This Week’s Industry News

Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff

Blekko Debuts Search Engine For Tablets

In Blekko’s latest gambit to play David to Google’s Goliath, the nascent search company introduces a mobile device-friendly search engine with easily swipe-able results. Called “Izik,” the search engine looks a lot of Flipboard, in that it’s very much influenced by magazine layouts.

Source: New York Times

Paid Search Spending For Tablets Outpaces Spending For Smartphones

Marin Software and IgnitionOne have just released their Q4 paid search spend reports. One of the most notable findings was advertisers’ preference for spending ad dollars on tablets versus smartphones. Additionally, IgnitionOne found that 18% of advertiser’s budgets went to mobile search. CPCs remain lower for tablets, but impressions and clicks are higher than those on smartphones.

Source: Search Engine Land

INFOGRAPHIC: Moms Bought A Ton Of Stuff On Mobile Devices In 2012

A recent survey of 1,300 moms revealed they really, really like smartphones. According to the study, visualized in an infographic, 93% of moms spent more time shopping via mobile devices in 2012 vs. 2011. Also discovered was the influence of other moms on their purchasing choices, as 58% relied on their parenting brethren for product/service recommendations. Obviously these numbers aren’t exclusive to mothers, but it paints a very clear picture of how smartphones influence shopping habits.

Source: Mashable

Europe Wants Google To Change Its Search Practices

Europe is looking to take a harder stance than the United States on Google’s search practices. Joaquin Almunia, the EU’s competition chief, wants regulators to force Google to change the way it displays its own and competitor’s products. Google handles over 90% of search traffic in Europe and is being investigated for “diverting traffic” away from competitors’ products.

Source: Mashable

Bit.ly Now Offers API Access To Stories, Trending Discussions

Named Social Data APIs, the URL shortening service bit.ly now allows you to search for stories in real-time over their URL network. Other features include True Realtime Search, Attention Spikes, and Metadata based on keywords, content, location relevance, topics and more.

Source: Search Engine Land

Google Wants You To Search While Signed-In

Google is in search of a new product manager and one of their first priorities will be getting people to search while signed into their Google account. Google claims search while signed in increases the relevancy because it can draw upon a user’s past search, browsing and buying behaviors to tailor results. If this new product manager is successful it will accelerate the already growing number of “not provided” terms in Google Analytics.

Source: Search Engine Land

Mobile Content And Its Role In Google Rankings

A study from Bryson Meunier has shed some light on the correlation between mobile content and ranking in Google. First off, having mobile optimized and rendered content does help you get more organic traffic from Google. This particular study found that 89% of the sites that ranked had either mobile URLS, dynamic serving, responsive web design, or some hybrid.

The study also found that switchboard tags have not been widely adopted by webmasters, with only 4% of enterprise sites using them. The study also found that the number of dynamic serving and responsive web sites have increased year-over-year compared to sites utilizing mobile only URLs.

Source: Search Engine Land

Google Changes Definition URLs From Text To Clickable Link

Nothing encapsulates Google’s initial design as a knowledge base as its definition display atop the search results. However, until now, those definitions did not include a link back to the original source, despite a URL listed below the definition. That has been fixed, so users can now verify and expand the word’s definition by clicking through to the main website.

Source: Search Engine Land

People Don’t Know How Google And Facebook Generate Revenue

Color us shocked. According to a survey from Harris Interactive, a lot of Americans are confused how Google and Facebook make their bones. Although 54% of those surveyed said they “strongly” or “somewhat agreed” that they knew how Facebook made money, 36% of those people were apprehensive.

Likewise, people know that search engines make money through ads (78%), but when asked about specifics (whether they sell user data, if companies pay fees for use, etc.), their comprehension is murky.

Source: Search Engine Land

Notable Commentary

Worth Your Careful Consideration

SEOs Now Live At The Intersection Of The Left And Right Brain Hemispheres

Creativity and science are now at the heart of any SEO strategy, which now forces us to utilize practically every part of our brains when thinking strategically about how our work impacts a website. Nathan Safran has an interesting article that highlights how SEO has shifted from a more cut-and-dry method of marketing to a much more abstract concept that requires more than just one skill to be successful.

Analysis By: Nathan Safran, Search Engine Land

An Interactive Robots.txt Learning Experience

Every SEO needs to understand what robots.txt are, and how they are used to limit/open specific page access to robot crawlers. In the vein of Khan Academy and Codeacademy, Will Critchlow has a fantastic post explaining these crucial plain-text files through interactive means.

Analysis By: Will Critchlow, SEOmoz

Infinite Scroll Isn’t As User-Friendly As It Sounds

Dan Nguyen has an excellent post on Etsy, the shopping search engine that conducted an infinite scroll test that failed miserably. Although Google attempted a similar feature to some success, Dan outlines why Etsy had issues and what they learned about the user’s preferred experience relative to the platform in question.

Analysis By: Dan Nguyen, Danwin.com