Digital Marketing News 08/23/2022 – 08/29/2022

Search

Google’s Ad Market Might be Sued by the Department of Justice

US DOJ is preparing to sue Google with an Antitrust suit as early as next month.

Bloomberg published an article that the US Justice Department is preparing to sue Alphabet, Inc., Google’s parent company, as soon as September. 

In October of 2020, the federal department of justice filed a lawsuit that alleges the search engine giant’s online advertising dominance as an illegal monopoly. In December of the same year, 16 states and Puerto Rico also sued Google for state-level violations of antitrust laws. Both of these suits are currently unsettled.

Google has denied all allegations. “Our advertising technologies help websites and apps fund their content, and enable small businesses to reach customers around the world,” said Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels. “The enormous competition in online advertising has made online ads more relevant, reduced ad tech fees, and expanded options for publishers and advertisers.” 

Prosecutors are still undecided if they will file a case and has declined to comment according to Bloomberg.

Google has asked a federal judge to dismiss the states’ complaint. A hearing on that request is scheduled for later this month.

Search

Google “Helpful Content” Algorithm Update Favors More Authentic and High-Quality Search Results

Google is rolling out a sitewide algorithm update called Helpful Content Update, that deprioritizes content written for search engines. 

This new update aims to cut down clickbait and help users find people-first content, essentially targeting content that were written mainly for ranking in search engines. 

“We know people don’t find content helpful if it seems like it was designed to attract clicks rather than inform readers. So starting next week for English users globally, we’re rolling out a series of improvements to Search to make it easier for people to find helpful content made by, and for, people,” reads the company’s blog post. "This ranking update will help make sure that unoriginal, low quality content doesn’t rank highly in Search, and our testing has found it will especially improve results related to online education, as well as arts and entertainment, shopping and tech-related content.”

Google announced that these changes will roll out in two updates in the coming weeks.

Social

TikTok Introduces 3 Types of Shopping Ads

Advertisers can now use 3 different types of shopping ads on TikTok. 

TikTok continues to grow its eCommerce push by introducing three new types of shopping ads, namely: 

• Video shopping ads

• Catalog listing ads

• Live shopping ads

These three ad types are accessible through the TikTok Ads manager through the buying objective “Product Sales” and can be used by advertisers with or without an eCommerce store. 

Video shopping ads

Video shopping ads allow advertisers to create videos for display on the For You page. It combines features from collection ads and dynamic showcase ads. 

Video shopping ads will dynamically combine video creative and product cards into different variations. When clicked, it redirects to an in-app landing page that lets the shopper learn more about the product and redirect them to the retailer’s site when they’re ready to purchase.

Catalog listing ads

The catalog listing ads allow expanded product placement across TikTok, letting advertisers promote catalogs at scale without the need to create any video content first.

Instead, the catalog listing ads pull product images from the retailer’s catalog and promotes them in shoppable placements through the branded content on the For You page.

Live shopping ads

Live shopping ads are specifically designed to promote live shopping streams. These ads are meant to direct people from the For You page to a live shopping event.

Currently, shopping ads are available for testing. Access to shopping ads requires advertisers to reach “level one” status by integrating advanced signals and linking their product catalogs. TikTok has a PDF guide that outlines the whole process.

Social

Meta Now Lets You Schedule Facebook Reels with Meta Creator Studio

Meta introduces new ways to schedule Facebook Reels in three simple steps using the Creator Studio. 

A new feature has graced the Meta Creator Studio, letting creators schedule Facebook Reels with only three steps using the desktop app. 

Step 1: Upload Video via the Creator Studio

Log in with the same credentials as your Facebook Page and click Create Reel. 

A vertical video of up to 60 seconds is preferred, but you can select any video size and optimize it in the next step.

Step 2: Optimize the video

After uploading, you can reframe horizontal videos to either vertical or square. Creator Studio will display a preview on the side. If your video is already vertical then you can opt to skip this step. 

Step 3: Schedule video as a Facebook Reel

Add a caption to the Reel and schedule it to post, or opt to publish it immediately. You can also save the Reel as a draft to get back to it later on. 

Lastly, you can track performance of all published Reels using Creator Studio. 

For Instagram, however, scheduling is still currently in the works, with the intention of allowing posts and Reels to be scheduled within the app. Unfortunately, there’s no timeline yet for this release.

Social

LinkedIn Tests New Discover Feed and New Group Elements to Enhance Discovery and Engagement

LinkedIn announced some new updates to help facilitate more discovery and engagement in the app. 

In a recent announcement post, LinkedIn introduced new ways to discover knowledge, lead groups, and inspire conversations and more. 

To start, LinkedIn is currently testing a new Discover feed, highlighting algorithmically recommended content that users may be interested in based on your platform activity.

This new Discover feed will highlight newsletters, videos, events, and more, based on your interests and activity in the app. 

Social media consultant Matt Navarra shares how it looks on Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/MattNavarra/status/1557044516292595716

LinkedIn is also testing a new Celebration display in the Notifications tab to keep up to date with job milestones, work anniversaries, birthdays, and  possibly more. 

LinkedIn is also adding new elements on LinkedIn Groups. 

“We often hear from members how much they cherish their LinkedIn Groups experience. For millions of professionals around the world, groups are the go-to for advice, support, and industry tips on LinkedIn.”

With the intention of fostering engagement, additional criteria for joining a group and a new personalized welcome note for new members were added. They provide more ways for group admins to manage communities.

What you can do next:

• Start removing any content from your site that is unhelpful and only written to rank on search engines and begin creating content that is meant to provide people with helpful information.

• Test out shopping ads today as preparation for the holiday season. 

• Content planning and scheduling has become easier if your brand uses Reels often. Maximize this feature to plan out your next steps as a brand. 

• If you are utilizing a LinkedIn group, check out the additional criteria added to new members to filter out spam accounts. Now’s also the chance to add in a personalized welcome note to let your new members know they are welcome and what they can expect from the group. 

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