This Week in Digital Marketing - November 19, 2021

We have a lot of Google updates and a pinch of social media to share with you this week. Want to know how these will impact your site and your search rankings? We can help! ​

Google rolls out product feed support to more video campaign
Google is rolling out product feed support for awareness and consideration Video campaign subtypes, the company announced Friday. The update, which rolls out over the coming weeks, enables brands to show browsable product images below their video ads for campaigns that have “Product and brand consideration” or “Brand awareness and reach” set as the goal. 

Google adds local news features to search, giving publishers more exposure
Google released new search features intended to give more visibility to local news content when searchers are looking for information about their communities. The company said it has expanded a feature previously rolled out for COVID searches that adds a carousel of local news stories when relevant to a searcher’s query. For example, a search on “football” may bring up stories on local sports.

Why we care: Local news organizations depend on organic search traffic and, according to Google, queries like “news near me” have tripled in the past five years. Unfortunately, that also comes as local news companies continue to struggle for survival. According to The Poynter Institute, a journalism advocacy group, more than 90 local news organizations closed during the pandemic. That’s on top of declines that have stretched back years. In 2019, the New York Times reported that 1 in 15 U.S. newspapers had closed in the past 15 years.

Google November 2021 Core Update
It is a bit shocking to see Google rollout this update before, and likely during (assuming this is a normal two week rollout), the biggest online holiday shopping season. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are less than two weeks away and Google is rolling out this update starting today.

Why we care: Whenever Google updates its search ranking algorithms, it means that your site can do better or worse in the search results. Knowing when Google makes these updates gives us something to point to in order to understand if it was something you changed on your web site or something Google changed with its ranking algorithm. Today, we know Google will be releasing a core ranking update, so keep an eye on your analytics and rankings over the next couple of weeks.

The Art of Social ROI: Choosing the Right Metrics for Your Goals

• Track micro and macro actions to understand ROI
  
• Understand how your business model affects metrics and ROI
  
• Focus on metrics for each stage of the funnel
  
• Identify the metrics that matter
  

Our team has the skills and knowledge to help you with any changes for your marketing strategy and keep your business ahead of the competition. Contact us for a consultation!