Missed the important digital marketing news and updates from last week? We’ve got you covered with the WDA Digital Marketing Round-Up.

Google

Google Tests Multiple Contextual Links in Featured Snippets: According to reports, it’s a small experiment they’re working on and they’re refining it right now. It works by not just including the link to the content publisher but also includes links from phrases that Google determines aren’t clear and need more explanation for the searcher.

New Crawl Stats Report Available in Search Console: The revamped crawl stats report provides webmasters with actionable data for crawling issues. Updates in the new report include the total number of requests, host status information, URL examples and a thorough summary for search properties with multiple hosts.

Facebook/Instagram

Instagram Improves Branded Content Ads: Instagram has made some changes to its branded content ads that were first introduced last year. With the change, advertisers now have the capability of creating posts on a user’s behalf. The ads are designed to look exactly like standard organic posts on the platform but have the addition of a tag that states it’s part of a paid partnership with the brand.

The updates streamline the branded content ad creation process for both advertisers and influencers. The other less notable updates include the ad format rolling out to Reels, testing in Live, story formats of the ads can now include @mentions, locations and hashtags, age restrictions, and the option for brands to promote branded posts by using product tags.

Instagram FAQ’s On Their Way: Instagram has recently been testing a new FAQ feature for business accounts. Similarly to Messenger, the new feature would enable businesses to offer quick, clickable question and answer options in their message window – allowing users to get answers to some of the most common questions, instantly.

Facebook Partners With Better Business Bureau (BBB): The partnership comes off the back of Facebook’s eCommerce functionality growing as well as issues relating to misleading ads, payment disputes and scams increasing. Here’s what Facebook had to say…

“We’ve partnered with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) on the “Shop Safe, Shop Smart” campaign. Starting today and throughout December, the “Shop Safe, Shop Smart” campaign from the BBB and Facebook will run ads and organic content on Facebook, Instagram and various social media channels to promote actionable tips on how to spot, avoid and report scams online.”

Other Social Media

Twitter Verification Requests Returning: Twitter put the verification process on hold around three years ago but they now look set to bring it back! It should launch in early 2021 and with it, there will be several changes made to the process. Twitter is asking for public help with the first draft of their new policy that has identified the following account types that qualify for verification: Government, Companies, Brands and Non-Profit Organisations, News, Entertainment, Sports, Activists, Organisers and Other Influential individuals. Check out their new policy in detail: https://help.twitter.com/en/managing-your-account/about-twitter-verified-accounts

YouTube Testing Automated Video Chapters: YouTube video chapters were rolled out earlier this year in May, giving creators the power to define video segments via specific time stamps. YouTube’s latest test sees these chapters inserted automatically with the help of machine learning. Here’s how YouTube explained it…

“We want to make it easier for people to navigate videos with video chapters, so we are experimenting with automatically adding video chapters (so creators don’t have to manually add timestamps). We’ll use machine learning to recognize text in order to auto generate video chapters. We’re testing this out with a small group of videos.”

Snapchat Spotlight Launched: Snapchat has launched a new feature on the app called Spotlight. Spotlight aims to capitalise on the success of TikTok and recreate the in-app experience by providing users with a short video clips feed, displaying clips from public and private accounts. Videos can be submitted to the Spotlight feed for consideration to be listed.

WDA’s Highlight of the Week

Our highlight for this week is Instagram’s FAQ’s test.

We hope they eventually roll this feature out as it’s similar to the automated FAQ responses available on Facebook Messenger. Having this option on Instagram will make is much easier for your potential customers to get their answers to your most common questions instantly, providing a better and more seamless user experience.

Missed the important digital marketing news and updates from last week? We’ve got you covered with the WDA Digital Marketing Round-Up.

Google

Small Business Advisors: Google has launched a new beta program called Small Business Advisors. It’s aimed at helping SMBs to grow by becoming better Google marketers. It’s only open to small businesses in the US at this time and the cost is $39.99 per session.

Broad Match Suggestions In Google Ads: Google Ads are trying to get advertisers on the platform to try out broad match keywords again as it starts showing them in recommendations to optimise campaign performance. Google said the following in a recent blog post…

“If you’re using Smart Bidding, we’ll identify existing keywords that are likely to improve performance if you switch them to broad match.”

If you do test adding broad match keywords to your accounts then keep a close eye on spend and performance.

Remove Outdated Content Tool Updated: Google is updating its remove outdated content tool in Search Console by giving it a refreshed interface, making it easier to use. The remove outdated content tool enables site owners to request the removal of URLs they don’t own.

Disavow Links Tool Migrated: Google has moved the disavow links tool to the new Search Console interface and in doing so, have also made it possible to download the file and see new errors related to it. The disavow links tool can be used to give Google a list of bad URLs pointing to your site that you want them to ignore.

YouTube

YouTube Analytics Reporting Improved: YouTube Analytics reporting has been improved to now show insights into traffic sources – giving content creators data on how their videos are being found online. The new report can be found in the Overview area of Analytics in YouTube Studio.

YouTube Audio Ads: With the number of people using YouTube for their music and podcast player of choice, they are now launching Audio Ads. A new type of audio-based ad to reach music and podcast listeners. Here’s what YouTube said…

“Whether it’s to squeeze in a living room workout before dinner, catch up on a podcast or listen to a virtual concert on a Friday night, people are increasingly turning to YouTube as they spend more time at home. To help you tailor your media and creative approach to the different ways consumers are engaging with YouTube, we’re introducing audio ads…”

Audio ads are now available in beta on Google Ads and Display & Video 360 on a CPM basis.

Facebook/Instagram

Facebook Makes It Easier For Content Creators To Maximise Their Revenue: Facebook looks to help content creators on both Facebook and Instagram to maximise their revenue opportunities by claiming ownership of duplicate content and associated ad revenue. Using Rights Manager, content creators can now set up new rules for detecting this content and then claim the revenue from it. Creators of all sizes are also now eligible to join Rights Manager.

Instagram Gives Users The Option To Opt-Out of Third-Party Data Usage: Instagram has added a new “Data From Partners” setting that lets users on the app opt-out of third-party data usage that is used for more personalised ad targeting.

Instagram Keyword Search: It is now possible to search for content on Instagram using keywords instead of just being limited to hashtags or locations. We’re not entirely sure how Instagram decides which content to show for a given search yet but time will tell. The update should improve content discoverability on the platform and of course, there is now the potential to optimise for Instagram SEO!

Twitter

Twitter Introduces Fleets: Twitter has introduced Fleets, which is basically their own version of Stories. Fleets are temporary tweets that last for 24 hours before disappearing and according to Twitter, they’ve been launched to encourage more Tweets following user feedback.

Here’s Twitter’s explanation…

“To help people feel more comfortable, we’ve been working on a lower pressure way for people to talk about what’s happening. Today, we’re launching Fleets so everyone can easily join the conversation in a new way – with their fleeting thoughts.

…Fleets are for sharing momentary thoughts – they help start conversations and only stick around for 24 hours.”

Twitter Tests A New Audio-Only ‘Spaces’ Feature: In addition to launching Fleets, Twitter has begun testing a new, audio-only “space” option. The feature is designed to allow users to create audio rooms that their followers can join and either choose to listen or engage in discussion. Twitter is planning on limiting this initially to try and avoid misuse.

WDA’s Highlight of the Week

Our highlight for this week is Instagram’s Keyword Search.

While it’s something we don’t know a great deal about right now, more information on the feature will continue to be released. The potential possibilities for the feature are extremely exciting and it could change the way we write Instagram posts in the near future. It’s something to keep an eye on and to see how reach and engagement are impacted over the coming weeks and months. If details surface with regards to optimising the posts for the search then we’ll certainly be discussing it, so stay tuned!

Missed the important digital marketing news and updates from last week? We’ve got you covered with the WDA Digital Marketing Round-Up.

Google

Google Webmasters Central Becomes Google Search Central: Google Webmasters Central is becoming Google Search Central with some of the former properties such as the blog and guidelines to be redirected to the new location.

Google’s Page Experience Update Set to Launch Next May: Google confirmed last Tuesday that the new Google Page Experience Update will launch next May and will see the search engine highlighting results that have a great page experience. The update will also mean that expected user experience for a given web page is considered when ranking the results. The Core Web Vitals report from Search Console is a great place to get a head start on preparing for the update.

As explained by Google… “Today we’re announcing that the page experience signals in ranking will roll out in May 2021. The new page experience signals combine Core Web Vitals with our existing search signals including mobile-friendliness, safe-browsing, HTTPS-security, and intrusive interstitial guidelines.”

Googlebot Crawl Update: Googlebot can now crawl with HTTP/2 protocol and their Developers Support Page has been updated to reflect the change that was announced back in September but is now in effect.

Here’s what Google said… “Generally, Googlebot crawls over HTTP/1.1. However, starting November 2020, Googlebot may crawl sites that may benefit from it over HTTP/2 if it’s supported by the site.”

Facebook/Instagram

Facebook Messenger Vanish Mode: With the recent release of the disappearing messages feature in WhatsApp, Facebook has now announced a ‘Vanish Mode’ for Messenger – simply swipe up while in a chat thread to enter and swipe up again to turn back off.

WhatsApp eCommerce Functionality Improved: WhatsApp has made another update to improve eCommerce potential on the platform. They’ve now added a shopping button in business chats to help streamline purchases from the platform.

Here’s what WhatsApp said… “Now you can easily discover something you’d like to buy from your favorite business by tapping on the new shopping button at the top of chats.”

Instagram Redesign: Instagram has redesigned its layout by adding Reels and Shop tabs to the home screen. The updates further put Reels in the spotlight on the app following early complaints from users who said they were difficult to find. We feel the update is a little forceful on Instagram’s part and personally takes away from the UX on the platform.

Social

Twitter Carousel Ads: Twitter has launched a new carousel ad format option that enables advertisers to add up to six images or videos in a single ad. Carousel ads have been extremely popular on Facebook and Instagram as they’re proven to outperform static ads significantly. While Twitter are a little late with adding the format to their ad options, it’s great to see that they now have. According to reports, Twitter ran extensive tests and research prior to launching the format to ensure they’d work well on the platform.

Other

Spotify Acquisition and Podcast Advertising Options Expanding: Spotify has made a major acquisition with Megaphone, a leading podcast advertising and publishing platform. The acquisition comes as Spotify aims to expand its existing podcast advertising options.

Spotify said… “The acquisition of Megaphone represents the next step in Spotify’s expanding the possibilities of this intimate and screenless medium.”

WDA’s Highlight of the Week

Our highlight for this week is the announcement of Google’s Page Experience Update coming next May.

This gives advertisers and SEO’s plenty of time to delve into user experience reports and start improving relevant elements. User experience has been important in SEO for some time now and this just places even more emphasis on it. There have been far too many websites that focus solely on SEO, completely forgetting about the most important thing, the user journey. We’re excited to see what the update brings about and hope to see far better website experiences as a result. It should also provide a wake-up call for businesses that still haven’t optimised their site speed, security and responsiveness.

Missed the important digital marketing news and updates from last week? We’ve got you covered with the WDA Digital Marketing Round-Up.

Facebook/Instagram

Instagram Tests a New Way to React to Stories: For now, reacting to Instagram Stories can only be done by sending the creator a direct message on the platform which can be frustrating. However, Instagram now looks to be testing an alternative way for users to react to Stories within the story frame itself. With this new test, the way users react to Stories could be set to change. We certainly hope so.

Facebook Tests Visual Effects for Images: Facebook is testing the ability for users to add visual motion effects to still images in the News Feed. The effects include ‘Layout’ styles for multi-image posts and basic ‘Motion’ options such as slide and flash. This is something to keep an eye on as it could boost engagement rates on static posts. Stay tuned for more details on this.

WhatsApp Disappearing Messages: WhatsApp is used by 2 billion users across the world for both personal and business communication. They’ve now released a new feature which will remove all messages after 7 days on Android and iOS devices. This can be toggled on or off within the app settings and WhatsApp has stated that they may well adjust the time limit for messages in the future depending on user feedback.

Social

Snapchat Follower Count: The option to display followers on a public profile has now been rolled out on Snapchat. This has never been displayed publicly before but can be toggled on or off. We feel influencers will likely benefit the most from this update as displaying their follower count will likely lead to more advertising opportunities. Additionally, it opens the doors up to marketers, making it easier to find potential influencers to work with.

LinkedIn Company Engagement Report Launched: LinkedIn has rolled out a new Company Engagement Report which is designed to provide further insights for B2B marketers. Metrics included in the report includes total engagement level, member targeted, total ad engagement, total organic engagement and total web visits.

TikTok Announce Agreement With Sony Music: TikTok further solidifies its music industry connection by agreeing on a new licensing deal with Sony Music. Here’s what TikTok said on the announcement:

“With this deal, the TikTok creator community will have access to sound clips from Sony Music’s massive catalog of current hits, cutting edge new releases, emerging favorites, iconic classics and deep cuts from every genre of music for use in their TikTok content. TikTok and Sony Music will work together to support greater levels of TikTok user personalization and creativity on the platform, and drive new and forward-looking opportunities for fan engagement with SME’s artists and music.”

Other

Microsoft Ads Promotion Extensions Available in the US: Microsoft Advertising’s promotion extensions are now available for advertisers in the US. They’re similar to Google AdWords promotion extensions and enable the advertiser to choose from events such as Black Friday and Christmas. The update will help US advertisers stand out from the competition.

WDA’s Highlight of the Week

Our highlight for this week is the launch of LinkedIn’s company engagement report.

This is a fantastic update for B2B businesses looking to get more from their LinkedIn marketing efforts. The B2B social platform offers excellent networking opportunities and great organic content reach. Having the ability to now delve further into company page performance will enable marketers to get even more from the platform. If you look after the marketing for a B2B business and are currently using LinkedIn then we’d urge you to take advantage of the new company engagement report. On the other hand, if you’re not using LinkedIn in your B2B marketing strategy, why?

Missed the important digital marketing news and updates from last week? We’ve got you covered with the WDA Digital Marketing Round-Up.

Google

Google Getting Closer To Delivering Personalisation and Privacy: Last week in a significant step closer to ads that can deliver personalisation and privacy, Google released findings of a prelim study. If you want to read the study, you can do so here (it does get very technical though). The study does show that it’s possible however to deliver both personalisation and privacy without cookies.

Google Blocks Push Notifications: In a new Chrome 86 feature, Google can subscribe to browser push notifications to evaluate them for abusive content. If the issues are unresolved then Chrome can block the notifications.

Google Shares More Details on Passage Based Indexing: We first spoke about passage-based indexing in last week’s round-up and details on it were fairly scarce. However, Google has now expanded upon this and we can confirm that the update won’t mean Google will start indexing passages independently of pages but will become an additional consideration when determining the Search Results Page for a given query. More details can be found here: https://blog.google/products/search/search-on/

Facebook/Instagram

Facebook Expands Shopping Features: Facebook is rolling out a handful of new shopping features designed to help e-commerce brands to drive more business. The updates include:

  • The ability to create Instagram Ads with product tags directly from Ads Manager.
  • A new type of audience targeting “Shopping engagement custom audiences”.
  • Shopping lookalike audiences.
  • Promote sales and discounts via Promotions in Commerce Manager (testing only in the US for now).

Instagram Fan Badges: Instagram fan badges have been expanded to an additional 50,000 Instagram creators, enabling more influencers to monetize their live streams. Contributions of either $0.99, $1.00 or $4.99 can be made by fans.

Facebook Watch Updates: Facebook is adding two new discovery features to Watch, including topics and highlight sections. Topics enable users to personalise the videos that show up within their feed while highlight sections showcase the most popular videos.

WhatsApp Shopping Tools: WhatsApp will soon start offering more tools for businesses to sell products within the app, including a way to browse products, select and pay for them, whilst communicating. The dedicated shopping tap for Facebook and Instagram that has also been previously announced will be expanded to WhatsApp.

Twitter

Shareable Topics: Twitter has now made Topic listings shareable in tweets, DMs and outside of the platform as a way of further boosting tweet discovery and letting users share their interests and hobbies. Discovery, in particular, is something Twitter has focussed heavily on recently and Shareable Topics extends that further.

Tweet Composer Updated: In a small update, Twitter’s Tweet Composer has been updated so that users can get a better sight of what the tweet will look like on desktop and mobile devices.

WDA’s Highlight of the Week

Our highlight for this week is the expansion of Facebook’s Shopping Features.

Whilst this is only relevant to e-commerce businesses, Facebook is clearly committed to improving features and functionality for both advertisers and shoppers on the platform and across its suite of apps. If your business sells products online then this is definitely something you should be capitalising on to boost product awareness and drive more sales.

Missed the important digital marketing news and updates from last week? We’ve got you covered with the WDA Digital Marketing Round-Up.

Google

Google Test Ads in Maps: Google has tested local ads in Maps. The ads display in the auto-suggest search results when searching for local businesses in Maps. Google confirmed that this is something they’re experimenting with and testing.

Google Search Changes: Google has announced fresh changes that will impact search results.

First, BERT now impacts nearly 100% of searches when last year it only impacted 10%.

Also, later this year, Google will begin passage-based indexing, something they have said will affect 7% of search queries across all languages when fully rolled out. With the new passage-based indexing, Google will start showing specific passages from a page to give the user a more relevant result to their query.

They’ve also announced a spelling algorithm to better understand misspelled terms and queries.

Google Podcasts Manager: A new tool for podcasters that shows impressions and clicks from Google Search results. It also lets you explore top discovered episodes and the search terms that lead to a listener finding the podcast.

Google Ads Attribution Reporting Updates: Cross-network YouTube and Search campaign attribution reporting is now in open beta. Google is also planning to incorporate Display campaigns into attribution reports soon. The updates to Attribution reporting will enable advertisers to get more insights in how campaigns are assisting each other.

Facebook/Instagram

WordPress Embed Support Stopping: Beginning October 24th, Facebook and Instagram will stop supporting embedded content on WordPress websites. If your website is built in WordPress and utilises Facebook and Instagram embeds, then these will soon become broken. Thankfully, embeds can be fixed with plugins such as the new oEmbed Plus and Smash Balloon.

More Messenger Updates: Facebook has made further updates to Messenger with a visual upgrade, chat themes support and custom reactions. Selfie stickers and vanish mode are also coming soon. Features will roll out automatically, and a few of our team members have already noticed them.

Other Updates

Bing Site Explorer Revamped: Bing Site Explorer has been relaunched and is an overhaul from the previous version, delivering an all-new experience that’s cleaner and easier to use. The tool shows you how Bing sees your website and will show redirects, broken links and any URL being blocked by robots.txt. It’s definitely worth checking out if you want to further improve your SEO.

Snapchat Sounds Launched: Snapchat has joined Facebook and YouTube in launching their own TikTok competitors with Sounds. Now available on iOS, Sounds lets users add music to their Snaps (pre or post-capture). has now launched and is their answer to TikTok.

WordPress Tweetstorms: WordPress has introduced a new feature that enables you to turn any existing blog post into a Tweetstorm (Twitter thread) in just a few clicks. The tool will tweet every word of the post along with accompanying media.

WDA’s Highlight of the Week

Our highlight for this week is the launch of Google Podcasts Manager.

We can’t wait to add our podcast and start delving into additional stats to help improve performance. If your business hasn’t started a podcast yet, then what better time to do so? Podcasts continue to rise in popularity with more of the UK population listening every month. They’re a great medium to repurpose existing content in a different format and expand brand visibility, build authority and generate leads.

Would you like to get more from your existing digital marketing efforts?

We’ve put together 6 top tips to take your marketing to the next level and to help you generate more traffic and leads.

Improve your site speed

The average web page on the internet loads in around 3 seconds, which is a great benchmark. However, how fast your competitor’s websites load is more important, and this is what you should look to beat. Website loading times can have a tremendous impact on bounce rates and ultimately conversions. In fact, 4. According to reports, a 1 second delay results in a 7% conversion drop off rate. Site speed can get very technical, and usually, improving it will require the help of a web developer.

Create more content

Regularly producing quality and educational content that your audience will find useful will have them coming back to you repeatedly. This helps build trust and establishes your brand as a go-to resource. You can create content on Social Media, your blog and in videos, podcasts and infographics. Don’t forget to promote your content by sharing it on your social media accounts, employee LinkedIn profiles, your website, with your email list subscribers and more.

Invest in paid social media

With organic reach continuing to decline rapidly on social media, making use of the paid options available is essential to getting reach, awareness and traffic. The options to choose from are endless, which is why most businesses don’t know where to start. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn are the big 4 and whilst Twitter and LinkedIn can be great, Facebook and Instagram are where we’d suggest most businesses start. There are plenty of free resources available for getting started.

Optimise for conversions

Most businesses aren’t optimising their website and landing pages for conversion enough, even though it can often have a far bigger effect than driving extra traffic. With Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO), there’s lots that you can test, including featured images, call to action button colours and copy, content, layout and structure, the main headline and sub-headline, form fields and more.

Grow your organic search presence

Search engine optimisation is one of the most profitable forms of digital marketing when done right, but it’s not an overnight process. It takes time to build authority in Google, naturally attract backlinks and improve your organic visibility. Here are some things that you can do:

  • Create regular, fresh content
  • Have great user engagement on your website
  • Improve your site speed
  • Secure your site with HTTPS
  • Consider content length and the use of multimedia
  • Optimise onsite elements such as meta title tags, meta descriptions, and internal links
  • Feature as a source in online publications and blogs

Focus on the key onsite and technical factors to start with and continue to produce amazing content. If your audience loves the content you create and share, then your link profile will build naturally.

Launch a Pay Per Click campaign

PPC is instantaneous for boosting visibility and driving traffic. Although, optimising and honing your campaigns for optimal performance is an ongoing process. We’d recommend starting with a basic Google Search campaign that focusses on your core products and/or services.

You could also consider Smart campaigns. They are an autonomous option that enable SME’s to get set up and running with ads, fast.

Propel YOUR digital marketing to a higher level

Don’t have the time or know-how to implement the above?

Let WDA’s digital marketing experts help propel your digital marketing to a higher level. Get in touch with our team today by completing our enquiry form.

Missed the important digital marketing news and updates from last week? We’ve got you covered with the WDA Digital Marketing Round-Up.

Google

Google My Business Call History: Google My Business is testing a new Call History feature, It’s basically a 45 day missed call log that will display missed calls from Search and Maps. This is only available in the US for now.

Web Stories Are Being Expanded: Google is bringing its Web Stories feature to Google Discover.

Here’s what they had to say…

“Today we are bringing visual and immersive Web Stories to Discover which is part of the Google app on Android and iOS. The Stories carousel, now available in the United States, India and Brazil at the top of Discover, helps you find some of the best visual content from around the web. In the future, we intend to expand Web Stories to more countries and Google surfaces.”

Google Ads Gets More Automation Features: Google continues to expand on its machine learning functionality by introducing more automation features and campaign types. The first of these features in a new insights page. This is going to roll out over the coming months, starting with the UK and US and will show trending searches, auction insights and interest predictions based on their account. The second is a new automated campaign type – Performance Max. This new campaign type will show ads across all Google inventory. Third and finally, is that YouTube’s video action campaigns will be available to all advertisers in the next month or so.

Facebook/Instagram

More Reels Updates: Instagram has launched another set of updates for Reels, including an option to save sounds for your clips, the ability to share collections of Reels and the addition of an Audio Browser.

Twitter

Twitter Quote Tweets: Social media reverse engineering expert, Jane Wong, has said that Twitter is working on making the Retweet option open the composer directly, making “quote tweets” the default option. She went onto say that with the prototype they’re working on, retweets without quoting were still possible.

Suggested Follows: Announced by the Twitter Support Account, users may see a suggestion on Android to follow a group of relevant accounts on the profile of someone they’ve followed. Pressing the new ‘follow all’ button will automatically follow all suggested accounts instantly.

Other Updates

Microsoft Digital Marketing Center Beta Now Available: The free platform, announced earlier this year, enables SMBs to manage automated search and social campaigns. They have now moved it to Beta, but it’s only available in the U.S. at this time. They have also launched a handful of additional features alongside the Beta, including search term control, ad reviews and on-site analytics.

Snapchat ‘First Commercial’ Ad Option Launched: Snapchat started testing the ‘First Commercial’ ad option earlier this year, and they have now made it available to all UK and US advertisers. Advertisers can utilise the option to ensure their ad is first shown when a user watches any Snap Original’s. If your business has a younger audience, then this is a great new paid advertising option to test.

Amazon Sponsored Display Ads Now Customisable: Amazon has rolled out the functionality for eligible advertisers globally. The update allows the advertiser to customise Sponsored Display ads by adding their brand logo or changing the headline. Their Customised Display ads can show on product pages, customer reviews, shopping results pages and under the Featured Offer.

WDA’s Highlight of the Week

Our highlight for this week is the introduction of more automation features to Google Ads. We’re excited with the progress Google continues to make with automation and machine learning, and the new updates are further signs of their goals for the future.

Missed the important digital marketing news and updates from last week? We’ve got you covered with the WDA Digital Marketing Round-Up.

Google

Google Indexing Issues: Google has confirmed that there have been mobile-indexing issues and canonicalisation issues. They announced on Twitter on Friday the 2nd that they’re currently working on resolving these. Head to @searchliaison on Twitter for the latest updates on this.

Free Google Shopping Listings Expanded Soon: Back in April, free Google Shopping listings were opened up for merchants in the United States with a view to roll out globally later in the year. Last Wednesday, Google made the announcement that the free listings would be coming to Europe, Asia and Latin America starting from the middle of this month.

Local Services Ads Coming to Europe: Google’s Local Services Ads are being rolled out across Europe – initially available in 10 countries including the UK. Additionally, LSAs will be available for 16 home service categories only, including Appliance Repair, Carpet Cleaning, Electricians, Garage Door Installation and Repair, House Cleaning, Lawn Care, Movers, Pest Control, Plumbers, Roofers, Water Damage Restoration, Window Cleaning, Window Repair, Junk Removal and Tree Service.

Facebook/Instagram

Accounts Center: Facebook Accounts Center launched last Tuesday. It’s a consumer facing tool that is designed to help users manage their connected experiences across Facebook apps such as Facebook pay and Single Sign. While this isn’t directly marketing related, it shows that Facebook is continuing to make its apps more congruent.

Cross-App Communication Introduced: Last Wednesday, Facebook announced that it will begin introducing cross-app communication between Messenger and Instagram. As well as this, Instagram’s inbox will be getting an upgrade with some Messenger type features.

28-Day Attribution Model Being Removed: Facebook will start removing the option on October 12th and the 7-day attribution setting will be reverted to as default. Historical data is available until the 12th so we’d recommend downloading any of this that is relevant as soon as you can.

Twitter

Access to Voice Tweets Increased: Back in June, Twitter announced Voice Tweets for iOS which was met with a fair share of criticism. However, Twitter is now working to have transcription available for audio and video as part of its larger plan to make the app accessible for everyone. Also, auto-captions for voice messages and video should be ready by early next year.

Other Updates

Microsoft Advertising partnership with Integral Ad Science: The partnership was announced Monday and aims to provide brand safety verification for native ads on Microsoft’s Audience Network. Inventory is evaluated prior to the ad auction using pre-bid integration, and is automatically applied across the Audience Network.

Pinterest New Features: Firstly, Pinterest has added more ad slots that enable businesses to reach their audience when they’re actively researching products. The update lets advertisers place ads in Pinterest Lens matches, the Shop tab and also shopping matches on pins. These are still being rolled out and will first be made available in the UK and US. Secondly, they’re increasing data and insights on specific Pin performance. Finally, Pinterest’s personalised shopping recommendations are being expanded, again in the US and UK initially.

WDA’s Highlight of the Week

Our highlight from last week’s marketing news is Google announcing that they’re expanding the access to free Shopping listings. We’re looking forward to gaining access to these and implementing across our relevant clients accounts. We’d definitely encourage e-commerce businesses to take advantage of this as it’s a fantastic free opportunity to boost your product awareness, reach, traffic and ultimately sales.

Missed the important digital marketing news and updates from last week? We’ve got you covered with the WDA Digital Marketing Round-Up.

Google

Local Services Ads Bidding: Google is launching a beta for bidding on Local Services Ads but only a few selected advertisers will get access. Here’s what a Google spokesperson said… “After seeing success with auction-based pricing within our professional services vertical for Local Services Ads, we are excited to bring auction-based pricing as a beta to select markets for local services advertisers. We believe this model will help bring more customers to this trusted group of advertisers.”

Local Ads Enhancements: On Wednesday 23rd Sept, Google announced some new local ads enhancements as they continue to invest in online-to-offline functionality. These include service attributes for Local Campaigns, “Pick up later” for Local Inventory Ads and Smart Bidding Optimisation for in-store sales.

Shipping Details Schema: Shipping details schema is now supported for Google product results. Advertisers can use the shippingDetails schema markup to add cost and estimated delivery time details for each product.

Facebook/Instagram

20% Text Limit Removed: While the 20% text rule has become less strict in recent years, in a very welcome move, Facebook have now done away with it completely so go ahead and get adding more text to your image ads!

Instagram Reels Updated: Instagram Reels was only launched recently and it’s already being tweaked and updated. The recent updates to Reels include the ability to create longer Reels of up to 30 seconds and better trimming functionality.

LinkedIn

Linkedin’s Partner Program Updated: The new updates are designed to make it easier for businesses to find LinkedIn experts with new specialty categories. Here’s what LinkedIn had to say: “Today we’re announcing updates to specialties – how you work with our partners – which will make it easier for you to find the right solutions for your marketing on LinkedIn. Whether you’re looking to create content, grow your brand, convert leads, or measure the impact of your investments, our LinkedIn marketing partners are here for you.”

Other Updates

Yelp Ad Features: Yelp has introduced more updates to Ad features to give advertisers more control. Firstly, they’ve integrated Ads Dashboard into Yelp for Business, giving advertisers on the platform more visibility and control. Secondly, they’ve introduced several additional features including Ad goals, Keyword management and Audience Size Estimator.

Reddit Ad Inventory Types Launched: Reddit has recently launched Ad Inventory types to give its advertisers greater control over campaigns. While they still have a way to go to win brands over, the updates are certainly another step in the right direction.

Pinterest New Features: Pinterest is launching a suite of creator-first features including Story Pins and new creator profiles. Pinterest Stories are now in Beta and are slightly different from the norm – they will be contained within a Pin rather than using a separate feed and also don’t have a 24-hour time limit.

WDA’s Highlight of the Week

Our highlight from last week’s marketing news is the complete removal of Facebooks 20% text rule. Knowing that text can be used however the advertiser wants to use it in an image ad without limiting reach grants lots more creative license. Hopefully we see some more innovative image ads over the coming weeks and while many brands report video ads result in better engagement and performance overall, it is always something that you should test for your brand.