Looks like the cool Google retro game Easter egg is not functioning. The only information on why this is happening is from a reddit post. According to the post, the reason for the malfunction is because too many duplicates of the same image have been uploaded to Google.
For those not familiar with the Easter egg the way it function was the following:
First, do a search for anything in Google Images.
Next, after the image search results loaded, type “atari breakout” and search again.
If you performed the above steps correctly the images in image search results would transform into Atari Breakout blocks that you have to break with a ball and paddle (above image).
I hope Google fixes this as Atari Breakout is one of the better Easter eggs that Google created in search that veteran SEOs play when they need a break.
If you are a returning visitor of this site you might have noticed some big changes this past week. You might have been part of the change since some of them have been based on feedback from clients and non-clients alike in hopes of making the website better.
Here is a list of the following changes:
⦁ Homepage Update
The most common questions received about how SEO can help a business are now on the homepage to save visitors time.
⦁ Added SEO Services page
The SEO Services page helps with those who need more clarity in the work performed with SEO in general. There is a lot about SEO written online and “information overkill” is the result making the type of work performed in SEO even more confusing. Hopefully, this page helps clear up any confusion about SEO, the work involved, and how it can help your business.
⦁ Regular Blog Updates
The SEO Blog a useful way to get the latest SEO happenings on the site fast as well as educate visitors about SEO. This is also a way to help our clients (SEO blog readers) stay on top of any notable changes in SEO fundamentals that could affect SEO and as a way to increase the website’s own exposure in search.
Microsoft Bing is turning up the heat with a rather impressive revamped suite of Webmaster Tools it rolled out in 2020.
That was just the beginning, it seems…
Last month, Microsoft announced the integration of Microsoft Clarity into Bing Webmaster Tools. Clarity is a behavioral analysis tool that helps webmasters understand user experience using heat maps and session recordings.
Since the revamp over the Summer last year, Bing has slowly been tweaking it’s suite to make it easier than ever for SEOs to rank in Bing.
Although Bing has less than 7% of the search market share in the United States (6.45% to be exact {source}), The keyword “min-maxer” who is gunning hard for that one specific keyword (and all the search volume that comes with it) is generally targeting , not just Google, but, every search engine as well.
Now, in 2021 it will be exciting to see what Bing has in store for SEOs everywhere.
Pirated software has a long history of containing malicious codes going back to the days of P2P sites likes Napster and Limewire when such software was shared en masse. In the case of pirated WordPress plugins, the codes purpose is to boost another website’s search engine rank by dropping hidden links on any WP site that installs the plugin in the first place. This could also lead to problems for the site that installed the plugin as Google might flag the site for “unusual link activity” and issue a penalty even though the site’s owner is unaware of the plugin’s hidden blackhat SEO feature.
Think twice next time you want to download and install that nulled premium WP plugin.
There are a couple new search engines on the horizon that may disrupt Google’s 2 decade hold on the search industry.
Neeva
“We envision a search engine very differently” – Sridhar Ramaswamy, former head of Google advertising and co-founder of Neeva.
Neeva touts “Ad-Free Private Search” as stated in search results.
Sound familiar?
It’s DuckDuckGo’s claim to fame but their progress in competing against the other bigger brands in search has been slow. Maybe Neeva can pick up the slack.
You.com
“In many ways it’s surprising, given how large of an industry search is, that it hasn’t been fundamentally rethought,” said Richard Socher, formerly of Salesforce and You.com’s chief executive.
Organic First
You.com has ads but it claims to “prioritize real results over paid content and ads to ensure that can the integrity of the results can be trusted.”
Organic traffic being pushed to the top is something I’m sure SEOs love to hear.
2020 Statista Survey Shows SEO Outperformed Social Media Among Leading Traffic Drivers
HubSpot’s 2020 SEO statistics are pretty much what I expected. 2020 has been tough on businesses and cost effective marketing solutions like SEO became more in demand than ever.
About 64% of marketers actively invest time in search engine optimization SEO.
Text will always be the foundation of search so making sure the text around your website’s assets is descriptive will help them rank well in search. This includes adding text to images.
In 2020, SEO reports will tie initiatives to outcomes, such as showing the impact of SEO on broader business goals.
This year SEO has delivered more traffic than social media.
To improve site performance, the top technical SEO tactic used by marketers is optimizing mobile performance.
49% of users say they use Google to discover or find a new item or product.
50.33% of searches on Google end without a click on a result.
As of June 2019, 94% of internet searches happen on a Google property.
Google uses 810 unique SERP features. Of those, 161 are found on more than 0.2% of keywords.
The average CTR from image results on Google is 0.21%, but it varies widely by industry.
John Mueller, the ever-so patient Google Search liaison, has once again revealed some useful SEO information. Google’s algorithms not only try to look at the “bigger picture of the website” but also “look at smaller parts of a website” according to John.
“And it’s also that there are always a lot of different things that come out with regards to search, and some are a little bit more focused on the domain or on a bigger picture of the website. Some are focused more on smaller parts of a website,” John explained. “so even outside of a core update, you might see these shifts across some parts of your site, and other parts going up, some parts going down.“
Google ranks pages. Not websites. Google will present you a single page per listing on any search you conduct. Every page on a website that has content on it has SEO potential.
Many website homepage rank well compared to other parts of the site but the truth is it’s because the homepage most likely has better/more content and more links pointing to it (backlinks). This is why the homepage ranks over most other pages on my most sites. Not because it is called the “home”page.
Takeaway Tip: SEO every page on your site that has content.
Does Google really know my taste buds better than me
It just goes to show you how much of an impact SEO has on the business world regardless of niche when celebrities get involved and speak up about Google SEO directly with a harsh viewpoint on Google’s search landscape. Such as in the case of Meathead Goldwyn, the celebrity pitmaster, who has recently revealed that he has spent $300,000 in the past 5 years rebuilding his site to meet Google’s strict search guidelines.
Meathead, who first criticized site’s recipe search system in 2011, is especially critical of Google when it comes to Google recipe rankings and how Google displays recipes in search results and has recently been vocal on the subject once again. “Engineers at Google have changed the way cooks write recipes,” Meathead tweeted on Christmas Eve. Some of his site’s best-loved recipes have been replaced by “oven-baked” barbecue and “crockpot” ribs on the first page of Google results.
Recipe SEO Is A Bit Of A Pain
To be fair, my experience with recipe SEO is limited as I have had only 1 client in my life that needed this service. Furthermore, there has never been much transparency on how Google ranks recipes.
Recipe SEO is more technical because of the Recipe schema. Lots and lots of details need to be added just to have a chance at entering the carousel displayed in Google Search. It’s very tedious work to be perfectly honest but it needs to be done if you want the best chance. The schema itself is a set of data-formatting specifications which standardize recipes across websites so that Google and other tech companies can display them to their users.
It’s not clear if recipe ratings are a valid ranking signal but, according to a recent article from Slate, “Google’s recipe ratings are meaningless.” I know from my own searches that subjective titles seem to have an effect as I often have seen “best” “easy” “fast” and other attractive adjectives as far as cooking goes. Of course, this is personal experience comprised of a handful of searches over the years so hardly a valid proof but do your own search on “chocolate brownie recipe” and see if the “best” one comes back. For me the top 3 results were the “best” whatever that means as I feel people have their own opinions about most food, unless you want me to believe that everyone thinks See’s candy is better than Godiva’s. I like See’s but maybe you like Godiva better. Sure, most people can agree when food is bad but when two delicious dishes are pitted against each other I feel like it will be a matter of personal preference among the masses to determine which is best.
Recipe SEO becomes frustrating fast and the best synopsis on it as of late can be represented by some recent words from Meathead Goldwyn himself:
Consider this post your EOY reminder that, if you haven’t accomplished the above things on your website, you should get started on doing so immediately. When Google starts enforcing the above signals anyone who is not prepared may be in for quite a shock to their rankings.
This Summer John Mueller (@JohnMu), Google’s Search Liaison, let everyone know some very useful information about images in regards to SEO for Google Search.
Mueller was asked if an original photo needs to be used to get the best results for SEO?
“It doesn’t matter for web-search directly.”
This would make sense on the surface as a website can use any image it wants to help convey it’s message. Even something abstract without a clear, direct message. Obviously this can save money on any website’s marketing budget since original photos require time or money to procure.
Free Stock Images Ok For SEO But What About For GMB?
Can the same be said for a Google My Business profile? Nope.
If you try to use stock photography for a GMB profile (the #1 component for local SEO) it’s quite possible the photo might be rejected and/or not shown (Plenty of personal experience with this through working with multiple GMB profiles over the years). This makes perfect sense when the photo is being used for verification and not expression. It’s not to say that you can’t upload all types of photos to a GMB profile but Google still requests original outdoor and indoor photos of any physical business location.
No Duplicate Content Penalty?
Then there is always the matter of duplicate content. Google hates duplicate content and exact match content will simply not be ranked. Does this rule apply to images though? John Mueller’s statement is one thing but this long term duplicate image experiment seems to send a different message suggesting there is actually a slight ranking advantage to original images, however, the heads of the experiment admit that “although this experiment shows a clear advantage for sites with unique images, it does not convey in any way the strength this advantage has in comparison with other signals.”
Google uses several signals but the overall feeling is that stock photos won’t hurt SEO but they are still missing a signal advantage and maybe more as image identification technology continues to improve.
