Digital Ad Spend Jumped in 2016, All Thanks To Mobile Advertising

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Paid search advertising continued to rise last year, accounting for almost $35 billion in ad spend, but the IAB’s latest revenue report shows big shake-ups in where that money is going.

During 2016, desktop paid search dropped by 10 points and was down by almost $3 billion. However, mobile paid search shot up, leading to an overall increase in paid search revenues by almost $6 billion.

As such, mobile ad spending also surpassed spending on desktop search advertising for the first time ever. Throughout the year, mobile accounted for 51 percent of digital ad spend in the US. Notably, it was even higher in Q4, where it represented 53 percent.

In total, digital ad spending accounted for $72.5 billion in 2016, rising 22 percent from 2015. Mobile is largely responsible for this increase, as it grew across every digital format, including search, display, and social. Most notably, mobile video ad revenue jumped 145 percent year over year. The cumulative mobile spending across formats nearly reached $37 billion in just the last year.

Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of IAB, best sums up the report by highlighting the versatility and ubiquity of mobile devices to reach customers no matter where they are:

“Mobile fueled the internet economy in 2016, with advertisers showing their confidence in digital to achieve their marketing goals. This increasing commitment is a reflection of brands’ ongoing marketing shift from ‘mobile-first’ to ‘mobile-only’ in order to keep pace with today’s on-the-go consumers.”

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Over Half Of Front Page Google Results Now Use HTTPS

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Between the countless public hacks, identity thieves, and an increasing awareness of how vulnerable personal information is, protecting customer’s personal data has become a hot-button topic over the past year.

Perhaps this may be why an increasing number of sites are switching to the more secure HTTPS web security protocol. In fact, a new report from Moz suggests the more than half of first page listings on Google are using HTTPS.

While Google has suggested site security could potentially influence a website’s ranking, Moz says the steady growth of HTTPS suggests the rise is more likely attributed to sites making the switch – not an algorithm update. Google has also stated that it has no plans to increase the weight of HTTPS on rankings in the future.

To verify the findings, Moz worked with Rank Ranger who produced almost the exact same results using its system.

Dr. Pete Meyers, who reported the findings for Moz, believes up to 65% of front page results on Google could be using HTTPS by the end of the year. This is entirely possible, given that Chrome is set to begin marking non-HTTPS pages as non-secure if they ask for personal information such as a password or credit card information.

Interestingly, the growth of HTTPS appears to be fairly equal across markets. The results suggest approximately half of the biggest names in Google search results have adopted the security protocol, while newer pages are using HTTPS because it is inexpensive and easy to use.

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Built-In Ad Blocker Is Coming To Google Chrome

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If you’re a business investing any amount of your budget into online marketing, there’s a good chance you are running ads on Google. So, it may raise your eyebrows to learn the company operating one of the largest online ad platforms is about to release a new feature that will block ads on Chrome.

Indeed, Google is updating its web browser to block ads by default. However, it appears Chrome’s ad blocker will only filter specific types of ads which are considered “unacceptable” by the Coalition for Better Ads standards.

As the original report about the new feature from The Wall Street Journal explains:

“Unacceptable ad types would be those recently defined by the Coalition for Better Ads, an industry group that released a list of ad standards in March. According to those standards, ad formats such as pop-ups, auto-playing video ads with sound and ‘prestitial’ ads with countdown timers are deemed to be ‘beneath a threshold of consumer acceptability’.”

The news makes it fairly certain that Chrome’s ad blockers will be significantly less aggressive than many third-party options, but it is unclear exactly how it will work. It is possible the site may only block specific offending ads, but the report indicates Google is also considering blocking ads across an entire site if any ads are deemed unacceptable.

In other words, play by Google’s rules or have all your ads on your site blocked.

Many consider the news that Google is preparing an ad blocker to be a surprise, but there is a reasonable argument for the decision. The rise of ad blocker usage isn’t going away, with many citing malicious, aggressive, or annoying ads as their primary reason for using a third-party blocker.

By taking a proactive action to block offending ads by default, the company may be able to pull some users back from blocking all ads entirely. That means the typical ads across their platform would continue getting shown and generating revenue instead of being removed by a third-party app.

There are a lot of questions about how exactly the ad blocker will function, but the WSJ says you can expect to learn more about the feature “within weeks.”

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YouTube Lowers Subscriber Requirement For Live Streaming

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YouTube Live

YouTube is arguably the largest online video platform on the internet (though Facebook is providing some tough competition), so it is interesting that the platform has been one of the slowest to provide a widely available way to live stream.

That may be starting to change, however, as YouTube is significantly lowering the number of subscribers a user needs before being able to stream.

YouTube only introduced its public live streaming feature back in February, although it has partnered with large events to provide live streams for years. Even then, a user needed to have at least 10,000 subscribers before they were allowed to start streaming.

Over the past week, that threshold was quietly reduced to just 1,000 subscribers. Rather than announce the change, it was only discovered after a change to one of YouTube’s help pages.

The subscriber requirement is just one of a couple different stipulations required for streaming. Users must also have a verified channel and have not received any live stream restrictions in the past 90 days. Live stream restrictions are punishments placed against channels that have violated YouTube’s terms of services.

To start a live stream, follow these simple steps:

  • Tap the camera icon
  • Grant permissions allowing the YouTube app to access the Camera, Mic, and Storage.
  • Verify your account if you have not previously.
  • Tap GO LIVE.
  • Name your live video and set the privacy setting for your stream
  • Tap FINISH when you’re ready to end the stream
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Google Image Search Unveils New ‘Similar Items’ Feature

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Google Image Search is making it easier for consumers to find the exact item they’re looking for with a new “Similar Items” suggestion area on searches from mobile devices. The company says the new feature will also help shoppers find new products that compliment one they were already looking for, opening an entirely new door for potential sales.

For the moment, the suggestions feature is limited to just handbags, sunglasses, and shoes. This is to allow Google to refine the feature and guarantee it is providing relevant results for searchers. Over the next few months, they aim to expand to include other apparel and potentially home & garden items.

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”Using machine vision technology, the Similar items feature identifies products in lifestyle images and displays matching products to the user.”

In the same stroke, Google has also made the existing product results in image searches more useful for consumers by displaying price and availability information in results.

Including your products and services in the “Similar Items” feature requires adding Schema.org product metadata to the pages for every product you want to include. Theoretically, this would mean you could also exclude specific items from “Similar Items” results if desired.

The metadata markup tells Google the name, image, price, availability, & currency your business uses to include in search results. Once you’ve added the markup, it can take up to a week for Google to crawl your new data and add it to the search results.

If you’ve already implemented Schema metadata but your products aren’t showing up in the results, you may test your pages with Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to check for errors that may be keeping your products out.

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Google Replaces Trusted Stores With “Customer Reviews”

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Last month, Google told the world it would be shuttering its Google Trusted Stores program, its long-standing ratings and certification program. Well the time has come, as the program said farewell this week. In its place, Google has launched “Google Customer Reviews” – a new ratings program that aims to be more accurate and valuable to consumers.

Customer Reviews vs. Google Reviews

The launch of the new program has brought some confusion, as Google now has two separate ratings systems.

The classic ratings system allows users to leave reviews and ratings on any business’s listing. These “Google Reviews” are then aggregated into the search results. While the system mostly works, there is one big issue – literally anyone can leave a review, whether they’ve been to your business or not.

With “Customer Reviews”, Google is aiming to make reviews more accurate and reliable by only allowing those who have legitimately made a purchase from the business’s website. That means no trolls bringing down your rankings, but the new program really only works for online retailers.

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After you’ve collected some reviews, you can highlight your high rankings on your site with a customizable badge.

Notably missing from the program is the customer protection aspect of the Trusted Stores program. Online businesses will have to turn to other certification programs to help prove they are a legitimate and reputable business.

How To Join Google Customer Reviews

Businesses that were already participating in the Trusted Stores program have been automatically migrated over to the new program.

If you’re an online merchant who isn’t already participating in the program, follow these four steps:

  1. Sign into or sign up for a Google Merchant Center account.
  2. Select “Merchant Center programs” from the dropdown menu in the upper-right corner.
  3. Click “Get Started” within the Google Customer Reviews card and accept the Program Agreement.
  4. Add the survey opt-in code to your site.

Once you’ve gotten all set up, you can put the badge code for displaying your seller rating anywhere you want on your website.

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Twitter Encourages Conversation With Big Changes To Replies

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Twitter has always been built on the idea that brevity is the soul of wit. But, it can still be hard to fit everything you need to say in just 140 characters, especially if you’re responding to someone with a long username.

Until now, user names were included in YouTube’s character limit. That is no longer the case as of this week. Twitter announced that usernames won’t subtract from your tweet’s 140 character count from now on.

Additionally, the company is changing up how replies appear to make conversations easier to follow with three new features:

  • Who you are replying to will appear above the Tweet text rather than within the Tweet text itself, so you have more characters to have conversations.
  • You can tap on “Replying to…” to easily see and control who’s part of your conversation.
  • When reading a conversation, you’ll actually see what people are saying, rather than seeing lots of @usernames at the start of a Tweet.

“It’s now easier to follow a conversation, so you can focus on what a discussion is about, and who is having it,” Twitter explained in a blog post. “Also, with all 140 characters for your replies, you have more room to participate in group conversations.

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The new changes should be available to all users across PC, iOS, and Android already. According to the company’s testing, Twitter says the new features lead to higher engagement for conversations.

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Periscope Goes Big With Features For Both Advertisers and Users

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Periscope Logo

Since Periscope launched, it has been a minimalist affair. The app allows you to livestream video from a smartphone, and watch from any device (though only mobile users can comment or “heart” videos). That’s basically it.

The company has added a few basic features like the ability to search and save videos, but it has otherwise lacked many essential features that brands and users have been begging for.

That all looks to be changing this week, as Periscope has announced several new features that should help satisfy users and advertisers alike. From pre-roll ads and analytics to better browsing and cross-platform support, there is a lot of new stuff coming to the app in the near future.

Pre-Roll Ads

Monetizing Periscope has always been a difficult task, but the Twitter-owned company is making strides by introducing pre-roll ads. Similar to those seen on Twitter, the pre-roll ads will allow both publishers and creators to monetize their content with a quick video before their live stream goes live. The pre-roll videos will also show on replays of past live videos.

The ads are expected to roll out in the next couple months. If you want to get in on the chance to be one of the first advertisers to have access, you must be a part of Twitter’s Amplify program.

Analytics Dashboard

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It’s hard to offer a way to monetize content without also giving publishers the chance to see how their streams are actually performing. Thankfully, Periscope is launching a new analytics dashboard that will give streamers the chance to see just how many people are viewing their videos and for how long.

The dashboard will also include information about how many hearts each video ears, as well as breaking down the time spent watching the live video and its replay. It offers a few different ways to sort the data and the ability to export data. Overall, the information is still fairly limited, but it is a good start.

Activity Details

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Keeping in the spirit of helping creators gauge engagement, Periscope’s new activity tab lets you see new followers and when someone watches a replay. The company says it plans to expand this tab with much more detail about your viewer’s behaviors. For now, you can see the basic engagement info in the new tab being released to Android and iOS users today.

Periscope Comes To Twitter Moments

Twitter is also working to incorporate Periscope content more prominently across its platform. The latest move to do this comes in the form making Periscope videos watchable from directly within a Twitter Moment. Moments, the company’s curated new stories, highlight top-quality content to users across the platform and could give a great deal of visibility to Periscope streamers.

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Reclaiming Control Of Your Google My Business Listings Is Now Easier Than Ever

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Have you ever given a marketing company control of your Google My Business accounts and listings so they can help manage your local marketing? Have you ever tried to get your account bad after you decided to part ways?

It has been notoriously difficult and time-consuming to regain ownership of your Google My Business listings in the past, but Google has launched a new feature to streamline the process.

If you’ve been unable to reclaim your listings, you can now start the verification process to prove you are the rightful owner or representative for your listings with just a few steps:

  • Go to Google My Business.
  • Log in with the Google account you use to manage your business.
  • Enter the business name or address and select your business from the search results.
    • There is a chance you may see text showing part of the email address that originally verified the listing. If you control this email address, you can sign into that account to access your business listing.
  • Complete and submit the form.
  • Google will contact the current owner of the listing asking them to contact you. In the meantime, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to check the status of your request.
  • Allow seven days for the current owner of the listing to respond to the request. If they do not respond within a week, you will be able to verify your affiliation with the business and regain control of the corresponding listings.
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How Your Website’s Speed Affects Your Sales [Infographic]

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How long does your website take to load? If it takes more than three seconds, you’re likely losing more than half of your visitors.

It is no secret that everyone wants everything as fast as possible. That is especially true on the web. The faster your page loads, the more people will stick around and the happier they will be with their experience.

What you might not know, is that your site speed can directly affect your conversions and sales.

Data from Kissmetrics shows that up to 79% of customers who aren’t satisfied with your site’s performance say they are less likely to buy from the same site again. Taking that a step further, many first-time customers may leave before they ever get a chance to see what you have to offer in the first place.

Web Development agency Skilled collected 12 case studies from real businesses in an infographic showing just how powerful page load time really is. If you’ve ever doubted the importance of keeping your site optimized to be as fast as possible, you’ll likely be a believer after seeing these:

Page Speed

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