Google Maps: One Does Not Simply Walk Into Mordor
This is an old one, but I’ve never seen it. Michael Gray on Twitter noted that when you do walking directions in the (not new) Google Maps from The Shrine to Mordor, you get a funny response from Google.
Yes, Google says…
Google Apologizes For The Hotel Listing Hijack In Google Places
I have to assume most of you by now heard about the huge mess going on with Google Maps business listing in the hotel sector…
Mistake Shows TD Canada Trust Mobile Site In Google Desktop Results
Patrick Wagner, the Senior Search & Digital Analyst at TD Trust Canada, a major bank, posted in the Google Webmaster Help forums complaining that Google listed their mobile site in the desktop search results.
In short, if you search for [canada trust] in Google Canada…
Dian Fossey Google Zoologist Doodle
If you visit Google today, in virtually all Google home pages across the world, you will see a special jungle, mountains, gorillas logo with a picture of Dian Fossey.
Dian Fossey was born today, January 16th in 1932…
Google Webmaster Tools Wants To Improve Site Moving Features
Google has a change of address feature in Google Webmaster Tools…
Google: Your Rich Snippet Spam Didn’t Hurt Your Rankings, It Is Your Low Quality Site
Despite Google cracking down over the years on rich snippet spam and then applying rich snippet reductions recently – Google told a webmaster that the rich snippet spam didn’t hurt their rankings…
Google Webmaster Tools Threatened By Lawyer, Google Deletes Threat?
I was following this entertaining thread at Google Webmaster Tools where a lawyer threatened Google with a massive lawsuit for not responding to his requests about Google Webmaster Tools…
When Does Google Process Your Disavow Link Request?
There is an excellent question at WebmasterWorld asking how does one know when Google does process your disavow link file…
Google’s Lock SafeSearch Feature Breaks
For those trying to set their SafeSearch to locked in Google, they were out of luck yesterday. The key was jammed…
Google Image Search Freezing With Anime Porn
P Koester posted on Google+ that when you search for the term [freezing] in Google Image Search you are not shown ice or snow or cold people – instead you are shown Asian cartoon…
Google Image Search Moves Usage Rights To Main Filters
Matt Cutts of Google tweeted that Google added a special feature to image search based on Lawrence Lessig’s request. The thing is, the feature has been available since 2009, Google just moved it up in a more prominent area…
Bing Adds SSL Support But Promises To Keep SEO/SEM Community “Top Of Mind”
First spotted via Hacker News, Bing now has enabled searchers to go to https://www.bing.com and search over Bing SSL search.
I covered this at Search Engine Land where I said early tests show that when on SSL search…
BullGuard Breaks Google’s Search Results
Last week, we reported on a large number of PC users complaining that the Google search results were simply not showing up.
Google got to the bottom of it. Users using BullGuard, an internet security and antivirus application…
Google Update Still Brewing From Late Last Week
On January 9th we reported on early chatter of a Google update, which has now grown to almost 200 comments. Early on, the chatter was slow but now, over the past couple days…
Google Buys Nest For Hardware Design
Google announced yesterday that they acquired Nest for $3.2 billion (yes billion) in cash. You read that right…
Google Images Within Web Results: Testing User Interface
On Friday, Moz posted on Google+ a user interface test that shows a couple things.
(1) It shows the…
Only 15% Say The Disavow Tool Benefits Their Rankings
The Google Disavow tool is a popular subject with all the link penalties floating around. But the big question is, does it actually help your site to rank better…
One-Line Google Reconsideration Request Worked
A webmaster at WebmasterWorld claimed that while some reconsideration requests he submit take five or more times…
Google Link Schemes Update Doesn’t Change Much
On Friday, I broke the news that Google changed their link schemes guidelines on widget links. In short…
Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: January 10, 2014
This week in search I publish my monthly Google webmaster report, it was a busy month. Google may be updating…