Welcome to the start of a new week and a brand new month. In this week’s news you can use, Google have announced that they will shut down websites created with Google Business Profiles starting this month. Why is this important? This update could impact a significant number of businesses, especially smaller ones that relied on the free website creation through Google Business Profiles. We believe you need to be aware of this change so you can take action to ensure yours or your clients’ online presence isn’t disrupted.
Other stories this week include Meta under fire for consent, ad groups are likely to be paused if they’re not performing and how well do you know your data? A Marketing Week survey has found that analysis is one of the biggest skills gaps amongst marketers.
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Meta’s ‘consent or pay’ under fire
Meta’s controversial move to force European Union users to either consent to be “tracked and profiled” or pay to opt out of ads on Facebook and Instagram has come under fresh scrutiny. Eight consumer rights groups from the bloc are filing complaints with their national watchdogs on Thursday over Meta’s “pay-or-consent” model, a European consumer organisation announced. The group accuses Meta of seeking “to coerce consumers into accepting its processing of their personal data” for ad targeting and accuses the tech giant of violating local data protection rules known as GDPR.
Ad groups not performing? Google Ads will pause them
Google Ads will automatically pause ad groups with low activity to streamline campaign management and ensure efficient ad spending. Ad groups that have shown minimal activity over a significant period will be paused, helping advertisers focus on more impactful campaigns. This change aims to improve campaign performance by reallocating resources to more active ad groups, ultimately enhancing overall ad effectiveness and ROI.
Marketers point to data analysis as the biggest skills gap in teams, survey says
Marketers have identified data and analytics as the biggest skills gap in the marketing department. Marketing Week’s exclusive Career & Salary 2024 shows that 36.9% of the over 3,000 brand-side marketers surveyed point to a lack of data and analytics skills within the marketing function as an area of concern for the business. A distant second was a lack of performance marketing skills (19.6%) followed by content and copywriting skills (18.1%), social media (14.8%) and ecommerce (12.1%). This is in-line with our 2023 data which, again, showed data and analytics as the biggest skills gap (then 34.4%), a continuing trend that seems to have gone unaddressed despite the ever-increasing importance of data analysis in getting closer to the target consumer.
Advertisers over-indexing on Android compared to iOS
Advertisers may be focusing too much on advertising on Android devices compared to iOS. This article examines various factors such as user demographics, ad spending trends, and the effectiveness of advertising on different platforms. The analysis suggests that while Android has a larger market share globally, iOS users tend to spend more money on apps and make higher-value purchases. It highlights the importance of considering both platforms in advertising strategies to reach a diverse audience and maximise return on investment.
Google announces a new carousel rich result
Google announced a new carousel rich result that can be used for products, local businesses (like restaurants and hotels) and events. The carousel rich result will include a horizontal scroll feature, allowing searchers to scroll through items displayed in the list. Site owners must use the ItemList structured data in order to be eligible for this new rich result. This feature is still in beta being tested and is currently limited to the following types:
- LocalBusiness and its subtypes, including:
- Restaurant
- Hotel
- VacationRental
- Product
- Event
Google will shut down websites created with Google Business Profiles in March
Google is set to shut down websites created with Google Business Profiles this month (March 2024). Redirects from shut down Google Business Profile websites to Google Business Profiles will be in place until 10th June 2024. Business owners that have a site built through Google Business Profile should set up on an alternative website builder such as WordPress, Shopify or Wix as soon as possible.
For more information on any of these updates, or you’d like to discuss your marketing plans with us. Whether that’s in paid search, SEO or affiliate marketing, we’re more than happy to help. Send us an email to team@modo25.com
