SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: November 14, 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.
Yep, we had another weekend and another unconfirmed Google search ranking algorithm update. Google is dropping reviews from local business listings over a dumb bug. Google is also showing the number of reviews a reviewer left by business category. Google Ads is bribing advertisers to turn on automated apply recommendations for $100. Apple is at least four years from launching its own search engine.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Another Weekend Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update – November 11th – 12th
It seems as if I see more volatility signals on the weekends with Google Search than I do during the weekdays. We may have had another Google search ranking algorithm update, unconfirmed, this weekend, around November 11th and 12th. - Google Business Reviews Going Missing After Suggested Edits (Scary Bug)
Google Business Profiles and business listings reviews are going missing, dropping out completely, again, but this time it seems to be related to automated suggested edits occurring on some business profiles. - Google Ads Paying Advertisers $100 To Enroll In Automatically Applies Recommendations
Google Ads is sending emails out to some advertisers offering to pay them $100 in Google Ads credits for enrolling in automatically applied recommendations. The response from the PPC community is almost all against doing this for any amount of money, let alone $100. - Google Local Reviews Shows Number Of Reviews From Reviewer By Category
Last week I reported on how Google Local reviews can display how many reviews a specific reviewer left in a specific city. Well, Google is also doing this by category, how many reviews a specific reviewer left for the business category type. - Apple Search Engine Four Years Away, At Least
The Information wrote a piece that says Apple is at least four years or more away from building its own search engine – Apple Search. We have been talking about Apple’s quiet efforts in building its own search engine for many years now and to see they are reportedly this far away, is a bit sad. - Vlog #197: Rick Mariano On Helping Clients Succeed Digitally Online & Hiring with Employee Retention
In part one with Rick Mariano we spoke about helping build LocalEdge to provide high volume digital marketing services at a low cost and then in part two we spoke more about using automation and the human touch… - Google’s Greatest Talent Show Dancer
We’ve seen Google hold its own talent show, the Google’s Greatest Talent competition. But here is another photo of that event from some time in the past. I found this photo on Instagram and the dance
Other Great Search Threads:
- The search developer documentation there is comprehensive regarding the types that are shown differently or that have specific functions. You can include all possible structured data on pages, but it doesn’t mean that it’ll do anything specific., John Mueller on Mastodon
- Hreflang + some kind of smart banner (I like robotted JS banners that recognize location / language settings & point at the best version for the user). Don’t IP-redirect. Also cc @akent99, John Mueller on Twitter
- Hreflang doesn’t change indexing – it changes which URLs are shown (and with mobile-first indexing the indexed URLs would be the mobile ones). Maybe it’s working as expected, but looks c, John Mueller on Twitter
- I don’t think Google is going to be buying things from your website, so I’d focus more on which works best for users. (Unrelated, a mobile-friendly menu shouldn’t negatively affect your sit, John Mueller on Twitter
- This could happen if there’s some kind of JS or server-side interstitial / redirect. From guessing your site, it looks like you have both an age-gate as well as a geo-redirect, my guess is it, John Mueller 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 Hanukkah Decorations Are Live For 2023

Hanukkah (aka Chanukah) starts this coming Thursday night, December 7th. Google has added its Hanukkah decorations to the Google Search results interface to celebrate. Google does this every year and I expect to see the same rollout in the coming weeks for Christmas and Kawanzaa but for now, since Chanukah is in the coming days, we have the Hanukkah decorations live at Google Search.
Here is a screenshot of the Chanukah decorations as they look like on the mobile search results.
You can see it yourself by searching on Google for [chanukah], [hanukkah], but not yet [חֲנוּכָּה] or other spelling variations yet but it should soon. It looks better on mobile than it does on desktop results.
To see the past, the 2023 decorations, 2021 decorations, 2020 Chanukah decorations, 2019 Google holiday decorations, the 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and so on.
Happy Chanukah, everyone!
Forum discussion at X.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Pay Accepted Icons In Google Search Results

Google seems to be testing a Google Pay Accepted label or icon in the Google search results. This label has the super G logo followed by the words “Pay accepted” words next to search result snippets that support Google Pay and notate such in their structured data.
This was first spotted by Khushal Bherwani who shared some screenshots of this on X – here is one:
Here are some more screenshots:
Here is test and without test window for same query. pic.twitter.com/n9cYWBOsro
— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) October 20, 2023
Brodie Clark also posted some screenshots after on X:
In continuation from the test from October, Google is now testing out a new Google Pay label associated with organic results. Last month, Google was testing Pay Accepted text, with this month changing it to Pay encrypted checkout. More details: https://t.co/MvFNoPmMDR pic.twitter.com/WDVVc4RbTO
— SERPs Up 🌊 (@SERPalerts) November 30, 2023
I tried to replicate this but I came up short.
This is not the first time Google had similar icons like this in its search results.
Forum discussion at X.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Discover Showing Older Content Since Follow Feature Arrived

Typically, Google Discover shows content that is less than a day old, but it can show content that is weeks, months, or even years old. However, typically, Google will show more recent content in the Discover feed. Well, that may have changed with the new Google follow feature.
Glenn Gabe, who is a very active Google Discover user, noticed that since the Follow feature rolled out, he has been seeing content that is weeks and months old way more often than before the follow feature rolled out. Glenn wrote on X that “this could also be playing a role. i.e. Google isn’t providing as much recent content, but instead, focusing on providing targeted content based on the topics you are following.”
It makes sense that if you follow a specific topic and if Google Discover only shows the most authoritative types of content, it might be hard for Google to find new content on that topic. So it does make sense that Google may show older content more often for that specific topic you follow.
Here are screenshots Glenn shared:
Have you noticed this in your Discover feed?
Forum discussion at X.
-
SEO6 days ago
GPT Store Set To Launch In 2024 After ‘Unexpected’ Delays
-
SEARCHENGINES6 days ago
Google Core Update Done Followed By Intense Search Volatility, New Structured Data, Google Ads Head Steps Down & 20 Years Covering Search
-
TECHNOLOGY7 days ago
Next-gen chips, Amazon Q, and speedy S3
-
PPC6 days ago
How to Get Clients for Your Agency (That You’ll Love Working With)
-
WORDPRESS1 day ago
8 Best Zapier Alternatives to Automate Your Website
-
SEARCHENGINES5 days ago
Google Discover Showing Older Content Since Follow Feature Arrived
-
MARKETING6 days ago
The Complete Guide to Becoming an Authentic Thought Leader
-
MARKETING5 days ago
OpenAI’s Drama Should Teach Marketers These 2 Lessons
You must be logged in to post a comment Login