We reported earlier this morning that Google is doing away with the old “first click free” program and replacing it with flexible sampling. In short, Google is giving publishers more options for allowing search users to access their content without hurting ranking visibility in Google search results. With that, Google has introduced a new paywall […]
Most online news publications are not able to support themselves these days with advertising. For this reason, among others, Google is yielding to publisher requests and replacing its much-debated “First Click Free” program with what it calls “Flexible Sampling.” Content and news publishers will now control whether and how many articles they want to let
First Click Free is over, being replaced by ‘flexible sampling’ Read More »
A bug in Google has wiped out a search feature that allows searchers to search within a specific site from the Google search result snippets. The feature launched three years ago, and it is officially called a Sitelinks Searchbox, where Google will show a search box directly within a search result snippet, allowing the searcher
Bug drops Sitelinks Searchbox from Google search results Read More »
According to Bloomberg, Google is going to create a separate business unit to manage shopping content in search results to comply with the European Commission’s recent antitrust decision. This unit will reportedly be required to compete in the auction against shopping competitors. The unit will apparently use its own budget and revenues to bid in
Alphabet to create separate business unit in Europe to run Google Shopping Read More »
There are roughly 20 million smart speakers now in the US. And more than half of device owners have used them to buy something, according to survey data from NPR and Edison Research. The data released this week is part two of a report first introduced in July. Called “The Smart Audio Report,” the data are
57% of smart speaker owners have bought something with their voice Read More »
Google has long tried to make it easier for users to do follow-up searches or search for related content as they browse (examples here and here). Now, Google has updated its iOS app to make suggestions for related content at the bottom of the page. The animation below indicates how it works (I was not able
Google iOS app now makes related content suggestions Read More »
Kashin / Shutterstock.com We all know the Google mobile first index is coming soon, probably in the next few months or so. To prepare, it seems like Google is encouraging webmasters to go responsive with their web sites. Google has just published a how-to on moving your m-dot site to responsive. The techniques are pretty
Leading up to the mobile-first index, Google has some advice Read More »
A new ranking study done by Stone Temple Consulting on the importance of links has just been released. The study shows clearly how links are as powerful as ever for ranking in the Google search results. The study used several models to illustrate why links remain a powerful ranking factor and compared them to the
New Google link study shows links are as important as ever for ranking well in search Read More »
Mark Van Scyoc / Shutterstock.com Yelp has sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asserting that Google is improperly using Yelp images in local search results in violation of its 2013 antitrust settlement with the regulatory agency. Yelp also circulated the letter to several members of Congress and state attorneys general, according to a
Yelp says Google violated ‘do not crawl’ provision of 2013 FTC settlement agreement Read More »
Google has quietly announced on Google+ that it will be killing off some of the App Indexing features within the Google Search Console. Specifically, Google is turning off the Fetch As Google for Apps feature to “avoid unnecessary duplication” with what is available within the Firebase help documentation. Google added Fetch As Google for mobile
Google shuts down Fetch As Google for mobile apps Read More »
