SearchCap: Google Drops Links, AdWords Structured Snippets & Mobile-Friendly Algorithm

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 Changes Car Insurance Links After SEOs Complain
  Google quickly changes their keyword rich anchor text in a recent blog post to avoid controversy in the SEO industry around link spam and link schemes. Will this lead to Google penalizing themselves again?
• Take These 3 Actions To Ready For Google’s Mobile Search Update
  Columnist Aleyda Solis provides recommendations to analyze, optimize, promote & monitor your mobile web search presence.
• Search In Pics: Google & Muppets, Yahoo Yodeling & Google Hamentashen
  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. Google Chrome Hamantash For Purim: Source: Google+ Google’s Massive Mechanical Countdown Clock: Source: Google+ Yahoo’s 20th […]
• Song Lyrics Hit The SERPs: Analyzing Google & Bing Traffic To 5 Large-Scale Lyrics Websites [Case Study]
  Many have noted that 2014 was a bad year for lyrics websites, but contributor Glenn Gabe set out to quantify the impact of search engines displaying song lyrics directly in the results pages. Read on for his findings!
• Google Says It Is Working On Improving App Discovery Within Web Search
  We are only at the onset of Apps in search, expect App Discovery and Indexing to change drastically over the next year or so.
• Google Debuts AdWords Dynamic Structured Snippets
  Automated extensions display content from ad landing pages.
• Google Mobile-Friendly Algorithm Currently Doesn’t Differentiate Some Desktop Ranking Signals
  Having a slow or fast mobile site should not impact your mobile-rankings, assuming your desktop site is fast. Google still uses many desktop signals for mobile ranking, even after April 21st.

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

• How Will Brands Cash In On Native Facebook Video?
• Lamar Outdoor #UltimateSelfieCampaign Awards Digital Billboard Fame To Those Who Make Charitable Donations
• Retargeting Roundtable: Up Close @SMX
• Incentivized Check-ins: A “White-Hat” Trick For Getting More Reviews On Yelp
• Content Marketing Success Now Depends On Your Own Website And UGC
• Report: Only Massive Nexus 6 Will Work With New Google Wireless Service
• VW Touts TDI Clean Diesel With ‘Golden Sisters’ Video Series On Tumblr
• Kik Adds Targeting To Promoted Chats For Brands

Search News From Around The Web:

Local & Maps

• More fun with KML areas, Google Earth Blog

Link Building

• Google’s Auto Insurance Blog Post Has Extremely Keyword Rich Anchor Text, Search Engine Roundtable
• Is that a link you really want? Make sure it’s a great one!, linkresearchtools.com

Searching

• Answer: Finding and getting to know an obscure island, SearchReSearch
• YouTube tests a new search bar, allgoogletesting.blogspot.com

SEO

• 7 Steps for Performing Your Next SEO Audit, www.convinceandconvert.com
• Bing Webmaster Tools: Reports & Data, Yoast
• Is Google’s Panda Algorithm Creating An Endangered Species?, Seer Interactive
• SEO: Measuring Key Performance Indicators, www.practicalecommerce.com
• Small to Mid-Sized Business Owners: Has SEO Become a 4-Letter Word?, State of Digital
• Stop Ignoring Bing Webmaster Tools, www.localseoguide.com
• There is no duplicate content penalty, The SEM Post
• Video: Google Panda Real Time, Mobile Ranking Page By Page & Google Fact Rank, Search Engine Roundtable
• What Deep Learning and Machine Learning Mean For the Future of SEO – Whiteboard Friday, Moz

SEM / Paid Search

• Announcing v201502 of the AdWords API, Google Ads Developer Blog
• 5 Challenges for PPC Lead Generation, www.beyondthepaid.com
• 6 Steps to Building a Brilliant Paid Search Account Structure, www.wordstream.com
• PPC help: 5 recent Google Adwords updates that are critical to e-commerce?, www.internetretailer.com
• Reacting To Device Targeting Changes in Bing, PPC Hero
• Search Funnels reports and conversion data, support.google.com
• Simplifying the Search Funnels columns in AdWords In AdWords, Search Funnels…, Google
• The Bing Ads platform is delivering to growing mobile search audience, Bing Ads Blog

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on SEM topics.