SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: May 5, 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.
Moz was kicked out of the Google Search results for 12 hours or so after an fraudulent DMCA takedown request went through. Google Ads aid it removed over 3.4 billion ads for violating its Google Ads policies, it restricted over 5.7 billion ads, suspended over 5.6 million advertiser accounts, and removed ads from over 1.7 billion pages in 2021. Google Ads Customer Match lists will soon be able to be used with Smart Bidding and Optimized Targeting. Google’s web stories seem to be showing up less, in favor of short videos. Finally, 2/3rds of SEOs have university degrees, a Twitter poll shows. Also, the newsletter design was updated a bit more to make it more readable.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Moz Back In Google Search After Fraudulent DMCA Takedown
Yesterday afternoon Moz’s home page was removed from the Google Search results after Google processed a fraudulent (or mistaken) DMCA takedown request. Moz is now back, within 12 hours from when Google learned about the issue – but there is no response from Google on how this could have happened as of yet. - Google Blocked 3.4 Billion Ads, Restricted 5.7 Billion Ads & Suspended 5.6 Million Advertisers
Google has published its annual “Ads Safety Report” and disclosed that it has blocked or removed over 3.4 billion ads for violating its Google Ads policies, it restricted over 5.7 billion ads, suspended over 5.6 million advertiser accounts, and removed ads from over 1.7 billion pages in 2021. - Google Ads Customer Match Lists Will Work With Smart Bidding & Optimized Targeting
Google sent some advertisers emails saying “beginning Q2 2022, campaigns using Smart Bidding and/or Optimized Targeting will be able to use all Customer Match lists in your account to enhance your ad campaign performance for your goals (e.g. conversions). Today, you only experience these performance benefits when your lists are actively applied to campaigns.” - Will Short Videos To Overtake Web Stories In Google Search?
There is some speculation, and for good reason, that Google is showing more short videos over showing web stories in Google mobile search. Glenn Gabe and Brodie Clark both noticed this trend and the two of them follow web stories closer than almost anyone else I know. - Poll: 67% Of SEO Professionals Have University Degrees
How many SEOs do you think have university and college degrees? If you thought about 2/3rds, you’d be right. A Twitter poll conducted by Brodie Clark asked SEO professionals: do you have a University degree? 67% said yes and 33% said no to that question. - Balloons Overtake Google Dublin Lobby
The other day I covered how the Google Dublin office welcomed Googlers back to the office with a Mariachi band. Well, the Google Dublin lobby was also over taken with balloons all over the place.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Hi Tim, Thanks I’ll pass this along to the team. If you’ve got a screenshot of the error you’re seeing that’d be helpful., AdsLiaison on Twitter
- Google searches for Treasury Direct have spiked because Savings Series I bonds are yielding 9.62%, zerohedge on Twitter
- Google Shopping testing for product opens in same window, Punit on Twitter
- Personally, when I end up on an obviously SEO’ed page, or on a page with excessive, blocking interstitials / ads, I nope out and go elsewhere. I get how it drifted into that state,, John Mueller on Twitter
- Some people have wanted this for a while. Can now get page-level real-world TTFB from CrUX API., Barry Pollard on Twitter
- We’re #Hiring an Applied Scientist 2 on our Microsoft Bing Image Search team. This role will lead the team to develop machine learning models and related components that drive image experiences in Bing. https://t.co/k8, Microsoft Bing Dev on Twitter
- Get an instant Google CWV site evaluation report, now with: Time to First Byte & New experimental interaction responsiveness metric Data is sourced directly from @ChromeUXReport API, delivering P75 metrics recorded fro, Ben Schwarz on Twitter
- If you could transport yourself five years into the #SEO future from now, what do you personally think it will look like?, Mark A Preston 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.
Source: www.seroundtable.com
SEARCHENGINES
Google Search Console Verification Does Not Impact Your Ranking In Google Search

Gary Illyes of Google said in the Google SEO office-hours from yesterday that verifying your website in Google Search Console won’t impact your Google Search indexing or ranking whatsoever.
Gary said, “Having your site verified in Search Console or changing the verification code and method has no effect on indexing or ranking whatsoever.”
John Mueller of Google previously said that Search Console verification doesn’t help with crawling either.
Gary added later that Search Console gives you data and analytics that can help you make improvements to your site to help you rank better in Google Search potentially. “You can use the data that Search Console gives you to improve your site and thus potentially do better in Search with your site, but otherwise has no effect on search whatsoever,” he added.
Here is the video embed at the 15:27 mark:
Forum discussion at Twitter.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Say Most Common Reason For Blocking Googlebot Are Firewalls or CDNs Issues

Gary Illyes from Google posted a new PSA on LinkedIn saying that the most common reason a site unexpectedly blocks Googlebot from crawling is due to a misconfiguration of a firewall or CDN.
Gary wrote, “check what traffic your firewalls and CDN are blocking.” “By far the most common issue in my inbox is related to firewalls or CDNs blocking googlebot traffic. If I reach out to the blocking site, in the vast majority of the cases the blockage is unintended.”
So what can you do? Gary said, “I’ve said this before, but want to emphasize it again: make a habit of checking your block rules. We publish our IP ranges so it should be very easy to run an automation that checks the block rules against the googlebot subnets.”
Gary linked to this help document for more details.
In short, do what you can to test to see if your site is accessible to Googlebot. You can use the URL inspection tool in Google Search Console, as one method. Also, confirm with your CDN or firewall company that they are allowing Googlebot and ask them to prove it.
Forum discussion at on LinkedIn.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Search Testing More Card Box Like Buttons In Search

Google is testing more card and box-like elements in the search results. We covered this with the product results interface a few weeks back but now we are seeing them for other elements.
Here are screenshots shared with me of these designs:
Via @b4k_khushal:
Via @mblumenthal via @b4k_khushal:
I kind of like them but I might be wrong. 🙂
Forum discussion at Twitter.
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