Google: 410s Are Immediate & 404s Are Delayed For 24 Hours

We always knew 410s were more immediate and I thought they were also more permanent but I didn't know 410s worked immediately.

In a video released by Google's Matt Cutts yesterday, he described the technical difference between a typical 404/4xx code and the 410.

410s GoogleBot will mark as gone immediately upon discovering it.

404s or other 4xx GoogleBot will "protect" for 24 hours, try again, before marking it as not found.

In both cases, Google says they will retry the 404s and 410s in the future. Just in case there was server or coding issues on the site. But with 410s, they get marked as gone right away.

65% Prefer Google Manual Actions Over Algorithmic Demotions

A while back, we polled our audience asking if they prefer manual or algorithmic penalties by Google - that is, if you had to pick one or the other.

Imagine Matt Cutts coming over to you and saying, you're a bad boy. You deserve a penalty but I'll let you pick, you can have an algorithmic demotion or a manual action. Which would you pick?

I explain in detail the different between the two over here and the response was that 65% prefer a manual action, whereas 35% said they prefer an algorithmic demotion.

We had over 300 responses to the thread. Disclaimer: Please see my poll disclaimer post before coming to any conclusions on these results.

Forum discussion continued at WebmasterWorld.

A Complete Guide To The Essentials Of Post-Hummingbird SEO

Google has made stark changes over the past couple years in the way it ranks websites. When one of its most recent algorithm incarnations, Hummingbird, was released in August of 2013, it created a whirlwind in the search landscape and has since continued to have far reaching impact.

In its wake, businesses have been forced to modify their web marketing strategies and SEO efforts to regain favor with Google to reclaim their former search rankings.

Read on for the insights we’ve gained and what you need to do to thrive in this new environment.

What We’ve Learned So Far

In keeping pace with the evolution of Google’s search algorithms, reviewing our clients’ sites, and implementing strategies to sync the two, we have gained some valuable first-hand insights.
Our SEO program prioritizes the auditing of our current clients’ sites to gain a clear, up-to-date view of what is and is not working and where we need to focus our efforts to achieve ongoing success in the ever-changing digital world.
Our post-Hummingbird launch audits have shown a range of results. Some clients’ search rankings immediately improved because their competitors’ rankings dropped from failing to cooperate with Google’s changes. In other cases, we saw our clients’ rankings maintain or rise as a result of prior efforts to build their organic search results.
Though a few of our clients’ rankings slipped slightly, none have been severely affected thus far – likely because our SEO efforts were already on the same trajectory as Google. For those clients that experienced minor dips, our audits have shown us where and how to make the necessary adjustments to get them back on track.

Google: News Sites May Have Seen A Decline In GoogleBot Crawling In March

Google’s Matt Cutts tweeted that news related sites, such as this one, may have noticed a drop in the crawl statistics within Google Webmaster Tools.

If you did notice that drop, Matt says you do not need to worry. Google News added if-modified-since support in March, which would be the reason for the crawl changes. Matt added that “Google News doing smarter crawling now” and thus being more efficient.
I’ve checked the crawl stats for iblwebsolutions.com, a Google News publisher, and indeed, the crawl stats have declined significantly in March 2014:

Google Responds To Misattributed Content Saying They May Show The Canonicalized URL

A few weeks ago, we reported on cases where Google was misattributing content for select news publishers.
We showed examples of Google showing URLs of large news publishers but those URLs listed were not the source URLs and thus, redirecting from Google’s search results to a completely different URL.
Yesterday, a few weeks after we reported the issue, Google’s Matt Cutts responded to us saying:

In response to URL or site: queries, we occasionally show URLs that would otherwise be canonicalized to a different URL.

April 2014 Google Webmaster Report

Busy month at work? Didn't have time to follow all of Google's changes? Don't you worry, here is a short recap of what happened over the past month specific to Google changes that may impact SEOs and webmasters.

We had a couple questions regarding possible updates being pushed out by Google, none were confirmed. But Google's Matt Cutts did say they are working on a softer Panda update. The typical chatter going on in the WebmasterWorld thread of flux is, um, typical.
We had Google target a large guest blog network and yes, the publishers got hit as well. Google also targeted link networks in Greece, Spain, Italy and Germany and then hit smaller sites where we should be concerned. Google launched the new user interface as well, which may impact traffic.
That being said, here is a summary of the past month by category and if you also missed last month, see our March Google recap.

 

Matt Cutts Talks About Coming Google Algorithm Changes

Google seems to have announced some coming changes to its algorithm in the latest “Webmaster Help” video. Head of webspam Matt Cutts said the search engine is working on some changes that will help it better determine when a site is an authority on a topic. He didn’t give any specific dates or anything, but says he’s “looking forward to to those rolling out.” 

Do you think Google is good at determining which sites are authorities on certain topics right now? Do you expect these changes to lead to better results?

The topic came up when Blind Five Year Old asked Cutts, “As Google continues to add social signals to the algorithm, how do you separate simple popularity from true authority?” 

 

SEO TIPS

Businesses are growing more aware of the need to understand and implement at least the basics of search engine optimization (SEO). But if you read a variety of blogs and websites, you’ll quickly see that there’s a lot of uncertainty over what makes up “the basics.” Without access to high-level consulting and without a lot of experience knowing what SEO resources can be trusted, there’s also a lot of misinformation about SEO strategies and tactics.
1. Commit yourself to the process. SEO isn’t a one-time event. Search engine algorithms change regularly, so the tactics that worked last year may not work this year. SEO requires a long-term outlook and commitment.
2. Be patient. SEO isn’t about instant gratification. Results often take months to see, and this is especially true the smaller you are, and the newer you are to doing business online.