Google: Don’t Build Sites Where You Need To Test To See How Search Engines React
Google’s John Mueller has said on Reddit that it is better to build a site where you know how Google and search engines will treat it then build a site where you are unsure. There isn’t always a need to get fancy with your code to the point where you …
Google Guidelines: Can You Hypnotize Someone For Links?
A funny question came up in a Reddit thread, and I am in the mood for funny right now. The question was, can you hypnotize someone to get links to your web site and if you do, is it against Google’s webmaster guidelines? The funny thing is also that J…
Programming Note: Offline Wednesday For Yom Kippur 5779
This is just a programming note that I will be 100% offline starting Tuesday night through Wednesday night for Yom Kippur. I am not scheduling any stories on Yom Kippur, everything here will be paused until Thursday morning (or if something is urgent,…
Google My Business Reviews Can Now Be Edited In Local Panel
Now you can edit the reviews and responses you leave for local businesses in Google Maps and Local directly in the local knowledge panel when you expand the reviews. Google has added an “edit” button to reviews or responses you have left directly in t…
Google Maps Showing Future Open Dates For Businesses
Google is now able to show the date a business will open in the future, if the business owners enters such information into Google My Business. It can show the exact date or the month and year directly in the local panel on web search or Google Maps.
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Google Ads Adds Videos To Shopping Ads With Showcase Shopping Ads
Google has added more videos to their Google Ads platform, this new one is called Showcase Shopping Ads where videos can now show for Google Shopping Ads. This format is available to advertisers already running Showcase Shopping ads.
Google: We Index & Rank Content In Accordions & Tabs Fully Despite Some Studies
So here we have Google’s Gary Illyes again defending what Google has said in the past, when SEOs say what he said is not true. This is around Google giving full weight to content on mobile within accordions or tabs. Some reports say Google does not do…
Google Responds To Auto-Translated Content Spam Issue; It’s About Intent
Since 2010 we knew that using Google Translate or other automatic machine translation services to convert content from one language to another and to rank it in Google was against Google’s guidelines. But recently some are saying with Google Translate…
SEO Vet On The Negativity In The Search Community
Martin MacDonald, an SEO who has been in the community for 15 or so years, posted an excellent video that is worth watching. It discusses the negativity around our search industry and why we should just be nicer to each other.
Google Ads Tests Headlines & URL Without Descriptions
Google seems to be testing an ad format on mobile search where they remove the description section from the ad. The ad copy is removed, the only thing you see are the headlines and URL. This was being tested on mobile in the bottom ad units.
Google Tests Color Drop Down In Shopping Panel For iPhone
It looks like Google is testing a new look for the drop down to select a color in the shopping panel. Tauqeer Aziz shared a screen shot of him bringing up an iPhone in the Google web search results and when you click on the drop down, it shows the col…
Google Search Broke For 12 Hours On A Query
It is rare to see Google bug out, not work, when you try to use it. But yesterday starting around 3pm EDT through this morning at 3am EDT Google could not give you search results for the query [compare the market]. It is not clear why it was broken, …
Search Buzz Video Recap: Google Algorithm Update, Broken Search Results, Google Buying Links, GDPR Issues & More
This week, we spotted another Google search algorithm update around September 11th. Google was unable to return search results foe a query for about 12 hours last night. Google also…
Google May Remove Sites Blocking Users Over GDPR From Search?
As you know, when GDPR, the European law about data privacy regulations across the web, went live – some sites simply decided to block any European visitor from visiting their web site. This results in some searchers seeing content from these sites bu…
Google My Business Adds Localized Business Names
I am told this isn’t exactly new, but I don’t think I’ve covered this before. Google My Business now lets you edit the localized version of the business name. Craig Harkins shared a screen shot on Twitter of Google My Business letting him edit the Mc…
Google Canada Caught With Paid Link For Non-Profit Contribution
Google has been caught buying or paying for links before but doesn’t always take action against themselves when caught. Google’s John Mueller just talked about giving charity and getting a link and then shortly after Tad showed how Google Canada donat…
Google: Zero Search Results Was A Glitch
Back in March, Google tested showing zero search results with just the answer for specific queries for about ten days. Google was caught testing it again yesterday but Google said it was just a glitch and was not the zero results feature from back in …
Google: We Show Original Date Or Last Modified Date In Search Results Snippet
Google’s John Mueller said in a webmaster hangout video that Google can show either the original published date or the last modified date of URL in their search results snippets. He said they are flexible about these dates and if the content substantia…
Google Tests New Video Search Results Box
Here is a screen shot of a new user interface for videos showing up in the mobile search results. Normally you get a carousel of videos, but here you see a large video at the top, with two videos below and the option to show more videos.
Google Instant Apps In Mobile Search Results
Sometimes, espesially on Android devices, when you search Google, you may see a link for “instant apps.” This actually dates back to 2015 when Google let you try apps without installing them, they called it app “streaming.” But I guess now they call t…