This Week’s Industry News

Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff

Google Released Another Panda Update, ‘Panda’monium Sure To Ensue

Panda Update 21 is live, confirmed by Google this week. The search engine estimates around 1.1% of all U.S. search queries will be affected. Expect Panda 22 sometime in the next month and a half.

Source: Search Engine Land

Google Moves Sidebar Under The Search Bar In Its Results Pages

In an effort to universalize its search display across mobile and desktop devices, Google has moved its left sidebar to a position just above its results. Google claims the motive was a more simplistic design, but certain features (such as the time filter) require additional clicks, leading one to believe Google had other intentions.

Source: Search Engine Land

Google Analytics Includes ‘Link Attribution’ As In-Page Feature

Google Anaytics’ In-Page Analytics have been great for understanding what parts of a page are getting the most clicks, but not much more than that. However, Google has recently updated the feature to include link attribution, so analysts can now see a click breakdown by traffic source and actual location clicks (rather than an aggregate pointing to the same page.

Source: Marketing Land

Someone Isn’t Too Happy With Google’s Delayed Actions Against Piracy Websites

Google has made it known it will be cracking down on piracy websites within its results, but the U.K. Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) claims the search engine has been far too slow in its commitment to this cause. Basically, the DCMS knows Google can easily spot these websites, and plans to implement some sort of legislation that will force Google to pick up the pace.

Source: Search Engine Watch

Opera Has Highest Click-Through Rate, Safari Mobile Users Like Long Search Queries

According to data from Chikita comparing click-through rates between various mobile and web browsers, Opera-users have the highest click-through rate among browsers at 2.12%. Mobile Safari came in second with a 1.54% click-through rate. The study also looked at search query lengths with Safari users, both mobile and PC, putting together the longest search queries on average. Android users generated the shortest.

Source: Marketing Land

Majestic SEO Releases Backlink Uploading Tool

Majestic SEO has added another cool feature to its Swiss Army knife-like catalog of SEO tools: a backlink uploading program. The blog post runs down how to export your backlinks from Google Webmaster Tools, and explains that the generated report will sort each link by name and include the various types of links back to that domain (.edu, .gov, external, etc.).

Source: Majestic SEO

The FiveThirtyEight Blog Accounts For 20% Of The New York Times’ Traffic

By now, you probably already know who Nate Silver is. The statistician who got his start in baseball’s sabermetrics movement and as an amateur poker wiz has become quite the influence at the New York Times with his stat-centric election blog, Fivethirtyeight.com. Known (before and after the 2012 election) for strikingly accurate predictions of political races on all levels, Silver’s blog is responsible for driving 20% of the New York Times’ total traffic. Considering the Times is the sixth most visited news site on the web, that’s pretty remarkable.

Source: Mashable

Google Chrome Conforms To ‘Do Not Track’ Industry Standard

Google Chrome was the last Eye of Sauron browser, failing to include a “do not track” option for its users. However, Google has completed a 180 degree turn, now offering support for the “do not track” standard that is a default option in Internet Explorer and a similar option in Firefox.

Source: Marketing Land

Instagram Introduces Web Profiles

Instagram continues in its transformation from mere app to social network itself. Now web-based users will be able to create their own user profiles and replicate the mobile viewing experience. They’ll have the ability to view other users, their photos, as well as like and comment on them. While web users can now have an Instagram-like viewing experience, Instagram said its focus was still on photo production from mobile devices so users will be unable to upload photos via the web.

Source: Marketing Land

Superman’s Home Planet Of Krypton Located

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no…it’s a world-renowned astrophysicist “locating” Superman’s home planet of Krypton! Neil deGrasse Tyson put a real location to Krypton this week at the request of DC comics. The planet is found 27.1 light-years from Earth, in the southern constellation Corvus and orbits the red dwarf star LHS 2520, a cooler and smaller star than our sun. Tyson said “as a native of Metropolis” he was happy to help Superman in his search for his home planet considering how much the superhero has done for his city over the years.

Source: Mashable

Google Launches GoMo

Google has launched its new GoMo service, which allows users to easily create a mobile friendly website. At HowToGoMo.com users are able to enter their website’s URL and see what it looks like on mobile. GoMo then makes recommendations on how the site could be mobile-optimized. The service also shows examples of great mobile websites and directs users to a list of mobile site developers that can help improve their website’s mobile experience.

Source: TechCrunch

Notable Commentary

Void Of Attack Ads

How Twitter Helps Forge Connections Useful For Link Building

Aside from her characterization of the traditional link request process as “awkward,” Ruth Barr has some interesting points on how Twitter can be very useful for constructing link relationships. Anytime you can personalize a connection, it’s going to produce better results; as Ruth says, Twitter can be an excellent medium for this strategy.

Analysis By: Ruth Barr, SEOmoz

Five Common Mistakes To Avoid With The Google Display Network

Will Lin has an interesting run down of the most common missteps made by PPCs when it comes to using the Google Display Network. Odds are you’ve made at least one of these mistakes before, but it’s a good reminder of what to watch for in your next campaign.

Analysis By: Will Lin, Search Engine Watch

Think “Click-Through Optimization’ Rather Than ‘Rank Optimization’

The creator of everyone’s favorite WordPress SEO plugin tool (Yoast) was kind enough to stop by SEOmoz and write a semi-rant on the tendency among SEOs to focus too much on ranking rather than the clicks those ranks produce. He argues, along with slides from his SEO Day presentation in Germany, that rich snippets and reviewing the way your site/page shows up in Google can go a very long way towards increasing clicks. At the end of the day, isn’t that what we’re all about?

Analysis By: Joost de Valk, SEOmoz

Here’s A Round Robin Interview Between Dr. Pete Meyers And Barry Schwartz

Pete Meyers (aka Dr. Pete) and Barry Schwartz are two of the brightest algorithm-centric thinkers in the Internet marketing industry. This week, SEOmoz treated us to a back-and-forth interview between the two, as they discuss the state of Google, whether their satisfied with the industry’s current direction, and how big data is continually changing how we measure success in the SEO world.

Analysis By: Pete Meyers, SEOmoz

I Know Amazon, And You Google Shopping, Are No Amazon

Danny Sullivan has an excellent deconstruction of the numerous frustration points within the Google Shopping interface. Among the biggest inconsistencies, Sullivan points out an outdated product listing lumped in with the latest updated version, a discombobulated list of product variations, and a “stores nearby” feature that is perhaps the most confusing aspect of Google Shopping.

Analysis By: Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land

New-Look Google Search Results Mean More App Exposure

Jonathan Allen has an interesting conjecture: Now that Google’s search results are essentially universally designed across all platforms, apps are going to receive increased exposure. He basis this on example searches, and Google’s inclusion of “Applications” in the top navigation bar.

Analysis By: Jonathan Allen, Search Engine Watch

And The Winner Of The 2012 Election Cycle Is…

Nate Silver. Hooray for math!

Analysis By: Chris Taylor, Mashable

The Craziest Audit Checklist On The Internet

Annie Cushing attempts to quell any anxiety surrounding the site audit process by offering up an extensive framework for audits.

Analysis by: Annie Cushing, Seer Interactive

Memes Find Their Home On Television

With crab fishing, lumberjacking and driving trucks over ice already covered, the world of memes is finally being brought to broadcast reality TV. Bravo’s newest reality show, “LOLwork,” chronicles the day-to-day operations of ICanHasCheezburger.com.  Saya Weissman of Digiday sits down with Todd Sawicki, chief revenue officer of Cheezburger for the last three years and “LOLwork” cast member.

Analysis by: Saya Weissman, Digiday

Why I Got Fired From Facebook

Noah Kagan offers up an interesting interpretation of his termination from Facebook, being fired in general and why the company made the right decision.

Analysis by: Noah Kagan, OkDork