SearchCap: Santa Tracker, Yahoo Answers App & Digital Assistants

Search Industry Updates

Today’s highlights from various sources in the search industry.

From Search Engine Land:

1. Yahoo Introduces ‘Answers Now’ App (Dec 9, 2016 by Greg Sterling)

   • Yahoo aims to tackle historical quality problems using a matching algorithm.

2. Customer Experience Excellence (Dec 9, 2016 by Digital Marketing Depot)

   • Insights on achieving excellence in customer experience, a vital competitive edge for marketers.

3. NORAD’s Santa Tracker 2016 (Dec 9, 2016 by Amy Gesenhues)

   • The tradition started in 1955 due to a misprinted phone number in a holiday ad. NORAD collaborates with Bing for this year’s tracker.

4. Digital Assistants and Local Search (Dec 9, 2016 by Brian Smith)

   • Tips on how local search marketers can adapt to the rise of digital assistants like Alexa and Google Home.
5. Search in Pics: Google Sandbox, Indoor Rowboat & Umbrellas (Dec 9, 2016 by Barry Schwartz)
   • A visual roundup of the latest images from search engine companies, showcasing their culture and activities.

Headlines from MarTech:

1. NASA now has official accounts on Pinterest and Giphy.
2. Invoca incorporates IBM’s Watson to improve call center customer understanding.
3. PullString releases its platform for developing Amazon Alexa skills.
4. Google remains top in WPP’s "Power of Search"; Facebook is second, with Snapchat gaining ground.
5. Insights for online retailers from second chances at sales.
6. Valuable B2B marketing strategies adapted from publishers.
7. Guidelines for launching holiday-themed email campaigns.
8. PepsiCo’s focus on martech to enhance consumer experience.
9. Facebook reveals new measurement errors and continues refining its metrics.

Search News From Around the Web:

• Industry:

  • Reflecting on the "Right to be Forgotten".

• Local & Maps:

  • Issues with burnt-out plane images and other errors on Google Earth.

• Link Building:

  • Automating the disavowal of links in Bing.

• Searching:

  • Cortana for Android and iOS arrives in the UK with a new design.
  • Bing includes Facebook posts in brand and business knowledge panels.
  • Google introduces a query refinement carousel for certain searches.
  • Insights on search serving and ranking at Pinterest.

• SEO:

  • Optimizing for alternative searches beyond Google.
  • Google’s presentation on internationalization and search.
  • Strategies to surpass your competition’s top-performing pages.
  • Rich snippets implementation.
  • Effective content types for SEO discussed by Moz.
  • Evaluating the benefits of AMP for your website.
  • Video roundup discussing Google’s updates, new designs, charity links, and holiday themes.

• SEM / Paid Search:

  • Important PPC trends for 2017 from 24 experts.
  • Mastering PPC targeting and selecting the right advertising platform.
  • Key differences between Bing Ads and Google AdWords.
  • Utilizing DSA campaigns for efficient keyword mining.
• Search Marketing:
  • Data comparison of traffic sources: Google vs. Facebook for publishers.
  • Analyzing SEO vs. PPC for businesses new to digital marketing.