Google’s Gary Illyes answered a question about the non-search features that the GoogleOther crawler supports, then added a caution about the consequences of blocking GoogleOther. What Is GoogleOther? GoogleOther is a generic crawler created by Google for the various purposes that fall outside of those of bots that specialize for Search, Ads, Video, Images, News, … Read more
A new study finds that despite concerns about AI in online services, users are more satisfied with search engines and social media platforms than before. The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) conducted its annual survey of search and social media users, finding that satisfaction has either held steady or improved. This comes at a time … Read more
OpenAI has announced the launch of SearchGPT, a prototype AI-powered search engine. This move marks the company’s entry into the competitive search market, potentially challenging established players. Key Features & Functionality SearchGPT aims to directly answer user queries by combining AI language models with real-time web information. Rather than offering a list of links, SearchGPT … Read more
Bing is rolling out a new version of Generative Search that displays information in an intuitive way that encourages exploration but also prioritizes clicks from the search results to websites. Microsoft introduced their new version of AI search: “After introducing LLM-powered chat answers on Bing in February of last year, we’ve been hard at work … Read more
Google has announced plans to transition all retailers to its updated Merchant Center platform by September. This move will affect e-commerce businesses globally and comes ahead of the holiday shopping season. The Merchant Center is a tool for online retailers to manage how their products appear across Google’s shopping services. Key Changes & Features The … Read more
WooCommerce announced their roadmap for the future of WooCommerce, emphasizing two-way communication with the developer ecosystem in order to be responsive to their needs which further the goals of improving the experience for developers, merchants and customers. WooCommerce highlighted seven important areas for innovation and six specific areas that are targeted for enhancements that will … Read more
A week after releasing the troubled version 6.6, WordPress has released another version that fixes seven major issues including two that caused fatal errors (website crashes), another issue that caused a security plugins to issue false warnings plus several more that created unwanted UI changes. Fatal Errors In WordPress 6.6 The one issue that got … Read more
In a new installment of its “SEO Made Easy” video series, Google provides three simple guidelines for utilizing internal linking to improve SEO. The video, presented by Google’s Martin Splitt, offers valuable insights for improving site structure and user experience. Strategic internal linking highlights your most valuable content, ensuring users and search engines can identify … Read more
Google has announced it will no longer phase out third-party cookies in Chrome. Instead, it’s trying a new approach that emphasizes user choice and control over their web browsing privacy. Major Policy Reversal For years, the company had been working towards eliminating third-party cookies, repeatedly delaying the implementation due to various challenges. Instead of deprecating … Read more
In an SEO Office Hours podcast, Google’s John Mueller answered the question of how to get more product rich results to show in the search results. John listed four things that are important in order to get rich results for product listings. Product Rich Results Product search queries can trigger rich results that presents products … Read more
Google updated their documentation for the Google Labs Google Notes experiment to remind users that Notes will go away at the end of July 2024 and showed how to download notes content, with a final deadline beyond which it will be impossible to retrieve it. Google Notes Notes is an experimental feature in Google Labs … Read more
Managed WordPress web host WP Engine announced that they are acquiring NitroPack, a leading SaaS website performance optimization solution. The acquisition of of NitroPack by WP Engine demonstrates their continued focus on improving site performance for clients. NitroPack NitroPack is a relatively pricey but well regarded site performance solution that has for years been known … Read more
OpenAI rolled out GPT-4o mini, a replacement for GPT 3.5 Turbo that is more powerful than other models in its class. Because it’s hyper efficient, GPT 4o mini will make AI available to more people at a cheaper price through better end-user applications. GPT-4o mini GPT-4o mini is a highly efficient version of GPT-4o that … Read more
Google’s Gary Illyes answered a question about the SEO value of hierarchically ordering heading elements (H1, H2, etc.). His answer offered an insight into the actual value of heading elements for digital marketing. Heading Elements In simple terms, HTML Elements are the building blocks of a web page and they all have their place much … Read more
In a recent session of Google’s SEO office-hours Q&A, the Search Relations team addressed a common concern among business owners: how to determine if an SEO agency is actively optimizing your website. The Business Owner’s Question The discussion was prompted by a business owner who asked: “If I have an agency that is managing our … Read more
New research by enterprise search marketing company BrightEdge reveals dramatic changes to sites surfaced through Google’s AI Overviews search feature and though it maintains search market share, the data shows that AI search engine Perplexity is gaining ground at a remarkable pace. Rapid & Dramatic Changes In AIO Triggers The words that trigger AI Overviews … Read more
Anthropic announced the release of a new Claude Android app that uses their powerful Claude 3.5 Sonnet language model. The app is available free (with usage limits) and also with paid plans. Anthropic Claude Claude is a powerful AI chatbot that offers advanced reasoning, can do real-time image analysis, and can translate languages in real-time. … Read more
A recent study of 121 B2B CMOs and marketing leaders has uncovered current marketing industry challenges. The study by Bospar, CMO Huddles, and Redpoint examines the concept of an “underground recession” in marketing departments and its implications for professionals in the field. Key findings include: Budget constraints and their impact on marketing strategies Changing deal … Read more
