Colleen Corkery says, “Mobile-friendly websites will soon become more important for businesses than ever. Google recently announced a ranking signal change that will favor mobile-friendly websites in search results. Is your website responsive? The change, influenced by increasing mobile Internet usage, will allow people to more easily discover relevant, device optimized, and high quality search results. Last year, Shopify reported that mobile accounted for 50.3 percent of ecommerce traffic (40.3% mobile, 10% from tablets), beating out computers. The search engine giant stated the change will... [...]

Seth Fiegerman says, “”After nearly seven years as CFO, I will be retiring from Google to spend more time with my family.” That’s how Patrick Pichette, one of Google’s highest-ranking executives, led his announcement on Tuesday that he’d be retiring from his role at the company. That line of reasoning has become something of a safe cliché among notable executives leaving their posts. But then Pichette did something unusual: He kept going, offering a candid explanation about the struggles of work/life balance at his level. Pichette recalls a vacation in Africa with... [...]

Simon Horton says, “A Forrester Research report indicates that eCommerce sales in the U.S. are expected to hit $279 billion in 2015 as buyers spend more time online. Considering the immense market opportunity it provides, it’s no wonder that more and more businesses are moving towards online retailing. However, launching an eCommerce store is daunting and challenging and selling online is an even more demanding task. You need to optimize your shopping cart for better performance. Besides, it is important to invest time and effort in customer engagement, which is one of the most significant... [...]

Thomas Stern says, “Earlier in February, Google and Twitter established a deal to bring more tweets into Google search results through direct access to Twitter’s social feed. This partnership benefits both companies with increased exposure, and gives potential for more advertisement revenue. But what does it mean for your business? It is important to understand how these changes will affect your brand and its digital landscape so you can adapt and increase exposure. How Google Indexes Tweets Today Google currently indexes tweets, trending hashtags and Twitter pages; however, content is produced... [...]

Claudiu Murariu says, “What happens when you take two of the top online platforms in the industry and allow them to play together nicely? On our right, we have Salesforce. Salesforce proudly positions itself as the number one customer relationship management platform and does a stellar job of following the path a lead takes in becoming a customer and a repeat customer. On our left, we have Google Analytics, one of the best web analytics services out there. It does a great job of providing an accurate image of what is happening on your website from the moment an anonymous user arrives to... [...]

Adriana Lee says, “Looked at one way, Google is an online advertising company with a lot of peripheral—and mostly not-very-profitable—side businesses in mobile devices and Internet service. Looked at another, it’s an ambitious-bordering-on-crackpot technological innovator that just happens to make its money from ads. Google, of course, prefers the latter characterization. So it wasn’t any big surprise when Sundar Pichai, Google’s senior vice president of product, took the stage at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Monday to offer some insight into Google’s mindset and clues... [...]

Bill Slawski says, “There are many pages on the Web that are filled with data in the form of tables. It’s possible that if you weren’t paying attention you may have missed Google Table Search entirely—it hasn’t gotten a lot of press as far as I can tell. If you include tabular data on the pages of your site, though, you may be able to find tables from your site included in the results from a query in Google Table Search. Imagine that I am looking to buy a new camera lens, except I’m not sure which one to purchase. I’ve heard good things about Nikon lenses,... [...]

DIY Marketers team says, “When it comes to Google and business, it can be a make or break relationship. Being considered an authority site on Google is an all-time priority.  But here’s the rub, you can’t BUY authority.  You have to earn it.  And just think from the perspective of a “searcher” on Google — don’t you want to TRUST the results you get?  Of course you do – and what’s the point of creating some illusion of authority if it doesn’t ultimately convert to new customers?“. The Key Ingredients to Google Authority Ranking Success Tweak Your Biz  [...]

Dan Barker says, “Google has announced that from April 21st it will be ‘expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal’. Here are a handful of thoughts and recommendations on some actions you may want to take around that. These are not designed to be comprehensive, but hopefully to cover some of the areas other blog posts may not. 1. This will be a big, big talking point, but do try not to panic Lots of SEO agencies will send out emails to their clients instructing them they need to go responsive. Clients will most likely bite their tongues rather than replying ‘tell... [...]

Monica Montesa says, “If a higher ranking in Google search is what your heart desires, there’s another trick to appeasing the Google gods: Securing your website using HTTPS. While you should continue including SEO-friendly keywords, tags and other ranking signals on your website and within your branded content, having a secure site that protects the data of your customers is a huge plus. Not only does this make you look good in the eyes of Google, it makes you appear more trustworthy to prospects and customers on your site as well. Also, it’ll help you stand out from the competition —... [...]