If you are looking for some more Google related reading after the recent Google Search Quality Rater’s Guide release last month, they have revamped all their app indexing help documents. Here are the release notes about the new changes. December 2015 Significant doc improvements for improved usability. No action required on developer’s part. Clearer product […]
Google Adds Entity Disambiguation to Search Box for Many Keywords
You have probably seen Google’s disambiguation box on the right hand side of the search results, which is meant to help searchers drill down which version of a word they mean. The most common example of this is Apple the fruit versus Apple the company. But Google has now brought their disambiguation selection option right […]
Another Major Joomla Zero Day Exploit, Update Required
If you use Joomla, there is yet another critical vulnerability and this one is racing through the wild. An immediate update is required for all versions of Joomla. According to Sucuri, they began noticing the exploit on December 12th, and it has been running wild through Joomla sites. They noted yesterday that “the wave of […]
Yes, gTLDs Can Rank Just as Well as .com Domains in Google
The last couple of years there are have been a ton of wild and wonderful gTLDs unleashed, and some of them see a little on the crazier side. Want to proclaim yourself a .guru? Have a restaurant and want to use .bar or .menu? Want to be a .ninja? While all these new gTLDs have […]
Google Adds “Located in” for Local Businesses in Malls, Buildings & Hotels
Sometimes if you search for a business, and you know the address is by a shopping mall, it is hard to know if the location is actually inside the shopping mall or not. The same with some businesses that are actually located in specific buildings or hotels. Google has made a change and is now […]
Google Testing New Style Carousel in Google Knowledge Panel Results
While looking at the new style of medical knowledge panels that trigger from brand name medicine searches, I notice that Google is testing a new style of carousel in their search results. When displayed, you can scroll through “most commonly used for” conditions for various medications. Here is an example: And a few more examples […]
Google Testing New Brand Name Medical Knowledge Panels
If you search for a brand name of a specific medicine, such as Adivil or Sudafed, Google will now display a new style of medical knowledge panel in the search results. The new medical knowledge panels for brands are triggering to show information on the generic form of the medicine. For example, a search for […]
Google Testing New Style of Credit Card Comparison Ad Unit
When doing credit card related searches, we have all seen the credit card comparison ad unit, which is a variation of a Google Product Listing Ad, but which leads to the Google Compare Credit Card page. Now they are testing a new version which highlights the different features of various cards. Here is how the […]
Google Penguin Sounds on Track for January 2016 Real Time Update
There were many mixed reactions about Penguin not launching in December like many believed it would. While last week John Mueller wouldn’t give a timeline for when we would see it go live, this week he commented that it sounds likely for a launch next month. He again wasn’t going to give any specific date […]
Why Google Doesn’t Comment on Various Smaller “Phantom”-Type Updates
There has been a lot of chatter over some of the fluctuations people noticed last month, particularly the one on the 19th, and John Mueller was asked about it specifically in today’s Google webmaster help hangout. While many in the industry agree that this is one of the regular core algorithm changes – one of […]