Last Week in Search: Google Reveals 10 More Algorithm Changes & Ditches the Black Nav Bar
Google Ditches the Black Navigation Bar
I’ve made no secret about my hatred of Google’s black navigation bar. I hate it so much I even contemplated a switch to Bing when it rolled out. Answering all my prayers, Google rolled out a major design change late last week, abolishing the black bar to the depths of hell and reconfiguring its navigation to a rollover menu. Those who are as pedantic about screen real estate as myself will be thrilled. However those who enjoyed the one-click product change features of the black bar will be forced to do a bit more work. Regardless, the new navigation system is easy to pick up and gives Google’s now “design-unified” products so much more room for activities.
Google Reveals More Recent Algorithm Changes
Google’s become very open about its algorithm over the last few months, taking to their Inside Search blog again this week to detail another round of algorithm changes. The list includes goodies like more extensive indexing, ‘parked domain’ detection, expanded autocomplete predictions and better detection of original content authorship. Keep your eyes peeled for this week’s show or sign up for Jim’s video newsletter, as we’ll be covering the changes more extensively and looking at how they can affect your business. Check out our breakdown of the last round of changes in the video below.
YouTube’s New Design Goes Live
YouTube debuted a new design last week focused on making the video service a better platform for content consumption. Changes such as a new YouTube Guide for content discovery, social integration with Google+, Facebook & Twitter, and a redesigned trending videos dashboard are now live with the new design. The changes coincide with YouTube’s push into celebrity-curated original content and provide a better platform for YouTube users to view subscription content. Check out our test drive with YouTube’s new design.
Getting Your Business Ready for Mobile this Holiday Season
Mobile search is in a unique situation this holiday season. More people are using their smartphones than ever to search, but most businesses aren’t yet savvy to the advantages of mobile optimisation. In Jim’s show last week we took a look at how your business can maximise its mobile presence for the holiday period and take advantage the huge rewards of smartphone growth. Mobile search won’t go away. Get ready now and reap the rewards from mobile search this holiday season. Check out Jim’s video below and get in touch if you need help getting your business ready for mobile this summer.
Question Time
Also on the Stew Art Media blog last week we answered a few reader questions. Myles Harris asked a great question about when to 301 redirect and Julian Newman wondered if Google favors sites using AdSense in the SERPs. Check out the links to find out more and ask a question of your own by dropping us a line on Facebook, Twitter or via email at [email protected].
Jim’s been here for a while, you know who he is.
