MOZ team says, “Google is constantly testing new design elements, but over the past few months they’ve been testing a change that, while it might seem small on the surface, represents a major philosophical shift. The screenshots in this post were all captured on live SERPs but appear to be tests and have not rolled out permanently. Here’s an example of the basic change. Notice how each result (ads and organic) is wrapped in a container and visually separated on a gray background. These containers are called “cards” in Google’s vernacular, and they’re important,... [...]

MOZ team says, “When Google says jump, it’s hard not to jump. Often we take the words of Google representatives as edict and law, but it’s important to understand subtleties and to allow for clarification with time. In today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand discusses some angles to consider that will help you stay grounded when the “Big G” makes a statement about SEO”. When and How to Listen to Google’s Public Statements About SEO – Whiteboard Friday MOZ  [...]

George Freitag says, “Last week, Casey Meraz did a great breakdown on the state of local, showing where you should be heading with your strategy and answering some tough questions about the future of local search. Today, let’s look at all the recent changes that Google itself has been making to its own local product and examine how that will help you understand where they’re heading. This has been a big year for local search, with Google launching a ton of changes related to local, including several changes directly to their local platform, Google My Business. Marketers and brands are... [...]

James Perrott says, “On the 11th May 2016, Google announced an update to its Adwords Policy on Lending Products. This introduced the policy of banning ads for payday loans and some related products on all Google ad systems from 13th July 2016. Further to this, Google is also banning ads for loans with an APR of 36% or higher in the US only. Ads sending you through to products where repayment is due within 60 days of the date of issue are also banned. (UPDATE: As of the beginning of August 2016, the payday loan ban has still not been implemented by Google. There has been no official word... [...]

Russ Jones says, “Let’s start with the happy ending, which is actually a happy beginning, too. Moz Keyword Explorer has utilized clickstream-derived keyword data in a novel manner since day 1, allowing us to provide consistent keyword volumes despite Google Keyword Planner’s dramatic shifts in data availability and reporting. You probably haven’t noticed any changes in our keyword volume, and you probably won’t notice any going forward, which is just how we built it to begin with: resilient, evolving, and trustworthy. That being said, the truth is that keyword data... [...]

Aleh Barysevich says, “Have you taken the plunge with your mobile content strategy and optimized for Google AMP and Facebook Instant Articles? Only 23% of SEO professionals have taken concrete actions to implement the Google AMP protocol, which suggests that the uptake is still relatively low. Should you optimize for these mobile-focused initiatives? Let’s look at both the pros and cons of optimizing for both Google AMP and Facebook Instant Articles, and the three tools you should use to ensure that your web content is living well in a mobile-friendly world”. Should You Optimize Content... [...]

Jayson DeMers says, “It’s almost impossible to see any meaningful search engine optimization (SEO) results without spending some time building and honing your inbound link profile. Of the two main deciding factors for site rankings (relevance and authority), one (authority) is largely dependent on the quantity and quality of links pointing to a given page or domain. As most people know, Google’s undergone some major overhauls in the past decade, changing its SERP layout, offering advanced voice-search functionality and significantly revising its ranking processes. But even though its... [...]

Jayson DeMers says, “It’s almost impossible to see any meaningful search engine optimization (SEO) results without spending some time building and honing your inbound link profile. Of the two main deciding factors for site rankings (relevance and authority), one (authority) is largely dependent on the quantity and quality of links pointing to a given page or domain. As most people know, Google’s undergone some major overhauls in the past decade, changing its SERP layout, offering advanced voice-search functionality and significantly revising its ranking processes. But even though its... [...]

Greg Finn says, “Fan of Google’s Remarketing lists for search ads (aka RLSAs)? Good news, the popular retargeting option is now available for Google Search Partners. RLSAs allow marketers to customize their search campaigns to people who have previously visited their site. This targeting can allow advertisers to leverage non-traditional keywords by hitting a specific Audience familiar with the brand. To turn this feature on, head to the campaign settings tab, and be sure to click on “Include search partners”: Once it’s turned on, you’ll cast a wider retargeting net, potentially... [...]

Andy Taylor says, “Just a few years ago, the paid search landscape could adequately be summed up as “text ads on desktop computers.” This simplicity meant analyzing performance didn’t require too much slicing and dicing to get meaningful takeaways from paid search data, and often a simple brand vs. non-brand look would do the trick. With the rise of additional ad formats and devices, however, understanding search performance requires that PPC managers and analysts dissect their data in several specific ways before coming to any conclusions. Here, we delve into the most important of... [...]