After a test run, which took place back in May, Google have implemented a new search feature this week – product reviews and ratings on Google search and Google shopping.

Now that the dust from Google’s new algorithm changes is clearing, webmasters have been looking at the outcomes of these changes. And unfortunately for small to medium sized businesses, it looks as if the task of keeping at the top end of Google’s search result pages will be harder still.

Webmasters may see a change in web rankings from this week, as Google has implemented an, as yet, unnamed algorithm change. This change is intended to provide more accurate and relevant local search results, and is tied closely to traditional web search ranking signals, including hundreds of signals Google use in web search along with search features such as Knowledge Graph, spelling correction, synonyms and more.

When Google’s Panda algorithm rolled out, its aim was to target spam and sites that were deemed to have thin low quality content.  One of the biggest names to be hit by the algorithm seemed to be online auction site eBay, although it has been revealed that the loss of traffic to the site was caused by a Google search penalty earlier this year.

For many small to medium sized businesses, creating a strong online presence is a challenge, and keeping a site high in the search results rankings can be a constant struggle.

Matt Cutts has confirmed that Google have refreshed its Payday Loan algorithm, just weeks after the release of Payday Loan 2.0.

When Google began rolling out their fourth algorithm update, Panda 4.0, on May 20^th this year, it was time for webmasters to quake a little. After all, Panda is intended to seek out websites that are made up of low quality, spammy content, pushing them further down the search engine rankings. Panda’s main objective is to maintain the popularity of web pages that contain high quality, relevant content. Since Google first introduced Panda in February 2011 it has had a devastating impact on websites that did not pass its quality test.

It looks like Matt Cutts has discovered how much fun it is to use a green screen. In his latest webmaster video, Google’s head of spam first appears as a disembodied head, then uses his hands to cover his face, merging in and out of visibility. His point? To let businesses know that you need a good website with great content if you want to be visible on the web.

Hot on the heels of Google’s payday loans algorithm update, comes the new Panda 4.0 algorithm.