Weekly Digital Marketing Roundup

August 14, 2017 - By Aaron Hockel

Here are the biggest announcements, product updates, and news stories impacting the digital marketing industry last week:

Major Upgrade to Mobile AdWords Extensions

Ad extensions are becoming even more valuable in AdWords after Google announced last week that sitelinks will become more interactive in mobile search results. The change, highlighted below, gives them more prominence and makes them both scrollable and tappable. The other change is that both structured snippets and callout extensions are gaining more real estate within ads. Here's, a great recap on the updates from Search Engine Land.    

Facebook Announces 'Watch'

In a much anticipated and long suspected announcement, Facebook officially announced its new platform for watching live and recorded shows on Facebook, 'Watch'. The platform will help users find and discover content based on their interests, friends, and communities. Ways to discover content will include things like "What's making people laugh?" and "Most Talked About". It remains to be seen how marketers will use Watch, but if the platform takes off, rest assured it will present major marketing opportunities.    

Google My Business Enabling Quick URL's

This update, specifically relevant to restaurants for now, allows businesses to add URL's to their Google My Business profile that link to specific site pages. The idea is to let users jump right to a menu page, online order form, reservations page, or other more relevant page on the site. This is user experience improvement and it remains to be seen if it will rollout to all businesses. Click here to read the official release from Google.  

Facebook Testing Offline to Online Ad Targeting

In a likely play for the back to school and holiday shopping seasons, Facebook is testing custom audiences targeting users after they visit a store or brands brick and mortar location. The ads would target users who have enabled location permissions inside their settings and using geo-locating and tracking technology to create the audiences. Advertisers could then segment audiences and run ads based on demographics, such as having school aged children. A full run down on the new targeting option from Tim Peterson of Marketing Land can be read here.    

Missed last week's roundup? Click here for the biggest digital marketing stories from last week!

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