Amazon

Pure SEO’s ‘This Week In Search’ series takes a look at the top SEO and SEM news stories from the week. This week, a study conducted by Marin Software reveals PPC competition insights between Amazon and Google, Facebook updates the Ads Manager App with new creative tools, and YouTube videos display searchable hashtags. Marin Software Reveals Amazon and Google PPC Competition Insights Marin Software, an online advertising company in America, recently released some useful insights into the state of PPC competition between Amazon and Google. Amazon’s advertising tool is drawing attention from digital advertisers. Wes MacLaggan, SVP of Marketing at Marin Software, offered this insight: “Amazon has essentially become a massive search engine for consumers far down the purchase funnel and we’re eager to help advertisers increase their presence on this important channel in quarters to come.” According to the Marin Software study, international … [Read more...] about New Study Reveals Amazon PPC Insights, and More!

A number of Google Home Mini devices that were distributed to members of the press had a defect that caused them to record everything being said around them. This discovery renewed privacy concerns surrounding smart speakers as surreptitious listening devices in our homes. The problem was first discovered by Android Police. Once being notified, Google investigated and fixed the issue: The Google Home team is aware of an issue impacting a small number of Google Home Mini devices that could cause the touch control mechanism to behave incorrectly. We immediately rolled out a software update on October 7 to mitigate the issue. Who is affected: People who received an early release Google Home Mini device at recent Made by Google events. Pre-ordered Google Home Mini purchases aren’t affected. As a general matter, Google Home and Amazon Alexa devices must “listen” to surrounding conversations to capture “wake words” (e.g.,”Alexa,” “OK … [Read more...] about Echo and Home will probably have to tell you they’re always listening — in Europe

Google Express has kicked off a new ad campaign called “Need anything from the store?” which promotes it as a delivery service for “all your stores in one place,” according to an Advertising Age report. The effort shows people of all ages and walks of life in the often-painful process of describing a product for a largely offscreen friend or family member who has offered to pick the items up at the store. Among the stores offering products through Google Express are Walmart, Costco and Target. The effort aims to level the playing field with Amazon — for both the retailers and Google — offering consumers both the immediacy and choice to which they’ve grown accustomed. For the retailers, it’s a bit of the old “enemy of my enemy is my friend” concept. Ad Age characterized the campaign and the collection of Google Express partners (37 in all) as an “anti-Amazon alliance,” which was sort of announced during … [Read more...] about Can Google Express help traditional retail level the playing field with Amazon?

Yesterday, at a pre-emptive event in Seattle, Amazon introduced new Alexa devices to keep its lead in the battle for the smart home. Google is having its own hardware event on October 4. Amazon introduced six products. First and foremost, it presented a more compact, cheaper Echo with better sound. It comes in six different colors or skins. It starts at $99, which is much cheaper than the original Echo’s price ($179). Many people will likely compare this price to Apple’s forthcoming HomePod and opt for the less expensive device. The company also introduced Echo Plus, which is being marketed as a smart home hub. The device looks like the original Echo but is also less expensive at $149 and includes upgraded speakers. The $99 Echo also works as a smart home hub, but the Echo Plus includes additional hardware that reportedly makes smart home device connections easier and entirely voice-activated. The novel Echo Spot is a rounder, smaller version of Echo Show. It’s like … [Read more...] about Amazon just upped the ante in the battle of the virtual assistants

There are roughly 20 million smart speakers now in the US. And more than half of device owners have used them to buy something, according to survey data from NPR and Edison Research. The data released this week is part two of a report first introduced in July. Called “The Smart Audio Report,” the data are based on a survey of 800 people who owned at least one smart speaker and an equivalent number who did not. Part one of the report found very high levels of satisfaction among device owners: 65 percent of smart speaker owners said “they would not want to go back to their lives before getting one of these devices” and 42 percent said they were now “essential” to daily life. But the core of the second report is demographics and purchase behavior. It’s somewhat surprising is that consumers have started to buy things through these devices. But the report confirms their potential as e-commerce drivers. The survey found that 57 … [Read more...] about Report: 57% of smart speaker owners have bought something with their voice