Welcome to the March 28, 2017 post of top SEO and search stories of the day. You’re probably here to simply find out what’s going on so let’s dive right in …
Battling Spam In Local
Casey Meraz wrote a very good piece for Moz on local search spam. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting to find it that interesting but Casey’s a smart guy so thought I’d skim it. That was before I read the whole piece beginning to end and wanted to include it here. The piece gets into some deceptive local SEO tactics that are working presently and outlines what you can do about it (and how to build your case) to get the offending sites penalized.
Facebook Makes It Tougher To Be a Politician
In what Mashable is referring to as the best thing Facebook has ever done, they’ve added a new feature and politicians are not going to love it. The feature is called “Town Hall” and is open to US residents. Basically it connect you with all the politicians that represent you giving you access to their phone numbers, Facebook Pages, News Feeds and more. Basically, right at that point where folks are getting upset about something (and let’s hope it’s not actual fake news) they’ll have easy asses to let teir politicians know exactly what they’re thinking.
You can find the new feature at https://www.facebook.com/townhall.
AdWords Not Google For Organic Title Tag Prediction
Brian Wood wrote an interesting piece for Search Engine Land on title tags. Brian’s company did a title tag test on AdWords and compared their data with the results on organic as they related to CTR. It turns out, they found little correlation. It’s an interesting piece with some well-tested advice on title structures that work.
Three Improvements To Dynamic Search Ads
Google has just announced three improvements to Dynamic Search Ads:
- Page Feeds – gives control and easier management over which products and promotions run at what time. Google will also use the feeds to determine times of day and audiences that are likely to be a good it.
- Expanded Ads For DSA – Following their other paid formats Google is adding support for expanded ads to dynamic search ads.
- Improved Relevancy – Google is launching some tweaks hey believe will enhance the relevancy of when your ads appear.
These are some interesting improvements and I for one look forward to playing with them (and especially seeing how these relevancy enhancements play out).
Facebook Native Videos Crushing YouTube
Danny Goodwin covered an interesting bit of data for Search Engine Journal. Not only are Facebook Native Videos being used 3x more on Facebook (which makes sense) BUT more importantly they have far higher engagement. Very interesting data and definitely worth the read.
Twitter is reportedly looking at launching a paid version of Tweetdeck geared towards marketers. The current Tweetdeck would continue to be free with a paid version simply containing new features, metrics, etc. While it’s not formalized Twitter is surveying people on pricing and what they’d want to see in it.
Google Home Integrating With More Products
The Verge reported on the announcement that the manufacturers August, Wink, LIFX, TP-Link, Rachio, Vivint, and Best Buy’s Insignia will all be supporting Google Home commands. I highly recommend reading the full piece and then really thinking about the direction it represents in technology.
And that’s it for the day. It’s been a big one and I’m sure you’re looking as forward as I am to what tomorrow will bring.