SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: January 17, 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.
There may be a Google search algorithm update running now and over the weekend, it is unconfirmed of course. Google’s John Mueller spoke more about the product reviews update, we summarized those points. Google asked hosting companies not to serve 500 status codes for robot detection interstitials. Google has these location packs that show things to do, airports and transit stops. Google Ads said target CPA is not going away in 2022 and more.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Search Ranking Update January 14th & 15th (Unconfirmed)
Friday and Saturday, January 14th and 15th there may have been another unconfirmed Google search ranking algorithm update. This comes a few days after the unconfirmed January 11th update. There is some chatter but this time, the Google tracking tools are showing much higher volatility. - Google Product Reviews Update Will Expand, May Use Machine Learning & Can Be Incorporated In Core Updates
Google’s John Mueller was asked a series of questions around the product reviews update on last Friday’s video hangout. In short, it will expand to other languages and countries, it probably does use machine learning and eventually it might be incorporated into the larger core updates. - Google: Hosting Companies Should Serve 500 Status Code On Robot Detection Interstitial
Google’s John Mueller posted one of those PSA tweets this morning asking hosting companies that trigger robot detection interstitials to not use a 200 status code. John also said not to place a noindex on that page. If you do these things the pages served with these can be dropped out of the Google index and search results. - Google: Target CPA In Google Ads Not Going Away In 2022
Google’s Ginny Marvin via the AdsLiaison account on Twitter confirmed that target CPA, tCPA, is not being cancelled in 2022. She wrote “we have no plans to sunset tCPA in 2022” after there were some speculation that it might be turned off in 2022. - Google Location Search Pack With Things To Do, Airports & Transit Stops
Google is testing a new layout for location packs that show things to do, airports and transit stops based on the location you are looking at. This is Google mobile search feature that Brian Freiesleben spotted and posted on Twitter. - Vlog #155: Riley Hope On Women In SEO & Automotive Search
In part one Riley Hope and I spoke about her SEO career, how she did her thesis on ethics in SEO and we spoke about the automotive SEO space. In part two we talk about women in SEO and more on the automotive space and search results… - Surprise Birthday Party At The Google New York City Office
Back before COVID had most Google employees working at home, we would see tons photos of birthday parties and cakes for the employees. But now it is more rare with few Googlers working at the office.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Do you look at the “last updated” date at the bottom of a Google Search documentation page? What do you think it means?, Lizzi on Twitter
- I think you’re overthinking it. There’s no magical voodoo-bonus from an old domain. If you want to use an older domain name, use it. But the important part is the website that *you* build, not the domain name.”, John Mueller on Twitter
- Thanks to you, we’ve hit 100 billion all time private searches! https://t.co/qlSaz4j9ZH That’s 100B times: • Your search history wasn’t a data point • What you searched (like cat memes) was your business & only yours • Y, DuckDuckGo on Twitter
- How important are content updates for SEO? Is it possible to keep your Google ranking without refreshing the content? Could content updates give you a boost in Google? I did the research and the short answers are: NO and YES., Alex Buraks on Twitter
- If you want to. SEO is not like a cult that you can never leave :-). I think. ¯_(ツ)_/¯”, John Mueller on Twitter
- There are many parts that make a website awesome – it’s not just the colors, the font, the text, the images, the links, the users, the writers, the world state of mind, etc. You can’t just pick, John Mueller 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.
-
WORDPRESS3 days ago
8 Best Zapier Alternatives to Automate Your Website
-
SEARCHENGINES7 days ago
Google Discover Showing Older Content Since Follow Feature Arrived
-
MARKETING5 days ago
How Does Success of Your Business Depend on Choosing Type of Native Advertising?
-
MARKETING6 days ago
OpenAI’s Drama Should Teach Marketers These 2 Lessons
-
SOCIAL5 days ago
Paris mayor to stop using ‘global sewer’ X
-
MARKETING5 days ago
Intro to Amazon Non-endemic Advertising: Benefits & Examples
-
PPC3 days ago
12 Holiday Emails for Customers (Templates & Examples!)
-
WORDPRESS3 days ago
Watch Live on December 11 – WordPress.com News
You must be logged in to post a comment Login