One of the concerns many advertisers have is that local customers might be dissuaded from phoning a business that utilizes call extensions with a number that appears to be outside of the local area, especially for those who might not recognize a Google toll free number used on some ads. However, Google is now introducing […]
Local Carousel Search Results Increase Clicks on Google AdWords Ads Below Carousel
Many people aren’t fans of the local carousels that display in Google search results. They often look out of place with the black border, although they look better for mobile and tablet users. However, a new study shows just why Google isn’t putting much priority into redesigning them to look better – they increase ad […]
Warning for Flash Sites in Mobile Search Results Expands Internationally
Earlier this year, Google made a change within the US where a website’s snippet would change for mobile users to indicate that a page is Flash heavy and might not display well for mobile users. Now Google is expanding this by starting to implement this for some mobile searches outside of the US. Starting today, […]
Less Visibility For Emergency Queries in Google Answer Boxes
As a search marketer and (somewhat) decent human being, there’s something that’s been bothering me over the last few weeks, and even more so as reports are coming out that Google answer box results are now up more than ever. It’s the fact that Google claims they’re providing users with direct answers in SERPs to […]
Google Considers Adding Disavow Tool Confirmation
Google is considering a confirmation to let webmasters know when their disavow URL list has been processed. Gary Illyes, a Google Webmaster Trends Analyst said at SMX East yesterday that he plans to bring it up internally to see if the change could be made. One problem with the disavow tool is that webmasters are […]
Penguin Possibly Next Week, Too Late to Disavow Links for Update
Penguin update is “weeks away” according to Gary Illyes, a Google Webmaster Trends Analyst. Illyes was speaking on the “Meet the SEOs and Search Engines” at SMX East today. Illyes said he talked to the search quality group about this a couple weeks ago, and was told it was “weeks away”, which means we could […]
Revealing Mobile’s True Impact With Google Analytics
When seeking insights for your mobile traffic, we can often settle into the good old option of segmenting by device in the Google AdWords or BingAds interface. Sure, that can be very useful and a quick-fix, but what about a more in-depth review of the mobile impact you’re seeing in your accounts? Google Analytics offers […]
Google Removes German News Snippets & Thumbnails from Google News
In a move to minimize their legal risk, Google has removed snippets and thumbnails from German news sites in their Google News results. Google made the announcement on their German Google Product Blog. At issue is German News requirements that Google and other search engines pay a fee associated with showing snippets from news sources, […]
Changing to HTTPS will not fix other Google penalty issues on the site
John Mueller recently commented that switching to HTTPS would not increase your rankings noticeably in Google, despite many webmasters scrambling to make their site’s secure following Google’s announcement that it was a lightweight ranking factor. Mueller has also made some additional comments about HTTPS as rankings, particularly that some webmasters were considering that it would […]
Private Blog Networks Were Probably Victims of Latest Panda Update
Now that the latest round of Panda updates has rolled out, it is obvious that the Private Blog Networks (PBN’s) downfall was baked into the latest Panda algorithm. When the PBN’s were first hit, they were the recipients of penalties in Google Webmaster Tools for having “thin content with little or no added value.” This […]