Google Enables “OK Google” Hands-Free Voice Search On PCs

Through a Chrome browser extension users can now invoke the hotword (or hot phrase) “OK Google” to initiate hands-free searches on the PC. Voice search on Chrome was possible before but you needed to manually select the microphone. After the browser extension is installed you simply…

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Google Adds Big Change To Display Bidding: Pay By Viewable Impression In AdWords

In a significant move, Google rolled out CPM bidding by viewable impression in AdWords this week. Advertisers will only be charged for ad impressions that can actually be viewed in-screen by users, rather than on the traditional served impression basis…

Now “Undo” Google AdWords Changes From Change History Reports

Taking action after a completing a test in Google AdWords may just have become a whole lot easier. An new “undo” button was spotted last night in the Change History reporting by Heather Cooan, director of client services at Clix Marketing. Here’s a screenshot from Heather’s…

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Google Trusted Stores Now Integrates With AdWords, Shows StellaService Ratings In US

Today Google formally announced several updates for Google Trusted Stores, the free ratings service Google launched in 2011, just ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. AdWords Seller Ratings Integration Google Trusted Stores is now among the services that help to power seller ratings, which show…

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Matt Cutts: Wrong About Responsive Web Design

In the SEO world, many view Matt Cutts’ word as gospel, and indeed, he is usually spot on with his recommendations and advice. However, Cutts recently released a video in which he explains to viewers that responsive Web design is does not have a negative impact on SEO – and I…

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Designing Analytics Dashboards From Google Webmaster Tools Keyword Data

Ever since Google made the move to encrypt all searches, marketers have been searching for alternative ways to glean keyword referral data — and many have turned to Google Webmaster Tools (WMT) data as a replacement source. To be clear, the data from Google Webmaster Tools is limited. You can…

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In Quality Raters’ Handbook, Google Adds Higher Standards For “Your Money Or Your Life” Websites

Google’s continuing push toward identifying expertise and authority on the web takes another step in the form of a new type of website/landing page classification: “Your Money or Your Life.” It’s explained in detail in a new version of Google’s “Search Quality…

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Conversion Metrics Now Available In Google AdWords Bid Simulator

The AdWords Bid Simulator tool now offers conversion estimates in addition to impressions and clicks to show how bid changes may affect conversion volume and values. For each bid option shown in the simulator, the bid simulator provides the number of conversions — both 1-per click and…

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Google Quietly Rolls-Out “In-Market Buyers” Targeting To Reach Imminent Purchasers

Though it hasn’t been officially announced, Google has started rolling out a new targeting feature on the Google Display Network in AdWords called In-Market Buyers. Listed under Interest Categories, the new In-Market Buyers segments are designed to target visitors whose site visitation habits…

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Holiday PPC Tips From Back-To-School Season: How BookRenter Faced Down Bigger Competitors & Rising CPCs

As online businesses prepare to ramp up their holiday paid search campaigns, it can be instructive to look at insights from the retail’s second biggest season: back-to-school. For BookRenter.com, an online text book rental company, back-to-school is its holiday season.  Jean-Michel…

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Down With Toolbar PageRank And Up With… What?

I’ve never been a big fan of Google’s Toolbar PageRank (TBPR) because, as you may know, it’s a metric that isn’t updated very often. It’s also been thrown around too much as a metric that gauges quality — and I’ve been doing this long enough to know that…

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AdWords Offer Extensions Get Shut Down In Favor Of Google Offers

In February, Google announced the limited release of AdWords Offer Extensions, which allowed advertisers to dedicate extra real estate in their search ads to promoting in-store coupons and discounts. Offer Extensions didn’t make much of a splash when they debuted, and now it turns out they…

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How To Troubleshoot Authorship Issues: Step by Step Flowchart

In October, I spoke at SMX East about some of the opportunities and challenges when implementing Google Authorship. At about the same time, a good friend of mine reached out to me with her authorship issue. While she appeared to have authorship markup …

New AdWords Terms & Conditions Roll Out In Europe, Middle East, Africa

Today, Google announced the roll out of a new set of Terms and Conditions for AdWords in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The changes are part of Google’s efforts to update AdWords T&C globally, in part, to reflect the impact of new capabilities. Mark Martel writes in the announcement…

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Google Testing Site Name & URL In Search Result Snippets

Last month we saw Google testing displaying the site name in place of the URL in the snippets of the search results. Now, Rubén reports Google testing a nicer approach, showing both the site name and the URL in the snippet. So when you search for this site, it will show “Search Engine Land…

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