Todd Wasserman says, “In an effort to compete with other online shopping destinations, namely Amazon, Google announced it was adding customer reviews to searches on Thursday. Searches for terms that could be construed as products, like “blender” or “lawnmower,” will now include reviews on a five-star scale that are aggregated from merchants, third-party sites and editorial sites”. Google Adds Amazon-Like Ratings to Searches Mashable  [...]

Bill Faeth says, “Over the weekend Google released another search algorithm update, this time to their Local Search Algorithm.  An article by Search Engine Land, the updated has appropriately dubbed this the “Pigeon” update, which will most likely stick, as this appears to be a significant update. The algorithm update will provide more accurate and relevant local search results that are linked to organic search results within the Google Maps feature, also know as Google Places.  This is critical for local businesses and SEOs as it appears that the two sets of search queries will... [...]

This is a reminder for the Website Magazine webinar scheduled on July 31. Website Magazine is hosting a webinar on Thursday, July 31 at 2.00 pm EDT. The topic of the webinar is “Did Google just penalize me?”. The WM team says, “That’s the first question everyone asks when their traffic drops. The mystique of search engines, and how they do what they do, lends itself to sensationalism. Mainstream media fans the flames with reporting about websites violating terms of service, with results ranging from penalties to page rank downgrades. The truth is, today few businesses... [...]

Bill Slawski says, “I’m going to be asking you to take over as Panda for a little while to see if you can identify the kinds of things that Google’s Navneet Panda addressed when faced with what looked like an incomplete patent created to identify sites as parked domain pages, content farm pages, and link farm pages. You’re probably better at this now then he was then“. Unraveling Panda Patterns MOZ Blog  [...]

Stephanie Chan says, “Google is reportedly purchasing video game livestreaming platformTwitch for $1 billion. A Google spokesperson has declined to comment on the rumors. Twitch, the world’s largest gaming website and community, lets gamers broadcast their live videoplay for viewers. It’s like the Netflix or Hulu for livestreamed games“. With Twitch, Google Could Dominate The World Of Gaming Videos ReadWrite  [...]

Christina Warren says, “As previously rumored, Google is reportedly going to acquire Twitch for $1 billion. The newest report comes from Dean Takahashi at GamesBeat, citing “sources familiar with the matter.” Although the terms of the deal — and the timing of the announcement aren’t known, Takahashi says the deal is a lock. YouTube will reportedly take control of the acquisition and Twitch will be used to expand YouTube’s global video dominance into the growing segment of users who broadcast — or watch broadcasts — played other users playing video games”. Google’s... [...]

Graham Charlton says, “We’re pretty big on measurement on this blog, and we use analytics to identify key topics, improve our content, and prove our effectiveness.  To this end, we’re big users of Google Analytics, supplemented by paid tools from Moz and others. We use a bunch of custom reports, segments and dashboards for measurement but I’ve only recently come across the Google URL builder, thanks to our Head of Social Matt Owen”. How to use Google Analytics URL builder to track campaigns ‘Econsultancy’ Blog  [...]

David Moth says, “All digital marketing activity is measurable. Right? It’s nice to think that’s the case and there are a lot of people who believe it, but unfortunately it’s simply not true. The reasons for this are numerous, not least that companies are struggling to keep up with the constantly shifting digital landscape. In the past digital analytics mainly focused on desktop activity, but now businesses have to employ a broader range of analytics products to measure activity across relatively new channels such as mobile and social”. Which analytics tools do marketers use?... [...]

Kevin Webster says, “It’s fairly simple to come up with a list of “goals” that describe a website’s success. These typically include lead generation, downloads (i.e., coupons, menus, or whitepapers), and ecommerce transactions. Noted web analytics writer and practitioner Avinash Kaushikdescribes these as “macro goals” that are clear and easy to define. But these end points aren’t the only actions a user can take on your website that have value. Enter the concept of a “micro goal.” A micro goal may well be a step in the conversion funnel, such as adding a product to a shopping... [...]

This is a reminder for the Website Magazine webinar scheduled on July 31. Website Magazine is hosting a webinar on Thursday, July 31 at 2.00 pm EDT. The topic of the webinar is “Did Google just penalize me?”. The WM team says, “That’s the first question everyone asks when their traffic drops. The mystique of search engines, and how they do what they do, lends itself to sensationalism. Mainstream media fans the flames with reporting about websites violating terms of service, with results ranging from penalties to page rank downgrades. The truth is, today few businesses... [...]