What Google’s new GBoard mobile keyboard means for marketers
May 16, 2016: On May 12, Google rolled out a new mobile keyboard for iPhone users called “GBoard” that integrates search directly into the keyboard. As the demo below shows, it makes it far easier to search for something while messaging a person at the same time, thus solving a major mobile search usability issue: […]
Facebook, news bias, and user trust
May 12, 2016: Facebook found itself in the crosshairs of conservatives this week when it was alleged that the social network — whose “trending topics” feed is curated by human editors — routinely suppressed news from right-leaning news outlets such as Breitbart.com. Facebook spokesman Tom Stocky acknowledged the seriousness of the claims in a Facebook […]
Amazon Business Services for your small biz
May 11, 2016: Amazon is a B2C powerhouse, but has recently added business services that some SMBs may find compelling. Amazon Business Services is growing rapidly, according to Amazon.com’s recent financial reports; right now, 300,000 businesses have signed up. What kind of small businesses are using it? Right now, Amazon offers a bunch of pre-packaged services designed […]
Google pushes Knowledge Vault, Rich Snippets in search results
May 10, 2016: New data from our friend Eric Engine at Stone Temple Consulting quantifies some of the major changes that Google has made to the layout of its results pages in the past several months, the most noticeable and consequential being the removal of right rail paid results. The study – which analyzed 855,000 queries […]
Fear of linking: the truth about outbound links
May 9, 2016: Over at SEORoundtable.com, a fierce debate was ignited this week over a quote from Google spokesperson Gary Illyes, who criticized news sites for failing to provide hyperlinks to sources in stories they ran, calling this policy “stupid.” Some accused Illyes of being disingenuous. One SEO wrote: Google shapes the Internet with their […]
Survey: Paid search still best for ROI measurability
May 5, 2016: A survey report recently released by Econsultancy and Oracle shows that despite growing interest in social media, marketers believe that paid search provides the best way to quantify ROI. 50 percent of marketers polled reported that they felt “good” about their ability to measure paid search ROI – only email came close, […]
Study: social media posting is #1 marketing tactic for small businesses
May 3, 2016: A new study from LeadPages and Infusionsoft surveyed 1,000 small U.S. businesses to assess their most oft-used marketing tactics. Here are some highlights from the report: 57.8 percent of SMBs use social media posts to promote their firms. Because only a very small percentage of SMBs use agency services, it makes sense […]
What’s holding SEOs back from implementing AMP? (Take the poll!)
May 2, 2016: A survey undertaken by consultancy firm SEO PowerSuite polled 400 SEO professionals around the world on their progress implementing AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages). According to the survey, while most SEOs are aware of AMP, why it’s important, and what it takes to implement it, only 23 percent of them had actually done […]
What’s black and white and red all over? The Instagram redesign
April 28, 2016: After reports emerged early this week that Instagram was testing a new layout design, I didn’t expect to experience the updated version so quickly. The redesign dropped into my unknowing updates on April 26th, and I opened the app to a slightly tweaked layout. My first reaction – conditioned by the sudden […]
How to Build a Facebook Business Video in 5 Minutes
April 27, 2016: Facebook has rolled out a new feature for business pages that allows them to create a brand video. The feature– called “Your Business Story” — takes creative from your page, allows you to add some text and music, and can be boosted and promoted through Facebook ads. As we’ve mentioned before, social […]