Weekly Digital Marketing News Roundup

Google is rolling out new features and tools to support small businesses this holiday season. These enhancements include "small business" labels in Search and Maps, allowing shoppers to find and support local businesses more easily. 

Google will automatically add the label based on factors like product offerings and web traffic, or businesses can self-identify as small businesses. 

Additionally, the search engine is expanding its AI-powered Product Studio tool to help small businesses generate creative product images efficiently. 

To build consumer trust, more key business information, like deals, shipping policies, and customer reviews, will be displayed directly in Search results.

Google's Search Liaison clarified how its Helpful Content System assesses websites for quality, addressing a potential issue with a confusing passage in its guidance. 

The system uses a machine learning model to assign labels to website content, generating signals to identify low-quality content. 

Due to the confusing text in its guidance, a question was raised on date changes for small content edits getting penalized. Google Search Liaison explained that small changes for user benefit are not penalized.

The Helpful Content System looks at multiple signals to gauge content helpfulness, not just date changes. This clarification helps prevent potentially unfair penalties against webmasters.

Meta is introducing several new tools and enhancements to assist Reels creators in optimizing their content performance. 

Creators will now have access to A/B testing for reels, enabling them to experiment with different approaches. This feature will allow them to test four different versions of each Reel, and the top performer will be shown to more users. 

Additionally, Meta is adding a feature that enables creators to make reels from their existing video clips. Lastly, a new "Achievements hub" will display creators' achievements in one place, offering incentives for specific behaviors and post types. 

These updates aim to boost Reels and maximize creator content exposure within Meta's ecosystem.

LinkedIn has reached a significant milestone of one billion members and has unveiled a new AI-powered Premium experience to provide personalized career guidance. 

The new service is a LinkedIn AI chatbot that serves as a "job seeker coach," helping users assess their qualifications for specific roles. 

The revamped LinkedIn Premium service will use artificial intelligence to uncover hidden opportunities, offer tailored career advice, and streamline the job search process. 

LinkedIn Premium aims to address the increasing skills gap by providing users with personalized insights, suggestions for skills development, and more.

Instagram Reminder Ads is launching new features to help advertisers expand their reach and streamline the ad creation process. 

Reminder Ads, introduced earlier this year, are designed to generate anticipation and interest in upcoming events, launches, or special moments, offering users the option to sign up for event notifications.

These new features include visibility within Instagram Stories, allowing businesses to enhance their presence, and the ability to create Reminder Ads directly in Ads Manager, eliminating the previous limitation of using organic posts. 

These enhancements aim to help marketers reach a broader audience, boosting brand recognition, engagement, and ultimately providing a better return on investment.

President Joe Biden has issued an executive order focusing on tighter oversight of marketing tools that utilize consumer data and AI algorithms. The order introduces extensive safety testing and reporting requirements for AI systems. 

With an emphasis on privacy protection as AI capabilities grow, marketing tools that depend on personal data may face pressure to enhance transparency. AI tools used in areas such as ad targeting, content generation, and consumer analytics could fall under closer scrutiny. 

This AI executive order signifies the Biden administration's priority for responsible AI development, pushing businesses and marketers to focus on ethics, transparency, and consumer benefit in their AI practices.

YouTube is cracking down on YouTube ad-blockers by displaying warning messages to users who employ these software tools. The message directs users to allow ads or sign up for the $14 per month YouTube Premium subscription. 

Advertisers stand to gain from this stricter stance on ad-blocking, as it could increase ad inventory on the platform and reach more creative ad-avoiding viewers. 

With billions in revenue lost due to YouTube ad-blockers, the platform’s efforts are part of a global campaign to mitigate these losses and expand its audience for advertisers.

YouTube is implementing new measures to protect younger users from potentially harmful content and to encourage breaks from the platform. 

Following insights from child development experts, YouTube will limit content recommendations for teens in categories that can negatively impact their self-image and well-being. This includes content that idealizes specific body types, fitness levels, or social aggression. 

While a single video may not be problematic, repeated exposure can have adverse effects. YouTube's approach is aimed at safeguarding teen viewers from content that may perpetuate negative self-beliefs.