Digital Roundup: 003
New Google link guidelines, a TikTok X Mercedes collaboration and improved Reddit search functions; our whistle-stop summary of some of the digital news piquing our interest lately.
When unveiling the new version of the E-Class sedan recently, Mercedes announced that drivers will be able to directly download third-party apps to the centre display, meaning that never again will leaving your phone at home mean going without entertainment.?Among the apps available for download are TikTok, Angry Birds and Zoom, with the display enabling drivers to both view and film themselves for meetings, just as if they were using a laptop.?
Now for those of you whose immediate thought was how completely unnecessary Angry Birds in your car is - we concur. For those who skipped past that to question the health and safety madness of TikTok whilst driving - do not fear. Mercedes have assured that while the passenger screen will be available at all times, the driver screen will be shielded from view whenever the vehicle is not stationary, ensuring it doesn’t act as a distraction from the road.?
And as well as signalling the next step in in-car entertainment, the automotive-app partnership is also a pretty big deal for TikTok, who despite facing potential bans in the US is working to expand their offering by making content available to users via new mediums.?
In what’s effectively a list of what-not-to-do when writing webpage copy, Google has published a new list of link best practices designed to help copywriters create anchor links that Google can actually make sense of.?As a general rule, clarity is key. Think of Google as your primary school sibling reading a new book - concise sentences and non-jargon-ey words, please.?
Tip 1 - say what it does on the tin. Text should clearly define what the link behind it is, so copy such as ‘click here’ and ‘read more’ is deemed “bad” as it’s not useful to Google. For example: ‘New London cheese restaurant gave away 50 kilos of brie to local residents as part of their grand opening’ tells Google exactly what you’re clicking on.?
Tip 2 - less is more. Extra long links are also seen as “bad” so concise copy is crucial. OK, so: ‘Free brie cheese restaurant launch’ is probably better.
Tip 3 - type like you talk. Google uses AI that focuses on natural language to interpret text, so keyword-dump links won’t get results. OK FINE, so: ‘London cheese restaurant celebrates launch with free brie’. Think we’re there?
Tip 4 - don’t chain! It’s common sense that linking article after article is a rubbish user experience, but it also negatively impacts SEO by making it impossible for Google to differentiate clearly between links.?
Tip 5 - big yourself up. Cross reference your content by including internal links everywhere (with relevance, of course).?
It’s hard to escape AI at the moment. From LinkedIn debates and newspaper articles to announcements of exciting new ventures, everyone is either using it, or talking about other people using it. And the latter is exactly what’s happening here - but this one is worth the read.?
According to statistics, 1 in 7 people are skipping meals to make their food go further. As the cost of living crisis and harvest issues collide to make healthy, affordable food even harder to obtain, the reduced aisles have never been needed more.?But while the food in reduced aisles is affordable, it isn’t always exactly meal-ready (custard-covered cod, anyone?). That’s where the Yellow Sticker Cookbook comes in. ?
Created by Uncommon Creative Studio, the AI-powered cookbook is an online tool that helps people build meals from any random selection of reduced finds.?Accessed online or via a simple app, users can scan reduced-item labels to access hundreds of relevant recipes using their eclectic assortment of ingredients.?Now, the tool can’t work materials and some recipes will require additional ingredients (hake and double cream alone won’t get you very far - we tried it), it does go a long way towards inspiring meal ideas from a selection of sometimes uninspiring ingredients.?
Have you ever googled something you urgently need to know (e.g. at what temperature is leftover takeaway rice safe to eat?) and seen the start of your required answer in a Reddit preview paragraph, only to click on the link and be met with 12 pages of comments related to your question but not actually answering it? No more. Last month, Reddit revealed that they've expanded their search capacity to allow users to search comments within a specific post.?
The company did introduce a similar search feature last April, but that particular function searched all comments within the app, whereas the latest update enables users to search post-specific comments from within the post itself.?
So that means no more Command-F, no scrolling for days, no need to expand threads until the words ‘see more’ start to look strange on the screen - just quick, painless, searching. Or in Reddit’s words: quickly get to the parts of the conversation you’re looking for and jump in where you want.