Ginny Marvin says, “There may finally be an answer to the question of whether Google will ever loosen the reigns on ad targeting and allow marketers to use their first-party data to reach existing customers. Citing anonymous sources, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, that Google has been talking with several advertisers about using data sources such as customer email lists to target ads in the search results. Marketers have grown accustomed to this type of targeting with Facebook’s Custom Audiences as well as Twitter’s Tailored Audiences which enable advertisers to upload... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “Facebook’s Custom Audience targeting feature is one of the social network’s most potent. The concept is simple: advertisers provide a list of the email addresses of their customers and Facebook uses those email addresses to target ads to them if they’re on the service. Advertisers can also target users of their mobile apps, or through a tracking pixel, individuals who have visited their website. For some advertisers, Custom Audiences are the secret to their success with Facebook ads, so it’s no surprise that the world’s largest search engine,... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “Earlier this year, Google announced that it would begin using mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal on April 21, 2015. “This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results,” the company wrote on its blog. “Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.” That created an imperative for website owners: address mobile experience, or else.  April 21 is just a week away and because of the potential impact... [...]

Demian Farnworth says, “You are standing in a booth. People are lined up, handing you money in exchange for a small book. This lasts, with little let up, for most of the day. At sundown, you tuck your money in a backpack and head home. This has been your life for the last two years. Business has been good, so there was no reason to suspect anything would be different the next day. Except there was. You show up to your little booth, and wait. Occasionally, a customer trickles in, but otherwise you are alone. Around lunchtime, you peer down the lane. A few stalls seem to have a steady stream... [...]

Google believes mobile users are being shortchanged by webmasters. Many websites treat mobile as an afterthought and do little to assure that mobile visitors can use the site easily. On April 21, Google will change its search algorithm to reward sites that are “mobile friendly”. If you don’t comply, your site ranking will decline. The sites that are mobile friendly will tend to rise toward the top. Google has a webpage where you can test your site: :  https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/. When we tested IM NewsWatch, it scored high, although there are a few changes we... [...]

Jane Morgan says, “Want to avoid lumping all your earned editorial links and marketing campaigns into one murky bucket of clicks? Connect Google Analytics with Google AdWords for automatic conversion tracking. For everything else, there’s manual campaign tracking. Without manual tagging, your social, email and other marketing activities show up as referral or direct traffic. As marketing pioneer John Wanamaker once said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Manual campaign tagging enables you to figure out which half. The following... [...]

Baer says, “Businesses are making a strong return from influencer marketing, generating $6.50 in revenue for each $1 spent, according to the latest poll from influencer marketplaceTomoson. The poll also found that influencer marketing is the fastest-growing online marketing channel, crushing other strategies like affiliate marketing, paid search, and display. Here are some highlights from the study that can help you best use influencers to drive your business strategy: Attract Better Customers Through Influencer Marketing A majority of marketers believe that influencer marketing attracts... [...]

Eric Siu says, “On February 26, Google dropped a major bomb in a seemingly-casual blog post on mobile-friendly search results. While the engine has always made mobile-readiness and the easy access of information a priority, it has now spelled out that it will use mobile-friendliness as a stronger ranking signal than ever before. It will also increase the presence of relevant app content in the search results. So what does that mean for you? Basically, if you’ve been holding out on implementing a mobile strategy for your business website, it’s time to make this a top priority. Here’s... [...]

Travis Wright says, “Google+ is unofficially officially dead. Now, what? Google’s Bradley Horowitz announced on Google+ last month that the platform will be split into two new services: Streams and Photos. “Photos” are self-explanatory, and “Streams” are going to cover just about everything else. If you’re fond of Google Hangouts, don’t worry — the video/messaging service survived the fallout as a separate offering. However, Hangouts is just about the only part of Google+ that has a clear future. It seems to be full-on transition mode for Google, with Google+ seemingly “still... [...]

Brian P. Rubin says, “On Wednesday, Google opened the beta of its latest developer tool—the App Runtime for Chrome, or ARC—to anyone on any computer running the latest version of the Chrome browser. With the ARC Welder app installed in your browser, you can theoretically run any Android app in a virtual environment without having to use any actual Android devices. Better yet, ARC Welder makes porting an Android app into a Chrome app ridiculously simple. In theory, ARC should also let anyone run an Android app install file (typically referred to as APKs because of their .apk file extensions)... [...]