Google Revamp and Rebranding – The new mandate and its impact
Google has been updating extensively in the recent days. The search engine and the advertising platforms have been revamped several times. One such revamp was the introduction of Google Ads and merging of DoubleClick and Google Analytics 360 suite. We shall peek at some of the updates that Google made this and mid of last year. First and foremost, Google redesigned Google News and launched a new version in mid-2017. Gmail and Google Drive were also updated earlier this year. However, this new face of Google News has not earned likes globally, and divided the user base as well. Though the classic Google Kiosk website is still active, Google might shut it down and redirect users to the new news page automatically, or load the updated version.
Revamp and Re-branding of Google News and AdWords
The new Google News
Google has brought in the new mandate of “speed ranking”, which has been propagated worldwide affecting mobile sites. This is the recent trend for all mobile search users and people on the go. Officially, web page speed is under the scanner of ranking factor. Given this, to sustain in the race of visibility, and to load pages faster in mobile search, Google has refurbished the search Google News. Those mobile sites with assurance of high speed need not worry about this. Other slower mobile sites need to enhance their speed to be on the race; though their ranking is still taken care of based on the relevant content that they deliver to queries.
What has the new layout updated?
Various sections of the news pages are rearranged and some of the options are removed. Also, the new design does not seem to be friendly. Instead of a collection of a list of news, Google News introduces the behaviorist psychological learning to gather more information about people, as and when they use it. Google News might also use personal Google account and associated information to understand about people, their interests, and their background.
Selecting topics of personal interest is removed and transformed as links to other news sources. You can opt to follow the news sources like CNN, The New York Times, the Huffington Post, and others. The previous Google Newsstand program is available in the Google News app enabling to subscribe to various news sources. Subscribed combined with Google platform helps to quickly subscribe to news sources and access content, irrespective of any sign-in location or device.
What users say about the new layout?
Let us see what the new Google News users must say about the new layout.
- Custom content such as searches, topics, and information source does not display anymore. Hiding of topics is not possible as well.
- Some users say that scrolling is broken and does not work appropriately.
- The desktop and mobile versions show too much white space around. At times, a single news headline is only displayed.
- No topics of interest is displayed on the sidebar.
- Order-by-date option is no more.
- No new sections or interests can be added
- Sports score cannot be hidden anymore.
Revamp of Google My Business Insight
On the insights section of Google My Business page, a new report is displayed with specific queries used on Google Maps and Search. These queries pertain to identify businesses in the locality, and are called "queries used to find your business". These queries are picked from the most popular ones placed by users. According to Search Engine Land, this is a confirmed update and is to be enforced across the world.
What changes did Google My Business make?
Google introduced subjective attributes to be displayed in the Insights tab in Google My Business. These help service providers such as restaurant owners to understand their customers’ subjective perception on the quality of their service or products. Each customer has a different opinion on a business or product due to individual experiences, which is not applicable for all.
Rebranding of AdWords, DoubleClick and Google Analytics 360 Suite
Google AdWords has changed to Google Ads. This new brand boasts of a complete range of advertising capabilities and campaigns, including search ads, display ads, and video ads. Google Ads introduces the machine learning technology to make this platform flexible for smaller businesses and bring out better results. AdWords users can see two better insights such as New Words card that can monitor new keywords and alerts, and Ad Group Shifts that highlights the most spending shifts happening across varying ad groups.
The next major step in rebranding is the merging of DoubleClick and Google Analytics 360 Suite under a single brand called the Google Marketing Platform. Google has taken this big step to help marketers understand their customers and enhance performance. It helps them to plan, organize, measure and optimize customer experiences across the global arena of channels and devices. This new program aims to train and build the capabilities of advertisers and marketers on the entire range of Google Marketing Platform products to succeed.
What does rebranding and revamping of Google products mean to business?
As the new Google News has rolled out, it aims to harmonize information and present them in a logical way that helps audience to make sense out of the happenings and the impact. In its rebranding spree the core products are kept intact, advertisers can as always work in the same way and plan their ads. As per Google, ad offerings are no more separate entities. Search, Display, Video, Shopping, Apps, Maps, Gmail and advertising are to be considered as one marketing strategy, rather than as independent ones with specific goals.