This Week’s Industry News
Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff
Quality Sites Trump Quality Links In Google’s Webmaster Help Section
Google wants you to know they mean business when it comes to “great content.” So much so, in fact, that they’ve updated a crucial section of their Webmaster Help document to emphasize quality sites over quality links.
Semantically, the change is notable and makes sense. Compelling websites are most likely to be relevant to interested parties, and with great websites come great links. One leads to another, logically speaking, since you can fake links but you can’t fake a good site.
Source: Search Engine Land
Add Some Descriptions To Your AdWords Sitelinks
Google AdWords now allows you to highlight specific text to be included under sitelinks in your ads. The feature is meant to push more advertisers to Enhanced Campaigns, but it also gives advertisers the freedom to customize text in an area that, when displayed, often looks attractive to prospective clickers.
Source: Search Engine Watch
CPCs Are Bull-ish For Enhanced Campaign Users
An Adobe report has uncovered the unthinkable: Google AdWords Enhanced Campaign costs-per-click rose 6% from March to May. As Enhanced Campaign adoption is forcefully increased among advertisers, this trend is likely to continue. Funny enough, Google responded to the report and basically said it’s too close to call at this point. So…spend more money.
Source: Search Engine Watch
Matt Cutts Answers: Do Stock Images Hurt You In Search?
The answer is no. The slightly more complicated answer is no for standard searches, but image search is different, and unique images may help.
Source: Search Engine Land
Facebook Improves Data And Statistical Offerings In Page Insights
Facebook Page Insights now offer more detailed, intelligent information about page Likes, engagement, tags and mentions, check-ins, and other interactions that reveal how users are behaving relative to your brand. Marketers are now able to see more granular details about Likes, comments, shares, link clicks, and much more.
Source: Marketing Land
Facebook Sponsored Search Results Are Deader Than Jimmy Hoffa
Pretty topical headline, eh? Facebook has recently announced they are killing off Sponsored search results in an effort to simplify their advertising offerings. However, some advertisers have reported high click-through rates and low CPCs from Sponsored results, which makes the decision even more interesting.
Source: Search Engine Watch
Instagram’s New Features Are Di-‘Vine’ly Inspired
On Thursday, Instagram announced it will be upgraded with a video recording feature, complete with 13 possible filters. The video can be anywhere from three to 15 seconds in length, and includes a “Cinema” function that helps eliminate shaky camera movements.
Source: Marketing Land
New Excel Add-In For Bing Ads Intelligence
Bing Ads Intelligence recently revealed a new free Excel add-in for keyword research and keyword performance assessment on the Yahoo! Bing Network. That is all.
Source: Search Engine Land
Google Unveils Knowledge Graph Carousel For Local search
Google officially rolled out is Knowledge Graph Carousel for local search Tuesday. The carousel is basically a black backdrop at the top of the search results that displays images of various local businesses fitting the description of your search-whether they be Ethiopian restaurants or tiki bars.
Source: Search Engine Land
Unclicked Display And Video Ad Impressions Are Now Viewable In Google Analytics
Google Analytics had added a report to help advertisers better understand how exposure to their brand impacts future conversions. With the ad impressions report for display and video ads, Google now offers advertisers a way to discover how those impressions assist in later click-throughs to conversion.
Source: Marketing Land
Android Device Use Throughout The Day Is More Consistent Than iOS Usage
According to data collected by the ad network Chitika, iOS and Android users are not the same people. The data revealed that Android device use is more consistent throughout a 24-hour period, while iOS devices (iPads included) tend to elicit more peaks and valleys. None of this data is really surprising (iPads are mostly used in after-work or weekend settings), but it helps to verify assumptions before jumping to conclusions.
Source: Marketing Land
Twitter Buys Local Search Company
Twitter now owns Spindle, a local search startup that specializes in social “discovery.” The company is moving to Twitter’s San Francisco office, and gives the social network some much-needed local search leverage.
Source: Marketing Land
DuckDuckGo Is The Post-NSA/PRISM Scandal Winner
Apparently some people DO know and care that search engines track them and compile privacy data. DuckDuckGo, the most notorious private search engine on the web, has experienced a deluge of traffic since the revelations. The site received 3 million searches for the first time in its history, after registering around 1.3 – 1.5 million queries per day before the news broke.
Source: Search Engine Watch
Yelp: Conversion Is King
Yelp recently added a Call to Action option that allows advertisers to promote a featured offer to users on both desktop and mobile devices. Now it’ll be possible to click through directly to deals when checking out a business on the popular local listing and review site.
Source: Marketing Land
OED Down With The SEM
The Oxford English Dictionary included a number of online marketing / tech terms in its annual update to the official record of the words contained in the English language. Now search marketers can refer neophytes to the OED when bandying about terms such as “redirect”.
Source: Marketing Land
Google Analytics Admin Panel Gets A Facelift
In an update rolling out to Analytics users over the coming weeks, the Admin panel will feature columns of settings organized by Accounts, Properties and Views (formerly known as “Profiles”). Users will be able to switch between areas of the account using drop-downs, a move that should make navigating the numerous settings faster and more transparent.
Source: Search Engine Watch
Microsoft Relents To Criticism, Un-Sucks At The X-Box One
Well, sort of. You don’t have to be always connected to the Internet, and you can play used games. That’s a start.
Source: Gizmodo
Amazon Plays Hardball On State Sales Tax
The number of states in which Amazon has terminated all associate relationships because of “E-fairness” tax legislation is now eight. Minnesota was latest on the chopping block, due to what Amazon calls the state’s “unconstitutional…state tax legislation.” Amazon has previously severed these relationships in California, North Carolina, Colorado, Connecticut, Arkansas, Illinois and Rhode Island.
Source: Marketing Land
The FTC Is Targeting Patent Trolls
The Federal Trade Commission is launching an investigation into “patent trolls,” who are the primary reason for the recent explosion in patent lawsuits. The FTC will also look into where these people are getting their money/patents, and if they are connected to any big name companies. Hallelujah.
Source: Ars Technica
Firefox Will Still Limit User Tracking
Firefox is sticking to its guns when it comes to its plan to block the most common types of Internet tracking by limiting the placement of cookies in users’ browsers. Firefox would allow cookies if the user opted into being tracked. While the plan has been applauded by many users, it obviously hasn’t been hailed by advertisers. Still, according to Mozilla, a widespread release of the blocking technology is still months in the future.
Source: Wall Street Journal
The South African Government Paid $40 Million For A $45 WordPress Design
You read that right.
Source: News 24
Notable Commentary
That Doesn’t Overpay For Websites
Striking A Balance With The Perfect Product Page Layout
Tim Ash has a great post discussing how to prioritize and structure information on a product page without getting so in-depth that it turns off potential customers.
Analysis By: Tim Ash, Site Tuners
Proper Redirects Are A Matter Of SEO Life Or Death
Cyrus Shepard has an excellent post that reiterates the importance of redirecting pages properly by exploring the pros and cons of doing so, and highlighting a few perils associated with 301s and 302s.
Analysis By: Cyrus Shepard, Moz
Diving Deep Into Advanced Local Search Improvements
One of the most compelling presentations at SMX Advanced was one concerning the state of local search, and a few advanced ways to improve your local SEO. Chris Silver Smith builds this useful post off that discussion.
Analysis By: Chris Silver Smith, Search Engine Land
The Pros And Cons Of Flex Bidding
Flexible bid strategies are just one of the many big changes made to Google AdWords in 2013. While they have their own share of positives, John Lee points out a few features that hinder a campaign build-out and looks into what they mean for the future of AdWords.
Analysis By: John Lee, Search Engine Watch
Different Structured Data For Different Folks
Chris Silver Smith at Search Engine Land discusses the different ways that different kinds of schema markup styles show up based on the kinds of search queries performed by a user. For example, depending on the query, one might find review stars or an authorship entry. The rest of the article is a summary of several schema related talks at an SMX Advanced session.
Analysis By: Chris Silver Smith, Search Engine Land
Are PLAs Eating Your Other Forms Of Traffic?
Product Listing Ads are growing, and they may be eating your other SEO/PPC efforts. George Michie explores this cannibalistic possibility and uses Venn diagrams in the process!
Analysis By: George Michie, Search Engine Land
SEO Audit Wars: A New Hope For Site Infrastructure
One of the most important yet overlooked parts of SEO strength is a site’s infrastructure of links, navigation, and general user-based functionality. Kent Yunk takes a look at how to start an SEO audit with analyzing a site’s infrastructure.
Analysis By: Kent Yunk, PPC Associates
Social Links Are A Privilege, Not A Right
You can’t fake interesting, and you can’t fake social link building. In Moz’s latest Whiteboard Friday, Rand Fishkin offers four helpful ways to improve the social sharability of your site or blog.
Analysis By: Rand Fishkin, Moz
