SearchCap: New Google design, Yahoo in review & top stories

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 replaces “in the news” box with “top stories” on desktop
  Dec 7, 2016 by Barry Schwartz

  Google has replaced the “in the news” title with “top stories” on desktop to bring it more inline with the mobile version of the search results.

• More content, less traffic: part I
  Dec 7, 2016 by Conrad Saam

  It’s important to have high-quality content on your website, but columnist Conrad Saam believes that SEOs might be overdoing it.

• Yahoo 2016 Year in Review: ‘2016 Election’ top search term & ‘Election Day’ No. 1 news story
  Dec 7, 2016 by Amy Gesenhues

  Yahoo says “Donald Trump” ranked as its second most popular search of the year, while “Hillary Clinton” barely made the top 10.

• The year in review: Top 5 MarTech insights and showstoppers
  Dec 7, 2016 by Scott Brinker

  As we turn our eyes toward the new year and the next MarTech conference, we have much to reflect on. The pace of change and the adoption of marketing technologies continue to accelerate. And more than ever, marketing technology is playing a critical role in this time of massive upheaval and digital disruption. “Technology changes […]

• Recent changes to organic sitelinks cause major drops in impressions in Google Search Console
  Dec 7, 2016 by Melody Petulla

  Google released sitelink updates that caused impression and average position drops in Google Search Console. Merkle SEOs Melody Petulla and Kyle Blanchette dive into what happened, how to check your site and what it means for SEO.

• ‘Tis the season to optimize search bidding
  Dec 7, 2016 by Sponsored Content: [24]7

    If you manage paid search marketing and your business is retail, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas probably don’t give you much time for sober reflection. Retail is intensely seasonal, and that is as true online as it is in stores. Search engine marketers generally understand the pattern, but they vary widely in how […]

• Google begins rolling out a new desktop search user interface
  Dec 6, 2016 by Barry Schwartz

  Check out the new desktop search interface rolling out to a Google near you.

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

• Marketing automation is like icing on the cake
• SEO trends to prepare for in 2017
• WordPress 4.7 is out, targets new businesses with easier website creation
• YouTube’s top trending videos in 2016: Adele & James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke wins most popular video of the year
• Top 10 YouTube ads in 2016: Mobile Strike’s Super Bowl 50 ad “Arnold’s Fight” ranks #1
• 4 things that can go wrong in an influencer campaign (and how to fix them)
• Publishers are not detecting most ad blockers, says company behind new ad blocking solution
• What can your industry achieve with content? Here are results across 15 verticals
• The year in review: Top 5 MarTech insights and showstoppers
• Report: iPhone sees sales gains though Android at 75 percent share globally
• The truth about transparency in digital advertising
• How Facebook’s measurement errors have eroded marketers’ trust
• ‘Tis the season to optimize search bidding
• TAG awards first ‘Certified Against Fraud’ seal to 16 digital advertising companies

Search News From Around The Web:

Industry

• Google Says You Can Trust Us With Our Webmaster Communication, Search Engine Roundtable

Link Building

• December 2016 Historic Index Update, Majestic Blog
• What Link Building Success Really Looks Like, Moz

Searching

• SearchResearch Challenge (12/7/16): Finding a story? Could it happen like that?, SearchReSearch
• The Google News Lab in 2016, and where we’re headed – Google News Lab, Medium

SEO

• 7 Ways to Coordinate Your SEO Team’s Efforts, Search Engine Guide
• 9 SEO Tips for a Successful Site Migration or Re-design, Receptional.com
• Google Adds New Books Schema With Buy E-Book Links, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Working On Making It Easier To Disable AMP, Search Engine Roundtable

SEM / Paid Search

• How to Optimize PPC Shopping Campaigns by Product Margins, metrictheory.com
• 2016 Google Merchant Center Updates Make Managing Product Errors Easier, Merkle
• How To Optimize PPC Campaigns Limited By Budget, PPC Hero
• Keep the lights on to reach more shoppers this January, Inside AdWords