This past month was actually fairly slow with Google Webmaster big news. The biggest topics we had were two possible Google updates to their ranking algorithm that went unconfirmed. We also were told we can remove authorship safely now, because Google doesn't use it but it doesn't mean Google knows who the author is or is not. RankBrain is used all the time now but you still can't optimize for it.
Panda hasn't fundamentally changed and it still rolls out slowly over months and months. Google said they ignore keywords in the new keyword TLD portion of the URL. Google added more filters to Search Console, including rich results option. And on the ad side, the biggest thing is they went green this month.
Here is the report from last month and the ongoing WebmasterWorld thread is slowish with some complaints about July 4th traffic.
Larger Google Updates:
- Some Google Update Chatter : Potential Google Update
- Google Algorithm Update Brewing? We Got Early Some Chatter.
- Google: With Authorship Gone; It Doesn't Mean We Know Who Wrote An Article
- Google: It Is Now Safe To Remove Authorship Markup, We Don't Use It Anymore
- RankBrain Used In All Google Searches & Impacts Search Results A Lot
- Google: There Is No RankBrain Score & You Don't Optimize For It
- Google: Panda Still Rolls Out Over Months After Refreshing Scores
- Google: Panda Has Not Fundamentally Changed But Does Get Ongoing Tweaks
- Google Ignores Keywords/Content In TLDs
- Google's John Mueller Replies More Reports Of Zombie Traffic
- Google Search Analytics Adds Compare Options Across Queries, Pages, Countries, Devices & Search Types
- Google Search Analytics Adds Compare Queries Option
- Google Search Analytics Get Rich Result Filter In Search Console
- Google Search Console App Crawl Report May Show Drop In Index Count & Errors
- Google Search Console To Give More Historical Data
- See The New Google Search Console Mobile Usability Report
- Google: Links Found In Google Search Console Are In Google's Index
- Google Manual Actions Recoveries Will Display In Search Console Within Days
- Google Basics: One URL = One Piece Of Content
- Google: Breaking Head Section Can Make Hreflang Unrecognizable To Google
- Google: Search Engines Tend To Not Support Pages Dependent On Hashtags
- Google: Changing Sitemap URL Location Has No Impact On Ranking Or Crawling
- Google: Product Pricing Is Not A Ranking Factor
- Google: Hosting The Same Content For Multiple Clients On Different Sites Dilute Its Value
- Google: It's Rare We Don't Find Content On The Web
- Google: AdSense Penalties Do Not Impact SEO Or Rankings
- Google: We're Still Working On Mobile Only Index
- Google: Structured Markup Not Used For Featured Snippets
- Google PSA: Not In Google's Cache? It Can Still Rank.
- Google: Rewriting Product Descriptions Won't Help You Win
- Google: Do Not Do Extended A/B Testing With The Same A/B Test
- Google: Crawl Spikes Not A Sign Of An Upcoming Algorithm Updates But...
- Google: Even Quality Algorithms May Wait To Show Webmaster Won't Repeat Offense
- Google: Crawl Rate Change After Switching To CDN? Let Us Know.
- Google Zombies Or Likely Buyers? Does Google Show Them Different Results?
- Google: No Plans For Disavow Link Testing Tool
- Google Wants To Make Spam Reporting Easier; Let Them Know How
- Google's John Mueller On Flat (Not Growing) SEO Traffic
- Google: Migrating To A Keyword-TLD Won't Improve Rankings
- Google Launches AMP Validator Web Tool
- Google's Gary Illyes: Implement AMP & Pay Attention To Assistants & Bots
- eBay Tries AMP: Google Encourages All Web Sites To Try Out AMP
- Google Writes About AMP Logo Guidelines
- Watch The Google AMP Hangout & Give Feedback
- Google News AMP Referral Source To Get Proper Attribution?
- It's Official: Google AdWords Labels Are Going Green
- Google Expands Your Health Search Queries To Related Queries
- Google Tests Larger Font Sizes In Search Results & Expands Card Style Test
- Google Image Thumbnails On People Also Search For Feature
- Google Speed Test Tool In Search Results
- Google Mobile Search Dropping Custom Date Range Search Filter
- Google Home Page Testing Gray Background
- Matt Cutts Responds To Claims Google Manipulated Hillary Clinton Search Results