Welcome to the winter edition, of what is now becoming a monthly roundup of what I consider to be some of the best SEO and internet marketing article. Without much ado, here are some of the most exciting and informative articles I came across during the month of February 2020.
“Everything You Need To Know About The Google Featured Snippet Deduplication Change” by Barry Schwartz on SE Round Table.
- Featured snippets are now part of the main organic search results
- Featured snippets are counted as the first position
- Google removes that URL from showing elsewhere in the core search results when it is displayed in the featured snippets
- Images in featured snippets are not deduplicated if that URL is different from the text version of the featured snippet
- Refined featured snippets, the ones that let you filter down more with bubbles, people also ask or other refinements are not deduplicated
- Top stories, image carousels, local listings, and other vertical search integrations are not deduplicated either because they are not featured snippets
- Normal knowledge panels, direct answers and so on are also not deduplicated
- Right side featured snippets were deduplicated, now they are not
- Right side featured snippets will eventually move to the top left position
- To opt out of featured snippets try using the max-snippet control and reduce the size of your snippet so Google cannot show it anymore. If you use the nosnippet tag, you won’t have a snippet in the core web results, so use max-snippet.
- This does not impact your Search Console performance reports
- This deduplication change rolled out on Wednesday, January 22, 2020
“Google’s January 2020 Core Update: Has the Dust Settled?” by Dr. Peter J. Meyers on Moz blog.
- How does it compare to other updates?
- Which verticals were hit hardest?
- Who won and who lost this time?
- What can we do about any of this?
“5 Content and SEO Trends that Will Dominate in 2020” by Julia McCoy on Quick Sprout blog.
- Optimizing Content for Voice Search
- Using More Long-Tail Keywords in More Targeted Content
- Meeting Google’s E-A-T Standards with Exceptional Niche Content
- Shining a Spotlight on SEO-Ready Imagery for Rich Content
- Including Interactive Content
“Just 45% of SEO Specialists Feel Their Job is Secure” by Matt Southern on Search Engine Journal.
“7 Best HubSpot Alternatives 2020 – (Tried & Reviewed)” on emailvendorselection blog.
- SharpSpring
- Omnisend
- Automizy
- MagNews
- ActiveCampaign
- GetResponse
- Act-On
“Ecommerce Trends 2020: 9 Emerging Opportunities” by Tina Eaton on plytix blog.
- Amazon Reigns Supreme… Or Does It?
- Omnichannel Is the New Standard
- Personalization Is Going Deeper and Deeper
- The Shipping Wars Will Escalate
- Ecommerce Globalization Will Require Localizing Product Content
- Artificial Intelligence Will Continue to Shape Ecommerce Opportunities
- Inboxes Will Become the New Browsers
- Voice Search Optimization Will Be More Important than Ever
- Reality Will Become Even More Subjective
- 2020’s Top Ecommerce Trends Require PIM Solutions
“7 Ways Your Brand Can Use Tik Tok” by Sam Makad on thenextscoop blog.
- Fun Choreographed Dance Videos
- Demos
- Training/Step-By-Step Videos
- Duets
- #Challenges
- Jump onto Trends
- Keep it Positive
“13 Free Guest Posting Sites You Should Submit To (For Visibility & Traffic)” by Saima Siddiqui on myhq blog.
- myHQ Digest
- YourStory
- Youth Ki Awaaz
- ShoutMeLoud
- com
- OutBrain
- The Huffington Post
- About
- HubSpot
- Mashable
- Investopedia
- Moz
- Thought Catalog
“10 must-known marketing analytics trends for 2020” by Maryna Sharapa and Olha Diachuk on owox blog.
- Global analytics trends
- Forecast for the analytics domain
- Increasing number of marketing analytics tools
- Growing importance of data ethics, access, and security
- AI and ML adoption
- Misunderstanding of what being data-driven means
- Trends in marketing analytics skills
- Growing demand for technical skills among marketers
- Mixing of marketer and analyst roles in practice
- Unique opinions of specialists
- Christopher Penn on the skills gap between specialists coming from top schools and the demands of employers
- Tim Wilson on tracking challenges, customer data platforms, and digital analytics diversity in 2020
- Damion Brown on two instruments replacing Google Analytics, a new tool that blends creativity and logic, and ethical challenges of 2020
“The 10 Best Productivity Apps Every Content Marketer Needs” by Thom James Carter on process blog.
- The best productivity apps for brainstorming #1: Milanote
- The best productivity apps for brainstorming #2: Evernote
- The best productivity apps for brainstorming #3: Keywords Everywhere
- The best productivity apps for focus #1: Focus Keeper
- The best productivity apps for focus #2: Calm
- The best productivity apps for creation #1: iA Writer
- The best productivity apps for creation #2: Grammarly
- The best productivity apps for creation #3: Canva
- The best apps for general productivity #1: Google Keep
- The best apps for general productivity #2: Trello
Thank you for reading. Please leave a comment below or contact me through this form or via my Twitter account. Your feedback is most welcomed.