Ah, July – a month of sunshine, fireworks, and of people gently nudging irregularly shaped meat patties on the grill while wearing novelty aprons. July was also a very interesting month in search marketing, with a lot of shake-ups on the SERP, starting with authorship photos.
Oh dear.
Let’s take a look back at the most popular WordStream blog posts from July, just in case you missed them while you were out camping, kayaking or whatever else you ended up doing.
1. The Real Reason Google Plus Authorship Photos Are Gone: In our most popular post in July, Larry delved into the real reasons why Google decided to remove Google+ authorship photos from the SERPs (which, if they looked anything like the… unfortunate yearbook photo above, probably wasn’t a bad thing).
2. The Smoking Gun: Deleted Google Author Photos Boost Ad CTR: While Larry was quick to outline his theories about the Google authorship photos decision, he wasn’t content to leave it at that. Perhaps inspired by HBO’s True Detective, Larry and our resident data scientist Mark Irvine set out to reveal the data behind the decision – with not-so surprising results.
3. 19 Headline Writing Tips for More Clickable, Shareable Blog Posts: In our third-most popular post of July, Megan outlines nineteen tips for writing irresistible blog post headlines. How many of these techniques are you using?
4. Native Advertising Examples: 5 of the Best (and Worst): In this post, yours truly examined what native advertising is, why it’s so controversial, and looked at some of the best (and worst) examples of native advertising from around the web.
5. 3 Reasons to Ditch Your Messy AdWords Account and Start Over: Sometimes, running an AdWords campaign is like being in a dysfunctional relationship – you’ve just got to know when it’s time to cut your losses and walk away. In this post, Katie Lyons provides several examples of when it’s better to scrap your disorganized, chaotic AdWords account and start fresh.
6. Google Calls Takebacks on Authorship Photos: An Alternate Theory: In the days following Google’s decision to remove authorship photos from the SERPs, conspiracy theories rivaling those of the Kennedy assassination swept the search marketing community. In this post, Elisa offers another explanation behind Google’s decision.
7. 32 Free (& Almost Free) Content Marketing Tools: Content marketing is hard, which is why Megan took the time to round up a definitive list of thirty-two free (or almost free) tools that make our jobs a whole lot easier.
8. New Dynamic Sitelinks: Google Gives Advertisers Free Sitelink Clicks: Google giveth, and Google taketh away – this is the often cruel cycle of life in which SEOs and search marketing experts are forced to live. Larry explains how Google gave advertisers a break by offering them free sitelink clicks in this post.
9. Call Tracking Metrics: The Top 5 Metrics for Inbound Calls: Earlier this month, we added call tracking functionality to our PPC Advisor software platform, making it the only software tool that allows advertisers to track incoming phone calls back to individual keywords. In this post, Brad McMillen outlines the five metrics you need to monitor as part of your call tracking efforts.
10. Social Media Images Guide: Optimizing Images for Facebook, Twitter & More!: In our final post of this month’s round-up, Megan offers essential guidance on optimizing images for your social media channels. Not sure how big your Twitter background should be? Confused about the dimensions of Facebook’s shared link images? Then read on!
Honorable Mentions
11. Announcing PPC University: Learn PPC Marketing for Free: We recently launched PPC University, a completely free learning resource that will teach you everything you need to know about paid search. Split into three tracks – PPC 101, 102 and Advanced PPC– PPC University gradually builds up your knowledge on the basics, before exploring more advanced techniques in more detail. Even if you’re not a newcomer to paid search, you could still probably learn a thing or two.
12: Commercial Intent: How to Find Your Most Valuable Keywords: This one went up at the very end of June. High commercial intent keywords are like an invitation from prospects. They want what you’ve got – all you have to do is seize the moment. In this post, I explain what commercial intent keywords are, how to identify them, and why they’re more valuable than high-volume keywords.
Well, that about does it for July. Stay tuned to the WordStream blog in August for more indispensable search marketing know-how!
This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.