Daily Search Forum Recap: May 19, 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 Ads is testing swapping out the “ads” label with a “sponsored” label. Google is testing slightly larger favicons in the search results. Google is testing the scroll to highlight feature where it lets you share the highlighted text. Did we find a new knowledge panel spam hack or is it just a Google bug? Finally, Google can show video thumbnails in search even without a playable video on the page.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Ads Tests Replacing Ad Label With Sponsored Label
  
  Google Ads is testing replacing the “ads” label with a “sponsored” label again. And just so you know, Google in 2010 replaced the “sponsored” label with an “ad” label until this day. Yea, sometimes we do see “sponsored” labels in Google Search but not for the normal search ads – those have been labeled “ads” for the UK and US regions for a long time now.
• New Form Of Google Knowledge Panel Spam Or Is This A Simple Google Bug?
  
  If you do a search on [seo services india] you will see a knowledge panel show up for a “musical artist” named “SEO Services in India.” The question is, is this a bug with Google misinterpreting entities or is this specific manipulation by an SEO as a form of new Google knowledge panel spam?




• Google Tests Slightly Larger Favicons In Mobile Search Results
  
  Breaking news — Google is testing a slightly larger favicon near the title of the search result in the mobile search interface. I do not know how Vlad Rappoport noticed this but he did and notified me of it on Twitter.
• Google Search Scroll To Highlight Now Can Share Highlighted Text Via Social, Email, etc
  
  The Google Search and Chrome feature where you click on a snippet and you are taken to a position on that publisher’s page and it highlights the appropriate text now also lets you share that text. Well, at least Google is testing that feature for some searchers, on some browsers and platforms.
• Google Shows Video Thumbnail In SERPs Without Embedding Video On Page?
  
  Crystal Carter posted an example on Twitter of Google showing a video thumbnail for a snippet of her page but that page did not actually embed a video on the page. So if you visit the specific page, there is no video for a user to click on to play.




• Google Wallet Silly Putty Egg Toy
  
  Google gave away these silly putty egg toys branded with the Google Wallet logo on it. Who doesn’t love silly putty eggs toys? Seriously, do you not enjoy silly putty?

Other Great Search Threads:

• I’m sure this won’t lead to keyword stuffing. 🙂 Etsy re: its search algo changes -> Etsy Search now considers keywords & phrases w/in your listing descriptions when ranking your listings. Aim to incorporate relevant keywords, Glenn Gabe on Twitter
• It follows redirects like how Googlebot would, that’s by design., John Mueller on Twitter
• Searches for “mental health therapist” and “mental health help” reached record highs this year in the U.S. Learn more about tools and resources that can help when you need it most → https://t.co/kzSS5AHzO0 #MHAM, Google on Twitter
• In our docs, we only talk about long redirect chains — the usual per-page redirects are not really a problem. (Also, don’t blindly trust what you can check with your own data :-, John Mueller on Twitter
• Today’s #APAHM #GoogleDoodle honors the birthday of disability justice activist, Stacey Park Milbern. Stacey co-created disability justice to fight for those marginalized within the disabled community—people of color,, Google Doodles 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:

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.