SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: March 24, 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 has released the third product reviews update, the March 2022 Product Reviews update and here is what we see so far with this update. Google said it cut irrelevant search results down by over 50% in seven years, that over 60% more queries are natural language and Google launched 5,000 changes with 800,000 experiments in 2021. Google launched a new Google Partners Directory. Google paused ads that have content that exploits, dismisses or condones the Russia-Ukraine war. Google is testing a light gray search box feature. Google had a feature, by accident, that told you which stocks to buy and more search news below.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- March 2022 Google Product Reviews Update Rolling Out – Everything We See So Far
Google has rolled out its third version of the product reviews update, named the March 2022 Product Reviews Update. The previous two versions were the April 2021 Product Reviews Update and the December 2021 Product Reviews Update. The March version was updated to incorporate more signals and criteria in this niche ranking algorithm. - Google: We Reduced Irrelevant Search Results By 50% & Made 5,000 Changes In 2021
Google said in a spotlight piece of Danny Sullivan’s 25 year career in search (which is a nice thing) that Google reduced irrelevant search results by more than half in the past seven years. Google measured that number by looking at its own internal quality raters metrics. - New Google Partners Directory Now Live
Google has launched the new Google Partners directory with new ways to search for partners and also the new and updated partner program. Google said “now it’s easier than ever to find the right partner to help you grow your business.” - Google Pauses Ads That Exploits, Dismisses Or Condones The Russia-Ukraine War
Google last night posted a new policy in the sensitive events category that will pause ads that exploits, dismisses or condones the Russia and Ukraine war. Google wrote “due to the war in Ukraine, we will pause ads containing content that exploits, dismisses, or condones the war.” - Google Search Recommends Which Stocks To Buy Now
If you do a search in Google Search for [inflation stocks], Google will show you a related searches feature with the title “stocks to buy now.” To savvy SEOs and searches, we know this is not Google recommending these stocks to buy but rather this is a related searches feature on the top of which stocks to buy based on content on the web. - Google Search Tests Light Gray Search Box
Google seems to be testing another variation of the Google Search box. This one is a light gray background color for the search box. We recently saw Google testing the dark borders for the search box and also an edgeless search box. - Rooftop Mini Golf At Google Toronto
Here is a photo, an old photo, from the Google Toronto office of the rooftop where they have miniature golf set up. There are more photos below where you can see the set up.
Other Great Search Threads:
- How does a company even deliver 800,000 experiments in a single year? That’s 2,191 per day…, Ryan Siddle on Twitter
- On doing a second branded search of PI firms in Oklahoma City, Google serps related the two and displayed a carousel of local competition, Andy Simpson on Twitter
- This “limited by budget” 🟥 display is a first for me. Though I am probably behind, Greg Finn on Twitter
- I think I’m missing context here. Care to elaborate? Just because your business is called cheap-insurance .com doesn’t mean it’ll rank first for [cheap insurance]. If you use generic names for a name, John Mueller on Twitter
- Often, mistakes come from taking one thing that’s relevant in one place, and blindly applying it to all places. It’s good to understand the context, and determine which parts a, John Mueller on Twitter
- You should be able to check if they show up in the rendered source with the mobile friendly test, or by searching for the anchor text with a site:-query., 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 Won’t Change The 301 Signals For Ranking & SEO
Gary Illyes from Google said on stage at the SERP conference last week that there is no way that Google would change how the 301 redirect signal works for SEO or search rankings. Gary added that it’s a very reliable signal.
Nikola Minkov quoted Gary Illyes as saying, “It is a very reliable signal, and there is no way we could change that signal,” when asked if a 301 redirect not working is a myth. Honestly, I am not sure the context of this question, as it is not clear from the post on X, but here it is:
More from @methode:
– 301 redirect not working is a myth. “It is a very reliable signal, and there is no way we could change that signal”.#SERPConf2024#SERPConf2024International— Nikola Minkov (@n_minkov) April 19, 2024
We’ve covered 301 redirects here countless times – but I never saw a myth that Google does not use 301 redirects as a signal for canonicalization or for passing signals from an old URL to the redirected URL.
Forum discussion at X.
Note: This was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today, I am currently offline for Passover.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Again Says Ignore Link Spam Especially To 404 Pages
I am not sure how many times Google has said that you do not need to disavow spammy links, that you can ignore link spam attacks and that links pointing to pages that 404/410 are links that do not count – but John Mueller from Google said it again.
In a thread on X, John Mueller from Google wrote, “if the links are going to URLs that 404 on your site, they’re already dropped.” “They do nothing,” he added, “If there’s no indexable destination URL, there’s no link.”
John then added, “I’d generally ignore link-spam, and definitely ignore link-spam to 404s.”
Asking if it would hurt to disavow, after responding with the messages above, John wrote:
It will do absolutely nothing. I would take the time to rework a holistic & forward-looking strategy for the site overall instead of working on incremental tweaks (other tweaks might do something, but you probably need real change, not tweaks).
Earlier this year we had tons of SEOs notice spammy links to 404 error pages, John said ignore them. In 2021, Google said links to 404 pages do not count, Google also said that in 2012 and many other times.
Plus, outside of links to 404 pages, Google has said to ignore spammy links, time and time again – even the toxic links – ignore them. The messaging around this changed in 2016 when Penguin 4.0 was released and Google began devaluing links over demoting them.
Here are those new posts in context:
I’d say add both. Lol
— Jeremy Rivera (@JeremyRiveraSEO) April 11, 2024
Sure. But also, save yourself the work completely :-).
— John 🧀 … 🧀 (@JohnMu) April 11, 2024
Re-reading your initial post – if the links are going to URLs that 404 on your site, they’re already dropped. They do nothing. If there’s no indexable destination URL, there’s no link. I’d generally ignore link-spam, and definitely ignore link-spam to 404s.
— John 🧀 … 🧀 (@JohnMu) April 11, 2024
… but still… is this a dumb idea?
— Rebekah Edwards (@rebekah_creates) April 11, 2024
It will do absolutely nothing. I would take the time to rework a holistic & forward-looking strategy for the site overall instead of working on incremental tweaks (other tweaks might do something, but you probably need real change, not tweaks).
— John 🧀 … 🧀 (@JohnMu) April 11, 2024
And in general, Google says it ignores spammy links, so you should too (not new) but this post from John Mueller is:
I would just ignore them, Google ignores them too. Sometimes they’re just more visible in tools, but that doesn’t mean they’re a problem.
— John 🧀 … 🧀 (@JohnMu) April 18, 2024
And then also on Mastodon wrote about a similar situation, “Google has 2 decades of practice of ignoring spammy links. There’s no need to do anything for those links.”
Forum discussion at X.
Note: This was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today, I am currently offline for Passover.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Needs Very Few Links To Rank Pages; Links Are Less Important
Gary Illyes from Google spoke at the SERP Conf on Friday and he said what he said numerous times before, that Google values links a lot less today than it did in the past. He added that Google Search “needs very few links to rank pages.”
Gary reportedly said, “We need very few links to rank pages… Over the years we’ve made links less important.”
I am quoting Patrick Stox who is quoting what he heard Gary say on stage at the event. Here is Patrick’s post where Gary did a rare reply:
I shouldn’t have said that… I definitely shouldn’t have said that
— Gary 鯨理/경리 Illyes (so official, trust me) (@methode) April 19, 2024
Gary said this a year ago, also in 2022 and other times as well. We previously covered that Google said links would likely become even less important in the future. And even Matt Cutts, the former Googler, said something similar about eight years ago and the truth is, links are weighted a lot less than it was eight years ago and that trend continues. A couple of years ago, Google said links are not the most important Google search ranking factor.
Of course, many SEOs think Google lies about this.
Judith Lewis interviewed Gary Illyes at the SERP Conf this past Friday.
-
PPC6 days ago
19 Best SEO Tools in 2024 (For Every Use Case)
-
MARKETING7 days ago
Ecommerce evolution: Blurring the lines between B2B and B2C
-
SEARCHENGINES5 days ago
Daily Search Forum Recap: April 19, 2024
-
SEARCHENGINES6 days ago
Daily Search Forum Recap: April 18, 2024
-
WORDPRESS6 days ago
How to Make $5000 of Passive Income Every Month in WordPress
-
SEO7 days ago
2024 WordPress Vulnerability Report Shows Errors Sites Keep Making
-
WORDPRESS7 days ago
10 Amazing WordPress Design Resouces – WordPress.com News
-
SEO6 days ago
25 WordPress Alternatives Best For SEO
You must be logged in to post a comment Login