Monthly Industry Roundup: October 2017

Location3 News: Back in August, Location3 CEO Alex Porter and Director of Marketing Josh Allen made the trip to Mountain View, Calif., to record a Google Hangout Session with our partners at the search engine giant. The session resulted in a thoughtful discussion on how franchise brands can use Google AdWords to reach and convert customers for all of their business locations. Watch the full video above, “Google Partners: How to Increase Customers with Franchise Paid Search Marketing”.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN LOCAL?

 

Location3 CEO Porter Talks Franchise Marketing on Cheddar

Location3 CEO Alex Porter made his way to the New York City last month to make an appearance on Cheddar, the live streaming financial news network based at the New York stock Exchange. In the clip above, Porter discusses the complexities of marketing for franchise brands and how Location3’s LOCALACT platform helps bridge the gap between corporate teams and franchisees.

Understanding How Google Measures Store Visits

Google has recently placed added emphasis on the store visits metric, understanding that local search queries are often followed up with in-store purchases. As Damian Rollison points out in this article via Street Fight, three of four mobile searchers visit a store within 24 hours of searching. But how do we know Google’s numbers are accurate? Google’s  Kishore Kanakamedala shared a few insights at a recent conference in New York.

Kanakamedala points to Google’s update from shallow learning to “deep learning” as the centerpiece of its attribution algorigthm. This deep learning includes combining insight from Google Maps, Google Earth data, Street view data, and in-store Wi-Fi scans to gain a more sophisticated understanding of customer behavior. For example, Google believes it can now understand the difference between a “customer” passing through a business parking lot and a customer who is legitimately considering a purchase.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN SEO?

The Last Word on That Algorithm Update

Back in March, many SEO experts noticed fluctuations in site rankings that suggested a algorithm update that would have a more lasting impact than the standard daily updates. The update, which “focused on poor quality content sites that were benefiting from monetization tactics” according to this article from Harry Dodd via Search Engine Watch, eventually took on the name, Fred. In a Q&A at Brighton SEO, Google spokesperson Gary Illyes, shared some insight on Fred. Or should we say Freds? Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

“And I don’t know if you know, but in average we do three or two to three updates to the search algorithm, ranking algorithm every single day. So usually our response to Barry is that sure, it’s very likely there was an update. But that day I felt even more sarcastic than I actually am, and I had to tell him that.

Oh, he was begging me practically for a name for the algorithm or update, because he likes Panda or Penguin and what’s the new one. Pork, owl, shit like that. And I just told him that, you know what, from now on every single update that we make – unless we say otherwise – will be called Fred; every single one of them.”

Voice Search: Bing vs. Google

Bing has long struggled to put a dent in Google’s market share, but Clark Boyd of Search Engine Watch sees an opportunity for Microsoft to offer a superior voice search experience to Google. In this article, Boyd compares the two voice search products, offering insight into what Microsoft’s strategy is for boosting Bing’s relevance in the search world. His choice for the better product? Google. Sorry, Bing. Boyd had this to say:

“When Cortana can pull an immediate answer, it does so very capably; when it resorts to providing a list of search results from Bing, the quality varies. Google therefore represents a much more consistent, reliable option”

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN PPC?

Amazon vs. Search: Don’t Put Too Many Eggs in One Basket

Bing recently funded a study that sought to compare how search and Amazon fit within the online customer decision journey. The results of the study showed that both fulfill roles within the purchasing funnel.  While Amazon is a retail behemoth, it may not be the all-in-one solution that it is portrayed as. As this article from Purna Virji states:

“In reviewing millions of users across our data set and comScore’s panel, the team’s research found that most retail searches don’t happen on Amazon; instead, 70 percent of them happen on top search engines.”

For marketers, these results show that while Amazon is a growing retail power, your investment in the top search engines still packs the most punch.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN CONTENT?

One Article Format That’s Attracting Big-Time Attention

Are you having trouble coming up with fresh titles for your blog posts? Good news! As James Scherer describes here, one title format is consistently getting results. The format?

How (Company You Know) Is Doing (Something) to Achieve (Positive Result)

According to Scherer, this format benefits from using brand awareness, flattery, and real results to create a quick-hitting, highly sharable, trustworthy post that helps everyone involved. Give it a shot.