X is Sending Less Referral Traffic Compared To a Year Ago

The bad news just keeps coming for Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter. A new report from Automattic indicates that the social network is sending less traffic for publishers compared to a year ago.

Twitter built much of its popularity on being a reliable way for publishers to drive interest and traffic to content because it allowed users to easily share and discuss the latest news and media.

As the site becomes more controversial and its user base dwindles, however, it appears to be sending less traffic to these types of links.

What The Report Says

From the first half of 2022 to the first half of 2023, traffic from X fell by an average of 24% based on a random sampling of 25 large and small publishers. The impact varied depending on the publisher, with some larger publishers taking particularly large hits to their traffic. 

Among the publishers that saw the biggest drops in referral traffic from X were Buzzfeed (-70%), Reuters (-67%), The Washington Post (-42%), CNN (-39%) and Fox News (-39%).

Not a New Trend

It would be easy to put all the blame on Elon Musk’s recent ownership of the social network. Along with the rebrand to X, Musk has made sweeping changes to how the platform functions including reducing moderation, introducing paid verification services, and unbanning prominent controversial figures. 

However, this is just the latest plunge in a years-long pattern of dwindling referral traffic. 

Twitter has been gradually delivering less traffic to publishers since 2018, though the pattern appears to have accelerated in the last year. 

Of course, this trend hasn’t hit all publishers. Some have even reported seeing more referral traffic this year than in the past. Still, it would be wise for publishers to keep an eye on their referral traffic and potentially make plans for finding new ways to drive traffic if the pattern continues.

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Has The New Bing Search Taken Any Search Share From Google?

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Bing made quite the splash six months ago, with the launch of its new AI-powered search experience using Bing Chat. New data, which Microsoft disputes, suggests the search experience may have failed to make much of a lasting impression.

According to the latest report from StatCounter, Bing saw a short boost to their share of the search market that peaked in March at 6.61% (about a month after the launch of the new search experience). However, the current rate (6.47%) is only a little above the search share (6.35%) at the launch of the new search experience in February.

Even worse, Bing actually consistently received a higher share of the search market throughout 2022, with a high of 7.82% in November.

Is The Data Accurate?

StatCounter has been considered a reliable analyst of search engine traffic and market share, often cited by major news publications. 

Microsoft, on the other hand, has often disputed their findings – just as they did with this report.

In a statement, a Microsoft representative told The Wall Street Journal that “third-party data companies aren’t measuring all the people who are going directly to Bing’s chat page.”

Microsoft Corporate VP Yusuf Mehdi also claimed that “we’ve made more progress in the last six months than we have in the previous decade or two combined.”

While Bing may argue a small percentage of searches do not get included in StatCounter’s numbers, ultimately these users would have a minimal effect on most analysis. The search engine has always struggled to gain ground behind Google, and it is looking like its implementation of AI has done little to help,

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New Instagram Test Asks “Are Four Ads At Once Better Than a Single Ad?”

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Instagram is testing a new ad format that combines four ads from competing businesses into a single ad unit. 

In other words, users will be seeing four ads from different sources on a single screen to encourage users to consider a wider number of businesses and to encourage brands to deliver the best ad messages to entice customers. 

The latest multi-ad format is a new take on Instagram’s Multi-Advertiser ads, which grouped related sponsored posts together and showsed them to people who have recently expressed interest in related products or services. 

If you want to see the new ad format for yourself before you consider trying it out, you’re most likely to see them between Instagram Reels, the company’s take on short, TikTok-esque videos. 

Why Multiple Ads At Once?

Obviously, many brands and advertisers have expressed skepticism and outright cynicism about this ad format, suggesting it is an attempt to boost ad impressions without delivering increased value to advertisers. 

Of particular concern is the idea that the first ad in any of these multi-ad sets is likely to receive the majority of clicks, while ads in other positions are costing brands the same amount without leading to clicks. The fact that the ads appear following another piece of content, when users are likely to be unengaged with the app is another concern. 

Despite this, Instagram is already promoting the new ad format test in an announcement in the platform’s Help Center. In the announcement, the company said:

“Multi-advertiser ads help people discover and compare products from multiple businesses. This ad unit, available for selected placements on Facebook and Instagram, gives advertisers the opportunity to be discovered by people who have recently shown and interest in related products or businesses.”

As a test, this ad format is rolling out gradually and may not be available to all advertisers. If you want to ensure your ads do not appear in this type of format, you can opt out in the Settings menu.

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Google Business Profiles Now Let Brands Include Links To Social Profiles

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Google is finally allowing brands to naturally add social media links within their Google Business Profiles. 

The move comes following years of frustration from website owners, as other search engines like Bing have allowed similar links and more advanced social media integration for years. 

Now, any business with a Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business profiles) can highlight their social channels easily within Google Search and Maps. 

This is especially important for businesses that use social channels to handle customer support, as well as making it easier for brands to connect with new potential customers on the platforms they are most active on. 

How It Works

Google quietly revealed the new feature in a support page that details exactly how to add links to your Google Business Profile and what limitations there are. 

To add social media links to your Google Business Profile, first log in and access your profile. From there, look for the option to ‘edit profile’ and select ‘business information’ followed by ‘contact’.

Here you will find a new section labeled ‘Social profiles’ where you can easily add one link per profile, including those on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) or YouTube. 

In some cases, Google may automatically add links to social profiles on Google Business Profiles. If these are inaccurate or you would prefer to use different links, you can edit or remove links in the same area. 

While the feature is already available to many, Google says it is rolling out gradually to select regions.

For more, visit the support page for this new feature here.

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Google Says There Is No SEO ‘Penalty’ For Old Content After CNET Pruned Thousands of Old Pages

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A recent article from Gizmodo has lit up the world of SEO, drawing a rebuff from Google and extensive conversation about when it’s right to delete old content on your website. 

The situation kicked off when Gizmodo published a recent article detailing how CNET had supposedly deleted thousands of pages of old content to “game Google Search.” 

What makes this so interesting, is that deleting older content that is not performing well is a long-recognized part of search engine optimization called “content pruning”. By framing their article as “exposing” CNET for dirty tricks, Gizmodo sparked a discussion about when content pruning is effective for sites and if SEO is inherently negative for a site’s health.

What Happened

The trigger for all of this occurred when CNET appeared to redirect, repurpose, or fully remove old pages based on analytics data including pageviews, backlink profiles, and how long a page has gone without an update. 

An internal memo obtained by Gizmodo shows that CNET did this believing that deprecating and removing old content “sends a signal to Google that says CNET is fresh, relevant, and worthy of being placed higher than our competitors in search results.”

What’s The Problem?

First, simply deleting old content does not send a signal that your site is fresh or relevant. The only way to do this is by ensuring your content itself is fresh and relevant to your audience. 

That said, there can be benefits to removing old content if it is not actually relevant or high-quality. 

The biggest issue here seems to be that CNET believes old content is inherently bad, but there is no such “penalty” or harm of leaving older content on your site if it may still be relevant to users.

As Google Search Liaison Danny Sullivan posted on X (formerly Twitter):

“Are you deleting old content from your site because you somehow believe Google doesn’t like ‘old’ content? That’s not a thing! Our guidance doesn’t encourage this. Old content can still be helpful, too.”

Which Is It?

The real takeaway from this is a reminder that Google isn’t as concerned with “freshness” as many may think. 

Yes, the search engine prefers sites that appear to be active and up-to-date, which includes posting new relevant content regularly. That said, leaving old content on your site won’t hurt you – unless it’s low-quality. Removing low-quality or irrelevant content can always help improve your overall standing with search engines by showing that you recognize when content isn’t up to snuff. Just don’t go deleting content solely because it is ‘old’.

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New Google Analytics 4 Report Identifies Your Most Engaged and Profitable Audiences

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Google Analytics 4 is rolling out a new report that will help businesses identify their most engaged and profitable audiences. 

The new report was revealed in a Google Analytics support page detailing its features.

So long as you’ve had at least one user in a specified time period, the report will provide details that make it easier to define who your most effective audience is. With this information, brands can then make more informed decisions about their marketing to improve future performance. 

Specifically, the new Audiences report will include six important metrics:

  • Active users
  • Average session duration
  • New users
  • Sessions
  • Views per session
  • Total revenue

To view details about any audience in the report, click the name of the audience and a tab containing more in-depth information will open.‘

These details are available to all sites using Google Analytics, though they may need to be added by an administrator. 

To view the report, users can sign into their GA4 account, select the ‘Reports’ button on the left-hand menu, and click the tab ‘User’.From there, look for ‘User Attributes’ and click ‘Audiences’. 

For more, view the Google support page about the new Google Analytics 4 Audiences report here.

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Twitter Is Rebranding to “X”

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Elon Musk is continuing to remake Twitter as he wants it with the biggest change yet – an entirely new brand name – X. 

Instead of Twitter, users visiting the social network on desktop devices will now be redirected to X.com, the new home of the platform for the foreseeable future. Some mobile users have already seen the update on their phone, while many others will see the icon transform from a cheerful blue bird to a sleek X in the coming days. 

In the announcement, CEO Linda Yaccarino said the new name represents their move to becoming more than a social network app to an “everything app”. 

As she shared in an X (formerly called a Tweet):

“It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression. Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square.”

“X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us in all the ways we’re just beginning to imagine.”

Analysts have expressed concern about the move, with some speculating that the social network is losing billions in brand recognition. 

It is also unclear if the brand name change will bring back any advertisers who had stepped away from running ads on Twitter following a rise in hate speech and offensive content over the last year. 

Additionally, the use of redirects and completely changing the domain name raises questions about how long embedded Twitter content on other sites will continue to function or if they will soon break as the Twitter domain becomes part of the past. 

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The Washington Post Releases Its Own SEO and Web Performance Guidelines

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The Washington Post may not be the first organization you imagine when you think about SEO experts, but as a popular news organization read by millions around the world, The Post has dealt with its fair share of issues in developing its long-term strategies for web performance and SEO. 

Now, the news site is sharing the fruit of that hard work by releasing its own Web Performance and SEO Best Practices and Guidelines.

These guidelines help ensure that The Washington Post remains competitive and visible in highly competitive search spaces, drives more organic traffic, and maintains a positive user experience on its website. 

In the announcement, engineering lead Arturo Silva said:

“We identified a need for a Web Performance and SEO engineering team to build technical solutions that support the discovery of our journalism, as the majority of news consumers today read the news digitally. Without proper SEO and web performance, our stories aren’t as accessible to our readers. As leaders in engineering and media publishing, we’re creating guidelines that serve our audiences and by sharing those technical solutions in our open-source design system, we are providing tools for others to certify that their own site practices are optimal.”

What’s In The Washington Post’s SEO and Web Performance Guidelines?

If you’re hoping to see a surprise trick or secret tool being used by The Washington Post, you are likely to be disappointed. 

The guidelines are largely in line with practices used by most SEO experts, albeit with a specific focus on their specific search and web performance issues.

For example, the Web Performance section covers three specific areas: loading performance, rendering performance, and responsiveness. Similarly, the SEO guidelines are split into on-page SEO, content optimization, technical SEO, and off-page SEO. 

More than anything, the guidelines highlight the need for brands to focus their SEO efforts on their unique needs and goals and develop strategies that are likely to remain useful for the foreseeable future (instead of chasing every new SEO trend). 

To read the guidelines for yourself, visit the Washington Post’s site here. 

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Instagram Threads Introduces First Paid Promotion Tools

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Threads may be the hottest new social network, but its fast development and release means there is little in the way of actual marketing tools for brands. In fact, the platform doesn’t currently serve ads of any kind.

However, the company announced it is launching tools to let marketers develop their own paid promotion opportunities until more robust advertising options arrive. 

Threads’ Paid Promotion Tools

In essence, Threads’ is borrowing Instagram’s already existing paid promotion tools for influencer campaigns and collaborations. These tools let brands and influencers properly tag content that may include paid promotions or professional collaborations to maintain transparency with users. 

Specifically, Threads requires that:

Brands use the branded content tools when working with influencers on sponsored content

Only brands have access to paid partnership labels to posts

Brands clearly disclose paid partnership collaborations

100 Million Users But No Ad Tools?

So far, Threads and its parent company, Meta, have been quiet about the development of advertising tools or services for the platform. With the announcement that Threads has already gained over 100 million users since its recent launch, though, it seems highly likely that proper ad tools are on their way. 

The current lack of these tools highlights how quickly Threads was developed in the face of Twitter’s ongoing collapse. Despite the limited features and tools for brands, however, the platform appears to be an immediate hit with users who have long been vocally unhappy with Twitter’s direction and leadership.

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Study Suggests TikTok Is Losing Ground In 2023

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Fewer people are using TikTok compared to last year and the social network is losing ground as an e-commerce search engine, according to a new study from CivicScience. 

Meanwhile, Amazon is reconnecting with younger generations and growing as the main starting point for people looking for products online. 

In the study, CivicScience asked U.S. online consumers this question: “When shopping for a product online, where do you typically start for product searches and research?” The survey then compared the responses from this year’s survey against those from 2022. 

TikTok gained some attention last year when analysts noted that it was driving a surprising amount of e-commerce-related search traffic – particularly from younger users. This led the company to announce it intends to develop a $20 billion e-commerce business. It is unclear if recent trends have changed those plans or not. 

It is no surprise that Amazon and Google continue to dominate the e-commerce search market. No other challengers have come close. However, Google did see a slight dip in the number of e-commerce searches being made on its platform. 

The most notable shift from this year’s findings may be the increasing popularity of Amazon among younger age groups who had been previously moving away from the shopping platform. 

Compared to last year, Amazon increased its popularity among younger age groups including 18- to 24-year olds (up 45%) and 25- to 34-year-olds (up 44%). 

For more, read the findings from CivicScience here.

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