In a recent Google webmaster help thread on the forums, an interesting question was raised about whether a manual action received on a subdomain on a site could impact the rest of the site that is not on the subdomain. And the answer is no. John Mueller responded to a help thread where a dev […]
Google Removes & Changes Location Settings in Search Tools
If you use the Google.com domain, or you are in the US and are defaulted to it, you have probably noticed that the location settings feature in the “Search Tools” section of the search results is now gone. And if you are using an international version of Google, they have changed the options for drilling […]
Yahoo Testing Search Results Style PLA Shopping Ads
Yahoo is testing out a new style of shopping ad (PLA), and this one closely mimics a regular search result. Here is their new style. It includes a title along with a traditional description snippet, a line with the price, and then the URL. It looks very similar to an organic search result, as well […]
Manual Action Link Penalties After Penguin Goes Real Time
If you have wondered whether there would still be manual action link penalties once Penguin moves to being real time, we now know the answer. Gary Illyes from Google was asked the question on Twitter, and the answer is yes, there will still be manual actions given for link penalties. @DonnieStrompf no — Gary Illyes […]
Why Wikipedia Went Secure & Why All Websites Should Do The Same
It has been no secret that Google has been pushing hard to see more websites go secure, complete with the HTTPS ranking boost to encourage more sites to do so. Jimmy Wales was recently interviewed and contributed some of his own thoughts on why encryption is so important, and gives insight into why more webmasters […]
Google Adds Holiday Hour Alerts to Local 3-Pack Results
We have seen Google add holiday hours alerts to their local Google My Business individual listings, but they are now also adding it to the top of local 3-pack listings too. Here is how it appears in the 3-pack: This is for a 3-pack listing in India, but it is likely we will see the […]
Accelerated Mobile Pages – AMP – Coming to Google Search in Early 2016
At State of Search last week, Gary Illyes from Google talked about the importance of AMP – Accelerated Mobile Pages and how it would become more important in 2016. Now Google has announced that AMP pages are coming to Google Search next year. Google doesn’t give a specific date, other than “early next year,” but […]
Facebook Adds Share Option for Including Original Post
If you have shared something on Facebook since yesterday afternoon, you have probably noticed a new sharing option pop up. This allows Facebook users to decide whether or not they want to include the original post with the share or not. Here is how it looks when you share a link on Facebook now. It […]
Google Removes Business Reviews in New Google+ Redesign
When Google+ launched their new redesign, one glaring omission for local businesses was the fact Google dropped the business reviews from the Google+ local pages. While many wondered if it was an oversight, we now have confirmation that they will not be returning. Elizabeth P, a rep from Google on local confirmed that reviews are […]
Bing Ads Launches New Black Friday Flyer Ads in Search Results
Bing has added a new ad unit to the top of their search results highlighting the Black Friday flyers of some businesses. The ads highlight the entire flyer with a “view flyer option” along with thumbnails and links to individual items that are on sale for Black Friday. The ad unit also includes when the […]