Automattic quietly updated the WP Engine Tracker website with an activity log showing a continuously updated list of domains that have switched away from managed WordPress host, WP Engine. This update is part of Mullenweg’s self-described “nuclear war” against WP Engine, with the Tracker site actively promoting competitors by offering links to their hosting promotions. WP … Read more
Google emailed users to communicate that it is ending the Google Trends subscriptions for trend alerts, warning that the program will no longer be available beginning on October 29, 2024 and that all existing alerts will end. Google Trends is popular with many users, especially those who are digital marketers. Aleyda Solis posted about it … Read more
Google quietly added a new bot to their crawler documentation that crawls on behalf of commercial clients of their Vertex AI product. It appears that the new crawler may only crawl sites controlled by the site owners, but the documentation isn’t entirely clear on that point. Vertex AI Agents Google-CloudVertexBot, the new crawler, ingests website … Read more
Google removed the Covid-era structured data associated with the Home Activities rich results that allowed online events to be surfaced in search since August 2020, publishing a mention of the removal in the search documentation changelog. Home Activities Rich Results The structured data for the Home Activities rich results allowed providers of online livestreams, pre-recorded … Read more
Google resolved a site names issue that had been ongoing since September 2023 that prevented a website’s site name from properly appearing when an inner page was ranked in the search results. Site Names In The Search Results A site name is exactly what it sounds like, the name of a website that’s displayed in … Read more
