Good morning search marketers, did you see a bump or dip last week?
Google's September core update appears to have had more whimper and less roar, at least compared to the June update. In a survey of SEO tool providers and the SEO community, most said there was much greater rankings volatility with the June update. While there were individual winners (Sistrix and SEMRush noted The Daily Mail saw a nice bounce back after getting hit in June), most said there is no clear pattern of winners and losers with the September update. Dive into the details here.
Today marks the end of an era in PPC. We say goodbye to the average position metric in Google Ads. Sure we've had months to prepare, but old habits die hard. If you didn't get around to it before, now really is the time to update scripts, rules and filters that relied on average position because you'll find them disabled this week. Instead, use the newer impression rate position metrics. You might also want to revisit Frederick Vallaeys' column on rethinking bidding strategies and position metrics without average position. (Microsoft Advertising has the new position metrics, too, but said it will continue to report average position.)
Read on for a Pro Tip from Joy Hawkins on how Google posts work in local search results and more.
Ginny Marvin
Editor-In-Chief
