eCommerce Express Digest - October 2023

With the Black Friday Sales period coming up we understand that you’re likely too busy to keep up with the latest Digital News, so we’ve put together some of the items that might affect or interest you. Keep reading for a snap-shot of eCommerce news for October!

More Google Search Updates

The Search Engine giant has rapid-fired out the algorithm updates recently in record succession. October saw the announcement on X (formally Twitter) of a Spam Update. This update specifically targeted, ‘cloaking, hacked, auto-generated, and scraped spam.’ If you’re not involved in these practices it shouldn’t affect you but it’s another reminder to keep your content unique and user-friendly.

One day after this, Google also announced a Core Update, the third this year. This was also confirmed on their Algorithm Index.

What’s the reason for the frequency of these rollouts? Harvey Canete, Head of SEO at Megantic, speculates that they’re to combat the recent rise of ‘parasite SEO’.

In other Search news….

Google has officially completed mobile-first indexing, a major shift in how websites are ranked in search results. This change took nearly 7 years to roll out fully! John Mueller (Search Advocate and Senior Search Analyst at Google) confirmed this on the Google Blog.

Bing Webmaster Tools Introduced the Comprehensive Performance Insights Reports.
This is a detailed performance insights and email report that aims to help webmasters track their site’s performance and SEO data more effectively. We have started receiving these – if you’re not set-up visit their website here. Find out more about this at SEO Roundtable.

Paid and Social Updates

X (formally Twitter) has partnered with the Google Display Network to expand its advertising reach, providing advertisers with more opportunities to reach their target audience. This is an opportunity to leverage the well-known campaign setup and targeting capabilities in Google AdWords to reach X’s large audience of over 200 million daily active users. It’s important to keep in mind that X does not follow the same stringent policies and procedures for ad placement, so there’s a chance a campaign will run alongside uncensored or even objectionable content.

YouTube has unveiled new audience insight tools to help content creators better understand their viewers, both new and returning, and enhance their content strategy.

Meta has introduced an ad-free version of Instagram and Facebook for users in Europe, offering an ad-free experience for a monthly fee.

Platform Updates

Field Data: Shopify has made one-page checkout the default option for its platform, streamlining the online shopping experience for customers and potentially improving conversion rates.

Shop Cash, a Shopify feature that provides rewards to customers, has expanded to the web, making it easier for online shoppers to earn and redeem rewards while shopping.

It certainly was a big month… with no major AI updates for the first time in a while. Think we’re forgotten to mention something important? Get in touch today!