SearchCap: Google’s shift to mobile-first, an interview with a Google doodler & more

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

From Search Engine Land:

• Five marketing automation myths busted!
  Nov 29, 2016 by Digital Marketing Depot
  A study by Forrester Consulting found that just 10 percent of marketing professionals surveyed feel they are able to fully execute mature marketing automation strategies. This may have to do with the fact that some organizations have bought into fallacies about marketing automation.
• Google’s machine learning now writes featured snippets descriptions
  Nov 29, 2016 by Barry Schwartz
  Google recently launched sentence compression algorithms to help surface the best answers for your questions from publisher content across the web.
• Share your obsession with SEO & SEM as a team & score BIG at SMX West
  Nov 29, 2016 by Search Engine Land
  Do you manage the search marketing team at your company or agency? Sister site Search Engine Land’s SMX West is the ultimate team-building experience. Members will get must-know SEO, SEM, mobile and conversion optimization tactics at more than 50 sessions and from 100 expert presenters.
• Google’s shift to mobile-first: mobile moments that matter
  Nov 29, 2016 by Jim Yu
  Columnist Jim Yu outlines Google’s long march toward a mobile-first index and explains why optimizing for mobile devices is no longer optional.
• Google drops the Content Keywords feature from Google Search Console
  Nov 29, 2016 by Barry Schwartz
  It is official. After hinting at removing the Google content keywords report from Google Search Console, Google did it.
• Creating Google doodles that ‘Surprise & Delight’: 5 Questions with Doodler Sophie Diao
  Nov 29, 2016 by Amy Gesenhues
  Offering a behind the scenes glance at the doodle team in action, Diao shares what she appreciates most about her work.
• Here’s an AdWords script to fill empty ad groups
  Nov 29, 2016 by Daniel Gilbert
  Columnist Daniel Gilbert of Brainlabs makes sure you don’t lose traffic due to missing ads.
• Google My Business tests a messaging feature to chat with your customers
  Nov 29, 2016 by Barry Schwartz
  New pilot feature in Google My Business lets you do live chat with your customers directly from the Google search results.
• Louisa May Alcott Google doodle marks 184th birthday of ‘Little Women’ author
  Nov 29, 2016 by Amy Gesenhues
  Designed by doodler Sophie Diao, the artwork pays homage to the March sisters — Beth, Jo, Amy and Meg.

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

• PPC buyer beware: 3 seedy tactics agencies or consultants use to scare you into services
• Facebook adds gaming inside Messenger, News Feed
• Report: Cyber-Monday was the largest e-commerce day in history
• SEO without search results is here with Google Assistant, Home and Amazon Echo. Here’s how to survive.
• Share your obsession with SEO & SEM as a team & score BIG at SMX West
• Lessons learned from Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Retailers must be open to change
• Psychology and personalization: two P’s in a pod
• 6 ways marketers try to manipulate subscribers and why we should stop

Search News From Around The Web:

Industry

• Google boss struggles to answer Google job interview question, The Independent

Local & Maps

• Google Earth now has global Landsat and Sentinel 2 data from 1985 to 2016, Google Earth Blog
• Google My Business Adds Settings For Business Notifications, Search Engine Roundtable
• Our most detailed view of Earth across space and time, blog.google

Search Marketing

• 5 Secret Ways You Can Use Google Tag Manager to Boost Your SEO Strategy, State of Digital
• Rethinking Long Tail Keywords: how to get TONS of traffic from ‘unpopular’ search queries, ahrefs.com

Searching

• Answer: The Greek Islands: Birth and Graffiti?, SearchReSearch
• APIs for Developers Series – Bing Search APIs, Bing Search Blog
• Google Tests More Basic “Back To Top” Button On Mobile, Search Engine Roundtable

SEM / Paid Search

• Account-Wide Goals? Let’s Change That Mindset, PPC Hero
• Bing Ads Editor 11.7 features Audience associations and Product filters, Bing Ads
• Google AdWords Phone Support Number Goes Down, Search Engine Roundtable
• How to Leverage Current Events in Paid Search, 3Q Digital
• Improve Your PPC Targeting with Demographic Bid Adjustments, Metric Theory
• The Benefits of Performing PPC Audits, marketing-mojo.com

SEO

• 1 Year, 100 Updates, 1,000,000 Users: What Was 2016 Like for SEMrush, SEMrush
• 10 SEO Quick Wins to Drive Rapid Rankings Improvement, semrush.com
• Google Recommends Site Speed Below 2 Or 3 Seconds, Search Engine Roundtable
• The 7 Citation Building Myths Plaguing Local SEO, Moz
• Yoast SEO 3.9, Yoast