Welcome to ‘What Happened in Search’.
Packed full of the week’s digital search news each Friday, this week’s edition features device targeting on Bing, viewing habits at Ad Week and Google’s mobile algorithm.
ADWEEK: VIEWING HABITS
The phenomenal growth of online video is fundamentally changing the viewing habits of the younger generation, according to Mark Howe, managing director of agency sales at North and Central Europe, Google.
Speaking at Advertising Week Europe this week, Google’s European leader said the dynamics of advertising has completely changed with digital, but for the most part it was not cannibalising traditional media. Howe’s comments come as the latest research suggests average daily TV viewing in the UK fell 4.5 per cent last year, as viewers increasingly turned to tablets and laptops to view video online, which was up 17 per cent year on year.
TWITTER LOCATION TAGGING
Twitter and local search app Foursquare are set to partner up to pinpoint location tagging in tweets.
Allowing tagging of specific businesses, landmarks or other point of interests, Twitter believes the feature will help improve engagement, especially among new users.
BING DEVICE TARGETING
This week, Bing Ads continued with its consolidation of device targeting, spurred by Google’s Enhanced Campaigns.
The implications are that not only do all campaigns now automatically target smartphones, explicit smartphone operating system targets are no longer feasible.
INSTAGRAM LAUNCHES COLLAGE APP
Following the popularity of apps such as InstaCollage & PhotoGrid, Instagram has launched its own photo collage app ‘Layout’.
“A key part of the Instagram vision is about inspiring creativity,” notes John Barnett, Product Manager at Instagram. “Creation should be simple, intuitive and fun”.
GOOGLE MOBILE ALGORITHM
As the April 21st release date of Google’s mobile-friendly algorithm draws nearer, clarification of what to expect is slowly being revealed.
Earlier this week, Google answered a series of questions on the algorithm covering such items as the roll-out duration and the different degrees (or lack thereof) of ‘mobile-friendliness’.
