Instagram is launching a mini-site full of new resources created to help small businesses get the most out of Instagram Shops.

Instagram Shops is a feature launched back in may that allows businesses to set up an online storefront for free.

Payments are facilitated through a number of e-commerce partners, but transactions can be completed without users leaving the Instagram app.

To help businesses navigate this new tool, and learn how to best utilize it with their Instagram page, a selection of resources are now available.

‘The Season for Shops’ Mini-Site

Instagram’s new mini-site is designed for businesses starting out with the platform’s shopping features for the first time.

Businesses with an intermediate or advanced level of experience may already be familiar with what these resources cover.

But let’s take a look at what’s inside just to be sure.

Setting Up Shop

Instagram provides step-by-step instructions for setting up a storefront.

Businesses will have to use Commerce Manager to complete the setup of their shop. Instructions are provided for that as well.

Help Guides

After setting up a shop on Instagram, businesses can browse a selection of help guides for information on what to do next.

Tagging
One of the basics of Instagram Shopping that businesses should be familiar with is tagging.

Tagging products in feed posts, stories, and live streams makes it easy for people to shop as soon as they discover your products.

Two guides are provided to help businesses learn more about tagging:

• Start tagging: A 19-page guide with detailed information on every type of product tag.
• Tag with purpose: A simple one-pager with the dos and don’ts of tagging.

Collections
Once businesses have tagged a number of their products they can start grouping products together in collections.

Users can browse through collections just like browsing through a product catalog on a website.

To make this especially easy for businesses, an 8-page guide is provided with all the details on creating collections.

Shopping Ads
Businesses looking to invest some money in their Instagram storefront can look into shopping ads.

Again, the storefront itself is free to set up. Shopping ads are something extra businesses can use to reach a bigger audience.

Three guides are provided to assist businesses with Instagram shopping ads:

• Holiday shopping ads strategy: A one-page guide with recommendations specific to the holiday season.
• Set up shopping ads: A 9-page guide with information on what shopping ads are, how to set them up, and how to measure their success.
• Custom shopping audiences: A 7-page guide with information on how to target ads using custom audiences and lookalike audiences.

See all of Instagram’s guides in full in the new ‘Season for Shops’ mini-site.

Someone asked John Mueller on a Google Office Hours hangout if just changing a web design layout can affect rankings. Mueller answered right away and without any ambiguity. He said yes, it could affect rankings.

What might make that answer surprising to some is that the content and URL structure remained the same. But a web design layout comes with considerations that can impact on-page ranking factors.

Mueller’s explanation of why changing the web design layout could impact search rankings makes sense and is something to consider before making any changes to how a website looks.

This is the question that was asked:

“I recently changed the layout look and feel of my blog and moved away from WordPress. And now using Hugo static site generator for publishing my posts.

Does the change in layout impact my ranking and search results?

On a side note, there’s no change in the content and the URL structure. It’s still the same as before.”

Ordinarily the general answer would be that no, it doesn’t make a difference. But actually there are important factors related to a new web layout that must be considered.

This is what Mueller said:

“Changing the layout of your pages can affect your search results.

This is something that some people work on actively as well with regards to on-page SEO.

So things like figuring out how to use titles properly on a page, how to do internal linking properly, how to provide more context for the article itself.

All of this can definitely affect SEO.”

Most web layouts, out of the box, will need to be updated to make it be how you want it to be. Even a web layout that is labeled as “SEO friendly” is going to need updates to the CSS and the how various HTML elements are styled and used.

For example it is very common for web templates to use heading elements for styling side-bar navigational elements.

John Mueller continued his answer:

“So just because the… kind of the primary content like the blog posts that you have and the URLs themselves don’t change doesn’t mean that there’s nothing else around all of that, that search engines won’t be able to pick up on.

It can definitely affect SEO. And it can be a good thing, it can be a bad thing.

So it’s not that you need to avoid making these changes but rather when you make these changes make sure to double check that you’re kind of doing everything really well.”

That’s good advice. Updating a web design can be a scary thing. I’ve done it and not lost rankings. That may be because I stripped away what I thought was superfluous bells and whistles, added templated structured data that auto-fills etc. in order to make the template behave like I want it to behave.

I don’t think I’ve ever met a template that didn’t need to have every icon and navigational image optimized for size and color. Making a web layout more intuitive seems like something that every template needs improvement on.

Updating a web design layout can be very much like starting all over again. In my experience it is useful to become acquainted with the stylesheets and the underlying code so that you can formulate a plan of what you want to remove, what you will keep and what needs to be changed.

Watch John Mueller answer the question here:

In a Google Office Hours SEO hangout Google Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller answered how Google handles links that don’t have anchor text. In a follow up question he answered if text surrounding those kinds of links have an effect.

What are Naked Links?

There are many kinds of links, including branded links, keyword optimized links, nofollowed links, etc. This question was about a type of link that is referred to as a naked link.

A naked link is a link that is in the form of the URL.

Here’s an example of how a “naked” link would look on a web page:

https://www.example.com

Here’s how the HTML would look for the above link:

<a href="https://www.example.com">https://www.example.com</a>

How Does Google Handle Links Without Anchor Text?

The question asked was within the context of auditing the inbound links of client sites and noticing that certain links are coded as naked links.

The SEO asking the question wanted to know how Google processed those links.

This is the question:

“When auditing links for my clients websites I see some naked URLs that are pointing to valuable resources on the site.

How does Google treat such links when there’s no anchor text?”

John Mueller Answers How Google Handles a Bare URL

John Mueller began his answer by defining what a naked URL is.

“I think by naked URL it’s basically just someone is linking with the URL as the anchor text.”

Next, Mueller states how Google handles a bare link that does not have an anchor text.

“…in that situation we treat that URL as the anchor text.

From what I understand, our systems do try to recognize this and say well, this is just a URL that is linked, it’s not that there’s a valuable anchor here.

So we can take this into account as a link but we can’t really use that anchor text for anything in particular.

So from that point of view it’s a normal link but we don’t have any context there.”

Related: Advanced Approach to Selecting Anchor Text

Keywords in URL for Anchor Text

That’s interesting that Mueller said there is no context in a naked link. What makes it interesting is that there is a school of thought that in the absence of an anchor text that the keywords in the URL might provide Google some information and function like an anchor text.

Mueller’s answer seemed to contradict that idea or at least to not affirm it. Might make a good follow up question.

Can Surrounding Text and Topic Influence Links?

At this point someone else asked a follow up question about the text that surrounds the naked link and if that might play a role.

“Can Google kind of get context for like the text around that link, maybe if it doesn’t have any?”

John Mueller nodded his head in affirmation and said,

“Sure. But that’s more kind of secondary. Like that really strong piece of context from the anchor text that’s missing in that case.

And then like small things around the side, that does help us a little bit… but really the kind of the primary aspect of that link is kind of gone.

And I mean usually that doesn’t matter. It’s not that it counts against your website in any way.

It’s just… well for this particular link we don’t really know what the context is.”

The person asking the follow up question repeated his question, this time asking if the content around the link or topic of the article might play a role.

Mueller answered:

“Yeah, yeah… I mean that’s something we do definitely take into account but it’s very secondary.

…I mean there’s no kind of like value of strength for the context there but I’d say it’s like that anchor text is really obvious and we can collect that and we can look at that overall and… kind of the context of the linking pages is something well… it’s like we also need to think about at some point.

But the anchor text is really kind of the primary thing.”

Annotation Text and Links by Bill Slawski

Bill Slawski wrote a fascinating article in 2019 about a patent that was updated to include a scenario that was about using text that surrounds a link (Add to Your Style Guide Annotation Text: Anchor Text Indexing).

Bill Slawski’s article noted:

“One of the noticeable things that is new in the claims in this continuation patent is the mention of Annotation text, within a certain distance from anchor text for a link, which could influence what a page that is being linked to maybe about. “

The article about the patent describes a process where the words immediately surrounding a link could give more meaning to that link, particularly links with anchor text like the word “here” that are frequently used to link to other sites.

The article didn’t suggest that Google was using these signals and neither did Mueller.

However it was interesting to watch Mueller referring to the context around a link as being “secondary” although he did not elaborate on what he meant by secondary.

I messaged Bill Slawski via Facebook Messenger about what Mueller said.

This is what Bill said about it:

“One of the claims from the new version of the patent does state clearly that:

“wherein the annotation includes text outside of an anchor tag in the source document.”

So that patent is referring to text that is not included as anchor text in between HTML anchor tags, but is a reference to text within a window around anchor text.

There are two kinds of links:

1. Links that use anchor elements
2. Links that use link elements.

That claim 7 from the new version of the patent is an addition and it specifically states that the annotation text is outside of the anchor text:

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the annotation includes text outside of an anchor tag in the source document.” “

What We Learned About Google and Naked Links

Mueller affirmed that there is no disadvantage to links coded without anchor text. He affirmed that anchor text is a strong signal.

But he also somewhat downplayed the use of surrounding text or page topic as a way to give more meaning to a naked link, saying that yes Google used it but that it was “very secondary.”

A Pew Research Center study finds about a quarter of US adults get news from YouTube, including a mix of independent and established organizations.

Of the people who get news from YouTube, 59% say it’s an important way to get news, while 13% say it’s the most important way they get their news.

When it comes to the types of YouTube channels people are consuming news from, it’s a nearly even split between independent journalists (42%) and established news outlets (49%).

The study is further evidence of a shift toward non-traditional outlets as sources of news.

It’s clear this shift started years ago. This is not a sudden change by any means, it’s just now there’s more data coming out to quantify the shift in user behavior.

For example, Reuters published a study this past June in which it discovered Instagram is set to overtake Twitter as a news source.

As marketers, and as users of the web in general, it’s important to be aware of these changes in use patterns.

Instagram never set out to become a source of breaking news, and it’s fair to say the same of YouTube.

Now it’s different. Users’ intent is evolving every time they log in to these platforms.

So let’s catch up with where they’re at and learn more about the evolution of YouTube as a news source.

Why is YouTube growing as a source of news?

To understand why YouTube is growing as a source of news, Pew Research asked survey respondents to explain its appeal in their own words.

Among the responses were access to news outside the mainstream, and the variety of views and opinions available.

Of those who say YouTube is one of their news sources, 51% say they’re looking for commentary and opinions, while 48% say they’re looking for objective reporting.

Personality-driven content with opinionated commentary certainly thrives on YouTube. That’s one thing that has remained constant for as long as the platform has been online.

66% of users who watch news on YouTube say it helps them better understand current events.

So there’s something to be said for using commentary videos as a way to make complex topics easier to understand.

Perhaps that could apply to more than just news content?

Analysis of news content on YouTube

As part of this study, Pew Research conducted a content analysis to discover the types of news videos performing well on YouTube.

Of the 377 most popular YouTube news channels:

• 22% are associated with TV stations (CNN, NBC, CBS, etc.)
• 14% are affiliated with digital-native news outlets (such as BuzzFeed News and Vox).
• 8% are affiliated with print outlets (such as The New York Times and USA Today).
• 9% are affiliated with other types of organizations (such as government entities and advocacy groups).
• 42% are independent channels with no clear affiliation to an external entity.

This puts into perspective the influence independent creators have on YouTube. It’s still a platform where independent voices can be heard.

Whether that’s a good thing or not is up for debate, however, as the content produced by each type of channel varies considerably.

When it comes to news content, independent channels lean toward conspiracy theories while established outlets are more likely to report facts.

That suits the YouTube audience perfectly fine, because just as many users say they’re looking for facts as they are opinions.

What that says about the collective conscious of society is not for me to comment on. I’m just here to report on how people are using YouTube in 2020.

For a deeper analysis, see the full 3-part study here.

All rich results in Google SERPs are not created equal – at least not when it comes to click-through rate – a new study finds.

Milestone Research analyzed over 4.5 million queries to find users click on rich results 58% of the time, compared to a CTR of 41% for non-rich results.

Perhaps it’s not shocking that users are more likely to click on rich results compared to regular organic results.

What is eye opening about this study is how much CTR can vary depending on the type of rich result.

For some types of rich results the CTR can jump as high as 87%.

The study also looks at branded versus non-branded results and which is likely to generate more clicks.

Here are some takeaways from the study that can help marketers earn more clicks from organic search results.

Google SERP Study: Key Takeaways

The average CTR of all rich and standard results on page one is 49.5%.

That means roughly half of all searches will lead to a click on an organic result.

The remaining 50.5% is comprised of no-click searches, clicks on paid ads, and voice searches.

As mentioned, rich results have an above-average CTR of 58%, and non-rich results fall below average at 41%.

Rich results with branded keyboards tend to do slightly better with a CTR of 60%.

Two types of rich results, AMP and FAQ, are analyzed individually in more detail.

AMP = Highest & Lowest CTR

AMP is simultaneously responsible for both the highest and lowest CTR included in the study.

Non-rich AMP results generate the greatest amount of clicks per 100 searches, with a CTR of 92%.

AMP articles, on the other hand, have the lowest CTR of only 15%.

An AMP article is the rich version of an AMP result. So it’s far more beneficial to get an AMP article indexed in standard results compared to the top stories carousel.

FAQ = Highest Performing Rich Result

FAQ rich results, including branded and non-branded keywords, have an average CTR of 87%.

Milestone Research says that’s the highest of any rich result type studied.

If you take branded keywords out of the equation, the CTR for FAQ rich results climbs to 91%.

Video Rich Results Also Perform Well

Video thumbnails are showing up in more than a quarter of search results, according to the study.

The CTR for video rich results, including brand and non-brand keywords, is 62% making it one of the top performing rich result types.

In contrast to FAQ rich results, videos get more clicks in Google Search when there’s brand keywords in the query.

The CTR for video rich results with brand keywords is 65%, compared to 50% for results without brand keywords.

Milestone Research notes that videos in Google’s thumbnail carousel come from YouTube over half the time, making it the top recommended platform to upload videos.

In Summary

An effective strategy for implementing structured data, and earning rich results in the process, has the potential to double your performance in organic search results.

For more information on how to implement FAQ structured data, and on structured data in general, see the resources below:

Download the full study here.

Facebook Ads announced today it’s retiring its 28-day attribution window option. After they do, the longest remaining attribution window will be their already-existing 7-day option.

Why the Change?

According to their official announcement sent directly to advertisers, “Upcoming digital privacy initiatives affecting multiple browsers will limit business’s ability to measure people’s interactions across domains and devices. Among those limitations is the ability for businesses to attribute conversion events back to an ad over longer attribution windows.”

The email does not cite the specific privacy initiatives causing the change.

“Upcoming digital privacy initiatives affecting multiple browsers will limit business’s ability to measure people’s interactions across domains and devices. Among those limitations is the ability for businesses to attribute conversion events back to an ad over longer attribution windows.” – Facebook’s official announcement

The email also explains this will make advertising more “resilient” for future privacy and browser changes. Though they don’t explicitly say it, this likely referencing Chrome’s intention to eliminate third-party cookies in the next two years.

Chrome’s initial steps were going to be taken in the spring, but were delayed due to Covid-19.

When Will the 28-day Window Be Gone?

The changes take effect October 12th, in just a couple weeks. All historical data is available until that date. Facebook recommends advertisers download any relevant data tied to the 28-day attribution model prior to that date.

Understanding 28-day Attribution’s Role In Your Account

If advertisers use the standard attribution window for Facebook, that will affect their future results. By default, Facebook has used a 28-day click attribution model unless an advertiser changes it to 7-day or 1-day.

Advertisers can use the “compare windows” feature to get a sense of how heavily their results skewed towards the 28-day mark. This is an option towards the bottom when a user chooses to customize their column view:

Clicking on it displays the option to choose the attribution window, along with comparing it to the default window:

Update Rules Tied to 28-day Attribution

If advertisers have any automated rules that rely on the 28-day attribution model, those should be updated.

This is particularly true for any rules regulating spend and budget based on 28-day performance. Once gone on October 12th, the rule will revert to the 7-day model. This could impact spending.

Does This Apply to the Facebook Ads API?

Yes, though they will not enforce it on October 12th. As a workaround, the API will continue to supply the 28-day attribution data until the browser limitations officially hit.

Facebook stresses the 7-day attribution model is a more realistic view of ad impact, downplaying the role or weight a 28-day attribution should be given. (Interesting, given that its been their default for so many years.)

The Future of Privacy & Ads

As privacy measures continue to move forward, there will no doubt be future changes.

Advertisers are also recently feeling the pinch from the disappearance of search query data by Google Ads recently, with brands bracing for what the future will mean for their paid ads.

Many will continue to watch Facebook even more closely, as their history of issues surrounding privacy measures have been the most visible to the public.