Barry Schwartz says, “Google announced they have improved the Search Issues report in the Google Search Console. Specifically, the reports now provide more specific explanations of the security issues detected by Safe Browsing. The types of security issues that can show include malware, deceptive pages, harmful downloads, and uncommon downloads. The new explanations promise to give more “context and detail” into the security issues. This includes “tailored recommendations for each type of issue, including sample URLs that webmasters can check to identify the source of the issue, as... [...]

Joy Hawkins says, “It seems very apparent that Google has a filter for local that weeds through all the listings that should appear in the 3-pack on Google and in the Local Finder (when you click “More Places”), then filters some based on their spam score. Bill Slawski wrote about this in July and referenced the patent that was granted June 21, 2016, about it. To quote the patent: A spam score is assigned to a business listing when the listing is received at a search entity. A noise function is added to the spam score such that the spam score is varied. In the event that the spam score... [...]

Barry Schwartz says, “Have you checked your Google organic search traffic this morning? If not, you may want to. It seems Google may have tweaked their search ranking algorithm, your site may be ranking higher or lower or the same depending on if this update has impacted your web pages. Google has not yet confirmed the update but based on a lot of chatter in the search community, it seems like an update is indeed happening. To be clear, it seems like there were two updates in the past twenty-four hours. The large update seems to be around core web search, which kicked off earlier this morning... [...]

Jeff Rajeck says, “Reaching consumers in Asia-Pacific can be difficult. There are so many countries and cultures to consider that analysis paralysis quickly sets in. Using a local influencer to carry your brand message could help, but there are a few things you need to know about the market first. Asia-Pacific (APAC) has an influencer market which is growing in, well, influence. Influencers are loosely defined as anyone with a sizable social media following and they can play a significant role in an APAC marketing campaign. The reason they are so useful is that influencers have a ready-made... [...]

Small Business Editor says, “Influencer Marketing Days, happening Nov. 14-15 at the TKP New York Conference Center in New York City, takes things a step further and is a starting point for those involved in any aspect of influencer marketing in their businesses. “Whether you are involved in PR or integrated marketing, community development or social media management, it doesn’t matter,” said conference chair Geno Prussakov in an email to Small Business Trends. “If you are looking to leverage the power of influencers, this conference is for you.” Events will cover influencer marketing... [...]

Barry Schwartz says, “Google published on the developer site information about the search live coverage carousel, which lets publishers feed Google breaking content in real time that is related to live sports, elections and breaking news. This does seem directly related to the real-time indexing API announcement made at Google I/O in May by Richard Gingras. This “search live coverage carousel” is a “pilot” that Google is opening up to select publishers. Publishers can apply by filling out this form over here. It allows Google to “surface content more quickly than is currently possible... [...]

Danielle Geoffroy says, “On their constant quest to enable users to quickly find the best answers to their questions, Google announced last week that starting in January 2017,  they will bury mobile websites where the content is blocked by intrusive interstitials. In other words, mobile websites that have pop-up ads won’t rank as high in Google’s search results. We’ve all felt the pain of having to hover our finger over the  closeout sign of a large ad, before we can get to the content we set out to find. This frustrates us, and takes away from the immediacy we desire in mobile moments“. Google... [...]

Matt McGee says, “Google Analytics Solutions (a new name; see below) continues its push toward the enterprise withtoday’s launch of Workspaces, a new collaborative feature that’s available in both Google Tag Manager and Tag Manager 360. The goal, according to Google’s announcement, is to solve workflow challenges that agencies and multi-user teams often faced when making and editing tags. Workspaces give you more than one space to do your work. Teammates can now easily work on tags at the same time, or make quick changes without publishing everything that’s in the works. Simply create... [...]

Glenn Gabe says, “In May of 2015, I uncovered a major algorithm update that I called “Phantom 2.” It ended up being a huge update that impacted many websites across the web globally. I’ll explain why it was named “2” and not “1” soon. Google first denied there was an update in early May 2015, but then finally explained that they did indeed roll one out. They said it was a “change to its core ranking algorithm with how it assesses quality.” And with Google always looking to surface the highest-quality, most relevant information for users, that statement was incredibly important.... [...]

Matt McGee says, “Google Analytics Solutions (a new name; see below) continues its push toward the enterprise withtoday’s launch of Workspaces, a new collaborative feature that’s available in both Google Tag Manager and Tag Manager 360. The goal, according to Google’s announcement, is to solve workflow challenges that agencies and multi-user teams often faced when making and editing tags. Workspaces give you more than one space to do your work. Teammates can now easily work on tags at the same time, or make quick changes without publishing everything that’s in the works. Simply create... [...]