Google is testing a brand-new layout for local listings in their regular Google search results, this time with the company’s logo displaying on the left-hand side where you would normally see a map icon with location details. It also appears for businesses that do not have a logo to display, it will show a thumbnail […]
New Google Webmaster Tools Report Details Blocked Images, CSS & Javascript
Google webmaster tools has added a new feature that will help webmasters you are ensuring their sites are mobile friendly prior to April 21. One of the issues that can cause the site to not be mobile friendly is when webmasters block elements on the page from being crawled, commonly JavaScript and CSS. And sometimes […]
What’s Going On! Is Google AdWords Squeezing Out 3rd Party Tracking?
Recent announcements by Google AdWords have me a bit concerned and confused. First, it was the new destination url protocol that separates the landing page from tracking parameters. Next came call only ads. Both of these features have big upside potential and should allow advertisers to up their game. But they also have a significant […]
Ensure You Update Sitemaps & Elements When Switching to HTTPS
Gary Illyes from Google made a post on Google+ this morning reminding webmasters to ensure they update all site related development with HTTPS after the switch from unsecured to secure server. Google did a small scale analysis on websites that showed an astonishing 80% of HTTPS URLs that are eligible for Google indexing were not […]
Google My Business Allows Business Owners to Update Images in Listing
If you haven’t liked the lack of control that Google gives business owners when it comes to the photos being displayed in their Google My Business listing on both the web and in Android and iOS apps, you are in for some good news. Google is finally allowing business owners the opportunity to update their […]
Google’s Mobile Ranking Boost Will Be Stronger Than HTTPS Ranking Boost
The mobile rankings boost for mobile-friendly sites beginning April 21st will have a much higher boost than the ranking boost we saw for HTTPS last year. At SMX West last week, Gary Illyes was in the hot seat during Ask the Search Engines session. And as you can imagine, mobile was the hot topic of […]
Google AdWords Introducing New Dynamic Structured Snippets
Google has added a new extension into the mix with the introduction of dynamic structured snippets, an automated snippet adding additional useful information into an ad based on data from the landing page’s website. Currently, AdWords will show the snippet for retail, hotel and flight searches. They do plan to add additional verticals year this […]
Google Adds Site Malware Warnings to Google Analytics
Google has begun showing malware warnings to webmasters from within their Google Analytics accounts. This change is good because while many webmasters use Google Analytics, not all of them are signed up for Google webmaster tools yet, or it might just be one member of the team with access to it, while more members have […]
There is No Duplicate Content Penalty in Google
There is no duplicate content penalty. Yes, really. The issue of duplicate content is a real one for webmasters. But Gary Illyes at SMX this week stressed that duplicate content is not a penalty and that it is just a myth – it is actually a filter. Even though duplicate content is not technically a […]
Google is Working on Completely Separate Mobile Index From Desktop Index
At SMX this week, Gary Illyes dropped a bombshell when he stated that Google is working on a mobile only version of the search index, which would see desktop and mobile have completely separate search indexes. Not only is it in the works, but Google currently has a team working on this, which definitely means […]