SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: January 13, 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.
Google says that writing content with a lot of fluff makes it hard for search engines to understand – but it does seem like Google ranks fluffy content higher. Google said the search quality raters guidelines are not designed for SEOs. Google Business Profiles has a new security feature to prevent new owners and managers for making edits to their businesses for a seven-day period. Google local search results has grouping carousels and count labels. A poll says SEOs are going to allocate more resources to content over other areas of SEO.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Reminder: Google Search Quality Rating Guidelines Not Designed For SEOs
Google’s John Mueller posted a short post on Twitter that needs to be highlighted. He said “the quality raters guidelines are not guidelines for SEOs though.” We often forget that, these search quality raters guidelines are for the search quality evaluators, they were not specifically designed as guidelines for SEOs. - Google: Fluff Content Hard For Search Engines To Understand & Maybe Rank
Google’s John Mueller the other day said on Twitter the example given to him was “less about duplicate content, and more about fluff.” He said when it comes to fluff content, it makes “it hard for search engines to figure out what you’re trying to say.” - Google Business Profile Makes New Mangers & Owners Wait 7 Days To Manage Profiles
Google is putting new Google Business Profile owners and managers into a sandbox, penalty box or a waiting room for seven-days before they can manage all of the features in the Google Business Profile account. This is a new, I guess, security feature, Google added the other day. - Google Local Search Results Grouping, Carousels & Count Labels
Google has been pushing the limits of its user interfaces in the local search results in web search and some of the other filters. I don’t know or even think any of this has been rolled out recently but I do think this did roll out in 2021. In short, Google local search results are grouping things more, using more carousels and even offering filters with count labels. - Survey Says SEOs To Allocate More Resources To Content Over Other Areas
Aleyda Solis posted a Twitter poll asking “in what area do you expect to allocate more resources/efforts in SEO this year?” She said you should base it on what you have planned so far. Most responded it is going towards content, then technical SEO, then link building and other. - Amazon Rivian Van
I spotted a video on Twitter of an Amazon delivery van but not just any Amazon van, a Rivian electric van. It was charging at a rusty 🙂 charging station. I spotted this on Twitter, here is the vide
Other Great Search Threads:
- If you remember the Decor My Eyes situation, Google published a post explaining more about the algorithmic approach used to demote that site & others like it. They mention sentiment analysis & its limitations at the ti, Glenn Gabe on Twitter
- In case if you are wondering why your e-commerce merchant center promotions are getting rejected, below mail from google may give you some clarity #ppcchat #googleads https://t.co/VN0b4nDD7l, Dheeraj Gangwani on Twitter
- Well this is some fresh BS @GoogleAds So you can’t really tell if my RSAs are poor, average or good until they get 5,000 Top impressions? Cause you’re showing a status w/out anywhere near that level of impressions in las, Julie F Bacchini on Twitter
- 11 years ago, I rebuilt @Google’s error page. A short story. https://t.co/BjoJaQn9zn, Jens Oliver Meiert on Twitter
- Are fresh links better because they’re fresh, or worse because they’re not old?, John Mueller on Twitter
- I know people just want all data for data’s sake, but would they remove these terrible interstitials because of it? They must already know users hate the interstitials (& their site because of them)., John Mueller on Twitter
- I’m excited to join @semrush as the Head of Enterprise Solutions. My past 21 year’s experience in SEO and building software make it the perfect foundation and time to work together on smart and innovative Enterprise SEO, Marcus Tober on Twitter
- Interesting, looks like this feature (first test in Sep 2021) has rolled out in the US. Is a snippet for pages that looks very similar to Product Schema, but isn’t. Instead based on HTML from the page to give an accurate p, Brodie Clark on Twitter
- The new size-adjust CSS font-face property is incredibly powerful. With minimal effort it can help eliminate custom font layout shift/CLS. Supported browsers today are the Chromiums and Firefox. I made this tool to figure out t, Malte Ubl on Twitter
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
Google Hanukkah Decorations Are Live For 2023

Hanukkah (aka Chanukah) starts this coming Thursday night, December 7th. Google has added its Hanukkah decorations to the Google Search results interface to celebrate. Google does this every year and I expect to see the same rollout in the coming weeks for Christmas and Kawanzaa but for now, since Chanukah is in the coming days, we have the Hanukkah decorations live at Google Search.
Here is a screenshot of the Chanukah decorations as they look like on the mobile search results.
You can see it yourself by searching on Google for [chanukah], [hanukkah], but not yet [חֲנוּכָּה] or other spelling variations yet but it should soon. It looks better on mobile than it does on desktop results.
To see the past, the 2023 decorations, 2021 decorations, 2020 Chanukah decorations, 2019 Google holiday decorations, the 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and so on.
Happy Chanukah, everyone!
Forum discussion at X.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Pay Accepted Icons In Google Search Results

Google seems to be testing a Google Pay Accepted label or icon in the Google search results. This label has the super G logo followed by the words “Pay accepted” words next to search result snippets that support Google Pay and notate such in their structured data.
This was first spotted by Khushal Bherwani who shared some screenshots of this on X – here is one:
Here are some more screenshots:
Here is test and without test window for same query. pic.twitter.com/n9cYWBOsro
— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) October 20, 2023
Brodie Clark also posted some screenshots after on X:
In continuation from the test from October, Google is now testing out a new Google Pay label associated with organic results. Last month, Google was testing Pay Accepted text, with this month changing it to Pay encrypted checkout. More details: https://t.co/MvFNoPmMDR pic.twitter.com/WDVVc4RbTO
— SERPs Up 🌊 (@SERPalerts) November 30, 2023
I tried to replicate this but I came up short.
This is not the first time Google had similar icons like this in its search results.
Forum discussion at X.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Discover Showing Older Content Since Follow Feature Arrived

Typically, Google Discover shows content that is less than a day old, but it can show content that is weeks, months, or even years old. However, typically, Google will show more recent content in the Discover feed. Well, that may have changed with the new Google follow feature.
Glenn Gabe, who is a very active Google Discover user, noticed that since the Follow feature rolled out, he has been seeing content that is weeks and months old way more often than before the follow feature rolled out. Glenn wrote on X that “this could also be playing a role. i.e. Google isn’t providing as much recent content, but instead, focusing on providing targeted content based on the topics you are following.”
It makes sense that if you follow a specific topic and if Google Discover only shows the most authoritative types of content, it might be hard for Google to find new content on that topic. So it does make sense that Google may show older content more often for that specific topic you follow.
Here are screenshots Glenn shared:
Have you noticed this in your Discover feed?
Forum discussion at X.
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