Greg Sterling says, “As a variation of the old saying, “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” the way to a small business’ (SMB’s) marketing budget may be through its smartphone. Vendors of local marketing services are increasingly realizing the most effective way to reach and retain busy SMBs is by leveraging their mobile devices. Accordingly Google is beefing up its smartphone apps for SMBs: Google My Businessand AdWords Express. Chief among the improvements is the ability to receive real-time alerts for Google reviews and the ability to respond through the app: Starting... [...]

Spencer Kollas says, “You may have heard that Google recently announced the release of a new app called Inbox. Inbox is Google’s next step in its effort to change the way people use and interact with email on their mobile devices. It is important to note and understand that Google is not changing Gmail, they are simply offering a new app for mobile users. Google has always been at the forefront of innovation with regard to email by adding ways to make it easier for their customers to control and manage their inbox experience. Gmail was one of the first email systems to monitor and filter... [...]

Geoff Kenyon says, “PushState and AJAX can be used in tandem to deliver content without requiring the entire page to refresh, providing a better user experience. The other week, Richard Baxter dove into the implications of pushState for SEO on Builtvisible. If you’re not familiar with pushState, you should spend some time to read through his post. If you’re not familiar with delivering content this way, you can check out these sites using pushState and AJAX to deliver content: Time: When you scroll to the bottom of the article, a new article loads and the URL changes Halcyon: When... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Earlier this month, Google said it was actively working on a fix for Trusted Stores merchants to be able to display the program’s badge on secure pages. Google began notifying merchants enrolled in its e-commerce verification program that they can now display the Trusted Stores badge on HTTPS pages. Trusted Stores merchants trying to convert their sites to HTTPS had run into problemsbecause the Trusted Stores badge was specifically designed not to display on secure pages such as cart and checkout. But, to be Trusted Stores compliant, the badge must appear on all other... [...]

Dr. Peter J. Meyers of MOZ has posted an article about Google’s Penguin 3.0 update. Justifying the effectiveness of the update Dr. Peter notes, “Another problem with Penguin 3.0 is that our expectations are incredibly high. We assume that, after waiting more than a year, the latest Penguin update will hit hard and will include both a data refresh and an algorithm update. That’s just an assumption, though. I firmly believe that Penguin 1.0 had a much broader, and possibly much more negative, impact on SERPs than Google believed it would, and I think they’ve genuinely struggled to... [...]

On The Official Android Blog, Google has announced that the Google Play Music app is now integrated with Songza, acquired by Google a few months ago. This post announces that “If you’re a Google Play Music subscriber, next time you open the app you’ll be prompted to play music for a time of day, mood or activity. Choose an activity to get options for several music stations to make whatever you’re doing even better.” This new version of the app has a new User Interface, as well. In the late Spring, Google announced it was starting to build all of its products with a consistent... [...]

A new article in SearchEngineLand reports on the new release of Google Penguin. In this article, Barry Schwartz goes through the history of the Penguin enhancements to Google’s search algorithm, This is the sixth in the series that began April 24, 2012. This update has been eagerly awaited by sites that were harmed by the update just over a year ago. As Schwartz notes, “The publishers have been anxious because of the way Penguin works. If you’re hit by it, even if you make changes, you have to wait until the next release to see if your changes have done what Google wanted.” Schwartz... [...]

In an article on the Engadget website, Daniel Cooper reports that “Google has applied to the FCC for permission to begin wireless spectrum tests in the San Francisco area. According to Reuters, the company’s looking into a rarely-used millimeter wave frequency that is capable of transmitting large amounts of data, but only if the receiving equipment is in the line-of-sight.” Quoting Reuters, Cooper goes on to say “that this project could be used to build out a wireless broadband network that’s much cheaper than fiber.” While mentioning the cost-effectiveness... [...]

For a brief moment, Google began taking pre-orders for the new Nexus phone before it had received approval from the FCC to sell the phone. Apparently due to a communication mix-up, the incident was a mild embarrassment for Google. It shut down the ordering process and said it wouldn’t sell the hone until the FCC approved (this approval is a legal requirement for the sale.) Fortunately, approval has now been received as of 19 October, and the formal sales will commence on the day originally planned in early November, or shortly after it. This is just another example of the many hurdles product... [...]

Pete Pachal says, “Google wants to change email for the better. To do it, it’s launching a new email app, separate from Gmail, called Inbox. Announced via blog post, Inbox builds upon Gmail’s relatively successful tabs, which introduced new buckets for Social updates and Promotions. The app features Bundles, which will group together similar kinds of messages, so things like bank statements and receipts are grouped together. Bundles will be user-customizable as well. There’s also Highlights, which puts important emails front and center — photos from friends, flight itineraries... [...]