This day in search marketing history: March 26

More sites move to Google mobile-first indexing

In 2018, Google announced it had enabled mobile-first indexing for more websites.

This was the first time Google had confirmed it was moving a large number of sites to this mobile-first indexing process. Google told us in October 2017 that a limited number of sites had been moved over.

Websites that were migrated in this batch were following mobile-first indexing best practices and were notified of the change via a Google Search Console message.

Read all about it in Google begins rolling out mobile-first indexing to more sites.

Also on this day

Now, analyze more accounts in Google Ads Report Editor

2020: Advertisers could run reports for up to 200 accounts in a Manager account.

The new contextual ad targeting works, study says

2020: A new study looks at how contextual relevance of ads to content influences consumers.

EU Android search choice screen’s impact delayed due to COVID-19

2020: Engagement with the search choice screen had been slowed by stifled smartphone supply and decreased demand.

Small agencies brace for impact, but say remote work isn’t slowing them down

2020: Many expected client budget and project changes would have a negative effect on their businesses.

Businesses should limit, not disable, their sites during temporary closures, Google says

2020: A full takedown could result in losing Search Console data and make it more difficult to ramp back up.

Pinterest rolls out new commerce features for retailers as search volume climbs

2020: Upgrades included the new Verified Merchant Program, new conversion reporting opportunities, and updates to Catalogs and dynamic retargeting.

SEOs show mixed results following Google March 2019 core update

2019: The data was not conclusive on any specific tactic or type of site impacted by the algorithm change.

Google to retire the info: command, adds canonical information to URL Inspection Tool

2019: Google was retiring the info command because it “was relatively underused” and said the new URL inspection tool gave users much of that data now anyway.

Google Ads Keyword Planner gets new (and old) features

2019: Seed your keyword ideas with more terms, add keywords to existing campaigns and more.

Google adds vacation rentals to Hotel Search

2019: Increased competition between hotels and vacation rentals could increase visibility for rental providers and boost Google Hotel Ads revenue.

Europeans again raise the specter of breaking up Google

2018: More of a bargaining position, it was extremely unlikely to actually happen.

Bing begins removing sidebar text ads on desktop

2018: Starting in the US, text ads would show only in the mainline at the top and bottom of search results pages.

Bing ‘intelligent search’ capabilities continue to expand, include facts from multiple sources

2018: Bing also shared more about the platform it built to power intelligent search.

Google Testing Removing Line Separator Between Search Ads & Organic Search Results

2015: Google was testing removing the divider between the ads and free listings in the search results. Would it lead to more searcher confusion?

Google News Ranking Won’t Be Impacted By The New Mobile-Friendly Algorithm

2015: Google News ranking algorithm would not (yet) factor in if a publisher was mobile-friendly.

Google Expands Product Rating Stars In Google Shopping Ads To UK, France, Germany

2015: Star ratings for specific products appeared in product listing ads.

WSJ Report Suggests Intervention In FTC’s Google Investigation By White House

2015: Google lobbying reportedly affected agency’s decision in antitrust case.

Report: Mobile Search Queries 29% Of Total But Growth Modest

2015: Search query percentages didn’t line up with overall usage trends.

Google Says Don’t Delete Your Disavow File Prior To Uploading A New One

2014: He said instead, upload the new one, which will replace the old disavow file.

New AdWords For Video Reporting Now Rolling Out In Google Analytics

2014: Video Campaigns report in Google Analytics gave advertisers more insights into the performance of their YouTube TrueView ads that are managed through AdWords for Video campaigns.

How A Single Guest Post May Have Gotten An Entire Site Penalized By Google

2014: Another case of Google failing to keep its promise to provide more examples relating to penalties.

Bing Ads Launches Product Ads In U.S., Mobile Version Now In Beta

2014: After months of testing.

Microsoft “Research” Discovers The Obvious In Renewed Anti-Trust Attack On Google

2013: Indeed, Google displayed links to its own vertical search results differently. But so did Bing.

Google Gets Trademark Reprieve In Sweden Over Definition Of ‘Ungoogleable’

2013: “Ungoogleable” would not become an official word in Sweden.

CheapAir.com Mobile Voice Search Not Very “Natural”

2013: Its voice search fell quite short of expectations.

Google Eliminates Another Link Network, BuildMyRank.com – Just One Of Several?

2012: BuildMyRank.com confirmed Google had deindexed an “overwhelming majority” of their network as of March 19, 2012.

In Japan, Google Ordered To Remove Some Autocomplete Suggestions

2012: A man lost his job several years ago and was rejected for new jobs due to the suggestions offered by Google.

Report: 25% Of Paid-Search Clicks Will Come From Mobile By December

2012: Marin also estimated that 23% of Google’s US paid-search spend [by December 2012] would come from mobile campaigns.

Rumor: Apple To Add Baidu To iPhone Search Options

2012: It would have been strange for Apple to exclude China’s most popular search engine from the default options.

Survey: 87% Of iPhone 4S Owners Use Siri Monthly

2012: Roughly one third of iPhone 4S owners used Siri “almost daily.”

UBL And Yext Join Forces To Offer More Complete Local Data Syndication

2012: The combination offered convenience for local marketers who might have been trying to choose between Yext and UBL.

Google Fights “Pogostick Searchers” With New “Get More” Option

2010: “Get More” links appeared when a searcher came back to the search results page.

Does CEO Coffee Summit Equal Détente For Apple, Google?

2010: Did this meeting signal that both men (and both sides) were interested in some sort of “healing” or rapprochement?

Facebook Nabs Google’s David Fischer & Google Nabs Oracle’s Amit Singh

2010: Fischer would be the VP of Advertising and Global Operations at Facebook.

Google Pushing Hard(er) To Get Webmaster Products Adopted

2009: The Google Webmaster Tools Access Provider Program was renamed Google Services for Websites and expanded to include AdSense, Custom Search and Site Search.

Google To Cut 200 Sales & Marketing Staffers

2009: The affected employees would be given time to find new positions at Google and/or help in locating a job elsewhere.

Ask.com Shows Display Ads On Home Page

2009: Ask.com was the only “search engine” to have display ads on their search home page at the time.

Long Time Yahoo Search Scientist Jan Pedersen Joins Microsoft

2009: He was the latest in a string of ex-Yahoos to start working for Microsoft.

Yahoo Not Focused On MSFT Sale, Rather On Mobile & 141 Home Page Variations

2009: Yahoo had “tested 141 different versions of the homepage in search of one that will get users to stick around for longer.”

Yahoo – But Not Yahoo Search – Headed To TV

2009: Yahoo was making a move onto television screens with the Yahoo Widget Engine (YWE), but its first iteration wouldn’t include a Yahoo search box.

What Israeli SEMs Want

2009: To see Yahoo and Microsoft set up offices in Israel and for Yahoo to fix its search marketing platform.

Google AdWords Video Ads Now Live & In the Wild

2008: Announced in February, BlackBerry and AT&T were testing the ads.

Google Founders Take $1 Salaries Again; Tell Investors To Say No On Anti-Censorship Proposal

2008: Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, along with CEO Eric Schmidt, renewed their contracts again at a $1 per year salary.

Report: Microsoft To Up Bid For Yahoo To $34 Per Share

2008: It might have pleased Yahoo’s shareholders and put more pressure on Yahoo management to negotiate in earnest with Microsoft.

Google Continues Testing Navigational Link Placement

2007: More sightings of Google experimenting with additional navigational link placement ideas.

Google Gives Seminar On Google for Politics

2007: Google showed off how to use Alerts, AdWords, Analytics and AdSense. They also discussed YouTube and how that can impact an election.

Logo Bomb: Google Maps Returns Anti-Microsoft Logo For Microsoft Listing

2007: Here’s how it happened.

Yahoo Removes Directory Links From Individual Search Results

2007: Yahoo removed the links from the individual search listings to the Yahoo Directory because they caused “clutter.”

Yahoo Releases Greatly Simplified “SiteBuilder” Tool

2007: Yahoo created a “starter” tool that was extremely simple to use (template driven) and offered enough design choices to make it viable and interesting.

Travelocity: Non-Branded Terms Convert Nearly 25% But “Assists” Might Be Less Than Assumed

2007: Travelocity clarified that 20% of its bookings came from non-branded terms. When Travelocity bought a branded term, 4% of those got an “assist” or a click that converted after someone made an earlier visit via a non-branded term.

Rebranded Canadian Local Search Site ZipLocal Launches

2007: ZipLocal was a consolidated “Web 2.0” local search destination growing out of a number of earlier local search sites including Zip411.net and redToronto.com.

Live.com Link Command Currently Offline

2007: It had been offline for over 24 hours.

Yell.com Launches PPC On UK Directory Site

2007: UK yellow pages publisher and local search purveyor, Yell.com announced that it launched PPC ads on its site as well as targeted banner inventory.

No SEO Bull: Calacanis Challenge Sees Traffic Rise 21%

2007: Using “white hat” recommendation, Neil Patel increased Jason Calacanis’s search traffic by 21%.

From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)

SMX Overtime: Learn the difference between mobile-first indexing and mobile-friendly SEO (2019)

SMX Overtime: 3 tips to maximizing visual search potential (2019)

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.

2020: Explaining the Chrome ‘explainers’ for advertising without third-party cookies by Sam Tingleff

2018: Why we need to fight fake reviews by Wesley Young

2018: SEO for multi-language websites: How to speak your customers’ language by Marcus Miller

2015: 5 PPC Testing Myths & Mistakes: How To Avoid Them! by Mona Elesseily

2014: Why “Barnacle SEO” Is Making A Big Comeback In Local by David Mihm

2013: How To Estimate The Traffic Opportunity For Multinational Campaigns by Chris Liversidge

2013: How To Create A Sustainable Link Plan by Julie Joyce

2012: 4 Pieces Of PPC Conventional Wisdom You Should Possibly Ignore by Brad Geddes

2012: Are Yellow Pages Toast? Four Years Later We Review Ad Value by Chris Silver Smith

2012: Building Mobile Landing Pages That Succeed In Mobile Search by Sherwood Stranieri

2012: 24 Ways To Make Life Hard For Your SEO Team by Eric Enge

2010: Creating An Emotional Response From Your Web Site by Kim Krause Berg