The Week We Searched For – April 30 – May 2, 2012

Google launches Panda 3.6– Google has confirmed it launched another Panda update on April 27^th, only 8 days after Panda 3.5.  Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Land received confirmation on Panda 3.6 from Google and shared the following statement from the company:

We’re continuing to iterate on our Panda algorithm as part of our commitment to returning high-quality sites to Google users. This most recent update is one of the over 500 changes we make to our ranking algorithms each year.

Google launches Penguin– Google has introduced a new animal to its zoo of algorithmic updates last week.  The Penguin update, which was launched on April 24^th, is designed to penalize sites practicing “black hat webscamming” practices, such as keyword stuffing, unnatural link patterns, and cloaking.  To learn more about the update and for tips on how to determine if your site was hit and what to do if you were, check out Mark Fillmore’s post —  Google Penguin Update Continues Assault on Black Hat SEO.

Bing revamps design– Microsoft has announced a new, cleaner look for Bing’s search results page.  The new design is a pared down interpretation on Bing’s original user interface, the goal of which is to create “a fresh, de-cluttered experience designed to help you find the results you want faster.”

New “Rotate Evenly” settings in Google AdWords– Google’s “rotate evenly” setting in AdWords has been an important part of ad creative and landing page optimization testing.  Starting next week, Google will only rotate ad creatives for 30 days, rather than indefinitely.  After the 30-day period, the rotation begins to adjust based on clicks.  The change is designed to “provide users with the most relevant ad experience and should help advertisers improve the performance of their AdWords accounts.”

Nielsen report finds mobile devices are a key shopping tool– A new study from Nielsen reveals the majority (79%) of American smartphone owners use their devices during “shopping related activities” while on-the-go.  73% of users reported using their devices to “locate a store” (vs. 42% on tablets),  42% of users report  “using a shopping list while shopping” (vs.16% on tablets), and 36% of users report “redeeming a mobile coupon” (vs. 11% for tablets).

What we’re reading-

• eRetailers Winning Customers at the Zero Moment of Truth–  If you didn’t have the chance to join us for our webinar on winning customers at ZMOT, make sure to watch our presentation and download our slide deck online.
• Everything is Better with Friends – Even Advertising– Jessica Lee explores Facebook’s new Open Graph markup and discusses how it will affect the ads you see on Facebook.   
• The A/B Test: Inside the Technology That’s Changing the Rules of Business– Brian Christian from Wired Magazine dives deep into the impact data and A/B testing are having on the decisions businesses make.
• Video: Complacency at Google and Facebook– Nick Bilton and Quentin Hardy from the New York Times discuss how consumer complacency on Google and Facebook are making it difficult for the two tech giants to develop their next generation of products.