All Script And Tols For Free: 🔍 That May update looks like a doozy

🔍 That May update looks like a doozy

May 08, 2020

Good morning Search Marketer, and happy Friday.

If you are having indexing issues with your HTML or JavaScript-based website then you won't want to miss Live with Search Engine Land today at 1:00 p.m. ET. Martin Splitt, Google Search Developer Relations, will be joining Barry Schwartz for a chat. If you would like to be part of the meeting please fill out this form. We'll send calendar invites to the first 50 who sign up and will then have it available on demand. You can watch past episodes and clips on our YouTube channel.

Core update effect. Our survey of several search data toolsets indicates Google's May 2020 core update was big. "An absolute monster," as RankRanger's Mordy Oberstein put it. The update is still rolling out, but the tools show high rankings volatility across a number of industry verticals.

Strange ad test. We know Google is always running ad experiments, but a small Shopping ads test running in the U.S. puts a weird new twist on Showcase Shopping ads. It's kind of hard to explain, but imagine if a text ad invaded the Shopping ads carousel. But different.

Retail trends tool. Google released a Rising Retail Categories tool to highlight fast-growing product searches for the first time. With consumer search behaviors changing rapidly during this time, merchants can use it to compare changes in current trending categories and keywords by week, month and year. Data is available for the U.S., U.K. and Australia.

Next week, I'm thrilled to be moderating day 2 of the Paid Search Association's first annual conference — the virtual event takes place May 12-14. There's a great speaker lineup. Learn more and sign up for PSAC20 here.

Keep reading for a Pro Tip on diversifying your marketing efforts and more.

Ginny Marvin
Editor-In-Chief

Pro Tip

What are some activities that can create branded searches?

"Some marketing channels are out of the reach of most small businesses," explains Chris Gregory of DAGMAR Marketing. "It's important, however, to point out that some of our best SEO campaigns have been for companies that invest in more than one marketing channel. Here is a list of alternative marketing channels that can create brand awareness that doesn't break the bank."

"Remarketing by showing display ads to users that have been to your website is a great, low-cost way to keep your brand top of mind. Social media advertising is another form of advertising that can expose your brand to the masses at a lower cost than other advertising channels. And hosting webinars is a great tactic to showcase your expertise to a lot of people and create brand awareness. Make sure to record these to use in your social media campaigns."

Learn more »

Webinar: How Marketing Teams Can Create Order During A Time Of Chaos

Project and resource management has never been more critical than it is during this challenging business environment. Finding ways to collaborate, plan and prioritize is vital. In this webinar, you'll learn how to evaluate challenges and prioritize the work you're doing now to meet business needs and develop a new strategy for how your business can emerge stronger from today's challenges.

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Search Shorts

LinkedIn back, Google's PSA & Google discover and core updates

GMB: Hotels can now specify COVID policies. Hotels and B&Bs/inns cannot create Google Posts, including COVID-Posts. But, as Krystal Taing posted on Twitter, they'll soon be able to expose their COVID-19 responder policies, including special discounts for healthcare professionals, first responders or other essential workers.

Google Discover and core updates. A reminder that Google Discover can and is impacted by core updates. So the May 2020 core update may have impacted it.

LinkedIn returns. As we reported yesterday, LinkedIn was briefly not showing up in Google Search but how did it return to the search results so quickly? It was never really removed from Google's index, it just flagged it to not show.

Google removal PSA. Google's John Mueller posted a PSA that read "removing the "http://" version of your site will remove all variations (http/https/www/non-www). Don't use the removal tools for canonicalization."

What's "next" in search marketing?

SMX Next! Log on June 23-24 for actionable SEO and SEM tactics that can drive more traffic, leads, and sales — and learn how emerging technology and advancements in search platforms are changing what it means to be a tactical and effective search marketer.

Register for free »