Interactive Online

Google announced the deprecation of the crawl rate limiter legacy tool within Google Search Console, with January 8, 2024, set as the date for its removal. This feature is considered obsolete due to Google's enhanced crawling logic and other available tools for publishers. The crawl rate limiter is a tool within the legacy version of Google Search Console that allows communication to Google to crawl a website less frequently. However, it is not recommended by Google unless there are server load issues specifically caused by Googlebot's crawling activity. The tool is still accessible until its removal. The reason for removing the tool is that it had a slower effect and was rarely utilized by site owners. Google will set the minimum crawling speed at a lower rate comparable to the old crawl rate limits, effectively continuing to honor the settings previously established by site owners for low search interest and to prevent the site's bandwidth from wasting. If site owner...

Google Search now supports discussion forum and profile page structured data, allowing the search results to display "first-person perspectives from social media platforms, forums, and other communities." Additionally, Google has added new Search Console reports to support those who have added structured data to their pages. The new profile page structured data and markup is designed for any site where creators, whether individuals or organizations, share first-hand perspectives. This markup will help Google highlight the creator’s name or social handle, profile photo, follower count, or the popularity of their content in the search results. This information is also available in the Perspectives and Discussions and Forums search result features. The new discussion forum structured data and markup are intended for any forum-style site where people collectively share first-hand perspectives. Google has updated its Q&A markup, aligning it to the new discussion forum guide...

In November 2023, Google rolled out its fourth core update of the year, following closely on the heels of the October 2023 core update. The November update, which began on November 2 and concluded on November 28, generated significant ranking volatility and prompted complaints from SEO professionals. The update had an immediate and substantial impact, as evidenced by early observations shared by SEOs at the Search Engine Roundtable. Notably, the November core update coincided with the Google November 2023 reviews update, which began on November 8 and is still ongoing. Although both updates occurred simultaneously, their effects on websites were experienced at different times. It is essential for brands, businesses, and organizations to stay informed about Google algorithm updates, as they can influence a website's performance in search results. Any changes in rankings resulting from a core update, whether positive or negative, can affect organic traffic, conversions, and revenu...

Google Search has expanded its support for organizational information within its search results. The Organization markup now includes new fields such as name, address, contact information, and various business identifiers in addition to the original support for logo and URL structured data fields. This update was announced by Irina Tuduce and Alex Jansen, Google Shopping software engineers. The updated developer documentation for Organization structured data now includes fields for name, alternate name, legal name, description, sameas, address fields, phone, email, number of employees, founding date, DUNS, NAICS, tax ID, and other ID numbers. The existing logo and URL fields are still available, with the logo documentation being merged into the new organization documentation. Google has stated that this markup can be utilized in search knowledge panels and other visual elements in Google Search, helping searchers find an organization's details more easily. Additionally, Google ...

Google has announced new rich result and structured data support for its Google Search results with the addition of vacation rental rich results. This means websites that feature vacation rentals can now add this markup to their listings to enhance their visibility on Google Search. The vacation rental rich results allow website owners to add markup to their pages, providing Google with the necessary data to determine if the vacation listings should appear in search results. This can include location, pricing, images, reviews, ratings, and more. Google has provided an illustration of the rich results in Google Search to give an example of what this looks like. In addition to the rich results, Google has also posted technical structured data documentation explaining how to implement this markup on listing pages. By adding structured data to vacation rental listing pages, website owners can provide users with more information directly in search results, including the name, descriptio...

Google has officially sunset the Mobile Usability report, the Mobile-Friendly Test tool, and the Mobile-Friendly Test API on December 4th, 2023, as previously announced in April of the same year. In a tweet, Google thanked website owners for their collaboration in improving the web through these tools. Google stated that while mobile usability continues to be a crucial factor for success in Google Search, it believes that there are now various other resources available for evaluating mobile usability, such as Lighthouse from Chrome, which have emerged over the nearly ten years since the initial launch of these tools. The access to these tools has been removed, and users attempting to find the Search Console mobile usability report within Search Console will no longer be able to do so. The mobile-friendly testing tool has been redirected to Lighthouse, and the API will no longer be providing results. This announcement is significant for website owners and SEO professionals who have...

Google is making significant changes to its video requirements in both Google Search and Video mode. The main update, which will take about a week to fully roll out, will require that videos only appear in search results or Video mode if they are the primary content of a page. This means that only pages with videos as the main focus will be eligible to show video thumbnails next to the results on the main Google Search results page. The change is being put in place to better connect users with the video content they are looking for. With this update, clicking a result in Video mode will only take users to a page where the video is the main content. The videos that show under the video tab in Google Search are generally what is referred to as video mode, and this is where the change will also be implemented. Google provided examples of page types where the video is supplementary to the textual content, and not the primary focus of the page. These include blog posts where the video ...

The November 2023 core update by Google was rolled out over a 26-day period and was completed on November 28th, marking its conclusion. Comparisons of the data from the November 2023 core update and the October 2023 core update revealed that the former was more volatile than the latter. The October 2023 core update had a corresponding spam update overlap, while the November 2023 core update had a corresponding reviews update overlap, making it messy to discern which update caused what volatility. Data from various providers showed that the November core update exhibited higher peaks of volatility compared to the October update, with the retail niche being the most volatile and the health niche to be the least volatile. Key data points were shared by providers such as Semrush, SimilarWeb, SEOClarity, and Sistrix. Semrush data indicated that the November core update had overall rank volatility similar to the October core update, with the November update exhibiting higher peaks of vola...

Google has confirmed the completion of the November 2023 reviews update, which was announced on November 8, 2023, and rolled out over a 29-day period. However, the company announced that this will be the last time they confirm an update to the reviews system/algorithm, signaling a shift in their communication strategy. This is the eighth reviews update since the first one in April 2021. Moving forward, Google will no longer provide periodic notifications of improvements to the reviews system, but updates will continue to occur at a regular and ongoing pace. This suggests that the reviews update is now more of a real-time update, potentially resulting in more immediate changes to rankings. The November 2023 reviews update is a global update that affects sites in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, and Polish. Additionally, it overlaps with the November 2023 core update, which was completed on No...

Google has announced new rich result and structured data support for its Google Search results with the addition of vacation rental rich results. This means websites that feature vacation rentals can now add this markup to their listings to enhance their visibility on Google Search. The vacation rental rich results allow website owners to add markup to their pages, providing Google with the necessary data to determine if the vacation listings should appear in search results. This can include location, pricing, images, reviews, ratings, and more. Google has provided an illustration of the rich results in Google Search to give an example of what this looks like. In addition to the rich results, Google has also posted technical structured data documentation explaining how to implement this markup on listing pages. By adding structured data to vacation rental listing pages, website owners can provide users with more information directly in search results, including the name, descriptio...

Google has officially sunset the Mobile Usability report, the Mobile-Friendly Test tool, and the Mobile-Friendly Test API on December 4th, 2023, as previously announced in April of the same year. In a tweet, Google thanked website owners for their collaboration in improving the web through these tools. Google stated that while mobile usability continues to be a crucial factor for success in Google Search, it believes that there are now various other resources available for evaluating mobile usability, such as Lighthouse from Chrome, which have emerged over the nearly ten years since the initial launch of these tools. The access to these tools has been removed, and users attempting to find the Search Console mobile usability report within Search Console will no longer be able to do so. The mobile-friendly testing tool has been redirected to Lighthouse, and the API will no longer be providing results. This announcement is significant for website owners and SEO professionals who have...

Google is making significant changes to its video requirements in both Google Search and Video mode. The main update, which will take about a week to fully roll out, will require that videos only appear in search results or Video mode if they are the primary content of a page. This means that only pages with videos as the main focus will be eligible to show video thumbnails next to the results on the main Google Search results page. The change is being put in place to better connect users with the video content they are looking for. With this update, clicking a result in Video mode will only take users to a page where the video is the main content. The videos that show under the video tab in Google Search are generally what is referred to as video mode, and this is where the change will also be implemented. Google provided examples of page types where the video is supplementary to the textual content, and not the primary focus of the page. These include blog posts where the video ...

The November 2023 core update by Google was rolled out over a 26-day period and was completed on November 28th, marking its conclusion. Comparisons of the data from the November 2023 core update and the October 2023 core update revealed that the former was more volatile than the latter. The October 2023 core update had a corresponding spam update overlap, while the November 2023 core update had a corresponding reviews update overlap, making it messy to discern which update caused what volatility. Data from various providers showed that the November core update exhibited higher peaks of volatility compared to the October update, with the retail niche being the most volatile and the health niche to be the least volatile. Key data points were shared by providers such as Semrush, SimilarWeb, SEOClarity, and Sistrix. Semrush data indicated that the November core update had overall rank volatility similar to the October core update, with the November update exhibiting higher peaks of vola...

Google has confirmed the completion of the November 2023 reviews update, which was announced on November 8, 2023, and rolled out over a 29-day period. However, the company announced that this will be the last time they confirm an update to the reviews system/algorithm, signaling a shift in their communication strategy. This is the eighth reviews update since the first one in April 2021. Moving forward, Google will no longer provide periodic notifications of improvements to the reviews system, but updates will continue to occur at a regular and ongoing pace. This suggests that the reviews update is now more of a real-time update, potentially resulting in more immediate changes to rankings. The November 2023 reviews update is a global update that affects sites in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, and Polish. Additionally, it overlaps with the November 2023 core update, which was completed on No...

Google has recently introduced new reporting in the performance reports of Google Search Console for learning video rich results. These reports are accessible under the search appearance section of the performance report, specifically for websites that have learning video structured data. The report displays learning video rich results and also provides users with a sample screenshot of what the report looks like. These learning video rich results were supported by Google back in June 2022 and are described as videos that offer educational content with learning-specific information and structured data. This includes information about the concepts and skills covered in the video. Google has also recently added support for learning video rich results and has included a sample screenshot to illustrate what these rich results look like, although they have yet to be seen in the wild. Google specifies that learning video results will appear in English in all regions where Google Search i...

Google has made a significant update to Google Search Console by releasing a new robots.txt report. This report provides important information about the robots.txt file, including the last time it was crawled by Google, any warnings or errors encountered, and the ability to request a recrawl of the file for emergency situations. This report is accessible under settings in Google Search Console and offers valuable insights for site owners. Additionally, Google also announced that relevant information about robots.txt will now be available within the Page indexing report in Search Console. This integration will provide users with a more comprehensive understanding of their robots.txt file and how it impacts indexing and crawling. Accompanying the release of the new robots.txt report, Google has decided to sunset the robots.txt tester. This move suggests that Google is consolidating its tools and focusing on providing more integrated and detailed reports for webmasters. For further a...

Google has recently updated its search quality raters guidelines for the first time in 2023 with several changes aimed at simplifying the needs met scale, modernizing examples, and making minor adjustments. The last update to this document was 11 months ago on December 15, 2022, which was a much larger update. The specific changes that have been documented include simplified needs met scale definitions, added guidance for specific types of needs met ratings, and refreshed rating guidance and examples. Additionally, examples have been modernized by adding examples for popular platforms and video formats and removing outdated and redundant examples. Minor changes have also been made throughout the document, such as expanded rating guidance for forum pages, updated language, examples, and explanations for consistency across sections, and fixing typos. According to Google, these changes do not involve any major or foundational shifts in their guidelines. The quality raters are used by o...

Google has added new markup and structured data support for new vehicle listings, designed to help car dealerships get more exposure for their listings. “Vehicle listings on Google allows car dealerships to show their for-sale inventory on Google Search and other Google surfaces,” Google announced. This comes with new reports and debugging tools within Google Search Console. Vehicle listing structured data. Google’s structured data help documentation added a new section for vehicle listing (car) structured data. Google provides two ways for... Read Full Article | Article Summary

Google has introduced a new filter to its shopping search results, designed to show only products offered by small businesses. This update allows businesses to designate themselves as a small business within their Google Business Profile or Merchant Center account. Following the rollout of this attribute earlier in the month, Google has officially implemented a means for users to filter search results by this characteristic. When conducting shopping-related queries, users may encounter the small business filter, which can be used to exclusively display products from small businesses. This feature is illustrated in a provided screenshot. In a recent statement, Google emphasized the importance of supporting local and small businesses, citing that 84% of people consider this support to be significant. The company expressed its commitment to making it effortless for shoppers in the United States to discover and purchase from small businesses, especially during the upcoming weekend and...

Google has recently filed a lawsuit in the northern district of California against two individuals for allegedly abusing the DMCA takedown request mechanism in an attempt to remove competitor URLs from the search results. According to the lawsuit, the defendants misused the copyright law’s notice-and-takedown process to have legitimate content of their competitors removed based on false allegations, rather than for its intended purpose of expeditiously removing infringing content. The lawsuit highlights that this illegal and fraudulent scheme not only harms consumers, third-party businesses, and Google, but also stifles competition and threatens to tarnish Google’s trusted brand. The lawsuit alleges that the two individuals created at least 65 Google accounts to submit thousands of fake DMCA claims against 117 third-party website URLs in the space of selling printed t-shirts. Additionally, it is reported that over the past few years, the defendants and those working with them have ...