This Week’s Industry News
Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff
Google Once Again In Trouble Due To Search Suggestions
Google’s autocomplete feature known as Google Suggest was found to be suggesting racist terms in the UK when users were searching for UK cities. This isn’t the first time Google has run into trouble with this feature. Google has already taken action and the problem appears to be resolved for the time being.
Source: Search Engine Land
Yelp Redesigns Local Profiles
Yelp is in the process of redesigning parts of their user interface to make the local profiles for businesses appear less busy. Changes include more emphasis on images, featured reviews, and local content. The changes have not been made live with all business pages, but most should expect it soon.
Source: Search Engine Land
Yahoo Partners With Yelp To Improve Local Search
Yahoo continues to make moves that will help them regain stakes in the search engine game by partnering with Yelp to include local listings on SERPs. Bing and Apple already have similar partnerships with Yelp, and it is not expected for this deal to be much different.
Source: Search Engine Journal
Restaurant Menus Now Being Shown In Some Google Search Results
Some are reporting that Google is now showing restaurant menus in card-style search results. Google has yet to confirm plans for this feature and so far it doesn’t appear in all cities. Many speculate that the information is coming from AllMenus.com, the site Google currently uses in local search boxes.
Source: Search Engine Land
Comcast To Acquire Time Warner
Comcast, the US’s largest internet service provider, announced a $45 billion deal to acquire Time Warner, the US’s second largest ISP. What does it mean? Well the deal would make the combined Comcast/Time Warner and its 30 million subscribers the largest ISP outside China. Comcast is also the parent company of NBCUniversal. While the deal doesn’t break any current FCC rules, it already has consumers worried and will certainly come under scrutiny from regulators
Source: Los Angeles Times
And The Google Antitrust Case Continues
We all thought it was over, but alas, the saga continues. The EU announced another antitrust settlement with Google last week, and it seemed like the only thing standing in the way of finalizing the deal were a few formalities. But at the 11th hour, Google’s critics slammed the deal and called for another “market test” and comment period for the third proposal. In addition a few EU Commissioners have voiced displeasure with the proposal. It would seem anti-Google lobbying firms like FairSearch.org are trying drag the antitrust inquiry out as long as possible.
Source: Search Engine Land
Nielsen Releases A Ton Of Data About Internet And Smartphone Usage
A massive report analyzes data on “the new digital consumer.” The big takeaway is that adults spent an average of 34 hours per month on mobile internet and only 27 hours on PC internet. TV remains the top screen consumed by users despite a decrease in live viewership.
Source: Marketing Land
Beta Testing Begins For Bing’s New Bookmarking Feature
Bing is in beta testing for a new feature called Bing Saves. The feature will allow users to click and bookmark a search result for later access via a Microsoft account. Critics point out that similar features were offered by other search companies years ago and failed to ever really receive widespread adoption.
Source: Search Engine Land
New Google Algorithm Downgrades Sites With Top Heavy Ads
Matt Cutts announced Google’s refreshed algorithm will downgrade the ranking of websites that are top heavy with ads or sites they deem too distracting for users. This is the third update of the “Top Heavy” filter. The change occurred on February 6th and so far there have been few complaints from the SEO community.
Source: Search Engine Land
Local Businesses Have 3 Weeks To Save Google Places Listings
Google has reached out to businesses, asking them to review and verify their business information found on Google Places. Businesses who fail to do so by February 21st will lose their place on Google Maps and will have to manually add it again. The upcoming changes will also make it easier for new businesses to create Google+ Local pages as well.
Source: Search Engine Watch
New Content Recommendation System Coming From Google
As early as next month, publishers can expect Google to launch a new content recommendation service. The system will compete with tools like Outbrain and Zementa. A Google employee has stated that the algorithm will be different than the one launched for mobile sites last year.
Source: Search Engine Journal
Mozilla To Introduce Directory Tiles
Mozilla’s new Directory Tiles are designed to create a better user experience when opening up a new tab in Firefox. The tiles will suggest pre-packaged content for first time users, some of which will be sponsored content from partners. The sponsored tiles will be clearly labeled and Mozilla claims they’ll contain content users will enjoy.
Source: Mozilla Blog
BingAds Updates Reporting Capabilities
This week BingAds announced the introduction of updates to its reporting capabilities. Main changes include: all conversion fields added to performance reports, more advanced segmentation, the ability to run change history for multiple accounts in a single report, and a few others. This is a big deal for advertisers on the network because it allows for more granular reporting and data analysis.
Source: Search Engine Land
Visa Using Paid Search Advertising for Tumblr
Instead of using the more popular social media avenues, Visa has been using ads appearing on both the Google and Bing networks to drive traffic to their Tumblr account for Olympics-related content. They appear to be the only major Olympic sponsor to have chosen Tumblr as its Olympic content hub. Although it is by far not their only way of driving traffic, “it could be a sign that Yahoo!’s billion dollar acquisition is becoming important enough that brands are willing to pay to drive traffic to their Tumblr accounts.”
Source: Search Engine Land
Notable Commentary
More On Point Than Cupid’s Arrow
Recrawling Sites Help Eliminate SEO Problems
Search Engine Watch dives into the importance of SEO audits and the powerful information that can be obtained from them. But after the problems are identified and changes have been implemented, recrawls are crucial for catching SEO problems. Glenn Gabe explores five examples of how recrawling a site has caught SEO problems early.
Analysis by: Glenn Gabe, Search Engine Watch
Just Another Day In The Life Of A Spam Fighter
The latest video published by Matt Cutts answers a viewer’s question about what a day in the life of a search spam team member like, the evolution of decisions being made, and whether certain things will never be considered for removal. Cutts also dives into the steps that go into dealing with the various forms of spam.
Analysis by: Matt Cutts, Google
How Much Do You Love Google?
Jennifer Van Iderstyne of Search Engine Watch was in the Valentine holiday spirit this week and put together 6 SEO-inspired Valentine’s quotes. Each uses a classic Valentine’s quote with a few words replaced with SEO lingo. After all, “’Tis better to have ranked and lost than never to have ranked at all.”
Analysis by: Jennifer Van Iderstyne, Search Engine Watch
Upcoming BingAds Editor Improvements
A new version of BingAds Editor is said to include improvements that provide higher posting speeds and additional posting functions. Other changes include more sync settings and enhanced conflict resolution during posting process. Read more on best practices from Ping Jen, Product Manager on the BingAds Product Team.
Analysis by: Ping Jen, Search Engine Journal
