Updated: February 28, 2019
As the holiday shopping season reaches maximum velocity—primarily driven by procrastinators who still haven’t completed their gift list (myself included)—Google has announced a new metric for advertisers that should help shed light on which products are driving consumers to their stores based on data from online ads.
The new “store visit measurement” feature has been added to the Estimated Total Conversions (ETC) tool in AdWords, and, according to Search Engine Watch, is intended to provide AdWords users with “a holistic view of how consumers are engaging with their businesses”—both online and off.
Although e-commerce sales hit record highs this year and continue to rise, offline sales still account for more than 93% of total retail sales. A recent survey of the top digital marketers suggests that integrating online and offline marketing strategies is expected to be one of the key priorities for businesses in 2015.
Thus it seems, as usual, that the release of Google’s new “Store Visits” metric in AdWords could not come at a better time. You can learn more about how the new AdWords metric works by visiting Search Engine Land.
Here are some other SEO highlights and headlines from the last couple weeks:
Social Media
- Last week, Facebook quietly dropped Bing as its primary search engine provider, instead opting for an internal search service that is supposed to help users better locate other people within the social network.
- One social media guru dissects the perfect Facebook post to find out if it even exists, and if so, how to duplicate it in your social strategy.
Website Design
- The release of the WordPress update, version 4.1, was announced Thursday (Dec. 18). Check out the latest features—which include a new default theme, distraction free writing, embedding Vine videos and other highlights—in this quick post.
Sales
- If you are running sales for your SEO company, then you’ll want to take a look at this guide on how to build customer awareness about the importance of internet marketing (especially for businesses without a strong internet presence to begin with) and how to sell your brand as the best in the biz.
- And once you’ve truly mastered customer awareness, you may also need a lesson in saying no to customers who won’t improve your bottom line. This article from Sprout offers some fantastic insight on how sometimes “saying ‘no’ can actually help you grow.”
SEO
- Internal search has become an invaluable measurement tool in light of ‘not provided’ keyword data. In an interview with JP Sherman of Red Hat, SEJ (Search Engine Journal) discusses the steps you need to take in order to drive site users from just gathering information to making conversions.
- Here’s a useful SEO E-Commerce Checklist that will show you how to give your e-commerce site a head-start in driving organic search performance.
- When it comes to keywords, selectivity is the key word—at least according to one SEO columnist who cautions marketers not to target everything, but rather identifying target areas with the most potential growth.
- Even Hollywood makes branding and keyword mistakes. Use this example to make sure you don’t Live. Die. Repeat. your SEO blunders.
Search Engine News
- Bing’s Senior Program Manager spilled the beans last week on how the Microsoft search engine assesses content quality when ranking web pages. In particular, Bing looks at these three characteristics…
- Google announced that their Penguin algorithm is shifting to “continuous updates,” allowing them to optimize as they go, says one Google spokesperson. Find out what this means for your SEO strategy and more at Linkarati.
Content Marketing
- Check out this link to learn about several critical copywriting mistakes that may be harming conversions. For instance, see why “keep ‘em guessing” may be a good tactic on a first date but not when it comes to your landing pages…
- Tired of publishing mediocre blogs and articles? Transform your ordinary content into something EPIC by using these basic techniques.
- Taking the advice of TEDx pro John Bates, one of the best communication trainers in the world, one starstruck blogger tells us his 6 tips for sharing your business’s or client’s story like a TED pro. Says Bates: “Once you learn to tell a good story, your audience is always going to be wanting more, which will turn your readers into leads, your leads into customers, and your customers into loyal customers.”
Feel free to give us your 2-cents in the comments section below or drop any other pertinent SEO headlines. We’ll be back with another roundup before the end of the month, but until then, we wish you all a very happy holiday and a merry Christmas!