Industry Round-up from June's SIMS

Every month at SIMS Max gives a round up of what's new in SEO and on the web. Here's this month's update which includes the latest revision of Search Engine Land's SEO periodic table and news about Apple Maps which might matter to your business. Any questions, get in touch.

http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/privacy-security-tools-improvements.html

Google have announced a new tool to help you know what data they store for you.

https://stripe.com/pinterest

Stripe are now powering 'buyable pins'. Great if you sell things that do really well on Pinterest.

http://searchengineland.com/the-google-mobile-search-carousel-adds-pinterest-pins-vines-houzz-food-network-recipes-224054

On a similar note to the above link, Google are now showing Pins in the mobile carousel.

http://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/apple/complete-guide-apple-pay-when-will-apple-pay-launch-in-uk-release-date-3544309/

http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/28/8661867/google-introduces-android-pay-replace-wallet-app

Android Pay is coming. It's like Apple Pay, but with more Google

http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/28/8676571/gmail-inbox-app-available-everyone

It's like your normal inbox, but more confusing.

http://searchengineland.com/google-says-more-than-half-of-its-uk-searches-are-performed-on-mobile-223150

Mobile search now represents the majority of Google searches in the UK & Ireland.

http://searchengineland.com/apple-brings-public-transit-new-search-capabilities-to-maps-222676

iOS 9 updates maps heavily, can now browse for businesses by category rather than just showing them as random red dots.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/11/8764437/iphone-adblock-safari-ios-9

If you, or your client's, site relies on ad revenue, this is big news. Safari on iOS is a massively popular browser and this has huge implications.

http://searchengineland.com/google-says-it-may-unverify-inactive-local-business-listings-222414

How do you prevent your business listings from being run by people that don't bother updating them? If you're Google, you un-verify the page owners after six months of inactivity.

http://searchengineland.com/periodic-table-of-seo-2015-edition-222074

We reference the original version of this card a lot, so here's the 2015 version.

https://www.apple.com/news/

http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/8/8746289/apple-tktk-looks-like-flipboard-and-replaces-newsstand-on-your-iphone

If you are a content publisher (or your clients are) then Apple's news runs on RSS, which you may already have so you might want to take a look at how you can be part of their offering when it's launched in iOS 9.

No update on referral spam.

SIMS Industry Round-Up, November 2014

https://www.google.com/contributor/welcome/
Google now offer an alternative to ads for content sites. Allow you users to opt-out of ads and pay you directly for the content. Similar to services like Patreon, but integrated directly into Google (and AdSense/AdWords).

http://rachelandrew.github.io/eu-vat
http://rachelandrew.github.io/eu-vat/implementation.html
http://rachelandrew.github.io/eu-vat/links.html
http://www.twobirds.com/~/media/PDFs/Books/Bird%20%20Bird%20%20Pocket%20guide%20to%20VAT%20on%20digital%20ecommerce.pdf
EU VAT Policy is changing and it has some huge ramifications if you sell (or may sell) digital products to customers in the EU. Lots of reading to do at the links above.

Lots of guides provided by Google over the festive period on the Adwords and Analytics blogs.
http://adwords.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/your-guides-to-growing-profits-from.html
http://analytics.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/measure-what-matters-most-marketers.html

http://adwords.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/show-promotions-on-your-product-listing.html
You can now show ‘promotions’ (voucher codes, offers etc) in your product listing Google ad's.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/6/7163789/microsoft-office-free-for-ipad-iphone-android
Microsoft Office free on iOS devices.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/19/7250513/firefox-signs-yahoo-as-default-search-engine-
Firefox drops Google as default search engine. I have a feeling this may hurt Firefox more than it hurts Google, although it is something to be aware of.

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/helping-users-find-mobile-friendly-pages.html
This is the third or fourth step that Google have outlined about this recently. They are hammering the point home.

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=black+friday&geo=GB
Black Friday is bigger than ever in the UK, make sure you're ready with your deals for customers looking to buy!

https://twitter.com/ecomchat
Every monday, for one hour. Some good advice and thoughts from people on the slightly more technical side of the SEO/eCommerce industry.

http://searchengineland.com/google-keyword-planner-now-shows-conversion-estimates-209395
Keyword planner becoming even more useful for those that have good data.

http://www.macstories.net/ios/twitter-adds-ability-to-share-tweets-via-direct-message/
http://www.macstories.net/ios/you-can-now-search-for-every-tweet-ever-sent-in-the-twitter-app/
Potentially useful for all you vociferous tweeters. Competitor reviews with the searches is especially useful.

http://www.imore.com/what-you-need-know-about-watchkit
If your clients have apps, they may be interested in putting them on their wrist.

http://searchengineland.com/googles-knowledge-graph-finally-shows-social-networks-named-google-209171
This is currently just for people, not businesses, but always nice to see they're working on this.

http://searchengineland.com/google-axes-carousel-new-local-3-pack-208710
A reminder to keep an eye on the search results page for clients in different sectors.

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-usability
http://searchengineland.com/mobile-usability-reports-come-google-webmaster-tools-206885
Yet more hints from Google how seriously they take mobile.

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2014/11/24/wordpress-issues-critical-fixes-closing-remotable-bug-and-more/
Update Wordpress. Seriously.