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Grow online (february 2023)

Written by Vaclav Pekarek | 3/3/23

Grow online (february 2023)

News from the world of online and growth marketing that you shouldn't miss.

Content

  1.  Google
  2.  Bing
  3.  AI marketing
  4.  Social media
  5.  Other PPC
  6.  Stats on SoMe & PPC
  7.  E-commerce
  8.  SEO

Google

  • Google unveiled new Ads Privacy Hub for advertirsers.
    • Google is moving to a privacy-focused approach to advertising. Or so they claim. The tech giant has just unveiled a new Ads Privacy Hub, a website that Google says will provide insights into the "changing digital landscape." The Hub should provide brands and businesses with valuable information and resources on how to build databases, navigate the latest privacy changes, or answer frequently asked questions. However, the Hub is currently available only in 15 countries around the world, such as the US, Japan, and Germany.

  • Google deals with fake news but also with real ones.
    • Google also managed a major blunder, where its algorithm also removed a number of reviews from real users when removing the fake ones.

  • New additions to Pmax campaigns that you might appreciate.
    • Now you can exclude brand keywords on the campaign level or check new reportings and insights that show you conversions. Look here for the full list.

  • How not to do Performance max campaigns.
    • Are your Pmax campaigns not performing as well as you would like? Take a look at these 7 points to see if you're not making a fundamental mistake somewhere. Starting with a perfectly tuned Data feed as a must-have. But we definitely don't stop there.

Bing

  • Bing search is really crushing it lately and it deserves some attention.
    • You're wondering why I'm even mentioning the Bing search engine here and giving it's own full block. You're not the only one, but Bing, or rather Microsoft, has been trying to change that thinking lately. And so far, it looks like it's on the right track.
    • MICROSOFT has been stepping it up lately. Marketers in the Czech Republic and 28 other countries have been able to advertise on search engines like Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo with Czech keywords and ads already for a year now. These search engines have around 5% market share in the Czech Republic (around 10% in the US), which is already enough to consider including them in your marketing mix.
    • The company has recently introduced a search engine powered by artificial intelligence along with expansion into other markets and improved advertising options such as Enhanced CPC, Last-click attribution or combining different audiences.

AI marketing

  • Google is not lagging that much behind,
    • However, Google is not lagging behind with its 'Bard' either, trying to compete with Open AI GPT 3.5. It looks like we have another race to conquer the moon, as this news is likely to completely change the current rules of the game, if not the game itself. Let's hope it doesn't blow the whole thing out of proportion for us marketers and company owners who are counting on us.
  • AI-generated content is fine, when it's of good quality.
    • AI-generated content just got official approval from Google. In its latest blog post, Google states that it rewards quality content "no matter how it's created". So there's nothing to worry about, if you're using AI to improve your content and you are doing it right.

  • So, Microsoft has ChatGPT, Google has Bard, and ...
    • Chinese tech giant Baidu has Ernie 
    • Snapchat for its Snapchat+ subscribers has My AI
    • Meta is not lagging behind either with a recent release of virtual assistant LLaMA 
  • And then also there is 'You'.
    • You are all probably familiar with the term black swan in the business world. If not, good old Aunt Wiki will tell you. Anyway, one may have appeared lately. Google and Microsoft were outpaced by the not-yet-well-known search engine with the integration of artificial intelligence called  'You'.
      If you click       through this article, I guess the first question is what is this "multimodal chat search"? It will give you the answer to your question 'in a nutshell'. My definition probably makes your head spin, but in reality it's exactly the opposite. Instead of an article with a headline and a preview, you'll get a one-word answer. After all this buzz between big brands, the first conqueror of the moon could be 'You'? Not you. You're human. But 'You'. This will definitely be interesting to watch.

Social media

  • Twitter increased the 4,000 character limit for Twitter Blue users.
    • It also plans to expand to three more markets and will soon cut display advertising volume in half for all premium users.
  • Meta Verified
    • Inspired by Musk, Meta is launching its own "Meta verified" verification icon. For just under $12, or $15 for iOS, in addition to the badge you'll get personalized support  and perhaps some other advertising perks.

  • Running TikTok Ads? Try these 18 tricks.

  • Also running TikTok ads? Get on hold. Governments are banning it all over.
    • UK calls for banning TikTok on government devices.
    • They went even farther with implementing the ban in  European parliament.
    • The same applies Canada.
    • And is about to happen in USA, where it still needs to pass the US House and the Senate.

Other PPC

  • Meta is struggling while Amazon takes its cut.
    • More and more brands are shifting their budgets from Meta to Amazon. Targeting from Meta suffered a significant blow after Apple's privacy management update. Amazon reported a massive 19% year-over-year growth last quarter, while Meta faced a 4% decline. Amazon still has just 7.3% of the market compared to Meta's 20.8%. However, Amazon continues to grow while Meta encounters its 3rd straight quarterly decline.

  • And how about Pinterest?
    • Do you have visually interesting products? And are you already advertising on Pinterest? If you answered YES to at least the first question, there's a new Pinterest Academy to consider that helps marketers increase their success on the platform. You're probably thinking, "Is it even worth it?" With creative visual formats, Pinterest users have a very high purchase intent. Especially if your customers are women aged 25-34.

  • Still a Meta Ads believer?
    • I'm probably not the only one who's been a little frustrated with Meta Ads. But Meta is responding to the belt-tightening over user privacy with new advanced measurement and advertising mechanisms that are good to learn about and start using quickly. So far, Madalyn McConnel summarizes the top 5 Meta Ads advertising best practices for 2023. You'll find details on setting up Advantage+ campaigns, Conversion APIs, using Lead Gen forms, and other useful insights.

  • I'll ask you for the last time: "Why the hell am I seeing this ad?"
    • Meta releases a new version of "Why am I seeing this ad?" to promote transparency across its platforms. And what, exactly, is it for? Aside from a peek under the hood of algorithms, it can help us understand how our competitors are targeting users. Of course, it has its downsides too. Both our competitors and our customers can do the same.

Stats on SoMe & PPC

  • Can I please have your attention?! ...
    • Matt Navarra has picked out some interesting stats from the Digital 2023: Global Overview Report. I've listed a few of them below. You can find out more in his tweets or here.

      1: TikTok dominates user attention. Users spend an average of 23.5 hours per month on it. YouTube is a close second with 23.1 hours. Facebook is in third place with 19.7 hours. Surprisingly, Instagram is fifth with 12 hours per month and Twitter is seventh with a modest 5.5 hours.

      2: 40% of internet users log into Facebook daily. At the same time, 60% of the internet population logs into a Meta product (FB, IG, Messenger, WhatsApp).

      3: And social media continues to grow: The number of social media users rose to 4.76 billion in January 2023, up from 2.7 billion five years ago. And users are staying on social media longer: an average of two and a half hours a day!

  • ... so advertisers can pay for it.
    • Attention is expensive. Matt Navarra also shared a summary of average CPM prices from the most popular platforms for the last quarter of last year:
    • Meta: $13.35
    • TikTok: $7.43
    • Snap: $7.23
    • YouTube: $6.45
    • Amazon: $1.58
    • Google Search: $1.25 (cost-per-click).
  • Digital platforms doing business in the EU are required to disclose the number of their users under the Digital Service Act (DSA). So let's take a closer look at them:

    • YouTube: 401.7M
    • Google Search: 332M
    • Facebook: 255M
    • Instagram: 250M
    • TikTok: 125M
    • LinkedIn: 122M
    • Bing 107M
    • Twitter: 100.9M
    • Snapchat: 86M

E-commerce


  • Shopify has launched more than 100 product updates, including a one-page checkout, Shop minis for mobile developers and Shop Store customization with bestsellers, branding and more.

SEO

  • Who is this suspicious visitor? 
    • If you've noticed the user agent "Google Prober" or "Google Producer" among your traffic metrics, don't despair - this traffic is legal. Jon Mueller confirmed that these are official Google requests, and warned that if you block them, the feeds won't work properly.

  • How to benefit from Yandex leak and don't get burned.
    • Remember the Yandex leak? Some SEO experts pounced on the metrics like hungry dogs, while others were more reserved and even tried to bring it down. This article describes both sides and shows a possible way to make the most of it.
  • New webmaster tool from Microsoft to get more out of Bing's AI chat.
    • Wanna see how much traffic, clicks, impressions etc. is coming from the chatbot? Now you can.

 

That's all highlights from February.


Do you find such a summary useful? Drop me a message what news you did like the most, and what you'd like to see in the next summary.
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