SearchCap: Google+ Pages, App Store Search & Google Maps Trick

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

From Search Engine Land:

• Special Olympics World Games Google Logo Celebrates 47th Year Of Competition
  Started by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968, the Special Olympics this year will include 7,000 athletes competing in 25 different athletic events.
• Apple Updates App Store Search Ranking Algorithm
  Did you notice the iOS app store search results have changed? Some have.
• Google To Shutter Orphaned Google+ Pages Next Week (July 28)
  Google is going to “unverify” inactive Google+ local pages. Business pages that have not been claimed or with unresponsive owners are effectively going to be shut down on July 28. This is part of a general clean-up of unclaimed or dormant pages/listings. Blog author Mike Blumenthal has also asserted that the move “is a final […]
• Google Maps Easter Egg Responds To Kids Whining “Are We There Yet?” So You Don’t Have To
  Ask Google Maps “Are we there yet?” enough times and it will threaten not to stop for ice cream.
• Search In Pics: Android Hat Head, Yahoo Field Day & Google Music Room
  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.
• YouTube Ranking Factors: Getting Ranked In The Second Largest Search Engine
  Got great video content that no one’s seeing? Columnist Tony Edward provides a comprehensive guide to optimizing your YouTube presence.
• Why We’re THIS Excited About The 2015 Search Engine Land Awards
  Need another reason to enter to win one of the 2015 Search Engine Land Awards for SEO & SEM? ALL profits from entry fees, awards sponsorships and awards celebration tickets sold to benefit BeTheMatch.org & CODE.org. Learn more now!

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

• Top 100 Brands Based On Consumer Perception: Google No. 1 Two Years In A Row
• Apartments.com Sweepstakes Offers Chance To Win Free Rent For Life
• Twitter Makes Its Case To Be A Major Video Player At VidCon
• Why Most Content Is “Meh” And How To Fix It
• Even The Biggest Brands Can Get Hyperlocal With Geolocation Targeting
• Google Suspends Several Apps After Release Of In-App Fraud Report
• YouTube Gets Mobile Redesign, “Diamond” View Buttons & Courts Creators
• Amazon Surprises With Earnings Beat; Sales Up 20 Percent In Q2 2015

Search News From Around The Web:

SEO

• Google Begins Displaying JSON-LD Rich Snippets in Search Results, thesempost.com
• Google Keeps Hinting At Removing App Interstitials, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Says Again, Rich Snippets Are Not Meant For Home Pages, Search Engine Roundtable
• Yes, I’m Seeing A Google Panda 4.2 Recovery, Search Engine Roundtable

SEM / Paid Search

• How Can I Stop Competitors from Using My Trademarks in Their Ads?, Renegade Search
• Transform Your PPC Landing Page Forms, PPC Hero

Search Marketing

• Pinpoint vs. Floodlight Content and Keyword Research Strategies – Whiteboard Friday, Moz
• Topic Clusters: More Content with Less Research, semrush.com
• Update on the Autocomplete API, googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.de
• Video: Google Panda 4.2, Bing Search Change & Google Maps Timeline, Search Engine Roundtable

About The Author

Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.