🔍 Google's latest algorithm: The Page Experience Update

And, AMP will no longer be a requirement for Top Stories May 29, 2020 Good morning Search Marketer, Google is doubling down on user experience. The [Page Experience Update]( is on its way and it’s designed to evaluate pages based on how human users (you guessed it) experience web pages. The new ranking algorithm will take into account whether your pages load quickly, if your content jumps around as it loads, if it uses HTTPS, features intrusive interstitials, and factor in Google’s new [Core Web Vitals]( set of speed, interactivity and visual stability metrics (also announced earlier this week). While the emphasis here is clearly on user experience, Google has told us that having great content will still be the more important consideration: Google will still seek to rank pages with the best overall information, even if the page experience isn’t top-notch. However, all other considerations being equal, page experience can be a deciding factor for your visibility. The company paired this announcement with more news: [AMP will no longer be a requirement]( for content to appear in the mobile version of Google’s Top Stories section. These items were announced together because page experience will become a ranking factor for the Top Stories section. If you’re currently publishing AMP pages, there’s no need to make any changes and your AMP versions will continue to be what’s linked in the Top Stories. You also won’t need to formulate plans to change whether you use AMP or overhaul your UX just yet — these updates won’t be live until sometime in 2021. We’ll keep you updated when they launch. Online ad revenue growth is slowing. Domestic [digital advertising revenue grew to $124.6 billion]( in 2019 — that’s 16% YoY, but the days of explosive growth seem to be tapering down as the market reaches maturity. In Q1 of this year, revenue totaled $31.4 billion (up 12% from Q1 2019), but March figures were impacted by COVID-19. Just as concerning as the slowing growth is how the revenue is dispersed: the top 10 internet companies controlled 77% of digital revenue last year, according to the IAB. Your Shopify technical SEO questions, answered. Shopify makes it convenient for business owners to get their online stores up and running, but that convenience means you have to work around Shopify’s rigid framework. To help you (or your clients) get the most out of your Shopify store, we’ve published a [Technical SEO for Shopify guide](, complete with solutions on overcoming the CMS’ duplicate URL issue and site architecture limitations. Keep on reading for your daily Search Shorts and more. Ginny Marvin, Editor-in-Chief Sonic Branding: Leverage the Power of Audio In Your Marketing Strategy You know how important it is to consistently use on-brand visual marketing materials, and how to create them. The same goes for leveraging effective audio and building a sonic marketing strategy. Let experts in audio-specific branding, analytics and distribution explain why sound matters and how to incorporate it into your ad campaigns. Join this webinar to explore the possibilities of audio marketing, which includes sonic branding. [RSVP Here »]( Search Shorts Indexing, images, and submission Google indexing issues. A few nights ago, Google [may have had more indexing issues]( with fresh content. We’ve covered this topic numerous times over the past year or so, and it seems to be a recurring issue. Swipe up in image search. Matle Ubl from Google said the [swipe up feature]( in image search leads to a [higher click-through rate and more traffic to your web site](. Submitting search pages. Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter “[submitting all search pages make crawling & indexing significantly harder for large sites](. IMO this is where smaller sites can prioritize much better than larger ones can.” Stand apart from the competition Winning a Search Engine Land Award can help attract new business, boost team morale, and showcase your company’s achievements — all things hard-working search marketers need now, more than ever. What are you waiting for? [Start your application now »]( What we're reading We've curated our picks from across the web so you can retire your feed reader [Google Testing New How To Schema Results On Desktop]( – Search Engine Roundtable [112 Google Ads Callout Extensions Examples for B2B Advertisers]( – KoMarketing [12 Items on Your On-Page SEO Checklist to Do Now]( – Conductor [U.S. state of Arizona files consumer fraud lawsuit against Google]( – Reuters [Adalysis Now Supports Audience Analysis & Bid Adjustments]( – Adalysis [Apple buys machine learning specialist Inductiv to bolster Siri, AI projects]( – Appleinsider [Audit Google Display Placements Like a Boss]( – PPC Hero [Balancing Paid & Organic Search (In the Wake of COVID-19)]( – iPullRank [How to develop a full-funnel PPC advertising strategy]( – Hallam [Learn more about anxiety with a self-assessment on Search]( – Google Blog [Search Engine Land] [( [Want to advertise?]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. [Unsubscribe]( [We respect your privacy.]( This email was sent by: Search Engine Land - a Third Door Media, Inc. publication with headquarters at 279 Newtown Tpke. Redding, CT 06896 USA © 2006-2020 Third Door Media. All Rights Reserved.