Google Updates Google+ Local Rating – Review Scale!

Now users can review a place on Google Maps as: "poor – fair," “good,” “very good,” or "excellent".
As announced on Google+, Google’s Megan Stevenson said that they have rolled out the updated rating scale which allows for giving easier and highly accurate reviews. Her post said- "It’s easier than ever to write accurate, useful reviews on Google+ Local, thanks to the updated rating scale we rolled out. If you want to rate the food at a restaurant, or the quality of a mechanic, just choose: "poor – fair," “good,” “very good,” or "excellent".
  

The new rating given by a user is then converted by Google into numbers and then used for the business' precise 30-point score which comes up in Google+, Search and Maps.

Google Updates Webmaster Guidelines!

This is an important piece of news for all webmasters. Google has announced that they have released and updated version of their Webmaster Quality Guidelines. As per Google, the updated quality guidelines have many more articles on specific issues like links schemes etc. The entire information directory is updated so that webmasters can create websites that are in line with what Google expects to be followed in terms of quality standards.

As the search engine giant said, “the main message of our quality guidelines hasn’t changed: Focus on the user. However, we’ve added more guidance and examples of behavior that you should avoid in order to keep your site in good standing with Google’s search results. We’ve also added a set of quality and technical guidelines for rich snippets, as structured markup is becoming increasingly popular.”

Do check out the new updates guidelines and let us know how you find them.

The Winners And Losers Of Google's Freshness Algorithm Update!

Google rolled out a freshness update in its Caffeine algorithm, that impacted 35% of the searches made. Now, SearchMetrics has compiled a list of the biggest losers and winners post the update. Most sites that have benefited from the update are major brands and a variety of news sites. News sites is not a surprise as the update was aimed at rewarding fresh content, the fresher the better.

SearchMetrics has used a “visibility score” that’s based on analyzing millions of keywords to get to the results. The winners are losers are decided on this score only and not on loss or gain in traffic.

The Winners Of Freshness Algorithm:

The clear winners are news sites as was expected, since they are constantly updated with fresh content. Celebrity news and gossip sites have done well for themselves too. Brands like Coke have also gained better visibility. The surprise winners include travel-related brands like Hotels.com, SouthwestVacations.com, and pizza sites like Dominos.com.

The Losers Of Freshness Algorithm:

The losers also includes various types of sites, some of them being the winners type, as in news sites. Independent.co.uk is a news site that has been hit, along with several government sites- CPSC.gov etc.

Ironically, Google's update has hit its own site- Blogger.com.

This update aimed at fresher content was supposed to impact 35% searches, and Google thinks this move will give the users access to really fresh content.

Was your site affected? Do share your views.

Resource: www.pagetrafficbuzz.com/winners-losers-googles-freshness-algorithm-update/12332