December ended up being a very busy closing month to 2012 in the world of SEO and social media, so let’s jump right in!
Google Algorithm Changes
- December 23rd – new Panda update
Google News
- Google updated image search to make inappropriate images harder to find.
- Google allows you to track reservations and purchases right within search with specific providers:
- “Whitney Houston” tops the Top-10 list of terms searched on Google in 2012.
- Google saves $2 billion in taxes by shifting money to Bermuda.
- “(Not Provided) Count” launches to help better keep track of the pesky “(Not Provided)” stat in Google Analytics.
- Google introduces “Data Highlighter” to make data markup for events easier!
- Google webspam guru Matt Cutts explains that links in press releases probably won’t help SEO.
- Speaking of Matt Cutts, he’s a dinosaur now…
Yahoo News
- Yahoo! adds to its mobile services by acquiring video chat service OnTheAir
The Month in Social Media
Facebook News
- Facebook enabled New Year’s Midnight Delivery to let you schedule messages to send friends at exactly midnight.
- People who you aren’t associated with can send you a message for $1.
Twitter News
- You can download your Twitter feed now!
This Month in Other Web Marketing News
- A fascinating piece on how the Obama campaign used A/B testing to help win the election
- Nielsen released their 2012 Social Media Report
- A study revealed that more than 70% over referred traffic only comes from 1% of domains.
- Instagram found itself in a bit of a kerfuffle after the company changed its policies.