Google’s Matt Cutts On Being A Spam Fighter: Looking For Patterns & Always New Spam Efforts
Google’s head of search spam Matt Cutts posted a longer video today answering what it is like to fight webspam at Google. The questions posed by Brian Harnish of Westminster, California were: What is a day in the life of a search spam team member like? What is the evolution of decisions in…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Microsoft: We Don’t Censor Search Outside China
Bing censors search results in China in accordance with Chinese law. But does it do so in the US and elsewhere around the world for Chinese users? That disturbing proposition was raised yesterday in an article appearing in The Guardian. The article ass…
5 Times Google Penalized Itself For Breaking Its Own SEO Rules
Make no mistake. Plenty of sites — big brands included — willingly do things in an attempt to rank better on Google that go past SEO tactics that Google itself considers acceptable. However, there’s also no better poster child for how complicated and confusing Google’s rules…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Yelp Supersizes Its Local Profiles, Makes Them Less Busy
Yelp has redesigned parts of its web UI to make them more visual and to surface more information. In particular business profile pages have been changed to emphasize images, featured user reviews and key pieces of local content, all of which are now mo…
Google Showing Restaurant Menus In Card-Style Search Result
Google has started showing complete restaurant menus in its search results when a query specifically looks for menu information. We think Allie Brown was the first to spot this when she shared the results of a search for “jones brunch menu” on Twitter. For that query, Google begins the…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Google In Trouble Again Over Racist Search Suggestions In UK
Is Google Suggest (autocomplete) simply a mirror held up to society; or is it a product that needs to be censored and regulated to protect us from potentially offensive and objectionable content — even defamation? In the latest row over Google Suggest, the company has removed racist and other…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Bing Ads Updates Reporting Capabilities, Chiefly Conversion Performance Insights
Today, Bing Ads announced the roll out of several new updates to the reporting capabilities. For advertisers with conversion tracking enabled, this will likely be the most welcome change announced today. At long last, Bing Ads has introduced the full s…
Showing Value In 2014: SEO Attribution Deep Dive
Carefully thought out campaign attribution can show your SEO campaign’s true value to your business. Settling on a model which paints the least-wrong picture is your starting point, but pretty quickly you can make your model sing, providing real value …
A Paid Search First? Olympic Sponsor Visa Opts To Advertise Its Tumblr On Google, Bing and Yahoo
YouTube and Facebook have long been the favored social accounts promoted by brands in paid search ads. Visa is cracking the mold. In what may be a first for a major brand, the Olympic sponsor is using paid search to drive visitors to its Tumblr account…
Google Updates Its Page Layout Algorithm To Go After Sites “Top Heavy” With Ads
Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, announced that Google has released a refresh of its Page Layout Algorithm. The filter, also known as the Top Heavy algorithm, downgrades the ranking of a web page with too many ads at the top or if the ads are deemed too distracting for users. Cutts…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Microsoft Testing “Bing Saves” Search Bookmarking Feature
Microsoft appears to be testing a new feature for Bing: Bing Saves. According to a Neowin community member who saw the beta, it’s a way to click and bookmark a search result for later retrieval from your Microsoft account. Below is a screenshot of the feature from Neowin. The utility of such…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Yahoo Turns To Yelp To Beef Up Local Search
According to a report appearing today in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Yahoo will be incorporating local content and listings from Yelp into its main search results. As the article points out, Yelp has a similar deal with Microsoft-Bing and, of course…
French Privacy Agency’s Site Crashes, After Demanding Link From Google France Home Page
Be careful what you wish for. In this case, the French privacy agency CNiL demanded that Google link from the Google France home page to a privacy ruling made against it. Google complied — and now the traffic seems to have slowed and sometimes crashed the CNiL web site. Our story on Marketing…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
YP Wants To Compete Directly With Google And Yelp In Local
When one looks across the local digital landscape there are many companies and apps but few consumer “brands.” In specific verticals, like travel or automotive, there are companies such as TripAdvisor or Cars.com. But “horizontally” on a national level there are very few top-of-mind, major players….
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Suspected Paid-Link Penalty Hasn’t Hit Expedia Bottom Line — Yet
Yesterday online travel giant Expedia announced Q4 2013 and full year results. The company “beat the street,” reporting strong room night and revenue growth across all geographies. So far a suspected penalty from Google hasn’t hurt the company’s bottom line. See our earlier…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Google Now Adds Google Now “Launcher,” Video On Demand Providers, Airbnb Reservations & More
Engadget reports Google has quietly rolled out several enhancements to Google search app for Android, bolstering Google Now features on the Nexus 5 and some other devices. Here are the changes that were labeled “bug fixes and performance improvements” in the Google Play store for the…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Google Penalized A Germany Agency & Their Clients For Link Schemes, Says Matt Cutts
Soon after Google has warned Germany SEOs about paid links and link schemes, Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, posted on Twitter that they took action on a German agency and their clients for link schemes. Matt Cutts wrote, “this week we took action on a German agency’s…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Google Requiring Some Business To Reverify Their Listings Or Be Removed From Google Maps
Some business owners are receiving emails from Google requiring them to reverify their listings within three-weeks or their listings will be removed from Google Maps and Google+ Local. The emails contain the subject, “Action Required: You have 3 weeks to save your Google Places…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Wow! See How Much Screen Real Estate Google Is Giving Rivals In Its EU Antitrust Settlement
Google’s finally reached a proposed agreement with the European Union over antitrust charges. Judging from screenshots the EU has released, it will give Google rivals unprecedented positioning in Google’s results, sometimes for free, sometimes for a fee. Consider how the EU is saying…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Yelp Reports $233 Million In Revenue For 2013, Up 69 Percent From 2012
Yelp released its 4Q 2013 financial results today, reporting end of year net revenue at $233 million, representing 69 percent year-over-year growth from 2012. While delivering the earnings report call, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said, “It was a phenomenal year for Yelp.” Yelp’s…
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.