The Week In Search & SEO: September 8, 2017

The Week In Search & SEO: September 8, 2017

Here you’ll find the top stories in search and SEO for the week ending September 8, 2017. If you think we missed anything please feel free to add them in the comments below.

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Results Open In App
Google is playing with open search results in an app if installed with an option to open the result on the site. In the example spotted the reult would open a LinkedIn app to a user profile and at the bottom of the result a link to open that same information on LinkedIn.com.

AMP-based Featured Snippets
Google officially adds AMP based featured snippets to mobile search results

Barry Schwartz shared the story on Search Engine Land. Google is now officially showing featured snippets for AMP pages.

Edit Business Listings Right In SERP
Google My Business now lets businesses edit their listings directly in search results

Google has rolled out the ability for business owners to edit their Google My Business listing directly in the SERP rather than having to go to their GMB control panel.  If you’re the business owner and you’re logged in you’ll now be able to edit an array of information on your business directly in the results page.  You can now:

  • Add or correct business information, post updated hours, and more.
  • Post on Google and stay engaged with your customers.
  • Share photos that make your business stand out.
  • See how many views your listing gets, and easily access detailed information about your listing’s performance.
  • Know when users upload photos of your business.
  • Quickly take the most important actions to complete and enhance your business listing.

Analytics Unifies AMP & Non-AMP Pages
Until recently a visitor to a website who visited AMP cache pages and non-AMP pages were counted separately (basically because one was on the site and one wasn’t – thus “cache”). The post has details on how to enable it and get your analytics in order.

Featured Snippets Test Of Query Refinement
Google Featured Snippets Tests Related Query Refinements

As illustrated above Google is testing query refinement right in the featured snippets.  The new feature first allows the user to make adjustments to the snippet itself by refining the context of the data provided.

Google Update?
Travel SERPsIt looks like there may have been a Google update rollout on the 4th or 5th. I know we at Beanstalk saw some significant fluctuations and those fluctuations seem to be continuing.

30% Of Search results Don’t Get Clicked
2017 Google Search Click Through Rate Study

The Internet Marketing Ninjas released the details of their latest CTR study. It turns out that 30% of page 1 and 2 results yield no clicks at all. According tot he study here’s how CTR breaks down:

  • CTR for a #1 ranking position is just over 21%
  • CTR for a #2 ranking position is just over 10%
  • CTR for a #3 ranking position is around 7.5%
  • CTR for positions 5-8 are in the 5% to 3% range

People Also Searched For on Right
Google is testing placing a “people also searched for” to the right of search results taking advantage of the space left behind by the removal of the ads.

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Pharma Accreditation
Bing Ads have announcedchanges to the programs they will use as proof of accreditation. They are no longer accepting Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPSS) program, Vet-VIPPS program, or e-Advertiser program registration and will be recognozing “the .Pharmacy program as the only proof of accreditation from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP). In addition, Bing Ads will begin accepting LegitScript certification as proof of accreditation for online pharmacies and prescription-only medications in the United States and Canada.”

Room Carousel
Google Hotel Search Results With Select Room Carousel

Google has added a room carousel to hotel search results allowing users to quick swipe through their different options. Yet another change int he litany regarding travel as we covered in our blog post the other day.

Google Reboots Automated Ad Suggestions
Ginny Marvin reported for Search Engine Land on Google’s latest attempt to win advertisers and managers over to automated ads. They’ve made some changes worth reviewing.

Bing Ads Remarketing Bid Adjustments
Bing has added some new bid adjustment features for remarketing allowing advertisers to adjust their bids based on data comparing the CPA to their other campaigns.

AMP Landing Pages Rolling Out
Google is rolling out globally the ability to use AMP pages as landing pages for search campaigns.  Wondering why you might want to?

Google rolling out support for AMP landing page in AdWords search campaigns globally

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YouTube iOS Users Can Now Livestream Screens
Google has updated their YouTube app for iOS allowing users to livestream from their iPhone or iPad screens.

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Alexa Recommending Third-Party Skills
We’ve all heard that Google Home does a better job at answering questions. Alexa is now recommending third-party apps when they don’t have an answer such as horoscopes or stock prices. Definitely another feather in Google’s cap.

Google Upgrades Street View Cameras
After 8 years Google has upgraded the cameras in their street view cars. The most interesting part of this isn’t that you’ll now get crisper images of:

A man and his dog on street view

But rather that the cameras will be crisp enough to get building and business details adding a ton of new accuracy and information to their local listings. They should be clear enough to read hours of operation.

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Ad-jectice Analysis
Daniel Gilbert wrote and interesting piece for Search Engine Land on how ad performance varies by the choice of adjective. He includes an awesome script that looks through a campaign and can automate changes based on conversion, CTR, etc. If your’e investing in AdWords and in ecommerce this is 100% worth the read.

Ecommerce KPI Study
The E-Commerce Benchmark KPI Study 2017: 15 Essential Takeaways

Alan Coleman wrote a great post for Moz that does a great job at illustrating different KPI metrics to use in ecom and what’s going on in them globally so you can compare your performance with those.

Google Attribution
Andrew Goodman asks an excellent question on Search Engine Land: Is Google stepping up to the plate on attribution credit and tracking because no one else will? If you don’t know what attribution is or are curious what tracking is coming to give proper credit to the proper sources and the problems with not doing so this is a must read piece.

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And that’s it for the week. If you think we missed anything feel free to include it in the comments below.algorith

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