Technology News and Industry Knowledge

Google has filed a lawsuit against a company that allegedly was charging business owners money for free Google Business Profiles, selling fake reviews and promising first-page rankings. Why we care. If anyone claims they are calling on behalf of Google and demands that you pay money for a free service, just don’t. Protect yourself. Do your research. Never pay such demands. It’s a scam. G Verifier promised first-page rankings on Google. G Verifier (which Google’s suit alleges was run by Kaushal Patel of Ohio) threatened business owners that if they failed to pay (typically $99), their Business listings would be deactivated or marked as “permanently closed” and their positive reviews would be hidden – resulting in lost visibility and revenue. Also according to the filing , The G Verifier Websites also make false promises regarding search prioritization and ranking. For instance, G Verifier tells business owners that they will “[g]et the first page on Google search” and that “[i]f ...

Cyber Monday in the US this year brought in over an 8% increase in sales since FY21. Globally, sales hit $46.2 billion, a 2.4% increase YoY. Black Friday also saw an increase this year of about 12%. This brings total sales for the weekend to around $68 billion. The figures are not adjusted for inflation, which plays a big part in the cost of goods also increasing. Record numbers for Shopify. Shopify reported that 52 million consumers globally spent $7.5 billion on Shopify merchants, a 19 percent increase over last year. “Consumers voted with their wallets over Black Friday and Cyber Monday by shopping with independent businesses,” said Shopify President Harley Finkelstein. “The future of commerce is on any surface, whether that’s shopping online or in store.” Toys topped the most popular items shopped. The most popular toys shopped this year were: Pokémon cards Legos Hot Wheels Disney Encanto LOL Surprise dolls Cocomelon and Hatchimals toys Gaming consoles PlayStation 5, ...

Consumers can nominate someone they think is deserving of a digital crown through the end of the year. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/crown-royal-digital-collectible-care-packages-troops-diageo/637594/

The game, which is based on a real store concept, allows users to play mini games and collect tokens to exchange for super-powered sneakers. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/kids-foot-locker-opens-roblox-house-of-play-virtual-metaverse-game/637625/

There is a lot of fervor in the SEO industry for Python right now. It is a comparably easier programming language to learn and has become accessible to the SEO community through guides and blogs. But if you want to learn a new language for analyzing and visualizing your search data, consider looking into R. This article covers the basics of how you can produce time series forecasts in RStudio from your Google Search Console click data. But first, what is R? R is “a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics,” according to The R Project for Statistical Computing .  R isn’t new and has been around since 1993. Still, learning some of the basics of R – including how to interact with Google’s various APIs – can be advantageous for SEOs. If you want to pick up R as a new language, good courses to learn from are: Data Analysis with R Programming (Offered by Google) R Programming (Offered by Johns Hopkins University) But if you grasp the basics and want t...

In a recent survey led by Yelp and conducted by Material, 2,000 Americans were asked to reveal what they consider to be trustworthy reviews. The respondents said they read, on average, five reviews about a business to inform their spending decisions, and 77% say they’re reading more online reviews now than they ever have before. Key findings. In their survey, Yelp found the following: Respondents say they research and consider online reviews more for restaurants (67%), household repairs/work (57%), car repair/services (55%), medical needs (51%) and professional services (42%). When respondents think they’ve spotted a fake online review, they will read other reviews to gather additional opinions (49%), ignore the potentially fake review (34%), find another business (27%) or report the review (24%). Only 28% of respondents are looking out for incentivized reviews, but 71% say they would no longer visit a business if they learned the business has fake or compensated online reviews. ...

Digital content creation and management seem to be more complex than ever. Workflows now need to accommodate remote workers and resources, worldwide offices, and security and privacy concerns, not to mention the growing pressure on content and creative teams to produce more content in less time and with fewer resources. So how are the most successful teams currently executing production and managing their workflows? To answer this question and find out the best practices for improving efficiency, Canto surveyed nearly 650 professionals in the United States and the United Kingdom involved in the production, management and/or strategy for content and creative assets at their organization. Tune into this webinar to learn the results of the survey and take an in-depth look at the content strategies, workflows and technologies that have made these organizations successful. You’ll take away valuable tips on how you can revamp your own content programs in 2023 and dive deep into the fi...

There are many questions about content length in SEO and what ranks the best.  While Google says there’s no specific word count they recommend, some studies have shown that long-form content tends to rank higher than short-form. If you’re interested in writing long-form content, you probably want to make sure it’s going to rank, get read, and convert so you create an ROI for your effort. What is long-form content?  Most consider long-form content to be over 1,000 words. It’s a content piece that goes in-depth, offers extra value for the reader and includes more research, insights, and information than a quick read.  Long-form content should leave the reader feeling comfortable with the subject and as if their questions have been answered and they know what to do with the information or how it applies to them. What should you include in long-form content? You want to create content that helps your reader. Think about them and what they need or want to learn from thi...

As 2022 winds down, marketers are being asked to focus on efficiency and “do more with less.” The most successful have leveraged tools such as calculated metrics, artificial intelligence and real-time insights. In this webinar, learn how a financial institution with over 21 million active customers connects its customer data, segments audiences faster and delivers personalized experiences in real time. Join Salesforce in this free webinar and learn real use cases on finding success and business results by sending fewer communications that are more relevant and targeted. Register today for “ Do More with Less: Connect Customer Data to Drive Marketing Efficiency ,” presented by Salesforce. Click here to view more Search Engine Land webinars. The post Webinar: Do more with less to get ahead in 2023 appeared first on Search Engine Land . Via Search Engine Land https://ift.tt/8fTOv0r

A limited-run holiday product includes step-by-step instructions for recreating a meal consisting of spaghetti topped with syrup and sweets. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/hellofresh-elf-will-ferrell-holiday-marketing/637497/

Taking inspiration from its 32-year-old “O’Tannenpalm” holiday ad, Corona has created a promotion that is both nostalgic and looks towards the future.  source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/corona-iconic-holiday-ad-virtual-tannenpalm-tree-lot/637489/

The chain looks to capitalize on the World Cup in a new soccer-themed campaign featuring a diverse array of talent. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/taco-bell-soccer-latinx-World-Cup/637481/

The concept of expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-A-T) has played a central role in ranking keywords and websites – and not just in recent years.  Speaking at SMX Next, Hyung-Jin Kim, VP of Search at Google, announced that Google has been implementing E-A-T principles for ranking for more than 10 years. Why is E-A-T so important? In his SMX 2022 keynote , Kim noted: “E-A-T is a template for how we rate an individual site. We do it to every single query and every single result. It’s pervasive throughout every single thing we do.” From this statement, it is clear that E-A-T is important not just for YMYL pages but for all topics and keywords. Today, E-A-T seemingly impacts many different areas in Google’s ranking algorithms. For several years, Google has been under much pressure about misinformation in search results. This is underscored in the white paper “How Google fights disinformation,” presented in February 2019 at the Munich Security Conference. ...

With inflation looming, consumers waited until the shopping event to get deals on categories like electronics and sought out financing options such as buy now, pay later. source https://www.marketingdive.com/news/winners-losers-black-friday-2022-electronics-inflation/637382/

Microsoft is looking to double its ad business from $10 billion a year to $20 billion in revenue. Leadership didn’t specify a timeframe, but if their goal is reached, it will become the sixth-largest digital ad seller worldwide. Microsoft’s multiple ad properties. Microsoft’s ad properties include Bing search, Xbox, MSN and many other websites that use Xandr to sell digital ads. Microsoft also introduced vertical ad formats, credit card ads , and expanded its audience network into 66 new markets. Search and news revenue up 16%. Microsoft reported their FY23 Q1 ad revenue is up 16%. But CFO Amy Hood told analysts during the earnings call that “reductions in customer advertising spend, which also weakened later in the quarter, impacted search in advertising and LinkedIn marketing solutions.” But the search and advertising bump was “driven by higher search volume and Xandr.” Nadella says Microsoft has “expanded the geographies we serve by nearly 4x over the past year.” Microsoft Edg...

Rick and Morty.  Hall and Oates.  Coffee and bourbon.  Rich results and structured data.  All four: iconic duos. But only one can generate over $80k in revenue once added to your website.  On May 17, 2016, Google introduced the concept of “rich cards.” Google has revived rich cards into what SEO professionals call rich results today. Rich results were created to make a more engaging experience on Google’s search result pages.  The result of rich results is a crowd-pleasing SEO tactic that produces an average of 58 clicks per 100 queries . Rich results are a dry and smooth SEO move, with flavors of structured data sprinkled with schema markup alongside sweeter code of JSON-LD.  In the words of the 2022 Women in Tech SEO mentor, Anne Berlin : “For my money, I’d recommend implementing your rich result strategy from the get-go with as much detail as possible to extend the window of time before a change in policy forces you to make an overhau...