As we prepare to say hello to September and goodbye to August, it’s scary to think that we’re three-quarters of the way through 2017… *internally screams*. We know we say this every month, but August has been amazing! We’ve welcomed two new Rice Ninjas to the team (hello Jennifer and Chris!) and we’ve been nominated and shortlisted for a few Birmingham Awards, no big deal… *screams in excitement*. Feel free to vote for us here!
What else has made August so great? AC/DC’s Brian Johnson performing with Muse at Reading was an amazing surprise, and we’re still getting used to Noel Feilding on Channel 4’s version of The Great British Bake Off. The office went into a state of mourning when Game of Thrones ended, and we were also amazed at just how hard the West Midland’s paramedics and 999 staff work in the second series of BBC’s Ambulance. August has been an incredible month for life in general, and the world of PPC, digital PR, SEO, social media and digital marketing. So, put the kettle on, get your feet up and have a peruse through these 10 great things that happened this August.
1. Google Removed URLs on the Mobile SERPs Page for Android
At the beginning of August, The Next Web reported a change in Google’s mobile SERPs for Android. According to Napier Lopez, Google’s SERPs for Android didn’t include URLs like they used to. In this case, they only displayed the page’s title, a thumbnail of a featured image from the site, and a blurb. You can find out more about it here.
2. We looked at how you can appear in Google’s Answer Boxes
Research has shown that a Google Instant Answer Box receives 32.3% of all clicks on page one. Google Answer Boxes are a pretty competitive feature, and every business wants to get them. Our very own Laura Hogan looked at how you can score a Google Answer Box and the structure of them. Get the learns here.
3. A Round-Up of Facebook’s New Features Happened
It’s no secret that Facebook slowly introduces new features and rolls them out to users, so it can be a challenge to keep up with it all. Facebook has become a sphere of apps, a messenger system, all strong enough to compete with the likes of Google Hangouts and much more. Make Use Of gave six of the best ones, with a break down of what each one does. You can check it all out here.
4. Google will start to ask people if they are depressed
In a bid to support users with mental illness, Google will be prompted give users a questionnaire in order to assess if they are suffering from the illness. Google has paired with the US National Alliance on Mental Illness (Nami) in order to roll out this project which is currently only for US users. We’re intrigued to find out how successful this will be in terms of helping users seek mental health help, and wonder when it will roll out to the rest of the world. Check it out here.
5. Google gave local inventory a new look in Google AdWord’s Knowledge Panel
Last month Google’s AdWords had a shiny new facelift, and this month it’s added a whole lot more to the party. G-Squared’s Glenn Gabe discovered this new update, which is available on both mobile and desktop. Users are now able to swipe through a carousel of product listings, revolutionising the way users shop. Find out more here.
6. We looked at how to turn your content pages into lead generators
Every content marketer knows that there’s no one bigger than Google – after all, it’s the world’s primary search engine. Getting high-quality content to rank on Google is one hurdle, and making sure visitors complete goals and actually convert is another. So, we put together a guide on how to you can turn your content pages into lead generators and discussed lead generation landing page best practices. You can find out all you need to know here.
7. Walmart signed an ecommerce deal with Google, in a bid to defeat Amazon
Walmart, one of the world’s largest retailers announced that it is going to team up with Google, the world’s largest search engine. Walmart declared they would make thousands of products available through Google Express. What makes this deal so important is the fact that Google Express is integrated with Google Home – this means Walmart has the ability to compete with the likes of Amazon’s Alexa for voice search based shopping. We’re curious to know just how this will affect the voice search based shopping… Check it out here.
8. Google Image Search for mobile now includes relevant badges on the thumbnails
In a bid to help users find exactly what they want when searching on Google Images, Google will now be including the relevant badges on the thumbnails. At the moment, there are badges for recipes, videos, products, and animated images (GIFs) – the Webmasters blog states that should your site have images, you can help users identify the type of content associated with the image via the appropriate structured data on your pages. Find out how to do this here.
9. Instagram has added stories to its website
250 million people check Instagram stories in the app every day, and now users can check stories on Instagram’s website as well as in the app. However, the stories on Instagram’s website will not insert ads within the online version. You can find out more about it here.
10. More than 50% of digital media time now spent within five mobile apps
According to comScore, users spend 50% of their digital media time via mobile apps – 90% of each users time is spent in the top five apps. The study had shown some really interesting points – especially when it comes to how usability changes for each generation. Check out the study here.
