This Week’s Industry News
Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff
Top Stories
Google Adding “Buy Now” Button
To compete with Amazon, Google is introducing a Buy Now button on search results pages. These buttons will primarily appear on mobile results along with a “Shop with Google” banner. The transaction is completely hosted by Google and sellers are charged on a per click basis, similar to AdWords. With mobile purchases, Google will retain purchase information and share address and possibly e-mail address data with sellers, although some sellers are skeptical of Google acting as the middleman in terms of customer relations. Source: The SEM Post
Google Confirms Quality Update
Earlier this month, many SEO experts noticed a big change in the rankings. Google has now confirmed that they made a change with how they asses the content quality of websites and that it resulted in a ranking change. Google didn’t elaborate on how quality was looked at, but some are speculating that Google is targeting “how to” websites and other low effort content websites. Source: Search Engine Land
Bing Ads Research on Brand Term Bidding
Following up on last year’s study, Bing Ads analyzed the importance of bidding on brand terms in paid search. The analysis involved looking into the desktop impressions of 3 million retail brand terms and 400,000 desktop impressions of travel brand results pages. Overall, Bing Ads found that when advertisers bid on brand terms, they received more clicks and they prevented clicks from going to competitors. Data showed that about a 25-30% increase in clicks was gained from brands had ads in top positions. Source: Search Engine Land
Google Surveying Users
A new survey is appearing in Google’s search results, asking users “What aspect of Google Search needs the most improvement?” Choices include speed, ease of use, features, relevance, visual appeal, and an option to write in their own response. This is the first time Google has openly surveyed people with the topic of improving user experience for searchers. Source: The SEM Post
Google Possibly Testing Fewer Ads
Some search professionals have recently noticed an odd trend which may show that Google has been testing fewer ads. One user noticed a 70% spike in organic results in the last three days along with brand increases, while another user noticed that ads weren’t appearing on terms that should normally be accompanied with ads. Although, these results can apparently only be seen while logged in to Google. Source: dotCULT
Mobile Friendly Testing Tool Will Be Updated
It was announced at SMX that Google will be making some changes to their Mobile Friendly Testing tool. The changes will provide insight into more on-page elements. Google’s Gary Illyes has already revealed that page speed will be a new signal for mobile ranking, so it is expected page speed tests will be included in the update as well. Source: The SEM Post
AdWords Ads Seen With Sitelinks Duplicated In Description
Some users have noticed an oddity with some ads being displayed, where the sitelinks were being duplicated into the description line, without being linked. It made for a rather eye catching result, where the two lines were completely identical and lined up perfectly. It is currently unknown whether this is just how a company decided to display its ad or if it’s a Google test. It’s also possible that the callout extensions are being duplicated. Source: The SEM Post
Google Rebrands Webmaster Tools
Google’s Webmaster Tools has been renamed Search Console in an effort to appeal to more users who care about search marketing. Google elaborated on the change by noting that “webmaster” only applies to a portion of its users and the name change will appeal to more small business owners, programmers, app developers, and more. Source: Search Engine Watch
HootSuite releases ad tech for Facebook
HootSuite has recently released a solution to aid in Facebook advertising named Facebook Ads. Their new ad tech analyzes Facebook posts and recommends the best place to promote. Users are able to pick from four objectives: raising awareness, gaining followers, boosting engagement, or pushing referral traffic. Posts are then ranked in order of how well ads would perform on certain posts. The user then selects a post to promote and Hootsuite handles the targeting, bidding, and placing. Source: Marketing Land
Separate Mobile Search Index Still In The Works
Towards the beginning of the year, Google’s Gary Illyes confirmed that Google was working on a separate mobile index that would provide desktop and mobile its own unique search results depending on what users were searching. Google revealed that they are still working on this and that the primary holdup is that during testing, they are having trouble not always showing the correct URL. Source: The SEM Post
Additional Commentary
PPC Strategies and Drip Irrigation
Howard Jacobson likens PPC strategy to gardening, noting the importance of timing and the use of a “drip irrigation system.” Similar to how using this system brings water straight to growing roots, the author mentions how the best sites use this kind of method, where they drip tiny, targeted doses of information. He also goes over three main aspects of drip irrigation marketing, which include the topic, the amount, and the follow-up. Analysis: Howard Jacobson, Search Engine Watch
The Mobilegeddon Letdown
April 21st came and passed and the “Mobilegeddon” search update appears to be a non-issue for most. Marketing Land’s Mark Munroe analyzes the overhyped algorithm update and explains how it could impact the future of SEO. Munroe predicts more mobile updates that will have more significant impact now that the mobile benchmark has been set. Analysis: Mark Munroe, Marketing Land
Avoid Client Relationship Mistakes With Strong Listening Skills
Article author Matt Umbro covers the importance of listening to everything a client has to say without interrupting. When interrupting a client’s narrative on a topic, there may be a disruption in the communication process and you could receive a less detailed answer. The author notes that key information may not get discussed or the client will be less forthcoming if interrupted. He mentions that a strong relationship can be built on fully listening and then reacting to what a client says. Analysis: Matt Umbro, PPC Hero
The Power of Trust When Link Building
The importance of quality link building has been hammered into the ground. Search Engine Land’s Jim Yu reminds link builders that to get quality links, you need to do so through trust. Often times the links we want need to be earned. In his article, he examines how site design, content quality, and overall trust from your own website play a huge role in obtaining links to building your quality backlink profile. Analysis: Jim Yu, Search Engine Land
