This Week’s Industry News

Compiled By Rocket Click’s Staff

 

Comcast And Netflix Reach Milestone Agreement

Comcast is at it again. This time the nation’s largest cable provider has reached a deal with Netflix  that will grant the  video streaming service faster, more reliable access to Comcast’s subscribers in exchange for cash.  The deal is historic in that content providers haven’t had to pay broadband providers to access their subscribers in the past. This may be the nail in the coffin of Net Neutrality as we knew it.

Source:  The New York Times

Organic Keywords From Yahoo Now Being Encrypted and Tracked

It appears as though Yahoo is taking a cue from Google by encrypting organic keyword data so that keywords are not passed to the website. Yahoo has taken it a step further by not even tracking the data as organic traffic and instead tracking it as “links” or “referring site” for a traffic source.

Source: Convertable

AdWords Launched Flexible Conversion Counting

Earlier this month it was announced that Google will be rolling out new options for tracking conversions in AdWords. This week the changes have come into effect and advertisers will now see “Converted Clicks” and “Conversions” instead of “Conversions (1-per-click)” and “Conversions (many-per-click)”.  Changes in reporting these metrics are also available and will be especially helpful to advertisers that have both sales and lead generation items.

Source: Search Engine Land

Google & Yandex To Partner

Russian search engine Yandex has announced a new partnership with Google that will allow display inventory to be available to their respective advertisers via DoubleClick.  Google and Yandex will be able to enter display ad auctions and show ads on each other’s networks. This could drive up competition and potentially increase cost per click for advertisers.

Source: Marketing Land

Twitter Launches Promoted Posts in Search Results

This week, Twitter has announced it is expanding its ad inventory for Promoted Accounts to search results. Users will now see promoted ads in relevant search results. These ads will be automatically served based on the advertisers existing targeting criteria, so advertisers will not need to take any action.

Source: Marketing Land

Cutts Answers Question About EXIF Data From Pictures

EXIF data is a feature many digital cameras use to store additional data about the image. Shutter speed, flash use, date and time of image, are a few examples of the data the file can store. Cutts was asked if that data is a ranking factor and he answered that it has been used in the past but isn’t currently in use. Cutts says to embed EXIF data in your images if you have the option.

Source: Search Engine Journal

Cutts Says Clarity Is Key

In Cutts’ latest video he answers a question on whether you should focus on clarity or jargon when writing website content. Cutts says that if you can explain it well and be clear in what you are saying, then mixing in science and jargon is alright. It won’t affect ranking so focus on what the reader will search to land there.

Source: Google Webmaster Help

New Blog Post From Bing Says Spelling Matters

Bing’s Senior Product Manager Duane Forrester explained in a recent blog post that spelling and grammar will affect search rankings. Google’s Panda algorithm already weeds out poor spelling and grammar. Now that Bing is jumping onboard, all websites should put an emphasis on proper spelling and grammar use. Though, you were doing that already, right?

Source: Search Engine Journal

Cast Your American Idol Vote on Google’s Search Result Page

In a recent partnership between Fox and Google, fans can now vote for finalist on Google’s search results. Simply search [American idol] or [idol] during the voting window and select your finalists. After voting, you are directed to a page where you can watch American Idol videos via YouTube or share your votes via Google+.

Source: Search Engine Land

Expanded Timeline On Bing For A Half Million People

Bing has expanded its timeline  for a half million celebrities, musicians, and influential people. Basic information like date of birth, spouse, notable achievements and Klout scores are among the data shown. Depending on the person, the information will cater to their industry. For example, musicians will return song and album information.

Source: Search Engine Watch

EU Says Google, Apple Misleading Consumers

The EU is mad at Google again and this time Apple joins them in the cross hairs. EU officials are meeting with Google, Apple and consumer protection agencies to discuss how developers can better represent in-app purchases to consumers. The goal is to develop new regulations that prevent children from making app purchases inadvertently.

Source: Mashable

Google Unveils Updated Voice Activated Search Feature In Chrome

On Thursday, Google updated the beta version of their Chrome browser to include a new voice-activated search feature.  Voice search has already been available to Google users for awhile, but, it required users to click the microphone icon to work. Now, users don’t even need to touch their computer and can access the feature simply by saying ‘Ok, Google.’  However, first you do need to activate the ‘Ok Google’ function by……..clicking on the microphone icon and selecting Enable ‘Ok, Google.’

Source: Mashable

Notable Commentary

Sure To Take Home The Oscar For “Most Insightful Original Commentary”

 

Effective AdWords Remarketing Tactics

In this article from Andrew Lolk from Search Engine Journal describes effective tactics for remarketing. He discusses in detail the features and benefits of the different types of remarketing campaigns, including the more recent “Remarketing for Search”.
Analysis:  Andrew Lolk, Search Engine Journal

6 Tasks to Automate in AdWords

Sam Owen from Search Engine Land writes about six tasks that you can automate in AdWords without having to use scripts or outside tools. He discusses why it is important to not let any task fall off for long periods of time and how to set up recurring reports in the interface to help you remember to do them.

Analysis: Sam Owen, Search Engine Land

AdWords Search Funnels Attribution Modeling – Helpful but Complicated

The relatively new Attribution Model introduced in the AdWords Interface can be a huge help for advertisers. Unfortunately, it can also be fairly complicated to do effectively. Alistair Dent from Search Engine Watch walks you through what it is, how it works and how to go about implementing it.

Analysis: Alistair Dent, Search Engine Watch

Google Wants To Beat IBM’s Watson

In a recent post from Search Engine Watch, Matt McGee explores Ray Kurzweil’s job at Google as Director of Engineering. Kurzweil believes that in 15 years computers will be smarter than humans and it is his goal to make sure it happens. He wants Google to not only read billions of pages, but also understand the meaning of everything it reads.

Analysis by: Matt McGee, Search Engine Land

Is Google Helping Or Hurting The Digital Divide

It’s no secret that Google believes Internet access should be a basic human right. The company is supporting initiatives to support computer science education around the world and hopes to bring free internet to less privileged areas. Newsweek argues that Google’s plan may make the digital divide worse.

Analysis by: Michael Brick, Newsweek

Number Of Shares Not Representative Of Views

With the popularity of Upworthy and other “curiosity gap” headlines, many companies are trying to generate content that will be shared. But as Adrianne Jeffries of The Verge notes, many people share the content without reading it. When analyzing time spent on we b pages, they found that it was most common that articles were either not read at all or read completely, leaving very little in the middle. Instead, focus on different metrics such as “attention minutes.”

Analysis by: Adrianne Jeffries, The Verge

Be Responsible About Accepting Guest Blog Posts

Matt Cutts continues to sound off on the decline of guest blogging and it has lead many site owners to be more apprehensive of accepting guest posts. Jayson DeMers offers up a guide on factors to consider before accepting a guest post. Among them are if you would associate with the person in real life and if they meet your site’s quality standards.

Analysis by: Jayson DeMers, Search Engine Journal

Track Keyword Conversions By URL With Webmaster Tools

With recent changes to Google Webmaster Tool Search Query reports, numbers are no longer being rounded. The change makes reporting 20 to 30 percent more accurate. Ben Goodsell of Search Engine Watch has a guide that will help you find keyword to landing page data using the Top Pages report as a basic template.

Analysis by: Ben Goodsell, Search Engine Watch