Google Santa Tracker is live, counting down the days until Christmas with holiday games & resources
This year's Google Santa Tracker comes with coding games, an elf filter in the Android app and daily updates delivered via an Advent-styled calendar.
Google Assistant
Google Assistant is both the name of a consumer-facing assistant baked into consumer products as well as a platform designed to allow the Google search engine to interact with users in a conversational manner.
Google Assistant was announced in May 2016. It first appeared integrated into Google’s communication app Allo in September 2016. In October 2016, it was made part of the Google Pixel phone. In November 2016, it was put into the Google Home device. In February 2017, it came to Android Wear watches. In March 2017, it was widely released for Android phones running Android 6 and 7.
Google plans to add Google Assistant into more products and applications, but it hasn’t said what those will be.
For more about Google Assistant, see our stories below.
SearchCap: Google snippets increase, Google local Q&A, local services on Google Assistant
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 officially increases length of snippets in search resultsDec 1, 2017 by Barry Schwartz Company says change is meant to provide more descriptive snippets. Merkle: Black Friday, Cyber Monday sales from […]
Google brings local lead generation to Google Assistant and Google Home
The company taps HomeAdvisor and Porch to provide local contractors through a multistep voice-driven interaction.
Is the featured snippet bubble bursting?
What's going on with featured snippets? Columnists Brian Patterson and Chris Long share data which suggests that Google may be testing a reduction in SERP answer boxes.
SearchCap: Google AMP requirements, AdWords promotion extensions & smart speakers
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 rolls out AdWords promotion extensions, custom intent audiences & ad variations for testingNov 16, 2017 by Ginny Marvin The new features are all available in the new AdWords interface. The […]
Google aims to make apps for Google Assistant more functional and discoverable
It also enables users to start a task on Google Home and complete it on a smartphone.
Voice search: Content may be king, but context is queen in the new voice-first world
Yext VP of Industry Insights Duane Forrester discusses his new e-book, "How Voice Search Changes Everything," and what marketers can do to adapt and compete.
SearchCap: Google shows poor tweets, Yelp stops review solicitation & Bing Ads exact match
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 promises to improve accuracy of tweets shown in search resultsNov 7, 2017 by Barry Schwartz After misinformation surfaced in the Google search results under the Twitter section for the Texas […]
SearchCap: Ask Google, SEO cookbook & SMX recap
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: The SEO ‘do more with less’ cookbookNov 1, 2017 by Bobby Lyons How do you get the most out of your SEO program with limited resources? Columnist Bobby Lyons outlines his […]
SearchCap: Google AdWords offline, Google Assistant for families & long-tail keywords
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 announces new online-to-offline features on the cusp of the holiday shopping seasonOct 24, 2017 by Ginny Marvin The announcements are aimed at giving brick-and-mortar retailers greater visibility on Google search […]
Google Assistant now offering a wide range of games for kids and families
Fun is a competitive battleground in the smart speaker race.
Google announces new online-to-offline features on the cusp of the holiday shopping season
The announcements are aimed at giving brick-and-mortar retailers greater visibility on Google search properties.
Target expands voice-commerce relationship with Google to battle Amazon
Retailer joins Walmart in climbing aboard the Google Express.
SearchCap: Bing Ads max clicks, link building & Doodles
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 Ads launches automated bid strategy to ‘Maximize Clicks’Oct 10, 2017 by Susan Wenograd Bing Ads can now automatically manage keyword bids in an effort to generate the most clicks possible […]
SearchCap: Google short videos, AdWords scripts & IoT for local search
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Submit your SEO questions to Google for upcoming short Q&A videosOct 9, 2017 by Barry Schwartz Google hasn’t produced short-form SEO video answers for three years, but now they’re looking to […]
Google’s ‘Manhattan project’: Home device with a screen to compete with Echo Show
Can Google Home emerge from Amazon Echo's shadow?
Amazon just upped the ante in the battle of the virtual assistants
Smart speakers are the 'gateway drug' to smart home adoption.
Report: 57% of smart speaker owners have bought something with their voice
Part two of NPR Smart Audio report exposes the 'v-commerce' potential of virtual assistant devices.
Report: Google to debut ‘Home Mini’ smart speaker for $49 on October 4
The device is Google's answer to the low-cost Amazon Echo Dot.
The rise of personal assistants
How will personal assistants change the game for users and marketers? And what can marketers do to adapt to this new paradigm? Columnist Eric Enge tackles these topics.
When it ‘can’t answer that,’ Alexa begins recommending third-party skills
The move appears to be an attempt to broaden the device's utility and better compete with Google's search capabilities.
SearchCap: Alexa & Cortana, Google Assistant speakers & Google Maps parking
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on and from other places across the web.
Google Assistant coming to more speakers and home appliances from LG
“Ok Google, start vacuuming.”
SearchCap: Google & Walmart, Yandex’s Korolyov & Local SEO
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on and from other places across the web.
Walmart offering voice shopping via Google Assistant and Home
Google is also making its Express delivery service free with purchase minimums.
Key notes on optimizing for voice search: Conversation, content and context
Voice search is growing in popularity, yet many search marketers still don't have a plan for it. Columnist Jim Yu discusses the state of voice search and provides some tips for marketers looking to the future.
No more ‘OK Google’: Cortana can now be the default assistant on Android
It's Cortana you'll get when you long-press on the home button.
The Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors: 2017 edition now released
Mobile, direct answers & site speed factors gain greater weight.
WSJ: How Siri went from virtual assistant market leader to laggard
Internal cultural issues and employee departures have impacted Siri's evolution.
The AdWords 2017 roadmap is loaded with artificial intelligence
What's on the horizon for Google AdWords? Columnist Frederick Vallaeys provides a behind-the-scenes look at some new AdWords features from a presentation at Google Marketing Next.
New study on featured snippets within Google reveals growth & optimization techniques
Study shows nearly 30% of the Google results have featured snippets.
SearchCap: Google AdWords AMP, in-market audiences & Google black test
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 will automatically convert display ads to AMP, test AMP landing pages for SearchMay 23, 2017 by Ginny Marvin Company says AMP ads can load up to 5 seconds faster than […]
Voice, mobile & apps: Get the latest on Google’s search developments at SMX
Doubling down on voice Between the many Google Home and Google Assistant announcements, it’s clear that marketers need to shift content creation strategies to focus not only on natural conversational language, but also the context of the conversation query — from which device and the time/location of a query. Joe Youngblood noted in his recent […]
SearchCap: Bing local bots, Yelp conversion & Google I/O recap
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 launches bots for local businessesMay 22, 2017 by Greg Sterling Bots are created automatically from data in Bing Places and will soon work with Facebook Messenger and Cortana. [Podcast] The […]
[Podcast] The Google I/O 2017 recap: Lens, Assistant & more
In our latest podcast, we recap some of the bigger news and announcements from Google I/O 2017, with audio from the company's main keynote on Wednesday.
SearchCap: Google app rankings, hotel ads, AMP analytics
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 Remarketing: The best-kept marketing secretMay 19, 2017 by Michelle Cruz Everything you need to know about an opportunity that’s not widely discussed in the industry — search remarketing on Bing. […]
Google announces Assistant app-discovery channels, broad ranking factors
It's early, but Google will soon need to rank Assistant apps, too.
SearchCap: Google I/O news, Google ‘Buy Button’ program & today’s Google doodle
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 Assistant comes to iPhone, adds alerts, hands-free calling & more May 17, 2017 by Matt McGee Google’s virtual assistant gains a number of new features and expands to Apple’s iPhone […]
Google Assistant comes to iPhone, adds alerts, hands-free calling & more
Google's virtual assistant gains a number of new features and expands to Apple's iPhone as competition for Siri & Cortana.
Google announces Google Lens, an AI-powered visual search tool
At today's Google I/O 2017 conference keynote, Google introduces a new visual search tool coming to Google Assistant and Google Photos.