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This day in search marketing history: February 21

Google Search Console sends alerts for big drops in clicks, plus: CTR myth resurfaces, poor grammar and typos impact Bing rankings and more.

Danny Goodwin on February 21, 2023 at 12:01 am | Reading time: 9 minutes

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Google Search Console sends alerts for big drops in clicks

In 2019, Google Search Console started sending notifications when it detected a “substantial drop” in clicks from Google search results to a website when compared to the previous week’s data.

It read:

“Search Console analyzed your performance report and found that your site had a substantial drop in clicks last week compared to the previous weeks. This drop is likely due to a drop in clicks for the query “X”.”

It appeared Google would compare your site clicks and query clicks as reported in the Google Search Console’s performance report. If it saw huge fluctuations, Google would send the notification to those that had verified access to that property in Search Console

Read all about it in Google Search Console sending alerts for big ranking, traffic drops

Also on this day

Google Merchant Center adds short title option for smaller ad placements

2022: Retailers could add an optional short title to identify their products in Google Merchant Center.

New local SERP live in Europe

2020: Branded directory buttons were being displayed above the map.

Google doc rekindles myth that click-through rate affects rankings

2019: Despite repeatedly saying they did not use click data for search ranking purposes, a fresh document triggered confusion around the topic again.

Coveted featured snippet space is more exclusive than you think, study shows

2019: A study on Google’s featured snippets showed how competitive this search real estate could be.

SMBs bullish on virtual assistants, think Alexa has biggest marketing potential

2019: There was high awareness of voice assistants as a potential marketing channel, as well as potential pent-up demand.

Waze partners with WPP to literally drive traffic to retail stores

2019: The partnership would launch in North America and parts of Europe.

Google to move more sites to mobile-first index in coming weeks

2018: In the next month and a half or so, Google said it would be moving a lot of sites to mobile first.

Law firm that used contest to solicit Google reviews sees all but one disappear

2018: A law firm had the vast majority of its reviews on Google removed after it was discovered that the firm was incentivizing people to review the business with contests and giveaways.

Google Search Console blocked resources report had processing error

2018: Incorrect data was being reported over a three-week period.

Latest updates to Gboard for Android include a ‘search all media’ feature

2018: the latest refresh for the Google-designed keyboard came with a new interface that allowed users to search all categories.

Google to sunset Google Site Search by end of 2017

2017: Google told their Site Search customers they had to find a new internal search engine service.

AdWords Top Movers Report Update: Now With Conversion Stats, Device-Level Segmentation

2014: Google announced that conversion data would begin appearing in the Top Movers report as well as device-specific insights.

Google Places Quality Guidelines Updated

2014: Google would allow a single descriptor within the business name, if and only if that descriptor was location information or described business offers.

Google Says (Some) Missing Features Will Be Added To New Google Maps

2014: Many users noticed that some of their favorite features from Classic Maps were missing.

Bing: Poor Grammar & Typos May Result In Lower Search Rankings

2014: “Just as you’re judging others’ writing, so the engines judge yours.”

Bing’s Satori Adds Timeline Data For About 500k Famous People

2014: The new “Timeline” section appeared in the right-side search results for famous people, athletes, artists, business people, explorers and more.

Search In Pics: Steve Jobs Pre Google+, Nest Fire Truck & Google Fiber Bunny

2014: The latest images showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.

AdWords Enhanced Campaigns: New Bidding Tools Announced

2013: Google AdWords began providing more specifics about the new bidding tools and mobile bid settings for enhanced campaigns.

Google Switches To Paid Shopping Results In 11 New Countries

2013: Google began replacing free listings on Google Shopping to Product Listing Ads in the UK, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil, Australia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

New: Bing Sitemap Plugin Helps Webmasters Create XML Sitemap Files

2013: A new feature helped webmasters create two types of XML Sitemaps.

Bing Improves Search Auto Suggestions: Now Faster & Better

2013: They sped up the auto-suggest by using a technique called “ghosting” where Bing would show the suggestion in blue highlighted text in the search box and then show alternatives below.

Yandex Starts To Drink From The Twitter “Firehose”

2012: The Russian search engine would begin integrating the Twitter feed into its search results.

“Scroogle.org Is Gone Forever” Says Site Owner

2012: Related coverage: Scroogle’s Gone? Here’s Who Still Offers Private Searching

Google Offers Flight Search To Go

2012: Flight search became available on mobile devices (browser only).

Geek Chic: Augmented Reality Google Glasses To Go On Sale This Year

2012: Google was going to release “heads up display glasses” by the end of the year.

Is Google Ignoring The HTML Title Tag More Often?

2011: Dozens of webmasters were complaining about Google not using their HTML title tags.

Google Simplifies Site-Specific Bidding on Display Network

2011: Display Network advertisers who used managed placements would only have to deal with a regular default bid and a Display Network default bid.

Google Maps “Send To Car” Running Out Of Gas?

2011: People weren’t seeing the Google Maps’ “send to car” option any longer.

The Future Of The Internet: Search Looks Bright

2010: 76% of those asked thought that the internet was enhancing our intelligence.

Bush – Tops For “Who Is A Failure” On Google

2008: People were spotting that Bush’s official White House page was ranking tops for [who is a failure] on Google.

Google Pushes AdSense For Video Again

2008: Google said they would sell both “InVideo” ads, where a video ad appears at the bottom of a video, as well as text overlay ads that put text below a video.

Google Health Readies For Launch, In Test With Cleveland Clinic

2008: Google and the Cleveland Clinic would announce a pilot program involving the creation of personal health profiles on Google for anywhere between 1,500 and 10,000 patients.

Gmail User Gains Access To 30 Other Gmail Accounts Due To ISP Caching Glitch

2008: Supposedly, he also accessed an email that had “keycodes for some embassy gate.”

Google May Launch Balloons Across World To Provide Mobile Access

2008: Google was interested in possibly using disposable hydrogen-filled balloons packed with miniature versions of cellphone towers inside to provide internet access.

Google May Buy Ukrainian Portal

2008: Spoiler alert: It was just a rumor.

Microsoft Launches adExcellence Program For UK Advertisers

2008: It provided advertisers “free training to help you become a Microsoft adCenter expert.”

Ask.com Binoculars Adds Compete.com Stats

2008: You would get estimated visitor stats, site rank, a line chart to plot this data over time, and a link to a more detailed report at Compete.com.

SES London 2008 Day Three Recap

Google AdWords Quality Score Algorithm Live

2007: Google announced that the new quality score algorithm had been pushed to the Google servers.

Google Custom Search Engine Gets Supplemental Results

2007: Google updated the FAQs to explain when the supplemental results are shown.

Google Images Reverts Back To Old Design

2007: Many people did not like the new design.

Google’s YouTube & CBS Deal Caves?

2007: They had been working on a multi-year deal to display CBS’s video content at YouTube.

Google Docs and Spreadsheets Tops Web Productivity Tools

2007: Nielsen//NetRatings reported they had 432,156 unique visitors in December, and average time per visitor was 14 minutes.

Google Desktop Hole Exposed, Fixed

2007: A major defect could have potentially allowed hackers to view personal files on a computer with Google Desktop installed.

New Usability Changes For Microsoft adCenter Beta

2007: adCenter made some changes to the account interface.

Ask.com & LookSmart Renew AdCenter License Agreement

2007: Ask.com renewed their agreement with LookSmart to license LookSmart’s “AdCenter for Publishers” through 2009.

Yahoo Japan Betting More On Web Food Delivery Business

2007: Yahoo Japan increased their stake in Yumenomachi, an Internet food delivery business, to almost 42% – up from a 23% stake.

MojoPages: Whole Lotta Yelp, A Little YouTube

2007: The site was modeled heavily on Yelp but added video and a hint of Yahoo Answers.

From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)

Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

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