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Google Core Updates
Google’s algorithms are a complex system used to retrieve data from its search index and instantly deliver the best possible results for a query. The search engine uses a combination of algorithms and numerous ranking signals to deliver webpages ranked by relevance.
There was a time when Google only made a handful of updates to its algorithms. Today, Google makes thousands of changes every year.
Core updates are designed to produce noticeable effects across search results in all countries and in all languages. Inevitably sites will have gains or declines in rankings after a core update rolls out.
SEO rankings can and do move around…a lot. Changes in search rankings are usually a reflection of the relevancy of your content. This means that if the content on your site has gained relevancy since the last update, it will be upped in search rankings. Unfortunately, the opposite applies as well.
For the second time in 2020, Google released a core update in May which was the first since the pandemic and will likely execute significant changes in search rankings. The first core update of 2020 launched during the second week of January.
Consider how much the world has changed between January and May. In January, coronavirus and COVID-19 were barely on anyone’s radar. Now those words are on the forefront of almost everything. Once the pandemic was declared, users search behavior dramatically shifted, worldwide.
Google reported that there has never been as many searches for an individual topic as there has been for COVID-19. The virus has changed what people need from Google.
This drastic change represents a lot of search words gaining relevancy that had little, if any activity in the past. It also means that search words that were once heavily used, such as travel or concert related searches, aren’t getting the traffic they enjoyed in the past.
The May 2020 Core Update must deal with the unique challenge of identifying the tremendous changes of how and what the world is searching online.
Over time, we will be able to identify the long-term effects of the update. In the interim, Google reminds us that there is nothing to “fix” if your rankings drop after a core update. Remember to routinely make your content the best it can be, keep your website refreshed, and study your activity.
SHOPS by Instagram
As businesses continue to face the challenges of selling online as they shift their business models during the COVID-19 crisis, Instagram has created Shops. Shops is a new shopping experience through an immersive, full screen storefront that enables businesses to drive product discovery in a native shopping experience.
People can visit a shop from a business’ Instagram profile or through Feed and Stories. Once they’re at the shop, people can browse products, explore collections, and purchase products — seamlessly through an in-app browser and without leaving the app from shops with checkout.
Checkout allows customers to buy items directly from a shop on Facebook or Instagram.
With shops, people have a place to experience the joy of shopping versus the chore of buying. Collections in shops let businesses customize the shopping experience, and curate products into themes that tell their story.
Creating a shop is free and simple. For more information about shops visit Facebook for Business. To learn more about enabling shopping on your Instagram business account, visit the setup guide.
FB Says NO to Certain Political Ads
Facebook announced that it is taking preventive steps to “protect the integrity of the upcoming US 2020 elections.”
Ads related to the US 2020 census participation and voting around the November 3, 2020 election are now subject to additional prohibitions. Ads targeting the US with the following content are not allowed:
- Ads that portray voting or census participation as useless/meaningless and/or advise users not to vote or participate in a census.
- Ads that delegitimize any lawful method or process of voting or voting tabulation (including in-person voting on paper or on machines, absentee voting, vote by mail, and lawful collection of ballots) as illegal, inherently fraudulent or corrupt, or will result in a fraudulent or corrupt election administration or outcome.
- Ads that delegitimize an election and/or result as fraudulent or corrupt because the result can’t be determined on the final day of voting and/or before ballots received after the final day of voting are lawfully counted.
- Ads that claim voter fraud (such as voter impersonation, duplicate voting, or non-eligible individuals voting) is widespread and/or alters the outcome of elections and/or results in a fraudulent or corrupt election.
- Ads that claim the election date or the mechanism for electing the President can be changed in ways not permitted by the Constitution or federal law.
- Ads with premature claims of election victory.
- Ads that are inconsistent with health authorities on voting safely.
To better facilitate public scrutiny for ads about social issues, elections or politics in the final week of the campaign, we’re introducing a restriction period for ads about social issues, elections or politics in the US. Advertisers will not be able to create and run new ads about social issues, elections or politics in the United States between October 27, 2020 through November 3, 2020. Changes to budget, bids, and targeting will be allowed during this period. However, any edits related to creative, placement and optimization will not be allowed. We recommend you to routinely check their FB Help Center page for updates and the latest information.
Ads about social issues, elections or politics in the United States must be created and start delivering before October 27. If you’re planning to run existing ads about social issues, elections or politics during this restriction period, you’ll be able to:
- Pause existing ads
- Unpause paused ads as long as they delivered an impression before October 27 and are stored in the Ad Library
- Edit the schedule (e.g. new end date)
- Edit the bid amount
- Edit the budget
- Edit the targeting, e.g. geographic or demographic changes, change the interests, upload a new custom audience and create a lookalike
- Note: Editing the targeting will send the ad back through ad review. Advertisers may wait up to 72 hours for political/issue ads to be reviewed.
If you’re planning to run existing ads about social issues, elections or politics during this period, you will not be able to:
- Edit or upload new video assets
- Edit or upload new image assets
- Edit or provide a new landing page
- Edit or provide a new caption (body text)
- Boost an organic post
- Change the objective for the ad
- Change the Page that the ad is running from
- Run the ad from a new ad account
- Change the conversion tracking (pixel, pixel event)
- Change the optimization
- Change the bid type
- Remove the “Paid for by” disclaimer
- Edit the placement
- Duplicate these ads
If you’re planning to run ads about social issues, elections or politics for the first time:
- You’ll need to get authorized to run ads.
- Your ads must have an impression by October 27. FB recommends advertisers to prepare accordingly as ID verification reviews typically take 48 hours, disclaimer reviews take 24 hours and ad reviews take 72 hours.
- Run messages that will stay relevant through Election Day. For instance, it’s best to reference voting on “Election Day” or “November 3” versus “tomorrow” or “today”.
- They also recommend that you get started with the ad authorization and ad setup process as soon as possible. While we’ll adhere to standard turnaround times as closely as possible, we urge you to get authorized and set up ads early to avoid potential delays.
For more information and best practices, refer to the FB best practices one-sheeter.
The End of an Era – James Tardy (1935-2020)
It is with tremendous sadness that we share the news of the passing of our business partner, James (Jim) Tardy. Jim died peacefully on August 25, 2020 after a long battle with dementia.
Born July 24, 1935 near Helena, AR, he studied at the University of Arkansas then joined the Navy. He often spoke proudly of his Naval service and of all the countries he visited.
Jim moved to Houston in 1958 to join Business Extension Bureau. Jim Tardy and Bob Royall ran our business for several decades. Their vision and drive helped to grow Business Extension Bureau into one of the most established marketing businesses in the Houston area before turning over the reins to Bob’s sons, Ron (President/CEO) and Ro (Executive VP) in 1991. Jim continued to make daily trips to the office until the age of 80. He was proud of the business, his partnership with the Royall family, and the people who worked with him at BEB.
Jim had a wry sense of humor, impeccable manners, and treated everyone equally. He loved to fish, travel and garden, and he enjoyed good wine and food. The Tardy home was where friends and family gathered for holiday celebrations.
Jim was a member of Sugar Land First United Methodist Church. He was active in his Sunday School class and church committees, and was a greeter for over 30 years.
Jim is survived by his wife of 56 years, Kathryn “Kitty” Tardy; his son Philip and wife Courtney, and grandchildren Winifred, Harry, and Cecily.
Around the office we knew Jim as “Mr. T”. His passing brings a close to a golden era at Business Extension Bureau. He is well loved, and missed by all of us. Rest in peace, Mr. T.
Pillory of the Postmaster
Earlier this year, newly appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testified in front of a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. He was brought to the pillory to answer for changes made to the USPS that included cutting overtime and limiting post office hours, which caused politicians and postal workers across the country to hit a panic button. These very reasonable directives are necessary as DeJoy will attempt to turn-around the, often-misunderstood, health of the US Postal Service.
The USPS is an independent agency of the executive branch of the federal government and is not funded by appropriations. However, it is not independent of rule from the government. Back in 2006, Congress passed a law that guaranteed the entity would continually face a financial battle by passing the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. The PAEA requires the Postal Service to pre-fund its post-retirement health care costs, 75 years into the future. This extraordinary financial burden applies to no other federal agency or private corporation.
If the costs of the retiree health care mandate were removed from the USPS financial statements, the Post Office would have reported operating profits in each of the last six years. Many people may be surprised to learn that in the third quarter of fiscal 2020, the Postal Service reported an increase in total revenue of 3.2% compared to the same period last year. Credit goes to the increase of shipping and package delivery due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and we anticipate the trend to continue given the surge in e-commerce. The PAEA retirement mandate created a financial “crisis” that has been used to skew public perception of the postal service and allows politicians to “throw rocks” at those who do understand the real challenges facing the USPS today.
Moving the mail is all about logistics. Making the entity that delivers the mail more efficient and streamlined will decrease delivery time, keep product pricing down, and just might allow the largest transportation fleet in the world to grow into an amazing success story.
For over 30-years USPS leaders have been searching for ways to sort and process mail using more automation and increase the amount of time carriers spend delivering mail. It is simply ludicrous when politicians claim that the closure of a rural post office will delay delivery of prescriptions or imply that five-day delivery is somehow denying citizens their right to receive mail. As with any organization that needs to become current and profitable, we must all keep an open mind on ways the USPS can successfully operate throughout the 2020’s.
After sitting on the Washington DC hot seat, DeJoy suspended many of his controversial changes and promised not to make any more until after the November elections. Rest assured that mail is being delivered and marketing via direct mail remains a viable and money-making way to market. We will keep you abreast of the latest happenings as they unfold.
COVID-19 Reference Page
CITY INFORMATION:
Houston
COUNTY INFORMATION:
STATE INFORMATION:
TX Department of State Health Services
GLOBAL INFORMATION:
Guidance for Businesses
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/businesses-employers.html
What Do the Holidays Look Like?
In July, a leading omnichannel commerce technology company (Radial) announced the results of 
their 2020 consumer insights study. Over 1,000 consumers across the US were surveyed todetermine their holiday shopping plans. Radial uncovered that despite the impact of COVID-19, shoppers do not plan to significantly change their holiday spend compared to 2019. However, the data did reveal a stronger preference for online shopping, with 66% of shoppers anticipating they will increase their online purchases during the 2020 holiday season.
While consumers are shopping more online, the survey found their habits aren’t changing significantly in terms of how much they plan to spend on holiday gifts and when they plan to buy. This means the 2020 holiday season will most likely be as busy as ever.
However, instead of the recurring and seasonal demand cycles retailers are used to, in the wake of COVID-19, brands must contend with consistent high demand for e-commerce year-round. Radial reported that this year, peak season for online sales essentially started in March and remained strong since. Retailers must leverage unique strategies like using stores as fulfillment centers and creative order management techniques paired with advanced technology in order to keep deliveries flowing by embracing curbside pickup and other emerging consumer expectations to satisfy the upcoming holiday purchasing season.
Given the continued high demands and online orders retailers will experience, scaling up for peak season will be more difficult than in years past.
The survey also uncovered:
- 60% of consumers plan to shop less in-store this season due to fear of COVID-19 exposure. While there is still an appetite for in-store shopping, safety concerns and deeper consumer familiarity with online ordering indicates that e-commerce will certainly see higher activity than in previous years.
- Despite the impact of the pandemic on delivery times, 41% of shoppers say they don’t plan to shop any earlier for holiday gifts meaning retailers will have no break between the current COVID-19 commerce climate and the already overwhelming holiday peak season rush.
- 39% of shoppers plan to start shopping for the holidays in October into early November, and 30% plan to start on Black Friday/Cyber Monday.
- The majority of consumers surveyed plan to spend the same amount of money as last year on holiday gifts.
63% of shoppers say they are slightly or very much more likely to purchase from a retailer they knew was following COVID-19 safety precautions in-store.
Consumer expectations have eased up in terms of what’s an “acceptable” delivery time. While a Radial survey in 2018 found that in the U.S., over a third of consumers (34.6%) expected to receive packages in two days or less, this 2020 survey found only 14% expect their holiday gifts within two days. What is considered a reasonable timeframe for holiday gift deliveries has shifted, with 50% of respondents saying 5 days for delivery is reasonable, and 28% stating one week was acceptable. This leeway in delivery expectations will allow retailers to focus
on implementing practices that prioritize COVID-19 safety precautions and help them
manage the influx of orders.
It’s so difficult to forecast and plan for the future during these trying times. However, if this survey is a good indicator, it looks like our businesses will have a relatively positive fourth quarter.
All About Data
When preparing a direct mail campaign for prospecting new business, be sure and take advantage of the wealth of expanding demographics that are available today.
So much data is being collected, and a lot of it is self reported, allowing for a wide variety of demographics to select. Before you purchase your next prospecting list, take the time to
research the criteria of your best customer. Then use that criteria to select your list.
In addition to the tried and true staples such as age, income, and occupation; additional
demographics available today include:
- Lender Information
- Buying Activity | Average Spent
- Vehicle types
Primary or Secondary
- Vehicle types
- Children in the Household
- Generations in Household
- Hobbies & Lifestyle Indicators
- Newlyweds
- Newly Divorced
- Type of Vacations:
Casino
Cruise - Social Concerns
- Music Preferences
- Pets
Data from a source known as an ailment file is also available. Due to the nature of the data collected, there are a few restrictions that include pre-approval of art. However the data is reliable and net excellent returns. Data available from ailment files include:
- Acne
- Allergies
- Birth Control
- Bladder Leakage
- Diabetes
- Hair Loss
- And more
Business list compilers are expanding their available demographics to include:
- Expenses
- Advertising
- Payroll
- Rent and Lease
- Sales Volume
- Square Footage
- Woman Owned
Even saturation or walk sequence data is benefiting. Compilers stack the saturation file with consumer data and aggregate at the carrier route level enabling mailers to take advantage of the carrier route walk sequence postal rates.
Don’t limit your data when launching your next direct mail campaign. Expand your criteria
selects and watch your return expand too. With the data selects available today, we could probably find a list of skateboardinggrandmas!
The New Facebook.com
In early May, Facebook introduced the new Facebook.com. Announced last year during F8,
Facebook’s annual conference about the future of Technology, it is now the global web
experience for Facebook users.
For some time now, Facebook focused on the mobile experience, but found that the desktop site had fallen behind. Users need the desktop version to be kept up as well.
The new Facebook is meant to help you find what you’re looking for faster with new
streamlined navigation. It’s easier to find videos, games and Groups, and the home page and page transitions load faster. It’s similar to the mobile experience.
Lower brightness, alongside contrast and vibrancy, are part of the new dark mode. It
minimizes screen glare for use in low light, wherever you are.
The new site makes creating Events, Pages, Groups and ads on Facebook easier too. You can preview a new Group in real time, and see what it looks like on mobile before you create it.
As with all upgrades, there are some glitches and it may take you a few minutes to find features that have been moved around. Overall though, the new Facebook.com is faster and streamlined, something that was needed for a long time!