US Democratic Party Symbol Was A Rat In Google’s Knowledge Panel
Last night for a period of time, if you searched for [democratic party] or similar searches, the knowledge panel showed a rat as the symbol of the party, not the official donkey. Google fixed the issue after a couple hours but this just shows how cert…
Bing: Use 302s For URLs That May Change In Two Days, Otherwise Go 301
Fabrice Canel from Microsoft Bing said on Twitter “preferable to use a 302 redirect if your destination URL may change within 2 days, else 301 is recommended.” So if your redirects will be in place for less than two days, go with a 302 – otherwise, Bi…
Google My Business Using Duplex To Call Businesses To See Hour Changes Or Closures
Google said it is using Duplex, Google’s AI based phone calling service, to call businesses to check if business hours have changed or if the business has closed. Google wrote “using our artificial intelligence (AI) technology Duplex where possible to…
60% Of SEOs Prefer If Google Pause Algorithm Updates During COVID-19 Outbreak
Yesterday I asked should Google pause algorithm updates based on some folks in the SEO community thinking Google should. I posted a poll and within 24 hours it now has over 1,100 results. Almost 60% of SEOs said they would prefer if Google stopped pus…
Google Chrome Mixed Content Does Not Fully Impact Google Search
Google made it so that Chrome would show a site is not secure when there is mixed content. But does that impact how the page ranks in Google search? Not currently.
Google Ads & Google My Business Support May Be Delayed Or Unavailable
Google has been posting notices in the Google Ads and Google My Business (as well as other products) help areas that phone and other support areas may be slow or unavailable. Google said this is “in light of COVID-19” challenges. We should all be pat…
Microsoft Advertising Standard Text Ads To Expanded Text Ads Migration By March 31st
Just a reminder, if you have your Microsoft Advertising ads as standard text ads, they will be migrated to expanded text ads on March 31st. Microsoft sent out a reminder about this on Twitter yesterday.
No API For Google Search Console Discover Report
Google launched Discover performance reports in Google Search Console almost a year ago. It is available for sites that see traffic from Google Discover. So not everyone sees it.
But there is no API for it yet…
Should Google Stop Pushing Search Algorithm Updates During COVID-19 Outbreak?
It is a rough question because Google’s search results are always updating by itself, i.e. new content gets added, new links, new signals, etc. So the Google search results are always in a state of flux. But in terms of bigger search algorithm update…
Vlog #54: Tony Wright On SEO Attribution & Online Reputation Management
Tony Wright has been doing SEO since 1998, that is super early. He did it all from black hat to white hat SEO through the years. He started his career in a PR firm and his job title was “Cyber PR,” how cool is that title…
Google My Business: Is The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Affecting Your Business?
Google is sending out email notifications to business owners through Google My Business asking businesses to update their details if the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) affecting your business. The email asks “Is the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) affe…
Lots Of Pages That Don’t Get Searched For? Does It Hurt Your Google Search Rankings?
John Mueller from Google was asked if “having too many non searched pages on website are bad for SEO?” John didn’t say yes or no, he instead said – “that’s up to you.” He said what good is it if no one searches for it?
Gary Illyes May Open Audio Hangouts Google Search Chats
Gary Illyes from Google said he may do an audio only Google Hangout to talk about search. Gary is not traveling anymore for search conference talks and he said he “kinda miss the conference hall chats.” So he is going to try this out.
Search Buzz Video Recap: Google & Bing Search Algorithm Changes, People Also Ask Reductions & COVID-19 Adjustments
Firstly, I am doing this video from home and it was super early and I didn’t want to wake the family, so I look like more of a mess than normal. On the search news, we may have had a Google search update this week…
Google In This Video Key Moments Shows Multiple Times?
Google launched key moments for videos in the Google search results last September. But generally you only see one video that shows the “in this video” key moments timeline in search. Brodie Clark posted a screen shot on Twitter showing it come up num…
Google: We Have No Mechanism To Block Indexing Parts Of Pages
Google’s John Mueller said there is currently no official “mechanism to block indexing of a part of a page.” There are “hacky ways” he said but nothing official from Google like a googleon/googleoff tag that is supported only for the Google Search App…
Google Webmaster Conferences Postponed Until Further Notice
Google has announced it has postponed the Google Webmaster Conferences that it was planning to host throughout the year in regions where many cannot find SEO conferences. Gary Illyes from Google said “To wit, with the growing concern around coronaviru…
Bing: The Magnitude Of Algorithm Changes Has Been Larger Than Usual
Frederic Dubut from Bing said on Twitter that Bing has been very business working on algorithm changes. He said “the magnitude of the algorithm changes we made recently may be larger than usual.”
Google: Start With Fewer Pages For New Sites
Google’s John Mueller said he would “recommend erring on the side of having fewer pages, especially when starting up a new site.” He said that having too many pages makes it hard for Google to “find the unique value of each page.”
Google: 3D & AR Images Are Not A Ranking Factor
I am not sure why it surprises me anymore but Google had to say that adding support for 3D and AR images to your site won’t help your pages rank better. Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter “No, we don’t” when asked if Google ranks these pages higher…