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 said that the stock level of a product should not impact its rankings. Google also said that you do not need to nofollow links to internal pages that have sponsored content with affiliate links on them. Google may be showing more web stories in the top stories carousel. Google fixed an issue with Search Console’s user and permissions screens. I also posted the big Google webmaster report for January 2022 – do not miss it.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• January 2022 Google Webmaster Report
  
  Normally the month of December is not that busy because people take off for the holidays and such. But the past month was really not that calm at all. We had huge Google ranking volatility most of the past month, we had a confirmed three-week rollout of the December product reviews update, Google confirmed a local update and much more.
• Google: Stock Levels Should Not Impact Search Rankings
  
  Google’s John Mueller was asked if stock levels can impact the ranking of products on an e-commerce site. John implied that the answer is no, he said “that seems unrelated, at least for normal search. It might impact product search but he is not sure if it will or won’t – but normal web search, it should not impact.
• Google May Be Showing More Web Stories In Top Stories
  
  John Shehata shared a chart from his Newzdash service that showed how Google is showing more web stories in the top positions of the top stories carousel in the mobile search results. John said on Twitter “I am starting to see more and more web stories in Google Search Top Stories (News Box) carousels. The numbers are still small.”
• Google: Rel Sponsored Not Needed For Internal Links To Affiliate Product Reviews
  
  You do not need to nofollow or use a rel sponsored attribute on your internal links, even if those internal links lead to sponsored reviews content with affiliate links to those products. Lily Ray asked Google’s John Mueller about this and John said while half away, the link attributes are not needed.
• Google Search Console Users and Permissions Issue Fixed
  
  A few months ago we reported about a Google Search Console users permissions issue. Well, that issue is now resolved according to Caio Barros from Google. The issue seemed more like an issue with communicating the true access than a bug with access.
• Google Search Console Office Corner
  
  Here is a photo from the Google Tel Aviv office, this is on the Search Console team floor, where Daniel Waisberg is based. He shared this photo on Twitter saying “Love this corner on the Search Consol

Other Great Search Threads:

• Did anyone notice that if you click on Performance on Google Search Console, it opens in a new tab instead of the same tab? @rustybrick – No Tweet goes without confirmation from Barry! 😀👏🤝 @googlesearchc What do, siddhesh assawa on Twitter
• It’s average top position, so sitelinks tend not to be relevant there (since the top position will be another URL from your site)., John Mueller on Twitter
• Just doing a little address research and spotted this “Most popular places at this address” #localseo #FirstTweetOf2022 https://t.co/c34jKu7z7d, Andy Simpson on Twitter
• The New Define option when you select the text on the Featured snippet is being tested by Google. Is it new? @rustybrick @JohnMu https://t.co/sNxcf3E2Zo, Pradeep on Twitter
• Google Acquires Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) Provider, Siemplify, WebmasterWorld
• Google and others working to soften new US antitrust bills?, WebmasterWorld
• Heads-up, Chrome 97 is rolling out today. New in DevTools: *Use the new Recorder panel to record, replay and measure user flows (like a checkout process). *More modern devices are now added in the device list. https://t.co/0xl, Glenn Gabe on Twitter
• I think what you’re noticing is the page groups. If a page doesn’t have data of its own (which is common), it ends up using data from its group. With that, every page on a site could have data,, John Mueller on Twitter
• Not currently available but that’s good feedback, thank you., Daniel Waisberg on Twitter
• Still interested in the December Product Reviews Update? I just published a companion Web Story to my blog post about the update. The Web Story contains key findings for site owners and SEOs. Includes dueling machine learning a, Glenn Gabe 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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