SimilarWeb published a blog post that has been getting a lot of attention, questioning whether Wikipedia has a Google penalty. However, there are a few problems with the data from their blog posts, as well as some other significant factors that are also in play here, which SimilarWeb fails to mention. Switching to HTTPS First, […]
How Google Chooses Content for Knowledge Panel in Sidebar
Ever wonder how Google chooses which companies show a knowledge panel on the right hand side of the search results while others don’t? This question came up in the last Google Webmaster Hangout from someone who has done all the “right steps” in order to have a knowledge panel show up, but hasn’t had any […]
Google Confirms Third Party Blocked Resources Not Problematic
Ever since Google sent out the notice to many webmasters that they are blocking javascript and CSS from being crawled, it has been a priority for many to unblock these resources. But one thing keeps coming up – the alerts for third party resources in Google Search Console. While Gary Illyes from Google commented about […]
404 Errors Do Not Have Any Impact on Panda 4.2
It seems everyone has plenty of questions about 404 errors lately, and Gary Illyes from Google has been answering many of them on Twitter. The latest followup question was asking whether 404s have any impact on Panda 4.2. And not surprisingly, the answer is no, there’s no impact on Panda. @Photogkris nope @JohnMu — Gary […]
Why Google Shows Old Domain in Search Results Despite 301 to New Site
People have often noticed when they move a site from one domain to another, using a 301 redirect, that it seems that old domain will kick around in the search results for quite some time, even after the new one is indexed. A website changed business & domain name. Pages are still showing in search […]
How to Clean Up Doorway Pages Without Causing Google Issues
Google has been warning webmasters with doorway pages to clean them up or be subject to the doorway page algo which gets updated semi-regularly. But Google hasn’t given much advice on what a webmaster can do to clean them up, other than the obvious… deleting them. In the last Google Webmaster hangout, someone asked about […]
Why Active SEO Doesn’t Always Result in Ranking Changes
John Mueller was put in the hot seat a bit in the last Google Webmaster Hangout when he was asked about why it seems there are no changes happening in search results, despite active SEO being done by multiple sites in a vertical. It’s hard to say what you’re seeing there. In general, we are […]
Some Technical Site Problems Are Not a Ranking Problem in Google
While many SEOs put a great emphasis on having technically flawless sites, the reality is that many website owners have sites with plenty of technical problems and issues. And many believe that a technically perfect site will outrank a competitor’s site with errors. In the last Google Webmaster Hangout, John Mueller said that in general, […]
Are There Any SEO Benefits With Having an RSS Feed?
John Mueller was asked about RSS feeds in the latest Google Webmaster Hangout, specifically whether there are any SEO benefits to having an RSS feed on the site. In general, there’s two aspects involved there. One, is if you are looking for a ranking boost by having an RSS feed, that’s not going to happen. […]
Google’s Local Brand Packs Still Show Full Address & Omit Google Reviews
While most of the new local 3-packs in the Google search results have their exact addresses removed, there is one 3-pack variation in the form of a brand pack that does have full addresses listed. If you do a search to find locations of a local business by searching for their brand or business name, […]