October is upon us, and in preparation for the spookiest time of year, we would like to start off our month with a tale of warning with flashlight in hand:
The Google Penalties.
[Insert lightning sound effects, wolf howls, and off-tune organ melody]
Your Time is Ticking for the HTTP – HTTPS Jump
Most SEO’s know (and all should know) that penalties are inevitable for web pages that don’t make the switch from HTTP to HTTPS. Another wave of consequences is upon us this October for any web pages with online forms using HTTP; not getting the SSL certification and jumping over to HTTPS will result in a not-so-beautiful “not secure” warning appearing prior to accessing the page. Not the warmest greeting for hopeful visitors. So if your web page asks for fill-out information sans HTTPS, you’re going to find yourself in a little bit of trouble!
Changes like this have been expected for several months. Research already shows how beneficial this change is for web pages, and how quickly it is impacting companies’ search results. Moz discovered back in April that half of the first page results were already HTTPS. Not only does this transition ensure a not-negative experience for your hopefuls by avoiding the warning, but it also offers a yay-positive for your pages’ scores and ranking.
But there are other SEO opportunities to be found in addition to your simple SSL certification. As advised by Fili Wiese from Search Engine Land, making the switch will eventually result in Googlebot recrawling your website. Before pressing the big red button, however, consider making some advantageous SEO changes prior. Performing an SEO audit and testing your infrastructure, though timely and costly depending on the recommendations provided, can help your website be ready for positive results after changing to HTTPS and being recrawled.
Familiarize yourself more with the differences between HTTP and HTTPS here and here.
Optimized Rotation’s End to 1-2 Ads per Ad Group
As announced just over a month ago, Google simplified its ad rotation to two settings. With these choices, you can either rotate your ads indefinitely or optimize, which prioritizes ads with better-anticipated performance.
Now, however, people are noticing that with this optimized rotation option, ad groups with three to five ads are more likely to result in more clicks and impressions. Meaning, as Mary Hartman of PPCHero explores, there is a potential penalty or disadvantage for those who do not conform to this 2+ ads per ad group approach. She even put this theory to the test and observed a noticeable increase in impressions and clicks for ad groups without a drastic jump in cost/budgeting.
In this test, variety in ad types was another indicator of success for an ad group. Adding different ad types to your ad group may result in a benefit as well if you choose to optimize your ad rotations. This also provides your company with more information on which ads/ad types your audience is most receptive to. The more data to work with, the better!
Now, be gone with your new wisdom, and don’t say we didn’t warn you…OooOOoOOoooOOOoo!
