Jack Simpson says, “Google is increasingly valuing ‘quality content’ when it comes to search rankings, according to a new report. This isn’t exactly news to most marketers, but the way in which Google determines quality is evolving. According to the study, positive signals such as the amount of time spent on a page are having an increasingly significant impact on rankings. This means it’s more important than ever to keep the reader engaged. With that in mind, I’m going to use this post to try and explain how you can achieve ‘quality content’ on your site based on some of the... [...]

Carlos Escalera says, “The spam in Google Analytics (GA) is becoming a serious issue. Due to a deluge of referral spam from social buttons, adult sites, and many, many other sources, people are starting to become overwhelmed by all the filters they are setting up to manage the useless data they are receiving. The good news is, there is no need to panic. In this post, I’m going to focus on the most common mistakes people make when fighting spam in GA, and explain an efficient way to prevent it. But first, let’s make sure we understand how spam works. A couple of months ago, Jared... [...]

Seth Fiegerman says, “Create a social network or risk everything. That was the original pitch for Google’s Facebook rival, Google+, a refrain hammered over and over by the social network’s chief architect, Vic Gundotra, in meetings with the company’s top brass. Gundotra, described by colleagues we spoke with as charismatic and politically-savvy, eventually persuaded Larry Page, the Google cofounder who returned as CEO at the beginning of 2011 after a decade behind the scenes, to turn the company upside down for this cause“. Inside the failure of Google+, a very expensive... [...]

Seth Fiegerman says, “Create a social network or risk everything. That was the original pitch for Google’s Facebook rival, Google+, a refrain hammered over and over by the social network’s chief architect, Vic Gundotra, in meetings with the company’s top brass. Gundotra, described by colleagues we spoke with as charismatic and politically-savvy, eventually persuaded Larry Page, the Google cofounder who returned as CEO at the beginning of 2011 after a decade behind the scenes, to turn the company upside down for this cause.“. Inside the failure of Google+, a very expensive... [...]

David Nield says, “Google knows a friction-free app testing and submission process can help developers keep decent apps flowing, so it just rolled out a series of improvements to the beta testing process for Google Play apps. Overall, the changes are designed to help developers manage pre-release beta tests easily, so they can “iterate faster” to develop or improve features. Consider it part of Google’s recent developer outreach, which also gives app makers more finetuned ways to promote their apps once the testing is over“. Google Makes Beta Testing Android Apps Easier... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Google is testing out a new program that connects people looking for home service professionals with pre-qualified providers in their local area. The company confirmed with Marketing Land that it is running a very small test in the San Francisco Bay Area, focusing on plumbers and locksmiths to start. Google’s entry into this increasingly heated market — Angie’s List, Yelp, Thumbtack andAmazon’s own nascent Home Services program are all in the mix — could have a significant impact on current players and local service providers. According to Reutersthe home... [...]

Chris Perkins says, “Don’t call it a Google Glass comeback… yet. Google has been quietly delivering its new generation of Glass to a variety of businesses, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The new enterprise Glass differs from the first iteration in that it attaches to a set of glasses, rather than having its own wire frame. SEE ALSO: Google: Here’s what we did wrong with Google Glass Google discontinued the first version of Glass in January, placing Nest founder Tony Fadell at the head of developing the next generation. The first generation was a bit... [...]

Jim Yu says, “Since John Deere published The Furrow in 1895, content marketing has been right in front of the consumer eye. Fast-forward to the modern-day search marketing era, and content marketing has exploded. The key challenge for marketers, however, is finding ways to maximize the opportunity and win on the digital content marketing battleground. It is estimated that by 2020, the digital universe will grow 300 times, from 130 exabytes to 40,000 exabytes. That is 40 trillion gigabytes. This incredible rate of growth will be largely fueled by digital content, search and social marketers.... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “In February, Google began testing ads from app developers in the Google Play store search results. Wednesday, the company announced Search Ads on Google Play are starting to roll out to all advertisers. It is also introducing a new conversion tracking solution to work with third parties, as well as the rollout of a simplified campaign format for app advertisers. Android app developers running search app install campaigns in AdWords will automatically have ads eligible to show in Play Store search results. Google says “search is one of the biggest drivers of app installs... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “With millions of apps for consumers to select from in popular app stores, many companies struggle to drive installs of their mobile apps. Companies with websites frequently use interstitials in an effort to convert mobile web users into mobile app users, but according to Google, these efforts could come with significant risk. At one point, the search giant employed a full-page interstitial to encourage mobile web Google+ users to download and install the company’s Google+ app. On the surface, the results appeared to be good. 9% of visitors to the interstitial... [...]