The end of June and the month of July
proved to be relatively quiet for Google, with Search riding on the effects of
May’s heavy Penguin 2.0 update, and Analytics introducing new features and
reports to help handle all of Penguin’s new ‘un-spammy’ traffic.
Google
Search
On June 19, many webmasters and SEO
specialists noted significant changes in their levels of Google Referral
traffic listed within Google Analytics. Six days later, Google’s Matt Cutts
confirmed that a multi-week
algorithm update was rolling out, and would conclude around July 4. Though
he did not confirm which algorithm was specifically being updated, by July 5
when the rollout
concluded, many in the SEO community noted a 1-3 position fluctuation in
search rank.
Further fluctuations on July 11 signaled
another algorithm update, which has been assumed to be Penguin-related, as
Google confirmed merely 7 days later that a “soft” Panda
update was taking place, which would be much more targeted than past
updates, and would be less volatile for search rankings.
As has been the case over the last few
months, Matt Cutts was very transparent about various techniques to help with
SEO and search rank. He shared the benefits of the Google
Authorship tag “rel=author’, stating that it signals to Google spiders the
authority and credibility of an article and its author, thereby helping to
boost search rank. He later shared that Google was ramping up its focus on
mobile SEO; according to Mr. Cutts, even if your desktop site contains
optimized, keyword-rich content, if it is not mobile-friendly, it will be penalized
in mobile search and will not rank well. He also addressed the question of
guest-blog posting, which lately has become the focus of many SEO specialists
in attempts to build a strong link profile; he stated that the practice has
become so common, and in turn spammy, that it is more beneficial to search rank
to append a ‘no follow’ tag to guest-posts as opposed to allowing a ‘follow’,
as it signals to Google that you are making overt attempts to NOT be spammy.
Google
Analytics
On July 2, Google Analytics announced a new
way to measure social media marketing ROI. The tool involves an integration
between Google
Analytics and Wildfire by Google, and identifies how social media affects
conversion paths. The next day, Google
announced enhancements to its Adwords
integration, that allow in-depth reporting of data that helps set and
adjust bids within Enhanced Campaigns; the enhancement changes the format of
campaign presentation, wherein data is now consolidated for campaigns whose names
have changed over time, as opposed to separating data for each different name a
campaign has had.
July 11 saw an exciting announcement from
Analytics, that a team consisting of IBM, Accenture, W3C and others had created
a Standard
Data Layer to become a core component of Google Tag Manager. The layer
would essentially set the standard for simplified tag implementation, as Google
Analytics is also currently working to establish a standardized format and
syntax for tags to compliment the new layer. This Data Layer will store and
present data on user activity.
Analytics announced on July 16 an update to
features with the Advanced
Segmentation tool, as well as its new user interface which now utilizes a
drag-and-drop design for easy management of segmentation options. The new updates include improvements on:
- User segmentation – previously this was based on traffic source. Now segments can be set based on specific demographics, so all users who fit the criteria will be lumped together
- Cohort analysis – analyzes and reports on the long-term benefits of retaining specific groups/segments of customers
- Sequence segment – this segments users based on a series of specified behaviours while on a website, and can be defined across several visits (i.e. a segment can be set to include anyone who visits the site twice prior to converting)
- Segment templates – 6 segment templates have been implemented to enable easy application of segment criteria:
- Demographics
- Technology
- Behaviour
- Data of first visit
- Traffic source
- E-commerce
Google
Adwords
Google Adwords reported only one update to
the platform in July: new capability to the Lightbox Ad format. Lightbox
now enables Google Catalogs to be viewed in pop-up-like Lightbox format,
allowing customers to scan through an entire catalog and view pricing without
ever actually leaving the web page they found it on. Google Catalog use in
Lightbox will be billed according to a Cost-per-Engagement model, wherein
Adwords advertisers will only be charged with customers open their catalog.
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