June 2022 – SEO and Marketing News

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Jun 17, 2022 / by
June 2022 – SEO and Marketing News

Ahrefs reveals new search engine – Yep

Ahrefs, the SEO toolset provider, has been busy over the last three years investing $60 million of its own money into launching a new search engine simply called Yep.

A “general-purpose web search engine,” Yep will soon be available in all countries and most languages. Ahrefs is positioning it as a Google competitor. However, we’ve seen dozens of Google competitors and Google “killers” come and go in the past two decades. So for now, let’s just call it a Google alternative.

This alternative is being proposed as a completely private search engine. Yep will not collect personal information by default and your search history will not be stored anywhere. What Yep will rely on instead is “aggregated search statistics to improve algorithms, spelling corrections, and search suggestions.” Honestly, I’ve given it a spin and was left unimpressed but it’s early days yet so who knows.

WordPress Jetpack now available as six solo plugins

Automattic announced that the Jetpack WordPress suite used by over 5 million users, is now available as six individual plugins. This allows users to choose which features they want without the burden of installing the entire suite of products. Some of the plugins are brand new while a couple of others have between one to two years of availability.

Four of the new plugins are free (Jetpack Protect, Boost, Social, and CRM) while two of the plugins require payment (Jetpack Backup and Jetpack Search). The original version of Jetpack will remain the same for now but eventually, some of the functions spun off into individual plugins will be removed from the Jetpack. We have been assured, however, that adding them back in will be trouble-free.

Yandex CEO and founder resigns following sanctions

Arkady Volozh, Yandex’s CEO and executive director, resigned from his position, the company announced this week. While Yandex has not been sanctioned by the EU, U.S., or UK, the EU imposed sanctions on Volozh, who has 45.3% voting and 8.6% economic interest in Yandex, personally. Yandex is generally regarded as Russia’s Google, even though Yandex pre-dates Google (Yandex launched in 1997). Yandex’s share of the Russian search market is estimated to be at 48%, behind Google’s 49% but Yandex says it owns 61% of the search market.

Volozh said: “While I consider this decision to be misguided and ultimately counterproductive, I do not intend to give any instructions to my family trust as long as sanctions are in place. During this time the trust will vote in line with the recommendations of the Board. While I will continue to support the team wherever possible, this decision is in the best interests of the company and its stakeholders.”

Google ends expanded text ads this month

As of June 30, 2022, Google will no longer allow users to create or edit expanded text ads. Intending to simplify the way search ads are created, Google announced this change in August 2021. After this deadline, users will only be able to create or edit responsive search ads in standard search campaigns.

According to Google, advertisers who make the switch from expanded text to responsive search ads will see an average 7% increase in conversions at a similar cost. Existing expanded text ads will continue operating and appear in performance reports, but no new ones can be created. They can still be paused and enabled at any time.

seoClarity acquires RankSense

Enterprise SEO platform seoClarity announced the acquisition of SEO automation company RankSense. The RankSense scaled SEO solutions perfectly complement seoClarity’s offerings. seoClarity is an enterprise-level SEO platform used by major companies to help improve and execute their SEO strategies. It features advanced site auditing technology and AI-based insights.

The platform offers ranking analysis, keyword research, NLP, and AI-based content marketing analysis and insights, technical SEO audits and automated reporting. It is used by companies such as Zillow, Expedia and Orbitz and over 3,500 other brands and agencies. RankSense is a natural match with seoClarity as both focus on automated solutions that scale SEO for larger companies and websites.

Google Chrome’s Topics API test going public on July 1

“A small percentage of traffic” will soon see the initial testing of Google Chrome Topics API go live on July 1. The new feature will enable users to enable interest-based advertising without having to track the site a user visits. Google states that this initial test is to validate that their systems are operating as designed, and no revenue or performance impact is expected. But advertisers who prefer not to be included in the initial test can opt-out using Chrome’s Permissions-policy header.

When Google announced the API trial in January, advertisers were less than enthused. Marketers from various agencies raised concerns around the 350 topics outlined not being sufficient enough to provide relevant targeting. Fewer topics mean more competition around less targeted ads, which is a problem for everyone involved. Google may already be aware of the issue, but unless they have significantly improved this list in advance of the test, we may not see a change in advertisers’ opinion or projected outcome. There is no word on how long the trial will go on.