I was recently approached by someone outside of Google with information from Google about the April 2019 index outages. The Googler shared this information at the May 2019 Sydney Search Conference.A second person, totally unknown and unrelated to the first person, related a similar account. The story they shared reveals what caused Google’s Search Index outages in April 2019.How Google Shared the InformationThe first person related that a Googler shared the information recently at a Sydney Search Conference.“We were in a “closed door” session with a bunch of other SEOs…”He then related what he remembered the Googler said:“…he… wrote down three things.1. Developer mistakenly deletes the entire Google web index on all servers.2. Google Rendering Team rolls out an update just before Google I/O to adjust font sizes (which many people saw) and accidentally introduces a bug that redirects millions of pages to Facebook.3. Not able to fix … [Read more...] about April 2019 Google Outages Due to Human Error
Twitter Experiments With Showing Users More Ads
Twitter is displaying more sponsored posts in users’ feeds in an experiment that tests how often ads are shown.This test was confirmed by a Twitter spokesperson in a statement to Bloomberg:“We are always running experiments with our ad experience, including with the various aspects of ad frequency and targeting.”So if you have been seeing more ads in your feed than usual lately, you’re not alone.However, not all users have the same ad frequency, which means some users will see more ads than others.One of the factors that determines ad frequency is how a person continues to use Twitter after being exposed to a number of ads.If someone’s Twitter usage drops after being several ads at a greater frequency, then they may be shown fewer ads as a result.In theory, some users may never see any ads on Twitter depending on how they engage with the platform.According to a report from Buzzfeed News, this experiment apparently led to an excessive amount of spammy ads … [Read more...] about Twitter Experiments With Showing Users More Ads
How to Optimize Your Paid Search Keyword List in 3 Steps
While PPC automation is all the rage, one of the best ways to improve account performance is to optimize your keyword lists – manually.Not in the habit of optimizing? It might sound like a vague buzzword, so let’s get clear on what we mean. My favorite working definition of optimization is:“Doing more of what works, and less of what doesn’t.”While it might be tempting to scale up or down with a script, it’s not the best approach – at least not at first.Keywords aren’t “profitable” or “unprofitable” by themselves. As we reviewed in the prequel to this article, How to Do PPC Keyword Research in 2019, keywords and search terms are just indicators of audience intent.Getting clicks on a keyword that didn’t drive conversions doesn’t mean you should ditch the keyword.It might mean you need to make improvements to your customer experience, like your offer, messaging, landing page, ads or other targeting.As you … [Read more...] about How to Optimize Your Paid Search Keyword List in 3 Steps
Google Search Console Speed Report Will Be Slow To Come
Google announced a new speed report in Search Console that they are beta testing while at Google I/O. They told us all to sign up for the beta if we want early access. Well, that speed report is not coming to us any time soon. There is no speedy delivery for that report.Google said yesterday on Twitter "It'll still be a little while before we're ready to give access, but don't worry, we'll notify you when it's available!"Here is the full tweet: Here are screen shots of this report:You can sign up to beta test this new Speed Report over here.But you are going to have to be patient...Forum discussion at Twitter. … [Read more...] about Google Search Console Speed Report Will Be Slow To Come
Google Map Pins With Your Company Logo
Google is testing using company logos in map pins. Darren Friel spotted an example of this with the Early Settler brand. Here is that screen shot.He shared this on Twitter and asked if I've seen it before. I don't think I have - have you?It seems this was spotted in the Local Search Forums a few months back or so. Forum discussion at Twitter. … [Read more...] about Google Map Pins With Your Company Logo