Welcome to the latest round-up of all things digital. This is where we look at the latest updates in the world of PPC, SEO, Paid Social, Content, Digital PR and International from the last two weeks.

Digital PR

Hannah Jordan – PR & Outreach Executive

Which media form is top of Reuters Institute’s list?

Reuters Institute recently released the most popular sources of news, the list was topped by online, followed by TV, social media and then print. The most popular niches were also listed, which include BBC News online, Guardian online, Sky news online, Mail online, and regional or local newspaper websites. Brands and PRs should try and target these publications maximise brand awareness. However, seeing as online is the most popular source of news for people in the UK, if you’re not visible online, you will lose out on customers.

The most popular device for news is smart phones, followed by computers and tablets. Brands should be ensuring their website and news/blog section read well on smartphones when news readers click through to their websites via news publications.

Why media coverage is more valuable than ever

Search Engine World explained why earned media coverage is more valuable than ever for any client’s website. It’s official - Digital PR is just as important as technical SEO. As we know, a large volume of links is the goal however it may not necessarily help with ranking algorithms - the relevance of linking coverage is a key factor Google looks at when assigning “value” to links. This clarity has helped refocus the digital PR industry and forced PR pros to re-evaluate what metrics and KPIs we need to be focusing on to drive true organic growth. A blog audit is the best way to ensure you're starting in the best place when improving your blog. Our Head of SEO, Rory Tarplee has shared his top advice for auditing any blog.

Paid Social

Chelsey Rose – Senior Paid Social Executive

Meta changes to the advertising platform

Launching over the past few weeks the Meta advertising platform has seen a few new changes to the campaign and ad creation process. Meta have been on a path to introduce automated ad tools to reduce personalised and data lead targeting. This expansion programme is set to make it easier for businesses to advertise under automated and AI based tools; one example of this is the ‘advantage+ shopping’ campaigns which will help advertisers in ad creation and automate different creative combinations. This combination is tailored to what the platform determines to be most engaging to each user, based on the algorithm. This may lead to quicker, streamlined and more efficient campaign set up, targeting and ad creation.

TikTok tries behaviour targeting

As TikTok continues to grow as one of the most fastest-growing social media platforms, TikTok’s advertising capabilities are also advancing. TikTok is pushing for businesses to try ‘behaviour targeting’ which works with data collected on how the user behaves within the app and focuses on recent interactions with certain content in the app. This captures their engagement with videos, likes, comments, and shares over the past 7 to 15 days and then the user will be targeted with specific tags under videos that can be linked to certain products within the TikTok shop. This brings great opportunities for businesses to try on the platform and to expand their targeting.

International

Alison Booth – Head of International

How Google Trends can help you understand your consumer

Insider Intelligence shared an overview of where consumers start their search journeys. While the platforms with the largest share have been established the longest, the growth of the newer platforms has been rapid, so these need to be taken into consideration when building Digital Marketing strategies. An analysis of the latest Google Trends to gain an understanding of what is front of mind for people during these economically challenging times. These insights allow marketers to identify new and changing consumer demand trends to ensure a quick response to meeting changes in consumer requirements.

Content

Jordan Adams – Content Specialist

Google’s new update rewards content written for users, not search engines

Google has announced a new update, known as the ‘helpful content’ update. Essentially, it targets sites that feature significant amounts of ‘unhelpful’ content, i.e. content written with the intention of ranking in search engines, rather than educating users. The update begins rolling out in the next few weeks, and it is predicted it will have a “meaningful impact” on search results.

Without hyperbole, this is the most significant shake-up since the ’Penguin’ update in 2012, and will weed out content written for search engines, rather than for readers. As such, the emphasis for content strategies will need to be hyper-focused on producing high-quality content that offers genuine value to users.

Why alt text is important in all content

Search Engine Journal have broken down the importance of high-quality alt text and explained its function for users and its role in communicating with search engines. Not only is quality alt-text a key ranking factor, but its proper usage is a key aspect of accessibly for screen readers, who rely on alt-text to gain a full understanding of a piece of content. Truthfully, alt-text should serve a user by describing content to them, rather than being harnessed to stuff additional keywords.

As the number of screen readers continues to increase and search engine bots become more sophisticated, it’s more important than ever that alt text is clear, concise, and most importantly non-exploitative. Also, well-written alt text is a crucial ranking factor, and can be important in showcasing the authority of your content.

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