This Week’s Industry News

Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff

Smartphone Ad Click-Through Rates Are Higher On iOS Than Android

A recent study from Jumptap shows that iOS smartphone ads are pwning the competition in CTR, garnering 37 percent more clicks than the next closest competitor (not Android). Part of that dominance could very well be tablet usage, but the study didn’t address that point, and offered a viable explanation: iPhone browsing and app experiences are simply smoother and better than the competition.

Source: Search Engine Watch

U.S. Adults Use Email, Search Engines To Occupy Most Of Their Online Time

A Pew Internet study reveals that 92 percent of adult Internet users use search engines, including 59 percent that use them on a typical day. Social media use is growing as well (65 percent of U.S. adults use a social network), but email is still used by 92 percent of American adults. Perhaps the best number in this study was 87 percent; that’s the amount of adults over age 65 that use search engines (37 percent use them on a typical day).

Source: Search Engine Watch

Apple Dons Title Of Biggest Public Company On Earth, Then Gets It Taken Away

Apple and Exxon seem poised to exchange titles as the biggest publicly traded company in the world for quite some time. Just after Apple edged Exxon in net worth by $.12 ($344.21 billion), Exxon pushed back ahead at $348.32 billion when the NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange closed on Tuesday, August 9.

Source: Wired Epicenter

Could LED Lights Connect To The Internet?

A German physicist has come up with a way to connect to the Internet through LED light bulbs.  The project named D-Light would produce data transfers faster than 10 megabits per second, which is faster than the average broadband speed. Obviously this is still an invention in progress, but imagine the possibilities if we moved from WiFi to LiFi as a main connector to the Internet.

Source: Good

Yahoo! Enhances Their Image Search Capabilities

Google and Bing have recently updated their image search, so why wouldn’t Yahoo! jump on board? Their new image search features include easier browsing through galleries, a Facebook image connection to friends, and easier navigation with images at their largest size.

Source: Search Engine Watch

Google + Has Games, But Wants Your Details In Exchange

In an apparent bid to lure people who only use Facebook for its stellar gaming content, Google Plus is making games (creatively called Google Games) available to users. The main draw will probably be Angry Birds, but other titles such as Bejeweled, Sudoku, Zynga Poker and Dragon Age Legends will also be available.

What Google wants in return is permission to view basic info about your account, your email address, and the ability to view people in your circles, which are then ordered based on your interactions with them across Google.

Source: PC Magazine

Groupon Admits It’s Not Profitable; A Collective Gasp Befalls The World’s Population

Groupon has revealed something anyone who has ever read anything about Groupon already suspects: it isn’t profitable. In the face of criticism, Groupon adjusted its IPO to eliminate their accounting trick that made the company look like it was making money. Reality responded by showing it operated under a $420 million loss in 2010 and $117.1 million loss in the first quarter of 2011. Still, investors have shown a recent pension for dismissing tech startups that operate in the red.

Source: CNN Money

Notable Commentary

From Industry Brain Trusts

Everyone Loves An SEO Study Packed With Oodles Of Information

The 2012 Search Marketing Benchmark Report – SEO Edition was released by MarketingSherpa this week, and does not disappoint those of us that crave the latest SEO trends. Some of the most notable statistics include:

• 93 percent of organizations use keywords and keyword research, while just 59 percent engage in external link building.
• External link building ranked as the toughest strategy to implement (75 percent).
• Content is king (92 percent called it “very effective or “somewhat effective).
• 71 percent of surveyed organizations said they typically rank on page one for desired terms, and 28 percent said they are regularly in spots one, two, or three.

Analysis By: Matt McGee, Search Engine Land

An Actual Study Reveals Expected CTR For Google’s Organic Rankings

Slingshot SEO conducted a six month study that examined 324 keywords that produced a stable top 10 first page of websites for a minimum of 30 days. The results are shown below:

Analysis By: Search Engine Watch

The Big SEO Difference Between Bounce Rate And Actual Bounce Rate

Glenn Gabe explains the flaws in putting too much weight behind standard bounce rates, and how search engine emphasize actual bounce rate over the Google Analytics measurement. The post is fairly long, but it boils down to the fact that search engines know there’s a big difference between someone that spends 20 minutes on a single page before bouncing and someone that spends 6 seconds on a page before leaving.

Analysis By: Glenn Gabe, Search Engine Journal

Google Instant Pages Could Get Analytics Programs To Go Schitzo

Chrome 13 prominently features Instant Pages, which could be inflating pageview statistics in Google Analytics. Google claims the possibility for false pageviews is small, but it may happen on a minimal basis.

Analysis By: Frank Watson, Search Engine Watch

Teaching Internet Marketing Is Hard

Ian Lurie attempts to explain the quandary facing the Internet marketing world when it comes to passing on their talents and knowledge. He touches on a good amount of obstacles facing teachers of other crafts, and they’re equally important to Internet marketing teachers.

Analysis By: Ian Lurie, Conversation Marketing

Debunking Assumptions About Business Trends On Social Networks

Neal Rodriguez at Forbes explores 10 social media-for-business myths, and ways to combat them effectively. He mentions a few social experiments, scientific studies, and general best practices for businesses on the web.

Analysis By: Neal Rodriguez, Forbes

Google Answers Questions About Plus And Its Button’s Role In SEO

Byron Gordon sat down with Timothy Jordan, a Google Developer Advocate, before SES San Francisco to discuss some of the finer points of Google + and how it fits into the comprehensive world of SEO.

Analysis By: Jonathan Allen, Search Engine Watch

Commenter Troll Repellent In The Form Of A Captcha Test

Buzz Feed has a fairly amusing post on an easy way to prevent annoying comment trolls from voicing their opinions. Simply put: it’s like an IQ test in the form of a Captcha.

Analysis By: Chris Menning, Buzz Feed