Major changes in Search

1. The End of SEO

Last week Google made major changes to the data available through Google Analytics. Keyword data, which was already climbing to 100% Not Provided, will now actually be 100% not provided. Since 2011, Google has been passing keyword queries from search results to Analytics only for people who are not logged into a Google product. Now they are restricting all keyword data. You can access it if you are running Google Adwords. And you can currently see 3-months of data at a time whereas before you could access whatever timeframe. Boooooooo. And it's not even Halloween yet. Not a treat, just a nasty trick. Read the full article here: https://www.boxcarmarketing.com/end-of-seo

2. New Google “Hummingbird” Algorithm

Less of a flap than the keyword news, Google quietly revealed that they've revamped their search algorithm and have named it “Hummingbird.” Google's algorithm determines what search results appear in Google search results. Apparently Hummingbird is better at “conversational search,” searches people make when speaking, like into Google Glass or when asking Siri to search for something like “What's the closest place to buy the iPhone 5s to my home?” Hummingbird focuses on the meaning of the words vs. matching the exact words, i.e., “home” means where you live vs. a webpage that has the word home on it. More insights are available here: http://searchengineland.com/google-hummingbird-172816

Facebook changes of note

3. New Today: Facebook has a new feature called Pages to Watch which lets you track the progress on any Page (not just ones you admin). You can compare the page likes for 5 pages in 1 view vs. looking up each individually. Access Pages to Watch in the admin panel of your page where your Insights data previously appeared.

4. Less Crappy Ads

Facebook announced they are tweaking the News Feed algorithm to show fewer annoying and irrelevant ads. Specifically, user feedback, including how often people report or hide an ad, will be a factor in the algorithm. Really, why weren't they doing this before? Here are the details: http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2013/09/27/facebook-is-tweaking-its-news-feed-algorithm-to-depend-more-on-feedback-show-fewer-ads-users-report-or-hide/

5. Edit Facebook Posts

In other, “why weren't they doing this before” news, Facebook now lets you edit posts after sharing. This feature is available on the web and Android, coming soon to iOS. Hooray! Techcrunch has the news: http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/26/edit-facebook-post/

What else is new?

Ryan Holiday's new book is out, Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing, and Advertising. If you haven't heard this term “growth hacker,” it's the latest catchphrase for marketing. Actually I first heard it in 2010 from IDEO CEO Tim Brown. He was talking about T-Shaped Marketing: Having a light level knowledge in a broad array of skills and deep knowledge in a single area. Whatever you call it, Holiday's new book is a look at how growth hackers are disrupting marketing by re-imagining marketing spending, exploring new channels (often digital) and pushing the limits of traditional marketing. Beware of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, I say, but still read the book. Last I checked the Kindle Edition was $2.99 on Amazon.