“Small” Google Algorithm Update Announced On the back of the so-called “medic” Google Algorithm Update in August, Google has announced further changes to its algorithm. Danny Sullivan, one of the search advisors at Google, confirmed these changes when asked about them over Twitter. Danny tweeted through his account that the core Google Algorithm is “updated all…
The popularity of smartphones has changed the way that websites are indexed on the Internet. Decades ago, when websites were first made, everyone was using static HTML pages. PHP sites and many others came later, leading to dynamic or responsive web pages that would change based upon the device that was viewing it. Now Google…
The latest of many updates to the search engine results pages, Google claim that multifaceted featured snippets will provide “more actionable results to nuanced queries”. Searches can often be interpreted in different ways. With multifaceted featured snippets, Google will present the searcher with the answer to each. In the example given, if someone searches for…
Google now shows results based on where your device is geographically, irrespective of what domain identifier you use when navigating to Google. For example, if you’re in Germany and you hit up google.co.uk, you’ll see localised results for Germany. This is a big sea change for Google, as currently one-fifth of all search queries are…
Google have now introduced trending searches and instant answers for its iOS app. The screenshot below shows how trending searches (left) and instant answers (right) will display for iOS users: This means that on its iPhone and iPad app Google will now recommend searches for users based on popular recent searches in the user’s area…
Google have specified that Rich Results are now available for video and recipe content within Google Image Search on mobile devices. If you perform a Google Search for “Daily Show Youtube” via mobile, it will fetch video thumbnails amongst regular image results that when clicked on results in an information rich panel. If you select…
If your website contains popups or popovers on mobile, look out, as Google is set to start penalising for this. Google confirmed they began rolling the mobile interstitial penalty this week. Essentially this is a penalty for mobile websites that restrict access to content that the user has searched for. Google have described it as…
Google has confirmed that they’ve began rolling out the Penguin 4.0 algorithm. It is around two years ago that they released a Penguin update, called Penguin 3.0 in October 2014. Penguin primarily focuses on unnatural links (that being said, it isn’t just about bad links). Up to now, the filter was only run periodically, with…
It seems lately that Google has been having a shift around with it’s appearance. From the change of the “Ad” label colour last week, to the latest increase in the width of the main search results column. Although this may not appear too much of a difference to the user, this change impacts everything Google…
Google announced that they are putting into place a content removal tool mechanism that will allow people to request removal of links or pages that are no longer relevant and could be damaging. The Google content removal tool is now available in Search Console and will follow a strict process of requesting that links to…
Google have released a new tool to help users test whether a website is mobile friendly. With mobile devices now accounting for over 50% of all search queries in Google globally, it’s now more important than ever to make sure your site is as accessible to mobile and tablet users as it is for desktop…
The three most important factors in Google’s algorithm are content, links and Rankbrain, Google’s new artificial intelligence system. The revelation was made earlier in the month in a live seminar with Senior Google Search Quality Strategist and SEO expert and Andrey Lipattsev. During the seminar, Andrey confirmed that Rankbrain is the third most important ranking factor,…
Last week Google announced that they would be rolling out an update to their Panda algorithm, which could take up to a month to complete. The Panda algorithm is used by Google to identify poor quality or spammy content and deal out penalties accordingly. The punitive action could simply be a drop in rankings or…
At the beginning of the month, you may well have noticed a change in your website’s search rankings. Many webmasters and news outlets certainly did, reporting that certain types of site were being specifically targeted – instructional or ‘How-To’ outlets such as About.com and eHow purportedly lost traffic, although Wikia and Wonderhowto simultaneously gained traffic,…
Last month we speculated that Google were set to alter their algorithm to favour mobile-friendly sites; now we have the proof. The mobile SERP algorithm used by Google is set to weigh more heavily towards mobile friendliness as a ranking signal and this will be in force from April 21st. This is according to an…
Tweets will now be indexed in Google as the micro blogging site strikes a new deal with the search engine. It is hoped that this will enable tweets made by users to be seen by non-users of the site. Rather than Google having to crawl the site for information manually, Twitter will now supply them…
During December Google confirmed that they have rolled out an update to their Pigeon algorithm that affects local searches. The Pigeon update was confirmed to have hit the UK in the middle of December, bang in the middle of the Christmas shopping season for local business who may rely on their online presence to succeed….
SEOs around the world started noticing changes in data late last week and the rumours have been confirmed. Google has officially launched its latest algorithm change; Penguin 3.0. This update comes a year after the previous Penguin update, Penguin 2.1, with spammy link profiles the most likely target again. Penguin was first introduced back in…
On 28th August Google announced that they will no longer be showing authorship and rich snippets in their search results. The announcement was made by John Mueller, a Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, via a Google+ post on the 28th. This isn’t a sudden change of heart though, Authorship has been gradually on the decrease…
Matt Cutts announced on twitter last night that Google are rolling out an update to the Panda algorithm. The tweet simply announced the update, causing speculation and a flood of questions from SEOs about it. We have confirmation from Matt Cutts that the update is being rolled out, but no further information has surfaced. Some…
Google has got stuck into 2014 right away by seemingly pushing out a new algorithm update in early January. A few people have been sounding off about movement in rankings that have been stationary for some time, both minor position swaps and major leaps/falls, which has fuelled speculation about the update although Google are yet…
Google’s knowledge graph has revolutionised lateral searching. It pops up on the right on the search results with information about the topic you have searched for, as well as related subjects that you may be interested in. For example a search for Manchester United will bring up the team’s information in a knowledge graph, including manager,…
There have been some pretty great GoogleBombs over the years. However we now think that this form of prank is now coming to an end as a result of recent algorithm changes – but more about that later. For those not in the know, a GoogleBomb is the art of manipulating the search results to…
