Anna Francis says, “Yesterday Google announced that it was going to be completely restructured and sit as a subsidiary of its new parent company, Alphabet. Many of Google’s side businesses will now be housed under Alphabet, and as part of the shuffle Sundar Pichai has now been named as CEO of Google, and Larry Page and Sergey Brin will now serve as the CEO and President of Alphabet, respectively. Google’s reason behind the restructuring is that the company had become too diverse, and for the individual business to flourish successfully it would be better to split them up under a new parent... [...]

Ray Hennessey says, “Say goodbye to Google. Say hello to Alphabet. Google Inc. says it is creating a new operating structure under a newly formed umbrella company it is calling Alphabet Inc. Co-founder and current CEO Larry Page will lead the new company, while Sergey Brin, the other co-founder, will serve as president. Google itself will be an operating unit and get a new CEO: Sundar Pichai, who had been running Android and Chrome. It’s not just a name change, but a reorganization of the company. In a blog post announcing the change, Page said they wanted a “slimmed down”... [...]

Shayna Marks says, “Last week was not a great one for Google+. In case you haven’t heard, Google announced that it was separating one of the most contested features of the social network—that you must use a Google+ account for logging into their other products, like YouTube—among other changes. So why is that a big deal? One of the main things Google+ has going for it is sheer numbers, and that’s the one thing people focus on when talking about the good of the network. Social Media Examiner recently shared that just two weeks after its June 2011 launch, Google+ hit 10 million users.... [...]

Ian Lurie says, “In spite of all the advice, the strategic discussions and the conference talks, we Internet marketers are still algorithmic thinkers. That’s obvious when you think of SEO. Even when we talk about content, we’re algorithmic thinkers. Ask yourself: How many times has a client asked you, “How much content do we need?” How often do you still hear “How unique does this page need to be?” That’s 100% algorithmic thinking: Produce a certain amount of content, move up a certain number of spaces. But you and I know it’s complete bullshit“. Distance from Perfect MOZ... [...]

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... [...]