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INSTRGRAM
Instagram wants to become an e-commerce magnet
After releasing Shops and Shopping Tags, Instagram has added another option to help stores get more sales.
Matt Navarra spotted the new option, which allows products to be tagged in the caption of a post.
When users click on the tag they land on the in-app product page of the item.
If you want to see this new feature in action go to Victoria Beckham’s IG profile, where Matt Navarra first saw this feature. In any case, the above image should show how it works.
How does it help stores? It’s definitely a useful addon to product tags in images and makes Instagram a great platform for users to discover products and for stores to ease the conversion path.
Not all about e-commerce though
In addition to helping users discover new brands, a report found that Instagram is about to surpass Twitter as a popular source of news in the 18-24 age range.
Very surprising. Instagram has never really been seen as a destination for the latest news but, if this trend grows, it will probably surpass Facebook and Twitter as a source of news.
Local businesses to get more vocal with Google
Google is keeping itself very busy at the moment, especially on the documentation side of things. We brought you the new policy updates for Google Ads a few days ago, and now we’re bringing you a few new feature updates.
+ Free Promoted Map pins for Smart campaigns: Come September and Google will start showing Promoted pins for advertisers using Smart Campaigns. And here’s the best part: You won’t be charged for clicks on those pins.
+ Grow My Store: A new tool for SMBs to compare their stores (and kinda spy) with their competitors. It will also offer you insights on how to improve your online presence. For now, it’s only available in the U.S. and Europe.
+ Pay-to-stay: In a major change, Google will allow hotels to choose a pay-to-stay pricing model where Google picks up a commission only when the customer stays at the hotel.
+ Local stores in Shopping: Product availability, locations and curbside pickup or delivery options will now show up under Google Search Shopping tab in all countries when available.
This will show up in ads as well as free listings in the Google Shopping tab.
+ In-ad Bookings: You can now lead your users to book service appointments directly from mobile Local Services ads.
How will that work? There are two things you must do:
- Get in touch with one of Google’s booking partners.
- Get in touch with Google Guarantee consumer protection program team.
Small things, great results!
SPONSORED BY SEMRUSH
The simple guide to high-converting paid traffic, from planning to turning it on autopilot with Traffic Jet
Today we’re going to look at how anyone, regardless of experience level, can improve their paid traffic efforts.
Totally new? This will help you understand the advantages of paid traffic, how to plan for your product and goals, all the way to possibly automating it.
Highly-experienced with over 7-figure budget a month? This will help you introduce true automation into paid media buying that can run campaigns on autopilot.
This guide from SEMrush takes you through all the important steps:
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of paid traffic?
- How to decide on a proper budget based on your niche?
- Which platforms should you advertise on?
- How to write a compelling ad copy?
- How to create effective landing pages?
- How to automate parts of (or all) your campaigns in just a few clicks?
If you want to jump straight to the answer to the last question, we can tell you the answer is Traffic Jet.
We’ve tested it ourselves and it’s certainly a tool we consider a must-try.
If you already run paid traffic, this can automate things and make it less time-consuming. If you don’t, this can quickly help you get an idea of what paid traffic can do for your product.
Read the full guide right here.
SEO
Shedding light on visual search ranking factors
It’s already tough to keep up with all of Google’s algorithm updates.
But, as an SEO, you should also be keeping up to date with the new search behavior of users.
Google Lens, for instance… How does visual search work?
Brian Dean from Backlinko analyzed 65,388 Google Lens search results to better answer this question, and we’re going to see what he found out.
The study goals
Brian Dean aimed to discover what potential ranking factors Google uses for visual search, including:
- Alt text
- Domain Authority
- URLs
- Title tags
- Responsive design
The results
- Keyword-rich title tags and URLs correlate with Lens rankings: In the visual search, the image is the keyword. The study found that 32.5% of pages that rank in Google Lens have a keyword in their title tag that matches the search image’s Google Vision label.
- 33% of Google Lens results are images from the top 25% of a webpage. So, images that are higher up in the page have a significant ranking advantage.
- 90.6% of all Google Lens image results are pages that pass Google’s mobile-friendly test. Pretty obvious considering most Lens searches are made with a smartphone.
- Pinterest and Amazon made up 10% of the search results.
- Only 13% of Google Lens images are responsive. Despite this improving user experience, Google said that image responsiveness doesn’t impact rankings.
- 15% of the results that rank in Google Lens also rank in Google organic top 10 results.
These are just some stats of the study. There are also other well known factors that were shown to influence Lens results, such as page and domain authority and loading speed.
If you’re looking into optimizing your website for Lens results and getting ahead of the competition, this study will shed some light on visual search ranking.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
- GOOGLE: UGC and ad monetization can be a dangerous mix for publishers. These sites got themselves suspended for AdSense policy violations.
- TWITTER: You can now Tweet your voice. Twitter’s latest feature allows you to share voice messages up to 140 seconds. It’s only in a test phase though.
- PODCAST: Spotify did it again! The company just signed an exclusive podcast deal with Kim Kardashian.
- ADVERTISING: Looking for creative inspiration? This website gathers and ranks the best Facebook Ads creatives out there, and the rankings are defined by users.
- GMB: As observed by Tom, Google’s GMB listings appear to be pulling data from Facebook to show in the Google Maps and Google Search local panels.
BRAIN TEASER
I’m like a doll, but I’m not for playing; I stand up straight, but if windy I may be laying; I’m well-known and famous for having no brain; I work outside both day and night in sunshine or in rain.
What am I?
You can find the solution here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things affiliates like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
Flight attendant call buttons be like… Meh
Travelling right now sounds so exciting. We’re all itching to feed our wanderlust souls with some visa stamps and tickets.
But there’s a small problem…
After you’ve dealt with your countless travel documents, health questionnaires, temperature checks and what not, you’ll have to maintain your sobriety.
For passengers in the economy class and main cabins, there’s not gonna be any gutting down.
Yup, once again it’s COVID-(insert whatever year) to blame. In order to limit the contact between you and the cabin crew, airlines have been directed to cut down on food and beverage services.
But life’s not all that bleak. Some airlines are still offering drinks in First and Business Class cabins.
Oh and if you are part of any rewards program for food and beverages and have got some coupons, don’t worry about them expiring. They will get auto-renewed til… well, that depends on the airline you are talking about.