This may have been one of the busiest months for Google SEO related topics we've seen maybe ever? We had several unconfirmed Google updates but also a big core update confirmed by Google on March 12th. Google keeps dropping features from the old Search Console and adding new ones to the new Search Console. Google doesn't support rel=prev/next, stopped supporting the info command and is testing a new icon based search results design.
Besides for the core update, we saw fluctuations on March 29th, 26th, 20th and March 5th. The survey I did around the core update did not reveal much but added to the speculation.
Did you know the web spam team is sending fewer manual actions these days? But their advice on the rel=next/prev thing is upsetting to say the least. And then to drop the info command and say they replaced it in the URL inspection tool was upsetting also.
There was so much this past month, it is hard to summarize but I categorized the stories in importance order - I think, below. Here also was the March report if you missed it.
Google Algorithm Updates:
- Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update On March 12 (Florida 2)
- When Naming The Google 3/12 Broad Core Ranking Update Florida 2
- Google Names The 3/12 Update The "March 2019 Core Update"
- Speculation Around The Google March 2019 Core Update
- Google March 2019 Core Update Had Many Reversals But It Was Not A Reversal
- Google March 2019 Core Update Myth Busting From Google
- Google: With March 2019 Core Update We Try To Make Incremental Improvements
- Google Ranking Update Fluctuations Continue (3/29-4/1)
- Google Search Ranking Update On March 26th?
- Revealing The Google March 2019 Core Update Survey Results
- Google Search Algorithm Update Fluctuations From March 20th to 22nd
- March 5th Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update?
- Very Few Features Left In The Old Google Search Console
- Google Search Console Sitemap Report With Delete, Open In New Tab & Detailed Reporting
- Google Search Console Now Allows Removal Of XML Sitemaps
- Google: Long Term Plan You Should Switch To Domain Properties & Drop Other Forms
- Google Search Console Enhancement Reports Data Change
- Google AMP & Mobile Friendly Tests Adds Code Editing
- Google To Close Old Search Console By Years End?
- Google: Links Not Shown In Search Console Are Generally Irrelevant
- Google Web Spam Report: Google Sent 33% Less Manual Actions Last Year
- Google Property Sets Officially Shutting March 28th
- Google Automatically Creating Domain Properties In Search Console
- Google Survey On What Google Search Console API Features Do You Want?
- Google: Rel=prev/next Is Not An Indexing Signal Anymore; Help Docs Removed
- Google's Latest Advice On Pagination & Page Series Post rel=next and rel=prev
- Google's rel=prev/next Messaging: Nothing Has Changed
- Gary Illyes The Googler Who Discovered rel=prev/next Was Not Being Honored
- Google On Neural Matching vs RankBrain
- Google's Gary Illyes PubCon Presentation Was Image Search Focused
- Google: How We Select Dates For Search Results Snippets
- Google In-Depth Articles Go Missing
- Google: No Real Changes To In-Depth Articles
- Google Said Their Speed Update Resulted In A Faster Web
- Google: It Is Okay To Redirect Lower Quality Content Pages To Better Pages
- Google Video On Making React Web Apps Search Engine Friendly
- Google Video Describes What Sites Need Help With SEO When Using JavaScript
- Google JavaScript SEO Video On Making Content More Discoverable
- Google Help Video On Angular SEO
- JavaScript SEO Google Video: Testing & Debugging
- Google Trick For Sites Not Ready To Be Listed In Google
- Google Explains 301 Redirects Are Not Links But...
- Google's Ranking Algorithm Allows SEOs To Be Unique
- Google Info Command Is Now Dead
- Google Drops Info: Command But Has Added Canonical Info To URL Inspection Tool
- Google Expands AMP Stories To Google Arts & Culture
- Google: Words You've Searched For Dictionary Results
- Google My Business Dashboard Unlock Your Plan & Complete Your Tasks To Reach Your Goals
- Google Increases Number Of Image Thumbnails In Mobile Search Results
- Google Knowledge Panel Explore Collections
- Google Automobile Knowledge Panel
- Google Tests Adding Icons Back To The Search Bar Filters
- Google Tests Icons In Search For Maps, Images, Videos & Top Stories
- Google Image Search Tests Article Slide In Feature
- Google Tests Portrait Mode Tall Top Stories Layout
- Google Knowledge Panels That Are Expandable
- Google Image Search Tests New Preview Screen Again
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