Google has had enough of people using the event markup in a misleading way and is now sending out a strict warning that if you use this markup in any other way then its intended purpose, Google may go ahead and penalize your site. The penalty will be in the form of a manual action
Continue readingGoogle Will Soon Let Anyone Add to Street View
Google is going to make it possible for anyone to add to street view through a program called “Street View Ready.” Typically only Google’s Street View cars have been able to add to the Street View database, but soon anyone with the right hardware will be able to as well. The Insta360 Pro camera that is required
Continue readingGoogle’s Ranking Algorithms Dynamically Change Based On Query & Context
The other day I reported how Google said there is no such thing as the top three ranking signals despite what may have been said before. I said it is likely because some queries weigh some signals more important than others, such as QDF (query deserves freshness – Google it) and other things. But what about having different signals
Continue readingSEO Best Practices for Canonical URLs + the Rel=Canonical Tag – Whiteboard Friday
Before we do that, I think it pays to talk about what a canonical URL is, because a canonical URL doesn’t just refer to a page upon which we are targeting or using the rel=canonical tag. Canonicalization has been around, in fact, much longer than the rel=canonical tag itself, which came out in 2009, and
Continue readingMoz report: 50% of page one search results are HTTPS
Based on the trend of sites switching to HTTPS and what is ranking in Google, we may see 70% of the page one results going to HTTPS by the end of 2017. Pete Meyers from Moz reports that according to their keyword tracking tools, half of the page one search results in Google show HTTPS
Continue readingGoogle testing ‘tags’ label in search results snippets
A new Google experiment updates the search results snippets to show tags related to the page. But these tags don’t seem to do much of anything. Google has confirmed to Search Engine Land that they are experimenting with a new feature in the search results. I happened to stumble upon a search results snippet in
Continue readingSeriously, Google, can you just make exact match exact?
In the wake of Google’s announced changes to exact match, contributor Daniel Gilbert offers a passionate argument against the shift, as well as a script to help advertisers regain control. In case you haven’t heard, Google has decided to ignore function words and word order for exact match keywords. If you just want to know
Continue readingGoogle launches new effort to flag upsetting or offensive content in search
Google is undertaking a new effort to better identify content that is potentially upsetting or offensive to searchers. It hopes this will prevent such content from crowding out factual, accurate and trustworthy information in the top search results. “We’re explicitly avoiding the term ‘fake news,’ because we think it is too vague,” said Paul Haahr, one of
Continue readingGoogle is shrinking AdWords’ view-through conversion window default
Google announced Monday that as of March 29, 2017, the AdWords default view-through conversion window will shrink from 30 days to one day. View-through conversions are counted when a user converts after a display or video ad impression is viewable but not clicked on. The change means only conversions that occur within one day of
Continue readingRIP DMOZ: The Open Directory Project is closing
DMOZ — The Open Directory Project that uses human editors to organize websites — is closing. It marks the end of a time when humans, rather than machines, tried to organize the web. The announcement came via a notice that’s now showing on the home page of the DMOZ site, saying it will close as
Continue readingOfficial: Google’s green outlined ‘Ad’ label replacing solid green version
Over the past few weeks, users have spotted a new ad label on Google search ads. Instead of a solid green background, the new label has a green outline and white background. Sightings have increased rapidly over the past several days, and Search Engine Land has received confirmation from Google that the new look is
Continue readingNatural News was not banned from Google over fake news
A Google webmaster violation is the reason this website was penalized by Google, not its controversial nature. Natural News, a controversial alternative medicine website, according to Wikipedia, has been delisted from Google. The news site confirmed being removed from Google and recently claimed Google banned them because the site was pro-Trump. Google has confirmed the
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