Google local knowledge panel profile images are not loading in search

There is an active bug with Google search. It’s not loading the profile images in the local knowledge panel section. If you search for your favorite business and the local knowledge panel shows up in the search results, both desktop or mobile results, the profile images will not load. Instead, you will either see a blank white space or a broken graphic image. This is a global and widespread issue that has been reported to Google. We assume it will be resolved shortly, but until then, you do not need to panic. Google should fix the issue on its end. Here are some screen shots I took from both desktop and mobile of some local knowledge panels: Mike Blumenthal, who is a top contributor volunteer at Google confirmed the company has been notified of the issue: PSA: Knowledge Panel profile photo and images in GMB are broken today. Google has been alerted https://t.co/MtKFctuwGS — Mike Blumenthal (@mblumenthal) April 4, 2018 Postscript: This is Search Engine Land Source

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Maya Angelou Google doodle features Oprah Winfrey, Laverne Cox & others reciting her poem, ‘Still I Rise’

Today marks what would have been Dr. Maya Angelou’s 90th birthday. To celebrate the poet, writer and civil rights activist, Google has created a doodle featuring a full lineup of high-profile celebrities reciting Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise.” The doodle begins with Angelou’s own voice, narrating the beginning of her famous poem, followed by Alicia Keys, America Ferrera, Martina McBride, Guy Johnson (Angelou’s son), Laverne Cox and Oprah Winfrey each reading a verse. The words of the poem are animated to coincide with the narration, along with images highlighting Angelou’s life. “Dr. Angelou’s work is filled with such incredible wisdom and spiritual teachings,” says Laverne Cox on the Google Doodle blog featuring Angelou’s doodle. “It feels like the ultimate privilege to have the opportunity to speak her words. She is a national treasure we should always celebrate.” Oprah Winfrey is also quoted: “Maya Angelou is not what she has done or written or spoken, it’s how she did it all. Search Engine Land Source

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7 ways to turn a webinar into a stream of link-attracting content

Creating large amounts of valuable content is a universal challenge for marketers. Doesn’t matter if we’re talking about images, articles, blog posts or videos. Producing large quantities sometimes causes a decrease in quality if a marketing department isn’t diligent. It’s generally agreed that quality is more important than quantity when it comes to content, but it never hurts to have both if possible. One excellent way to publish frequent, high-value content is to create webinars. Once a webinar has been produced, your creative team can repurpose and optimize it into several pieces of valuable content. Let’s take a look at the process and ways to break a single webinar into multiple pieces of quality content that can be used to support your search engine optimization (SEO) and link-building efforts. Built-in quality A primary advantage of using a webinar to create more content is that quality is already “built in.” If the webinar is full of valuable, informative topics presented by knowledgeable experts, the Search Engine Land Source

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John Harrison Google doodle honors man who invented marine chronometer 283 years ago

Today’s Google doodle marks the 325th birthday of British horologist John Harrison. In 1735, the self-taught clockmaker completed his design of the first marine chronometer. According to Google, the British government had offered a reward of £20,000 to anyone who could create a navigational instrument that determined a ship’s longitude within 30 miles. Harrison spent seven years working on the ground-breaking invention that would aid British naval forces. “Harrison’s extraordinary invention brought him much acclaim. Thanks to him, seamen could not only gauge latitude but longitude, making their excursions far safer,” says Google on its Google Doodle blog. The doodle leads to a search for “John Harrison” and is being displayed on Google’s US and UK home pages, along with a small collection of other international pages, including Ireland, Germany, Spain, Ukraine, Peru and Chile. Harrison would go on to create more watches that were smaller and more accurate than his original designs: “Our colorful Doodle shows the inventor hard at Search Engine Land Source

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How to use the Knowledge Graph for higher rankings

Google has been on a mission to transform search from “strings to things.” This mission was one of the many reasons for the Hummingbird update and the rise of RankBrain. To pull off this extraordinary feat, Google and its team of engineers needed to create connections between their data using “real world context.” This resulted in what we now know as “The Knowledge Graph.” Google’s goal is to create a “massive graph of real-world things and their connections, to bring more meaningful results.” When searching for information, users are no longer constrained by 10 blue links; instead, Google now displays relevant content that adds to the content of the user’s search. For example, let’s say you want to learn more about Abraham Lincoln. After typing in the query, “Abraham Lincoln,” Google will show a “card” on the right side of your search with interesting information about Honest Abe. Here is what the Knowledge Graph gives us inside Abe’s card: Name. Multiple head shots. Title. Short Search Engine Land Source

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Google’s AMP Project announces new consent component ahead of GDPR compliance deadline

With the deadline for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) fast approaching, Google’s AMP team has announced a component to enable publishers to surface a user consent notification for sites using the mobile-friendly framework. From the announcement: The features to be launched include the ability to show choices in user interface notices via “accept” and “reject” semantics, and configuration of AMP element behaviors in response to users’ choices. The GitHub issue page details the component’s format and configuration options, along with future feature suggestions. As the issues surrounding GDPR consent and compliance are complicated — including acquiring per-usage consent (e.g., publishers need to acquire separate consent for users being tracked for both first-party and third-party purposes) — the project team is encouraging publishers and vendors to participate in the component’s development so that support will be available for as many integrations as possible. They particularly note existing support within AMP for these types of features and state that user consent may need Search Engine Land Source

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7 ways to increase mobile engagement

Mobile users have traditionally been surfers rather than shoppers. According to one study from Monetate, mobile conversion rates are still less than half of desktop conversion rates. Source: Monetate EQ4 2017 Yet, though there’s an opportunity for e-commerce websites to increase their online sales through mobile, barriers do exist. Mobile checkout is less convenient than it is on desktop, and a majority of mobile consumption occurs in apps rather than websites. Source: Nielsen Insights With the mobile-first index finally arriving and voice search continuing to climb in popularity, now is the time to re-optimize your mobile e-commerce strategy to improve your bottom line. Let’s explore some ways you can improve your mobile conversion rate. Prioritize speed Google recently announced that mobile page speed would become a ranking factor in July of 2018. Page speed is essential to your user experience and bounce rate. According to Kissmetrics, a one-second delay in page speed could decrease your conversion rate by 7 percent. DoubleClick even released a report Search Engine Land Source

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