SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 22, 2013

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 Changes AdWords Ad Rank Calculation, Now Factors In Ad Extensions And Formats
  Today, Google announced a change to Ad Rank, its ad serving calculation in AdWords that determines where your ad shows and how much you’ll pay per click. In addition to max CPC bid and quality score, Ad Rank will now factor in the expected impact from ad extensions and formats. Ad Rank is also becoming […]
• SMX Social Media Marketing Conference, Nov. 20-21 in Las Vegas. Register Now!
  Master paid, earned, and owned social media tactics. Attend Marketing Land’s SMX Social Media Marketing conference for two days of tactic-filled sessions and invaluable networking. View the agenda. All Access, Boot Camp, and Workshop passes available. Save with Early Bird rates – Register now.
• The Double Serving Myth: When One Company Monopolizes PPC Ad Results
  Here are two scenarios that are currently keeping many PPC advertisers up at night — maybe you’re one of them: A parent company buys up a significant portion of the competitors in a sector, and with the backing of large budgets, advertises each site on AdWords and Bing Ads, shutting out most of the competition. […]
• The Curious Case Of Bing Search Results In Google Search Results
  Over the weekend, Bill Hartzer noticed that some Google searches returned Bing search results. As of last night, Google search results are once again Bing-free. What happened? Taking a closer look, the Bing search results weren’t www.bing.com/search URLs, which are correctly blocked by Bing’s robots.txt file. They were coming from www.bing.com/entities/search. This pattern is not […]
• Google Launches Shopping Campaigns To Ease PLA Management
  While Google’s switch to paid Product Listing Ads for Google Shopping has proven wildly successful, growth has likely been hindered by the fact that setting up and managing Product Listing Ad campaigns for Google Shopping has been plagued with complexity. Today, Google announced a new campaign type called Shopping Campaigns designed to make it easier […]
• 5 Ways To Make Your Client Kickoff Meeting A Success
  When we moved to agile marketing for our internal process, it changed the way we think. Instead of finding any resources that were available, we had dedicated teams that worked on a smaller number of clients. Instead of working against a 12-month marketing plan, we worked in 30-day Sprints to reach smaller, more attainable goals […]
• Majestic SEO Launches Search Explorer; SEO Link Tool Through Keyword Search
  Majestic SEO, a popular link explorer tool for SEOs and webmasters, announced the launch of Search Explorer. Search Explorer is a search engine they designed to allow SEOs and webmasters to search by keyword or phrase, and the results would be ranked by Majestic SEO’s own linkage metrics. The purpose is to show which web […]
• Google Logo Doubles As Parachute Game Before Answering The Question: When Was The First Parachute Jump?
  The Google logo team has been busier than usual this week. After celebrating salsa singer Celia Cruz yesterday, today’s Google logo includes an interactive image to mark the first parachute jump. Performed by Andre-Jacque Garnerin on October 22, 1797, the jump occurred 216 years ago at Parc Monceau in Paris from a descent of approximately […]

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

• Live @ SMX Social Media Marketing: Winning Fans & Boosting Facebook Engagement
• Now What? When New Competition Suddenly Makes PPC Unprofitable
• Live Blogging The Apple iPad Event In San Francisco
• Report: Despite Competition iPad Still 81 Percent Of Tablet Traffic
• Indoor Location Companies Announce Consumer Privacy Rules
• Why CEOs Need To “Get” Social Media
• The New Imperative — Audience-Centric Content
• Yahoo #1 For Third Straight Month — comScore
• Facebook Begins Testing New “Stories To Share” Feature For Media Sites & Publishers

Search News From Around The Web:

Link Building

• Brand Link Building – URL Misspellings, SEER Interactive
• Press Releases Are (Still) Useful for Marketers, raventools.com

Local & Maps

• Introducing Google Maps Engine Pro: Helping businesses create, visualize and share their data on a map, Official Enterprise Blog
• Citation Building Strategies – The Complete List For Local Businesses, localstampede.com

Search Marketing

• Bing Rewards’ Second Annual Ultimate Bing Experience, Bing Search Blog

SEM / Paid Search

• Version 9 of the Customer and Billing API is Now Generally Available, Bing API Blog
• Expansion QA Tips for SEM Newbs: Journey to the Center of the Search, 3qdigital.com
• How I Brought CTR Back From The Dead, PPC Hero
• How To Increase ROAS For Your PLA Campaign, PPC Hero
• Lessons I Wish My Younger Pay Per Click Self Had Learned Earlier, ppcchat.co

Searching

• Google Account Chooser, Google Operating System
• Google’s Misogynistic Autocomplete Suggestions: Who’s Responsible?, Search Engine Watch

SEO

• Declassifying Google’s Hummingbird, Daily SEO Tip
• URL Canonicalisation: How to Diagnose & Rectify Errors, State of Digital
• Video: Digital Marketing Report – “Not Provided”, Rimm-Kaufman Group