InfoWorld.com reports that there’s a new threat growing out of the easy extensibility of Google Chrome with add-ons. It has always been possible for someone to create a malicious or adware plugin and attempt to place it on the Chrome Web Store. Google worked hard to assure that such apps didn’t see the light of day or at the least were removed immediately. But there’s a back door Google apparently hadn’t considered: What if a good app goes bad? That’s what happened to two such add-ons, Add to Feedly and Tweet This Page. Once considered useful extensions downloaded... [...]

The latest ‘Web Marketing Today’ blog post is titled “How Google Hummingbird Affects Website Content”. Pamella Neely says, “At the close of September 2013, during the same week that Google stripped keyword data from Google Analytics accounts, it announced the Hummingbird update. But Hummingbird was no mere algorithm change. It was an entirely new algorithm, a new way for Google to pull search results from its vast database of information on the web. Hummingbird affected 90 percent of search results. That’s a big deal, especially if you consider when Google Panda (another algorithm... [...]

The latest ‘MarketingExperiments’ blog post is titled “Testing and Analytics: What’s stopping you from testing?”. Taylor Kennedy says, “How often do you read a blog or case study about a huge lift (sometimes here on this very site) and think, “That’s too good to be true.” Trust me, you’re not alone. I think like that also and I’m here to tell you that it’s alright. It pays to be skeptical in the marketing world. To me, skepticism is just another way of saying you pay close attention to details. After all, it’s the details that help you discover why people buy your products”. Testing... [...]

The latest post on ‘ReadWrite’ is titled “Google Chrome Can Cut Your Mobile Data Usage—But There’s A Catch”. Selena Larson says, “The latest Chrome for Mobile update could help lower your data usage, but there’s a caveat—it will pass everything you browse through Google servers. Google announced new Chrome data compression and bandwidth management that it says could cut your browsing data usage in half. This is an opt-in feature that you can turn on via the browser’s settings. The data compression feature is powered by an SPDY proxy connection running on... [...]

The latest article on ‘Website Magazine’ is titled “Google Hummingbird, A Caffeine-Fueled, Long-Tail Search System”. Sylvia Nankivell says, “The title of this article will have either caused you utter despair or a great deal of intrigue. For those of you that sit with the former, read on and you will slowly feel better. For those that are intrigued, you should be – Google is moving fast, and we need to keep up with a curious mind! There are two main elements to the understanding of Google Hummingbird, and this is where the article’s title comes from“. Google Hummingbird,... [...]

The latest ‘Econsultancy’ blog post is titled “Google image search changes: making life easier for publishers”. Christopher Ratcliff says, “This is just a quick one for all you bloggers and publishers out there. If you’ve run into problems from accidentally, or not-so-accidentally, using images under copyright from a routine image search, Google has just made things a lot easier for you. In amongst the image search options, Google has just added a search by ‘usage rights’ field“. Google image search changes: making life easier for publishers ‘Econsultancy’... [...]

The latest article on ‘Business 2 Community’ is titled “Google SERP Analysis: Decision-Making for Inbound Marketers”. Bradley Smith says, “Inbound marketing reminds us that there is no shortcut to market research, data-driven decision making and communicating correctly with prospects. Most importantly, it reminds us that the message to our prospects must focus on a real connection, driven by purpose and based on permission. But how does our voice stand out from all others? How do we communicate from that one immutable focal point of purpose when all forms of data and all other... [...]

The latest post on ‘Mashable’ is titled “Google Buys Nest for $3.2 Billion in Cash”. Seth Fiegerman says, “Google has entered into an agreement to acquire Nest, the business behind the smart thermostat and smoke detector, for $3.2 billion in cash.“They’re already delivering amazing products you can buy right now—thermostats that save energy and smoke/CO alarms that can help keep your family safe,” Larry Page, cofounder and CEO of Google, said in a statement. “We are excited to bring great experiences to more homes in more countries and fulfill their dreams!” Nest... [...]

The latest article on ‘Website Magazine’ is titled “Google’s Product Listing Ads Outperform Text PPC Ads”. Pete Prestipino says, “2013 was a terrific year for Google and its Product Listing Ads.  Research from digital marketing firm IgnitionOne indicates that the click-through rate for PLAs during the year was upwards of 47 percent higher than the click-through rate for text-based pay-per-click ads on the network. IgnitionOne revealed that based on research of its client accounts, the click-through rate for PLAs during the year averaged 2.8%, while the pay-per-click average... [...]

The latest post on ‘Copyblogger’ Blog is titled “Finally … Site Analytics for Plain Folks”. Demian Farnworth says, “Analytics. It’s a strange, four-syllable word that causes some people strange fits. You can’t really turn around without running into it in some form (metrics, reports, data, dashboards) or someone telling you how insanely important it is. There’s no shortage of site analytics tools — starting with the most popular, Google Analytics (GA). These tools can measure the routine (traffic, clickthroughs, page views) to the complex (visitor flow, channel acquisition,... [...]