This Week’s Industry News

Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff

AdWords Auction Insights Compares You, Your Competition

Google’s AdWords Auction Insights report opens the door to a wealth of competitive intelligence on keyword groups, individual or multiple ad groups, and individual or multiple campaigns, rather than just one keyword at a time.

Source: Google Inside AdWords

Matt Cutts Makes A Bunch Of Headlines With SMX Advanced Speech

During his keynote speech at SMX Advanced on Tuesday, Matt Cutts sat down with Danny Sullivan and covered a litany of SEO topics that are already reverberating throughout the industry.

Among the topics he covered (in-depth stories are linked in the article), Cutts said Google has a new algorithm honing in on spammy industries (pay-day loans, for example), Panda updates roll out over a 10-day time frame each month, Google is going to start penalizing sites for bad mobile SEO and slow mobile site speed, and manual Webmaster Tools notifications will feature example URLs so webmasters better understand how to fix their problem.

Source: Search Engine Land

Google’s Search Results Ad-To-Content Ratio Is Penalty-Proof

Last January (2012), Google unleashed a penalty that cracks down on pages heavy on the ads and light on the content. When asked about Google’s increased ad saturation on their own search results pages, Matt Cutts said that if Google’s results were indexed (they aren’t), they would not trigger a penalty. So if you’re looking for a benchmark ratio to follow, just conduct a Google search.

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

Facebook News Feed Ads Are Performing Better Than Expected

Triggit, a Facebook Exchange partner, has unveiled a recent study of two FBX news feed campaigns that sheds a very bright light on the program. According to the study, news feed ads produced 16-24 times more clicks than traditional right rail advertisements, and acquisition costs were lower as well.

CPAs were also lower than Google AdX ads, although that should increase with increased adoption and competition. Conversion rates maintained consistency, dropping by less than 1% regardless of increased traffic.

Source: Marketing Land

Tech Companies Really Want You To Know They Don’t Like PRISM

Anything you’ve searched for on Google or written on Facebook is safe and secure within those companies’ databases, as both tech giants have reiterated multiple times this week. In the wake of a report that the NSA is tapping into Google and Facebook data, they have diligently reminded people that they have no knowledge of PRISM, and have not given out user information to any inquiring government bodies without a warrant.

Source: Marketing Land

Twitter Releases Analytics Platform For Advertisers

Available through a dropdown menu in Twitter Ads, Twitter’s official analytics tool provides advertisers with a look into tweet data, timeline activity, and follower information. Explore as necessary.

Source: Marketing Land

Google Pays $1.1 Billion For Waze

In a move sure to boost Google Maps’ capabilities, the search giant has acquired Waze, a company specializing in location data and social mapping. Waze justified the sale by saying it would allow the company to continue improving its product rather than focus on profits the way they would have to if they were filing for an IPO.

Source: Tech Crunch

PRWeb Has Increased Scrutiny On Press Releases Before Publication

PRWeb found itself in some hot water last November after the press release service circulated an erroneous Google company acquisition post. The company has since increased its internal scrutiny and is publishing stories at a much slower rate than it had before the incident.

PRWeb also revealed that they have a black list of topics, including stock picks, raspberry ketones, online pharmacies, and e-cigarettes. It’s amazing how quickly editorial companies can change when placed under a gigantic microscope.

Source: Search Engine Land

People Like Google

The results of a recent Washington Post poll that faced off Google, Apple and Facebook in a popularity contest indicate that Google apparently would be voted class president. Perceptions of the tech behemoths do differ slightly among the different generations, however. It’ll be interesting to see how these numbers change since the leak of the NSA’s PRISM program in early June alleged that all three companies dished up server access to the US government.

Source: Marketing Land

Android Tablet Users Outnumber iPad Users

GlobalWebIndex’s Streaming Device Study for Q1 found that Android tablet users exceeded iPad users by 34 million (156 million vs. 122 million). The study, which surveyed 180,000 users across the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Pacific, found that tablet usage has increased by 282 percent since 2011. Android remains the most popular smartphone OS and games still dominate app download.

Source: Marketing Land

US Government Declassifies Information About PRISM

The US government declassified information pertaining to the PRISM program last Saturday, claiming it was not a widespread data mining program and doesn’t unilaterally grab information from tech companies’ servers. The fact sheet released by US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper further criticized leakers and media outlets (particularly the Washington Post and The Guardian), claiming their portrayal of the program is inaccurate. Ultimately, it wasn’t a denial that the program exists but rather a claim that it operates in a much different way with more cross-branch oversight than reported.

Source: Marketing Land

Google Including In-Depth Articles In Local Search Results

Google is tinkering with a new search interface that shows in-depth articles in the search results for local queries. The articles appear in a separate box placed within the standard organic results. At this point, Google confirmed that the new interface is only an experiment.

Source: Search Engine Land

Vine > Instagram (On Twitter At Least)

It may not include a sepia filter, but Vine can still feature food porn in video form. According to Topsy Analytics, Vine has been outshared on Twitter compared to the popular social photo app Instagram. Part of this is due to heavy adoption on Android devices, but it’s a huge win for Twitter and Vine alike.

Source: Marketing Land

Apple Introduces Siri To Bing, Takes iWork To iCloud

At the much anticipated Worldwide Developers Conference this week, Apple announced a plethora of updates to mobile and desktop operating systems, as well as a new Mac Pro that harkens back to the days of the Cube. Of interest to search marketers, when you talk to Siri, she (or now he) will now be talking to Bing. And Apple is bringing iWork to its iCloud service in an attempt to chip away at Google Drive and Microsoft Office.

Source: Marketing Land

Notable Commentary

Currently Streaming SMX Presentations

Reviewing The Biggest Changes On The Periodic Table Of SEO

Two years ago, Search Engine Land released a fantastic Periodic Table Of SEO Success Factors, and it’s amazing how many Pandas and Penguins we’ve seen since then. Danny Sullivan outlines some of the most noticeable changes to the table and overall ranking factors.

Analysis By: Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land

SEO Tactics Get Remembered, But SEO Never Dies

The “SEO is dead!” meme has been covered incessantly over the past decade, yet it seems as if the industry itself has prevailed through each of these doomsday proclamations. Pete Meyers explains why SEO tactics may die out, but the industry itself simply changes as time progresses.

Analysis By: Pete Meyers, Moz

How The Search Engine Sausage Is Made, But Much Less Messy

The timeline from keyword to results comprises roughly a quarter second in most cases, but the process in between can be complex and hard to understand. Matt Peters has a graphic-heavy breakdown of how search engines relate query and relevant content that is as informative as it is visually palatable.

Analysis By: Matt Peters, Moz

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About SMX Advanced

For those of you living under a rock or furiously engaged in Reddit arguments with Xbox lovers, SMX Advanced held court in Seattle this week. Here’s a comprehensive hub of all the most important presentations (including one awesome session featuring Rocket Clicks’ own Director of SEO Matt Ruud).

Analysis By: Kari Rippetoe, Search Mojo

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To AdWords Keyword Match Types, Negatives

Keyword match types and negatives can make or break a campaign. Anyone in need of a primer or refresher on these subjects would be wise to bookmark this guide to these crucial foundations of paid search.

Analysis By: Lisa Raehsler, Search Engine Watch

This Onion Article Parodying The NSA And Big Data Is The Best

Anyone in the digital world should appreciate this article poking fun at the outrage expressed by many people that are oblivious to how much of their private information really isn’t private on the Internet.

Analysis By: The Onion

Facebook Is Way Late To The Hashtag Party

Like The Internship, Facebook’s implementation of interactive hashtags totally makes sense to audiences stuck in the 2000s. Greg Finn explains why.

Analysis By: Greg Finn, Marketing Land

The New Gmail Is Making Email Marketing Harder

Debra Ellis explains why Gmail’s new functionality and filtering system has made marketing through email more challenging than it once was, and why the customer relationship is increasingly crucial to any successful email marketing campaign.

Analysis By: Debra Ellis, Multichannel Magic

Nothing Is Private On The Internet

In the wake of revelations about various data mining programs undertaken by the NSA, Doc Sheldon at Search Engine Watch offers up a thoughtful tome on our expectations of privacy on the Internet and if those expectations are in any way attainable or realistic. Conclusion: They aren’t.

Analysis by: Doc Sheldon, Search Engine Watch