SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: March 28, 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 had a local search update last week that seemed to have reversed the previous December, Vicinity update. Google is discontinuing the old URL parameter tool after first telling us they would vastly improve it. Google search confirmed it is rolling out a much more visual design for some queries. Google web stories seem to be showing up for competitive keyword phrases. Google News is testing search results with and without borders.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Local Search Update On March 23rd ‘Corrects’ Vicinity Update
On March 22nd and 23rd I noticed the BrightLocal tracking tool spike up a bit, so I kept tabs on that we may have had a Google local search update. Well, Joy Hawkins posted in the Local Search Forums that this update seems to have been a “correct” of the “Vicinity Update,” which was the update we reported on in December 2021 that later Google confirmed. - Google Search Console To Kill URL Parameter Tool On April 26th
Google has announced this morning that on April 26, 2022 it will be killing off the URL parameter tool under the legacy Google Search Console. This is a bit of a surprise being that Google did say it was planning on vastly improving it but some Googlers also wanted to see the tool go away. - Google Search Results Rolls Out Much More Visual Design In Grid Formats & More
On Friday afternoon, Google confirmed with me that the search company has rolled out more visual results for some queries in the mobile search results. I’ve been experimenting with a number of queries and for some of those queries, saying the results are “more visual” is an understatement. - Google Visual Stories Showing On Page One For Competitive Keywords
Brodie Clark reported that Google is now showing web stories / visual stories on the first page of the mobile results even for competitive keyword phrases. I can confirm that do see these coming up for me in New York as well. - Google Tests News Search Results Snippets Without Borders
Google is always testing, always, and here is another test where Google is testing snippets in the Google News search results without borders. - Vlog #165: David Melamed On Review Gating, Misinformation, Trust Decay & Personalization In Marketing
In part one of my interview with David Melamed, we spoke about his background and the beauty of the search marketing industry. David Melamed and I in part two then spoke about the long term viability and success of search spam, antitrust issues and more… - Google Chrome Table
The Google Chrome logo makes for a nice table top for a round table and that is exactly what they did in the Google Canada office a while back. Here is a coffee table with the Chrome logo on the top
Other Great Search Threads:
- It depends on how quickly we reprocess the page – which is usually somewhere between days & weeks. To hide it faster, you can use the URL removal tools, which take about a day (if you have the site verified)., John Mueller on Twitter
- It can happen if we recognize a second language on a page. You can use notranslate if you want to avoid that, but I’d be surprised if that link changes anything for your site’s visitors., John Mueller on Twitter
- Little easter egg: in the ad preview tool, nothing is clickable except the Related searches links – which will update the search preview., Greg on Twitter
- With the reopening of Microsoft offices around the world, Microsoft Advertising teams have been catching up in person for the first time in quite some time! #MSFTAds #MicrosoftAdvertising #PerformanceMarketing, Microsoft Advertising on Twitter
- That feels like a stretch from what I said there. Google sees alt-text as a part of the page (you can search for it and find it in the snippet). It’s like other text on the page. The primary purpose, John Mueller on Twitter
- Microsoft Advertising is hiring! Want to make a difference? So do we. Step in to explore the wealth of career opportunities and take your career to the next level. #MSFTAds, Microsoft Advertising on Twitter
- Since “John Mueller” is aware of all SEO tactics and ranking algorithms, then Why can’t he own his personal blog where he can do affiliate and many more things? And ranks in the first position of Google SERP and makes millions or billions of dollars, Reddit
- Toxic links is a marketing term that means absolutely nothing., 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
-
WORDPRESS6 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