Murray Newlands says, “One of the best ways to determine what will happen in the future is to look at the past. In today’s big data-driven world, we have the ability to access and use information on how customers are interacting with our websites and social media networks. But if we’re capturing this information without knowing how to use it, it’s of no use. Strategising is an important part of everything you do in business. From deploying a new marketing campaign to coming up with a timeline for a new product release, the more information you have, the better you can plan. But first... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “In the upcoming release of Android M, Google is adding intelligence to Google Now that demonstrates the importance of app indexing. At the Google I/O conference last week, the search giant announced Now on Tap, which makes it easy for users to access Google Now without interrupting what they’re doing. Aparna Chennapragada, a director of product management at Google, explained on the Inside Search blog: With “Now on tap,” you can simply tap and hold the home button for assistance without having to leave what you’re doing—whether you’re in an app or... [...]

Pete Prestipino says, “If you have been involved with search engine optimization for any significant period of time, you are aware how dramatically different today’s search results pages are when compared to those of a few years ago. Today, for example, Google has over 1 billion knowledge graph entities that can (and often) appear in its search results. The Knowledge Graph wasn’t even a thing a few short years ago, but today, it’s one of the key differentiators of Google’s search experience. During Google’s I/O keynote on Thursday, Aparna Chennapragada, Director... [...]

Martin Beck says, “Back when Google was promoting Google+ strongly, it added a link to the social sharing service from many of its other properties, including Gmail, YouTube and the main search page for logged-in users. Now those days are over; the overt link to Google+ has been dropped. Google has removed the plus sign from the +[your name here] label that appeared in the upper right-hand corner of many Google properties. Your name remains but the hyperlink to Google+ is gone. You still can navigate to the social network by clicking on the grid of services next to your name“. Google... [...]

Mark Bergen says, “Google has grown up. At least that was a popular verdict from Day One of I/O on Thursday — that the major presentation lacked Google’s renowned childlike weirdness. That it was dull. Unlike prior years, there were no new device giveaways or skydiving, Glass-wearing founders. (Although Day Two brought some magic.) But the three critical new products — a photos app, a VR platform and a revamped Google Now — reflect a certain business maturity, as Google awakens to its threats on mobile and moves to attain the same centrality to our digital lives it had on the desktop.... [...]

Momchil Kyurkchiev says, “Most marketers today are reimagining their strategies to attract, retain and engage a mobile-first audience. By now, however, most have realized that mobile marketing has many unique challenges, such as fragmented landscape, screen size, attention span, etc. With these obstacles (especially the limited, in-demand attention of most users), it can be difficult to figure out if your efforts aren’t enticing enough, or you’re overbearing and driving audiences awa“. Treat mobile marketing like online dating — but avoid these 5 costly mistakes Mashable  [...]

Karissa Bell says, ” Google just showed off what might be its most promising mobile payments app yet, and it’s not Android Pay. The company will begin testing a new standalone app called “Hands Free” that allows people to make purchases without ever touching their phones or a point of sale terminal, Google’s head of payments Sridhar Ramaswamy revealed during a session on Android Pay at the company’s I/O conference Thursday. Rather than so-called “tap to pay” NFC payments apps like Android Pay and Apple Pay, Hands Free will let customers complete... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “Yesterday the New York Times writer Farhad Manjoo exposed part of a Goldman Sachs report about Google in which the firm estimated that roughly 75 percent of Google’s mobile search revenue was generated by users of iPhones and iPads. While not necessarily shocking, this was a big surprise given Android’s market-share dominance. It generated a huge amount of buzz and secondary coverage online. We subsequently obtained a copy of the report from Manjoo“. Report: Google Had $12 Billion In Mobile Search Revenue, 75 Percent From iOS Marketing Land  [...]

JP Mangalindan says, “If you blinked during Google I/O’s opening keynote, you might have missed any one of the company’s product announcements — there were that many. Among them: a look at the next version of its mobile OS with the Android M Developer Preview, the long-awaited Google Photos app and an Internet of Things platform codenamed Brillo. (Yep, like the scrubber.) Here’s a quick rundown of what you might have missed. Meanwhile, those with a little more time on their hands can check out the full keynote here“. Everything you need to know from Google I/O’s... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Google has just confirmed the report that it will enable “buy now” buttons on some mobile ads. In an interview at Re/Code’s Code Conference, Google’s Chief business officer Omid Kordestani said the buy buttons would indeed be coming soon. He did not elaborate on how the buttons would work, but according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, after clicking on a buy button in a mobile search ad users would be taken to a special Google landing page to complete the transaction. Key to retailer buy-in, merchants reportedly will retain at least some customer... [...]