Ignite Friday Digital Marketing News (Updated Every Friday)

Digital Marketing News 8/22/2022 – 8/26/2022

This week: Google will release another black-hat busting algorithm, Search Console now includes more granular Core Web Vitals data, and Twitter offers a few ad tips.

 

Google Will Soon Deploy a ‘Helpful Content’ Algorithm

Here we go. Yet another big algo update from the Big G.

This one is called the Helpful Content update. And it’s going live next week.

Also: it’s got a brand new ranking signal that Google will use to rank pages.

“Next week, we will launch the ‘helpful content update’ to better ensure people see more original, helpful content written by people, for people, rather than content made primarily for search engine traffic,” Google said in a statement.

What that basically means is: you’re in trouble if you’re doing black-hat SEO.

That new ranking signal I mentioned earlier will devalue sites that publish lots of content with little value. 

On the other hand, if you’ve been producing high-quality content that’s designed to give searchers valuable info, you should be fine.

Google Search Console Shares More Core Web Vitals Data

Google Search Console now reports on Core Web Vitals data for specific URLs. 

In the past, Search Console only shared aggregate scores from URL groups.

As of now, you can use the Core Web Vitals report to see which pages on your website are preventing you from getting a great score. Then, you can take corrective action.

Keep in mind, though: Search Console still puts the URLs in groups. But you can drill down to specific URLs within each group.

 

TikTok Unveils 3 Types of Shopping Ads

This past week, TikTok announced three new types of shopping ads:

• Video ads
• Catalog ads
• Live ads

You can access the new ad formats in Ads Manager via “Product Sales.”

And you don’t even need an ecommerce store on TikTok to use the ads.

However, you will need to achieve “Level 1” status by integrating advanced signals and linking your product catalog.

The new ad types are in testing for now. But they should get released for all users in time for the holiday shopping season.

Google Search Console Video Indexing Report Is Live

The video indexing report that Google announced last May is now available for all web properties.

It will show you how many pages on your site include videos. 

You can use the report to see how well pages with videos perform on your site. It will also show you which pages with videos Google hasn’t yet indexed.

And best of all: you now have access to a URL inspection tool. It will show you the issues that prevent your video-laden pages from getting in the search results.

Twitter Offers Ad Tips

Just in time for the upcoming holiday season, Twitter hosted a Space on best practices for Twitter ads.

For starters, the company says you should stay aware of important events or special occasions. Fortunately, Twitter publishes a major events calendar for exactly that purpose.

Additionally, Twitter says you should participate in trending hashtags.

You should also use polls to generate engagement from people in your target market.

Further, Twitter recommends the use of visuals in advertising.

“It’s important to include visuals that are eye-catching and highlight your product or key message. Incorporating visuals that fit well with the event, occasion, or trend you’re connecting to will help tie your campaign together,” the company says.

Twitter advises that you limit video creatives to between 6 and 15 seconds in length.

Google: HTTPS Isn’t a Ranking Requirement

By now, you (hopefully) know about the importance of using the secure HTTPS protocol for your website.

But it’s not a requirement if you want to rank in search.

Sure, you’ll get some SEO benefits from it. That’s why you should do it.

Your site will get indexed without it, though.

Somebody asked Google’s John Mueller about that subject recently on Twitter. The person seemed surprised that Google is still ranking sites that use the non-secure HTTP protocol.

“There are a lot of great & old websites on HTTP,” Mueller said. “It’s not a requirement to be on HTTPS.”

Google Display & Video 360 Offer New Bidding Options

This past week, Google announced new custom bidding options for Google Display and Video 360 ad formats.

The update enables you to use data from Google Analytics 4 properties to optimize your strategy. In the past, that kind of tinkering was only possible with Universal Analytics properties.

“We know that many of you have moved or are working on moving from Universal Analytics to the new Google Analytics,” Google said in a statement. “So we made sure that data coming from any new Analytics 4 property — either standard or 360 — can be activated in Display & Video 360.”

The update includes custom bidding signals such as “audibility” and “player size.” 

Article Structured Data Not Required for Top Stories

You may have thought that you need Article markup on your web page if you want it included in Google Top Stories. But that’s not the case.

It may have been the case at one time. But a new paragraph in the Article structured data guidelines makes it clear that it’s certainly not a requirement today.

“While there’s no markup requirement to be eligible for Google News features like Top stories, you can add Article to more explicitly tell Google what your content is about (for example, that it’s a news article, who the author is, or what the title of the article is),” the paragraph reads.

Another update: you no longer need Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) tech on your content if you want it included in Top Stories.

Pinterest Updates In-App Purchase for Shopify Merchants

Pinterest just started testing a new Hosted Checkout process for Shopify merchants. It allows customers to select product info (like size and color) within the app, rather than taking them to another website.

Customers will still need to complete the transaction on Shopify, though.

As of now, the new tool is only available to select U.S. merchants. You won’t be able to use it unless you’re part of the Pinterest Verified Merchant Program.

Maybe it will make it out in time for the holiday shopping season.

Homework

It’s a long August. That gives you plenty of time to take care of these action items:

• If you’re a Shopify merchant, consider integrating with Pinterest. You might find people in your target market on that platform that you won’t find anywhere else.
• If you’re advertising with Video 360 and Google Display ads, take a look at those new custom bidding options. You might find some stats that will help you create more attention-grabbing ads.
• Check out that Twitter Space for ad tips. You might find some great ideas.
• If you’re an ecommerce merchant, think about how you can use those TikTok ads to generate more business.
• Take a look at that new Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console. Take corrective action where necessary so you can boost the rank of your website.

Digital Marketing News 8/15/2022 – 8/19/2022

This week: TikTok might become a new search engine, U.S. teens like YouTube more than Facebook, and Instagram Reels has a few new features.

Here’s what happened this week in digital marketing.

Report: IndexNow Attributed for 7% of New URLs Clicked in Bing

According to Microsoft’s Fabrice Camel, 7% of all new URLs clicked in Bing Search results got there from the IndexNow protocol.

In fact, more than 16 million websites use IndexNow. And they publish more than 1.2 billion URLs every day.

If you’re unfamiliar with IndexNow, it’s a protocol you can use to get a new web page instantly indexed in search results.

Microsoft even has its own IndexNow WordPress plugin. You can use it to get your web pages indexed right away.

Yoast SEO 19.5 Causes Errors

Heads up if you’ve got Yoast SEO 19.5. You might be getting errors.

Eli Schwartz, search marketing expert and author of Product Led SEO, recently tweeted about an error he noticed that looks like it brought down his whole website.

Yoast SEO 19.5 caused the error.

But Schwartz wasn’t alone. Others tweeted that they experienced a similar issue.

Fortunately, the folks at Yoast identified and fixed the problem.

“A patch was created quickly by the team indeed and for most sites that resolved it entirely,” said Joost de Valk, Yoast founder.

The magic bullet is v19.5.1.

U.S. Teens Ditch Facebook for YouTube

Another sign that Facebook is in trouble.

According to a Pew Research survey of Americans aged 13-17, younger folks in the U.S. prefer video apps to Facebook.

Back in 2015, 71% of teens reported using Facebook. That number now stands at 32%.

Almost all teens (95%) use YouTube. In fact, more of them use YouTube than any other app.

Three-quarters of teens say they visit YouTube daily. Forty-one percent say they visit it several times per day.

They also like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat more than Facebook.

Tumblr is in last place on the Top 10 social media hierarchy, with only 5% of teens using it. Reddit takes 9th place (14%) and WhatsApp 8th (17%).

TikTok Becoming a Search Platform for Younger Audiences

Speaking of TikTok and young people, it looks like that platform is on its way to becoming another search engine.

Don’t take my word for it. Take the word of Google Senior Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan.

“In our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search,” he said. “They go to TikTok or Instagram.”

It’s not the first time somebody noticed that. Back in 2019, investment firm Andreesen Horowitz predicted that TikTok might see some action as a search engine.

“Since many Douyin videos are geo-tagged and automatically categorized into buckets – restaurants, tourist attractions, hotels, culture, entertainment, shopping, exercise – users can browse them to find interesting places to visit and things to do,” the company said in a statement. “Businesses are also able to attract new customers by supplementing Douyin with basic information, waitlist support, and coupons.”

TikTok also autolinks certain words and phrases in comments. Users who tap those links will see search results for the anchor text.

YouTube Allows Users to Reply to a Comment With a Video

Looks like YouTube stole another idea from TikTok.

The video app is working on a feature that enables you to reply to comments with a video.

It’s just an experimental feature on iOS for now. But it’s likely to go general in the not-too-distant future.

If you’re one of the few who does have access to the feature, you’ll see an option to record a video when responding to comments. 

Of course, you could also reply the old-fashioned way: by just using text.

Instagram Now Allows Crossposting to Facebook

This makes sense, since Meta owns both Facebook and Instagram.

If you have accounts on both Instagram and Facebook, you can now post your Instagram Reel to Facebook as well.

You’ll get the opportunity to do that the next time you post a Reel. Instagram will ask you if you’d like to share it on Facebook.

Additionally, Instagram is adding a few new features:

• “Add Yours” sticker so users can post a Reel in response to yours.
• Additional insights
• The ability to schedule Reels on Facebook

Instagram says it’s “launching” the new features now. So they may already be available.

Snapchat+ Reaches 1 Million Subscribers

It’s not all bad news at Snapchat.

This past week, the company announced that it reached 1 million paid subscribers on Snapchat+.

Keep in mind: Snapchat+ has only been around for six weeks.

Additionally, Snap announced new features for Snapchat+ users:

• Priority Story replies – More celebrities and influencers will see your replies.
• Post-view emoji – Users will see an emoji after they view your Snaps.
• Bitmoji backgrounds – More options when selecting a background for your bitmoji.
• App icons – Customize your Snapchat home screen icon.

Snapchat+ is available for $3.99 per month.

Google: Clicking on Your Site in Google Won’t Improve Rank

Another SEO myth bites the dust.

This past week on Twitter, somebody asked Google’s John Mueller if clicking on your own links will incur a rank penalty.

“I can’t imagine how that would have any impact,” he replied.

But the person also asked if it would have any positive benefit.

“I can’t think of any effect it would have in Search,” Mueller said.

Google’s Algo Understands When Sources Agree on a Fact

Google’s Multitask Unified Model (MUM) can now determine if quality sources agree on a fact.

What that means is this: Google will now fact-check the snippets you see in search results. It will use that fact-check to determine if there’s broad consensus for the call-out.

Additionally, MUM will let Google know if some search results should be displayed without featured snippets.

Finally, the Big G will issue a content advisory when it can’t gather enough info to corroborate the contents of its search results.

Homework

It’s not Labor Day yet. So take care of these action items:

• Make sure the facts are in order on your website or it might suffer in rank.
• Think about how you can build your brand on TikTok for people who use the platform as a search engine.
• If your target market consists of American teens, think about how you can reach them with additional marketing on YouTube.
• If you’ve got the Yoast SEO WordPress plugin, make sure that you upgrade to at least v19.5.1.

Digital Marketing News 8/8/2022 – 8/12/2022

This week: Google experienced a data center fire that broke lots of features, Meta wants a piece of LinkedIn’s action, and you might have to pay if you want to edit your tweet.

Here’s what happened this week in digital marketing.

Facebook Shuts Down Live Shopping

Looks like Facebook’s version of the Home Shopping Network is going away.

This past week, Meta announced that it’s terminating Facebook live shopping this October.

“As consumers’ viewing behaviors are shifting to short-form video, we are shifting our focus to Reels on Facebook and Instagram, Meta’s short-form video product,” the company explained in a statement. “If you want to reach and engage people through video, try experimenting with Reels and Reels ads on Facebook and Instagram. You can also tag products in Reels on Instagram to enable deeper discovery and consideration.”

And, as you can see, there’s that ubiquitous reference to “short-form video” again. Facebook wants to be more like TikTok.

However, live shopping will still be available on Instagram. 

But for how much longer?

TikTok Tests ‘Order Center’

Speaking of ecommerce in social media, TikTok is testing a new Order Center on its platform. It tracks products you’ve purchased, looked at, or might one day buy.

Basically, it’s a one-stop shop (no pun intended) for all your TikTok shopping experiences.

In fact, ecommerce integration might be TikTok’s ticket to more revenue in the coming years. The company already takes in most of its revenue in China via online sales.

And thus far, TikTok creators have expressed their disappointment at the monetization options available on the platform.

Want to Edit Your Tweet? Pony Up

If you’re one of the countless Twitter users who’s been begging on hands-and-knees for an edit feature, then I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that it looks like the edit button is on the way.

The bad news is that you’ll have to pay if you want to use it. At least initially.

Twitter is already offering the edit feature to Twitter Blue subscribers. And only Twitter Blue subscribers.

If you’d like to subscribe to Twitter Blue, by the way, that will cost you $2.99 per month.

DuckDuckGo Will Block Microsoft Trackers

Earlier this year, I mentioned a report about how DuckDuckGo’s mobile browser transferred data to Microsoft-owned properties.

In response to that report, DuckDuckGo has decided to block third-party scripts from Microsoft.

Which makes sense. Because the whole point of DuckDuckGo is that it’s a search engine that doesn’t track users.

“Recently, I’ve heard from a number of users and understand that we didn’t meet their expectations around one of our browser’s web tracking protections,” said DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg. “So today we are announcing more privacy and transparency around DuckDuckGo’s web tracking protections.”

Weinberg also said that, in the past, the company was limited as to how it could apply blocking tech to Microsoft scripts. That was due to a policy requirement related to using Bing as a source for private search results.

But that policy no longer exists.

Google Updates Search Snippets for Product Review Cases

Google now shows a product’s pros and cons in its search snippet.

You’ll see them displayed in a format that looks like this: “Pros and cons include: lasts a long time, no child protection, view full list.”

That “view full list” part is a clickable link that will take you to the full list of pros and cons.

And yeah, the snippet displays pros and cons together without identifying which is which. You’ll have to figure that out on your own or click the link.

To go along with the new display, Google also rolled out new structured data so you can identify pros and cons on your product pages. They’re called positiveNotes and negativeNotes, respectively.

However, you might not need to use them. Google will try to determine pros and cons using its own algorithm.

Google Search Broke This Week

Everything seems back to normal now, but for a while this week Google Search was broken.

Backstory: a Google data center fire caused a rare, system-wide outage. As a result, many URLs got deindexed, domains ranked lower than normal, and some pages even went missing.

And there was a human toll as well.

“We are aware of an electrical incident that took place today at Google’s data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, injuring three people onsite who are now being treated,” Google said in a statement. “The health and safety of all workers is our absolute top priority, and we are working closely with partners and local authorities to thoroughly investigate the situation and provide assistance as needed.”

Google’s John Mueller also engaged with SEOs via Twitter to make sure everything was okay.

Instagram Developing Native Scheduling Tool

This is great.

Coming soon: you can schedule posts on Instagram.

That feature is already available in Creator Studio. But not everybody who uses the Instagram app uses Creator Studio.

It’s a good idea to schedule posts so that you don’t flood your followers’ feeds with one image right after the other. That usually doesn’t sit well with Instagram users.

Google: Don’t Put Duplicate Content in Business Profile Posts

You probably already know that it’s a bad idea to include duplicate content in blog posts. But did you know that you should avoid duplicate content in posts published by Google Business Profiles?

Yeah, you should.

This past week, Google updated its help center article about Google posts. The new version includes a reference to items that the Big G considers spam.

Among those items: duplicate photos, posts, videos, and logos.

In other words: avoid putting your logo on every post.

That’s not going to sit well with marketers who (understandably) like to include their logos in online content.

We’ll see if this one holds.

Meta Rolls out B2B Advertising Audiences

Looks like Meta wants a piece of LinkedIn’s action.

This past week, the company unveiled a new set of B2B targeting audience segments.

“With a mission to give people the power to build community, Meta is uniquely positioned to support B2B marketers in today’s world seeking to forge meaningful connections between people and businesses,” Meta said in a statement. “With more than 200M businesses and 2.9 billion people using our apps daily, Meta is a destination for B2B marketers looking to drive business-to-business engagement and establish a connection with their customers.”

Usually, B2B marketers consider LinkedIn their go-to social media channel for online marketing. So the word “uniquely” in that statement above is more puffing than anything else.

That said, it’s possible you might reach people on Facebook that you would miss on LinkedIn. So it’s worth a try.

Homework

A few more weeks of sun and fun, but not before you complete these action items:

• If you’re in the B2B space, run some test ads with Meta’s new B2B targeting audience segments. 
• If you’ve got duplicate content on Google Business Profile posts, remove it immediately. Otherwise, you’ll limit your online visibility.
• Use that Instagram scheduling tool to more efficiently roll out posts.
• If you’re in the ecommerce space, consider using that new review markup. You could land some extra visitors.

Digital Marketing News 8/1/2022 – 8/5/2022

This week: Pinterest isn’t growing any more, Meta reported its first-ever decline in ad sales, and are we or are we not going to see more recommended content in Facebook and Instagram feeds?

Here’s what happened this week in digital marketing.

Pinterest Q2 Report Shows No User Growth

Pinterest is holding serve on its user base. The company reported 433 monthly active users (MAU) this past week.

But that’s exactly where it was in the first quarter of this year. And it’s a decline of 5% year-over-year.

The social media app saw declines in Europe while making gains in Latin America. 

Still, Pinterest managed to grow revenue by 9% YoY. Average revenue grew 17% during the same time period.

The company’s EBITDA, or cash flow, shrunk almost 50% YoY. 

Recall, though, that Pinterest really took off during the pandemic when homebodies couldn’t go out to play. So the shrinkage is understandable.

Pinterest Launches Real-Time Analytics in Mobile App

Speaking of Pinterest, the company just launched real-time analytics reports in its mobile app.

That means you can check on your very latest Pin stats while waiting for your car inspection or hanging out with your buddies at the local bar.

However, a word of caution: real-time metrics aren’t available for audience data. That includes age and gender filters.

You can, however, see data on responses to your Pins.

Meta Reports First Decline in Ad Revenue

Meta just missed my string of quarterly earnings reports from last week. But that doesn’t mean the company escaped the bad news shared by other social media companies.

In fact, the parent company of Facebook reported its first ever decline in ad revenue.

All good things must come to an end, I suppose.

Meta blamed the drop in ad revenue on the economy. That’s consistent with what other companies reported.

And then there’s that whole business about Apple’s privacy settings. That change made Facebook and Instagram less attractive to marketers who want to track user behavior.

The company also spent nearly $3 billion on Reality Labs, its metaverse project. Ouch.

Still, Daily Active Users (DAU) shot up 4% YoY. So the news isn’t all bad.

Core Web Vitals Scoring Doesn’t Hit Non-Indexed Pages (Anymore)

If you’re a loyal reader of this space, then you might remember that some time ago, I reported that Core Web Vitals metrics might hit your non-indexed pages as well as your indexed pages.

That’s no longer the case.

According to the new Google help doc: “Any page will not meet the discoverability requirement if any of the following conditions are met, including root pages for the origin dataset: The page is served with an HTTP X-Robots-Tag: noindex header or equivalent.”

However, some folks think that even non-indexed pages might still affect your site’s overall Core Web Vitals score. So it’s best to speed up as many pages as you can.

Google Will Allow Third-Party Cookies to Last Another Year

This is a pretty big deal.

Google just said it won’t deprecate third-party cookies until 2024. In the past, the company said it would phase them out in ‘23.

But that was after the Big G said it would terminate cookies this year.

Do you get the impression that some big players in high-tech really need their cookies? And that they’re putting pressure on Google to let them last a little longer?

But the party line is that Google needs more time to test its Privacy Sandbox. The company says it expects sandbox APIs to launch late next year.

Twitter Is Testing an Edit Button (Finally)

At long last. We may soon have an edit button on Twitter.

Reverse engineer extraordinaire Jane Manchun Wong reported that when you edit a tweet, the original one doesn’t go away. Instead, Twitter shows users the first tweet with a notice that a newer version exists.

The whole point of that exercise is to prevent people from completely changing the nature of a message after other folks have retweeted or embedded it.

Also, Twitter is working on a feature that allows you to embed photos, GIFs, and videos in the same tweet. That should be fun.

Embedded Tweets will show whether it’s been edited, or whether there’s a new version of the Tweet

When a site embeds a Tweet and it gets edited, the embed doesn’t just show the new version (replacing the old one). Instead, it shows an indicator there’s a new version pic.twitter.com/mAz5tOiyOl

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) August 1, 2022

YouTube Adds Feature That Cuts Long-Form Videos Into Shorts

With short-form video all the rage these days (thank you, TikTok), YouTube is encouraging users to create Shorts.

One of the ways it’s doing that is by making it easier to extract segments from long-form videos into short-form.

The whole process is as simple as clicking a button labeled “Edit into a Short.” You’ll see that when you select part of your regular video.

Just keep in mind: you can only use that tool for your own videos. You can’t use it on videos produced by others.

Zuckerberg Promises to Double Amount of AI-Recommended Content in Feeds

Following its earnings report this past week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised that you’re going to get more content you didn’t ask for in your Facebook and Instagram feeds.

Straight from the horse’s mouth: “Right now, about 15% of content in a person’s Facebook feed and a little more than that of their Instagram feed is recommended by our AI from people, groups, or accounts that you don’t follow. We expect these numbers to more than double by the end of next year.”

So, yeah. You can look forward to seeing quite a bit more content that platform algos think you might like.

Instagram’s Take on AI-Recommended Content

Well, that’s one side of the coin. Here’s another.

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said that Instagram might scale back AI-recommended content.

“For the new feed designs, people are frustrated and the usage data isn’t great,” he said. “So there, I think that we need to take a big step back, regroup, and figure out how we want to move forward.”

Mosseri also said that when you see something in your feed from an account that you don’t follow, it should be “great” content. He wants a high bar before his platform recommends anything.

So where’s all this headed? Your guess is as good as mine.

Homework

One more month of summer. More than enough time to take care of these action items:

• If you’re into marketing with YouTube Shorts, take advantage of that new feature that cuts long-form videos into short-form.
• If you have poorly performing non-indexed pages on your website, it’s best to speed them up. They could impact the overall rank of your site.
• If you’re into Pinterest marketing, grab that new analytics tool. Then use it when you’re out and about to learn about ways you can improve your marketing on the platform.

Digital Marketing News 7/25/2022 – 7/29/2022

It’s earnings season and some of your favorite high-tech companies have reported. 

Snap Disappoints on Q2 Results, Stock Plunges

Shares of Snap, Inc. fell about 30% last week after the social media company reported Q2 results that fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Snap lost two cents per share. Analysts were expecting a loss of just one cent.

Revenue also came in shy of expectations. The company took in $1.11 billion versus the anticipated $1.14 billion.

Revenue grew 13% year-over-year, but analysts wanted to see growth of 16%.

“We are not satisfied with the results we are delivering, regardless of the current headwinds,” Snap said in its letter to investors.

The company blamed sluggish demand for ad sales on its lackluster revenue number. 

Snap also said that Apple’s 2021 iOS update, a tough economy, and increased competition from TikTok all contributed to the poor performance.

As a result of those challenges, Snap will “substantially” cut back on hiring and reduce its expense rate growth.

Twitter Adds 9 Millions Users

Twitter also reported earnings this week. And it fell short on the revenue number as well.

The social media company took in $1.18 billion in Q2. Wall Street expected $1.32 billion.

That revenue figure, by the way, shows a decline of 1% from the same period a year ago.

Like Snap, Twitter blamed its revenue drop in ad industry challenges. 

And, of course, the company also blamed some of its unremarkable earnings on the elephant in the room named Elon Musk.

Twitter lost eight cents per share. Analysts expected positive earnings of 14 cents.

However, the platform did gain about nine million monetizable daily active users (mDAUs) from the previous quarter. But even that number fell short of analyst expectations.

Twitter said that costs related to the Musk acquisition amounted to $33 million.

Alphabet Misses on Q2 Earnings, Stock Rises Anyway

A recurring theme here: Alphabet, the parent company of Google, reported weaker-than-expected earnings this past week.

The search giant reported revenue of $69.69 billion. Analysts expected $69.9 billion.

YouTube accounted for $7.34 billion of that overall revenue. Search and Other revenue amounted to $40.69 billion. 

Revenue growth slowed to 13% from 62% in the same period a year ago.

Alphabet also reported earnings per share of $1.21. Wall Street was looking for $1.28.

The company offered no revenue forecast, but shares rose in after-hours trading anyway.

Shopify Reports Earnings Miss

Shopify also reported a miss on the top and bottom lines. And lowered guidance.

The ecommerce company lost three cents a share in Q2. Analysts expected a profit of two cents per share.

Revenue came in at $1.3 billion. That’s an increase of 16% YoY but slightly under estimates of $1.33 billion.

Gross merchandise volume (the total amount of products sold on the platform) stood at $46.9 billion, below projections of $48.8 billion.

The company also projected operating losses for Q3 and Q4.

Before earnings, Shopify reported it will cut 10% of its workforce.

LinkedIn User Sessions Grow 22%

Microsoft released the latest performance update for LinkedIn this past week. It’s got a lot of good news.

User sessions grew by 22%. Overall revenue grew 26%.

Additionally, Microsoft said that it sees “record engagement” with the platform.

The company didn’t define what it means by “record engagement.” Further, Microsoft reported “record engagement” on LinkedIn every quarter since 2018.

And that could be really what’s happening. But it would be nice if Microsoft were more transparent.

Instagram Influencers Want the App to Stop Trying to Be Like TikTok

Key influencers want Instagram to be Instagram. Not TikTok.

You may have noticed that Instagram now throws suggested posts in your feed. I find some of the recommended posts welcome, others annoying.

And apparently I’m not the only one annoyed by the change.

Nearly 100,000 Instagram users signed a Change.org petition calling for Instagram to stop trying to be like TikTok.

(Yes, Instagram got that “suggested content” idea from TikTok.)

That petition, by the way, was launched by an influencer named Tati Bruening.

But Bruening isn’t the only influencer who wants Instagram to get back to its photo-sharing roots. Kylie Jenner joined in on the fun as well.

“MAKE INSTAGRAM INSTAGRAM AGAIN,” she posted… on Instagram.

She signed it: “SINCERELY, EVERYONE.”

Please note: Jenner has 360 million followers on the platform. So she’s an uber-influencer.

Will Instagram listen? Not if the company stands to make more money with the new feed format.

New Instagram Videos Under 15 Minutes Will Automatically Become Reels

If you go to post a video on Instagram, you might see a new notice: “Video posts are now shared as reels.”

Indeed, going forward any video under 15 minutes gets posted as a Reel. 

There’s an advantage to that. When you post a Reel, it might get a recommendation. As a result, more people may see it.

But to earn that recommendation, the video can’t exceed 90 seconds in length.

WordPress Releases Gutenberg 13.7

It seems like Gutenberg was just born yesterday. And now we’re already at version 13.7.

One new feature in the latest version allows you to lock block elements. That will prevent unwanted changes.

Additionally, an enhancement to the pop-up modal menu blurs the background page. That improves the focus.

Finally, you now have the ability to create more templates for posts, pages, tags, and categories.

Google: Unique IP Address Won’t Give a Ranking Boost

If you’re hosting a site on a shared IP address, you don’t need to worry that your ranking performance is limited. Because it’s not.

According to Google’s John Mueller, you don’t earn any SEO benefit when you have an IP address all to yourself.

“Just to be absolutely clear, using a shared IP address is fine,” he tweeted this past week. “There is no SEO advantage to using a unique IP address.”

And it’s not the first time he said that. So you can take this one to the bank.

Homework

• If you’re a WordPress user, talk to your development team about getting the latest version of Gutenberg.
• Familiarize yourself with Reels since Instagram is clearly emphasizing that part of its platform.
• If you’re in the B2B space, think about marketing on LinkedIn. That platform demonstrates continuous growth and it’s very likely people in your target market are on there.