Why Google Seems To Favor Big Brands & Low-Quality Content
An exploration of what could cause Google’s algorithms to favor big brands and low-quality content
About
I have 25 years hands-on experience in SEO, evolving along with the search engines by keeping up with the latest research, patents and what’s happening in the search results.
Need a consultation? Contact me at roger@martinibuster.com or use the contact form at: Martinibuster.com
I recently presented at Pubcon Vegas in October and March 2024, and over the past 20 years have presented at search conferences across the United States: Pubcon, SMX, Affiliate Summit & SES (Search Engine Strategies) and have served as a Head Judge at the U.S. Search Awards .
Articles
Google Announces Gemma: Laptop-Friendly Open Language Model
Google releases a powerful open model AI based on Gemini technology that is also laptop-friendly
Google Responds To Evidence Of Reviews Algorithm Bias
Google responds to detailed exposé of Reviews System Algorithm bias towards big brands at the expense of small publishers
5 Questions Answered About The OpenAI Search Engine
Five questions reveal what’s probably behind the OpenAI search engine announcement
Bricks Builder For WordPress RCE Vulnerability
Critical vulnerability in the popular Bricks visual website builder being actively exploited
Google Updates Guidance On Image Removal From Search Index
Update to the image removal guidance clarifies multiple points
Google Updates Rel=Canonical Documentation
The newly updated rel=canonical documentation better explains how Google uses rel canonicals
WordPress User Survey Indicates Rising Frustration
Respondents to the annual WordPress survey express frustration with the Gutenberg editor and poor site performance
Google On 404 Errors And Search Console Validation Fix
John Mueller answers questions about fixing 404 errors and validating fixes for 404s when they still exist
OpenAI ChatGPT Is Testing A Memory Feature
OpenAI is rolling out a test of a new memory feature for ChatGPT that can improve responses and become more efficient
Why Did Google Gemini “Leak” Chat Data?
This is why Google Gemini chat pages seemingly leaked onto the Internet
WordPress SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle Plugin Vulnerability Affects +600,000 Sites
WordPress plugin by SiteOrigin patched a stored XSS vulnerability affecting up to +600,000 websites
WordPress Backup Plugin DoS Vulnerability Affects +200,000 Sites
A high severity Denial of Service vulnerability patched in WordPress backup plugin with +200,00 installations
Google Gemini Warning: Don’t Share Confidential Information
Google Gemini warns against sharing confidential info that could be reviewed by humans or used in AI datasets.
Google Updates Web Stories Availability
The documentation for Web Stories has been updated to reflect changes in the availability
Google Clarifies the “Google-Extended” Crawler Documentation
Google updated the Google-Extended crawler documentation and adds a clarification
Research Shows That Offering Tips To ChatGPT Improves Responses
Researchers test 26 different prompting strategies and discover new and easy ways to get better results out of ChatGPT
Get Ready For Google’s INP Metric With These 5 Tools
Outpace competitors with these free tools for optimizing Interaction To Next Paint scores
Google Case Study Reveals Search Console Evolution Via APIs
A Google case study shows how APIs are transforming how users interact with Search Console
5 Takeaways From Google’s Revised SEO Starter Guide
Google released a comprehensive update to their SEO Starter Guide, offering five key tips for enhancing your site’s performance.
Could This Be The Google Navboost Patent?
A 2004 Google patent sharing similarities to Navboost is evidence of how user interactions may influence ranking algorithms
WordPress Website Builder Vulnerability Affects Nearly 1 Million Websites
High severity vulnerability in Website Builder by SeedProd can lead to unauthorized modification of data
Google Explains Why Syndicated Content Doesn’t Pass Ranking Signals
John Mueller answers question about when Google chooses to rank the syndication partner as the canonical source
Google: Changing URLs On Larger Sites Takes Time To Process
Google’s John Mueller shares insight about the time it takes to process changes to a larger site
WordPress 6.4.3 Security Release Fixes Two Vulnerabilities
WordPress 6.4.3 is released to patch two vulnerabilities and fixes 21 bugs
Google DeepMind WARM: Can Make AI More Reliable
DeepMind researchers published research on WARM, a way to mitigate reward hacking and improve the quality of AI answers
Sentence-Level Semantic Internal Links For SEO
An internal linking strategy for SEO that matches Google’s semantic understanding of content
Google SearchLiason: 4 Reasons Why A Webpage Couldn’t Rank
Takeaways from SearchLiaison’s informal audit that explained why a webpage wasn’t ranking in the search results
About Those Google AI Search Quality Raters
The termination of the Appen search quality raters ignited speculation about AI versions to replace them. What’s really going on?
What Semantic HTML Is And Why It’s Good For SEO
Semantic HTML can be useful for telling search engines where your content is and also where it’s not