In July, it became known – and noticeable to users – that the popular Chrome Web Developer extension had been compromised. Suddenly malware ads that were being served up in places such as the Google homepage and Google search results, where there obviously shouldn’t be any ads of this type. The developer issued a fix […]
Google Search Console Sends Security Warning Notices for HTTP Sites
If you have sites on HTTP, Google has begin sending out notices to site owners that their sites will be flagged as “not secure” in Chrome beginning in October 2017. So what does this mean? If your site has any form – which would include things such as a comment form – then Google will […]
Bing Testing Blended Local Mini One Pack in Search Results
When it comes to the Bing search results, their local pack results are very large and noticeable in the search results. But they seem to be taking a step back and displaying a smaller local result in the Bing search results when there is only one local listing found. And it blends so well in […]
Google Still Ignores Last-Modified Meta Tag
If you are using the last-modified meta tag, be aware that Google ignores this tag when it comes to SEO. The tag is <meta http-equiv=”last-modified” content=”YYYY-MM-DD”> which was originally used to alert crawlers to the fact a page was updated, or as a reference to when it was last updated after it was initially published. […]
Google Ignores Geo Meta Tags in Regular Search Results
Geo meta tags are a meta tag that many SEOs are unfamiliar with, unless they work in local SEO or with sites with a multiple geolocations. But does Google use those meta tags, especially in leui of better signals, such as hreflag? The meta tags in question, are the geo location meta tags: <meta name=”geo.position” […]
Bing Testing Google-like Search Header at Top of Search Results
Bing has made many changes over the years to make their search results closer to Google’s style of search results. Bing is testing a significant new design that makes their search header – what appears as the search box and tabs below it – much closer to Google’s version. In fact, it would easily be […]
Updated Google Quality Rater Guidelines: International Search Results & Conspiracy Theories
Google has once again very quietly updated their Google Quality Rater Guidelines with a brand new version. This update comes as the third update this year so far (following ones in March and May), only months after we saw major changes with fake news. There are some notable changes, especially for those SEOs who […]
Submitting Disavow File Not a Spam Signal to Google
I sometimes hear from people who are concerned about proactively submitting a disavow file for any reason, thinking it might signal to Google as either a spam signal or some kind of flag that alerts Google to have a closer look at the site’s backlinks. But is it a valid concern or not? The question […]
Use Rel-Canonical to Match Identical Pages Across Multiple Sites
An interesting question came up on Twitter. Someone is ranking with identical pages across multiple sites and asked how best to tell Google they should be considered the same page, if it should be with noindex or via rel=canonical. And according to Google, the answer is rel=canonical. I'd rel-canon them — Gary "鯨理" Illyes (@methode) […]
Google Ignores Canonicals When Likely Implemented in Error
Anyone who has done website audits has probably come across situations where canonicals have been set up incorrectly, sometimes to disastrous results. But how does Google handle canonicals when a large number of pages are pointing to the same page, or if the canonicals are set up in such a way that it is likely […]