This Week’s Industry News

Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff

Malware Re-Consideration, Geo-Targeting Now Included In Bing Webmaster Tools

Rather than just notify webmasters of malware-infected pages on their site, Bing is taking it one step further and offering a re-evaluation process in its webmaster tools interface. The feature makes it easy to notify Bing of the clean up, after which the search engine re-crawls the page multiple times and verifies it is no longer infected. Bing also added a geo-targeting tool that lets users target their site’s subdomains and pages to specific areas. Bing said the change will help solve a common problem experienced by multinational sites. Source: Search Engine Land

AdWords Launches Ad Group Mobile Bid Adjustments

AdWords rolled out ad group mobile bid adjustments on Wednesday. The new feature can be accessed from the AdGroupBidModifierService and all current versions of the API. The feature should allow advertisers to have more detailed control over their campaigns. Source: Search Engine Land

Instagram Lets You Tag Photos Now

Instagram launched photo tagging on Thursday, which now allows anyone to tag you or brands in photos and then adds those pictures to you “Photos of You” profile section. Much like Facebook, you are notified when you are tagged and have the option of approving tags before the photos show up in your profile or can detag yourself altogether. Source: TechCrunch

Google Rewards App Developers Using Google+ Sign-in With More Search Result Visibility

Google+ Sign-in, launched in February, allows anyone to sign into a site or app with a Google+ account. Now sites and app developers that use the feature are being rewarded by Google by having popular activity or uses done within their apps appear in Google’s search results. The feature is built to save clicks by highlighting popular content being consumed within the app in addition to the apps homepage itself. Source: Search Engine Land

Having A Patent Doesn’t Mean Google Uses It, Says Matt Cutts

Matt Cutts recently posted a YouTube video where he touches on the “patent wars” going on within the tech industry. Well, he doesn’t overtly call them “patent wars,” but he does address people’s paranoid belief that, if Google owns a patent, it means they have, or will, implement it shortly. Cutts said that’s more myth than fact, and goes on to use the example of a patent filed to help Google “trick” spammers to learn their tendencies. Apparently, they don’t do that. Source: Search Engine Land

Google Adds Wavii To Its List Of Acquired Companies

Wavii, a Seattle-based news summarizer based on natural language processing technology, is now in the Google fold to the tune of $30+ million. Google eventually outbid Apple for the startup, whose entire team will move into Google’s Knowledge Graph division. Speculation remains abound on where Wavii best fits into the Mahjong board that is Google’s product line, but early best guesses include Google Now, Google Glass, the Knowledge Graph itself, and various other language-based projects. Source: TechCrunch

STUDY: People Do A Lot Of Research On Mobile Devices

According to a recent Telmetrics and xAd study, 46% of consumers use their mobile devices exclusively for research purposes. The study also found that 49% of smartphone and tablet searchers use traditional desktops/laptops as their primary media resource. Around 57% of all mobile users are prone to direct or app visits from their smartphones, and roughly 50% of all mobile users “know what they’re looking for” when conducting a search. Source: Search Engine Watch

STUDY: Patch, Huffington Post Are Rampant Inside Google News Results

According to a recent Searchmetrics study on Google News integration into the standard Google search results, Patch.com and the Huffington Post are most likely to make their way to your computer screen. Most other sites in the top 10 are traditional outlets, such as The Washington Post, New York Times, The Guardian, USA Today, and the New York Daily News. News integration has increased 70% over the past year, but News accounts for only 6% of the entire collection of Universal Search Results. The study did find that News results have higher click through rates, mostly due to the keyword in question and their placement in the SERPs. Source: Search Engine Watch

Twitter Ads Now Available To U.S. Advertisers

Twitter’s self-serve ad platform is now open to all U.S. businesses. Previously, Twitter Ads was only available via invite, but after soliciting feedback from its current crop of advertisers, the social network is feeling comfortable enough to open the doors to everyone. Source: Twitter Advertising

Monkey Words App Creates, Manages AdWords Campaigns

Slated for a June 1 launch, Monkey Words promises to be the first app to create and manage AdWords campaigns. Source: MonkeyWords.com

Notably Commentary

Cut Out The Fat From Your Site’s Content Profile

“Great content” is the most used and most ambiguous term floating around the SEO stratosphere right now. However, removing “non-essential” content is a pretty straightforward process; you just have to know how to identify it. Josh McCoy was kind enough to walk us through that process. Analysis By: Josh McCoy, Search Engine Watch

Google Now Has Gotten Smarter, And Amazing…er

Since its Android-only launch last June, Google’s predictive search app, Google Now, has hit a few rough patches in functionality. Danny Sullivan runs down a few improvements that have made Google Now a must-have for Android and, soon, iOS users. Analysis By: Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land

Watch This Dude Play Hockey Wearing Google Glass

To continue on our Google Glass demo from last week, a man named Joseph Lallouz donned the glasses and made a trip to play hockey at his local rink. What transpired is an awesome video that could be a harbinger of things to come for professional sports (hockey, at least). Analysis By: Joseph Lallouz, YouTube

Speaking Of Google Glass…It’s Broken

Lost in all the hoopla and poetic waxing about Google Glass being the future of search and the online experience is the system’s incredibly flawed design. Obviously, these problems should be expected in the first few iterations of the product, but the issues Rebecca Greenfield addresses are severe enough for anyone to think twice about dropping a grand or two for a pair. Analysis By: Rebecca Greenfield, The Atlantic

Defining ‘Great Content’

Grant Simmons peals back the “make great content” onion and reveals all the layers that going into defining the term. He even goes so far as to call it “Awesome frickin’ content.” Analysis By: Grant Simmons, Search Engine Watch

Summarizing The Local Search Association’s Annual Conference

If you weren’t able to make it to Las Vegas for the Local Search Association’s 2013 conference, you’re in luck! Neg Norton has seven of the most important takeaways distilled into a readable format on Search Engine Land. Analysis By: Neg Norton, Search Engine Land

Here’s Why Clients Can Think You’re Too Expensive

If you have a client that regularly brings up your high prices, it’s important to understand why. Bid Sketch has an insightful blog post on how to reframe how customers should evaluate your company’s pricing. Analysis By: Ruben Gamez, BidSketch

When And When Not To Use SEO Tools

Everyone loves SEO tools. They make our job easier, aggregate large swaths of data for research, and help guide our larger strategic initiatives. But how do you know when to use the right tool at the right time? Michael Martinez addresses this question and includes some of the biggest mistakes SEOs make with these tools. Analysis By: Michael Martinez, SEO Theory

Here’s What A Failed Startup Looks Like

Sam Biddle has a short article that explores what happens in the aftermath of a startup shuttering its windows. Analysis By: Sam Biddle, Gawker

The Future Responsibilities Of Chief Marketing Officers

Although short, this post is very forward-thinking in its approach to the responsibilities beholden of CMOs of the future. Analysis By: Giselle Abramovich, Digiday