The situation with the Coronavirus continues to unfold at an unprecedented rate. We know this is a stressful and uneasy time for many businesses. First and foremost, the entire Spectrum team hopes that you, your family and your colleagues are safe. Secondly, we want to assure you that we continue to work on behalf of our clients. As a geographically distributed company — our team members all work from a home office — our work continues as usual. If you need to speak to us or need additional support, we are literally a phone call, Google Hangouts or Zoom meeting away.
Google’s Secure Cookie Policy – SameSite=None
In February 2020 Google is rolling out Chrome 80. This update comes out around the same time as similar updates from Mozilla and Microsoft. All of the updates are going to be making security-focused changes. But this time some of those changes will be focused on cookie settings. So let’s see if it’s going to change how your site works.
Google Search Console Introduces a New Messages Feature
Google Search Console (GSC) is one of the most important tools for keeping your website’s SEO on track. Missing any notifications or updates from Search Console can be pretty costly. If you’re anything like us, email notifications often get lost—and automated alerts end up at the bottom of our to-do list (if we even really see them at all). That’s why Google has made Search Console management more efficient by adding a notification center.
2020 Marketing Planning - Insights from the New CMO Survey
Marketing budgets are expected to increase by 8.7% in 2020. Surprisingly, this marks the highest increase in two years. So what are the marketing budget trends for next year? The latest CMO survey provides insights on how top marketers are planning for 2020.
CCPA – What is the California Consumer Privacy Act and Do You Need to Worry?
Privacy online has been a talking point for a long time now and finally it seems that legislators have picked up on the topic in California by passing the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The CCPA will become law January 1st 2020. So, with four months to get ready, what do you need to know?
Rich Result Reporting in Google Search Console
As with all digital marketing, if you’re not measuring what you do, you might as well not be doing it. With that in mind, Google has added some new reports to their underrated Search Console tool. The new reports allow you to see how well your website’s schema is working. Specifically focusing on if Google understands your website well enough to display Rich Results when someone searches for your site, and, if any videos you produce are being shown in the search listings.
DuckDuckGo Attacks Google on Privacy
We often tell our clients that privacy on the Web is an illusion. In a series of videos, DuckDuckGo (DDG) nips at Google’s Achilles’ heel: user data collection for ad targeting. They also paint Facebook with the same brush with their filtering tactics. DDG released a video on five reasons not to use Google; it reiterates many points we already know. What’s surprising is how Google responded.
Genesis Gets an Update – Genesis 3.1 is Released
As you may already know, when we build a WordPress website we like to build it on-top of a child theme. We think this makes the website more stable, safer and easier to maintain. Our theme of choice is Genesis. And we were excited to hear that they’ve just launched Genesis 3.1. Let’s explore what’s new with this robust theme.
Optimize This – Google Shopping Ads get Optimization Score
Have you ever wondered exactly how well optimized your Google Shopping Ads are? If you have, you’re in luck as Google began testing Optimization Score with their Shopping Campaigns.
Creative AI – Is Artificial Intelligence Taking Over?
Artificial intelligence is no longer just something you see in bad Sci-Fi movies. Machine learning and AI has crept into lots of things we use on a day to day basis. From smart refrigerators to your search engine, AI is helping to read a website, or order more milk. But now it’s started writing adverts too?