Tag Archive for: google

The Latest From Google

There were a few new features recently introduced at the 2017 Google Marketing Next keynote. Google is constantly trying to optimize the experience it provides for both its marketers as well as its consumers who conduct millions of searches every minute of every day through its site. They continue to innovate and create a better experience in the year of 2017, and recently unveiled the latest in search engine optimization.

Google Optimize:

There appears to be a bigger focus on landing pages this year as Google Optimize comes out of its beta stage. The program allows a user to test their ads side-by-side in order to directly compare one ad or landing page against the other. New reporting capabilities are also included in this updated application.

Google 360:

Google 360 is another innovation that will make this process easier. More than 10 million respondents per week can be reached through this new program, which provides greater insight into how consumers react to the differences between pages or ads, and which they would be more inclined to engage with.

AdWords Redesign:

In addition to the announcements made at the Google Marketing Next conference, there are other important happenings within the realm of Google. For the first time in 8 years the search engine giant decided to redesign the look of Google AdWords. The enhancements include a more easily navigable interface and more direct comparisons when generating advertisements.

The change is not going to be released all at once. Instead, advertisers will receive the update selectively over time. There is no real way to know exactly when you may receive the update as it is, “based on a number of factors”. However, Google representatives did say that all advertisers should receive the update by years end, so stay tuned!

Google rolls out similar audiences for Search and Shopping

Now out of beta, similar audiences for Search enables advertisers to target users searching for the same kinds of things as recent site visitors. Read more

Similar items: Rich products feature on Google Image Search

Image Search recently launched “Similar items” on mobile web and the Android Search app. The “Similar items” feature is designed to help users find products they love in photos that inspire them on Google Image Search. Using machine vision technology, the Similar items feature identifies products in lifestyle images and displays matching products to the user.

Julia E, product manager on Google Image Search, announced on the Google search blog that you need to use schema.org product metadata on your pages and schema.org/Product markup to make sure your products are eligible for inclusion on these image results. Specifically:

  • Ensure that the product offerings on your pages have schema.org product markup, including an image reference. Products with name, image, price & currency, and availability meta-data on their host page are eligible for Similar items.
  • Test your pages with Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to verify that the product markup is formatted correctly.
  • See your images on image search by issuing the query “site:yourdomain.com.” For results with valid product markup, you may see product information appear once you tap on the images from your site. It can take up to a week for Googlebot to recrawl your website.

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1bklZQoby0o/WOufHpiDd8I/AAAAAAAACF8/LdJP6FlyohMMTeDolZt1z56oGBrpyiMaACLcB/s400/img.png

Right now, Similar items is available on mobile browsers and the Android Google Search App globally, and they plan to expand to more platforms in 2017.

If you have questions, find them in the dedicated Structured data section of their forum, on Twitter, or on Google+ or speak to a Digital Marketing expert here at Onimod global today.

Google Says it Has Now Tracked 4 Billion Store Visits From Ads

Onimod Global shares how the company says thousands more advertisers will gain access to store visits data as a result of improved measurement techniques and machine learning-powered modeling. Read more

Google rolls out AdWords account-level call extensions, among other call updates

Business names in call-only ads, more detailed reporting and an expansion of automated call extensions are on the way. Read more

Google Releases New Video on How to Hire an SEO Consultant

This 11-plus-minute video by Google’s Maile Ohye explains what questions to ask and what to look for during that hiring process of an SEO consulting firm, including useful insights, red flags and more. Read more

Google Search Algorithm Update February 7th

We just had some Google algorithm update a week ago potentially targeting spammy links I believe. And now a week later, around February 7th, yesterday, it seems there was another algorithm update. This update doesn’t seem specific to links or spam but rather just a normal unconfirmed Google update where ranking changes shift based on something changing at Google.

I do not believe it is related to the mobile bug because most of the automated tracking tools only track desktop search.

There is some chatter, the chatter in the SEO community is not YET that hot but it might heat up throughout the day as people check their analytics and tools.

An ongoing WebmasterWorld thread has these posts:

SERPs movements again in our vertical. We’re seeing some recoveries from previous penguin casualties and some domain crowding. Spam STILL having a huge positive impact.

Yesterday (Tue 7th) I saw a huge spike in organic traffic, ~30% over avg, and 18% increase from previous record day in November. It’s a Canadian financial-related site. Increases from both Google.ca as well as other search engines/

Here is a post on Twitter that even caught Gary Illyes attention:

Screen Shot 02-08-17 at 01.51 PM

 

And here are the tracking tools showing changes on the 7th, note Mozcast is well behind in terms of tracking so this might be related to the link spam update we covered last week?

Mozcast:

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SERP Metrics:

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Algoroo:

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Accuranker:

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RankRanger:

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Have you noticed any changes over the past 24 hours?

 

 

 

HT SE Roundtable

Introducing the Mobile-Friendly Test API from Google

Google has finally released Mobile-Friendly Test API for webmasters so developers can now build their own tools around the mobile-friendly testing tool to see if pages are mobile-friendly.

Google’s John Mueller said, “The API method runs all tests, and returns the same information — including a list of the blocked URLs — as the manual test.” He added, “The documentation includes simple samples to help get you started quickly.”

With so many users on mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly web is important to us all. The Mobile-Friendly Test is a great way to check individual pages manually. They’re happy to announce that this test is now available via API as well.

The Mobile-Friendly Test API lets you test URLs using automated tools. For example, you could use it to monitor important pages in your website in order to prevent accidental regressions in templates that you use. The API method runs all tests, and returns the same information – including a list of the blocked URLs – as the manual test. The documentation includes simple samples to help get you started quickly.

Google hopes this API makes it easier to check your pages for mobile-friendliness and to get any such issues resolved faster.

We know the importance of mobile friendliness. It is one of the most important SEO trends in 2017. Google has given enough signs that mobile friendliness is critical for your website. For example, Mobilegeddon, mobile-first index, mobile friendliness warning, and so on.

So, If you still don’t have a mobile friendly website, Mobile-Friendly Test API is another reason to make one now. This proves Google is serious about mobile friendliness of your website.

For more information on how we can improve your website to become more mobile-friendly, contact a Digital Marketing expert at Onimod Global today.

Essential Steps to Implement Now for 2017

As we approach the final month of 2016, it’s time to reconsider your ongoing SEO efforts and look at ways to step it up a gear for 2017. Read more

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog – Penguin is now part of our core algorithm

Google’s algorithms rely on more than 200 unique signals or “clues” that make it possible to surface what you might be looking for. These signals include things like the specific words that appear on websites, the freshness of content, your region and PageRank. One specific signal of the algorithms is called Penguin, which was first launched in 2012 and today has an update.

After a period of development and testing, Google are now rolling out an update to the Penguin algorithm in all languages. Here are the key changes you’ll see, which were also among webmasters’ top requests to them:

  • Penguin is now real-time. Historically, the list of sites affected by Penguin was periodically refreshed at the same time. Once a webmaster considerably improved their site and its presence on the internet, many of Google’s algorithms would take that into consideration very fast, but others, like Penguin, needed to be refreshed. With this change, Penguin’s data is refreshed in real time, so changes will be visible much faster, typically taking effect shortly after we recrawl and reindex a page. It also means Google aren’t going to comment on future refreshes.
  • Penguin is now more granular. Penguin now devalues spam by adjusting ranking based on spam signals, rather than affecting ranking of the whole site.

The web has significantly changed over the years, but webmasters should be free to focus on creating amazing, compelling websites. It’s also important to remember that updates like Penguin are just one of more than 200 signals Google use to determine rank.

For more information on the above changes and how it benefits you, contact an Onimod Global Digital Marketing expert today.