If you did a Google search for a business in the past two years, you might have noticed something different in the results. Instead of the usual organic results topped with a handful of pay-per-click (PPC) ads, search results pages are now featuring local service ads (LSAs) at the top. Google Local Services is the search engine giant’s latest pay-per-lead advertising platform. It first appeared in 2019, but the platform continues to expand in geographical and professional areas across the country. Here’s where local service ads fit in in a search engine results page (SERP): Local service ads Pay-per-click (PPC) ads Google My Business/Google Maps
Last May, Google announced an initiative to improve user experience online. It’s a Google algorithm update called Page Experience, and it’s set to roll out in May 2021. Three months remain before everyone’s favorite internet behemoth delivers the update. Our advice is to use these three months to prepare for the Page Experience update. It’ll affect your rankings in Google, and depending on how well your site is optimized, the change could be incredibly good or terribly bad for your business. Keep reading to learn more about what’s included in the update and how you can be prepared. Page Experience = Core Web Vitals + Existing Metrics Before
Google search users have noticed that the length of the descriptive snippet text found under search results has grown significantly over the past few weeks. Search queries now tend to yield results with descriptions going much longer than the ~160 character cap used for meta descriptions. These expanded snippets have been around the 230 character mark, on average. A spokesperson from Google confirmed the change to Search Engine Land, stating that it was made recently. Having a longer description makes a search result listing stand out compared to others on the page, potentially increasing CTR. It also provides more information to the user, helping them
Google recently announced that they will amend their “first click free” service for news publishing sites in favor of a “flexible sampling” model. The change also accompanies a new program where Google will selectively optimize search results for users based on how likely they are to subscribe to a particular news site. By looking at audience profile data, the search engine can identify audiences with high conversion potential for specific sites and influence their search results accordingly. These capabilities could signal a shift in the way Google provides lead generation options for businesses online. Although Google has not yet indicated whether they will bring their
Google certainly has a way for getting attention, and displaying your site pages as “Not Secure” in Chrome is just the latest example. According to recent update notes, the Google Chrome browser will begin to flag certain site connections listed as HTTP rather than HTTPS as “Not Secure” in Chrome’s address bar. This warning will appear as red text whenever a site user begins to enter information into a text entry form, potentially scaring away visitors and shattering your marketing funnel. Since “forms” can include everything from an email submission widget to an in-site search query, sites that put off the switch will likely see
Google, Facebook Pull Plug on Fake News New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was in a fowl mood this weekend after flocks of millions of ducks invaded downtown Manhattan’s financial district. The incoming avians caused extensive damage to sky rises, but they responded by saying: “Just put it on our bill.” Yes, we made up that story for a cheap pun, but also to illustrate how easy it is to rattle off some ridiculous news content that can draw clicks. When people cave and read the story, all those visits translate to ad revenues for the sites that host it. The company gets more
It’s October, the month for all things spooky, but this next story may be doing you more of a frighten than you were prepared for. So turn on all the lights and hide under the blanket for this bombshell: Google no longer prevents your personal browsing information from crossing into their DoubleClick ad network data. If Chrome or Google Account users opted-in to a request this summer for “Some new features for your Google account,” then they just gave Google permission to give their personal data — including name, address, browsing history and other gems it could have gleaned like estimated income — to
In a month full of bombshells, Google dropped the biggest one somewhat subtly at an event not really known for its earth-shattering announcements. Namely, they will no longer maintain a single search engine index. Instead, they are crafting a brand new search engine index algorithm that will exclusively handle mobile results. A desktop index will be maintained separately, albeit with fewer updates and less “freshness” in terms of its indexing rate. Despite the writing on the wall that mobile has overtaken desktop being so faded that it now blends in with the wallpaper, this news still comes as a shock to many. Mobile’s upsurge
The number of organic, blue-colored links Google displays on its search engine results pages (SERPs) has dropped since 2015. According to research from Searchmetrics, the average has dropped from 10 to 8.5 on mobile and down to 8.59 on desktop. Pushing aside these links are various Universal Search integrations, otherwise known as “them little boxes what show us videos or answers or summat.” These search integrations can improve user experience and occasionally highlight branded content, but with the side effect of making SERPs pages all the more competitive. Companies who wish to be on page one, or even pages 1 to 3 for that
Google’s making a phone! Well, the jury’s out on how much of the device they designed from scratch, but the device is whitelabeled as Google within and without. It also shows fingerprints of the company’s engineering philosophy everywhere. Google announced their Pixel line of phones during a major press event and presentation on October 4. The Google Pixel will run its own proprietary version of the Android OS with a unique “Pixel Launcher” UI feature. In addition to the Pixel, Google announced several other important products of note, so let’s go ahead and touch on all of the most important details worth knowing. The Google Pixel