Why are YouTube Ads Much More Appealing to Brands These Days?

Mobile advertising is no longer the drag that it once was. YouTube has released reports that have given great information about the growth, popularity, and effectiveness of the ads that run on the platform.

Google has mentioned that more and more brands are advertising on YouTube, which is great, but fewer and fewer people are skipping them.

Some of the reasons, according to Google, is the quality of the creative in the ads. This has helped increase the amount of clicks by 25 percent over the past year. Overall, the amount of brands advertising on YouTube rose 45 percent.

So why are more brands on YouTube ads? Aside from their effectiveness appearing to increase, they have also been cheaper for brands to buy. The cost of an ad on the platform was down 13 percent, which was appealing to brands, not taking their newfound success into account.

Google has made tremendous strides in search quality for smartphones and tablets.

Your brand needs to expand its reach? Consider YouTube ads! Trust a Chicago internet marketing agency that knows how to create top quality creative for internet ads. 

Today's the Day! Google's Mobile-Friendly Requirement Goes into Effect

The day is upon us. The time is nigh! Is your site ready to go? 

Maybe your site is almost ready to go because you have a completely new website design or just a mobile-friendly website version of your current site being created but it was started a bit late. That is fine, you shouldn't be affected too much.

Maybe you were one of the few that was 100 percent prepared and got a mobile-friendly version of your site out well before today. Kudos to you!

Or, maybe you were one of the people who found out way too late and now you are stuck with a site that is not mobile-friendly and nothing in the works. Well, your mobile rankings will be hit. Of course, it is not too late to salvage your mobile search rankings! Email Integraphix, a Chicago SEO agency with a strong web design team and see how we can help your site become mobile-friendly, and quickly!

Is Your Site Ready for April 21st? Hint: It's About Google

Just six days from now, Google's mandate for sites to be mobile-friendly or "be square" will go into effect. This SEO update has gone with a different process than previous updates since this update came with an official warning.

Google made the announcement in March saying, "Starting April 21st, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal…" As of now, it seems that site rankings will be hit with searches on mobile devices, it is yet to be seen if rankings will be hit on desktop/laptop searches.

The change comes as a result of a major uptick in mobile searches (searche
s done on tablets and smartphones). Sites that are not mobile-friendly are a pain to navigate on those devices and so Google wants to reward the sites that have taken the initiative to be mobile-friendly; on that same not, Google is punishing the sites that are making it difficult for mobile-searchers to view the web.

A major thing to note is that sites must pass a mobile-friendly test, proctored by Google search crawlers. Also, the friendliness is determined at the page level, not site-wide. 

Google has been telling web designers and developers to make their sites mobile-responsive for years now but it was more of a suggestion, now, Google is putting its foot down. Its mighty, mighty foot.

If your site is not mobile-friendly, please email Integraphix- a Chicago SEO company and Chicago web design business. 

5 Myths About SEO That Are 100% Wrong

There are lots of myths out there about SEO, some of them have validity, while others are just wrong. Here are some of the worst offenders out there.

1. Search engine optimization is a big scam. It is sad but true that many business owners feel this way. They have been sold on SEO by not-so-honest SEO companies; they promise SEO services but deliver no results. If you are paying for SEO and not getting traffic and/or rankings after a few months (maybe not fantastic data, but it's still there) then you have fallen prey to inadequate SEO techniques. 
2. Google can figure out how which URL is the main one. Many website developers and owners like to think that creating many URLs for the same site is a good idea in hopes of having more URLs to rank for. Sure, it sounds like a good idea to have lots of optimized URLs for the same site but it is not! Google will never figure out which is the main one. Your site will suffer because of it. 
3. Google doesn't work for extended periods of time. Some people have this belief because they did SEO, it worked, then it didn't. Just because SEO stopped working perfectly after a period of time doesn't mean it doesn't work for a long time. If it stops working after a while, then something needs to be fixed. Such as…
1. Link degradation
2. Old keywords
3. Outdated content
4. Your competition is outperforming you
5. Etc. 
4. Link building doesn't work. The classic, and founding, method of SEO is not dead nor has it ever been. Old-fashioned link building is still liked by search engines and is still a heavyweight in determining your rankings. 
5. SEO and social media marketing are not connected. This is not true at all. They are heavily connected. Your activity on Google+, Twitter, and even Pinterest (somewhat Facebook and others) are monitored by Google and can even rank! Beyond that, the more activity you have on social media, the more exposure you have, the more traffic your site gets, the more SEO does for you. 

Don't fall prey to the myths that float around about SEO. If you have questions about SEO, then contact Integraphix and see how our Chicago SEO company can help your business get noticed on the web! 

Google Takes on April Fool's Day

It's that time of year again. Pranks happen here. Pranks happen there. Coworkers get annoyed. Skepticism and paranoia are off the charts.

However, even some brands get in on the action. One of the brands that sort of went all out for the "holiday" was Google.

• If you go to com.google, you will see the Google's site completely reversed. 
• On Google Maps, you can play Pac-Man on the maps. 
• Google Maps is also warning people that Australia will be in the Northern Hemisphere by 2055. 
• Ingress, Google's AR game, has also caught Pac-Man fever. 
• Google Japan has done something very unique; they launched a Party Horn keyboard See in the video on the top right. What does it do? It lets you type letters by determining how hard you blow. 
• They also produced a Teddy Ruxpin-esque stuffed Panda that has search capabilities. It is called Google Panda. Get it? 
• Google Chrome launched an extension that lets users capture a reaction selfie with whatever content they are viewing. 
• Google's email service, Gmail, has launched a Smartbox by Inbox by Gmail by Google, that's a mouthful. It is apparently the email inbox that we've been missing all our lives. See the video on the bottom right. 
• Do you miss the screeching and scratching of dial-up? Well Google Fiber has launched a dial-up mode so we can all relive the sounds of those beloved 56k modems. 

So brands like to have some fun with days like today. Even our Chicago SEO company has had some adventures today. The social media marketing team plastic-wrapped the cars of our copywriting team. Fun. 

Does your business want to capitalize on great moments of opportunity to increase brand awareness? Then email Integraphix and speak with our Chicago marketing agency.