This Week’s Industry News
Compiled by the Rocket Clicks Team
Top Stories
Description Field Nixed from Google My Business
As of Tuesday of this week, businesses have lost the ability to write a description in their Google My Business listing. Google did not give a specific explanation as to why they removed the field, but many in the SEO community are assuming that it’s because it has long been a target for spammy, keyword-stuffed copy. Source: Search Engine Roundtable
AdWords Finally Dropping Payday Loan Ads
Back in May Google announced the ban of payday and high-interest loans. Experts have been tracking the progress of this news and have noticed that, in the recent days, they have seen no payday or high-interest loan ads. The gradual process over the past few weeks of banning these ads seems to have completed in the past few days. Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Google Now Previewing AMP in Normal Search Results
Earlier this week, Google made another big move in the expansion of AMP content within its search results. They are now offering a preview of what the search results will look like when they likely decide to move forward with the change. While this announcement shows that Google is placing a greater emphasis on AMP, they did make it clear that rankings will not be affected. Source: Official Google Webmaster Blog
Google Adding Three New Cross-Device Conversion Reports
Google recently announced that they would be adding new cross-device conversion reports for devices, assisting devices, as well as different device paths. The first one lets you see cross-device activity, the second provides device assistant conversion data, and the last one shows top conversion paths for customers using multiple devices. Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Google Clearly Defines Impressions, Position, and Clicks
Continuing its mission to improve the user-friendliness of Search Console, Google has released a help document that thoroughly explains how impressions, position, and clicks are calculated. While this document clearly lays out the definitions of each of these elements, Google makes it clear that as they tweak the SERPs these definitions can change as well. Source: Search Engine Land
Additional Commentary
Viewing Ads Through the Eyes of the Searcher
PPC Hero Lauren Rosner shares her views on viewing ad creative through the eyes of the searcher. Rosner gives an example of three ads: with the top ad following all ad copy best practices. Great, right? When looking at this example through the eyes of the searcher, she notes that she would actually click the other ads instead. Why? Because, in the bottom ads, one contains a strong value prop in the D1 that was pulled into the headline while the other ended up being much more descriptive for a wine club membership, which is what the search was for. Analysis: Lauren Rosner, PPC Hero
Wake Up, SEOs – the NEW New Google is Here
In a follow-up to his 2011 post titled “Wake Up SEOs, the New Google is Here,” Moz contributor Gianluca Fiorelli examines Google’s “end game” in 2016. Fiorelli heavily emphasizes Google’s push towards machine learning and says that “SEO is no longer just about ‘200 ranking factors.’” He also stresses that it is more important than ever to “put users at the center of everything you do.” Analysis: Gianluca Fiorelli, Moz Blog
