If you have a burning desire to properly format last modified (lastmod) time for xml sitemaps, you are in luck because Gary Illyes from Google has posted everything you need to know in order to format it properly. Illyes commented on StackOverflow how to do it properly, also mentioning that it is mostly ignored by […]
Archives for July 2015
Google: Penguin Algo Refresh is “Months Away”
While we have known that a Panda refresh is coming soon for the last month or so, there hasn’t been much information on an upcoming Penguin update or refresh… until now. Gary Illyes, Webmaster Trends Analyst from Google, says that the “Penguin refresh is months away.” @mrjamiedodd No. Penguin refresh is months away — Gary […]
Sign Up for Google’s User Experience Research Studies
If you are interested in all things Google, you might be interested in signing up for Google User Experience Research Studies, as they are currently looking for participants. And yes, they are even looking for SEOs. Pierre Far, a Googler who was formerly a Webmaster Trends Analyst, is looking for participants, saying they are “keen […]
Google Testing Category Based Product Listing Ads
Google appears to be testing a Product Listing Ad unit, that instead of listing particular products from a search, it is listing products from a specific brand, broken down into multiple categories. As you can see, the products are all PowerLine products, but instead of the usual individual products we normally see in the Product […]
Bing Adds Consumer Alerts for Prescription Drug Searches
Bing has added alerts to their search results when someone triggers a search for a pharmaceutical with other keywords that shows intentions to purchase it. When you click the “learn more” page, it takes you to the landing page for the Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies, a consumer protection group supporting legitimate pharmacies online. While […]
Facebook Adds Video Insights for Facebook Pages
If you post videos to your Facebook Page, you will be happy to know that Facebook has added new Video Insights to their Insights tab. When viewing the Video Insights Page, it details the number of times your video was viewed for 3+ seconds, for 30+ seconds, and a third section that details the most […]
Panda Refresh in “Soon” Phase; No ETA for Technical Reasons
Another week has gone by in the wait for the Panda update, and it is still coming “soon.” Gary Illyes from Google made the comment on Twitter that Panda is still coming but it is still in the “soon phase” and is unable to give an ETA due to technical reasons. @thebesthostnews heyya, it's still […]
Bing Suggesting Brands For Highly Competitive Unbranded Search Queries
How would you feel if someone searched for “health insurance” or “payday loans” and Bing showed a nice box for your company, essentially a free ad for your brand? Bing is doing just that for multiple high value search queries. Here is an example for “payday loans”, a very competitive search query. Along with the […]
Online Video Presentations: Why Some Companies Are Failing While Others Surge Ahead
According to the Content Marketing Institute, online presentations are one of the 10 most effective tactics used by B2C marketers. And a lot has been going on in the online presentations segment of the business video market over the last couple of days. Here’s the story: Two major incumbents in the video presentation market — […]
Google Revises Blog Post About Not Asking for Links
Google released a blog post on the Portuguese Webmaster Blog earlier this week, with one statement that many found interesting – they said that webmasters should not ask for links. While Google has long held a stance that links should be earned naturally, they haven’t officially said that webmasters should not ask for links and […]