What is Digital Out-Of-Home and does it work?

Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) is reaching people when they are off-line going about their daily business (shopping, dining out, getting gas, at an ATM, in an elevator, at a movie).  It’s about getting your message to people wherever they are and whenever, across public digital screens, on a local level.

Key takeaways from this article:

• DOOH is an advanced version of traditional Out-Of-Home (OOH) advertising that leverages digital screens in public places. It offers dynamic, real-time content updates and is highly effective at reaching consumers in their daily routines.

• DOOH advertising is projected to grow at a 49.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2024 to 2028, showing its increasing popularity.

• DOOH ads have the highest favorability of any advertising medium.  73% of consumers view DOOH ads favorably, and 76% take action after seeing them, demonstrating its effectiveness in driving engagement.

• DOOH ads can be displayed in a vast range of locations, including airports, gas stations, grocery stores, gyms, restaurants, and even military bases. 

Why does Digital Out-of-Home matter? No media is immune to the disruptive force that is the internet. Some are just disrupted later than others. The real question here is not in the headline, it’s…do you want to skate to where the puck is, or where it is going?  Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising is forecasted to grow at a 49.4% compound annual growth rate from 2024 to 2028, according to BIA’s 2025 Local Advertising Forecast.  That tremendous growth show the faith that local advertisers have in this digital medium.

Do you know when the first billboards were monetized for advertising purposes? It was in the 1830s by Jared Bell in New York. Bell used the large, colorful posters to advertise the Barnum & Bailey Circus.  I find it interesting that in 2025 we are talking about technology disrupting a legacy media, like Out-Of-Home, and the first monetization of that medium took place almost 200 years ago, advertising something most of us still recognize today, P.T. Barnum. And what worked for P.T. Barnum can work for you – with a digital twist!

DOOH advertising is out-of-home ads on steroids—it’s a powerhouse, driving real consumer action. It’s the same out of home we have known for over two centuries but with more placement variety, size, targetability, favorability and action among consumers! The Out-Of-Home Advertising Association of America study conducted by The Harris Poll in 2024 found that:

• 73% of consumers view DOOH ads favorably.
• 76% take action after seeing a DOOH ad.

Unlike traditional Out-Of-Home (OOH) advertising, DOOH leverages digital screens to provide dynamic content that can be updated in real time. DOOH is a modern way to reach audiences outside their home through digital screens in public places, in just the geographies you want.

We place across all types of venues, not just a few. Here are some of the venue placements that can be included:

• Airports
• Buses
• Taxi & Rideshare TVs
• Taxi & Rideshare Tops
• Subways
• Train Stations
• Ferrys
• Fueling Stations
• Convenience Stores
• Grocery Stores
• Liquor Stores
• Malls
• Cannabis Dispensaries
• Pharmacies
• Parking Garages
• Billboards
• Urban Panels
• Bus Shelters
• Military Bases
• Post Offices
• Gyms
• Salons
• Spas
• Doctor’s Offices
• Veterinary Offices
• Schools
• Colleges and Universities
• Office Buildings
• Recreational Locations
• Movie Theaters
• Sports Entertainment Centers
• Bars
• Casual Dining Restaurants
• Quick Service Restaurants
• Hotels
• Night Clubs
• High-end Dining
• DMVs
• Banks
• Apartments and Condos

How do we target your Digital-Out-Of-Home Ads?

1. Define the Geography
   • This can be DMAs, cities, zip codes, a radius around a location, or political districts.
2. Set your Venue Targeting parameters
   • You’re not able to pick and choose types of venues where your ad appears, but you can exclude venues. Selection is determined by targeting the people who are in your specified geography in whichever formats are available.
   • Your ads will be a mixture of the following and can be display or video.

Large format: billboards, urban panels and transit shelters.

Place-based: malls, gas stations, restaurants, taxis, gyms, hotels, sports complexes, salons, movie theaters, parking garages, and offices.

Point-of-purchase: convenience stores, grocery stores, and retail stores.

3. Set your Weather Triggers, if applicable
   • You can select a weather event you are interested, such as temperature, rain, snow, thunderstorms, etc. When the weather event happens, your ad is triggered to run in the geographic targeting area you have selected.
   • Weather Trigger Campaigns could run all at once or not at all depending on the weather event chosen and the geo. Ads are served when the weather event happens – not when it is forecasted. You can choose more than one Weather Trigger.

Picture this – it starts raining, and suddenly your ad for roofing repair leaks pops up on digital screens in that area. With Weather Triggered DOOH, ads run only when specific conditions occur—rain, snow, extreme heat, you name it, within the local geographic area you specify up front.  If PT Barnum were here, I think he would introduce this razzle dazzle advertising tactic as, “Mother Nature, meet marketing! Buy before we sell out!”

The combination of high visibility, geotargeting, and venue targeting Vici offers along with flexible messaging makes DOOH an essential tool in a marketer’s arsenal.

Because DOOH is a relatively new product, let’s address frequently asked questions.

Does our DOOH have fraud protection?

Yes! All of our DOOH is integrated with DoubleVerify, a sophisticated technology we use across all digital buys, that filters out invalid traffic and checks for brand safety protection, offering an added layer of security for advertisers.

Do I have to run both video and display?

You can run video, display, or both.  Running both will get you the largest inventory.

Do we create the normal digital ad sizes for DOOH display?

No, DOOH has its own display creative sizes that you need to provide. The most common ad sizes are:

• • 1920×1080
  • 1080×1920
  • 1280×960

But if in addition to that you also give us the following it opens inventory including billboards & movie theaters:

• • 1400×400
  • 840×400
  • 1000×400
  • 1600×400
  • 1200×400
  • 600×600
  • 990×495
  • 806×390
  • 3840×1080
  • 1024×576

What length video do I provide for DOOH?

We must have either a :15 (preferred) or :30. You can also provide :6s, :8s, :10s, and :60s to reach additional inventory.

What if my client doesn’t want to run in a particular type of venue, like bars?

We can “blacklist” a type of venue and exclude it, as long as that leaves enough inventory available to serve.

Can I run Restricted Verticals with DOOH?

Yes, but not in all venues.   Often Restricted Verticals (cannabis, fireworks, adult content, gambling, political) run in bars, cannabis dispensaries, and casual dining. Venues available change by state law. Here are the common restricted verticals:

• • Beer, wine, hard liquor – Yes
  • Cannabis and CBD – yes
  • Tobacco – needs pre-approval
  • E-cig – yes
  • Casinos – Yes
  • Gentlemen’s clubs – needs pre-approval
  • Guns, Weapons, Fireworks – NP
  • Supplements – yes
  • Weight loss – yes
  • State lotteries – needs pre-approval
  • Political – yes
  • Medical procedures – yes
  • Short term or high interest loan – needs pre-approval
  • Housing, real estate – yes
  • Recruitment – yes
  • Cryptocurrency – needs pre-approval
  • Loans and credit – yes
  • Bail bonds – yes

What does reporting look like for DOOH?

• • Ads served – performance by day, week, and month
  • Creative performance – file names, and types, display vs video, etc.
  • Venue type performance – breaking out impressions served by venue
  • Geo performance – breaking out impressions served by zip codes or cities. You can request exact locations of the venues where impressions were served as well.

DOOH Success Stories and KPIs

Brands across industries are seeing the benefits of DOOH, from retail to entertainment to tech.

• Retailers leverage DOOH for in-store promotions, driving foot traffic.
• Streaming services use it for dynamic countdowns leading up to big releases.
• Car dealerships place ads at gas stations, catching potential buyers at just the right moment.
• Restaurants & coffee shops use DOOH for time-based promotions—imagine seeing a fresh burger ad just as your lunch break starts.

How to Get Started with DOOH

1. Define Your Goals: Are you driving brand awareness? Promoting an event? Boosting local foot traffic?
2. Choose Your Locations: While you can’t pick exact screens, you can select target areas and exclude certain venue types.
3. Design Your Creative: Make sure your visuals are high-contrast, easy to read, and tailored for DOOH formats.
4. Consider Dynamic Triggers: Weather-based triggers, time-of-day shifts, and location-based targeting make your ads more relevant.
5. Launch & Optimize: Our team of professional experts will monitor your campaign’s performance, make weekly optimizations and reach out for adjustments to messaging as needed.

The Future of DOOH

As technology evolves, expect even more advancements in DOOH:

• Programmatic Buying: Automated, data-driven ad placements will continue to improve targeting and efficiency.
• More Interactive Screens: Expect touchscreen capabilities and even AI-driven content adjustments.
• Augmented Reality (AR) Integration: Some brands are already testing AR-enabled DOOH for immersive experiences.
• 5G Expansion: Faster data speeds will make real-time updates and high-res video ads even more seamless.
• Personalized DOOH Experiences: AI-driven customization will allow ads to adapt to real-time audience demographics.

Source:  https://www.smartbrief.com/original/future-of-dooh-predictions-for-2024-and-beyond

The Bottom Line on Digital-Out-Of-Home

DOOH is just as big and bold as the PT Barnum days with new efficiencies and better targeting. It reaches consumers in high-traffic areas, drives engagement, and leverages smart targeting like weather-based triggers.  So, if your brand is still stuck in the online only ad game, it’s time to step outside. Literally. And if you don’t, your competitors definitely will.

The post What is Digital Out-Of-Home and does it work? appeared first on Vici Media Inc..

Digital Advertising Terms You Need To Know

In the world of digital advertising, there are a lot of buzzwords, acronyms and just plain jargon.   Sometimes it can seem challenging or overwhelming to keep up to date and stay on top of all of these terms.   The good news?  It doesn’t have to be complicated.  It doesn’t have to be difficult.  We’ve prepared a list of the terms we think are most important to understand.

Key Takeaways from this article:

• Understand Digital Advertising doesn’t need to be complicated

• Learn some new terms that can help you understand some of today’s buzzwords

• Have an easy to access guide that you can always come back and reference if you need support

No matter what industry you’re in, there are ways to break it down for someone who isn’t in the industry.  For example, as a mechanic, they could tell you that you need a new oil filter changed out.   Or, they can tell you that changing the oil filter is important because it removes contaminants from engine oil to keep the engine running smoothly and efficiently.  The latter, keeps it clear and easy to understand the importance of changing the oil filter (even if you’re like me and don’t know anything about cars).

Digital Advertising is the same way.  And, at Vici, one of our core goals in educating people about digital, is to make things as simple as possible to understand.  If you understand digital advertising, you’ll be able to see how it can benefit your business or your client’s business.

Here are the some of the top Digital Terms that we feel are important for you to understand:

Programmatic Ad Buying

The use of automated technology for media buying.  Programmatic advertising encompasses multiple ways of buying and placing digital ads through a marketplace rather than directly from a publisher of a website or app. This is how Vici buys digital advertising.   It includes things like Real-Time Bidding (RTB) and Private Marketplaces (PMPs).

Real-Time Bidding (RTB)

Real-time bidding (RTB) is an automated process where ad buyers can place bids, in real time, for specific ad placements. RTB is a programmatic process, but not all programmatic advertising takes place through RTB technology.

PMP (Private Marketplace)

Advertisers can only access a private marketplace with an invitation. Typically, top publishers (websites and apps) do this and offer their ad inventory to highest bidders among the select advertisers with whom they’ve done deals, granting access to inventory not available on open auctions and premium access at a lower price.

Geo-Targeting VS Geo-Fencing 

Geo-Targeting is the geographic area (“Geo”) in which you want ads to be served to users.  This might be a city, state, zip codes or a large radius around a location (ex: 15 miles around a business), and you layer in targeting strategies such as Behavioral Targeting, Keyword Targeting and/or AI Targeting, etc.

Geo-Fencing is a TIGHT RADIUS around a location (like a competitor), less than a mile usually, no Targeting Strategies layered in, and as tight as 500 feet.  We use Mobile Conquesting for most of our Geo-Fencing.

Marketing Funnel 

Also called the Sales Funnel, it is the process of guiding potential customers through stages of awareness, consideration, and decision (conversions).

ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)

A marketing metric that is total ad spend, divided by revenue generated by that ad spend, expressed as a ratio.

For example, a company spends $2,000 on an ad campaign in a month. The campaign results in revenue of $10,000 (client would need to track this). Therefore, the ROAS is a ratio of 5 to 1 (or 500 percent) as $10,000 divided by $2,000 = 5.

For every dollar that the company spends on its advertising campaign, it generates $5 worth of revenue.

What’s a good ROAS?  3:1 ratio is considered a good ratio.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)

A metric that represents the total revenue from a customer over the duration of their relationship with the business.

It is Average Transaction Size x Number of Transactions x Retention Period.

For example, if the average sale is $500, the average customer buys 4 times a year and the average customer stays for 3 years the CLTV = $6,000 (500 x 4 x 3)

Advertisers will use this number to determine what is a viable Cost per Acquisition they should spend.

CVR (Conversion Rate)

The percentage of users who complete a desired action which is called a conversion (purchase, sign-up) after clicking an ad.

The Conversion Rate is calculated by dividing the number of conversions by the total number of visitors to the website, multiplied by 100 to get a percentage.

What’s a good Conversion Rate?

2-5% is the average for non e-commerce businesses.

CTR (Click-Thru Rate)

A metric that shows what percentage of people served the ad, clicked on it.

Clicks/Impressions x 100 = CTR

2,000 clicks/250,000 impressions x 100 = .8% CTR

KPI – Key Performance Indicators 

Specific metrics and goals that help an advertiser to track and measure success.  It should measure what is most important to an advertiser.  Clicks are not a good KPI.  Conversions and Engagement are.

Addressable TV

This is a form of OTT.  It is targeted to audiences, but the targeting categories are much more limited because the data is typically coming from cable companies or satellite providers (Comcast, DIRECTV, and Dish) subscriber lists, so the targeting is limited to the subscription data those companies have access to.  Our OTT categories will be richer and our audiences are not limited to subscribers’ data.

UGC (User Generated Content)

Original, client-specific content created by customers and published on social media, websites or other channels. UGC comes in many forms, including posting images of a product customers bought, videos, reviews, a testimonial, etc.   You should be encouraging your clients to seek out UGC and use it in their advertising because consumers are 2.4 times more likely to view user generated content as authentic compared to content created by brands.

Look Back Window

Each digital advertising platform has its own way of tracking & reporting conversions (including View Thrus which are a type of conversion), which you see in reports, between 7 – 30 days post click or view.  The two main ways are:

Conversions are associated with the impression.  Meaning if a conversion happened April 13th but the impression was served on March 30th, the conversion on the report would be reported as on March 30th, not when the conversion happened. (Mobile Conquesting is this way. Visit Data in Mobile Conquesting tracks visits for up to 14 days post impression)

Conversions are associated with the time they happened.  Meaning if a conversion happened April 13th, it doesn’t matter when the impression was served (as long as within the lookback window), the conversion on the report is April 13th.  Most products’ conversions are recorded this way.

FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television)

FAST is a type of FREE OTT that offers programming (live, scheduled or on-demand) with ads, as an alternative to paid monthly subscriptions. This is the type of OTT inventory Vici buys.  Examples of FAST include Pluto TV, Roku Channel, Xumo, Samsung TV Plus, Crackle and Tubi.

AVOD (Ad-supported Video on Demand)

This is a subset of FAST OTT that just refers to free programming that is on-demand – meaning available whenever the viewer wants to watch it (vs. live or scheduled programming).  For example, Pluto TV and Tubi are FAST platforms that also have AVOD options. Pluto TV has over 200 television channels playing continuously at any time. But it also has a large catalog of on-demand movies and TV shows to choose from.

SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand)

Streaming platforms whose content requires a paid monthly  subscription and doesn’t have ads. Examples include Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV+, and Paramount.  We can not run ads on these.

Backlinks

Backlinks are when websites place a link on their website to another business’ website.  Backlinks are also called inbound links because they represent another website’s traffic coming to the business’ website.  The quality/quantity of backlinks can help a business rank higher in Google because backlinks are considered an indicator of how popular and reputable that website is.  Backlinks are a part of a SEO campaign.

Machine Learning

A type or category of artificial intelligence. It’s the science of getting computers to accomplish specific tasks by learning from large data sets without programming them to do so directly.  Our AI Targeting refers to this type of machine learning where the longer it runs the smarter it gets as it learns which users are the most likely to engage with the ad.

Zero-Click Marketing

Optimizing content so the business appears in Google’s search results and AI snippets, with information the user is looking for, without them having to click to go to the business’ website.  Almost 60% of Google searches are “Zero Click”.

Ad Fatigue

When users become less responsive to an ad due to overexposure.  Signs of this happening can be when clicks and conversions start to taper off.  Its good to refresh ad creative regularly even if it is just changing colors or backgrounds.  If you use our Social Mirror Creative AI ads, it changes up the colors and call-to-action buttons for you, according to which are engaging the most viewers.

First-Party Data Strategy

With privacy laws tightening, businesses are leveraging customer data collected from their own websites, loyalty programs, and CRM systems to fuel advertising.  We can utilize first party data to run Custom Audience Matching and Lookalike ads where we upload a business’ customer or lead list and find those people when they are browsing online and serve them an ad.

3^rd Party Cookies Phase Out

Google has reversed course and won’t phase out third-party cookies tracking people in Chrome as previously planned, saying that they are developing a new approach that gives users more control.

Google Analytics Events

An event in Google Analytics 4 allows you to measure a specific interaction or occurrence on your website. You can use an event to measure when someone loads a page, clicks a link, scrolls to the bottom of a page, clicks a form, completes a purchase, clicks a button, plays a video, searches for something on your website and more.

Customer Journey Mapping

Analyzing the steps users take before making a purchase. This can be done by tracking specific conversions on a website and by using Google Analytics “events”.

Dark Posts

Also known as Dark Ads, refers to a type of social media advertising where the content is not published on the advertiser’s main timeline or feed. Instead, these posts are targeted to only show to specific segments of users based on their demographics, interests, behavior, or other targeting criteria.

Rich Media Ads

Ads with interactive elements like video, animation, or sound. Common formats are mp4, html5, and .gif. These types of ads typically get more user interaction.

Contextual Ads

Contextual advertising refers to placing ads on web pages based on the content of those pages. As a result, advertisers can create targeted, relevant ads for users based on the content they are viewing. We refer to this as Keyword Targeting.

Optimize A Digital Ad Campaign

• Check on pacing weekly – how many impressions have been served to date vs. how many impressions we should have served to date
• If under-pacing/over-pacing, make necessary changes to get us back to even pacing
• Remove any underperforming websites/apps
• Adding more relevant categories (if running behavioral targeting)or keywords (if running keyword targeting) to expand our inventory
• Trying to increase conversions on a campaign if running conversion strategies
• Excluding underperforming devices (Desktops, Tablets, Mobile)

Tracking Pixel

A small piece of code placed on a website that allows the website owner (or us!) to gather information about visitors on a website—how they browse, what type of ads they click on (to determine behaviors), device, browser, IP Address, or to track conversions or serve Retargeting ads.

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager is another name for a Container Tag which is a tool that enables us to install, store, and manage multiple tracking pixels (also called “tags”) without modifying website code on a business’ website. It “contains” all the tracking pixels we use for Retargeting, Conversions and Live Chat.

DSP (Demand Side Platform)

A technology platform that allows buyers to manage, purchase and optimize programmatic inventory from multiple ad exchanges and Supply Side Platforms (SSP) through one interface. Inventory is purchased through real-time bidding.  Vici uses many different DSPs according to what type of ad product we are buying.

SSP (Supply Side Platform)

A technology platform that allows publishers (websites and apps) to manage and  sell programmatic inventory for advertisers to bid on. SSPs connect to multiple ad exchanges and DSPs at once to maximize the opportunity to sell inventory.

MAID (Mobile Advertising Device ID)

A unique, anonymized string of numbers and letters that identifies every individual smartphone or tablet in the world.
It reveals specific user behaviors which helps with targeted advertising and conversions. If a client has MAIDS for us to run, you can use them for Mobile Conquesting campaigns.

Linear TV

Traditional broadcast television viewing. In order to watch a show, the viewer must tune in (or DVR) a specific channel on a television at an appointed time. Viewers access linear TV via cable or satellite or through over-the-air broadcasts.

As you can see there are a lot of Digital terms and acronyms out there.  And, the list above doesn’t include all of them.  Just some of the most common ones that any business owner/marketing professional should be aware of.  When it comes to Digital, we want to be the true educators out there.  We want you to understand something that maybe, up to this point, you haven’t understood so far.  An educated marketing professional and an educated business owner are the ones that can go much further, and that’s our goal!

Easy Access Glossary Guide

You have two options when it comes to accessing the above info:

• You can bookmark this page and reference whenever you need to, or have a question about what something means when it comes to digital advertising

• You can download this glossary as a pdf by clicking here

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Digital Advertising Objections? Bring ‘Em On!

The post Digital Advertising Objections? Bring ‘Em On! appeared first on Vici Media Inc..

Are You Ready For SEO In The Age Of AI?

It’s a whole new ballgame with SEO since AI platforms have gained in dominance.  Google’s recent core updates emphasized originality and relevance to rank high on a search page.  Meaning you will be rewarded for content that offers unique insights and value rather than relying on generic or AI-generated material. Businesses should focus on creating well-researched, user-focused content that aligns with Google’s E-E-A-T principles, while optimizing for local and zero-click searches to maintain visibility in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.

Key Take-Aways:

• Google’s core algorithm updates give greater preference to content that demonstrates originality and helpfulness, impacting businesses rankings and signaling a preference for unique, insightful, and user-focused, informative content over generic, promotional or AI-generated material.
• Businesses should prioritize creating content that shows Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, including naturally incorporated keywords, relevant visuals and engaging layouts to improve user experience.
• With Google’s AI Overview and zero-click searches reducing organic traffic, businesses should optimize their Google Business Profiles, focus on local SEO with geo-specific keywords, and create content like FAQs and blogs addressing customer questions.
• Key factors for SEO success include factors that a business can do themselves and Technical SEO that should be done by a professional SEO expert. In this post we will explore both.
• Actively managing online reviews, engaging with customer feedback, and maintaining accurate business listings in directories help improve search rankings, build credibility, and enhance visibility across platforms.

What Are Google Core Updates:

Google had 4 “core updates” to their algorithm in 2024 (March, August, November & December) and all 4 had impact on how they rank content on websites. Many believe that these core updates signal Google’s war on AI generated content on websites.  Does Google penalize AI content on your website?  In various forums, Google representatives have said that Google doesn’t automatically detect and penalize AI-generated content.  What they have said is that Google highly values originality. This means that repeating generic or widely available information without adding new insights can harm content rankings, as search algorithms prioritize unique, helpful content.

The proof?  In a study of websites relying on AI content, they lost an average of 17% of their traffic and dropped eight positions in search rankings. Conversely, 85% of marketers saw increased rankings for content that offers original insights or perspectives.   According to Google’s Search Central Blog, they’re focused on “helpful” content, regardless of whether a human or AI created it. Content that lacks credibility, is generic (easily found on AI platforms) and not original, or fails to add user value, may be demoted in search rankings.

Sources: https://www.inc.com/ben-sherry/googles-latest-search-update-suggests-business-owners-need-a-new-content-marketing-strategy/91019074; https://neilpatel.com/blog/googles-spam-update/; https://writesonic.com/blog/does-google-penalize-ai-content

What Should A Business Do?

• Focus on creating unique, insightful content that goes beyond superficial, well-known information.
• Google core updates emphasized E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Enhance AI-generated content with human insight and expertise.  Show trustworthiness and authoritativeness by showing well-researched information with proper citations and sources.
• Incorporate keywords naturally rather than repetitive keyword use. You should aim for a keyword density of 2-5%. (If you use your target keyword 10 times in a 1000-word blog post, you’ll have a keyword density of 1%.)
• Articles with relevant images get 94% more views than text-only articles. To keep users engaged: organize your content into short paragraphs under clear, short paragraph headlines, use bullet points and lists (formatted like this blog!).
• Look at time spent by visitors on your pages (Google Analytics). If someone stays on your content, it signals to Google that they found what they were looking for, but if they bounce back to search results quickly, it thinks your content wasn’t helpful.
• Google also rewards pages that load quickly and are easy to navigate. Check your website loading speed at https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights

Sources: https://www.inc.com/ben-sherry/googles-latest-search-update-suggests-business-owners-need-a-new-content-marketing-strategy/91019074; https://neilpatel.com/blog/googles-spam-update/; https://writesonic.com/blog/does-google-penalize-ai-content

Example Of Optimizing A Blog:

• A unique and engaging graphic (you can ask an AI platform to create one).
• Have a strong headline that usually is formed as a question or an answer to a perceived question.
• An opening sentence that describes your overall proposition for the article and is in a larger font than the rest of the article.
• A “takeaways” section towards the beginning which outlines 4-6 bullet points that are the key points of the article. (Upload your post to an AI platform and ask it to summarize in 4 bullet points).
• Ask yourself: Is this content going to provide the reader with useful information that can’t easily be found anywhere else?
• Use AI to research information and provide idea starters but you need the human touch for originality, to maintain credibility and quality in your content, and avoid being penalized by Google.

 Zero-Click Searches – What A Business Should Do:

• Google “AI Overviews” continue to eat into the organic search traffic volume, the SEO traffic is predicted to drop 30% for informational queries in the next year because users get their info from the Google AI Overview Snippet. This is called a Zero-Click Search.
• Optimize Google Business Profile to ensure your client’s Google Business Profile is fully claimed and verified. Complete every section.
• Actively encourage and respond to customer reviews, which appear prominently in zero-click search results.
• Use Google Posts in the Google Business Profile to share news, promotions, or events. This will help ensure a Knowledge Graph appears when the business name is Googled.
• Focus on Local SEO using local geo-specific keywords like “best pizza in [city]” in website content, meta descriptions, and Google Business Profile.
• Collaborate with local blogs, newspapers, and directories to gain relevant backlinks. Include terms like “near me” in your content where relevant, to optimize for near me searches.
• Create FAQs, blogs & optimized content to address common customer questions directly on your website. These could be selected as featured snippets or directly answered on SERPs or AI platforms.
• Maintain active social profiles, as they may show up in search results. Share regular updates, promotions, and customer testimonials to maintain engagement.
• Ensure website is mobile-friendly since most zero-click searches are conducted on mobile. Test loading speed and navigation.
• Monitor local search metrics using tools like Google Analytics, Google Business Profile Insights to see traffic and engagement. This will help you determine what content is resonating with visitors.

Appearing In AI Platform Results – What A Business Should Do:

• How does a business get mentioned on an AI Platform? AI Platforms (LLMs) are taught their information and one of the key inputs is Google Search results. So all of the things that get you noticed by Google will in turn get you noticed by LLMs!
• Getting reviews from more sources than just Google (angie, yelp, bbb.org). Adding reviews from customers and testimonials to the home page of the site.
• Use superlatives, and describe the quality of your work in your content (LLM’s seem to take things very literally – if you say “we provided excellent customer service” they believe it.)

Pay-Per-Click Ads & Organic Listings:

• A business appearing as high up in the Organic Listings of Google is critical.
• It’s important to appear at the top of Google’s organic listings for your primary keywords, because the first 3 organic listings get more than half the clicks.
• On average, only about 1% of all website traffic to a business website comes from paid search ads. The other 99% of website traffic comes from organic search or other websites.
• Why is organic traffic so important?
• It’s free exposure on the Google search page.
• You can reach people who have never heard of your brand before.
• You can bring visitors with a relevant and specific intent to your site.
• You can reach people locally or worldwide.
• It can be targeted and scaled with a content/SEO strategy.
• It can build your credibility.

Sources: https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/397414/nearly-two-thirds-of-google-searches-stay-within-i.html; Datos; SparkToro

The info we’ve covered in this webinar so far, are all things you can coach your clients to do on their own to improve their SEO rankings.  Now we look at how our SEO campaigns help them improve their SEO rankings.  We do the “Technical SEO”.

Technical SEO:

On-Page SEO Factors:  Title, Meta and ALT Tags, URL Structure, Keywords, Quality of Content, Site Maps, Inbound & Outbound Links, Speed, Error Messages, Voice Search Optimization.

• TITLE TAGS are html code on a business’ website that displays on search engine results pages as the clickable headline for an organic search result. They are meant to be an accurate and concise description of a page’s content for both the search engine and the user. Every page of a website should have a unique title tag. This helps search engines understand that your content is unique and valuable, and also drives higher click-through rates.
• META DESCRIPTION TAGS provide descriptions about the webpage, which can be used by search engines to help categorize the page correctly and users to understand what is on that webpage. Every page of a website should have a unique meta description tag. It’s like a free snippet of advertising for your business.
• ALT TAGS are used by search engine crawlers to decipher what an image represents.
• URL STRUCTURE is what search engines look at to analyze a website. If it is confusing they may index only a fraction of the website’s pages.
• KEYWORDS utilized on your website help search engines connect searchers to your site. We’ll determine what keywords the client can rank for. One strategy is to focus on long-tail keywords when you’re in a highly competitive keyword vertical. These are keywords that generally have lower search volume than short-tail keywords (or “head terms”). For example, rather than trying to rank for “pie,” you target “homemade blueberry pies near me”.
• QUALITY, FRESHNESS OF CONTENT refers to how often content is added, updated and linked to, how authoritative and trustworthy it is. Fresh content impacts SEO in multiple ways: It enhances the user experience, encourages frequent crawls by search engine bots, improves relevance and authority within your niche, targets long-tail keywords, boosts user engagement, opens up opportunities for valuable backlinks.  With our SEO campaigns we discuss content strategy on earning higher search traffic for core keywords and we optimize the client’s content for SEO once published.
• Research has shown that video content is many times more likely to appear at the top of Google search pages than a web page with just written content. Encourage your clients to put video on their website. Videos have been found to boost on-page engagement, which is a powerful rankings factor. The majority of web users prefer watching a video to reading words. Using videos on a landing page can increase conversions by 86%. The average user spends 88% more time on a website with video.
• INBOUND & OUTBOUND LINKS refers to the amount of traffic on your site and the number of quality links coming into your website from other websites and links you have on your website to other websites.
• ERROR MESSAGES such as Page Not Found can lower your rank position.
• VOICE SEARCH OPTIMIZATION is helping a business to be featured in the Google AI Overview or the Featured Snippet at the top of a search page which means that users who voice search will hear that read aloud by the voice assistant.
• How does our technical SEO help a website get featured in the AI Overview & snippets? Analyzing the website’s loading speed and making suggestions. Suggesting long tail keywords on the business’ website not just stand-alone keywords. Optimizing the URL structure and internal linking are effective ways to ensure that Google can easily crawl and index the website.

 Off-Page SEO Factors:  Online Directories, Submitting to Search Engines, Online Reputation Management.

• SEARCH ENGINE SUBMISSION includes the top 3 (Google, Bing, Yahoo) and also important but lesser known search engines.
• DIRECTORIES SUBMISSIONS is important because directories rank well for search terms and give you relevant links to your website from the directory’s website.
• Getting your local business’ NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) information listed on directories, online business listing sites, and citation sites helps to improve visibility of your website. Backlinks from these sites (the sites linking back to your website) can also have a benefit to your search engine ranking.

Before You Talk To A Client Or Prospective Client About SEO

• You should do some research to see if they even need SEO help.
• Do a Google search related to that business and see where they come up on a Google search results page. Jewelry store, Jewelry store near me, Engagement rings
• Google the name of the business, does their Knowledge Graph come up and is it accurate?
• Put in a Research Request to Vici and get back a Digital Audit Report. It will give you an SEO overview (including keywords and competitor keywords for that particular client).

Online Reputation Management:

• Consists of monitoring, improving, and maintaining the publicly available online information about your business. We set our advertisers up on a monitoring platform that scrapes the internet for any mention of their business, every 24 hours to alert them about what is being said online about their business.
• Online reviews are not only influencing consumers, they’re also influencing search engine results. Search experts believe that reviews account for about 7-13% of the local organic ranking factors considered by Google.
• Have a review display & review generation widget on the website. Ask for reviews via email without the risk. Upload a list of customers, and send a customizable email message asking for a review.

What Should My Clients Do If They Get Bad Reviews?

• Read what they wrote and respond to what they wrote, but don’t attack or be rude. Be honest about mistakes, but don’t apologize for things that are policy, or won’t change. Explain policy when relevant. Write in plain language. Reach back to the goals of the company, that you want people to be happy – vow to do better. Don’t offer a discount. Respond with a confidence in your business and your employees.
• When contacted about a negative review: 34% of users deleted the negative review, 33% of users changed the review into a positive one.

Source: Harris Interactive, Retail Consumer Report

Now you are primed and ready to take on SEO in the Age of AI!  Go get ’em!

The post Are You Ready For SEO In The Age Of AI? appeared first on Vici Media Inc..

What’s The Lay Of The Land For Native Advertising This Year?

Native ads work because they seamlessly blend into the look and feel of the platforms where they appear, capturing over twice the attention of traditional banner ads while building trust through educating and informing. With trends like branded native video hotter than ever, combined with content-driven landing pages, Native ads are set to remain a powerful, non-intrusive tool for digital marketing success.

Key Takeaways:

• Informative, Educational Content: the preference for educational over aggressive sales tactics indicates that consumers are looking for more than just a product; they seek value and knowledge. Native ads cater to that! Brands that provide informative and educational content are likely to foster loyalty and trust, which can lead to higher conversion rates.
• Importance of Landing Pages: The effectiveness of Native ads is highly contingent upon the quality of landing pages. Users are more likely to convert when they land on content-rich pages that provide detailed product information and benefits.
• Native Ads vs. Display Ads: Understanding when to use Native ads and when to use traditional Display ads is crucial for marketers.
• Content of Native Ads: the success of Native ads is significantly influenced by the quality of copy and visuals used.  Think attention grabbing headlines and informative text.
• Rising Trend of Native Video: with Native Video accounting for a substantial portion of video ad spending, it’s clear that this format is becoming increasingly vital for brands.

 Why do Native ads work?

First, recall what they are – Native display or video ads go across all devices and match the look, feel, and context of the website or app where they are seen, using our targeting strategies. Why do they perform?

• Attention: Native ads receive more than 2x the attention of banner ads. Native ads are read, not just seen (like Display Ads). Most of the visual focus is on a Native ad’s text rather than the image.
• Consumer Trust: 70% of users prefer ads that blend seamlessly with content rather than disrupting it​​. They are perceived as more trustworthy (31% more trusted than social ads).
• Personalization: 90% of Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X prefer personalized Native ads over traditional formats​.

(Stats Source)

Are there Native ad trends that can be leveraged in 2025?

Yes! Leveraging new trends is the name of the game and staying ahead of the curve with digital advertising is critical. Keep a pulse on:

• Implementation of Native Video: Branded videos embedded in publisher content create higher engagement and awareness​. Clients often confuse outstream video or pre-roll/mid-roll video ads with Native Video ads. They are not the same thing.
  • Outstream Video ads are embedded in the content but there is no branding (client name, headline, description text), no matching to the webpage’s format, no customization. It disrupts user experience.
  • Pre-roll/Mid-roll Video ads play before or during the content the person has chosen. It is not a part of the content of the webpage.
  • Native Video ads are embedded in the content but disclose the brand name, and include descriptive, informative text that match the publisher’s look and feel.
• Content-Driven Landing Pages: Native ad clicks should lead to pages rich with product benefits and educational value, not generic homepages, to improve conversions​.  When Native ad users click on Native ads, they want to land on content-oriented landing pages that provide valuable information about products or services – to be informed and educated. These landing pages should not simply redirect users to the homepage but rather offer insights into:
  • Product Benefits: Clear explanations of how the product works and its advantages.
  • Value Communication: Educational content that aligns with the interests of the target audience.

Directing ad traffic to the homepage, if it doesn’t contain the info the user wants, leads to low conversions.  Content-rich, educational landing pages drive better engagement and ROI.

When should you use Native ads and when should you use regular Display ads?

Each type of ad can be beneficial in their own way because they really do different things.  This graph shows the strength of each and when to use:

Targeting of Native ads:

There are many ways to target your Native ads.

• Machine learning via AI Targeting optimizes ad delivery based on real-time engagement, ensuring relevance​ and that the Native Ad is shown to more people like the ones who have engaged with it.
• We have hundreds of thousands of Behavioral Targeting categories to choose from so that we can match up the Native ads to target people who have shown an interest in what the advertiser is offering.  We also have premium B2B and recruitment categories we can use.
• Keyword Targeting is ESPECIALLY effective with Native ads.  This is where we can target a list of keywords that relate to the advertiser’s business and when they appear on webpages the Native ad is displayed.  Think about it, people are already reading about a topic – how great if your Native ad appears on that page and relates to what the person is reading about.
• With Native ads you can Geo-Fence and Geo-Retarget.  This is where we draw a virtual fence around an area the advertiser is interested in (maybe a competitor?) and serve Native ads to people while they are inside the geo-fence and follow them after they leave the go-fenced area and continue to serve them ads.
• Do you have a database list?  We can use Custom Audience Matching, which is where we take your list of people you want to reach and find them when they go online and then serve them the Native ad.  Additionally, we can generate a Lookalike Audience of the people on your list and serve the Native ads to them as well.

We recommend mixing and matching multiple targeting strategies to maximize performance.

Advantages of Native advertising

• Informative and Educational: Content-rich and context-aligned ads improve user interaction and return on ad spend​​. Native ads have more valuable text real estate available to communicate a message, tell a story, inform, and educate the target audience within the ad unit itself, instead of ONLY relying on a landing page to do this for you. Descriptive headlines can improve brand perception and using descriptive words that align with the brand’s values will make them more memorable to the Native ad viewer.
• Call-To-Action:  With Native ads your call-to-action link can say whatever you want – get creative and go beyond “Learn More” and “Click Here.”
• Wide Applicability: Native ads work across all industries and types of companies, including regulated sectors like medical, CBD​​ and cannabis, weapon’s, fireworks, alcohol, tobacco, and adult clubs.
• Seamless Integration: The dynamic nature of Native ads ensures ads match the publisher’s format, increasing user trust​​.

Native ads are more relevant than ever for digital in 2025 with their ability to deliver personalized, non-intrusive, and contextually relevant content. Prioritize creative alignment, advanced targeting, and engaging landing pages to maximize effectiveness.

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WHAT DIGITAL TRENDS SHOULD I USE IN 2025?

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Social Mirror Ads: How Have They Changed?

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