Happy Tuesday!
This week we’re back with more exciting news in the world of internet marketing. We'll see how Youtube is testing ways to help creators make money from viewers. Bing is announcing refreshed Bing Webmaster Tools. As well, what ads coming to IGTV means for marketers and creators. We'll see how Amazon and Google are helping each other. Finally, we'll see news on the introduction of Twitter stories as the company bought a stories app developer chroma lab!
YouTube is Testing a New Way for Creators to Make Money from Viewers
As we know, the enormous traffic that comes into YouTube is making the platform ideal for monetization. YouTube is currently testing a new form of monetization that allows creators to earn money directly from viewers. The new feature lets viewers support their favourite creators by purchasing "applause" on videos they enjoy.
Applause is somewhat similar to purchasing SuperChats on live YouTube videos. However, the main difference is that it can be purchased on any video at any time. There is absolutely no benefit for the viewers; it's just designed as a way to support YouTube creators personally.
Viewers on the desktop version will be able to purchase applause by clicking the "applause" button below the video. YouTube will then display a pop-up, which allows users to complete the transaction. Google does not reveal the personal details of the buyer, so it's an anonymous way for viewers to support videos they enjoy!
Bing Announces Refreshed Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing announced on Wednesday that it will release the initial phase of a refreshed and improved Bing Webmaster Tools by the first week of March. They aim to offer a faster, cleaner, more responsive and actionable set of features for SEOs and Webmasters.
So, what are the new features?
Bing is not simply releasing a user interface update. Rather, this first release will have three main new features:
- Backlinks: The inbound link report in the current portal has been integrated with the disavow links tool. This is now a part of the new backlinks report in the refreshed portal.
- Search Performance: Page traffic and search keywords reports are getting integrated into one and are a part of the new search performance report.
- Sitemaps: Refreshed sitemaps with a fresh look.
Bing promises improvements that will help SEOs and webmasters build better-performing sites for search. These changes are being made to encourage more usage!
Ads Coming to IGTV: What it Means for Marketers and Creators
Instagram is internally "exploring" the idea of rolling out a monetization program for IGTV creators. The prototype partner program will help creators to produce earnings from their IGTV videos. This is by showing short ads and will hopefully encourage more quality content on the platform.
In this article, Grace Duffy is telling us what this means for marketers and creators.
Instagram also rolled out two new category listings within the following tab. This allows users to see which accounts they've interacted with the least in the past 90 days and which accounts have shown up the most by Instagram's algorithm.
Instagram is also working on a new video trimming feature. This will make it easy to edit and upload stories within the app. The new video editing tool comes with a built-in-video slider trimming tool that is available on many other platforms.
To learn more about the changes that are happening on Instagram, click here.
Searchmetrics Report: How Amazon and Google Help Each Other
It's important to understand the symbiotic relationship between Google and Amazon. Because of this, SEO and content marketing platform, Searchmetrics, has released a study based on 10,000 keywords.
The study found that even when Amazon has the first search result, it also has at least one or sometimes more additional low-level organic search results for nearly half the searches. Adwords listings for products on Amazon show up alongside product searches on Google. This is 10.5 percent of the keywords, above or below the organic search results.
We know that AdWords is now called Google Ads, but the report uses the old term to distinguish from other types of Google Ads. So, why would Amazon need to invest in paid AdWords if it already ranked first in Google Search results?
Searchmetrics' study said that "Amazon's organic snippet [result] is competing for searchers' attention with a carousel of product offers" in Google Shopping ads. In certain cases, the shopping unit can push Amazon's first organic result down below the fold for the desktop user.
Are Twitter Stories coming? The Company Buys Stories App Developer Chroma Labs
We've seen stories on almost every social media platform now, but what about Twitter? Twitter has acquired Chroma Labs, the company behind the Chroma Stories app.
Twitter confirmed the Chroma Labs team would join Twitter's product, design, and engineering teams. Stories content was a big draw for young users. Yet now stories have gained broad appeal across platforms like Instagram and Facebook and have become an essential advertising unit.
Twitter is one major platform that lacked this storytelling feature. However, it's likely to change now with the addition of the Chroma Labs team to its product group.
To Wrap it Up
We've seen a lot of things happening recently in Internet marketing this week. Youtube testing ways that will benefit the creators financially. Also, Bing coming up with refreshed Bing Webmaster Tools and Instagram planning on introducing IGTV ads internally. As well, how Amazon and Google are helping each other in search results. Finally, Twitter buying the Stories app developer Chroma Labs to introduce the storytelling feature on the platform!
