There’s never a shortage of news when it comes to digital marketing, which is why we include a news roundup segment in each episode of the EDGE. The latest features host Erin Sparks and Creative Studio Producer Jacob Mann along with special guest Robert Rose, Founder and Chief Troublemaker at The Content Advisory. Here’s the news roundup from Episode 342 of the award-winning EDGE of the Web podcast:
Google is Expanding Shopping Ads to Gmail
From Matt Southern on Search Engine Journal we learn that Google is Expanding Shopping Ads to Gmail. Google Ads 
is notifying advertisers that standard Shopping campaigns will soon be able to reach Gmail users.
- Erin Sparks: Shopping ads will be eligible to appear on Gmail starting on the week of March 4, 2020. This includes both Product Shopping ads and Showcase Shopping ads. Data will be reported under the Google Display Network. Standard Shopping campaigns will be automatically enabled to run on Gmail, as long as the campaigns are opted into “YouTube, Gmail, and Discover.”
- Robert Rose: No one should be surprised by this. And for those who are, it’s like being shocked that there’s gambling going on in a casino. Google is always looking for ways to monetize more of what it does. Given that Google is eliminating third-party cookies that served as a valuable source of tracking data for some, it’s looking at its key properties like Gmail and YouTube and finding ways to make first-party data available through them. So get ready for an onslaught of targeted advertising through those properties.
- Erin Sparks: These ads won’t appear in corporate Gmail accounts, just the free ones. But do you suppose they’re mining even those accounts for data?
- Robert Rose: Well, Google certainly has the capability to do that, but I don’t have any idea what they might be doing with that data.
Google Posts being rejected because of non-compliance with image guidelines
According to Greg Sterling on Search Engine Land, Google Posts being rejected because of non-compliance with image guidelines. “Something is very broken,” is the sentiment being expressed today by some local SEOs who are seeing their Google Posts rejected. The primary culprit appears to be pictures that don’t conform to Google’s image guidelines.
- Erin Sparks: Google has guidelines about what kinds of images it wants to see. One of their clear guidelines is that they don’t want stock imagery used – but stock imagery is used all over the place, including social media. The user has a full license to use them.
- Robert Rose: Google is trying to maintain a level of quality in content. Just like they’re trying to figure out how to assess the quality of written content. I don’t fault them for that. It just makes it harder for some businesses to come up with original imagery. But overall it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
- Erin Sparks: Agreed. If Google is trying to learn about your entity from every source, including imagery, it’s not going to learn anything about your entity from a stock image that might appear all over the place on the web. But there are also some murky areas when it comes to the image guidelines themselves – they can be complicated to figure out, let along comply with.
GoDaddy buys content creation app Over, plans to integrate features into its product suite
On Marketing Land, Amy Gesenhues reports on GoDaddy buys content creation app Over, plans to integrate features into its product suite. GoDaddy announced on Wednesday it had acquired Over, a mobile app designed for SMBs and entrepreneurs that allows them to quickly create content for social media platforms, email and websites.
- Erin Sparks: Over has become a surprisingly popular content creation app with more than a million active monthly users, and it’s going to still continue to be available as a standalone app. I wonder if it’s really just helping people create low-quality content.
- Robert Rose: This is fine. It’s fine to provide tools that make content creation easier and more efficient, especially for smaller businesses. The bigger issue is that GoDaddy hasn’t been good about managing its tools. They aren’t integrated, they feel fragmented and not cohesive the way the tools are at a place like Wix.
Connect with Robert Rose and The Content Advisory
Twitter: @Robert_Rose (https://twitter.com/Robert_Rose)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robrose
TCA Twitter: @TCAdvisory (https://twitter.com/TCAdvisory)
TCA Web: https://contentadvisory.net
TCA LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thecontentadvisory
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