SEO News You Can Use: Facebook is Leading in Educating Users About COVID-19

Facebook, like most other businesses, has shut its doors and sent staff home. However, unlike every other business, Facebook has the tech and infrastructure to rely on automation to manage its platform. This is an impressive move to make and good news for all of us (what would we do without our Facebook fix while self-quarantining?). However, the reliance on automation is affecting the business arm of Facebook.

If you use Facebook in your advertising campaigns, you might have already found yourself trying to fix niggles with your ads, listings and content. As of next week, the social platform will be increasing the automated enforcement for all ads and commerce.

This means, advertisers can expect a delay in the review process for ads and commerce listings and an increase in ad disapprovals. It’s important to note that many of the ads are being incorrectly rejected and so there will be an influx of appeals, to which we can expect a delayed response. Also, be prepared for limited availability of in-stream video advertisement opportunities. 

What Can Business Owners do About Facebook Advertising When Robots Manage the Platform?

It’s highly recommended you pay attention to your current ads and campaigns. Consider extending the delivery of your existing advertisements and, if possible, don’t bother with creating new ads. The minute you create a new ad, you’ll experience disruptions as a new advertisement triggers the start of a new review process. However, changing budgets or start and end dates won’t affect your existing ad campaigns. If you want to remain on the platform during this time — and we suggest you do — simply push your current ad strategy.

Facebook is Banning More Ads for Types of Products Needed

Earlier this month, Facebook’s Rob Leathern tweeted: 

“Update: We’re banning ads and commerce listings selling medical face masks. We’re monitoring COVID-19 closely and will make necessary updates to our policies if we see people trying to exploit this public health emergency. We’ll start rolling out this change in the days ahead.”

Recently, Facebook announced that advertisements for hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes and coronavirus testing kits will be banned. Facebook is also watching what people are posting. If it detects any abusive behavior in organic posts that feature these products, the post will be removed. Leathern has commented on this recent update: “This is another step to protect against inflated prices and predatory behavior we’re seeing.”

Facebook Coronavirus Information Center Has Latest News and Answers

Facebook has positioned its Coronavirus Information Center at the top of your news feed. This center has articles and useful information from reputable and vetted sources. This is in an effort to keep everyone up-to-date on the latest developments from trusted organizations, such as the World Health Organization, regarding this global pandemic. The Coronavirus Information Center provides a central point for people to source whatever information they need regarding this virus and how to remain safe during this time. Together with the latest news stories, there are resources available on how to keep yourself and your family safe, healthy and supported.

More SEO News You Can Use

Search Engine Land’s Barry Schwartz is Hosting a Live Meetup on Monday: Schwartz is meeting up with top SEO professionals Lily Ray, Pedro Dias, Daniel Waisberg and Alexis Sanders in a live video Hangout. These SEO heavyweights are getting together to discuss our new normal amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. You can join Search Engine Land and watch the live stream here, and if you’d like to ask questions, you can do so via this form.

In This Time of Coronavirus Craziness, Keep Yourself and Your Business Healthy: Search Engine Land has created a quick and easy-to-read checklist for businesses during this time. It can be overwhelming trying to adapt to your customers’ needs right now, and George Nguyen gets it. So he’s published this checklist to help you tick all your boxes and hopefully keep your proverbial doors open for your online customers.

Nextdoor Introduces Two Features to Assist During COVID-19 Crisis: Nextdoor has two new features: Nextdoor Groups and Nextdoor Help Map. Both will support its members during this time. Nextdoor Groups is a feature we have heard about before, but it was only in beta testing. Now, there are a ton of groups for those who need a break from the social distancing and isolation practice that’s been enforced. The second feature is Help Map, which allows people in a specific locale to find help or send help to those in need.

Ahrefs Offers In-Depth Explanation on How to Use Google’s Knowledge Graph: Michal Pecánek from Ahrefs has published a blog on Google’s Knowledge Graph. With a proper understanding of this feature, SEOs can begin leveraging it for better brand visibility and SEO. He unpacks precisely how this feature of Google influences search and SEO. A worthy read, especially since we are all working hard at satisfying user intent on our sites and with our content.

Digital Marketing Depot with B2B Market Help — 5 Challenges to Selling SEO: SEO is super important to all businesses, so selling it should be easy. But speak to any agency and its sales people will tell you it remains a battle at the best of times. Digital Marketing Depot has released Boostability’s whitepaper called 5 Challenges in Selling SEO. If you’re an agency owner or a small business owner, give this a read immediately!

Editor’s Note: “SEO News You Can Use” is a weekly blog post posted every Monday morning only on SEOblog.com, rounding up all the top SEO news from around the world. Our goal is to make SEOblog.com a one-stop-shop for everyone looking for SEO news, education and for hiring an SEO expert with our comprehensive SEO agency directory.