For our monthly Google Marketing Platform Sydney meetup, we talked about the latest Google search and tool updates in November.

But first, let’s take a look at what’s on our Digital Radar this month.

Digital Radar

Remarkable People

Guy Kawasaki is about to launch his new podcast series.

We don’t know much but we believe it’s going to be called Remarkable People and his first guest will be Jane Goodall. While it may not be specifically marketing-focussed, we predict there will still be some serious marketing insights from Guy and sometimes his guests.

Stay tuned.

Celebrating Albert Mai

Recent finalist for Young Marketer of the Year award, AC&E and ex IMWTer.

Speaker at Google Marketing Platform Sydney and Head of Growth, Data and Product at Glam Corner.

Congratulations Albert!

STARTCON is near!

Australia’s largest startup and growth conference.

• International keynotes
• Expert workshops
• Tech expo & Startup alley
• Pitch competition
• Australasian startup awards
• Networking & parties
• Masterclasses
• Kids coding camp

ADMA Global Forum 2020

Speakers include:

• Fred Neil, Amazon
• Neil Gardner, Generali
• Warren Mackay-Smith, Unilever

Program includes:

• Does GDPR provide a much-needed antidote for the digital economy?
• Humanising brands: How to apply human principles to technology and brand-building

View the slides here and read on to learn more:

Google Algorithm Updates

Google BERT

Started 24th October…Google told us!

• Largest algorithm change in 5 years – will affect 10% of searches
• Sites aren’t being penalised. This is an update to their language processing and will mean ranking for more relevant searches and traffic
• Focussing on providing the best possible content is the top recommended way to deal with the impact of an algorithm update
• Likely will not see effects through third-party tools

Everything you need to know here.

Google Search Pulse

Google to Stop Indexing Flash

• Google will stop indexing flash content 
• No longer processing content with SWF files (for both flash websites or pages with portions of flash content)
• Most users and websites won’t see any impact from this change

Mobile Search by Photos

• Google showing mobile ‘search by photos’ option in selected local verticals
• No fixed position – resides below the local pack
• Only on mobile
• Not showing for all categories
• Unclear whether a test or a roll-out

Learn more here.

Video Enhancement, Appearances Report

• Google Search Console adds video enhancement, video appearances performance reports
• Google has new reports to help with your videos in Google Search and Discover
• Helps you fix issues with your videos displaying in Search

Google Shopping “Destination”

• Google’s new shopping “destination” live in the U.S.
• Offers personalised recommendations
• “Buy on Google” featured prominently
• Ability to buy using Google’s checkout with payment info stored in Google account

Google Ad Pulse

Ad Extension Test

Capture leads with Google Ads latest ad extension test

• Optional webhooks allow lead data to flow directly to your CRM
• The information you can collect is limited to:
  • Name
  • Email
  • Phone number
  • Postal code

GOOGLE ADS: *NEW* Lead Form Extensions

Just spotted in my EGO Power+ Austria account.#ppcchat #ppc @GinnyMarvin @mattgsouthern pic.twitter.com/FiI8aibWMN

— Steven Johns (@stevenjohns21) October 19, 2019

Affinity Audiences & Seasonal Events Segments

• Affinity audiences rolled out for Search and YouTube campaigns
• Ability to drill into broad interest areas (banking & finance, food & dining)
• Additional in-market seasonal event segments (including Black Friday and Christmas) for Search and YouTube
• Ability to layer this segment on top of other targeting

Location Targeting for Smart Shopping

Location targeting now available for Google Smart Shopping Campaigns

• Target and exclude locations in Smart Shopping campaigns
• Ability to set radius targeting from the Advanced search link
• Ability to exclude specific locations

Cart Metrics for Shopping Campaigns

Get a clearer picture of which products are driving profitable cart transactions

• Get a better sense of profitability of shopping campaigns
• Figure out how to optimise for greater gross profit
• To see new columns you need to have Google Ads conversion tracking set up with the Google global site tag

Conversions by Time

The new columns report conversions on the days they occur instead of by ad click date

• No more just attributing conversion by the date of the ad click
• You can now see conversions on the day they occur
• Easier to compare to your own internal sales data

Improved Asset Combinations

• An update to app campaign modelling should improve the way assets are combined for better-performing ads
• Update is rolling out in the next few months
• App campaign advertisers might see changes to asset reporting
• Google to attribute traffic to specific assets – advertisers to have more info on the assets that are performing

Google Tool Pulse

Google Maps Incognito Mode

• Android users now have the ability to do incognito searches in Google Maps
• Good for privacy, bad for ads
• Google unable to provide personalised recommendations including restaurants or things to do based on history
• Currently only available for Android devices

Google Site Kit WordPress Plugin

• Official WordPress plugin by Google
• Easily setup Google tools on your site and view everything in a single dashboard in WP
• Includes:
  • Search Console
  • Analytics
  • PageSpeed Insights
  • AdSense

Get it here.

Join Us for the Next Google Marketing Platform Meetup

Join us for our next Google Marketing Platform meetup to get the latest Google search and tool updates.

The post Google Search & Tool Updates – November appeared first on In Marketing We Trust.