Tag: News

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Pinterest announced the launch of Performance+ on October 1st 2024, stating:

“Pinterest Performance+ campaigns can help any advertiser drive lower-funnel performance by optimizing targeting, managing budgets or deciding how much to bid. Through AI and automation features, Pinterest Performance+ campaigns decrease campaign creation time significantly, with 50% less inputs required.”

The Performance+ suite aims to rival Meta’s Advantage+ and Google’s Performance Max (two similar AI-powered advertising tools). Pinterest’s Performance+ includes:

• Creative supportto optimize ads, generate backgrounds, and target the right customers
• Dynamic bidding helps your business save money by focusing on low costs without sacrificing success
• ROAS (return on ad spend) prioritization to boost sales through Pinterest
• Budgeting tools to help you organize and manage your campaign spending – Performance+ doesn’t impose a budget limit on campaigns
• Visual targeting so your ads are presented to the right customers

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Performance+ underwent testing before its launch, and the results are impressive. For example, Walgreens was involved in the beta testing and saw a 55% increase in clickthrough rate on showcased products that used a Pinterest-generated background, as opposed to a plain white backdrop. And, plenty of other sites have reduced their CPC (costs per click) and CPA (costs per action) by 10%+.

This is promising to see, especially if you run a small business looking to boost sales and keep costs low.

Prada also saw positive improvements during the Performance+ testing. Source: Website Builder Expert

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You can find Performance+ in Pinterest’s Ad Managerdashboard and it’s accessible to all advertisers.

However, the feature is only compatible with Consideration, Conversions, and Catalog Sales objectives – these are different types of campaign objectives offered by Pinterest and they determine how you bid. As costs rise on channels like Meta and Google, it’s worth diversifying your advertising channels and pursuing results on Pinterest, particularly as the social platform grows in popularity.

You can shape Performance+ to suit yourneeds, meaning you can toggle select features and products on or off based on each campaign. This gives you control and flexibility over Performance+, but the new automation features and AI tools will help you get off the ground fast.

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If you use WP Engine, you’re likely already aware of the various moves by WordPress against WP Engine, but with so much back-and-forth it’s become hard to keep track.

The WP Engine vs WordPress feud truly began in September after Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic, criticized WP Engine at this year’s WordCamp US. Why, you ask? Mullenweg accused WP Engine of trademark infringement and not giving anything back to the free, open-source platform (despite this not being a legal requirement.)

Of course, this sparked outrage in the wider community and unrest between the two companies, including the banning of WP Engine users from WordPress resources and WP Engine filing a federal lawsuit against WordPress.

WP Engine has spoken out against Mullenweg’s “scorched earth campaign”. Source: Website Builder Expert

Automattic employees have even been paid to leavetheir jobs if they disagree with the direction of the company and Mullenweg’s decisions. At the same time, WP Engine employees have moved to jobs at Automattic – making the conflict blurry and messy.

The drama between WordPress and WP Engine has continued to escalate over the first few weeks of October. Should you be worried about your site?

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If you use WP Engine for your WordPress site, will you need to switch or jump ship? Should you move away from WordPress altogether? Use a website builder?

At the start of the feud, when WordPress blocked WP Engine users, WordPress advised customers to reach out to WP Engine if they needed help – cutting them off entirely from WordPress’ resources (including themes, plug-ins, and updates) and support.

If you host your WordPress site through WP Engine, WP Engine continues to share information and regular updatesto ensure customers can operate their sites effectively.

While there’s no need to switch right now, it’s best to check out your options if you do decide to migrate from WP Engine to another hosting provider. However, I must warn you that this can be a frustrating and expensive process, depending on the size of your site.

I wouldn’t recommend migrating from WordPress to a website builder, due to the complexities of WordPress sites. Instead, review various migration options and WordPress-recommended hosting providers to find the right fit for your site.

In fact, WordPress recently made a blog post about deals and promotions for WP Engine customers looking to migrate. This includes an entire year for free if you choose to migrate to one of WordPress.com’s plans.

The legal case building between the two makes the future of WP Engine and WordPress uncertain. And, with the recent takeover of the ACF plugin, it’s likely sudden changes (directed by Mullenweg) will continue to happen, plunging the open-source community into further disarray.

For now, there’s no need to abandon WP Engine altogether – even if WordPress suggests using alternative hosting providers for your site. That said, I recommend keeping up-to-date on what’s happening between WordPress and WP Engine so you’re not caught off guard by any new developments.

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Hostinger is one of our top-rated website builders for 2024. It boasts time-saving AI tools and incredibly affordable plans, especially compared to more expensive builders, like Shopify. And, Hostinger’s plans are even cheaper now with these Black Friday deals.

If you don’t need much scalability and are looking for AI features to ease the website-building process, Hostinger is ideal. Because of this, I highly recommend the builder for personal sites and smaller businesses.

The Premium plan is a budget-friendly starting point and gives you access to Hostinger’s AI website builder, but you’ll need the Business plan if you want to sell online and use the rest of Hostinger’s AI tools.

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Store Ratings in Google Search are a useful signal to customers about the quality of your business, whether they’re looking to purchase a product or simply trust in your brand. Customers can learn about other customer experiences through these reviews, and it can be a handy way for business owners to tap into the needs and pain points of their customers.

Google even suggests that Store Ratings “can help merchants improve the performance of ads and free listings and drive more qualified customers to their landing pages” in its help guide.

You can spot Google’s Store Ratings in the Google Shopping search results – this is where Google displays business information.

Google displays the store rating of a business in the search results, as you can see here with Crumbl. Source: Website Builder Expert

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If your online store is based in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, or India, then you can enable Store Ratings. Thankfully, enabling this feature is automatic for the most part.

Google will gather ratings and reviews from various platforms, including Google Customer Reviews and independent review sites, such as TrustPilot. To make sure Store Ratings show in search results, simply check that your business has signed up for at least one of these services.

There are also a few requirements that your online store needs to meet:

• Over 100 eligible reviews within the last 24 hours
• An average rating of 3.5 or more (for business ads)

And, that’s it! If you haven’t got your business set up on review sites, do so immediately. It’s a simple method to boost visibility, brand awareness, and maybe even encourage sales from trusting customers. If your business doesn’t have enough reviews to be eligible yet, consider implementing some strategies to ask customers for reviews, such as via social media.

For more guidance on best practices with reviews, check out our articles on theimpact of Google Reviews on SEO, andhow to reply to Google Reviews.

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Forking means creating a new path – a fork – from an existing project so you can develop it in your own way. You can create an alternative version using the original code or software, and pursue independent goals and developments.

This duplication is an integral part of the open-source community. Anyone has the right to use, change, and distribute projects.

But, why is it done? Users might feel restricted by the existing software or they could disagree with the direction of the project.

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On October 12th, WordPress forked the WP Engine-owned plugin, Advanced Custom Fields, and renamed it Secure Custom Fields. Taking control of the plugin is the latest move in the WordPress.org and WP Engine battle. But, could the same happen to WordPress.org?

Well, it already has. Earlier in the month, Matt Mullenweg (CEO of Automattic and co-founder of WordPress) shared a blog post named “Forking is Beautiful” to reflect on the history of forking within the company.

WordPress began as a fork of the b2/cafelog project, and a fork of the software was last made in 2018 with ClassicPress following a rift about the Gutenberg editor.Now, Mullenweg has even promoted a new fork created by a former WordPress community member, named FreeWP, and encouraged discontented users to join the alternative if they disagree with his recent actions.

From this, it’s clear Mullenweg only wants loyal users within the community – Mullenweg even paid unhappy employees to leave the company if they disagreed with him.

Given the lack of stability in the WordPress community right now, it’s understandable that many might want to take WordPress in a different direction. So, I expect we’ll see other alternatives pop up in the months to come. That said, there have been very few successful forks of WordPress – largely due to its huge success and complexity – so it’s unlikely Mullenweg feels threatened by any of them so far.

The new features were based on data from Google’s Shopping Graph (featuring 45 billion product listings) paired with Gemini’s learning models. As a result, here are the useful tools that shoppers and store owners can take advantage of today:

• AI-driven product briefs– When a shopper types a query into Google Shopping (e.g. “best winter boots for women”), they’ll receive an AI-generated brief that summarizes what they need to consider when looking for a product. For a winter boot, that might include weather-appropriate materials or a warm lining.
• Improved categorization– Google has added dynamic filters to make it easier for shoppers to find specific products. Filters can be used for categories like location, availability, and color.
• Price comparison – Shoppers are now able to compare prices from different companies and find the best deal for them.
• Deals page – Users can click on a new “Deals” tab to browse personalized deals they may be interested in.
• Virtual try-ons – Visual industries like fashion or beauty will benefit from the virtual try-ons feature. Through augmented reality, shoppers can try on specific products and see what they might look like. For instance, they could use their smartphone camera to try on a lipstick shade or necklace.

Google Shopping’s categorization is very tailored. When searching for fishing rods, I could filter by the type of rod and its length. Source: Website Builder Expert

If you’re at the helm of an online store and are interested in reaping the benefits of Google Shopping’s new AI features, here’s what Google had to say about the change:

“No new actions are required for merchants to participate in the new Google Shopping. Continue optimizing your presence on Google.”

Though there are no explicit actions you need to take to participate in Google Shopping, it’s still worth auditing your currentecommerce SEO strategy to make sure that you appear in search results.

Ensure that your store’s product descriptions are well optimized, feature keywords your audience are looking for, have clear imagery with alternative text, and contain any key product attributes – like size, color, or key features – that are clearly listed.

Google Shopping also pulls out specific product details like star ratings. Check your website has schema markup set up so these reviews show up on search. Source: Website Builder Expert

Your content should be explicit and scannable, so Google’s AI can pick up on your products and present them to users if they’ve entered a relevant query.

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Here’s what we know about the WP Engine vs WordPress feud so far, with the most recent developments at the top:

️ October 12, 2024: WordPress takes over popular WP Engine plugin

The latest development saw WordPress take over a WP Engine-owned plugin to “remove commercial upsells and fix a security problem,” according to Matt Mullenweg in a WordPress blog post. However, the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin team said this action – known as forking – was done without consent.

The Advanced Custom Fields plugin shared its disappointment over the action on X. Source: Website Builder Expert

The ACF plugin – a widely used plugin for WordPress users – was first acquired by WP Engine in 2022. Unfortunately, things have clearly soured due to the WordPress and WP Engine drama, putting the plugin at risk. The ACF plugin team released a statement to express their thoughts:

“Mullenweg’s actions are extraordinarily concerning and pose the grave risk of upending and irreparably harming the entire WordPress ecosystem.”

It certainly sets a scary precedent and highlights how much power Mullenweg exerts over the future of WordPress.

️ October 9, 2024: WordPress.org introduces checkbox to contributor login page

The WordPress team added a new checkbox to the contributor login page on WordPress.org. This asks people signing in to confirm they’re “not affiliated with WP Engine in any way, financially or otherwise.”

The move caused some confusion in the community, resulting in WP Engine having to explain that its customers, agencies, and users, are not affiliated with WP Engine and are free to proceed with the login process. Even WordPress responded to ask for clarification on select cases, only contributing to the confusion even more, considering WordPress is the one to introduce the checkbox in the first place.

I’ve highlighted the new checkbox added to WordPress.org’s contributor login page. Source: Website Builder Expert

️ October 3, 2024: Automattic pays employees to leave if they disagree with Mullenweg’s actions

Following the back-and-forth between the two companies, Mullenweg decided to give employees an out if they disagreed with his actions against WP Engine. And, to be fair to Mullenweg, the package was very generous. Employees at Automattic could choose to resign – losing eligibility for future roles at the company – and receive either $30,000 or six months of salary, whichever was the highest amount.

Automattic shared that 159 people took the offer, equating to just over 8% of the company.

️ October 2, 2024: WP Engine files federal lawsuit 

WP Engine filed a lawsuit against Matt Mullenweg and Automattic at the start of October, addressing the “abuse of power, extortion, and greed”. It’s not too surprising that the feud developed into legal action considering the severity of insults and retaliation.

WP Engine shared the news of the lawsuit on X, expressing its concern for the future of the WordPress community:

“Matt Mullenweg’s conduct over the last ten days has exposed significant conflicts of interests and governance issues that, if left unchecked, threaten to destroy that trust. WP Engine has no choice but to pursue these claims to protect its people, agency partners, customers, and the broader WordPress community. Like so many of you, we love WordPress and are committed to the stability and longevity of the community.”

WordPress responded to the X post, which you can see in the image below. Arguably, the company’s decision to publicly respond to its arch-nemesis only serves to stir the pot by making light of the situation.

WordPress has been very public about its dislike for WP Engine. Source: Website Builder Expert

Automattic also issued a more serious response to the “baseless lawsuit against Automattic, Matt Mullenweg, and WordPress.org.” The blog post goes on to say that Automattic “vehemently deny WP Engine’s allegations–which are gross mischaracterizations of reality–and reserve all of our rights.”

️ October 1, 2024: WordPress reinstates WP Engine ban

After the pause, WordPress once again removed access to its resources for WP Engine users. Thankfully, for WP Engine customers, WP Engine was prepared for the switch off this time around and rolled out solutions quickly.

WP Engine communicated to its customers following the WordPress ban. Source: Website Builder Expert

️ September 27, 2024: WordPress temporarily lifts ban on WP Engine users

WordPress temporarily lifts its ban on WP Engine customers after two days of frustration and confusion. Mullenweg posted on the WordPress blog after access was restored to WP Engine users, placing the blame for the disruption solely on WP Engine’s shoulders – despite WordPress being the ones in charge of the ban.

️ September 25, 2024: WordPress blocks WP Engine users

Things continued to heat up after Mullenweg banned WP Engine users from accessing WordPress.org resources, such as themes and plugins.

WP Engine responded to the decision on X:

“Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic, has misused his control of WordPress to interfere with WP Engine customers’ access to WordPress.org, asserting that he did so because WP Engine filed litigation against WordPress.org. This simply is not true. Our Cease & Desist letter was a letter – not a lawsuit – and was directed at Automattic for Matt’s pattern of serious and repeated misconduct – behavior that must stop for the health and stability of the entire community.

Matt Mullenweg’s unprecedented and unwarranted action interferes with the normal operation of the entire WordPress ecosystem, impacting not just WP Engine and our customers, but all WordPress plugin developers and open-source users who depend on WP Engine tools like ACF. We are taking immediate steps to remediate the impact of this action. We remain steadfastly committed to supporting WP Engine customers, users, and the entire WordPress community.”

Unfortunately, this move impacted regular users, and not just WP Engine as a company.

️ September 24, 2024: WordPress updates trademark policy

The WordPress Foundation – a non-profit founded by Mullenweg to support WordPress projects – edited its trademark policy to back up Mullenweg’s arguments against WP Engine’s branding. To avoid any confusion, the policy now mentions WP Engine by name:

“The abbreviation “WP” is not covered by the WordPress trademarks, but please don’t use it in a way that confuses people. For example, many people think WP Engine is “WordPress Engine” and officially associated with WordPress, which it’s not. They have never once even donated to the WordPress Foundation, despite making billions of revenue on top of WordPress.”

️ September 23, 2024: Cease-and-desist letters are sent

In response to Mullenweg’s harsh criticisms, WP Engine sent a cease-and-desist letter to Automattic. The 9-page document maps out the timeline of events so far and features images of “threatening” text conversations from Mullenweg to the CEO of WP Engine.

WP Engine attempts to tackle the misinformation being spread with its cease-and-desist letter. Source: Website Builder Expert

Automattic sent its own cease-and-desist letter back to WP Engine on the same day, “outlining WP Engine’s pattern of unauthorized usage of the WordPress and WooCommerce trademarks.” While WP Engine presented valid arguments, it’s tough to battle a company as powerful as WordPress.

️ September 21, 2024: Matt Mullenweg calls WP Engine “a cancer to WordPress”

After the backlash from Mullenweg’s WordCamp US speech, Mullenweg doubled down and shared a blog post titled “WP Engine is not WordPress”. In this, he spoke about the confusion customers face with the existence of the WP Engine brand, arguing many believe that WP Engine is a part of WordPress.

Mullenweg went on to say:

“What WP Engine gives you is not WordPress, it’s something that they’ve chopped up, hacked, butchered to look like WordPress, but actually they’re giving you a cheap knock-off and charging you more for it.

This is one of the many reasons they are a cancer to WordPress, and it’s important to remember that unchecked, cancer will spread. WP Engine is setting a poor standard that others may look at and think is ok to replicate. We must set a higher standard to ensure WordPress is here for the next 100 years.”

️ September 20, 2024: Matt Mullenweg criticizes WP Engine at WordCamp US

The WordPress and WP Engine drama began during this year’s WordCamp US when Matt Mullenweg spoke negatively about WP Engine. In his keynote address, Mullenweg called out WP Engine for not contributing to WordPress’ development.

A WordPress blog post following the event suggested that the volatile speech came about after WP Engine failed to comply with demands set out by Mullenweg. These demands included WP Engine handing over 8% of its revenue every month in order to use the WordPress name. WP Engine refused to accept Automattic’s steep requirements, triggering Mullenweg’s self-described “scorched earth nuclear approach” against WP Engine.

You can watch the entire WordCamp stream to watch Mullenweg’s keynote speech in full:

Play

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The US government has outlined potential actions to destabilize Google’s monopoly over the search landscape. In the 32-page document, the DOJ opens by saying:

“Google’s anticompetitive conduct resulted in interlocking and pernicious harms that present unprecedented complexities in a highly evolving set of markets. These markets are indispensable to the lives of all Americans, whether as individuals or as business owners, and the importance of effectively unfettering these markets and restoring competition cannot be overstated.”

Alongside seeking a Google breakup, several other ideas are considered, including:

• Making Google search data available to competitors – this could pose a security and privacy risk to users of Google
• Limiting Google’s exclusive deals with partners (such as Apple) that present Google as the default search engine – this could give consumers more choice
• Examining Google’s role in shaping and displaying AI features in search– Google argues this “risks holding back American innovation at a critical moment”
• Google should separate ads from searchresults and share its ad ranking data

The latest proposal is not the final ruling, but it has certainly caused unrest across the landscape.

Google has responded to the recent update in a blog post:

“We believe that today’s blueprint goes well beyond the legal scope of the Court’s decision about Search distribution contracts. Government overreach in a fast-moving industry may have negative unintended consequences for American innovation and America’s consumers. We look forward to making our arguments in court.”

Google has been vocal across platforms about the US government’s “sweeping agenda”. Source: Website Builder Expert

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Google has kept the SEO world buzzing for months with news, from the antitrust case to the latest algorithm update. And, the DOJ’s proposed plans for the search engine have certainly got many of us reaching for the popcorn to see how it all unfolds.

Lily Ray reacted to the news on X. Source: Website Builder Expert

Glenn Gabe posted on LinkedIn following the filing and Google’s response:

Seo consultant Glenn Gabe outlined the key information on social media. Source: Website Builder Expert

Nick LeRoy also shared his take in his weekly SEO newsletter, named #SEOForLunch:

“I think it’s very unlikely that the DOJ will execute this proposal as it stands. However, it should scare the daylights out of Google. How this plays out is anyone’s best guess at this point, but we know that change at Google is coming!”

As I’ve already mentioned, the case judge has yet to decide on a solution, but with expected appeals and the scale of the case, it’s likely to be a long process. Further updates are expected in November of this year and March 2025.

The introduction of Travel Feeds to Search Ads comes after positive results from initial testing that showed a 20% increase in click-through ratefor fully-participating hotels.

Travel Feeds will mean that much more data about your hotel will be shared in search results, which will make it easier than ever for people to compare hotels and narrow down their options. In theory, increased customer knowledge will mean that – as well as having a higher click-through rate – the visitors to your page will have higher intention to book.

From the mock illustrations shared by Google, advertisers can also expect hotels’ specials and packages and a best rate guarantee to be displayed.

Currently this feature is only available for hotel advertisers, but Google has said it’ll be “expanding Travel Feeds in Search Ads beyond hotels to things to do, car rentals and events in the coming months.”

SEO expert Vijay Chauhan has already spotted some changes to the “things to do” search queries, which he shared via X. The new layout shows the “top 10 things this week” with links to concerts, cultural festivals, and sporting events.

Vijay Chauhan shares a screen recording of how the new layout looks on a search results page. Source: Website Builder Expert

If you currently list hotel ads on Google, you’ll be good to go, since you’ll already be using a Hotel Center account.

Google has explained that your Hotel Center account will also need to have a pricing accuracy rating of “Poor” or higher. If you don’t, your score can be raised by following the suggestions within the Hotel Center.

If your hotel data is accurate and up to date, linking your Hotel Center and Google Ads accounts will automatically begin to show your hotel’s Travel Feeds in Search Ads for relevant search queries.

I’ll continue to update you when this feature is introduced to additional industries.