an audience. Putting together a marketing plan for your blog will ensure that you have strong distribution and reach a wide audience with your new venture. There are various ways you can market your blog. In this article, I’m going to focus on 4 main ways.

1. Social Media Marketing

2. Email Newsletter

3. Collaboration & Press

4. Syndication Platforms

Social Media Marketing

Social media channels are the most popular and obvious channels for redistributing content. However, it is important to study the different social media platforms available to you and formulate a strategy for each platform you choose to use for your blog. One thing to note is you don’t have to have a presence on every social media platform. Actually, I would advise that you choose two or three platforms to start with depending on how much time you have. And then formulate a strategy peculiar to each of your social media accounts. What works as an effective content distribution strategy for Facebook will not work for TikTok, Instagram, Threads, or Pinterest. Make sure to study the different formats for each platform and optimize your content for each. In constructing a social media strategy for your blog, here are some tips to keep in mind

• Choose two or three platforms to have a presence on and make sure you are consistent

• Get a handle for your brand name/website name on all top social media platforms even for the ones you don’t plan to have an active presence on

• Use scheduling platforms

• Facebook and Pinterest are top 10 traffic drivers and could perform well for our publishers 

• LinkedIn/LinkedIn Newsletters are great for brand building and getting more eyes on your content with LinkedIn Newsletters

Email Newsletter

An email newsletter is a blogger's most reliable tool to grow and maintain an audience. With a newsletter, you can drive target traffic to your blog regularly and reach your subscribers anytime with new updates and content recommendations. While social platforms are great, your audience or followers on these social platforms are not fully yours and they can be redirected away from you by an unexpected algorithm change or if you lose your account. An email newsletter is a sure way to grow and keep your audience. If you have to main just one content distribution channel, let that be your email newsletter.

Collaboration and Press

Another tried and true way to get more eyes on your blog is to collaborate with other bloggers. Write guest posts on blogs in the same or adjacent niches from other bloggers and creators. Doing so will let you reach their audience and will yield backlinks which will help boost your site’s SEO. You can also reach out to other publications by putting out a press release about your new venture. Pitch yourself for interviews and features to get publicity for your new venture, and yes more backlinks. The SHE Media Collective regularly features our members in our industry-leading publications Stylecaster, Sheknows, Flow, Soaps, and Blogher— which is another perk of being a member of our Collective. Our publishers also get other feature opportunities such as article backlining, quotes, social media collaboration, and content syndication.

Content Syndication Platforms/Partnerships

Content syndication is the process of placing your site’s content (articles, videos) on a news and content aggregator platform. Some notable aggregator syndication platforms are Apple News, MSN, Google News, Newsbreak, Smartnews, Flipboard, etc. These platforms reach millions of people with aggregated content on different topics and niches (not just the news). Getting your site’s content placed on any of these platforms puts you in front of an entirely new and far-reaching audience. Content syndication can increase a site’s visibility, SERP credibility, and authority, generate backlinks, and yes grow traffic! It gives publishers a chance to get traffic with internal linking and grow their audiences as users follow the content trail to the site.  In the SHE Media Collective, we’ve seen syndication sites work as a growth tool for sites bringing in significant traffic and new users. In addition to these platforms, you can also establish content syndication relationships with other publishers. SHE Media Collective partners have access to exclusive commerce syndication opportunities as well as access to form syndication relationships with other Collective members.

SEO

Understanding the basics of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is crucial to run a successful publishing site and blog. SEO is the process of optimizing your website’s content and technical configurations to make it more findable on search engines. The best SEO strategy ensures that your site follows the best practices for search engines while also maintaining its uniqueness and flare. Most SEO efforts are for optimizing on Google because Google has the higher market share of all search engines in the world controlling about 83.49 percent of the global desktop search market. Ranking well on Google guarantees your site has steady and growing traffic. When starting out with SEO, your content has to be relevant to search queries so that it can populate premium poisons on the pages of Google and redirect visitors to your site. 

At the SHE Media Collective, we host monthly webinars and produce educational content and resources to provide SEO support and training to our publishers. Google’s SEO Starter Guide provides a step-by-step walkthrough on fulfilling the SEO basics for your site. If your site is on WordPress you can also employ SEO tools that act as an SEO assistant to walk you through the steps as you publish your content and help optimize your site. We recommend the AIO SEO Plugin, Yoast SEO Plugin, and many more.

Read About SEO: Google Search Essentials | Core Web Vitals | Search Central SEO Fundamentals | Webinar: How to Use the Right Keywords | Webinar: How to Use Organic SEO to Grow Traffic and Increase Earnings

Growth and Monetization

Ad Monetization with Display and Video Ads

For a new and growing website with great content, monetization is the next step. This is where the SHE Media Collective comes in. By joining an ad monetization network like SHE Media, you can earn income from display and video ads placed on your site. The more your site grows, the more you earn. Read about the SHE Media Collective | Member Guide

Affiliate E-commerce

Another way to monetize a website or blog is by placing affiliate links on the website. Affiliates give you the chance to earn a commission on any purchase made on your site. See an extensive list of affiliate programs and affiliate best practices. A common affiliate program is Skimlinks which automates the linking process and gives publishers access to several programs. Members of the SHE Media Collective also get access to several exclusive affiliate deals with brands like Target, Walmart, and Amazon. These programs bring in higher than market rate commission rates for SHE Media Collective members. We also have Collective Commerce — an affiliate marketing program where you can place editorial articles from our flagship brands Stylecaster and Sheknows and earn commission on any purchase made. It’s also a way to get great content on your site.

Media Kit

If you already have a significant presence on social media, chances are you already have a media kit. If you don’t already have one, creating one for your site is a crucial step in the marketing and publication of your blog. As you grow you will start to add your growth statistics to the blog. However, for starters make a media kit that is branded and professional stating your mission statement, audience demographics, press mentions, and other notable interesting facts about you and your blog. Send it to brands, media organizations, and other websites. By sharing your media kit you spread the word about your site and you just might get a feature or a brand deal. It’s not too early to start. 

Concluding Thoughts

Starting a blog takes dedication and consistency. You have to be patient and consistent to see your efforts start to bring results and growth. For individual bloggers, a key advice is to focus on a few solid strategies and be consistent in producing quality content and marketing that content. Start building a newsletter list from day one because that is how you cultivate an audience.

More resources:

A comprehensive take on How to Find a Blog Niche

SHE Media Collective Member Lady Boss Blogger has several courses on how to become a paid content creator

SHE Media Collective Member The Blog Societies is a resource for bloggers just starting out

What is the Helpful Content Update?

To understand this update, first, you have to understand what Google classifies as helpful and unhelpful content. 

The Helpful Content Update (HCU) is meant to prioritize content that provides value to humans. This is a site-wide ranking signal generated by Google’s new ‘helpful content system’. Google analyzes a site and identifies content that has no or low value to humans and the more of this ‘low value’ content it finds, the lower it will rank the site overall. The threshold Google uses to measure this is not public information. As Google put it “any content—not just unhelpful content—on sites determined to have relatively high amounts of unhelpful content overall is less likely to perform well in Search”.

Google has shared that any negatively affected sites should review their content following their guidelines on how to assess your site’s content. See Google’s Guide on Creating Helpful Content

Who Does The Helpful Content Update Affect?

Publishing websites and Independent bloggers seem to be feeling the impact the most while forum sites like Reddit and Quora seem to be benefiting as they now rank number 1 for a lot more searches and have seen a spike in their traffic.

Certain niches were more impacted by this update than others. Blogs in the lifestyle, food, and travel niches saw the most hits to their traffic.

If you have seen a drop in your Google traffic recently, it is likely due to this update. However, there is no need for you to panic. As these changes continue to roll out we will continue to give you the tools, information, and resources to stay on top of things and bring your traffic back up. This is a reminder to explore alternative traffic sources. As we have warned in the past, relying on a single source of traffic (e.g. Search or Facebook) leaves you vulnerable to algorithm changes like this. 

For SHE Media Publishers: Helpful Content Update and Ad Layout

One of the newest metrics discussed in the Helpful Content Update is ad density (the % of your viewport or screen that ads take up). SHE Media’s standard ad layout best practices comply with the helpful content updates and allow for better UX than competitors. Our focus on thoughtful ad placements leads to an average density of 20-25% for a full layout, which is below the 28-30% threshold.

It is also important to be cognizant of pop-ups such as newsletter signups. Ensure there is a sufficient delay to your newsletter signups and other pop-ups so it does not interfere with the users' experiences as they attempt to browse through your site.

What is Ad Density

What To Do If Your Site Has Been Impacted by Google’s Helpful Content Update

Take Stock of Your Site Content — Analyze your traffic data to spot which of your content verticals has been most impacted by this update and has significantly lost (or gained) traffic. This will help you identify a possible pattern. Many sites with multiple niches or sub-niches got hit and further analysis could show that one particular niche got hit more than the rest. This means Google identified that content niche as weak and so because it is a site-wide update, your entire site was negatively affected.

For example, say your site is a food site focusing on healthy recipes but you have a sub-niche that focuses on gluten-free recipes specifically. If your gluten-free recipes have been espousing health claims that have not been properly backed by an expert, or it could be that you don’t have enough articles or recipes that provide comprehensive gluten-free recipes, chances are that content will be hit by the helpful content update. Analyzing your traffic data will help you identify where the problem lies. 

Update Your About Page and Author Bios — This is the time to show your authority in your space and gather more. Update your About page to clearly state your qualifications. Elevate and show your expertise in your About Page and make sure all guest authors have a well-written bio that appears beneath every article. If you have press mentions, qualifications, guest appearances on podcasts, etc, clearly state those on your About Page. If you don’t have any, now is the time to get some.

Focus on Your Niche — A lot of sites that were affected were sites covering topics un several niches - even when they all fall under one general niche like travel or food. Now is the time to go back to the basics of your blog. Make sure that your content extensively covers topics in your primary niche and area of expertise. While you can always expand your focus areas and take the conversation to new levels, make sure that you establish subject matter expertise in your primary niche.

Publish Quality Content - Check for accuracy and grammar in your articles, do not make unsubstantiated claims like promising health benefits that are not medically backed “this diet will reduce inflammation” etc. Travel blogs do not write about places you haven’t been to. Lifestyle blogs, do not give mental health advice if you are not a licensed professional. Quote proper sources and credible research in your articles and provide external backlinks to legitimate sites. Include external links to quality websites like .org. gov etc. Also, do not publish AI-generated content. Read Google EEAT .

Write for Humans not for a Search Engine — Maintain your authenticity as you create content. Do not create content you think the search engine would like or content you think will rank. This update by Google is done specifically to do away with such practices that attempt to game the system. When you create articles, provide unique and valuable insights and show your expertise. Be authentic and make sure your point of view translates clearly to your audience. Remember your uniqueness is what makes you valuable and is what will keep your readers coming back.

Clean Up Your Site Pages — Remove dormant links, duplicate pages, auto-generated content, dead pages, and redirects that are no longer working. Make sure your site is optimized for search and that all your best content is properly indexed. If your site is on WordPress, there are plugins that can help with this. We recommend either Yoaat SEO or AIO SEO plugins.

Make Your Existing Content More Helpful — Go through all your top content and most important articles and make sure they meet the HCU guidelines. Follow these tips to update your content to be more competitive:

• Look at the top-ranking content in your niche or for specific keywords.

• Make sure your quality content is indexed by Google.

• Include FAQs in your content - check the ‘people also ask’ section on Google SERP for your chosen keyword and answer those questions in your article.

• Add a ‘Table for Contents’ to the top of your articles and for food sites, add a ‘Jump to Recipe’ button. 

• Remove filler content or content on topics that are not in your main niche

Diversify Your Traffic Sources — Reduce your reliance on Google or Facebook for all your traffic so that updates like this do not have a huge impact on your site performance and earrings. We have several resources on traffic diversification and a partnership with Simplefeed to help you get on Syndication platforms.

Last but not least, as stated above, follow Google’s step-by-step guide and Google’s page experience recommendations.

• Create Longform and High-quality content

By now, you should already know this but it’s worth reminding you that the fastest and surest way to get and secure higher RPMs is by creating and maintaining high-quality content. Put simply, the higher your content quality, the better your RPMs. add value. Quality content should be well researched, offering a unique perceptive to the topic and providing comprehensive information to readers. Longform content also contributes to quality as it shows the author has covered different angles of the topic.

• Shorter Paragraphs and More Subheadings

While you’re writing longer content and increasing your word count, keep the paragraphs short. Short paragraphs grab users' attention more as they are not intimidated by a large block of text. Also, break your content up with sub-headings and make sure to make them H2 and H3 (Heading tags appear in a range from H1-H6, H1 being the most important topic/Blog title). Using subheadings is also an SEO best practice as you can insert your secondary keywords into subheadings and that hierarchical structure signals the relevance of your content to Google Crawlers 

• Page Layout and UX quality 

The quality of user experience on your site affects RPM. If the UX is difficult to navigate, filled with pop-ups, etc. users will leave the site leading to higher bounce rates.  You should also grab users' attention with CTAs and internal linking to keep them on your site longer. Proper internal linking will keep users browsing, and visiting several pages and articles on your site.

• Increase Font Size

Increasing your font size and line height (i.e. the size of the space between lines) is one easy way to improve user experience and secure higher RPMS. When a font is large, it is easier for users to read and browse your site - particularly on mobile. We recommend you Increase your site font size to at least 14-16 pt.

• Image Quality 

Higher-quality images make for a better user experience and contribute to overall site quality. Images keep a user engaged as the visual stimuli make for a more enriching experience on your site. If your content is 800+ words add at least two images  (header images + in-content image). Visit these two websites to get free high-quality images. Also keep users engaged by adding image galleries, videos, etc.

• Internal Linking

Proper internal linking will not only boost your RPMs, it’ll also boost your organic SEO rankings. Every article should have at least 2-3 internal links with keyworded anchor texts. Include linked recommended articles at the bottom or articles and in between paragraphs so that users can easily find the next content to read on your site and thus stay on your site longer.

• Fix Technical Issues and Site Speed

Slow site speed leads to higher bounce rates lead to lower RPMs. If your site speed is slow, users will leave the page before your content loads and before ads are served. To increase your site speed, optimize your images, fix broken links, and optimize your core web vitals. Google Page Speed Insights is a useful tool to identify technical issues in your site so you can start to fix them.

• Update your Ads.txt

Ads.txt is an important protocol that lists all the authorized providers to run their ad inventory on a site. Ads.txt prevents harmful behavior on websites, so your ads.txt file should always be up to date. To Check if your ads.txt is up to date, on your browser, input yourdomain/ads.txt (no www) and if it's up to date, the SHE Media logo graphic will pop up. If you don’t see this graphic below, contact support@shemedia.com.

• Follow SHE Media ad layout recommendations and best practices.

SHE Media ad layout best practices meet and even surpass industry standards as we have honed and perfected them over the years. We are always up to date on trending ad sizes, new products, and more. For optimal ad layout to increase your RPMs, Follow these best practices.

• Be open to changing your ad sizes.

As we mentioned above ad sizes can change in popularity for advertisers. Not that long ago, 160x600 ads were popular for sidebars, but inventory began to dwindle - so we've pivoted to using 300x600 ad sizes. Just by making a small change by switching to trending and high-performing ad sizes, you’ll see an increase in revenue. Ask our team if there are any swaps to make.

• When in doubt, use a Flex Ad

We have quite a few ad types that are flex ads. Flex ad units contain many ad sizes that can fill that one slot, giving you endless possibilities no matter what inventory is available. Our flex in-content ad types are filled with sizes optimized for desktop and mobile. Our flex banner contains larger banners that are often used in the direct-sold campaigns we offer.

• Optimize ad placement and use different ad types

Don't hesitate to try different ad types on your websites. We recommend placing a minimum of 5 ads per page. You can place Video, display, recipe card ads, flex ads, and native ads etc. They all work together to provide you with increased RPMs and the best income possible.

In addition to industry best practices, and premium suggestions from our experts, we also have a range of products that are available exclusively to SHE Media Collective publishers. 

We believe that every publisher can increase their earnings starting today by following the 5 advised steps below. 

1. Update Your Ads.txt

Ads.txt is an important protocol that lists all the authorized providers to run their ad inventory on a site. Ads.txt was created to prevent harmful behavior on websites.  All advertising networks and providers require these lines, so it's important to make sure that your ads.txt file is always up to date. 

And ads.txt lives on a website's root domain. To Check if your ads.txt is up to date, on your browser type yourdomain/ads.txt (no www) and the image below should pop up which shows that your ads.txt file is up to date. If you don’t see this, contact support@shemedia.com

If you use the SHE Media WordPress plugin —SHE Media Infuse Plugin— your ads.txt file will always be automatically updated. If your site is on Squarespace, our onboarding process covers your ads.txt file regularly updated automatically. 

Here are some important articles to help make sure your ads.txt is always up to date:

• Ads.txt on SHE Media Infuse 

• Ads.txt for Custom CMS 

• Ads.txt for Squarespace 

• Ads.txt for Blogger sites on a Blogspot domain 

• Ads.txt for Blogger sites on a Custom Domain 

2. Implement Ad Layout Best Practices

SHE Media ad layout best practices meet and even surpass industry standards as we have honed and perfected them over the years. We are always up to date on trending ad sizes, new products, and more. For optimal ad layout to increase your RPMs, Follow these best practices.

• Be open to changing your ad sizes.

As we mentioned above ad sizes can change in popularity for advertisers. Not that long ago, 160x600 ads were popular for sidebars, but inventory began to dwindle - so we've pivoted to using 300x600 ad sizes. Just by making a small change by switching to trending and high-performing ad sizes, you’ll see an increase in revenue. Ask our team if there are any swaps to make.

• When in doubt, use a Flex Ad

We have quite a few ad types that are flex ads. Flex ad units contain many ad sizes that can fill that one slot, giving you endless possibilities no matter what inventory is available. Our flex in-content ad types are filled with sizes optimized for desktop and mobile. Our flex banner contains larger banners that are often used in the direct-sold campaigns we offer.

• Optimize ad placement and use different ad types

Don't hesitate to try different ad types on your websites. We recommend placing a minimum of 5 ads per page. You can place Video, display, and native ads as they all work together to provide you with increased RPMs and the best income possible.

3. Activate SHE Media Products to Increase Earnings

SHE Media has several products that are available for you to increase your revenue and traffic. In addition to your standard ad revenue, these products provide additional ways to earn and reach wider audiences. 

Some of you have these products activated already but there are still many publishers missing out on these opportunities. Look through the list of products and make sure you are opted-in to all. I want these products.

• Video Ads: Run video ads on your site or monetize your video content for additional revenue. Opt-in

• Whizzco: Place and rotate several native partners within one content recommendation widget for revenue lift. Opt-in

• Hindsight: Include a content recommendation box that houses links to other articles within your site and an in-content ad unit. Opt-in

• Remixd: Activate audio articles to convert blog posts and articles to audio format. Opt-in

• Flex Ad Units: Install flex ad units to maximize CPM, and ad fill rate, and for better ad responsiveness on mobile and desktop. Opt-in

• Simplefeed: Get placement in up to 6 industry-leading syndication platforms including Apple News, MSN, Google News, and more. Opt-in

• Pushly: Prompt site visits, newsletter signup, etc. with desktop and Andriod mobile notifications. Opt-in

• Tapbio: Convert your social audience to site visitors. Opt-in

• Fewcents: Collect small contributions, payments, and tips from your audience. Opt-in

• PubExchange: Recirculate your content for Traffic and audience growth. Opt-In

Click here to see a comprehensive explanation and breakdown of each product.

4. Grow Your Traffic & Audiences with Simplefeed

SHE Media’s new partnership with Simplefeed offers a tangible and direct path for our publishers for placements in 6 leading industry syndication platforms (AppleNews, MSN, Google News, Newsbreak, Smartnews, Samsung News). SimpleFeed uses its syndication technology solutions, experience, and relationships with leading news aggregators to streamline content redistribution for publishers. Content redistribution leads to significant increase in web traffic from referrals and ad revenue on each platform. These syndication platforms also offer in-platform earning opportunities. 

• SHE Media x Simplefeed deal offers syndication placement and technical services at an 80% discounted rate to SHE Media Collective members. 

• Simplefeed works on a  rev-share deal MSN so getting started will require no upfront costs.

• Syndication platforms frequently perform in the top 10 of traffic sources for Collective sites.

• For more information, visit the FAQs page. To sign up for SimpleFeed, visit the Landing Page.

5. Increase Your Page RPM with these Best Practices

Page RPM is a metric measuring estimated publisher earnings and ad impressions for every thousand page views. You can find your RPMs on the SHE Media dashboard. The Higher your RPM the higher you’ll earn. 

• Create Longform and High-quality content

By now, you should already know this but it’s worth reminding you that the fastest and surest way to get and secure higher RPMs is by creating and maintaining high-quality content. Put simply, the higher your content quality, the better your RPMs. add value. Quality content should be well researched, offering a unique perceptive to the topic and providing comprehensive information to readers. Longform content also contributes to quality as it shows the author has covered different angles of the topic.

• Shorter Paragraphs and Use More Subheadings

While you’re writing longer content and increasing your word count, keep the paragraphs short. Short paragraphs grab users' attention more as they are not intimidated by a large block of text. Also, break your content up with sub-headings and make sure to make them H2 and H3 (Heading tags appear in a range from H1-H6, H1 being the most important topic/Blog title). Using subheadings is also an SEO best practice as you can insert your secondary keywords into subheadings and that hierarchical structure signals the relevance of your content to Google Crawlers 

• Page Layout and UX quality 

The quality of user experience on your site affects RPM. If the UX is difficult to navigate, filled with pop-ups, etc. users will leave the site leading to higher bounce rates.  You should also grab users' attention with CTAs and internal linking to keep them on your site longer. Proper internal linking will keep users browsing, and visiting several pages and articles on your site.

• Increase the Font Size

Increasing your font size and line height (i.e. the size of the space between lines) is one easy way to improve user experience and secure higher RPMS. When a font is large, it is easier for users to read and browse your site - particularly on mobile. We recommend you Increase your site font size to at least 14-16 pt.

• Image Quality 

Higher-quality images make for a better user experience and contribute to overall site quality. Images keep a user engaged as the visual stimuli make for a more enriching experience on your site. If your content is 800+ words add at least two images  (header images + in-content image). Visit these two websites to get free high-quality images. Also keep users engaged by adding image galleries, videos, etc.

• Fix Technical issues and site speed

Slow site speed leads to higher bounce rates lead to lower RPMs. If your site speed is slow, users will leave the page before your content loads and before ads are served. To increase your site speed, optimize your images, fix broken links, and optimize your core web vitals. Google Page Speed Insights is a useful tool to identify technical issues in your site so you can start to fix them.

• Follow SHE Media ad layout recommendations and best practices.

We have outlined ad layout recommendations above. Flex ads, video ads, banner ads, and having at least 5 ads per page will help increase your RPMs.

Update (June 28, 2023)

GA4 Goes Live on July 1st!

The much-anticipated switch from Universal Analytics to GA4 is happening on July 1st, 2023. We anticipate everyone should have made the switch to GA4 by July 1st. However, if you don't complete your GA4 setup before July 1, 2023, Google will automatically configure your account based on your original property. 

See a guide on how to set up your GA4 property

The SHE Media Dashboard and GA4

SHE Media has both UA and GA4 trackers embedded in our ad code. The data on the SHE Media dashboard is tied to SHE Media's trackers and so publishers do not have to do anything in regard to their dashboard. When the switch to GA4 happens, it will be seamless on the SHE Media publisher dashboard and will display both historical data as well as newly accrued information.

Understanding GA4

We've created an extensive guide on how to navigate the GA4 platform, create a dashboard, understand the data, and get familiar with the new interface. See A Guide to GA4 for Publishers and Bloggers

Tip: Before July 1st, download your UA data. It is not compulsory to do so but we recommend you download your data from at least the last year so you can refer back to it when needed. Go to Behaviour Flow > All pages> Select date range> Export

Update (Feb 16, 2023): As of February 2023, Google has started recommending that publishers make the switch to Google Analytics 4. Switching now will give you the opportunity to customize your setup. See how you can make the switch here.

As you might have heard, Google will release a brand new reporting suite called Google Analytics 4 (GA4) in 2023. This product will be released for you on Jul 1st, 2023, after which the existing Google Analytics will stop processing new traffic. 

Currently, if you log into your Google Analytics, you would likely see this message in a banner:

“Universal Analytics will no longer process new data beginning July 1, 2023. Analytics 360 properties will receive a one-time processing extension ending October 1, 2023. Prepare now by setting up and switching over to a Google Analytics 4 property.”

(August 2022)

What is Google Analytics Property 4 (GA4)?

GA4  is the fourth and newest version of the Google Analytics platform. According to Google, GA4 is “designed for the future of measurement”. Here are the major things you should know about this new GA4

• GA4 will integrate data from both mobile apps and website usage into one property. 

• This new version will discontinue certain reports, so some reports that users currently use will not be present. Instead, users can recreate these in the new “Explore” feature within GA4 or by connecting their GA4 to Data Studio.

• GA4 tracks users that are actively viewing the site, so the total Users in GA4 will be lower than Universal Analytics.

• GA4 will use Engagement Rate instead of Bounce Rate and tracks Events instead of Goals.

• GA4 will reduce the reliance on cookies.

Should Publishers Start Using GA4 Now?

Before deciding to start using GA4 or not, it is important to know that the current Google Universal Analytics (UA) is still the standard and go-to reporting platform to use. The GA4 product is still under development, so will see continued changes and still has some issues to iron out. In addition, GA4 is not yet supported by other platforms including your SHE Media Dashboard. Switching now would affect the accuracy of your data and thus could adversely affect your revenue.

We advise our publishers to continue using the current universal analytics. However, you can choose to set up GA4 now and have it running and collecting data. Publishers who decide to set up their GA4 now should still use Universal Analytics property as their primary, so their reports match what’s on the SHE Media Dashboard. GA4 will be missing historical data so setting up this new version means you begin with a clean slate. The sooner you set up your GA4 property, the more history you’ll have. Your historical data is maintained in the Universal Analytics property, but you have to switch between the two versions to see it, and Universal Analytics will likely be shut off in 2024.

So How Can You Prepare? 

1. Right now, you can start backing up your Universal Analytics GA data by exporting monthly reports to capture 12 months of data leading up to the switch in 2023. This will ensure you keep access to pertinent historical reports when Universal Analytics is shut off in the future. 

2. You may also begin setting up a GA4 property so that it starts collecting data now that you can use for comparisons when the time comes to switch next July. Here is a guide by Google on how to set it up. 

3. Publishers who decide to set up their GA4 now should still use Universal Analytics property as the go-to source of truth for all GA reporting.

   • As of February 2023, Google has started recommending that publishers make the switch to Google Analytics 4. Switching now will give you the opportunity to customize your setup. See how you can make the switch here.

How is SHE Media Preparing?

We want to reassure our publishers that we are working behind the scenes to plan for this migration and ensure there is no impact on your revenue and reports on the SHE Dashboard. We will alert our publishers when it’s time to rely on GA4 as the primary reporting platform. We are continuing to prepare alongside the entire digital advertising industry for GA4 and we will provide you with the support, resources, and training you need to migrate to GA4 successfully. We will also provide continued training and educational materials on the new analytics experience. 

While GA4 might seem intimidating and a big change, it is the future of analytics, so we will ensure all our publishers are prepared and well-trained for it. However, the industry standard hasn’t changed and won’t change till next year.