Confirmed Google Search Spam Algorithm Update On June 23rd
Google has confirmed that on June 23, 2021 it has released a search “spam update.” The update started and completed on a single day, June 23rd. Google did not say exactly what type of spam it targeted with this update but just linked to its general sp…
Google Tests Extras Section For Movie Queries
Google seems to be testing a new section in the mobile search results for movie related queries. The new section is titled “Extras” and shows additional details on the movie from analysis, interviews, recaps and more.
Google Merchant Center Inaccurate Availability Enforcement
Google is replacing the “Delivery issues” policy violation within Google Merchant Center with a new policy violation named “Inaccurate availability (due to inconsistent availability between the landing page and checkout pages on your website).”
Shopify Now Lets You Edit Your Robots.txt File – Yay?!
The folks at Shopify were excited to announce that they now let you modify and edit your robots.txt file. Previously, Shopify handled it all automatically but now, if you know better, you can make your own modifications.
Google My Business Rush Hours & About Your Company Reports
Google may be releasing two new reports within Google My Business Insights. One report shows your business’s popular times or “rush hour” and the other report shows what your company is known for.
Where SEOs Go For Help: Forums, Twitter, Reddit & More
Matt Tut posted a poll on Twitter asking where do SEOs go for help when they run into an SEO that they cannot solve themselves. The poll has over 850 responses and the responses probably have a bias towards Twitter (since it is a Twitter poll) but it i…
When Google Ads Might Not Show Quality Score Metrics
Did you ever look at your Google Ads reporting and see that the quality score metrics are missing data. Specifically the columns for quality score, expected CTR, landing page experience and ad relevance fields. Well, the reason may be that Google doe…
A Lot Of Expandable Google Ads
Google has expandable ad formats and it seems like Google likes to use those formats for some queries and for some searchers. Valentin Pletzer shared screen shots of him being covered with these ad formats in Google Search.
Google Begins Showing Non AMP Pages In Top Stories Carousel
We expected Google to start showing non-AMP pages in the top stories carousel in mobile search last Thursday. It seems like as of yesterday, Monday afternoon, Google began to show non-AMP pages in the top stories carousel.
Again, Google Does Not Use Sentiment For Ranking Purposes
In 2018, Google’s Danny Sullivan said Google does not recognize sentiment in Google Search. He was asked again in 2021 and Danny Sullivan, no, Google still does not consider it for uses in Search.
Google: Quality Changes Take Several Months To Be Reprocessed & Reevaluated
John Mueller of Google confirmed what most of you SEOs already know, that it can take Google “several months” to understand quality changes that are made to a site. John Mueller said on Twitter “making significant quality changes across a site takes time to be picked up & reflected in search.” “These things often take several months to be reprocessed & reevaluated,” he said.
Google Updates Search Help Docs For Robots.txt & Structured Data
Google has released several updates to both the robots.txt documentation and the structured data documentation last Friday. Here is a list of those changes from Google’s site.
Google News Tests Country Filter
Google is testing letting searchers in specific countries filter Google News to only show news from their country. Here is a screen shot of Google testing this from Bapun Raz as he shared with me on Twitter.
Google Local Pack Seen By Shoppers Justifications
Google is using a new justifications label for the Google Maps local pack named “seen by shoppers.” Justifications are the labels you in the local pack sometimes based on Google thinking you may want to know that extra bit of information about that lo…
Google: We Don’t Have A Notion Of Page Authority
John Mueller from Google said on Twitter that Google does not have the concept of page authority. “We don’t have a notion of page authority,” John Mueller said. How does this differ from maybe site quality, well, that is a good question.
Recent Google Search Ranking Fluctuations
There has been what I would call light fluctuations in the Google search results over the past several days, some a bit over the weekend as well. There is more than the average chatter and fluctuations that you would typically see but not at really bi…
Is Google Search Unrepresented By Google & The Media?
It has bothered me for the past several years now that it seems both Google and the mainstream media treat Google’s main revenue driver, main product and service in such an underrepresented manner. I see media and Google talk about almost everything G…
Gary Illyes Talks On Information Retrieval At Google Search
Gary Illyes of Google spent a nice amount of time talking in the last Search Off The Record podcast about information retrieval. If you have not read anything in-depth about this topic, I highly recommend you listen to what Gary said.
Google Knowledge Panel People Also Search For Scrollable Widget
There is a heck of a lot going on here with this Google knowledge panel. If you search for [amish] on mobile and see the “people also search for” section and then click on the “more” link, you are taken to this scrollable carousel unit with more optio…