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.

Twitter has put back the nofollow link attribute on its links. Google Search Console link report keeps showing fewer and fewer links. Google said it is safe to remove your disavow link file if you didn’t do any link spam or receive a manual action. Google requires three courses on your site to be eligible to show course rich results in Google Search. Google Analytics had a tracking bug before the weekend. Google had its Fourth of July Doodle – I didn’t post much that day. Another vlog is out, more with Jon and Jaimie Clark. And I posted the monthly Google Webmaster report today.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• July 2022 Google Webmaster Report
  
  Hope you all had a nice July 4th weekend, here is the July 2022 Google webmaster report to catch you up on the past month. We had two confirmed algorithm updates this past month and many unconfirmed. We also had changes to Search Console, SEO documentation updates, local and maps features and tons of user interfaces.
• Google Search Console Link Counts Keep Falling A Lot
  
  I rarely look at the link report in Google Search Console because, well, I rarely look at my links for this site. But something triggered me to check it and I noticed the raw count of links reported in this tool keeps drastically dropping.




• Twitter Adds Back Nofollow Attributes To Links
  
  A few weeks or so ago, Twitter removed nofollow attributes from its links. Well, it seems like now those nofollow link attributes were added back. Glenn Gabe spotted this on this past Friday, right before the long July 4th weekend.
• Google: It’s Safe To Delete Your Disavow Link File If No Manual Actions Or History Of Link Schemes
  
  Google’s John Mueller said it is probably safe to completely delete your link disavow file if you have not had manual actions for links before and/or you don’t have a history of link schemes on the site. He said, he would remove the disavow file because Google is good at ignoring typical spammy looking links that you do not build yourself.




• PSA: Google Course Rich Results Require At Least Three Courses
  
  Google has reiterated that when it comes to being eligible to show course rich results in Google Search, you need to have marked up at least three courses on your site. The guidelines were updated to say “you must mark up at least three courses,” but this has always been a rule.




• Google Analytics Overview By Hour Report Not Counting Data
  
  For the past few hours, the Google Analytics (Universal Analytics 3) home view where it shows the “audience overview” is not counting. You need to filter the results to show today and you will see that around 2/3pm ET it stopped counting. This is not impacting all accounts, most of mine work but it is impacting some.
• Vlog #180: Jaimie Clark and Jon Clark from Razorfish to New York Time’s Wirecutter & Centerfield & Microsoft & NBC Universal
  
  
  
  Jaimie and Jon Clark came for a visit and we all spoke SEO and a lot more. Jaimie Clark is the VP of SEO at Centerfield, she was previously the Head of SEO at Wirecutter, a New York Times company…




• Happy Fourth of July Search Industry
  
  Wishing you all a happy Happy Fourth of July, as you can see, this site is all dressed up for the day (on desktop) and Google has their special animated Doodle. I’d embed the Bing theme but I was once threatened with a lawsuit for doing that (not by Microsoft but one of those image legal companies).
• Google Chrome Adidas Sneakers
  
  Here is Google branded Adidas sneakers with the Google Chrome OS logo on the side. Supposedly this was custom swag given given out by Google somewhat recently.

Other Great Search Threads:

• The first Google Doodle was created in 1998 to let people know that our founders would be out of the office. Can you guess where they were going? Click to find out, Google on Twitter
• Universal Analytics will be deprecated exactly 1 year from today. This. Is. Not. A. Drill. Don’t wait! Get started with GA4 today! Lots of resources below to help you make the switch, Krista Seiden on Twitter
• Don’t worry – it’s logarithmic., John Mueller on Twitter
• I’ve audited thousands of websites over 20 years as a professional SEO. Here is what you need to know about SEO in 2022 and a free tool to help you manage your projects or learn about SEO: https://t.co/WwZgEa8yBd A thread, Shaun Anderson on Twitter
• If there’s one thing that clear from responses I get when I talk about removing tracking parameters, it’s that marketers still think they are/should be able to track everything. I think that’s simply an absurd notion, Joost de Valk on Twitter
• Sure. But also, it’s unnecessary for crufty junk links like what that looks like., John Mueller on Twitter
• Received an impression spike in Google Search Console with barely any clicks? There’s a good chance that a URL from your site has been included in a SERP feature that you’re unaware of. Here’s 5 SERP features that can ca, Brodie Clark on Twitter
• Crawl Budget and Image Folders, WebmasterWorld

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

SEO

PPC

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.