Latest News
Google Enhances Ad Sitelinks
- Wednesday, 22 February 2012 10:49
Google is upping its game with improvements to ad sitelinks. The new sitelink option gives users more options while delivering more clicks for advertisers. On average, Google said the click through rate (CTR) is 30 percent higher for ads with sitelinks than those without.
Ad sitelinks launched in 2009. Sitelinks offer AdWords advertisers the ability to display up to six links to specific pages on a website. As Google explains, the sitelinks will appear on searches for unique brand terms and top-ranked ads with high quality scores.
Source: Search Engine Watch
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Commission looks to new standards for public sector data (EU)
- Wednesday, 22 February 2012 09:49
The European Commission launched this month a consultation designed to streamline electronic public-sector information amid uncertainty as to how new data protection rules will affect public administrations as well as the private sector.
The consultation, which will run for three months, aims to create consistency in how administrative categories – such as people, vehicles, businesses and locations – are described in member states' government information systems.
The exercise is designed to counteract inconsistencies in the processing of information that can result in a mismatch of data when nationals of one EU country receive services in another
Source: EurActiv
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Yandex, Google’s Russian Rival, Is Twitter’s New Real-Time Search Partner
- Tuesday, 21 February 2012 11:16
A significant step for Twitter in its international growth: Yandex, Russia’s search giant, today announced that it will carry Twitter data in all of its search results.
The news also underscores one possible route to revenue generation for Twitter: Yandex describes this as a licensing deal. The terms of it were not disclosed but Microsoft reportedly paid Twitter $30 million for a similar search agreement.
The agreement with Yandex will see Twitter’s data firehose appear both in Yandex’s blog search, as well as through a dedicated URL, twitter.yandex.ru.
The Yandex agreement is similar to the real-time Twitter search that used to be offered by Google — a partnership that ended last year around the time that Google was launching its own Google+ service.
Source: TechCrunch
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US lobbying waters down EU data protection reform
- Tuesday, 21 February 2012 11:26
The reform of EU data protection rules is of particular interest to countries like the United States, whose companies may have to abide by stricter provisions to do business in Europe. But intense lobbying from the United States has in part watered down the draft legislation.
The overhaul of data protection rules proposed by Viviane Reding, the European Commission vice president in charge of fundamental rights, was substantially modified before it was published, following a heated debate within the EU executive.
Some of the planned provisions raised many objections by the most business-minded commissioners, including Neelie Kroes (Digital Agenda) and Karel de Gucht (Trade).
Many lobbies tried to soften the rules concerning the newly introduced 'right to be forgotten,' enabling users to delete personal information that they no longer want to share with banks, online booking websites or social media.
They also put their finger on the obligation to provide notification of data breaches and to obtain explicit consent to use personal data, as well as provisions related to the transfer of personal information to third countries.
As a consequence of this pressure, the text proposed by the Commission was significantly amended, before it even reached the European Parliament and the EU Council for consideration.
Source: EurActiv
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Move Over Search Box, Google’s Home Page Gets A Share Box
- Monday, 20 February 2012 17:03
If you still don’t get how much Google is behind ensuring Google+ gets everything it needs to succeed, consider the screenshot below, showing how for the first time ever, Google’s home page now lets you do something other than search. You can share. Social is now coequal with search.
Source: Marketing Land
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