1.Google Featured Snippets Update
Google announced an update to featured snippets. Clicking on many featured snippets will take a user directly to the text that is relevant to the search query. [Source: Search Engine Journal]
2. Snapchat’s ‘dynamic ads’ product for e-commerce retailers rolls out worldwide
Snapchat announced the global expansion of its new advertising product, Dynamic Ads. The ad product introduced last fall allows advertisers to automatically create ads in real time, using the brand’s extensive product catalogs. [Source: TechCrunch]
3. LinkedIn Adds Engagement Remarketing for Video and Lead Ads
LinkedIn has announced much-anticipated targeting for its ads: engagement retargeting options. This new functionality allows advertisers to create retargeting audiences of users who have Video Ads or interacted with Lead Gen Forms. [Source: Search Engine Journal]
4. Facebook Confirms Test of Email Marketing Tools for Small Business Pages
Facebook confirmed that it is testing new email marketing tools for pages. This tool will enable businesses to create or upload email contact lists and send customised emails directly via the Facebook platform, with the ability to track performance. [Source: Adweek]
5. YouTube Adds New Analytics Report, Alerts for Merchandise Sales Within Live-Streams
YouTube is adding a couple of new features to help creators get a better understanding of channel performance, and to promote merchandise sales during live-streams, while it’s also boosting its COVID-19 fundraising efforts. [Source: Social Media Today]
6. Instagram just threw users of its embedding API under the bus
Instagram announced an unwelcome surprise to users as from now onwards before you embed someone’s Instagram post on your website, you may need to ask the poster for a separate license to the images in the post. If you don’t, you could be subject to a copyright lawsuit. [Source: Ars Technica]
7. Google My Business offers more flexibility with business hours
Google My Business has launched a new feature to give local businesses more flexibility with their business hours that reflect ways they’re adapting for social distancing as they start to reopen. You can even set these hours by day of the week and multiple times per day. [Source: Search Engine Land]
8. Pinterest Adds ‘Shop’ Tab to Lens Results, Making it Easier to Purchase Products Based on an Image
Pinterest has continued its shift towards becoming a full eCommerce platform, with the addition of a new ‘Shop’ tab within its Lens visual search results, which will make it easier for users to find buyable items based on an image. [Source: Social Media Today]
9. Diagnose Google Ads’ Performance Changes Faster With Explanations
Google Ads has announced a beta called Explanations to help speed up the process of diagnosing issues faster, and cut down on the time spent digging through reports, tools, and data to locate whether there’s an issue. [Source: Search Engine Journal]
10. Bing Webmaster Tools now gives you competitive link data
Bing announced it pushed out a new feature for its backlinks tool within Bing Webmaster Tools. The new feature is named “similar sites” and it lets you compare your site’s backlinks to another site. [Source: Search Engine Land]
