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 Expands Commission-Based Hotel Ads Program Sep 22, 2015 by Ginny Marvin Book on Google ads now available on desktop in the US. Local Search Voted Most Powerful Channel For Local […]
Next week, our sister site, Digital Marketing Depot, will host a webcast that will address the risks inherent in social media for brands. With the FTC paying close attention to what’s being said — and updating its disclosure regulations — marketers need to keep up with current guidelines for compliance. Join us on Tuesday, September […]
The company finally takes defensive action against illegal robocallers that prey on small businesses.
While the majority of Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF) take-down requests in Europe do not seek to conceal criminal misdeeds, the UK-based Daily Mail argues that in some cases it’s being abused by those trying to suppress criminal records. The publication cites several egregious examples where criminals have had links successfully removed: Examples of links […]
Consumer Watchdog argues values behind RTBF are already part of US law.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Choosing the Right Images for Your Ads- July 14 Webcast A picture is worth a thousand words Study By Former FTC Advisor Tim Wu Claims Google Local Search Results Violate Competition […]
Sponsored by Yelp, the study found users were more likely to click on merit-based results over Google's self-promoted content.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Canadian Appeals Court Orders Google To Censor Globally Ruling comes in same week that France demands that Google institute worldwide censorship. VIDEO: WebCertain TV Gets The Scoop On The Search Engine […]
The EU has raised four concerns about how Google has dominated shopping search. A close look at each charge and possible fixes that might emerge.
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’s Steady Gains In Paid Search Location Tracking A Win-Win Over the past year, Google has greatly improved its ability to track user locations at ever more granular levels. Columnist Andy […]
Company could face billions in potential fines, up to 10 percent of revenue.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Click-to-Call Deep Dive: Best Practices from Search Experts – April 16 Webcast Tips for search marketers trying to turn mobile callers into customers. Google’s PAC-Maps Gets April Fools’ Ball Rolling Early, […]
Secondary political motivations enter the FTC report controversy.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Report: Mobile Search Queries 29 Percent Of Total But Growth Modest Search query percentages don’t line up with overall usage trends. Google Expands Product Rating Stars In Google Shopping Ads To […]
Article asserts Google lobbying affected agency's decision in antitrust case.
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Accelerate Your Career With Marketing Analytics You Can Use – March 24 Webcast Learn how to use analytics to quickly gain smarter insights and improve marketing performance. Search In Pics: Analytics […]
An “inadvertently disclosed” report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) labels Google a monopoly and appears to directly contradict the decision not to pursue legal action against the company. In early 2013 the FTC formally decided to close its antitrust investigation against Google demanding only modest changes in the company’s business practices. It turns out […]
Last week, Russian search engine Yandex filed a formal complaint against Google in its home market, arguing that Google was using its control over Android and market power to ensure a privileged position for its apps on Android homescreens and handsets. In the U.S., a similar argument was made in the context of a would-be […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Rolls Out New “Fact Answers” Search Feature With Information On Local Addresses & Reviews Bing has updated its search results to deliver what it calls “Fact Answers” for local reviews […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Image Search Updates Include Touch Friendly Result Pages That Adapt To Screen Size & Resolution Over the next few weeks, Bing is rolling out new updates to its image search […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Covario To Be Acquired By Dentsu Aegis Network, Rio SEO To Remain Independent Covario, one of the very large search marketing agencies in the US with over 220* employees, has announced […]
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 Webmaster Guidelines Update Calls “Low Quality Guest Blog Posts” Spam Google has updated their webmaster guidelines, specifically in the little or no original content guideline, to add “low-quality guest blog […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: For More Accurate Shipping Rates In Google Shopping, Merchant Center Gets Shipping Configuration Tool Google launched new features today to help merchants customize the shipping rates that display in Google Shopping. […]
Just last month, six international tech support scam operators were ordered to pay more than $5.1 million as a result of charges filed by the Federal Trade Commission in 2012. The scammers typically posed as representatives of major technology companies, convinced consumers that their computers were loaded with viruses and got them to fork over […]
Yelp has been an increasingly vocal critic of Google for several years. Now it has joined a group of companies opposing the European Commission’s current antitrust settlement proposal with Google. Originally Google and Yelp were partners. Google unsuccessfully tried to buy Yelp for a rumored $500 million a year or so before the company went […]
The UK financial services industry regulator Financial Conduct Authority is taking a closer look at Google Comparison Ads. UK price comparison sites have complained that Google is unfairly competing with them by placing its own “product” at the top of search results. Comparison Ads, which operate on a CPA basis, are one form of AdWords. Below […]
Google is in the midst of an antitrust, anti-competition investigation in India. Not long ago, the company was fined by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for not cooperating in that investigation: “not providing information and documents required.” Now a separate anti-competition investigation has been opened with the CCI. In that investigation an individual, Vishal Gupta, has […]
In Google’s Matt Cutts latest video, he answers a question I personally asked about what he regrets, what decision he regrets making in the past related to webspam. My question specifically was: Was there a key moment in your spam fighting career where you made a mistake that you regret, related to spam? Matt answered […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: DuckDuckGo Releases New Beta Site With Redesigned Look & Added Features DuckDuckGo. the search engine known for protecting the privacy of its users, announced a new “reimagined and redesigned” beta site […]
A would be class action lawsuit was filed last week against Google in Federal Court in California. The action seeks to resurrect some of the themes and arguments raised in the now settled FTC antitrust case against the company. While repeating familiar abuse of market power allegations against Google, the new civil case is focused […]
An article in the Washington Post asserts that Google has now become a master lobbyist and behind-the-scenes manipulator in Washington. It details the company’s increase in campaign contributions and outreach efforts to influence legislators. The message of the lengthy article is that Google is now buying influence and policy outcomes that favor the company. Source: […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Testing New Search Results Design Bing is testing a new search results layout that changes the color of the logo from gray to the yellow/orange, changes the color of the […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Marin Launches Context Connect, Says Retailer Impressions Surged During Polar Vortex As the brutal Polar Vortex weather system bore down on much of the U.S. this winter, consumers apparently hunkered down […]
Late last week, Chinese search engine Baidu succeeded in gaining dismissal of a lawsuit by pro-democracy activists based in New York (Zhang et al. v. Baidu.com, Inc). Plaintiffs had sued in the US and argued that Baidu improperly blocked them from seeing content on the search engine. Specifically, according to Reuters, the plaintiffs said that people in the US couldn’t […]
Google head of search spam Matt Cutts released a pretty detailed video discussing the Google webspam team’s criteria for determining whether a link is considered a paid link or not. There are five basic criteria Google uses in this determination. The first is the most obvious, is the link an explicit link for sale; then, […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: “When Do The Olympics Opening Ceremonies Start?” Whatever You Do, Don’t Ask Yahoo Who knew a simple question would be so hard to answer? Yesterday I searched across all three engines […]
Roughly a year after Google settled an antitrust investigation with the US Federal Trade Commission, Bloomberg is reporting that Google and the European Commission have reached a final settlement that would end the regulator’s antitrust search investigation against the company. According to the report, “Google will escape fines or any finding by regulators that it […]
Round and round she goes. The European Commission is seeking a final round of “concessions” from Google in an 11th hour effort to settle potential antitrust claims against the company. EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia made public statements asserting that Google needs to deliver additional, revised proposals within weeks to avoid a formal antitrust proceeding. […]
Canada’s Competition Bureau (CCB) has indicated that it will proceed with a formal antitrust investigation against Google. The CCB had been engaged in a preliminary inquiry. A new CCB court filing requests a range of documents that will potentially show, according to the CCB, Google’s alleged abuse of market power and anti-competitive behavior in Canada. […]