Our weekly digest of what’s happening/trending in the digital world provided by Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and Search Engine Roundtable.

From Search Engine Land

Stop! Think twice before using nofollow attributes on your website
Using page-level nofollow attributes? Instead, use nofollow on specific links if you have to use them at all. Read more

AMA with Google highlights: The core search algorithm update, mobile-first index status & more
From nofollow links to negative SEO, the core search algorithm and Google showing zero search results — catch up on what Google’s Nathan Johns had to say at SMX West. Read more

Google launches cost-per-sale Shopping Actions, unified shopping program across Search, Assistant & Express
In its answer to Amazon, Google’s new umbrella program will extend existing relationships with retailers and enable universal checkout across platforms and devices. Read more

Google Search Console updates visual reporting features
A look at what’s new in Google Search Console. Read more

New Google My Business dashboard for multiple listings rolling out
More business owners are reporting that they are seeing the new Google My Business dashboard. Are you seeing it? Read more

Google: Using non-English URLs for non-English websites is fine
In Google’s latest SEO snippets video series, Google’s John Mueller talked about non-English URLs and SEO. Read more

Google stops showing zero search results for time, calculations & conversions
After only a week of experimenting with showing only a single answer, Google is putting that test on hold. Read more

International SEO: How to build a global footprint
Being successful on the international stage requires more than practicing basic SEO. Read more

Google News Initiative kicks off with Subscribe With Google, other efforts
Subscribers will see articles from their subscribed publications higher in the search results and be logged in to those publications across devices. Read more

8 types of negative reviews Google will remove
Is someone getting back at your company by leaving negative reviews? Read more

5 easy but smart SEO wins to boost content and link-building efforts
Don’t ignore the basic, everyday technical SEO issues that pop up when marketing a website. Read more

From Marketing Land

Creating landing pages that convert
If you’re looking to gather leads for your business, you need to have a landing-page strategy. Just like every other marketing tactic, this can be done well or it can be done poorly. To see the greatest return on their investment, businesses need to build effective landing pages. Read more

Why you should be using programmatic native ads
Native ads have so much potential that I don’t believe is being explored enough today. Read more

How Twitter’s latest policy update to stop spam & malicious content is impacting brands
Social media marketers react to Twitter’s new rule restricting simultaneous tweets with identical content across multiple accounts. Read more

Facebook introduces ‘store sales optimization’ and other ad improvements for retailers
Store sales optimization, Tabs for Canvas and product categories for dynamic ads designed to help retailers sell more online and in stores. Read more

Facebook pilots program to help creators build advertiser relationships & drive fan engagement
The site is testing new products that will allow creators to spotlight their top fans and monetize content. Read more

What does artificial intelligence mean for marketing agencies?
It’s clear artificial intelligence will play a role in the future of marketing, but what will that role encompass?  Read more

Google expanding YouTube Director onsite video ad service to more than 170 cities
Originally offered in only six cities when it launched last year, YouTube’s video ad creation service will now be available to many more businesses. Read more

Pinterest Shopping Ads now out of testing, available to hundreds of advertisers
Launched last year, Pinterest’s Shopping Ads program began with a limited number of beta partners, including IKEA Canada, Lowe’s and Ulta Beauty. Read more

Instagram expands shoppable organic posts to 8 more countries
Launched last year, shoppable posts make it possible for brands to tag products within their organic posts on Instagram. Read more

Google announces third-party measurement expansions with MRC, Nielsen, comScore
Google’s SVP of Ads and Commerce Sridhar Ramaswamy and Matt Brittin, Google’s EMEA president, acknowledged it’s been a hard year with concerns around security, transparency and privacy reaching new levels of urgency. Read more

How brands can engage with customers after checkout
You develop a relationship with a customer during their path to purchase, but do you lose track of them after they buy Read more

From Search Engine Roundtable

Search Buzz Video Recap: Google Core Algorithm Update, Googleâs Zero Search Results & Image Search Captions
It was a pretty busy week with a confirmed Google core search algorithm update that happened last weekend. Read more

Google Will Update How Search Works Portal
Under a year ago Google updated the how search works portal which is over here. Before that, it was launched in 2013 and was not updated that much since. Read more

Google Tests People Also Search For Feature On Cursor Hover?
Google may be testing a feature in the search results where the people also search for box not only shows up when you click back from the web site, into the search results again but also when you hover your mouse cursor over the snippet. Read more

Google My Business Insights Heatmaps For Directions Now More Useful
Google My Business has updated the directions heatmaps, which they originally launched in 2014 to make them more useful. Read more

Google Shopping Actions For Voice Shopping & Assistant – There Is Confusion
Google announced this morning the introduction of Shopping Actions. Google say this program “gives customers an easy way to shop your products on the Google Assistant and Search with a universal cart Read more

Google Core Algorithm Update Continues To Fluctuate For Some
A week ago Friday there was a Google core algorithm update that touched down pretty hard. Technically it was released on March 7th but most noticed it on March 8th and 9th. Read more

Google Shutting Down Some Google+ Pages
Brodie Clark posted on Twitter that he received an email from Google that one or some of his Google+ pages for a business is being shut down within 30 days. Read more

Google SEO Snippets Video On 404 Errors & Search Rankings SEO
In continuation of the SEO Snippets videos where Google’s John Mueller answers popular questions in a short video. Read more

Google: Nofollow Link Has Not Changed
An interesting question came up at the AMA with Google at SMX West last week, where Nathan Johns from Google was asked if the nofollow link attribute that launched in 2005. Read more

Google Core Algorithm Update Release Date: March 7th
Google’s Nathan Johns from the search quality analyst team at Google. Read more

Google Search Console Alerts For Switching To Mobile-First Index
Google’s John Mueller said on stage this morning at SMX Munich that Google Search Console will send FYIs to those sites that have been moved from the desktop-first index to the mobile-first index. Read more

Google Search Console Alerts For Switching To Mobile-First Index
Google’s John Mueller said on stage this morning at SMX Munich that Google Search Console will send FYIs to those sites that have been moved from the desktop-first index to the mobile-first index. Read more

Google AdWords To Deactivate Accounts With No Spend In 15 Months
Google announced on Twitter that they will be automatically deactivating accounts with no spend in the past 15 months. Read more

GoogleBot Won’t Be Upgraded To Latest Chrome Version For Some Time
As you know, GoogleBot uses Chrome version 41 to crawl the web. Read more

Google: Only Clicks To Your Web Site Are Tracked In Google Search Console
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that the Google Search Console search analytics report only tracks clicks as clicks when the user clicks on something in the search results that leads you directly to your web site. Read more