Google has officially recommended hiring SEOs for website performance in a new video.
YouTube
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– Search
When a new website is seen by Google it estimates ranking signals immediately and then figures the actual values out later on
- Search Engine Journal – https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-new-site-ranking-algorithm/345342/
The new favicon and breadcrumb design on Google’s desktop results is so unpopular they are “experimenting” with removing it
- Search Engine Roundtable – https://www.seroundtable.com/google-revert-favicons-black-ad-label-28899.html
Last week Google took away the second ranking position of a document that was granted a featured snippet. Initially this only took the positon from page 1 of the search results, but this week RankRanger found that the second ranking was disappeared completely from at least the first 20 pages.
- Rank Ranger on Twitter – https://twitter.com/RankRanger/status/1222448089874751489
On desktop if a featured snippet appears in the right hand side of the page, the listing will also appear at the top of the search results listings
- Search Engine Roundtable – https://www.seroundtable.com/google-right-side-featured-snippet-not-deduplicated-28910.html
- Search Engine Land – https://searchengineland.com/google-has-stopped-deduplicating-right-sidebar-featured-snippets-328393
Has confirmed that having Google Assitant actions doesn’t help with Google rankings
- Search Engine Roundtable – https://www.seroundtable.com/google-assistant-actions-ranking-seo-28920.html
– Ads
Is eliminating Accelerated Delivery ads completely by May of this year
- Search Engine Journal – https://www.searchenginejournal.com/all-google-ads-campaigns-to-utilize-standard-delivery-as-of-may-2020/345966/
– Analytics
– Search Console / Webmasters
Is now allowing pages or documents on a website to be temporarily removed (again). This was a useful feature of the old Webmaster Tools which many SEOs have missed
- Search Engine Journal – https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-makes-it-possible-to-temporarily-remove-sites-from-search-results/345688/
- Google Webmasters Blog – https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2020/01/new-removals-report-in-search-console.html
The Performance report in Google Search Console has a new color pallete
- Search Engine Roundtable – https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-console-changes-colors-28895.html
Officially recommends hiring professional SEOs for website performance in a new video
- Search Engine Journal – https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-recommends-hiring-seos-in-new-search-for-beginners-video/345524/
– Google My Business
Local SEO’s (myself and Yan Gilbert) have found business profiles on Google Maps in the USA using Pakistan phone numbers
- Gain Local – https://gainlocal.net/blog/local-seo/local-seos-have-found-fake-local-businesses-on-google-maps-that-are-using-phone-numbers-in-pakistan/
– Other Google
Chrome appears to be running a limited test where a URL in the URL bar is replaced by a keyword typed into Google instead
- Search Engine Roundtable – https://www.seroundtable.com/google-chrome-hide-url-28911.html
Is releasing an app called Tangi for 60 second tutorial videos
- Gizmodo – https://gizmodo.com/googles-latest-video-app-tangi-is-tiktok-for-people-who-1841334863
Released their ‘off-Facebook tracker’ data for users to see
- Business Insider – https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-clear-history-offline-activity-tracker-tool-how-to-use-2020-1
- Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/off_facebook_activity/
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Snapchat
Announced a new unique programming called Bitmoji TV which will be animated video episodes starring a users own Bitmoji.
- USA Today – https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/01/30/snapchat-flips-switch-bitmoji-tv-series-staring-your-animated-self/4607417002/
Bing
Microsoft Ads has rolled out Responsive Search Ads worldwide
- Search Engine Journal – https://www.searchenginejournal.com/microsoft-advertising-updates-responsive-search-ads-improved-reports-more/346018/
Made a smaller and nearly unnoticeable UX change to their search box. They said they found the problem with their new tool
Clarity, you can pilot this tool for free.
- Search Engine Journal – https://www.searchenginejournal.com/bing-implements-ux-change-to-reduce-missed-clicks/345724/
- Microsoft Clarity – https://clarity.microsoft.com/
Partnered with Botify for real-time indexing
- Search Engine Land – https://searchengineland.com/botify-partnership-with-microsoft-brings-real-time-content-indexing-to-bing-328309
Has a new AR tryon feature for makeup pins
- Business Insider – https://www.businessinsider.com/pinterest-launched-augmented-reality-makeup-try-on-feature-2020-1
- Marketing Land – https://marketingland.com/pinterest-debuts-new-ar-feature-that-lets-users-try-on-lipstick-before-buying-275025
You can now bulk edit the schedule, budget, and bid of your Ad Groups in Reddit Ads
- Reddit /r/redditads – https://www.reddit.com/r/redditads/comments/es3isd/bulk_edit_the_schedule_budget_and_bid_of_your_ad/
TikTok
No News
Several NFL affiliated accounts as well as the UFC and some ESPN accounts were hacked. Just a friendly reminder to update your passwords and check in on your account
security.
- The Verge – https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/28/21112015/nfl-ourmine-hack-social-media-twitter-facebook-instagram-accounts
BONUS ROUND!!!
Jumpshot has shutdown completely over privacy concerns
- Search Engine Journal – https://www.searchenginejournal.com/marketing-analytics-tool-jumpshot-to-shut-down-amid-privacy-concerns/346190/
Vine’s co-creator is back in the looping short video game with Byte
- Search Engine Journal – https://www.searchenginejournal.com/byte-a-6-second-looping-video-app-launches-on-ios-and-android/345458/
DuckDuckGo is showing ‘Quick Answers’ again, this time it looks like a majority of content is coming from WikiHow
- Search Engine Journal – https://www.searchenginejournal.com/duckduckgo-adds-quick-answers-to-search-results/345224/
MoviePass filed for bankruptcy and is now completely dead
- MarketWatch – https://www.marketwatch.com/story/moviepass-parent-helios-and-matheson-files-for-chapter-7-and-stock-falls-to-zero-2020-01-29
WooCommerce has updated to v3.9
- Joe Youngblood on Twitter – https://twitter.com/YoungbloodJoe/status/1222226731051954187/photo/1
Godaddy purchased the content creation app Over
- Marketing Land – https://marketingland.com/godaddy-buys-content-creation-app-over-plans-to-integrate-features-into-its-product-suite-275191