This Week’s Industry News
Compiled by the Rocket Clicks Team
Top Stories
Started at the Top, Now We’re Here?
Since the dawn of the local pack, searchers have been able to count on it being at the top of the organic listings in the search results. Now, however, Google appears to be running a test to see how searchers interact with the local pack when it’s near the bottom of the search results. While it’s unclear how seriously Google is considering making this change, it could be a sign that they trust organic listings more than local pack listings. Source: The SEM Post
Inventory-Smart Dynamic Ads to be Released by Facebook
Facebook has announced a new feature that gives retailers the ability to customize creative for specific store locations based on local product availability. Beyond that, these ads will also allow advertisers to display custom pricing and promotions. These tests are currently running for larger retailers like Target and Macy’s. These dynamic ads will roll out to additional advertisers in the next few weeks. Source: WebProNews
Chrome Offering New “Make Page Mobile-Friendly” Option
Perhaps a sign of being fed up with the sluggish progress towards a mobile-friendly web, Google is now offering a way for Chrome users to view a mobile-friendly version of a page even if the site doesn’t offer one. This feature appears to be in the test phase as only users on Android have spotted it, but will likely become widely available if it proves to be consistently useful. Source: The SEM Post
Structured Snippets Now Available in Bing
Bing has recently launched Structured Snippet ad extensions to make their ad extension arsenal more closely match AdWords’. With this launch, Bing also noted that if a campaign or ad group contains both Callout and Structured Snippet extensions, the callouts will take priority but both will still show simultaneously. Advertisers may continue to find these extensions rather limiting due to the prescribed headings, but they can still be utilized effectively without taking away from your description lines. Source: PPC Hero
At Long Last, Penguin Has Arrived
After months and months of speculation and false alarms, Google has finally announced that they’ve updated their Penguin algorithm. Previously, Penguin (Google’s main spam filter) was separate from the core ranking algorithm and needed to be “refreshed” periodically. Now, Google has integrated it into their core algorithm and revealed that it will be operating in real-time, so those affected by a Penguin-related penalty will not have to wait for a refresh to recover. Source: Search Engine Land
Additional Commentary
Are Your PPC Campaigns Living Up to Their Potential?
PPC Hero Rachael Law gives us several reasons why your PPC accounts may not be living up to their potential. Her number one reason being if you just set it and forget it, to which she encourages consistent check-ups following new campaign launches. You may also not have an optimal structure, giving an example of thinking of your keywords/targeting as the peanut butter and jelly to a PB&J Sandwich. The sandwich will fall apart if you don’t have solid slices of bread, with the bread in this case being an account’s structure. Analysis: Rachael Law, PPC Hero
Everything You Need to Know About Google’s ‘Possum’ Algorithm Update
While nothing has been confirmed by the big G itself, SEOs around the world are dubbing the recent local algorithm update ‘Possum.’ In this what-does-it-all-mean post for Search Engine Land, local SEO guru Joy Hawkins tells us what’s changed. The biggest change Hawkins notes is that businesses that are technically outside of the city limits saw a significant, fortuitous jump in the rankings. Additionally, the physical location of the searcher is now playing a larger role and search results vary more after slight tweaks to a given search term. Analysis: Joy Hawkins, Search Engine Land
