Why Online Reviews are Essential for Insurance Agents (and How to Get More)

In our new digital world, the research is clear, online reviews have become essential for today's insurance agent. More and more clients begin their search for insurance products online. In a hyper-competitive market, even those who are referred by current customers are likely to check out your online reputation before even committing to a conversation.

What do consumers see when they look for you online? Are they viewing multiple, current, five-star reviews with helpful comments? If not, keep reading.

It's perhaps maybe not that long ago that using an insurance web site was considered to be a cost of doing business, however, perhaps not fundamentally a means to create leads.

Today though, with the new generation of consumers and even a huge block of "traditional" consumers who consider themselves to be "with the times" in terms of doing business online, you must have an active, current, web presence that doesn't just sit there, it must add value. Brochure websites are really a thing of the past.

• Google brings AI-powered ad suggestions to AdWords campaigns. The new campaigns will get optimization suggestion from Google’s AI.  
• Google is testing phrase free AdWords Campaign. 
• Automated PPC bidding is not ideal in all the situations. Here’s a comprehensive article that explains in great detail that when you should not use automated bidding. 
• Google has recently launched a new tool “reach planner” that helps you spend your marketing budget wisely. 
• Don’t want Google to run ads automatically? Here’s how you can opt out of AdWords Ad suggestions.
• Bing has recently launched 4 new features within their Bing shopping campaigns interface. 
• The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is new privacy regulations that are going into place officially on May 25th, 2018. IN response to this rule, Google is making big changes, especially within Youtube Ads. Find out. 
• Bing Ads has launched New Price extensions. According to bing, this will help advertisers show the right product at the right time. 
• Google has launched TrueView that helps advertisers to promote their products/service more effectively. The bumper ads which are 6 seconds long are the first to be introduced.
   

Google is struggling hard to keep the reviews trustworthy. They are trying to weed out fake reviews and bring genuine reviews, but they have a long journey ahead.

As reported in Google My Business forums, recently, a Kentucky law firm allegedly ran a contest on Facebook, offering people zoo tickets in exchange for positive reviews. 

This didn’t go down well with other law firms and businesses and they reported the incident to Google. As a result, Google updated their reviews guideline from: 

“Don't offer or accept money, products, or services to write reviews for a business or to write negative reviews about a competitor.”

to this:

“In addition to Prohibited Content guidelines, text reviews are subject to the following additional requirements:
•    Don't use reviews for advertising purposes. This includes, but is not limited to, posting email addresses, phone numbers, social media links or links to other websites in your reviews.
•    Don't include promotional or commercial content.
•    Don't offer or accept money in exchange for reviews.
•    Don't solicit reviews from customers in bulk.”

Reviews are important and it is almost as effective as a personal recommendation, but be careful how you collect it.

To help you get more reviews for your business, we highly recommend our review widget. It’s a small piece of code which is placed on your website and helps you get positive reviews on Google, Yelp and Facebook. In addition, it helps to filter out negative reviews too thus ensuring positive experience to website users. Need more details? Please connect with us.
 

Google has announced new features to the Google My Business API, a brand new GMB agency dashboard & also launched a partner program. 

Google My Business API Version 4.1 Features

• Customer Provided Media: You can now retrieve and view insights for user generated photos and video for locations you own & manage.
• Admin Management APIs: You can now list, accept, & decline account and location related invitations for your account.
• Merchant Provided Description: Describe your business in your own voice and share with users the unique story of your business & offerings.
• Opening Date: Provide the date that your location opened for business.
• Offer Type Posts: A new type of Post on Google, helping users find deals available at your locations.

Agency Dashboard
The new agency dashboard is designed for those who manage multiple businesses and gives these folks:

• Single Organization Accounts on Google My Business to manage all locations and no longer limited to 100 locations.
• User Groups to manage internal teams and control access to locations.
• Improved search functionality enabling users to efficiently search for locations within an account and across location groups.
• Easier workflows to send and receive invitations to manage listings.

Partner Program
Trusted partners will be eligible for early access to new Google My Business features, a partner manager, and the potential to be featured on the Google My Business website. You can sign up for notification of this program here.
 

Google has started rolling out the mobile first index. Google has already moved a limited number of sites to mobile first indexing, but this time it’s on a much larger scale. Apart from sending messages on the search console, they are sending emails to the site owners informing them about the shift.

Here’s how the Email looks: 

Mobile-first indexing enabled for "your domain name"

To owner of "your domain name" 

This means that you may see more traffic in your logs from Googlebot Smartphone. You may also see that snippets in Google Search results are now generated from the mobile version of your content.

Background: Mobile-first indexing means that Googlebot will now use the mobile version of your site for indexing and ranking, to better help our (primarily mobile) users find what they’re looking for. Google’s crawling, indexing, and ranking systems have historically used the desktop version of your site’s content, which can cause issues for mobile searchers when the desktop version differs from the mobile version. Our analysis indicates that the mobile and desktop versions of your site are comparable.
 

The real take away with this is that you'll be able to quickly know if your site has been moved or not. No more checking logs or guess work.
 

A recent study shows that more review stars translate into higher paid search conversation rates. Businesses with an average of 3.31 stars managed to get 10.42 percent conversion rate, whereas, businesses that had 4.5+ stars achieved a remarkable 12.83 percent conversion rate.

The study also revealed that the response rate also affected the paid search performance. Business with highest response rate saw an average conversion rate of 13.86 percent. While the those with the lowest response rate had to settle down for 10.42. 

Engaging with customers & responding to their reviews is directly related to improved conversion rate as it builds trust among other users. 

So reviews not only help you improve the local search rankings, but also paid search ranking, and conversion rates as well.

So if you are not focusing n reviews, now is the time to do so.

To help you get more reviews for your business, we highly recommend our review widget. It’s a small piece of code which is placed on your website and helps you get positive reviews on Google, Yelp and Facebook. In addition, it helps to filter out negative reviews too thus ensuring positive experience to website users. Need more details? Please connect with us.
 

You can now add description of your business directly within the Google My Business. It’s not a new feature though. Google removed this feature back in 2016 when they dropped the Google+ support. And now made it available again. This feature offers a hassle free way to keep the information about your business updated and ultimately help the searchers.

Here’s how you can add business description:

1. Login to Google My Business.
2. Click on the info button on the menu bar.
3. Click on the add business description
4. Click on the pencil icon and add info.

The character limit is 750, out of which only 250 characters will be visible in the knowledge panel. So make it crisp and engaging. You can use the copy from your best-performing AdWords ad as inspiration.

There are many factors that influence a sites ranking on voice search results. To figure out which factor is most important, Backlinko conducted an extensive analysis.

Here are the findings: 

1. Page speed is crucial. Most of the results were from fast loading pages.
2. Domain authority is of absolute importance.
3. Content that ranks well on the desktop also ranks well on voice search. 
4. Surprisingly, Schema is not that important factor as only 36% of sites that ranked well on voice search results were using schema. 
5. 41% of Voice search results came from featured snippets. 
6. HTTPS is an absolute must.

This research debunked the myth that Schema is of absolute importance. And also made it clear that page speed is CRUCIAL. All the results that listed well on voice search were almost 2 times faster than traditional pages.

Google’s reliance on domains with high authority for providing voice search results comes from the tendency that they “may” provide higher accuracy as compared to domain’s with less authority. But it is possible that they will come up with a more sophisticated approach for the same in near future. 

The research also shed some light on the importance of long-form content. People speak more words that they type, so it's natural that pages that use comprehensive content will reign supreme in this area. 

However, you don’t have to specifically optimize your site’s content for voice search, writing in-depth content will suffice the need. 

On a side note, the virtual assistants are on the rise. So the marketers who are willing to offer their clients with latest digital marketing should take these platform seriously.
 

From past few years, Google is consistently pushing the website owners to improve their mobile site experience. They have launched multiple algorithms, guidelines, and tools for the same purpose. 

Recently, at Mobile World Congress, they launched two new tools, a new Mobile Scorecard and a Conversion Impact Calculator. 

The mobile scorecard provides data on the chrome user experience so that you can compare the speed of multiple websites on mobile devices.  

The mobile scorecard pulls data from chrome to compare the speed of multiple sites on mobile. That’s the same data that Google uses in the Page Speed Insights tool. 

Google said that a site should load within 5 seconds on 3g connections and 3 seconds on 4G connection.

The impact calculator gives a rough idea of how much revenue a business is losing because of slow page load speed. It might seem a bit exaggerated but still useful.

And if you are in need of mobile website design or redesign services, please don’t hesitate to connect with us.

• Google has finally released the new keyword planning tool in AdWords. However, you have to wait just a little more to try it yourself.
• What Startups Can Learn from ‘Tax Relief’ PPC Campaigns.
• Bing recently rolled out a fix to Intelligent Tracking Preventions (ITP).
• Delayed growth of close variants following google changes now becoming clear.
• Bing Ads’ new Audience Segmentation feature makes list performance comparisons easy.
• Google provided the users with the ability to “Opt-out” from the re-marketing campaigns.
• 10X Your A/B Testing with AdWords Ad Variations.
• Here are some excellent strategies for E-commerce campaigns.
• 5 critical factors for optimizing luxury E-commerce sites.
• Everything you need to know about Facebook live ads.
• A guide to Snapchat ads manager.
   

Google has rolled out the beta version of the new and improved search console and SEO’s are more than happy, to say the least. The most promising new feature is the access to 16-month-old historical data. It enables year over year comparison which is great from every aspect.

Google has built the new search console from the scratch and not all features are available yet. They are still working on it, and they will keep on adding useful features from the old search console to the new. So as of now,  most of the tools you will click on will have a coming soon message.

However, you do have access to the performance tool which is easy to understand with filtering options like: By device, country, impressions, CTR and more.

The Index coverage report is the perfect blend of old index status & crawl reports errors. It enables you to see how well Google is indexing your site as well to identify and fix any issues.

The new search console will also help you validate newly fixed AMP URLs. The updated AMP status report will provide details into the specific Errors. 

As of now, the above-mentioned tools and features are the biggest highlights of the new search console. But it’s still in the beta mode and many tools and features are yet to come, so stay tuned. 
We will keep you updated on new features as and when they go live.

•    The Dynamic search ads allow you to target the entire website or domain name so that you can target a broad audience. However, Google has made some significant changes to it and the changes will go live soon. To know exactly how it will affect you, click.

•    Google allowed the advertiser to spend as much as twice the daily budget simply to get more money from their pocket. But how advertisers are responding to it and does it really changed anything within AdWords … find out.

•    Google and Facebook get biggest slice of advertising cake. A recent study revealed that 1/4 (61%) of the global advertising spend goes to Google and Facebook. However, the number may drop soon as people are starting to allocate their ad budget to different platforms. 

•    Google officially removed the Adwords Review extension and all the performance data will be deleted by Feb 2018.

•    Last year we saw shocking reports that YouTube ads were running alongside some inappropriate videos. It scared the advertiser because it would cause more harm than good. Addressing the issue, YouTube has now made it mandatory for the YouTubers to have at least 1000 subscribers and 4000h watch time if they want to monetize their content.

•    Re-marketing is one of the best marketing weapons in your arsenal. Here’s a great tutorial on how to utilize it to the fullest.

•    What is Doubleclick adoptive re-marketing and how does it work. Find out.

•    Manually selecting placements to run display ads may seem like a good option, but it is not the right solution to click frauds. Also, it makes you miss the flexibility of automated placements.

•    Re-marketing is good but only if done in a balanced manner. Many advertisers overdo it and as a result, annoy the users. Although Google can’t tell advertisers to stop targeting a particular user, they may give the power to the users to block re-marketing ads coming from a specific advertiser.
 

Google was testing a new video feature in early January that allowed business owners and customers to add videos, related to the business. Allyson Wright from Google My Business advertiser community announced that they have fully rolled out the video feature and now all the business owners can add videos to their listing. These videos will be visible on Google Maps and local search results.

Some important points to consider:

•    Videos up to 30 seconds in length are supported. 
•    Videos will appear in the overview tab of the GMB Dashboard. 
•    Customer uploaded videos can be found in the customer tab. 
•    Merchant uploaded videos can be found in the by owner tab. 
•    All videos can be viewed together in the videos tab. 
•    After upload it could take up to 24 hours for the videos to appear. 
•    Once live, they will display where local photos do. 

The process to add videos is same as photos. Go to your GMB dashboard, click photos on the left and instead of adding photos, add the link to the videos.
 

It’s 2018 and if your web page takes more than 10 seconds to load, then you are far behind! Nobody likes to wait for minutes just for your page to load — they will simply hit the back button. According to a study, 53% of the users will abandon the site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load! So it came as no surprise when Google announced that site speed will be a ranking factor within the mobile search results from July 2018. 

However, Google assured that only a small percentage of the sites will be affected by it since the majority of the site loads faster than 10 seconds. Also, there will be exceptions to websites which provide relevant and high-quality content to users. Those websites can still rank well in the search engine result pages because the intent of the search query is still a strong factor.

If you are not sure about your site’s speed, you can use the Google’s “Test My Site” tool. This tool uses a standard 3G connection to replicate what most people are using to surf the web using mobiles. It not only tells you about your site speed but also gives suggestions on how you can improve.
 

What About AMP?

Google's announcement stated that it "applies the same standard to all pages, regardless of the technology used to build the page”, which means AMP gets no special advantage except that by its very nature it will pass all of these speed standards with flying colors. However, that doesn't mean that you get an automatic pass if you're using AMP because you need to be sure that everything is set up properly. If you need any help with mobile optimization, we can assist. Just reach out to us and we will be able assist you further.

Google started rolling out Questions and Answers (Q&A) feature for local search in the
beginning of August. As with all the testing, it was initially available, exclusively for
Android users via the Google Maps App, but eventually, they made it available to
everyone searching from a mobile device using either Safari or Chrome browsers.

The main motto behind introducing the Q&A into local search is to get the most
updated and relevant data about businesses and places. Q&A has always been one of the
best sources to get fresh content. Amazon has already tested it and employing it the
way it should be.

Here’s what it looks like on mobile device.

However, the fear of spamming is real! The competitors, or even just a single angry employee can ruin the entire Q&A section. Also, if a business has the authority to edit it, then it’s going to be as genuine and real as the “testimonials and reviews” that they put on their own website.

Here's what Google says:

"To make sure “Questions & answers” contains the most accurate and useful local info possible, business owners can add frequently asked questions and answers as well. In addition, when you (a customer) ask a question about a place, we notify the business owner and other in-the-know users to see if they have knowledgeable answers to contribute. When your question is answered, we notify you too."

Let’s see how Google is going to tackle these issues. Meanwhile, you might want to start writing content for the Q&A section. Reason being, Google has just launched it and is hungry for content (data), they will hardly filter it out and will most likely accept just about anything you post. You can actually benefit from the desperation of Google and ignorance of your competitors. 

Remember, the early bird gets the worm!
 

YouTube, has introduced a “Breaking News” section on its homepage, it shows a collection of videos pertaining worldwide news and events. The feature appears on both mobile, as well as desktop.

Barcelona attack being the very recent major incident happened across the world, the Breaking News section was showing the videos related to it. The section shows region-specific videos displayed in horizontal scrollable format, the section includes options like ‘Recommended’, ‘Watch It Again’, and ‘Recently Uploaded’.

If users do not wish to see the Breaking News section, they can remove it from their homepage, by clicking on ‘X’ if using a desktop or ‘Not Interested’ if using mobile.

Still, it is not clear if the ‘Breaking News’ will appear daily or only when some major incident occurs. The feature is live on live on the iOS and Android YouTube apps, as well as the desktop site.
 

You can now add videos to local listings in the Google Maps using any Android device. 

Google is rolling it out slowly, so you might or might not see it right away. This feature is not only good for the business owners but the users as well. Because pictures tell altogether different story while video remains close to reality. “Close” because of all those filters available for the videos.

Meanwhile, if you are a local guide and willing to earn some extra points, while helping the folks out here, start uploading videos of the business and local places. It is available only for local guides and Android users but can be seen and searched by any one. You can take a 10-second video from the Google Maps app or can upload a 30-second video.   

You can add videos:

•    From a place’s page
•    From “your contributions”
•    Via Google photos and Gallery app

How to upload a video you’ve already shot:

•    Search and select a place on Google Maps
•    Scroll down and tap “Add a photo”
•    Tap “Folder” and select a video. Only the first 30 seconds of a video can be added.

Visit the Help Center to learn more about sharing videos.
 

You can now add quick links to your local results, thanks to Google My Business’s latest update! They have recently announced that local business owners will now be able to add quick links to their local listings. Currently, it is visible only to select categories of business.

But those who will be able to enjoy it can add the quick links using their Google My Business account. It can prove to be a boon to those who directly serve the customers. From the limited categories that will be able to avail this new feature, the restaurant owners will reap the maximum benefits from it, since they can add direct links to online ordering menu, reviews and much more.

Google posted the news about it on their release notes page saying:

Add links to specific actions like online orders or reservations. Make it easier for customers to take action directly from your listing.

This new update is to make it easier for the users to take actions. By cutting short the process from Google —> Website —> Action to Google —> Action.

The help center article has been updated to explain the steps for businesses to take to add these URLs. Some of the actions include:

•    booking an appointment
•    placing an order
•    reserving a table
•    searching for items
•    viewing the menu

Here’s a screenshot

Google is testing more ad opportunities in local knowledge panels. Although they have been testing ads on knowledge graphs for quite some time now.

Here’s the ad spotted in the Knowledge Graph: 

Google spokesperson said that the paramount goal of Google is to provide the users with most updated, useful and relevant information. So we are searching out for new ways to surface useful local information. If this new feature adds to the user's experience, only then we will fully launch it.

We will keep a close eye on this as usual and keep updating you with more information in this topic.
 

When it comes to ads, relevance plays a vital role. Google has provided many tools that help advertisers ensure that they are targeting the right people. They just have to evaluate the quality score & it’s components. Recently Google has launched seven new quality score reporting columns. 

The biggest highlight is that advertisers will now be able to access the historical quality score data.  This data will be available via 4 new columns “Qual. Score (hist.),” “Landing page exper. (hist.),” “Ad relevance (hist.)” and “Exp. CTR (hist.)

​

Keep in mind that they only reflect the last known score for the selected date range.

Also, you can segment data by day and see how end of day quality score changed over time.

Also, the new columns will display breakouts for: 

• Expected Click-through Rate
• Ad Relevance
• Landing Page Experience

When it comes to traveling, pre-planning can make all the difference. Most important of them all is booking a good hotel. It really takes a lot of efforts to find a good hotel within your budget. Google is planning to make it a bit easy. 

Google is planning to roll out a new Hotel Review Interface. The new interface provides more detailed information about the hotel including cartoon like graphics that will show how other guests have rated their specific amenities.  Also, there will be a collection of third party reviews to increase the credibility. Google will also provide an option to easily filter the hotels based on their reviews. 

Here's a screenshot of the new interface.

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Google has recently published a blog stating that those who are leveraging guest post as a link building technique should reconsider their strategy. They are specifically focusing on the spammy links, that are tagged as guest post, contributor post, partner post, etc.

Below is the list of things that you should avoid according to Google: 

• Stuffing keyword-rich links to your site in your articles.
• Having the articles published across many different sites; alternatively, having a large number of articles on a few large, different sites.
• Using or hiring article writers that aren’t knowledgeable about the topics they’re writing on.
• Using the same or similar content across these articles; alternatively, duplicating the full content of articles found on your own site (in which case use of rel=”canonical”, in addition to rel=”nofollow”, is advised).

As of now, Google has just warned those who are using these techniques, and they are not taking any actions. But as we all know, all the warnings are followed by a mass initiative to counter it. So in case you are employing these techniques, then you might want to reconsider it. Review all the posts, links and remove those who might cause problems in the near future.

How to future proof your websites

Link Diversification – Sites performing well in Google have good link diversity. Build backlinks / citations from diversified sources such as:

• Local and niche business search engines, directories and review sites
• Informational content sites
• Guest blogs
• Press releases
• Videos
• Infographics
• Coupons
• Image sharing sites
• Social profiles
• Q&A sites and more.

Since Google prefers a diversified link profile, we recommend getting links from these sources. 

Different Class C IPs – Having different Class C IP address for your backlink sources definitely helps with SEO rankings. 

Maximum Uptime - Since our network of sites are hosted with premium hosting plans, there are minimum chances of website downtime. Again, we are notified immediately of such instances which helps us get the sites back on track.

Different Domain Registration – Not only Class C IPs, having different registration details also helps. 

Different Registrant Details – Google itself being a Registrant, it has access to the Whois information of domains at a global level. 

Penalty Detection – All the sites within our network are included and verified in Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools). We constantly monitor all websites and make sure they are free from any Google Penalties. 

Fresh Content – Google loves fresh content. Since the content is updated on almost a daily basis, this ensures that the websites are indexed frequently and pages are latest pages are included in the Google database.

Google is big, like really big, like civilization level big! So when a company this big introduces something, even the most apathetic person gets excited. And this year at annual I/O, They introduced a lot of cool new things, but the one that got everyone’s attention was the “Google Lens”. 

Although there have been several unsuccessful attempts in the past to launch the same technology, this time it looks that the image recognition technology will finally be able to take off. Since the Google’s AI has become more sophisticated, it seems that now the Camera lens can be used in many more ways than just taking the selfies.

The main highlights of the Google Lens are: 

Business Details: Just point your mobile camera at store fronts and Google will provide you with knowledge graph and other vital details about that business. 

Connect WiFi: No need to manually enter the password, just click an image of the default username and password and your phone will automatically connect to the WiFi.

Image Recognition: Now you can get results based on what you are seeing. Just take a picture of the flower you want to know more about, and Google will provide you with all the details.

Exciting, isn’t it! Here’s the video.

2015 brought some of the biggest changes and updates in digital marketing. Be it the launch of mobile friendly algorithm, several Phantom Quality updates, 28th Panda Update in July, death of Google Plus, Google as a subsidiary of Alphabet or the RankBrain, 2015 was jaw dropping from every aspect.

As predicted, Mobile remained the focal area of Google in every facet. Not only has Google declared that a mobile optimized website is essential to rank higher, but it also launched AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) which took their mobile obsession one step further.

Overall we can say that 2016 is shaping up as a year of immense opportunity for website owners. But before we step into the future let’s have a look at what we got right & where we went wrong in 2015.

RECAP OF 2015

1.    Google and HTTPS
Google continues to push site owners to get HTTPS. They are not only displaying “Unsecured Connection Warning” in Chrome but also sending “Google Console Warnings”. Those warnings cover several practice error issues with SSL/TLS. Ignoring this will result into zero HTTPS boost for you.

2.    Facebook Modification 
Facebook worked tirelessly & as predicted they made a direct play for search, unleashed Atlas targeting to a great extent, expanded into Mobile Payments and upgraded their messaging functionality. All these changes resulted into an enormous boost, both in their overall usage numbers & stock price. So far, Facebook played really well & it seems like they are going to shine in 2016 too.

3.    Wearables Becoming Popular
Apple created a lot of Buzz when they launched Apple watch back in 2015. SEO & digital marketers' happiness was different from that of Apple enthusiasts. They were happy because now wearable gadgets are coming in fashion and it will unlock a whole new world of opportunities as they can provide us with real time data. However, the Apple watch wasn't a hit. But at-least they tried!

4.    SEO Code of Ethics
Everyone thought that the SEO code of ethics will formalize in 2014. Then we thought that it will arise in 2015. But it never happened. And that’s good, because it would have done more harm than good. If you'd like to know why? Click here.

5.    Mobile-Optimized Content
Site owners who were quick to react relished immense benefit by optimizing their website for mobiles. Google Mobile-Friendly Update also encouraged Mobile content, which was a win-win for everyone. 

6.    Google Algorithmic Updates
Google owned the stage by launching algorithmic updates back-to-back. They rolled out a brand new Panda update, Mobile-Friendly Update, Multiple Phantom quality updates and is about to launch a penguin update in upcoming days.

NOW LET'S LOOK AT WHAT DOES 2016 HAVE IN STORE

1.    Structured Data will become a Ranking Factor 
Structured data is going to play a big role in 2016. Google will also focus on Rich Snippets, Knowledge Panels & Featured Snippets. They are about to publish guidelines on “How to get Featured Snippets”. Basically, Google is trying to say that we haven’t made structured data a ranking signal yet, but we will do it eventually! So it's better that you get on-board already.

In case you are thinking what type of Structured Data will be good,  you can go with JSON-LD, as Google is really fond of it.

2.    2016 will bring more updates to Local Search
Google revamped Local Search to a great extent. The removal of Google plus from the equation, enabling users to easily set the city location, shrinking the local pack from 7 to 3 results & increased number of ads totally changed the local SEO.  But they are not done yet.

Google will continue to push home services ads & move SMBs to a pay-to-play model. Be ready to witness more of this kind of ads.

3.    Increased focus on User Experience
Providing a great user experience is Google's paramount goal and they are just trying to serve their goal by pushing Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), mobile-friendly content, HTTPS, and page speed. If you want to rank higher in 2016, take a mobile-first design approach.

4.    Improvement in the digital assistant space & wearables
2016 seems to be really good for digital assistant space. While Cortana & Siri are getting better & better, there's one player that will join the game and bring variety to it. And that is none other than Facebook's highly ambitious project “M”. Unlike Cortana & Siri it will be backed by both human/digital assistance making it unique among others.

Also, we can expect to see a lot of wearable gadgets in 2016. Thus, we recommend you should at-least be aware of wearable SEO, so when needed you can employ and reap the benefits of being aware and prepared.

Beacons will become more popular overtime and they will make it easy for you to connect with your existing customers. Also, you can expect new players such as Yext & their Xone beacons to enlarge nationally, as a medium to track offline customers online & then target them with re-marketing ads.

5.    Virtual Reality Monetization
Samsung gear VR was one of the top Christmas items of 2015. It comes at a minimal price of $99, thus making it affordable to masses. Also since we all know that Facebook acquired Oculus Rift, we can expect to see more advancements in the VR space.

It is estimated that the VR revenues will go up to 1 billion dollars in the coming year and will escalate to 4.4 billion dollars by 2019. So the company which will provide the best VR gear will reign supreme and will get to have the biggest piece of the 1 billion dollar cake.

6.    The downfall of Yahoo
Yahoo is still going through hard times and it seems like they will have to sell their search units to someone else. However, they have made deals with Google and Bing, but they are not getting fruitful results and the company is still struggling to survive on various aspects.

Many investors are now losing patience and blaming Marissa Mayer for not having a clear vision. Many experts are predicting that Yahoo may sell their assets to AT&T while some are claiming that Google will be the best bet.

7.    Google will roll out major algorithms which will make site audit tougher
Google will roll out both Panda & Penguin updates in 2016. They can be rolled out at the same time and that will be a major issue for website owners who keep getting hit (negatively) by these algorithms.

Till 2015, it was a bit easy to identify the issues which got you penalized, but since Google's expectations from a website are growing, they are making more complex algorithms. So for SEOs it will be tough to identify the exact cause of penalty in 2016. If you are an SEO expert, it's better to understand how to correctly audit a site & surface all website issues.

Final Takeaway

Your actions, predictions, and preparations will decide whether this year will be great or worse for you. We recommend that you gather as much information as you can and closely monitor any updates thathave the potential to influence the digital marketing space. That way you can achieve your goals in 2016.

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The top 20 updates for local search in 2016

Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project will roll out by February 2016. It means you have less than 20 days to prepare. So let’s have a quick look at what you should be doing:

The mobile-friendly update began on April 21st. Fourteen days later, Google announced that more Google searches now take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries, including the US and Japan.

Google Adwords has adapted over the years to be more accommodating to mobile search, and to help advertisers measure cross device conversions.

This month, Google introduced several new products and innovations that allow you to “measure every moment that matters,” understand the full impact of your PPC campaigns and make better decisions for your business. Click here to read more. 

The impact of Google’s Mobile-Friendly Update, as measured by MozCast (a weather report showing turbulence in the Google algorithm—the hotter and stormier the weather, the more Google’s rankings changed) was, in the short-term, much smaller than expected. 

Though the impact of the mobile-friendly update may be less than apocalyptic, in a blog called “How Far Did the Sky Fall,” Dr. Peter Meyers, Moz Marketing Scientist, wrote: “Google’s push toward mobile-first design and their clear public stance on this issue strongly signal that mobile-friendly sites are going to have an advantage over time.” 

If your website is not mobile-friendly, we advise you to move very quickly in that direction! 

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Sharing a link on Facebook mobile isn’t easy. It’s a clumsy process that sends Facebook users to Google, a competitor for mobile advertising dollars. 

Now, Facebook is testing an “Add a Link” button that, according to this article, “gives users fewer reasons to leave the Facebook app, reduces the clicks needed to share content and diminishes the chances that the user will end up at Google. Instead of the four or five steps that might be required to find, copy and paste a link in a post, users can now add links with a single tap. Facebook is betting that the easier it is to share links, the more links a user will open and post and the more the social network will know about that user’s interests.” 

Facebook’s objectives: 1. Take traffic from Google and 2. Learn more about users’ interests, which will help advertisers better target their campaigns. 

Let us know if you’d like more information about advertising on Facebook or other social media platforms. 

Last month, we reported on the Google Mobile Friendly Algorithm Update that will begin this month. Many in the industry are calling this update “Mobilegeddon.” Sounds ominous! It is a fact that starting April 21st, Google will be expanding its use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. 

In a recent study, 44% of Fortune 500 web sites failed the mobile-friendly test and are at risk of being penalized in search results when that update rolls out on April 21st. 

You can do better than those Fortune 500 companies! Take steps now to make sure your website is mobile friendly. Click here for Google’s guide on Mobile-Friendly Websites. 

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From Google’s Webmaster Central Blog: “Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results.” In other words, make the necessary changes to your website or risk losing rankings.

Search Engine Land reports that the algorithm runs on a page by page basis, “So if you have 10 web pages on your web site and 5 of them are mobile-friendly and 5 are not, then only the pages that are mobile-friendly will benefit...Many websites have sub-sections or specialized pages that would be hard to make mobile-friendly, so webmasters do not need to fret about going 100% mobile-friendly by April 21st.” 

Click here to read Google’s Mobile Friendly Websites guide. 

Click here to check if YOUR website is Mobile Friendly or not.

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In 2009, Google reached a deal with Twitter to include tweets in search results. That deal expired in 2011, right about the time that Google launched its social network, Google+.

Since then, Google+ has pretty much failed as a social network (but it is important for local SEO). And now, Twitter is often first to announce big breaking news stories.

Reportedly, Google will once again have access to Twitter’s firehose—the stream of data generated by Twitter’s 284 million users. Click here to read “Who wins, Who Loses in the Twitter/Google Deal.”

Twitter content indexed in Google search results: Just one more reason for every small business to be active on Twitter. All social media activity helps build your brand and because Google places a premium on authenticity, branding is a factor in rankings.

While the NFL was broadcasting its halftime extravaganza, YouTube hosted one of its own. YouTube’s show featured zany stunts (such as a guy jumping into a pool of cheese), fake Super Bowl ads and other entertainment provided by YouTube celebrities.

Said Suzie Reider, managing director of brand solutions at Google, “The halftime show falls in nicely with this huge theme for us, which is the notion of brands as creators and the commercial as content...When you’re an advertiser, your ad sits on YouTube next to a piece of content.”

Click here to read more about YouTube’s offbeat halftime show. Click here to learn about advertising on YouTube.

Statcounter.com reports that mobile internet usage in the US grew by 73% in 2014, to reach 24.4% in August and mobile usage has overtaken desktop in several countries. Your website has to be user friendly, and in 2015, that means mobile friendly too. 

A website that is mobile friendly: 

• Avoids software that is not common on mobile devices, like Flash 
• Uses text that is readable without zooming 
• Sizes content to the screen so users don’t have to scroll horizontally or zoom 
• Places links far enough apart so that the correct one can be easily tapped 

Additionally, Google recommends making it easy for users to directly connect with you by simply tapping a phone number (click to call). 

InsuranceWebDesigns offerss responsive mobile websites. Not an InsuranceWebDesigns client? Try out Easy Online Mobile!

The big news at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show and posted on Google’s blog: 

This spring, Sony, Sharp and TP Vision, with its range of Philips TVs, will start shipping televisions powered by Android TV. These have all the goodness of Android TV built in so you won’t need to plug anything extra into your television. You can use a single remote to watch live TV channels and play games, movies or shows from Google Play and your apps. 

Where Google goes, advertising follows!

The sign on your business is in disrepair. Packages delivered to your business are blocking your doorway. What do you do? You repair the sign and you move the boxes. You make sure your business is easy to find.

The same care is required for your local online presence. You won’t rank well if you have conflicting information on any one of the thousands of sites where Google and other search engines gather local listings data. And, consumers are confused when they see discrepancies—they’re likely to go to a competitor whose listings are clean and consistent.

Give us a call and we’ll tell you more about local listings management.

Great news for businesses that have more than just one location.

As explained by Search Engine Journal: "Google has made an up-date to AdWords location extensions that allows numerous locations to display in mobile search ads. When several business locations are nearby, users may see as much as three locations in an ad. The extensions can display the street address and distance from the user's current location. Users can click to call or get directions for each location."

Click on this link to read more about location extensions.

Penguin is the algorithm update that's crafted to champion Google in opposition to spam and other techniques that go against its webmaster guidelines.

The version that was released in October 2014, Penguin 3.0, is a global recharge that affected lower than one percent of English search queries.

As indicated by Search Engine Land, "The Penguin formula mainly considers a site's backlink profile ... It should demote sites with bad link profiles and help sites that were previously hit and then cleaned up their link profiles." Click here for more details about Penguin 3.0.

If you’ve been meaning to learn about Google Authorship—what it is, how it works, why it’s important for SEO—you can take that off your to-do list. 

In a Google+ post, John Mueller of Google Webmaster Tools wrote: “We’ve gotten lots of useful feedback from all kinds of webmasters and users, and we’ve tweaked, updated, and honed recognition and displaying of authorship information. Unfortunately, we’ve also observed that this information isn’t as useful to our users as we’d hoped, and can even distract from those results. With this in mind, we’ve made the difficult decision to stop showing authorship in search results. We realize authorship wasn’t always easy to implement, and we greatly appreciate the effort you put into continually improving your sites for your users.” 

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Google. Still Google. According to comScore, Google holds 67.6 percent of U.S. search engine market share. How can any ad network compete with a company that owns about two-thirds of search traffic? 

Despite the bold claims made by Bing (remember the Bing challenge?) and industry speculation that Facebook PPC could be a threat, no other PPC platform has been able to make a dent in Google’s booming PPC business. 

Facebook is showing some strength in the mobile advertising space. According to this article, “Facebook is nearly monopolizing the growth in the global mobile ad industry, having more than tripled its share of the market from 2012 to 2013...but Google remains the dominant force with just under half of the mobile ad market (49.3 percent).” 

In the midst of developing Amazon Prime Air (drones delivering packages to customers in 30 minutes or less. Really!), Amazon has been working on a new ad platform that's designed to be a direct challenge to Google AdWords. Perhaps Amazon will finally give Google AdWords some real competition. 

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Research shows that the internet is now the primary way that most US consumers find local business information and search engines were identified as the primary tool used by consumers to find local information. 

Furthermore, “While the internet has emerged as the go-to source for finding location information and details about businesses ranging from hair salons and veterinary clinics to gyms and restaurants, it is rife with errors. As a result, companies are missing out on customers at their bricks-and-mortar stores, and driving them to competitors, say analysts.” (Financial Times 3/4/13) 

Your business address, phone number, email address, hours, policies, specials and other details—they’re all subject to change. Make sure your local listings are up-to-date. 

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Google’s recent local search algorithm update has no official name; Search Engine Land calls it “Pigeon.” So we’ll go with that. 

According to a Search Engine Land report: “The new local search algorithm ties deeper into their web search capabilities, including the hundreds of ranking signals they use in web search along with search features such as Knowledge Graph, spelling correction, synonyms and more. In addition, Google said that this new algorithm improves their distance and location ranking parameters. The new algorithm is currently rolling out for US English results and aims to provide a more useful and relevant experience for searchers seeking local results.” 

Click here to read more. 

Upon the arrival of Google+ Local, many small business owners who were attempting to manage their Google local listings finally had to admit defeat. Local listings management has never been easy, but it seems that Google has done more to complicate matters than fix them. The new Google My Business product looks like a big improvement. 

According to Google: 
If you previously used Google Places for Business or Google+ Pages Dashboard to manage your business information, your account has been automatically upgraded to Google My Business. Google My Business makes it easier than ever to update business information across Google Search, Maps and Google+. Google My Business puts your business info on Search, Maps and Google+ so that customers can find you, no matter what device they’re using.

Click here to read Frequently Asked Questions about Google My Business. 

According to a recent study by Bunnyfoot (a usability and user experience design firm), an estimated one-third of people who use Google Search don’t recognize the difference between a paid ad and an organic result. In other words, a significant number of people think the item at the top of the page is there because it’s the best match for their search query. 

After hundreds of tests over the past decade, the team at Bunnyfoot concluded that, “... it is very difficult to predict what customers’ knowledge or understanding is. When you do the tests, you are often humbled and surprised with how far off your assumptions are.” This is a good reminder that it’s unwise to assume you know what your customers are thinking.

Online marketing is a great and necessary investment, but so is your website. 

According to a study by Missouri University of Science and Technology, it takes users less than two-tenths of a second to form a first impression of a website. 

With so little time to make a good first impression, it’s important that your website:

• Has a crystal clear call to action.
• Is uncluttered and easy to navigate.
• Includes “real” images that genuinely represent your company (keep the stock images to a minimum).
• Is mobile-friendly.
• Provides useful information (i.e., load it up with quality content).

Make sure your website is a place where people want to spend time. And remember, the majority of first-time visitors to a website leave without completing a conversion. Click here to find out how PPC retargeting can bring people back to your website. 

Google, Facebook, Twitter and AOL have joined together to launch TrustInAds.org, with the mission to keep the user experience positive for everyone on the web and keep ads safe. 

From the TrustInAds website:

...There are scammers that try to “game the system” to find ways to exploit consumers by getting harmful and deceptive ads published on reputable websites. In many cases, these ads - on the surface - appear normal and harmless, but may surreptitiously redirect a person to webpages that can install malware to a computer or mobile devices, direct them to scam or phishing websites, or try to sell them counterfeit goods.

Any effort to thwart the bad actors on the internet helps the upstanding businesses that depend on leads from their PPC advertising campaigns. Click here for more information about TrustInAds.org.

In March, Google made a number of changes to its search results layout. Jon Wiley, Lead Designer for Google Search, summarized the modifications in his Google+ post:

We’ve increased the size of result titles, removed the underlines, and evened out all the line heights. This improves readability and creates an overall cleaner look. We’ve also brought over our new ad labels from mobile, making the multi-device experience more consistent.

Previously, ads were placed over a shaded background and now, they are differentiated by a small yellow “Ad” button. People who cover industry news can’t seem to agree whether the new layout makes ads more obvious, or less obvious. Many believe the ads now blend in with organic search results and more people will click on them—an advantage, perhaps, for advertisers with well-structured PPC campaigns.

Did you know that Pay-Per-Click Advertising can be targeted exclusively to people who have visited your website? These are people who have already demonstrated an interest in your products and services.

The large majority of first-time visitors to a website leave without completing a conversion. One visit to your website is usually not enough to close the deal. A PPC Retargeting campaign brings people back and gives you more opportunities to convert your prospective customers.

Click here for more information about PPC Retargeting (aka Remarketing) and click here to read a Retargeting success story.

In January, Google paid 3.2 billion cash for Nest, a company that designs and manufactures sensor-driven, Wi-Fi-enabled, self-learning, programmable thermostats and smoke detectors.

Marcus Wohlsen of Wired wrote, “The value Google sells its customers—that is, advertisers—lies in its peerless understanding of our online behavior...One area of human behavior Google has yet to colonize as successfully is what we do when we’re not directly interacting with a screen...That in theory changes with Nest.”

When asked if customer data will be shared with Google, Nest founder Tony Fadell said, “Our privacy policy clearly limits the use of customer information to providing and improving Nest’s products and services. We’ve always taken privacy seriously and this will not change.”

There was a time when Google put users’ privacy first—from 2002: Google uses cookies to track user trends and patterns to better understand our user base and to improve the quality of our service. Google may also choose to use cookies to store user preferences. A cookie can tell us, “This is the same computer that visited Google two days ago,” but it cannot tell us, “This person is Joe Smith” or even, “This person lives in the United States.” Now, compare that to Google’s current policy.

Considering Google’s privacy policy evolution, some question Fadell’s assurance that Nest’s privacy policy won’t change. Tech industry blogger Sam Biddle tweeted, “If your house is burning down you’ll now get gmail ads for fire extinguishers.”☺

A study by J.D. Power discovered that in 2012, 47 percent of vehicle owners indicated they used a downloaded app on their smart device for navigation in their car or truck, compared with 37 percent in 2011. Notably, 46 percent of owners indicate they "definitely would not" or "probably would not" repurchase a factory-installed navigation system if their smartphone navigation could be displayed on a central screen in their car.

Who wants to pay for an old style navigation system when we have smartphones with free map service? And a pricey built-in DVD package when we have hand-held devices to keep passengers (i.e., whining kids) occupied during car trips? Car manufacturers are on the losing end of these advances in technology; they've seen the future and they want a piece of it.

In June 2012, BMW, GM, Mercedes, Jaguar, Audi, Land Rover, Toyota, Chrysler and Honda coordinated with Apple to incorporate "eyes free" Siri-compatibility into their automobiles. Using a voice command button on the steering wheel, Siri Eyes Free enables the driver to make and receive calls, select and play music, audibly send and receive text messages, access Maps and get directions, audibly receive notifications, set reminders and more, all without looking away from the road.

This month, Google, along with technology and auto industry leaders, announced the "Open Automotive Alliance" (OAA). The OAA is committed to bringing the Android platform to cars, with the goal of making technology in the car safer, more seamless and more intuitive for everyone.

Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer of NVIDIA said, "The car is the ultimate mobile computer. With onboard supercomputing chips, futuristic cars of our dreams will no longer be science fiction. The OAA will enable the car industry to bring these amazing cars to market faster.".

The first cars with Android integration are expected to be delivered by the end of 2014.

In 2014, Content Marketing is still the key to a powerful SEO campaign and an active, engaging social media presence. The opportunities for content placement are increasing because online publishers will need to generate income!

The banner ads on newspaper and magazine websites are not doing the job; the typical click-through rate is approximately.1 percent. (Source: DoubleClick). Online publishers, including such heavyweights as The New York Times, Buzzfeed and Vanity Fair, are hoping Native Advertising will boost click through rates and increase revenue.

The objective of Native Advertising is to complement an article with helpful information from a paid sponsor. Like other forms of content marketing, native ads do not specifically market the sponsor's product or service. The expectation is that a reader will would like to engage with the sponsored content because, unlike a banner ad, a native ad contains information that is specific to the article that has already attracted the visitor's attention.

While a small business probably can't afford a native ad placement on The New York Times website, there are affordable options-- 73 percent of online publishers and media companies offer some kind of native advertising program. (Source: eMarketer)

Not a virtual barge, a real barge, docked in San Francisco Bay. A second one has been towed into Portland Harbor, Maine and reportedly, two more are under construction.

As with all things Google, there’s plenty of mystery because Google isn’t saying much. On November 6th, Google released this statement: “Although it’s still early days and things may change, we’re exploring using the barge as an interactive space where people can learn about new technology.”

The barges are owned by a company called By and Large, LLC, which appears to be a front for Google. It has not gone unnoticed that the name of the fictional company in WALL-E, the animated film about a robot who is designed to clean up a futuristic waste-covered Earth, is Buy N Large. For more insight, read Google’s crazy barge scheme: Your complete guide.

Instead of standing by waiting for internet service providers to tap the two-thirds of the population without internet access (see data, below*), Google is working toward servicing those areas with balloon powered internet. Essentially, 'Project Loon' works like this: balloons are moved around in the stratosphere and sent into a layer of wind that's moving in the right direction, creating a large communications network to which people can connect via an antenna attached to their building. Not surprisingly, Project Loon was founded by MIT-trained scientist, Richard DeVaul.

Recently, Google introduced Carousel for local search results. Now, when you search for a local business like a hotel or restaurant, the results appear in an interactive carousel at the top of the page. Click on one of the results in the carousel and you'll see the address, photos, overall review-based score and links to the actual reviews.

Though just about everyone in the online marketing business has something to say about the latest Google Penguin Update, conflicting information and mass confusion abound. Even the so-called experts are struggling to understand and articulate the effect that Penguin has had across the web. Google's system of numbering the Penguin updates hasn't helped.

Take a look at this Timelapse site, created by Time Inc. and Google. According to Google's blog: Google worked with the USGS to make an archive of earth imagery available online. Using Google Earth Engine technology, Google sifted through 2,068,467 images to find the highest-quality pixels (e.g., those without clouds), for every year since 1984 and for every spot on Earth. Google then worked with the CREATE Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, recipients of a Google Focused Research Award, to convert these annual Earth images into a seamless, browsable HTML5 animation. 

Both! In spite of the rash of Google updates and other covert maneuvers, link-building is still necessary for search rankings. Google has made it crystal clear that high quality content is what it wants. But Google is not quite so upfront about links. We do know that quality onsite and offsite content is just part of effective SEO. You still need to get those links. Link building tactics have changed and will continue to change in response to Google updates. Looks like another Google update is coming soon. 

Like many in the online marketing business, we are fascinated by Google Glass, though mostly because it's very futuristic and very cool (OR ridiculous, depending on who you ask). Whether or not we'll someday consider Google Glass users when we're developing marketing strategies remains to be seen. Remember, there was once a time when we didn't put any thought into mobile devices like phones and tablets. Maybe Google Glass will catch on and we'll all be talking to our glasses and taking a picture with just a wink!
 

Google Places for Business continues to merge Google’s offerings. Now users will be able to access their Google+ and Google Local page from the same place, making Google Local and Social more unified. Will Google local search and social media continue to become one? We’ve been wondering for awhile! Google Places for Business is still in its infancy, but we’ll keep you posted on changes and new features in Google’s offerings.

50% of businesses don’t have a website! You probably do because you’re our client, but that doesn’t exempt you...

 The Google Maps app is once again on the iPhone.

Google's Panda update, released over a year ago, was designed to target low quality content. In June, Google pushed out two Panda refreshes. For those of you keeping score, we’re now up to Panda 3.8.

Note that a refresh is different from an update:

• An update is a change to Google's algorithm
• A refresh reruns the existing algorithm to catch any sites that are in violation. Unlike an update, it does not change the algorithm.

The original Panda update impacted about 12% of search worldwide and the refreshes in June impacted only about 1%. This is yet another reminder of the importance of online marketing diversification and producing quality content with the end user in mind.

According to a recent industry report, SEO is #1 when it comes to generating leads. The report is based on a survey of over 500 marketing professionals. 53% of all participants said SEO makes the biggest impact on lead generation, followed by 28% for PPC and 19% for social media.

We’re not surprised. Most of our clients get significantly more leads from SEO than any other online channel. We get great results from PPC and Social Media campaigns too and that’s because we set and measure goals. We’d be happy to give you recommendations on PPC and/or Social Media for your business.

Google Analytics Won’t Keep You Waiting

Government Antitrust Officials Have a Few Questions for Google

As government antitrust officials have begun investigating Google, Eric Schmidt, former Google chief executive, is trying to reassure lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee that the internet search company is not illegally abusing its power.

The antitrust argument stems from concerns about Google’s domination of and influence on search marketing. Competitors accuse Google of giving its own content top placement in its search results. As Google has expanded into products beyond search (maps, shopping, travel), competitors are growing more troubled.

Proving that Google is violating antitrust law will be complicated—the law was written long before the existence of the internet. Others have tried and failed to take Google down a notch; this may be the first real threat against Google’s reign! For now though, nothing has changed; our SEO campaigns will continue to target Google. SEO is still all about Google.

Google’s Big Investment in Local Search

Last week, Google acquired Zagat (perhaps the first restaurant review guide to rely on crowdsourcing) for a reported $125 million. Established in 1979, Zagat originally published reviews of local restaurants and later added reviews of other local businesses such as movie theaters, nightlife and retailers. Google estimates that about 20% of its daily searches are for local businesses and when mobile search is factored in, the percentage is even higher. Local online advertising is a very lucrative and rapidly growing market.

All of this tells us two things: local search is hugely important for every business and your business must have a presence on local search if you want to be competitive. Our Local SEO Service helps you maximize your exposure in local directories and map sites, including Google Places, Yahoo Local, Bing Local, Yelp and many more. We make sure your listings are optimized so that your business gets noticed on mobile devices too.