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IGNITE SEARCH WEEKLY WRAP –
11TH MARCH 2020
100% CURATED SEO/ONLINE MARKETING GOODNESS:

HELPFUL STRATEGIES, TIPS &

TRICKS:

SEO: Link Building: Dofollow vs. Nofollow in 2020 (#SEMrushchat)
In this article, you’ll learn nofollow link options for Google, using rel=“sponsored“ and rel=“ugc“, the differences between noFollow and noIndex, nofollow for link building, natural vs. unnatural links, and more.

SEO: How to Find Unnatural Links to Your Site & What to Do About Them
In this article, we discuss what unnatural links are and how to fix them.

SEO: How Much More Effective Are Headings Than Formatted Text?
In this article, you’ll learn how search engines configures headings and titles even when not specified.

SEO: Why an Audience Analysis Is Necessary to SEO
In this article, we discuss why doing a competitor analysis isn’t enough and why an audience analysis is just as importance.

SEO: 20 (Free) Things You NEED to Do After Launching Your Ecommerce Website
Here are the top 20 things you should be doing right after you launch your ecommerce website.

SEO: Site Structure & Internal Linking in SEO: Why It’s Important
In this article, you’ll learn more about how to establish a strong foundation by structuring your site and conducting internal linking.

SEO: Four essential ecommerce site optimizations that drive sales
In this article, we cover a list of ecommerce site optimisation suggestions and tactics that can boost your sales.

SEO: Analysis of 250 million SERPs finds no-click story more complex than it appears
In this article, we discuss Perficient Digital’s report on the impact of Google Search Engine Result Pages’ snippets on organic click-through rate (CTR).

SEO: Google 3D & AR Images: More Technical Details & How To Request Inclusion
In this article, we discuss Google’s recent 3D and AR image update in more detail.

SEO: Several WordPress SEO plugins are on the fritz
In this article we discuss why site owners using Google Analytics Dashboard for WP, Yoast SEO and Rank Math should check for the following issues.

SEO: A 10-Step Process for Understanding Site Performance & Automating Speed Testing
In this article, you’ll find our blueprint to help you work more closely with your development team in providing the best experience possible for your users.

SEO: Four tips to help your brand thrive despite Google’s notification changes
Here are five ways of dealing with browsers requests for users to opt-in for notifications.

SEO: Six key SEO recommendations that matter in 2020
In this article, we shares top SEO recommendations for 2020 to help businesses reach their full potential in SEO.

SEO: Need More Brand Authority? 2 Simple Strategies You Need
Here are steps nearly any brand can take to increase their level of authority in their space.

SEO: Why Bing Should Be First in Your Healthcare Search Strategy [DATA]
In this article, we compared paid search performance of 7 healthcare-related brands in Bing vs. that of Google.

Paid: 4 Reasons Your Facebook Ads Are Not Delivering (& What to Do About It!)
Here, we’re sharing four common reasons your Facebook ads aren’t showing, plus how you can fix them.

Paid: Match-Type Changes & Campaign Structure Choices
In this article, we discuss if match-type campaigns and ad groups are applicable and if branded keywords be protected with phrase and exact match.

Paid: Growth Academy: Your Online Advertising Training Made Easy
WordStream has created Growth Academy, a free, on-demand learning solution to help you learn, grow, and succeed in digital marketing.

Paid: Paving Our Way Towards Automated Bidding
In this article, you’ll find ways to utilise automation bidding when your current account structure could be holding you back from successful tests.

Paid: Why An Omnichannel Strategy Is The Key To Facebook Ads Success
Get the full view of your customer journey with an Omnichannel Facebook strategy.

Paid: 4 Tips to Make Your DV360 Campaigns Heroic
In this article, we share a tips to help streamline your DV360 campaigns.

Paid: What Is Ethical PPC?
In this article, I’ll be looking at what ethical PPC is, what it entails, and why professionals should conform to the concept.

Paid: Align Your Video Ads with Your Sales Funnel: Here’s How
In this article, we discuss how aligning your videos ads with your sales funnel can help you market to the right leads at the right time.

Paid: Amazon’s A9 product ranking algorithm: Your guide to Amazon SEO for maximum visibility
Here’s what you need to know about the factors that affect your product’s organic visibility on Amazon.

Paid: Doing a Google import into Microsoft Ads? Here’s what you need to know
In this article, we share 4 key differences between the Google and Bing Ads so use this pre- and post-import checklist to make sure everything works correctly.

Paid: How to Make Responsive Search Ads Work for You

In this article, you’ll learn some basic best practices and understand how to analyse RSA performance here.

Content: 4 Ways to Improve Your Content with Social Media
This post will explore four of the most impactful ways to improve your content with social media.

Content: 5 Ways to Create the Most Valuable Content for Your Audience
In this article, we explore 5 ways to create trustworthy, engaging, valuable and reliable content for your audience.

Content: How We Increased Time on Site from 4 min to 9 min with Audio Articles
In this article, you’ll find a case study interview about audio articles and how ‘Convince & Convert’ increased time on site by adding audio listening capabilities into existing content.

Content: Should Engagement Really Matter to Marketers Anymore?
In this article, we discuss the importance of engagement and to rethink and redefine engagement in your content marketing strategy.

Content: How to Understand Your Customers’ Buying Journeys And Engage Them at Each Touchpoint
Here’s how to explore your customer’s buying journey and find ways to engage them at each touchpoint. Includes four tool recommendations.

Content: 3-Step Blog Strategy That Works: Storytelling, USPs & Sales
In this article, you’ll learn how to develop a unique blog strategy that involves combining 3 SEO tactics.

Content: 5 Ways You May Be Sabotaging Your Content Marketing Campaigns
Here are five ways you may be sabotaging your content marketing and social media efforts.

Content: Why You Need a Mix of Organic and Paid Traffic for Content Marketing to Work (And How to Get it Right)
In this post, we discuss why you need both organic and paid traffic to succeed with content marketing, and the steps you can take to get it right.

Social: How Employees Can Improve Organic Reach and Engagement
In this article, you’ll discover how to identify and work with in-house influencers to improve organic reach and engagement for your social media content.

Social: How to Make Your First Instagram Stories Ad: A Full Walkthrough
In this article, you’ll discover how to create, set up, and run an Instagram Stories ad in Ads Manager.

Social: How to Use Instagram Story Ads Polls to Gather Intel and Drive Engagement
Here’s how to use Instagram story ads polls to increase the success of your campaigns.

Social: How to Use Instagram Stories for Market Research: 5 Ideas for Marketers
In this article, you’ll learn how to use five Instagram Stories features to gather valuable feedback.

Social: How to Create a High-Performing IGTV Series and Keep Viewers Engaged
In this post, we’re going to look at how to create a high-performing IGTV series that can help you promote your brand with new and existing audiences alike.

KEY INDUSTRY UPDATES:

SEO: Google: Heading & Titles Help A Little With Pagination But Links Help Best
Google’s John Mueller said that having page numbers in your titles and headers help a little, your internal navigation links matter more.

SEO: Google: Indexing Search Result Pages Is A Watering Down Indexed Pages Issue
Google’s John Mueller said that using robots.txt files on your web server to manage your crawling budget, as this will will prevent Google from crawling infinite spaces such as result pages. He continued and said that this is less about spam and more about ” watering down your indexed content with useless pages that compete with each other.

SEO: Google Search is showing YouTube Music links on album queries
Google Search is now surfacing links to listen to albums on YouTube Music.

SEO: Google: We’re Not Going To Index All Your Pages
Google’s John Mueller told one SEO that Google is not going to index all of the pages on his web site. 

SEO: Google showing ‘key moments’ feature on multiple videos in search results
Google’s ‘key moments’ feature, also known as ‘in this video,’ is now showing on more than one video in mobile search results.

SEO: Google Provides Guidance to Businesses Affected by Coronavirus
Google provided advice on what businesses should do with their Google My Business listings if they’re affected by COVID-19.

SEO: Google Does Not Have AI Ranking Contracts – It’s Made Up
Google’s John Mueller confirms that there is no AI ranking contract and this is likely made up.

SEO: Google: Keep Security Certificate On Your Redirected URLs On Site Merges
Google’s John Mueller said that you need to renew the security certificant for your old domain when migrating your website – not for from a Google’s point of view but users.


Related Articles:


SEO: Google: Hreflang Annotations Not Processed Until All Pages In The Set Are Crawled & Indexed
Google’s Gary Illyes addresses hreflang query and said that generally the hreflang annotations are picked up once all pages that you linked together with them are crawled and (re)indexed. 

SEO: Google: Only Worry About Sitemaps if Your Site Meets This Criteria
Google’s Daniel Waisberg stated in a new video that sites don’t necessarily need sitemaps unless they fall into one of three categories.

SEO: Google: It’s Fine To Link To HTTP URLS For SEO
Google’s John Mueller said that linking to an HTTP URL, instead of an HTTPS URL is fine. Google won’t penalise or downgrade your site if you link externally to a non-secure page.

SEO: Google: Nofollow Change Was A Policy Change; No Action Was Necessarily Taken By Googlers Yet
Google’s John Mueller said that since the NoFollow Link Policy Changed was announced on March 1st that as far as he knows, no engineers or anyone from Google has actually done anything differently.

Paid: Preventing App engagement campaigns for prohibited apps
Starting on April 1, 2020, the Google Ads API will prevent the creation of new App engagement campaigns for apps in prohibited categories.

Paid: Introducing Display & Video 360 API v1
Google is releasing the Display & Video 360 API v1. It offers a new, improved way to interact with your Display & Video 360 resources programmatically.

Paid: Google Ads Expands Portfolio Bid Strategies With More Options
Google Ads is rolling out new options for portfolio bid strategies, making them compatible with more types of smart bidding.

Paid: Google Ads Attribution Reports Get Revamped
Google has updated the attribution reports within Google Ads, saying that the Attribution reports in Google Ads will have a new look.

Related Articles:



Social: Reddit Launches a Twitter-like Ad Unit: Trending Takeovers
Reddit is launching a new ad unit which is familiar to anyone who’s seen Twitter’s takeover ads in the ‘trending’ section.

Related Articles:


Social: Staying Informed and Connected: Resources to Help Navigate Work and Coronavirus
LinkedIn provides some guidances on how to stay informed and connected with business with the recent news on coronavirus.

Social: Facebook Sues Namecheap over Cybersquatting
Facebook filed a lawsuit against domain name registrar, Namecheap and Whoisguard. 

Social: Twitter Announces Stories Feature, #RIPTwitter Trends Worldwide
Twitter confirmed it’s testing a new feature, called Fleets, which is similar to Instagram and Snapchat stories.

Social: YouTube Analytics Now Lets Creators Compare Metrics Side-by-Side
YouTube is upgrading its analytics capabilities, allowing creators to compare multiple metrics side-by-side for the first time.

Social: YouTube Updates: Mid-Roll Ads Editor and Notification Analytics
YouTube recently launched several new features that give creators access to more data, as well as more control over ads.

Local: Yelp to Congress: Don’t investigate Google without looking at search
The reviews site wants to stop Google’s ‘self-preferencing’ in the local SERP.

Local: Google to Review Photos & Videos Uploaded to Google My Business
Google has made an adjustment to the photo and video content policy for Google My Business listings.

Local: Google My Business tells businesses affected by the coronavirus to update listings
Google is asking businesses to update its Google My Business listings if the business is affected by COVID-19. 

Local: Google My Business Now Will Review All Photos & Videos Before Publication
Google said that now before it publishes any of your photos or videos you post in a Google My Business or Google Maps listing, it will review it before it can be published. 

Local: Google My Business Management Box For Profiles You Manage In Search Results
Google can show you a list of business profiles you manage in Google My Business directly in the web search results. 

Local: Google My Business: Car Dealerships Now Can Have Multiple Listings
Google has updated its help documents to allow car dealerships to have multiple Google My Business listings within Google Local and Google Maps.

Local: Google Local Service Ads For Personal Injury Lawyers
Google expanding the local service ads to personal injury lawyers and personal injury law firms.

Mobile: Google Now Shows PDF Image Thumbnails In Search
Google is now showing thumbnails of the PDF document in the mobile search results. 

Mobile: Google To Switch All Sites Mobile-First Indexing By September 2020
Google announced all sites are going to be moved over to mobile-first indexing by September 2020.

Related Articles:


Mobile: Google Ads Mobile App Gets Dark Mode & Optimization Score Details
Google announced that the Google Ads app has added two new features. The first being dark mode, so you can sit up all night working on your ad campaign without disturbing your partner. The second is new optimisation score features to help you make Google more money.

IGNITE SEARCH WEEKLY WRAP –
4TH MARCH 2020
100% CURATED SEO/ONLINE MARKETING GOODNESS:

HELPFUL STRATEGIES, TIPS &

TRICKS:

 

SEO: Remarketing Playbook: 8 Types of Remarketing You Should Be Doing
Here are eight ways you can segment remarketing audiences for better performance.

SEO: Zero-Click Searches: How to Get Back Your Lost Google Traffic
In this article, you’ll learn how you can recover traffic lost to zero-click searches.

SEO: Copy-Testing Tools and A/B Testing Strategies to Improve Your Ad Game
In this article, you’ll learn how to boost your conversions with these copy-testing tools and Pro tips.

SEO: The Right Link Building Approach That Leads Straight to Links
In this article, we share a friendlier and more powerful approach to developing links and relationships with websites and business alike.

SEO: Common SEO Mistakes and How to Avoid Them: #SEMrushChat
In this article, we discuss topics surrounding technical SEO audits, common SEO mistakes, how to avoid mistakes, which technical errors to fix, duplicate content problems, and best practices for title tags and meta descriptions and more.

SEO: 8 Popular WordPress Plugins Are Currently Being Exploited By Hackers
A report reveals an increased number of attacks against WordPress sites, all of which exploit security flaws in these 8 popular plugins.

SEO: A Guide to Keyword Research
This guide will help you understand how to do keyword research, what tools to use, how to create content based on keyword research and more.

SEO: 6 SEO Tasks to Automate with Python
Here are six examples of SEO tasks that you can automate using Python scripts.

SEO: What Is a Customer Journey & Why Does It Matter for SEO?
In this article, you’ll learn how to make sure your SEO strategy contributes to an effective customer journey

SEO: Author Bio Signal for Content
In this article, you’ll learn the importance of author bios and how it impacts search results and sales.

SEO: Excessively Deep Pagination Can Impact Search Traffic
In this article, we discuss the impact deep pagination pages can have on your website’s search traffic.

SEO: Which Web Design Platform Is Right for You?
Here is a comparison of the top web design platforms based on your specific wants and needs as a site owner or web designer.

SEO: How to use machine learning (if you can’t code) to help your keyword research
Here’s an easy way to categorise 100k keywords in less than a few hours of actual working time.

SEO: How to identify and address the four biggest digital growth challenges
Dig into four areas that often uncover digital growth blockers and explain how to assess the opportunities that overcoming them would present.

SEO: 9 Essential Optimizations to Modernize Your Website
These nine (relatively) straightforward optimisations will help modernise your website and deliver a much better experience to users and search crawlers.

SEO: Google Featured Snippets: A 2020 SEO Guide
In this guide, you’ll learn how Google’s various updates to featured snippets have affected which content is selected and how the snippets appear in the search results.

SEO: The Difference Between an SEO Bug & a Feature Request
Here’s how to understand the difference between the two when approaching enterprise SEO issues.

SEO: How to Identify a Possible Negative SEO Campaign
This article will help you diagnose whether your website has been affected by negative SEO so that you can spend more time on the bigger picture: fixing the problem.

SEO: Getting Ahead of the Voice Search Revolution
In this article, you learn the major differences between voice search and search queries, and the impact this have on your current SEO activities.

SEO: How to Visualize Data With Google Data Studio
In this article, you’ll learn how to turn data in Google Data Studio into eye-catching visuals and easy-to-read reports.

Paid: How to Analyze Your LinkedIn Ad Performance
In this article, you’ll discover how to assess your LinkedIn ad campaigns and find out how your ads are performing against industry standards.

Paid: Social learning: How to optimize your Facebook PPC campaign
Here is a look at how businesses can optimised their Facebook PPC campaigns in a way that drives conversions and generates growth.

Paid: Amazon search ads: How to advertise on Amazon — profitably
In this article, you’ll learn how to calculate your COGS (cost of goods sold) while understanding the importance of seller fees when running profitable search ad campaigns on Amazon.

Paid: Amazon Sponsored Product Ads Are Rising in Price, New Report Says
In this article, we discuss Amazon Sponsored Products Ads increase in price and how this may effect you.

Paid: 3 tips for optimizing paid social campaigns for seasonality
In this article, Michelle Stinson Ross – Apogee Result’s Marketing Operations Directors, shares 3 tips on how to plan for your paid social campaigns well ahead of your high seasons.

Paid: How to Structure a PPC Campaign in the Age of Automation
Here are five new considerations for an optimised PPC campaign structure.

Paid: When To Create New PPC Campaigns
In this post, we will discuss at which point new paid search campaigns should be created and the process behind it.

Content: 7 Ways to Write More Like-able Social Media Copy
Here are seven ways to write more likable—or more shareable, more heart-able, more tweetable—social copy.

Content: You Can Write Faster With This Guide
In this article, you’ll learn write more quickly with this step-by-step guide.

Content: The Difference Between Content Marketing & Content Strategy (& Why You Need Both)
In this article, you’ll learn the differences between content marketing and content strategy, and why you need both.

Content: 6 SEO Content Writing Tips for Law Firms
In this article, you’ll learn how to write SEO content for law-related clients and how to do it right.

Social: Most People Still, in 2020, Aren’t Aware Facebook Owns Instagram
In this article, we informed Facebook’s affiliation with Instagram since 2012.

Social: Facebook Mandates Campaign Budget Optimization: Here’s What You Need to Know
Facebook will retire ad set level optimisation in favour of campaign budget optimisation. Here’s everything you need to know, including why Facebook likely made this change, the pros and cons, and how to prepare your account.

Social: 31 Must-Know YouTube Statistics (+ Insights!) for 2020
In this article, we share 31 YouTube Statistics on general, demographic and marketing, plus key takeaways and advice to help enhance your business growth.

Social: How to Nurture Facebook Leads Through Automatic Messenger Bots
In this article, you’ll learn how to nurture Facebook leads using automated chat bots through Facebook’s new lead generation ad campaign.

Social: How to Easily Analyze Facebook Ad Results With 3 Custom Reports
In this article, you’ll discover three custom reports in Ads Manager to help you quickly analyse your Facebook ad performance.

Social: How to Turn Instagram Followers into Loyal Customers
In this article, we share six useful tips that can turn those followers into customers.

Mobile: How to Achieve Mobile-First Success
In this article, you’ll learn how to put the fundamental elements to ensure a mobile experience your users will love.

Local: 5 critical elements for local marketing success
In this article, we share MarTech Today’s 61-page report that covers the growing market for local marketing solutions and the 5 critical elements for local marketing success.

Local: Local SEO Basics: What Is Local SEO?
This guide offers strategies for improving your local SEO rankings, optimising Google My Business, and enhancing your on-page local SEO.

 

KEY INDUSTRY UPDATES:

SEO: Google Algorithms Do Not Give Shopify Preferential Treatment
Google’s John Mueller said that Google doesn’t generally don;t have special search algorithms to help any particular CMS.

SEO: Google: There Are A Variety Of Things We Do To Watch For Wikipedia Vandalism
Google’s Danny Sullivan said that Google have a variety of protections in place to monitor Wikipedia vandalism. 

SEO: Bing Blocked Some Pages By Accident; Another Reason To Check Bing Webmaster Tools
Bing have been queried about blocking some webpages unintentionally, and was resolved as soon as this issue was submitted via Bing Webmaster Tools support contact form.

SEO: Google tightens FAQ markup guidelines, disallows repetition of questions and answers
Google has updated its content guidelines for the FAQ schema that says you can no longer markup the same question and answer with FAQ schema if that question and answer is in multiple pages on your site. 

Related Articles


SEO: Google: Logo Placement Does Not Impact SEO & Search Rankings
Google’s John Mueller said that the placement of the company logo in a design does not impact SEO.

SEO: Google Pagination Tips For Blogs: Use Tags Or Categories
Google’s John Mueller suggested using categories and tags to cross link blog posts, creating a balanced hierarchy for your blog posts.

SEO: Google: No Such Thing As Premium Indexing
Google’s John Mueller said that there is no such thing as ‘premium’ indexing on Google’s side. 

SEO: Optimization scores, recommendations and their impact on Google Partner agencies
Google says Partner agencies will continue have “control and autonomy” as it puts more emphasis on auto-generated recommendations.

SEO: Google’s SEO Best Practices for News Publishers
Google published a brief guide full of best practices for websites that provide breaking news coverage.

Related Articles:


SEO: Google Nofollow Change March 1st But Google Says Don’t Expect Any Change Yet
Google’s Gary Illyes and John Mueller said that Google’s NoFollow link attribute change will not cause any significant changes immediately. 

Related Articles:


SEO: New Google Lighthouse extension for Firefox goes live
Google Developers announced a new official Google Lighthouse Firefox extension – an open source software (OSS) project with a few different integration points. 

SEO: Google: Don’t Lose Sleep Over Others Scraping Your Content
Google’s John Mueller has suggested SEO experts and website owners alike should not worry about competitors scraping their content as there are a lot of scraped content out there which has minimal visibility.

SEO: Bing: Webmaster Tools Shows Data For The Normalized URL
Bing said that Bing Webmaster Tools shows data for the normalised URL. So you do not need to verify all the variations.

SEO: Google Rich Results Test Tool Now Previews How-To Rich Results
Google has added another Google Home Hub and smart display feature to the Google rich results test. You can now see a preview of your how-to rich results in the tool. 

Related Articles:


SEO: Google’s Response to Moz Article Critical of SERPs
Google’s Danny Sullivan raised interesting issues with Dr. Pete Meyers’s Moz published articles regarding 10 traditional blue links being pushed down in the SERPs.

SEO: Google Lets People Customize Their Profile Cards For Search Results
Google is testing the ability for people to customise their own Knowledge Graph cards that are displayed in search results.

SEO: Google: Sites Are Not Tainted From Old Manual Actions
Google’s Gary Illyes repeated Google’s previous announcement that once a manual action is revoked there are no leftover implications on your websites.

SEO: Google Writes FAQ For Google Image License Metadata
An unnamed Google employee posted an FAQ around that new Google Image license metadata for the licensable label on images. 

SEO: Google Confirms No Recent Campaign Against Unnatural Links
Google’s Gary Illyes addressed the public’s’ concerns regarding a possible change in how Google treats unnatural links.

SEO: Google’s Advice on How to Hire an SEO
Google shared a three-step guide on hiring an SEO for businesses who may be doing so for the first time.

Related Articles:


SEO: Google search view in 3D now live for e-commerce sites
This was announced in 2019 at Google I/O and Google showed examples of this in search but now it seems third-parties can go 3D.

SEO: Google Penalties on Guest Post Articles
In this article, you’ll learn Google’s unnatural outbound link penalties.

SEO: SEO Guidelines for AMP Stories and Google Partner Updates: Google News Digest
In this article, you’ll learn about the SEO guidelines for AMP stories, changes to the performance requirements for the Google Partner Program, and Google’s removal of 600 apps as part of its ongoing ad fraud initiative.

SEO: Google Lets Users Download Complete Sets of Data From Search Console
Google is upgrading Search Console giving users the ability to download complete sets of data from reports.

SEO: Google Images To Drop Dimensions Label On Thumbnails & Show Other Labels
Google is updating its image search results pages with icons indicating what type of content the images lead to.

SEO: Google Explains Gradual Declines in Ranking
Google’s John Mueller answered why a site might be gradually losing traffic. 

Paid: Announcing v3_0 of the Google Ads API beta
Google announces the release of v3_0 of Google Ads API beta, and a migration guide for more information on this change.

Social: YouTube Analytics Now Lets Creators Compare Metrics Side-by-Side
YouTube is upgrading its analytics capabilities, allowing creators to compare multiple metrics side-by-side for the first time.

Social: YouTube Updates: Mid-Roll Ads Editor and Notification Analytics
YouTube recently launched several new features that give creators access to more data, as well as more control over ads.

Social: Facebook is Rolling Out a Faster and Simpler Version of Messenger
An update to Facebook Messenger said to be “faster, smaller, and simpler” is rolling out to users over the coming weeks.

Social: Pinterest Reaches 60% of US Women; Here’s What They’re Searching For
Pinterest published a new report ahead of International Women’s Day which details what its largest demographic is searching for.

Social: Facebook’s Updated Best Practices for Business-to-Customer Messaging
Facebook has published an updated set of best practices for business messaging that reflect upcoming changes to the Messenger platform.

Social: LinkedIn Will Soon Get An Instagram-Like Stories Feature
LinkedIn confirmed that it will soon be following Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat by adding its own stories feature.

Social: TikTok Begins Letting Some Users Add Website Links in Profiles
TikTok appears to be testing the ability for users to include direct website links in their profiles.

Social: Twitter Gives Businesses Advice on Writing More Effective Tweets
Twitter shared some advice with businesses about what it takes to write better tweets that get users to take action.

Social: Google Appoints First-Ever ‘Creator Liaison’ for YouTube
Google has created a new position within its company; a ‘creator liaison’ for communication between YouTube and its video publishers.

Social: In feature battle with Google, Yelp improves restaurant waitlist functionality
Yelp is trying to stay one step ahead of Google with tools that benefit both consumers and business owners.

Social: Facebook Lets Users Turn Any 2D Image Into a 3D Photo
Facebook is upgrading its 3D photo capabilities, allowing users to create a 3D post out of any 2D image.

Local: Google experiments with public search profile cards
Currently limited to India, the Google+-like feature gives personal brands and individuals some control over their own search results.

Local: Google My Business Products Added Suggested Categories
Google has been spotted providing a suggested categories option in the Google My Business dashboard.

Mobile: Google Ads Mobile App Updated With New Features and Dark Mode
Google is updating its Google Ads mobile app with new optimisation score features and a new dark mode option.

Related Articles:


Mobile: Google: All Sites To Be Switched To Mobile First Indexing Within 6-12 Months
Google is sending out notifications for mobile-first indexing issues detected on your site.

Related Articles:


Mobile: Burberry Implements 3D Images & AR In Google Search Results
Burberry is one of the few, as far as I know, that currently show 3D images in the Google search results. 

IGNITE SEARCH WEEKLY WRAP –
15TH JANUARY 2020
100% CURATED SEO/ONLINE MARKETING GOODNESS:

HELPFUL STRATEGIES, TIPS &

TRICKS:

SEO: Google buys Pointy to bring SMB store inventory online
Google is acquiring Irish startup Pointy on the 14th of January 2020.

SEO: The New GoogleBot Dynamic User Agent Names Are Live
Google seems to have recently made the new GoogleBot user agent name that is dynamic for the evergreen GoogleBot live. 

SEO: Google January 2020 Core Update is Rolling Out Imminently
Google confirmed that a broad core algorithm update, simply titled the ‘January 2020 Core Update’ is rolling out today.

Related Articles:


SEO: Google rolling out desktop search redesign with black “Ad” label, favicons for organic results
Google is now rolling out this redesign to desktop search results with a new black “Ad” label and favicons by the URLs in the organic search result snippets.

Related Articles:


SEO: Google Rich Results testing tool now reports on unloadable embedded resources
Google’s rich result test tool can now show external elements included by a page.

Related Articles:


SEO: Google: It Would Be Rare For A Ranking Improvement After Removing Tag/Search Pages From Index
Google’s John Mueller said that would be pretty rare” if you removed your tag and/or search pages from Google’s index and preventing Google from crawling them, that it would it would result in a ranking boost for your site.

SEO: Google: We Treat Links On HTTP & HTTPS Pages Equally
Google’s John Mueller said a link on an HTTP page is just as valuable to Google as a link on an HTTPS page and visa versa.

SEO: Google Indexing Its Own Cache Now Fixed
Google’s Gary Illyes said that Google has fixed an issue with the search engine indexing its own cache pages.

SEO: Google Answers How to Optimize for BERT
Google’s John Mueller answered a question about what to do to optimise for the BERT algorithm. 

SEO: Google Says Move Full Domain, Not Pieces, If You Want A Fast Site Migration
Google’s John Mueller said that if you’re keeping pages on the old domain that are not redirecting, then that’s something that will confuse our systems.

SEO: Google: Evergreen Content Doesn’t Need To Change, Keep The Date
Google’s John Mueller said that if your content is evergreen, then by definition it is not necessary for your to refresh your content. 

SEO: Did Google Drops Table Schema Support In Search?
Google may have dropped table schema for datasets that it launched in beta in 2018.

SEO: Google Ads Still Displaying Emojis In Display URL
Google has been spotted displaying emojis in display URLs after dropping it in 2019 and 2016.

SEO: Google: FAQ Schema Must Be On Page, Not In External PDF
Google’s John Mueller said you really cannot use FAQ schema for PDF documents. 

SEO: Google: As Search Engines Get Better At Intent, Keyword Research Won’t Go Away
Bing’s Frédéric Dubut and Google’s John Mueller said that 2020 will be the year where keyword research for search less important.

Related Articles:


SEO: Bing Pages Launches To Promote Your Public Persona
Bing has quietly launched Bing Pages, a beta program that lets users manage their presence on Microsoft products such as Bing and Outlook.com. 

Related Articles:


SEO: Google Search Console Crawl Stats Report Data Fixed
Google seems to have fixed the stalled data in the crawl stats report within Google Search Console. 

SEO: Google handles reconsideration requests in batches
Google’s John Mueller said that when you get a manual action in Google Search Console and then submit that reconsideration request that Google will likely go through those requests in batches, group them into categories either by language or by type.

Related Articles:


SEO: Google: Crawling At Large Scale Is Complicated; Don’t Oversimplify It
Google’s John Mueller said that crawling at a large scale website is much more complicated.

SEO: Google People Also Ask: Summarized From Table With Link To Source
Google has been spotted making effort to link to the source of the information in featured snippets and the people also ask (PAAs) section in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

SEO: Chrome 80 Will Block Push Notification
Google’s Chrome version 80 will begin blocking website push notifications.

SEO: Google tests user comments for live TV shows
Google has confirmed that they have been testing user comments in the search results for queries related to live TV shows. 

Paid: Google Ads Makes Parallel Tracking Mandatory for Video Campaigns
Google Ads is making parallel tracking available for video campaigns, which is optional for now but will soon become mandatory.

Paid: Google Changes the Look of Paid and Organic Search Results on Desktop
Google is rolling out an updated look for paid and organic search results on desktop, bringing it more inline with the look of mobile search results.

Paid: Google Ads Introduces Bid Simulator Support for Smart Bidding
Google Ads is rolling out bid simulator support for the Target ROAS (return on ad spend) bid strategy, as well as a new budget simulator.

Related Articles:


Paid: Responsive search ads available globally in all Microsoft Advertising interfaces
Advertisers in all available markets can now set up responsive search ads in their Microsoft Advertising accounts.

Paid: Google Screened Ads Tests Photos
Google Screened Ads – like Google guaranteed ads – is testing showing photos of the professional. 

Paid: Google Ads testing custom dimensions to enable reporting based on your business structure
Google Ads is testing custom dimensions that might help simplify business reporting efforts and campaign naming systems.

Paid: Microsoft Advertising’s PromoteIQ integration for retailers, brands is now in beta
The on-site search product Microsoft Bing for Commerce is also becoming available to retailers.

Social: Facebook is Preparing to Launch a Desktop Redesign to All Users
Facebook is planning to roll out a redesign of its desktop website to all users before this spring.

Social: Twitter Rolls Out a New Ad Unit in the Explore Tab
Twitter is launching the Promoted Trend Spotlight, a takeover ad displayed at the top of the Explore tab.

Local: DuckDuckGo is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU
DuckDuckGo will soon be offered as an option for default search engine on Android devices across the EU.

Local: Yelp cracks down on ‘review rings’ as Google continues to see widespread mapspam
Yelp is now introducing a new category of consumer alerts intended to flag businesses, closing more than 400 user accounts associated with one vast review ring recently uncovered. 

Local: Google Local/Maps With “In Between” Links To Other Businesses
Google Maps and Local can show in a business listing profile the address but near the address it sometimes shows other businesses nearby.

Mobile: DuckDuckGo, Info.com crowd out Bing in Google’s Android search options
Bing will only appear in the UK, but DuckDuckGo and Info.com will be choices in all territories.

Mobile: Google Assistant Now Has 500 Million Users Worldwide
Google announced that 500 million people are now using Google Assistant across smartphones, TVs, smart home devices, and other gadgets.

Mobile: Direct site navigation via voice arrives on iOS Bing Search app
Microsoft’s Bing Search App has been updated with a new design aesthetic and its latest update, version 6.48, brings direct site navigation via voice to iOS users.

KEY INDUSTRY UPDATES:

SEO: Google buys Pointy to bring SMB store inventory online
Google is acquiring Irish startup Pointy on the 14th of January 2020.

SEO: The New GoogleBot Dynamic User Agent Names Are Live
Google seems to have recently made the new GoogleBot user agent name that is dynamic for the evergreen GoogleBot live. 

SEO: Google January 2020 Core Update is Rolling Out Imminently
Google confirmed that a broad core algorithm update, simply titled the ‘January 2020 Core Update’ is rolling out today.

Related Articles:


SEO: Google rolling out desktop search redesign with black “Ad” label, favicons for organic results
Google is now rolling out this redesign to desktop search results with a new black “Ad” label and favicons by the URLs in the organic search result snippets.

Related Articles:


SEO: Google Rich Results testing tool now reports on unloadable embedded resources
Google’s rich result test tool can now show external elements included by a page.

Related Articles:


SEO: Google: It Would Be Rare For A Ranking Improvement After Removing Tag/Search Pages From Index
Google’s John Mueller said that would be pretty rare” if you removed your tag and/or search pages from Google’s index and preventing Google from crawling them, that it would it would result in a ranking boost for your site.

SEO: Google: We Treat Links On HTTP & HTTPS Pages Equally
Google’s John Mueller said a link on an HTTP page is just as valuable to Google as a link on an HTTPS page and visa versa.

SEO: Google Indexing Its Own Cache Now Fixed
Google’s Gary Illyes said that Google has fixed an issue with the search engine indexing its own cache pages.

SEO: Google Answers How to Optimize for BERT
Google’s John Mueller answered a question about what to do to optimise for the BERT algorithm. 

SEO: Google Says Move Full Domain, Not Pieces, If You Want A Fast Site Migration
Google’s John Mueller said that if you’re keeping pages on the old domain that are not redirecting, then that’s something that will confuse our systems.

SEO: Google: Evergreen Content Doesn’t Need To Change, Keep The Date
Google’s John Mueller said that if your content is evergreen, then by definition it is not necessary for your to refresh your content. 

SEO: Did Google Drops Table Schema Support In Search?
Google may have dropped table schema for datasets that it launched in beta in 2018.

SEO: Google Ads Still Displaying Emojis In Display URL
Google has been spotted displaying emojis in display URLs after dropping it in 2019 and 2016.

SEO: Google: FAQ Schema Must Be On Page, Not In External PDF
Google’s John Mueller said you really cannot use FAQ schema for PDF documents. 

SEO: Google: As Search Engines Get Better At Intent, Keyword Research Won’t Go Away
Bing’s Frédéric Dubut and Google’s John Mueller said that 2020 will be the year where keyword research for search less important.

Related Articles:


SEO: Bing Pages Launches To Promote Your Public Persona
Bing has quietly launched Bing Pages, a beta program that lets users manage their presence on Microsoft products such as Bing and Outlook.com. 

Related Articles:


SEO: Google Search Console Crawl Stats Report Data Fixed
Google seems to have fixed the stalled data in the crawl stats report within Google Search Console. 

SEO: Google handles reconsideration requests in batches
Google’s John Mueller said that when you get a manual action in Google Search Console and then submit that reconsideration request that Google will likely go through those requests in batches, group them into categories either by language or by type.

Related Articles:


SEO: Google: Crawling At Large Scale Is Complicated; Don’t Oversimplify It
Google’s John Mueller said that crawling at a large scale website is much more complicated.

SEO: Google People Also Ask: Summarized From Table With Link To Source
Google has been spotted making effort to link to the source of the information in featured snippets and the people also ask (PAAs) section in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

SEO: Chrome 80 Will Block Push Notification
Google’s Chrome version 80 will begin blocking website push notifications.

SEO: Google tests user comments for live TV shows
Google has confirmed that they have been testing user comments in the search results for queries related to live TV shows. 

Paid: Google Ads Makes Parallel Tracking Mandatory for Video Campaigns
Google Ads is making parallel tracking available for video campaigns, which is optional for now but will soon become mandatory.

Paid: Google Changes the Look of Paid and Organic Search Results on Desktop
Google is rolling out an updated look for paid and organic search results on desktop, bringing it more inline with the look of mobile search results.

Paid: Google Ads Introduces Bid Simulator Support for Smart Bidding
Google Ads is rolling out bid simulator support for the Target ROAS (return on ad spend) bid strategy, as well as a new budget simulator.

Related Articles:


Paid: Responsive search ads available globally in all Microsoft Advertising interfaces
Advertisers in all available markets can now set up responsive search ads in their Microsoft Advertising accounts.

Paid: Google Screened Ads Tests Photos
Google Screened Ads – like Google guaranteed ads – is testing showing photos of the professional. 

Paid: Google Ads testing custom dimensions to enable reporting based on your business structure
Google Ads is testing custom dimensions that might help simplify business reporting efforts and campaign naming systems.

Paid: Microsoft Advertising’s PromoteIQ integration for retailers, brands is now in beta
The on-site search product Microsoft Bing for Commerce is also becoming available to retailers.

Social: Facebook is Preparing to Launch a Desktop Redesign to All Users
Facebook is planning to roll out a redesign of its desktop website to all users before this spring.

Social: Twitter Rolls Out a New Ad Unit in the Explore Tab
Twitter is launching the Promoted Trend Spotlight, a takeover ad displayed at the top of the Explore tab.

Local: DuckDuckGo is Now a Default Search Engine Option on Android in the EU
DuckDuckGo will soon be offered as an option for default search engine on Android devices across the EU.

Local: Yelp cracks down on ‘review rings’ as Google continues to see widespread mapspam
Yelp is now introducing a new category of consumer alerts intended to flag businesses, closing more than 400 user accounts associated with one vast review ring recently uncovered. 

Local: Google Local/Maps With “In Between” Links To Other Businesses
Google Maps and Local can show in a business listing profile the address but near the address it sometimes shows other businesses nearby.

Mobile: DuckDuckGo, Info.com crowd out Bing in Google’s Android search options
Bing will only appear in the UK, but DuckDuckGo and Info.com will be choices in all territories.

Mobile: Google Assistant Now Has 500 Million Users Worldwide
Google announced that 500 million people are now using Google Assistant across smartphones, TVs, smart home devices, and other gadgets.

Mobile: Direct site navigation via voice arrives on iOS Bing Search app
Microsoft’s Bing Search App has been updated with a new design aesthetic and its latest update, version 6.48, brings direct site navigation via voice to iOS users.

Read Our Blog Post:

2020-1-14 MozCon 2019 - Luke Carthy Feature Image

MozCon 2019: Luke Carthy – Killer CRO & UX Wins Using An SEO Crawler.