A Month in Search: July 2019
This month we have been busy working on new website launches and new Google Ads campaigns, however, we have still made a valid effort to keep on top of everything new in the world of Search!
We have also been doing some work on Google My Business for our customers testing out the new features within the tool which now allows products to be uploaded and featured directly onto a companies GMB profile. If this is something that you may be interested in then why not get in touch and see how we can help!
Google’s Disappearing Reviews
Recently Google has made some changes to Google My Business which has resulted in reviews disappearing, this was due to a new feature being added where businesses could add a short name/URL. Unfortunately, this caused issues and it was highlighted that there was a bug with the new feature.
Google provided the following statement:
The recent concerns around the visibility of certain business listings are being corrected. The business listings were not suspended, but instead were not being shown as visible due to a technical issue. Business owners who experienced issues should be able to see their listings in Search soon. While some users may have experienced an improvement to the situation with the removal of their short name, the issue was not directly tied to the short name feature.
This matters because Google short names are an extremely handy marketing tool that allows businesses to effectively promote their brand locally and for potential clients to search for specific companies. Google has assured, however, that all issues will be resolved!
Emoji SEO and opportunities for video
Emoji search hasn’t yet quite caught on for search engines like Google or Bing, however, there is an opportunity for video, if an emoji is used in the title of the video and you use the same emoji in the search bar then it will show in the results. Using emojis in your videos title may increase its chance of appearing in the video carousel. What a great (and fun) way to boost your organic search! Watch this space for further emoji related news! (add in emoji)
Google has added a new JavaScript SEO basics section to its Search developer’s guide
The new section provides an overview of how Googlebot crawls, renders and indexes JavaScript web apps. It also provides top tips and educational links to far more in depth information which includes how to describe a page with unique titles and snippets plus using meta robot tags. We don’t know about you but as keen SEOs this is great news!
The important thing to note about this is that because JavaScript is such a powerful tool for developers and it is a huge asset to help enhance the user experience.
Having a good understanding of how Googlebot processes your JavaScript-powered we apps means that you can make them easier to discover and will in turn result in an increased visibility organically pulling more traffic to your site.
Business Owners Can Now Update their Business Profiles via the Google Maps App
According to Google My Business, business owners can now use the Google Maps app to edit the information within their profiles. WITHOUT having to use the GMB app or website. This should make it a lot easier for people to manage their Business Profile.
Instagram has been shutting down accounts that mainly post memes
It is bad news for those who have been making thousands solely through posting memes on their Instagram account. The social media giant had a mass cull of accounts that were violating their policies and deleted them.
Over 13million accounts were shut down, some of which had thousands of followers.
Instagram updated its policies earlier this month to allow it to remove accounts that have a certain amount of violations within a window of time! This has obviously upset some individuals but it is also a warning to those who rely only on social media as a form of income.
Google Search Console – Site Hacks and Malware
Google has recently added a ‘Security Issues’ tab within the search console that will notify users about dangerous activities such as site hacks or malware. They will also provide information on how to fix specific issues.
If there are no issues then the tab will display a green check mark stating no issues detected.
We recently announced our new security retainers which will help to avoid site attacks happening, you can read all about this new service here.
So, that’s everything from us this month! We look forward to catching up in August!
