Google Will Fuse Mobile, Desktop Ad Offerings

On a recent Q3 earnings call, Google CEO Larry Page announced that the company is planning to merge its mobile and desktop advertising. Page said the move is a response to consumer demands, although there is a lot of skepticism that it’s possible, given the chasm of differences between how the platforms are displayed, how they operate on the backend and in bidding, and bidding.

Source: Search Engine Watch

Google Alters AdWords Rules To Combat DKI, Grammatical Abuse

Google recently updated their AdWords policies as a way to crack down on abuse of dynamic keyword insertion and “extremely bad grammar” within ad copy. Google also added that keyword insertion and grammar usage needs to “result in meaningful ad text for the user.”

Obviously, there are a lot of subjective ways to interpret that statement, and Google’s ambiguous explanation for how they would enforce the policy just opens the door for more intrigue.

Source: Search Engine Watch

Twitter May Be Replacing “Favorite” Button

Twitter is experimenting with alternatives to their “Favorite’ button. A group of Twitter users reported that the “Favorite” button was being replaced by a “Like” or “Star” button. The test appears limited to only a portion of users and Twitter hasn’t responded yet to requests for further clarification.

Source: Mashable

Facebook Click-Through Rates Jump, Costs-Per-Click Fall

Two reports released before Facebook’s Q# 2012 earning statements show a significant decrease in cost-per-click for ads displayed on the social network. CPC fell 40 percent this quarter in the US and 27 percent in Canada.

However, click-through rates increased at a quicker pace and advertisers are seeing improved performance per ad viewed, making the cost-per-impression pricing model more valuable to marketers. In the US, CPMs increased 40.5 percent, while CTRs are up 61.1 percent.

Source: Search Engine Watch

Bing Does Best Impression Of Google’s Advertising Platform

Bing Ads is making another attempt at being more like Google. A new version of the advertising platform was recently released. The update now allows advertisers to run multiple reports with a single click and run search query reports looking at longer date ranges. The report can now look back 366 days. The new version is available by clicking a “Use the New Version” button on the screen and will be in full use by the end of the month

Source: Microsoft

Facebook Reports Loss, Stock Prices Jump

Facebook reported 1.26 billion in revenue with a 59 million loss in q3 2012, down from the 227 million profit reported over the same period last year before they were publicly traded. Investors seemed happy anyway because the loss wasn’t as bad as predicted.Facebook’s stock rose 8 percent in after hours trading immediately after the report.

Source: Search Engine Watch

Google Solicits User Feedback About Mobile Wants, Needs

With consumers increasingly turning to smartphones and tablets for their shopping needs, it makes sense for Google to conduct a survey of their biggest concerns/wants from a mobile internet experience. Here’s a quick snapshot of what Google found:

• 72% of people call mobile-friendly sites “important.”
• 55% said a bad experience will taint their perception of the brand.
• 67% of people are more likely to “convert” after visiting a mobile-friendly website.
• 76% of users search for locations or operating hours, and 61% have used “click to call” for a business.

Source: Marketing Land

Google News Consolidates Related Stories Into Groups

Google News now features “expandable clusters,” which allows users to view multiples sources reporting on the same story. The layout is also noticeably easier for navigation and reading, and all the stories are available through a “Show more” button.

Source: Search Engine Land

Kinect Voice Search Expands To Internet

Since June 2011, Microsoft has featured Bing Voice Search on the Xbox console, relegated only to content saved directly on the console. However, the company has recently announced it is expanding that capability to include web searches.

Source: Search Engine Land

Skype 6.0 Preps For Retina Display, Adds Multiple Features

Skype is preparing for the future. Version 6 was released this week, and it includes retina display compatibility for Macs, a single sign-on option between Microsoft and Facebook, and multi-window chat boxes. Overall, the early reviews are positive for the newest version of the messaging platform.

Source: TechCrunch

Notable Commentary

You Don’t Have To Walk Door-to-Door In Costume For

Here’s A Comprehensive Checklist For Your Next SEO Audit

Use this. Seriously.

Analysis By: Bill Slawski, Webimax

Microsoft Tackles Gesture-Controlled Computing Technology With Early Success

Apple may be considered the pioneer in voice command, design aesthetics, and touch screen technology, but Microsoft has their sights set on a much bigger prize: hands-free interfaces. Tom Simonite explores the company’s long-term vision for the project, and how it could revolutionize our relationship with computers.

Analysis By: Tom Simonite, Technology Review

(Not Provided) Data Still Has Some Practical Use

The SEO world is still pretty bitter about Google’s paywalling of keyword data collected from registered Google users. However, that data is still available, albeit in a more ambiguous capacity. Carrie Hill outlines an easy way to turn (not provided) into a valuable part of your overall SEO strategy.

Analysis By: Carrie Hill, Search Engine Land

Seven Steps To Get Your Holiday PPC Campaigns Rolling

Yes, it’s October. Yes, it’s time to start thinking about the holidays. Throw on some Christmas music and read Kayla Kurtz’s article on how to effectively prepare for the upcoming holiday season.

Analysis By: Kayla Kurtz, PPCHero

Why Small Businesses Shouldn’t Jump The Paid Search Ship

Last week’s New York Times article about small businesses moving away from paid search ads cites rising costs as a main reason for looking to spend ad dollars elsewhere. However, there appears to be a structural contradiction, as Google’s overall CPC prices are 15% lower (on average) in 2012 than they were in 2011.

Obviously, that doesn’t apply to all businesses and verticals, but Greg Sterling explains why you should tread carefully before completely buying into this assertion.

Analysis By: Greg Sterling, Search Engine Land

Re-Evaluating Anchor Text Links

Search Engine Journal has a great investigative piece on how the influence of link anchor text has changed in the wake of the Exact Match Domain crack down, and Google’s most recent Penguin and Panda updates.

Analysis By: Razvan Gavrilas, Search Engine Journal

Red Bull, Content Marketing, And You

Red Bull’s involvement in Felix Baumgartner’s stratospheric skydive to Earth has gotten people talking. With one CEO calling Red Bull the “Apple of content marketing,” Brian Morrissey lays out some of the biggest takeaways from Red Bull’s success in the area.

Analysis By: Brian Morrissey, Digiday

Quoting Correctly Won’t Get You Duplicate Content Penalty

Matt Cutts reassured bloggers that quoting an article in your blog post won’t put you at risk for a duplicate content penalty. Cutts said that quoting while including a link to the original source is perfectly acceptable and that Google has “good ways of detecting that sort of thing without any sort of issue at all.”

Where bloggers may get into trouble is if they’re quoting whole articles or using stand alone quotes with very little of their own content and analysis.

Analysis by: Melissa Fach, Search Engine Journal