This Week’s Industry News
Compiled by the Rocket Clicks Team
Top Stories
Reviews from the Web Now Showing Alongside Critic Reviews in Google
Last month, Google introduced critic reviews of businesses to their knowledge panel. While this feature was great for users, review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor were left in the dust. Now, with Google’s announcement of “reviews from the web” third party review sites are finally getting their chance to shine via a small grid near the bottom of the knowledge panel. Source: Search Engine Land
Google No Longer Accepting Grantspro Applications
Google recently released a statement regarding the Google Ad Grants program, announcing that they will no longer be accepting applications for the Grantspro program. The Grantspro program offered a $40,000 monthly budget cap rather than the standard $10,000. The standard version of the program will remain, but Google stated that this change is to help “streamline the program.” Source: Search Engine Roundtable
From 7 to 3 to 2?
About a year ago, Google drastically reduced the size of their local packs from seven to three. And, just as everyone was starting to get used to the three result format, it appears that Google is toying with the idea of reducing the size of the local pack yet again. There are reports around the SEO community of searches returning a mere two results in the local pack. As of right now, it is unclear whether this change is a test or a permanent change. Source: The SEM Post
Campaign Groups & Performance Targets Added to AdWords
Via the AdWords blog, Google announced two new features to aid in tracking campaign performance. Campaign groups will allow advertisers to package AdWords campaigns into groups which may be helpful for Holiday-specific campaign launches. Performance Targets allow advertisers to monitor performance goals for their campaign groups like how many clicks or conversions they want a specific group to receive. Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Additional Commentary
The Most Effective Way to Improve Sitewide Quality and Rankings (Most of the Time)
In this guest post for Moz, author Everett Sizemore doesn’t necessarily reveal a groundbreaking tactic, but he does a great job of demonstrating the effectiveness of the oft-forgotten art of “pruning.” By explaining the difference between site quality and site relevance as well as offering several case studies, Sizemore is able to concisely communicate the value of removing your site’s low-quality content from Google’s index. Analysis: Everett Sizemore, Moz Blog
How to Stay Organized as a PPC Specialist
PPC Hero Shannon Glass realizes the difficulties of staying organized as a PPC Specialist and shares her tips on how to keep it together. Glass loves post-it notes and states that they are colorful for a reason. If you don’t want to forget something, post it. She also states that the past needs to be remembered, noting that client management platforms like Basecamp can help archive all past projects. The author also urges readers to always hit that save button in Excel as it can occasionally have no mercy on your poor documents. Analysis: Shannon Glass, PPC Hero
