Jennifer Slegg says, “Webmasters were caught by surprise two weeks ago, when Google released many new statementsabout their Panda algorithm to The SEM Post. Traditionally, Google tends to be rather quiet about their search algorithms, but their new comments were a departure from this. Google was quite transparent and shared a lot of new Panda-related information that many SEOs weren’t aware of. Here are what I consider to be the top new takeaways from Google about the Panda algorithm. These are all things that SEOs can put into action, either to create new, great-quality content or... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Since Google announced that AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) would launch in search early this year, publishers have been waiting to find out just how ads would be handled. More details of where things stand were shared by Google’s head of ads Sridhar Ramaswamy at the IAB Leadership Summit and published in a blog post Monday. AMP pages are set to start serving in search starting in early February. Since ad support wasannounced last November, Google has been working with ad tech partners to test ad serving scenarios for AMP, including native ads and paywalls. In the... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “Many governments in Europe don’t believe that US companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Starbucks and Apple are paying their fair share of taxes. For example, Apple may face remedial tax liability in Europe of $8 billion according to a Bloomberg report. Google is reportedly now negotiating with European governments to settle myriad tax disputes and to “normalize” its tax relationship with The Continent. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Google is now in active talks with France and other government ministers about what they claim are unpaid or underpaid... [...]

Aaron Friedman says, “Thinking in templates We all judge people on first impressions. When we see someone for the first time, we’re quick to decide what type of person they are — based on the clothes they wear, how they style their hair, and anything else we notice that immediately puts them in a group. It’s certainly not fair, but it’s human nature. And I’d like to keep my faith in humanity and argue that lots of us try NOT to prejudge others. Google is judging you Believe it or not, Google is the same. It judges, too. Some might disagree with this theory, but our internal... [...]

Zak Stambor says, “Google appears to be testing a layout on search results in which Product Listing Ads take up nearly the entire search results page. Google Inc. appears to be testing a new display for its Product Listing Ads—the listings that show a product’s image, price and the retailer selling it prominently in Google results for product-related searches. In the new format that appears on some searches Google showcases 16 PLAs to consumers on desktops, far more than the usual number. Google typically presents PLAs in one of two ways to desktop users: It may show a “container”... [...]

Barry Levine says, “To help marketers take advantage of “micro-moments” — those events that everyone starts talking about — Google is today announcing online Real-Time Ads. A typical micro-moment: last year’s performance by the left shark in Katy Perry’s Super Bowl halftime show. For Real-Time Ads, AdWords online tools will allow a pre-created ad to have a component — such as a photo or overlaid text — that can be updated immediately to reflect some event that is generating chatter. It points to the day when ad elements may be automatically generated from, say, trends... [...]

Tamar Weinberg says, “Google is playing the social card–again. The company was just issued a patent yesterday that hints at a system that will keep it relevant within the social game, this time, in assessing trends that will help users, companies, and brands tailor their social media posts according to copy that often resonates to drive engagement across social media shares. The proposed system is built on email communication, and the idea is quite simple: a link is shared from one user to another. When the link is clicked, Google will utilize a pop-up system that will suggest how to share... [...]

Ben Davis says, “Google’s unabridged Page Quality rating guidelines were released in November 2015. Whilst some outlets covered this at the time, I thought I’d do so in purely practical terms. So, here’s a very simple checklist, based on Google’s approximation of highest and lowest quality content. It by no means covers everything in the guidelines, but references those bits that caught my eye. 1. Improve your 404 (page not found) message The Google guidelines give many examples of low, medium and high quality pages. One of the examples of a medium quality page was... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Ad disapproval notices are typically uninteresting bland affairs, free of controversy. Last week, however, a disapproval notice from Google raised eyebrows. WordStream received a disapproval notice for a Gmail ad — the ads looks similar to email messages and appear in the Promotions tab — in a campaign that used “curvy” and “plus size” keywords in the targeting. The disapproval reason given in the AdWords UI simply stated, “Gmail Ads- Body type and personality targeting”. It was the full policy explanation that the team received that caused... [...]

Jodi Harris says, “How do you measure up when it comes to measuring the impact and value of the content you are publishing? Chances are you are using Google Analytics to analyze your content marketing performance – and that is a great start. But Google Analytics is a robust, yet complex tool that offers plenty of insights beyond the basic site-visitor metrics that most marketers are tracking. Consider this: CMI’s latest B2B Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report found that only 30% of B2B marketers feel their organization is effective or very effective in its use of content marketing.... [...]