Bing Launches Connected Pages, Google Maps Takes To The Air, & More

Bing Announces ‘Connected Pages’ In Webmaster Tools

In Microsoft’s latest attempt to eke out a competitive edge against Google, Bing Webmaster Tools announced a new functionality called Connected Pages. Webmasters can now add their own related social media pages to Bing Webmaster Tools and see data including search terms and inbound links for those pages. The social media channels available for Connected Pages include everything from Facebook to Twitter to Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and more.

Source: Search Engine Watch

U.S. Holiday Shopping Trends & Forecast

Holiday shopping revenue is set to increase yet again this year, and the trends that go along with it are also emerging. The two most popular days to shop are still Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with sales on Thanksgiving Day not far behind.  There’s a lot of good fodder for your PPC campaigns in this forecast.

Source: Search Engine Watch

Microsoft: Get Your Anti-Google Gear Here!

In the latest installment of the anti-Google “Scroogled” campaign, earlier this week Microsoft unveiled an array of mugs and t-shirts emblazoned with Google product logos and catchy slogans such as “Keep Calm While We Steal Your Data”. We’re wondering how many of these t-shirts Matt Cutts will receive in his holiday stocking from frustrated webmasters.

Source: The Verge

To Write A Meta Description Or Not To Write a Meta Description

Meta description tags can have a big impact on click-through rates, so the typical advice is to write a unique meta description for every page on your site. Google’s Matt Cutts weighed in on the matter this week, opining that while it’s best to write a unique meta description tag for every page there may be some instances where (if you’re feeling lazy) you should just leave it blank and let Google write it for you. And that’s a better option than duplicate meta descriptions.

Source: Search Engine Watch

Travel By Air Using Google Maps

Earlier this week, alert search industry journalist Barry Schwartz performed a directions search for how to get from New York to Toronto, and Google Maps showed him how long it would take to get there by plane compared to driving. Along with a departure time and other flight info, Maps offered an option to see results on Google Flights. This new feature is undoubtedly a limited test, but it may be coming soon to a Google Maps near you.

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

AdWords Offers Video Call Support

Google is now piloting a similar service to the Kindle Fire’s “Mayday Button”. They are now testing a new video chat service offered to AdWords customers to get account service. Users will be able to chat with someone on the Google team live and share their screen. Tests are only available to a limited number of users in the U.S. and Canada right now.

Source: Adwords Community Forum

Google Pays Out $17 Million

Remember last year when it was revealed that Google had been overriding the Safari browser’s settings to block cookies? This week Google reached a $17 million settlement to make things right with 37 U.S. states.

Source: AdAge

LinkedIn Launches Showcase Pages

In an effort to offer more content marketing opportunities, this week LinkedIn launched Showcase Pages. The new pages give businesses the chance to build out more comprehensive overviews of specific products or services offered. Companies of any size are able to create up to 10 Showcase Pages at no charge. It’s expected that LinkedIn advertisers will be able to to more effectively target their messaging based on users’ interest in the product-focused pages.

Source: Search Engine Watch

Promises, Promises

Back in 2004, Google stated that it would never charge merchants for inclusion in what was then called Google Product Search; then in 2012 the paid-only inclusion service Google Shopping replaced Product Search. In 2005, Google issued an edict banning banner ads on its results pages; this summer lo and behold Google started testing big banners at the top of organic results for some big brand names. Danny Sullivan dissects the promises, how they’ve been broken, and speculates on the reasons why.

Analysis by: Danny Sullivan, Marketing Land

A Quick Guide to Customer Journey Mapping

In this very interesting article Joanna Lord discusses the shift of the conversion funnel to something similar but entirely different. She talks about the idea of customer journey mapping, “a framework that enables you to improve your customer experience by documenting the customer experience through their perspective.” She also explains why it is a more flexible way to view your customers.

Analysis by: Joanna Lord, BigDoor

How SEOs Can Avoid Going Crazy

It seems like every time Google tweaks its algorithm, a large portion of the SEO community claims that the sky is falling. Kristina Kledzik at Moz argues that the changes Google has made over the years have actually enticed SEOs to improve their overall online marketing efforts. Her post contrasts typical SEO strategies of 2010 with those of today and shows how the best tactics involve improving sites for visitors, not for search engines.

Analysis by: Kristina Kledzik, Moz

3 Tips To Troubleshoot Your Lead Quality

In a recent article from PPC Hero, Eric Couch discusses how to troubleshoot for bad leads in Google and Bing. He names Bing Search partners and Google Display Network as the biggest “bad apples” of leads and explores other ways your account could be getting bad leads.

Analysis by: Eric Couch, PPC Hero

A Picture Is Worth A Million Authorship Tags

That little photo that shows up alongside blog posts on Google’s results pages can either hurt or enhance your click-through rate. Plus if your pic doesn’t meet certain requirements, Google might not use it at all. Ann Smarty discusses the dos and don’ts of authorship photos.

Analysis by: Ann Smarty, iAcquire

The Power Of Remarketing

In this article from Moz, Larry Kim describes his SEO and online marketing journey. He focuses on remarketing and how it saved his traffic driving efforts from going to waste. He also shares some tips and tricks he learned along the way.

Analysis by: Larry King, Moz

Using PPC To Capitalize On Local Events

John McElborough provides insight on how to utilize local events to help drive qualified PPC traffic. He takes the approach of “interrupting” searchers to offer them something they are not yet looking for. He also explains how this strategy can work for different industries and users.

Analysis by: John McElborough, Search Engine Journal

Reasons To Restructure Your Reconsideration Request

It ain’t easy being green. It also ain’t easy removing an unnatural links penalty from Google. Marie Haynes shares the 8 top reasons why reconsideration requests are rejected, and how to avoid them.

Analysis by: Marie Haynes, Search Engine Watch

How To Pull Off Long Tail Keyword Targeting

Brad Geddes provides explains “why smart people focus on long tails”. He describes why longer tailed keywords generally perform better in AdWords and how to use them in combination with other strategies.

Analysis by: Brad Geddes, Certified Knowledge

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