Bing has added thumbnails to their autosuggest dropdowns. They show for a variety of queries, but seem to show most often for the types of queries where Bing is fairly confident that it is likely the result the searcher is looking for. Frank Sandtmann spotted it in the Bing search results and sent them […]
No Google Ranking Advantage to Removing Older Content
There has been a trend by webmasters to remove older content because many feel that it is a signal to Google that the site might not be of high quality. Others believe older content impacts Panda and remove it as a Panda preventative. The question came up in last week’s Google Webmaster Office Hours. We […]
Why Numbers in Google Search Analytics for Keywords & Clicks Don’t Match
Have you ever wondered why Google’s numbers don’t add up in Google Search Analytics? Often the number of overall clicks from the Google search results don’t match up with the clicks combined for the exact search queries that Google shows site owners in Search Console. The question came up in last week’s Google Webmaster Office […]
Some Removed Users Being Reauthorized in Google Search Console
Last week we reported that some users were receiving many new user verification emails from Google Search Console, for users previously added to the account as a result of Google re-running verification checks. It was described as an issue on Google’s end, but it seems it could also have some unintended consequences. It seems that when some […]
Google Confirms AdWords Keyword Planner Includes Organic Traffic
There has been some confusion over the last few days over Google’s AdWords Keyword Planner and whether or not it includes organic traffic or if it just includes searches where an AdWords ad was available to be served. Glenn Gabe asked AdWords about whether these estimates were based on ads or all searches, and he […]
Google Resending Some New Site Owner Notifications in Search Console
The question came up in Google’s Webmaster Office Hours today, specifically about many “new site owner notifications” that many webmasters have been receiving. When site owners receive this, the first thing that comes to mind is that the site has somehow been hacked and a hacker has added themselves to the Google Search Console account, […]
No Google Ranking Boost for Using Both XML & HTML Sitemaps
While XML sitemaps are the gold standard for SEOs, since they can be submitted to Google for indexing purposes, what about using both XML and HTML sitemaps on a site together? Would there be any kind of ranking boost specific to the use of both? The question came up in today’s Google Webmaster Office Hours […]
No Google Penalty for Not Linking Out to Other Sites
If you never link to any other sites from your own site, could it be considered a penalty? While most know that linking out to high authority sites doesn’t make a site seem higher quality, recent outbound manual actions have definitely made it so that some site owners are a little bit leery of linking […]
Google Separating First Search Results for Well Known Entities
Google is separating out the first result for some search queries when someone is searching for well known entities, such as people, brands or companies. Here is an example. They all seem to appear when there are news listings above the “official” site. These aren’t restricted to just the official sites for the brand […]
Bing Testing Rating Percentages in Search Results
Bing is running an interesting test in the search results, and for a minor change, it really stands out when I see it. They have added the addition of a ratings and reviews percentage score, in bright orange to match the color of the stars. Here is an example for a reviews site: And here […]