‘Alexa Rank’ is officially gone: Amazon shuts down Alexa Internet
Alexa Internet retired its website research and analysis tools on May 1, 2022. The service was well known among digital marketers for its Alexa Rank score.
Google Search adding Signed Exchange (SXG) support for desktop results and creates a new meta tag for opting-out
Signed Exchanges (SXG) is an open standard created by Google that makes it possible for non-AMP sites to be cached and served by Google for near-instant delivery. SXG was initially supported for mobile results but will now work for desktop search results too. Sites wanting to opt-out of SXG for desktop results will have to add a unique meta tag to their pages.
Google updates product review ranking and provides tips for better visibility in search results
Google announced its third product reviews update within the past year. They provided publishers with clear guidance on optimizing product reviews for better search result visibility and answered frequently asked questions.
Cloudflare adds automated Signed Exchanges for Google Search
Signed Exchanges enable non-AMP sites to cache pages with Google Search for near-instant delivery. The open standard is complex and has had a slow adoption rate, but Cloudflare has fully automated the process, making it trivial for sites to use
Apple’s search engine is Spotlight and it’s looking more like Google
Spotlight search in the iOS and iPadOS 15 betas have gained rich results, and web images search results. Apple's Spotlight is poised to take market share away from Google Search because searches bypass Google's search engine entirely.
Google recommends author page URL be added to ‘Article’ Schema structured data
Google updated its Schema-based structured data recommendations to include linking to an author’s bio page to help it disambiguate the correct author for an article.
Schema Markup Validator launches, replacing Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool
Google will be deprecating its Structured Data Testing Tool soon. Its replacement, the Schema Markup Validator, quietly went live as a beta version.
Neeva first look: What the ad-free Google Search alternative is like
Neeva is a privacy-first ad-free and tracking-free search engine created by ex-Googlers. The search engine is still being developed, is currently in the alpha stage, and requires an invite and onboarding experience to use it.
Google awarded patent for dynamic knowledge panels in productivity apps
A U.S. patent recently awarded to Google describes integrating dynamic knowledge panels into apps, like Google Docs. The feature enables users to research without leaving the app and provides Google another channel for its shopping and ad networks.
DOJ suit against Google renews Apple search engine speculation
The Department of Justice lawsuit against Google has the tech industry further speculating that Apple may be readying the launch of a new search engine.
Apple showing signs it may soon launch a search engine to compete against Google Search
Changes in Spotlight Search on iOS and iPadOS 14 beta, a significant update to its Applebot support page, and an increase in crawling from AppleBot signify that Apple may be launching a search engine soon.
Google adding “Fast page” label to Chrome browser
Google is utilizing Core Web Vitals to label web pages as fast in the next version of its Chrome browser.
Google testing $50 monthly fee for ‘Google Guaranteed’ badge in organic GMB local search results
The 'Google Guaranteed' consumer protection program has been reserved for businesses using Google Ads. Google has started testing making the badge available to profiles using Google My Business (GMB) for a fee.
iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 betas bypass Google Search on iPhones and iPads with Spotlight Search
Apple introduced a new Spotlight Search feature to iOS and iPadOS 14 that enables users to search and go directly to a site, completely bypassing Google’s search result pages.
Head of Google Ads to run Search. Move concerns SEO veterans about the future of search
Google announced Prabhakar Raghavan, former head of Google Ads, is changing roles to head Google Search while simultaneously overseeing Ads. The move diminishes the traditional separation of product teams and has SEOs concerned about how it might affect organic search results.
Google significantly changes how it measures page performance with the release of Lighthouse 6.0
A new version of Google’s Lighthouse auditing tool dramatically changed how it calculates its score by removing two metrics and adding three new ones. The change in metrics signals a major shift in how Google is determining page performance.
How SEO has made the web more accessible for everyone
Search engines like Google are dependent on the same accessibility attributes that many people depend on to comprehend and navigate sites. Search engine optimizers have unwittingly made the web more accessible, and they are in the best position to make it even better.
Google brings YouTube timestamp bookmarks (Video Segments) to its search results
YouTube’s test of timestamp bookmarks has become a feature in Google Search. Video producers that don’t publish videos on YouTube will be able to use Schema structured data to achieve the same results.
WordPress 5.3 includes fix to feature that helps keep sites from appearing in search results
A WordPress feature that is commonly used to keep search engines from including development and staging sites in their search results has been fixed in version 5.3.
FAQPage Schema may be driving more traffic to sites, not decreasing it
A common concern by search engine optimizers is losing search visits after adding FAQPage or HowTo Schema.org structured data to their pages. Distilled is reporting that they saw more traffic after implementing it on several sites.
