A small but handy new feature has come to Google Image search on mobile devices. The feature shows you the image title or the page title where the image is found in the search results.
If you go to google.com/images and do a search, you will now see the image title or page title as well as the URL in which it is found. There is nothing that you need to do on this as it is a cloud-side change.
Google has informed webmasters via a blog post that an upcoming changing the Google Search algorithm will take mobile site speed into consideration for page ranking. Referring to it as the “Speed Update”, starting in July 2018, sites that have slow response times will have that factored into their overall search results within Google Search.
The “Speed Update,” as we’re calling it, will only affect pages that deliver the slowest experience to users and will only affect a small percentage of queries. It applies the same standard to all pages, regardless of the technology used to build the page.
However, mobile site speed is not the only consideration in page ranking nor will it be the only factor come July.
Right, so pay attention on this one because this is going to get interesting.
Firefox, the Internet browser from Mozilla, has a new branding and messaging. The new name: Firefox Quantum and the company reports that it is up to 30% faster than Google Chrome. Great, competition is good and Firefox is a solid browser.
The interesting part is the default browser in this latest update. It is now Google Search, not Yahoo has it has been since 2015. That’s when Yahoo agreed to pay some $375 million to Mozilla to have Yahoo as the default search engine in Firefox. The deal was reportedly through 2019. Deals like this are not new. But there appears to have been a kicker in the deal for Mozilla.
To be clear, we are talking about the default search engine here in the United States. In other parts of the world, Google has been the default, not Yahoo.
It has come to light that a clause in the agreement that, if Yahoo were purchased, Mozilla could change the default search engine and still get the payments through 2019. That means, assuming payments for 2017 were paid, Yahoo would still have to pay Mozilla some $750 million – and not be the default browser.
For those that don’t remember, Verizon purchased Yahoo earlier this year. Anyone want to make bets at the number of Verizon lawyers looking this over?
In July of this year, my company was purchased. The last week of September, the sale was completed. And, in the first week of October, my role was eliminated. Yeah, it sucks but fortunately for me, it looks like the job search is nearing an end. But when I see the improvements that Google Search is making for job seekers, it makes me smile as they are certainly trying to make what can be a painful process easier.
Teaming up with the likes of LinkedIn, Glassdoor and PayScale, Google Search now not only allows you to see jobs in your area, but also can give you an estimated salary for those roles. This adds to the already powerful job searching features in the app, which Google rolled out earlier this year.
In addition to this new salary information in Search, Google has listened to feedback on the feature and have now added a much more granular location filtering feature.
Last week, I told you about the changes that are coming to Google Finance. The financial site is getting a makeover of sorts and part of that is the retirement of portfolio management. However, we could be getting a glimpse of how the new look is going to play out thanks to Google Search.
For a long time, you have been able to search for any stock within Google search and get pricing and other news related to that stock. Previously, that was one long page within search once you found the stock of interest. Quietly, over the weekend, it appears that Google changed this to be a tabular style look.
Arguably, one of the world’s biggest sporting events will happen this Sunday in Miami. That event is El Clasico, a match between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. The match on Sunday is a friendly and it is the first time in over 30 years that the storied clubs have met outside of Spain. Football, or Soccer as we call it here in the United States, may not have the following it has in other parts of the world but this match, and the rivalry between these clubs, is a must see. Some 400 million viewers are expected to watch the match on Sunday at 7:30 PM Eastern.
To celebrate the event, Google Search now through Sunday is offering up special search results for the match. Just search El Clasico on your Android phone and you will get a wealth of information about the clubs, the match itself and the key players for each club.
Google has been working on the the Google app for Android a lot in recent weeks, with the most notable change coming last week with the introduction of Google Feed. If you aren’t up on it, basically the Feed is similar to the features are found in the Google Now Launcher and Pixel Launcher, but it gives you more relevant information based on your searches and location. It is more dependent on Artificial Intelligence to give you information that is more important to you.
There is now a new feature in the Google Feed feature: Recents. Now you have a third tab that shows you your recent search history on your device. You can simply swipe left and right to see the history and tap on a result to go back to that site to continue reading it.
Finding a job is challenging for most of us at the best of times. Regardless of if you are looking for part-time or full-time work, the fact is that jobs that are available in your area are in a variety of locations online. That makes it easy to miss an opportunity. Google is trying to address that with a new Jobs Near Me search that is rolling out today.
By typing in “jobs near me” in Google on your phone or on the web, listings of jobs that are available in your area are provided to you and you can filter those down to particular types of job, part-time or full-time and other filters to try to find the right job for you. Once you find a job listing you are interested in, tapping it will take you directly to that company’s site where you can start the application process.