eCommerce Express Digest - February 2024

January started as a bit of a slow month for Google, but maybe they were just planning and made up for it in February! If you’ve not had time to keep track of the latest goings-on in the Land Of Digital don’t worry, our monthly Commerce blog is here to fill the ‘TLDR’ gaps. 

First up, the Google news:

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has (finally) undergone some notable updates, particularly in its Advertising Workspace, where users can expect enhanced functionalities and improved user experience. What were the main changes?

• The Reports section offers valuable insights into user engagement with your websites and apps, enabling you to enhance your product and user experience effectively. 
• The Advertising section will serve as a central hub for monitoring and analysing campaigns, catering to both publishers and advertisers alike.

We have seen a new default Adwords Report appear in the Advertising section for most clients now. This is a handy inclusion to get a quick overview of Paid campaigns; the cost and ROAS. * Your Adwords account must be linked with GA4 for data to appear

Continuing the focus on Paid, version 16 of the Ads API interface was released in February. Watch this video below to see the new features, or check-out a wrap from SEO Roundtable.

There was an update to Google’s Asset Update Response for Search Ads (RSA), providing insights into Google’s adjustments to its asset reporting system. Some new features include the ability to display a headline, associate up to 3 headlines and 2 descriptions at campaign level and implement automated assets at account level. For more about this, see this article on Search Engine Land.

On the Paid Shopping front, the Search Engine also announced the integration of Performance Max (PMax) and their AI platform Gemini (formally Bard). This comes with a host of new features, including asset generation and image editing capabilities. For more information on this, see the Google Blog.

In an announcement that wasn’t a surprise to some, Google are ‘deepening their partnership’ with the widely used news and forum platform Reddit. Why were some not surprised? Many have noticed that Reddit seems to be appearing more prevalently on the Search Engine recently. Is this a data sharing exercise or something more? I’m sure time will tell.

On to the other news…

Bing’s Deep Search (Microsoft’s answer to Generative Search) has rolled out to more users. See more about this on Search Engine Land.

Instagram unveiled the expansion of their Creator Marketplace feature, offering more opportunities for content creators to collaborate with brands and monetise their content, potentially fostering a more robust creator ecosystem on the platform. The platform will start inviting brands and creators in Australia, New Zealand and other countries over the coming weeks.

Off the back of Sponsored Articles last months, LinkedIn marked the arrival of ‘Website Actions’ in February. This addition should add a new dimension to user interactions on the platform, allowing businesses and professionals to drive specific actions and conversions directly from their LinkedIn profiles without developers needing to implement specific code.

Finally, popular eCommerce platform Shopify notified their webmasters that they will be sunsetting their native Product Reviews App by May 6th. If you are currently using this and would like a recommendation for a different one to use, contact us today. It’s a good opportunity to utilise one with more features. Shopify also launched their Winter Edition, which has multiple updates about their ‘100+ foundational’ products and more. 

Phew, that was a big one. Is there something important in the digital realm that we’ve missed? Have a question or theory about any of the topics raised? Feel free to contact the Megantic Team today on +(61) 03 9001 9997.