On November 17, 2021, Google began rolling out the November 2021 core update, this came about four and a half months after the July 2021 core update, which was a month or so after the June 2021 core update. So we had a total of three broad Google core updates in 2021.

We asked several data companies that track Google’s search results to send us impressions of this update. The results from this data showed that this rollout hit hard within the first 24 hours of the announcement and then slowed fast. Keep in mind, Google has not confirmed that this update is done rolling out yet. Most reports show that there are signs that the November 2021 update was more substantial than the July 2021 update.

The facts. Google began rolling out the November 2021 core update at around 11am on November 17, 2021. This update has not finished yet and is still rolling out as far as we know. We do however expect that the bulk of the impact of this update has been felt in the first day or so after this update, although there may be some residual affects that linger on for the next week or so. The timing of this November core update has a lot of us feeling a bit blind-sighted, as it was released right before the busiest time for most e-commerce sites.

The July 2021 core update started to roll out at around noon on July 1, 2021 and completed on July 12, 2021. The June 2021 core update, as we previously reported, started to roll out around 6:30pm ET on Wednesday, June 2nd. Like all core updates, this was a global update and was not specific to any region, language or category of web sites. It is a classic “broad core update” that Google releases every several months or so. The previous core update before the back-to-back June and July core update combo, was just shy of a six-month wait period, where the December 2020 core update took place on Dec. 3rd.

Other Google updates this year.  This year we had a number of confirmed updates from Google and many that were not confirmed by Google. In the most recent order, we had the July 2021 core update, Google MUM rolled out in June for COVID names and was lightly expanded for some features in September (but unrelated MUM is unrelated to core updates), then the June 28 spam update, the June 23rd spam update, the Google page experience update, the Google predator algorithm update, the June 2021 core update, the July 2021 core update, the July link spam update, and the November spam update then a few unconfirmed updates.

Previous core updates. The most recent previous core update was the July 2021 core update which was quick to roll out (kind of like this one) followed by the June 2021 core update and that update was slow to roll out but a big one. Then we had the  December 2020 core update ands the December update was very big, bigger than the May 2020 core update, and that update was also big and broad and took a couple of weeks to fully roll out. Before that was the January 2020 core update, we had some analysis on that update over here. The one prior to that was the September 2019 core update. That update felt weaker to many SEOs and webmasters, as many said it didn’t have as big of an impact as previous core updates. Google also released an update in November, but that one was specific to local rankings. You can read more about past Google updates over here.

Data providers on the November 2021 core update:

Semrush. Semrush data showed that the November 2021 core update hit hard and then slowed very quickly in terms of its volatility tracker, as screen captured below or you can view live at the the Semrush Sensor tool.

“This is similar to how the July update rolled out but the return to “normal” levels of fluctuations was even more dramatic here (i.e., less of a “slow down” period compared even to July),” Mordy Oberstein from Semrush told us.

The November update was “far more volatile” than what we saw back in July core update, the company told us. Specifically the November update was 12% more volatile than July core update on the desktop search results and 23% more volatile on mobile search results. So when digging into this update, make sure to check your mobile results, not just your desktop results.

Here is a chart plotting the different between the November and July 2021 core updates by sector:

You can see how the health sector saw 41% more volatility on both desktop & mobile in November 2021 core update than it did back in July 2021 core update. Often, the health sector is more impacted by core updates than some other sectors.

Even more so, 16% of the top 20 results were not listed in the Google Search results prior to the November update. Meaning, 16% of the ranking URLs between positions 1-20 ranked worse than position 20 prior to the update, Semrush said.

And here is a chart of the winners and losers from this November 2021 core update from Semrush:

RankRanger. The RankRanger team also analyzed the Google search results after this November core update rollout. They also found that this update rolled out pretty quickly, although it may not be done yet. Shay Harel from RankRanger said “this update shows similar levels of fluctuations to the July Core update.” But he said this is when you look at the the top three and top ten results. However, the top five results showed substantially higher fluctuations, Shay Harel told us. They also noticed that average changes over the top 20 positions the company saw slightly lower levels than the July core update update.

This chart below shows the changes based on top 3, top 5 and top 10 results:

Also, if you look at the health, finance, retail and travel niches, RankRanger is showing fairly even fluctuations, with the exception of the retail niche. It seems retail saw greater fluctuations in the top three and top five positions, the company told me.

Here is a chart that shows that:

SISTRIX. The folks at SISTRIX, another data provider that tracks the changes in the Google search results sent me their top 20 winners and losers for the November 2021 core update.

Here is a chart comparing some of the websites competing in the dictionary space, seems like these four really saw some big gains with this update:

seoClarity. Mitul Gandhi from seoClarity told us that there is a “large amount of fluctuation lasting a few days,” which he said is common with most Google core updates. The seoClarity team shared some of the biggest changes they saw across some big brands.

For example in the e-commerce niche, Wayfair and eBay stood out to seoClarity with the initial data from November 16th compared to November 18th analysis as having significant drops. But there was a bounce back shortly after for some reason with Wayfair and eBay. Here is a graph from seoClarity of Wayfair’s search visibility:

Walmart and HomeDepot have seen their keywords in top three positions in Google Search increase by 10% and 19% respectively, “boding well for their holiday season,” Mitul Gandhi said. Bed Bath and Beyond saw a 45% jump in their top three positions in Google Search. But those top retailers selling footwear saw a drop, specifically Zappos lost 23% of their top 3 rankings while DSW lost 25%.

In other areas outside of e-commerce, Booking.com saw the strongest improvements in rankings in the seoClairty data set. Between 11/16 and 11/21 they are ranking for around 18,000 more keywords in the top three positions in Google Search. Whereas Skyscanner was the notable decline in travel, losing 23% of their keywords in top 3 positions. SnagaJob.com seems to have lost 60% of their top 3 rankings while SimplyHired.com lost 19%. Car and Driver lost 11% of its keywords in top 3 positions. And Pinterest lost 13% of its top 3 rankings, while Etsy gained 19% in top 3 positions.

Mitul Gandhi from seoClarity told us “don’t panic! Initial fluctuations are not where many will end up as Wayfair and Ebay have shown.” Mitual Gandhi also shared some early data on Twitter this past Friday, but the data above is fresher from its data set.

More on the November 2021 core update

The SEO community. The November 2021 core update like I said above was felt fast and hard. Not just in terms of the ranking impact but the timing. I was able to cover the community reaction in one blog post on the Search Engine Roundtable. It includes some of the early chatter, ranking charts and social shares from some SEOs.

What to do if you are hit. Google has given advice on what to consider if you are negatively impacted by a core update in the past. There aren’t specific actions to take to recover, and in fact, a negative rankings impact may not signal anything is wrong with your pages. However, Google has offered a list of questions to consider if your site is hit by a core update. Google did say you can see a bit of a recovery between core updates but the biggest change you would see would be after another core update.

Why we care. It is often hard to isolate what you need to do to reverse any algorithmic hit your site may have seen. When it comes to Google core updates, it is even harder to do so. If this data and previous experience and advice has shown us is that these core updates are broad, wide and cover a lot of overall quality issues. The data above has reinforced this to be true. So if your site was hit by a core update, it is often recommended to step back from it all, take a wider view of your overall web site and see what you can do to improve the site overall.

We hope you, your company and your clients did well with this update.

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Google’s responsive search ads (RSAs) have existed alongside the original expanded text ads (ETAs) since May 2018, giving marketers more formats for their campaigns. Since then, RSAs have not only become the default, but are set to be the sole text ad format going forward.

“As we’ve suspected, RSAs will become the only ad format that you’re going to be able to use, at least as far as a plain text ad,” said Frederick Vallaeys, co-founder and CEO of PPC management software company Optmyzr, in his session at SMX Next.

Marketers would be wise to start optimizing RSAs to stay ahead of their competitors. Here are four tactics Vallaeys recommends marketers use to improve their effectiveness.

Use more headline variants

Headline variants can allow marketers to use more keywords, which can enable their RSAs to reach more potential customers.

“If you give Google more variations then the CTR goes up because they’re able to show the right ad to the right user at the right time,” said Vallaeys.

However, spikes in CTR don’t necessarily correlate with increased conversion rates. Data shows they actually decrease with more headlines.

Fortunately, adding more headlines also increases total impressions as it gives Google more flexibility to create the ideal ad for each situation, leading to more impressions per RSA.

“Conversion rate seems to go down the more variety you introduce,” Vallaeys said, “But at the end of the day, the thing we care about is impressions and conversions per ad unit.”

“We recommend taking full advantage of all the flexibility Google gives you, using those 15 headline variations and all the descriptions as well,” he added.

Analyze asset labels

Google Ads’ asset labels show which assets are performing well and which assets you should replace after the RSAs serve. Vallaeys recommends watching these assets for two weeks, then replacing those that are underperforming.

“This is when you open up your RSA and you look at the different headlines and description lines,” said Vallaeys.

“This label they [Google] give you is based on actual performance,” he added, “So it’s a good thing to optimize against.”

Review combination reports

The combinations report show marketers what ad combinations are served up most often. These can provide marketers with insights into how Google’s optimization algorithms are working — and whether any mistakes have been made.

“It’s a good thing to look at to make sure there’s no crazy ad text combinations,” Vallaeys said. “If you’ve used a number of headlines, Google could put it together and all of the sudden it says something you’re not happy with. This is a great place to see what are the most common combinations of ads that Google serves.”

The assets in these reports should be reviewed to see how many impressions they’re receiving as well. If certain assets receive low impressions, it might be time to replace them.

Put smart bidding automation in place

Marketers should combine automation to help prevent ads from showing up to the wrong groups, Vallaeys says.

“If you’re doing manual bidding and letting Google show your RSAs to less-likely-to-convert audience members, then that’s problematic because your manual bids are not going to handle that,” said Vallaeys.

“But if you combine smart bidding with Google automatically showing the right ad — even doing a little bit more broad match — you can get good results,” he added.

This tactic is backed up by search data as well. Marketers who switch from ETAs to RSAs, using the same assets, in campaigns that use broad match and smart bidding see an average of 20% more conversions at a similar cost per conversion, according to Google.

A mix and match approach to bidding like this can help marketers get the most out of Google’s automation. And, the ability to use A/B testing within the RSAs can help achieve the desired results. If automation is the future of search ads, marketers would be wise to use Google’s machine learning systems to their fullest extent.

Watch the full SMX Next presentation here (registration required).

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Advertisers can now create campaigns, review Search trends and view more explanations with performance insights in the Google Ads mobile app, the company announced Friday.

Why we care. The new mobile app features enable greater flexibility for SMBs and PPC practitioners to keep tabs on their campaigns or make adjustments from anywhere.

Search trends on mobile can enable advertisers to quickly identify popular searches that may be relevant to their business. And, advertisers can immediately act on that information since they’re now able to create campaigns within the mobile app.

And, the performance insights explanations can help advertisers identify the causes behind performance fluctuations, even the positive fluctuations. This can help them understand what worked so that they can repeat those tactics in the future.

Create campaigns from anywhere. Advertisers can now create Search campaigns directly in the Google Ads mobile app by tapping the plus icon on the bottom-right of their screen, as shown below.

Advertisers can select a campaign type, where they would like their ads to appear as well as adjust other campaign settings.

Search trends in the mobile app. This feature shows advertisers trends insights for products and services relevant to their business. Tapping on a Search trend shows popular searches associated with that particular trend — a grocery store might see a trend for “pies & tarts” with growing searches for “pumpkin pie,” Google provided as an example. 

Advertisers can create custom notifications to alert them when new search trends are relevant to their account. And, recommendations may also accompany search trends.

More explanations in performance insights. Advertisers can now see explanations based on changes to their bid and budget strategies as well as shifts in search interest. Performance insights for positive performance changes are also now available.

Recommendations may also appear in your performance insights as well.

The post Campaign creation, search trends and performance insights explanations arrive on Google Ads mobile app appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Email is a powerful marketing tool. And email with signatures can be a great way to add a personal touch. If you’re new to email signatures, you may be wondering what they are and why your brand needs them. And if you use corporate signatures already, you may not be getting the most out of them right now. In this post, you’ll get the lowdown on email signatures and what you stand to gain by including this highly underestimated but powerful solution in your marketing mix.

Email signatures are not new

Email signatures have been around for a long time, and businesses and individuals widely use them. Professional email signature makes your email messages look formal and helps you build trust with your clients.

Email signature may seem old, but it comes with a lot of exciting benefits. Social media is a great option for many B2B marketers. However, it is not a replacement for the email marketing channel.

There are three times more individual email accounts than both Facebook and Twitter social media profiles combined. That’s not all. You are six times more likely to get a click-through from email than on Twitter.

Every brand should therefore leverage email signature solutions to increase the effectiveness of their business communication.

Do you use email signatures and know the many benefits that come with them? Here are ten important reasons you should give professional email signatures more attention than ever before.

1. Get the best out of every email you send out

Email, as a one-to-one communication channel, remains popular with individuals, brands and employees simply because:

• It works and is still highly relevant!
• It’s easy to use, accessible and highly effective when sending messages from one person to the other.
• Email has long been a go-to one-on-one communication channel for individuals and will continue to be so in future years.

Professional email signatures help you make the most out of every email you send out. Your recipients would sometimes forward or share the message you send to them.

Think of how many people your employees reach out to daily. Leveraging email signature means you add more avenues to drive more sales and increase revenue for your business.

2. Make the first good and professional impression

Your email signature is the first opportunity you have to make the first good impression as a business.

• Including a signature in every outgoing message makes you stand out from the crowd.
• It makes your messages look more professional than when you don’t have one.
• Email signatures make it possible to use personalized, targeted and non-intrusive banners to promote your brand and products.

Your email signature is a branding tool that can make a long-lasting impression. It’s a great place to put your company logo, website, social media handles, blog URL or even an appointment scheduler link to make it easier for your customers to connect with you.

3. Boost your brand identity and awareness

Each time you send an email without including an email signature, you throw away opportunities to promote your brand to a cold and warm audience via corporate signature.

Your email signature works like your business card. Instead of handing over your card around, your professional signature would do the job of introducing you and how people can reach you. Isn’t that an exciting feature you should include to position your brand for better visibility?

The signature also establishes your credibility and increases your value before the recipients.

You can choose to keep your email signature simple by adding only the company logo and a link to your business website. You can also add more information, such as new offers or upcoming events. Your email signatures keep your recipients informed and let prospects know what to do next.

4. Higher response rate

The number of email users will grow to 4.3 billion by 2023. That’s over half of the world population. Email helps you reach people anywhere they are at any time of the day. One-to-one email communication has proven to be the best over the years. It delivers optimal results and gives a higher delivery rate.

Consequently, you cannot afford to have your employees use different email signatures.

• Create customized email signatures to promote your brand’s values.
• Professional and consistent email signatures will help you cement the trust of your customers.

Thanks to signature centralization and automation tools, it is possible to distribute targeted signatures to all employees in one click.

5. Quick access to your contact information

As communication becomes increasingly digital, the email signature remains an essential tool for any business. Corporate signature gives people you’ve reached out to unfettered access to your contact details.

Email signature provides you with a unique opportunity to include your primary contact details, such as your phone number, at the end of your message.

If your contact needs to reach you quickly, a reference to the previous email will provide the information necessary without unnecessary delay.

You can also include your social media handles so that your contact will have more avenues of reaching out to you.

6. Generate new leads to your business

You can quickly scale your email outreach by sharing engaging email banners and non-salesy marketing links.

An email signature provides a great way to quickly inform the reader about your company, contact information, and mission statement.

It gives you a chance to promote other business ventures and to generate new leads.

7. Improve your email marketing campaigns

The professional email signature is a simple but powerful tool that any business can use to improve its marketing, advertising and branding efforts.

It is an integral part of your email as it gives a complete picture of your business.

With the help of professional email signatures, you can send more targeted one-on-one email messages to employees and clients.

For instance, you can customize your email signatures to suit the needs of the recipient.

Email signature solutions allow you to have a variety of signatures that you can choose from depending on what you want your recipients to know.

Email signature is a simple but a smart way to keep your brand name in your customers’ minds.

8. Improve internal communication

Utilizing email signatures for your business will make internal communication more consistent and extremely powerful. A professional email signature is a unique but brilliant solution for standardizing employee internal email communications.

Business signatures will not only make your internal communication formal, but they also open many opportunities for personalization among the employees and management.

You can use an email signature to customize your closing by including a personalized link at the bottom of your email.

The solution is brilliant and makes it easy for any organization to boost employee engagement, advertise new roles, share internal surveys or suggestion boxes, and distribute specific banners internally.

9. Test and measure the performance of your email signatures

It may never cross your mind that you can test new creative with your corporate email signature. But that is another golden opportunity for you!

An email signature marketing platform provides a fantastic tool and easy way for brand and marketing managers to quickly and easily test new creative, such as CTA, theme, banner, and much more.

Like every other digital marketing channel, you can track the metrics and KPIs of your corporate emails.

10. Build brand loyalty and engagement with every email you send

When people hand over their email to you, they give you access to their email inbox so you can exchange messages and vital information.

Marketing Charts affirmed that:

• About 7 out of every ten US email users prefer that businesses and individuals reach out to them by email.
• Email is the top preference for users in the United States. 

Email is undoubtedly the most personal medium and access you can ever have to build brand loyalty and engagement.

The email signature should be every marketer’s secret weapon to strengthen brand image and increase brand visibility.  It is a highly effective and non-invasive way to engage prospects and customers but is usually under-utilized by most marketers and businesses.

Stop losing opportunities to market your brand

Are you a marketer or a brand that is yet to start harnessing the power of email signatures? It is high time you tapped the enormous benefits of corporate email signatures.

Take advantage of professional email signature solutions to get your branding and marketing message before a target audience who has permitted you to message them.

You have nothing to lose by including your email signature in every outbound email message. But your business has a lot more to gain by strategically positioning your brand for better conversions and engagements.

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