What do Google’s latest updates mean for marketers? Why do you need to be always-on? And how do we use metadata for voice search? Maybe we should ask Alexa…

1. Always-on and micro moments

Each of your customers has a different life or buying cycle, and it’s not enough just to run a short campaign and hope it satisfies journey demands.

Brands must now move to an ‘always-on’ tactic, available to deliver content, retargeting and lead generation on a continuous basis. The goal is always moving, and you need to get ahead of it, so make it this decade!

Being there for your customers when they are contemplating making their split-second decisions means embracing those micro moments 365 days a year.

One way to prepare is to build a decision-point calendar and plan out pieces of content to coincide with these moments, such as wedding guest outfit searches in spring, or tax filing software before the tax year end.

“Conversational metadata and keywording will intensify across 2020”

2. Metadata for voice search

Brands have been changing the way they optimise pages and content to capture the conversational way in which voice search queries are framed. This includes longer keywords and phrases and framing queries as questions.

The focus on improved ‘conversational’ metadata and keywording will intensify across 2020 as more brands vie for top results. This helpful article charts ‘trigger words’ for queries. Think: Which of your clients or brands are likely to be voice searched? How would people request those products, and using which words?

3. Get above the search results – position zero

Everyone wants that special SERP (Search Engine Results Pages) location – the text above the search results. But it’s not always cut out to be the best option. If your brand is not yet trusted or doesn’t have brand familiarity, people are unlikely to connect it with brand salience for their search.

Searchers will go for the brands they recognise, even if they’re lower down the rankings. It’s a dual effort: Your SEO efforts must match your content efforts on social and your website.

For global brands, some attention should be paid to multilingual SEO and content. And don’t forget voice search metadata! Building a checklist for each new page or campaign is a great way to make sure your strategy has a cohesive voice. If there’s one basic digital marketing trend for 2020 to embrace, it’s aligning all of your content efforts.

4. Get to grips with Google products

Although Google Lens has been around for a few years in digital marketing trends, image search will continue to increase in the next decade as people point their phones at their surroundings to identify interests.

As a starter for ten, this means ensuring your logo is well distributed. It must appear across all digital marketing materials, on presentations and signage.

Make sure you pay attention to image SEO on any other pieces of intellectual property.

Gallery ads is another feature to take into consideration for their visually-stimulating carousels of content and product offers. Plain old text adverts in search rankings are so last year…

5. PPC automation

In getting the right ads to the right people at the right stage in their journey, PPC automation helps your campaign reach and eliminates manual bidding.

The Google Ads tools still have some work ahead, but it’s time to start considering real-time bidding as a more effective use of resource, money and data.

There is an ongoing refinement process to ensure ads aren’t directed at lower-value traffic with low prospect value. It’s a good idea to stay up to date so you will be ready to use them when the time is right for you!

Responsive Search Ads from Google also have a promising future by matching ad content to search queries. This means providing alternate synopses, headlines, and keywords for each piece of content. You can also check out Amazon Ads to sell direct to an already-shopping consumer.

If you want to know more about how Editions Financial can help you navigate the 2020 digital marketing trends, get in touch….