This Week’s Industry News
Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff
Put Away The Tin Foil Hats: GWT Bug Fixed
Rather than a sign that Google was going to remove all access to organic keyword data, Google Webmaster Tools was simply suffering from a bug this past weekend that delayed reporting. Many SEOs got up in arms again as data was completely missing for a number of days; less paranoid SEOs are wondering if this is the first step in getting a year’s worth of keyword data like Google has promised.
Source: Search Engine Land
Authorship Now In Image Search
Announced at SMX East, authorship rich snippets are now appearing in image search. Below images from pages marked up with Google authorship is a byline that links to the author’s Google+ page. Now, people can know who is responsible for an image before a) scraping it or b) no clicking on it.
Source: Search Engine Land
See Pinterest Boards In Bing Image Search
Search engines must really care about image indexation this week, as Bing has also announced changes that will show Pinterest boards in their image search results. Clicking on a board result will show all images on that board and users will still be able to pin images directly from Bing. Sounds like a really “pinning” strategy for Bing if they can monetize it with Pinterest’s help.
Source: Search Engine Journal
New AdWords Tool Offers Insight Into Multiple Device Conversions
Tuesday Google introduced Estimated Total Conversions for search ads. This new feature will show you both the conversions from search ads as well as an estimate of conversions that take multiple devices to complete. “Multiple device” conversions are made when a person searches and clicks on an ad on one device and later goes directly to the website to convert from a different device. Eventually conversion types like store visits and phone calls will be available.
Source: AdWords Blog
Google Analytics Preps New Features
At the Google Analytics Summit, a number of new announcements were made that should make Analytics fanatics jump with joy. Highlights include a number of new segmentation options, an overhaul of the UI (Really, again?) and customer acquisition reports that will replace the “Traffic Sources” section. Further enhancements for enterprise-level sites and those who use “big data” will also roll out for Premium customers soon.
Source: Marketing Land
Redesigned Analytics App For Android
Google Analytics also released a new version of its Android app, with a complete redesign specifically for mobile devices. The new app automatically resizes to fit the screen and orientation, and it includes side navigation to access reports. Other updates include key metrics summarized in a single screen and specialized reporting for web and app views.
Source: Marketing Land
Facebook Graph Search Now Includes Posts & Status Updates
Facebook’s Graph Search has a major new feature: the ability to search posts and updates. Users will be able to search posts by topic, location and time. Soon to be included in this upgrade will be the capability to search status updates, photo captions and comments. This will be important for companies with a big Facebook presence because it will allow you to sort through your own content as well as others’ content.
Source: Marketing Land
Bing Ads Introduces Call Extensions
Microsoft is putting Skype to work with its new CPC-based call extensions for Bing Ads. Call extensions can be set up using the Bing Ads web interface, in Bing Ads Editor, and using Bing Ads APIs. There’s an option to use a Bing Ads forwarding number (either local or toll-free), though there’s a $1 charge for the privilege.
Source: Search Engine Land
Facebook Makes News Feed Ads More Relevant
Facebook announced an update to its news feed algorithm in an effort to make ads more relevant to users. It will now place more emphasis on feedback received from people such as reporting or hiding an ad. This announcement is just one of many planned updates as the company promises to be more transparent.
Source: Search Engine Watch
Google Launches HTML5 Ad And Website Builder
October 1st Google announced its latest free tool: Google Web Designer. This program is downloadable and focused on helping designers “create engaging, interactive HTML5 designs and motion graphics that can run on any device”. Ads can be built for various platforms and published directly to DoubleClick and AdMob as well as saved for other platforms. Although the name indicates full web design capabilities, it is not as complete as alternative platforms such as Dreamweaver.
Source: Search Engine Journal
New Page Insights for Facebook: (Actually) Insightful
Alesia Krush from Search Engine Journal compares in detail Facebook’s new Page Insights and old Insights. Changes rolled out in July to limited users but are now available to a greater audience. Included in the update are data and metrics that are more logical and helpful, as well as improved graphs.
Source: Search Engine Journal
Notable Commentary
That Always Says ‘Thank You’
Moz Releases Ranking Factor Study
In yet another study of ranking factors, Moz announces what they believe the top organic ranking factors currently are. This study is a little different than some of the others, as it also relies on survey results from over 100 experts. Friendly reminder (as always): correlation is not causation, so take the findings with a grain of salt.
Analysis by: Cyrus Shephard, Moz
AdWords On A Shoestring
Treasure chests overflowing with gold bullion can help in pretty much any situation, but they’re usually not available to cash-strapped small businesses. Manish Bhalla at Search Engine Journal posts an extensive list of handy pointers for AdWords advertisers with not-so-ample budgets.
Analysis by: Manish Bhalla, Search Engine Journal
How To Target International Sites Properly
In a well-worth-it 17-minute-long video, Googler Maile Ohye discusses how to properly deploy international sites without destroying organic visibility. Like many of Maile’s previous videos on how to tackle more complex SEO issues, this video is extremely easy to understand and very actionable if you have international variants of your site.
Analysis by: Maile Ohye, Google
Learning From Google’s War On “Spammy“ Links
Simon Penson has a good rundown of how Google may be changing the way they analyze and evaluate links in the Post-Penguin Age. By drawing on data accumulated during penalty recovery efforts, Penson points out five possible changes that SEOs should consider when setting out to build links.
Analysis by: Simon Penson, Search Engine Watch
Keep Link Building Clients Happy – Set Expectations!
Casie Gillette has tips and tricks for setting up clients for link building happiness in a variety of scenarios. Remember to establish accountability and measurement from the start and you’ll be on the right path.
Analysis by: Casie Gillette, Search Engine Land
Freakonomics: “Bing It On” Challenge Flawed
According to analysis by Yale Law School professor Ian Ayres, Bing’s recent “Bing It On” challenge was flawed as many keywords used in the study were terms more favorable to Bing, but not really all that popular. As more data has rolled in, Microsoft recently dropped from its ads the claim that Bing was preferred “two-to-one” over Google. Microsoft issued a strongly worded defense of their study to dispute Ayres’ claims.
Analysis by: Ian Ayres, Freakonomics
AdID = Google Monopoly?
In a surprisingly strong bit of analysis in Business Insider (we know, we can’t believe it, either), Jim Edwards builds a convincing case as to why Google’s new plan for AdID to replace traditional cookies could lead to its monopoly over Facebook and Apple. The arguments is that Google can lock down the ecosystem that surrounds the deployment of AdID as all traffic will be forced to pass through their system. If Google drops cookie support, others will be forced to as well; unfortunately, there will likely only be one close-to-100% solution: AdID.
Analysis by: Jim Edwards, Business Insider
10 Ways To Get Organic Search Data Despite (Not Provided)
Jennifer Slegg from Search Engine Watch discusses in detail Google’s switch to 100% secure search. She also provides 10 ways to get some information on terms that are (not provided).
Analysis by: Jennifer Slegg, Search Engine Watch
It’s Good To Say Thank You
John Paul Mains from Marketing Land describes why Thank You pages are important, how they can help engage potential customers, and the elements of a great Thank You page.
Analysis by: John Paul Mains, Marketing Land
