The Google News Blog announced that the Spotlight section on Google News may contain stories that your Google + friends and Gmail contacts have +1'ed. If you are logged in while using Google News and your friends or contacts have used the Google +1 button to like the stories in your Spotlight section, that information will show up in the Spotlight section near the article. It will even let you click on the name of your friend/contact to see their social profile on Google. Google said: Starting today, the Spotlight section will sometimes include articles that your Gmail contacts and peop [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: +1 | Google: Gmail | Google: Google+ | Google: News | Top News

If you need some interesting reading material this Holiday season, try Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in the Markets and in Life. There are some interesting lessons in it that can be applied to link building, especially related to unexpected and random events that not only affect people, the economy, news, and markets, but if you think it through, weblinks. It's rarely discussed for its organic ranking effect, but there can be no doubt random and unexpected events have a dramatic effect on the web's link graph. Some link spikes occur as a re [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Link Week

The online advertising mortgage scam investigation announced last week by the Treasury Department involves Bing and Yahoo, as well as Google. the agency has revealed. The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) says 125 scams in all have been shut down, as Bing has ceased relationship with more than 400 advertisers and agencies identified by the agency. Ads placed through Microsoft's adCenter are distributed on Yahoo, as well as on Bing.com. The mortgage scams under investigation by SIGTARP involve bad actors who lured in unsuspecting troubled [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Legal | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Bing Ads | Yahoo: Legal

Yesterday, I saw a few tweets go by noting that the popular show Dexter on Showtime mentioned SEO and said that "Google was so 5 minutes ago" while typing in the URL: eliotsearchengine.com* - which supposedly "uses an algorithm to aggregate content without getting tripped up by SEO bull$h!t." Because Dexter shows are behind a paywall on Showtime's website, our own Rob Snell posted a short video clip of the segment (your sound may need to be turned up) from the episode that aired Sunday, November 20th: [youtube width="560" height="315"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUHmR3u4emM[/youtube [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Search & Society: General

You've read time and time again about how social media can fuel SEO and even vice versa, but where does PPC fit into this equation? The answer is in retargeting also known as AdWords remarketing. If you're not familiar with the concept of remarketing, I'd recommend you read this step by step AdWords remarketing guide. I've written many times on using social media to promote linkbait-style content for traffic and virality and how to reap the benefits of that social media traffic. Sometimes you can do a social promotion, of a piece of content, and get a lot of traffic from social media but n [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Search & Social

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 Search For iPad Updated With New FeaturesGoogle announced they have updated their Google Search App for the iPad with a whole set of new features. You can download the app on iTunes for free. The new features include: Google Instant Enables Results As You Type Web Page Loading On Slide-In Pane Image Search Adds Image Carousel Visual Search History Browsing With [...] Infographic: Tips To Avoid Shopping Cart AbandonmentWith the holiday shopping [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Google announced they have updated their Google Search App for the iPad with a whole set of new features. You can download the app on iTunes for free. The new features include: Google Instant Enables Results As You Type Web Page Loading On Slide-In Pane Image Search Adds Image Carousel Visual Search History Browsing With Swipe Controls Of Page Snapshots Instant Previews By Tapping On Icon At Top Right Search Within A Web Page With Magnifying Glass Tool +1 Button Integration On Web Pages Here are some screen shots of the more visually appealing new features: Google Image View [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Google: Web Search

With the holiday shopping season about to begin -- "Black Friday" this week and "Cyber Monday" next week -- it's a good time for online merchants to ensure they're not going to suffer from the dreaded abandoned shopping cart syndrome. The cure for that disease? The folks at testing service Monetate have created an infographic full of tips: Want the infographic for yourself? You'll find it here: Shopping Cart Abandonment and Tips To Avoid It. Related Stories Holiday Season Countdown Kickoffs For Online Marketers 5 Holiday Shopping Tips For Search Marketers Data Shows Retaile [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Infographics | Search Marketing: Shopping Search Marketing

As we approach Thanksgiving in the US, Google’s recent introduction of secure search understandably left many in SEO-land feeling more like the 99% these days - betrayed and powerless over the sizable disappearance of organic keyword data in the name of privacy. But besides PPC advertisers, there appears to be another exception to Google's secure search keyword stripping: mobile organic search. I think Google is signaling where their focus is (and where they want your focus to be) by giving a small window of opportunity to act. Securing Search Activity Not that I quibble with the vie [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Mobile Search

2011 has been a dramatic year for the local SEO industry. Our little world is growing faster than ever with more businesses, more SEOs and more money flowing into the market. But it has also had its share of drama too. Google has kept us on our toes with some fundamental changes to its Places algorithm, integration of local results and a major update to its Places interface. There have also been considerable waves from Google Panda with 12% of search results being affected by this new algorithm. By and large, local business websites have escaped the effects of Panda, but they were not th [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Local Search

Back in the 70’s, when the World Wide Web was still just a glint in Tim Berners-Lee’s eyes, a pair of Stanford grads working out of their garage started a world famous technology company called Hewlett-Packard. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? What is it about Stanford students that makes them want to start businesses in their garages? Anyway, what is interesting about Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard practiced a management style known as MBWA, which is short for management by walking around. They felt they would have a better grasp on what was really happening in their company if they would [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Paid Search

On a panel at a recent conference, I had the pleasure of moderating a great discussion on building and managing in-house SEO teams. What made this panel superb was that it wasn’t just about in-house SEO teams.There was quite a bit of content around hiring, working with third parties, and the interaction between marketing and IT departments. My kind of panel – Industrial Strength! Hiring Search Marketers Josh Gampel kicked off the panel with a fine presentation on hiring for search. Josh and his teams were the first folks to build a company (Onward Search) around staffing for search engin [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Enterprise SEM

One of the complaints often leveled against email-delivered daily deals is that they're not "relevant." A refrain I've heard repeatedly is, "How many 'main-pedi' deals do I need?" To combat this "deal fatigue," a range of sites, including Yipit, Groupon and Google, among others, have introduced personalization. But some would argue search is a better cure. Now a couple of Google engineers have launched The Dealmix to bring Google-like search and mapping functionality to daily deal shopping. The site offers a map view, as well as a list view. There are also numerous ways to filter dea [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Maps & Local | Search Engines: Deals & Coupon Search Engines | Search Engines: Maps & Local Search Engines | Top News

Setting your marketing goals for next year? Will social media play a major or minor role? Do you have the tools and knowledge to make the most of social media? How will you measure success, and allocate your budget and resources accordingly? Attend SMX Social Media Marketing and learn how to leverage Google+, Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic, enhance campaign performance, boost conversions and improve customer service. After these two content packed days, you’ll have the tactics you need to make your 2012 goals a reality. Here’s why you need to join us December 5-6 in Scottsdale [...]

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

Google tweeted that they have pushed out a minor update to the Google Panda algorithm this past Friday afternoon. The update impacts less than one-percent of searches, which is why Google labelled this a "minor" update. There have been a number of updates since the 2.5 update on September 28th. We have been calling those updates Panda fluxes. Google is making a conscious effort to provide more weather reports for when they do major of minor updates with the search algorithm. Previous Panda Updates Here’s the Panda update schedule so far, as we’ve tracked and had confirmed by Goo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Panda Update | Google: SEO | Google: Web Search | Panda Update News | Top News

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+ Expands Search Options, Adds Trending Topics To Search ResultsGoogle+ has made a few tweaks to how its search function operates, and has added the obligatory trending topics its search results pages. The first change begins right in the search box itself: As you type a search query, Google+ now separates possible matches in a pop-up window with People or Pages that may match [...] Google Working With U.S. Treasury Department To Shut Down AdWord [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | SearchCap

Google+ has made a few tweaks to how its search function operates, and has added the obligatory trending topics its search results pages. The first change begins right in the search box itself: As you type a search query, Google+ now separates possible matches in a pop-up window with People or Pages that may match your query. There are more changes if you follow through on the search itself. When Google finally added search to Google+, the search results page had four tabs: Everything, People, Google+ Posts and Sparks. Now, the search results have two tabs with different options [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Google+ | Google: Real Time Search

We know the illegal online pharmacies used to love the Google. Apparently, the mortgage scammers have found AdWords to be quite useful in their nefarious schemes, as well. The Treasury Department's Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced this week that it's worked with Google to shut down 85 alleged online mortgage modification scams. As a result of the investigation, Google suspended relationships with more than 500 online advertisers who allegedly used AdWords to prey on vulnerable homeowners looking to modify their mortgages. Some [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords | Google: Legal

As expected Yahoo will be closing down Yahoo Site Explorer this year. Yahoo has just announced the date for the closure. This coming Monday, November 21, 2011, Site Explorer will cease to exist. The short Yahoo blog post reads: With the completion of algorithmic transition to Bing, Yahoo! Search has merged Site Explorer into Bing Webmaster Tools. Webmasters should now be using the Bing Webmaster Tools to ensure that their websites continue to get high quality organic search traffic from Bing and Yahoo!. Site Explorer services will not be available from November 21, 2011. Bing Webmaster To [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Top News | Yahoo: Site Explorer

Google Analytics is divided in five main categories: Visitors Advertising Traffic Sources Content Conversions In this post, I want to talk about the Content category. I will not discuss all  the reports available, but the ones I use most frequently. If you click on Content it will expand to the sections below:   Overview The overview gives a quick overall view of your content. You can see metrics such as pageviews, unique pageviews, avg. time on page and bounce rate. By using the date range option on the top right corner, you can select your date range and also ea [...]

Related Topics: Beginner | Channel: Analytics | How To | How To: Analytics | Search & Analytics