Industry News

Google's John Mueller asked if it would be alright not to list a contact us and about us page on their website. The reason is, they would only add it if Google wanted it, but not for users. John Mueller responded, "I can think of good reasons for some sites to have these kinds of pages, but, after double-checking, there's nothing in our search developer documentation that suggests this is needed."

A week ago Monday, March 18th, I noticed Google's search developer documentation had generative AI features to help you find the answers to your question. This is in the form of an improved search, summary of the page content, a chat feature and more. I was told this was rolled out on some developer docs earlier in the year.

In November 2023 we started to see Google allow reactions on local photos and some reviews. Well, it seems to be rolling out more widely now.

There are countless complaints across the forums and social media that Google Analytics real time data is lagging and not reporting accurately. It seems like those complaints are legit after checking a number of sites.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...

This is a really great post by Ben Werdmuller. On the surface it’s about Building Engineering, but it’s mostly about good leadership and how to build successful products. I very much agree with his conclusion:

The most interesting and successful organizations have an externally-focused human mission and an internal focus on treating their humans well. That’s the only way to build technology well: to empower the people who are doing it, with a focus on empathy and inclusion, and a mission...

Google seems to be testing an Android App for Google Search Console. This comes several weeks after I reported that Google has no plans for a mobile app for Google Search Console.

Yesterday we reported Google is testing products and products sites in the search bar tab in the European regions. Today, Google is testing places and places sites in the search bar tab in the European regions.

Google's Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, was asked about if a business should always have a website and if so, should they also have a blog. Sullivan replied that he believes all businesses should have at least a basic website, but when it comes to a blog, that depends on what they have to say on that blog.

Google has added new 3D models markup support to the product structured data documentation so that you can connect, associate or link your products to the appropriate 3D model.