SEO Roundtable: Google Algorithm & Ranking Update Kicking Off?. “There may be a Google search and ranking algorithm update starting off this morning. I received a couple of notifications via email and some on social media and the chatter in the ongoing WebmasterWorld forums is starting to heat up a bit. Plus some of the automated tracking tools are beginning to show signs of an algorithm update.” Comments are worth reading.
SEO
TorrentFreak: Google Adds ‘Kodi’ to Autocomplete Piracy Filter
TorrentFreak: Google Adds ‘Kodi’ to Autocomplete Piracy Filter. “Google has banned the term ‘Kodi’ from the autocomplete feature of its search engine. This means that the popular software and related suggestions won’t appear unless users type out the full term. Google has previously taken similar measures against ‘pirate’ related terms and confirms that Kodi is targeted because it’s ‘closely associated with copyright infringement.'”
Hijacking Google search results for fun, not profit: UK SEO uncovers XML sitemap exploit in Google Search Console (Search Engine Land)
Search Engine Land: Hijacking Google search results for fun, not profit: UK SEO uncovers XML sitemap exploit in Google Search Console. “This week, Tom Anthony — who heads Product Research & Development at Distilled, an SEO agency — was awarded a bug bounty of $1,337 for discovering an exploit that enabled one site to hijack the search engine results page (SERP) visibility and traffic of another — quickly getting indexed and easily ranking for the victimized site’s competitive keywords.”
Search Engine Land: Google stops showing zero search results for time, calculations & conversions
Search Engine Land: Google stops showing zero search results for time, calculations & conversions. “Google has stopped showing zero search results, i.e., only the answer, followed by a button to ‘show all results’ for searches related to time, calculations and conversions. The blue search results links are now back.”
SEO Roundtable: Google Core Algorithm Update Continues To Fluctuate For Some
SEO Roundtable: Google Core Algorithm Update Continues To Fluctuate For Some. “A week ago Friday there was a Google core algorithm update that touched down pretty hard. Technically it was released on March 7th but most noticed it on March 8th and 9th. But people are still noticing it.”
MediaPost: EU May Require Search Engines To Reveal Ranking Factors
MediaPost: EU May Require Search Engines To Reveal Ranking Factors. “Search engines could be forced to reveal their ranking formulas, often viewed as the secret intellectual property behind their business model. The European Commission (EU) has proposed new rules that could require search engines, commerce sites and online platforms to explain how they rank results. In addition, they want these companies to reveal why they penalize or remove content on their sites from search results.”
SEO Roundtable: Google Promises To Review Feedback On Zero Results
SEO Roundtable: Google Promises To Review Feedback On Zero Results. “As you know, Google is now sometimes showing no search results on the search results page – instead, Google is just showing answers for queries related to time, conversions and calculations. Then, if you want to see search results on the search results page (I keep saying that because it sounds like an oxymoron to not show search results on a search results page – sorry), you need to click ‘show all results.'”
