Hump Day Headlines: Google and Facebook Changes

By Art Unlimited.

Today we're talking about some changes within Google posts, featured snippets on Google, as well as two different changes that happened within Facebook recently.

You can either watch the video or read the transcript below. Plan to join us live each Wednesday on Facebook.

So, Google posts have been making significant changes with the menu being added in without people knowing about it. If you want to learn more about that, listen to last week's episode.

Google Posts Added to Local Packs!

Today we wanted to discuss how Google has now added in to the map pack the ability for brands to have posts being dynamically inserted into the map pack. You can find this feature on your mobile device. Up at the top you'll be able to see that there are different options above the map pack and the second option in is called posts.

This allows you to display many of the different features that Google post offers, like having a call to action, a promotion—quite a few different options are included in there. So, I think this is going to be big for larger brands, and as we know, usually this feature will roll out to other local businesses within the map pack. So, stay tuned if you're a local business! Watch this closely if you're a national brand; this is definitely something to hop on and activate for your company.

New Features in Google Snippets!

Here’s another thing Google’s rolling out: expanded snippets that they're putting under a listing below the knowledge graph! What it is, is just Google's algorithm trying to predict what you might be asking; so what questions would you be looking for next. When you search for something, then what are you going to be looking for?

Some of the things that they've listing in the expanded snippets is costs, general information, and then they had benefits. Like how we talked about the knowledge graph: they have the snippets of information, but they're also pulling in images. Which if you're an image buff like I am, I know I’m always scraping and looking for great images. They’re aware that people are usually clicking in and looking at images, not just the content information that's accessible through that primary tab. So, I think this is going to be a great feature for users in the near future.

Again, it's not rolled out across the World Wide Web in all searches, but I really feel like this is going to be a great option moving forward.

Facebook’s Video Kits

So enough about Google, let's look at Facebook! Facebook has been making some changes; they’re not as noticeable for everyone. But we wanted to let people know that if you have a page that has a lot of traffic or followers you probably have seen some changes where they're activating two-factor authentication. So that's where you will have one cell phone tied to the account and now you have to have a second cell phone tied to the account; so, it's just really protecting the users who have these pages.

And then you can also dive in and play around with Facebook's new video creation kit! Let us know what you think! We're playing with it and we think it's going to be a great addition and it's not quite as buggy. So, have fun! We hope you enjoyed these tips today on Hump Day Headlines. Take care!

If you’d like to learn more about these changes or have other digital marketing questions, don’t hesitate to contact us!