Search engine marketing news round up

If you’ve missed any of the latest news from the digital marketing industry over the last few weeks, read on for our handy recap of everything you need to know this month.

Instagram launches Checkout One of the biggest news stories of the month was the launch of Instagram Checkout. Announced last week, Checkout will allow Instagram users to buy products directly from their feed and pay for their items without ever having to leave the Instagram app.The functionality is simple – users clicking on a brand’s shopping post will be presented with an option to ‘Checkout on Instagram’. They can select their colour, size and other important information, then enter name, shipping and payment details. Personal information is required with the first purchase only and thereafter, it is saved on the app for future orders.Transactional notifications such as shipping info will all be provided through Instagram, giving a seamless end-to-end solution. Checkout is currently being trialled in Beta with a number of major brands including Adidas, H&M, Dior, Mac and Kylie Jenner Cosmetics. Google says March update wasn’t the biggest It has widely been reported that Google carried out a core algorithm update in March. As is standard, the search engine has been tight lipped about the update but did confirm it was a core algorithm update though it wasn’t the largest update that has taken place. Some sites that saw their positions suffer as a result of the previous update did regain some ground with the March update but others don’t seem to have improved.One of the things that analysts have been able to determine is that sites which benefited from the previous August update appear to have suffered with the March one and actually lost visibility. Voice search users happier with Google Home than Alexa A new survey has suggested that Google Home smart speaker owners use voice search more than Alexa owners and have greater satisfaction levels. The research shows that Google Home owners interact more with their devices for a broader range of requirements – from checking on the weather and ordering groceries to streaming music, making calls, ordering food, checking traffic and checking opening times.The reason that this information is so notable is that currently, Amazon’s Alexa is the clear market leader with more devices present in homes than Google Home. However, with Google Home users more satisfied with their voice assistant and more dependent on it, we could see a shift towards Google Home in the not too distant future.