Google is testing a new shadowed star in their search results, this one keeping the usual yellow/orange color but adding a somewhat distracting shadow behind it. Brian Barwig spotted the test on Friday. This is how it looks: Even the placement of the shadows is a bit odd. While a drop shadow might look okay, […]
How to Handle Product or Business Reviews in Other Languages / Countries
An interesting question came up in yesterday’s Google webmaster office hours with John Mueller about reviews and using them on sites for different countries and languages from the initial review. We’ve just launched websites in Canada, Australia and South Africa. Am I allowed to use the UK customers’ product reviews across these new sites (we […]
Google Local 3-Packs Are Wider & With Detailed Business Info
When Google began launching their wider search results, one of the sections of the search results to also get wider was the local 3-pack. But in addition to the new width, they are also the more detailed style of local packs, something Google has been going back and forth between over the past year or […]
Google Increases Width of Main Search Results Column
Google has made a major change to the search results column. In a major redesign of the search results appearance, Google has significantly increased the width of the column in the main search results column, impacting everything Google displays in that column. Google has increased the column for organic search results to about 600 pixels […]
Local Businesses: How Google Displays Search Analytics Data in Search Console
There is a great deal of data within Google Search Console for local businesses. But because a local intent query can often result in one business URL being displayed multiple times on the same result page and in various Google features, there has been some confusion about how Google displays this kind of information in […]
AMP Coming to Local Businesses in Google Search Results
Google has been promoting AMP pretty heavily this year, and they have been very vocal about the fact they would be expanding it into other parts of the search results, even if they haven’t announced those what sections would be AMP=ed next. But we might have a clue about an upcoming area where AMP will […]
Google Adding Neighborhood Info in Local Knowledge Panel
Google is now adding neighborhood information to the local knowledge panel for some businesses. Joy Hawkins was the first to notice the addition. When neighborhood information is available, Google will show it prominently near the top of the local knowledge panel. Here is how it appears in the search results: And here is a closer […]
Bing Changes Local Pack Numbers & Icons to Purple
It seems that Bing is changing things up with new Yahoo-esque purple in their local map packs, changing the listing numbers and the map markers to purple. Bing hasn’t changed the formatting within the map pack at all, the color seems to be the only thing they are changing at the moment. They have also […]
Bing Also Showing Ads on Their Local Finder Page
Bing is also showing Bing Ads on their Local Finder page, the page that Bing displays when a searcher clicks through from one of their local pack listings in the regular search results. Here is how it displays: These look like typical search ads, with the blue title, green URL and black description text. They […]
Google Testing Purple AdWords Ad Tag & Local Map Markers
Google is testing purple “ad” tags on AdWords ads on their local map results, along with matching purple map markers and icons for the related search results. I actually spotted this back on the 19th, but wasn’t entirely sure if it was new or not. However, it seems others began noticing it within the last […]