Latest News 

Google Business Profile guidelines updated to include products

Product listings on Google Business Profile give advertisers and retailers a new way to promote in-store items. Retail businesses can now add in-store products to their Google Business Profile listings. How it works. When customers search for a Business Profile they can find a products carousel (on the Maps mobile app), or a carousel and “Products” tab if they’re using Google Search. With the “Products” tab, customers can:  Click a featured product card to view the product details. Click a product category to view an overview. Click a product within a product category…

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Marketing 

French antitrust decision sets the stage for Google to pay for news content in Europe

Google had sought to avoid paying copyright licensing fees by getting publishers to waive them in exchange for being included in search results. Google must pay to display news content in France. That’s the decision of French antitrust authorities, according a Bloomberg report on April 9. The antitrust regulator has given Google three months to work out a deal with French publishers. No pricing or licensing framework has yet been determined. Google told Bloomberg that it would comply with the decision and that the parties have already entered into negotiations. A significant…

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Bing 

It’s here: Bing Ads Editor for Mac launches in beta

After years of waiting, Mac users finally get a native desktop editor for Bing Ads with all the features of the PC version. Bing Ads Editor (BAE) for Mac has long been the most highly requested feature on the Bing Ads user forum. Mac users got word in November that Bing Ads had started work on the Mac version for release in early summer 2016, and here we are. The team announced the beta version is available in the US at SMX Advanced in Seattle on Wednesday. The Mac version has parity with the PC version of Bing Ads…

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google 

Google adds 3 new content guidelines for Education Q&A structured data

Google provides new guidance around how to stay eligible to earn and maintain visibility in the education Q&A rich results. Google has added a new Content Guidelines section to its help document on Education Q&A structured data. The new guidelines. Here are the new guidelines Google has added: Education Q&A pages must follow the same content guidelines for Q&A pages. Your page must contain education related questions and answers. There must be at least one question and answer pairing on your page, and the answer must be related to and answer the…

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Social 

Twitter now has podcasts

Twitter introduced the new redesign yesterday as a way to give listeners more opportunities to connect with podcast creators. Twitter has now integrated podcasts into it’s recently redesigned Spaces Tab. How does it work. The redesign of Spaces includes hubs where users can personalize audio content together by specific themes like News, Music, Sports, and more. The new design allows listeners to easily access more personalized sections of Spaces on topics they find relevant. What else is included. The new Spaces will also feature the most popular podcasts from around the world.…

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SEM 

Video: Joe Beccalori on the diminishing value of organic

We go way back to discuss how SEO has changed over the years. In this week’s video interview, I spoke with Joe Beccalori, the CEO of Interact Marketing, about how SEO has changed over the years. Joe explained that with the changes to the search results page, the value of organic search has diminished and now you need to blend your organic search efforts with other forms of digital marketing in order to get your best bang for your SEO buck. At the start of the video we also spent some…

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SEO 

Bad website design: Bad for SEO, UX and business

Are these design elements slowing your download times and keeping your website from doing what you need it to do: earn you more business? I tell my clients two things to frame organic search discussions around content and user experience: Search engines want to provide answers to their users in one click or less. If you design your website with the idea of getting answers to visitors’ questions as efficiently as possible, your site should earn more attention in organic search Search engines must keep their users happy to retain and/or…

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Latest News 

TikTok announces three new shopping ad features

The platform aims to help shop merchants maximize performance through algorithm-led commerce offerings. Just one month after TikTok supposedly abandoned plans to bring shopping ads into the US, the social media video platform announced that it’s launching a new commerce ad suite called Shopping Ads. They will be testing three new ad formats including Video Shopping Ads, Catalog LIsting Ads, and LIVE Shopping Ads. Video Shopping Ads Video Shopping Ads will be placed in the For You page and allow advertisers to highlight products in their feed TikTok video ads. TikTok says…

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Marketing 

Pinterest introduces hosted checkout for merchants

The new feature attempts to make the checkout process easier for merchants to convert shoppers by removing several steps. Pinterest just introduced an easier way for shoppers to check out on their platform. Hosted checkout is here. Hosted checkout is being launched first on Shopify and provides Pinterest merchants and advertisers an easier way for their shoppers to check out. The new feature should remove several steps from the current purchase process, which should increase conversions and decrease cart abandonments. Improving the current process. Previously, merchants and advertisers who used Pinterest to…

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Bing 

Ad extensions for the entire decision journey

How can you use ad extensions to move potential customers further down the sales funnel? Columnist Mona Elesseily shares some tactical advice. Not only do ad extensions work to encourage immediate sales, but they can also be used to move consumers along the decision journey/buy cycle. In our work, we’ve effectively used ad extensions in many stages of the buy cycle, for instance: When searchers research products online (research stage) When searchers home in on a specific product When searchers want to see products in person/offline And, of course, when they are ready…

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