Google: If You Want Your Images To Rank Then Use Alt Text
Google’s John Mueller said this morning on Twitter that if you want your images to rank in Google Image search, it is extremely helpful to Google if you add alt text to your images. The advice itself is not new, it dates back over 10 years ago but thi…
Google’s John Mueller: “Why Not Put A Date On It”
As you all know, I am a huge fan of dates on articles and blog content. I even suggested Google should penalize pages that do not put dates on articles. Google has not gone that far, yet – but John Mueller seems to be a fan of dates on articles as wel…
Google Ignores A Lot Of Edu Links
Google’s John Mueller said that Google ignores a lot of links on EDU TLDs because they are more often link spam targets. Google said there is a misconception that EDU links are more valuable, hence why they are more of a spam target and thus why Googl…
Google Tests “Relevant History” In Search Results
Google is testing showing searchers a section in search called “relevant history.” It seems to show your past searchers that are relevant to the search you just triggered right now. This feature brings awareness to Google storing your search history.
…
Google: The Source Alone Of The Link Doesn’t Make The Link Bad
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that the source of the link alone doesn’t make the link a bad link. It also depends on other factors. For example, John asked if the the destination owner placed the link on the source themselves or not.
Google Drops Number Of Results Per Page Search Settings Option
Google has updated their search settings page sometime in the past 12 hours or so. With that change, Google removed the option to change the number of results displayed on the page and seems to have added a handwriting option.
Google Converts PDFs To HTML For Indexing In Search
Google’s John Mueller said that Google will convert PDF documents, as well as other documents, from their original form and into HTML in order to better index those documents.
Google Launches Structured Data Codelab
Google has officially launched their structured data codelab, which allows you to walk through a step-by-step process to make your own structured data for your web site. Google’s codelab walks you through adding several types of structured data to a si…
Google Can Process Canonical Tags In JavaScript
Google’s John Mueller said in a video hangout that Google can technically process canonicals within JavaScript. This is assuming that what is shown in the JavaScript doesn’t conflict with other signals. John confirmed this on Twitter when Patrick St…
Google Search Console August 19th Query Report Drop Clarified
Remember we reported that Google dropped anonymous queries from the Search Analytics and Performance reports in Google Search Console on August 19th? Well, Google is now clarifying that the data was never displayed but the queries they hide were previ…
Reddit Thread On PBNs Caught Google’s Attention
There is a thread at Reddit on the topic of someone building out a PBN, a public blog network. These are often used to manipulate Google’s search results through link schemes. Well, Google’s John Mueller commented on the thread saying “Sounds like an…
Google Judges All Content On Your Pages, Be It Written By You Or Others
Google’s John Mueller said again that any type of bad content on your site, be it content you write yourself or content published by users – i.e. user generated content, can be used to judge your site. He said the content displayed is what Google uses…
Google: Certifying Content It Still Valid Is Good, But Not Date Update Worthy
Google’s John Mueller said it is great to go through old content and make sure it is still valid and accurate. But doing so doesn’t mean that you should update the date of the content to the date you reviewed it. If you want to inform the users who are…
Google Search Console Reports Removes Anonymous Queries
Last week we reported that some were notice huge drops in their Google Search Console reports when using the query filter. Well, Google just posted on their data anomalies page that they have removed what they call “anonymous query.”
The Google Search Console New Link Report Has A Latest Links Download
Google’s new link report in the beta Google Search Console does have a download latest links button. It was just hard to find as Bryson Meunier said on Twitter. It is on the main links screen, it is not within the external links screen.
Google: Redirecting All Your URLs To Your Home Page Is A Bad Practice
Google’s John Mueller said on Friday in a webmaster video that redirecting all of your URLs to your home page is bad practice. Instead, you should redirect those URLs on a one by one basis to the proper new location.
Google’s John Mueller Is In Regular Contact With Web Spam & Search Quality Teams
Google’s John Mueller has confirmed that he is in regular contact with both web spam team and the search quality teams at Google. There are many people who feel John and others from his webmaster trends analysts team are not in touch with those teams….
Google: We Take Web Site Spam Take Overs In Search Very Seriously
Google’s John Mueller said in a webmaster hangout video that Google’s spam teams take it super serious when a web site is taken over by another one in the search results. If you see that happen, Google wants to jump on those issues and tackle them qui…
New Google Link Report To Get Download Latest Links Feature
Google launched the new link report in the new beta Google Search Console this week. One of the biggest complaints was it was missing the option to download the latest links, like the old version has. Google’s John Mueller confirmed that feature will …
Google’s John Mueller Recommends SEO Noobs Join Help Forums To Gain Experience
John Mueller of Google answered a question in a Reddit thread about advice on how an SEO noob, a person who is inexperienced in SEO, learn and get good at SEO. John said you should gain experience with the help of webmaster help forums and communities….