Marketing Beyond
Marketing Beyond
As the digital marketing landscape continues to evolve, keeping up with the latest trends and platform changes is crucial. Below is a detailed breakdown of this week’s most important updates from the Digital Marketing News podcast, hosted by John Lincoln, CEO of Ignite Visibility.
One of the major announcements this week is SEMrush’s acquisition of Search Engine Land, a trusted resource for SEO news and insights. SEMrush, a leading digital marketing tool, is known for its comprehensive SEO, content marketing, and PPC tools. The acquisition could mean increased data-sharing and optimisation features, giving marketers access to even more robust information on search trends, keyword performance, and ranking factors
This partnership is expected to drive innovations in SEO strategies, particularly through SEMrush’s expansive dataset and Search Engine Land’s insights. Marketers should keep an eye on this acquisition to see how it impacts tools and data analytics in the coming months.
Google has launched new expandable search ads, which allow users to adjust the size of the ads displayed in their search results. Additionally, carousel ads have been introduced, which display multiple ad options in a horizontal scrolling format. This could significantly increase visibility for brands, as ads now occupy more space in SERPs.
Furthermore, Google introduced in-ad search refinements, enabling users to narrow their search results directly within an ad. This innovative feature could increase engagement and conversion rates, as users can get more personalised results without leaving the ad space
Google continues to push the boundaries of AI integration, especially with AI-powered product search. These features include AI-generated product summaries that highlight key features and recommendations, helping users make faster decisions. There’s also a virtual try-on tool which allows consumers to visualise products in real-time and a personalised deals page tailored to individual preferences
With the holiday season around the corner, these enhancements are expected to significantly improve the online shopping experience, offering marketers a golden opportunity to tailor ads based on AI insights and personalised product feeds.
Both Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Search Console are updating their data retention policies. Bing now stores 16 months of performance data, while Google offers a whopping 11 years of search performance data. These changes will impact SEO analytics, providing marketers with longer timelines for tracking keyword performance, traffic, and search trends
For businesses, this means they can better monitor long-term SEO strategies and gain deeper insights into historical trends.
LinkedIn has rolled out a new feature that allows marketers to run live event ads, enabling ads to appear next to live video streams, adding a real-time engagement layer. This is especially useful for brands hosting virtual events, conferences, or webinars
Additionally, in-stream video ads are now available to European advertisers, expanding LinkedIn’s advertising offerings beyond the U.S. This opens the door for more immersive content strategies, particularly for B2B marketers looking to target specific industries or audiences. LinkedIn
Meta (formerly Facebook) has introduced new tools for moderating comments on ads. Advertisers now have the option to turn off commenting before ads go live and block problematic users at an account level. This is particularly useful for brands dealing with negative feedback or spam comments
By having more control over ad interactions, marketers can better manage brand perception and avoid potential PR issues stemming from harmful comments. Meta
Amazon has unveiled updates to its Demand-Side Platform (DSP), including a new AI-powered Creator Studio. This studio will help advertisers create content more efficiently using AI tools, and the platform will feature enhanced insights to support full-funnel advertising strategies
With the addition of AI-powered content creation, advertisers can quickly develop optimised ads, while improved data analytics help them refine campaigns based on real-time user behaviour.
As part of Google’s AI-generated search overviews, YouTube videos are now being heavily featured. Brands with high-ranking YouTube videos are more likely to show up in these AI overviews, making YouTube optimisation an essential part of any 2024 digital marketing strategy
With YouTube being the second-largest search engine, optimising video content for both organic search and paid ads will be a key component for brands looking to capture AI-driven traffic. Youtube/inside
Finally, SearchGPT, the search engine tool integrated with ChatGPT, is growing at an incredible rate of 150% month-over-month. For brands, this means it’s crucial to begin focusing on Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) alongside traditional SEO techniques. AI-driven platforms like ChatGPT are rapidly becoming essential channels for traffic generation
Brands that embrace generative engines early on can position themselves to capture a growing share of this new traffic source in 2025. SearchGPT
The rapid advancements in AI, search, and advertising formats continue to transform the digital marketing space. From AI-powered Google Shopping tools to SearchGPT’s growing influence, marketers need to stay agile and embrace these changes. Optimising for YouTube, tapping into first-party data, and adopting AI-driven insights will be key to staying ahead in 2024 and beyond.
