Heya!

Did you know July is National Ice Cream Month? I feel thoroughly cheated. If I had known, I would have celebrated sooner! I hope you enjoyed ice cream (or some other refreshing summer dessert) sometime this month. 😁 Anywho – here’s the news!

• DBE has a long, successful history of optimizing publisher websites including People Magazine, AP Images, Digital First Media, and IrishCentral.com. SEO for these websites is truly an art that requires coordination and training with not only the tech team but also with the editors and writers who are responsible for editorial content (the headlines for which often become part of the URL, title and H1 tags for web pages). So, naturally this NY Times article – Google Tests A.I. Tool That Is Able to Write News Articles – caught our eye and interest. SEO implications aside, what do you think about A.I. generated news? We welcome your comments.

• Coincidentally, Search Engine Land published: “Crawlers, search engines and the sleaze of generative AI companies“. It helps distinguish AI LLMs (large language models like ChatGPT) that are not like search engines because they do not provide citations/links to sources vs. generative or conversational AI programs (like Bing Chat) that do provide citations/links.

• Meddling in Meta Features: 📱
  • Meta’s got new video features, including revamping the “Watch” tab into “Video” tab that allows for multiple content types (i.e., Reels and live content).
  • I was scrolling through Insta and uncovered a shiny new “subscribe” button on an Instagram creator’s profile. Instagram Subscriptions were recently released. Like Patreon, creators can share exclusive content with paying subscribers right through the Instagram app. It’s another great way to say thanks to the creators we know and binge.

• Snapchat Bitmojis just got a new look… a third dimension to be exact!

Do Good Spotlight
🌟 ASPCA 🌟

We’ve all seen their heart-string-pulling commercials. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals® (ASPCA®) was the first humane society in North America. They’ve earned themselves a strong, caring name. Learn how you can help here: ASPCA.

• “Where (Do) US Consumers Start Their Online Product Searches”? No surprise Amazon and search engines remain the go-to channels but they have ceded search market share over the last year to YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, MarketingCharts has the deets. Our question – will the next survey report reveal “conversational chatbots” as another search channel on the rise?

• Looking for more efficient SEO tools and tips for your next research/implementation session? Take a looksie (P.S.. They’re free!)

• Microsoft is following Google’s footsteps again by releasing a beta for their version of Performance Max.

It’s a pleasure pulling these articles together from our team and delivering them to you each week. Thanks for sticking around for the digital marketing fun!

Toodles!

Natalie

On our ice cream note, America’s favorite ice cream flavors are more vanilla than you think.

That’s okay though – classic never goes outta style.

Speaking of things that don’t go out of style, this is the point where I tell you to share us with your pals – here’s the link! 😀