Thumbtack’s Manual Action If you do a search for “Thumbtack”, you will not find them anywhere in the Google search results… nor will you see them for any of the estimated 25,000 keywords they were previously ranking for. They have been hit with a manual action penalty courtesy of Google. Thumbtack does not rank for […]
Archives for June 2015
Google Plans to Make HTTPS Ranking Signal Stronger
When Google first announced that HTTPS would be a ranking signal, a large number of webmasters jumped on the opportunity to get what was essentially a freebie boost in the search rankings simply by switching to HTTPS. Later, John Mueller from Google announced that it was a very small ranking signal, something that Gary Illyes […]
Mobile Testing Beyond Google’s Responsive Web Design Test Requirements
When Google announced a new recommendation that websites must pass its mobile test, the rush to turn desktop layouts into responsive created what some termed “Mobilegeddon.” The logic behind Google’s decision is simple. The increase in smartphone searches created a need for websites to be user friendly on smaller screens. Websites that failed to be […]
Emojis Now Showing as Display URLs in Google Search Results
Just when you thought emojis in search results couldn’t get any more annoying, some SEOs have discovered that they can use specific combinations of characters to display the URL in emoji format. This was actually part of an ad campaign by Norwegian Airlines. They converted a domain name into emoji format, then built their ad […]
Google Displaying Knowledge Panel for Trending News
Google is now adding knowledge panels for trending news stories – search queries that would otherwise not return many results and with results primarily on news stories. I read a news story about a missing woman, and as the article was a couple of days old, I did a Google search for her name. Along […]
Google Testing Flight Search Box in Sidebar Above AdWords
Google often adds a sponsored flight search box into the Google search results when the search query indicates the searcher is looking for a flight. Now they are testing a different style of box, this one in the sidebar that appears directly above the sidebar AdWords ads. Here is how it looks: It is responsive, […]
Bing Ads “Related Products” Annotation in Search Results
I spotted this new Bing Ads feature that appears to be in testing or beta. For this example, it was an extremely generic search query – “shoes” – but it gave the advertiser the ability to tailor their ad unit to also feature a very specific style of shoes that a searcher could be interested […]
Check URLs in Bing Places for Business
While most places you submit website addresses to try and save you from yourself by ensuring that the URL for a business you submit is actually valid and reachable, Bing Places for Business seems to either not have checks in place or they are having code errors on their back end. The invalid URLs, which […]
Google Reveals One Reason for Slow Panda Updates
Gary Illyes from Google made an interesting comment about why we don’t see more frequent updates of the Panda Algorithm. He was speaking at SMX Advanced this week during a Google AMA. The question was about when we would see Panda and Penguin updated, as we have been waiting for them to be updated or […]
Google Panda Will Be Updated in 2-4 Weeks
Good news for those who have been eagerly awaiting a Google Panda update – we will see the next one within the next two to four weeks. Gary Illyes from Google made the announcement at SMX Advanced this week, and while he wouldn’t be more specific than 2-4 weeks, it does mean that we will […]