This was a presentation for The Tomorrow Lab Presents that looked at some of the key changes to the digital marketing industry in 2014 and some predictions to be aware of in 2015.

1. A Year in Digital Marketing
Looking back and looking forward

2. Overview
1. Google in 2014
2. Growth of mobile
3. Linkbuilding in 2014
4. Social media in 2014
5. Content marketing in 2014
6. Digital marketing in 2015

3. Digital Marketing in 2014

4. Google in 2014

5. Google - 3 P’s
Penguin Panda
Pigeon

6. Google Panda Update
• Panda 4.0 rolled out in May and 4.1 in September
• Targets poor content
– thin content
– duplicate content
– machine-generated content
• Panda 4.0 affected 7.5% English queries
• Panda 4.1 affected 3% - 5% queries
• 27th Panda update from Google
• High quality small-medium sites should rank better
• Lesson – invest time in quality content for your site

7. Google Penguin Update
• Penguin 3.0 rolled out in October
• Worldwide update
• Impacts <1% English queries
• Targets websites with bad links
• Lesson – quality over quantity with links

8. Google Pigeon Update
• Launched in July for US English results
• Not fully rolled out in UK
• Focus on local search results
• Lesson – local rankings becoming ever more important in
search

9. What these updates tell us
• Quality content is being rewarded
• Fresh content is a must
• Low quality links can hurt you
• Links from quality sites are valuable
• Important to think locally as well

10. HTTPS / SSL Certificate

11. Security could influence rankings
• Google starting to use HTTPS as ranking signal
• Affects less than 1% global queries
• No real impact to date
• Advice – start to think about switching to HTTPS

12. Continued Growth of Mobile

13. Mobile continuing to grow
67% 44% 133% 25%
Growth
2014 v 2013
Min Growth Max Growth Mobile Traffic
Now Greater
12 Websites from different sectors

14. Mobile continuing to grow
Totals 2013 2014 % Diff
Desktop 1,015,728 1,063,663 4.72%
Mobile 545,251 852,172 56.29%

15. Why is mobile important?
• More people are using mobiles to surf the web
• Smartphone ownership increasing
– 65.2% in2013 (UK)
– 92% projected in 2017 (UK)
• Google showing mobile-friendly in search
Source: www.mobilesquared.co.uk/blog/uk-mobile-smartphone-forecasts/

16. Google mobile friendly search boost
• Mobile friendly sites could boost your mobile rankings in
future
• Test your site here:
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

17. Google mobile friendly success

18. Google mobile friendly fail
Not mobile
friendly

19. Linkbuilding in 2014

20. Is guest blogging dead?
• What is guest blogging?
• Increase in low quality, spammy posts.
• Still viable technique if used right.
• Build relationships with relevant blogs / sites.
• Engage with owners.
• Guest blogging isn’t dead, it’s evolving.

21. Matt Cutts on guest blogging
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMxC3wQZOyc

22. Social Media in 2014

23. Facebook in 2014
• #IceBucketChallenge
• Algorithm update lets users see posts important to them
• Sponsored posts increasing
• New search features just added
• Update coming in early 2015
– Reduce promotional page posts
– Posts that reuse same content from ads
• Pay to show your content

24. Facebook Pages update
• Latest page update in March 2014
• New streamlined look
• Easy to use admin section
• Watch other pages
• Promoted videos in ads
• Updated news feed as well (mobile friendly)

25. Facebook Pages 2014

26. Facebook News Feed 2014

27. Twitter in 2014
• Design update in 2014 reflecting feel of apps
• Best tweets more prominent
• Pinned tweets to top of page
• Filtered tweets – tweets, photos, replies
• Promoted videos in ads
• Testing a buy button
• 500 million tweets a day

28. Twitter in 2014
What was the most retweeted
tweet in 2014?

29. Twitter in 2014

30. And the rest

31. Goodbye Google Author
• 2014 saw the end of Google Authorship
• Google publisher still going
• Will Google+ be next?

32. Instagram, Vine and Pinterest
• Short video becoming more popular
• New filters and editing features with Instagram
• Advanced editing features for Vine
• Buy from site on Pinterest

33. Evolution of Content in 2014

34. Content Marketing in 2014
• Content continuing to play an important role
• Much more than blog content
• Multiple content channels
• Customers will play a role

35. Paddy Power Rain Forest
Read all about it here: http://blog.paddypower.com/2014/06/08/the-truth-about-paddy-powers-stunt-in-the-
amazon-rainforest/

36. Beats By Dre - Instagram

37. Red Bull

38. Quick Recap

39. Digital Marketing in 2014
• Google keeping us on our toes
• Content still crucial
• Quality vs quantity when building links
• Pay for social media
• Mobile traffic will take over desktop in future
• Security becoming increasingly important
• Guest blogging isn’t dead...... yet!

40. Digital Marketing in 2015

41. Mobile will keep growing
• Mobile traffic is only going one way
• Is your site mobile-friendly?
• Meet user expectation
• Google will reward sites that are
– Don’t loss traffic due to a poor site

42. Google mobile search
• Mobile-friendly sites rewarded
• Usability crucial
– Remember your users mobile experience
• Mobile searches will overtake desktop in 2015
• Include local and long tail terms for mobile content
• Google mobile-friendly ranking update

43. Apple’s potential impact
• Apple may ditch Google as default search provider
• Bing or Yahoo waiting
• Apple have 31% of UK mobile market*
• Keep an eye on developments
* source: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2378318/apples-uk-market-share-grows-to-31-percent-on-bumper-iphone-6-sales

44. Content will become the norm
• Everyone is investing in content
• Need to do more to stand out
• Remember role of mobile with content
• Content needs to be relevant
• Change of focus from keywords to topics
• Keep an eye on your competitors

45. Social media in 2015
• Social channels will continue to play big role
• Pro-active approach
• Customer service channel
• May begin to impact on your rankings
• Twitter will continue to be about real-time
– Suarez World Cup bite
– Oscars selfie
– Oreo Super Bowl

46. Facebook in 2015
• Page owners will need to invest resources
– Time
– Money
• Facebook search
• Engagement still key
• Algorithm update coming early 2015
– Reduce promotional page posts
– Reduce reuse of content from ads
– Content will be key

47. The role of Google+
• End of Google Authorship in 2014
• Not really worked out
• Google hangout
• Role with YouTube

48. Linkbuilding in 2015
• NoFollow and citations will carry weight
• Brand keyword focus
• Long tail keywords
• Earn your links
• Build relationships
• Quality of links is crucial

49. Secure websites
• Remember your HTTPS certificate
• Google security update likely in 2015
• Trusted sites will be rewarded

50. Don’t forget email
• Email still has a role to play
• How we use email changing
• Remember mobile when designing
• Cost-effective digital channel

51. Google knowledge graph

52. Google knowledge graph

53. Threat of Google on your content

54. Threat of Google on your content

55. Continued growth of CRO
• CRO is conversion rate optimisation
• A website is never complete
• Run tests to improve conversion
• Companies of all sizes investing in CRO
• 2015 is a big year

56. Big 5 in 2015
• Mobile – search and design impact
• Content – yes it’s still king
• Apple could have a big say
• Quality links more important than ever
• Invest in CRO and your website

57. Thank you
Any questions?
Email: nial@thetomorrowlab.com
Twitter: @nialtoner | @thetomorrowlab
www.thetomorrowlab.com