These posts chronicle my life and learning. Feel free to enjoy and let me know if you have any thoughts or questions.
GA4 Internal Traffic Exclusion Setup Guide
This guide explains how to set up internal traffic labeling and exclusion in Google Tag Manager (GTM) and GA4 for any website you manage. This setup uses: a special internal URL parameter a first-party cookie a lookup table variable in GTM a GA4 configuration parameter the built-in GA4 internal traffic filter What this setup does…
35+ Marketing Campaign Ideas to Ignite Your Content Strategy
Inspiration can be hard to come by these days, but you don’t need to make a monumental effort to create impactful content. With a little creativity and strategy, you can produce great content without requiring massive resources. Great content is currency on the internet. It attracts your ideal audience, positions you as an authority, and…
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AI Is Changing Search, Not Marketing: Why Brand Intent Matters More Than Ever
AI is changing how information is distributed. Search engines are answering more questions directly. Website traffic patterns are shifting. Organic visibility is becoming less predictable. For marketers, particularly those working in SEO, these changes can feel disruptive. But AI is not fundamentally changing the goal of marketing. The goal is still to create enough awareness,…
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How I Trained My AI to Actually Think Like an Analyst
I got curious about how my own brain works. Not in a philosophical way, in a practical one. I wanted to understand what was actually happening when I dug into a client report and started pulling on threads. What moves was I making? In what order? And could I teach an AI to do the…
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Why CPC, CPM, and Smart Bidding Confuse Everyone
Is it right to blame all our woes on Google? Not necessarily. I don’t think it’s Google’s fault I burned myself on a pan this morning. But I do think it’s Google’s fault that I spent years being deeply confused about CPC vs CPM, Smart Bidding, conversion optimization, bid caps, automated delivery strategies, and whatever…
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Best and Worst Link Building Ideas in 2024
Link building is a controversial subject. For some SEOs, it was never a concern. For others, it’s the answer to everything. For me, the truth lies somewhere in between because I’ve seen firsthand the impact of both spammy and authoritative links. For example, when I helped my real estate client land a placement in Housing…