Google Testing ‘Listen Now’, Fighting Bad Mobile Redirects and Bing Adds Conversational Search

BN-EA608_Google_G_20140808153806

Google Tests ‘Listen Now’ Links for Music Searches

 

Google has announced that it’s testing the inclusion of ‘Listen Now’ links in the Knowledge Graph for searches for musicians. The ads include links to Google Play, Rhapsody, Spotify and Beats Music, and perhaps other services too. The Wall Street Journal reported the news, and say that according to a source the ads are performing well. “We’re happy to help users quickly find legitimate sources for their favorite movies, music and more via Google search,” a Google spokesperson said. “As always, the ads are ranked according to a variety of factors, including: bid, relevance, and click-through rate.”

 

Bing Adds Conversational Search

 

Google may have mastered it last year, but Microsoft has now caught up and added conversational search features to Bing. In a company blog post, Yan Ke, the Principal Development Lead of the Bing Relevance Team, says: “For instance, you can ask “who is the president of the united states”, we will show you the answer. From there you might ask, “who is his wife” or “how tall is he.” Bing maintains the context and keeps the conversation moving forward.” Ke is quick to make it clear that they’re not done yet, telling readers: “This is a long journey, and we expect to deliver a number of additional improvements in the days ahead.” Who knows if that’s just playing more catch-up with Google, or if they have an innovation to take Bing ahead.

 

Google Cracking Down on Faulty Mobile Redirects

 

Google has long warned web developers of the problems with faulty redirects for mobile sites – sites that direct mobile users to the homepage no matter what page they’re trying to reach, or from specific searches to general pages. The company has now begun including warnings about potential faulty redirects in search results to encourage webmasters to fix the problems, and will also message webmasters through Webmaster Tools when any faulty redirects are detected. The announcement also offers some advice on how to identify and fix the errors behind any faulty redirects, including a recommendation to switch to responsive web design, which avoids the problem entirely.

Google Testing ‘Listen Now’, Fighting Bad Mobile Redirects and Bing Adds Conversational Search was last modified: September 26th, 2014 by marketappeal
This entry was posted in Google, Google News, SEO resources and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.