Category: The MediaShop

The Modern Day Mom and What Brands Need to Keep in Mind by Louise Hefer, Media Strategist / Implementation Planner at The MediaShop

I’ve been working on a brand within the Baby Care category for a couple of years now, and I’ve always thought that I have a good insight into moms and how to be relevant to them.

What I’ve recently come to understand is that you think you know a fair amount but you never really truly understand the group of people that make up your target audience, until you are actually part of that specific group. I’m a mom to a 20 month old boy…and boy oh boy…the insights that I’ve gained through this journey is life changing.

According to the Establishment Survey, there are roughly 3 million women with children under 3 years and nearly 3.5 million people within the ‘Young Family’ life stage. If you’re a brand that’s relevant to this audience whether baby/child focused or in general, you should know by now that this audience has a different set of priorities and makes decisions differently compared to the rest of the general population. Taking this to heart, there’s no better time than the present to highlight some of the key points a recently released Mintel study highlighted about marketing to moms and some insights brands can take note of.

New or younger moms are more likely to value media as a parenting resource.

Having the internet at your fingertips, it’s easier than ever to Google questions or concerns. However, information overload is a real thing – especially for new moms! This is where the power of brands may take advantage. Moms will naturally be drawn towards advice and information offered by a brand that carries authority in a category, especially the baby category . Therefore, ensure that the brand is ready, willing and able to be this trusted and valuable source of information.

Working moms are more open to bite-size information and benefit more from products that make their lives easier and efficient.

It’s amazing how much time an extra little heartbeat takes from you, whether you’re a working mom or not. So let’s skip the essay approach of telling moms more about your brand and tap into the ‘snackable’ content approach. Keep it short – but in more frequent bursts Moms have a lot they need to think about and small reminders of your brand and benefits will work a lot harder. Anything that makes a mom’s life easier has a huge sense of appeal, but it’s how a brand sells it that will determine whether it resonates with her or not. Focus on the product benefit but also highlight the benefit of time. Time that can be spent on things that matter, not just everyday mundane tasks.

Moms no longer buy into the “perfect mom” fantasy and are more open to embrace imperfections and parenting on their own terms.

I do think this is an increasing phenomenon within women in general, especially in the Fashion and Beauty categories. From a Mom’s point of view, there’s a huge online movement where mothers from around the world accept, share and celebrate their imperfections. Raising a child is hard work and Moms are more open to admit when they’ve made mistakes. This is a huge insight that brands can utilise. Brands that exhibit an understanding of the challenges Moms face, and highlight the highs and lows of parenting will forge a long term connection that will have a positive impact on brand loyalty within this audience.

Reading through this study, I realise that the insights aren’t rocket science, but sometimes when you’re not a part of the specific group you’re targeting it’s easy to miss these little nuggets of gold. That’s why it’s so important for brands to really immerse themselves into the target audience, do proper research and find those little nuggets that will make them more relevant and endearing in the long term than their competitors.

Fiona Brauns, Business Unit Manager at The MediaShop takes a closer look at the shopping behaviour of millennials

Millennials have such close ties to online shopping and smart phone usage, but what does eCommerce mean to them? For this demographic it’s an omni-channel experience – one that begins by online search, then testing or touching the product in-store. Ultimately though, they make their purchases online.

We need to bear in mind that Millennials will be (and are) driving eCommerce. Some retailers are clever enough to realise this and are looking at what specific interests appeal to these Millennials and how to attract them as online shoppers via social media platforms and targeted promotions.

 Let’s take a closer look at the relationship between millennials and online shopping

Below is a handy infographic covering the widely seen behaviours among Millennials when it comes to shopping online. A few takeouts are that:

• Millennials love personalised, targeted promotions and discounts.
• 63% of millennials make purchases with their smartphones, every day.
• 68% of millennials desire an experience that’s both integrated and seamless despite the channel

Save the rain forest. Track property owners. Get better protected data. Let’s talk Blockchain.

Shantel Morgan, Insight Strategist at The MediaShop discusses Blockchain in today’s everyday life and media environment.

I’ve recently found myself delving into the quite unknown world of Bitcoin and crypto currencies. What I’ve discovered is that crypto currency is certainly here to stay, it is but one application of Blockchain technology, which I believe is the more exciting discussion to have.

Tracking diamonds, how we use our photos online, or who owns what in the property sector are some of the ways Blockchain can change the world. It can eradicate world poverty. It can save the rainforest and even protect us from Big Brother.

For those who appreciate a simpler explanation – Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology. It is essentially “mutual distributed ledgers,” as they are sometimes called or self-governing, tamper-free, online databases that nobody owns, yet everybody can trust and it never goes offline.

Blockchain, one of the underlying technologies for the hot crypto currency Bitcoin, can make IoT (Internet of Things) devices even more useful. It creates a digital record across hundreds or thousands of computers, vastly reducing the risk of hacking.

Combining IoT with Blockchain, or BIoT, ushers in a whole host of new services and businesses. For example, BIoT can be used to track shipments of pharmaceuticals and to create smart cities in which connected heating systems better control energy use and connected traffic lights better manage rush hour.

The revolutionary promise of Blockchain, which has created a gold-rush mentality, along with hype and FOMO (fear of missing out) factors have led hundreds of companies unveiling so-called Blockchain initiatives. According to IDC, venture capitalists have poured more than $2.1 billion into global spending on Blockchain solutions in 2018 alone.

Seeking fortune by association, companies in fields as varied as iced tea, fruit juice, furniture, traditional Chinese tea, sports bras and e-cigarettes have rebranded themselves as Blockchain companies, and some have witnessed huge run-ups in their share prices as a result.

Blockchain is a big deal and its distributed ledger technology has the potential to be really transformative.

It suddenly feels like Blockchain is everywhere – and that includes media and advertising.

The Opportunity in Advertising

Led by Google, Facebook and other internet giants, big data has dominated advertising trends over the past decade. Google reigns over paid search advertising markets, and Facebook leads the game in display advertising. In fact, these two giants together own between 60% – 70% of the digital advertising market share.

In this environment, it’s difficult for ad agencies or business owners to know if their ads are genuinely getting in front of their intended audiences. Could Blockchain change that?

The simple answer is yes, and there’s a strong case that Blockchain will benefit both consumers and advertisers alike. First off, consumer data will be better protected because of added security with Blockchain technology. This will limit demographic information from being sold without authorisation, and for ad buyers, it could eliminate much of the guesswork required to mount a campaign.

Blockchain is transparent and encrypted, so it can stamp out empty bot clicks and other threats that may saturate a campaign. Advertisers will know that it’s real people engaging with their ads, protecting the integrity of their campaign data and preventing wasted money in the long run. Trust and transparency are two elements vital to digital advertisers, and Blockchain is likely the game-changing solution they need. Consumers may even be able to own and sell their information to authorised companies.

A few examples of Blockchain in marketing

• AdChain – an open protocol on the public Ethereum Blockchain that helps people to build decentralised digital advertising applications.
• AdEX – a decentralised ad network based on Blockchain and smart contracts technology.
• Basic Attention Token – a token that can be exchanged between publishers, advertisers, and users on the Ethereum Blockchain.
• Bitclave – a decentralised search engine powered by Blockchain that compensates users rather than advertisers.
• Indahash – an influencer tech platform that launched a crypto currency in late 2017 with which brands can pay influencers.
• KR8OS – a marketing analytics and attribution platform build on Blockchain.
• LeadCoin – a Blockchain network that allows companies to sell unused leads to others.
• MadHive – a decentralised ad network built on Blockchain and a platform for data exchange and collaboration.

Sources:
Bitcoin and blockchain the future of money or just hype
https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2018/2/5-blockchain-statistics-cio-reality-check

Incumbent media agency for Famous Brands, The MediaShop, has retained Africa’s largest branded food service franchisor account after a hotly contested pitch process was concluded.

“The MediaShop initially won the Famous Brands business in 2011 and we are grateful that our strategic thinking and unique consumer insights in both traditional and digital media gave us the edge during the vigorous pitch process, resulting in us retaining the account,” says The MediaShop Johannesburg’s MD, Kgaugelo Maphai. “In the past, our team achieved some great milestones, including winning a Roger Garlick Gold award for Wimpy’s Twitter takeover on Joburg radio station 94.7 and a Roger Garlick finalist nomination for Mugg & Bean’s Cupcake Wall in the Cupcakes for Kids with Cancer campaign.

We thank Famous Brands for their continued trust in us and have no doubt that we’ll continue to work together to elevate each of their brands.”

Business Unit Manager on the account Jedd Cokayne adds: “This category is exceptionally competitive but we’ve used the correct media cleverly to remain top of mind, with digital playing a pivotal role in engaging and building relationships with our consumers.

Stringent environment parameters have ensured we reach our target market effectively and efficiently. We’re absolutely thrilled to have retained this account and look forward to achieving bigger and better things together over the next few years.”

The Famous Brands company houses iconic South African favourites like Steers, Debonairs, Wimpy, Mugg & Bean, Fishaways, Tashas, Salsa Mexican Grill, Turn ‘n Tender and many more.

Linda Sinclair, Chief Marketing Officer at Famous Brands adds: “We are extremely confident and excited about the next stage of our partnership with The MediaShop. Once again, they have certainly demonstrated that they are the right agency to take our brands to new heights in this very competitive market.  The media landscape is rapidly evolving and we believe that, in The MediaShop, we have a partner that is at the forefront of the media industry and that the agency has an understanding of consumer media trends.”

For more on The MediaShop visit www.mediashop.co.za, like them on Facebook: The MediaShop, follow them on Twitter @MediaShopZA or LinkedIn.

As part of The MediaShop’s ongoing engagements with media owners and partners, the agency is hosting an Out of Home (OOH) workshop on Thursday 7 September at the Bryanston Country Club.

Specifically, the purpose of this workshop is to interact with SMMEs within the Out of Home sector to discuss the state of the OOH landscape and give advice to media owners on how to better interact with the agency and hopefully grow their business in the process.

 “We want to continuously find better ways of working with various media owners and specifically SMME’s. We hope that this workshop will give insights on the critical ingredients of success within this sector, and also share our views on where we see the future of OOH,” says Johannesburg’s MD Kgaugelo Maphai.

“We will have speakers from The MediaShop, a client, and Michele Munro and her team from MMAP addressing the audience to cover various aspects relating to OOH.”

Craig Wallis, Business Unit Manager and Head of Outdoor at The MediaShop adds: “We will begin with an introduction of our internal OOH team and offer insights into the processes that need to be followed within TMS, examples of great campaigns, spotting great sites and what we expect from our media owner partners.”

The Outdoor Measurement Council (OMC)/ROAD/Quantum studies will also be touched on as well as what SMMEs as a collective can do to motivate advertisers to book with them.

“We’re looking forward to this engagement with OOH SMMEs, and we’re confident that at the end of our session, the media owners will have a much clearer picture on what it takes to work with us and to move their businesses forward,” says Kgaugelo.

For more information please contact Tebogo.nkadimeng@mediashop.co.za 

The MediaShop’s Johannesburg MD, Kgaugelo Maphai, has announced the appointment of Gareth Grant as Business Unit Manager to head up the Nedbank account.

 “We’re delighted to have Gareth on board and we’re already seeing the positive impact and attitude he has been displaying in the few short days since he’s been with the team,” says Kgaugelo. “He has experienced both the agency and client side of media and brings with him a fresh perspective on managing a financial account.”

 Having joined the advertising industry in 2005, Gareth quickly made a name for himself in the industry. As a newbie he was invited to guest lecturer at the AAA during 2006 and 2008, providing unique insights into his first impressions of the workplace. From his humble beginnings at UM as a media planner, Gareth quickly proved his worth over the next few years, landing a great opportunity as Senior Media Strategist at FNB, a position he held for four years before joining The MediaShop team.

With active involvement on the AMASA committee in previous years and with two Roger Garlick Awards under his belt, Gareth has a keen eye for great pioneering media ideas and how to implement them.

 Gareth adds: “I’m very grateful to have had the working experiences I’ve had leading up to this point because I’ve been able to get a good sense of managing a client both from a business sense and from a media point of view,” he says. “The financial world is an extremely competitive category and I’m looking forward to getting stuck in to see where our team can elevate Nedbank’s business even further.”

For more on The MediaShop visit www.mediashop.co.za, like them on Facebook: The MediaShop or follow them on Twitter @MediaShopZA

 

Future Media Trends

The Media Crystal Ball: Sean Sullivan – Business Unit Manager at The MediaShop

Futurists like Ray Kurzweil, author of “The Singularity is Near”, have always fascinated me with their sci-fi predictions for humankind, so much so that I thought we’d explore 10 themes that are shaping the media platforms of tomorrow. Let’s contemplate how close we as marketers actually are to this new reality because quite frankly, some of Ray’s predictions are a little too far removed from our everyday life to get our heads around.

Not everything is changing. If you go into a remote village, things remain pretty much the same. When you go into a pub, you don’t for instance order a pint through a chat app, and it wouldn’t arrive in a 3D printed glass. In amongst all this talk of change, we need to be mindful of what is and what isn’t changing.

 1. Abundance

We need to be conscious of the incredible amount of content that’s available, but also the complete lack of attention most people pay to it because, in truth, the amount of content in the world is paralysing us all.

Our phones have started creating ‘media moments’, and increasingly phones can create them wherever we are. This is not a particularly sustainable future. We’re always designing adverts with the assumption that people we’re targeting have spare capacity and time.

The notion that people have additional time to read, watch and listen to what media owners have created is one which will result in an increasingly aggressive competition for eyeballs.

The current breakneck rate at which we engage with media means that we’re mentally saturated and our attention spans are limited. Grabbing meaningful attention is the greatest challenge marketers have today.

 2. Digital disappears

Many people have critiqued the industry’s obsession with the term ‘digital’. Much of this is because we didn’t grow up with the technology, and can still estimate how much of our time we spend ‘online’. But that’s no longer a concrete concept. Online just is.

The younger you are, the less the concept of ‘time spent online’ makes any sense. For 14 year olds, for there to be an ‘online’, there would have to be an ‘offline’. We talk about social media as if it’s an activity that people do rather than just the way things are.

This is especially true with smartphones; it could easily be argued that we are constantly online.
This obsession with digital being an ‘activity’ is laughable. There are devices like Google Home which will bring these ideas forward and blur the lines further – as an internet connected device, it doesn’t look how we assume it should – it has no screen!

We need to stop thinking of ‘online’ and ‘digital’ as things we physically do, but rather take them as an unspoken part of our everyday lives. Digital is a lot like oxygen. It’s there all the time and surrounds us every moment of every day. We can’t base our businesses on the ‘digital’ concept, it has to be an integral part of everyday life.

 3. The horizontalisation of media

Another age-related issue which is affecting the industry’s ability to innovate is our need to put things neatly into verticals. Facebook, YouTube and Netflix creeping into the TV space is a long-overdue wake-up call in terms of how we perceive media channels going forward.

We still have media ‘channels’ which are vertical silos, but it doesn’t really work in the same old format anymore. Phones can do everything in the world, TV’s are almost there too, and the industry isn’t segmented vertically but horizontally. There’s no reason why Facebook can’t control TV’s, or why Spotify can’t launch a video channel.

Soon we’re going to have screens everywhere. Probably the most important screen will continue to be our phone. While many people are talking about what comes next, it may just be that we’ve reached the best thing for us already.

 4 – Lines blur

It’s not just media channels that are blurring. The very devices which we reach people on are defying categorisation. What is TV? Is it a screen we watch or just context for consumption? Is it a delivery mechanism or is watching TV simply described by the length of a particular programme? If it’s delivered through the internet is it still TV – is Netflix TV? Is watching a highlights reel on my phone TV?

We never spend time defining what we actually mean by TV any more. We need to get better at understanding that the notion of TV doesn’t matter or exist in its true sense anymore – it’s about video and making world class content that’s right for the context.

But it’s not all challenging. This could well one day be seen as the golden age of video. If you work in video and content you have never had it so good. You can reach so many people now; anyone in the world and it’s both personal and interactive.

 5 – More intimate screens and data

Personalisation is becoming more and more…well…personal with the amount of data organisations can gather and wield at scale. With much of the content that’s available, the opportunities have been wasted to really make the most of the format.

Screens have gone from massive cinema screens, to family TV’s, to laptops, to phones. The phone is the singular most personal screen – you usually watch it alone. It knows what you’re planning on doing later that day. It has all of your browsing history, it knows what the weather is like where you are…it’s the richest, most personal, most immersive device we’ve ever known. And we’ve just taken what we had previously and sort of made it fit.

We really need to get to grips with the amazing opportunities phones present; less ‘Big Data’ and more intimate data.

 6 – New realities

VR and ‘new realities’ frontiers are undoubtedly the hottest topic in media right now.

VR is about taking you away from everything in your environment, to a more interesting place.

What these new realities represent is an entirely new way to think about advertising. We always assumed the screens were the canvas, and there’s a frame around what we’re doing. But AR and VR transform all that.

The worst thing we could possibly do with them is take our current way of thinking about advertising and shoehorn it in. We need a whole new approach.

 7 – The predictive web

Another trend which will be hugely disruptive to the industry but will be a barely perceptible change to the way people use the internet will be an increasingly sophisticated predictive web.

We’ve only ever known an internet that we went to. We went to the search bar – it was always about us and what we wanted to find out.

We’re now able to predict what we want to do. The internet is less something that we go to and more this pervasive interface that tells us what we want to do and where we want to go. The new internet will give us the right message at the right time at the right place.

 8 – The ecommerce separation

Separating ‘buying’ and ‘shopping’ may not seem like the most obvious trend to pick up on, but the acts themselves are very different:

We tend to have actions and reactions, and we’re going to see the act of buying separating from the act of shopping, buying will be the world of the search bar, subscriptions, dash buttons, and the purchase funnel will be a simple swipe. Shopping will be created around themes, content marketing, experiences, and adding more joy into the purchase process.

To adapt to this trend, let’s make things easy or beautiful – if it’s neither, it has no place in the future.

 9 – Vanishing interfaces, new inputs

Chat bots and personal interactions will fill a vital role in customer and audience relationships. Part of this is the ‘vanishing interface’; the concept that our primary interactions with brands may not be through screens at all.

There has never been a better time to talk to people – the mobile interface allows companies to have a one-to-one conversation with its customers. There are so many rich ways to interact – there are lots of exciting opportunities in voice recognition and conversation.

There’s also a movement away from screens – Alexa, wearables, and we could be navigating a world where information comes to you without a screen.

 10 – AI

The final trend is unsurprisingly AI, but the argument focuses on putting its potential at the centre of future strategies, and not making the same mistakes some companies made with the internet.

Really profound technologies need to be applied to the centre of our business – we’ve done a lot of things wrong by applying them at the edge. Uber exists because of the mobile phone, not because of the app, but because the company knew that once they knew your location, it could all work.

It’s possible that the next wave of big, innovative companies are ones who have built themselves around AI.

Businesses need to stop basing their future strategies on what they had done in the past.

We need to learn from the past, but look forward, not back. I’d love us to start with a blank sheet of paper – amazing new possibilities with technology. Don’t look at what you did last year.

So there are some big lessons for media organisations to take away from these predictions. Be forward-thinking; the vertical ‘channel’ ways of thinking are long gone. The innovators are the ones who have ‘digital’ not at their heart, but as the lifeblood – essential, fluid, and touching every corner of the business.

 Source: The Media Briefing. Tom Goodwin: Changing Media Summit 2017

 

South Africa’s vastly divergent make up of cultures means that we cannot assume to know everything about our fellow South Africans. By learning more about each other, we evoke a greater sense of peer to peer understanding, more beneficial communication and we can collect vital insights into different cultures. These insights can be used not only on a personal level but for businesses and marketers to correctly engage with their target markets.

To this end, media strategy and buying agency The MediaShop has initiated a string of Cultural Appreciation sessions in the agency where one culture is explored each month amongst staff. The first presentation explored the Xhosa people, their nuances, traditions, language, social norms, food and lifestyle. The meal served on the day in the staff canteen was traditional Xhosa food.

Kgaugelo Maphai, Johannesburg MD says: “As a business and as individuals, we realise that we need to have a deeper understanding of the broader South African people. There is a lot we can learn just from our own staff and their varied backgrounds. The insights gleaned from these ongoing sessions will also be taken into the work that we produce for our clients. A better understanding of a person’s culture makes for markedly more effective advertising.”

“We’re an agency wanting to be driven by insights and not just by the research tools that are available to us,” he says. “This initiative is just the beginning of a much larger insights entrenchment plan within the agency. We’ll be exploring various diverse cultures that exist within SA including Jewish, Indian, Coloured, Muslim backgrounds, each with their own wonderful nuances that we need to tap into.”

Kgaugelo goes on to say that we assume that black people are homogenous, that black people all have the same traditions and social norms. “That couldn’t be further from the truth.  Our Cultural Appreciation sessions will allow our staff, including our black staff, to learn more about other black people’s cultures and nuances.”

Insights gleaned from the first workshop include:

• Amaxhosa are the second biggest Nguni nation in South Africa
• They mainly reside in the Eastern and Western Cape with the most prominent towns being Umtata, East London (Emonti), PE (Ebhayi) and King Williams Town (Eqonce).
• The initiation process for boys is called Ulwaluko, after which boys are accepted as men. The initiation for the transition from girls to women is Intonjane.
• Hello – molo
• Thank you – enkosi or ndiyabulela
• You’re welcome – wamkelekile

Lisa Ganamfana, Digital Campaign Manager at The MediaShop, and originally from the Western Cape was part of the first presentation team. She adds: “The whole point of these culture presentations is for us as the staff of The MediaShop to get to know each other a bit better than we already do. There is no better way to appreciate a person than understanding their culture as it is a big part of who they are.

The presentation also created some kind of curiosity in people’s minds because they went on to Google and to find out more,” she says. “Additionally, it assists us with insights that go into our campaigns for our clients and makes a huge difference to the work we present to clients.”

“Our Cultural Appreciation sessions take place at our monthly staff meeting. Our next presentation is focusing on the Indian culture. We’ve also partnered with SABC Radio to bring their presenters in as language specialists to teach staff how to pronounce certain words. Our first session saw us hosting Amaza Ntshanga from Umhlobo Wenene.

We’re very excited to see the change these sessions will have on our team and in the work we produce over the coming months, and we look forward to learning a ton of new insights,” says Kgaugelo.

For more on The MediaShop visit www.mediashop.co.za, like them on Facebook: The MediaShop or follow them on Twitter @MediaShopZA

Jarred Mailer-Lyons, Digital Media Strategist at The MediaShop

Every year, Google changes its search algorithm around 600 times. While most of these changes are insignificant to advertisers and brands, occasionally there are major algorithmic updates that rock the industry. These changes can be potential game changers for brands and also significantly impact a site’s rankings. You can call the latest one Fred. For now.

For brands and agencies that rely on Google Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) as a key business driver, knowing the release dates of these Google algorithm updates can help unpack changes in rankings and organic website traffic to ultimately improve SEO results. Some of the major algorithmic changes that have had the biggest impact on search over the past several years include five main updates. These have been:

 Panda

The Panda update was a major algorithm update that hit sites hard, affecting up to 12% of search results. Panda was mainly focused on low-quality content sites with high advertising to content ratios, and a number of other quality issues. This was a little different from other algorithm updates in that Panda was more about on-site issues.

Duplicate content was one of Panda’s major issues as it affected multiple URL’s with the same content. While it wasn’t technically penalised, duplicate content can still sometimes impact search engine rankings. When there are multiple pieces of content in more than one location on the web, it can be difficult for search engines to decide which version is more relevant to a given search query.

Perceived ‘thin’ content also fast became an issue, which was affected by this update. Thin content was a naming convention that referred to low quality pages that add little to no value to the user. Examples of thin content include duplicate pages, automatically generated content or doorway pages. This update however affected a lot of snippet pieces of content, which included news sites, blog posts etc.

Panda also looked at the Click Through Rates (CTR) and Bounce Rates – the user experience on site was a major focus of the Panda updates and the best way to measure it was through user engagement and time spent on site. Ultimately Panda required sites to up their game in terms of usability, user experience, creating meaningful and engaging content and of course refraining from creating duplicating thin content.

 Penguin

The focus of the Penguin update was on external linking. If a brand had a poor link profile that did not relate back to the content of the site that a person was linking to then this would affect the algorithm negatively. This created a domino effect on the page rankings and quality score. Penguin was a major algorithm update that targeted sites spamming its search engine results, in particular it targeted sites that were buying links or obtaining them through link networks designed primarily to boost Google rankings.

Another issue that this update focused on was anchor text. This is the clickable text in a hyperlink. SEO best practices dictate that anchor text must be relevant to the page you’re linking a user through to, rather than providing generic or unrelated text. The update also focused on the issue of keyword stuffing, in which a web page is loaded with keywords in the meta tag coding or in the content of a web page in an attempt to gain an unfair rank advantage in search engines.

 Hummingbird

Hummingbird took into account more than 200 minor and major changes and was an attempt by Google to provide better responses to voice queries, specifically within the mobile space. However what Google actually wanted to gain out of this algorithm update was to give the end user the right answers to their questions, the correct facts and statistics, and articles that were dense with high quality related content. This type of information started to allow brands to surface organically as they provided value to the end user by giving them more in-depth information around their search query.

 Pigeon

The Pigeon update focused on local SEO, which drastically changed the way Google interprets, modifies and handles location results. For example: the query ‘Johannesburg restaurants’ started ranking SEO results substantially higher than something more generic like ‘Greek Restaurants’. The query results on Google Search vs Google Maps were significantly different before this update took effect. This algorithm connected web and map search in a more cohesive way. In 2014, Yelp confronted Google for apparently disregarding its major local review site in Google’s search results. The Pigeon update then corrected this problem, and put Yelp specific queries, among other review sites, ahead of its own which placed greater general emphasis and weighting on directories and directory listings.

 Fred (New unconfirmed SEO ranking)

It’s been about a month since there was some talk around the new update called Fred. The latest chatter seems to be linked to ‘quality’ and not necessarily ‘content quality’ related but again this is just the chatter.

While Google remains vague about what this update specifically focused on, it has been around long enough to guage their direction. As some of the modifications have started affecting traffic and rankings, certain of the research has started to show that if a site’s rankings are heavily dependent on multiple long-tail keywords and the content that matches those keywords was written before 2014, then those sites would have been affected.

Basically, if Fred identified any site content as invaluable, low quality, outdated, or too ad-heavy then rankings were guaranteed to start seeing massive drops. Also, backlinks to the main site with old content has started seeing a clamp down by the update. Since low backlinks and low quality content often go hand in hand, this correlation makes it difficult to determine which, if not both, factors in driving the changes in rankings.

So what do we take out of all of this – basically, change is the only constant in SEO. Even though it is a relatively new industry and Google updates their algorithm on a daily basis – the parameters are constantly affected and sites are forced to adapt. So if the only constant is change then let’s embrace it, learn from it and be better at what we do.