This Week’s Industry News
Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff
Google’s Right To Be Forgotten Requests Are Rolling In
Since Google released the online form for the right to be forgotten rule, they have received over 41,000 requests. The right to be forgotten requests are the result of a judicially ruling in Europe that allows users to request they be omitted from search results. Despite the number of requests, it is still in Google’s hands to determine whose requests will be honored.
Source: Search Engine Land
Over 30% Of Consumers Use Mobile Exclusively
xAd and Telmetrics released the results of the latest “Mobile Path to Purchase Study and found that mobile is one of the most important factors for consumers. Although it varies by vertical, over 30% claim that they use mobile exclusively. Over 54% of consumers start with mobile. Past data used to suggest that mobile used to be relied upon mainly when consumers were ready to buy but the latest studies show how trends are changing.
Source: Marketing Land
DuckDuckGo Added As A Search Option For Safari
Big news for DuckDuckGo as Apple has revealed that the search engine would become a search engine option for the new OS X Yosemite. The announcement came this past week at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. DuckDuckGo will be a search option along with Bing and Yahoo. This will be the first privacy-focused search engine option to be made available.
Source: Search Engine Watch
Google Adds New Business Page Feature
Users that have a Google+ business page can now connect the page to their local business listing on Google Maps. When users connect the two it will apply the business information as well as address, reviews and hours to your page. Visit Google’s help page for a guide that walks you through the set-up process.
Source: Search Engine Land
Apple Spotlight Drops Google, Adds Bing
It was announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference that it would be dropping Google from its spotlight feature when the new Yosemite OS is released. The addition of Bing to the spotlight feature is only one of many changes. Other additions to the feature include a wide-range search resource, similar to Siri.
Source: Search Engine Land
Two New Ad Sizes Available for AdSense
Earlier this week Google announced new larger ad sizes in AdSense. The new sizes are 970 x 250 Billboard and 300 x 1050 Portrait and they are designed to show rich media ads. Publishers will only be allowed one placement per page due to the large sizes. Smaller sized image ads may also be showing up in these spots to increase competition.
Souce: Marketingland
AdWords To Drop Support for IE9
It was announced Tuesday that Google AdWords will no longer be supporting IE9 as of June 30th. It will still support IE10 and IE11, so you should update your browser if you are not using a new version.
Source: Search Engine Land
Google Comparison Ads Under Fire In UK
Google is being accused of unfair practices in the UK. The UK financial services industry regulator has been looking at Google Comparison Ads and saying that Google has been placing their own products at the top of search results causing an unfair advantage to competitors. This instance does not seem to be the first, there are broader antitrust complaints against Google around the Globe.
Source: Search Engine Land
Call-to-Action Overlays & Video Reporting to Improve in AdWords
As of a few weeks ago Call-to-action overlays on promoted YouTube videos have received a fresh look on desktop and mobile. The lines of text that were previously visible will be gone leaving a single line call-to-action that will leave more space for video content. These changes will be made automatically so no changes will need to be made manually.
Source: AdWords Blogspot
Always-On Search Feature Coming Soon To Google Apps
A popular feature from Motorola’s Moto X was the always-on voice search. The Moto X wasn’t a successful product but sources claim that the always-on search element that provides “eyes free” searching is coming soon to the Google search app for Android devices and Chrome desktop browsers.
Source: Search Engine Land
Cutts Explains How Pages Rank Without Many Links Pointed At Them
In Matt Cutts latest video a user asked how Google determines the quality of content if a particular site doesn’t have a lot of links pointing at it. Cutts explained that it works similar to how search engines worked before links were a factor and that it is largely based on the text on the site. He warns that Google will catch keyword stuffing and that it is not a recommended way to get around not having links.
Source: Google Webmasters on YouTube
Users Urged To Update “All In One SEO Pack” Plugin
Two vulnerabilities and a cross-site scripting flaw have been discovered in the WordPress plugin “All in One SEO Pack.” Updating the plugin should protect you from the vulnerabilities but failing to do so could lead to removal from Google’s search index. In some instances, you website could be exploited to execute malicious Javascript code.
Source: Search Engine Watch
Yahoo Continues Tweaking Search Results Page
As Yahoo continues to regain market share, they have been making subtle changes to the user interface. Most recently Yahoo has been testing a fixed search bar that remains on the top of the search results page no matter how far down you scroll.
Source: Search Engine Land
Notable Commentary
The Best and Worst Things About Twitter Ads
Is your company or client currently running Twitter Ads? According to Melissa Mackey from Search Engine Watch, you should be. In her recent article she explains why your company should be advertising on Twitter and the best and worst parts of doing so.
Analysis: Melissa Mackey, Search Engine Watch
How Running Single-Device Only Enhanced Campaigns Is Possible
While Enhanced Campaigns have really helped advertisers realize the importance of mobile, it has also take away control of optimizing traffic based on device. Although it is not highly recommended, Susan Waldes from Search Engine Land has figured out a work-around in the interface to be able to have single device campaigns.
Analysis: Susan Waldes, Search Engine Land
