A big warm hug for surviving through the tediously long work week! Hello people and welcome to a brand new edition of Friday Catch-Up, our weekly ritual update that tells you all about what has been happening on the internet while you sat sipping coffee at your desk all week.
Like always, Google can’t seem to get enough of the limelight and makes certain that it always stays in the news. This week is no exception, but it comes with a lot more.
So fellas, hold on to your mugs full of caffeine as we take you on a ride through the news and updates of the World Wide Web.
News & Updates
Google Devaluing Doorway Pages
In an effort to improve and enhance the overall quality of the search results in Google, the search engine giant has announced that soon, ranking adjustments for doorway pages in search results will be launched. These pages exist for no reason apart from ranking in search results, and some websites may even create multiple doorway pages that all rank for the same term. This action usually does not drive any big results because the content on the multiple doorway pages is almost always similar, and they tend to drive your audience back and back again to the same page. Read more regarding this announcement here: Search Engine Journal
Google Now Getting API so All Developers Can Integrate Content
Google has been developing an API for the “predictive search” service from Google Now, and the API is set to allow any application developers or publishers to integrate their content with the service. This low-profile announcement came out during a discussion with the Director of Product Management from Google Now – Aparna Chennapragada and Danny Sullivan. So technically, Google Now will be helping you integrate third party cards into the service, want to know how? Check out this link to read more: Search Engine Land
Visual Browser Identifies Real World Objects – Blippar
The UK based company, Blippar, has developed an innovative browser known as the ‘visual browser’ which enables people to perform searches of the internet for information on any real-world objects that have been photographed from their mobile devices. Simply put, the browser is stripping away the need to actually know what you are looking for, and Blippar simplified the search procedure with this augmented reality application that can effectively analyze any visual inputs from a Smartphone or tablet and connect to real world objects by assessing it visually. Intrigued? Read more: The Drum
Useful Posts
Online Discount Codes using Spikes 43%
Since last year, the number of people looking for discount codes for shopping items as grown rapidly. The number of people who always use a shopping code before shopping has doubled in shoppers in the UK region. While there are many reasons why discount code scan be helpful in trying to find reasonable rates when shopping, it has its cons as well. Read more here: The Drum
Best Practices for Ecommerce Thank You Pages
When customers purchase from your online shop, they are choosing you from maybe a hundred sites that they have looked at, and by the time they are ready to check out, you have accomplished your mission. Maybe it was how you presented your content or products, or how you introduced the service, whatever it was, it was something you did that made the customer click “Buy Now”. While things may be working out well enough for you, there is no reason to stop pushing forward and generate more sales. So follow this link to find out the 7 best practices that can get your clients to buy your products: Rejoiner
Ranking your Article on the First Page of Google
The only place worth being these days is Google’s first page in the search rankings, and if you haven’t landed there yet, there is a one out of five chance that you still can. This may seem like the competition is harder than it looks, or the whole optimization process is a complete waste of time. But the real thing about web marketing is that it is always simpler than it looks; people may like to make it appear hard with mysterious graphs and ranking terms but the truth remains the same. Want to know the ingredients you need to land on Google search’s first page? Read more here: SEO Chat
Researching Your Competition with Social Media
Have you ever wondered how your competitors are marketing on their social media? Have you tried to research what has been working for them and what hasn’t? When you sit down to assess and analyze all the social media efforts that your competing businesses are making, you can find some highly valuable insights that can be used to optimize your own business. Read more to check out the four ways to effectively research what your competition has been doing on Facebook: Social Media Examiner
World Changing Ideas of 2015
Every idea contributes a little bit more to the change that this world is embracing, but not all are worth the change. There have been some great ideas that can help tackle the problems of this planet sprouting up this year and they sit somewhere between science fiction and reality. We work to view the big thinkers, entrepreneurs, and inventors who are gradually proving to be very valuable for the industry. The ideas that catch-up and are accepted can contribute a lot in changing the way people lead their lives, so read more to see the best ideas of 2015: Fast Coexist
Types of Social Media and Their Benefits to Your Business
We have all heard the saying, “You don’t really understand anything unless you can explain it to your grandmother,” but have we ever tried explaining how social media works to non-users? The challenge remains underestimated since the definition of social media keeps evolving with accelerated progress in the area. These days, there is absolutely no type of social media that is isolated from the others because major networks have adjusted their functionalities to offer more flexibility to users. To help you understand and distinguish between the different kinds of social media, read this post: Hootsuite
Tools for Google Penalty Recovery
If you own a website, you know how Google penalties can be a major setback, and regardless of how many times your site gets hit, it is always important that you bounce back aggressively to recover your organic search rankings. If you have received penalties on your website, you don’t need to panic. There are many tools and processes that can help you get back in the game with minimal efforts. Use these tools to get out of Google’s penalty box and stay out: Search Engine Land
Generating More End-of-the-Week Profits
Weekday sales are always larger and denser in volume than the sales you get at the end of the week, which is just how ecommerce works. Weekends tend to get people to log off and physically go shopping in a real store instead of searching for things they want to purchase online. Depending on your demographic region, your trading pattern throughout the week may differ from the pattern at weekends. Read more here: Mageworx
Americans and Electronic Media
People have been spending a lot of time on their electronic gadgets these days, but exactly how much time that actually accounts for is highly disturbing. According to a recently published report, 18 years and older people spend more than eleven hours per day on their smart devices and gadgets. Most people stay awake for 16-18 hours per day, considering this; eleven out of these precious hours are spend on electronic media usage. Read more statistical details here: Statista
Stopping Spam Bots
Often times, you may receive referral traffics spike on your Google Analytics account, and seeing this, you jump to conclusions that someone is trying to link to your content and people are appreciating your content. While we all hope that that’s true, more often than not, we find out that the referral traffic has been received solely form spammers who like to throw off your analytical data in a whirlwind. Want to beat the odds? Read more: MOZ
Infographics
The Average Checkout Experience
If you own a retail website, it is probably a good idea for you to stay informed about the ways that get audiences to purchase something from your website. The average check-out experience, if not optimized, can lead to the client never choosing your business again. So you need to make sure you are making all the right moves in optimizing your content for the benefit of the users. How you ask? Read more here: Webmag
The CMS SEO Requirements
One question you must always ask before staring any new SEO process is whether the current capacity and flexibility to implement any technical or content changes on your website is enough. No matter how dedicated or expert your SEO team maybe, some SEO recommendations can still become a nightmare to tackle with. So making things easier for you to digest; follow this link to check out this amazing infographic that explains it all in copious details: State of Digital
Google Analytics – Bag of Tricks
Haven’t had enough of the Friday fevers yet? Check out this great and highly informative video from Google that provides some great tips and network managers and web developer. Take a look: YouTube
Until next week, ciao!
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