It’s Black Friday week, the busiest time of the year, so what’s the latest from the digital marketing world? Here’s a round-up of the biggest stories from the last seven days.
Good Surrounding Content Boosts Ad Engagement
Inskin Media believe that if there is quality editorial content around an online ad then it becomes more effective. So, the company has done a study into the conscious and subconscious reactions of more than 4,000 people to see if this belief is true.
The research found that publisher branding on some sites increased ad effectiveness by 60 per cent, showing that the information source is a huge trust factor. However, it didn’t prove the idea that content directly impacted the ad performance.
“The relationship a publisher has with a user can have a catalytic effect in terms of boosting the effectiveness of the ads it displays, which reveals an important lesson,” said Steve Doyle, CCO at Inskin Media.
“It shows that if online publishers pay more consideration to the reader experience, the ads will be more effective, so they can optimise yield while carrying more selective types of advertising.”
Direct Traffic Is The Most Influential Ranking Factor
According to the SEMrush Ranking Factors Study 2017, direct website traffic is now the most influential factor in where a site appears on SERPs. The study analysed 600,000 keywords to determine the rank of factors in terms of importance. This list is as follows:
1. Direct website visits
2. Time on site
3. Pages per session
4. Bounce rate
5. Total referring domains
6. Total backlinks
7. Total referring IPs
8. Total follow-backlinks
9. Content length
10. Website security (HTTPS)
11. Total anchors
12. Keyword in anchor
13. Keyword in body
14. Keyword in density
15. Keyword in title
16. Keyword in meta
17. Video on page
Google AdWords Reveals Black Friday Insights
According to Google, holiday shoppers are doing more research before buying than ever before and mobile ‘idea’ searches have increased by 55 per cent over the last two years. Therefore, the search giant is reminding advertisers that knowledge panels are more important than ever at this time of year.
What are the ‘hot’ items this year? Google has bracketed them into the below groups:
• Classic apparel brands like Vans, Canada Goose, and Nike Air Jordan Retro 11.
• Celebrity-backed products, with Kevin Durant’s Pharrell x adidas, and Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty topping the list.
• Gifts for gamers, including Razer phones, Nintendo Switch, and Call of Duty WW2.
You may also find it interesting to learn that searches containing the term ‘Black Friday’ increased by 80 per cent over the past two years.
91 Per Cent Plan To Shop Online This Weekend
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are known as the busiest time of the year for online shopping and Deloitte has investigated how far this reach is.
In a survey of 1,200 respondents, 75 per cent said they plan on shopping between Thursday and Monday. 91 per cent of shoppers said they plan on shopping online this weekend, whereas 85 per cent said they plan on shopping in-store.
The most popular time for online shopping is set to be Cyber Monday when 72 per cent said they will be purchasing online, compared to just 47 per cent on Black Friday.
For more news updates, guides and opinion pieces, take a look at a few more of our articles.