Jennifer Blackburn says, “Faster than marketing teams can keep up, today’s marketing content is often shared across social channels, in email campaigns, and on third-party sites. It’s a good problem to have… Why? Because with the abundance of the resulting digital insights available, modern marketers have become better equipped at proving campaign ROI to their bosses, clients, and stakeholders. The data from Google Analytics alone, such as clicks and conversions, is enough metrics to fill an Olympic-sized pool—and they’re easy to snag and display in a pretty graph. The... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Image extensions have come and gone and come again. Google tested them in 2013, but they never got off the ground. Bing Ads brought its own version of image extensions out of beta just over a year ago. Now, Google appears to be giving images in text ads another spin. This time in a type of Sitelinks test. In a screen shot provided by The Zebra, a mobile ad for Quotewizard.com includes a swipeable carousel of sitelinks with accompanying images. It’s not clear if this test is also running on desktop. The inclusion of images in these extensions is interesting, as is... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “On Tuesday, Google announced three new features for app marketers to use when promoting their apps via Universal App Campaigns, the campaign type that automatically syndicates app promotion ads across Google search, YouTube, Play store and Google Display Network. Automated Video Ads With a product called AutoDirector, Google can automatically pull images, descriptions and ratings from the App Store or Google Play store and add music to create a promotional video for an app that can be distributed across Google video inventory. Below is an example of one of these ads... [...]

Sophia Bernazzani says, “It’s not often that you see the word “fun” and “algorithm” in the same sentence. (Okay, fine. Maybe you do, if you’re a marketing nerd like I am.) But think about this: Google has really been around for over two decades. With a history like that, there’s got to be at least some compelling trivia, right? Believe it or not, algorithms are really cool. I mean, they get us our search results, after all.But how does Google’s algorithm work? And how has it evolved over the course of so many years? We thought you might ask that, so we put together... [...]

Karissa Bell says, “You may want to check Google before you head out on your next holiday shopping spree. The company’s latest search feature makes it easier to find out how crowded stores are at any given time. An extension of Google’s “popular times” update, which shows how crowded restaurants and coffee shops are based on search trends, the new feature will show a real-time estimate for how busy a particular location is. Search for a store, restaurant or other location and Google will now provide a new “live” view in the popular times section of... [...]

Annie Pilon says, “If you’re hosting or attending a Thanksgiving dinner this year, there’s a good chance you’ve used Google to help with the planning. And for businesses, all of those searches can lead to some really helpful insights. The search engine giant just released a search trends report that shows some of the most popular search terms around Thanksgiving. Not surprisingly, the most popular searches revolve around how to cook turkey. And people also searched for other alternative recipes, like prime rib, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie. But there are also other trends that... [...]

Richard Stephens says, “As content marketing continues to prove itself in the digital marketing realm, an increasing number of business owners find themselves balancing precariously at the edge of the blogosphere, building up courage to take the plunge. But if you’re new to the practice, you need to be extra careful not to make any rookie errors. A few simple blogging mistakes can turn an otherwise stellar content marketing strategy into an embarrassing, sticky mess. Thankfully, these blunders are easy to avoid when you know exactly what you shouldn’t be doing. Here are seven common blogging... [...]

Sophia Bernazzani says, “Did you know that, on average, smartphone users touch their phones 2,617 times each day? According to the survey conducted by dscout in the spring of 2016, smartphone users also spend an average of 145 daily minutes on their mobile phones. In other words, we’re leaning on our mobile devices more than ever before. In fact, data from HubSpot Research revealed that a whopping 33% of respondents use their smartphone as their primary device for internet use. Unsurprisingly, Google has responded to the growth of mobile search by launching The AMP Project, or Accelerated... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Google’s home services ads are finally showing on mobile. The ads for local service providers such as locksmiths, plumbers, handymen and, more recently, HVAC services and electricians, had been briefly spotted last month on mobile, but they now appear to be prevalent across the California markets where the program is active. The mobile ad format features a swipeable carousel of listings that feature a map of the service area where the advertiser operates. Here are examples on iOS (left) and Android. Because the businesses typically cover the entire metro area, the maps... [...]

Danny Sullivan says, “Last week, Google pledged to fight “fake news” in its search results yet offered up no solutions to the problem. That’s likely because Google has no easy fix. True, it’s not the first thing on the page, as was the case last week. It’s also moved to the second page of results for searches on “final vote” or “final election count.” But there’s little to prevent it or similar mistaken stories from repeating what caused all the criticism in the first place. How the ‘In the news’ section changed to include fake news The first problem is that just... [...]