Weekly Digital Marketing News and Trends: 12/8/17

Every week we’re collecting a host of links, videos, and assorted analysis on the ever-changing world of digital marketing. We invite you to skim, share, analyze, argue, and refute – just so long as you don’t get embarrassed at the water cooler again. Here are the latest digital marketing news and trends for the week of December 8, 2017.

How To Maximize Online Data For Offline Sales This Holiday Season

Location3 CEO Alex Porter recently shared via Total Retail how retailers can make the most of their online marketing strategies in order to drive sales at their brick-and-mortar business locations. Here are a couple tips:

• Mobile-First Mindset: Forty-nine percent of mobile visits to a business website result in an in-store purchase. That means retailers should be optimizing their site for the mobile experience, including mobile apps and prominently displayed call-to-action buttons on the home page.
• Local User Data: Marketers can find trends in user search data from Google Analytics and AdWords to determine what user searches are driving the most foot traffic. Retail marketers can then use this data to fine-tune their messaging from both an organic and paid search perspective.

For further analysis, the entire post can be read here.

Source: Google

Google Expands Featured Snippets In SERP Reboot

Google announced on Tuesday via The Keyword blog three new additions to its results page. These include “expanded Featured Snippets, improved functionality of Knowledge Panels, and suggested content as you search for a particular topic.” Here are a few details:

• Featured Snippets: These appear at the top of page and provide quick answers or solutions for select queries. This feature has been expanded to include more images and suggestions for related searches. This creates a richer experience for the user, but as mentioned in the post, Featured Snippets will remain limited to select queries.
• Knowledge Panels: Similar updates were applied to Knowledge Panels, expanding options for related searches within the primary search Knowledge Panel.
• Suggested Content: Aimed at providing relevant information for users during discovery, Related Topics will be featured after multiple related searches.

Source: Google

Google Assistant Now Capable Of Finding Local Services

Google announced on Nov. 30 the capabilities of its Assistant product had been updated to allow users to find local services such as plumbers, electricians, and other local businesses.

Users can simply ask their Assistant to “find an electrician” or any other relevant service. After a few more details are shared including the user’s location, the Assistant will offer to call an electrician or give the user a list of local electricians. This feature can be used on smartphones or Google Home devices. It’s unclear in Google’s post if this feature will extend to other local businesses that aren’t home-service based. This feature was set to roll out this week.

Google Lens Is Going Live On Pixel Phones

In this Search Engine Land post from Wednesday, Greg Sterling provides a review of Google Lens, Google’s new visual search app designed to give users information based on visual analysis. Google Lens was announced by Google at Google I/O 2017 and officially launched in October 2017. At its core, the app is a search engine for your phone’s camera. It hopes to provide relevant information based on images received through your phone, whether it’s text, a product, a piece of art, or a landmark.

It also features a barcode scanner, which Sterling noted is one of its most consistent winners along with famous works of art. But Sterling also noted that Lens struggled to identify products without clear labeling as well as well-known buildings in New York City. All in all, Sterling’s review points to a bright future for Lens once it finds its focus <rim shot> as a tool.