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.

No, there is no helpful content score from Google Search. Google is testing the featured snippets that are not in position zero (one). A study says that reviews from Google Local Guides stay up longer than other reviews. Google says your content does not need to be niche to rank well. Microsoft Advertising will require UK advertisers in the financial sector to be verified.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google: There Is No Helpful Content Score Or Threshold
  
  Google’s John Mueller said there is no score or threshold for the Google helpful content update. He said on Mastodon “There is no “HCS score” or threshold at which HCS [helpful content score] would switch from unhelpful to helpful for SEO.
• Google Tests Featured Snippets Not In Position Zero, Again
  
  Google is once again testing showing the featured snippet, aka position zero, not in the first or position zero slot but rather under position one or even further down the page.
• Google: Your Content Does Not Need To Be Niche, It Can Be Diverse – Just Write For Your People
  
  Danny Sullivan, the Google Search Liaison, said on Masoton that your content does not need to be on one topic, one niche topic, for it to rank well. You can write about diverse topics on your site. The main thing, Danny said, was that you should write content however you want for your people and not for search engines.
• Study: Google Local Guides Reviews Stay At The Top Longer
  
  Joy Hawkins has published another local SEO case study, this one on whether reviews left by Local Guides do better than any ordinary reviewer on Google. The answer is yes; reviews left by Local Guides seem to do better and last longer than other reviews.
• UK Financial Services Advertisers Now Needs Verification For Microsoft Advertising
  
  Microsoft announced that if you do financial service ads in its network, like on Bing Search, in the UK, you will need to be verified in early 2023. “Starting early 2023, we’ll allow only advertisers duly authorized by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to present regulated financial promotions in the UK,” wrote.




• R2-D2 At Google Event
  
  Here is a photo from the Google Dublin office from an event named “Google Unwrapped, Let Your Thursday Roar.” You can see, R2-D2 from Star Wars was in attendance.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

SEO

PPC

Search Features

Other Search

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