Last updated on February 28th, 2019
It’s been a few weeks since our last roundup, and in that time we have learned that the old adage “the Internet never forgets” is becoming less and less true for our friends across the pond. A sweeping set of internet privacy laws enacted by the European Union is forcing Google to remove certain requested content from Web, and according to the latest report, Facebook, ProfileEngine.com and YouTube are among the top three sites to have content erased under the new policy.
The controversial “Right To Be Forgotten” (RTBF) rule was introduced last May – however, Google just released its Google Transparency Report last week, revealing that over 40% of RTBF requests were granted in the last three months. In all, 171,135 links no longer exist on European servers. Over 3,300 links were erased from Facebook, 3,298 links from ProfileEngine.com, and 2,397 links from Google’s own YouTube.
This news set the online marketing community abuzz, speculating on whether or not similar privacy measures will be enacted here in the U.S. anytime soon and how it will change the organic search experience for users worldwide. Fortunately, adapting to change is something we are quite used to the SEO industry. (Can I get an Amen?)
Check out these other unforgettable industry headlines and updates from this month so far:
Content Marketing
- If you are searching for a way to streamline content generation in your company, you’ll definitely want to take a look at this piece on how to recycle existing content and cut your blogging time in half without incurring the wrath of Google’s strict anti-duplicate content policy.
Link-Building
- Links matter. After all, what is the Web if not millions of hyperlinked pages that are online and interconnected? Positionly blogger Tad Chef explores the topic of “unnatural” links in his humorously-titled article, “Last Night a Link Saved My Life.”
- Two industry experts sit down to chat about why writing great content isn’t enough in this podcast on the importance of building strong white hat links.
- Check out this SEO love story about how a college advertising major went from his dream job of working in an ad agency to becoming passionate about the niche practice of link building.
Google Analytics
- Need a low down on qualitative vs. quantitative analytics and how to use both to grow your online presence? This article has everything you need and more.
- In this post, see why, when it comes to e-commerce tracking tools, Google Analytics can actually be pretty sexy.
- If you haven’t already upgraded your Google Analytics accounts, find out why a majority of e-commerce stores (62%) are now using Universal Analytics according to this study.
- Google beefed up Tag Manager this week by adding more API’s that will enable users to customize their site infrastructure based on their individual needs. Here are 6 things you need to know about the update.
- Google’s Webmaster blog just released their Best Practices for submitting sitemaps for faster crawling and higher rankings.
Social Media
- Facebook recently conducted an in-depth study focusing on how multiple devices are changing the user experience. For instance, did you know that more than 60 percent of online adults in the U.S. switch between two devices every day?
- Check out this article on why Facebook landing pages should be part of your social media marketing plan.
SEO
- Last but not least, cruise on over to SEOBook to read about the evolution of our industry from the olden days of Web Position Gold to where we could be in 30 years, and how change is the only certainty in SEO.
Did we miss anything? Leave a comment below or click on the social media icons above to give us your 2-cents, or feel free to drop us a link to other major SEO headlines from this week. Catch you next time. Over and out!