Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Links from Google Books
-
Hi
Interested in your views on this and any references to research on the subject
Using Google Books recently I have discovered multiple citations of a web site I produced years ago in a whole load of publication. Really quite touching to find these 10 years afterwards
I imagine that this must have a positive effect on search engine listings for this site. The site has really good listings still. Has any research or any announcement been made by Google about this.
Pushing this a bit further ; An advertising hoarding has a web site address http:// ... would Google StreetView pick this up and could it be used as a signal too ?
- Neil
PS No I don't sell adversing hoardings
-
Great question Neil! Google uses optical character recognition (OCR, more specifically OCRopus) to convert visible print into search searchable text; hence, you're able to find terms in Google books via Google search. Link text is also recognizable due to the standard 'http' format, so even though you'd never be able to click it via an old book in the library (who knows what new ones will do!) Google Books is still able to recognize the link and treat it as such in the digital, Internet realm. Now, a website that is being mentioned in books has a high likelihood of having a robust backlink profile, but that notwithstanding, I'd bet that Google would give an high amount of trust to a link that makes it into its OCR database.
As for street view, that is pushing it! Who knows though, there's merit in giving a website online exposure for the offsite work they do via billboards, store fronts, etc. I think you and I both would love to know the people that could truly answer that one though, huh?
-
These are physical signals, no way for the algorithm to interpret them. Street view may be possible, but its highly unlikely google would dedicate its resources to endorse paid advertizing to influence SERPS. Sure its benificial if someone uses street view and happens to see your site, but other than that its worthless to SEO. Same thing with the scanned image in google books.
-
Yes I was thinking that these would be a seperate signal rather than somenting passed through links. The PrintRank?
- Neoil
-
Hello Neil,
Since advertising banners hoardings are paid ads as a general rule even if Google is able to somehow read the urls we can right away disqualify the SEO benefits. Plus, there is no flow of link juice from these image ad links.
Google book is definitely interesting one. Google books are a scanned image of the actual book so the links are not an actual link that could pass the link juice. Google also provides an ebook version of some books and the links on the ebooks are highlighted like a regular link but these are not clickable. It could be possible that Google will soon enable these links and link page rank juice will flow from these links the to the destination site. The only issue I see here is since these are hosted on Google is could very well be a nofollow so it could be given similar weight like a brand or social mention if Google decides to use the links for SEO ranking.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google images not showing on SERP
Hi, I recently noticed that after a specific name search, Google images on the 'Web' SERP are no longer showing up. About a month ago, there were atleast 4-5 headshots of this particular person showing up whenever his name was searched. Now no images are showing, just the ten organic links and two links from adwords campaign we have going. The images are still optimized and some are even from editorial sites. Does anyone know what may have caused the images to disappear and what we can do to bring them back to the main SERP? (Not sure if it matters but we are in Canada) Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | Lorne_Marr0 -
My wistia videos are not being index by Google. Does anyone know what can be happening?
I have the wistia site map on my robots.txt file and I also manually submit the site map to google. It shows that my videos were submitted successfully but they are not being indexed. Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | bedbugsupply0 -
Google categories for local limousine service
I manage the Google places page for a SAB (local limousine company). The question is, should I add "taxi" and "airport shuttle service" as categories? I have listed only "limousine" and "car service' for now and I want to play it safe although those 2 are related to limo service. Sometimes people refer to limo service as "taxi service" or they are inquiring about prices for shuttle service to the airport and they end up booking the service quite often. Does Google look to our website to find these words in the content? Google Analytics show lots of people are finding us through those two keywords as well although you cannot find the word “taxi" on our website. The interesting thing is that when searching for "taxi + my zip code" the company shows up 4th on maps results and when searching for "shuttle service + my zip code”, the company shows up 2nd on local results and also 2nd in organic results. Is this enough to make me add these 2 categories? Second question is about the area served, does it make a difference (in rankings) if I choose “Distance from one location"over"List of areas served"? What happens is the red pin would be in a different location. If I choose "Distance from one location" the pin would be right in the center of the city (which I think it shouldn't matter anymore that much since the proximity to the centroid is not a ranking factor anymore). If “list of area” served is selected, (the city name will be chosen) then the pin would be about 5 miles West of the city center. Any thoughts will be appreciated. Thank you!
Image & Video Optimization | | echo10 -
Genuine Reciprocal Google Places Reviews, is that OK?
I have a client who works with other businesses, is it OK to have reciprocal reviews going on, they would be genuine reviews both both sides as they work for each other. Is that OK? Is it best for my client to use the Google Account that holds their Google Places page for doing the reviews? Or should they have a separate account for writing reviews, not associated with their business? I would appreciate your thoughts on this please? Many thanks Leo
Image & Video Optimization | | Rosewood0 -
Google Places - Shared Office Space
Howdy, A client of mine has a shared office space, where several other businesses share the exact same address, including the same suite number. I realize that this is likely one of the biggest issues holding them back in local/blended search results in their market, which is a very competitive one. (They do have a completely unique local phone number.) They have tons of citations -- way more citations than anyone else at the same address -- so they are definitely the most visible. They are ranking pretty well -- top of page two in organic results (overall top 10 organic if you exclude the places results) and top of page 3 in places results for some select local search terms. But obviously top of page one as a blended result is where we want to be. They have a lot of great content, a lot of quality links and citations. Out of all the competitors ranking ahead of them, a few do indeed deserve to be there, but most do not -- i.e. they have lower DA, PA, worse links, fewer links, no content / shit content compared to my client, and some even have incomplete Google profiles. I really think this could be the sole issue holding my client back from appearing in blended results on page one. What should we do? If I convince them to change their address, we'll have to update thousands of citations, many of which we don't have access to. In reality, we would be able to update some, but not all citations. This also could cause a short term rankings decline, and/or Google Places limbo for who knows how long! Is it possible to overcome this problem if they keep the same address? In a less competitive market I would think it's quite possible, but I'm not so sure in this case. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
Image & Video Optimization | | djreich
David0 -
Google Places with locations inside of a mall
I got a great question from a franchise owner today regarding Google Places for his business. His businesses are all in malls. With Google Places there is an emphasis on using consistency and full contact details, as we well know. The issue is his locations are in a mall and don't have a physical address to receive mail or verify their address. Is there a way to leverage Google Places in this kind of situation, or do you just use the general mall address?
Image & Video Optimization | | SarahGoliger0 -
How to Fix Issue for Inactive Products in Google Merchant Center?
Today, I was checking my Google merchant center account. I come to know that, there are 145 inactive products are available from product feed. I have checked few products manually and found following error. "The URL specified in your data feed wasn't working correctly when we reviewed this item." You can view more by attached image. I have checked my URLs and it's working well. There is no issue in URL. So, How do I fix issue? 6327664099_0430ef187e_b.jpg
Image & Video Optimization | | CommercePundit1 -
SEO benefits of linking logo to homepage?
Hello All, It will be helpful if anyone can list the benefits of linking the company logo (on every page of the website) to the home page, and how important it is in terms of internal linking / SEO factors. Thank you.
Image & Video Optimization | | NortonSupportSEO0
