This Week’s Industry News
Compiled by the Rocket Clicks Team
Top Stories
Google Hands Out Manual Action Penalties for Unnatural Outbound Linking
Last weekend, sites that were deemed to have unnatural outbound linking patterns were given a manual penalty by Google. In an email sent to webmasters that were penalized, Google reiterated that “buying links or participating in link schemes in order to manipulate PageRank is a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.” Source: Search Engine Land
PLAs Appearing at Bottom of Search Results in Google
Another recent PLA test by Google is the appearance of PLA listings at the bottom of the search results, under the last organic listing and before the bottom group of paid ads. Experts question the purpose of this test since Click-Through-Rate tends to be lower for ads that place at the bottom of the page. They also aren’t surprised by this test since Google has recently been testing different PLA’s quite frequently. Source: The SEM Post
Google Reveals how Page Speed Can Affect Rankings and Crawlability
Recently, when asked how influential page speed is in terms of a ranking factor, Google’s John Mueller broke it down into two aspects. First, Mueller describes page speed as an indirect ranking factor in that it can help boost user experience. He then explains that server speed is crucial when it comes to them being able to crawl a site quickly and frequently. Source: The SEM Post
Green Ads Tag Tested by Google
Several advertisers have been noticing something a little different with their paid search results recently, namely a green variation of the typically yellow colored “Ads” tag. This shade of green matches the color of the Display URL, making it much less noticeable. For now, this test is running for a very small percentage of users. Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Webmasters Beginning to Receive Deceptive Site Warnings from Google
While Google initially brought up the issue of deceptive download buttons a few months back, webmasters that were deemed to have this issue on their site were never directly notified. Now, webmasters with affected sites are seeing notifications in their Search Console accounts. In this message Google explains that “social engineering (has been) detected on some pages of the website, possible due to hacking/malware code or third party ads.” Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Additional Commentary
How to Improve Your PPC Account in 25 Minutes
Pauline Jakober shares a quick way you can start mending a PPC account that may be declining in health. First and foremost, cut all wasteful ad spend, especially those pesky broad terms that are spending like crazy. You can also cut out all non-performing keywords. Next, you need to make sure you’re properly tracking conversions to know where the money is going. Lastly, make sure you have ad extensions set up all over your account, since they factor into your AdWords’ Ad Rank. Analysis: Pauline Jakober, Search Engine Watch
3 Tactics That’ll Make Writing Tighter as Easy as 1-2-3
In the age of blogging, high-quality, succinct writing has gone by the wayside in favor of a sloppy and long-winded style. To help combat this issue, Ronell Smith gives his best three tips for developing tighter writing. First, Smith recommends using screen captures and other helpful visuals to better explain a process or idea. Next, he suggests making sure you have a clear, strong point to make. Finally, he encourages us to utilize anecdotes because they’re “more interesting, more personal, more memorable, and more likely to be read.” Analysis: Ronell Smith, Moz Blog
