SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 27, 2014

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• Car Makers Drove 14.4 Million Clicks From Google Ads In 2 Months (And That Doesn’t Include Mobile)

  A whopping 177 automotive manufacture sites drove 14.4 million paid search clicks from Google ads on desktops and tablets this January and February. Of those 177 advertisers, the top 20 advertisers (roughly 11 percent) accounted for 81 percent of the paid search clicks in the two month period, according to new data from search marketing intelligence […]

• Is Rewarder The Heir Of Google Answers?

  There have been a range of “answer engines” or “help engines” (Q&A sites) that have come and gone over the years. Some of them might be considered “social search.” Yahoo Answers, Ask.com (more recently focused on Q&A), Answers.com, Askville (Amazon), ChaCha, Keen, JustAnswer/Pearl are among those that remain and still exist. Verticals with Q&A angles […]

• How To Reduce Landing Page Clutter For Optimal AdWords Performance

  When it comes to optimizing PPC landing pages, marketers often think about beefing up page copy, adding trust signals, or including eye-catching graphics. What they often neglect to consider are ways to reduce page clutter — ways to make the information on your landing page easier to read, or ways to visually enhance the most […]

• 4 Steps To The Perfect AdWords Audit

  I recently participated in a few SEM tune-up clinics where we did live reviews of AdWords accounts. While I hope I provided a few interesting tidbits, I think the thing advertisers are looking for in these sessions is insight into the process that other practitioners go through when checking an account. So whether you’re doing […]

• Register For SMX Advanced – Rates Increase Tomorrow

  Super early bird pricing for Search Engine Land’s SMX Advanced expires end-of-day Friday, March 28. Register now for the lowest possible rate. SMX Advanced is the only conference designed exclusively for experienced paid search advertisers and SEOs. You’ll participate in cutting-edge sessions and network with fellow internet marketing thought leaders. Check out the agenda. Don’t […]

Recent Headlines From MarTech, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Internet Marketing:

• UK Watchdog Clears Microsoft’s Scroogled-Style Radio Ad Against False Advertising Claims
• Study: 30% Of Facebook Users Are Consuming News, But It’s Mostly “Incidental” Consumption
• Traditional PCs Shrink To 10 Percent Of Device Market In 2015
• VIDEO: What Would Eric Stonestreet Be Like As A Social Media Strategist for Richard Sherman?
• Among Top 100 Etail Sites Only 9 Pct Using Responsive Design
• R.I.P Retweet? Twitter Experiment Features “Share” Button Instead of “Retweet”
• As Mobile Revolutionizes Commerce, How Marketers Are Taking Advantage
• Register For SMX Advanced – Rates Increase Tomorrow
• 10 Marketing Lessons From Seattle Seahawks Cornerback Richard Sherman At #AdobeSummit
• Twitter Adds Photo Tags That Will Notify Others (Yet Won’t Count Toward Your 140 Characters)

Search News From Around The Web:

Industry

• The Guy Who Just Got Yelp on Yahoo Leaves Yahoo, Re/code
• Transparency Report: Requests for user information up 120 percent over four years, Google Public Policy Blog
• Users First: Sharing Our Transparency Report, Official Yahoo Blog
• China’s Baidu defeats U.S. lawsuit over censored search results, Reuters

Link Building

• After a Link-Based Penalty is Removed, Will Your Traffic Increase?, Moz
• Link Building Guide: When You Have No Links, www.seerinteractive.com

Local & Maps

• Google Updates Bulk Feed, Mike Blumenthal

SEM / Paid Search

• Non-Converting Cost %: Illuminating Trends in Your Account, PPC Hero
• The Power of Bing Ads in the Netherlands and Nordics, advertise.bingads.microsoft.com
• How did car rental companies change their PPC market visibility in Q1?, 3Q Digital
• How Do I Improve Adwords Performance in Just 10 Minutes? [VIDEO], Vertical Measures

Searching

• Google’s Knowledge Graph About My Company Is Wrong & Lawyers Are Mad, Search Engine Roundtable
• Rearrange Apps in Google’s Navigation Menu, Google Operating System
• Searching For Bing On Google? You’ll Find The SSL Enabled Bing, Search Engine Roundtable
• The Incredible Impact of Knowledge Graph Cards on Google Glass Search Results [Research], Glass Almanac

SEO

• Negative Domain Research Part 2 – Filtering Majestic’s Referring Domain Data, Majestic SEO Blog
• Smartphone Rankings Demotion in Google Search Results Based on Faulty Redirects [Case Study], hmtweb.com
• UK Brand sites falling like flies – Brand Penalties by Google, RefuGeeks