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Google search results to show more mobile-friendly sites on phones
Google believes you'd want to see more mobile-friendly websites when you do searches on a phone or tablet. That's why on April 21st, it'll start giving online destinations with mobile versions higher placements on the results page, assuming you're also using a mobile device. Google's updated algorithm will even parse info from indexed apps, if you have them installed on your phone/tablet and (in case it needs log-in credentials to work) if you're signed in. The company has long given ranking points to websites that are optimized for new computers and devices, and it also made finding mobile-friendly ones easier last year, so the change isn't entirely surprising. If you run a website and need to know if Google recognizes its phone/tablet version, though, you can run it through the company's mobile-friendly test tool. You can never be too sure, especially since the company believes this change "will have a significant impact in [its] search results."
Google's gunning for web spammers, bans us from mentioning Bieber
Google's changing its search algorithm to punish sites that emphasize search-engine optimization over quality. Mountain View's data centers will exclude sites that offer no useful content, have articles written in keyword-sprinkled gibberish or only link to sites within a cluster. If the computers find it, the site's pagerank will be demoted, with the company expecting to affect around three percent of all English language queries when it goes live later this week. The company isn't providing more details (lest it help those trying to game the system), so just get all of those gratuitous Justin Bieber references out of your system before Friday, okay?
Google explains how it searches the internet in under half a second, if you can find the video
Ever wonder how Google manages to search the entire web and return results in half a second? Well, RobertvH from Munich did, and Mountain View's head of web-spam, Matt Cutts, talks you through it in the above YouTube video. The short answer? Lots of backend firepower and, you know, a few years in the search game. If you remember the Google dance, Cutts explains what caused that, before going on to give a good idea about how today's version of the site does what it does. If you're thinking this all sounds a bit too much like SEO 101, you'd be half-way right, but as Matt's delivery is so engaging, we're def hoping there'll be a follow up.
