Google admits to very limited personalization in search results
Outside of a searcher's location or immediate context from a prior search, Google doesn't personalize the search results. Google has admitted that after a lot of testing around personalization, they found that it didn't really help searchers find the content they are looking for and rarely helped improve the search results. CNBC also pointed out that Google's decision on personalization has helped them stay out of controversies that sites like Facebook or Twitter have seen with their news feed algorithms. SEOs that track search results will find it easier to report on their ranking success or failures.
Google algo update: Neural Matching introduced to understand synonyms
A new Google algo update introduces a technique called neural matching to better understand synonyms. Google has been using this AI method to better connect words to concepts. Meaning, Google is able to understand what the user may be looking for even if the keywords entered might seemingly have nothing to do with the most relevant search result. This technique is said to impact 30% of queries.
Google ads have new features to set custom viewability criteria
Google announced the launch of three new measurement features for Google’s enterprise-level ad buying platform Display & Google Video 360. First is Custom viewability metrics which is for advertisers that want to set higher thresholds, letting them design their own criteria for video viewability. Second is Unique Reach reporting where visitors are de-duped across devices, campaigns, inventory and formats. Advertisers can get a better picture of how many people their campaigns reached and how often. Lastly, Brand Lift measurement for video buys. The idea is that advertisers will be able to compare video campaign performance across channels.
Google announces a range of Google search updates
Marking the 20th anniversary of Google, they announced a range of Google search updates to its search tools, each with varying degrees of SEO relevance. New 'Activity cards', an update to 'Collections' tool & more. Where Activity Cards are concerned, Google will allow users to pick up where they left off in their search journey. So, when a users enters a query related to one they had started in the past, Google will display a card with relevant pages they've already visited. The 'Collections' tool includes content suggestions 'to help you explore topics further, based on the other content you've saved and things you've searched for.
Google Search Console snapshot arrives in search results
An update that has been showing up for site names and branded queries, if they are verified users of the site in Google Search Console. The update by Google is aimed at getting more people to use and check in on their sites within Google Search Console.
Google Duplex will start rolling out on Pixel devices
An update that takes the AI technology to new heights. Google Duplex will allow users of Google Pixel to make calls on their behalf for things like restaurant reservation. The system with a natural sounding humann voice would also show human like traits, with words such as "umm" and "ahh" in their speech.
Google+ to shut down after reports of privacy infringement
While the service would be mainted for users who use the platform for employee communications, Google announced that it would slowly shut down Google+. The decisions stems from the incident where a software bug divulged the private data of about 500,000 users, to numerous third-party applications.
New format for Google Sitelinks shows more site content in search results
Google plans on rolling out a new feature in its search results which would allow users to see more content from a website without having to click on the site. The Google update would display details Sitelinks on the right side of the screen, as opposed to normal sitelinks which used to be displayed on the left.
Some advertisers are moving half of their search budget from Google to Amazon
With the increasing trend of shifting seearch ad budgets from Google to Amazon, it is believed that Google's parent company Alphabet is posed by a threat from Amazon. It was observed that Consumer Packaged Goods contributed to most of the change in movement. There are even executives who are moving about 50 to 60 percent of their budget from Google to Amzon.
Google ushers in the age of Conversational Ads with the launch of AdLingo
An ad format that helps advertisers query users and respond to them, Google's new conversational ads provide a display ad-like framework. The new format helps marketers place conversational ads outside of messaging apps. Moreover, the AdLingo ads are served programmatically through Google's ad network and follows a CPM based model for its cost.
Google Releases New Version of Shopping Insights for Researching Popular Brands and Products
Now, advertisers can get valuable shopping insights by being able to monitor the the brands and products that are trending up and down. Along with that, advertisers also get to track the progress of that data in different regions within the US. Moreover, the Shopping Insights receive a host of new features, including the option to create up to 10 weekly and monthly personalized reports.
Google My Business Insights adds branded search reporting
The Local Insights report now gets backed by a new addition which lets the advertisers view the number of people who search for brands related to the advertisers' business. The biggest advantage of this update by Google My Business is that it helps marketers understand how customers are finding their businesses in local search.
Google Ads update brings a new metric to calculate conversions for businesses
Google Ads can count calls from location extensions as conversions. For this, account-level call reporting needs to be enabled. By default, calls will be counted as a conversion after 60 seconds.Users will have the option to change the default setting as per their business goals. Google suggests measuring calls over a particular length is an indication of high-quality interaction with customers.
Google Search Console updates index coverage report for mobile-first indexing
The only data impacted in this report is related to the “error counts” and “new issues” related notices. The index coverage report has changed for properties that have moved to the mobile-first indexing initiative. Google is notifying the respective owners if their sites are being moved.The index coverage report change does not impact product rankings, but it does impact the index coverage report. Google said they are currently only removing reports that have replacements in the new version of the Google Search Console.
Google AdSense: All new sites need to be verified
The policy change requires every new site to go through a verification process in order to display ads. Publishers who intend to place ads on more than one site will now have to add each individual site to their account.
Segment Google Ads store visits by ‘new vs. returning’ visitors
Advertisers measuring store visits from people who have engaged with their Google ads, will be able to analyze how many of those visitors are new or repeat customers. Helping better understand the influence of ads on store visits or loyalty.
Google Launches New Social Post Options to Promote Business Reviews and Offers
Google has launched a new set of 'social post styles' to promote business reviews which are available via its Small Thanks marketing materials hub. The new social post options enable businesses to showcase information about their services and reviews from their consumers. Customer online reviews have a huge impact on consumers today. With the latest business review updates on Google, customers can turn advocates by showcasing the business’s real Google reviews with new seasonal posts from Small Thanks. These can be shared on social media channels, on Business Profile on Google, so these are viewed by potential consumers.
Google My Business Insights to get more recent data
Google business updates bring Insights with reduced latency of the Google My Business Insights reports and tools. This update has been made available to businesses to help them compare trends accurately. As opposed to having to wait for three or four days given the current scenario, businesses can immediately get data on the reason for surge or fall in traffic.
Google to allow users to comment on search results
The latest Google updates on search results is an interesting one where it has been made a public platform for inputs. This new feature when launched will enable users to leave comments in search results viewable by other users.
Google's commenting option in search results, will be a feature similar the ones found on social media platforms. Users will not only be able to read comments but will also be able to 'like' or 'dislike' comments. Comments that don't follow policies would not be shown. Users will also be able to delete their comments.
Google testing YouTube movie trailer videos in ads on Google.com
The ad unit labeled with an 'Ads icon features movie trailers hosted on YouTube in a carousel format. The ads include a thumbnail image from the trailer with the video length overlayed, the name of the movie and the date it’s coming out in theaters.
Retail advertisers can now include video in Showcase Shopping Ads. Just like Youtube videos, Youtube ads in movie trailers makes for a strategic monetization opportunity for Google.
Google Maps is testing Waze’s cool incident reports feature
Google owned Waze provides crowdsourced real-time traffic information including police traps, accidents, traffic jams,etc. Google is currently testing a feature that would allow users to report crashes and speed traps.
The new report buttons would appear at the bottom of the screen,where the user can share the information regarding crash or speed trap with Google. The feature only works in navigation mode.
Chrome updates security features to stop mobile subscription scams
Google announced about Chrome's security feature that aims to stop mobile subscription scams. Google will pop up a prominent warning when a site doesn’t make it clear that users are signing up for a mobile subscription. To ensure that developers who are legitimately offering users a subscription don’t get affected, Google also published a set of best practices. Developers are expected to make their billing information visible and obvious to users, and make the billing structure as transparent as possible.
If this is not followed, Google will display a full-page warning. Before the warning, webmasters will be notified in the Search Console.
This new feature will be available on both mobile and desktop.
Google Ads intros new ad position metrics
Four new Google adwords metrics provide better indications of where the ads appear on the search results pages. With this Google ad manager update, the two Impression % metrics show when and where Google ad impressions display above the organic results. The two IS (impression share) metrics show the share of impressions that were eligible for top-of-page impressions, above the organic results.
Google Lens comes to Google Images for searching & shopping
Google brings yet another surprise for users enhancing the Google Images search engine. Introducing A.I. powered Lens technology that would enable users to learn more about the components of an image and details of where the item can be purchased, its price, etc. For example, if an image shows a living room with cushions and a sofa set; you'll now be able to tap on the 'dots' that appear within the photo on the particular object to trigger Google Images to search for relevant information across the web.
This feature isn’t just for shopping but can also help to give more information about travel destinations, animals and more. But, Google essentially sees a good fit of this feature for directing users to shop for products and hence for more websites of potential Google advertisers.
Google lets users control search data & ad settings with Google data control
Google introduces a new feature to enhance the privacy and security on user's data. It now allows users to access and delete the Google search data and also control the ads they see, directly from the Google Search home page. This is available both on desktop as well as the mobile web and also from the Google Search iOS app. While this is a huge plus for user privacy, it may impact advertisers in two ways: First, users can now delete any ads they don't want to see making it difficult for advertisers to reach them it would also help advertisers to have a more focused approach and target only the users who would be interested in seeing those ads.
Google Ads announces a new update with the click-to-message ad features
Google is adding functionality to click-to-message ads and rolling out attribution and bidding capabilities for retail advertisers tracking store visits generated from online efforts.
Google Ad Manager with the click-to-message feature will enable businesses to manage the flow of messages making it more flexible and would measure the results with a focused approach.
With this, we can be sure that online-to-offline measurement continues to be a key focus for Google. Google Analytics indicates further investment in this area so retailers gain more visibility over how online ads drive traffic.
Google rolling out more features to make RSA easier for marketers
Google to be rolling out four reporting and feedback tools for RSAs.
1. Advertisers will start getting suggested headlines and descriptions when creating responsive search ads.
2. The update will also help advertisers as Google will start importing headlines and descriptions from existing text ads in the same ad group.
3. The ad strength dial updates in real-time
4. Advertisers would see ad strength updates in the Status column in the UI
Google will make RSAs available in 10 international languages - Danish, Dutch, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish and Turkish.
Google Search to support live streams with Indexing API, structured data
The new Livestream structured data feature of Google Search and Google Assistant will expedite the indexing of the content and increase the exposure in real-time to gain a wider reach. Here are a few examples Google has given for the type of content that can be live streamed: Sporting events, awards shows, influencer videos and video games. The live streams can be found in the search results in a carousel format and have a live label.
Google’s shopping platform launched in India
Google's very own shopping platform is here with smart features like price drops and a collection of the most popular products on Google. Users with entry-level phones can also experience this feature through a Progressive Web App (PWA). The new ‘Shopping Homepage’ is a destination for avid shoppers to search across multiple product categories, and browse products from thousands of retailers. The ‘Shopping Tab’ in Google Search will now allow users to post queries in Hindi and English and give a lot of information like product lists, local store inventory and review prices from across multiple retailers.
Google Assistant outperforms Alexa
Despite Amazon heading the global e-commerce space, Alexa was not the leader in the shopping category; as Google Home returned more correct answers when asked about product information.Google Assistant was the only one to precisely understand all 800 of the questions, whereas others were able to understand only 99 percent of it.
A full-funnel strategy works best for programmatic display
A three-part strategy with initially driving awareness through videos, interactive display creatives and social channels for engagement, and product-focused creatives for acquisition. This would not only focus on improving performance but would also be better to encourage account growth year-over-year with increase in traffic and conversions.
Businesses can now provide product info within search
Google's rolling out a new feature to enable businesses to add in their custom product information within relevant search results, as controlled by Google Manufacturer Center.
Here are Google's new Manufacturer Center analytics options:
Performance trends that would include top performing product groups and significant changes in performance or price
Insights on product variants like top search terms for products and average price trends
Product group statistics which would show competitor’s brands and products that appear most often with a particular product
#5 Media Sharp Shooters
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Hyper-local targeting |
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Emails are back |
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Digital - As The New TV |
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Whatsapp Marketing |
#10 Data-Analytics Unavoidable
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Rising consumer expectations (personalization, habituated to real-time updates) |
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Data Management to analyze and predict behavior |
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Investments to step up in AI, ML and RPA (Robotic Process Automation) |
Google’s non-skippable ads now available to all advertisers
Advertisers will now have access to the full range of creative options regardless of whether reservation or Google Ads auction was used. Non-skippable 15-second ads to Google Ads and Display and Video 360 are being made available to YouTube and Google video partners. While ensuring advertisers are able to reach their target audience through various means, Google also ensures that the user experience is not compromised and hence the number of ads seen by a user is capped by the system.
India’s Australia tour has overtaken viewership of all previous tours
Digital is becoming the first choice for the young audience to stay updated about cricket information as nearly half the viewers were below 24 years of age. With the Jio penetration, millennials across tier 2 and tier 3 cities also watched the matches.
It has overtaken viewership and watch time of previous tours of South Africa and England. This data proves that marketers need to leverage these opportunities and target their consumers just like Google, Pepsi, Zomato, Swiggy, etc.
Fastest app download growth in India
Reports show downloads in India are (across Android and iOS) growing by 165%. In food delivery, India saw a dramatic 900% spike in downloads. The global average was 115%. While Zomato and UberEats topped the charts globally, Swiggy is leading the race India.
The number of times an app is opened is known as a session. There was an explosion of growth of sessions in food and drink apps in 2018, up 120% from 2016, in India. This metric has been high for several countries, but India’s growth in 2018 took its overall sessions way ahead of the No. 2, the U.S.
Google adds voice input to mobile web search
Based on reports in 2016, 20 percent of mobile queries were voice searches. Google has thus added a microphone to the Google.com search field on smartphones to enable voice search. Beyond the microphone icon inside the search box, another significant change is that users will hear a spoken response now with Android mobile web searches.
As assistants like Google Home and Alexa become popular, advertisers need to voice optimize their search as this kind of traffic is expected to increase vastly.
https://searchengineland.com/google-adds-voice-input-and-spoken-results-to-mobile-web-search-311178
Google’s Best Practices for improved Google Ads Optimization Score
Optimization score is a metric that evaluates how well a Google Ads campaign is optimized. The score ranges from 0% to 100%, with 100% meaning that your account is set up to perform at its full potential. The optimization score can be found in the ‘Recommendations’ section in Google Ads.
Three key practices to follow for better Google Optimization score: Efficient account management, apply recommendations that support business goals and analyze recommendations based on the brand requirements.
Google text ads can now appear on YouTube search results
Google brings about a huge change in how the Search results function. It's incorporating YouTube into its Search Partners network. Now, when Search text ad campaigns are opted-into Search Partners, text ads would appear on YouTube search results pages when users search for keywords relevant to the campaign but solely on mobile.
Research showed text ads in YouTube mobile search results perform comparably to Google Search on a cost-per-conversion basis. This would imply text ads targeted accurately would be very effective at driving conversions.
https://searchengineland.com/now-your-google-text-ads-can-show-on-youtube-search-results-too-311328
Google help set up service-area businesses on GMB
Google adjusted how SABs identify service areas in Google My Business (GMB). It recently eliminated address and radius-based service areas and replaced them with the ability to designate specific cities or postal codes. They have changed the new sign-up flow to begin by asking whether the business has a store or office. The current GMB accounts can also make changes to profiles in the dashboard, where service areas and storefront locations can be edited. None of this will impact rankings.
With simpler sign-up process and an improved ranking system, Google addresses challenges around representing SABs in search results. This feature has been currently improved only in U.S.A.
New measures for Lok Sabha elections by The Election Commission
The Election Commission has introduced a number of new measures to avoid the obstacles faced in the previous elections. With an estimated 300 million illiterate adults across India, they have decided to add photos of candidates alongside party symbols on electronic voting machines. There have been claims of devices being hacked, but now, these devices will print out a chit for each voter, who can confirm the details before dropping it in a sealed box inside the polling booth.
Vehicles transporting the voting machines will also be fitted with GPS devices to monitor their movements. Webcams broadcasting live on the internet will monitor 5,000 polling stations and all counting halls, allowing voters to keep a close eye on proceedings in real time.
Gold now on Google Pay
Google Pay will soon let users buy and sell gold via its app. It partnered with MMTC-PAMP India to allow users of the app to buy 99.99% pure gold.
MMTC is the Indian government public sector trading enterprise whereas PAMP is the Swiss company and bullion brand. This is how the service will function: MMTC-PAMP will store the gold in secure vaults on behalf of users, who will be able to sell it anytime at the price displayed in the app.
The big guys collaborate!
Amazon, Google to bring their streaming apps to each others' platforms. The official YouTube apps will be available on Amazon's Fire TV. Amazon's Prime Video app will add support for Chromecast and its built-in devices.
With this, Fire TV users will be able to sign in to their existing YouTube account and access their full library of content. Chromecast users will meanwhile have similar access to the Prime Video catalog.
4x increase in Govt e-Marketplace transactions
GeM, the portal that meets the procurement needs of central and state government departments and PSUs, recorded a total transaction value of more than Rs 23,000 crore in FY2018-19. The fiscal year ended with more than 2 lakh sellers and saw 50% more traffic on its website.
The GeM was launched by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in 2016. Any government department or PSU can use it for direct online purchases for up to Rs 50,000. Above that limit, it must be made from the supplier with the lowest price who meets all quality, specification and delivery requirements.
https://www.medianama.com/2019/04/223-gem-transactions-value-increase-2018/
Majority of the Indian youth comfortable making unplanned purchases
This is true for two-thirds of Indians in the age group 23-49 based on Adobe's survey. Nearly 69% of shoppers in India prefer online marketplaces.
While 49% of people visit a brand's e-comm page for purchase, 31% of people make purchases via physical stores and 28% of Indians depend on voice assistants.
Based on these reports and recent trends, it is expected for social media platforms, review sites and video channels to form the critical parts of pre and post purchase interactions
1.4 lakh hacking attempts every hour!
India reported about 1.4 lakh account takeover login attempts every hour in 2018 a latest cyber security report has revealed. After the US, India was the second most preferred target destination, recording more than 120.8 crore ATOs in just one year.
Each attack represented an attempt made either by a person or computer to log in to an account with a stolen or generated username and password. The vast majority of these attacks were performed by botnets as per reports. Akamai recorded approximately 30 billion credential stuffing—breaching of databases—attacks in 2018.
Google Lens - ‘the place’ to shop, dine & translate!
Google Lens is in the process of launching new filters: Shopping will allow identifying clothing and furniture; Dining filter would allow finding restaurants highlighted in the viewfinder; Translate will allow Google Lens to translate from & to various languages.
The new features are aimed at reducing users' dependency on other apps as Google Lens attempts to become a one-stop solution for various search types.
Airtel All Set To Launch Wynk Tube for India
Catering to the needs of digital India, especially to those who live in the tier 2 and 3 villages and towns, Bharti Airtel has announced the launch of Wynk Tube. An extension of Wynk Music, Wynk Tube would allow users to switch from video to audio mode with just one tap! To make the app more user-friendly, it would home over 40 lakh songs and related videos that includes vernacular languages as well. At only 5MB it is pretty light and will initially be an Android only app.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Innovations in the tech industry rise and fall every day. However, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a daily part of our lives without us even realizing it. Digital advertising has become more personalised and more targeted because AI is able to understand a specific consumer’s interests! Even though AI is in its early stages, brands looking to do something different needs to become serious about implementing it.
Google Assistant is moving the world to voice first
Google Assistant with its updates is now 10 times faster. The technological advancement of having Assistant on-device lets Google add live captions to videos and podcasts. It's faster than tapping keys on the phone.
Voice reaching an inflection point was inevitable. With Assistant getting exponential technological advancements, it’s now going to become a more helpful Google for everyone.
Voice searches see 270 % growth
Consumers across categories are adapting to voice search to seek information and discover content. India has seen a whopping 270% growth year-on-year in voice searches.
The Year in Search-India: Insights for Brands by Google report shows the growth of voice searches is driven by regional languages. It also shows the rise of omni-channel wherein online and offline are coming together to fulfill customer needs and are helping businesses to make the best of their potential.
Google to expand its advertising real estate to boost revenue
In the effort to make it easier for users to discover and buy new products, Google will feature ads on the homepage of its smartphone app worldwide, show more ads in Maps and place ads with image galleries in search results.
This feature has been introduced after studying consumer behaviour. Most people usually shop in short bursts - either while watching something or while they are otherwise occupied.
Tantan, the dating app, doubles its user base every three months
The Indian market is one of the biggest markets for online dating, considering the youth population being really high. The Chinese dating app’s user base comprises of young millennials with an average age of 24, residing in tier 1 and 2 cities of India.
With the growing success of Tantan, the company now plans to open a dedicated office in India for its growing user base. The potential for dating apps in India is huge - as proved by Tinder. For now, Tantan works on a freemium plan.
Hotstar registers 18.6 million concurrent viewers during the IPL finals
Deploying a breakthrough advertising product, Hotstar enabled advertisers to target refined cohorts of 300 million of its audiences, allowing ad targeting at an unprecedented scale.
This year, Hotstar streamed the matches on a new technology stack that used ten times lesser compute, while handling almost 2.5x times more traffic. This helped the platform render better quality at lower bit-rates than before.
Order Food Directly From Search Results Now!
A new feature has been integrated by Google in the search results so users can directly order and pay with Google Pay. Previously, Google’s search results would provide links to food delivery services when users would search for restaurants or types of food. These links would prompt users to download or open a third app. With this new feature, users can search for and complete their orders from the same place. This update is rolling out to Search, Maps, and Assistant.
Media companies leverage regional language content app Helo on a large scale
Social media platforms have been strengthening their partnerships with digital media platforms over time. The number of digital media companies on Helo, a platform specifically created for India, has increased by 200% since its launch less than a year ago. Companies are using it to post news and updates. There are around 20 digital media companies like ScoopWhoop Hindi, Sportskeeda and Digit on Helo. Facebook, according to media reports, was in talks with Indian content based startups for investments in sectors like news.
Google changes privacy policy affecting ad retargeting
In the face of growing privacy concerns, Google plans to crack down on third-party cookies in its Chrome browser. Third-party cookies help advertisers target digital ads, and Google's move might have big ramifications for dozens of ad-tech companies. Last week Google announced that it planned to roll out new controls in its Chrome browser that let consumers block advertisers from serving ads which use third-party cookies.
Instead of using cookies, Google recommends advertisers use first-party data such as log-in information or email addresses.
TRAI is mulling to regulate OTT platforms
OTT apps are governed by the IT Act, but are not licensed currently. Carriers have been demanding that OTT players also be regulated under the principle of ‘same-service, same-rules’. The OTTs argue that this would stifle the innovation offered by them. TRAI is trying to avoid any legal cases due to the non-level playing field. Viewing TV shows on apps is still an urban phenomenon. It is yet to reach the mass scale that OTT apps in communication have.
Only Indian firm to be listed in the top 10 most downloaded - MXPlayer
4.8b downloads in just 3 months, MXPlayer tops in app installs. The growth in app installs in India is closely tied to the growth in new smartphone owners, particularly Android users. The number of downloads is the continuation on the trend of more accessible data pricing, which in turn grew the demand for online entertainment amongst Indians. The mobile connectedness of India is what inspired firms to bring more solutions to the country, and increased their ability to scale.
Digital health, financial services soon via Digital Village programme using BharatNet
Health and financial services, skill development programmes and education to villagers, across the country, will be provided by the government through its ‘Digital Village’ initiative, which will utilise broadband connectivity provided by BharatNet. The government hopes to provide services in over 700 villages - one in each district of the country - within the first three years, before extending it across the country.
Google announces site diversity change
Google revamps Search to show no more than two results from the same site in the top results. However, if Google's search algorithm considers results relevant to the search term, there may be more than 2 listings from the same site.
With this Google attempts to give equal opportunity to websites with relevant content to appear when a user searches.
Nykaa Network, rakes in 1 mn subscribers, in less than 1 year
The online interactive beauty platform started with less than 10,000 subscribers less than a year ago. The forum has grown organically, powered entirely by User Generated Content. Madhavi Irani, the Chief Officer, claims it is because they put in the efforts to hyper-personalise the content being consumed by their users. Unlike other brands, Nayakaa asks instead of assumes what the consumers are interested in.
MeitY ranks Airtel Payments Bank as top bank for digital transactions
Airtel Payments Bank achieved 211.66% of its digital transactions target made via UPI, debit card, mobile banking, net banking, prepaid card, PPI, NEFT among other methods.For 2018-19 fiscal, MeitY set up an overall target of processing 30 billion digital transactions aligned to the government’s Digital India mission. Airtel Payments Bank has a network of 500,000 neighborhood banking points across 29 states.
Google Update: New features for the news tab
To help users find news relevant to them more easily, Google has updated its news tab. The new feature places more emphasis on headlines and publisher names. Google’s aims to make its products better by publishing stories from reliable sources, allowing users to subscribe to publishers, and fighting fake news. Google also relaunched its own dedicated News app with new AI features.
Google Search has a new competitor and this one respects your privacy
Started over one decade ago, Philadelphia-based search engine DuckDuckGo has been giving Google a serious run for their money. Even though their share in the search engine market is just 1%, they are preferred as they believe in offering users a privacy-focused alternative. Additionally, DuckDuckGo is expanding beyond the search engine.
Google launches its own e-commerce site
Google does not want to be left behind when it comes to the e-commerce race. The debut shopping platform would greet shoppers by their name if they are logged in via their Gmail account and show tailored suggestions. Google does not plan on building a warehouse to store their products. They will only point shoppers in the direction of a handful of selected retailers.
Offline Payments to be made digital via QR codes
Digital payment companies are working towards capturing a larger share of the market that prefers online payments, by offering QR codes. Paytm, Google Pay and PhonePe offer QR codes and acquire their own merchants as well. Entities like BharatPe act as aggregators, onboarding merchants for all forms of Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-based payments.
Cisco, Google partner for free Wi-Fi project in India
Cisco has announced that their partnership with Google is global, and India is the first country to go live with it. With this partnership, 200 locations in Bangalore in India would have WiFi. Three years back Google had tied up with RailTel to provide free WiFi at railway stations in India.
Now - Shop using Google Image search!
In a bid to enter the shopping space and compete with Amazon, Google has updated its Images section. Now when users look for ‘green dress’ or ‘black lamp’, they are shown shoppable options! The test feature displays product prices and recommendations under videos playing on the site, making it easier for viewers to buy them on Google.This feature was first launched on YouTube.
Remarketing Will Get Tougher with Chrome’s cookie-fighters
Google Chrome’s web browser team has been working to come up with new ways to “serve higher-value ads” without putting at risk personal data of consumers. Titled ‘Privacy Sandbox’, this initiative will address the issue of limiting web tracking and cookies.
IT Ministry and Google join hands for 'Build for Digital India'
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Google have partnered up to roll out "Build for Digital India", a programme that aims to provide engineering students a platform to develop market-ready, technology-based solutions which would address key social problems! The programme will invite ideas from students to focus on areas of healthcare, agriculture, education, smart cities and infrastructure, women's safety, smart mobility and transportation, environment, accessibility and disability and digital literacy.
Now in Indian Languages: Google's Search, Assistant, Lens and Bolo
Google Search in India and Google Assistant will support 3 and 5 new Indian languages respectively. users can now ask Google Assistant to talk in Hindi, by simply saying, “Ok Google, Hindi Bolo” (Ok Google, speak in Hindi). Lens would let users listen to the translation of their choice. More than that, users can just click on any word and do an instant Google Search on it. Bolo, an app designed for children, will support regional languages.
Choose if you wish to be recorded by Google Assistant
Google will now let users opt out of Voice & Audio Activity (VAA), which records and reviews conversations. Users can review their conversations any time they want and delete old conversations. Google is updating its settings to highlight that when users turn on VAA, human reviewers may listen to your audio snippets to help improve speech technology.
Sony follows in the footsteps of Apple, Google and Amazon for AI Assistant
After the success of AI Assistants like Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa, Sony has joined the bandwagon. The tech giant recently signed a patent for an in-game voice assistant for PlayStation. The patent also gives out some details about a companion mobile device that could keep a track of your stats in the game.
Google prioritises privacy, launches new tools
Google recently launched a couple of privacy-focused tools in its services like Maps and YouTube to protect its users' data. You can now use Google apps in Incognito mode and have an option to automatically delete data. "Incognito Mode" has been one of the most popular privacy controls since it launched with Chrome in 2008 and came to YouTube earlier this year is now being rolled out in Google Maps.
Google Maps upgrades for the visually-impaired
The updated version of Google Maps would offer more detailed voice guidance and new types of verbal announcements for walking trips to assist the visually-impaired better. These updates are aimed at not only assisting the visually impaired in walking but also to give confidence and reassurance for them to travel alone.
Google Adsense now in Marathi
There are 83.1 million Marathi speakers in the world, so content creators and publishers can now monetize the Marathi content and advertisers can connect to a Marathi speaking audience.
In order to start monetizing Marathi content on a website with Google AdSense, creators need to sign up for an Adsense account. The Adsense code has to be added to start displaying relevant ads to the TG.
Google gives more in Incognito Mode
With this users will now be able to search incognito on Google Maps, auto-delete the YouTube history, and delete audio recordings from their oral interactions with Google Assistant.
Pay via UPI across the world soon
According to two bankers in the know of the matter, Indians traveling abroad might be able to use the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to pay for goods and services from there! This is NPCI’s attempt to create a global payment product that can expand the use case of UPI.
Amazon leverages Accelerator for Pvt. Labels
Amazon India has reached out to a few select sellers to be a part of Accelerator, by which private labels i.e. the most searched terms of colour and products would be shared for companies to leverage. Accelerator, if it manages to scale up and build a set of new brands, will add an interesting dynamic to the dominance of existing brands that typically have the lion’s share in their respective categories.
Google bans targeted political ads
Google has joined Twitter in restricting political advertisers from targeting people online. The search engine stated that they are restricting misinformation and banning doctored media from reaching people via Google Search, YouTube or the web. Alphabet Inc. released the post saying that it was not going to allow election-related ads to be done on the basis of political affiliations.
Google enters battle for cloud gaming market
Google has entered the cloud gaming market with the launch of Stadia, the cloud service which allows people to play console-quality video games on a web browser or smartphone. Stadia plays into a trend in which content, ranging from blockbuster films to work projects, lives in the cloud and is accessible from any device.
‘Eat Right’ with Amazon’s Alexa for school kids
National food regulator has tied up with e-commerce giant Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa. The partnership is setting up ‘eat right’ labs in schools, which would involve children in the dialogue on healthy and safe eating. The programmes are aimed at reaching youth who use Alexa regularly and to work with schools to deliver meal plans based on eating right.
Special content for Indian kids in 2o20
Indian kids do not have access information or non-institutional learning and entertainment. Tapping into that, 2020 would see content designed for Indian kids as the next big trend. It is important to empower and engage the curiosity of the young minds, while constantly encouraging them to take pride in their identities, despite differences in language and culture.
‘Search-seeding’ halted by Amazon India
“Search-seeding” which boosted the chances of products appearing on the first page results of Amazon is being stopped. This had a direct impact on sales. Amazon has over 5,00,000 sellers in India, which explains why it’s important for sellers that consumers see their product first. Various factors go into determining top results, like reviews, ranking, price and relevance. Amazon has gone on record to say it does not provide any tool to sellers to manipulate the ranks of shopping results.
Amazon India to add bus, train, hotel bookings
Amazon India, via its payments platform Amazon Pay, is said to add features such as buying bus tickets, book hotel rooms, or even train tickets. This strategy is a push towards customers in both metros and non-metros to transact more on the platform. Amazon plans to offer more transaction-led incentives to its Prime users in India to boost its super app play on Amazon Pay.
Snapdeal crosses 100 million app downloads
Online marketplace Snapdeal has crossed 100mn add downloads from Google Play Store. Snapdeal has made several additions in its app to cater to the comfort and convenience of those starting their online journeys. This includes a continuous feed that is personalized for each user, allowing users to discover relevant products in an engaging way.
What topped searches on Google India in 2019!
The top 10 overall trending searches for 2019, reflects the country’s excitement for events like Cricket World Cup, the Lok Sabha elections, launch of Chandrayaan 2, etc. Some of the most interesting search terms were those centered around ‘How to..’, and ‘What is…’, Google Search saw a wide variety of questions including ‘How to vote’, ‘How to get Fastag’, ‘How to select channels as per TRAI’, ‘What is Article 370?’, ‘What is howdy Modi?’, ‘What is DLS method in cricket?’, ‘What is Article 15?’ among others.
End of lucrative tracking tool for advertisers from Google
In two years, Google plans to restrict advertising software companies and other organizations from connecting their browser cookies to websites they do not operate. This will result in costly changes in the way the Web operates, amidst demands of increased privacy from users. Though the two-year goal is new, Google's announcement had been expected within the industry for months.
Jan 2020 Google Core Update
It is hard to isolate what one needs to do to reverse any algorithmic impact on your page rank with the latest Core update., or if the updates would prove beneficial or detrimental in the long run. Google has given advice on what to consider if you are negatively impacted by a core update in the past. There aren’t specific actions to take to recover, and in fact, a negative rankings impact may not signal anything is wrong with your pages.
https://searchengineland.com/the-latest-data-on-the-january-2020-google-core-update-327683
Online food-ordering to grow by leaps and bounds
With online spending going up, it is of no surprise that India’s food-ordering sector is predicted to become a $8 billion industry by 2022. Users are being more accustomed to ordering food online due to good service and of course, discounts! Food tech has now made its presence in greater than 500 cities in India and with consumer confidence growing, there are new opportunities for the players to ‘win with the consumer’ in an evolving market.
What makes MX Player bigger, bolder & better?
The OTT player stole the top spot as India’s Breakout Video Streaming App of 2019, ahead of Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Jio TV. MX Player has time and again rewritten the rules and won, whether it was to boldly convert from its original avatar of a mobile video viewing platform to a mainstream OTT player or to fulfil its mission of ‘everytainment’ of not only serving video to its users but music, games and more.
MX Player now offers gaming
MX Player has added a new entertainment to its kitty - gaming. The app has introduced 9 hyper casual and easy to learn HTML5 games which one can enjoy without data or internet connection on their android phones. The games currently available on the platform are Airlift, Arrow Master, Jump Jump, Flap Up, Candy Mash, Bubble Blast, Street Racer, Slide and Glide and Plus Minus.
MX Player announces partnership with OnePlus
MX Player has teamed up with OnePlus for the OnePlus TV Q1 series. By virtue of this collaboration, viewers will be able to watch premium web series and Hindi dubbed films on the smart TV.
Disney+ to open its India innings with IPL
Disney+ will be brought to India via Hotstar streaming. The new launch will coincide with the IPL, as Star India has exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the same.
https://bestmediainfo.com/2020/02/disney-to-open-its-india-innings-with-ipl/
Aadhaar-enabled payment services backed by Airtel Payments Bank
Customers with Aadhaar-linked bank accounts can now make transactions at over 2,50,000 points of Airtel Payments Bank in the country using either their Aadhar number or their virtual ID. AePS allows online interoperable financial transactions at a point of sale through the business correspondent of any bank using Aadhaar authentication.
UPI payments service in India from PayPal
Close on the heels of WhatsApp receiving the NPCI’s go-ahead to launch UPI payments, US payments company PayPal is set to roll out UPI payment service of their own. It set up a legal entity in India only in November 2017. PayPal expanded its relationship with Uber and will be processing their payments in Europe, Brazil, India, and across the Middle East.
Google Search can now direct you to YouTube Music
While Google Search won’t play the music tracks directly when one looks for albums, YouTube Music is one of the suggested options as the streaming service. It joins the likes of Spotify, Deezer, and Play Music. However, this option doesn't seem to be available for specific tracks or artists yet.
Google Translate transcribes audio from 8 languages
Added as a new feature, Google Translate is able to transcribe audio from Hindi, English, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai. However, the audio has to be live. Google said that as of now, the feature will work best in a quiet environment with one person speaking at a time.
Discovery Plus on OTT
Discovery has joined the OTT market and aims to make the unscripted space, their niche . The app has been curated specifically for the Indian audience. They promise to be in the infotainment zone with their offerings. In order to drive engagement, Discovery Plus is launching with one-of-a-kind rewards with mobile payments app, Google Pay.
Google, Facebook dominate digital rankings
Google sites continue to top the chart with a reach of 98% and Facebook following closely at 94.9% reach. Times Internet Limited stands at number three with 315 million unique visitors and 77.7% reach. In the Top 10 Multi-Platform Properties (Desktop and Mobile) list, e-commerce sites Amazon and Flipkart are at number four and five positions with 309 million and 228 million unique visitors respectively. TikTok which was banned in India by the end of June had recorded 196 million unique visitors by the end of that month with a reach of 48.3%. Truecaller.com and Paytm.com rank seventh and eighth with 193 million and 190 million unique visitors.
Gaming on MX Player emerges as a runaway hit
MX Player’s gaming feature, launched in February this year, has grown exponentially, going from 9 hyper-casual games to over 60 games, that is now available across its Android and iOS apps.MX’s approach has been to create a platform for partnering with gaming giants Nazara, Gamezop, Gamespix and Google games Snacks amongst others.
https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news/gaming-on-mx-player-emerges-as-a-runaway-hit-106795.html
MX Takatak reaches one billion daily video views in a month
Home grown short video app, MX TakaTak has clocked 15 mn+ video uploads and has set a new benchmark with its daily video views, growing from 0 to 1 billion+ only within a month of its existence. MX Takatak, in this short span, has also garnered over 10mn daily active users and 45mn monthly active users with the average time spent per user per day being 20 min per user, and generating daily 1 Billion+ video views and 100+ video views per user.
Google to empower businesses with `Verified Caller’ status
Google will allow businesses to call their customers with an Android phone while displaying the businesses’ name, logo, the reason for calling and a verification symbol indicating the business has been authenticated by Google.
GOI’s version of Amazon.com helps it save $1 billion
The Indian government’s move to shift a part of its $400 billion public procurement to an online market platform has already saved the administration about $1 billion so far at a time when it’s trying to rein in its fiscal deficit, according to a government official.
Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit card becomes fastest to cross 1 million milestone
ICICI Bank has issued about 1.4 million Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit cards. In the process, the credit card has become fastest in the country to cross the milestone of 1 million, in less than 20 months of its launch. The credit card offers unique customer benefits like always-on reward which is unlimited, instant issuance of the card for select customers in less than 60 seconds, direct crediting of reward points to Amazon Pay balance and contactless payment feature.
Microsoft + NSDC to train 1 lakh Indian women in digital skills
Microsoft said it has collaborated with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to impart digital skills to more than one lakh underserved women in India over the next 10 months. As part of the collaboration, more than 70 hours of course content will be made available free of cost, covering topics such as digital literacy, enhancing employability, nano entrepreneurship, and communication skills. This initiative is an extension of Microsoft’s partnership with NSDC to provide digital skills to over 1 lakh youth in the country. The (latest) partnership is focused on enhancing women’s workforce participation by equipping underserved young women from rural communities with the skills required to thrive in a digital economy.
Microsoft & Eros Now to deliver internet to remote parts in India
Microsoft announced that it has successfully delivered the internet, in partnership with Eros Now as a pilot project, to the customers in the low-internet geographies in India. The month-long pilot project leveraged Microsoft Azure, content from Eros Now and commerce capabilities from Novopay, a digital transaction partner, to drive the reach in remote geographies, ensuring last-mile content delivery for browsing and downloading.
Google partners Knowlarity to offer speech analytics in India
Google expects its Artificial Intelligence-based speech analytics platform to take off among enterprises in the hospitality, banking and financial services sectors in the country, as it partners with cloud telephony firm Knowlarity Communications to offer speech-to-text services to customers locally. The core is the intelligent speech analytics, including sentiment analytics that they are able to do and capture trends of every agent level conversations. The impact Knowlarity will create in the market is to reach thousands of their customers. Knowlarity, which offers AI-based cloud telephony products to enterprise customers, has moved its services to Google Cloud.
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