You may optimize your Google authorship image to increase your very own CTRs!

After the introduction and relative success of application rich snippets, Google is now placing the authorship rich snippet with author images being flashed next to the articles credited to them all over the SERPs.

What Google has done, is that it has linked the authorship image to author's Google+ profile. So, whenever a search is made that shows up an article credited to the Google+ user, then the SERPs will fetch the profile picture of that particular user and place it as a thumbnail image on the left hand side of article description.

Though Google has previously mentioned that "you'll need a Google+ profile with a good, recognizable headshot as your profile photo", they haven't forced it yet. It is unclear still if Google will stick to their “headshot” demand or not, since the changes have worked well for some, we can expect Google to come out with a statement soon after all “need” is not a strong enough word. Until they do, you may optimize your Google authorship image to increase your very own CTRs.

 

Social media cheat sheet !

Businesses of all sizes are now using social media. If you are still teetering on the edge of the social sea with no idea how to swim in it, let this highly informative ‘Cheat Sheet’ from Flowtown help you.

Google updated their Top Search Queries feature!

In an attempt to provide more accuracy on where your site ranks for search queries, Google is changing the way it calculates average position in the Google Webmaster Tools Top Search Queries and Google Analytics Search Engine Optimization reports.

Heading forward, Google will average “only the top position that a URL from your site appeared in,” whereas previously Google reported the average ranking position of pages on your site that appeared in Google’s search results for a particular query. Google offered this example:

“Let’s say Nick searched for [bacon] and URLs from your site appeared in positions 3, 6, and 12. Jane also searched for [bacon] and URLs from your site appeared in positions 5 and 9. Previously, we would have averaged all these positions together and shown an Average Position of 7. Going forward, we’ll only average the highest position your site appeared in for each search (3 for Nick’s search and 5 for Jane’s search), for an Average Position of 4.”

Adwords getting 'Ad Group impression share metrics' funtionality!

Google is going to release new functionality for AdWords that is aimed to helping advertisers better allocate their budgets. The new feature will give advertisers impression share metrics down to the Ad Group level.

Previously, impression share metrics were available only at the campaign level, which didn’t help when advertisers were trying to determine which particular ad group should be allocated more budgets.

The Ad Group impression share metrics will be rolled out on January 30 to all advertisers globally.

Google will penalize sites with pages that are top-heavy with ads!

Google has announced that it will penalize sites with pages that are top-heavy with ads.

The change — called the “page layout algorithm” — takes direct aim at any site with pages where content is buried under tons of ads.

Google’s posted on its Inside Search blog yesterday that “We’ve heard complaints from users that if they click on a result and it’s difficult to find the actual content, they aren’t happy with the experience. Rather than scrolling down the page past a slew of ads, users want to see content right away.”

So sites that don’t have much content “above-the-fold” can be affected by this change. If you click on a website and the part of the website you see first either doesn’t have a lot of visible content above-the-fold or dedicates a large fraction of the site’s initial screen real estate to ads, that’s not a very good user experience. Such sites may not rank as highly going forward.

Google also posted the same information to its Google Webmaster Central blog. Sites using pop-ups, pop-unders or overlay ads are not impacted by this. It only applies to static ads in fixed positions on pages themselves, Google mentioned.

Google rolling out handful of updates for Adwords!

Google says, they will soon offer ad group level impression share metrics for the search and display networks.

Advertisers will be able to use this data to better identify high performing ad groups that aren’t capturing the majority of available impressions.

Additionally, Google is also planning an algorithm update to provide more accurate campaign impression share metrics. Changes will include: refined campaign-level stats and once-a-day updates.

These changes will start rolling out globally on January 30.

Moreover, in a separate announcement, Google announced that it has rolled out two improvements to Automated Rules in AdWords: an increase to the rule limit to 100 (from 10) and the ability to undo changes made by a rule.

Making 2012 the “year of mobile” for your brand!

Let’s face it, 2012 isn’t the first year someone has christened the “year of mobile.” But it is the first time consumers have done so – and continue to.

Smartphones most likely rang in 2012 by blowing past 100 million US subscribers. That means there’s a 50% chance your customers are now holding a smartphone; and 80% are using it to change how they shop. Plus, 2012 forecasts call for a 73% rise in m-commerce sales and 60% rise in tablet sales.

Consumers expect every desktop web page to have a relevant mobile equivalent.

In fact, lack of mobile content decreases mobile PPC quality score, drives 80% of mobile site abandonment, and forces nearly 20% of consumers to seek your competitors.

Make no mistake: Mobile consumers have spoken emphatically. Here’s to you, making 2012 the “year of mobile” for your brand!

Google is testing AdWords and AdSense ads with URLs in All-Caps!

Although Google didn’t announce it formally but many People have noticed it and discussion on this are also reported at Webmaster World show.

In recent past Google AdWords changed their display URL policy to require the display URLs to be lowercase. But now some advertisers are claiming, at least on the AdSense site, the display URLs are sometimes being converted to all caps.

One said:I was quite surprised last night to see an ad on my gmail account where the display URL was in all CAPS.

In fact, many advertisers continue to enter the display URLs for their ads in various cases just in case Google changes their mind.

Another advertiser explained, “I still cap words in the URL. You never know, they might change their minds about it.”

 

Profitability of an Adwords campaign can be enhanced by testing differing bid prices!

Over the years Google has added more options to the advertisers through their AdWords user interface. One area that is often overlooked is the bidding options available to advertisers.

Depending on your goals, conversion history, campaign complexity, niche competitiveness, and a number of other factors, you may chose from a variety of different bidding options to best match your goals. Since most of these options are not shown unless you click on the "Advanced" link, you may not even be aware that these bidding options exist.

The profitability of an Adwords campaign can be enhanced by testing differing bid prices. Leaving bids unchanged permits competitors to push your cost of clicks upward by setting their bids just below yours. While manually testing bid prices on Adwords can be time consuming, the reduction in cost can be substantial.

Further, it provides a sense of competitive gratification to inhibit the capability of competitors to push up your spending.

Now ‘Search Plus Your World’ with Google!

Google yesterday added a new dimension to its existing search engine by introducing, Search plus Your World. This feature will integrate personal results, mainly from Google+, into SERPs. This essentially means that information like People, Pages and Profiles will now be seen on the result pages.

Users now have a choice about the kind of search they are interested in. Google has a personalization toggle icon at the top right hand side of the search page, the user now has a choice of including the relevant posts and pictures of his friends on Google+ or an option of drilling down unnecessary information by viewing normal result page.