Google stops supporting meta news keywords tag
In 2018, we learned that Google had quietly dropped support for the news meta keywords tag.
Google did not announce this change, which had actually happened months earlier.
It was Google Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller who confirmed this on Twitter:
Using the news meta keywords tag no longer helped Google understand your news content. Google ignored it the same way they ignore the normal meta keywords tag.
Google introduced the news meta keywords tag specifically for publishers in 2012.
Also on this day
Google: Spam less than 1% of Maps content
2020: Spam represented less than 1% of the 20 million daily contributions Google received on Maps.
Google adds new image license metadata for licensable image label
2020: Google was beta testing a new way for sites to display licensing information about content that appears in Google Images.
Advertisers can now view Google mobile speed scores for more landing pages
2019: Google Ads tweaked its mobile speed score algorithm to reduce the number of ad clicks needed to generate a result.
Bing to require LegitScript certification for addiction recovery advertisers
2019: Drug and alcohol addiction recovery centers would have to be certified before running an ad campaign and could no longer use lead generators.
Yelp tests offline attribution using guest WiFi and email matching
2018: The company said that every $1 spent on Yelp ads resulted in a $110 offline return, based on aggregate transaction data.
Google says no algorithm changes in new deal to demote pirated content in UK search results
2017: Google and Microsoft Bing agreed to reduce pirated content from their search results in an agreement named the Voluntary Code of Practice.
New ‘Call-Only’ Ad Types Arrives In Google AdWords To Make Mobile Easier
2015: Ad type would give mobile-centric marketers the ability to set up phone call conversion only campaigns.
Yahoo Wants To Syndicate Search To 600,000 Mobile Apps
2015: Yahoo had an ambitious plan to extend the reach of its search, display and video ads through a new Mobile Developer Suite.
Search In Pics: Google Glass Book, Android Mobile & Pebble Beach Box Seats
2015: The latest images showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more.
Bing Webmaster Guidelines Updated To Include Demotions For Keyword Stuffing
2014: The warning said Bing may demote or delist a site that uses keyword stuffing.
Yahoo Gives $10 Million To Help Develop Next-Gen Siri And Better “Contextual Search”
2014: Yahoo gave $10 million to Carnegie Mellon University to support “InMind,” a project that sought to develop a next generation intelligent assistant and enhanced personalization capabilities.
Yandex Reports Revenue Up 37% In Q4, Ad Network Revenue Nearly Doubles
2014: The company said it had more than 270,000 advertisers, a 30% gain year-over-year and up 10% from Q3 2013.
No, Google Hasn’t Released Unannounced Penguin Updates
2013: A recent Google video might have suggested that Google was pushing Penguin Updates without announcing them, but Google said this wasn’t the case.
Google Shopping Tops Amazon Product Ads: 32.7% More Cost Effective
2013: In the second half of 2012, Google Shopping sent 120% more traffic to merchants than Amazon Product Ads.
Google Enables Blocking AdWords Results With Block Site Feature
2012: It appearsed you could block sites from showing up in the paid search ad results, whether signed into Google or not.
“Googler Killer”, Cuil, Patent Applications Acquired By Google
2012: Cuil, which launched in June 2008 and went defunct in September 2010, had their patent applications acquired by Google.
AdCenter Revamps Location Targeting To Mimic AdWords
2012: Microsoft adCenter made changes to its location targeting functionality that brought it into line with the industry standard Google AdWords.
The Microhoo Bunch
2010: The recently approved Microsoft-Yahoo search deal, set to a TV theme song.
Google Suggests Ways To Prevent Hacking
2009: Using Google site search could help identify if a hacker had added common spam content, or Google Alerts could be used to monitor spammy words and phrases.
Google Changes Display URL Policy: One Domain Per Ad Group
2009: Advertisers could only have the same domain showing in a specific ad group in the display URL field.
Google Maps: Transit Updates, Map Maker In 27 Languages
2009: The objective of the product was to enable local users/developers to build out maps data and content for places in the world where there are no commercial or other third-party databases that Google could easily implement.
Google AdSense Adds Font Selection
2009: Publishers could pick between Arial, Times, and Verdana font types and they would be present on all of their Latin-based character units.
Google Brings Back Video & Drops Shopping From Top Navigation
2009: In November 2007, Google did the exact reverse.
Search In Pictures: Ask.com At Daytona, Vint Cerf At SMX & Yahoo Hack Day India
2009: The latest images showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.
Lee Odden Interviews Google’s Adam Lasnik
2008: Topics included duplicate content issues, and if there are penalties, and using the nofollow to “sculpt PageRank.”
Microsoft & Google Sued Over Paid Search Patent Infringement
2008: A company named Paid Search Engine Tools of Liberty Township said Google’s AdWords and Microsoft’s adCenter products infringe on their patent, “Paid search engine bid management.”
Gates On Yahoo Acquisition: It’s The Engineers We Want
2008: It wasn’t the advertisers, the brand, or the traffic so much as the engineers that Microsoft wanted in the Yahoo acquisition.
Yahoo Search Index Now Supported By Open-Source Hadoop Architecture
2008: The benefits, among others, were cost savings and scalability.
Van Natta To Leave Facebook, Yahoo Offers Enhanced Severance To Retain Employees
2008: The reason given for the packages was employee retention in a climate of uncertainty, which had accelerated the departures of a number of high profile Yahoo employees.
Newspond Lauches News Aggregation Site That Uses A “Tireless Electronic Brain”
2008: Newspond was a news aggregation site that boasted “No editors. No voting. Just an AI news engine.”
SES London 2008 Day Two Recap
Mobile Search Still A Close Race
2007: Google had about 4.75 million U.S. subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2006, roughly 1.1 million more than Yahoo.
New Stats On Google’s Products Show Video & Blog Increasing While Froogle & Directory Decreasing
2007: “Super performers”: Google Video, Google Blog Search, Google Scholar and Google Desktop.
Listing Of Lists Of Google Products
2007: A listing of lists of Google products.
Let Google Drive Your Car For You
2007: Page “proposed giving computers control over cars” so that there will be fewer accidents.
Google Teaches Programming Class At University Of Washington
2007: This course would “teach students to use 40 computers to solve problems such as how many times the word ‘mild’ appeared on the Internet and which ‘mild’ was most relevant to Internet users.”
Viacom To Sign With Joost Over Google’s YouTube
2007: Joost was like YouTube but they specialized in commercial video.
Text Messaging: Where The Volume And The Dollars Are Today
2007: Mobile advertising as a mass medium would take off, but the question was: when and in precisely what form?
From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)
- E-commerce category pages outperform product detail pages in SERPs
- How digital commerce marketing is reshaping search, marketplaces and social
- A quick guide to understanding Google’s quality rater guidelines
- Bing’s holistic view of search on display at SMX West
Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.
- 2019: How lucrative is local search? by Jamie Pitman
- 2019: Advanced YouTube tactics: Create custom audiences to pursue, and watch that fine print by Amanda Farley
- 2018: Why entities may power the future of location-based data by Adam Dorfman
- 2018: Enterprise SEO and cross-channel performance: Activation and integration by Jim Yu
- 2018: How to sync your keywords and ad labels with an AdWords Script by Daniel Gilbert
- 2017: Dos and don’ts of PPC advertising for universities by Pauline Jakober
- 2017: 6 business types that reap the most reward from local SEO by Pratik Dholakiya
- 2015: 5 Techniques To Safely Get Links In 2015 by Neil Patel
- 2014: How To Use AdWords Scripts Efficiently In Agencies And Enterprise SEM by Frederick Vallaeys
- 2013: What B2B SEOs Need To Know About Buyer Personas by Derek Edmond
- 2013: Why Do Big Data & Programmatic Marketing Actually Matter? by Dax Hamman
- 2012: Have You Been The Target Of A Google Places Hit Job? by Andrew Shotland
- 2012: How To Run Your PPC Accounts Like A Project by Brad Geddes
- 2012: Less Than 10% Of The Web In 2012 Is Mobile Ready
- 2012: You Don’t Have To Be Nuts To Worry About Changing Your Domain by Jonah Stein
- 2009: SEO Vs. Web Site Architecture by Shari Thurow
- 2008: Eight B2B Landing Page Conversion Tips by Patricia Hursh
- 2008: The Art Of Growing An In-House Search Marketing Team by Duane Forrester
- 2007: Three Proven Steps For Getting On Digg’s Homepage by Neil Patel
< February 19 | Search Marketing History | February 21 >
