Google Panda Update 3.3 and Venice

In 2012, Google confirmed the Panda Update 3.3 as well as a noteworthy change to local search rankings.

Panda 3.3 was a refresh of the Panda system, meaning none of the signals Panda looked at were new or had changed.

While Google Panda got the headlines at the time, there was some other noteworthy news about improvements to local search results, which Google referred to as “Venice”:

Improvements to ranking for local search results. [launch codename “Venice”] This improvement improves the triggering of Local Universal results by relying more on the ranking of our main search results as a signal. 

And also this:

Improved local results. We launched a new system to find results from a user’s city more reliably. Now we’re better able to detect when both queries and documents are local to the user.

This turned out to be a significant local search update.

Google’s algorithm would essentially localize a user’s search results on broad queries that had local intent. This was entirely different from pre-Venice. Put more simply:

Where in the past a search such as ‘seo’ or ‘jacket’ would have simply returned Google’s non-local result set, now Google will include results specific to your location (whether you have actively set your location or not: Google will locate you based on your IP address).

Chris Liversidge, Why Google’s Venice Update Fundamentally Changes Global SEO

Read all about it in Google Confirms Panda 3.3 Update, Plus Changes To How It Evaluates Links, Local Search Rankings & Much More

Also on this day

Google Search local pack’s map is now interactive

2022: The new map let you zoom, pan, hover and click to see more details on the map.

Google Rich Results testing tool adds support for ‘How To’ markup for Google Home displays

2020: You could test your pages in real time to see how Google displayed your how-to pages on smart displays.

Yotpo taps Bazaarvoice Network for review distribution to retailer sites

2020: The move was intended to expand the reach of Yotpo-managed reviews content for retailers.

Google Search Console gives us domain properties to replace property sets

2019: This consolidated your http, https, www, non-www, m-dot, etc into a single property to get an aggregate view of your site’s performance and errors/warnings in a single property.

FTC busts Amazon seller for buying reviews

2019: Diet supplements company was buying fake reviews from a vendor Amazon itself had previously sued in 2016.

Startup helps small retailers get local inventory data online at POS

2019: Pointy offered a way to gain more SEO visibility and compete with Amazon.

German court: Google has no ‘duty to inspect’ websites for illegal content before displaying

2018: Google couldn’t be held liable before being notified of a ‘clearly recognizable violation’ of individual rights.

Law and reputation firms generate 21% of Right to Be Forgotten delistings, says Google

2018: Google report dug into three years’ worth of data on removal requests and exposed the delisting criteria.

Google local finder tests cards with horizontal scroll for map search results

2017: Google was testing a new format for their local search results on mobile when bringing up the Google Maps local finder. 

Google Assistant to roll out across newer smartphones

2017: Google was rolling out the Google Assistant to more devices.

Bing UK now displaying National Health Service data for GP & hospital search queries

2017: Searching for nearby GPs and hospitals on Bing UK would surface information pulled from the country’s publicly-funded national healthcare system.

New Bing Ads Editor Version (10.7) Now Available

2015: Changes included some subtle but welcome usability updates and the ability to edit the text of keywords that already had been synced.

Search In Pics: Android Caveman, Google Ski Trip & Rope Logo

2015: The latest images showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.

Someone Outranking You With Your Own Content? Use The New Google Scraper Report

2014: Without promising a fix, the tool asked people to share their original content URL, the URL of the content taken from them and the search results that triggered the outranking.

Google AdWords Smart Annotations Test Continues To Roll Out

2014: Smart Annotations automatically pulled information from an advertiser’s landing page in an additional line of text in their ads.

Google Yanks Fake FBI Listing From Google Maps, Puts New Blocks In Place To Stop Further Abuse

2014: A user took advantage of Map Maker to create fake FBI and Secret Service office listings using his own phone number, and even managed to intercept calls to both agencies.

Marin & DoubleClick Search Partner With Boost Media To Scale Ad Optimization

2014: Boost aimed to help marketers scale the taxing process of creating, testing and reporting on search and social ad creative.

Gmail Search Field Trial Adds Calendar Results To Google Search

2013: The idea was that if you do a search, you’ll see matching information from your calendar showing within Google’s search results, when it was relevant.

Privacy Vs Censorship: Google, Spanish Government Face Off In European Courts

2013: Google got the liability treatment of a “publisher” without the corresponding freedom of expression protections accorded to newspapers.

Google: 1 Billion People Will Use Mobile As Primary Internet Access Point In 2012

2012: Mobile search usage had nearly 100 percent penetration among smartphone owners, most of whom searched at least once a week. 

Google Mobile Tests Large Black Menu Drop Down Bar

2012: Despite moving away from the large black navigation menu on the web, it seemed Google was testing that exact same version on mobile.

Google, Yahoo Both Fail At Moneyballing Oscar Predictions

2012: Overall, neither really got the winners right.

Admitting Role In Google Anti-Trust Complaints Microsoft Complains Of Google “Lock In”

2010: Microsoft essentially told Google “get over it.”

Google Still Working On Making Blog Search More Relevant

2009: Google said it would be conducting “visual experiments early next month” that would start with the link: queries and focus on “blogroll detectors” in the matching algorithm. 

The Big List Of Search Engines & Their Employees On Twitter

2009: A starting list of who’s out there from the search engine world.

Search Biz: Google News Courting Legal Trouble?, Bold Predictions About Behavioral Ad Targeting & More

2009: Would the introduction of paid ads on Google News lead to legal issues for Google? 

Search In Pictures: Google ViewMaster, Twitter & Yahoo Cake Spelling

2009: The latest images showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.

Sitemaps.org Update: You Can Now Store Your XML Sitemap Files Anywhere!

2008: The major search engines announced that site owners could store their XML Sitemap files in any location – even on a different domain than the one referenced in the Sitemap. 

EFF Sues DOJ Over Googler For Correspondence With Horvath

2008: The EFF wanted to know what was said between Google and Jane Horvath, a former US Justice Department privacy lawyer who now worked for Google.

Microsoft’s Chief Strategy Officer: “Google Owes Its Business To Us”

2008: “If we didn’t succeed at the PC, they wouldn’t have a business,” said Craig Mundie.

Yahoo’s Apex Preview: An Ambitious, Unified Ad Platform

2008: It attempted to knit all of Yahoo’s recent acquisitions and ad network properties together.

AdWords Editor 3.0 Available For Windows; Mac Version Coming In Weeks

2007: The AdWords Editor program was updated with extra features.

Search Engines Do Not Have To Display All Ads Says Court

2007: A complainer wanted to use search ads to air his gripes. 

Finding Search Engine Freshness & Crawl Dates

2007: How, when and where Google, Microsoft Live Search, Ask.com and Yahoo showed crawl dates for pages.

Microsoft’s Ozzie Talks Of Google “Wake-Up Call,” Vertical Search Hopes

2007: A reprise of the “it’s early days” and search is just past its “first generation” comments we’ve heard from Microsoft execs many time before

Google Ink Sends Ask.com New Google Pen

2007: “We noted your suboptimal experience with our Google pen and are thus pleased to send you — at no charge — a replacement set.”

Happy Birthday, Flickr: Web 2.0 Pioneer Turns Three

2007: Flickr was in many ways the company that helped define “Web 2.0” and was its poster child for quite some time.

From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)

Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

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