Welcome to Silver Beacon Spotlight. See the bottom of this email to learn how to reply directly to me or stop receiving issues – if you really must.
George Bounacos
TODAY’S SPOTLIGHT
Let the search engine wars begin anew!
We’re not channeling Game of Thrones. We’ve just seen more action from search engine giants in recent weeks than we have in months. Brace yourselves.
Yahoo! appears to be testing its own mobile search engine, which would sever its deal with Bing this month. And Google is going to demote non-mobile friendly websites while entering the local search space themselves. Finally, a new study shows that America’s top retailer among affluent adults is Amazon. Want to go with the trend? We’ve helped clients sell there too.
And that is what you need to know this week without the hype.
BuzzFeed (BuzzFeed!) broke the story that Google will launch a new service to connect searchers with local plumbers, electricians, contractors and other home service providers.. They were right. It’s coming, and you knew it was coming when you look back at how Google changed their local search results pages.
Two-thirds of affluent adults aged 18-68 (living in households with income of at least $75,000) report having shopped at Amazon during the past year, with this figure higher among affluent Boomers (50-68; 76%) than Millennials (18-34; 56%).
Yahoo! and Microsoft have less than one month remaining before their search deal ends . That would mean Bing no longer supplies Yahoo with search data. But rumors abound, helped by screen captures, that Yahoo! has built its own mobile search engine. Reverting to a three search engine world is a huge opportunity for every North American organization.
Our friends at Moms Clean Air Force were part of a climate roundtable this week at Howard University. The small group of participants included President Obama, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy.
And Moms Clean Air Force. We are so proud of their growing national voice on climate change and clean air.
Want to chat? You can always reply to this newsletter via email to ask questions about stories here, things in the marketing world or even for advice about your organization.
Doesn’t it seem like half of the country picked this week for vacation?
Between Passover, Easter, school vacations, March madness, the Opening Day of baseball season and April Fool’s Day, this is one busy week for most folks. Those of you not on vacation this week need to know this:
Google will demand “mobile-friendly” websites beginning the week of April 21. What does that mean for you? We have a Google link that checks your website’s compliance. Please talk with us fast if your website does not pass this test. Google is maintaining its normal tight-lipped stance on any penalties, but they didn’t build a tool for every website in the world and rile up the digital marketing community for nothing. You ignore bad test results at your own peril.
And because not everything is Google is negative, a non-Google free web-based game uses a mashup of Family Feud and Google search suggestions. The game is extremely ADDICTIVE so don’t blame us for those 40 minutes you just lost.
Google’s own “mobile-friendly” test. Enter your website’s address and either pass or learn what’s wrong. You need to do this now.Google’s own “mobile-friendly” test. Enter your website’s address and either pass or learn what’s wrong. You need to do this now.
Readers Lane is a fun-to-read website with great book reviews and author interviews (George R.R. Martin, anyone?). The site is managed by our very own Sue and edited by Stephanie P. They’ve launched a newsletter just like this featuring the best content from their site each week. Have a look at the site. You can subscribe on any page.
This week’s focus is all on HOW BUYING IS CHANGING RIGHT NOW. As in this week and beyond.
Amazon tested ONE HOUR delivery for $9 in New York. Now they’re testing in Baltimore and Miami too. Meanwhile, Facebook can now help advertisers target you based on what you buy. And Google announced that they will allow small businesses to target individual in Kansas City watching TV. Not people who say they like a show. Individuals. And not just for KC organizations, but for your organization.
Last week, Facebook acquired — and immediately shut down — personalized commerce search app TheFind. TheFind melded search data to location-based purchase data to better hone product suggestions.
Want to know exactly how many people saw your ad on TV? Want dynamic insertion? The answer has long been “tough luck.” But now it’s possible … in Kansas City.
Our friends at States Unite to Prevent Gun Violence created a viral buzz last week when more 3 million people watched their Guns with History ad on YouTube in just 5 days plus countless others elsewhere. Congratulations on continuing the conversation about how we can all be safe. Click the video to the left to watch.
Do you personally use an ad blocker when surfing the Internet? Simply press reply and tell George “yes” or “no”. Feel free to add anything else. Next week’s Spotlight will have all the data.
