Take Our Poll: How Were You Impacted By Google's March 16th Update?

Back on March 16th it seems Google started an algorithmic search ranking update that continued on for a week or so. In my opinion, the number of webmasters who took notice of this update was minimal compared to a Panda, Penguin or Fred update but those that did get hit, saw huge declines in Google traffic.

Google has yet to officially confirm this update, so it makes it hard to give you anything on the record. I am trying, but so far, still unsuccessful on the confirmation.

Can you all check your analytics for your clients and your own sites and let me know if you were hit at all. I guess take the poll multiple times per client?

Here is the poll asking How Were You Impacted By Google's March 16th Update?

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

This post was scheduled to go live today but was written earlier - I am currently offline today.

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Google Local Pack Double Listings

Did you ever see Google show in their local pack the same listing, for the same company for a single query? Well, supposedly it does happen although it may be rare.

Siva Gopi shared on example on Twitter for a search in Australia. It does look like the same company name, followed by the same number but a slightly different address and a different service category. In the screen shot the cities are different, one is Melbourne and the other is Mornington and the categories are different, one is Architect and the other is Home Builder. The phone numbers and company name are the same.

Here is a screen shot:

They must be technically different business listings in Google My Business, don't you think?

Joy Hawkins said in response to the double listing that she "sees it happen sometimes." I don't remember ever seeing this, have you?

Forum discussion at Twitter.

This post was scheduled to go live today but was written earlier - I am currently offline today.

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SEOs Try To Help Google Rank For Google

Most of you know that one of the most searched on words in Google is actually the name [google]. It happens way too often where someone will go to Google and then search for Google to bring up Google. Yes, I know it sounds crazy but I've seen at least two clients do that right in front of my eyes over the years and who knows how many people do it at their desk?

In any event, one SEO asked Google's Gary Illyes if he ever got an email from an SEO offering them SEO services specifically aimed at helping Google rank well in Google for [google]. Gary from Google said yes, he has received email offers for such a service.

Here is the tweet:

@i_praveensharma Yes

— Gary Illyes ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (@methode) April 9, 2017

Can you imagine if Google ranked Bing for the term [google]?

Yea, one of you are going to point out the search results for [search engine on Google - it has been that way for a while. Anyway, if you want to help Google rank well for that, reach out to Gary. :)

As you can see, the keyword density around this post for the term google is way high and I am trying to outrank Google for google on this post. This way, I can sell them a link on this page for them to try to rank #1 for google again in Google. :-P

Forum discussion at Twitter.

This post was scheduled to go live today but was written earlier - I am currently offline today.

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Google AdWords Seller Ratings Takes 12 Months Of Data

Google AdWords offers seller ratings for shopping related ads, as well as other ads. These are an automated extension type that showcases advertisers with high ratings. Google will collect seller ratings from reputable sources that aggregate business reviews. This AdWords ad extension shows below the ad and looks like this:

Many advertisers who are new ask why they don't see these seller ratings for their sites. Well, it normally takes at least 12 months of data aggregation for Google to start showing these ratings. Often it also requires at least 150 unique seller reviews over the past 12 months. If you do not have 150 reviews in the past month, you might lose those ratings.

The help docs read:

For Google Shopping star ratings to appear, typically your business needs at least 150 unique seller reviews, each from the past 12 months. However, we may show ratings for merchants with fewer than 150 reviews if we have sufficient data from other sources to determine an accurate rating.

Google was asked this on Twitter:

@DennisGriemink Hi Dennis, Google looks at the last 12 months worth of data from various sources when generating seller ratings. (1)

— Google AdWords (@adwords) December 6, 2016

Forum discussion at Twitter.

This post was scheduled to go live today but was written earlier - I am currently offline today.

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Mike B Around the Local Web

Video Deep Dive: Sponsorships as an opportunity in Local Marketing – an educational interview with Megan Hannay of Zipsprout about ideas for leveraging a business’s relationship with local NFP agencies to enhance their digital marketing. (Now also available as a podcast)

Video: Last Week in Local May 30, 2017 – Join Mary B and me and guest host Joel Headley as we discuss last week’s news and interesting articles in Local. (Now available as an email newsletter or as a podcast.

New Feature: Tag Testimonial Widgets   At GetFiveStars we have been busy. I love customer generated feedback as it can help with both search results conversion AND as social proof on your “selling” pages on your site. Now we offer the ability to easily use this feedback on the service or locale pages of your site.

Understanding Facebook’s Place as a Small Business Marketing Vehicle Another biweekly discussion with David Mihm where we discuss some of the interesting contradictions for small businesses as they attempt to integrate Facebook into their top of funnel activities.

 

Please consider leaving a comment as your input will help me (& everyone else) better understand and learn about local.

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Google Game Room Has An Upside Down Chess Ceiling

Here is another photo I spotted on Instagram, this one from offiseven. It shows a Google game room with an unusual ceiling. The ceiling has a chess board pattern with chess pieces hanging from the ceiling. The goal, for these pieces not to fall and crush you as you play games.

Again, this was posted on Instagram.

This post is part of our daily Search Photo of the Day column, where we find fun and interesting photos related to the search industry and share them with our readers.

This post was scheduled to go live today but was written earlier - I am currently offline today.

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Bing Adds “People Also Ask” To Their Own Search Results

June 1, 2017 at 4:29 am PST By Jennifer Slegg Leave a Comment

Bing is now adding “People also search for” drop down box features in their search results.  And their implementation is identical to the one Google added to their own search results.

The “People also search for” shows collapsed in the search results.  Here is what it looks like:

It displays in the second half of the search results page.

Here is how it looks when expanded:

It appears to be almost identical to Google’s own version.  Here is Google’s one for the same query:

Bing’s version does not include the newer added features that Google added, including the additional “Search for” and the auto expanding which sees additional search questions added to the bottom of the “People also ask” box as searchers interact with it.   And while it could be an isolated case, Bing’s version contains grammatical errors, such as the “How often can take Advil” which might be closer to what someone types into search, but the nearly identical question in Google is grammatically correct.

Bing’s new “People also ask” is showing up in the Bing search results for a variety of queries.

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Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland.She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.

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