Generated by Rank Math SEO, this is an llms.txt file designed to help LLMs better understand and index this website. # GrowthEngine Media: GrowthEngine Media is a digital marketing agency with experience in search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, display advertising, social media marketing and management, content marketing, and web design. As a Premier Google Partner GrowthEngine Media is based in Toronto and serves clients in Canada and the United States. ## Sitemaps [XML Sitemap](https://growthengine.ca/sitemap_index.xml): Includes all crawlable and indexable pages. ## Posts - [Understanding Google’s October 2023 Core Update: What It Means for Users](https://growthengine.ca/understanding-googles-october-2023-core-update-what-it-means-for-users/): The techies at Google are constantly refining their search algorithm with the end goal of providing most relevant and high-quality search results. That said, every time they tinker, it makes waves in the SEO world. The most significant of these ‘waves’ comes by way of the core updates; October of this year marking the third core update.  - [SEO Copywriting Services Plus Relevant<br>Content Equals Online Visibility](https://growthengine.ca/seo-copywriting-services-relevant-content-online-visibility/): The digital age is here. Organizations like the UN are considering whether the internet is a human right. AI is achieving things formerly reserved for sci-fi novels. Cars drive themselves. This necessarily means that marketing has shifted as well to be a digital-first endeavour. Which makes SEO copywriting services so important.  - [Can You Use AI SEO Tools to Write Content? Is It Better than Human-Written Content? Find Out](https://growthengine.ca/can-you-use-ai-seo-tools-to-write-content-is-it-better-than-human-written-content-find-out/): AI is all the rage these days. In 2025, it’s projected to hit nearly $200 billion in market value. By 2030, that will leap to $15.7 trillion according to one projection. Naturally, AI SEO tools are similarly seeing an explosion in popularity and interest.  - [Social Proofing Can Help Grow<br>Sales When Done Right](https://growthengine.ca/social-proofing-can-help-grow-sales-when-done-right/): Word of mouth is a marketing tool as old as time itself. From the first Homo Sapiens that ate berries and told their other cave-dwellers how tasty they were, driving berry demand, people have always trusted their friends and family when it comes to making decisions. That is the essence of social proofing. - [The Rise of Experiential<br>Digital Marketing in 2022](https://growthengine.ca/the-rise-of-experiential-digital-marketing-in-2022/): Experiential digital marketing is going to be a big digital marketing trend in 2022. But you’re probably wondering what experiential digital marketing is. - [How to Use Your Customers’ Data Effectively – Without Creeping Them Out](https://growthengine.ca/how-to-use-your-customers-data-effectively-without-creeping-them-out/): With so much of our lives being lived online these days, concerns over data privacy are growing. And we’re seeing this play out in all sorts of areas – from the legal to the social. This creates friction, as customer data for marketing is critical in today’s digital marketplace, but marketers have to become increasingly more conscious of protecting customer data privacy. - [Huge 2022 Digital Marketing Trend: Making Up for Lost (Online) Cookies](https://growthengine.ca/huge-2022-digital-marketing-trend-making-up-for-lost-online-cookies/): Digital marketers love cookies. No, not the delicious baked goods your grandma makes (well, honestly, they probably love those, too) the digital kind. They help send key information that better help us target audiences relevant to you, and personalize the experience for customers. But the digital marketing trend in 2022 is about getting away from that reliance on cookies. - [Great Core Web Vitals May Benefit SEO and User Experiences](https://growthengine.ca/core-web-vitals-seo-user-experience/): Many in the SEO community were unsure of the importance of Core Web Vitals when the Page Experience Update rolled out. But according to new research from enterprise SEO platform BrightEdge, companies in the education, B2B technology, finance, and retail sectors seem to have taken Google’s prioritization of the metrics quite seriously. The research, reported on by Search Engine Land, shows that businesses in these verticals improved their web vitals scores by between 27 per cent (finance) and 58 per cent (retail), on average. Those numbers don’t necessarily mean that finance businesses have worse Core Web Vitals scores than retail businesses, only that retail businesses improved the most over the last year. - [Connected TVs Are a Valuable Frontier in Digital Marketing](https://growthengine.ca/connected-tv-digital-marketing/): One of the primary benefits of digital marketing vs traditional advertising is the fact that digital marketing allows advertisers to reach users throughout the day. No longer do brands have to wait for their target audiences to drive by highway-side billboards or tune in to their favourite primetime sitcoms; personal computers and smartphones have allowed companies to reach consumers in virtually every waking moment. - [Is Facebook Considering Digital Ads with Limited Targeting and Tracking?](https://growthengine.ca/facebook-digital-ads-tracking-targeting/): As internet users’ privacy expectations change, the web’s largest digital ads providers have had to adapt. Perhaps no advertising platform has been hit harder by users’ desire for more privacy than Facebook. According to Search Engine Land, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, predicted that it will lose $12.8 billion in revenue thanks to privacy updates rolled out in Apple’s iOS 14 update. “Unprecedented levels of competition,” in Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s words, from new platforms like TikTok don’t help. - [May Core Algorithm Update Impacts SEO Performance](https://growthengine.ca/may-core-algorithm-update-impacts-seo-performance/): Anecdotally, Search Engine Land reports that ‘the May 2022 core update seems much more significant than the November 2021 core update’ based on chatter among the SEO community. That’s certainly been the case from our perspective. Though most of our SEO clients have avoided major disruptions related to the update, some have seen sudden, significant increases and decreases in visibility. - [Google Launches May 2022 Broad Core Update](https://growthengine.ca/google-may-core-update-seo/): Last week, Google started to roll out its latest major algorithm change, the ‘May 2022 broad core update.’ This is the first major algorithm revamp to rock the SEO industry since November 2021. - [Google’s Advice for Multicultural Digital Marketing](https://growthengine.ca/googles-advice-for-multicultural-digital-marketing/): Earlier this month, Google released its six-part Multicultural Marketing Report, a study of Canada’s diversity and how digital marketing agencies should respond to and accommodate shifting demographics. - [Google Delivers Incorrect SEO Lessons in Digital Marketing Course](https://growthengine.ca/google-digital-marketing-seo/): In early May, Google announced its new Digital Marketing & E-commerce certification course, a program to help digital marketing professionals brush up on or develop skills and come away with a shiny certificate to prove it. That all sounds harmless enough – but it didn’t take long for SEOs and SEO-focused publications like Search Engine Land, Search Engine Roundtable, and Search Engine Journal to take issue with some of the course’s fundamentals. Here’s what happened. - [Google Releases 2021 Ads Safety Report](https://growthengine.ca/google-releases-2021-ads-safety-report/): If you’ve ever considered the size and scope of Alphabet’s search engine advertising machine, a scale probably best-reflected in the company’s quarterly earnings reports, you’ve probably wondered how it manages to keep harmful, malicious, and offensive advertising off of the platform. The benefits of search engine advertising are well known, so it stands to reason that bad actors would try to reach receptive audiences through this means. - [Earnings Reports Indicate Continued Prominence of Search Engine Advertising](https://growthengine.ca/search-engine-advertising-revenue-reports/): Earnings reports from both Google and Microsoft show that search engine advertising revenue continued to grow last quarter, underscoring the continuing prominence the channel has in the larger digital marketing mix. - [Is MUM Google’s Next Paradigm Shift?](https://growthengine.ca/google-mum-seo/): Google updates its search engine ranking algorithms every day. The updates are mostly small, imperceptible tweaks that even the keenest-eyed SEO doesn’t notice. Occasionally, the search engine rolls out more significant updates. These are sometimes referred to as ‘core’ updates, and they can have major impacts on keyword rankings. - [Where Does Digital Marketing Fit Within Your Digital Transformation?](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-transformation/): Think with Google’s latest dispatch discusses three ways that ‘agencies can help clients drive digital transformation.’ For those unfamiliar with industry jargon, a ‘digital transformation’ is the process of adopting digital technologies into every aspect of your business, including processes, project management, client/customer relations, and of course digital marketing. - [eMarketer Predicts Massive Social Media Advertising Gains for TikTok](https://growthengine.ca/tik-tok-social-media-advertising-gains/): Over the last several years, TikTok has rapidly evolved from a digital oddity with a cult following among young North Americans to a media juggernaut, the newest addition to a social pantheon that includes Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. If its trajectory is to be trusted, the next step in TikTok’s evolution is to become a social media advertising titan; last week, eMarketer shared data that suggests that shift is underway. - [Don’t Let Facebook’s Latest Scandals Stop Your Social Media Advertising Efforts](https://growthengine.ca/facebook-scandals-social-media-advertising/): If this sudden landslide of mini-scandals has you reconsidering your social media advertising spend, don’t act too quickly. Search Engine Journal recently published a list of social media facts that bolster the case for advertising across platforms. Here are a few highlights. - [Google Announces Sunset Date for Universal Analytics](https://growthengine.ca/universal-analytics-sunset-date/): Last week, Google announced that it will sunset Universal Analytics in favour of Google Analytics 4 on July 1, 2023. In a blog post, Russell Ketchum, Director of Product Management, Google Analytics, cited two reasons for the impending change. - [The Three Pillars of Search Engine Marketing](https://growthengine.ca/the-three-pillars-of-search-engine-marketing/): It’s no secret that consumers in 2022 use search engines to discover and research products and services. That’s why search engine marketing is so critical to business success. But what does it mean to successfully market on Google and similar platforms? In our estimation, you’re not doing search engine marketing right unless you invest in three distinct services: pay-per-click ads, search engine optimization, and local search. Let’s look at what each entail. - [TikTok Users, Including Advertisers, Will Soon Be Able to Post 10-Minute Videos](https://growthengine.ca/10-minute-tiktoks-social-media-marketing/): TikTok announced last week that users will soon be able to publish videos up to 10 minutes long, up from a maximum of three minutes currently, one minute prior to that, and 15 seconds at launch. The move is further evidence that video is critical to the present and future of social media. - [How Do Hosting Changes Affect SEO?](https://growthengine.ca/how-do-hosting-changes-affect-seo/): Google recently discussed the impact of website migration on SEO in an installment of its ‘Ask Googlebot’ YouTube series. Here’s what it said: - [Digital Advertising Reigns Supreme for Pinpoint Precision, Even on Super Bowl Sunday](https://growthengine.ca/digital-advertising-super-bowl/): There’s no question that a Super Bowl ad spot will get your brand noticed by millions of viewers. There’s also a prestige factor associated with all Super Bowl advertisers – it feels good to rub shoulders with the Anheuser-Busch’s and General Motors of the world. But no matter how splashy or star-studded your multi-million-dollar TV spot is, it won’t be as targeted and efficient as digital advertising. - [Google Releases Digital Marketing Powered Q4 Revenues](https://growthengine.ca/google-digital-marketing-revenue/): Google’s parent company, Alphabet, released its Q4 2021 earnings report last week, highlighting the critical role search engine advertising plays in the company’s bottom line. More broadly, the report underscores Alphabet’s outsize influence on the digital marketing industry in general. - [Google Ditches FLoC, Turns to Topics](https://growthengine.ca/google-user-privacy-floc-topics/): For the past several years, internet users have become more aware of and more concerned about the security of their private data. In response, Google has sought to enhance user privacy as it relates to digital advertising, a delicate proposition for a company that relies on detailed targeting to generate its main source of revenue. - [The End of the AMP Era](https://growthengine.ca/end-of-amp-seo/): When Google launched Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) in 2015, SEO agencies assumed that the framework would be a prerequisite for visibility at the top of mobile search results. In 2016, the search engine took a step towards confirming that assumption by announcing that only AMP pages would appear in the ‘top stories’ section of mobile search. For a couple of years digital marketing agencies scrambled to create AMP versions of their clients’ websites. Today, the landscape has shifted dramatically. - [Let Us Help You with Your Digital Marketing New Year’s Resolutions](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-new-years-resolutions/): It’s been said that creating New Year’s resolutions is an exercise in procrastination; why resolve to do something in the New Year that you can do today? January, though, is the one month during which New Year’s resolutions mean immediate action. This year, we propose resolving to review your digital marketing strategy and identify opportunities for cross-platform outreach before that window closes. - [Google Releases 2021 Search Trends Report](https://growthengine.ca/google-search-engine-marketing-trends/): Every December, Google provides a summary of the top search trends from the preceding 12 months. The trends reflect the interests and concerns of users around the world: last year, searchers focused on the onset of the pandemic: How would their lives change? How can they adapt to public health restrictions? When will vaccines be available? In 2021, the trends corresponded with the reopening of society: searches relating to in-person events, healthy living practices, and life changes soared. All this has implications for search engine marketing professionals. - [Google Pushes Ads Automation to Keep Pace with AI](https://growthengine.ca/search-ads-automation-ai/): At Google’s ‘Search On’ event in September, the search engine explained how it uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help searchers complete complex tasks quickly and more easily. In particular, it elaborated on how its Multitask Unified Model (MUM) AI enhances its ability to understand information across a wide range of formats (text, image, video, etc.) and identify connections between topics and concepts to deliver better search results, with implications for search ads. - [Google Lifts All Mobile-First Indexing Deadlines](https://growthengine.ca/google-mobile-first-indexing-deadline/): Google has been prioritizing mobile search for several years, and in March 2020 it announced that all websites would be moved to ‘mobile-first’ indexing by that September. Mobile-first indexing means that Google will predominantly use the mobile version of your website to determine its search ranking. - [Lush Cosmetics Quits Certain Forms of Social Media Marketing](https://growthengine.ca/lush-cosmetics-social-media-marketing/): Last week, Lush, the British cosmetics company, announced it was quitting Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat in accordance with its new “Global Anti-Social Media Policy.” The move was provoked by recent whistleblower revelations and reports on social media marketing’s negative impact on people’s health, particularly the brand’s core demographic, girls and young women. - [Google Launches Another Core Update](https://growthengine.ca/google-seo-agencies-update/): A two-week rollout period would overlap with one of the busiest online shopping weekends of the year, the Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) gauntlet. The fact that Google launched the update with no warning (as is typical) at the onset of the critical holiday shopping period (which is atypical) caused consternation among SEO agencies. - [Preparing for a Very Different Holiday Season](https://growthengine.ca/holiday-season-digital-advertising/): With the holiday season and the New Year fast approaching, it’s time to look at how brands are spending their December marketing budgets. December is always a digital advertising bonanza, but last year was even more excessive than usual. Holiday gatherings and family assemblies were strictly limited by COVID-necessitated public health guidelines across much of Canada, meaning many consumers spent the usually busy holiday period in the same manner that they had spent the previous 10 months: at home and on their devices. - [Tech Giants’ Earnings Reports Speak to State of Digital Advertising](https://growthengine.ca/earnings-reports-digital-advertising/): Late last month the world’s biggest tech companies released their quarterly earnings reports. Some were good, some were bad, and all of them spoke to the current state of digital advertising. Here are some things to note: - [Semrush Confirms SEO Volatility](https://growthengine.ca/semrush-seo-volatility/): If you feel like your website has been bouncing around Google’s search engine results pages more than usual this year, you’re right. Last month, Semrush, the online visibility management SaaS platform, published data proving that SEO results were more volatile between January and October 2021 than in previous years. - [Google Updates Search Quality Rater Guidelines](https://growthengine.ca/search-quality-guidelines-seo-agencies/): Last week, Google announced that it had updated its ‘search quality rater guidelines’ for the first time in over a year. Here’s what that means, and how it affects SEO agencies and their clients. - [Traffic Diversity Mitigates Impacts of Google Algorithm Updates](https://growthengine.ca/website-traffic-diversity-digital-marketing/): Well said! As a digital marketing agency providing search engine advertising and search engine optimization services to clients of all sizes, we’re very familiar with the performance turbulence that Google’s frequent algorithm updates and ranking tweaks can cause. That turbulence is always worst for companies that rely solely on paid search and SEO for traffic. - [How Will Facebook’s Difficult Week Affect Digital Marketing?](https://growthengine.ca/facebooks-difficult-week-digital-marketing/): The outage should serve as a reminder of the importance of channel diversity to successful digital marketing. Too many companies rely solely on Facebook and Instagram to reach customers – those companies were seriously hurt by the crash. An inclusive digital marketing campaign that combines social media marketing with a healthy mix of paid search, SEO, display, etc. will give you a better chance of reaching your customers, even if most of your audience spends its time on Instagram. You’ll also be protected in the unlikely case of another protracted outage. - [Google Announces New Ad Transparency Efforts](https://growthengine.ca/google-digital-advertising-transparency/): Over the past several years, Google has made several well-publicized changes to its digital advertising platforms to improve user privacy and give users more control over their online experiences. These changes have become increasingly necessary as users have become more aware of how much data they unwittingly provide to major platforms. - [Google Announces New Display Campaign Type](https://growthengine.ca/google-new-display-marketing-campaign/): Last week, Google announced a new type of Display marketing campaign that will combine the user-friendliness of its ‘Smart Display’ campaign types with the customization and fine-tuning of its standard campaigns. - [Internet Users are More Mobile Than Ever](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-mobile-marketing/): For several years, digital marketers have understood that mobile marketing isn’t just the way of the future – it’s also the way of the present. Last week, eMarketer reported that, according to Conviva’s ‘State of Streaming Q2 2021’ report, mobile is far and away the number one device for watching YouTube videos. Sixty-three per cent of all video views (defined by YouTube as ‘any 30-second watch time on a video’) occurred on mobile devices, compared to 12 per cent on desktop, 8 per cent on tablet, and 3 per cent on consoles. Connected TVs and other devices accounted for 14 per cent of all views. - [Google’s Page Experience Update is Now Complete](https://growthengine.ca/seo-agency-page-experience-update-complete/): To the relief of every SEO agency in Toronto, in Canada, and across North America, Google’s Page Experience Update is now complete. The search engine announced the milestone from its Google Search Central Twitter account on September 2, marking the end of an unusually volatile period for search engine rankings. Below, we’ll recap the last several months in changes. - [Google Updates Process for Generating Search Result Titles](https://growthengine.ca/seo-strategy-serp-title-update/): Last week, Google announced an update to the way it generates page titles on its search engine results pages (SERPs). While the change won’t significantly impact our SEO strategy or your SEO results in the short term, it is emblematic of Google’s ongoing prioritization of user-focused relevancy indicators over technical ones. - [Digital Marketing Should be multi-Generational](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-should-be-multi-generational/): For digital marketing agencies, these facts come as both good and bad news. Digital has never been more critical to the overall marketing and advertising mix; it has also never been more competitive. Brands understand that their clients, regardless of age, can be found online, and are adjusting their budgets appropriately. Costs-per-click are rising, advertising has flooded social media feeds, and SEO has become a ruthless game of content competition and metadata one-upmanship. It’s no longer enough to attract an impressive budget; digital marketing agencies must understand their prospective audiences and tailor their strategies to meet consumers where they spend their time online. - [Google Makes Changes to Better Protect Young Users](https://growthengine.ca/kids-internet-privacy-digital-marketing-agency/): With more time online comes more potential safety issues. It is our view, as a digital marketing agency, that the responsibility for protecting kids’ data and privacy lays predominantly with the platforms on which that time is spent, meaning Google, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc. - [COVID-Weary Users Turn to YouTube, and Digital Marketing Agencies Follow](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-agencies-youtube-covid/): The COVID-19 pandemic prompted people around the world to change their behaviour, often to the benefit of the tech industry and digital marketing agencies. Earlier this year, a team of YouTube trends analysts from Google released the YouTube Culture and Trends Report, which provides analysis on the global shift from in-person to online socialization and theorizes on how brands can benefit. - [Google Launches Link Spam Update](https://growthengine.ca/google-launches-link-spam-update/): “In our continued efforts to improve the quality of the search results, we’re launching a new link spam fighting change today – which we call the “link spam update,” reads a Google Search Central post from July 26. “This algorithm update, which will rollout across the next two weeks, is even more effective at identifying and nullifying link spam more broadly, across multiple languages. Sites taking part in link spam will see changes in Search as those links are re-assessed by our algorithms.” - [Google Ads Announces ‘Three Strike’ System for Policy Violations](https://growthengine.ca/google-ads-three-strikes-policy-violations/): Last week, Google Ads announced a new ‘three-strike’ system to discourage advertisers from repeatedly violating its policies. According to an article posted to Google Ads Help Center by Product Manager Brett Kline, the system seeks to bolster Google’s commitment to ‘creating a trustworthy ad experience for users, advertisers and publishers.’ The system will be piloted starting in September. - [How Will the Move Away from Cookies Affect Google Ads?](https://growthengine.ca/digital-advertising-cookies-google-ads/): In the interest of promoting user privacy, Google and other tech giants are slowly moving towards a cookie-less future. That change has massive implications for digital advertising platforms like Facebook and Instagram, which rely on cookies to track to user behaviour and deliver relevant advertising. - [Google Caps Months of Algorithm Changes with July Core Update](https://growthengine.ca/seo-agencies-google-algorithm-update/): The period between early April and late July 2021 will be remembered as one of the busiest on record for SEO agencies that live and die by Google’s ranking algorithms. At least six significant algorithm updates have touched practically every industry and played havoc with website traffic and rankings. - [YouTube Viewership Surge Offers Digital Marketing Opportunities](https://growthengine.ca/youtube-digital-marketing-opportunities/): The COVID-19 pandemic changed the ways people around the world, including Canadians, consumed media. Digital streaming services like Netflix, Crave, and Amazon Prime exploded in popularity, but perhaps no platform received as much viewership as YouTube. According to Think with Google Canada, more than 2 billion people around the world watch YouTube videos every month, with implications for digital marketing. - [Do Fewer Cookies in Digital Advertising Really Mean More Privacy?](https://growthengine.ca/fewer-digital-advertising-cookies-more-privacy/): User and data privacy are hot-button issues in the tech world, and the digital advertising sector, in particular. At the centre of the controversy are cookies: platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and others rely on cookies to collect user data and reach consumers with personalized ads. Google also uses cookies for products like display advertising, but its primary money-makers – Google Ads and YouTube Ads – don’t rely on cookies. - [Can Facebook Sustain Digital Marketing Dominance Amid Slowing User Growth?](https://growthengine.ca/facebook-digital-marketing-user-growth/): Facebook has become controversial. To some, it represents the dark side of the social media age, an ad-fuelled outrage machine feeding off negativity and polarization. To others, it is a means of accessing news, keeping up with friends and family, and discovering new communities. What does Facebook’s contentious reputation mean for digital marketing? - [Google Launches June Core Update and Announces Another Update for July](https://growthengine.ca/june-july-algorithm-updates-digital-marketing/): Google announced last week that the June 2021 Core Update, a major search engine algorithm shakeup, began rolling out on June 2. It also announced that the July 2021 Core Update will be rolled out next month. Both of these updates are in addition to the Page Experience Update being rolled out in mid-June, making for an unusually busy stretch for digital marketing agencies. - [Google Continues Barrage of Digital Marketing Product Announcements](https://growthengine.ca/google-new-updated-digital-marketing-tools/): At the end of an already-busy month in digital marketing, Google held its Marketing Livestream event on Thursday, meaning even more info for search engine marketers to process and communicate to their clients. Here’s what we learned: - [Digital Marketing News from Google I/O](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-news-from-google-i-o/): Google held its annual I/O developers conference from Tuesday to Thursday last week. As usual, the company announced a raft of updates and innovations with digital marketing implications, including doubling down on AI, bringing augmented reality (AR) functions to local search, and an expanded relationship with Shopify. - [Google Announces New, Privacy-Focused Digital Marketing Tools](https://growthengine.ca/privacy-focused-digital-marketing-google/): Internet users have never been more concerned about privacy, which puts digital marketing platforms like Google in an awkward position. Google has maintained a degree of public goodwill over the past several years, especially when compared to platforms like Twitter, which has been implicated in the rise of populist politics in the West, and Facebook, which has struggled to stamp out extremism and misinformation while simultaneously bungling data privacy challenges. - [Alphabet Releases Q1 Earnings](https://growthengine.ca/alphabet-q1-results-digital-marketing/): Google’s parent company, Alphabet, announced its first quarter 2021 results at the end of April and, like Facebook’s, they show that big tech has flourished on the back of digital marketing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s total revenue was $55.31 billion, up from $41.16 billion during last year’s COVID-altered first quarter and better than the $51.7 billion analysts had predicted. Google’s revenue alone increased from $33.76 billion in 2020 to $44.68 billion, up 34 per cent. - [Digital Marketing Insights in Facebook’s Q1 2021 Results](https://growthengine.ca/facebook-results-digital-marketing-insights/): Facebook released its Q1 2021 results last week. As always, the report contained nuggets of insightful information for digital marketing agencies and their clients. - [Apple’s Latest, Security-Focused iOS is Now Rolling Out](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-platforms-ios-14-5/): While iOS updates are far from irregular occurrences, the digital marketing industry has been warily anticipating this particular tweak for months. That’s because iOS 14.5 will include something called ATT – App Tracking Transparency – which some advertising platforms believe will impact the effectiveness of their offering. Here’s how CNBC described the feature last week: - [Understanding Core Web Vitals](https://growthengine.ca/understanding-core-web-vitals/): In May, Google will launch its Page Experience Update, a significant search algorithm reconfiguration that will place ‘Core Web Vitals’ front and centre, making your website’s user-friendliness more important than ever. In anticipation of this event, Digital Marketing Depot recently released a comprehensive guide to Core Web Vitals. Here’s what you need to know: - [IAB: Digital Advertising Revenue Surged in 2020, Despite Global Catastrophe](https://growthengine.ca/iab-digital-advertising-revenues-2020/): The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) released its 2020 “Internet Advertising Revenue Report,” conducted by PwC, late last week. The report found that, while internet ad revenues took a hit during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the second quarter (Q2) of last year, subsequent quarters more than made up for the momentary revenue decline. Overall, digital advertising revenues increased 12.2% year-over-year (YoY). - [What’s New in the Social Media Marketing World?](https://growthengine.ca/social-media-marketing-update-2021/): Last week, eMarketer released its Q1 2021 Social Media Update, a ‘summary of key developments’ in the social media marketing world. It’s no secret that social media is now integral to any digital marketing strategy – we’re at the point where some businesses are foregoing traditional websites in favour of Facebook, Instagram, and Google My Business profiles. With that in mind, here are a few key trends, developments, and stats from eMarketer’s report. - [Do Zero-Click Searches Hurt or Help SEO Clients?](https://growthengine.ca/rise-zero-click-searches-business/): For other businesses, the rise of zero-click searches might complicate performance tracking, but it isn’t clearly ‘bad.’ More zero-click searches means less website traffic, but it doesn’t necessarily mean less business; advertisers tend not to care whether a phone call comes from their website’s ‘Contact Us’ page or their Google My Business listing – a lead’s a lead. - [Are You Ready for the Post-Pandemic World?](https://growthengine.ca/post-pandemic-digital-marketing/): The COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to rapidly reconsider their marketing strategies. Digital marketing and online commerce surged: according to Digital Commerce 360, e-commerce sales increased by $174.87 billion from 2019 to 2020. - [The Pandemic Stole its Spotlight, but 5G is Still the Next Biggest Thing in Tech](https://growthengine.ca/5g-will-change-digital-marketing/): When we think back to our pre-pandemic lives, the focus is probably on family gatherings, live concerts, and busy restaurants, not 5G networks. But in the months before COVID-19 forced lockdowns and disruptions around the world, 5G was a hot subject of conversation in digital marketing circles and beyond. The burgeoning technology promised to revolutionize the way users accessed the internet. - [Google’s Page Experience Update is Around the Corner](https://growthengine.ca/seo-agencies-page-experience-update/): It’s time to start talking about Google’s upcoming Page Experience Update. This major algorithm tweak, which SEO agencies first caught wind of in May 2020 and is expected to launch in May of this year, will judge pages based on how user friendly they are. To do this, it will consider your page’s Core Web Vitals, a series of user-oriented metrics measuring load times, interactivity, visual stability, and more. - [Why Did Facebook Block News Access in Australia?](https://growthengine.ca/facebook-news-australia-digital-marketing/): Last week, Facebook took another step toward becoming the world’s most mistrusted tech company by abruptly blocking Australians’ access to news content. It also barred news publishers in that country from posting on their pages. The move was in retaliation to proposed legislation that would help publishers compete with digital marketing giants like Facebook and Google. You can learn more about that legislation here. - [Google Announces Passage Ranking](https://growthengine.ca/passage-ranking-digital-marketing-agency/): As a Google Premier Partner digital marketing agency, GrowthEngine Media has unique insights into Google’s preferred practices. Our content development team understands the importance of crafting clear, simple text that delivers website visitors the information they need to know. Bloated, keyword-heavy content is a relic of SEO’s past, and the passage ranking update is another clear indication of Google’s emphasis on great user experiences. - [Why is Facebook Angry at Apple?](https://growthengine.ca/why-is-facebook-angry-at-apple/): The rivalry between Facebook and Apple has reached a new climax in advance of Apple’s upcoming software update, which will give users more control over their data. Facebook is opposed to the change, which could undermine their sprawling digital marketing services. - [Google Canada Shares 2021 Marketing Trends](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-trends-2021/): Last week, Google Canada asked three leaders from its digital marketing team to discuss trends that they believe will animate consumers in 2021. These trends may not apply directly to your business, but they are helpful for understanding the digital-first world in which you operate. - [Google Refuses to Help Australia News Industry, Threatens Withdrawal](https://growthengine.ca/google-australia-digital-advertising/): Over the past decades, the emergence of big tech companies has devastated news media. In Australia, the government reports that print has seen a 75 per cent decrease in advertising revenue since 2005, a decrease caused both by the devaluation of print advertising and by the tech giants’ insatiable appetite for digital advertising market share. - [Consumer Trends for 2021](https://growthengine.ca/2021-consumer-digital-marketing-trends/): Google recently published an analysis of ‘billions of searches from 2020, as well as consumer behaviours, surveys, and interviews.’ The analysis yielded five insights about consumers in 2021 that will help digital marketing agencies reach audiences more effectively in the coming year. - [Reflecting on Lessons from a Unique Black Friday-Cyber Monday](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-agencies-black-friday-cyber-monday/): The Black Friday-Cyber Monday (BFCM) period tends to be a bellwether for the holiday shopping season. In the past, it has provided clues about how much Canadians will spend in December and how much of that spending will occur online, which makes it a point of intense focus for digital marketing agencies. The 2020 BFCM was no exception. - [Are SEO Copywriters Too Focused on Structure?](https://growthengine.ca/seo-copywriting-changing-rules/): SEO copywriting has traditionally come with a lot of rules: your content must be at least X-number of words long; it must contain X-number of keywords; it must not be too similar to any other content on your site; it must be written simply, in short-and-sweet sentences and in a strong, active voice. - [Canadian Retailers Prepare for Unprecedented Holiday Season](https://growthengine.ca/ecommerce-pandemic-digital-marketing-holiday-shopping/): Across Canada, retailers and other businesses are preparing for the most online holiday shopping season ever. Black Friday creative is either ready to be published or already online and digital marketing agencies are polishing their December strategies. More than 70 per cent of Canadian holiday shoppers are avoiding brick-and-mortar stores this year, meaning the Black Friday and Cyber Monday e-commerce bonanza could be more lucrative than ever. - [Google Confirms Upcoming User Experience Ranking Update](https://growthengine.ca/seo-agencies-ux-algorithm-update/): SEO agencies take notice: a major Google ranking algorithm update is around the corner. - [Tech Earnings Surge Amid Pandemic](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-tech-earnings/): The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on businesses around the world, but many of the largest, most influential, and most profitable companies on Earth have actually benefited from the unprecedented global catastrophe. Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Facebook, and Twitter all released earning reports in the past few weeks; here’s how they performed, and what that means for digital marketing. - [Why Haven’t New Users Flocked to Social Media During COVID-19?](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-new-social-media-users/): At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital marketing experts speculated that social media networks would see a significant increase in engagement and new users. During a time of unprecedented unrest and uncertainty, the thinking went, people would flock to Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms for instant, up-to-the-minute news coverage. - [Google Ads Turns 20](https://growthengine.ca/search-engine-marketing-google-ads-anniversary/): October 23 marked the 20th anniversary of the launch of Google AdWords, the search engine marketing leader now rebranded as Google Ads. The platform’s goal, according to the official Google Ads Twitter account, has always been to ‘”make it easy for anyone – even those who have little or no online advertising experience” to promote their business online.’ - [How Will Holiday Consumers React to COVID-19?](https://growthengine.ca/covid-19-holidays-digital-marketing/): In the digital marketing world, it’s never too early to plan for the holiday season. Think with Google Canada recently examined online activity from this year’s Mother’s Day, Easter, and back-to-school periods in order to predict how consumers will navigate this year’s unprecedented, COVID-affected end-of-year festivities. - [Here’s How Canadian Consumer Behaviour has Changed Amid COVID-19](https://growthengine.ca/consumer-behaviour-digital-marketing-covid-19/): Last week, Think with Google Canada released new insights on the consumer journeys Canadians are taking amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Unsurprisingly, consumption and buying habits have shifted drastically in the last eight months. With most of the country experiencing a second wave of infections, these trends are expected to continue, if not accelerate, with implications for the digital marketing industry. - [Google Confirms Indexing Outages](https://growthengine.ca/seo-agency-google-indexing-bugs/): Last week, Google announced on Twitter that it was dealing with a pair of indexing issues, confirming what eagle-eyed SEOs had suspected for several days. Both Search Engine Land and Search Engine Journal covered the issue prior to Google’s confirmation after search managers reported that their sites had been de-indexed. There’s no greater fear as an SEO agency than seeing your client’s site suddenly disappear from search results. - [Reviews and Ratings are Critical to Online Performance](https://growthengine.ca/reputation-management-agency-ratings-reviews/): Customer reviews and ratings are critical to a business’s online performance. This has never been truer that it is now, as consumers stay home and avoid brick-and-mortar locations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a digital marketing and reputation management agency, GrowthEngine Media has for years encouraged clients to prioritize online reviews, especially on Google. Now, new data suggests review-building and -management should be more of a priority than ever. - [Internet Users are Looking Online to Satisfy Basic Human Needs, and Google is Delighted](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-youtube-human-needs/): Google has been closely tracking user engagement with its platforms during the pandemic and leveraging that information into new advertising tactics. A recent Think with Google article illustrates why YouTube viewers are turning to the internet to satisfy basic human needs and why that’s a good thing for digital marketing advertisers. - [Will Microsoft Ads’ New LinkedIn Targeting Attract B2B Clients?](https://growthengine.ca/search-engine-marketing-linkedin-microsoft-ads/): At the beginning of the month, Microsoft announced that it was rolling out LinkedIn targeting options to search engine marketing agencies in several countries, including Canada. The move could have major benefits for business-to-business (B2B) advertisers, not to mention Microsoft itself. - [Apple’s Upcoming Privacy Changes Could Alter the Digital Marketing Landscape](https://growthengine.ca/apple-privacy-digital-marketing/): In June, Apple announced an update, scheduled for this fall, that will make it easier for users to prevent apps from tracking their behaviour and movement on the internet. The move could fundamentally change the digital marketing landscape – here’s what you need to know. - [You Can Do More with Google My Business!](https://growthengine.ca/optimize-gmb-local-search/): Google My Business (GMB) has become a critical local search marketing tool for businesses of all sizes. It’s a first point of contact for consumers, as well as a key driver of both online and offline traffic. At GrowthEngine, we believe that too few businesses take full advantage of the many tools and features GMB has to offer. Recent studies suggest we’re not alone in that opinion. - [As Facebook Boycott Lingers, Small Advertisers Are in a Tough Spot](https://growthengine.ca/facebook-advertising-boycott-lingers/): Last month, several prominent companies announced that they would temporarily pause Facebook advertising in support of the #StopHateForProfit movement. The campaign aims to raise awareness of hate speech and misinformation on Facebook and push for changes to the company’s policies. More than 1,000 advertisers were taking part as of August 11, according to AdAge. - [Great Content Remains Essential to SEO Success](https://growthengine.ca/content-seo-agency-success/): “Content is King” is one of the oldest adages in the SEO world. It is as true today as it was five and ten years ago; every SEO agency places content near the top of its list of priorities. Last week, AdAge published some tips for assessing and improving the quality of the content on your website. The advice provides insights into the sort of work your SEO agency is performing. - [Merkle Launches First Digital Marketing Report in COVID Era](https://growthengine.ca/merkle-digital-marketing-report-q2-2020/): Last week, the performance marketing agency Merkle released its Q2 2020 Digital Marketing Report. This is the first Merkle report firmly planted in the COVID-19 era; its Q1 report contained only a hint of the pandemic’s impact. - [Half the World Now Uses Social Media](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-global-social-usage/): Not every industry has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic; in fact, some are flourishing. Last week, social media management platform HootSuite released a report showing that ‘more than half the world’s population now uses social media.’ The finding has clear implications for any digital marketing professionals still wary of social advertising. - [Digital Marketing Challenges in 2020 and Beyond](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-agency-challenges-2020/): Despite its advantages, digital marketing isn’t fail proof. Success requires dedication, focus, and investment from you and your digital marketing agency. Recently, the Ad Age Collective Expert Panel identified key challenges facing the digital marketing industry and, in some cases offered solutions. Here are a few important observations: - [TikTok Ads Go Global](https://growthengine.ca/tiktok-digital-advertising/): Last week, Chinese social media giant TikTok introduced a new self-serve digital advertising platform, now available globally. The platform provides access to creative, budgeting, and targeting tools for small- and medium-sized businesses. Business accounts will also be available in the future. - [Facebook Ads Boycott Gains Steam](https://growthengine.ca/facebook-boycott-social-media-marketing/): Over the past three weeks, numerous high-profile companies have joined a boycott of Facebook’s social media marketing services labelled “Stop Hate for Profit.” Participants include Ben & Jerry’s, The North Face, Magnolia Pictures, Patagonia, Verizon and Microsoft. - [eMarketer Predicts Unprecedented Google Revenue Decline](https://growthengine.ca/emarketer-digital-advertising-google/): For the first time in years, eMarketer expects Google’s net US digital ad revenues to decline in 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Facebook and Amazon’s revenues are expected to grow, but more slowly than predicted at the beginning of the year. The three platforms’ combined revenues will increase by less than $2 billion, a major reversal for the digital advertising sector. Here’s what eMarketer had to say: - [As the Advertising Industry Struggles, Digital Marketing Stays Afloat](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-covid-19-resilience/): The advertising sector, like all other industries, is feeling the effects of the COVID-19 crisis. Magna Global, IPC Mediabrands’ media strategy branch, expects significantly lower US ad revenues in the second quarter of 2020 compared to last year. Local TV ads, radio ads, and print ads will be particularly affected: the forecast predicts contractions of 30 per cent, 34 per cent, and 40 per cent, respectively, for those channels. The impact on digital marketing will be less severe. - [We Still Don’t Know What the Post-COVID World Will Look Like](https://growthengine.ca/digital-marketing-strategy-post-covid-19/): The COVID-19 pandemic has already profoundly changed the way we work, the way we spend, global economy operates, and digital marketing strategy. What we don’t know is how permanent these changes will be, and what other changes are in store. ## Pages - [New Home](https://growthengine.ca/new-home/) - [Influencer Marketing](https://growthengine.ca/influencer-marketing/): Influencer marketing works when the creator is genuinely aligned with your audience and your brand. We do the research, manage the relationship, and measure the outcome — end to end. - [Social Media Advertising ](https://growthengine.ca/social-media-advertising/): Paid social advertising connects your brand with the right audience at the right moment — on the platforms they spend their time. We manage campaigns across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn with a creative-first approach, structured audience strategy, and full-funnel attribution that connects spend to revenue. - [Social Media Optimisation](https://growthengine.ca/social-media-optimisation/): Social Media Optimisation (SMO) is the practice of optimising your social profiles and content for search visibility, AI discoverability, and platform algorithm performance. When someone searches for your brand — or asks ChatGPT to recommend a business in your category — your social profiles influence what they find. We make sure they find the right thing. - [Social Media Analytics](https://growthengine.ca/social-media-analytics/): Follower counts and impressions tell you nothing about business impact. We build social media reporting frameworks around the metrics that matter — engagement rates, traffic driven, leads generated, and revenue influenced — delivered monthly with competitor benchmarking and full attribution tracking. - [Social Community Management](https://growthengine.ca/social-community-management/): Community management is not a nice-to-have — unanswered comments damage engagement algorithms, unmonitored DMs lose sales enquiries, and undetected brand mentions let problems grow in silence. We act as your brand voice 5 days per week, responding, engaging, and monitoring across every active platform. - [Social Content Creation](https://growthengine.ca/social-content-creation/): Great social media content is not about posting frequently — it is about posting content that your audience recognises, engages with, and shares. We build content strategies, write platform-specific copy, design visual direction, and script short-form video — 20–30 pieces per month, in your brand voice, for your approval before anything goes live. - [GEO Optimisation](https://growthengine.ca/geo-optimisation/): The GEO Growth Programme combines all five components of AI search visibility audit, schema foundation, AI-optimized content, citation authority building, and monthly monitoring into a single, coordinated monthly engagement managed by a dedicated GEO specialist. - [AI Citation Monitoring](https://growthengine.ca/ai-citation-monitoring/): AI search visibility is not a one-time achievement — it shifts every month as AI platforms update their models, competitors improve their GEO, and your content evolves. Monthly AI citation monitoring tracks every change across 5 platforms, benchmarks competitors, and delivers a clear AI Visibility Score so progress is always measurable. - [Citation Building](https://growthengine.ca/citation-building/): AI platforms are more likely to cite your brand if they encounter it consistently across authoritative sources — editorial publications, industry directories, review platforms, Wikipedia, and credible social channels. We build your citation authority across every channel that feeds AI confidence signals. - [AI Content Optimisation](https://growthengine.ca/ai-content-optimisation/): AI tools excerpt and cite content based on its structure — not just its keyword relevance. Q&A format, fact-dense paragraphs, comparison tables, and clear definitions are the content formats AI platforms prefer. We restructure existing content and create new AI-first content built around these mechanics. - [Schema Audit](https://growthengine.ca/schema-audit/): Schema markup and entity establishment are the technical foundation of AI search visibility. Without proper Organization schema, FAQ markup, and entity signals, AI tools cannot reliably identify, understand, or cite your brand no matter how good your content is. - [AI Visibility Audit](https://growthengine.ca/ai-visibility-audit/): Most businesses have no idea how visible they are in AI-generated answers. Our AI Visibility Audit tests your brand across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Bing Copilot, and Google Gemini — delivering an AI Visibility Score and a competitor benchmark in 48 hours. - [Bing Ads](https://growthengine.ca/bing-ads/): Most businesses focus exclusively on Google — leaving a profitable, lower-CPC audience on Bing untouched. Microsoft Advertising reaches 900 million monthly users with 15–25% lower average CPCs and a demographic that skews older, more educated, and higher-income. We manage Bing Ads alongside your Google campaigns for maximum paid search coverage. - [YouTube Ads](https://growthengine.ca/youtube-ads/): Yes — YouTube ads require video creative. For skippable in-stream ads, the minimum recommended length is 15–30 seconds. For YouTube Shorts ads, vertical video under 60 seconds is required. We provide detailed creative briefs for your video production team, or we can connect you with production partners. Some ad formats, like Discovery ads, use thumbnail images alongside your video. - [LinkedIn Ads](https://growthengine.ca/linkedin-ads/): LinkedIn is the only platform that lets you target buyers by exact job title, company, seniority, and industry simultaneously — reaching decision-makers in a professional mindset, not a passive social browsing state. We are a LinkedIn Marketing Partner specialising in B2B pipeline generation. - [Facebook & Instagram ads](https://growthengine.ca/facebook-and-instagram-ads/): Meta Business Partner certified management across Facebook and Instagram. Creative strategy, audience architecture, retargeting sequences, and eCommerce catalogue ads — all structured to deliver measurable ROAS, not just impressions and reach. - [Google Ads Management](https://growthengine.ca/google-ads-management/): Google Partner certified management across Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Display, and remarketing. AI-enhanced bidding, granular campaign architecture, and full-funnel attribution — every dollar tracked from click to revenue. - [Enterprise SEO](https://growthengine.ca/enterprise-seo/): Enterprise SEO is not scaled-up standard SEO. It requires a different methodology — rigorous architecture planning, content at industrial scale, a link acquisition program that moves domain authority, and governance frameworks that make SEO work across every team. That is what we build. - [eCommerce SEO](https://growthengine.ca/ecommerce-seo/): eCommerce SEO is a distinct discipline — thousands of product URLs, faceted navigation, pagination, and platform-specific quirks that standard SEO programs miss entirely. We specialise in the unique challenges of ranking eCommerce sites and connecting that traffic to actual purchases. - [Local SEO](https://growthengine.ca/local-seo/): Local SEO is a distinct discipline from national SEO. Google's local ranking algorithm weights factors that most standard SEO programs ignore entirely — and we specialise in every one of them. - [On Page SEO](https://growthengine.ca/on-page-seo/): On-page SEO is every element within your control on a single page from the title tag Google reads first to the FAQ schema that gets you cited in ChatGPT. We optimise every signal systematically, across every page that matters. - [Keyword Research Strategy](https://growthengine.ca/keyword-research-strategy/): Keyword research is not a spreadsheet exercise it is the strategic foundation of your entire content and SEO program. We map your full keyword universe, classify every query by intent, and build a topic cluster architecture your team can execute against for years. - [Technical SEO Audit](https://growthengine.ca/technical-seo-audit/): A technical SEO audit is the foundation of every successful SEO program. We crawl your site the same way Google does, identify every issue blocking your rankings, and deliver a prioritised fix plan your developer can act on immediately. - [Blog](https://growthengine.ca/blog/): Practical guides, data-driven strategy, and plain-English explanations from our in-house specialists. No sponsored content, no recycled advice — just what is actually working in 2026. - [Hosting Management Services](https://growthengine.ca/hosting-management-services/): Managed WordPress hosting, website maintenance plans, and 24/7 security monitoring. We handle everything so you never have to think about hosting again - while your site stays fast, safe, and fully backed up. - [Content Marketing Services](https://growthengine.ca/content-marketing-services/): We build content strategies that drive organic traffic, generate qualified leads, and appear in AI-generated answers. The only content agency in Canada that optimizes for both Google and ChatGPT simultaneously. - [Web Development Services](https://growthengine.ca/web-development-services/): Every site we build is engineered for search rankings from day one - structured data, Core Web Vitals, AI-crawlable architecture, and conversion-optimised UX baked into the foundation, not bolted on after launch. - [Social Media Services](https://growthengine.ca/social-media-services/): Social media management built for 2026 - where content needs to perform on Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok, and your brand needs to appear when AI tools answer questions about your industry. - [PPC Services](https://growthengine.ca/ppc-services/): ROI-first PPC management across Google, Meta, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Microsoft Bing. We do not just run campaigns — we build revenue machines backed by AI bidding intelligence and full-funnel attribution. - [AI Optimization](https://growthengine.ca/ai-optimization/): When buyers ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews about your industry - does your brand appear? We build the content, schema, and authority signals that make AI tools trust and cite your brand. - [Terms & Conditions](https://growthengine.ca/terms-conditions/) - [Preference Center](https://growthengine.ca/gh/) - [Home](https://growthengine.ca/): SEO, AI Optimization, PPC, Social Media, Content Marketing, Web Development, and Managed Hosting all under one roof, built for the era of AI search, and backed by years of online marketing experience and marketing expertise. - [Search Engine Optimization](https://growthengine.ca/search-engine-optimization/): We combine 14+ years of technical SEO expertise with cutting-edge AI optimization - so your brand dominates both traditional search results and AI-generated answers from ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews. - [Contact Us](https://growthengine.ca/contact-us/): Whether you need more traffic, better leads, a stronger social presence, or a website that actually converts — the conversation starts here. Tell us about your business and we will show you exactly where the opportunities are. - [Privacy Policy](https://growthengine.ca/privacy-policy/): Suggested text: Our website address is: https://growthengine.ca.