Apple fights EU gatekeeper status to avoid opening up services to rivals

Apple fights EU gatekeeper status to avoid opening up services to rivals

Apple has officially joined Meta and TikTok in appealing the European Union’s designation of their services as “gatekeepers” under the Digital Markets Act (DMA)—a strict EU antitrust law aimed at “preventing gatekeepers from imposing unfair conditions on businesses and end users” and “ensuring the openness of important digital services.”

On Friday, the EU Court of Justice confirmed the Apple appeal in a post on X. No other details about Apple’s legal challenge have been made public, Reuters reported. But last week, sources told Bloomberg that Apple’s appeal was expected to oppose gatekeeper status of its App Store, iOS operating system, and Safari browser. That report, however, noted that sources had only seen a draft of the appeal, which could have been edited ahead of filing.

Apple had previously argued that its App Store could be considered not one software application marketplace, but five distinct marketplaces offered across five devices: iPhones, iPads, Mac computers, Apple TVs, and Apple Watches. Following this logic, only the iOS App Store should be considered a gatekeeper, Apple argued. Ultimately, the EU disagreed, saying that the “nature, function, and usage of the different devices on which the App Store can be accessed” does not “alter the common purpose the App Store serves across all Apple’s devices.”

Similarly, Apple argued that its iOS operating system should not be designated as one single gatekeeper, but five distinct operating systems across the same five devices, and because each device required a uniquely designed operating system, the EU seemed to agree that only iOS met the threshold as a gatekeeper.

Finally, Apple similarly argued that its Safari browser is actually three different browsers accessed on three devices: iPhones, iPads, and Mac computers. According to Apple, Safari works differently on different devices depending on use cases, leading to different versions of Safari on each device, disputing Safari features like a sidebar that’s available on desktop that does not appear in Safari on mobile. The EU rejected Apple’s arguments, finding that Safari is a single web browser providing the same services “irrespective of the device.”

Apple’s appeal came after Meta became the first to appeal gatekeeper status of its Messenger and Marketplace services on Wednesday, Reuters reported. According to Meta, its Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp services qualify as gatekeepers, but not other designated services that the social giant considers simply functionalities of Facebook—its Messenger and Marketplace services. Further, Meta argued that its Marketplace enables consumer-to-consumer services—which it said is different from businesses promoting outside services—and therefore, Meta contends that service falls outside the DMA’s scope.

That same day, ByteDance quickly followed suit, appealing TikTok’s gatekeeper status. According to a TikTok blog post, TikTok shouldn’t be designated as a gatekeeper because it’s a newcomer that “does not hold an ‘entrenched’ position.”

TikTok claimed that its services were entirely miscategorized by the European Commission because, unlike other companies, “no market investigation was conducted in relation to” TikTok’s designation.

“Multiple studies and findings agree that TikTok is a challenger bringing important new competition to the space,” TikTok’s blog said. “The designation decision is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of our business and threatens our ability to grow and compete with true gatekeepers—put simply, it risks protecting the very monopolies that the law intended to open up.”

TikTok likely feels shirked because the Commission has conducted four market investigations “to further assess Microsoft’s and Apple’s submissions arguing that, despite meeting the thresholds, some of their core platform services do not qualify as gateways,” including Bing, Edge, Microsoft Advertising, and iMessages. Those ongoing investigations could delay designations of these services until next September, sparing Apple and Microsoft risks of infringement and “fines up to 10 percent of the company’s total worldwide turnover, which can go up to 20 percent.” The Commission also granted rebuttals from Google and Samsung, deciding not to designate services Gmail, Outlook.com, and Samsung Internet Browser as core platform services under the DMA.

Further, TikTok said it is the “only service designated under the DMA that does not meet the law’s threshold for revenues generated in the European Economic Area.” According to TikTok, the EU designated TikTok as a gatekeeper based on ByteDance’s global market capitalization, derived “primarily on the performance of business lines that do not even operate in Europe.”

If the Commission had conducted a market investigation, TikTok suggested, its platform would never have been designated as a gatekeeper. Without the investigation, “the result is a designation decision based on inaccuracies and errors, to which we were not given the opportunity to fully respond,” TikTok’s blog said.

It’s unclear how successful Meta and ByteDance will be with their appeals. In earlier rebuttals, Meta and ByteDance have already argued against gatekeeper status for the services at the core of their appeals. The European Commission has said that only “exceptional circumstances” would enable a tech company that meets the threshold to avoid being designated as a gatekeeper.

Meta has said its appeal represents the company’s struggle to gain clarity about why Messenger and Marketplace should be designated as gatekeepers.

“This appeal seeks clarification on specific points of law regarding the designations of Messenger and Marketplace under the DMA,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters. “It does not alter or detract from our firm commitment to complying with the DMA, and we will continue to work constructively with the European Commission to prepare for compliance.”

TikTok has come out a bit stronger, warning the Commission that designating TikTok as a gatekeeper would contradict everything the DMA stands for.

“We fully support the principles of the DMA, which aims to better enable challengers to compete with incumbent players,” TikTok’s blog said. “Indeed, our appeal is based on the belief that our designation risks undermining the DMA’s own stated goal by protecting actual gatekeepers from newer competitors like TikTok. Far from being a gatekeeper, our platform, which has been operating in Europe for just over five years, is arguably the most capable challenger to more entrenched platform businesses.”

Twenty-two services managed by six tech companies have so far been designated as gatekeepers under the DMA, including services from Google owner Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft. When the DMA takes effect on March 7, it will require companies with more than 45 million monthly active users and a market capitalization of 75 billion euros to allow third-party apps and app stores on their platforms and force platforms to make it easier for users to switch services. It will also stop platforms from favoring their own services over rivals’ or using third-party businesses’ data against them to squash competition.

Thursday is the deadline for designated gatekeepers to appeal the European Commission’s decision. Google and Microsoft have decided not to appeal, Reuters reported.

A spokesperson for the European Commission told Ars that the Commission has taken note of the appeals, respects companies’ right to appeal, and will defend its decisions in court.

“Our designation decisions are publicly available,” the spokesperson told Ars, and “they set out a solid reasoning for the designations.”

“In parallel, we will continue our work with all gatekeepers towards effective implementation of the DMA by March,” the Commission’s spokesperson said.

This story was updated on Nov. 17, 2023, to note Apple’s appeal.

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1984413



Judge tosses social platforms’ Section 230 blanket defense in child safety case

Judge tosses social platforms’ Section 230 blanket defense in child safety case

This week, some of the biggest tech companies found out that Section 230 immunity doesn’t shield them from some of the biggest complaints alleging that social media platform designs are defective and harming children and teen users.

On Tuesday, US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that discovery can proceed in a lawsuit documenting individual cases involving hundreds of children and teens allegedly harmed by social media use across 30 states. Their complaint alleged that tech companies were guilty of negligently operating platforms with many design defects—including lack of parental controls, insufficient age verification, complicated account deletion processes, appearance-altering filters, and requirements forcing users to log in to report child sexual abuse materials (CSAM)—and failed to warn young users and their parents about those defects.

Defendants are companies operating “the world’s most used social media platforms: Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Google’s YouTube, ByteDance’s TikTok, and Snapchat.” All of these companies moved to dismiss the multi-district litigation entirely, hoping that the First Amendment and Section 230 immunity would effectively bar all the plaintiffs’ claims—including, apparently, claims that companies ignored addressing when moving to dismiss.

“Defendants were adamant that the entirety of the complaint should be dismissed under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 and the First Amendment,” Gonzalez Rogers wrote.

Under the 9th Circuit’s three-part test to see if Section 230 applies, tech companies must prove that (1) they are providers of an interactive computer service, (2) whom plaintiffs seek to treat as a publisher or speaker, and (3) of information provided by another information content provider.

Plaintiffs argued that the second prong wasn’t met because their complaint was allegedly entirely aimed at how platforms were designed—not at content published by platforms—and tech companies argued that all prongs were met because all the alleged harms allegedly stemmed from content on their platforms.

Gonzalez Rogers found that both sides’ “all or nothing” approaches to the motions to dismiss did “not sufficiently address the complexity of the issues facing this litigation” or “fairly or accurately represent the Ninth Circuit’s application of Section 230 immunity.”

Gonzalez Rogers’ ruling sheds new light on how courts interpret the scope of Section 230 immunity. She wrote that “the issue is whether the defendant’s alleged duty to the plaintiff could ‘have been satisfied without changes to the content posted by the website’s users and without conducting a detailed investigation.'”

While platforms hoped she would find that none of their duties could have been satisfied without those conditions being met, Gonzalez Rogers identified nine alleged design defects that “do not implicate publishing or monitoring of third-party content,” “are not equivalent to speaking or publishing,” and “can be fixed by defendants without altering the publishing of third-party content” and “thus are not barred by Section 230.”

Alleged defects not barred by Section 230 include: not providing effective parental controls; not providing options for young users to self-restrict time used on the platform; making it challenging for users to delete their accounts; not using robust age verification; making it challenging for users to report predators and inappropriate content; offering appearance-altering filters; not labeling filtered content; the timing of notifications alleged to increase addictive use; and not implementing “reporting protocols to allow users or visitors of defendants’ platforms to report CSAM and adult predator accounts specifically without the need to create or log in to the products prior to reporting,” the order said.

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1984148



Meta Ads for ecommerce: 7 things to test and iterate

A few years ago, you’d have been laughed out of any room for even insinuating that paid social and paid search had similarities.

Fast forward to the era of automation in PPC advertising, and there’s more in common between Meta and Google’s ad products than you might realize.

For example, both ad platforms:

  • Include algorithm-based campaigns that are heavily promoted by each platform: Advantage+ (Meta) and Performance Max (Google).
  • Allow you only to see data and settings you can control, whether in part or full.
  • Have their biggest growth levers outside the ad account (e.g., business-specific data inputs, ad creative, landing pages, sales experience, etc).

But while there are overlaps, both channels retain the unique characteristics that make them complementary channels rather than contesting ones:

  • Paid search typically has been used to capture demand – though the emergence of campaigns like Demand Generation is moving things in a different direction.
  • Paid social has historically been able to both create and capture demand, creating a true full-funnel approach that modern paid search seeks to replicate.

Think about users’ state of mind when searching for something specific on Google versus the endless scroll associated with social media networks like Facebook or Instagram. 

Search users want to research and/or buy products or services at that moment, while those on social media are open to new and interesting offers.

A 7-point ecommerce framework for Facebook and Instagram

When they’re set up and managed correctly, ecommerce campaigns on Meta can print money for products with market fit.

But what exactly should you be looking at? How do you determine what the best choices are?

Here are the top considerations.

1. Experiment with Advantage+ campaigns

Unlike lead generation, where you don’t really have the option of running purchase-focused campaigns, ecommerce on Meta Ads gives you two options – one of which is the relatively new Advantage+ Shopping.

Meta introduced Advantage+ Shopping during the holiday season of 2022. It’s similar to Performance Max in that it’s a broad-scope campaign that limits your ability to target specific audiences. 

You give it creative assets and messaging, the system looks for buyers, and refine the campaign with parameters and rules (e.g., data inputs, block existing customers, focus x% of budget on existing customers, etc.).

As always, try both and see how it goes before leaning into one or the other.

Dig deeper: Testing Meta’s AI-powered Advantage+ targeting: What we learned and what to expect

2. Test broad targeting on standard Conversion campaigns

If you choose the route of standard Conversion campaigns, you’ll want to pick the right targeting settings. Typically, as long as your pixel has enough data, you’re better off just doing broad targeting.

With lead generation campaigns on Meta, we like to feed them with audiences because you want to be much more nuanced in terms of who you’re going after.

But with ecommerce, because they see the revenues and much of the pixel data, just take away all your audiences. Maybe exclude recent purchasers (people who bought from you in the last 30 days), but otherwise, let the system find new customers.

By giving it limitations, you artificially inflate your CPMs for no reason.

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3. Prioritize purchase conversions

Conversion campaigns allow you to focus on different ecommerce goals: purchases, cart adds and clicks. That’s the order of preference you want to pursue.

We will almost always use the purchase conversion as the focus and recommend that as the ideal scenario. Some advertisers like to start with ‘add to cart’ targeting, but I prefer to focus on purchases.

One thing is certain: Meta’s algorithms are powerful and will give you what you ask for.

If you’re not running Advantage+ Shopping and instead use Conversion campaigns with a cart add or click focus, it’ll give you that. 

While it’s nice for someone to add to cart (and certainly has its uses), you usually want and need revenue. So focus on that when it comes time to generate returns.

4. Trust in 7-day click (usually)

Our campaigns on Meta typically use 7-day click attribution, and we don’t like to look at view-throughs. Here’s why.

When it comes to lead generation, 1-day is enough. But with ecommerce, you’re going to want to use 7-day click. Unless you’re selling a product that is more of an impulse purchase (in which case 1-day click is enough), most people take time to make a purchase decision.

At the same time, view-throughs will be inflated because everyone who places an order likely sees an ad. And while there is value to that, I would rely on that data to almost certainly have duplicate attribution.

5. Get creative with your creatives

When it comes to the ads themselves, we advise having a good mix of asset types that you can test, test, and test some more.

  • Image
    • Us vs. them
    • Media mentions
    • Reviews
  • Video
    • High production value
    • UGC or influencer style
    • Testimonials
    • Short-form and longer videos
  • Carousel
    • Dynamic
    • Static
    • Tools like Marpipe and Socioh help build visually attractive catalog creatives

In one instance, a video worked well for a while before performance fell off.

We ran it through the Google Ads trim video tool, which algorithmically cut up the video to tell a different story. You can shorten the output and push that live as an ad in Meta, and it revitalizes and breathes new life into an old asset. That ad is performing really well again.

There’s another tool we use called OpusClip, which you feed with short-form video and it automatically adds subtitles and overlays in the “Hormozi” style that you see often on YouTube Shorts.

You don’t have to use these tools exactly, but take advantage of AI tools like these to keep things fresh and avoid stagnating.

Dig deeper: 4 new rules for PPC ad creative

6. Always test new assets

I’ve been asked multiple times by both clients and advertisers:

  • How often should I test out new creatives?
  • How much should I spend to test a new ad?

Finding the right answer is less about time and budget, and more about how much traffic has flowed through it.

Is the data output set statistically significant enough to base decisions on it? Ideally, you want a few thousand clicks to establish that validity.

In terms of frequency, bigger budgets allow you to get away with more, so you can cycle new ads more often than you can with smaller budgets. Either way, you’ll want to look for the winners and double down on them.

Another important consideration is when ads do well but taper off, like in the scenario I covered earlier. When you see that happen (or have an ad you think should have done better), try editing the first few seconds to present a different hook.

7. Follow a consistent naming pattern

How do you keep track of what’s working?

The only way to do this without tearing your hair out is by using consistent ad naming conventions, which allow you to easily filter and report on things like:

  • How are image ads doing compared to video?
  • Do review ads perform well?
  • Does influencer content get better results?
  • Which of your two CTAs is the winner?

Without this, you’ll have to dig through layers and layers of the Meta UI to figure out what’s performing before you can make decisions. 

Tools like Motion can help you analyze creatives across multiple campaigns, but like all things, this process becomes easier with a consistent naming convention already in place.

What makes running ecommerce ads simple

Unlike lead gen campaigns, where the value of a lead is nebulous and dependent on a host of other factors, a sale is a sale in ecommerce. Currency amounts are consistent and fixed in value, making for easier math around calculating costs and margins.

Unless you have a high volume of fraud – a problem that transcends advertising – there’s little to worry about when it comes to conversion quality. Track returns and chargebacks, and you should clearly know your brand’s true profitability.

At the same time, there’s a world of marketing channels and branding plays beyond the DTC-preferred duopoly of social advertising and email.

No matter how successful your Meta Ads campaigns are, there is always more growth to unlock.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

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Menachem Ani, Founder of JXT Group, is a digital advertising expert with over a decade of success developing high-impact marketing strategies for online retailers and lead-generation clients.

https://searchengineland.com/meta-ads-for-ecommerce-7-things-to-test-and-iterate-434502



Meta’s new partnership with Amazon streamlines conversion process for advertisers

Meta has rolled out a new feature that simplifies the conversion process for Amazon sellers.

Shoppers in the U.S. can now link their Facebook and Instagram accounts to Amazon, enabling them to buy products advertised in their feeds without having to leave the mobile apps.

Why we care. Maurice Rahmey, co-founder and co-CEO of Disruptive Digital, described the new feature as “the most significant ad product of the year.” Explaining why the rollout is such a big deal, he said on LinkedIn:

  • “Better targeting and optimization: Meta will now be using information sent from Amazon and stores offering Buy with Prime to show consumer’s ads.”
  • “Better conversion rates: Consumers will be able to check out more quickly on ads when they connect their account.”
  • “Better ads creative personalization: Meta will tailor an ad’s messaging and product page based on whether a user is a Prime member or not and alter additional information such as real-time pricing and shipping estimates.”

How it works. Meta users can now click on ads in Facebook or Instagram, taking them to a shop-like experience within the apps for easy purchases. Using their linked Prime accounts, consumers can buy products without entering card details.

Benefits for advertisers. Rahmey explained that this new collaboartion could prove to be a significant revenue opportunity for Meta, Amazon and advertisers:

  • Better ad signals. “Meta gets more ads signal from the top ecommerce store on the web and more attributable conversions to increase client investment.”
  • Increased transaction fees. “Amazon gets more transaction fees driven directly from the greatest discovery ads engine on mobile meaning more sales on their platform vs other retailers.”
  • More conversions. “Merchants get to expand their conversion volume with an additional sales channel and 1:1 measurement between their likely top ad platform and retail partner.”

Why now. Following Apple’s privacy changes in 2021, which made it tougher for social media companies to target users, Meta faced a major hit to its ad revenue. This, combined with a tough digital ad market, caused Meta’s stock to drop by 64% last year.

After three quarter of revenue declines, Meta bounced back in terms of ad revenue earlier this year, which the company attributes to its continued investments in AI. With that in mind, it’s little wonder the tech giant is exploring additional ways to improve ad revenue by collaborating with retail giant Amazon.

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What Amazon is saying. A spokesperson for Amazon said in a statement:

  • “For the first time, customers will be able to shop Amazon’s Facebook and Instagram ads and check out with Amazon without leaving the social media apps.”
  • “Customers in the U.S. will see real-time pricing, Prime eligibility, delivery estimates, and product details on select Amazon product ads in Facebook and Instagram as part of the new experience.”

Deep dive. For more information on Meta’s ad revenue performance, read our report on the company’s third-quarter success after it surpassed expectations to increase profit by 23%.

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Nicola Agius is Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land after joining in 2023. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media and more. Prior to this, she was SEO Director at Jungle Creations (2020-2023), overseeing the company’s editorial strategy for multiple websites. She has over 15 years of experience in journalism and has previously worked at OK! Magazine (2010-2014), Mail Online (2014-2015), Mirror (2015-2017), Digital Spy (2017-2018) and The Sun (2018-2020). She also previously teamed up with SEO agency Blue Array to co-author Amazon bestselling book ‘Mastering In-House SEO’.

https://searchengineland.com/meta-partnership-amazon-conversion-process-advertisers-434524



Google, Meta, TikTok defeat Austria’s plan to combat hate speech

Google, Meta, TikTok defeat Austria’s plan to combat hate speech

On Thursday, a top European court ruled that Austria cannot force Google, Meta, and TikTok to pay millions in fines if they fail to delete hate speech from their popular social media platforms.

Austria had attempted to hold platforms accountable for hate speech and other illegal content after passing a law in 2021 requiring tech giants to publish reports as often as every six months detailing content takedowns. Like the European Union’s recently adopted Digital Services Act, the Austrian law sought to impose fines—up to $10.69 million, Reuters reported—for failing to tackle illegal or harmful content.

However, soon after Austria tried to enforce the law, Google, Meta, and TikTok—each with EU operations based in Ireland—challenged it in an Austrian court. The tech companies insisted that Austria’s law conflicted with an EU law that says that platforms are only subject to laws in EU member states where they’re established.

Because there is still plenty of legal uncertainty as to how EU member states can regulate services originating from other member states, the Austrian court asked the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to weigh in.

Ultimately, the CJEU agreed with tech companies, deciding that the language of Austria’s law was too general and abstract, potentially applying to too many platforms without distinction. The court ruling said that allowing Austria to enforce the law risked restricting “the free movement of information society services” between EU member states and undermining “mutual trust” between member states.

The ruling represented a major victory for platforms attempting to comply with ever-stricter user protections recently enforceable in the EU. According to Reuters, CJEU’s ruling cannot be appealed. Next, the Austrian court will conclude its legal proceedings, likely sealing the win for platforms and setting an important precedent that could shield platforms from other potential legal attacks as EU regulators continue to crack down on Big Tech.

Meta and TikTok did not immediately respond to Ars’ request to comment on the ruling, but a Google spokesperson confirmed that the judgment will inform how Google’s trust and safety efforts are managed in the EU.

“We are pleased with today’s decision, which reaffirms the importance of the EU’s country of origin principle,” Google’s spokesperson told Ars. “We will study the judgment and continue to invest in the trust and safety of our users across our platforms.”

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1982631



Meta unveils five new lead generation ad tools for Facebook and Instagram

Meta is adding new tools on Facebook and Instagram to help businesses get better leads.

The tech giant is rolling out five lead generation ad tools, AI features, and CRM partnerships, designed to improve campaign performance and save marketers time and money.

Why we care. Quality leads can save businesses time and resources as they have a greater chance of turning interest into actual sales. Given the higher likelihood of conversion, leveraging tools to optimize lead generation is crucial for marketers as this approach not only ensures more efficient campaigns but also maximizes the return on investment.

Click to WhatsApp Lead Gen: The lead objective is being extended to Facebook and Instagram ads that click to start a WhatsApp chat to help marketers nurture more quality leads with messaging. Select advertisers will have the option to add a Q&A flow in Ads Manager moving forward

Click To WhatsApp 800x450

Instant form ad format. This feature lets users explore and connect with multiple businesses at once. For example, after signing up for a bridal hair trial, users can easily share their contact information with other relevant businesses, like a nail salon. It offers added convenience for users and more opportunities for small businesses to be discovered by interested customers.

Submit Multiple Forms 283x600

Calling leads on Facebook. Meta is testing this new feature that allows businesses to call people through Facebook to provide assurance and display their business information, including logo and name.

Advantage+ for Lead Gen: Meta is testing full campaign automation for lead generation campaigns, using Meta Advantage. Advertisers can apply AI to multiple campaign aspects simultaneously to “unlock greater performance while saving time and money.”

Hubspot. To support businesses in generating high-quality leads efficiently, Meta is introducing HubSpot as a new CRM integration partner, offering a straightforward click-through setup. Additionally, Meta is streamlining CRM integration with Zapier.

What Meta is saying. A spokesperson for Meta said in a statement:

  • “Integrating a CRM with the Conversions API, and using the conversion leads performance goalto optimize for lead quality, can boost campaign performance and help a business reach leads more likely to convert.”
  • “In a recent study, ads that used this campaign setup saw an average 16% reduction in cost per quality lead and 21% increase in rate of converting a lead to a quality lead, compared to ads using the leads performance goal.”

Deep dive. Read our 9-step guide on how to use Meta Ads for lead genertion for more information.

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Nicola Agius is Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land after joining in 2023. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media and more. Prior to this, she was SEO Director at Jungle Creations (2020-2023), overseeing the company’s editorial strategy for multiple websites. She has over 15 years of experience in journalism and has previously worked at OK! Magazine (2010-2014), Mail Online (2014-2015), Mirror (2015-2017), Digital Spy (2017-2018) and The Sun (2018-2020). She also previously teamed up with SEO agency Blue Array to co-author Amazon bestselling book ‘Mastering In-House SEO’.

https://searchengineland.com/meta-new-lead-generation-tools-facebook-instgram-434411



How to optimize your content for social: Facebook, Slack and X

We all know what’s involved in crafting the perfect, most SEO-conscious article for the web.

But how many of us really think about those crucial next steps – sharing them in the right communities to help ensure they reach our target audiences?

This part of the post-publishing process is vital to ensure that you’re amplifying the content you create and should help it reach a wider chunk of your audience.

Even though Google hasn’t officially confirmed it, I believe that when an article does well on social media (gets a lot of likes, shares, and comments), it is more likely to appear in the Google Discover feed.

I’ve noticed many cases where popular articles on social media end up being featured in Google Discover.

As SEOs, we must ensure any content published on our watch is well-optimized for these additional social channels – and there sure are plenty of them out there right now.

Most active social channels for SEOs to consider

Outside of the obvious “holy trinity of social” – Facebook, X and LinkedIn – there are some new kids on the block that are worthy of your attention, including:

Outside of these, and if you are looking to target other tech/SaaS communities, you need to be aware of: 

  • Slack.
  • Discord. 

And how do you ensure content is social-media friendly? 

The main thing to check is how your URL is presented to people when someone is sharing it on social media – which we’ll cover in more depth now.

Dig deeper: How to optimize your social media pages for search

How to ensure your content is optimized for social media

Technically speaking, the tags you need to pay close attention to here are your OpenGraph (OG) tags. These tags belong in the <head> of your page and allow you to customize things like article title, featured image, description and even reading length. 

There are other tags to be wary of, which will be specified below, but OpenGraph tags are the main ones to keep optimized.

Side note: When selecting the image to use across social channels, I’d recommend choosing one with a minimum of 1,200 pixels in width and specifying the max-image-preview robots tag on the page. These are two big requirements for inclusion by Google Discover, which can be a huge traffic source.

Dig deeper: Google updates image SEO best practices and Google Discover docs

Sharing on Facebook

Getting your tags right for Facebook is fairly easy – especially if you’re using WordPress and have a plugin like Yoast installed.

The main ones to include are:

  • og:title
  • og:image
  • og:description
Sharing on Facebook
Preview of a Search Engine Land link when shared on Facebook

You can use Facebook’s handy Sharing Debugger if you want to check which OG tags you’ve specified and to see how a link looks when shared on Facebook.

The Facebook Sharing Debugger. OG tags are also specified further down on the page.
The Facebook Sharing Debugger. OG tags are also specified further down on the page.

The code used might look something like this:

<meta property="og:title" content="Is your brand guilty of greenwashing in your Google Ads?" /> <meta property="og:description" content="Monitor your Google Ads account for greenwashing claims and ensure your messaging aligns with your brand’s environmental efforts." /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://searchengineland.com/greenwashing-google-ads-433121" /> <meta property="og:image" content="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2023/10/Is-your-brand-guilty-of-greenwashing-in-your-Google-Ads-800x450.png" />

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Sharing on Slack

It’s easy to forget the value or impact of Slack communities. Probably because:

  • They’re hidden from those who aren’t actively participating within them.
  • Referral traffic from Slack will likely be hidden from your analytics reports (unless you are a genius and use custom UTM tags specifically for Slack).

While I don’t know of any Slack URL validator, I do know if you post a URL into a Slack channel, you should see a preview along with:

  • The brand name.
  • Page title.
  • Page description.
  • Image.
  • Estimated reading time.
  • Video previews.
  • And, sometimes, even price and availability (when sharing product links). 

Not all those elements are included by default (which is probably a good thing!). 

When I shared my first Search Engine Land article a few weeks ago, I noticed that none of those elements were being pulled through – just the URL was visible.

SEL link shared on Slack

Slack optimization is a bit more complex than Facebook, X or other social channels, and there are some quirks to be aware of. 

When you post a URL on Slack, it must first “unfurl” the URL – meaning it has to discover what is contained within the URL to show any kind of link preview.

Slack will first check the page headers for any oEmbed server code, Twitter card tags and/or Facebook Open Graph Tags, and then, finally, HTML meta tags. 

The Slack system will give priority based on the order it finds those tags – so if they are set within the oEmbed server, those will override any HTML meta tags found later. 

The main point to remember here is that if you provide valid Facebook Open Graph tags/Twitter cards for any key elements (image, description), then you should have a nice, well-optimized Slack URL preview. 

Don’t forget to include pricing and availability info if you are an ecommerce retailer.

<img decoding="async" width="586" height="327" src="https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/how-to-optimize-your-content-for-social-facebook-slack-and-x-3.webp" alt="The Slack unfurl/link preview after Search Engine Land updated their , removing the old Twitter card.” class=”wp-image-434226″ srcset=”https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/how-to-optimize-your-content-for-social-facebook-slack-and-x-3.webp 586w, https://rassegna.lbit-solution.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/how-to-optimize-your-content-for-social-facebook-slack-and-x-21.webp 200w” sizes=”(max-width: 586px) 100vw, 586px”>
The Slack unfurl/link preview after Search Engine Land updated their <head>, removing the old Twitter card.

Digging into the code, it looked like the Search Engine Land website had a redundant Twitter Card App code found high up within the <head>, which didn’t have a set image preview, description or anything else. This was likely overriding the subsequent OpenGraph tags that were correctly set.

Preview of the old Twitter App card blocking the optimized Twitter card from being shown on Slack.
Preview of the old Twitter App card blocking the optimized Twitter card from being shown on Slack.

Removing that old chunk of code while saving a few bytes in wasted code across every page on the domain also ensured the Slack unfurl pulled in more valuable data. 

In effect, Search Engine Land carried out some good old-fashioned SEO – “Slack Experience Optimization.” ;) 

A quick word on X optimization

In mid-October, Elon Musk decided to change how links are presented on the platform.

This has been deemed as an action to mask links, to try and keep users on the platform for more extended periods. (After all, social media companies don’t like users to “leave” the app, which means lower ad revenue.) 

While links were fairly obviously presented, with a title and description included alongside the link, as of now, this is not the case. 

Links are now presented with an image pulled from the page being shared and a tiny mention of the brand embedded in the image.

Showing how URLs are now displayed within a Tweet at present. Note the small URL/text at the bottom-left of the image.
Showing how URLs are now displayed within a post at present. Note the small URL/text at the bottom-left of the image.

You may not have noticed this change – especially if you’ve decided to ditch X – and many users took the chance to point out some fundamental flaws in this decision:

Example of how the new format has presented issues – or opportunities – for people to be misled due to shares no longer pulling in page titles or descriptions.
Example of how the new format has presented issues – or opportunities – for people to be misled due to shares no longer pulling in page titles or descriptions.

Either way, you now need to be wary of this and act accordingly. Some users seem to have adopted a new way of presenting links:

  • Adding a CTA and sometimes an emoji to help highlight the link at the end of a thread. 
  • Just adding a link at the beginning of a tweet and clearly signposting it.
Sharing links on X - alternative
An alternative way to share links – clearly signpost that there’s a link, add a nice intro and include a custom image manually – thus avoiding the Twitter overlay on the image they pull.

Technically, you could also remove the OpenGraph/Twitter card from the page, which would leave the link looking bare when sharing (no image gets pulled), but at least it’s obvious that it’s a link. (Note that the Twitter Card Validator Tool is no longer supported.)

Highlighting what sharing a link looks like if no OpenGraph or Twitter card tags are defined – pretty ugly, but at least it’s clearly a link.

There’s no right or wrong way of doing things here. Still, it’s good to be wary of the issues, especially if you’re wondering why traffic to your site from X has dropped since mid-October.

Are you optimizing your content for social?

It’s easy to forget to optimize your content for social platforms – especially when we’ve got our heads fully within the search engine algorithm. 

But I think it’s crucial to realize lots of positive interaction can come within social channels, whether that’s from customers sharing content you’ve produced or even sites linking to articles having found them via a social channel. 

It doesn’t take long to ensure content is ready for sharing on social media and to have a strategy for feeding (not spamming!) the articles in any relevant communities. 

Dig deeper: Search, social and retail: The future of digital brand experiences

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

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About the author

Matt Tutt

Matt Tutt is an SEO consultant that specialises in helping Purpose Driven and ClimateTech companies get found online. Passionate about anything that aims to help the environment, he’s been working as an SEO for over 10 years. Outside of work he can usually be found in his garden, attempting to grow anything that could be considered edible.

https://searchengineland.com/optimize-content-social-facebook-slack-x-434219



Meta unveils ad-free Facebook and Instagram subscriptions in Europe

Meta is rolling out no ads subscriptions for Facebook and Instagram users in Europe.

People in the EU, EEA and Switzerland will be given the choice to either continue using these platforms with personalised ads, or pay a fee to remove sponsored posts completely from November.

Users that opt to pay for a subscription, which will cost €9.99 per month on the web or €12.99 per month on iOS and Android, will not have their information used for ads.

Why we care. The success of ad-free subscriptions could greatly influence reach and, consequently, ROI for this new service in Europe. Nonetheless, the expense of these paid services, coupled with the planned additional fees for next year, may act as a deterrent for potential sign-ups.

Subscription costs. An ad-free experience will be applied to all linked Facebook and Instagram accounts in a user’s Accounts Center, meaning users will only need to pay for one subscription to cover all of their accounts. However, that is set to change next year.

From March 2024, an additional fee of €6 per month on the web and €8 per month on iOS and Android will apply for each additional account listed in a user’s Account Center.

Why now? Providing a choice to subscribe without ads meets European regulations and lets Meta serve users in the EU, EEA, and Switzerland. The CJEU confirmed that such a subscription model is a valid way for users to consent to an ad-supported service.

Who is eligible?  To begin with, Meta is only rolling out ad-free experiences for people aged 18 and up. However, the tech giant is continuing to explore new ways to offer teens a “useful and responsible ad experience” in light of the EU’s evolving regulatory landscape.

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What Meta is saying. A spokesperson for Meta said in a statement:

  • “Advertisers will be able to continue running personalised advertising campaigns in Europe to reach those who choose to continue to receive a free, ad-supported online service.” 
  • “Going forward, we will continue to invest to build new tools that preserve the value that both people and businesses get out of personalised advertising, while allowing users to control their ads experience on our platforms.”
  • “We believe in an ad-supported internet, which gives people access to personalised products and services regardless of their economic status. It also allows small businesses to reach potential customers, grow their business and create new markets, driving growth in the European economy.”
  • “And like other companies we’ll continue to advocate for an ad-supported internet, even with our new subscription offering in the EU, EEA and Switzerland.  But we respect the spirit and purpose of these evolving European regulations, and are committed to complying with them.”

Deep dive. Read Meta’s announcement in full for more information.

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About the author

Nicola Agius

Nicola Agius is Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land after joining in 2023. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media and more. Prior to this, she was SEO Director at Jungle Creations (2020-2023), overseeing the company’s editorial strategy for multiple websites. She has over 15 years of experience in journalism and has previously worked at OK! Magazine (2010-2014), Mail Online (2014-2015), Mirror (2015-2017), Digital Spy (2017-2018) and The Sun (2018-2020). She also previously teamed up with SEO agency Blue Array to co-author Amazon bestselling book ‘Mastering In-House SEO’.

https://searchengineland.com/meta-ad-free-instagram-facebook-europe-433931



Facebook e Instagram, nella Ue in arrivo versione senza pubblicità da 13 euro da mobile

Meta Platforms ha reso noto oggi che offrirà agli utenti in Europa un piano di abbonamento per utilizzare Facebook e Instagram senza pubblicità, in conformità con le normative dell’Unione Europea. I piani di abbonamento mensile costeranno 9,99 euro per gli utenti web, mentre gli utenti iOS e Android dovranno sborsare 12,99 euro al mese.

Legi anche: Meta si adegua alla privacy Ue: in vista versioni a pagamento per Facebook e Instagram

Conferma ufficiale dell’azienda

A comunicarlo ufficialmente, dopo le voci delle scorse settimane, la stessa Meta. La decisione dipende dalla necessità di “ottemperare alle normative Europee in continua evoluzione” e riguarda “Ue, See e Svizzera”.
“A novembre, offriremo alle persone che utilizzano Facebook o Instagram che risiedono in queste regioni la possibilità di continuare a utilizzare questi servizi personalizzati gratuitamente con la pubblicità, oppure di sottoscrivere un abbonamento per non visualizzare più le inserzioni”, ha spiegato la holding social.

Business pubblicitario a rischio

Le normative UE minacciano di frenare la capacità di Meta di personalizzare gli annunci per gli utenti senza il loro consenso e di danneggiare così la sua principale fonte di entrate.

Offrire una scelta tra un piano gratuito, sostenuto dalla pubblicità, e un abbonamento a pagamento, senza pubblicità, potrebbe portare gli utenti a optare per il primo, aiutando Meta a rispettare le normative senza influire sulla sua attività pubblicitaria.

Periodo iniziale

Fino al 1° marzo 2024, l’abbonamento iniziale copre tutti gli account collegati nel Centro gestione account di un utente. Tuttavia, a partire dal 1° marzo 2024, verrà applicata una tariffa aggiuntiva di 6 euro al mese sul Web e 8 euro al mese su iOS e Android per ogni account aggiuntivo elencato nel Centro account di un utente.

Meta è stata multata per 390 milioni di euro all’inizio di quest’anno dal Garante irlandese per la privacy e le è stato detto che non può utilizzare il cosiddetto “contratto” come base legale per inviare agli utenti annunci pubblicitari basati sulla loro attività online.

https://www.key4biz.it/facebook-e-instagram-nella-ue-in-arrivo-versione-senza-pubblicita-a-pagamento-da-13-euro/465306/



Meta ad revenue fuels blowout Q3, $11.6 billion in profits

Meta’s third-quarter revenue jumped 23% to $34.15 billion, the latest indicator of a rebound in digital advertising.

Meta, the parent company of Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads and Messenger, reported that:

  • Ads viewed in the quarter increased by 31% from a year earlier.
  • Average price per ad decreased by 6%, the smallest decline in seven quarters.

The company reported $11.6 billion in profit, more than twice the $4.4 billion from a year earlier. Its operating income of $13.7 billion also more than doubled year-over-year.

  • “The year-over-year decline in pricing was driven by strong impression growth, especially from lower monetizing surfaces and regions. While overall pricing remains under pressure from these factors, we believe our ongoing improvements to ad targeting and measurement are continuing to drive improved results for advertisers,” said Meta CFO Susan Li said in an analyst call yesterday.

Cost cutting. Earnings were also helped by its cost cuts, with expenses falling 7% from a year earlier to $20.4 billion. In the past year, Meta has reduced its workforce by roughly a third and flattened its organizational structure.

User growth. This continued in some of Meta’s key markets, including the United States and Canada.

  • About 3.14 billion people use one or more of the company’s apps every day, up 7% from last year.
  • Nearly 4 billion people, about half the world’s population, use at least one of Meta’s apps each month.

Prioritizing AI. AI has been and will continue to be a big part of Meta’s drive to increase efficiency and lower costs. The company has depended on AI-powered marketing planning and ad measurement in particular in recent years to drive growth.

Customer use of chatbots is still in its infancy, said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

  • “It’s going to take time to tune all of these experiences before hundreds of millions or billions of people are going to use them,” he said on the earnings call.

Hiring to increase. Zuckerberg said Meta plans to start hiring more AI-focused technologists for that and that the will increase headcount overall as it works through its “sizable hiring backlog.”

In the current quarter, the company expects to do well but warned of volatility because of events in the Middle East. Li said the company has “seen broader demand softness follow other regional conflicts in the past, such as in the Ukraine war” after Russia invaded in 2022.

  • “We have observed softer ads in the beginning of the fourth quarter, correlating with the start of the conflict, which is captured in our Q4 revenue outlook. It’s hard for us to attribute demand softness directly to any specific geopolitical event,” Li said.
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About the author

Constantine von Hoffman

Constantine von Hoffman is managing editor of MarTech. A veteran journalist, Con has covered business, finance, marketing and tech for CBSNews.com, Brandweek, CMO, and Inc. He has been city editor of the Boston Herald, news producer at NPR, and has written for Harvard Business Review, Boston Magazine, Sierra, and many other publications.

https://searchengineland.com/meta-ad-revenue-fuels-blowout-q3-11-6-billion-in-profits-433830