Depending on the size of your site, you have probably been presented with whether you should split up sitemaps into sections – such as by category or page type – or leave it as one big one. In today’s hangout, John Mueller was asked if there are any advantages to splitting up sitemaps, and he […]
Bing Testing New Smaller Brand Organic / Local Pack Hybrid
Normally when you do a search for a brand on Bing, you see an expanded version of the brand’s organic search results, complete with sitelinks and often with the site search box too. Then you normally see the local pack results placed below in the search results. But Bing seems to be testing a scaled […]
Google AdWords Drops Google+ Follower Count Extension
Google is dropping the “followers on Google+” social annotation from AdWords ads as of today. Social extensions will no longer show with ads on Google Search and search partners starting December 10, 2015. We encourage you to explore all relevant ad extensions to highlight important aspects of your business. If social presence remains important […]
Bing Adds Interactive Search Results for US Presidential Elections
Bing has added some new featured for those following the US elections. When you search for a candidate’s name on Bing, you will be presented with a new interactive feature that details each candidate’s stand on numerous political issues such as immigration reform, gun control and LGBT rights. They highlight how progressive or conservative each […]
Bing Displaying “Popular on Web” Products in Search Results
If you search for a product type without specifying a specific model on Bing, they are now including a new section on the right hand sidebar of the search results highlighting specific models of the product that are popular, which then launches into a product carousel. Here is an example for a search for “VAIO […]
Google Changes Emails for Reconsideration Request Response
Google has changed the wording on emails it sends out to webmasters who have filed a successful reconsideration request. Previously, the emails read “Manual Spam Action Revoked” but now Google has changed that to “Reconsideration Request Approved”. They have also changed the body of the email to say: Good news! Your reconsideration request has been […]
How Machine Learning Impacts the Google Search Ranking Algo
Another Penguin question was raised in Friday’s webmaster hangout with John Mueller, this time specifically on how machine learning impacts Penguin, but the answer turned into something far more interesting about Google’s use of machine learning in the search algo. The question was “Are you using more machine learning algorithms into Penguin, or are you […]
Bing Adds How Many Days Countdown Feature to Knowledge Box
Bing has added a new feature to their knowledge box results at the top of the search results. Now, if someone searches for a specific event or holiday, Bing not only shows the date but also how many days away it is. Here is an example when you search for Valentine’s Day: By comparison, here […]
Bing Testing Larger News Story Thumbnails in Search Results
Bing is drawing more attention to news stories in the search results my including much larger image thumbnails with some news stories. Here is an example: The larger thumbnail is 195 x 195 pixels while the original thumbnail size is 80 x 80. The news stories don’t seem restricted to a particular news sites, as […]
Mozilla Ends Sponsored Tile Ads Program in Firefox
Last May, Mozilla began offering sponsored tiles, which would appear on when someone started Firefox or opened a new tab. Now, over half a year later, they are ending the program and will no longer sell sponsored tiles to advertisers. Their reasoning behind the move is to “focus on content discovery.” Our learnings show that […]