Brands have experienced the most significant adoption rates on Instagram during the last twelve months, according to the latest Social Media Inflation Index published by content analytics platform TrackMaven. Enterprises saw median monthly followers grow by more than six per cent, which is three times greater than on Facebook.

Microsoft has started testing social extensions in search ads. The handy new tool will allow brands to promote their social channels within search ads by placing links directly to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media accounts beneath the ad copy of texts. The extension is now in beta in the US.

Video ads have been on the agenda for Pinterest since the start of the year, and new reports have claimed that the popular social media site has recently started testing the feature internally and with a small subset of users.

Search engine results are about to become more mobile-friendly as Google has announced plans to roll out a new update to boost the effect of the ranking signal beginning in May. Google has said that the latest changes will make it easier for users to find more relevant content from smartphones and tablets.

Google has confirmed that game app streaming within search ads will be rolled out in the coming weeks as part of a raft of new changes and features for AdWords and AdMob. The arrival of new ad formats, targeting, portrait videos and monetisation options are aimed at making it easier for content creators to “reach the right users at scale,” Google claims.

Google has published a new set of guidelines for bloggers who receive free products from brands. The “best practices,” which focus on nofollow usage, appear to suggest that certain blogger outreach marketing campaigns are now very much on the tech giant’s radar.

A new study by Searchmetrics shows that less than a third of the top 100 domains currently deploy app indexing in their apps despite the fact that it can potentially be a great boost to SERPs, traffic, interaction and conversions.

Mobile now makes up nearly nine out of ten “near me” searches, according to new data published by Google, while the total amount of these mobile searches has soared by 146% year-on-year. Google VP of Americas Marketing Lisa Gevelber has claimed that enterprises must now look to adopt a “mobile-centric search strategy” to take advantage of this latest trend.