Webcology

Aaseesh from Google responded to a complaint about Google not picking up on a web site's canonical tags. He said that "even if you setup the canonical tags properly, other signals like inconsistent redirects can make Google not select your preferred URL". As you know, Search Engine Land was delisted from Google's search results for most of the day on Friday because a bug in Google&...

Content, from an SEO perspective, is the connection of entities by relationships. In the statement, “SEO is dead” there is the entity “SEO”, there is the entity “dead” and there is the relationship that one connects to the other and the direction of the said relationship. Google's John Mueller confirmed yesterday in a video hangout that Google does not use the BBB, Better Business Bureaus scor...

Content, from an SEO perspective, is the connection of entities by relationships. In the statement, “SEO is dead” there is the entity “SEO”, there is the entity “dead” and there is the relationship that one connects to the other and the direction of the said relationship. All content is fundamentally like this. Google's John Mueller confirmed yesterday in a video hangout that Google does not u...

Long gone are the times of monthly Google PageRank updates, Google dances, and checking Google data centers - and to be honest, I somewhat miss those days. But the question I see asked a lot is how much have things changed? The answer is a lot has changed but fundamentally nothing has changed. Several people have recently reported seeing double featured snippets in Google search results. A double...

Google's Gary Illyes said at PubCon last week that Google finds content mostly through links and XML Sitemaps. He said the number one way is through links, crawling links on the web and the number two way is through XML Sitemaps. Google announced it is now rolling out the Google Lens button within Google Image search results. Google Lens, which was introduced in May 2017, is a visual search to...

Google seems to be testing an ad format on mobile search where they remove the description section from the ad. The ad copy is removed, the only thing you see are the headlines and URL. This was being tested on mobile in the bottom ad units. Facebook announced it’s expanding fact-checking efforts to review the accuracy of photos and videos. Until now Facebook’s fact-checking efforts have been focu...

Google has announced the new Google Search Console is out of beta after being tested for over a year. Over the year, Google has done a full open beta invite to all users and has been migrating features from the old Google Search Console to the new version. Google has launched a new type of search engine designed specifically around helping people find data. Simply called “Dataset Search,” the tool...

Google has launched a new type of search engine designed specifically around helping people find data. Simply called “Dataset Search,” the tool provides easier access to millions of datasets across thousands of data repositories on the web. Chrome 69 introduces performance enhancements as well as changes that will affect how users search. Chrome also introduces opportunities for developers to crea...

Google has officially launched their structured data codelab, which allows you to walk through a step-by-step process to make your own structured data for your web site. Google's codelab walks you through adding several types of structured data to a simple HTML site, including where to place structured data on a site and how to validate it. Google also announced some important changes to how u...

Google trends analyst John Mueller strongly recommended that people migrating from HTTP to HTTPS do so with 301 redirects on a per-URL basis. He said you should not use other types of redirects, such as 303s or others; you should stick with 301 redirects for these migrations. Google has now added a link to the help document for this new report, saying the new report is “more accurate than the old...

Google Confirms Broad Core Algorithm Update: The Facts Advice; Google mobile speed update has no impact on general mobile rankings; Bing Ads rolls out Target CPA Maximize Conversionsbidding strategies. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Davie Davies reports from MozCon 2018, and he speaks with Rob Bucci, the CEO of STAT Search Analytics talks about his presentation on Near me or Far: How Google May Be Deciding Your Local Intent for You annd Jono Alderson, the Mad Scientist at Yoast who spoke on The Democratization of SEO. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

During the livestreamed keynote at Google Marketing Live in San Jose, California, on Tuesday, Google executives announced several initiatives, all of which are powered by machine learning and take automation to another level. A study of billions of dollars in Pay Per Click (PPC) expenditures reveals insights into spending trends, particularly between the platforms hosted by Google and Amazon. The...

Jim and Dave welcome Yext’s VP of Industry Insights, Duane Forrester to talk about the rise of artificial intelligence and SEO. Plus, we learn about his work on Digital Knowledge Management, which gives businesses control of all of the public facts that they want consumers to know across the intelligent ecosystem. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redci...

Google AdWords and DoubleClick to be rebranded as Google Ads and Google Marketing Platform. Google not punishing keyword stuffing, harshly. Reasons for HTML validation – Roger Monti who seems to be challenging lots of what GG says. Google says they managed to reduce spam links by half in 2017 and that less than 1% of traffic now ends up on spammy pages. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com...

Google’s local pack, the local results that show up in the main search results page, now may show different business categories next to a business’s name based on the category the user queried. Google has removed the ability for users to book rides with Uber directly through the Google Maps app. This is a feature that has been around since 2017, and was removed without any announcement other than...

No Follow Links for SEO Ranking; Stars, ratings, and surveys are not ranking factors; Local SEO agencies new agency dashboard Plus, Matt Cutts gets a lifetime achievement award at the SMX US Search Engine Award ceremony in Seattle at SMX Advanced. Googleoffers clarification on some points mobile. Google doesn’t index images found within DIV tags. Anti-Social Media – the Three ways Facebook spies o...

Previewing the 2018 Rocks Digital Marketing Conference with featured speakers Roger Montti, Lissa Duty, Michelle Stinson Ross, and Bill Hartzer. Business owners, brand mangers and digital marketers from agencies and enterprise corporations around the United States will converge on Dallas, Texas for this national digital marketing conference later this June. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle...

A comparison of mobile speed metrics of the Internet from 2017 to 2018 reveals that websites are less mobile friendly today than they were a year ago. This is bad for the Internet. But it can be good news for you. Russian search engine Yandex has introduced a smart speaker, marking the company’s first foray into the world of hardware. The company’s smart speaker, called Yandex Station, is designed...

Google has a bias towards scientific truth; Google sues SEO company BeyondMenu, Point Break Media, and Supreme. Plus, The Ultimate Guide  to WordPress and GDPR Compliance – Everything You Need to Know. Plus, Google’s New Algorithm Creates Original Articles From Your Content. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Kim Krause Berg, the owner of Cre8asite Forums and founder of Cre8pc, talks ot5 Jim Hedger and guest host Kristine Schachinger about how the revered  Cre8asite Forums are being close down after 20 successful years.  She had recently announced: "There is no easy way to say this, so I'll make it simple. On May 25, 2018 these forums will close down. I'll make an announcement in public nex...

Gannett on Thursday announced an agreement to acquire search marketing and advertising company WordStream for $130 million in cash and up to an aggregate of $20 million earnout during the next 24 months based on achieving certain revenue targets. Google will be deactivating AdWords accounts with no recent ad spend starting in mid-May. Previously, the company stated it would begin deactivating acco...

For the first time, Google is letting agencies register accounts on Google My Business. Agencies registered with GMB will also get access to an all-new dashboard designed to meet the needs of agency partners. One of the key benefits of the new agency dashboard is the ability to manage an unlimited number of locations. Non-agency accounts are limited to 100 locations. User groups can be created tha...

Today on Webcology we talk about how Google parent Alphabet Inc. has announced financial results for the first quarter of 2018.  The company reported $31.1 billion in quarterly revenue, which was down sequentially but up year over year. Revenues beat Wall Street consensus estimates by about $870 million, and earnings also beat analyst expectations. Bill Slawski published an article noting that Goo...

Net Neutrality remains alive and legislated in California; Google and Anchor Text; The last available IPv4 address block has gone;  Google Generally Prefers One Stronger Page Versus Many Smaller Pages; Google loses ‘right to be forgotten’ case in UK High Court.  Decision likely to spark other appeals to courts by those denied de-listing. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy...