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We are bringing you a roundup of all the latest online marketing news, guides and articles published on our Hebrew internet marketing blog on October–November 2014. This time we had both Panda and Penguin algorithm updates, a research about paid search results impact on organic CTR, Google’s mobile usability reports and tags, bad news from Facebook to marketers and Facebook webinars about video marketing and direct response marketing.

How Paid Search Results affect Organic CTR

A research about the effect of paid search results on the organic CTR and users’ behavior shows that paid ads decrease the CTR of the first organic search result in 30%. The 2–5 search results are not affected by ads, and the 6–10 search results even gain higher traffic next to Google ads. The research was originally published on Search Engine Land.

Full post: Should you aim at Google 2^nd Position?

The Future of Google PageRank

Did Google just bury the toolbar PageRank? Google’s John Mueller said in a Google Webmaster Central Hangout that no future updates are planned for the PageRank, at least not in its current format.

Full post: Will Google PageRank be updated Again?

Google Panda 4.1

Google released a new update to the Panda algorithm – Panda 4.1 – on September 25. The new Panda update s planned to be more accurate, based on new signals that can recognize low quality content. Panda 4.1 will affect 3%–5% search results in English.

Full post: Google released Panda 4.1 Update

Google Penguin 3.0

Google released the long anticipated Penguin update on October 17. Penguin 3.0 is the first Penguin update in almost a year, and since Google confirmed that Penguin recovery requires a refresh of the system, many webmasters and online marketers looked forward for this update.

Full post: Google confirmed Penguin 3.0 Update

New Mobile Usability Report on Google Webmaster Tools

Google announced adding a new Mobile Usability report to Webmaster Tools. The report lets webmasters track common mobile usability issues such as Flash usage, too close touch elements (such as buttons and links), small font size and viewport issues.

Full post: Google adds Mobile Usability Report

Facebook Update: No More Promotional Posts

Facebook’s latest algorithm update offers bad news for brands and marketers. Starting on January 2015, Facebook will clean users’ newsfeeds from promotional posts, i.e. posts that encourage users to buy products or join contests or special promotions. Facebook said that the number of paid ads will not change.

Full post: Only Paid Promotions on Facebook

Mobile Friendly Sites will be boosted on Google Mobile Search Results

Google introduced the new “mobile friendly” tag, which will be attached to mobile sites that meet with Google mobile guidelines. It stands to reason that these sites will get a boost on Google’s mobile search results and that mobile usability will be included in Google’s ranking algorithm.

Full post: Google to start marking Mobile Friendly Sites

Facebook Webinar on Video Marketing

Facebook is currently pushing video marketing, encouraging brands and page owners to upload videos directly to Facebook instead of addling links to YouTube or other video platforms. Facebook held a webinar for Facebook marketers to highlight the advantages of direct video marketing.

Full post: Facebook Video Marketing Webinar

Facebook Webinar on Direct Response Marketing

Facebook is also focusing on direct response marketing by adding call to action buttons on Facebook ads. In a recent webinar Facebook discussed direct response marketing for multiple device, campaign targeting, tracking, measurement and optimization.

Full post: Facebook Direct Response Marketing Webinar

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