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 dropping the follow and welcome offers for local business profiles. Google Maps is showing the questions and answers feature in the maps interface. Google said adding individual pages does not impact crawl budget. Google posted a new video on how BERT helps Google with search. Bing is testing emojis favicons in the title of the search results. I also posted my weekly video recap – this one was a good one, don’t miss it.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Business Profiles Follow & Welcome Offer Going Away
  
  Kara a Google Community Manager announced that Google is doing away with the Google Business profile feature to follow a local listing in Google Maps or Google Search and also dropping the welcome offer feature. There is no date on when this is happening, so it might be happening now or already happened depending on the roll out timing.




• Bing Tests Various Favicons In Title Tags
  
  Here is an interesting test from Microsoft Bing. The search company is testing placing a newspaper emoji and a magnifying glass emoji as the favicon in the title of the search results pages. It is unusual and I am not sure why Bing is testing it, but they are.
• Questions and Answers In The Google Maps Interface
  
  The questions and answers section is often found for local listings local knowledge panel listing on both desktop and mobile but now it is also showing up in the Google Maps interface.
• Google: Adding Individual Pages Does Not Impact How We Crawl Your Site
  
  Google’s John Mueller said that simply adding individual pages won’t impact how Google crawls your site. Crawl budget generally is only impacted by hundreds of thousands, if not millions of pages – not individual pages here or there.
• Video On How BERT Helps With Google Search – It’s The Little Words
  
  Google has posted a new video on how BERT helps Google Search understand language. Google has been using BERT in search since 2018, we only knew about it in 2019. That being said, the short video basically says it is about Google understanding the little words better.
• Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Algorithm Update Brewing, Google Ads Disapprovals, Google Reporting Glitches & More
  
  This week, we reported about a possible Google search ranking algorithm update brewing, after weeks of calmness. Google Ads may be mass disapproving ads…




• Life Size Outdoor Chess Set At Google Zurich
  
  Here is a photo from outside by the Google Zurich office of a life size chess board with life size pieces. This was shared on Instagram recently but this is not new, it has been around for a while.

Other Great Search Threads:

• I think it’s new. When trying to verify a GBP listing I get a new interface and it takes me to the Google Merchant Center if you select that customers can purchase products through website @TheSocialDude @JoyanneHawkins @Aden, francastrokw on Twitter
• I think they’re super cool – but also challenging from an SEO POV. Including enough relevant textual content is hard with such a visual format. But finding the right words is probably second-nature to you as an, John Mueller on Twitter
• Google pays Mozilla ~$400M per year to be the default search engine -> Firefox’s market share decline is pushing Mozilla to diversify its revenue, such as through browser personalization, as it seeks independence from Google d, Glenn Gabe on Twitter
• Have you ever Googled yourself and found info that you think is outdated? Watch our new video to learn all about requesting content removals under the right to be forgotten → https://t.co/Vy1foC3iV1 https://t, Google Search Central on Twitter
• If you use Inspect URL or check the cached page, you can see that we pick the new URL as canonical. However, the query looks very much like you’re “asking for” the old URL, so we show it. If you use [my grea, John Mueller on Twitter
• Microsoft @Bing is committed to making #Search more visually immersive. A favorite redesigned feature is our knowledge cards, which surface key information in a fun and beautiful way. I’m proud to share that this experience i, Jordi Ribas on Twitter
• What’s the roadmap to becoming a professional SEO? @JohnMu and @methode chat with @aleyda about her path to becoming an SEO, and the lessons she’s learned along the way. → https://t.co/7BkxxMtGc5, Google Search Central on Twitter

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

SEO

PPC

Other Search

Feedback:

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