Well, it was a pretty jammed packed month for Google webmaster and SEO related news. Google announced an upcoming ranking change named the Google Page Experience Update, where core web vital metrics and page experience metrics will become a ranking factor. Google fully rolled out the May 2020 core update and it was big and possibly messy. Google had a confirmed bug with local rankings and a confirmed indexing bug as well. And there is a lot more.
We are expecting some changes around the nofollow link attribute policy change at some point. Google explained how knowledge panels work. Google does use historical data for ranking. Google has been testing tons of user interfaces in search.
The ongoing WebmasterWorld thread is mostly chattering up the May Core update and the tremors since it.
Here is our summary for the past 30-days or so and here is last month's recap.
Google Page Experience Update & Core Web Vitals:
- Google Page Experience Update - Google's Next Algorithm Update Coming Next Year
- Core Web Vitals Replaced Speed Report In Google Search Console
- Google PageSpeed Insights Now Has Core Web Vitals Metrics
- Google's John Mueller Posts Tidbits On Core Web Vitals
- Google May 2020 Core Update 100% Rolled Out
- Google's May 2020 Core Update Mess Up Google's Search Results?
- Poll: 62% Say Google's May 2020 Core Update Had A Negative Change In Search Quality
- We Were Hit By The Google May 2020 Core Update - I Think...
- Google: No Major Local Search Update But We Want Examples
- Google Local Ranking Volatility In Early May Was A Bug
- Google Ranking Algorithm Update Tremors
- Early Signs: June Google Search Ranking Update & Fluctuations
- Is Google Not Showing Fresh Content In Search Results Again?
- Google: The Search Indexing Issues Are Now Resolved
- Google Seemed To Have Had More Indexing Issues Last Night
- Google Discover Search Console Reporting Bug
- Google Search Console Adds Guided Recipes Support & Reports
- Google Search Console API Stops Supporting Batch HTTP & JSON-RPC Requests
- Google Is Working On Something Related To Nofollow Link Change
- Google Knowledge Panels: What They Show, Where They Come From & How To Fix Them
- Google Can Use Historic Data For Ranking Your Site In Search
- Indexing Issues In Google May Be Related To May 2020 Core Update
- Google Deindexing Your Site? It Might Be Related To Quality Issues.
- Google: Slow Google Ranking Declines Over Time Might Mean Your Losing Relevance
- Google: Unlinked Citations Usually Do Not Help With Search Rankings
- Google: Submitting Search Pages To Google Makes It Crawling & Indexing Harder
- Is Google Digging Out Of Reconsideration Request Backlog?
- Google: Merging Or Splitting Sites Is Like Creating A New Site
- Google Still Crawls #! - But The AJAX Crawling Schema Is Not Officially Supported
- Google: International Targeting Won't Affect Other Regions
- Google Tests Boxes With Shadows For Search Result Snippets
- Google Tests New How To Schema Results On Desktop
- Google Tests Sitelinks With Borders
- Google Tests Blue Snippet Headers
- Google Tests Larger Font Title For Grouped Snippets
- Google Search Tests Topic Related To Jobs Box
- Google SAMHSA National Hotline Box For Rehab & Addiction Queries
- Google Featured Snippet Local One Pack
- Google My Business Business Reinstatement Request Adds File Uploads For Proof
- Google COVID-19 Posts Replacing Normal Google Posts
- Google Drops Your Web Site & Phone Number Button When Marked As Temporarily Closed
- Google My Business Adds Donation & Gift Card Links
- Google Webmaster Podcast: "Search Off The Record" Sounds Fun
- Matt Cutts Predicts How Search Works In 2020 Ten Years Ago
- New SEO Tool: Was There A Google Update Search Site
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.