What Google At Peak Search Means for Marketers

Share this:

For Q3 2023 earnings, Google reported a shortfall on cloud revenue and that their US core advertising / search business over delivered to make up part of the difference. So how has Google become this dependent on non-advertising revenue streams to achieve future growth targets and how much longer can they go back to the […]

tvScientific CEO: Netflix Could Learn from Google+ and Facebook

tvScientific CEO: Netflix Could Learn from Google+ and Facebook

Share this:

Netflix’s Q3 earnings are in, along with a rise in subscribers since July, price hikes for all types of them, and a jump in share price.  Now, it remains to be seen whether the streaming service can scale its ad-supported ambitions.  Jason Fairchild, co-founder and CEO of tvScientific, thinks the company still has work to do […]

From Google to Social to Generative AI: The Evolution of Search Journeys

Share this:

Remember when search ads were just a bunch of blue links? Believe it or not, that wasn’t that long ago – when a mention of search conjured a near-identical image in everyone’s minds. If you asked 100 people to describe their search journeys today, you might get 100 different answers. Those answers would almost certainly […]

Google Third-Party Cookies, Adds LiveRamp to Data Clean Room Lineup

Google Third-Party Cookies, Adds LiveRamp to Data Clean Room Lineup

Share this:

One year.  That’s how long Google says publishers have to test — and raise any red flags on — the cookie alternatives in its Chrome Privacy Sandbox. In a recent announcement, Joey Trotz, director of product for Google’s Privacy Sandbox Ecosystems, all but guaranteed the company would finally be depreciating third-party cookies in the second half […]

With Google Cloud's BigQuery , Habu Makes Data Collaboration Safer

With Google Cloud’s BigQuery , Habu Makes Data Collaboration Safer

Share this:

By all indications, data clean rooms have gone mainstream. Eighty percent of advertisers that spend more than $1 billion annually on media are expected to use data clean rooms this year, according to IAB, but interoperability and high costs are still proving to be a challenge, and no single developer of data clean room software […]

Social Media May Be Winning the Search Engine Wars

Social Media May Be Winning the Search Engine Wars

Share this:

As the search engine wars heat up and Microsoft prepares to unveil a new Bing powered by ChatGPT technology, a substantive competitor has entered the arena — social media. According to a new report, 82% of consumers prefer to search on social media over traditional search engines, and two in five would rather use TikTok than Google or Bing.

What the Rise of Generative AI Means for Marketers

What the Rise of Generative AI Means for Marketers

Share this:

While these are still early days for OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, marketers have begun to pounce. From creative production and versioning to content generation and customer service, marketers are finding innovative ways to use AI chatbots to generate more reliable results for their clients.

Google's AI Chops and Local Search

Google’s AI Chops and Local Search

Share this:

ChatGPT celebrants have lauded it as a Google killer or questioned why Google wasn’t first to the generative AI phenomenon. But there’s a problem with that narrative: Google has been all over AI for years.

Why the US Government's Google Lawsuit Matters

Why the US Government’s Google Lawsuit Matters

Share this:

For marketers, the big question here is whether Google’s tools are more useful or harmful — are the convenience and scalable audiences they enable worth the cut Google takes out of the digital ad market, raising prices? This is among the questions Google will have to answer.

With AI for Shelf Checking, Google Gives Retailers What They Want

With AI for Shelf Checking, Google Gives Retailers What They Want

Share this:

Google’s announcement that it would be enhancing Google Cloud for Retailers with shelf checking got people talking at the National Retail Federation’s conference in New York earlier this month, but the push to turn physical stores into digital assets has been underway for years.

Google’s Performance Max Gets a Boost When Brands Reallocate Ad Spend from Twitter

Share this:

While it’s still early days, two contenders have pulled into the lead to steal ad market share from Twitter. Investments in Google’s Performance Max and TikTok are rising fast, particularly among big-name brands. 

Google’s Latest Privacy Play Has Big Implications for the Open Web

Google Elevates Mapping and Visual Search

Share this:

Google’s annual Search On event was held this week, including several updates to core search and orbiting products like Maps. Given the prominence and centrality of mapping to local commerce, we’ll start there.

What Does Google’s Decision to Postpone Cookie-Cutting Mean for Multi-Location Brands?

Share this:

Multi-location brand marketers got a big break last month, when Google announced its decision to postpone deprecating third-party cookies until at least 2024. The temporary respite gives marketers additional time to consider the changing landscape, especially when it comes to targeting customers online.

Does ‘Multisearch Near Me’ Signal a Visual Search Future?

Share this:

Google’s latest local search play was on display at its recent I/O conference: Multisearch Near Me. If multisearch and local search had a baby, that’s essentially what was announced. It lets users search using images or screenshots along with the text “near me” to see local results.

5 Big Marketing Opportunities for Multi-Location Brands

Share this:

This year’s is the fourth annual LMBR report; the data used in the analysis was provided by data partner Places Scout. Those interested in the full results can check out the report here. In this article, I’ll highlight just a few of the key takeaways for multi-location marketers.

Google Adds More Custom Relevance Signals to Local Results

Share this:

The ranking criteria that matters most for the current discussion is relevance. In offering product photos to users searching for products, Google is both declaring and emphasizing that this business has offerings relevant to the searcher’s stated need.

Google’s Latest Privacy Play Has Big Implications for the Open Web

Location-Based Marketing Association: Google Displays Nearby Cars for Sale in Search

Share this:

In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association discusses DoorDash launching a gas rewards program to offset high prices, SES-Imagotag and UNICEF using electronic shelf labels to drive donations for Ukraine, GroundTruth and Flowcode partnering on QR codes in TV, and Google displaying nearby cars for sale in search.

Does a Bipartisan Bill Threaten the Autonomy of Local Platforms?

Share this:

The push to regulate big tech is not new. In fact, a bill similar to the American Innovation and Choice Online Act was introduced by the House of Representatives last year, only to be relegated to the legislative back burner. So far, no meaningful legislation has made its way into law, but each new effort in that direction reawakens the possibility that companies like Google will eventually need to modify their practices to remove bias towards themselves.

Location-Based Marketing Association: Google’s Location Tracking Lawsuit

Share this:

In this episode of Location Weekly, the Location-Based Marketing Association discusses Google getting sued over deceptive location tracking, Apple going head to head with Square by making iPhone payment terminals, SavageXFenty rolling out AR-powered FIT:MATCH tech in-store, and Placewise partnering with Bambuser to bring physical malls to customers via livestream.

How Do the “Other” Search Engines Handle Local Search?

Share this:

I wanted to look in particular at search engines other than Google and their treatment of local search. I was intrigued by the recent announcements that Bing was making forays into product inventory as a component of local search as well as the launch of Bing Travel, a Google Travel competitor but with a very different approach to destination-based search and discovery. Similarly, recent news about the exponential growth of Brave and DuckDuckGo in our era of privacy impelled me to find out more about their handling of local results.