SearchCap: Google Car Insurance, DMCA Takedowns, Urbanspoon & Super Bowl Answers

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• Zomato Buys Urbanspoon For $50 – $60 Million To Enter US Local Search Market

  International restaurant search provider Zomato has acquired Urbanspoon from IAC for between $50 and $60 million in cash. Zomato was founded in India in 2008 but now operates in more than 20 countries and 130 cities globally. Urbanspoon content will be incorporated into Zomato and the Urbanspoon brand will go away after a short transition period. […]

• Google Doesn’t Know When Super Bowl 2015 Starts (Yet!)

  Why hasn’t Google provided the correct answer for the Super Bowl start time when year-after-year, it has been an issue for them?

• Seeing Double: Yahoo, Bing Search Ads Show Duplicate Copy In Headlines And Ad Text

  Change effecting top line ads said to boost click-through rates.

• Think Small: Solve Your Mobile SEM Problem With “Micro Leads”

  The time has come for brands to have a mobile paid search strategy in place. Columnist Susan Waldes suggests that businesses begin with tiny steps.

• MarTech Conference Rates Increase Saturday – Register Now & Save $400

  “Customers first.” A simple concept and the North Star of modern marketing. But implementing systems and operations that deliver brilliant customer experiences in a fragmented technology environment and legacy-steeped organizations is tricky. MarTech: The Marketing Tech Conference tackles the issues head on. Hear from marketers harnessing the power of technology to produce exceptional customer experiences […]

• Report: Google Translate To Provide Real-Time Translation Via App

  Google Translate to soon offer real-time translation between two people, much like the Microsoft Skype translation demo we saw months ago.

• DMCA Takedown Database ChillingEffects.org Takes Itself Out Of Search Results

  The irony here is almost too obvious to mention: an entity dedicated to monitoring the potential “chilling effects” of DMCA takedown notices is censoring itself. Chillingeffects.org has now removed itself from search results, making those notices harder to find. Chillingeffects.org was created in roughly 2001 as an academic and public resource to monitor and record potentially improper DMCA requests. […]

• 75% Of Small & Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs) Say Internet Marketing Is Effective

  Columnist Myles Anderson shares key stats from BrightLocal’s most recent annual SMB Internet Marketing Survey.

• Google Results For “Car Insurance” Could Look Different Very Soon

  As Google prepares to get into the car insurance business, those search results will get a shake up seen in other verticals

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

• Inventive #CookinWithMolly PSA Calls Attention to Dangers of Party Drugs
• MarTech Conference Rates Increase Saturday – Register Now & Save $400
• Yet Another Publisher Sues Google For Withholding AdSense Earnings
• What Is The Future Of Content Marketing And How Can You Prepare?
• Number Of Martech Companies Doubles To 2,000 In 2015
• Infographic: The 2015 Marketing Technology Landscape
• Twitter To Expand Ads To Publishers & Apps, Will Also Begin Auto-Playing Video
• Yahoo To Close Down Right Media Exchange
• USAA Interactive Installation At Army-Navy Game Fuels 68,000 Social Impressions
• The Mobile Majority: 60 Percent Of Holiday Traffic Came From Mobile, Says Target

Search News From Around The Web:

Industry

• How Olympian Emily Hughes went from the ice to Google’s headquarters, fortune.com
• IBM Wins Most Patents — Again — but Google and Apple Climb in Rankings, Wall Street Journal
• Jim Noble; Long Time DMOZ Editor & Admin Passes Away, Search Engine Roundtable
• The 34 PPC Experts You Should Follow On Twitter, Search Engine People Blog

Local & Maps

• Material Design for Google Maps Transit Directions, googlesystem.blogspot.com

Link Building

• Google: Getting Good Links Can Get You Out Of A Penguin Penalty Without Disavowing, Search Engine Roundtable
• Have you tried asking for a link, Cornwall SEO
• How do I Implement An Effective Internal Linking Strategy for SEO?, SiteVisibility

Searching

• Through the Google lens: Search trends January 2-8, Official Google Blog
• Imagine There’s No Google, thenextweb.com
• Google Now Cards Return To Google App Users, Search Engine Roundtable
• UPDATE: Helping Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery Victims Around the World, Google Public Policy Blog

SEO

• Direct Answers: How Answers are Extracted from Web Pages, SEO By The Sea
• 7 SEO Practices You Should Stop Doing Right Now, SEMrush Blog
• Google Mobile Configuration Poll: Most Go Responsive, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google trust signals & the eBay penalty, Branded3
• How to Have a Successful Local SEO Campaign in 2015, moz.com
• The Real Reason Headlines are Important For Improved Rankings, SEMrush Blog
• The State of Google’s Zoo in 2014, www.searchenginejournal.com
• The Three Pillars of SEO, www.stateofdigital.com

SEM / Paid Search

• Store rating extensions come to Yandex.Direct, russiansearchtips.com
• Bing Testing Bright Orange Rating Stars in Bing Ads, The SEM Post
• Bulk Upload in AdWords Scripts, Google Ads Developer Blog
• How to Choose the Perfect Focus Keyword, www.searchenginejournal.com
• Search Predictions for 2015: The Industry Experts Weigh In, Bing Ads
• Showcase PPC’s Holistic Value With AdWords New Store Visits Metric, PPC Hero
• The Complete Guide to PPC for Startup Marketing: 9 Tips to Grow a Startup with Paid Search, www.wordstream.com
• Understanding Google Analytics Channel Groupings, www.e-nor.com

Search Marketing

• Where Does Search Fit in Digital Marketing in 2015?, Online Marketing Blog