Google - Mason Interactive

In the ever-evolving landscape of online privacy, staying ahead of the curve is essential for businesses aiming to connect meaningfully with customers while respecting their privacy concerns. Recently, Google announced updates regarding the phase-out of third-party cookies, a move that will significantly impact digital advertising and user tracking practices across the web. As your trusted partners in digital marketing, Mason is here to provide insights and guidance on what these changes mean for you and how you can prepare for a cookieless future.

Understanding the Update

Google’s announcement regarding the Privacy Sandbox outlines a revised plan for the deprecation of third-party cookies on Chrome. The decision stems from the need to address feedback from various stakeholders, including industry players, regulators, and developers. Additionally, to ensure a thorough review process, Google is collaborating closely with regulatory bodies like the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Consequently, the completion of third-party cookie deprecation has been postponed from the second half of Q4, with plans now set for an early start in 2025, pending resolution of concerns with the CMA.

Implications for Businesses

While this extension provides more time for preparation, it underscores the importance for businesses to adapt their strategies for a cookieless future. Whether you’re leveraging Google ads products or managing your own website, proactive measures are crucial for maintaining seamless user experiences and effective marketing campaigns.

For advertisers and publishers utilizing Google ads products, adherence to recommended best practices remains paramount. Take advantage of this additional time to ensure your readiness and familiarize yourself with the evolving guidelines provided by Google.

Moreover, for website owners, understanding the dependencies on third-party cookies is essential for optimizing user experiences. Conduct assessments to identify and address any 3P cookie dependencies ahead of the Q4 advertising season and year-end code freeze. The Privacy Sandbox team has published guidance to assist in this process, enabling you to navigate the transition smoothly.

Addressing Common Questions

To provide further clarity, here are answers to some frequently asked questions:

Q: What prompted the updated plan for third-party cookie deprecation?

The decision to revise the timeline stems from the need to reconcile feedback from stakeholders and allow ample time for regulatory review. Additionally, considerations for the Q4 advertising season and ecosystem feedback influenced the decision to commence deprecation in early 2025.

Q: Will the deprecation start in January?

While precise timing is subject to resolving concerns with the CMA, Google aims to initiate third-party cookie deprecation early in 2025. Stay updated on privacysandbox.com for the latest developments.

Q: Does this mean Chrome won’t expand beyond 1% third-party cookie deprecation in 2024?

Any expansion beyond 1% will be done in consultation with the CMA and with notice to the ecosystem, ensuring transparency and alignment with regulatory requirements.

Q: Why wasn’t there prior notification about this announcement?

Due to the sensitivity of the update and to ensure fairness to all parties, Google did not provide advance notice to ecosystem participants. Rest assured, we are committed to keeping you informed and prepared for upcoming changes.

As the digital landscape evolves, proactive adaptation is key to maintaining competitiveness and compliance. At Mason, we are dedicated to equipping you with the knowledge and resources needed to navigate the transition to a cookieless future successfully. Stay tuned for further updates and guidance as we continue to monitor developments in online privacy and advertising technology. Together, we can embrace change and forge ahead with confidence in the digital realm.

Working with a Google Partner

The Google Partners program is tailored for advertising agencies and third parties managing Google Ads accounts on behalf of brands or businesses. Its mission is to empower companies by providing innovative tools, resources, and support to help their clients succeed and thrive online.

To find out more about how you can benefit from our partnerships, send us a message at hello@masoninteractive.com, or book a meeting with our team of experts, here.

We are honored to be recognized as a 2024 Google Premier Partner. This achievement reflects our unwavering commitment to delivering exceptional digital marketing solutions, and it solidifies our position as a top-tier agency in the industry. Being a Premier Partner means we are part of an elite group, and we are dedicated to leveraging this distinction to provide even greater value to our clients.

In February, Google acknowledged the outstanding accomplishments of digital marketing partners worldwide, awarding Premier Partner status as part of the Google Partners program. Mason has been named a 2024 Premier Partner, signifying:

We’re among the top 3% of Google Partners participants in the United States, showcasing unparalleled expertise in Google Ads, along with their capability to establish new client relationships and support clients’ growth.

We’re also listed on the Google Partners directory, offering potential clients easy access to top Premier Partners like us.

Mason receives exclusive benefits that actively contribute to client growth and success with Google Ads.

“Being named a 2024 Google Premier Partner is a testament to our agency’s dedication to excellence and innovation. We are proud to continue our strong partnership with Google, leveraging their best-in-class solutions to empower our clients and drive unparalleled success. At Mason Interactive, we remain steadfast in our commitment to delivering results and helping our clients achieve their goals in the dynamic digital landscape.”
– Adrian Padron, VP of Operations at Mason Interactive

About Google Premier Partners:

To find out more about how you can benefit from our partnerships, send us a message at hello@masoninteractive.com, or book a meeting with our team of experts, here.

Summary:

New York City-based digital agency Mason Interactive, Inc. has achieved 2024 Premier Partner status in the Google Partners program. Mason’s team of experts provides a comprehensive range of offerings, including Media Buying (Search, Social, Display), Programmatic (OTT/CTV/Native), Media Planning, SEO, Lifecycle Marketing, Creative, Data Services, and more for businesses in both New York City and Charlotte, North Carolina. Explore the full range of offerings.

We are committed to delivering cutting-edge solutions that drive success for our clients. Our dedicated team of experts combines creativity and data-driven strategies to ensure maximum impact in the digital landscape.

We’re excited to share that Mason Interactive has achieved 2023 Premier Partner status in the Google Partners program.

This designation recognizes us as one of the top 3% of agencies in the United States.

This month, Google recognized the achievements of top-performing digital marketing partners across the globe by awarding Premier Partner status as a part of the new Google Partners program.

The Google Partners program has undergone significant changes for 2022, including redefining what it means to be a Premier Partner through new, advanced program requirements and offering new Premier Partner benefits to support growth and success with Google Ads.

“Congratulations to our Premier Partners for 2023. These companies are among the top 3% of Google Partners in the United States. It’s a true accomplishment, one that signals their leading expertise in Google Ads, in forging new client relationships, and in helping clients grow. We look forward to supporting them as they help their customers build smart online strategies and drive long-term success.”

–Marcin Karnowski, Senior Director of Ads Marketing

Grow With Us

As a recognized partner of Google, Mason Interactive leverages an exclusive toolbox of platform solutions that we use to help our clients grow their businesses. To find out more about how you can benefit from our partnerships, send us a message at hello@masoninteractive.com, or book a meeting with our team of experts, here.

What is Google Analytics 4?

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the latest version of Google’s web analytics platform. It replaces Google’s previous Universal Analytics (UA) tracking code and offers many new features that are designed to help you better understand user behavior on your website. In this article we’re going to discuss the differences between both versions, how measurement looks a bit different this time around, and some resources for how and when to migrate.

What are the main differences between UA and GA4?

In contrast to Universal Analytics which relied solely on pageviews for understanding how visitors interacted with websites, GA4 uses what Google refers to as “Events” – user interactions such as clicking a link or watching a video that are tracked individually rather than collectively under one pageview metric. This helps marketers understand each individual user journey through the site in much more granular detail.

Measuring Users: GA4 vs. UA

GA4 is a significant shift from UA, with its architecture based on events rather than pageviews or sessions, as well as its introduction of AI-driven insights and predictive models designed to give users deeper insight into their data and enable actionable decision making.

UA: Session-Based

Universal Analytics uses a session-based data model to track user activity on a website. A ‘session’ is defined as a group of user interactions with your website that take place within a given time frame. Universal Analytics collects information about the activities users have performed in that session, such as page views, time spent on the site, and any goals or conversions that were completed.While this data is important, it can essentially leave marketers with half of a story. We don’t know if a certain page is successful by just looking at the total number of times someone saw it. Cue the event-based model:

GA4: Event-Based

GA4, however, switched to an event-based data model to measure users and their interactions with websites. An ‘event’ is defined as any action taken by a user while they are interacting with a web page such as clicking on a link, scrolling, or submitting a form. Each event is tracked and logged in order to provide detailed insights into how users interact with websites and what kinds of actions they take while browsing them. For example, GA4 can detect when certain buttons or links are clicked more frequently than others on pages, or if there are areas of content that visitors tend to spend more time on than others. This data can then be used to inform decisions around website design and content creation for enhanced engagement and improved user experience.

Key differences between Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4

Measuring Content Success (or Failure): Is Bounce Rate Still a Thing?

What Happened to Bounce Rate?

Since the transition to Google Analytics 4, one of the most notable changes had been the removal of bounce rate as a metric. But alas! Google heard the critics loud and clear, and as of July 2022, they reintroduced bounce rate – however, it’s not exactly how we remember it from UA.

Bounce Rate Definitions: GA4 vs. UA

At its core, bounce rate is defined as “the percentage of sessions in which users view only one page and then leave your site”. In other words, it is used to measure how effective a page was at capturing user attention. Bounce rate was (is?) a widely accepted metric in Universal Analytics, that businesses and marketers have grown to utilize as a staple for measuring success and failure.

GA4 moved on from the traditional ‘bounce rate’ to create a new metric entirely: engagement rate. Engagement Rate can be interpreted as the inverse of bounce rate – indicating how likely visitors are to continue engaging with your site for longer periods of time. GA4 defines engagement rate as the ratio, represented as a percentage, of your engaged sessions to your total sessions

Google considers a session to be ‘engaged’ if it meets any one of these three criteria: if the visit lasts more than 10 seconds, if it results in a conversion event, or if there are at least two pageviews or screen views. In other words, an engaged session is when a visitor has spent meaningful time engaging with your website’s content. Though engagement rate gives us an indication as to how users interact with our pages once they arrive, bounce rate will tell us why they’re leaving so quickly – this could be due to slow loading speeds, confusing navigation structures, or irrelevant content beside what they were expecting.

By monitoring both metrics together and analyzing user behavior, you’ll have a much clearer picture as to what changes need to be made on your website in order for users to spend more time actively engaging with your content. Making small tweaks such as increasing loading speeds, improving navigation, optimizing content with specific user intent, can have immediate impacts on both engagement rates and overall user satisfaction.

Important Dates & Info About Migrating to GA4

Universal Analytics will officially sunset on July 1, 2023, meaning: no more data will be collected in UA after that date. For the following six months, users will still have access to the historical data that had been recorded on UA before its discontinuation. However, after those six months have passed, all of the data from UA will be permanently inaccessible and this will signify the end of an era for Google Analytics. Following this milestone, GA4 will become the new default platform for analytics services.

Migrating is a somewhat straightforward process, but to ensure all data is accounted for, and important conversion metrics are in place, we suggest making this transition sooner than later.

If you need help reach out to us at hello@masoninteractive.com, or take a look at some of the resources we’ve listed below.

[GA4] Introducing the next generation of Analytics, Google Analytics 4

Comparing metrics: Google Analytics 4 vs Universal Analytics

Should You Switch To GA4 Now? What You Need To Know

An In-Depth Guide to Google Analytics 4

On Oct 13th, Mason Interactive welcomed colleges, K-12’s, and more, to Google’s NYC HQ. We shared insights into changes in the Education industry since the pandemic, and talked about how schools can “future proof” against changing demographics.

Side note: It’s three years – to the day! – since we presented at the annual HighEdWed conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; we are thrilled to be back to hosting in-person events with industry leading brands and digital experts.

Even with the rise in important new platforms like TikTok, it is our perspective that the first marketing dollar should always go to Google. Google Search is where the search for a school begins, and it pays to be there, at the start of a prospective student’s journey.

Key Challenges & Observations

Demographic Trends:
Due to declining birth rates post 2008’s “Great Recession,” there are fewer students in market.
- This decline is causing a looming “enrollment cliff.” There is an expected 15% decline in college-going students over the 4-year period between 2025 and 2029.
Changing Behavior:
Students are looking at investing in themselves, and see education as a cost/benefit analysis. They’re asking themselves “is the cost of this degree worth the money I’ll make from it?” This is reflected in changing search patterns.
- Specific Brand Searches are down. People are not searching for specific schools as much as they were.
  - Traditional Schools: -3%
  - Community Schools: -7%
  - Career Educators: -11%
- General Category Searches are flat/down. Interest in specific degrees are flat/neutral.
  - Programs: +12%
  - Degrees: +13%
- Searches that reflect a student’s interest in a positive Return on Investment are up.
Students + Parents/Guardians are more ROI conscious than ever:
- 78% of students say that their degree, short course or bootcamp will be the most important financial expenditure they’ll make this year
- There is a high correlation between earnings and growth in search volume:
  - Ex. music production certificate vs. wealth management certification programs – the first of those is seeing a smaller increase in volume than latter.
- Students are looking for the certifications and short courses that are going to bring them the “biggest bang for their buck” not only in the questions that they are asking, but also in the subjects that they want to study.
- Students still believe education is critical, with optimism for up-skilling and re-skilling. This is an opportunity for education leaders to drive strategies that focus on growing offerings in these areas and for students looking for these new learning opportunities to help them up-skill & re-skill.

**Ways Your School Can Win**

Be Early
- The average student looks at only 3 schools. If your school is not in that three-school list, your chances of enrolling them drop dramatically, because…
  - 75% of prospective students do not consider beyond their initial school & program list
Be Persuasive
- You are competing with 2 other schools – get to the applicants before them. Speed matters.
- Meet students where they are: flexible, part time, hybrid demands are here to stay
- Match degree offerings to job and student demand > push to short course / micro-credentialing
- As competition for student consideration increases, double down on brand awareness / upper funnel media
  - 77% of prospective degree and non-degree students agree that it is important for the school they select to have a strong national reputation
- Add value during the admissions process
Set Goals
- We have clients who are growing enrollments in this environment.
- The #1 thing these clients have in common, is a set of clearly-articulated, globally-shared goals.
  - “More” is not a goal.
  - “I want ‘R’ incremental enrollments, I want them from ‘X’ location, I need them by ‘Y’ date, and I can afford to pay ‘Z’ for them” is a goal.
- Goal Setting:
  - Set a goal for incremental number of new students
  - Melt Rate: The Student journey is not linear. Supply valuable and reinforcing content based on where they are
  - Budget: Use seasonality data to your advantage

A Look Back + Look Forward – Quick Stats with Google:

The decline in college enrollment is something higher education leaders have been expecting for some time.
1. Even before the pandemic, enrollments were already on a downward trajectory and admissions professionals have long been aware of the enrollment cliff projected for 2025.
- Universities will need to be nimble and make sure their strategy is aligned with the ever-changing market

33% increase in students reporting that their graduation plans have changed:
- There’s a 33% increase in students reporting that their graduation plans have changed, with a third of students reporting that they will be delaying their graduation, transferring to another school, or dropping out completely.

83% increase in current degree students reporting that they are spending more time digitally:
- Google Search and YouTube are the most used applications among current and prospective students
- 79% of students using YouTube use no other video platforms for supplemental learning, 10% use TikTok.
- 58% of students watch YouTube daily (vs. 44% of general population)
- 36% of students watch vlogs / influencer videos weekly (vs. 27% of general population)

If you’re not already a Mason client, book a consultation with our team and we’ll work on a tailored approach for your school, together.

Mason Interactive was pleased to present at Google’s Hudson Street offices, with our AWESOME Google crew, about OCI and the evolving Lead to Sale Journey.

To our mind, this (OCI) is one of four-ish major technical opportunity here in H2 ’22.

Thank you Harika, Ryan, Mike, and Glen for having us!