Google has finally confirmed that it will be implementing some updates to Google Image Search. According to a series of news received by digital marketers, site owners and SEO experts, the improvements set to be adopted will be available for mobile and desktop, and this is expected to roll out on Thursday, 27th of September. Despite the abundance of available news from various reliable sources, the official statement regarding the upcoming updates was officially announced in San Francisco at Google’s 20th-anniversary event. It was also revealed that the updates would go along with some new features on mobile and a new desktop user interface. Updates on Mobile Google Image Search
1. Availability of the Stories Feature The availability of the feature dubbed as Stories and similar to what Instagram and Snapchat have been using and became popular for is expected to come to the mobile version of the Google Image Search. It was found out that for this feature to materialise, Google needs to have the AMP Stories surface in mobile image search. For a start, Google will start creating stories about celebrities and athletes. Just like on the other platforms, Google users are allowed to tap through to obtain additional information. 2. Availability of Google Lens Support The upcoming update is also expected to bring the Google Lens Support to Google Image Search. The said feature enables users to learn more about the things around by simply taking photos using their phone’s camera. They can obtain such learning by simply taking a picture of a landmark and learn about its history. This can also be used by taking a photo of a product anywhere to determine the information as to where it can be purchased. 3. Availability of Featured Videos on Search Finally, the upcoming update will bring along the new featured videos in the search results. With this, Google will be able to deliver more worthwhile visual content and deeply understand the video’s content.
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It was recently confirmed that Google Ads was updated, and such effort has now allowed advertisers to activate the call reporting at the account level. Given this confirmation, many advertisers, digital marketers and site owners were delighted given that the new feature is expected to greatly help their promotional campaigns. Many experts also view the latest Google Ads update as a bold move since before it was rolled out the call reporting feature had to be enabled individually for every call extension as well as the call-only ad. Thus, it is quite challenging for advertisers particularly those with multiple call-only ads and various ad extensions to make sure that the call reporting was properly set up for everything. But with the latest update, every advertiser can now use a toggle that will conveniently enable call reporting that covers the entire account. The update is also expected to eliminate the possible occurrence of call extensions or call-only ads without enabling the reporting. Also, Google hinted that the feature is optional. It means that it is not turned on by default. Thus, advertisers, digital marketers, site owners and other Google Ads user who wish to enable the call reporting feature for certain ads as well as ad extensions can manually do that. Finally, Google confirmed that the feature’s current settings do not allow users to switch back and forth. This simply means that as soon as the account-level call reporting is enabled by an advertiser for his or her entire account, he or she will no longer be able to revert the settings to what it is before. Facebook has recently announced that it will continue to expand its fact-checking efforts, and this made a lot of website owners and digital marketers. This is because the said effort allows Facebook to review as well as double check the accuracy of the photos and videos posted on the platform along with those that are promoting content, product or services. Thus, the number of those who are trying to promote false information are identified and possibly stopped. Facebook also hinted that the ongoing effort is focused on conducting the needed review of articles to minimise the spread of false or misleading news. Furthermore, Facebook confirmed that all its 27 fact-checking partners located in 17 different countries would also be focusing on cutting down the spread of wrong or misleading information by publishing photos and videos on the platform. Although it sounds simple, Facebook’s fact-checking mechanism is quite complex, and this setup makes it more effective in getting its goal. In an article published by Search Engine Journal, it was revealed that the fact-checking system utilised by Facebook makes use of the combination of machine learning along with the feedback obtained from Facebook users to identify posts and content that provide false information.
The same article also explained that upon identifying such content, it would then be sent to accredited third-party fact-checkers to be subjected for review. It was also learned that these Fact-checkers are capable of surfacing content on their own. Furthermore, Facebook hinted that it would begin using the OCR or optical character recognition for extracting texts from photos then compare these to the headlines provided by the fact-checkers’ articles. Also, Facebook assured that they are also working to come up with new ways that will allow them to identify if a photo or a video was manipulated. Finally, it was learned that when a misleading of false content is identified, Facebook’s current mechanism enables it to rate such with any of the ratings provided below.
Given these developments, a lot of SEO experts are convinced that Facebook is committed to improving its fact-checking feature and eventually provide more truthful content to its users. It was recently confirmed that the features of the Google Partners which includes the badge status were moved to Google Ads. According to its announcement, Google stressed out that the latest move was implemented as part of the company’s efforts to create a “more integrated and stable experience” for users. It also hinted that moving forward; Google Partners will no longer be able to view the badge and specialisation status of the company from their Google Partners accounts. Also, the latest development allowed Google to update the way it defines the affiliated users. It can be remembered that users are previously allowed to send requests before they can be affiliated with a company, but now as Google Partners features were moved to Google Ads they are already prompted to make use of their Google Ads manager account for Partner affiliation purposes. Furthermore, the recent update allowed the users with admin, standard, or read-only access to Google Ads to see the Partners program tab, the company’s badge and specialization details in the same account. Aside from that, the recent update also gave way for more changes. First, the users are now required to have an admin or standard access for their company’s badge and specialisation status to earn Google Ads certifications. Second, they are encouraged into sharing their Academy to obtain Ads account information. Given these, many site owners and digital marketers are having a hard time in improving their Google Ads accounts and cope with the changes. However, many of them are hopeful that the upcoming updates will make things more convenient for them. It was recently confirmed that Google Ads has finally implemented an update on its Showcase Shopping ads and this has delighted site owners, advertisers and digital marketers. According to some published articles on the web, the new Google Ads update was designed to allow the Showcase Shopping ads to be available along with the video functionality. Based on these reports, it is quite clear that a great improvement was obtained by Google Ads given that its Showcase Shopping ads were previously allowed to include images only. When asked to comment on the recent move, Google hinted that the upgrade would most likely benefit individuals and companies who promote their products on Google since a video can be regarded as a highly-persuasive form of content that can influence the users’ purchase decisions. It can be remembered that the Showcase Shopping ads were introduced just last year to let advertisers upload multiple images to a single ad and promote their products or services. Given this, it is correct to conclude that Google’s latest move to allow advertisers to add videos marks the first update to such ad units since they were launched. Also, Google explained that the latest update on the Showcase Shopping ads would also enable advertisers to include descriptions, products, and promotions of what they are showcasing. Finally, the company claims that it was proven that the top ad in the Showcase slot could drive up to 3.6X higher CTR than the average and receive 20 per cent additional conversion credit with the first-click attribution. Google has recently updated its advertising policies, and this now includes restriction ads intended for third-party tech support providers. This decision was made, Google says, due to a rise in misleading ads from third-parties offering technical support services.
Restricting ads does not mean an outright ban on ads in this category and will affect digital marketers. It means Google will put measures in place to help ensure only legitimate service providers are running ads. In the coming months, Google Ads will roll out a verification program that providers of third-party tech support services will be required to complete. Google Ads has similar measures in place for addiction treatment centers, which now have to be verified by an outside firm before being able to run ads. In addition, treatment centers also have to pay upfront for the verification, and then pay an additional annual fee in order to maintain their verified status. That’s just an example of what third-party tech support providers might expect in terms of a verification program. Google has not yet provided any specific details, though I expect it will before the verification program rolls out. While this may be a considerable inconvenience to legitimate providers of third-party tech support services, at least Google hasn’t gone the route of banning ads as it has done for payday loans and bail bonds services. Google has finally announced that the new version of its popular Search Console is officially out of beta. The news is regarded by a lot of digital marketers and site owners as a breakthrough since it can be remembered that the new version of the Search Console was available in beta version since it launched in the earliest part of the current year.
It was also previously noted that although the new Search Console has been available to almost all users, many experts consider that the said version was technically in beta since it does not readily offer some of the key features that were available in the classic version. In an article published by Search Engine Journal, Google hinted that their decision to graduate the new version of the Search Console out of the beta stage was triggered by the fact that it is now able to make use of the most commonly-used cases. Furthermore, the same article shared that Google now has added two significant features on the latest version of the Search Console and these are the following. 1. The Manual Actions report This feature is responsible for allowing the active manual actions as well as the security issues to be shown directly on the Overview page of the console. 2. The URL Inspection tool (Live mode) This feature enables the user to run the URL inspection on the live version of the page. Finally, Google hinted that the users who are still using the classic version of Search Console will be able to see a message that would point them to use the latest version especially when a similar feature exists. Google has recently confirmed that they have introduced a brand-new tool which is designed to help advertisers and digital marketers in measuring the level of the effectiveness that the ads that they want to release before these would go live. Based on a reliable source, the brand-new ad strength indicator that was released recently can measure responsive searches and automatically display ads on a scale ranging from “Poor” to “Excellent.” It was revealed that upon doing the said task, Google is looking at the diversity, relevance and quantity of the ad. Also, the new tool does not only assign a rating to the ad but also enables Google to provide actionable feedback so that the advertisers will determine the specific areas in creating the ad that needs to be improved. Aside from that, an article published by Search Engine Journal revealed that Google’s current move was also responsible for allowing them to provide some pieces of advice. First, they encourage advertisers with responsive search ads to provide many headlines as well as descriptions that speak about or those that make sense for their business. Second, those with responsive display ads are advised to provide five logos, headlines and descriptions for every ad along with up to 15 images.
Finally, Google hinted that it is planning to roll out ad strength feature in various stages. It also cleared out that over the next few weeks, the ad strength will start appearing while a responsive search ad is being written. By early September, the feature would be available and will have its column in the Google Ads interface. However, Google revealed that ad strength support intended for the responsive display ads will still not be available for a few months. YouTube has recently confirmed that it will soon be starting the use of non-skippable ads to all the videos from creators who were already able to monetise their content. The said update which delighted a lot of digital marketers and site owners who promote their content on YouTube is expected to happen within the current week. Before the actual roll-out, it was learned that verified creators would soon be receiving notifications that will inform them that they can run the non-skippable ads. YouTube hinted that the creators are still given the option to enable the non-skippable adds or not. In case a creator prefers the non-skippable ads enabled, these will then be added to the videos that the creator has previously published as well as on the upcoming content that he or she will upload in the future. Given this information, many SEO experts are quite convinced that the current move from YouTube is quite aggressive. This is because the non-skippable ads were previously made available to a limited number of creators, but now it will soon be available to everyone via the YouTube Partner Program.
Also, it can be remembered that the announcement was made by YouTube on its Creator Insider channel by emphasising the opportunities for verified creators to earn more money. Aside from that, YouTube is also planning to introduce a tool that will soon enable creators the addition or removal of non-skippable ads in bulk. The same tool will also help creators in tracking the audience engagements as well as the actual revenues earned from the videos with no non-skippable ads. With this, the tool will surely be helpful in assessing whether the ad helps or hurts a creator’s content. Finally, many experts believe that the new and the upcoming updates will most likely cause advertisers to pay creators more in exchange for displaying the non-skippable ads on their content and these might create detrimental because the audiences are already used to the habit of skipping YouTube ads. We all wonder how Google rankings work. And one of the most common thinking, when a page is on the list of bottom ranking websites is that “the author must be not that good” or has a bad reputation, and so and so. This thought turns out to be a result of some of the updates made to Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines last July. It points to the assessment of low or lowest quality pages. But what precisely are these guidelines? How does it differ from the previous ones? Are they just for identifying if the content creator has not made a good impression on their other works? How do they come into this? Google explained that the changes in the guidelines highlight that some ratings made are also because of overrated content titles. In relevance to that, there are two reasons why a page misses the chance to make it into the list of “quality” pages according to quality raters. One is because the page does not have enough Main Content (MC) that provides readers adequate information on the objective of the write-up. Second, the author lacks sufficient knowledge of the intention of the content they are writing. So for that, the content creator must be familiar with the insights they are sharing with people. These quality raters are advised to give a site a low rate if it does not meet the marks of a page with up-to-date content. And an author with not-so-good overall marks individually can still have the opportunity to redeem their credibility over their work if they can impress Google with simple and yet catchy ideas and turn them into an exciting content. And of course, never share stories that invented, especially if you’re not writing about fantasy and fairytales. We already have Disney and Hollywood films to do that. Content creators have their stuff to do.
In the world of digital marketing, it’s not always the overly intelligent people who capture the “eye of the beholder” but also the creative ones. And you don’t have to be that clever to do that. Be smart enough to know your ways. |
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November 2018
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