Google is making a big change to its domain structure. Soon, all country-specific Google domains will redirect to Google.com. This change ties into earlier hints that Google may rely less on hreflang markup, showing how Google is changing its approach to international search. Google Consolidates Domain Structure Google announced plans to phase out country-specific domains … Read more
Google’s Martin Splitt recently shared insights on how JavaScript mistakes can hurt a website’s search performance. His talk comes as Google Search Advocate John Mueller also urges SEO pros to learn more about modern client-side technologies. Mistake 1: Rendered HTML vs. Source HTML During the SEO for Paws Conference, a live-streamed fundraiser by Anton Shulke, … Read more
Google’s Search Liaison answered a question at Google Search Central Live NYC about whether Google prefers brands. Sullivan took that as an opportunity to affirm that Google is working to show more independent sites and also offered insights into how independent sites can improve their search performance. Google Wants Good Independent Sites To Rank Someone … Read more
Google’s March 2025 Core Update, announced on March 13th and expected to complete its rollout this week, is creating turbulence in search results according to multiple industry tracking tools. Data from Local SEO Guide and SISTRIX indicate this may be a highly impactful update. “Most Volatile” SERPs in 12 Months According to tracking data from … Read more
Website owners and SEO professionals are facing a new problem. AI content generation tools are creating fake URLs when referencing real websites. This issue was discussed in a recent social media conversation between industry professionals. Hallucinated Links Causing 404s On Bluesky, agency owner Dan Thornton pointed out a pattern of 404 errors from non-existent URLs … Read more
John Mueller, a Google Search Advocate, suggests that SEO professionals should reconsider how their work fits into the modern web stack. He references a “vibes-based” visualization highlighting how developers’ focus areas have shifted. Mueller notes a disconnect between what industry pros pay attention to (such as JavaScript frameworks, performance optimizations, or new AI-driven tech) and … Read more
The plaintiffs in an antitrust lawsuit against Google filed a revised proposed final judgment for the judge in the case to consider. The proposal comes after a previous ruling where the court determined that Google broke antitrust laws by illegally maintaining its monopoly. The legal filing by the plaintiffs, the United States Department Of Justice … Read more
Google has released a new episode in its “SEO Office Hours Shorts” video series, in which Developer Advocate Martin Splitt addresses a question many website owners face: Should all 404 error pages be redirected to the homepage? The Clear Answer: Don’t Do It In the latest installment of the condensed Q&A format, Splitt responds to … Read more
Google has launched its Vision Match feature for all mobile users in the United States, following a successful test run in Google Labs. This tool solves an everyday challenge for shoppers: turning a specific idea into products that can be purchased. Google research indicates that more than half of shoppers have difficulty finding particular clothing … Read more
Google is making big moves in 2025, and unsurprisingly, AI is at the heart of it all. In a recent update, Vidhya Srinivasan, Google’s VP and GM of Ads and Commerce, outlined the company’s top priorities for the coming year. From AI-powered ad experiences to deeper integrations with YouTube and Google Shopping, these changes signal … Read more
A recent discussion in a Facebook SEO group highlighted how Google’s structured data testing tool can produce misleading results, making Schema.org structured data difficult to debug. This is why the tool falls short and why Schema.org provides a better solution. This article doesn’t link to the private Facebook group discussion but it does provide screenshots … Read more
Few professions can match a digital marketer’s perspective on what Google’s fourth-quarter results mean for SEO and online advertising. I asked six search marketers, each with over 20 years of experience in all areas of search for insights into what those results mean. What they shared indicates what SEO and advertising professionals should be paying … Read more
An SEO posted details about a site audit in which he critiqued the use of a rel=canonical for controlling what pages are indexed on a site. The SEO proposed using noindex to get the pages dropped from Google’s index and then adding the individual URLs to robots.txt. Google’s John Mueller suggested a solution that goes … Read more
Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, reported strong fourth-quarter results for fiscal 2024, primarily driven by its commitment to AI. Alphabet announced revenues of $96.5 billion for Q4 2024, up 12% from last year. Google Services, including Search and YouTube ads, grew by 10% to $84.1 billion. Google Cloud increased revenues by 30% to $12.0 billion … Read more
Google quietly updated their Estimated Salary (Occupation) Structured Data page with subtle edits that make the information more relevant and easily understood. The changes show how a page can be analyzed for weaknesses and subsequently improved. Subtle Word Shifts Make A Difference The art of writing is something SEO should consider now more than ever. … Read more
Parisa Tabriz, the security leader for Google Chrome, has criticized Microsoft for a new strategy involving Bing’s search interface. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Tabriz denounced Microsoft’s decision to imitate the design of Google’s homepage, labeling it “another tactic in its long history of tricks to confuse users and limit choice.” She concluded … Read more
Video Summary: Google has released a new episode of its Search Central Lightning Talks, which focuses on rendering strategies, an important topic for web developers. In this video, Martin Splitt, a Developer Advocate at Google, explains the intricacies of different rendering methods and how these approaches impact website performance, user experience, and search engine optimization … Read more
Google’s AI Overviews (AIOs) are AI-generated responses that appear at the top of the search engine results page (SERP). Unlike traditional search results, AIOs summarize information from multiple sources to provide direct answers to user queries while offering relevant links. These overviews are displayed prominently: the AI Overview appears on the left, with relevant links … Read more
