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Tag: Google

How Google and Facebook are Responding to COVID-19 Hoaxes

As the COVID-19 has been declared a global pandemic, false information has become more and more prevalent online. Social media users tend to believe the misinformation that they read without having enough source to support their claim. Many fake sites post on social media what should be done in order to stop the said virus, while others post to ask for funds to “help patients in need”, when in reality the money will just go into their personal pockets.

The good news is a lot of social media websites have been working closely in coordination with government agencies regarding the COVID-19, in order to resolve the continuous spread of fake news.

Recently, Facebook started inserting a box into news feed which directs users to the Centers for Disease control pages regarding the coronavirus. This essentially helps users determine the right page to go to, as a lot of scammers have been using this opportunity and time of crisis to take peoples’ donations by pretending to be health organizations. Through the help of Centers for Disease control page, users will be able to filter the latest information about the COVID-19 by only reading factual information.

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Image from: mobihealthnews

On the other hand, Google is trying to manage all the information related to COVID-19, by limiting the approval of articles or actions related to the virus. This limitation is Google’s solution to preventing misinformation from going viral on its platform. Google Assistant has approved new actions that will reject a whole host of violations. This is the strategy of Google to battle against fake news and lies on the Internet.

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Image from: voicebot.ai

In summary, all social media users should always be smart in choosing what to believe in and in choosing what they share online. There’s a lot of information going around in the Internet world! Make sure to always get your facts straight and only listen to reliable sources avoid misinformation. One share goes a long way!

Despite the pandemic and community quarantine, iManila’s lines remain open on how we can help you keep your business going despite this global lockdown. Drop us an email at [email protected]. Stay safe!

iManila Lunar New Year 2020 Promo

Gong Xi Fa Cai! iManila, one of the country’s leading website development and digital marketing agencies, presents our Lunar New Year 2020 Promo! 

Get a 5-page WordPress Website for only P 38,888.00 (exclusive of VAT) plus the following inclusions:

  • One Year Free Web and Email Hosting
  • One Year Free US Domain
  • Choose from a variety of available website templates
  • Free use of up to 25 Stock Photos
  • Free One Page Content Writing up to 200 words
  • Free WordPress Training

This promo is perfect for businesses who need a catalog or informative type of website to showcase their products and services. These types of websites are also ideal for companies who are rushing to start their Digital Marketing campaigns by launching Google and Facebook Ads.

Boost your online presence and provide relevant content to your target market through a fully functional and well-designed website! If you’re ready, we can have your website up and running in 30 days!

Promo runs from January 24 to February 29, 2020. 

CONTACT US now to get this LIMITED TIME OFFER! 

 

Google Chrome to Block Websites that are “Not Secure”

Last October, Google announced that its famous browser, Google Chrome will no longer be accepting the legacy versions of TLS (Transport Layer Security) 1.0 and 1.1, the cryptographic protocol used to encrypt transmissions between browsers and website servers. This year, the Google Chrome team has once again notified website owners that a new warning will appear while browsing.

Image from 9to5Google

 

When Google Chrome 81 debuts in March of this year, in the lead-up, Google will start displaying a full-page interstitial warning, “Your connection to this site is not fully secured” to the left of the address box to users that will try to access a site protected by outdated security protocols such as Chrome 79. Though this blockage plan isn’t on the run yet, the Chrome team has already started alerting users about this major update as this could cause major effects on user’s browsing activities and may expose user’s information sent to the site.

Chris Thompson of Google Chrome’s Security Team wrote recently, “We’re announcing a pre-removal phase in which we’ll introduce a gentler warning UI [user interface] and previewing the UI that we’ll use to block TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in Chrome 81.”

 

Image from 9to5Google

With this, Google encourages site administrators to update TLS legacy version 1.2 which was released over a decade ago, ahead of the TLS warnings. On the bright side, site administrators can still re-enable TLS 1.0 or 1.1 and disable the warning using the SSLVersionMin but only until January 2021, Google said.

Is your website ready for the new Google Chrome updates? Research shows that Google Chrome is one of the most used browsers not just in the Philippines but also in parts of Asia, Europe, and the US. Don’t scare away your visitors with a website that is not secure. We can help install your SSL in a matter of hours. Get in touch with our Sales Team through our trunkline at +632 3490 0000 or drop us an email at [email protected]. #iManila #WebsiteSecurity #SSL

iManila joins Google Learning Sessions 101

“Be there, be seen, be relevant”

 

Such were the words spoken by Google PH’s Agency Acceleration Specialist, Berns Bachar in the recently concluded Google Learning Session 101 at the Google Headquarters in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig last October 18, 2019.

The Google session was attended by various representatives from digital marketing agencies, and brand specialists from different companies in the Metro who were looking to learn more about Google’s Search and Display Ads, and YouTube Ads. Google PH’s training highlighted the importance of creating digital campaigns for the success of one’s business.  “One of the most effective ways to spread brand awareness is via Search ads,” Bachar said.

 

*Photo and figures by TechCrunch

 

Search Ads are intent-based campaigns where ads appear when users search for a particular item or brand through different keywords.

Basing on Google’s monthly search record, the search platform receives over 2.5-billion searches per month in the Philippines alone and 3.5-billion daily searches worldwide. Google’s search engine market is valued at 94% of all searches and outranks other search engines in most, if not all, countries in the world. A total of 70% of these searches take place in mobile devices while only 30% on desktop and tablet devices.

According to Google, their search platform is an arena where brands fight over to outrank competitors and get everyone’s attention. So Google warns, if you aren’t there, your competition will be!

YouTube ads, on the other hand, are not intent-based like search ads, hence, they only appear to users who are viewing videos relating to the brand. For the record, YouTube has more than 1.5-billion monthly active users, second to Facebook which has more than 2-billion active users monthly. Though outnumbered by Facebook, 90% of digital users globally consider YouTube as their primary destination and 70% of consumers go to YouTube before buying a product.

 

*Photo and figures by TechCrunch

 

According to another speaker, Andre Visenio, Google PH’s Agency Business Lead, there are four unique approaches that you may apply to your future YouTube ads:

“Attract, Brand, Connect and Direct”.

Attract is basically for a bumper or 6-seconder video ads. The video must start with a bang, run in the middle subtly and end it with another bang. To power your video ad, it must have good audio and sound effects, eye-catching visuals and a relatable storyline. Brand, however, is more of highlighting the brand; Connect is provoking an emotional connection, sometimes funny and mostly heart-touching video ads. While direct is like the word itself, ads that are direct with clear messaging.

Compared to other social media platforms, YouTube users tend to spend more time on the platform. On mobile specifically, YouTube reports the average session time as more than 40 minutes. This is great for small businesses looking to drive more attention to their ads.

 

*Photo by Sapling

 

The latter part of the training discusses the perks of creating a display campaign for businesses. According to Bachar, who previously discussed about search ads, “Consumers in a browsing mindset are more receptive to learning about brands.”

Unlike search campaigns that are intent-based, display ads are more passive as they only show up while skimming through websites to shop, watch videos or read articles. Display ads appear in Google Display Network (GDN) platforms such as Chrome, YouTube, Gmail, Google Map, and Google Play. In a report by Google, users spend 10 hours a day online, in which 42% of all users go to social media and the remaining 58% spend their time online outside of social media, doing either online shopping or reading articles. As for people who visit the website, 10% of them read news, 25% watch videos, 25% are shopping and researching, while 40% are playing games.

The era has come where brands would raise their fists and fight off other brands to step up and capture their target markets. Search, Display and YouTube campaigns are great ways to start in building your brand.

 

“People expect your brands to be present online, especially on the web. Take this opportunity to boost your brand on a bigger and wider market. Advise your clients, friends or families who sell their products offline to switch to digital now,” Bachar said.

 

Unsure of how you’re going to maximize these digital opportunities? We can help you! Send us an email at [email protected]! #iManila #GooglePartner #DigitalMarketing

 

iManila has earned its Google Search Specialization!

Last March 2019, iManila officially became a Google Partner. As a Google Partner, it not only allowed us to step up in our skills and expertise in running paid ads, but it has also pushed us to go for new milestones. With this, we’re happy to announce that just last month, we earned our Google Search Specialization!

This specialization comes at the right time for us as we continue to prove that as a digital agency, we’re well trained and equipped to help our clients become visible and relevant on the Google Search Network.

How can this benefit your company?

By partnering with a certified Google Partner agency like iManila who specializes in Google Search, you’re assured that the people working with you are experts in the field and can effectively run well-crafted Search Ads campaigns.

iManila is committed to continuously innovating and improving the digital marketing skills and expertise needed to help our clients reach their goals. This badge is just one of the many testimonies to that commitment.

If you’re looking for an agency to help you manage and run data-driven Google Ad campaigns, get in touch with us! Drop us an email at [email protected] or call us at +632 490 0000.

#GoogleAds #PaidAds #PayPerClick #DigitalAgency

POP or IMAP: Which one’s best for you?

 

One thing is certain for most of us, we read our email as often as how we read our social media notifications. It is the culture of always being connected that brings almost all of us to stick with our devices whenever wherever. And in the spirit of the modern connectivity, it is common for most corporate employees to access their emails in almost all of the device that they are using. This has blurred the lines between work and personal lives for corporate workers and even to some professionals.

And the truth that is just lying in front of us is that our lives are now entangled with our email addresses – with our emails – whether we like it or not. The modern world compelled us to be reliant on our email addresses in almost all of our activities online. It houses some of the most important information about us such as log-in details to other accounts, mobile banking, e-commerce, and even with government-related transactions.

And in dealing with your emails, you might have encountered the terms POP and IMAP a lot of times, especially when setting up your remote email server. Using a Mac book? You’ve probably done this to your Mac Mail. Or are you a windows user? You surely did this to your Outlook too. The same thing goes for Gmail client app for Android and iCloud email for iPhones.

If you are wondering what the terminologies like POP and IMAP, refer to backgrounder below.

History of POP

Post Office Protocol or what we know as POP was developed as a simple means of accessing emails remotely back in 1984. This release required login usual login credentials like username and password to download all the email at once. In 1985, POP2 was released which has provided a greater and better range of commands and replies compared to the first POP release.  POP2 also allowed users to choose to read only one message instead of downloading their entire email inbox at the same time. Lastly, in 1988, the release of POP3 has made accommodations of the easy and efficient way of retrieving emails on their personal computers. In was noted that since 1998, no updates of changes have been made to POP marking 14 years of stagnancy which somewhat equates to obsolescence in today’s fast-evolving online community.

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History of IMAP

On the other hand, Stanford Computer Scientist Mark Crispin developed the first IMAP at the Stanford Knowledge Systems Laboratory.  This protocol served as an alternative to POP by bringing in a two-way protocol that provides greater functionality for users.

Shortly after its first release, another release was launched carrying the revision made to the first IMAP. The next revision was released in the 1990s known as IMAP2bis. This was provided for the use of Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME), which allowed an increase in the number of functions used in managing mailboxes.

Email and password encryption made the last revision of IMAP as IMAP4 rev1 has been released in 1996.

So which one is best for me?

Since we’ve gone through histories, which is admittedly a little boring, let’s get down to business. In this era of connectivity, the efficient way of managing mailboxes is an imperative. And speaking of efficiently managing mailboxes. IMAP is the appropriate setup.

Why?

IMAP has the ability to synchronously update mailboxes remotely. And for people who are using multiple devices, IMAP is the way to go. Since updates are done synchronously, managing your mailboxes doesn’t take so much effort.

POP, on the other hand, relies on downloading the entire mailboxes remotely. This protocol won’t allow synchronous updates making it confusing and difficult to manage multiple mailboxes.

Worry not, because modern devices use IMAP as the default set-up for their email apps. And if by chance you’re still caught up in an old email client server, here are the following signs that would tell you that you’re using a POP configuration:

Sign 1: If I create folders on one of my devices, they are not replicated on others

Sign 2: If I read an email on one of my devices, I see it as unread on others

Sign 3: If I delete an email on one of my devices, I still see it on others

Once you have determined that you’re in POP setup, you need to call the attention of your IT personnel to set up to IMAP. Remember, you need some assistance from the tech guys to make sure your mailboxes are intact as you migrate to another protocol.

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And if by chance you’re looking for competent IT guys to help you out troubleshoot this kind of dilemmas, call us at (02) 490-0000. You can also send us an email via [email protected].

 

 

 

Reference: pop2imap.com

Mobile-first indexing: Should you worry about your current ranking?

 

From 2015 to 2016, Google has gradually rolled out the Mobilegeddon – a series of updates aimed to index and rank websites that are mobile-friendly. This update prompts most website owners to make sure their websites are responsive to the screen sizes of mobile devices.

With a few things going around the Google SERPs in the past weeks like FRED and other ranking changes, SEO experts have buried again in their desk figuring out what could be done to adapt to these algorithmic changes in the SERP. Until recently, Google confirmed that it is starting to roll out the mobile-first indexing in July.

Mobile-centric Culture

In the past years when the primary device to browse websites are the desktops and laptops, Google crawlers crawl and index websites based on their performance on the desktop. But as the lifestyle of being on-the-go become the new norm, people started to be mobile. The usage of mobile gadgets has increased drastically, especially in terms of personal searches. A year ago, Google announced that 60% of global searches were from mobile devices.

Other vital contributing factors are smartphone cost and internet connectivity. These two supports oxygen to heat up the usage of smartphones. With the continuous evolution of specifications, and rationalization of smartphone and data cost, people are more and more pushed towards mobile.

Mobile-first indexing

To support the increasing activity using mobile, Google has started to be a devout evangelist of better mobile experience. And other evidence of their commitment to this crusade is the release of mobile-first indexing on top of the mobilegeddon in 2015.

Mobile-first indexing is a little different and less disruptive than the mobilegeddon. It aims to prioritized indexing and ranking of websites based on their collective mobile presence. If mobilegeddon prioritized ranking based on mobile-responsiveness, mobile-first focuses on compliance and equivalence.

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Should I get worried about my current ranking?

If you are worried about your current SEO, you might be asking yourself whether that worry is qualified or not, and here’s the answer:

 YES and NO

YES – if you have a mobile version, but don’t deliver as a good as the desktop version

NO – If you are mobile-responsive and delivers valuable content, or with a mobile version that is equally the same with the desktop version.

Another issue that would cross your mind is, will affect my ranking and traffic?

Answer: There might be no great impact on the rankings, but there is in traffic. Remember the premise of having a mobile version which disconnects the user experience when one jumps from desktop to mobile? Well, that one can have a greater impact on traffic.

The bottom-line of mobile-first indexing is to make mobile searches better for all users, and that includes consistent user experience across devices.

Exciting Learnings and Updates from Marketing Next 2017

San Francisco, California – The Ads and Commerce Business of Google has announced new innovations at the recently concluded Google Marketing Next 2017 event. They made it clear to the audience that these updates are thrilling for both advertisers and agencies. The innovation for this year focuses more on making AdWords, Analytics and DoubleClick, much efficient for all – especially in making reports and digesting data to better understand the online audiences.

The Keynote event was started by the Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google’s Senior Vice President for Ads and Commerce with the overview of what shall be expected with Google AdWords, Google Analytics and DoubleClick for this year. Below is a rundown of interesting facts that you need to know:

  • Ramaswamy presented that 87% of the world population rely on Google search in times of need. He highlighted in his talk that “search” above all, serves as the first contact point of users whenever they are curious about knowing something or doing research prior to purchase.
  • 20% of worldwide searches are voice search. And what does this supposed to mean, especially for the marketers? This is a good gauge that as mobile devices evolve in a fast-paced, so is the way users search in Google.
  • Ramaswamy reminded marketers to always put consumers at the heart of their brand strategy. And the only way to do that is my making a marketing strategy driven by smart data in every phase of the consumers’ searches. And that is what the current updates in Google AdWords address.
  • Get the fundamentals of ‘mobile-first’ right. – The usage of mobile devices is increasing at a rate higher that what is expected, but the availability and infrastructure for mobile data around the world are not completely fast. There are countries like the Philippines with a below-average mobile data. To ensure users have a better experience as they navigate your website, it should load not more than two (2) seconds. Every second – beyond 2 seconds – delivers a much larger bounce rate.

In order to attain this, your website should be mobile responsive and all your media (photos, video, and dynamic) should be compressed in a size optimal for mobile web browsing.

  • The consumer has a diminishing sense of the boundary between online and offline. – The reality of doing business today is embracing the reality that users can no longer distinguish online between offline.

70% of consumers turn to their smartphones before making an action, either buying or dining. And with that, consumers move seamlessly from online to offline – from searching locally in Google to actually going into their choice of store. This action brings consumers to a thinking that what they had experienced while searching for a store online should be exactly what they will experience as they step into the store’s entrance.

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Google Updates

Below is a quick list of the updates of Google for their three platforms:

  • Google Attribution

Before, marketers are left with no choice but to rely on the last click attribution as the final touch point that contributes to conversion. Now, Google has resolved the issue of attribution in doing campaigns – hence the Google Attribution. The good thing is, Attribution will be available for AdWords, Analytics, and DoubleClicks for no cost. However, there is an Attribution 360 available for a certain cost which gives more flexibility in doing customization depending on the demand for granular data by the company.

Moreover, Google will be introducing Unique Reach reporting in AdWords. This metric is de-duplicated across devices, campaigns, and formats. Now, you can measure how many people were shown your display and video ads. You can see two new metrics in your AdWords: Unique users and average impression per unique users.

  • Integration of Google Optimize in AdWords

We all know that when a website is hard to use, the bottom-line of the campaign will be severely affected. Google Optimize is a tool targeted for marketers to create a landing page that can be tested for its effectivity. This tool doesn’t need the help of a webmaster and coding skills to run. Google will soon integrate Optimize to AdWords for marketers to evaluate the effectiveness of their landing pages to improve their ad quality scores.

  • Google Surveys in AdWords and DoubleClick

After getting a hit from your ad, it is still hard to get from these figures a qualitative data that is essential in evaluating the success of your campaign. Google announced that it will soon integrate Google Surveys in AdWords to let marketers send an automatic quick survey to every click to extract some vital qualitative information.

For further functionalities, Google will make Google Survey 360 available for advertisers who need it.

  • Google Assistant

This is the most exciting part for retail-type of clients. Google Assistant is a conversation with Google to help people get things done – this is a brief but powerful message from Jennifer Liu, the director for Google Shopping.

For a better understanding, Google Assistant is an artificial intelligence that is activated via voice command. From the word itself, it is designed to help users search for something over Google without lifting a finger.

Now, this one is by far the most thrilling innovation for retailers. Why? Because Google Assistant is designed for searches of tangible products (or even services in the future). Google is encouraging retailers to take part in making shopping via Google easy for every user by sending updates of their inventories in their branches.

You can watch the entire Keynote speeches in the video from Google below:

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Google Marketing Next 2017 surely brought a lot of exciting innovations what will surely improve every stakeholder of Google’s ecosystem. It will surely make advertisers and agencies happy and most of all making users much happier by getting more relevant information.

If you want to know how AdWords can help your small business make a big leap in Google search engine, you can always reach iManila at (02) 490-0000 or at [email protected] for services relevant to Google marketing such Search Engine Advertising for search and display, and Search Engine Optimization to improve your website’s ranking.

FRED: Could this be the initial SEO shake-up of 2017?

Many website masters may have noticed lately that their ranking is gradually diluting, and that their website traffic decreases despite their SEO compliance. Some of them are probably thinking that there is something wrong with their SEO activities, but some had a hint that Google may have released an algorithm update somewhere in the first quarter of the year.

What really happened is that most sites saw 50 percent to 90 percent traffic declines from Google organic search. This was a massive organic ranking drop for these sites. It is somewhat believed that the update was released last March 08, when there has been as a sudden drop in the traffic and even rankings.

And according to some SEO thought-leaders, FRED (which they named the update) targets websites that are low in quality content but heavy on the ads. Other than confirming that it was targeting ad-heavy sites, Google hasn’t said much more about Fred. Since there are no other details about the update, it probably would help most webmasters to focus on their links, including the method of acquiring those links.

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Link building is always about quality over quantity. A few links from embedded within websites with outstanding domain authority are always better than a bucket of weak and spam-y links.

Since Fred has been making a shake-up in the SEO world, one thing appears to be a definite course-of-action for SEO experts and webmasters – to continue creating quality content and earn quality links.

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And in terms of on-page SEO, iManila’s digital marketing team is capable of helping small businesses to start their online presence through Google search engine’s results page. Visit our digital marketing page to know more about the services that we offer. For inquiries, please call (02) 565-4064 or send us an email at [email protected]