The digital marketing news in Zimbabwe this week is about the things you can still own. Last week, LinkedIn started judging how we use AI, and Meta began removing the choice of where our ads appear. This week, a local domain became cheaper than a data bundle, and Google’s AI answers made it clearer than ever which websites get found.
Here is what each change means, and five things to do about it this week.
A .co.zw domain now costs US$ 2 a year
A new Zimbabwean service called Runtime is registering local domains for US$ 2 a year. It was started by developer Ngaavongwe Ndasowampange, who already runs the Ngaatec hosting business. Techzim, which had been paying its provider US$ 10 a year, tested it and had a working domain for about the price of a return kombi trip to town.
The same test found two things to watch. Paying by EcoCash is still manual: you send the money, then send proof of payment. And the article does not say whether US$ 2 is also the renewal price, so ask before you build a brand on it. ZISPA naming rules still apply, which means one-letter names are not allowed.
The timing matters. Platforms keep taking decisions out of marketers’ hands. A domain is the one address online that no platform can quietly throttle. It is also where the longer articles that AI tools like to quote have to live.
What to take from it: cost is no longer a reason to go without your own address online. Register your business name before someone else does, even if the website comes later. An email address on your own domain already looks more credible on a quotation than a Gmail address.
Google’s AI answers now work in 13 African languages
Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode now work in 13 African languages, including Kiswahili, isiZulu, Hausa, Yorùbá and Amharic. Google says it chose them because of strong and growing search use across the continent. Shona and Ndebele are not on the list yet, so Zimbabwean searchers still get the AI answer in English.
The effect is the same in every language. More people read the summary at the top of the results page and never visit a website. When they do click, it is often on a source the summary has quoted.
What to take from it: on Google, you are no longer competing only with the other links on the page. You are also competing with the AI summary above them. Being the website that the summary quotes has become the new version of ranking first. And when Shona and Ndebele are added, businesses that already publish useful content in those languages will face little competition.
How to write content that Google and AI tools will quote
A Digital Marketing Institute guide published on 21 August sets out what gets a page quoted by Google’s AI answers, ChatGPT and similar tools. Three findings stand out.
- Put the answer first. Research by CXL found that 55% of AI Overview citations came from the first 30% of a page. If the answer is in paragraph six, the AI answer will probably quote someone else.
- Original beats generic. Research by Graphite found that only 14% of articles ranking in Google, and 18% of content cited by ChatGPT, were AI-generated. Your own prices, client results and experience are what a machine cannot copy.
- Structure is not decoration. Princeton researchers found that making content clearer and easier to read raised its visibility in AI citations by 15 to 30%. Clear headings, short paragraphs and FAQ sections all help.
What to take from it: the guide suggests taking FAQs from real customer questions, not from an SEO tool. For most businesses in Zimbabwe, the best source of those questions is already sitting in their WhatsApp chats.
Five things to do this week
- Check whether your business name is available as a .co.zw domain, and ask the provider what the renewal will cost in year two.
- Search Google for the main service you sell, plus your town, and read the AI answer. Note whose website it quotes.
- Rewrite the opening of your most important web page so the answer appears in the first two sentences.
- Take the five questions customers ask most often on WhatsApp and turn them into an FAQ section on your website.
- Add one thing to your next article that only you could write: a local price, a client result, or a lesson you learned the hard way.
Platforms rent you an audience. Your own address is the one thing you get to keep.
Claude for Business, Thursday 17 September
A live, in person morning at SABRE Business World, 8.30 to 12.30. You work on your own tasks, so you leave with something you can use straight away. A few places are still open.
US$ 140 covers the certificate, refreshments, and a FREE 30 minute follow up session to work through a real task in your own business.
Reserve one of the last places
Teams of three or more take 5% off the total, cash payments only. If you have attended one of our previous AI workshops, take 15% off.
Sources
- Runtime is selling local domains for $2 a year, Techzim
- More South African languages added to Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, Hypertext
- How to create content that’s found, cited, and trusted in the age of AI, Digital Marketing Institute
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Curated by Nikolina Kobali, Digital Marketing Institute representative for Zimbabwe.
