News and analysis on Google itself: search updates, new features and what they mean for your business.
News and analysis on Google itself: search updates, new features and what they mean for your business.
Google shapes how South Africans find everything, so when Google changes, businesses feel it. This category tracks the company itself: algorithm updates like Panda, Penguin and the core updates, changes to the search results page, local search and Google Business Profile, YouTube, Gmail and the many products in between.
We have followed Google closely for over twenty years, from the early days of guaranteed first page rankings to mobile first indexing, HTTPS deadlines and AI driven search. That history matters, because updates that look new are often the same ideas returning in a new form.
Read these articles to understand what each change means in practice, what is worth reacting to, and what is safe to ignore.
Articles in Google
Google Discontinues Site Search
For years now, (since 2008) Google has made it possible for website owners to use their powerful search functionality on their own websites. Now, according to a recent…
Local Search Update
Earlier this month Google implemented an update to their local search algorithm, which controls the "Local 3 Pack" of results that appear in the search results below a map when…
Google Adds Fact Check Tag
As an ever increasing amounts of information are added online, establishing the veracity of that information has become an important factor for both people and corporations. As…
Google Unveils Smart Messaging App
Google has just unveiled its smart messaging app, Google Allo, featuring the first preview of their digital assistant in a late entry to attempts by various companies (see Apple's…
Google Testing New Search Results Look
When Google first broke onto the scene in 1998, one of the things that really set them apart was their clean, simple look. Compared to other search engines of the day, cluttered…
Deep Learning Course Made Available
If you've been following the tech news recently, you'll have noticed that there has been a lot of attention paid to the concept of "Deep Learning" in the last few months. Deep…
Google Reveals RankBrain AI
Ok, maybe not strictly AI in the truest sense, but a few days ago, in the wake of new Google "over-company" Alphabet earnings reports, Google revealed that for several months…
Google Reorganises Corporate Structure
Earlier this month, Google made new waves when they announced the implementation of a corporate restructure, in which they'll reorganise under the name "Alphabet," of which Google…
7 Pack Becomes 3 Pack For Local Results
As of the beginning of this month, Google began implementing a change to the way that the local results are displayed in search. Where we've been used to search engine results…
Google Panda Refresh In Progress
After months of relative quite, Google announced last week that they had begun rolling out the newest update to the infamous Panda algorithm, designed to reduce search engine…
A New Way To Target Google Ads
Hot on the heels of Facebook’s introduction of ‘Custom Audiences’, Google is looking for a new way to target ads more directly. Custom Audiences is Facebook’s way of doing this,…
Health Search On Google
Using the internet as a tool for finding out what’s ailing you is a tried, but not-very-well-tested, online tradition. We’ve all heard those jokes. Maybe we've even gone onto…