Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS
On this week’s episode we look at all the recent updates by Google such as the AMP Project, the removal of side ads, more top ads and Penguin 4.0. We hope you enjoy it.
Transcript:
This week’s topic is about all the changes and updates Google has made in the last few days.
Things have been busy over at the Google offices this week. Some changes have been exciting for SEO and digital marketers and some not so much. We’ve seen the introduction of the AMP project, the removal of side ad’s, more top ads, but we are still awaiting the new penguin 4.0 release.
Perhaps the biggest news to come out of google this week is the introduction of Accelerated Mobile Pages or the AMP project.
So What is the AMP Project?
Amp is a new mobile protocol being introduced by Google that would give consumers “instant” access to articles.
We know that using google on your smartphone is now used more than your desktop and that trend will only continue. Unfortunately browsing on your smartphone is a slow, sluggish and painful endeavor. The problem being that websites have been made for desktop computers and smartphones don’t have the same power to process websites like a computer can. If your page is bloated with tons of Javascript, CSS and other web goodies, it really slows down the mobile experience.
Google wants to change how we surf online. They are always pushing for better speeds and the AMP project is how they are bringing speed to the mobile arena.
Instead of having a mobile version of your website based on the desktop version, Google has completely stripped down their coding and built the AMP project from the ground up. So now your content isn’t mobile compatible, it’s now built for mobile.
By stripping down the code and making it for mobile, content on an AMP page loads instantly. So what does this mean for publishers and consumers? For consumers it means not having to wait for content and a better mobile experience on your website.
What it means for publishers is a happier and more engaged customer. Consumers will more likely share your content across social media. As well Google has put in an AMP carousel in their news section for smartphone users. Meaning AMP ready content will get first cracks for showing up in a Google search.
Implementing AMP is a fairly straight ahead process. Wordpress has a plugin that will quickly make your site AMP compatible.
Just remember, that AMP is for your articles and content, not for the page itself. So if you are not creating articles, AMP is not for you.
Removal of Sidebar Ads for Top Ads
Now the second major shakeup at Google, I’m not as excited about and that’s the removal of the side ad’s. I know. It sounds good at first, but Google is now implementing up to 4 top ad’s above search results.
Dr. Pete over at Moz has done some research since the change and his data has shown that last week less than 5% of total searches had 4 ad blocks above search results. That number quickly rose and a few days later, just over 35% of searches resulted in 4 ad blocks.
A lot of people are panicking over this as it pushes organic search results down. But Google has stated that this change will mostly affect highly commercialized keywords. Search terms like “Insurance” or “Bridesmaid Dresses” will end up with 4 ad spots.
It will be interesting to see if these 4 ads increase or decrease over time. Especially since google is pushing a search experience attitude to webmasters, it will be interesting to see how it plays into their own strategy.
One of the reasons Google removed their sidebar ads is they are not a part of the mobile page and since is Google pushing towards a more mobile friendly environment, it was time for them to go.
It’s a double edged sword for Google. On one hand, they are a business that brings in a lot of money in ad revenue so more ads is good for them, but in order to have those ads they need a good search experience so people continue to use Google.
I’m sure they will crunch through their user data and we will have a better idea of how many or few top ads they run in the future based on how those ads perform this quarter.
Penguin 4.0 Update
Sadly we have not seen the Penguin 4.0 update as of yet. It was rumored for February, but is looking like it will go live sometime in March. Depending on which side of the spam/promotion line you stand on, you are either excited or dreading this update.
Penguin is all about link quality and link spam. The new update will introduce some artificial intelligence to the algorithm that will perform in real time. This means it will now be quicker and easier to disavow links and recover from a penguin penalty, but websites will also be penalized in real time.
Bad news for spammers and black hat SEO, great news for those doing things right and getting frustrated by spam outranking them.
Summary
So to round up, if you publish content, get on AMP right away if you aren’t already. If you are in a highly competitive, commercial market put more time and effort into your PPC marketing and finally, if you are a bit of a spammer or used some grey or black hat SEO tactics in the past, start cleaning up your link profile before Penguin 4.0 goes live.
