Strategic approach and guidelines for fitness professionals to significantly improve their Google Maps ranking, enhancing local visibility and attracting more clients. Positioning your business as a top choice for fitness services in your area as well as building a supportive, engaged local community.

Podcasting is a relatively small market, closing in on a $1 billion run rate. But the category is on fire right now. The New York Times scooped up Serial Productions for a reported $50 million this week in a creative and strategic alliance with sister company This American Life. Terms of the deal were not disclosed and depend on performance goals. The Times bought podcast studio Audm for $8 million in March and is hiring prominent journalists to host new programs. With Serial, the Times owns the 14th largest podcast production company with roughly 4 million listeners and the iconic Serial franchise that was the first breakout hit. Union Square Ventures also announced on Thursday that it is investing in the podcast studio and ad network Headgum.

Andrew Goodman's 21 Ways to Maximize ROI on Google AdWords, first released in March 2002, is still the definitive how-to on optimizing your pay-per-click campaign.

In this program I will show you how to get listed on Google in days. Costa Dedes provides a never before seen technique. Learn how to get on google. Get listed in days

Back when I heard Google was raising $4 billion more dollars in a second offering I thought one of the targets might be erstwhile viral phenom Skype in order to get into the VoIP space in a big enough way...

Even as Microsoft won a victory recently against its new and increasingly agile young competitor Google in the case of Kai-Fu Lee, Google continues to nibble at the margins of Microsoft's more existential questions - the need for its software...

Discover closely-guarded secrets to achieve top search engine ranking placement in Google and drive truckloads of laser targeted traffic to your website.

4medicaamp;reg;, a leader in healthcare data quality and matching technology, today announced that the 4medica Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI) platform is now available on Google Cloud Marketplace.

SpaceChainamp;nbsp;today announced it has been accepted into the Google for Startups program. The Google program is designed for early-stage companies such as SpaceChain to help build a sustainable, successful business over the long-term by providingamp;nbsp; the support, services and technology to do so. Under the Google for Startups program, SpaceChain will be able to strengthen its position in leading data and transactional integrity with space infrastructure. Google'samp;nbsp;extensive resources will open multiple opportunities for SpaceChain to explore more advanced processing applications onboard LEO satellites systems as well as future payload launches.

Today, SAP SE and Google Cloud announced an extensive expansion of their partnership, introducing a comprehensive open data offering designed to simplify data landscapes and unleash the power of business data. The offering enables customers to build an end-to-end data cloud that brings data from across the enterprise landscape using the SAPamp;reg; Datasphere solution together with Google's data cloud, so businesses can view their entire data estates in real time and maximize value from their Google Cloud and SAP software investments.

Google Groups might be a viable alternative to using a Forum software on my site for Behold Genealogy user discussions. There are several good reasons I see:

1. Gives you all the features of Google Groups.
2. If you already use Google Groups for other newsgroups, it makes it very convenient for you.
3. Allows you to get messages via e-mail and post via e-mail.
4. Has an RSS feed if you want it.
5. Will be indexed and searchable by Google, so others can find out about Behold.
6. Very little maintenance required by me.

I got the idea from Firebug, a Firefox addin that uses it quite successfully. See at: http://groups.google.com/group/firebug

So I'd like your opinion. Do you think I should use this for Behold's User Forum, or should I stick to my own installed Forum software on my Behold website?

So if you want, feel free to go to the Google Group I quickly created at: http://groups.google.com/group/behold-genealogy and let me know what you think.

January 20, 2006 – Google, the 800 pound gorilla of search engines, is defying a subpoena by the justice department. The government is demanding that the company turn over one full week of user search data. But Google has said that it will fight the subpoena “vigorously” because the company fears the ramifications to privacy for twelve million people who use the company’s website every single day.

February 17, 2006 – Google has just released the latest version of its desktop search software, and it some new features. One of them is the ability to share documents across multiple computers. While some may find this feature convenient, it may users to privacy intrusions or even worse.

Bislang stützen sich die europäischen Suchmaschinen Ecosia und Qwant vor allem auf die Bing-Plattform von Microsoft. Künftig wollen sie nicht mehr auf US-Technologieriesen angewiesen sein.

Want to know where your child is and if they are safe on their way? Google Maps has a little-known but helpful feature to share real-time location, making it easier to stay connected and ensure loved ones are safe.

Google is planning to introduce digital wallets for children's accounts, allowing parents to manage their kids' allowance through Google Wallet.

Many claim that search results from ChatGPT are better than traditional searches, and now there's an easy way to test it out.

A simple Google search can sometimes have surprising and serious consequences for users.

Een drukke week voor Meta, met nieuwe AR/VR-producten op het Connect-evenement en een nieuwe escalatie van het 'fair share'-debat met de telecomwereld...

De drie grote Amerikaanse hyperscalers, Amazon, Microsoft en Google, lijken een wapenwedloop te voeren om hun netwerken wereldwijd uit te breiden. Zowel de cloud als specifiek de zware belasting van AI vraagt daarom. Het is een trend die vooral sinds begin dit jaar zichtbaar is...

1. Google says Gems are ‘one of the most used Gemini Advanced features,’ adds file upload  9to5Google
2. Gemini Live is getting ready to chat with you about your files (APK teardown)  Android Authority
3. Google thinks attachments could be the perfect conversation starter for Gemini Live  Android Police
4. Google's Gemini AI may soon allow users to edit files using voice commands  The Times of India
5. Gemini Live could soon start messing around with your files  Android Central

Unlike Yahoo, Google has had a long standing resistance to offering RSS feeds for Google News queries. Hacks have long abounded from Julian Bond's GNews2RSS, Ben Hammersley's Google to RSS using the Google SOAP API, and Steve Rubel's advice in "RSS Hack for Sites That Don't Offer Feeds".

In this spirit, Justin Pfister has created gnewsfeed. Filling out the form uses a script that converts a Google news query (example) into an RSS feed (example). "I welcome anyone in the world," he humbly proffers, "to use it in an effort to become a more informed public."

Poor Justin. He's looking for a job. Maybe Adam Smith, and the Google Alerts product team will hire Justin to build in the syndication that Google should have offered long ago (hint).

Our recent migration to GA4 left a lot to be desired and led us to explore for better google analytics alternatives. We tried just about everything out there, including Plausible, Fathom, and several others, all with their own pros and …

The Aberdeen City Council's RSS feed of news releases is possibly the first government syndicated news in the UK. It's inclusion in Google News indexing may also be a first.

While Google has yet to confirm a Google search ranking update, we have seen tremendous volatility in the Google Search results this month. Google did, however, confirm it can downgrade sections of content that are starkly different from the main content. We also posted an update on the helpful content update. Finally, Google did say a new Google update is coming soon.

It slipped my mind and I forgot to post the Google Webmaster Report at the beginning of the month, so here it is, the November Google Webmaster Report.

Google said the sitelinks search box is going away soon. Google tested showing the full recipe in the search results, which was upsetting. Google rolled out AI Overviews to a 100+ countries, added new AI Overview features and much more. Google also launched AI features in local search and maps.

Finally, the DOJ said they may break up Google but that was before Trump won the election. Google ad revenue was way up again this past quarter. And Google replaced Prabhakar Raghavan with Nick Fox.

If you missed the last recap, it is at the October 2024 Google Webmaster Report.

Here are the important stories for the past month:

Google Updates

• Election 2024 Google Search Ranking Update ð>ð'
• Halloween 2024 Google Search Ranking Update ð'>>
• Google Search Ranking Volatility Again On October 26th & 27th & 23rd & 24th
• Google Search Ranking Volatility Continues October 19th & 20th
• Google Search Ranking Volatility Again Heats Up (October 15th)
• Google Search Ranking Volatility Rumbling Again October 10th
• Record-Breaking Google Search Ranking Volatility Continues Into October
• Google Search Downgrading Rankings Of Content Starkly Different From Main Content
• Google: Search Ranking Update Coming Soon But HCU Victims May Not Recover
• Report: 22% Of Sites Hit By Google's Helpful Content Update Are Up 20%+

• Google Search Console Partial Data Reports With Dotted Lines
• Google Search Console Performance Report Showing Almost No Data Today

• Did Google Hit Fortune Recommends With A Search Penalty Over Site Reputation Abuse?
• Google AI Overviews Not Linking To Sites Hit By Helpful Content Update
• Google: Doubtful You'd See Big Ranking Drop Over Core Web Vitals Issues
• Google: Having Different Links On Mobile vs Desktop Pages Can Slow Crawl
• Google Proposes New Shipping Data Schema Including Type ShippingService
• Google Warning On JavaScript-Generated Product Markup
• Google Updates URL Structure, Favicon & Adds Google Trends Docs
• Google Clarified Support For Robots.txt Fields With Tiny Change
• Google Drops Support For Noarchive Meta Tag Directive
• Google Merchant Listings Adds Certification Markup Support
• Google To Host Creator Summit At GooglePlex Later This Month

• Google Sitelinks Search Box Going Away Next Month
• Google Tests Quick View Button For Recipes That Keep You On Google
• Google Tests Dropping Results Count After Moving It Under Search Tools
• Google Search Tests Verified Labels For Product Results
• Google Tests Frequently Saved Label On Search Result Snippets
• Google Menu Highlights Search Carousel
• Google Search Entity Trust Scores From APIVoid & ScamAdviser
• Google Search Snippet With Mentioned Products Carousel
• Google Other People Search Box
• Google Search People's Insights For Unprofessional Medical Advice
• Expandable Google Knowledge Panels On Desktop Search
• Google Search Tests List Articles
• Google Search Tests Top Links Title For Sitelinks?
• Google Search Tests Replacing Google Logo With Super G Logo

• Google AI Overviews Rolling Out To 100+ Countries & Billion+ Users
• Google AI Overview Ads, New Link Format, AI Organized Search Results & More
• Google AI Overviews Highlight Feature Expands AI Responses
• Google Generative AI Snippets Throughout Search Results
• Google Shopping "Researched with AI - Experimental" Answer

• Google AI Answers In Google Maps: Things To Do, Review Summaries & About This Place
• Google Local Service Ads To Soon Require Google Business Profile
• Google Business Profiles Learn Something Specific Question Box
• Google Business Profiles Removes Health Insurance Accepted
• Google Tests Discover More Places & Explore Places Nearby
• Google Business Profiles Testing Reviews Within Photo Carousels
• Google Business Profiles: Answer Questions About Your Inventory
• Google Drag & Drop Reorder Your Restaurant Menu Items

• DOJ May Breakup Google As Remedy To Monopoly Ruling
• Google Ad Revenue Up 10% - With Biggest Ad Revenue Quarter Ever
• Nick Fox New Lead Of Google Search; Replaced Prabhakar Raghavan

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google is testing placing a second link directly under the main ad headline link, some call the title link, that pull from your Google Ads assets or extensions. It is unusual to see these links right next to each other, sometimes you'd see them as sitelinks under the ad description but not directly under the main headline link.

This was spotted by both Anthony Higman who posted it on LinkedIn and X - here are his screenshots:

And this desktop variation by Jonathan Cottrell on LinkedIn:

This seems weird but it can probably have a huge impact on an ads click through rate, but again, it is just a test right now.

Forum discussion at X and LinkedIn.

Google is showing both seller ratings and product ratings on a single Google Shopping Ad unit. It is a bit weird to see both ratings, and it can potentially be confusing to see different ratings for the same retailer but one is for the rating of the specific product and one is for the rating of the company selling that product, i.e the seller.

This was spotted by Hana Kobzová who posted about it on her PPC News site who wrote, "Google started showing both seller ratings and product ratings can appear together in Shopping ads. This help retailers to be more trustworthy, visible, and competitive."

Here is what it looks like:

There is a lot more detail on this over here but again, I am not sure I like this.

Forum discussion at X.

Google Search has been rolling out this new expandable section in the search results titled "current sales." I guess Google is able to figure out what is a sale and what is not, maybe from structured data or Merchant Center and then have a section in the search results for that...

This was first spotted by Khushal Bherwani on X and then by Sachin Patel on X - here are some screenshots:

Then when you toggle it open it looks like this:

Here are more screenshots:

More finds , noticing this in wild on serp pic.twitter.com/ckiNaxS1Wg

— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) November 10, 2024

@rustybrick Google SERP has a current sales section. pic.twitter.com/AkFiIBvIia

— Sachin Patel (@SachuPatel53124) November 7, 2024

Forum discussion at X.

A couple of weeks ago, Google announced the new features for travel search ads through integration with travel feeds. These may now be out in the wild, as we are seeing pricing and other rich markup showing up for hotel ads in Google Search.

Lluc B. Penycate posted some examples and screenshots on X of these out in the wild. He wrote, "I think we are seeing the new Google Hotel Ads format announced last week(s) which integrates rooms, prices and availability."

Here are those screenshots:

Google wrote a couple of weeks ago, "all hotel advertisers can now showcase feed data, such as hotels, prices, dates, ratings and images, in this ad format" and then shared some mock examples of those ads. But these look like them in real life.

Forum discussion at X.

Google's John Mueller posted some SEO advice on how to handle version history pages, for product releases, specifications, APIs and other version history. This advice is pretty similar to how to handle recurring event pages, like conferences and events. In short, the main page should keep the same URL and then archive the older version history details on an archive page URL.

John wrote on LinkedIn, "If you work on a website with versions (APIs? Specs?) or yearly editions, here's the top SEO improvement you can do: Use a stable URL for the current version."

I mean, if you like at Google Ads API, they use developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/release-notes and show the current version details there and then archive the older API versions on different URLs, like version 17 for example.

John wrote:

Add versioned directories if you like. This makes the current version much more visible in search, reducing guesswork by readers, and making it easier to link to. EASIER TO LINK TO.

Even better? keep the versioned URL for the current version, and use link-rel-canonical to refer to the stable URL. This lets people go directly to the versioned URL if they know it, while focusing search on the stable URL.

John added to explain, for API docs, technical specs, yearly events, etc, go with this format:

• .../spec/live/page < do this for SEO
• .../spec/2.1/page - rel=canonical to /spec/live/page
• .../spec/2.0/page - keep these

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.

Google has begun rolling out the third core update for the year, the November 2024 core update. This update started to roll out on November 11, 2024 at around 3:30 pm and will take about two weeks to complete rolling out. This seems like a typical core update, without any new specifics about what changed or what improved.

We knew this update was coming - and it finally arrived yesterday afternoon. Google also told us not to expect HCU victim sites to recover with this update.

So far, we are seeing some folks suggest their rankings went down even more. But the vast majority of people are saying they are not seeing movement as of yet, as of the time I published this story. Of course, I will keep track of the chatter and let you know what people are seeing over the coming days. In addition, the volatility tracking tools are mostly all showing normal volatility - so maybe this has not kicked in as of yet.

And yes, it was released on the Veterans Day US holiday, but it seems like it was released well before the big holiday shopping season, post-Thanksgiving holiday.

Google posted this update on LinkedIn and X and wrote:

Today we released the November 2024 core update to Google Search.

This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search.

We'll update our ranking release history page in the near future, and update it when the rollout is complete. For more information about core updates, please see here.

The rollout may take up to 2 weeks to complete.

Google November 2024 Core Update Quick Facts:

Here are the most important things that we know right now in short form:

• Name: Google November 2024 Broad Core Update
• Launched: November 11, 2024 at around 3:30 pm ET
• Rollout: Will take about two weeks to roll out
• Targets: It looks at all types of content
• Penalty: It is not a penalty, it promotes or rewards great web pages
• Global: This is a global update impacting all regions, in all languages.
• Impact: The normal core update stuff around helpful content.
• Discover: Core updates impact Google Discover and other features, also feature snippets and more.
• Recover: If you were hit by this, then you will need to look at your content and see if you can do better with Google's core update advice.
• Refreshes: Google will do periodic refreshes to this algorithm but may not communicate those updates in the future. Maybe this is what we saw the past couple of weeks or all those unconfirmed Google updates.

Google November 2024 Core Update Details

Google didn't say much specific about this November 2024 core update. Google did say, "This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search."

So it seems like it is more of the same:

• Show more content that people find genuinely useful.
• Show less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search.

Yes, a lot of joking in the SEO community about these statements. Yep, it sounds a lot like the helpful content update statements... Yes, the helpful content update is no more, it's part of core updates now, in some sense...

Previous Broad Core Updates

Here is a list of the most recent core updates we've seen since Google started to confirm them. Previously we nicknamed them Phantom updates or unconfirmed updates.

• November 2024 Core update: November 11, 2024 and will take about two weeks to roll out.
• August 2024 Core Update : August 15, 2024 through September 3, 2024
• March 2024 Core Update : March 5, 2024 through April 19, 2024
• November 2023 Core Update : November 2, 2023 through November 28, 2023
• October 2023 Core Update: October 5, 2023 through October 19, 2023
• August 2023 Core Update: August 22, 2023 through September 7, 2023
• March 2023 Core Update: March 15, 2023 through March 28, 2023
• September 2022 Core Update: September 12, 2022 through September 26, 2022
• May 2022 Core Update: May 25, 2022 through June 9, 2022
• November 2021 Core Update: November 17, 2021 through November 30, 2021
• July 2021 Core Update: July 1, 2021 through July 12, 2021
• June 2021 Core Update: June 2, 2021 through June 12, 2021
• December 2020 Core Update: December 3, 2020 through December 16, 2020
• May 2020 Core Update: May 4, 2020 through May 18, 2020
• January 2020 Core Update: January 13, 2020 through mostly January 17, 2020
• September 2019 Core Update: September 24, 2019
• Google June 2019 Core Update: June 3, 2019 through June 8, 2019

Previous Helpful Content Update Impact

Here is the list of the previous Google helpful content updates:

• Septemebr 14, 2023 - September 2023 Google helpful content update - completing on Septmeber 28, 2023
• December 5, 2022 - December 2022 Google helpful content update, completing on January 12, 2023
• August 25, 2022 - August 2022 (original) Google helpful content update, completing on September 9, 2022

Previous Unconfirmed Updates

We had a ton of unconfirmed updates between the August 2024 and November 2024 core update. I won't list them all, but you can scan them over here.

As a reminder, Google did tell us that an search update is coming soon. The last time we reported on an update was when I named it the Google Election 2024 unconfirmed update and before that was the Google Halloween 2024 Google search update and then before that on October 23, 24 and 26 and 27th and before that, October 19th and 20th volatility and then on October 15th, October 10th and then before that on October 2nd which lasted a couple of days. The Google August 2024 core update started on August 15th and officially completed on September 3rd. But it was still super volatile the day after it completed and also weeks after it completed and it has not cooled.

We saw big signals on and around September 6th, September 10th or so and maybe around September 14th. We also saw movement around September 18th, last weekend and Septmeber 25th and September 28th or so.

Google Tracking Tools On November 2024 Core Update (So Far)

Here is what these Google Search volatility tools are showing so far; keep in mind that this update can take about two weeks to fully roll out. And so far, the tools are mostly showing normal volatility but that might change in the coming days.

Semrush:

SimilarWeb:

Sistrix:

Wincher:

Cognitive SEO:

Accuranker:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Mozcast:

Mangools:

Algoroo:

SERPstat:

Data For SEO:

SEO Chatter

It just started rolling out last night, so the chatter is early, just like the tools:

Just the reminder I needed to "focus on quality content"'"again. Thanks, Google, I'd almost forgotten!

So by quality, do you mean similar to what previous core updates focused on or is there a specific change to look out for?

In search of "quality" and "usefulness" in the age of generative-AI-driven SERPs.

It will take 2 weeks to complete and 2 years to recover?

Asking for friends.

Fasten your seatbelts, Google has launched the November 2024 core update.

This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search

Good luck to the people still fighting.

Traffic on the very low tide since a week (billable visits), impression seem stable according search console, CTR dropping.

Luckily I'm busy with something not Google related !

Traffic Down :)

Swings on my personal results have been wild over last few days actually. Like normal, but on steroids!

Searched 150+ queries since morning unrelated to my niche...each of these queries were answered by AIO in a very organized form. So...worth not keeping hopes after this

It's been very quiet over the last few days. One article of mine gained a small bit of traction, but a couple of others barely saw any traffic at all. Not sure if it's the same for others.

Recently the fluctuations were too great. Either business as usual or downward. I am seeing more PAA boxes. More YouTube at the top. Other than that I do not see much.

Just more downward movement ಠ' ï'µ' à² 

Yes, lots of keywords back on page one, including some near the top, but I doubt it will result in a traffic increase because there are AIOs everywhere.

It's just a mess. shuffling, even more AI overviews for shopping comparison articles.

Also some local SEO chatter, and core updates do impact local rankings:

Seeing movements this early for local organic ranking for the following sectors (mostly Canada): Landscaping, HVAC, Psychologist, local furniture maker, renovation contractors.

Here we go! The November 2024 broad core update is rolling out. There's been a ton of volatility since the August core update completed. Let's see what Google has in store for us. Stay tuned. I'll probably share my "Core Update Notes" each day based on what I'm seeing in the'... https://t.co/T9rks7tAMP

'" Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 11, 2024

OK here we go. A new Google core update just launched.

If you were impacted by a previous core update (i.e. August, March, November, October) then often it takes another core update, or sometimes a few, before a site sees recovery.
ð¤ https://t.co/7XHVWBRbbo

'" Marie Haynes (@Marie_Haynes) November 11, 2024

These announcements are as much as uninteresting as uninformative.

'Hey, look! We did something' https://t.co/BcK4rzTuN6

'" Pedro Dias (@pedrodias) November 11, 2024

Golly, I hope Reddit will be ok

'" Harad (@harad) November 11, 2024

Good luck, folks!

Not expecting anything this end, mostly because I only fully finished my site move around seven minutes ago. ð' https://t.co/MGfUyA9GOP

'" Wesley Copeland (@Wesley_Copeland) November 11, 2024

Sad state when my first thought is: "wonder what they've screwed up this time". https://t.co/jtYZvXPZgM

'" Martin MacDonald (@searchmartin) November 11, 2024

Also later last night I asked if anyone is seeing movement:

Anyone seeing any movement yet? https://t.co/qttLlYNeU1

'" Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) November 12, 2024

While most say it is too early to tell, which I 100% agree with, here are the ones that say they are seeing movement:

I see some movement, but it's hard to attribute it to the typical movements we see or this core update. Will check more sites/data tomorrow morning to confirm.

'" Vlad Rappoport (@vladrpt) November 12, 2024

It affected my website from yesterday, today zero click, that means this update will harm more than the previous updates. We expecting more damage.
I'm afraid to say that, but don't be happy with any update again. Get a new job or go to Pinterest or the new ChatGPT search.

'" Ameer Belal (@NFT_Domains) November 12, 2024

Slightly up

'" Lizzy's Small World (@AVerySmallWorld) November 12, 2024

Yes, ranking down

'" बबलà¥' à¤à¥à¤®à¤¾à¤° ð®ð³' (@seobabloo) November 12, 2024

I saw a 15% spike yesterday evening and night. So far this morning it seems the spike didn't last.

'" Brian Spears (@BrianHTX20) November 12, 2024

It is probably too early to tell right now but we will keep you posted on what the SEO community is seeing over the coming days.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, Black Hat World, Local Search Forum, X and LinkedIn.

Full Article

Google has added a new promotion type to Google Merchant Center named "Sale events." Sale events are a type data that you can submit on Google and are shown on non-product-centric surfaces. This seems to be available in the US for free Merchant Center listings right now.

This was spotted by Dario Zannoni who posted about it on LinkedIn and wrote, "A new "Sale Event" promotion type has been released in Google Merchant Center."

The help document says:

Sale events highlight a general sale happening in your store on different Google surfaces. Events don't show up on product listings, both organic and ads.

Unlike promotions, events aren't mapped to offers. Since events aren't directly mapped to offers, you can use ranges for discounts, such as 'Up to 40% off,' which isn't allowed with promotions.

Dario Zannoni shared this screenshot:

He wrote, "Standard promotions in Merchant Center require linking to specific products, which can make them challenging to implement. Now, Google has introduced a new promotion type called "Sale Event," which is not tied to individual products. Instead, it can be used to advertise general sales, like "All items discounted up to 70% off" or "Special discount: 10% off on golf bags.""

For more details, check out this help page.

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.