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# TUG

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://www.tugagency.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Tug Mid-Year Intelligence Report 2026](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/08/17/mid-year-intelligence-report/) - Discover 8 key trends redefining acquisition, AI-driven search and consumer behaviour. Download Tug’s Mid-Year Intelligence Report to future-proof your growth.
- [The August 2026 Google Ads Update: How Paid Media Experts Can Turn Automation into Profit](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/08/17/the-august-2026-google-ads-update-how-paid-media-experts-can-turn-automation-into-profit/) - Learn how Google's August 17 bidding update impacts Target CPA and ROAS. Tug shares the 3-step strategy to protect your margins and scale safely.
- [The Rise of AI Shopping Assistants: Are Product Pages the New Ads?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/07/30/the-rise-of-ai-shopping-assistants-are-product-pages-the-new-ads/) - Discover how AI shopping assistants like ChatGPT and Amazon Rufus are reshaping e-commerce, and why detailed product pages are becoming your best ad.
- [Google vs. Third-Party SEO Audit Tools: What Actually Matters for AI Search Optimisation?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/07/20/google-vs-third-party-seo-audit-tools-what-actually-matters-for-ai-search-optimisation/) - Is Google’s June 2026 advice a walled garden? Discover the reality of AI search optimisation and why brands need independent SEO for an AI search strategy.
- [Keywords Are Out, Answers Are In: Future-Proofing PPC](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/06/12/keywords-are-out-answers-are-in-future-proofing-ppc/) - Google's Gemini-driven AI Search changes PPC forever. Discover how conversational discovery ads and AI Overviews shift campaign strategy from keywords to branded answers.
- [Should Your Brand Be an Early Mover on ChatGPT Ads?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/05/28/should-your-brand-be-an-early-mover-on-chatgpt-ads/) - Explore the opportunities and risks of ChatGPT ads in Paid Media. Learn whether your brand should test early or wait for the platform to mature.
- [Why AI Max is the Next Big Shift in Paid Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/05/15/why-ai-max-is-the-next-big-shift-in-paid-media/) - Discover why Google AI Max is transforming AI in Paid Media with smarter targeting, asset optimisation, and AI-powered strategies that future-proof your SEM strategy.
- [brightonSEO: Does Google AI Think your Content is Helpful?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/08/07/brightonseo-does-google-ai-think-your-content-is-helpful/) - Our CTO, Eoin O’Neill, takes the brightonSEO stage to explore how we can determine if Google AI thinks our content is helpful. Watch his talk here.
- [brightonSEO: Influencing LLM-Driven Zero-Click User Experiences](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/10/30/brightonseo-influencing-llm-driven-zero-click-user-experiences/) - Our CTO, Eoin O’Neill, takes the brightonSEO stage to explore how we can train LLMs to increase visibility on AI search engines. Read the highlights here.
- [brightonSEO: Beyond The Prompt - Integrating LLMs to Map Your Brand's Invisible Barriers](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/05/14/brightonseo-beyond-the-prompt-integrating-llms-to-map-your-brands-invisible-barriers/) - Explore Tug Agency’s key takeaways from brightonSEO, where CEO Nick Beck discussed AI search, LLM visibility, and how brands can improve inclusion and advocacy in AI-generated results.
- [The AI Takeover: What It Means for Publisher Revenue and Display Ads](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/03/31/the-ai-takeover-what-it-means-for-publisher-revenue-and-display-ads/) - AI search is reducing site traffic and ad inventory, reshaping publisher revenue. Discover how first-party data and precise targeting can help marketers adapt in this Tug Take.
- [How AI Is Reshaping the Behavioural Landscape of Paid Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/03/27/how-ai-is-reshaping-the-behavioural-landscape-of-paid-media/) - Explore how paid professionals are optimising their performance strategies for AI search and how search behaviour is reshaping the paid advertising funnel.
- [CTV Brings Incrementality to the Living Room](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/03/23/ctv-brings-incrementality-to-the-living-room/) - Share
- [AI Max, ChatGPT Shopping, and the Future of Paid Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/01/22/ai-max-chatgpt-shopping-and-the-future-of-paid-media-2/) - Share
- [AI Max, ChatGPT shopping, and the future of paid media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/01/22/ai-max-chatgpt-shopping-and-the-future-of-paid-media/) - Share
- [When should search teams hop on the AI-mode bandwagon?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/11/03/when-should-search-teams-hop-on-the-ai-mode-bandwagon/) - Share
- [Crisis or comedy: when should brands laugh it off?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/10/27/crisis-or-comedy-when-should-brands-laugh-it-off/) - Share
- [Marketers, get ready for Industry 5.0](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/08/19/marketers-get-ready-for-industry-5-0marketers-get-ready-for-industry-5-0/) - Share
- [OpenAI Announces the Rollout of Ads on ChatGPT](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/03/09/openai-announces-the-rollout-of-ads-on-chatgpt/) - OpenAI announces the rollout of ads on ChatGPT. Learn what the collapsing search funnel means for the future of paid media strategies.
- [AI is putting intent at the heart of social search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/07/24/ai-is-putting-intent-at-the-heart-of-social-search/) - Share
- [Audio Isn’t Just for Awareness Anymore - The Data Finally Caught Up](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/02/24/audio-isnt-just-for-awareness-anymore-the-data-finally-caught-up/) - New data shows how audio drives search uplift, conversions, and performance across the media mix. Learn why audio marketing is no longer just a brand channel.
- [Tight Budgets, Smart Decisions: Why Implementing Incrementality is Key to Measuring ROI](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/01/29/tight-budgets-smart-decisions-why-implementing-incrementality-is-key-to-measuring-roi/) - When budgets in marketing plans are tight, smarter measurement matters. Learn why marketing incrementality is key to budget allocation and clearer ROI.
- [7 Marketing Trend Predictions to Watch in 2026](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2026/01/05/taking-end-clothing-from-attribution-guesswork-to-statistical-business-proof-2/) - Explore the latest digital marketing news and 7 new trends in digital marketing for 2026, from AI-powered creative to social search and GEO strategies.
- [Taking END. Clothing From Attribution Guesswork to Statistical Business Proof](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/12/19/taking-end-clothing-from-attribution-guesswork-to-statistical-business-proof/) - Learn how Tug helped high-fashion retailer END. Clothing move beyond attribution guesswork to statistically prove the true impact of paid social.
- [From Chaos To Clarity: Transforming Marketing Attribution With AI & Machine Learning ](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/12/01/from-chaos-to-clarity-transforming-marketing-attribution-with-ai-machine-learning/) - Discover how AI and machine learning replace outdated attribution models, unify fragmented data, and prove true marketing ROI with Tug’s solution Real Impact.
- [How Digital Planners Can Win in The New TV Economy](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/12/17/how-digital-planners-can-win-in-the-new-tv-economy/) - Discover how hybrid TV planning unlocks smarter, data-driven results across CTV advertising and premium video. See how brands win in today’s TV landscape.
- [Why Brand Authority is Core in The Post-Click Era](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/11/25/why-brand-authority-is-core-in-the-post-click-era/) - Discover why brand authority is essential in the post-click era. Learn how trust signals, EEAT and transparency strengthen visibility across search.
- [The Attribution Crisis: Why Traditional Measurement Fails Modern Marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/11/10/the-attribution-crisis-why-traditional-measurement-fails-modern-marketing/) - Discover why last-click attribution fails modern marketing and how causal modelling helps prove real ROI and guide smarter budget decisions.
- [EEAT and the Rise of the Author Brand: Why Expertise Now Beats Keywords](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/11/03/eeat-and-the-rise-of-the-author-brand-why-expertise-now-beats-keywords/) - Learn how Google's EEAT is reshaping SEO. Discover why author credibility, authenticity and EEAT SEO now may outperform traditional keyword strategies.
- [Rage Bait: The Art of Manipulating Emotion in Marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/09/29/rage-bait-the-art-of-manipulating-emotion-in-marketing/) - Understand the meaning of rage bait, how clickbait content is used as a marketing tactic and examples of unintentional rage bait in advertising campaigns.
- [How Paywalls Are Changing The Future of Web Content](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/09/17/how-paywalls-are-changing-the-future-of-web-content/) - Explore how paywalls work, impact visibility, SEO and user behaviour. Learn strategies publishers can use to balance authority, reach and revenue online.
- [Why Social Media Optimisation [SMO] Matters](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/09/03/why-social-media-optimisation-smo-matters/) - Explore the future of SMO. From Instagram indexing to TikTok trends, see how social platforms are evolving into search engines and reshaping brand discovery.
- [Is Your Marketing Really Working? How to Prove Incrementality Across Channels](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/09/11/is-your-marketing-really-working-how-to-prove-incrementality-across-channels/) - Is your marketing strategy really working? In this blog, our Paid Media Account Executive provides key tips on measuring incrementality.
- [AI Mode on Google Search and the Visibility Gap](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/08/27/ai-mode-on-google-search-and-the-visibility-gap/) - Discover how Google’s AI Mode is changing SEO and search visibility. Learn strategies marketers can use to stay relevant and AI-proof their content.
- [How AI is Helping Build Smarter Marketing Budgets](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/08/15/how-ai-is-helping-build-smarter-marketing-budgets/) - Discover how marketers use AI-powered tools for optimised digital marketing budget allocation​ today, helping teams invest where it matters most.
- [Prepare for the Holidays with Pinterest: E-Commerce and Pinterest Advertising](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/08/05/prepare-for-the-holidays-with-pinterest-e-commerce-and-pinterest-advertising/) - Prepare for the holiday season with Pinterest advertising. Learn how to optimise your brand's ad strategy and reach high-intent customers with full-funnel tools.
- [Boosting Your Team’s Productivity with Smart Automation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/07/28/boosting-productivity-with-smart-automation/) - Explore how professionals use AI marketing automation tools and smart workflows to speed up creative work, free time, and unlock team-wide potential.
- [Greater Transparency in PMax – What It Means for Marketers and Brands](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/05/23/greater-transparency-in-pmax-what-it-means-for-marketers-and-brands/) - Google’s PMax updates offer transparency and control. Learn how you can optimise campaigns and boost performance across every channel.
- [Search Isn’t Just Google Anymore: Winning in AI and Social Search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/07/07/search-isnt-just-google-anymore-winning-in-ai-and-social-search/) - Search is evolving. Learn how to stay visible across TikTok, Reddit, and AI tools with content, community, and conversational strategy.
- [The Power of Voice Search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/09/13/the-power-of-voice-search/)
- [Slave to the Algorithm: Real Talk About Brands, Media and Creativity in an Automated World](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/06/10/slave-to-the-algorithm-real-talk-about-brands-media-and-creativity-in-an-automated-world/) - Last week, we hosted our Cocktails & Controversy SXSW fringe event.
- [Chatbots Are the New Search Box: How Conversational AI Changes Content Strategy](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/06/12/chatbots-are-the-new-search-box-how-conversational-ai-changes-content-strategy/) - Search behavior is undergoing a seismic shift as artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve.
- [Google’s AI Shake-Up: How Search 3.0 Will Rewrite Your SEO Playbook](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/05/30/googles-ai-shake-up-how-search-3-0-will-rewrite-your-seo-playbook/) - AI and zero-click results are redefining search behaviour. Discover how to evolve your SEO approach to stay competitive and drive organic visibility in 2025.
- [From Scroll to Search: How TikTok Search Is Taking Over and How Brands Can Stay Ahead of the Curve](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/05/20/from-scroll-to-search-how-tiktok-search-is-taking-over-and-how-brands-can-stay-ahead-of-the-curve/) - Learn how TikTok search is reshaping search behaviour & how your brand can stay competitive with TikTok Search Ads campaigns & strategy insights.
- [From Views to Value: Unlock YouTube’s Marketing Brandformance Power Using Google AI](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/05/12/from-views-to-value-unlock-youtubes-marketing-brandformance-power-using-google-ai/) - Explore brandformance strategies using adverts on YouTube and Google AI to drive results. Learn how to blend branding and performance for better ROI.
- [Will The Cookie Ever Crumble? Google Abandons Third-Party Cookie Deprecation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/04/28/will-the-cookie-ever-crumble-google-abandons-third-party-cookie-deprecation/) - Google has abandoned third-party cookie deprecation in Chrome. Discover everything you need to know with Tug’s expert insights.
- [The Measurement Landscape: Past, Present and Future](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/03/28/the-measurement-landscape-past-present-and-future/) - Learn the marketers' approach to measuring success & how AI and creativity solve modern marketing challenges for clearer, smarter campaign insights.
- [Marketing to Gen Z: They See Through the Sell—Here’s How to Win Them Over](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/04/23/marketing-to-gen-z-they-see-through-the-sell-heres-how-to-win-them-over/) - Discover how brands can engage Gen Z users with our content marketing tips and future proof advertising. Prepare for the digital future of advertising!
- [Proprietary tools give marketing teams that all-important edge](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/04/03/proprietary-tools-give-marketing-teams-that-all-important-edge/) - Share
- [Indies have the edge when it comes to helping clients make decisions based on data](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/03/07/indies-have-the-edge-when-it-comes-to-helping-clients-make-decisions-based-on-data/) - Share
- [Tug’s Latest BrightonSEO Talk: Does Google AI Think Your Content is Helpful?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/04/16/tugs-latest-brightonseo-talk-does-google-ai-think-your-content-is-helpful/) - Read our wrap-up of brightonSEO where our CTO, Eoin O'Neill spoke on how Google AI views your web content and which tools we use to optimise this.
- [Ethics in AI-Driven Content: Finding the Right Balance](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/04/14/ethics-in-ai-driven-content-finding-the-right-balance/) - Explore the ethical concerns of AI content generation & how AI-generated content impacts the future of writing and creativity for brands & professionals.
- [Creating Campaigns in a Cookieless World](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/03/11/creating-campaigns-in-a-cookieless-world/) - Discover how digital marketing is evolving to Google phasing out third-party cookies - enhancing user privacy and disrupting digital advertising for good.
- [Turning Turbulence to Triumph - How to Navigate Digital Ad Inflation in 2024](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/03/18/turning-turbulence-to-triumph-how-to-navigate-digital-ad-inflation-in-2024/) - Learn more on how to navigate digital ad inflation in a post-COVID-19 era, with insights on rising costs, demand shifts, and strategies to boost productivity.
- [From the basement of Vice magazine to Toronto, Berlin, Singapore – and now New York](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/07/30/from-the-basement-of-vice-magazine-to-toronto-berlin-singapore-and-now-new-york/) - Share
- [SEO Trends That Defined 2024 and What to Expect in 2025](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/12/20/seo-trends-2024-and-what-to-expect-2025/) - Explore the top SEO trends of 2024, from AI advancements to Google updates, and prepare your strategy for 2025. Discover expert insights and actionable tips.
- [Engaging Gen Z in 2025: Webinar Recap](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/03/13/engaging-gen-z-in-2025-webinar-recap/) - Learn more about engaging Gen Z in 2025 from our recent Tug webinar, like their online habits and how to reach them effectively with messaging that resonates.
- [Measuring Success Beyond the Click: A Comprehensive Guide to Navigating Zero-Click Search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/03/06/measuring-success-beyond-the-click-a-comprehensive-guide-to-navigating-zero-click-search/) - Discover how zero-click searches, AI overviews & featured snippets reshape digital marketing. Stay ahead with the latest SERP features & search trends.
- [GMV Max: The AI Tool Supercharging TikTok Shop Sales](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/02/17/gmv-max-the-ai-tool-supercharging-tiktok-shop-sales/) - Learn about the TikTok Shop tool GMV Max, how this can benefit brands and agencies, and Tug's take on this latest update.
- [Navigating the Future of Search: TikTok, AI and Non-Google Opportunities for Advertisers](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/02/18/navigating-the-future-of-search-tiktok-ai-and-non-google-opportunities-for-advertisers/) - Discover our guidance tactics when optimising for AI SEO & TikTok SEO. Learn how agencies can adapt for the future of SEO & digital media advertising.
- [The Rationale Behind Gen Z Search Behaviour](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/02/12/the-rationale-behind-gen-z-search-behaviour/) - Find out more about Gen Z search behaviour, the rise of TikTok as a search engine, and how brands can engage with Gen Z audiences in 2025.
- [Google Meridian: Tug’s Perspective on the Future of Marketing Measurement](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/02/03/google-meridian-tugs-perspective-on-the-future-of-marketing-measurement/) - Learn about Google's official release of Meridian as an open-source tool, what it means for marketers and Tug's take on this latest update.
- [The 3 Top Things for Advertisers to Think About in 2025](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/01/17/3-things-for-advertisers-to-think-about-2025/) - Find out the top Paid Search trends for 2025! Stay ahead with insights on AI, evolving audience behaviour, and the fusion of search and social strategies.
- [What the Potential TikTok Ban in the US Means for UK Marketers](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2025/01/17/what-us-tiktok-ban-means-for-uk-marketers/) - Learn what a potential US TikTok ban means for UK marketers. Learn how to adapt strategies, diversify platforms, and future-proof campaigns amid global shifts.
- [Top Paid Search Trends Brands Can’t Ignore in 2025: How to Stay Ahead of the Curve](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/12/27/top-paid-search-trends-2025/) - Find out the top Paid Search trends for 2025! Stay ahead with insights on AI, evolving audience behaviour, and the fusion of search and social strategies.
- [Tips for Compelling Organic Content: How Brands Can Rank in 2025](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/12/13/organic-content-tips-how-brands-can-rank-2025/) - Discover key organic content strategies for 2025: authentic storytelling, SEO, evergreen content, inclusivity, and repurposing for lasting brand success.
- [Tug Webinar: Brandformance - Building Brand with a Performance Mindset](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/10/11/tug-webinar-brandformance-building-brand-with-a-performance-mindset/)
- [Why Newsbrand Advertising Remains Essential to Your Digital Strategy](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/12/06/why-newsbrand-advertising-remains-essential-to-digital-strategy/) - Discover how newsbrands like The Telegraph drive trust, engagement, and ROI with innovative ads, first-party data, and premium audiences. Learn more!
- [What to Expect from Your Performance Marketing Partner in 2025](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/11/29/what-to-expect-from-performance-marketing-partner/) - Discover what to expect from a top performance marketing partner in 2025. Explore key strategies, insights, and tools to drive growth and long-term success.
- [Suzanne Grae appoints Tug Sydney for Digital Marketing Expansion](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/11/19/suzanne-grae-appoints-tug-sydney-for-digital-marketing-expansion/) - Share
- [Let’s not declare the death of SEO marketing too hastily](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/11/19/lets-not-declare-the-death-of-seo-marketing-too-hastily/) - Share
- [Is Social Media the New Search Engine?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/11/08/is-social-media-the-new-search-engine/) - Consumers are increasingly using social media as a search engine. Learn what this means for brands and how they can navigate this shift effectively.
- [5 Actionable Tips to Improve Your SEO](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/10/31/5-tips-to-improve-your-seo/)
- [How to Elevate Your Social Media Game](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/11/01/how-to-elevate-your-social-media-game/) - Boost your brand's social media success with these key strategies: know your audience, set goals, create a content plan, stay trendy, and leverage paid ads.
- [Big Tech on Trial: What Google’s Antitrust Case Means for Digital Marketers](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/10/30/big-tech-on-trial-what-googles-antitrust-case-means-for-digital-marketers/) - How the Gemini model is transforming search for brands.
- [Generative AI in Search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/05/30/generative-ai-in-search/) - How the Gemini model is transforming search for brands.
- [Honouring Claudia Jones and Sam Beaver King: Black Excellence in Community-Building and Marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/10/21/honouring-claudia-jones-and-sam-beaver-king/) - Honouring Claudia Jones and Sam Beaver King, pioneers of Black excellence in community-building and media, whose legacies offer powerful lessons in authentic marketing.
- [ChatGPT in 2024: Understanding the Latest Updates and Competition.](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/01/30/chatgpt-what-you-need-to-know/)
- [Tug’s Latest BrightonSEO Talk: How Blog Content Could Be Hurting Your Content Strategy Growth](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/10/11/tugs-brightonseo-talk-how-blog-content-could-be-hurting-your-content-strategy/)
- [The time is ripe to reboot blogs](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/10/11/the-time-is-ripe-to-reboot-blogs/) - Share
- [How CTV is Making TV Advertising Accessible for All Budget Sizes](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/10/04/how-ctv-is-making-tv-advertising-accessible-for-all-budget-sizes/)
- [Tug London Makes Waves Volunteering at the Grand Union Canal](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/09/03/tug-london-volunteers-at-the-grand-union-canal/) - Discover how Generative AI is revolutionising SEO, transforming content creation, and user experience. Learn to adapt your strategies for the AI era.
- [From Keywords to Content: How Generative AI is Shaping SEO](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/08/22/generative-ai-impact-on-seo/) - Discover how Generative AI is revolutionising SEO, transforming content creation, and user experience. Learn to adapt your strategies for the AI era.
- [Essential Guidelines for User-Friendly Design](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/08/15/essential-guidelines-for-user-friendly-design/)
- [Tug Webinar: Fast Forward Commerce - The New Era of Social Selling](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/08/06/tug-webinar-fast-forward-commerce-the-new-era-of-social-selling/)
- [Tug Webinar: Next Generation Paid Social - The AI and Data Impact.](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/02/23/tug-webinar-next-generation-paid-social-the-ai-and-data-impact/)
- [Aarushi’s First Month at Tug](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/04/05/aarushis-first-month-at-tug/)
- [Google’s March Update: What You Need to Know ](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/04/12/googles-march-update-what-you-need-to-know/)
- [Cable Cutting: What is Connected TV and Why Should You Use It?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/04/17/cable-cutting-what-is-connected-tv-and-why-should-you-use-it/)
- [Data Over Gut Feeling - TikTok’s New ‘Search Insight’ Feature](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/04/29/data-over-gut-feeling-tiktoks-new-search-insight-feature/)
- [Using AI to Meet Search Intent and TOV](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/05/09/using-ai-to-meet-search-intent-and-tov/)
- [How and Why Brands Readjust Their Strategies to Adapt to a Younger Audience](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/05/16/readjusting-strategies-for-younger-audiences/)
- [Canada Spotlight: Reaching Professionals, Decision Makers and Gen Zs with Indoor Office Advertising ](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/05/28/canada-spotlight-reaching-professionals-decision-makers-and-gen-zs-with-indoor-office-advertising/)
- [Fast Forward Commerce: The New Era of Social Selling](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/06/13/the-new-era-of-social-selling-webinar/)
- [How Social Channels Are Thriving in the Changing Nature of the Luxury Landscape](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/06/20/social-channels-thriving-in-the-luxury-landscape/)
- [Instagram “Ad Breaks” - The Delicate Balance Between User Experience and Effective Marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/06/28/instagram-ad-breaks-the-delicate-balance-between-user-experience-and-effective-marketing/)
- [Tug's Best Practices for Performance Max](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/07/12/tugs-best-practices-for-performance-max/)
- [The Evolution of Podcast Advertising](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/07/19/the-evolution-of-podcast-advertising/)
- [The Future of Search: How Google's AI Overviews Will Transform the Landscape](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/07/26/the-future-of-search-ai-overviews/)
- [As martech goes gangbusters, indie agencies might hold the edge](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/06/12/shit-is-going-to-get-serious-marketers-on-how-agency-life-is-evolving-in-2024-2/) - Share
- [‘Shit is going to get serious’: Marketers on how agency life is evolving in 2024](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/01/29/shit-is-going-to-get-serious-marketers-on-how-agency-life-is-evolving-in-2024/)
- [Tug - Global Search Awards Shortlist](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/06/25/tug-global-search-awards-shortlist/) - Discover how digital marketing is evolving to Google phasing out third-party cookies - enhancing user privacy and disrupting digital advertising for good.
- [Tug wins the PMW Global Awards’ Integrated category!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/07/04/tug-win-the-pmw-global-awards-integrated-category/) - Discover how digital marketing is evolving to Google phasing out third-party cookies - enhancing user privacy and disrupting digital advertising for good.
- [Tug Webinar: How to unlock Brandformance with next generation attribution.](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/11/17/tug-webinar-how-to-unlock-brandformance-with-next-generation-attribution/)
- [Tug Life Series: The revolution of AI tools](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/11/02/tug-life-series-the-revolution-of-ai-tools/)
- [SEO Autopilot: Turbocharge your everyday eCommerce tasks with automation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/04/12/seo-autopilot-turbocharge-your-everyday-ecommerce-tasks-with-automation-2/)
- [BIMA Breakfast - Digital Design for people with physical disabilities](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/06/23/bima-breakfast-event-digital-design-for-people-with-physical-disabilities/)
- [Tug Webinar: Future of Search - The impact of AI and ML](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/09/11/tug-webinar-future-of-search-the-impact-of-ai-and-ml-2/)
- [Tug - Shortlisted for the Campaign Tech Awards!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/04/12/tug-shortlisted-for-the-campaign-tech-awards/) - Discover how digital marketing is evolving to Google phasing out third-party cookies - enhancing user privacy and disrupting digital advertising for good.
- [Tug - Shortlisted for Campaign's Global Performance Agency Of The Year Award](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2024/04/10/tug-shortlisted-for-campaigns-global-performance-agency-of-the-year-award/) - Discover how digital marketing is evolving to Google phasing out third-party cookies - enhancing user privacy and disrupting digital advertising for good.
- [GA4 - Final Countdown](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/02/16/ga4-final-countdown/)
- [Personalisation vs. Privacy](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/11/30/personalisation-vs-privacy/) - Navigating the fine line between personalisation and privacy. Insights and strategies for respectful and effective marketing.
- [Customer LTV & Tug CID](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/05/14/customer-ltv-and-tug-cid/)
- [The all-seeing eye: why businesses need client strategy now more than ever](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/07/17/the-all-seeing-eye-why-businesses-need-client-strategy-now-more-than-ever/)
- [After Reddit’s API pricing storm and subreddits going dark, can AI save the day?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/08/18/after-reddits-api-pricing-storm-and-subreddits-going-dark-can-ai-save-the-day/) - Explore how AI might be the hero in the aftermath of Reddit's API controversy. Can technology mend the online community divide?
- [From Digital Agency to Tech Provider, Why Indies are Taking on the Big Boys](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/12/14/from-digital-agency-to-tech-provider-why-indies-are-taking-on-the-big-boys/)
- [Dave Porter, Tug's Head of Client Services shares his 3 pillars to overcome SaaS marketing complexity with clickz.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/02/08/dave-porter-tugs-head-of-client-services-shares-his-3-pillars-to-overcome-saas-marketing-complexity-with-clickz-com/) - SaaS marketing is complex, but campaigns can be highly successful if they follow the three pillars of smart strategy: acquisition, conversion, and retention. Tug's Head of Client Services, Dave Porter shares The three pillars to overcome SaaS marketing complexity. With 20 years’ experience in on and offline marketing, he has governed many digital marketing strategies
- [Tug's CEO, Nick Beck gives bandt.co.au his thoughts on Google potentially pulling out of Australia](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/02/08/tugs-ceo-nick-beck-gives-bandt-co-au-his-thoughts-on-google-potentially-pulling-out-of-australia/) - “The argument you hear from the likes of News Corp and the government is that Google has been destroying regional newspapers through local advertising. But actually that’s not entirely true. And by that, I mean that the Google/Facebook advertising model is just better for smaller business – more targeted and more efficient. Australia would be
- [Nick Beck, CEO of Tug gives bandt.co.au his thoughts on Facebook's promise to remove news content in Australia](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/02/19/nick-beck-ceo-of-tug-gives-bandt-co-au-his-thoughts-on-facebooks-promise-to-remove-news-content-in-australia/) - "I don’t think advertisers will pull their budgets due to a concern of the quality of content. Facebook still has amazing targeting capabilities to reach your audience. I believe Australian advertisers will pull their budget, and I’ve heard of many doing so today, because like the Australian public, they refuse to be bullied." Nick Beck,
- [Tug's COO Barney Voss gives Forbes his comments on adjustments to holiday policies in light of COVID](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/03/04/tugs-coo-barney-voss-gives-forbes-his-comments-on-adjustments-to-holiday-policies-in-light-of-covid/) - “At the beginning of the first lockdown we called it ‘working from home’, but this has now transitioned to a state where we’re confined to ‘living where we work’. That’s a real strain, so our view as an employer has been to encourage our team to take time off, so that our team members can
- [Tug's CEO, Nick Beck gives adnews.com.au his industry profile](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/03/09/tugs-ceo-nick-beck-gives-adnews-com-au-his-industry-profile/) - "Digital marketing is constantly evolving. It's changed so much, even since Tug started in 2006, and yet I need to remind myself it's also still in its infancy. There’s no other industry where you have the opportunity to learn so much, be constantly entrepreneurial, and genuinely leave your mark." Tug's CEO, Nick Beck gives adnews.com.au
- [Tug's UK Managing Director, Faye Daffarn features in LinkedIn's "Editor's Picks"](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/03/09/tugs-uk-managing-director-faye-daffarn-features-in-linkedins-editors-picks/) - "Balancing child-care and home-schooling during lockdown, while also keeping on top of my role as MD at a very busy agency, is one of the hardest tasks I've ever undertaken. If I pay more attention to work, I feel guilty that my kids aren't getting enough quality time. But, if I switch to time with
- [Tug's Head of Social & Content, Emily Knox Gives financialit.net Her Opinion On What Reddit Rebels Can Teach Fintechs About The Power Of Social Alliance](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/03/29/tugs-head-of-social-content-emily-knox-gives-financialit-net-her-opinion-on-what-reddit-rebels-can-teach-fintechs-about-the-power-of-social-alliance/) - "For fintech players striving to stand out in an ever-more crowded space, the Gamestop stock battle offers a valuable lesson. As well as underscoring the huge power of social media, this tale of Reddit rebellion highlights the potential for fintechs to boost their online attention by gaining social clout and, in particular, by partnering with the rising
- [UK businesses prepared to spend a third of their annual budget on a payments solution but confused by options](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/03/31/uk-businesses-prepared-to-spend-a-third-of-their-annual-budget-on-a-payments-solution-but-confused-by-options/) - Payment solution providers to potentially miss out on £11m+ of revenue in the next six months, if an effective digital marketing strategy is not adopted. Tug, a leading digital performance marketing agency, today announced new research which reveals UK businesses are prepared to spend a third (35%) of their annual budget on a payments solution
- [UK businesses are bamboozled by payment software options](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/04/01/uk-businesses-are-bamboozled-by-payment-software-options/) - UK businesses are willing to spend a third of their annual budget on purchasing a new payments solution, according to new research from Tug - however, many say they are feeling overwhelmed by the sheer range of payments software available online. Finding a solution is critical for businesses too, with only 1 in 10 stating that they currently
- [Zipcar drives 214% uplift in priority keywords with new and nimble SEO strategy.](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/04/06/zipcar-drives-214-uplift-in-priority-keywords-with-new-and-nimble-seo-strategy/) - The fresh approach allowed Zipcar to emerge from lockdown with loyal followers, an elevated online standing and the means to capture a wider market. Read the full article here.
- [Digital performance agency Tug appoints Comms 101 for PR strategy](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/04/12/digital-performance-agency-tug-appoints-comms-101-for-pr-strategy/) - Full-service digital marketing agency Tug has announced that PR agency Comms 101 has been appointed to handle its PR and communications strategy for Australia and New Zealand. Tug was founded in 2006 and has offices in Sydney, London, Toronto and Berlin. Sydney-based Comms 101 will work with the team on the ground in Australia to
- [IPA Bellwether Report – industry reaction](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/04/15/ipa-bellwether-report-industry-reaction/) - We asked the industry for reaction to the latest IPA Bellwether Report and they gave it us in spades, so sit back, strap yourselves in and enjoy… Jenny Kirby, Managing Partner, GroupM“Seen within the context of continued COVID-19 restrictions, there are some promising signs of confidence coming out of the latest IPA Bellwether ad spend
- [HOW FINTECH COMPANIES CAN BOOST THEIR DIGITAL VISIBILITY WITH SEARCH](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/04/16/how-fintech-companies-can-boost-their-digital-visibility-with-search/) - The pandemic has accelerated adoption of digital services and the move away from traditional banking. Studies reveal six in ten became more reliant on technology for money management during the first half of 2020 and less than 50% plan on returning to physical branches after COVID-19 subsides. Moreover, according to a 2020 CFO Barometer, 70% of Financial Directors are well aware
- [Payment Solution Providers Losing Out on Millions in New Business Without Strong Digital Marketing Strategy](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/04/22/payment-solution-providers-losing-out-on-millions-in-new-business-without-strong-digital-marketing-strategy/) - Tug, a leading digital performance marketing agency, has announced new research which reveals that over half (54%) of UK businesses are planning to change their payments solution in the next six months. Yet many decision makers are unsure of – or confused by – the different options available to them online, highlighting an urgent need for payment
- [Which 50? Has the datafication of advertising finally killed off Adland's favourite slogan?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/04/23/which-50-has-the-datafication-of-advertising-finally-killed-off-adlands-favourite-slogan/) - Undoubtedly one of the most overused slogans in marketing’s and advertising’s history is John Wanamaker’s iconic “half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half”. Undoubtedly one of the most overused slogans in marketing’s and advertising’s history is John Wanamaker’s iconic “half the money I spend on
- [The Science of Marketing: Adapting Skills for the Data-Driven Age](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/04/29/the-science-of-marketing-adapting-skills-for-the-data-driven-age/) - Writing exclusively for ExchangeWire, Tug CTO Eoin O’Neill (pictured below) outlines how the value of digital expertise has risen amid COVID-19, and explains why brands should broaden their perception of a promising marketer if they hope to thrive post-pandemic. Digital skills have been moving up the employer wish list for some time, featuring in over 80% of UK job
- [Tug listed among the Campaign Best Places to Work 2021](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/05/14/tug-listed-among-the-campaign-best-places-to-work-2021/) - We are proud to announce that Tug has been listed in the Campaign Best Places to Work 2021. Tug employees were asked to complete an anonymous survey compiled by Campaign, and the results ranked the digital performance marketing agency 40th of the top 90 marketing agencies and departments in the UK. This is a testament
- [How payment solution providers can make the most of the digital payments boom](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/05/24/how-payment-solution-providers-can-make-the-most-of-the-digital-payments-boom/) - Digital payments are surging in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the CEO of Clear Junction reporting a 9000%+ increase in transaction volumes over the past year alone. The trend is only set to continue, with Accenture predicting that over 400 billion transactions worth US$7 trillion globally will shift from cash to cards and digital payments by 2023.
- [Apple’s iOS 14.5 – The Reaction](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/05/24/apples-ios-14-5-the-reaction/) - “The Apple iOS 14.5 update might give users more control over their data, but the more cynical among us might wonder if it actually benefits Apple, more than the users – either because the update improves customer loyalty, or because it boosts the tech giant’s position against Facebook. “Either way, with the update limiting access
- [How do you solve a problem like... adland egos?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/05/25/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-adland-egos/) - Each week, we ask readers of The Drum – from brands, agencies and everything in between – for their advice on real problems facing today’s marketing practitioners. In the creative industries, it can be hard to divorce an idea from its author. But big characters can often put colleagues in the shade – and push through
- [Turning good paid media into great paid media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/05/25/turning-good-paid-media-into-great-paid-media/) - Furqan Wasif explains how marketers can turn good paid advertising campaigns into great ones using improved account structure, captivating copy, keywords, tracking and communication. What makes your paid search campaigns great as opposed to just being good? How do you know that your agency partner is giving you the best service for your money? First
- [Interview: Emily King on SaaS marketing strategies](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/05/25/interview-emily-king-on-saas-marketing-strategies/) - Software as a Service (SaaS) has taken over the business world, with the market doubling in size as companies across different verticals discover the benefits of cloud-based tools that offer convenient access to advanced capabilities. Emily King, Commercial Director at digital performance marketing agency, Tug, discusses how SaaS companies can overcome marketing complexity. The expectation
- [How to get the most from your media agency](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/05/26/how-to-get-the-most-from-your-media-agency/) - Gone are the days where a media agency was a separate entity that was given a brief, and then executed on that brief individually using its best interpretation. To get the best out of a media agency it should be an extension of your team, ensuring that it shares and is working towards your common
- [Why Lukewarm Responses to Apple’s Privacy Shift Shouldn’t Stop Preparations for a Future Without Third-Party Cookies](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/05/27/why-lukewarm-responses-to-apples-privacy-shift-shouldnt-stop-preparations-for-a-future-without-third-party-cookies/) - In this article, Asher Gordon, head of media at Tug explores how the industry is preparing for the post-cookie era, and sets out what brands can do to ensure that they’re ready for this monumental infrastructural shift. After months of hype, Apple’s iOS 14.5 update went live with surprisingly little fanfare. The long-awaited privacy features have arrived: now, users
- [Tug Wins Legal Software Provider Leap's Digital Performance Strategy](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/06/03/tug-wins-legal-software-provider-leaps-digital-performance-strategy/) - Full service digital performance marketing agency Tug has added LEAP, Australia’s leading legal software provider to its growing client roster. Tug will be responsible for its paid digital performance strategy and buying across Australia. A key attribute, which no doubt piqued the interest of LEAP is Tug’s local on the ground Aussie team, bolstered by
- [Scroll with it: is your website ready for Google’s ‘page experience’ update?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/06/06/scroll-with-it-is-your-website-ready-for-googles-page-experience-update/) - The search engine is altering its ranking criteria in favour of websites offering smooth and rapid downloads, but few firms seem prepared for what’s set to be a significant change or the first time, Google is about to start ranking web pages not only by how useful their content is, but also by how they
- [Why Go-To Market Success Depends on Early SEO Action](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/06/11/why-go-to-market-success-depends-on-early-seo-action/) - Brand new products or services might not fuel high traffic volumes straightaway, but that doesn’t mean search engine optimisation (SEO) should be left out of go-to-market strategies. In fact, building in SEO from the initial launch stage is essential if companies want to reap the long term rewards it brings – particularly high visibility, user
- [Google delays Chrome’s blocking of tracking cookies to late 2023](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/06/25/google-delays-chromes-blocking-of-tracking-cookies-to-late-2023/) - Google has announced today that it is delaying its plans to phase out third-party cookies in the Chrome browser for campaign management, targeting, and measurement to mid-late 2023. Google said the delay would give publishers, advertisers and regulators more time to adapt to the “new technologies it’s creating” to enable targeted ads after cookies are phased out,
- [Industry views mixed as Google extends third-party cookie deadline](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/06/25/industry-views-mixed-as-google-extends-third-party-cookie-deadline/) - Google has confirmed it's extending the deadline for the death of the cookie until late 2023. We ask the industry what marketers & advertisers do next. Google is extending the deadline for the death of the cookie until late 2023, a step that follows international regulatory and advertising industry pressure about the search giant’s alternative
- [Google's cookie stay of execution changes nothing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/06/30/googles-cookie-stay-of-execution-changes-nothing/) - Everyone might be shocked by the sudden extension of third-party cookie bail, but no-one is all that surprised. Following antitrust lawsuits and scrutiny from the UK Competition and Markets Authority, it was clear Google’s Privacy Sandbox proposals weren’t going to pass muster, well before the latest EU Commission enquiry landed. There was also the matter of potentially unacceptable
- [EXCLUSIVE - Experts question YouTube Shorts](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/07/21/exclusive-experts-question-youtube-shorts/) - Local experts question how successful YouTube Shorts, the platform’s TikTok rival, will be among users and brands, but say it could benefit from the platform’s reach and the strong appetite for short form vertical content. YouTube Shorts launched in Australia last week as part of a global expansion of the format. The new feature within YouTube
- [Getting privacy right in a first-party data world](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/07/27/getting-privacy-right-in-a-first-party-data-world/) - With continued advances in marketing technology, data privacy continues to play catch up in terms of regulation, safety and use. The laws that do exist are open to interpretation and potential misuse and that has led to consumer mistrust and increasing calls for a stronger regulatory framework to protect personal information. The European Union developed
- [WWF campaign raises awareness of the link between habitat destruction and the Covid-19 pandemic](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/08/05/wwf-campaign-raises-awareness-of-the-link-between-habitat-destruction-and-the-covid-19-pandemic/) - Partnering with digital agency Tug the campaign doubled the target petition signatures and raised WWF’s profile as a global policy campaigner. Worldwide environmental charity World Wildlife Fund (WWF) understood that the destruction of the natural environment led to the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak - and is increasing the likelihood of similar pandemics happening in future -
- [Tug Appointed by LEAP for $8m Global Digital Media after Australia win](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/08/13/tug-appointed-by-leap-for-8m-global-digital-media-after-australia-win/) - Digital marketing agency Tug has been appointed to manage the USD $8m (£5.8m) global performance media business for Australia’s leading legal software provider, LEAP. Tug was appointed in June to handle LEAP’s paid digital performance strategy and buying in Australia and has now extended its remit, adding LEAP’s rapidly expanding United States, Canada and UK
- [How Brands Should Navigate Google's Latest Indexing Change](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/09/01/how-brands-should-navigate-googles-latest-indexing-change/) - Alex Whalley is SEO Director at global digital marketing agency Tug. Here, Whalley runs over the latest Google ranking signal update and explains how brands can use SEO to stay ahead. Oh look, it’s another Google ranking signal update. It seems Google likes nothing more than throwing up another tweak to their ranking algorithm to keep bands on their
- [WTF IS SEO AND PPC?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/09/06/wtf-is-seo-and-ppc/) - Running into the billions every day, search offers huge opportunities for marketers looking to seize consumer attention, gain the biggest share of traffic, and boost website performance. With users now spending 59 hours online per week, it’s never been more important for marketers to have the right search strategies in place to capture consumer attention before rival brands do
- [TUG SHORTLISTED FOR PERFORMANCE MARKETING AGENCY OF THE YEAR ALONGSIDE THREE OTHER CATEGORIES](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/10/08/tug-shortlisted-for-performance-marketing-agency-of-the-year-alongside-three-other-categories/) - We are excited to announce that Tug has been shortlisted for four Performance Marketing World awards! The shortlists are for: • Performance Marketing Agency of the Year • Marketing Innovation for our work with The Jockey Club • Paid Search for our campaign for GenesisCare • Purpose for our work with WWF It is hugely
- [Tug expands work with Budget Direct Insurance and EasyCompare Thailand following reappointment](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/10/18/tug-expands-work-with-budget-direct-insurance-and-easycompare-thailand-following-reappointment/) - Digital marketing agency Tug has been reappointed by Budget Direct Insurance in Singapore and EasyCompare in Thailand, with an expansion of its remit to include content and UX. Tug was first engaged by Budget Direct Insurance and EasyCompare Thailand more than 12 months ago to manage link acquisition and competitor analysis to boost their local
- [13 recommended agencies with global capability ](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/10/28/13-recommended-agencies-with-global-capability/) - As part of The Drum’s Globalization Deep Dive, Cat Hartland, head of The Drum Recommends, shines a spotlight on independent agencies with global capabilities that come rated and recommended by their own clients. Read the full article here
- [Going Green and ‘Phygital’ for the Retail Golden Quarter](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/11/16/going-green-and-phygital-for-the-retail-golden-quarter/) - In this article written exclusively for ExchangeWire, Emily King, commercial director, Tug, discusses how sustainability and hybridising the physical and digital retail experience can be used to drive sales throughout the holiday period. As the UK’s retail industry enters the lucrative ‘Golden Quarter’ shopping season, positive economic forecasts anticipate a growth of 4.5% in sales. With
- [The performance marketing agencies leading the way post pandemic](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/11/22/the-performance-marketing-agencies-leading-the-way-post-pandemic/) - Hearing 100s of agency propositions, case studies, client stories and industry gossip each year, coupled with the fact that as a business we run 160+ pitches annually, and meet 100s of brands looking to find new agency partners at our speed-dating events, I wanted to create a series that gives an honest view on the agencies to watch – not just the global beasts, but the up-and-coming boutique shops biting
- [How do you solve a problem like... Covid staff shortages?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/01/11/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-covid-staff-shortages/) - Each week, The Drum ask agency experts for their advice on real problems facing today’s marketing practitioners. This time, The Drum considers how agencies can weather the surge of staff shortages caused by the Omicron variant of Covid-19. With the advent of the Omicron variant over winter, businesses across the US and UK have seen
- [IPA Bellwether Report Q4 2021: Budgets Increase Across the UK Despite Omicron Slowing Growth](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/01/20/ipa-bellwether-report-q4-2021-budgets-increase-across-the-uk-despite-omicron-slowing-growth/) - The IPA Bellwether Report Q4 2021, published today (20th January 2022), has revealed that total UK marketing budgets have increased for a third successive quarter. Despite total market growth slowing in Q3 2021 due to the emergence of the Omicron variant, 6.1% of companies raised their total marketing budgets at the end of 2021. Key
- [Meta’s crash – and what it means for the media sector](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/02/07/metas-crash-and-what-it-means-for-the-media-sector/) - Last week global social media giant Meta’s crash saw its share price collapse following the first decline in Facebook users since the company was formed 18 years ago. A record £169 billion was wiped off the company’s shares on Friday, a record daily fall for a US firm. Meta’s crash The tech powerhouse’s shares fell
- [As e-commerce gets cool, brands need smart shoppable strategies](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/02/15/as-e-commerce-gets-cool-brands-need-smart-shoppable-strategies/) - Shoppable ads (advertisements that combine product promotion and a chance to buy, often on social media) are a booming business, especially with TikTok’s spectacular ascension during the pandemic. As with any fad, some will get it right; some will get it wrong. Tug’s UK managing director Faye Daffarn lays out how to stay on the right side
- [How will Gen Z transform the workplace?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/02/21/how-will-gen-z-transform-the-workplace/) - Gen Z will change plenty – but what will be their impact on the workforce? / Callum Shaw via Unsplash TRENDING TODAY Gen Z already make up over 20% of the world’s population; they’ll be more than a quarter of the workforce in three years’ time (and generation alpha are hot on their heels). They bring with them native knowledge
- [The Future of Measurement: Q&A with Eoin O'Neill, Chief Technical Officer, Tug](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/02/28/the-future-of-measurement-qa-with-eoin-oneill-chief-technical-officer-tug/) - In this exclusive Q&A, Eoin O'Neill, chief technical officer at Tug, talks to ExchangeWire about the changes taking place in digital marketing measurement and what advertisers can do to adapt to these. How do you see digital marketing measurement changing in the next year? Major changes are needed in mindset and approach. Almost since the start,
- [UK Digital Habits by Generation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/02/28/uk-digital-habits-by-generation/) - How Different Age Groups Behave and How to Reach Them The pandemic brought older and younger generations closer together in terms of their “digitalness.” However, there are still some sizable gaps in digital behavior. Understanding the differences in these behaviors can help marketers better execute their digital campaigns. 3 KEY QUESTIONS THIS REPORT WILL ANSWER
- [International Women’s Day: agency leaders on tackling bias, inclusivity and diversity](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/03/08/international-womens-day-agency-leaders-on-tackling-bias-inclusivity-and-diversity/) - Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day – a day intended as a celebration, but increasingly mired in arguments about tokenism, co-option, corporatism and ‘pinkwashing.’ What’s clear in those criticisms is the continuing need for genuine initiatives toward gender equality. We asked experts from The Drum Network what initiatives truly make a difference, pushing past tokenism toward meaningful
- [Butterfly Foundation & Tug Find Success in #chatstarter Campaign](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/03/21/butterfly-foundation-tug-find-success-in-chatstarter-campaign/) - Mental health and body image advocates, Butterfly Foundation, has achieved the highest audience engagement out of seven not-for-profits taking part in the National Mental Health Commission’s #ChatStarter campaign. Butterfly Foundation, which is managed by digital marketing agency Tug, accounted for 41 per cent of total audience reach, delivering 8.1 million impressions and 22 per cent of
- [Want real change at your agency? Leave your recruitment comfort zones](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/03/31/want-real-change-at-your-agency-leave-your-recruitment-comfort-zones/) - By Sophie Brooks - March 31, 2022 Diversity of representation in media products has rightly been a priority in recent years. But the data shows that diversity among the people making those products – along lines of gender, sexuality, ethnicity and other axes – lags behind. Sophie Brooks, managing director at Tug Toronto, argues that addressing those failings
- [Lost in transmission: what’s behind the audio ad spend disconnect?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/04/05/lost-in-transmission-whats-behind-the-audio-ad-spend-disconnect/) - Even though popularity of audio continues to soar, marketers remain hesitant to invest – so what’s stopping them and how can you get past it? Video hasn’t killed the audio star, far from it – prick up your ears as Caitlin Wilson, Media Account Manager, Tug, explains how we can allay the industry’s obsession with
- [Why Google's Latest Update Supposedly Keeps Users Happy & Rankings High](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/04/13/why-googles-latest-update-supposedly-keeps-users-happy-rankings-high/) - Google’s latest algorithm change which focuses on page experience should be a wake up call to marketers wanting to maintain their website rankings, writes Alex Whalley, SEO Director at digital marketing agency, Tug….How a consumer experiences a brand or business website is more important than ever. According to smallbizgenius, 53% of visitors to a mobile website
- [Comment: IPA Bellwether ad industry report 2022](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/04/14/comment-ipa-bellwether-ad-industry-report-2022/) - The latest IPA Bellwether Report shows a clear return to growth for the marketing and advertising industry. Although hugely welcome after two very tough years for many, it certainly doesn’t mean plain sailing ahead for the marketing industry, with lingering issues around the pandemic, geopolitical tensions such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the return
- [“The impact on measurement has been devastating”: Six performance marketers on Apple’s ATT one year on](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/04/26/the-impact-on-measurement-has-been-devastating-six-performance-marketers-on-apples-att-one-year-on/) - The IOS 'adblock-alypse' continue to hit Facebook, as increasing numbers of iPhone users opt out from tracking on their devices. PMW quizzed six performance marketers for their experiences one year on from ATT. One year on from its launch, Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework is still shaking up the performance marketing industry. Going live
- [Google's Latest Algorithm Update And How It Impacts Organic Visibility](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/04/27/googles-latest-algorithm-update-and-how-it-impacts-organic-visibility-2/) - By Alex Whalley, SEO Director In the first few weeks of March 2022, Google began officially rolling out the desktop version of their page experience update - an algorithm change that puts more focus on how an end-user experiences your website. The mobile version of this update was rolled out in May last year and
- [Tug works with Spendesk to Launch 'Super Satisfying' Creative Campaign – Putting People Before Product](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/05/23/tug-works-with-spendesk-to-launch-super-satisfying-creative-campaign-putting-people-before-product/) - Spendesk, the 7-in-1 spend management solution for small and medium-sized businesses, is bucking fintech marketing trends with the launch of a new creative campaign that focuses on the feeling Spendesk delivers over the features it provides. In Spendesk’s first-ever multi-market brand campaign, the European startup is putting people and play front and centre to reinforce
- [END. Clothing Selects Tug to Deliver SEO Strategy in the UK & US](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/05/26/end-clothing-selects-tug-to-deliver-seo-strategy-in-the-uk-us/) - Fashion retailer, END. Clothing, has appointed global digital performance marketing agency Tug to drive its SEO strategy and boost growth across the UK and US. Tug will work alongside the retailer’s in-house team, using smart combinations of data and content to increase the visibility of revenue-driving product pages and identify longer-tail content to reach consumers who are most
- [Tug appoints Isabel Blanchard paid media director](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/06/06/tug-appoints-isabel-blanchard-paid-media-director/) - Digital marketing agency Tug Sydney has appointed Isabel Blanchard as paid media director. Blanchard will lead strategy and management of Tug’s paid media clients across search, social, display and video. She joins from Incubeta NMPI as senior account manager working on brands including Cue, Veronika Maine, Le Specs and Hanes Australasia. Blanchard is an experienced
- [Marketers need to pull their weight on making search sustainable](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/06/10/marketers-need-to-pull-their-weight-on-making-search-sustainable/) - Marketers should be assessing how they can fine-tune site management, server choices, and digital operations for greater green good. The illusion of ‘clean’ digital has long since shattered. Following reports that devices, back-end systems, and the web drive around 4% of global greenhouse gases, it’s clear everything we do carries its own carbon load – especially larger
- [Media Week 30 Under 30 2022 winners: Emily King](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/06/14/media-week-30-under-30-2022-winners-emily-king/) - ? We know she is amazing, now the whole world knows that too! ? Join us in congratulating Emily King for being included in Campaign’s Media Week 30 under 30. Emily King was promoted to commercial director in 2019, responsible for agency growth in the UK, and has completely transformed how the agency handles new business. She
- [Q&A: Tug’s Hannah Thompson on How Brands Can Harness Metaverse Opportunities Without Killing the Buzz](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/06/20/qa-tugs-hannah-thompson-on-how-brands-can-harness-metaverse-opportunities-without-killing-the-buzz/) - Each passing day brings us a step closer to a fully realized metaverse, along with a slew of questions from marketers wondering how best to take advantage of this incredible new connected paradigm. Hannah Thompson, Programmatic Account Manager at Tug, shares her insights on where we’re headed and what to expect. Q: What is the Metaverse
- [Tug appointed to manage SEO for SEA LIFE Sydney](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/07/07/tug-appointed-to-manage-seo-for-sea-life-sydney/) - Tug has been appointed by Merlin Entertainments to manage search engine optimisation for SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium and drive customer growth. Located in Darling Harbour, SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium has nine interactive zones where visitors can encounter some of the world’s most incredible animals, including dugongs, sharks, sawfish, stingrays, jellyfish, penguins, seahorses and thousands of
- [Zipcar shares award-winning strategy to grow visibility in search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/11/02/zipcar-shares-award-winning-strategy-to-grow-visibility-in-search/)
- [Darra Naiman joins Tug as Managing Director Toronto](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/08/19/darra-naiman-joins-tug-as-managing-director-toronto/) - Global digital performance marketing agency, Tug, has announced the appointment of Darra Naiman as Managing Director Toronto. Naiman joins the fast-growing independent agency from OMD Canada, where she was an Associate Director in the Toronto office. Reporting to Tug CEO, Nick Beck, Naiman is tasked with doubling the size of the business in Canada over the next two years.
- [Sustainability in Digital Marketing with Hannah Thompson](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/03/08/sustainability-in-digital-marketing-with-hannah-thompson/) - Sustainability is a term on many digital marketers’ minds at the minute. But how big of an issue actually is it? And how can businesses take their sustainability goals and apply them practically? We recently interviewed our very own Hannah Thompson, Head of Programmatic and ATL at Tug London, to get her thoughts on this.
- [SEO Essentials: 10 Questions to Ask Your Design Agency](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/08/02/seo-essentials-10-questions-to-ask-your-design-agency/) - Every web design agency will say they are experts in SEO and can protect your organic performance when they launch your new site. Yet history is littered with examples of global brands that saw SEO rankings crash immediately post-site launch. At Tug we have helped many brands transition to new sites protecting their SEO position
- [Performance Max Campaigns – The future of ads?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/07/13/performance-max-campaigns-the-future-of-ads/) - For some purchases, buyers have 500+ digital touchpoints & it is getting more and more challenging to keep up. According to Google, Performance Max campaigns aim to best use automation to maximise capturing this demand through Google ads. But does it live up to its hype? Here at Tug, we started experimenting with Performance Max
- [Who said AI can’t be creative?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/08/02/who-said-ai-cant-be-creative/) - Working in digital marketing means we engage with different types of AI solutions. AI has been dominating the tech industry in the last few years and has been commonly used to deploy data driven products, solve challenges and enhance analytics. However the power of AI doesn’t end there! Since the launch of ‘DALL - E’
- [SEO Enterprise Management](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/09/05/seo-enterprise-management/) - Managing a large enterprise can be an enormous challenge for those of us in SEO. There’s nothing easy about communicating with, and working alongside, a client that features thousands of live web pages. While the principles of SEO remain the same, it’s the scale that causes significant challenges. However, with the right tools and expertise,
- [Brighton SEO Summary – October 2022](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/10/25/brighton-seo-summary-october-2022/) - It’s October, which many of us associate as a month for ghouls and ghosts, and all things terrifying. And yet, there was nothing spooky about Brighton SEO - back for its second conference of the year, except perhaps the growing emergence of AI in marketing. Here, we explore some of the fantastic talks we encountered
- [Embracing the Paradigm Shift: Connecting Marketing Automation with Human Innovation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/11/07/embracing-the-paradigm-shift-connecting-marketing-automation-with-human-innovation/) - Machine Learning technology (or ML as it’s also known) looks set to revolutionise paid ad campaigns, leading to a seismic paradigm shift which replaces manual bidding in favour of smart bidding. Manual bidding involves PPC experts setting their maximum cost-per-click (CPC) to optimise campaigns. In comparison, smart bidding allows ML tech to determine the ideal
- [Twitter Updates Since Elon Musk Took Over](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/11/08/twitter-updates-since-elon-musk-took-over/) - It's been less than a month since Elon stepped foot into Twitter HQ, sink in hand, and yet the landscape of the platform has already seen some drastic changes. With frequent new updates (both impending and already rolled out), we've summarised the most important ones here for you to keep up-to-date. What has changed? The
- [How Programmatic DOOH Helps Retailers In Continually Unprecedented Times](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/12/06/how-programmatic-dooh-helps-retailers-in-continually-unprecedented-times/) - In this year’s crucial seasonal retail period, shoppers will be looking to save money, and nearly half are expecting bigger discounts. To deliver a pricing strategy that grabs consumers’ attention and drives sales, brands will need their campaigns to be highly targeted and agile. Whatever the channel, data will be a vital fuel for campaign
- [Insights From BIMA’s Cultural Credibility Breakfast Morning](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/12/07/insights-from-bimas-cultural-credibility-breakfast-morning/) - At Tug we had the privilege of hosting BIMA’s breakfast briefing about cultural credibility. Advertising has the bigger responsibility to become more inclusive and diverse as we create ads that target a wider audience. Misrepresentation is a direct result of lack of representation within an agency. Here are some of the key takeaways from the
- [The Great Social Media Migration: Where Are People Going?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/12/22/the-great-social-media-migration-where-are-people-going/) - At a time where we’re seeing social media platforms appearing all over the web, it’s important to understand what these new apps have to offer, whether they’re worth brands investing into, and why they’re so popular with the Gen-Z demographic. This year we have seen the rise of BeReal, the decline of Facebook, users pushing
- [AR and VR Marketing: A New Opportunity For Charities ](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/03/16/ar-and-vr-marketing-a-new-opportunity-for-charities/) - Not-for-profit organisations find themselves in an increasingly competitive field where it’s difficult to make your voice heard and raise funds. Digital marketing alleviates the pressures of building awareness and helps charities spread their messages to audiences around the world. What was once brochures, posters, and fundraising events is now a world of digital content and
- [From Knowledge Sharing to Greenwashing: The Role of Social Media in Promoting Sustainability](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/04/10/from-knowledge-sharing-to-greenwashing-the-role-of-social-media-in-promoting-sustainability/) - With climate change looming over us, sustainability has become a major concern in recent years. What’s more, social media has played a critical role in fostering conversations around this topic. Social media platforms provide a space where people can share ideas, voice their concerns, and connect with others who are also passionate about sustainability. This
- [BIMA Breakfast – Digital Design for People with Physical Disabilities](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/05/17/bima-breakfast-digital-design-for-people-with-physical-disabilities/) - Did you know the vast majority of digital services and products continue to fail basic accessibility requirements? WebAIM Million’s March 2023 discovered 96% of the top one million web pages still fail to satisfy WCAG¹ (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). Digital services and products exclude over a billion people, with an estimated 16% of the world’s
- [The Importance of Brand Activity in a Cost of Living Crisis](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/05/26/the-importance-of-brand-activity-in-a-cost-of-living-crisis/) - Recent statistics show that 6 out of 10 adults are spending less on non-essentials due to cost of living increases - and over 40% are spending less on essentials.1 Businesses will naturally spend less when customer spending reduces, and historically this has meant that brand marketing budgets have been on the chopping block. While businesses
- [The Impact of Changing Consumer Behaviour on Insurance Brands](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/06/05/the-impact-of-changing-consumer-behaviour-on-insurance-brands/) - When it comes to the insurance industry, current market conditions are driving accelerated changes in consumer behaviour. These changes are being seen in real-time through proprietary tools and media analytics. It is also apparent in the analysis and broad agreement by leading market commentators, such as Bain1 and Deloitte2, who believe harnessing technology can add
- [Tug Life Series: The Revolution of AI Tools – How Can They Give You a Competitive Edge?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/06/23/tug-life-series-the-revolution-of-ai-tools-how-can-they-give-you-a-competitive-edge/) - This Wednesday, we hosted a panel discussion on The Revolution of AI Tools as part of our Tug Life Series. The event took place in our London office, and brought together marketers from across the city and further afield - all keen to learn more about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how to harness it within
- [Embracing Democratisation in AI](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/06/26/embracing-democratisation-in-ai/) - Interest in AI has erupted over the past year. A flurry of Large Language Model-driven tools have been released during this time, including the likes of ChatGPT and Google Bard. Their capabilities continue to make headlines, but not all are positive. Many have even catastrophised their integration into the white-collar workforce. One title from an
- [Lunch & Learn: Modern Search – Upgrading Your Accounts for Machine Learning Success](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/07/13/lunch-learn-modern-search-upgrading-your-accounts-for-machine-learning-success/) - Kicking off with our latest Lunch & Learn on modern search best practices, Ian Khan, our Paid Media Account Director, introduced the concept of ‘Hagakure’. Hagakure is the name of a classic piece of Japanese samurai literature, which roughly translates to ‘hidden behind the leaves’, and when placed in a digital marketing context, refers to
- [Diversity in Digital Marketing – Why You Need It and How to Achieve It](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/07/20/diversity-in-digital-marketing-why-you-need-it-and-how-to-achieve-it/) - Bella Backwell discusses what makes ads stand out in a world flooded with marketing messages, from phones to public transport.
- [Strategising AI/ML Technology at Tug](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/08/22/strategising-ai-ml-technology-at-tug/) - Tug London's AI/ML strategy day focused on enhancing our offerings by integrating AI across various channels, reflecting on global interest.
- [Webinar: The Future of Search and AI/ML](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/09/13/webinar-the-future-of-search-and-ai-ml/) - Our webinar, The Future of Search, explores AI and ML's impact on search marketing, highlighting AI's role as a significant shift.
- [A Recap on Tug’s Latest Visit to BrightonSEO](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/09/18/a-recap-on-tugs-latest-visit-to-brightonseo/) - BrightonSEO's latest event featured Tug's Ryan Hassel on mastering SEO indexation for e-commerce, offering valuable insights.
- [The Power of Neurodiversity in the Workplace](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/09/20/the-power-of-neurodiversity-in-the-workplace/) - Tug's BIMA breakfast on neurodiversity in the workplace draws a keen audience in Shoreditch, featuring an impressive panel discussion.
- [Strategy Week: The Power of OKRs](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/10/25/strategy-week-the-power-of-okrs/) - Tug aims to align diverse digital marketing goals with AI and ML innovation, ensuring all projects contribute to our overarching objectives.
- [Black History Month Grant – Terms & Conditions](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/10/26/black-history-month-grant-terms-conditions/) - Tug offers UK-based black-owned businesses growth support with audits and digital media scaling recommendations. Open to all sizes.
- [Paid vs Organic Search: Do we have to choose just one when budgets get tight?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2023/10/30/paid-vs-organic-search-do-we-have-to-choose-just-one-when-budgets-get-tight/) - Amid budget cuts, the debate between paid vs. organic search heats up. A WFA study shows 30% of advertisers reducing budgets in 2023.
- [What is PPC and How Should You Manage it?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/04/06/what-is-ppc-and-how-should-you-manage-it/) - The Future of Online Advertising What is PPC, and why should you start using it? Let’s cut to the chase. In a nutshell, pay-per-click (PPC) is a form of online advertising available through platforms such as Google & Microsoft Advertising. PPC is a cost-effective advertising strategy which straightforwardly means charges only occur when your audience
- [Utilising Google Ad Grants for Non-Profits & Charities](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/03/25/utilising-google-ad-grants-for-non-profits-charities/) - Google Support For Non Profits & Charities Google offers a free program called Google for Non-Profits, which provides eligible non-profits and charities access to products and services by Google that help them solve organisational problems like finding donors and volunteers, fundraising in more ways online, working more efficiently, and getting supporters and engagers to take
- [Making Social Media Algorithms Work For You In 2022](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/01/20/making-social-media-algorithms-work-for-you-in-2022/) - Social media algorithms are an ongoing mystery and they are changing by the second. But if we can ascertain what makes them tick, it can give us a huge advantage when creating content. In this blog we give you a complete solution for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. You can follow the tips, and tricks to
- [3 Key Learnings from ATS London 2021](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/11/16/3-key-learnings-from-ats-london-2021/) - ATS London 2021 set out to discuss the future of ad tech and incorporated agencies, tech, publishers and data providers all sharing their opinions. Here are highlights of the three recurring themes and discussion points from the panels that will be most important to the industry in 2022. Privacy and Data Collection Privacy was naturally
- [A Guide To SEO For Sustainable Brands](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/10/25/a-guide-to-seo-for-sustainable-brands/) - Over the last 20 years, environmental awareness and interest in sustainable living has increased exponentially in response to the growing anxiety around climate change. According to the Independent, 81% of British consumers are concerned about environmental issues since the pandemic hit. As people become more aware of the impacts of their consumption habits on the
- [Social Media Accessibility: A Guide to Alt Text on Social Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/09/15/social-media-accessibility-a-guide-to-alt-text-on-social-media/) - People with limited vision should be able to enjoy quality content with complete ease. Did you know that social media content is not yet accessible to all? But you can make it so. And it is very important to do so. Everyone online should be able to enjoy quality content. Social media is an important
- [The Rise of TikTok During Covid-19](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/07/27/the-rise-of-tiktok-during-covid-19/) - Whether you’re a dedicated TikTok viewer or a creator in the making, it’s clear to see that this platform has seen a huge rise in usage since the outbreak of Covid-19. With trends, dance routines and popular TikTok songs becoming the norm, this platform has seen positive impacts across small businesses and brands. When TikTok
- [4 Social Commerce Innovations in 2021](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/07/14/4-social-commerce-innovations-in-2021/) - Over the past year, online shopping has become more popular than ever before with the influence of the pandemic leaving an everlasting effect on how we choose to shop. With this in mind, social platforms have had to adjust their technology to meet the high demands of users, trying to make shopping experiences as simple
- [What the 2022 HFSS Ban means for Media Buying](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/07/06/what-the-2022-hfss-ban-means-for-media-buying/) - The recently announced ban for food and drink high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) before 9pm watershed on TV and all paid media online has caused upset in the marketing industry. According to research undertaken by the NHS, 1 in 3 children leave school overweight. The ban coming into force at the end of
- [Benefits Of A Full Service Digital Agency](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/06/04/benefits-of-a-full-service-digital-agency/) - Ever wondered what it would be like to work with a full service digital agency? There are many benefits of hiring a full-service digital marketing agency instead of solely using an in-house team, freelancers or having separate agencies to individually manage the SEO, the PPC, or the digital creative. It’s therefore important to understand what
- [The cookie is crumbling - your creative better take the biscuit](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/06/02/the-cookie-is-crumbling-your-creative-better-take-the-biscuit/) - After a quarter of a century of digital marketing which has relied on cookies and third party data, advertisers are now faced with the dawn of a new age - a cookie-less world. Many browsers have already disabled third-party cookies and Chrome, with its 63% market share, is turning them off at the end of
- [Five Tips for Creating Instagram Reels that Drive Views and Engagement](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/05/06/five-tips-for-creating-instagram-reels-that-drive-views-and-engagement/) - It’s been eight months since Instagram launched its very own TikTok competitor feature Reels, which is now available in 50 countries around the world. Reels allows users to record and edit short-form video content to be shared in a separate Reels newsfeed. You can find the Reels newsfeed by heading to your home newsfeed and
- [The Top 10 SaaS trends of 2021 and into the future](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/04/30/the-top-10-saas-trends-of-2021-and-into-the-future/) - The growth of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry has been unrivaled in recent years, as developers continue to innovate and offer more varied and tailored solutions to business problems. There’s a SaaS product for almost every industry and role, and SaaS is big business. These recent SaaS trends are a testament to the industry and how
- [Brighton SEO 2021 - Summary & Highlights](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/04/14/brighton-seo-2021-summary-highlights/) - About BrightonSEO 2021 BrightonSEO is a bi-annual SEO conference with training courses and talks allowing search marketers to meet, learn and increase their understanding of specific SEO topics. Although it didn't take place in person this year, there were some really interesting, engaging virtual talks. Our very own SEO Director, Eilish Hughes, delivered an excellent
- [Returning to the High Street – Why The Future of Retail is ‘Phygital’](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/04/11/returning-to-the-high-street-why-the-future-of-retail-is-phygital/) - Back in January I wrote about how SMEs have had to pivot their business to trade and connect with their customers in new ways. At the time I wondered what the High Street might look like in another six months. Now, with non-essential shops opening their doors next week, my thoughts turn to exactly what
- [5 Issues Businesses Face With Payment Solutions](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/03/30/5-issues-businesses-face-with-payment-solutions/) - Covid has accelerated the rise of digital technologies. This also includes the transition to using payment solutions rather than traditional banking. Payment solutions are of high importance for businesses. According to Tug’s recent research, over half of businesses consider payment solutions critical for their business. But our survey also found that only 1 in 10
- [How TikTok Could Help To Save The Planet](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/03/17/how-tiktok-could-help-to-save-the-planet/) - Climate-related content is taking TikTok by storm When you think of TikTok, you might think of skateboarders drinking Ocean Spray, a twerking dog, or a cat singing 50 Cent Candy Shop. Whilst it’s true that TikTok is light-hearted, fun, and top banter, there are also much more serious conversations happening. Climate change and environmental awareness
- [3 Things You Can Do Now To Prepare For A Future Without 3rd Party Cookies](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/03/09/3-things-you-can-do-now-to-prepare-for-a-future-without-3rd-party-cookies/) - The most talked about thing in the industry press right now is the depreciation of 3rd party cookies. Here at Tug, we’ve been preparing for this since the announcement last year and you can read our handy guide to the changes here. The most challenging part of this change is that there doesn’t appear to
- [B2B Marketing – How To Appeal To Millennial Decision-Makers](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/03/04/b2b-marketing-how-to-appeal-to-millennial-decision-makers/) - When picturing the person who has the final say on purchasing new software for a business, the image of an old guy in a suit might spring to mind. But a 2016 study found that 73% of B2B sales transactions involved millennial decision-makers and another from 2018 that over 45% of B2B technology buyers are
- [Three 2020 Campaigns That Inspire Me](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/02/25/three-2020-campaigns-that-inspire-me/) - With increasing numbers of emerging channels and technologies available for marketers, today’s campaigns are extremely innovative, impactful and creative. Successful ad campaigns have the power to stir up emotions and stay in our memory for a long time, influencing our style, opinion, buying decisions and brand loyalty. 1. Bodyform #Wombstories Libresse, known as Bodyform in
- [The Tug Take - Preparing for Google sunsetting BMM Keywords](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/02/12/the-tug-take-preparing-for-google-sunsetting-bmm-keywords/) - Google Ads are changing Match Types From February 2021, Google will be phasing out Broad Match Modifier keywords. This will affect the keywords that PPC accounts currently have, and the keywords that can be created going forward. For a reminder of what keyword Match Types are, please see below 'What are Match Types?'. However, if
- [PPC & SEO – A match made in digital marketing heaven](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/02/05/ppc-seo-a-match-made-in-digital-marketing-heaven/) - When considering your brand’s marketing strategy, which do you choose: Pay-Per-Click (PPC) or Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)? We recommend using both and making sure they are working together in harmony to market your brand in the strongest way possible. Whether you’re managing your marketing strategy in-house or working with a digital marketing agency, having a
- [Google Workspace Review - One Year On](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/02/01/google-workspace-review-one-year-on/) - A year ago at Tug we had started the process of migrating our user management to what was then G-Suite, soon to become Google Workspace. As an agency we had introduced a system of flexible working and increased opportunities for remote working as well as continuing our expansion of global offices. For all these reasons
- [The future of OOH post-pandemic - bleak or potentially brilliant?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/01/04/the-future-of-ooh-post-pandemic-bleak-or-potentially-brilliant/) - While OOH is often seen as difficult to measure, it’s perfect for increasing brand awareness, as out of home adverts like billboards are near impossible to ignore and command consumer attention. Brands who want to create a presence often use OOH ads as part of integrated campaigns, which combine ‘traditional’ OOH with more modern techniques
- [Why Text-Based Instagram Posts Are Trending in 2020](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/11/10/why-text-based-instagram-posts-are-trending-in-2020/) - As the likes of Tumblr and MySpace are evidence of, when it comes to social media, popularity now doesn’t guarantee security in the future. The arrival of TikTok on the scene has increased the pressure on social media giants to keep their platforms fresh and exciting so that users keep coming back. New features and
- [Branded vs. unbranded content](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/11/02/branded-vs-unbranded-content/) - It’s happened to most content marketers. You create a content piece and attempt to outreach it only to be met with rejection and payment requests for placement. There are usually a number of reasons as to why your content has not managed to succeed with outreach. It could be the timing, lack of a connection
- [Age Verification and Indexing for Alcohol Brands](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/11/01/age-verification-and-indexing-for-alcohol-brands/) - If you are operating a website that markets an alcoholic brand, in many countries such as the UK, US and Australia it is a legal requirement that your website requests age verification to ensure that no underage users can access the site. While this is certainly sensible, it can cause various problems when it comes
- [3 link building tactics to improve your link profile](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/08/18/3-link-building-tactics-to-improve-your-link-profile/) - Backlinks are one of the most important search ranking factors. According to a search study by Ahrefs, there is a clear correlation between the amount of backlinks a site has and the amount of organic traffic driving to the site. Therefore, link building should be an integrated part within most businesses’ SEO strategies. At
- [Five questions for five digital marketing graduates](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/11/08/five-questions-for-five-digital-marketing-graduates/) - At Tug we know the value that graduates bring to any company. Every year we take on graduates through our Grad Scheme. We believe that investing in new people creates industry experts and that our graduate training programme offers the tools necessary for them to excel in digital marketing. Five of our recent graduates have
- [7 tips for first-timers at BrightonSEO](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/09/03/7-tips-for-first-timers-at-brightonseo/) - This coming BrightonSEO will be my third time attending the event, which by no means makes me an expert. However, it does mean I can recall when I myself was a first-timer. Now with two events under my belt, I have valuable wisdom to impart to those attending the conference for the first time. What
- [Fire influencer content led to a not-so-fire Fyre Festival](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/02/01/fire-influencer-content-led-to-a-not-so-fire-fyre-festival/) - Unless you’ve been on a desert island or are on a Netflix and chill detox, you’ve probably seen Fyre: The Greatest Festival That Never Happened. The documentary demonstrated the power influencer marketing holds. Throw the world’s top ten supermodels together on what was once Pablo Escobar’s desert island, sit back and watch your festival
- [Best of 2018 – the Social and Content edit](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/12/20/best-of-2018-the-social-and-content-edit/) - 2018 has been a year of sharing, stories and scandals for social media. This year social channels have expanded their offering to feature shopping, TV, video, stories, 3D images, filters, live streams and so many more features, designed to enable users to share their lives in increasingly personalised ways. This is our roundup of
- [Google Ads: Introducing four new Impression Share metrics](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/12/06/google-ads-introducing-four-new-impression-share-metrics/) - Google Ads has introduced four new Impression Share metrics to help advertisers better determine where their ads are appearing on the SERP. The new metrics are called: Search absolute top impression rate (Impr. (Abs. Top) %) and share (Search abs. top IS) and Search top impression rate (Impr. (Top) % and share (Search top IS).
- [Google doesn't use trust building sites for ranking – what does that mean?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/11/28/google-doesnt-use-trust-building-sites-for-ranking-what-does-that-mean/) - How Google core ranking algorithm works has always been a mystery. It is even more so when a site’s trustworthiness and credibility get involved. Historically, what we already knew is that Googlebot is not researching author backgrounds expertise - but what about local SEO looking into businesses trust rating and reviews? Answering this question in
- [A New Ad Format Coming To A Marketing Platform Near You – WhatsApp Status](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/11/16/a-new-ad-format-coming-to-a-marketing-platform-near-you-whatsapp-status/) - After the success of ads launching in Facebook Messenger, Facebook has been searching for a new way to monetize WhatsApp. WhatsApp is a highly engaging platform for users due to the consistent messages between friends and family. However, in the past WhatsApp have been quite resistant to advertising as it is not a typical social
- [Introducing Google Duplex for Google My Business](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/11/07/introducing-google-duplex-for-google-my-business/) - In the world of digital marketing and in particular SEO, it’s not unusual for Google to play around with their algorithm and test new features disrupting common best practice. Well, we’re here once again to bring you the latest test that is being carried out. This time the test concerns Google My Business and new
- [Demonic social media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/11/02/demonic-social-media/) - When people use the term “dark social” I tend to think of a demonic content stream scarring the minds of innocent people all over the world! What is dark social? You’ll be pleased to know, this is not the meaning of dark social. What dark social refers to, is sharing content which cannot be tracked.
- [Brands and social media: 3 mistakes to avoid](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/08/14/brands-and-social-media-3-mistakes-to-avoid/) - In recent years brands have been keen to leave their corporate reputation behind and positions themselves as funny, approachable and light-hearted. Today it’s not uncommon to see Burger King mocking McDonald's, Tesco Mobile taking down the trolls, and Samsung making fun of dick picks. Perhaps the most infamous example was back in 2017 when Wendy’s
- [Trump, Idiots and Google Bombing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/07/27/trump-idiots-and-google-bombing/) - You know when your mate used to say, “If you look up stupid in the dictionary there’s a picture of you.” Well, that’s what happens to Trump if he searches for ‘idiot’ on Google. No, really. It works if you do it, too. How can Google, the world’s most powerful search engine, be manipulated to
- [Three of the best social media platforms to find content ideas for your blog](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/07/19/three-of-the-best-social-media-platforms-to-find-content-ideas-for-your-blog/) - As any content writer will know, coming up with stellar blog ideas week after week as part of your content strategy can be a challenge. It’s hard to find inspiration on a regular basis, especially if you’ve written about similar subjects already in the past. Most great ideas don’t just materialise from thinking hard. You
- [Who wants to look at a drink on their phone? 4 insights from FMCG and CPG at Tug Life](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/14/who-wants-to-look-drink-on-their-phone-4-insights-from-fmcg-cpg-at-tug-life/) - Our final session at day 3 of Tug Life focused on FMCG and CPG. Does digital add value in the world of FMCG? Or should the industry stay offline and commit to real life? Find out what our speakers had to say. Be clear on the role you want digital to play Vince Lawson from
- [Tug Life IV Day 1: Humans, Life and Machines](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/12/tug-life-iv-day-1-humans-life-and-machines/) - Tug Life is back! 4 days, 50+ speakers over 12 events. We've assembled a heady mix of digital thought leaders and innovators to share their ideas, opinions and thoughts on the future of media, creativity and tech, and its effect on humans. All of the events at Tug Life are completely free, and there are
- [Tug Life IV: Is mail still relevant in the digital age?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/07/tug-life-iv-is-mail-still-relevant-in-the-digital-age/) - As the focus of Tug Life is on the future of technology and digital innovation, you’d be forgiven for assuming that there’s no room at our events for more traditional marketing channels such as direct marketing. But we think it’s important to see the whole picture. Although almost every aspect of our lives has been
- [How To Avoid Greenwashing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/05/03/how-to-avoid-greenwashing/) - Although the eco-warriors and staunch vegans among us have been beating the drum for decades, it seems that what we really needed to make us sit up and take sustainability seriously was David Attenborough. Since Blue Planet II aired last year and highlighted the extent of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans, it appears that
- [Influencers, Digital Outdoor and the Great Internet Escape](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/01/17/influencers-digital-outdoor-and-the-great-internet-escape/) - Teen influencers such as PewDiePie and Logan Paul have had a torrid past 10 months as their misdeeds have landed them in the grown-up news. But despite bad press for influencer marketing, it’s no contradiction that the practice continues to boom. A recent US study found that 39% of marketer’s plan to increase their social
- [Streaming data arrives as video platforms prepare to lure brands](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/10/27/streaming-data-arrives-as-video-platforms-prepare-to-lure-brands/) - Online giants, we all know by now, would like to eat the TV business, and they’re not messing around. Working in feverish synchronisation, every big digital beast worth the name is constructing its own big-budget video content strategy. Apple is the latest to remind us of this, hiring former Channel 4 executive Jay Hunt -
- [The never-ending story of Stories](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/10/26/the-never-ending-story-of-stories/) - If you can’t beat them, join them. Or in Facebook’s case – if you can’t buy them, copy them. Three out of four of the biggest social media platforms in the world each have a ‘story’ feature. Snapchat was the first out of the blocks in 2013, and since then, Instagram and Facebook have tried
- [Bing Intent Ads](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/10/18/bing-intent-ads/) - Whenever you’re performing an online search, Bing is often overlooked next to its juggernaut rival, Google. We all know the latter is the world’s number one search engine, but Bing Ads with 918 million monthly searches, a market share of 25.1%, and ads appearing on Bing, Yahoo, and MSN can connect you with countless searchers
- [What Makes a Standout Programmatic Campaign?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/10/05/what-makes-a-standout-programmatic-campaign/) - With our session on how to use inspired creative across programmatic campaigns to really engage with audiences fast approaching, what better time to discuss my favourite campaign of all time. The rollout for Narcos Season 3 is the one campaign that really stands out for me, and is sure to sweep all the awards. It
- [An antidote to adblockers – why social media influencers are the way forward in digital marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/09/14/an-antidote-to-adblockers-why-social-media-influencers-are-the-way-forward-in-digital-marketing/) - It’s no secret that social media influencers have the world at their feet when it comes to promoting products and services. It’s one of the most envied jobs out there – from being paid to go on a luxury holiday to being sent free products and experiences to review; the possibilities for social media influencers
- [How online TV will smash the ceiling for web advertising](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/08/18/how-online-tv-will-smash-the-ceiling-for-web-advertising/) - If you were worried there wasn’t enough money in football, or that the competition for the Premier League’s broadcast rights wasn’t quite fierce enough with only Sky and BT slugging it out, let’s digest reports that Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google are all considering stooping to pluck the beautiful game out of the hands of
- [Google's Mobile-First Index: Everybody Ready?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/07/12/googles-mobile-first-index-everybody-ready/) - The latest Google update is nearly upon us – the migration of its entire index to a mobile-first version. If you’re in the SEO industry, you’ve been preparing for this since it was first announced in October 2016. But what about brands and publishers? Is your site ready to survive to this major shift? Chances
- [Social in 2017](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/07/03/social-in-2017/) - We hear agencies talking a lot about social media and ‘best practice’, but we know it’s not that simple. Does a social-first financial technology brand look at social in the same way as a retail-driven FMCG group? Download the full whitepaper
- [Tug Life III: 10 Highlights from our first roundtable of 2017](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/05/17/tug-life-iii-10-highlights-first-roundtable-2017/) - The human relationship with technology has never been more exciting, fraught or all-encompassing as it is today, which is why we have chosen Human vs Machine as the theme for our third installment of Tug Life. In the lead up to the event, we invited a team of top marketers and entrepreneurs to discuss our
- [Facebook’s F8 conference: What you need to know](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/04/19/facebooks-f8-conference-what-you-need-to-know/) - Facebook announced a lot of new products at their annual developers’ conference last night. Here is a quick round up of the key points. The focus of the event was around augmented reality and virtual reality, with Facebook continuing to develop their offerings in these areas. Camera Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote, streamed on Facebook Live, was
- [Long & McQuade ‘remix’ their current digital strategy with Tug Toronto](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/03/28/long-mcquade-remix-their-current-digital-strategy-with-tug-toronto/) - Long & McQuade ‘remix’ their current digital strategy with Tug Toronto Toronto, March 28th, 2017 - Family owned musical instrument retailer Long & McQuade has appointed Tug of Toronto as its digital agency of record. Tug will use a proactive approach, focusing on the brands product offering and intent to expand their digital footprint using
- [Google AMP – New markets and March conference recap](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/03/15/google-amp-new-markets-and-march-conference-recap/) - It wasn’t long ago since we last covered some interesting new features coming for Google AMP. Google has certainly started to push their quick loading page format even further in 2017. March 7th and 8th marked the dates for a Google conference completely centred around AMP, the developers that make it possible and interested 3rd
- [Facebook launches Messenger Day, Snapchat Stories clone 3.0](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/03/14/15902-2/) - TL;DR - Messenger isn't the first, we've been here before - Emerging markets set to benefit In an all too familiar turn of events, Facebook has announced another clone of the popular Snapchat Stories feature, this time for Messenger. This move comes just weeks after releasing Status, a like-for-like Stories copy built for WhatsApp. So
- [Facebook has no chill, clones Snapchat with WhatsApp Status](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/02/22/facebook-has-no-chill-clones-snapchat-with-whatsapp-status/) - TL;DR Sub-zero temperatures reached Last September, WhatsApp tested a host of new features exclusively to Android users running the beta version of the app - with many picking up on the incredible similarity these ‘new’ features had to Snapchat. Users can add stickers and emojis on top of their images and videos, sharing content with
- [Less content, more engagement: what can brands on Facebook expect in 2017?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/02/21/facebook-users-posting-less-content-engaging-mean-brands-platform-2017/) - Social marketing platform Mavrck waded through 25 million user-generated posts from Facebook in 2016, with several key behaviour trends emerging from the study. In short, users in 2016 on the platform posted 30% less content than they did in 2015, with a 26% increase in average engagements per post in the same time frame. Influencers
- [Facebook to introduce video autoplay with sound](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/02/16/facebook-introduce-video-autoplay-sound/) - The silent, subtitled movie trend which has pervaded Facebook over the last couple of years may be coming to an end as the social network announced today their plans to introduce audio to autoplay video before the end of the year. Facebook has justified their decision with reported good results and positive feedback from limited
- [Fight Local, Win National Approach Gives Tug the £4m Thomas Sanderson Digital Media Account](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/02/12/thomas-sanderson-win/) - Fight Local, Win National Approach Gives Tug the £4m Thomas Sanderson Digital Media Account London (UK), 10th February 2017 – Global digital media agency Tug has added to their roster of home improvement clients, having been engaged by Thomas Sanderson as their lead digital media agency. The remit includes overall digital strategy, but focuses on
- [Pinterest Takes on Google with Lens, Bringing Visual Search to The Masses](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/02/10/pinterest-takes-google-lens-bringing-visual-search-masses/) - On Tuesday (February 7th), Pinterest introduced the world to the Lens, labelled as “search outside the box”. Simply, Lens lets users explore, search and discover real-life objects through the power of machine vision. So whether you’re after a tasty new recipe to use up your leftover carrots, or love the look of a stranger's coat
- [Instagram: A Fork in the Road](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/01/31/instagram-fork-road/) - Instagram Live Stories have gone, well, live. Following in the footsteps of Meerkat, Periscope and Facebook Live, Instagram Live now offers anyone in the world another platform to livestream their DJ set, run, make up tutorial, talk…. etc. As NextWeb put it, Instagram is now a “one-stop service for all your social photo and video
- [A Career in TV & The Future of the Industry: Jonathan Pearce at TugTalks](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/01/31/career-tv-future-industry-jonathan-pearce-tugtalks/) - “As an industry, I don’t think we fully understand it; how to grasp it yet:” Jonathan on the implications that social media has had on the broadcast industry to date, a theme discussed on Friday. Tug Talks 2017 was launched by legendary sport and entertainment broadcaster, Jonathan Pearce. Joining us fresh from the Robot Wars
- [Digital PR Trends & Outreach in 2017](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/01/13/digital-pr-trends-outreach-2017/) - With a new year comes new predictions about the trends that will change the way we work in digital. If you’re looking to revamp or refine your outreach strategy in the new year, looking at the trends and techniques that are set to be popular for PR campaigns is a good place to start. Here
- [The Amazon Echo Arrives at Tug!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/12/01/amazon-echo-arrives/) - Recently at Tug we have been able to get our hands on the new Amazon Echo! It was launched officially on the 6th of November 2014, but September the 28th of this year saw it finally become available in the UK. The Echo is a ‘Smart Speaker’. This means it combines the functions of a
- [TugTalks Kickoff - Pete Trainor](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/11/28/tugtalks-kickoff/) - Last Friday we had the pleasure of hosting our first TugTalks event. TugTalks is a task that has been set for us graduates to, once a month, bring a person of interest from outside of the agency in to give a short talk. The main aims of putting these on are to inspire the company.
- [An Essential Local SEO Check List](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/11/18/a-local-seo-check-list/) - With the shift in more and more searches having local intent than ever before, and Google’s acknowledge of this with the recent Possum update – being optimised for local search has become an essential consideration for businesses with a bricks and mortar location. We’ve put together a handy local SEO checklist of things to consider
- [Facebook Maketplace Launch - Social Media's New Shop](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/10/20/facebook-and-its-marketplace/) - In the beginning of October, Facebook launched its new product – Marketplace – in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. It was described by them as “a convenient destination to discover, buy and sell items with people in your community”. Since then already 30% of the US Facebook users declare than they turn to
- [Narrowly Focused Content: not always your best option](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/09/15/focused-content-isnt-always-best-option/) - Narrowly focused content is content that serves only a specific audience or role within the broader strategy. Having a narrowly focused content strategy can sometimes be the right choice but in most situations the broader, the better. To better understand the concept I will first introduce the 4 main roles of content marketing. Directly converts customers
- [Using Google My Business to explain changes in user SERP behaviour](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/08/11/using-google-my-business-to-explain-changes-in-user-serp-behaviour/) - For companies that have a physical location, such as restaurants and retailers, a Google My Business listing is an extremely beneficial tool when it comes to local SEO (businesses that operate online can also benefit from a Google My Business brand page). This free listing features the address, contact details, website, and photos of a
- [Kirin Ichiban Taps Tug To Handle Social Media In UK](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/07/22/kirin-ichiban-taps-tug-to-handle-social-media-in-uk/) - Kirin Ichiban Taps Tug To Handle Social Media In UK Tug was tapped by Japanese beer Kirin Ichiban to handle its UK social media. Along with strategic planning, the UK-based agency will handle content creation across several social platforms. Tug will work closely with existing client Charles Wells, the sole brewer and distributor of Kirin
- [A Year On the SEO Graduate Scheme At Tug](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/07/21/a-year-on-the-seo-graduate-scheme-at-tug/) - Summer is finally here, which means the Graduate Scheme will soon be up and running at Tug again! Every year a number of grads join the company as part of the various teams we have here – it’s been almost a year since I started at Tug on the Graduate Scheme as part of the
- [Changing career: Is SEO a good choice?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/05/11/changing-career-is-seo-a-good-choice/) - Changing careers is a big decision, regardless of how far into your working life you are. I’d been working for five years when I decided to make a change and it’s certainly not an easy call to make, particularly in the current climate. I joined Tug as an SEO Outreach Executive in February 2021 and
- [Digital vs Design: Has the evolution of advertising changed the need for images within its messages?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/09/15/digital-vs-design-has-the-evolution-of-advertising-changed-the-need-for-images-within-its-messages/) - As technology continues to progress and push new boundaries of opportunity and innovation, we as a society tend to alter the way we do things. Even the most mundane exercise like paying for your morning coffee can now be dictated by mobile phones and contactless payments. Maybe the biggest technological enhancement, the development of the
- [New IAB rules signal lean times for bad ads](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/09/07/new-iab-rules-signal-lean-times-for-bad-ads/) - The IAB’s New Ad Portfolio guidelines, released at the end of the July, aren’t intended for consumer reading, with their talk of ad sizes, subloads, render-blocking elements and gzip utilities. But buried in the detail are two new recommendations that would surely raise a cheer from any web user who has ever tangled with an
- [The Website Migration Survival Guide](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/09/04/the-website-migration-survival-guide/) - A site migration can come in many forms, whether it’s a couple of pages or section within a site, a change in site structure that might result from a change of CMS, a switch to secure HTTPs, a subdomain to domain migration, or a whole top level domain change if you’re taking your business global
- [How to get links to your site by using brand mentions](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/07/13/how-to-get-links-to-your-site-by-using-brand-mentions/) - Most SEO experts know that brand mentions of your clients are a good way to get high value links. Unfortunately, we often forget to use this tactic because it can be a bit fiddly in terms of actually identifying brand mentions in a reactive and quick way. Here are a few ways to set up
- [How to Fill Gaps in your Backlink Profile!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/07/05/how-to-fill-gaps-in-your-backlink-profile/) - No one likes to lose things. Say you lost your wallet, your toy truck, that evil girl in the playground who stole your best friend… Each of these lost things brought some form of value to your life, and now they are gone. But if you knew of a way to get them back you’d
- [Humans V Chatbots: The Modern Customer Journey](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/07/04/humans-v-chatbot/) - Customer service issues: they’ve come a long way from that tiny desk located in the smallest back-end corner of the store. No longer do we drag ourselves into cities only to hear from monotone staff members how our receipt is one day out of date or to realise we’ve brought the wrong credit card with
- [Happy Social Media Day!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/06/30/happy-social-media-day/) - All around the world, from Denver to Barcelona to Costa Rica to India, people are celebrating Social Media Day – a day to celebrate, acknowledge and discuss the impact social has had on our lives and our communities. Started back in 2010 by Mashable, it's seen incredible growth over the past few years and has
- [How to Plan a Successful Blogger Event](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/06/02/how-to-plan-a-successful-blogger-event/) - Organising a blogger event is a great way to showcase your brand or product to relevant influencers, although planning and pulling off a successful event can be hard work. To make sure everything runs smoothly and you get the most out of your event, we’ve put together a list of everything you need to consider
- [Finalists for 3 awards in the 2016 RAR Line-up](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/06/02/finalists-for-3-awards-in-the-2016-rar-line-up/) - This year Tug are delighted to announce that it has been nominated for 3 separate awards in the RAR 2016 Award line-up, which include Client Service, Strategic Thinking and Optimisation. "RAR” stands for “Recommended Agency Register”, and if you work in the agency world /or look for agencies to fulfil media, creative and design work,
- [Why Social Media Optimisation matters](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/05/26/why-social-media-optimisation-matters/) - Optimising your social media profile for SEO is an often underused tactic to drive more traffic to your social media profiles and help them appear in SERPs. However, you can implement some very quick and easy changes that will make your social media profile stand out from your competitors. Here is a list of things
- [Google’s eternal love towards mobile is changing the AdWords core products](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/05/25/googles-eternal-love-towards-mobile/) - As everyone expected from the Google’s Performance Summit, Google is yelling more and more about Mobile (at this rate mobile will rule the world very soon according to Google). Interestingly the starting point of most of our decisions in a day to day life that we make are depending on our mobile searches anyway (your
- [Internal Linking – Why Is It Important And What To Consider](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/05/18/internal-linking/) - Internal linking can be a complicated matter, yet the concept is pretty simple. Undoubtedly, it is a very important and powerful technique to boost a website’s performance. However, many websites don’t get this quite right and it can be easily one of the most overlooked factors in SEO optimisation. This short guide will discuss why
- [Tug Life II, Day 3: 'Retail sees its future in good deeds and death metal'](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/05/12/tug-life-2-day-3-session-1/) - For those who couldn't make it to today's Tug Life II session on the future of digital in the retail industry, here's what you missed: The ROI of M&S’s good deeds, the value of Costa’s collaborative innovation and the now-you-mention-it parallels between Nectar promotions and death metal mosh pit best practice - these all shared
- [Tug Life II, Day 2: 'A flood of data and a fickle market - insights and challenges of modern consumers'](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/05/12/tug-life-2-day-2-session-1/) - In case you weren’t able to make it to yesterday's Tug Life II session on understanding audiences, here are some key highlights: Real-time data is delivering unprecedented insights into our retail journeys, personalities and shopping habits - even if only to confirm that marketing is more challenging than ever. On day two of the Tug Life II expo,
- [Tug Life II, Day 1: “Digital has made us mental”](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/05/10/tug-life-2-day-1-session-1/) - In case you weren't able to make it to our first session of Tug Life II, here are some key highlights: Technology that ignores our humanity threatens our creativity and health, according to speakers at the debut session of Tug Life II this morning. Pete Trainor of human-centred design company Nexus warned that “digital technology has made
- [Google SERP Ads Go Green](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/05/09/google-serp-ads-go-green/) - Google SERP ads go green! As of April 14th, Google has begun testing their new ‘green ad’ format to 5% of Global traffic, far exceeding their typical 1% test market. This new SERP test is likely Google’s attempt at subtlety as users have become increasingly aware of the striking yellow ads that dominate the top
- [Tug Life: How digital media is driving real-life behaviour](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/05/07/how-digital-media-is-driving-real-life-behaviour/) - Tug Life: How digital media is driving real-life behaviour Last year we started something called TUG LIFE. This year, we’re delighted to have secured a bigger pop-up store, at the end of the iconic Brick Lane at the heart of Shoreditch. How digital media is driving real-life behaviour From cultural changes, new business models and how
- [Are PPC ads really becoming invisible?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/05/06/are-ppc-ads-really-becoming-invisible/) - Ofcom's latest media use and attitudes report says that half of search engine users couldn't spot sponsored links in search engine results. This is quite a significant number of people, and higher than I would have thought it would be. Are search results ads really that invisible? (I'm slightly biased as I do work with
- [For your diary – Tug Life II Digital vs Real Life Expo](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/05/03/for-your-diary/) - We are very excited about next week’s talks presented by Tug at their Digital Vs Real Life expo in London next week. The digital media agency is hosting a week-long series of events and discussions on how digital media is driving real life behaviour and how to pivot digital media in a way that will
- [Google Announces Addressable TV Solution](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/04/21/google-announces-addressable-tv-solution/) - With the meteoric rise of programmatic advertising in the last 10 years, it was inevitable that TV would finally get the treatment. With an increasing number of devices being used to watch television and advertisers no longer happy with purchasing placements based on wide ranging demo segments, addressable television is long overdue. Google announced yesterday
- [It Feels Good To Be Cool](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/04/15/it-feels-good-to-be-cool/) - What a difference a few years can make. The Toronto Raptors have gone from the laughing stock of the NBA world to the hottest ticket in the city. They have talented young players, a fantastic coach, and a promising future. Heck, it wouldn’t be crazy to say there’s a good chance they’ll make it all
- [NASA and the Social Media Conquest](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/03/22/nasa-and-the-social-media-conquest/) - On the 20th of July 1969, when he first walked on the moon Neil Armstrong was watched by 600 million people and in the middle of the Cold War, NASA really showed high communication skills by diffusing the US victory in the space conquest race with the Soviet Union. Forty-seven years later, NASA is the
- [Costa Express hires Tug](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/03/18/costa-express-hires-tug/) - Costa Express hires Tug Toronto, March 18th, 2016 - London-based coffee shop chain Costa Express has retained Tug of Toronto as its digital agency. The firm will support the brand's Canadian launch with digital and local programmatic display advertising. Costa Express will launch in Canada with 150 self-serve coffee bars located in Shell gas stations
- [Pitching to Journalists and Authoritative Websites](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/03/16/pitching-to-journalists-and-authoritative-websites/) - A few of us from Tug recently attended the PR Newswire event, Meet The Media. The event was a chance for PR and communications professionals to listen to insights from leading media organisations. We got to hear from Ruth Lewry (Features Editor) and Abigail Radnor (Commissioning Editor) of The Guardian Weekend Magazine, who talked through
- [Everest windows shifts £10m digital media account from MediaCom to Tug](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/03/16/everest-digital-media-account/) - Everest windows shifts £10m digital media account from MediaCom to Tug Everest, the windows and home improvement brand, has prized agency Tug with its £10m digital media account, handing it over from incumbent MediaCom. Tug will take over the strategic and day-to-day management of Everest’s paid search and display campaigns. It plans to implement a
- [Facebook Canvas: Painting a New Creative Ad](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/03/04/facebook-canvas-a-new-ad/) - You may have already heard that Facebook have released a new type of advertising format – Canvas – that promises advertisers “more space” and “unique” experiences on mobile. When clicked on through a native Facebook ad in the newsfeed, the ad will take up the whole of a mobile screen and allow people to interact
- [Where’s Google’s SERP Heading?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/03/02/where-is-googles-serp-heading/) - January 2016 marked the 20th anniversary of the launch of Larry Page’s and Sergey Brin’s Stanford research project named “BackRub”, which was later named Google and officially incorporated in September 1998. Over 17 years after we see what people call the Mega-SERP, a search results page packed with images, knowledge graphs, local results, news content, social
- [Will Google’s Latest SERP Changes Hurt SEO?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/02/26/will-google-latest-serp-changes-hurt-seo/) - Last weekend Google announced the frightening news that they have removed all PPC ads from the right-hand side of the search engine results page with instant global effect. This news has sparked fears that organic search results will take a hit, as organic listings have now been pushed even further down the SERP with four
- [How to use Google like a Pro](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/02/10/how-to-use-google-like-a-pro/) - Being in SEO, you’d probably say I use Google like a pro right? I mean I need to use it every day at work... Well here are some great search tips that I use often, and will make your “Google-ing” that bit easier. Get ready to become a Google Pro thanks to this brilliant infographic. Exact Phrase
- [Using HubSpot As A Contact Database](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/02/03/using-hubspot-as-a-contact-database/) - Having access to a database of contacts that your agency has previously worked with is an extremely valuable asset when it comes to outreaching for SEO. Being able to easily look up bloggers or journalists that someone has previously formed a relationship with can save valuable time when it comes to outreaching. We’ve been using
- [AWR Cloud: Advanced Web Ranking Software Review](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/01/27/awr-software-review/) - Effective SEO tools make it easy to gain insights into your website’s performance and identify opportunities for improvement. Tools can allow for huge amounts of data to be distilled into an easily digestible format, saving potentially hours of time in analysing things like fluctuations in traffic and user behaviour. Today I’m going to share a
- [Why you should make Followerwonk a part of your content marketing strategy](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/01/25/why-you-should-make-followerwonk-a-part-of-your-content-marketing-strategy/) - Followerwonk is a handy social analytics app which is brought to us by the same people as Moz, the SEO software. If you work in influencer marketing, Followerwonk is particularly useful for clients that are looking for influencers/bloggers with a high Twitter followership. However, finding influencers is not the only thing that Followerwonk will allow
- [Google’s 'Super Bowl' Idea](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/01/22/googles-super-bowl-idea/) - One of the biggest events in a Brands calendar, the Super Bowl, is fast approaching. It’s the perfect opportunity for Brands to react with real-time creatives, with Twitter being the predominant platform for this. This year, for Super Bowl 50, Google are going to be joining Twitter in a competition for advertising dominance with the
- [3 Emerging Canadian Beauty & Lifestyle Bloggers to Watch](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/06/02/3-emerging-canadian-beauty-lifestyle-bloggers-to-watch/) - Recently at Tug Agency Canada, we launched a social outreach campaign for a major international beauty brand targeted at Canadian consumers. While approaching top-tier influencers is part of our approach, we also seek out influencers who deliver engaging content in interesting ways, those who post multiple times and those who have direct communication through social
- [3 Examples of Useful Infographics for Brand Awareness and Link acquisition](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/10/10/3-examples-of-useful-infographics-for-brand-awareness-and-link-acquisition/) - In the framework of an SEO campaign, content marketing is functional to build brand awareness within the targeted audience and to acquire quality backlinks that are increasing the SEO visibility. According to many speakers at the Content Marketing Show, this field is really difficult considering the amount of content is produced. At Tug, we have
- [The Importance of creativity within Social Media, as proved by LEGO](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/09/24/the-importance-of-creativity-within-social-media-as-proved-by-lego/) - Last night I attended a talk from Lego’s Social Media global director Lars Silberbauer. LEGO’s social media pages are both famously successful and highly creative, proving that creativity is important in branded social media. The foundation of LEGO’s success is their aim to ‘build’ relationships with their audience rather than use social media as a
- [Ad of the Week: the Johnnie Walker & Mr Porter Partnership](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/07/31/ad-of-the-week-the-johnnie-walker-mr-porter-partnership/) - To all ‘fashionistos’ and whisky admirers, you’re in for a treat. ‘The gentleman’s wager’ is the new ad for Johnnie Walker Blue Label; which is produced from rare casks of whiskies from across Scotland). The ad combines a renowned casting - Jude Law and Giancarlo Giannini - in picturesque scenery with the finishing touch being
- [Our Favourite Presentations from the 2014 Content Marketing Show](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/07/18/our-favourite-presentations-from-the-2014-content-marketing-show/) - Yesterday, three members of the SEO team at Tug headed over to the content marketing show at the Institute of Education in Russell Square. Pens and paper in hand, we were all prepared to learn about best practices, hear success stories and network in the industry. Next week, we'll have a post full of all
- [Tug Agency SEO Team advice on how to land your first SEO job](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/01/30/how-to-land-the-first-seo-job/) - Would you like to work in SEO? Are you sure? If you think you have a marketing mind and you want to work in SEO, the following are some suggestions compiled by the Tug SEO Team. If you have any questions or you are looking for a challenging SEO role, leave a comment below, tweet
- [The New Tug Newsletter has arrived!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/09/05/the-new-tug-newsletter-has-arrived/) - Our newsletter of old has had a complete overhaul and we've got a new, slick design that will be released today! The new Tug newsletter will provide all of our subscribers with the latest, relevant, online marketing news including invaluable Tug insights from our blog and whitepapers taken directly from the Tug Lighthouse. Interested in
- [New Google Maps service unveiled](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/16/new-google-maps-service-unveiled/) - Yesterday Google unveiled a new version of its Google Map service which has been "rebuilt from the ground up". The aim of the new design is to personalize the product and show labels that best match the interest of the user. It also has cool new features more related to PPC in particular - these
- [Join our breakfast session on 'Display and Real Time Bidding'](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/16/join-our-breakfast-session-on-display-and-real-time-bidding/) - Display advertising has evolved! Learn how to finally reach a targeted, responsive audience with your campaigns by attending Tug’s breakfast seminar on “Display and Real Time Bidding” hosted by Ollie Vaughan, Media Director, and Nick Beck, CEO. Thursday 6th June 2013 - 8.30am – 10am. The session will be an introduction to display and real
- [Tug are recruiting!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/04/tug-are-recruiting-2/) - Good news chaps, we're hiring again - hurrah! If you know anyone who might be interested in joining our amazing, fast growing team - then give them a poke and tell them to get in touch with their CV. Here are more details on the roles we're after: PPC Account Executive 3-6 months experience under
- [Google+ overtakes Twitter - a closer look](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/30/google-overtakes-twitter-a-closer-look/) - Twitter is currently the fastest growing social network, but The Global Web Index reported earlier in the week that Google+ has actually overtaken Twitter as the 2nd most active Social Network in users. The news brushes away the common misconception that Google+ is inhabited by ghost dwellers, and should reinforce the fact that if you're not on it - then
- [Why do a social media listening audit?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/17/why-do-a-social-media-listening-audit/) - Strategists and full-time social media professionals sit comfortably within digital marketing agencies or in-house teams developing campaigns, managing online communities and producing creative ideas that generate virality and connect with consumers via social media. Planning is essential and consideration at every level of the campaign is required in order to effectively deliver results. The starting
- [2012’s Social Media winners: Pinterest, Social Care, TV and Mobile](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/04/2012s-social-media-winners-pinterest-social-care-tv-and-mobile/) - The title of this blog post is somewhat deceptive but is actually based on Nielsen’s Social Media report released yesterday. The document contains a number of interesting stats, and others that many experts would claim to have forecasted a year ago anyway. You can find the full report here, but if you don’t feel like
- [Affiliate marketing? Still great and getting better! IAB Affiliate Advertiser Survey 2012](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/30/affiliate-marketing-still-great-and-getting-better-iab-affiliate-advertiser-survey-2012/) - The 2012 IAB Affiliate Advertiser Survey results were released yesterday and can be downloaded here. It makes for some great reading and shows that as the industry matures, it’s getting more and more attention from marketing managers who now view this channel as an essential part of their online mix. The survey used a sample of
- [Social media monitoring - Radian6](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/30/social-media-monitoring-radian6/) - Consumers are increasingly using social media to talk, share, discuss and vent about the brands and products they love and hate. In the marketing world, this giant volume of conversation links consumers with their brand preferences and gives a broad indication of what their attitude is towards a brand they've chosen to discuss and in
- [How Hank Scorpio got me 200+ natural links to my blog](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/23/how-hank-scorpio-got-me-200-natural-links-to-my-blog/) - Every man and his dog seems to be blogging nowadays, and I'm sure as heck no exception. I started up mine a good 2 years ago, and have been regularly posting stuff related to Beyoncé, Nicolas Cage, Kim Jong-il and whatever else catches my eye. Sometimes I'll reblog something I've seen posted by another user, sometimes I'll actually
- [The Rise of the Chinese Search Engine Giant Baidu! The Fall for Supply of SEO Professionals.](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/14/the-rise-of-the-chinese-search-engine-giant-baidu-the-fall-for-supply-of-seo-professionals/) - Baidu, China's equivalent search engine giant of Google. Launched in 2010 and is the most used search engine in China. Dominating over 75% of market share, China has not only been digging well for Gold in the Olympics, but has also seen an increase in trend for digital marketing opportunities. The rise of Internet Marketing
- [Social media affiliate models and the dangers of the sub network](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/06/12/social-media-affiliate-models-and-the-dangers-of-the-sub-network/) - Social media remains an elusive, yet incredibly tempting proposition for brands and retailers alike. Tapping into a captive audience of millions, who will recommend products and services to their friends, which will in turn generate consistent, incremental sales is becoming something of an obsession for many companies. With General Motors pulling its annual $10 million
- [Twitter Set for New Facebook Integration](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/06/11/twitter-confirms-facebook-integration-of-usernames-hashtags-photos/) - Twitter recently announced the advancement of usernames, hashtags, visual content and other rich media being cross-posted to Facebook which came into practise at the end of May spokesman Week's stated earlier last week “We have fixed many issues with the Twitter for Facebook integration, including the ability to post to Facebook Pages, and added some new features!” To view these alterations users
- [Change your AdWords Editor to v9.7.1 before June 12, 2012](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/05/15/change-your-adwords-editor-to-v9-7-1-before-june-12-2012/) - As of June 12, 2012, AdWords Editor versions 9.0 and prior will be sunset. After this date, changes made via these versions will not be implemented in AdWords user accounts. Google advises to download the latest version (9.7.1.) at the earliest convenience, but no later than June 12, 2012. Users can upgrade to version 9.7.1
- [Microsoft Bing & Yahoo Search Alliance](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/05/09/microsoft-bing-yahoo-search-alliance/) - Microsoft's Bing and Yahoo have merged to form "Search Alliance", combining their respective 15% and 13% of the search engine market share in the US. Microsoft adCenter will start to power the PPC results on Yahoo UK this quarter allowing for exposure across both ad networks. Yahoo's falling share price has clearly led to the
- [Songkick - The perfect example of an affiliate site?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/05/02/songkick-the-perfect-example-of-an-affiliate-site/) - The UK Affiliate Industry is dominated by large voucher code and cashback sites. It’s the first thing you think of when someone mentions the word ‘affiliate’. A recent article on the Affiliates4U site claimed that the UK was ‘teetering on extreme coupon culture’ and it’s sometimes easy to forget the other innovative ways companies use
- [Facebook Calls Time on 'Fan-Gating'](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/04/13/facebook-calls-time-on-fan-gating/) - 11.5 million Facebook users ‘Like’ the Nike Football fan page, but only 7 million ‘Like’ the Adidas Football fan page. Which one is better, or the most favoured? Is it the brand with the most ‘Likes’? Well, both fan pages have a similar count of people actively talking about them (just over 100,000 each in
- [UK online advertising hits £5bn](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/04/03/uk-online-advertising-hits-5bn/) - UK internet advertising spend is set to hit £5bn in 2012 according to the Internet Advertising Bureau, with Facebook on track for an estimated 60% revenue surge to £288m. Companies spent £4.78bn on all forms of internet advertising in the UK in 2011, with 14.4% year-on-year growth the biggest surge since 2007. The UK needs to see growth of
- [Pin it to Win it....How Brands can use Pinterest](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/03/22/pin-it-to-win-it-how-brands-can-use-pinterest/) - So the new kid on the block (Pinterest) is still here and going strong and so now attention turns to how Brands can start using it. As Pinterest's traffic rose 52 % between January and February, from 11.7 million unique visitors in January to 17.8 million in February we definietly need to start thinking more
- [Google Analytics Update Connects Social Marketing With ROI](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/03/21/google-analytics-update-connects-social-marketing-with-roi/) - Any one involved in social media you will have probably asked the question “What is the ROI on social marketing?” Well that is what Google Analytics are trying to answer with their new features. As social media continues to become an important part to any integrated marketing campaign, it was inevitable that the Google Analytics
- [Google Privacy Law Change today](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/03/01/google-privacy-law-change-today/) - Google's privacy law changes today. Now all their sites can share user data. This will allow Google to tailor ads on Gmail for example based on a users preferences on YouTube. Google have stated that they are still committed to privacy. I for one think this is fine and anyone complaining doesn't really understand what
- [Update to Google Analytics Search Engine List as of the 1st February](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/02/17/update-to-google-analytics-search-engine-list-as-of-the-1st-february/) - If you’ve looked at your websites Google analytics data over the past 2 weeks you may have noticed some new search engines popping up that are driving traffic to your site (as of the 1st of February), in my case a search engine called ‘search-results’ is now sending a nice amount of traffic to the
- [Google launches Search plus Your World](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/01/11/google-launches-search-plus-your-world/) - The final piece in the social media puzzle for Google - integrating its social network Google+ into its search results – slotted into place yesterday in the form of "Search plus Your World". Launched to a background of mixed reviews and a critical statement from Twitter, it seems that the decision has so far proved unpopular.
- [The Most Famous Algorithm: Google's Updates Throughout Its History](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2011/11/28/the-most-famous-algorithm-googles-updates-throughout-its-history/) - After the latest algorithm update was announced at the beginning of the month I decided to do a recap of the most important search updates throughout Google's history. Few imagined when Google launched its search engine back in 2000 that was it was going to be such a massive success! Eleven years later, the whole
- [Cyber Monday](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2011/11/28/cyber-monday/) - Have you done your Christmas shopping already? You might not be alone - while retail figures for the wider UK economy are looking rather bleak this midwinter and the OECD predicts that Britain will be back in recession over 2012 the festive shopping period is in full swing. E-commerce is playing a bigger part of
- [Free SEO Health-Checks](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2011/09/14/free-seo-health-checks/) - An SEO Health-Check is a pre-analysis of a website in order to find the factors that could be hurting a website's search engine optimization and visibility in all major search engines. The results obtained through an SEO Health-Check can be crucial for any online campaign or SEO strategy, as they identify the off-page and on-page
- [Facebook and Google fight over Skype](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2011/05/05/facebook-and-google-fight-over-skyp/) - The search giant and the number 1 social network are fighting over the main voice over IP service available on the web. Both Facebook and Google are in talks with Skype with the purpose of acquiring the Luxembourg-based company. Which is the reason why Skype has decided to to delay announcing publicly that the company
- [London SES - Thursday's Top Tip Takeways!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2011/02/28/london-ses-thursdays-top-tip-takeways/) - Really enjoyed Thursday's sessions at SES London last week and saw some great speakers (high five Kristjan Mar Hauksson - gave a great talk on using social to help boost tourist figures during the volcanic eruption in Iceland last year). And admittedly one or two not so great speakers! So, I top tip takeaways that
- [A Facebook Search Engine on its way?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2011/01/04/a-facebook-search-engine-on-its-way/) - So it's a new year and I am predicting a lot more emphasis on Facebook in 2011, especially seeing as though they have just received a very generous endorsement of $500 Million from Goldman Sachs. Although this has not been officially confirmed, it has been widely reported that this is the case. Apparently the Goldman investment will
- [Google Boost launched for local business ads](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2010/10/28/google-boost-launched-for-local-business-ads/) - A new ad format for local business was launched today (only for businesses in San Francisco, Houston and Chicago at present). Currently in beta, this adwords programme auto-generates search ads so in addition to the basics (company name, address etc), Google Boost can include a star rating, a link to Google Places page and the
- [Google doesn't recommend using nofollow on internal links](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2010/10/15/google-doesnt-recommend-using-nofollow-on-internal-links/) - In this video Matt Cutts explains why using the nofollow tag on internal links makes not sense at all. This is a must-watch video for new webmasters. For more about Tug SEO services click here.
- [What's your Level of Twitter influence?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2010/04/12/whats-your-level-of-twitter-influence/) - Reading an interesting article on the influence of political tweets on Reuters, I stumbled across a beta tool that Edelman has produced called Tweet Level. Using a very complicated formula it works out your level of influence on Twitter. I scored a measily 14 because I amvery slack on updateing. Tug however was a better
- [Tug's UK Managing Director Faye Daffarn speaks to netimperative.com about the IPA's latest Bellwether report](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/01/08/tugs-uk-managing-director-faye-daffarn-speaks-to-netimperative-com-about-the-ipas-latest-bellwether-report/) - “The IPA’s latest Bellwether report is an accurate reflection of what we are seeing as an agency. Businesses are being forced to prioritise agility and efficiency above all else, cutting marketing budgets and fluidly moving what is left between the best-performing channels." Tug's UK Managing Director Faye Daffarn speaks to netimperative.com about the IPA's latest
- [Improving your click through rate with Creative Search Marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2008/02/25/improving-your-click-through-rate-with-creative-search-marketing/) - Consumers are becoming more savvy in the way they search online – great targeting isn’t enough to get their attention – relevance of ad creative is now the driving factor in click through rate. Click through rate (CTR) is a well known way of measuring your online campaigns’ success. CTR is determined by dividing the
- [Instagram Has Changed, And Here’s What You Need To Know](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/05/24/instagram-has-changed-and-heres-what-you-need-to-know/) - It is increasingly evident that Instagram is prioritising video content over static content. With its latest updates, Instagram makes sure the content takes over your whole screen. Right now your feed is going to change to be full-screen content (9:16) and it will also include content from other pages as ‘recommended content’ determined by your
- [Cannes in Cairns: The View From Two New Digital Marketers](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/05/18/cannes-in-cairns-the-view-from-two-new-digital-marketers/) - Ruchi and Reshika’s most inspirational talks at Cannes in Cairns Ash Barty. Her goal is an inclusive world where everyone is comfortable in themselves. When considering brands she works with, the key prerequisite is authenticity. A quote from her we will never forget, when engaging with new people (or your client’s audience), you should “always be
- [What Does Web 3.0 Mean For Social Media?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/04/29/what-does-web-3-0-mean-for-social-media/) - What is your Web 3.0 avatar going to look like? Madhura at MarTech has listed a vision for hers, and it’s got us thinking: how might everyone customise theirs? The highly anticipated arrival of Web 3.0 is here, and we are excited to know more. But for those who didn’t know it was coming, what
- [Brighton SEO 2022 - Summary & Highlights](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/04/26/brighton-seo-2022-summary-highlights/) - There aren’t many ever-evolving fields like SEO. From constant Google algorithm changes to new tools and technological advancements, it feels like there’s an essential new SEO-related update every year - if not sooner. Insights into such a fast-paced industry are valuable, and that’s what makes the bi-annual Brighton SEO conference so unique. Entailing highly useful
- [New Instagram update! How to get Instagram's chronological feed?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/03/30/new-instagram-update-how-to-get-instagrams-chronological-feed/) - Instagram has finally rolled out a chronological order option on its platform. Much like Twitter, you can now control how the feed is designed for you. In the past, many users have complained about how the algorithm dictated your feed. People have become ‘hooked’ to the app because the algorithm kept plugging in content that
- [Is It Important To Have A Social SEO Strategy?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2022/03/11/is-it-important-to-have-a-social-seo-strategy/) - Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and social media can appear to be two different branches of digital marketing. But, there are many ways that these can support each other. The ultimate goal of SEO is to drive traffic to your website, and the aim of social media is to build brand awareness and create disruptive marketing
- [What Is Hyperlocal PPC?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/12/13/what-is-hyperlocal-ppc/) - Hyperlocal PPC is a tactic for optimising content within a restricted geographical area. While at first glance you may think that the wider target audience the better, creating a detailed and local target audience will help your campaign reach people who are in the vicinity of your outlet and are thus in a position to
- [The revolution is being televised - The rise in CTV as a marketing channel](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/10/07/the-revolution-is-being-televised-the-rise-in-ctv-as-a-marketing-channel/) - There’s a misconception that TV is dying. This misconception is fueled by the fact that cable has been hemorrhaging subscribers, broadcast program viewership numbers are down across the board, and these trends have been persisting year over year. Although cable is on the decline, this doesn’t necessarily spell the end of television. With the decline
- [TUG SYDNEY APPOINTED BY GLOBAL RESTAURANT BOOKING PLATFORM DISH CULT](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/10/07/tug-sydney-appointed-by-global-restaurant-booking-platform-dish-cult/) - Digital marketing agency Tug has been appointed by global restaurant booking platform Dish Cult to optimise search across key markets including Australia, New Zealand, UK and Ireland. Dish Cult, which is powered by global reservation and table management solution ResDiary, is a content-led booking platform that includes stories, guides and news on where diners should
- [KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM BRIGHTONSEO - AUTUMN 2021](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/09/27/key-takeaways-from-brightonseo-autumn-2021/) - ABOUT BRIGHTONSEO BrightonSEO is a bi-annual conference and series of training courses that brings together search marketing professionals looking to meet and broaden their expertise in the world of organic search. This year’s autumn event on September 9-10 was highly anticipated, taking place in-person for the first time since the pandemic. There was a huge
- [Why Google is Rewriting Title Tags](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/09/01/why-google-is-rewriting-title-tags/) - SEO professionals have noticed something different about the SERPs in recent days: Google is rewriting title tags. Considering that many SEO experts place high importance on creating title tags optimised for search engines, this update is interesting. Find out more below. The SEO value of title tags From an SEO perspective, [meta] title tags are one
- [3 TOP TIPS FOR GROWING YOUR AFFILIATE MARKETING NETWORK](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/05/19/3-top-tips-for-growing-your-affiliate-marketing-network/) - 3 Top Tips For Growing Your Affiliate Marketing Network Over the past 10 years affiliate marketing has evolved within the digital ecosystem, graduating from a once voucher-dominated industry, and becoming an increasingly effective medium for brands to promote their products to the right audiences, at scale. Given this recent evolution, it comes as no surprise
- [REACHING NEW AUDIENCES THROUGH EMERGING PLATFORMS](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/05/18/reaching-new-audiences-through-emerging-platforms/) - Social media is a hugely valuable marketing tool for businesses to reach and convert consumers. With over a billion monthly users, Instagram is now one of the largest social networks in the world, with numbers beginning to rival its big sister, Facebook. With brands evolving to meet its demands, there is no doubt that Instagram will
- [HOW PAID SOCIAL ADVERTS CAN SAVE THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY DURING A PANDEMIC](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/05/04/how-paid-social-adverts-can-save-the-travel-industry-during-a-pandemic/) - This year’s holiday season fell under the COVID -19 pandemic. We all need something to look forward to amongst the isolation and missing family. We all love a holiday. Many of us count on it as a time to destress and escape normal life, even if it is just for a weekend or a few
- [Preparing For A Cookie-Less World](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/04/19/preparing-for-a-cookie-less-world/) - One of the biggest issues currently facing the marketing world is the demise of third-party cookies. Marketers will be forced to change the way they utilise their first party data, whilst many solutions to this are still unknown. Yet as Asher Gordon, Tug’s Head of Paid Media, noted in his Campaign Performance 360 talk with
- [Brighton SEO New Product SEO Strategy Checklist](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/03/25/brighton-seo-new-product-seo-strategy-checklist/) - When launching a new product or brand, it’s important to nail your SEO strategy early on to not miss out on traffic and revenue later down the line. If you missed our SEO Account Director Eilish’s talk at Brighton SEO, or want a refresh of the method, steps and checklist you can find the key
- [Contextual Links In Featured Snippets](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/03/19/contextual-links-in-featured-snippets/) - In November 2020, Google began testing the addition of multiple contextual links within a single featured snippet displayed at the top of SERPs. Though this is only in its testing phase, it has caused concern for SEOs, regarding what this may mean for click-through rates, user experience, and the overall value of the featured snippet.
- [Sell The Solution, Not The Software: A guide to creating better SaaS creative content](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/02/19/sell-the-solution-not-the-software-a-guide-to-creating-better-saas-creative-content/) - This blog post is a condensed version of a webinar - If you prefer to watch the video go here! At Tug, we have worked with SaaS brands for the past 12 years and we know that they are passionate about their products. Sometimes, however, passion can be as much of a hindrance as a
- [Why is everyone talking about Clubhouse?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/02/10/why-is-everyone-talking-about-clubhouse/) - What is Clubhouse like? There’s a new invite-only social app which is causing minor waves among marketers and early adopters around the world if my LinkedIn feed is anything to go by. I have finally scored myself a Clubhouse invite so I can report to you what it’s like inside. At first glance, everything about
- [The Tug Take - Preparing For IOS14](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/02/05/the-tug-take-preparing-for-ios14/) - IOS14 and Facebook Apple's development and release of iOS14 introduced a new feature designed to give more control to users around data collection by third-parties. While the controls were previously available, they required manually checking for them. The update means that users will be proactively prompted by their device to opt into or out of
- [Google Analytics 4 (GA4) - First Impressions](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/01/27/google-analytics-4-ga4-first-impressions/) - With businesses constantly demanding a more complete cross-device/channel view of their customer life cycle, Google came to introduce GA4 at the end of 2020. This is the fourth update for Google Analytics which started back in 2005 as GA1 Urchin, followed by GA2 Classic in 2008, moved into GA3 Universal in 2013 which we have
- [Tug's Head of Paid Media, Asher Gordon gives techround.co.uk his Paid Social Advertising and PPC Predictions for 2021](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/01/25/tugs-head-of-paid-media-asher-gordon-gives-techround-co-uk-his-paid-social-advertising-and-ppc-predictions-for-2021/) - “This year we’ll see generic terms in PPC continue to become more expensive, meaning advertisers that would traditionally only use PPC in their campaign strategy will need to look at upper-funnel channels – like video and display – to boost awareness and drive brand searches. We’re also seeing Google put pressure on advertisers in this
- [Tug's UK Managing Director, Faye Daffarn gives her response to the IPA Bellwether Report Q4 2020](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/01/21/tugs-uk-managing-director-faye-daffarn-gives-her-response-to-the-ipa-bellwether-report-q4-2020/) - Following the release of the latest IPA Bellwether Report, Tug's UK Managing Director, Faye Daffarn shares her thoughts with mobilemarketingmagazine.com on the news that the COVID-19 pandemic once again hit UK marketing budgets hard in the final quarter of 2020.
- [What Is The Best Social Media Advice Someone Ever Gave You?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/01/18/what-is-the-best-social-media-advice-someone-ever-gave-you/) - Aren’t we all hounding for that exclusive Social Media growth hack tip? That eternal chase of engagement rates, increase in follower numbers, and viral potential of your content strategy? Regardless of whether we're simply beginning or we're a well-seasoned veteran with multiple accounts and an extensive portfolio, there’s one biblical statement in the word of
- [Tug's Award-Winning Case Study With GenesisCare Features On performancein.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/01/14/tugs-award-winning-case-study-with-genesiscare-features-on-performancein-com/) - "Cancer Treatment Specialist Delivers Nearly 80% Lower CPA and Doubles Conversions, Helping Patients Find Treatment During Lockdown" Tug's Award-Winning Case Study With GenesisCare Features In performancein.com
- [Lockdown on the high street: The effects of Covid-19 on small businesses](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/01/12/lockdown-on-the-high-street-the-effects-of-covid-19-on-small-businesses/) - While walking down my local High Street this morning, some 14 hours after the government announced National Lockdown #2, I wondered what this route would look like six months from now. Almost every business has suffered, from big department stores to takeaways to shoe repairers. But it’s remarkable to see how many of those small
- [Tug’s UK Managing Director Faye Daffarn speaks to digitalstrategyconsulting.com about the IPA’s latest Bellwether report](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/01/08/tugs-uk-managing-director-faye-daffarn-speaks-to-digitalstrategyconsulting-com-about-the-ipas-latest-bellwether-report/) - “The IPA’s latest Bellwether report is an accurate reflection of what we are seeing as an agency. Businesses are being forced to prioritise agility and efficiency above all else, cutting marketing budgets and fluidly moving what is left between the best-performing channels.” Tug’s UK Managing Director Faye Daffarn speaks to digitalstrategyconsulting.com about the IPA’s latest
- [What is the difference between PR and Digital PR?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2021/01/06/what-is-the-difference-between-pr-and-digital-pr-2/) - Digital PR has become a popular and often successful tactic to earn qualitative links in a scalable way. However, there is often a confusion of the difference between digital PR and traditional PR. It is not surprising that these confusions appear, and sometimes both worlds may collide. They both thrive on creating and nurturing relationships
- [Eoin O'Neill, Tug's CTO gives cxm.co.uk his opinion on how consumer experience is following a controlled automation curve](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/12/15/eoin-oneill-tugs-cto-gives-cxm-co-uk-his-opinion-on-how-consumer-experience-is-following-a-controlled-automation-curve/) - "In 2021, we can expect savvy marketers to continue to invest more time and budget in automated tools – using technology to combine user data and content to create a more personalised consumer experience across all channels" Eoin O'Neill, Tug's CTO gives cxm.co.uk his opinion on how consumer experience is following a controlled automation curve
- [Nick Beck, Tug's CEO gives mumbrella.co.au his perspective on Apple joining the Search Engine fight](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/12/14/nick-beck-tugs-ceo-gives-mumbrella-co-au-his-perspective-on-apple-joining-the-search-engine-fight/) - "Speculation about an Apple search engine has spun around the digital rumour mill for over a decade. But recent signs the tech giant might be stepping up its search game are now sending these rumours into overdrive. But if a search battle is on its way, the real question is whether Apple should tackle the
- [5 Clues That Show Apple Is Creating a Search Engine (Probably)](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/12/14/5-clues-that-show-apple-is-creating-a-search-engine-probably/) - Apple are notoriously secretive when it comes to new ventures or products, so it’s impossible to say with certainty what they are planning to do at any given time. However, there are plenty of clues that point towards a search engine in development. Here are the top 5; A senior Google employee joined Apple in
- [Tug's Head of Paid Media AU, Furqan Wasif gives adnews.com.au his 2021 marketing predictions](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/12/11/tugs-head-of-paid-media-au-furqan-wasif-gives-adnews-com-au-his-2021-marketing-predictions/) - "2021 will be the year that defines how we move on from cookie-based tracking to a viable industry wide (and transparent) cookieless solution. With changes to the most popular browsers coupled with the increasing emphasis on privacy (both by regulatory bodies and individual web users), advertisers will need to readily embrace new technological solutions that
- [Gender Parity in SEO](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/12/02/gender-parity-in-seo/) - Identifying and filling gaps is key to any successful SEO strategy. However, there is one gap that the industry has failed to address - the gender gap. For the last 10 years, there has been extreme stagnation in the growth of women in SEO with men outnumbering women 2 to 1. For an industry that
- [How to Use YouTube's New Audio Ad Formats](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/11/26/how-to-use-youtubes-new-audio-ad-formats/) - Last week, YouTube announced the launch of new audio advertising formats as part of their slate of audio investments in 2020. Other announcements have included new sales capabilities in AdsManager and better optimisation opportunities in DV360. With more than 50% of logged-in users listening to more than 10 minutes of music per day, audio ads
- [Programmatic Audio - What’s New and What’s Next](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/11/17/programmatic-audio-whats-new-and-whats-next/) - Nielsen has reported an overall 9.4% increase in total audio activity for H1 2020 compared to the previous year, with on-demand audio streaming seeing the biggest rise of 16.2%. It has also been projected that 46% of marketers would use ‘Digital Audio’ as a media in their H2 2020 strategy. It is clear from those
- [Festive Marketing In An ‘Unprecedented’ Era: The 3 Ps of Christmas 2020](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/11/13/festive-marketing-in-an-unprecedented-era-the-3-ps-of-christmas-2020/) - Christmas is always a key time for marketers, as a key sales period, featuring big budget ads which can set the tone for communications over the coming year. In many ways Christmas 2020 will be even more important for marketers – but also harder to navigate. This will be a Christmas like no other –
- [What the Changes to Google Ads Search Term Report Visibility Mean for Your Business](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/11/11/what-the-changes-to-google-ads-search-term-report-visibility-mean-for-your-business/) - “Ah, Google is at it again!” or so it goes across thousands of offices around the world every time Google changes a functionality in Google Ads. The collective groan or sigh is in anticipation over how the new changes will affect performance, costs, KPIs, etc. That is usually the first reaction. Sometimes, there’s a bit
- [Tug's UK Managing Director, Faye Daffarn gives her opinion on what the UK's second lockdown means for advertising](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/11/05/tugs-uk-managing-director-faye-daffarn-gives-her-opinion-on-what-the-uks-second-lockdown-means-for-advertising/) - We find ourselves in a new digital future that has been embraced by many as the new normal, but businesses must see through the eyes of their consumer, and question what digital transformation actually means for their business Tug's UK Managing Director, Faye Daffarn gives mobilemarketingmagazine.com her opinion what the UK's second lockdown means for
- [Tug's CEO, Nick Beck talks to warc.com about why marketers in APAC should scrap the SEO vs. PPC mindset](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/11/03/tugs-ceo-nick-beck-talks-to-warc-com-about-why-marketers-in-apac-should-scrap-the-seo-vs-ppc-mindset/) - "Instead of trying to split the difference, the most effective solution for marketers is to leave the SEO versus PPC mindset behind and use a blend of both. While amalgamation can be challenging, the outcomes are more than worthwhile; with the two methods offsetting each other’s drawbacks and generating higher overall performance." Tug's CEO, Nick
- [5 Ways Bing Remains Relevant In A Mobile-First World](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/11/02/5-ways-bing-remains-relevant-in-a-mobile-first-world/) - 2020 is the year of mobile. As was 2019. And 2018 (you get the picture). Whilst it’s a repeated refrain, it’s not untrue. Based on Statcounter data, in the UK the majority of browsing is done via Mobiles and Tablets, exceeding desktop this year. As you would expect, Google dominates overall browsing habits, particularly on
- [6 easy ways to find new blog topics for your clients](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/10/26/6-easy-ways-to-find-new-blog-topics-for-your-clients/) - Whether you write weekly, monthly or quarterly blogs for your clients, coming up with fresh content ideas for blogs can get tougher as time passes. Finding new things to say on a specific niche topic or specialist subject doesn’t always come naturally to copywriters, who might not be experts in that particular field. If you’re
- [Tug’s UK Managing Director, Faye Daffarn Gives Her Response To The IPA Bellwether Report Q3 2020](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/10/22/tugs-uk-managing-director-faye-daffarn-gives-her-response-to-the-ipa-bellwether-report-q3-2020/) - Following the release of the Q3 2020 IPA Bellwether Report, Tug’s UK Managing Director, Faye Daffarn shares her thoughts with mobilemarketingmagazine.com on the news that the COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to do damage to marketing budgets in the UK
- [Tug's Social Account Manager, Holly Kay gives marketingtechnews.net her guide for how brands can stand out on TikTok for the right reasons](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/10/21/tugs-social-account-manager-holly-kay-gives-marketingtechnews-net-her-guide-for-how-brands-can-stand-out-on-tiktok-for-the-right-reasons/) - "All eyes are on TikTok; from users who can’t get enough of its content to the US companies making a bid for acquisition — and brands are waking up to the potential." Tug's Social Account Manager, Holly Kay gives marketingtechnews.net her guide for how brands can stand out on TikTok for the right reasons.
- [Tug's Media Account Director shares her thoughts with DecisionMarketing.com about how algorithms are ruining ad creativity](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/10/21/tugs-media-account-director-shares-her-thoughts-with-decisionmarketing-com-about-how-algorithms-are-ruining-ad-creativity/) - Tug's Media Account Director Hannah Thompson follows her talk with MAD//Fest at DMEXCO @ Home 2020 by sharing her thoughts with DecisionMarketing.co.uk on How to beat the algorithms and let ad creativity shine
- [The 7 Don’ts Of Link Building Outreach](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/10/19/the-7-donts-of-link-building-outreach/) - Driving links to your website is an important factor to ensure you’re ranking high in search results. Link building campaigns can be everything from link reclamation to offering content and resources with the aim to acquire a link. However, link building is difficult. You may have a great story and developed engaging assets, and yet
- [Google Featured Snippets - How To Optimise For Them](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/10/08/google-featured-snippets-how-to-optimise-for-them/) - Google search results are constantly evolving, and features are always changing, to provide more accurate results and a better user experience. One of the more important updates to SERPs in the past decade are Featured Snippets. These can be seen at the top of main listings, pulling relevant content to answer search queries quickly. A
- [Winning Christmas 2020 Through Facebook Ads](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/10/02/winning-christmas-2020-through-facebook-ads/) - A time of the year we all look forward to – Christmas. However, following an unpredictable 2020 the question on everyone’s lips is how the festive season will be affected. This year our lives have been turned upside down and we have had to live our lives in a way we could never have imagined.
- [Asher Gordon, Tug's Head of Paid Media gives searchenginewatch.com his opinion on why Synergized Search is key to success in the new normal](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/09/28/asher-gordon-tugs-head-of-paid-media-gives-searchenginewatch-com-his-opinion-on-why-synergized-search-is-key-to-success-in-the-new-normal/) - "Marketers need a smart strategy to cut through the competition. The question is: will they drive the highest traffic and performance with search engine optimization (SEO) or pay per click (PPC)? Find out how to create the perfect balance to get desired results."Asher Gordon, Tug's Head of Paid Media gives searchenginewatch.com his opinion on why
- [Why Is Facebook Threatening To Pull Out Of Europe?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/09/24/why-is-facebook-threatening-to-pull-out-of-europe/) - Could browsing Facebook and Instagram be a thing of the past for Europeans? That’s what appears to be on the cards after a recent court filing. Facebook is currently in a legal battle with the Data Protection Commission over a recent order which called into question the way Facebook sends data back to the USA.
- [Navigate Competitive PPC Markets Through Cross-Channel Collaboration](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/08/14/navigate-competitive-ppc-markets-through-cross-channel-collaboration/) - PPC auctions can be competitive and expensive. It’s commonly known that to get ahead in PPC you don’t always have to pay more. It’s also not news that supporting search campaigns through other marketing channels can give your search campaigns an edge. However, having recently seen this done using multiple channels effectively, I thought I’d
- [Google User Experience Update - What You Need To Know](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/08/04/google-user-experience-update-what-you-need-to-know/) - What Is It? Google has pre-announced a “User Experience” update to its organic search algorithm. This update will affect how websites rank on Google. Google values user experience on the websites in its search results, as it views them as an extension of Google’s own user experience. Why Is It Important? Not only will ensuring
- [5 Things To Check When Importing Google Ads Campaigns Into Microsoft Ads (Previously Named Bing Ads)](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/07/27/5-things-to-check-when-importing-google-ads-campaigns-into-microsoft-ads-previously-named-bing-ads/) - If you are already using Google Ads then importing your campaigns into Microsoft Ads (previously named Bing Ads) is a quick and effective way to increase your reach and potential to succeed in meeting your KPIs. The ability to import Google Ads campaigns into Microsoft Ads is one of the biggest advantages of the platform
- [Marketing For Brands On TikTok – Everything You Need To Know](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/07/15/marketing-for-brands-on-tiktok-everything-you-need-to-know/) - TikTok has become a global phenomenon with a total of 800 million users worldwide. The marketing potential is huge and the reason for this is because TikTok’s short-form video model is loved by young audiences who prefer bite-sized content. In addition to this, what other platform offers such sophisticated editing tools? The experience is totally
- [New Google Page Experience Update – Core Web Vitals](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/07/06/new-google-page-experience-update-core-web-vitals/) - Early in May 2020, Google announced Core Web Vitals - an initiative to provide unified guidance for quality signals that, they believe, are essential to delivering a great user experience on the web. This was the first part of their focus on user experience for webpages. At the end of May, Google also announced a
- [Preparing For Free Google Shopping In Q4](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/07/02/preparing-for-free-google-shopping-in-q4/) - "Google's Big Announcement" In April this year Google announced that free listings will be available in Shopping results. Starting in the US and set to continue to roll-out to other countries and will be available in the UK before the end of the year. Only placements on the “Shopping tab” will be made available for
- [How To Future-Proof Your Media Plans In The Wake Of COVID-19](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/06/29/how-to-future-proof-your-media-plans-in-the-wake-of-covid-19/) - Flicking back through the ‘Predictions for Advertising in 2020’ articles written last December, not one predicted that by the end of Q1 we’d be in the midst of a global Coronavirus pandemic, a civil rights revolution and the largest economic contraction on record. WIth economic panic generally affecting marketing budgets first and most severely, we’re
- [Brands & #BlackLivesMatter – how companies have navigated a shift in culture](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/06/24/brands-blacklivesmatter-how-companies-have-navigated-a-shift-in-culture/) - Black Lives Matter is an incredibly important conversation playing out in social media at the moment, one that brands feel compelled to enter into. Which brands have done this thoughtfully and which have stumbled? I consider three companies’ responses to #BLM and what we can learn from them. Between March and May 2020 we have
- [‘Amazonification’ & Amazon SEO: Should Search Marketers Be Worried?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/06/08/amazonification-amazon-seo-should-search-marketers-be-worried/) - Amazon is the largest marketplace the world has ever seen. This is an internet retailing giant that continues to thrive. This is one of the largest websites in the world that receives an enormous amount of traffic on an hourly basis. It has even created a new controversial buzzword – Amazonification. The basic concept of
- [Planning The Path To Recovery For Digital Marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/06/01/planning-the-path-to-recovery-for-digital-marketing/) - COVID-19 has affected every business in ways we could have never imagined, and digital marketing is just one of those areas. However, what happens when society starts to return to normal – or whatever the new normal might be? Brands must be prepared and begin planning the path to recovery. There are three areas marketers
- [The Digital Transformation of Media Consumption due to Covid-19](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/05/18/the-digital-transformation-of-media-consumption-due-to-covid-19/) - It takes on average 66 days to break a habit, and we have been in lockdown for over 50. Our daily routines are rapidly changing and are becoming increasingly digital. Read on to learn how media consumption has shifted towards being more online, even in cases where it is typically offline, and whether consumption will
- [Stay Clear - Why clear language is vital during a crisis](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/05/13/stay-clear-why-clear-language-is-vital-during-a-crisis/) - Stay Alert. It’s the kind of slogan you might expect to see plastered on the side of a motorway bridge to warn truckers not to fall asleep at the wheel. Or on promotional cans of energy drinks given out to feverish university students in the lead up to exam week. Not the latest meme-able advice
- [SEO in a time of Crisis - Staying ahead of the curve with link building](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/05/05/seo-in-a-time-of-crisis-staying-ahead-of-the-curve-with-link-building/) - Covid-19 has overturned everyone’s lives. Each industry is affected differently, but most marketing plans are being interrupted. Businesses are responding by refocusing efforts and adjusting to new consumer behaviours. In a previous Tug post, we discussed the importance of keeping customers updated and your SEO up to date, this also stretches to link building efforts.
- [Increase Ecommerce Spend as Social Distancing Continues](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/04/29/increase-ecommerce-spend-as-social-distancing-continues/) - Although we’re in a time of uncertainty there is one thing that is certain, consumers’ increase in demand for eCommerce. The driving force behind the increase in demand is Government advice to urge whole populations to “stay at home”, social distance and avoid the outside world. With only essential shops allowed to remain open, searching
- [Australia vs Google and Facebook - COVID-19 Edition](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/04/24/australia-vs-google-and-facebook-covid-19-edition/) - During this unprecedented global crisis, Australia has become an unlikely beacon of hope. After a devastating summer of bush fires, where the government response was too slow and ineffective, COVID-19 presented a new problem and this government was not going to be caught out again. This time, they were quicker to respond than most western
- [Building a Brand When Your Audience is Under Lockdown](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/04/16/building-a-brand-when-your-audience-is-under-lockdown/) - COVID-19 has torn up media plans across almost every industry in a way that very few events ever have before and whilst this is a challenge for brands and media buyers it also throws up so many opportunities. What customers want from brands now is consistency, optimism and flexibility – with only 8% of people
- [Keeping your customers (and your SEO!) up to date in a crisis](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/04/09/keeping-your-customers-and-your-seo-up-to-date-in-a-crisis/) - Coronavirus content is everywhere and updated in real time. With consumers spending more time online, whilst at home, they expect to be able to find essential up-to-date information from businesses too. It’s imperative that businesses understand customer queries (as they likely will have changed significantly!) and ensure key information can be found easily. The ongoing
- [Three Weeks Into A Global Pandemic: Planning for The Future](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/04/02/three-weeks-into-a-global-pandemic-planning-for-the-future/) - It's been three weeks since W.H.O. declared COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic and a lot has changed. We don’t want to repeat the details of everything that has happened, but instead help you plan for the future. Consumer Behaviour Changes by Channel PPC: Search demands (and therefore CPCs) are volatile dependant on the industry of your
- [Staying positive through a crisis. Making a difference on Social Media.](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/03/20/staying-positive-through-a-crisis-making-a-difference-on-social-media/) - The Coronavirus Outbreak Is Happening People are panicking and stockpiling – but in many cases, they are coming together more than ever before and creating positive news stories with acts of care and generosity. This is a dark and uncertain time for companies as well as individuals – but there are countless instances of people
- [What's the difference between paid and organic social?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/03/02/whats-the-difference-between-paid-and-organic-social/) - In the digital marketing world, people know the difference between Paid Social and Organic Social. But outside of this world, people might not be able to tell what truly sets them apart. So that’s why I’m going to tell you right now. In short, Organic Social, as the name suggests, is when an individual or
- [The best Google Chrome extensions to help you smash your New Year's Resolution](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2020/01/31/the-best-google-chrome-extensions-to-help-you-smash-your-new-years-resolution/) - It’s January. Time for a new start, this is your year, a new decade, new year new me, and all the rest of it. But now we’re two weeks deep into this shiny new decade and New Year’s Resolutions are dropping like flies. Are you still catching up on unanswered emails from last year? Is
- [Tug's response to the Q3 2019 IPA Bellwether Report](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/12/10/tugs-response-to-the-q3-2019-ipa-bellwether-report/) - Asher Gordon, our head of biddable media, has shared his thoughts on the Q3 2019 IPA Bellwether Report alongside other industry experts. Industry reacts: Q3 2019 IPA Bellwether Report
- [Tug wins Digiday’s Best Social Good Campaign with WWF](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/12/05/tug-wins-digidays-best-social-good-campaign-with-wwf/) - Tug’s Social & Content team brought home an award last night at the Digiday Marketing and Advertising Awards Europe! We’re proud winners of the Best Social Good Campaign 2019, for our amazing work for WWF’s #StopPlasticPollution campaign which ran February - March 2019. The campaign WWF created a petition urging world leaders to create a
- [Tug's programmatic account director Hannah Thompson shares her predictions for 2020](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/12/05/tugs-programmatic-account-director-hannah-thompson-shares-her-predictions-for-2020/) - When ExchangeWire approached Tug for input on our predictions for CV, TV and Streaming, Hannah Thompson shared her thoughts. Read her predictions around multi-screen use: Predictions 2020: TV, CTV & Streaming
- [When social media gets political](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/11/29/when-social-media-gets-political/) - The battle for no.10 is officially on. It is all kicking off as Boris prepares to take on Jeremy Corbyn for the Prime Minister title race. Corbyn is refusing to state his position on Brexit (we would all rather trim our Nanna's toenails than discuss Brexit again,) and Boris can’t seem to string a sentence
- [Brands who still think social media is reserved for young people are as outdated as MySpace](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/11/21/brands-who-still-think-social-media-is-reserved-for-young-people-are-as-outdated-as-myspace/) - Our head of Social & Content Emily Knox has written about the rising tide of influencers aged 50+ for Media Post. Why Brands Should Re-Think Their Influencer Marketing Strategies
- [Everything you need to know about Podcast Advertising](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/11/01/everything-you-need-to-know-about-podcast-advertising/) - What did we do before podcasts? I don’t know how I dealt with the tube, folding my laundry, going for a run, cleaning the bathroom or a supermarket shop on a Sunday without them. Last summer, I found myself sunbathing on a beautiful beach in Greece, completely absorbed in a show about gruesome serial killers.
- [2019 reflections and predictions for German programmatic](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/10/27/2019-reflections-and-predictions-for-german-programmatic/) - Thorsten Nolte, Managing Director of Tug's Berlin office, has shared his insights on the programmatic industry in ExchangeWire alongside other industry experts. Read more below. The German Programmatic & Martech Industry in 2019: Predictions and Reflections
- [Knowing When and How to Expand Your SaaS Internationally (Part 2/2)](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/10/16/knowing-when-and-how-to-expand-your-saas-internationally-part-2-2/) - As a successful SaaS publisher, no doubt you already have your business’s core markets worked out. You know your highest revenue drivers; you know your areas of lowest churn and where you have a fair share of voice. But how do you find pockets of opportunities in markets you haven’t entered or trialled yet? In
- [Acquisition, Conversion and Retention: get your KPIs right and the sales will take care of themselves (Part 1/2)](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/10/10/acquisition-conversion-and-retention-get-your-kpis-right-and-the-sales-will-take-care-of-themselves-part-1-2/) - For such a snappy acronym, SaaS maps out an increasingly vast business. The subscription software model has conquered the global workplace in the past decade, and Software as a Service describes a multitude of cloud-hosted apps in an industry whose revenues Gartner expects to grow to $85.1bn this year. What SaaS publishers know is that
- [DMEXCO 2019: Cookies, Trust, and Emerging Channels](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/09/21/dmexco-2019-cookies-trust-and-emerging-channels/) - Our CEO Nick Beck shares his insights from this year's DMEXCO event. He was particularly interested in the emergence of voice technology and how this will change digital marketing in the future. Read the article here.
- [NOBLEOAK BRINGS THE NOBILITY BACK TO LIFE INSURANCE IN LATEST CAMPAIGN VIA MR WOLF](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/09/17/nobleoak-brings-the-nobility-back-to-life-insurance-in-latest-campaign-via-mr-wolf/) - Tug Sydney's client NobleOak has launched a new campaign adding a touch of nobility and humour to the often straight-laced and opaque life cover category. Read all about it here.
- [Brighton SEO – What to look forward to](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/09/12/brighton-seo-what-to-look-forward-to/) - BrightonSEO brings together some of the best speakers from the world of search marketing and is an event highlight for many SEOs. An important point to note – BrightoSEO is big. Really big. The event has around 75 talks across the Saturday and the last time round was host to over 3,000 marketers from a
- [Tug accepted onto the Mayor's International Business Programme](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/09/06/tug-accepted-onto-the-mayors-international-business-programme/) - We're super excited to announce that Tug has been accepted onto Cohort 14 of the Mayor's International Business Programme (MIBP). The initiative is run by London & Partners and offers mentoring, expert advice and real business opportunities for high growth companies interested in expanding overseas.
- [Why Ecommerce brands should be advertising on Amazon PPC](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/08/20/why-ecommerce-brands-should-be-advertising-on-amazon-ppc/) - We believe that if you have something to sell on Amazon you should be selling it on there, alongside a paid search media campaign (PPC) to maximise visibility and sales. Why Amazon? Ecommerce clients are already spending significant budgets within Google and Facebook. Amazon PPC has been around since 2012, but it’s still playing catch
- [A day in the life of… Emily Knox, Head of Social & Content](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/08/10/a-day-in-the-life-of-emily-knox-head-of-social-content/) - No two days are the same at Tug agency, as our head of social & content Emily Knox attests in her interview for Econsultancy. Find out what a day in the Tug London office looks like from Emily's perspective.
- [The Do's and Don'ts of exhibiting at industry events](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/08/09/the-dos-and-donts-of-exhibiting-at-industry-events/) - “So, what do you do then?” Anyone who’s exhibited at an industry event will know this age-old question and be all too familiar with instantly forgetting the responses of others. A trade show, networking event or exhibition is one of the best ways to expose your brand to new prospects and connections, however, unless done
- [5 things my design degree didn’t prepare me for](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/07/22/5-things-my-design-degree-didnt-prepare-me-for/) - The prospect of the ‘real world’ and getting a ‘real job’ and being told about becoming a ‘real adult’ was something that I was always told about growing up in education, but was never something I thought I would have to actually act upon. Funnily enough I was wrong. Soon came the looming fear of
- [When the cookie crumbles](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/07/11/when-the-cookie-crumbles/) - The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published new guidance on the use of cookies, which could impact digital marketers and website owners in several ways. What are cookies? Cookies are small pieces of information which online services provide when users visit them. Software on your device stores these cookies and sends them back to the
- [Massive fines show the ICO is serious when it comes to upholding GDPR](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/07/09/massive-fines-show-the-ico-is-serious-when-it-comes-to-upholding-gdpr/) - When General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in May last year, for most people the biggest frustration was the barrage of emails from brands clogging up their inbox. But for brands and marketers, GDPR has been a wake-up call for the way user data is gathered, used and protected. From email subscriber lists
- [Google’s real-time triggers – closing the gap between offline events and digital advertising](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/07/04/googles-real-time-triggers-closing-the-gap-between-offline-events-and-digital-advertising/) - Earlier this year Google launched real-time triggers in DV360, a new way to activate campaigns based on certain events. What are Google real-time triggers? Real-time triggers enable advertisers to take advantage of real-time events such as sports games by syncing digital campaigns with relevant events. Triggers work by causing a line item to spend, for anywhere
- [Why did the Daily Mail Lose 50% organic traffic? Google's latest Core Algorithm update](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/06/18/why-did-the-daily-mail-lose-50-organic-traffic-googles-latest-core-algorithm-update/) - It is estimated that Google handles over 2 trillion searches a year, meaning potentially big business for companies with a strong online presence. If you’re looking for a slice of the digital pie, then you are partially at the mercy of Google’s Search Algorithm and Ranking System which, in short, determines the most relevant results
- [Facebook F8 Conference Round-Up](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/05/24/facebook-f8-conference-round-up/) - F8 may be done and dusted, but the announcements made during the conference may mean some big changes to marketers moving forward. ‘Today we’re going to build a privacy-focused social platform.’ These were Zuckerberg’s first words to address the conference. Facebook wants everyone to know that they are serious about privacy and transparency. With this
- [Establishing data truth to drive acquisition, conversion and retention in SaaS marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/05/21/programmatic-creativity-2/) - This is the first in a series of content exploring the fascinating world of SaaS and SaaS Marketing. We will be investigating topics around data intelligence, tracking and visualisation as well as the common pitfalls SaaS marketers experience when starting out. We will be looking at some of the guiding principles and strategies to consider
- [The rise of eco-anxiety and how brands are tackling environmental issues](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/05/17/the-rise-of-eco-anxiety-and-how-brands-are-tackling-environmental-issues/) - Feeling helpless when it comes to tackling climate change and its devastating impact on our planet? If so, you are not alone. This #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek we’re discussing a topic which is currently incredibly high on the public’s agenda – climate change. You only need to turn on the news or log into Twitter and you’re bombarded
- [Fake reviews: Why faking it till you make it doesn't work with SEO](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/05/15/fake-reviews-why-faking-it-till-you-make-it-doesnt-work-with-seo/) - A news article by The Drum recently warned of a noticeable increase in fake reviews appearing on Amazon. Consumer watchdog Which? investigated the Amazon reviews and found tens of thousands of suspicious reviews are appearing every day on the platform and could potentially risk undermining the integrity of the trading platform itself. It is not
- [You take your first bite with your eyes: How Instagram has changed the way we eat](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/04/26/you-take-your-first-bite-with-your-eyes-how-instagram-has-changed-the-way-we-eat/) - This week I attended the Eater Talks session at the Ace Hotel on how Instagram has changed the way we look at dining experiences. Led by the Eater Editor, Adam Coghlan the panel was made up of food writers George Reynolds and Felicity Spector and PR specialist Frankie Reddin. The conversation ranged across many aspects
- [Instagram Sponsored Stories Polls - the votes are in](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/04/24/instagram-sponsored-stories-polls-the-votes-are-in/) - Ad content is becoming more and more interactive on social media channels. First there were playable ads on Facebook, and now Instagram Stories can feature polls within sponsored posts. This has been introduced with the aim of increasing brand engagement within the huge 500m+ Instagram community. Instagram have included this new feature because their interactive
- [Semantic SEO and Entity Search: Write Better, Rank Better](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/04/15/semantic-seo-and-entity-search-write-better-rank-better/) - Entity optimisation Although ‘entity optimisation’ may sound like a buzzword, believe it or not, it was first introduced by Google six years ago in 2013 when they released Hummingbird, a comprehensive overhaul of the core algorithm after updates Penguin and Panda. Hummingbird was largely understood as an SEO game changer not only because it affected
- [Flexible working at Tug](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/03/20/flexible-working-at-tug/) - Office jobs are becoming increasingly easy to perform remotely thanks to advances in technology. Need to ask your boss a question? Just send them a message on Slack. Got a conference call? No problem, dial in with Zoom. Collaborating on a piece of work? There’s a Google Doc for that. Remote working is easy when
- [How will the TFL Junk Food ban impact brands and advertisers?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/03/11/how-will-the-tfl-junk-food-ban-impact-brands-and-advertisers/) - In a bid to tackle childhood obesity a ban on junk food advertising supported by the mayor of London has come in to force across the entire Transport for London (TFL) network, but what does this mean for brand and advertisers? Starting Monday 25th January 2019, advertisements that promote food and drinks considered high in
- [What the new CMA guidelines for influencers mean for brands](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/02/28/what-the-new-cma-guidelines-for-influencers-means-for-brands/) - On 23rd January the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced a set of guidelines for influencers. The guidance centres around transparency in influencer marketing – an issue that the industry has been plagued by for some time. The CMA guidelines set out what influencers need to do to be transparent with their followers when working
- [What the dickery dock is TikTok?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/02/25/what-the-dickery-dock-is-tiktok/) - Oh no, here we go. A core millennial trying to understand an app they don’t even use in a desperate attempt to explain the baffling behaviour of today’s youth and stay relevant. Right, let’s get to it. What is TikTok? TikTok is an app. A music video app. A short music video app that kids
- [Alexa – How does voice search affect my digital marketing strategy?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/02/19/alexa-how-does-voice-search-affect-my-digital-marketing-strategy-2/) - If you haven’t asked Alexa to tell you what the weather looks like for the day ahead or even to settle a debate on who scored the most hattricks in the premiere league, then where have you been? Voice search is voice recognition technology in the form of Siri, Cortana, Alex and Google Home. We
- [What to expect from your first job in a digital marketing agency](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/02/08/what-to-expect-from-your-first-job-in-a-digital-marketing-agency/) - As a student leaving university, searching for your first job can be daunting. As a marketing student in Sydney, Australia the idea of a career in digital marketing sounds simple, yet when you enter the digital marketing space, you’re exposed to things that are unheard of. Pay Per Click (PPC), Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) and
- [Is Amazon the new Google?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2019/01/23/is-amazon-the-new-google/) - It’s no secret that Amazon is a giant in the eCommerce industry. The multinational retailer has made it easy and convenient for consumers all over the world to browse, learn about, purchase and – if needed – return millions of products. Through its customer-first strategy, Amazon has raised the bar on customer experience and become
- [Tug at MAD Fest 2018](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/11/22/tug-at-mad-fest-2018/) - We’re excited to be sponsoring MAD Fest, London’s newest and most innovative expo. MAD is a two-day festival bringing together Marketing, Advertising and Disruptive tech influencers for a series of talks. Tug at MAD Fest As sponsors of MAD Fest, we’ve been given the opportunity to speak. Tug’s Chief Strategy Officer Dan Thwaites will be
- [Two link building lessons from Brighton SEO](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/10/22/two-link-building-lessons-from-brighton-seo/) - We recently attended Brighton SEO, one of the biggest bi-annual events in the industry, attended by thousands of digital marketers and SEOs every April and September. Every event features dozens of speakers who share their invaluable experiences, tips and advice on anything from Google algorithm updates to Voice Search marketing. One of the overriding topics
- [Just Keep Scrolling](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/10/10/just-keep-scrolling/) - The alarm goes off at 7:30 am and I obviously instantly reach for my phone to firstly, stop the horrendous noise but secondly flick through my social media apps. Can you believe I haven’t looked at Instagram for 8 hours?! I am itching to see what I have missed and lower my heart rate. I
- [Brighton SEO September 2018: All the presentations, slideshows and decks](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/09/21/brighton-seo-september-2018-all-the-presentations-slideshows-and-decks/) - The Tug SEO team are excited to be attending Brighton SEO on 28th September. There are a lot of great talks on the agenda, and plenty of big names on the lineup. It's set to be a fantastic day, and one of the highlights of the year for those working in search marketing. If you
- [Viagogo Vs Google: Is it a search engine’s responsibility to penalise ticket touting websites?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/09/14/viagogo-vs-google-is-it-a-search-engines-responsibility-to-penalise-ticket-touting-websites/) - If you’re looking to buy tickets to an event online, you’d expect a trusted search engine to show you the best places to buy said tickets. But what if it doesn’t? What if you buy tickets that are vastly over-priced, or worse, turn out to be forgeries? Is the search engine at fault for allowing
- [The Instagram Effect](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/09/07/the-instagram-effect/) - How a simple image sharing platform has changed entire industries I remember getting Instagram. I remember downloading the app and following a few dozen of my friends. Inexpertly applying filters to overexposed photos on holiday in Portugal. Not writing a caption to accompany said photo - no hashtags or inspirational personal accounts of my day
- [Google's rebrand from ‘Google AdWords’ to ‘Google Ads’ reflects a move away from keyword-based SEM](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/08/06/googles-rebrand-from-google-adwords-to-google-ads-reflects-a-move-away-from-keyword-based-sem/) - As of July 24th, Google AdWords is no more. Instead, ‘Google Ads’ is the new umbrella term for the Search, Display, Shopping, Video, Maps, Gmail and Apps units of the Google Advertising Platform. It’s a rebrand which has implications for the future of search engine marketing. Sridhar Ramaswamy, Senior Vice President of Ads & Commerce
- [](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/07/03/19745/)
- [Cheap influencers, the transformation of automotive and Ninja, the world’s most famous man – TugLife IV, day four](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/18/cheap-influencers-the-transformation-of-automotive-and-ninja-the-worlds-most-famous-man-tuglife-iv-day-four/) - Our very last session of the week focuses on the travel, entertainment and leisure sectors. Our modern lives are becoming less active, causing endless problems for our health and wellbeing, as well as the strain this puts on the economy. We’re consumed by technology and addicted like never before - it’s become impossible for us
- [Will people still care about cars? 3 things we learned at Tug Life IV: Automotive](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/15/will-people-still-care-about-cars-3-things-we-learned-at-tug-life-iv-automotive/) - Self-driving cars, population growth, pollution and congestion - the automotive industry faces some major challenges looking ahead to the future. But cars remain a vital part of everyday life. They get us from A to B, they say something about who we are, and apart from a house they're probably one of the biggest investments
- [Tug Life IV: 4 the do's and don'ts of Influencer Marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/15/tug-life-iv-4-dos-donts-influencer-marketing/) - The sun is shining down on Protein Studios for the final day of Tug Life IV. Over the last three days we've heard from a fascinating range of speakers in industries as broad as retail, artificial intelligence, technology, marketing and sales. Today's first session is Influencer Marketing. Arguably the biggest new trend in the world
- [Tech needs people, Millennials need financial help, and Fever Tree didn’t need digital – TugLife IV day three](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/15/tug-life-iv-day-3-summary/) - Day three of TugLife IV dived into fintech, retail and fmcg and discovered that people need technology, and technology desperately needs people. It was true in retail, where InternetRetail’s Ian Jindal and TrendWatching’s David Mattin surveyed the ingenious, teched-up future of retail and concluded that only brilliant frontline people are likely to have the taste
- [Does anyone enjoy shopping anymore? 6 thoughts from Tug Life's Retail event](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/14/does-anyone-enjoy-shopping-anymore-6-thoughts-from-tug-lifes-retail-event/) - Following on from our Finance event this morning, we turned our gaze onto the retail industry. It's undoubtedly an industry that has struggled in recent years. The financial crisis, Brexit and fierce competition from online means that many high street names are struggling. So what is the future for retail? Our speakers shared their thoughts.
- [Data, creative, tech and professional sniffers on Tug Life IV day two](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/14/data-creative-tech-and-professional-sniffers-on-tug-life-iv-day-two/) - Data giants stalked day two of TugLife IV, discreetly brandishing massive numbers - the half a trillion digital moments Google processes each day, Spotify’s 100bn daily data points, Twitter’s 336m monthly active users. But so too did the threat of data disgrace, as former Cambridge Analytica lead psychologist Patrick Fagan gave his side of the company’s downfall
- [Will FinTech ever get to scale? Four key points from the Tug Life Finance Session](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/14/will-fintech-ever-get-to-scale-five-key-points-from-the-tug-life-finance-session/) - After the resounding successes of days 1 and 2 here at Proten Studios, day three of Tug Life began with a warning: we could be in very serious trouble by 2050. Could FinTech be the thing that saves us? Educate people about finance Ed Lecky-Thompson warned us of the looming Millennial financial crisis which could
- [Will Tech Help Marketing? 3 Takeaways from Tug Life IV Technology Special](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/13/will-tech-help-marketing-3-takeaways-from-tug-life-iv-technology-special/) - Tug Life IV is well under way, and so far it's been an incredible journey. We've heard from the likes of Twitter, Spotify, Royal Mail, Microsoft and many, many more. Debates have been sparked, connections have been made, and we've delved deep into the world of tech, creative and media. Our final session for Wednesday
- [5 Insights from Tug Life Day 2: Creative and Media Innovation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/13/5-insights-from-tug-life-day-2-creative-and-media-innovation/) - Day 2 of Tug Life got off to a flying start, with our first session on Data & Insights drawing an enthusiastic crowd. We heard people from Twitter, Spotify, Mintel and Google speak on the benefits and drawbacks of data and insights. Next on the lineup was Creative and Media Innovation. We asked the question,
- [3 Key lessons from Tug Life Day 2: Data and Insight](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/13/tug-life-iv-3-key-lessons-data-insight/) - Tug Life IV is underway, and it's already shaping up to be a huge success! If you missed yesterday's sessions, which focused on the theme of Humans Vs Machines, you can find out what happened in our round up. Day 2 at Tug Life is themed around People, Tech and Advertising. We're kicking off the day
- [AI - dystopias, paradise scenarios and the importance of security for connected sex toys](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/12/dystopia-paradise-security-sex-toys/) - With AI, it’s always the worst-case scenario that grabs the headlines. So if the opening day of TugLife IV identified life-changing AI applications for global travellers, job-searchers, Uber passengers and those with disabilities, the key takeaway surely has to be this: we might still be screwed. On a day that focused on the future of
- [Tug Life IV Day 1: Sales in the Digital Age](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/12/tug-life-iv-day-1-sales-in-the-digital-age/) - Day 1 of Tug Life has been a huge success! Each of our three events today have featured some of the leading minds in their industries to talk about the relationship between humans and machines. We had a great turn out for each event, with the final session of the day - run by our
- [Tug Life IV Day 1: People, Work and Technology](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/12/tug-life-iv-day-1-people-work-and-technology/) - Tug Life IV is underway! We've already heard from our first round of speakers at our session Humans, Life and Machines. The second session of the day focuses on how technology will impact our working lives. Will machines take all our jobs? Or will there always be work for humans? Phil Teer - The Scenius
- [Influencer Marketing at Tug Life IV](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/08/influencer-marketing-tug-life-iv/) - Influencer marketing is arguably the hottest trend in digital marketing at the moment. Social channels like Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube have made way for a new breed of marketing. One which is authentic, personal and effective. Brands from H&M, BooHoo and ASOS to Beats By Dre have tapped into influencer marketing to boost their brand
- [Tug Life IV: Industry Focus](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/06/06/tug-life-iv-industry-focus/) - There’s no doubt that technology is impacting every aspect of our lives, and every industry of business. But some are feeling the impact more than others. During days three and four of Tug Life IV, we’ll be digging deeper under the skin of those sectors which are succeeding - or struggling - most as technology
- [Tug Life IV Day 2 - Insights on Data](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/05/31/tug-life-iv-day-2-insights-on-data/) - Have you got your FREE tickets for Tug Life IV? On Day 2 of Tug Life, we’ll be hearing from some of the leading minds from Google, Twitter, Mintel and Spotify for talks on Data & Insight. Our speakers will be discussing the changing ways consumers are creating and using data. We’ll explore the impact
- [Tug Life IV Day 1 – What’s in store for the future of technology?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/05/25/tug-life-iv-day-1-whats-in-store-for-the-future-of-technology/) - Have you got your FREE tickets for Tug Life IV? Day one at Tug Life is all about the future of technology and how it will impact humanity – the way we live our daily lives and the way businesses operate. One of the speakers on Day 1 of Tug Life is Pete Trainor –
- [7 social media updates you might have missed in 2018 so far](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/03/29/7-social-media-updates-you-might-have-missed-in-2018-so-far/) - The social media landscape is always on the move, with new features constantly being added and old favourites being replaced, it's often hard to keep track. We’ve taken a closer look at some of the new updates you might have missed so far in 2018. Twitter Have you ever wanted an easier way to share
- [Google launches mobile-first indexing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/03/28/google-launches-their-mobile-first-index/) - After a year-and-a-half of testing, Google mobile-first indexing has finally begun. Announced earlier this week on webmaster central blog, mobile-first indexing is now the new reality of how Google organises the web. Commencing on 26th March, Google started migrating websites which follow the best practices for mobile-first indexing. Not every page is already migrated –
- [Mobile Speed Update – Are You Prepared?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/02/13/mobile-speed-update-are-you-prepared/) - Page speed has been a ranking factor for desktop searches since 2010 and has been making notable inroads on mobile recently. On 17th January, Google announced its new ranking algorithm, called ‘Speed Update’, which will have an impact on a limited percentage of mobile search queries. As Google reiterated on its webmaster central blog, commencing
- [Programmatic Creativity](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/01/24/programmatic-creativity/) - Never mind the tech (for a moment). What do you actually want to say? Will anyone care? Welcome to our first in a series of white papers covering the latest thinking in the converging fields of Media, Technology and Creativity. “Programmatic advertising is everywhere and growing. It brings new efficiency to media planning and buying,
- [Sales, forward or backward?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2018/01/05/sales-forward-or-backward/) - Picture this. Back in ‘the good old days’, a salesman would knock door to door displaying the wares of which he sought to sell, chatting with his prospective clients and using every tactic he knew. As a result, he may have hit one in every 30 doors with a sale. As time progressed and phones
- [How To Use Google My Business Posts](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/12/19/how-to-use-google-my-business-posts/) - In June 2017, Google rolled out the ability to add Posts to Google My Business listings. With 82% of people now using search engines to find local information, businesses can use this new feature to promote deals, events or products directly in the search results. With this in mind, we’ve put together the following guide
- [Navigating your way to influencer success](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/12/12/navigating-your-way-to-influencer-success/) - If you’ve worked with influencers over any period of time, you’ve probably experienced the good, the bad and the very ugly indeed. This blog post, which I have based on a presentation I gave to the ISBA Communications Procurement Action Group on 16 November 2017, is intended to guide you through the challenges of influencer
- [Data – friend or foe?  Spotify shows us how to do data well in its ‘2018 Goals’ Campaign](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/12/04/data-friend-or-foe-spotify-shows-us-how-to-do-data-well-in-its-2018-goals-campaign/) - While we’re being bombarded by Christmas ads, it’s hard to think about life beyond December 25th, but Spotify are making people do just that with its creative and disruptive new OOH campaign. The popular music streaming service has done something seemingly impossible – it’s made data fun. Using facts and the figures to tell a
- [Dynamic Travel Re-targeting](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/11/29/dynamic-travel-re-targeting/) - Everyone scrolls down their Facebook feed at least once a day and is stalked by something on their wish-list that they are secretly lusting over. For weak-willed shopaholics, the cycle of window shopping, being bombarded by social media reminders, and caving in sounds all too familiar. Now Facebook is cleverly re-targeting users who are checking
- [Facebook lurks, but Pinterest looks unique - and increasingly powerful](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/11/20/facebook-lurks-but-pinterest-looks-unique-and-increasingly-powerful/) - Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but for a maturing social network, it also amounts to something like a declaration of war. So when Facebook admits to trialling a new content curation feature called Sets, based around shareable, themed collections, Pinterest presumably gets two feelings: a quick thrill of validation, followed by the uneasy
- [For the AdWords geeks](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/10/12/for-the-adwords-geeks/) - You may not have heard it through all the fake news, but rejoice, for this week the new AdWords interface is now available to all advertisers! They say a good worker never blames his tools. Although undeniably, with better tools you can do a better job. So is the new AdWords a better tool for
- [The Skinny on Voice Search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/09/26/the-skinny-on-voice-search/) - Voice search originated in 2002, with the initial release of Google Voice search. 10 years later, Google released a new Google Search app for iOS, which featured an enhanced Google Voice Search function, aimed to compete with Apple’s voice assistant Siri. Since Apple’s Siri emerged in 2011, voice activated search has evolved from a fun
- [How to spot fake news](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/09/22/how-to-spot-fake-news/) - This year fake news came of age. And not in a good way. The phenomenon first took centre stage during last year’s U.S. Presidential election, with false stories weaponised by Trump supporters, with the intention of causing maximum damage to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. In fact, BuzzFeed discovered fake news stories drew more shares
- [The rise and rise of AI: where does it leave humans?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/09/05/the-rise-and-rise-of-ai-where-does-it-leave-humans/) - The boundaries between humans and machines are increasingly becoming blurry. Marketers are already contemplating how artificially intelligent (AI) machines will help them create smarter campaigns and personalise marketing messages in real-time. Companies are even debating the creation of a chief artificial intelligence officer (CAIO) to take ownership of delivering intelligent customer experiences. At the Cannes Lions Festival this year, Publicis Groupe
- [Bixby might be our new BFF but will the friendship last?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/04/12/bixby-might-be-our-new-bff-but-will-the-friendship-last/) - A few weeks ago, Samsung introduced us to Bixby, an AI system making its debut in the new Galaxy S8. It’s being touted as the latest in virtual assistant software, and can do everything from taking a selfie to displaying a video on TV. Although Bixby’s only officially about two weeks old, it (she? He?) is already
- [Brands react to The Oscars 2017: 6 brilliant pieces of reactive content](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2017/02/27/brands-react-oscars-2017/) - Last night's Oscars ceremony was eventful, to say the least. Moonlight was named Best Picture, after a mix-up with envelopes saw La La Land incorrectly named as the winner. Brandwatch says 60,000 mentions occurred in the minute following the biggest mishap in the 89-year history of The Academy Awards. It wasn't all doom and gloom,
- [Google AMP - What's next?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/11/17/google-amp-whats-next/) - Around a year ago Google launched an open source initiative developed alongside Twitter called AMP project. This stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages. Initially it was restricted to news outlets. This appears to be changing as Google is opening the service up to more and more formats of content. The key aim of AMP was to
- [Game Of Agencies (...No Spoilers)](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/06/29/game-of-agencies-no-spoilers/) - As we reach the climax of another season of Game of Thrones hysteria, offices across the media world will be divided by those who love the show & those who are exhausted by their colleagues endlessly waffling on about it. Chimp & Zinc, an India-based design agency, have morphed each of the show's characters into
- [The Business Value of Search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/05/26/the-business-value-of-search/) - Marketers believe search is pivotal, and getting more so. Search is a critical part of our business as a media agency, so Tug partnered with the World Federation of Advertisers to conduct a survey investigating the attitudes of over 100 senior C-level global marketers. To understand the challenges they face, and how they are using
- [BT Sport Go For Power and Placement](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/05/25/bt-sport-go-for-power-and-placement/) - BT Sport unexpectedly decided to live stream both the recent Europa League final and the upcoming Champions League final on Youtube for free. This may be a small victory for fans, who regularly enjoyed the annual event on terrestrial TV until BT shook up the football rights market in 2013, but some perspective is required.
- [The death of Facebook’s 20% text rule](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/04/13/the-death-of-facebooks-20-text-rule/) - In the past, to use an image in Facebook ads, it had to pass the vigorous 20% text rule. This meant that if the banner was made up of more than 20% text, it would not be approved. This was Facebook’s way of making sure ad copy was confined to the text and heading, keeping
- [TubeMogul leaps into Facebook's walled garden](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/04/13/tubemogul-leaps-into-facebooks-walled-garden/) - TubeMogul, the video-focused demand side platform, have announced a new partnership with Facebook & Instagram. Following this announcement, advertisers can now purchase the social media inventory via the TubeMogul platform, this includes video within Facebook News Feed on both desktop and mobile. This is not just significant because TubeMogul have secured this valuable inventory ahead of
- [What the Hell is Rankbrain?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/03/23/what-the-hell-is-rankbrain/) - When Google brings out a new algorithm update and claims it is the 3rd most important ranking signal, you can’t help but sit up and take notice. That’s exactly what Google did in 2015 with relatively little attention being given to it in the digital marketing world. So, what is Google Rankbrain and why should
- [Facebook got me feeling like....](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/03/15/facebook-got-me-feeling-like/) - Surely we’ve all seen it by now: Facebook is allowing us to truly ~feel~ things with their new Reactions. Thanks to last month’s long-awaited update, now we can react to a post - on desktop and mobile - with Love, Haha, Wow, Sad and Angry faces, in addition to the traditional Like. Simply hover over
- [How my commute inspires me](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/02/29/how-my-commute-inspires-me/) - Working and living in London is amazing. But there’s one thing I find really difficult to get my head around. The commute. Mine is over an hour, there are three changes from SW15 to EC2A and my trains are delayed 80% of the time. It’s a stuffy, stressful experience and I wish my journey to
- [Time Spent Online in Britain](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/02/23/time-spent-online-in-britain/) - I recently attended one of the IAB search council sessions, where several members of the industry get together to discuss new trends and behavior within the search landscape. One of the areas that has been discussed throughout last year has been around consumer behavior and time spent online- this has been a big area of
- [Facebook to Introduce Ads to Messenger – Apparently](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/02/22/facebook-to-introduce-ads-to-messenger/) - A report has recently been released suggesting that Facebook is currently looking into monetising messenger with ads. The ads will appear differently to standard news feed ads and will only be within messages to businesses. The release is speculated to fall in Q2 but Facebook has yet to comment. An element of the plan is
- [Interactive Mobile Advertising](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/02/17/interactive-mobile-advertising/) - In the past few months Google has been doing more research than ever into mobile advertising. Just months after they released the Mobile App Marketing Insights Guide, Google has launched two new types of mobile app advertisements. This could be because the insight guide revealed that most downloaded apps never get used, one in four
- [The Battle for Mobile Web Advertising - Facebook Vs Google](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/01/27/the-battle-for-mobile-web-advertising-facebook-vs-google/) - According to AdExchanger, Facebook Audience Network (FAN) has gone head to head with Google, again, by expanding into mobile web advertising. FAN was originally launched as an in-app advertising network which allowed publishers to harness Facebook data and buy in apps outside of the social network while still using the Facebook ad interface. Publishers can use the same
- [A simple New Year’s resolution for marketers](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2016/01/15/a-simple-new-years-resolution-for-marketers/) - Even though we are already into the swing of 2016, we believe it’s never too late to make a new resolution, especially when it will help us do our jobs better. (Side note: we shouldn’t need the excuse of a changing calendar to improve ourselves, but alas, here we are making resolutions with the rest
- [Tips for a Successful SEO Christmas](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/12/23/tips-for-a-successful-seo-christmas/) - And so this is Christmas . . . and what can you do to optimise your site for the next festive season? With around 90 per cent of people doing at least some of their Christmas shopping online, it is important for webmasters to ensure their site is prepared for the busy festive season. For
- [Tug Toronto Celebrates The Holiday Spirit](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/11/30/tug-toronto-celebrates-the-holiday-spirit/) - It is snowing here in Toronto, and our team is celebrating the holiday season in style by attending the Ad Club of Toronto's Plaid-Tidings party held at the Fifth Social Club. Check out our team all decked out in their best plaid attire. They say that when you spend a lot of time together you
- [How to image search effectively](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/11/25/how-to-image-search/) - “A picture is worth a thousand words”, and when it comes to capturing your audience’s attention, you want to take full advantage of every chance to communicate your message and the best way is through visuals. Studies show our brains not only process visuals faster, but they retain much more information when it’s delivered in
- [Are Search Results Becoming Platform-Agnostic?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/11/18/are-search-results-becoming-platform-agnostic/) - It was recently announced that Yahoo and Google have agreed on a new partnership that will allow search results from Google to appear on Yahoo. Although Google have been the undisputed leaders of the search market for years, could these interlinking platforms be a nod towards search results becoming platform-agnostic? The Deal Earlier this year
- [Google AdWords Latest Feature - Customer Match](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/11/03/google-adwords-latest-exciting-feature-customer-match/) - Customer Match has been recently launched by Google, and is designed to help reach the most highest-value customers on Google Search, YouTube and Gmail. The feature allows you to upload a list of email addresses and target these people with specific campaigns and ads. Google gives the following example to explain how it works: "Let's
- [Google's New Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/10/30/google-amp-accelerated-mobile-pages/) - AMP is a new open-source initiative aimed at helping pages load faster on mobile devices. It’s currently for publishers such as the Guardian or New York Times! However it could impact other publishers and maybe even blogs at a later date. You have to sign up to the program via an application process. The results
- [Target Branded Keywords Effectively](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/10/13/target-branded-keywords-effectively/) - As SEOs, we spend lots of time targeting generic keywords to gain more traffic to our websites. Sometimes though we should look towards branded terms to draw in potential customers. If a user searches for information about a brand and can’t find a search result providing specific details about the aspect of the business they
- [Case Study - Young's Beers - 184 Years of Tasty Brewing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/10/12/case-study-youngs-beers-tasty-brewing/) - We recently concluded a paid social media campaign for Young's Beers, one of our long-standing beer brands, to commemorate 184 years of tasty brewing. Young's Beers had kindly decided to offer their punters the opportunity to redeem a free pint within any of the participating Young's pubs and wanted to make the most of the opportunity by
- [Why You Should Start Using Schema.org Now](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/10/08/what-is-schema-org/) - At the beginning of September some uproar was caused in the SEO world when Google’s John Mueller stated that the search engine giant may add structured data mark-up as a ranking factor. He said: “If we can recognize someone is looking for a car, we can say oh well, we have these pages that are marked
- [Content syndication- Should we do it?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/09/30/content-syndication/) - Content syndication when done correctly, can be an effective way to help your reputation and visibility online. As digital marketing continues to grow and move into a space traditionally owned by publishers, they are likely to seek out best practices, tips and previous examples of what works and what hasn't. One method increase your audience
- [Working At A Digital Media Agency](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/09/23/working-at-a-digital-media-agency/) - Ever wondered what it’s like to work at a digital media agency? Well I’m here to shed a little light on it for you. It’s almost been two months since I started on the graduate scheme at Tug, who offer paid search, search engine optimisation, display and social media to clients. I’ve joined as part
- [Social Media Week London: the data](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/09/17/social-media-week-london-the-data/) - Hooray! It’s that time of year again where thousands of people descend on central London for Social Media Week. I made a personal stand not to attend this year’s events as I wanted to track the whole thing via… well… social media. I began pulling data on certain hashtags used throughout the event around one
- [The secrets of creative people and how to become more creative](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/09/16/the-secrets-of-creative-people-and-how-to-become-more-creative/) - The mysteries surrounding creative people are endless. We might imagine them painting an oil colour masterpiece in their chic Parisian apartment filled with clutter and antiques. After all, that is what they need to be creative or is it not? We also assume that creative people were born with a gift, a gift that seems
- [Collaborative Hustling for Musicians in the Social Media Age](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/08/31/collaborative-hustling-for-musicians-in-the-social-media-age/) - The original version of this post was originally published on Sonicbids in 2014. Brooklyn Doran is a digital executive at Tug Agency and a folk-musician based in Toronto, Ontario whose music is available worldwide via www.brooklyndoran.com Let’s face it. We All know the hustle. Sometimes we find ourselves trying to market our music more than
- [What's Important in SEO in 2015](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/08/25/whats-important-in-seo-in-2015-2/) - The Internet is constantly evolving and so too is Search Engine Optimisation. For a successful website it’s essential to keep up-to-date with these changes as ranking factors that may have been key last year might now have taken a back seat. As we enter the second half of 2015, here is a look at the
- [All New Insta-Ads!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/08/24/all-new-insta-ads/) - Tug is now able to advertise on Instagram! As the development uses the existing Facebook Business Manager to create, target, monitor and measure campaigns, it means that it is easier for small and large businesses to buy ads on the platform. So for us at Tug, this creates exciting opportunities to advertise our clients in
- [The Rise of the Emoji](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/08/11/the-rise-of-the-emoji/) - The emoji keyboard was first introduced on iOS in 2011 and has since transformed the way we communicate to each other. However, it existed long before that and was created by Shigetaka Kurita. In 1995, sales of pagers were booming among Japan’s teenagers, and NTT Docomo’s decision to add the heart symbol to its Pocket
- [Tug's Toronto Summer Party](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/07/28/tugs-toronto-summer-party/) - On Thursday June 23rd, the drinks were flowing, the music was pumping and on the rooftop patio of Mascot Brewery, Tug was hosting our first of many networking parties. In the middle of Toronto's summer heat, the best way to spend a Thursday evening is on a patio, and the newly opened Mascot Brewery rooftop
- [Pinterest: Not just a social network, it’s a “Catalogue of Ideas”](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/07/22/pinterest-not-just-a-social-network-its-a-catalogue-of-ideas/) - Social networks are undoubtedly a huge part of many people’s lives, a way to connect with others, share experiences and organise our hectic lives. Pinterest definitely covers all these bases and a little more… Founder and CEO Ben Silbermann describes Pinterest as a "catalogue of ideas", a tool to discover and inspire. At the Fortune
- [Protect Your Rankings when Switching to HTTPS](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/07/17/protect-your-rankings-when-switching-to-https/) - In recent times, you may have spotted more and more website URLs displayed as HTTPS rather than HTTP: HTTPS supplies webmasters with a securer data transfer protocol, more accurate analytics data, and a potential ranking boost in search engines, but there are several SEO dangers that need to be avoided when making the switch. HTTPS
- [How Virtual Reality will change the way we do content](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/07/09/how-virtual-reality-will-change-the-way-we-do-content/) - Virtual Reality is big right now. Oculus Rift, the headmount that allows you to interact with a computer-simulated reality will become accessible to the public in early 2016 priced at £350 initially. Making the product become more available to the public, will likely change the way we play computer games, watch films and what type
- [The Day Reddit Went Dark](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/07/03/reddit-goes-dark/) - Being a keen redditor, I was shocked this morning when I logged into Reddit to check my daily subs and the majority were set to private. It turns out overnight a large number of subreddits have gone into meltdown following the release of a Reddit member of staff named Victoria Taylor. Victoria was officially known
- [Why Content is a Waste of Time](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/07/03/content-waste-of-time/) - It all begins with the ‘why’. Ever caught yourself wondering: why am I reading this? Why am I writing this? If this sounds familiar, then it’s simple: you’re wasting your time. You’re wasting your resources, wasting your copywriter’s precious time, wasting your audience’s attention. Whatever went wrong – whether it was a half-formed idea, under-researched
- [The Death of the Written Word?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/07/03/written-word-whitepaper/) - The Death of the Written Word? With the internet awash in videos, images, infographics and other forms of data visualisation, it may seem like the age of the written word has gone. The common sentiment seems to be that visual content is the only way to get significant online results: people only want nice, pretty,
- [Excel Hacks - The tools that every PPC practitioner shouldn’t live without](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/07/03/5-excel-tools-ppc/) - Excel, all Digital practitioners live on it daily, but do we all know how powerful it really is? There are some amazing things you can do – from Macros, all the way down to conditional formatting. In this Whitepaper, I have chosen the top 5 tools which I feel all PPC practitioners should master to
- [The Story So Far on the Latest Google Panda Update](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/07/01/the-story-so-far-on-the-latest-google-panda-update/) - Anyone outside the SEO community may wonder why everyone in the SEO community is talking about pandas. We aren't all suddenly obsessed with the cuddly giants, although yes, they are adorable and worth discussing. We're talking about pandas because we're talking about Google's latest Panda update. A brief background on Panda: although Google is constantly making minor changes
- [A week of using Bing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/06/26/a-week-of-using-bing/) - What happens when you decide to set yourself the challenge of using Bing for a week instead of Google? It was an unmitigated failure to be honest. Not without want of trying, Google is so ingrained into the way that I interface with the web and information in general, that I would find myself defaulting
- [10 Things Every Blogger Needs To Start Getting Paid to Post](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/06/16/10-things-every-blogger-needs-to-start-getting-paid-to-post/) - Here at Tug Agency, we outreach to a variety of bloggers/vloggers to increase brand awareness for our clients as well as to boost SEO and social media statistics. Blogs are an excellent tool, because they link potential customers directly with an experience or opinion about the product, attraction or brand. I know for myself that
- [App Indexing – What Is It And and How Will It Change Search?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/06/10/app-indexing/) - Back in October 2013, Google announced app indexing, a new capability of Google Search which lets you index content from your Android app. Over 1.5 years after app indexing has been announced, we look at how it has developed since then and how it might change Search in the future. What is app indexing? According
- [The really big Big Trak](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/06/10/the-really-big-big-trak/) - If you want to admit your age we'll have a show of hands as to who remembers Big Trak ?! I vaguely remember my brother getting far too excited about a programmable electric vehicle that sort of resembled a tank in the early 80s. Big Trak could remember up to 16 commands (executed in sequence) plus
- [Advertising on Mobile & Smart Wearables](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/06/05/advertising-on-mobile-smart-wearables/) - Having acquired Instagram in 2012, an app that was once totally free of ads, Facebook has now revealed that it will be expanding its existing advertising offering on the photo-sharing site. Partner this with the ever-growing application of digitally enhanced or ‘smart’ wearables such as the Apple watch, and it’s clear that marketers will need
- [The Google Quality Update & What This Means](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/06/03/the-google-quality-update/) - Google have recently released a quality update which affects website rankings - Tug dug deeper in order to find out what this might mean for SEOs. Since the beginning of May a growing number of webmasters and SEOs reported to have noticed some significant changes in their search rankings. Despite Google denying any algorithm updates,
- [Google's Revolutionary Buy Button](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/05/28/googles-revolutionary-buy-button/) - Can Google get any better? It has just confirmed a quick and painless way for users to buy products they are lusting after. Google has officially confirmed the ‘buy button’! This button will give users the option to purchase a product without even having to visit another website, hopefully increasing the amount people buy online.
- [A Taste of Digital Competition with House of Fraser and Estrella Damm](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/05/28/a-taste-of-digital-competition-with-house-of-fraser-and-estrella-damm/) - Tonight TUG opens its doors to some of the best food bloggers our capital has to offer as we host an evening of digital talks and networking. We have talks from Eoin O’Neil, our SEO Director, and Simon Jenkins, our Social Media Director, as well as a special guest appearance from Ed Loftus, Executive Pastry
- [Utilising Location Bid Adjustments within Google AdWords](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/05/27/location-bid-adjustments/) - With the ever-expanding targeting and bid adjustment capabilities of Google AdWords, it’s fair to say that it can often be difficult to decide where to begin. It’s ok. Take a deep breath and let me take you for a ride through the wonderful world of Location Adjustments, most particularly the lesser known Household Income
- [A New Way To Discover Tweets](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/05/27/a-new-way-to-discover-tweets/) - Since Twitter and Google are back on good terms, have you noticed anything different in your search results? Well, if you live in the UK you wouldn’t have just yet, but if you live across the pond things have begun to shift, and you will soon find a new way of discovering tweets. A few
- [Stop Referrer Spam in Google Analytics](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/05/22/stop-referrer-spam-in-google-analytics/) - If you are a regular user of Google Analytics, it's highly likely that you've noticed what is known in the industry was "referrer spam". There are a number of prominent spam sites including semalt.com, buttons-for-website.com & see-your-website-here.com. This traffic is generated as a result of a bot in the hope that you will visit the
- [Have You Bean An Advertising Influencer?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/05/22/have-you-bean-an-advertising-influencer/) - This blog discusses the link between a Magic Bean and trending content on social media… Yes, I am aware this sounds outrageous! The book Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell) is a good place to start when thinking about influencers. Clark shoe shop were about to stop a brand of shoe being produced due to it not
- [Bing playing catch up with Google – Getting Closer!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/05/20/bing-playing-catch-up-with-google-getting-closer/) - Bing Ads have recently released a whole new raft of features aimed at catching up with the search engine behemoth that is Google. Rather being a complete overhaul these new updates are mostly focused on campaign management and insights, speeding up the ad creation process and creating an all-inclusive search offering. I’ve pulled out a
- [Eight CRO tools to assist optimisation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/05/15/eight-cro-tools-to-assist-optimisation/) - Using insights driven from SEO & PPC, we have been helping clients optimise their landing pages since our inception. The eco system has grown and developed substantially since I first entered the industry 7 years ago, ranging from the more well known Analytics tools to the lesser known user insight tools. The following are eight
- [Right to be Forgotten – Is Google Getting it Right?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/05/14/right-to-be-forgotten-is-google-getting-it-right/) - In May 2014, Google launched its Right to be Forgotten service allowing Europeans to request for personal data to be removed from its online search results. Google said it would be reviewing each request based on “privacy rights of the individual and the public’s right to know and distribute information”. They also stressed that these
- [TMall - The Hidden Ecommerce Giant](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/05/08/tmall-the-hidden-ecommerce-giant/) - I recently attended the House of Fraser partner engagement event at Wembley stadium, an event held once a year by the brand with the goal of bringing together stakeholders, partners and suppliers. The focus for this year’s event was, for obvious reasons, China and the company’s expansion into this highly competitive market. One of the
- [Responding to the earthquake in Nepal: Facebook shows us how it’s done](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/04/29/responding-to-the-earthquake-in-nepal-facebook-shows-us-how-its-done/) - Social media is widely viewed as a means of lightweight entertainment or a casual way to connect with friends but last weekend it caught my eye for a different reason. After the terrible earthquake in Nepal, I’m sure many of you were left concerned for loved ones travelling the surrounding area and you may have
- [From Online to IRL: How to Organise an Event for Social Influencers](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/04/27/from-online-to-irl-how-to-organise-an-event-for-social-influencers/) - Tug works closely with bloggers, and we are always trying to improve upon that relationship. We recently held a blogger event at our offices to share SEO and social media knowledge, as well as strengthen our ties to the blogging community. We will take you through what we learned along the way, and the benefits
- [Google accused of anti-competitive behaviour by EU](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/04/21/google-accused-of-anti-competitive-behaviour-by-eu/) - Google has been formally accused of abusing its dominant position to promote its own interests by the European Commission, including breaching competition rules by giving prominence to Google Shopping results over other links in relevant searches. Further allegations have also been made regarding the prominence given to YouTube, Google Maps, Google+ and other Google owned
- [What a Twitter redesign tells us about their future](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/04/16/what-a-twitter-redesign-tells-us-about-their-future/) - Twitter is beginning to roll out new a new homepage design in the US. The (currently) desktop-only transformation can actually give a real insight into the evolving direction of the tool. It seems Twitter is going through somewhat of a reinvention of identity at the moment. They recently dramatically changed the way in which they
- [Hot off the press. The Big Search Handbook, sponsored by Tug.](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/04/16/hot-off-the-press-the-big-search-handbook-sponsored-by-tug/) - We’re very proud to announce the release of IAB’s ‘Big Search Handbook’ sponsored by Tug. This handbook takes a look at new angles of Search, and the how to maximise business growth through this channel. As Dan Thwaites, CSO at Tug states in the foreword, one of the biggest risks in business is that we
- [Are you Average... or Beautiful?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/04/14/are-you-average-or-beautiful/) - Dove continues to empower women through the influence of marketing. Ever since the brand was set up 'True Beauty' has been a huge factor in their marketing scheme and this is no different in their new campaign. The message is 'Beauty is a choice - and the power of this choice is in your hands'.
- [Tug's Top Takeaways from BrightonSEO 2015](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/04/14/tugs-top-takeaways-from-brightonseo-2015/) - On a beautifully sunny Friday morning, the SEO team woke up earlier than usual and trekked down to Brighton. With the sun shining and the weekend within reach, the city was teeming with visitors - and surprisingly, most of them weren't headed towards the beach. They - like us - were in town for BrightonSEO
- [Channel 4 & Programmatic TV: Will it Work?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/04/08/channel-4-programmatic-tv-will-it-work/) - With 2015 being hailed the “year of video”, the rise in discussion of programmatic TV in recent months has been meteoric, with launches finally reaching the UK. Channel 4 announced recently that they were launching their own, programmatic-direct buy inventory on their Samsung TV app, YouView and Xbox services with the aim of expanding this
- [Voice Search: What It Is And How It Is Changing SEO](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/04/08/voice-search-what-it-is-and-how-it-is-changing-seo/) - Voice search is a tool that allows users to search by speaking into a computer or mobile phone. The voice recognition technology can translate the vocal sounds into search queries, meaning the user can search without having to use a keyboard. As the technology behind it is becoming more advanced and its use becomes more
- [Is 2015 the year of mobile?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/04/03/is-2015-the-year-of-mobile/) - Tug takes you on a journey through the years, and looks at how many times claims have been made about ‘the year of the mobile’ and why. Is it finally the year of the mobile? We breakdown why 2015 could actually be that year.
- [We are live… please don’t swear!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/03/30/we-are-live-please-dont-swear/) - On Wednesday March 25th, I went along to #TwitterStrories at Camden’s Roundhouse. Formally Twitter4Brands, this (near enough) annual event is a celebration of the platform's creativity, innovation and application. As we’ve come to expect with Twitter, the event is remarkably slick with a varied lineup of speakers from Twitter itself as well as brands and
- [Tips & Tools That Will Help You Master Your Time Management](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/03/24/tips-tools-that-will-help-you-master-your-time-management/) - Personally, I am the opinion that time management is one of the most important skills to possess when working in SEO or any other target-led job. In SEO no day is like the other and we are sometimes faced with a massive work load that requires some serious skills to manage. Fact. The following introduces
- [It’s My Data And I’ll Target If I Want To – Or Is Someone Else’s Better?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/03/18/its-my-data-and-ill-target-if-i-want-to-or-is-someone-elses-better/) - Earlier today myself and Tug’s Head of Biddable Media Ollie, gave a keynote presentation at the IAB on realising the potential of data enhanced targeting and it got me thinking – is third party data really relevant in the current state of the industry? Especially when there seems to be a greater push on getting
- [Don’t panic – Facebook Page Likes will be decreasing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/03/16/dont-panic-facebook-page-likes-will-be-decreasing/) - Administrators of Facebook Pages are likely to witness a decrease of Page Likes (or fan numbers) over the next few weeks. Facebook announced earlier this month that as of March 12th 2015 they are looking to close ‘certain’ user accounts. As we’ve come to expect with Facebook, there is a particular amount of ambiguity around
- [Come Fly with Google](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/03/12/come-fly-with-google/) - Is it a bird, is it a plane, no its Google flight search and its pretty darn good. Although this is not a new thing for the Americans, it has finally been rolled out into Europe and could have a huge impact on Flight related search. Here are my top 5 favourite functionalities: 1:
- [Bing Releasing Device Targeting Changes 2015](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/03/10/bing-releasing-device-targeting-changes-2015/) - Its official, Bing have set a date on when they are rolling out their new Device Targeting changes: March 23rd 2015! That’s right, this month! Below is an overview of what they are going to offer in comparison to Google; The most obvious difference from what Google released was that with Bing, bid modifiers are
- [Google’s latest VR Experience - Google Cardboard](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/03/06/googles-latest-vr-experience-google-cardboard/) - Over the last two days, Nick Beck, our CEO, and Dave Porter, Tug's Business Director, were lucky enough to attend the Export@Google event in Dublin. Naturally, they were kind enough to bring us back some treats including Google’s latest virtual reality experience – Google Cardboard. What is it? Basically, this nifty creation allows you to
- [Moz vs. Majestic – which is the better tool?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/03/06/moz-vs-majestic-which-is-the-better-tool/) - Simply put: both Moz and Majestic are great tools for SEO. However, during my research, I tried to look at different aspects of SEO and realised that both tools have advantages over the other when used for different tasks in your day-to-day SEO activity. Majestic SEO Majestic SEO is one of the classic SEO tools
- [Utilizing the Wayback Machine for SEO](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/03/02/utilizing-the-wayback-machine-for-seo/) - The Wayback Machine from the non-profit Internet Archive organization is one of the coolest tools that I use on a regular basis. The tool isn't intended for SEO but you can use it for search engine optimization with great results. Brief History of the Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the
- [Slow and Steady Does Not Win the Race...](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/02/27/redlabel/) - Attention website owners: Google is reportedly introducing a red warning label in the search results for websites that take a long time to load. On Tuesday, Google+ user K Neeraj Kayastha posted a screenshot of an Android search where 2 of the websites included appeared with red “Slow” labels underneath the title: The label appears
- [Are your Ads Relevant? Well Facebook can now tell you!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/02/12/are-your-ads-relevant-well-facebook-can-now-tell-you/) - Facebook are changing the world of advertising forever by creating a new tool that will help advertisers compete for expensive and scarce ad slots. However, unlike before, the tool will be able to say how relevant an advertisers ads are to their target market - making sure that ad space is not being wasted. This
- [Google To Launch Mobile Ranking Algorithm?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/02/11/google-to-launch-mobile-ranking-algorithm/) - It goes without saying that mobile usability is a must for websites in 2015. However, there is now one more reason to make your website mobile-friendly. Google is thought to be in the process of creating a mobile ranking algorithm, which would factor in mobile usability when ranking websites in the mobile search. Which would
- [Upgraded URLs](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/02/10/upgraded-urls/) - One of the ongoing frustrations we encounter as PPC specialists is losing the months of hard earned data following updates to destination URL tracking. When using value tracking parameters or a 3rd party tracking service, these changes are all too frequent. A work around to this is creating duplicate ads with new URLs, however this
- [Google and Twitter's New Deal: The Lowdown and Potential Impact](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/02/06/google-and-twitters-new-deal-the-lowdon-and-potential-impact/) - It has been reported on Bloomberg that Google have struck a deal with Twitter to allow them to index tweets immediately after they are published. This reignites a deal which ended without renewal in 2011. Currently, Google does a decent job of crawling Twitter to find popular tweets but does not have the capabilities to
- [The importance of Instagram for brands in 2015](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/02/06/the-importance-of-instagram-for-brands-in-2015/) - Instagram is No.1! The dawn of 2015 saw Instagram overtake Twitter in the on-going social media popularity contest. Drawing in over 300 million users every month, Instagram is now the channel for brands to watch, with Twitter missing out on the heavyweight title by a substantial 16 million users. What makes Instagram great? As
- [TugTalks Presents: Stylish SEO](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/02/04/tugtalks/)
- [Can an Individual Catch a Specific Companies Eye?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/01/27/can-an-individual-catch-a-specific-companies-eye/) - The advertising world is renowned for being hard to crack. Creative individuals (who wish to join this industry) are constantly looking for new, eye catching and talent flaunting ways to just get an interview at these creative businesses! In the past social media billboards seemed to be the most favoured: This may still work,
- [How to Produce Amazing Content in 2015](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/01/21/how-to-produceamazing-content-in-2015/) - Although January is quickly drawing to a close and the whole 'new-year-new-me' thing is getting a bit old, 2015 is still in many ways a blank page, waiting to be filled with innovation. This metaphor is especially appropriate when talking about content production - this new year is the perfect opportunity to really take the
- [Ikea's Fantastical Idea](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/01/20/ikeas-fantastical-idea/) - Other retailers would usually object to scribbling and doodling all over their catalogue, however, when one British illustrator did this to Ikea's, the largely successful business welcomed the idea. Sarah Horne, a British illustrator, used the Ikea Catalogue as a canvas for all her creative and magical ideas, depicting fantastical scenes of mythical creatures in
- [4 Ways SEO Changed In 2014](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/01/15/4-ways-seo-changed-in-2014/) - The Christmas holidays are over, and 2015 has officially begun. But first, let’s take a look at what happened last year. The world of SEO is fast-paced field which is constantly changing, and 2014 was no exception. So without further ado, here are 4 ways SEO changed in 2014: Mobile Optimisation Became A Necessity 2014
- [Introduction to Ad Fraud](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/01/13/introduction-to-ad-fraud/) - Ad Fraud is one of the most prevalent problems within programmatic advertising at the moment; and with the use of programmatic only becoming more widespread, it’s becoming more and more of a problem. The Association of National Advertisers in the US predicted that $6.3billion of losses in ad revenue will be made by advertisers worldwide
- [Social Media Brand Ambassadors](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/01/09/social-media-brand-ambassadors/) - The term ‘social media ambassador’ has gained traction recently and is set to make even more waves in 2015. For those of you scratching your heads over this term, a social media ambassador (SMBA) is someone who represents and champions a company in a positive way. They are someone who embodies the brand, providing credible
- [Facebook's first purchase of the year](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2015/01/08/facebooks-first-purchase-of-the-year/) - Facebook, as of January 6th, has already made their first purchase of the year in the form of Wit.ai. The exact purpose of the speech recognition start up company is unclear as of yet but largely could be used to help Facebook's 1.35 billion users connect verbally and is thought to challenge Apple’s Siri and
- [Eastside Educational Trust and Tug- Encouraging young Londoners digital futures.](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/12/22/eastside-educational-trust-and-tug-encouraging-young-londoners-digital-futures/) - This December, Tug has joined heads with a great organisation called Eastside Educational Trust. Our main aim is to provide our digital expertise and reach out to young men and women who are interested in our sector, hopefully encouraging them to choose digital as a professional path in the future. In a nutshell, the Eastside
- [The Marriage of Spotify and Uber - Your Ride. Your Music.](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/12/04/the-marriage-of-spotify-and-uber-your-ride-your-music/) - Transport to any party, event, club or dinner is often somewhat of a conundrum. Drive.. but then you can’t enjoy a drink. Hmmm, get the tube and then you can’t stay too late – does it even go to where you are heading? It’s become more and more common for people to grab an Uber.
- [Tis the season....](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/12/03/tis-the-season/) - ……for making sure your YOY analytics are working Why now? January is soon to be upon us and 2015 data will start to pour inYou may now have almost a whole year to look back on This might show you your seasonal patterns This might show key moments in the year Frankly, if you have
- [Google and the Physical Web](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/11/26/google-and-the-physical-web/) - In early October Google announced a new project which they have called “The Physical Web”. In their statement this is how they have described the project. This is a new experimental project from Google but it could change the way we as users interact with the search engine as well as how we optimise for
- [Changes for PPC in 2015?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/11/20/changes-for-ppc-in-2015/) - With Christmas adverts decking our halls.. not only does it signal the start of the festive season, but also 2015 (woo)! With the New Year comes new things and PPC is not excluded from this trend! Since the beginning of 2014 there has been a gentle rumble that mobiles will become more important in PPC
- [How to come up with content ideas](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/11/19/content-ideas/) - The internet has a plethora of content being published every day which can make coming up ideas difficult, let alone standing out. However, if you get the right type of content it can spread like wildfire and be shared socially across the globe. You just need to know how to come up with the ideas
- [The Battle Of The Christmas Ads](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/11/13/thebattleofthechristmasads/) - Although it's November, Christmas is coming and we all know it. However, it's not because the calendar months are going incredibly fast, or the weather is getting increasingly colder, it's all down to those festive Christmas Adverts we see on TV or that are plastered across the internet. This is the time of year for
- [Analysing the Google Heat Map for 2014](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/11/06/analysing-the-google-heat-map-for-2014/) - Google's algorithm has changed dramatically since 2005, but there hasn't been a comprehensive study into user behaviour since. Recently, Mediative undertook that task and discovered some important changes to the way that users interact with a SERP which may have a profound impact on the way that Paid Search managers view their ad performance. In
- [John Lewis unveils Monty the penguin](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/11/06/john-lewis-unveils-monty-the-penguin/) - Yes it's that time of year again when John Lewis introduces their new Christmas advert! This year however they have taken it a step further. To go alongside their advert, John Lewis have also introduced two new tech innovations. The first of which is in partnership with Microsoft and is called "Monty's Magical Toy Machine
- [Google’s New Sitesearch Box: Valuable Tool or Cool New Toy?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/11/05/googles-new-sitesearch-box-valuable-tool-or-cool-new-toy/) - The way some people avidly follow tabloids – celebrity feuds, inappropriate outfits, and who Kanye has offended recently – that’s the way we at Tug follow Google. Each update sends us off into the blogosphere, as we research the latest and how the intended targets and possible consequences could affect us and (more importantly) our
- [How Important Are Nofollow Links Really to your Linkbuilding Campaign?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/10/17/how-important-are-nofollow-links-really-to-your-linkbuilding-campaign/) - Any SEO who’s worked on a link building campaign for a client certainly has experienced the following at some point: You found this awesome site and you secured a partnership with the blogger who agreed to publish your content including a link back to your client’s website. YEEESSSS!!! You are checking your emails about a
- [The Skinny: Events + Social.](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/10/02/the-skinny-events-social/) - There were heaps of great talks during last week’s Social Media Week but one that really resonated with me was a talk about ‘marrying social with events’ which was hosted by Eventbrite UK. The powerful impact of a live event one physically attends, in combination with the far reaching tentacles of social media is a
- [Top Takeaways from Brighton SEO](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/10/01/10836-2/) - 1. From Search to Personalisation - Predictions for the future of search are that Google aims to move away from a search based engine and towards personalisation. This means that Google will aim to display the appropriate information to a specific user at the appropriate time. Google is building up a vault of data to
- [#TwitterWorks](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/09/25/twitterworks/) - As expected from Twitter, I arrive at a rather stunning hotel tucked away in the backstreets of Piccadilly. You can usually spot a Social Media event by the guy on his iPhone8 stood outside the venue wearing Google Glass, some skinny jeans and sporting an enviable moustache. Welcome to #TwitterWorks. This is actually Twitter’s first
- [How to Combine Your PPC and Social Media Efforts](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/09/23/how-to-combine-your-ppc-and-social-media-efforts/) - With Social Media Week running this week from September 22nd - 26th and social media now one of the most influential parts of any internet marketing campaign, I found it fitting to write a post on the importance of integration between both your PPC and your social media efforts. These two diverse approaches can work side
- [What to expect from Social Media Week?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/09/19/what-to-expect-from-social-media-week/) - Social Media Week is back this September, running in 11 cities across the world. In such a fast-moving industry, Social Media Week often acts as an ironic welcome rest, giving us time to carefully consider where we are and what’s next. The ever-growing schedule has now been fully released. The schedule alone and the titles
- [What to do with Close Variant Keyword Matching](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/09/15/what-to-do-with-close-variant-keyword-matching/) - With people not being perfect spellers or typists, in fact at least 7% of Google searches contain a misspelling! For this reason, Google announced they’re going to apply close variant keyword matching to all exact and phrase match keywords from September onwards. With this update, you no longer have to build exhaustive lists of misspelled,
- [9 SEO tips for the social media profiles of your business](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/09/11/9-seo-tips-for-the-social-media-profiles-of-your-business/) - Aligning on-page elements of your social media profiles with your overall content strategy is important for SEO. Google uses signals from your social media profiles for the ranking algorithm so your social media profiles need to be optimised in much of the same way as the homepage of your business. Below are some SEO tips
- [Benefits of Google Call Tracking for Adwords](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/09/10/benefits-of-google-call-tracking-for-adwords/) - Last week Google announced the release of their basic call tracking solution for AdWords. Google will now show unique phone numbers on AdWords landing pages based on the visitor’s session. Basically, every visitor will see a different phone number on the AdWords landing page. What Google is offering is session-based call tracking for AdWords only.
- [How many people saw my Tweets…?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/09/03/how-many-people-saw-my-tweets/) - Social Media has long been, and will continue to be, shrouded by a blanket of uncertainty when reporting. There are so many metrics that one can report on, that an analysis of a campaign can lose its focus. In recent years, more and more metrics have been added to a report and clients hear the
- [How Callout Extensions Provide Value](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/09/02/how-callout-extensions-provide-value/) - The term “Callout Extensions” refers to another line of text in between your description lines and your site links. Ok but how can they benefit me?! Although they can't be clicked, they do allow you to provide more valuable information about your product or service in an ad. Callout Extensions essentially give your ad more
- [Auto-Tagging of Destination URLs in Bing Ads](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/08/29/auto-tagging-of-destination-urls-in-bing-ads/) - Finally at long last Bing Ads have enabled auto-tagging of destination URLs so that you can track your paid search campaign performance in analytics programs, such as Google Analytics. Their auto-tagging feature is being launched in the web user interface (UI) and API at the account level. This reduces the time it takes to manually
- [Tug's Blogger & Small Biz Event a Success!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/08/26/tugs-blogger-small-biz-event-a-success/) - Last Thursday, Tug's SEO team hosted our second knowledge sharing evening attended by bloggers and small business owners. Attendees were excited to learn more about SEO and the team was keen to meet the enthusiastic group. We kicked off the evening with refreshments and a few one-to-one workshops for bloggers who signed up in advance.
- [#ShoreditchGraffiti Pick Of The Week](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/08/20/shoreditchgraffiti-pick-of-the-week/) - London based artist Lakwena is responsible for this beautiful barrage of colour located on Holywell Lane in Shoreditch. Talented Lakwena’s inspiration is ‘the human instinct for adornment and embellishment’ which is clearly evident in this mood lifting mural. Shoreditch has followed this philosophy effortlessly for years, with vibrant, surprising and entertaining works of street
- [Facebook to stop fan-gating](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/08/19/facebook-to-stop-fan-gating/) - Barely a month goes by without Facebook making some sort of policy change. It’s always nice to wake up to (ironically) your Twitter feed clogged with profanities about Facebook’s latest alteration to their terms of use. Often these policy alterations are aimed at developers and only slightly impact a brand by association. However, last week,
- [Review Extensions: Top of Mind Awareness in the Generic Ad Space](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/08/15/review-extensions-top-of-mind-awareness-in-the-generic-ad-space/) - I often wonder how as humans, more of us don’t spontaneously combust as a result of total sensory overload. When we aren’t subconsciously consuming advertising messages through our surroundings such as our morning breakfast cereal box or our ad-plastered subway commute, we [voluntarily] plug into what is arguably the largest advertising mechanism out there: the
- [Staying creative in a data driven world](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/08/14/staying-creative-in-a-data-driven-world/) - Traditionally in the bygone era of Madison Avenue style advertising, the “big idea” has always sat the heart of campaigns, with the emphasis being on the mass audiences without any real way of achieving granular targeting. Since then, Algorithms, machine learning and data targeting within digital advertising opened up huge efficiencies for digital marketers and
- [Landing Pages, Are They Important?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/08/05/landing-pages-guide/) - What's the first thought that crosses your mind when you hear Landing Page? PPC, paid advertisement, no? Well what If I told you it also works for organic traffic! Shocker isn't it, I'll walk you through a few tips that can help you get slightly better rankings, more relevance and most importantly CONVERSIONS!
- [Expedia launch new SM campaign - ‘ Travel Yourself Interesting’](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/07/31/expedia-launch-new-sm-campaign-travel-yourself-interesting/) - For many summertime is a chance to pack your bags, travel to a foreign land and begin a new adventure. It’s the perfect time to explore the world and become a little more ‘cultured’. Playing on this idea Expedia have recently launched a new Facebook campaign, which celebrates the notion that each time you travel
- [They think it’s all over...](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/07/31/they-think-its-all-over/) - Yesterday marked the 48th anniversary since the England team, led by Bobby Moore lifted the World Cup on home soil in 1966. It seems tragic to think that this is the only slice of World Cup pie we can feed on, despite the fact it happened 22 years before I was born. Oh well, chin
- [#AskCostolo](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/07/30/askcostolo/) - I imagine the vast majority of the newly reported 271 million monthly Twitter users are unaware of the dramas that have occurred behind closed doors since that business's birth in 2006. Considering the platform’s absolute essence is about transparency and communication, over the years Twitter and its growing army of so called founders and key
- [SEO & PR Workshop for Small Businesses and Bloggers](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/07/29/seo-pr-workshop-for-small-businesses-and-bloggers/) - Following the success of our last blogger event, we've decided to bring it back this summer and take it up a notch! Do you have a website or blog and keep hearing about search engine optimisation (SEO) but not really sure how to do it? Are you getting e-mails from agencies "on behalf" of
- [Google End Image Extensions For Search Ads](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/07/25/google-end-image-extensions-for-search-ads/) - It has been revealed that Image Extensions for Google PPC Ads, which were released as a Beta in June 2013, will be bought to an end on August 1st. These extensions provided three images above a PPC ad when in the top position, and provided a more visually engaging way for customers to interact with
- [72 Takeaways from the Content Marketing Show 2014](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/07/25/72-takeaways-from-the-content-marketing-show-2014/) - We had a great day spent at the Content Marketing Show put on by Rough Agenda - the folks behind Brighton SEO. It was my second time at the event while my colleagues Verena and Carlo were there for the first time. They were quite pleased with the event and I felt like it held
- [The biggest change in Journalism... since the pen](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/07/25/the-biggest-change-in-journalism-since-the-pen/) - The atrocities in Eastern Ukraine last week were truly horrific to watch. Our TV screens have now, for 6 days been portraying the enormous devastation, speculation and finger pointing. As can be expected with anything of this scale and gravitas, the world of Social Media has also contributed to the assumptions, anger and general commentary.
- [Brand New Foursquare, coming to a Smartphone near you!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/07/24/brand-new-foursquare-coming-to-a-smartphone-near-you/) - As a loyal Foursquare user with over 5,000 check-ins under my belt, I have been through a lot with the location based social network and local search app. But it’s not just the heated battles to be mayor of the office, or the competitions with strangers to be mayor of the local pub; Foursquare has
- [Heineken, @wherenext](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/07/18/heineken-wherenext/) - '@wherenext is Heineken’s latest social venture, designed to unite its audience in the urban pursuit of knowledge through their ‘Cities of the World’ campaign. By tweeting @wherenext followed by a location, users are sent a number of potential venues and a link to a mobile site carrying images and reviews. By using a unique algorithm
- [Social Media: one big review platform](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/07/17/social-media-one-big-review-platform/) - New research from BrightLocal suggests that 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. This is potentially great news for amusements / attractions; an area that traditionally benefited massively from word of mouth. My personal view is that the line between online review sites and Social Media is blurring. Instinctively as we
- [PPC Boosts Brand Awareness By Over 6%](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/07/14/ppc-boosts-brand-awareness-by-over-6/) - It is clear to see the advantages that paid search brings to direct response campaigns as the results of pre-determined KPIs are easily measurable. Brand awareness campaigns on the other hand, which are typically measured by impressions and clicks, do not represent the number of people who remember your brand after seeing an ad (if
- [SEO Takeaways from the 2014 World Cup](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/07/11/seo-takeaways-from-the-2014-world-cup/) - What a World Cup it’s been so far...! And with two of the biggest teams in the world facing each other in the final this weekend, the biggest match is still to come... With the world-wide biggest sporting event almost being over, it is about time to see what useful points SEOs and content specialists
- [Dot UK Domains. What does it mean for existing UK sites?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/06/23/dot-uk-domains-what-does-it-mean-for-existing-uk-sites/) - So the .co.uk domain has been the top domain for UK business for a while. However as of the June 2014 the new .uk domain suffix is now available to all UK businesses. Many other countries have had a similar more simplified domain suffix for a while, such as .de in Germany or .fr in
- [Insight Into your Website's Usability](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/06/19/insight-into-your-websites-usability/) - UX. It's the new acronym on every digital marketer's lips. UX, or user experience, means taking into account the person who will be interacting with your product, service, and website. Apparently, it's the new SEO. In reality, it's just another way to optimise your website - but rather than doing so for search engines, it's
- [Real Time Branding – useless fantasy or the Holy Grail of display?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/06/19/real-time-branding-useless-fantasy-or-the-holy-grail-of-display/) - The arrival of addressable media buying and demand side platforms within display advertising, sewed the seed of scale and efficiency within the brains of marketers which ultimately allowed them to buy display banners using a search model and heavily focusing on reaching users online, with the hopes of driving them to a point of conversion.
- [MOZ bar reinvention overshadows 2014 World Cup](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/06/13/moz-bar-reinvention-overshadows-2014-world-cup/) - This week’s blog post aims to outline how you can use the full capabilities of the new MOZ toolbar to improve your day to day SEO processes. I have shamelessly used World Cup related screen shots to demonstrate the new MOZ bars capabilities, but also to pre-empting the inevitable surge in World Cup related search
- [Is Paid Search Worth it?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/06/13/is-paid-search-worth-it/) - Does paid advertising on Google work? Apparently not, according to Ebay, who are one of many big businesses who have decided there is not enough value in running paid advertisements. Every day, companies spend huge sums on marketing their products online, however is it true that money is being spent on customers who click through a
- [Social Trend: Have you heard of Hidden Cash?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/06/13/social-trend-have-you-heard-of-hidden-cash/) - The UK has now received its own version of Hidden Cash, an “anonymous social experiment”. The premise is that an anonymous benefactor has placed envelopes with cash hidden in random locations, even in bins! Those looking to find the ‘moolah’ are provided clues via Twitter. The treasure hunt started last month using the following handle
- [The New Google Updates](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/06/03/the-new-google-updates/) - Google first launched their Payday Loan Algorithm last June and it’s been expected that a second update would follow for some time. This update is intended to specifically target ‘very spammy queries’ which typically get associated with excessive web spam, primarily payday loans, insurance, accident claims and the like. You’ll almost certainly be familiar with
- [Wordeo: the restricted creative’s best friend](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/06/02/wordeo-the-restricted-creatives-best-friend/) - At a time when people seem to be having sleepless nights about ‘Facebook ZERO’ the pressure is on to create engaging content. The phrase ‘engaging’ content is in itself a slight mystery. In the world of Social, the word ‘engaging’ gets passed around so much that eventually it begins to lose all meaning. “How many
- [PPC Optimisation Challenge](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/05/30/ppc-optimisation-challenge/) - Rarely does a PPC advertiser come into work for a relaxing day at the office, it just doesn't happen. Whether you've got meetings up to your ears, stayed up a little too late the night before, there will accounts that will need to be optimised. Some days there will be hours to spare to have
- [Social Media and TV... it's a bit good isn't it?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/05/21/social-media-and-tv-its-a-bit-good-isnt-it/) - In April 2013 I attended (the now legendary… mainly for the drinks afterwards) Twitter4Brands event in South London. For those of you that don’t know it, it’s an event held by Twitter where some of their top guys (Bruce Daisley - UK MD, Oli Snoddy – Head of Planning, Tony Wang – VP) give selected
- [Birds Eye Pop-up Restaurant - Pay the bill with your Pictures!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/05/16/birds-eye-pop-up-restaurant-pay-the-bill-with-your-pictures/) - Who wants a free lunch? – That of course is a rhetorical question! Social Media marketing campaigns can be surprising, both in a good and bad way. I don’t know anyone who would say no to a free lunch; so already the brains behind this campaign from Birds Eye are onto a cracking idea! Birds
- [Using Location to Improve Search Ad Relevance](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/05/07/using-location-to-improve-search-ad-relevance/) - As many advertisers are aware, customer location is very important when implementing PPC campaigns. With location targeting and extensions becoming ever more important, Google confirmed yesterday that '4 out of 5 consumers say they want search ads to be customised to their city, post code or immediate surroundings'. This stat came from a study commissioned by
- [Social Media: the new playground](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/04/29/social-media-the-new-playground/) - Having grown up in the 90's, I experienced the launch (often short-lived) of some of the most iconic toys. There was a time when the biggest symbol of social status was the Yoyo you owned. I owned an 'X-brain' and as such was the envy of my street... Little did they know that I
- [Game of Drones: Battle of the Internet Giants](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/04/29/game-of-drones-battle-of-the-internet-giants-2/) - It appears lately that two Internet Giants have found a new toy to play with, ‘solar powered drones’. These latest high tech toys are all making headlines with Google and Facebook both battling out in competition to become the first to beam down Internet to the world from the sky above. Google Google last month
- [Video Optimisation is all about YouTube! Right?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/04/24/video-optimisation-is-all-about-youtube-right/) - YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world. However video optimisation is about so much more than just tagging a video in YouTube. It is important to ask some key questions about your use of video and where you are putting it before you jump on the YouTube bandwagon. Is video always right?
- [Kenshoo Halogen - The new predictive media optimisation tool](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/04/11/kenshoo-halogen-the-new-predictive-media-optimisation-tool/) - Tuesday 8th April, global software company Kenshoo announced the availability of their latest optimisation tool, Halogen. This new modelling engine will allow advertisers to more accurately forecast campaign potential and their ability to meet specific outlined goals and objectives. So how does it work exactly? Kenshoo Halogen is designed to work with Kenshoo's advanced targeting
- [Twitter redesign – or is it just a plagiarism of Facebook?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/04/10/twitter-redesign-or-is-it-just-a-plagiarism-of-facebook/) - The social media platform, Twitter, has recently undergone a redesign which was initially launched in February and will be gradually rolled out to all users in the coming weeks. Cover images are now full width along the top of the screen much like Facebook’s profile design, with the main image sitting on the left hand-side.
- [Tug crashes London Coffee Festival 2014](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/04/04/tug-crashes-london-coffee-festival-2014/) - Flicking through the metro this week I came across an ad for The London Coffee Festival and as a recent coffee convert (due to the impressive array of boutique coffee shops in the EC2 area) I deemed it an un-missable event. The festival was only a 10 minute walk from Tug HQ, so a group of
- [Why Search Agencies Need an In-House Content Creator](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/03/27/in-house-content-creation/) - I did a quick search of agencies that advertise that they create content in-house. Besides content marketing agencies, most don't mention whether they have copywriters, developers or designers in-house. This is something that clients want to know that you have. They should know that a large part of the content you're creating is being done
- [50 Reasons Why Twitter Has Made Your Life Better](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/03/21/twitter-tips-made-your-life-better/) - Happy Birthday Twitter! It was 2011 when Tania, a social media entrepreneur from Brazil, introduced me to this great tool. Not everybody knew about it, but thanks to TV, magazines, coffee shops and celebrities, this social medium has become popular. To mark this anniversary, here’s a list of 50 Reasons why I love Twitter and
- [US Desktop Search Spend Set to Decline in 2014 as Mobile Grows](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/03/18/us-desktop-search-spend-set-to-decline-in-2014-as-mobile-grows/) - New data from emarketer.com suggests that desktop search ad spend is set to decline by $1.4 billion in 2014, a 9.4% decrease in comparison to 2013. However, mobile search ad spend is forecast to continue to rise with a 82.3% increase year on year. This means mobile search ad spend in 2014 is set to
- [Tug Spring Party!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/03/13/tug-spring-party/) - We are hosting a party here at Tug, to usher in the springtime, up on our rooftop terrace overlooking Shoreditch on Thursday 27th March. There will be live art from the amazing Pete Fowler who will be creating a bespoke mural for us, while we dance to Marshmellow Mike on the decks, who will be
- [Heard of Whisper?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/03/13/9891-2/) - Dubbed "the anti-Facebook” by magazines such as Business Insider and Forbes, Whisper is the smartphone application available on iOS & Android, that provides users a forum to anonymously send and receive messages. The types of messages that are posted are displayed as a text over an image, in fact at first they look a lot
- [The world wide web turns 25](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/03/10/www-turns-twenty-fiv/) - The World Wide Web turned 25 years old this weekend and in the years since it was invented by Tim Berner's-Lee, it has fundamentally changed humanity and our relationship with technology. The Guardian's Technology section detailed a list of 25 things that you might not know about the web to celebrate. They including the following interesting
- [Save the Date!  Tug Penthouse Party](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/03/10/save-the-date-tug-penthouse-party/) - To celebrate our awesome penthouse space at the top of our Shoreditch offices, Tug are throwing a Live Art event and party, with DJ sets, on Thursday 27th March from 6pm. More details to follow - save the date, clear your diaries, it's going to be EPIC.....
- [Facebook rolls out Re-targeting](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/03/07/facebook-rolls-out-re-targeting/) - This exciting new feature is an expansion of Custom Audiences that allows advertisers to re-target users who visited a Website or Mobile App. An advertiser can re-target customers regardless of their original touch point on both mobile and desktop with any type of ad available on the platform. For example if you were an online shoe
- [Repurposing Videos for your Outreach](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/02/28/repurposing-videos-for-your-outreach/) - Recently Rand Fishkin wrote an article about promoting websites brands without content. Good post and great insights as usual. However, many brands use interesting content such as videos as valuable assets to engage with online communities and improve off-site online visibility. If you haven't already, look at a branded YouTube channel and see what's to
- [How to Write a Content Brief that Doesn't Suck - Or That Gets Results](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/02/26/how-to-write-a-content-brief-that-doesnt-suck-or-that-gets-results/) - SEOs have heard it x million times: Content is King. And if I hear it again, my head is going to explode. "Create content that people love and want to share!" "A great idea means great content and even greater reach!" I'm sick of hearing it because, well, it's hardly true any more. Content has
- [Nokia Shocks with New Android Phone Range](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/02/24/nokia-shocks-with-new-android-phone-range/) - The Finnish smartphone maker, Nokia are well known for their quality hardware. A few years ago, Nokia announced plans to revamp it's smartphone range by introducing a new OS on it's hardware. This excited many Android fans with the possibility of Nokia's quality hardware mixed with Google's OS. Many were left disappointed when Nokia decided
- [‘We all need silly stuff’, and here’s one!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/02/21/we-all-need-silly-stuff-and-heres-one/) - Music, cats, and a little girl. The three magic ingredients for a successful ad by the looks of things! I came across the new Three ad and, I’ve got to be honest, it got me rocking on a Friday afternoon. Truth be told, you can almost imagine the creative process behind this ‘viral’ approach: a
- [Social Media: It’s Getting Personal](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/02/20/social-media-its-getting-personal/) - As more brands realize that social media marketing isn’t an option any longer but a necessity, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to rise above the noise and stand out amongst competitors. Brands are finding that they need to go the extra mile to effectively connect with their fans and make their mark within the social media
- [Social media & e-commerce, two become one?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/02/14/social-media-e-commerce-two-become-one/) - Who said social media channels aren’t built for payment transactions? Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) recently illustrated how customers’ payments can now be processed through their social media channels. Passengers are now able to book a ticket, an upgrade or add extra baggage via KLM’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. In fact the implementation of this payment
- [Remarketing Lists For Search Ads: A Beginners' Guide](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/02/07/remarketing-lists-for-search-ads-a-beginners-guide/) - Remarketing Lists For Search Ads (or RLSA for short) were made available to all Adwords users in 2013 after a successful beta, and have proven to be useful for a number of Tug’s PPC campaigns. RLSA allows you to use remarketing audiences to influence how PPC ads appear for users who have previously visited your
- [The Instagram for Asking Questions](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/02/07/the-instagram-for-asking-questions/) - Have you used Jelly yet? It's a mobile app that lets you ask questions to your friends and extended circle of friends. Simple take a picture or frame a question about a topic you wouldn't ordinarily ask a search engine and watch the socially-sourced responses pour in. Currently there are only a few brands using the service,
- [Large Video SERP in Google](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/02/06/large-video-serp-in-google/) - It appears that Google is once again testing large video thumbs in their SERP. In this example it is for songs that have videos: Interestingly the placement looks a bit like you can play the video within the SERP (clicking in fact takes you through to YouTube). If this did develop into video plays in
- [What’s the buzz in Social Meed-ya this week?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/02/06/whats-the-buzz-in-social-meed-ya-this-week/) - Was it Twitter’s share price taking a tumble? Or Facebook announcing that Q4 2013 was their biggest ever quarter for advertising spend? Or is the news that it was 10 years to the date that a lowly Harvard student launched a social network in his dorm room that is now worth approximately $157 billion and
- [Youtube to start auditing video views](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/02/05/youtube-to-start-auditing-video-views/) - Youtube today announced that they have started to "audit" the number of views that a video receives. The decision is based around the problem of users artificially inflating their view counts, which Youtube claim, mislead people about the popularity of a video. Viewers have in the past been warned against generating views through automated means
- [Facebook at 10 Years Old](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/02/04/facebook-at-10-years-old/) - The largest social network on the planet steps into its tenth year today, heading well out of infancy and fast towards adulthood. It's impact on society, communications and marketing has been huge and varied. The company has survived an IPO "flop", multiple class-action law suits, concerns that it causes depression and destroys marriages to see its monthly
- [Why Are People Making Such a Big Deal about Expedia?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/01/27/why-are-people-making-such-a-big-deal-about-expedia/) - "Expedia lost 25% of their search visibility in Google possibly over unnatural links" "Is Expedia feeling Google's wrath?" "Was Expedia targeted by negative SEO?" Surely if you're at all involved in SEO, you've heard about this - people believe that Expedia was penalised by Google for buying unnatural links. Both parties declined to comment, but
- [Easter Eggs and Dr Who's Tardis](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/01/27/easter-eggs-and-dr-whos-tardis/) - I was driving through Earl's Court on Saturday night when I spotted Dr Who's Tardis outside the tube station: Not your usual sighting for sure, and no I hadn't been drinking! A quick search online revealed it is one of those fabulous hidden secrets tucked away by bored developers known as 'Easter Eggs'. This one
- [How does your Brand measure against the competition?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/01/23/how-does-your-brand-measure-against-the-competition/) - How does your brand deliver the expectations they deem fit and do they take into full consideration the needs of their consumers? A new consumer brand study, recently published by Edelman, identifies the link between effective brand sharing and business value. Within the study, brandshare™ measured six dimensions of sharing – shared dialog, shared experience,
- [Google Removes 350 million ads in 2013](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/01/23/google-removes-350-ads-in-2013/) - In 2013 Google removed as many as 350 million 'bad' ads from AdWords in order to prevent abuse from both advertisers and Adsense publishers. Google didn't publish in much detail why any ad in particular was removed; it seems the most common reasons ads tend to get removed are for products that violate AdWords terms,
- [Tug Hosts SEO & PR Workshop for Bloggers!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/01/17/tug-hosts-seo-pr-workshop-for-bloggers/) - Is it worth it to go back to old posts to add SEO information? Would I be 'selling out' if I work with a brand? What's the point of Google+? Does social media even influence SEO? How do I track the success of my SEO? What the heck is SEO anyway and do I even
- [Tug Christmas Holidays Photo Round Up](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/01/09/tug-christmas-holidays-photo-round-up/) - Happy New Year again! This is a random list of photos from some of the Tug superstars. A slideshow of family lunches, expats going back home and fancy jumpers. For explanations of the photos, Alyssa Christmas in Martinique, French West Indies. Full disclosure: this is from 2 years ago, but it’s way better than any
- [The Future of Yahoo Advertising](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/01/08/the-future-of-yahoo-advertising/) - Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo announced the new advertising model the company will be employing at CES 2014, showing an integrated suite that runs across all of Yahoo's platforms. "The new Yahoo Advertising includes a comprehensive suite of web, mobile, and video ad products across native, audience, and premium display, which are accessible through a
- [Social Networks in 2014 and Why Numbers Aren't Everything](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2014/01/03/social-networks-in-2014-and-why-numbers-arent-everything/) - It's the 3rd of January 2014, and already we are inundated with waves of infographics spreading across social media. The one below created by Adobe is fairly simplistic in nature (and a lot of the numbers can be called into question) but it does offer a number of interesting topics for debate amongst social
- [What It Feels Like to Work in SEO...](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/12/20/what-it-feels-like-to-work-in-seo/) - I recently started on the SEO team here at Tug. Half my time is dedicated to content creation for the team's outreach. The other half I spend actually doing the outreach myself. It's taken some getting used to, but here's some of what I've learned about in my first month... Your first live link
- [Sainsbury's Christmas in a Day](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/12/20/sainsburys-christmas-in-a-day/) - Sainsbury's pulls out the stops in the Christmas TV ad stakes this year, buying an entire ad break in the middle of Coronation Street to broadcast this three-minute trail for a documentary called "Christmas In A Day". The 50-minute film was created by agency Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, directed by Kevin Macdonald (Last King of Scotland) and
- [Guide to build local citations for stores and physical shops](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/12/11/guide-to-build-local-citations-for-stores-and-physical-shops/) - When was the last time you looked up for a venue or a shop with your phone? In big cities like London, Hong Kong and New York it’s a common occurrence. The trend of mobile organic traffic growth suggests that chains and small shops with physical points of sale may strongly benefit from this. Once
- [Battle of the Christmas Ads, Pt. II](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/12/11/westjet-christmas-ad-2013/) - Just when we thought the John Lewis Christmas ad was going to be the one to go down in history, out comes Candian airline WestJet with their Christmas miracle video. It's garnered almost 6 million since it was released on Monday. http://youtu.be/zIEIvi2MuEk TL;DWatch: Passengers getting on a WestJet flight were casually asked what they wanted for
- [6 Tips for Better Blogger Outreach – From a Blogger](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/12/02/better-blogger-outreach/) - I crossed over to the dark side. I’ve gone agency. I started out as a travel blogger and freelance writer. After moving to London I started looking at how I could transfer my skills and passions to something more...stable. In a very exciting development, I was taken on here at Tug to create content and
- [Gap shows support to the Sikh community via Social Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/11/29/gap-shows-support-to-the-sikh-community-via-social-media/) - Brands are now using social media more and more. The competition between brands across all social media platforms is also forever increasing; they are ‘chasing’ more followers, more fans, more likes or more retweets. Above all brands want to engage with their audience and target market, and especially to leave a positive feeling about themselves
- [Google Are Driving Users To Google+ via Display Ads](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/11/27/google-are-driving-users-to-google-via-display-ads/) - It's been clear since its inception that Google are keen to promote and push Google+ as relentlessly as they can. One such example is the recent introduction of Google+ comments on YouTube - which has been lambasted by users due to privacy concerns and functionality. Market research firms also regularly point out the social network's
- [The battle of Christmas Ads](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/11/22/the-battle-of-christmas-ads/) - The days are getting shorter, temperatures are dropping and everyone can feel Christmas coming. Last weekend, after going to the South Bank for a wonder, I drank mulled wine and saw the first Christmas lights dangling from the trees. Later that day, as I was snuggling up for a fun night of X-Factor (how old
- [Easyjet takes the lead in social](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/11/19/ryanair-vs-easyjet-social-media/) - In the prolonged battle of budget airlines, Easyjet takes a clear lead over its rival Ryanair after winning on service, marketing, messaging and social media. Easyjet runs a successful Facebook Page and Twitter profile where dissatisfied customers are given flight vouchers and often find their issues resolved quickly (operating between 8am - 8pm GMT). Using
- [Google makes phone calls a regular conversion type](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/11/13/google-makes-phone-calls-a-regular-conversion-type/) - Following their announcement October 1, Google made phone calls a regular conversion type in Google Adwords. This is on the back of their study which discovered that a whopping 70% of mobile searchers call businesses directly from a search result and each month more than 40 million calls are made from search ads globally. With
- [9 Essential Christmas PPC Tips](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/11/08/essential-christmas-ppc-tips/) - So as you all know, Christmas is getting closer and closer, and this means if you are a PPC account manager, you should be thinking about getting ready for the essential shopping season. This year there are a number of new features from Google AdWords which will make your life slightly easier but there are
- [Facebook like button set to change](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/11/07/facebook-like-button-set-to-change/) - The Facebook "like" button is set to change, dropping the thumbs up logo and replacing it with a descriptive "FB Like" motif with dark blue background. According to one estimate, Facebook's "Like" and "Send" buttons are viewed 22 billion times a day and are embedded into 7.5 million websites. It's a more serious looking function now,
- [Hummingbird kills Long Tail Search & Gibberish is next](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/11/06/hummingbird-kills-long-tail-search-gibberish-is-next/) - For those not familiar with ‘long tail’, it involves web search terms constructed of multiple words, which when combined are far less searched for than specific queries – hence the downward drop off in results requested at the tail end of the graph/ dinosaurs tail. Long tail search queries supposedly make up anything up to
- [Airbus new marketing campaign: ‘It’s the seat’](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/10/30/airbus-new-marketing-campaign-its-the-seat/) - Airbus has launched a marketing campaign promoting the unique comfort that their passengers now benefit from. They have seats set to a minimum standard of 18 inches. Airbus is also calling on the aviation industry to set a minimum of 18 inches standard for the width of economy seats on long-haul travel. They support their
- [Instagram ad formats revealed](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/10/28/instagram-ad-formats-revealed/) - The photo sharing social network Instagram, has shown the first mock-ups as to what its advertising will look like in users news feeds. Users in the US will be the first to receive advertising on the network, with other territories rolling out at a later phase. According to Instagram's blog: “This is a one-time ad from the
- [Brands wittingly join Harry Redknapp's Twitter Q&A](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/10/24/brands-wittingly-join-harry-redknapps-twitter-qa/) - The famous wheeler dealer of a football manager, now at Queens Park Rangers, agreed to a Twitter Q&A today using the hashtag #AskHarry. Now currently trending heavily in the UK, the ex West Ham, Portsmouth and Spurs man is being overwhelmed by hundreds, if not thousands, of internet troll opportunists - all of whom have
- [Google’s newest coup: the Carousel](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/10/23/googles-newest-coup-the-carousel/) - There is no question: with continuing updates to their algorithms and constant changes to the SERPS, Google makes sure that SEO practitioners are kept on their toes in their attempts to improve their businesses visibility. Google’s latest strike gives those businesses a new opportunity to be displayed on top of Google’s search results: the Carousel!
- [Come to our free session on 'Audience Segmentation & Targeting Strategies For Digital Ad Campaigns'](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/10/23/come-to-our-free-session-on-audience-segmentation-targeting-strategies-for-digital-ad-campaigns/) - Because we like to share what we know, Tug are hosting a free knowledge sharing session at the Shoreditch HQ, on Weds November 13th at 4.30pm. Ideal for digital marketers looking to utilize their audience data more effectively, the session will be hosted by Tug's Head of Media, Ollie Vaughan. If you would like to learn
- [Google Media Tools Now Live](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/10/16/google-media-tools-now-live/) - Google have introduced and aggregated their vast array of digital tools into one central site which can be found here. At first glance, its design and purpose looks to be catered specifically towards journalists, yet most of the tools can be used by any media professional or enthusiast. It has to be said that the
- [Why Facebook Hashtags don’t work](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/10/10/why-facebook-hashtags-dont-work/) - Last June, Facebook finally gave in and incorporated Twitter’s iconic ‘hashtag’ feature. Facebook users have since been able to search for and click on hashtags in order to find posts on topics they’re interested in. So far, so good. However, after a few months of trying out the new feature, it has been reported by
- [Instagram ads just a couple months away](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/10/10/instagram-ads-just-a-couple-months-away/) - I'm sure Instagram users have been waiting for the roll out of advertising ever since they announced a change to their terms late last year to suggest that Instagram would own rights to all photos posted (which they then retracted after a massive customer backlash). In fact, I'm sure most people have been waiting for
- [UK Digital Ad Spend 2013](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/10/07/uk-digital-ad-spend-2013/) - The IAB have released figures that detail the digital advertising spend study for the first half of 2013. The IAB study carried out in association with PwC, which covers online and mobile, is one of the industry’s key pieces of research. The good news is that digital advertising in the UK has risen by a massive
- [Google Hummingbird Update](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/10/04/google-hummingbird-update/) - A quick (ish) summary of what the new Google Algorithm Hummingbird is all about. When did it happen: Hummingbird was announced by Google on the 26th of September however they suggested that the actual roll out was about a month earlier, this has been estimated around the 20-22 of August from spikes and changes noted
- [Social Networks – ‘The Innovation of Loneliness’](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/09/26/social-networks-the-innovation-of-loneliness/) - This week is Social Media week in London. Yesterday our Social Media Director, Ben Romberg, talked about lecturer and media theorist Marshall McLuhan. Ben spoke of McLuhan’s overarching message in his book ‘The Medium is the Message,’ in which he argues that each medium produces a different effect on our 5 senses, including the mental
- [RIP - SEO Keyword Traffic Reports](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/09/26/rip-seo-keyword-traffic-reports/) - As many in the SEO and wider marketing world will be aware, the last week or so has seen a more definite nail in the coffin for organic keyword traffic reporting with the number of so called ‘(not provided)’ organic visits increasing rapidly. To the extent that some are predicting most sites will see 100%
- [Bing "keyword" Blunder](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/09/23/bing-keyword-blunder/) - I just saw a post on The WordStream Blog where they found if you type "keyword" in the Bing search engine you basically get irrelevant sponsored ad results. Bearing in mind the post was released June 2012 I thought I'd give it a try to see if this was still the case. Here's what came
- [Google Adwords Launches Cross-Account Conversion Tracking](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/09/23/google-adwords-launches-cross-account-conversion-tracking/) - In today's world the average consumer will no longer search via one keyword or purchase a product based on that one result. Instead, for example, a user may first see a given companies banner ad in the morning, then in the evening may return home after work to search out the brand/product of interest via multiple
- [Social Media Week 2013](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/09/23/social-media-week-2013/) - This week is Social Media Week in London with a range of events taking place including two presentations here in our Shoreditch office! This years theme is Open & Connected reflecting on the global impact of social media and its role as a catalyst in driving cultural, political, economic and social change. Tug are delivering two presentations this
- [Remarketing for Dummies – How to setup your First Campaign](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/09/19/remarketing-for-dummies-how-to-setup-your-first-campaign/) - This video tutorial aims to help PPC professionals set up a remarketing campaign. It guides you through the set up process and emphasises best practices.
- [London Fashion Week: Social a must-have for Fashion brands](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/09/19/london-fashion-week-social-a-must-have-for-fashion-brands/) - The fashion industry takes advantage of social media in various ways; brands now use social networks to connect with their audience, approach consumers, whilst getting to know their purchasing habits and preferences. As a result social media strategies can be used to enhance the brand content and equity. Some fashion brands have already understood that
- [Way Back Wednesday: Yahoo.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/09/18/way-back-wednesday-yahoo-com/) - Marissa Mayer's been very busy lately leading Yahoo's revolution, and I thought it apt to go back in time and explore the changes its homepage has undergone since 1996. Looking at the screenshots below, what might make the New Media geeks among us shed a tear of nostalgia is the return of the search directory
- [A Tug day out to the Barbour Store](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/09/13/a-tug-day-out-to-the-barbour-store/) - On Thursday the Tug team took a trip to our local Barbour store in Spitalfields to learn a bit more about the products and find out which of them were their bestsellers. We were hoping to get lots more information from the shop assistants about what sells well and gain some insight on people’s shopping
- [Now measure offline sales with Adwords Conversion Import](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/09/11/now-measure-offline-sales-with-adwords-conversion-import/) - As everyone knows, there's been no easy way for Adwords to measure and optimise for events that happen beyond a website (things that occur offline), i.e a customer order taken over the phone etc. However, Google has now launched the new Adwords Conversion Import feature, which allows you to measure and optimise for the complete
- [Instagram to start running ads in 2014](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/09/10/instagram-to-start-running-ads-in-2014/) - Instagram's director of business operations, Emily White, made the announcement that ads will be run on the platform yesterday in a Wall Street Journal article. From the start, the app has been free to download and use, but now the app (recently bought by Facebook) will start to run ads on its predominantly mobile-based platform to prove the
- [Catfish got your tongue?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/09/10/catfish-got-your-tongue/) - If you have seen Catfish: The Movie then you may be familiar with Catfish: The TV Show. If not then have no fear as season 2 has recently begun on MTV. What on earth is a Catfish you ask? Well, the definition is as follows - ‘a person who creates (a) fake personal profile(s) pretending to
- [Some Google changes that have transformed the way SEO serve clients](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/09/05/google-changes-that-have-transformed-the-way-seo-serve-clients/) - Think about the state of search 2 years ago and you can see that the SEO landscape produces far fewer challenges now than it did before. The way we used to work has come to an end and now we can finally ask ourselves more complex questions and learn more new and exciting aspects surrounding
- [Run your PPC campaign like a football team](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/09/05/run-your-ppc-campaign-like-a-football-team/) - No I'm not talking about spending £85 million on one keyword or bringing in Arsene Wenger when budgets are tight, but comparisons can be made in the ways you manage football teams and PPC campaigns. Play your players in the right position - It's hard to imagine that Thierry Henry used to be a winger
- [Airbnb embraces Vine](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/08/30/airbnb-embraces-vine/) - Last week Airbnb launched a six-day long social campaign encouraging Vine users to submit a video in order to be selected to feature in a full-length movie using the moniker “Hollywood Vines”. This is an interesting twist in using the new social network to promote individuals as a wider part of a film’s production. This campaign was monitored via
- [Facebook relaxes promotional guidelines](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/08/29/facebook-relaxes-promotional-guidelines/) - Facebook have updated their Pages Terms in order to make it easier for businesses of all sizes to create and administer promotions on a Facebook Page. Facebook have also removed the requirement that promotions on Facebook only be administered through apps. Now, promotions may be administered on Facebook Page Timelines and in apps on Facebook: Collect entries by having users
- [The new paid & organic report](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/08/27/the-new-paid-organic-report/) - You can now compare performances for search queries whether you have an ad, organic listing or both appearing on a search results page with the new paid & organic report. Previously most reports showed paid and organic reports separately, without any insights on user behavior etc. so this tool should help improve optimization for keywords terms.
- [A trip to Blackpool](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/08/23/a-trip-to-blackpool/) - I’m Sara and I am Tug’s most recent Client Services Director. One of the accounts I take care of is the Merlin group which includes a few different attractions around the UK. Being new to the account, I have made it my mission to go to all the attractions my client has to offer, so
- [Embedded Posts: Now Available to Everyone on Facebook](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/08/22/embedded-posts-now-available-to-everyone-on-facebook/) - You might be regular embedder of YouTube videos, Tweets and possibly even Vines too. Well if you're a serial embedder (and not a publisher that already had access to the tool) you're in luck. As of today you'll be able to start embedding public Facebook posts to your website or blog. Brands should already be
- [New Mobile Payment Feature to be tested by Facebook](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/08/21/new-mobile-payment-feature-to-be-tested-by-facebook/) - Paying via your Smartphone is becoming increasingly more popular as research shows that M-Commerce is expected to see a much stronger growth than E-Commerce more generally. Unsurprisingly, Facebook is already ahead of the games wishing to test a new mobile payment feature in order to provide ‘a simpler online shopping experience.’ Facebook plan to achieve
- [Global internet usage by time of day](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/08/16/global-internet-usage-by-time-of-day/)
- [3 Nifty Time-saving PPC Tools](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/08/15/3-nifty-time-saving-ppc-tools/) - There are a lot of online marketing tools out there, some are pointless, some useful, some costly and some FREE! Here are three useful free tools found online that could save valuable PPC time. 1) Ad Copy Stats Spreadsheet - A tool created in Excel by Chad Summerhill; uses formulae to perform ad testing that
- [Social sharing incentives](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/08/15/social-sharing-incentives/) - Going to a concert or an event? Booking tickets online? Social sharing buttons on ticket buying websites are now reducing the cost of the ticket price, incentivising you to share with your friends that you are attending. Companies are keen to get their customers to advertise their products and services on their social media profiles,
- [The Greatest Vines of 2013](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/08/09/the-greatest-vines-of-2013-so-far/) - The latest piece of content making waves and circulating via social media currently is a collection of the "greatest" Vine videos available on the internet. For those that aren't already aware, Vine is a mobile app produced by Twitter that allows you to create and modify short video-clips six seconds in length. Well worth a
- [Local ads on the Google Map App](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/08/09/local-ads-on-the-google-map-app/) - Yesterday Google introduced a couple of new features to the newest version of the Google Maps App. Relevant ads can now appear at the bottom of the screen when a user performs a search The ad will contain a title, ad text and link to get directions There's a new
- [What is the future of bricks-and-mortar retail?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/08/07/what-is-the-future-of-bricks-and-mortar-retail/) - In the last decade the retail world has undoubtedly undergone quite a transformation. With the majority of retailers now having a transactional website, consumers can now shop from home, work, or anywhere including remotely via their smartphones. This raises the question; will this trend eventually lead to the abandonment of shops? Social Media Today highlighted
- [Social media over search for content](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/08/06/social-media-over-search-for-content/) - Content that is interesting and engaging is the key sought after mix for brands seeking exposure on social media. Finding a niche or displaying interesting content keeps a community engaged, a mix that has proven to be the key to unlocking wider exposure and attract interest from friends of friends. Nearly half of people aged 18
- [Search Trend Thursday: Snowden vs NSA](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/08/01/search-trend-thursday-snowden-vs-nsa/) - With the news that Edward Snowden has been granted asylum in Russia, I decided to explore a point made recently by journalists: that the mainstream media have made a soap opera over the topic, deterring readers and viewers from the core issues at hand (privacy and the NSA). Using Google Trends, I've quickly searched for
- [Brands are logging into Tumblr...](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/30/brands-are-logging-into-tumblr/) - ...but technically this is not news: the social blogging site Tumblr has been an open platform for online advertisers since May 2012, the first campaign it ran was for Adidas. However, it is only since Tumblr was bought by Yahoo in June 2013 that we have seen brands experimenting and testing their Tumblr marketing campaigns with
- [The Guardian Domain Change](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/30/guardian-domain-change/) - It would appear The Guardian has rolled out their new domain strategy today as announced back in May 2013. The well established online news site has shifted the domain strategy away from www.guardian.co.uk to www.theguardian.com. The new domain strategy is clearly intended to provide geo-targeting potential for the site with UK, US and AU editions:
- [‘Report abuse’ button to be added to Twitter](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/30/report-abuse-button-to-be-added-to-twitter/) - Since a feminist campaigner was abused on Twitter last week for supporting a woman’s face to appear on UK banknotes, the social network has decided to introduce a ‘report abuse’ button. This decision was made after thousand of Twitter users petitioned for the social network to take action. Twitter ‘trolls’ attacked Caroline Criado-Perez with rape
- [Omnicom and Publicis merger – The Big Data battle royal](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/29/omnicom-and-publicis-merger-the-big-data-battle-royal/) - With the news over the weekend that WPP’s position as the largest advertising and marketing company in the world has been overtaken by the merger of Omnicom and Publicis, are we now looking once again at the contest for domination of the Big Data world? Or is this just another consolidation of two dinosaurs in
- [New Enhanced Campaign Reporting in Google Analytics](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/29/new-enhanced-campaign-reporting-in-google-analytics/) - Earlier this year Google launched enhanced campaigns which has changed the way we bid on different devices (computers/tablets/mobiles). We finally moved all our campaigns to enhanced the other week, just in time for the launch of the new bid adjustment reporting tool in Google Analytics. It means you can analyse performance for each bid adjustment
- [Radio still largest source of music discovery for Canadians](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/25/radio-still-largest-source-of-music-discovery-for-canadians/) - Despite the popularity of music streaming services such as Rdio, Pandora and Spotify, it's been found that Radio is still the #1 source for music discovery in Canada. In a report by Nielson published on Wednesday, 61% of Canadians were found to discover new music via the radio, beating the likes of online sources, retail
- [Publicly Available Data in London Visualised](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/22/publicly-available-data-in-london-visualised/) - Privacy concerns are a constant hot topic of conversation and have shot more noteably to the forefront thanks to increased connectivity to the internet, advent of social networks and more recently, NSA revelations. Huge swathes of public data is collected by social networks and other online platforms constantly, from Tweets (all of which report geolocation) to
- [Change your travel plans with ‘the Departure Roulette’ by Heineken](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/19/change-your-travel-plans-with-the-departure-roulette-by-heineken/) - Have you ever wanted to go to the airport and get last minute tickets for ANY destination? You can do so now with Heineken’s new astonishing marketing experience, the ‘Departure Roulette’. So here’s how it works: 1. You’re at the airport, minding your own business, waiting for your flight. 2. You notice the Heineken Departure Roulette 3. You’re
- [Google Summer Webinar Series](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/18/google-summer-webinar-series/) - Google announced yesterday that they will be performing a series of summer webinars called 'Learn with Google Webinars'. It could be good to hear advice directly from Google product experts who will lead each session with time included for Q&A. Upcoming Live webinars include: July [Shopping] Google Shopping 101: Overview of Shopping & Product Listing Ads
- [Volume of internet users in China surges](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/17/volume-of-internet-user-in-china-surges/) - Recent data collected at the end of June 2013 has recorded a 10% surge in the number of internet users in China over the past year. Numbers have grown to a staggering 591 million, which accounts to 44% of the country’s population. This rapid growth has led to a shift in value of the tech
- [Why use a Community Manager?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/17/why-use-a-community-manager/) - Community management, a comparatively new role, has fast become an important requirement in the online marketing mix with brands asking what key requirements make a successful community manager. Company and brand-led social media communities require a dedicated manager who can post updates, answer customer questions and concerns as well as moderate broad conversations and themes
- [Mobile marketing continues to grow](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/11/mobile-marketing-continues-to-grow/) - Whilst ad spend on mobile phones is still lowest compared to computers (largest) and tablets, it's hard to ignore the increasing importance of mobile marketing. Estimates from media investment management firm GroupM show that by 2014, around 1/4 of display spending and 1/5 of search spending will be on mobile devices. These numbers are quite
- [Facebook Canada Opens Office in Montreal](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/10/facebook-canada-opens-office-in-montreal/) - Today, Facebook have announced the launch of an office in Montreal to serve French Canada. The new office will be led by ex Mediacom employee, Sylvain Martel. The new office has been put in place in order to support new advertisers in setting up new campaigns for the French Quebecois consumers. According to Cefrio, 66% of internet
- [Burberry leading the way in digital retail....](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/10/8314-2/) - Burberry is championing the digital and mobile technology in retail and innovation. They are the first to live-stream their catwalk shows to their fans worldwide via social platforms. Burberry recently launched a new made-to-order facility that can be used live at the catwalk with “smart personalisation” allowing customers to order bespoke pieces straight from the
- [HRH The Prince of Wales in the Hood](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/10/hrh-the-prince-of-wales-in-the-hood/) - HRH The Prince of Wales in Shoreditch today in none other than Charlotte Road, home of Tug Towers! Unfortunately he didn't have time to pop in for a cup of tea today as he was busy visiting one of his charities The Princes School of Traditional Arts opposite us. We are however hopeful that next
- [Murray Media Mania](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/10/murray-media-mania/) - On Saturday I was one of 17.3 million people who watched Andy Murray become Wimbledon champion, having beaten the world number one, Novak Djokovic, in straight sets. Apparently not only did the people of Britain go mad for Murray as they were watching the tennis but whilst doing so, they also took to their social
- [The Movie Industry's Love / Hate Relationship With Social Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/09/the-movie-industrys-love-hate-relationhsip-with-social-media/) - As another studio reels in the wake of a disappointing box office opening from a summer “Blockbuster”, ( the Lone Ranger brought in only 29.4 Million against a production budget of roughly 225 million), the industry continues to struggle with its love / hate relationship with Social Media. When working in a movies favour, social
- [Graph Search Officially Released](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/09/graph-search-officially-released/) - Graph Search is finally rolling out to Facebook users who have their language set as English.US. You may have already been greeted by an advanced privacy warning notifying you of its impending release, with Facebook keen to stay well away from its privacy plagued past. The new inbuilt search tool is designed to provide users with
- [Marshall McLuhan & Social Media Marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/09/marshall-mcluhan-social-media-marketing/) - One of the greatest media theorists of our time, Marshall McLuhan, remains as important today in the context of social media as he did in the 1960's with the advent of television. His theories have stood the test of time, showing that media acts as an extension of persons sense or perception e.g. hearing, sight,
- [Yahoo Announces Closure of AltaVista - Nostalgia Ensues](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/01/yahoo-announces-closure-of-altavista-nostalgia-ensues/) - Sad news this morning for anyone fond of internet nostalgia (myself included) as Yahoo have announced their plans to shutter the legendary AltaVista search engine. Originally launched in 1995 back when the internet was all fields, AltaVista did a commendable job of making it possible to find websites without needing to know the
- [Last Minute Google Reader Alternatives](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/07/01/last-minute-google-reader-alternatives/) - It's a sad day for Google Reader users like myself, as the popular RSS aggregator will finally shutdown for good tomorrow, 2nd of July. With only hours left, many have questioned Google's decision but the real concern now is identifying alternatives. If you haven't had the time to shortlist or tryout new aggregator sites, then
- [Kickstarter to open in Canada](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/27/kickstarter-to-open-in-canada/) - The highly successful USA based funding platform website Kickstarter, which launched in 2009, is set to open to Canada this Summer. Since launching, Kickstarter has seen over 200 million pledges raising over $300 million towards various projects. There isn't much information yet in terms of their Canadian launch, apart from a short Tweet, but we'll
- [The Internship - Anticipated movie about Google](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/27/the-internship-anticipated-movie-about-google/) - If you haven't already seen the trailer featuring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson's latest digital age comedy about Google showing on 3rd July, watch it below or visit http://www.theinternshipmovie.com/
- [Social networks become the same](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/26/social-networks-become-the-same/) - This infographic makes the point: are all social networks becoming the same as one another? Facebook introduces hashtags following huge pressure from its users (who were using them despite the lack of functionality), Google+ generates a Pinterest grid-style view, Twitter introduces filters to photos similar to instagram who themselves added video uploads like Vine.
- [Toronto Coding School Shuts Down](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/25/toronto-coding-school-shuts-down/) - Essential to any growing technology market are web programmers who are able to build websites from the ground up. To date, Canada has been accommodating for this skill in the form of Bitmaker Labs, a Toronto based coding school. However, Bitmaker Labs have taken the decision to shutdown citing lack of proper oversight from the
- [Tech Tip Tuesday: Where do I place my Google Analytic's Code?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/25/8197-2/) - All Aboard! Tech Tip Tuesday, Captain JonJon highlighting once again about technical SEO issues & FAQ’s we come across with you… “Where do I place my Google Analytic's Code?” Previously we talked about utilising Href Lang, this week we will be talking about the effects of the placement of your “Google Analytic's” code. “Understanding the
- ['Snapkidz' - The Newest Development from Snapchat](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/25/snapkidz-the-newest-development-from-snapchat/) - Having recently blogged about Snapchat I thought it would only be wise to quickly talk about their newest developments. Snapchat has now decided to introduce a service for children in order to expand their fan base. At the moment this service is only available on iOS and targets kids 13 years of age and under. ‘Snapkidz’ allows
- [Instagram Vs Vine](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/24/videos-added-to-instagram/) - The newest development recently announced by the popular app, Instagram, is the ability to upload video clips as well as photographs. Clips can last between 3-15 seconds. In contrast to Instagram, Vine only offers a 6 second video clip service. It’s said that this new development will rival Vine who have also just added a feature
- [Canadian Dairy Farmers Unite in Marketing Campaign](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/21/canadian-dairy-farmers-unite-in-marketing-campaign/) - The BC Dairy Association, Alberta Milk, SaskMilk, Dairy Farmers of Manitoba and Dairy Farmers of Canada have joined forces to form the "Strategic Milk Alliance". This week they released a new campaign called "Milk Every Moment". The campaign is being run in order to capture new parents who will begin to buy milk for their
- [Social Networks: Who's the next MySpace?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/20/8158-2/) - When I started using Twitter, Facebook and other social networks in 2007, I did not envisage for a second that it would one day become my full time job! The rapid growth of these social networks and their position in society today, where they have become a powerful and popular communication tool, has been to say the least,
- [Canadian Online Ad Spend to Overtake TV in 2014](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/20/canadian-online-ad-spend-to-overtake-tv-in-2014/) - Great news for online agencies in Canada as online ad spend is set to overtake TV ad spend in 2014. According to the latest ad spend forecast from ZenithOptimedia, Online ad spend is set to achieve $3.9 billion in 2014 compared to TV, which is set to achieve $3.5 billion. This means online will become Canada’s largest
- [Seen this? Vine](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/20/seen-this-vine/) - Six seconds doesn't seem like much time. For vine, this is all you need to collage together a series of snapshots into a quick video to share. The iPhone (and just recently added Android) app, Vine ,is still a fun novelty to many of its users yet the video-sharing app has quickly become a big entertainment network
- [How Social Media and Digital Apps Continue to Awaken our Creativity](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/17/how-social-media-and-digital-apps-continue-to-awaken-our-creativity/) - Hello! I’m Jenny, Client Services Account Executive at Tug, and another addition to the agency! Developments within Social Media and Digital Apps continue to influence our lives every day particularly with regards to the way we work and communicate with the world. More importantly, I believe, is the way in which we choose to utilise,
- [Facebook succumb to #hashtag pressure](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/14/facebook-succumb-to-hashtag-pressure/) - Facebook have begun to introduce hashtags for the first time on its social network - a forced adoption due to popularity, demand and competitor success (don't let them tell you otherwise!) If you're an avid user of the social network (who isn't?) then you may have well already noticed several hashtags floating around. Users will
- [Google Display Benchmarks](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/13/google-display-benchmarks/) - This is the latest tool provided by Google. It is aimed at giving you metrics and benchmarks to measure your campaign performance against industry competitors in the display network and it comes with powerful insights across varying verticals such as health, travel and finance etc. Prior to this, knowledge of the competition has been somewhat
- [Tug Speaking at SES Toronto - Social Search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/12/tug-speaking-at-ses-toronto-social-search/) - Tug recently launched the Canadian arm to the business and on Thursday Nick Beck will be speaking at SES Toronto about Social Search. Nick will be speaking alongside Michelle Ross who is CEO/Lead Consultant for Firestarter Social Media. Developing an Integrated Social Search Strategy Brands that seek performance from social media must embrace the dynamic
- [Tech Tip Tuesday: How do I target different international countries? How can I utilise Href Lang?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/11/tech-tip-tuesday-how-do-i-target-different-international-countries-how-can-i-utilise-href-lang/) - All Aboard! Tech Tip Tuesday, Captain JonJon highlighting once again about technical SEO issues & FAQ’s we come across with you… “How do I target different international countries? How can I utilise Href Lang?” Previously we talked about utilising local search, this week we will be talking about the benefits of “Href Lang”. Rel=”alternative” and
- [PRISM revelations create online trust gap](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/11/prism-revelations-creates-online-trust-gap/) - Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, AOL and Google have issued formal denials that they knowingly participated in Prism, a top-secret data collection system run by the US government that gathers emails, documents and other material for the purposes of spying on individuals. The US government has confirmed the existence of the system which has created a serious breach
- [Give us a smile!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/07/give-us-a-smile/) - Google has recently patented facial passwords which aims to boost Android security. Instead of the traditional mixture of letters and numbers, cap locks and random characters, Google is opting for users to pull a series of faces to unlock their accounts. Requests may now include a combination of the following: - A frown - A
- [Job Seeking and Social Media: An Interview with Ekaterina Besedina](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/07/job-seeking-and-social-media-an-interview-with-ekaterina-besedina/) - Thursday 6th June, 2013 - As usual before going for lunch, I opened my Facebook page to see what's going on and I noticed the following Facebook Ad: I thought I couldn't loose the opportunity to get in touch with her and see what she is like, as well as to find out more about
- [Zombies vs Rural England](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/07/zombies-vs-rural-england/) - Awesome ad by Giff Gaff, a new mobile network trying to show that different doesn't always have to be a bad thing. Great brand positioning and good use of Youtube ads to bring the theme of friendly/ helpful zombies to life!
- [Social Media – Vital for Fashion](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/05/social-media-vital-for-fashion/) - Hi, I’m Sabrina and I’ve just joined Tug’s Social Media Team. It is wonderful to be able to share my thoughts and findings on here, I hope you will enjoy them! The importance of Social Media is now unarguable and for my first blog I want to discuss its ever-increasing influence on Fashion. As we
- [Tracking your keywords with a reliable tool.](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/06/03/tracking-your-keywords-with-a-reliable-tool/) - There are hundreds of tools in the SEO world. Fishing for the right one would take you some time. It is essential to have a tool which is reliable in order to track your keywords and a good keyword tracker will make your life easier. The importance of having a tool which you can access
- [Bear Gets Hit by a Car!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/31/bear-gets-hit-by-a-car/) - Nothing to do with digital marketing whatsoever - well, not strictly speaking. This is part of an exercise to determine what kind of online content gets shared the most by internet users and makes them engage in conversations. For this exercise, I have chosen a sensationalist video which shows...well, you just have to watch it.
- [Beam Me Up Speccy!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/30/beam-me-up-speccy/) - Don’t be offended by the title now, as a glasses wearer myself, I am merely referring to the bespectacled future of search that is ‘Google Glass’ and the technologies that are being developed for it! Back in March, our Social Media Director Ben posted about how Google’s Project Glass and Apple’s wristwatch mobile device are
- [Tech Tip Tuesday: How do I rank and be listed for local search and what are the benefits?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/28/tech-tip-tuesday-how-do-i-rank-and-be-listed-for-local-search-and-what-are-the-benefits/) - All Aboard! Tech Tip Tuesday, Captain JonJon highlighting once again about technical SEO issues & FAQ’s we come across with you… “How do I rank and be listed for local search and what are the benefits?” Previously we talked about redirections, this week we will be talking about utilising local search. Benefits of local search
- [First News Report about the Internet from 1981](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/28/first-news-report-about-the-internet-from-1981/) - This is really cool... the computers and phones are more modern now.... and well of course now we actually have the internet... the haircuts are strangely back in fashion though... definitely worth a watch http://www.wimp.com/theinternet/
- [Search Trend Thursday: Ryanair vs Easyjet](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/23/search-trend-thursday-ryanair-vs-easyjet/) - It's been a while since I've had the time to bring you another dosage of trendy insights but I'm back! I've decided to take a look at two brands this week: Easyjet & Ryanair. With the holiday season rapidly approaching it made sense to check out which of the two budget airlines is more popular
- [M&S lose Google Adwords infringement case to Interflora](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/22/ms-lose-google-adwords-infringement-case-to-interflora/) - Yesterday the High Court of England and Wales ruled in favour of Interflora by concluding Marks & Spencers have been breaching trademark infringement laws by bidding to advertise next to searches for 'Interflora’. In 2008 Interflora found M&S using their brand name in an ad to promote their flower and delivery service. High Court representative
- [The London Dungeons Late](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/17/the-london-dungeons-late/) - Yesterday The Dungeons Tug team went along to the new London Dungeons on the Southbank to experience their second Adult late night - Strictly Over 18's. After queuing for a short time with rats to the left of us, a cockney peasant hurling abuse to the right and a glass of wine in hand, we
- [From affiliate site to changing live music forever – Songkick](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/16/from-affiliate-site-to-changing-live-music-forever-songkick/) - I’ve been using Songkick for a number of years now and am a huge fan of what they do. In a previous blog post I described them as the perfect affiliate site. The business model is incredibly simple. You tell Songkick which bands you like and they build a personalised calendar for all upcoming relevant
- [Google+ gets updated](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/16/google-gets-updated/) - Regardless of your thoughts on the success (or flaws) of Google+ the new features announced at Google I/O 2013 have definitely changed the way the social network operates. The platform now boasts a sizeable 190m monthly active users and Google has integrated many of its products and features into the network to bring everything together.
- [Way Back Wednesday: Skype.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/15/way-back-wednesday-skype-com/) - Skype's 630 million registered users and popularity was reason enough for us to check out its website's humble beginnings in 2003. And let's be honest - Skype should need no introduction. It's extremely likely that you're either an active user or have used it at least once at some point - that is the reality
- [900m Android activations and counting](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/15/900m-android-activations-and-counting/) - 900m Android devices have been activated to date according to Sundar Pichai, who runs SVP, Chrome and Apps at Google. “Google is very fortunate to have two large open platforms … two fast-growing platforms,” Roughly 2 years ago Android just clicked 100m activations and a year ago Android had reached 400m, which shows a dramatic increase, over doubling annually.
- [Tech Tip Tuesday: What is a Robots.txt and would I need to implement it for my site?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/14/tech-tip-tuesday-what-is-robots-txt-and-would-i-need-to-implement-it-for-my-site/) - All Aboard! Tech Tip Tuesday, Captain JonJon highlighting once again about technical SEO issues & FAQ’s we come across with you… “What is a Robots.txt and would I need to implement it for my site?” Last week we talked about redirections, this week we will be talking about utilising Robots.txt file. Benefits of a Robots.txt file and what they are used for… Ideally in the SEO world, we are
- [Seen this? Vizify](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/09/seen-this-vizify/) - Neat social media content aggregator Vizify brings together your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Foursquare data to paint a biography of your digital self. The graphics are nice, the layout is slick and iPad-friendly and creates a neat digital business card you can tie to a blog or website that gives people a quick introduction to your
- [Way Back Wednesday: BBC.co.uk](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/08/way-back-wednesday-bbc-co-uk/) - It's Wednesday - so let's go way back to 1997. Why? Well, if you aren't already familiar, we travel back in time every Wednesday to unearth archived websites of old - and compare them to their existing versions (while looking out for remarkable changes, if any). This week we've delved deeper into the archive and
- [Tech Tip Tuesday: What is a Redirect, would I need to implement Redirects for my site?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/07/tech-tip-tuesday-what-is-a-redirect-would-i-need-to-implement-redirects-for-my-site/) - All Aboard! Tech Tip Tuesday, Captain JonJon highlighting every week about technical SEO issues & FAQ’s we come across with you… “What is a Redirect, would I need to implement Redirects for my site?” Last week we spoke about sitemaps, this week we will be explaining about redirections. Benefits of redirections and what redirects
- [When PPC Goes Viral](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/03/when-ppc-goes-viral/) - A couple of weeks ago, I had to run a new Pay-per-Click campaign for one of our biggest clients, Madame Tussauds. The task consisted in bidding on keywords relating to a museum in Amsterdam, the Rijksmuseum, in order to attract traffic to the Madame Tussauds Amsterdam website. The Rijksmuseum was set to do a grand
- [The Social SEO Pig](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/02/social-seo-pig-infographic/) - CONTENT It is the hot topic of 2013 and we strive to see great examples around the web. Content is part of SEO because it sends to Google fresh content signals and it attracts natural links. On the other hand, it is part of a social strategy
- [Way Back Wednesday: Reddit.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/01/way-back-wednesday-reddit-com/) - Welcome back to another week of Way Back Wednesday! This week we're checking out the popular social news site Reddit.com. The site has seen incredible growth since its launch in 2005, evident through its Alexa ranking (122) the number of subreddits, and active communities. What is interesting from the screenshots below is how its initial user base back in
- [IBM creates 'smallest stop motion film'](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/05/01/ibm-creates-smallest-stop-motion-film/) - Wow super cool. IBM scientists have created a video using atoms! It is officially amazing and adjudicated by Guinness World Records. The purpose is to get kids and well everyone excited about atomic principals. First business super computer and now smallest movie ever - nice going IBM. Read more about the shortest film ever.
- [Tug at Digital Shoreditch 2013](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/30/tug-at-digital-shoreditch-2013/) - Tug are presenting at the Future Brands event for Digital Shoreditch Festival 2013 to discuss Social Search and stir up debate about how social media and search engine results integrate. Following Google’s Search plus Your World update, natural search and social media have continued to integrate. Facebook and Twitter both appear in search listings and
- [Tech Tip Tuesday: What is a sitemap & do I really need them for my site?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/30/tech-tip-tuesday-what-is-a-sitemap-do-i-really-need-them-for-my-site/) - All Aboard! Tech Tip Tuesday, Captain JonJon will be highlighting every week technical SEO issues & FAQ’s we come across with you… “What is a sitemap & do I really need them for my site?” Last week we talked about site architecture, this week we will be diving in about the importance of sitemap
- [Google under investigation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/25/google-under-investigation/) - Has Google been unfairly promoting themselves online? Certain EU regulators seem to think so, and in light of an investigation, Google have today agreed to alter their search results. The EU regulators are pushing for a number of concessions to be tested for a month with a view to them sticking legally for 5 years
- [Way Back Wednesday: IMDb.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/24/way-back-wednesday-imdb-com/) - It's Way Back Wednesday - and we're setting our time machine's clock to the year 2000 as we venture off to discover the developments of IMDB.com You might well be the keen movie addict regularly scouring the site for the unheard of title no one will ever watch - or you could fit into the more
- [On-line conversion IRL](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/24/on-line-conversion-irl/) - Would it be as easy to find and purchase things in real life as it is on-line? Probably not, but that's what Google's latest UK ad for Analytics takes aim at. Inviting users to make use of Google's website monitoring tool for insights into how customers buy products, the video pokes fun at what deters
- [Tech Tip Tuesday: How I can perform a quick fix for my site architecture?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/23/tech-tip-tuesdays-how-i-can-perform-a-quick-fix-for-my-site-architecture/) - All Aboard! Captain JonJon welcomes you to Tech Tip Tuesday, where we will be highlighting, every week, technical SEO issues & FAQ’s you may come across… “How do I perform a quick fix for my Site Architecture?” First on deck this week we will be introducing you to 2 good friends, Xenu Sleuth &
- [Bye Bye Google Affiliate Network](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/17/bye-bye-google-affiliate-network/) - Some of you may recall my excited blog post welcoming Google into the UK affiliate space just over a year ago and it’s with a heavy heart that I write this post today, detailing their demise - Google will be discontinuing their affiliate network worldwide to ‘focus on other products’. The network has been live
- [Struggling to name your first born?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/11/struggling-to-name-your-first-born/) - Some people have their baby names lined up, ready to be assigned to their children as and when they appear, others find it a little more difficult but have a maximum of 42 days after the birth before they have to think of a name and register the birth. Whilst many people opt for the
- [Search Trend Thursday: Coca-Cola vs Pepsi](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/11/search-trend-thursday-coca-cola-vs-pepsi/) - Welcome back to another edition of Search Trend Thursday. This week we've kept our rivalry goggles on but have moved verticals to take a look at how the age old rivalry between Coca-Cola and Pepsi fairs in the realm of search. This was actually an ideal time to check how both brands are doing in
- [AppNexus – What’s Next?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/11/appnexus-whats-next/) - Hi guys, I think it’s about time I introduced myself on the Tug blog. As new as I am to the company I want to share something that’s new to me… AppNexus! Hopefully this post will give you and I a better understanding of what it's capable of. As many of you might already know,
- [Google+ 2nd biggest social network](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/08/google-2nd-biggest-social-network/) - Google+ has overtaken Twitter to become the second largest social network worldwide in active usage (next to Facebook). The GlobalWebIndex (GWI) indicates that the growth of Google+ shows “the immense opportunity of linking Google’s services through the G+ social layer” and says this is a key indication of why Google+ integrated with the Google product set
- [The Complete Dave Infographic](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/05/the-complete-dave-infographic/) - Hi everyone, I’m David Bell, SEO Account Executive at Tug - the latest recruit to join the rapidly expanding Tug team. As you may have already noticed, there is a fair share of ‘Daves’ or ‘Davids’ occupying the Tug Blog – five in total now including myself. My new friends and colleagues at Tug were
- [How The Internet Has Changed The Music Biz!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/05/how-the-internet-has-changed-the-music-biz/) - Well...among other things, nobody can deny the sale of music over the Internet has affected the sales of CDs. No longer does one have to purchase a whole CD with just one decent track out of twelve when you can just buy individual tunes at an online music retailer. Music piracy online is quite rampant,
- [Facebook Home](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/05/facebook-home/) - Mark Zuckerberg announced the new mobile operating system "Facebook Home" yesterday which adds a "social layer" (driven by Facebook) that you can add to your Android phone. Facebook also launched a HTC phone (in tandem) called the "HTC First". It's being marketed as the first Android phone with Facebook Home pre-installed. This is Facebook's first real
- [Search Trend Thursday: "Man Utd vs Man City"](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/04/search-trend-thursday-man-utd-vs-man-city/) - We've taken a more sporty theme in this week's edition of Search Trend Thursday - pitting the Manchester football clubs against each other in a "search derby". Interestingly, both clubs garner most of their searches from Africa, with Eritrea dominating the results for Manchester United, and Zimbabwe coming up trumps for Manchester City. Either way, Manchester City's poor
- [Way Back Wednesday: YouTube.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/03/way-back-wednesday-youtube-com/) - YouTube! We all use it - that's a sure thing. Whether you're using it to watch K-pop, Taylor Swift, silly cats or movie trailers, well, let's not get into that. This week we've gone back to its roots, just after it hit beta in 2006, and before Google acquired the innovative tech start up, to
- [The mobile phone celebrates 40 years](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/04/03/the-mobile-phone-celebrates-40-years/) - 40 years ago today the first mobile phone call was made on April the 3rd 1973. The first call was made by Martin Cooper, a senior engineer at Motorola who called a rival colleague at another telecoms company to tell him that he was speaking from "a real cellular telephone". To make the call, he
- [Way Back Wednesday: Kijiji.ca](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/27/way-back-wednesday-kijiji-ca/) - Welcome back to another edition of Way Back Wednesday! We've decided this time round to inject Canadian flavour to our time travels by visiting Kijiji.ca, a Canadian classified ads listing website owned by eBay. The site should prove familiar to many Canadians and is often seen as the competitor to Craigslist in the country. By coming in as the
- [Chrome Maze turns web surfing 3D](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/26/chrome-maze-turns-web-surfing-3d/) - Google has presented a new feature available on its browser, Chrome that turns any web page into a 3D maze users can explore by using their smartphone as a controller. This is a first step towards mobile device and desktop interconnectivity via the web. A neat concept that is personalised and works effectively. The game
- [Mobile-specific Analytics are on their Way!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/25/mobile-specific-analytics-are-on-their-way/) - As the paid search world prepares itself for the upgrade to Enhanced Campaigns, which will notably allow multiple device targeting, analytical tools are being developed to track the performance of upgraded campaigns with improved precision. Such is the effect of mobile specific value tracking. With more and more advertisers creating device-specific landing pages, this new
- [Anchor Text Tips to Stay on the Safe Side](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/22/anchor-text-tips-to-stay-on-the-safe-side/) - Google’s unnatural link penalties are appearing left, right and centre these days. One of the reasons many people are blaming is the inappropriate use of anchor text. Many sites have too many exact match anchor text links for certain keywords, and are now running the risk of being penalised by Google’s web spam team. Here
- [Search Trend Thursday: Netflix vs LOVEFiLM](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/21/search-trend-thursday-netflix-vs-lovefilm/) - It's Search Trend Thursday time! This week we've stuck to our movie theme of late but this time added a new media element into the equation through streaming sites. Both Netflix and LOVEFiLM are two of the largest movie and TV series streaming services out there currently, and we limited our search to the UK to
- [What not to do in a meeting!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/21/what-not-to-do-in-a-meeting/) - So, my first ever blog post for Tug! Being relatively new to Tug (I joined in January) I initially thought about writing something self indulgent that would make me look good to my new employers. Then the more I thought about it, the more ridiculous my idea sounded. I always find self promotion annoying and
- [Way Back Wednesday: Economist.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/20/way-back-wednesday-economist-com/) - Welcome to another edition of Way Back Wednesday! If you didn't already know, we travel through time every Wednesday, courtesy of the Internet Archive's Way Back Machine. This week we've traveled all the way back to 1996 to have a gander at The Economist and it's digital progression since. What are your initial impressions? Is there any
- [Great content for great links: a guide for the newbie link-builder](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/20/great-content-for-great-links-a-guide-for-the-newbie-link-builder/) - We all know Google is clever enough to recognise patterns in link building. At the same time we are overwhelmed by a massive wave of guest blogging activities and sites are able to see a ranking uplift but the format looks almost identical - a chunk of text with only one link included in the
- [Watch or glasses - which is the future?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/19/watch-or-glasses-which-is-the-future/) - Google and Apple are racing in two different directions to define the future of mobile connected devices. On the one hand (excuse the pun) Apple are developing a wrist watch that includes many of the features of the iPhone with voice activated functions and a touch screen. Google have a different perspective with Project Glass,
- [Google's Spring Clean!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/18/googles-spring-clean/) - Spring is on it's way and Google are putting us all to shame with a timely Spring Clean. As of the 31st July 2013 Google Reader will be retired having been a part of the Google suite of products since 2005. The Reader is a news aggregator relying on news syndication technology (RSS) to pull information from
- [Search Trend Thursday: Star Wars vs Star Trek](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/14/search-trend-thursday-star-wars-vs-star-trek/) - Welcome to another edition of Search Trend Thursday! This week we've summoned the geek within us (or, if you're like myself, didn't need to summon it) by pitting the "Stars" against each other in an epic online battle of search trendiness. Considering the release of the new Star Trek film this May, I was surprised to
- [Way Back Wednesday: Wikipedia.org](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/13/way-back-wednesday-wikipedia-org/) - Now very much ingrained in our digital lifestyle (thanks Google!) Wikipedia has become the central source for knowledge online. In this week's edition of Way Back Wednesday, we take a quick snapshot at the great strides it's made since Jimmy Wales launched the platform in 2001. I think many would agree the site isn't the prettiest out
- [Google+ Pages get updated](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/11/google-pages-get-updated/) - The update is a spring clean for Google+ Pages, ensuring that individuals, companies and brands get the best experience and keep engaged and entertained by the content that gets posted. Larger Cover Photos The cover photo of your Google+ Page now requires higher resolution image which sits across the top of the page. The profile
- [How the Internet has changed the world](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/08/how-the-internet-has-changed-the-world/) - There are now reportedly over 2.4bn Internet users worldwide, the impact of which has changed the world of politics, art, media, commerce and social interaction. The infographic below presented by BestCommunicationsDegrees.com gives a series of stats that reflect the consequences of the interconnected age.
- [YouTube Introduces One Channel Design](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/08/youtube-introduces-one-design/) - Since early February, YouTube have been testing a new revamped channel page with a focus on uniformity across devices. Yesterday they released it to the public for anyone to use on their channel. Users of Google Plus will feel a bit of deja vu as they have taken the same simple design ethos used on Google Plus.
- [Search Trend Thursday: Liam vs Noel Gallagher](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/07/search-trend-thursday-liam-vs-noel-gallagher/) - Thanks for tuning into another round of Search Trend Thursday - where we explore the web interest surrounding intriguing keywords of our choosing. This week we've decided to reignite a sibling rivalry of old in the form of Noel and Liam Gallagher, who many will know well. If you don't, this article gives you a nice
- [Way Back Wednesday: Myspace.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/06/way-back-wednesday-myspace-com/) - Was Tom your first friend too? He should have been - if you were on MySpace back in the mid 2000s. Let's inject a bit of nostalgia for those that remember MySpace, shall we? MySpace.com used to to be "the" social network between 2005-2008, and I specifically remember being able to feature your "top" friends
- [US responsible for 18% of all spam](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/03/06/us-responsible-for-18-of-all-spam/) - According to a report by SophosLabs, the US is responsible for more spam than any other country, clocking in a hefty 18.3 percent of total junk email sent worldwide. Researchers tracked the amount of spam sent over the course of last year from Dec 2012 until Feb 2013. China took the second spot with 8.2%,
- [Search Trend Thursday: Wine vs Beer](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/28/search-trend-thursday-wine-vs-beer/) - Welcome back to another edition of Search Trend Thursday. You may have seen some of our posts already - if not, we use Google Trends to discover people's interests on the web. This time round we've pitted Beer against Wine to determine which is the more popular search term online. To my surprise (not much of a
- [Quote of the Day - No man is an Island](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/28/quote-of-the-day-no-man-is-an-island/) - "We are through and through social animals. Even the act of social rebellion, rejection of society, is a thoroughly social act articulated through social means and norms such as language and evaluations of what is worthwhile and what is not. This could be expressed by saying, that we are " trapped forever in the human
- [Way Back Wednesday: Mashable.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/27/way-back-wednesday-mashable-com/) - It's been a beautiful, sunny Wednesday so far - a great day to step into the digital time machine that is the Way Back Archive and discover the beginnings of Pete Cashmore, CEO and founder of Mashable.com Mashable started off as Pete Cashmore's own blog in 2005, and has grown to become one of the
- [Tug at Digital Shoreditch Festival 2013](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/25/tug-at-digital-shoreditch-festival-2013/) - Following Google’s Search plus Your World update, natural search and social media have continued to integrate. Facebook and Twitter both appear in search listings and run internal search engines that pull up results from their networks and receive more searches than ever before – the question for marketing professionals is: how will your strategy be
- [“Tumblr will become predominantly mobile”](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/21/tumblr-will-become-predominantly-mobile/) - A blogging network currently with 170 million visitors each month worldwide, Tumblr has seen extraordinary growth - and created a whole new sharing space for young people who believe that taking stylised pictures of random objects, landscapes or their pets systematically makes them gifted artists. Tumblr’s recent developments seem to be merely the sign of
- [Harlem reacts to Harlem Shake](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/21/harlem-reacts-to-harlem-shake/) - The Internet meme "Harlem Shake" has achieved global virality over the last few weeks, as offices, schools, universities, friends and even someone's grandma recorded themselves losing it to Baauer's punchy dubstep number. Midway through the furore, film producer Chris McGuire took a moment to actually go down to Harlem and ask people who live there what they think of
- [Search Trend Thursday: Oscars](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/21/search-trend-thursday-oscars/) - Welcome back to another weekly edition of Search Trend Thursday! With only three days to go until the Oscars, it seemed only fair we give it the "spotlight." The United States is the leader in regional interest (as many might expect), but this year Ireland follows closely in behind. What's particularly interesting is the lack of
- [Way Back Wednesday: Microsoft.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/20/way-back-wednesday-microsoft-com/) - If you haven't noticed already (we've been doing this for a while now), we're keen digital archaeologists at Tug. What does that mean you might be thinking? Well, simply put, we dig up websites of old courtesy of the Internet Archive. We hope they might intrigue you or bring back nostalgia, if neither, let us know! Up
- [Twitter social search engine](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/15/twitter-social-search-engine/) - Twitter's internal search engine should be a dream come true to those who have been heralding "social search", layer of personalised/ crowd sourced content over the top of search results, yet it still has a long way to go. Twitter's search functionality has come a long way, allowing searches for hashtags, differentiating between search for
- [Search Trend Thursday: Valentines Day](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/14/search-trend-thursday-valentines-day/) - Welcome to another edition of Search Trend Thursday! And if you can't guess what the theme is this week from the title alone, then I present to you the miserable cat representative of how many people feel today (not me though, honest). If you're unaware of what we do on Thursdays, we chuck keywords into the
- [Way Back Wednesday: Skysports.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/13/way-back-wednesday-skysports-com/) - It's Wednesday... which means only one thing - and no, it isn't last minute Valentines shopping - but another weekly dosage of Way Back Wednesday. If you don't already know what we do already: we use a supersonic digital time machine to bring you neat examples of web evolution. While the idea of a supersonic time machine
- [Google to pay Apple $1bn to remain default search engine on iOS](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/12/google-to-pay-apple-1bn-to-remain-default-search-engine-on-ios/) - According to a report by Morgan Stanley, search engine giant Google is set to pay as much as $1bn next year to remain the default search engine on Apple's mobile operating system iOS. In 2009 Google paid a paltry $82m for the privilege. In comparing this deal to other platforms, Google is set to pay the
- [Keyword research goes mobile](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/11/keyword-research-goes-mobile/) - I am not sure who of you heard about the new AdWords Enhanced Campaigns launched by Google last week but if you don’t I am more than happy to give you a quick summary of it. Google wants to have Ads in more places. The AdWords Enhanced Campaigns is a new way to create campaigns
- [Will Guest Posting Ever Die?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/08/will-guest-posting-ever-die/) - We've seen a lot of effective link-building techniques die out over the years. Many techniques that worked in the past no longer work today. For example, article directories were once all the rage, but hold very little value these days. These directories allowed people to build hundreds of links with little effort, and see benefits
- [Warning : AdWords Reinvented !](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/07/warning-adwords-reinvented/) - Attention all paid search advertisers : in order to adapt to the ever-changing ways in which internet browsers are searching the web using different devices, be it their computer, their tablet, their smartphone, etc., at different times in the day, Google is announcing a major AdWords upgrade, which promises truly ‘enhanced campaigns’. For many advertisers, this
- [Search Trend Thursday: Android vs iOS](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/07/search-trend-thursday-android-vs-ios/) - It's almost as if the question is now a life decision for many nowadays: do you choose Google's Android or Apple's iOS? Either way, we thought it'd be a good idea to throw them both into the Google trends ring in our weekly edition of Search Trend Thursday - and it looks as if Android is the clear
- [Way Back Wednesday: Guardian.co.uk](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/06/way-back-wednesday-guardian-co-uk/) - Welcome to another weekly blast from the past in the form of Way Back Wednesday, where we travel back in time using the Internet Archive's Way Back machine to show you the evolution of websites. We've gone back further than normal today - all the way back to 1996 in fact - to show you The Guardian. The Guardian
- [How your URL can have an influence on your e-commerce](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/06/how-your-url-can-have-an-influence-on-your-e-commerce/) - Imagine the following scenario: you have just opened up your own online platform selling shoes, herbal teas, or whatever you are planning to get out to the masses. First, you need to make your website easy to find by your potential customers. For that reason your URL needs to be found easily by search engines.
- [Twitter security crisis](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/02/04/twitters-user-security-crisis/) - 250,000 Twitter accounts saw their password security compromised after the social network was successfully hacked. Twitter's information security director Bob Lord said about 250,000 users' passwords had been stolen, as well as usernames, emails and other data. The announcement shows the increasing problems of data privacy that will continue to plague social networks and their
- [Search Trend Thursday: Coffee vs Tea](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/31/search-trend-thursday-coffee-vs-tea/) - Are you a coffee or tea person? Well, we're not sure why you'd Google either to prove it, but we took a look at their web interest in this week's edition of Search Trend Thursday anyway. For the sake of interest and relevance, we decided to limit the web interest search to the United Kingdom, (because,
- [Way Back Wednesday: Apple.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/30/way-back-wednesday-apple-com/) - The corporation that is considered by many as having changed the way we live and look at technology, Apple.com, makes this week's edition of Way Back Wednesday. It seems fitting that, with the imminent release of Steve Jobs' biopic iJOBS, we take a look at the iconic brand that gave us the iMac, iBook, iPod, iPhone and
- [Search Trend Thursday: London vs New York](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/24/search-trend-thursday-london-vs-new-york/) - Search Trend Thursday returns for a fourth week, and we've decided to pit our loving home of London against its American friend, New York. It's not hard to see from the screenshot below that London leads the web search interest contest, and has done the majority of the time between 2004 and 2013. Gambians also
- [Google to build wireless network](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/24/google-to-build-wireless-network/) - Last year Google rolled out it's own fibre network in an effort to improve internet speeds across the US. Now Google have decided to make a move into the wireless business, this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone with Google already owning Motorola and also running Android. Google have applied for a license to build an "experimental radio service" from within
- [Tug Recruiting for PPC Account Manager](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/24/tug-recruiting-for-ppc-account-manager-2/) - Job Description: PPC Account Manager Tug requires a PPC Account Manager to join our growing team. We are a results driven company that treats all clients equally – no matter what their spend, our objective is to continually improve their campaigns. We have a wide range of clients across many interesting verticals. Tug offers its
- [Way Back Wednesday: Amazon.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/23/way-back-wednesday-amazon-com/) - Week 3 of Way Back Wednesday, and we've decided to take a look at Amazon.com, our favourite online shopping destination (unless Asos is more your thing). Apart from revolutionising e-commerce, Amazon is known for its recommendation algorithm where it "captures" (or harvests) your product browsing history to display relevant, enticing products on your screen. It's a system
- [Affiliate Marketing? Oh yeah, that’s the channel that generated £9 Billion in UK sales through 2012…](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/23/affiliate-marketing-oh-yeah-thats-the-channel-that-generated-9-billion-in-uk-sales-through-2012/) - Just in case you needed yet another reason to re-evaluate the affiliate channel in relation to your current online strategy, the good people at the UK IAB recently commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct some thorough research on how the industry is currently performing. Spoiler alert: It’s doing incredibly well… You can download the report for yourself
- [Nielsen Twitter TV Rating to launch in Q3 2013](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/22/nielsen-twitter-tv-rating-to-be-ready-in-q3-2013/) - Announced in the middle of December, Nielsen and Twitter are to establish a partnership that will see the introduction of the Nielsen Twitter TV Rating, a metric which will measure and provide social TV analytics. The announcement came soon after Nielsen's 2012 Social Media report, which detailed the close relationship between Twitter use and TV
- [Facebook Graph Search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/21/facebook-graph-search/) - Last week's big announcement from Facebook was the announcement of it's third pillar: Graph Search. The possibilities this new social search technology sits alongside the other two pillars Facebook have created over the last nine years including "the news feed" and "timeline". On the surface, many commentators are claiming that Graph Search seems obvious and broadly
- [Search Trend Thursday: Iron Man vs Superman vs Thor](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/17/search-trend-thursday-iron-man-vs-thor-vs-superman/) - Welcome back to another dose of Search Trend Thursday, where we highlight trendy keywords using Google Trends that have us thinking: 'well that's pretty neat.' Up this week are three super hero titans in the form of Iron Man, Thor and Superman as they all prepare for epic movie returns this year. The keywords used were Iron
- [Way Back Wednesday: Google.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/16/way-back-wednesday-google-com/) - Time flies! We're already into our 2nd week of Way Back Wednesday, where we go back in time and show you how websites have evolved, courtesy of the Internet Archive's Way Back Machine. Up this week, Google.com.You'll notice immediately in the screen grab below the Browse by category feature, just underneath the Search Box. The category section
- [Facebook UK pop hits 27m & launches Retail Centre](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/14/facebook-uk-pop-hits-27m-launches-retail-centre/) - Two thirds (27 million people) in the UK use Facebook every month and over 19 million access the social network using their mobile devices, according to a report in Nielsen. The figures have been released alongside the launch of Facebook’s Retail Centre where the social network offers advice and tips about how retailers can make
- [Search Trend Thursday: Travel 2013](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/10/search-trend-thursday-travel-2013/) - Welcome back to a 2nd week of Search Trend Thursday, where we show you Googled keywords that could raise an eyebrow, or two. We've decided this week to look into just how far people plan ahead in terms of their travel plans. Looking at the keywords Travel 2013 it's possible Googlers were keen on leaving no sooner
- [Social media predictions for 2013](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/10/social-media-predictions-for-2013/) - Plenty has changed over 2012 with respect to social media, since Facebook launched it's IPO, purchased Instagram, Google further developed its own network and updated its search algorithm to introduce Social Search. Twitter opened a UK office and expanded its promotional services, Reddit clocked in 1 billion page views each month, LinkedIn topped 10m+ UK users and Google+
- [Instagram-gate: What Happens Next?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/10/instagram-gate-what-happens-next/) - A few days ago, my colleague Ben had mentioned in his blog post the controversy surrounding Instagram’s alleged plans to sell pictures uploaded by its users, for advertising purposes (https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/04/instagram-loses-25-of-its-users/). It is worth looking at how the aftermath of this incident could pan out. Conveniently, the Instagram backlash occurred at the end of 2012, therefore
- [Way Back Wednesday: Wired.com](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/09/way-back-wednesday-wired-com/) - Welcome to the first installment of Way Back Wednesday, where every week we'll take you back in time (courtesy of the Internet Archive's Way Back Machine) and compare websites - old and new. Up first, Wired.com. The popular tech magazine has taken large strides since its first web archive in 1998, and it's interesting to note how digital,
- [CES 2013 - Technology Affecting Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/08/ces-2013-technology-affecting-media/) - It's CES 2013 time (as per usual,without the big guns: Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook). Nonetheless, the consumer electronics gadget show hosted in Las Vegas is the industry's biggest trade show where companies excitedly advertise their latest innovations. Journalists are always quick to point out that many of the products on display will ultimately dwindle, with
- [Google Glass VS LED Contact Lens](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/08/google-glass-vs-led-contact-lens/) - If like me you have always imagined how great it would be to have a high tech visor or glasses similar to those in the sci-fi movies or Geordi La Forge in Star Trek, the wait might be over. On April 4, 2012 Project Glass wowed the technology industry when Google introduced its effort to
- [Instagram loses 25% of its users](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/04/instagram-loses-25-of-its-users/) - Instagram could have lost as much as 25% of its user base last month following an update to its terms and conditions, according to AppData. The photo-sharing service, which was bought by Facebook earlier in 2012 for an estimated $1bn, announced plans to change its terms and conditions that some users felt would all them to sell photos
- [Search Trend Thursday: Fitness](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/03/search-trend-thursday-fitness/) - Welcome to Search Trend Thursday, our new weekly highlight of search terms and/or websites that could raise an eyebrow, or two. This week sees us zooming in on the keyword "Fitness" in line with the New Year. You'll see down below that at the beginning of each year since 2005 people have been busy searching
- [Four things your marketing team can learn from the underwhelming launch of the iPad Mini](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/03/four-things-your-marketing-team-can-learn-from-the-underwhelming-launch-of-the-ipad-mini/) - Me: When’s the iPad Mini coming out? My Friend: It’s already out I think. The answer is actually the 23rd October. And almost a month later I had no idea. I completely missed it. Granted, I’m not Apple’s number one fan (I only own an iPod from 2007 and an iPhone 4!) but the above conversation
- [Happy New Year from Tug!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2013/01/02/happy-new-year-from-tug/) - We hope everyone had a great year in 2012 - we certainly did here in the office as we moved into the upstairs and downstairs floor at in 61 Charlotte Road! We needed the extra space because over the year we welcomed no less than 10 new members to the growing Tug Team! Our bigger offices allowed us to
- [Happy Holidays!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/21/happy-holidays/) - Tug's little helpers have been hard at work this year but have still taken the time to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous New Year! Happy holidays everyone! Find more fun stuff on our Facebook page!
- [Google's Year in Review 2012](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/20/googles-year-in-review-2012/) - It's that time of year for Google's Year in Review and it's a cracker, a great reminder of all the things that have happened in a big year around the world. Personal highlights include Felix Baumgartner's leap from the edge of space, the discovery of the Higgs Boson and Mike Ashton's Road Bike Party which is well
- [Twitter archive download can help brands](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/18/twitter-archive-download-can-help-brands/) - Twitter are currently trialing the ability for users to download an archive of their personal tweet history in a number of file formats including CSV and html. Earlier in the year the NYT reported that Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter, promised users they were looking into ways that allowed for such a feature to become
- [Find Your Festive Fowl](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/17/find-your-festive-fowl/)
- [Google+ Communities vs Facebook Groups](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/14/google-communities-vs-facebook/) - I seem to be writing quite frequently about Google, and that’s probably a credit to them for being so busy. In fact, they’ve just introduced 18 new features to their G+ platform, worthy of its own post. However, it’s been nearly a week now since Google launched its Communities and I’ve decided to have a
- [Google adds confirmation click to in app ads](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/14/google-adds-confirmation-click-to-in-app-ads/) - Google have announced the implementation of a new "confirmation" click aimed at combating accidental clicks on in-app mobile ads. This will occur when the ad is pressed on the edge of a banner ad, Google say that this has already proven to increase conversion rates but in some cases reduce click through rates. This joins Google's efforts
- [Christmas on Social Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/14/christmas-on-social-media-2/) - Christmas is nearly upon us, with one working week left before Christmas Eve and the chatter on social media has notably spiked. Using Radian6, we pulled together a quick analysis of where people are chattering about Christmas in the UK and in what kind of numbers. Since the start of the month there have been
- [Display Predictions 2013](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/12/display-predictionw-2013/) - Because digital evolves at a pace faster than Speedy Gonzales, it sometimes feels like display is the time-worn veteran of digital marketing. But next year is set to mark a turning point. 2013 will be the year that display reaches new heights of targeting precision and ROI. And here’s why: Real Time Bidding (RTB) Display
- [JonJon's Image Outreach Prospect](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/12/jonjons-image-outreach-prospect/) - Working in SEO is Fun, as it is never the same and as ever changing (with gratitude's to Google, love you loads!). When it comes to hunting (outreaching as they call it) prospects for my client, it always seems to be like entering SEO formula's (queries) in Google for your targeted keywords, such as: jonjon yeung inurl:guest-post
- [5 things to know about Facebook](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/12/5-things-to-know-about-facebook/) - For any online marketer, being able to use Facebook efficiently and knowing the intricacies of its system are helpful skills to have. Here are a few things you may not have been aware of: If you're looking to build an app for the first time, it's helpful to know that Facebook re-builds its search index
- [Gaining Links by Giving Something Away](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/11/gaining-links-by-giving-something-away/) - For anyone who has tried to carry out a successful link-building campaign, there something that becomes very obvious - an easy way to gain links is to give something away. In the light of recent Google updates, we can no longer hope to dominate the search engines with submission-based link-building techniques such as social bookmarking
- [Drinkify.org](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/10/drinkify-org/) - My new favourite music tool! Drinkify was created in twenty-four boozy hours by @leyink, @han, and @flaneur at Music Hack Day Boston 2011 using the API from Last.fm. Simply enter the artist/ band you are listening to get the perfect cocktail blend to match your music ... smooth. Liked this blog? Find more great content on our Facebook page.
- [Some “Like” It Hot!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/07/some-like-it-hot/) - It is extraordinary how iconic celebrities from a bygone age, can have such an enduring popularity today. They are like mythological creatures, re-emerging from their ashes to transform into an all-new presence which permeates our popular culture. The glamorous images of late stars such as James Dean, Elvis Presley and Audrey Hepburn, have already proven
- [Google+ growing as fast as Facebook](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/07/google-growing-as-fast-as-facebook/) - In my previous blog post I shared Nielsen's findings of how Google+'s growth increased by 80% since its launch. Yesterday, Google announced statistics regarding its "social" network user base and the launch of Google Communities - its answer to Facebook Groups. "Social" because they actually branded their network a "network thingy", with its range of
- [Silicon Cities](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/07/silicon-cities/) - The term "Silicon Valley" was coined in the 1970s to describe the Santa Clara Valley in the San Francisco Bay area where some of the hottest technology companies are based including Facebook, Apple and Google. Now is has become synonymous with the US tech sector as a whole giving rise to several international imitations such as Silicon
- [Christmas Ads - do people love or hate them?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/12/06/christmas-ads-do-people-love-or-hate-them/) - T'is the season to be jolly, especially for advertisers who roll out Christmas campaigns in the run up to boxing day and the New Year. In a survey of UK consumers, Ipsos MORI determined that people are less concerned and annoyed by Christmas advertising than they were in 2009 however a majority of UK adults
- [The Rise of Real-time Bidding](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/30/the-rise-of-real-time-bidding/) - Real-time bidding (RTB) may be confusing for both media buyers and sellers, but that isn't stopping its rapid expansion. According to a report published by sell-side platform Index Platform, the number of RTB impressions sold via its platform jumped nearly 30% in the first and second quarters of the year. What's more: growth was driven
- [How do PPI text's work?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/29/how-do-ppi-texts-work/) - We have all had those highly annoying text's about how much money we are owed through miss sold PPI and on those tighter days towards the end of the month I do think hmmm maybe I should enquire. Luckily sense prevails and I remind myself that surely anything like this is surely better carried out by your self than a temporary
- [Banners Broker – Ponzi scheme accusations intensify](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/29/banners-broker-ponzi-scheme-accusations-intensify/) - The affiliate industry is based on win/win partnerships. According to the annual AIB / PwC adspend figures, the sector was worth £47 million in the first half of 2012. Every so often though, it gets mired in controversy. Banners Broker has been getting an increasing amount of negative press recently regarding its incredible claims of
- [Is our transition to mobile over-hyped?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/28/is-our-transition-to-mobile-over-hyped/) - Should it be such a surprise that we’re moving over to smaller format devices for our everyday computing needs? Especially at the rate in which we are doing so now? Indeed it was Gordon E.Moore, co-founder of Intel, who predicted that the number of transistors on integrated circuits would double every two years; allowing for
- [Zuckerberg Strikes Again](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/28/zuckerberg-strikes-again/) - Last week Facebook announced news that they would be obtaining user data from affiliate partners, such as Instagram, to improve the quality and relevancy of ads shown whilst on Facebook. The recent plans diminish a users ability to vote on changes to its privacy policy. It has also been insinuated that there will be changes
- [Are you updating your Facebook page regularly?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/28/are-you-updating-your-facebook-page-regularly/) - It goes without saying that Facebook marketing is a vital part of any online marketing strategy for a business. How can you possibly promote your product or service online without being present in the world’s largest social network?! Updating your page regularly with engaging content is a highly effective way to retain the interest of
- [Google game Ingress captures user data](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/27/google-uses-gamification-to-improve-sp/) - The world around you is not what it seems The slogan for Google's new augmented reality game Ingress released for Android rings true, as it captures user data about the environment around them. “A user must physically go to a location and check in to play this game. Additional energy is available by travelling specific walking paths,
- [Inspiration –  the Fuel of My Creativity](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/26/inspiration-the-fuel-of-my-creativity/) - I've worked in SEO for over three years and while the search landscape has changed so much in just that short amount of time, there is one aspect of my roles that has been continuous throughout and that’s having an element of creativity in everything I do. This is my third week here at tug
- [Black Friday in the UK, are we used to it now?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/23/black-friday-in-the-uk-are-we-used-to-it-now/) - Black Friday is among us! America’s much celebrated day after Thanksgiving shopping spree has actually in recent years been embraced by British online retailers, and more are catching on. You'll find Apple, Amazon, Currys, Maplin and many others offering deals running through up until Sunday. And if you're late, well don't worry there's always Cyber Monday.
- [Wonga apologies for Twitter attack on MP](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/21/wonga-apologies-for-twitter-attack-on-mp/) - Wonga made an 'unreserved' apology after a Guardian investigation revealed that employees at the loans company attacked MP Stella Creasy via several fake Twitter accounts. The investigation found that Wonga was using "sock puppet" Twitter accounts to attack critics of the firm and post favourable comments underneath articles about the company. One Twitter account was
- [Why you should get on the Google+ bandwagon](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/20/why-you-should-get-on-the-google-bandwagon/) - If till this day you’re still not convinced of Google+’s value to your social media strategy, then I'll tell you why you should be. In fact, it’s a good idea to get ahead of the game and set your page up now. Why? Well here are a few of the benefits: Google+ pages for your
- [Google maps navigates 5,000 mile South Asia trek](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/20/google-maps-navigates-5000-mile-south-asia-trek/) - Winston Fiore, a former US Marine, began a 5,000 mile journey across Southeast Asia by navigating his way using Google Maps on his smarphone. Fiore set out on his trek using directions and leaving markers along his way using an Android phone to navigate through towns, mountains and villages across the continent. His journey aimed
- [Time to prepare your business for the Christmas period!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/16/time-to-prepare-your-business-for-the-christmas-period/) - In case you didn’t know already…the Christmas season is coming! The run-up to Christmas is one of two times in the year, with April-May time usually, when there is a boom in online business. We are a little over one month away from the holidays, so now would be the best time to look at
- [Google Brings Voice Search to iOS: Competition for Apple?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/15/google-brings-voice-search-to-ios-competition-for-apple/) - Google's advanced voice search capability is now available on iOS in an update to its Google Search app. Announced in August, and already available on smartphones running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, Google's updated voice search application looks set to take on Apple's Siri. The app can now undertand queries such as, "Is United Airlines flight
- [Social Media Optimization: Ease of Access](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/13/social-media-optimization-ease-of-access/) - One common mistake I see brands making when managing their Social channels is that they, at times, make it difficult for the user they’re trying to reach. Difficulty here is defined by the ease of access to information or products that often require “digging” on the user’s part (that’s if they actually wanted to reach
- [What are the key things businesses should consider in the post Panda/Penguin/EMD update world?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/12/what-are-the-key-things-businesses-should-consider-in-the-post-pandapenguinemd-update-world/) - Google algorithm updates in the last couple of years have had a considerable impact on how businesses should conduct their digital marketing campaigns. Updates such as Google Panda, Penguin, and the Exact Match Domain (EMD) update are Google’s latest attempts to prevent low-quality websites from ranking highly in their search results. “Negative SEO” tactics like
- [The future of Link-building](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/08/the-future-of-link-building/) - I’ve got this song by ‘4 Non Blondes’ stuck in my head, it’s called “What’s Up”, see the extract and the video below: And I say hey.... hey.... I said hey, what's goin' on And I say hey.... hey.... I said hey, what's goin' on Ooh, Ooh, Oooohh, Oooohh, what's up... Ooh, Ooh, Oooohh, Oooohh,
- [Google UK Search share drops below 90%](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/08/google-uk-search-share-drops-below-90/) - For the first time in well...ever it would seem I am reporting on a drop in Google UK's search engine share. Does this really mean anything for me and you? well no it's a 1.40% drop but this could be enough to get Google worrying if there's a significant drop in revenue. Some sites are
- [The morning after](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/08/the-morning-after/) - Here at Tug we are fortunate enough to have a stunning building with a top floor which can only be described as the perfect place to hold a party. With views over Shoreditch, and throngs of hipsters passing by outside, it was only natural that we would want to have a little shindig for Halloween
- [Concerned about your Facebook App privacy?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/07/concerned-about-your-facebook-app-privacy/) - Then worry not. And if you weren't worrying, then you should have been. Why? Well you've most likely at some point installed an app and lackadaisically ignored the permissions you've granted it, only to completely forget later on. When you do, you may shrug the privacy concerns as a one off and carry on about your business as normal. Before you
- [Barack Obama's victory tweet becomes most retweeted ever](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/07/barack-obamas-victory-tweet-breaks-all-records/) - Following last night's US election and acceptance speech, Barack Obama's Twitter account posted: "Four More Years" with a picture of the man himself hugging his wife Michelle Obama. In a matter of minutes, the post clocked up more than 500,000 retweets and 100,000 favourites from followers and supporters from around the world, more than any
- [Does social media affect the political process?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/06/does-social-media-affect-the-political-process/) - Election fever is once again sweeping across the US. Today, tens of millions of Americans will head to the polls to cast their vote for one of the two final candidates for the presidency – incumbent Barack Obama or Republican leader Mitt Romney. Yesterday was the last day of campaigning in several ‘swing states’ for
- [Google the busy bee](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/11/01/google-the-busy-bee/) - We’re all interested in Google. And if you’re not, there’s a good chance you’re using one of its products anyway. Besides, what’s not to like? Like or not, Google has been busy in recent days – particularly with Google+ - in an ever increasing effort to drive users to its own services and pull them
- [Zynga’s woes and implications on Social Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/31/zyngas-woes-and-implications-on-social-media/) - It's clear Zynga have been struggling for a while now, culminating in their recent layoff of 100 employees and clash with Anonymous. The introduction of Farmville 2 in September of this year; the recycling of its most successful social game into a sequel essentially identical to its predecessor, smacked of clear creative desperation. Couple that
- [Search Love: take SEO back to marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/31/search-love-take-seo-back-to-marketing/) - The reputation of the search industry has been contaminated by the numerous agencies and entrepreneurs providing poor quality SEO services. This is a topic which was discussed at Monday’s Search Love event in Tottenham Court Road, London. I have noticed, by looking through the tweets filtered in the #seo hash tag, that SEO is an
- [Facebook CTR's on the rise & CPC's falling](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/26/facebook-ctrs-on-the-rise-cpcs-falling/) - Good news for budding search marketers today as 2 reports have been released which show click through rates from Facebook advertising have been rising steadily in Q3 along with the average cost per clicks decreasing. It was reported that the average CPC fell 40 percent in the United States and 27 percent in Canada. Spruce
- [The One Million Tweet Map](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/25/the-one-million-tweet-map/) - Maptimize have released a sneak peek into the possibilities of their big data rendering technology with the Onemilliontweetmap, which displays geolocalized tweets delivered by the twitter stream API.The map presents live, real-time tweet data and their rendering technology contends with around 20 tweets a second. It’s interesting to note there is no data captured from
- [Microsoft facing fine for failing to provide free browser choice](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/25/microsoft-facing-fine-for-failing-to-provide-free-browser-choice/) - Microsoft has been given a formal warning by the European Commission and could face a multimillion pound fine for failing to give customers a choice of internet browsers, effectively forcing customers to use their own Internet Explorer browser. This follows an order given three years ago, that Microsoft agreed on, to provide users a free
- [Halloween at Tug](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/25/halloween-at-tug/) - Here is a sneak peak at the playlist I've been putting together for our Halloween party next Friday. .. Possibly the only place where Chaka Demus & Pliers can be found alongside Cypress Hill and Lady Gaga. Once you scratch the surface it's amazing to see how many pop songs are based around quite grim
- [Google AdWords Policies Update](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/24/google-adwords-policies-update/) - Google updated its AdWords policies last week. One of these policies refers to the use of dynamic keyword insertion (DKI) in paid search ads. Google stated that: “Ads using keyword insertion must be grammatically and logically correct, and result in meaningful ad text for the user.” This appears to be a significant shift in Google's
- [The art of the check-in](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/24/the-art-of-the-check-in/) - As Facebook announces its revenue growth from mobile advertising and Foursquare's userbase tops 10m, it is worth looking again at the value of the "check-in", particularly for small to medium-sized businesses. Intuit have recently published an infographic on their small business blog that determines how small businesses and users are slowly catching on to the
- [Apple Releases iPad Mini](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/24/apple-releases-ipad-mini/) - The worst kept secret in the technology industry is finally out of the bag, last night Apple released the eagerly awaited iPad Mini to the public. What many hoped to be a solid competitor versus Google's Nexus 7 tablet and Amazon's Kindle Fire HD has turned out to be a flop. The launch started well
- [Mastercard Leverage the Power of Analytics](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/22/mastercard-leverage-the-power-of-analytics/) - Interesting point of view from the FT’s Emily Steel, who took a look at the sales pitch for one of Mastercard's newest products. Surprisingly, it is not a new credit card or payments system - it is in fact a new way for Mastercard to monestise all the things it already knows about it's customers “MasterCard first explored the
- [Microsoft removes Facebook and Twitter apps from Xbox Live](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/22/microsoft-removes-facebook-and-twitter-apps-from-xbox-live/) - In an update to its popular Xbox Live dashboard, Microsoft has made the conscious decision to remove both Facebook and Twitter apps in an effort to streamline its offered selection. The company is now encouraging users to visit their favoured social networks through Internet Explorer 9, which was included in the update bundle. Writers have
- [The Internet weighs in as a strawberry](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/19/the-internet-weighs-in-as-a-strawberry/) - Using some very rough maths, it's been estimated that the internet weighs about the same as a large strawberry (about 50 grammes): http://soc.li/Gnqs1lG
- [The Pirate Bay opts for the cloud](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/18/the-pirate-bay-opts-for-the-cloud/) - The Pirate Bay, a file sharing website, has made the decision to move its servers to the cloud. The site has continually been chased in the past for illegal file sharing and much to law enforcers disappointment they have managed to avoid being shut down. By moving to the cloud they hope to avoid further
- [Hyves: the value of local social networks](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/17/hyves-the-value-of-local-social-networks/) - Hi everyone, my name’s Chris (if you hadn't noticed already) and I've just joined Tug as a Social Media executive. It would only seem fitting then that I share my ideas and thoughts on social with you weekly. To begin, I want to quickly introduce you to the power of local social networks which are often overlooked due to
- [Germany goes Twitter](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/17/germany-goes-twitter/) - I am Susann, 20 something and since August 2012 the new SEO Account Executive at Tug. Originally from Germany, I moved over to the UK in March 2011 and discovered my love for SEO. All my posts will be about something that caught my attention. Doesn’t matter if it’s SEO, Social Media or something more
- [Myspace is set for a relaunch](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/17/myspace-is-set-for-a-relaunch/) - Justin Timberlake (among other investors) has put no small amount of money behind the new-look Myspace in a considerable push that is set to roll out over the new few months. Currently, their very music-orientated holding page and showcase video splatters slick design reminiscent of tumblr over interactive elements including friends video uploads, artists music playlists
- [Felix Baumgartner: a social media hero](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/17/felix-baumgartner-a-social-media-hero/) - Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner made history on Sunday, October 14th 2012. His 24-mile plunge down to the Earth’s surface, from the highest point of the stratosphere, broke the record for highest altitude for a parachute jump. For all we know, his historic skydive, sponsored by Red Bull, may also have broken many records for social
- [Übersuggest: expand your keywords](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/16/ubersuggest-expand-your-keywords/) - The Internet has grown massively in the last 10 years. According to Internet usage information, from data published by Nielsen Online, internet users moved up from 360m in December 2001 to 2,267m in December 2011. At a similar pace, the competition within search engines has grown massively together with the value of single keywords. Larry Kim
- [Felix Baumgartner's skydive from space ... in Lego](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/15/felix-baumgartners-skydive-from-space-in-lego/)
- [Lightbox and the art of ‘engagement’](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/11/lightbox-and-the-art-of-engagement/) - Last week Google introduced a new ad format for their display network, the ‘Lightbox’. When a user hovers their mouse over the ad for 2 seconds then the ad will expand and the rest of the window will be dimmed with the idea being that only ‘engaged’ users will interact with the ad, removing the
- [LinkedIn Redesigns Company Pages](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/11/linkedin-redesigns-company-pages/) - LinkedIn is moving one step further into business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing with a new design for company pages and featured updates. The site made its new company page design available to select firms nearly a month ago and is now making the features available for free to more than 2 million companies that have LinkedIn
- [Be careful what you say on Facebook!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/10/be-careful-what-you-say-on-facebook/) - This week, a man was sentenced to 12 weeks of prison, after having posted comments on Facebook which were deemed offensive. Mathew Woods, 20, from Chorley, Lancashire, had allegedly referred to the missing girls April Jones and Madeleine McCann. This is only of many cases of indictments resulting from inappropriate behaviour which became public in
- [Julie Deane: a story of social media success](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/09/julie-deane-a-story-of-social-media-success/) - Google Chrome's latest ad tells the story of Julie Deane, a British mum-of-two who starts a global fashion craze from her kitchen table. The ad charts the rise of Julie Deane & The Cambridge Satchel Company using different online platforms including social media channels google+ and youtube to spread the word about her products. In quick
- [The 36 Rules of Social Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/05/36-rules-of-social-media/) - Last week was our Social Media Week – and what a success it was! -, and now it is time for Tug to make a “final” statement about it. Because so much has been said about the most important things to know in social media marketing, it is difficult to put everything into perspective. However,
- [The Future for Social Media in Fashion Retail](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/05/the-future-for-social-media-in-fashion-retail/) - The trend for online shopping has created an apparent butterfly effect in recent months, as retail stores develop new forms of marketing specifically through social media strategies, to attract shoppers to their stores, and has consequently seen the market boom over the last few years. Mobile apps for customers are now able to offer location
- [Social Media Week 2012 - Social Search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/04/social-media-week-2012-social-search/) - Social Media Week 2012 Social Search Presentation from Tug
- [Facebook Bares All](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/04/facebook-bares-all/) - Did you have Facebook in 2008/09? Did you use it to send personal/private messages to friends, family or colleagues? Did you say things in those personal/private messages which were not intended to be seen by your 368 ‘friends’? Well Facebook has decided to publish them on your timeline for everyone to see. Facebook has
- [iPhone 5 social media coverage](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/10/02/iphone-5-social-media-coverage/) - The huge amount of news coverage in the last two weeks relating to Apple's launch of the iPhone 5 has been largely negative, relating to the problems with the software iOS 6 including Apple Maps that the camera is of poorer quality than the iPhone 4. Interestingly, social media has had a large part to
- [Social Media Week - Social Search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/26/social-media-week-social-search/) - Tomorrow at 10am the Tug offices will host an event for Social Media Week entitled Social Search - How this affects your marketing plan. The event will explore how traditional search marketing is merging with online conversations and social media. Following Google’s Search plus Your World update, natural search and social media have continued to
- [Iran blocks Google and Gmail](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/25/iran-blocks-google-and-gmail/) - This week, the Iranian government announced that it had restricted access to Google Search and Gmail nationwide. This has occurred as a result of the outcry against the anti-Muslim film posted on Youtube, Innocence of Muslims. A firewall will block access to many Western sites, and some believe that this will be a preliminary step
- [The Internet Map](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/24/the-internet-map/) - The Internet Map is a graphic of links between websites on the Internet detailed by their relative size. Every site is a circle on the map, and its size is determined by website traffic has an orbit of smaller sites affiliated with or directly working together. Users switch between websites and this creates a link
- [The Ongoing Battle Between Samsung v Apple](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/21/the-ongoing-battle-between-samsung-v-apple/) - Samsung and Apple have been locked in continual patent lawsuits for the past year. Samsung claimed in August 2012 that if the new iPhone were to breach certain infringements then they would sue. Staying true to their word, earlier this week Samsung have submit yet another lawsuit against Apple, stating that it believes the iPhone
- [If This Then That – Automate your online/real life](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/21/if-this-then-that-automate-your-onlinereal-life/) - As we live in a fast-pace environment, productivity tools can be your best friend in the following terms: save time stay organised If This Then That is a great new tool to stay organise and connects various web platform/services together to automate common tasks on the web. The following are the most popular platforms supported:
- [Ed Sheeran - Bigger than Jesus!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/20/ed-sheeran-bigger-than-jesus/) - A big topic in technology this week has been about music piracy with the BBC putting together a handy tool to look at what is downloaded the most near you, ranging from Louis Armstrong on the Isle of Wight to Ed Sheeran and Pitbull seemingly everywhere else. Record companies are still scrambling to try and
- [Plastic Logic, flexible technology that could change the mobile industry](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/19/plastic-logic-flexible-technology-that-could-change-the-mobile-industry/) - Plastic Logic is an interesting UK-based tech company that is fast set to bring flexible plastic display technology to the marketplace. The big question is why this technology hasn’t come around already, given the commuter demand for mobile devices that aren’t solid and breakable. Everyone has a mobile breakage story, but with flexible plastic displays
- [The video game's powers of persuasion](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/19/the-video-games-powers-of-persuasion/) - This week, Time Magazine published its annual list of 50 Best Websites. Here it is for your pleasure! http://techland.time.com/2012/09/18/50-best-websites-2012/#introduction-2 I was quick to go through the list and find anything interesting, and sure enough, some of these sites will become our latest object of addiction soon. Even though the list reflects an essentially North-American perspective,
- [Apps for Smartphones: The Dangers of Downloading](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/18/apps-for-smartphones-the-dangers-of-downloading/) - Applications (or Apps as there most commonly referred to) are programs which can be used on smartphones and can fall into numerous categories, such as entertainment, social networking, lifestyle, news and education. Apps can be great for learning and engaging children and young adults-and some have themselves actually created apps to share. However few of
- [The London Dungeon's-an Experience Not To Forget](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/18/the-london-dungeons-an-experience-not-to-forget/) - Choosing to enter a dark, dank, sweaty dungeon on a scorching Summer’s day during the Olympic festivities, is not everyone’s idea of an enjoyable afternoon. However during my recent trip there earlier this year, the actors guiding my tour of the London Dungeon’s (only a stone's throw from London Bridge-and it's picturesque views of the
- [LinkedIn passes 10m UK members](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/17/linkedin-passes-10m-uk-members/) - LinkedIn announced on its blog that the number of UK professionals on its network has passed 10m, with top cities London, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Reading. This means that 4 out of 5 British professionals are now LinkedIn members. The UK is currently LinkedIn’s third largest member market globally – exceeded only by the United States and
- [The Web grows larger in China](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/14/the-web-grows-larger-in-china/) - A new technological development is set to transform dramatically the way internet access is distributed across China. Up until now, the country’s sheer size has been a major problem for coverage, and traditional internet structures are expensive to make. However, a scientific project funded by the government aims to overcome these limitations by merging all
- [Original Apple computer sold for $375K](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/13/original-apple-computer-sold-for-375k/) - A 36 year old computer was auctioned at Sotheby's for a huge amount of cash to an anonymous bidder. All I want to know is if it had tetris? http://www.cio.co.uk/news/3364471/36-year-old-apple-computer-sells-for-374500/?olo=rss
- [Amazon Joins the Silicon Roundabout](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/13/amazon-joins-the-silicon-roundabout/) - Amazon are the latest company to join the IT tech hub of London, otherwise known as the Silicon Roundabout. The Silicon roundabout already houses such big names as Google, Vodafone and LastFM. The new office which will be opened near the Silicon Roundabout will host hundreds of engineers and software developers as part of a
- [Are you the next Facebook MD?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/12/are-you-the-next-facebook-md/) - Facebook is on the hunt for its first UK managing director to help navigate its next phase of development and calm the nerves of flighty city investors. A UK headhunter has been approaching senior executives at traditional and digital media owners with the new managing director role, responsible for the day to day running of
- [Facebook is going into Search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/12/facebook-is-going-into-search/) - At the TechCrunch Disrupt 12 event in San Francisco Mark Zuckerberg candidly announced that Facebook would be going into "search" at some point in the future. Among other announcements he stated that Facebook gets approximately 1 billion searches every day "without even trying", adding that the majority of searches are for people with profiles on the
- [Facebook announces a boost in mobile innovation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/12/facebook-announces-a-boost-in-mobile-innovation/) - This is a big week for Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg, the multimillionaire founder of the social network, has admitted that the recent drop in the company’s market value was ‘disappointing’. The value of its shares has halved since last May. This clearly suggests a need to revitalise Facebook somehow. So what is in the pipeline for
- [iPhone 5 launch tomorrow](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/11/iphone-5-launch-tomorrow/) - Tomorrow's Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 5 at a press event and the technology press is abuzz with speculation and rumour. The guessing game really circulates around what features the new iPhone will have that the already suped-up iPhone 4 currently does not. The safe money is on a new high-speed LTE connection
- [Tesco targets Amazon audience as it buys e-book website in £4.5m deal](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/10/tesco-targets-amazon-audience-as-it-buys-e-book-website-in-4-5m-deal/) - Tesco is set to lead the race in dominating the electronic books market after striking a £4.5million deal with Bravo Two Zero author Andy McNab. Andy McNab (former-SAS man ) founded the online download site Mobcast where customers can buy and download electronic books onto mobile phones and tablet computers in 2007 along with the
- [Amazon brings the Kindle Fire to the UK](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/07/amazon-brings-the-kindle-fire-to-the-uk/) - Yesterday Amazon announced their new Kindles to the world including the new Kindle Fire HD. Even better for us, they have announced the launch of the Fire range to the UK market...before they were only available in the USA. Amazon are giving us two options, the original Kindle Fire at £129 and the new Kindle
- [How to become a Youtube superstar](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/07/how-to-be-a-youtube-superstar/) - Are you trying to reach out to hundreds of millions of people to communicate your message or promote your brand as quickly as possible? Well, here is how it is done. PSY, a 34-year-old Korean rapper-singer, is the latest in a line of people who have achieved overnight international fame through the internet. The music video
- [PPC Winning the Commercial Keywords War!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/06/ppc-winning-the-commercial-keywords-war-2/) - As someone who lives in the world of PPC everyday you might call me biased, but it looks as if paid ads are soon to rule the roost in the world of search engine marketing. With highly relevant ads tailored (hopefully!) to the users search queries and a high proportion of quality real estate above
- [Estonia plans entire generation of super coders](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/05/estonia-plans-entire-generation-of-super-coders/) - ‘What did you do in school today, Toomas?’ ‘Well, I finally fixed out that bug on my website and helped Ingrid with her new iPhone App. Then we traded our sticker collections for an hour’ That’s the future for schools in Estonia as announced here yesterday. The small Baltic state is implementing an education programme
- [How much data do we consume every day?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/09/04/how-much-data-do-we-consume-every-day/) - We absorb more information than ever thanks to the advent of the Internet, smartphones, tablets and social media, but how much does this total up to? Is it the equivalent of reading War & Peace every week? 1,000 Deano comics an hour? A morning session with Stephen Hawking? The smart folks over at the University
- [Don’t waste your time on Twitter](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/31/dont-waste-your-time-on-twitter/) - The more you use Twitter, the merrier. Though this opinion may not be shared by your manager if you spend thousands of hours on it. In general, I see companies many companies doing nothing with social media while others are making really interesting stuff. I like the stuff that has resulted in me buying stuff
- [The Power of Facebook Advertising](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/30/the-power-of-facebook-advertising/) - Facebook have recently distributed an infographic that gives an illustration of the power of its advertising platform. The numbers are definitely impressive and the focus is clearly on mobile (more devices). Their key USP remains targeting, although given the recent flak Facebook ads have experienced, a broader all-encompassing response might have been best done with
- [NameChk social media tool](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/29/namech/) - Here is a great tool to use when thinking up your next great website idea, band name, product, start-up, pet's name etc. The question that usually follows any name choice is: "is the URL free?" In the Web 2.0 era the question has been amended a little to ask: "is the Twitter handle free?" NameChk quickly and
- [UC Browser the killing Web Browser has risen, and is coming for you!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/28/uc-browser-the-killing-web-browser-has-risen-and-is-coming-for-you/) - UCWeb is a Chinese mobile internet software and application services company. Recently UCWeb has been gaining huge attention from people's mouths as it is now one of the largest provider of mobile web browsing (UC Browser) in the planet. Dominating China's mobile web browser market, June 2011 UCWeb unleashed its latest product the 'kernel U3'
- [Web Trend Map 4](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/23/web-trend-map-4/) - A copy of the map hangs in the Japanese headquarters of Google, Microsoft, Facebook, WordPress and Yahoo! Now even the CERN in Geneva has its own copy. The Web Trend Map plots the Internet’s leading website and brand names onto the Tokyo Metro map (itself a complicated design. Domains are carefully placed through online conversations with
- [Facebook to introduce "Want" button](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/20/facebook-to-introduce-want-button/) - The Facebook "like" button has become an iconic part of the Internet over the last two years since its launch, but the next stage for the social network is to introduce a "want" button for products and pages - something brands are very keen on having. In July, there were several reports that Facebook are set
- [Banner Ads and Affiliates: Part 3 – Conclusion](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/17/banner-ads-and-affiliates-part-3-conclusion/) - “Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future” – Oscar Wilde This is the final part of my series on banner ads and affiliates. In part 1 I looked at the early says of internet advertising, while part 2 focused on the click frenzy of the late-90’s early 2000’s. So what’s the
- [Round 1. Twitter Vs Weibo!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/16/round-1-twitter-vs-weibo/) - ...In the Blue Ring we have 'Twitter'... And in the Red Ring we have 'Weibo'! Weibo is a Chinese social media platform, seen as a combination of our two important friends "Facebook" and "Twitter". I call it the "TwitBook"! With no limit on 140 characters - it is certainly the hottest social service in China
- [The most viewed photography on iPad](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/16/the-most-viewed-photography-on-ipad/) - One of the most viewed eyewitness photographs on the iPad shows a group of 25 extreme jacuzzi enthusiasts have a soak suspended 150 metres above the ground from the New Gueuroz bridge in Switzerland. This image was viewed more than 450,000 times using the device and shows how tablets are generating a very different interest
- [Facebook’s new ad plan](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/16/facebooks-new-ad-plan/) - Facebook has decided to test running adverts directly within users news-feeds in an attempt to raise money. If all goes well this could mean that advertisers would be able to reach the sites 1 billion users. The decision comes at a point when the social networks stock price is at its lowest of just $19.38.
- [How to implement Rel=author Rich Snippets and Increase Click-Through-Rates](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/14/how-to-implement-relauthor-rich-snippets-and-increase-click-through-rates/) - What if I told you there was a simple and easy way to increase your blog click through rates with very little website changes? Increasing the number of search engine visitors to your website but staying in exactly the same position and making no changes to your meta titles or descriptions? Enter rel=author rich snippets
- [Google Mobile Search Revamped](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/10/google-mobile-search-revamped/) - Continuing Google's quest to bring real-time answers to users questions as fast as possible. Google have just announced their new revamped mobile search design. The new revamp will feature new results for question based searches such as flight times, measurements etc. The revamp has been based on Google's new slim line design used in Google
- [SEO – A Sport in Itself?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/10/seo-a-sport-in-itself/) - As we near the end of the Olympics and what has arguably been the greatest summer for sport in recent memory, it’s been difficult not to get caught up and let the excitement creep over into the working day. It got me thinking that maybe SEO and sport aren’t so different. Both require hard work
- [Twitter and Sport: Friend or Foe?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/08/twitter-and-sport-friend-or-foe-2/) - Over the last few years it's become clear that much like Gin & Tonic, Ant & Dec or a man & a well earned beer, Twitter and sport have become completely inseparable. Whether it's (the soon to be 'Sir') Bradley Wiggins celebrating his Tour de France and Olympic success or Rio Ferdinand promising to snaffle
- [The realisation of expectation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/08/the-realisation-of-expectation/) - So whilst having a job at Tug, I also have the enormous task of being a mum to 3 children (and my partner who is yet to realise he is an adult). As a parent you are often asked difficult and awkward questions (Daddy why does your hair grow on there?) and a gentle, age
- [Facebook ruling - brands responsible for comments](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/08/facebook-au-ruling-brands-responsible-for-comments/) - A significant ruling has been made by Australia’s advertising watchdog against Carlton & United Breweries VB Facebook page that effectively says that Facebook is an advertising medium and therefore brands are responsibly for all comments and posts by users submitted to their pages. This makes brands personally responsible for all comments that appear on their Facebook
- [Olympic victory continues on Twitter](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/06/olympic-victory-continues-on-twitter/) - Following Usain Bolt's outstanding 100m Olympic record clocking in at 9.63 seconds, Twitter reacted immediately after his lightning quick victory with a staggering 2,360 tweets per second. Overall tweets per minute peaked at 105,000 which is at four times the level monitored during the Olympic opening ceremony by EchoScreen, the in-house monitoring tool used by
- [Banner Ads and Affiliates - Part 2: The Wild West](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/03/banner-ads-and-affiliates-part-2-the-wild-west/) - “Be careful what you pretend to be, because you are what you pretend to be” – Kurt Vonnegut This is the second part of my short series on banner ads and affiliates, you can find part one here. In part one I covered the early days of the internet and the development of
- [French retailer buys rights to Anonymous brand](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/02/french-retailer-buys-rights-to-anonymous-brand/) - The mysterious hacking collective Anonymous, scourge of corporate websites and governments the world over, face a challenge from a small French retailer who are buying the rights to their brand and slogan. In what appears to be a PR stunt, the French company "Early Flicker" is attempting to trademark both the Anonymous logo and the official
- [Reddit fills those empty Olympic seats](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/08/01/reddit-fills-those-empty-olympic-seats/) - Reddit.com took the Olympics empty seats dilemma to task by using photoshop to fill as many memes, characters and Internet superheroes into all available space. Awesome gif making skills and a great example of the shared creative power of a good idea. All done in the name of karma.
- [Explaining SEO to Non-SEO Friends](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/30/explaining-seo-to-non-seo-friends/) - Working in SEO, I never quite know how to answer when someone asks what it is I do for a job. Reeling out something along the lines of ‘Improving a website’s search engine visibility through on site optimisation whilst building external backlinks from authoritative and trusted websites’ won’t make a whole lot of sense to
- [Should Mark Zuckerberg Step Down?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/30/should-mark-zuckerberg-step-down/) - Well the stock is absolutely tanking... Is Mark the right guy to care? I just read an interesting article suggesting that Mark is the right guy to keep Facebook moving forward - will he/it change the world? But he is not the right guy to appease investors. When Facebook was a private company everyone
- ["Chinese Internet" legalized in Russia](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/30/chinese-internet-legalized-in-russia/) - Russia adopts stringent internet controls amid censorship concerns. New act could place Russia behind a 'great firewall' similar to China's. The Russian parliament unanimously adopted a controversial bill that boosts government control over the internet, despite a campaign warning that it will lead to widespread censorship.The bill has now been signed by Vladimir Putin, Russia's
- [Banner Ads and Affiliates – Part 1: The Early Days](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/27/banner-ads-and-affiliates-part-1-the-early-days/) - "When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago" - Friedrich Nietzsche This is a short series about banners, their impact on performance marketing and the future for this tried and tested medium. Imagine this for a moment – It’s 1969 and you’re a student programmer at UCLA working
- [Facebook vs. Google Display Network [INFOGRAPHIC]](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/26/facebook-vs-google-display-network-infographic/)
- [FREE FREE FREE links](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/25/free-free-free-links/) - Recently Google Webmaster Tools has alerted many SEO people about problems with their link building strategy. In light of this many are asking how to build links easily and improve positions in order to increase traffic. At LinkLove in March, the main focus was on content as a source of back links, unfortunately when these
- [Google's Being Anti-Competitive](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/25/googles-being-anti-competitive/) - Back in November 2012, Google was faced with anti-trust allegations. Since this time Google has been wrapped up in an investigation led by the European Commission who are now apparently getting close to settling the case. ‘Anti-trust’, in very simple terms means that Google is not being fair. Google is the obvious market
- [Impact of the Olympics and Social Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/25/5374-2/) - Finally with days to go before the ceremony, the Olympics have finally arrived. The Olympics have always been a huge talking factor, making this month the biggest buzz people are talking about! Here you can see the evolution of how the Olympics grew wider in audience over time. Social media being the big player, giving
- [The Dark Knight Rises social media campaign](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/24/the-dark-knight-rises-social-media/) - The hype, controversy and press coverage surrounding Christopher Nolan's conclusion to the epic "Dark Knight" trilogy reached fever pitch during the opening weekend. Driving the key messaging and call-to-action for ticket sales and providing a virtual countdown to the launch date, the team behind The Dark Knight Rises Facebook Page released a series of great
- [A facebook page for every company?!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/20/a-facebook-page-for-every-company/) - Facebook is becoming increasingly important for almost any business. Having your own facebook page offers the possibility to stay in contact with clients or potential clients and inform them about offers and activities. Whereas most medium-sized companies just recently started to use the world’s biggest social network for their purposes, a great number of huge
- [Infographic explaining infographics (with Lego)](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/19/infographic-explaining-infographics-with-lego/)
- [Do Facebook ads actually work?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/18/do-facebook-ads-actually-work/) - The BBC has run an investigation that alleges that Facebook advertising doesn't actually deliver as many "active" profiles to a Facebook Page as previously thought. The main finding is that "companies are wasting large sums of money on adverts to gain "likes" from Facebook members who have no real interest in their products". This follows
- [Skype's got a Bug](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/18/skypes-got-a-bug/) - A bug within Skype’s software has been confirmed to be sending message to unintended recipients. “Although we cannot determine precisely how many users may have been affected by this error, we believe the number is small given the very specific circumstances under which the error occurs.” The bug appears to have been introduced back
- [5 reasons to decline an affiliate application](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/13/5-reasons-to-decline-an-affiliate-application/) - An important aspect to any affiliate programme is approving and declining sites that apply to join and promote the brand. You don’t have to look far on the A4U Forum to find disgruntled affiliates complaining that they haven’t been approved and that it’s disgraceful behaviour on the part of the brand (how does that Affiliate
- [10 tools and tips for guest bloggers](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/12/10-tools-and-tips-for-guest-bloggers/) - Hello to all link builders and internet marketers trying to increase positions and brand awareness through the most safe technique. For the love of sharing and increasing knowledge in the industry, I have compiled a list to improve your link building conversion through guest posting. Looking at the way people are currently using guest posts
- [Facebook - Programmed for Disaster?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/11/facebook-programmed-for-disaster/) - Created by: OnlineGraduatePrograms.com
- [New ‘Black box’ Encryption: Patriotism or Communism?](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/11/new-black-box-encryption-patriotism-or-communism/) - The UK government has recently announced, that internet and phone corporations will install what is known as "Black boxes", to monitor UK internet and phone usage, this includes all Facebook and Gmail messaging. According to the Home Office's data act, internet service providers (ISPs) and mobile phone businesses are to collect all records and file
- [Google up's the against Apple's iPad & Kindle Fire](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/10/google-ups-the-ante-for-apple-ipad-kindle-fire/) - Google recently held their annual developers conference, with the announcement of a number of new products expected to be launched - the hype was huge...and Google didn't let us down! The biggest news to come out of Google I/O 2012 has to be the launch of their new "Nexus 7" tablet. Yes, I know not another Android
- [Google Introduces 'Flexible Reach Targeting' to GDN](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/10/google-introduces-flexible-reach-targeting-to-gdn/) - Following on from last months introduction of the 'Display Tab' in Adwords, Google's next step to create a more controlled Display Network has been the introduction of 'Flexible Reach' targeting. Where as in the past the targeting method for the GDN has been set at a campaign level, Flexible Reach now enables users to choose their settings
- [About good advertising (& a Tuesday smile)](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/10/about-good-advertising-a-tuesday-smile/) - Overall a lot of people complain that adverts are annoying, inconvenient and all other things. If we must be honest, no matter if you earn money by setting up a remarketing campaign or YouTube instream ads, you still feel a little bit irritated with the adverts (maybe because you know how it works - that could
- [Twitter introduces simpler search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/10/twitter-introduces-simpler-search/) - Twitter has developed a simpler way to discover what’s happening in real time by changing its search engine. This is introduced following changes to the network that sees both Google and LinkedIn no longer able to display tweets in realtime, indicating a shift towards Twitter developing its own search engine internal to the network. Last
- [Search Engines in Russia – Just a bit of Stats](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/05/search-engines-in-russia-just-a-bit-of-stats/) - Yandex’s share of Russia’s Internet searches fell in the week to July 1, while the percentages for competitors Google Inc. and Mail.ru were unchanged, according to Liveinternet.ru. The share for Yandex, the owner of Russia’s most-used search engine, fell to 60.5% from 60.6% in the previous week, Liveinternet, an Internet service provider and researcher, said on its website.
- [Forrester confirms it... Affiliate Marketing is great!](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/2012/07/04/forrester-confirms-it-affiliate-marketing-is-great/) - 'What's so great about affiliate marketing anyway?' Rakuten Linkshare recently commissioned Forrester to compile a research paper on the current state of affiliate marketing and its future over the next four years. It’s just been released entitled ‘Affiliate Marketing – The direct and indirect value that affiliates deliver to advertisers’ and as you’d expect from

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## Case studies

- [Engineering a Full-Funnel B2B SaaS Overhaul for Lever](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/work/engineering-a-full-funnel-b2b-saas-overhaul-for-lever-by-employ/) - Discover how Tug restructured Lever’s paid media to align spend with Salesforce CRM data, slashing CPMQL and driving a 125% surge in SQLs.|
- [Finding New Growth Opportunities in SEO with Search Experience Optimisation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/work/merlin-entertainments-finding-new-growth-opportunities-in-seo-with-search-experience-optimisation/)
- [Measuring the Incremental Impact of Podcasts](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/work/zipcar-measuring-the-incremental-impact-of-podcasts/)
- [Generating Full-Funnel Growth Through Dynamic Paid Social advertising](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/work/generating-full-funnel-growth-through-dynamic-paid-social-advertising/)
- [How Suzanne Grae Unlocked Massive Incremental Revenue](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/work/how-suzanne-grae-unlocked-massive-incremental-revenue/)
- [Delivering Helpful Content to exceed SEO results in Healthcare](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/work/genesiscare-delivering-helpful-content-to-exceed-seo-results-in-healthcare/)
- [Safeguarding Historic Waterways & Native Wildlife with a Hyper-local Omnichannel Strategy](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/work/canal-river-trust-safeguarding-historic-waterways-native-wildlife-with-a-hyper-local-omnichannel-strategy/)
- [Building an End-to-End Performance View for B2B Lead Generation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/work/leap-building-an-end-to-end-performance-view-for-b2b-lead-generation/)

## Peoples

- [Neil Baker](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/people/neil-baker/)
- [Alex Whalley](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/people/alex-whalley/)
- [Michael Ozburn](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/people/michael-ozburn/)
- [Neil Goddard](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/people/goddard/)
- [Aisling McCabe](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/people/aisling-mccabe/)
- [Yanru Chen](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/people/roshni-devalia/)
- [Asher Gordon](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/people/daffarn/)
- [Eleni Sarri](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/people/eleni-sarri/)
- [Charlie Bacon](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/people/charlie-bacon/)
- [Eoin O'Neill](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/people/oneill/)
- [Peter Boulton](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/people/boulton/)
- [Nick Beck](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/people/beck-2/)

## Offices

- [New York](https://www.tugagency.com/locations/new-york/) - Make your mark in the US with Tug New York, offering cutting-edge digital marketing strategies
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- [Sydney](https://www.tugagency.com/locations/sydney/) - Expand your reach in Australia with Tug Sydney, a leading digital marketing agency
- [Singapore](https://www.tugagency.com/locations/singapore/) - Grow your brand in Asia with Tug Singapore, your digital marketing agency for tailored strategies
- [London](https://www.tugagency.com/locations/london/) - Elevate your digital presence with Tug London, a premier digital marketing agency in the heart of the UK
- [Berlin](https://www.tugagency.com/locations/berlin/) - Boost your brand in Germany with Tug Berlin, your go-to digital marketing agency for innovative strategies

## Vacancies

- [Office Manager & PA](https://www.tugagency.com/about-agency/careers/office-manager-pa/)
- [Paid Media Account Executive](https://www.tugagency.com/about-agency/careers/paid-media-account-executive/)
- [Programmatic Account Manager](https://www.tugagency.com/about-agency/careers/programmatic-atl-executive-entry-level/)
- [SEO Manager](https://www.tugagency.com/about-agency/careers/seo-manager/)
- [Paid Media Account Manager - PPC and Paid Social](https://www.tugagency.com/about-agency/careers/paid-media-account-manager-ppc-and-paid-social/)

## Categories

- [Uncategorised](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/uncategorised/)
- [Uncategorized](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/uncategorized/)
- [Event](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/event/)
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- [Search Engine Optimisation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/search-engine-optimisation/)
- [Internet Marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/internet-marketing/)
- [Tug](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/tug/)
- [Whitepaper](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/whitepaper/)
- [Everything Else](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/everything-else/)
- [Social & Content](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/social-content/)
- [Technology](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/technology/)
- [Mobile](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/mobile/)
- [Display Advertising](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/display-advertising/)
- [Affiliate Marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/affiliate-marketing/)
- [Search Trend Thursday](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/search-trend-thursday/)
- [Way Back Wednesday](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/way-back-wednesday/)
- [Tech Tip Tuesday](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/tech-tip-tuesday/)
- [Analytics](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/analytics/)
- [Press Release](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/press-release/)
- [Advertising](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/advertising/)
- [Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/media/)
- [Influencers](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/influencers/)
- [Out Of Home](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/out-of-home/)
- [In The News](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/in-the-news/)
- [Social Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/social-media/)
- [TugTalks](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/category/tugtalks/)

## Tags

- [SEO](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/seo/)
- [Search Engine Optimisation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/search-engine-optimisation/)
- [Tug](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/tug/)
- [Digital](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/digital/)
- [Technology](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/technology/)
- [Coronavirus](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/coronavirus/)
- [Branding](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/branding/)
- [COVID-19](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/covid-19/)
- [Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/media/)
- [Planning](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/planning/)
- [ecommerce](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/ecommerce/)
- [Google Shopping](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/google-shopping/)
- [Organic](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/organic/)
- [Link Building](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/link-building/)
- [Cinema](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/cinema/)
- [Radio](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/radio/)
- [OOH](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/ooh/)
- [Above The Line](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/above-the-line/)
- [Offline](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/offline/)
- [Marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/marketing/)
- [Brand](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/brand/)
- [Value Chain](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/value-chain/)
- [Burger King](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/burger-king/)
- [Gymshark](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/gymshark/)
- [Social Trends](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/social-trends/)
- [Amazon](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/amazon/)
- [Search Marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/search-marketing/)
- [Digital Trends](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/digital-trends/)
- [social media crisis](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/social-media-crisis/)
- [responding to a crisis](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/responding-to-a-crisis/)
- [Crisis communications](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/crisis-communications/)
- [brands respond to blm](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/brands-respond-to-blm/)
- [#BLM](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/blm/)
- [#BlackLivesMatter](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/blacklivesmatter/)
- [DOOH](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/dooh/)
- [Media Plan](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/media-plan/)
- [Audio](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/audio/)
- [TV](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/tv/)
- [Media Buying](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/media-buying/)
- [Google](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/google/)
- [CMS](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/cms/)
- [Paid Search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/paid-search/)
- [SEM](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/sem/)
- [Search Engine Marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/search-engine-marketing/)
- [update](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/update/)
- [ppc](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/ppc/)
- [paid](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/paid/)
- [social](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/social/)
- [tiktok](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/tiktok/)
- [bing ads](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/bing-ads/)
- [microsoft ads](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/microsoft-ads/)
- [pay per click](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/pay-per-click/)
- [Tug Take](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/tug-take/)
- [facebook](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/facebook/)
- [Featured Snippets](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/featured-snippets/)
- [Blog](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/blog/)
- [Content](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/content/)
- [Blog Posts](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/blog-posts/)
- [instagram](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/instagram/)
- [newsfeed](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/newsfeed/)
- [social media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/social-media/)
- [google ads](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/google-ads/)
- [christmas](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/christmas/)
- [programmatic](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/programmatic/)
- [display](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/display/)
- [podcast](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/podcast/)
- [DV360](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/dv360/)
- [spotify](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/spotify/)
- [youtube](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/youtube/)
- [ads](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/ads/)
- [Gender](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/gender/)
- [Apple](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/apple/)
- [copy](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/copy/)
- [GA4](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/ga4/)
- [Google Analytics](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/google-analytics/)
- [Analytics](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/analytics/)
- [Data](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/data/)
- [GA](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/ga/)
- [Advertising](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/advertising/)
- [Insurance](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/insurance/)
- [Pinterest marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/pinterest-marketing/)
- [full funnel marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/full-funnel-marketing/)
- [e-commerce](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/e-commerce/)
- [AI Marketing Tools](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/ai-marketing-tools/)
- [AI Budgeting](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/ai-budgeting/)
- [Smart Automation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/smart-automation/)
- [AI Mode](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/ai-mode/)
- [Google Search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/google-search/)
- [Social Search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/social-search/)
- [SMO](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/smo/)
- [Social Media Optimisation](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/social-media-optimisation/)
- [incrementality](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/incrementality/)
- [digital marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/digital-marketing/)
- [advertising campaigns](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/advertising-campaigns/)
- [Public perception](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/public-perception/)
- [LLMs](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/llms/)
- [brand authority](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/brand-authority/)
- [measurement](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/measurement/)
- [attribution](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/attribution/)
- [AI](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/ai/)
- [TV advertising](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/tv-advertising/)
- [CTV](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/ctv/)
- [Paid Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/paid-media/)
- [Marketing budget](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/marketing-budget/)
- [audio marketing](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/audio-marketing/)
- [PR](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/pr/)
- [ChatGPT](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/chatgpt/)
- [PMax](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/pmax/)
- [Paid Strategy](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/paid-strategy/)
- [AI Search](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/ai-search/)
- [Amazon Rufus](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/tag/amazon-rufus/)

## Regions

- [London](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/region/london/)
- [Sydney](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/region/sydney/)
- [New York](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/region/new-york/)
- [Singapore](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/region/singapore/)
- [Toronto](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/region/toronto/)

## Case Studies

- [Data](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/case-study-tax/data/)
- [Technology](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/case-study-tax/technology/)
- [Content](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/case-study-tax/content/)
- [Training](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/case-study-tax/training/)
- [In-Person](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/case-study-tax/in-person/)
- [paid social](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/case-study-tax/paid-social/)
- [Social Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/case-study-tax/social-media/)
- [PMax](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/case-study-tax/pmax/)
- [Meta](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/case-study-tax/meta/)
- [B2B](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/case-study-tax/b2b/)
- [Paid Media](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/case-study-tax/paid-media/)
- [PPC](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/case-study-tax/ppc/)

## Post Categories

- [Tug takes](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/post-category/tug-takes/)
- [Tug news](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/post-category/tug-news/)
- [Tug blog](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/post-category/tug-blog/)
- [Tug events](https://www.tugagency.com/tug-life/tug-blog/post-category/tug-events/)