Amy Gesenhues says, “Google analytics rolled out new updates to its Tag Manager today, including new APIs, additional third party templates, and an updated interface. Google says its new Tag Manager API has, “All the power of the web interface.” The new full-featured Google Tag Manager API lets you customize the infrastructure to suit your needs, whether that means building your own tools or better integrations with your existing workflow. Google Analytics Blog”. Google Analytics Launches New Set Of Tools For Tag Manager Users Marketing Land  [...]

Seth Fiegerman says, “”Many people think our main competition is Bing or Yahoo,” Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman, said this week in Berlin. “But, really, our biggest search competitor is Amazon.” Schmidt likely intended to persuade a skeptical European audience that Google is not all powerful and faces more competition than some might assume. Even so, he offered the clearest comments yet on how Google views Amazon as a top competitor. “People don’t think of Amazon as search, but if you are looking for something to buy, you are more often than... [...]

Google announced its intention to jump from 32-bit to 64-bit in its conference for developers in June. It is expected to released its first physical product based on 64-bits (a new Nexus phone) in a few weeks. There are several advantages to using a 64-bit processor in a product: • It’s faster • It includes more “registers” (an internal fast storage location where information can be kept while it is being worked on) so the information can be processed even faster • It can manage more RAM memory, allowing for bigger, more complex software Competition is alive and... [...]

Mark Leech says, “Frustrated by (not provided) keyword data and other Google Analytics niggles? This post looks to help you resolve these issues to get more from your organic search data. There are many differences between agency-side and client-side, not least the amount of sites worked on! However, there are also some shared resources that add value to both sides of the coin. Data sources are an example of this and when we’re all fighting the same fight, it’s essential to have consistent pots of data to analyse and report on”. Unlock (not provided) organic data and other quick Google... [...]

Russ Jones says, “I wish I didn’t have to say this. I wish I could look in the eyes of every victim of the last Panda 4.1 update and tell them it was something new, something unforeseeable, something out of their control. I wish I could tell them that Google pulled a fast one that no one saw coming. But I can’t. Like many in the industry, I have been studying Panda closely since its inception. Google gave us a rare glimpse behind the curtain by providing us with the very guidelines they set in place to build their massive machine-learned algorithm which came to be known as Panda.... [...]

Adario Strange says, “The top secret experiments at Google’s skunkworks operation, known as Google X, now reportedly include a strange new approach to display technology. Google’s experimental displays will come in all shapes and sizes and fit together in modular pieces, much like a set of Lego blocks, sources told The Wall Street Journal. Once connected to each other, the smaller screens will have the ability to form one seamless, larger display”. Google X Lab Working on Lego-Style Modular Screens, Report Says Mashable  [...]

Danny Sullivan says, “What helped turn BuzzFeed into a site that is the poster child for riding social media into massive popularity and traffic? Ironically, search goliath Google. Early on in BuzzFeed’s history, getting mistakenly hit by a Google penalty caused BuzzFeed to focus on social — a decision that’s been phenomenally successful for the media company. BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti relayed the story when I talked with him last week on stage at our SMX conference in New York. The Google Penalty That Paid Off Soon after Peretti had turned his attention to BuzzFeed... [...]

Gina Broom says, “Site owners across the globe blow their noses noisily as they discover the obituary here. And then they don their black clothes and head out. The year is 2014, and this is the funeral of Google Authorship. Many put time and effort making sure that rel=”author” was laced throughout their website. Each content page frosted with the name and picture of whoever had compiled all of those words into a coherent, informative blog post. But in the words of the (once) famous boy band Five”. Google Authorship is Dead: What’s Missing and How to Fix It Mark Ling’s  ’Affilorama’... [...]

Graham Charlton says, “Panda 4.1, as it has been dubbed, was released by Google last week with the aim of identifying low quality content more easily.  According to Google, it affects between 3% and 5% of search queries and will result ‘in a greater diversity of high-quality small- and medium-sized sites ranking higher’. I asked Marcus Tober, CTO and co-founder of SearchMetrics, about the new update”. Panda 4.1: what’s it all about? ‘Econsultancy’ Blog  [...]

Amy Gesenhues says, “Last night, Google announced a new Panda Update that helps the search engine identify websites with low-quality content. According to Googler Pierre Far, this recent update, which started rolling out earlier this week and is expected to be complete by next week, will affect three to five percent of queries depending on their locale. Designed to help Google identify thin content “more precisely,” the update will penalize sites with low quality content, while allowing sites with more high-quality content to rank better”. Google Rolling Out New Panda Update Designed... [...]