First Thing Monday – July 3 2017

7 years ago
/ News
/ By SureFire

There’s always plenty happening in the fast-moving world of online search and advertising. Here’s a summary of key things that caught our eye last week…

1) Google to stop reading your personal emails

Are you like many Gmail users who feel uncomfortable about Google scanning the content of your emails to personalise the advertisements they show you in Gmail?

This advertising funds the free service, but none-the-less feels creepy. The good news is that while Google will continue to show advertising, ads will no longer be personalised based on the content of your emails. Read more…

2) The latest YouTube stats on audience demographics [You may be surprised]

There’s a lot of misconceptions about who is—and who isn’t—on YouTube. Here are some of the most common myths about YouTube viewers, and the data-backed demographic insights that break them down.

Spoiler Alert: It’s not just kids. YouTube reaches 95% of online adults aged 35+

3) Google launches 100,000 new sites

Released without fanfare just over two weeks ago, Google Website has now spawned over 100,000 new websites.

The free single-page website builder is intended for very small businesses (worldwide, 60% of them don’t have a website, according to Google). With it, they can create a basic site in around five minutes (or less).

The default URL for sites produced with Google Website is (yourbusinessname.business.site) but this can be easily changed.

4) SEO: The Movie

While this won’t be an Oscar winner, it’s something you may want to watch if you have a passing interest in SEO. This 40-minute movie looks back on the history of SEO from its beginnings through to today. We remember meeting one of the “stars”, Danny Sullivan, at the inaugural Search Engine Summit held in Sydney back in 2002.

Watch it here…

5) Google enhances the Test My Site tool

Google’s mobile site speed tool now provides page load time estimates, rather than just a speed score out of 100. In addition, the tool indicates how many visitors you may be losing due to slow load times. It also shows how well you’re doing versus competitors by benchmarking your speed compared to others in your industry. As before, guidance is provided on how to fix issues that are slowing down your site.

Try testing your website with the tool here…

6) How to get more people using Bing? Pay them!

Would you use another search engine if they paid you to? Microsoft hopes so.

The Microsoft Rewards loyalty program has been running in the US for several years. Now it’s being made available to Bing users in the UK. France, Germany and Canada are next in line.

What we’ve been reading this week

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About the Author SureFire

These search marketing news updates feature articles of interest picked up through the week by the SureFire team.

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