Good morning, Marketers, I’m feeling dizzy today because of my computer — no joke.

Since I started working on my new MacBook Pro M1 Max — the super fast computer — this morning, it has been lagging. I’d start typing and the letters would show up several seconds after I typed it. When my computer lags, it makes me feel laggy and even dizzy. I hope it is just a temporary indexing issue, yes — computers index their own files similar to how search engines work.

All this lag has me thinking about the importance of speed. Fast websites are not just a ranking factor — a super minor factor, at that — but they also have a direct correlation with conversion rates on your site. So make sure your sites perform quickly, so it doesn’t make your users dizzy and you don’t miss out on any conversions and revenue. Heck, Google even upgraded its PageSpeed Insights tool yesterday — see the story below.

Barry Schwartz,
Delayed news reporter

PPC

The Microsoft Audience Network expands to 18 new markets

Advertisers can now reach more audiences in Europe, Central and South America.

SEO

Google adds local news features to search, giving publishers more exposure

Local news organizations depend on organic search traffic as queries like “news near me” have tripled in the past five years, Google says.

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SEO

Google rolling out new PageSpeed Insights

Google announced these changes weeks ago but it is now rolling out under a new URL.

Local

Yelp’s new ad types aim to connect national advertisers to local users

Sponsored Collections may appeal to brands that typically don’t advertise on Yelp and Seasonal Spotlight Ads might help multi-location brands create another touchpoint to showcase their seasonal promotions.

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Local

Google Maps will show price ranges for US restaurants

The company also announced an expansion of indoor directories, Pickup with Google Maps and Area Busyness trends.

Shorts

• Google Discover traffic is not dependable. We have all seen stories pop up in our Google Discover feed. But, can your website depend on consistent Google Discover traffic? The answer is no, we spoke about this in detail at SMX Next with John Shehata, VP, global audience development strategy & CRM, Conde Nast, and John Mueller of Google spoke about it briefly in a video hangout. In short, enjoy the traffic but do not rely on it.
• 5xx errors and Google. Do not, I repeat, do not serve 5xx status codes intentionally to Google unless there is really an error with your site. Do not do this between desktop and mobile Googlebot user agents either. It is a bad idea, said Google’s John Mueller. 
• Weird Page Experience data. Do you see data in your Google Search Console Page Experience report on some days and then it is gone the next day? That likely means you are “teetering on the edge of having enough field data for evaluating the CWV properly.” There is not much you can do to “fix” that but that is why it may happen, said Google.

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