Google began testing a new ad format designed to help connect local home service providers with local customers. Mark Irvine believes these ads will help small businesses rank much higher at the top of the query page. He describes the ads as having an image of the home service professional, their location, their phone number, and a rating of their service, and often appearing alongside call-out extensions. 

With 50 billion Pinterest pins and counting, George Kamide explains in a video some strategies that brands can use to get content seen on Pinterest, along with examples of how brands have successfully leveraged the platform. Unlike Twitter tweets or Facebook posts that get lost in the stream, Kamide believes Pinterest Pins "live forever" and are easily found through guided search tools. Kamide provides examples.

Google is offering Search Ads on Google Play to all advertisers and developers to promote Android apps in the store. “The app install ads, which Google began piloting in February, appear in the search results in the Google Play store,” Search Engine Land reports. “The inventory is now available to advertisers and developers running search app install campaigns in AdWords.” 

Ray Comstock finds it surprising that many digital marketers, especially those working at B2B companies, don't understand the relationship between content and SEO. He argues that a content strategy supporting a bigger vision typically differs compared with the customer-focused strategies most B2B companies use. Comstock explains.

While Google recently announced that it would remove integration of Google+ from all its products, Jefferson Graham tells us how Hangouts and Photos live on. The transition has been interesting. Graham details two of the features he thinks will become assets to other tools.

Google is now letting searchers see “popular times” for each day of the week when you look up a location. “In other words, it’s possible to avoid lineups and general overload at ‘millions of places and businesses around the world’ just by googling wherever you want to go,” Venture Beat reports. 

Businesses gain greater ability to customize surroundings in the latest update to Google Maps for Android. Options include naming an unidentified spot on a map such as a particularly good spot for sledding in the neighborhood park or edit places that already have a name. Matt Elliott explains how.

Google sent out warning letters beginning Tuesday that Googlebot cannot access JavaScript or CSS files. For those who received one, Jennifer Slegg provides insight on finding and fixing the bocked CSS and Javascript that Google believes is on your site.

San Francisco-based Tripping.com has raised $16 million in Series B funding to grow a search engine that helps travelers find the best available vacation rentals. The investment led by Steadfast Financial will enable the company to hire, market and develop its product and app.

Advertising and digital publishing company Inuvo has launched a suite of native ad units for mobile and desktop publishers. The ad units, SearchLinks, includes ad targeting, delivery, optimization, content analysis and reporting. The company said the platform allows publishers to see the performance of their SearchLinks ad-units in real-time.