There’s been a lot of chatter lately about whether or not sites should move their sites from HTTP to HTTPs. In fact, there apparently was a study done that said that apparently proved that you should not move from HTTP to HTTPS because there’s no benefit. Well, all I can do is continue to report […]
Google Webmaster Tools Reports More than 100,000 Links
Over the weekend, Jim Hedger noticed that there were huge fluctuations in the numbers of links that were being reported in Google Webmaster Tools. He’s reportedly seen as much as 500,000 links reported, and then at a later time it was less than 1,000 links. Based on my own site’s link data, I’m now seeing […]
Why You Should Move from HTTP to HTTPS
I rarely disagree with advice given by authors of articles that appear on Search Engine Land, but in this case, I wholeheartedly, and undeniably, disagree with some recent advice about HTTP and HTTPs sites. In a recent article, Daniel Cristo recommended that “if you’re running a blog, brochure site, news site, or any sort of […]
Google Search Query Impressions Going Down Drastically?
In Google Webmaster Tools, there is a useful report called the Search Queries report. This report shows your website’s impressions in Google organic search, the clicks to your website, and the average position (of your ranking). Typically, I review this repor from time to time, but I don’t necessarily look at it as often as […]
Google Analytics: Is Google Plus a Referral or a Social Media Site?
While reviewing Google Analytics for a few websites today, it appears that Google Analytics has a problem with deciding whether or not Google Plus is a website–or if it is a social media website. In Google Analytics, some of the traffic to your site will be reported as a referral, while other traffic, seemingly a […]
Move from HTTP to HTTPS: Google Traffic 1 Week After Moving
Exactly one week ago, I moved my site from HTTP to HTTPS, making my whole entire site serve up content securely. As you may recall, Google officially came out and said that HTTPS is a search engine ranking signal now. One week after I moved the site, here is an update. Overall, traffic from Google […]
Google Says Jump: We Say, How High?
Having been in the Search Engine Optimization business for well over 10 years, it’s a shame that we are at a point when Google’s organic search team makes a change to their algorithm, decides on a whim that a legitimate marketing technique is unethical, or makes an official announcement that SSL is now a ranking […]
Moving to HTTPS for a Better Search Engine Ranking
Due to Google’s recent official announcement that an https site is a search engine ranking factor, I’ve decided to move my site, BillHartzer.com, to https from http. Just to see if I can get a better rankings for the pages on my website. Currently, I do not accept any sort of payment for the content […]
Google Authorship Statistics Have Been Removed
I am not sure if this is something that has been done on purpose or not, but Google has removed the Google Authorship stats that were previously available in Google Webmaster Tools. The page, which was previously located here: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/labs-author-stats-1 is now showing a 404 error:
How to Remove Semalt.com in Google Analytics
There’s a website (domain name) that shows up as a referral in your Google Analytics. Semalt.com bills itself as “Semalt is a professional webmaster analytics tool that opens the door to new opportunities for the market monitoring, yours and your competitors’ positions tracking and comprehensible analytics business information.” Okay, fine. But to be honest with […]
Google Drops Real Name Policy
Google just dropped their real name policy. So, starting now, this means that there are no restrictions on names you can use when signing up for services such as Google Plus and YouTube. As you might recall, Google+ had revised their real name policy back in 2012, saying that only .1 percent of users have […]
Google Quality Rater Guidelines 2014
I just got ahold of the latest copy of Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines, with a date of March 2014. It’s an interesting read, all 160 pages of this document. There are a lot of new phrases and concepts that are included in this latest version, but honestly there’s are really not many new surprises. But, […]
The Real Reason Google Removed Google Authorship Photos From Search Results
Relevant content in organic search results distracts people from clicking on sponsored search advertisements. — Bill Slawski (@bill_slawski) July 11, 2014 I know that’s a really long title for this post, but I wanted to get to the point with the headline. We all want to know the real reason why Google removed Google Authorship […]
Google Launches Cookie Choices Website
I just checked the CookieChoices.org website again, and it turns out that the website is really now live. As you might recall, I was the first one to break the news that Google bought the CookieChoices.org domain name, right after the EU ruling. Then, for some reason you could use the website for Google search. […]
Google to Remove Google Authorship Photos from Search Results
I’ve always been a big fan of the photos that appear in the Google search results when the author of an article or blog posts has claimed their Google Authorship for that content.
Google Web Designer For HTML5 Sites That Work On Any Device
With everyone talking about responsive web design, and creating websites that will work on any device, Google Web Designer seems to be a pretty good option. I have my reservations, though, when it comes to it’s SEO-friendliness. But most of that can be easily fixed. I took 2 minutes. Really, only 2 minutes, to download […]
Google’s CookieChoices.Org Search Engine Now 404
Well, I didn’t expect that. Or maybe I did? CookieChoices.org, the search engine (a version of Google) that Google registered and then put live for a few days is now gone. Back in mid May, right after the European ruling came down related to the “right to remove” your details from Google, a mysterious domain […]
Google’s CookieChoices.Org Is Now Live
Back on May 16, 2014, I wrote about Google registering the domain name CookieChoices.org. Well, now I have discovered today that it looks like there is a version of Google’s search engine on CookieChoices.org. Currently, several of the links (like the links to the “sign in” doesn’t work), but most of the Google search engine […]
Google Cookie Choices Domain Name: Response to EU Ruling About Right to Be Forgotten?
In what looks to me like a possible response to the European Union’s ruling this week about the right to be forgotten, Google has just registered the domain name CookieChoices.org. I am going out on a limb here and speculating, but Google could use this website to inform the public about how to delete cookies […]
During Link Cleanup, Don’t Forget Links to Redirected Domain Names
One of several search engine optimization tasks that I am involved with is cleaning up a website’s link profile. Doing a link cleanup. With the Google Penguin algorithm update affecting so many websites, I have personally be involved in cleaning up a LOT of websites’ link profiles. So much so that I’ve quickly become the […]
Website Rejected From Google AdSense Program? No Problem!
I am always amazed at the business opportunities that people create on the internet. But when it comes to certain types of businesses and services that people offer, I get really ticked off when I see someone or another business offers a service that isn’t right. By now I am sure you have heard about […]
Google Adds Report Spam, Paid Links, Malware Page to Quality Guidelines Navigation
In the past 24 hours, Google appears to have added a new page as a part of their quality guidelines: a page that explains how to report spam, paid links, malware, and other problems. Previously this page was not a part of their quality guidelines located here. You can see the new page listed below, […]
Google Hosts Low Quality Article Directory with Links They Want Us to Remove
Oh, the irony. Google is hosting the very articles that contain links that Google is telling us that they want removed. Wait. What?!? That’s right, in what can only be a unique twist of irony, Google is playing web host to thousands of low quality spammy articles, the exact same type of articles that Google […]
Disallow Search Engines in Robots.txt File? No Worries on Google
Here’s a first. Well, actually I’m not surprised when it comes to Google, but this is the first time I have seen a website disallow the search engines from indexing their website. But the website still ranks number one in Google for their primary keyword phrase.
Google Not Encrypting All Web Searches
At this point, I have become pretty used to Google encrypting all search queries at Google.com. At least for their organic search results. You just won’t get to see what someone searched for at Google (what keyword they used) when hitting your site. But, apparently Google is not encrypting all search queries.
Got Google Glass? Don’t Expect a Repair from Google If You Break It
Well, if you were one of the lucky ones who got Google Glass, you had better take really good care of your Glass. If you are unfortunate enough to break it, then Google apparently is not going to be any help. Deb Lentz, a Google Glass Explorer, slipped outside on slick pavement, they came off, […]
The Anatomy of a Google Reconsideration Request: Manual Link Penalty
As you know, I have helped numerous businesses and site owners respond to Google’s manual link penalties. And get those manual link penalties removed or revoked by Google. Every site is unique, every website has different links pointing to them, and some have more bad links than others. And not all sites have received manual […]
Google: Watermarks in Google Shopping Images Violates Guidelines
A merchant who participates in Google Shopping has received a warning from Google that the images they are using in their Google Shopping feed violate their guidelines because watermarks are included. According to the message from Google, the merchant has 14 days to comply with Google’s request to remove watermarks in their images–or be suspended […]
Consumer Watchdog Tells FTC: Google Shopping Is Deceptive
Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit public interest group, has officially complained to United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that the way Google displays results in its comparison shopping engine, Google Shopping, is unfair and deceptive to consumers.
Google to Remove Image of Slain Teen from Google Maps
Google has decided to accelerate the updating of satellite images in Google Maps that appear to show the body of a slain teen from 2009. At a certain location in Richmond, California, in the satellite view, there it appears that there is a police car and officers standing around viewing something. Apparently, according to reports, […]
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