Digital Marketing Trending News of the Week with Site Strategics
Another week of digital marketing news awaits with Site Strategics CEO Erin Sparks and Digital Media Director Tom Brodbeck in the latest episode of their award-winning EDGE of the Web podcast. Episode 308 featured special guest special guest JR Oakes, Senior Director of Technical SEO Research at Adapt Partners, who joined in the commentary and analysis on the week’s news:
Google apologizes for rel=next/prev mixup
As reported by Barry Schwartz on Search Engine Land, Google apologizes for rel=next/prev mixup – which feels a little late considering they haven’t used it for search indexing in years. But there are still reasons for web developers to use it even if Google doesn’t.
- Tom Brodbeck: This is a pagination thing that a lot of websites use, whether it’s a multi-page blog post or a multi-page eCommerce listing of product categories.
- JR Oakes: It shows how SEOs have to embrace being wrong a lot. You’ve got search liaisons of Google who don’t even know what’s being used or not being used. It does seem to be a pattern with Google that they ask us to use markup to help them improve, but then don’t tell us when it’s no longer needed. But even though Google isn’t using it, other search engines do, so there are still reasons to use that have nothing to do with Google.
- Erin Sparks: It’s a little frustrating when you try to do the dance, meaning you do what Google tells you to do, and then years later find out it doesn’t even matter to them because they’re not even considering that part of the markup code.
Google brings AMP-powered dynamic emails to Gmail
From Paul Sawers on VentureBeat we learn that Google brings AMP-powered dynamic emails to Gmail, allowing companies to give their emails a more engaging, interactive web-like experience.
- Erin Sparks: Amp was first announced back in 2015 for web publishers and has become an important tool, so having it available for email messages to make them more interactive and dynamic seems like a great move.
- Tom Brodbeck: Without Amp, you get an email about a product and there’s a “buy now” button, but when you press it then you have to wait for your browser to load the site, maybe it’s not mobile friendly and so on. But with amp you can take care of the purchase right within the email without having to leave and visit the website through a browser.
- JR Oakes: As a marketer, this is a very good thing because it makes conversions easier. But as an email user I have reservations. Part of what I like about email is the very fact that it’s static and permanent. You can go back and look at the record. But now you might go back and see that the original content of the email has changed. Then again, if a whole project management conversation can take place in one message whose content changes instead of a long thread of separate messages, that could be helpful.
YouTube Makes up 37% of Mobile Web Traffic Worldwide
On Search Engine Journal, Matt Southern reports that YouTube Makes Up 37% of Mobile Web Traffic Worldwide.
- Tom Brodbeck: What’s interesting here is the other sources: Facebook is only 8.4%, Snapchat is 8.3%, Instagram is 5.7% and Netflix is only 2.4%, so apparently people aren’t watching Netflix content on mobile devices. But it’s a big yes for YouTube.
- JR Oakes: It makes sense when you think about it. There are feature-length movies on YouTube, and it’s a kind of huge repository of content that gets shared all over the Internet through various platforms, embedded videos on websites and so forth. But it helps you understand why ISPs (Internet service providers) complain about Google causing unnecessary burden on their infrastructure without actually paying for anything.
Online shopping overtakes a major part of retail for the first time ever
From Kate Rooney on CNBC, we find out that the total market share of sales done with “non-store” retailers, or online, was higher than general merchandise, including department stores sales, in February. That’s a first!
- JR Oakes: I’m a tactile person, so I like going into a brick-and-mortar store where I can look and touch and hold things. But the convenience factor of online purchasing is undeniable. If anything, it’s surprising it didn’t happen sooner.
- Erin Sparks: I wonder if it’s making us all a bit lazier.
- Tom Brodbeck: I think there still is and will be a place for the smaller local retailers who aren’t online to serve a niche population who wants that experience.
Connect with JR Oakes, Senior Director, Technical SEO Research at Adapt Partners
Twitter: @jroakes (https://twitter.com/jroakes)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jr-oakes-3660546/
GitHub: https://github.com/jroakes
SEO meetup (Raleigh, NC) Twitter: @BEERandSEO (https://twitter.com/BEERandSEO)
Adapt Partners website: https://adaptpartners.com
Adapt Partners Twitter: @AdaptPartners (https://twitter.com/adaptpartners)
Adapt Partners Facebook: @AdaptPartners (https://www.facebook.com/AdaptPartners/)
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