Today’s Spotlight

Yahoo! and Microsoft got their deal done, but not before Yahoo got a concession to serve 50% of its traffic with its own search results. What search results? Exactly.

Meanwhile the deadline for Google’s algorithm change is Tuesday. Why make such a fuss? One Googler says the impact on search results will be bigger than the company’s famous Panda and Peguin changes combined. And Google is also dropping website domain names on mobile devices in lieu of their “real site name”. No more en.wikipedia.org. Now it’s Wikipedia. This one could surprise lots of folks.

And that is what you need to know this week without the hype.

News You Should Know

Microsoft and Yahoo Make Radical Changes to Agreement

A new deal between Microsoft and Yahoo will allow Yahoo to deliver its own search results. Don’t forget Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is an early search expert from Google.

Google’s Mobile Friendly Algo Will Only Affect the “Ten Blue Links” & Not Advertising

Google revealed that local pack results are not affected by the new mobile friendly ranking algorithm that is due to arrive on April 21. Those 10 blue “organic” (aka natural) links on a Google search result? Yep, those will be. HUGE CHANGE.

Google Mobile Search Drops URL For Site Name & Breadcrumb Navigation

Google announced this week that the mobile search results are no longer going to display your site’s domain name in the search snippet. Instead it will display the Site Name. HUGE CHANGE #2.

Congratulations!

Moms Clean Air Force Scores with Dollar Store Toxics Article

Science and health writer Molly Rauch exposed dangerous products at “dollar store” locations writing at Moms CAF just a few weeks ago. Since then, tens of thousands of people read her work and are discussing the issue, including Woman’s Day, which has approached Rauch about writing for them too.

 

Issue #108 Welcome to Silver Beacon Spotlight. See the bottom of this email to learn how to reply directly to me or stop receiving issues – if you really must. George Bounacos TODAY’S SPOTLIGHT Let the search engine wars begin anew! We’re not channeling Game of Thrones. We’ve just seen more action from search engine giants in recent weeks than we have in months. Brace yourselves. Yahoo! appears to be testing its own mobile search engine, which would sever its deal with Bing this month. And Google is going to demote non-mobile friendly websites while entering the local search space themselves. Finally, a new study shows that America’s top retailer among affluent adults is Amazon. Want to go with the trend? We’ve helped clients sell there too. And that is what you need to know this week without the hype. News You Should Know Report: Google To Launch Search Service To Connect Searchers To Home Service Providers BuzzFeed (BuzzFeed!) broke the story that Google will launch a new service to connect searchers with local plumbers, electricians, contractors and other home service providers.. They were right. It’s coming, and you knew it was coming when you look back at how Google changed their local search results pages. Amazon Tops Among Affluent Customers Two-thirds of affluent adults aged 18-68 (living in households with income of at least $75,000) report having shopped at Amazon during the past year, with this figure higher among affluent Boomers (50-68; 76%) than Millennials (18-34; 56%). Yahoo Testing Their Own Mobile Search ? Yahoo! and Microsoft have less than one month remaining before their search deal ends . That would mean Bing no longer supplies Yahoo with search data. But rumors abound, helped by screen captures, that Yahoo! has built its own mobile search engine. Reverting to a three search engine world is a huge opportunity for every North American organization. Congratulations! Obama Invites Moms Clean Air Force to Climate Roundtable Our friends at Moms Clean Air Force were part of a climate roundtable this week at Howard University. The small group of participants included President Obama, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. And Moms Clean Air Force. We are so proud of their growing national voice on climate change and clean air. Want to chat? You can always reply to this newsletter via email to ask questions about stories here, things in the marketing world or even for advice about your organization.

Doesn’t it seem like half of the country picked this week for vacation?

Between Passover, Easter, school vacations, March madness, the Opening Day of baseball season and April Fool’s Day, this is one busy week for most folks. Those of you not on vacation this week need to know this:

Google will demand “mobile-friendly” websites beginning the week of April 21. What does that mean for you? We have a Google link that checks your website’s compliance. Please talk with us fast if your website does not pass this test. Google is maintaining its normal tight-lipped stance on any penalties, but they didn’t build a tool for every website in the world and rile up the digital marketing community for nothing. You ignore bad test results at your own peril.

And because not everything is Google is negative, a non-Google free web-based game uses a mashup of Family Feud and Google search suggestions. The game is extremely ADDICTIVE so don’t blame us for those 40 minutes you just lost.

News You Should Know

Mobile-Friendly Test

Google’s own “mobile-friendly” test. Enter your website’s address and either pass or learn what’s wrong. You need to do this now.Google’s own “mobile-friendly” test. Enter your website’s address and either pass or learn what’s wrong. You need to do this now.

Google Feud

The free game where you try to guess how Google autocompletes popular searches.

Readers Lane Launches Newsletter

Readers Lane is a fun-to-read website with great book reviews and author interviews (George R.R. Martin, anyone?). The site is managed by our very own Sue and edited by Stephanie P. They’ve launched a newsletter just like this featuring the best content from their site each week. Have a look at the site. You can subscribe on any page.