Good morning, {FirstName}, are you enjoying the long weekend?  

Of all the things that Memorial Day is — first, of course, an opportunity to remember our fallen, as well as the unofficial start of summer, a chance to dust off our barbecues, a time to celebrate our graduates, and even an opportunity to hit some big Memorial Day sales — it’s also approaching the midpoint of the year.

Because of this, it’s a good time to reflect on where we’ve been and what has happened so far in 2019. In the world of search, it would be hard to look at the beginning of 2019 without considering all of the indexing and reporting bugs Google has experienced recently. And who could forget the March 2019 core algorithm release, whose name may lack poetry but makes up for it in clarity?  

On the paid side, we’ve seen Google continue its drive toward automation, saying it’d be happy to manage your campaigns for you if you don’t care to opt out. At the same time, the space’s biggest player has been steadily rolling out new ad formats and extending distribution, from Discovery ads to a new Shopping experience and giant gallery ads.

Among local marketers, Google shook things up with a survey asking whether they’d be willing to pay for Google My Business services, then proceeded to roll out a $39/month AI-powered answering service called CallJoy.

For us at Search Engine Land, one of the biggest developments of 2019 is right here in front of your eyes. Our new newsletter format brings you more conversational takes and original content. We’re thrilled to have this venue to communicate with you daily.

We hope you enjoy the break and come back to your desks refreshed. Tune in again tomorrow as we dive back into the latest news and views in search marketing.

Pamela Parker,
Senior Editor and Projects Manager, Content Studio