There has been plenty of debate over the past couple of weeks over the disavow tool and whether site owners should be using it still, now that Penguin devalues spammy links. John Mueller tackled this question in the latest Webmaster Office Hours. And the verdict is if you (or someone hired/connected to the site) has […]
Google Didn’t Increase Googlebot Crawling as Result of Penguin Changes
Many SEOs have often speculated that there is an increase in crawling on sites due to algorithmic reasons specific to a site. But did Penguin specifically cause an increase in crawling due to the new real time aspect of it, and the fact it had to refresh a ton of pages? Google has repeatedly confirmed […]
Google Takes New Links Into Account Almost Immediately
How quickly will Google take a brand new link into account once it is crawled by Google? According to Google, it is almost immediately…. or as immediate as it takes for Google to crawl and discover that new link. The question came up in the last Google Webmaster Office Hours with John Mueller, specifically how […]
Infrequent Google Crawling Is a Sign of a Low Quality Site
When people are assessing their sites for whether Google sees it as quality or not, crawl frequency is one that many SEOs look for. If Googlebot visits internal pages very seldom or doesn’t go very deep into a site when crawling, these are signs that Google probably sees the site as low quality. John Mueller […]
Google Serving AdWords Local 4-Packs in Mobile Search Results
Google is stepping up their local pack ads in a big way. Google is testing new 4-pack local ads, showcases up to 4 “nearby businesses” for local related mobile search queries. This is pretty significant, since it is expanding Google’s expansion into local pack style ads. But it pushes down the organic search results when […]
Google Testing Yellow AdWords Icons Again
It was a huge change when Google switched their yellow ad tags to a green one. But it seems they might not be set on keeping the green forever. Google is testing the yellow AdWords tag once again. Here is how it looks, but it seems to be the identical yellow tag they used for […]
Penguin Recoveries Have Been Rolled Out to Search Results
Waiting for a Penguin recovery? Check your analytics, as those recoveries from previous Penguin launches should have all rolled out by now. Last week, Gary Illyes from Google reported that the Penguin recoveries were rolling out, and would take a few more days to finish – a timeline which has now passed. @atmoore81 it's happening […]
Google Testing Grey Icons in Google AdWords Mobile Ads
Google is testing new grey colored icons within Google AdWords mobile ads, replacing the usual blue colored icons searchers normally see. Here is how it looks: As you can see, Google has replaced the direction icon with a new map marker in grey and changed the call icon to grey as well. Here is how […]
Google Showing Blue Pins in Local 3-Pack to Mark Higher Relevancy
Google is testing a new colored pin within the map that displays in Google’s local 3-pack. The test shows one of the icons blue, while the remaining are marked in the usual red. Here is how it looks: The reason seems to be that Google is showing blue for the result with the higher relevancy […]
Google Testing “Near City” in Local 3-Pack
Google is testing a new style of their local 3-pack, this one to show businesses that are near a certain location. Here is how it appears: And another screenshot: Sergey Alakov shared the images on Twitter. It will be interesting to see if others are spotting this test too, and if it narrows it down […]