Granite 5 October digital update – Google leading the charge

Our digital update is a review of the key headlines from the world of digital in October that are impacting the UK and global businesses.

Click on any of the titles in the list below to jump straight to that section of the article.

• Instagram launches Collabs
• New Google Quality Rater Guidelines updates & why they matter
• Instagram adds more demographic insights for businesses
• Google changes review structured data requirements
• Twitter adds revue newsletter subscription cards in Tweets
• Clarification on the definition of quality content

Instagram launches Collabs

Instagram is introducing a new way for users to publish content together as a “collab” which offers an easy way for users to get in front of new audiences while strengthening relationships with other creators. This is ideal for influencer marketing, and if you are a brand that already regularly collaborates with other creators. Follow these instructions to see if you have access to this new tool.

 

New Google Quality Rater Guidelines updates & why they matter

Google has added five revisions to its Search Quality Raters Guidelines (QRGs) which although won’t directly impact your search rankings, give us valuable insight into the many factors Google considers when assessing content quality. They are also used to train the human search quality evaluators whose feedback is benchmarked and used to inform future Google algorithm updates. The five revisions are:

• The definition of ‘Groups of people’ in the YMYL category has changed and includes additional definitions.
• How to research reputation information for websites and creators has been refreshed.
• The ‘Lowest Page Quality’ section has changed substantially.
• The definition of ‘Upsetting-Offensive’ has been updated.
• Edits for clarity and consistency throughout.

Find out more about what these changes mean for your website here.

 

Instagram adds more demographic insights for businesses

Demographic breakdown in Instagram insights was previously limited to users who follow you, with this new update you will now be able to access data about the audiences that see and engage with your content regardless of whether they follow you. This information includes top cities, top countries, top age range, and more.

You can access this new data in your Instagram insights, under the sections called Accounts Engaged and Accounts Reached.

Image source – business.instagram.com, October 2021

 

Google changes review structured data requirements

Google have updated their review structured data requirements and failure to comply with these new requirements could result in your web page being ineligible to be shown for a rich text result in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for review related keyword searches. Review structured data are reviews of things like products, events, stores, courses, a business and many other things and there are 17 valid types that Google will show results for.

Find out more on Google’s list of qualifying valid review types here and the general structured data guidelines here, to ensure your review structured data meets these requirements.

 

Twitter adds revue newsletter subscription cards in Tweets

Twitter has announced a new revue newsletter subscription card that will enable newsletter sign-up directly from tweets in-stream. This follows Twitter’s acquisition of Revue back in June, enabling newsletter creators to add a prominent ‘Subscribe’ button on their profiles.

Revue creators will now be able to share a link to their newsletter sign-up in a tweet, providing more options to drive subscribers from the platform.

The new option is now available to all Revue users, though it’s only available on desktop and mobile web for now, with iOS and Android links coming soon.

Source: Twitter

 

Clarification on the definition of quality content

In a recent Google SEO office-hours hangout video, Google’s John Mueller provided a definition of content that is far more expansive than any shared before and might surprise many people.

Mueller explained: “When it comes to the quality of the content, we don’t mean just the text of your articles. It’s really the quality of your overall website. And that includes everything from the layout to the design.

Like, how you have things presented on your pages, how you integrate images, how you work with speed, all of those factors they kind of come into play there.”

So, to recap, quality content means far more than just the text. It includes the images, layout, how everything is presented, page speed, and other factors relating to the user experience and how information is delivered to the site visitor.

 

If you need support maximising your digital footprint, book a time slot to discuss this with our Head of Delivery and strategic lead.