This Week’s Industry News
Compiled By Rocket Clicks’ Staff
Google Shopping Expanding 360 Degree Product Images
In 2012, Google added 360 degree product views to Google Shopping, and last year the feature expanded from toys to other consumer products such as cameras. The company seems also to have hired a new technology manager for the program. This person will join the gTech Partner Solutions team which creates the images in-house. We can expect to see more of these 360 degree product views as Google continues to build upon the Google Shopping platform and compete with Amazon for search dominance.
Source: Search Engine Land
Facebook Mobile Usage Is Strong
TechCrunch recently obtained a leaked Facebook magazine that documents international mobile use amongst international users. The big takeaway is that mobile adoption is very healthy and many countries are over 50%. Facebook usage is growing and mobile use is flourishing.
Source: Marketing Land
Facebook Still Tops Social Media Usage
According to the Pew Research Center, 72 percent of US online adults use social networks. Facebook is the most dominant network by a large margin despite many people diversifying their social media usage. The report also showed that of those who use more than one social networking site, most only used two sites. Overall 42% use two or more sites.
Source: Marketing Land
Google Improves Email Security With Image Caching
Google officially announced that images in Gmail would be enabled for all webmail users starting December 12th for iOS and gradually rolling out to Android Gmail apps this month. HTML emails — specifically images and links — have been disabled in email clients to prevent security breaches and thwart hackers for a long time. But, by caching each individual image link in an email, checking it for viruses, and then serving that one image to all the recipients, Google has eliminated the risk of users unknowingly downloading and spreading malware.
Source: Marketing Land
Google Penalizes Rap Genius For Link Schemes
Google has taken action and penalized Rap Genius for their use of link schemes to manipulate Google rankings. A search for [rap genius] no longer returns any results for the website — only their social media profiles and stories about the Google penalty.
Source: Search Engine Land
Google Working To Promote Subject-Specific Authorities
Google’s Matt Cutts stated in a recent episode of This Week in Google that they are working to promote authorities in search results. This would mean that if an expert writes about a certain topic on any site, Google will notice and rank it higher than non-authorities.
Source: Search Engine Land
Missing Keywords On Recent Long Tail Queries
Google is now showing the keywords it did not match on for your long tail search. It is believed that this is part of the Hummingbird algorithm. As you know, Google prefers to show some search results even when there isn’t an exact match, especially with specific searches.
Source: Search Engine Land
Notable Commentary
Worthy Of The New Year
Funny And Weird Ads: Why They Work
Megan Marrs from Search Engine Journal discuses how being bold in the advertising industry can get your ads to practically promote themselves. She goes over some of the weirdest and wackiest online ads and examines why they are successful.
Analysis by: Megan Marrs, Search Engine Journal
Video Predictions For 2014
Greg Jarboe of Search Engine Watch has compiled a list of 10 predictions for video in 2014. Mobile video will explode on smartphones and tablets. Short-form video content will go mainstream. Agile video marketing will become the new normal. These and many more predictions can be found on Search Engine Watch.
Analysis by: Greg Jarboe, Search Engine Watch
Don’t Make These Mistakes With Your Company Blog
By now most businesses have recognized the need and benefits of a blog. But oftentimes businesses make mistakes that jeopardize their SEO value and company reputation. Kannav Chaudhary of Search Engine Journal examines the ten biggest mistakes made by those managing a company blog and provides the smartest ways to correct them.
Analysis by: Kannav Chaudhary, Search Engine Journal
Use Ved Parameter To Capture (Not Provided) Data
It has been two years since Google began gradually withholding search terms from referrer headers. As a result, more and more reports showed an increasing amount of (not provided) keywords. With the right use of the ved parameter, you can recover some of this data. It’s pretty technical, but this guide by David Kelly on the Moz Blog should make it easier to learn.
Analysis by: David Kelly, Moz
Off-Page Factors To Work On In 2014
Tom Schmitz released the final installment of his 2014 SEO Playbook, this time focusing on off-page factors that SEOs will need to consider this year. Although he goes into greater depth in the article, it all boils down to quality, authority, and trust.
Analysis by: Tom Schmitz, Search Engine Land
Building The Right Relationships With Link Building
Believe it or not, there are many people out there who want to help you build links. Casie Gillette points out the seven types of people to look for. Odds are, you may already know them. Some examples are employees, customers, and partners or distributors. Working with these people can build long-term relationships for future link building as well.
Analysis by: Casie Gillette, Search Engine Land
Take Another Look At Topics That Seem Unrelated
Ian Lurie of Portent argues that random affinities are factoring into search results more and more. For more in-depth analysis and to learn about Lurie’s IdeaGraph concept, watch his Whiteboard Friday.
Analysis by: Ian Lurie, Moz
Being Greedy Could Ruin A Good Link Strategy
With the recent news of Rap Genius’ Google penalty, Eric Ward of Search Engine Land examines how their greed ruined an otherwise great strategy. Part of the problem with what Rap Genius did was demanding anchor text. The strategy would have worked without it but in doing so, it was a red flag for Google. In summary, Ward promotes executing a good link strategy without overdoing it.
Analysis by: Eric Ward, Search Engine Land
Enhance Your Brand With Autocomplete
Google’s autocomplete recommendations are based on what people are searching for. Many brands try to improve their autocomplete results as a reactive measure to deal with negative terms popping up in the search box. Beat this problem by being proactive before the problems surface.
Analysis by: Brian Patterson, Go Fish Digital (via Search Engine Journal)
Old School Matt Cutts Videos With Powerful SEO Tips
TheShortCutts.com is a great source for SEO content straight from Google’s mouth. Brian Dean of Search Engine Journal dug back in the archives to pull the ten best old school Matt Cutts videos from 2009-2011. Many of these videos were made before the growth in demand for secret SEO sauce, so they’re often more straightforward with juicy tips.
Analysis by: Brian Dean, Search Engine Journal
20 Tips For Reducing Bounce Rate
Nick Eubanks of Search Engine Watch believes bounce rates need to be looked at subjectively. Bounce Rates increase because of two main factors: acquiring the wrong traffic and acquiring exactly the right traffic. If your site provides exactly what the visitor is looking for, they won’t look around on other pages. This and many more tips will open your eyes to bounce rate issues.
Analysis by: Nick Eubanks, Search Engine Watch
