Every fortnight the Croud SEO team collate the latest news from relevant sources around the web so you don’t have to. Read through the top SEO news stories for this week below and follow us on Twitter or sign up to our newsletter.
Black Friday in April: e-commerce is booming according to three reports
12/05/2020
Whilst retail sales were down by 8.7% in March, April is seeing large e-commerce growth on par with Black Friday according to data released by Adobe, Shopify and PayPal. In some cases there has been double and even triple-digit sales growth; electronic sales are up 58% and online grocery sales up 110%.
Stores have been closed so location data isn’t relevant, right? Wrong.
11/05/2020
Even though store visits have dropped off during the pandemic, SEL argues that location data is still as important as ever. The data can indicate changes to consumer behaviour from city to city, which can be used by businesses to adapt and find opportunities.
Don’t try to reinvent the SEO wheel, says Google’s Martin Splitt
11/05/2020
Google’s Martin Splitt comments on some of the most common indexing and JS mistakes. This includes not linking properly, such as links that lead to internal and external errors and using JS when a simpler method exists.
The return of retail stores: If you reopen will they come?
11/05/2020
Surveys across consumers in the US show a reluctance to return to retail stores once they reopen. A survey from the Washington Post and University of Maryland showed that two thirds of consumers would be comfortable shopping in a grocery store, however 67% wouldn’t be comfortable going to a retail store. Businesses are likely going to have to adjust how they operate, expanding operations online or buy and collect services.
Google’s May 2020 core update was big and broad, search data tools show
07/05/2020
On 4th May, Google released a core update that appears to have been wide-ranging and very impact, far more so than the January core update. Health-related searches appear to have seen the greatest fluctuations with finance and retail queries also seeing large scale changes.
Google is suggesting searches based on users’ recent activity
05/06/2020
Google appears to be making query suggestions based on recent activity based on previous queries. This appears to be a further attempt to personalise the SERP and improve the users chance of finding what they’re looking for.
What’s trending: understanding rising consumer interests
07/05/2020
Google has released a new tool called Rising Retail Categories on ThinkWithGoogle. This allows users to get insight on fast-growing and trending products and retail queries. This could be useful for businesses in understanding which products to push to maximise online opportunities.
New reports for Special Announcements in Search Console
05/05/2020
Google has announced that it now supports the Special Announcements within Search Console Performance Reports. This will display errors, warnings and valid pages for mark up within the platform, as well as clicks, impressions and CTR for the pages.
