Industry News
Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff
Facebook Wants Snapchat Because Poke Stinks
Facebook’s reported $3 billion offer for Snapchat had a lot of industry watchers questioning the social media site’s sanity. But if you look at the performance of Facebook’s Snapchat offshoot, Poke, you might see why they offered such a huge sum. Poke was released last December and since has seen its number of users plunge. Poke went from a top 25 app shortly after its release to not even being in the top 1,000 currently. The offer also comes in response to the growing number of teens turning away from Facebook and instead opting for mobile messaging apps.
Source: Bloomberg
Yahoo! Is Selling 500 Domains
Yahoo! is hosting a domain name garage sale of sorts in an attempt to raise some cash. The company is selling 500 domain names it has stockpiled over the years, hoping to make $4 million from the sales. The auction began yesterday and will run for the next week. A few of the domains for sale: finalcountdown.com , airtrafficcontrol.com, nuggetsforum.com and the domain av.com, which Yahoo! is asking $1 to 1.5 million for. Get bidding!
Source: Search Engine Watch
AdWords Editor 10.3 Now Live
This week Google launched an update for AdWords Editor. This version, 10.3, includes features such as demographic targeting, audience targeting, and sitelink improvements. You will now be able to update targeting based on gender and age, assign audiences to ad group,s and update sitelink descriptions within the editor’s interface. Happy editing!
Source: SEO Roundtable
Advertisers Test Nielsen Measurement On YouTube
Google is now allowing advertisers to test Nielsen’s online ad measurement product when they negotiate ad buys on Google’s YouTube. This decision is the opposite of what Google had initially done two years ago and could fuel a shift of additional TV ad dollars to YouTube. Google’s offer of third-party measurement options could increase total ad revenue and its share of the online video marketplace. An increase in competition for YouTube ad space will likely occur in the near future, and lower budget advertisers already using the video site may not be able to compete.
Source: Search Engine Watch
Amazon To Begin Sunday Deliveries
With the help of the United States Postal Service, later this month Amazon will begin delivering packages in the nation’s two largest cities on Sundays. This is Amazon’s latest effort to diminish the key advantage of brick-and-mortar retailers: immediacy. This service is not anything new for the Post Office; they have sometimes delivered on Sundays in the past during holiday seasons. Sunday delivery will be available for all Amazon customers in the markets where the program is available at no extra cost. Customers will not be able to specify Sunday delivery; items will just show up if they are eligible.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Google Has Designed A Throat Tattoo
Google has filed for a patent on an electronic skin tattoo that can connect to a mobile device and can be used as a lie detector. That tattoo isn’t permanent and is meant to allow the wearer to communicate to their device hands-free. Google suggests it can be used for security personnel or others working in noisy environments. Although it’s not clear why someone would want a lie detector, the tattoo can be used as one because it has a galvanic skin response detector.
Source: Business Insider
Google Books Ruled Fair Use
Almost eight years after Google was sued over Google Books, this week a judge finally ruled that the feature doesn’t constitute copyright infringement. Google Books scans books in order to make them searchable. Judge Denny Chin found the practice to be fair use because it doesn’t intend to replace books or be used as a tool for reading books.
Source: Search Engine Land
Google’s Share Of Search Market Holds Steady, Bing Grows, Yahoo! Declines
Google’s share of the search market remained essentially unchanged from October 2012 to October 2013, standing at 66.9 percent. Bing continued to see growth, with its market share up from 17.9 this summer to 18.1 percent currently. A lot of this growth continued to come at the expense of Yahoo!, which hit a new low of 11.1 percent.
Source: Search Engine Watch
Twitter Releases Enhanced Mobile Ad Targeting
Riding the momentum of a successful IPO, Twitter unveiled new features that should make life easier for publishers and mobile advertisers. Custom timelines gives publishers the ability to create and share timelines based on any topic they choose. Advertisers get enhanced features for mobile ads on Twitter by adding device type and Wi-Fi connectivity to its targeting.
Source: Search Engine Watch
JP Morgan’s Social Media Gaffe
JP Morgan got a lesson in ill-advised social media strategies on Wednesday. The banking giant attempted to have of Q&A session on Twitter using #AskJPM. Well, they didn’t end up getting the questions they would have liked. Instead, Twitter users’ questions took the form of pot shots at the financial institution, which has been in the news for some legal issues as of late. The Q&A was quickly shut down Wednesday afternoon.
Source: Search Engine Watch
Notable Commentary
That Won’t (Totally) Kill The PC
How Hummingbird Handles Long Queries
There’s been a lot of discussion in the Wide World of SEO about how Hummingbird has changed Google’s algorithm. Some have suggested that Hummingbird boils down long search queries to their essential terms, but Grant Simmons begs to differ. He offers up a compelling, more nuanced argument for how Hummingbird parses longer, more conversational queries.
Analysis by: Grant Simmons, Search Engine Watch
That Bird Is Social
Yes, another article on Hummingbird! This post, based on a conversation between Danny Sullivan and Eric Enge, covers another critical element of the new algorithm: how it sets the stage for the search engine to begin incorporating signals from social media. It’s still very much speculation at this point, but interesting speculation nonetheless.
Analysis by: Eric Enge, Search Engine Land
Top 20 Local Search Ranking Factors
Moz just published its annual review of local search ranking signals, in which it identifies a total of 83 foundational factors. While none of the findings are entirely new news, this is a comprehensive refresher for SEOs working in local search.
Analysis by: Miriam Ellis, Moz
What Makes ‘Natural Link Building’ Natural?
Some would call the term “natural link building” oxymoronic. Eric Ward argues that ethical link building is simply an attempt to speed up a process that naturally occurs out there in the wild spaces of the internet.
Analysis by: Eric Ward, Search Engine Land
Why The Tablet Can’t (Totally) Kill The PC
Brian Profitt offers up an interesting perspective on why the popularity of the tablet will never entirely obliterate the market for PCs. In a word: keyboards.
Analysis by: Brian Proffitt, Readwrite
The Complete Dictionary Of Marketing Buzzwords
“Inbound Marketing”. “Permission Marketing”. “Drip Marketing”. These are just a few examples of marketing buzzwords that get bandied about these days. Likely there’s at least one in Jesse Aaron’s list that you haven’t heard before.
Analysis by: Jesse Aaron, SteamFeed
Why Did Google Disapprove My AdWords Ad?
Having trouble seeing the message “Ads disapproved” in your AdWords account? Don’t fret! Theresa Baiocco explains it all in a recent article from Unbounce. She discusses details about why it might be happening and how to get your ads approved again.
Analysis by: Theresa Baiocco, Unbounce
Common Product Listing Ad Mistakes & Solutions
Holiday shopping season has begun. Are you PLAs as good as they can be? Heather Cooan from Search Engine Journal details an extensive list of common mistakes made on PLAs and how to avoid them.
Analysis by: Heather Cooan, Search Engine Journal
How To Implement A Tiered PPC Bidding Strategy
As we all know, match types and bidding strategy are both extremely important when getting your new account off on the right foot. Justin Freid from Search Engine Watch describes how to get optimal performance by using a tiered bidding strategy that works with match types to cover the ground you need to drive relevant high quality traffic to your site.
Analysis: Justin Freid, Search Engine Watch
