More from Search Engine Land: Page 4

Link building

How To Use Mobile To Broaden Your SEO Campaign

Admittedly, I’ve been a little negative about “mobile SEO” in my last few posts, but that’s only because I believe “mobile SEO” really shouldn’t be seen as a separate product, just another channel to assist your SEO strategy. Let’s look at a market that really isn’t suited to mobile conversions and look at ways to […]

Apple

Google To Acquire Motorola Mobile Phone Business For $12.5B

In a bid to build up its patent arsenal and get a stronger foothold in the mobile phone and tablet business, Google has agreed to acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings for around $12.5 billion in cash. Motorola Mobility Holdings is one of the entities that resulted when Motorola split its business in two earlier this year. The […]

Ecommerce

The Real Reason Google Wonder Wheel Died: It Was A Pain To Maintain

Several weeks ago we reported that Google had taken the Wonder Wheel service offline. Its removal was a surprise to all its users including the many K-12 educators. A Google spokesperson old us that Wonder Wheel was removed due to the “initial stage” of the Google website redesign but did not share any info when we asked if and/or when […]

Google

Google+ Public Posts Coming To Google’s Social Search Results

Google has added another source to its social search results: public posts from Google Plus. Social search has been adding annotations to search results when content from your social connections (not to be confused with your Google+ Circles) was shared on services such as Twitter, LinkedIn and others. Soon you may start seeing annotations that […]

Google algorithm updates

SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 12, 2011

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Update Made To Definition Of A Google Analytics Session Google Analytics announced a change on the way a sessions are calculated on the tool. While this change will not affect the […]

Facebook

Facebook Adds Targeting By Zip Codes To Advertisements

Up til now, Facebook Ads could be targeted by Country, State/Province and by City.  Yesterday Facebook added an additional targeting type, by zip code: This is a big deal for Facebook marketing, as it is now much more attractive for local businesses.  Local business owners can now target the exact zip codes where they draw from, […]

SEO

QR Code Scanners (Searchers) Are Affluent, 18-34 Males: comScore

A question that has not yet been answered is whether 2-D barcodes, also known as “QR codes,” are here to stay or whether they’re an interesting experiment on the way to something else, such as NFC-based marketing. In Japan and elsewhere around the world QR codes are more well established and have been in use […]

Analytics & conversion

A Guide To Creating A Massive Impact With Basic Reporting

Google Analytics provides the opportunity to create sophisticated advanced segments and fancy custom reports in such a way it all perfectly fits your needs. Although I really love all these self-made reports, Google Analytics also contains around 80 or more standard reports. Not every report is evenly interesting, but I would like to point out […]

Google

Google Panda Update 2.4: Panda Goes International, In Most Languages

Google has just announced that their “Panda” rankings changes, first launched in the United States in late February and rolled out to English language indices internationally in April, have now launched internationally in all languages other than Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Their post notes that for non-English indices,  this change impacts 6-9% of queries (vs. […]

Google algorithm updates

SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 11, 2011

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Game On: Google+ Now Offers Games You knew it was coming: Google+ now includes games. According to a screenshot posted on Google’s announcement, there are currently 16 games available at launch, […]

Google

Game On: Google+ Now Offers Games

You knew it was coming: Google+ now includes games. According to a screenshot posted on Google’s announcement, there are currently 16 games available at launch, including popular titles like Angry Birds, Bejeweled and others. Games are rolling out “gradually” starting today, Google says. Users will see a colorful, new button at the top of the […]

Google

Google Images Improves Relevancy & Quality Algorithm

This week, several webmasters at WebmasterWorld noticed that the results in Google Images seemed to surface the original source of the images more of the time than it did in the past. I wrote about this at the Search Engine Roundtable as Google Images possibly improving their image source detection algorithm, but it is more. […]

Content

How To Improve Crawl Efficiency With Cache Control Headers

Way back at the end of the last century, I worked for a company called Inktomi. Most people remember Inktomi as a search engine, but it had several other divisions. One of these divisions (the one I worked for) sold networking software, including a proxy-cache called Traffic Server. It seems weird now, but Inktomi made […]

Paid social

Twitter Rolling Out New Features To Highlight Activities & Interactions

When you typically think Twitter, you probably think about text based 140 character updates.  New improvements being rolled out geared towards spotlighting user activities and interactions may change this perception.  These very visual changes are very “Facebook-esque” in their appearance and could be very appealing to new, less-savvy users. The most dramatic change is a new “Activity” tab […]

Google algorithm updates

No, Says Google, It’s Not Panda 2.4 Or Any Update

Yesterday, there were early rumors floating around at WebmasterWorld that there was yet another Panda updating taking place, possibly Panda 2.4. I covered it at the Search Engine Roundtable and asked Google for confirmation. Google informed me that there is no Panda update taking place currently. Google told us, “no Panda update is currently occurring.” […]

Content

WSJ: Android, Along With Web Search, Now Part Of Google Antitrust Probe

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the FTC’s antitrust investigation of Google will extend to Android, in addition to general search: Six weeks after serving Google with broad subpoenas, FTC lawyers, in conjunction with several state attorneys general, have been asking whether Google prevents smartphone manufacturers that use its Android operating system from using […]

Google algorithm updates

SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 10, 2011

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Yahoo Gives Image Search A New Look Yahoo’s Image Search is sporting a fresh look today that presents the image results in a cleaner, more organized fashion. Do a search and […]

Ecommerce

Yahoo Gives Image Search A New Look

Yahoo’s Image Search is sporting a fresh look today that presents the image results in a cleaner, more organized fashion. Do a search and the results page shows all matches in a grid, with each image sized almost uniformly no matter their true dimensions or orientation (horizontal vs. vertical). Each image expands when you hover […]

Analytics & conversion

Conversion Optimization In The New Marketing Landscape

Maybe I’m biased, but I see conversion optimization as the epitome of the new marketing: an agile blend of analytical experimentation, creative content, engaging user experiences, and performance metrics. Those principles are applicable in almost every corner of the marketing department these days. With that in mind, I’d like to share with you two “big […]

Content

How B2B SEO Fits Into Lead Management Optimization

In a recent study from CSO Insights, nearly 83% of marketers indicated that new customer acquisition was a top strategic marketing objective for their organization. While this may seem obvious from the sales perspective, it helps to illustrate the increased alignment between the marketing and sales functions of the B2B organization. Lead Management Optimization In […]

Google

Major Google Updates Documented

SEOmoz announced they have published the Google Algorithm Change document detailing all “major updates” that happened since the Boston update in 2003. SEOmoz did it with style in this graphical document: While I agree with a lot of the updates listed here, I had worked up a list of my own a few months ago. […]

Content

Yahoo Up, Google Down, Bing Flat: comScore

It’s that time of month. The financial analysts are publishing the comScore search market share data again, just ahead of comScore’s own press release. Last night Business Insider had the numbers up first, which I then confirmed with comScore directly. Below are the July market share figures, as well as those for the past two […]

Content

Quora Launches Browse Feature To Help Users Find Related Content

Over the past few months, Quora has been rolling out a variety of new features to help improve the experience on the social question and answer site.  The newest element is a browse page that joins Shuffle (launched in June) and Topic Pages (launched in July).  The goal of the new browse page is to deliver fresh, […]

Google

Ripoff Report Not Banned, But Removes Itself From Google’s Index

Ripoff Report is completely gone from Google’s index and Google says it’s been done at Ripoff Report’s own request. But, the question now is whether that request was made on purpose or an accident. Update: As our postscript below explains, Ripoff Report is now back in Google’s index. As the image above shows, a site:ripoffreport.com […]

Facebook

Facebook Launches “Messenger” App To Compete In Mobile Messaging Space

Today Facebook announced the release of Messenger, an app for mobile devices that allows for messaging to “friends and small groups.”  This app allows for messaging to both Facebook friends and phone contacts, something Google+’s Huddles doesn’t do.  Messenger acts as an extension of Facebook messages,  so you can view your full history of mobile […]

Google

Google Starts Choosing Winners & Losers Among Its Lab Projects

Three weeks have passed since the surprising news that Google would be shutting down Google Labs, its playground where experimental product ideas went to live or die. We now know a little more about which ones will live and which won’t. Over the past several days, Google has been updating GoogleLabs.com with the status and […]

SEO

Top Internet Activities? Search & Email, Once Again

What’s the most popular internet activity? It’s a tie between those perennial winners, search and email. A new survey finds both are done by 92% of online adults in the United States. Most Popular Activities The stats come from a Pew Internet survey from May 2011, out today. Here’s the trend chart from the survey: […]

Google algorithm updates

SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 9, 2011

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’s Matt Cutts Offering More Detailed Video Search Tips The Google Webmaster Blog announced a new format for Google’s Matt Cutts video tutorials. Instead of the short minute or so videos, […]

Google

Google’s Matt Cutts Offering More Detailed Video Search Tips

The Google Webmaster Blog announced a new format for Google’s Matt Cutts video tutorials. Instead of the short minute or so videos, Matt will also be offering more detailed videos that are longer and more flushed out. Google explained, “instead of only focusing on quick answers to specific questions, we’ve created some longer videos which […]

Content

SEO Stats Galore In Latest MarketingSherpa Benchmark Study

Do you find link building to be the most difficult SEO tactic to employ? Do you find content creation to be the most effective SEO tactic? What about conversions? Are you looking for website visitors to complete a form, or make a purchase? You can compare your answers to those questions and many others in […]

SEO

Baidu: Behind The Scenes At The Number One Chinese Search Engine

The number one search engine in China is easily Baidu. But what are the people at Baidu really like and what would it be like to work there? Is this a typical Chinese or Beijing company? Or does Baidu more comfortably sit in an Extended Silicon Valley -- influenced by Californian attitudes but based a long way from the 101? And how does Baidu compare with both Google and Yandex?

PPC

AOL Q2 Earnings: Display Up, Search Down

AOL released its second quarter earnings this morning. Many financial analysts had a modestly positive reaction to AOL’s display ad growth, though overall revenues were were off 8 percent: $542.2 million (vs. $592.2 million a year ago). Display revenues were up 14 percent overall, 16 percent in the US. However search and contextual ad revenues were down […]

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