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The greenlight

DECEMBER 2015 The Predictions Edition

magazine

www.greenlightdigital.com

Greenlight is a multiple award-winning digital marketing agency that designs, builds, deploys and measures marketing solutions and campaigns across Search, Content and Engagement, Display, Mobile, eCommerce, and more, with the unwavering objective of achieving dramatic growth for its clients. Greenlight promotes brands and products in 29 languages and 42 territories on behalf of such clients as Hiscox, ghd, Dixons Carphone, Millennium and Copthorne Hotels, Laura Ashley and many more.

Ready to grow? Call us on +44(0)20 7253 7000 or go to www.greenlightdigital.com/get-in-touch 2

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CONTENTS

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Retailers face biggest fight yet for online dominance in 2016



Andreas Pouros, COO & Co-founder

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Offline event triggers to inform reactive, predictive and personalised advertising



Krishan Nursimooloo, Display Development Manager

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Video is the channel brands need to focus on in 2016



Tiphaine Junjaud, Senior Paid Media Analyst

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2016: The year of programmatic outdoor trading



Ina Arens, Head of Display

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Who cares about device and channel? It’s all about integration



Angela Knibb, Senior Search Manager

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Revive your brand message through storytelling on social media



Nicky Carr, Paid Media Manager

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Greater focus on persona targeting



Isabel Figueriedo, Senior Paid Media Analyst

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2015: How did we do?



Adam Bunn, Director of SEO & Social Media

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What 2015 taught us about the world of social



Andy Way, Head of Content & Engagement

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2016 will be the year of new mobile SEO updates and tools



Stefania Romanelli, SEO Consultant, Damian Burke, Senior SEO Consultant, Matthew Hawes, Senior SEO Executive

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All hail the year that content remains king



Bea Patman, Head of SEO

26

The end of clickbait



Kevin O’Connor, Content Marketing Manager

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Introduction

RETAILERS FACE BIGGEST FIGHT YET FOR ONLINE DOMINANCE IN 2016 ANDREAS POUROS, COO & CO-FOUNDER

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With over 1.4 billion users worldwide, Facebook is the world’s leading social network, but could it become the largest social shopping portal too? In 2016, we could be about to find out. In the past few months, Facebook has made its intentions clear to dominate social shopping with the introduction of immersive ‘Canvas’ product adverts and a Shopping feed, as well as a partnership1 with eCommerce start-up Shopify. Furthermore, investments in Instagram, Oculus Rift and WhatsApp could deliver a ‘Zucker punch’ to retailers as the social network firmly engrains itself into the online experience. Facebook is not alone in its quest to own the web. With technology companies such as Apple, Amazon and Google all brawling for a greater slice of the pie, this is leaving retailers caught on the back foot as new innovations drive changes in consumer behaviour.

Round one Apps like Instagram and Pinterest aren’t just entertainment platforms for sharing images and videos, they are becoming increasingly influential channels for product promotion and marketing. Our research shows that one in three consumers have purchased an item after discovering it on these networks. Capitalising on this trend, technology companies aren’t just monetising consumer behaviour with advertising, as they have done previously. This time the likes of Google, Facebook and Twitter are responding with ‘buy buttons’2 and in-app eCommerce functionality. This development could potentially deal a blow to retailers by cutting out the need for consumers to visit retail websites altogether and also impact their margins, as technology companies profit by taking a cut of each sale.

The main event? Investments in virtual and augmented reality by Google and Facebook point to a desire to influence how we experience and interact with the world around us, including how and where we shop. For retailers, the implications of this could be huge, akin to the impact of the internet on out of town shopping centres in recent years.

Virtual ‘Second Life’ style shopping centres seem unlikely, however innovation in this area could lead to the creation of the ultra-connected, ultra-informed consumer, who is able to compare prices, check product reviews, and make purchases in real-time, in any location. Already, we’re seeing moves towards this with the much-hyped launches3 of Apple Pay, Google Wallet and Samsung Pay, among others. Having made it easier for consumers to find what they want to buy and purchase, enabling payment is a logical next step. Financially, it’s a no brainer with revenues to be made from facilitating transactions, not to mention access to highly valuable data and information regarding consumer shopping behaviour.

Roll with the punches As technology companies become more dominant – Google for instance controls over two-thirds of the global search market – they will wield even greater power over retailers and the consumers that use their services. However, they also offer great opportunities. To come out on top in this fast-changing environment, retailers must take advantage of new innovations. But first, they must ensure that the basics are in place. All too often the rate of technological innovation is considerably faster than the speed at which retailers can implement and, as a result, projects are often out of date by the time they are completed. However, it’s important not to rush into anything blindly. Before investing, consider your next move carefully. Question whether new tools and services will really impact your business and how much value investment in these areas will deliver. If something is not going to shift the needle, it might simply not be right for your business or customer base. As the fight for online dominance gathers pace throughout 2016, retailers that keep on their toes and adapt decisively to changing circumstances will be the ones that ultimately go the distance. 1. www.zdnet.com/article/facebook-shopify-tighten-e-commerce-tieswith-merchant-page-shop-section 2. www.greenlightdigital.com/blog/posts/pinterest-buyable-pins-andinstagram-shop-now-buttons 3. www.greenlightdigital.com/blog/posts/mobile-the-barrier-to-acontactless-society www.greenlightdigital.com | | +44 (0)20 7253 7000 www.greenlightdigital.com  +44 (0)20 7253 7000

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Paid Media Trends

OFFLINE EVENT TRIGGERS TO INFORM REACTIVE, PREDICTIVE AND PERSONALISED ADVERTISING KRISHAN NURSIMOOLOO, DISPLAY DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

There are two digital marketing disciplines that excel in prospecting potential audiences without relying on user intent triggers: Programmatic Display and Paid Social. These disciplines invariably use contextual, behavioural, probabilistic and deterministic data to predict intent, and then send the ‘right message, to the right user, at the right time’. Yet there is a new trigger - reality - which can drive awareness and consideration across target media channels by delivering a personalised message to consumers without the need for prior knowledge of a product or brand. In line with advances across the Internet of Things, 2016 will herald increased blurring of the offline and online domains, changing the way in which media is bought across all channels, with a particular emphasis on Digital Out of Home (DOOH) and mobile.

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Companies such as TVTY are an offline-to-online data bridge for media buying platforms. Simply put, they take reality-based triggers like weather, share price, temperature or pollution to drive strategic promotion of products and brands relating to those triggers. As an example, should the pollen count in Cardiff spike, TVTY could send a signal to our demand-side platform (DSP) so we can promote more anti-allergy products in that location to users that will inevitably want them. The upshot of this technique is manifold; on the one hand is a standard ‘if this then that’ capability, whereby sales are driven in an area requiring a solution to a problem. But that is only the beginning - if we begin to think about ways in which creative can be dynamically optimised using real-word triggers, then user personalisation also becomes possible without the traditional reliance on deterministic data or prior user engagement.



2016 will undoubtedly see the introduction of hashtag trend analysis being used as a trigger, which then will follow the introduction of news triggers.



Additionally, TVTY offers a TV content mapping capability. If a TV ad appears across any one of 600 television channels globally, we can index that content and then use it as the basis for a ‘second screen’ campaign, targeting a user’s mobile device based on the probability that they are viewing online content on their smartphone simultaneously to their TV experience. For example, this capability could be brought to life if we tracked the theme tune of ‘The Great British Bake Off’ and used it as a trigger to increase the promotion of our client’s coffee machines across our food-oriented, mobile display network. Moreover, with a partnership agreement in place, the creative could reference the television programme and offer a special discount if a purchase is made within the programme’s air time. Furthermore, 2016 will undoubtedly see the introduction of hashtag trend analysis being used as a trigger, which then will follow the introduction of news triggers. When humanitarian crises strike, such as Nepal’s Earthquake, advertisers like the Disasters Emergency Committee could launch a fast-response appeal for funds, with the creative matching the information delivered in the news. With such technologies, the stage is set for greater dialogue between what the world needs, and the ability for advertisers to react to those needs - cross-media and in real time. Advertisers will learn to listen more, instead of competing to shout the loudest. www.greenlightdigital.com |  +44 (0)20 7253 7000

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Paid Media Trends

VIDEO IS THE CHANNEL BRANDS NEED TO FOCUS ON IN 2016 TIPHAINE JUNJAUD, SENIOR PAID MEDIA ANALYST

OUR DIGITAL WORLD IS TURNING VIDEO-CENTRIC The time spent on mobile devices is growing at breakneck speeds and it’s not set to slow down any time soon. We already spend on average more than 2 hours and 20 minutes per day on our mobiles, easily surpassing the time spent on desktops or laptops1. Add to this the development of 4G technology - which brings more power, more data and more coverage to users, this has naturally led to greater accessibility to the content we love in an instant. But it’s not just any type of content that has seen this spike; the surge applies specifically to one channel in particular - video. Today, it makes up the fastest-growing segment within the mobile category in terms of data traffic and consumption. In 2016, more than half of all video plays are expected to come from mobile devices, further cementing the importance of a great video marketing strategy and allowing this channel to truly compete with TV. With brands expected to spend more than half of their digital advertising budget on mobile2 as a channel (with a focus on social media in particular), it is crucial for those social platforms to capitalise on the current trend and begin focussing on video content.

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ADVERTISING ON TWITTER LITERALLY TAKES ANOTHER DIMENSION Having announced the acquisition of Periscope (the live mobile video streaming service) earlier this year, Twitter is once again reinforcing its position within the mobile video space. In October 2015, Twitter announced that advertisers will be able to place six second pre-roll ads3 before professional publishers’ videos as part of their Amplify program. This new feature allows content providers to monetise their videos, but more importantly, it opens up a new world for marketers and brands on this platform. Working as an automated marketplace, this model is quite similar to YouTube’s approach4 ¬ Twitter will dynamically serve ads to a targeted audience using its data and targeting criteria. Thanks to this format, brands will be able to connect effortlessly with viewers who will only ever be one click away from the ability to make a purchase. This advancement has left Facebook trailing in terms of advertising possibilities, but they’ve retaliated with a strong response to this threat.



‘DISCOVER, WATCH AND SHARE’ CLIPS WITH FACEBOOK With a huge growth in the number of videos uploaded and billions of clips viewed every day, Facebook has been building on that success by making its platform video-friendly5 and developing features around it. It’s now looking to go further than Autoplay or Suggested Videos by releasing a dedicated video hub. A video tab will appear on the homepage of both the web and mobile app versions of Facebook. When clicking this new video icon, users will be able to save videos that appear on their feeds, as well as having the option to discover recommended videos based on their viewer history, friends’ posts and posts by brands they follow. Importantly, Facebook insists the viewer will only see content relevant to them. 6

In terms of advertising options, no details have yet been disclosed, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Facebook adopt a YouTube-style format in the near future. What’s more, Facebook recently rolled out a novel way for marketers to buy ads on Facebook: target-pointrating buying, which is akin to how advertisers buy television spots. This new format has been developed to directly compete with traditional marketing channels by adopting a similar pricing strategy.

Today, video makes up the fastest-growing segment within the mobile category in terms of data traffic and consumption.



YOUTUBE – THREATENED FOR THE FIRST TIME? With this new video tool, Facebook is now directly competing with YouTube7 - the pioneer and current leader of online video sharing. Over the years, the Google-owned website has successfully developed a strong advertising model which offers marketers an effective way to reach their target audience efficiently. How will YouTube fight back now that Twitter is taking the same pre-roll advertising model approach8 and Facebook is trying to dethrone them9 from being the publishing video platform leader? The war of video publishing has only just begun. 1. www.emarketer.com/Article/UK-Adults-Spend-More-Time-on-MobileDevices-than-on-PCs/1012356 2. www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Ad-Spend-Top-100-BillionWorldwide-2016-51-of-Digital-Market/1012299 3. www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34487794 4. recode.net/2015/10/08/twitters-video-ad-strategy-now-looks-likeyoutubes-ad-strategy/ 5. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/10/13/facebook-tests-video-tabintensifying-youtube-rivalry/ 6. www.theverge.com/2015/10/13/9520991/facebook-video-feed-testbegins 7. www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34527926 8.www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-opens-pre-roll-video-admarketplace-1444338084 9. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Facebookchallenges-YouTube-with-new-video-features/articleshow/49348463.cms www.greenlightdigital.com |  +44 (0)20 7253 7000

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Paid Media Trends

2016:

THE YEAR OF P R O G R A M M AT I C OUTDOOR TRADING



In a brave new 2016, we can potentially follow customers’ journeys from awareness to intent and then, at the right moment in time, target them with programmatically-traded DOOH ads.



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Programmatic is about to embark on a new journey - no longer restricted to desktop computers, mobiles and TV screens, it will now infiltrate outdoor screens. While many advertisers are still getting to grips with this ‘new’ way of trading display advertising space, the media-buying powerhouses are sprinting ahead. Their vision is to extend brand messaging beyond the domestic four walls of consumers. Australia has been at the forefront of Programmatic Outdoor. Driven by IPG Mediabrands Cadreon and local Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) companies such as Brandscreen and Site Tour, outdoor advertising space has been traded programmatically for over a year now. Earlier this year, TubeMogul, a video demand-side platform, joined this partnership, enabling advertisers to buy 15-second ad slots programmatically on DOOH screens. Here in the UK, Xaxis, WPP’s digital mediabuying platform, has just announced the launch of its own DOOH technology, while on the publisher side Rubicon Project1 has collaborated with Bitposter. The latter says it will offer a staggering 98% of the UK’s outdoor inventory to advertisers. Partnerships like these will allow advertisers to buy audiences whilst they are on the go, for example in shopping centres, train stations, taxis and sports stadiums.



Underpinned by data and the capabilities of audience segmentation, brands can ensure the right message reaches the right consumers.



The data currently available is mostly locationbased, allowing for hyper-local targeting.

Bitposter will use demographic, geographic and contextual data to achieve appropriate targeting and, technological advancements permitting, experts are hoping to use facial recognition, weather data and GPS location data to enhance messaging options. In a brave new 2016, we can potentially follow customers’ journeys from awareness to intent and then, at the right moment in time, target them with programmatically-traded DOOH ads, for example by offering customers a discount if they were to purchase at the nearby store around the corner. Furthermore, demographic data can also be stored on membership cards, which allows advertisers to bid on programmatic outdoor ad spaces, such as tube platforms. In this case, as soon as enough people matching their target group criteria tap in at the station, an ad campaign could be triggered on the platform, instantly bringing popular products top-of-mind in key locations at key times. There are some obvious benefits to trading outdoor ad spaces programmatically; it is efficient, targeted and accountable. Similarly, it can also increase sales of local businesses and, as such, bring an economic uplift to locations with DOOH screens. Above all, it can be the bridge between domestic screens and outdoor screens, drawing a full circle of a user’s physical journey through today’s digitalised world. Let 2016 be the year of Programmatic Outdoor Trading!

INA ARENS, HEAD OF DISPLAY

1. http://rubiconproject.com/press-releases/rubicon-projectsautomation-technology-to-power-out-of-home-advertising/ www.greenlightdigital.com www.greenlightdigital.com ||   +44 +44 (0)20 (0)20 7253 7253 7000 7000

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Paid Media Trends

WHO CARES ABOUT DEVICE AND CHANNEL?

IT’S ALL ABOUT INTEGRATION “Did you look at the effect that was having on your other channels and devices?”

“We don’t see sales on mobile, so we turned it off”

Sadly, this is a conversation we have with far too many brands. Everyone has heard Google’s annual “it’s the year of mobile” speech, yet mobile performance is outshined by that of desktop, leaving more brands opting not to use the channel altogether. But that’s marketing right? Throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. If mobile doesn’t convert, then you surely should turn it off, right? Wrong. This year, mobile penetration in the UK is a whopping 81% and is set to grow to almost 100% by 2018. The latest Google research suggests that the average user will typically check their phone 150 times per day and 1

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“No. We just turned it off.”

within the same timeframe also switch between devices 28 times. What’s key here is that users are searching for the same thing across multiple devices, meaning a search on a mobile device may lead to a desktop or tablet conversion – but this is hugely dependent on brands appearing within mobile search results in order to gain a conversion on another device. What do we recommend to clients that fall within this bucket? We compare the difference between brand and desktop traffic when mobile was on vs when mobile was off, and lo and behold, there’s a direct correlation.

YOUR SITE NEEDS TO MEET THE DEMANDS OF THE MODERN MOBILE USER In a fast-paced, demanding world where we expect the best at all times, a below-par site is not enough to keep the average user browsing and engaged – this holds true across all devices, and of course, all channels. This is why user experience-oriented and responsive websites are becoming increasingly important to maintain and engage with valuable on-site users – and that need will continue to grow in 2016. But of course, design is no substitute for content, which needs to be high quality, engaging, relevant and shareable ¬ whether it be on-page or off-page. Now pay attention, as this is where it gets really interesting… Historically, the focus was on divergence, meaning diverging away from a search focus and testing multiple other channels to complement search activity. Over the past year or so, we’ve seen more of a focus on integration and converging channels; or, as we like to put it, ‘think audience first, channel second’. And we expect this trend to continue into 2016. In 2016, content pieces need to be planned with Paid Social to allow amplification and promotion across all devices and multiple channels. Moreover, while you’re at it, you need to think beyond your blog, Facebook and Twitter. YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google, with the average person watching two online videos per day2. As a marketer, this is a key channel to leverage in order to really engage your audience through storytelling and engaging videos. And that’s not just on YouTube. There’s a multitude of Video on Demand (VoD) platforms to be used, along with video ads across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and organic videos on the likes of Periscope.

“Users are searching for the same thing

across multiple devices, meaning a search on a mobile device may lead to a desktop or tablet conversion.



IN SUMMARY: Should all brands cover all of these platforms all the time? Simply put, no. Should all brands consider which of these platforms suit their audience, and when the optimal times to run campaigns are? Absolutely. Should these campaigns be planned for all devices? Of course!

And that’s really the point here. 2016 is likely to emerge as a year where we see continued growth in mobile penetration and use, leading to an even bigger need for mobile-friendly and adaptive sites. Content will continue to be king and needs to be planned to support all channels and devices that users are likely to switch between – whether it’s written or video content. In a nutshell, this is audience targeting; converging visibility and high quality across all devices and appearing where your audience wants to find you, be it search, social, content or display.

ANGELA KNIBB, SENIOR SEARCH MANAGER

1. http://www.mobilesquared.co.uk/blog/uk-mobile-smartphoneforecasts/ 2. http://www.powertraffick.com/digital-marketing-trends-statistics www.greenlightdigital.com |  +44 (0)20 7253 7000

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Paid Media Trends

REVIVE YOUR BRAND MESSAGE THROUGH STORYTELLING ON SOCIAL MEDIA NICKY CARR, PAID MEDIA MANAGER

As we enter 2016 we’ll be saying “goodbye” to random product ads and we’ll start to embrace storytelling advertising strategies across search channels. You may recall that last year I predicted the evolution of hyper-targeted campaigns1 which saw brands use the power of audience targeting via their chosen medium to target customers and potential customers with tactics such as Custom Audiences. Google has now jumped on the bandwagon with the introduction of Customer Match, allowing advertisers to target their existing customers with tailored campaigns and remarketing tactics.

Now that brands have mastered audience targeting, it’s key that messaging is kept relevant in order to avoid feeds which are ignored and unseen – particularly since social media platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram are now home to plenty of storytelling campaigns. With such a wide audience to target (Instagram recently announced active user figures in excess of 400 million) and the richness of today’s organic content striking a chord with users, now’s the time to start your own brand story. Whether it be a nod to brand heritage, a product review or an aspirational piece, the recipe to success is simple; mix a good story with compelling imagery on social media. As marketers, it’s key to be ahead of the game by creating stories with the customer in mind in order to serve them meaningful content. Our advice would be to avoid being overly promotional and instead create a story that is native to the channel. What does this mean? Users resonate with brands that can demonstrate they ‘get’ them or brands they aspire to and therefore want to connect with, follow, pin, like or snap and as such, brands can gain traction through visual storytelling in this way. Ad campaigns can also be crafted to tell a story utilising the ad formats available to them, such as a carousel, 30-second videos and still ads on Instagram, the Cinematic Pin on Pinterest or Snapchat’s video ads. In 2016 we’ll see a further rise in brands collaborating with content creators and influencers to tell their story across social and search channels. This, in turn, will drive engagement and build their audience base, who have come to expect more than just product placement in an ad to get them to convert and stay engaged. It’s a crowded marketplace out there, but the options are available for brands to get themselves seen in a way that counts to their users.

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1. http://www.greenlightdigital.com/blog/dviewer/web/viewer. html?file=/blog/media/6614198/prediction_magazine_-_web.pdf

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Paid Media Trends

GREATER FOCUS ON PERSONA TARGETING ISABEL FIGUERIEDO, SENIOR PAID MEDIA ANALYST

“ How can we reach a more tailored audience?”

This is one of the most repeated questions that our clients ask us. We give them the option of Display or even Paid Social and they’ll get excited about the targeting options offered by these platforms, particularly as they can use existing clients’ email lists for social media campaigns. However, everything changes when we forecast conversion rates, which are typically far lower than those seen in Search. Until now, Social Media has been the perfect place to get closer to your target audience (albeit with a lower chance of achieving conversions) and Search has been the weapon of choice to achieve conversions, but it’s argued that there’s still some way to go in terms of reaching exactly who we want.

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We recently saw Google act to address this issue when demographic targeting was added to Search campaigns, remarking lists for search ads (RLSA) and, more recently, Gmail Sponsored Promotions (GSP’s). And then Google delighted us with another surprise: Customer Match. Now, for the first time, advertisers can use their email databases to reach previous customers with tailored ads based on what’s already known about their preferences and interests. Google AdWords is starting to catch up with Facebook’s targeting options, with the added bonus of being able to spread campaigns across platforms such as YouTube, Gmail and Search. This muchdesired layer of persona targeting is a welcome update from Google, and I predict this is just the beginning of more great things to come our way in terms of improving targeting options. Remarketing has become one of the most repeated words in the pay-per-click world and clients are starting to like it more and more. There’s no doubt that Google will keep developing ideas and adding new features to ensure a more effective and progressive approach to persona targeting. What else can we expect in 2016? Lookalike Audiences available for Search? Remarketing using Customer Match lists available for mobile app installs and universal app campaigns? Time will tell, but it’s looking to be a very promising year for Paid Media indeed.

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SEO Trends

2015: HOW DID WE DO?

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Usability as a ranking factor

AuthorRank

One of the luxuries of making SEO predictions is it’s often hard to be proved wrong (the flip side is, of course, that even when you’re right, you can’t conclusively prove that either!). That’s certainly the case with our headline prediction1 last year, where we essentially said usability would become an important direct ranking factor.

If any prediction deserves the title ‘impossible to prove or disprove’ it’s this one. The essence of our augury was that, despite the public closure of Google’s authorship Google+ programme, the underlying AuthorRank algorithms (the ones that attempt to rank the credibility of authors instead of content) would remain important and indeed become more so over the next 12 months. We said that Google could and would use author bylines and schemas to work out who is writing content, thus replacing the job that the Google+ authorship programme was supposed to do.

A year later and this topic has received a lot of press, mostly with Google denying that some potential usability signals are used to rank sites at all (albeit slightly evasively, as you might expect). We also predicted a specific addition to Google’s Search Console toolkit, namely reporting on a broader set of usability issues, not just the limited number of mobile usability factors they considered at the time. That hasn’t come to pass either. So, we probably need to go and buy a new crystal ball because our current one isn’t looking too hot. But I still think the prediction we made contains an important kernel of wisdom about usability – so ignore at your peril. At the beginning of May 2015, we had a mysterious ‘quality update’ from Google that caused a lot of ranking shifts. Nothing has ever been confirmed by Google and there’s still no industry consensus about this update, but our testing strongly indicates that usability was at least an important component of it. And we also predicted that Google would be attempting to crawl in a more advanced way to get a better appreciation of user experience, which we’ve definitely seen happening. Unfortunately this has caused more problems for most sites as duplicate content and junk pages that search engines have no business crawling have ended up in the index – but it still shows that our thought process was right. Let’s split the difference and call the prediction half right!

The answer to “did this happen?” is (obviously) “who knows?” - but, if pushed, I’d say the lack of widespread adoption of things like bylines and author schema markup certainly implies that it’s not a strong ranking factor the industry is seeing just yet. And to be fair, there are serious challenges to Google implementing anything like it, for example the existence of multiple authors with the same name. This is definitely one to revisit in the future.

Penguin goes real time The final SEO prediction we made last year was that the Penguin algorithm would become much faster, if not a real-time algorithm. For us, this was an important step that Google had to take to keep its search results relevant. At the time of writing, a Penguin update hasn’t happened. But on the 1st October 2015, Google confirmed that a Penguin update was imminent, and it would be real-time. We haven’t seen any signs that this has actually happened just yet, and what ‘imminent’ actually means is anyone’s guess, but I’ll take that as a win - thanks Google! 1. www.greenlightdigital.com/blog/magazine/greenlightmagazine-2015-predictions

ADAM BUNN, DIRECTOR OF SEO & SOCIAL MEDIA

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SEO Trends

WHAT 2015 TAUGHT US ABOUT THE WORLD OF SOCIAL Brand adoption of social media This time last year, we had something of a face-off in the agency between two opposing camps: those who felt brands would empower their staff to share social messages in 2015, and those who were unconvinced that brands were ready to truly embrace digital. We narrowly came down on the pessimistic side of the argument, but what actually happened over the last 12 months? Brand attitudes towards social have moved slowly. The big players such as Facebook, Twitter, Apple and Google have certainly ramped up their commercial offerings (Apple Pay, purchase links in tweets mooted…) but it hasn’t taken off in the way that some might have expected. 20 20

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Whilst technology might start to mature (and that is certainly the situation with social media), it takes considerably longer for us humans to catch up with its potential. History has taught us that this will inevitably happen, especially if you consider that ten years ago people were declaring 2006 as the Year of Mobile (much like they’d stated two or three years prior too!). Novel new technologies like QR codes and the prospect of 3G speeds would open the commercial floodgates on mobile. But ultimately that probably only really happened this year – the year that search queries on mobile finally overtook desktop. The majority of brands certainly haven’t put their faith in employees to share on social. It’s a nascent movement, particularly in the US where ‘social ambassadors’ are recruited from the workforce and incentivised to merge their employer’s brand messaging into their own social profiles. Whether this will become a de facto approach or will remain appropriate for a niche is yet to be seen. Let’s give it, shall we say, ten years? THE YEAR OF SOCIAL SHOPPING We also predicted an increase in wearable tech, augmented reality and the use of mobile data to see social becoming more directly shoppable.

Well, 2015 was the year of the Apple Watch, so wearable tech certainly received mass attention, but it’s wrong to claim it conquered the mainstream1. Facebook’s development of Oculus Rift continues to look intriguing, but remains in the tech geek realm for now. However, mobile data and its potential for programmatic advertising is probably a fact of people’s lives, although most of us are unaware of its daily use. But shoppable social has made more of an incremental advance, rather than any great leap forward. Social is the most personal form of media, almost intimately so. This means that any sales techniques need to be suitably sensitive and adhere to personable yet appropriate tones. The reality is that there have been very few well-crafted campaigns that have embraced the potential of the channel and the audience properly to really show the big returns on investment that will kick start the gold rush that the platforms are hoping for. That’s not to say that Facebook and Google are exactly struggling when it comes to revenues. In fact, consolidation in the digital space, social media in particular, is what has characterised 2015. The big beasts have swallowed up interesting (or threatening) new businesses, remembering how they grew at the expense of their forebears. Consolidation in social is happening for the first time since the emergence of YouTube and Facebook a decade or so ago. Fewer new platforms have been introduced this year than in previous years and there has been less technical innovation, replaced by a slower evolution. 1. www.greenlightdigital.com/blog/posts/the-apple-watch-is-itworth-the-gamble-for-marketers

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SEO Trends

2016 WILL BE THE YEAR OF NEW MOBILE SEO UPDATES AND TOOLS Stefania Romanelli, SEO Consultant Damian Burke, Senior SEO Consultant Matthew Hawes, Senior SEO Executive AGREE

UNDECIDED

95%

5%

SEO TEAM CONSENSUS There’s no doubt that the biggest SEO event in 2015 has been the Google mobile-friendly algorithm update1 in April, also known as ‘Mobilegeddon’. The vast industry coverage and actions which followed have influenced how we think about mobile, however, many issues remain unresolved and many questions have been left unanswered. For this reason, we think that Google hasn’t finished with mobile yet, and 2016 will see further mobile-centric updates introduced, particularly geared towards the way in which Google evaluates and indexes mobile-friendly websites. PREPARE FOR THE MOBILE-ONLY INDEX It’s no secret that Google has been planning the release of a new mobile-only index2. But how will it work? Our prediction is that its main purpose will be to allow Google to have a dedicated index for mobile websites, app content and deep links to screens in apps, without having to include a huge number of related ranking factors into the desktop algorithm. This way the desktop index won’t be slowed down to include content that should never rank in a desktop search. 22

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The primary focus for the Mobilegeddon update earlier this year was to ensure that optimised crawlability and UX for mobile websites would be rewarded. The new index will benefit from that, but will also trigger new optimisation processes. For example, we think that the recent increase in focus on deep links and app-indexing for both Android and iOS3 indicates that Google’s mobile index will treat apps like first-class citizens, allowing app listings to attain significantly more visibility within mobile search engine results pages (SERPs). Conversely, mobile websites that currently enjoy an above the fold organic ranking will probably get pushed below the fold in mobile SERPs, especially for queries that are highly correlated with mobile app results. Something we learnt during the mobile update period was that Google was not exclusively focusing on the improvement of mobile page speed, the minimisation of redirects or the evasion of mobile-only errors. This was because the algorithm would heavily rely on desktop signals for these kind of factors. Our guess is that factors such as page speed and load time will rebound in focus with the new index.

“ FACTORS SUCH AS PAGE SPEED AND

LOAD TIME WILL REBOUND IN FOCUS WITH THE NEW INDEX.



This means that SEO managers, marketers and web developers should start considering desktop and mobile websites as two completely different entities - even if they’re using a responsive design - because the components to consider may be completely different for each. For example, developers and marketers should consider the impact intrusive advertising4 has on mobile user experience. Google took action against intrusive advertising in November 2015, with the first update to the mobile algorithm targeting app interstitials displayed after a user’s transition from the SERPs to the webpage. This update has been challenged by some who feel that sites using large ads that block page content should be affected. Google has countered this by highlighting the easy alternatives to app install interstitials, recommending the use of app install banners instead as they offer a consistent form of advertising that allow users to have control of their browsing experience. With the rise of Adblocker usage5, this could lead Google to introduce best practices for on-page advertising, to reduce negative impact on one of their primary revenue streams. With this in mind, Google is likely to provide further mobile optimisation guidelines around improving latency, crawl-efficiency and rendering. Google currently provides mobile insights across the mobile-friendly test tool6, PageSpeed Insights7, Google Analytics and mobile usability reports8 in Search Console, with varying degrees of detail and data accuracy attributed to each.

A pass on the mobile-friendly test, for example, is no guarantee of a mobile-friendly tag on search results, and usability warnings from Search Console can only be downloaded by issue category, rather than a page-level laundry list of obstacles to overcome for all problem sections and templates of the website. For Google to allow web developers and SEO managers to focus on the mobile experience and work towards new mobile-centric indexes, we predict they will start to provide a more comprehensive toolset which includes more granular detail. Some new insights within the tool will likely be focused towards latency and rendering, providing feedback on issues such as slow load times from certain locations or even specific devices. Such changes would allow web developers to test multiple live or test pages (including enhanced PageSpeed Insights such as server response times) in the early stages of development, rather than waiting for individual issues to be flagged once already live on the web and within the index. For the first time, there would be a degree of proactivity to the optimisation process as opposed to the reactive approach that many have had to adopt to keep up with algorithm updates. 1. http://searchengineland.com/library/google/google-mobilefriendly-update 2. www.thesempost.com/google-working-completely-separatemobile-index-desktop-index 3. http://moz.com/blog/how-to-get-your-app-content-indexedby-google 4. http://thedistance.co.uk/2015/09/google-update-to-stopintrusive-interstitial-app-adverts 5. http://blog.brightroll.com/2015/09/24/this-is-not-the-endad-blockers-and-the-future 6. www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly 7. http://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ 8. http://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6101188?hl=en

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SEO Trends

ALL HAIL THE YEAR THAT CONTENT REMAINS KING Bea Patman, Head of SEO AGREE

DISAGREE

84%

11%

UNDECIDED

5%

SEO TEAM CONSENSUS Akin to Great Britain’s celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II becoming the longest-reigning UK monarch this year, the marketing world will enjoy similar celebrations in 2016, as content – for yet another year – reigns king. Alright, it’s not the most ground-breaking prediction. Or original. In fact, it doesn’t sound like much of a prediction at all just yet. But a brief look back over the past year in advertising should help illustrate just why we believe that all roads point to editorial content in 2016.

GOING TO SEE ADVERTISING SHIFT “ WE’RE FROM SURROUNDING ONLINE CONTENT TO ACTUALLY BEING THE CONTENT. ”

THE YEAR OF THE AD CRUNCH The Guardian described1 summer 2015 as “the moment a perfect storm hit national newspapers”. Bit dramatic, eh? They were specifically referencing the decline in print advertising, which is still the main stream of income for most publications. Major newspaper advertisers slashed their budgets in 2015, leading to a drop of nearly 30% in the market. You might assume that budgets were being shifted to digital ad spend instead, however, the data shows otherwise. Year-on-year growth in digital advertising revenue for news brands in the UK slowed down to sluggish single figures, while Google and Facebook scooped up half of the UK’s digital ad spend between them. AND WHEN IT SEEMED LIKE IT COULDN’T GET ANY WORSE... Just as the stormy summer was winding down to a close, Apple hit advertising with a whole new lightning bolt: iOS 9 brought ad blocking to the mainstream. The operating system, released in September, features support for ad blocking technology, allowing iPhone users to cut ads out of their internet browsing experience entirely. The move has widely been interpreted as a shot at Google and its growing dominance in the Display market, but all media sellers – particularly the already squeezed news brands – are being hit hard.

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Nevertheless, many advertisers are viewing the situation pragmatically. Constantine Kamaras2, who chairs the board of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, points out that the popularity of ad blockers is directly affected by the quality of ads. “Digital advertising has not put at the forefront the fundamental truth that the user experience is paramount,” he says, “and no advertising that does not respect the user experience is going to work.” Advertisers are recognising that a new approach is required in order to survive in the age of ad blocking. WHAT NOW? So this is where the real prediction comes in: how will advertisers respond to this requirement and how will publications remain ad-supported within this context? On these points I’m with leading iOS and web developer, Marco Arment3, who points out that “ethically and tastefully presented native advertising, such as sponsored posts in feeds is an effective and user-friendly way of unobtrusively delivering advertising”. In short, we’re going to see advertising shift from surrounding online content to actually being the content. This approach ties in neatly with the idea that the user experience needs to be prioritised – native advertising must pass editorial muster and satisfy higher consumer expectations. Nevertheless, this approach will come with pitfalls and teething problems for the marketing industry to address. What are the precise distinctions between native advertising and content marketing? What KPIs should each one deliver against, and which should they avoid? What impact will this have on traditionally editorial-led channels, like SEO, given that natural search algorithms are likely to evolve to account for the changing shape of content? It’s certainly not going to be an easy or straightforward transformation (let’s face it – they seldom are) but advertising has to evolve – and we predict that the future will be editorial. 1. www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/18/newspapers-advertisingcrunch-print-digital-slowdown 2. www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/03/ad-blockersadvertising-mobile-apple 3. www.marco.org/2015/08/11/ad-blocking-ethics

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SEO Trends

THE END OF CLICKBAIT Kevin O’Connor, Content Marketing Manager AGREE

38%

DISAGREE

29%

SEO TEAM CONSENSUS

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UNDECIDED

33%

If you follow any content publishers or brands on social media, you’re bound to have been bombarded with content using clickbait titles1 similar to the statements opposite at some point, but you may also have noticed they’ve become less prominent in recent months. This is due to both a shift in publishers’ thinking on the function of content, as well as its relationship with its audience (which incidentally coincides with a decisive effort by the sharing platforms to discourage such content). It’s hard to say exactly when this trend first started, but it came to a head last year when Facebook - who had once favoured clickbait headlines in its News Feed ranking algorithm - began a series of measures2 to ensure clickbait headlines were punished and became less prominent in newsfeeds. It’s easy to understand why the trend started; readers became their own worst enemies when it came to rewarding sites using clickbait tactics by eagerly clicking the titles, and then being served more clickbait in the footer or sidebar and clicking on those too. These articles were then shared heavily on social media, and traffic levels spiked. By the same token, it’s also easy to understand why brands embraced this new model, which seemingly rewarded a low-input, high-impact creative model and required less investment for higher shares and traffic – it was a sure-fire way to get the results brands wanted, fast. The backlash is now in full force, however. Writers have been burned by this type of content before and readers are starting to recognise it for what it is – to such a degree that a Chrome extension has recently been formulated to recognise clickbait headlines and replace them3 with more honest alternatives in real-time. Algorithmically, channels like Reddit, Facebook and Google are leading the charge on stamping out clickbait titles by attributing greater focus on aspects such as bounce rate or time spent on site, to help them decide the best content for readers to be served.

In order to see what the future of content might look like and what publishers and brands should replace it with, we need to look at two of the former trendsetters in the world of clickbait. Buzzfeed4 and Vice5 operate at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to target audiences and type of content served, but both embraced the clickbait model with gusto, which has allowed them to establish huge empires that control audiences of millions. Any fans of either platform will have noticed a gradual shift over the past year in terms of the content they publish, as well as how it’s being targeted. Both have remained at the forefront of topical news and trends, whilst also serving well-thought-out and researched longform pieces (both text6 and video7) which have had less of a broad appeal and been more targeted (both geographically, as well as by audience taste and type). Targeting niches and producing well-researched and useful content has been the mantra of content marketing for years, but it seems that publishers have finally caught up with that message, and brands are surely soon to follow.

1. https://xkcd.com/1283 2. www.nytimes.com/2014/08/26/business/media/facebooktakes-steps-against-click-bait-articles.html 3. www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10598821/Cynicalsoftware-puts-an-end-to-clickbait-headlines.html 4. www.buzzfeed.com/?country=uk 5. www.vice.com/en_uk 6. www.buzzfeed.com/bigstories 7. www.vice.com/en_uk/videos

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