Google sets new standards for links and content, new functionality emerges in Analytics and Search Console, and new tool Neurons hits the world of CRO.
Welcome to the latest round-up of all things digital. This is where we look at the latest updates in the world of PPC, SEO, Paid Social, Content, Digital PR and International from the last month.
CRO
Ruby Waplington - Junior Front-End Developer
Neurons launch means promising things for conversion rate optimisation
Within the industry, we have recently seen the launch of a new AI tool, called Neurons. Neurons uses AI to predict user responses, attention and behaviour! The AI uses eye tracking and EEG data to predict user behaviour on our clients' sites.
This tool is amazing for CRO and Data Led Design, allowing us to predict where users will look on our designs and optimise them as much as possible before A/B testing. This tool could be useful to other channels too, as it can be used on anything with a visual component to predict what will be the higher performer.
Optimize experiments help Google Analytics data go further
When using data, it is important that we get the best out of this and a recent update talks about getting the most out of Optimize data. Because Optimize is a Google product, it is very connected to GA, and this article shows us how to make custom segments out of Experiment Variations! This is very useful for gathering information about user journeys and behaviour. The downside is it is time-consuming, as a new segment must be made for each experiment and variant.
Digital PR
Jennie Lindehoff - Head of Digital PR and Outreach
Google gets stricter on backlinks with the December 2022 Link Spam Update
Google rolled out their December 2022 link spam Update mid-month, globally, across all languages. The update mirrors Google’s strict guidelines in how sites are gaining backlinks and, if unethical, sites risk getting hit and penalised. The update will take two weeks to complete and may affect rankings as Google's improved SpamBrain "can now detect both sites buying links, and sites used for the purpose of passing outgoing links.”
Relevant and highly qualitative links are what Google is looking for. Here at ClickThrough Marketing, we don't think those who gain links and trust honestly and naturally will have anything to worry about but if you see rankings/keywords/traffic/visibility decline in the next couple of weeks (15-31 December), it's most likely linked (see what we did there?) to this update. We are not concerned about this update as we acquire high qualitative links to our clients’ websites using relevance-led tactics. However, if you are worried it might affect your site, get in touch with our team as we can offer support and advice.
Organic Search
Charlotte Brindley - Content Executive
Google release the second phase of their Helpful Content Update
Google has confirmed that on the 5th of December, it will start rolling out another Helpful Content Update. Sound familiar? Back in August, Google released the first version of the update, aiming to better reward content that visitors have had a satisfying experience with.
So how does this update differ?
December’s update adds new signals allowing the ‘helpful content’ to work for all languages globally, so it’s not just looking at English content anymore.
The ongoing ‘helpful content’ update is designed to ensure that unoriginal, low-quality content doesn’t rank highly in search. Google is prioritising content that answers a user’s question or query over content that has been purely written to drive search engine visibility and traffic.
Want to know more about the Google Helpful Content update? Then why not check out our more detailed blog here.
Google experiment with adding 'Content Ideas' to Search Console
Google Search Console is experimenting with adding new ‘content ideas’ to its platform. These ideas will help give SEO, webmasters and content creators tips and advice on what they can write on their sites. This feature isn’t live for everyone yet.
This feature is similar in both appearance and functionality to Google Question Hub which launched in the US two years ago.
Google has stated that Question Hub enabled creators to create richer content by answering questions asked by users. It allowed Google to enable users to tell it if the search results weren’t providing the answer they needed, which in turn allowed Google to feed it back to the specialists who could then answer it in their copy. Search Console’s ‘content ideas’ seems to follow a similar process.
Constantly thinking of new content ideas can leave writers fatigued. This new feature will help with this process and at the same time, provide Google with more relevant and useful content to display higher in the search results.
Get in touch, to speak with Ruby, Jennie, Charlotte, or any of our digital experts on how you can apply the latest updates in digital to your acceleration strategy.
