Many Google searchers have noticed ads showing up on the Local Finder page – the page Google shows when a searcher clicks through from a local 3-pack in the regular organic search results. But it seems like Google has made some significant changes to Google AdWords that affects many advertisers, especially those who use location […]
Archives for April 2016
Google’s New Mobile Smartphone User-Agent Now Live
Google announced last month that they would be using a brand new mobile / smartphone user-agent for crawling starting on April 18, 2016. Google has now confirmed this is live. We've now started to use our new smartphone UA ! https://t.co/yX37xrcVnf — Zineb Ait (@Missiz_Z) April 20, 2016 So @Missiz_Z forced me to tell you […]
Bing Adds Coupon Codes & Offers to Brand & Local Knowledge Panel
If you are a retailer, you might not be so happy to discover that Bing is now adding coupon codes directly to the knowledge panel for various businesses and brands in their search results. Bing is displaying the coupon codes directly below the store’s address and opening hours, so they are very prominent in the […]
Google Showing Ads on Local Finder Page; Mimics Organic Results
If you click through to Google’s Local Finder Page from a local 3-pack in the search results, you might see AdWords ads showing up on the left hand side, above the organic map pack listings. I first spotted it on Monday night, but it seems as though it is a limited test with only a […]
The Effects of Machine Learning on Rankings and SEO
The effects of machine learning on rankings and SEO For a long time search engines relied on static ranking factors. Those webmasters and SEOs who knew what to pay attention for were able to reach the best positions on Google’s SERPs. This has changed recently and will be changing in the future: The increasing usage […]
75% of Site Owners Cleaned Up Hacked Sites After Google Notification
Google released some interesting data on hacked sites and their attempts to notify webmasters that their sites were compromised. They also released information on just how many sites are hacked – Google detected over 800,000 alone last year. Email Notifications This led to 75% of hacked sites being cleaned up when Google was able to […]
Google Adds New Track a Package Card to Search Results
Google will often show a card in the search results with tracking package information, when it knows this information from your email. Now, Google has also added a more generic version of this, which shows a card with the option to submit a tracking number then click “Find carrier.” To bring up the box, search […]
Google Officially Turns Off All Public PageRank
If you were grasping onto the last visible signs of PageRank after Google officially announced the start of PageRank being turned off for SEOs, you will now have to go through PageRank withdrawl… Visible PageRank is now a thing of the past. Multiple users reported that the visible PageRank both within the toolbar and in […]
Google Updates Search Console API
Using Google’s Search Console API? John Mueller has posted about some updates Google has made to their Search Console API for site owners. # Pagination in Search Analytics. Now you can request more than 5000 rows of data for your site, without having to iterate through filters. Check out the “startRow” field documented in https://developers.google.com/webmaster-tools/v3/how-tos/search_analytics […]
Google Expands Home Service Ads to Sacramento & New Professions
Google has expanded Home Service Ads in two ways – they have added additional locales and they have expanded the professions offered. First, Google has announced they are expanding their Home Service ads to the city of Sacramento, California. Google initially launched Home Service Ads in the San Francisco area, and this marks their first […]