🔍 Google relents

Jun 26, 2020

Good morning, Josb, on second thought…

After years of resistance and legal battles, Google is finally prepared to pay publishers for their content. Google said this week it has signed licensing deals with both local and national publishers in Germany, Australia and Brazil, with more to come. The consumer experience will appear in Google News and in the Google Discover feed. Specific deal terms have not been disclosed, nor have any selection or participation criteria beyond the phrase "high quality," Greg Sterling reported.

Google also announced messaging upgrades for enterprises in Maps and Search on Thursday. More business categories are set to have access to Google Messaging and its new features, which include smart replies, visual product carousels, and unique welcome messages.

A reminder if you missed SMX Next this week, not to worry. All of the sessions are still available on demand when you register for free.

Keep reading for clarification on GA tracking in Safari and more.

Ginny Marvin,
Editor-in-Chief

Search Shorts

GoogleBot regional crawling.

Regional crawling. Google's John Mueller said there is no way to tell Google where GoogleBot should crawl from, i.e. which region — but most of the time, it is the US.

App promotion skills. Google Ads added two new ways for you to up-level your digital skills to help you be there for your customers while balancing limited time and resources

Google myth-busting season two. Google posted the teaser for season two of the Google mythbusting series. There are some special guests in this series and the teaser is a lot of fun.

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Social Shorts

TikTok for Business and Instagram "Reels"

TikTok's biz hub. TikTok debuted its new studio hub for brands and agencies Thursday. TikTok for Business is available globally across the app's 20-odd markets and will host services and ad formats for advertisers. It also debuted Brand Scan, an AR ad format, with tech partners Bare Tree Media, Subvrsive and Tommy.

TikTok for Business is further evidence that as its audience grows, the company is focused on building up its ad business.

Reeling out. After launching in Brazil last November, Instagram is extending its TikTok-like short-form video product "Reels" to France and Germany, TechCrunch reported. With this roll out, Instagram added the ability for users to share Reels to their Feeds instead of just limiting them to Stories. Reels is also more prominent in the app with dedicated space on users' Profile and in Explore.

If there's one thing Facebook doesn't like — and has no shame in copying — it's upstart threats. Like TikTok, Reels give users all kinds of editing tools for their videos, which are limited to 15-seconds. Will it be the creator lure from TikTok that Facebook's been striving for?

Chatter

"Does it matter that google-analytics.com is prevented as a tracker?

Not really. The fact that google-analytics.com has its ability to leverage third-party storage neutered means nothing to how the tool is actually used." — Simo Ahava

Ahava helped set the record straight after several outlets reported that Apple's Intelligent Tracking Prevention was going to start blocking Google Analytics in the new Safari 14. The reports were based on a screenshot of the new Privacy Report Apple showed during WWDC this week. Read Ahava's post.

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