This Week’s Industry News
Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff
Helpful Improvements Made To The Bid Simulator
The ad group level bid simulator provides simulations for two types of changes: 1. Applying a single bid to all the keywords in the ad group. 2. Updating the ad group default bid (this only impacts those keywords that do not have their own keyword-level CPC bid and use the ad group default bid).
Source: Google AdWords Blog
One Riot Real Time Search Is Not Dead, Lateral To Topsy
Earlier this month, One Riot announced that it was going to shut down its consumer facing search engine and spend more time devoted to their advertising network. It was announced just yesterday that Topsy, will be taking on One Riot’s real-time search partners and also utilizing One Riot’s ad network.
Source: Search Engine Land
Steve Jobs Plays Defense
On Monday, Steve Jobs chimed into Apple’s Q4 earning call to rant about the difficulty of Google’s Android platform as well as complain about how sales of Android are reported. His main problems are the development of Android applications, the inability to use all Android apps on all Android phones and the future difficulty for users of the Android Marketplace.
In a nutshell, even though sales show that Android sales are up, Jobs believes that the iPhone is the most user friendly device for developers and customers. It will be very interesting to keep an eye on the sales data if Apple’s iPhone becomes available on other networks in 2011. Click the link to hear most of the call.
Source: Business Insider
Now Hiring: Google Looking For Ad Resellers In China
On Tuesday, September 27th, without a stated reason, Google sent a letter informing the seven ad resellers in China that they will no longer do be doing business with them in a month’s time. It is estimated that the seven AdWords resellers accounted for 40% of Google’s ad revenue (~$226 million) in China last year.
Source: Reuters
Google Announces Mobile Ad Sitelinks
Similar to Ad Sitelinks for desktops, Ad Sitelinks for mobile devices features links to more specific sections of a given company’s site listed directly underneath the Sponsored Link at the top of the mobile Google search page. Google’s reasoning is that the Ad Sitelinks for desktops have resulted in a 30% increase in clickthrough rates, and many sites are not optimized for mobile users, so mobile Ad Sitelinks offer users an easy, one-click option for pages found deeper in the site.
Source: Google AdWords Blog
BYOB With Mozilla Chromeless
Contrary to what your first assumption might be, BYOB in this instance stands for “Build Your Own Browser,” courtesy of the minds behind Firefox at Mozilla. Entitled Chromeless, this allows developers the opportunity to optimize and completely build their own personal browser with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other web technology. The project is still in its infancy, but it’s sure to come up in technology news at various points as the Chromeless Project is reworked and refined.
Source: Mashable
Notable Commentary
Worth Its Weight In Bandwidth
Social Search Won’t Destroy SEO, But It Will Change It
This is an interesting take on how social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are integrating their features into search engines like Bing and Google, and how the SEO industry will inevitably be changed by this evolution.
Analysis By: Joe Devine, Mashable
The Business of Burying Internet Search Results
Patty heard this on All Things Considered and thought of us. Annoyingly, they interviewed the guy from Ripoff Report as if he’s an actual resource. It’s a good listen if you want to hear an outside perspective of some SEO services.
Analysis By: Peter O’Dowd, NPR
Netflix Instant Dominates Peak U.S. Bandwidth Use
Streaming media makes up 43% of peak period (8 p.m. – 10 p.m.) U.S. online traffic, and 20 of that is occupied solely by Netflix Instant users, who comprise roughly 1.8% of total Netflix subscribers. Count me as part of that group.
Analysis By: John C. Abell, Wired Epicenter
Why Does The Internet Love Cats?
Your guess is as good as mine. Personally, I’m a capybara man.
Analysis By: Amy-Mae Elliot, Mashable