Today in Digital Marketing - Why Does Google Want You To Get Bad Reviews?

Episode Date: November 25, 2021

Are good reviews hurting your Google ranking? Check your accounts Google might have refunded you some money! Even non social media platforms are trying to be like TikTok! And why is Walmart selling cocaine propaganda from a child’s toy?• Get a Free 14-Day Trial of the Premium Newsletter (with exclusive content, videos, links, and more) — https://b.link/pod-newsletter Showcase your marketing tool for free! Apply at https://todayindigital.com/showcase ADVERTISING as low as $20: https://todayindigital.com/ads JOIN OUR SLACK! https://todayindigital.com/slackFOLLOW US: https://todayindigital.com/socialmedia(TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, and more) ENJOYING THE SHOW?- Please tweet about us! https://b.link/pod-tweet- Rate and review us: https://todayindigital.com/rateus- Leave a voicemail: https://b.link/pod-voicemail FOLLOW TOD:- TikTok: https://b.link/pod-tiktok- Twitter: https://b.link/pod-twitter- LinkedIn: https://b.link/pod-linkedin Today in Digital Marketing is hosted by Tod Maffin (https://b.link/pod-todsite) and produced by engageQ digital (https://b.link/pod-engageq). Subscribe at https://TodayInDigital.com or wherever you get your podcasts. (Theme music by Mark Blevis. All other music licensed by Source Audio.)Does your brand need a podcast? Let us help: https://engageQ.com/podcastsOur Sponsors:* Check out Kinsta: https://kinsta.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Today, are good reviews hurting your Google ranking? Be protected. Be Zen. from a child's toy. It's Thursday, November 25th, 2021. Happy Thanksgiving, America. I'm Todd Maffin from EngageQ Digital, and here's what you missed today in Digital Marketing, Episode 513. And we start today off with a marketing tip from Google.

All reviews are good reviews, even the bad ones. The company updated a help document this week to say that actually having a mix of positive and negative reviews makes your business more credible to users and the search engine. Quoting the update, reviews are useful for potential users when they're honest and objective.

Customers find a mix of positive and negative reviews more trustworthy. You can always respond to a review to show the customers that you care and provide additional context. If the review doesn't follow our posting guidelines, though, you can request to remove it, unquote. So fear not the bad review. Learn to embrace it. It could be helping your Google ranking. Attention marketers with Google shopping campaigns.

Remember the bug we told you about last week that was spiking CBCs? To refresh your memory, the Google ad system encountered an unexpected issue, they called it, between 6 p.m. Pacific on November 12th and 3 a.m. Pacific on November 13th that affected shopping ads. Now Google says it might actually owe you some money from it. And it does appear that Google has started to issue credits and refunds. A Twitter user has shared an official statement they received from Google explaining the credit notice. Quoting the statement, A credit adjustment was applied to your account.

It shows up as a system adjustment in the transactions page within billing. The issue impacted shopping ads that use smart bidding, which led to an increase in ad impressions and ad spend. We identified and fixed the issue within a few hours. Everything is working as expected now. Since you use shopping ads with smart bidding, you received a credit in your Google Ads account for overspend that occurred during the impact period. A quick plug here for one of those lifetime deals that i think is really strong this one is called posto plan and it is a social media content scheduling tool so like hootsuite or buffer but

in this case you buy it one time for 39 bucks and then use it for the rest of your life without paying another penny it is pretty full featured it supports facebook pages and groups twitter google business instagram linkedin even support some of the things that the other platforms do that don't like Telegram groups and channels and WhatsApp. The real deal here, though, I think besides the lifetime account is that you can add as many social media platforms and accounts to it as you like. There's literally no limit. Also, unlimited team seats. And yes, all for $39 one time. We have used this particular lifetime deal platform at our agency for many deals, and it has always paid off. Honestly, half our agency runs on tools that we bought once and then they're using years later with no monthly fees. Our affiliate link for this deal is b.link

slash postoplan. Remember, you won't find this deal on their actual main website for the product. It is only available through the link b.link slash postoplan. There is a link in the episode notes. And you can try it for 60 days. And if you don't like it, you can go onto their website and refund it immediately. I'm particular about the sound of this podcast. I spent years as a public radio producer, so getting the quality right matters to me. That's why we use Riverside.fm when we do interviews, the leading podcast and video creation platform.

Alongside us, professionals like Guy Raz from How I Built This and companies such as Spotify and The New York Times use Riverside.fm to record their audio video content remotely. We like Riverside.fm because it records studio-quality audio and up to 4K video. If I'm interviewing a guest a thousand miles away with the shakiest of internet connections, it still sounds like we're sitting in the same room. It's as easy to use as Zoom, but gives much higher quality audio and video recordings Other features include options to record from your iPhone

a magic editor to easily edit with a series of simple clicks and automatic transcriptions So if you're looking for a hero platform for all your recording needs from podcasts to webinars to other video content you should be using Riverside.fm. Sign up today so you can focus on your content and leave the quality to Riverside.fm. Another day, another platform trying to be like TikTok.

Even non-social media platforms are now copying its format to try to engage users. Spotify is now testing a TikTok-style video feed on the iOS app. Users will see full-screen video clips as a song plays. The video feed can be accessed via a brand new tab in the navigation bar called Discover. Tracks can be liked by scrolling through the feed, and there's a three-dot menu icon that lets you access options for each song. Spotify's Discover feed seems to be building on its existing Canvas feature, which allows artists to post videos with their music. Spotify has not yet announced whether this test will be rolled out to all users, but the good money is, of course, on

Of Course They Will. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. And you think you're having a bad Q4?

How about this lesson for marketers on quality control and being diligent about what's being sold on your website by third-party providers? A dancing cactus toy has been pulled this week from Walmart's website after teaching kids about cocaine in Polish. Specifically marketed as a child-friendly toy, the extremely unsuitable material for a kid sings in English, Spanish, and Polish. The Polish song's title translates to, Where is the White Eel? Which apparently is a reference to cocaine. The lyrics of the song may have gone unnoticed by most customers, but at least one very upset parent, who is Polish, heard them loud and clear.

Walmart told a Canadian news source that, quote, these items are sold by a third-party seller on our Marketplace website. We are removing the items while we look into this complaint further, unquote. It's not the first time a third-party seller has embarrassed the company. A Christmas sweater incident occurred a couple of years ago. The sweater featured an image of Santa Claus with the phrase, let it snow. And Santa was sitting behind a table with three white lines on it. So that's it. Short episode today because of American Thanksgiving.

Talk to you tomorrow. Guard in every dream under the moonlight. That's why snowmen never sleep at night.