The Daily Carnage

The savvy marketer's hub for industry news, insights, resources, and culture.

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What is “People Also Ask” SEO?

SEPTEMBER 30, 2025

Optimizing for People Also Ask (PAA) results can help you capture long-tail traffic and increase visibility in SERPs.

The PAA box shows related questions for a given search, providing additional opportunities to rank even if you’re not on Page 1 for the main keyword.

Here’s how to optimize, rank, and track PAA results:

Check where your site isn’t appearing in existing PAA boxes and where competitors rank.
Use H2 or H3 headings for questions and short, natural-language paragraphs for answers.
Build backlinks, gain coverage, and strengthen internal linking to signal importance.
Don’t keyword-stuff, ignore search intent, write overly long answers, or leave content outdated.
Add target PAA keywords to your rank tracker and monitor SERP Feature trends over time.

Get started at Search Engine Land.

Email Tracking in GA4

SEPTEMBER 29, 2025

ESPs track your email opens and clicks, but GA4 can take it further by showing how subscribers behave on your site post-click.

It’s worth setting up to…

compare email performance side-by-side with organic, paid, and referral channels.
customize events and reports for deeper insights.
measure long-term impact, not just immediate clicks.

How to set up email tracking in GA4:

Add UTM parameters: Define source (newsletter), medium (email), campaign name (july_digest), and content (cta_top).
Check Reports: Go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition and filter by “email” in Session source/medium.
Build a custom Exploration report: Create a segment for “email,” set dimensions (source/medium, campaign, landing page), and add metrics like sessions, engagement, and revenue.

Make sure to consider metrics like:

Sessions from email (traffic volume).
Engagement rate (interaction quality).
Conversions (signups, purchases).
Time on site & pages per session (depth of visit).
Landing page performance (which pages resonate most).

How to Spot AI Writing

SEPTEMBER 28, 2025

Whether you’re categorically against AI writing or hoping to conceal your own use of AI for writing… here are six dead giveaways someone used a robot:

Excessive em dashes. This one is hard to accept for those of us who love a good em dash. AI tools have claimed them for dramatic glue between thoughts, but humans tend to vary punctuation more naturally.
Forced sass. Look out for “Hot take:” or “But here’s the truth.” AI often pushes artificial edginess, especially on LinkedIn, where it works wonders.
AI buzzwords. Words like delve, empower, and elevate sound canned these days.
Cliché phrases. Ok, say it with us: “In today’s fast-paced digital landscape…”
Formulaic structures. AI leans on the “rule of three” and corrective statements like “It’s not just X. It’s Y.”

Small Biz, Big Spash

SEPTEMBER 24, 2025

Everyone knows small biz is where the real creativity lives. You don’t need a huge marketing budget for a memorable promotion.

Nifty Nut House in Wichita, KS, turned a stash of off-season candy into a “dollar bin,” which moved product and delighted customers.

Cold Blooded & Bizarre in Charlotte, NC, celebrates its store birthday with circus performers, animals, and local food. It’s now a highly anticipated community event.

Lark Toys in Minnesota hosts “Happy Friday” kids’ performances, which grew so popular that the store expanded to accommodate the audience.

Koyoté in Salt Lake City connected personally with customers by explaining its authentic Japanese ramen on social, leading to wider recognition and a second location.

Chief Ice Cream ran a photo contest, generating engagement, community spirit, and free publicity.

Skein & Tipple’s limited-edition holiday cocktail creates annual excitement through scarcity and collectibility.

The takeaway? Try a small biz promotion like:

Dollar bin or scratch-and-dent sales
Store birthday or anniversary events
Kids’ performance nights or family-focused activities
Personal storytelling on social media
Customer photo contests with prizes
Limited-edition, collectible offerings

Double Your Open Rate in 1 Month

SEPTEMBER 24, 2025

With the right tweaks your email marketing process, you can double your open rate in 4 weeks (or at least bump it 20–30%) while also boosting CTR.

Here’s the 3-step system:

Fix your onboarding. Your welcome email is the most important message you’ll ever send. Instead of a bland “thanks for joining,” give subscribers a reason to open right away.

Offer a free resource, lead magnet, or exclusive tip inside the welcome email.
Use the WE-PAC method:
- Welcome them warmly.
- Set expectations (topics, send frequency, value).
- Ask them to move you to their Primary inbox.
- Ask for a quick Action (reply with “yes”).
- Include at least one Click CTA

Improve deliverability with BSS Progression. Don’t blast your whole list. Start with your Base Sending Segment (BSS), the most active subscribers, then expand each week:

Week 1: last 30-day openers or 60-day clickers.
Week 2–4: slowly widen the timeframe. This improves sender reputation and inbox placement, leading to higher engagement across the board.

3. Re-engage dead subscribers. Inactive readers drag your metrics down. Use a 2-step win-back sequence.

“Greatest Hits” email: Share 3–5 of your best resources.
“Goodbye email”: Give them a final chance to stay on the list.

By running all three steps at once, you’ll lift performance across new, active, and lapsed subscribers.

Double Your Open Rate in 1 Month

SEPTEMBER 23, 2025

With the right tweaks your email marketing process, you can double your open rate in 4 weeks (or at least bump it 20–30%) while also boosting CTR.

Here’s the 3-step system:

Fix your onboarding. Your welcome email is the most important message you’ll ever send. Instead of a bland “thanks for joining,” give subscribers a reason to open right away.

Offer a free resource, lead magnet, or exclusive tip inside the welcome email.
Use the WE-PAC method:
- Welcome them warmly.
- Set expectations (topics, send frequency, value).
- Ask them to move you to their Primary inbox.
- Ask for a quick Action (reply with “yes”).
- Include at least one Click CTA

Improve deliverability with BSS Progression. Don’t blast your whole list. Start with your Base Sending Segment (BSS), the most active subscribers, then expand each week:

Week 1: last 30-day openers or 60-day clickers.
Week 2–4: slowly widen the timeframe. This improves sender reputation and inbox placement, leading to higher engagement across the board.

3. Re-engage dead subscribers. Inactive readers drag your metrics down. Use a 2-step win-back sequence.

“Greatest Hits” email: Share 3–5 of your best resources.
“Goodbye email”: Give them a final chance to stay on the list.

By running all three steps at once, you’ll lift performance across new, active, and lapsed subscribers.

Head to Newsletter Operator for more.

Homepage Checklist: 14 Critical Elements

SEPTEMBER 23, 2025

Your homepage is your brand’s front door. Done right, it blends clarity with usability, creating a path that feels natural while still driving action.

It’s like a conversation starter. In just seconds, it needs to capture attention, explain who you are, and encourage the next step without overwhelming the user.

Here are 14 critical homepage elements:

Headline – clear, direct, and benefit-driven.
Sub-headline – adds context and solves a pain point.
Primary CTAs – visible above the fold.
Supporting image or video – emotionally engaging and mobile-optimized.
Benefits – how your solution improves lives.
Social proof – testimonials or reviews.
Navigation – intuitive menus and pathways.
Content offer – downloadable resources for lead capture.
Secondary CTAs – lower-commitment actions deeper on the page.
Features – a concise breakdown of product/service specifics.
Resources – knowledge hubs or guides.
Success indicators – awards, recognition, or partner logos.
Search bar – especially for content-heavy sites.
Contact options – visible and easy to use.

Are Ads Emotional Inception?

SEPTEMBER 22, 2025

Does advertising actually sway consumers through emotional inception and Pavlovian associations?

While this theory is a huge part of our “lore” as advertisers, Kevin Simler argues that it overestimates human susceptibility. Most ads are just too passive to really alter our desires.

Instead, ads shape the broader cultural landscape, signaling social meanings that influence how products are perceived in public.

A conspicuous ad works by showing that everyone else has seen it. Consumers then make rational decisions, choosing products that align with desired social signals.

Here’s what really works:

Awareness: Informing or reminding customers about a product’s existence and functionality.
Promises: Establishing explicit or implicit commitments, like “Disney as a family-friendly brand.”
Honest signaling: Conveying commitment via obvious investment, like billboards or expensive campaigns.
Cultural imprinting: Embedding products within social and cultural norms.

Chewy stuff.

How Do People Really Use ChatGPT?

SEPTEMBER 17, 2025

A new report, “How People Use ChatGPT,” has revealed that around 10% of the global adult population are using ChatGPT weekly, with more than 2.5 billion daily messages exchanged.

Usage has grown rapidly across demographics, with particularly strong growth in younger users and in low- to middle-income countries.

Some insights to know:

Non-work usage now makes up over 70% of all messages, outpacing work-related tasks. Still, professionals with higher education use ChatGPT more for job-related purposes.
Nearly 80% of conversations fall into three categories—Practical Guidance, Seeking Information, and Writing. Writing dominates work contexts, especially editing and rewriting text.
Messages break down into Asking (49%), Doing (40%), and Expressing (11%). At work, Doing (especially writing) is more common, while Asking is linked to decision support in knowledge jobs.
Despite hype, only 4.2% of messages involve coding, and less than 2% involve companionship or emotional support.
Early users skewed male, but the gender gap has nearly disappeared. Under-26s account for about half of all usage.
Most work-related use falls into documenting information, problem-solving, decision-making, and creative thinking—skills central to many white-collar jobs.
User-rated interaction quality is improving; “Asking” messages in particular are rated more highly than “Doing.”