Search Marketing Industry Updates in June 2016

The digital marketing world moves at a rapid pace. There are new updates and changes taking place daily, and it can be hard to keep up with the news that really matters. With that in mind, we’ve gathered the top search industry headlines from the past month to provide you with what we think matters most and why.

The Voice Search Explosion and Local Search

Voice search usage is experiencing unprecedented growth. Google announced that 20% of all searches now have voice intent; this number was close to 0% last year. A likely cause of this rapid growth is the improvement of word recognition platforms, some platforms now reach 90 – 95% accuracy.

Why Does This Matter?

The growth of voice search could potentially impact how businesses are discovered through search engines. Consumers interact with voice search differently than they do with a search box, and therefore, the results will differ. Advertisers must identify those differences and help brands be found in voice search.

Bing Ads to Support Expanded Text Ads

Just two weeks after Google announced their Expanded Text Ad units, Bing follows suit. Bing ads currently have a 25 character headline and a 71 character description line. With this change, Bing ads will expand to a 60 character headline and an 80 character description.

Why Does This Matter?

If you advertise on both Google and Bing, you won’t have to straddle the new and old world of text ads for too much longer. Bing is working to fully support Expanded Text Ads by the end of summer.

Yahoo Introduces New Mobile Ad Format

Yahoo announced a new mobile ad format, Tiles, which will offer 360-degree imagery and video on the Yahoo Gemini and BrightRoll ad platforms. Tiles will work as a post-tap feature to Yahoo’s mobile ads, taking a user to a custom mobile landing page with 360 degree content. Yahoo said that early efforts with Tiles have yielded 4x lift in user engagement.

Why Does This Matter?

Mobile search surpassed desktop search in 2015, however, most mobile creative are replications of desktop display ads. With a “mobile first” mindset, 360-degree images and video landing pages can help improve the quality of advertisers’ mobile creative.

Twitter Announces Emoji Targeting

On June 15th, Twitter announced that advertisers can now target consumers based on the emojis used in recent tweets or engaged tweets.

Why Does This Matter?

Although this is not expected to be a huge reach driver initially, the new level of targeting allows brands to connect with people based on their expressed mood or mindset, unlocking unique opportunities for marketers.

Facebook Puts Friends Above Publishers in “News Feed Values” and Ranking Change

Stating that “friends and family come first,” Facebook has announced that the News feed will now prioritize content from users’ friends and family.

Why Does This Matter?

Posts from friends and family will now appear higher up in the feed than posts from Pages like news articles and publisher content. With this algorithm change, Pages should expect to see a decline in reach and referral traffic. old world of text ads for too much longer. Bing is working to fully support Expanded Text Ads by the end of summer.

Want to stay up-to-date with the latest news, insights, & more from Catalyst?
Join our newsletter today!