SEARCHENGINES
John Mueller Of Google Helping Webmasters

As expected, John Mueller of Google was at it again on New Years eve and New Years day – helping SEOs and site owners with their Google Search and SEO issues. Like on Christmas Eve 2021, John also did a video hangout on New Years eve, plus he was on social responding to questions throughout New Years.
John has a tradition of helping webmasters both on New Years and Christmas. He did new years last year, year before, the 2020 also, and has done it year after year prior to that. He did it on Christmas 2020 and in 2019 and in 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007.
Here is the video from John on New Years Eve with SEOs and site owners:
Here is some of his other responses on New Years:
… probably last THIS YEAR. pic.twitter.com/M9DFXu3bo1
— 🐄 John 🐄 (@JohnMu) December 31, 2021
Thanks for dropping in, Alan! It was great to hear from you there.
I use a fixed-focus lens on my webcam, so zoom is not possible.
— 🐄 John 🐄 (@JohnMu) December 31, 2021
Thank you for dropping in and for covering these sessions!
— 🐄 John 🐄 (@JohnMu) December 31, 2021
Do you have some examples of what you’re looking for?
— 🐄 John 🐄 (@JohnMu) December 31, 2021
If Googlebot can’t see them, there’s not much we can do.
— 🐄 John 🐄 (@JohnMu) December 31, 2021
Idk , what does your coupon site do that others haven’t done in the past 10 years?
— 🐄 John 🐄 (@JohnMu) January 1, 2022
I suspect the main problem is that these coupons are commodity items, and everyone can just have the same as others. If you want to stand out, you’re going to have to do *a lot* more than be active in “the niche”. There’s money to be made, people have worked very hard already.
— 🐄 John 🐄 (@JohnMu) January 1, 2022
What can I say … I’m pretty sure there’s more involved than mental illness when it comes to indexing.
From a practical POV how would a search engine know which language a page is in before indexing it?
— 🐄 John 🐄 (@JohnMu) January 1, 2022
Also, Gary Illyes and Lizzi Harvey from Google posted some things:
a ghostwriter has no name https://t.co/YMY2Xp7L1z
— Lizzi (@okaylizzi) December 31, 2021
Forum discussion at Twitter.
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
Google Discusses Fixing 404 Errors From Inbound Links
-
SOCIAL4 days ago
Musk regrets controversial post but won’t bow to advertiser ‘blackmail’
-
SEARCHENGINES6 days ago
Google Search Console Was Down Today
-
MARKETING7 days ago
10 Advanced Tips for Crafting Engaging Social Content Strategies
-
SEO4 days ago
A Year Of AI Developments From OpenAI
-
SEO5 days ago
SEO Salary Survey 2023 [Industry Research]
-
MARKETING6 days ago
How to Schedule Ad Customizers for Google RSAs [2024]
-
PPC4 days ago
5 Quick Tips to Increase Referral Traffic
You must be logged in to post a comment Login