This Week’s Industry News

Compiled By Rocket Clicks Staff

Google May Be Moving Away From Cookies

Apparently Google is developing something called “AdID” which eventually could replace cookies as the predominant means of tracking customers online. Supposedly, it could increase privacy and alleviate many concerns people have about giving up their information online. According to someone familiar with the situation who spoke anonymously, “The AdID would be transmitted to advertisers and ad networks that have agreed to basic guidelines, giving consumers more privacy and control over how they browse the web.”

Source: USA Today

Bing Replaces Google As Default Search In iOS7

Apple’s iOS7 officially dropped Wednesday and with it come some interesting changes. Per a new agreement with Microsoft, Siri now taps into Bing instead of Google for its searches. Twitter is now also featured in the tool. Apple seems to be downplaying the change. Longtime data partners WolframAlpha and Yelp got shout-outs when describing Siri’s new functionality, but Bing was noticeably absent. Siri still responds to queries with data from WolframAlpha as it did before.

Source: Search Engine Land

Advertisers See Gains On Yahoo! Bing Network

The Yahoo! Bing Network recently partnered with marketing firm RKG to get a better picture of how its clients’ campaigns were faring on the network. Comparing the first half of 2013 to the same period in 2012, advertisers saw a 35% increase in online sales, a 44% increase in ad impressions, a 60% increase in broad match revenue and a 219% increase in mobile search traffic volume. In other words, their clients are seeing growth.

Source: Yahoo!

Bing Rolls Out New Logo, Updated User Interface

Bing officially rolled out its long-awaited new logo on Wednesday. The new yellow logo features Microsoft’s corporate font, Segoe, and looks vaguely like a broken recycling symbol. It’s part of a larger effort to redesign’s Bing’s search experience across all platforms. That redesign includes a new search interface, a pole position feature very similar to Google’s Knowledge Graph, and a search experience better optimized for mobile users.

Source: Search Engine Watch

Twitter Files For IPO

Twitter announced (via a tweet – surprise!) that they “confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC.” They also stated that this plan to go public does not constitute any offer for sale of securities.

Source: Marketing Land

Area Man Creates McEverything

Earlier this week Nick Chipman walked into a McDonald’s in Wauwatosa, WI, and ordered every sandwich on the menu in an effort to create the McEverything. It’s a culinary creation that, as its name implies, includes every sandwich the fast food giant offers. He showed up 30 minutes before breakfast was over to ensure every sandwich would be available and used bamboo skewers to attach them.

Source: Fox News

Pew: 34 Percent Go Online “Mostly” With Mobile

In a recent survey from Pew Research Center, one third (34%) of those who use their cell phones for internet browsing said they use their cell “most” of the time. This development has particular relevance to companies that are seeking to reach these groups.

Source: Marketing Land

Pinterest Is On The Path Toward Monetization

Pinterest will now feature promoted pins from major brands in a first step toward monetizing the service. For now, the ads will be displayed in search results and category feeds.

Source: TechCrunch

Google Trends Adds New Features

Google Trends has a made a few changes over the past week. It has revamped its Top Charts to not only include searches with the highest overall number of searches, but also searches that are experiencing a surge in interest compared to their usual search volumes. They’ve also added a new “Past 30 Days” toggle that highlights the top daily searches.

Source: Search Engine Watch

“Lily Collins” Most Dangerous Search In 2013

Some searches are more dangerous than others when it comes to viruses, malware and other Internet hazards showing up in the results. According to McAfee, when it comes to celebrity queries, Lily Collins is the most dangerous celeb to search on in 2013, unseating Emma Watson who held the distinction in 2012. Jon Hamm was the only male to make the top ten this year.

Source: Search Engine Land

“Technical Issue” Lets Iranians Access Facebook & Twitter For A Day

After four years of Iran’s censorship against social media, for one day people were able to access social media sites. Officials are blaming technical problems, and not changes in outlook for the temporary loosening of restrictions. Sorry Iran, it was fun while it lasted!

Source: All Things Digital

BrandAds to Launch Video Advertising Analytics

After two years of development, BrandAds is launching a product called BrandAds Bridge to measure video ad performance in real-time. The platform includes several dashboards showing effectiveness and engagement metrics to marketers in order to help them adjust video ad creative and budgets.

Source: Marketing Land

Curalate’s Fanreel Gives Whole New Meaning to User Experience

Visual analytics provider Curalate has launched Fanreel, which allows partners to integrate user-generated images into their website. Images can be submitted via Facebook, Instagram or directly form a mobile device or desktop. Fanreel also offers detailed analytics on user-generated content, such as pageviews and impressions.

Source: Marketing Land

Facebook’s New Larger Images For Link Share Posts

With the goal of making stories look “even more beautiful” while simultaneously increasing CTR, Facebook has made larger images for link share posts standard. The recommended image size for uploading is 1200 x 627 pixels. Other things being affected by this new image format are page post link ads, page like ads, offer ads, and event ads.

Source: Search Engine Journal

Adobe Adds Dynamic Tag Management To Marketing Cloud

After acquiring tag management technology in July, Adobe has announced the integration of that capability into its marketing hub. Tag Management will enable quicker load times, as well as logic that determines what action should be taken on a page to measure the right data. The technology supports both Adobe and non-Adobe tags and in the future could be extended to any digital marketing platform.

Source: Marketing Land

Android-Shaped Kit-Kats?

If you see a Kit-Kat shaped like the Android robot soon, don’t be too surprised. Google and Nestle have started a licensing deal to promote the candy company and Google’s new mobile OS. There is no money being exchanged between the two, however you could win a Nexus 7 or Google Play credits!

Source: Search Engine Journal

Notable Commentary

That Connects The Missing Link

Google’s Local Carousel Ranking Factors Unveiled

Google rolled out its Local Carousel in June, and SEOs have been trying to discover the key to inclusion in the carousel ever since. A recent study by Now Digital Marketing Works found that the quality and quantity of Google reviews is the single most important determining factor for inclusion and ranking. The study, which focused on 4,500 search results in the hotels category in 47 US cities, outlined other ranking factors as well. Distance and travel time is another variable, and it appears Google is weighing results based on what it infers to be the user’s intent.

Analysis by: Greg Sterling, Search Engine Land

How Well Do Paid Ads Drive In-Store Sales?

George Michie at Search Engine Land breaks down how effective paid search is at driving offline store purchases. The sort-of answer: it’s largely dependent on what vertical you’re operating in.

Analysis by: George Michie, Search Engine Land

Best Hidden Features In iOS7

Aaron Souppouris breaks down the best new features in iOS7 that are flying under the radar.

Analysis by: Aaron Souppouris, The Verge

Predicting A Site’s Future When Building Links

Julie Joyce of Search Engine Land outlines best practices for link building, specifically focusing on what factors to address when determining how a potential link partner’s site will age over time.

Analysis by: Julie Joyce, Search Engine Land

The Missing Link

Do you feel Google is putting less emphasis on links as part of their algorithm? Eric Ward from Search Engine Watch has provided an answer: Some types of links are being devalued and counting less and less. But having the “right” links and the skills to know what they are is more important than ever.

Analysis by: Eric Ward, Search Engine Watch