March 2020 SEO News Update – SEOPressor

Google Announcement

03/03/2020- New Features in Google Ads mobile app

On Tuesday, Google announced two new items to the Google Ads mobile app, namely, optimization score features and dark mode🌌.

Optimization Score

It is an estimate score of how well your Google Ads account is set to perform. The score is calculated in real-time, based on statistics, settings, and status of your account and campaigns.

Besides that, you’ll also get a list of recommendations that’ll help you optimize each campaign. You can even prioritize recommendations, making it easier to improve performance from within the app.

The GIF below shows campaigns that have recommendations with the highest impact are listed first, so you can prioritize actions that will drive performance.

Lastly, you’ll also get notified when your score changes. But, you will need to opt-in on the Settings page of the app!

Dark Mode

Dark mode, as we all know, is designed for visual comfort and reducing eye strain. Here’s how it looks like:

Google Ads Mobile – Dark Mode

Other Interesting News

02/03/2020 – Does Logo Placement Affect SEO?

So today I heard for the first time that it is relevant for SEO where the logo is placed on a website. Is there any truth in that?😅 @JohnMu @methode @rustybrick @dannysullivan

— philipp (@PWittreck) March 2, 2020

This is a unique one. Philipp asked fellow Googlers and Barry Schwartz if it’s true that the placement of the logo affects SEO.

You probably had the same reactions as fellow Googlers.

WHAT?!?!?

— Gary “鯨理／경리” Illyes (@methode) March 2, 2020

Hmm, the short answer is no, it does not affect SEO. Well, at least that’s clarified! A good placement might help with brand recall though, as we usually start reading from the top left corner.

28/02/2020 – Best Practices for News coverage with Search

On the 28th of February, Google shared their best practices for news coverage. It was highlighted that having up-to-date information during large events is critical, as the landscape changes by the minute.

1.Add Article structured data

The first tip is to add Article structured data to AMP pages. Yes, you can do it with SEOPressor Connect.

Adding them will help make your content eligible for an enhanced appearance (rich snippet) in Google Search results.

If you remember, we shared about the introduction of the Rich Results Test tool last month. Once you’ve added the markup, you can check using the tool.

Alternatively, you can add the Article markup manually by referring to this document by Google.

2. Mark up your live-streaming video content

When watching a live-streamed video, noticed that red attractive LIVE badge?

Well, you can be eligible for it too when you’re live-streaming a video during an event. All you need to do is marking your video with BroadcastEvent. Do take note that they’re not the same as recorded content.

3. For AMP pages: Update the cache and use components

Use the following to ensure your AMP content is published and up-to-date the moment news breaks.

a)Update the cache

If your page is changing in response to a live news event, updating the cache is extremely useful. When people click an AMP page, the Google AMP Cache automatically requests updates to serve fresh content for the next person once the content has been cached.

But, if you want to force an update to the cache in response to a change in the content on the origin domain, you can send an update request to the Google AMP Cache.

b) Use news-related AMP components

The two components mentioned is [amp-live-list> and [amp-script>. [Note: To apply the code, replace [with <]

i. [amp-live-list>

Add live content to your article and have it updated based on a source document. Learn how to implement here: [amp-live-list.>

ii. [amp-script>

Run your own JavaScript inside of AMP pages. This flexibility means that anything you are publishing can be brought over to AMP.

Other Interesting News

04/03/2020 – Site merging and SSL Cert

Hey, let’s say you’re merging 2 sites with 301 redirects. Do you still need to pay for an SSL Cert for the old site?

Merging 2 sites 301 redirect.

Old site A will be merged to new site B

Do I need to continue to pay for for an SSL Cert for site A?

Would appreciated any help with this. @rustybrick @glenngabe @bill_slawski @MrDannyGoodwin @brodieseo @dr_pete @Marie_Haynes @dannysullivan

— SEO Raccoon Ireland 🇮🇪 (@SEORaccoon) March 4, 2020

Well, some replied that it’s safer to keep the cert, but go with a free one. Here’s what John Mueller said:

Merging 2 sites 301 redirect.

Old site A will be merged to new site B

Do I need to continue to pay for for an SSL Cert for site A?

Would appreciated any help with this. @rustybrick @glenngabe @bill_slawski @MrDannyGoodwin @brodieseo @dr_pete @Marie_Haynes @dannysullivan

— SEO Raccoon Ireland 🇮🇪 (@SEORaccoon) March 4, 2020

In short, he advised to keep the certificate live and go for a free one. Then, another question came asking how long should the certificate be kept live.

John mentioned that a year is a good starting point. Here’s another good point by John, suggesting to keep the domain name to prevent spammers from picking it up.

Updated: 17 April 2024

About Howard Go

Howard is a student of life, constantly learning and progressing. He has always been interested in business studies and fascinated by the capabilities of Marketing in transforming the whole business game.