MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - In a recent discussion on Mastodon, Google’s John Mueller – the company’s Senior Search Analyst and Search Relations team lead – was discussing the topic of domain names, and while offering tips on search engine optimization (SEO), he relayed his opinion that whatever an individual or company’s domain name is - “it's never going to make or break your SEO.” This factoid came out after Mueller was questioned about the utilization of dashes in domain … [Read more...]
Google Launces New System for Creating Web Page Titles In Search Results
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - Web page titles may begin to appear differently in search results on Google as they have altered its system for generating titles for search listings. On Tuesday, August 24, 2021, Google said it had made the change, a week ago. Old Titles: New Titles: Google said it will still use HTML title tags as the principal way of generating titles more than 80% of the time. However, they won't do it if they determine there is a better more accurate … [Read more...]
GOOG To Follow FB With Restrictions On Housing, Employment, and Credit Ads
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - Usually Google is a leader in all things advertising, however, a recent update to policy by GOOG (NASDAQ) will have it following Facebook (FB) where the ad giant will implement new targeting restrictions which could lead to 'societal biases' which have been in place by Facebook for some time now. In a message to advertisers, Google laid out the changes in an email notification letting advertisers know that the changes will be implemented effective … [Read more...]
Google Moves for More Control of World’s News with Major Google Play Update
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – Something remarkably interesting has been happening behind the scenes which very few have noticed, however, one firm who has not missed the quickly changing landscape, is information hoarder and narrative controller, Google. Over the last year or so, quietly brewing behind the scenes, has been Google’s loss of control of a growing percentage of the world’s news. Yes, you read that right. It's been a pretty-amazing transition. Here is how it works (or … [Read more...]
Google Ads to Require Verification, But Implementation Will Take Years They Say
PALM BEACH, FL – According to the horse’s mouth, the Google Ads advertising program, responsible for about 40% of the total advertising seen online, will be rolling out a new feature which will allow users to see exactly who is behind an advertisement, while requiring businesses to verify their legal status in their state through documentation such as articles of incorporation, in order to purchase ads throughout the platforms reach. The move, in my opinion, is late in the … [Read more...]
Why Do My Search Results Look Different? “Determining Relevance Based On Users”
PALM BEACH, FL - Just because you see something in ‘search’ doesn’t mean someone else will see that same result. This is because more and more of the web, as well as the experience you receive on your mobile device – be it Netflix, YouTube, Amazon, Google, etc., is being influenced by your past search and browsing habits, as well as where you go and how valuable your visit might be, and/or how many times you might return for more - all of which are being done through various … [Read more...]
Keep In Mind, New gTLD “Buzz Factor” SEO Ranking Weakens Over Time; Use Best URL
PALM BEACH, FL – About a year and half ago in April of 2018, I wrote about an out-of-the-ordinary domain name sale when the new gTLD domain “Vacation.Rentals” changed hands for a little over ‘half a million’ in cash, supposedly. I still sort of question the sale as either authentic and insane - or completely bogus, intentionally and strategically planned to not only create industry buzz, but boost sales for nGTLDs. Either way, and it probably doesn't really mater … [Read more...]
How Google Grows Advertising Rev 20% a Year, While Global Economy Grows at 4%
PALM BEACH, FL - If you are in the Internet business, you're going to want to stop and read this one. It will educate you. It might explain a couple of things you have thought about when it comes to Google. It might even make you a little mad. But it is always best to know what is happening in your industry. Or you could stay in your little bubble where they say, ignorance is bliss. Google has the ability to provide the illusion of diversity while using sort of eye candy … [Read more...]
Why Investigations Into Google’s Search, Ad & Android Businesses Will Go Nowhere
PALM BEACH, NY – It seems like every day there is a brand new, squeaky clean investigation (or at least some accusations) into our good-ole’ friends at Google Inc., and Alphabet Inc. Swirling stories of lawsuits and federal inquiries into a company that is so large, so big, it’s almost such that you could consider them, “too big to fail” – how familiar. Historically, investigations into good-ole’ GOOG have gone all but nowhere. For instance, in 2013 the Federal Trade … [Read more...]
What Does Google’s New BERT Update Do? Most Significant Update In Last Five Years
PALM BEACH, FL - Google’s BERT update (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) effects up to 10% of search queries by allowing Google to better understand natural language processing (NLP), for the most part, in longer tail keyword searches. It is something Google has been working on for the last few years and allows Google to use particular words within a search query that change or transform the intent of the search. It is said by Google to be one of … [Read more...]
How Google Search Worked (Back in 2010) With Quality Search Engineer Matt Cutts
PALM BEACH, FL – The below video was uploaded by Google’s YouTube account back in 2010. As of the time of this writing the video has been watched over 5.2 million times. It explains, in layman’s terms (a very simple way), how Google works, at least, how Google ‘worked’ back in 2010. The video includes Matt Cutts, who was at that time, Google’s quality search engineer. He also acted as somewhat of a communications contact between Google and the entire webmaster community. … [Read more...]
First Google (GOOGL), Now Facebook (FB) Under Attack by 47 Attorney Generals
PALM BEACH, FL – In September, word started circulating across major media that Google (GOOGL) was expected to face scrutiny by 50 U.S attorney generals regarding alleged bias and antitrust violations from the tech giants advertising and search businesses. The probe, which would be the first of its kind since Microsoft was sued in 1998, was expected to potentially expand into other areas of the business later in the investigation. It's an investigation to determine … [Read more...]
If Google Removes URLs From Search Results, Who Exactly Stands to Benefit?
PALM BEACH, FL – Last week I ran a story about Google’s obvious intent to remove URL’s from search. The story was titled “Google Determined to Remove URLs from Search Results; Replace with Breadcrumbs” and published on October 18, 2019. It was a follow up to “EVIL: Will Google Do Away with Domain Name and Extension Entirely Anyway?” There has been wide reaction from both the SEO and Domain community on the coming change and it warrants added thought and hopefully, added … [Read more...]
Exact Match Domain Names Yielding “Free Ticket to Ride” Long Over on Search Giant
PALM BEACH, FL – Exact match domain names, URLs which are spelled exactly how a top search term is used in popular verbal expression still work to help boost search rankings well when it comes to Bing.com and Yahoo.com, but on Google.com, it doesn’t seem to matter unless there are powerful “brand signals” in play, such as high numbers of inbound links, frequent references to the URL whether linked or not, and other popular signals such as social media activity with matching … [Read more...]
Google Determined to Remove URLs from Search Results; Replace with Breadcrumbs
PALM BEACH, FL – It seems that Google, the world’s most popular search engine, is determined to do away entirely with URLs in its search engine, no doubt further increasing its position in, and not to mention, the value itself of “alternative URLs” by completely removing a person’s ability to subconsciously decide whether a site is trustworthy based on the URL itself. I touched on this topic back in September 2018 when I wrote “EVIL: Will Google Do Away with Domain Name … [Read more...]