Keeping up with all the latest digital marketing headlines is easier with the bonus news roundup segment in each episode of the EDGE. The latest features host Erin Sparks and Creative Studio Producer Jacob Mann along with special guest SEO consultant Marco Bonomo. Here’s the bonus news roundup from Episode 360 of the award-winning EDGE of the Web podcast:
Google Ads Now Issuing COVID-19 Credit
From Barry Schwartz on Search Engine Roundtable we learn that Google Ads Now Issuing COVID-19 Credits. Google told us the company would be giving out credits to Google Ads advertisers for COVID-19. This is to help businesses face the challenges of the economic downturn over this pandemic. The ad credit is automatically applied to your promotions tab in your Google Ad account and is valid until December 31, 2020
- Erin Sparks: In terms of how much you get in credits depends on your average monthly spend, and you have to have been advertising regularly in both 2019 and 2020. Here at our agency, Site Strategics, we’re seeing clients getting on average $300-$500 in credits appearing in their accounts. It’s really fantastic to see Google making this happen, and they’re going to be distributing something like $300 million dollars in ad credits.
- Marco Bonomo: Yes, this a very good thing, especially for the smaller and medium-sized businesses who have been hit hardest by the pandemic.
- Erin Sparks: We certainly applaud Google’s efforts, and Facebook as well if they ever come out with something similar, which was something mentioned several months back, though nothing recent from them indicating what’s going to happen or when.
Walmart partners with Shopify to expand the third-party marketplace and compete with Amazon
According to Tom DiScipio on IMPACT, Walmart partners with Shopify to expand third-party marketplace and compete with Amazon. On June 15, Walmart announced a partnership with Shopify that will allow Shopfiy sellers to integrate their online stores with Walmart.com’s marketplace.Before the end of this year, Walmart expects to add around 1,200 Shopify sellers to its platform in an effort to offer its customers a broader range of products. This move is aimed squarely at gaining market share against Amazon’s massive reseller network.
- Erin Sparks: Keep in mind when the pandemic hit, Amazon restricted a lot of its online ordering and delivery to essential products only, so Walmart clearly saw an opportunity to go on the offensive and make a play at gaining market share.
- Marco Bonomo: Shopify has been growing a lot of late, and Walmart is already a giant, so this seems like the right partnership to take on Amazon. And it’s never too late to make a go of taking on Amazon.
- Erin Sparks: For many Shopify sellers, the idea that there could be a path forward to them getting into the Walmart marketplace platform is a dream come true and something that wouldn’t have otherwise probably ever happened for them.
Top SEOs on Google’s Page Experience update and what you need to know
On Search Engine Land, George Nguyen covers Top SEOs on Google’s Page Experience update and what you need to know. During our Page Experience session of Live with Search Engine Land, Barry Schwartz, news editor for Search Engine Land, moderated a discussion with Aja Frost, head of content SEO at HubSpot, Marty Weintraub, founder of Aimclear, and Michael King, managing director of iPullRank, to share their takes on the new algorithm, its implications, considerations for whether to continue using AMP and how to communicate the update with clients.
- Erin Sparks: A few weeks ago Google unveiled a whole new set of metrics for use within Google Search Console related to various aspects of users’ page experience. There’s a lot of talk about how SEO agencies can leverage this to benefit their clients. Google obviously wants users to have great page experiences, and these metrics will help encourage publishers and SEOs to improve page experience through what Google calls “core web vitals.”
- Marco Bonomo: The kinds of things being focused on are nothing new. We’ve known those things are important for improving user page experience, but now they’re going to be more officially incorporated into Google Search Console so publishers are incentivized to get their pages in line with the guidelines.
- Erin Sparks: Google has put a ton of effort into refining how they measure the user page experience, and this is how they’re going to apply what they’ve learned. Many of the SEO experts in this piece are on the same page about the fact that these are things we should be optimizing even without Google pushing us to do it because the do make for a better page experience. And then there’s the question of where AMP fits into all this.
- Marco Bonomo: The AMP question is interesting. If you’re a big eCommerce site, AMP is great for leveraging a much better user experience, but it is also a significant investment to make the most of it. It’s expensive to do it right! It’s like a sports car—it has to be handled properly.
- Erin Sparks: Yes, and if you don’t handle it right you can skid right into the wall. AMP has been a point of contention for many. But it’s now time for the UX department to be brought into the loop to align the user’s page experience with Google’s guidelines.
Connect with Marco Bonomo
Twitter: @MarcoBonomoSEO (https://twitter.com/marcobonomoseo)
Website: https://marcobonomo.co.uk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marco-bonomo-48b68ba0
October 2020 BrightonSEO presentation: Five Reasons to Love Fuzzy Lookup
Digital Marketing World Forum, May 2021: How Google for Jobs Changed Recruitment Forever
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