Archive for the ‘seo news’ Category
Thursday, April 4th, 2024
LinkedIn today introduced CTV ads, allowing marketers to include ads on CTV platforms in their B2B campaigns.
Advertisers can add CTV to their LinkedIn campaigns through a network of partners including Paramount, Roku and Samsung Ads.
In addition to LinkedIn’s self-service Campaign Manager, the company also has a managed offering, LinkedIn Premiere via its partnership with NBCUniversal.
Why we care. CTV is a growing channel for many marketers, including B2B businesses. As part of the rationale for introducing CTV, LinkedIn cited a study from Demandbase that found 90% of B2B marketers who used it in 2023 believed it helped reach customers.
Building on video. “LinkedIn CTV, including LinkedIn Premiere in partnership with NBCUniversal, builds on our suite of video solutions that help our customers reach their key audiences across our community of 1 billion members,” according to a LinkedIn representative. “Since only 5% of buyers are in market for a new purchase at any given time, it’s important for B2B marketers to consistently engage with their audiences to ensure their brand is memorable when it’s time to buy. We launched LinkedIn CTV to help our customers continue to reach and engage new audiences across streaming television content.”
Dig deeper: The B2B CEO’s social media checklist
Getting started. Marketers who have created a video ad simply log into Campaign Manager and choose an objective. They can either select a CTV-only campaign or launch a multichannel campaign to boost brand awareness.
Marketers can then choose a target audience among English-speaking decision-makers in the U.S. and Canada found on LinkedIn. Advertisers can choose attributes for their target like company size, seniority and interests.
Advertisers then set a budget for their campaign and determine when they want it to run.
Measurement. In addition to native reporting on the site, LinkedIn partnered with Kantar for objective lift studies and with iSpot to provide advanced audience measurement.
- The iSpot partnership allows B2B marketers to measure campaign effectiveness across platforms, including on linear and CTV.
Driving results. “Customers can use native reporting in Campaign Manager, like Performance Summary Report, Revenue Attribution Report, Conversions API and our new CTV Brand Lift test to measure their success using metrics like reach, conversion rates and video completion rates,” said a LinkedIn representative. “Additionally, customers can retarget members who viewed their video ad with additional campaigns and formats, like lead gen forms and Document Ads, to drive measurable results at any stage throughout the purchase cycle.”
Live Event Ads. LinkedIn also introduced Live Event Ads to help B2B marketers promote live events. This global offering allows marketers to boost registration and engage prospects before, during and after live virtual events.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Thursday, April 4th, 2024
Google’s AI overviews are beginning to appear in search queries for a “small slice” of logged-in users in the UK.
Google’s Search Generative Experience has been in testing as a Labs experiment in the U.S. since May 2023. SGE has never been available in the UK.
Why we care. SGE, AI overviews – whatever you call it – could potentially change how people search and the amount of organic traffic your site gets from Google. It’s still unknown how often (if ever) searchers click on the citations in Google’s AI-generated answers.
Future of SGE. Google began testing AI overviews from SGE on a “subset of queries, on a small percentage of search traffic in the U.S.” as Search Engine Land reported on March 22. This seems similar to the UK search traffic test.
Some have speculated SGE could launch widely at Google I/O, but Google has not confirmed a date. And Elizabeth Reid, Google VP, Search, has indicated there likely won’t be a light-switch “moment” when SGE replaces Google Search as we’ve known it.
Could SGE become paid? Meanwhile, Google is considering making AI-powered search features available only to subscribers, according to a Financial Times report. It’s unclear if this is specific to SGE or other AI search features. Perhaps these “premium” features would be part of the Google One paid bundle that includes Gemini.
Essentially, the report indicated “classic” Google Search would remain free. Ads would continue to appear alongside search results even for subscribers. No decision has been made on whether or when it will launch:
“Google said the company was ‘not working on or considering’ an ad-free search experience but that it would ‘continue to build new premium capabilities and services to enhance our subscription offerings across Google’.”
– Google considers charging for AI-powered search in big change to business model (subscription required)
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Thursday, April 4th, 2024
Google is reportedly in talks about putting in an offer to acquire Hubspot.
The search giant has allegedly been in discussions with Morgan Stanley about how much it should offer to buy the online marketing software company, which is said to be valued at $35 billion. However, no offer has yet been made.
Why we care. Buying HubSpot would help Google expand its services in the growing CRM software market, enabling it to reach more enterprise customers with the budget to allocate to marketing and advertising.
Why now? Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has been exploring new ways to accelerate growth after the tech giant reported lower-than-expected ad revenue in the fourth quarter of last year. Google Search and YouTube are also facing increased competition for advertising budgets from platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Amazon.com.
Antitrust concerns. Google is reportedly concerned that antitrust regulators may not approve the acquisition. If the acquisition is successful, it would be a significant deal amidst increasing privacy regulations under U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.
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What Hubspot is saying. A Hubspot spokesperson told Reuters:
- “As standard practice, HubSpot does not comment on rumors or speculation. We continue to focus on building a great business and serving our customers.”
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Thursday, April 4th, 2024
Google will soon recommend linking your Display & Video 360 advertisers to Google Analytics.
Once it detects an unlinked DV360 advertiser, you may start receiving these recommendations similar to the notification displayed in the image below:
Why? Linking the DV360 advertiser allows you to export Analytics audiences and conversions to DV360. Additionally, you can view campaign cost data and user engagement data in Analytics, enhancing campaign measurement capabilities.
Why we care. Monitoring campaign performance accurately is crucial for effective optimization and generating progress reports.
How recommendations work. Google says it provides personalized recommendations “to help you get the most useful and accurate data and take advantage of new, relevant features as they become available.” Recommendations are based on your property’s history, settings, and trends observed across Google Analytics.
If your property has recently started running, you may not see any recommendations initially. However, be sure to check back again soon, as Google Analytics regularly identifies and introduces new recommendations tailored for you.
Accessibility. Recommendations are displayed in the Recommendations section of the Home page and appear contextually throughout Google Analytics, positioned at the top or to the right of relevant pages.
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Deep dive. Read Google’s announcement in full for more information.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024
Facebook is launching an updated video player that provides a consistent design for all video lengths, including Reels, longer videos, and Live content, in one fullscreen.
This updated video player, which bears a striking resemblance to TikTok, will initially roll out on iOS and Android devices in the United States and Canada, with a global release scheduled in the coming months.
Why we care. The full-screen video player, with its improved features, is created to grab people’s attention and increase interaction with your content.
What’s changing? Now, whenever you tap on a video in the Facebook app, it will always open in fullscreen and be oriented vertically as demonstrated in the gif below:
Although videos will appear vertically automatically, you’ll notice a new fullscreen option on most horizontal videos that enables you to switch to landscape view for better viewing.
Previously, depending on the video’s length or where you were watching, you might have seen horizontal videos or videos playing in a Feed-like player.
Enhancements. Facebook’s updated video player will offer several enhanced features, such as:
- Improved recommendations for videos of all lengths, tailored to your interests. For instance, you might receive suggestions for Reels providing quick makeup tips or longer tutorial videos on DIY home improvements, curated from experienced homeowners.
- New controls offering you more flexibility in how you watch videos, which will be rolled out over the coming weeks.
- The ability to easily skip to the part you’re most interested in using the slider at the bottom of the player.
What Facebook is saying. Facebook said in a statement:
- “Outside the new player, you’ll also now see more relevant video recommendations, regardless of length, on Feed and on the Video Tab. And while Facebook continues to be the home for all types of video, we’ll show even more Reels to meet the growing demand for this format.”
- “These updates also mean that more types of creators will have more opportunities to tap into additional audiences they might not have reached before.”
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Deep dive. Read Meta’s announcement in full for more information.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024
Sixty percent of citations on AI search engine Perplexity overlap with the top 10 Google organic search results, according to a new analysis.
- Healthcare had the highest result overlap – 82%. Both Perplexity and Google cite authoritative sites like the Mayo Clinic and the National Institutes of Health.
- Restaurants had the lowest overlap – 27%.
Why we care. This finding may seem a bit surprising considering an analysis that found 94% of Google Search Generative Experience links are different from its own organic results. But it’s also good news that if you’ve prioritized SEO for Google and have focused on building a notable brand, you should be off to a good start on optimizing for Perplexity.
Where they differ. BrightEdge compared SGE and Perplexity to see where they differed. Of note:
- Reddit was a citation in seven of the nine industries analyzed, the two exceptions being in Healthcare and Finance.
- In Ecommerce, Perplexity and Google cited Wikipedia and Amazon. But after that, Google cited Quora and Consumer Reports while Perplexity cited Reddit.
Why they differ. It’s all about data. Google has collected a lot of this data.
- Google has a treasure trove of data from reviews, ratings, location information, and business hours. Perplexity cites Yelp for this type of data.
- Google has Google Finance. Perplexity cites Yahoo, MarketWatch and Barrons.
Perplexity growing. Perplexity has grown to 15 million monthly active users. With this growth, referrals have also increased 40% month-over-month from Perplexity to brand sites since January, according to enterprise SEO platform BrightEdge and its Generative Parser.
- Perplexity’s organic share rate is growing at 39% per month, according to BrightEdge.
Citations. Perplexity provides 5.28 citations, on average, per response. Also of note: Perplexity shows “drastically” more citations in Restaurant and Travel responses.
- “In a post-generative AI world, citations are the new rankings. For brands to win, they need to be the cited source,” said Jim Yu, founder and Executive Chairman of BrightEdge.
The report. BrightEdge published its research as part of its resource, The Ultimate Guide to Perplexity.
Dig deeper.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024
Google issued a reminder that it will be discontinuing all Universal Analytics (UA) services and APIs on July 1.
With Google Analytics 4 (GA4) properties fully replacing UA, access to UA properties through the Google Analytics front-end and APIs will no longer be available starting in July.
If you haven’t fully migrated to GA4 properties, Google advises following the migration guide to begin transitioning as soon as possible.
Why we care. If you do not download or export your data before UA sunset completely, your data will be permanently deleted by Google and, unfortunately, will not be recoverable, which could impact campaign performance.
Exporting your data. To retain access to your data from your UA property, follow one of the methods outlined in the Google Analytics Help Center. If you plan to utilize the BigQuery integration for exporting historical data from your Universal Analytics 360 property, Google strongly advises starting this process immediately.
What is changing? When Universal Analytics services stop, you won’t be able to access or use any data or settings through advertiser, publisher, or other product integrations. For example:
- Once Universal Analytics services end, new conversions, including goals and ecommerce transactions, will no longer be measured. This includes conversions within linked advertising accounts. This change could impact the performance of ad campaigns, especially if those conversions are used alongside Smart Bidding strategies.
- Universal Analytics audience lists will be closed. This closure could impact the activation and performance of ad campaigns that rely on these lists for targeting.
- API requests associated with Universal Analytics properties will fail. This includes requests for deleting Universal Analytics data via the User Deletion API. Consequently, tools dependent on this API, such as Looker Studio, will not display any Universal Analytics data.
- You can request BigQuery export and backfill of historical data from Universal Analytics 360 properties only until June 30. Any data already exported will remain accessible in BigQuery.
- Attribution Projects that were part of Attribution (beta) in Google Analytics will be deleted.
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Deep dive. Read Google’s step-by-step GA4 migration guide for more information.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024
Instagram shed light on why your posted videos may not be reaching all of your followers on the platform.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, explained that “nobody” reaches every single one of their followers due to two primary reasons:
- Many of your followers may not open the app on the particular day you published your new content.
- Those followers who do log into the app that day are presented with far more posts than they have time to scroll through on Instagram. As a result, they may not scroll down far enough to see every post.
What Instagram is saying. Sharing these insights on Threads, Mosseri followed up his comments by advising content creators to not blame the platform’s algorithms for poor reach. He wrote:
- “Before some of you say ‘the algorithm’ is the culprit, understand that ranking and recommendations *increase* the amount of posts people get to, and therefore the amount of reach to go around, more than any thing else we’ve ever done.”
Focus on views and likes. Mosseri also encouraged content creators to prfioritize view and like counts over follower counts in their reporting. He added:
- “I understand why people focus so much on follower counts; they’re prominent and they’re easy to find. But if you actually want to get a sense for how relevant an account is, look at their how many likes they get per post and how many views per reel instead.”
Reaction. Content creators did not take too warmly to Mosseri’s advice and accused Instagram of implementing poor algorithms that were negatively impacting reach. Many creators shared analytics screenshots to support their comments. Piques, who has 2.1 million followers on Instagram, wrote in response:
- “Stop gaslighting the people who built your platform and who put a roof over your head.”
Award-winning author Diana Urban replied on Threads by sharing a screenshot of her analytics five days after sharing a post with her 9,000 followers:
She wrote: “I understand what you’re saying @mosseri but I find it hard to believe that only 200 of my followers opened the app in the past 6 days and didn’t scroll down far enough to see this post. And while I appreciate that this one went viral, I mostly just want my followers to see my usual posts *which they opted into*. I hope what so many of us are saying makes sense.”
Why we care. If you are following Instagram’s guidelines and are still not seeing a boost in terms of reach, it may offer some reassurance that plenty of other successful content creators are in the exact same boat.
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Deep dive. Read the Threads discussion in full for more information.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024
YouTube unveiled three new updates for content creators, intended to provide them with a deeper understanding of their audience and enhance the user experience they offer. These updates include:
- Live stream reaction analytics.
- New and returning viewer impression breakdown.
- The ability to live stream to YouTube in HDR.
Live stream reaction analytics. YouTube is introducing new real-time analytics for live streams, enabling creators to monitor viewer reactions as they happen. This data reveals the number and types of reactions received, for example, emojis like love hearts or party poppers.
To access this information, simply visit your content and navigate to the overview tab. Note that this feature is currently exclusive to Studio web and mobile.
Impression breakdown. YouTube is rolling out a new filter that allows you to see the number of impressions segmented by new and returning viewers. This feature aims to help you gain a deeper understanding of your audience, enabling you to adjust your content strategy to attract both new and returning viewers if you so wish. You can access this feature in YouTube Studio Analytics under advanced mode.
HDR live streaming. You can now live stream to YouTube in HDR. Conor Kavanagh, Lead for Monetization Policy at YouTube, explained the advantages this new functionality offers:
- “With HDR, you get crisper whites, inkier blacks and better-looking colors that pop. HDR also allows you to capture much more detail in your stream because fine-grained color gradations are preserved instead of being smeared out, resulting in hyper-detailed, hyper-realistic streams for your viewers.”
With the latest OBS 30.1 release, you can now stream in HDR to YouTube via RTMP. This allows you to use your existing RTMP workflows and provide your viewers with the highest quality experience that YouTube offers. Additionally, you can live stream in HDR for gaming if the game you’re playing supports HDR. To do this, ensure that your monitor supports HDR and that your camera, if applicable, also supports HDR for PQ or HLG.
Please note that currently, you can use the hevc Codec to stream in HDR, but streaming HDR with ab1 is not yet supported.
Why we care. Live stream reaction analytics and breakdowns of new versus returning viewer impressions offer deeper insights into your audience, allowing you to adjust your content strategy accordingly. Additionally, HDR live streaming provides higher-quality videos for your viewers, which could potentially help boost engagement and create a better user experience.
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Deep dive. Watch YouTube’s announcement in full for more information.
Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024
Instagram released a series of tips and tricks to help creators enhance engagement for their Stories.
The latest guidance from Instagram doesn’t introduce any new features but does offer presentation tips, along with a couple of sharing notes to create more impactful Stories.
Why we care. When you get more people engaged with your stories, you increase your chances of turning viewers into potential customers. This can lead to more sales and help you grow your following.
1. Add Yours stickers and templates
Using custom prompts and public responses on social media provides an interactive way to connect with others. With the “Add Yours” sticker, you can invite others to contribute to your Stories and see their responses. When you see the “Add Yours” prompt in someone else’s story, just tap the sticker to easily add your own story to the responses.
In addition, Add Yours templates bring more creativity to the table. They allow you to include GIFs, text or images in your story, providing a structured framework for responses. This feature not only boosts your content’s visual appeal, but also encourages others to join the conversation in a clear and organized manner.
2. Mention someone after you post a story
You can still mention friends even after your story was posted, allowing them to share it to their own story. Just tap the three dots, select “More,” and then choose “Add Mention.”
3. Make a collage using Layout
You can include multiple photos in a single story and assemble them into a collage using Layout. To do this, just tap the Layout 
icon before taking a photo. You can tap “Change grid” to change the layout of your photos. Then, you can take a series of photos with your camera or select pictures from your camera roll.
4. Fill the background with a solid color
Instagram also suggests filling the background of your story with a solid color to make it more eye-catching. You can use the pen tool to do this, simply:
- Take a photo.
- Tap “Draw.”
- Select a color.
- Press and hold on the screen to fill.
You can enhance your story by adding a translucent overlay using the same process. Simply choose the highlighter icon before tapping the screen to fill. To select a color, press and hold on the color options to access a gradient view for more choices.
5. Turn live photos into a Boomerang
You can easily transform live photos into Boomerangs for your story with just one tap. Start by selecting a live photo from your camera roll — these will feature the boomerang icon in the corner. Then, press and hold on the photo to instantly convert it into a Boomerang.
6. Make emojis glow
Instagram also suggests adding a glowing effect to emojis on your story to make it stand out. To do this, follow these simple steps:
- Use the text tool to type out the emoji you want.
- Select the neon cursive font.
- Toggle on the background text color option.
- Your emoji will now have a soft glow around it.
- You can also customize the color of the glow using the color picker.
Deep dive. Read Instagram’s blog post in full for more information.
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Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing
