Technology News and Industry Knowledge

Google is introducing a new “Deals” feed in the Shopping tab along with additional Merchant Center features to support retailers running promotions, sales and price drops, the company announced Thursday. It is also expanding its integrations with Shopify and WooCommerce to enable merchants to showcase their deals across Google surfaces. The new deals feed in Google Shopping. Image: Google . The new “Deals” feed. All products with a deals badge are now automatically eligible to show in a new feed within the Shopping tab of the search results. This new feed is shown when a user searches for generic deal-related or shopping event-related queries, like “deals” or “black friday,” (shown above) or when “Deals” is selected from the drop-down menu in the Shopping tab (shown below). The new deals feed can also be accessed via the drop-down menu in the Shopping tab. New ways to track your deals in Merchant Center. Merchants can now see which of their products is eligible for a dea...

The decision to rebrand reflects the company's current weaknesses, including in its ad business, and signals broader changes across the tech world. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/facebook-readies-bigger-vr-future-with-meta-rebrand/609138/

The social behemoth's history of buying up other apps like Instagram and WhatsApp suggests motives of monopolizing the market — the antithesis of the metaverse's community pillar. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/can-facebook-align-with-values-metaverse/608768/

Discussing quarterly results that otherwise missed expectations, CFO Brian Olsavsky indicated advertisers have not substantially pulled back ahead of the holidays. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/amazons-ad-business-shows-resilience-against-broader-revenue-challenges/609155/

With more than 11 years at Nintendo of America, the executive has deep industry knowledge that reflects the growing importance of gaming and digital to consumer-facing brands. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/kfc-scores-new-cmo-with-nintendos-nick-chavez/609156/

Search Engine Land’s daily brief features daily insights, news, tips, and essential bits of wisdom for today’s search marketer. If you would like to read this before the rest of the internet does, sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox daily. Good morning, Marketers, not gonna lie. My bet was on OASIS, but I suppose Meta is just as close. If you’re a Ready Player One fan, you know The OASIS was a MMOSG (massively multiplayer online simulation game) where people go to escape reality and “live” online. It’s what I thought of when Facebook announced last week that it was planning on rebranding to highlight its role as a “metaverse.”  “The metaverse will feel like a hybrid of today’s online social experiences, sometimes expanded into three dimensions or projected into the physical world. It will let you share immersive experiences with other people even when you can’t be together — and do things together you couldn’t do in the physical world,” said the announcement . One ...

Google has removed 12 documented structured data fields from its help documents citing these were removed because they are “unused by Google Search and Rich Result Test doesn’t flag warnings for them.” What was removed. Google removed 12 different structured data fields from within HowTo, QApage and SpecialAnnouncements rich results types. These include: HowTo : description field. QAPage : mainEntity.suggestedAnswer.author, mainEntity.dateCreated, mainEntity.suggestedAnswer.dateCreated, mainEntity.acceptedAnswer.author, mainEntity.acceptedAnswer.dateCreated, and mainEntity.author fields. SpecialAnnouncement : provider, audience, serviceType, address, and category fields. Google removed these 12 fields from the help documents to more accurately describe what Google Search and the Rich Results Test support. Remove the code? Should you remove the code and fields from your structured data and code on your web pages? No, you do not have to. Google simply will not support them, but...

The post 20211029 SEL Brief appeared first on Search Engine Land . Via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/1BDlNnc

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday that the tech company is renaming itself to “Meta” to encompass its expanding technology and role in what it calls, “the metaverse.” The company owns multiple technologies and apps including WhatsApp, Instagram, and Oculus VR. In July,  Zuckerberg told  The Verge  that over the next several years, Facebook would “effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company.” What’s the metaverse? The way that Zuckerberg explains it in his founder’s letter today makes it sound like the next level of virtual reality: “You will be able to teleport instantly as a hologram to be at the office without a commute, at a concert with friends, or in your parents’ living room to catch up.” What does this mean for Facebook? “Starting with our results for the fourth quarter of 2021, we plan to report on two operating segments: Family of Apps and Reality Labs,” said the announcemen...

Now is the perfect time for marketers to build on what we’ve collectively learned over the past 18 months, and prepare for a comeback by embracing marketing agility. In this webinar, experts from Adobe share three different ways to increase marketing velocity by focusing on optimizing and becoming more agile in your approach. Register today for “3 Ways to Turbocharge Your Team for Greater Marketing Agility in 2022 , “ presented by Adobe. The post 3 ways to turbocharge your team for greater marketing agility in 2022 appeared first on Search Engine Land . Via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/1BDlNnc

As soon as Google announced that its Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) framework would no longer be required to appear in the Top Stories section of its search results, SEOs working with publishers began envisioning more ad revenue opportunities without sacrificing the traffic that Top Stories could bring. However, some publishers may feel “stuck” with the framework due to a lack of developer resources or other factors. But, in light of recently unredacted allegations from 17 state attorneys general accusing Google of throttling non-AMP ads in order to give AMP a “nice comparative boost,” publishers that are still using AMP may be raising an eyebrow of suspicion. “We’ve all known for a long time that AMP was Google’s attempt to force its own paradigm onto the web, a way to try and control the chaos and establish its own methods as a standard way of doing things,” said Barry Adams, independent SEO consultant and co-founder of News and Editorial SEO Summit, “These latest allegations, if t...

Using facial recognition, the ad adjusts to the viewer in a reflection of how the ES Self-Charging Hybrid recognizes cues and responds to the driver. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/lexus-takes-personalization-to-new-level-with-emotionally-intelligent-ad/609071/

With cookies on their way out and Apple's tracking changes top of mind, panelists at Advertising Week discussed how traditional audience targeting must be reimagined for a privacy-first future. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/mobile-addressability-evolves-device-ids-privacy-advertising-week/608810/

Citing a relatively effective experience with Apple's SKAN alternative, the platform was able to show ads to 30% more iOS users. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/twitter-mostly-avoids-impact-from-apples-tracking-changes/609078/

Instagram has made the link sticker available to all users this week. The feature lets you link out to third-party sites, stories, products, and more via the Stories option in the app. Source: Instagram blog Previously only available to select accounts. Instagram began testing the sticker option as a replacement to “Swipe Up” linking in Instagram Stories around August. Plus, the features were only available to verified accounts or those that met a 10,000 follower threshold. Facebook, Instagram’s parent company, has been emphasizing how the platform is crucial for small, local, and retail businesses — especially as a rallying cry against Apple’s App Tracking Transparency initiative. However, the social media managers for these types of businesses have always advocated that making the Swipe Up link option, and now the sticker link option, available to everyone and not just select users, would be one of the best ways to support SMBs and commerce businesses. the fact that you ...

Celebrating the cult favorite's 40th anniversary, the chain enshrined the sandwich as a permanent asset that fans can own via a Twitter sweepstakes. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/mcdonalds-cooks-up-first-nft-play-by-flipping-rare-mcrib-into-digital-art/609068/

Search Engine Land’s daily brief features daily insights, news, tips, and essential bits of wisdom for today’s search marketer. If you would like to read this before the rest of the internet does, sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox daily. Good morning, Marketers, what if Microsoft hadn’t fumbled so hard with smartphones?  Today is Bill Gates’ 66th birthday, and regardless of how you feel about him, his successes and failures have helped shape the environment that we market in. Bing is the default for Windows, making the search engine an important consideration for some B2B marketers or for brands with audiences that primarily use desktop devices. I also regularly see PPC experts praise the efficiency that Bing Advertising offers, although they acknowledge the tradeoff in search volume. Returning to my question at the top, Gates once said that, “The greatest mistake ever is whatever mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is — that is...

Google is changing the enforcement policy around unique product identifiers for Google Merchant Center from immediate disapproval to limited performance capabilities for free listings. “Products that are missing such attributes will remain eligible to serve but their performance may be limited,” the company said . What are unique product identifiers (UPIs ). Google said a unique product identifier, also known as UPIs, are considered products that include Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs), Manufacturer Part Numbers (MPNs), and brand names in the product feed you submit to Google Merchant Center. Previous enforcement. In September , Google said if a product listing was missing these required attributes, the product was immediately disapproved and no longer shown in free listings. Google said “in order to unify the enforcement of UPIs across programs, specifically the enforcement for multiple different products that use the same GTIN, we’re expanding this enforcement and applying it to...

The post 20211028 SEL Brief appeared first on Search Engine Land . Via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/1BDlNnc

Executives spoke about the opportunity connected TV presents despite persistent issues with fragmentation and measurement. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/ctv-exploding-marketers-capitalize-promise-advertising-week/608830/

Brands stand to lose 50% of their sales on backordered items unless they compensate with customer support, Forrester said in its Predictions 2022: Customer Experience report. The report also forecasted trends for pandemic era services as well as labor practices that may affect customer experience. The research company also published its 2022 consumer predictions as well, suggesting that brand values will continue to be a factor for customers. Customer churn due to supply chain issues. Product availability is one of the most common reasons why U.S. consumers purchase from a retailer other than the one they originally planned on, according to Forrester. These unaddressed product shortages can lead to frustration, which negatively impacts customer loyalty. Brands that can stabilize their supply chains, suggest in-house alternatives to products that are out of stock and proactively message customers about shortages and expected availability are in the best position to curb customer chu...

Another quarter’s earnings report shows that Google is among the winners when it comes to the shifting pandemic landscape. It makes sense that their investment in e-commerce and multi-channel advertising options continues to pay dividends as many people are still hesitant to participate in in-person shopping, dining, and more. That, plus many have just come to prefer the convenience of pick-up, delivery, and online ordering options. 41% year-over-year growth. Revenues for Google’s parent company, Alphabet, went up a whopping 41% YoY according to the report , with ad revenues driving $51.3 out of the $65.1 billion. Google attributed the continued increases to its big push for commerce in Q3 (and before) in the earnings call . Along with the investment in commerce, Google is offering even more options for advertisers who are seeing a return to in-person shopping, especially as the holiday season nears. YouTube is the breakout star. “YouTube advertising revenues reached $7.2bn, an inc...

Executives from DoorDash, Equinox and Diageo showcased creator partnerships that run the gamut in terms of opportunity and process. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/3-ways-brands-approach-content-creators-advertising-week-diageo-doordash-equinox/608869/

Google is now letting anyone under the age of 18, or their parent or guardian, to request the removal of their images from the Google Search results. The removal request can lead to the image no longer appearing in the Google Images tab or as thumbnails in any feature in Google Search, the company said . Reputation management. This may make the process of removing images from Google Search easier and online reputation management companies may benefit from this. Having more and faster methods to remove content from Google Search is likely welcomed by SEO firms, especially those that focus on reputation management. How it works. Here are the steps to remove these images, assuming you are under 18 and there’s an image of yourself that you want removed from Google results. Now, you or your parent/guardian or authorized representative (maybe an online reputation management firm) can follow these steps. Visit the help page for this new policy to understand the information you’ll need ...

As rivals like Facebook contend with headwinds from Apple, Google has kept up momentum through strengths in its shopping business and YouTube. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/google-eyes-long-term-opportunity-in-commerce-as-retail-drives-blowout-ad/608988/

An extended digital play sees the chain tying its annual 'Boorito' promotion to interest in the metaverse while dishing out $1 million in free food. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/chipotle-hosts-virtual-restaurant-on-roblox-for-halloween-experience/608979/

Search Engine Land’s daily brief features daily insights, news, tips, and essential bits of wisdom for today’s search marketer. If you would like to read this before the rest of the internet does, sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox daily. Good morning, Marketers, yesterday my colleague, George Nguyen spoke about how Google’s sterling perception has been tarnished over the years . The question is, is that perception reality? I’ve been covering search and Google for almost two decades, and I’ve seen the company grow over the years. I’ve been through the pre-IPO days, the numerous antitrust claims, seeing executives come and go over the years and search quality and ad quality evolve. Search, both organic and paid search, is complex and confusing and honestly, is not well understood by even people who work inside Google. I’ve performed some legal expert witness tasks over the years, and one thing I find clear is that most attorneys, even top attorneys general, representativ...

Since its announcement, the page experience update generated much speculation among SEOs. This was because it made user experience more of a Google ranking factor than it had been before and because it was announced more than a year ahead of its rollout. Roughly two months before the rollout, Google went on record to say that the page experience update would be relatively minor: “While this update is designed to highlight pages that offer great user experiences, page experience remains one of many factors our systems take into account. Given this, sites generally should not expect drastic changes.” Now that the update has been fully rolled out for several months, it’s time to review its impact as well as discuss a new way to optimize Core Web Vitals (CWV) and improve your user experience. Few SEOs have seen significant rankings changes, but that’s only part of the story “I don’t know anyone who has been impacted. Even those that had a really bad score… major improvements and no ...