In the marketing spotlight this week:

• Matt Cutts Video: How Google Determines What’s A Paid Link
• Google: Keep URL Length Shorter Than 2,000 Characters
• Got A Google Penalty? Should You Kill Your Site and Start Over?
• You Don’t Have To Disavow Off Topic Links
• March 2014 Google Webmaster Report
• Google+ Page or Personal Profile?
• Google+ +Post Ads: How Google Will Monetize Google+
• Still wondering how THEY make it on Google+?
• Newest Facebook Layout Quietly Kills The Beautiful Newspaper Concept
• Facebook takes steps to block illegal gun sales
• Facebook is buying a drone maker!
• From YouTube annotations to your blog
• Vine will no longer allow sexually explicit content
• Lawsuits Be Gone: How to Use Getty Images for Free
• Google Authorship & Publisher – What’s The Difference?
• Time saving Chrome extension to check for broken links
• Siri – meet Cortana
• Google Places: Duplicate Listings Issues
• Dust off your Yahoo ID
• Edward Snowden to Speak at SXSW Interactive Via Videoconference
• Google Adds Restaurant Menus To Search Results
• HOW TO: “Ok Google” voice search on Chrome [beta]
• Google Docs Is Rolling out Voice Dictation
• and more.

In the marketing spotlight this week:

• Google: Submit Scraper Sites That Outrank You on Google
• Don’t dumb down your content for the search engines; only for your readers
• Disavow Data Isn’t Used Against the Site Being Disavowed
• 3 tips to find hacking on your site from Google
• Google’s Panda Algorithm is 3 Years Old
• Scoop.it and Google+
• How Facebook’s News Feed Now Lets Brands Ride The Coattails Of Other Brands
• Facebook Reroutes Its Email to Your Inbox
• Facebook: All verified pages can finally edit their posts
• Twitter is bringing even more ads to your search results
• Gmail adds easy unsubscribe button to stem promotional emails
• …and more.

In the marketing spotlight this week:

• Create your own short vanity URL
• Google’s Matt Cutts: Backlinks are here to stay
• Bing: Keyword Stuffing Now Off Limits
• Why Guest Posting is Still Critical to Content Marketing
• Google+ Pages Dashboards Now Link to Google Analytics
• Why do I post more on Google+ than at Traffic Generation Café?
• The Most Interesting Ladies On Google+
• How The Facebook News Feed Works Now
• More love for playlists and a new look for YouTube
• Social Media Lie Detector is in Developmental Stages
• WhatsApp is Facebook’s ticket to its next billion users?
• Klout: timing and and relevance are key
• A cure for your social media addiction
• How to promote your content MUCH more effectively
• Infinite scrolling: what’s your take?
• Business Names Google Places Quality Guidelines Updated
• The New Google Maps
• Google Fiber: where it is and where it might be going
• Web tool that lets you track inter-site disagreements
• Archive permanently any web page with Archive.is
• Attention, shoppers — eBay buys a virtual fitting room
• Is an iTesla in the works?
• and more…

In the marketing spotlight this week:

• Google’s Matt Cutts On Being A Spam Fighter: his longest video yet
• Google Updates Its Page Layout Algorithm To Go After Sites “Top Heavy” With Ads
• Google’s Matt Cutts: Don’t Worry About Poor Grammar In Comments
• What happens when you combine Google, Bing, Amazon, and YouTube Keyword Suggestions?
• No Budget for SMX West? Free Expo+ Pass
• The Donkey Cutts SEO Game: Avoid Panda & Penguins
• Facebook wants teens back, even though they are not admitting it
• Facebook Call-to-Action Buttons: Create for Ads and Organic Posts
• Block Facebook From Autoplaying Videos
• Tools and Tips to Help Marketers Inspire and Engage on Instagram
• Twitter is testing an interface design that looks a lot like Facebook.
• Looking for ways to increase your YouTube views? DON’T do it this way
• Flickr Turns 10
• WOW: You can now pay for your airline tickets via social media?
• Gmail can now tell senders when a recipient opens an email
• Everything You Need to Know About Bitcoin in 2 Minutes
• …and more.

In the marketing spotlight this week:

• Google Sends Manual Actions For Rich Snippet Spam
• Google NoFollows Google+ Profile Links
• “Action Required: You have 3 weeks to save your Google Places Listing.”
• Google is NOT broken
• Will Google Glass help Google+ to kick Facebook to the curb?
• Facebook Turned 10
• How’s Your Facebook “Look Back”?
• Pinterest Updates Acceptable Use Policy And Cracks Down on Paid Pins
• Pinterest Launches New Mobile Website
• The Vast Number Of People Who Abandon Twitter
• How to Get More Traffic
• AdSense Direct — How to Sell Ad Space
• Free “Writing Wikipedia Articles” Course Now Open for Registration
• Can Yahoo Beat Google?
• Emergency Flash update for Windows and Mac users
• PayPal is giving custom poems away every day until Feb. 13
• The True Power behind Traffic Generation Café
• …and more.

In the marketing spotlight this week:

• SEO Traffic 2014: Your One-Stop Reference Guide for Non-SEOs
• “Dear Google, We Can Help With Your Google Rankings”
• New video from Matt Cutts: Should I build links using article directories?
• Google Answers Questions With Longer Responses Now
• How To Analyze A Link: Link Building Basics
• Google’s Matt Cutts: We’re Taking Action Against Buzzea, The French Link Network
• Matt Cutts On When Old Sites No Longer Rank Well
• Quentin Tarantino And Prince Attack Linking
• Google to Affiliates: If you don’t add value, you might be in violation of our guidelines
• Facebook Turns 10 & Zuckerberg Say You Don’t Have to Be Yourself Any Longer
• Facebook is the Most Visited Social Network; Twitter and Google+ Tied for 3rd
• Facebook Introduces ‘Paper’ to Help You Follow News
• Twitter, CNN, and Dataminr have teamed up to develop a Twitter alert system for journalists
• Four Analysis Tools To Help You Harness The Power Of Google Plus
• Google+ Tip: How to make your still photos not so still any more
• Flipboard Releases Badges and Widgets to Promote Your Magazines
• Check your passwords: Yahoo Mail got hacked
• New Web addresses now live: .bike, .guru, others now open
• Watch All The 2014 Super Bowl Ads
• and much more…

In the marketing spotlight this week:

• Guest Blogging Apocalypse: (surprisingly) one of the most talked-about news stories of the week;
• Google: No Special Indexing For Facebook Or Twitter Because They Can Block Us;
• Good or bad for traffic? More Information About Websites in Search Results;
• Yahoo Makes Secure Search The Default;
• Was Expedia Penalized By Google?
• Google Autocomplete: [Your State] Wants… - you might be surprised;
• The Grand Content Marketing Contest ($3,000 cash prize - a great way to start your New Year!);
• From Facebook Newsroom: Tip for Increasing Engagement With Links;
• Princeton University says Facebook is an infectious disease;
• Facebook Offers Sarcastic Retort Princeton study;
• Pinterest: on Its Way to Generate Income in 2014, Experimenting with GIFs, Launches A Recipe Search Engine, Personalized Home Pages (they probably surprised themselves with all these news in one week!);
• Consumer Watchdog Files FTC Complaint Over “Send To Anyone On Google+” Feature;
• Google Published New AdSense Policies FAQs;
• The Big Google AdSense Cleanup of 2013;
• Mark Your Calendars: February 4 (you’ll have to see why);
• Would You Like a Free Cab Ride with Your Fries?;
• FBI Drags Google Glass Man From Theater on Piracy Fears;
• Internet Rehab? The Dangers of Online Addiction;
• First Ever Presidential Hangout;
• and more…

(yep, this week’s marketing news were a loaded potato)