Digital marketing is a branch of marketing where marketers carry out their marketing campaigns over online platforms. The ever-growing prominence of digital marketing is allowing more and more businesses to go digital. However, in order to keep up in a competitive market, it is important for businesses to know and implement the changing digital marketing trends and try to keep up with the changing algorithms of Google and other social platforms.
In this article, we will sum up the digital marketing news and trends that you might have missed over the month of July.
You can Also Read:- Digital Marketing over Traditional Marketing
Latest updates and news1 July – Google started rolling out July Broad Core Update
Google announced the rollout of the July 2021 core update on July 1, 2021. The July broad core update is the second round of a two-part process of the core update that began in June. However, just like all other core updates, the July 1 broad core update was a global change to the algorithm and not specific to any region, language, or category of websites.
With the July 1 broad core update, the websites were able to encounter changes in the levels of rank volatility and SERP fluctuations. Fortunately, Google has given suggestions on what you can consider if your website is negatively impacted by the core update. Google offered a list of questions that you may consider if your site is hit by the core update.
7th July – Microsoft Ads started responsive multimedia Ads
Microsoft advertising came up with a new responsive ad format, called multimedia ads on 7th July 2021. Now, websites and businesses have the option of delivering large visual ads by combining their own assets such as images, headlines, and descriptions with Microsoft’s machine learning capabilities. These multimedia ads by Microsoft advertising will feature on the right rail (right side of search results) or at the top of the search result pages.
Moreover, to make your advertisements stand out, Microsoft advertising will offer exclusivity by making one multimedia ad to appear on a page for only one advertiser at a time. Websites will have the opportunity to create attention-grabbing multimedia ads and stand out on the search engine result page.
9th July – Google revealed that they detect soft 404 from mobile and desktop devices separately
A soft 404 not found is a URL that returns an HTTP status code of 200 telling the user that the page does not exist. When Google’s algorithm detects a page that does not load the content or cannot be found, then it flags these pages as soft 404s.
However, on 9th July Google came up with a new update changing the way it does soft 404 classifications and now considers the device type while looking at the URL. Now, Google will be detecting the soft 404 status via URL by URL basis and also device type. It means that if Google detects a URL and accesses it on the mobile and then it accesses it on the desktop, it can potentially show the soft 404 status for the mobile and not the desktop.
Google will detect the soft 404s errors on the basis of mobile crawl, so if the website performs fine on mobile, the search console will not show soft 404 code. But, at the same time, Google may show a 404 status code to your desktop version if the page is unable to load.
12th July – Microsoft Ads launched a video extension for its ads
Next, up on our list of digital marketing news and trends is Microsoft advertising launching a video extension for its ads. Video extensions will basically appear next to an ad in the form of a thumbnail. When users click on this thumbnail, it will expand in an overlay with an action link that will take users to your landing page.
You will be able to utilize the video extensions with other extensions, including site links. You can advertise your business by adding links on the video overlay so that customers can reach your landing pages.
12th July – Google started AMP debugging info in search console report
Google announced that the search console will now direct developers debugging AMP URLs to the AMP page experience guide. So now whenever you navigate to the page experience report in the search console and then select an AMP URL you want to analyze, Google will now provide you with a link that will direct you to the AMP page experience guide.
This new update for AMP debugging will make it easier for developers to analyze and act on performance issues reported by the Google search console.
13th July – GoDaddy announced integration with Google merchant center
GoDaddy, the domain registrar, and web hosting company, on 13th July, announced an integration with Google merchant center which will allow GoDaddy small businesses or online stores to integrate their product listings across Google surfaces. This announcement of GoDaddy’s integration with Google merchant center will allow small businesses to scale their business and reach millions of customers via Google.
GoDaddy merchants will now easily be able to create a Google merchant center account, sync their product listings to show on Google, and simultaneously promote their product listings on Google. Moreover, in addition to the free listing option, GoDaddy customers will now be able to launch smart shopping campaigns for promoting their products across Google surfaces including Google images, Google search, YouTube, and Gmail. With the help of smart marketing campaigns, small entrepreneurs will be able to minimize their marketing budgets and maximize their conversions to get maximum profits.
13th July – Google announced enhancements in Job Posting schema data
Google announced new updates for their job posting scheme data. Google creates job search results from structured data. The recruiting websites have to be optimized for Google for jobs search.
Structured data is not visible to the human user as it is a code written for indexing robots for summarizing job postings. Therefore, Google will only show up jobs that are provided with structured data in Google for job search.
Google’s indexing robot will be able to read the new direct apply property. Google wants recruiting websites to list jobs with a direct apply property to indicate it as structured data. The purpose of this new update is to help the browser highlight opportunities to users who then will be able to easily apply. As per this update, the following conditions are to be met:
- The user will be able to complete the job application on the same website without getting redirected to another website.
- Once the user navigates to the recruiting website from Google for jobs search results, the application must be present on the same page, or the user needs to click no more than once to access the job application.
- The application must not have more than one step for completion.
15th July – Google announced optimize targeting in Google Ads
Google announced a new update that will allow businesses to optimize their targeting in Google ads. By optimized targeting, websites and businesses will be able to create flexible campaigns in order to explore which customers are likely to convert within your online campaign goals. With the help of optimized targeting, you have the option of providing targeting signals such as keywords or audience segments. Google will further use these signals as a starting point to find the best-performing criteria for serving your ads.
20 July – Google added math solvers schema data report in Google search console
As of 20 July, Google announced that it will add math solvers schema data report as a filter in the Google search console. Just like, Google gives you several dozen options for filtering the performance reports, now you can use the filter for math practice problems. Google explains it as an interactive feature that tests your knowledge directly on the search engine. Here is a screenshot for reference.
20 July – Google Ads announced 3 strike policy for advertisers
On July 20, Google announced that it will be coming up with a new policy program where an advertiser violating three of its current policies will receive a warning and penalties. With penalties becoming strict with each violation, and ultimately leading to account suspension after a third strike. Here is what we know about these three policies:
- Enabling dishonest behavior policy
- Unapproved pharmaceuticals or supplements
- Dangerous products or services
Google ads will give warnings and three strikes to advertisers based on the above-listed policies which include ads that promote deceptive behavior or promotion of products such as the creation of false documents, hacking services, and spyware, and lastly promoting illegal drugs, weapons, tobacco, etc.
21st July – Google announced Deals section in SERP
Google on 21st July announced a deals section on the search engine result page. To understand better, a deals section will highlight deals relevant to the search query. For instance, if users search for black Friday deals or Cyber Monday, then Google will show a deal section with a carousel highlighting discounted or competitively priced products from different retailers on the web. The shoppers will be able to view the deals section in the shopping tab.
This new deal section update in SERP will give retailers an opportunity to showcase their products during major shopping holidays, and at the same time, shoppers will be able to get the best deals on the web
26th July – Google started rolling out Link spam update
Google announced the rolling out of link spam update on 26th July 2021. This new link spam update will effectively help at identifying and nullifying link spam more broadly. The word nullifying does not necessarily mean to penalize, but simply to ignore or not count the spammy links. Therefore, many websites taking part in link spam may encounter changes in their site ranking as Google will re-assess the outbound links. Google wants site owners to start qualifying the links properly if they are linking out to different websites.
27th July – Google announced 2% India regulatory operating cost on Google advertisers
Google announced on 27th July 2021 to start charging a 2% regulatory operating cost from Google advertisers. The 2% surcharge will only be applied to those accounts that show ads in India, but their billing address is out of India. This update will come into effect from 1st October 2021.
However, the advertisers should be aware that the 2% surcharge will be charged in addition to their account budgets. The surcharge will not be reflected in the cost per conversion metrics during their campaign reporting. Therefore, advertisers must take this factor into account while creating their budgets.
27th July – Instagram announced privacy measures for minor users
Instagram on 27th July announced strict privacy measures for creating a safe environment for minor users (users below 18 years) on the social media platform. Instagram said it will change its advertising policy in order to reduce targeted ads to teens and minor users. Now, users under 16 who wish to create their Instagram accounts will be private by default, meaning only approved followers will be able to view the posts.
This update by Instagram will protect the privacy of minor users as it will prevent advertisers from targeting minors on the platform.
Conclusion
Every year, Google rolls out more than 2600 small changes to their algorithms, and each year, trends and updates emerge in the volatile digital marketing sector that is difficult to predict. It is important to keep up with the latest digital marketing news and trends to be on top of your SEO game. We have tried to list all the crucial updates from the month of July that you should not miss out on. If you have any queries regarding this article, let us know in the comment section.
