Industry Focus for Friday, May 13, 2022
Don’t be spooked by the latest marketing news, no matter what the day is. When you partner with iFocus Marketing, you’re assured that your collaborators – that’s us! – are up-to-date on Google’s latest algorithm adjustment and the hottest ways to get in front of your target audience (TikTok, anyone?).
How do we do it? By being excessively dedicated to lifelong learning and spending lots of time discovering how we can use every digital marketing channel to our client’s benefit.
Here are our top five marketing updates we discussed this week – so you can stay in the loop, too.
“Google Reveals New Image Ranking Signal, Inclusive Schema,” by Danny Goodwin in Search Engine Land
Google is soon adding a new signal for image ranking and a schema to make image search results more racially diverse and inclusive. Google will be using the Monk Skin Tone (MST) Scale in image search and other image products. Soon, creators also can use inclusive schema to label content with attributes like skin tone, hair color, and hair texture, to help the search engine better understand what appears within the images.
-Submitted by Shirin Felfeli, SEO Specialist
“YouTube Receives Brand Safety Distinction for Second Year,” by Danielle Wolinsky for Google Ads & Commerce blog
Last year, YouTube was the first digital platform to receive content-level brand safety accreditation from the Media Rating Council (MRC). They’ve just announced that they’ve earned it again, for the second year in a row. To earn the accreditation, MRC audited YouTube’s content review systems and met with brand safety personnel to review processes for how they protect the global community. YouTube also announced that they’re using best practices collected through talks with advertisers and agencies to improve their offerings for video advertising – so expect more information about that soon.
-Submitted by Brandon Davis, Paid Media and Analytics Manager
“PageSpeed Insights Adds New Lighthouse Speed Metrics,” by Roger Montti in Search Engine Journal
Google’s PageSpeed Insights added two new metrics to the API and UI for Lighthouse, plus added new metrics to third-party analytics tools and a Lighthouse Chrome browser extension. Although the new metrics – Interaction to Next Paint (INP) and Time to First Byte (TTFB) – are experimental, they can be used for diagnostic purposes and are available now.
-Submitted by Zach Kinser, Senior SEO Manager
“7 Ad Copy Tests to Boost PPC Performance,” by Jon Clark in Search Engine Journal
We love a good guide, and this article includes important tips for A/B testing for pay-per-click ads. You might be surprised to learn that the punctuation you use can affect your ad’s success – we were!
-Submitted by Kandi Gerdes, Account Manager
“TikTok Pulse: Bringing Brands Closer to Community and Entertainment,” in the TikTok blog
The infamous “clock app” is now offering a contextual advertising solution, called TikTok Pulse, that places brands next to the top content in the For You Feed. This new tool gives brands controls to be part of the trends that engage the TikTok community. With TikTok Pulse, marketers can gain enhanced brand exposure by appearing next to the most engaging content, drive engagement with super-targeted affinity audiences, and feel confident that their ads are running adjacent to relevant, verified content. If you aren’t part of #MarketingTok, you should be!
-Submitted by Ryann Rinker, Agency Account Manager Team Lead
The Writing’s On the Wall: iFocus Marketing is an Award-Winning Ad Agency in Kansas City
With five KCDMA AMBIT Awards for excellence in digital marketing under our belts, iFocus Marketing continues to demonstrate just how powerful digital marketing strategies can be. Reach your audience without busting your budget through omni channel campaigns that include social media management, PPC and display ads, search engine optimization, and even online reputation management.
We’ll put it all together for you – just let us know your business goals, and we’ll create a roadmap to reaching them using proven strategies totally customized for you.
Ready to talk? One of our business development specialists is, too. Let’s chat.
