There’s never a shortage of Google-related news, but Google seems to have really kicked things into high-gear lately. Today’s wrap-up highlights the biggest & most important Google news and announcements:

Google Invites Brands & Companies to Join Google+

Google launched branded Google+ pages for companies this week, similar to Facebook pages for brands. (Previously, Google+ was only open to individuals and adopted strict Facebook-like rules governing the use of real names.) Google anticipates that branded Google+ pages will become a key channel of brands’ social media strategies, alongside branded Facebook and Twitter presences, and will enable brands to develop relationships with Google+ users.
[Source: Google+ Launches Branded Pages]

Think Insights Out of Beta, Now with Beefier Data!

Think Insights is Google’s information and resource hub for marketers, which boasts a nice array of tools to explore and discover industry data, trends, and gain valuable consumer insights. We especially love the Real-Time Insights Finder that pulls together several of Google’s search tools into one cool-looking visual that lets you drill deeper to mine the data. We recommend bookmarking this page and returning frequently for a fresh helping of delicious data!
[Source: Think Insights with Google is out of beta and packing a data punch]

Could Ads-to-Content Ratio Affect Your Google Rank?

Google’s Matt Cutts revealed at PubCon that Google has been testing its algorithm to examine content that appears “above the fold” (that is, before a user must scroll down) and how it relates to the ads that appear there. While it’s assumed that Google is only testing these issues, it further begs the question as to whether or not ads-to-content ratio could become a factor in determining a website’s Google rank in search results—a notion that was raised after Google’s “Panda” update. Website owners and publishers should be aware of this possibility and be prepared for changes.
[Source: Google's Algorithm Testing Raises Questions About "Above the Fold"]

Google Acquires Katango, Improves Google+ Circles

Startup Katango, whose software sorts Facebook friends and iPhone contacts into meaningful groups, was purchased by Google to improve the functionality of Google+ Circles. ”The issue of slicing friend lists on social networks has become increasingly relevant as people accumulate hundreds and thousands of contacts, creating the need to be more granular when choosing what thoughts, links, videos and photos to share with whom,” noted Juan Carlos Perez of IDG News. We couldn’t agree more.
[Source: Google Buys Katango to Boost Google+ Circles Feature]

Huge Spike in Mobile Google Searches Related to Holiday Shopping

“A quarter of Google searches related to holiday shopping have come from mobile devices– at least in Australia. The search giant’s Australia site saw a 220% spike in shopping searches coming from mobile devices this year. Although Google’s data only relates to Australia, business owners everywhere should take note of the trend. Having a mobile-friendly website is almost a necessity for local businesses.”
[Source: Google: Mobile Holiday Shopping Searches on the Rise]

Google +1 Button Now Appearing in Image Search

Google has married the +1 button to its image search, enabling Google+ users to tag and recommend photos by mousing over the pictures and clicking the button. When Google+ users view images that have been tagged in this manner by friends, they’ll see annotations in the search results for the images. It’s a move that expands Google’s budding social network into Flickr-like territory, building a social layer on top of Google’s enormous index of images.
[Source: Google +1 Button Comes to Images]

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