Google Ranks Internal Pages Above Homepages, Place Search Debuts, Facebook Seeks Ad Targeting Patent, & More

Google Ranks Internal Pages Above Homepages, Place Search Debuts, Facebook Seeks Ad Targeting Patent, & More

This Week’s Industry Update

Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff

Google Ranking Internal Pages Over Homepages

For the third or fourth time in the past couple weeks, Google has tweaked its algorithm. This time, it has internal pages ranked higher than home pages in some searches. The change increases the chances that an internal hub page will show up higher in the SERPs, and it also is convenient for the searcher in that they are taken deeper into a site directly through the search engine results instead of having the navigate through a home page to find what they are looking for.

Source: SEO Book

Google Shows Commitment To Local With Place Search

Google Place Search has been officially released, emphasizing local businesses in the search results. Below are the “Before and After” screen shots of Place Search:

Source: Search Engine Land

Facebook Aims To Patent Ad Targeting

Facebook is filing for a patent to target users that may not have as much information in their profile that allows for accurate demographic targeting. Although several users keep their profile up to date with interests and personal information, there are still several users who either do not update their profile regularly or even have the information input at all.

If you happen to fall into the latter category, Facebook plans to target ads your way based on your friends interests and information. Obviously you’re not always going to have the same likes and dislikes as your Facebook friends, but it’s a reasonable assumption that if most of your friends enjoy something, you probably do too. This was taken from the patent (feel free to read the whole patent if you have the time, or happen to enjoy reading legal documents):

“For example, an advertiser may determine that an ad may infer an interest for a member if more than 25 percent of the member’s connections satisfy the secondary inferential targeting criteria or if at least 3 connections meet the main targeting criteria, or a combination of both,” the patent application explained. “The ad targeting method may also weight the member’s connections or otherwise take into account the member’s affinity or other measure of closeness to the member’s connections. Any combination of the above methods may be implemented in the ad targeting method.”

Source: CNet News

Google Instant For Mobile Has Arrived

If you have Android 2.2 or iPhone/iPod running on iOS 4, congratulations! You now have access to Google Instant on your phone. To use the feature, click the “Turn On” button just below the search box on google.com.

The funniest part of this story was the screen shot below, which lists “Van Halen” and “Van Morrison” just above “Van der Sloot.” 80s rock band, 70s-80s pop musician, Dutch murderer. Go figure.

Source: Search Engine Watch

Facebook User Data Sold To Broker

Facebook announced that is has suspended some application developers for six months because they had been selling site user information to a data broker. Some apps were sending user Facebook ID numbers to third-party firms, allowing those marketing and data companies to track a user’s online activities.

The site did not identify the broker that was purchasing the IDs, but it reached an agreement with RapLeaf, Inc., which was described as “the data broker who came forward to work with us on this situation.”As part of the agreement, RapLeaf deleted all Facebook user IDs in its possession and is banned from using the Facebook Platform in the future. The site did not directly implicate RapLeaf, but the writing is on the wall.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Song Previews Extended On iTunes

Apple recently informed record labels that the song previews on iTunes will be expanding. You will soon see previews for tracks that are longer than 2 minutes and 30 seconds expanding from 30 seconds to a whopping 90 seconds, while songs that are shorter than 2:30 will retain a 30 second sample. With the music industry continuing to falter, Apple believes that giving customers more time to preview each song will lead to more purchases. I guess we’ll have to wait for the sales data to see if there’s any major improvement.

Source: Gizmodo

Google Replaces Page Titles In Results

The ever experimental Google is at it again. While page titles used to be the norm on Google search results pages, they have recently started to utilize more relevant on-page headings over page titles to help users come to exactly what they are searching for. They have also started to add the site name at the end of a page title if they find the title too short. Click the link to get a more in dept analysis and see an example of how it works.

Source: SEO Book

Google Maps Causes Military Conflict

In a real life version of capture the flag, Nicaraguan military replaced a Costa Rican flag with one of their own. Google Maps is apparently to blame for this bloodless altercation as Nicaraguan military personal utilized Google’s map to wrongly position its troops in Costa Rica. Click the link above if you need actual proof that Google isn’t always right.

Source: SEO Roundtable

Notable Commentary

Fit For An Internet King

Is TV In Danger?

Read about Bruce Eisen, vice president of DISH Network, and his concerns about the death of the television industry at the hands on online streaming sites like Hulu.

Analysis By: Nicholas Deleon, Crunch Gear

The Pre-Holiday Marketing Checklist: 20 Things You Should Be Doing, But Probably Aren’t

Read this article to get some great tips on making sure your content is getting to the right people for the holiday blitz.

Analysis By: Ian Lurie, Conversation Marketing

Four Tips For Search (And User) Friendly Design

Ever wonder how to have a great design, happy users and great search visibility? Read this article for some great tips on achieving that much wanted triad.

Analysis By: Ian Lurie, Search Engine Land

Report: 7% Of Mobile Internet Users Have Checked Out Location Based Services

Take a look at the article to find out why the author believes that marketers should pay more attention to location based services.

Analysis By: Greg Sterling, Search Engine Land

What Can Your Facebook Profile Tell You About Yourself?

It seems that more and more scientific data is being founded based on Facebook user data. Read this interesting article to find out what your pictures and status updates reveal about yourself and how spending time on Facebook may actually be improving your self esteem.

Analysis By: John H. Tucker, Scientific American

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