At the end of July, Google released a new version of their local search algorithm. Known as 'Pigeon', it is Google's latest attempt to improve the listings for local search both in the traditional search results and in Google Map search.
In their post on Google+, Introducing Bot and Spider Filtering, Google announced that they have added an option in Google Analytics which allows webmasters to exclude all traffic from known bots and spiders.
After conquering China, Baidu - China's biggest search provider - plans to expand into other countries. Baidu's Brazilian office opened in 2012 and they began providing search and web services in 2013. They now plan to expand into other countries including Egypt, Indonesia and Thailand.
In recent years, the technical team at Born have often had to pick our way through the difficult issues of websites wanting to target customers from multiple countries and in multiple languages. There are still a whole host of methods which can help you achieve the desired outcome, but the introduction of hreflang links and the support Google has given, make the whole process so much simpler.
Oh Facebook you do keep getting yourself into trouble don't you? It appears that this time however the social media giant might end up with more than a slapped wrist.
Will Scott the CEO of Search Influence coined the phrase "Barnacle SEO" in a blog post from 2011, preferring it to "Parasite SEO" which was being used at the time. The idea is that you "attach yourself to a large fixed object and wait for the customers to float by in the current."