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Daily Search Forum Recap: January 31, 2022

Published

2 years ago

February 1, 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 Search Console has released a new API for the URL Inspection tool. Google seems to be issuing manual actions to publishers over Google News and Google Discover violations. Google also seems to be going through the backlog of reconsideration requests after months and months of delays. Google said the untitled search spam did not infect anyone with malware. Google said the location of an internal link on a page does not matter. Google Search Console errors and issues for Breadcrumb and HowTo structured data was updated. Google Ads reminded us that the query data for some data in the search term report is going away tomorrow and more.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google Search Console Launches URL Inspection API

Google this morning launched a new API for Search Console – the URL Inspection API. This API lets you programmatically interact with the URL Inspection Tool that you would manually interact with within Google Search Console, but with code. SEOs and developers are super excited about this new API – as you’d imagine.

Google: No One Infected By Untitled Search Spam Issue

Danny Sullivan of Google said that no one was infected by the search spam issue around untitled documents. He said this is a spam issue, not a malware issue and “no one is infected with anything.” Sullivan added that the spam team is already on the issue and things are already improving.

How Does Location Of Internal Links On A Page Matter For SEO & Google Search

Google’s John Mueller said the location of internal links, links you place on your website to other parts of that same web site, does not necessarily matter if they are in the body content, footer, header or other sections on the page. The content, the anchor text, of those links helps Google understand what the page is about but the links aren’t really used more than just for crawling your site.

Google Penalizing News Publishers With Manual Actions For Discover & Google News

About a year ago, Google first introduced guidelines around manual actions for Google Discover and Google News. In the past week, I have seen numerous news publishers, both large and small, receive such manual actions.

Google Clearing Out The Manual Actions Backlog?

Earlier this month we reported that Google said there is a backlog with the manual actions in the queue, some as far back as over several months ago. Well, I am seeing some reports from SEOs that some of those manual actions are now being processed.

Breadcrumb & HowTo Google Search Console Errors Reporting Changed

Google has said it changed the error and issues reporting in Google Search Console for Breadcrumbs and HowTo structured data. This may result in new errors, warnings and issues or changes to the severity of the issues already reported by Google in Search Console’s enhancement reports.

Reminder: Some Google Ads Search Terms Report Query Data Being Removed Tomorrow

As a reminder, Google Ads will be removing some query data from your search terms report on February 1, 2022. Google warned us of this change in September 2021 and tomorrow is the day where historical query data that was collected prior to September 1, 2020 and does not meet the current thresholds for the search terms report will be removed on February 1, 2022.

Vlog #157: Brian Wallace On Infographics Helping An NBA Player Land A $64 Million Contact

Brian Wallace is the Founder and President of NowSourcing, an industry leading infographic design agency and he was in my neighborhood, which is actually his old neighborhood and stop by to talk shop. He now kind of jumps between Louisville, Kentucky and Cincinnati…

COVID Aged Scotch At Google Office

Here is a photo from the Google New York City office of a bottle of Lagavulin whisky scotch that was purchased by a Googler a year before the COVID lock downs and now, two years after COVID, it was re

Other Great Search Threads:

Are SEOs and Devs from different planets? @g33konaut and Github SEO manager @SEOGoddess tackle the important questions: → https://t.co/qTvOZuNK9i What happens when SEOs don’t know the answer?, Google Search Central on Twitter

Gmail campaigns became read only July 1st, 2021. Gmail campaigns will stop running June 28th, 2022. #ppcchat https://t.co/sxjEm7h1NP, Greg on Twitter

That doesn’t make any sense for SEO. I wouldn’t recommend it., John Mueller on Twitter

News: Google Business Profile support is now showing the type of case in the contact support flow. https://t.co/FXdGlI6E0m https://t.co/hCR1hr7Gd9, Ben Fisher on Twitter

We don’t make the result codes on our side – so I’d assume that’s coming somewhere from your server or network / CDN., John Mueller on Twitter

When Google My Business rebranded, they changed the URL for their Facebook support page to match the new name. Take a look at who snatched the old one. Do you know how many links online point to this URL? 🤦‍♀️https://t.co, Joy Hawkins on Twitter

Sure, but life is easier for SEO if you pick a URL and keep it for years., John Mueller on Twitter

The impressions are the impressions your site received in search. It’s not necessarily all the impressions shown to all users. It’s not the search volu, John Mueller on Twitter

Search Engine Land Stories:

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.

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Daily Search Forum Recap: April 17, 2024

Published

8 hours ago

April 18, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

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.

The Google March core update still is causing volatility and it is deepening. Google may make changes to the crawl stats report in Search Console. Google Search Console now shows unused ownership tokens. Google Maps will drop the review drafts. Google Add added generative AI for image generate for Demand Gen campaigns. Google Search is testing more sitelinks designs.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Deepening Google Core Ranking Volatility Hits Yesterday & Today

I know we just reported on more volatility this Monday, possibly related to the Google March 2024 core update, but we are seeing even more volatility over the past 24 hours related to this update. This volatility shows deepening movement for those who were hit, which is incredibly sad in many cases.

Google Search Console Adds Unused Ownership Tokens

Google Search Console has a new security feature under user and permission management to help you manage your unused ownership tokens. Basically, it helps you manage who has permissions to your Search Console profiles and who should not, maybe some legacy verifications.

Google: Should We Explain The Crawl Stats Report in Search Console

Martin Splitt from Google posted a one-line question asking, “Should we do something to explain the crawl stats report in GSC?” This was posted on Mastodon, which has a small audience, but the responses were pretty good.

New Google Ads AI Generated Image Tool For Demand Gen Campaigns

Google Ads announced that Demand Gen campaigns are getting generative AI tools to create image assets. This is rolling out to advertisers around the world in English with more languages to come later this year, Google said.

Google Tests Horizontal Lines For Sitelinks & People Also Ask

Google Search is testing horizontal lines under the sitelinks and the people also ask elements in the search results. This is a long horizontal line that goes across the while search result snippet.

Google Maps No Longer Will Support Draft Reviews

Google Maps will soon stop supporting drafting reviews for local business listings and Google Business Profiles. Google said that starting July 16, 2024, review drafts will no longer be supported.

Doogler In Google Play Area

Some of you love photos of dogs, so here is another one of a Doogler, a Google dog, in a play area, at the Google office. This was shared by the Life at Google Twitter account.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.

SEARCHENGINES

Daily Search Forum Recap: April 16, 2024

Published

1 day ago

April 17, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

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 will fight the site reputation abuse spam both algorithmically and with manual actions. Google is testing thumbs-up and down in product carousels. Google Ads similar product carousel is being tested. Google Search updated its image documentation. Google AdSense has a new ad format named ad intents.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google Will Fight Site Reputation Abuse Spam Both With Manual Actions & Algorithms

Google’s new spam algorithm update also introduced new spam policies including the upcoming site reputation abuse policy that won’t go into effect until May 2024. Google has confirmed it will fight site reputation abuse spam using both manual actions (humans) and algorithms (machines).

Google Search Tests Thumbs Up/Down Buttons In Product Grid Results

Google launched the style recommendations with thumbs up and down buttons not long ago after testing it in January. Now Google is showing this thumbs up and down buttons in the product grid search results, so Google can see what you like or dislike and then show you more products that you do like.

Google Ads “Similar Product” Carousel

Google has a similar products section and carousel for Google Ads sponsored listings. We have seen similar products and similar shopping related results from the organic / free listings but now I am seeing examples of a search ad carousel for “similar products.”

Clarification: Google Search Supports Images Referenced From src Attribute

Google has clarified in its image search help documentation that images are only extracted from the src attribute of img tags in Google Search. This is not new, but Google decided to update its documentation based on some questions it received about the topic.

Google AdSense New Ad Intents Formats – Links & Anchors In Content

Google AdSense announced a new auto ads format named “Ad intents.” Ad intents places links and anchors showing organic search results with ads into existing text and pages on your site related to your content. Yea, it takes your content, and hyperlinks it to the Google search results.

3-Wheel Tricycle At Google

Google’s Ann Arbor office has this 3-wheel tricycle that some Googlers have used over the years to get around the office. This one looks like the hot pink Huffy brand. I spotted this recently on Instagram but the photo is from 2016.

Other Great Search Threads:

I don’t have an update to share at this time, but you should continue to use classic GMC for rules and supplemental feed support. Here’s how to switch back if needed, AdsLiaison on X

In this case, I’ve been introducing a new metric; “likelihood to get search traffic” to see what we should add to XML sitemaps. Some pages might do incredibly well on other metrics, but simply, Joost de Valk on X

It does have a title, and it loads a HTML page – so this seems normal. The JavaScript doesn’t seem to be loading well, so if you’re the site owner, I’d suggest reading ou, John Mueller on X

News! Google Ads removed in some accounts the possibility to hover over a daily budget to edit it. You need to hover now and then click on “Edit budget”. Why changing things to less user-friendly ones, Thomas Eccel on X

The time has come! Registration for the Zürich Product Experts Summit has now opened for eligible PEs in Europe. Virtual registration will follow in May. Check your inboxes and the KB for more details., Google’s Product Experts Program on X

When I want to add positive search terms as exact match, I first add them quickly as broad, then bulk switch them over to exact match. lately I’ve been getting this error and the only way I can switch the keywords is by using Ads Editor., Greg on X

Yeah, quantity says nothing about quality and even less about user value or business value. Sometimes the solution to a “crawl budget problem” is not to make the server faster & search engines, John Mueller on X

Which the best method to link to the alternative language of a website, WebmasterWorld

Search Engine Land Stories:

Feedback:

SEARCHENGINES

Daily Search Forum Recap: April 15, 2024

Published

2 days ago

April 16, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

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 was more Google core update volatility over the weekend. Google defended its statements about forums ranking for almost everything. Google responded to The Verge’s printer article mocking its search results. Google AdSense publishers are seeing really big earnings drops. Google crawl budget is allocated on the hostname level. Google threatened California over its new proposed link tax bill with pulling investments and its news results from the state.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Weekend Google Core Ranking Volatility Taxing Site Owners

As I mentioned briefly in my Friday video recap, I was starting to see renewed chatter on Friday morning around more Google search ranking volatility. I spotted some renewed chatter that lead through Friday, into Saturday and today. So I figured I’d cover it and share some of what SEOs are saying over the weekend.

Google Responds To The Verge Mocking Its Search Rankings For Best Printer

Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of the Verge posted a new article with the intent to both rank for [best printer] in Google Search, as well as mock Google for how he can game Google’s search rankings using AI-generated content, while throwing in some affiliate links. Google’s John Mueller responded saying, “People seem to really enjoy it.”

Google Goes On Defensive On Its Search Quality & Forum Results Statements

Recently, we covered some of Google’s rationale for ranking forums like Reddit and Quora so well in the Discussion and Forums box for many queries. Just a few days ago, we covered how I was sad to see Google ranking some dangerous and potentially harmful forum threads for health-related queries.

Google Threatens California: Tests Removing Links To Publishers & Pauses Investments

On Friday, Google responded to a pending bill in the California state legislature, the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA), that would require Google to pay a link tax to publishers by testing removing links to California based publishers and pausing investments in news publishers within the state.

Google Crawl Budget Is Allocated By Hostname

Google gives every hostname its own allocated crawl budget. So that means each domain, subdomain, etc has its own unique crawl budget.

Google AdSense Publishers Reporting Huge RPM Earnings Drops

Many Google AdSense publishers have been reporting massive declines in their earnings and RPMs (page revenue per thousand impressions) since late February. This comes a couple of weeks after we reported the switch from CPC to CPM bidding in AdSense did not have a negative revenue result for publishers.

Google Android Figurine Display Case

At the Google Chicago office they have dozens of Android figurines on display in this glass display case. I guess they all have a name and are labeled with details. I found this image on Instagram.