New Google Maps Posting Restrictions For User Generated Content (Reviews, Photos & Videos)
Google has posted a new help document for posting restrictions around user-generated content in Google Maps. This is specific to reviews, photos, and videos users may update to Google Maps. This may also include content such as ratings or Q&A topics.
Google Explains Why The Affiliate Programs Spam Documentation Were Removed
Last October, Google revamped its Google Webmaster Guidelines into Google Search Essentials and one part of that was to consolidate the previous pages on thin content and affiliate programs into the overall documentation. Lizzi Sassman from Google expl…
Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update On Wednesday?
It looks like we may have had another tremor or Google search ranking algorithm update kickoff yesterday, Wednesday, January 18th. We just had one this weekend after the December 2022 helpful content update and December 2022 link spam update finished…
Google Search Console Search Performance Product Results Clicks & Impressions Spike
Google has posted that you may see an increase in clicks and impressions in your search performance report when filtering by the product results search appearance in Search Console. Google said this is because Google is now picking up these products ev…
Google Search Drops Playable Podcast Rich Snippets
Google has dropped the playable podcast search result rich snippets. 9to5Google reported this first, and there is a bit of confusion around what exactly Google removed. Google seems to have removed the recent episodes playable rich results for podcas…
Google Ads Rolling Out Performance Max Experiments
Google is rolling out Performance Max experiments in Google Ads today. We knew this would come and now, I think for the first time but I might be wrong, we are seeing some advertisers gain access to this.
Microsoft Bing Tests Topics Search Bar Refinements Like Google
Microsoft Bing is testing topics refinements options in the search bar, this is similar to what Google Search launched a few months back on mobile search and has been testing on desktop search.
Google: Google Quality Updates Can Impact Crawling & Indexing
Google’s John Mueller said again that its quality updates, like core updates and the others in the family, can not just impact the ranking of a page in Google Search but also how Google crawls and if Google decides to index that page.
Google Discontinues Google Posts Insights
Google Posts insights is no longer working, it has been discontinued according to the Google Business Profiles API documentation for the deprecation schedule.
Google Search “Related Products”
Google has a “related products” section in its search results. This seems similar to the similar products concept, but it looks like the other query expansion options for Google Search results.
Google: Having A Website With The Same Name As Another Site Is Fine For Search
Google’s John Mueller was asked about if it is okay with Google Search to have a website with the same name as another site on the internet. John said he could not give legal advice around copyright issues but he said when it comes to Google Search and…
Google Maps Tests Business Photo In Round Map Pin
Google is testing displaying a round map pin that has a business photo in the pin itself. This is supposedly working on some Google Maps devices when you request directions.
Google Local Check Wait Time Button
Google is testing a “check wait time” button for some local results in the Google search results. I guess this tells you how long you have to wait to receive service from the local business, like a restaurant.
Google Will Ignore Robots.txt Rules If It Serves A 4xx Status Code
Here is another PSA from Gary Illyes of Google. In short, if you serve a 4xx status code with your robots.txt file, then Google will ignore the rules you have specified in that file.
Google Search Perspectives & Opinions
Google seems to be testing a new box in the search results named perspectives and opinions. The naming convention reminds me of Google perspectives, but this acts differently, as the old perspectives were featured snippet based, and these new perspecti…
Google: Publishing Frequency Does Not Make Something Spam
John Mueller of Google said on Twitter that “publishing frequency alone does not make something spam.” Google’s algorithms don’t look at the content volume as a spam signal alone.
Google Search Tests New Location Override Feature
For a long, long time, Google has given searchers a way to override the location Google Search thinks you are searching for. Often, that location was in the footer, but for the past several months Google has been showing it at the top of the search re…
Vlog #206: Mark Saltarelli On What We�re Missing With Marketing, Structuring Campaigns and CRM Data
Mark Saltarelli and I spoke about his history and about B2B digital marketing in part one…
Weekend Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update – Saturday, January 14
Just a couple of days after the December 2022 helpful content update and link spam update finished, we are now seeing another update, an unconfirmed update that seemed to have hit on Saturday, January 14th.
Google Unlikely To Increase Request Indexing Quota In Search Console
Google’s John Mueller said that Google Search Console’s URL Inspection tool to submit a page to be crawled would probably not see the quota increase anytime soon. He said on Mastodon, “given how much junk we get submitted there, I don’t see us increasi…