Trick or treat!
Did you get an email from Google inviting you to claim your own custom G+ URL? Well, it seems the big G may charge you for it. Shocking, I know – Google monetizing its services? Wow. Tricky treat!
Other SEO and search industry buzz concerns whether Google may be abandoning (or downgrading) its Authorship initiative, link building post-Penguin 2.1, the “new” SEO, as well as ongoing discussions of Hummingbird and ‘(Not Provided)’.
The search community also bids a fond farewell to one of its pioneering greats, Jill Whalen, as she moves on to pursue other passions. You’ll be missed, Jill! Thank you for all that you’ve contributed in your long tenure.
Got privacy?
While discussions of Google’s Hummingbird algorithm and its black-out of search query data to all but its advertisers are still buzzing up the web, more recent talk centers on the rollout of Penguin 2.1 (a.k.a. 5) and the (perhaps final?) end of PageRank as Matt Cutts has announced there will be no more updates to Google’s Toolbar PageRank this year.