The Funnel

Our roundup of the most important PPC news this week.

PPC News Roundup is a weekly roundup of all news related to the major PPC and digital advertising platforms. Published on Fridays, “PPC News Roundup” will help you stay up-to-date on all the important PPC ads news you need to know.

Using any of these platforms for your advertising? Check out our smart advertising solutions to see how they can help.

Amazon Ads News

Why Google should be afraid of Amazon

Amazon's online advertising business accounts for 16% of revenue as of now, but it is also it's fastest growing segment. Google's core business lies in advertising revenue, and Amazon's penetration of this space puts Google most at risk, according to this analyst.

Amazon merchants spending less on ads amid coronavirus craze

Merchants selling China-made goods are expecting to lose out on sales this year due to factory closings in China and other slowdowns. In response some are cutting ad spending on Amazon and raising prices to avoid running out of inventory. The sudden shift in sales tactics by merchants threatens Amazon’s fastest-growing and profitable revenue source.

Walmart is quietly working on an Amazon Prime competitor called Walmart+

The program will rebrand Walmart's existing Delivery Unlimited service which offers same-day delivery of fresh groceries from any Walmart store. In the long-term, new perks are expected to be added, including the ability to send text messages to place orders and discounts on Walmart prescription drugs and gas stations.

Amazon cracks down on coronavirus price gouging and products making false claims

Amazon has blocked or removed more than 1 million products from its third-party marketplace that made false claims about the coronavirus. The company also suspended or took down tens of thousands of deals from sellers that it accused of charging customers unfair prices.

Facebook Ads News

Facebook confirms ban on misleading coronavirus ads

Facebook is banning ads that promise to cure, prevent, or otherwise incite panic around the coronavirus. Similar policies are being implemented for its Marketplace platform where users buy and sell secondhand items.

Bloomberg’s debate performance shows that Facebook ads will only get you so far

Bloomberg has spent the most of all candidates on Facebook Ads, but still put up a less than stellar debate performance according to analysts afterward. The outcome says a lot about the effectiveness of Facebook marketing. No matter how many ads you buy, if the product itself does not deliver, people will avoid it.

Facebook cancels its biggest conference amid coronavirus concerns

Facebook has taken the difficult decision to cancel it's biggest conference each year, F8, to prioritize health concerns. It shows the coronavirus is starting to affect the adtech industry, with merchants spending less on Amazon Ads, and major industry conferences being suspended.

Facebook shares business messaging best practices based on recent system changes

Facebook has updated its Messenger for Business several times in the last few months. In light of these changes, the company published new best practices to employ on the platform. The recommendations include:

1. Respond quickly and set customer expectations on response times
2. Keep it short.
3. Use automated features to send messages outside the 24-hour standard messaging window
4. Focus on customer value
5. Provide audiences with options to choose from

Google Ads News

Google testing more focused conversation tracking

Google has added much tighter conversion tracking metrics, as spotted by a few cautious Twitter users. These include a sales category that can track:

• Purcahse
• Add to cart
• Begin checkout
• Subscribe

As well as a Leads category that can track:

• Submit lead form
• Book appointment
• Sign-up
• Request quote
• Get directions
• Outbound click.

The update uses human language for user actions and brings tracking measurements in line with the eCommerce space, an area Google is looking to steal market share away from Amazon.

Google purges 600 Android apps for annoying pop-up ads

Disruptive or out-of-app ads appear outside of the app that hosts them, causing users to mistakenly click on them and waste advertiser money. Google has purged its Play Store of 600 of such apps and banned them from ad monetization platforms this week.

Find your perfect GIF, millennial style

Google launched new tools this week to help you find the latest pop culture GIF. The tool allows you to search for a celebrity and be shown results with the emotions most often associated with that character or famous person. Search for 'shrug' and you may get Kanye West, for example. GIFs are shown to be an effective addition on blogs, social media or emails to boost engagement and liven up content.

Marketers push back against Google Partners Program

Google updated it's requirements to be a Google Partner recently, with many SEM marketers arguing they align too much with Google's revenue goals and not client goals. In response, some marketers are putting a 'clients come first' badge on their websites, pledging to put their client's performance first, and Google's ad revenue goals second.

Google updates image search with icons for products, recipes, videos

Google is updating its image search results pages with icons indicating what type of content the images lead to. If an image surfaced in search results comes from a product page, a recipe, or a video, Google will highlight it with a special icon.

Instagram Ads News

Analyzing Instagram user growth and usage patterns in 2020

eMarketer is planning to release a new report on social trends in 2020. In regards to Instagram, the report identified three broad trends.

1. Instagram will pass Facebook among young adults
2. Despite the growth of Instagram Stories, the Feed remains more popular
3. Video advertisers are shifting ad dollars toward social

The Verge guide to Instagram

The Verge released a handy guide for how to use Instagram and market effectively, both targeting beginners and experts. If your business isn't on Instagram yet, start with this guide.

LinkedIn Ads News

LinkedIn is testing Snapchat-like stories

LinkedIn is trying to rebrand itself as hip and cool by launching a Stories feature for companies and individuals. The vision is to have companies post 'stories' of important events from the workplace and make the content feel less like a networking event online.

Reddit Ads News

Reddit CEO says TikTok is fundamentally parasitic

Steve Huffman says the fingerprinting technology the app uses is 'truly terrifying' and that he could never bring himself to download such an app on his phone.

Reddit starting to clamp down on fringe content to attract more ad dollars

The platform reportedly took down 200,000 posts in 2019 in order to clean up the platform. It is now starting to quarantine certain sub-reddits, leading to backlash from long-term users.

YouTube Ads News

YouTube is experimenting with letting creators sell ads directly to brands

Many YouTubers complain about their videos being unfairly demonetized for covering controversial topics YouTube deems aren't advertiser friendly. Now the company is experimenting launching a pilot program that would allow creators to sell ad space directly to brands, cutting out YouTube.

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