Apple is expanding ads on iPhone and iPad

Apple will be expanding ads to new areas of the iPhone and iPad, in an effort to drive revenue. 

App Tracking Transparency (ATT). Last year Apple launched ATT which allowed consumers to decide whether they would allow third-party apps to track their activity across apps. The feature was said to cause billions of dollars in losses for Meta, Snap, and other, smaller developers. In response, Meta was rumored to be developing Basic Ads that only tracked the most simple metrics such as engagement or video views.

The current state of Apple ads. Apple’s current advertising efforts include display ads inside the News and Stocks apps, in the App Store (advertising apps) across all Apple devices, and inside TV+. A portion of ads in the News app go to publishers, and will appear even if you subscribe for $10 a month. You can choose to turn off the ad personalization feature in your device, but the system will still use information from your device, carrier, and types of articles you’re reading to show ads. Apple says they can do this because the system “does not follow you across apps and websites owned by other companies.” ATT is designed to prevent tracking across outside apps and websites. Apple says that since this isn’t happening, they don’t need to show a pop-up.

Where Apple ads are heading. According to a report from Bloomberg, display ads are shown in the search tab. But soon Apple will expand the ads to the main Today tab as well as in third-party app download pages. For search ads in the app store, developers can pay to have their apps featured in the results when users search terms related to the app.

Source: Apple is expanding ads on iPhone and iPad

Bad news – your Microsoft Teams calls are about to get a lot more interactive

A new update to Microsoft Teams will mean that you’ll soon get to see a lot more of your colleagues, whether you like it or not.

The video conferencing platform is working on an “Interactive Large Gallery” upgrade that will mean your calls will now include feeds from even more people than ever before.

In its post on the official Microsoft 365 roadmap, the update description notes that user will soon be able to view up to 49 video participants at once – so you’d better get practising that “engaged smile” look. 

Microsoft Teams calls get bigger

As well as being able to see more participants, the update will also mean that users can interact with others via actions like pin and spotlight, and observe their meeting activity like raise hand and reactions.

The update is still listed as being in development for now, but has a scheduled general availability date of September 2022, meaning users won’t have too long to wait.

When available, the update will be available for Microsoft Teams users across desktop and web.

Source: Bad news – your Microsoft Teams calls are about to get a lot more interactive

Google reenables the validate fix feature in Search Console and adds new classifications

Google has reenabled the validate fix feature in Google Search Console while launching the new “more simplified” classifications for the coverage reports. This was expected, earlier this month Google temporarily disabled the validate fix feature in order to launch these new classification labels.

Validate fix is back. Now when you go into Google Search Console and click on some of the coverage reports, the “validate fix” button should be back. Google disabled it while upgrading the classification system. There was a notice that read “Limited functionality: We are making some minor updates in the next few days. During this period you will not be able to issue new validation requests.” That notice has been removed and you now have the validate fix feature back.

Here is a screenshot I took:

New classifications. As mentioned above, Google launched more simplified classifications for these reports. Instead of the coverage report showing errors, valid with warnings and valid; now the report just shows invalid or valid information.

New Tour. When you login and go to the coverage overview section, you can now click on “full report” and Google will ask you if you want to see a tour of the changes, here is what the tour looks like:

Source: Google reenables the validate fix feature in Search Console and adds new classifications

Newsletter Glue Closes Free Plugin on WordPress.org

The creators of Newsletter Glue have removed their free plugin from WordPress.org in favor of focusing on the commercial version. The plugin streamlines the publishing workflow for newsletter authors who also publish to their WordPress sites. It includes blocks and patterns for email templates and subscriber forms. Five months ago the plugin’s authors warned users that they would be closing the free version and would no longer be updating it as of May 1, but the process of removing it was delayed until today.

Co-founder Lesley Sim announced the plugin’s closure on Twitter and shared a few valuable lessons for WordPress product businesses looking to use WordPress.org as a their primary distribution channel.

“We made a bunch of noob mistakes in the way we set up free vs paid,” Sim said. “Which made the customer upgrade flow kind of weird. I think it could’ve worked. We just didn’t set it up right, and it just doesn’t make sense to fix it.”

At the time of closure, the free Newsletter Glue plugin had approximately 200 active installations, which seems low for a growing commercial plugin. This is because the free version got uninstalled when a user upgraded to pro, so it was never a good representation of how many people were using the product. Sim said Newsletter Glue wasn’t growing the free user base and “it was just sitting there like a dead tree stump.” The company had not updated it in over a year.

“We stupidly set it such that when a user upgrades, they install the pro version and the free version automatically uninstalls,” Sim said. “So we lost free active users as a ‘reward’ for new conversions.”

This architectural choice meant that WordPress.org wasn’t bringing the product a significant flow of traffic and prospective upgrades.

Despite not finding WordPress.org a good source of traffic for the product, Sim said the decision to close was not easy.

“Here are some things we lost out on:” Sim said. “1) Biggest distribution channel in WP. 2) Easy way for reviewers to check out the plugin for free without having to contact me. 3) Source of credibility (reviews).”

Current users can still use the free plugin but it will not be getting updates anymore. In lieu of a free plugin, Newsletter Glue is offering a test drive option where users can try it on a demo site before purchasing. The company has taken a unique path to becoming a commercial plugin that is fully independently distributed.

Source: Newsletter Glue Closes Free Plugin on WordPress.org

More News:

IndexNow attributed for 7% of all new URLs clicked on in Bing in the past month

Google’s Algorithms Can Understand When Sources Agree On Same Fact

DuckDuckGo Now Says It Will Block Microsoft Trackers

IndexNow attributed for 7% of all new URLs clicked on in Bing in the past month

7-percent of all the new URLs clicked on URLs in Bing Search in the past month were sourced from the IndexNow protocol, Fabrice Canel from Microsoft told Search Engine Land. In fact, IndexNow has grown a lot, with more than 16 million websites that are using IndexNow, they are publishing over 1.2 billion URLs per day to the IndexNow API.

IndexNow’s growth. In February 2022 IndexNow has grown to support millions of sites by adding integration with Duda, All in One WordPress SEO plugin, and Rank Math SEO plugin. Microsoft released a simple-to-use WordPress plugin for IndexNow and Google announced it would be testing this protocol. Then in February 2022, Microsoft said 80,000 websites are now using IndexNow for URL submission. In March 2022 SEOPress added integration building the platform by another 200,000 sites. In June, Yoast SEO added support providing easy access for a lot of WordPress sites to turn on the feature. With those providers integrating IndexNow, it gained millions of sites adopting IndexNow, just several months after IndexNow was initially rolled out. Now, we are at over 16 million websites that are using IndexNow.

Earlier this year, the Czech search engine Seznam.CZ adopted IndexNow.

What is IndexNow? IndexNow provides a method for website owners to instantly inform search engines about the latest content changes on their website. IndexNow is a simple ping protocol so that search engines know that a URL and its content has been added, updated, or deleted, allowing search engines to reflect this change in their search results quickly. The co-sharing of IndexNow went fully live in January 2022.

Integrations. Why Microsoft built its own plugin for WordPress sites to use IndexNow, Yoast decided to build it into its premium plugin. Why did Yoast add it now? “The latest change to the protocol is the second significant development that made us change our minds about IndexNow. The IndexNow team changed the endpoint of the API from pinging each individual-supported search engine to a single API managed by the protocol. This means that sites only have to ping a single site, making the process much more efficient. All of this fits into our view of a sustainable crawling and indexing solution, so now is the time to implement IndexNow with a new integration in Yoast SEO,” the company explained.

Source: IndexNow attributed for 7% of all new URLs clicked on in Bing in the past month

YouTube takes notes from TikTok and adopts a popular feature

YouTube is experimenting with iOS users. It is trying out the feature of replying to comments through video format. YouTube adopted the feature from the short video-sharing giant TikTok.

TikTok made the short video sharing huge among the youngsters. The added features make it more interactive. It helps creators to interact with the audience and create content alongside.

The creators use the feature for various purposes. Some use it for making more content. At the same time, some creators use it to call out mean and abusive comments.

If a creator is looking to expand their library of YouTube Shorts content, replying to comments can help maintain a regular publishing schedule. It would also help in keeping the audience engaged.

According to reports, although comment stickers mimic similar functionality on TikTok. Unfortunately, the new feature on YouTube falls short in a few significant ways.

YouTube’s comment sticker is available on an experimental basis. Also, it is available only to iOS users.

The comment sticker option does not have a trace-back feature that enables the user to find the author or any details about the author. This leaves the user with no context about who left the comment sticker on what video.

Although not a priority, YouTube hopes to add this functionality to its platform in the future. Unlike YouTube, TikTok has the feature where the comment sticker can be traced back to its source, author, and original comment.

Source: YouTube takes notes from TikTok and adopts a popular feature

Yoast SEO new update causes fatal errors

Users who updated to the new version of Yoast SEO experienced errors. Reports of fatal errors caused by the update soon began surfacing online.

A fatal error occurs when there is a conflict between two plugins. The error appeared confined to specific situations and not across the board.

Yoast SEO updated to the 19.5 version. Yoast version 19.5 contains several changes that improve the user experience and fix a validation issue in the article’s structured data. Also, addressed some minor bugs.

A standout improvement in the new update is the Front-end SEO inspector. It provides an overview of posts and various SEO settings like meta tags.

Unfortunately, a bug occurred in a specific situation that caused a fatal error. The first report about the fatal error came from social media.

“….And this is why I wanted to switch my site to @Wix

. There goes my afternoon as I have to figure out why THIS happened.” Eli Schwartz reported through Twitter.

Bugs are not uncommon after updates on any application or website. But this particular fatal error did not seem like a random issue. A lot of reports started coming in after the initial report.

The official Yoast SEO support page on WordPress also contained reports of fatal errors. Yoast SEO identified that there was an issue with the new update. Yoast responded to the reports quickly and issued a patch for the same. In the update, 19.5.1, they fixed the bug issue, according to Yoast.

However, since there are millions of users with thousands of combinations of other plugins installed, it is almost inevitable that very few edge cases may pop up with issues.

Source: Yoast SEO new update causes fatal errors

OrganizeWP Launches with “Old School Software Pricing Model”

WordPress developer Jon Christopher has relaunched OrganizeWP, a commercial plugin that organizes content in the admin with a single, unified view and UI for streamlining common actions. It’s a utility plugin that Christopher has had on his mind since before he released its predecessor, the Hierarchy plugin, eight years ago.

“The WordPress Admin felt really disjointed once Custom Post Types were a new thing (this is how long ago we’re talking) because there was top-level content ‘buckets’ mixed and matched with Plugins and Settings and everything else,” Christopher said. “Then products started using the Admin Menu as a form of advertising to an extent, putting top-level Menu items in place when they absolutely aren’t necessary, and the problem just got worse and worse.”

Christopher aimed to tackle this problem with OrganizeWP but redesigned the UI and rebuilt it with JavaScript to accommodate new features like groups and drag and drop. The new product is now out of beta and is catching some attention due to its unusual pricing model.

For $29.00, users get access to updates and support for Version 2. OrganizeWP is selling licenses for the current major version with no subscription.

Source: OrganizeWP Launches with “Old School Software Pricing Model”

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Google’s Algorithms Can Understand When Sources Agree On Same Fact

Google Search outage causing major issues with search quality and indexing

DuckDuckGo Now Says It Will Block Microsoft Trackers

Google’s Algorithms Can Understand When Sources Agree On Same Fact

Google’s Multitask Unified Model (MUM) algorithm is now capable of identifying when multiple high-quality sources agree on the same fact.

This update to MUM is part of a more significant effort to improve information literacy across the web.

A Google-supported survey conducted by the Poynter Institute finds that 62% of respondents encounter false or misleading information every week.

To help people separate fact from fiction, Google is applying several changes to search results.

Here are the complete details about the updates Google announced today.

Improvements To Google’s MUM Algorithm

What does this mean for search results?

Google will now fact-check its featured snippets to see if other reputable sources agree with the information.

Pandu Nayak, Google’s Vice President of Search, explains how advancements to the MUM algorithm make this possible:

“Our systems can check snippet callouts (the word or words called out above the featured snippet in a larger font) against other high-quality sources on the web, to see if there’s a general consensus for that callout, even if sources use different words or concepts to describe the same thing. We’ve found that this consensus-based technique has meaningfully improved the quality and helpfulness of featured snippet callouts.”

Helping Searchers Identify Trustworthy Information

Expanding ‘About This Result’

Google is expanding the ‘about this result’ feature with more context, such as:

• How widely a source is circulated
• Online reviews about the source or company
• Whether another entity owns the company
• When Google’s systems can’t find adequate information about a source

Content Advisories About Information Gaps

A new advisory in search results will alert users when there’s not enough reliable information available for a particular query.

Google shares an example of a search related to a conspiracy theory triggering the new content advisory:

Source: Google’s Algorithms Can Understand When Sources Agree On Same Fact

WP Engine Achieves Prestigious ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Certification for Enterprise Security for WordPress Sites

WP Engine, the world’s most trusted WordPress technology company, today announced that it has received ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification for its Information Security Management System (ISMS). This certification demonstrates WP Engine’s continued commitment to information security at every level and ensures that the security of customer data and information has been addressed, implemented, and properly controlled in all areas of the organization and platform.

Customers can now have even greater confidence in WP Engine and the company’s enterprise-grade security solutions, with the ISO 27001:2013 certification adding to its SOC 2 Type II Report in 2020.

Fuel The Freedom To Create With WP Engine

WP Engine powers the freedom to create on WordPress. The company’s products and web platform, the fastest among all WordPress providers, power 1.5 million digital experiences. More of the top 200,000 sites in the world use WP Engine to drive their digital experiences than anyone else in WordPress. Experience the advantage of Managed WordPress Hosting perfected today. See how 11Onze and WONDR used WP Engine to achieve industry-leading performance and enterprise-grade security WP Engine’s enterprise WordPress platform.

At WP Engine, we do what is right for our customers, and this focus helps us to do the best work of our careers. We prioritize investing in our employees’ success and love offering opportunities to help you grow and develop professionally.

Source: WP Engine Achieves Prestigious ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Certification for Enterprise Security for WordPress Sites

Google steps up featured snippets with MUM; reducing false premise results by 40%

Google has announced several new enhancements to Google Search today that focus on improving the overall quality of the search results, while at the same time helping searchers evaluate the search quality of the results presented to them.

Google has made improvements to featured snippets, its content advisories, and the about this result.

Featured Snippets callouts now uses MUM and general consensus

Featured snippets in Google Search will now use MUM to help understand if there is a general consensus for the information Google shows as callouts in these featured snippets. Google said that its “systems can now understand the notion of consensus” by using MUM, Multitask Unified Model.

MUM has not been used to date in too many applications within Google Search, limited to COVID vaccine names, Google Lens features and some other applications – more on that here, including now featured snippets.

Now, with the help of MUM, Google can understand if there is a consensus across the web to help highlight the callout portions of the featured snippets. Consensus-based techniques, according to Pandu Nayak, Vice President of Search and Fellow, Google, have meaningfully improved the quality of the featured snippet callouts. It is important to note that this does not come to mean that featured snippets will show facts, it does not necessarily do that but it does help improve the overall quality of featured snippets callouts.

Can consensus be spammed? Pandu Nayak explained these featured snippets are generally taken from the top-ranked results, so he is hopeful that those top-ranked results in Google Search are not spammy. It is important to note that consensus is not being used as a ranking factor but rather being used for callouts for featured snippets.

False premise queries reduced by 40%

Another advancement with featured snippets is around what Google calls “false premise” queries. Queries that may be inaccurate or factually incorrect but are nevertheless used by some searchers in Google Search. Google said it has improved what featured snippets it shows for queries that contain information for things that did not happen.

Content advisories expanded to low confidence results

In April 2020, Google launched content advisories in Google Search with the aim of communicating to searchers that the search results are not 100% reliable either because they are new or Google does not have enough information about the topic yet.

Google said it is now expanding content advisories to searches where its systems don’t have high confidence in the overall quality of the results available for the search. Google said this “does not mean that no helpful information is available, or that a particular result is low-quality.” These notices provide context about the whole set of results on the page, and you can always see the results for your query, even when the advisory is present.

Source: Google steps up featured snippets with MUM; reducing false premise results by 40%

ServerPress Is Shutting Down

ServerPress, makers of DesktopServer, a WordPress local development tool, announced it is shutting down after 12 years in business. The company emailed its customers and posted a farewell message on its website after disabling new purchases and is in the process of canceling renewals for existing subscriptions.

ServerPress was founded by Steve Carnam in 2010. His leadership helped the company remain independent of large hosting companies that have scooped up WordPress development tools of all kinds. Carnam described how the market has changed, forcing ServerPress’ partners to make the difficult decision to close:

“Earlier this year, one of the team members questioned whether or not DesktopServer v5.0 would have a viable market share. We had been so focused on building it out that throughout the development, we lost sight of constantly checking the temperature in the room. Once we started discussing this we came to the conclusion that DS5’s potential market share has changed significantly over the last 10 years. The WordPress development tool landscape has grown and diversified greatly. This has diluted DesktopServer’s overall market share. The time, effort, and costs to bring in new users to DesktopServer’s workflow would be too much overhead for ServerPress to be sustainable. While many larger, well-funded companies would be able to absorb such costs involved, a company of our position cannot.”

ServerPress did not communicate any plans for the future of its software products beyond the fact that they will no longer be supported. Longtime users and fans were disappointed to learn that the company is shutting down and some asked if they might consider making DesktopServer available to the public.

Source: ServerPress Is Shutting Down

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Google Search outage causing major issues with search quality and indexing

DuckDuckGo Now Says It Will Block Microsoft Trackers

Facebook To End Live Shopping on October 1

Google Search outage causing major issues with search quality and indexing

Last night at about 9:30 pm ET Google had a widespread outage with Google Search, the issue lingered through the night but restoration efforts seemed to mitigate some of the connectivity issues many have experienced. But this seemed to result in a cascade of other issues with Google Search around search quality in general.

The Google Search issues. It seems that the outage, although the most noticeable issue, is not the only issue. I’ve seen issues with the overall search results impacting search quality. These issues include:

• Outages and inaccessibility of Google Search
• Old pages dropping out of Google Search
• New pages not being indexed by Google Search
• Google Search results look stale and outdated
• Huge ranking fluctuations
• I posted some screenshots of the issues on the Search Engine Roundtable.

What happened? It seems a Google data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa caught on fire and the result of the fire injured some workers and causes these issues in Google Search. The incident occurred at 11:59 a.m. local time on Monday, the Council Bluffs Police Department told SFGATE. A Google spokesperson told them:

“We are aware of an electrical incident that took place today at Google’s data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, injuring three people on site who are now being treated. The health and safety of all workers is our absolute top priority, and we are working closely with partners and local authorities to investigate the situation and provide assistance as needed thoroughly.”

“Google is aware. Google is aware of the issue, as you can see from the statement above. But Google is also aware of the general Google Search issues related to this fire. John Mueller from Google commented on Twitter that things should return to normal as restoration efforts are underway. Here is what he posted:

Source: Google Search outage causing major issues with search quality and indexing

Microsoft Bing adds 3 new shopping annotations

Microsoft Bing has recently added three notations to its search results pages that show price history, available coupons, and ethical choice ratings.

Price history. Bing shows a graph showing whether a product price has increased, decreased, or is stable. It highlights the high, medium, and low prices. Here’s what it looks like:

This annotation is available in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Australia, and India.

Available coupons. Bing shows searchers directly in the search results when coupons are available for a website. The coupon will automatically be copied and applied to the purchase for shoppers without needing to do a separate search for a code. Here’s what it looks like:

This annotation is now available in the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, and France.

Ethical choice. This annotation indicates whether a brand sells eco-friendly, upcycled, or fair trade fashion. Microsoft Bing recently expanded its Ethical Shopping Hub, which assigns a rating (powered by Good on You) based on a brand’s impact on people, the planet, and animals. 

Official announcement. You can read more on Microsoft Bing’s announcement: Shopping Searches are Now Smarter on Microsoft Bing.

Source: Microsoft Bing adds 3 new shopping annotations

Google’s rule for business profiles states duplicate content is spam

According to an updated document by Google, duplicate content posts published by Google Business Profile are now considered spam.

In its updated content policy on Business Profiles on Google, the search engine giant has cautioned its users to avoid spam.

Among the list of things that users should avoid, Google has added “duplicate posts, photos, videos, and logos.”

A social media user first discovered the newly added rule in the document. They posted about it on their Twitter handle.

“Google just updated their help center article about Google posts to indicate a few more things they consider spam. “Duplicate photos, posts, videos, and logos”, posts Colan Nielsen on their Twitter handle.

It is important to be aware of the new rules. This is because they could potentially affect businesses’ content strategies in the long run.

With the newly added rule about spam and phishing, Google wants to send the message that business profiles should post unique content. If they duplicate content, Google will consider it to be spam.

Posting the same content, posts, photos, videos, texts, or even logos is not allowed from now on.

Even when not trying to spam, if profiles are not careful, they will be considered spam.

Source: Google’s rule for business profiles states duplicate content is spam

Google Search Tests Showing All Of The Menu Bar Options

Google is testing and displaying all of the menu bar options under the Google Search bar. This is instead of showing the “more” button, to see more search options. So you see the options for videos, images, finance, news, etc, all listed out without needing to click “more” to see all the options.

Here is a screenshot of this from Punit on Twitter:

Here is what I see, the normal version:

I mean, why not list it all out if there is room to show it all?

Source: Google Search Tests Showing All Of The Menu Bar Options

Google no longer recommends using dynamic rendering for Google Search

Google has updated the dynamic rendering help documentation to now say Google no longer recommends using dynamic rendering, that this is a workaround and not a long-term solution to your Google Search crawling and indexing problems with JavaScript.

Truth is, Google always said this was a workaround but now with advancements in web and crawling technology, Google is pushing harder for developers, webmasters, and SEOs to avoid using dynamic rendering.

What is dynamic rendering? Google said that dynamic rendering means “switching between client-side rendered and pre-rendered content for specific user agents.” You would be able to serve Google an HTML version of the page while serving the user the JavaScript version if you wanted to. Google said that currently “it’s difficult to process JavaScript and not all search engine crawlers are able to process it successfully or immediately.” The company said it hopes the problem eventually can be fixed, “but in the meantime, we recommend dynamic rendering as a workaround solution to this problem,” so this solution may go away as the AJAX crawling schema went away after no longer being needed.

What changed? Google has updated the dynamic rendering help documentation to add a red warning bar that reads “Dynamic rendering is a workaround and not a long-term solution for problems with JavaScript-generated content in search engines. Instead, we recommend that you use server-side rendering, static rendering, or hydration as a solution.”

Source: Google no longer recommends using dynamic rendering for Google Search

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DuckDuckGo Now Says It Will Block Microsoft Trackers

Google addresses Impression Share and Auction Insights reporting issue

Facebook To End Live Shopping on October 1

DuckDuckGo Now Says It Will Block Microsoft Trackers

DuckDuckGo responds to recent criticism saying the third-party tracking scripts it blocks will now include scripts from Microsoft.

Earlier this year, a security researcher discovered DuckDuckGo’s mobile browser transferring data to Microsoft-owned properties when visiting certain websites.

As a company that promises never to track users, DuckDuckGo found itself in trouble when the security researcher shared his findings online.

The issue stems from DuckDuckGo’s search syndication deal with Microsoft Bing, and CEO Gabriel Weinberg dismissed it, saying “nothing can provide 100% protection.”

Now, Weinberg is on a mission to “raise the standard of trust,” as he announces DuckDuckGo is expanding third-party tracker loading protection.

DuckDuckGo Blocks Microsoft Trackers

DuckDuckGo is expanding the third-party tracking scripts it blocks from loading on websites to include Microsoft trackers.

This update is rolling out over the next week to DuckDuckGo’s mobile browsing apps on iOS and Android and its desktop browser extensions.

Weinberg adds that DuckDuckGo’s tracker loading protection is no longer held back by a policy agreement with Microsoft:

“Previously, we were limited in how we could apply our 3rd-Party Tracker Loading Protection on Microsoft tracking scripts due to a policy requirement related to our use of Bing as a source for our private search results. We’re glad this is no longer the case. We have not had, and do not have, any similar limitation with any other company.”

After the update rolls out next week, one third-party tracker will be allowed to load to help advertisers measure ad clicks.

Source: DuckDuckGo Now Says It Will Block Microsoft Trackers

Bad website design: Bad for SEO, UX and business

I tell my clients two things to frame organic search discussions around content and user experience:

1. Search engines want to provide answers to their users in one click or less.
2. If you design your website with the idea of getting answers to visitors’ questions as efficiently as possible, your site should earn more attention in organic search

Search engines must keep their users happy to retain and/or grow their market share. Therefore, it’s in their best interest to send people to websites that they calculate will give users a good experience. 

Bounce rates increase 32% when download times went from 1 to 3 seconds, according to Google. Also, bounce rates increase dramatically at 3 seconds, while page views also drop off, according to Pingdom.

Both of these stats are a bit old, but there’s no evidence to suggest people are any more patient today.

The challenge I most often run into with brands is that they design their websites in a way that hampers the “one click or less” goal. They incorporate things into their designs like:

• Large autoplay videos (sometimes with sound).
• Large hero images that push informational content far below the fold (add heroes that rotate through a slideshow and the experience is even worse).
• Custom fonts that are not likely to have been installed on the local machines of their visitors.

All of these design elements (and others) detract from user experience, conversion optimization and accessibility standards. 

Examples of bad design and UX

Both of these examples show the filmstrip view of the page load over time on WebPageTest.org, a popular site for testing download times that has been recommended by some Googlers. I simulate a Galaxy S7 smartphone over an LTE connection in both examples.

Charity website

This website has a large autoplay video on its home page that pushes much of the main content below the fold. 

In the tests I ran, nothing appeared in the viewport until 3 seconds into the load. The CTA at the top of the page is visible, but only the logo’s alt text shows. Some text is hard to read because it is light gray; it is intended to display as an overlay on the darker video. 

Well-known brand website

This website has a large hero image pushing content below the fold and a custom font that must be downloaded before anything displays. 

You can see from the example that nothing other than the hamburger menu displays until 4 seconds into the load. 

Here’s a hint: If you have to include some sort of download timer to let people know something is on the way, it’s too big. 

Part of the reason the content takes a long time to display is that the custom font alone takes around 4 seconds to download. No text appears until 6 seconds into the load, and that’s only the cookie notice. 

All told, it takes longer than 10 seconds for this page to completely download. When the page finishes loading, the only thing you can see other than the hero image is the cookie notice.

Why bad UX happens

When I talk with designers and developers about challenges like this, I’m often given the same justifications:

• “Everyone else is designing their websites like this.” This kind of excuse didn’t work when we were kids. Why do some adults think it’s still acceptable?
• “The search engines are unfair in how they judge download times. Our tools tell us everything is OK.” There are many reasons to believe that the search engines are being unfair about evaluating download times. In the end, it really doesn’t matter. If we want to compete, we need to be faster!
• “But … branding!” Yes, branding is important. But is it so important to risk losing potential customers because the website is too slow?

Source: Bad website design: Bad for SEO, UX and business

Apple orders 95 million iPhone 14 units from suppliers

Despite a sluggish market, Apple is reported to be increasing its initial order of 90 million iPhones to 95 million, according to the Taiwan Economic Daily.

The iPhone 14 lineup is expected to consist of four handsets — iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Max, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max — and according to the report, Apple is expecting the top-of-the-line iPhone 14 Pro Max will be its biggest seller.

The iPhone supply and assembly chain is huge, and ramping up production takes time. This 5% increase has to trickle along a variety of manufacturing and assembly countries — including TSMC, Pegatron, Luxshare, Hon Hai, and Largan.

The iPhone 14 is expected to make an appearance in September and is rumored to feature the A16 processor, a new 48-megapixel rear camera, a smaller notch in the display, and an always-on display.

What’s interesting about this upcoming release is that the iPhone 14 will have a very similar hardware specification to the iPhone 13 because Apple is rumored to be planning to reuse components such as the processor, camera, and display. Will rebranding old hardware work for Apple? And if it does, will we see other manufacturers doing the same?

There’s also a suggestion making the rounds that the iPhone 14 will go on sale earlier in September than usual in order to avoid the three-day Labor Day weekend preceding the launch.

Source: Apple orders 95 million iPhone 14 units from suppliers

Google updates Business Profile posts spam policies

Google has updated what it considers to be spam when it comes to Google Business Profile posts in the Business Profile posts content policies. The new line added under the avoid section says “examples of such content that is not allowed includes “duplicate photos, posts, videos, and logos.”

Duplicate. Yes, the new line says that “duplicate photos, posts, videos, and logos” was added as an example of Google posts that would be rejected or removed because it is considered spam. That line was not on the Google document prior and was just recently added.

Screenshot. Here is a screenshot of the addition:

Consequence. What happens if you are caught posting duplicate photos, posts, videos, or logos in your Google Business Profile posts? Well, those posts may be rejected or removed from Google Search and Google Maps.

Joy Hawkins and Colan Nielsen posted this on Friday:

Source: Google updates Business Profile posts spam policies

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Google addresses Impression Share and Auction Insights reporting issue

Facebook To End Live Shopping on October 1

Visualize Information On Twitter With Indiana University’s New Tools

Google addresses Impression Share and Auction Insights reporting issue

Google has just announced an issue regarding Impression Share and Auction Insights reporting data.

What Google says. This has been a known issue since August 3 and Google is working on a resolution. An update will be provided by August 6. Google says the issue has no impact on ad serving or automated bidding strategies.

Advertisers experiencing issues with either of these data reports should keep checking the ads status dashboard for updates.

Source: Google addresses Impression Share and Auction Insights reporting issue

WordPress Gutenberg 13.8 facilitates excellent editing flexibility

Gutenberg 13.8 offers an enhancement in accessibility and design options. The 13.8 version of WordPress Gutenberg is here. It unpacks further enhancements to the GB block editor.

Among all the improvements, some of them are trivial. For instance, including the WhatsApp icon in Social Icon Block is possible.

Besides, other improvements are also there as they are helpful for the designers. The template designers not can offer more options for designs to the users.

The most important feature is that it allows you to see the template parts at ease. From the block inserter, you can insert these parts. This helps the template designers to make it easier for the users to select variations. The designers can leverage patterns and variations to promote flexibility for the users.

The new WordPress Gutenberg version works fine with different classic themes and blocks. The crop tools work great without and with the custom border. The color of the custom border works fine in the editor and the site editor. When it comes to global styles, the image border works out fine.

Variations are available in block inserters. Thus, it is easy to add “Newsletter Subscription”, “Footer”, or “Header” template parts. Another important inclusion is the addition of search functionality. It enables to locate and make use of particular template parts.

The Image segment supports the array of width, style, color, and border controls. The custom border color works niche in the side editor and the editor.

WordPress Gutenberg 13.8 ships with accessibility improvements. You can add tooltips. The experts have fixed the mismatch between the aria-label and visible text. The team has also removed the React fragments from the block library. This contributes to SEO.

Source: WordPress Gutenberg 13.8 facilitates excellent editing flexibility

Google Keyword Planner gets a new feature

Technically the new feature was released in 2021, but only to a small number of users. But now Google is slowly ramping up a tool they label “Organise keywords into ad groups.” This was first brought to our attention on Twitter by Tauqueer Aziz, and confirmed by a Google spokesperson today.

What Google says. Google confirmed the new feature in a statement today:

“You could always manually choose to add keywords to ad groups (manually picking which ones to add where). This feature adds the ability to use an automated machine learning system where we suggest which ad groups are the best ones for the keywords, instead of you manually doing the placement.
This should hopefully save advertisers time and effort if they have thousands of keywords/ad groups to sift through. The ability to manually add keywords still exists.”

This new feature aims to save advertisers time by automatically allocating keywords into relevant ad groups. But just like with most automation, use with caution. Test, analyze, and adjust as necessary.

Source: Google Keyword Planner gets a new feature

July 2022 Google Product Reviews Update Finished On August 2nd & No One Said Anything

So Google has finished the rollout of the July 2022 Google Product Reviews Update in a record-breaking fashion, in a six-day period. It even shocked Google because Google originally estimated 14-21 days for the rollout and Google didn’t even mention anything on its social channels about the update being done rolling out.

Instead, Google simply and quietly updated its updates page to write “the rollout was complete as of August 2, 2022.”

Just a reminder, this July 2022 Product Reviews update was the fourth product reviews update, the previous three versions were the April 2021 Product Reviews Update, the December 2021 Product Reviews Update and the March 2022 Product Reviews Update.

Some savvy SEOs noticed big hits on specific sites on Friday, July 29th, but I would say overall, this update had much less chatter from within the SEO community than all previous product review updates. We then saw some tools light up on August 3rd but clearly, that was not this update because the product reviews update was finished the day before.

Google Product Reviews Update Quick Facts

Here are the most important things that we know right now in short form:

• Name: Google July 2022 Product Reviews Update
• Launched: July 27, 2022, at around 1:30 pm ET
• Finished: August 2, 2022
• Targets: It looks at product review content
• Penalty: It is not a penalty, it promotes or rewards “insightful analysis and original research.”
• Not a core update: Many are going to say this is a core update, it is not.
• English Language but will expand: This is only looking at English-language content right now but likely will expand to other languages, this is a global launch. I am surprised it is still only English but it is, as we documented below.
• Impact: Google would not tell me what percentage of queries or searches were impacted by this update.
• Discover: This update can impact your performance in Google Discover, Google previously said.
• Recover: If you were hit by this, then you will need to look at your content and see if you can do better with Google’s advice below
• Refreshes: Google will do periodic refreshes to this algorithm but may not communicate those updates in the future. This may be the first refresh that Google has done, it is the first refresh Google communicated about.

Google Tracking Tools

The update took only six days, you can see that the tracking tools in aggregate form, did not show much volatility over those 6 days:

Semrush and when you toggle it to just Shopping, things get a bit hotter.

Source: July 2022 Google Product Reviews Update Finished On August 2nd & No One Said Anything

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Facebook To End Live Shopping on October 1

Visualize Information On Twitter With Indiana University’s New Tools

Responsive Search Ads take center stage – are you prepared?

Facebook To End Live Shopping on October 1

Facebook announced it will no longer allow users to host live shopping events beginning October 1, 2022, Meta announced in a blog post.

Citing a shifting preference for short-form videos among consumers as the driving factor, it will instead shift its focus to Reels, Meta’s short-form video product that is available on both Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook launched live shopping in August 2020 with the goal of making online shopping easier and empowering retailers of all types to grow their businesses. It provided an interactive way to sell items and connect with viewers.

The Facebook Live feature will still be available, but ecommerce merchants will not be able to create product playlists or tag products. This means retailers will have to seek out other avenues for selling items on Facebook, which could include purchasing display ads and creating collections.

Live shopping on Instagram will be unaffected.

The Move Highlights Meta’s Increased Focus on Short Videos

In a move to compete with TikTok, Meta has increasingly invested in its Reels product, which allows seamless video sharing across both of the company’s major platforms. 

The video feature, which was initially met with animosity by Instagram users, has witnessed increasing popularity. According to the Integrity Institute, a social internet think tank, short-form videos accounted for 11 of the top 20 posts on Facebook in the fourth quarter of 2021.

This has, in turn, presented opportunities for retailers to use videos to tag products, add calls to action and engage with their target audience.

Source: Facebook To End Live Shopping on October 1

Twitter launches Location Spotlight for all professional accounts

Twitter is now rolling out a new feature called Location Spotlight to all Professional Accounts.  

What is Location Spotlight? Businesses that use this feature can display various types of location and contact information at the top of their Twitter profile. Twitter is also integrating Google Maps to show a map of the business location, which users can click on to get directions.

How it works. Go to Edit Profile > Edit professional profile > Profile Spotlight > Edit. 

You can then add any or all of the following:

• Website URL.
• Address (your street address, city, state and ZIP code)
• Hours
• Email
• Phone 
• Display map (toggle)

While you’re there, you can also select an option that lets people browse your store or subscribe to your newsletter. These options are not new – they have been available with Professional Accounts since last year.

Now available. Anyone with a professional account can add the Location Spotlight starting today, Twitter said. 

Previously known as About Module. Location Spotlight was initially known as the About Module. Twitter invited only a few businesses to test the About Module starting in April 2021. 

Source: Twitter launches Location Spotlight for all professional accounts

YouTube Updates For Creators: New Metrics, Copyrighted Music, More

YouTube’s weekly update for creators includes more subscriber metrics and access to an expanded library of copyrighted music.

Here’s a recap of all announcements from this week’s news flash.

Greater Access To Copyrighted Music

YouTube is expanding partnerships with music labels and publishers to give creators more music options for their videos.

As a result, creators will have the ability to access more copyrighted content while being able to earn revenue on their videos.

Before this update, including copyrighted music would disqualify a video from monetization.

New Metric: Subscribers From Posts

Creators can now see how many subscribers they gain from community posts.

You can see this new metric in the subscription source report in YouTube Analytics.

In the future, YouTube hopes to add per-post subscriber metrics.

More Data About Remixes

If you’ve enabled the option to allow other creators to remix your content, you can now get more information about those remixes in YouTube Analytics.

With this improvement, you’ll see the following metrics:

• Total remix views
• Top 15 remixes on mobile
• Top 15 remixes on desktop

Changes To YouTube Studio Video Editor

YouTube is making changes to the video editor in YouTube Studio. The trim feature is getting an upgrade to make the process of cutting videos more intuitive.

The following updates are rolling out to YouTube Studio on desktop this week:

• A new cut section that allows for fine grain time editing.
• Color-coded and wider edges on the trim and cut feature so they’re easier to grab.
• Easier to access preview and edit features.

Source: YouTube Updates For Creators: New Metrics, Copyrighted Music, More

Google announces 4 new features for Discovery ad users

Google Discovery ad users may see a few new features starting today. Google says these features are aimed at helping keep audiences engaged throughout the upcoming holiday season.

Better ad experiences

Google says that they’re working on making ad experiences more browseable in the Gmail Social and Promotions tabs by including richer details, like product images and prices. They’ll also use machine learning to match the asset to the right audience at the right time.

Improved creative support

The onboarding flow for creating Discovery ads has been rebuilt. During the ad creation, advertisers will see prompts to add additional aspect ratios, unique headlines, and adding text overlays across images. Users will also receive live feedback on ad strength with ratings from “Poor” to “Excellent,” as well as an optimization score with actionable guidance. 

New audience insights

Discovery advertisers can now use the insights page to see which audience segments may deliver the biggest impact. Advertisers can also use asset reporting to view performance across the Discovery ads. Users can compare the performance between assets and decide which ones to turn off, switch, or edit. Advertisers can also use optimized targeting to assess information about keywords and landing pages to find audiences that can meet your campaign goals.

Enhanced campaign management

There is a new audience builder advertisers can use to create and reuse audiences across campaigns. Users can also use the Google Ads Editor as well as API to manage campaigns at scale.

Source: Google announces 4 new features for Discovery ad users

LinkedIn Tests New Human Curated Discover Feed

LinkedIn is testing a different take on a Discover feed — a new mobile app section with content curated by humans rather than algorithms.

Similar to other discovery-based feeds, a dedicated tab in the LinkedIn app will house content published by accounts outside your network.

LinkedIn’s feed differs from others in how the content is selected.

Blake Barnes, VP of Product at LinkedIn, shared a preview of the new feed, saying it’s currently in an early testing period:

“… we’re testing a dedicated space for you to discover relevant content and voices from people and organizations you’re not connected with, who you might not see or hear from otherwise. You can expect to see trending conversations from voices that align with your professional interests, news and relevant events curated by our editorial team, and a wealth of other knowledge designed to help you get ahead in your career.”

As shown in the screenshot above, LinkedIn’s discovery feed isn’t limited to posts. From the top menu, you can browse videos, newsletters, events, and more.

Barnes is actively responding to questions about the discovery feed, one of which asks for more information about the content selection.

He says content is selected by the LinkedIn News team and targeted to users based on their occupation and interests:

“At the initial test we will include content curated by our LinkedIn News team and relevant content based on an individual’s professional identity and possible interests. More to come here.”

In addition to enriching the user experience with a broader variety of content, there’s potential for audience growth that could lead to more professional opportunities.

There are benefits and drawbacks to a human-curated feed, however.

Source: LinkedIn Tests New Human Curated Discover Feed

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Visualize Information On Twitter With Indiana University’s New Tools

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Visualize Information On Twitter With Indiana University’s New Tools

The Observatory on Social Media at Indiana University has released three new Twitter tools that allow users to examine information spread on the app social media more closely.

Those looking to analyze how information moves through Twitter and how topics go viral now have the tools to do just that.

Visualizing Information Spread On Twitter

Created by the Observatory on Social Media or OSoMe at Indiana University, the collection includes three freely available tools that comprehensively examine the conversations, players, messages, and polarization in online discussions around tweets and hashtags.

• Networks Tool – Creates 3D maps of information networks that visualize retweets, mentions, relations between hashtags, and other data.
• Trends Tool – Analyzes tweet volume within a given hashtag, URL, or keyword over time to identify trending topics, viral content, and specific topics like brands, products, or stocks.
• BotAmp Tool – Identify and measure bot activity for a specific keyword or hashtag and compare bot activity across topics.

A Deeper Look At Communication And Inauthentic Behavior Online

OSoMe is a joint project between the Network Science Institute, the Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, and Indiana University’s Media School, specializing in the study of information, misinformation, and vulnerabilities that have risen with social media.

A New Generation Of Tools And Analysis For Brands And Publishers

Journalists, researchers, and users don’t have to find solutions to major social media issues to find the OSoMe tools valuable.

As competition increases, consumer habits change, and the noise level of the online world continues to rise, companies, marketers, and even non-profit organizations have to take deeper looks at the data they already have available.

Personas, for example, were once based on basic demographic information.

Now, deep dives into social networks allow marketers to understand:

• Language patterns
• Pain points
• Customer education opportunities
• Content and branding gaps
• Keyword use and intent
• Target market and segments
• Advertising and marketing gaps
• Profitable partnerships

Source: Visualize Information On Twitter With Indiana University’s New Tools

Tips for how to post effectively on LinkedIn from SEO Sara Taher

Whenever I visit LinkedIn lately, I almost always see an update from Sara Taher, the SEO Team Lead at Flywheel Digital.

And many of her posts tend to get a lot of engagement. Her updates regularly attract hundreds of reactions, comments and shares. 

So what’s her secret to posting effectively on LinkedIn and being so visible? Has she figured out the LinkedIn algorithm?

Taher was kind enough to give a little insight into her LinkedIn posting strategy. What follows are highlights of our Q&A. You may notice that much of the advice Taher shares aligns with LinkedIn’s advice for creators.

Pick your LinkedIn goal(s). Taher’s biggest goal on LinkedIn? To build her personal brand. 

• “My audience is SEO and digital marketers mainly, but I was able to attract some tech-savvy business owners and some marketing managers looking for SEO consultants,” Taher said.

Keys to a successful LinkedIn post. Taher said she doesn’t use a schedule. She writes based on inspiration. Very often, Taher said she gets an idea for a post from something she is actively working on.

So what formula works for Taher?

• “The formula is four things. Provide 1. relatable and 2. actionable information. 3. Be yourself and 4. be real.”
• “SEOs can understand my posts, I make sure it’s easy and simple to understand. They also find it relevant to everyday SEO tasks.”

Is there a “best time” to post on LinkedIn? I know, I know. Posting at mid-morning, midweek guarantees nothing in terms of visibility or engagement for your LinkedIn post. But I was curious if Taher had noticed any days or times that worked generally for her. Here’s what she said:

• “My audience is international with different time zones and even sometimes different weekend days (some countries take Friday and Saturday off as weekend). I just found that posting first thing in the morning my time, and generally posting on Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, would get the most engagement.”

What to avoid. Taher also has some advice on what doesn’t work:

• “Definitely trying to be like someone else. Don’t try to imitate other people’s style,” Taher said.

Taher said she learned a lot by following other SEO experts on LinkedIn and connecting with them. But you can learn from others without copying them. 

Defining success. Success will depend on your goals. So how does Tahker measure “success” for her LinkedIn post? 

• “Success for me is when I get engagement on a post. And when I get positive feedback from followers.”

One final bit of advice. And this is something more people in our space need to hear:

• “Posting and becoming a public figure in the SEO community is a responsibility, as people actually follow your advice. So don’t post anything you are not 100% sure of.”

Source: Tips for how to post effectively on LinkedIn from SEO Sara Taher

Apple Pay may actually be useful for more users soon

Using Apple Pay might actually end up being a pleasant experience for users soon following rumors of a new update to the mobile payments service.

Reports have claimed that Apple Pay will soon work on other browsers aside from the company’s Safari platform, opening up the service to more users everywhere.

The feature was uncovered by MacRumors contributor Steve Moser, who found Apple Pay worked with both Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome in the latest iOS 16 beta 4.

Apple Pay browsers

In a series of tweets, Moser demonstrated how a new “Continue with Apple Pay” option was now appearing on Apple’s checkout page when using Edge and Chrome.

Moser’s work was later added to by another Twitter user who spotted Apple Pay had worked on Firefox before the iOS 16 beta 4 release.

Until now, Apple Pay had only worked in Safari, forcing users to embrace the full Apple software ecosystem regardless of what browser they used on a daily basis.

Moser noted that Apple Pay still isn’t available in macOS, most likely because, due to Apple’s own requirements, Edge, Chrome and Firefox all use the WebKit rendering engine in Safari on iOS.

As the updates were spotted in a beta version of iOS, it’s likely that they will be released at some point – probably after Apple has been able to iron out any kinks.

Source: Apple Pay may actually be useful for more users soon

Google begins testing FLEDGE API on AdSense

FLEDGE is a Privacy Sandbox proposal for remarketing and audiences. It’s designed so that it can’t be used by third parties to track user browsing behavior across websites. Google will begin testing the API on AsSense accounts on August 28. 

What is FLEDGE. The API uses interest groups to enable sites to display ads they believe are relevant to their users. According to Google, when a user visits a website that wants to advertise its products, an interest group owner (such as a DSP working for the site) can ask the user’s browser to add membership for the interest group. The group owner (in this example, the DSP) does this by calling the JavaScript function navigator.joinAdInterestGroup(). If the call is successful, the browser records:

• The name of the interest group: for example, ‘custom-bikes’.
• The owner of the interest group: for example, ‘https://dsp.example’.
• Interest group configuration information to enable the browser to access bidding code, ad code, and real-time data, if the group’s owner is invited to bid in an online ad auction. This information can be updated later by the interest group owner.

Later when a user visits a website that sells ad space, the seller for the website can use FLEGDE to run an ad auction to select the most appropriate ads to display to the users. Bidding is only run for the interest groups the user is a member of, and whose owners have been invited to bid.

AdSense testing. Testing for FLEDGE will begin on August 28 in AdSense. Google does not predict any revenue change or performance impacts “for now.” You can turn off access to FLEDGE on your Chrome browsers by following the instructions here. 

Source: Google begins testing FLEDGE API on AdSense

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Responsive Search Ads take center stage – are you prepared?

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Responsive Search Ads take center stage – are you prepared?

Responsive Search Ads – RSA for short – are not the new kids on the block. RSAs have been a part of the PPC ecosystem for a few years. That being said, RSAs have been a hot topic in 2022. Why all the hubbub about them now?

This summer, the preceding ad type, Expanded Text Ads, is being deprecated. This puts Responsive Search Ads front and center for advertisers as the singular text ad type for search campaigns. Let’s dig in a little bit deeper on RSAs, the change, and how you can maximize your potential with RSAs.

Why RSAs matter

Responsive Search Ads are all about serving the right message at the right time. RSAs are a flexible ad experience that shows more customized content to reach your customers. These ads adapt your text ads to closely match what someone is searching for when they search for it.

Further, RSAs can help to reduce bulky operations and save time. Advertisers provide up to 15 headlines and up to four descriptions. All of these components can create over 40,000 possible ad permutations! Find efficiency in evaluating ads through A/B tests and automatically determine what creative content works best with different queries. 

Expanded Text Ad deprecation

The deprecation of Expanded Text Ads is coming in two waves this summer. The first wave was for Google Ads on June 30^th. The second wave will be Microsoft Advertising. As of August 29^th, advertisers will no longer be able to create new Expanded Text Ads.

On both platforms, previously existing Expanded Text Ads will continue to serve. Note that though you can toggle these ads on and off, you will no longer be able to edit the ads. 

Maximize your potential with RSAs

How can you maximize your potential with RSAs? First and foremost, get started by launching RSAs alongside Expanded Text Ads today if you haven’t already. Here are some additional best practices to consider when working with RSAs:

• Convert top-performing content from your existing Expanded Text Ads into distinct RSA headlines and descriptions.
• Ensure there are at least two to three Responsive Search Ads in all of your ad groups.
• Include top-performing keywords and clear calls to action within your headline and description assets.
• Create at least 11-15 headlines and use a combination of short and long headlines to maximize character count across all devices.

Source: Responsive Search Ads take center stage – are you prepared?

CMS Market Share: Shopify Falls Slightly As Losses & Layoffs Loom

WordPress holds its dominant position in CMS market share and takes a small piece out of Shopify’s pie in July 2022.

Shopify’s 0.1% loss in CMS market share this month was picked up by WordPress, with little movement across the rest of the content management systems (CMS) sphere.

Overall, WordPress is the CMS of choice for 43% of all websites and 64.3% of those that use one.

According to the source of this data, W3Techs.com, 33.1% of websites don’t use a CMS at all – at least, not one they monitor.

Shopify is the second-most preferred CMS solution and was used by 6.2% of websites with a CMS (4.2% of all websites) in July.

As in June, the top five are rounded out by Wix (3.4%), Squarespace (3%), and Joomla (2.5%).

Drupal, Adobe Systems, Google Systems, Bitrix, and Webflow are also among the top 10 CMS solutions for July 2022, although each accounted for less than 2% of the market.

Source: CMS Market Share: Shopify Falls Slightly As Losses & Layoffs Loom

New video explains YouTube Shorts recommendation Algorithm

YouTube released a QnA video explaining its recommendation algorithm for YouTube Shorts. It answered general queries and gave insights into improving visibility through short-form content.

YouTube came out with the video to answer creators’ concerns on some issues. First, it answered whether creators set up a channel for shorts-only content.

The video first explained how the YouTube Shorts algorithm works for channels publishing long and short-form content. Then, it said that channels that mixed long-form and short-form videos were growing faster.

The company discovered this after a thorough analysis. They compared viewership for long video-only channels and long-short video channels. YouTube feels that short-form content will continue to be prominent. They have high viewership compared to long videos.

Second, it explained that short-form content engagement doesn’t impact long video recommendations. It’s because YouTube has different recommendation algorithms for the two.

This follows the idea that people have all sorts of different viewing preferences. Hence it becomes necessary to isolate algorithms from one another. So, for example, short-video engagement on a channel won’t influence recommendations for its long videos.

Source: New video explains YouTube Shorts recommendation Algorithm

WebP by Default Merged Into Core for WordPress 6.1

WebP, an image format developed by Google, which is intended to replace JPEG, PNG, and GIF file formats, will soon be generated by default for new JPEG image uploads in WordPress and used for website content. The main work for this feature was committed to the core for inclusion in the upcoming WordPress 6.1 release.

The initial proposal was revised after significant critical feedback. The most notable changes include automatically generating WebP versions of only core image sizes, keeping secondary (WebP) sub-sizes only if they are smaller than the primary MIME type, and only generating WebP images for image sizes that are intended for use in user-facing front-end content.

Despite a raft of revisions and filters to control or disable WebP uploads, the proposal remained controversial. Contributors continue to report issues after testing. Many still have reservations about whether this should be opt-in or on by default.

Some developers are supportive of the change but prefer for it to be off by default when it is first rolled out, to allow the ecosystem to prepare for the change. The Performance team has a new blog where people can follow updates on their current projects and proposals. Now that the main WebP work has been committed, the next steps will be discussed in future meetings with notes posted to the new Core Performance blog.

Source: WebP by Default Merged Into Core for WordPress 6.1

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Meta Reports First Ever Decline In Ad Revenue

Meta’s latest earnings report reveals the company’s first-ever year-over-year decline in advertising revenue, signaling a downward trend that it expects to continue.

The Q2 2022 earnings report from Meta marks the end of its decade-long streak of ad revenue growth.

We’ll explain why this is significant, what it means for marketers, and what’s next for Meta in light of these figures.

Meta’s Revenue Drop Blamed On Economic Downturn

There are several factors contributing to Facebook’s unprecedented revenue drop.

In an earnings call with investors, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says his company missed targets due to an economic slowdown that’s affecting the whole digital ad market:

“… we seem to have entered an economic downturn that will have a broad impact on the digital advertising business. It’s always hard to predict how deep or how long these cycles will be, but I’d say that the situation seems worse than it did a quarter ago.”

What Are The Numbers?

Meta’s ad revenue dropped one percent in Q2 2022 compared to last year’s period.

Meta brought in $28.82 billion from ads, though it expected to earn $28.94 billion.

Zuckerberg’s Metaverse project, known as the Reality Labs division, is a considerable expense. Work on the project cost Meta $2.8 billion in Q2.

One positive trend to note is Facebook’s daily active users are up three percent. There are now 1.97 billion people logging in every day.

Daily active users across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp are up four percent from last year.

What Does It All Mean?

Meta’s apps aren’t declining in popularity by any means.

The audience is there. The problem is that advertisers have smaller budgets, and they’re not getting the same value from ads as they used to.

To remedy the issue of declining ad revenue, Meta has plans to offer new types of monetization. More specifically, the company is working on ways to make money from Reels.

In response to the Q2 earnings report, Zuckerberg stresses his commitment to building Facebook and Instagram around Reels.

The Reels viewer is one of the only sections of Facebook and Instagram that isn’t fully monetized. So it’s not a revenue driver right now, but it can potentially become one in the future.

Source: Meta Reports First Ever Decline In Ad Revenue

Neeva shares search rating guidelines for technical queries

Neeva has revealed how it instructs human evaluators to rate its search results, specifically for technical queries. 

Like Google (which, coincidentally, updated their quality rater guidelines today), Neeva uses human raters to assess the quality of its search results.

The guidelines break down into three key areas: query understanding, page quality rating and page match rating. 

Query understanding. This is all about figuring out the intent behind the user’s search query. Neeva breaks down the types of queries into the following categories:

• How to: User is searching for instructions to complete a task.
• Error/troubleshooting: Something went wrong, user is searching for a solution.
• Educational/learning: Who/what/where/when/why.
• Product seeking/comparison: User is searching for a new product/tool or comparing products/tools.
• Navigational: User is searching for information on a person or entity.
• Ambiguous: Unclear what the user is searching for.

Page quality rating. Neeva has broken down pages into three levels of quality: low, medium and high. Advertising usage, page age and formatting are critical elements.

Here’s a look at each:

Low quality:

• Dead pages
• Malware pages
• Porn/NSFW pages
• Foreign Language
• Pages behind a paywall
• Clones

Medium quality:

• 3+ ads when scrolling / 1 large banner ad / interstitial or video ads
• Page is 5+ years old
• Page loads slowly
• Format of page makes it difficult to extract information
• Forked github repo
• Pages behind a login or non-dismissable email capture
• Question page with no response

High quality:

• Meet the age criteria
• Meet the ads criteria
• Be well formatted

Page match. Neeva has its raters give a score to the match between the query and a webpage, between 1 (significantly poor) to 10 (vital). Here’s that scale:

1. Significantly Poor Match. Does not load, page is inaccessible.
2. Especially Poor Match. Page is wholly unrelated to the query. Missing key terms.
3. Poor Match. Page may have some query phrases, but not related to the query.
4. Soft Match. Page is related to query, but broad, overly specific, or tangential.
5. On Topic but Incomplete Match. Page is on topic for the query, but not useful in a wide scope, potentially due to incomplete answers or older versions.
6. Non-Dominant Match. Page is related to the query and useful, but not for the dominant intent shown.
7. Satisfactory Match. This page satisfies the query, but may have to look elsewhere to round out the information.
8. Solid Match. This page satisfies the query in a strict sense. There is not much extra, or beyond what is asked for.
9. Wonderful Match. This page satisfies the query in a robust, detailed sense. It anticipates questions/pitfalls that might come up and/or adds appropriate framing to the query.
10. Vital Match. This is a bullseye match. It is not available on all queries. The user has found exactly what they were looking for.

Source: Neeva shares search rating guidelines for technical queries

The new-look Gmail had landed, with one important addition

Google has announced it will begin to push its redesigned Gmail interface to all account holders.

Since the initial rollout earlier this year, the new email interface has been available to a portion of Gmail users on an opt-in basis. But now, the transition will take place automatically for those with Google Chat enabled, and can be triggered via the Settings menu by all other users.

The update delivers refreshed iconography, additional design elements and new color schemes. But most importantly, it brings to the fore the synergies between Gmail and Google’s other productivity and collaboration apps.

The new Gmail

Announced in early February, the new Gmail interface is designed to bring all Google’s communications services into one place, thereby minimizing the need to hop between multiple tabs when collaborating with clients and colleagues.

Under the new system, a panel on the left side of the email client allows users to navigate quickly between Gmail, Chat, Spaces and Meet. Depending on the services available under their respective Google Workspace plans, users can select which of these apps they would like to appear.

The company is also eager to shout about the Material 3 design language that underpins the new interface, which is said to deliver a “fresh look and feel” across the various interlinked applications. The aesthetic is characterized by a soft color palette and rounded edges, in line with the direction Google has taken the Android UI.

All in all, as much as some will want to cling on to the classic Gmail design (which remains an option), the new interface represents an upgrade for most users and the modest changes to core inbox functionality will mean the transition should be relatively pain free.

Source: The new-look Gmail had landed, with one important addition

WordPress Contributors Consider Renaming Full-Site Editing

WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy is proposing contributors rename the terms “full-site editing” and “full-site editor” to something more user friendly. The terms came into use as WordPress moved into the Customization phase and are still used to differentiate the work being done on site editing as opposed to content editing in the block editor.

Haden Chomphosy has identified two issues with using the term “full-site editing:”

• It was already possible to edit every part of a WordPress site using code. The term “full site editing” differentiated between phases of a project, rather than a new capability in the CMS.
• To us, “full site editing” implies the use of blocks, but for new users there’s no reason for them to expect anything else. The term isn’t descriptive of what makes it unique.

Contributors who work in WordPress every day may not be fully aware of how specialized some of these terms are and how little they mean to a newcomer. Haden Chomphosy proposes WordPress adopt a new term that is “immediately meaningful for new users of our software, while also being an easy to reference term for all of us building and supporting the software.”

She opened a conversation today on updating our shared lexicon to use a new term for this aspect of editing and asked for feedback on additional contexts that need to be considered.

Ideas are already pouring in as it’s much easier to name something than to build it. “Site Editor” has been one of the must popular suggestions so far, but participants in the discussion have also suggested “Template Editor” and “Theme Builder,” as well as “Builder” and “Site Builder.”

“Future view, looking back from collaborative editing, what I would want to tell a user: The Editor,” Rob Glidden said. “In the WordPress editor you and your team can edit posts, pages and themes in the same, consistent user interface.”

WP Engine developer advocate Nick Diego suggested it’s too late to unring the bell on full-site editing and that WordPress should stick with the term.

Source: WordPress Contributors Consider Renaming Full-Site Editing

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