Today In SEO & Search News: May 9, 2017

Today In SEO & Search News: May 9, 2017

It’s been a few days since our last update so let’s jump right in with what’s been going on …

Potential New Google OS
Fuchsia OS

Over on ARS Technica they offered some screenshots of the open secret that Google’s developing a new OS that may be an Android replacement.  This one isn’t built on Linux but rather a Google-developed microkernal called Magenta which is interesting and is named Fuchsia and it’s available for download on Github. If you’re into mobile this is highly recommended reading.

Amazon Launches Echo With A Screen
Amazon Echo With Screen AnnouncedAfter days of rumors Amazon has announced the launch of an Amazon Echo with a 7″ screen. users can now send and receive video calls, watch media and (most importantly I assume) view products. The story was covered by Ingrid Lunden over at Techcrunch and is an interesting development. When I was thinking of it as a Google Home challenge my instinct was it wasn’t a very good one compared to Google Google Assistant API but Mary here reminded me that their markets are completely different and this could well aid Amazon in taking up some additional marketshare.

How To Be A Better SEO
I tend now to share opinion pieces (other than my own of course) here in our roundups but Roger Montti wrote an excellent piece for Search Engine Journal that I had to make an exception for. In his article titled, “How To Be A Better SEO” Roger gets into some of the core misconceptions about how SEO works.  From discussing LSI and it’s impact (or lack thereof) on rankings to the difference between cause and causation he covers a lot of ground and it’s highly recommended reading.

How To Get In The Answer Box
Popular ice cream flavors answer box.Brian Patterson wrote a good piece for Search Engine Land covering some of the core strategies for getting a result into the coveted answer box on Google. He discussed the advantages of specific layouts and formatting and also covers some the strategy around what you want displayed and why. it’s an interesting read and highly recommended.

Bing Integrating Chatbots Into SERPs
Matthew Southern covered the story for Search Engine Journal – Bing is said to be integrating chatbots into the SERPs. The formal announcement is expected tomorrow at 3PM at the Microsoft Developer Conference and it’s believed that the chatbot will not only be integrated into the homepage of Bing (and likely other places) but also that developers will be able to integrate the chatbot into sites and application.

What’s Coming In WordPress 4.8
The first major WordPress release of the year is expected to arrive June 8 and there are a wide array of new features and functions.  Over at WPbeginner they covered what’s coming from a new video widget (that’s handy) to a visual editor in the text widget making life a lot easier for beginners.

How To Out Rank Your Homepage
Jenny Halasz answered the question on Search Engine Journal – what do you do if your homepage is outranking your internal page when it shouldn’t. It’s a good question that many of us have found ourselves in and Jenny gives some great advice on what to do about it.

Google Images Adds Filters
Google Image Search adds filters on mobile.

Barry Schwartz covered the rollout of some new filters added to Google Image Search on mobile for Search Engine Land. We now get access to quick filters to find the latest images, GIFs, clip art, colors (this is the most handy in my opinion) and copyright.  Nothing one can really do to SEO for this I suppose but if nothing else we can take away that Google is working hard and experimenting to make the mobile experience easier and easier to work in and gather information.

And that’s it for today. If you think we missed anything feel free to add it in the comments below.