Google Chrome to display “Not Secure” warning for non-HTTPS sites starting July 2018
Over the past few years, movements have been started to make the web more secure. Most recently, Google announced that they would begin to mark sites that are using insecure HTTP connections as “Not Secure” via a label in the address bar in the Chrome browser.
Pages with password fields served over HTTPS are already marked as “Not Secure”, but starting July 2018, all HTTP will be labeled. Install your security certificates now!
Possible major Google algorithm update
SEMrush Sensor and other SERP tracking tools were showing high volatility in the search results around 20 February, leading many to believe that this was another major Google algorithm update. However, discussion in search forums leaves a general uncertainty over what this update might be targeting.
Google responded to comment with the usual statement that they make multiple minor updates every week.
“View image” and “Search by image” removed from Google Images
In the past month, Google has removed the “View image” and “search by image” button from image search results. This is in response to a new partnership between stock image provider Getty Images and Google, after Getty Images complained that they may be losing revenue since searchers are able to access images directly from search results, without ever visiting the site.
It’s now intended that searchers should view the image in the context of the site from which it originates, however, the response to these changes from Google Images users was generally negative.
Today we're launching some changes on Google Images to help connect users and useful websites. This will include removing the View Image button. The Visit button remains, so users can see images in the context of the webpages they're on. pic.twitter.com/n76KUj4ioD
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) February 15, 2018
Google now displays multiple featured snippets for broad search queries
Featured snippets on Google usually appear as a single box of text, a list or a table at the top of some search results pages, before the organic results; this is known as position 0. A featured snippet may appear when a page directly answers the searcher’s question.
Google has updated the display of featured snippets, so now 2 or more may be shown when the question is broad or could be answered in multiple ways. Google clarified in an article on their blog that this is to provide more “comprehensive” results. For site owners, this means even more opportunities to appear in a featured snippet.
by Zack Cornick
