Welcome to ‘What Happened in Search’.
Packed full of the week’s search marketing news each Friday, this week we’re talking about Google’s ‘quality update’, YouTube shopping and Spotify video.
THE QUALITY UPDATE
Google’s results have changed since the beginning of this month, and Google’s confirmed that this is due to a change with how it assesses content quality.
Earlier this month, some publishers began noticing changes to Google’s search results. Since then, more reports came in, with the change even being dubbed the “Phantom Update” because something did seem to have happened, even if Google wasn’t acknowledging it.
After more follow-up this week, the company told Search Engine Land that while no spam-related update had happened, there were changes to its core ranking algorithm in terms of how it processes quality signals.
addmustard’s Technical Services Director, Joseph Patterson, said, “In typical elusive fashion, Google has not spilled the beans on specifics. However, this is likely to hit ‘how to’ and ‘information hub’ site, which can only be good for SERPs. Hopefully Phantom will clean up some of the crud”.
VIDEO SHOP
YouTube has announced that a version of product listing ads is coming to retailers’ video ads with TrueView for Shopping.
Google Shopping’s technology and infrastructure have been booted up on YouTube, and the ads are powered by an integration with Google Merchant Centre. The ads are delivered in cards alongside retailers’ video ads on mobile and desktop.
SLOWLY, SURELY
After a slow and methodical introduction of advertising to the social network, Pinterest is planning to take several big steps to build up its offerings for advertisers this summer.
With the goal of meeting marketers’ objectives throughout the marketing funnel, Pinterest announced it will be launching new features and services it says are aimed at awareness, intent and action.
BRANCHING OUT
Spotify is rolling out a slew of new products, including a video platform, designed to transform the music streaming service into a much broader entertainment system.
By adding video to its mix and making better use of customer data, the company aims to engage customers on the platform for longer, while offering marketers new ways to connect with listeners.
LIVE TWEETS
Google and Twitter are teaming up to allow the search engine to surface tweets directly in search results, the two companies announced this Tuesday. To start, the update will appear in mobile searches – both on browsers and in Google’s iOS and Android apps.
An update on Google’s regular web search will follow.
