[ad_1] This is the time of year when my industry colleagues make bold predictions about trends affecting local marketing in 2016. But I’m more concerned about a question you should be asking right now: how healthy is your location data? I doubt that many brands spend much time thinking about data health. It’s not the…

[ad_1] If we assume, as the joke goes, that the best place to hide a dead body is on page two of Google’s search results, we’ve set the basis that Google has a lot of click data to play around with on page one but much less after that point. And all CTR studies (that…

[ad_1] You may remember a few months back, Google mentioned that by showing giant, screen-covering ads for your app to mobile visitors it may lead to a ranking decrease.   In April, Google expanded its algorithm to include mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal and starting 1 November, if sites have these type of large interstitials in place, they…

[ad_1] Welcome to our weekly round-up of all the latest news and research from around the world of search marketing and beyond. This week: changes to structured snippets, a new feature on YouTube, online ad stats and Bing is going to decide what you’re having for dinner. Google AdWords doubles structured snippets In August, Google…

[ad_1] Google has been rolling out Universal Analytics steadily since its launch in 2012 and this year, it announced that the transfer of properties from Classic to Universal Analytics was complete. If you’ve not upgraded yourself, the chances are that Google has done it automatically for you (and you’ll see a notification like this in…

[ad_1] As 2015 comes to a close, people will soon be thinking about their New Year’s resolutions. Losing 10 pounds, quitting smoking, saving more money, stuff like that. Gabriel Weinberg’s New Year’s resolution is to raise the standard of trust on the Internet. With ad blockers so well-known and easily accessible, consumers are increasingly opting…

[ad_1] Just like email, social media is a communication medium and therefore cannot improve organic search rankings, but why is the SEO industry abuzz with social? A recent article here on SEW correctly discussed the effectiveness of harnessing social media but the article suggested, using Moz’s 2015 search ranking factors report, that we should use…

[ad_1] Earlier today I wanted to visit Taskrabbit, so typed the brand name into Google to navigate my way to its website. Here’s what was shown on the first results page… Wow, Taskrabbit is so good they listed it twice! Related articles Obviously the top listing is a paid search ad, although perhaps that’s not…

[ad_1] Reviews are a massive part of the web now, and an absolute essential for online retailers.  They’re also vital for local businesses, whether or not they sell online, thanks to their sheer prominence in local search results.  Just look at this mobile search for restaurants in Chicago. The best organic listings are taken by…

[ad_1] If you haven’t already heard, Search Engine Watch has some exciting news… we’ve launched a brand new search event, Connect, taking place on the beach during 4-5 February 2016 at the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne in Miami. Bringing together the who’s who of search marketing, we’re calling in all our favors from the last 20…