Here is the first Google webmaster report of 2020, the January 2020 report is pretty packed. We had Google confirm in December that there was a local search update in November, now local search uses neural matching. BERT rolled out internationally in December throughout Google search. We had numerous unconfirmed Google search algorithm updates throughout December as well. One may have been related or associated with confusion with a Google Analytics bug but we are not sure.
Google News no longer needs content from Google News publishes, it can source it from the web in general. The new GoogleBot name started to roll out this past month. Google Search Console improved the messaging interface, discover reports are fast and there were numerous bugs throughout the month with Search Console.
Oh and Larry and Sergey had enough - they have stepped down from their roles and made Sundar CEO of it all.
Here is last month's recap if you missed that. Here is the stories somewhat categorized for the past 30-days:
Google Algorithm Updates:
- Google Confirmed The November 2019 Google Local Update - Here Is What We Know
- Google New Years Search Algorithm Update? Mixed Signals.
- Google Christmas Search Algorithm Update Chatter - I Don't Think So
- Google Search Algorithm Update This Week; Mixed Signals & Confusion
- December 11th Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update Signals
- Recent Google Algorithm Update Chatter May Be Related To An Analytics Bug
- December 4th Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update. Maybe?
- Google: We Can Debug Our Search Ranking Algorithm At Many Levels
- Google BERT International Launch Still Impacts ~10% Of Queries
- Google BERT Now International Supporting Over 70 Languages
- Google News Submission Not Required, Powered By BERT & New Top Stories Features
- Google News Publisher Center Updated & News Content Now From Web
- Google's New GoogleBot User Agent Names Rolling Out
- Google: Put Voice Search Optimization Fad To Sleep Already
- Google: E-A-T Less Important For E-Commerce Sites
- Google Updates Search Quality Raters Guidelines On December 5th
- Medium Google Organic Traffic Takes A Beating
- Google News Stopped Supporting Stock Tickers & Genre?
- Google: We Try To Understand Comment Sections But It Is Primary Content
- Bing's Frédéric Dubut: Keyword Research Practices Should Be Replaced By Intent Research
- Google Super Easy Explanation How It Uses Machine Learning In Search
- Google: It's Not Just About Improving Your Content But Rather Your Whole Web Site
- Google Video Spam Through Text-To-Speech Technology
- Google Mocks SEO Strategy To Update Stories With "2020" Titles & Headlines
- Google: Fewer Page Types Is Easier
- Google: Legal Interstitials Are Fine As Long As We Can Index Content
- Google: You Always Need Textual Content On-Page
- Google Again: Linking Out To High Authority Sites Does Not Help With Your Rankings
- Google On Salience Score Matter For SEO
- Google's John Mueller Answers Seven Common SEO Questions Including The Secret To Ranking
- Google May Treat Some 404s As 301s & Canonicalize To A New URL
- Google: Speakable Markup Works Outside Of News Content
- Google Warns: City Landing Pages Can Be Doorway Pages & Against Guidelines
- Google: BERT Does Not Affect Indexing
- Google Search Console Updates Messaging Interface
- Google Discover Performance Reports Now Show Data Faster
- Google Search Console's Coverage Report Shows More Indexed Pages
- Google Analytics Bugs Causing Concern & Confusion
- December 16th Google Analytics Bug Not Fixed Yet
- Google Adds Checkmarks In Boxes For Search Console Reports
- Google Search Console Uncommon Downloads;You Should Request Review & Ignore
- Google Search Console Speed Report Changes
- Google Discover Performance Report Data Bug; December 8-13
- Google Search Console Showing Errors For Incorrectly Tagging URL With RDFa or Microdata
- Google Search Console Job Postings Errors Adjustments
- Google Local Pack "Choose Area" Feature Now Live
- Google Displays "Get More Reviews" For Local Knowledge Panels You Manage
- Google My Business Photos Being Added To Google Posts Without Option To Delete
- Google Local Pack Tests Tile-like Buttons
- Google Local Tests Browse By Photo
- Google Allows You To Request Multiple Quotes From Local Service Ads
- Google Local Panel With New Service Areas Icon
- Google Local Pack Tests Site Cards Element
- Google Tests Local Service Ads For Realtors
- Google Local Panel With "X Minutes From Landmark"
- Google Tests Local Pack With Black Ad Label On Desktop
- Google News Site Command Feature Temporarily Out Of Order
- Google Images Tests Paginated Results
- Google Snippet Shows List Includes For Some List Based Content
- Google Tests Featured Snippets With "See What Others Say"
- Google Invites Many To Cameos In Search
- Google 2019 Holiday Decorations Are Live For Christmas, Chanukah & Kwanzaa
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
