DominateQueries2

Thursday, September 24, 2015

How I Scrape Expired Domains with Free Tools - YouTube

This video shows you how I find pages with lots of broken links suitable for scraping and my process to filter the domains to usable urls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJTout9-VUA
http://bit.ly/1WmavtI

How I Scrape Expired Domains with Free Tools - YouTube

This video shows you how I find pages with lots of broken links suitable for scraping and my process to filter the domains to usable urls http://bit.ly/seohouts
http://bit.ly/1WmavtI

Announcing the 2015 Local Search Ranking Factors Results

Posted by David-Mihm

As we head into the thick of fall conference season, I'm happy to announce that the results of the 2015 Local Search Ranking Factors Survey are in.

Eager to dive right in? Click here for the full results.

At the very least, I hope they help kickstart your Birds of a Feather roundtable conversations. (Or if you have a local search addiction as debilitating as mine, perhaps even an after-party conversation over over a pint!)

My high-level takeaways

Google's local search algorithm seems to be maturing

Overall, we've seen a continuation of the gradual trend towards Google rewarding quality on all fronts—from citations to links to reviews. And as more companies have implemented the table stakes of site architecture, keyword- and location-relevant title tags, and claiming their Google My Business pages, quality and authority become the differentiators in competitive markets.

The influence of Google+ on local results is on its way out (if it even existed in the first place)

With the removal of links to Google+ pages from Maps and even from the primary SERP, the always-awkward integration between Plus and Local has now been completely severed.

At this point, I view Google My Business essentially as a UI for structured data* and a conduit to AdWords. While Google's original "business builder" vision may still come to fruition, it clearly won't be under the social umbrella of Google+.

*as well as photos--increasingly important for conversion in a Knowledge Card-heavy future.

Behavioral signals are increasing in importance

Experts judged behavioral and/or mobile signals to make up 9.5% of the algorithm across pack and localized organic results. Granted, that number is not strikingly high, but it's up 38% compared with last year's 6.9%. Research from Darren Shaw and others in the past year has borne out this factor empirically at least in certain markets.

In localized organic results, clickthrough rate was judged the #4 overall factor, and in competitive markets, it moved up 8 spots from 2014, cracking the top ten factors for the first time. A number of experts noted additional behavioral factors beyond clickthrough rate may be playing a role, including post-click time spent on-site or pogosticking.

Citations are still crucial—but your focus should be on quality and consistency

Oddly, citations went from 15.5% to 13.6% as a general ranking factor, but specifically, citation quality and consistency remain top-five factors for both pack results and in competitive markets.

Reading between the lines, it's the quantity of horizontal citations on traditional directories that is becoming less important. Algorithmically, this makes sense, as many of these sites have been hit by successive Panda releases for thin content. The authority passed by mentions on these sites has clearly declined.

Are links the new links?

Overall, links were up 9% as a general factor compared to last year, and a number of experts noted an increased focus on quality links since the rollout of the Local Stack / Snack Pack. Diversity of inbound links as a ranking factor in pack results moved up 22 spots from last year, and even in competitive markets, it rose 10 spots to #14. And in localized organic results, locally-relevant links, location keywords in anchor text, and product/service keywords in anchor text all moved up at least 10 spots in 2015.

Pigeon's shift to the user as centroid has "stuck"

The decline of proximity to centroid as a ranking factor, particularly in competitive markets, now seems just about complete. As Google has gotten better at location detection--on both desktop and mobile results--this rather arbitrary factor has been almost completely discarded. We saw this trend start in earnest with the release of Pigeon last summer, and since the snack pack / local stack rollout, proximity to centroid is the factor that experts think took the biggest hit.

On the other hand, proximity to searcher moved up four spots in the pack-specific rankings, and 10 spots in competitive markets. Clearly, the location of a business matters immensely, but only relative to where people are physically conducting their searches.

Wrapping Up

This is always the case, but this year in particular there are so many pearls of wisdom from the survey's participants that I hope you spend some serious time diving into the comments section of the results. These little nuggets are every bit as interesting as the numbers, if not more so. I truly appreciate the contributions from all participants this year, and look forward to reading comments from our great community members below!

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Want to see the rest?

Take a look at the full results

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

from The Moz Blog http://ift.tt/1L7FgRa

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Let Me Work, Please: A Case for Fewer & More Productive Meetings

Posted by MTurek

If you feel like your workweek is structured around meetings—like all you're doing is preparing for and attending meetings, talking about and reporting on your work rather than sitting and doing it—then you've reached a point of frustration where you need to regain control of your time.

There are two sides to meetings: not attending them if they're unnecessary, and when running a meeting, ensuring that it's purposeful, on-point, and driving a specific outcome. If the meeting lacks purpose and has no desired outcome, what's the point?

Today's workplace

The current workplace is operated on a model that doesn't promote productivity. Many offices are built around the "open office" concept, which serves as an ideal delivery system for distraction. This open-plan environment may promote camaraderie, but constant noise damages attention spans and workplace productivity. Even the most sophisticated noise-canceling headphones cannot defend workers from inevitable but unpredictable waves of interruption: ringing phones, loud chatter, shouting across the office, and more. People go to work every day, but much of the real work happens before or after business hours, on the weekends, at home, in airplanes, in coffee shops—virtually everywhere except the office.

If we want to start being productive at work, the model needs to change. This requires removing distractions and creating longer and longer periods of uninterrupted time devoted to work. Feeling frustrated because of how little you actually get done is a sign you're feeling resistance against the model in which you must operate.

Creative people require unstructured time to "get into the zone." As a knowledge worker, whether you're a programmer or a digital analyst, being unable to complete your work creates internal friction and frustration. According to an Atlassian study, employees are attending up to 62 meetings per month, half of which are considered a waste of time. In a 20-day work month, that averages to 3.1 meetings per day. Now, imagine that these meetings are spread out across the day. That’s a recipe for frustration: a stop-start workday in which you never have the opportunity to take the time to focus on complex work.

To preserve both your sanity and your productivity, you must reclaim your workday.

21 daily habits to master for increased productivity, from Too Busy to Do Good Work.

Finding work/meeting balance

Meetings should be like salt—a spice sprinkled carefully to enhance a dish, not poured recklessly over every forkful. Too much salt destroys a dish. Too many meetings destroy morale and motivation.

– Jason Fried, Basecamp

1. Block out 2–4 hours every day in your calendar for uninterrupted work.

If you're an early riser and your most productive time is in the morning, you have a better chance of setting up several hours of uninterrupted work time during the day. Create blocks of time in your calendar dedicated to your work, and indicate in the title that this time is blocked off for specific, focused tasks. Indicate which project you'll be working on and request that no meetings are booked in that time.

2. Review your existing meeting invitations.

Review your calendar at the start of each week, ensuring that you understand the purpose and desired outcome of every meeting you're invited to. If there's any doubt in your mind as to the purpose of a meeting, speak to the organizer and determine whether your attendance is required.

3. Ensure that every meeting you attend has a clear purpose.

If there's no agenda for a meeting to which you've been invited, request it. Every single meeting should have a clear, unique agenda that's outlined at least 24 hours beforehand.

4. How many meetings actually take an hour?

The reality is that there are few meetings that require a full hour to complete. The challenge is that, if the meeting is set to last an hour, the meeting will likely be stretched out to accommodate that timeframe. Start by scheduling your own meetings for 30 or 45 minutes. For meetings that routinely end early, reach out to the organizer and request that the meeting invite be shortened to reflect the actual time required.

5. No-meeting weekday.

This one’s ambitious, but if companies like Asana, with over 100 employees, can successfully manage their workweek with a “No Meeting Day,” then surely your company can, too. This is a decision that must be supported by senior management and implemented by the entire organization. If you are in a position where you can make a recommendation for such a policy, begin by having conversations with the right people.

If you’re not fortunate enough to work at an organization that implements this type of policy, begin by blocking out a no-meeting day in your own calendar, encouraging team members to book meetings with you another day. Your example may inspire others to implement their own no-meeting days, organically spreading this idea across the organization.

21 daily habits to master for increased productivity, from Too Busy to Do Good Work.

Productive meetings: The rule, not the exception

If 20% of an average day is spent on meetings, expressed as a year, that means a meeting you start on New Year’s Day would let out around the middle of March.

– Merlin Mann, 43 Folders

Meetings can be an incredibly effective way for people to share and exchange information, get feedback, plan, collaborate, brainstorm, and make important decisions. To ensure that meetings are adding value to your work rather than detracting from it, hold yourself and others accountable to a higher standard.

1. Avoid over-inviting.

Consider the purpose of the meeting and determine who is actually required to attend. Meetings require employees to drop whatever they're doing and switch tasks. In a service-based business model, time is one of the company’s most valuable assets. If you're pulling five people into one meeting, that meeting costs five billable hours. Let’s assume that a billable hour is conservatively worth $200. How confidently can you say that your last meeting, where you may have pulled in 5 senior team members, was worth $1,000?

2. Ban cellphones.

When attendees are checking their phones, they aren't focusing on the meeting. If distraction is a problem in your meetings, address it by removing that distraction.

3. Write actionable agendas.

Your agenda should be written with action words, not nouns. Each item should address the desired outcome using an action, with the responsible individual indicated. For example, “Agree on ad copy testing plan next steps – Max” is more descriptive and actionable than “Ad copy testing plan.”

4. Send agendas 24 hours in advance.

Ensure that the agenda is updated and sent to attendees 24 hours in advance so that they're able to review it, contribute to it, and prepare for the meeting.

5. Begin on time.

Make sure to start and end every meeting on time.

6. Prepare for meetings.

Simply attending a meeting isn't enough. For a meeting to be productive, you need to prepare for the meeting, understand what your role is at that meeting, and be prepared to contribute to its desired outcome.

Meetings are one of the biggest disruptors of at-work productivity and have come to dominate the workday, when in reality creative work should be the core focus of every day. Our most productive work is done without distraction; wasting workday time means we're working more outside of business hours in order to get things done. Build some quiet time into your day and be vigilant about ensuring that you have at least 2–4 hours dedicated to focused tasks. When you do attend or run your own meetings, ensure that you put in as much effort into making those meetings effective.

Take back your workday and use the skills that you’re paid for to work on constructive, creative projects. If you’re looking for some additional steps to improve your focus and productivity while on the job, download the PDF of my slide deck Too Busy to Do Good Work from MozCon 2015.

from The Moz Blog http://ift.tt/1G1L1Z9

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Google Glossary: Revenge of Mega-SERP

Posted by Dr-Pete

The Google landscape is constantly changing. Two years ago, I created the Mega-SERP, and within days it was already outdated. This time, we've set out to create a more permanent glossary of Google features – a reference that we'll update as the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) change.

If your focus is on organic SEO, why should you care about the wider world of Google features? Put simply, because rich SERP features are no longer the exception to the rule. Across 10,000 keywords tracked daily by the MozCast project, this is what we saw as of September 1, 2015:

Of course, this is just one data set, but even with a healthy margin of error, the story is clear – Google SERPs are dynamic and feature-rich. In our data set, 97% of keywords show at least one rich or paid feature. Only 3% of these SERPs are still pristine, organic wilderness. Times have changed.

This glossary is organized by the sections in the graph above and is an attempt to cover major SERP features currently seen on Google. To make it easy to come back and see what you're interested in (or check out new features), here are a few jump-links to the sections:

New & In Testing
Organic & Enhancements
Vertical Results
The Knowledge Graph
Local Results
Ads & Shopping

This list won't cover every variation (there are dozens, possibly hundreds, of variations of Knowledge Panels, for example), but our goal is to cover every significant feature. We're also working to find common naming conventions between the SEO industry and Google. If you think something is missing or incorrect, please leave a comment.

Each feature in this glossary is paired with a thumbnail image, which shows the approximate location that feature occupies on a hypothetical SERP. The light-gray boxes show generic SERP elements, and the dark-gray box shows the location of the feature. In this instance, the feature appears in the left-hand column, mixed with organic results.

New & In Testing

Let's start with what's new and currently in testing. We'll update this section regularly as Google introduces new features, so we're going to keep it at the top of the post. As these features roll out and accumulate some history, we'll move them to other sections.

"I'm Feeling Curious" Card (Sep 2015)

Type "I'm feeling curious" into Google, and you'll get a card-like feature with a random trivia question. Like Featured Snippets, these factoids come from indexed pages and include attribution.

Search: "i'm feeling curious"

Popular Times (Sep 2015)

Some local Knowledge Panels are beginning to show a graph of "Popular Times" (by day of the week), to help visitors sort out when best to visit a location, especially popular destinations.

Search: "art institute of chicago"

Book an Appointment (Aug 2015)

In partnership with Demandforce (an Intuit company), Google launched the ability for local businesses to book appointments from the Knowledge Panel. Searchers are given a dropdown list of appointment types, which takes them directly to the Demandforce website.

Search: "bjs auto repair" (Chicago)

Twitter Results (Aug 2015)

Google recently made a new agreement with Twitter and has started displaying tweets directly in SERPs, mixed in with organic results. Unlike Google+ results, Twitter results do not seem to require or be affected by personalization.

Search: "rick bayless"

Home Services Ads (Aug 2015)

Google has announced their entry into the home services market, and they've started testing a pilot program in a couple of niches in the San Francisco area. The AdWords team has confirmed that this result is part of that test. We have no timeline on when and how this program might expand.

Search: "plumbers"

Organic & Enhancements

It all started with 10 blue links, so that's where we'll start the rest of this glossary. This section will also include "enhancements" - add-ons to organic links that enhance them but aren't technically stand-alone SERP features.

Simple Organic Results

They're the things we spend all of our time chasing. A simple organic result, if such a thing even exists these days, has a linked title (in blue), a destination URL (in green), and a "snippet" of descriptive text.

Search: "tacos are the best"

Only 13 reasons?! Step it up, BuzzFeed!

Organic w/ Date Add-on

Sometimes, Google will algorithmically add information to a snippet. One of the most common examples is a date-stamp added to news and blog results. These add-ons appear at the beginning of the snippet.

Search: "are tacos healthy"

Organic w/ Virtual Path

Google will occasionally replace a page's URL with a breadcrumb-style path. These URL rewrites are common on mobile SERPs and will likely become more common on desktop. These virtual paths replace the destination URL.

Search: "walking taco news"

Organic w/ Long Snippet

Most descriptive snippets are limited to about two lines (conventional SEO wisdom is to keep them below 155 characters). Recently, though, longer snippets have appeared, often paired with Featured Snippets.

Search: "how much is a taco bell"

Organic w/ Brand Dropdown

Brands and other known entities may get an additional linked reference to their name. Clicking on it reveals a dropdown with general information about the entity.

Search: "taco bell menu"

Organic w/ Mini Sitelinks

For internal links or on-page anchors, Google will occasionally display mini-sitelinks directly to those pages/anchors. These sitelinks occupy a single row below the result snippet.

Search: "how many tacos are there"

Organic w/ Full Sitelinks

Dominant entities in the #1 position may be rewarded with a set of full sitelinks. A #1 result can have anywhere from 1-6 full sitelinks, and each row of sitelinks displaces one organic result. So, a #1 result with 5-6 full site links (3 rows) removes 3 organic positions from page 1.

Search: "taco johns"

Organic w/ Review Stars

Review stars and rating data are sometimes displayed for products, recipes, and other relevant items. Review/rating data is shown between the destination URL and snippet.

Search: "best taco holders"

Organic w/ Video Thumbnail

Video results (especially YouTube) may display a thumbnail of that video. Video results used to be a true vertical but are now more of an organic enhancement.

Search: "taco of destiny"

I have absolutely no idea what's going on in this video.

Organic w/ Recipe Thumbnail

Recipes are eligible for a specialized square thumbnail. This type of thumbnail was also used for results with authorship, but that display format has been discontinued.

Search: "brisket taco monkey" (yeah, you heard me)

There is a recipe site called "in sock monkey slippers", and so every result title is in the form of "Some food - in sock monkey slippers". This is an act of pure genius.

Organic w/ Knowledge Snippets

Knowledge Snippets are factoids from the Knowledge Graph that complement an organic result. The snippets appear in a list-like format below the search snippet.

Search: "1968 olympics"

If you can find a taco-related Knowledge Snippet, I'll give you $10.

Organic w/ Forum Results

Discussion forum results sometimes show a special snippet with links to related results. These appear as individual rows below the snippet, and may show additional data.

Search: "in-depth taco discussion"

Organic w/ Event Results

Similarly, pages about events may show rich snippets that link to specific dates and locations. These appear as individual rows below the snippet, and may show additional data.

Search: "taco events"

Vertical Results

Verticals results are blocks of specialized results that are triggered for searches with specific types of intent and use ranking rules beyond the core organic algorithm. Each block of vertical results takes the place of one organic result (as of this writing).

Image Results

Image results are displayed as a horizontal row of image links, which click through to a Google Images search. Image results may appear in any organic position.

Search: "show me the tacos"

Image Mega-block

For searches that are clearly image related (containing keywords like "pictures" or "photos"), Google may display a large block of images that takes up three organic positions.

Search: "best taco pics"

News Results

Time-sensitive and newsworthy topics may generate a block of results from Google News. Since the "In the news" update in late 2014, a wider variety of sites are eligible to rank in the news block.

Search: "taco news"

In-depth Articles

For broad or ambiguous terms, Google may return a block of "in-depth" articles, which are almost indistinguishable from organic results. They follow somewhat different ranking rules than core organic, and are dominated by large publishers. Each block of three occupies only one organic position.

Search: "tacos"

Google+ Results

In personalized search, Google may return matching posts from your Google+ circles. Like other verticals these results are intermixed with organic results, but they don't occupy an organic position.

Search: "talking tacos"

The Knowledge Graph

The "Knowledge Graph" covers a lot of ground, from semantic data from human-edited sources (such as WikiData) to semantic data extracted from the Google index to private data partnerships. We'll use the term "Knowledge Graph" loosely for the purposes of this glossary.

Knowledge Panels (Person)

The most familiar incarnation of the Knowledge Graph is the Knowledge Panel, a rich entity that appears in the right-hand column of Google desktop searches. This is a pretty typical example, containing images, a descriptive snippet, relevant factoids, and related searches.

Search: "glen bell"

Knowledge Panels (Celebrity)

Actors/actresses, musicians, and other celebrities may have very rich Knowledge Panels, including information about music and movies, social profiles, and more. This has nothing to do with tacos – I just love Justin Timberlake.

Search: "justin timberlake"

Knowledge Panels (Brand)

Brands may also qualify for Knowledge Panels. Big brands may list detailed information (like the one below), but even smaller brands and local businesses that Google recognizes as entities can qualify for a Knowledge Panel.

Search: "chipotle"

Knowledge Panels (Nutrition)

Food items may show a specialized Knowledge Panel with nutrition facts. Google is constantly adding specialized Knowledge Panels and will likely continue. Sometimes, though, ignorance is bliss – just enjoy your taco in peace.

Search: "tacos"

Disambiguation Boxes

When a search is ambiguous, and Google doesn't have additional data (like search history), they may display a disambiguation box. The example below is a rich one, covering astronomy, mythology, and science-fiction television.

Search: "andromeda"

Medical Knowledge Panels

Early in 2015, Google launched a first of its kind – original content in the Knowledge Panel. Medical Knowledge Panels are curated by Google along with third-party professionals, and even contain original illustrations.

Search: "irritable bowel syndrome"

Knowledge Cards

Knowledge Cards (AKA "Answer Boxes", "Direct Answers") return semantic data directly from the Knowledge Graph. These answers are usually factual, such as a date, relationship, measurement, or some verifiable piece of information.

Search: "where is my taco"

Knowledge Cards w/ Reminder

Knowledge Cards are driven by mobile search, and tie neatly into newer formats, such as Google Now. This is an example of a date-based answer that allows a logged-in searcher to submit information directly to Google Now.

Search: "when is national taco day"

Rich Knowledge Cards

Some Knowledge Cards return rich, structured information, including images. The example below shows Dr. Seuss' birthday, but also includes a picture, a list of birthdays of other childrens' authors, and a header that restates the question.

Search: "dr. seuss birthday"

Knowledge Cards w/ Graph

Knowledge Cards may return even more specialized and structured data, such as a graph. The example below shows the population of Mexico City over time. This graph also includes source attribution.

Search: "population of mexico city

Conversion Cards

There are some unique features that look like Knowledge Cards. One example is conversion calculators. The taco one below is just for fun, but Google also allows many types of unit and currency conversions.

Search: "how many calories in a taco"

Calculator Cards

Google also includes a fully-featured scientific calculator, that can be triggered by simple formulas, such as "7 X 6" or "sqrt(1764)". The example below is a Google Easter Egg. Some formulas, such as "sin x" will launch a graph card instead.

Search: "answer to life the universe and everything"

Mortgage Calculators

Google is beginning to invest in more specialized calculators, such as this mortgage calculator, which triggers for a wide range of competitive queries. Expect to see more niche calculators and tools in the near future.

Search: "mortgage calculator"

Google Now Cards

Some personalized data, especially data from Gmail, can be pulled directly into Google-Now-style Knowledge Cards. This includes upcoming flight information, frequent flyer numbers, hotel bookings, and product purchases.

Search: "my flights"

Live Results (Sports)

"Live Results" are a special type of card driven by private partnerships in select verticals. Many of these contain very rich data. There are multiple examples in both professional and college sports, including the box score card below.

Search: "cubs score"

Live Results (Weather)

Another common Live Result is regional weather forecasts. This is another very rich feature that includes current conditions, a short-term forecast, a long-term forecast, and even some interactive features in the UI.

Search: "seattle weather"

Live Results (Stock Quote)

Financial information for many ticker symbols is also available via live results. Nearly real-time results (including after-hours trades) are available from major financial news sources, along with graphs over multiple time windows.

Search: "yum stock quote"

Mega-Video Cards

Googles "Mega-Video" format promotes a single video to a prominent card-like result, with a very large thumbnail and song/artist data. Mega-Videos are dominated by YouTube and the Vevo music video network.

Search: "never gonna give you up"

Lyrics Cards (from Google Play)

In the first half of 2015, Google started to display song lyrics directly in a card-like format. Lyrics are taken directly from Google Play and link to Google Play for more information and the option to purchase the song.

Search: "never gonna give you up lyrics"

Menu Results

Restaurant menus for specific locations may be shown in a specialized, card-like format. These generally list the name of the restaurant, the address, and tabbed categories that allow you to scroll through a text-based menu.

Search: "el pollo loco menu" (Seattle)

Featured Snippets

When Google wants to answer a question that isn't in the core Knowledge Graph, they may attempt to find that answer in the index. This creates a special class of organic result with information extracted from the target page.

Search: "who invented tacos"

Featured Snippets w/ Tables

As Featured Snippets expand, they are also becoming more richly formatted, including images, lists, and tables. The example below shows a Featured Snippet made up of tabular data.

Search: "how much is a taco"

Knowledge Carousels

Some niche searches may bring up a carousel with a black background that extends across both columns. This carousel may also have unique search filters related to the search. The image below is truncated for a close-up view.

Search: "best movies of 1984"

Rich Lists

Another carousel format presents lists in a table across both columns. This format seems to be expanding, and can include songs, travel destinations, nutrition information, and other list-style data.

Search: "songs by taco"

Local Results

Local SEO has changed dramatically in the past couple of years, and local features are evolving rapidly. Especially if you have a brick-and-mortar business, it's important to be very familiar with Google's local space.

Local Packs

In mid-2015, Google phased out the familiar 2-7 result local pack (that blended with organic results), and rolled out a new 2-3 result entity that's more closely aligned with Google Maps.

Search: "gastroenterologists" (Seattle)

Local A/B/C Packs

In some cases, Google may display a variant local pack with A/B/C labels and map pins. This sometimes occurs when all of the locations in a pack are related to the same entity (such as a restaurant chain).

Search: "taco bell" (Seattle)

Local "Snack" Packs

Before re-launching local packs, Google rolled out the "snack pack", a specialized local 3-pack with search filters, and no direct website link. These packs are still being used in some niches, including general restaurant searches.

Search: "mexican food" (Seattle)

Authoritative One-boxes

If Google finds a single, authoritative location for a search, they may return a "one-box". This is a single local result represented by a map pin and address/phone, integrated into an organic result.

Search: "topolobampo" (Chicago)

Local Knowledge Panels

Often tied with Authoritative One-boxes, Local Knowledge Panels display rich information about a local business, including address, phone, hours, reviews, and, most recently, a graph of when you should expect a crowd.

Search: "frontera grill" (Chicago)

Ads & Shopping

Google's financial empire is built on pay-per-click (PPC) ads, but in recent years the simple Google ad block has transformed into a rich advertising ecosystem. Here are a few of the more prominent types of paid results.

AdWords Ads (Top/Bottom)

Traditional AdWords ads come in many flavors now, but the most common type appears at the top and/or bottom of the left-hand column, above and below organic results. Each ad has a colored [Ad] label next to it.

Search: "tequila gift baskets"

AdWords Ads w/ Extensions

Traditional ads can have many different extensions and enhancements, just like organic results. The example below has review stars, Google+ follower count, and mini-sitelinks. Ads may also qualify for full sitelinks.

Search: "chichen itza tours"

AdWords Ads (Right Column)

Ads in the right-hand column are a bit smaller, horizontally, and may appear in packs with up to eight total ads. The [Ads] label only appears once in the right-hand column, above the first ad.

Search: "destination weddings"

Paid Shopping (Left Column)

Paid Shopping results or Product Listing Ads (PLAs) sell products directly with rich information, such as images and pricing. Paid Shopping results in the left column usually appear as a horizontal row of products.

Search: "taco shells"

Paid Shopping (Right Column)

Shopping results in the right-hand column are very similar, but they may take up multiple rows. Google has experimented with larger Paid Shopping results, but most current results are either one or two rows of products.

Search: "buy tortillas"

Paid Shopping w/ Rows (Right)

For a smaller product count, paid shopping in the right-hand column may also be displayed as one product per row. The functionality is similar, but this allows for additional space and a line of ad copy.

Search: "pace picante"

Paid Product Panels

Unique product models may trigger a specialized entity that looks like a Knowledge Panel but is actually a sponsored result. The example below is from a smartphone search, which shows retailers and the option to filter by carrier.

Search: "iphone 6"

Movies w/ Watch Now Ads

Knowledge Panels for movies that are available to watch online may display "Watch now" ads to services such as Google Play, Amazon, etc. These are currently labeled with the AdWords [Ads] marker.

Search: "cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2"

Music w/ Listen Now Ads

Similarly, Knowledge Panels for musical artists and album titles may give you paid listings to listen to songs online. Recently, some books have added "Read now" ads as well. Expect this type of paid feature to expand.

Search: "futuresex"

Hotels w/ Book a Room Ads

Some Local Knowledge Panels for hotels allow you to check availability dates and link directly to booking services. Google is actively expanding both organic and paid hotel elements, including amenities data.

Search: "hotel monaco" (Seattle)

Paid Flight Results

Flight searches can trigger a number of paid features. The example below is a card-like format that allows you to check and book flights directly via the Google Flights engine.

Search: "flight from chicago to seattle"

Acknowledgements

Cataloging and naming the Google feature ecosystem is not something I could ever do alone. Many features were spotted and named long before I re-entered the industry, most notably by the tireless work of Danny Sullivan and Barry Schwartz. I'd also like to thank Jennifer Slegg for her great work over the past year identifying and tracking down names for new features. Thanks also to Gary Illyes at Google, for being willing to talk openly with us about new features and naming conventions. Special thanks to the local SEO community for their ongoing generosity and geekery, and my sincere apologies for ever creating the name "snack pack". Finally, thanks to Kevin on our design team for being willing to listen to instructions like "Think glossary + Godzilla + tacos!" without murdering me.

from The Moz Blog http://ift.tt/1MnGxAW