This Week’s Industry News
Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff
Top Stories
Secure Sites May Receive Small Ranking Boost
Sites that use HTTPS will soon receive a small ranking advantage in search results in an effort to make the internet more secure. It won’t trump other signals such as high-quality content, but it may carry greater weight as time goes on. The main idea behind Google’s decision is to encourage more webmasters to embrace HTTPS if they haven’t already done so.
Source: Marketing Land
Newer, More Accurate Shipping Rates for Google Shopping
After many consumer complaints of inaccurate shipping rates listed on Google’s Shopping platform, they have introduced a new shipping configuration tool for merchants. Merchant Center users will be able to set shipping labels in product feeds and be able to group products with similar rates. The tool also offers multiple shipping methods, location customizations and exclusions as well as a shared library to save them in.
Source: Search Engine Land
Yahoo Launches Integration of ComScore vCE
Earlier this week Yahoo announced that it will be integrating comScore’s vCE a audience verification service. With digital advertising becoming so much more important that TV or print, more advertisers are looking to reach a larger audience with more accurate demographic metrics. By integrating an audience verification service into their ad buying platform Yahoo hopes to attract more big brand customers and make a comeback in the display ad business.
Source: Marketing Land
What to Expect From Bing’s New Look
Bing’s Ads new interface has started rolling out to all users this week and it was stated by a Bing Ads UI team member that many of the ideas implemented came from customer suggestions. Some significant changes to expect include a smaller header to allow for more data to be displayed and changes in menu locations. Other changes yet to be implemented include a shared library feature and chat support.
Source: Search Engine Land
Additional stories worth reading
Author Stats Removed From Webmaster Tools
Google Testing Description Snippets On Mobile
Tech Support Scam Ads Still Confusing Consumers
Facebook Outage Causes Traffic Drops On Other Sites
News Publisher Released By Google
Smartphone Usage May Break 75 Percent Soon
Google’s Analytics Update Allows Deleting Properties
Notable Commentary
For PPC Marketers, Low CTR = Low Profits
A few years ago a strategy to save money among PPC advertisers was to use low click through rates. Larry Kim from Search Engine Land has recently posted an article explaining why this strategy may end up costing advertisers more. He touches on how quality score is more important than ever as well as why cost per click is so important to successful paid search campaigns.
Analysis by: Larry Kim, Search Engine Land
Calculating the ROI of Your Search Campaign
One of those most difficult aspects of SEO, is actually demonstrating to clients that they’re getting a bang for their buck. For that very reason, many businesses prefer PPC because calculation ROI seems more straight forward. Neil Patel of Search Engine Journal explains how calculating the ROI of your SEO campaign is possible too and walks you through the steps with a nifty infographic.
Analysis by: Neil Patel, Search Engine Journal
Beating Panda With Good Content
The very mention of the word Panda sends shivers down any SEO practioner’ spine unless it’s quickly followed by the word “Express.” Getting SEO results naturally and without being penalized can be tough. Mindy Weinstein is trying to make it easier with helpful tips on how to write engaging content that draws engagement in and of itself.
Analysis by: Mindy Weinstein, Search Engine Journal
