This Week’s Industry News
Compiled by the Rocket Clicks Team
Top Stories
Spotted: Infinite Scroll on Google Mobile SERPs
Google is a fan of running various search tests and the most recent test spotted was the addition of infinite scrolling on mobile. The test changes the search results page from having the standard “Next” button at the bottom to a “See More Results” which instantly loads more results to the page without loading a new page. Source: Search Engine Journal
AdWords Rotation Settings Condensed
Google will be condensing their ad rotation settings starting September 25th to provide you with two options: optimize or don’t. More specifically, the rotation settings will be called “Optimize: Prefer best performing ads” and “Do not optimize: rotate ads indefinitely” which now more clearly indicates which option Google wants you to pick. In addition to this change, Google continues to suggest running at least three ads per ad group, stating “the more of your ads our system can choose from, the better the expected ad performance.” Source: Search Engine Land
Videos Added to Google Local
Last week, webmasters began to notice that local listings could now have videos and this week it became official. Currently only Google Local Guides using Android devices can add a video either as a 30 second upload or captured through the app for a 10 second video. The new feature is rolling out gradually so seeing the videos in action could be spotty until roll out is completely. Source: Blumenthal’s
Google Displaying Ads in Local Business Knowledge Panels
In an attempt to monetize the growing number of local searches, Google has started testing ad opportunities in local knowledge panels. As an example, Dr. Pete Meyers of Moz noticed a Groupon ad with a “view deal” call to action when viewing a local comedy club. When asked about the ad placement, a Google spokesperson stated “We’re currently experimenting with new ways to surface helpful and relevant local information to users on Google Maps and Search.” Source: Search Engine Land
Search Console Back on Track
For the last two weeks Search Console Analytics data has had a nearly week long delay. This has been one of the longest periods of time that Search Console was delayed longer than the standard day or two. Source: SEO Round Table
Analysis
Q4 Remarketing Strategies to Consider
Sana Ansari wants to help you push your Remarketing efforts in Q4 by providing helpful tips with the approach of the Holiday season. Her first strategy to consider is Dynamic Product Ads on Facebook and Google, which is especially effective if you’re an ecommerce company with a large number of products. Sequential Remarketing is another strategy to consider, where you can develop audiences by when they last visited the site and showing them different creative as time goes on. Another strategy Ansari recommends that may be more specific to ecommerce companies is to create audiences for specific Holidays like Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Source: Sana Ansari, Search Engine Watch
Lead Gen Content Hacks
Seeing traffic grow is always an awesome feeling, but when the growth in traffic doesn’t correlate with a growth in conversion SEOs can question what could be holding buyers back. Alekh Verma at SEMrush provided four content tips to help drive more conversions. Make sure your homepage can pass the “5 second test”, create powerful headlines with strong verbs such as “improve” or “boost”. Make sure you have call-to-actions on every page of your website and finally, don’t neglect the blog. Source: Alekh Verma, SEMrush
