This week at SEOPartner, we’re sharing: SEO updates that can deliver significant impact to your results, exciting changes in the online marketplace to watch out for, good-to-know studies and information, and tips to try based on recent findings.
Gain more insights about your Google My Business visitors. Understand the latest Facebook ad format changes. Learn how to capitalize on the voice search trend. And find out why Yelp compared Google to Donald Trump. These and more are just some of the recent releases that are currently making the online marketing space abuzz.
What’s Hot
How Did Your Customers Find You? Google My Business Now Lets You Know
Screenshots via Google Small Business blog
Google My Business now allows you to trace where your visitors came from and how they discovered your page. With GMB’s enhanced insights, business page owners can view a breakdown that shows not only the number of visitors but also their source. Did they type for your business name or were they searching for a related keyword? The keywords that led visitors to you, however, are not provided.
Source:https://www.searchenginejournal.com/new-google-business-insights-show-youre-found/170448/
Facebook Addresses Desktop Ad Blocking
Demo via Facebook Newsroom
Top social media site Facebook, which generates over 80% of its revenue from mobile ads, announced new changes recently:
– Desktop users will still see ads even if they have installed ad blocking software.
– To disable ads from companies that have added them to Custom Audiences, users can now use new ad controls that let them remove specific interests from their ad preferences.
Many marketers believe these changes will be quite advantageous especially in maintaining visibility. But some have expressed concern that the changes will make retargeting more difficult, affecting Facebook advertising ROI.
Source:https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/08/11/facebook-begins-thwarting-ad-blockers/
Google’s “Must-Try” Feature Gets Raps From Review Sites
Image via Google Search blog
With Google’s new feature called “must-try,” users searching for restaurants will see a carousel of reviews from “top critics and best-of lists from reputable publishers.” Less than 24 hours after it rolled out, this change drew flak from review sites such as TripAdvisor and Yelp, who said this move has pushed their content low on the results in favor of content from Google-owned review sites such as Zagat.
Source:https://www.searchenginejournal.com/yelp-tripadvisor-lash-google-recent-change-restaurant-searches/170337/
What’s Cooking
Google Now Gets Even More Personal
Via Android Police
Google Now, the default virtual assistant for Android and the Google Search app, has launched a test feature that will allow users to receive up-to-date information on their topics of interests. Called “Explore Interests,” this new feature focuses on the following categories: Sports, TV, Movies, Musicians, People and Stocks. Google hasn’t released an official word about it and there is no indication that it’s coming to your device soon. But it’s another sure sign of how search continues to become increasingly personalized.
Source:https://www.searchenginejournal.com/googles-virtual-assistant-deliver-personalized-results/170551/
Good to Know
Expert Predictions on Voice Search
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqL2G9YLB1c
Demo via Google
Since the launch of the iPhone and Google Voice Search, queries related to voice commands have risen more than 35-fold, according to Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends Report 2016. SEMRush recently hosted a roundtable discussion on voice search and here are some top takeaways:
– Voice search is still evolving. Voice search still cannot understand different inflections and accents but digital assistants are getting better at analyzing these differences.
– Voice search continues to shift toward mobile devices, fuelling its growth – something that businesses cannot ignore.
– Voice search changed how people interact with search engines. Users now expect to find exactly what they are looking for on the first try, because the technology has become sharper in understanding user intent and context.
– Google is investing in artificial intelligence to provide results that reflect user intent instead of just the actual words they use.
– Marketers must become customer-oriented. Use more long-tail keyword phrases, create user-intent models and get a better understanding of your customers’ journey.
– Voice search is not the future. It is shaping SEO today
Source: https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/08/04/voice-the-future-of-next-gen-search-expert-predictions/
SUMMING IT ALL UP
Here are the top takeaways from this week’s SEO news roundup:
What’s Hot
How Did Your Customers Find You?
Tracing your customers’ path to discovery provide more actionable insights about their needs & behaviors. Google My Business now offer more data for you to do just that.Facebook Addresses Desktop Ad Blocking
Some Facebook desktop users install programs to disable “annoying ads.” Facebook has now rolled out new ad formats that bypass these ad blockers.Google’s “Must-Try” Feature Gets Raps From Review Sites
Yelp & TripAdvisor have once again accused Google of monopolizing the internet with a new feature that will hugely impact restaurant searches.What’s Cooking
Google Now Gets Even More Personal
Google Now rolled out an experimental feature that allows users to receive updates on their topics of interest, even before they have searched for it.
Good to Know
Expert Predictions on Voice Search
A recent roundtable discussion featuring experts in the industry revealed predictions on how voice-based search is shaping the future today.