Howdy!

We’re happy to see the sun after a week of rain on the East Coast. Luckily, our newsletter is weather resistant – you can read us anytime, rain or shine. 😄

• It’s hard to believe that “92% of SEOs suspect their competitors buy links,” according to editorial.link’s survey. Another stat of interest: “71.1% believe that it is possible to rank high on Google solely through quality content, without relying on backlinks.” On the plus side, 67.3% named digital PR as the most effective link-building tactic – that’s one of our recommended best practices too. Unfortunately, the survey does not include any mention of leveraging social media posts for authority signals which is also one of our proven link strategies.

• Quick Study recently released an article called, “The Busywork Economy Comes for Marketing,” and it hits you flat in the face with truth. We live in a world of clutter distraction. Prioritizing business and marketing efforts that are valuable over busywork can make or break your efficiency. I.e., Could that meeting have been an email? Do we need to create another unoriginal blog with an unoriginal spin? Is having more social channels than we can handle truly worth our time? Check out the rest of the article for insights!

• EMARKETER has a Daily Quiz for its newsletter subscribers that is a fun way to keep up with digital trends and data nuggets. Here’s a sampling of questions from three days last week:
  • ChatGPT’s mobile app saw a big revenue spike after launching GPT-4o. How many active users will ChatGPT have in the US by the end of the year?
  • X is suing an ad industry coalition and its members, including CVS, Mars, and Unilever (learn more about that further down in this newsletter). What percentage of US social network ad spend will go to X this year?
  • True or false? Some 99% of those using AI platforms for search are still using traditional search engines as well.
  • For answers to these and many more interesting factoids, check out EMARKETERS Big Answers page or check out the PS at the bottom for the three answers.

• I remember when the Snap Map came out. It released a plethora of drama in high school and college. People could see other’s locations and spread gossip far more easily than before. So, naturally, Instagram has launched a test of a similar feature called, “Friend Map.” Instagram is trying to be cautious, but there are many privacy concerns with this. Is it truly the time to launch such a feature? We’ll see….

Thoughts to Take With You… 💞

Continuing on the busywork culture outside the business realm…

Are we filling up our time with social media, events, and hobbies for the sake of being busy? A lot of us feel better, more useful, when we’re busy, which is 100% understandable. However, doing too much (in a backwards way) means missing out. We miss out on opportunities for spontaneity and discovery. If we focus on the other commitments coming up, we lose our sense of now. We become so wrapped up in the future that we forget the present.

The point is… don’t fill your schedule to capacity. Allow space for your life to breathe.

Thank you for reading – you’re pretty great! Enjoy your week,

Natalie

Interest piqued? See the answers to the quiz questions above!

1. 68 million
2. 1%
3. True. Which is another reason why you should be leveraging DBE’s dual SEO/SAIO strategy.