February Online Marketing Roundup
A lot of news has happened this month. Google has brought us a lot of new stuff that you should know. But in case you missed it, don’t worry here’s as always all the information you need to be updated. Enjoy our February Online Marketing Roundup!
Google Removing Ads From Right Side Of Desktop Search Results
Google’s desktop search results page is undergoing a change that will mean fewer ads displaying for many queries.
The company is rolling out a change worldwide that eliminates ads on the right side of a desktop search results page. It affects all queries in all languages around the world.
It also brings Google’s desktop search results page into closer alignment with its mobile search results, which (obviously) don’t have any space to the right of the screen.
There’s one exception when ads may still show on the right side of desktop search results: Product Listing Ads will continue to appear either above or to the right of search results.
For more on the change, see Search Engine Land coverage: FAQ: All About The Changes To Google’s Ad Layout On Desktop Search Results.
Google Has Launched Accelerated Mobile Pages
The Accelerated Mobile Pages Project (AMP) is an open source initiative that aims to address these problems by enabling content to load instantaneously and provide a better web experience for all. AMP introduces a new format that is a flavor of HTML.
It’s built to prioritize speed and a fantastic user experience. One way that AMP provides reliably good page loading performance is by restricting the ability to add custom JavaScript to pages and instead relying on built in, reusable components.
Google has stated that a page created with AMP HTML can load anywhere from 15 to 85% faster than the non-AMP version of that page.
What this means for users is a much faster mobile web, and for publishers using AMP a likely boost in search rankings, as site speed and mobile friendliness are both vital for user experience.
It was informally speculated during the announcement of AMP back in December that these pages created using AMP might receive a ‘fast’ label (similar to the ‘mobile friendly’ label), but it seems that Google is going with AMP and a little lightning bolt…
Read more about AMP in Google's article.
Introducing GIF Search on Twitter
Last year, people on Twitter shared over 100 million GIFs — expressing everything from their mood, to an amazing dunk, to their favorite dance move from a music video. Now, sharing GIFs in Tweets and Direct Messages is even easier with Twitter’s new GIF search.
Whenever you’re composing a Tweet or Direct Message, you can search and browse the GIF library. You can search by keyword, or browse categories of different reactions like Happy Dance, Mic Drop, or YOLO.
GIF search will roll out over the coming weeks to everyone around the world on iOS, Android, and twitter.com. To learn more, check out Twitter’s Help Center.
Google Launches Autotrack To Help Sites Get More Out Of Universal Analytics
Most Google Analytics users copy and paste the default tracking snippet and that's it. They know there's more they can do with Google Analytics, but taking the time to learn is often not a priority.
Autotrack for analytics.js is a new solution to this problem. It attempts to leverage as many Google Analytics features as possible while requiring minimal manual implementation. It gives developers a foundation for tracking data relevant to today's modern web.
The autotrack library is built as a collection of analytics.js plugins, making it easy to use the entire library as-is or to pick and choose just the plugins you need.
To learn more about Autotrack get on Github or Google’s article. If you’re not currently customizing your analytics tracking code, then autotrack could be a handy solution for getting more out of GA without the complexity of manually implementing each of these common tracking features.
Instagram Now Has More Advertisers Than Twitter
2015 was a big year for Instagram’s advertising business. It rolled out new ad formats that could contain links, expanded the length of its video ads and, most importantly, made it easier for advertisers of any size — and increasingly anywhere — to buy its ads and target those ads.
The comparison between Instagram’s and Twitter’s advertiser numbers isn’t an entirely fair one. Twitter has built its advertising business on its own, while Instagram has been able to stand on Facebook’s shoulders.
For example, advertisers can buy ads on Instagram using the same self-serve tools from Facebook that they use to buy ads on the larger social network and with the same level of targeting Facebook offers. But still, at the end of the day, more advertisers is more advertisers.
The stat also shows the success Instagram has had in extending its ad business worldwide, another of its priorities in 2015. In September, it expanded the number of countries in which it sells ads from eight to 30. Since then, that number has grown to total more than 200 countries.
And now, 75 percent of the 200,000 brands buying ads on Instagram are based outside of the US.