Tag Archive for: Mobile Search

2017 Year in Review: Digital Marketing

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As we near the end of 2017, we recall many of the new ideas and innovations that this year brought to us. In digital marketing, there have been many changes. Digital marketing is centered around change, as it is required for this industry to live and thrive. Now we take a look at some of the biggest changes to digital marketing in 2017.

The Move to Mobile

This past year saw an incredible shift in user preference to mobile devices. It has grown to such a height that mobile search has now overtaken desktop search. The trend began early in 2017, but did not slow down at all. 33.3% of all transactions from Cyber Monday were completed on a mobile device. This mobile activity is up nearly 17% from the previous year.

It is also worth noting that age does not matter when it comes to mobile. Most people assume that the only demographic utilizing these mobile technologies are younger generations. In reality, older consumers are regularly active on digital devices. In fact, 50+ year old consumers had a 12% growth in smartphone usage over the past year. Read more in our article, “How to Reach Senior Citizens Using Digital Marketing”.

Competition Between Social Platforms

In 2017, each major social platform was vying for the spotlight. Twitter attempted to increase their numbers by doubling the character limit from 140 to 280. Sadly, this change did not produce the desired effect they were looking for, as their Q3 reports showed another decline in activity.

Snapchat focused on increasing advertising revenue. Their ‘Snap Pixel’ gives marketers better insight into consumer behaviors, which is certainly valuable when forming any kind of marketing strategy.

In the end, one social media platform came out on top in 2017. There can only be one winner, and this winner is Facebook. Facebook provides a larger audience, better targeting options, and superior results when it comes to digital marketing. Their resources and refined tools cannot be outdone. It is also very likely that their success will only continue to grow in the upcoming year.

The Importance of a Marketing Strategy

Digital marketing has become much more calculated. As the industry grows, experts are looking to make the most precise decisions when it comes to their digital marketing efforts. This means that anyone serious about digital marketing should be using a well thought out marketing strategy.

Long standing organizations have the benefit of possessing a history of data. This data is invaluable. Past behavior predicts future behavior. So, data can show you exactly what decisions to make, without much risk of failure.

However, if you do not have a large database to fall back on, it is best to begin with broad objectives which are then refined over time as you begin to notice what works and what does not. For more detailed information in creating a marketing strategy, please take a look at our article, “Create the Perfect Digital Marketing Strategy”.

Digital Permeation

As the digital industry continues to grow, it expands across many other industries. Digital marketing presents all businesses with the ability to better market their products and services. The main advantage is digital marketing’s low cost. Of course, digital marketing campaigns can become expensive if desired, but most campaigns produce results for mere pennies on the dollar.

This advantage has allowed digital marketing to infiltrate every area of business possible. There are no real limitations when it comes to digital marketing. Any organization looking to sell their product to a specified target audience can do it.

As a result, digital marketing strategies have been developed for entire industries. Food, healthcare, metal fabrication, you name it. All of these industries have been affected by digital marketing, and will continue to be affected in 2018.

How Google Search is Helping Users Easily Access Content on Mobile

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In Google Search, their goal is to help users quickly find the best answers to their questions, regardless of the device they’re using. Today, they’re announcing two upcoming changes to mobile search results that make finding content easier for users.

Simplifying mobile search results

Two years ago, they added a mobile-friendly label to help users find pages where the text and content was readable without zooming and the tap targets were appropriately spaced. Since then, they’ve seen the ecosystem evolve and they recently found that 85% of all pages in the mobile search results now meet this criteria and show the mobile-friendly label. To keep search results uncluttered, they’ll be removing the label, although the mobile-friendly criteria will continue to be a ranking signal. Google said “We’ll continue providing the mobile usability report in Search Console and the mobile-friendly test to help webmasters evaluate the effect of the mobile-friendly signal on their pages.”

Helping users find the content they’re looking for

Although the majority of pages now have text and content on the page that is readable without zooming, Google recently seen many examples where these pages show intrusive interstitials to users. While the underlying content is present on the page and available to be indexed by Google, content may be visually obscured by an interstitial. This can frustrate users because they are unable to easily access the content that they were expecting when they tapped on the search result.

Pages that show intrusive interstitials provide a poorer experience to users than other pages where content is immediately accessible. This can be problematic on mobile devices where screens are often smaller. To improve the mobile search experience, after January 10, 2017, pages where content is not easily accessible to a user on the transition from the mobile search results may not rank as highly.

Here are some examples of techniques that make content less accessible to a user:

  • Showing a popup that covers the main content, either immediately after the user navigates to a page from the search results, or while they are looking through the page.
  • Displaying a standalone interstitial that the user has to dismiss before accessing the main content.
  • Using a layout where the above-the-fold portion of the page appears similar to a standalone interstitial, but the original content has been inlined underneath the fold.

Examples of interstitials that make content less accessible


An example of an intrusive popup

An example of an intrusive standalone interstitial

Another example of an intrusive standalone interstitial

 

By contrast, here are some examples of techniques that, used responsibly, would not be affected by the new signal:

  • Interstitials that appear to be in response to a legal obligation, such as for cookie usage or for age verification.
  • Login dialogs on sites where content is not publicly indexable. For example, this would include private content such as email or unindexable content that is behind a paywall.
  • Banners that use a reasonable amount of screen space and are easily dismissible. For example, the app install banners provided by Safari and Chrome are examples of banners that use a reasonable amount of screen space.

Examples of interstitials that would not be affected by the new signal, if used responsibly


An example of an interstitial for cookie usage

An example of an interstitial for age verification

An example of a banner that uses a reasonable amount of screen space

 

Google previously explored a signal that checked for interstitials that ask a user to install a mobile app. As they continued our development efforts, they saw the need to broaden our focus to interstitials more generally. Accordingly, to avoid duplication in our signals, Google removed the check for app-install interstitials from the mobile-friendly test and have incorporated it into this new signal in Search.

Remember, this new signal is just one of hundreds of signals that are used in ranking. The intent of the search query is still a very strong signal, so a page may still rank highly if it has great, relevant content.

 

 

H/T: Google Webmaster