Search Prominence Changes in 2016 | Silver Beacon Marketing Spotlight

10 Second Takeaway: Google changes its search ranking factors fast, but perhaps never as fast as in 2016. This week, I was testing local search by using Twitter to send an emoji to Google. The response I received in seconds was an abbreviated local search for the emoji. Try telling that to someone 15 years ago. Search is irrevocably changed when an emoji gives you results. If you’re not strategizing about that or voice search or social search, you need to start right now. Here is the full scoop from Mashable.

Have you used Houseparty yet? The company says that it is receiving 1 million daily active users (DAU). That would put the video group chat app comfortably within the top 1,000 websites in the world. That means you need to start thinking about it for your organization.

Here are 11 other fascinating marketing facts about today’s digital landscape.

Here is what making me think about Google. I looked at previous issues of Spotlight from earlier this year and saw a clear trend. Changes so far in 2016:

At least two sets of results, including the main one, for mobile!
Removing the ads from the right side of the page and changing the number of ads and “organic” results on each page.
Warnings about mobile-friendliness and overall page speed.
New emphasis on local search
More focus on original content. If you just publish manufacturer specs or other generic information, your site will not receive as much search traffic as others who publish unique content.

Global WebIndex is adding mobile surveys in 40 countries to its research data.

They created a benchmark to start, and the results skewing to younger consumers was just one finding. In this chart, you can see that nearly half of “mobile-only users” are aged 16-24.

This is a tricky stat that’s worth over-explaining since it’s early and it’s Monday. Of the mobile-only, nearly half are 16-24. This does not mean half of 16-24 year olds are mobile-only users, although that day is coming too.

Lights. Camera. Search.

Google is experimenting with a thumbs-up and thumbs-down measurement of movies and television shows right on the search results page.

Remember our caution about unique content? IMdb and Rotten Tomatoes will eventually be dwarfed by the number of ratings left by billions of Google users worldwide. Remember it’s nothing complicated–thumbs up or thumbs down.

Think about what changes you could be making to give your organization that kind of unique data. Have a look at the details by clicking this link to Search Engine Land or by clicking their snazzy graphic above.

The Most Useful Thing I Read This Week: Google’s news isn’t all gloom-and-doom and we’re-taking-over-the-planet info this week. They’ve released a new service called “Trusted Contacts” that lets you choose loved ones or friends who can learn your whereabouts without having to call or text you. The feature can be turned on or off at your discretion, and you’ll always see a message when someone has used the feature to find out where you are. It isn’t just for the chronically tardy, but I’ll use it too. Lifehacker has all the details.

How 2016 Affected Your Search Prominence – Spotlight 192

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