Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Tightens Review Process For New AdSense PublishersGoogle has added a new review step to its process for adding new AdSense publishers, presumably to better eliminate abuses and improve the quality of the AdSense network for advertisers. In the new process, publishers’ sites will be reviewed after they’ve placed the AdSense ad code on their sites, and real, paying ads won’t run [...] Sanity Saver: Seek Out Local Search Meetup [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Google has added a new review step to its process for adding new AdSense publishers, presumably to better eliminate abuses and improve the quality of the AdSense network for advertisers. In the new process, publishers' sites will be reviewed after they've placed the AdSense ad code on their sites, and real, paying ads won't run until after that review. "We’re continually evaluating our AdSense application process in order to ensure the safest possible network for our advertisers, as well as the best possible experience for you, our publishers," Max Cohen, AdSense product manager, wrote in [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display | Google: AdSense

I have attended many conferences in the last ten years, including Search Marketing Expo, Search Engine Strategies, and Internet retail events. Generally speaking, I’ve been pretty impressed with all of them. However, the reality is, these conferences are expensive. In fact, the average cost of attendance is around one-thousand dollars, not to mention the cost of transportation, hotel and food expenses. The typical person employed in the online marketing field probably cannot afford the luxury of attending these seminars. I personally can only afford about two conferences a year, but I’ [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | In House Search Marketing | SEM Industry: Conferences

Google Chromebooks are great -- unless you don't have an internet connection; then they're essentially useless. (Other colorful descriptors I've heard include "suck," "blow," "fail" and so on). Now Google is taking steps to address the problem with offline access to Gmail and, very soon, Calendar and, most importantly, Docs. According to the Gmail blog: Gmail Offline is a Chrome Web Store app that’s intended for situations when you need to read, respond to, organize and archive email without an internet connection. This HTML5-powered app is based on the Gmail web app for tablets, which w [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Chrome OS | Google: Mobile

A big story today is the US government's effort to block the proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA by AT&T. AT&T wants T-Mobile's spectrum and network and the US thinks it will harm competition in the wireless market. According to the New York Times the government's lawsuit boils down to the argument that less competition equals less innovation and ultimately higher prices for consumers: "AT&T’s elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low-priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market," the complaint said. "Thus, unless this acquisitio [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Legal | Legal: Regulation | Top News

Out of all websites found on the Internet, online retail stores have the most potential for improvement through A/B testing. Amazon, Ebay and Etsy are just few examples of e-commerce websites that do a ton of A/B testing. The potential for A/B testing is enormous because of the sheer number of variables that these stores can experiment with: search results, product categories, pricing, product images, ratings, etc. Another reason why A/B testing is so important for e-commerce websites is because their conversion goal is not some indirect metric such as leads or downloads but a direct sale. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Search & Conversion

To maximize online lead generation campaigns, B2B marketers need to focus on the multifaceted customer they serve. Design campaigns to meet their needs across the entire decision cycle and business buying process to achieve the optimal ROI from their program. The Many Faces Of The B2B Customer In the realm of the B2B marketer, one of the key challenges we face is the alignment of marketing efforts that meet complex customer needs. This can be found in all stages of the lifecycle from awareness and thought leadership, lead origination and generation, and the client engagement and business dev [...]

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing | Channel: Search

Following the elimination of daily deals (though not check-in deals) from Facebook's lineup of products, Yelp followed suit this week by scaling back its daily deals program. Many people incorrectly interpreted the news, presented in a Bloomberg article, as Yelp's total exit from the space. Some have also seen it as an indication that the segment as a whole is beginning to collapse. One person remarked to me today, "The bottom is starting to fall out isn't it?" Neither interpretation is correct. Deals are alive and (mostly) well and Yelp is still in the game. Here's what Yelp CEO Jeremy [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Search Engines: Maps & Local Search Engines | Yelp

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Microsoft Tightens Relevancy And Quality Requirements In AdCenterMicrosoft has announced changes that tighten up its adCenter Relevancy and Quality policy for ads served to the U.S. and Canada. Changes are set to take place tomorrow, August 31, though the company says it won’t begin enforcing the changes until the next week or two, giving advertisers a chance to make changes, if needed, [...] Google Trusted Stores: For Organic Rankings & [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Microsoft has announced changes that tighten up its adCenter Relevancy and Quality policy for ads served to the U.S. and Canada. Changes are set to take place tomorrow, August 31, though the company says it won't begin enforcing the changes until the next week or two, giving advertisers a chance to make changes, if needed, to comply. The company has expanded how it defined relevancy, noting that users should find your landing page a "satisfactory destination" based on the keyword they used. Specifically, keywords should relate to the range of products, services or content on the landing [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Microsoft: Bing Ads

Google Operating System Blog discovered a new feature to be released by Google named "Google Trusted Stores." The landing page for this feature will be at google.com/trustedstores but it is currently not live. There was a video that was released today that was just made private. The video was shared on Google Operating System Blog but was then marked as private shortly after. The blog reports that the service "makes it easy for online shoppers to identify stores that provide an excellent online shopping experience." We know Google was likely to incorporate merchant reviews as rankin [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: AdWords | Google: Base | Google: Product Search | Google: SEO | Google: Web Search

Another week, another round of updates from the slow phase-out of Google Labs. This week, good news for fans of one keyword-related tool, but bad news for fans of another. Google Correlate Added To Google Trends Google Correlate has survived the chopping block. Previously available at correlate.googlelabs.com, it's now been given a permanent home as part of Google Trends and can be found at www.google.com/trends/correlate. Correlate has been described as "Google Trends in reverse." With Trends, you provide a search term and get back data related to the term. With Correlate, you provi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | Google: Correlate | Google: Labs | Search Marketing: Search Term Research | Top News

Today comScore released its latest mobile market share figures. Once again the smartphone story is the same: Android showed strong quarterly growth while the iPhone saw modest growth and all others saw declines, especially RIM. Among handset OEMs (all mobile devices), Samsung leads the pack with 25 percent of the US market. Motorola, which Google is seeking to acquire for $12.5 billion, saw a modest decline. If one looks only at smartphone share these figures look different. In April of this year, according to NPD Group, the following were the top-selling smartphones in the US: [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Android | Google: Mobile | Stats: comScore

A few weeks ago, I spent a few days with the Baidu team in Beijing. My first conversation was with Kaiser Kuo who is the Director of International Communications and the very first topic we covered was in answer to the question, "What would you rather people better understood relating to Baidu and its position in the market?" Whilst some of the responses were as you might expect – they were nonetheless revealing and fascinating. 1.  Baidu Is Not A Google Clone You may recall my interview with Ilya Segalovich at Yandex where he already had a bunch of slides set up to address the point t [...]

Related Topics: Baidu | Channel: SEO | Multinational Search

Ahhh, the strangeness that is links. This week's column will hopefully spark some questions, answer a few others, and also point out some weird linking related phenomena, beginning with two examples: If this search is correct, Google indexes a little over (Use Dr. Evil voice) 1 billion pages from the Yahoo.com family of domains. But, if this search is correct, Yahoo only indexes 521 million of its own pages. Can it be true that Google indexes more of Yahoo's content than Yahoo! does, and if so, why and WTF? On the flipside, Google indexes 4.1 billion pages of Google.com based co [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Link Week

Only two weeks until Search Marketing Expo – SMX East returns to New York City, September 13-15. Here is what’s in store: Exceptional content: More than 55 sessions for search marketers of every skill level will be presented. Sessions will cover all of the search topics: paid search advertising (PPC), search engine optimization (SEO), local/mobile search, social media marketing and much more. See the agenda for further information. Keynotes & Presenters: You’ll be treated to two outstanding keynote presentations – Search Engine Land editor-in-chief Danny Sullivan and Eli Pariser, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SEM Industry: Conferences | SEM Industry: Search Marketing Expo - SMX | SMX & DMD Alerts

Last month, I talked about how marketers need to distinguish between interactions and true engagement*. As part of that, I referenced the fact that Facebook and Twitter had been written about in relation to events such as the death of Amy Winehouse, the massacre in Norway and the Egyptian revolution. But since writing that, social media has again been rolled out as a whipping boy, this time being blamed by some for the riots that broke out in London. This led to politicians, including the British Prime Minister, and some of his most loyal followers, suggesting that at times such as these so [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Search & Social

Google has been quietly hosting Google + Hangouts for webmasters to ask Google Webmaster analysts and engineers questions. The next Google hangout, named Google Webmaster Office Hours, was announced by Jenny Murphy and will take place tomorrow on her profile. Again, it will take place Wednesday, August 31st at 11:30am PDT / 2:30 EDT on Jenny Murphy's + profile. The topic will be +Snippets and schema.org markup but I assume they will be open to answering other webmaster related questions. I assume this time the webmaster Google Hangout will be packed. Keep in mind, there are only 10 [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: +1 | Google: SEO | Google: Webmaster Central

In a recent study released by comScore, searcher demographics showed some striking differences between those looking for Google+ vs. those looking for Facebook in July. Surprisingly, Facebook had a larger percentage of searchers over the age of 35, while Google+ trended  younger. 34.2% of searchers looking for Google+ were under 35 years old and only 24% of Facebook searchers were under 35. In addition to the younger demographic, Google+ searchers skewed towards higher incomes. Facebook saw 22.8% of searchers with an income of above $100,000 a year, while Google+ had a 32.1% makeup. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | Search Marketing: Search Term Research | Top News

Search Week is an exclusive weekly newsletter for Search Engine Land premium members that recaps stories covered on Search Engine Land over the past week. Below are top stories organized by topic that happened over the past week. Each topic (or Search Engine Land column) is also a link, where you can click through and drill into the Search Engine Land members library to find other stories in that area. Because some stories are listed in more than one category, you may see them repeated. 100% Organic - Search Engine Optimization Tips Link Laundering: The Growing Threat That Tarnis [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Search Week