Weekly Marketing Insights and News Digest (16-22 November)

rgray weekly marketing insights and news digest 1611-2211

Turkey suing Google, link building losing its importance, a new highly demanded feature on Instagram, the best time to post on Instagram for different time zones, and much more from the world of digital marketing in our new episode of the RGray Weekly Marketing Insights and News Digest.

  • An important warning to one of the largest tech companies which may be followed by unpredictable repercussions or Google violating an antitrust law again. Read more in our weekly digest below.
  • Noel Ceta from the SEO Signals Lab Group shared a post on Facebook on how he made the piece of content to appear on the front page without any active link building. Want to know how did he manage? See more details in our article!
  • A new update on Instagram, that will help your topic-focused content become easily reachable for everyone: just type in the topic and see all the relevant posts. Check out our digest for more details.
  • Take a look at the infographic below about the best time to share the posts on Instagram for people from different cities, taking into account the different time zones.

1. Turkey has a problem with Google

Turkey has a problem with Google

This has been a tough year for major tech companies, and no wonder that Google is about to get a $25M fine and a request to alter its advertising strategy over the next 6 months.

However, if the USA or the EU were the ones to make a claim the news would already be on the first pages of the Top World Press, but it’s Turkey now, which has an issue with Google. Therefore, maybe it’s not of the highest importance for the vast majority of advertisers worldwide, there are possible far-reaching consequences. 

So, here comes what Turkey thinks:

  • Google does have a monopoly. The Turkish government is concerned about Google having a monopoly on search ads. This is not some kind of crazy assertion, as the U.S. Justice Department basically accused Google of a similar issue a month ago and the EU made Google pay billions for the same matter.
  • Search ads are a violation of antitrust law. On this one, Turkey would want to reconsider the assertions. The government claims that some companies are being forced out of the rankings, by putting ads in organic search. However, it is not totally accurate, even though the excess of search advertising has recently become a major concern.
  • Google needs to rapidly alter its strategy. Google was given six months to resolve its unfair ads strategy by Turkey’s competition authority.

It is of the highest possibility that Google will be pushed out of Turkey by the end of summer, but the problems would definitely not end here. It is a troubling warning for such an enormous tech company and it is not only Turkey to raise concerns regarding Google’s actions.

2. Do you really need links to rank content?

With these tips in mind, link building becomes so of less necessity

There is no clear way to manage link building: spamming templated e-mails or struggling to reach out with an organic approach. It seems there’s no easy way to do that.

However, with Google’s technologies growing, active link building is not as important to rank as it used to be. Noel Ceta from the SEO Signals Lab Group shared a post on Facebook on how he placed the piece of content on the front page without any active link building. That’s how the magic worked:

  • Noel created (and encourages to create) useful content, not repetitive and pointless stuff. Monotonous and boring content does not lead to the top positions on SERPs and getting organic links. Be unique and use engaging titles, pick the best article on your theme, and create something thousands of times better.
  • Promote the hell out of your content. If you know that you have outstanding content, you just need to find the best and the most effective ways to promote it. For instance, Noel was using Reddit, Twitter, Indie Hackers, Facebook groups, and even paid advertising.
  • Links will arise naturally, just make sure you’re promoting the right way. Remember you are not a ‘scummy spammer’, the one who joins random Facebook groups drops a link to their content and is looking for successful and impressive results. It doesn’t work that way and nobody does that anymore!

With these tips in mind, link building becomes so of less necessity – you just focus on the different parts: generate the best content you can and promote it the hardest you can!

3. There’s a new type of keyword research in town

On November 17, the new highly demanded feature was finally added to Instagram. It enables users to look for posts by keywords and topics in the search bar.

On November 17, the new highly demanded feature was finally added to Instagram. It enables users to look for posts by keywords and topics in the search bar.

So, what does it mean to marketers?

  • It’ll be a lot easier for users to find the wanted posts. It wasn’t as quick and convenient before, but now your topic-focused content becomes easily reachable for everyone. People will just type in a topic and see all the related posts.
  • We don’t know how the algorithm exactly works yet. However, for now, we noticed that even from small accounts, accurate keywords matches seem to rank well, which leads us to a perfect combo of recency and relevancy.
  • Guides can be a perfect way to get the audience involved. On Instagram, product and lifestyle guides may have a promising future – keep in mind, content marketers.

Try to not be too obsessed with a new update, it may take a while to see how many users are actually using it and for some alters to how it functions to still be implemented.

4. The Best Times to Post on Instagram During the Holidays [Infographic]

Even though it is in high demand, defining the best time to post on Instagram is really a challenge. Of course, it is different for every audience and depends on the number of certain circumstances.

However, you can still take advice from other brands to see when there is the highest engagement for them.

Planoly shared a guide to help businesses maximize their chances of success and develop their Instagram process.

As Planoly stated:

“We sat down and analyzed thousands of anonymized posts made by Instagram users on Planoly. Factoring in likes, comments, saves, and followers, we were able to find the best time for you to post your Instagram content for each day of the week.”

One of the FAQs was whether the guide is the same for each area. In the infographic below we shared the details for different time zones.

Take a look at the full description below.

The Best Times to Post on Instagram During the Holidays [Infographic]