Google mobile-first index

This week at SEOPartner, we’re sharing: SEO updates that can deliver significant impact to your results, exciting changes in the marketplace to watch out for, good-to-know studies and information, and tips to try based on recent findings on search, online marketing and more.

Googlebot Crawl Budget: Google Shares Key Points

Crawl budget is an often misunderstood concept – even Google doesn’t have an official definition of it.

Recently, the search engine giant clarified that site owners “don’t have to worry about that – whew!” especially if they have new and updated pages or if their site has under 2,000 URLs.

Based on the explainer post by Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes, the following are key points to know about crawl budget and what it means for Googlebot.

– Crawl budget is explained as “the number of URLs Googlebot can and wants to crawl.”
– Site speed, server performance, content freshness and site-wide events (i.e. site moves) all have an impact to the crawl budget.
– Crawling is necessary for putting a site in the results, but it’s not used as a ranking signal.

To help Googlebot effectively crawl and index your site, it’s important to minimize low-value-add URLs, which may include:

– Faceted navigation and session identifiers
– On-site duplicate content
– Soft error pages
– Hacked pages
– Infinite spaces and proxies
– Low quality and spam content

Source: https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2017/01/what-crawl-budget-means-for-googlebot.html

Facebook Testing New Mid-Roll Video Ads?

Social media giant Facebook has been enticing publishers to produce longer videos. In order to do that, Facebook is now testing a new feature: mid-roll video ads.

Dubbed as “In-Stream Videos,” the ads automatically play once a user watches a video for 20 seconds. The ads will appear in videos that last 90 seconds or more.

The ads themselves last for 15 seconds. Advertisers can choose the categories where they want their ads to appear as well as categories they would like to exclude.

In exchange for these ads, Facebook is reportedly sharing 50 percent of ad sales to publishers.

Source: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/facebook-mid-roll-video-ad-test/183493/

Nielsen Reveals Surprising Social Media Trends

Good news, marketers: Nielsen’s recently released 2016 Social Media Report discloses 10 helpful (and quite surprising) trends observed in social media usage.

Here’s a sneak peek:

Women spend more time on social media (6 hours and 33 minutes per week) than men (4 hours and 23 minutes per week).

Among ethnic groups, African-American adults use social media the most. However, Hispanic adults emerged as the biggest consumers of social media on smartphones.

People belonging to Generation X (ages 35-49) spend the greatest amount of time on social media (6 hours and 58 minutes per week), followed by millennials (ages 18-34, 6 hours and 19 minutes per week).

Source: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/social-media-usage-2017/183880/?ver=183880X3

Good to Know: More Ways to Prep for Google’s Mobile-First Index

As reported here and here, Google continues to take more serious strides toward mobile-first indexing. SEMRush recently shared more tips on how businesses can prepare for the possible launch of a more mobile-focused index:

– Make sure your site has a loading speed of less than 2 seconds
– Stop blocking CSS, JavaScript, and images
– Make sure your content is the same for both mobile and desktop
– Invest in a responsive design
– Regularly check Google’s resources

Source: https://www.semrush.com/blog/google-is-shifting-to-a-mobile-first-index-is-your-business-ready/

SUMMING IT ALL UP

Here are the top headlines in this week’s SEO news roundup:

Googlebot Crawl Budget: Google Shares Key Points. “Googlebot is designed to be a good citizen of the web. Crawling is its main priority.“ Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes shares a detailed explanation on how crawl budget works and what it means for Googlebot.

Facebook Testing New Mid-Video Ads? The social media giant is testing a new ad format which allows publishers to insert an ad clip and have it stream automatically in the middle of a video.

Nielsen Reveals Surprising Social Media Trends. Nielsen’s 2016 Social Media Report reveals some interesting insights on social media user behavior (some are quite surprising).

Good to Know: More Ways to Prep for Google’s Mobile-First Index. As a mobile-first index becomes more and more of a possibility, it pays to take more solid steps to prepare for it.

Reliable Search Engine Optimization help here

1. Google Plans to Release a Separate, Mobile-First Index

Google’s Search Analyst Gary Illyes dropped three huge statements during his keynote at the Pubcon Las Vegas 2016.
1. Google is currently testing and setting up a separate mobile index.
2. This separate mobile index will become Google’s primary index.
3. Desktop will be its secondary index.

For many, that boils down to one big change: the possible creation of a split search index where mobile is king.

For Google users, this might mean that they’ll be seeing separate search results for mobile (which will be updated faster) and desktop within months, should the changes push through, SEJ Lead News Writer Matt Southern says. For SEO and site owners, this is a more emphatic statement to prioritize mobile over desktop.

Investing in a fast, mobile-optimized website, publishing content using Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) technology and getting listed in Google News (if you publish news regularly) are some of the proactive steps to take to prepare for this potential major shift.
Source: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-splitting-search-index-prioritizing-mobile-desktop/176149/

2. The Year of the Supershopper: Stats to Know

Google compiled some vital customer data that can help businesses as they set up campaigns for the holiday season. Some highlights of their report:

1. Mobile search leads shoppers to stores.
– “Mobile is now the super shopper’s go-to source for inspiration,” as shoppers use mobile search to make purchase decisions and discover new finds (brands and products) along the way.
– 64% of smartphone shoppers conduct mobile searchers before going to a store.
– 76% of mobile searchers visit a related business within the day.
– 28% of those visits leads to a sale.

2. Brand visibility trumps brand loyalty.
– 50% of holiday shoppers last year say they would buy from new retailers.
– 76% of mobile shoppers changed their mind about potential purchases after searching on Google.

3. Shoppers want the best, not the cheapest.
– Mobile searches revealed 65% are looking for “unique gifts” while a whopping 80% were searching for “cool gifts.”
Source: https://adwords.googleblog.com/2016/10/the-year-of-supershopper.html

3. AdWords Introduces New Extensions for Manufacturers

Do you sell your products through retail chains? Google’s Adwords is rolling out “affiliate location extensions,” a feature designed to help manufacturers boost their in-store sales.

While the existing location extensions that drive in-store visitors through search ads, affiliate location extensions on the other focuses on third-party retailers t “help people find nearby stores that sell your products,” said Google.

Setting up affiliate location extensions can be accomplished in no time. Just select it in the Ad extensions tab, provide the retail chains where products are sold, and then Google takes care of everything else. There’s no need for a Google My Business account in setting this up.

This extension will be available to U.S. stores in the next few weeks.
Source: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/new-google-adwords-extensions-help-manufacturers-drive-store-sales/176499/

4. Bing Ads Updates Campaign Setup Process

Bing Ads has just rolled out an update for its campaign setup process. With this new update, advertisers can easily set up and activate new campaigns. This new configuration offers users additional options, allowing them to forgo the need to go back and remember update settings once the campaign has been set up.

The update now allows Bing advertisers and PPC marketers to:
1. Select a marketing goal for each campaign.
2. Copy settings from one campaign to another.
3. Target specific locations (via ZIP code, city, state/province and country/region).
4. Get tailored keyword recommendations.
5. Easily see ad extensions that match your marketing goals.
6. Set up and easily manage multiple ads.
7. View performance estimates for your campaigns.
Source: http://searchengineland.com/bing-ads-new-campaign-setup-process-261674

SUMMING IT ALL UP

Here are the top headlines in this week’s SEO news roundup:

What’s Cooking
Google plans to release a separate, mobile-first index. Google confirmed they are planning to create a separate mobile index, which will be the primary search index they’ll use to respond to queries. If this change pushes through, the separate desktop index will become its secondary index.

Good to Know
The Year of the Supershopper: Stats to know. Customer data from Google reveals some vital search ad shop statistics that businesses can use as a guide as they prepare for their holiday campaigns.

What’s Hot
AdWords introduces new extensions for manufacturers. The new “affiliate location extensions” is designed to help manufacturers drive shoppers to stores selling their products.

Bing Ads updates campaign setup process. The new campaign setup functionalities provide PPC marketers more options to set up effective, targeted campaigns and help them stay organized with a more efficient workflow.

Reliable Search Engine Optimization help here