5 For Friday — Links, Stories & Posts For Your Weekend

June 7th, 2013 by Search Influence Alumni

1.  A New Google Search Result in Beta – Search Engine Land

fiveforfriday As usual, Google is always testing new search results and the way the results display. Dr. Peter Meyers of Moz recently noticed a change in the Google search interface. The results displayed included restaurant reviews from Reason, New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal when he searched [mexican restaurants].

2.  Facebook Cuts Ad Units – Facebook

In a recent announcement, Facebook plans to consolidate its ad offerings down from 27 to close to half of that. Offers for online deals will disappear and they are changing way “Sponsored Stories” are laid out. Expect these changes to slowly roll out.

3. Beware of Big Brother – The Guardian

If you have heard of this NSA PRISM program, you should pay attention now. The Guardian uncovered a top secret document that showed that officials had direct access to systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other internet bigwigs. The document was allegedly used to educate intelligence operatives on the program.

4. Google is now Displaying Option to Claim Local Business in Search Results – Mike Blumenthal

Jade W of Google announced that Google will now start displaying “Are you a business owner?” to direct branded search results. Although it is a minor change, it seems as though Google is attempting to engage small business owners more. Have you started seeing this change for other SMBs?

5.  Yahoo’s New Search Results – Search Engine Journal

For those who still use Yahoo as their primary search engine will notice a change in the search results. Yahoo has attempted to de-clutter the SERPs and moving search results higher up on the page. Do you like the new changes? Will you start using Yahoo?