The latest Google Webmaster video features Distinguished Engineer Matt Cutts talking about what webmasters can expect to see in the next few months in terms of SEO for Google, particularly changes combating black hat web spam from many different angles in a variety of areas.

Here are nine search and SEO changes webmasters will likely see – although, as always, Cutts warns nothing is set in stone and it should be taken with a grain of salt.

1. Next Generation of Penguin – Penguin 2.0

This update is to try and target more black hat web spam. The new Penguin 2.0, which is the name Google uses internally for the next gen Penguin, will be much more comprehensive than Penguin 1.0 and it will go deeper and have a larger impact than the original.

2. Advertorials

Many advertorials (a.k.a., native advertising) violate Google’s quality guidelines. More importantly, they should not flow PageRank.

Google is planning to be a lot stronger on their enforcement of these types of paid links and advertising, disguised as “advertorials”. Cutts did clarify there is nothing wrong with advertorials, simply that they don’t want them to be abused for PageRank and linking reasons. If you use advertorials, Cutts suggested that they should be clearly marked and obvious that it is paid advertising.

3. “Payday Loans” in .co.uk

Cutts mentioned that this is a problematic search, and there are others like it, so they are tackling it a couple of different ways. For those that play in that space, however, you’re out of luck since Cutts isn’t revealing exactly how they are dealing with it, just that it will be happening.

He said that they are targeting specific areas (another example he included was porn queries) that have traditionally been more spammy.

4. Devaluing Upstream Linking

Again, Cutts

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2267962/Matt-Cutts-Talks-SEO-for-Google-9-Things-You-Should-Expect-This-Summer

A new Easter egg turns Google Images into a playable classic arcade game with a Google twist. Head to Google Images and type “Atari breakout” to fire up “Image Breakout” and start destroying rows of images by bouncing a ball into them.

Start the game by going to Google Images and typing in “atari breakout”. The regular image results will load briefly, before your screen transforms to “Image Breakout”.

You’ll be given five balls at the beginning. You’ll lose a ball every time one touches the bottom of the screen.

The rules are pretty simple: there are five rows (sometimes only four) to destroy (blue, green, yellow, orange, and red) at the top of the screen. Use your mouse or the left and right arrow keys to control the blue bar at the bottom of the screen to angle your shots at the images you want to smash with your gray ball.

Hint: If you can make a hole and shoot your ball into that opening, your ball will bounce around and destroy several images at a time.

The “levels”, which are just different Google Images searches, seem to be pretty much the same difficulty level. After completing the first screen, you’ll be taken to random image searches – for example, after destroying the Atari images, up next for me were pictures of ginseng, mayonnaise, Tahiti, English Cocker Spaniel, and Macau.

After your game is over, Google gives you the option to share your score on Google+ (with the message “I played #breakout on Google Image Search! I made it to level x in Image Breakout! Can you beat my score of xx?”) or via a customized short URL.

I believe this is the first Google Images Easter egg.

Atari game “Breakout” debuted 37 years ago.

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2267999/Google-Images-Easter-Egg-Search-Atari-Breakout-to-Play-Image-Breakout-Game

Bing has again expanded features for its Social Sidebar. Bing announced the ability to comment on Facebook directly from the Bing Social Sidebar.

This means you will be allowed to directly engage with your Facebook friends right from the search results. The new tool will allow you to ask questions or provide comments or answers on posts that are relevant to the search.

The ability to directly interact by commenting on Facebook allows you to go from searching to doing, according to Bing. If you search for an event in your area and you have Facebook friends who are talking about attending, you can not only find that out easily with the Social Sidebar, but you can also join in the conversation without ever leaving the search experience.

Bing has been cultivating the Social Sidebar since introducing it last year. Here’s a timeline of the Social Sidebar:

• May 2012: Bing introduced the Social Sidebar
• August 2012: Bing added Facebook Friend Tagging to search, Quora, and Facebook photo search
• September 2012: Bing added Klout and Klout added Bing as an Influence metric
• December 2012: Bing changed the Social Sidebar from gray to white
• January 2013 – Bing allowed tagging to become public and 5x more Facebook results
• April 2013: Bing added Pin it button to image search
• May 2013: Bing moved Klout expert answers to the top of search results

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2267760/Bing-Adds-Direct-Facebook-Interaction-to-Social-Sidebar

A recent Facebook post was my inspiration for preparing this guide. The poster mentioned his desire to assist nonprofits with their marketing once he retired. Although I admire his intentions, I would encourage him (and you) to act now – don’t wait! In fact, I would argue that you have an obligation to use your marketing skills to make the world a better place.

There are dozens of great charities, in your own backyard, that are begging for the kind of help that a digital marketer can provide. Choosing a charity should be like choosing a line of work. Find something that you’re passionate about.

As the parent of a type 1 diabetic, my organization of choice is the JDRF. They are funding a research project to create an artificial pancreas. As you might imagine, this is a monumental effort that requires gobs of money.

For me, passion alone isn’t enough – I want to have “fun” while fundraising. So, I decided to weave a favorite hobby of mine (mopeds and scooters) into a fundraiser. The end result is the A-Town Rumble, an annual moped and scooter rally that raises money for the artificial pancreas project.

You want to pick a cause that you’re genuinely interested in and then create a fun event to support it. To my knowledge, the Rumble is the only moped and scooter fundraiser in the U.S., so don’t worry if it has never been done before. The combination of passion and fun will give you the energy needed to make your event a success.

Holding the line on expenses is a top consideration. You want the money raised to go to your charity – not to overhead expenses. This philosophy should be applied to

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2267466/Nonprofit-Marketing-A-Quick-Start-Guide-to-Fundraising

There has been much speculation this week about some kind of major Google update. Google Penguin 2.0 was not the blame if you’ve lost search traffic. But you can expect the next Penguin update in the next few weeks, Google’s Distinguished Engineer Matt Cutts has confirmed.

“Nope, no new Penguin update this week,” Cutts wrote on Twitter, later adding “…we do expect to roll out Penguin 2.0 (next generation of Penguin) sometime in the next few weeks though.”

The “next generation” of Penguin has been the source of much speculation since Cutts mentioned it in March. He said it would be significant and one of the most talked about Google algorithm updates this year.

Google’s Penguin update launched in April 2012, and was followed by two refreshes last year – in May and October.

Sites that were hardest hit had too much exact match anchor text and link profiles that appeared unnatural to Google – and Google has increasingly applied a “stricter standard” on manipulative link profiles, according to a study by Internet marketing agency Portent.

Need some tips on how to get ready and what websites might be in danger of getting impacted by the next Penguin update? Check out the posts below.

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2267464/Matt-Cutts-Google-Penguin-2.0-Coming-in-Next-Few-Weeks

In 2013 technology and marketing professionals are as busy as they have ever been.

We’re juggling projects, clients, deliverables, deadlines, and tons of data. Our phones have become the hub for much of our professional communications and a growing percentage of our productive work.

With all of this data usage, phones can get clogged up with clutter pretty quickly. Recently I have been doing research into apps that help with both automation (to save me time) and cleaning out the crud that builds up from heavy use of my phones.

Here’s a list of 10 free and paid Android apps to make your life easier and help take back some of your time and space. The apps are evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Adding / Removing Start Up Apps
• Freeing Memory / CPU Usage
• Moving Apps From Phone to SD Card
• Uninstall Apps
• Clear History (call logs, SMS, search history)
• Battery Saver
• Back-up and Restore

Android AutoClean

Android AutoClean is one of my favorites on this list for two reasons: the ability for me to schedule my phone, SMS, and web search history to be cleared is a lifesaver, and the one-click to move apps to my SD card is really convenient.

Developer: Ascentive Software 
OS Requirement: Version 1.6 and up
Size: 1.2 M
Price: FREE

• Adding / Removing Start Up Apps: YES
• Freeing Memory / CPU Usage: YES
• Moving Apps From Phone to SD Card: YES
• Uninstall Apps: NO
• Clear History (call logs, SMS, search history): YES
• Battery Saver: NO
• Back-up and Restore: YES

Norton Utilities Task Killer Lite 

Task Killer Lite is really useful for uninstalling apps, making it much easier than the native workflow – but beyond this simple function, there’s not much in the lite version.

Developer: NortonMobile
OS Requirement: version 1.2

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2267172/10-Killer-Android-Apps-to-Make-Your-Life-Easier

Google AdWords announced that they have begun the rollout of their new ad group level mobile adjustments for AdWords accounts.

Only a limited number of accounts went active immediately, but like their rolling releases, if you don’t see it now, keep checking back daily to see if your account has been activated.

If you have account rep, you can also contact your rep to see if you can get an earlier activation in your account, particularly if you have a lot of mobile targeted campaigns.

Because mobile searchers have different intents than desktop computer searchers, this will enable you to use the same campaigns but value their CPC differently based on your own conversion tracking.

The other change is that you can now set bulk bid adjustments for locations, dayparts and devices, a definite improvement of the old style of having to update each location individually. This should also users much more flexibility in being able to quickly change and test these metrics across campaigns without having to spend a huge amount of time changing then changing back.

These new changes are also active through AdWords Editor, for those AdWords customers using the editor to create, edit and manage their AdWords ads.

These changes are being made in hopes that greater flexibility will increase CPC values when AdWords customers can easily increase bids on segments that are performing well for them. That said, be sure you are aware of your conversion data before jumping in and making a mass amount of changes when enhanced campaigns migrate to your account.

Do note that Google will behind upgrading enhanced campaigns on all AdWords campaigns starting July 22.

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2267146/AdWords-Ad-Group-Mobile-Bid-Adjustments-Are-Here

Yahoo and Microsoft may have just extended their revenue-per-search guarantee, but Yahoo has apparently been trying to escape its 10-year search deal with Microsoft in order to join forces with Google, according to reports.

Yahoo and Microsoft struck their search agreement in July 2009 with expectations that the partnership may allow both firms to rival Google in the search market. Under the terms of the deal Microsoft’s Bing powers Yahoo search, while Yahoo uses its solid relationship with advertisers to be the salesforce for both companies.

However a Bloomberg report said Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has been unsuccessful in her attempts to get out of the agreement for almost a year.

According to the report, Mayer has already met with her previous employer Google and agreed to enter an alternative search partnership if the Microsoft agreement can be concluded. Yahoo was rumored to be seeking a switch to Google even before Mayer was CEO.

As the Wall Street Journal reported:

Under the deal, Microsoft gets 12% of the revenue Yahoo generates from search ads that appear next to search results on its websites. Because the combined search-ad system was expected to face challenges initially, Microsoft guaranteed a certain level of revenue for every search query done on Yahoo’s sites. The regulatory filing says the revenue guarantee expired on March 31, but Microsoft on April 30 agreed to extend it for an additional 12 months.

Jordan Rohan, an analyst at Stifel Nicholas Co., estimated that Microsoft’s revenue-per-search guarantee is worth about $12 million to $15 million per quarter.

Microsoft’s chance to remove its exclusivity won’t arrive until February 23, 2015, five years into the deal. However should Microsoft decide to continue with its current arrangement, it will start seeing 17 percent of revenue

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2266890/Yahoo-Wants-Out-of-Microsoft-Search-Deal

As Google rolls out its Fiber service in Kansas, Bing has moved into Topeka, just a short drive down I-70 with an offer of their own. The Bing it On Challenge has apparently left Google’s backyard of San Francisco and have taken the Bing it On Challenge to the front lines of Google’s quest to bring speedy Internet to the masses.

Calling it the next wave of the Bing It On Challenge, Bing has tossed out a lot of data suggesting that people continue to be surprised when they realize they choose Bing over Google and how “impressed” they are with Bing’s results.

The Bing It On Challenge began last fall. The side-by-side comparison, pitting Bing results verses Google results, was the spawn of a survey conducted by a third-party research firm.

In the original survey, 57.4 percent of the 1,000 respondents chose Bing over Google. Bing followed it up with man-on-the-street live tests in front of rolling cameras in the San Francisco Bay area.

Since then, Bing launched a series of commercials promoting “people prefer Bing over Google.” Their message is simple: Bing results are preferred. Break the habit and give them a try. They also released new data around ongoing testing and results.

Selecting the city that renamed itself Google for a day in hopes of winning the bid for Google Fiber, Bing let their test loose on the streets of Topeka. In the video, one man even refers to his city as Google, Kansas.

They’ve also changed both the BingItOn.com site and the challenge, itself. The challenge site’s home page offers other reasons to choose Bing, including their “smart and always fresh” home page, video previews and translation service. The challenge now includes trending searches to get you started, in an attempt to show that that they, too, have up-to-date trends.

It’s

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2266507/Bing-It-On-Challenge-Goes-Directly-to-Google-...-Kansas

Google has removed the link to Places search. The link, which had been located in Google’s “More” drop-down menu option, is no longer there, meaning local businesses can only be found via search (paid or organic), Google+ Local, or Google Maps.

Image via Understanding Google Maps Local Search

Also, when Google shows a 7-pack of local results, there is no longer an option to see “More results near [location]“.

The elimination of Places Search, which launched in 2010, was first reported by Mike Blumenthal and the change comes not long after the launch of the new Google Places for Business dashboard.

This is an interesting development, considering Google has pledged to label Places Search results, as well as link to three competitor sites in Europe, as shown in this illustration:

So it seems as though you check the box that says Google Places search is permanently closed. Do you think Google is working on a rebranding of local search, involving more heavily pushing Google+ for local businesses?

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Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2266202/Is-Google-Places-Search-Permanently-Closed