Search Engine Land’s daily brief features daily insights, news, tips, and essential bits of wisdom for today’s search marketer. If you would like to read this before the rest of the internet does, sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox daily.

Good morning, Marketers, please enjoy another earworm.

I saw a TikTok the other day (don’t @ me, y’all know I love it) where a woman played the first few measures of a bunch of different songs that millennials will instantly recognize. The idea is that, to each generation, there are songs so foundational that you only need to play a few seconds to automatically know what it is. They instantly trigger nostalgia.

Brands can sometimes capture that same nostalgia with logos and jingles. I bet your mind automatically completes these jingles: 

• The best part of waking up is …  
• Gimmie a break. Gimmie a break. Break me off a piece of that …
• What would you dooooo for a ….

Even if the brands have moved on from their original jingles, they’re still part of the brand profile. I think this same principle applies to full-funnel search marketing (it’s not as far a stretch as you think —  stay with me).

When we create top-of-funnel (TOFU) content to drive traffic to our sites, they don’t typically convert right away or even anytime soon. But if we become the source of information on that topic, we’ll be the known leader in that area. So when it is finally time to buy — our qualified searchers will know exactly who to come to in order to solve their problems. 

If done right, they’ll remember the siren’s call of our helpful information almost as much as a catchy jingle or your favorite nostalgic song.

Carolyn Lyden,
Director of Search Content

Google pushes back FLoC testing to Q1 2022

Google’s monthly Privacy Sandbox timeline update indicates that the company will push back FLoC testing from Q4 2021 (announced in July) to Q1 2022. Testing of FLEDGE, the company’s remarketing solution designed so that third parties cannot track user behavior across sites, is being delayed to Q1 2022 as well.

Why we care. These changes may affect when Chrome will phase out support for third-party cookies. Google has eliminated the “Ready for adoption” stage from the FLoC and FLEDGE parts of the timeline and another delay may mean a shorter testing period or that Google will have to push back its planned Stage 1 period (the green column in the table above, expected to last from Q4 2022 through to the end of Q2 2023). At some point during Stage 1, the company will announce a new timeline that lowers third-party cookies’ “Time to Live”.

Read more here.

Chrome tests Google side search in the browser

Google Chrome is now testing side search, a new feature that makes it easier to compare search results on a single browser page. This side search feature lets you view a page right in your main browser window without needing to navigate back and forth or losing your search results or with the need to use more tabs. “The goal of this experiment is to explore how Chrome can better help users easily compare results,” Google said.

Why we care. These experiments may show you how Google is trying to embed search more into Chrome and increase searches on Google. There is a possibility that the sidebar potentially leads website users to bounce from your site and potentially head to a competitor when they have the SERP open right next to their browsing window.

Read more here.

Google Search Console products enhancements report gains more granular errors

Google’s products enhancement report within Google Search Console reporting now has some improvements. The errors are now more granular and give you more actionable errors and notices on what to work on to improve your errors with the product structured data on your pages.You can learn more about this report here.

Why we care. If you saw a spike or decline in errors on September 29, 2021, it is likely related to this change in how Google shows more granular errors in this report. Review the new revised errors and send them to your developers to resolve. Make sure to check back this week to see if the errors are resolved.

Read more here.

Search Shorts: Local landing pages, Google says bye to IE 11 and how to prep your RSA -> ETA strategy

Best local landing pages: A blueprint. Local landing pages drive visibility in specific areas, and for specific products or services. They work to engage the user and deliver information on what they’re looking for, where they’re looking for it.

Google Search no longer supports Internet Explorer 11, because ‘it is time’. Google Search is no longer officially supporting Internet Explorer 11, marking the beginning of the end for Microsoft’s now-ancient browser.

Google is phasing out Expanded Text Ads: How to take action now. If you haven’t already done so, create your first RSA as soon as possible. The more data you can start collecting now, and the success you can begin to see with the newer ad type, the more confidence you’ll have to eventually pause your expanded text ads.

The SMX Next speaker list is live. Don’t miss the latest how-tos, tips, and predictions from experts like Crystal Carter, Jonathan Wilson, and Fred Vallaeys. Meet the speakers here.

Joke of the Day

Flight attendant: “Is there a marketer on the plane?” 

Me: “Depends, what’s the budget?”

– Jake Sanders, founder of POS Marketing