Google+ Local

Google SAB Update: Service Area Now Displaying in Knowledge Panel

Mike Blumenthal

I don’t search on service area businesses very often. But doing client work today I did and I noticed that for the first time that service areas are prominently displayed in the local branded knowledge panel. I have no idea when this was implemented but it indicates that Google has increasing trust in the data […]

Channel: SEM Search Engine Land SMX & DMD Alerts Uncategorized

SPONSOR MESSAGE: Market Intelligence Report-PPC Campaign Management Tools 2013

Search Engine Land

In this new report you’ll get updates on the current trends and issues in search campaign management and automation. Also get insight into the impact of Facebook and other social networks on search campaign management. Plus, profiles of the top 10 leading vendors and analysis of the impact HP and…

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

AdWords adwords ad extensions Channel: SEM ecommerce Google Google: AdWords holiday optmization internal site search Search Ads: General Search Engine Land Uncategorized

Google Testing New AdWords Site Search Extension

Ginny Marvin

A new flavor of AdWords form extensions has been spotted. It’s a site search box, and according to Google, this test is related to the drop-down navigation extension seen in August. Users can perform an internal site search of the advertiser’s web site right from the search results….

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

android apps Channel: SEO Google Google: Mobile Google: SEO Google: Web Search Google: Webmaster Central Search Engine Land sitemaps Top News Uncategorized

Google App Indexing: Google Can Index & Link To Content In Your Android App

Barry Schwartz

Google announced that they can now index the content within Android apps. The mechanism for doing so, they call, is app indexing. App indexing allows webmasters to connect pages from your web sites with specific content within your Android app. This en…

Channel: Consumer Microsoft: Bing Microsoft: Bing User Interface Search Engine Land Uncategorized

Bing Celebrates Halloween By Showcasing 6 Classic Hollywood Horror Movies On Its Homepage

Amy Gesenhues

To celebrate Halloween, Bing has turned it’s homepage into a horror movie homage with hidden links leading to search results for six classic scary movies, including The Amityville Horror, the original Halloween released in 1978, The Shining, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Friday the 13th…

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

advanced crawling and indexing Google Webmaster Blog mobile search results sitemaps Uncategorized

Indexing apps just like websites

Google Webmaster Central
Webmaster Level: Advanced

Searchers on smartphones experience many speed bumps that can slow them down. For example, any time they need to change context from a web page to an app, or vice versa, users are likely to encounter redirects, pop-up dialogs, and extra swipes and taps. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could give your users the choice of viewing your content either on the website or via your app, both straight from Google’s search results?

Today, we’re happy to announce a new capability of Google Search, called app indexing, that uses the expertise of webmasters to help create a seamless user experience across websites and mobile apps.

Just like it crawls and indexes websites, Googlebot can now index content in your Android app. Webmasters will be able to indicate which app content you’d like Google to index in the same way you do for webpages today — through your existing Sitemap file and through Webmaster Tools. If both the webpage and the app contents are successfully indexed, Google will then try to show deep links to your app straight in our search results when we think they’re relevant for the user’s query and if the user has the app installed. When users tap on these deep links, your app will launch and take them directly to the content they need. Here’s an example of a search for home listings in Mountain View:

We’re currently testing app indexing with an initial group of developers. Deep links for these applications will start to appear in Google search results for signed-in users on Android in the US in a few weeks. If you are interested in enabling indexing for your Android app, it’s easy to get started:

  1. Let us know that you’re interested. We’re working hard to bring this functionality to more websites and apps in the near future.
  2. Enable deep linking within your app.
  3. Provide information about alternate app URIs, either in the Sitemaps file or in a link element in pages of your site.

For more details on implementation and for information on how to sign up, visit our developer site. As always, if you have any questions, please ask in the mobile section of our webmaster forum.

Posted by , Product Manager

Channel: Consumer Search & Society: General Search Engine Land Search Engines Search Resources Uncategorized

New Search Engine Indexes Thousands Of Radio Stations With Artist, Song, Genre & Show Search Filters

Amy Gesenhues

A beta version of RadioSearchEngine.com launched this week after more than a year in development. According to its creator Michael Robertson, the site is the world’s first radio search engine, “There are other directories of A-Z lists of radio stations, but this is the first search…

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Channel: Local Google Google: Maps & Local Google: SEO Search Engine Land Top News Uncategorized

Report: Basic Local Optimization Steps Boosted Google Visibility By 179 Percent

Greg Sterling

Digital agency and technology provider SIM Partners released a report (registration required) discussing how use of several basic Local SEO tactics can dramatically improve visibility on Google. The study involved 315 US business locations. These are not independent, small businesses. SIM Partners…

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International SEO: 22 tools and one infographic to help improve your strategy

David Moth

At Distilled’s Searchlove conference earlier this week WooRank’s Aleyda Solis gave an excellent overview of some of the main challenges involved in implementing an effective commerce strategy.

The full run through is available on Slideshare, but here is a compilation of the tools that Solis recommended…

Keyword research tools

Another tip, don’t rely on Google Global Market Finder to identify opportunities as it’s not always accurate.

International SEO ROI calculator

Once you have analysed what’s required from a business, technical, content and language support perspective, this tool can help validate the feasibility and break-even point for each market.

Hreflang Tag Generator

When properly implemented hreflang tags help sites to avoid misalignments by specifying the page’s language and country targeting.

This tool will help to create hreflang tags for different languages and countries with the correct syntax and value formats.

Hreflang sitemap tool

This tool from The Media Flow allows users to create an XML sitemap including the hreflang annotations.

Hreflang validation

Dejan SEO has created a free tool that enables site owners to validate the implemented hreflang annotations.

Understanding local markets

The Google Consumer Barometer and TNS Digital Life have information that helps businesses to better understand their international audience.

SimilarWeb

SimilarWeb enables site owners to seek out the competition by identifying the top websites in the relevant industry and country.

Popular content

These tools are useful for identifying the most linked and shared content in each international market and industry.

Influencers

These tools identify local industry influencers, which allows site owners to come up with a targeted content and outreach strategy.

And finally…

Here’s Aleyda’s international SEO checklist.

Channel: Industry Search Engine Land SEM Industry: Conferences SEM Industry: Search Marketing Expo - SMX SMX & DMD Alerts Uncategorized

No Trick: 2 Days to Save $200 on SMX Social Media Marketing – Treat Yourself & Register Now!

Search Engine Land

SMX Social Media Marketing Early Bird rates expire this Friday, November 1. Register now and save! Join us November 20-21 in Las Vegas for: Wicked-effective paid, earned and owned social media tactics that will frighten your competition. Expert speaker…

AdWords call tracking Channel: SEM conversion tracking Enterprise SEM Google Analytics Google: AdWords Google: AdWords: Enhanced Campaigns Paid Search Column Search Engine Land Uncategorized

5 Conversion Tracking Tips For AdWords

Frederick Vallaeys

Last month, I covered how to use call tracking for AdWords to shed some light on how to track phone calls as conversions. This month, I’d like to continue in that vein and share some more tips for tracking and optimizing by conversions, whether they are of the call or online variety. When I…

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Google+ Local

Google+ Custom URLs – Facts, Tidbits and Concerns

Mike Blumenthal

Google rolled out a series of new photographic tools on Tuesday that they hoped would make them as cool as Apple but it seems that all folks are talking about is the new “custom” URLs at Google Plus. Here are a number of factoids, observations & issues in relation to the latter: “Custom” is a […]