I went on a BuzzFeed diet about a month ago, where I stopped following the site and reading the content there. I should have stuck to it, because I wouldn’t be wasting my time now dissecting one of its stupid, pageview-baiting stories. In this one, Pinterest is positioned as a better search engine than Google. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Yandex Turns Up The Dial On Personalized Search The Russian search engine Yandex has announced changes to how it presents personalized search results, saying that personalization is now based on what’s […]
The Russian search engine Yandex has announced changes to how it presents personalized search results, saying that personalization is now based on what’s happening within a single search session. When the company launched personalized results late last year, it was based primarily on looking at a user’s search history within the previous few weeks/months. Now, […]
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.
Google announced they have expanded their business photos program into Europe and Asia. Google Business Photos is a way for you to share the inside of your stores on Google Maps. There are groups of trusted photographers that take the photos for syndication into the program. Now, this is available in more places around the […]
I work with a wide variety of clients across a wide variety of industries, and one of the most common issues I come across is what I call analytics forgetfulness. What typically happens is that a company will devise a plan to improve their online marketing and will implement various changes as a result — […]
Google is giving a nod to science today by commemorating Famed German bacteriologist Julius Richard Petri’s 161st birthday with a Google Doodle. Petri is credited with the invention of the Petri dish which he created while working as an assistant to bacteriologist Robert Koch in Berlin. The Google logo has been replaced with six animated […]
Officially, Google distinguished engineer Matt Cutts heads Google’s web spam fighting team. Unofficially, he’s Google’s chief debunker. If someone seems to be talking crazy about Google, Matt may turn up with a polite clarification. When does Matt react? This is Search Engine Land’s guide, based on years of observations (you can click to enlarge it). […]
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 Rolling Out Nutrition Information On More Than 1,000 Foods Building on their Knowledge Graph technology, Google search is rolling out nutrition information on more than 1,000 fruits, vegetables, meats […]
Building on their Knowledge Graph technology, Google search is rolling out nutrition information on more than 1,000 fruits, vegetables, meats and meals. Users will be able to search on everything from simple one-word terms like apple or carrot to more complex dishes such as burritos or chow mein to find relevant nutrition information. According to […]
Google announced today a new, fun and useful tool to help webmasters markup their webpages with schema structured data. Structured data markup can help a webpage enhance its search listings by adding rich snippets to the search results page. Google announced two upgrades here to the structured data tool. Google added a new tool to […]
There are notable similarities between keyword and PLA campaigns that, when leveraged properly, will give retailers greater control of their campaign management. Let’s evaluate how retailers can leverage best practices from their keyword campaigns and apply them to their PLA campaigns for maximum efficiency and control over their budgets. In SEM, search engines decide which […]
Windows 8.1 is intended to “fix” many of the perceived problems of Windows 8. However, for the Bing team, the release of Windows 8.1 offered a new opportunity to more deeply integrate Bing into the OS and provide a richer experience for users. With the new release, Bing becomes something more than a “search engine.” […]
Any in-house SEO professional (or consultant) who has been in the industry for even a short time has likely had to dispel misconceptions and inaccuracies about SEO to a senior manager, budget holder or client. These misconceptions can often be so embedded that they result in an underfunded, under-resourced and under “mind-shared” SEO program. To […]
There are two pieces of conventional wisdom surrounding Google’s Enhanced Campaigns that seem to get tossed around a lot without much thought or examination. The first is that this new campaign model will make it easier for small advertisers to get into the mobile advertising game. The second related piece is that Enhanced Campaigns will […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Video: Google’s Matt Cutts On Advertorials & Webmaster Guidelines Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, posted a new video today on YouTube clarifying Google’s stance on Advertorials and “native advertising.” […]
Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, posted a new video today on YouTube clarifying Google’s stance on Advertorials and “native advertising.” Advertorials are editorial-like content that is published because an advertiser has paid the publication to publish the story or the content. Recently, we covered a story on how a major U.K. floral company […]
In recent weeks, Hollywood studios NBC Universal and Warner Bros both submitted DMCA takedown requests asking Google to de-list the file storage website Mega from its search index. According to a report on TorrentFreak, NBC Universal claimed Mega’s homepage linked to the NBC-owned film Mama, while Warner Bros alleged Mega made pirated copies of its film […]
Google is following up last month’s launch of keyword bulk upload from the Web UI with bulk uploads for ads and ad groups. By clicking the “Editable” box before downloading a report from AdWords, you’ll be able to make changes to ad creatives, pause ad groups or change budgets within the report. A good piece […]
I was pleased to be part of a great panel at SMX London on prioritizing your search marketing efforts. It included SEO veterans Mikkel deMib Svendsen of deMib.com, Julia Longdon of ContentMango and Dave Davies of Beanstalk. For me, this was an extremely useful session with a huge hidden ROI benefit for search marketers not […]
In January, upstart search engine Blekko launched a specialized tablet app called Izik. The UI and overall experience were optimized for the touch-screen devices. Search results were more visual and finger friendly. Most of all, CEO Rich Skrenta stressed that Izik was leaving behind the familiar “10 blue links.” As part of the Izik launch, […]
We online marketers can get a little full of ourselves. Those of us who strive to educate others about our craft can get preachy about the “right way” to bring traffic to websites and optimize that traffic for conversions. However, like those we are educating, we ourselves have evolved (and are still evolving) throughout our […]
A new change in AdWords allows marketers to schedule reports to run any day of the week. Up to now, reports could be scheduled for the first of the month, daily or weekly on Monday. So, if you report Friday through Thursday, for example, scheduled reports weren’t very helpful. Now, you can schedule weekly reports […]
Retargeting is not a new concept to the digital industry — in fact, it has been around for some time — but its uses and forms have definitely evolved. Over the course of this evolution, “retargeting” has become somewhat of a loose term – we now see it used alongside “search” and “social” in addition […]
SMX® - Search Marketing Expo & Conference series
Do you have a topic you’d like to see covered in a session at SMX East on October 1-3, 2013? Something you’d like to see covered in depth, or a discussion of advanced strategies and tactics for getting the most out your search marketing campaigns? If so, we’d like to hear from you. Anyone can […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Getting Away From Our PPC Campaigns This Summer Having just finished marching in three parades and playing Taps at Memorial Day observances to honor our deceased veterans, I find myself looking […]
Having just finished marching in three parades and playing Taps at Memorial Day observances to honor our deceased veterans, I find myself looking forward to the more relaxed days of summer, and wondering how in the heck I can get away from my PPC campaigns this summer. It’s a pipe dream, I know, because PPC campaigns […]
Originally launched in beta mode for a number of European countries last year, Google Maps has enabled biking directions for Germany, France, Poland, Ireland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. By working with partner organizations, as well as adding hundreds of kilometers of bike paths via Google Map Maker, Google Maps offers European cyclist a number of biking […]
The vigorous lobbying efforts of Google critics FairSearch.org and Foundem’s SearchNeutrality.org seem to be paying off. Earlier today EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told members of the European Parliament that additional “concessions” would probably be required of Google to settle the antitrust investigation against the company and avoid litigation and potential financial penalties. According to […]
Microsoft is expanding the Bing Ads Accredited Professional Program to include three new languages. The “Pro Bingers” certification program is now offered in French, German and Brazilian Portuguese. Three new sites have been set up for each of the new languages. The sites include 29 training modules, an intro video and the exam in each […]
Need to remove URLs from the index? For a small number of URLs, this can be a relatively straightforward process — when you are dealing with thousands or tens of thousands, it can be a lot more complex, especially if you feel a great deal of urgency about the matter. This is what I am […]
In my last column, I discussed how to create linkbait by writing about other people. Shari Thurow made a comment that fits in perfectly with an idea I had about finding ways to expand existing content and better market the byproducts of your business: “Instead of linking to the link-bait article, I’ll write my own POV […]
The rate at which people share information (profound and profane alike) on sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube is staggering. 137 million status updates per day appear on Facebook, 230 million tweets are shared per day on Twitter and 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute — all numbers which increase daily. No […]
A company website is the core of most local businesses’ online presence. In fact, more than half of all SMB online marketing service dollars are spent on the Web presence category, including Web design and hosting, according to a Borrell Associates study released late last year. Yet, despite its central role, the vast majority of […]
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 Glass Diary, Part 4: Local Search & Navigation Remember that first Google Glass video? It was published a little more than a year ago and gave the world its first […]
Remember that first Google Glass video? It was published a little more than a year ago and gave the world its first glimpse at what Google had in mind for Glass. Even though Google described it as “an early concept video,” you can clearly see that local search and navigation was a key aspect of […]
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.
Google released a couple of new UI features with the latest Chrome update for Android yesterday and announced that voice search will be coming to Chrome for iOS “soon”. Android Updates With the Android update, the long search URL box is gone and search queries in Chrome display in the omnibox. And now, while browsing, […]
One question I get asked a lot is this: what Excel skills are most important for marketers to learn? I have whittled that interminable list down to five skills that I believe are absolutely essential for marketers to know, presented below in order of importance. Table Formatting I believe that table formatting is the baseline […]
After releasing a preview of the Bing sitemap plugin a few months ago, Bing is ready to officially launch the Bing XML Sitemap Plugin 1.0 to the public. This sitemap plugin allows webmasters to easily create XML sitemap files for their websites that can be submitted to Bing Webmaster Tools or other search engines. It […]