Google update

With July 1st just days away, it’s officially time to move your site from HTTP to HTTPS or else suffer the Google consequences. Starting next month with the release of Chrome 68, Google will begin labeling ALL sites that have not migrated to HTTPS as “not secure”.

In April of this year Google announced a new security feature in which all HTTP website pages will be labeled “not secure” in the newest Chrome browser (version 62) when a user begins to enter information into a form on that site. With implementation of this change scheduled to begin in October, Google sent out emails last week via Search Console accounts that notified site owners with applicable pages.

For SEO experts and web developers, 2017 is set to be the year of mobile. While the significance of mobile certainly isn’t new to the SEO game, this year there will be no more room for excuses as Google gives more ranking power to mobile-friendly sites than ever before.

Yesterday, Google announced on their AdWords blog that brands have begun testing of Promoted Places in Google Maps. The test is currently running in the Google Maps app on Android devices only, and major brands involved include Starbucks, Walgreens, and MAC Cosmetics.

These days it seems like Google is constantly updating and editing their algorithms. Just as everyone is getting used to new changes, rankings go haywire and the realization that we’re in for another overhaul sets in. September brought another round of updates, this time with a shake up in the way Google ranks local business search results. The update, lovingly being called “Possum”, was made on September 1st and consists mostly of new ways that the local filter will diversify the results users see and prevent spam from ranking in the top of the list.

If you're a regular reader in the Pixel blogosphere, then you know that the one thing we harp on the most is high quality, relevant, freshly updated content. 

Well, it happened! We weren't lyin' folks! Google's Mobilgeddon is officially live. 

If you've been living under a rock in the digital world, here's what you need to know:

RESPONSIVE.

One of our primary goals for any new website is that it is responsive, meaning it is easily accessible by a user from any device. Phones, tablets, you name it, and we'll make sure it renders correctly. 

Responsive means exactly what it sounds like; that a website will respond to the size of the device it's being viewed on. It is mobile-friendly. It prevents web developers from having to create two seperate websites, a web version and a mobile version.