Shopping season is almost here, and digital marketers around the globe are rushing to prepare. Make sure you keep up with what’s new in digital marketing.
Digital marketing developments to be aware of
- YouTube announced new comment filtering options
- Google made two additional link attributes available to webmasters
- Skype added features for distance workers and small businesses
The big announcements have been condensed to allow for quick reads. Click on the stories that most apply to your marketing focus, and then share that information with your colleagues.
FACEBOOK APP DEVELOPER INVESTIGATION SUSPENDS APPS
Topic: Social Media Marketing
Key Point: The number is staggering: “tens of thousands.” That’s how many apps Facebook says it has suspended in the company’s ongoing app developer investigation.
The good news is that there are only about 400 app developers affected to date according to a Facebook news update.
Exactly how Facebook is rating apps isn’t clear, though we do know the criteria concerns the number of people the apps can reach and how well the apps adhere to Facebook policies.
The Facebook app developer investigation was launched after the Cambridge Analytica scandal was revealed. In some cases, Facebook has filed legal charges against developers. In other cases, apps have been either banned or suspended pending revisions to correct issues.
GOOGLE BROAD CORE UPDATE: WINNERS AND LOSERS
Topic: SEO
Key Point: Google’s most recent broad core update sent ripples of concerns through SEO forums. Quality of content and links seem to have been the primary factors.
One questionable practice busted in the update concerned 301 redirects of expired domains. Google is on to that trick. Other sites affected were counting on keywords, not content, to carry the SEO. Some companies lost up to 20 percent of their traffic as a direct result of the update.
The lesson for marketers: beware.
Here’s the scoop: Google Update 2019.
NEW SKYPE FEATURES WILL HELP SMALL BUSINESS WORKFLOW
Topic: E-commerce
Key Point: Recent Skype updates enhance the platform’s ability to serve the needs of businesses.
In addition to recently added features like screen sharing, call recording, and subtitles on mobile, Skype now offers message drafting, bookmarking, new ways to preview messages before sending, and an update to the way photos and videos may be shown.
Discover each of the added capabilities in detail and read suggested ways to use them when working remotely: New Skype Features.
GOOGLE CHANGES REVIEW RICH RESULTS RULES
Topic: SEO
Key Point: Properly embedded review rich results code prompts Google to show a star rating on the search engine results page (SERP).
That little piece of schema markup can provide exceptional, stand-out visibility and gain the click for companies that know how to use it. Unfortunately, many companies have been leveraging markup code to display reviews that aren’t really helpful to the searcher.
Google’s answer is to limit the number of schema types that can trigger review rich results in the SERP. See the list and gather more information on the change: Google Guidelines Update.
GOOGLE MY BUSINESS NO LONGER SUPPORTS SMS MESSAGING
Topic: E-commerce
Key Point: If you’ve been relying on Google to text message you when reviews are left on Google My Business accounts you’re monitoring, those days will end on November 15. You’ll need to switch to using the Google My Business mobile app to manage those notifications.
Changes like this can go unnoticed by digital marketers and cause them to miss seeing reviews they need to handle quickly. Read more here: Google Removes SMS Messaging.
ALSO SEE: Google Messaging Guidelines
[Tweet “#Google SMS messaging for GMB are going away November 15.“]
YOUTUBE EXPANDS SEARCH FILTER CAPABILITY
Topic: Social Media Marketing | E-commerce
Key Point: YouTube’s top request from users is better filtering for comments, so the YouTube development team went to work to make it happen.
Starting now, you can filter comments by response status, whether or not the comment contains a question, subscriber count of the commenter, and more.
Creators can even combine the filters to group comments in tighter target clusters. Test it out yourself in YouTube Studio, but read this article first to get the full picture: Easy Searching for YouTube Creators.
ALSO SEE: New Search Filters in YouTube Studio
GOOGLE ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL LINK ATTRIBUTES
Topic: SEO
Key Point: Nofollow is no longer the only way you can signal Google about the type of hyperlink you’re using. “Sponsored” and “UGC” (user-generated content) are now available.
Find out how to use those new attributes to benefit you on the Google Webmaster blog. Or, if you want a deep dive into the change and what it might mean to digital marketing, check out Neil Patel’s observations: Google’s New Link Building Guidelines.
H1 HEADINGS ARE STILL USEFUL, BUT NOT CRITICAL
Topic: SEO
Key Point: Even the newest SEO practitioner knows you should use one and only one H1 heading on a page, and that it should contain your primary keyword. But Google’s John Mueller says H1s aren’t all that important anymore.
Mueller says you can use a single H1 or none. You can even go wild and use multiple H1 headings. “Your site is going to rank perfectly fine,” he said on a recent Google Webmaster Hangout. H1s are good, but they’re no longer critical.
Get the full story in this article on the Search Engine Journal website: SEO and H1 Headings.
ANOTHER WARNING FOR STUDENTS: MALWARE IN TEXTBOOKS
Last month, we said the scammers are out in full force trying to trick college students into rental scams, credit card rip-offs, bogus employment offers, and more.
This month, we’ve learned of another danger students are facing: malware infections from textbooks and essays.
Be careful about where you’re getting your books and papers. Stick with reputable sites and keep your antivirus program up to date.
Find out more here: Malware Found in Digital Textbooks and Essays for College.
BONUS INFO
A Comprehensive Guide to Email Lead Scoring
