35 Major Digital Marketing Updates in the year 2018

35 Major Digital Marketing Updates in the year 2018

The year 2018 witnessed the major updates in Digital World. Here, we’ll have a gaze at this year’s most important changes in the Digital arena confirmed by experts:

2018’s Google Algorithm Updates

1. Google “Brackets” Core Update- March 8, 2018

The update was majorly focused on content quality since search giant considers content as an important factor to rank a website. With lots of content being published every day, Google wants to provide their searchers the right type of content to help them with their search queries. Plenty of websites witnessed the fluctuation in their rankings due to this update; however, Google didn’t share any more interpretation after this update. Source: Pennink

2.  Zero-Result SERP Test- March 14, 2018

The search giant started a week-long test on 14 March 2018, where they eliminated all organic search results from a particular date, time and unit conversion queries. All that showed was a Google Knowledge Graph and a ‘Show All Results’ button. Although the test only lasted for a week, it totally made a sense to us, particularly in relation to voice search, which only needs short, precise answers.                                                                                                            Source: Moz

3. Mobile-First Index Roll-out- March 26, 2018

The much-awaited Google mobile-first index algorithm appeared into action to the end of March. With the arrival of this update, search giant would be slowly migrating the websites that use the best practices. Website holders will be informed of the movement to the mobile-first indexing procedure via notifications in their Google Search Console. Source: crazyegg

4. Anonymous Core Update- April 17, 2018

Google rolled out one more anonymous core update in April, which affects a spike of volatility in rankings. The Google Search association confirmed through their Twitter handle that these core updates occur consistently during the year and their common opinion remains to stay focused on creating quality content.

5. Shortened search results snippets – May 13, 2018  

Just after rolling out higher character limits (up to 300) for Meta Descriptions, Google rolled back the majority of snippets to their actual character limit of 150 – 160 characters with space. The reason behind the step was longer snippets loading time & larger space on mobile SERPs. Source: Search Engine Land

6. Video Carousel Introduction- June 14, 2018

On 14th June 2018, the Search Giant made a major modification in SERP on how they show video boxes. Google replaced all video content from the organic results to a devoted video carousel, which means that the search results became more visual and less text-heavy. Source: Sistrix

7. Mobile Speed Update- July 9, 2018

After 3 months of Mobile First Index update, the search giant rolled-out its Mobile Speed Update to minimize the bounce rates and enhance user experience on mobile devices. The update affected the mobile sites with slower loading speed and both considerable and incremental speed enhancements would be rewarded. Source: Search Engine Land

8. Chrome Security Warnings- July 24, 2018

In order to enhance web security for the users, the new version of Google Chrome started labeling Http websites as ‘Not Secure’. Prior to this update, the warnings would only come up for unsecured forms. Source: wired

9. “Medic” Core Update- August 1, 2018

Google Augusts’ core update became popular as “Medic” update, as the update specifically influenced the websites in the health & wellness areas. Around 300+ websites were impacted by this update. And a vast proportion of the websites banged were, particularly in the medical, health, fitness, healthy lifestyle arena. The 3 major core updates of the year 2018 caused the heavy change in ranking fluctuation across all verticals. Source: seroundtable

2018’s Top Facebook Updates

 

10. Facebook brings Augmented Reality to Messenger- May 1, 2018

On May 1, 2018, Facebook launched its first-of-its-kind Augmented Reality (AR) tool for small and large businesses. The update was intended to help advertisers to connect with the 1.3 billion people who use Messenger every month. Source: Facebook 

11. Facebook Stories Ads- September 26, 2018

On September 2018, Facebook launched its ads option into Facebook Stories for the advertisers on the platform. Facebook itself convinced with the fact that Stories are the future of social media marketing. The Stories Ads option will give more options to advertisers to reach out their potential customers across the platform. Source: Facebook

12. Playable Ads- 2 August 2018

Facebook also launched Playable Ads for mobile game apps. The ads were interactive and enable users to “try before they downloaded it”. This update was launched to help users to experience the app before installing it. Source: Venturebeat

13. Facebook Page Recommendations- 21 Nov, 2018

    You might have noticed this update already. Facebook Page Reviews have been updated to Facebook Recommendations. The motive behind this update is to provide Page visitors with an enhanced understanding of what they can get, based on their previous experiences, which adds more transparency to the feedback.

Source: embedsocial

14. Redesigned Pages on Mobile– August 6, 2018

One more major update you probably already know is that Facebook business Pages have been redesigned on mobile, making them easier to navigate, which results in more action, according to Facebook. With this update, Facebook wants to help local companies draw more business via their Facebook Pages. Source: Marketing Land

15. Video Metrics Updates- July 31, 2018

The Social Giant, Facebook recently modified and updated its video ad metrics to help Facebook advertisers to get a better understanding of true video engagement, and optimize video creative according to the user behaviors. Source: Marketing Land

16. Self-Serve Brand Lift in Test and Learn

Facebook also added a new self-serve option to test and understand the impact of the Facebook Ad campaigns of your brand.

17. Video Creation Kit- August 23, 2018

    Facebook launched a Video Creation Kit in order to help users for converting their existing images into mobile-optimized videos.

The tool offers easy-to-use templates and includes text options as well. Source: SocialMediaToday

18. Facebook Launches Upcoming Dating Feature- 1 May 2018

Facebook is launching a new dating feature & relationships within the Facebook app. According to Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, “people already use Facebook to meet new people” and once this new product is released, they’ll have the option “to discover others with similar interests” Source: CNBC

2018’s Major Bing Ads Updates

 

19. Bing Ads Announces In-market Audience Targeting- May 30, 2018

    Bing Ads is introducing a way for advertisers to target in-market audiences, which are groups of users who are most likely to buy. This feature was previously made available last year as part of a pilot program; Bing Ads is now making it available to all advertisers. Google AdWords introduced in-market audience targeting to its search campaigns in May of last year. So those who have used in-market audience targeting with AdWords before can now apply the same concepts to Bing Ads campaigns.

Source: SearchEngineJournal

20.  Bing Bans Ads for Cryptocurrency- May 16, 2018

To protect its users from the risk, Bing Ads made the decision to ban advertising for the cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency related products, and un-regulated binary options. Bing Ads will add this change to its financial product and services policy globally in June, with enforcement rolling out in late June to early July. Source: Microsoft

21.  Bing Ads Introduces New Features to “Google Import”- May 16, 2018

Bing launched new features for advertisers want to import Google AdWords campaigns to Bing Ads. The new Google Import tool enables users to import AdWords campaigns to Bing Ads and helps them handle bigger numbers of campaigns, keywords, and ads than ever before. Source: clixmarketing

2018’s Major Instagram Ads Updates

 

22. The New Instagram Algorithm- 4 June 2018

The Instagram launched its brand-new algorithm, leaving brands wondering how to compete with their competitors in a brand-new environment. In an official announcement, IG said- “They wanted to make the algorithm “feel fresher” – which apparently meant paying more attention to priority posts in user feeds.” The platform will rank the value of post on 3 major factors: – Interest – Timeliness – Relationship And if you want to stay on top, you need to create relevant and up-to-date content and up-to-date to build a strong connection with your potential audience. Source: Later

23. Shoppable Instagram Stories- June 12, 2018

One more new Instagram update released in June was shoppable Instagram stories. The new Instagram feature offers more action into the Instagram experience, by letting users to not only get inspiration for their purchases but also buy the products they want right there on the app. Source: Instagram press

24. IGTV- June 20, 2018

     

IGTV was one of the biggest Instagram updates in 2018. IGTV is Instagram own channels and allows users to share long video content. After reaching the billion-user milestone, Instagram decided to take their video strategy to the next level. Unlike 15-seconds Instagram Stories, IGTV videos can be up to an hour long. Source: Instagram Press

25. Sharing Feed Posts In Stories- May 17, 2018

Increasing your organic Instagram following is really tough. Luckily features like Instagram Stories can help you with this. Instagram Stories provide you with an incredible opportunity to connect with your potential audience via snippets of appealing and enjoyable content. Definitely, it can be hard to discover the inspiration for a good story. And in May, Instagram Launched the latest feature that lets brands to share inspiring feed posts in Stories.   Source: Instagram Press

26. After WhatsApp, Instagram Rolls Out Group Video Calling- 27th June 2018

On 27th June 2018, Facebook launched group video calling update to Instagram. The update is available on iOS and Android. To start a video chat, you just need to swipe right into the direct section of the app and open the message thread for the friend you want to video call. Source: THE Sun

2018’s Major Snapchat Updates

 

27. Snapchat went Through Redesigning after Backlash- May 12, 2018

Snap Inc., experienced major backlash over the redesign of their flagship app Snapchat, which focused on friend-to-friend connection. This is in variance to the initially launched new layout, which put all content – Stories, snaps and messages – from connections over to the left side, with publisher and influencer content on the right. The goal of Snapchat’s newly redesigned app was to make it easier to use. Users were not happy with that design – more than 1.2 million people signed a petition which called on Snap to revert back to the old format, while many celebrities voiced their dislike of the change. A Change.org petition asking the company to remove the new update has amassed more than 590,000 signatures by Monday afternoon. Source: SocialMediaToday   

28. Snapchat Lets users to Clear Chats- June 11, 2018

Snapchat launched a new feature called Clear Chats. The feature enables users to delete sent messages in individual and group texts, regardless of whether they’ve been viewed or saved. Source: engadget

2018’s Major Twitter Updates

 

29. Twitter may add Encryption to Direct Messages- May 8, 2018

Twitter has started building an encrypted direct messaging feature in its Android app, according to a computer science student who dug through the code. Jane Manchun Wong looked through Twitter’s Android app code and saw the feature. If Twitter added secret conversations, its direct messages could serve as a convenient alternative to secure, off-platform rivals. Source: theverge

30. Twitter Rolls Out the Twitter Timeline Ads Pilot Program- May 24, 2018

Twitter rolled out a pilot ad program called Twitter Timeline Ads. The new program lets publishers to produce revenue for their website with ads shown in embedded timelines. This was an invite-only program and specifically for a small group of publishers in the U.S. Other publishers can get the details about the program by signing up on the Twitter Business site. Source: MarketingLand

31. Twitter Introduced Personalized News Alerts and Event Notifications- Jun 13, 2018

Twitter is making relevant breaking news, events, and stories easier to discover with topic tabs in Explore, updates to search, expanding the Happening Now feature to include tweets about breaking and personalized news, and sending personalized notifications based on an individual user’s interests. Source: SocialMediaExaminar

2018’s Major YouTube Updates

 

32. Google announces YouTube Music and YouTube Premium- May 17, 2018

     

Google broke up its premium YouTube Red service into two new offerings: YouTube Music streaming service, available either for free with ads or for $9.99 per month, and a YouTube Premium for original video content, costing $11.99 per month. Source: TheVerge

33. YouTube Tests Algorithmic Subscription Feed

After Facebook and Instagram, YouTube started to test out a non-chronological subscription feed, the company confirmed in a series of tweets. The first confirmation from the company came in the form of a reply to a tweet from a fan who seemed to be a part of a limited-user beta. “We are currently experimenting with how to show content in the subs feed,” the company wrote. “We find that some viewers are able to more easily find the videos they want to watch when we order the subs feed in a personalized order vs always showing most recent video first.” Source: SocialBlade

2018’s Major LinkedIn Updates

 

34. LinkedIn Adds Three New Lead Gen Forms- May 2, 2018

LinkedIn announced three new improvements to lead gen forms for sponsored content and InMail campaigns, which includes

• Bid Auto-Optimization for Lead Gen Forms
• Desktop Delivery
• Accessible Lead Management

The new enhancements will help you drive more ROI for your Lead Gen Forms. Source: LinkedIn

35. LinkedIn Improves The Relevance Of Its Feed With Hashtags- Jun 10, 2018

     

LinkedIn is making its news feed more relevant, by letting users follow hashtags they are interested in to show them content related to them at the top of their feeds. With this update, the platform actually wants to become the social networking platform of choice. Source: wersm