Google Launches Official Robots.txt Testing Tool
A robots.txt file is key component of your website’s SEO, but sometimes these files do more harm than good. For example, your robots.txt file may be...
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
Google+ Drops Real Name Policy, Promises To Smash Internet Trolls
Google admits that when they launched Google+ over three years ago there were a lot of restrictions on what name could be used on your...
Study Shows Organic Search Responsible for 64% of Web Traffic
Groupon recently published a study showing that 60% of what Google Analytics defines as “direct traffic” is actually organic traffic. The study was conducted by...
Google To Alert Users When A Page Won’t Work On Their Device
When a user lands on a site that requires technology that is not supported by their device, the results can be frustrating. That’s why, effective...
LinkedIn Launches New App To Encourage Users To Stay Connected
LinkedIn recently launched a new app for iOS called Connected, which is designed to encourage users to more frequently reach out to others within their...
Google Wants Your Feedback On Right To Be Forgotten
Google is now soliciting feedback on their implementation of EU’s Right To Be Forgotten ruling through a new Advisory Council. In an effort to obtain...
Twitter Offers Data-Backed Tips On How To Engage With Millennials
Twitter recently released a report sharing some key insights into how millennials prefer to engage on Twitter. In addition, the report also provides data-backed tips...
WordPress 4.0 Beta Is Now Available: Here’s What’s New
WordPress recently announced that the first beta version of WordPress 4.0 is now available. WordPress prefaces its announcement with a word of caution that the...
Google Ad CTR Goes Up After Removal Of Authorship Photos
Google made the decision late last month to remove authorship photos from search results. This led to speculation that the decision was made as a...
Yelp Complains That Its Being Outranked By Google+ Local Listings
TechCrunch broke the news today that a Yelp internal document was recently leaked online claiming Google is promoting its own content at the expense of users....
2014 US Search Awards Entries Close July 18th: Get Your Submissions In!
The second annual US Search Awards is taking place at Treasure Island on Wednesday 8 October 2014 during Pubcon Las Vegas. The awards ceremony recognizes...
Click And Drag To Measure Distance In New Google Maps Update
An announcement was made yesterday on Google+ that a new Google Maps update has been rolled out for desktop users that lets you click and...
WordStream Raises $12 Million In VC Funding, What’s Next For Them
PPC software company, WordStream, announced today that they have raised $12 million in led by Baird Capital of Chicago. “This is the biggest fundraising round...
Google Releases AdWords Editor Version 10.5
Yesterday, an announcement was made on Google+ that AdWords Editor version 10.5 is now available. The latest version allows users to download product groups, upload and...
Google To Go After Amazon By Stepping Up E-Commerce Offerings
Cnet reports that Google wants to challenge Amazon’s dominance in the e-commerce market by expanding the resources of its Google Shopping Express service. Shopping Express...
Facebook Is Helping Advertisers Reach Previously Unreachable People, On Any Device
Facebook reports that roughly 7 out of every 10 people in the world use devices less sophisticated than a smartphone to access the Internet, like a...
Critical Vulnerability Found In Popular WordPress Newsletter Plugin
Web security firm, Sucuri, found a critical vulnerability in a WordPress plug-in that has over 1.7 million downloads. The vulnerability allows potential attackers to take...
Matt Cutts Is Going On Leave For Several Months
Matt Cutts, Google’s head of search spam, announced today that he will be going on leave for several months. Matt cited the need to spend...
Vine Highlights Popular Videos With New Loop Counts
Have you ever wondered how many times a Vine video has been viewed? Now you will see loop counts on videos to indicate how many times...
ClearVoice Launches New Tool to Showcase Content Authority
A new tool designed to show the author authority of content creators was recently launched by ClearVoice. The new tool is a no-cost, web-based platform...
Google Acquires Songza To Improve Its Music Services
An announcement was made today that Google has acquired Songza, a music streaming service that specializes in predicting the songs users want to hear. The...
Google To Shut Down Its First Social Network, Orkut
It was announced today that Google intends to shut down its very first social network, Orkut. As of September 30, 2014, Orkut will no longer...
Twitter Offers Mobile App Promotion To All Advertisers
Today, Twitter announced that they’re going to begin offering mobile app promotion to all advertisers after seeing strong results during a beta test earlier this...
Facebook Introduces Multi-Product Ads And Enhanced Custom Audiences
This week, Facebook announced two new advertising enhancements that designed to make remarketing on Facebook even more effective. The enhancements include the introduction of multi-product...
Search With “Ok Google” From Any Screen On Your Android Device
Google recently announced, via the Official Google Search blog, that Android users will now be able to conduct a voice search using the “Ok Google”...
Buffer Launches ‘Daily’, An iOS App For Discovering And Sharing Content
Buffer, the makers of the popular social media scheduling tool of the same name, launched a new iOS app called Daily. When I got the...
Bing Explains How They Choose The Title Tag For Your Web Pages
Despite your best efforts to define the title tags for your web pages, Bing may take it upon themselves to serve a different title in...
PR Newswire Responds To Panda 4.0 By Taking Action Against Spammers
When Panda 4.0 was rolled out last month, press release sites were hit particularly hard. PR Newswire lost around 63% of their SEO visibility as a...
Google Authorship Pictures In Search Results Are Going Away
The Google Authorship pictures that we’ve grown accustomed to seeing in search results are about to go away. Google’s John Mueller detailed this change in...
Facebook Releases New Version Of Pages Manager For iOS and Android
Facebook announced on their Facebook For Businesss blog that they have released an updated version the Pages Manager application for iOS and Android. Facebook Page...