October is almost over, and I’m glad to report that the digital marketing news this past month wasn’t too scary.

There’s been some new features rolled out across Google Ads, Google My Business, and Facebook. These features seem to be setting the path for better user experiences in 2019.

So, here we go – October’s digital marketing news roundup…

Google Shuts Down Google+

After 7 years, Google decided to shut down its Google+ social network over lack of use and security issues.

As Search Engine Journal reported:

“A software bug was discovered that gave developers access to private profile data of over 500,000 users. However, Google says that there is no evidence of developers being aware of this bug. There is also no evidence that any data has been misused.”

Meanwhile, Google+ failed to gain adoption and engagement.

“The company revealed that the usage and engagement of Google+ is even lower than some might have guessed, as 90 percent of user sessions lasted less than 5 seconds.”

Source: Search Engine Journal

Google Ads Adds to Click-to-Message

Click-to-message is still relatively new to Google Ads, but that hasn’t stopped Google from adding even more to it. Now, advertisers can have those messages emailed to them in case they’re unable to respond to text messages quickly enough. Also, there are auto-responders available for instant replies. These can be used to simply reply with, “We’ve received your message and will get back to you shortly.”

It’s obvious Google wants to ensure their users receive responses from advertisers as soon as possible. They know when people use their search engine they want to find something at that moment, and if they have questions, they want them answered then and there.

Source: Search Engine Land

Google Warns Search Console Users About Site Speed

If you’ve been trying to ignore the warnings on GTMetrix and PageSpeed Insights about your site not being fast enough, you may want to pay attention now. Google is sending notices to Search Console users about slow loading pages.

Take these notices seriously. Google is trying to help businesses succeed on its search engine.

Here is a screenshot of a notice someone received on Twitter:

Source: Search Engine Land

New Restrictions on Facebook Ads

Facebook wants to make money off advertisers, but not at the cost of losing users. This is why the social network has started to reject low-quality ads. According to Facebook,

“Low-quality ads on Facebook, such as ones that include clickbait or direct people to unexpected content, create bad experiences for people and don’t align with our goal of creating meaningful connections between people and businesses. We are now going further in our efforts to limit low-quality ads on our platforms by disapproving more of them and reducing distribution for more ads in our auction.”

The three types of ads that Facebook is trying to stop are:

Engagement Bait Ads – These ads ask people to react to an ad to boost the engagement metrics for the page. This affects Facebook’s feed algorithm, which decreases the posts that users really want to see.

Click Bait Ads – These ads don’t tell you about the content a user will see when they click on the link. For instance, “You would never believe what happened to her!” When the person clicks on it, the story may not correspond with that statement.

Exaggerated Ads – These ads have titles or statements like “5 MIND BLOWING Ways to Change Your Car’s Engine Oil” or “7 Unbelievable Ways to Sort Laundry.” Neither of these titles makes sense and they are simply trying to make users curious so they will click. It’s not necessarily clickbait though since most people will simply roll their eyes at how ridiculously over exaggerated they are.

All you have to remember when creating Facebook ads is to be real. Provide content your audience really wants to read or watch. If you follow that principle, you shouldn’t have any trouble with the new restrictions.

Source: Facebook

Agency Migration and Product Listings for Google My Business

Google My Business is changing rapidly, and two of its newest features this month are:

  • Agency migration tool
  • Product listings

Up until now, agencies had to be on separate Google My Business listings set up with the note the listing was part of an agency. The migration tool can now take different locations and place them under one agency.

What the effects of this will be for local SEO are unknown as of now, but there will likely be some influence in local search. When Google users want to find a service an agency offers, they will want to find it near their location. With the agencies having separate locations, Google may be using the information in the migration to show the agency in more than one location search.

Information about different products a business sells is being rolled out as well. Up until this month, information on services was available. This allows businesses to list their different services in Google My Business. Since some businesses do not provide services, they were not able to take advantage of this feature.

The ability to enter products is not available to everyone just yet. In true Google fashion, they are rolling it out to users slowly and randomly. Continue to check your Google My Business profile to see when it’s available for you.

Sources: Search Engine Journal 1 and 2

 

Don’t forget to come back next month for another Digital Marketing News Roundup. Thanksgiving will be over, and the online shopping frenzy will have started. It will surely be a big month of news as Google and social networks get ready for the busiest time of year.

Happy Halloween!