This Week’s Industry News
Compiled by the Rocket Clicks Team
Top Stories
Does Having a Large Number of Reviews Boost Your Rankings?
Google’s John Mueller was recently asked if the number of reviews a business has online factors into their ability to rank. His answer, in short, was “no.” He did, however, point out that the number of reviews a business has could have an effect on their ability to rank in local search. Regardless, it’s important to keep in mind that a high number of reviews (along with a favorable rating, of course) is typically a strong trust signal for searchers. Source: The SEM Post
Custom Formula Now Available for Custom Columns in AdWords
Google recently announced via Google+ that you will now be able to create custom formulas within your custom columns. Now, you will be able to add specific computations like subtraction or multiplication to create metrics that are important for each individual account. For example, to see percentage of clicks from mobile you could create a custom column that divides mobile clicks from overall clicks. Source: PPC Hero
Apple’s Answer to Google Street View Possibly on the Way
Apple recently posted a page on its website titled “Apple Maps vehicles.” On this page, Apple reveals that it is “driving vehicles around the world to collect data which will be used to improve Apple Maps.” Further down the page, they provide a general schedule of the locales they will be collecting data from. While there has been no official announcement of a Street View competitor by Apple, this page strongly hints in that direction. Source: Search Engine Land
Emojis Available for Product Listing Ads
Emoji’s have returned to the Google search results page, but for Google Shopping ads. Emoji’s are now being displayed in Google PLA’s, specifically in the Display URL. This is surprising due to Google disabling the use of emoji’s in both organic results and AdWords last year. Although, if there’s a specific emoji that works well with your client, it just may be worth testing. Source: The SEM Post
Google Updates Its Webmaster Guidelines
Earlier this week, Google released an updated version of its Webmaster Guidelines. The guidelines remain largely the same, but some of the tweaks are worth noting. For example, previously, Google did not specify what the “maximum number of links per page” should be. Now, it says that “a few thousand” links is the maximum. Also of note, Google has changed its rhetoric from suggesting that webmasters improve page speed to explicitly recommending they do so. Source: The SEM Post
AdWords to Only Support IE Version 11 and Up
Another recent announcement by Google via Google+ is that they will be dropping support for all versions of Internet Explorer except IE 11. Starting March 7th, you will no longer be able to access AdWords if you are using an older version of Internet Explorer. Google stated their purpose for doing this was to “focus on optimizing AdWords for the latest versions of your web browser.” Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Additional Commentary
14 Most Important SEO Tasks in Order of Priority
Although the prioritization of SEO tasks can be different from case to case, Search Engine Watch’s Amanda DiSilvestro takes a stab at pinning down a universal prioritized list of SEO tasks. DiSilvestro singles out the identification and removal of duplicate content, navigation and user experience factors, and having a responsive design as the three most important tasks to consider tackling when optimizing for the search engines. Source: Amanda DiSilvestro, Search Engine Watch
Important Mobile PPC Opportunities
Shannon Glass shares 4 mobile opportunities to take advantage of to keep up on your mobile game. You can start by creating mobile preferred ads with the most relevant information included in your first description line. Glass also recommends Call-Only ads to encourage users to call directly rather than go to the website. You can also take advantage of call extensions, since they allow users to easily dial the business phone number. Finally, a mobile friendly site will keep users engaged with a mobile optimized web page. Source: Frederick Vallaeys, Search Engine Land
