Stephen Mahaney's Articles

Stephen Mahaney

CEO & Founder of Planet Ocean
Washington State / Hawaii

Stephen Mahaney founded Planet Ocean in 1990, published 'The UnFair Advantage Book on Winning The Search Engine Wars' in 1996 (the Web's *original* $97 eBook) and established SearchEngineNews.com--the longest running membership-based publication site on the Internet--in 1997.

Today he splits his time between Kona, Hawaii and the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State.

Articles by Stephen Mahaney

1. 25 Years of SEN & Counting
2. Beware the Graphic Artist!
3. Rare Penalty Limbo Can Last Several Years
4. November Core Update 2021
5. Google Ads Developer Blog Summary for November 2021
6. Google says 'NeverMind' to Mobile-Indexing Deadline
7. Google Officially Says Mixed Reviews Are More Trustworthy
8. Google Logo Structured Data Changes
9. Why do my pages keep falling in and out of Google's index?
10. Can Googlebot crawl speed be controlled to avoid server overload?
11. GMB becomes GBP
12. High Profile Sites Slamming the Brakes on AMP Pages
13. WordPress Sites At Risk Due to Plugin Vulnerability
14. Do bold tags help SEO?
15. Bonus Bytes from John Mueller
16. Official Googlebot IP Addresses Now Available In JSON File
17. Page Experience Algorithm Coming To Desktop
18. How Key Moments Work In Videos In Search
19. Place Videos on Dedicated Pages For Maximum Exposure
20. MS Advertising Introduces Microsoft Clarity Insights
21. UPI Limited Enforcement in Google Merchant Center
22. Help Documentation Changes for October
23. Google Aligns Search Console Testing Tools with URL Inspection Tool
24. Google Ads Developer Blog Summary for October 2021
25. Never "Meta" Worse Company in My Life!
26. The Google "Unannounced Updates" Buzz for October
27. Search Analytics API Now Supports Discover, Google News, and Regex
28. Manual Deep Linking No Longer Required for Google Ads App Campaigns
29. Microsoft Advertising Partners with Shopify
30. BigCommerce Merchants Can Now Sync Product Catalogs to Google
31. Job Posting Structured Data Errors Report Changes in GSC
32. Search Quality Raters Guidelines Updated
33. The One True Google Competitor Over Next 10 Years?
34. Get Faster Indexing with IndexNow
35. Google Search Adds Continuous Scrolling on Mobile
36. On ecommerce pages, should the product name be put into headline tags?
37. How can I prevent Google from showing specific content in my search result description snippet?
38. Search On '21 Reveals New Features, More Details About MUM
39. New Budget Report in Google Ads
40. Mysterious Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update?
41. Google Ads Developer Blog Summary for September 2021
42. Google Adds Some Data, Drops Some Data In Search Terms Report
43. Unique Product Identifiers Now Required on Free Merchant Listings
44. New Ecommerce SEO Guide Documentation
45. Google Reveals How YouTube Recommends Videos
46. Lighthouse 8.4 Upgrades LCD, FID, PageSpeed Insights
47. Page Experience Tutorial - Improving First Input Delay
48. Google Expands 'About This Advertiser' Initiative
49. Is shared hosting ok?
50. How long should it take for a site to get re-crawled and re-ranked after cleaning out low quality pages?
51. What's the best way to redirect a short domain name to a longer one without having duplicate content issues?
52. Titlepocalypse Update
53. The SEO Impact of WordPress Themes
54. Google Shows How to Optimize for Discover's Follow Feature
55. Which page title is Google using for ranking, my original or their autogenerated one?
56. GSC Permanently Loses Performance Report Data for August 23rd and 24th
57. Google Ads Developer Blog Summary for August 2021
58. Google Publishes Video on Getting a "Great" Page Experience
59. Reporting Channel for Indexing Bugs in the US Now Available in GSC
60. Titlepocalypse! Google Updates How They Generate Web Page Titles
61. Google Removes Safe Browsing and Ad Experience Widgets from Page Experience Report
62. Behind the Curtains of Google Search Console Insights
63. Large Images in Discover Improve CTR and Increase Traffic
64. 15 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Google Trends
65. Why are most of my site's pages missing in a Google site query?
66. Will changing an IP address or DNS cause us to lose our first page rankings?
67. What's the best type of website for SEO optimization purposes?
68. Why your GMB listing might be filtered out of Google Maps
69. CWVs More Than "just" A Tiebreaker
70. Google Publishes Copyright Guidelines Video
71. Google Ads Developer Blog Summary for July 2021
72. Multiple Instances of Fact Check Markup Not Allowed
73. How to Succeed With Google Posts: Case Study
74. Facebook Expanding Access to AR Try On
75. Facebook Pay Extends Availability to Streamline Checkout on Your Site
76. Microsoft Advertising Now Offering Video Extensions
77. Multimedia Ads Now Available on Microsoft Advertising
78. Microsoft Ads Expands Verticals For Dynamic Remarketing
79. Link Spam Update Rolling Out Until Aug 10th
80. Showcase Product Promotions Across More Surfaces during Seasonal Shopping Moments
81. GSC Links AMP Debugging to AMP Page Experience Guide
82. AdSense Releases Faster New Embed Code
83. Google Graphs & Explains Search Traffic Drops
84. Ad Policy Violators: Three Strikes, Yer Out!
85. Google Announces New Privacy Sandbox Timeline
86. Google's Search Rankings Explained
87. How long should a 301 redirect be kept in place?
88. July 2021 Core Update
89. How can product schema be added to a page when the price of the product is variable?
90. Are Local Services Ads a good deal for service type businesses?
91. Are reciprocal links OK if they are relevant and useful?
92. Here's How Long It Takes to Get New Content Indexed
93. Core, Page Experience, & Spam Updates All Rolled-out in June
94. New Guidance - Redirects, HTTP Status Codes, Network Issues, & DNS Errors
95. WordPress 5.8 adds WebP Support
96. Facebook's Publishes Ad Review Process Guidelines
97. Google Ads Developer Blog Summary for June 2021
98. AdSense Site Approvals Video Tutorial Series
99. New Tutorial Workflow Shows SMB's How to Advertise on YouTube
100. Google Expands GMB Profile Editing & Adds Pointy for FREE
101. Create A Web Story in 5 Steps in 5 Minutes
102. You Can Now Edit Robots.txt in Shopify
103. RSS-Powered Follow Button Being Tested in Chrome Canary
104. Sunsetting the Generic Rich Results Search Appearance on GSC
105. Google Updates GSC Help Docs For Robots.txt & Structured Data
106. Google Limits FAQ Rich Results to Two Max Per Snippet
107. PageSpeed Insights Showing More Field Data
108. Lighthouse 8.0 to be Released With Chrome 93 in August
109. Google Adds Negative Match Option to RegEx Filter
110. Google Launches Search Console Insights
111. Google Pauses FLoC & Extends Third Party Cookie Support Until Late 2023
112. Yelp Releases New Yelp for Business Features
113. Google Ads Developer Blog Summary for May 2021
114. May 7th Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
115. May14th Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
116. May21st Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
117. May 28th Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
118. Project Starline Brings The WOW Factor to Video Conferencing
119. MUM's The Word On Search
120. Breakthrough in Conversation Technology - LaMDA
121. Google Reveals Four Pillars of User Experience
122. Google Wants Everyone to Just Get FLoC'ed!
123. Google I/O Showcases Data-Hungry Apps & Long Overdue Privacy Controls for Android 12
124. 17 Pro-Tips You Need to Know About Core Web Vitals Going LIVE
125. Facebook Rolling Out New Ad Measurement Protocols
126. Indexing Issues Can Now Be Reported to Google
127. Google Ads Developer Blog Summary for April 2021
128. Google Discover Nixes Satire
129. The Only Reasons Google Will Remove a Page
130. Algorithm Update - Google Product Reviews
131. Google Updates Cumulative Layout Shift Scoring
132. Page Experience Algorithm Launching Mid-June
133. Google Is Going All-IN on Web Stories
134. April 23rd Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
135. April 16th Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
136. April 9th Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
137. April 1st Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
138. March 26th Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
139. March 19th Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
140. March 12th Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
141. March 5th Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
142. WordPress Elementor Vulnerability
143. Google Ads Developer Blog Summary for March 2021
144. Static Headlines Now Available for Dynamic Search Ads
145. Bing URL Submission Plugin for WordPress
146. Bing Upgrades Search to Include Visually Rich Imagery
147. Sketchy One Star "Fake" Review Ratings Win in Court
148. New GMB Review Management Tool
149. Check your Business Profile Performance in GMB
150. Best Practices For Videos
151. Mueller on Image Optimization
152. How To Get Your Products Into Search
153. HTTP/2 Magically Improves Core Web Vital Scores
154. Core Web Vitals: How Prepared Are Leading Industries Today?
155. Google Ads Developer Blog Summary for February 2021
156. Facebook Breaks the News in Australia to Prove a Point
157. Facebook Knew for Years Ad Reach Estimates Were Based on 'Wrong Data' But Blocked Fixes Over Revenue Impact
158. Facebook Puff Piece Stirs Controversy For NYTimes Writer
159. GMB Auto Populating Services
160. GMB Messaging Rolling Out For Desktop
161. Years in Business Feature Added to GMB
162. GSC Changes To Web Story Performance Report
163. Search Console Discover Report Adds Chrome Data
164. Updated Metric Boundaries for Core Web Vitals
165. Use 503 To Avoid Losing Rankings While in Social Statement Mode
166. Official Google Video On Duplicate Content
167. New Manual Action Penalties for Google News and Discover Policy Violations
168. Google Expands Phrase Match To Include Broad Match Modifier Traffic
169. Google Launches Passage Ranking
170. Google Announces Price Enforcements for Merchants
171. February 26th Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
172. February 19th Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
173. February 12th Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
174. February 5th Digest - John Mueller's Hangouts - Search Central Office Hours
175. WebSite Cleanup Tips for a faster, better-indexed site
176. How to relocate a GMB attorney listing
177. Tips for getting listed in People Also Ask
178. Does using the disavow tool indicate to Google that a site might be shady?
179. What, exactly, is Core Web Vitals?
180. DuckDuckGo Hits 100 Million Searches Per Day -- Updates Privacy Protections
181. GMB Updates Flag Review Options
182. Google to Invite Advertisers to Test Alternative to 3rd Party Cookies
183. URL Removal Tool in GSC Doesn't Actually Remove Pages
184. Price Drop Added to Google Rich Results
185. Google to Stop Collecting Ad ID's To Avoid Pop Up Warning in iOS Apps
186. Google Notifies Site Owners About New HTTP/2 Protocol Crawling
187. Google Wants Web Stories, not Web Teasers
188. Google Threatens to Leave Australia
189. WordPress Launches New Website Building Service
190. High-severity Vulnerability in WordPress Plugin Contact Form
191. Facebook Moving UK Users to US Privacy Terms & Conditions
192. Facebook Attacks Apple's Plan to Give Users a Privacy Choice
193. Twitter Relaunching Verified Accounts
194. Update on the Structured Data Testing Tool
195. Noindexed Pages Can Impact Core Web Vitals
196. Google Placing UK Users Under U.S. Jurisdiction
197. Why Ad Heavy Pages Might Still Rank Well in the SERP
198. Copied Content is Sometimes More Relevant
199. Request Indexing Tool Reenabled in GSC
200. Google Rolls Out Dec 2020 Core Algorithm Update
201. Top Google Searches for 2020
202. An Important Message from The Founder of Planet Ocean / SEN
203. Would owning a new top level domain (TLD) with keywords provide a ranking advantage?
204. Are keyword heavy titles a problem?
205. Free Online Video Converter Tools
206. Editorial: Subscribe With Google / The Google News Initiative
207. Google for Jobs is LIVE & Based on Schema Markup
208. Google Launches 'Ad Experience Report Tool' in their Fight Against "Bad" Ads
209. Google Launches Free 'Website' for GMB Participants
210. AdWords Expands Language Options for Structured Snippets Globally
211. Need to Know Details of 'Ads Added by AdWords'
212. SEO for Voice Search: Digital Assistants
213. SEN Celebrates 20 Years!
214. OMG! Here Comes A Whole New Can Of Black-Hat Whoopass!
215. Why is America so polarized? ...it's the Echo Chamber!
216. A Virtual Paradi$e of Low Hanging Fruit
217. How to track customers without hurting your Local Listings in Google
218. Once They Find Your Page How Do You Get Them to Take Action?! Common Mistakes Marketers Make.
219. Once They Find Your Page How Do You Get Them to Take Action?
220. The Missing Link To Writing Effective Ad Copy
221. The Missing Link To Writing Effective Ad Copy
222. How to Easily Analyze your Competition in Seconds Using the Site Strength Indicator Tool
223. The 'Local Search' Gold Rush Begins
224. The Top 12 Link-Offenders You Should Avoid Like A Ticking Bomb!
225. Google's Local Business Center
226. Advanced SEO Tutorials
227. Essential Title Tag Strategies for Top Ranking Pages in 2009
228. Entrepreneurial Thoughts on the so-called Financial Meltdown
229. 7 Ways to Boost Your Sales and Build More Links By Increasing Your Site's Speed!
230. 9 Critical Steps to Evaluating Incoming Link Quality
231. Proof Positive that Run-of-Site 'Paid' Links are BAD for your Website!
232. How to Use Flash in Top Ranking Pages
233. Your 4 Week Step-by-Step Link Building Task Planner
234. Wikia Search Launch
235. The Ultimate Link Building Quick-Start Guide, Part II
236. How to Legally and Instantly Download All of Your Competitor's Top-Secret PPC Keywords!!!
237. How to Leverage Your Company's Most Powerful Asset
238. How to Automatically Build an AdWords Campaign
239. How to Craft a Money Making Home Page
240. There are Some Lists You Just Don't Want to be On
241. "The Most Effective, Yet Overlooked, Marketing Strategy on the Internet"
242. Are you ignoring 350,000 potential customers?
243. Check your Popularity!
244. Guide to Infoseek's ESP Search Engine
245. How to get your pages to "Stick" in Excite
246. The Best Kept Secret on the Internet?
247. Making Money the Easy Way
248. The Best Way to Sell Products or Services On The Internet
249. Mining "Gold" from your "Back-End" Market
250. Creating Web Sites that Load Fast & Sell
251. Once they find your page how do you get them to take action?