Google Maps carries approximately 11 million illegitimate local listings, with hundreds of thousands more getting created each month, the Wall Street Journal reported this week. These fake listings push real businesses further down the local search results, impacting their ability to reach customers and make unsuspecting users easy targets for scammers.
Google says it is aware of the problem and that it has plans to do more to combat spammers and scammers taking advantage of local listings. It’s not in the company’s interest to jeopardize user trust, yet as many marketers point out, it stands to profit as local businesses turn to paid ads to regain search visibility.
— Read on searchengineland.com/millions-of-fake-google-maps-listings-hurt-real-business-and-consumers-318629
Archive for search engines
The North Face booed by SEO community
Posted in digital media, Google, search engines, SEO with tags advertising agency, brand, Google, Leo Burnett Tailor Made, online marketing, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, search engines, SEO, The North Face, Wikipedia on June 8, 2019 by gadler“Last week, outdoor clothing brand The North Face and its ad agency Leo Burnett Tailor Made, came under fire after the agency updated images on Wikipedia pages for popular travel destinations. The efforts were part of a campaign to get The North Face branding at the top of Google image search results when anyone searched for the corresponding travel locations.
The brand initially claimed it collaborated with Wikimedia for the SEO campaign, but later apologized for the campaign after the Wikimedia Foundation published a response saying The North Face had unethically manipulated Wikipedia and risked the trust in Wikipedia’s mission, “for a short-lived marketing stunt.”
Read the full Search Engine Land article here: searchengineland.com/the-north-face-gets-a-thumbs-down-from-seo-community-after-manipulating-google-image-search-results-317747
2019 Google Ad Industry Benchmarks
Posted in advertising, digital media, Google, interactive advertising, online marketing, PPC, Research, SEM with tags advertising, benchmarks, digital advertising, Google, research, search engines on June 1, 2019 by gadler“Each year, we dive into our data and look for an answer to one persistent, ubiquitous question for PPC advertisers: what exactly does “average” performance look like? Understanding these benchmarks is key for advertisers to recognize their strengths and weaknesses—and more importantly, how they compare in their industry.
This year’s Google Ads report will reveal the average performance across the most crucial KPI’s for advertisers, including:
- Click-through rate
- Cost per click
- Conversion rate
- Cost per acquisition“
wordstream-files-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/documents/google_industry_benchmarks_2019.pdf
What’s wrong with translating keywords?
Posted in AdWords, Google, PPC, search engines, SEM, SEO, voice first with tags digital advertising, Google, online marketing, search engine marketing, search engines, translation, voice search on May 21, 2019 by gadler“…As Google, Yandex and Baidu have developed their search engines and added more automation, machine learning, AI and sophisticated systems, today’s guidance should be:
“Whatever you do, whatever robot you use, do not in any circumstances use any kind of system to translate your keywords – or you will be sent straight to jail without passing go.”
— Read on searchengineland.com/whats-wrong-with-translating-keywords-317281
What the numbers tell us about the current voice search opportunity
Posted in advertising, Analytics, Attribution, Google, online marketing, PPC, Research, search engines, SEM, voice first with tags Analytics, digital advertising, Google, Google Analytics, measurement, online marketing, pay per click, search engine marketing, search engines, voice search on April 1, 2019 by gadlerDespite the rapid growth of voice and virtual assistant adoption, platforms like Google and Amazon have yet to provide businesses with the ability to segment voice interactions from typed interactions in performance reports. This makes it difficult to fully assess the role of voice search and virtual assistants at present, but there are some signals we can use to examine any changes in user behavior and the directional growth of voice interactions.
— Read on searchengineland.com/what-the-numbers-tell-us-about-the-current-voice-search-opportunity-314810
Google’s next chapter for metrics to focus on clarity once ‘average position’ is removed
Posted in advertising, AdWords, Google, interactive advertising, online marketing, PPC, search engines, SEM with tags advertising, AdWords, digital advertising, Google, online marketing, search engines on March 6, 2019 by gadlerFred Vallaeys explains why advertisers need to rethink bidding strategies and position metrics now that Google has announced it will sunset one of its oldest metrics later this year.
— Read on searchengineland.com/googles-next-chapter-for-metrics-to-focus-on-clarity-once-average-position-is-removed-312947
Google featured snippets can now jump to section of content it is sourcing – Search Engine Land
Posted in advertising, Analytics, Campaigns, Google, interactive advertising, mobile, online marketing, search engines, SEM with tags advertising, digital advertising, Google, search engines on December 31, 2018 by gadlerGoogle can now link to some content it is showing in their search results in a new way. Instead of just linking to the page, Google can anchor you to the exact spot of the answer you are looking for and highlight the block of text that is most relevant to your query.
— Read on searchengineland.com/google-featured-snippets-can-now-jump-to-section-of-content-it-is-sourcing-309873
