Voice assistant study: Microsoft’s Cortana offers most answers, Google Assistant proves most accurate
Perficient Digital ran 5,000 queries on seven devices including Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant (Home, smartphones) and Siri.
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Survey: 97% of online adults transact with businesses they find on Yelp
The survey of more than 6,000 adults is a follow up a study conducted by Nielsen in 2016.
New trade group Paid Search Association launches with exclusive PPC focus
Trusted education and career development will be two of its primary functions.
The future of search begins with a ‘V’
Voice and visual search will ultimately become significant drivers of query volume beside text input.
Google readies new markup rules for European news publishers
The approach is a reaction to the EU Copyright Directive, to avoid paying licensing fees.
Restaurant app Tobiko goes old school by shunning user reviews
The app represents a return to the simplicity of expert reviews.
BrightEdge promises ‘self-driving SEO’ with new Autopilot offering
Key SEO tasks can now be fully automated according to the company.
Google showing mobile ‘search by photos’ option in selected local verticals
The new element appears to not have a fixed position but resides below the local pack, sometimes right below.
Invoca ‘Signal Discovery’ promises automated optimization from predictive call intelligence
Calls are an important source of first-party data, often neglected by marketers.
Nextdoor’s ‘Local Deals’ ads let SMBs target specific neighborhoods
Appearing in multiple places, it's both a paid search and display ad in one.
Revenge of the small business website
VC investments in Wordpress' parent and Duda, plus a new Yahoo website offering, show that SMB sites are still big business.
A eulogy for Mapquest
Once the dominant mapping site, the decline of Mapquest is a story of disruptive competition and corporate complacency.
Google rolling out ‘Incognito Mode’ for Maps, activity data deletion via Assistant
These privacy controls promote trust and won't impact targeting and analytics.
WeWork looking to sell or spin out acquisitions, including SEO firm Conductor
A Conductor deal has been in process "for awhile," says source.
Google won’t pay French publishers copyright fees, will limit content in search results instead
Publishers will need to give explicit consent to Google to show more of their content, says the company.
Nextdoor in new deals with directories to monetize local search
Nextdoor is trying to ramp up revenue growth as it heads toward a likely IPO.
In a victory for speech, EU’s top court sides with Google in right to be forgotten case
A decision in favor of French regulators might have set a difficult precedent.
TripAdvisor says it blocked or removed nearly 1.5 million fake reviews in 2018
Most of the fake reviews that are submitted (91%) are "biased positive reviews."
Organic search responsible for 53% of all site traffic, paid 15% [Study]
According to BrightEdge, paid and organic search drive more than 70% of revenues for B2B and the other verticals.
Which local citation sources matter now?
An informal poll of local SEOs yields some answers -- and disagreements -- about spending time on citations.
Report alleges Amazon manipulating search results to boost its products, profit
The company said to give its own products “preferential treatment in search.”
BrightLocal launches ‘Local RankFlux’ Google local algorithm tracking tool
The tool is designed to help SEOs and businesses more easily track local algo changes.
Yelp introduces ‘Connect’ and new Waitlist features for restaurants
Connect is a publishing tool not unlike Google Posts, but with differences.
Search used when brands are unknown, but it’s direct navigation for existing customers
A new survey from Yext explores what content sources are more trusted and what's at stake in not paying enough attention to third party platforms.
Does the 9th Circuit’s decision in HiQ vs. LinkedIn open the floodgates to scraping?
The case may still be reheard or appealed but it appears to be a broad ruling in favor of "the open internet."
Nearly 50 states’ attorneys general join in antitrust investigation of Google
Facebook is also being investigated in another multistate action lead by New York.
Apple accused of favoring its own properties in App Store results
Apple says it has now adjusted its algorithm to reduce the visibility of the company's apps in key categories.
Majestic’s enhanced tool now gives SEOs a lot more useful context about backlinks
New "link context" visualizes where the link appears on the page, the surrounding text and associated link density.
Google’s Assistant-everywhere strategy reminiscent of old site search playbook
Google Assistant "syndication" is a way to battle Amazon Alexa and expand its reach for later monetization.
Google now showing competitor ads on local business profiles
The unit is from Local Campaigns and businesses cannot pay to remove them.
Yelp adds new personalization features in bid to regain local momentum from Google
The new capabilities are the beginning of 'major product changes' according to the company.
Review fraud: Hijacked Amazon reviews a big problem says Consumer Reports
The fake reviews problem on Amazon isn't going away any time soon.
What is ‘Google Screened’ and how does it differ from ‘Google Guaranteed’?
The company introduces a second screening program for professional services.
FTC smacks down anti-review ‘non-disparagement clauses’ in form contracts
Make sure your contracts don't have terms that violate the CRFA.
Voice assistant usage now at ‘critical mass’ as Google Assistant crowned smartest
Google Assistant scored 93%, Siri 83% and Alexa got 80% of answers right in a recent study.
Conductor purchase price revealed: $126+ million [updated]
The acquisition price was more than 2X invested, but probably less than what investors may have wanted.
SMX East: now with extra local
GMB, maps, reviews, voice and offline conversion tracking are all on the agenda.
FTC: Breaking up Google, Facebook to restore competition on the table
We're a long way away from that, but a rhetorical Rubicon has been crossed.
Ecosia says it will boycott ‘search choice’ auction on Android in Europe
Will other European search engines also reject Google's antitrust remedy?