Welcome to the Digital Marketing Updates and News edition of August 2024! 📩
🚨 Alert: Your traffic might already be impacted—or could be soon!
Google has just rolled out its August 2024 Core Update, and if you’re managing a site, this update might affect your search rankings and traffic. Now’s the perfect time to check your site’s performance and ensure your content is top-notch, relevant, and user-focused.
This update is significant, as it not only influences traditional search rankings but also impacts Google’s AI Overviews. Analysts have already observed fluctuations in AI Overview citations for sites negatively impacted by the core update. It’s crucial to stay on top of these changes and optimise your content to maintain or improve your site’s visibility.
Here’s a preview of the topics we will cover in this month’s edition:
Search Marketing Updates: Discover the impact of Google’s August 2024 Core Update and explore the capabilities of the new Google Vertex AI crawler.
Martech Updates: Learn about a major vulnerability impacting WordPress sites and explore the latest features and releases from Notion.
Social Media News: Get insights from TikTok’s Holiday Marketing Guide and see how Threads is gaining momentum in the social media space.
About Frizbit: We are excited to announce that the Frizbit Magento integration plugin is now available for one-click installation on the Adobe Marketplace.
Let’s dive into this month’s digital marketing updates!
Search Marketing Updates
1. Google Rolls Out August 2024 Core Update
Google’s August 2024 Core Update has officially rolled out, bringing with it significant changes that could impact your site’s search rankings. This update is particularly noteworthy because it now extends its influence to Google AI Overviews, a feature that summarises key information directly within search results.
SEO analysts, including Glenn Gabe, have observed that sites negatively impacted by the core update are seeing fewer citations in AI Overviews. Gabe noted,
“I’m seeing signs of ranking impact in AI overviews based on the impact from the August broad core update overall.”
This suggests that the update doesn’t just affect traditional search rankings, but also how frequently your content appears in these AI-powered summaries.
For many sites, this update may cause fluctuations in rankings, particularly for those impacted by past updates like the September 2023 Helpful Content Update. However, there are also reports of some sites seeing improvements in rankings and AI Overview visibility, especially if they’ve been focusing on high-quality, helpful content.
Key Highlights:
- AI Overview Impact: Google’s core updates now impact whether a site appears in AI Overviews, with some sites seeing a decline in citations.
- Ranking Fluctuations: Expect ranking changes as the update takes full effect, especially for sites with previous content quality issues.
- Content Recovery: Some sites previously hit by past updates are seeing a recovery in rankings.
SEO Recommendations:
- Content Optimisation: Focus on improving and updating your content to ensure it’s relevant, well-structured, and user-focused.
- Monitor Keywords: Track your top non-brand keywords weekly to analyse how your rankings are impacted by core updates.
- Prepare for Future Updates: Build a strong content foundation that is semantically aligned and structurally sound to preserve key search positions.
The update should be fully rolled out, and it’s likely that your site’s rankings will stabilise. Use this time to make necessary adjustments and keep an eye on how these changes affect your overall traffic.
2. Google Introduces Vertex AI Crawler
Google has introduced a new AI-powered crawler named Vertex AI, designed to enhance the understanding and indexing of complex web content. Vertex AI leverages advanced machine learning techniques to better comprehend the context, structure, and nuances of web pages, making it more effective in identifying valuable content.
This new crawler is part of Google’s broader initiative to integrate AI more deeply into its search algorithms, aiming to deliver even more accurate and contextually relevant search results. Vertex AI is expected to particularly benefit websites with complex data structures, helping them rank more effectively in search results.
Key Highlights:
- Advanced Crawling: Uses AI to better understand and index complex web content.
- Improved Search Relevance: Aims to deliver more accurate and contextually relevant results.
Advice for Marketers: Ensure your website is well-structured and easy to navigate. Consider how AI might interpret your content and look for ways to improve clarity and context. This might include better use of metadata, structured data, and clear headings to guide the AI crawler.
Martech Updates
1. WordPress Translation Plugin Vulnerability Affects 1 Million Sites
Moving on the martech digital marketing updates, a significant security vulnerability has been discovered in a popular WordPress translation plugin: WPML WordPress plugin, potentially affecting over 1 million websites.
The flaw allowed attackers to gain unauthorised access to websites, posing a serious risk to site security.
Wordfence has released an urgent update to address this issue, and all site owners using the affected plugin are strongly advised to update immediately.
This incident highlights the importance of regularly updating plugins and themes to ensure website security. It also underscores the need for robust security practices, including regular backups and monitoring for unusual activity.
Key Highlights:
- Security Vulnerability: Affects over 1 million WordPress sites using a specific translation plugin.
- Immediate Action Required: Site owners should update the plugin immediately to secure their websites.
Advice for Marketers: Check if your website uses the affected plugin and update it immediately. Consider implementing additional security measures, such as regular scans and backups, to protect your site from future vulnerabilities.
2. Notion Introduces New Chart Features and Upcoming Forms
Notion has recently rolled out its 2.44 update, bringing some exciting new features that enhance how teams and individuals can visualise and manage their data. The headline feature of this release is the ability to create charts from any database within Notion with just one click. Whether you’re tracking projects, goals, sales, or any other type of data, you can now easily visualise this information directly within your Notion workspace.
Charts can be added to any page or database, and they update automatically as the source data changes, eliminating the need to manually update or replace outdated screenshots.
Users can customise these charts extensively, choosing from bar, line, or pie charts, and adjusting everything from colour palettes to data labels.
In addition to charts, Notion has also made its automations smarter and more flexible.
Users can now set up complex triggers, such as notifying a team when a task is both overdue and high-priority, and automations can now perform new actions, like adding or removing people assigned to a project.
Looking ahead, Notion has teased the upcoming introduction of forms, a much-requested feature that will allow users to collect feedback, surveys, RSVPs, and more, with responses automatically populating Notion databases.
Could this be another sign that Notion has the vision to become a more powerful platform than just a mere organisation tool?
Key Highlights:
- One-Click Chart Creation: Easily visualise data within Notion using customisable charts.
- Enhanced Automations: Set more complex conditions and automate new actions within your workflows.
- Upcoming Forms: A sneak peek at forms that will soon allow easy data collection directly into Notion.
Advice for Marketers: If you’re using Notion, these new features can significantly streamline how you track and present data. Explore the charting options to better visualise your key metrics, and prepare to integrate forms into your workflows as soon as they become available to make data collection even easier.
Social Media Updates
1. TikTok Publishes Holiday Marketing Guide
With the holiday season approaching, TikTok has released a comprehensive Holiday Marketing Guide to help brands maximise their reach and engagement during this critical period. The guide offers insights into consumer behaviour, trending content themes, and best practices for creating effective holiday campaigns on the platform.
Key features of the guide include leveraging TikTok creators to fuel engagement, going LIVE to capture attention during key moments, and using hashtags to increase brand interaction. TikTok also highlights the importance of aligning content with trending themes to inspire discovery and drive sales.
TikTok emphasises that the holiday season on its platform is all about joyful discovery. Brands are encouraged to use TikTok’s unique features, such as in-app shopping and viral challenges, to create memorable experiences that resonate with the community.
One of the key strategies highlighted is the Content Framework of Value and Variety. TikTok advises brands to diversify their content, mixing professionally generated content, user-generated content, and AI-generated content to meet the diverse needs of their audience. The framework shows that users are 3.3 times more likely to engage with entertaining TikTok ads, and campaigns that refresh creative assets every 7 to 14 days can see 1.5 times the return on ad spend (ROAS).
Key Highlights:
- Creator-Driven Engagement: TikTok creators play a critical role in driving holiday engagement.
- TikTok LIVE: Growing in popularity, with 17% of users viewing livestreams during the holidays.
- Content Variety: Diversifying content with different types of creative assets increases engagement and ROI.
Advice for Marketers: Start planning your holiday campaigns now. Use TikTok’s insights to create content that aligns with current trends and consumer expectations. Consider integrating TikTok-specific features like shopping and challenges to boost engagement and drive sales. Leverage the Content Framework of Value and Variety to keep your audience engaged with fresh, diverse content.
2. Threads Sees Rapid Growth as Users Flock to a More Intimate Social Experience
In the ongoing debate over the popularity of Threads versus Elon Musk’s X platform, the latest app download charts for July 2024 offer some revealing insights:
Threads, the text-based social media app from Instagram, is continuing to gain momentum, according to recent download charts. The app, which offers a more focused and text-centric social experience, has seen steady growth as users seek alternatives to more crowded platforms.
Threads is particularly popular among younger audiences who value more intimate and direct communication channels. As it continues to expand its user base, Threads presents new opportunities for marketers to engage with audiences in a more personal and conversational way.
Key Highlights:
- Growing Popularity: Threads is rapidly gaining users, especially among younger demographics.
- Opportunities for Marketers: The app offers a more direct and conversational platform for engaging with audiences.
Advice for Marketers: Consider how Threads could fit into your social media strategy. Its growing user base and focus on direct communication make it an ideal platform for more personalised marketing efforts. Experiment with different content formats to see what resonates best with your audience.
About Frizbit
1. Frizbit Magento Plugin: Now Available for 1-Click Installation
On our last digital marketing updates from this edition, we’re excited to announce that the Frizbit Magento Plugin integration is now available for one-click installation on the Adobe Marketplace. This new plugin allows Magento users to seamlessly integrate Frizbit’s powerful marketing automation tools with their online stores, providing enhanced capabilities for personalised customer engagement and retention.
With this integration, incorporating Frizbit into Magento stores is now straightforward. There’s no longer a need to use Google Tag Manager (GTM) or other tag managers. The plugin includes built-in features for tracking customer behaviour and setting up event information. Additionally, if you operate a multi-store Magento environment—whether it’s for different languages or countries—this plugin supports those configurations as well.
The one-click Magento Plugin Integration makes it simple to get started and begin leveraging Frizbit’s features to drive sales and improve customer satisfaction.
Key Highlights:
- Simplified Integration: One-click installation makes setup fast and easy.
- Enhanced Capabilities: Access Frizbit’s marketing automation tools directly within Magento.
- Improved Customer Engagement: Set up personalised campaigns to boost retention and sales.
Advice for Marketers: If you’re using Magento, take advantage of this new plugin to streamline your marketing efforts. The integration with Frizbit allows you to create more effective and targeted campaigns, helping you drive better results with less effort. For those who have faced challenges with Magento integrations in the past, this plugin offers a much-needed solution.
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