Yelp’s November 2018 Algorithm Change and Sudden Loss of Reviews
Update 12/18/2018: I believe I have discovered why some reviews are being filtered in a new way. Please refer to this updated article: The Yelp Review Purge of 2018. A client of mine who checks his Yelp rankings monthly at the end of the month contacted me today to inform me that a significant number […]
November 2018 Google Algorithm Updates
Below is a recap of some of my observations on Google algorithm updates throughout November 2018. November 1, 2018 On October 31, 2018, some webmasters saw fluctuations in search results. A few people wanted to name this the Halloween update, but I don’t think that came to fruition. If it did, it probably didn’t merit […]
September 27, 2018 Google Algorithm Update and a Traffic Recovery from August
On September 27, 2018, many webmasters experienced a gain or loss of traffic after the latest Google Algorithm Update. This was another “quality update” in an effort to provide better search results to people searching the Internet. While the algorithm is not perfect and it has indeed whacked some sites it shouldn’t have, I feel […]
Is Google Rigged to Show Bad News for “Trump News” and Donald Trump?
On Tuesday, August 28, 2018, President Donald Trump announced that Google search results for “Trump News” displays mostly news stories which are bad. Is this true? Yes and No. In case you missed it, here’s what Trump tweeted: Google search results for “Trump News” shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, […]
Google Medic Update Causes Loss Of Traffic to Medical Related Websites August 2018
During the first week of August 2018, many bloggers and other website owners were dismayed to discover that they had received a 20% – 75% reduction in traffic due to decreased visibility in Google’s Search Engine Results Pages. In short, they had lost their rankings. Searching for answers, many people, myself included, wrote about the […]
August 2018 Google Broad Core Algorithm Update – Traffic Gains and Losses
On August 1, 2018 and August 2, 2018, many webmasters around the globe felt the effects of Google’s latest “broad core” algorithm update. The update may have began rolling out on July 27th and is continuing throughout the first week of August. Page posted: 8/4/2018 Page last updated: 8/20/2018 Menu: Intro What is a Broad […]
Google Algorithm Updates July 2018 – Traffic Gains and Losses
There were several significant changes in Google’s search engine results in July 2018, including a mid-sized algorithm update. Both the algorithm change and other tweaks to the Google algorithm positively impacted some sites and negatively impacted even more. Tweaks to the algorithm Almost every time someone contacts me to diagnose a loss of traffic, the […]
YouTube Subscription Feed Algorithm Change May 2018
One of the most frustrating things people have to deal with on the Internet in 2018 is algorithms ruining their feeds. Log on to Facebook or many other networks and instead of seeing content from friends and pages you’re subscribed to in a nice, chronological order, you get some kind of algorithmic mess which everyone […]
Social Engineering Content Detected Error in Google Search Console
Sometimes vulnerable websites, such as outdated WordPress websites, become compromised. The hacked/hijacked websites can then be defaced, used to attempt to distribute malware, or used to steal people’s information. Google provides examples of this here. If Google notices this they will temporarily penalize a site in search engines and send webmasters a hacked content message […]
Expired SSL/TLS Certificate Google Search Console Error
Some webmasters have received the following message from Google Search Console which reads “Expired SSL/TLS certificate on https://www.example.com/”. Here’s a screenshot of what the email looks like: The email reads: Expired SSL/TLS certificate on https://www.example.com/ To: Webmaster of https://www.example.com/, Google has recently encountered an expired SSL/TLS certificate for https://www.example.com/. Most browsers perceive a site with […]
The April 2018 Google Core Algorithm Change
April 2018 has been a crazy month, at least for weather. It’s still snowing in the northeast. It’s bone dry in the south central part of the country. Oklahoma has no tornadoes. Here in North Carolina, I just planted my big, epic garden today, weeks behind when I’d normally start it. I’m still waiting for […]
“New Index coverage issue detected for site” Error Message in Google Search Console
The “new” Google Search Console rolled out to webmasters in 2018. You may have received a message called “Introducing the new Search Console (beta)” when this occurred or read about it on Google’s blog here. Since then, a scary warning has gone out to thousands of websmasters. That warning, or error, reads “New Index coverage […]
The March 2018 Google Core Algorithm Change
On March 8, 2018, we published that a major algorithm change was on the way (technically that went live March 9 at 12:25AM). The tremors had been felt for days and one of my sources felt it could be days (or months) away. Then on Saturday, March 10, 2018, the Internet was abuzz and site […]
Google Penguin or Fred Algorithm Update Coming in 2018
One of my sources has shown me that as of March 2018, Google is indeed testing an algorithm change. This is a change which is not evident to most people in the SEO world as the algorithm is being tested outside of the United States. In fact, the testing is not affecting anyone in North […]
February 2018 Google Algorithm Changes
I was contacted by a new client in early March who had lost traffic in February 2018. They were wondering if they had been negatively impacted by an algorithm change such as a Penguin or Panda update. Indeed, there were many updates throughout the month of February, as can be seen by this screenshot I […]
Where Did the HuffPost Contributor Network Go?
If you are unable to log in to the HuffPost Contibutor Network blogging platform, you should know that the system has shut down. Most people think it shut down due to a pending lawsuit and so that HuffPost could control the direction of their content. Where do I contribute now? For years I have tossed […]
The Trust Project Partners to help Google Identify “Fake News” Content
Google, Facebook, and a few other tech companies have announced they will team up with Santa Clara University’s Trust Project. By including Trust Indicator icons on web-based news content, tech leaders hope they can help readers distinguish between credible journalism and “fake news.” The Trust Project, which is a part of Santa Clara University’s Markkula […]
Wayback Machine Losing Website Content After 301 Redirect
I love the Wayback Machine but it has some bizarre and crippling flaws which make it incapable of preserving the web’s content. In fact, the last 5 or 6 times I went to recover old content via the Wayback Machine, the Internet Archive had lost all of the content that it had already saved at […]
This Is What Viral Content Looks Like in Real Time Google Analytics
I have the fortunate opportunity to work with websites all over the world in a wide variety of niches. Some are business sites which get 10 – 15 great hits every day. On the other end of the spectrum I work with publishers which occasionally get 20,000 hits per minute. Their SEO and content needs […]
Can I Reuse Someone’s Deleted Content?
It never ceases to amaze me when people are willing to delete content. Today I discovered a California law firm which had recently deleted hundreds of articles from their blog. This was great content which is extremely valuable in the right hands. It just so happens I have the perfect place to resurrect this particular […]