We at Beanstalk hope that you have a fantastic weekend. It’s been a busy week and the past 24 hours has been no exception so let’s just into what’s gone on so you can get on to relaxing.
Expanded Text Ad Findings
Ginny Marvin over at Search Engine Land wrote some great coverage on Expanded Text Ads with findings from folks like Adobe Document Cloud and Optmyzer. It’s some interesting data as we head towards the deadline of January 31 for the standard ad versions.
Scrollable Local Pack
Barry Schwartz over at SEroundtable covered an interesting test Google is performing in how they display local pack results. The image was shared with him by @SilverbackStrat on Twitter. It shows a scrollable card stack. In my opinion a logical change in a Mobile First world.
Finding Parking Just Got Easier
An update to Google Maps on Android just added the ability to see what parking is like around your destination. I’m looking forward to a time in the near future where this will be added to the estimate to getting to where you need to go.
Facebook Video Ranking Change
Facebook announced yesterday that they will be changing the way they rank video and the change is (in my opinion) a great one. The change will base a ranking in part of what percentage of the video that was watched. What this means for people and companies using videos on Facebook who have been seeing some solid traffic is that moving forward we’ll not just need to consider the first engagement (the video bait if you will) but also look at the format and flow more closely to ensure that there’s something compelling frequently to drag the watcher just a bit further in.
Real-Time Location Business Added To Google Maps For iOS
Matt Southern over on Search Engine Journal covered a change in Google Maps for iOS wherein Google is now showing real-time location business information. Here’s what he saw it looking like:
Yet Another Ad Label Being Tested
Some might say they’re just playing with us now. For the third day in a row Barry Schwartz has reported a new ad label being tested for AdWords. The first was a green border, then black and now a full orange version is being tested.
Alphabet Inc Reports Q4 Earnings
As our regular readers will know yesterday after market close Google’s parent company Alphabet reported its Q4 earnings. Shares dropped 2.7% after they missed estimates. Here’s the funny part – they reported stronger-than-expected 22.2% quarterly revenue. The drop was due in part to higher taxes paid by the company (22% as opposed to 19% during the rest of the year). All-in-all the report looks favorable for a healthy Google. Sorry Microsoft and Apple.
That said and on the more negative side there’s a good analysis of the situation by Jay Somaney over on Forbes that’s well worth the read.
Rumors Of A Budget Pixel
Stephen Hall at 9TO5Google wrote of a reliable rumor that along with the Pixel 2 a budget Pixel phone is in the works by Google. The report is that while Google in the Pixel 2 will be focusing on the camera (they do want to know where you are and what you’re doing right?) they will also be working on a budget phone to get it into more hands (which is great because then the parking predictions will get better). I recommend reading the article for the full story.
And that’s it for the day. If you know of any other great search stories we might have missed feel free to post them in the comments below.