Google’s Rich Results Test Out of Beta & This Week’s Digital Marketing News [PODCAST]

Tune in to the latest episode of Marketing O’Clock to hear Jess Budde, Greg Finn, and Christine “Shep” Zirnheld cover the SEO, PPC, and social media marketing news of the week.

Or, check us out on YouTube to experience our eye rolls first hand as we cover these top stories.

Google’s Rich Results Test out of beta

Google’s Rich Results Test now supports all Google Search rich results features and is officially out of beta.

The Rich Results Test tells webmasters if there are any errors or warnings on a page that prevent it from being shown as a rich result.

The tool also tells webmasters all the rich search features their page is eligible for, includes previews for both desktop and mobile results, and is fully aligned with Google Search Console reports.

Google will eventually phase out its Structured Data Testing Tool and recommends using the Rich Results Test to validate structured data.

New Google Responsive Display Ad options

Advertisers familiar with Google’s Responsive Display Ad format will notice new formatting options when setting up their ads.

By expanding the “additional format options” menu, advertisers can opt in to enable auto-generated videos, asset enhancements, and native formats.

All of these options are automatically enabled unless advertisers manually turn them off.

Thumbnail images spotted in Google Search Results

Google is testing thumbnail images in the main search results, as well as within the google suggest dropdown.

Not all listings are showing thumbnail images and Google hasn’t implicitly stated why, but marked-up featured images are appearing as thumbnails.  

This week’s take of the week comes from Gary Illyes, who is here to remind you that a perfect Lighthouse score does not make a perfect website.

I don't know whose bubble I'm gonna burst with this, but "achieving a SEO score 100" in Lighthouse just means that you can follow a handful of directions, not that you're great at SEO. But good job! pic.twitter.com/NtgNxOtwpb

— Gary 鯨理／경리 Illyes (@methode) July 6, 2020

ICYMI, Pamela Lund has a Twitter thread that PPC perfectionists won’t want to miss.

I am a perfectionist and an over-achiever. Recently I realized how that affects me mentally when I do client reports and how that affects my clients. If reports are stressful for you or you're a perfectionist, maybe this will help you. (1)

— Pamela Lund (@Pamela_Lund) July 7, 2020

Then, we’ll answer your digital marketing questions during our lighting round segment:

• Who is considering banning TikTok and other Chinese social media apps?
• What new YouTube feature can help you find the fastest, most dangerous way to crack a coconut?
• When might California pass an even stricter data protection law?
• Where you might see Amazon ads make a triumphant return
• Why YouTube creators need to double-check their mid-roll ad settings
• How can you use regular expressions to filter Search Console report results?

Plus, we’ll tell you about our worst mega bus experiences, condiment preferences, and where to find the best coupons for Gucci sneakers.

Head over to the Marketing O’Clock site to subscribe and find links to all of this week’s articles.

Featured Image Credit: Cypress North