Month: January 2019

SEO MARKET UPDATES: DECEMBER 2018

Posted on by Zack Cornick

Join Fusion’s SEO team as they round up last month’s major industry updates.

GOOGLE ADDS RICH RESULTS FOR Q&A PAGES

Announced at the start of December, Google is expanding its rich results with the addition of question & answer pages.

Google's Q&A Rich Results

These rich results will display multiple answers to a question on eligible search results in order to help users find relevant information quicker within Google search results.

In order to appear within the Q&A rich results, site owners will need to implement QAPage Schema within their site, along with Question Schema and Answer Schema. Google has provided examples of how to implement this in JSON-LD format.

Within Google’s content guidelines, they have specified that this schema is not suitable for FAQ pages or pages where there are multiple questions per page. This schema should only be used on pages where the focus of the page is a single question and its answer.

GOOGLE UPDATES LOCAL PACK TO DISPLAY ‘SOLD HERE’ PRODUCTS

Google introduced a new feature within its local map packs which shows whether a searched product is sold in a store displayed within the view. Google will also display if the search product is mentioned within the site.

Google displaying sold here on local listing

This new addition to the Google local map packs will make it much faster for users to decide to visit a certain store or website if they can see that the company stocks the item.

GOOGLE ADDS “RESERVE A TABLE” BUTTONS TO LOCAL LISTINGS

Spotted on some local listings for restaurants, Google is testing new buttons which will allow users to reserve a table or look at available tables the following day directly from Google, rather than needing to visit the restaurant’s website.

Google adds reserve a table button to local listings

After releasing the ability to follow businesses via the Google Maps app in October, the new hotel local pack layout and Google My Business app (discussed in last month’s blog), we can see that Google does not intend to slow down on expanding the functionality of their local business tools.

GOOGLE INTRODUCES NEW STRUCTURED DATA FOR LIVE STREAMS

Introduced at the start of December, Google released a blog post announcing the support of new structured data which will allow users to create schema for live streams.

Google live stream schema example

The Broadcast Event schema allows users to set a broadcast as a live stream by setting the isLiveBroadcast property to true. Users will then have the ability to see if the livestream has already started or is due to start by adding a time and data (ISO 8601 format) inputting this into the StartDate property. Google has provided an example of this schema within a guide.

GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE MIGRATES REPORTS TO NEW SEARCH CONSOLE

Google confirmed via the Google Webmasters Twitter account on 13th December that they have fully migrated the following reports to the new search console:

  • AMP
  • Index Status
  • Manual Actions
  • Mobile Usability
  • Rich Cards
  • Search Analytics

These reports will no longer be available to view via the old Search Console dashboard and users will now be shown a message linking them to the report within the new Search Console dashboard.

GOOGLE ADDS BRUSHING TO CHART INTERACTION FILTERS TO DATA STUDIO

Adding chart interactions to reports can create interactive reports by allowing users to use charts as filters, as discussed in our previous blog post. Google has expanded the functionality of chart interactions to include brushing on time series, line charts and area charts. This will allow users to drag their mouse across an eligible chart and filter surrounding data based on the data selected within the chart.

Within the below example, we can see that the date range of the data is from 1st January – 8th January on the time series chart. Using the brushing filter, we can click and drag our mouse from 3rd January – 5th January in order to filter the report to display data from this date range. Right clicking and hitting ‘reset action’ will reset this filter.

This filter can be used in conjunction with other filters and chart interactions. By clicking on the data within the table or pie chart, we can further filter data to suit our needs.

GOOGLE DATA STUDIO ADDS COMMUNITY CONNECTORS AND VISUALISATIONS

As a new addition to Google Data Studio, Google has added the ability the allow anyone to build their own connections to any internet-accessible data source and create custom data visualisations which can be shared between users within the community.

Community connectors will allow users to develop connectors for sources such as:

  • Platforms for social media, CRM, search, finance, HR, advertising, etc.
  • Public and other open data sets.
  • Private company data.
  • Any data source or service that can be accessed over the internet using Apps Script.

Google has created a guide in order to help developers create their own visualisations and has got the ball rolling by creating their own custom visualisations which anyone can use to visualise their data.

Both of these new features are open source with a condition placed on custom visualisations requiring these to be made public.

Fusion Natural Edge Nominated for Northern Digital Award

Posted on by Craig Broadbent

Prolific North’s Northern Digital Awards 2019 will take place on the 31st January and here at Fusion HQ we’re delighted to have been nominated for ‘Search Agency of the Year’ for the second time.

We’ve also been recognised for our unique SEO software, Natural Edge, which has been nominated for ‘Best Digital Tool or Software’, and we couldn’t be more proud of the recognition that Natural Edge has received.

We thought it might be a good idea to explain a little more about our Natural Edge software and how it is helping give our clients a competitive edge in an increasingly competitive SEO marketplace.

Background

As an SEO team, a key part of our day-to-day activity is keeping our clients ahead of the curve in organic search – and outranking their competitors. If a prospective customer searches for a cycling related keyword, for example, then we’d want our bike retailing client to be among the first to appear, with high visibility in all the right places.

Several years ago, we sought out SEO software that would be able to assist with doing this – for ourselves and our clients.  It needed to be adaptable to algorithmic changes (like the increasing prominence of localised search), flexible from a pricing point-of-view, and offer clear reporting metrics that clients could use to inform the KPIs they set and the ROI of our services.

However, the tools we looked into didn’t meet our clients’ needs. Ranking software would only give you your keyword position without considering how much traffic you would gain, for example. It might only benchmark a small set of competitors, or keywords would be looked at in isolation rather than holistically, missing out on larger insights that can truly drive a strategy forward.

Instead of spending big on little return, we invested in proprietary technology of our own, building a highly adaptable and cost-effective suite that could tailor bespoke solutions for our clients’ needs – giving them the Natural Edge required in order to shine.

What can Natural Edge do?

Natural Edge was nominated for the award on the basis of its versatility and the range of benefits it offers to its users – and our clients. However, here are just some of the highlights:

  • See the bigger picture

It’s easy to become obsessed with individual keywords.

Natural Edge identifies every site ranked on the first page for each relevant keyword in each location, and uses our proprietary algorithm to calculate how much traffic a site will earn from its positions. Natural Edge collates all of this data and presents a league table ordered by the highest traffic drivers, so that results are easy to understand and analyse.

  • Identify true competition

Competitors in search are very different to competitors in daily business life. In fact, the majority of brands are competing with companies they’d be incredibly surprised by.

Natural Edge benchmarks clients against anyone who ranks on the first page for specified keywords in every location they have presence. Finding out who you’re up against has never been clearer.

This provides a range of opportunities for growth, from identifying high priority keywords to target, inspiring new content ideas and analysing competitor backlinks to spot potential partners.

  • Understand what drives competitor visibility

While some sites rank for dozens of long-tail keywords, others rank highly for a couple of high volume phrases.

Natural Edge tells you how competitors have built their market share, allowing you to flesh out your digital strategy with key industry insights.

  • Understand local performance

Natural Edge offers highly localised insights, highlighting the composition of organic search results by identifying the number of localised and map results generated at a keyword level. A client can enter their locations into Natural Edge, thereby identifying generic keywords that create local results, and identify share of voice and individual keyword rankings for each of those locations.

Why we’re so proud to be up for nomination

At Fusion, we’ve been working with award-winning retail clients for over twenty years, delivering exceptional service with demonstrated ROI whilst using best-in-class innovation to create unique solutions to today’s digital problems.

Natural Edge is just one example of how our team’s outside-the-box thinking, and we’re beyond chuffed that our hard work and expertise is being acknowledged by one of the region’s leading authorities in the field.

Greatest of all, however, is the fact that it’s a testament to our team’s quality and ability, as a cutting-edge independent agency producing award-nominated software, and investing in genuinely pioneering solutions to achieve our clients’ goals.

Interested in what our services can do for you? Get in touch with the Fusion team today at hello@fusionunlimited.co.uk or learn more about Fusion Natural Edge here.