Google’s Core Update & This Week’s Digital Marketing News [PODCAST]

On this week’s episode of Marketing O’Clock, Jess Budde, Greg Finn, and Christine “Shep” Zirnheld report on the digital marketing news of the week and try to give Google’s latest core algorithm update a more exciting name.

May 2020 Core Update

Google announced the update on May 4 and it appears to be a big one. The team discusses the verticals that have seen ranking volatility.

Rebuilt Shopify POS

Shopify launched a re-imagined version of its POS system for retailers.

Along with a bunch of other improvements, the new POS has a curbside pickup option so that local customers can place their orders online and pick them up at the brick and mortar location.

New Customer Acquisition Goal for Google Smart Shopping

Retailers can now optimize their Smart Shopping campaigns for new customer acquisition, or NCA.

Conversion value for a new customer is calculated by adding the value of a new customer to the value of a purchase.

How Google surfaces COVID-19 search results

From the Google Search Liason Twitter account, Google’s Danny Sullivan explained how Google identifies and serves local news content for COVID-19 related searches.

Google is serving both AMP and non-AMP stories in Top Stories for related searches.

Google Launches Web Vitals program

Google is providing guidance on “essential metrics for a healthy site”. Critical aspects include load times, interactivity, and visual stability.

Then, during our take of the week segment, Alyssa Altman is feeling neglected by Google Ads and isn’t afraid to call them out.

Google: we are here for you during this time!
Also @GoogleAds: we can’t review any ads or questions for disapproval’s because we don’t care

— Alyssa Altman (@alyssa_altman) May 1, 2020

Then we’ll answer your burning digital marketing questions during our lightning round segment:

• Who is using the UGC and Sponsored Link attributes (spoiler alert: almost no one)?
• What digital media platform has a new and improved ad network?
• When can businesses start using LinkedIn’s interview tool?
• Where can you find more information about your Google Podcast listeners?
• Why is everyone talking about the new EU cookie regulations?
• How can you see price competitive insights in Merchant Center?

If you enjoyed the show, head over to the Marketing O’Clock website to read this week’s featured articles and subscribe wherever you consume your podcasts.

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Ahrefs – An all-in-one SEO toolset that gives you the tools you need to rank your website in Google and get tons of search traffic.
• Opteo – Helps Google Ads managers automate time-consuming manual tasks so they can spend more time on high-level strategy and creative work.

Image Credits

Featured Image: Cypress North