This day in search marketing history: February 6
AdWords announces Enhanced Campaigns, plus: more Google Shopping ads, Toolbar PageRank, GSC updates, AMP change and more.
Topic: Google Toolbar
This day in search marketing history: January 15
Facebook Graph Search launches, plus: brand profiles in Google knowledge panels, Rand Fishkin's last day at Moz, and more.
SEOs beware: Link builders are back with bogus Domain Authority pitches
Stop optimizing for Domain Authority; it has no impact on Google rankings.
‘SEO: The Movie’ aims to trace the rise of internet marketing
Documentary features stories from the early days of SEO, as told by some of the industry's well-known pioneers.
Google Toolbar PageRank officially goes dark
A month or so after Google told us they would be removing the 1-to-10 PageRank scores from their toolbar feeds, they removed it this past Friday.
RIP Google PageRank score: A retrospective on how it ruined the web
While Google will remove PageRank scores from public view in the coming weeks, the way those scores dramatically reshaped the web will remain.
Google Toolbar PageRank Finally & Officially Dead?
In October 2013, Google head of search spam Matt Cutts implied we would likely not see another Google Toolbar PageRank update before the year end. Well, by accident, Google updated Toolbar PageRank in December 2013. Since then, we have had no Toolbar PageRank updates. Google’s John Mueller said in a Google Webmaster Hangout video that […]
Google Toolbar PageRank Lives On With The First Update In Over 10 Months
Google has updated the Toolbar PageRank values this morning, despite Google’s Matt Cutts implying the update would not happen again within 2013. The SEO community, discussion forums and social media outlets are lighting up with the news that Google has actually updated the Toolbar PageRank values. Why? (1) The SEO industry always lights up when […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 23, 2013
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Yahoo-Microsoft Search Tensions On Public Display In Court Ruling Microsoft has essentially had to sue Yahoo to get the company to fully comply with the terms of their 2010 “Search Alliance” […]
Why No PageRank Update? The “Pipeline” Is Broke & Google Isn’t Interested In Fixing It
We already knew Google wasn’t likely to update the PageRank meter in the Google Toolbar this year. The head of Google’s web spam team, Matt Cutts, reiterated today that this will stay the case and explained why. Google’s ability to update the toolbar is broken, and it’s not a priority to fix it. Speaking at […]
Google’s Matt Cutts: No More PageRank Updates This Year
Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, said on Twitter yesterday that Google won’t be pushing out a new Google Toolbar PageRank update this year. Niels Bosch asked on Twitter if we should expect an update to PageRank before 2014. In response to that, Matt Cutts said, “I would be surprised if that happened.” It […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 30, 2013
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: 10 Features Unique To Bing Ads That You Might Not Know About On the Bing Ads blog this week Marta Turek from Mediative spotlighted several features offered in Bing Ads that […]
Is PageRank Finally Dead? It Seems To Be, At Least In The Google Toolbar
Want to know what the PageRank of a page is? The ability to easily do this using the Google Toolbar has gotten harder over the years, with the latest blow being no update in values for the past six months. The Google Toolbar is how non-tech-savvy people can discover how much Google trusts a page, […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 15, 2013
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Google Logo Marks The 407th Birthday Of Rembrandt van Rijn Google has dedicated today’s homepage to Rembrandt van Rijn, marking the Dutch painter and etcher’s 407th birthday. The Google logo includes […]
After Penalizing Interflora & UK Newspapers, Google Warns Against Advertorials
After penalizing Interflora and UK newspapers, Google has issued a stern warning that selling links on sites that pass PageRank can lead to a penalty in Google. Google specifically called this a “reminder,” because in 2007, they clearly went on record that selling paid links can lead to a penalty. Google’s Matt Cutts, the head […]
Google Dishes Out PageRank Penalties To UK Newspaper Web Sites For Selling Links
Google has downgraded the Toolbar PageRank scores for several dozen UK operated newspapers and news sites today. It is believed the reason Google has downgraded their PageRank scores is because they were selling links on a massive scale. Google Penalizes Sites Selling Links As you may remember, in October 2007, Google went on record that […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 6, 2013
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the Web. From Search Engine Land: Find Content Quicker On The Go With Twitter’s New Mobile Search & Discover Upgrades Users will now be able to find more on the go as a new round of mobile […]
Google On Will They Ever Remove PageRank From The Google Toolbar?
Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts, posted a video on YouTube named Why don’t you turn off the PageRank feature in the Google Toolbar? It is a very fair question, given Google has downplayed the importance of PageRank over the years. Google has: Removed PageRank scores from Google Webmaster Tools in October 2009. Google dropped the […]
4 Signs You’re Chasing The Wrong Goals In SEO
Does it bother you as much as it bothers me? Surely you’ve seen it. Perhaps you know someone who’s done it in the past (or good grief, is still doing it!). I can’t imagine anyone who reads Search Engine Land on a regular basis would do it, but then again, many things in life surprise […]
The Hideous Site: An Allegory For Oddities In Local Search Results
The small, local businesses in a particular industry on this island all vied for top slot in Google’s rankings, since the top dog could command a substantially higher yearly profit as a result. The competitors’ products weren’t all that different, and their potential customers didn’t have the expertise to tell the difference, either. Their relative […]
Google’s Chrome Page No Longer Ranks For “Browser” After Sponsored Post Penalty
Searches for “browser” no longer bring up the Google Chrome home page after Google applied a penalty against the page because of Google’s own sponsored post campaign. Google said even though it felt there were no “remaining violations” of its guidelines, the search engine’s spam fighting team was going to reduce the PageRank value of […]
Google’s New Black Menu Bar Is Now Google’s Old Black Menu Bar
Google might like to apologize to those of you who are just now getting accustomed to the new black menu bar that appears at the top of most Google properties. You know, the one that just launched at the end of June? Well, skip that. As the saying goes, what’s new is old. The black […]
Oh No! What Happened To My PageRank?
There has been a lot of discussion and scare on Twitter and within the SEO forums that Google has disabled the Toolbar PageRank scores from working. The truth is, no they have not. As several sites have reported already, PageRank is still alive in the Toolbar, but Google changed the lookup URL. This change has […]
Google Shutters Fast Flip, Sidewiki, Aardvark, Subscribed Links & More Google Labs Projects
Google has just announced the closure of several well-known products, including Fast Flip, Sidewiki, Aardvark and Subscribed Links. Some of these are part of the ongoing purge of Google Labs products, while others that are being shut down were not part of Labs. And Google has also announced that other Google Labs projects have “graduated” […]
Major Google Updates Documented
SEOmoz announced they have published the Google Algorithm Change document detailing all “major updates” that happened since the Boston update in 2003. SEOmoz did it with style in this graphical document: While I agree with a lot of the updates listed here, I had worked up a list of my own a few months ago. […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 22, 2011
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Tests Ads Within Organic Search Results? The RKGBlog blog posted a screen shot of Bing testing search ads directly in the organic results. Honestly, I almost cannot believe it – […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 21, 2011
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: StumbleUpon Testing New ‘Explore Box’ Search Tool Some StumbleUpon users have been opted in to a new feature that seems to be aimed at helping them search and find interesting web […]
After Six Years, Google Drops Support For Toolbar On Firefox
Google has announced the end of supporting the Google Toolbar for Firefox. Google said the Google Toolbar works in versions of Firefox 4 or younger, but not the new version 5 of Firefox. Google explained, “many features that were once offered by Google Toolbar for Firefox are now already built right into the browser.” So […]
Google Continues to Encourage Site Owners to Think Beyond PageRank
The latest blog post from Google Webmaster Central remind site owners what many of us have been saying for years: The Google Toolbar PageRank number is a terrible SEO metric (I may be paraphrasing a bit). Webmaster Trends Analysis (and knitter extraordinaire) Susan Moskwa, who wrote the post, says: “I posit that none of us truly care […]
Google Instant Now On New Google Toolbar 7
Google Instant continues to spread. The company has just announced that it’s one of several new features on Google Toolbar 7 for Internet Explorer 8 and 9. Google Instant has to be activated via the Toolbar Options menu, and once it’s on, Instant works the same way it does on Google.com. The Escape button on […]
You Can Hate (Block) But No Longer Love (Star) Google’s Search Results
Google has disabled the ability to star search results from within the Google search results page. As you may remember, Google replaced SearchWiki with starring results back in March 2010, about 16-months after Google launched SearchWiki. Now that Google has re-introduced a way to block sites in Google, Google has determined you no longer need […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 16, 2011
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Visualizing Google’s Dominance Of Mobile Advertising A report on mobile apps report released today by security firm Lookout is being used to discuss the relative sizes and growth of Apple and […]
Google On Toolbar: We Don’t Use Bing’s Searches
Yes, Google uses data from its Google Toolbar to improve its search results. But no, Google reasserts, it doesn’t use its toolbar to mine search behavior on other search engines in the way that Bing does.
New: Block Sites From Google Results Using Chrome’s “Personal Blocklist”
Google has announced that a new way to block certain sites from appearing in Google’s search results, though a special Google-made Chrome browser extension named Personal Blocklist.
SearchCap: The Day In Search, February 7, 2011
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Instant Replay: Where To Find The Super Bowl Ads Are you one of those people who get upset when the Super Bowl gets interrupted by football or corny half-time events? You […]
Turning The Tables On The Google Toolbar & Disclosure Claims
Part of this week’s debate over whether Microsoft’s Bing search engine is learning from Google involves data that Bing gathers through Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Google has suggested Microsoft isn’t giving fair disclosure. I disagree. To better illustrate, let’s turn the tables and look at the Google Toolbar and disclosure.
Bing: Why Google’s Wrong In Its Accusations
Along with everything else going on for Bing’s Harry Shum on Tuesday — a panel about search spam, dealing with Google’s accusations that Bing “copies” Google’s results — Shum dealt with perhaps his most important worry. Reassuring his son that Bing wasn’t “cheating” as a search engine.
Google: Bing Is Cheating, Copying Our Search Results
Google has run a sting operation that it says proves Bing has been watching what people search for on Google, the sites they select from Google’s results, then uses that information to improve Bing’s own search listings. Bing doesn’t deny this. As a result of the apparent monitoring, Bing’s relevancy is potentially improving (or getting […]
SearchCap: The Day In Search, January 21, 2011
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: AdWords Preview Tool Gets Mobile-Focused Facelift Ever wonder how your AdWords ads look on different devices in different places? Google has added some features to its AdWords Preview tool in an […]
First Google Toolbar PageRank Update Of 2011
Google has updated the PageRank values of many sites within the Google Toolbar. This is the first toolbar PageRank update of the year, and arguably the first one in almost 9 months. There have been minor updates, where some sites have seen their PageRank change during 2010, but I believe the last huge PageRank update […]