SEARCHENGINES
Google Will Likely Just Ignore Widget Links And Not Penalize For Them

As you know, Google has a webmaster guideline against widget links (since 2016), despite what some SEOs want to tell themselves. But the good news, and we knew this, that Google will likely just ignore those links and not penalize your site for those links today.
In 2017, John Mueller said Google will likely just automatically just ignore links within widgets. So if Google ignores the links, Google basically means they treat them as nofollowed links and Google won’t count them in a good or bad way. It can feel like a penalty and it can be a waste of money to use widgets for a link building strategy but you likely won’t be penalized or get a manual action.
You may get a Google manual action if you go above and beyond with those widget links and Google needs to communicate that to you in some form. But most of the time, Google will just ignore the links in widgets.
John Mueller of Google said this again this morning on Twitter first saying “widget links are against the webmaster guidelines” then adding “it’s trivial for our systems to recognize these links.” He said “they’re links, you can count them, but that doesn’t mean they have any value.”
He then added “They’re against the webmaster guidelines and considered a form of unnatural link. We algorithmically work to ignore unnatural links, or to treat them appropriately. We may also take manual action on unnatural links. I wouldn’t see a broader link-scheme like this as “harmless”.”
Here is the full context of this:
Are your links generated via JS? I wondered if google treated dynamic backlinks differently. Also…I heard that google hates this tactic and actually penalises widgets that have “powered by” backlinks?
— Ryan Badger (@ryanseanbadger) March 9, 2022
On the one hand, widget links are against the webmaster guidelines ( https://t.co/I0xejnfXYu ). On the other hand, it’s trivial for our systems to recognize these links. They’re links, you can count them, but that doesn’t mean they have any value.
— 🐐 John 🐐 (@JohnMu) March 9, 2022
They’re against the webmaster guidelines and considered a form of unnatural link. We algorithmically work to ignore unnatural links, or to treat them appropriately. We may also take manual action on unnatural links. I wouldn’t see a broader link-scheme like this as “harmless”.
— 🐐 John 🐐 (@JohnMu) March 10, 2022
Forum discussion at Twitter.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Search Testing New Video Layout In Search

Google may be testing a new layout for videos it displays in the Google Search results. Google is testing a new format for how the videos show in the Google Search results.
This new format shows a larger video in the listings, as opposed to a smaller thumbnail image with more details. This was spotted by Khushal Bherwani on Twitter who shared the new and old screenshots.
New video format:
Old video format:
Google has been testing and displaying larger video thumbnails for some time, as an FYI.
I am not sure which one I like more, I would have to pick I guess the smaller thumbnail?
Forum discussion at Twitter.
SEARCHENGINES
Microsoft Bing Event Today – Expecting ChatGPT Search Integration

I am currently in Seattle and headed to the Microsoft Campus in Redmond for an in-person press event. I decided to go, assuming it would be related to ChatGPT and Bing but Microsoft would not tell me what it was about, nor would Microsoft let us say we are going to the event. Then yesterday at 2pm, when the news broke about Google Bard (story will be here), Microsoft said we can talk about the event.
So the news is out there that there is a event, see Techmeme. The email Microsoft sent says, “Microsoft has some exciting news coming in February and we’d like to invite you to an in-person experience at the Microsoft Campus in Redmond.”
“We can’t share a lot more at this stage, but you won’t want to miss it. This invitation is for you only, but if you’re unable to attend please let us know and we’ll see if we can consider another of your teammates,” Microsoft added.
Then after the Google news came out, Microsoft sent an email saying, “In light of recent announcements, you may now acknowledge your participation in tomorrow’s briefing in Redmond, leveraging the language in the briefing invitation.”
So yea, this press event seems to be about the Bing ChatGPT solution. I am very much looking forward to seeing what Microsoft Bing has to show here and I’ll be sharing the news here, on Search Engine Land and likely will be tweeting a ton @rustybrick. So make sure to follow me on Twitter to see the latest from Bing on this news.
And we have this photo of Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft with Sam Altman of OpenAI together last night:
hello from redmond! excited for the event tomorrow pic.twitter.com/b7TUr0ti42
— Sam Altman (@sama) February 6, 2023
I am expecting this to look a lot like the Bing ChatGPT interface leaks we covered earlier. Here are those screenshots:
Here is the home page screenshot that widens and enlarges the search box and says “Ask me anything”:
Here is his screenshot of the results, the answers being returned:
And here is the GIF he made of this:
Brain buzzing with all the search news and announcements this week! SEOs cannot sleep. What a time to be alive! The future is bright 🚀
— Fabrice Canel (@facan) February 7, 2023
More to come soon.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Search People Cards Visible In US

Back in 2020, Google Search introduced a feature named people cards. It was only available in India but now it seems like it might be expanding, as I can now see it in the United States.
Brian Freiesleben’s card, which he created when it was first announced by spoofing his location to be in India, is now showing up as a people card for searchers in the United States. Personally, I was able to bring it up on my mobile device in New York.
Here is a screenshot he shared of this on Twitter:
He said, “I found my name now triggers a ‘people card’. This was introduced in Google India back in 2020. I spoofed my location back then to create the card and now (finally) it’s appearing.”
Glenn Gabe was able to replicate it as well:
Thanks!
Man, I have tried to kill that flickr page so many times…it pops back like a weed every time. This is new motivation to try to unlock that account and delete it haha.
— Brian Freiesleben (@type_SEO) February 3, 2023
Forum discussion at Twitter.
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