Search Recap: Australia’s Digital Practices Guidelines, Google’s Medic Update and more

Staying informed about the latest tools, updates and changes in search marketing is important. It ensures best practice and a competitive advantage for your business online.

To help you cut through the noise and identify the news that matters, I’ve shortlisted the top five search marketing updates for August and what they mean for you.

1. New Google Search Console Features

To increase usability for marketers and business owners, Google has included three new upgrades in the latest version of the Search Console. These features are:

• Links Report: Combines related reports – such as the “Links to your site” and “Internal Links” reports – which were previously located in separate sections of the Search Console. This allows for easier data collection.
• Mobile Usability Report: Since mobile usability has become a ranking factor, Google has added a new Mobile Usability report to the Search Console. This report allows users to check for errors and notify Google once they’ve been fixed.
• Settings Page: Users can now add and verify new websites as well as manage a property’s users and permissions with the new Settings Page.

Learn more here.

2. Google’s Medic Update

Noticed a dramatic change in your website’s SERP ranking? Early this month Google released a broad core algorithm update, possibly the biggest since Penguin 2012. The change dramatically impacted businesses in the Health sector, which has led to it being named the Google Medic update. Mobile-first index, content and on-site linking and site speed have all been identified as key factors impacted by the update. Find out more here.

3. First Australian Digital Practices Guidelines released

After much scrutiny, the first-ever report on Australian Digital Practices Guidelines has been released. Created by the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Media Federation of Australia (MFA) the guidelines aim to rebuild trust and confidence within the nation’s digital advertising industry. Covering four key areas – Digital Transparency, Viewability, Ad Fraud and Brand Safety and Data Transparency – the report is a step in the right direction to help address issues and rebuild the industry’s integrity. Acquaint yourself here.

4. Google Analytics Displaying Google Images Data

Businesses will soon be able to isolate referral traffic from Google Image searches in Google Analytics. How? Google has announced for the first time that traffic from image searches will soon be reclassified as coming from “google images”. This may lead to a slight drop in Google referral data but increased transparency around referral attribution for businesses. Learn more here.

5. Google Increases Text Ad Headline and Description Fields

Advertisers will be excited to hear that Google has added an additional headline and description to text ads. This increases the number of headlines to three and descriptions to two, creating new opportunities for businesses to include additional information such as shipping details or special offers. Google announced the update will be available in late August. Find out more here.

As digital marketing continues to evolve at such a rapid pace, what recent updates or releases have impacted your business the most?