Google Answers if Meta Description Matters for Rankings
Google’s John Mueller answers if the Meta Description tag matters for ranking purposes
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 Deprecates Some Image and Video Sitemap Extensions
Google announced that it is deprecating several image and video sitemap tags and attributes
Updated Astra WordPress Theme Offers Stronger Performance
Astra WordPress theme, used by nearly 2 million websites, released a new version that delivers faster performance and many UI and design improvements
What Structured Data To Use And Where To Use It?
Google’s John Mueller offers advice on how to choose structured data
Why Do Core Web Vitals Scores Always Change?
Google’s John Mueller answers why core web vitals scores seem to always change even when web pages remain the same
New WordPress 6.0 Details Reveal Major Improvements
WordPress 6.0 takes big step toward fulfilling Gutenberg’s promise to make WordPress easy to create websites and publish content
Technical Issues Usually Not a Trigger for Core Update Problems
Google’s John Mueller answers if a technical site problem immediately preceding a core algorithm update could cause a loss of rankings
HubSpot WordPress Plugin Vulnerability
HubSpot WordPress Plugin, used by over 200,000 publishers, patched a Server Side Request Forgery vulnerability
Google Patent for Modifying Results Based on Generic Ratings
Google patent for showing content from around the world but modifying the search results based on generic ratings
How Does Google Multisearch Affect SEO?
Google’s John Mueller answers a question about multisearch and how that might affect SEO
Vulnerability Found in WordPress Anti-Malware Firewall
Reflected XSS vulnerability was patched in Anti-Malware Security and Brute-Force Firewall WordPress Plugin
Bingbot User Agent is Changing
Microsoft announced that bingbot is changing its user agent and it’s gaining desktop and mobile device variants
ThirstyAffiliates WordPress Plugin Vulnerabilities
Two vulnerabilities discovered in ThirstyAffiliates Affiliate Link Manager WordPress plugin can lead to full site takeover and insertion of arbitrary links
Meta Announces Research To Create Human-Level AI
Facebook parent company Meta announced a new research project with the goal of creating human-level AI that processes data like humans
Cloudflare Names OVH and Hetzner as Origins of DDOS Attack
Cloudflare named botnets on OVH and Hetzner as origins of one of the largest DDOS attacks, 15.3 million request-per-second
Google Feels Earnings Impact From Russian War on Ukraine
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, explained how Russia’s war on Ukraine has impacted revenues, both directly and indirectly during 2022 Q1 earnings call
Meta Research Reveals Conversion Optimization Best Practices
Meta research paper shows how to improve landing page conversion rates and offers a free evaluation scorecard to help improve them
WP Engine Ending Support for .htaccess
WP Engine announced that .htaccess will no longer be supported. Believe it or not, this might be the future of web hosting
WordPress 6.0 Features Numerous Accessibility Improvements
WordPress announces that version 6.0 features numerous accessibility improvements that bring it closer to WCAG 2.0 AA compliance
Drupal Warns of Two Critical Vulnerabilities
Drupal warned of two moderately critical vulnerabilities that allow attackers to overwrite data and inject disallowed values
Is Google Search Worse? Many Seem to Agree
Is Google Search worse? And if so, is it because content is so bad or is the algorithm to blame?
Gutenberg 13.0 Previews WordPress 6.0 Improvements
Gutenberg 13.0 shows off new features that will be included in WordPress 6.0 in May 2022
New Web.com eCommerce Platform Helps SMBs Reach Millions of Potential Buyers
Web.com announced a new eCommerce platform that combines a simple drag and drop interface with sophisticated SEO and eCommerce automation
WordPress Performance Lab Plugin Officially Out of Beta
The official WordPress Performance Lab plugin is out of beta, featuring stable infrastructure for non-experimental modules
Why Updating Images Can Backfire
Google’s John Mueller shares that indexing images is slow, which can negatively impact image heavy sites that update their images
A Guide To ‘Organization’ Structured Data For Google Rich Results
How can you use ‘organization’ structured data to help Google better understand your content and optimize for rich results?
Google Offers 3 Strategies for Adjusting to Privacy First Marketing
Google explains how to drive conversions when privacy regulations deprive marketers of today’s tracking data
AdSense Pausing Monetization On Some Ukraine Related Topics
Google sent a reminder to publishers that expands on current policy related to showing ads on content about the war on Ukraine
WordPress Elementor Plugin Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
A Remote Code Execution Vulnerability discovered in the Elementor Website Builder plugin that can lead to full site takeover
Amazon Raises Affiliate Commission Rates
Amazon announces a limited time increase in commission rates. How does it compare to pre-Covid commission percentages?