This Week’s Industry News
Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff
Top Stories
Google Adds Shopping Certification to Partners Platform
Late last month Google announced that they have launched a new exam available to their certification offerings. As with other exams Google has provided study material specific to shopping campaigns as well. The exam is currently only available for Google Partners users in the US but will be rolling out to other countries soon.
Source: Search Engine Land
Google Pigeon Update Expands Internationally
Pigeon, the Google update that launched in July of 2014, has now been rolled out last week in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Like the United States version, the update will provide more relevant and local search results. Google confirmed the rollout and says that it is ongoing, with plans to expand to all English-speaking areas shortly.
Source: Search Engine Land
New AdWords Extension Testing?
A potential new test has been spotted in an ad on the Google search results page. This test seems to be dynamically pulling a title tag into paid ads based on query content and turning it into a link. This test has yet to be confirmed by Google.
Source: SEO Roundtable
2015 Search Predictions from the Experts
PPC experts have spoken up recently on their 2015 predictions for search marketing. Top three themes included; having a different mobile conversation with advertisers, focusing on audiences across devices, and more automation.
Source: Search Engine Watch
Additional Headlines
Google Is Not Capping GoogleBot Despite Claims
Yahoo Directory Officially Closes
Hidden Content On Mobile is Fine According To Google
Survey Reveals Top Issues Affecting Local Rankings
Notable Commentary
The Forgotten Ranking Factor: Engagement
As SEOs, we all pay close attention to top of mind ranking factors like backlink profile and on-page optimization, but all too often we lose sight of another important ranking factor: engagement. Whether, it be site speed, page views, time on site or any number of engagement related factors, it’s clear these factors make a difference. While Google has been rather silent about just how big of a role these factors play, Rand Fishkin shed some light on how big of an impact optimizing for these metrics can have in last week’s Whiteboard Friday.
Analysis by: Rand Fishkin, Moz
Who is the Real Client?
After recent headlines surrounding Google’s AdSense platform, Barry Schwartz has posted an article on SEO roundtable posing some interesting questions on how to define the client. He also discusses how changing the client also changes the way client service is conducted.
Analysis by: Barry Schwartz, SEO Roundtable
Why Dynamic Copy Should be Part of PPC Strategy
According to Matt Umbro, Google’s new Ad Customizers for PPC are a must for e-commerce advertisers suffering from ad fatigue. In a recent post on Search Engine Land, Matt Umbro shares promising results from a test done with dynamic Ad Customizers.
Analysis by: Matt Umbro, Search Engine Land
