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South Korean authorities banned Google in using the official map data on servers outside the country, reported by Reuters. The reason for refusal were the security issues related to the conflict with North Korea.
Google points out that data should be used on servers around the world to provide a proper functionality for Google Maps. Otherwise, South Korean user will not be able to get information while on pedestrian and road routes.
"We are quite disappointed by this decision," - said Google’s spokesman. He also expressed the hope that in the future the situation may change, and users in the region will have access to all Google Maps features.
According to the Korean officials, using map data outside the country can threaten its security. In particular, military location and other important objects can be revealed in this case.

Google updated the documentation to create advanced snippets for articles pages. Now it clearly describes the difference between the markup for ordinary pages and AMP.
Earlier the documentation indicated the conditions necessary for the article appearance in the AMP-carousel. Now it specifies that the page can be displayed differently depending on its type: «AMP structured data" or «non-AMP structured data".
The updated guidelines clearly state that in order to get into the AMP-carousel the accelerated page should have the appropriate markup. Otherwise, it will be displayed in Google search results.
With regard to the layout specification, Google also shared recommendations for AMP and non-AMP pages. For instance, if AMP features such as headline and image are required then the HTML-pages are highly recommended.
Google also added a new properties category called «Ignored». It means that the property cannot be included in the markup.

Google has added a new "Using HTTPS» section in its report on the accessibility of their services and data. It aims to show the transition dynamics to a secure protocol.
According to Google, current desktop Chrome version users download more than a half of the pages through the safe protocol. Whereas, mobile users still widely use HTTP protocol, however, more and more users are getting to HTTPS. Android users who use HTTPS protocol were estimated at 40%.
Google has valued the statistics on page views using different protocols in Chrome and found out that users spend most of their time browsing HTTPS websites than HTTP-resources. This ratio is getting higher for HTTPS benefit.
Google started measuring the HTTPS-connections on Chrome in early.
It should be mentioned that in December the search engine began HTTPS-indexing page version by default. According to Moz, HTTPS-results in Google top 10 has reached 40% last month.

GroupM states “when consumers were exposed to both search and social media influenced by a brand that overall search CTR went up by 94 percent.”

Content marketing rocks. Marketing Sherpa reports distribution lead to a 2,000% increase in blog traffic and a 40% increase in revenue.

Twitter has 320 million monthly active users as of September. (Source: Twitter)