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The latest updates to the Siteimprove Platform

Grace Lam avatar

By Grace Lam

Check this page regularly for all the latest updates to the Siteimprove Platform (usually once a week). From time to time we release bigger features and updates that we think you'll want to hear more about. You can read about those over in Spotlight on New Features and Updates.

March 20, 2019

SEO:

  • SEO Issues are no longer flagged on non-canonical pages: Canonical tags can be used to indicate which page you’d like a search engine (e.g. Google) to index when you have multiple pages with very similar/identical content on your website. When it comes to SEO, it is not necessary for Siteimprove to provide results and SEO advice for pages that are not intended or expected to be indexed by search engines. From now on, we will not flag issues on non-canonical pages in Siteimprove SEO, and highlight if a "non-canonical" page has been selected as a Target Page in SEO Advanced. Read about the changes in the platform relating to canonical tags in our help center article.

Accessibility:

  • Date picker introduced to the Accessibility progress graph: You can now view data in the Accessibility progress graph back to September 2017. This implementation has been championed by a range of users wishing for more control over the time frame they are viewing within the Accessibility module.

March 13, 2019

Platform-wide updates:

  • Keyboard navigation improvements: All actions and interactive components are now available to keyboard users when they are using the Siteimprove platform (my2 domain). You are now able to access all interactive elements on a page using the keyboard in the same way that you can interact with them using a mouse. The improvements also include: focus after performing an action, skip to content button, the ability to close modals and lists with the Esc. key and ensuring logical tab order.

Analytics:

  • Funnels and User Journey components exportable to dashboard: These components are now available as widgets to be exported to your dashboard.
  • Analytics Settings menu: The many options available for the Analytics module within Settings: IP-groups, Filters, Feedback, Parameters/Campaigns and Privacy have now been relocated to the Analytics module. They are placed within a new left hand menu item called Analytics Settings.

March 6, 2019

Platform-wide updates:

  • Site/group selection: After you log in, you will now be taken to the site/group you previously viewed in the Siteimprove platform.
  • Table view configuration moved to user profile: The ability to specify if you would like the title, URL or both displayed within the Siteimprove tables is now available under your user profile.

February 27, 2019

Analytics

February 20, 2019

Quality Assurance

  • Edit spelling suggestions: You can now edit suggested spelling corrections in Spelling so that your own spelling suggestion is displayed instead.  
  • Page Report link in QA exports: Files exported from Quality Assurance now have a direct link to the Page Report.
  • My Sites load time cut by 75%: Performance improvements to the My Sites table means it now loads significantly faster (and we're working on making the graph load faster as well).
  • List of pages checked in Single Page Check: Administrators and Account Owners (or roles with those permissions) can see and delete pages that have been run through the Single Page Check by other users.

Accessibility/SEO

  • CSS validation: Due to popular request we have updated our CSS validation service to validate CSS files against CSS Level 3 + SVG. This means you might see a small change in your DCI, SEO, and Accessibility Scores.

Data Privacy

  • Edit email recipients for personal identification number alerts: You can now edit who is set up to receive email alerts when new personal identification numbers are detected on a site.

February 13, 2019

Accessibility

Data Privacy

  • Personal Identification Number formats and email alerts (beta): See which country-specific formats for personal identification numbers are being detected on your sites, and whom you're sending reports about detected numbers to. Personal identification number formats can be edited in the beta version. In future releases you'll also be able to edit email recipients.

CMS Plugins

  • Magnolia CMS Plugin: The CMS plugin is now available for users of Magnolia CMS.

January 23, 2019

Quality Assurance: 

  • Preferred spelling suggestions now carry over to the redesigned Spelling module: If you had marked a preferred spelling suggestion in the previous version of the Spelling module, we've preserved and reinstated those preferences in the new version.
  • Spelling suggestions on Page Report: See suggested spelling corrections in the Page Report so you can judge whether it's the right spelling in context.
  • Sub-tables in Spelling can be exported: Export expanded sub-tables in Spelling. This functionality was available in the previous version of Spelling and has been reinstated in the new version.

SEO

  • Five new SEO checks: We've added three new checks that flag empty, missing, or multiple H1 headers, and two new checks for multiple meta descriptions or meta titles, all of which can negatively affect your SEO. This means that your DCI and SEO Scores might go down a bit (but they'll go right back up once you've fixed your meta tags).

CMS Plugins

  • Adobe Experience Manager, SiteVision, Sitebox, IPROX: Siteimprove now integrates with these four content management systems. Read more about the new CMS plugins for Adobe,SiteVision, Sitebox, and IPROX.

 Platform-wide updates:

January 9, 2019

Quality Assurance: 

  • Highlighted spelling errors and spelling suggestions in Misspellings tab: Misspelled words in the "Misspellings" tab are highlighted to indicate where the misspelling has occurred. Suggested spelling corrections are also offered, as for words in the "Needs Review" tab.

SEO

  • Top Keywords by Domain: Search for a domain to see what high search-volume keywords it ranks for. Read more about Top Keywords by Domain in Spotlight on New Features and Updates.

December 12, 2018

Quality Assurance

  • Redesigned Spelling feature: The new Spelling simplifies the workflow for sorting out misspellings and approved words, and gives users more control over which pages and sites their spelling decisions affect. It even predicts how likely it is that a word is a misspelling to help you prioritize which words to review first. Read more about the new Spelling in Spotlight on New Features and Updates.

SEO

  • Keyword position filter (SEO Pro/Enterprise/Advanced) in Keyword Monitoring: Filter your monitored keywords to see the ones on which you're ranking in the top 100.

November 28, 2018

SEO

  • SEO insights in CMS plugin: Get all the insights of the SEO module in the CMS plugin, so you can make SEO improvements as you're creating and editing content.
  • Competitor Settings (SEO Pro/Enterprise/Advanced): Edit, add, or delete competitors from Activity Plans on the Competitor Settings page.

Analytics

  • Internal search terms filter: New filter allows you to segment visitors by the search terms they have used on your internal search engine.

Read more about the new SEO features in Spotlight on New Features and Updates.

November 14, 2018

SSO

SEO Pro/Enterprise:

Analytics

  • Ability to disable/dismiss Feedback box on mobile devices: You can now choose to give your visitors the option to dismiss feedback survey icons after they have given their input, or even disable them altogether on mobile devices for a less cluttered user experience.

October 31, 2018

Policy

Data Privacy (previously known as the GDPR module)

  • Personal Identifiable Information in documents: We can now identify Personal Identifiable Information (PII) in documents (Excel, ppt, PDF, XML, etc.). You also have the option to ignore PII detected in documents.

October 17, 2018

Analytics

SEO

  • Images missing width and height attributes no longer flagged if website is mobile-friendly: If your website is mobile-friendly, images should resize according to the visitor's screen dimensions. As such, images on a mobile-friendly site will no longer be flagged as a problem if they do not have width and height attributes.

October 3, 2018

Analytics

  • An easier way to fulfill information requests from your visitors: New Visitor Data feature in Settings > Analytics allows you to retrieve data on the activities of a specific visit in order to fulfill information requests from your visitors (i.e. if they ask to find out what kind of analytics data you're storing on them). Only Account Owners or users with customized Account-Owner roles are able to retrieve visitor data. Read more about Visitor data here.
  • "Outbound link" trigger in Key Metrics: We've added an Outbound Link trigger that is distinct from the existing Exit Link trigger. Outbound links are links to external pages, but which visitors access without leaving your website. Exit links are links to external pages which end a visitor's session on your website.

Data Privacy

  • GDPR module will be renamed "Data Privacy": As of October 18, the GDPR module will be renamed "Data Privacy" to better encompass the full range of features available. The module has always been meant to help organizations with a broad range of data privacy concerns affecting their websites, and now the name will also reflect that.

Policy

  • Policy template identifying documents published on or after 23 September 2018 (EU accessibility directive): All documents published on public sector websites on or after 23 September 2018 must be made accessible by 23 September 2020 according to a new EU accessibility directive. This policy template helps you identify the documents on your site this directive applies to.

SEO

  • Branded keyword settings: Since you're most likely already ranking high on keyword searches that contain your brand name, it may not be that useful to get data on branded keywords when doing SEO research. This new settings section lets you exclude branded keywords from Keyword Discovery, Keyword Suggestions, Keyword Monitoring, and Google Search Console.

Integrations

  • New Business Intelligence integrations: Integrate with three new business intelligence dashboard-builders and tools. Whether you use Klipfolio, Power BI, SeoToolsforExcel, or Tableau (our first business intelligence integration), now you can access Siteimprove data in some of the leading business intelligence platforms on the market. Read about all our integrations here.

CMS Plugins

  • Plone CMS plugin: The CMS plugin is now available for users of Plone 5.0+.

September 21, 2018

SEO

  • Search Snippet Preview: Preview how your page title and meta description looks in Google search results. Read more about Search Snippet Preview here.
  • All backlinks table: In your link profile, you can now see a table of your top 500 and bottom 500 backlinks by Trust Score, irrespective of whether they meet the Trust Score threshold to be included in High-value Backlinks and Undesirable Backlinks. (Previously we only showed you your high-value backlinks and undesirable backlinks. Now, if there are neutral-value backlinks in your top 500 or bottom 500 backlinks, you will see those in the "All Backlinks" table).

Platform Accessibility

  • Accessibility improvements: We've added accessible labels to selection controls (e.g. Selecting site and group, date range, checkpoints, dashboards). This should improve the experience for users of screen readers (or other users who like to navigate using their keyboard).

API Improvements

  • SEO issue categories: API users can get data on the number of issues you have on each page and which category of SEO issues they fall under.

September 5, 2018

Jira Connector

  • Create Jira issues in SEO: You can now create Jira issues within Issues and Recommendations in the SEO module.
  • Create Jira issues for Policy matches and specific pages affected by an Accessibility issue: Create Jira issues for Policy matches on specific pages and for all detected occurrences of an Accessibility issue at the page-level (previously you could only create Jira issues for Policies and Accessibility issues as they applied to your entire site.)

Read more about the expanded Jira Connector capabilities here.

SEO

  • See URL suggestions when adding target page: When you set a target page for a monitored keyword, start typing and you'll get a list of suggested URLs on your site to add.
  • Visit page directly from Target Page Optimization:  We've made it easier for you to see a target page by adding a button that opens the page directly from Target Page Optimization, just next to the "Re-check page" and "Edit keywords" buttons.
  • Mobile-friendliness issue page links to Mobile-Friendly Test: Previously we were linking to the Google PageSpeed test from the Mobile-friendliness page under Issues and Recommendations. It now links to Google's Mobile-Friendly Test, which is more relevant as a check of how mobile-friendly your page is.
  • Graphs in SEO Google Search Console now exportable: All the line graphs (Search Terms, Pages, Countries, Devices, Indexed Pages) are now exportable to Excel.
  • Updated check for Structured Data Markup: Our check for structured data markup now detects three of the most commonly used structured data markup implementations. This means you might see a small increase in your SEO Score.

August 28, 2018

SEO

  • Focus issues for target pages: In the target pages component of your Activity Plans, you can see all the focus issues that need to be fixed for those pages.

August 22, 2018

SEO

  • Updated meta description character limits: We've updated the character limits for meta descriptions in our SEO checks. Descriptions are now flagged when they're shorter than 110 characters or longer than 160 characters.
  • Add tags to multiple keywords in bulk: Add multiple tags at once to your selected keywords. Makes it convenient to categorize a large amount of keywords at once.

Accessibility/Dashboards

  • New Accessibility editor dashboard: A new system dashboard showing issues and PDFs with issues filtered by the editor role at WCAG Level AA. (As it's a system dashboard, you can't edit it, but you can make a copy and customize that.)

August 13, 2018

Jira Connector

Integrations menu 

  • Browser extensions, Tableau, and Jira Connector added: Last week we introduced the new integrations menu and this we're adding the Accessibility and DCI browser extensions, as well as an integration with Tableau. (Note: only Administrators and Account Owners can see the Integrations menu). Read more about the updated integrations menu here.

August 8, 2018

SEO Pro/Enterprise

  • Backlinks:  One of the most important factors driving organic traffic is the make-up of links that link to your website. Learn what your link profile's strengths are, whether your backlinks are contributing to or damaging your SEO, and more. Read about the new Backlinks feature here.
  • Set target pages for all keywords, not just ones with data: Previously you couldn't set target pages for keywords if we had no search volume data on them but now you can.

Feedback surveys

  • Feedback feature always shows in side menu: Even if you don't have any feedback surveys created yet, it now shows up in the left-hand menu so you can easily create new ones.

 Accessibility

  • Filters are saved for Issues page: Now when you've filtered out issues by role, conformance level, severity, or priority on the Issues page, those filters are saved even if you leave the page, so you can easily resume working with the same list of issues that you left off with.

New Integrations menu

  • API keys, Share Widget, CMS plugin now under the same menu: All the apps and plugins that connect Siteimprove with your other applications are now collected under "Integrations" in the main left-hand menu (and stay tuned for new additions soon).

LRS Antilles Plugin

July 31, 2018

DCI/Quality Assurance

  • DCI Score points no longer subtracted for presence of XML files: Previously a bug meant that users were penalized for the presence of XML files on their site. This has been fixed.

SEO Pro/Enterprise

  • Position Distribution graph in Keyword Discovery: See how your discovered keywords are distributed across different search results positions for a visual illustration of keyword performance.
  • Search volume in Content Optimization: See the monthly search volume for keywords mapped to your target pages for a quick quantification of how many searches a target page could be showing up for.

Analytics

  • New highlights bar in Behavior Maps: A new highlights bar provides quick reference on number of visits, page views, etc., including a segmentation of data on interactions, clicks, scrolls by device.

July 10, 2018

Accessibility:

  • Guideline updates:  WCAG 2.1 was made an official W3C recommendation on June 5, 2018, and the Siteimprove guidelines page now reflects the additional success criteria that were added. 12 new success criteria have been added on level A+AA in WCAG 2.1, and 5 new success criteria have been added on level AAA. Most of the new WCAG 2.1 success criteria are related to: Mobile, Cognition and Low vision.
    No automated checks are currently available for the new success criteria. Read more about the WCAG 2.1. and Siteimprove in our help center article.

SEO:

  • Issue progress graphs: Progress graphs are now available for each SEO issue – enabling you to track the progress of specific issues over time.

SEO Pro/Enterprise:

  • Search box for discover competitors: We have noted that our users use search boxes more than we expected. Therefore we have added a search box to discover competitors to make it easier to find relevant competitors from a potentially long list.
  • Display if a keyword is already included in an Activity Plan: A column has been added to the keyword suggestions table, so you can quickly see if any of the keywords are already included in Activity Plans.

Customizable Dashboards:

  • SEO issue progress graphs: Progress graphs for SEO issues can now be included in your dashboard. The graphs can be added as widgets through the platform, or you can choose Issue Progress Graph from the widget library and use the new issue selector to find the issue you are interested in.

July 3, 2018

CMS Plugin Integrations

  •  CoreMedia: CoreMedia’s clients include major global brands with complex and content intensive sites in retail, the public sector and other industries. The idea for a plugin was developed during a 'Hackathon' at the CoreMedia Headquarters in Hamburg in November 2017. The Siteimprove CMS Extension bridges the gap between the CoreMedia content management system (Cloud-based version) and the Siteimprove Intelligence Platform. Download the Plugin for CoreMedia

June 26, 2018

CMS Plugin Integrations

  • VisionLive: Vision Internet provides technology and professional services to government agencies in the US. The Siteimprove CMS Extension bridges the gap between the VisionLive content management system (CMS 6) and the Siteimprove Intelligence Platform. Contact Vision Support to Enable the Plugin.
  • i:Create: The eSolutions / i:Create platform is popular in the Canadian market within the fields of local government, education, and healthcare. The Siteimprove CMS Extension bridges the gap between the i:Create content management system (i:Create 2.27 and later) and the Siteimprove Intelligence Platform. Contact eSolutions to Enable the Plugin.
  • TYPO3: TYPO3 is a very popular content management system within Europe, and a plugin has repeatedly been requested by customers in Germany, Sweden, and countries within the Benelux region. The Siteimprove CMS Extension bridges the gap between the TYPO3 content management system (Versions TYPO3 6.2 to TYPO3 8.7) and the Siteimprove Intelligence Platform. Download the Plugin for TYPO3.

Check out all the content management systems that can utilize the Siteimprove CMS Plugin.

Accessibility

  • Check updates: The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recently made Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite (WAI-ARIA) 1.1 an official recommendation. The update of WAI-ARIA from 1.0 to 1.1 introduces new ways of making web content accessible to users of assistive technologies. Siteimprove has updated two Accessibility checks to account for the update of WAI-ARIA to 1.1: Read more about the improved checks in the Help Center.

Analytics

  • Behavior Maps widget: The overview of all pages that have been added to Behavior Maps can now be added as a widget to your customizable dashboards.

SEO PRO/Enterprise

  • Quick links on Overview page: New quick link icons for Activity Plans, Issues & Recommendations, Content Optimization, Duplicate Content, Keyword suggestions, and Google Search Console give you easy access to the SEO features you use regularly.

GDPR

  • Cookie Details: A new column has been added to the Cookies Overview table displaying on how many pages we have seen each cookie. Clicking on the number of pages or the Cookie name, will take you to a details page where you can view which of the pages on the site are setting each cookie. The details page also provides "Value" information, and this can be expanded if there is more than one value being set.

June 13, 2018

Customizable dashboards

Accessibility

  • 13 improved checks: We've fine-tuned 13 Accessibility checks so that they align more closely with W3C standards. This means you should see a reduction in the number of occurrences you have for these 13 issues (though in some cases you might see an increase--but think of them as occurrences that would have gone undetected otherwise!), which might show up as a drop or spike in your progress graphs. Read more about all the improved checks in the Help Center.

Analytics

  • % of total visits: In the graphs under Visitors, see what browsers and operating systems your visitors use, now broken down as a percentage of all of visits.

SEO

  • New tooltips: We've added some extra tooltips in SEO, including one in Keyword Suggestions to explain the different types of keyword suggestions you can get.

June 5th, 2018

Policy

  • 4 Google Search Console rules: These rules are available for SEO Advanced subscriptions. The rules are for “Number of clicks”, “Number of impressions”, Click-through rate” and Average position”.
  • Fixed-width tables Policy: In accordance with responsive web design guidelines, fixed-width tables should be avoided to ensure that they are optimized for viewing on mobile devices.
  • Non-semantic HTML markup Policy: Looks for instances of tags that do not convey meaning about the information enclosed within them. Using semantic markup ensures that your HTML can be read by both humans and computers, making your pages more accessible and easier to find and index by search engines.
  • Pages missing viewport meta tag Policy: Without a viewport, your site will not be optimized for display on a mobile device. Setting a viewport tells the browser how a device's screen should be sized to fit content.
  • Broken media files Policy: Looks for broken media files that do not render properly due to an invalid URL or other reasons.

CMS Plugin Integrations

Customizable Dashboards

  • Time period selector: You can now change the time period for the data being displayed when adding/editing a widget on the Customizable Dashboard. The selector will be visible only for components where a date selector is present in the platform.

May 31, 2018

Analytics

  • Visitor Privacy Settings: Details of who modified IP anonymization or Do Not Track settings and when it was last modified are now displayed next to the updated setting.
  • Quick links on Overview page: New quick link icons for Key Metrics, Behavior Tracking, Behavior Maps, Funnels, Feedback, and Events give you easy access to the Analytics features you use regularly.
  • User interface updates in Key Metrics: Charts and colors in Key Metrics have been given a visual update.

SEO Pro/Enterprise

  • Categorized keyword suggestions: Keyword suggestions are now classified into "Keyword phrases" (phrases that include the keyword you looked up) and "related keywords" (thematically related keywords).
  • Keyword length filter and low competition-sorting: A new filter in Keyword Discovery allows you to filter the list by long tail keywords (keywords longer than three words). A new sort option allows you to sort the list by keywords where you have the lowest competition.
  • Keyword Performance: See which keywords in Keyword Discovery have the most potential in the new Keyword Performance tab, which shows you the distribution of keywords in top positions and how that's developed over time.

Customizable dashboards

  • Dashboard selection is saved when adding multiple widgets: When adding more than one widget in sequence, your dashboard selection is saved so you don't have to re-select the dashboard you just added a widget to.

 May 23, 2018

Data Privacy

  • Tracked Search Terms: Monitor terms, names, emails, or other personal data to see when they crop up on your site so you can take action to remove or modify them.
  • User Actions Log: Maintain complete oversight over actions being taken in the Data Privacy module which might affect data privacy.

Read more about this week's latest feature additions to the GDPR module.

May 16, 2018

SEO Advanced (Previously Pro/Enterprise)

  • New Keyword settings for Administrators and Account Owners: You decide when and from which locations keyword updates should be fetched, so that updates fit your schedule.
  • SEO Page Report: Implement fixes for keyword issues with new "How to fix" tips on the Page Report.
  • More widgets for your dashboard: All the tabs under Google Search Console in SEO Pro/Enterprise can now be added as widgets to a dashboard, so you can monitor important search metrics for search terms, countries, devices, indexed pages, and countries.
  • Hide competitor domains: Under Competitor Analysis in Activity Plans, there's a neat little tab called "Discover Competitors" that shows you a list of all your competitors for the keywords you're monitoring. Occasionally you might find that some of those competitors aren't so relevant to you, so now you have the option to hide these domains.

Analytics

  • % breakdown of visitor stats: Being able to see the number of visitors using different browsers, operating systems, and devices is great, but even better is if you could get a more representative long-term picture of your visitors' preferences. Now you can, by seeing these numbers as a percentage of all visitors and visitors over a specific time period in the trend graphs.
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