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.

Was there some sort of Google search update on March 11th – we had some chatter like patterns but the tracking tools are pretty calm. Google rolled out refine this search and broaden this search and is testing things to know/consider, currently none of it uses MUM. Google image search is testing Lens with search, text and translate. Google Business Profiles can now manage the managers in web search. Google search settings are not sticking for some searchers.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Ranking Update Weirdness On March 11th
  
  For the past few days I have been debating if I should cover what may have been a Google search ranking update that ticked off on Friday March 11th. There was super unusual update like chatter in the WebmasterWorld forums but the automated tracking tools showed nothing – nada.
• Refine This Search & Broaden This Search Now Live In Google Search
  
  After the announcement in September at Search On and months and months of testing, the Refine This Search and Broaden This Search features are fully live in US English Google Search results. This is not to mean the Things To Know and Things To Consider feature is live yet, it is just being tested.




• Google Search Settings Not Sticking; Dark Mode Sees The Light
  
  There are numerous complaints in the Google Search Community Forums that the Google Search settings are not sticking. The most obvious example is when you have the dark theme set and Google toggles you to the light theme. But other settings are not sticking for some searchers as well, such as the region setting.




• Google Adds Business Profiles Managers Controls In Web Search
  
  Google continues to move more and more business editing features and controls to the web search results and outside of the Google Business Profile Manager (formerly Google My Business manager). Now you can also manage the managers and those who have access to edit your business profile in the web search results.




• Google Image Search Lens Tests Search, Text & Translate Options
  
  In 2018, Google added a lens button to the mobile search image results. That eventually came to desktop as Google more tightly integrated Lens into Image Search. Now we are seeing Google test options for search, text and translate using Google Lens in Google Image Search.





• Doogler Playing At The Google Arcade
  
  Here is a photo of a doogler, a Google dog, in the Google game area at the Google Dublin office, playing near an arcade game. What a life…

Other Great Search Threads:

• Want to bring back a domain that hasn’t been used in years (& the content was deleted)? Via @johnmu: Google will probably need to relearn the site (i.e. starting over fresh). Don’t expect much based on the past content. You’ll, Glenn Gabe on Twitter
• Audience signals are used for optimization to help jumpstart the machine learning. Without them (or effective ones), ramp up will take longer. More here from the #PPCchat audio session: h, AdsLiaison on Twitter
• Hi Josh, 1. To clarify, Editor never automatically applies recommendations 2. The solid light bulb with circle indicates a user has manually applied or made an edit that’s in line w/ a rec, but then Get Rece, AdsLiaison on Twitter
• How does Google Search use keyword meta tags? Do they matter for SEO? Watch our latest episode of #AskGooglebot where @JohnMu answers these questions, Google Search Central on Twitter
• It helps to not frame SEO as some kind of voodoo, to explain clearly what you’re doing and why, and to back up your analysis & recommendations with official references & data. Just like you’d do even witho, John Mueller on Twitter
• My hot take is that there is room – and a necessity – for diverse people in SEO. If a site focuses on just one magic bullet, it’s going to struggle. Most won’t realize even after it’s too late. The web will c, 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:

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