Google Local Pack With Trending Icons On Business Listings
Have you ever seen a “trending this week” icon and messaging in the local pack in the Google search results? Here is a screen shot of this coming up for an SEO somewhere in Madrid. I personally cannot replicate this but I don’t think I’ve ever seen t…
Google: We Treat Quotes The Same As Standard Text
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that they treat the content within quotes and blockquotes the same as other standard content on the page. So if you are quoting someone else, putting that in quotation marks or blockquotes, Google won’t be devalui…
Google: Just Because You Call Yourself The Best, It Doesn’t Mean You Should Rank For The Best
So you name your company Best Company, so for SEO companies, you go with the name “Best SEO.” Should Google rank your web site number one in the search results for the query [best SEO]? Probably not and that is what John Mueller of Google is saying h…
Google Does Not Use Real Life User Signals For Search Ranking
Let’s put the controversy around Google using user signals and user behavior within a site on the side. Does Google use real-life user behavior and real-life user signals as ranking factors? Like does Google track location data and rank a site that g…
Google Lens Now Built Into Pixel 3 Camera
Google has built in Google Lens directly into the new Pixel 3 camera. It is super impressive and basically lets you tap on something while looking at the camera and it will give you information about what you are looking at. So phone numbers can be cli…
Google: Crawl Rate Increases Can Be Related To Mobile-First Indexing Switch
Google has said this before, but it is worth repeating, that an increase in crawl rates may be a sign that you are switching over to mobile-first indexing. John Mueller repeated it again on Twitter the other day and below are some stats to show you wh…
Google: Mobile-First Indexing Unrelated To Search Ranking Algorithm Changes
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that all the search ranking algorithm changes we have been following, some confirmed, are “not related to mobile indexing.” Some are thinking that all the fluctuations are due to Google ramping up the mobile-first…
Google Warns They Will Test Google Assistant’s Duplex Next Month
Google announced yesterday that they will start publicly testing the Google Assistant Duplex feature that allows Google AI to call a venue and make an appointment or reservation for you automatically. They demonstrated this at Google I/O back in May a…
Google Home Hub – Google Assistant With A Display
I love the Google Home devices, I think they are incredibly useful when you are not sitting by a computer and sometimes even then. Google announced yesterday a new Google Home device named Google Home Hub. It has a display and you can interact with th…
Google+ Is Shutting Down: How Will It Impact SEOs?
As you probably heard by now, Google+ is shutting down. The reason is over lack of us and a data exposure through their API, which sounds similar to the Facebook issue. The big question in our community is how will it impact SEO and SEOs?
Google My Business Has A Manual Review Bug
If you have any locations in Google My Business that requires manual reviews, it may result in a bug that leads you to a 404 page not found page. I am told Google is aware of the issue and working on a fix. For now, you may need to speak to someone a…
Google Search Algorithm Ranking Update Again On October 8th & 9th?
I know, Google updates every day, but I promise, I try to limit my coverage of these Google search ranking updates to those that drive a lot of chatter within the community and show additional signs of evidence around a ranking update. And today I am s…
Google Tests Expandable Sitelinks In Search Results
Google is testing a new format for Sitelinks in the search results. These sitelinks are not just links that take you to a specific web page, but when clicked on, they expand and show you a snippet of content from the page it is linking to.
Google: Word Count, Link Count, Anchor Text Ratios Are Not Indicative Of Quality
Google’s John Mueller responded on Twitter saying that word counts, anchor texts to word rations, number of backlinks, number of external links, the percentage of anchor text and so on is not “indicative of quality.” Here is the tweet and John’s respo…
Google: Other Sites Outranking You For Your Content While Sourcing You
Google’s John Mueller talked about the frustration some may feel when you write a breaking story about a topic no one has covered yet other web sites are outranking you for that story, even though these other web sites link to you as the source. John …
Bing Not Listening To Submit URL Webmaster Tools Feature
I am hearing some reports that even the submit URL tool within Bing Webmaster Tools is not working. We know Bing killed off the anonymous submit URL tool and told us to use the one within Bing Webmaster Tools. But if you try to use it and check your s…
Google Ads URL Anchors Shouldn’t Impact Campaign Performance
Google responded on Twitter to a question about using anchors in your destination URLs within your Google Ads campaigns. In short, anchors should not impact your campaign performance in a negative or positive manner. Google said “Using anchored links…
Google’s John Mueller Defends His Making Links Against Guidelines Statement
Last week we reported that Google’s John Mueller said that the concept of making quality links is by definition against Google’s guidelines because you are making those links and they are not links that were naturally given by the party. Since then th…
Google Cache 404 Hack & Workaround
For months and months I get complaints that the Google Cache is serving up a 404 error for their web sites. They are nervous and worried that this means there is an issue with their site and their web site rankings in Google will dive. It won’t dive …
Google My Business Agency Account Migration Tool
Google’s Allyson Wright, a Community Manager for Google My Business, shared in the Google Business Help forums that they are currently doing a limited rollout of a new agency account migration tool. Allyson said the tool will help “improve the process…