Starting February 6th 2017, call extensions will be automatically generated and included in AdWords mobile ads if there is a prominent phone number featured on the landing page of the website.
Google began alerting advertisers to this change in an email which said ‘’this year, mobile search engines are predicted to drive nearly 33 billion clicks-to -call to businesses globally, almost 19% more calls from mobile landing pages alone. Using Google call extensions, you can get more calls by making it easy for people to call you right from your mobile search ads.’’
If you do not want to receive phone calls from your mobile search ads, follow these steps;
Google has added the option to create and share negative keyword lists across accounts.
According to the AdWords support page, when you create negative keyword lists in your manager account, they’re added to the Shared library of all your managed accounts by default. To apply a negative keyword list, you must add it from the managed account’s Shared Library.
Google plan to create 400 new jobs in the capital. The web giant is closing in on another new office building in Dublin’s docklands.
According to a report in the Independent sources close to Google said the company is in talks to rent the newly-constructed Velasco building, a 51,000 sq. ft. block close to the company’s European headquarters in the Grand Canal region of Dublin 2.
This move would bring Google’s employment in Dublin to over 6,500 people.
A couple of months ago, Google warned about the introduction of intrusive mobile interstitial penalties.
On January 10, 2017 Google started rolling this out. Google said ‘’pages where content is not easily accessible to a user on the transition from the mobile search results may not rank as highly. ‘’
Reminder: The types of interstitials which are problematic:
Reminder: The type of interstitials that would not be affected (if used responsibly):
A Google spokesperson confirmed to Search Engine Land that the company’s link command is no longer functioning.
Google said the feature is no longer around, and using a link: www.domain.com will likely return irrelevant results.
YouTube videos are being tested in Google Image Search for mobile for retail based queries.
According to a blog post on Google Operating System, Google Image Search’s mobile interface has a new feature which plays snippets from a YouTube video at the top of the search results page. It’s not disclosed as an ad, there’s no sound and you can’t stop the video, which continues to play on repeat.
The experiment ‘’seems to be limited to fashion-related queries like men jackets, look book, winter outfit, which match videos from YouTube channels like New Look and River Island.’’
It’s really irritating when you can’t search for something on Google because your phone’s internet connection is poor.
Google announced an update to the Google app for Android that promises to keep trying your searches, even when the internet connection drops, for example when you’re driving through a tunnel.
According to the post, ‘’The Google app will work behind-the-scenes to detect when a connection is available again and deliver your search results once completed.’’
Spotted by Mike Blumenthal, Google Local Shopping Ads are showing in a pack style layout.
Spotted on a search for ‘’engagement rings Buffalo’’, the result shows a map with a couple of local inventory ads where local pack results would typically show.
Google has updated its beta app for Android, adding shortcuts for frequently used features to the Google Now home screen.
According to Venture Beat, ‘’the shortcuts appear at the very top of the Google Now home screen, which is available when you tap inside the Google Search box widget or swipe right from the home screen on the Google Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones.’’
‘’If you’re on version 6.10.35 of the Google app beta, you’ll see a weather shortcut, which shows the location and temperature, alongside an icon representing the weather. It also shows widgets for nearby restaurants, Solitaire, a calculator, nearby ATMS, Tic Tac Toe, a coin flip, My Events (which displays upcoming events listed in your Google Calendar), and nearby coffee shops.’’
The Venture Beat reports says the new features do not appear to be available in the Google app for IOS, or for people whose accounts aren’t enrolled in the Google app beta.
According Marketing Land, Instagram’s director of market operations, Jim Squires said ‘’Instagram will start showing ads between people’s Stories soon.’’
The company has signed up more than 30 advertisers around the world, which include Airbnb, McDonald’s, Pepsi and Adidas.
The Marketing Land report says ‘’Ads running within Instagram’s Stories feed will only appear when people are swiping directly from viewing one person’s Story to another’s, can be skipped like a non-ad slide or a Snapchat Stories ad and will feature a small ‘’Sponsored’’ label in white front at the bottom.’’
On February 3rd, six months after it was launched, Twitter’s Dashboard will shut down.
Dashboard is a feature that offers businesses a suite of tools to track tweets, schedule posts, access analytics, monitor tweets about their brand or other keywords and more.
According to the announcement, Twitter hopes to bring the best features from Dashboard to the broader Twitter community.
This move comes after a number of changes at the company in recent months. It closed down Vine, and will only maintain a simple camera app in its place. It has integrated live streaming capabilities into Twitter itself, which means users have less need to install its Periscope app.
Facebook will let Pages broadcast live videos from desktop web.
The announcement said ‘’We are rolling out the ability to go live on Facebook via web browser to Pages. A variety of broadcast types – like daily vlogs – benefit from an easy, stable camera setup, and bringing Live to laptops and desktops will make this style of broadcasting easier.’’
Also, included in this update is live comment pinning. Facebook has added the option for broadcasters to pin comments to the bottom of a live broadcast.
‘’Live videos often get many comments during the broadcast – in fact, we’ve seen that people comment more than 10 times more on Facebook live videos than on regular videos. This update lets publishers to personalise their broadcast and highlight specific comments for their viewers.’’
Finally, if a Page is broadcasting live, Facebook is rolling out a permalink that directs people to a Page’s video content. The video can be accessed via ‘’http://www.facebook.com/PAGENAME/videos’’
*publishers replace PAGENAME with their Page’s name.
Columnist Kristine Schachinger discusses the next steps in the social network’s battle against the spread of false information. In this she discusses the spread of fake news, provides examples of sites where fake news crops up and talks about Facebook’s fake news plan. Check out the full article.
In this article, Greg Sterling, discusses the impact of Facebook on the Women’s March.
He says ‘’the Women’s March in Washington DC, and its many ‘’sister marches’’ around the US and globally wouldn’t have happened without it.’’
‘’…it nonetheless reaffirms that Facebook and social media are broadly incredibly powerful marketing tools unlike anything else we’ve ever seen.’’
Check out the full article.
Columnist, Wesley Young takes a look at this trending issue and discusses the ways that false information is being used and how local businesses and marketers can protect against it.
He writes ‘’being aware of how false information is being used will help marketers avoid problems and identify when they may be affected, saving them both headaches and wasted dollars.’’
Check out the full article.
When: Thursday February 9, 2017
Where: Croke Park, Dublin
3XE’S February conference is all about data, mobile & social media marketing.
It’s a full day conference with ‘’16 great talks, 20 speakers, and 6 workshops.’’
See here for more information.
When: Thursday February 16, 2017 @ 10:00 – 16:00
IAB Ireland have developed a Digital Recruitment Advanced workshop with a focus on driving your recruitment portfolio.
See here for more information.