August – SEO and marketing news

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Sep 14, 2018 / by
August – SEO and marketing news

GDPR three months on: Most consumers feel no better off

While consumers feel they have a better understanding of how companies use their data, a survey conducted by Marketing Week of 1000 consumers found just 27% find they are having a better experience. Additionally, 65% still feel companies are using their data without their consent; the GDPR having done nothing at all. No company has been found breaching the GDPR, but it should alarm companies that 21% of people believe their data is being used illegally. On a more positive note, 51% believe it is easier to tell companies how to use their data, whether it’s opting out of email lists or changing their cookie settings.

Imposters are Reportedly Using Fake Takedown Requests for Negative SEO Purposes

A new form of negative SEO is on the rise, through the form of imposters using fake DMCA takedown requests to manipulate search results. Among those being impersonated are the anti-piracy groups MUSO and Blue Efficience, who have already confirmed that none of the takedowns have been initiated by them. Google is aware of the imposters stating, “This means that potentially millions of URLs are removed by scammers who don’t own any of the copyrighted content but are just looking to downrank sites of competitors.”

TorrentFreak has reported that the impersonators have succeeded in taking down hundreds of thousands of URLs under false claims. Many of the sites being targeted are torrent sites, but there are reports of many small businesses being targeted as well. Besides the statement above, Google has yet to comment on potential solutions.

UK CEOs facing ‘unrealistic expectations’ from digital transformation ROI

In an interesting look at what your elderly boss might be thinking, research firm KPMG says top executives in the UK are feeling like they face ‘unrealistic expectations’ in demonstrating tangible returns in digital transformation projects such AI, blockchain tech, and cloud services. 64% were advising their companies to take a longer view on return-from-investments of these technologies. While 86% of top execs feel overwhelmed by the need to adapt, many still feel that these advancements are more of an opportunity than a threat.

This optimism comes counter to Bank of England’s chief economist Andy Haldanes, who fears that AI will make most jobs obsolete. Regardless of whether this is true or not, companies will be embracing the new technology within the next few years.

“Digital transformation is no longer a choice, it’s an essential driver of revenue, profit and growth,” commented Lisa Heneghan, partner and digital transformation lead at KPMG UK. “Business leaders need to move away from simply fulfilling client needs, in sometimes laborious ways, to using technology to achieve results with more depth, efficiency, and decrease the probability of error.”

Google AnalyticsGoogle Analytics Introduces Cross Device Capabilities With ‘Google Signals’

Google Analytics has started a beta of a new feature called Google Signals that offers cross-device reporting and remarketing capabilities. This adds features such as users with Ads Personalization turned on (i.e., almost everyone) receiving remarketing ads across devices. Google Analytics will collect additional info from those users, and analyze the behavior of users across multiple platforms.

In a help document Google goes on to explain:

“When users turn on Ads Personalization, Google is able to develop a holistic view of how those users interact with an online property from multiple browsers and multiple devices… Because of the large volume of data generated by users who have turned on Ads Personalization, Google is able to estimate from that data the cross-device behavior of your entire user base.”

These new features are opt-in for Google Analytics users for now, and are explained in the help document.

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