Amy Gesenhues says, “According to Google Analytics, it will be rolling out new Benchmark Reports over the coming weeks for any users who have opted in to share their data anonymously with Google. The new reports pull industry acquisition and engagement metrics from 1,600 industry categories, 1,250 markets and seven size-buckets, allowing users to analyze data by channel, location, or device category dimensions. Also included is a heat map feature which Google Analytics claims will identify areas that could use more attention. Along with the announcement, Google Analytics included comments... [...]

Jim Bilello says, “In the world of web marketing, I have found there is so much confusion in client reporting that unless you are a Google Analytics and PPC pro it is easy enough for your agency to position the data in ways that are confusing at best and downright misleading at worst. You have a dashboard you say not just spreadsheets? OK—but does your dashboard report on the items discussed below? How do you really know if your Google Pay Per Click or AdWords campaign is performing well against the competition? This brief post is in no way meant to be exhaustive in scope, but it will give... [...]

Ben Barrass says, “Benchmarking – for those that were in the know – was once a fantastic feature of Google Analytics. Discontinued in 2011, and then followed by the removal of Adplanner the following year, meant it became a lot harder to contextualise the great work marketers were doing and get valuable market information. Alternatives for benchmarking have always been available, based on toolbar tracking or proprietary stats vendors for example, but those that used Google Analytics benchmarking reports loved the feature for its simplicity, the fact that it was perceived to be well informed,... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Google has announced its latest play in the product search arena: AdSense for Shopping. The new product brings Google’s image-based product listing ads (PLAs) to third-party retail and commerce sites. Walmart.com is among the limited number of retail sites using AdSense for Shopping. The sponsored ads show related products along the left-hand side of the search results on the site”. Google Expands Product Ads Footprint With AdSense For Shopping Marketing Land  [...]

Kendall Allen says, “Despite our fascination with it, many of us are suspicious of what I once liked to call the Math State — the ascendance of mathematics and algorithms that has occurred in the advertising industry as real-time bidding (RTB), pioneered by search marketing and now rising in programmatic display, has taken hold. We wondered what this development would do to strategic collaboration between brand, agency and publisher. We worried that it would bridle our creativity. We worried that it would dumb down our talent, as we all relied — one way or another — on the algorithm... [...]

Samantha Winchell says, “When you hear the name “Matt Cutts”, the head of Google’s webspam team, do you break out in a nervous sweat? For most, this is not the case, but for some, the mere thought of a Google penalty keeps them up at night. The fact of the matter is, Google is very clear about what is and is not acceptable under their guidelines of use; so if you’re one of those people who breaks out in a sweat when you even see the word algorithm, it’s time for a wake up call. Google is constantly evolving their algorithm, and if you’re doing anything shady, it’s... [...]

Adam Dince says, “These days, marketers are doing everything they can to leverage non-paid marketing channels to increase operating income and decrease spend. One of the most impactful areas of non-paid marketing is search engine optimization (SEO). However, many businesses tackling SEO are only focusing on content marketing and social media while ignoring technical considerations important to Google and Bing. Yes, there’s an echo chamber out there proclaiming that content marketing and social are the new SEO, but that couldn’t be any farther from the truth”. Top 10 Tips... [...]

Sonia Simone says, “You may have seen last week that Google abruptly — and almost offhandedly — announced it was terminating a key element of its future strategy for ranking content. The Authorship program, which would let Google rank content according to the authority of the person who created it, was nuked on Thursday afternoon at the end of the business day on a Google+ thread. It’s not really new behavior. Google is abrupt, secretive, and dismissive of the time and energy it encourages its users to put into its various programs”. The Right Way to Think About Google ‘Copyblogger’... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Google publishers using the Google Publisher Toolbar can now see Google Analytics data directly in the toolbar. The toolbar is available for those using AdSense, Ad Exchange or DoubleClick for Publishers. Rather than having to open Google Analytics separately, the Toolbar window provides analytics about that page, including visitors, pageviews, bounce rate and average time on page during a specific time period“. Google Brings Analytics To Chrome Toolbar For AdSense And Other Google Publishers Marketing Land  [...]

Graham Charlton says, “Having removed author photos from the SERPs in June, Google has now gone the whole hog and removed authorship altogether. Under the authorship scheme, writers could add the rel=author markup to their bylines, linking them to Google+ pages. Indeed, this is probably the only reason why some people joined Google+, as the carrot of improved CTR and perhaps rankings was dangled in front of them. Google’s John Mueller gives the reason that this author information wasn’t so useful for users, and even distracted from those results (?)”. Google drops authorship... [...]