Bing Places Arrives in Canada & UK
Earlier this week Bing announced that Bing Places would be available to businesses outside of the US. The introduction of Bing Places in Canada and UK will allow businesses to further expand their reach and visibility across the Bing network and customize the business listings across Bing search listings and map systems. Those that are familiar with Google Places should understand the opportunity this brings for marketers and sign up should essentially for any advertisers with physical stores or branches.
Shared by Kevin Ting For more information regarding Bing Places: http://searchengineland.com/bing-places-expands-to-canada-uk-173995 http://www.bing.com/blogs/site_blogs/b/webmaster/archive/2013/10/08/bingplaces-is-now-available-in-the-united-kingdom-and-canada.aspx
The Importance of Click to Call Extension in PPC Ads Google has recently conducted a research survey to understand the significance/value of click to call extensions in the path of customer purchase on mobile devices. 3,000 candidates (active mobile searches and mobile shoppers) filled out an online survey that explored seven different verticals (Travel, Restaurant, Finance, Retail, Technology, Local Services and Auto). Key Findings of the research showed that 70% of Mobile Searchers have used Call Extensions to connect with businesses. Some of the main reasons include finding out more information or to interactive with real person. Having a call extension on a mobile ad influences the perception of the Brand Image. 47% of the surveyed would explore other brands or be frustrated if no
call option is available. 61% of mobile searches state that click to call is most important in the purchasing phase and 31% of consumers call more frequently to make a purchase. The addition of a call button increases CTR by 8% and an average of 40 million calls are driven each month by Google AdWords.
Shared by Agnes Szlahotka Full report can be found on the following website: http://www.google.com/think/research-studies/click-to-call.html Case Study of the value of Call Extension: http://www.google.com/think/research-studies/click-to-call.html
No Google PageRank before 2014 For many years PageRank was one of the main features that helped SEO’s and Webmasters determine the SEO strength of a website. As it is updated by Google it was deemed as being one of the most reliable and realistic tools in analysing the SEO capability of a website, but in recent years has lost its value due to it being less frequently updated. In relation to a question addressed to him on whether there would be a PageRank update before 2014, Matt Cutts, head of the webspam team at Google said ‘I would be surprised if that happened’. This is no surprise as the value of PageRank nowadays is so small that many SEO’s have abandoned taking this factor into account when doing a site audit. The last PageRank update occurred over 8 months ago and seeing as PageRank is no longer as valued or refreshed as it once was I wouldn’t be too surprised if this is the end of PageRank.
Shared by Alex Pye For more details and industry insights regarding these recent developments: http://www.seroundtable.com/google-pagerank-update-2014-17478.html