SEO Bits & Pieces w/e 10th November 2017

Hooray! It’s SEO Bits & Pieces time! What a cracking way to start the week!

Chock full of nibbly SEO goodness all about changes to the Google algorithm, images, javascript and fake reviews, read this extract from TWIS SEO News & Updates w/e 10th November 2017.

#SEO #SEONews #SERP #JavaScript #FakeReviews #TechnicalSEO

• In another low blow for SEOs, Google has dropped support for info:domain.com searches. Meaning you now have to do those searches (cache, pages from etc) individually. Honestly, sometimes, Google moves further and further away from its roots as a slightly geeky, user-friendly search engine.
  • H/T SE Roundtable
• Following the recent Texas church shooting, Google’s algorithms went a bit haywire in showing tweets related to the shooting which carried misinformation. Google has promised to “look at ways to improve how we rank tweets that appear in search”.  (Do nothing, in other words). Unfortunately, it’s events like these which highlight serious flaws and inherent weaknesses in Google’s algorithms. Every now and again, they need a hand on the tiller.
  • H/T SE Land
• In a slightly weird thread, John Mu refuted the view that links to images embedded in web pages helped the embedding page. I’m not sure where that thought would have come from, links work URL to URL and images help support content on pages, but links to images don’t magically pass value to other pages.
  • H/T John Mu on Twitter
• JavaScript links pass link value, if found. The key part of this phrase is “if found”. If Google can’t read your JavaScript (JavaScript Sites Lose Out on 35% of Traffic and Revenue & JavaScript Issues With Crawling and Indexing), then you will not be getting any value to them thar links. Currently, you want your JavaScript to work on Chrome 41: Google Reveals How Googlebot Web Rendering Service Works
  • H/T John Mu on Twitter
• A study from BrightLocal shows that something approaching 80% of consumers believe they’ve seen fake local reviews. That number is staggering, and possibly driven by the question “have you seen fake local reviews”, rather than a more neutral question. Even so, it’s a big number of people who have some distrust of local reviews. They need to be cleaned up.
• Click here to contact me to discuss any of these issues further..

Return to Top

We recently released the super-exciting The State of SEO in mid-2017. Read it now.

Return to Top

• No more info: searches – boo.
• Google’s tweet ranking alo is going to get a tweak.
• Images, embedded images and links.
• Links in JavaScript – ewwww, but okay.
• Consumers asked if they have seen fake reviews, agree they have.
• Read The State of SEO in mid-2017.
• Read about how Google’s Mobile First Index is not Mobile Friendly.
• Finally, get your content ranking well on Google by starting to understand Find Crawl Index.

Thanks for reading. If you would like to discuss what these changes mean for your web property, or would like to know how to implement them, please feel free to contact me.

Return to Top