Posted by Cameron Francis
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22 May , 2022
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Weekly Marketing News
This Week in Marketing #TWiM 22nd May 2022
- Google Search Console to add new translated results search appearance filter
- Google’s digital marketing course offering controversial SEO advice
- Google to Allow FAQ Structured Data for Non-FAQ Content
- Google Update: I/O Search Console New Report For Indexed Videos
- Google I/O Multisearch Update: Searching The World Around You
- How does Google assess Multiple Variations of the Same Content?
- Google: How to Handle Spammy Links from “Malicious Domains”
- Do Meta Descriptions Matter for Google Rankings?
- What And Where To Use Structured Data?
- Why Are Core Web Vitals Scores Always Changing?
- Google Reveals New Maps Advances, Search Insights and Shopping Tools
- Google allows virtual food brands to use Google Business Profiles
- Google’s Responsive Display Ads goes vertical to improve mobile experience
- A Sneak Peek at the new Google Shares Advertising Features
- Zuckerberg to Preview Next-Level AR Experience via New ‘Cambria’ Headset
- Meta’s New Pivot to Push Publishers Towards Short Video
- LinkedIn changing feed to show less low-quality content
- Twitter Staffing Changes Announced as Musk Deal Takes Shape
- Twitter Clarifies Policy on Duplicate Content
- Musk to Increase Twitter’s User Base by 200% Over the Next Three Years
- TikTok to Launch New Interactive Market Insights Tool
- TikTok to Provide Insights into In-Store Visits via New Data Partnership with Foursquare
- TikTok Shares Opportunities for Marketers and Insights into Emerging Gaming Trends
- New Study Outlines Key Snapchat Ads Best Practices, Based on 14,000 Campaigns
- Instagram Launches NFT Display Options After Initial Test, Also Coming to Facebook
- YouTube Helps Creators Grow Their Audience Through Expanded Test of Channel Gifting
- YouTube Expands Creative Potential by Launching Updated Green Screen Option for Shorts
Google Search Console to add new translated results search appearance filter
With the new “translated results” filter in Google Search Console, you can see how many people who find your content through translated search engine results actually interact with it. The report will break down what queries these seekers use and which pages they visit before leaving our site without converting to leads or customers!
The translation function works for a dozen or so languages including Indonesian, Hindi and Kannada and is only available on mobile devices with any browser that supports Google Search. After clicking through to those pages, site visitors will find “Google Translate” instead of their original language provider.
Google is now giving us a window into the mind of our potential customers by letting us see what they’re searching for and where regardless of the language they use. This data can help with content strategy, SEO efforts as well as advertising campaigns to reach this customer base.
Google’s digital marketing course offering controversial SEO advice
Keyword density is a topic that gets many people heated, but the reality may not be so black-and-white. In fact, there’s almost no such thing as “industry standard” when it comes to keyword density – having 2% or more in your copy and 300+ words per page do not necessarily guarantee you will rank better on Google.
Case in point is Google’s new Digital Marketing & E-commerce certification course, that includes cringe-worthy SEO advice that really is hard to believe. Google is seen as a trusted authority as it is the largest search engine on the planet. Most people enrolled in this course will put trust in the SEO information they are being taught. However, what is being taught about keyword density is so outdated, it’s embarrassing.
Google’s perpetuation of teaching SEO mistruths is only hurting the industry with outdated and ineffective techniques that will most likely harm your site in rankings. The key to great content is simple: make it worth reading. Your article should be long enough so that you include all relevant information, and more interesting than what your competition has published. It’s not magic.
Google to Allow FAQ Structured Data for Non-FAQ Content
FAQs are frequently used to answer questions that your website visitors may have. They can take the form of an entire page or just one short question-and-answer combo in order to confine resources within a particular topic area. This makes it much easier for readers to find information about your products or services.
The FAQ format is a great way of getting your search result listing front and centre when users are looking for information about a particular topic. It can even triple or quadruple how much space you take up which means you’re not only more visible but means you may even be able to knock your competitors off page one also!
You can use FAQ structured data in web forum content which will result in receiving an enhanced listing on Google. However, remember that you have to follow all the guidelines or your post might get marked as spam. Therefore, don’t mark up something that’s not visible to readers. If for example, you’re describing a performer then both elements need to contain information about them as well; i.e. their name and what they do (perform). Follow the rules, and you’ll be fine.
Google Update: I/O Search Console New Report For Indexed Videos
The new Search Console update will allow users who publish structured data-marked up video content onto their websites the opportunity to gain more information about how often they have been indexing. This means people can use this tool to get an idea of whether or not there’s something wrong with the markup code and/or what kind of impressions each individual clip received in order to measure success.
To index videos, you need to make sure that the landing page where the videos are prominently displayed has been indexed as well. There are many ways for Google’s algorithms and software programs like Search Console to identify the videos and will show a summary of all pages it finds with video content in their Video Page Indexing report.
You can also see at a glance how many landing pages Google was able to index, and whether they were successful in identifying video content on those web pages. This information will help you better understand what’s happening with your website so that any issues can be resolved sooner rather than later.
Google I/O Multisearch Update: Searching The World Around You
Google is trying to make search even more natural by combining its understanding of all types of information. The new feature, scene exploration, will allow you to combine text with voice and visuals in one go.
Google’s new multi-search feature will allow you to explore your surroundings while learning more about the objects that are around you. As soon as it identifies what is being searched, Google taps into its Knowledge Graph and provides some helpful information when relevant.
Businesses should start thinking about how they optimise their products for scene exploration
Google’s new search engine may cause a disruption in the way businesses do online marketing. As Google reworks its system, brands might have to change what methods work best and rethink everything about keyword optimisation all over again.
How does Google assess Multiple Variations of the Same Content?
John Mueller, a search advocate at Google, was asked if plagiarising one’s own content was okay. He responded by teaching an important lesson in short – “copying yourself is only good up until where it no longer works”.
So, when is a publisher actually plagiarising themselves? Well, it’s not quite what you think. Plagiarism means taking content from someone else and then misrepresenting it as your own. Simply put, this means that one cannot plagiarise themselves just as one can’t steal from themselves.
From Google’s perspective, if you’re taking content from your own website and publishing that again with some elements changed then they will recognise this as original work. However, their response usually depends on how much value the page provides to site visitors. So make sure that your content ultimately provides value to the reader and it will be the UX that will help to increase your rankings.
Google: How to Handle Spammy Links from “Malicious Domains”
John Mueller from Google answered a question about what to do with spammy links. The person asking the question related that these were non-existent pages and they triggered 404 errors.
When Google Search Console alerts publishers to 404 error responses, this itself is not necessarily a problem. Links from such pages will never show up in search engine results and thus have no negative effect on you whatsoever – either good or bad.
If you’ve been experiencing a lot of spammy backlinks popping up on your website, there is an easy way to get rid of them. Just disavow the domain they come from and they should go away after that. If not, then something else may be going wrong that needs to be diagnosed.
Do Meta Descriptions Matter for Google Rankings?
Google’s John Mueller answered a question about whether or not meta descriptions can be used to influence search rankings. He says that it is possible, but there are some other things you should take into consideration when making your description unique.
The meta description does not typically help a website to rank online. However, this small blurb can make all the difference when it comes to enticing visitors to click on your website and ensuring they stick around for more information once they get there.
Google’s advice is to use it as a summary of what the visitor can expect from your site and aligns with the intention behind the meta description, which are described by W3C standards. If written well enough, the click-throughs will come which will ultimately help you to rank better on the SERPs.
Watch John Mueller answer the question at the 26:47 mark in the video:
What And Where To Use Structured Data?
Structured data is a powerful tool that can be used to power rich results for your web page. This means finding the right kind of structured info and using it in a way that could increase the user engagement on your website.
Structured data is an excellent way to make your website more accessible. The Scehma site offers many types of structured data that can fit any webpage, but only utilises a fraction of this for generating search results like review stars and images in those same searches – so you’re guaranteed high-quality information.
Based on this, we can see that not every page necessarily needs schema or structured data. Use the guide on what visual elements you want to have visible on your page, and then use the right structured data for that. Therefore, it’s not completely necessary to put structured data on every page.
Why Are Core Web Vitals Scores Always Changing?
Why is it that core web vitals scores constantly change despite the web pages themselves not changing? Firstly, let’s look at the two kinds of core web vitals scores:
- Field Data Score – this is a formula that takes into account how many people have accessed your site, what pages they’ve visited and if there were any errors during their visit – this gives you an idea of where improvements need to be made.
- Lab Data – this is a set of scores generated by the simulator that simulates visitors to your website, and it provides information about what’s slowing down web pages. It can also give insights into how they should fix these problems so that page load speed doesn’t affect UX.
However, even if your website is hosted on a fast dedicated server and has no problems loading it can still suffer from network congestion or outdated mobile phone technology used by site visitors. This will impact the performance scores when assessing its core web vitals values such as page speed time, load time etc, which can ultimately affect your rankings.
So regardless of whether you’re testing your website site for lab data or reviewing real-world field data, the core web vitals scores are prone to fluctuation and therefore will not provide a stable score on a consistent basis.
Google Reveals New Maps Advances, Search Insights and Shopping Tools
Google recently announced new Maps Advances, Search Insights and Shopping Tools. The Maps feature merges Street View and aerial images to create an interactive digital model of the world. This will also enable users to not only experience what their neighbourhood, landmark or restaurant looks like but it could be used for planning purposes too.
When it comes to shopping tools, Google is also trialling a new carousel ad format in the search results that will provide another way for shoppers to directly browse from the SERPs. Furthermore, their new advertising centre can be accessed on all of your ads and enabled with just one click. You’ll also have more insight into who paid for an advertisement as well as why they were targeted specifically within this campaign.
As far as shopping payments are concerned, Google is also looking to introduce a new payment option that will allow you to shop for products without having entered your credit card number. You can just choose the ‘Virtual Card’ option and pay with the confidence of more security.
Finally, Google is making it easier for people to remove search results about themselves that include personal information. This will give the user more context as well as provide an insight into how trustworthy each website may be based on its content. This is a huge step forward in privacy protection.
Google allows virtual food brands to use Google Business Profiles
Google has recently announced that they will be updating their guidelines to allow virtual food brands with certain conditions. This is an exciting development for those who are looking at starting up a small business on platforms such as Google My Business or the Facebook Business Page.
The new guidelines now state “virtual food brands are permitted with conditions” which include:
- Co-located food brands offering pick-up
- Brands that offer delivery-only
The new update from Google means that you can now have a listing for your virtual food brand in the business profiles section of google maps. Therefore, when it comes to local search results in Google Maps, you can now technically show up if your virtual food brand is marketed and optimised properly.
Google’s Responsive Display Ads goes vertical to improve mobile experience
Google’s recent changes to their responsive display ads (RDAs) will give advertisers more power and flexibility when it comes to how they look on mobile devices. Portrait images or videos are now welcome, which means that alongside the typical landscape format for an advertisement there’ll also be options like ‘portfolio’ sized images so you can showcase other content aside from just your product offerings.
GOOGLE ADS RDA UPDLOAD
When using machine learning to fill in the gaps for mobile ads, advertisers had no choice but a landscape or square image. Now with this new upgrade, they can have more control over their appearance by choosing what background colours and text sizes are used on whatever device they’re using.
The new creative inspiration centre is a helpful addition for advertisers. The cropping tool will be especially useful with ad groups that have a mixture of image sizes, as it allows them to choose the perfect size without having too much-unused space. Advertisers should embrace these tools as a way to stay relevant in today’s fast-paced environment.
A Sneak Peek at the new Google Shares Advertising Features
Google’s new advertising features are going to make marketers’ jobs a lot easier. Google has announced that they will be upgrading their responsive display ads, which means more creative options for advertisers who want their message delivered in different sizes of ad units.
With mobile-first layouts, advertisers will be able to include full-screen ads on any device. This means that instead of solely targeting desktop users with static creative for webpages or apps in mind, you can also promote your business through pictures and videos.
Google’s new machine learning technology will crop images so that they seamlessly expand and fill the available space without leaving white borders. This should make it easier for advertisers to improve their campaigns even further with this automatic improvement. Google is hoping that these new enhancements will help to take your campaigns to another level.
Zuckerberg to Preview Next-Level AR Experience via New ‘Cambria’ Headset
The metaverse is no longer just a place where we go to escape reality; it’s also our immersive digital representation of what life could be like. This means that many people are now asking questions about augmented reality and how this technology will fit into the bigger picture for Meta, as most examples thus far have related strictly to VR spaces.
With this in mind, Meta’s latest Cambria headsets will be available in retail stores later this year with an advanced model that includes improved external cameras. With these improvements, they can serve as both virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR). However, their functionality isn’t quite there at this point; we certainly don’t recommend wearing them all day long just yet!
The future of social networking is happening now, and Meta has the power to make or break it. The company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that he plans on changing his platform every year so users can stay fresh with new features – which could mean big changes are coming soon!
Meta’s New Pivot to Push Publishers Towards Short Video
In order to ensure that the content they post continues getting exposure and engagement, Meta has been working aggressively with news providers. They have established better links in recent times through grants or partnership initiatives which will help them keep posting relevant content onto its apps – while keeping users more engaged than ever before.
FB NEWS UPDATE
Further to this, Meta is pushing news publishers to establish direct partnerships with them and share revenue from short-form videos. The company has recently introduced a dedicated News Tab, which it uses as an enticement for these deals while also sharing a percentage of ad earnings with organisations that publish content on its platform. It makes sense that Meta wants more activity in this area as we’ve seen how popular shorter clips are becoming.
It’s no secret that Meta has been struggling in the app store. With user engagement on the decline and people spending more time playing games or watching videos instead of using apps, it’s imperative that Meta does everything possible to keep users engaged inside its own platform and prevent them from drifting off to other platforms such as TikTok.
LinkedIn changing feed to show less low-quality content
LinkedIn’s latest changes to their feed mean that users will get a more personalised and relevant content experience by removing certain types of posts from their Newsfeed, including polls and engagement bait.
LinkedIn has announced that they will be filtering posts in order to improve the quality of your feed. They say this will be done by only showing you polls from people within your network, and not showing any advertisements or irrelevant posts that exist purely to boost the reach of others.
With this new update, it will be more important than ever to make sure the information you share on your LinkedIn profile is accurate and genuine. Using tactics like engagement bait may help boost visibility for a short period of time but ultimately hurts how many people engage with their favourite business profiles. It is envisaged that these algorithmic changes will reduce the effectiveness of these spammy tactics.
Twitter Staffing Changes Announced as Musk Deal Takes Shape
Twitter has been experiencing a lot of staff changes lately. Key leaders such as Chief Revenue Officer Bruce Falck and Vice President Kayvon Beykpour left the company this week. This follows the recent departure of Jack Dorsey, the CEO and founder of Twitter.
Interrupting my paternity leave to share some final @twitter-related news: I’m leaving the company after over 7 years.
— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) May 12, 2022
The Twitter world is rapidly changing, and the company’s approach to business will never be quite the same again. The fact that several key individuals who underlined its ethos are now moving on could have major implications in the years ahead.
I wanted to take a moment to thank all the teams and partners I’ve been lucky enough to work with during the past 5 years. Building and running these businesses is a team sport
— bruce.falck() 🦗 (@boo) May 12, 2022
At the end of the day, Elon Musk may have finally achieved his ultimate goal of taking over Twitter. His plan is to transform the app into something entirely new, but there are still some complications that could stop this from happening. Regardless of what happens next, there’s no turning back.
Twitter Clarifies Policy on Duplicate Content
Twitter is finally addressing the confusion surrounding its duplicate content policy. Plans to communicate this new feature more effectively have been in place since 2020, but Twitter had never released an official statement on what exactly constitutes a violation until now, with their newly published help page that answers many of these unknown questions for users.
Twitter has revealed it has a policy that targets blocks of text, images or even combinations that have been copied and pasted into their tweets. The content found to violate this rule may be hidden from other users or not be eligible for promotion. In cases where it is severe enough, and there are no mitigating factors, then an account can potentially get suspended indefinitely.
Twitter has announced that it will be limiting the reach of duplicated tweets similar to how it restricts tweets deemed spammy, abusive or violating applicable laws. The social media platform reduces visibility for this type of content by:
- Disqualifying tweets from appearing in the top search results and trends.
- Not recommend tweets to those who fail to follow the author.
- Downranking the ineligible tweets in replies.
- Excluding a wide range of content, such as tweets and promotions from in-product recommendations and emails.
If you follow the author of this tweet, then your feed will still be visible.
Musk to Increase Twitter’s User Base by 200% Over the Next Three Years
Elon Musk, the man behind some lofty goals for Twitter, has set his sites on becoming the owner and CEO of this platform. He’s already taken steps in that direction with an acquisition earlier this year but can he actually deliver? Let’s take a look at what Mr Musk wants to do:
- Increase Twitter’s current user base of 229 million daily active users, to 600 million by 2025, and then 931 million by 2028.
- Increase the Twitter revenue by 5x by 2028, an increase from $5b in 2021 to $26.5b
- Advertising income will be reduced to around 45% of the company’s revenue, currently at 90% of Twitter’s intake
- Reduce staff by 1,000 over the next year, with the addition of around 2,700 new employees by 2025.
(TWITTER MDAU OVER TIME)
Investors seem to believe in Musk’s ability as he has been able to turn other companies into major financial successes. With that being said, it is not clear exactly how the Tesla owner plans on boosting Twitter’s user base. However, Musk has complete confidence that he can turn Twitter around, so only time will tell if this is the case.
TikTok to Launch New Interactive Market Insights Tool
TikTok has launched an interactive marketing insights platform to help you understand your target market better. With a wide range of filters, it’s now easier for businesses and brands alike to find out more information about their audience so they can best reach them with targeted content.
@tiktokforbusinessYou heard that right—TikTok marketing insights from around the 🌎 are finally here. Find them all today with the TikTok Insights tool. Start exploring at our link in bio!♬ original sound – TikTok for Business
TikTok’s filtering tools include information on location, demographics, industry verticals and dates among others. The data will help you make more informed strategic choices that are tailored specifically for your needs. One downside is that their database isn’t very deep so some data points show up in several categories which can make them less precise than desired.
With 1 billion users and counting, it’s easy to see why many marketers are turning their attention toward TikTok. These short video clips have become a mainstay in pop culture as well-known celebrities post daily activities on this app that is currently tracking at about one new user every second! If you want to take advantage of this huge user base, then you should definitely learn more about what the latest research says about TikTok usage.
TikTok to Provide Insights into In-Store Visits via New Data Partnership with Foursquare
TikTok is partnering up with Foursquare to give advertisers more insight into where their ads are being viewed. This new feature will allow them to measure the success of a campaign by tracking user location through foursquare’s attribution program, which lets businesses see how many people visited their website after seeing an ad on social media.
This integration will help advertisers understand the performance of their campaign on TikTok by tying it back to visits from real people. Foursquare has been working hard with this update in order for you to be able to get more information about how effective your ads are and what areas need improvement.
Foursquare’s opt-out function means you can take back control of your data. The company has 75 million active users on its own app and provides location technology for other platforms such as Uber and Facebook to track visitors in stores through the foursquare platform. This makes Foursquare an excellent option if you want more insight about your ads effectiveness or how they’re generating visits from potential customers.
TikTok Shares Opportunities for Marketers and Insights into Emerging Gaming Trends
Media and entertainment have always been a driving force in society, but with video games becoming more popular than ever before, it’s impacted everything from fashion trends to politics. TikTok published an overview on how their platform links into gaming culture while also highlighting some opportunities for those looking at promoting various initiatives.
TikTok has over 400 million monthly active users (MAUs) who generate around 40 billion video views per month. The top 100 hashtags that are gaming-related on Tik Tok receive more than 30% of all their traffic. This means that many gamers are using the platform primarily for its gaming content instead of traditional social media posts like Instagram or Facebook. While those more traditional social media platforms may have higher engagement rates, they don’t provide as many exposure opportunities within these communities.
When it comes to digital marketing, there are some key data points that you need for your TikTok campaigns. However, most of these relate specifically to the ever-evolving gaming conversation on this app and how we should consider them when building an approach in order to have success with our marketing efforts.
New Study Outlines Key Snapchat Ads Best Practices, Based on 14,000 Campaigns
Snapchat ads are proven to work. But how do you make them more effective? The team at VidMob studied 14,000 Snap campaigns over the last three years in order to find out what works best for marketers of all industries and vertical markets! In their research they discovered two key elements that work across all verticals:
- High contrast imagery: It was found that this is more engaging for consumers. Creatives in the entertainment category saw a 15% higher swipe rate when they used high-contrast images, while financial services marketers saw an increase of 40%. Similarly, colour contrasts twice as much on CPG ads than in other categories.
- Minimal Text: When less than 5% of the screen was dedicated to text, view rates for financial services creatives were 175% higher, while entertainment ad swipe up rates increased by 23%. CPG ads saw an increase of 85%.
Snap’s recent partnership for ads with Cameo may be able to open up new opportunities for celebrity-based marketing campaigns. This is an exciting development, and if you are searching for ways to improve your approach to Snap ads, then it’s worth taking a look through all of these findings which might spark some fresh ideas for your next campaign.
Instagram Launches NFT Display Options After Initial Test, Also Coming to Facebook
Instagram has initially released their long-in-development NFT display options. However, as Meta is getting in on the tail end of the NFT hype that is gradually losing steam, they need to launch these features ASAP.
With the new display options, owners of Ethereum-based NFTs can connect their wallets such as MetaMask and verify ownership. Users can then exhibit their NFTs on their main feed, within stories or through direct messages. A new tab has also been added that allows for NFT bidding in order integrate this functionality with other parts of an account – providing more interaction from one’s broader marketplace experience.
Recent reports by The Wall Street Journal have shown a 92% decline in NFT sales and an 88% decrease of active wallets since November. It is anticipated that Instagram’s new integrations will become available soon, in order to reverse the declining trend in NFTs. Watch this space!
YouTube Helps Creators Grow Their Audience Through Expanded Test of Channel Gifting
YouTube has been testing a new membership gifting option for select partners in Japan. This pilot will enable users to buy channel memberships and give them as gifts, which should help grow the community of interested people who may not yet be subscribed but still want access.
YouTube has a system that chooses who gets donated memberships, and it’s based on how non-subscribers interact with your channel. This may seem strange at first but the reasoning behind this is because they want creators to have more exposure rather than just giving gifts out as friends. When you’re chosen to receive a donated membership, you’ll be notified via personal live chat message and follow up email.
YouTube just recently launched a beta version of Channel Memberships Gifting with select creators. Users need to opt-in on their streams in order for them be eligible receive gifted membership packages from other viewers, which include no charges and revenue sharing just like any other purchase made through the platform!
YouTube Expands Creative Potential by Launching Updated Green Screen Option for Shorts
YouTube has added new features for Shorts that will open up creative options in the app. This includes Green Screen functionality, which was also available on TikTok and Instagram Stories last October. This is a great way to create high-quality visuals for just about anyone who has a smartphone. As short form videos reach over 30 billion views per day (which is 4x as much compared to a year ago), there really is no limit to how far this could go.
The new Green Screen feature makes it easy to transform any eligible YouTube video or Short into the perfect background for your Shorts clips. The backgrounds are now more diverse and interesting, with the original creator attributed via a source link. In addition to this, the simplified Shorts iteration option is being rolled out to more users.
TikTok is facing strong competition from other social media sites like Twitter, Snapchat and Pinterest. However, YouTube has introduced these clever new updates to take advantage of this trend and clearly poses the biggest threat to TikTok’s dominance. It might be time to sit back and see what TikTok does next.
