Today’s Google logo marks Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a federal holiday recognizing the civil rights leader. The illustrated logo includes a profile of Martin Luther King, Jr., images of doves to represent King’s 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, and the Lincoln Memorial where King made his iconic “I Have a Dream” civil rights speech. Michigan […]
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 Alerts Get A Shiny New Redesign Google flipped the switch this morning on a new design for its Google Alerts emails. The change brings Google Alerts closer in line with […]
Google flipped the switch this morning on a new design for its Google Alerts emails. The change brings Google Alerts closer in line with Google’s general aesthetic. The emails now have a similarly clean look-and-feel to the card-style layout that’s becoming so prevalent in Google search results, Google Now, on Google’s mobile apps and elsewhere. […]
Yesterday, we got an early preview of the first case study Google will publish on the use of estimated cross-device conversions in AdWords. It features 1-800-Flowers and also addresses the company’s use of click-to-call. When Google first announced the release of estimated cross-device conversions in October, it seemed to be received with a collective shrug. […]
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.
In the ongoing battle to keep its ads ecosystem free of scammers and malware, Google says it pulled more than 350 million bad ads from its systems last year, up 59 percent from the 224 million it struck down in 2012. Looking back at last year’s bad ads report, it appears that for the first […]
Someone once said that Americans deserved a tax system that looked as it if were designed on purpose. No doubt, the world is a complicated place when tax time looms. Rule changes, exemptions, complicated deductions — it’s no wonder that people start to sweat a little as April 15 approaches. If there’s one thing taxpayers can […]
By now, everyone knows that online reviews can have a tremendous impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions. Ultimately, a single review — positive or negative — can tip the scale in favor of one company over another. No doubt, the power of reviews on Google+, Yelp, Angie’s List and other local search directories continues to mount. […]
Earlier this week, Danny Sullivan reported on the hijacking of thousands of local hotel listings within Google+ Local. Those listings had been replaced by third-party hotel booking services. And while it’s unclear how long those third-party links were in place, several knowledgeable people have surmised it may have been at least a month, if not longer. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Covario: Global PPC Click-Through Rates Hit New Highs, Spend Up 17 Percent YoY In Q4 Though the numbers vary, the Q4 reports we’ve covered all point to solid year-over-year increases in […]
Though the numbers vary, the Q4 reports we’ve covered all point to solid year-over-year increases in paid search spending. Covario’s Q4 analysis of the global paid search advertising landscape is no different. Based on results from their high tech, consumer electronics and retail clients, PPC spending increased 17 percent year-over-year and 13 percent over Q3 […]
RKG has released its Q4 2013 Digital Marketing Report, and as other reports have indicated, paid search saw solid year-over-year growth in the holiday quarter. Paid search spend among RKG’s retail-heavy client set rose 23 percent year-over-year. Overall click volume increased 19 percent, and CPCs ticked up just 3 percent. Google Brand CPCs Fall […]
It’s 2014, which means we are officially one year away from the year that Kelsey Group predicted mobile search will eclipse desktop search. Are you making your mobile resolutions to ensure you’re ready for when that time comes? I’d like to start the new year with a short reflection of how far mobile SEO as […]
Microsoft Bing’s Senior Product Manager, Duane Forrester, wrote last night at the Bing Webmaster Blog that it is only a myth that in today’s ranking algorithms that a keyword rich domain name will make enough of an impact on your rankings to give you a major boost above your competitors. Duane said that maybe “10 […]
In the first half of 2013, search advertising represented 43% of all digital ad revenue. The primary reason paid search remains so successful is that it creates a direct link between users and their intent. For marketers, the ability to deliver an ad promoting running shoes to users searching for [best running shoes] represents a […]
The ever-helpful Google Now service is now available on your desktop for both Mac, Windows and Chrome OS users. This Google Now service features Google Now cards that are run through the latest Google Chrome build (Chrome Canary) and will work for those users who are currently logged-in to Chrome. According to the “Google Operating […]
Today’s Google logo is an artful tribute to zoologist and avid Gorilla enthusiast Dian Fossey in honor of her 82nd birthday. The image depicts Fossey taking notes with a gorilla sitting behind her. The logo includes illustrations of the Silverback gorillas Fossey studied during her time in Rwanda, along with a picture of the Rwanda […]
Rand Fishkin, the cofounder of Moz, formerly known as SEOmoz, is stepping down from his role as the CEO of the company today. Rand announced the news on his personal blog about a month ago. He said it was because he felt he was “out of his depth, and poorly suited, especially from an emotional […]
Bing ended 2013 with an all-time high market share of search activity inside the US; but, it was Google with the biggest monthly gain in December, according to the latest comScore qSearch data. Google’s share of search queries was up 0.6 percent in December to 67.3 percent. Using comScore’s numbers, that’s Google’s second-highest share estimate […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: EU Wants More Search Concessions, Google Defies French Authority Round and round she goes. The European Commission is seeking a final round of “concessions” from Google in an 11th hour effort […]
Round and round she goes. The European Commission is seeking a final round of “concessions” from Google in an 11th hour effort to settle potential antitrust claims against the company. EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia made public statements asserting that Google needs to deliver additional, revised proposals within weeks to avoid a formal antitrust proceeding. […]
A new social network or online community comes along and every brand has to answer one basic question: Should we be active in this channel? No matter whether you’re among the world’s biggest brands, or a small home-based business, that’s a question you have to wrestle with. Lowe’s, the home improvement retailer, appears to have […]
Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, posted a video answering another webmaster question. The question was, “Are results in different positions ranked by different algorithms?” The answer is no, Google does not have reserve web search results slots or positions for ranking for specific algorithms. For example, slots 3-5 in the results are not […]
As part of its Consumer Insights webinar last week, marketing services firm Experian revealed search engines were responsible for driving more than 40 percent of upstream traffic to Hitwise 500 Retailer websites during the 2013 holiday season. While still representing the largest share, Experian reported search engines experienced a 13 percent drop in the amount […]
When we conducted an online survey of 668 US small and medium-sized businesses in October 2013, a large number of these businesses (just over 20%) classified themselves as belonging to the Health & Medical Industry. This group consisted of a wide spread of specialists, including chiropractors, dentists, mental health practices, medical family practices, pharmacies, psychologists and […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Yelp Turns Up The Heat: 285 Consumer Alerts Issued Over Fake Reviews It’s been almost a year and a half since Yelp began issuing Consumer Alerts when a business on its […]
It’s been almost a year and a half since Yelp began issuing Consumer Alerts when a business on its site has been caught trying to get fake reviews; but after a cautious start, that program appears to be turning up the heat. According to an interview with CEO Jeremy Stoppelman in The Telegraph, Yelp has […]
Google, as a search engine, is incredibly helpful to most of us. But what if Google was a real person? There are two video parodies that make fun of what a Google would be if it was a real guy. Note: Some of the language in the video might not be safe for work. College […]
Thousands of hotels listed within Google+ Local appear to have had links leading to their official sites “hijacked” and replaced with ones leading to third-party booking services. Google+ Local listings are what Google depends on to provide results in Google Maps or Google Search, when people look for local businesses. A Hijacked URL For example, […]
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As Group Head at a fast growing search agency, I’ve carried out hundreds of campaign checks over the years. In my contributions here, I’ll be sharing my top tips on things to look out for when reviewing your own campaigns. Some of these things are obvious, while others might have slipped past you because you’re […]
Now, when you go to Google Image search, you will see an extra option under the search tools for “usage rights.” Searching and filtering images by “usage rights” is not a new feature for Google Image Search. The feature has been around since 2009; but, Google’s head of search spam Matt Cutts announced on Twitter that […]
We focus a lot on where we our links should go. We analyze Domain Authority and social metrics until we can spew back a site’s numbers faster than our own phone number. We nit-pick sidebars, in-content and author box placements until we’re blue in the face. But we don’t put nearly enough time on how […]
Yandex has announced that it has signed a deal with Facebook which will give the leading search engine in Russia access to the Facebook firehose for “public” content published in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, other CIS countries and Turkey, where Yandex also operates. Content will be available for indexing by Yandex as soon as it has […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Ryanair CEO Claims Airline Is Working With Google On A Flight Search & Comparison Tool In an interview published by Irish Independent, Irish airlines Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary claims his airline […]
In an interview published by Irish Independent, Irish airlines Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary claims his airline has entered a partnership with Google, and is providing the search engine with flight pricing to help build a travel search and comparison tool. “We’ll be sharing the Ryanair pricing through all of the Google outlets, so when you […]
Twitter has made headlines in recent weeks with the quiet launch of its experimental Nearby timeline, which allows eligible mobile users to discover tweets posted by others in their immediate vicinity, regardless of whether they are following them. This feature is currently available to a select number of users who have opted-in to allow their location […]
Bing now appears to be supporting secure search through the https://www.bing.com address. Previously, trying to use this address generated an error. If you conduct a search on Bing, while on the HTTPS URL, it will remain HTTPS and keep your searches secure. This is a new feature Bing quietly started supporting over the weekend. Cyrus Shepard […]
I live in a double bubble when it comes to my perceptions of how “America” uses the Internet. The first bubble I live in is Silicon Valley, where the latest venture-funded “SoMoLo” website always seems more important than, say, WalMart.com. The second is my profession of internet marketing, where we obsess about every pixel of […]
A Virginia state court of appeal has ruled that Yelp must disclose the real identities of seven individuals who posted anonymous, critical reviews of an Alexandria, Virginia carpet cleaning business, Hadeed Carpet. Yelp and free speech advocacy groups have decried the decision. Hadeed said that he didn’t believe that any of the reviews came from actual […]