Simply put

Google has published a new document on SEO link best practice, adding useful tips on anchor text copywriting and placement as well as internal and external linking. Here are a few key takeaways to make links crawlable and in turn improve ranking in search engine results pages:

Anchor text placement: Google suggests placing anchor text – also known as link text – between <a> HTML elements.

Writing anchor text: To help users and search engines navigate your site, make sure your anchor text is descriptive, concise, and relevant to the page it lives on and links to.

Internal links: To help readers better understand a page’s content, link to at least one relevant page on your site.

External links: Google highlights the importance of external linking to build trust and give context to your visitors about what they can expect.

What does this mean?

“It's great to see Google publishing more helpful best practice documentation regarding linking,” says Laura Davies, iCrossing UK’s SEO director. “Linking is an effective way to build authority but only if it's done correctly. For example, we've known for ages we should avoid generic 'click here' anchor text and instead create micro copy that’s relevant to the content you’re linking to. Through Google publishing these guidelines, it helps us reinforce these points to both clients and website owners.”

Simply put

Instagram is launching ‘Instagram Channels’, a new feature that enables creators to broadcast to an unlimited audience. According to Mark Zuckerberg’s recent IG story, this new broadcast chat feature will support text, images, polls, reactions and more. More specifically, creators will be able to control who can send messages, while their followers and fans will be able to read, react and vote in polls posted in the chat. This will give brands the opportunity to interact with their audience in an organic way instead of constantly trying to keep boosting feed engagement.

What does this mean?

“During the last few years, Instagram has focused heavily on competing with TikTok, prioritising video features more than anything else,” says Athina Nikoletopoulou, paid social manager at iCrossing UK. “After a recent internal report showed time spent on Meta is on the rise, yet creation and engagement is declining, the platform is now finally exploring new ways to help creators directly reach their audience and form deeper connections within their communities.

“This could be a great opportunity for creators and businesses to connect with their followers, sharing updates and exclusive behind-the-scenes moments; testing and using the variety of content formats available within the new ‘Channels’ feature.”

Simply put

To help brands get to know their audience better, TikTok has added more than 70,000 new insights to its Insights tool, which was launched in May. The tool helps advertisers understand their audience behaviour, content effectiveness, and the overall performance of campaigns. The new insights cover everything, from how the platform’s community behaves, to creating impactful ads and allow users to filter the result by different locations, audiences, industries and more.

What does this mean?

The additional insights can help marketers better understand trends and make their in-app promotions more impactful. TikTok Creative Center could also be another helpful tool to discover useful data, such as popular hashtags, songs, creators and videos that perform well – and use it to create successful campaigns. Taking into consideration that 69% of TikTok users in the UK feel a deeper connection to the brands they interact with on the platform, these insights can be a good starting point to optimise your campaigns. Give them a try to engage with your audience, drive brand awareness and maximise your content’s success.

In a nutshell

Big tech’s Q4 earning reports have been released and can be a great opportunity for paid social advertisers to review their strategy and make the most of it. In an article for the Drum, iCrossing UK’s paid social director, James Mortimer rounds up the latest updates from Meta, Snap and Pinterest, presenting key takeaways and important learnings for brands and advertisers.

What does this mean?

“At the start of 2023, brands face significant headwinds and challenges outside of their control. But there are reasons to be optimistic about opportunities for the year ahead,” writes James in The Drum.

“New frontiers are emerging; AR and VR offer unlimited opportunities for brands to reach users in innovative new ways and drive growth. The lack of clarity around attribution has slowed development for many brands that heavily relied on paid media as a growth pillar. But major platforms, especially Pinterest, are developing solutions to make attribution clearer. This, in turn, should aid growth and make it easier for brands to understand the value of their media investments.”