Industry News

Catch up on interesting new discussion and industry news.

    The Cure Deliver the Power-Doom Epic We’ve Been Waiting For

    by Rian van der Merwe
    Nov 10, 2024 at 8:19 AM
    Great Rolling Stone review of a perfect late-career album by The Cure:

    ‘Songs of a Lost World’ is the triumphant power-doom epic it needed to be, fully the Cure’s best since ‘Disintegration’, as Smith reaches into the depths of his cobwebbed heart, going deep into adult loss and grief. It’s an album that begins with the line ‘This is the end of every song I sing,’ and closes with ‘Left alone with nothing at the end of every song.’ In between, he gets dark.

    I’ve also slowly been...

    A Deadly Gravitational Pull in PLG B2B: Individual-Centric Experiences

    by Rian van der Merwe
    Nov 9, 2024 at 9:43 AM
    Elena Verna on the importance of focusing on team experiences in B2B products:

    The key to any successful B2B Product-Led Growth (PLG) strategy lies in connecting end-user adoption to enterprise-level deals. But because B2B PLG often looks like, smells like, and acts like consumer product, it pulls product and marketing teams into a deadly gravitation pull of crafting consumer-like experiences focused solely on the individual value. While acquiring individual users is a natural first...

    Garden State was a good movie

    by Rian van der Merwe
    Nov 9, 2024 at 9:36 AM
    I read about Zach Braff and His All-Star Benefit Concert for the 20th Anniversary of ‘Garden State’, and it reminded me how much I loved the movie despite all the hate it gets.

    “Back in this era, the Virgin Megastore was around the corner from a movie theater in [New York City’s] Union Square,” Braff recalls in a phone interview. “And so many people were going directly from the movie theater to the Virgin Megastore to buy the soundtrack that Virgin had to put a sign in the CD slot that...

    47 (no, not that one)

    by Rian van der Merwe
    Nov 9, 2024 at 7:48 AM
    I turned 47 this week. There was also an election. It was also the 8th anniversary of my dad’s passing. I know this is a Product blog, but allow me to take a moment to just say, dang, y’all. What a week. What a decade. I don’t have words for the era we are about to enter in the US. So, as always, I turn to music. Some people eat their feelings, I listen to mine.

    First, I made a post-election feels mixtape on Spotify. I am deliberate about calling it a mixtape and not a playlist. There’s...

    Daily Search Forum Recap: November 8, 2024

    rustybrick
    by rustybrick
    Nov 8, 2024 at 7:00 AM
    Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

    Google is testing continuous scroll again...

    Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Election Day Volatility, Helpful Content Update Status, Creators vs SEOs, AI, Ads & More

    rustybrick
    by rustybrick
    Nov 8, 2024 at 5:01 AM
    This week in search we covered the election day Google Search ranking volatility. We also had a status update on where those helpful content update victims are currently sitting. There is this spat going on between content creators and SEOs now, what did Google say. ChatGPT Search is powered...

    Google-Selected Canonical Showing Third-Party's Domain Name

    rustybrick
    by rustybrick
    Nov 8, 2024 at 4:51 AM
    We have covered examples of Google selecting the wrong canonical URL from within your domain, but what about when Google shows you a domain name that is not yours? What if the Google URL inspection tool shows a domain name that you do not own as the Google-selected canonical?

    Google Local Service Ads App To Stop Working In Two Months

    rustybrick
    by rustybrick
    Nov 8, 2024 at 4:41 AM
    Google will stop supporting the Google Local Service Ads app starting on January 6, 2024. An email sent to advertisers said, "On January 6, 2025, we will be turning down the Google Local Services Ads mobile app."

    Google Continuous Conversational Search In Google App

    rustybrick
    by rustybrick
    Nov 8, 2024 at 4:31 AM
    Google seems to be testing the ability to have a conversation with the Google Search app, where it Google Search continues to adapt and refine the search query, as you add follow up statements. It is like how Google Gemini or other AI Chat features work, but in Google Search.

    Google & Bing In Dublin For IETF Event To Improve Crawling & AI Controls

    rustybrick
    by rustybrick
    Nov 8, 2024 at 4:21 AM
    Google's Gary Illyes and John Mueller, along with Bing's Fabrice Canel and probably other representatives from these search engines spent time in Dublin this week to attend the IETF 121 Dublin event with the goal of submitting ideas on how to improve the Robots Exclusion Protocol.