MediaPost | Around the Net in Search Marketing

YouTube Adds New And Returning Viewer Report

Thu, 10 Aug 2023 16:36:59 -0400

YouTube earlier this week launched an analytics metric for a report to show new and returning viewers by format type. So, it makes sense that the metric is called New and Returning Viewers by Format. It's explained in the linked video.

Google Analytics 4 Reports Get New Match Types

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 16:00:36 -0400

Google report filters now support the Match Types "begins with," "exactly matches," and "regular expressions" to give marketers more choices and control of reporting. Marketers can create the filters to select these dimension, and the option to add a filter to a report is displayed above the charts.

Google Launches Latest Audience Report

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 10:56:58 -0400

Google Analytics 4 has released a new Audience report that marketers can use to identify engaging and profitable audiences. The report includes audiences with at least one user in a specific time period.

Brin Back At Google Office, Working On Gemini

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 15:12:10 -0400

Google co-founder Sergey Brin is back at Google's office working with members of the artificial intelligence team on one specific project, Gemini, The Wall Street Journal reports. He said Google is positioning this project as critical to the growth of AI across the company.

AI Making Google Less Green

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 15:04:59 -0400

A decline in renewable energy use and increase in water consumption is making it more difficult for Google to achieve net zero emissions, Google SVP of learning and sustainability Ben Gomes said. All this despite AI become Google's backbone. Not just Google, but many other companies like Microsoft, and Meta.

Canadian News Starts To Vanish From Instagram, With Google Disappearing Next

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 09:55:56 -0400

Brodie Fenlon got a personal preview of what a future without Canadian news on social media and search engines looks like after pulling up CBC News on Instagram.

Google Fact Checking Tool Now Works With Images

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 13:01:17 -0400

Google this week announced its fact-checking tool can works to search by images and help users verify authenticity. The feature is accessible in beta through Fact Check Explorer.

Google To Deprecate Sitemaps 'Ping' Endpoint Later This Year

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 16:07:41 -0400

Google announced Monday the deprecation of the sitemaps "ping" endpoint and provided recommendations for the use of the lastmod element. Google explained that the sitemap protocol defines an unauthenticated REST method for submitting sitemaps to search engines, but internal data shows the unauthenticated sitemap submissions are not very useful.

Microsoft Launches Predictive Targeting For All Advertisers

Thu, 22 Jun 2023 13:26:02 -0400

Microsoft has been trialing this predictive targeting tool for about 10 months. Early adopters see an average of 46% increase in conversion rates, the company said. Predictive targeting aims to help marketers find new audiences who are more likely to convert.

Google Searchers Can Get Paid For Pilfered Privacy

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 22:40:37 -0400

Google Search users who clicked on a search result link from October 25, 2006, and September 30, 2013 can recoup a small portion of the cash its search ad business collected, according to one report. But doing so will require the person to provide personal information to the company administering the legal settlement that resolves a decade-old lawsuit challenging Google's behavior, according to The Register. During that time frame, Google allegedly revealed searchers' personal information to third parties in violation of privacy laws and promises. Under the terms of the settlement published on a website earlier this month, Google -- which denies any wrongdoing -- intends to pay $23 million to resolve the privacy lawsuit, known as In re Google Referrer Header Privacy Litigation, Case No. 5:10-cv-4809-EJD.

Twitter Reportedly Stopped Paying Its Google Cloud Contract

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 10:26:12 -0400

Twitter signed a $1 billion contract in 2018 with Google to host some of its services on the company’s Google Cloud servers. One media outlet reported the social media company refused to pay the search giant ahead of the contract’s June 30, renewal date. Twitter wants to move its services off Google’s infrastructure before the contract expires, reports Engadget, citing media site Platformer.

Microsoft Advertising Updates Cross-Device Attribution

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 08:32:59 -0400

Microsoft Advertising plans to roll out a cross-device attribution model that will allow the company to better track and connect the customer's conversion journey across different devices and sessions. Microsoft provides an example, along with other updates for the month of June, such as updates to the Audience Network and new markets.

How Bing Can Become An Effective Ad Platform For Real Estate

Tue, 30 May 2023 14:32:07 -0400

Bing may have a smaller audience in some industries, but its network continues to grow and represent an untapped market for businesses. Many real-estate agents may be missing potential clients by focusing solely on Google.

American Express Looks At Using AI To Determine Loan Eligibility

Tue, 30 May 2023 14:22:04 -0400

American Express plans to use artificial intelligence to decide whether or not to approve customers for credit cards. The company's innovation arm, Digital Labs, said the technology could be used to predict how customers would fare over time with different products.

Google To Purge Accounts More Than Two Years Old

Thu, 18 May 2023 12:29:43 -0400

Google reported this week it will update its inactivity policy for Google Accounts to 2 years across its products. If a Google Account has not been used or signed into for at least 2 years, the company said it may delete the account and its contents – including content within Google Workspace such as Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar, and Google Photos.

Google Instates New Validations For Ad Account Names

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 13:27:31 -0400

Google Ads accounts will no longer have the ability to include a URL in their account names beginning June 2023. The company said an ACTION_NOT_PERMITTED error will serve up when a new Google Ads account is created through the Google Ads API or when updating an existing one.

13 Of The Biggest Tech Design Failures

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 13:19:10 -0400

Architectural Digest highlights the 13 biggest design fails in modern history that are on display at the Museum of Failure, from Sony Betamax to Apple Pippin to Google Glass to TwitterPeek.

Nine More U.S. States Join Google Ad Antitrust Action

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 11:32:30 -0400

The U.S. Justice Department and 17 states have now joined sued Alphabet's Google subsidiary claiming the web giant has unfairly monopolized the buying and selling of digital advertising.

Lush Slashes Millions Of Ad Dollars Spent On Google

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 14:03:17 -0400

Lush will cut its advertising budget on Google as part of its "tech rebellion." The cosmetics retailer reportedly will reduce the “millions” it spends on Google Ads to protect its bath bomb trademark, cutting its platform investment by a third. The strategy is to redirect the budget to smaller tech organizations and open-source solutions, so it can interact with customers in more “ethically sound” digital spaces.

YouTube Lifts Ban On Trump's Channel

Fri, 17 Mar 2023 13:02:26 -0400

YouTube told Axios that on Friday it will lift restrictions to former President Trump's channel. The restrictions have prevented Trump for the past two years from posting YouTube videos to his account with more than 2.6 million followers.

Google Rolls Out Core Algorithm Update

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 10:25:35 -0400

Google's March 2023 core algorithm update is now rolling out. Matt Southern provides the highlights and things to keep in mind.

Bing AI Algorithm Insights On Chat From Bing Product Manager

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 14:23:39 -0500

Fabrice Canal, principal product manager for Microsoft Bing, presented in Austin, Texas, offering valuable insights on how to use Bing Chat. For now, he suggested, using the same SEO strategy for optimizing content for Bing’s AI experiences because it’s still the early days for AI search. Canal also stressed the importance of SEO professionals to guide Bing’s search crawlers to high-quality content, Matt Southern explains.

LinkedIn Feature Boosts Content Visibility

Thu, 23 Feb 2023 15:46:19 -0500

LinkedIn users, in the next few weeks, will have the ability to highlight the type of content appearing in the Activity section of their profile, from images and videos, to newsletters and documents.

Bill Gates On Microsoft, OpenAI, And Artificial Intelligence

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 13:37:12 -0500

Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder, spoke with Forbes about his work with artificial intelligence company OpenAI, being back on Microsoft’s campus, AI’s potential impact on jobs and in medicine, and more.

Microsoft Strengthens Multichannel Ad Approach, Discontinues Bid Modifiers For Audience Ads

Thu, 02 Feb 2023 15:40:33 -0500

Search Ads and Audience Ads make a good combination, according to Microsoft. The company piloted a multichannel approach during the past year and found advertisers using this multichannel management approach have seen 14% higher conversion rates at 21% lower cost per acquisition (CPA). Mallory Hardwood explains.

OpenAI Tool Now Detects AI-Generated Text

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 09:56:05 -0500

OpenAI has launched a tool it believes can distinguish between human-written and AI-generated text. Today it's success rate is around 26%, OpenAI notes, but when used with other methods it could be useful in helping prevent AI text generators from being abused, the company said.

Yoast SEO Makes Major Changes To Its Interface

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 11:10:56 -0500

The new version of Yoast introduces a card-style interface that doesn’t require users to make choices the way a tab interface does. It presents the information as a series of features that a user can turn on or off. It’s an easier and more intuitive way of doing things.

Google Reportedly To Cut Executive Bonuses

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 10:54:02 -0500

Google plans to reduce senior executives’ pay as part of a cost-cutting after laying off 12,000 workers. Employees at the senior vice president level and above would get lower bonuses, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people who heard the remarks at a companywide meeting on Monday.

Companies Using Google Ads To Entice Small Businesses To Pay For Government Freebees

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 13:22:30 -0500

Companies with official-sounding names and websites that suggest a government affiliation charge hundreds of dollars or more to provide "help" to small businesses it can gain for free. The companies used Google Ads before search engine removed the advertisements and prevented them from buying more.

In The World Of Measurement--2023

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 12:41:18 -0500

Marketing budgets this year stand to face scrutiny in an economic downturn, so, basically, the media industry finds itself at a turning point. Marketing Dive created a roundup of the measurement news and announcements from companies across the ecosystem.