This Week’s Industry News

Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff

Google Places Dashboard Gets A Gradual Facelift

Google is progressively streamlining its Google Places editing dashboard, bringing the local businesses platform much closer in design and feel to its compatriot Google and Google+ products. The navigation and general editing fields look unremarkably similar to that of Google+, and the biggest benefit comes in the form of better integration with other Google products, such as AdWords and Offers.

Google is also improving the data accuracy and reporting for Places pages, and businesses that don’t use a centralized office (such as plumbers and other companies that travel to homes and businesses for their work) can now use Google+ Local for the first time.

Source: Search Engine Land

Bing Redesigns Search Advertising Site

Bing unveiled a redesign of its search advertising site, providing a single access point for resources and content related to Bing Ads and the Yahoo! Bing Network. The site consolidates information and materials from the Bing Ads Community site, Bing Ads search advertising support center and help files found in the Bing Ads platform itself.

Source: Search Engine Land

CPC Prices Increase For First Time In Six Quarters

Over the past year and a half, CPCs in Google AdWords have been on a decline, largely due to market transitions and uncertainty around Product Listing Ads. However, according to a Covario report, Q1 of 2013 CPCs rose 7% over Q4 of 2012, and 23% over last year’s Q1. The study attributes the increase to PLA growth and the adoption of enhanced campaigns across mobile and tablet spending.

Other findings include a global 124% increase in CPC costs for mobile advertising (36% smartphones, 64% tablets). Smartphone CPC spending is still 52% less than that on desktops.

Source: Search Engine Land

Bing Ads Snipes At Google Over Enhanced Campaigns

SHOTS FIRED. No word on whether or not the Nas classic “Made You Look” blared over the speakers before his statement, but David Pann, general manager of Microsoft’s Search Network has taken AdWord’s enhanced campaigns changes as an opportunity to take Google to task. At a San Francisco forum on Thursday, he had some pretty targeted digs:

“At Bing Ads, we believe very strongly in giving advertisers the tools and flexibility to control their spending, target the most relevant audiences, and ensure they can get the best return on investment. We do not believe bundling mobile, desktop and tablet advertising together in an opaque manner is in the best interests of our customers.”

Pann then chanted “Bravehearts” over and over, imploring the crowd to join in the raucous display of solidarity against consolidated ad management.

Source: Search Engine Land

Bulk Keyword Uploading Is Now A Thing In AdWords

This week, Google has made it easier for advertisers to add, alter, or delete keywords from their campaigns on a mass scale. Playing in conjunction with November’s release of a bulk editing tool, this new feature can be found in the keyword report download window, by clicking the “Editable” box that downloads the spreadsheet for you.

Source: Search Engine Land

Notable Commentary

That Also Misses Roger Ebert

Here Are Some Bad Facebook Ads From Big Brands

If ever you feel self-conscious about ad copy or a display ad you’ve composed, read this post and feel better knowing big brands can be big failures in both departments.

Analysis By: Merry Morud, Search Engine Watch

SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday Tackles The Evolving Local Algorithm

Google 7-Pak rankings are more valuable than ever, and the way they are constructed has changed with regularity over the past year. David Mihm is the foremost expert on local search, and he was kind enough to contribute his perspective to the always informative SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday feature.

Analysis By: David Mihm, SEOmoz

Man Reflects On One Year Hiatus From Google

Calling it a divorce, Tom Henderson reviews the past year of his tech-driven life, after abandoning the world’s most popular search engine. It’s an interesting take on data aggregation and the alternatives to Google’s plethora of useful programs.

Analysis By: Tom Henderson, ITWorld

How Internet Data Centers Use Natural Resources

There’s always talk about the Internet’s capacity to store information, but we rarely discuss the impact it has on the environment. Scientific American had a feature piece on Internet data centers, and the need for more cooling systems (and subsequently, drained natural resources) corresponding with the expectation that each center increase its capacity and speed.

Analysis By: Larry Greenemeier, Scientific American

Guest Blog Like A Boss

No one consolidates great blog posts like Unbounce. Guest blogging has become a staple practice among the best (and worst) link builders, so knowing how to do it well has become more important than ever. Stefanie Grieser makes her first of two appearances in this update with a list of 10 posts that will help guide your guest blogging efforts.

Analysis By: Stefanie Grieser, Unbounce

Content Marketing Optimization With Digital Touchpoints

“Great content” is the battle cry echoing throughout the SEO community, and digital business world at large. If you’re not sure how to begin constructing that strategy, Gary Magnone has a good primer for understanding your customers and tailoring your content visibility and strategy to hit them at the right point in the purchase funnel.

Analysis By: Gary Magnone, GaryMagnone.Com

48 Twitter-Friendly Stats That Make You Look Like A Marketing Genius

As online marketers, we are inundated with all of the latest studies, reports, and statistics that are supposed to guide our efforts, depending on the industry in which we are involved. Thankfully, Unbounce has 48 awesome Internet marketing stats (with attribution) succinct enough to fit inside a tweet.

Analysis By: Stefanie Grieser, Unbounce

Keywords: Why Conversions Trump Rankings

Krista LaRiverie explains why SEOs need to embrace a more holistic approach that goes beyond simply ranking well, but understanding how those rankings and keywords translate into conversions, their position in the buying cycle and what targeted content is useful to consumers in these various stages.

Analysis by: Krista LaRiverie, Search Engine Watch

Increasing PPC Click-Through-Rates

Ian Harris explains why PPC click-through-rates have increased in recent years as PPC ads have taken on an appearance similar to the organic brethren.

Analysis by: Ian Harris, Search Engine Journal

Facebook And Hashtags: What It Means For You

Ryan Miller details some possible implications of Facebook adopting the hashtag including more advertising opportunities for marketers and more revenue for Facebook.

Analysis by: Ryan Miller, Search Engine Journal