Google has unveiled several improvements to AdWords location targeting and location extensions just in time for the holiday season.
The search and online advertising giant revealed on Friday, November 16, new ways for customers to look for, drop by, and get in line with businesses through AdWords.
AdWords is a pay-per-click (PPC) program where webmasters can create customized advertisements and pick keywords. It is Google’s main advertising product and main source of revenue.
Location …

Google Sites led the explicit core search market in October with 66.9 percent of search queries conducted, according to the latest monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace.
Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in October with 66.9 percent market share (up 0.2 percentage points), followed by Microsoft Sites with 16 percent (up 0.1 percentage points) and Yahoo! Sites with 12.2 percent. Ask Network accounted for 3.2 percent of explicit core searches, …

Google finally took heed to the demand of publishers to add larger advertisement banners to its AdSense network.
“As screens grow and web content continues to become richer, the format and capabilities of ad units continue to evolve as well,” said Omer Gimenez Llach, UI Engineer, Google AdSense. “One of the top requests from publishers in the last year has been to add larger ad sizes to our network, and today we’re excited to announce that the popular 300×600 unit will soon be …

Google has silently updated the way Gmail users search for messages on the emailing service to include size, date, and more advanced search options.
“We’re always looking for ways to make it faster and easier for you to find your messages using search in Gmail. So starting today, you can now search emails by size, more flexible date options, exact match and more,” said Google software engineer Christian Kurmann in a blog post.
The update means users can now search emails according to …

Google has reported the rising number of requests it receives from governments to remove websites and contents.
The firm released its latest transparency report to reveal which world governments had the most number of requests and how frequent they ask Google for information on users and online content.
“This is the sixth time we’ve released this data, and one trend has become clear: Government surveillance is on the rise,” said Dorothy Chou, a senior policy analyst of Google, …

Google Shopping has added several new tools to help shoppers, retailers and manufacturers gain a head start over shopping for the holiday season.
Vineet Buch, Group Product Manager of Google Shopping, posted on the Inside AdWords blog that consumers who search for toy subsets on Google Shopping will now see 360-degree interactive images of the products to bring an in-store feeling even when browsing online.
“Look for the ‘3D’ swivel icon on the product image to see a toy in 360-degree …

Globe Telecom, in association with Google, launched on Thursday, November 8, a new service called Free Zone in a move that will see millions of people get free access to Google’s services from any Internet-capable handset.
Free Zone, a joint project between the search giant and the Philippine telecoms carrier, allows basic handsets or feature phones with Internet access to use Google products and services such as Search, Gmail, and Google+ gratis. It provides free access to websites shown on …

Google changes the appearance of the Google Search result page, simplifying the way we access the search parameters list.
If until now we could chose the desired result category and parameters used for searching the left list of results, this menu has been relocated under the search box, leaving more room for the list of results, and the Knowlege Graph section, which displays information from the archives Wikipedia.

The new Google Search menu displayed horizontally is more breezy than before …

Google has failed on its promise to reduce the ranking of alleged piracy websites, accuse the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) of the UK and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
The search and online advertising giant previously swore to stop so-called piracy websites from appearing in its search results, which would have helped media consortiums shoot down infringements on their sacred copyrights.
After it gave Google time to take action, the UK’s DCMS is now accusing it of …

Google, in coordination with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), launched on November 1 a service for abducted children on its google.org project Public Alerts.
Google Public Alerts is a platform that provides emergency alerts from across the Internet whenever and wherever they are most relevant. The new addition, AMBER Alerts, aims to help take home safely all the missing children.
Visitors of Google Search or Maps on desktop, laptop, and mobile devices will …