SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: December 8, 2022
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.
Subscribe with Google sites may see an increase in impressions and clicks in the performance report in Search Console. Google said using explicit and extreme curse words can trigger your site to be filtered by SafeSearch. Google is testing “where to stop along the way” for some queries. Google is testing removing the estimated number of results. SEOs are split on if Google is getting worse or if the web is to blame.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Poll Shows SEOs Split On If Google Or The Web Is Getting Worse
There have been a lot of complaints about the quality of Google search results – the truth is, there are always complaints. Assuming you believe the results are indeed getting worse (which not everyone would agree with), is Google to blame, or is it the fault of the web in general to blame? - Google Tests Removing Estimated Number Of Search Results Again
Seems Google is once again testing removing the estimated number of search results under the search bar. You know, the line that says “About X results in Y seconds” Google is testing removing that again. - Google Search Console: Sites Using Subscribe With Google May See Increase In Impressions & Clicks
Google added a new annotation to the Google Search Console performance reports on December 5th, saying that sites that use Subscribe with Google may see an increase in clicks and impressions. I’ll be honest, I am a bit confused by the annotation was added this week and not in 2018 when the feature was added. - Google SafeSearch Can Be Triggered By Use Of Explicit & Extreme Cursing
A couple of years ago, Gary Illyes of Google noted that using many more X-rated curse words can trigger Google to think your site is adult oriented and thus be filtered out by SafeSearch. But how much, how often, and how explicit do those words need to be on your site to trigger it? - Google Search Tests “Where To Stop Along The Way”
Let’s say you are going on a road trip from one location to the next. One thing I expect some of those who do such entertainment would want to know is where are good places to stop along the way. Google is answering that now, I think, in a new test, with a carousel of locations you can stop along the route. - Teddy Bear Hardly Working At The GooglePlex
Here is a random photo I found posted by a Googler of his massive teddy bear hardly working at the Google office, the GooglePlex. The bear’s feet are up on the desk and he sits back and looks at the
Other Great Search Threads:
- Google has updated the Multi-location dashboard so that 1- there are no more hacks to get to the old dashboard 2- You can now easily have multiple locations open from the dashboard 3- the web editor has been moved to the n, Mike Blumenthal on Twitter
- LSAs will show at the top of the page, but they don’t preclude other ad formats from showing., AdsLiaison on Twitter
- We’ve just added 20 more videos explaining Publisher Policies (https://t.co/kthfMcQKxi) & Restrictions (https://t.co/58ZfgrItay). These aim to help pubs understand Google’s policies better, contextualizing them in the adver, Aurora Morales on Twitter
- GA4 – Configure settings has moved to Admin. As of now Events, Conversions, Audiences, Custom definitions and DebugView are now under property settings in Admin, Shameem Adhikarath on Twitter
- Google merchant center links are using up my crawl budget, WebmasterWorld
- In the end, these are all just tools, how you use them is up to you. Not every tool needs to be used to build a house, not every house needs to be a skyscraper. Build what you need, use what works for you & which you have experience with., John Mueller on Mastodon
- Introducing the 2022 Guiding Stars, Local Guides Connect
- Probably just because tracking them takes resources, and most people don’t dig into those details., John Mueller on Mastodon
- I don’t think there’s an issue with crawl budget, at least it would surprise me., John Mueller on Mastodon
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
- Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Oracle get $9 billion Pentagon cloud deals, CNBC
- Google Faces a Serious Threat From ChatGPT, Washington Post
- Google Offices: You Won’t Believe Work Gets Done at These Three Spaces, Architectural Digest
- Google must delete search results about you if they’re fake, EU court rules, POLITICO
- Google must remove ‘manifestly inaccurate’ data, EU top court says, Reuters
- US Sides Against Alphabet’s Google in Social Media Case, Bloomberg
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
PPC
Search Features
Other Search
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, you can follow us on Facebook and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
Source: www.seroundtable.com
SEARCHENGINES
Google Won’t Change The 301 Signals For Ranking & SEO
Gary Illyes from Google said on stage at the SERP conference last week that there is no way that Google would change how the 301 redirect signal works for SEO or search rankings. Gary added that it’s a very reliable signal.
Nikola Minkov quoted Gary Illyes as saying, “It is a very reliable signal, and there is no way we could change that signal,” when asked if a 301 redirect not working is a myth. Honestly, I am not sure the context of this question, as it is not clear from the post on X, but here it is:
More from @methode:
– 301 redirect not working is a myth. “It is a very reliable signal, and there is no way we could change that signal”.#SERPConf2024#SERPConf2024International— Nikola Minkov (@n_minkov) April 19, 2024
We’ve covered 301 redirects here countless times – but I never saw a myth that Google does not use 301 redirects as a signal for canonicalization or for passing signals from an old URL to the redirected URL.
Forum discussion at X.
Note: This was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today, I am currently offline for Passover.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Again Says Ignore Link Spam Especially To 404 Pages
I am not sure how many times Google has said that you do not need to disavow spammy links, that you can ignore link spam attacks and that links pointing to pages that 404/410 are links that do not count – but John Mueller from Google said it again.
In a thread on X, John Mueller from Google wrote, “if the links are going to URLs that 404 on your site, they’re already dropped.” “They do nothing,” he added, “If there’s no indexable destination URL, there’s no link.”
John then added, “I’d generally ignore link-spam, and definitely ignore link-spam to 404s.”
Asking if it would hurt to disavow, after responding with the messages above, John wrote:
It will do absolutely nothing. I would take the time to rework a holistic & forward-looking strategy for the site overall instead of working on incremental tweaks (other tweaks might do something, but you probably need real change, not tweaks).
Earlier this year we had tons of SEOs notice spammy links to 404 error pages, John said ignore them. In 2021, Google said links to 404 pages do not count, Google also said that in 2012 and many other times.
Plus, outside of links to 404 pages, Google has said to ignore spammy links, time and time again – even the toxic links – ignore them. The messaging around this changed in 2016 when Penguin 4.0 was released and Google began devaluing links over demoting them.
Here are those new posts in context:
I’d say add both. Lol
— Jeremy Rivera (@JeremyRiveraSEO) April 11, 2024
Sure. But also, save yourself the work completely :-).
— John 🧀 … 🧀 (@JohnMu) April 11, 2024
Re-reading your initial post – if the links are going to URLs that 404 on your site, they’re already dropped. They do nothing. If there’s no indexable destination URL, there’s no link. I’d generally ignore link-spam, and definitely ignore link-spam to 404s.
— John 🧀 … 🧀 (@JohnMu) April 11, 2024
… but still… is this a dumb idea?
— Rebekah Edwards (@rebekah_creates) April 11, 2024
It will do absolutely nothing. I would take the time to rework a holistic & forward-looking strategy for the site overall instead of working on incremental tweaks (other tweaks might do something, but you probably need real change, not tweaks).
— John 🧀 … 🧀 (@JohnMu) April 11, 2024
And in general, Google says it ignores spammy links, so you should too (not new) but this post from John Mueller is:
I would just ignore them, Google ignores them too. Sometimes they’re just more visible in tools, but that doesn’t mean they’re a problem.
— John 🧀 … 🧀 (@JohnMu) April 18, 2024
And then also on Mastodon wrote about a similar situation, “Google has 2 decades of practice of ignoring spammy links. There’s no need to do anything for those links.”
Forum discussion at X.
Note: This was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today, I am currently offline for Passover.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Needs Very Few Links To Rank Pages; Links Are Less Important
Gary Illyes from Google spoke at the SERP Conf on Friday and he said what he said numerous times before, that Google values links a lot less today than it did in the past. He added that Google Search “needs very few links to rank pages.”
Gary reportedly said, “We need very few links to rank pages… Over the years we’ve made links less important.”
I am quoting Patrick Stox who is quoting what he heard Gary say on stage at the event. Here is Patrick’s post where Gary did a rare reply:
I shouldn’t have said that… I definitely shouldn’t have said that
— Gary 鯨理/경리 Illyes (so official, trust me) (@methode) April 19, 2024
Gary said this a year ago, also in 2022 and other times as well. We previously covered that Google said links would likely become even less important in the future. And even Matt Cutts, the former Googler, said something similar about eight years ago and the truth is, links are weighted a lot less than it was eight years ago and that trend continues. A couple of years ago, Google said links are not the most important Google search ranking factor.
Of course, many SEOs think Google lies about this.
Judith Lewis interviewed Gary Illyes at the SERP Conf this past Friday.
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