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 Policing Of Duplicate Ad Sitelinks Extensions Misses Apparent Violator — Itself AdWords advertisers know that Google has plenty of policies by which you must abide, like Ad Sitelinks extensions can’t […]
AdWords advertisers know that Google has plenty of policies by which you must abide, like Ad Sitelinks extensions can’t have two links that point to the same page, and sitelinks can’t have the same destination page as the text ad’s headline. These rules seemingly apply to everyone except… Google itself. The rule-breaking was spotted by […]
Apple Insider is reporting, based on a study by investment firm Piper Jaffray, that Siri today (iOS 6) relies on Google considerably less than it did in iOS 5. That’s partly a result of the switch from Google’s local data in Maps to Apple’s own mapping data. However another part of the change is probably the […]
Back in September, I wrote about the Product Listing Ads transition from free to paid clicks in Google Shopping. The PLA transition is now complete, and with holiday shopping in full effect, it’s worth taking a look at the evolution of the PLA transition, and more importantly, the impact of PLAs on the bottom line […]
No matter what level your paid search program is operating at, whether small business or enterprise, inevitably some campaigns will outgrow the daily budgets that were set to sustain them. Aggressive keyword expansion or increasing CPCs due to competition could be two contributing factors. Until these budgets can be expanded, your campaigns will be limited. Optimizing a […]
SEO tactics have morphed again over the past year, including the many Google updates we’ve seen. For nearly any type of business, keeping up with these changes can be a challenge, but if you prioritize the tasks necessary for success in search and social media marketing, the efforts can pay large dividends. Below are my […]
Google’s home page, worldwide, features a special interactive fairy tale like logo for the 200th anniversary of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. The Doodle lets you click through some of the more recognized fairy tales and it eventually will take you to a search result for [Brothers Grimm]. That result contains the Google Knowledge graph […]
Foursquare has made a quick response to Monday’s announcement of Facebook Nearby, with its own announcement today that Foursquare Explore is cranking up its personalization. The irony? It’s going to use Foursquare activity from a user’s Facebook friends to improve the recommendations in Explore. Think of it as Foursquare judo: It’s using Facebook data to […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Apple Vs. Google Maps: Reality Check Time Google Maps new app is terrific app — although initiating navigation isn’t as intuitive as it might be. But I’ve found that Apple Maps […]
Google Maps new iOS app is terrific — although initiating navigation isn’t as intuitive as it might be. But I’ve found that Apple Maps is as good or nearly as good, at least in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have not had a chance to test maps apps side-by-side in other regions. Here’s what […]
It’s been one of the biggest problems Twitter has had for years, that it’s difficult to find your own tweets on the Twitter. The new Twitter Archive service that Twitter launched today goes a long way in solving this issue. Step-By-Step: How To Download All Your Tweets With The New Twitter Archive Service is our story […]
Google has decided to take on the decades-old Santa tracking service that NORAD offers with its own “Google Santa Tracker.” It comes in the wake NORAD booting Google out as a partner in favor of Microsoft. NOTE: If you’re looking for the latest information on Santa tracking for the current year, see our Your Guide To […]
Following its acquisition of travel software provider ITA, Google’s flight and hotel search products have offered isolated useful features but have largely failed to live up to Google’s promise of “innovation.” Consumers have mostly failed to notice Google’s travel innovations so far as well. There are now indications that Google’s travel sites and content are becoming more […]
The most common misconception over the past year has been the commonly heard statement, display looks like search. While we have all heard this a number of times (albeit it might be partially true) it’s largely based on one main factor: the rise of the auction-based marketplace in display. However, there are a number of […]
There is nothing more important to your search success than your value proposition. Go ahead. Click away. I know you probably don’t spend much of your time on such things. It’s all keywords and copy, copy and keywords. Yet, keywords and ad copy only get you so far. For your visitors, these answer the question, why am […]
Google has long asked searchers to provide feedback on the quality of its search results, and often runs a number of tests aimed at encouraging such feedback. The latest such experiment, which seems to have been live for at least a month or so, is a bit different because it asks searchers for feedback only […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: FTC Ruling On Google Anti-Trust Issues Expected Tomorrow; EU Expects Settlement Offer Next Month The European Union appears to be closer to agreement with Google about anti-trust concerns relating to search, […]
The European Union appears to be closer to agreement with Google about anti-trust concerns relating to search, and action seems likely to happen in January. Meanwhile, the expected US Federal Trade Commission ruling that was supposed to happen before the end of this year now looks delayed into at least next month. Multiple sources are […]
Microsoft Bing announced they have once again updated the Bing Image Search user interface. The previous update was in June of this year. This new update includes: Added dimmed background and full-screen mode to make it easier to view images in high definition Larger filmstrip results to make viewing and browsing the images easier Lightning […]
Any marketing veteran will tell you that before you begin developing a business marketing plan, you first need to know who your target market is, along with what they want and how to appeal to them. This is just as true online as it is offline. When pursuing an online marketing campaign, whether it be […]
Rather than one of the typical year-end/new year predictions, I am going to use this space to rant about our industry and some obvious fails that should not be happening with the level of maturity Global Search has achieved. I see far too many problems, organizational dysfunction, and hear lame excuses and failures by companies […]
Last Thursday, there were many webmasters and SEOs who felt Google had a major algorithm or index update. The update was thought to be the size of a major algorithm update such as when Google pushed out Panda, Penguin or any of those other major updates. A Google spokesperson told us there was no update […]
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 Maps iPhone App Gets 10 Million Downloads In Two Days Just about a week ago Google’s new Google Maps iPhone app was released and oh boy were people waiting for […]
Just about a week ago Google’s new Google Maps iPhone app was released and oh boy were people waiting for it. Jeff Huber, Google’s Senior Vice President of Commerce & Local at Google said on Google+ that in two days they had over 10 million downloads of the app. The app has already hit the […]
Last week’s announcement by Raven tools that they would remove all ‘scraped data’ (e.g., ranking reports) from their toolkit came as an unwelcome surprise to many of their customers. This action effectively makes a big portion of their service redundant, and the reaction to this news hasn’t been all positive for Raven. This must have […]
I was ready to write a completely different column today. Then, I saw the announcement that Raven is doing away with ranking reports and any other SEO data that might ruffle Google’s feathers. I quickly went through denial/anger/bargaining/acceptance: I’m sure they’ll find another way to get this data; this won’t affect anyone else What the #$)(*!*) […]
As of today, you can count Facebook as a potentially significant new competitor in local search — on mobile devices. The company is updating the “Nearby” feature in its iOS and Android apps Nearby Becomes Local Search Tool Previously Nearby was about finding where your friends had checked-in. After the app update Nearby will still […]
Over the last month, I’ve had two clients send me email pitches from other agencies trying to “poach” business away from us. The two pitches were from different agencies, but the message was the same: something is ominously, terribly wrong with the way your current agency is managing your account! Here’s the pitch from the […]
The holiday season is now in full swing! Google has finally added the Christmas and Kwanzaa decorations to compliment the Festivus pole and Hanukkah decorations you already get on Google. How does it work? Just search for [christmas] and you will get Christmas bells. Note, this also works for [santa] and other holiday search terms: […]
Confirming a report from the New York Post last week, the Wall Street Journal and Politico both published articles that said Google would emerge basically unscathed from the FTC’s antitrust investigation. Google will apparently agree to make voluntary changes to various practices and will thus avoid having to sign a consent degree. The voluntary actions, […]
Local search provider and online ad network YP has released its end of the year review report (.pdf). The data are drawn from a huge volume of queries on its PC destination site, its mobile site and apps, as well as its broader advertising network. YP says that 30 percent of its overall query volume […]
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 In Privacy Flap With Germans Over New iOS Maps According to a report in Computerworld, Google has violated German data protection and privacy rules with its new Google Maps app […]
Yahoo Advertising is introducing something of a groundbreaking new ad unit, inserting a cost-per-lead ad just under a site’s listing within the organic search results. It also allows Yahoo a new way to earn off search separately from its deal with Microsoft, which has proven disappointing for the company. The new ad format, which can […]
According to a report in Computerworld, Google has violated German data protection and privacy rules with its new Google Maps app for the iPhone. When users install the app and agree to the terms and conditions there’s a check box that authorizes Google to collect “anonymous” user location data. The fact that this box is […]
Bing has announced that searchers on the iPad will start seeing its “social sidebar” over the next few days. That includes the iPad Mini. Today’s announcement comes just days after Bing finalized a new design for those social results. The social sidebar integrates friend and expert content from a variety of social sources that might […]
I was in this industry when people were starting to throw around the phrase Web 2.0. Video marketing was in its infancy, Facebook was only for college students, and MySpace was where you sold things to a 12-year-old. Along with my time in the industry, social media has grown from a conversation we had with […]
In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.
Yahoo and AVG announced a new partnership deal where Yahoo will power AVG’s secure search, which will protect AVG’s customers dangerous websites and online threats. The process uses AVG’s LinkScanner technology to protect their users from malicious web sites. As we reported a couple of days ago, there was an 80% increase in the number […]
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 Maps Is Back On The iPhone: Native iOS App Released Google has released its long-awaited map app for the iPhone. And it delivers all the expected features: voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation, […]
TorrentFreak reports that Google updated their transparency report to now show the number and specific details on the false takedown requests attempted. You can see this level of detail by going to a specific takedown request. For example, looking at takedown request ID 266534 shows that of the 886 URLs reported for DMCA violations, 3% […]