Are Reconsideration Requests A Google Ranking Factor?
You may have heard submitting a reconsideration request can help remove a manual penalty and get your site ranking in Google again. But is it true?
About
Matt G. Southern, Senior News Writer, has been with Search Engine Journal since 2013. With a bachelor’s degree in communications, Matt specializes in gathering details, checking facts, and making complex subjects easy to understand. In addition to writing articles, Matt oversees strategy development for SEJ’s news department.
Articles
Nearly 50% Of Twitter Users Tweet Less Than 5 Times A Month
Does Twitter have an engagement problem? A new study from Pew Research Center finds 49% of US adults on Twitter qualify as “lurkers.”
New LinkedIn Tool Finds Top Skills Needed For Any Job
A new tool from LinkedIn allows you to find the top skills employers want candidates to have for almost any job position.
Google Sunsetting Universal Analytics In 2023
Google is getting ready to sunset Universal Analytics, which was the standard version of Google Analytics before GA4, in mid-2023.
Review Sentiment: Is It A Google Ranking Factor?
There’s no question review sentiment can influence consumer behavior and impact metrics like conversion rate. But does it have any influence on Google’s search rankings?
Twitter Tests More Visible Alt Text
A visible “ALT” badge, and exposed image descriptions, are among the features Twitter is testing to improve image accessibility on mobile and desktop.
New Ways To Grow & Manage Facebook Groups
Facebook group admins can utilize a new set of features to automatically moderate content, along with new tools to grow their community.
Google May Surface More Short-Form Video In Search Results
Google is working on ways to show more short-form video in search results, saying it’s a clear and concise format for satisfying certain queries.
Are XML Sitemaps A Google Ranking Factor?
Despite only being used by search crawlers, is it possible XML sitemaps have nothing to do with rankings? This chapter aims to answer that question.
How Google Search Console Tracks ‘People Also Ask’ Performance Data
Google clarifies how performance data for pages in the ‘people also ask’ section is measured in Search Console – such as clicks, impressions, and positions.
WordPress Plugin SEOPress Updated With IndexNow Support
SEOPress is the latest plugin for WordPress websites to support the IndexNow protocol, which automatically pings search engines when content is added or updated.
New Google Blog Series About Search Console & Data Studio
Google is launching a new blog post series dedicated helping people do more with Data Studio when it comes to analyzing Search Console reports.
LinkedIn Profiles Can Now Display Career Breaks
A new feature for LinkedIn profiles allows you to highlight career breaks and provide more context about skills and experiences gained away from the workplace.
Google On Recipe Pages – Are They Getting Too Long?
Google hears the complaints about recipe pages getting too long, and suggests more concise pages might be better for users.
User Search History As A Google Ranking Factor: What You Need To Know
Check out the claims around user search history as a ranking factor and get clarity around the extent to which it impacts results.
Google Page Experience Update – Desktop Rollout Complete
Google confirms the page experience update finished its rollout to desktop search results. Now it’s time to start assessing the impact.
Google Search Trends Show How Customer Expectations Are Changing
A new report from Google contains data on how customer expectations are changing, and reveals what people want from businesses this year.
YouTube Adding More Analytics Data About Views & Revenue
YouTube is working on ways to give creators more data about video performance, including detailed reports about the sources of views and revenue.
Google On The SEO Impact Of Changing Website Hosting Location
Google addresses whether the changing your website hosting provider to one in a new location can impact SEO and search rankings.
BrightEdge Acquires Oncrawl To Help SEOs Do More With Data Science
BrightEdge, a leader in enterprise organic search and content performance, acquires Oncrawl “to make data science solutions more accessible to SEO professionals,” the company says.
Google Explains Geotargeting Via URL Subdirectories
Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller explains how websites can optimize content for search results in specific countries by using subdirectories in a strategic way.
Google Page Experience Update Starts Rolling Out On Desktop
Google’s Page Experience algorithm update for desktop search results is now rolling out “slowly,” the company confirms.
Google Says ‘Discovered – Currently Not Indexed’ Status Can Last Forever
The ‘Discovered – Currently not indexed’ status in Google Search Console’s Index Coverage report can last forever as there’s no guarantee every page gets indexed.
How Google Crawls Pages With Infinite Scrolling
Google is capable of crawling webpages that utilize infinite scrolling to a certain extent. Here’s how it works and the impact it has on SEO.
Google On The SEO Value Of User Comments On Websites
Should you allow users to leave comments on your website? They could help with SEO, as long as you’re able to moderate them, Google says.
Google Web Stories – The New AMP?
Google’s push for adoption of Web Stories is drawing comparisons to AMP, another lightweight web technology that received a similar push in its early years.
YouTube Rolls Out New Metadata For Educational Videos
YouTube creators can now optimize educational videos with additional metadata, which will be displayed in search results in the future.
Conductor Acquires ContentKing To Offer Real-time SEO Monitoring
Conductor announces its first major move after raising $150M in funding with the acquisition of ContentKing, a real-time SEO auditing and monitoring technology.
Mark Zuckerberg Announces Meta’s New Company Values
In an effort to reshape public image as Facebook transitions to Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces new company values emphasizing Meta’s vision for the future.
Google: Good Core Web Vitals Scores Won’t Improve Indexing
Having good Core Web Vitals scores won’t necessarily lead to improved indexing of your webpages in Google’s search results.