Today In SEO & Search News: March 24, 2017

Welcome to the March 24th "today in SEO & search" post.  As it's a Friday we'll be sending you into the weekend with some good reading material.  So what's happened since our last update? Agile Marketing In today's Whiteboard Friday from the folks at Moz they pulled in guest host Jim Ewel from Agile Marketing to chat about ... agile marketing.  It's an interesting approach to marketing that (in my opinion) lends itself well to digital marketing.  It's based on 6 core values:

1. Rapid response to change
2. Quick tests with documentation
3. Testing and data is more important than opinion (even the HIPPO)
4. Many small experiments are better than fewer large ones
5. One size does not fit all
6. Collaboration is a key

It's an interesting approach and worth the watch if only to give you a new way of looking at things or a reminder of some elements of your current approach you might be letting slip. Brand Advertising & Its Impact On Conversions Larry Kim published an interesting article on Search Engine Journal on brand advertising.  According to his article, the core foundation of brand advertising is that people who have heard of you are far more likely to convert.  In fact it's the largest predictor. Larry provides all sorts of stats and metrics to accompany his assertions which is why I'm a fan of his work - it's not based on truthiness (or at least far less than most).  A very good read if you're looking for a lower cost way to increase your conversions than simply trying to attract new eyeballs. Bing Ads Editor Enhancements Bing just announced that their Ads Editor has two new features that advertisers will undoubtedly find useful.  The first is the support for eCPC (Enhanced Cost Per Click).  Bing added eCPC last summer and its inclusion on the editor was an oversight that needed to be addressed and now has been.  Additionally they're now supporting the export of standard text ads into expanded format to make it easier to migrate. Another handy function to make your time spent on PPC management more productive. Mobile-First Index Still Months Away Matt McGee on the Search Engine Land blog covered the announcement at SMX West that the mobile-first index announced by Google back in October is still month away from rollout. The hope is that it will be some time this year but they're still experimenting with it. His assertion is that you don't need to freak out if you have a responsive site. I believe that depends on how your responsive site stacks up to your competitor's but to his defense - that's true on desktop as well. Google Kind-Of Confirms Fred Update Barry Schwartz over on Search Engine Land discussed the announcement by Google's Gary Illyes that the Google search leads have decided not to talk about the Fred Update from March 7 save to say that it went after specific violations in the Google Guidelines.  They won't say which but that they're stating they won't talk about the update and are giving information on what it went after is pretty clear confirmation that, "Yes Virginia, there was an update." Bing Enhances Product Feeds Also out of Bing Ads was the announcement that they've added some new feed features to Bing Shopping Campaigns.  They now support realtime price and availability updates, scheduling of feed downloads and a new offer-level search term report.  It seems they're really pushing to catch up to Google in their paid search offerings.  If you're not already an advertiser it might be a good time to take a peek. Kelsey Jones Leaving SEJ Kelsey Jones has announced that she will be leaving Search Engine Journal to focus on her own business MoxieDot and StoryShout. As someone who's had a lot of back-and-forths with Kelsey I can honestly say it's a shame to see her leave but we at Beanstalk and I personally with her the very best. The Fix For Google's YouTube Problem ... Is not easy. Jan Dawson for recode discusses the complexity of the issue Google is facing with advertisers pulling their ads from Google properties in light of those ads appearing alongside problematic content such as that promoting hate, terrorism, etc.  One fix Jan mentions is to restrict ads to channels that have a long history of good behavior however that would dramatically limit exposure and of course profit for Google. That also would make it unprofitable for newer content creators as well which is another big problem as they would likely go elsewhere.  The article is worth the read over on recode to get a fuller understanding of what Google's dealing with and more importantly to us as marketers, what possible routes they might take. And that's it for today. Just a little light reading for the weekend and we'll be back Monday with more top SEO and search stories for you to help you keep up with what's going on in this ever-changing sector. If you think we missed anything we invite you to add it in the comments below.