Google News

Google experienced a major outage this week that affected Search and Maps. Publishers and SEOs also reported problems with search indexing. The problem seems to largely be resolved, although earlier today there were still some pockets reporting ongoing issues. Ranking Disruptions Many people reported disruptions in rankings, and some thought it was due to a ranking update. One panicked individual posted a discussion on WebmasterWorld about lost rankings: “I’ve noticed something that… Source link

Android mascots are lined up in the demonstration area at the Google I/O Developers Conference in the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Beck Diefenbach | Reuters Google, the developer of the Android, is increasing the pressure on Apple to adopt RCS, a next-generation standard for text messaging. It argues that Apple’s support of RCS would help prevent some of the problems that arise when iPhone users text with Android owners. Currently, images and video don’t show as clearly as they could, for… Source link

Every time someone enters a query into Google, the search engine applies a complicated equation to discover precisely what the searcher is looking for. All sorts of factors are included in this predictive algorithm, but one of the important ones is the searcher’s location. Google has been very clear about the emphasis it puts on local search. And that’s great if you’re a neighborhood mom and pop serving a small geographical area. But what happens if you have multiple locations? Or if… Source link

The Justice Department has in recent weeks conducted new interviews for its investigation into Google’s ad technology, a sign it may be moving closer to filing its second antitrust case against the company, said three people with knowledge of the matter. The Justice Department for more than a year has investigated whether Google abuses its dominance over the interlocking technologies that deliver ads online. Its lawyers are now speaking again with publishers and Google’s competitors to… Source link

Enlarge / Just a few of the many Google messaging logos. Can you name them all? Ron Amadeo Google has been unable to field a stable, competitive messaging platform for years and has thoroughly lost the messaging war to products with a long-term strategy. At least some divisions inside the company are waking up to how damaging this is to Google as a company, and now Google’s latest strategy is to… beg its competition… Source link

A small section inside a Google data center in western Iowa exploded late Monday night, injuring workers and bringing about temporary outages to some of Google’s most popular services including Gmail, YouTube and the Google search engine. The explosion at the data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, caused injuries to three employees, local officials said. “Three workers were accessing an electrical cabinet when there was an arc flash that resulted in all three being burned,” Justin James,… Source link

Google has yet to launch its first smartwatch, but the company may already be working on the next steps for its wearable plans. According to a Protocol report, Google is planning to integrate fitness trackers into Google TV and Android TV as part of a broader push to strengthen its product ecosystem. The question is whether the historically fragmented Wear OS platform is up for the challenge. The company purportedly laid out the plans at a closed-door event with its TV partners, Protocol… Source link

Google has released a browser version of its “Read Along” Android app. The website, while still in beta, is up and running now. The site includes hundreds of illustrated stories at a few different reading levels. Once kids select a story, they start reading into their device’s microphone. Words are highlighted in blue after they’ve read them, and mispronounced words are underlined in red; click an underlined word, and a virtual assistant, Diya, will pronounce it for you. … Source link

Google is kicking off a new publicity campaign today to pressure Apple into adopting RCS, the cross-platform messaging protocol that’s meant to be a successor to the aging SMS and MMS standards. The search giant has a new “Get The Message” website that lays out a familiar set of arguments for why Apple should support the standard, revolving around smoother messaging between iPhone and Android devices. Naturally, there’s also a #GetTheMessage hashtag to really get those viral… Source link

South Korea’s communication watchdog, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), said Tuesday it will investigate Apple and Google over potential violations of the country’s in-app payment rule. Local media reports noted that the agency will start this investigation on August 16. Apart from Apple and Google, the KCC is also investigating SK Group’s homegrown app store called ONE Store. The watchdog said that it had looked into the practices of all three app… Source link