Industry Update for January 4th, 2019

Industry Update for January 4th, 2019


This Week’s Industry News

Compiled by the Rocket Clicks Team

Top Stories

Google Testing New Streaming Options

Google is testing a change in the search results for movie and TV show streaming options. Google currently supports Netflix, Hulu, HBO Go, Prime Video, Showtime and YouTube. You may be able to buy movies and TV shows directly from the search results. You can add the providers you want and sort through the results with different filters. Source:Search Engine Land

Bing Ads Agency Sweepstakes

Bing Ads has launched a sweepstakes to encourage agencies to increase their participation at the start of the new year. Starting January 2, agencies can accrue one entry in Bing Ads’ sweepstakes with each Bing Ads Accredited Professional (BAAP) certification, up to ten entries for new accounts added to their Bing Ads agency accounts and five entries for enrolling in the Bing Partner Program. The Grand Prize is a trip for 2 people from the winning agency to the Bing Partner Summit at Microsoft Headquarters. Source:Search Engine Land

Yelp’s Latest Ghost Update

Something major happened to Yelp’s recommendation software around late October and the update seems to be largely invisible. A number of businesses saw a large drop in reviews and user reviews are disappearing to the “not recommended” section. This has caused some businesses to lose full rating points. Yelp looks for current, active reviews from active reviewers that are valuable to the business but may not be valuable to the consumer when filtering the recommendation software. Source:Search Engine Land

Update to Google Featured Snippets

Google can now anchor you to the exact spot of the answer you are looking for and highlight the block of text that is most relevant to your query. This only works for some searches on Google mobile, that feature AMP content in the featured snippet block. This may impact ad clicks, conversion rates and other key metrics as visitors from Google may skip your header and be jumped to the middle portion of your page. Source: Search Engine Land

Analysis:

Simple Framework for Technical SEO

Ensure all of your essential pages are indexed and crawlable. Create a navigation that doesn’t take more than a couple of clicks to get to your main pages. Anchor each internal link with text that clearly indicates where it is sending users. Keep your sitemap up-to-date and free of redirects and blocked URLs. And finally, set up structured data for your pages to help search engines gain a better understanding of your content. Source: Search Engine Land

PPC Strategies Worth Testing in 2019

  1. Test a New Channel – channels like LinkedIn, Reddit, Pinterest, and Quora offer unique strengths and can help you find your audience in new ways.
  2. Map Conversions Actions – not all users are in the same place in their buying process and shouldn’t all be asked to complete the same conversion action. When building campaigns, it’s important to know what conversion action makes the most sense for each stage of the funnel.
  3. Segment Retargeting Lists by Date Ranges – this allows you to create more meaningful and useful ads for your audiences as well as helping to cut out underperforming segments from your campaigns.
  4. Automating Part of Your Account – testing out things like automated bidding, automated rules and responsive ads can save you time and help you focus on higher-level account strategy.

Source: Michelle Morgan, WordStream