SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: February 9, 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.
Did you know that most SEOs said the pandemic resulted in an increase in demand for their SEO services? Google local might have a bug with double ad placements (update, this is not a bug). Google had to say that URLs with UTM parameters on them are not by default paid links. Bing migrated the Bing News PubHub into Bing Webmaster Tools. Google Chrome is rolling out Journeys, which is browser history improved.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Survey Says: The Pandemic Brought An Increase In Demand For SEO
Joe Hall posted a Twitter poll asking the SEO community how the pandemic impacted their SEO business. The poll had 614 responses and most said that the pandemic has brought an increased demand in SEO. - Google: Links With UTM Parameters Are Not By Default Paid Links
John Mueller of Google has to say on Twitter that just because a link has UTM parameters on them, it doesn’t make it a paid link. He said “links with UTM parameters are just links.” “They’re definitely not considered paid links,” he added. - Google Local Pack With Double Ad Placement Bug? (Not a bug)
We’ve seen Google legitimately test two ads in the local pack but what Iampk spotted on Twitter and some were able to replicate seems like Google placing an ad unit spot twice in the local pack. Like this is some bug where Google decided to not show two ads, but ads two ad features to the local pack – it is a subtle difference. - Bing News PubHub Moved To Bing Webmaster Tools
Microsoft Bing has moved the Bing News PubHub to within Bing Webmaster Tools. Bing News PubHub is a way for publishers to submit their site for approval in Bing News and also check on the status of their approval. It is no longer available at pubhub.bing.com – it has been moved to Bing Webmaster Tools. - Google Chrome Journeys Rolling Out
Back in October 2021 we reported that Google was testing in Chrome something called Journeys. Journeys will cluster all the pages you’ve visited related to your previous browsing history so you can easily view them without having to sift through your browsing history. - Google Pillow Swag: Google TV & Chrome
Satyajeet Salgar from Google shared a photo on Twitter of some recent (the past year) of Google pillow swag he accumulated. This looks like a Google TV pillow and a Chrome pillow.
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
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.
SEARCHENGINES
Helpful Content & Link Spam Update Done, SEO, Search Console & More
SEARCHENGINES
Google Blasts Agencies That Sell Links Building & Disavow Link Services

John Mueller of Google blasted SEO or marketing agencies that sell both link-building services and disavow link services. He said on Twitter, “These agencies (both those creating, and those disavowing) are just making stuff up, and cashing in from those who don’t know better.”
John added that its “all made up and irrelevant.”
Also, when asked if they should disavow links, John replied yesterday on Twitter, “Don’t waste your time on it; do things that build up your site instead.”
Here is the chain of tweets, so you see the context that John is replying to.
Ryan Jones does his rant:
I’m still shocked at how many seos regularly disavow links. Why? Unless you spammed them or have a manual action you’re probably doing more harm than good.
— Ryan Jones (@RyanJones) January 31, 2023
Here is the chain that follows:
There are no clear instructions from google’s side that what kind of links we should disavow even Google created confusion on this by saying no need to disavow blogspot, shaddy links, adult site links.
— Saurabh Rawat (Tech SEO) (@SEOGuruJaipur) January 31, 2023
I’ve personally never seen that type of negative seo actually work without some sort of hacking or the site itself having some sort of issue the links exploit.
— Ryan Jones (@RyanJones) January 31, 2023
That’s all made up & irrelevant. These agencies (both those creating, and those disavowing) are just making stuff up, and cashing in from those who don’t know better.
— John Mueller is watching out for Google+ 🐀 (@JohnMu) January 31, 2023
Pretty strong words from John, don’t you think?
Here is the second part:
Not unless it was placed with ‘intent to manipulate’ by someone. Its important to know you have those though as they could be impacting relevancy or the site owners opinion on how many valid links you actually have etc
— Paul Madden (@PaulDavidMadden) January 31, 2023
Don’t waste your time on it; do things that build up your site instead.
— John Mueller is watching out for Google+ 🐀 (@JohnMu) January 31, 2023
One note:
Thanks for posting on this issue. I think you should add my conclusion tweet as well that all this is claimed by an agency, not by me.
I am not a native English speaker, not sure how people are taking this. I just tried to put some serious points here to help our SEO community.— Saurabh Rawat (Tech SEO) (@SEOGuruJaipur) February 1, 2023
Just yesterday we covered the topic of disavowing spammy porn links and also added how Google has downplays disavowing links for a while. John said in that in that SEO office hours help video yesterday, “That said, this will not position your site as it was before, but it can help our algorithms to recognize that they can trust your site again, giving you a chance to work up from there.” I don’t think he meant that fully based on what he said yesterday and previously?
But this is pretty strong language for not bothering with the disavow file.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Search Console Verification Does Not Impact Your Ranking In Google Search

Gary Illyes of Google said in the Google SEO office-hours from yesterday that verifying your website in Google Search Console won’t impact your Google Search indexing or ranking whatsoever.
Gary said, “Having your site verified in Search Console or changing the verification code and method has no effect on indexing or ranking whatsoever.”
John Mueller of Google previously said that Search Console verification doesn’t help with crawling either.
Gary added later that Search Console gives you data and analytics that can help you make improvements to your site to help you rank better in Google Search potentially. “You can use the data that Search Console gives you to improve your site and thus potentially do better in Search with your site, but otherwise has no effect on search whatsoever,” he added.
Here is the video embed at the 15:27 mark:
Forum discussion at Twitter.
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