Happy Halloween from Net Sixty Six!

halloweenWalking to SEO Manchester HQ. This week, we have noticed some unusual things in Manchester City Centre. The traditional shop displays have been replaced with witches, skeletons and other spooky items. Pumpkins have been spotted scattered randomly in several trees. Even the infamous Manchester Town Hall clock and building have been turned into a slimy green colour. All of these signs can only mean one thing – the return of Halloween!

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Google celebrates its 19th birthday!

Happy 19th!  Google Celebrates Yet Another Landmark Birthday

It has often been said that the concept of time takes on an entirely different meaning when referring to the digital domain. However, this has never been the case in regards to Google. This SEO supergiant has become the mainstay for billions of users and millions of websites from around the world. It is therefore quite amazing to realise that Google is now celebrating 19 years on the Internet. Continue reading “Google celebrates its 19th birthday!”

Google Say… Use Voice Search

Why Google wants you to use voice search instead of your fingers for their search app

Who remembers Trigger Happy TV on Channel Four? A long running joke of Dom Joly’s television comedy series features a giant mobile phone. Shaped like a 1980s cellular phone, we saw the comedian shouting into his handset. He would spout out random bits of nonsense or state the obvious from the top of his voice. If Channel Four were to commission a new series, he could be doing the same with Google’s Voice Search facility. Continue reading “Google Say… Use Voice Search”

Google Hits Out At Fake News

Fact Check feature introduced to counter spread of fake news stories

Apart from the fact there may be no World War Two Bomber On The Moon type of stories on Google, the search engine’s clampdown on fake news could see improvements to its news section, with stories backed up by linked sources.

Hands up who used to have a paper round? All these mornings or evenings carrying The Daily Telex or The Daily Moon to the top of the world? Sometimes, disgruntled of 56 Rochdale Road would give you an ear bashing over her missing copy of Yesterday. Ah, those were the days where yesterday’s fake news would become chip paper. On the internet, things are different: tomorrow’s chip paper is still on the internet. Five years on. Or longer.

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Matt Cutts Cuts Ties With Google

Matt Cutts officially resigns from search engine and media behemoth

The Pentagon, Matt Cutts' new workplace. Image by David B. Gleason (Creative Commons License: Attribution-Share Alike).
The Pentagon, Matt Cutts’ new workplace. Image by David B. Gleason (Creative Commons License: Attribution-Share Alike).

An end of an era for Google was marked this week by a high profile departure. That of Matt Cutts, one time head of Google’s Webspam team. Today, he is now the Director of Engineering at USDS (US Digital Service). Before taking on his new role, he joined Google in 2000 where he became part of the furniture.

On the 31 December 2016, Matt Cutts handed in his resignation to the search engine and media behemoth in Stanford. A few months before then, he took a leave of absence to work for the US Digital Service. He enjoyed his brief stint and has decided to stay there. On his blog, he said:

“When I joined the US Digital Service, I only planned to stay for three months. That quickly turned into six months after I saw the impact of the USDS. In the last month, I made a big decision. On December 31, 2016, I resigned from Google.” Continue reading “Matt Cutts Cuts Ties With Google”

Have you noticed ghost spam in Your Google Analytics data?

LinksFighting spam has always been a hard-fought, epic battle which has still yet to be conquered successfully. Google Analytics is one of the leading tools available for gathering and analysing data about your website but unfortunately, its data been compromised in the past through various hackers. This has left many website owners frustrated and confused about how to interpret their reports, since it was not known whether their statistics were not a true reflection of actual website traffic.

Back in 2014, several bots (website crawlers used by Search Engines) were hacked to visit websites and leave fake referral data within the Analytics reporting. Since then, there have been many similar instances from various sources including fake organic search terms or fake events being reported. Whilst Google’s spam defences are always improving, the fight is a tough one for  them. By not discussing their tactics and strategies to overcome this problem, they are keeping their security systems private, away from the hackers prying ears. Continue reading “Have you noticed ghost spam in Your Google Analytics data?”

The Impact of Voice Search for SEO

There has been a sharp increase in voice search queries being carried out instead of the traditional typed search queries. Voice search is now the fastest growing search technique for users, since it has many benefits for people. It is quicker, easier and more natural to speak to your mobile rather than having to manually type in the keyword(s) you require. Continue reading “The Impact of Voice Search for SEO”

Penguin 4.0 Goes for Real Time Updates

How Google’s Penguin 4.0 update differs from its predecessors

Four penguins (well, for a piece on Penguin 4.0, it is appropriate).
Search engine results, as it happens: Penguin 4.0 is set to create drastic changes to the way in which Google indexes our websites. Image by Fieldwork (via Shutterstock).

Ladies and Gentlemen: it gives us great pleasure to announce that the days of big bang Google updates are over. Long live the Penguin. Woah, stop there…! Before you reach for the champagne, Prosecco or fizzy Vimto, we at Net Sixty Six SEO would like to tell you about a new kind of Google update. Let us introduce you to Penguin 4.0. Continue reading “Penguin 4.0 Goes for Real Time Updates”

Mobilegeddon 2: Attack of the Mobile Ads

January 2017 return of mobilegeddon sees blitz on intrusive mobile adverts

Mobilegeddon 2 Blog Post Image
Stand By For Action: the much-vaunted Mobilegeddon 2 will deliver an improved user experience by early-2017. Image by Vasabii (via Shutterstock).

Monday, 10 January 2017 is set to be an important date for web developers all over the world. From that day forward, Google is about to unleash its second most significant algorithm update since April 2015. April 2015’s update – dubbed as Mobilegeddon – was the first Google update to up the ante on websites that use responsive web design. Continue reading “Mobilegeddon 2: Attack of the Mobile Ads”

Dr. Google’s Casebook: Google Symptom Search

Could Google’s symptom search be the right prescription for authoritative medical sources?

Waiting Room (Google symptom search image).
Handy: Google’s symptom search aims to make possible diagnoses easier. Image of waiting room by Toey Toey (via Shutterstock).

The internet, besides being a fine place for buying and selling, dating, travel planning, and cat pictures, is a popular source for looking at medical conditions. Anyone searching for details on a given condition or symptom would find themselves bombarded with several sources. In the UK we have the NHS’ own sources. We also have WebMD, an American site with a British version (promoted by Boots The Chemist). Hypochondriacs needn’t consult the Pears Medical Encyclopaedia, nor go to the reference library. Continue reading “Dr. Google’s Casebook: Google Symptom Search”

Google Ads Go Green – and Purple

Google Ads tabs change from yellow to green, whilst purple map advertising pins are introduced

Google Ads blog post image
Lost in the online supermarket? The new-look Google Ads tags will be easier to pick out than the previous colour. Image by Tzido Sun (via Shutterstock).

After a successful trial, Google Ads tabs are set to go green for good. Google Ads tabs have been part of the search engine’s results since 2013 when they were originally yellow (with “ad” in black text). In April of this year, Google experimented with green tabs and white text. Continue reading “Google Ads Go Green – and Purple”

It’s a G4S Yes for Google Apps

70,000 G4S staff switching to Google Apps for Work

G4S flags Google Apps image
G4S aims to keep the flag flying for Google Apps. Image by Holger Ellgaard, 2009 (Creative Commons License: Attribution-Share Alike).

G4S, the global outsourced services provider, has decided to cut its IT spending by turning to cloud-based computing. 70,000 of its 620,000 staff will be switching to Google Apps for Work, which offers productivity software at a much lower cost than paying higher prices for Microsoft Office packages. Furthermore, G4S’ switch to cloud computing also means more manageable IT infrastructure. It also means a greater degree of standardisation across the board – important for a conglomerate of G4S’ size. Continue reading “It’s a G4S Yes for Google Apps”

Google Announce New Tool Which Tests Your Website Mobile Friendliness and Page Speed.

Gone are the days where you have to navigate to 2 different websites in order to find out how quick and how mobile friendly your website is. Google have recently launched a new tool where users can enter their website address and get the page speed and mobile friendliness score all on the same page. The report is simply a combination of the page speed insights and the mobile friendly testing tool; Continue reading “Google Announce New Tool Which Tests Your Website Mobile Friendliness and Page Speed.”

Google’s Driverless Cars: Ford Penguin Anyone?

Google, Ford, Uber, Lyft and Volvo in the race to boost driverless cars

Driverless Cars image by Chombosan
Driverless cars image by Chombosan/Shutterstock.

Imagine it’s 2030. You walk up to your garage or parking space. Your car is a far cry from the ones your parents drove. It recognises you as its headlights make ‘eye contact’ with you, thanks to its optical technology. They used a key; yours unlocks the doors on ‘seeing’ you before you climb aboard. The car asks for your journey based on Google’s technology and takes you there. This, 14 years from now, could be the norm. At this moment, driverless cars are being developed by Google and the Ford Motor Company. Other partners in the coalition are Uber, Lyft, and Volvo. Continue reading “Google’s Driverless Cars: Ford Penguin Anyone?”

Lee Sedol versus Google: An ‘Aye’ for AI?

AlphaGo’s emphatic victory over human opponent

A completed Go board, though not a game between Lee Sedol.
Popular: Go, mastered by Lee Sedol and – as we have found this week – Google’s ActiveGo AI engine. 60 million people saw the clash in South Korea on Chinese and Korean televisions. Image by Saran Poroong/Shutterstock.

The battle between man and machine has been contested since the Industrial Revolution. In recent times, this has seen Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov at Chess in 1997. Over the last week, a similar contest has taken place between Lee Sedol and a Google AI robot at the Four Seasons hotel in Seoul, South Korea. This time with the Chinese board game of Go. Continue reading “Lee Sedol versus Google: An ‘Aye’ for AI?”

PageRank: Its Part in its Own Downfall

The end of an era as PageRank fades from public view

For nearly 16 years, Google’s PageRank has been, simultaneously, a help and a hindrance. It has created a cottage industry in its own right with search engine consultancies working on improving PageRank figures. This meant emphasising on link building and aiming to link with higher ranking pages. Sometimes at the expense of high-quality content and creating an audience for your website. Continue reading “PageRank: Its Part in its Own Downfall”

I’m Free With Google Hands Free

New hands free payment process tested in San Francisco

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxet1VdpOQ4

Imagine it’s a fair to middling day in central Manchester. You have just arrived at Piccadilly station after an irksome commute. You nip towards the coffee shop in the main concourse. Then you find there’s no change in your front pocket. Instead, you can pay from your smartphone, but they’ve brought this new-fangled system out, where the ‘phone can stay in your pocket. Luckily, you have an Android device and it works with… Google Hands Free. Happy days indeed! Continue reading “I’m Free With Google Hands Free”