As more readers turn to the web for their news, Google is adjusting its marketing techniques to give online searchers more of a newspaper experience – and perhaps boost revenue streams for itself and advertisers. Tomorrow, the company will launch a new “Circulars” ad plan to make its search pages look more like the Sunday newspaper, reports Bloomberg.
Adding visual ads to its SERPs will help the spots stand out without detracting from news/ web content. In the past, Google relied heavily on text-based ads, but turning to a more visual format will likely improve the overall success of these marketing campaigns. Google said that it will focus Circulars on ad partners in the retail sector, as this industry looks for a way to recoup the losses it has seen as newspaper sales and readership dwindle.
Google’s move toward newspaper-style Circulars represents consumers’ shift toward the web for news content. As Brafton has reported, recent Pew research shows that the internet is the top local news resource for a number of industries.
Content marketing strategies that focus on the development of quality, news-based marketing material rather than strictly promotional content can help businesses engage online audiences and rank of in less-cluttered Google News SERPs.
Brafton recently reported that content marketing campaigns can be doubly effective by targeting both Google’s general web SERPs and Google News pages. To boost rankings in Google News, niche leadership and a strong social media presence are among the most critical factors.
