May Online Marketing Roundup

Big Month for Google and Twitter. They have implemented a lot of updates that will change your day to day. Find out all the latest news in our Online Marketing Roundup!

1. New URL Tagging Feature in Google Analytics

Previously, advertisers had to find an external site, chrome plugin, or outdated spreadsheet in order to configure their tracking URLs to get visibility in Google Analytics.

With this new feature, advertisers can configure campaign tracking URLs natively in Google Analytics and avoid multiple URLs showing up in reports

Learn how to use this new feature thanks to Jim Banks presentation.

2. Google’s Recent SERP Changes and Tests: Everything You Need to Know

Over the past couple of weeks, Google has been spotted introducing some interesting changes to the look and layout of its search results pages.

The first is that Google appears to have increased the length limit for title tags in the SERPs to around 69-70 characters.

Title tags on mobile have lengthened even further, some now clocking in at a whopping 78 characters, giving rise to a bit of a dilemma for SEOs wanting to optimize for both desktop and mobile.

Extended Title Tags, Descriptions and More

The longer titles in Google search results were first spotted by the sharp-eyed Ross Hudgens, who reported on Twitter that he was seeing title tags of 69 and 70 characters on Google.

It’s not just title tags which have been affected by the search results widening: meta descriptions are also being given more room (about 100 characters) on each line, and in some cases displaying three lines of description instead of the usual two, which is a huge change.

The width of featured snippets has also increased from 556 pixels wide to about 645 pixels, while the height has decreased by about 30 pixels, leaving the same amount of text within the box but also giving more room for title tags.

If you want to learn more about Google's changes get in here.

3. Google Search Console Now Lets You Group Your Sites Together With Property Sets

Google announced that you can now group together multiple properties within the Google Search Console, so you can get aggregate data in the Search Analytics report.

The main purpose is because Google Search Console has always reported Search Analytics data — such as impressions, clicks and CTR — on a property-by-property basis.

And since each property had to be added individually — such as the HTTP vs. HTTPS version of your site or the WWW vs. the non-WWW version, your apps and so on — there was no quick way to get a snapshot of the whole site in one report.

With Google Search Console Sets, you can now create sets of and then see all the Search Analytics data for that one set in one single report.

Learn how to create your Sets here.

4. Official: Twitter Will Stop Counting Media & Usernames Against 140-Character Limit

Your tweets are getting a little more breathing room. Twitter has confirmed plans to stop counting media attachments and @usernames (in replies) against a tweet’s 140-character limit. Links, however, will still count toward the limit.

Media Attachments, But Not Links

Media attachments take up 24 characters, so if you’re attaching a photo or video, that media uses more than 17 percent of your allowed space — and that’s even before you’ve typed a single letter.

With this change, those attachments — whether video, photo, GIF or poll — will no longer count against the 140-character limit. Twitter is making it easier for users to share media in tweets while still being able to comment on what’s being shared.

Links, however, will continue to count as 23 characters against the limit. It may seem counterintuitive to keep counting links while no longer counting media, but Twitter’s thinking is that not counting links against the character limit could open the door for spammy tweets with numerous links.

@Usernames in Replies

Twitter will also stop counting @usernames against the 140-character limit, but only if the usernames are in a reply. Any @usernames included in original tweets will still count against the limit.

Goodbye .@Username, Hello Self-Retweets

Twitter is eliminating the need to begin a reply with a period in order for all of your followers to see a tweeted reply. New tweets that start with a username will now be seen by all of your followers.

That’s how Twitter worked many years ago, and this change ends one of the service’s most confusing usability/visibility issues.

Learn more about all twitter’s updates here.