This day in search marketing history: March 3

Google Panda name revealed

In 2011, Google’s Amit Singhal and Matt Cutts revealed that Google Panda was the true name of the update that was informally referred to as Farmer when it launched Feb. 24.

“Well, we named it internally after an engineer, and his name is Panda. So internally we called a big Panda,” Singhal said in a Wired interview with Steven Levy.” He was one of the key guys. He basically came up with the breakthrough a few months back that made it possible.”

Google said the launch of the “Caffeine” indexing infrastructure inadvertently helped increase the visibility of “shallow content.

“Our index grew so quickly, and we were just crawling at a much faster speed. When that happened, we basically got a lot of good fresh content, and some not so good. The problem had shifted from random gibberish, which the spam team had nicely taken care of, into somewhat more like written prose. But the content was shallow,” Singhal added.

Read all about it in Google Speaks More About The Farmer Update, AKA Panda Update. And dig deeper in

Also on this day

Google page experience update for desktop done rolling out

2022: The rollout was completed after nine days.

Google ‘Confirmed by phone’ label in local panel may add trust to local listings

2022: Google was testing displaying a “confirmed by phone” label to the local listing, followed by when it was last confirmed

Microsoft Advertising Editor rolls out support for Microsoft Audience Network campaigns

2022: Microsoft planned to add support for more Audience Network capabilities within the ads editor.

Help for Ukraine SEO & PPC specialists seeking work

2022: An SEO entrepreneur has created two resources: one for job seekers and another for employers with vacancies willing to hire Ukrainians.

Google will not build or use alternate identifiers to track users across the web

2021: Google reiterated that its products would use Federated Learning of Cohorts to enable advertisers to target audiences.

Optimization score comes to Google Ads app

2020: Also, Dark mode.

Fake and inaccurate reviews driving billions in ‘wasted’ consumer spending [Report]

2020: Roughly 90% of adult internet users relied on reviews, but with growing awareness of fraud and manipulation.

Search in Pics: Google sleep capsules, YouTube control room & golden Android figurine

2017: The latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more.

Google Image Search Tests Colored Filter Buttons

2016: The new format showed up on desktop image results for some and used different colored backgrounds to enhance the filter options for the searcher.

Bing Native Ads Rollout Gains Steam: Support Coming To Bing Ads Editor

2016: Bing Ads rolled out an update for Bing Ads Editor that included editing support for native ad bidding.

Bing Partners With NCAA To Deliver March Madness Predictions & Tournament App

2016: Bing and the NCAA teamed up again to help fans fill out their NCAA brackets and follow all 67 games

Google Researchers Introduce System To Rank Web Pages On Facts, Not Links

2015: Could Google someday rank web pages based on how accurate they are? A new paper suggested they might.

Yahoo Celebrates Its 20th Birthday By Setting New World Record For Yodeling

2015: The company pulled together more than 3,400 people to set the Guinness World Record for the largest simultaneous yodel.

Matt Cutts Video: How Google Determines What’s A Paid Link

2014: Cutts answers: “What is a ‘paid link’?”

Google To Launch New Search Results Design With Larger Fonts & No Underlines Soon?

2014: Google had been testing several layouts that made the search results look a bit easier to read by increasing the font size and removing some of the underlines for the hyperlinked content.

Google Bug Turned Entire Web Into “Lorem Ipsum”

2014: There was. aweird issue where Google showed Lorem Ipsum boilerplate text in the search results snippets.

Bing Quietly Adds A Scientific Full Size Calculator

2014: When you searched for a math answer, not only did you get the answer, but you also got an interactive calculator in Bing’s search results.

Interflora Gets Its Google Rankings Back, 11 Days After Penalty

2013: Interflora was ranking again on searches for its company name, and its Google+ brand box was appearing again on the right side of the search results.

Google Redesigns Google Profiles

2011: The profiles looked slicker and more “social,” as you would expect from a Facebook or Twitter.

Google Intros AdSense Mobile Interface

2011: The mobile-friendly site let you check earnings, get alerts, and view non-Flash-based reports.

Kayak Welcomes Google As Travel Search Competitor, With ITA Acquisition Still Under DOJ Review

2011: The travel search engine didn’t fear Google’s entrance into the travel search market, according to Paul English, Kayak.com’s co-founder and Chief Technology Officer.

Video: Inside Google’s Self-Driving Cars

2011: TED attendees were allowed to travel inside the self-driving cars, on a closed course.

Bing Brings Local Deals To Mobile, PC

2011: The source of deals was The Dealmap.

Microsoft & Facebook No Longer Friends After Employee Poaching Accusations

2011: Microsoft was considering taking legal action against Facebook for allegedly poaching their employees.

Ask Launches Local Conversations iPhone App

2011: Ask launched a new app focused on local conversations called Ask Around.

Google Simplifies Verification For Multiple Owners In Webmaster Tools

2010: Rather than having to upload multiple verification files or create multiple meta tags, there was a new “Add a User” tool on the site verification page.

Google’s Norvig: PageRank Is Overhyped

2010: Google’s Director of Research Peter Norvig said the public’s focus on PageRank was misguided and it probably needed a new name.

Google Grades Itself On SEO Best Practices

2010: Google had a mixed bag of good SEO tactics and missed opportunities on the homepages of 100 different products.

Google Kills SearchWiki, Replaces It With Starred Results

2010: The ability to re-order, remove, and comment on search results was replaced by a scaled-down version that Google was simply calling “stars” or “starred results.”

It’s Official: Google’s Proposal For Crawling AJAX URLs is Live

2010: Google’s Maile Ohye confirmed that Google was now crawling AJAX pages.

Report: Growth Of Paid Search Budgets Decline While SEO Budgets Increase

2009: An eMarketer report said SEO budgets would increase in the next five years, while paid search budgets would decline relative to the overall marketing budgets for companies.

Twitter & Google Maps Help Find Lost Skiers

2009: Twitter, in conjunction with Google Maps, helped locate a couple of lost skiers.

MapQuest Launches Enhanced Biz Locator, Puts Brands On The Map

2009: A scrolling vertical bar appeared on the upper right of every map allowing advertisers to populate any map quickly with specific brand locations.

Cuil Announces New Layout, Other Updates

2009: Cuil, the search engine that launched to great hype in 2008 and then pretty much disappeared, announced changes to its design, content, and backend.

Yahoo Search March ’08 Weather Report

2008: Yahoo made changes to their crawling, indexing and ranking algorithms.

Ask.com Calls Dumping Teoma Search Technology Rumors False

2008: “Bottom line: they are just flat-out not true. Our Teoma technology will continue to power search engine results on Ask.com.”

comScore Paid Search Data & How The Sky Might Not Be Falling

2008: A drop in paid clicks was not due to advertisers holding back on spending but rather Google’s “quality initiatives.”

Mobile 411: A Leading Indicator For Mobile Search

2008: A survey found the most common usage frequency for mobile directory assistance was “once every three months” (61 percent).

InsideTrip Seeks To Add More Depth And Dimension To Travel Search

2008: The site offered a metasearch engine (like Kayak or Farechase) for airfares.

Compete Sold For $75 Million To Taylor Nelson Sofres

2008: Compete.com’s 2007 revenue was $14.9 million, over 50% higher than in the previous year.

From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)

• SMX West 2010 Day One Coverage
• Liveblog: SMX West 2010 Keynote – An Insider’s Look At Google Research
• Danny Sullivan Tackles Search 3.0 And 4.0 In SMX West Keynote (SMX West 2008)

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.

• 2021: How Gootkit trojan distributes ransomware via Google SERPs by Detlef Johnson
• 2020: The Mandalorian’s guide to the search galaxy: Evolving from SEM lone wolf to company leader by Andrew McGarry
• 2017: Driving local marketing change with Uber, Lyft and self-driving cars by Brian Smith
• 2017: How to monitor Google Knowledge Graph changes and performance by Tony Edward
• 2016: How To Grow Online Market Share Without Increasing Your PPC Budget by Jacob Baadsgaard
• 2016: How New & Existing Customers Interact With Your Paid Search Ads Differently by Andy Taylor
• 2015: Heal’s Furniture: A Tale Of 2 Ad Types, Text Vs. Shopping by Rebekah Schelfhout
• 2015: Naturally Generated Links? Hey, Google Might Still Hate Them! by Julie Joyce
• 2014: Time For SMBs To Tackle – Or Be Tackled By – Online Reviews by Wesley Young
• 2014: Is Chasing AuthorRank A Waste Of Time For SEOs? by Eric Enge
• 2011: How I Got A 300% Retail Sales Explosion With 30 Minutes Of SEO by Rob Snell
• 2011: Simple Tips For Writing An SEO Style Guide by Ian Lurie
• 2011: 5 Legal Tips For Video Search Marketing by Grant Crowell
• 2011: Where, Why, When & How To Benefit From Google’s Farmer Update by Kevin Gibbons
• 2010: Protecting Yourself From Your Affiliates’ Bad Actions by Lori Weiman
• 2010: 3 Ways To Leverage Time For More Conversions by Sandra Niehaus
• 2010: 7 Tips To Deal With SEO Resource Constraints by Tony Adam
• 2009: How To Use Images Successfully On Social Media Sites by Greg Finn
• 2009: Why Link Building Must Go In-House by Eric Ward

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