A new blog post from Pandu Nayak, Google Fellow and Vice President of Search, explains how Google Search uses MUM and BERT to serve safer search results. Highlights: Google is using MUM to better detect when the query indicates a searcher is in crisis and will begin rolling out these improvements within weeks. Google uses … Read more
Having a Google Business Profile (GBP) is the best way for a local business to rank high on Google – in the Local Pack, the Local Finder, and on Google Maps. And for many of these local businesses, having a Google Business Profile is often their only local SEO strategy and the one way they … Read more
Google launches a third product review algorithm update in search results, which builds off of the product review updates introduced last year. The first product review algorithm update, which is designed to reward content with first-hand research, went live in April 2021. A second product review update followed in December. Today’s update continues Google’s efforts … Read more
Google’s John Mueller answered a question about how Google’s algorithm handles abbreviations. John answered the question in depth, explaining how these are essentially synonyms and that Google doesn’t do anything particularly special with abbreviations. How Does Google Handle Abbreviations? The person asking a question wanted to know how Google handled abbreviations such as “eg” which … Read more
Local businesses that want more traffic from search must improve their local rankings. But can prominence, distance, and relevance affect your organic search rankings? Read on to learn whether there is any connection between prominence, distance, and relevance, and improved Google rankings. The Claim: Relevance, Distance, And Prominence Are Ranking Factors What are relevance, distance, … Read more
John Mueller answered a question about why a site that ranked for one keyword phrase didn’t rank for what they said was a synonym for the same phrase. John answered the question in general terms, explaining how what’s important is the full context of the search query. Synonyms and Search Results Before Google Hummingbird Google … Read more
Reconsideration requests are indirectly related to search rankings, as they’re an essential step in the process of recovering from a Google manual penalty. They make the difference between a site getting reinstated in search results or remaining deindexed. Reconsideration requests play an important role in SEO when rankings are manually held down by Google, but … Read more
Google is working on ways to show more short-form video in search results, saying it’s a clear and concise format for satisfying certain queries. This was stated in latest Search Off The Record podcast episode by Google Product Manager Danielle Marshak, who oversees videos in search results. Marshak is joined by Gary Illyes and Lizzi … Read more
Not to be confused with HTML sitemaps, which are designed to be viewed by humans, XML sitemaps are solely for search engines. Given that XML sitemaps are intended to assist Google, site owners may assume they play a role in search rankings. SEO experts even suggest XML sitemaps are so crucial to search that the … Read more
Google clarifies how performance data for pages in the ‘people also ask’ section is measured in Search Console – such as clicks, impressions, and positions. This topic is discussed during a recent Google Search Central SEO office-hours hangout. An individual named Aakash Singh joins the livestream to ask how Google Search Console tracks data for … Read more
When you register a domain, the registrar has your identifying information. However, you can choose domain privacy protection if you don’t want the names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. of website contacts listed in WhoIs for all the world to see. There are plenty of legitimate reasons people want to protect their privacy online. But does … Read more
Google confirms the page experience update finished rolling out to desktop search results. Now it’s time to assess the impact. The update started rolling out on desktop on February 22, making it a nine-day rollout concluding on March 3. By comparison, the launch of the page experience update on mobile took two and a half … Read more
A new report from Google contains data on how customer expectations are changing, and reveals what people want from businesses this year. Based on a comparison of search volume from 2021 to 2022, trends indicate that customers want things both sooner and later. If customers are out shopping in person then they want the ability … Read more
As the most visible component of Google’s search results pages (SERPs), page titles are thought to carry significant weight as a ranking factor. Is it possible to overvalue the impact of your title tags when it comes to improving search rankings? There’s little doubt Google’s algorithm takes page titles into consideration. The questions around page … Read more
The secrets behind the Google algorithm and its ranking factors have been the subject of heated debate for almost a quarter of a century. For most of that time, the results were just 10 blue links, and the debate focused on inbound links and keyword density. From the vantage point of 2022, and with hindsight … Read more
The secrets behind the Google algorithm and its ranking factors have been the subject of heated debate for almost a quarter of a century. For most of that time, the results were just 10 blue links, and the debate focused on inbound links and keyword density. From the vantage point of 2022, and with hindsight … Read more
Google addresses whether the changing your website hosting provider to one in a new location can impact SEO and search rankings. This topic is addressed in the latest installment of the Ask Googlebot video series on YouTube. The following question is submitted to Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller: “Does migrating a website hosting location affect … Read more
Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller explains how websites can optimize content for search results in specific countries by using subdirectories in a strategic way. This topic was discussed during a recent Google Search Central SEO office-hours hangout. An individual named Hazel Wwrong joins the livestream to ask Mueller how Google recognizes when website content is … Read more
