Insights

Monthly Media Update: Updates to Google's Quality Raters Guidelines

August 12, 2022 | Article | by REQ Media Team | Advertising, Analytics, Search Engine Optimization

Earned Media

  • Product Reviews Algorithm Update: The July 2022 Google Product Reviews Update was released towards the end of the month. Read Google’s guidelines on writing product reviews to improve visibility and help guide shoppers towards your products.
  • SERP Features: Google is displaying content from 3rd-party sites in product carousels and hotel listings in the search results. Google product carousels began linking to affiliate review sites under “Appears on these lists” within the “Top insights” section of the SERP feature. Similarly, Google Hotel results have a new “Featured in” section which links to articles mentioning the hotel. Both SERP feature updates reinforce the importance of garnering reviews on 3rd party sites in addition to Google reviews for eCommerce sites.
  • Quality Raters Guidelines: Google updated its Quality Raters Guidelines by removing Your Money Your Life (YMYL) categories and clarifying that the extent and type of E-A-T needed on a page depends on the purpose of the page. YMYL was also redefined as topics that present “high risk of harm,” are those that can impact the “health, financial stability, or safety of people, or the welfare or well-being of society.”  

Content, Social, Email

  • Instagram videos under 15 minutes will automatically publish as Reels now - Instagram announced that ALL videos shorter than 15 minutes will be published as Reels. Videos posted prior to the announcement will remain videos and not become Reels.
  • YouTube Shorts are growing in popularity - 75% of YouTube’s logged-in users are now watching Shorts monthly. This creates an opportunity for brands to improve their presence and connect with audiences on a growing medium

Paid Search

  • Google Ads continues to gear toward automation - Google has recently completed its transition away from Expanded Text Ads to make way for Responsive Search Ads, which allows ad managers to provide several more ad copy assets for Google’s AI to optimize for the best performing combinations. 
    • Google has also begun transitioning its move away from Smart Shopping and Local campaigns in favor of Performance Max campaigns. Officially, all remaining Smart Shopping and Local campaigns will be “upgraded” to Performance Max on Monday, August 15th.
    • Google continues to focus on its auto-apply recommendations capabilities as each of their reps have been encouraged to have several features opted into across each account.

Paid Social

  • TikTok announces WooCommerce Integration which will enable WooCommerce merchants to sync their store catalog with their TikTok profile, powering its more advanced product display offerings. As explained by TikTok: “WooCommerce is a flexible, open-source commerce solution built on WordPress
  • TikTok Creative Center is a super useful one-stop-shop for everything that's trending and working in the TikTok ads space. This allows you to be able to see what hashtags, songs, creators, and videos are currently trending, view Top Ads, and even create/edit TikToks or create using plug-and-play templates. This is powerful for agencies working through planning with clients as well as in-house teams looking to be more strategic with their approach. 
  • Instagram’s New Pinning Feature: Recently, Instagram has been pushing for their platform to mimic similar qualities and algorithms as TikTok such as pushing for reels and becoming a more video content-based platform. Instagram now has a grid, or post, pinning feature allowing users to pin up to 3 posts (photos, reels, videos, etc.) to the top of their profile display. Users will be able to spotlight specific feed posts, whether it’s a branded partnership, product drop, popular Reel, or an introductory post further explaining who you are and what you do, giving more power to individual users and creators. In addition to this, there is another update soon, which will give users the ability to fully rearrange their posts on their profile, which Instagram engineers hope will increase creativity and usage of their platform.

Display

  • Apple is adding another advertising slot to the Today page, directly underneath the existing space. The Today page is the first thing users see when they open the App Store, which will make it a valuable space for Apple. Additionally, a new ad placement will be available on the download pages of apps themselves. These ads will appear at the bottom of the download page, below other apps by the same developer and above recommendations for related apps.
  • Disney has cemented a landmark deal with adtech firm The Trade Desk to develop an ad platform that will allow advertisers to automate targeted ads across Disney’s many linear and digital video channels, heating up the already-intense ad-supported streaming race.
  • StackAdapt has unveiled Weather Targeting capabilities within their platform. Utilizing data integrations with Weather data services like OpenWeather, agencies can use a geography’s current/upcoming weather conditions to aid end goals for advertisers. Weather has a significant impact on customer moods, and utilizing weather triggers helps improve relevance based on real-time information to help create better-targeted ads that greatly impact conversion rates.

Analytics

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