Amazon has one of the most robust review systems for products, and the reviews – especially for popular products – can be extremely valuable. So valuable that many people read Amazon product reviews even when they do not plan on purchasing the product through Amazon. However, for lesser known products, it can be a bit […]
Not All Emojis Removed from Google’s Title Tags in Search Results
After a wait of a couple of months, Google finally removed the emojis in the search results. However, some emojis apparently escaped the title tag purge by Google. Here is an example of the yellow caution / danger sign that managed to slip through. These were displayed in Firefox, but they displayed unknown character […]
Google Analytics Data is Not Used in Google Search Ranking
Many SEOs have mixed feelings about Google Analytics… while it is regarded as being the best analytics tool, there are some who don’t use it because it is Google. Likewise, there are some SEOs that do use it, especially for popular sites, for the sole reason that they feel Google is using the information for […]
Google Adds Photos & YouTube Notifications to Google+ Notifications
We now know why we have seen the Google+ icon added to the Google notifications drop down, an addition that seemed pretty redundant when it started showing up a couple of weeks ago. You can now add notifications for both YouTube and Google Photos now too, that will show up in the notifications. Ana Hoffman […]
How Google Uses Clicks in Search Results, According to Google
At SMX Advanced earlier this month, Gary Illyes from Google spoke about how Google uses – and does not use – clicks. Google uses clicks made in the search results in two different ways – for evaluation and for experimentation – but not for ranking. Noisy clicks He does say they see those who are […]
Google to Remove “Revenge Porn” in Search Results
Google is introducing a new feature this summer that will make it much easier for people to remove “revenge porn” of themselves from the Google search results. Our philosophy has always been that Search should reflect the whole web. But revenge porn images are intensely personal and emotionally damaging, and serve only to degrade the […]
Emojis Removed from Titles in Google Search Results
RIP Emojis in the Google search results. It took almost two months, but Google has finally removed the emojis that were showing up as titles. Expedia was the first major website to begin showing emojis in their title tags, however it didn’t catch on too much with Google announcing that they would be removed from […]
Google Testing Blue Web Link in Search Results UI Change
Google is testing a pretty significant UI change for them – changing the traditional, and longstanding, red “Web” link that appears at the top of the Google search results to one in blue. I am actually surprised at how much I like this, as well as how noticeable it is that it changed. From what […]
Google Testing Additional Line Breaks in Search Results
Google is running another interesting mobile test with additional lines in between titles and descriptions. Google OS spotted the change in mobile search results in Chrome, which also features the usual “Web” etc links at the top of the results all in capital letters as well as a new blue “web” link. Google Mobile Search […]
How User Experience & User Intent Affect Panda, Penguin & Other Google Algorithms
When most people focus on SEO, they think purely in terms of how Google sees the on-page elements of a page and how they could potentially be impacted by one of the many Google algorithms. But too often, SEOs are so focused on that aspect that they are forgetting two other areas that certainly play […]