Late last year I wrote about important changes Google has launched for B2B marketers to be aware of (you can read that post here). Needless to say, Google continues to launch new functionality and change product offerings. In this blog post, I wanted to highlight eight key (and free) Google resources that B2B marketers should keep bookmarked for future reference.
Google AdWords Features History
The recent launch of Google’s AdWords Features History timeline was what prompted me to write this piece in general. With AdWords becoming such a significant part of many of our clients’ online marketing initiatives, keeping up to date on changes and enhancements is critical.
Coupled with the AdWords Twitter profile and a simple web page change monitor (like ChangeDetection.com), the team at KoMarketing can easily stay on top of AdWords updates in an effort to determine the significance for client programs.
Google Analytics Release Notes
Not to be outdone, the team at Google Analytics is also releasing summary communication on changes made to the platform with references to announcements and information. These release notes are essential for B2B marketers directly responsible for performance management and report development related to online marketing efforts.
Mobile Friendly Testing Tool
The continued adoption of mobile device usage for web browsing ultimately changes the way searchers want to consume information, particularly when searching. Google recognizes this and continues to announce changes to the way it presents and considers organic positioning in search engine results when using a mobile device.
B2B marketers wishing to evaluate their existing web pages or an upcoming redesign can use Google’s mobile-friendly testing tool. This test will analyze a URL and report if the page has a mobile-friendly design, according to Google standards.
Page Speed Insights Tool
The speed at which a web page/website loads in the browser is becoming increasingly important, particularly when considering mobile device usage. Page speed has also become a factor (albeit an indicated small percentage) in Google search relevance.
Google’s page speed insights tool can be used to evaluate a web page’s load performance. PageSpeed Insights analyzes the content of a web page, and then generates suggestions to help marketers make that page faster.
Structured Data Testing Tool
I’ve written about the importance of structured data (schema in particular) and important use cases for B2B marketers in the past. If your organization is in the process of implementing schema markup or wants to test the effectiveness of implementation, Google’s structured data testing tool should be a valuable resource.
More importantly, this application can be used to check any HTML source or web page. That means you can easily monitor how and what type of structured data your competitors have implemented as well as find examples of comparable integrations for development teams.
Structured Data Markup Helper
Need more specific context on how the code may be implemented or executed? Google’s structured data markup helper might be the right resource for you. This tool will help when considering how to add structured-data markup to web pages based on your existing templates.
To get started, simply select a data type, then paste the URL or HTML source of the page. Using a simple point and click interface, Google will then do its best to illustrate how applicable structured data would be implemented.
Google Ripples in Google+
Using Google+ Ripples, you can see how posts in Google+ are shared. For example, B2B marketers can use Google+ Ripples to see how many people have been reached with a post or see which people had the biggest impact in sharing a particular post.
Obviously, some of the significance in this resource depends on your activity in Google+ and the search enginesbroader business decisions on the social network’s future. That said, if you are even somewhat active in Google+, it’s worth using this simple resource for measuring the impact of posting activity.
Google Account Dashboard
If you’re ever interested in what Google knows about you and your respective email address, make sure to check out your personal Google Dashboard. The results might surprise you. 
Finally, don’t forget some of the more obvious resources available, including Google Webmaster Tools, Keyword Planner (found in AdWords), and of course, Google Analytics.
Did We Miss Anything?
What do you think? Did we miss something significant in your B2B marketing endeavors? I would love to hear your feedback and answer questions via comments below.
Author Note: A variation of this article originally appeared in our company newsletter, which we publish quarterly. Subscribe to our newsletter to get access to more specific information like this, as well as company updates, announcements, etc.
Great article Derek. The Google+ Ripples can certainly be an interesting tool.
I think one think which certainly brings value to B2B marketers is the Google URL builder https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867?hl=en. This allows you to use custom tagging on all of your marketing campaigns. And when a user clicks on a link you can track the direct source of the marketing campaign – this is something that can be extremely valuable particularly when assessing the success of a marketing campaign.
Hi Alex – thank you for the comment and feedback! GREAT addition too / we’re so used to automating this / integrating at campaign start that I completely overlooked that resource.