We have known for some time that Google ignores keywords placed within the meta keywords tag, something Google officially announced back in 2009, as it was something that was heavily spammed many, many years ago. But what about the possibility of Google using it as some kind of spam flag, in a reverse use of […]
Google Encouraging Local Ratings & Reviews With Call to Action Test
Google is encouraging searchers to leave ratings and reviews for local businesses with a new call to action test in the mobile search results. It adds a new “Tell everyone about your experience” above the usual five empty stars. Sergey Alakov spotted the test. Here is what it looks like: The interesting part of “tell […]
Google Testing More Visible AMP Icon in Search Results
Google is testing a much more visible version of their AMP logo in the search results. Instead of the usual light grey that you see in the mobile search results, the new test shows them in black instead. Aleyda Solis posted screenshots of the new style on Twitter. They show in both the regular search […]
Google: Using Nofollow on Links to About Us, Terms, and Policy Pages
When looking at crawl budgets, pages like terms and policy pages are usually among the first to get their links nofollowed, so that Google focuses on pages a site owner thinks are higher priority. But should you nofollow links to those types of pages by default? The question came up in the last Google webmaster […]
Google: Check Your Mobile Site Has Alt Text Tags on Images
Most site owners are pretty good about ensuring their images have alt tags, especially ones that might also be used as links, as Google will use that alt text for SEO purposes. But John Mueller had an interesting side note about the use of images when they are on a mobile site, which could have […]
Google: Position & Weight of Internal Links for SEO Value
An interesting question came up in the last Google webmaster office hours, with Google’s John Mueller being asked about internal links, and how Google weights those links for SEO purpose. While one use for internal links is for users to enable them to easily find their way around a site, there is also a great […]
Google Flags User Submitted Store Hours in Local Knowledge Panel
Google has received some criticism when hours listed in a local knowledge panel don’t match a location’s actual hours. Google is now showing when a user submits hours that don’t match the hours either Google has added or that the business has submitted, and flags them clearly as being different hours that someone has submitted. […]
Google Recommends Using Self Referencing Canonicals
Some SEOs automatically include self referencing canonicals on all pages, while others only use it when it is actually needed due to similar or duplicated pages that should all reference a single page. But what should be considered best practices? The question came up in Google’s last webmaster office hours about whether Google recommends using […]
Google Adds Other Locations to Local Knowledge Panel
Google has made yet another change to how they display local businesses in the knowledge panel. Google is now showing additional locations when it displays the knowledge panel, in a carousel at the bottom of the knowledge panel. Here is what it looks like: It has an additional “view all” link that can be clicked, […]
Google Adds Trending Now to Knowledge Panel “People Also Search For”
Google has added a new feature to their knowledge panel that shows when a person related to the one in the knowledge graph is also trending. Here is an example for a search that brought up Serena Williams in the knowledge panel. Under the “People also search for” section with additional people, it shows that […]