This week Google presents their proposal for assuging EU anti trust authorities.
iOS 11 launched to users with new intelligent tracking prevention.
Members discuss how to get accurate rank tracking data and what to do if you’re a well known brand but do not rank for your core short tail term.
Google May Open Up Ad Space to Competitors
In order to meet compliance requirements of European Commission antitrust findings, Google offered a proposal to open up Google Shopping Ad System to allow rivals to bid against Google.
Webmaster World members questioned if this action was sufficient.
Glakes commented that, “I can’t help but to think that despite the offering, its overall value will be limited. One of the key benefits of advertising outside of Google are lower costs and a higher ROI. Allowing competition to come in to bid in bulk may be a ploy to inflate an already high CPC when such competitors would have to outbid Google to participate.”
isellstuff who owns a shopping comparison site noted their doubts regarding possible profit margins , “I own a price comparison website in the United States that has a bit of traffic. Google has been offering price comparison websites access to shopping ads for years. This is not a viable option for us due to slim profit margins. The problem being that Google controls the keywords with their shopping ads program. We can use negative keywords, but we can not bid on keywords.
This is a safe offer for Google. They know price comparison websites can not turn a profit via shopping ads. So they are essentially offering smoke and mirrors. They need to offer price comparison websites equal display time via text ads instead of hiding most, if not all text ads and only displaying the shopping ads when highly profitable keywords are used.“
Apple blocking ads that follow users around web is ‘sabotage’ – “Intelligent tracking prevention” is here.
The latest version of Apples Operating System, iOS11, which became available to users September 19 has a new feature, “intelligent tracking prevention”, that prevents ads that retarget.
Webmasterworld members were split on if this was a good and responsible action on Apples part or not. Members who did not agree with the action cited that relevant ads are more relevant for users and better for advertisers, since they’re less susceptible to banner blindness. These members also pointed out that there is an opt out option but did state that it is not intuitive and has to be repeated for every device.
Members who supported Apples move agreed with if for a variety of reasons. Some members referenced precidence with print; ergophobe stated, “where was it written that the manufacturers of the hardware that runs the internet have an obligation to make every user trackable? This was never the case with radio, TV, or print ads. Suddenly, the ad industry thinks it’s a God-given right on the internet? I’m sorry, but no.”. Ergophone added, ”
In my opinion, the ad industry broke the social contract at some point and now they are trying to glue it back together with things like the IABs LEAN campaign and such, but for me and many others, it’s just too late.”
Other memebers drew the comparision to how email clients developed methods to better control of email spam, after advertisers began to abuse of email marketing.
Accurate Keyword Position Analyzer
A Webmaster World member who purchased a number of paid rank trackers is finding that many of them do not show the correct position. Other members state that for a variety of reasons, it is not possible to get fully accurate position data and that any insights provided are in aggregate and directional.
NickMNS comments, “There is no tool that can give you accurate picture, because there is no one keyword position (To be clear keyword position == position of you website in serp when a specific keyword is searched). Personalization, time of day, year, month, location, browsing history, and many more factors all influence what sites are returned for any given search. As such it is simply impossible for any tool to provide an accurate response.
Your best bet is to use search analytics in Google Search Console, it should provide an accurate result. But the result will be an “average” view of the results and for low traffic keywords it may not be representative.“
Google moves to restrict ads for addiction queries
This week it was announced that google will limit ads for addition related queries, including:
“drug detox”
“drug rehabilitation”
“drug treatment program”
While Google takest steps to identify ways to improve how they combat false ads, they will be showing a local pack at the top of search results in the meantime. One question around this issue is if this change will result in a shift of adspend in this sector from SEM to SEO while google figures out new advertising guidelines for addiction?
One Site Or 19?
A consultant is working with a client that has 19 websites targeting specific locations, which have mostly duplicate content. In addition to getting the websites on SSL, Crea8asiteforum members recommend consolidating the sites to either subdomains or create branch pages on subdirectories. Additionally, members suggest using location and branch of schema to help boost SERP appearance.
Authoritative website & famous product can’t get onto SERP for product category
Over on SEOchat, a member asks why their well known brand is not ranking for key phrases even though they are a top three brand in their niche. One item that was considered is if there is a user intent issue with this phrase in US English and another item considered was on page optimization for the phrase on the homepage.