Jon Diorio, Senior Product Manager for Google AdWords posted on his Google+ page news of “a small reporting tidbit”. Conversion value metrics are now among the those available in the AdWords graph. The newly added metrics are shown in Diorio’s screenshot below.
It’s rare that a true challenge to a best practice (and a seemingly straightforward one at that) arises. But, when Marta Turek, Group Manager, Performance Media at Mediative presented case studies showing what happened when they tested an opt-out versus the traditional opt-in approach to geo-targeting in AdWords at SMX Advanced this year, jaws dropped. […]
In a recent video answer from Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, Matt said if you have bad links pointing to your site, don’t worry about it; all you need to do is disavow those links. Matt Cutts said, “just go ahead and disavow those links,” even if those linking to you do not […]
Over the last decade, the incorporation of search into the online shopping experience has led to a savvier generation of consumers who prefer the selection, price-transparency, and convenience of online retail to traditional brick-and-mortars. As a result, online retailers are now spending more on paid search advertising than just about any other industry. In fact, […]
Many of us in SEO espouse the great benefits of Google Authorship and the potential of the rumored AuthorRank. Many in SEO would argue that AuthorRank has not yet been implemented as part of the Google algorithm. Or has it been added already? The Scenario A few weeks ago, one of my paid search clients […]
After releasing a number of new updates for the Windows Phone 8 yesterday, Bing announced today it has launched News, Sports, Weather and Finance apps for the phone as well. Originally released for Windows 8 last October, the mobile versions offer a new collection of apps for Windows Phone 8 users. Bing News App Bing […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: New Research Says Search Engines Have Little To Do With Promoting Pirated Content A new research paper authored by Matt Schruers and published by the Computer & Communications Industry Association argues […]
A new research paper authored by Matt Schruers and published by the Computer & Communications Industry Association argues that search engines have been unfairly targeted in the quest to impede online copyright infringement. According to the paper, the perception is that search engines are the primary culprit in copyright infringement cases, offering visibility to unlawful […]
Despite the annual changes in the local search ecosystem, the ranking factors that Google uses to determine its local search results haven’t changed much over the past year. So say the 35 local search marketers that contributed to the 2013 Local Search Ranking Factors — organized again this year by David Mihm, and published this […]
A few weeks ago, Barry Schwartz reported that Yahoo was testing ad background colors — a pale green instead of pale blue. The search engines frequently test ad background colors in the SERPs. Google has tested blue, green, purple, and yellow variations. What struck me in looking at the Yahoo test, though, was how faint the background colors on […]
There have been quite a few new tools and features launched in Google AdWords (my former employer) over the past couple of months that may not have gotten the attention they deserve amidst the much more hotly debated launch of Enhanced Campaigns. Now that we’ve all transitioned and Enhanced Campaigns can just be called “campaigns,” […]
It’s official. If you are based in the United States and use the English language version of Facebook, you now have access to the Graph Search product. Announced back in January, Graph Search has taken a good bit of time to fully roll out, with many changes cropping up along the way. As Matt McGee mentioned last […]
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 Introducing “In-Depth Articles” To Search Results Google is rolling out “in-depth” articles this morning. We previously wrote about the test when it appeared a couple of months ago. In-depth articles […]
Google is rolling out “in-depth” articles this morning. We previously wrote about the test when it appeared a couple of months ago. In-depth articles exist for a wide range of topics (e.g., censorship, secret societies, e-waste, Legos, Taylor Swift) and call out longer-form content from what appear to be recognized and higher quality sources. Google suggests […]
Bing announced a number of new upgrades today for the Windows Phone 8, including search feature design updates, infinite scrolling for images and videos, ten new “Instant Answers” topics, and a new mobile version of Bing’s “Snapshot” feature that offers at-a-glance information. With the new updates, tapping the Search feature on a Windows Phone 8 […]
To assess the impact of Google’s recently-announced quality score change, I analyzed the pre/post change in Quality Score distribution across data for more than 100 advertisers. Since the exact range of scores differs for every advertiser, we looked at the percentage change in relative impression volume (proportion of total impressions) at each Quality Score level […]
The majority of the time when we’re discussing link building, we focus on things like outreach, content strategy, tools and, in general, ways we can acquire links online. Which makes perfect sense since links are… well, online. But what about the offline, or “in real life” opportunities? According to a recent survey featured on eMarketer, […]
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: We Fight Search Spam In 40+ Countries & Internationalize Our Spam Algorithms Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts announced in a video that Google fights search spam […]
Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts announced in a video that Google fights search spam at an international level but does tend to have a stronger spam fighting sense in the Google.com, English search results. Matt Cutts explained that with most of Google’s spam fighting algorithms, such as the Panda and Penguin algorithms, Google […]
When Google rolled-out “compare dates” functionality in AdWords, it was welcomed, but limited to showing changes on the graph view only. Yes, you could get comparison data out of AdWords, but it was cumbersome. Good news: Over the next few days, Google is officially rolling out an expansion of the compare dates tool that shows […]
Search Engine Land’s SMX East search marketing conference is returning to New York City on October 1-3. This is our big, once-a-year east coast event, and if you’re involved in marketing, PR, social media or any other customer-facing activity, you owe it to yourself (and your company or clients) to attend the conference. Keep reading […]
Google has been busy changing a lot of the user interfaces for its local search services. Between the new Google Maps, the Google Local Carousel and the new Reviews Pop-Ups, they have certainly thrown the local search world into a tizzy. I have been playing around with the new Google Maps, and I thought I’d […]
Apple Insider points out that Apple is hiring for dozens of positions in its mapping group. There are more than 80 positions that respond to the keywords “Apple Maps” on the company’s jobs site. Among a range of other positions, Apple has been seeking “ground truth local experts” for various cities. Here’s one such job […]
Landing page optimization is big business for successful PPC campaigns. Google’s weighting of where a paid ad will show and how much each click costs is factored, in part, on the quality of the landing page the ad leads to. But, on the SEO side of things, you don’t hear a lot about “landing pages.” […]
Mobile mapping provider CityMaps recently redesigned its iOS app. It impressively includes home-grown vector maps, built from the ground up. Beyond this CityMaps is trying to offer deeper editorial and social content to differentiate from other mapping and local-search apps. CityMaps also invokes the language of “personal assistant” in its promotional video (below). These concepts […]
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 Display Planner Tool To Replace Ad Planner, Placement Tool & Contextual Targeting Tool Google announced they are migrating three existing AdWords tools directly into a new version of the Google […]
Google announced they are migrating three existing AdWords tools directly into a new version of the Google Display Planner. Specifically, the Contextual Targeting Tool, the Placement Tool and the Google Ad Planner are all going to be built into the Display Planner Tool. Google says this makes your life easier giving you access “with one […]
In June, the US Federal Trade Commission warned seven “general purpose” search engines — including Google, Bing and Yahoo — about the need to ensure they were properly disclosing paid ads. But 17 other “specialty” search engines were also warned. Which ones? The FTC wouldn’t say. Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request, Search […]
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.
It was only a matter of time before a lawsuit was filed against a search engine optimization agency for failing to deliver. Last week, the legal marketing industry was aTwitter (and aFacebook and even aPlus) with news that law firm Seikaly & Stewart had filed a lawsuit against The Rainmaker Institute seeking a return of […]
Twitter is in the process of rolling out what you could call its version of “universal search results” on Twitter.com. The changes bring Twitter’s Web search more in line with the current mobile experience. Twitter announced the changes this afternoon via tweet: Search update on https://t.co/eNvqKTup1d: See photos & accounts in results + recent searches […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Five Years Later, Ex-Farecast Founder Asks “What Is Bing Doing?” Oren Etzioni, the founder of Farecast who sold it to Microsoft in 2008, says he’s “disappointed” with Bing’s development and “expected […]
Oren Etzioni, the founder of Farecast who sold it to Microsoft in 2008, says he’s “disappointed” with Bing’s development and “expected more” from Microsoft’s search engine. As Geekwire reports, Etzioni made his comments to an audience last night at a Startup Grind event in Seattle. “What is Bing doing, period? So many smart people, so […]
I’m pleased to announce that we’ve made some changes in our columns line-up to better showcase the great work contributed by our talented columnist-practitioners. The biggest change is that we’re moving some of our columns from Search Engine Land to Marketing Land, so we want to let you know where you’ll be able to find […]
Following the enactment of a controversial copyright law in Germany, Google said that it would require publishers to formally “opt-in” to Google News or be excluded from results. Accordingly major German publishers have decided to do so — for now. The new law, which went into effect today and gives publishers almost total control over […]
Search Engine Land keeps growing our staff! Today, we’re happy to announce that Lauren Litwinka is coming on as our new Community Editor while Monica Wright moves up into a new Director Of Audience Engagement position. Lauren will be directly interacting with our audience on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr and many other places where Search […]
Since last September, people using Safari on iOS devices and searching on Google have appeared to publishers as if they came directly to their sites, not via Google. Now, the problem has ended, with iOS now apparently having been upgraded to support the “meta referrer” tag. No, this doesn’t solve the “not provided” issue, where […]
It isn’t easy being a leader in today’s digital economy. The rapid shifts in technology and the way customers adapt to it has transformed business. Barriers between online and offline business have broken down. Capital alone is no longer decisive in determining success. Google’s various offerings are a huge growth opportunity for B2B and B2C […]
Today’s Google logo celebrates the first professional female astronomer in the US, Maria Mitchell. The animated logo depicts Mitchell atop a roof, staring at the stars with a handheld telescope. Before becoming a professional astronomer, Mitchell discovered a comet in 1847 that was named Miss Mitchell’s Comet. In recognition of her discovery, she was awarded […]