Industry News

No one should be surprised to hear that I am reporting on some intense Google search ranking volatility starting this Friday, December 22nd, through the weekend, with things seeming to calm down today, Sunday, December 24th. Did Google push an algorithm update or tweak before the holiday break? Who knows, but there are signals of ranking volatility either way.

Earlier this month we covered a report from Sterling Sky that said the Google Local search ranking algorithm now uses if a location is open as part of its local ranking system. Google's Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, confirmed the change late on Friday saying, "we've long used "openness" as part of our local ranking systems, and it recently became a stronger signal for non-navigational queries."

You'd expect that the Google search ranking volatility would calm as we get closer to the holiday break, Christmas timeframe. But no. Google's search ranking volatility is ever so heated, or shall we say, cold, as we approach the holidays.

A friend recently mentioned that he is feeding DALL•E prose from the fantasy novels he is reading, and asking it to create images of the scenes. This sounded like an excellent idea to me and since I am currently re-reading Lord of the Rings, I’ve been doing the same. It has genuinely enhanced my enjoyment of the book to create “text-accurate” images of the characters and scenes as I read.

Here are a few of my favorites (yes, I’m still in Fellowship)…

Tom Bombadil exactly as he appears...

I like this framing by Casey Winters on how to evaluate Feature/Product Fit when you release something new:

Feature/Product Fit has a third requirement that is a bit different: the feature has to improve retention, engagement, and/or monetization for the core product. This last part can be a bit confusing for product teams to understand. Not only do the products they are building need to be used regularly and attract their own usage to be successful, they also need to make the whole of...

The last likely Google confirmed update of the year, the November 2023 reviews update, completed last Thursday afternoon on the 7th. But days after it completed the Google search results are still super volatile and the fluctuations and chatter are heated.

The Johari Window: A Guide for Leaders by Sheril Mathews is a very helpful post for leaders about a model I wasn’t familiar with:

The Johari Window is a 2×2 matrix that captures how we communicate based on self-knowledge and how others see us. It’s a disclosure-feedback model of awareness based on principles of feedback and learning. It can be used for increasing levels of openness, self-awareness, and self-understanding. This makes the Johari Window a particularly relevant tool for...

Anne Helen Petersen brings some much-needed clarity to the meeting overload debate in The Root of Over-Meeting Culture. It’s worth reading this one in full because she takes her time to lay out the argument logically, but a few of things especially stood out to me.

When their team was fully in the office, managing probably felt straightforward. Most people managed by, well, looking and walking around. That was the heart of it. Now, figuring out what your team is doing, and how they feel...

This is a great hiring post on “reverse interviews”—or how to make interviews less one-sided and make sure you get the information you need to make a decision about a company. I like this question in particular:

Ask your direct manager for examples of promotions and attritions they have managed. Request stories about individuals they’ve managed in the past who have gone on to achieve significant success. Ask about the frequency of their meetings with direct reports, their perspective on...

I’ve definitely seen this too! How became the unofficial AI emoji:

In the relatively short history of emoji, sparkles have been used to express excitement and magic, said Jane Solomon, the senior emoji lexicographer at the emoji reference site Emojipedia. Branding new AI products with the emoji suggests that these tools are exciting and magical, which might encourage more people to test out the technology. “It can seem like magic if you don’t understand how it works,” Solomon said.