Kick Point Playbook gives you the digital marketing skills you need to grow—whether you want to land more clients, level up your career, or make smarter marketing decisions. Get bi-weekly insights on analytics, SEO, and reporting, curated by Dana DiTomaso and her team. Each issue is packed with expert tips, must-read articles, and free resources like templates and checklists—all designed to help you take action and see real results.
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🤙 Data Perfection is Not the Goal: Good Enough Is.
Published 2 months ago • 5 min read
The Future of Analytics
Analytics isn’t perfect, and it never will be. Ad blockers, privacy laws, incognito browsers—these things are making data harder to track every day. But that’s not necessarily bad news.
Today we’re sharing Dana’s talk, It’s Not Right, But It’s Okay: The Future of Analytics, where she breaks down why perfection isn’t the goal (spoiler alert: it never was) and how embracing directional insights actually leads to better marketing decisions.
Watch this video if you want to:
Discover strategies to make informed decisions in a landscape full of uncertainties.
Develop a clear understanding of how to adapt your analytics mindset.
SEO for Brand Visibility & Recognition: Why it's Key in 2025 & How to Succeed With It
Join International SEO expert, Aleyda Solís, as she unpacks why brand visibility is essential for SEO success in 2025. Learn how to optimize your brand for search, leverage branded queries, and build authority to standout in competitive markets.
Gain insights on why branding matters more now than ever.
Get practical steps to align your brand across platforms.
Know how to improve your organization's structured data.
GA4 has built in video events for YouTube videos—but if you have YouTube videos on your site and you’re not seeing any video events in your GA4, what’s going on? Let’s figure it out.
#1. Make sure that you have turned on “Video Engagement” in your measurement settings. Go to Admin > Data Steams > click your data stream > Enhanced measurement.
With video engagement turned on, GA4 will automatically start tracking the following events for your YouTube videos:
video_start
video_progress
video_complete
#2. Now take a look at the URL of your embedded YouTube video to make sure that the text “enablejsapi=1” is in there somewhere. For example: https://www.youtube.com/embed/UlL5ZV8z3H4?enablejsapi=1
If you don’t see that in your embedded URL you’ll have to add it. There are two ways to add it, depending on what your embed URL looks like right now.
Option 1 — Simple Embed URL
If your embed URL looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/embed/UlL5ZV8z3H4
Then copy this and add it to the end of the URL: ?enablejsapi=1 Your final URL should look like this: https://www.youtube.com/embed/UlL5ZV8z3H4?enablejsapi=1
Option 2 — Embed URL Already has Parameters
If your embed URL already has a ? in it and then other items added at the end, for example:
These are called “parameters” and you’ll need to do something slightly different. Copy this and add it to the end of the URL: &enablejsapi=1
Your final URL should look like this: https://www.youtube.com/embed/UlL5ZV8z3H4?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1
💡You will need to do this for every YouTube video on your website (sorry, we know it’s tedious!). Once that’s done you should start to see video events showing up in GA4.
How can you report on this data?
Unfortunately GA4 doesn’t make this easy. In order to see details on which videos are viewed, the URL of the video, how much was viewed, and so on, you’ll need to either use the Explorations part of GA4 or add custom metrics and dimensions to view these details in the Reports part of GA4. In our next newsletter, we’ll go through how to set this up! For now, make sure that you’re tracking your videos and then you’ll have some real data to work with when we set up our reports!
No matter what stage of your career you're at there is always going to be a learning curve, which is why Kirk William's hilarious work mishap story resonated with so many of us. It’s a good reminder that mistakes are part of growing and “you just have to laugh about it, shrug, learn what you can and move on.”
Do you have a work horror story? Reply to this email and we can share it to remind us we're all in this together!
Articles Worth Reading ———•
🔮 Expert Predictions for Local Marketing in 2025
What’s next for local marketing? BrightLocal asked industry experts for their 2025 predictions, and the key themes are clear: AI-driven personalization, first-party data strategies, and blending offline and online experiences will be critical. Businesses that adapt to these trends will lead the way in the evolving local marketing landscape.
⚖️ Agency vs. In-House SEO: What I Learned Working Both Sides
Have you ever found yourself choosing between agency life and an in-house role? Abby Gleason breaks down the pros and cons of each path, helping you decide which aligns best with your personality, goals, and work style. From the variety and fast pace of agency work to the stability and focus of in-house roles, she offers valuable insights to guide your decision.
Mark Williams-Cook dives into the latest SEO updates and breaks down what matters most for your strategy. From algorithm tweaks to emerging trends, staying informed about these changes could give you the edge you need to improve your rankings.
📖 Google Updates Search Quality Rater Guidelines: What To Know
Google just updated its Search Quality Rater Guidelines, and they’re worth a look. From fresh takes on E-E-A-T to a bigger focus on reputation, these changes could impact how your content is evaluated. Matt G. Southern has the full breakdown.
🤖 How To Use AI To Do Quick Competitive Analysis [Video]
AI is changing the way we approach competitive analysis, making it faster and smarter. In this video, Andy Crestodina shares practical tips on using AI tools to uncover insights, analyze competitors, and refine your strategy.
You’re already part of the team—now help us grow the fan club! Refer your digital marketing and analytics friends to the newsletter and earn exclusive rewards.
Refer 2 people: Get a shout out from Dana DiTomaso on LinkedIn
Refer 6 people: Get access to an exclusive presentation from Dana on Unpacking GA4 Explorations
Are you heading to SMX Munich? You can catch Dana’s talk From Data Dump to Decision Driver: Evolving Your Looker Studio Approach on March 18. Dana will show you how to transform your data into user-friendly dashboards that can spark action.
If you’re ready to take your GA4 skills to the next level, join Dana’s full-day workshop, A Search Marketer’s Hands-On Guide to GA4, tailored for search pros who want to turn GA4 into their SEO secret weapon. Get hands-on guidance to navigate the platform and uncover actionable insights.
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Kick Point Playbook
Insights that fuel action. Learn, apply, and grow your marketing skills.
Kick Point Playbook gives you the digital marketing skills you need to grow—whether you want to land more clients, level up your career, or make smarter marketing decisions. Get bi-weekly insights on analytics, SEO, and reporting, curated by Dana DiTomaso and her team. Each issue is packed with expert tips, must-read articles, and free resources like templates and checklists—all designed to help you take action and see real results.
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