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Google Search Central Unconference 2022: Quick Recap

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Mihai Aperghis (@mihaiaperghis), an SEO we reference here from time to time, is also a Google Product Expert and attended the Google Search Central Unconference the other week. He has written this blog post and I am posting it here as a super rare guest post on this site. Why? (1) Mihai rocks and (2) this site is about community and Product Experts are the essence of the Google community. I (Barry) personally was unable to attend due to a conflict. Note: Mihai did not ask for a link or a mention, but I added this so it is clear that he wrote this.

Google hosted the 2022 edition of the Search Central Virtual Unconference on April 27, making it the third global Google Unconference and fourth such event so far (counting the Japanese one that took place a few weeks earlier).

Quick Overview

For those unfamiliar with it, the Google Unconferences aim to provide discussion-focused sessions where participants (SEOs, developers, business owners, etc.) join online and share their experiences under a slightly more ‘informal’ structure, as opposed to traditional speaker events or even to Google office hours. The “facilitators” for each session (typically two people) have the sole responsibility of guiding discussions within the topic bounds, making sure all participants get heard and, since the sessions are not recorded, taking notes of the conversations that take place.

This year, the event was once again run by Martin Splitt, the Googler behind the Unconference idea, together with Cherry Sireetorn Prommawin from Google APAC.

Just as with editions from previous years (2021 and 2020), Product Experts such as myself were invited ahead of the event to propose session topics that they would then facilitate, should Martin and Cherry accept their proposals.

I won’t get into more details regarding the Unconference format, since I would probably just repeat what I covered in last year’s recap, so feel free to check that out if you’re curious.

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One key difference for this year’s edition, however, was that the facilitator role was now open to everyone, thus allowing Product Experts to send the session proposal form to anyone they might see fit to moderate.

Sessions

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Since this year’s proposal form was opened to more people, the number of proposed sessions was likely much higher than in previous years. Martin and Cherry ultimately selected 25 of them, which were then voted by people who wanted to attend based on their topic of interest.

Also different from last year was the number of participants, which this time was limited to a maximum of about 14 people (as opposed to 20-25 people). This made it easier for more people to speak up during the 45 minute session, as well have an ice breaker or have everyone introduce themselves without taking too much time.

All 25 sessions were ultimately kept, given that there were at least 5-6 people interested in each one. As usual, the sessions were split into two 45-minute blocks, which meant people could only attend one session in each slot:

Session slot A:

  1. Tech SEO Q&A, all your questions answered.
  2. E-commerce SEO Challenges
  3. Making the best use of Search Intent Optimization (SIO)
  4. International SEO
  5. Schema: JSON Successes and Challenges
  6. Organic and Paid Growth Collaborations
  7. How can SEOs and Web developers work better together?
  8. Exploring Google Search Console APIs
  9. Video SEO – Best practices for optimizing videos on Google
  10. Let’s discuss spam and low quality results
  11. Let’s talk about Product review sites
  12. Webmaster & Podcaster
  13. Where do you find help?

Sessions slot B:

  1. SEO A/B split testing ideas
  2. Content: It’s All About Trust, Transparency and (Human) Typing
  3. Can Google See This? Rendering Q&A
  4. Core Web Vitals and how to approach it
  5. Project Management for Digital and SEO
  6. User Journey R&D Discussion
  7. Is Search Console working for you?
  8. Site Troubleshooting
  9. Google Business Profile: Myths and Guidance.
  10. Localization and its Peculiarities
  11. Working with Images on the Web
  12. A positive thing in 2022.. Unconference in Spanish!

There were also two conclusion blocks, one after each slot, in which facilitators presented the main conclusions for each session (thus being a good idea for one of the facilitators in each session to be taking notes). Everything was padded by a 15 minutes intro and a quick wrap-up at the end.

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If you’re curious about the full description for each session, you can find everything on the official event page.

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The E-commerce SEO Challenges Session

Since people outside Google or the Product Experts program were able to join as facilitators, I decided to ask the wonderful Aleyda Solis to co-facilitate one of the sessions with me. Together we landed on a list of three potential topics, out of which the E-commerce SEO Challenges one was ultimately chosen and included in slot A.

Being such a popular topic, we managed to have a full room of outstanding people from highly diverse backgrounds. There were in-house SEOs, agency owners, webmasters and marketers, from highly experienced technical people to folks who only recently started learning the ropes.

With her vast experience running conversations on SEO topics, such as with the weekly #SEOFOMO Twitter chat, Aleyda skillfully guided the discussion around some of the popular E-commerce SEO issues, such as product variations and structured data, facets and navigation indexing, but also dealing with SEO implementation costs and getting buy-in from management or leadership people. I took the note-taking job this time, focusing on getting everyone’s opinion down in order to draft a few takeaways.

Since there will likely be an official Google blog post that will provide more details on each session’s conclusions, I won’t really delve into more details here.

What I can say though is that it was an excellent session. Almost everyone that joined had a story, a perspective or an opinion they wanted to share, which made for a really pleasant conversation.

After the session timer ran out, everybody was moved back to the main room to listen to all of the slot A session conclusions, where I was happy to present our own.

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Slot B and Wrap Up

Since I had no session to facilitate in slot B, I happily chose to attend the Working with Images on the Web one, which was masterfully moderated by Roxana Stingu and Olesia Korobka.

The topics discussed ranged from image indexing and meta data, to AI, MUM and other cutting-edge info that I was completely unaware of up until then (seems it’s harder to keep up with everything in SEO nowadays!).

After the session ended, facilitators from all slot B sessions presented their takeaways, after which we bidded farewell to everyone and called it an evening (or morning, or night, depending on where everyone was joining from).

All in all, I’m really happy for how the event turned out and very grateful to Martin and the Google team for giving SEO enthusiasts the opportunity to facilitate sessions. If you haven’t joined any of the Unconference events so far, I highly recommend you keep an eye out for the next one. Something tells me there will be (hopefully many) more editions coming soon.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

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Source: www.seroundtable.com

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SEARCHENGINES

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 27, 2024

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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 Local Service Ads is asking for more photos. SEOs, please don’t remove the contact us and about us pages. Hotels can remove pricing details from its Google listings. Google Local reviews is testing reactions. Google Analytics real time reporting had issues today. Google help documentation is testing using AI features.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:


  • SEOs, Please Don’t Remove Contact Us & About Us Pages


    Google’s John Mueller asked if it would be alright not to list a contact us and about us page on their website. The reason is, they would only add it if Google wanted it, but not for users. John Mueller responded, “I can think of good reasons for some sites to have these kinds of pages, but, after double-checking, there’s nothing in our search developer documentation that suggests this is needed.”

  • Google Local Service Ads Sends Email Asking You To Upload Photos


    Google is sending some Local Service Ads advertisers emails asking them to upload photos to their profiles. The email says, “Photos are coming to your Local Services Ads. Upload images to your profile to help your business stand out.” But don’t LSAs already contain photos?

  • Google Search Developer Docs Gain AI Generated Help Features


    A week ago Monday, March 18th, I noticed Google’s search developer documentation had generative AI features to help you find the answers to your question. This is in the form of an improved search, summary of the page content, a chat feature and more. I was told this was rolled out on some developer docs earlier in the year.



  • Google Local Reviews Reactions Notice


    In November 2023 we started to see Google allow reactions on local photos and some reviews. Well, it seems to be rolling out more widely now.

  • Google Analytics Real Time Data Lagging Today


    There are countless complaints across the forums and social media that Google Analytics real time data is lagging and not reporting accurately. It seems like those complaints are legit after checking a number of sites.


  • Google Cafe Cleaning & Delivery Robot


    You probably have seen these cleaning and delivery robots in some restaurants and lounges but have you seen them in the Google cafes? Here is one doing its thing at one of the cafes at the GooglePlex in Mountain View, California.



Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

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SEO

PPC

Other Search

Feedback:


Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.



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SEARCHENGINES

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 26, 2024

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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 Search Console is testing an Android App. Google is testing places and places sites in the search bar menu. Google spoke about if a business should have a website and a blog. Google added 3D models to product structured data. Google Search does not support AVIF images, yet. Mikhail Parakhin stepped down as the head of Bing Search and Microsoft Advertising.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:


  • Google Search Console Tests Android App


    Google seems to be testing an Android App for Google Search Console. This comes several weeks after I reported that Google has no plans for a mobile app for Google Search Console.


  • Google Tests Places & Places Sites Search Bar Filter Tabs


    Yesterday we reported Google is testing products and products sites in the search bar tab in the European regions. Today, Google is testing places and places sites in the search bar tab in the European regions.

  • Google: Should Small Service Businesses Start A Website & A Blog?


    Google’s Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, was asked about if a business should always have a website and if so, should they also have a blog. Sullivan replied that he believes all businesses should have at least a basic website, but when it comes to a blog, that depends on what they have to say on that blog.



  • Google Adds 3D Models Markup To Product Structured Data For Linking


    Google has added new 3D models markup support to the product structured data documentation so that you can connect, associate or link your products to the appropriate 3D model.



  • Google Search Does Not Support AVIF Images Just Yet


    Did you know that Google Search does not support the AVIF image format? At least not yet. Google Search doesn’t list it on its supported image formats and Google Image Search simply won’t index them. But John Mueller of Google said on X, “I’m sure this won’t be necessary long term.”



  • Mikhail Parakhin Steps Down As Head Of Bing Search & Microsoft Advertising


    Mikhail Parakhin, the head of Bing Search and Microsoft Advertising, is stepping down from that role as Parakhin “decided to explore new roles.” We’ve quoted Mikhail Parakhin here countless times over the past couple of years, to hear that he is leaving the role makes me super sad. His transparency and willingness to listen to the community was amazing.



  • St. Patrick’s Day Dancers At Google Ireland


    Here is a video I found on Instagram from the Google Ireland office of dancers performing at the Google office in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. It looks like they call themselves the Golden Beats.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

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Mobile & Voice

SEO

PPC

Search Features

Other Search

Feedback:


Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.

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Daily Search Forum Recap: March 25, 2024

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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 is begging SEOs to stop trying to show Google things and work on showing their users things. Google is testing the Search Generative Experience in the wild to a subset of US users. Google says publishing more content doesn’t improve site quality. Google is testing products and product sites in the search bar. Google shares how to remove a subdomain of a subdomain in Google Search Console.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:


  • Google Tests SGE AI Overviews In The Wild (Subset Of US Users)


    On Friday, Google began to test SGE-based AI overviews in the real Google search results. That means you may see AI overview snapshot answers in Google search results without being opted into the Google search labs experiment. This is being tested on a small subset of searchers based in the U.S., Google told me.

  • Google Begs SEOs To Stop Showing Google Things; Show Visitors Things Instead


    Google’s Search Liaison responded to a series of posts on Twitter, leading him to beg SEOs to stop trying to “show Google” things, explaining that the process of doing things to your site to rank better in Google is the opposite of the advice Google is giving. Instead, show things to your users/visitors that those people will like.


  • Google: Publishing More Content Doesn’t Improve Quality For Faster Indexing


    A couple of weeks ago, Gary Illyes and Lizzi Sassman of Google had Dave Smart as a guest on the Search Off The Record podcast and they spoke about crawling. In one part, they said again that the quality of your site can impact how fast and how much Google will crawl your website.



  • Google Tests Products & Product Sites Search Bar Filter Tabs


    Google is now testing placing “product sites” as its own search bar filter tab in the search results. Also, Google is testing replacing “Shopping” with “Products” in that search bar.



  • How To Remove A Subdomain Of A Subdomain Via Google Search Console


    Let’s say you have a subdomain of a subdomain, such as sub.sub.domain.tld, how do you remove sub.sub.domain.tld from Google while keeping sub.domain.tld in the Google search results. The answer is to verify the sub.sub.domain.tld property directly in Search Console and remove just that property.



  • Flock Of Geese At Google


    Here is a flock of geese near the new Google Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. I guess the geese are making its way from the GooglePlex to the Bay View campus?

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

Advertisement

SEO

PPC

Search Features

Other Search

Feedback:


Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.

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