This day in search marketing history: March 11

Google officially acquires DoubleClick

In 2008, the European Commission approved Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick, valued at $3.1 billion.

The commission found that the “transaction would be unlikely to have harmful effects on consumers, either in ad serving or in intermediation in online advertising markets.”

The deal was first announced April 13, 2007. The EU began its investigation in November 2007. The US Federal Trade Commission approved the purchase in December 2007.

In 2008, display advertising represented about 32% of total US online advertising (roughly $6.7 billion), according to the IAB.

Read all about it:

• EU Approves Google-DoubleClick Acquisition
• Google: It’s Official, We Own DoubleClick
• Google Expects To Be “Very Significant” In Display Ad Segment

Also on this day

Google launches automated vehicle ads

2022: This format used vehicle data feeds in Google Merchant Center to match users’ searches with ads.

Google Search Console rich results report updated

2021: Google tweaked some of the job posting structured data requirements and also how it checked the validity of FAQ and Q&A structured data.

Static headlines now available for DSAs in Microsoft Advertising

2021: Marketers could now have full control over their ad text with Dynamic Search Ads.

Google bans face mask ads globally due to misleading coronavirus claims

2020: The face mask ban came amid a rise in false claims around coronavirus prevention and price gouging.

Google signals stricter enforcement of GMB image guidelines

2020: Google wanted to ensure all content that appeared in the Business Profile was “relevant, high quality, and appropriate.”

Video: Detlef Johnson on SEO for developers

2020: The long-time developer and SEO was working to bring the disciplines together.

Google explains how dates within search results snippets work

2019: Google also offered a few best practices for helping it find the right date for that snippet. 

Google showing image thumbnails in mobile search results snippets more often

2019: RankRanger said the average number of thumbnails per search result page jumped from 4 to 5.

Google launches marketer-friendly Google Ads API query builder

2019: The interface made it easy to build queries for reporting.

Report: 65 million US smart speaker owners, smart displays quickly gaining traction

2019: Surveys suggested there was still considerable room for growth.

Google to bloggers: Disclose & nofollow links when reviewing gifted products

2016: Google issued new best practices to bloggers who received free products.

Search in Pics: Google Dance with Matt Cutts, Google’s ice rink & Zootopia

2016: The latest images showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more.

Google Webmaster Tools Adds Blocked Resources Report & Updates Fetch & Render Tool

2015: Google added a report that showed which resources you were blocking GoogleBot from by host name and updated the fetch and render tool.

Study: Growing “Mobile Fanatics” Segment Search More, Increasingly Shun PCs

2015: Just over 40% of the U.S. smartphone population, these mobile users searched more and relied more on their mobile devices than conventional smartphone users.

Report: Brands May Lose 10K to 60K Visitors Per Month To PPC Trademark Bidding

2015: Study looked at trademark usage in paid search across 10 industry verticals.

Yoast WordPress SEO Plugin Vulnerable To Hackers

2015: The Yoast WordPress SEO Plugin was open to an exploit where hackers could do a Blind SQL injection. 

Google Now Targeting Italian & Spanish Link Spammers

2014: Google’s Matt Cutts announced warnings to Spanish and Italian webmasters and SEOs not to use unnatural links to promote their sites.

Yahoo Search App Gets iOS 7 Design Upgrade & More

2014: The updated iOS Yahoo Search app got a new minimalistic design.

Better Data, Public Transit Coming To Apple Maps In iOS 8

2014: Apple’s iOS 8 would see a number of improvements, including better and more complete points of interest and business data.

Survey: Consumers Blame Brands For Bad Location Data

2014:  71% said they were most likely to be home when they research and confirm a business location before visiting the business for the first time.

Google’s Matt Cutts On Upcoming Penguin, Panda & Link Networks Updates

2013: Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, announced new updates with Google’s Penguin and Panda algorithms and new link network targets in 2013.

Google Wins Lawsuit Over Monetizing Your Name With Ads

2013: Google has won a lawsuit filed by a Wisconsin woman over Google Instant suggestions leading to a search result set that had ads.

Google Experimenting With Search-History “Topics” In Google Now Cards

2013: Feature clustered users’ search histories into topics that can easily be searched again.

“Better Than Google” Claims: Why Doesn’t Anyone Believe Them?

2013: Despite the commercials and despite Microsoft reporting that after extensive testing users preferred Bing 2:1, people generally expressed skepticism.

Google’s Mayer Envisions Future Of Location-Based Services At SXSW

2011: Mayer shared her vision for a future enabled by the search company’s technologies.

Google Enables Negative Keywords For Product Listing Ads

2011: Google announced the new targeting capability, saying it was the first of more extensive targeting features it was working on.

Google Set For US Senate Committee Antitrust Investigation

2011: Google’s inevitable encounter with a formal antitrust inquiry in the US took a step closer.

Major Earthquake Hits Japan, Google Launches Person Finder Tool

2011: Related: Internet Lowlifes Already Targeting Japan Quake Search Results

Hitwise, comScore Show New Highs For Bing

2011: Bing saw its largest share to date – 13.6%.

Facebook Place Page Owners Get Reports On Check-Ins And Deals

2011: The new reports could help business owners refine the deals they were offering and track foot traffic from Facebook users over time.

Google Is Bing’s 4th Largest Referring Source

2010: MSN was by far the top source, the last site visited by 42.7% of Bing users before they went to Bing. 

Google Goes Live With “In-Stock, Nearby” Mobile Shopping

2010: Google was working with a limited number of retailers but was inviting others to apply to become part of the program.

US Regulators May Be Gearing Up For Google-AdMob Challenge

2010: It appears that there were some problems for the acquisition.

Bing’s Market Share Up For Third Straight Month: Hitwise

2010: Hitwise showed Bing gaining share for the third straight month, and its 9.7% share of searches in February was up 4% over its January numbers.

March 2010 Yahoo Search Update

2010: The update included possible updates to Yahoo’s crawling, indexing, and ranking algorithms.

Facebook Search Gains Boost Bing & Motorola Puts Bing On Chinese Android Handsets

2010: Facebook saw 10% search query growth in the past month.

Chomp: An Apps Search Engine Or “Yelp For The App Store”

2010: Its objective was to enable people to more easily discover and review iPhone apps.

Google Gets Into Behavioral Targeting, Launches “Interest-Based Advertising” Beta

2009: Interest-Based Advertising allowed advertisers to deliver ads based on hundreds of interest categories and previous interactions with those users.

Google’s Matt Cutts Talks About Redirected Links & Nofollowed Links

2009: He answers how Google handles links that are 301 redirected and how Google handles nofollowed links from authority sources.

Create Custom Driving Directions With Google Maps Maker

2009: Google said this tool was not perfect but it did make for a new way of creating driving directions.

Hitwise: Visits To Gmail Surpass YouTube

2009: Gmail was second only to Google.com in terms of visits among Google’s properties.

Fortune 500 Still ‘Largely Invisible’ In Natural Search, Study Says

2009: The companies were spending $51 million per day on PPC for primary keywords, but they only ranked in the Top 100 natural search ranking for 21% of the keywords.

Judge Denies Punitive Damages In Viacom Vs. YouTube Case

2008: Judge said “common-law punitive damages cannot be recovered under the Copyright Act,” and denied Viacom’s action against Google and YouTube.

Search Biz: DoubleClick To See Layoffs? Walmart Drops The “Google PC,” & More

2008: Those Linux-based “Google PCs” didn’t sell like hotcakes, said Walmart; Yahoo got a small paid search distribution deal with LiveDeal and more.

From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)

• The ins and outs of an SEO audit (SMX West 2016)
• Live Blog: Head Of Google Search Amit Singhal Keynote At SMX West 2014
• Live Blog Recap: SMX West 2013 Day One

Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

• 2020: Google’s ‘Interesting finds’ SERP feature: The ‘interesting’ reason why mobile organic search traffic remained strong while desktop dropped by Glenn Gabe
• 2020: The rise of customer review amplifiers by Adam Dorfman
• 2019: Google Shopping Actions vs. Google Shopping: A real-world case study by Brian Roizen
• 2016: How to get a bird’s-eye view of the Google SERPs by Stephan Spencer
• 2016: How to amplify your already spectacular SEO to be super-crazy successful by Stoney deGeyter
• 2015: The Growth Of Direct Answers: How Should SEOs React? by Mark Traphagen
• 2015: More Hardcore A/B Testing: V2 Of The Free AdWords Script by Daniel Gilbert
• 2015: How Competitive Analysis Leads To A Better B2B SEO Program by Derek Edmond
• 2014: It’s Conference Season! 5 Ways To Build Links At Events by Erin Everhart
• 2014: How 90s HTML Coding Will Save The SEO World In 2014 by Chris Liversidge
• 2013: Enhanced Campaigns: Google’s Grand Unification Theory by
• 2013: Only 29% Of Consumers Regularly Use Mobile Devices To Find Local Businesses by Myles Anderson
• 2013: How To Work With Four Common SEO Leadership Styles by Conrad Saam
• 2011: Are You Losing Money With Poor Internal Site Search? by Shirley Tan
• 2011: The Key To Diagnosing & Fixing Data Analysis Paralysis by Evan LaPointe
• 2011: The New Age Of Article Marketing by Byrne Hobart
• 2011: How Potential Clients Search For An Interactive Agency by Mark Sprague
• 2010: PPC Academy Toolbox: Keyword Monitoring by Josh Dreller
• 2010: The Problem Of Inconsistent SMB Contact Details – Part I by Hanan Lifshitz
• 2009: A Moving Target: Are Mobile Devices Costing You Business? by Galen DeYoung
• 2009: Don’t Damage Your Brand With The Wrong Keywords! by Laura Centore
• 2009: Do SEOs Really Need Direct Industry Experience To Be Effective? by Andy Komack
• 2009: Despite Fixes, Google Maps Still Vulnerable To Spam by Mike Blumenthal
• 2008: 10 Tips For A More Effective Paid Search Campaign by Matt Lester
• 2008: Optimize Local Events With hCalendar Microformat by Chris Silver Smith
• 2008: Building Referral Links While You Sleep by Debra Mastaler

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