September 2019 – SEO and marketing news

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Sep 20, 2019 / by
September 2019 – SEO and marketing news

With the Brexit debacle seemingly never-ending and ex-Google employees warning us that killer robots could be a terrifying reality, you could be forgiven for feeling like we’re settling comfortably into the end-times. One sector that hasn’t suffered from quite as much drama over the last month, however, is the dependably calm and steady world of marketing and SEO.

This month, we say so long and farewell to the classic Google Search Console as the company is struck with a US antitrust probe. WordPress also falls afoul of some pesky hackers and some of the best social media marketing agencies in the business receive some esteemed rewards.

Google hit by antitrust probe

Google’s online advertising empire faces a bipartisan investigation in the US by 50 attorneys general. They come from every state minus California and Alabama, and from the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Texas’ attorney general, Ken Paxton, who is leading the antitrust probe, said: “This is a company that dominates all aspects of advertising on the internet and searching on the internet.” A smaller coalition of attorneys general has already launched a similar investigation into Facebook.

More than half of Google searches don’t lead to clicks

According to clickstream data firm Jumpshot, which collects data from a global panel of over 100m devices, in June, for the first time ever, over half of Google searches didn’t lead to clicks. What’s more, a significant and growing number of searches that do lead to clicks drive traffic to properties that Google owns. As well as highlighting that 50.33% of clicks in June this year didn’t lead to clicks, the data also revealed that it’s Google’s increased use of snippets in search results that are encouraging fewer clicks on search results and that changes Google has made to ads have led to an increase in the number of searches that result in clicks on ads.

WordPress hackers using vulnerable plugins to gain access to sites

Hackers are reportedly exploiting vulnerabilities in several WordPress plugins in order to gain backdoor entry into sites with rouge admin accounts. This is an escalation of an attack from back in July when attackers were hijacking sites to serve ads, scams, and malicious app downloads. Now, the same hacker group is taking complete control of vulnerable sites using similar tactics and modifying the malicious code planted on hacked sites. Vigilant WordPress users shouldn’t be alarmed, however, as the hacker group is only targeting older vulnerabilities. So sites that have been keeping their plugins updated are less likely to fall victim to the recent attacks.

Social media marketing agencies honoured by 10 Best SEO

In keeping with its ongoing rating service, 10 Best SEO recently selected the winners of its Best Social Media Marketing Agency awards for August 2019, honouring Straight North, Ignite Visibility and Boostability. The August award winner for the best social media marketing agency is Straight North. The reputable social media marketing and management agency employs the most powerful digital marketing tools to create award-winning and results-oriented campaigns for client businesses. Ignite Visibility is a top social media marketing firm that was ranked second in the lineup of winners, whilst Boostability emerged as third on the list of best social media marketing agencies.

Google says so long to ye olde search console

Finally, this month marked the (some might say tragic) departure of the old Google Search Console, with the Google team paying homage to the interface in a heartfelt Tweet. Users who try to access the old version will now be redirected to relevant pages in the new Search Console. Note that not all of the old tools utilised by the old console will be ported over to the newer version, but Google says they are doing everything in their power to make the transition as smooth as possible for users.

To check out what was big in the world of SEO, digital marketing and the digital realm in general last month, click here for more news.

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