Wow, what a month February has been! We want to share with you what’s been going on in the digital marketing industry and wrap up what you might've missed this month from news to events.
Google began to show snapshots back in 2018 of your Google Search Console (GSC) data and analytics in the web search results for verified properties. Now, Google will also show you a snapshot of domain property verification methods, not just the older verification methods.
This card can appear only if you are an owner or full user of the site in Google Search Console, and you are signed in with that Google account while searching for your site or queries it might rank for.
Having this snapshot come up can be useful for site owners who have Search Console access, but might not check their Search Console data too often. This is a useful reminder to site owners that there is a treasure trove of data and information in Search Console that they can look at, or hire an SEO agency to look at it on their behalf.
At the end of January, Google expanded Google Search Console (GSC) access with the URL Inspection Tool API, which extends functionalities of many SEO tools and WordPress plugins and themes.
Screaming Frog didn’t waste any time integrating Google’s new URL inspection API this month, allowing access to current indexing data and importing data into the tool. The new API allows Screaming Frog to include seven brand new filters that identify website problems in need of attention.
Find more information about Screaming Frogs' seven brand new filters here.
At the start of February Google Search Console's crawl stats report showed Google stopped crawling many Shopify sites. There were numerous reports that Google stopped crawling and Googlebot “flatlined” its crawling activity on many, if not, all Shopify websites. The issue seemed to be on Google’s end and not an issue with Shopify. This issue has been confirmed by Shopify publishers that the issue is now resolved.
As expected, Google is now rolling out the desktop version of the page experience update. This update should be fully rolled by the end of March 2022. It will include all the current signals of the mobile version of the page experience update, outside of the page needing to be mobile-friendly.
Last month, Google confirmed they were trialling “favicons” in text ads as part of an experiment, which would see a visual element, like an emoji, in text ads to catch the eye of searchers.
Now, Google is testing out a new feature in ad formats, being a bulleted list used to showcase unique selling points, product features or additional CTAs.
The more relevant information you’re able to pack into an ad, the more likely it is that the ad will drive engagement. Bulleted lists can help keep that information scannable for potential customers.
Google is testing a new ad label in search results. The experimental label differs from the current ad label in that it is enclosed by a green box (a design throwback to 2017 green, boxed ad labels), which may help users distinguish it from organic results.
Google is testing a new ad label in search results. The experimental label differs from the current ad label in that it is enclosed by a green box (a design throwback to 2017 green, boxed ad labels), which may help users distinguish it from organic results.
The way Google Ads automated extensions work is changing. Automated extensions are a type of ad extension that is created dynamically for your ad when it’s “predicted to improve your performance.”
They have announced that there will be three changes. These changes will be:
Find more information about these three new changes here.
Google is testing “Buying Guides,” new mobile search results feature that presents users with various drop-down menu options to learn more about the product they’re searching for.
This experiment will help shoppers discover relevant characteristics of a product by surfacing attributes like price, brand and type.
LinkedIn’s looking to provide more insight into content performance via new post analytics tools, which will show you details about the members that are reading your LinkedIn updates, how many reactions each has received and more.
The new analytics will provide more specific insight into who is reading your posts, filterable by job title, industry, location and more.
LinkedIn added the ‘Support’ reaction back in June 2020, in response to posts about the pandemic, building on the original five reaction options. And soon, we’ll see a laughing face response too, unless it replaces one of these.
This may be the end of an era for some as Snapchat released its newest update on the 23rd of February, allowing users to change their Snapchat username for the first time ever in 2022!
You can do this by:
The next generation of teenagers will never know the embarrassment of a poorly-chosen Snapchat username that they can't change - this may be a good time for some to have a rethink about their email addresses, as we all know there won't be any updates rolling out for Outlook, Gmail or iCloud anytime soon.
TikTok has published a new report into key user trends and shifts, in order to help marketers tap into the latest emerging conversations, and maximize their performance in the app.
The five key trends highlighted are:
If you’re working in any sector related to these topics, it’s well worth downloading the guide and getting some more insight into key TikTok trends in your industry. You can download the full guide here.
We love talking about all things digital, if you want to be kept up to date with all the latest news and events in digital marketing, sign up to receive our monthly updates.