Tag: Google

Google Duplex to have built-in disclosure about its ‘Bot’ status

Google’s recent update created quite a stir when it unveiled the AI based Duplex system at the I/O Conference 2018. The system can actually make phone calls in a human voice for tasks like booking a movie ticket or booking a restaurant table. Instead of the reactive chatbot conversation utilised in customer support functions, the Duplex is designed to be more proactive voice assistant to the users.

However, with this news came a public outcry against the ethical implications associated with Google Duplex. The AI-based system will have voice like capabilities to book an appointment on behalf of the user. This has been criticised as it is prone to hacks and abuse. Google has been quick to refute these criticisms by saying that a fully working product was not yet developed. They also mentioned that the AI human-like voice will positively identify itself before making these appointments. This in-built disclosure is said to be a hopeful answer to the ethics and privacy concerns shared by people world over after its CEO Sundar Pichai launched the product on stage at the 2018 annual developer conference.

The concern about the AI based Duplex System

Google employs Deep Mind’s new WaveNet Audio Generation technique to mimic a human voice and carry out the scheduling tasks over phone calls. It doesn’t identify itself as a human bot and purposefully trick a person on the other line (for example a receptionist at a haircut salon or the restaurant manager) with surprisingly effective human voice, complete with natural ticks like ‘umm’ and ‘aahh’!

This caused significant outrage from general audience and the followers of the I/O conference the world over. They feel that such AI systems are being created without appropriate regulation or protocols. Tech critics have gone on to say that the development is not positive and the lack of alarm demonstrated by the audience seems troubling.

The workaround to this dilemma

Google has mentioned that transparency in technology is critical. Hence, it will take all steps to ensure that an in-built disclosure is prompted before the conversation. They also said that the demonstration in the conference was an early product demo and is not a full-scale product awaiting launch. Readers would recollect that on-stage, the product demo consisted of a pre-recorded phone call to showcase the product features to the audience.

Another blog from Google Engineers Yossi Matias and Yaniv Leviathan mentions that Google’s prerogative was always on delivering the best customer experience with this product. They wanted to make it clear about what the call’s intention will be so that users and businesses can recognise the value of the system. They wrapped up by saying that Google is yet to figure out how to eventually roll it out and has been testing with quite a few experiments to integrate it with its voice technology based Assistant platform.

What are your thoughts on the Duplex system that makes phone calls on behalf of the users in a human-like voice? Do write in with your comment and let us know.

May 17, 2018
Weekend Digital Media Round-up: Google’s Exchange Bidding, Facebook’s updated terms & policies, YouTube’s TrueView for Reach and more..
1. Google’s Exchange Bidding makes its debut: Here’s what you need to know
Google’s answer to header bidding, an approach to selling online ads that threatened its overhwleming dominance in that business, is becoming widely available now after two years of testing. Before header bidding, Google for nearly a decade built a seemingly unbreachable position in online ad sales that let it cherry-pick the best ad inventory from around the web for resale at a markup. [Source: Ad Age India]
1. Facebook updates terms and data collection policy to be more ‘clear’
Facebook is updating and changing its terms of service and data policy. This is part of a multi-pronged effort to make the company’s privacy policies and tools more accessible and easier to use. [Source: Marketing Land]
1. YouTube Lets Advertisers Buy Ads Based on Reach
YouTube has introduced a new way to buy TrueView ads with a model that is optimized for reach. TrueView ads are bumper ads which, despite being YouTube’s shortest ad type, are also skippable. [Source: Search Engine Journal]
1. Facebook expands A/B ad-testing capabilities & adds reporting features
Facebook is adding new features to its A/B split-testing feature for advertisers and making it available from within the Quick Creation workflow. [Source: MARTECH TODAY]
1. Third-party Instagram Apps Are Broken as Company Reportedly Limits API Access
Apps developed by third-parties may perform functions such as analyzing followers, finding relevant hashtags, or identifying which users are following back. Third-party apps rely on being able to access data from Instagram’s API (application programming interface). If Instagram cuts off access to that data, then those apps can no longer do what they’ve been designed to. [Source: Search Engine Journal]
1. Facebook And Instagram Introduce Some Interesting Updates To Their ‘Stories’ Feature
Facebook has been rolling out a slew of new features and graphics support in order to improve the level of engagement and social connect between users of the social media site. Its latest update has made a few changes to the ‘Stickers’ option on Facebook and ‘Stories’ option in Instagram. [Source: Logicserve Digital]
1. WhatsApp can soon be used for basic banking services
WhatsApp has been consistently rolling out new updates that make it more and more integral to the lives of its 200 million monthly active users in India. After launching its Payments feature and allowing transactions to be made by scanning QR codes, the app will soon let you perform basic banking activities through it. [Source: GQ India]
1. Facebook’s new Custom Audiences permission tool will require user consent confirmation
Facebook has confirmed that it is developing a tool for advertisers to verify they have gained consent to use email addresses uploaded via Custom Audiences. [Source: MARTECH TODAY]
1. LinkedIn Rolls Out Native Video Marketing
B2B marketers would welcome the new move from LinkedIn that allows companies to run native video ad campaigns and run video ads on the site. At a time when Facebook is reeling under data breach issues, the new move is sure to bring in a lot of interest and sustained visibility from B2B marketers who are looking for a viable social media channel to tap into leads worldwide. [Source: Logicserve Digital]
1. Facebook Messenger Now Supports HD Video and 360-degree Photos
With the latest update to Facebook Messenger users can now send and receive HD videos and 360-degree photos. While this is an upgrade from what Messenger was previously capable of handling, the “HD” video it supports only 720p. [Source: Search Engine Journal]
April 6, 2018
Weekend Digital Media Round-up: Google’s Mobile-First Indexing, AdWords’ New Keyword Planner, Instagram’s ‘New Posts’and more..
1. Google begins rolling out mobile-first indexing to more sites
Google has announced that it has begun the process of rolling out the mobile-first indexing to more sites. This rollout is only for sites that “follow the best practices for mobile-first indexing,” Google said. [Source: Search Engine Land]
1. Exclusive: Facebook will no longer show audience reach estimates for Custom Audiences after vulnerability detected
Facebook said on Friday that it will stop showing audience reach estimates in any campaign using Custom Audience targeting. The move comes after a research team from Northeastern University notified the company through Facebook’s Bug Bounty program about a potential privacy vulnerability it identified with Custom Audiences. [Source: Marketing Land]
1. Twitter Announces New Additions to Twitter Partner Program, Boosting Content Options
Twitter has announced that six new providers have been added to their official partner program, which helps to connect marketing teams with platform expertize in order to boost performance. The focus of the new additions is video, with three of the providers specifically dedicated to video content. [Source: Social Media Today]
1. Google AdWords Releases New Keyword Planner Tool
Google has rolled out a rebuilt version of Keyword Planner, which is available now in the new AdWords experience. Keyword Planner has been simplified, but at the same time offers new features to help advertisers glean more data from their search campaigns. [Source: Search Engine Journal]
1. Bing ‘intelligent search’ capabilities continue to expand, include facts from multiple sources
Bing has announced several upgrades to its AI-powered intelligent search capabilities. Bing first launched intelligent search in December, bringing artificial intelligence to deliver richer search answers, and enhance image and conversational search. [Source: Search Engine Land]
1. Google Maps adds 39 new languages supporting over 1B people
Google has announced that it has added an additional 39 languages to the Google Maps software, enabling an additional estimated 1.25 billion people worldwide to use the app in their native languages. [Source: Search Engine Land]
1. Facebook moves to make privacy policies more transparent
Facebook will stop providing information from data brokers to advertisers as part of new privacy changes aimed at addressing a scandal that has wiped billions of dollars off its stock market valuation. [Source: Financial Times]
1. Google Lets Businesses Post Offers to Organic Search Results
Google has been spotted testing a new feature which allows Google My Business pages to publish offers directly to search results. This feature is built into Google Posts, which has been available to all businesses with a verified GMB profile since last summer. [Source: Search Engine Journal]
1. All You Need To Know About Instagram‘s ‘New Posts’ Button
A typical social media feed automatically updates new posts and pushes down the older ones below. The same was the case with Instagram. However, the brains behind the hugely popular social media platform are now testing a new update method for newsfeed. In order to put more power in the hands of the user, they are planning to add a ‘New Posts’ button to the user’s feeds. [Source: Logicserve Digital]
1. Google adds air quality data in search results
Google now will show air quality and pollution data in the search results. If you search for air quality, air pollution and/or qualifiers with city qualifiers, such as air quality in nyc, Google will show a rating of the air quality in that city. [Source: Search Engine Land]
March 30, 2018
Weekend Digital Media Round-up: Google’s own blockchain technology, Facebook’s ad improvements for retailers, Instagram’s shopping tags and more..
1. Google working on its own blockchain technology
Google is working on blockchain-related technology to support its cloud business and head off competition from emerging startups that use the heavily-hyped technology to operate online in new ways, according to people familiar with the situation. [Source: The Economic Times]
1. Facebook’s Zuckerberg finally responds to Cambridge Analytica scandal, announces changes
In “an update on the Cambridge Analytica situation,” Zuckerberg said the company had taken most of the actions to address the issue in 2014 and 2015, but he also laid out (basic) new steps the company will take. [Source: MARTECH TODAY]
1. Instagram’s Opening Up Its Shopping Tags to More Businesses
Instagram is making Shopping Tags more broadly available. After expanding the option to fashion businesses and Shopify merchants in the US last year, Instagram’s now also making them available to businesses in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. [Source: Social Media Today]
1. Google’s Core Search Algorithms Update
As SEO marketers or business owners, we all have a fair idea about what it takes to rank high on SERP. However, many of us would have been surprised at a shift in rankings without any issues from our end. This may be because of a significant change in Google algorithm update recently. [Source: Logicserve Digital]
1. Facebook introduces ‘store sales optimization’ and other ad improvements for retailers
Facebook is announcing three new offerings to drive mobile and offline retail sales. They’re really product evolutions or extensions of existing solutions previously introduced: store sales optimization, Tabs for Canvas and product categories for dynamic ads. [Source: Marketing Land]
1. LinkedIn Adds New Sticker and Text Options to Spruce Up Your Video Content
Back in October, LinkedIn announced new, Snapchat-like overlays for videos which give conference attendees the opportunity to add dedicated event frames to the content they post to the platform while attending such functions. But now LinkedIn’s taking it to the next level. This week, LinkedIn has announced new video filters and text styles, giving users more ways to spice up their on-platform video content. [Source: Social Media Today]
1. New Google My Business dashboard for multiple listings rolling out
Google is now slowly rolling out the new Google My Business dashboard that it announced back in November 2017. [Source: Search Engine Land]
1. Instagram Will Now Allow Active Links to Other Profiles, Hashtags in Bios
Instagram’s adding some new link options within your profile bio, which will provide new ways to connect your audience to relevant hashtags, or to refer to other users, increasing exposure potential within the app. [Source: Social Media Today]
1. Google: Using non-English URLs for non-English websites is fine
Google Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller said in a recent SEO snippets video that using non-English URLs for non-English websites is fine and that Google is able to crawl, index and rank them. [Source: Search Engine Land]
1. The Indisputable Power Of Video Content On Social Media
Over a past few years, social media has gained immense popularity all over the world. It has become a lucrative channel for businesses to target. Out of the many modes and means of interacting with social media users, video perhaps has the biggest influence on a social media user’s life. Here’s a look at how video can be utilised perfectly for marketing on social media. [Source: Logicserve Digital]
March 23, 2018
Google’s core search algorithms update

A company’s online presence greatly determines its online revenues and ROI in obtaining online business. For this, search engine algorithms will play a key role in positioning your brand on the first page based on your SEO efforts.

As SEO marketers or business owners, we all have a fair idea about what it takes to rank high on SERP. However, many of us would have been surprised at a shift in rankings without any issues from our end. This may be because of a significant change in Google algorithm update recently.

What is covered in this update?

Just a couple of weeks ago, at SMX West, Google’s Quality analyst Nathan Johns featured in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session with Michelle Robbins. There was a considerable amount of light shed on topics related to search engine developments in this AMA. It also covered a bit about the changes the update has brought about.

In his interview, Johns said that the search engine algorithm changes are an ongoing process. These changes would be made in order to bring to light those sites that otherwise go unnoticed and hence “under-rewarded”. He also added that a “speed update” is coming up sometime this July, thereby ensuring mobile-friendly and speedy searches.

Core engine update?

In the same session, Johns agreed to the fact that Google underwent a substantial search engine algorithm update. If you’ve had a webpage whose SEO ranking has been acting shifty lately, you’ve got nothing to worry. You need not think that your page has been punished. Johns confirmed that this is just a minor shift and is not punitive in nature by any means.

To authenticate the matter, Google tweeted about the same.

Which other features have been introduced with this update?

Voice search:

A series of sessions conducted during the SMX West addressed one of the most endorsed features of Google – Voice search. Ranking your page as per Voice searches is apparently a totally different scenario, and now site owners can optimise their websites and/or their content to surface during voice searches also.

Johns may have lacked the specifications in the matter but generalised the concern satisfactorily by saying that it is growing and progressively getting better constantly.

What about the Nofollow feature?

In the AMA, many questions regarding this particular feature were asked. The crux of all the answers suggested that there is no evident change in the way Nofollow functions.

The ones who come clean

Johns added that those who have been optimising their websites in a prescribed manner have nothing to worry about at least, not regarding “negative SEO”. He is of the opinion that using the disavow tool on Google Search Console will rid you of those apprehensions.

Catering to the needs of the user remains to be the central ethos of the existence of Search Engine Algorithms, and that should be the focus no matter what. Familiarity with the overall functioning is important and one is expected to know how it all works. The only guideline you can use when it comes to figuring out the correct method to up your SEO ranking is to improvise. Improvising is something that happens when you incorporate the feedback you receive from your users.

Do write to us and let us know if your website too has been getting mixed SERP ranking signals.

March 23, 2018
Weekend Digital Media Round-up: Google rolls out new features in AdWords, Facebook’s AR Studio, Twitter’s Breaking News module and more..
1. Google targeted under EU plan to regulate search engines
Brussels is for the first time preparing to regulate how search engines such as Google operate, under draft proposals designed to bolster the rights of businesses and app makers that rely on big internet giants to sell their services. [Source: Financial Times]
1. Notes are coming to AdWords, plus Recommendations & an Account Performance Score
Over the past several months, Google has been rolling out new features exclusively in the new AdWords interface, or “experience.” On Tuesday, the company announced some attention-grabbing new features aimed at improving productivity on the platform. [Source: Search Engine Land]
1. Facebook’s Adding Image-Recognition Triggered AR Experiences to AR Studio
Facebook has announced a new option within their suite of AR tools, adding ‘target tracking’ to their AR Studio platform which will enable developers to build AR experiences triggered by image content. [Source: Social Media Today]
1. Google AMP Team Comes Up With ‘Render On Idle’ Feature
Businesses and publishers will welcome the new move by Google AMP team that has launched some new features recently. One such feature is the ‘Render on Idle’ feature. This will load ads faster and lead to higher ad impressions when the browser is in the idle mode. [Source: Logicserve Digital]
1. Chat rate is the new CTR for AdWords message extensions
Google rolled out its click-to-message AdWords extension in October 2016. Similar to call extensions, message extensions allow users to message a business directly from the ad. Now the company is announcing formal reporting for messaging. It will be available in the next few weeks in the US, the UK, Canada, France, Brazil and Australia. Users of message extensions will need to turn on message reporting in account settings. [Source: Search Engine Land]
1. Bringing search intent to video: Google extends custom intent audiences to YouTube, launches TrueView for Action ads
Google unveiled two features designed to improve direct-response advertising performance on YouTube — beyond e-commerce and Shopping ad formats. [Source: Marketing Land]
1. Google search results page displays answer without any search results
Google is now showing answers without any additional search results for some queries. For example, if you search for [time in los angeles] or [time in new zealand], Google will show the answer, then show a button below the answer to load the search results. [Source: Search Engine Land]
1. Twitter’s Testing Out a New Breaking News Module at the Top of User Timelines
Looking to capitalize on its position as a key source for real-time updates on news and events, Twitter’s testing out a new breaking news module, which will highlight big news stories at the top of user timelines. [Source: Social Media Today]
1. AdWords custom columns now available at keyword and ad levels
Custom columns in AdWords can help marketers get more detailed insights into how their campaigns are performing based on non-standard metric targets. Now, advertisers can create and track custom metrics at the keyword and ad levels in addition to the campaign and ad group levels. [Source: Search Engine Land]
1. Google adding business descriptions in Google My Business & local panel
Google looks to be adding a feature in Google My Business that allows business owners to add descriptions that appear in the local panel in search results. [Source: Search Engine Land]
March 16, 2018
Google AMP team comes up with ‘Render On Idle’ feature

Businesses and publishers will welcome the new move by Google AMP team that has launched some new features recently. One such feature is the ‘Render on Idle’ feature. This will load ads faster and lead to higher ad impressions when the browser is in the idle mode. The ads would load 12 viewports in this feature as opposed to 3 in the past. This facilitates better visibility on the ads because they load earlier in the page load lifecycle.

A look at AMP

For the uninitiated, Google AMP is an open standard that favours mobile-centric internet browsing and ad serving. An AMP page will have faster page load on mobile devices. In 2016, this technique was also integrated into search engine ranking signals and thus, impacted the SEO fortunes of companies.

Once the AMP page is created, you can serve ads using the <amp-ad> tag. When the type is DoubleClick or DFP ads, you can turn on the ‘render on idle’ feature and start serving ads even when no other content is being loaded.

As an outcome, there is a marked increase in the number of impressions with a limited increase in clickable impressions and eventual clicks. This is expected to provide more useful analytics to publishers too. If you are a publisher using DoubleClick AMP Ad tag or any tag that uses FastFetch ad request and rendering, then you would see the tangible effect of this feature in play. Publishers who have used this feature reported a 13% increase in impressions and 0.5% increase in clicks and viewable queries.

There are two scenarios that will not allow ‘Render on Idle’ to run (as these force delayed Fetch which doesn’t go with this feature):

1 – Using remote.html

Rectify this by using Real-Time Config. This facilitates integrations with other technology partners

2 – Using ‘useSameDomainUntilDepracated’

Rectify this by removing this attribute from the tags and instead use SafeFrame API

With this feature, Google and AMP are making it easier for publishers to monetise their businesses and earn potentially more from their ads. If you are on the Delayed Fetch, then you need to move to Fast Fetch for the ‘Idle on Render’ feature to take place.

March 15, 2018
Weekend Digital Media Round-up: Google promises an alternative to AMP, YouTube stories to get new UI, Snapchat adds Instagram-style mention tagging to Stories, Facebook unveils Trip Consideration for travel advertisers and more…
1. Google promises publishers an alternative to AMP
Google’s AMP project is not uncontroversial. Users often love it because it makes mobile sites load almost instantly. Publishers often hate it because they feel like they are giving Google too much control in return for better placement on its search pages. Now Google proposes to bring some of the lessons it learned from AMP to the web as a whole. [Source: Tech Crunch]
1. Google expands featured snippets to give multiple results
  This week, Google is expanding its “featured snippets,” the portion of text that is returned above a search result to give you quick answers without having to click through, as reported by TechCrunch. [Source: THE VERGE]
1. Analytics 360 Suite customers can now set up ‘user groups’ in Google Analytics
Individuals on internal teams at agencies and consultancies often have various levels of access to a Google Analytics account. Overseeing all those individual permissions — particularly as people come and go — is getting easier with the introduction of user groups in Google Analytics. [Source: Marketing Land]
1. WhatsApp is writing a custom message for large enterprises
After recently launching a mobile app for small businesses, WhatsApp is preparing to add several new features for large enterprises including customer support and possibly merchant payments as well, according to people familiar with the developments. [Source: The Economic Times]
1. Facebook’s breaking news label flags the latest news — and increases shares
Facebook has been testing the breaking news label since last fall, but with positive results from the first round of testing, the company is expanding the test to include 50 more publications. On Monday, March 5, Facebook announced the expansion of a test for a breaking news label on links and Live videos. [Source: DIGITAL TRENDS]
1. YouTube Stories To Get New UI | Background To Be Replaced by Green Screen Effect
YouTube is chipping away at its own particular interpretation of stories, which it’s as of now testing in beta with a little gathering of best makers. Presently, the organization is including the following intelligent element from Snapchat and Instagram to YouTube stories: increased reality green screen channels, as first spotted by means of Engadget. [Source: THINKINGTECH.IN]
1. Facebook unveils Trip Consideration for travel advertisers
Facebook has announced its ad platform will now offer an optimization option called Trip Consideration, which will target users who are in the early stages of considering a trip. The option rolls out as another addition to the options for travel advertisers, who also benefited from the launch of Dynamic Travel Ads in October of last year. [Source: Marketing Land]
1. Snapchat adds Instagram-style mention tagging to Stories
Snapchat is borrowing a feature from Instagram this time around — somewhat ironic, given that Instagram had shamelessly ripped off the Story feature from Snapchat first — with the app reportedly adding the ability to tag other users in stories with a link to their profile, according to TechCrunch. The new feature was first spotted by Matt Rappaport, and appears to work as you’d expect: type out a username in the text field on your image or video caption in Stories, and viewers will be able to tap on it to bring up a new menu linking to the user info, where you’ll be able to directly add them as a friend. [Source: THE VERGE]
1. Twitter Tests Integration With Outside Buying Platforms
Twitter wants to be the easiest place for brands and agencies to buy ads in social media. According to advertisers who have been briefed about its plan, Twitter is seeking to embrace programmatic ad technology in a way that its more-closed rivals have avoided, by building pipes to connect its ad inventory with outside buying platforms and agency trading desks. [Source: AdAge India]
1. Voice Clip Now Available In Facebook Status Update
Google has started testing and potentially rolling out a new feature in search that shows a carousel with a list of answers directly within the search results snippets. It shows the main search result snippet, and below it, it shows a carousel of answers picked from the content on the page the snippet is linking to. [Source: Logicserve Digital Blog]
March 9, 2018
Weekend Digital Media Round-up: Google’s multifaceted featured snippets, Facebook’s new messenger business tools, New social app ‘Vero’ and more..
1. Multifaceted featured snippets begin rolling out in Google search results
Google has been rolling out many new search features over the past few months related to images, featured snippets, and the knowledge graph. The search giant released another feature called “multifaceted featured snippets.” [Source: Search Engine Land]
1. Facebook Adds New Messenger Business Tools as Part of Messenger Platform 2.3
While Facebook continues to experiment with new ways to get people spending more time on their main platform, they’re also working on options to develop more business tools within Messenger. [Source: Social Media Today]
1. Vero Is Taking On Instagram By Fixing the One Thing Everyone Hates About Instagram
Vero is a new social media app trying to take on Instagram, Facebook and more. It’s ad-free and organized chronologically, as opposed to Facebook and Instagram’s algorithm-driven feeds. It’s also gaining steam just as many influential Instagram users are complaining about a drop in “likes” and other engagement in recent weeks. [Source: TIME]
1. Dropbox Looks To Be Worth Nearly $10 Billion Heading Into Its IPO
Dropbox filed for an IPO with the SEC late last week, with the intention of being listed on NASDAQ over the coming weeks under the ticker DBX. The move by the popular cloud storage company makes sense, as upbeat equity market conditions should allow it to raise the $500 million it seeks at a favorable valuation. [Source: Forbes]
1. Twitter launches Bookmarks, a private way to save tweets
Twitter is publicly launching its “Bookmarks” feature, which has been in testing since late last year, following the company’s HackWeek project dubbed #SaveForLater. [Source: TechCrunch]
1. Google’s Flutter app development framework is now in beta
Google announced the official beta release of its Flutter app development framework. It’s one way to make an app, and it’s especially well-suited to fancy user interfaces. [Source: The Verge]
1. YouTube Adds New Live-Streaming Tools, Including Monetization Options
YouTube’s taking their live tools to the next level. The company has announced a range of updates for their live-stream offering – and interestingly, YouTube’s live video efforts are being assisted by former Facebook Live Product Manager Vadim Lavrusik. [Source: Social Media Today]
1. Google Assistant Gets Exciting Updates In Language Support And Routines
In a significant push to fend competition in the AI-based voice tech space, Google recently announced a slew of measures for Google Assistant. With this move, the compatibility with Google Assistant will now reach 95% of the eligible Android devices in terms of language support. [Source: Logicserve Digital]
1. Porsche ‘First’ To Test Blockchain Technology For Cars
Automobile manufacturer Porsche is exploring Blockchain apps in its vehicles in cooperation with the Berlin-based startup XAIN. Possible applications for Blockchain technology range from locking and opening car doors via an app, with the possibility for temporary access authorization, to new and improved business models through encrypted data logging. [Source: Cointelegraph]
1. Facebook launches a local news accelerator for publishers
Facebook is trying to play extra nice with local news publishers by putting $3 million behind the launch of the Local News Subscriptions Accelerator. The three-month pilot program will help 10 to 15 U.S.-based metropolitan news organizations gain more digital subscribers both on and off Facebook. [Source: TechCrunch]
March 2, 2018
Google Chrome’s Ad Blocker is Now Live
Content marketers and publishers must have been aware of the ad blocker feature Google had announced back in June 2017. In that announcement, Google had made clear that ads that don’t conform to the Better Ads Standards as mentioned by the Coalition for Better Ads, will be blocked by the browser from 2018. True to its word, Google has made this feature live from 15th Feb 2018 onwards.

Specification of the blocker

Annoying ads that make for poor browsing experience will be hit the hardest by this move. Videos with loud volumes, flashing ads, prestitial ads with a countdown, or ads that do not clearly show the exit/close button, are counted as particularly annoying by the coalition and will be the first to be impacted by the ad blocker implemented into the Chrome browser.

How can publishers track this?

Google Search Console has an Ad Experience Report available to track ad performance. In this, publishers see a ‘warning’ or ‘failing’ assessment from Google, based on these threshold values –
- 7.5 percent of page views in the first 2 months of the program.
- 5 percent in the next four months.
- 2.5 percent thereafter.
These define poor experiences that do not match the better ad standards.

How it works on the user end?

The Chrome browser’s ad filter will check if the page is a part of the site that is marked as ‘failing’ or no. If this is a ‘failing’ site page and has a URL pattern that matches a known list of such ad-related patterns, then the browser will prevent the loading of the ad on that page.

When this happens, the user gets a message where he/she can select whether to keep the ad blocked or go ahead to view it. This message is placed on the address bar (for desktop) or the bottom of the screen (for Android mobiles).

How will this move be received?

From a user point of view, this move is definitely getting a big thumbs-up. Users were increasingly getting annoyed with pushy ads being served on web pages. It is no wonder that the adoption of ad blockers had increased to 28% for desktop internet users and 11.8% for smartphone users. Most of the ad experiences are terrible, and this ad blocker will seek to reverse some of the negative sentiments around the digital ad based ecosystem.

For a genuine publisher too, this move will be good news. Instead of a blanket ban on all ads served, the move seeks to penalise only those ads that are truly annoying. This way, genuine ad publishers do not get hurt because of the actions of a few dishonest advertisers.

But it is equally true that Google sells ads and will now play a gatekeeper’s role. There will be a question of “who will guard the guardian” when it comes to the ad formats and ad content owned by Google.

Google has stated that the step will work towards one goal – i.e. to a world where ad blocking itself will no longer be needed. And this will happen only when all ads work seamlessly without annoying the site users. Whether this goal actually materialises, only time will tell.
March 1, 2018

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