This Week’s Industry News

Compiled By Rocket Clicks

Download Latest Bing Editor To Keep Google Import

Microsoft has been spreading the word that advertisers using Bing Ad Editor should download the latest version in order to keep the Google import function. Due to Google retiring an API that powers the Google import capability – users trying to import data from Google into Bing version 10.2 or older will get an error. The simple fix is to download the newest version.

Source: Search Engine Land

Flaw In Security Software Used By Millions

OpenSSL is the software used by millions of sites including banks, e-mail, and social media services to store passwords and usernames. The flaw leaves the software vulnerable to theft. A fix has already been made available and is being implemented by most web companies as quickly as possible.

Source: Washington Post

AOL Hoping To Reboot MapQuest

Although MapQuest is one of AOL’s strongest brands, it has lost a lot of market share over the years. They hope to “rebuild the core experience” by introducing new local content from partners like Yelp, Foursquare, and GrubHub. The new MapQuest will also feature a responsive redesign and improved user experience.

Source: Search Engine Land

AdWords Editor Version 10.4 Launched

The latest version of AdWords Editor has been released this week. New features include: the support of flexible bidding strategies, engagement ads capabilities, viewable cpm model, and the support of more image sizes.

Source: Search Engine Land

Google Shares Tips For Surfacing The Contact Info For Your Business

If Google can identify the pages on your site that include information for store hours, phone numbers, and other related information, they surface that information to the search results page. The latest Webmaster Central Blog post explains tips for webmasters that will help Google identify this important information.

Source: Webmaster Central Blog

Cutts Explains How Google Handles Content Loaded Via AJAX

In Cutts’ latest YouTube video that there are multiple stages Google goes through to render the data and bring it to the search results. First, they fetch all the JavaScript and CSS to figure out what parts need to be index. Then they execute the JavaScript to see how the browser will handle it. Lastly, Google extracts the words that they think need to be indexed.

Source: Google Webmasters on YouTube

More Granular AdWords Call Conversions

As Google continues to refine the way advertisers track and optimize for conversion tracking events – they have announced the capability to split call conversion data up based on call length. For Example; you can create a conversion for “product 1” that lasts longer than 60 seconds and another for “product 2” that lasts only 30 seconds. These can be set at the ad group level for more granular call data. This change will be automatic so advertisers should revise their current phone call conversion settings.

Source: Search Engine Land

Cutts Explains How Google Separates Authority From Popularity

As Google continues to add social signals to the algorithm, it is important to understand how the separation is made. Cutts suggested that Google examines all of the content on the page and determines a percentage of relevancy to a particular topic. This will allow for authoritative sources to stand out over unrelated, yet popular, sources.

Source: Google Webmasters on YouTube

Linking AdWords Accounts Made Easier

Google has announced a new feature to help make linking AdWords to Analytics much easier. This new “linking wizard” in Analytics will be available to anyone with an MCC account and allows advertisers to link multiple accounts to AdWords with the check of a box. This new feature should be rolling out in the next few weeks.

Source: Search Engine Land

Google To Block Paid Search Keyword Data

Although unconfirmed, it has been rumored that Google will soon stop passing keyword data to advertisers through third parties. This means that Google will likely stop providing referrer data for paid clicks on AdWords ads. Advertisers may start seeing [not provided] in their Google Analytics reports, however AdWords search query reports will remain the same.

Source: Search Engine Land

Facebook Rolls Out Bigger Ads

Facebook has announced that they will be starting to implement larger ads on the right-hand column. There will also be fewer ads displayed on a page due to the increased size. Early tests found that larger right-hand column ads saw up to three times more engagement than the older smaller ads. This change will be desktop only and will be rolling out to all advertisers by the end of the year.

Source: TechCrunch

Anyone in the US Can Buy Google Glass

Google has announced that they will be opening up sales for the Google Glass to anyone in the US for one day; April 15 2014. This push can be for a variety of reasons, including for testing and development as well as to clear the stock of this edition in time for the full consumer launch later this year.

Source: The Verge

Strong Start in Q1 for Mobile Paid Search

In Covario’s recent Paid Search Spend Analysis for Q1, it stated that mobile accounted for 25% of paid search spending which is an increase of 135% year-over-year. They also saw cost per click on smartphones increase by 9 percent.

Source: Search Engine Land

Google Places Updates Bulk Location Management Tools

New features include a status column that will show you if a location is live or unverified, if it has errors, is a duplicate, and more. Another addition is a conflict interface that will show how your location may differ on Maps versus what’s in your dashboard. More changes are expected to roll out in the coming weeks.

Source: Search Engine Land

Notable Commentary

Compiled By Rocket Click’s Staff

7 Ways to Identify Long Tail Keywords

Having trouble identifying long tail keywords for your AdWords account? According to Rocco Baldassarre from Search Engine Journal there are seven ways to do this. Some interesting ones include, running your competitor’s URl through the keyword tool and using third party tools among others.

Analysis: Rocco Baldassarre, Search Engine Journal

Deep Cutts: The Matt Cutts Story

If you’re like me you can’t get enough Matt Cutts news. Face it, the guy is one of the most fascinating people of our time. Now you can relive every moment of Cutts storied 14 year Google career thanks to a series of posts from Search Engine Watch. The epic tale, which is broken into three separate posts, provides a pretty good timeline of how SEO has changed over the years, at least when it comes to getting penalized.

Analysis by: Dave Davies, Search Engine Watch

Local SEO Tips For Ranking On Multiple Locations

Search Engine Journal provides tips for several scenarios including single domains with multiple locations as well as state or city specific pages. The guide also provides advice and best practice for Google+ pages, citation services, structured data, and more.

Analysis by: Brandon Seymour, Search Engine Journal

SEO Is A Lot Like A Play

Jennifer Van Iderstyne of Search Engine Watch has an interesting blog post in which she compares SEO strategies to live theater. One of her many comparisons she compares the timing of a play to the timing of SEO marketing. In a live play, timing is important because it is the key to delivering the story. With SEO, the timing of new product launches, press releases, and more are just as important.

Analysis by: Jennifer Van Iderstyne, Search Engine Journal

4 Interesting Features of Google Shopping Campaigns

With the forced migration of Google Product Listing ads to Google Shopping ads looming in August, it is a good idea to know some benefits it could offer advertisers. The top four include, SKU level reporting, custom labels, campaign prioritization, and impression share data.

Analysis: Dave Schwartz, Search Engine Watch