Today In SEO & Search News: February 24, 2017

Probably my favorite task on a Friday afternoon is going through the day's SEO and search news, reading about the industry I love and writing up this blog post to share it all with you, our valued readers. So here's some light reading to take you into the weekend ... AMP Content Showing Up Outside Of Search Barb Palser over at Search Engine Land reported earlier today on some interesting AMP stats.  When most of us think of AMP we think of carousels and Google SERP traffic but sources like Facebook, LinkedIn and Flipboard are driving traffic to AMP pages as well.  Pinterest is another big advocate. At this time none of the companies are saying it's a huge advantage in their rankings but if they think it's a better experience ... well ... HTTPS To Hit 50% Of Top 10

Page-1 HTTPS results topped 45% in our 10K tracking set. Trendline predicts we'll hit 50% in three months... pic.twitter.com/9hsUZoesgR

— Dr. Pete Meyers (@dr_pete) February 16, 2017

Matt Southern over at Search Engine Journal reported on a finding by Dr. Pete over at Moz that by May/June of this year over 50% of the top-ranking sites on Google's front page will be HTTPS.  Here's what I find confusing - how has it not topped 50% yet? Whoa re these site owners that haven't made the switch when it's so easy to do? I do get why publishers are reluctant with the loss of their social metrics in the URL change but come on everyone else ... Google Now Displays Recipes And the busy Matt Southern also reported for Search Engine Journal on the spotting of new cards on Google Now that display recipe suggestions based on search history and previously read articles.  He's posted some good images so head over to view what it looks like but be aware ... you should eat first. And I now want Thai Lettuce cups. Targeting Hyperlocal Keywords Rand's latest Whiteboard Friday is on how to target a small specific region with your keywords and win. We all know it can be difficult and the tips are good reminders or add-ons to what you might already be doing. Definitely worth the 6 minutes. An Interview With Moz's George Freitag Jim Hedger and I had the pleasure of interviewing Moz's Local Search Evangelist George Frietag. It was a great episode with tons of interesting news and a lot of great info on Moz Local and local search optimization. And that was it for the day.  If you're still looking for more reading and if you missed it there was A LOT covered in yesterday's post and it was interesting. And if not - relax and enjoy your weekend. :)