Google Updates
Google recently launched a handful of updates to ensure a better user experience for those using the search engine. Today we’re diving into two specific updates that may be relevant to your organization.
Page Experience Update
Included in Google’s page experience updates are changes made to the Top Stories carousel feature, which will now include all news content, so long as it abides by Google News policies. This means that using the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) format will no longer be required and that any page will be eligible to appear in the Top Stories carousel, regardless of its core web vitals score or page experience status. Similar updates were recently made to the Google News App, which has also expanded to include non-AMP news content.
The Page Title Generation Update
Google recently launched a new update on how titles will be generated for web pages. While titles used to change based on the query of the web user, this will most likely not happen with the update. Instead, the new system works to produce titles that better describe and encompass the overall content on the page. Google is doing this by taking into account the visual title and headline shown on the page, for example, the content that site owners often place within the <H1> tag or other header tags.
To learn more about Google Updates and how they can help your organization, contact us.
Walmart Brand Portal
Walmart’s brand portal allows businesses to manage their property rights on products and protect themselves against improper representation and counterfeit products. The dashboard gives sellers the opportunity to keep track of brands, authorized representatives, and property claims in one organized place. But how exactly does the portal protect your brand? By removing the risk of counterfeit products impacting the reputation, sales, and relationships of your brand.
Reputation Impact
When people sell counterfeit versions of your products, you run into the risks of buyers being displeased with the purchase and leaving a negative review. Over time, this can impact your brand’s reputation.
Sales Impact
When buyers come across counterfeit products, it’s likely to be paired with bad copy and imagery. Ultimately this can give them a negative impression of the product and the brand as a whole, which can lead to a reduction in sales.
Impact on Relationships with Authorized Retailers
If there are counterfeit versions of your products online, it can impact your relationship with current and future authorized retailers. By providing strong listings, high conversion rates, and protecting your products with Walmart’s brand portal, your brand will be more prepared to work with the retailers you wish to partner with.
How the Brand Portal Helps
Walmart’s brand portal gives brands the opportunity to file counterfeit, copyright, trademark, and patent claims. Walmart will then investigate the claim on your behalf and take action to solve the issue.
Furthermore, the portal allows sellers to manage multiple brands in one place, allowing you to submit intellectual property claims, run reports, and manage authorized representatives. Third-party representatives can also submit claims for your brand. This helps sellers avoid having to get in touch with Walmart’s customer service team for a more seamless, stress-free process.
To learn more about the Walmart Brand Portal and if it’s right for your organization, contact us.
How to Master the Amazon Buy Box
There are two types of sellers on Amazon:
- Brands with a direct selling relationship with Amazon (aka 1P)
- Third-party (3P) sellers which could be the direct brand or a reseller
The Buy Box refers to the white box on the right side of the Amazon product detail page, where customers can add items for purchase to their cart. Thanks to stiff competition and Amazon’s customer-obsessed approach, only businesses with excellent seller metrics stand a chance to win a share of this valuable real estate. Understanding the way Amazon’s algorithm functions will allow you to work toward increasing your performance on relevant variables, ultimately increasing your chances of winning the Buy Box and beating the competition that are selling the same product.
While we refer to the goal of winning the Buy Box, it’s perhaps more accurate to say that a seller wins or loses a share of the Buy Box. Once a seller has passed Amazon’s minimum eligibility requirements, the Buy Box algorithm further breaks down the sellers according to different variables such as retail price, seller reviews, shipping metrics, and so forth.
Winning the Buy Box is not the only way to sell on Amazon. The three other options are through:
- Other Sellers on Amazon
- The Offer Listing Page
- Your Amazon Store Page
While these aren’t as profitable as the Buy Box, they will still give you a degree of visibility and credibility.
To learn more about controlling the Buy Box on marketplace websites, contact us.
Looking Ahead
Scaling Your Business Online in 2022 Webinar coming in November.
With a predicted $1 Trillion in US e-commerce sales next year, is your business prepared to reach the growing online marketplace? The experts at Highlands will help you examine buyer behavior, omnichannel strategy, emerging online selling platforms, and more in this webinar.
Look out for registration details in our next newsletter.
