Every time we produce an episode of the EDGE podcast, we take the time to let our guest weigh in on some of the latest digital marketing news headlines. The latest features host Erin Sparks and Creative Studio Producer Jacob Mann along with special guest Paul Shapiro, Global Director of Technical SEO for Condé Nast. Here’s the news roundup from Episode 370 of the award-winning EDGE of the Web podcast:
Facebook Announces New Advances in VR and AR, Including AR Glasses Coming Next Year
From Andrew Hutchinson on Social Media Today we learn that Facebook Announces New Advances in VR and AR, Including AR Glasses Coming Next Year. Facebook provided some major updates people will want to know about related to VR and AR during its Facebook Connect AR/VR showcase event.
- Erin Sparks: The Project Aria glasses will bring users a 3D layer of relevant information right overtop the physical world you’re looking at through them. The prototypes of the glasses will be used for data gathering and training of the system. There are echoes here of Google Glass, which never really launched. It kind of feels like these glasses are a way of spying on people…
- Paul Shapiro: Yes, a cynical approach would say these glasses will just be another advertising platform and another channel for collecting advertising data.
- Erin Sparks: Like the googles in Ready Player One where 75% of the overlay was advertising, but of course without impeding performance.
- Paul Shapiro: I’m a nerd at heart so I’m all-in, but they do look way uglier than Google Glass. I had friends who were in the beta group for Google Glass (which was never released publicly) and the problem with those was that functionality simply wasn’t robust. They didn’t really do anything. I can see Facebook making sure there’s better functionality than what Google Glass had. But will it be useful?
- Erin Sparks: Facebook is also going to launch Oculus Quest 2 for gaming with significant upgrades from the previous version. Try watching a movie like Jurassic Park with Oculus. It’s really pretty incredible. Facebook seems to really be investing a lot in VR/AR efforts.
- Paul Shapiro: The applications are mostly around video games so far. We have yet to see what these technologies can really do. Imagine Second Life as a virtual reality. That could be awesome.
- Erin Sparks: They’re also trying to leverage the technology for work in non-office environments—infinite office—to facilitate and enhance remote collaboration.
Google: Don’t Expect Same Rankings After Manual Action Recovery
According to Matt Southern on Search Engine Journal, Google Says Don’t Expect Same Rankings After Manual Action Recovery. Google’s John Mueller advises site owners to adjust their rankings expectations after recovering from a manual action penalty.
- Paul Shapiro: I haven’t had the misfortune of clients getting slapped with manual actions and penalties, but it seems lame on Google’s part to do a manual action and then continue the punishment even further. Recovery should include some restoration, not more punishment.
- Erin Sparks: Mueller was basically saying if the things you had to correct because of a manual action played an important part in the ranking you were achieving, then obviously you’re not going to just immediately bounce back from that. After all, you didn’t really deserve that previous ranking because of whatever generated the manual action.
- Paul Shapiro: And if you fix that and start doing better, then you should be able to recover.
- Erin Spark: Yes, give a little hope, right?
Google Confirms Search Console Reporting is Delayed
On Search Engine Journal, Matt Southern reported that Google Confirms Search Console Reporting is Delayed. Google notified site owners that it’s experiencing “longer than usual” delays in Search Console reporting.
- Erin Sparks: How often are you in Google Search Console?
- Paul Shapiro: All the time! I look at that data every single day. And this is not the first time we’ve seen delays. It feels like it happens fairly frequently.
- Erin Sparks: The delays were much worse at the beginning of the year for GSC data, so they’ve actually stepped up their game. It’s gone from days to hours, which is great. But we also need it to be consistent.
- Paul Shapiro: And you don’t always need the freshest data. If you’re doing keyword research you need to look at data over time to see what patterns emerge, not just the most recent data. There are lots of things that should be driven at least in part by historical data.
- Erin Sparks: It would be nice if they put as much effort into GSC as they have for Google Analytics.
Connect with Paul Shapiro
Twitter: @fighto (https://twitter.com/fighto)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulnshapiro
Paul’s Technical SEO Blog: https://searchwilderness.com
Paul’s Boardgame Site: https://boardgamesquad.com
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