Hello and welcome to another episode of the 90 Day Website Mastery Podcast. It's episode 31. We're excited to bring you even more valuable insights and practical advice to help you enhance your website's performance. Join us as we explore strategies to make your website work harder for you and reignite your pride in your online presence. I'm here with my co-host Pascal Fintoni and we have 4
segments in each episode. We start with you ask, we answer where we've got a question submitted by our community asking us if we can help solve something for you. We have the website stories where 1 article or podcast or perhaps a video has taken our interest and we want to explore it further. And we then move onto the website engine room where we share an app each or a piece of kit that we can help you as a website manager and a website content creator make your life
easier and be proud of your website. And then lastly, of course, we finish with a call to action. Every piece of content should have a call to action. So our last segment is the website call to action. Pascal, how are you today? I'm very good. Listen, I've gone through the show notes and this is going to be another 1 that's packed full with suggestions, advice, and hints. And a lot of it will be actually giving people lots
of prep research and homework. I hope you don't mind, but this is what it's all about. You've got to investigate, you've got to upskill yourselves into what it means to be a website manager. And I think you're going to find the Ask We Answer and website stories particularly interesting. Well, with that note, let's move on to You Ask, We Answer. Now, this is a question that I spotted online. I'm going to say from memory,
LinkedIn, but I could be wrong. And there was some exchanges in and around websites, stats, analytics, and so on, Johnny. And somebody actually quite smartly said, listen, can we just keep things simple? I keep hearing that I've got to get ready for a cookie-less internet. And I'm really not sure that people know what it means. Certainly, I could do someone explain to me what it means in plain English and what I should do about it. And then people kind of plowed in and make things even more
complicated. So this is going to be, Johnny, and my attempts to make things very, very simple and clarify what we mean by a cookie less. But perhaps, Johnny, do you want to start by telling us about cookies, which I know I'm very fond of, in terms of eating them, but also, yeah, once again, a bizarre term that has been adopted a long time ago that maybe people have lost track of its meaning. Chocolate chip ones are probably my
favorite. And interestingly, there was my 8 year old was using the Amazon Firestick the other day and it came up with some kind of cookie consent for some strange reason. Normally you only see that on the setup, but anyway, she was laughing her head off saying, daddy, it's asking me about cookies on my TV screen. So there
we go, but you're right. So cookies in the terms of websites and digital, they are small text files that sit on your device and help website owners, help analytics, help advertisers track what you're doing. And also are used for being able to, perhaps you've logged into something, that cookie enables you to stay logged in on that device. So they can be extremely helpful, but they can really go into your privacy. And and they're certainly used for for tracking
what's going on. But there's big changes. And And probably Apple were way ahead of this, stopping third-party cookies a long time ago. So the likes of Facebook advertising, Instagram advertising would use the cookie to be able to remarket to you, to be able to track what you're doing, to be able to track which websites you're going to. And that would help Meta decide how to advertise and who to advertise to. But the likes of Apple stopped that third party tracking quite a
while ago. And are limiting first party tracking. So I'm conscious I don't want to go too detailed Pascal, so to help bring me back. But yeah, in answer to the initial question, what are cookies? I guess I've given some answer there. So that means that the expression a cookie less world or internet is not true because you're still going to have your own cookie. So as a website manager and owner, you're going to have the ability to make life easier for yourself and your
visitors. I thought it was important. Thank you, Johnny, that you reminded us that we get benefits from visiting website more than once. We don't have to necessarily re-enter our details again, or we can see the pages that we visited being recommended and so on. So the issue is more, well, the issue, actually, what I welcome is a more private way in which you can use web browsers and visit the
internet. So the kind of reaction, the open arms kind of reaction comes from, I would say perhaps less ethical marketers to begin with, I would argue, but also, yeah, well, nothing can last forever. I agree to a point that Google is playing a clever game as well, saying, well, we're going to stop all of you, but ourselves, tracking things and so on. So yeah, we're
going to have that kind of things. But for me, it also brings back this idea of if you really want to have data and intelligence by your customers, current and future, you're going to have to use different methods. And interestingly, you know, I've explored this in previous episodes of this podcast and the webinars. So think about what advertising can help you capture interesting data
about your customers. But also why don't you use that as a setting point by your organization that you've aligned your kind of activities and behavior to actually welcome and embrace a more private internet. Yeah, for sure. It is about privacy. It is absolutely about privacy. But the likes of Google, of course, have us using
Google Chrome. And so they are not worried as much about a cookieless internet because they have so many people, such a high percentage using Google Chrome that they can still access a lot of data that they want to access anyway. But the likes, I guess the bigger issue from my point of view as a small business owner working with many small to medium businesses, I think the bigger issue is the likes of meta. So the likes of advertising and the likes of analytics
even as well. So if you're using Google analytics, then there's a lot of ways that Google's combating this. But it's about making sure that, Let's take Google Analytics first. So it's about making sure that you set up as many event tracking things that you can put in place as possible. So helping Google understand what happens when someone clicks a button. Are you wanting people to watch a video? Or you want it, What do you want
people to do? And have you used, for example, Google Tag Manager to tag the entire website so that Google can fully understand what you're wanting people to do and are they doing these things? And that's how you can build that analytical data to absolutely help from, for
example, Google Ads. So if you want to perform well in Google Ads, then you really need to make sure that you've got as much event tracking going on, which we've said for years, but this takes it up to another level that sort of if you're not doing this now, then it has an impact on how your pay-per-click will perform and how your analytics data is
how good that data is. So setting up events and then setting up key events and then likewise Inside Meta, there's a bigger issue because the only way for Meta to get data now is by you physically in a way giving it data. It can't rely on the cookies. So that's making sure that
you've got the MetaPixel installed. It's making use of the conversion API so that you can again set the types of events and conversions on your website so that again you can make it abundantly clear to Facebook and Instagram what's going on on your website, what you want people to do, What happens when they click this button? What happens when they watch this video? What happens when they fill out this
form? Because if you want good return on investment on any of these channels, then you have to help them understand what's a good conversion and what does engagement look like? And then it's about uploading customer lists and customer data. There's a whole GDPR question here, but it's about, are you prepared to give more data to the likes of Meta, because if you want to continue advertising with them, you're going to have to consider it. And that's the big fundamental change, I guess.
Thank you very much. So for me, what does it mean to be operating in a cookie-less internet is to be more reflective, to be more strategic, and to reflect on your website and the environment that you control. And actually, are you currently squeezing enough intelligence about your visitors? And that could be the starting point to make sure that then if there is less data available to your list, you're getting more formats there. Then think about these kind of offsite interactions
and what do you want from this? So you can break it down, pen and paper, whiteboard moment, and then this would give you the kind of framework for a conversation that you can have with your web developers, with the advertisers, you can send questions to Johnny and I and we'll take it from there. But for me, that's kind of the reaction is we're going to slow things down and be more reflective and just closing on that
segment with a bit of trivia. If ever you want to experience where the cookies came from, apart from your favorite kind of biscuit manufacturer, according to a historian, this was invented in 1994 by an engineer working on Netscape, 1 of the early web browsers. Well, there we go. Let's move on to our next segment, which is website stories. Now, this is going to be a very interesting selection. We're not going to have time to go through all of it in 1
go. And as I mentioned in introduction, this is going to be your prep on your research. But this was mentioned about a week ago, Johnny, in the green room, this idea of the news that Google search API documents had been leaked to actually someone that we're very fond of. There's been a voice of reason in the world of SEO and content marketing, Rand Fishkin, currently working at Spark Toro. So Rand Fishkin seemingly has received from an anonymous source, thousands of leaked
document for the Google search API. And he wrote an article about it, which is the selection for today. You also run a webinar a few days ago. So I mean, the title says he told, you know, an anonymous source, share thousands of leaked Google search API documents with me, everyone in SEO should see them. So what is interesting back to his own values and the way he's been operated forever, he's not keeping it to himself,
he's sharing it with everybody else. Now, the article and the other kind of commentaries talk about this idea of the confirmation by, you know, that what we thought was happening mechanically and intuitively is indeed the case that the algorithm is very complex. There's interconnection between different models.
But what I thought was very, very interesting from the article and the early reaction, I mean, obviously at the time of publishing the article, Ranj Fiske and his colleagues, I don't have time to go through the entirety of the leaked document with this idea of 2 things. The behavior on site seems to have an impact on your ranking on search
engine results, primarily Google. So what people do and what they click and how long they stay and so on, it's something that actually having a massive influence and we cannot gather that ourselves but it's nice to have the confirmation. Clearly a bias towards Chrome browsers which is probably not helpful as information. Links being important, both
internal links and external links. And this idea of, at a granular level, page title, which is something that you have claimed for many, many years, Johnny, that they're very, very important. And of course, this idea of making sure that content suggests authority, both in terms of the individuals in the business, but also at a site level. And I'm literally scanning through a summary statement, which is a lot busier than I have time to
go through this. So I suppose for me, it's asking your reaction about the leaked document. Can it be trusted to begin with? But also, yeah, range generosity for sharing that information with everybody else. And also this idea of actually, once you settle and come down from the, would you say exciting news, it kind of confirms what we knew already. Yeah, yeah. And that's where I sit with this, that there's actually nothing new I
don't think in here. And certainly if you were as an SEO expert to make assumptions on certain things, those assumptions are right. So all it's doing is backing up what we already believed and what we already knew and what we've already been saying for a long time. What I do like about it is it does clarify some of these things and it's sort of a, it's a data point to be able to turn around to people and say, well, actually look, you know, I've been saying this for a while and
look, this is the case. So that whole thing of dwell time on a website, what, and how the, the user interacts and how they scroll and how long do they spend and what, how many pages did they look at and how many buttons do they click? All of that, of course, send signals. You know, why is Google, why does Google Analytics have a free Google Analytics product? It wants to know what's going on on your website. It wants to have the keys to your shop to fully understand
what's going on. Well, why would it want that in the first place? Well, it wants it to start deciding who to rank were. So, you know, who's more engaging than others. So for me, it was nothing too obvious. But I think it reinforces that this is about helpful, resourceful content. It reinforces that, you know, yes, SEO titles are still important. It reinforces that links are still important, really important. It's their
way of understanding trust. So yeah, it's a good check sheet in terms of are we doing these things? In terms of is there anything new? Well, probably for a lot of small businesses out there, yes, but that's purely because they haven't really caught up in the times of search engine optimization. So yeah, it's a handy document. It's a, and, but it reinforces what we should be doing in the first place.
My recommendation, Jonny, sorry, is you and I are going to spend time looking at this and enjoy some of the very detailed kind of insights, But be patient if SEO and digital marketing is not your central occupation, where the market will work it out and give you the highlights and the things that you need to know. But I thought it was important to capture it
early. I want to thank Ren Fishkin for his generosity, but also may I just say, Johnny, that it's quite reassuring that it means that you and I have been talking a lot of sense for many years. I would agree, Pascal. We already knew that, but it's nice to have that validation. Absolutely. And on that, we will move to our next segment, which is the website engine room. Now in this segment, Jonny and I share the 1 app, the 1 solution that can make life easier as a web seminar content
creator. So what discoveries from the interweb are you bringing back to the fore, Jonny Ross? Well, we've been talking a lot about accessibility on websites. And again, if you use common sense, what we're looking for is a privacy website, It's privacy across websites, but we're also looking for accessibility. Websites that work across lots of different devices, but work for every single type of person. Whatever accessibility needs that they
might have. And accessibility is often never looked at, rarely thought about, or something that's thought about right at the end. And, you know, that's just unfair. And at the same time, it's, it's now becoming a large ranking factor. And also understanding that there's an audience out there that actually have a lot of money to spend, but if they can't access your website, they can't spend it. And it's also understanding that Google wants a fair playground for every single
user out there. And if your website doesn't work well, or isn't easy to use, or isn't accessible, then it is going to have a negative effect on your ranking. So that was quite a long reason as to why I'm about to share this tool, but this tool solves this problem very, very quickly and easily. My, having said everything though, when you're moving into your next web build, I'd like you to really bring accessibility right to the
beginning. But on current web builds, userway.org, userway.org is a simple plugin that you can put onto your website that instantly makes your website accessible. And it allows the user to be able to change contrast, to highlight links, change text spacing, bigger text, pause animations, all sorts of stuff. It's dyslexia friendly. It's it's very, very, very clever. Useaway.org. They have
free plans. They have pay plans. The free plan works just as well, to be perfectly honest, unless you're a very big website, the free plan is perfect. So it was quite a long talk there, but that was my reason for understanding why userway.org is a really good app to be looking at. Now it's important to give the rationale and the why, some of the context. I'll do the same, although mine would be a bit
shorter, Johnny. So I've been kind of looking at the practice of content curation, reporting back on complex reports. I mean, 1 case in point what we discussed a moment ago. And it is clear to me that as a visitor, I need value from content curation or content
reporting. So I came across this great app that challenges your kind of thinking when it comes to if you want to be seen to be discussing, summarizing, exploring a report, typically the PDF format on online, then you've got to go about it in a way that is meaningful, helpful. You've got to go deep, not shallow, if you want to express and showcase authority. I came across something called Chat PDF. So be careful, it's not the other 1, it's Chat
PDF. And what Chat PDF really does superbly, it allows you to upload a PDF, could be yours, it could be from the authority, a public authority in your sector where they publicly released a report that is analyzing your sector or practice and more. And through questions and through conversation and chat, the chat PDF allows you to explore the content of that document. But that exchange, that conversation is exactly what should be featured on your website.
So I see this as a great source of inspiration for doing content curation almost at a more advanced level than just, hey, I came across this, here's a link, go check it out. Or hey, I've got 1, who wants 1? You want to be essentially writing extensively about the report. And if you think that that seems like an odd practice, I would recommend that you go check out the Hootsuite social media trends report and look at
that page. It's just so extensive and so rich in content that you don't even need to be convinced that the report is worth your while. I know that's counterintuitive, Johnny, because we all think, well, I should be not sharing the content, people will download the PDF. But actually we see that the behavior wants the opposite. Share the reason why I should be interested and I will download the PDF. So PDF for superior content curation and promotion.
Brilliant, thanks Pascal. And our final segment for this podcast as always is the website call to action. Everyone be ready for the 1 change or 1 adjustment that is going to make life so much easier and make your website work harder for you. Johnny, what is your recommendation? Well, people buy from people that they trust, people buy from brands that they
trust. Start building more trust and credibility on your website by making sure that you're running regular security updates, by making sure that you have the correct SSL certificate installed and it passes trust signals. And more importantly, start implementing 2FA, two-factor authentication. None of us
like it. We don't like that whole thing where we've got to get an auth app or the text message, but actually people are now expecting it and they're slightly concerned in some way if you don't have it. So it's about building trust. How can you build trust? Regular security updates, 2 factor authentication and making sure your SSL certificates are installed correctly. What's your website call to action this podcast? This is very simple because this is an exercise that I did only 2 days
ago. Do you have a blog? Do you have content categories? And how can you be sure they are still current? How do you know that the language in the industry has not moved on? How do you know that the labeling you've used from 2, 3 years ago is still valid? That's really important. We went through an exercise with a client and we horrified that how outdated the content categories of their
blog was. So if you think that even your own thinking has changed in terms of the kind of content you've produced from 2, 3 years ago, even a year ago, and maybe you have too many actually categories or too few, but this is literally an exercise where I want you to review and update your content categories in terms of the naming or the tagging of your blog articles because the likelihood is you're missing on traffic and you're missing suddenly on a dwell time that Johnny mentioned a moment ago.
I hate to admit it, but when I see blogs being uploaded and see categories being selected, I think, God, they're out of date. But there's so many things on the plate. When do you update them? And actually there's the call to action. It's Time to update the blog categories. What another great episode. This has been the 90 day website mastery podcast. It's our
31st episode. And hopefully we've helped you understand a bit more about the cookie-less future and really thinking about how to boost website security and some apps that's gonna help you get more out of content and be prouder of your website. For more information, visit the 90-daymarketingmastery.com, where you will be able to book a discovery call with either myself or Pascal. Thanks for joining us, give us feedback and what would you like us to answer in the next
episode? Please let us know. Thanks Pascal, it's been very nice seeing you indeed. We will see you. Thank you very much. We'll leave you with a nice, making some notes and putting some things into place. Speak to you all soon, take care. Thanks for watching! Thanks for watching!