Jan 25 2024
Google’s SEO Starter Guide Set For A Major Update via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google’s SEO Starter Guide, a critical resource for search engine optimization professionals, is undergoing a significant revision.

The impending update was announced on the latest episode of “Search Off The Record,” a podcast featuring Google’s Search Relations team members.

First launched years ago, the SEO Starter Guide aims to explain the basics of improving website visibility in Google Search results.

According to Gary Illyes and Lizzi Harvey, the existing guide needs to be updated and will see significant changes.

Primary Resource For Aspiring SEO Professionals

With over 8,000 words of advice, the current SEO Starter Guide remains one of the most visited resources on Google’s Search Central site.

“This is the third most viewed page, which is interesting to me because I would have thought maybe people read it and then they move on,” said Harvey.

The guide consistently ranks high in Google search results for keywords like “SEO,” drawing huge traffic.

Given the guide’s popularity, changes to the content and recommendations could significantly impact how new website owners approach SEO. Some strategies may be deemphasized or omitted entirely.

Goodbye Technical Jargon, Hello General Concepts

A key focus of the overhaul will be simplifying the content for modern users, especially those new to building websites.

The guide, known for its extensive reach and high view rates, is set to become more concise and relevant.

“Our current draft that we have right now is around the 3000 mark,” Harvey revealed, highlighting the goal to eliminate redundancy and outdated advice.

Illyes says the revised guide should focus more on general SEO concepts than technical details. For example, understanding the importance of page title tags without manually editing HTML code.

The changes reflect the rise in popularity of content management systems (CMS) like WordPress and website builders like Wix. These tools automate much of the technical SEO work, allowing users with minimal coding skills to optimize web pages.

Dispelling SEO Myths and Reinforcing Best Practices

During the episode, the hosts tackled the perennial declaration that “SEO is dead,” a statement that periodically surfaces within the industry.

Contrary to this claim, the SEO Starter Guide’s popularity and positive feedback signal a robust and ongoing interest in SEO.

“It is our top viewed guide after the home page,” Harvey stated, countering the myth and reinforcing the belief that mastering SEO is as vital as ever for online success.

A Leaner Guide for a Modern Audience

The decision to streamline the SEO Starter Guide reflects a shift towards a more focused and user-friendly approach.

With information overload being a common challenge, the revised guide aims to provide clear, impactful advice without overwhelming readers.

“I don’t want to have ten different places where we’re doing… like saying the same thing in varying ways,” Harvey explained.

The podcast revealed that the updated guide would prioritize user experience and practical needs.

This includes simplifying complex topics and ensuring the guide remains accessible to beginners while providing value to seasoned professionals.

In Summary

Google is expected to release a revised version of its SEO Starter Guide soon.

The upcoming guide will provide key information about current search engine optimization best practices while removing outdated advice.

This new iteration will likely become an essential resource for beginning and experienced SEO professionals looking to improve website visibility in search results.

Featured Image: Piotr Swat/Shutterstock

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Jan 25 2024
Why You Should Consider Semantic HTML For SEO via @sejournal, @martinibuster

The increased use of language understanding in search engines has prioritized writing content that is organized by topics and subtopics and communicates the message in a way that lacks ambiguity. Semantic HTML makes it clear to search engines exactly where the content you want to be indexed is on a webpage, which is why it should be considered for both SEO and website accessibility.

To be clear, Semantic HTML is not a ranking factor. It’s just something that makes it easier for search engines to identify where the main content of a webpage is, which is a very good thing.

 Search Engines Focus On The Main Content

Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines makes a distinction between three kinds of content on a webpage:

  1. Main content
  2. Supplementary content
  3. Advertising content

Main Content

Main content is what the search engines want to index and rank.

Supplementary Content

Supplementary content is useful, like site navigation but it’s not what the search engines are interested in indexing.

Advertising Content

Advertising content is also not what search engines visit a webpage to crawl.

Semantic HTML Helps Webpages Achieve Their Purpose

The distinction between main content and the other two kinds of content is that the Supplementary and Advertising content do not help achieve the purpose of the webpage.

Only the Main Content helps a webpage achieve its purpose and according to the Search Quality Raters Guidelines, those are the ones that receive a higher Page Quality score by the raters.

While that’s probably  not a ranking signal, creating main content that achieves the purpose of the webpage is still a goal that every publisher and SEO should work toward.

The Raters Guide states at the very beginning of Part 1:

“A Page Quality (PQ) rating task consists of a URL and a grid to record your observations as you explore the landing page and the website associated with the URL.

The goal of PQ rating is to evaluate how well the page achieves its purpose.”

The key to achieving the purpose is in the Main Content. Semantic HTML is what helps the search engine crawler zero in on that main content.

Concept of Page Structure – Semantic HTML

Rule number one of SEO is to make webpages easy for search engines to understand.

Semantic HTML can be the most fundamental level of webpage content upon which the structure of the entire webpage can be neatly organized into the three parts (main content, supplementary content and advertising content).

When we talk about Semantic HTML, we’re not talking about the meaning of words. In the context of HTML, the word “semantic” is about the meaning of a webpage, broken down into the component parts.

Just like a body is made of a head, torso, arms and legs, a webpage is also a collection of parts.

The typical structure of  a webpage looks like this:

  • Header (the top part with the logo)
  • Navigation
  • Main Content
  • Footer

Do you see the part that’s called Main Content? This is the part that the search engines are most interested in when indexing a webpage. It’s the part that the Search Quality Raters Guidelines referred to.

When indexing a webpage, search engines don’t care about the navigation, footer, advertising, sidebars or the header sections. They care about indexing the main content.

Semantic HTML tells the search engines exactly where the main content exists so that the indexer can grab it and rank it.

The
HTML Element

Telling a search engine what content on a webpage to index is as easy as using the

HTML element
.

The

element has an opening tag (
) to mark where the main content begins.

And it has a closing tag () to mark where the main content ends.

A webpage can only have one

section.

In the section where your main content begins, just drop in the

element. Then use the closing HTML
element, to signify where the main section of the content ends.

This makes it super easy for the search engines to get to the main content and index it.

That’s great right? Well, it gets even better.

There are a few more semantic HTML elements for dividing a page into the component parts.

The

element can be used to denote the area at the top of the page where the logo and maybe a search bar go. It’s the section that’s typically above the navigation area. The

element can also be used to wrap around headings (H1, H2, etc.) but that’s not really necessary.

The

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Jan 24 2024
Better Search Replace WordPress Vulnerability Affects Up To +1 Million Sites via @sejournal, @martinibuster

A critical severity vulnerability was discovered and patched in the Better Search Replace plugin for WordPress which has over 1 million active website installs. Successful attacks could lead to arbitrary file deletions, sensitive data retrieval and code execution.

Severity Level Of Vulnerability

The severity of vulnerabilities are scored on a point system with ratings described as ranging from low to critical:

  • Low 0.1-3.9
  • Medium 4.0-6.9
  • High 7.0-8.9
  • Critical 9.0-10.0

The severity of the vulnerability discovered in the Better Search Replace plugin is rated as Critical, which is the highest level, with a score of 9.8 on the severity scale of 1-10.

Screenshot of severity score rating of 9.8 of a vulnerability discovered in Better Search Replace WordPress pluginIllustration by Wordfence

Better Search Replace WordPress Plugin

The plugin is developed by WP Engine but it was originally created by the Delicious Brains development company that was acquired by WP Engine. Better Search Replace is a poplar WordPress tool that simplifies and automates the process of running a search and replace task on a WordPress website database, which is useful in a site or server migration task. The plugin comes in a free and paid Pro version.

The plugin website lists the following features of the free version:

  • “Serialization support for all tables
  • The ability to select specific tables
  • The ability to run a “dry run” to see how many fields will be updated
  • No server requirements aside from a running installation of WordPress
  • WordPress Multisite support”

The paid Pro version has additional features such as the ability to track what was changed, ability to backup and import the database while the plugin is running, and extended support.

The plugin’s popularity is due to the ease of use, usefulness and a history of being a trustworthy plugin.

PHP Object Injection Vulnerability

A PHP Object Injection vulnerability, in the context of WordPress, occurs when a user-supplied input is unsafely unserialized. Unserialization is a process where string representations of objects are converted back into PHP objects.

The non-profit Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP) offers a general description of the PHP Object Injection vulnerability:

“PHP Object Injection is an application level vulnerability that could allow an attacker to perform different kinds of malicious attacks, such as Code Injection, SQL Injection, Path Traversal and Application Denial of Service, depending on the context.

The vulnerability occurs when user-supplied input is not properly sanitized before being passed to the unserialize() PHP function. Since PHP allows object serialization, attackers could pass ad-hoc serialized strings to a vulnerable unserialize() call, resulting in an arbitrary PHP object(s) injection into the application scope.

In order to successfully exploit a PHP Object Injection vulnerability two conditions must be met:

  • The application must have a class which implements a PHP magic method (such as __wakeup or __destruct) that can be used to carry out malicious attacks, or to start a ‘POP chain’.
  • All of the classes used during the attack must be declared when the vulnerable unserialize() is being called, otherwise object autoloading must be supported for such classes.”

If an attacker can upload (inject) an input to include a serialized object of their choosing, they can potentially execute arbitrary code or compromise the website’s security. As mentioned above, this type of vulnerability usually arises due to inadequate sanitization of user inputs. Sanitization is a standard process of vetting input data so that only expected types of input are allowed and unsafe inputs are rejected and blocked.

In the case of the Better Search Replace plugin, the vulnerability was exposed in the way it handled deserialization during search and replace operations. A critical security feature missing in this scenario was a POP chain – a series of linked classes and functions that an attacker can use to trigger malicious actions when an object is unserialized.

While the Better Search Replace plugin did not contain such a chain, but the risk remained that if another plugin or theme installed on the same website contained a POP chain that it could then allow an attacker to launch attacks.

Wordfence describes the vulnerability:

“The Better Search Replace plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in all versions up to, and including, 1.4.4 via deserialization of untrusted input.
This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject a PHP Object.

No POP chain is present in the vulnerable plugin. If a POP chain is present via an additional plugin or theme installed on the target system, it could allow the attacker to delete arbitrary files, retrieve sensitive data, or execute code.”

In response to this discovery, WP Engine promptly addressed the issue. The changelog entry for the update to version 1.4.5, released on January 18, 2024, highlights the measures taken:

“Security: Unserializing an object during search and replace operations now passes ‘allowed_classes’ => false to avoid instantiating the object and potentially running malicious code stored in the database.”

This update came after Wordfence’s responsible disclosure of the vulnerability on December 18, 2023, which was followed by WP Engine’s development and testing of the fix.

What To Do In Response

Users of the Better Search Replace plugin are urged to update to the latest version immediately to protect their websites from unwanted activities.

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Jan 24 2024
Meta Launches New Tools To Help Brands Fight IP Infringement via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Meta has launched new tools and services to help brands protect their intellectual property and prevent unauthorized use.

This includes an updated Brand Rights Protection suite to identify and take action against infringing content and a new Intellectual Property Reporting Center where brands can submit complaints.

Brand Rights Protection Receives a Facelift

The newly updated Brand Rights Protection service provides brand owners with enhanced tools to monitor and respond to misuse of their trademarks. It includes improved capabilities such as more sophisticated matching algorithms, saved searches, and an expanded reference library, enabling brands to identify and report infringements and impersonations readily.

“Saved searches are unique to each user and do not sync across everyone with access to a business account,” Meta stated, emphasizing the personalized nature of the new tools.

A key new feature is cross-surface searching, which allows simultaneous searches across multiple platform areas, including advertisements, commerce, accounts, and posts. This eliminates the need to enter search terms repeatedly, significantly streamlining the process.

Meta Introduces The Intellectual Property Reporting Center

Meta has introduced a new Intellectual Property Reporting Center to improve the process for reporting intellectual property rights violations.

The center allows rights holders to save account information and reporting history to streamline the reporting process and track and manage cases more efficiently.

Users log in with their Facebook, Instagram, or Business Manager credentials for a personalized and secure experience.

“Multiple users who are logged in under the same Business Manager account will be able to see reporting history for the entire business,” Meta explained, highlighting the collaborative potential of the platform.

Rights Manager Empowers Image Protection

Meta has updated Rights Manager with new features to help rights holders better manage and protect image content.

The update introduces capabilities such as automatic blocking of unauthorized image use, adding ownership information and calls-to-action directly on images, and enabling actions on multiple images simultaneously.

According to Meta, these additions will allow those who own rights to images to enforce their rights across a broader range of content more proactively.

New Resources For Business Protection

Accompanying these tool upgrades, Meta is rolling out new resources to help businesses protect their brands on Meta’s platforms. This includes upgrades to existing tools and a new “Protecting Businesses” section on the Meta for Business website.

The new website section offers guidance for companies to develop strategies for brand protection, including prevention of misuse, monitoring for violations, and resolution of issues.

In Summary

Meta has introduced several new and upgraded tools to help brands better protect their intellectual property on Meta’s platforms.

Key highlights include enhanced search and detection capabilities, simplified reporting processes, expanded image rights protection, and new online resources to guide brand protection strategies.

While vigilance is still required, brands now have more robust options to defend their trademarks, copyrights, and other IP assets across Facebook, Instagram, and Meta’s advertising services.

Featured Image: rafapress/Shutterstock

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Jan 24 2024
Google Ads Liaison Explains “Other” Search Terms Issue via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

An advertiser recently asked Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, about an issue with seeing a high percentage of ad spend and conversions falling under “Other” search terms.

Inquiry Into Ad Spend Anomalies

The advertiser explained that for a campaign using all exact match keywords, 80% of ad spend and 90% of conversions were attributed to “Other” search terms. Their client said these conversions seemed low quality and not ideal.

Google’s Privacy Thresholds At Play

In response, Marvin explained that search queries not meeting privacy thresholds set by Google Ads are aggregated into the “Other” search terms category.

She recommended using Search Terms Insights on the Insights page, which analyzes query categories driving activity to understand performance better.

“Queries that do not meet our privacy thresholds are aggregated in within the “other” search terms line. Search Terms Insights (on the Insights page) can be helpful to better understand the query themes/categories driving activity though. The category groupings take all search terms into account, including those not included in the search terms report for privacy reasons.”

As Marvin noted, Search Terms Insights considers all search terms, including those left out of the standard search terms report, for privacy reasons. The tool groups terms based on intent and attributes to provide metrics for each category and subcategory.

New Insights For Campaign Optimization

As explained in a Google support page Marvin linked, Search Terms Insights helps advertisers understand how customers search for and engage with their business on Google.

The automated groupings provide key metrics without requiring advertisers to comb through individual terms, some of which are kept private.

Advertisers can view and download search terms insights anytime after March 2023 by switching to custom date ranges. The downloads contain aggregated metrics for categories and more granular data on subcategories.

Accessing & Utilizing Search Terms Insights

Search Terms Insights are accessible in account and campaign views. This recently added capability in the Google Ads API works with Search, Performance Max, Shopping, and other campaign types.

The new insights provide advertisers with comprehensive data on all search terms, even private ones. It offers detailed breakdowns of search topics, subtopics, and key metrics.

With regularly updated data, advertisers can refine campaign targeting and creative to align with shifting interests.

In Summary

Marvin’s guidance aims to help advertisers leverage Search Terms Insights to better understand the ambiguous “Other” search terms they may see in their campaign data.

Advertisers struggling with conversions attributed to “Other” terms can analyze the tool’s category groupings to understand campaign performance better.

Featured Image: Piotr Swat/Shutterstock

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Jan 24 2024
The 15-Second Revolution: Short Videos Are Redefining Marketing via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

A recent report from Munch analyzes the growing importance of short-form video marketing in 2024.

As video content has become more prevalent on social media and advertising platforms, video marketing has evolved from an optional tactic to a critical strategy for companies of all sizes.

The report offers valuable insights into how the landscape of video marketing has changed and its increasing necessity as a component of marketing efforts.

The Business of Video Content

The Rise of Bite-Sized Videos

Recent data indicates a clear trend of viewers preferring short-form videos over longer videos.

85% of viewers prefer videos 15 seconds or less in length. This suggests an increasing demand for concise and engaging video content.

Further, on average, short-form videos receive 2.5 times more engagement than long-form videos.

This increase in engagement with short videos has gained the attention of advertisers, with revenue from short video ads forecast to surpass $10 billion.

User-Generated Content Takes the Lead

User-generated content has become an essential factor influencing consumer purchasing choices in the current market.

As a result, businesses are re-evaluating their content strategies, frequently choosing simplified production methods that use smartphones and essential equipment to create content that consumers find genuine and easy to relate to.

Accessibility Through Subtitles

Accessibility features like subtitles and captioning have become more prominent as they help expand the audience and increase viewer engagement.

These features accommodate those who are hearing impaired and users who prefer to watch videos with the sound off.

Return on Investment & The Video-First Approach

There is noticeable enthusiasm among marketers regarding the potential return on investment from video content.

Many brands embrace a video-first approach, adjusting their content for different platforms to reach broader audiences.

Moreover, the significance of video SEO has expanded since companies aim for improved visibility and higher search rankings.

Emotional storytelling in videos is acknowledged as an essential element in establishing brand loyalty and awareness, which can directly influence a company’s growth.

The Challenges

Video marketing presents both opportunities and challenges. Pre-production steps like generating ideas and writing scripts can be time-consuming.

Creating videos requires investment in equipment and software, given the multifaceted filming and editing production process. Additionally, businesses must develop video strategies that work within budget constraints and resonate with target audiences across distribution platforms.

While advantageous if implemented effectively, video marketing has notable demands regarding planning, resources, and strategic alignment.

The Anatomy Of A Viral Video

Munch’s insights indicate that many successful examples tend to have specific common attributes. These include a relatively fast speech rate, averaging about 150 words per minute.

Additionally, having 2-3 speakers collaborate on the video, offering diverse viewpoints, is another frequent characteristic.

Regarding optimal length, research suggests that the most engaging and succinct viral video clips are around 40 seconds long.

Platform Choices & Industry-Specific Content

Instagram and YouTube remain the most popular platforms for businesses and content creators. At the same time, TikTok has a smaller presence, indicating potential difficulties for its adoption as a platform for original small business marketing content.

Across industries, there are tendencies toward particular content formats, such as interviews in media and finance, monologues by experts in wellness and finance, and conversational, webinar, and explainer videos in their respective niches.

In Summary

The report highlights the growing dominance of short-form video content in marketing strategies today.

User-generated content and accessibility features are key trends, while optimized videos can offer substantial returns on investment.

However, creating quality videos requires planning and resources. Keeping videos concise, collaborative, and aligned with platform and industry norms can help make content engaging and viral.

Businesses should carefully evaluate their video goals, resources, and target audiences as they develop their strategies.

Featured Image: fizkes/Shutterstock

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Jan 24 2024
Google Answers How To Trigger A Complete Re-Indexing via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Google published a video about what to do get Google to automatically re-index an entire website. The answer to the question presumed that the context was a major change to an entire website, necessitating a complete crawl to expedite updating Google’s index.

The person asking the question wanted to know if there’s a way to trigger a whole-site recrawl.

Google’s John Mueller narrated the question:

“Today’s question is whether there’s a mechanism to request re-indexing of a whole website at once.”

Mueller answered:

“Unfortunately, no. There is currently no way to trigger a recrawl and reprocessing of a whole website all at once.

When you make major changes on a website, search engines will generally update those automatically over time. There’s nothing additional that you have to do.”

Mueller next outlined additional things that someone needing a re-indexing should do.

The major points he covered are:

1. Use 301 response codes to alert search engines that a webpage has moved so that the new pages are discovered.

2. Use 404 server response codes to tell search engines that a page no longer exists.

3. Google tends to give high priority to crawling important pages of a website like the home page, which means that linking key pages from important pages is a good strategy.

4. Important changes such as new telephone numbers (and probably street addresses) should ideally be noted on the most important pages of a website.

301 Server Response Codes

Adding a 301 redirect when a webpage’s URL changes is of course essential. The server response informs search engines that a page has permanently moved to a new URL which will then encourage the search engine to seek out the new webpage for indexing.

If the webpage is entirely the same and only the URL has changed then this should not have any effect on rankings except for a few days of transition as the index replaces the old URL with the new one.

But if the content of the webpages have also changed then there’s a possibility that this may trigger a site quality re-evaluation, a process that could take longer than one may feel comfortable with.

John Mueller commented in another video from 2021 on what happens after a major website changes:

“The one time where we do have to kind of reconsider how the site works is if the site does a serious restructuring of its website where it changes a lot of the URLs and all of the internal links change, where maybe you move from one CMS to another CMS and everything changes and looks different.

Then from a quality point of view or from a technical point of view, we can’t just keep the old understanding of the site, of the pages, because everything is different now.

So we kind of have to rethink all of that.

But that’s also not something that is triggered by anything specific but rather it’s just well lots of things have changed on the site and even to kind of incrementally keep up we have to do a lot of incremental changes to re-evaluate that.”

Watch the #AskGooglebot video with Google’s John Mueller:

Can my entire site be re-indexed at my request?

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Vectorium

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Jan 24 2024
WordPress Releases Two Plugins For Speeding Up Webpages via @sejournal, @martinibuster

The WordPress Core Performance Team released two plugins that speed up webpages with new technologies that pre-render URLs before a user clicks on a link and speeds up lazy-loaded images.

WordPress Core Performance Team

The WordPress Core Performance Team is responsible for coordinating with the different WordPress core development teams for the purpose of improving performance and also to work on projects that directly impact improving core WordPress performance.

The initial plan for the Performance Team consisted of:

  • lead the working groups formation
  • coordinate the initial administrative tasks (slack channel, weekly meetings, schedule working groups representative nominations, etc.)
  • create a mission statement for the team
  • coordinate the areas to tackle
  • outline the scope and the roadmap

WordPress Performance Plugins

Some of the performance improvements to WordPress are first tested in plugins before they are subsequently integrated into a future version of WordPress.

Users who download the plugins are able to be the first in the world to use and benefit from the webpage speed improvements and it is expected (hoped) that those who are using the plugins will also provide feedback on their experiences, both positive and negative.

The first and most popular plugin released by the Performance Team is the Performance Lab plugin that features five modules that can be turned on or off depending on user needs.

The current modules of the Performance Lab plugin are:

  • Dominant Color Images:
    Adds support to store the dominant color of newly uploaded images and create a placeholder background of that color.
  • WebP Support Health Check:
    Adds a WebP support check in Site Health status.
  • WebP Uploads:
    Creates WebP versions for new JPEG image uploads if supported by the server.
  • Enqueued Assets Health Check:
    Adds a CSS and JS resource check in Site Health status.
  • Autoloaded Options Health Check:
    Adds a check for autoloaded options in Site Health status

Two New Performance Plugins

The two brand new plugins that were announced today are:

  1. Auto-sizes for Lazy-loaded Images
  2. Speculation Rules

The two plugins improve performance in two different ways which means that they can both be used to gain the most amount of improvements.

New WordPress Auto-Sizes Plugin

Lazy-loading is a performance optimization technique that defers (pauses) the loading of non-critical images to improve page loading times. Images that are necessary for rendering the visible part of the webpage are loaded first while the ones that are not necessary are deferred until the user scrolls and the images are needed.

What this plugin does is integrates a new lazy loading HTML attribute called sizes=”auto” that sets the “sizes” attribute to “auto” for lazy-loaded images using ‘srcset’ and speeds up the downloading for images that will be needed when the user scrolls down the page.

The sizes=”auto” attribute for images is a part of the responsive images specification in HTML, but it is not specifically related to lazy-loading. Instead, the sizes attribute is used with srcset to provide the browser with the image size dimensions needed to display the image at different viewport sizes. The browser is then able to select the most appropriate image source from the srcset.

New WordPress Speculation Rules Plugin

The Speculation Rules plugin leverages the Speculation Rules API in order to download the resources of webpages that a user is likely to request. The Speculation Rules plugin essentially predicts that a page will be requested and will begin pre-rendering the webpage before a user clicks a link.

The official plugin description explains:

“Uses the Speculation Rules API to prerender linked URLs upon hover by default.”

The Speculation Rules API is a feature designed to improve the performance of web browsing by allowing web pages to provide hints to the browser about potential links that a user might click to navigate to a different webpage. The browser can then prefetch or pre-render resources based on the likelihood of a site visitor clicking a link to navigate to a new webpage.

The Mozilla developer page for the Speculation Rules API explains:

“The Speculation Rules API is designed to improve performance for future navigations. It targets document URLs rather than specific resource files, and so makes sense for multi-page applications (MPAs) rather than single-page applications (SPAs).

The Speculation Rules API provides an alternative to the widely-available feature and is designed to supersede the Chrome-only deprecated feature. It provides many improvements over these technologies, along with a more expressive, configurable syntax for specifying which documents should be prefetched or prerendered.”

The plugin implementation requires the use of at least Chrome 121. Users that visit a site while using a different browser that does not support the Speculation Rules API won’t be affected in any way, the webpage will render as it normally would.

According to the plugin documentation:

“By default, the plugin is configured to prerender WordPress frontend URLs when the user hovers over a relevant link. This can be customized via the “Speculation Rules” section under Settings > Reading.

A filter can be used to exclude certain URL paths from being eligible for prefetching and prerendering (see FAQ section). Alternatively, you can add the ‘no-prerender’ CSS class to any link ( tag) that should not be prerendered.”

Read more about the new WordPress performance plugins and download them here:

WordPress Auto-sizes for Lazy-loaded Images Plugin

WordPress Speculation Rules Plugin

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Haali

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Jan 23 2024
LinkedIn Retires Lookalike Audiences, Urges Shift To New Targeting via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

LinkedIn has announced it will discontinue its lookalike audiences feature starting February 29, 2024.

According to a statement from LinkedIn, after February 2024, advertisers will no longer be able to create new lookalike audiences or edit existing ones. Any current lookalike audiences will become “static” and stop refreshing with new data.

LinkedIn stated that active ad campaigns using lookalike audiences will continue to run but will be delivered to the now static audience pool. After 30 days of inactivity, unused lookalike audiences will be automatically archived by LinkedIn.

Alternatives: Predictive Audiences & Audience Expansion

As an alternative to the soon-to-be-phased-out lookalike audiences, LinkedIn recommends advertisers use its newer “Predictive Audiences” and “Audience Expansion” feature instead.

Predictive audiences utilize LinkedIn’s AI to build custom audiences likely to convert based on advertisers’ conversion data, lead gen forms, or contact lists.

Audience expansion is suggested for marketers looking to broaden their target demographics. It expands target audiences using LinkedIn’s professional demographic data.

Both features aim to help advertisers identify and reach high-intent individuals similar to their existing customers.

Predictive Audiences Details

You need at least 300 people in the selected data source to create a predictive audience. The system allows a maximum of 30 predictive audiences per ad account, and they can’t be shared between accounts.

Note that campaigns using predictive audiences won’t be able to expand the audience.

Audience Expansion Details

Audience expansion relies on professional demographics and can be combined with Matched Audience segments.

LinkedIn has highlighted that performance metrics include data from those you initially aimed your ads at and the wider group. However, you won’t be able to widen your audience for adaptive ad formats or audiences chosen based on predicted behaviors.

Implications For Current Campaigns

Any current ad campaigns using lookalike audiences must switch to predictive audiences or turn on audience expansion to keep a dynamic targeting approach. LinkedIn said there will be a 30-day grace period where unused lookalike audiences can still be accessed before being archived.

In addition, LinkedIn’s API for creating lookalike audiences through third-party marketing platforms like HubSpot will go away. This means marketers who rely on those integrations to build audiences will need another option.

Looking Ahead

LinkedIn stated that existing lookalike audiences will function normally until February 2024.

Advertisers are advised to begin using Predictive Audiences and Audience Expansion for future dynamic targeting needs. More details are available in LinkedIn’s announcement and help documentation.

Featured Image: Thoha Firdaus/Shutterstock

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Jan 23 2024
Google Launches AI-Powered Chrome Update For More Personalized Experience via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google has rolled out a new update for its Chrome browser that brings in sophisticated AI and machine learning to make browsing smoother and safer.

Personalized Browsing With Chrome M121

Google Chrome’s latest update, version M121, includes new experimental AI features to customize and streamline web browsing.

These new features, rolling out to Chrome on Macs and PCs in the U.S., can be accessed by signing into Chrome, going to Settings, and navigating to the Experimental AI page.

Google says these are initial public tests of the AI features so that they will be turned off for business and school accounts during this early stage.

Smart Tab Management

A key new feature in the update is the Tab Organizer tool. This aims to reduce the need to manually group related browser tabs.

You can right-click on a tab and choose “Organize Similar Tabs” or click the drop-down arrow next to the tabs.

Chrome will then automatically detect tabs with related content and suggest creating tab groups for them. It even proposes names and emojis for these groups to make it easier to find them again later.

Custom Browser Themes With AI

The new version of Chrome allows you to create personalized themes. This builds on Google’s prior introduction of AI-generated wallpapers for Android and Pixel devices.

You can customize Chrome by choosing subject matter, mood, visual style, and color palette options. Then, the AI will generate a one-of-a-kind theme matching those selections.

For instance, someone interested in the northern lights who wants a soothing, moving theme can input “aurora borealis,” “animated,” and “serene.”

Google has pre-made themes in the Chrome gallery to spark ideas so you can understand the possibilities before designing your unique look.

Enhanced Writing Assistance

Looking ahead, Google is preparing to roll out another AI-powered feature to help users write better.

In the next update, Chrome will include a “Help me write” option that can be activated by right-clicking in any text field or box on a website. When selected, it will give suggestions to improve what you’re trying to compose, whether a restaurant review, RSVP, or formal message like a rental inquiry. The AI will provide writing assistance to boost the quality of the text.

Looking Ahead

Google continues to innovate by integrating new AI technology into its products. The company plans to add its Gemini AI model to the Chrome browser later this year, enhancing the browsing experience by simplifying and accelerating common tasks.

Adding AI capabilities to Chrome demonstrates Google’s dedication to using technology to improve how people interact with the internet. As AI tools like Gemini progress, they could fundamentally change how we engage with the web. Everyday online activities will likely become more intuitive and tailored to individual users.

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