There is a new Google AdWords beta that is causing some concern among advertisers – namely that Google will suggest new ads to run that it feels will perform well. But if the advertiser doesn’t respond to those suggestions within 14 days, instead of removing them, Google will instead automatically enable those ads and start […]
Google Testing Review Snippets in Local Pack in Search Results
Google is testing a new feature that would show partial review snippets within the local pack. The snippets show up both in the regular local pack as well as once someone clicks the “more places” to view the longer list of local businesses. When the test is active, it shows a short snippet from one […]
Browser Type and Its Impact Google Search Rankings
Does your site rank better or worse based on which browser someone is using when they search in Google? Do algos impact sites differently in different browsers? What about mobile browsers? Or does Google not take browser differences into account when deciding to rank sites. The question came up in the most recent Google Webmaster […]
Google Adds Autoplay Video Preview Clips to Search Results
Google is adding autoplay video previews to the Google search results when someone does a search that includes video results. The preview is a six second clip taken from the video, and is played without sound. Google has already begun showing previews to some users for those on the Google app for Android as well […]
Google Search Console Sends Security Warning Notices for HTTP Sites
If you have sites on HTTP, Google has begin sending out notices to site owners that their sites will be flagged as “not secure” in Chrome beginning in October 2017. So what does this mean? If your site has any form – which would include things such as a comment form – then Google will […]
Google Still Ignores Last-Modified Meta Tag
If you are using the last-modified meta tag, be aware that Google ignores this tag when it comes to SEO. The tag is <meta http-equiv=”last-modified” content=”YYYY-MM-DD”> which was originally used to alert crawlers to the fact a page was updated, or as a reference to when it was last updated after it was initially published. […]
Google Ignores Geo Meta Tags in Regular Search Results
Geo meta tags are a meta tag that many SEOs are unfamiliar with, unless they work in local SEO or with sites with a multiple geolocations. But does Google use those meta tags, especially in leui of better signals, such as hreflag? The meta tags in question, are the geo location meta tags: <meta name=”geo.position” […]
Google Testing Ad Tag Placement in Google Local Packs
Google is testing some new positioning for the “Ads” tag in their local packs on mobile. Normally, Google places the ads tag in the same line as the review stars. But when a listing has no review stars, it drops the ads tag even further in the listing, inexplicably adding it to the address line […]
Updated Google Quality Rater Guidelines: International Search Results & Conspiracy Theories
Google has once again very quietly updated their Google Quality Rater Guidelines with a brand new version. This update comes as the third update this year so far (following ones in March and May), only months after we saw major changes with fake news. There are some notable changes, especially for those SEOs who […]
Submitting Disavow File Not a Spam Signal to Google
I sometimes hear from people who are concerned about proactively submitting a disavow file for any reason, thinking it might signal to Google as either a spam signal or some kind of flag that alerts Google to have a closer look at the site’s backlinks. But is it a valid concern or not? The question […]