As I write this monthly edition of digital marketing highlights for June, I can’t help but look at the date in the right corner of my laptop- how is 2022 halfway finished? It feels like this is the first edition of Digital Round-Up, which confirms this year is moving quickly. But enough of my crisis about time; let’s get back to marketing. June was a fairly steady month regarding major announcements, advancements, or setbacks in digital. Don’t think I didn’t dig to find some worthwhile topics, though! Here are the articles released this June that I felt are the most worthy of discussing.
Humans vs. Robots: Picking the Best Audience for Your SEO Content by Maddy Osman from Moz
Let’s start this blog with a Maddy Osman article about human and robot audiences. What she means by this is that when you are writing content to be indexed on and search engine, you have to remember that you aren’t just writing for consumers; you’re writing for bots too. This being said, she notes you must choose both as your audience. You have to leverage the bots to get in front of humans. Osman puts together a helpful, robust list of things to consider when writing: word choice, reading level, content structure, visuals, grammar, content length, and page titles. If you’re looking for a bit of insight as to why your content isn’t ranking well, this is a great place to start your evaluation!
8 Essential On-Page SEO Factors for Fast Impact by Emily Green from Semrush
For our second SEO take of the day, let’s dive into Semrush’s blog on on-page SEO factors. Emily Green lists some relatively specific factors like H1 tags, meta titles, and ALT Text but makes mention of some less talked about elements I thought would be good to highlight. Schema markup, rich content, and on-page E-A-T signals. Yes, we’ve all heard about these, and plenty of resources detail each tactic. Still, it’s a nice reminder to incorporate these practices to optimize your chances of successfully ranking on SERPs.
TikTok Commits to Updating Ad Policies to Better Align With EU Rules by Nicole Farley from Search Engine Land
We all know and love the app that seemingly has revolutionized social media: TikTok. This Chinese-owned company has recently taken strides to comply with European Union advertising regulations. So what exactly are these new guidelines? They mainly limit the promotion of alcohol, smoking, and “get-rich-quick schemes.” Because social media is so accessible to children, limiting exposure to adult decisions is an excellent limitation to implement. In the past (and presently, if you ask me), the platform has been a breeding ground for predatory advancements on children as young women, particularly, have taken to dance trends, etc. So perhaps the next TikTok trend will be implementing protection policies for minors using the app.
Ad Growth Surprisingly Resilient in the face of Macroeconomic Uncertainty by Peter Adams from MarketingDive
This article by Peter Adams may be more for the big business; however, I feel this can be very applicable to smaller agencies. He covers the data from a recent Magna study that shows how world advertising has surprisingly increased by roughly 8% despite macroeconomic difficulties like COVID outbreaks, lockdowns, and the Russian-Ukrainian War. Advertising costs are not great for business budgets; however, for agencies, that means a little extra cash. My main takeaway from this article is that growth in advertising costs seems inevitable, and I am confused by the surprised tone. My business education background taught us that events like war boost economies. While I could write a lengthy business evaluation on this subject, I’ll keep it short. Whether it’s political ad spend or ad spend for essential goods and services, businesses are still going to try and drive business. The obscene gas prices may prevent consumers from purchasing some goods, but that doesn’t mean companies will stop pushing.
Keeping Our Reviews Authentic and Trustworthy from Meta
This recent Meta post outlines a new community policy that details what is and is not allowed in customer feedback. While it doesn’t list a specific event causing this update, Meta describes how consumer reviews are vital to business success. Negative feedback can discourage future sales, so businesses feel the effects when “irrelevant, fraudulent, and offensive feedback” comes through on Meta platforms. This is not to say that negative feedback will be removed! It just has to adhere to appropriate guidelines. Automated technology has been enhanced and improved to filter through reviews, tossing aside the fraudulent. Personally, I feel this update is great. As a marketer, I grow tired of seeing obscene reviews or irrelevant information posted on my client’s social media, decreasing their ratings. We all rely on ratings when making purchasing decisions, so this will give us a better understanding of all companies on the Meta network.
Yes, other updates and opinions are floating around the internet of things, but these I feel are the most important from the month- why? Because they provide value to members of the marketing community and consumers seeking to learn more about digital marketing in general. Our world is constantly plagued with political unrest, war, and sickness, so I attempted to keep this edition at least somewhat light. Until next time, happy searching!
