Google Adds “Nearby Businesses” Format to Ads, Adblock Plus Still Legal in Germany, Matt Cutts’ Position filled & More

Google Adds “Nearby Businesses” Format to Ads, Adblock Plus Still Legal in Germany, Matt Cutts’ Position filled & More

This Week’s Industry News

Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff

Top Stories

Comparison Boxes Added To Google Search Results

The answer boxes provided by Google in the SERPs is increasing its use of comparison boxes. Currently they only appear for non-commercial search queries and they don’t provide a cited source like answer boxes typically offer. It appears the data used for comparison is coming from multiple sources, saving users the time of visiting multiple pages to get their answer.

Source: The SEM Post

New “Nearby Businesses” Format Added to Mobile by Google

Google announced a new mobile ad format on Thursday that will show several ads on location-related searches with a “Nearby businesses” tag. Google Trends data showed that 80% of near me searches, which have risen significantly from last year, come from mobile. These nearby businesses tags will be driven by location extensions and will have a link for directions as well as a link to call the business featured in the ad.

Source: Search Engine Land

Local Search Results See Major Shift

There has been a drastic change in local search results on Google. This comes days after Google had apologized for the racist results found in Google Maps. It is unclear if Google’s adjustments to fix the racist results had anything to do with the major changes in local search results. Those reporting major changes have been seeing more national organic results and less localized results. Search Engine Land reached out to Google for confirmation but Google declined to elaborate on the changes.

Source: Search Engine Land

Adblock Plus Once Again Ruled Legal in Germany

German Courts once again rule Adblock Plus legal for all to use after another set of German publishers attempted to file a lawsuit against the company because they believed the software was hindering their revenue. This case marks the fourth attempt by German publishers to bring down Adblock Plus, while many are arguing that if publishers didn’t make annoying and distracting ads in the first place, there wouldn’t be a need for software like Adblock Plus.

Source: The SEM Post
Matt Cutts' position filled

Unknown Person Fills Matt Cutts’ Position At Google

According to Search Engine Land, Google has a new person in the role of Head of Web Spam. This was the position previously held by Matt Cutts, who remains on leave since last year. Google declined to release who took over the position because unlike Cutts, this person won’t serve as a spokesperson for spam and listing issues in the way Cutts had.

Source: Search Engine Land

YouTube Shopping Ads Launched by Google

On Thursday, YouTube added a version of product listings with TrueView that allows retailers to have promotional ads for the products along with their YouTube videos. Powered by Google Merchant Center, the ads are displayed on the side of video ads on both mobile and desktop and clicking the ads will take users to the merchant’s website. Shopping Ads for YouTube should be available in the next few months, while advertisers with a Google rep can run this feature immediately.

Source: Search Engine Land

Google to Add “Buy” Button Soon

In the coming weeks, Google could be adding a Buy button to certain mobile searches in order to compete with other online giants like Amazon and Ebay. With the buy button, users will be taken to a unique Google landing page to complete their purchase and all shipping and processing will be handled by the retailer. Google aims to allure large retailers who may have been reluctant to work with online marketplaces in the past.

Source: PPC Hero

Additional Commentary

Turning Data Into Authoritative Links

Those looking for new ways to gain authoritative links should look into releasing data based information. Search Engine Land’s Purna Virji provides three examples on how one could do this. Among the examples include turning industry trends into stories that matter to people and turning to consumer research to share interesting patterns.

Analysis: Purna Virji, Search Engine Land

Exploring AdWords Features

Andrew Goodman explains in detail what some features in AdWords really do. He suggests going beyond the standard default settings, where you may find more opportunities for account optimization. The author covers features like accelerated ad delivery, enhanced CPC, and conversion optimizer, offering his own professional opinion on the usefulness of each.

Analysis: Andrew Goodman, The SEM Post

Mining Competitors’ Backlinks May Hurt You

It isn’t uncommon for SEO experts to mine their competitors’ backlink profiles to see what kind of links they are getting and find new opportunities for their own link building efforts. Julie Joyce of Search Engine Land has a column that points out how this could do more harm than good. She suggests, among other things, examining the backlink profile and finding new opportunities where you competitor doesn’t have links instead of copying work already done by your competitor.

Analysis: Julie Joyce, Search Engine Land

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