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1. Google: we now treat nofollow links as hints As announced some months ago, Google has started to count nofollow links as 'hints' on March, 1st. Before, nofollow links were not considered by Google's ranking algorithm.
There are two link attributes in addition to 'nofollow' When Google introduced the nofollow attribute about 15 years ago, it was introduced as a means to fight comment spam. The nofollow attribute was also used to flag sponsored links. As the web has evolved since 2005, Google has introduced two new link attributes for sponsored content and user-generated content. 1. The rel="sponsored" attribute The rel="sponsored" should be used to identify links on your site that were created as part of advertisements, sponsorships or other compensation agreements: <a href="https://www.example.com" rel="sponsored">This is a paid link</a> 2. The rel="ugc" attribute UGC stands for 'User Generated Content'. The ugc attribute value is recommended for links within user generated content, such as comments and forum posts: <a href="https://www.example.com" rel="ugc">This link was created by a user</a> 3. The rel="nofollow" attribute Use this attribute for cases where you want to link to a page but don’t want to imply any type of endorsement, including passing along ranking credit to another page: <a href="https://www.example.com" rel="nofollow">We do not endorse this site</a> rel="nofollow": Use this attribute for cases where you want to link to a page but don’t want to imply any type of endorsement, including passing along ranking credit to another page. All of these links are 'hints' Previously, Google would not count any nofollow link as a signal to use within the search algorithms. This has now changed. Google treats all link attributes (sponsored, UGC and nofollow) as hints about which links to consider or exclude within Search. Google does not ignore these links completely as links contain valuable information that can help Google improve search. For example, the words within links describe the content they point at. Google's Martin Splitt recently confirmed on Twitter that nofollow links won't be associated with your website: Let's be careful here: We do respect nofollow - we don't associate the link with your site.
However, we may still use the link for discovery.
That's an important nuance here... — Martin Splitt at 🏡🇨🇭 (@g33konaut) February 7, 2020 You don't have to change anything (but you can) Although it is not necessary to change your existing nofollow links, you might want to use the new link attributes for future links: If you use nofollow now as a way to block sponsored links, or to signify that you don’t vouch for a page you link to, that will continue to be supported. There’s absolutely no need to change any nofollow links that you already have. You can use more than one attribute, for example, rel="ugc sponsored" or rel="nofollow ugc". If you want to avoid a possible link scheme action, use rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow" to flag these links. According to Google, the move to a hint model won't change the nature of how Google treats such links. It will treat them as it did with nofollow before and not consider them for ranking purposes. All the link attributes, sponsored, ugc and nofollow, now work today as hints for Google to incorporate for ranking purposes. Google's John Mueller said that the change on March, 1st probably has no visible effect on most sites: I wouldn't be surprised if it had no visible effect on most sites. — 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) February 28, 2020 How to find nofollow links that point to your website To find link that use the nofollow attribute to link to your website, just use the Link Profiler tool in SEOprofiler. The Link Profiler tool also finds UGC and sponsored links: Get your free account 2. Internet marketing news of the week Bing search algorithm update in early February?
"But some are saying they saw an update on February 1st and 7th. [...] Frédéric Dubut from Bing said on Twitter 'We make changes to the core ranking model all the time, some bigger than others.'"
Google expects to apply mobile-first indexing to all websites in the next 6-12 months
"Most big brands are ready and most sites are responsive. If you're not ready, then you have 6 months to get there. Basically, mobile users are surpassing desktop users and Google wants to make sure that users have a good experience."
Google: sites are not tainted from old manual actions
"Gary Illyes from Google said on Twitter a 'site being tainted after a manual action is a SEO myth.' He said once you 'you request a reconsideration request and if successful, you're off the hook.' [...]
Although, that doesn't mean your rankings will bounce back. Sometimes there may be algorithms holding you back even after a manual action is removed."
New German law includes voice assistants under changed media regulations
"The foundation of the law is that user interface providers will be required to have a representative in Germany or the European Economic Area who can be sued in court for violations. Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Apple Siri voice assistants would all fall under the user interface banner.
The actual potential violations under the law are largely about identifying facts or opinions and ensuring that technical tools aren’t used to trick users into forming a specific opinion."
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Bing's reports are for normalized URLs. Check how your rich results look on Google Home. Confusing featured snippet filter bubbles on Google. Lighthouse for Firefox is now available. It took Google three years to add Firefox, Edge and Opera support to Google Earth. 3. Previous articles Local SEO: get your website ranked in Google's local results SEO website audits made easy Study: meta descriptions are very important - how to write them How to improve your business by tracking your search engine rankings Google updates mobile-first indexing best practices All you need to know about Google’s January 2020 core update How to identify thin content on your website How to use heading tags on your web pages (and how to check them) Technical SEO website audits made easy Google finally confirms the November 2019 local search update Click-depth as a ranking factor (and how to find the click depth of all pages on your website) View all past issues... Do you need better rankings for your website? SEOprofiler is a web-based search marketing tool that helps you to get better Google rankings. You can create a free SEOprofiler account here. The step-by-step manual will help you to get started as quickly as possible. | 