One of the most important parts of having a website is making sure your audience can find your site (and find what they’re looking for). The good news is that Google Search Essentials, formerly called Google Webmaster Guidelines, simplifies the process of optimizing your site for search performance. After all, getting your target audience to … Read more
Google responded to a small publisher whose article offered a step by step walkthrough of how big corporate publishers are manipulating the Google Reviews System Algorithm and getting away with it, demonstrating what appears to be a bias towards big brands that negatively impacts small independent publishers. HouseFresh Google Algorithm Exposé The story begins with … Read more
Google expands structured data for product variants, enabling online merchants to showcase inventory variations in search results. Google now supports structured data for product variants like size, color, etc. Sites must use new structured data markup to show product variations. Valid implementation can lead to enhanced search listings. Source link
Google depends on volunteers called Local Guides to keep Search and Maps updated with information about local businesses and attractions. These volunteers contribute reviews, photos, and videos that help you make decisions when visiting a new place. Though they do it to benefit searchers, Local Guides get virtual rewards from Google’s program, which incentivizes people … Read more
Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin recently highlighted critical updates regarding Google’s enforcement of its EU User Consent Policy. Google is strengthening enforcement around consent requirements for European Economic Area (EEA) traffic. As part of this, the company has introduced consent mode version two (v2), which includes parameters for ad personalization and remarketing consent signals. Advertisers … Read more
Google bans impersonation and false affiliation in ads, enforcing policy changes in March. Google bans impersonation and false affiliation in ads. Policy enforcement starts in March. Violators will be banned from Google Ads. Source link
Google updated their emergency and non-emergency image removal guidance with added details that give new clarity to the documentation. Removing Images From Search Index Google offers multiple ways to remove images from the search index on both an emergency and non-emergency basis. There are multiple relatively trivial changes but these are the topics that had … Read more
Google is releasing a new educational video series on its Search Central YouTube channel. The videos feature Google engineer Gary Illyes, who provides an inside look at how Google Search works. The goal of the series is to explain the complexities of the search engine in an understandable way. The first episode serves as an … Read more
Google has unveiled new search experiences that will soon roll out across the European Economic Area (EEA). The changes are part of Google’s preparations to comply with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). One notable change is a carousel-style rich result for queries like “hotels near me.” Google is also adding dedicated ‘aggregator units’ … Read more
Google updated their rel canonical documentation in order to clarify how Google handles the extraction of rel canonical annotations. The clarification is not meant to indicate a change in how Google handles rel=canonical annotations but rather to make it explicitly clear how Google processes them. Canonical Link Relation – RFC 5988 Google’s documentation has always … Read more
Google recently updated the documentation of its Google-Extended web crawler user agent, reflecting changes in product naming and clarifying the impact on search, which may be a concern for those who choose to block the crawler. The updated documentation offers clearer guidance on controlling content access for use in AI model training. Google-Extended User Agent … Read more
Google updated the Web Stories documentation to reflect that Web Stories will no longer appear in Google Images, among other changes. Google Web Stories Web Stories is a visual short content form that is designed for short moments like when riding on a bus. They’re visual with short sentences and are in a carousel form … Read more
Google’s John Mueller answered an interesting question about what actually happens after clicking the “validate a fix” link in Search Console if the 404 status still exists. John Mueller explained what’s going on with that “validate a fix” function. What Causes A 404 Status Code And How Should It Be Dealt With? When a browser … Read more
Google has announced a new trend change detection feature in Google Analytics. This new capability will allow you to more easily identify subtle but meaningful shifts in data trends over time. We’ve just introduced trend change detection, a new type of insight that surfaces subtle but long-lasting and important changes in your data. It works … Read more
It only took twenty four hours after Google’s Gemini was publicly released for someone to notice that chats were being publicly displayed in Google’s search results. Google quickly responded to what appeared to be a leak. The reason how this happened is quite surprising and not as sinister as it first appears. @shemiadhikarath tweeted: “A … Read more
Google is harnessing new AI technology to block a surge of fake online reviews that mislead customers and harm local businesses. The company stopped over 170 million fake reviews in 2023 – a 45% increase over the previous year. The crackdown provides welcome relief for local business owners who have struggled with fraudulent reviews that … Read more
Google is looking into concerning reports that some businesses are sabotaging competitors’ Google Business Pages (GBPs) by creating fake Local Service Ads (LSAs) linked to their profiles. Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin acknowledged the tactic on X (formerly Twitter) after Ben Fisher alerted her to a thread on Google’s support forum detailing the destructive scheme. … Read more
Google to phase out cookie-based Hotel Ad strategies, introduces AI-driven tROAS and expands Performance Max for travel. Google is retiring its commission-based bidding for Hotel Ads in October 2024. The company is shifting to AI-powered bidding strategies instead, like tROAS and Performance Max. The changes come as the travel industry rebounds post-pandemic. Source link
