SearchCap: Google My Business Advanced Verification, AdWords Editor Update & Google Home Featured Snippets

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• Google My Business testing advanced verification process for spammy map categories
  Oct 5, 2016 by Barry Schwartz

  Google tests a new spam prevention technique for local results called advanced verification. It uses a third-party company to verify the business.

• Google Home responding with featured snippets
  Oct 5, 2016 by Barry Schwartz

  Ever wonder how Google Home will source, aka link to, the website it pulls the answer for your queries from? This video shows it off.

• AdWords Editor now supports more ad formats, device bidding
  Oct 5, 2016 by Ginny Marvin

  Advertisers can create and edit Gmail ads and more in version 11.6.

• Is Account-Based Marketing right for your business?
  Oct 5, 2016 by Digital Marketing Depot

  If you’re in B2B marketing today, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is likely sitting somewhere in your 2016 initiatives. It’s an exciting concept but one that requires a ton of research, planning and grunt work. It also might not be right for your business. This guide from BrightFunnel reviews the basics of ABM and provides a framework […]

• How to check which URLs have been indexed by Google using Python
  Oct 5, 2016 by Paul Shapiro

  Google Search Console can help you determine which of your website pages are indexed, but what about identifying the ones that aren’t? Columnist Paul Shapiro has a Python script that does just that.

• Infographic: 11 amazing hacks that will boost your organic click-through rates
  Oct 5, 2016 by Larry Kim

  Got great content and rankings, but still not getting clicks from organic search? Columnist Larry Kim shares tips and a fantastic infographic on how to improve your organic CTR.

• Give Google a break: Tackling paid links is harder than you may think
  Oct 5, 2016 by Ian Bowden

  Google is often criticized for how it handles spammy links, but columnist Ian Bowden believes this criticism may be unfair. Here, he takes a look at the challenges Google might face in tackling the ongoing issue of paid links.

• Wanted: session ideas for SMX West
  Oct 5, 2016 by Chris Sherman

  Want to speak at SMX West? Here’s your best way to tell us you’re interested.

Recent Headlines From MarTech, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Internet Marketing:

• Don’t let your business play possum with local search
• Multi-location local SEO strategy: domain structure
• Google and Progressive Web Apps: the mobile experience and SEO
• Using search marketing to amplify TV buys: SMX East 2016
• What you need to know about the state of mobile advertising
• Google’s Assistant, Home announcements preview a new kind of ‘augmented reality’
• How Pinterest is cracking the social commerce code
• MarTech Today: Google’s big event, Criteo buys HookLogic & WordPress.com adds SEO tools
• Salesforce buys DMP Krux

Search News From Around The Web:

Industry

• Amazon Said to Weigh EU Settlement in Bid to End E-Books Probe, Bloomberg
• Lycos sells HotBot.com for $155,000, Domain Name Wire
• Searchmetrics Announces Verdane Capital Becomes Key Shareholder, realwire

Local & Maps

• Apple Maps gains support for expanded Amtrak routes across US & Canada, appleinsider
• Key Improvements for Your Maps API Experience, Google Geo Developers Blog
• Google Adds Sharing Link to Knowledge Panel, Mike Blumenthal
• Google Maps Testing Blue Pins & Gray Map Icon, Search Engine Roundtable
• Landsat and Sentinel-2 data now on Google Cloud, Google Earth Blog

Link Building

• Email Outreach Link Building for SEO (Smart Tips + What to Watch Out For), ignitevisibility
• Google Says Keep Using Disavow File Even Though Penguin Devalues Links, Search Engine Roundtable
• New Functionality: Show off your campaigns to your Clients or the world, Majestic Blog
• The Inevitability of Reciprocal Linking, theupperranks

Searching

• Google Patents Context Vectors to Improve Search, SEO By The Sea
• SearchResearch Challenge (10/5/16): Who made the mosaics?, SearchReSearch

SEO

• Dwell Time: Does This Ranking Factor Really Live Up to the Hype?, ahrefs
• Google Didn’t Increase Googlebot Crawling as Result of Penguin Changes, thesempost
• Infrequent Google Crawling Is a Sign of a Low Quality Site, thesempost
• Learning SEO by Looking at Anomalies, SEO By The Sea

SEM / Paid Search

• 3 Reasons Why You Should Use SEM to Scale Your Brand, semrush
• Be In The Know About The 4 Latest Bing Ads Updates, PPC Hero
• Bing Ads Get A Ride Feature, Clix Marketing PPC Blog
• Google Click ID (GCLID) will now be generated at impression-time, Google Ads Developer Blog
• How to Measure Conversion After The Retirement of Converted Clicks, Supermetrics Blog

Search Marketing

• How Your Brand Can Create an Enviable Customer Experience for Mobile Web Searchers, Moz