Recent Headlines in Social Media & Search: July 2015

We’ve compiled the latest announcements around the web. Stay up to date and let us know if we missed anything.

Search News

Google reviews have been sought after in order to see the 5 stars in search results. Now, Facebook reviews have started showing up in search results as well, making it even more important to get reviewed on Facebook. Read more here.
If you’ve noticed a drop in rankings on Bing search it may be because you’ve moved to HTTPS. See the details here if you’ve recently made the switch.
Google has been testing out a new interface in desktop search results that look similar to mobile. They have also introduced a new feature on desktop that allows you to send a place to your phone.
Leaving a Google review on a mobile device in the past was a painful process. Mike Blumenthal explains this process is now much easier for both IPhone and android users.
Google has released new guidelines for marketing companies and those assisting with Google my business listings who are not the business owner to prevent a third party from holding Google listings hostage. The full guidelines are outlined here.
Received an e-mail lately alerting you of the statistics of your Google+ listing? Some have reported receiving e-mails showing the number of views on Google, people who called your business and asked for directions. See an example.
Gary Illyes from Google reminded us via Twitter that a Penguin update/refresh is months away.

Social Media News

Facebook now allows users to select what they see first in their news feed. New features have also been added to make it easier to unfollow a page, see the pages/people you recently unfollowed, and a new discovery section to find pages you might be interested in.
Facebook is testing out a new video advertising option allowing advertisers to pay with a cost-per-view rate. This rate would only be charged if the viewer watches for at least 10 seconds.
Facebook has updated their video ranking metrics to include actions on videos outside of a like, comment or share. If an individual turns up the volume, makes it full screen or even enables HD, Facebook will consider the viewer interested and show similar videos to the viewer.
Google has announced that Google+ profiles will no longer be a requirement to manage every Google product. With this change, YouTube explained that YouTube channels will no longer require a Google+ profile, but you can still keep it if desired.

In Case You Missed it

February: Google has been contacting site owners with hacked sites to offer assistance.
May: Google Webmaster Tools has been renamed to Google Search Console.

Heard any new updates in the Internet Marketing industry we didn’t mention? Let us know in the comments.

Updates From Previous Months