Google has released a new “How we fought webspam” report for 2015, and it has some interesting insights similar to the ones shared by Juan Felipe Rincón at SMX West earlier this year. Hacked Sites They say hacked sites continue to be a major issue…. a 180% increase in the number of sites being hacked […]
New Mobile Friendly Test from Google Search Console
Google is testing a brand new mobile friendly testing tool. Dan Shure from EvolvingSEO was the first to spot the test, which seems to be added as part of a transition to new /search-console/ URLs in the search.google.com subdomain. He shared these screenshots with TheSEMPost, showing the new design and features. Here is what the […]
Google Search Console Transitioning to New /Search-Console/ URLs
Google might finally be transitioning Google Search Console away from the /webmasters/ directory to /search-console/, to match their name change from Google Webmaster Tools last year. Dan Shure, while running some mobile friendly tests, came across a link to the new mobile friendly tester, which was under search.google.com/search-console/ rather than google.com/webmasters/ Here is his screenshot […]
Google Adds Translations of Short Queries to Search Results
Google is now doing simple translations directly into the search results. Now, if you type a query in a non-English language, Google will now show a Google Translate box right at the top of the search results. Here is what it looks like: If the query has multiple means, you can expand the box to […]
Google Adds New “Instant Content” Feature in Search Results
Google has launched a new feature into beta where Google will publish content directly within their search results… content that is supplied by publishers. The content is in a new large section of the search results and can make a person or an organization stand out. When publishers submit their content, Google is actually hosting […]
Google Testing Both Lighter & Darker Blue Links in Search Results
At SMX West earlier this year, Paul Haahr commented that Google recently tested 41 different shades of blue to discover which one was best. Well it looks like their experimenting isn’t over because in the past couple of days, searchers have noticed both darker and lighter shades of blue being tested. Here is the darker […]
Why Blog Comments Are Great for Google SEO… and Users
There has been a significant backlash against comments in the past couple of years, with many sites dispensing with comments completely, and trying to push those conversations to social media instead. But is this a smart move? Google has often referred to user generated content as a valuable quality signal, something that can be irreplaceable […]
Turn Off Some Types of Notifications in Google Search Console
If you are tired about being notified for what you consider to be “unimportant” notifications from Search Console, Google has announced that you can now disable some types of notifications from being emailed to you. Here are the ones you can opt out of: To opt out, there should be an option in the email […]
Google: Best Practices for 301s in Large Htaccess Files
Someone raised an interesting question on Twitter today… what to do about older 301 redirects, especially when the redirect file begins to get a bit long and complicated. Could they be deleted after a time? Or should you keep them in their massive files with the potential server slowdown for visitors? @Trey_Collier if the new […]
In-Depth Articles Return to Google Search Results
A few weeks after Google removed all In-Depth Articles from the search results, they are now returning. Yesterday I spotted multiple search results that are now showing In-Depth Articles once again, after losing them earlier this month. They have returned with the same most recent styling Google was using. They are separated from regular search […]