Google Tests Chat Button In Local Panel (Instead Of Message)
Google’s local panel allows you to message or now chat with some businesses that enable the messaging feature in Google My Business. Previously, Google always called it “message” in the local panel but now Google is testing calling it “chat.”
Google: It Is About Link Quality Not Link Quantity
For most SEOs, this is very obvious, that it is not about the raw number of links you have to your webpages but rather the quality of those links. Google can and likely does ignore the low quality links, so having a billion low quality links is worthl…
Not Helpful Button On Google Local Reviews
Google is now testing a “not helpful” button in the local reviews within local listings in Google Maps and Google Search. Tom Waddington spotted this and posted the screenshot below on Twitter.
Vlog #112: Dan Toplitt on Enterprise SEO & Looking At The Larger Picture
On a bit of a gloomy day, Dan Toplitt was out in my neighborhood and stopped by to get on the vlog. Dan and I met prior to him becoming an SEO…
Google To Move Last Batch Of Sites To Mobile-First Indexing Soon
Google’s John Mueller said in a video hangout on Friday that Google has stopped automatically moving sites to the mobile-first indexing system. Instead, the last batch of sites are being queued up and will all be moved over sometime in the coming mont…
Google Ads Tests Smart Matching Match Type
Last week, @PPCGreg spotted Google testing a brand new match type in Google Ads named “Smart Matching.” What is Smart Matching? I have no idea but Google Ads confirmed it was a “small tests that select advertisers have opted into.” But I have no idea…
Google Merchant Center Regional Availability And Pricing In US
Google added support for regional availability and pricing to Google Merchant Center / Google Shopping feeds in the United States. Regional availability and pricing let you provide product availability and variable pricing based on your business prese…
Google Does Not Count The Number Of Blog Posts On Your Blog For Ranking Purposes
Google’s John Mueller was asked if Google looks at the number of blog posts on a blog as some sort of metric to figure out if the site should rank well or not. John Mueller said “Google doesn’t count your blog posts.”
Google” Many Sites Think About Links Much More Than Necessary
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that he thinks that many SEOs and sites think about links “much more than necessary.” He said Google does “use links to help discover new content.” He didn’t mention ranking but yes, Google does use links for ran…
45% Of SEOs/Marketers Do Some Affiliate Marketing
Cyrus Shepard posted a poll on Twitter asking SEOs and marketers if they do any affiliate marketing in the course of their day. Only 45% of those who completed the poll said yes, they do affiliate marketing. I am a bit surprised, I would have thought …
Microsoft Bing Search Replaces Magnifying Glass With Search Button
Microsoft Bing seems to have swapped out the magnifying glass button on the search bar in the search results landing page with the button that says “search.” It is a small but interesting change, below are before and after screen shots.
March 19th Google Search Ranking & Algorithm Tremors
I am seeing some early signs of yet another Google Search ranking algorithm update – it is early but the chatter is kicking up and some of the tools are already picking up on the fluctuations and tremors in the search results. Yes, we had some quiet t…
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Featured Snippets Return, Google Ads Blocked Tons Of Ads & Check The Status Of Google Reviews
I am back in my real office after over a year of recording from home – it is weird but good to be back. After Google dropping featured snippets significantly in the Google Search results a few weeks ago, they returned this week, out of the blue and wit…
Google Added To The Help Documentation For Meta Robots Directive
Google has made some updates to the meta robots directive help documentation, specifically by adding more examples for the max-snippet and specifying for each tag what Google’s default behavior is when the tags are omitted. I highly recommend you re-review these docs starting from the valid indexing & serving directives until the end of that section.
Google To Update Robots.txt & Robots Tags Help Docs – Asks For Feedback
So while Google made some additions to the meta robots directives section of the robots help documents, Google’s Gary Illyes and Lizzi Harvey said more is to come. They said if you have feedback and want anything added or explained in the docs, to let…
Google Search Bar & Tools Cut Off Or Too Long Bugs?
Eric Heiken shared a photo of what looks like a Google Search bug with the search bar and the search tools. It shows the search tools right aligned to the search bar, which is not normal. I then did some testing and noticed on some browsers, the sear…
Google Video SEO Tips In New Video & Updated Help Docs
Google has published some new and updated resources around video SEO. First, there is a new video, lighting talk, on the topic of video SEO best practices by Danielle Marshak, Product Manager at Google. Second, there is an updated help doc section on …
Google Ads New Summary Views User Interface
Google Ads announced a new summary view interface with the goal of making “it easier for you to manage your campaigns.” The new views include performance at a glance, performance custom recommendations, quick create and edit campaigns and a quick way …
Daily Search Forum Recap: March 17, 2021
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
Google Blocked 3.1 Billion Ads…
Emojis In Google Search Suggestions & Autocomplete (Desktop & Mobile)
A couple of years ago we reported Google showing emojis in part of the search suggestions and autocomplete suggestion as you type your query into Google Search. Well, I am seeing reports of this again, not just on the desktop results but also the mobil…