Digital Marketing: latest News from the World – December Part 3
Welcome to our blog, where innovation meets strategy in the dynamic realm of digital marketing! In this post, we’ll examine the latest developments and emerging trends that are transforming the digital landscape. From recent updates in social media algorithms to AI-powered marketing techniques, these changes offer exciting possibilities for brands and marketers.
Get ready to learn how these advancements can revolutionize your campaigns, broaden your reach, and boost your ROI. We’ll analyze the key developments shaping the future of digital marketing, offering detailed insights to help you stay ahead in this rapidly evolving field. Don’t miss this comprehensive look at the current trends and news that are at the forefront of digital marketing!
OpenAI opens its search alternative to Google to all users
After a period in which only paid users could use it, ChatGPT Search is now open to any registered user.
OpenAI is launching its search alternative to Google as an extension of its conversational bot, whose launch in November 2022 sparked a major escalation in artificial intelligence developments.
The new functionality deepens a trend already embraced by rivals such as Perplexity, by offering distilled and structured information with multimedia elements in response to questions.
All of them will be able to set ChatGPT Search as the default search engine in their browsers, providing growing competition for Google.
The search giant has already been testing how to introduce the same type of conversational search results through summaries called Overviews. But it has so far restricted its impact due to problems it detected in its initial rollout, while refining its commercial monetization.
OpenAI’s foray into search, previously called SearchGPT, has been operational since October for a small segment of paying users, following the unveiling of a prototype in the summer.
And now its impact in a market traditionally dominated by Google, which a judge is set to impose remedies in the US in a few months’ time after ruling that it has been operating as a monopoly, remains to be seen.
The open launch of ChatGPT Search is part of what OpenAI has dubbed 12 days of “ship-mas”, a sequence in which it is releasing products or features on each of those days.
Google rolls out a new Core Update in December 2024
Google has begun rolling out its December 2024 core update, just weeks after the November update. The move caps a year full of changes to the search algorithm, underscoring the tech giant’s commitment to continually improve the relevance of search results.
Google’s major updates are released to ensure that its system can better understand content and thus deliver more useful and relevant results for users. Experts recommend website owners to focus on the quality of content, as these updates often have a significant impact on page rankings.
Adjustments and recommendations
Although Google does not disclose specific details about the changes, it emphasizes that its main focus is on improving the user experience. This includes aspects such as content quality, source authority and matching search intent.
For sites that may be negatively affected, the recommendation is to conduct content audits and prioritize the creation of materials that are original, informative and aligned with user needs. Tools such as Google Search Console are key to identifying areas for improvement following these updates.
What to expect in the future?
Closing the year with two consecutive updates highlights the importance of keeping up with Google’s algorithm changes. Adapting to these updates not only ensures a better position in search results, but also allows websites to remain competitive in a constantly evolving digital environment.
Social networks
Instagram launches '2024 Collage' to summarize the year with your best photos: step by step
Yearly recaps are back, and this time, Instagram is joining the trend with its new ‘2024 Collage’ feature, allowing users to create a visual summary of their year with the best photos and share it in their stories. This feature comes on the heels of a number of new developments on the platform, including recent updates that bring Instagram closer to the WhatsApp experience.
How does the ‘2024 Collage’ work?
Instagram’s ‘2024 Collage’ is designed to capture the highlights of your year. Through this tool, users can select photos that represent their best memories and group them into a single collage that can then be shared in stories. This new option will be available until the first week of January, so you’ll have just a few weeks to create your visual summary of 2024.
- Step-by-step to create your ‘2024 Collage’.
- Open Instagram on your mobile device.
- Swipe right to add a new story.
- Swipe up to access your photo gallery.
- At the top, you will find a new section called ‘2024 Collage’.
- Tap on this section and select the photos you want to include in your collage.
- Once you have chosen your content, publish the story and share it with your followers.
Throughout this process, your followers will also have the option to respond to your collage with their own annual summary, which promises to generate a more personal and creative interaction between users.
Other features being released by Instagram
Instagram is also launching other features to celebrate the end of the year, such as year-end themed templates that invite your friends to create their own stories. In addition, the platform includes ‘New Year’ and ‘Countdown’ themed text effects, along with new chat themes for direct messages. Users will also be able to activate secret phrases such as ‘Happy New Year’, which trigger special effects in notes and direct messages.
The ‘2024 Collage’ has already started to reach users, but if it doesn’t appear in your app yet, you may have to wait a few hours or days to access this feature (still try checking if your app doesn’t have a pending update).
SEO
La recomendación de Google para SEO
Google has updated its guidelines on facet navigation by turning an old blog post into an official help document.
What started as a blog post in 2014 is now official technical documentation.
This change reflects the complexity of e-commerce and content-heavy websites as many sites adopt advanced filtering systems for larger catalogs.
Faceted navigation issues
Ever used filters on an e-commerce site to limit products by size, color, and price?
That’s faceted navigation: the system that allows users to refine search results using multiple filters simultaneously.
While this feature is vital for users, it can create challenges for search engines, prompting Google to release new official documentation on managing these systems.
Modern challenges
The challenge of faceted navigation lies in the mathematics of the combinations: each additional filter option multiplies the potential URLs that a search engine might need to crawl.
For example, a simple product page with size (5 options), color (10 options) and price range (6 ranges) options could generate 300 unique URLs, for a single product.
According to Google analyst Gary Illyes, this multiplication effect makes faceted navigation the leading cause of excessive crawling problems reported by website owners.
The impact includes:
- Wasted server resources: many websites use too much computing power on unnecessary URL combinations.
- Inefficient crawl budget: Crawlers may take longer to find important new content because they are busy with faceted navigation.
- Weakened SEO performance: Having multiple URLs for the same content can hurt a website’s SEO.
What has changed?
The new guide is similar to the 2014 blog post, but includes some important updates:
- Focus on performance: Google now clearly warns about the costs of using computing resources.
- Clear implementation options: Documentation provides simple paths for different types of websites.
- Updated technical recommendations: Suggestions now take into account single-page applications and modern SEO practices.
Implementation Guide
For SEO professionals managing sites with faceted navigation, Google now recommends a two-track approach:
Non-critical facets:
- Block via robots.txt
- Use URL snippets (#)
- Implement consistent rel=“nofollow” attributes.
Business-critical facets:
- Maintain standardized parameter formats
- Implement proper 404 handling
- Use strategic canonical tags
Related: Facet navigation: best practices for SEO
Looking ahead to the future
This documentation update suggests that Google is preparing for increasingly complex website architectures.
SEO teams should evaluate their current facet navigation against these guidelines to ensure optimal crawl efficiency and indexing performance.
Artificial intelligence
ChatGPT officially arrives on WhatsApp and you can even talk to the AI by calling it on the phone
WhatsApp is no stranger to AI. In some markets, MetaAI has been available for months, and third-party AI chatbots have been a reality for some time. For example, the Spanish LuzIA, which connects to OpenAI APIs – ChatGPT for text and Whisper for audio transcriptions – to respond to user demands. What we had not had until now was the official OpenAI chatbot in the Meta app, but it has arrived.
1-800-242-8478 is the phone number you have to add to your address book or directly in WhatsApp to be able to chat with ChatGPT, with 1 being the US prefix. But you can not only chat in written form, but you also have the option to call that phone number and talk directly with ChatGPT for 15 minutes a month, at no more cost than the call itself. While the chatbot for WhatsApp is already available globally, the phone conversation service has only been launched in the United States, although there is a way to use it from Spain.
As indicated by the portal Xataka, by making the phone call through the messaging application Skype, you can talk to ChatGPT from Spain. The AI will be presented in English (‘Hello again, this is ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence assistant. Our conversation may be reviewed for security reasons. How can I help you?’), but speaking to it in Spanish changes the language to that of Cervantes.
ChatGPT in WhatsApp, in any case, does not have the same capabilities, at the moment, as in its web version or through the app. While calling by phone connects with the GPT-4o language model, through WhatsApp messages the OpenAI API responds with GPT-4o Mini (GPT-o1, o1 Mini and 4o are more advanced versions available through the other AI access paths) and does not include voice interaction, only in written form.
This version of ChatGPT has no Internet access and relies only on the data that the 4o Mini model has been trained on, which runs until October 2023. Nor can it create images or process audio or understand image or text files. In its first message, ChatGPT will indicate that you accept OpenAI’s usage policies if you continue the conversation.
Compared to the web and mobile app versions of the chatbot, OpenAI sees integration with the chatbot’s official phone number ‘an inexpensive way to test it through channels that are familiar,’ but notes that users will find more comprehensive features, higher usage limits and customization options in those. OpenAI has also noted that the company will not use phone calls with ChatGPT to train its language models.
Amazon
Amazon launches Creator Central for influencers and affiliates
Amazon has just unveiled Creator Central, its new reporting and productivity center for influencers and marketplace affiliates. This platform brings together in one place: simplified reporting, educational resources and access to content creation tools and the store.
For the moment, Creator Central is only available on mobile devices through the Amazon Mobile app. If you are using a PC, you will need to continue to access Associates Central (i.e. the Amazon Affiliates platform).
How Creator Central works
Amazon has developed Creator Central to help creators maximize their results on the platform. To this end, it has defined several key areas and tools:
Simplified reporting
Marketplace influencers and affiliates will be able to access key revenue and metrics in a daily updated interface. They will be able to identify the products with the highest commissions, clicks or conversions, and plan content based on the products on offer.
- Amazon points out that “these metrics will start to appear as soon as you have high performing links. Share these featured products with GetLink for mobile.”
Educational materials
Through the Creator University space, Amazon influencers and affiliates will be able to find a complete free guide with information, video tutorials, testimonials, inspiration, etc., which will give them the keys to maximize their earnings on the platform.
Quick and easy access to creation tools and the storefront
As an influencer, you can visit your store, as well as create links in an agile way to create and publish directly from your mobile device.
- Amazon introduces Nova, its new family of AI models with text, image and video generation capabilities.
How to access Creator Central
For now it is only possible to access Creator Central from the Amazon mobile app, to do so you must:
- Open the Amazon app and log in with your influencer or affiliate account. It is important to note that only the account holder will be able to access.
- In the bottom menu, select the person icon to access your profile.
- Go to the “Amazon Influencers” or “Amazon Affiliates” section and select “Creator Central”.
Latest Tech and Digital Marketing Updates
📌New from Search Console. “24 Hours” allows you to view performance data for the last 24 hours in near real time. Broken down by hours and available in Search, Discover and News, it makes it easy for you to analyze traffic and content impact.
📌The most downloaded apps of the year on iPhone. Apple shows the list, and in Spain during this 2024, ecommerce from China triumphs. Especially Temu, which leads the list. In 2nd position is Threads and in 3rd, ChatGPT.
📌TikTok’s “death” in the US closer. They have refused to stall the law that would end the ban on TikTok in the United States. If there are no surprises, it will cease to be available in the app store on January 19.
📌Pepsi challenges Coca-Cola. They’ve made a bold ad featuring Santa switching sides, choosing a Pepsi over their traditional Coke.
📌The curious campaign of the Squid Game. If you have traveled last weekend on the highways of Spain, you may have overtaken a giant doll on a truck. It is a marketing campaign for the Netflix series. Watch it here.
📌How to save yourself from a good brown. Footballer Cucurella was debuting a new model of Puma boots in the worst way: two slips and two goals conceded. To top it off, he goes and uploads a story to Instagram with the boots in the trash. Puma must have been freaked out that a player they sponsor would do that, and they have launched a campaign with the player to fix the situation “it’s not how you slip, it’s how you recover”.
📌Google finalizes the December Core Update. It has been the fastest core algorithm update since 2020. After analyzing it, it has mainly affected sites that had gained or lost a lot of positions in the November core update.
📌New features in Instagram and Threads. In Instagram, you can type a direct message, and instead of hitting send, press and hold to schedule it. In Threads they are also testing the feature to schedule posts, needed.
📌AI help or avoidance. Something like this seems to be new from YouTube. They will allow creators to decide if they want their content to be used to train AI models. This is called “Third Party Training” in the YouTube Studio settings.
📌IKEA Preowned is a reality. The platform for buying and selling second-hand furniture combines sustainability and affordable design. Sellers receive an extra 15% in IKEA gift card and buyers enjoy top prices.
📌Google gets serious. They have updated their generative AI policy, banning activities such as the creation of deepfakes, illegal or misleading content, and security breaches such as phishing or malware. In pursuit of safer and more ethical use.
📌What a fine…. Ireland fines Meta €251 million following a vulnerability that exposed personal data such as names, emails and phone numbers of 29 million users.
