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 Adds Green Arrows To View Cache, Similar Pages & To Share Results On Google+ Google has updated how you access the cached pages, similar results and how you share search […]
Google has updated how you access the cached pages, similar results and how you share search results on Google+. Now, when you want to see a cached version of a search result, you need to click on the green down arrow next to the URL in the search results. If you are logged in, you […]
The European Union has “accepted” Google’s formal antitrust settlement proposal — subject to “market testing.” As a practical matter, that means EU Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia is circulating it among Google’s critics and competitors for reaction. However, there has already been plenty of (negative) reaction based on the information that came out last week in […]
We reported yesterday that Google penalized Mozilla over user generated content. Today, we learn that it was a really, really small penalty that only impacted a single page out of Mozilla’s ~22 million webpages. Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, added more to the Google thread explaining that this manual penalty was applied in […]
Almost three years ago, Google announced that it had begun factoring site speed into their ranking algorithm. Since then, SEOs have debated how significant an effect page speed has on actual search engine rankings. While Google may be using it as a signal, it’s clearly not an overwhelming signal. Still, regardless of the algorithmic weight page speed has […]
I have very strong opinions about retargeting, as regular readers will know! Marketers seem to be on a crazy high these days, obsessed with the idea that their path to success is to spend more on site retargeting and keep finding ways to increase their audience pool or boost frequency caps to obscene levels. More […]
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 Pulls Related Searches Filter Due To Lack Of Usage Google has quietly removed the “related searches” option from the search tools menu within the Google search results page. When Google […]
Google has quietly removed the “related searches” option from the search tools menu within the Google search results page. When Google launched search options in October 2009, the option for “related searches” appeared on the left-hand side under the “standard view.” The placement of the “related searches” search option has changed over the years, including […]
Google AdWords is rolling-out a new upgrade center today for advertisers using Enhanced Campaigns. Accessible from the left-hand nav bar on the Campaigns tab, the upgrade center lets advertisers managing several campaigns perform bulk upgrades to multiple campaigns simultaneously and merge selected campaigns in a few simple steps. The bulk upgrade feature allows advertisers to […]
Have user generated content on your site? Pay attention to what those users are doing. That’s the takeaway from Google hitting Mozilla with a spam penalty this week, along with another takeaway. Despite Google’s saying it’s being more transparent about spam actions, people clearly find it hard to know what they’re in trouble for. Mozilla […]
Global search ad spend rose 15% in Q1 2013 versus the previous year, according to the Kenshoo Global Search Advertising Trends report released today. That rise in spend was driven largely by a 62% increase in click-through rates and a 21% increase in clicks year-over-year. U.S. ad spend rose 24%, spurring the overall global […]
You may have heard that content is king, but the truth is that informational content is king. It’s estimated that approximately 50-80% of search queries are informational in nature (pdf). Most websites have very little informational content on them, preferring instead to focus on driving a conversion. These websites are missing an excellent opportunity to […]
Google Maps announced today that their collection of images now include Street Views from 50 countries with photos recently added from Hungary and Lesotho, an enclave surrounded by South Africa. According to the Google Maps blog, their latest update is the largest single update of Street Views imagery since Google Maps launched in 2007, with […]
After 2012 being dubbed the “Year of the Penguin,” Google’s Matt Cutts has already hinted that the next “Penguin 4” update will be bigger and more devastating than ever. We have seen big brands like Interflora get penalized and bounce back pretty fast. But how did that work? And what’s coming up for the rest of […]
Anyone who’s tried to stay on the cutting edge of SEO knows that from time-to-time, you end up on the “bleeding edge,” thanks to things like unexpected algorithm changes, or from experimenting with seemingly benign tactics that go wrong, or even doing nothing and yet watching your hard-earned traffic slip away for no apparent reason. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Adwords Adds Social Annotations, Targeting For In-App Ads To Enhanced Campaigns Starting today Google is adding functionality for social annotations and in-app ad targeting to enhanced campaigns. Social annotations, really Google+ […]
Starting today Google is adding functionality for social annotations and in-app ad targeting to enhanced campaigns. Social annotations, really Google+ annotations, display the number of Google+ followers an advertiser has under the ad text. Here’s an example from Home Depot on a search for “dining room chairs” Social extensions have been available for nearly a […]
For many years, I’ve been participating in sessions/panels in which I critique PPC landing pages volunteered by audience members. As crowds go wild for this type of session, I’ve decided to use this space to focus on effective landing page elements and provide several examples thereof. #1 Use Credibility Indicators Include credibility indicators on your landing page […]
As Alex Chitu from the Google Operating System blog discovered, Google is testing adding Google Now functionality to the Google home page. Google Now is about getting you the information you want to see, right when you want to see it. For example, if you are in the airport, Google Now would show you the […]
A fine of 145,000 EUR (roughly $189,000) is trivial for Google. But that’s close to the maximum fine allowed by German law ($150,000 EUR). The fine is being imposed on Google for violations of German privacy and data protection laws stemming from the so-called “WiSpy” episode in 2008 – 2009 in which Google collected private […]
I began working for a particular type of traditional business industry recently, and I noticed that a great many of the small businesses operating within it were still proceeding as though it were pre-Internet days. They did promotions as though they were a one-way transmission instead of a dialogue. Unfortunately, that’s not the only industry […]
Google appears to be trying on a new look for its related image search interface. While the standard interface for related image searches includes a list of the related image queries that only show image thumbnails when you mouse over the related search query term, the new interface shows a collection of images right above […]
Today’s Google logo celebrates Earth Day with a new interactive doodle highlighting the many wonders of nature. The logo comes with its very own checklist of things to see, making sure users catch every detail. Google is spelled with different elements of nature from the field of dandelions that makes the “G” to the cave […]
Local business owners have a new tool for managing their Google Places For Business listing: a dedicated app that works on the iPhone and iPod Touch. There’s no official announcement that I can find about the app, and as best I can tell, the iClarified blog was first to report on it. The Google For […]
To give further credence to consumers’ love of “second-screening” and why marketers should be salivating at the opportunities these new habits behold, Nielsen released stats on just what consumers are doing on their tablets while watching TV. Social networking sites are users’ top destinations, but consumers also seek out information about what they are watching […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Bing: Our Search Results Do Not Infect Users, “Malware Study Was Wrong” Bing has responded to the malware study conducted by AV-TEST earlier this week, claiming that Bing search results led […]
Bing has responded to the malware study conducted by AV-TEST earlier this week, claiming that Bing search results led to five times more malware than Google. To that Bing said, “the conclusions many have drawn from the study are wrong.” Why is the study wrong according to Bing? While Bing may show potentially infected search […]
Last week, I presented at HeroConf in Austin and shared some advanced tips for automating AdWords account management with an audience of PPC account managers. They seemed to like what I had to say; so, I’ll share a few of the more advanced scripting tips with you here. When you manage PPC accounts, you likely […]
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.
Bing Ads announced it is working on adding a Search Terms Report to make mining search query data more accessible from within the Web UI. Currently in the Web UI, search query data is only available under the Reports section. With the update, search terms reporting will be available in-line on the Keywords tab. Here’s […]
Since I received some solid feedback on my last column detailing how to determine mobile & geo bid multipliers for enhanced campaigns, I thought I’d share some more actionable stuff this time around. While hourly bid multipliers aren’t new, they remain a crucial tactic for optimizing your AdWords campaigns. They work by reducing your ad spend at […]
Google announced their Q1 2013 earnings today, and as many analysts expected, the company posted revenue gains over the previous year. Revenue rose 31% year-over-year to $13.97 billion for the quarter, beating expectations. Here are the highlights: Paid Clicks — Aggregate paid clicks, which include ad clicks on Google sites and Google Content Network sites […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Search Engine Designed By Denmark Researchers Helps Medics Diagnose Rare Diseases Technical University of Denmark researchers have designed a search engine that indexes specific sets of databases to help identify rare […]
Technical University of Denmark researchers have designed a search engine that indexes specific sets of databases to help identify rare diseases. Users can query patient symptoms on FindZebra.com which crawls over 31,000 medical articles focused on rare and genetic diseases to deliver medically relevant search results. While the search engine’s homepage includes a notification stating […]
Google & Yandex announced the new x-default hreflang tag earlier this month, and in doing so closed the final gap in executing 'perfect' SEO platforms for multinational brands. There is, however, the question of what language content to use as your default, and how you can bring a little quantifiable information to play to determine your best, overall, choice.
What is the future of marketing? You can almost hear “Science!” as intoned by a popular 80’s song by Thomas Dolby. Across our profession, more and more people are talking about marketing science, scientific marketing, marketing as a science (in contrast to an “art”), and so on. In our digitized and data-deluged world of modern […]
Pop Quiz: What is the first thing a searcher sees when they type your name into the Google search bar? If your answer was related webpages found in SERPs, you’re wrong — that would be the second thing. The first thing they see are the Autocomplete suggestions that drop down from the search bar. This is […]
Efforts by Bing Ads to increase click volumes and gain market share from Google appear to be paying off, according to a report by The Search Agency. The Search Agency’s Quarterly State of Paid Search, released today, shows Bing’s share of spend rose 3.6% year-over-year to 21%. The market share grab comes after four consecutive […]
Yandex is Russia’s leading search engine, besting even mighty Google in numbers of unique visitors in its home country. But, did you know comScore also ranks it as the world’s fourth largest overall search engine, ahead of Bing in number of search requests processed? In part, that’s due to its global ambitions to expand beyond […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Tokyo Court Orders Google To Alter Search Suggestions & Pay Fines AFP reports a Japan court has ruled Google to alter the search suggestions and fined Google 300,000 yen ($3,100). The […]