In this week’s edition of Weekly Reads, learn about recent changes to the digital space that present both challenges and opportunities for businesses and marketers. Read more about the steps that you can take to stay on top of these changes.
Rachael Roark, Director of Search Engine Marketing
Search Engine Land: Google verticals, machine learning and no-click searches expected to have the biggest impacts on SEO
A survey that asked SEO experts which trends they think will have the biggest impact on their industry in the next three years yielded insightful results. The trend that’s most predicted to affect SEO over the coming three years is Google’s foray into verticals to compete against publishers. Machine learning may also deliver results for searches more quickly, which would mean more no-click searches but can also mean that users find the content they’re looking for even faster, potentially driving higher-quality traffic to your pages. To take advantage of machine learning advances, businesses need to shift their focus to their audiences’ experience instead of the technical details that only search engines see.
Search Engine Watch: Google Ads announce more changes to match types – Challenges and opportunities
Google Ads recently announced that it now allows ads to be served for queries that it understands to share the same meaning on broad modified and phrase match keywords. This change presents unique challenges and opportunities for marketers. Some of the challenges include: spending may increase, impressions may be wasted on irrelevant search terms and more time may be needed to build negative keyword lists. However, some of the opportunities include: potentially revealing previously untargeted converting keywords and saving time creating detailed ad groups. As this change rolls out, keeping a very close eye on your accounts is the prudent course of action.
AdWeek: Facebook Revealed New Tools, Policy Updates for Messenger
A lead-generation template is now rolling out to Facebook Ads Manager. This template will give companies the opportunity to create an ad that leads users to an automated question and answer conversation within Messenger. Ted Helwick, director of product management for Messenger Business, also revealed that improved Messenger event reporting and easier conversion tracking for Messenger will be rolled out later this year.
Project Highlight:
Saint Joseph Hospital | Building Awareness for a New Hospital
Saint Joseph Hospital, one of Denver’s oldest hospitals, was in the final stages of building a new, state-of-the-art facility. The CenterTable digital team was brought in the year leading up to the hospital’s grand opening to support the move with creative campaign development, paid media, social media engagement, and media relations.
