Threads celebrates 175m user milestone
It’s already been a year since Meta launched Threads. The text-based conversational app arrived last summer as a timely riposte to the chaos at Twitter (which rebranded to X weeks later). Twelve months on, Threads is thriving, if not crushing its main rival. Meta announced on Wednesday that it now has over 175m “monthly actives”.
Zero-click Google searches are down in 2024
Zero-click searches are on the decline. The latest annual study by Rand Fishkin found that 58.5% of searches now end without a user clicking on any results, down from the 65% recorded in 2021. This means 41.5% of all searches now drive a click, either to organic listings or Google properties such as YouTube or Maps. Rand noted: “Nearly two-thirds of all searches stay inside the Google ecosystem after making a query.”
High Google ranking volatility recorded again
After a quiet few weeks, ranking volatility is on the rise again. Several rank tracking tools, including Semrush, logged a “very high” level of volatility over the weekend. Could the year's second broad core algorithm update be on the horizon? Google recently finished rolling out its latest spam update.
“Sends per reach” is the new vogue on Instagram
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri revealed this week that “sends per reach” is the platform’s primary signal for ranking content. Mosseri said in a Reel: “So out of all the people who saw your video or photo, how many of them sent it to a friend in a DM? At Instagram, we’re trying to be a place where people can be creative, but in a way that brings people together.”
Fix for Google Search Console reports incoming
Google confirmed that there is an issue with Search Performance reports in Google Search Console this week. In a post on X, it said it was “working to solve this soon”. The update comes after users found reports were being delayed for around 53 hours. It’s not uncommon for there to be some latency with reporting, but it doesn’t usually take more than two days for feedback to come through.
Meta launches “AI Studio” platform
Meta continues to double down on AI and the metaverse. Mark Zuckerberg recently unveiled the first stages of “AI Studio”, a new platform that will allow creators and influencers to summon an AI version of themselves. These AI bots can chat with fans via direct messages.
Is AI spam dominating new results in Search?
A new report from Wired claimed this week that AI spam is still ranking higher in SERPs despite adjustments made by Google to target it earlier this year. The article says “SEO experts aren’t sure why” plagiarised content is still performing better than original reporting.
X to remove engagement buttons from posts
Finally, another design change is in the works at X. Elon Musk is reportedly planning to get rid of the like and reply buttons from “tweets” in favour of a new gesture-based system. Users will have to swipe left or right to interact with content. On the latest switch-up, Musk said: “It’s awesome. Just swipe left to like and right to reply.”
