The week ending July 21. 2017 was a packed on in search and SEO. Here’s what happened:
We covered as many of the sessions at Mozcon as we could. Live-blogging them as we try to do during conferences you can find out what the likes of Rand Fishkin, Wil Reynolds and Cindy Krum covered and let me tell you – you won’t be sorry you did. A ton of great information.
Rand Fishkin Stepping Away From Moz
And speaking of Rand Fishkin, Matt Southern covered the announcement for Search Engine Journal that Rand will be stepping away from the day-to-day operations at Moz. He will continue to be an evangelist and I’m sure we haven’t heard the last from him and I along with the whole community I’m sure wish him the best of luck with his next endeavors.
2 Changes In AdWords
Chaitanya Chandrasekar wrote an interesting analysis for Search Engine Journal of what two big changes to AdWords mean. Specifically he discussed the lifting of the 30% adjustment cap on Enhanced CPC bids and changes to Ad Rank. If you’re at all involved in PPC it’s a must read.
Data In A Lie
Brad Smith wrote and excellent piece for Search Engine Journal on why all the data you’re reading is wrong. What’s important about pieces like this is that they remind us about the incorrect assumptions we have about data and knowing how your data is incorrect helps you understand how to read it.
New Search Console Design
Google is beta testing a new design for Search Console. The story was covered by Barry Schwartz for Search Engine Land based on some screenshots sent to him by beta tester Alan Bleiweiss.
Review Of Echo Show
Greg Sterling did a review of the Amazon Echo Show for Search Engine Land. He’s been using it for a couple weeks and gives it a mixed review. He’s looking forward to where ti’s going but views it as frustrating for what it is now.
Google Testing Movie Rating Feature
Barry Schwartz covered the discover that Google is testing requesting user feedback on movies for Search Engine Land. As you can see in the image above they’re requesting feedback on movies a user is likely to have seen. There are other screen displaying specific feedback points. The most interesting thing about his is what it means when we see it rolling into other areas.
Google Adds Follow Button To SERPs
Google has added a new Follow button to the search results. The button allows a user to follow specific topics and is available for queries ranging from TV shows to sports teams. The idea is to give users quick-and-easy access to the information they’re interested in. More interestingly this shows a move to appless apps where data and functions are made available outside of apps and built on the OS.
Impression & Raking Data A Change Not A Bug
Users noticed changes and fluctuations in the Search Console impressions and ranking that starting on July 13th. At first it was believed to be a bug but Google has come out announcing it as a change in reporting.
European Courts To Decide If Google Needs To Remove Listings Worldwide
The European courts are deciding if the ‘right to be forgotten’ needs to apply globally with the argument that if results are only blocked in a single country they are still accessible easily and thus not enforceable. It’s definitely a case to follow as it has huge impacts globally.
Google Paid Search Spend Up 20%
Ginny Marvin covered the study by Merkle for Search Engine Land that shows 23% growth in Q2 of 2017 vs Q2 of last year ad spend on Google. The gains were made primarily on non-branded test and shopping ads. Desktop was also a major player in the gains.
Google Voice … errr … Analytics
Google has announced the rollout of a new feature in Google Analytics that allows users to ask questions in natural language and get a response. For example, you can now ask Google Analytics, “How many new users did we have from organic search on mobile last week?” and get the data few back to you making it far easier to use for the layperson. An excellent advancement in my opinion.
New Homepage Coming To Google.com
Matt Southern covered the story for Search Engine Journal that there are rumors of a new homepage coming to Google.com. This ties nicely to the follow button referenced above and stories that are appearing on the homepage of mobile already It will be interesting to see whether this is just a mobile or desktop play as well and exactly what the future holds (and how it’ll play out for Google).
Task Accomplishment Whiteboard Friday
Rand Fishkin (a recurring theme in this post) did an excellent Whiteboard Friday on task accomplishment as a ranking signal. If we think about what Google’s end goal is, helping users find what they want to find and do what they want to do as quickly and easily as possible, this is right up the alley of signals that make sense – if we can just figure out how those signals might be calculated.
And that’s it for the week. If you think we missed any big stories please feel free to add them in the comments below.
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