Erin Everhart says, “Gary Illyes, Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, confirmed on Twitter that we’ll be graced with the next Penguin update before the end of 2015. This means that all of those webmasters who were hit by the last Penguin update (in December 2014, mind you) now have the chance of recovery, since historically, this update hasn’t been refreshed automatically. This next Penguin update should also be a real-time version, so as Google detects spammy links, sites may be impacted immediately — and when spammy links are removed, those sites may see a more immediate recovery. While... [...]

Amy Gesenhues says, “Google announced today it has launched a new publisher carousel designed specifically for live blog content. According to a post on its Google Developers Google+ page, Google is now allowing publishers to markup content with its new live blog schema: Starting today, we are making the markup that powers these live blog carousels publicly available. So, if you’re a publisher interested in improving the way that users find your content in Google Search, head over to g.co/LiveBlogMarkup to learn more. Google says it has already worked with a number of partners that are... [...]

Ben Davis says, “I was going to write a post titled ‘Google Voice Search: What does it mean for marketers?’ But then I realised it would be apt to sum up Google’s update with as few written words as possible. It’s great fun exploring Google’s voice search and knowledge graph, so here’s my summation of Google’s update through some choice screenshots. Google understands superlatives Even if the knowledge graph isn’t all that flattering to English footballer, Phil Jones. As you’ll know if you’re a voice search user, the knowledge graph... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “As the holiday shopping season heats up, the ongoing competition between Google and Amazon to be the destination for consumes researching products reaches its annual apex. Conventional wisdom holds that Amazon dominates in this realm. Recent data, however, suggests Google may be gaining ground or at least is not as far behind as Google has intimated. Product search is worth billions, and the overhaul of Google Shopping into a paid platform in 2012 was designed to combat losses to Amazon. In that year, a 2012 Forrester survey found that 30 percent of searches started... [...]

Berry Levine says, “Google’s seemingly neglected social network, Google+, is finally getting some TLC. Today, the search giant announced that it’s redesigning Google+ and putting the focus on two of the features Google+ users like the best: Communities and Collections. This move was telegraphed by Google VP Bradley Horowitz this summer when he officially ending Google+’s role as the social layer for Google products. At the time, he said, Google+ would start focusing more on making it easier for people to share their interests on the network. Google said it has spent the last few months... [...]

Google just announced that Google Hangouts on the Web is getting several new touches, in hope of sprucing up its image and increasing its market share. They don’t give many details about what they are doing, but they do say this: Key changes include: • Calls that start faster and stay crisper, with higher quality video • A more streamlined and immersive full-screen interface • A simpler way to invite friends and family to your calls These all seem positive, but, wary that some current users may like they current interface, Google offers an escape hatch. Users can click a link and... [...]

Mona Elesseily says, “Historically, the Google Display Network (GDN) had limited features, and it was impossible to fine-tune and narrowly target segments/users/customers. Today, there are more ways advertisers can target people/users interested in buying products or services. Furthermore, we’re better able to layer products so they work in tandem. In this article, I’ll discuss some of the targeting options available and discuss some of the ways I like to layer them into campaigns. The inspiration for this article came from a Pub Con session called New PPC Ad Types (specifically Kevin... [...]

Kat Fay says, “Videos, reviews or an author’s picture can drive clicks on search results, according to a study by Blue Nile Research. Many retailers believe that showing up first in organic search results on Google and Bing is a guarantee of success. But lower positions often generate more clicks than the top spot, especially when the links include videos, pictures and reviews, according to a study from Blue Nile Research. The study identifies the three most common forms of visual content that lead consumers to click: Star reviews of products, such as giving an item one to five stars An... [...]

Dr. Amit Pareek is offering to set you up in 5 online businesses, all of them designed to attract clients looking to promote their business online. With this new offer (he calls it his 2 Cent Traffic System), you can help business people with these marketing needs: ■ Facebook Ads Made Easy. ■ Facebook Remarketing Made Easy. ■ Google AdWords Made Easy. ■ Pay Per Click Made Easy. ■ Media Buying Made Easy. Pareek includes the following components for each of the 5 niches: • High quality & High Definition Video Series (70-80 Videos total) for you to sell. • Ready to... [...]

IR team says, “Paid click growth jumps 23% across Google sites and those in its advertising network. Google parent Alphabet Inc. is selling more ads and keeping spending under control, fueling better-than-projected sales and profit in the latest quarter. Paid clicks on ads on Google-owned sites increased 35% in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago, while paid clicks on Google sites and those in its advertising network rose 23% year over year, the company reported Thursday. The cost per click on Google-owned sites dropped 16% year over year and on Google sites and... [...]