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• Google updates the guidelines for assessors third time this year Aug 05 It's third time this year that Google has updated the guidelines for assessors (experts assessing the quality of search results and the pages displayed in it). This time, the changes are even smaller than in the previous version of the document, which was published in May. The latest innovations will mainly be interested to SEO specialists who work with non-English pages. For instance, the pseudoscientific and fake content details have been clarified, comments displaying pornographic ads on websites that do not contain adult content have been removed, new examples of pages with the lowest quality have been introduced, as well as a completely new section on the display of results in English for non-English-speaking locales. There are changes that are purely of a natural style: for example, the selection of some words in italics has been removed. The section on using the Foreign Language label for pages in a foreign language like Ukrainian and Russian is replaced with an example of Catalan and Spanish. A complete guide for assessors Google is a 160 pages book. It should be recalled that the Google assessors guide has already been updated in March and May this year. The main changes aimed at combating dubious content in search results took place this March. The largest May updates affected the assessment of the quality of news websites, in particular the use of the "Upsetting-Offensive" label that was introduced in March.

• Google does not consider a sticky footer as a violation of the rules Aug 04 In most cases Google does not penalize or lower websites for using a sticky footer. Thus, there is no need to worry about possible problems due to the use of this technique. This information was stated by the Google search representative Gary Illyes on Twitter. At the same time, Illyes advises to avoid obsession, so as not to cause irritation among users when sticking the footer. Nah, I would not worry about that, but do not try to make them as less obtrusive as possible. You really do not want to annoy your users. - Gary "鯨 理" Illyes (@methode) July 28 It should be recalled that in April the search rep, John Mueller, said that Google does not punish websites for posting end-to-end text and links into the footer of the page. The content of this block is not regarded by the search engine as the main page on the website. Earlier this month it became known that the location of internal links on the page does not affect their weight.

• Google tests a new format for price extension in Product Listing Ads Aug 04 Merkle agency specialists noticed that Google is testing a new format for price expansion in product listings. Testers put the product price, which is shown at a discount, and the crossed-out original price on the right side. As a result, users immediately see that the product participates in the promotion. Testing is carried out in the mobile and desktop Google versions. As noted in Merkle, this format of displaying information about the discount allows you to save space in the ad and show other extensions (free delivery, product rating). In addition, it helps to increase CTR ads and highlight company offers among competitors' ads. Testing is conducted on a limited scale. Google representative said to the Merkle Company that they are constantly testing various formats to give users the most useful information.

• Google ignores canonical links when an error is suspected Aug 03 Google ignores canonical links if it is suspected that an error could have been made during their implementation. This was told by the search representative, John Mueller during the last video meeting with webmasters. One of the participants asked Mueller at the meeting: "If a large number of canonical links points to the same page, can this lead to some problems with website?" Mueller replied the following: "No, it is not necessary. The only problematic situation that may occur is when all these pages point to the main page as canonical. In this case, our systems understand that the rel = canonical attribute was wrongly implemented and thus, they ignore this data. But if the website contains a large number of pages with the same content (URLs with different parameters, etc.), using the rel = canonical attribute is an ideal option in this situation." It should be recalled that earlier this month the Moz founder, Rand Fishkin, prepared a review of the best practices for the URL canonicalization.

• Google adds tags for recipes, videos and products in the image search Aug 03 Google added tags for recipes, videos, products and GIF to the image search results. Now when searching for images, users will immediately see which type of content the individual results are related to. The Google rep commented on the new feature saying the following: "These badges will help you find those images that involve additional actions or contain more detailed information." To display a label on a website page, appropriate marking of structured data should be added: for recipes, goods or video. GIF-images Google algorithms will recognize and mark automatically, thus, markup is not needed for them. New badges will not always be displayed just like extended snippets. Filling in the fields for the recommended properties of the markup increases the chances of getting them. Google also updated its structured data verification tool. Now it processes markups for images. It should be recalled that Google started showing videos and recipes in the search results for pictures starting from last month.

• Publishers have found a way to beat Facebook's ranking algorithms July 25 The AdAge Edition noted that publishers have found a way to beat Facebook's ranking algorithms. They began to attach short videos in MP4 format instead of pictures; since videos re usually given priority in the users' tapes. New tactics are used by large publishers, such as BuzzFeed, and smaller ones, among them is ForShitsAndGiggles. For example, the 48-second "video" published by BuzzFeed has received more than 1.4 million views in just a couple of weeks: Other examples also include short videos that last only a few seconds. The Facebook representative in the AdAge commentary says that the social network does not prioritize the video before other types of publications in the news line. But if the user usually interacts with the video, he will often see posts of this format in his tape: "We are constantly improving the news line to show you the most relevant stories, and prevent attempts to deceive the system." Nevertheless, Russ Torres, the USA Today Network vice president of video content and strategy believes that in fact Facebook promotes the video in line. BuzzFeed and ForShitsAndGiggles have not yet commented on this aspect.

• Google uses ccTLD for geotargeting and Search Console settings July 25 John Mueller, Google spokesman described the way the search engine targets search results for users living in different regions of the globe. According to Mueller, geographic targeting uses factors such as ccTLDs or Search Console settings. For geotargeting we use mostly the ccTLD or search console setting, so place the server. — John ☆.o(≧▽≦)o.☆ (@JohnMu) July 7 Earlier Google analyzed the server location determining the region where the website should be ranked best. Apparently, now this factor is not counted.

• Google intends to improve the interaction of a person with AI July 25 Google announced the launch of a new research project, which goal is to study and improve the interaction between artificial intelligence (AI) and human beings. The phenomenon was named PAIR. At the moment, the program involves 12 people who will work together with Google employees in different product groups. The project also involves external experts: Brendan Meade, a professor of Harvard University and, Hol Abelson, a professor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The research that will be carried out within the framework of the project is aimed at improving the user interface of "smart" components in Google services. Scientists will study the problems affecting all participants in the supply chain: starting from programmers creating algorithms to professionals who use (or will soon be using) specialized AI tools. Google wants to make AI-solutions user-friendly and understandable to them. As part of the project, Google also opened the source code for two tools: Facets Overview and Facets Dive. Programmers will be able to check the data sets for machine learning for possible problems using the tools mentioned. For instance, an insufficient sample size.

• Google will no longer trust WoSign and StarCom certificates July 25 Google reports that in the coming months, it will completely stop cooperation with certificates issued by WoSign and StarCom certification centers. The change will take effect with the release of Chrome 61, which is expected in mid-September. It will affect the certificates issued before October 21,, the period of validity of which has not yet expired. Last year, Google Chrome 56 stopped trusting the certificates from WoSign and StarCom, released later October 21,. After the release of Chrome 57, the browser partially stopped trusting the old certificates. An exception was made for websites that are among the first million in the Alexa rating. From now on, all certificates from these centers will be banned. "Starting with Chrome 61, the white list will be removed, which will lead to a complete cessation of trust in the existing root certificates of WoSign and StarCom and all certificates that they have given out. Websites that still use certificates from StarCom and WoSign should urgently consider replacing them, so as to minimize any inconveniences to Chrome users," reports Google. It should be recalled Mozilla announced about freezing its cooperation with WoSign and StartCom in September. Starting with the Firefox 51 the certificates are considered to be invalid. At the same time, the support of certificates issued before October 21, is still preserved.

• AdWords launches a new keyword-level bidding interface July 11 Google AdWords users all around the world noticed that is a new keyword-level bidding interface is launching soon. Google will show recommended bids for different ad positions on the page, even if the bid simulator for this keyword is not available. Some phases were also changed a little bit. Instead of the "top of the page" is now replaced by "over all organic results"; instead of "first position" the tab "over all other ads" will be now used. There was no official launch announcement yet. Let us remind you that Google AdWords changed algorithm of work of the Optimizer of the price for conversion last week. Earlier this tool could raise the maximum bid for prospective clicks by no more than 30%. Now this restriction is lifted.

• Cyber attack that took place on May 12 affected 200,000 users from 150 countries July 11 The victims of the mass cyberattack that occurred on May 12 were 200 thousand users from 150 countries. This information was stated by the press-secretary of the European police department (Europol) Jen Ohn Jen Hurt. According to him, there are many affected companies, including large corporations. He also noted that the cyber attack may continue on May 15, when people come to work and turn on their computers. The virus, called WannaCry blocks access to files and requires affected users to pay $ 300 ransom in bitcoins. Unless the price is paid in three days, hackers threaten to double this amount, and after 7 they remove all files from the computer. The first reports of cyber attacks appeared in the media and social networks on Friday, May 12. According to Europol, the malware was launched from the National Health Service of England. Then it affected networks in other countries. The virus infected computer networks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Megafon and other organizations in Russia. Proofpoint specialist Darien Hass and author of the MalwareTech blog managed to stop the spread of the virus using code to access a meaningless domain on May 13. However, the WannaCry creators released a new version of the virus, which no longer refers to this domain name. It is noted in Europol that the motivation of hackers is not fully understood. Typically, this type of attack is revenue-oriented. However, in this case, the amount of the repurchase is small. According to the ministry, only a few companies and individuals agreed to pay $ 300 to attackers, following the recommendations of law enforcement agencies. According to The Guardian, the accounts of the creators of the extortion virus received $ 42,000 from approximately 100 people. The intruders have not been revealed yet.

• The Italian authorities fines WhatsApp for $ 3 million euros July 11 The Italian Antimonopoly Authority fined WhatsApp service developers for 3 million euros. This information was reported reported by Reuters. According to the agency, WhatsApp imposed conditions on the users that obliged them to agree to data transfer to Facebook parent company. In particular, they were persuaded that without agreeing on this they would not be able to continue using the service. The WhatsApp press service commented on this situation the following way: "We are considering this decision and preparing a response to the authorities." The supervisory authorities of all EU countries demanded that WhatsApp last year to suspend the transfer of Facebook data because of users’ doubts' in agreeing on the conditions. The fact that WhatsApp will open Facebook access to the user base became known in August.

• Google tests a new search results format with ready-made answers July 11 English-speaking users noticed that Google is testing a new format for the search results that would include ready answers. From now on the website, the content of which was used to generate a response will no longer be displayed in the search results. The reference to it is contained only in the block with the answer. "Google removed the result from the search on the page that was already shown in the block with the answer for this query. Now the block with the answer is the only result for the page on a specific request, "says The SEM Post blog It is noted that the new feature is currently available for many users, but not all of them. This can mean a large-scale testing or a gradual launch.

• Google Drive will become a backup tool June 17 Google plans to make a backup tool out of Google's cloud service. Soon it will be available to track and archive files inside any folder the user specifies. This can also be the contents of the entire hard disk or the Documents folder. The backup function will be available from June 28 after the release of the new Backup and Sync application, which is the latest version of Google Drive for Mac / PC. It is assumed that users will have the opportunity to open and edit files located in the cloud. It is still not clear whether they will be able to synchronize information between multiple PCs using Disk as an intermediary. Since the auto update to Backup and Sync is not planned, the company recommends installing a new application immediately after being released. The new feature is primarily targeted at corporate Google Drive users.

• Google is speeding up the mobile pages in the ranking June 17 Google is changing its approach to assessing the speed of page loading. In the near future, the ranking will take into account the speed of mobile pages and not desktop. This was reported by the Goole search representative Gary Illyes at the SMX Advanced conference. As you know, at the moment Google measures only the loading speed of the desktop pages. These data are used both in desktop ranking and mobile. However, mobile speed is more important for Google. Therefore, it was decided to make changes to the search algorithm. This approach is already under consideration. Illyes also stressed upon the fact that Google will actively inform webmasters about any changes before launching the mobile-first index. So not to make a surprise for specialists. Earlier it was reported that Google has not been planning to take into account the downloading speed for mobile pages in the ranking.

• Google My Business has added a tool for website creation June 17 Google My Business has launched a new tool using which users will be able to create a free business card website for their company. You need to verify ownership of the company page in My Business to access the tool. The data and photos placed on it will be used to create the website. The website appearance can be configured, and its contents supplemented. If you change the company’ data, the website will be automatically updated. In addition, it will be optimized for cross-platform devices. Having created a website you can publish it immediately or do that later. A window that offers you to create a website appears after the confirmation of the company page. This function is also available in the "Website" menu. For more information about this feature see the Help Center. According to Google, 60% of small businesses do not have their own website. With the help of a new tool they will be able to create them.

• Instagram launches tags for sponsored posts June 17 Instagram added a new feature to mark the paid posts with the "Sponsor of publication" label with the indication of the partner company. This information was reported by the service press. In the coming weeks, the new label will begin to appear in advertisements and bloggers’ “stories” all around the world. When you click on it, users will be able to go to their business partner account. The content creator and its partner will have access to statistics for each publication when the label is used. This will help them understand how subscribers interact with similar materials. Content creators will see this information in the Statistics section in Instagram, as well as their partners on their Facebook page. Instagram authorities believe that the innovation will strengthen the atmosphere of trust inside the service. To date, a new feature is only available for a small number of companies and content authors. In the coming months, developers are planning to launch it for a wide audience along with official rules and guidelines.

• Google: 503 status code should not be applied for weeks June 15 Google’s spokesman John Mueller said that the server's 503 response code should be used within a few hours, but not weeks. 503 error means that the server is temporarily unable to process requests for technical reasons (this may be a maintenance, overload, etc.). This is a good method to help Google understand that the website will be unavailable for a limited period of time. However, it is not recommended to use it for longer than a few hours. According to Mueller, "weeks" does not mean temporary. He also added that the webmasters are misleading Google in this case. If it's not accessible for weeks, it would be misleading to include it in search, imo. It's an error page, essentially. - John ☆ .o (▽ ≦ ≦) o. ☆ (@JohnMu) June 8 We should remind you that John Mueller previously told how not to lose the position in the search engine, if there is a need to temporarily suspend the website (for a day or more) either due to technical maintenance or for other reasons.